(NOAH) ROSTER SPOTLIGHT - KOTARO SUZUKI

Real name: Yasuhiro Suzuki
Born: June 18th 1978, Warabi, Saitama 
Height: 5'8  
Trained by: Mitsuharu Misawa
Debut: December 24th 2001 
Signed with Noah: Noah born, came up through the dojo system. Now works as a Freelancer. 
Nicknames: Red Comet, Shivering Blue Destiny, Pro-Wrestling Gundam Geek, Kotaro. 
Special move(s): Blue Destiny, Excalibur, Endless Waltz and Javelin (to name a few)  
Style: Strong Style\technical
Gimmick: Heel 

Kaito Kiyomiya, Go Shiozaki and Naomichi Marufuji are not the only people to have been inspired to become a wrestler by Mitsuharu Misawa; Kotaro Suzuki, a fact a little less well known than the others (and sometimes mistaken for being Kenta Kobashi's pupil and not Misawa's), was the same as them.
His first encounter with professional wrestling came from playing "Fire Pro", where his favorite character was indeed Misawa (who a character in the game was modeled after), later he saw the real Misawa on TV, and afterwards made up his mind to become a wrestler.

Kotaro Suzuki has a background history in Judo, which he enrolled in during his high school days, he also played tennis as well. In Junior High he had been practicing pro wrestling techniques, and imitated Misawa. He entered Noah in March 2001. Out of 200 applicants, only a select few entered the dojo, and out of that number he was the only one in his class (four) who could cope with the grueling dojo life and debuted in December 2001 in a tag match. It was Misawa who gave him the name "Kotaro" (which stuck in Noah and everyone calls him it), as he wished him to "be strong like when a drum is struck, and deeply resounding".
Naomichi Marufuji, being the senior trainee of Misawa's (and who he took over as the second of in January 2003), he refers to as "older brother" to indicate that he is the senior, despite the fact that Suzuki is the elder of the two, but in Japanese hierarchy, Marufuji is the senior, having been in wrestling longer.
Suzuki was there on the night Misawa died, and was seen weeping openly as the wrestlers helped lift the gurney he was on into the ambulance. 

There is a story in "The Last Bump" that after being taken to hospital with a left anterior cruciate ligament rupture in December 2009, despite the pain he was in, Suzuki begged to be allowed to go back to the arena. He was told no, it was impossible, but he said that he needed to go back as he had to arrange the collection for the "Wrestlers Association". He had been awarded the role of treasurer in the company shake up, later this would go to Mohammed Yone when Suzuki left Noah.

His most famous gimmick was "Mushiking Terry", which Mitsuharu Misawa had created after participating in the "Mushiking Card Battle", he had lost the match when someone walked in wearing a mask, that gave Misawa the idea to create the character. The character (a bug) had a triple purpose; the first being it was a reflection of Misawa's love of the card game (Ricky Marvin portrayed his rival, "Mushiking Joker", and probably the sponsorship was good too), the second was a kind of mirror of the feud between Misawa and Kobashi as Terry wore green and white (Misawa's colors) and Joker wore black and purple (Kobashi's color) and thirdly, almost like Atsushi Kotoge today, it was something for the kids.
Mushiking Terry, among his repertoire of moves, used one called "Genesis", which was a deformed Tiger Driver. The character lasted from 2005 until roughly 2009, and was known as "The Children's Hero".

As part of the "first generation of Noah", he was active in the "Golden Era", he had his one and only singles match with Mitsuharu Misawa in 2004 and tagged with him in 2005. It was perhaps after being booed in 2007 in the Tigers Cup Junior Tag League due to a draw, which caused him to start using heel tactics as the following year he started using chair attacks, wound up KENTA by cheating, pretending chair shots, and using fake blood (until being busted by Joe Higuchi, who he had tried to smarm up to in the match signing by putting his arm around him in the commemorative photo), and using weapons against him behind the referees back. Joining the stable "Dis Obey" made him worse. After Misawa died, he promised him in heaven that he would continue as he was.

Noah took the unpopular decision to terminate the contract of Kenta Kobashi in 2012, and he walked out with Kobashi, Jun Akiyama, Atsushi Aoki and Go Shiozaki in protest. Afterwards he worked as a freelancer. He didn't return to Noah until after Naomichi Marufuji's 20th anniversary, "Flight" in September 2018, and then immediately set about causing his usual trouble among the juniors; such as infamously breaking up RATELS, and telling them all that they were saps compared to the era he came from. He also won Junior League 2018.

Currently in Noah, he teams with Yoshinari Ogawa (at the time of writing they are the GHC Junior Heavyweight tag champions), but this association goes back to 2010, when Ogawa aided him in his evil, and they formed a unit with the then junior, Go Shiozaki. In 2011, he created the "ANTI NO-MERCY UNION", which was a unit founded to take on KENTA'S "NO MERCY", further irritating him. So much so that KENTA had even joined in a fan "Mushiking Terry" chant while having him in a clutch.

Never wanting to go heavyweight (unlike pretty much all of the others in his generation of Noah), Kotaro Suzuki has held the GHC Junior Heavyweight three times, and the GHC Junior Heavyweight tag championship, four times.

TRIVIA
~ He and Mitsuharu Misawa share the same birthday
~ Once carried a concussed Naomichi Marufuji from the ring on his back
~ BIG Gundam Wing fan, which he has named some of his moves after (i.e. Blue Destiny, Excalibur, Endless Waltz and Javelin), the Elbow Strike and the Tiger Driver, he started using after Misawa died.