Before Togi Makabe ever stepped foot inside a professional wrestling ring, he was known by his birth name, Shinya Makabe.
He was born on November 29, 1972, in Sagamihara, Kanagawa, Japan, Makabe grew up with a natural affinity for sports and physical competition.
Unlike many of his peers who gravitated exclusively toward amateur wrestling or martial arts from a young age, Togi Makabe explored a diverse range of athletic endeavours.
He was a dedicated judoka, developing a solid foundation in grappling, balance, and physical leverage that would later serve as a major asset in his wrestling career.
His athletic pursuits continued through his collegiate years at Teikyo University. It was during his time at university that Makabe joined the collegiate wrestling club, honing his amateur skills and building the raw strength required for the gruelling world of Japanese puroresu.
Throughout his youth, Makabe was captivated by the larger-than-life characters of professional wrestling, particularly the foreign “gaijin” heels who brought a sense of wild, unpredictable danger to Japanese rings.
This blend of legitimate athletic capability and a growing fascination with aggressive, brawling styles laid the groundwork for the transformation that would define his future.
Makabe and his New Japan Pro Wrestling Dojo Training
Upon graduating from university, Makabe set his sights on the ultimate test in Japanese professional wrestling: the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) Dojo.
Known globally as one of the most physically and mentally punishing training facilities in sports entertainment, the Dojo was designed to break down prospects and rebuild them into stoic, technically sound competitors.
Togi Makabe entered the Dojo in 1996, a time when the training regimen was overseen by legendary figures who demanded absolute perfection, unwavering discipline, and extreme physical endurance.
The daily routine in the Dojo was gruelling, consisting of thousands of free-weight squats, brutal bridge exercises, intensive grappling sessions, and rigorous ring conditioning.
Togi Makabe trained alongside a talented cohort of rookies, pushing his body to its absolute limits day in and day out. This period of his life was defined by humility and hardship.
Dojo life required rookies to handle menial tasks, from cleaning the facility to preparing meals for the senior wrestlers, ensuring that every prospect understood the value of hierarchy and respect within the promotion.
Makabe’s resilience during these trial-by-fire months proved his dedication and earned him the right to make his official television debut.
Makabe’s Young Lion Years
On February 15, 1997, Makabe stepped into the ring for his debut match, facing fellow rookie Shinjiro Otani. Like all NJPW trainees of the era, he competed as a “Young Lion.”
The Young Lion system mandated a strict presentation: plain black trunks, black boots, and a limited move set focused entirely on fundamental wrestling holds, basic strikes, and submission maneuvers.
This minimalistic approach was designed to force young competitors to learn how to connect with the audience through raw emotion, facial expressions, and fighting spirit rather than flashy maneuvers.
As a Young Lion, Makabe’s primary role was to lose to his seniors while showing immense heart, gradually building sympathy and respect from the NJPW faithful.
He spent years in the opening matches of the card, absorbing punishment from veterans and engaging in fierce, competitive bouts against his fellow rookies.
This era of his career was defined by a steady, grinding progression. While he did not immediately stand out as a prodigy, his undeniable work ethic and ability to endure tremendous physical damage earned him a reputation as a reliable and incredibly tough young prospect.
His Junior Heavyweight Career
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, NJPW’s Junior Heavyweight division was one of the most innovative and fast-paced landscapes in the entire wrestling world.
As a veteran of nearly thirty years, Togi Makabe’s evolution has seen him grow, in more ways than one, from a Junior Heavyweight to what we see today.
Due to his initial physical frame, Togi Makabe was initially categorized as a Junior Heavyweight, competing against agile, high-flying, and technically precise wrestlers.
While Makabe possessed the fundamental skills to compete in the division, his natural instincts leaned more toward power and aggression than aerial acrobatics.
He fought hard to find his niche within the division, participating in various tournament matches and multi-man tag team bouts. However, the strict weight limits and the lightning-fast style of the Junior Heavyweights ultimately restricted his ability to unleash his true potential.
Within four years of commencing his career in New Japan, Togi Makabe transitioned from a Junior to a Heavyweight, realizing that his body and his mindset were far better suited for the brutal, hard-hitting world of the heavyweight division.
Makabe’s overseas excursions
To facilitate his growth and allow him to develop a distinct character away from the strict constraints of the main roster, NJPW sent Makabe on an overseas learning excursion in 2001.
This traditional rite of passage sent the young wrestler across the globe, exposing him to vastly different wrestling styles, cultures, and crowds.
His travels took him to the rugged circuits of Canada, the wild and often bloody arenas of Puerto Rico, and the traditional, technical rings of the United Kingdom.
In Canada and the United Kingdom, Makabe adapted to Western storytelling, learning how to work as an effective antagonist and read foreign crowds.
However, it was his time in Puerto Rico, particularly with the World Wrestling Council (WWC), that left the most permanent mark on his wrestling psychology.
The wrestling scene there was famous for its extreme violence, brawling tactics, and intense crowd heat. Operating under the name “Khmer Khan,”
Makabe embraced the dark art of the rule-breaking heel. He learned how to manipulate a crowd using weapons, blood, and sheer intimidation—elements that would completely reshape his approach to the sport upon his return to Japan.
The Transformation into Heavyweight
When Makabe returned to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, he was no longer the lean, clean-cut Young Lion who had left years prior.
He had physically bulked up, packing on significant muscle and mass to solidify his standing as a true heavyweight competitor.
His progression over time has been organic, reflecting a man who had completely outgrown the junior style in favour of an unrelenting, powerhouse approach.
This physical transformation allowed Makabe to alter his in-ring psychology entirely. He abandoned the clean wrestling techniques of his youth, replacing them with stiff lariats, devastating powerbombs, and an uncompromising, physical offence.
He was now equipped to stand toe-to-toe with the company’s elite heavyweights. The physical evolution was merely the first step; to truly ascend the ranks of NJPW, he needed an identity that matched the raw, unbridled power he now possessed.
Becoming “Togi” Makabe
The next crucial phase of his evolution was a complete reinvention of his identity, extending to his very name. Even his in-ring name changed, from Shinya (his birth name) to Togi, which is what we hear today.
The name alteration occurred during New Japan’s 2004 G1 Climax tournament. The word “Togi” carried connotations of honing or sharpening a blade, symbolizing his intent to carve through the roster with a sharper, deadlier edge.
His performance in that specific tournament showed that the transformation was still a work in progress. He walked away with a record of 2 wins and 5 losses from that particular event, but the seeds were planted for what we see today.
Despite the losing record, the name change signalled to management and the fans that the old Shinya Makabe was gone, replaced by a much more dangerous, unpredictable competitor who was entirely focused on climbing to the top by any means necessary.
Togi Makabe – Birth of the “Unchained Gorilla”
With a new name and a heavyweight frame, Makabe fully unleashed the persona that would define the rest of his career.
His character is best described as an homage to the late American wrestler Bruiser Brody, and he uses the nickname ‘The Unchained Gorilla’.
The name suggests he is much like Brody, who had a rather violent style involving blood, steel chairs and chains around his arm, not to mention a vicious clothesline.
Makabe began wrapping a heavy metal chain around his neck during his entrances, swinging it wildly to terrify fans and opponents alike.
He dyed his hair a shocking blonde, adopted a menacing snarl, and began utilizing weapons, particularly steel chairs, to decimate his targets.
Makabe’s legacy, much like Brody’s, has been based on intimidating his opponents while leaving broken bones behind him. He became the ultimate anti-hero, a force of pure chaos who refused to conform to NJPW’s traditional standards of sportsmanship.
Formation of Grand Bash Heel
The year 2006 marked a monumental turning point in Makabe’s career as he aligned himself with like-minded individuals who shared his disdain for authority.
He was recruited by Hiroyoshi Tenzan, along with his tag team partner Shiro Koshinaka, to join what was known as the Grand Bash Heel (G.B.H.).
Entrance into this faction was based on Tenzan’s criteria of its members being ‘strong, cool and bad,’ with the intention of restoring the promotion to the previously ‘beautiful’ NJPW. Tenzan also added the likes of Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano as the fourth and fifth members of the faction.
“Strong, cool, and bad.” — The founding criteria of Grand Bash Heel.
The group quickly established themselves as the most despised, violent faction in the promotion, utilizing underhanded tactics to dominate their matches.
However, internal friction soon altered the group’s trajectory. After Tenzan moved to the rival promotion All Japan, Makabe took the reins as the stable’s leader and was later joined by Tomoaki Honma, Jado, and Gedo.
Under Makabe’s ruthless leadership, G.B.H grew even more vicious, terrorizing the NJPW roster and cementing Makabe as a premier top-tier villain.
In 2007, Makabe emerged as one of New Japan Pro Wrestling’s most talented and hottest wrestlers. This period marked his transition from a mid-card rule-breaker to a legitimate main event threat.
That year saw a number of successful events: while he didn’t win the New Japan Cup, he reached the finals, where he lost to then-IWGP Heavyweight champion Yuji Nagata.
That loss didn’t deter Makabe in the slightest; in fact, he faced Nagata on several occasions and pinned him once.
In the G1 Climax tournament that same year, Makabe finished with six points and was the top competitor in his block, proving he could hang with the absolute best in the world.
As the leader of G.B.H, Makabe saw his share of betrayal, as two former tag team partners turned on him on separate occasions.
Whether it was Koshinaka or Honma, Makabe had to look over his shoulder at those he had been closely aligned with.
However, the key to any good faction leader is to move past the disloyalty of some and regain strength in numbers through adding new blood. By adding Takashi Iizuka and the American Low Ki,
Makabe proved that he was more than simply a violent brawler out seeking the blood of his opponents. His reputation expanded internationally as well.
His battles with Team 3D, who were part of Impact Wrestling at the time, just a year after being named the co-winner of Tokyo Sports’ tag team of the year for 2007, also suggest he wasn’t resting on his laurels. He also battled the likes of the Killer Elite Squad, Davey Boy Smith Jr., and Lance Hoyt.
The 2009 G1 Climax Win and His Rise to the Main Event Scene
The ultimate culmination of Makabe’s breakout years arrived in August 2009 during the annual G1 Climax tournament. By this point, the landscape of G.B.H had drastically changed.
Earlier in the year, Shinsuke Nakamura had staged a coup, turning nearly the entire faction against Makabe to form a new stable called Chaos.
Left with only Tomoaki Honma by his side, Makabe completed an incredible organic transformation from a hated villain into a beloved, sympathetic underdog powerhouse backed completely by the NJPW audience.
Driven by a desire for revenge against his former stablemates, Togi Makabe entered the 2009 G1 Climax with an unmatched ferocity.
He fought his way through a gruelling block, overcoming immense physical damage to advance to the tournament finals.
On August 16, 2009, Makabe faced off against Shinsuke Nakamura in a legendary, emotion-fueled final match. In a spectacular display of fighting spirit, Makabe endured Nakamura’s offence and hit his signature King Kong Kneedrop to secure the victory, winning the 2009 G1 Climax.
This monumental victory solidified his rise to the true main event scene, establishing him as a genuine folk hero of New Japan Pro-Wrestling.
The momentum from this historic win propelled him toward his greatest individual accomplishment: on May 3rd, 2010, at Dontaku, Makabe defeated then-IWGP Heavyweight champion Shinsuke Nakamura to capture the promotion’s grandest prize.
He would hold on to the title until October of that same year, losing it to the winner of the 2010 G1 Climax, Satoshi Kojima.
Togi Makabe remains a respected elder statesman of the NJPW roster. While his role has shifted toward mentoring the younger generation and competing in multi-man tag matches, his legacy as the “Unchained Gorilla” remains fully intact.
Whether he is stepping in the ring with those bigger than him, younger than him, or smaller than him, Makabe’s mentality appears to be the same.
He is as focused as he has ever been, carrying the same violent intensity that defined his legendary rise to the top.
IWGP Heavyweight Championship win over Shinsuke Nakamura
The momentum of Makabe’s historic 2009 G1 Climax victory reached its ultimate payoff on May 3, 2010, at Wrestling Dontaku.
Stepping into the Fukuoka Kokusai Center, Makabe challenged his bitter rival and Chaos leader, Shinsuke Nakamura, for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
The narrative subtext was thick with redemption; Nakamura had previously orchestrated the coup that dismantled Makabe’s version of Grand Bash Heel.
In an intensely physical encounter defined by NJPW’s trademark “King of Sports” style, Makabe absorbed Nakamura’s lethal knee strikes and answered with his own signature brutality.
After surviving a relentless onslaught, Togi Makabe grounded Nakamura with an avalanche Spider-German Suplex before scaling the turnbuckles. He unleashed a devastating King Kong Kneedrop to capture his first and only IWGP Heavyweight Championship.
The victory cemented his status as a premier folk hero who had fought from the bottom of the card to the absolute pinnacle of the industry.
Makabe’s 161-day reign as the top champion in NJPW was characterized by hard-hitting, physical defences that mirrored his rugged journey.
As champion, he successfully turned back high-calibre challengers, proving he could lead the promotion with both drawing power and physical dominance.
His first major defence came against Pro Wrestling NOAH’s powerhouse Go Shiozaki at Dominion 6.19, a cross-promotional clash that showcased Makabe’s ability to defend NJPW’s honour against outside invaders.
He followed this by successfully retaining the title against his long-time nemesis Shinsuke Nakamura in a gruelling rematch.
Makabe’s reign served as a bridge between eras, highlighting a gritty, blue-collar aesthetic that resonated deeply with the Japanese audience.
His time at the top ultimately came to a conclusion on October 11, 2010, at Destruction ’10, where he dropped the championship to the 2010 G1 Climax winner, Satoshi Kojima.
Makabe’s Most Notable Feuds.
Losing the world title did not diminish Makabe’s standing; instead, it opened the door for several iconic rivalries that defined NJPW’s upper-midcard landscape.
Following his title loss, an intense animosity sparked between Togi Makabe and former ECW World Heavyweight Champion Masato Tanaka.
The two brawlers met at Wrestle Kingdom V on January 4, 2011, where a returning Makabe secured a decisive, cathartic victory over Tanaka in a match remembered for its sheer lawlessness.
Concurrently, his rivalry with Satoshi Kojima took a unique turn. After months of intense warfare against the Kojima-gun alliance, time and distance mended the relationship.
Makabe and Kojima developed a newfound trust, eventually forming the highly successful “Beast Combination” tag team for the 2011 G1 Tag League.
However, his most historically significant feud of this era was against his former G.B.H stablemate, Tomohiro Ishii.
Throughout 2014 and 2015, Makabe and Ishii engaged in a series of legendary, ultra-violent singles encounters.
These matches became the gold standard for modern brawling, characterized by unprotected headbutts, stiff lariats, and a refusal by both men to back down.
Makabe’s NEVER Openweight Reigns
The violent rivalry with Tomohiro Ishii became the catalyst for Makabe’s dominance over the newly established NEVER Openweight Championship.
At Wrestle Kingdom 9 on January 4, 2015, Makabe defeated Ishii in a critically acclaimed, physically punishing match to capture his first NEVER Openweight Championship.
Though illness forced him to briefly forfeit the title, Togi Makabe reclaimed the gold on April 29, 2015, by defeating Ishii once again at Wrestling Hinokuni.
His two reigns with the title totalled over 200 days of championship defence. Through these wars, Togi Makabe played a pivotal role in elevating the NEVER Openweight Championship from a secondary title into NJPW’s premier prize for raw grit, fighting spirit, and openweight brawling.
The World Tag League Success alongside Tomoaki Honma
In late 2015, Makabe reunited with his most loyal G.B.H ally, Tomoaki Honma, to reform their iconic tag team. This reunion triggered one of the most commercially and critically successful tag team runs of the decade.
Together, they entered the 2015 World Tag League, capturing the tournament trophy by defeating Los Ingobernables de Japon (Tetsuya Naito and Evil) in the finals.
They capitalized on this momentum at Wrestle Kingdom 10 on January 4, 2016, defeating Bullet Club’s Doc Gallows and Karl Anderson to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship.
The duo duplicated their tournament success in December 2016, winning the World Tag League for a second consecutive year by defeating Sanada and Evil.
Their chemistry as a classic powerhouse/underdog pairing endeared them to fans worldwide, cementing Grand Bash Heel’s legacy as an elite tag team.
Leadership, Legacy and Lasting Impact
As the years progressed into the 2020s, the physical toll of a nearly thirty-year career naturally altered Makabe’s active in-ring role. He naturally transitioned into the NJPW Hontai (main unit) faction, serving as a pillar of veteran stability.
While no longer a fixture of the singles main event picture, Togi Makabe continues to play an essential role on the roster.
He frequently anchors multi-man tag team matches, sharing the ring with young prospects and cross-promotional talent alike.
In the locker room, his decades of global experience make him an invaluable mentor, guiding the next generation of NJPW “Young Lions” through the same rigorous developmental paths he survived in the late 1990s.
Over a career spanning nearly three decades, Makabe has compiled an elite resume of accolades across major promotions: In New Japan Pro-Wrestling, he captured the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, was a 2-time IWGP Tag Team Champion, a two-time NEVER Openweight Championship winner, a NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion, a G1 Climax Winner (2009) and a two-time World Tag League Winner (2015, 2016)
Togi Makabe’s legacy is firmly secure as one of the most resilient and influential brawlers in modern puroresu history.
He stands as the bridge between NJPW’s turbulent dark ages of the mid-2000s and its modern international renaissance.
By taking the violent, rule-breaking template of Bruiser Brody and infusing it with authentic Japanese fighting spirit, Togi Makabe redefined what a 21st-century heavyweight anti-hero could look like.
His legendary encounters over the NEVER Openweight Championship laid the physical foundation for the modern, hard-hitting style that younger talent continues to emulate.
Whether swinging a heavy chain on the entrance ramp or guiding rookies from the corner, the “Unchained Gorilla” remains an indelible, beloved icon of Japanese wrestling history.
