darkthrone (via the KM Message Board) wrote: Started in 1976 with New Japan and debuted one year later. In his rookie years was sent to Mexico, Stampede and I believe even did a few WWF shots. Once heard a story that he trained in California with the Muhammed Ali Boxing Club, but not really sure if it´s fact or just a kayfabe story. After Tiger Mask retired in 1983, New Japan put Takano under the hood as The Cobra, kind of a replacement for Tiger Mask and got a huge push. His first matches were good, but fans really didn´t get into him, as they saw him just as a cheap copy of Tiger Mask that the promotion pushed down their throats. But he had a few excellent matches and won the NWA Jr. & WWF Jr. belts, even holding them at the same time, I believe. In 1986 he retired the mask, and continued to work under his real name. I think he got married and kind of disappeared for a while. After his comeback, he won the IWGP tag belts with Super Strong Machine as his partner. In 1990 he left New Japan for the new SWS, but his work had declined at that point and nobody cared about the SWS group anyway. There, he teamed with his brother Shunji. So the next few years he worked for different smaller indy companys like NOW, PWC (a group headed by his brother Shunji), etc. No idea if he´s still around these days. In the mid-80s, he was considered a really good worker, but was never able to escape the shadow of the original Tiger Mask.