Professional Wrestling Career
Taru started wrestling in 1996 for Wrestle Yume Factory and other independent promotions. He joined Toryumon shortly after it opened and became one of the founding fathers of the Crazy MAX faction (CMAX for short) along with Shiima Nobunaga, Judo Suwa and Sumo Fuji. For many years they were a powerful faction in Toryumon Japan and Dragon Gate but the group dissolved on November 2, 2004, and TARU left the promotion.
Taru soon showed up in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he started feuding with Taka Michinoku and his Roughly Obsess and Destroy (RO&D) faction. He proceeded to create his own faction, Voodoo Murders, composed of himself, Johnny "The Bull" Stamboli, Chuck Palumbo, as well as former Dragon Gate trainees Shuji Kondo and "Brother" YASSHI. Giant Bernard also joined, becoming the monster of the group. Voodoo Murders became AJPW's main heel group and began an intense feud with RO&D, clashing with them on many occasions. They were also known for putting their victims in body bags and beating them senseless with baseball bats. The group suffered a major loss though when Giant Bernard left the team in order to join New Japan Pro Wrestling.
Taru wrestled one match against The Great Muta as The Great Ruta. Taru challenged Satoshi Kojima for the Triple Crown on January 8, 2006. However, Kojima successfully defended his title. in July 2007, however, Kojima shocked the All-Japan roster when he turned on them and joined the Voodoo Murders, where he was quickly made the group's co-leader along with TARU, whom he had defeated in the previous year in a vicious match for the AJPW Triple Crown. Soon after joining, Kojima and TARU won the AJPW Unified World Tag Team Championship. Along with Big Daddy Voodoo He Won The AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship. Taru with Big Daddy Voodoo & MAZADA defeated Seiya Sanada, Manabu Soya & BUSHI.
TARU has recently been appearing in El Dorado as a general manager.
As of June 1, 2011, TARU has been suspended indefinitely by AJPW after an alleged attack on stablemate Nobukazu Hirai which left Hirai in the hospital with acute hematoma. All Japan later also suspended TARU's stablemates KONO, MAZADA and Minoru for not attempting to stop TARU's assault on Hirai and disbanded Voodoo Murders, while the promotion's president Keiji Mutoh took the blame for the incident and resigned from his position on June 7. On June 30, TARU's suspension was upheld, while his former stablemates were allowed to return to action. Meanwhile, Hirai remains in a coma.
Read more about this topic: Yoshikazu Taru
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