The Japanese Buzz-saw Yoshihiro Tajiri has been actively wrestling for over 25 years. During Tajiri’s long and tenured career he has had the privilege of working for places like ECW where he truly first began making a name for himself in North America, to promotions of his own creation such as SMASH, and a myriad of others. It is perhaps Tajiri’s time within the WWE though that has brought him the most acclaim over the years. That's reason enough to take a look at the sometimes overlooked, and often underrated career of Yoshihiro Tajiri within the land of the giants.

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Tajiri Made His Initial WWE Debut in 1997

Before making his debut for Paul Heyman’s Extreme Championship Wrestling, and long before being offered a contract by a member of Vince McMahon’s payroll, Tajiri was first seen by some members of the WWE audience when he made his debut as an enhancement talent on Raw Is War in July 1997, losing to Taka Michinoku in under four minutes. Tajiri would suffer a handful of other losses on various Shotgun Saturday Night’s and Monday Night Raw’s before ultimately disappearing from WWE television altogether. It wouldn't be until 2001, approximately a month and a half before the ECW Invasion, that Tajiri would return to the WWF. It wasn’t long before Tajiri found a place at the right hand of WWE Commissioner at the time, William Regal.

Kanyon v Tajiri Raw September 10, 2001 Cropped

Much is said about the 2001 WCW/ECW Invasion angle, with some fans critical of many of the big time players from the WCW side of things not being present. No Goldberg, no Sting, no Hogan, no Hall or Nash, no Macho Man, etc. This would lead to many of the smaller personalities getting more of a chance to shine. This is most certainly true of Tajiri, and his on screen antics with Commissioner Regal. Tajiri was placed as his right-hand man and spent a small amount of time getting Regal his coffee before revealing how impressive he was in the ring. Tajiri would capture the WCW US Championship of all things twice during this era, and eventually would feud with Regal. The Blackpool native turned his back on the WWE to join, and become Commissioner of, the Alliance (WCW/ECW), even attempting to lure in Tajiri many times to no avail.

Rey Mysterio v Tajiri No Mercy 2003 Cropped

WWE Unifies Their Light Heavyweight & WCW Cruiserweight Championships

After the invasion Tajiri would find a home in the Cruiserweight division. With the WWE Light Heavyweight belt and the WCW Cruiserweight Championship now unified into the WWE Cruiserweight Championship, it was a fresh start for a division that desperately needed it. Tajiri would join new additions to the roster like the always amazing Rey Mysterio, Billy Kidman, Ultimo Dragon, Paul London, and assorted others who would help to revitalize the Cruiserweight division over the next few years that followed. Tajiri would ultimately hold the Cruiserweight belt three times, beating Billy Kidman at Backlash 2001, Rey Mysterio in 2002, and even earlier beating Billy Kidman in a match making him the actual wrestler who unified the two company’s junior belts. Tajiri would not be held to just the cruiserweight division, however.

Eddie Guerrero Tajiri

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Tajiri had a few notable singles matches within the dying days of the Hardcore Championship division during his time with the company. Despite never becoming Hardcore Champion, both his matches against champions Rob Van Dam and The Undertaker are worth seeking out if one is feeling nostalgic for gems from the WWE’s Hardcore days. He also has a single WWE Championship match on TV against a heel Stone Cold that has surely been all but lost to time. Tajiri’s other championship win in the WWE would actually come in the Tag Team division when injury would befall Chavo Guerrero Jr., and would leave Eddie Guerrero looking for a replacement for his Los Guerrero's teammate, and nephew Chavito, in time for his scheduled ladder match against Team Angle’s Shelton Benjamin and Charlie Haas. Eddie and Tajiri winning the championships would come as a surprise to the live crowd in attendance, and would serve as the first of two runs as tag team champion for Tajiri, the second reign coming with Raw’s World Tag Team Championship alongside old friend William Regal in 2005.

William Regal Tajiri

Tajiri’s WWE Departure And Return

Tajiri would leave the company in 2005, not including a single appearance at 2006’s One Night Stand, heading back to Japan where he remained active in assorted different companies and roles. He would however make a return to the WWE, and the Cruiserweight division when he was invited to participate in the critically acclaimed Cruiserweight Classic in 2016, over a decade after departing. The tournament itself was star-studded, with Tajiri joining a field that contained various unknown wrestlers from around the world like Ho Ho Lun, as well as established international stars like Kota Ibushi and Zack Sabre Jr. The tournament delivered in terms of match quality, and is view critically as a success despite the resulting management of the belt and 205 Live as a show being less than ideal at times. Tajiri would stay on for a handful of choice NXT/205 Live matches before ultimately heading back to Japan once again.

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During his time with World Wrestling Entertainment, Tajiri was able to show off more than just his in-ring technical prowess and precision striking. Through his relationship with Regal, his romantic relationship with Torrie Wilson, and even his time leading Akio and Sakoda as an evil stable that blinded sweet Nidia, the man known as the Japanese Buzzsaw was able to show off some of his more entertaining stylings outside the ring. Having so many memorable moments and matches crammed into a comparable short amount of time during four years run, but rarely being brought up in modern times, goes to show how criminally underrated Tajiri truly is.