Taiji Ishimori (born February 10, 1983) is a Japanese professional wrestler who works for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where he performs as part of the Bullet Club stable. Prior to his run with Bullet Club, he previously wrestled with Toryumon, NJPW (as a Young Lion), and All Japan Pro Wrestling, before finding a home at Pro Wrestling NOAH, where he spent 12 years becoming one of the most decorated junior heavyweight wrestlers in all of Japan, winning the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship 3 times and the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship 6 times (the first coming as the teammate and understudy of the legendary KENTA). He also worked overseas during this time, most notably in Mexico for Asistencia AsesorÃa y Administración/Lucha Libre AAA, where he and Takeshi Morishima once captured the AAA World Tag Team Championship, as well as in the United States for Global Force/Impact Wrestling, where he once held the X Division Championship.
In the spring of 2018, adverts for the "return" of Bullet Club's "Bone Soldier" mascot started appearing on NJPW media, staking the claim that he'll "refocus" Bullet Club. Speculation began as to what this could mean and, more importantly at the time, which leading member of Bullet Club was behind the decision. Finally, on May 3, Tama Tonga came out with brand new music made for the Bone Soldier and approached new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay, distracting him for an attack by a man wearing the Bone Soldier mask who was clearly different from the old Bone Soldier. Tama then introduced the masked man as the product of Bullet Club's idea to turn the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship from gold into "diamond" and removed his mask to reveal the returning Taiji Ishimori, as the beginning of the new Bone Soldier of Bullet Club.
After fulfilling his final obligations with Impact, Taiji quickly made a name for himself by joining Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa in dethroning members of The Elite to win the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship in his first match with Bullet Club, then representing The Club in the Best of Super Juniors tournament in which he had his coming-out party in both results and performance. First he defeated Ospreay, then he finally made it to the finals of the tournament and contested Hiromu Takahashi in an instant classic, and though Hiromu ended up winning, it wouldn't be long before Taiji defeated yet another IWGP Junior Champion in a tournament; this being KUSHIDA, who he beat in a tag team match as part of the Super Junior Tag tournament while teaming with new BC recruit Robbie Eagles. This led to his first Wrestle Kingdom match in which he trounced KUSHIDA for the title, firmly solidifying the junior heavyweight force within the Cutthroat Era incarnation of Bullet Club.
He later teamed with El Phantasmo to captured the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, and at the 2020 Summer Struggle in Jingu he made Hiromu Takahashi tap out to capture the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship for the second time.
He has the distinction of being one of just two Japanese members of Bullet Club (the other being Kenta) who isn't a part of the "House of Torture" sub-group led by EVIL.
"The Tropes..It's REBORN":
- Always Someone Better: Hiromu Takahashi is this for him. Every time they fought Hiromu always gets the best of him either move for move or a test of strenght. The one time he managed to beat Hiromu was when Hiromu's own shoulder was injured giving him a handicapped. Finally, Hiromu is the one who end Taiji's 2nd IWGP Junior Championship reign, dethroning him in their showdown at Wrestle Kingdom 15.
- Animal Motifs: A chihuahua. Taiji is among the shortest of the wrestlers of NJPW, yet is also one of the most dangerous, being able to go toe to toe with the likes of Okada, and even defeat Hirooki Goto at one point. Not to mention, his actions in the Junior division.
- Arch-Enemy: Will Ospreay, KUSHIDA, and Hiromu Takahashi have all held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship with high acclaim during Ishimori's return to NJPW. Likewise, he has accosted them all as a heated villainous rival within the division, facing and often defeating them in incredible bouts.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: He is a Bullet Club member, what do you expect?
- Big Bad: Serves as this in NJPW'S junior division.
- Catchphrase: "... It's REBORN!"
- Cool Mask: Wears a mask similar to the scary skeleton demon mask the original Bone Soldier wore. In fact the old mask is stitched to the back of his vest.
- Darker and Edgier: His return to New Japan is this compare to his time in NOAH. He sports a new darker attire and theme song, a more ruthless wrestling style, and joining one of the most heelish stable in the world.
- Him joining the Bullet Club to fill the junior division also symbolize how the group is becoming Darker and Edgier themselves since Kenny and The Elite have lost their touch when leading it, not to mention Taiji replaced Captain New Japan as the Bone Soldier.
- Establishing Character Moment:
- The very first thing he did when he debuted as The Bone Soldier was to target Will Ospreay for an attack from behind, culminating with Tama Tonga removing his mask as he smirked and posed with the Bullet Club trademark gun gesture.
- Later on, in his first match as the Bone Soldier, he and the Guerrillas of Destiny defeated Marty Scurll and The Young Bucks to become NEVER Openweight Six-Man Tag Team Championship, showing that Ishimori is fully capable of being a strong team asset.
- Beats then-Junior Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay in his first singles match to open the Best of Super Juniors tournament, immediately marking himself as a threat amongst the juniors.
- Even the Guys Want Him: Tama Tonga has tweeted "ew" at the prospect of being attracted to the smoking hot Brandi Rhodes out of pure loyalty to his wife and child. Yet even he cannot resist going full "Triple H promoting a young Randy Orton" when describing Ishimori's physique, even calling Taiji a 'beautiful specimen'. In general, aside from his wrestling skills, he also gets a lot of attention from many male fans from his physique alone, usually when he's doing post match commentary.
- Face of a Thug: Damn, just look at him. His face is that of your everyday Japanese Delinquent. This is helped by the Psychotic Smirk he will sport everytime he faces an opponent.
- Finger Gun: The first thing he displays to his opponents after he takes off his mask. Hell, this is the first gesture he makes in his return as the Bone Soldier. He also does this after concluding an assault or winning a match.
- Finishing Move: Bloody Cross, a lifting single underhook double knee facebreaker. Think Bloody Sunday/1916 setup into a Codebreaker.
- In 2020, he starts using a chickenwing over-the-shoulder crossface (a.k.a. Border City Stretch or Gargano Escape) which he calls the "Bone Lock" if he wants to win matches by submission.
- Knight of Cerebus: As mentioned under Darker and Edgier, Ishimori's arrival heralded the advent of Bullet Club returning to its roots as the gritty, tough, no nonsense street gang faction it was during its early years after the leadership of Kenny Omega and The Elite could be said to have sanded off the edge of the group with their antics and in-fighting.
- Lightning Bruiser: He has an incredible highflying skills and his moves are pretty devastatingly powerful.
- The Mentor: As his first tag team partner in NOAH, KENTA was this for him. Fittingly, the two would join together once again in NJPW as part of Bullet Club.
- Muscles Are Meaningless: Despite how jacked his body is, he is not head and shoulders above most of his rivals in either strength or durability. Considering who said rivals are (Ospreay, Hiromu, Dragon Lee, etc.), this is more a testament to just how good they are than any type of knock on Ishimori. While Taiji does land some good moves on them and even manage to demonstrate his prowess, they are capable of overpowering him. Dragon Lee managed to counter him move for move while Hiromu was able to overpower him in an elbow strike slugfest, for example
- Noble Demon: While he is a member of Bullet Club and has adopted the stock heel tropes of the stable, he usually takes care of junior heavyweight business on his own. Unless he's tagging up with Eagles (previously) or Phantasmo, you won't see them interfering on his behalf all that much, and he still likes to wrestle clean matches.
- Older Hero vs. Younger Villain: In his feud with Jushin Thunder Liger who is a heroic face in New Japan and is much older than him.
- Older Than They Look: Due to his Japanese Delinquent face, a lot of fans seem to view him as The Baby of the Bunch relative to his Bullet Club teammates. However, Taiji is a NJPW veteran and NOAH legend. By the time he won his second Junior Heavyweight Championship following NJPW's return to action during the COVID-19 Pandemic, Ishimori was already 37 years old, looking and moving like someone ten years younger.
- Pintsized Powerhouse: He is 5'4, his body is jacked and his moveset is filled with powerful attacks.
- Power Stable: He affiliated himself with the Bullet Club, replacing Captain New Japan as their 'Bone Soldier'.
- Psychotic Smirk: The other first thing he displays to his opponents after he takes off his mask. Again, this is the first expression he makes in his return as the Bone Soldier.
- Red Baron: "Bone Solder" as of his membership in the Bullet Club.
- Tag Team: Has been part of several gold-winning junior heavyweight tag teams, the first with KENTA in NOAH (where KENTA was a mentor of sorts to Ishimori) and the most recently with fellow Bullet Club member El Phantasmo.
- Technician/Performer Team-Up: The technician to El Phantasmo's performer as Bullet Club's junior heavyweight tag team; Ishimori has a highly technical and submission-based style, whereas ELP favors high-flying moves that are flashy even by junior heavyweight standards.
- Worthy Opponent: Became this to Petey Williams towards the end of his Impact Wrestling run.
