Taiyō Kea

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Maunakea Mossman


Statistics
Ring name(s)	Maunakea Mossman Taiyō Kea
Billed height	6 ft 1 in (185 cm)
Billed weight	234 lb (106 kg)
Born	November 18, 1975 Honolulu, Hawaii
Resides	Japan
Trained by	AJPW Dojo
Debut	November 26, 1994, against Kentaro Shiga

Maunakea Mossman is an American professional wrestler, better known under his stage name Taiyō Kea (太陽ケア). Although he was born in Hawaii, he has spent nearly his entire career as a member of the Japan-based All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion, where he is one of the former Triple Crown Heavyweight champions.

Taiyō Kea is the only man to hold all three major AJPW titles: the Triple Crown, the AJPW Double Cup Tag Team Championship and the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship.

1 Career
2 In wrestling
- 2.1 Nicknames
- 2.2 Finishing and signature moves
3 Championships and accomplishments
4 References

[edit] Career

Mossman was a Hawaiian state amateur champion, and was scouted by Giant Baba during a trip to the islands. Debuting in 1994 as a junior heavyweight, Mossman was pushed almost immediately, winning the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title in 1997. In 1998, he vacated the title to move up to the heavyweight division, eager to follow in the footsteps of Japanese greats who had done so, such as Tatsumi Fujinami, Nobuhiko Takada, Hiroshi Hase, and the top AJPW wrestler at the time, Mitsuharu Misawa.

However, after Baba's death in 1999, Misawa, in his new role as the booker, chose to postpone his push. A bigger opportunity came after Misawa and most of the roster left AJPW to form Pro Wrestling NOAH in 2000. Along with Toshiaki Kawada, Masanobu Fuchi and Hiroshi Hase, Mossman refused to leave. Backed by the foreigners led by Stan Hansen, as well as the returning Genichiro Tenryu who brought in his disciples from the independents, Nobutaka Araya and Shigeo Okumura, they set on to rebuild the promotion.

To identify him more with AJPW, Mossman was given the semi-Japanized name "Taiyō Kea" (from taiyo, sun, and the Polynesian word kea). He was pushed as a strong loyalist, winning the AJPW World Tag Team Titles with Johnny Smith. In October 2001, he and new partner Keiji Mutoh pulled off a double in a week to win both AJPW's Double Cup and New Japan Pro Wrestling's IWGP Tag Team Titles, becoming the first team not only to win both titles, but also the first to hold them at the same time.

In 2003, Kea joined Taka Michinoku's RO&D stable as second-in-command. He proceeded to win the AJPW World Tag Team Titles for a fourth time with Jamal. Kea's few forays in other promotions in Japan and abroad include NJPW, NOAH and FMW in Japan, and Extreme Championship Wrestling and Major League Wrestling in the United States.

On April 20, 2006, Kea won AJPW's Champion Carnival, defeating Minoru Suzuki in the semifinals and Suwama in the finals. On July 3, 2006, he defeated Satoshi Kojima to win the AJPW Triple Crown. He later lost the Triple Crown to Minoru Suzuki on September 3.

He participated in the Real World Tag League 2006 with Taka Michinoku as his partner. They ended fourth in the bracket, with 5 points (two wins, two losses, one draw).

Taiyō Kea wrestled what was be perhaps the biggest match in his career until to date when he challenged Hiroshi Tanahashi for the IWGP Heavyweight Title at NJPW's January 4, 2007 Tokyo Dome show. Kea fell to Tanahashi's High Fly Flow.

On February 17, he and Kawada defeated Suwama and RO'Z to claim the vacant Double Cup.