Wrestler Profile
El Desperado
El Desperado is New Japan's masked outlaw poet — the junior heavyweight ace whose ragged charisma and brawling-flavored technical style made Suzuki-gun's quietest member its most beloved export. Behind the tattered mask lies one of Japan's most thoughtful wrestlers and, on the microphone, its most quotable.
A multi-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion and Best of the Super Juniors winner, his rivalry with Hiromu Takahashi defined the division for half a decade, while his deathmatch excursions — including a dream collaboration with Jun Kasai — revealed range far beyond New Japan's usual borders.
Desperado's crossover appeal now extends to leading roles and outside projects that New Japan builds programming around. WrestleRanks voters rank him as the junior division's cornerstone: the masked man everyone eventually must go through.
Promotions
El Desperado is associated with NJPW (2024–2026).
Championship history
- IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (NJPW) — Current champion · 5 reigns · with Místico · Current IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions; defeated Ichiban Sweet Boys on Night 2 of Wrestling Dontaku.
El Desperado in the WrestleRanks rankings
El Desperado is tracked as a powerhouse on WrestleRanks. Rankings are decided one week at a time, based on who had the strongest individual week across matches, promos, momentum and championship activity. Learn more about how our rankings work, or see the live, interactive profile with weekly rank history and voting on the El Desperado ranking page.
More NJPW wrestlers
Callum Newman · Kosei Fujita · Zack Sabre Jr. · Aaron Wolf · Alex Zayne · Drilla Moloney