8 Things You Didn't Know About WWE's Kyoki (FKA Hiromu Takahashi)

Now under contract with WWE, practically every match Hiromu Takahashi wrestles for the foreseeable future will be for the first time. Or, at the very least, the lineup will be for the first time; he's tangled with Tama and Talla Tonga as part of LIJ vs. Bullet Club gang warfare, but never before has it been him and Shinsuke Nakamura against the pair.

There is one rivalry that WWE could lean into, though, should they so wish: Takahashi vs. Dragon Lee.

Across New Japan, CMLL, ROH and the odd Mexican indie, the pair have shared the ring 96 times, and Hiromu has already expressed that he wants to make it 97. Interviewed by Monthly Puroresu at the start of 2026, he named Lee as his quote-unquote dream opponent, with their last outing together coming in February 2020 at The New Beginning in Osaka; there, Hiromu saw off a threat to his IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship reign before the pandemic settled in.

Naturally, WWE has placed the now-Kyoki on SmackDown, far away from the realm of possibility of tussling with Dragon Lee once more.