View source for Kzy

{{short description|Japanese professional wrestler}}
{{Unreliable sources|date=December 2016}}
{{Infobox professional wrestler
|name        = Kzy
|image       = File:Kzy in April 2025.jpg
|caption     = Kzy in April 2025
|birth_name = {{nihongo|Kazuki Sawada|澤田 和希|Sawada Kazuki}}
|birth_date  ={{Birth date and age|1986|6|26|mf=y}}
|birth_place =[[Ebetsu]], [[Hokkaido]]
|height      ={{height|m=1.72}}<!-- In Japan they measure height in meters so that should be first -->
|weight      ={{convert|75|kg|lb|abbr=on}}<!--In Japan they measure weight in kilograms so that should be first -->
|resides     =
|billed      =
|names       = Dr. Muscle<br />'''Kzy'''<br />m.c.KZ<br />Tomahawk Kzy<ref>{{cite web|url=http://iheartdg.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1314265344&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&|title=8/25 STORM GATE - 25 Aug 2011|date=2011-08-25|access-date=2011-09-01|work=iHEARTdg}}</ref>
|trainer     = [[Masato Yoshino]]<ref>{{Cite web|title=堀口元気の元気になれ!!テレビ - 堀口元気の元気になれ!!テレビ 特別編 NATURAL VIBES TALK SHOW {{!}} DRAGONGATE NETWORK [ドラゴンゲート・ネットワーク]|url=https://dragongate.live/title/?program=org_genki_genki&episode=8|access-date=2021-08-01|website=dragongate.live|language=ja}}</ref>
|debut       = December 9, 2006
|retired     =
}}
{{nihongo|'''Kazuki Sawada'''|澤田 和希|Sawada Kazuki}} (born June 26, 1986) is a Japanese [[professional wrestler]] trained by and signed [[Dragon Gate (wrestling)|Dragon Gate]] better known by his ring name '''Kzy''' (ケーズィー ''Kēzī'' {{IPAc-en|k|eɪ|zj|iː}} {{respell|kay|zee}}).

Trained in the Dragon Gate dojo, Kzy initially debuted in 2006 as '''m.c.KZ''', with the gimmick of a [[rapper]] who rapped his own theme song and wore ring attire heavily influenced by American [[hip-hop culture]]. In 2009, he changed his ring name to simply '''Kzy''', the name he uses to this day. He is a one-time [[Open the Brave Gate Championship|Open the Brave Gate Champion]] and six time [[Open the Triangle Gate Championship|Open the Triangle Gate Champion]], as well as the [[King of Gate]] 2021 winner.

==Career==
===Dragon Gate (2006–present)===
During 2006, he debuted during some Dragon Gate NEX shows as m.c.KZ. His gimmick was that of a rapper, and he rapped his own theme song on his way to the ring. In 2007, he and Lupin Matsutani, another wrestler on the Dragon Gate NEX circuit, teamed together as Lupin the KZ. When [[BxB Hulk]] and [[Masato Onodera|YAMATO]] became injured before the inaugural [[Summer Adventure Tag League]] Tournament, Lupin the KZ were chosen to replace the New Hazard team. Later in the year, he managed to pull out a win against [[Nobuhiko Oshima|CIMA]] on a NEX show. CIMA had previously injured his neck and was advised not to wrestle, but did it anyway as a way to put over the young wrestler.

At the start of 2008, he won the NEX-1 tournament, and after completing a five match trial series, he departed for Mexico to hone his skills. In June, he received a phone call from [[Naruki Doi]] inviting him to join his WORLD-1 faction, and he accepted. Despite getting a push when he first returned, culminating in a chance at winning the vacant [[Open the Brave Gate Championship]], he soon fell into a horrific slump, getting pinned or tapping out during tag team or six-man tag matches that he was involved in. He also appeared once for [[Chikara (professional wrestling)|Chikara]] in the U.S. during their [[King of Trios]] tournament that year, beating Michael Nakazawa in a singles match on the third night of the event.

He slightly improved in 2009, but still remained the lowest ranking member of WORLD-1. On June 26, he officially quit WORLD-1 and joined up with heel stable Real Hazard, after helping Ryo Saito and Genki Horiguchi retain their Open the Twin Gate Titles against CIMA and [[Yoshito Sugamoto|Gamma]] under the Dr. Muscle disguise and unmasking after the match. The next night, he changed his name to Kzy (pronounced "kay-zee") and debuted a completely new look.

[[File:McKZ.jpg|thumb|right|180px|Kzy in February 2008]]
On January 10, 2010, when stablemate [[Genki Horiguchi]] announced that Real Hazard would be winning more matches through teamwork rather than illegal methods and [[Yasushi Kanda]] was against this idea, Kzy - along with [[Takuya Sugawara]] - sided with Kanda in the matter. The issue eventually caused a divide in Real Hazard, with them on one side and Horiguchi, [[Susumu Yokosuka]] & [[Makoto Saito (wrestler)|K-ness]] on the other. In the midst of this, KAGETORA - who had rejoined Real Hazard a very short time ago - began to resent rejoining their ranks. A match was set for February 11 between Kzy and KAGETORA, where the loser would be kicked out of Real Hazard, and Kzy emerged victorious. The day before, Horiguchi, Yokosuka & K-ness left Real Hazard, and a couple of weeks later, he and the others in the stable retired the Real Hazard name and began calling their unit Deep Drunkers. On October 13, 2010, the Deep Drunkers were forced to split up, after losing a match against WORLD-1 (BxB Hulk, [[Masato Yoshino]] and Naruki Doi), but after the match Doi turned on WORLD-1 to form a new stable with Kzy, Kanda [[Naoki Tanizaki]] and Takuya Sugawara.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wrestleview.com/viewnews.php?id=1287180298|title=Viva La Raza! Lucha Weekly|date=2010-10-15|last=Boutwell|first=Josh|access-date=2010-10-28|work=WrestleView|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101216164710/http://www.wrestleview.com/viewnews.php?id=1287180298|archive-date=2010-12-16}}</ref> In December 2010 Kzy was sidelined with a leg injury. Meanwhile, his new stable merged themselves with CIMA's Warriors stable, forming a new top heel faction.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://iheartdg.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1294999601&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&|title=1/14 PRIMAL GATE, Metal Masks Revealed - 14 Jan 2011|date=2011-01-14|access-date=2011-01-14|work=iHEARTdg|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110713005210/http://iheartdg.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1294999601&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&|archive-date=13 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref> On January 18 the new group was named Blood Warriors.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://iheartdg.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1295338489&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&|title=1/18 PRIMAL GATE - 18 Jan 2011|date=2011-01-18|access-date=2011-01-18|work=iHEARTdg}}</ref> Kzy made his return on May 27, 2011, when he was revealed as the newest member of Blood Warriors and the replacement for Gamma, who had just been kicked out of the group.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://iheartdg.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1306491682&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&|title=5/27 AGGRESSIVE GATE - 27 May 2011|date=2011-05-27|access-date=2011-05-28|work=iHEARTdg}}</ref> On September 2, Kzy, Naoki Tanizaki and Naruki Doi defeated Gamma, Masato Yoshino and YAMATO to win the [[Dragon Gate Open the Triangle Gate Championship]]. They were stripped of the title on January 19, 2012, after Tanizaki was sidelined for six months with a shoulder injury. On March 1, the new leader of Blood Warriors, [[Akira Tozawa]], changed the stable's name to [[Mad Blankey]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://iheartdg.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1330594556&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&|title=3/1 Truth Gate Finale - 01 Mar 2012|date=2012-03-01|access-date=2012-03-04|work=iHeartDG|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120331225753/http://iheartdg.com/index.php?subaction=showfull&id=1330594556&archive=&start_from=&ucat=&|archive-date=31 March 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> On March 25, 2012, Kzy unsuccessfully challenged Ricochet for the [[Open the Brave Gate Championship]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.iheartdg.com/openthebravegate.html |title=Open the Brave Gate Championship |access-date=2014-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141228111351/http://www.iheartdg.com/openthebravegate.html |archive-date=2014-12-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  On December 9, Kzy, impostor Naoki Tanizaki and [[BxB Hulk]] unsuccessfully challenged [[Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!]], Ryo "Jimmy" Saito and Mr. Quu Quu Toyonaka Dolphin for the Dragon Gate Open the Triangle gate championship.  On April 12, 2013, Kzy unsuccessfully challenged Dragon Kid for the Open the Brave Gate championship.  On May 5, Kzy, Mondai Ryu and Uhaa Nation unsuccessfully challenged for the Open the Triangle Gate Championship in a 3-way 6-man tag match with Kzy getting his team eliminated by getting pinned by Dragon Kid.  On September 29, Kzy challenged for the vacant Open the Brave Gate championship in a losing effort to Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!. On February 20, 2014, Kzy, [[Naruki Doi]] and [[Cyber Kong]] challenged for the vacant Open the Triangle Gate championship in a losing effort to [[Jimmy Susumu]], [[Yasushi Kanda]] and Mr. Kyu Kyu Tanizaki Naoki Toyonaka Dolphin. On May 5, at Dragon Gate's Dead or Alive event Kzy was represented by Naruki Doi in a Lucha de Apuesta style cage match where if you don't get a flag the person your representing for gets their head shaved, Doi didn't capture a flag so Kzy had to get his head shaved.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://iheartdg.com/passion14.html |title=The Gate of Passion 2014 |access-date=2014-12-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141228111605/http://iheartdg.com/passion14.html |archive-date=2014-12-28 |url-status=dead }}</ref> On June 6, Kzy, Naruki Doi and Cyber Kong won the Open the Triangle gate championship in a 3-way 6-Man Tag match with Kzy pinning U-T after hitting his finisher Impact. On September 9 Kzy unsuccessfully challenged [[Flamita]] for the Open the Brave Gate championship. Kzy, Naruki Doi and Cyber Kong defended the triangle belts 3 times before losing the belts on October 9, to [[Cima (wrestler)|CIMA]], [[Gamma (wrestler)|Gamma]] and [[Don Fujii]] after Gamma hit Kzy with the Skytwister press.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iheartdg.com/openthetrianglegate.html |title=Open the Triangle Gate Championship |access-date=2015-05-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150308123538/http://iheartdg.com/openthetrianglegate.html |archive-date=2015-03-08 }}</ref> After losing the Triangle Belt Kzy was sidelined with an eye injury.

On January 12, 2015, Kzy, as the masked Dr. Muscle, defeated [[Eita Kobayashi|Eita]] in the finals of a tournament to win the vacant Open the Brave Gate Championship. He unmasked four days later, betraying Mad Blankey and jumping to Dia.Hearts. On February 28, Kzy lost the Open the Brave Gate Championship to Akira Tozawa. On February 4, 2016, Dia.HEARTS was forced to disband after he took the final fall in an elimination match which also included Monster Express and VerserK. On May 28, Kzy, along with BxB Hulk, YAMATO, and [[Yosuke♥Santa Maria]], formed a new unit named Tribe Vanguard.

==Championships and accomplishments==
*'''[[Dragon Gate (wrestling)|Dragon Gate]]'''
**[[Open the Brave Gate Championship]] ([[Open the Brave Gate Championship#Title history|2 times]])<ref name="Kzy profile">{{cite web|url=http://iheartdg.com/kzy.html|title=Kzy profile|publisher=iHeartDG.com|access-date=2015-01-26|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141231120104/http://iheartdg.com/kzy.html|archive-date=2014-12-31|url-status=dead}}</ref>
**[[Open the Triangle Gate Championship]] ([[Open the Triangle Gate Championship#Title history|9 times]])<ref name="Kzy profile"/> – with [[Takuya Sugawara]] and [[Yasushi Kanda]] (1), [[Naoki Tanizaki]] and [[Naruki Doi]] (1), [[Cyber Kong]] and Naruki Doi (1), [[BxB Hulk]] and [[Yamato (wrestler)|YAMATO]] (1), [[Genki Horiguchi]] and [[Susumu Yokosuka]] (2), [[U-T (wrestler)|U-T]] and [[Jacky Kamei|Jacky "Funky" Kamei]] (1), Big Boss Shimizu and Jacky "Funky" Kamei (1) and [[Flamita]] and [[Strong Machine J]] (1)
**[[Open the Twin Gate Championship]] ([[Open the Twin Gate Championship#History|2 times]]) – with [[Big R Shimizu|Big Boss Shimizu]] (1) and [[Flamita]] (1)
**[[King of Gate]] ([[King of Gate#2021|2021]])
**NEX-1 Tournament (2008)<ref name="Kzy profile" />
*'''''[[Pro Wrestling Illustrated]]'''''
** Ranked No. 130 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the ''[[Pro Wrestling Illustrated#PWI 500|PWI 500]]'' in 2021<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.profightdb.com/pwi-500/2021.html|title = Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2021 - the Internet Wrestling Database}}</ref>
* [[Pro Wrestling Noah|'''Pro Wrestling NOAH''']]
** [[GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship]] ([[GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship|1 time]]) - with [[Yo-Hey]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=GHC Junior Heavyweight tag team championship reign (Kzy & YO-HEY) |url=https://www.cagematch.net/?id=5&nr=143&page=5&reign=54 }}</ref>
* '''Ryukyu Dragon Pro Wrestling''' 
** Sou Ryuo Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with U-T<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sou Ryuo Tag Team championship Natural Vibes (Kzy & U-T) |url=https://www.cagematch.net/?id=5&nr=4813&page=5&reign=4 }}</ref>
===Luchas de Apuestas record===
{{See also|Lucha libre#Luchas de apuestas|l1=Luchas de Apuestas}}
{|class="wikitable sortable" width=100%  style="text-align: center"
!width=20% scope="col"|Winner (wager)
!width=20% scope="col"|Loser (wager)
!width=20% scope="col"|Location
!width=20% scope="col"|Event
!width=15% scope="col"|Date
!class="unsortable" width=5% scope="col"|Notes
|-
|Kzy (hair) || Kotoka (hair) || Sapporo, Japan || Live event || {{dts|2010|12|05}} || <ref group=Note>Hair vs. Hair Captain's Fall Tag Team Match, where Kzy teamed with [[Yasushi Kanda]] and Kotoka with [[BxB Hulk]].</ref>
|}

==Notes==
{{reflist|group=Note}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20090414132037/http://dgusa.puroresufan.com/mckz.html m.c.KZ profile on Dragon Gate USA]
*[http://spora.jp/kzy/　Kzy　Official blog]

{{Navboxes|
|list1=
{{Dragon Gate employees}}
{{GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship}}
{{King of Gate}}
{{Open the Brave Gate Championship}}
{{Open the Triangle Gate Championship}}
{{Open the Twin Gate Championship}}
}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kzy}}
[[Category:Japanese male professional wrestlers]]
[[Category:1986 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Ebetsu, Hokkaido]]
[[Category:21st-century male professional wrestlers]]
[[Category:21st-century Japanese professional wrestlers]]
[[Category:Open the Brave Gate Champions]]
[[Category:Open the Triangle Gate Champions]]
[[Category:Open the Twin Gate Champions]]
[[Category:GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions]]
[[Category:King of Gate winners]]