is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). In NJPW, he is a former one-time IWGP Tag Team Champion and a two-time World Tag League winner with Togi Makabe. Professional wrestling career Big Japan Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling (1997–2007) During his second year of high school, Honma initially had aspirations of joining the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) dojo and took part in a tryout, but was unsuccessful and sought training elsewhere. He eventually trained with Michinoku Pro Wrestling for 1 year, but did not debut in Michinoku Pro and instead spent his early career in Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), debuting for the promotion in May 1997. After spending time wrestling in opening matches for the promotion, Honma began to compete in BJW's deathmatch division. While a part of BJW, he became the first wrestler to use a lightube in a match, an item that has since become synonymous with deathmatch wrestling worldwide. In October 2000, Honma left BJW after disagreements with company management. After touring with various independent promotions such as IWA Japan, Onita Pro, and Rainbow Pro, Honma debuted in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) on November 24, 2001, against Nobukazu Hirai. Honma was invited by owner Motoko Baba to join the promotion, and signed a full-time contract with the company in March 2002. In February 2003, he formed Turmeric Storm with Kazushi Miyamoto, but the team later disbanded on April 20, 2004, after losing a trial series. In 2005, Honma became affiliated with Kensuke Sasaki's Kensuke Office agency in an effort to further improve his career. A severe neck injury kept him out of action throughout much of early 2006, but he returned in March of that same year. Honma announced his departure from AJPW on April 28, 2006, and became a freelancer. Throughout 2006, he worked for Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max and King's Road, where he reformed Turmeric Storm with Kazushi Miyamoto. On September 24, 2006, Tomoaki Honma and Jun Kasai won Apache Pro-Wrestling Army's WEW World Tag Team Championship from Takashi Sasaki and Badboy Hido. The team vacated the championship on February 20, 2007. New Japan Pro-Wrestling GBH and departure (2006–2013) Throughout 2006, Honma appeared in New Japan Pro-Wrestling's (NJPW) Wrestle Land sub-brand as "Makai Masked Canadian", a masked member of the Makai Club faction. Honma participated in the 2007 New Japan Cup tournament, falling to veteran Takashi Iizuka