Yoshi Tatsu is a ECW superstar who was born Naofumi Yamamoto in Gifu, Japan in 1977. He began training at the New Japan Pro Wrestling Dojo before making his debut in New Japan Pro in 2002.

During his early days in NJPW, Tatsu would work low to mid card matches to gain experience in the industry. He partcipated in numerous tournaments where he would win some matches but was never able to win any of thise tournaments. In 2006, Tatsu teamed up with Manabu Nakanishi to defeat Travis Tomko and Giant Bernard (formerly A-Train in WWE) for their their victory in G1 Climax Tag League. Tatsu would see Tomko and Bernard again as he and his tag patner Hiroshi Tanahashi, called the New Japan Dragons, challenged for the IWGP Tag Team Championship in the summer of 2007 but were unsuccesful. He wrestled his last match in NJPW in November 2007 teaming with his mentor Yuji Nagata in a tag match in a losing effort.

In late 2007, he was signed by the WWE and relocated to the United States. He was sent to Florida Championship Wrestling to learn the "WWE Style" of wrestling.  After many names and name changes, he settled on Yohi Tatsu. He debuted on ECW in June of 2009 and defeated Shelton Benjain in his first match although Benjamin gained revenge the following week. In October, he beat Zack Ryder to become the number one contender to the ECW Championship but ultimately could not beat Christian in the his only title match so far.