The character was created by Gary Hart,[3] based on an old gimmick used by Filipino wrestler Rey Urbano, a former partner of Hasegawa's in the U.S.[4] Kabuki kept his hair in a mop cut which kept his facial features mostly hidden; he also painted his face.

Hart explained that his face was scarred in a bed of hot coals during a match with Tiger Jeet Singh in Singapore.

In WCCW, he joined H & H Limited while managed by Arman Hussein and Gary Hart and tagged with masked wrestler Magic Dragon while building on his singles work.

In the early 1980s, the Kabuki character would sometimes be portrayed by wrestler Kazuharu Sonoda, who had been Mera's teammate Magic Dragon in the WCCW.

Some of Kabuki's major feuds were against Jimmy Valiant, Scott Casey, Abdullah the Butcher, Dusty Rhodes, Toshiaki Kawada, Chris Adams, Genichiro Tenryu, Bruiser Brody, and the Fabulous Freebirds.

On July 20, he would main event at the Tokyo Korakuen Hall in IWA Japan by teaming up with Kendo Nagasaki to wrestle Keisuke Yamada and Shigeo Okumura; his last bout in the independent circuit.

On August 8 he teamed up with The Great Muta to defeat Michiyoshi Ohara and Tatsutoshi Goto for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, one of the major Japanese circuits.

September 7 was the grand finale for Kabuki, as he teamed up with Terry Funk and Doug Gilbert to defeat Freddy Kruger, Leatherface, and Metalface - symbolically his last match involving foreign wrestlers.