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Yoshiki Inamura

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Yoshiki Inamura
Inamura in May 2023
Born (1992-11-18) November 18, 1992 (age 32)[1]
Ōtawara, Japan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)
  • Yoshiki Inamura
  • Yoichi
Billed height182 cm (6 ft 0 in)[2]
Billed weight120 kg (265 lb)
Debut2018

Yoshiki Inamura (稲村 愛輝, Inamura Yoshiki, born November 18, 1992) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working for Pro Wrestling Noah and WWE under their NXT brand.

Professional wrestling career

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Independent circuit (2018–present)

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In Big Japan Pro Wrestling, he competed in the 2020 edition of the Ikkitousen Strong Climb where he fought in the A block and scored a total of four points after going against Daichi Hashimoto, Ryuichi Kawakami, T-Hawk and Akira Hyodo.

Between September 2023 and May 2024, Inamura competed in an overseas excursion, wrestling for European promotions such as Progress Wrestling and Westside Xtreme Wrestling. On April 5, 2024, he defeated Ricky Knight Jr. to win the PROGRESS Atlas Championship. However, on May 27, 2024, he lost the title to Axel Tischer in what became his final match in Europe before returning to Japan.

Pro Wrestling Noah (2018–present)

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Inamura made his professional wrestling debut in Pro Wrestling Noah on August 5 at NOAH Departure 2018 where he competed in a battle royal won by Kaito Kiyomiya and also involving Atsushi Kotoge, Daisuke Harada, Junta Miyawaki, Masao Inoue, Mohammed Yone, Quiet Storm, Seiya Morohashi, Tadasuke, Yoshinari Ogawa, and three Chinese developmental wrestlers coming in as guest competitors Chang Jian Feng, Lin Dong Xuan and Sun Yi Lin.[3]

Inamura competed in various of the promotion's signature events. At the N-1 Victory, Noah's biggest yearly event, he made his first appearance at the 2020 edition where he placed himself in the block B, failing to score any points after competing against Katsuhiko Nakajima, Takashi Sugiura, Kenoh, Naomichi Marufuji and Shuhei Taniguchi.[4] Another signature even in which he competed is the Global Tag League, where he made his first appearance at the 2019 edition in which he teamed up with Masa Kitamiya and scored a total of four points after competing against the teams of Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kazma Sakamoto and Takashi Sugiura, Kaito Kiyomiya and Kenoh, Maybach Taniguchi and Yuji Hino, Akitoshi Saito and Masao Inoue, Atsushi Kotoge and Mitsuya Nagai, and Muhammad Yone and Quiet Storm.[5] At the 2020 edition, Inamura teamed up with Daisuke Sekimoto and fought in the block B, where they scored a total of two points after going against Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima, Takashi Sugiura and Hideki Sekine, and Akitoshi Saito and Masao Inoue.[6] Inamura has been a member of the Kongo stable since 2019.

Inamura competed in various pay-per-view events hosted by the company. At CyberFight Festival 2021 on June 6, he teamed up with Kaito Kiyomiya in a losing effort against The 37Kamiina (Konosuke Takeshita and Yuki Ueno).[7] At Noah Dream On Final 2022 on May 21, he teamed up with Kai Fujimura to defeat and Daiki Inaba and Junta Miyawaki.[8] At CyberFight Festival 2022 on June 12, he teamed up with Katsuhiko Nakajima and Atsushi Kotoge to defeat Burning (Tetsuya Endo and Jun Akiyama) and Kazusada Higuchi.[9] At Noah Destination 2022 on July 16, Inamura teamed up with Masa Kitamiya as "The Tough" in a losing effort against Sugiura-gun (Hideki Suzuki and Timothy Thatcher).[10] At Noah Departure 2022 on August 5, he fell short to Kinya Okada in an N-1 Victory qualification match.[11] At Noah Grand Ship In Nagoya 2022 on September 25, he and Kitamiya defeated Funky Express (Akitoshi Saito and Mohammed Yone).[12] At Noah Ariake Triumph 2022 on October 30, he teamed up with Keiji Mutoh and Naomichi Marufuji to defeat Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma) and Hiroshi Tanahashi.[13] At Noah Global Honored Crown 2022 on November 10, he teamed up with Kai Fujimura to defeat Daishi Ozawa and Yasutaka Yano.[14] At Noah The Best 2022 on November 23, he unsuccessfully challenged El Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. for the GHC National Championship.[15]

At Noah The New Year 2023 on January 1, he teamed up with Daiki Inaba and Masa Kitamiya to defeat Akitoshi Saito, Muhammad Yone, and Shuhei Taniguchi.[16] At The Great Muta Final "Bye-Bye" on January 22, he teamed up with Daiki Inaba and Masa Kitamiya in a losing effort against Good Looking Guys (Jake Lee, Jack Morris and Anthony Greene).[17] At Noah Great Voyage in Osaka 2023 on February 12, he is scheduled to team up with Masato Tanaka and Masaaki Mochizuki in a losing effort against Sugiura-gun (Timothy Thatcher, Kazuyuki Fujita and Hideki Suzuki).[18]

Following a winless record of 0-7 in the N-1 VICTORY 2023, on August 27, 2023, Inamura stated backstage that he would embark on an excursion to the United Kingdom in an effort to "break through the current situation."[19]

On June 16, 2024, at Noah Grand Ship in Yokohama, Inamura made his return to Noah after a nine-month absence, reintroducing himself under the persona "YOICHI" to a Japanese audience for the first time. The character, inspired by Nasu no Yoichi, a legendary archer from his hometown, was revealed following Kaito Kiyomiya's successful defense of the GHC Heavyweight Championship.[20][21]

On July 13, 2024, at Noah Destination 2024 main event, YOICHI challenged Kaito Kiyomiya for the GHC Heavyweight Championship but his challenge ended in defeat. After the match, he commented, "YOICHI is over," and competed in the following month's N-1 VICTORY as his former persona, Yoshiki Inamura, finishing with a record of 3 wins and 4 losses.[22]

On September 8, 2024, at the Noah London tour event, following his defeat in the PROGRESS World Championship match, he announced that he would resume his overseas excursion.[23]

Pro Wrestling Zero1 (2021–2023)

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Inamura has competed in Pro Wrestling Zero1 as a partnership talent between them and Noah. He competed in the Fire Festival, the biggest yearly tournament of the promotion in which he made his first appearance at the 2021 edition where he fought in the Block A and scored a total of fifteen points after going against Shinjiro Otani, Masato Tanaka, Hartley Jackson, Fuminori Abe and Tsugutaka Sato.[24] At the 2022 edition, he fought in the Block B where he scored a total of eighteen points against Satsuki Nagao, Takafumi, Hide Kubota and Masato Tanaka, and then made it to the finals where he fell short to Daisuke Sekimoto.[25]

New Japan Pro Wrestling (2022–2023)

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Inamura competed in New Japan Pro Wrestling's Wrestle Kingdom series of events due to the partnership between Noah and NJPW. He made his first appearance at Wrestle Kingdom 16 where he teamed up with Daisuke Harada, Hajime Ohara, Daiki Inaba and Kinya Okada in a losing effort against Chaos (Tomohiro Ishii, Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi) and Six or Nine (Master Wato and Ryusuke Taguchi).[26] One year later at Wrestle Kingdom 17, he teamed up with Kaito Kiyomiya in a losing effort against Kazuchika Okada and Togi Makabe.[27]

WWE (2024–present)

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On November 6, 2024, NOAH announced that Inamura had begun an overseas excursion to NXT.[28] WWE executive Shawn Michaels also welcomed Inamura to NXT and expressed his anticipation for the growing cooperative relationship between NOAH and NXT.[29] He made his first TV appearance on NXT on November 12.[30]

Championships and accomplishments

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References

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  1. ^ Saalbach, Axel. "Yoshiki Inamura • General Information". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  2. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Yoshiki Inamura/Career Data". cagematch.de (in German). Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  3. ^ Dark Angelita (August 10, 2018). "NOAH:"Departure 2018" HAYATA y YO-HEY son el mejor equipo Jr". superluchas.com (in Spanish). Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  4. ^ Völsch, Paul (October 12, 2020). "NOAH N-1 VICTORY 2020 FINAL RESULTS & REVIEW". voicesofwrestling.com. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  5. ^ "『GLOBAL TAG LEAGUE 2019』出場チーム、公式戦日程決定！". プロレスリング・ノア公式サイト. 11 March 2019.
  6. ^ Dark Angel (April 22, 2020). "NOAH: "Global Tag League 2020" Grand Final – Historic Mexican-Canadian triumph". superluchas.com. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  7. ^ Voices Of Wrestling Stuff (June 6, 2021). "CYBERFIGHT FESTIVAL 2021 (JUNE 6) RESULTS & REVIEW". voicesofwrestling.com. Retrieved January 18, 2023.
  8. ^ Dark Angel (May 25, 2022). "NOAH: «Dream On 2022 Final» The return of Mutoh, new couples monarchs". superluchas.com. Retrieved January 2, 2023.
  9. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (June 12, 2022). "CyberFight Festival 2022 Results (6/12): DDT, NOAH, TJPW, NJPW Talent In Action". fightful.com. Retrieved July 6, 2022.
  10. ^ Di Trolio, Gerard (July 16, 2022). "NOAH DESTINATION 2022 (JULY 16) RESULTS & REVIEW". voicesofwrestling.com. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  11. ^ Dark Angel (August 8, 2022). "NOAH: «Departure 2022» HAYATA retains; Son of the Saint triumphs in his debut". superluchas.com. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  12. ^ Pollock, John (September 25, 2022). "POST PURORESU: Burning Spirit, Kiyomiya wins title, AJPW 50th Anniversary". postwrestling.com. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  13. ^ Lambert, Jeremy (October 30, 2022). "Pro Wrestling NOAH Ariake Triumph Results (10/30): New GHC Junior Heavyweight Champ, NJPW Stars Compete". fightful.com. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
  14. ^ Carlan, Lewis (November 10, 2022). "Pro Wrestling NOAH "Global Honored Crown" Results (11/10/22), 3 Title Changes". pwmania.com. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
  15. ^ Black, Ethan (November 23, 2022). "Pro Wrestling Noah The Best Results – November 23, 2022". pwmania.com. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  16. ^ Rose, Bryan (January 1, 2023). "NOAH The New Year notes: Jake Lee, Hiroshi Hase, new champions crowned". f4wonline.com. Retrieved January 1, 2023.
  17. ^ Fritts, Chick (January 22, 2023). "Great Muta Final Bye-Bye live results: Muta, Sting & Darby Allin trios match/Kazushi Sakuraba takes on Hideki Suzuki in a GHC martial arts rules match". f4wonline.com. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
  18. ^ Carlan, Lewis (January 10, 2023). "Huge Title Match Set For Pro Wrestling NOAH Great Voyage 2023". pwmania.com. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  19. ^ "稲村愛輝、「Ｎ―１」全敗で英国での武者修行を決意…「納得するまで戻って来ない」…８・２７かわさき". スポーツ報知 (in Japanese). 2023-08-27. Retrieved 2024-11-16.
  20. ^ "「ＧＨＣヘビー」初挑戦のＹＯＩＣＨＩ、単独直撃で激白したノアの「未来」…「全体を自分の空気に巻き込んで共に上がっていく」…７・１３日本武道館". スポーツ報知 (in Japanese). 2024-07-13. Retrieved 2024-11-16.
  21. ^ "稲村愛輝 選手紹介 | プロレスリング・ノア公式サイト | PRO-WRESTLING NOAH OFFICIAL SITE". www.noah.co.jp (in Japanese). Retrieved 2024-11-16.
  22. ^ "【ノア】ＹＯＩＣＨＩは終わり！ 稲村愛輝に戻りＮ―１出場". 東スポWEB (in Japanese). 2024-07-14. Retrieved 2024-11-16.
  23. ^ "9/9【NOAH】プログレス王座奪取ならず…稲村が海外修行再開宣言「もっと世界を肌で体感したい」…|プロレス格闘技DX". dx-sp.gsj.bz. Retrieved 2024-11-16.
  24. ^ Dark angel (June 22, 2021). "Zero1: Calendar of meetings «Fire Festival 2021»". superluchas.com. Retrieved July 8, 2021.
  25. ^ Dark Angel (August 5, 2022). "Zero1: "Fire Festival 2022" Grand Final – Daisuke Sekimoto takes the sword of fire". superluchas.com. Retrieved January 28, 2023.
  26. ^ "2022.01.08 Wrestle Kingdom 16 in Yokohama Arena | New Japan Pro-Wrestling". NJPW. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  27. ^ "2023.01.21 Wrestle Kingdom 17 in Yokohama Arena". New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Retrieved January 21, 2023.
  28. ^ "プロレスリング・ノア ｜PRO WRESTLING NOAH(@noah_ghc). X. November, 6, 2024. Retrieved November, 17, 2024".
  29. ^ "Shawn Michaels(@ShawnMichaels). X. November, 6, 2024. Retrieved November, 17, 2024".
  30. ^ "Yoshiki Inamura Appears On WWE NXT | Fightful News". www.fightful.com. Retrieved 2024-11-16.
  31. ^ Ross, Patrick (September 10, 2024). "Full 2024 PWI 500 list revealed". aiptcomics.com. Retrieved September 13, 2024.
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