MaxiMuM

MaxiMuM (マクシマム), sometimes shortened to MMM, is a professional wrestling stable in the Japanese promotion Dragon Gate formed on April 7, 2017, by Ben-K, Big R Shimizu, Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino. On May 4, they would be joined by Kotoka, revealing the unit name, making their unit official in the process. They were formed after the disbanding of Monster Express and after Naruki Doi was kicked out of VerserK.

While part of the stable Ben-K, and Shimizu hold the Open The Twin Gate Championship and with Doi the Open The Triangle Gate Championship and Yoshino the Open The Dream Gate Championship. Also Doi, Yoshino and Jason Lee held the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. Lee was added to MaxiMuM on November 8, 2017. Kotoka left MaxiMuM on March 6, 2018, after making his retirement match. Yoshino as also won the 2018 King of Gate.

Formation (2016–2017)
On October 12, 2016 VerserK were able to defeat Monster Express in a 5 vs 4 Loser Revival Captains Fall match, forcing Monster Express to disband. During the match, Dr. Muscle, who had cost El Lindaman his Open The Brave Gate Championship title match against Eita earlier in the night, attacked T-Hawk and caused him to be eliminated. He would unmask to reveal himself as a returning Kotoka who turned face and defected from VerserK in the process. After the match, T-Hawk would attack Naruki Doi, kicking him out of the VerserK and later Yoshino offered some support but at the time Doi refused.

After that, Doi became a tweener, and once again began teaming with his longtime partner Masato Yoshino. Meanwhile, Kotoka tried to return to VerserK by challenging El Lindaman to Loser Leaves unit match but ended with Shingo Takagi smashing a chair to his face and the rest of VerserK also jumped on him from behind. Later Kotoka blamed T-Hawk and Lindaman for changing VerserK. He would then cost VerserK their matches and aligned with Doi who also was kicked out of VerserK and Yoshino who also wanted revenge on VerserK for disbanding Monster Express. The three would then face VerserK members (Takagi, T-Hawk, and Lindaman) in a match but ended up losing to them. Then Kotoka and Yoshino would form an alliance with Ben-K. The trio took part in the New Years Unit War 6 Man Tag Team Tournament and even got to the finals but losing again to VerserK members (Takagi, T-Hawk, and Lindaman). After the match, VerserK attacked Kotoka, Yoshino, and Ben-K until Dr. Muscle who later revealed to be Doi made the save and the four made an alliance against VerserK. Later Yoshino and Kotoka were sidelined with injuries and Doi agreed to wait until Yoshino came back, in which would start teasing the return of Speed Muscle. Later Doi and Ben-K would form an alliance with Big R Shimizu and three would win the vacant Open The Triangle Gate Championship by defeating VerserK members (Takagi, T-Hawk and "brother" YASSHI).

On April 7, 2017, Ben-K, Shimizu and Doi successfully defended the Open The Triangle Gate Champions against Jimmyz (Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!, Jimmy Susumu and Ryo "Jimmy" Saito). After the match, Ben-K, Shimizu, Doi and the returning Masato Yoshino announced the formation of a new unit. On May 4 Kotoka would join in with the five unveiling that unit would be named MaxiMuM.

Feud with Jimmyz (2017)
The unit's official match took place at Dead Or Alive event on May 5, where the team of Yoshino, Kotoka, Shimizu and Ben-K were defeated by the Jimmyz team of Susumu, Saito, Horiguchi&and Jimmy K-ness J.K.S. After the match, Jimmyz attacked them with Genki Horiguchi saying that Jimmyz will show them the difference between amateurs and professionals. After the attack, Yoshino said that Jimmyz were MaxiMuM's first target. Thus leading a feud between the two stables. Later that night, Doi failed to capture the Open The Dream Gate Championship from YAMATO at the Dead or Alive Steel Cage match, due to Jimmyz member Ryo "Jimmy" Saito accidentally hitting him with a cannon of confetti, which caused him to be eliminated.

The following weeks MaxiMuM and Jimmyz would face in various six-man tag team matches and even both stables attacked each other. Doi and Yoshino even made their tag team match return defeating Ryo "Jimmy" Saito and Jimmy Susumu in their return match. Kotoka would pin both Saito and Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!. Following a six-man tag team match between Kotoka, Yoshino and Ben-K and Masaaki Mochizuki and Jimmyz (Ryo “Jimmy” Saito and Jimmy Kagetora), where MaxiMuM won with Kotoka pinning Saito, the two units would confront and attack each other, then Dragon Gate general manager Takayuki Yagi would set up a ten-man tag team match with the Naniwa Elimination Rules where MaxiMuM would face Jimmyz members (Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!, Jimmy Kanda, Jimmy K-ness J.K.S., Jimmy Susumu and Ryo “Jimmy” Saito) with Kotoka and Horiguchi as captains for their team and the match was set to be on July 6.

During this feud with the Jimmyz Ben-K, Shimizu and Doi would take part in the King of Gate, Shimizu at block A, Ben-K on block B and Doi on block C. Shimizu would finish the tournament with 5 points, Ben-K would finish the tournament with 2 points and Doi would finish the tournament with 7 points defeating Open The Brave Gate Champion Jimmy Kagetora on the final day, advancing to the semifinals. Doi would then defeat Shingo Takagi to get into the finals. On June 11 Doi failed to defeat T-Hawk in the finals of the King of Gate. On July 1 Doi, Ben-K and Shimizu lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to Takashi Yoshida, El Lindaman and Shingo Takagi. On July 6 MaxiMuM would defeat Jimmyz in the Naniwa Elimination Rules match winning them by 4-3 with Kotoka pinning Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!! to win the match. This would lead to MaxiMuM taking part of the 5 Unit Survival Race where the losing unit would be forced to disband. MaxiMuM managed to survive after getting seventeen wins and fourteen losses.

Championship Pursuits (2017–present)
On July 23 at the Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival, MaxiMuM ended up losing their matches with Ben-K, Kotoka and Shimizu lost to the Jimmyz in the finals of a tournament for the 1 contender for the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. Later that night, Doi and Yoshino unsuccessfully challenged CIMA and Dragon Kid for the Open The Twin Gate Championship. As part of MaxiMuM Ben-K and Shimizu formed a tag team named "Big Ben", unsuccessfully challenging CK-1 for the Open The Twin Gate Championship on November 3 at Gate of Destiny. On November 8 Jason Lee joined MaxiMuM after accepting Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino's offer to join them. On November 3, at Gate of Destiny, Yoshino, Doi and Kotoka unsuccessfully challenged VerserK (Shingo Takagi, Takashi Yoshida and El Lindaman) for the Open The Triangle Gate Championship in a Three-way six-man elimination tag team match also involving Tribe Vanguard (YAMATO, BxB Hulk and Kzy), with Kotoka being pinned by BxB Hulk after a First Flash.

On December 23 at Final Gate Doi, Yoshino and Lee defeated Tribe Vanguard (YAMATO, BxB Hulk and Kzy) to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. On March 6, 2018 ,Kotoka made his retirement match defeating his younger brother Oji, thus leaving MaxiMuM. On May 6, at Dead or Alive, Ben-K and Shimizu defeated Eita and T-Hawk to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship. Later that night, Doi, Yoshino, and Lee lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to Natural Vibes (Kzy, Genki Horiguchi and Susumu Yokosuka). Following the Dead or Alive, all members of MaxiMuM took part in the King of Gate, Ben-K in block A, Shimizu and Lee in block B, Doi in block C and Yoshino in block D. Ben-K entered his last round-robin matches with a chance to advance to the semifinals, but was eliminated after losing to YAMATO. Shimizu finished his tournament with a record of one win and four losses and Lee with two wins and two losses, with Shimizu winning the head-to-head match between the two. This led to Shimizu being announced to take part in a tournament to decide the last placed wrestler in the tournament. Meanwhile, Doi and Yoshino win their respective blocks, Doi won his block with a clean record of four wins and zero losses, while Yoshino finished the tournament with a record of two wins, one loss, and one draw, advancing both to the semifinals of the tournament. On June 1, Doi lost to YAMATO in the semifinals. Meanwhile, Yoshino defeated Takashi Yoshida to advance to the finals of the tournament. On June 9, Yoshino defeated YAMATO in the finals to become the first wrestler to win the King of Gate for the second time. The following day, Yoshino defeated Masaaki Mochizuki to win the Open The Dream Gate Championship.

In wrestling

 * Double team finishing moves
 * Doi and Yoshino
 * Torbellino (Yoshino) /Bakatare Sliding Kick (Doi)
 * Ben-K and Shimizu
 * Pop-up (Shimizu) into a spear (Ben-K)
 * Ben-K's Finishing moves
 * Backdrop Hold (Bridging belly-to-back suplex)
 * Ben-K Bomb (Deadlift gutwrench powerbomb)
 * Bearhug
 * Doi's Finishing moves
 * Bakatare Sliding Kick (Running single leg dropkick to the face of a kneeling opponent)
 * Muscular Bomb (Half nelson lifted and dropped into a wheelbarrow driver)
 * Kotoka's Finishing moves
 * Caldera (Diving single foot stomp)
 * Momo☆Latch (Hurricanrana twisted into a victory roll)
 * Lee's Finishing moves
 * German Suplex
 * Yoshino's Finishing moves
 * Lightning Spiral (Swinging leg hook fireman's carry slam, sometimes from the top rope)
 * Sol Naciente (Straight jacket triangle choke)
 * Sol Naciente Kai (Straight jacket triangle choke while trapping the opponent's legs)
 * Shimizu's Finishing moves
 * Shot-put Slam (Chokeslam)
 * OTAKEBI (Diving Body Splash)
 * Big R Press (Diving Body Press)
 * Nicknames
 * "Young MaxiMuM" (Ben-K, Kotoka and Shimizu)
 * Entrance themes
 * "1st FINGER" by 21g

Championships and accomplishments

 * Dragon Gate
 * Open The Dream Gate Championship (1 time, current) – Yoshino
 * Open The Twin Gate Championship (1 time, current) – Ben-K and Shimizu
 * Open The Triangle Gate Championship (2 times) – Ben-K, Doi and Shimizu (1) and Doi, Yoshino and Lee (1)
 * King of Gate (2018) – Yoshino

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