Akihito Nishigaki (西垣彰人 Nishigaki Akihito, born February 28, 1987) is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Akito (彰人). He currently works for DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT), where he is a former two-times DDT Extreme Division Champion and a former two-times Ironman Heavymmetal Champion. Akito also competed on DDT's sub-brand New Beijing Pro Wrestling (NBPW), where he is a former one-time Big China Unified Nakahara Tag Team Champion alongside Cho-un Shiryu.
Professional wrestling career
Early career
Akito was trained under Hakaru Imai and the Sportiva Dojo. He would eventually made is debut on November 23, 2009 losing to the veteran Shinjiro Otani at Pro Wrestling Zero1. He would then compete throughout extensively across the japanese independent circuit including promotions like Big Japan Pro Wrestling, BattlARTS, Style-E Pro Wrestling, and Osaka Pro Wrestling. He would then move on to compete for Dramatic Dream Team.
DDT Pro-Wrestling (2010-Present)
Akito made his unofficial debut DDT Pro-Wrestling on March 3, 2010. His official debut took place on March 10 teaming with Toru Sugiura losing Gota Ihashi and Tomomitsu Matsunaga. On October 30, 2011 Akito took part of a 1º contendership match to the KO-D Tag Team Championship teaming with Soma Takao in a losing effort against Antonio Honda and Yasu Urano. Akito also debuted a chinese gimmick named Cao Zhang. On April 29 Zhang won his first championship title alongside Cho-un Shiryu to become the first Big China Unified Nakahara Tag Team Champions. They lost the titles to Munenori Sawa and Sanshiro Takagi. On November 27 Akito joined the Homoiro Clover Z stable winning a battle royal to become the newest member of the stable. On July 29, 2012 Akito defeated Hiroshi Fukuda to win the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship. The title had a 24/7 rule, where it could be won anytime and anywhere. During Akito celebration Cho-un Shiryu pinned Akito to loose in newly won Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship. On August 26, DDT General Manager Amon Tsurumi ordered all stables in the promotion disbanded. In Homoiro Clover Z's farewell match on September 19, Akito, Danshoku Dino and Kota Ibushi defeated their stablemates Kudo, Hiroshi Fukuda and Makoto Oishi.
In January Akito formed a team with Makoto Oishi and Sanshiro Takagi dubbed as "Team Castle" took part of a tournament to crown the first KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions. They ended up making into the finals losing to Team Dream Futures (Keisuke Ishii, Shigehiro Irie and Soma Takao). On March 21 Akito won the Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere contract. However he lost the contract Oishi. On May 26, 2013 Akito made his last match under the affiliation of Sportiva Entertaniment. Afterwards he announced that he was going to sign full-time with DDT. On June 28 Akito took part of the 2013 King of DDT, losing to Hikaru Sato at the first round. On March 21, 2014 Akito won the Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere contract. Akito cashed in his contract on April, 29 unsucessfully challenging Kudo for the KO-D Openweight Championship.
In May, Akito formed a stable alongside HARASHIMA and Yasu Urano named Smile Squash. Then Akito and Urano received a shot for the All Asia Tag Team Championship unsucessfully challenging Ishii and Irie on May 25. On November 28 Akito defeated Danshoku Dino to win the DDT Extreme Division Championship. He lost the title to Shiori Asahi on February 15, only to regain it on March 29. Akito lost the title on July 19 to Antonio Honda. On December 23 Akito unsucessfully challenged Kendo Kashin for the DDT Extreme Division Championship. On April 24, 2016 Akito and Urano won a four-way match to become the 1º contenders to the KO-D Tag Team Championship. This led on May 15 Akito and Urano unsucessfully challenging Daisuke Sasaki and Shuji Ishikawa for the titles. In August Akito won the Fluorescent Lighttubes IPPON Grand Prix defeating Isami Kodaka in the finals.
In March 2017 Akito left Smile Squash stating that he wanted development as a wrestler when he is on his own. Then on April 8 Akito won the Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere contract and later that night he cashed in his contract on Konosuke Takeshita. However Takeshita managed to retain the KO-D Openweight Championship. After the match, Daisuke Sasaki and Tetsuya Endo offered Akito to join DAMNATION, but he refused. This led Sasaki and Endo attacking Akito until Takeshita made the save. Then Akito and Takeshita formed a new tag team named "All Out". During the King of DDT Akito pinned the DDT Extreme Division Champion Daisuke Sasaki. After the match Sasaki left the title in the ring. Then Sasaki accused Akito of stealing the title. Afterwards the two agreed in championship match where their hairs would be on the line. On August 20 at DDT's 20th anniversary show, Akito unsuccessfully challenged Sasaki in a Cabellera Contra Cabellera (Hair vs. Hair) match, forcing Akito to have his head shaved afterwards.
In wrestling
- Finishing moves
- Ankle lock
- Triangle Scorpion (No-hands Sasori-gatame)
- Running knee strike
- Finishing moves
- Belly-to-back suplex
- Dragon Screw
- Elbow Drop
- Hanamasa (Inverted facelock lifted and dropped into a sitout scoop slam piledriver)
- Kinniku-Daido (Muscle buster into a Sitout spinebuster)
- Samotorake no Nike (Chickenwing facebuster)
- Sasorigatame (Sharpshooter)
- Suishaotoshi (Double underhook suplex)
- Nicknames
- "Nagoya Wrestling Star"
- Entrance themes
- "Hero’s Come Back!!" by nobodyknows+
Championships and accomplishments
- Dramatic Dream Team
- DDT Extreme Division Championship (2 times)
- Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (2 times)
- Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere (2013,2014,2017)
- Fluorescent Lighttubes IPPON Grand Prix (2016)
- New Beijing Pro Wrestling
- Big China Unified Nakahara Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Cho-un Shiryu
- Kaientai Dojo
- Bo-So Golden Tag Tournament (2013) – with Taishi Takizawa
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- PWI ranked him #264 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2015
- Other
- Wakao League (2011)
Luchas de Apuestas record
| Winner (wager) | Loser (wager) | Location | Event | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daisuke Sasaki (hair) | Akito (hair) | Tokyo | Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2017 | August 20, 2017 | [Note 1] |
Footnotes
- ↑ This match was also contested for the DDT Extreme Division Championship.