Daiki Inaba

Daiki Inaba
Born	February 28, 1988 (1988-02-28)
	Yamagata, Kumamoto, Japan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Daiki Inaba Tokyo Inaba Hiroki Inaba America VIP
Height	1.72 m (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	82 kg (181 lb)
Trained By	Emile Dupree Keiji Mutoh El Pantera
Debut	May 3, 2013

Daiki Inaba (稲葉 大樹, Inaba Daiki, born February 28, 1988) is a Japanese professional wrestler who works as a freelancer. He his best known for time in the Wrestle-1 promotion, where he wasa former two-times Wrestle-1 Champion, a one time Wrestle-1 Tag Team Champion, a former two-times UWA World Trios Champion and the winner of 2019 Wrestle-1 Grand Prix. Inaba was one of a few trainees who left All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) to follow Keiji Mutoh's new promotion Wrestle-1.

Inaba also competed in Canada at Altantice Grand Prix Wrestling and Mexico at International Wrestling Revolution Group. Inaba when he made his professional wrestling debut in Canada.

Early Life

Inaba has a history of training in judo from back when he was in school.

Professional wrestling career

All Japan Pro Wrestling (2012–2013)

He was accepted to the All Japan Pro Wrestling dojo after he passed an audition that took place in January of 2012. He would remain under training for almost a year and a half and would embark on his first overseas expedition in April of 2013 as he went to Canada. While he was in Japan he would make his professional debut in the Altantice Grand Prix Wrestling against Bobby Sharp on May 24, 2013. Inaba would compete in Canada with face paint much like his mentor Keiji Mutoh or Great Muta, did back when he competed in North America. Inaba was noted as being more than ready for his debut and gained a bit of notoriety amongst some of his peers, namely the man he debuted against Bobby Sharp and even René Duprée. Inaba would then follow Seiya Sanada, who was with him in Canada, to Mexico and he would train some there with another Japanese wrestler in Andy Wu, who was already training and competing there.

Wrestle-1 (2013–Present)

He would return to Japan in September and would make his official debut in Japan for Wrestle-1 on September 8, 2013. Inaba teamed with Hiroshi Yamato and they defeated Tokyo Gurentai Nosawa Rongai and Mazada. On March 12, Inaba injured his right shoulder during a match in the Wrestle-1 and ZERO1 Kaisen Outbreak. On November 27, 2015, he made his ring singles return against Shotaro Ashino but he lost. Every stable in Wrestle-1 tried to recruit Inaba but he left the ring and didn't accept. After Hiroshi Yamato won the Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship, Yamato nominated Inaba to be his first challenger of the title. On February 10 Inaba failed to capture the Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship. On June 29 Inaba, Andy Wu and Seiki Yoshioka won the UWA World Trios Championship. After the match, Inaba stated that he was going after the Wrestle-1 Championship. After Manabu Soya had been sidelined with a shoulder injury Inaba was given a larger role at Wrestle-1 when on August 6 Inaba defeated Shuji Kondo to become the number one contender for the Wrestle-1 Championship and main event the Pro Wrestling Love PPV. On August 11 Inaba defeated KAI to win his first singles champion the Wrestle-1 Championship and then defeated KAI in a rematch for the title to make his first successful title defense. On November 2 Inaba lost the Wrestle-1 Championship to Masayuki Kono.

On December 7 Inaba, Andy Wu, Yusuke Kodama, Jiro Kuroshio, Seiki Yoshioka, Koji Doi, Kumagoro and Kohei Fujimura formed a stable named NEW ERA. On December 9 Inaba, Wu and Yoshioka lost the UWA World Trios Championship in their third title defense to Jun Kasai, Nosawa Rongai and Shuji Kondo. On February 22, 2017 Inaba regained the UWA World Trios Championship this time with Kodama and Fujimura defeating Shuji Kondo, Manabu Soya and Nosawa Rongai. On April 9 Inaba, Fujimura and Kodama lost the UWA World Trios Championship to TriggeR (Masayuki Kono and Shuji Kondo) and Kaz Hayashi. On April 19, 2018, after some dimension between the group and some infighting NEWERA officially decided to disband. On June 2, 2019 Inaba first defeated Masayuki Kono int the first round then he would Kuma Arashi in the semifinals and then Shotaro Ashino in the finals to win the 2019 Wrestle-1 Grand Prix to become the number one contender for T-Hawk's Wrestle-1 Championship on July 2. On September 1, Inaba defeated T-Hawk to win the Wrestle-1 Championship for his second time. On January 12, 2020 Inaba lost the title to Katsuhiko Nakajima. On March 15, Inaba and Koji Doi defeated Ashino and Yusuke Kodama to win the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship, to become the last Wrestle-1 Tag Team Champions. Their title reign ended on March 31, when Inaba and Doi were released by Wrestle-1, after the promotion suspended its activities on the following day.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Gokusori Manjigatame (Running Octopus hold)
  • Manjigatame (Octopus hold)
  • Tiger Suplex 178 (Elevated Bridging Tiger Suplex) 
• Signature moves
  • Backdrop
  • Diving headbutt drop
  • Dropkick
  • Flying Elbow
  • Multiple suplex variations
    • German
    • Tiger
  • Running facewash
  • Running elbow
  • Suplex
• Nicknames
  • Tokyo

Championships and accomplishments

• Wrestle-1
  • Wrestle-1 Championship (2 times)
  • Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Koji Doi
  • UWA World Trios Championship (2 times) - with Andy Wu and Seiki Yoshioka (1) and Kohei Fujimura and Yusuke Kodama (1)
  • Wrestle-1 Grand Prix (2019)

External links

• Wrestle-1 profile
• Cagematch profile