Jun Akiyama

Jun Akiyama
Birth name	Jun Akiyama (秋山 準, Akiyama Jun)
Born	October 9, 1969
	Izumi, Osaka, Japan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Jun Akiyama Mr. Christmas White Santa SHURA AJ Ranger White
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	110 kg (240 lb)
Trained By	Giant Baba Kenta Kobashi Jumbo Tsuruta
Debut	September 17, 1992

Jun Akiyama (秋山 準, Akiyama Jun, born October 9, 1969) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT), where he is a former one-time DDT Extreme Division Champion, a former one-time KO-D Openweight Champion and a former three-time Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion.

Akiyama is best known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he was the president, representative director, co-head booker and general manager of the promotion, while also being a former two-time Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion and one-time Gaora TV Champion. He is also known for his work in Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah) where he is a former three times GHC Heavyweight and GHC Tag Team Champion.

Akiyama is known for his serious style and outstanding, time-tested work as a tag team wrestler, as well as his innovation of the Blue Thunder Driver and the wrist–clutch exploder suplex.

Before wrestling

In junior high school, Akiyama practiced swimming and in senior high school he did freestyle amateur wrestling and judo. After high school he went to Senshu University in Tokyo. There he joined an amateur wrestling team that produced other professional wrestlers Riki Choshu, Hiroshi Hase and Manabu Nakanishi.

Professional wrestling career

All Japan Pro Wrestling (1992–2000)

Akiyama had great success as an amateur wrestler and was eventually scouted by All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). He made his professional wrestling debut in September 1992 in a match against Kenta Kobashi, which he lost. He gradually rose in rank, earning a trial series in January 1993. Afterwards, Akiyama started competition in tag teams. The tag team division soon became his specialty, teaming with Takao Omori against Kenta Kobashi and Mitsuharu Misawa. On more than one occasion, Dave Meltzer rated the matches they had together five stars. In 1995, he split with Taue, and was selected to be Misawa's partner after he split with Kobashi. The two teamed together successfully and won the World Tag Team Championship during 1996. Akiyama and Misawa also competed in the World's Strongest Tag Determination League tournaments in 1996 and 1997, but lost in successive years to the team of Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue. Akiyama then began closing in on the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, first challenging Misawa in September 1997, again challenging Misawa in January 1998, Kobashi in July 1998 and Vader in January 2000. He was unsuccessful on all occasions, and never managed to capture the championship.

After teaming with Misawa, Akiyama began teaming with Kenta Kobashi to form 'Burning'. The team won numerous tag team titles and competed against the teams of Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa, Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue, Yoshihiro Takayama and Takao Omori and others. Burning also won the World's Strongest Tag Determination League tournament in 1998 by defeating the team of Stan Hansen and Vader, and again in 1999 by defeating Akira Taue and Stan Hansen. Akiyama's last major victory in All Japan Pro Wrestling was on February 27, 2000, when he defeated former tag team partner Mitsuharu Misawa by pinfall in a heated and highly acclaimed contest.

Pro Wrestling Noah (2000–2012)

After a controversy in AJPW over the direction and management, he left the company with Mitsuharu Misawa, and half the roster, for Misawa's newly created Pro Wrestling Noah (NOAH) in mid-2000. Like many other members who made the jump, Akiyama gave himself a makeover, dropping his trademark blue and white trimmed boots and blue trunks for white boots and trunks and dyed his hair brown. He was quickly established as a top star of the company, winning both falls in the main event of NOAH's first show, choking out Kenta Kobashi in the second Noah show the night after he turned heel for this first time in his career, and becoming the second GHC Heavyweight Champion, He had stellar title defenses in New Japan Pro Wrestling against Yuji Nagata and Hiroshi Tanahashi. But a lack of worthy contenders eventually forced Noah to abandon his push, using Yoshinari Ogawa to transition the title back to Misawa. He continued work in Noah as a tag team competitor again to critical acclaim, winning the GHC Tag Team Championship with Akitoshi Saito.

In April 2004, he created the GHC Openweight Hardcore Championship to get back into singles competitions, and adapting an attitude manifested by wearing trunks that were odd colors for him. These motives helped put him back into contention for the GHC title against Kenta Kobashi, which was voted as Match of the Year. Late 2004 and much of 2005 were highlighted by his feud with protégé Makoto Hashi where Akiyama used "tough love" to toughen up young Hashi. On January 22, 2006, Akiyama defeated Akira Taue to become the GHC Heavyweight Champion for the second time, defending the title against Minoru Suzuki on March 5 and Masao Inoue on April 24. Akiyama was defeated by Naomichi Marufuji on Noah's September 9 Nippon Budokan show in his third defense of the GHC Heavyweight Title.

Following his title loss to Naomichi Marufuji, Akiyama made good his promise to Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, going back to wearing blue trunks, and wrestling mainly in the undercard. He successfully redeemed himself by defeating Kikuchi and once again wore white trunks following that match. This put him back in line for success, which had him winning the tag titles a second time with Takeshi Rikio. However, due to an injury to Rikio, they were forced to vacate the titles. Akiyama competed at New Japan Pro Wrestling's third Annual "Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome" show, defeating Manabu Nakanishi.

On March 1, 2009, Akiyama defeated Kensuke Sasaki for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. On June 14, 2009, he was forced to vacate the title due to injury, in which left him out of action for the rest of the tour. After making his return later that year, Akiyama continued to wrestle sporadically whilst struggling with back injuries and the burden of post traumatic stress syndrome, following the death of Mitsuharu Misawa.

Akiyama participated in the first Global League Tournament, achieving a total of eight points with four wins and just one loss. As the Block B winner, he faced Block A winner Yoshihiro Takayama in the final match on May 2. Takayama won the tournament by pinning Akiyama with an Everest German suplex.

In April 2011, Akiyama and Akitoshi Saito won the 2011 Global Tag League.

On October 23, 2011, Akiyama defeated Suwama to finally win All Japan's Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, the belt he couldn't win during his 8 year run with the promotion before leaving for Pro-Wrestling NOAH. Shortly after winning the Triple Crown, Akiyama adopted a new look as he shaved his head bald. On January 22, Akiyama and Saito defeated Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson) to win the GHC Tag Team Championship. He has successfully defended the Triple Crown against Taiyō Kea (twice), Takao Omori and Keiji Mutoh. Akiyama lost the Triple Crown to Masakatsu Funaki on August 26, 2012 in a match that lasted less than five minutes.

On December 3, 2012, it was reported that Akiyama had threatened to not re-sign with Noah after his contract expires in January 2013, when the promotion decided to release Kenta Kobashi from his contract. On December 19, Noah confirmed that Akiyama would be leaving the promotion following December 24. On December 24, Akiyama, working as "Mr. Christmas", defeated his trainee Atsushi Aoki in both men's final Noah match.

Return to AJPW (2013–2020)

Main article: Burning

On January 26, 2013, Akiyama, Atsushi Aoki, Go Shiozaki, Kotaro Suzuki and Yoshinobu Kanemaru, all of whom had quit Noah at the same time, announced that they had joined All Japan Pro Wrestling, reforming the "Burning" stable, which he previously formed with Kenta Kobashi in the late 1990s. On March 17, Akiyama and Shiozaki defeated Get Wild (Manabu Soya and Takao Omori) to win the World Tag Team Championship. On April 29, Akiyama defeated Kai in the finals to win the 2013 Champion Carnival. On May 11, Akiyama made a one-night return to Noah to take part in Kenta Kobashi's retirement match, where he, Kobashi, Keiji Mutoh and Kensuke Sasaki defeated Go Shiozaki, Kenta,Maybach Taniguchi and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. On June 30, Akiyama received his shot at the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, which he had earned by winning the Champion Carnival, but was defeated by the defending champion, Suwama. On July 5, following a mass exodus led by Keiji Mutoh, it was announced that Akiyama, along with the rest of Burning, had signed an exclusive contract with All Japan. On October 22, Akiyama and Shiozaki lost the World Tag Team Championship toEvolution (Joe Doering and Suwama). During the next week, Burning was hit hard with Shiozaki, Aoki and Suzuki all announcing that they were quitting the stable. On January 26, 2014, Akiyama and Kanemaru defeated former Aoki and Suzuki to win the All Asia Tag Team Championship. Following the win, Akiyama, attempting to become the first wrestler in 15 years to hold the All Asia and the World Tag Team Championships simultaneously, formed another tag team named "Wild Burning" with Takao Omori. Akiyama and Omori received their title shot on February 8, but were defeated by the defending champions, Joe Doering and Suwama. On April 29, Akiyama and Kanemaru lost the All Asia Tag Team Championship to Keisuke Ishii and Shigehiro Irie at a Dramatic Dream Team event. Later that same event, Akiyama "accidentally" won the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship, after laying his arm on it during a backstage interview.

On June 4, it was reported that Akiyama was taking over as the new president of All Japan, effective July 1. All Japan confirmed the report with an official announcement the following day. Akiyama runs the new All Japan Pro Wrestling through a company named Zen Nihon Puroresu Innovation, while also serving as the promotion's representative director. On June 15, Akiyama was placed in a decision match to determine a new Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, but was defeated by Takao Omori. On June 28, Akiyama and Omori defeated Joe Doering and Suwama to win the World Tag Team Championship. After successfully defending the World Tag Team Championship against Akebono and Yutaka Yoshie on October 22, Akiyama and Omori vacated the title the following day in time for the 2014 World's Strongest Tag Determination League. They regained the title by winning the tournament on December 6, defeating Go Shiozaki and Kento Miyahara in the finals. Wild Burning's second reign ended on March 22, 2015, when they were defeated by Akebono and Yutaka Yoshie. On September 26, Akiyama defeated Akebono in the finals to win the 2015 Ōdō Tournament. On November 1, Akyama defeated Akebono to win the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship for the second time. He lost the title to Suwama on January 2, 2016. On August 11, Akiyama made a rare appearance outside of AJPW, when he took part in an event held by its splinter promotion Wrestle-1. Akiyama teamed with fellow AJPW wrestlers Naoya Nomura and Yuma Aoyagi to defeat the Wrestle-1 trio of Keiji Mutoh, Koji Doi and Kumagoro in an interpromotional six-man tag team match. On March 12, 2017 Akiyama defeated KENSO to become the new Gaora TV Champion. On October 21 Akiyama and Omori defeated Daisuke Sekimoto and Ryuji Ito to regain the World Tag Team Champions, becoming double crown champion in the process. They lost the titles to Suwama and Shuji Ishikawa on January 3, 2018. On July 15, Akiyama lost the Gaora TV Championship to Tajiri. From November 13 to December 11, Akiyama and Daisuke Sekimoto took part in the World's Strongest Tag Determination League, finishing the tournament with a record of six wins and four losses, failing to advance to the finals of the tournament.

DDT Pro-Wrestling (2020–present)

On May 8, 2020, it was announced that Akiyama would become a temporary coach for the DDT roster, with aiming of teaching everything that Giant Baba taught him. The following day, Akiyama addressed the situation with DDT Assistant Producer Hisaya Imabayashi. Akiyama made his return match for DDT on May 16 at DDT TV Show, teaming with Keisuke Ishii in a winning effort Hideki Okatani and Mizuki Watase. Afterwards, Akiyama was attacked by Mizuki Watase, who ended being scolded by Akiyama, leading him to challenge Akiyama to match, which he accepted. This led to Akiyama defeating Watase on May 23. On June 6, at Wrestle Peter Pan, Akiyama teamed with Watase in a losing effort against All Out (Akito and Yuki Ino). On June 13, Makoto Oishi asked Akiyama to teach him the Royal Road style, which he agreed, leading Akiyama agreeing to face Oishi in a match. On June 20, Akiyama defeated Oishi in their match. Afterwards, Konosuke Takeshita challenged him to a match, which he would team with his All Out stablemates, leading rookie Hideki Otani to ask to be part of his team. On June 26, DDT announced it had reached an agreement with AJPW, which would see Akiyama switch promotions in what was referred to as a "one-year rental transfer". Shortly after, Akiyama formed the Junretsu stable with Makoto Oishi, Mizuki Watase and Hideki Okatani. On December 27, Akiyama defeated Konosuke Takeshita in the finals to win the 2020 D-Oh Grand Prix. On February 14, 2021 at Kawasaki Strong, Akiyama defeated Tetsuya Endo to win KO-D Openweight Championship. With this victory, Akiyama became the first wrestler to win both CyberFight's major titles: DDT's KO-D Openweight Championship and Noah's GHC Heavyweight Championships. The following day, DDT officially announced that Akiyama would join the promotion full-time, while also being named the head coach of the DDT Dojo. In May, Akiyama and Oishi took part in the 2021 Ultimate Tag League, finishing the tournament with a record of two wins and two losses, failing to win the tournament. On August 21, at Wrestle Peter Pan, Akiyama lost the KO-D Openweight Championship to Konosuke Takeshita. From November 3 until December 5, Akiyama took part in the 2022 D-Oh Grand Prix, where finished his block with a record of three wins, and two losses, but he would fail to advance to the finals of the tournament after losing to Yuki Ueno during the tournament. On July 24, Akiyama would invite his protégé Okada to join Junretsu stable. On October 12, 2021, at Get Alive, Junretsu failed to capture the KO-D 8-Man Tag Team Championship from Team Olympian (Yoshiaki Yatsu, Akito, Hiroshi Yamato and Keigo Nakamura). As a result, and as per Junretsu leader Makoto Oishi's decision, the stable disbanded on October 23. On December 7, DDT announced that, at the request of Akiyama and Tetsuya Endo, Kenta Kobashi had endorsed the reformation of the Burning stable (originally formed in 1998, in AJPW) for its fourth incarnation with Akiyama inviting Okada and Yuya Koroku would be invited to join the stable. On December 26, at Never Mind 2021 in Yoyogi, this new stable made their debut by defeating 37KAMIINA (Shunma Katsumata, Yuki Ueno, MAO and Toui Kojima). On December 4, 2022 Akiyama defeated Joey Janela to win DDT Extreme Division Championship for the first time. He lost the title to Shunma Katsumata on May 3 at Max Bump.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Blue Thunder Driver (Sitout belly-to-back powerbomb, while spinning) – Innovated
  • Exploder '98 (Wrist-clutch Exploder suplex, sometimes from the second or top rope) – Innovated
  • King Crab Lock (Guillotine choke with bodyscissors)
  • Sternness Dust Alpha (Inside leg-hook Fisherman's buster)
  • Sternness Dust Gamma (Wrist-clutch Fisherman's buster)
  • Sternness Dust Omega (Wrist-clutch Fisherman's driver)
  • Sheerdrop Exploder (Stalling spike Exploder suplex)
• Signature moves
  • Brainbuster
  • Bridging neck and armlock combination
  • Gotch-Style Piledriver (Cradle reverse piledriver)
  • Dragon screw legwhip - Adopted from Tatsumi Fujinami
  • Diving elbow strike, sometimes to the back of the head of an kneeling opponent
  • Double underhook lifting DDT
  • Emerald Flowsion (Sitout side powerslam) - Adopted from Mitsuharu Misawa
  • Figure-four leglock
  • Knee lift
  • Jumping high knee - Adopted from Jumbo Tsuruta
  • Multiple suplex variations
    • Exploder, sometimes from the apron, to the turnbuckle, to the floor, or a opponent on the top rope - Innovated
    • Fisherman
    • German, sometimes bridging or releasing
    • Head and arm
    • High-angle belly-to-back – Adopted from Toshiaki Kawada
    • Northern Lights, while bridging
    • Snap
  • Nagata Lock II (Crossface) – Adopted from Yuji Nagata
  • Piledriver
  • Sasori-Gatame (Scorpion deathlock) - Adopted from Riki Choshu
• Nicknames
  • "Blue Thunder"
  • "Supernova"
  • "Sternness"
• Entrance themes
  • "U.S. Final Battle" (AJPW; 1992–1996)
  • "Shadow Explosion" (AJPW/Noah; 1996–2001, 2006)
  • "Sternness" (Noah/AJPW/DDT; 2001–present)

Championships and accomplishments

• All Japan Pro Wrestling
  • All Asia Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Takao Omori (1), Yoshinobu Kanemaru (1), Yuji Nagata (1) and Kotaro Suzuki (1)
  • Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship (2 times)
  • World Tag Team Championship (7 times) – with Kenta Kobashi (2), Mitsuharu Misawa (1), Go Shiozaki (1), and Takao Omori (3)
  • Gaora TV Championship (1 time)
  • Asunaro Cup (1994)
  • Asunaro Tag Cup (1998) – with Takao Omori
  • Champion Carnival (2013)
  • Ōdō Tournament (2015)
  • One Night Six Man Tag Team Tournament (1999) – with Kenta Kobashi and Kentaro Shiga
  • World's Strongest Tag Determination League (1998, 1999) – with Kenta Kobashi
  • World's Strongest Tag Determination League (2014) – with Takao Omori
  • Zen Nihon Award (2014)
• Dramatic Dream Team
  • KO-D Openweight Championship (1 time)
  • DDT Extreme Division Championship (1 time)
  • KO-D 6 Man Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) – with Danshoku Dino and Makoto Oishi
  • Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (3 times)
  • D-Oh Grand Prix (2020)
• New Japan Pro Wrestling
  • Singles Best Bout (2003) vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan on August 17
  • Tag Team Best Bout (2001) with Yuji Nagata vs. Hiroshi Hase and Keiji Mutoh on October 8
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #6 of the 500 best singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2012
  • PWI ranked him #90 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003
• Pro Wrestling Noah
  • GHC Heavyweight Championship (3 times)
  • GHC Tag Team Championship (3 times) – with Akitoshi Saito (2), and Takeshi Rikio (1)
  • GHC Openweight Hardcore Championship (1 time)
  • Global Tag League (2011) – with Akitoshi Saito
• Tokyo Sports
  • Best Tag Team Award (1999) with Kenta Kobashi
  • Fighting Spirit Award (1998)
  • Match of the Year Award (2004) vs. Kenta Kobashi on July 10
  • Newcomer of the Year Award (1992)
  • Outstanding Performance Award (2000, 2001, 2011)
  • Technique Award (2003)
• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • 5 Star Match (1993) – with Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi vs. Akira Taue, Toshiaki Kawada, and Yoshinari Ogawa on July 2
  • 5 Star Match (1996) with Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue on May 23
  • 5 Star Match (1996) with Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Steve Williams and Johnny Ace on June 7
  • 5 Star Match (1996) with Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue on December 6
  • 5 Star Match (1997) with Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue on December 5
  • 5 Star Match (1999) with Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa on October 23
  • 5 Star Match (2004) vs. Kenta Kobashi on July 10
  • Match of the Year (1996) – with Mitsuharu Misawa vs Steve Williams and Johnny Ace on June 7
  • Match of the Year (2004) vs. Kenta Kobashi on July 10
  • Rookie of the Year (1993)
  • Tag Team of the Year (1996, 1997) with Mitsuharu Misawa
  • Tag Team of the Year (1999) with Kenta Kobashi