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Kota Minoura

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Kota Minoura (箕浦康太, Minoura Kōta, born September 30, 1998 in Gifu, Japan) is a Japanese professional wrestler trained and currently working for Dragon Gate (DG), where he is currently one-half of the Open The Twin Gate Champions in his second reign, while also being a former four-time Open The Triangle Gate Champion and the winner of the 2023 King of Gate.

Minoura was trained by the Dragon Gate Dojo and made his debut in July 2018. Initially, Minoura did not achieved much success, working mostly on the undercard. After being part of the Dragon Gate Generation stable, Minoura experienced his breakthrough and began being pushed up the card, winning the Open The Twin Gate Championship in August 2020, before consolidating his place into the main event picture as part of Masquerade and eventually winning Dragon Gate's premier tournament the King of Gate in August 2023. The following August, Minoura turned heel after joining the Z-Brats stable.

Professional wrestling career[]

Dragon Gate (2018–Present)[]

Early career (2018–2029)[]

Minoura trained for his professional wrestling career in the Japanese promotion Dragon Gate's wrestling school called "Dragon Gate Nex". He would make an exhibition match against Hyou Watanabe on June 11, 2018. After almost one month later, Minoura made his official debut on July 5, teaming with "brother" YASSHI and Punch Tominaga in a losing effort against MaxiMuM (Ben-K, Jason Lee and Masato Yoshino). Minoura would make his pay-per-view debut at Dragon Gate's most important pay-per-view at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival on July 22, facing Oji Shiiba in a time limit draw at the pre-show. As is customary for most professional wrestlers, Minoura spent most of his matches losing to other, more experienced wrestlers, which would help put over other wrestlers while at the same time give Minoura some in-ring, televised, experience.

On November 6, Minoura faced Masaaki Mochizuki. Before the match, Mochizuki offered a handshake to Minoura, but he slapped him. Minoura would lose to Mochizuki. Following the match, Mochizuki asked him, why he slapped him and Minoura revealed that he wanted to join the Mochizuki Dojo. Mochizuki would praise him for his effort and accepted him to his stable.

Breakthrough and Masquerade (2019–2021)[]

In December 2019, after Mochizuki Dojo was temporarily suspended, he entered the Dragon Gate stable in order to unite all Dragon Gate generation of wrestlers against Toryumon and R.E.D in a "Generation War". On August 2, 2020, at Memorial Gate in Wakayama, Minoura and Dragon Gate stablemate Jason Lee defeated R.E.D (Kazma Sakamoto and BxB Hulk) to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship. The titles were vacated on November 14, due to Lee missing the 2020 Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival as a precautionary measure for the COVID-19 after registering a high fever. The following day, at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, Minoura and his Dragon Gate stablemate YAMATO failed to defeat R.E.D (BxB Hulk and KAI) for the vacant titles.

On December 2, Minoura alongside Dragon Dia and Jason Lee left Dragon Gate to form their own stable with Shun Skywalker, which would be joined by a mysterious member on December 15. At the December 15 event, it was announced that the stable would be named Masquerade, with the new member being revealed to be La Estrella. In May 2021, Minoura took part in the 2021 King of Gate, where he won his block with a clean record of five wins, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament. On June 3, Minoura defeated YAMATO in the semifinals and then was defeated by Kzy, in the finals of the 2021 King of Gate. In the following months, Minoura began former Open The Dream Gate Champions Eita, Masaaki Mochizuki and YAMATO. On September 8, following a tag team match, Minoura requested to be included in the main event match to determine the number one contender to the Open The Dream Gate Championship, which Dragon Gate's General Manager Ryo Saito initially refused, but ended up accepting due to crowd support. Later that night, Minoura went on to win the four-way match, after eliminating Ben-K and Masaaki Mochizuki in a match that also included KAI. Afterwards, Minoura challenged YAMATO to a title match at Dangerous Gate, which he accepted. At the event, on September 20, Minoura unsucessfully challenged YAMATO for the Open The Dream Gate Championship.

In December, Minoura began feuding with Masquerade stablemate Shun Skywalker, showing his towards his other Masquerade stablemate Dragon Dia, after Skywalker caused him to lose his mask during a Mask vs. Mask tag team match. After winning the Open The Triangle Gate Championship on December 15, Minoura challenged Skywalker into a match, where if Skywalker lost, he would be forced to leave the stable. During the match, between Minoura and Skywalker on December 26 at Final Gate, R.E.D's H.Y.O and SB KENTo offered Skywalker help, tossing him a chair, while the referee was down, but he refused. Shortly after, Skywalker took off his mask and tossed it into the hands of Minoura, while the referee was not looking. When the referee turned around and saw Minoura standing with Skywalker’s mask, Skywalker was awarded the win by disqualification. Skywalker's relationship with the rest of the members reached the point of collapse, despite affirming to be fine. On January 12, 2022, Minoura, Skywalker, and Lee lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to R.E.D (Eita, H.Y.O and Kaito Ishida). During the match, Minoura accidentally attacked Skywalker, after he tried to protect himself from H.Y.O. After the match, Skywalker forced Minoura to apologize, which he refused, leading Skywalker to quit as the leader of the stable, deffecting to R.E.D, and thus making Minoura the leader of Masquerade.

Gold Class (2022–2024)[]

Shortly after, Naruki Doi and Takashi Yoshida began persuading Minoura to form a stable with Minoura being foccused as the centerpiece of the latter, but he misunderstood Doi's request and instead continued to carry Masquerade. On February 4, following a three-way tag team match, Minoura, who found strange Doi not intiving him as usual to form a new team, decided to leave Masquerade and form a new stable with Doi and Kaito Ishida, with the aim of reclaiming Dragon Gate's female fan demographic. On March 3, the stable was named "Gold Class", with the addition of a gift from Doi to Minoura in the form of a new member - Minorita, a repackage of rookie Takumi Hayakawa, meant to be a smaller and lighter version of Minoura. On March 5 at Champion Gate in Osaka, Minoura, Ishida, and Doi defeated Natural Vibes (Kzy, U-T and Jacky "Funky" Kamei) to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. They lost the titles to Eita, Nosawa Rongai and Kotaro Suzuki on May 5 at Dead or Alive. Later that month, Minoura took part in the 2022 King of Gate, being eliminated in the first round to Kzy. However, after Jason Lee was pulled out of the tournament due to a concussion, Minoura managed to get a second chance to qualify for the semifinals, taking place in a battle royal for the final semifinal spot. On June 2, Minoura won the second chance battle royal by last eliminating Minourita to advance to the semifinals. In the semifinals, Minoura defeated Shuji Kondo, but was defeated in the finals by Yuki Yoshioka. Following the tournament, on July 7, Minoura attacked KAI and Shuji Kondo during the match for the Open The Dream Gate Championship, causing the match to end in a no contest. Afterwards, Minoura declared himself as the next challenger to the Open The Dream Gate Championship, before being confronted by Yoshioka. Minoura, Kondo and Yoshioka discussed on, who should be the next challenger, leading Dragon Gate General Manager Ryo Saito to announce a three-way match to decide the next challenger to the Open The Dream Gate Championship. On July 24, Minoura won the three-way match, and as a result it was decided that Minoura would receive his title shot at the second night of Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival. At the event, on July 31, Minoura unsucessfully challenged Yuki Yoshioka for the Open The Dream Gate Championship.

On January 22, 2023, Minoura, Ben-K, and BxB Hulk defeated KAI, Shun Skywalker and ISHIN to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. In February, Minoura and Hulk took part in the 2023 Rey de Parejas, finishing the tournament with a record of three wins, one draw and one loss, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament. On March 2, Minoura and Hulk were defeated by M3K (Susumu Mochizuki and Yasushi Kanda) in the semifinals. On May 20, Minoura, Ben-K, and Hulk lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to Natural Vibes (Big Boss Shimizu, Jacky "Funky" Kamei and Kzy). On June 4, Minoura and Minorita challenged Natural Vibes to a match for the Open The Triangle Gate Championship with their partner being Naruki Doi, who made his return to Gold Class. On July 2, at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, Minoura, Minorita and Doi defeated Natural Vibes to become the new champions. Later that month, Minoura took part in the 2023 King of Gate, which he eventually won, defeating Big Boss Shimizu in the finals on August 3, and afterwards earn a title match for the Open The Dream Gate Championship. On August 20 at Dangerous Gate, Minoura unsuccessfully challenged Madoka Kikuta for the Open The Dream Gate Championship. Seven days later, Minoura, Minorita and Doi were forced to vacate the Open The Triangle Gate Championship, after Minorita was diagnosed with a ruptured ACL in his right knee. On December 20, after D'Courage relinquished the Open The Twin Gate Championship, Minoura and Ben-K announced their intentions of taking part in the match for the vacant titles. On December 24, at Final Gate, Minoura and Ben-K were defeated by Pro Wrestling NOAH's Kaito Kiyomiya and Alejandro.

Losing Streak and Z-Brats (2024-Present)[]

In March 2024, Minoura and Ben-K took part in the 2024 Rey de Parejas, only managing one draw and losing all of their matches, failing to advance to the semifinals of the tournament. During this time, Minoura embarked on poor run of form, losing some of his matches. Disatisfied with his situation, on May 9, he challenged YAMATO to a Hair vs. Hair Match. He initially hesitated but eventually agreed, leading Minoura to lose the match on June 5 and being forced to shave his hair. His losing run continue, and he would lose the leadership of Gold Class to Ben-K, and thereafter, Minoura was defeated by Shuji Kondo on July 5, following the match, he was confronted by Minorita who challenged him to a match in order for Minoura to revert his losing trend. Minoura faced Minorita in a winning effort on August 1. Afterwards, he was confronted by Shun Skywalker, who kidnapped Minorita and tried to to turn him against Minoura as "Mini Skywalker" after placing one of his masks over Minorita, leading Minoura to challenge him to a match. On August 12 at Dangerous Gate, Gold Class faced Z-Brats in a match to decide who would get Minorita. Despite Minorita being placed the Mini Skywalker mask, he managed to take it off and attacked Z-Brats, leading Minoura to secure the win for Gold Class. However, after the match, Minoura turned on Minorita claiming that he had become too independent and had abandoned his role as mascot, before joining Z-Brats and attacking Gold Class. From November 7 until December 3, Minoura took part in the 2024 King of Gate, finishing the tournament with a record of four wins and one loss, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament. In the semifinals, Minoura defeated Kzy, but was defeated in the finals by Dragon Dia. On December 15 at Final Gate, Minoura and Jason Lee defeated Natural Vibes (Flamita and Kzy) to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship.

In March, Minoura and Lee took part in the 2025 Rey de Parejas, finishing the tournament with a record of two wins, two draws and one loss, advacing to the semifinals of the tournament. They eventually reached the finals of the tournament, where they were defeated by Homare and Shun Skywalker on March 30. After the tournament,wWhile Skywalker wanted Dia Inferno to join Z-Brats and not the returned Yuki Yoshioka, Minoura instead rejected the idea, leading Skywalker to proposed a match between him, Minoura and the new Dia Inferno, against Dragon Dia, Ryoya Tanaka, and Madoka Kikuta. On April 7, Z-Brats defeated D'Courage, after Inferno dodged a box attack and hit Dia. Minoura and Skywalker were caught in between D'Courage infighting, after Minoura sided with Dragon Dia, in contrast to Skywalker. In a twist, Skywalker invited Kikuta to join Z-Brats, but Minoura fiercely opposed. This led to Dragon Gate General Manager Ryo Saito to schedule a mask vs. hair steel cage match on May 5 at Dead or Alive. At the match, Minoura and Skywalker solved their issues, with Minoura using ISHIN’s interference and mist attack to throw Yuki Yoshioka off balance of the cage, claiming the third flag and escape the match.

In wrestling[]

  • Finishing moves
    • Bevel Gear (Fireman's carry transitioned into a cradle)
    • Bridging high-angle German suplex transitioned into a butterfly lock
    • Engranaje (Crossface, sometimes while applying a cobra clutch) – 2021–present
    • Gang (Sitout package powerbomb, sometimes while applying a double underhook)
    • Golden Rose (Half nelson lifted and dropped into a sit-out reverse piledriver) - 2023-present
    • RAS (Over the shoulder back to belly piledriver) – 2022
    • R-301 (Spinning sitout suplex slam) – 2022-present; previously a signature move
  • Signature moves
    • Arm drag
    • Boston crab
    • Bombbarrol (Running flying inside elbow, sometimes towards a seated opponent)
    • Butterfly lock
    • Crossface
    • Complete Shot (Reverse STO)
    • Forearm smash
    • Hip toss
    • Hypoid Gear (Fireman's carry bulldog)
    • Knife edge chop
    • Multiple suplex variations
      • Bridging fisherman, sometimes while crossing the legs
      • Back to belly
      • Double underhook
      • Exploder
      • German, sometimes while bridging
      • Northern lights
    • Once (Belly-to-Back Suplex lifted dropped into a neckbreaker)
    • Shoulder tackle
    • Sol Naciente (Straight jacket triangle choke) – adopted from Masato Yoshino
    • Spinning side slam
    • Suisha otoshi
    • Swinging side slam backbreaker
    • Vertical Suplex lifted into a Flatliner
  • With Jason Lee
    • Double team finishing moves
      • Gear Switch (Double-arm aided snap swinging neckbreaker)
  • Managers
  • Nicknames
    • "Kin Bara no Kikōshi" (Japanese for the "Prince of the Golden Roses")
    • “Seven Colors Suplex"
  • Entrance themes
    • "Rise in Grace" by YO-HEI (2018-2023)
    • "Illuminate Roses" by YO-HEI ft. Aki (2023-present)

 Championships and Accomplishments[]

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