Masaya Suzuki (鈴木雅也, Suzuki Masaya born on January 12, 1991) is a Japanese professional wrestler, known by the ring name Kuma Arashi (熊嵐 Kuma Arashi) is currently working in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). He is best known for his time in Wrestle-1, where he is a former one-time Wrestle-1 Result Champion former four-time Wrestle-1 Tag Team Champion and a four-times UWA World Trios Champion and the winner of the 2017 Wrestle-1 Tag League. At the end of 2017, Wrestle-1 named Kumagoro and Koji Doi the best tag team of the year.
Professional wrestling career[]
Early career[]
Suzuki as introduced to the Animal Hamaguchi dojo at the age of 20 and he spent two years training. This led to him receiving a try out in NJPW Dojo but he failed to pass an introductory test. Afterwards, he would move to train on the Wrestle-1 Dojo.[1]
Wrestle-1 (2014–2020)[]
In 2014 Suzuki entered in an introductory test to train in Wrestle-1 and he passed. After 10 months of training on February 13, 2015 Suzuki made his debut as Kumagoro, losing to Daiki Inaba. On March 8 Kumagoro had his first victory in Wrestle-1, defeating Shotaro Ashino. On May 16, Kumagoro took part in the Road to Keiji Mutoh Tournament, losing to Jay Freddie in the first round. Shortly after, Manabu Soya and Akira were looking to transform new Wild order into a stable. This led to an evaluation match on June 18, after which Kumagoro and Jun Kasai were accepted as the third and fourth members of new Wild order, turning it from a tag team into a stable.[2] On August 2, Kumagoro took part in the Wrestle-1 Grand Prix, losing to Ryota Hama in the first round. On September 6, Kumagoro and his new Wild order stablemate Akira unsuccessfully challenged new Wild order stablemates Manabu Soya and Jun Kasai for the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship.
On February 10, 2016 Kumagoro, Soya and Akira challenged Kaz Hayashi and Minoru Tanaka and Tajiri for the UWA World Trios Championship. On August 11, Wrestle-1 presented an interpromotional six-man tag team match, which saw AJPW president Jun Akiyama take on former AJPW president Keiji Mutoh. In the match, the AJPW trio of Akiyama, Naoya Nomura and Yuma Aoyagi was victorious over the Wrestle-1 trio of Kumagoro, Keiji Mutoh and Koji Doi.[3][4] Afterwards, Kumagoro left new Wild order, and formed an alliance with Doi who left Real Desperado. On October 2 Kumagoro, Doi and Yusuke Kodama unsuccessfully challenged Andy Wu, Daiki Inaba and Seiki Yoshioka for the UWA World Trios Championship. After the match, Doi, Kumagoro and Kodama formed an alliance with Wu, Inaba, Yoshioka, Jiro Kuroshio and Kohei Fujimura. In Decemberm Doi and Kumagoro took part in the 2016 World's Strongest Tag Determination League at Block B. During the tournament Doi, Kuroshio, Wu, Inaba, Kodama, Yoshioka, Kumagoro and Fujimura formed a stable named NEW ERA.[5] Two days later, Doi and Kumagoro unsuccessfully challenged Kaz Hayashi and Kotaro Suzuki for the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship. At the end of the tournament, Kumagoro and Doi finished the tournament with only two points defeating Nextream (Yuma Aoyagi and Naoya Nomura) and lost the rest of the matches in their block.
On January 15, 2017, Kumagoro took part in a tournament to crown the inaugural Wrestle-1 Result Championship defeating Seigo Tachibana in the first round. Ten days later, Kumagoro and Doi produce their own show losing to Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi in the main event. On March 20, Kumagoro and Doi defeated Kaz Hayashi and Kotaro Suzuki to win the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship. On April 16, Kumagoro, Doi and Andy Wu defeated Kaz Hayashi, Shuji Kondo and Masayuki Kono to win the UWA World Trios Championship, becoming a double crown champion in the process. On May 4, Kumagoro and Doi lost the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship to Masayuki Kono and Takanori Ito. On May 6, Kumagoro, Doi and Wu lost the titles to Kaz Hayashi, Shuji Kondo and Manabu Soya. On June 4, Kumagoro, Jiro Kuroshio and Jay Freddie defeated Kaz Hayashi, Shuji Kondo and Manabu Soya for the UWA World Trios Championship. They lost the tiles on June 18 to Nosawa Rongai, Manabu Soya and Ganseki Tanaka. On June 24, Kumagoro and Doi defeated Masayuki Kono and Takanori Ito to regain the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship. They lost the titles to Kaz Hayashi and Shuji Kondo on September 2. On September 18, Kumagoro, Doi and Jiro Kuroshio defeated Manabu Soya, Nosawa Rongai and Ganseki Tanaka to win the UWA World Trios Championship. In September until October Kumagoro and Doi took part of the Wrestle-1 Tag League, finishing the tournament with one win, one loss and one draw, advancing to the semifinals. On October 11 Kumagoro and Doi defeated Yuji Hino and Jake Omen in the semifinals and then Daiki Inaba and Jiro Kuroshio to win the tournament. Afterwards, Kumagoro with the approval of Doi challenged Shotaro Ashino for the Wrestle-1 Championship. On October 21 Kumagoro, Doi and Kuroshio lost the UWA World Trios Championship to Shotaro Ashino, Yusuke Kodama and Seigo Tachibana. On November 5, Kumagoro unsuccessfully challenged Ashino for the Wrestle-1 Championship. Kumagoro and Doi regained the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship on November 19. Following the win, Kumagoro and Doi regained the UWA World Trios Championship alongside Takanori Ito defeating Ashino, Kodama and Tachibana on December 2, becoming a double crown champion in the process. At the end of 2017, Wrestle-1 named Kumagoro and Doi the best tag team of the year. They lost the UWA World Trios Championship to Mazada, Nosawa Rongai and Fujita on March 14, 2018. On April 18, Kumagoro and Doi lost the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship to AKIRA and Manabu Soya. Afterwards, Kumagoro turned on him and joined Enfants Terribles. On May 6, Kumagoro and Enfant Terribles stablemate Shotaro Ashino defeated Manabu Soya and AKIRA to win the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship. Before the match, Kumagoro announced that he would change his ring name to "Kuma Arashi" meaning Bear Storm. They lost the titles to Jiro Kuroshio and Masato Tanaka on June 22. On November 17, Arashi defeated Tanaka to win the Wrestle-1 Result Championship. On June 5, 2019 Arashi vacated the title due to his personal dissatisfaction with the championship.
On March 31, 2020, Arashi was released by Wrestle-1, after the promotion suspended its activities on the following day.
All Japan Pro Wrestling (2020–Present)[]
Following the closure of Wrestle-1, Arashi made his debut for All Japan Pro Wrestling on May 5, in a tag team match with former stablemate Shotaro Ashino defeating Jin (Jake Lee and Koji Iwamoto) in a winning effort, before reforming the Enfants Terribles in AJPW alongside Ashino and Yusuke Kodama. In September, Arashi took part of the 2020 Champion Carnival, finishing the tournament with a record of one win and three losses, failling to advance to the finals of the tournament. From November 22 until December 7, Arashi and Ashino took part in the 2020 World's Strongest Tag Determination League, finishing the tournament, with a record of three wins and four losses, failling to win the tournament. In March 2021, after Shotaro Ashino was kicked out of Enfants Terribles and replaced by Jake Lee, the stable was renamed to Total Eclipse. In August 2021, Arashi took part in the 2021 Ōdō tournament, losing in the first round to Shigehiro Irie on August 15. In April 2022, Arashi took part in the 2022 Champion Carnival, finishing the tournament with a record of one wins and four losses, failling to advance to the finals of the tournament.
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- Diving senton
- Kumagoro Bomb (Powerbomb)
- Saitama ni Kanpai! (Sitout inverted front powerslam)
- Finishing moves
- Argentine backbreaker rack
- Backdrop
- Canadian backbreaker rack
- Diving splash
- German suplex
- Jumping senton
- Lariat
- Pop-up powerbomb
- Running jumping splash
- Samoan drop
- Shoulder tackle
- Springboard splash
- With Koji Doi
- Electric chair (Kuma) followed by a facebuster (Koji Doi)
- Chop block (Kuma) and lariat (Koji Doi) combination
- Doi body slams Kuma into an opponent
- Double belly-to-back suplex
- Simultaneous standing leg drop (Doi) and Senton bomb (Kuma)
- Entrance themes
- "Loner" by Black Sabbath
Championships and accomplishments[]
- All Japan Pro Wrestling
- AJPW TV 6-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Cyrus and Hokuto Omori
- Wrestle-1
- Wrestle-1 Result Championship (1 time)
- Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Koji Doi (3) and Shotaro Ashino (1)
- UWA World Trios Championship (4 times) – with Koji Doi and Andy Wu (1), Jiro Kuroshio and Jay Freddie (1), Jiro Kuroshio and Koji Doi (1) and Koji Doi and Takanori Ito (1)
- Wrestle-1 Tag League (2017) – with Koji Doi
- Best Tag Team Award (2017) – with Koji Doi
References[]
- ↑ 18歳のヤングライオン・川人拓来はこういう選手！ (in Japanese). Enuhito (2015-06-18). Retrieved on 2015-12-26.
- ↑ W-1「Wrestle-1 Tour 2015 Outbreak」 (in Japanese). Sports Navi. Yahoo! (2015-06-18). Retrieved on 2015-06-18.
- ↑ ja:Ｗ－１ 秋山が武藤との“全日社長対決”勝利も若手に激怒！ (in Japanese). Daily Sports Online. Kobe Shimbun (2016-08-11). Retrieved on 2016-08-11.
- ↑ ja:【Ｗ―１】武藤vs秋山３年ぶり対戦 それぞれの思惑 (in Japanese). Tokyo Sports (2016-08-12). Retrieved on 2016-08-12.
- ↑ 「Wrestle-1 NEW ERA」 (in English). Wrestle-1 (2016-12-08). Retrieved on 2016-12-08.