Natural Vibes (ナチュラル・ヴァイブス Nachuraru Vaibusu), is a professional wrestling stable in the Japanese promotion Dragon Gate formed on April 6, 2018, by "brother" YASSHI, Genki Horiguchi, Kzy, Punch Tominaga and Susumu Yokosuka and revealed their name on May 3.
The stable started, with Kzy, Horiguchi, and Yokosuka and came to include Tominaga and YASSHI with Kzy being the center of the group, assuming the leadership. The stable initially found its roots as a trio consisting of Kzy, Horiguchi, and Yokosuka, who tried to capture the Open The Twin Gate Championship from ANTIAS on two different occasions. While part of the stable, Kzy, Horiguchi, and Yokosuka held the Open The Triangle Gate Championship, while Yokosuka held the Open The Brave Gate Championship and YASSHI held the UWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship. In December 2019, Kzy suspended the stable, after he joined YAMATO to form the Dragon Gate stable, entering into a feud with R.E.D and Toryumon as part of a "Generation War".
Following the "Generation War" storyline, the stable was reformed by Genki Horiguchi, Kzy and Susumu Yokosuka on December 27, 2020, before regaining the Open The Triangle Gate Championship for the second time. Afterwards, following an audition Jacky "Funky" Kamei and U-T became the newest members of the stable before being also joined by Big Boss Shimizu in June.
Natural Vibes elaborated their own entrances, which included dancing through the crowd and dance sequences in the ring, and whenever usually Kzy or sometimes YASSHI would be around both of them started rapping during their theme song.
History[]
Formation (2017–2018)[]
Shortly after the Jimmyz disbanded, Genki Horiguchi and Susumu Yokosuka (who both failed to win their championship opportunities for the Open The Brave and Dream Gate Championships, respectively) formed a team since the two were part of Jimmyz. During this time, Punch Tominaga was kicked out of VerserK (who later renamed to ANTIAS).
In January 2018, ANTIAS made numerous attempts to make Kzy join ANTIAS even saying that they would help him defeat Masaaki Mochizuki in his Open The Dream Gate Championship match, leading Kzy to refuse on January 27. On February 7, Kzy unsuccessfully challenged Mochizuki for the Open The Dream Gate Championship. After the match Kzy left Tribe Vanguard, leading ANTIAS to come out and again offering Kzy to join ANTIAS. However, Kzy refused to join ANTIAS, which led ANTIAS attacking him until Susumu Yokosuka and Genki Horiguchi made the save and allying themselves with Kzy.
Following this, Kzy, Horiguchi, and Yokosuka agreed to face ANTIAS (Eita, T-Hawk, and El Lindaman) on March 6. Also starting from January, Tominaga stated feuding with former VerserK stablemates Yasushi Kanda and Shingo Takagi, leading Tominaga defeating Kanda to win the Open The Brave Gate Championship. In the following weeks, Kzy warned ANTIAS that someone also coming for them. On March 4 at Champion Gate in Osaka, Horiguchi and Yokosuka unsuccessfully challenged Eita and T-Hawk for the Open The Twin Gate Championship, after Eita and T-Hawk cheated to win the match. On March 6, Kzy, Horiguchi, and Yokosuka lost to Eita, T-Hawk, and Lindaman. After the match, ANTIAS kept attacking them, until Tominaga came out and made the save, leading Kzy revealing that "brother" YASSHI, who was a member of VerserK but left out of the stable after it was renamed to ANTIAS, was also coming for them. Then Kzy, Horiguchi, Tominaga, YASSHI and Yokosuka agreed to a match against ANTIAS (Takagi, Kanda, Lindaman, Eita, and T-Hawk) which was made official on April 6. In weeks leading to the match, Kzy and Horiguchi unsuccessfully challenged Eita and T-Hawk for the Open The Twin Gate Championship, while Tominaga was stripped of the Open The Brave Gate Championship after a title defense against Kanda ended in a no contest.
On April 6 after Kzy, Horiguchi, Tominaga, YASSHI and Yokosuka defeated ANTIAS, Kzy announced the formation of a new stable with Horiguchi and Yokosuka, with him being the center of the group, assuming the leadership. Kzy would then ask Tominaga and YASSHI to join them, which they accepted. Kzy would then challenge MaxiMuM into a title match for their Open The Triangle Gate Championship at Dead or Alive on May 6, which MaxiMuM accepted. On May 3, Kzy unveiled that unit would be named "Natural Vibes". Shortly after, they started elaborating their own entrances, which include dancing through the crowd and dance sequences in the ring, and whenever Kzy or YASSHI are around both of them started rapping during their theme song.
Kzy's leadership and chapter 1 (2018–2019)[]
The unit's official match took place at Dead or Alive on May 6, where Kzy, Horiguchi, and Yokosuka defeated MaxiMuM (Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, and Jason Lee) to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. Following the Dead or Alive, four members of Natural Vibes took part in the King of Gate with Kzy, Horiguchi, Tominaga and Yokosuka, wrestling in separate round-robin blocks. Yokosuka entered his last round-robin matches with a chance to advance to the semifinals but was eliminated after losing to Kagetora. In the end, Kzy and Tominaga finished the tournament with a record of two wins, one loss,and one draw, while Yokosuka and Horiguchi finishing the tournament with a record of two wins and two losses. On July 22 at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, Susumu, Horiguchi, and Kzy successfully defended the Open the Triangle Championship against ANTIAS (Takashi Yoshida, Yasushi Kanda, and Masato Tanaka). On November 18, Kzy, Horiguchi and Yokosuka made their record-breaking 6th defense of the Open The Triangle Gate Championship against Ryo Saito, Don Fuji,i and Gamma. On December 23 at Final Gate, Kzy, Horiguchi and Yokosuka lost their titles to R.E.D (Kazma Sakamoto, Takashi Yoshida, and Yasushi Kanda).
In February 2019, Natural Vibes started a feud with all the stables in Dragon Gate, except MaxiMuM, agreeing to a match on March 7. At the event on March 7, Natural Vibes failed to win the four-way eight-man tag team elimination match. General Manager Takayuki Yagi capitalized on the opportunity and announced the rules for the Steel Cage Survival match, as well as multiple tag team matches between members of the respective units to decide, which member would enter in the match. Leading to the event, Kzy and YASSHI defeated Yokosuka and Horiguchi, with Kzy pinning Horiguchi to represent Natural Vibes in the match. On March 21 at Memorial Gate in Wakayama, Yokosuka defeated Dragon Kid to win Open the Brave Gate Championship. On May 6 at Dead or Alive, Kzy escaped the "Bonds" steel cage survival five-way match. After the match, Kzy decided that no one would be no one kicked out of the stable. Later that month, Kzy, Tominaga, Yokosuka, and Horiguchi took part in the 2019 King of Gate, wrestling in separate round-robin blocks except for Kzy and Tominaga, who wrestled in block A. Kzy was the only member of Natural Vibes to advance from his block, while Tominaga finished in the last place, Yokosuka finished second and Horiguchi finished fourth place. On June 6, Kzy defeated Kazma Sakamoto to advance to the semifinals. Later that night, Kzy was defeated by Ben-K in the semifinals.
At the end of June, Yokosuka and Flamita faced each other in multiple tag team matches, with Flamita pinning Yokosuka each time. On June 29, after being beaten by Flamita for the third time, Yokosuka challenged him to a match for his Open The Brave Gate Championship with General Manager Takayuki Yagi announcing the title match for the event. On July 21, at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, Yokosuka defended the Open The Brave Gate Championship against Flamita. He lost the title to Kaito Ishida on November 4 at Gate of Destiny. On December 15 at Final Gate, Kzy, Horiguchi, and Yokosuka unsuccessfully challenged Strong Machines (Strong Machine J, Strong Machine F, and Strong Machine G) for the Open The Triangle Gate Championship in a three-way match, in which was won by R.E.D (Takashi Yoshida, H.Y.O, and Diamante). Three days later, Kzy suspended the stable after he joined YAMATO to form the Dragon Gate stable in order to unite all Dragon Gate generation of wrestlers against Toryumon and R.E.D in a "Generation War". Meanwhile, the rest of the stable joined the Toryumon stable due to Último Drágon being his mentor.
Return and Chapter 2 (2020–2022)[]
On December 20, 2020, at Final Gate, Toryumon was forced to disband, after losing to R.E.D in No Disqualification Losing Unit Disbands match. Seven days later, after R.E.D forced Toryumon to disband, YAMATO decided to disband the Dragon Gate Generation stable, ending the "Generation War". Afterwards, Kzy was joined by Genki Horiguchi and Susumu Yokosuka, who decided to reform the Natural Vibes. Following their return, began trying to recruit new members. However, on January 14, 2021, Kzy, Horiguchi and Yokosuka defeated R.E.D (Kazma Sakamoto, Takashi Yoshida and SB KENTo) to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship for the second time. On January 17, Natural Vibes held an audition to determine the newest members of the stable, with Don Fujii, Dragon Kid, Punch Tominaga, Taketo Kamei, U-T, taking part of it. At the end, Kamei and U-T managed to win the audition, after impressing Kzy, Horiguchi and Yokosuka, becoming the newest members of the stable. On April 9, Kzy offered Dance⭐︎Hashimoto to join the stable, but he rejected the invite, stating that he wanted to trial the other units first. On May 5 at Dead or Alive, Horiguchi, Kzy and Yokosuka lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to Masquerade (Dragon Dia, Jason Lee and La Estrella). Later that month, three members of Natural Vibes took part in the 2021 King of Gate; Kzy and Yokuska in block B and U-T in block C. All three members failed to advance futher from their blocks. However, they took part in a battle royal to get a second chance to qualify for the semifinals of the tournament. On May 30, Kzy won the second chance battle royal by last eliminating reigning Open The Dream Gate Champion Shun Skywalker to advance to the semifinals. On June 3, Bokutimo Dragon was revealed to be Natural Vibes's newest member, as a result Shimizu repackaged as "King Shimizu". During that night, Kzy defeated SB KENTo and then Kota Minoura, in the semifinals and finals, respectively, to win the 2021 King of Gate. On July 31, during the first night of Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, Shimizu and Yokosuka defeated Kaito Ishida and Kazma Sakamoto to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship. Also in that night, Horiguchi defeated Keisuke Okuda to win the Open The Brave Gate Championship. In the main event of the show, Kzy unsuccessfully challenged Shun Skywalker for the Open The Dream Gate Championship. The following day, Horiguchi lost the Open The Brave Gate Championship to Kagetora. On October 16, Kamei last eliminated U-T to win the Royal Sambo battle royal, becoming the #1 contender to the Open The Brave Gate Championship. The following day, Kamei received his title match, unsucessfully challenging SB KENTo for the Open The Brave Gate Championship. On November 28 at Gate of Origin, Shimizu and Yokosuka lost the Open The Twin Gate Championship to Naruki Doi and Takashi Yoshida.
On February 20, 2022, U-T, Kzy and Kamei first defeated High-End's Ben-K, Dragon Kid and YAMATO in the semifinals and then BxB Hulk, H.Y.O and Shun Skywalker in the finals to win the vacant Open The Triangle Gate Championship. They lost the titles to Gold Class (Kaito Ishida, Kota Minoura and Naruki Doi) on March 5 at Champions Gate in Osaka. Later that month, Natural Vibes tried to convince Jason Lee to join them, but he was also persuaded by Z-Brats and High-End, leading to a three-way match between the three stables, with the winner having Lee joining them. On April 25, Lee faced fellow Hong Kong wrestler Ho Ho Lun, with Lee defeating Lun after Z-Brats interfered and distracted Lun, allowing Lee to hit a low blow followed by an Inside Cradle to win the match, with Lee apparently turning heel and siding with Shun Skywalker. Later that night, the three-way match ended in a double pinfall, with Natural Vibes and Z-Brats winning the match. After the match, General Manager Ryo Saito stated that both should negotiate to see which stable Lee would join. Afterwards, instead of joining Z-Brats, Lee turned on Skywalker and joined Natural Vibes, proclaiming that the three-way match was part of his plan to join them.
Horiguchi and Yokosuka's departures, and Chapter 3 (2022–Present)[]
On May 5 at Dead or Alive, Yokosuka unsuccessfully challenged KAI for the Open The Dream Gate Championship, as a result he was forced to leave Natural Vibes and rename himself to his original ring name "Susumu Mochizuki". In the aftermath, of Yokosuka's failed title challenge, Horiguchi also announced that he was leaving the stable. Later that month, all members of Natural Vibes took part in the 2022 King of Gate. All of them failed to win the tournament with Lee being forced to withdraw from the semifinals due to a concussion. On June 2, Strong Machine J was revealed as the newest member of the stable. On July 30 at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, Lee and Kamei defeated Diamante and Shun Skywalker to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship. They lost the titles to Dragon Dia and Madoka Kikuta on September 19 at Dangerous Gate. On December 4, Kzy and Shimizu defeated BxB Hulk and KAI to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship.
In February 2023, Kamei and Lee took part in the 2023 Rey de Parejas, finishing the tournament with a record of two wins, one draw, and two losses, failing to advance to the semifinals of the tournament. On March 4, at Champion Gate in Osaka, Lee defeated Minorita to win the Open The Brave Gate Championship. A month later, Kzy and Shimizu lost the Open The Twin Gate Championship to Pro Wrestling Noah's KONGOH (Kenoh and Shuji Kondo). On May 20, Kzy, Kamei and Shimizu defeated Gold Class (Ben-K, BxB Hulk and Kota Minoura) to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. On July 2, at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, Lee lost the Open The Brave Gate Championship to ISHIN. Later that night, Kzy, Kamei and Shimizu lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to Gold Class (Kota Minoura, Minorita and Naruki Doi). The following month, Shimizu made it to the finals of the 2023 King of Gate, but was defeated there by Kota Minoura. On October 9 at Gate of Origin, Kzy defeated ISHIN to win the Open The Brave Gate Championship, before losing the title back to him on October 14.
Over the following months, Z-Brats, Big Hug and D'Courage began trying to convince Kamei to join their stable. On January 27, 2024, at Gate of Bayside, Machine, Shimizu and Kzy unsucessfully challenged Z-Brats (KAI, ISHIN and Yoshiki Kato) for the Open The Triangle Gate Championship, due to a mysterious wrestler Mask de Z appeared wearing Kamei's attire, helped Z-Brats retain their titles. Afterwards, both sides agree to a five-on-five match. Shortly after, Shun Skywalker planted the idea that a traitor was among Natural Vibes. On February 7, Natural Vibes faced Z-Brats in a losing effort. Following the match, Machine announced that he is done with all the lack of communication, and left the arena furious with the rest of the members of the stable. The issues within Natural Vibes continued through the following months, due to frustration over the stable's results. Machine was promised by the other members that the group was on the same page and working towards winning the 2024 Rey de Parejas and only focused on the remaining league matches. However on March 30, Lee who was fed up with the stable's antics and lack of results, decided to turn on Kamei during their league match against Shun Skywalker and ISHIN and join Z-Brats. Despite Lee's departure, Shimizu and Machine were the only team, of Natural Vibes to reach the semifinals of the tournament, were they were eliminated by YAMATO and Susumu Yokosuka. Shortly after, Natural Vibes was attacked by Z-Brats, leading Hyo to help them fend off Z-Brats. Afterwards, Dragon Gate's General Manager Ryo Saito set up a Steel cage match between Natural Vibes and Z-Brats at Dead or Alive on May 5.
In wrestling[]
- Entrance themes
- "Party Anthem" by Masako Honjo (feat. Kzy and "brother" YASSHI)
- "Party Anthem 〜Come back sound〜" by Masako Honjo (feat. Kzy)
- "Party Anthem 〜Good Vibes Only〜" by Masako Honjo (feat. Kzy)
Members[]
| * | Founding member |
|---|---|
| I | First Leader |
Current[]
| Member | Duration | |
|---|---|---|
| Big Boss Shimizu | June 3, 2021 – Present | |
| Kzy | I* | April 6, 2018 – December 18, 2019 December 27, 2020 – Present |
| Jacky "Funky" Kamei | January 17, 2021 – Present | |
| Strong Machine J | June 2, 2022 – Present | |
| U-T | January 17, 2021 – Present | |
Former[]
| Members | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| "brother" YASSHI | * | April 6, 2018 – December 18, 2019 |
| Genki Horiguchi | * | April 6, 2018 – December 18, 2019 December 27, 2020 – May 5, 2022 |
| Jason Lee | April 25, 2022 – March 30, 2024 | |
| Punch Tominaga | * | April 6, 2018 – December 18, 2019 |
| Susumu Yokosuka | * | April 6, 2018 – December 18, 2019 December 27, 2020 – May 5, 2022 |
Part-time[]
| Member | Appearance |
|---|---|
| Dance⭐︎Hashimoto | April 9, 2021 |
Timeline[]
Championships and accomplishments[]
- Dragon Gate
- Open The Brave Gate Championship (4 times) – Yokosuka (1), Horiguchi (1), Lee (1) and Kzy (1)
- Open The Triangle Gate Championship (4 times) – Kzy, Horiguchi, and Yokosuka (2), Kzy, U-T and Kamei (1), Kzy, Shimizu and Kamei (1)
- Open The Twin Gate Championship (3 times) – Shimizu and Yokosuka (1), Lee and Kamei (1) and Kzy and Shimizu (1)
- King of Gate (2021) – Kzy
- Royal Sambo (2021) – Kamei
- Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS
- UWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time) – YASSHI
- Kyushu Pro Wrestling
- Kyushu Pro Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Horiguchi and Yokosuka
- Ryukyu Dragon Pro Wrestling
- Twin Ryuo Tag Team Championship (1 time) – Kzy and U-T
Gallery[]
