Ryuichi Kawakami

Ryuichi Kawakami
Birth name	Ryuichi Kawakami (河上隆一, Kawakami Ryuichi)
Born	November 28, 1988 (1988-11-28)
	Fujisawa, Kanagawa, Japan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Ryuichi Kawakami Trans Am ★ Ryuichi Trans Am ★ Ryuji
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	100 kg (220 lb)
Trained By	BJW Dojo Daisuke Sekimoto
Debut	December 4, 2008

Ryuichi Kawakami (河上隆一, Kawakami Ryuichi, born November 29, 1988) is a Japanese professional wrestler trained by and signed to Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) where is a former two-times Yokohama Shopping Street 6-Man Tag Team Championship. He also works for Pro Wrestling BASARA as Trans Am ★ Ryuji where his a former one-time Union MAX Champion and also won the 2017 Itadaki League.

Professional wrestling career

Big Japan Pro Wrestling (2008-present)

Kawakami studied karate before becoming a pro-wrestler. He would join the BJW Dojo in 2007 as he would make his debut on December 4 of that year against his head teacher Daisuke Sekimoto. Even though as a debuting heavyweight he was still met with an uphill beginning as he suffered many losses throughout the following years. His first main series of singles matches would start in February of 2010 as he took on many notable heavyweights and veterans over this time. From Shuji Ishikawa, Mitsuya Nagai, Magnitude Kishiwada, and Yuki Ishikawa. He would ultimately end with 7 losses in total from the series of bouts. He would go on to compete in All Japan Pro Wrestling on May 15, 2011 along with Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi. Though he would suffer the direct loss against the team of Seiya Sanada, Manabu Soya, and Yasufumi Nakanoue. In 2012 he had his first major setback in the form a left knee injury that would take him out of action for the remainder of the year. In 2013 he would return as he would also become a regular of Genichiro Tenryu’s promotion Tenryu Project. He would also win the Strong Style Tournament RISING defeating in the finals Yuji Okabayashi.

In August 2015 he would suffer another injury to his left knee which would take him out of action for nearly a year, though he would compete in Genichiro Tenryu’s final show on November 2015. After which he would undergo surgery for the repeated injuries that he has sustained. He would return in July 2016 as he took on Daisuke Sekimoto in a singles match. In 2017 he and Hideki Suzuki would begin a feud as both aimed for the contention of the BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion, which Suzuki would later won. Three days later, they lost the back the titles to Nakanoue, Hama and Uto. On May 5, 2019, Kawakami and Kazumi Kikuta won the All Asia Tag Team Champions to Koji Iwamoto and Jake Lee.

Pro Wrestling Basara (2016-present)

In September 2016, he would compete in Pro Wrestling BASARA as he and Trans Am ★ Hiroshi would begin to team together fairly regular. He would also dub his own name as Trans Am ★ Ryuichi. On March 22, 2017 Ryuichi defeated FUMA to win the Union Pro MAX Championship. Ryuichi would make his first title defense defeating Ryota Nakatsu. Ryuichi and Hiroshi would also be joined by Trans Am ★ Shinya. On July 5 Ryuchi defeated FUMA to win the Itadaki League and making his second defense of the Union Pro MAX Championship. On October 1, he lost the title to Isami Kodaka in his fourth title defense. In July 2018 Kawakami would later feud with Ryuichi Sekine where the loser had to change his Kanji in his first name changed from 龍一 to 龍二. On July 12 Kawakami lost to Sekine forcing to change his name in the process.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Perfect Five (Fireman's carry facebuster)
  • Suisha-Otoshi (Waterwheel Drop)
  • Tiger Driver (Sitout double underhook powerbomb)
  • Hurricane Driver (Spinning Samoan Driver)
• Signature moves
  • Scarlett Flowsion (Emerald Flowsion)
  • German Suplex
  • Exploder (Wrist-clutch exploder suplex, sometimes from the second or top rope)
  • Pescado
  • Standing Moonsault

Championships and accomplishments

• All Japan Pro Wrestling
  • All Asia Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kazumi Kikuta 
• Big Japan Pro Wrestling
  • Yokohama Shopping Street 6-Man Tag Team Championship (2 times) – with Yuji Okabayashi and Shinya Ishikawa (1) and Hideyoshi Kamitani and Daichi Hashimoto (1)
  • Strong Style Tournament RISING (2013)
• Tenryu Project
  • Tenryu Project Six Man Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with BUKI and Classic Kid
• Pro Wrestling BASARA
  • Union Max Championship (1 time)
  • Itadaki League (2017)