Shota Unno (海野 翔太 Umino Shōta, born April 17, 1997) is a Japanese wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he competes under his real name romanized as Shota Umino. He made his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) on April 13, 2017, and worked as a "Young Lion" over the following three years.
In November 2019, Umino was sent to the British Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW) promotion to further his wrestling training and gain international experience, a tradition with NJPW "Young Lions", through NJPW's international partnerships. Umino's run in the United Kingdom ended in October 2022 and he returned to NJPW in November, repackaged as "Roughneck" (ラフネック Rafunekku), complete with a new look and a new persona.
His quick ascension through the ranks of NJPW, led him to form the "Reiwa Three Musketeers" alongside Ren Narita and Yota Tsuji.
Early life[]
When Umino was young he was influenced by his father to become a professional wrestler, after seeing his father, who is a referee in New Japan Pro-Wrestling referring the main event of Wrestle Kingdom III in Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2009, he decided to become a professional wrestler. In high school, Umino played baseball for ten years. In 2014, he participated as a knocker in Tetsuya Naito's pre-G1 public practice "Baseball Special Training".
Professional wrestling career[]
New Japan Pro Wrestling (2016–2019)[]
In March 2016, Umino began training under NJPW's "young lion" system. After one year of training, Umino made his debut on April 13, 2017, at Lion's Gate Project 4 losing to Taka Michinoku. As is customary for most professional wrestlers as young lions, Umino spent most of his matches losing to other, more experienced wrestlers, which would help put over other wrestlers while at the same time give Umino some in-ring, televised, experience. Umino competed in the 2017 Young Lion Cup, finishing the tournament with a record of two wins and three losses, failing to win the tournament. In April 2018, Umino main evented Lion's Gate Project 11 on April 10, teaming with Yuji Nagata in a losing effort against to Ayato Yoshida and Go Asakawa. On June 30, 2018, Umino compete for the first time outside of Japan working in NJPW and Revolution Pro Wrestling show, Strong Style Evolved UK in England losing to Great O-Kharn. From November 17 until November 7, Umino competed in the 2019 World Tag League teaming with Ayato Yoshida, losing all of their matches in the tournament.
In March 2019, Umino took part in the 2019 New Japan Cup losing to Hiroshi Tanahashi in the first round. On June 9, 2019 at Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall, after Umino lost in singles match against Jon Moxley. Following the loss, Moxley appreciated Umino's efforts and Umino became Moxley's protégé and began managing his matches, with Moxley nicknaming him Shooter. In August 2019, the young lions of the Japan and L.A. dojos were involved in a heated rivalry that was build up during the 2019 G1 Climax and Super J-Cup tours. In September, Umino took part in the 2019 Young Lion Cup. Umino would lose the first match of the tournament to Alex Coughlin. Despite losing his first match, Umino bounced back winning four matches in a row. However, on September 22 at Destruction in Kobe, Umino entered the final day with a chance to win tournament, but a loss against Karl Fredericks prevented him from winning it. Afterwards, in post-match interview, Umino asked to be sent to a learning excursion. The following day, NJPW granted Umino's request and announced that he would be leaving for a learning excursion in the United Kingdom.
Foreign excursion (2019–2022)[]
Umino made his debut for Revolution Pro Wrestling at the New Beginnings event on November 9, 2019, in a loss to Kyle Fletcher. He had previously wrestled for RPW in 2018, during NJPW and RPW's collaborative two-night event Strong Style Evolved UK. Umino also made his debut for Over the Top Wrestling (OTT) at the promotion's Stickin' Out event on January 5, 2020, where he lost to Scotty Davis. After that Umino would also appear in other promotions in the United Kingdom and United States such as Fight Club: PRO, ATTACK! Pro Wrestling and Bar Wrestling. After that Umino would spend the rest of the year without wrestle due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom, leading his excursion to be shortened. On June 20, it was announced that Umino was going to take part of NJPW's return event Resurgence in the United States with fans as part of his learning excursion. However, due to the restrictions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom and the United States, Umino had to be pulled out of the event. After an absence of over a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Umino made his return to wrestling at RevPro Live In Bristol 3 event in July 2021, defeating Dan Moloney. Afterwards, he began feuding with Gideon Grey's stable Legion, which was aligned with the United Empire. This led to Umino challenging Ospreay to a match for the British Heavyweight Championship in November, which he lost, after the interference from Ospreay's United Empire stablemates Aussie Open (Kyle Fletcher and Mark Davis).
On April 16, 2022 at Windy City Riot, Umino made a surprise return to NJPW, answering Jay White's open challenge, being defeated by him. This marked his first NJPW appearance since September 2019. On June 26 in AEW and NJPW co-produced Forbidden Door event, Umino teamed with Eddie Kingston and Wheeler Yuta in a six-man tag-team match, where they lost to Chris Jericho, Sammy Guevara and Minoru Suzuki. In September, Umino made his NJPW Strong debut, defeating Q.T. Marshall at Autumn Action. After not being satisfied with the outcome of his title match with Will Ospreay in the previous November, Umino faced Ospreay in a non-title rematch on October 1 at Royal Quest II, which he lost again after his father referee Red Shoes Unno, was forced to stop the match.
Return to NJPW (2022–Present)[]
On November 5 at Battle Autumn, Umino, once again working under his real name, made a surprise appearance after Ospreay had defeated Tetsuya Naito to retain the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, he responded to his United States Championship open challenge, before attacking him and his United Empire stablemates, and posing with his title belt, setting up a title match between the two at Historic X-Over on November 20. At the event, Umino was defeated by Ospreay in the title match.
In January 2023, Umino began a short feud with Tetsuya Naito, which culminated in a match at The New Beginning in Sapporo, which Umino lost. In March, Umino took part in the 2023 New Japan Cup, being eliminated in the quarterfinals by eventual finalist David Finlay. During the tournament, on March 15, Umino picked up a major win over reigning NJPW World Television Champion Zack Sabre Jr., eliminating him in the second round. This earned him a title match on April 8 at Sakura Genesis, where Umino failed to win the title. On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku, Umino challenged Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomohiro Ishii to a title match for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship, with one of his partners being the returning Jon Moxley. On May 28, Umino revealed Moxley's Blackpool Combat Club stablemate Claudio Castagnoli as the mysterious partner. On June 4, at Dominion 6.4 in Osaka-jo Hall, Umino, Moxley and Castagnoli unsuccessfully challenged Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomohiro Ishii for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. His quick ascension through the ranks of NJPW, led to the promotion announcing the formation of the Reiwa Three Musketeers, on June 30, composing of Umino, Ren Narita and Yota Tsuji, with the distinction going back to 1988, when Masahiro Chono, Shinya Hashimoto and Keiji Mutoh were named the original Three Musketeers during an excursion together in Puerto Rico and later in 2004 to Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shinsuke Nakamura and Katsuyori Shibata as the New Three Musketeers, with each becoming indelible figures in NJPW's history. However, Umino was not amused by the announcement, deeming it disrespectful to the original Three Musketeers. The following month, Umino was granted entry into the 2023 G1 Climax, his first G1 Climax tournament. On August 5, he finished the tournament with a record of two wins, two draws and three losses, failing to advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament. Following the tournament, on August 13, Umino, Master Wato, and Yuji Nagata began feuding with Strong Style's Ren Narita, El Desperado and Minoru Suzuki, when Umino and Generation rival Narita rivalry's escalated after a heated brawl, which was followed by the addition of Desperado, Suzuki and Wato and Nagata, steeming from a mutal animosity between each other. This led to a Best of Seven Series, during the Road to Destruction tour, with the last match between them culminating at Destruction in Ryogoku, with the first match taking place on September 10, which ended in a draw. Over the course of the Road to Destruction tour, Strong Style were leading the Best of Seven Series, but on October 9 at Destruction in Ryogoku, Umino, Wato and Nagata defeated Strong Style, leaving the Best of Seven Series, to end in a draw, with three victories shared between the two sides. On October 14 at Royal Quest III, Umino challenged Will Ospreay to a rematch for the IWGP United Kingdom Championship. Ospreay granted Umino the title shot at Power Struggle under the condition that Great-O-Khan, would face Jon Moxley, which Umino accepted, but he had one more condition of his own to counter with. Having been defeated by Ospreay IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship at Historic X-Over, Umino wanted Ospreay to bring both the UK and the US Championship with him at the event. On November 4 at Power Struggle, Umino unsuccessfully challenged Opsreay for the IWGP United States (United Kingdom) Heavyweight Championship.
From November 20 to December 10, Umino and Ren Narita took part in the 2023 World Tag League. On December 6, in the final round robin match of the World Tag League, Narita turned on Umino to join the House of Torture. Afterwards, Narita revealed that he had been looking forward to this for a long time. Over the following weeks, Umino tried and failed to get his hands on Narita, but failed. He would soon align himself with Pro Wrestling Noah's Kaito Kiyomiya, who was also feuding with House of Torture. This led to two matches, on January 2, 2024 at NOAH The New Year, where Umino, Kiyomiya, Daiki Inaba, Junta Miyawaki, Ryohei Oiwa, and Shuji Kondo faced House of Torture in a winning effort and the second two days later at Wrestle Kingdom 18, where Umino and Kiyomiya lost to EVIL and Narita. Umino and Narita's feud culminated in a match on January 24, where Umino defeated Narita, despite the interference from House of Torture. Afterwards, Umino was asked by Tama Tonga, who helped him fend off the House of Torture, to challenge for the NEVER Openweight Championship, before Umino declared himself as the "new ace" of the new generation. On February 23 at The New Beginning in Sapporo, Umino unsucessfully challenged EVIL for the NEVER Openweight Championship. The following day, a pre-taped vignette was displayed, where Jack Perry targeted Umino, after he had previously been attacked by him on January 13, at Battle in the Valley, with Umino accepting his challenge to a match. On March 6, Umino was eliminated from the 2024 New Japan Cup by Perry following the interference from House of Torture, whom Perry joined. Afterwards, Umino began campaigning for a rematch against him, which NJPW made official on March 21. On April 12 at Windy City Riot, Umino defeated Perry. After the match, both opponents shook hands and embraced, ending their feud.
Personal Life[]
He is the son of NJPW's referee Hiroyuki Unno, who is best known under the ring name "Red Shoes Unno". Umino has cited Katsuyori Shibata as his favorite wrestler and found him as an inspiration to pursue his professional wrestling career.
During the summer of 2019, after becoming Jon Moxley's protègè, he nicknamed him Shooter, a nickname he continues to carry until today. Moxley later offered him for christmas, a personalized jacket, based on a variation of Moxley's Death Rider jacket used in his debut. Umino cites Moxley as his master and as one of his favorite wrestlers, while founding him as an inspiration during his professional wrestling career.
He is also a fan of the Japanese pop band, Momoiro Clover Z. Umino, as a former amateur baseball player, supports the Japanesee Yomiuri Giants baseball team. On September 2, 2021, Umino tested positive for COVID-19 amid its pandemic in the United Kingdom.
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- Death Rider (Snap underhook DDT) – adopted from Jon Moxley
- Signature moves
- Blaze Blade (European uppercut to the back of a kneeling opponent's head) — parodied from Will Ospreay
- Boston crab
- Dropkick
- European uppercut
- Forearm smash
- Henkei Death Rider (Cradle single underhook DDT)
- Ignition (Running swinging neckbreaker twisted into a corkscrew facebuster)
- Multiple suplex variations
- Dragon
- Exploder
- Fisherman
- German
- Regal Knee (Running knee lift) — adopted from William Regal
- Reverse Twist and Shout (Rolling cutter, sometimes followed by two more in a row or transitioned into Trident)
- Roaring Elbow (Discus elbow smash)
- STF – adopted from Masahiro Chono
- Trident (Inverted fisherman lift dropped into a sitout side powerslam)
- Twist and Shout (Snap swinging neckbreaker)
- Nicknames
- "Shooter"
- "Roughneck"
- Entrance themes
- "Shooter" by Yonosuke Kitamura
- "Shooter -Historic X-Over Ver.-" by Yonosuke Kitamura
Championships and accomplishments[]
- Pro Wrestling Illustrated
- Ranked No. 334 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2019
- Revolution Pro Wrestling
- Revolution Rumble (2020)