Soma Takao (高尾蒼馬 Takao Soma, born August 4, 1988) is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to Dramatic Dream Team (DDT). Takao also competed for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW).
Professional wrestling career[]
DDT (2009-present)[]
Before his debut he competed in amateur UWF Kanto student Wrestling Federation, in which he paid homage to CIMA as he called himself “BIMA”. He would even compete against Stalker Ichikawa in 2008. He would go on to train in the U-FILE CAMP before finding his home as a trainee in DDT.
Soma made his debut, only after 6 months of training, on August 23, 2009 in a 6 man tag match along with Yukihiro Abe and Keisuke Ishii against the team of Gota Ihashi, Tomokazu Taniguchi, and Shigehiro Irie. In 2010 he won the Young Drama Cup by defeating Keisuke Ishii in the finals.
However after winning the tournament he joined the Shit Heart Foundation stable. On June 19, 2011 the stable disband when Tomomitsu Matsunaga and Super Shit Machine turned on him to found the Susan Shit Heart Superstars.
On March 11, 2012, he and Sanshiro Takagi would capture the KO-D Tag belts following a win over Yuji Hino and Yasu Urano. They would go on to make 4 defenses as champion before dropping the belts back to Hino and Urano on April 15, 2012.
In 2012 would see the formation of “Team Dream Futures” or “Team Drift” for short along with Keisuke Ishii and Shigehiro Irie. The trio would become the first ever KO-D 6 Man Tag Champions on January 13, 2013 but they lost to Antonio Honda, Daisuke Sasaki and Yuji Hino). On February 23, 2014 Takao and Ishii and Irie regained the titles by defeating Aja Kong, Danshoku Dino and Makoto Oishi but they lost the titles to Daisuke Sasaki, Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi.
On August 17, 2014 they regained the titles for the third time by defeating Kudo, Masa Takanashi and Yukio Sakaguchi however the dropped the titles to Kazuki Hirata, Sanshiro Takagi and Toru Owashi on September 28, 2014 but they would later regain for the fourth time the titles on March 1, 2015 by defeating Shuten-dōji but twenty days later they lost the titles to again to them. On April 11, 2015 they would regain the titles again to them on April 11, 2015. but they will lost the titles again but this to time to Danshoku Dino, Ken Ohka and Super Sasadango Machine. On May 15, 2016 They would regain the titles again until they will vacate the titles due to going on their own ways on May 29, 2016.
However, this would act as a kickstart to Takao's single career that he defeated Hikaru Sato for AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship at 2016 Ryōgoku Peter Pan. In late 2017 Takao would turn heel for the first time on his career after joining Damnation. From November 30 until December 15, Takao took part in the 2019 D-Oh Grand Prix, where he finished the tournament with a record of two wins and four losses, failing to advance to the finals of the tournament. During the tournament, Takao briefly held the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship, before losing it at the tournament. On September 4, DAMANTION took part in the Dramatic Survivor tournament, in which the losing unit would be forced to disband. DAMNATION and 37KAMIINA faced each other in the finals after both teamed lost their first round match. This led to DAMNATION losing to 37KAMIINA and as a result being forced to disband.
All Japan Pro Wrestling (2014-2016)[]
On January 3, 2014 he would make an appearance in AJPW, unsuccessfully challenging SUSHI for the Gaora TV Championship. He would later participate in the 2014 Jr. Battle of Glory where he finished his block with 4 points with 2 victories and losses after that he and Ishii were defeated by Jun Akiyama and Yoshinobu Kanemaru for the All Asia Tag Team Championship. In October, Takao and Ishii took part in the 2014 Junior Tag Battle Of Glory tournament, making it the playoffs where they were eliminated by Evolution (Atsushi Aoki and Hikaru Sato). In February 2015, Takao took part in the Junior Battle Of Glory tournament, finishing with 3 points and not advancing to the final. In February 2016, Takao participated in the Junior Battle Of Glory tournament for the second time, finishing with 2 points and failing to advance to the final. In November, Takao and Yuma Aoyagi took part in the Junior Tag Battle Of Glory tournament, finishing with 5 points but they lost in the finals to Atsushi Aoki and Hikaru Sato. On November 27 he lost the World Junior Heavyweight Championship to Keisuke Ishii.
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- Diving guillotine leg drop - early career
- Gin Buck (Reverse Gory bomb) – 2019
- Gin & Tonic (Cradle back-to-belly piledriver)
- Official Endless Waltz (Rolling arm wrench inside cradle) - adopted from Kotaro Suzuki
- Signature moves
- Bomaye (Running knee strike to an opponent's head, sometimes to a kneeling or seated opponent) – 2012–2014; adopted from Shinsuke Nakamura
- Diving double foot stomp
- La Solarina (Kneeling step-over head-hold inverted chickenwing)
- Mad Splash (Frog splash) - adopted from CIMA
- Perfect Driver (Cross-legged sitout scoop slam piledriver) - adopted from CIMA
- Schwein (Over the shoulder back-to-belly piledriver) – adopted from CIMA
- Step-up high knee to a cornered opponent
- Nicknames
- "Ankoku no Kikōshi" (Japanese for "Noble Prince of Darkness")
- "Yutori Hīru (Heel)"
- Entrance themes
- "Last Dance"
- "Red Treason ~Soma Takao Main Theme~"
Championships and accomplishments[]
- All Japan Pro Wrestling
- DDT Pro-Wrestling
- Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (1 time)
- Omori Dream Fair Championship (1 time)
- KO-D Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Sanshiro Takagi (1) and Daisuke Sasaki (1)
- KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship (9 times) - with Keisuke Ishii and Shigehiro Irie (7), Tetsuya Endo and Mad Paulie (1) and Tetsuya Endo and Yuji Hino (1)
- Young Drama Cup (2010)