U-T

U-T
Birth name	Yuta Tanaka
Born	September 23, 1993 (1993-09-23)
	Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	U-T
Height	1.62 m (5 ft 4 in)
Weight	70 kg (150 lb)
Trained By	Dragon Gate Dojo Eita T-Hawk
Debut	April 14, 2013

Yuta Tanaka (勇太田中 Tanaka Yūta?, born September 23, 1993) is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name U-T (ユー-ティー) who works currently for Dragon Gate. He was trained by the Dragon Gate Dojo and he was going to debut in Dragon Gate but he was then sent on an excursion to Mexico with Eita and Tomahawk to further his wrestling training and gain international experience, a tradition with rookies in Japan. He spent his career in Mexico competing on Desastre Total Ultraviolento (DTU) promotion. It was in DTU that Tanaka made his in-ring debut under his first name Yuta (勇太).

Tanaka returned to Dragon Gate in mid 2013 this time renaming himself to U-T and formed a stable with Eita and T-Hawk named Millennials. U-T won his first his first professional wrestling championship, the following year the Open The Triangle Gate Championship with Eita and T-Hawk. After the disbanding of Millennials in 2015 U-T rarely competed in matches spent the most of the years of 2015, 2016 and mid 2017 inactive being sidelined with an arm injury. He returned toithe ring on July 2017 and later joined Tribe Vanguard in November.

Early life

Yuta Tanaka was born on September 23, 1993 his parents dreamed that Yuta one day would join Toryumon Japan (later Dragon Gate) and he watched Dragon Gate since he was a kid and he was a big fan of Dragon Gate. At High school, he studied to be a council president and he also had a background on baseball.

Professional Wrestling Career

Dragon Gate

Debut (2013)

On March 21, 2013, it was announced that Yuta would go on an excursion to Mexico with Eita and Tomahawk and it would begin on April 12, debuting in Mexico and not in Japan. On Mexico he made his debut on April 13 in a DTU event and it was a Four -ay also including Jhonky and Articus and Hellboy were Jhonky was the winner and he would work on Mexico on the name of Yuta while in Mexico to gain experience with more styles of wrestling, something not uncommon for young Japanese wrestlers. He would work on Mexico on the undercard until July 6 where it was his last match on Mexico, where he won a Torneo Cibernetico match also including Angel del Misterio and Articus and Atomic Star and Jhonky and Jorge Kebrada and Kalibuz and Kiuby and Miedo Xtremo and Osiris and Senky.

Millennials (2013–2015)

On July 21, 2013 Yuta renamed himself to U-T and alongside Eita and T-Hawk he formed a new stable named Millennials, announced their impending return to Dragon Gate. The stable made its debut appearance on August 23 at The Gate of Generation. On August 7 U-T made his singles debut in Japan losing to Mondai Ryu. On September 29 U-T participated in the tournament for the Open the Brave Gate Championship, but he lost in the first round to CIBA. On March 3, 2014 ,U-T had his first singles victory in 2014 when he defeated Kotoka. On March 16, U-T, Eita ,and T-Hawk defeated the Jimmyz (Jimmy Kanda, Jimmy Susumu ,and Mr. Kyu Kyu Naoki Tanizaki Toyonaka Dolphin) to win the Open the Triangle Gate Championship. On May 5 U-T, Eita and T-Hawk made their first successful title defense defeating We Are Team Veteran (Dragon Kid, K-ness and Super Shisa). Six days later the trio made their second successful title defense against Mad Blankey (Cyber Kong, Kzy and YAMATO). They lost the title to Mad Blankey (Cyber Kong, Kzy and Naruki Doi) on June 14. U-T was tinned by Cyber Kong after some interference by his Mad Blankey stablemates. The match also included We Are Team Veteran (Don Fujii, Dragon Kid ,and Masaaki Mochizuki). On August 8 U-T, Eita and T-Hawk participated in a tournament the #1 Contendership to the Open the Triangle Gate Champions. They lost at the semifinals to BxB Hulk, Dragon Kid ,and Masaaki Mochizuki. On May 5 U-T, Kotoka and Flamita had an opportunity for the Open the Triangle Championship in a losing effort. On August 6, 2015, Millennials lost a three-way match and were forced to disband due to the result.

Return from injury (2015–present)

Since the disbanding of Millennials U-T continued to work on the mid-card and he changed his attire with black hair and green trunks and he choose to stay unaffiliated with a stable. On November 25 U-T, Yosuke Santa Maria and Don Fujii participated at the tournament for the vacated Open the Triangle Gate Championship, losing in the first round to Dia.HEARTS (Dragon Kid, Kzy and Masaaki Mochizuki). On 2016 U-T continued to work on the mid-card and U-T had finally a victory in 2016 when he defeated Kaito Ishida. He would spend most of the year inactive and also until mid-2017.

U-T would return to Dragon Gate on July 10, 2017, announcing that he would return to action on July 21 in a NEX show. U-T's return match took place on the Dragon Gate NEX Sanctuary.156 losing to Flamita. On October 29 U-T stated that he wanted to join a unit. Later that night, U-T was invited to join Over Generation and Tribe Vanguard. During that time U-T developed a winning streak always tapping out his opponents with his new finisher the Pasion. However, his winning streak came to an end after he was pinned by his former Millennials stablemate T-Hawk in a Six-Man Tag Team match on November 3 at the Gate of Destiny. Before the match to see who was going to get U-T, it was announced that he would be put in a trial series. On November 28 it was announced that U-T was joining Tribe Vanguard due to BxB Hulk and Kzy defeating Dragon Kid, Gamma and Mondai Ryu in a match where the winner would get U-T.

On August 4, 2018, U-T stated he had to go back to his roots and debuted a new finishing move the Bien Llave. The following day, U-T submitted one-third of reigning Open The Triangle Gate Champions Genki Horiguchi. Afterwards, U-T and his Tribe Vanguard stablemates Kagetora and Yosuke♥Santa Maria challenged Horiguchi and his Natural Vibes stablemates Kzy and Susumu Yokosuka to a title match, which was scheduled on September 9 at The Gate of Origin. At the Gate of Origin, Kzy along with Kagetora and Maria unsuccessfully challenged Natural Vibes for the Open the Triangle Gate Champions. From January 13 to January 16, U-T participated in the Rookie Ranking Tournament, he ended up in third place after defeating Yuki Yoshioka. In May, U-T would take part in the 2019 King of Gate. U-T would start the King of Gate with a victory over Punch Tominaga but lost to Kzy in his second match. During the tournament, U-T suffered a fractured collarbone, which led him to forfeit the rest of his matches, ending the tournament with a record of one win and four losses. Despite being injured U-T became part of the Dragon Gate stable in order to unite all Dragon Gate generation of wrestlers against Toryumon and R.E.D in a "Generation War". On May 31, U-T made his return against Último Dragón in a losing effort.

Factions

• Millennials (2013–2015)
• Tribe Vanguard (2017–2019)
• Dragon Gate (2019–present)

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Skayde (Over-the-shoulder armbreaker)
  • Viernes/Pasion (Cross-legged Ankle lock)
  • Bien Llave (Double underhook crossface)
• Signature moves
  • Cross-arm Hangman's choke
  • Diving Headbutt
  • Dropkick
  • Forearm Smash
  • Headbutt
  • Hurricarrana
  • Leaping reverse STO
  • Pendulum overhead from out of the corner, as a counter to an oncoming opponent
  • Perforal (Wheelbarrow victory roll)
  • Rotación (Front flip piledriver)
  • Slingshot DDT
• Nicknames
  • "Millennial Star"
  • "Jōnetsu no Bureibu Hāto" (Japanese for "Brave Heart of Passion")
• Entrance themes
  • "1993 feat." by Yoshiyushi

Championships and Accomplishments

• Dragon Gate
  • Open The Triangle Gate Championship (1 time) – with Eita and T-Hawk
  • Rookie Ranking Tournament: Fourth place

External links

• Cagematch Profile
• Iheartdg Profile
• U-T Blog