Yoshiki Inamura (稲村愛輝 Inamura Yoshiaki, born November 18, 1992 in Otawara, Tochigi, Japan) is a Japanese professional wrestler, where he currently works for Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah).
Inamura was trained by Pro Wrestling Noah dojo and made his debut in September 2018. Inamura worked as a rookie, before being placed on Noah's mid-card, soon after Inamura formed a team with named "The Tough" with Masa Kitamiya. In the following months, Inamura and Kitamiya formed the KONGOH stable with Kenoh, with Inamura turning heel in December 2019, before leaving KONGOH in October 2020, turning face.
In September 2023, Inamura was sent to Progress Wrestling (Progress) promotion, where he became known under the ring name YOICHI, to further his wrestling training and gain international experience. In April 2024, he won his first professional wrestling championship, the Progress Atlas Championship. He made his return to NOAH in June, reverting to his real name.
Early life[]
Born in Otawara, Tochigi, Japan, before his wrestling career, Inamura had a background on martial arts in Judo. After finishing high school, Inamura moved to Tokyo to procede his studies in college, where he practiced Sumo and later student wrestling, in which student would organize themselves alongside some veteran officials established in professional wrestling. Soon after, Inamura began working in a part-time job at Higashi-Nakano Station, before joinning Pro Wrestling Noah's dojo in September 2017.
Professional wrestling career[]
Pro Wrestling NOAH (2018–2023)[]
In August 2018, Inamura was introduced to the Pro Wrestling Noah roster, wrestling several exhibition bouts before officially debuting against Hitoshi Kumano on September 2 in a losing effort. As is customary for most professional wrestlers, Inamura spent most of his matches losing to other, more experienced wrestlers, which would help put over other wrestlers while at the same time give Inamura some in-ring, televised, experience. On December 7, Inamura defeated fellow rookie and rival Kinya Okada for his first victory as a professional wrestler. This was followed by two sucessive victories over Okada on December 9 and 12. In January 2019, Inamura underwent a 7 match trial series, but lost all 7 matches, being defeated by Akitoshi Saito, Kaito Kiyomiya, Kenoh, Go Shiozaki, Masa Kitamiya, and Maybach Taniguchi.
In March during Spring Navigation tour, Inamura began regularly teaming with Masa Kitamiya. After having impressed Kitamiya following a victory on March 20, over his rival Kinya Okada and Junta Miyawaki, Kitamiya decided to form a team with Inamura later named "The Tough". In the following month, Inamura and Kitamiya took part in the 2019 Global Tag League, finishing the tournament with a record of two wins and five losses, failling to advance to the finals of tournament. On May 2, Inamura and Kitamiya defeated by Kenoh and Masao Inoue. After the match, Kenoh stared at both Inamura and Kitamiya saying that they "had hungry eyes". On May 4, Inamura, Kitamiya, Kenoh and Atsushi Kotoge formed "KONGOH" as a protest against NOAH's owner LIDET Entertainment. On October 3, Inamura and Kitamiya faced AXIZ (Go Shiozaki and Katsuhiko Nakajima) in a tag team match, where The Tough teamed with Kenoh and AXIZ with Kaito Kiyomiya. Kitamiya scored the win for his team after pinning Nakajima. Afterwards, Kitamiya challenged AXIZ to a title match for the GHC Tag Team Championship on November 2, which they accepted. This led on November 2 at Noah the Best, Inamura and Kitamiya unsuccesfully challenging Shiozaki and Nakajima for the GHC Tag Team Championship. In April, Inamura took part in the 2020 Global Tag League alognside Big Japan Pro Wrestling's Daisuke Sekimoto, finishing the tournament with a record of one win and three losses, failling to advance to the finals of tournament. From September14 until October 4, Inamura took part in the 2020 N-1 Victory, being defeated by his KONGOH stablemates Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kenoh, and Noah's veteran such as Takashi Sugiura, Naomichi Marufuji, and Shuhei Taniguchi.
On October 22, Inamura teamed with his KONGOH stablemates Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kenoh faced Kaito Kiyomiya, Shuhei Taniguchi, and Go Shiozaki in a six-man tag team match, which KONGOH were defeated. Afterwards, Inamura decided to leave KONGOH in order to join Kiyomiya's team, stating that he needed to take the next step in his career. Afterwards, on December 1, Inamura and Kiyomiya discussed challenging for the GHC Tag Team Championship, leading on the following day, Noah officializing the title match. On December 19, Inamura and Kiyomiya unsuccessfully challenged Sugiura-gun (Kazushi Sakuraba and Takashi Sugiura) for the GHC Tag Team Championship.
On November 10, 2022, at Global Honored Crown, Inamura challenged El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr. to a title match for the GHC National Championship, but Wagner initially refused, but following a positive reaction from the audience on Inamura's challenge, he decided to accept it. This match marked Inamura first title match in Inamura's career. On November 23 at Noah the Best, Inamura unsuccessfully challenged Wagner for the GHC National Championship.
In August 2023, Inamura took part in the 2023 N-1 Victory, losing all of his qualifying matches. Afterwards, on August 28, Inamura announced that he would embark on a learning excursion in the United Kingdom, with his final match being on September 3. Billed by NOAH as his "send-off match", Inamura teamed with Yuki Yoshioka and Yuma Anzai in a losing effort to Naomichi Marufuji, Takashi Sugiura and Masa Kitamiya. Inamura left for his excursion to the United Kingdom the following week, where he worked regularly for a number of local British independent wrestling promotions.
Progress Wrestling (2023–2024)[]
Inamura then traveled to the United Kingdom to work with NOAH's partner promotion, Progress Wrestling (Progress) for an extended stay. During his stay in the UK, he was given a new wrestling persona, named ""YOICHI", a persona based on Japanese samurai archer Nasu no Yoichi, who fought alongside the Minamoto clan in the Genpei War during the Warring States period in Japan, due to being native from his town Otawara, Tochigi. He made his debut for the promotion on September 9, 2023, unsucessfully challenging Ricky Knight Jr. for the Progress Atlas Championship. Over the following months, Inamura's journey in Progress Wrestling proved to be a significant step in his career, allowing him to compete against more experience wrestlers, gain exposure to a new audience and as a chance for him to hone his craft further and adapt to new wrestling styles. On April 5, 2024, YOICHI defeated Ricky Knight Jr. to win his first professional wrestling title, the Progress Atlas Championship, ending his 404 day reign as champion. He lost the title to Axel Tischer on May 27 in his second title defense.
Return to NOAH (2024–Present)[]
On June 16, at Grand Ship In Yokohama, YOICHI, once again working under his excursion name, made a surprise appearance after Kaito Kiyomiya had defeated Gabe Kidd to retain the GHC Heavyweight Championship, challenging the new champion to a title match, which he accepted. Afterwards, YOICHI attacked him, and promised to start the down of a new NOAH. On June 22, YOICHI teamed with Eita, Ryohei Oiwa, and Shuji Kondo to defeat All Rebellion (Kiyomiya, Alejandro, Cristobal and Kenoh) in his Noah return match. On July 13 at Destination, YOICHI unsuccessfully challenged Kiyomiya for the GHC Heavyweight Championship. Soon after, YOICHI reverted back to using his real name. In August, Inamura took part in the 2024 N-1 Victory, finishing the tournament with a record of three wins and four losses, failing to advance to the finals of the tournament.
In wrestling[]
- Finishing moves
- Frog splash
- Muso (Waist-lift side slam) – adopted from Takeshi Rikio
- Splash Mountain (Sitout powerbomb)
- Signature moves
- GEKITOTZ (Charging high-impact shoulder tackle)
- Lariat
- Mongolian chop
- Oklahoma stampede
- Overhead belly-to-belly suplex
- Shoulder block
- Nickname
- "Taiki Mōshin" (Japanese for "Great Rush")
- "The Towering Titan"
- Entrance themes
- "OTAKEBE...!!" by Yutaka Kiya
Championships and accomplishments[]
- Progress Wrestling
- Progress Atlas Championship (1 time)