was a Japanese

professional wrestler Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to real-life wrest ...

who worked for

All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Puroresu, Japanese professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on October 21, 1972, by Giant Baba after he left the Japanese Wrestling Association to create his own promotion. Ma ...

(AJPW) as a wrestler, president of talent relations and head trainer at their dojo. Aoki began his career in Pro Wrestling Noah in 2005, where he went on to become a two-time winner of the Global Junior Heavyweight Tag League and hold the

GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship The is a professional wrestling tag team Championship (professional wrestling), title in Japanese Professional wrestling promotion, promotion Pro Wrestling Noah, contested exclusively among Cruiserweight (professional wrestling), junior heavywei ...

twice during his 7-year run with the promotion. Aoki jumped to

(AJPW) in December 2012 where he became the top star of the junior heavyweight division, winning the

AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship The Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF) is a professional wrestling world Championship (professional wrestling), title in Japanese Professional wrestling promotion, promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling, contested exclusively among Cruiserweight (prof ...

four times and the

All Asia Tag Team Championship The is a professional wrestling tag team title in Japanese promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). Originally, it was the top tag team title in the JWA, but its status became secondary once the NWA International Tag Team Championship was brou ...

3 times. Aoki was killed in a motorcycle accident on June 3, 2019, at the age of 41. At the time of his death, he was the reigning World Junior Heavyweight Champion.

Amateur wrestling

Aoki began

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

in high school, winning the weight division in 2000. He joined the

Japan Ground Self-Defense Force The , , also referred to as the Japanese Army, is the land warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces. Created on July 1, 1954, it is the largest of the three service branches. New military guidelines, announced in December 2010, direct ...

as part of the Aomori 5th General Division Regiment in 2000 where he continued to wrestle, and won the National Open Wrestling Championship in the 69 kg weight class. In 2005, he applied to join the Pro Wrestling Noah dojo and was accepted.

Professional wrestling career

Pro Wrestling Noah

Early career (2005–2009)

Aoki began training under Jun Akiyama in the Pro Wrestling Noah Dojo in May 2005. His professional wrestling debut came on December 24, 2005, during NOAH's NOAHful Gift in Differ '05 teaming up with Yoshiniro Ota, losing to NOAH founder

Mitsuharu Misawa was a Japanese professional wrestler and promoter. He is primarily known for spending 18 years with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and subsequently leading the 2000 All Japan Pro Wrestling mass exodus, which culminated in him forming Pro W ...

and Japanese wrestling legend Akira Taue. Aoki spent most of 2006 gaining hard earned experience in the ring, mostly on the losing side of matches. He would also make appearances for other Japanese promotions such as Zero-1 MAX and Dragon Gate. A month later Aoki undertook a "learning excursion" to Europe where he wrestled for such promotions as Real Quality Wrestling and International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom in the United Kingdom and

Westside Xtreme Wrestling Westside Xtreme Wrestling, commonly shortened to wXw, is a German professional wrestling promotion based in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. wXw has been one of the leading professional wrestling promotions in Germany, and most of its event ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

for the two months the excursion lasted. Following his return to NOAH he teamed up with American

Rocky Romero John Raymond Rivera (born October 28, 1982), better known by his ring name Rocky Romero (ロッキー・ロメロ, ''Rokkī Romero''), is a Cuban-American professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and All Elite Wrest ...

to participate in the 2007 Nippon TV Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League. The team ended up with just two points, winning only one match out of five when the team defeated

Bryan Danielson Bryan Lloyd Danielson (born May 22, 1981) is an American semi-retired professional wrestler. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he performs on a part time basis. He is also known for his tenure in WWE, where he performed under t ...

and Davey Richards. On September 3, 2007, Aoki teamed up with Ippei Ota for a match at an AAA / Pro Wrestling Noah co-promoted show called TripleSEM. The team wrestled in the third match of the night and lost to AAA representatives '' Real Fuerza Aerea'' ( Laredo Kid and Super Fly) in 08:15. In November, 2007 Aoki took part in NOAH's Mauritius Cup tournament, earning 8 points in total by defeating Ippei Ota, Tsutomu Hirayanagi and Akihiko Ito while wrestling to a draw against Shuhei Taniguchi and

Taiji Ishimori is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of Bullet Club and its List of Bullet Club members#War Dogs, War Dogs sub-group. Ishimori is a three-time IWGP Junio ...

. Despite not losing a single match in the tournament Shuhei Taniguchi managed to score 9 points to take the Mauritius Cup. Aoki teamed up with Akihiko Ito to participate in the 2008 Nippon TV Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League. The team earned only three points, one point more than Aoki's previous Nippon TV Cup league as the team only managed to defeat Kento Miyahara and Naomichi Marufuji and wrestle to a time-limit draw against Eddie Edwards and

Ricky Marvin Ricardo Fuentes Romero (born January 8, 1980) is a second-generation Mexican professional wrestler, known by his ring name Ricky Marvin, and is most known for his work in the Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling Noah. Between 2005 and 2007, he al ...

. He was invited to be part of

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional-wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently majority owned by card-game company Bushiroad, with TV As ...

's (NJPW) 2009 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. Aoki earned eight points, ending in second place in "Block A" with victories over AKIRA, Black Tiger V,

Jado (born September 28, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestler, manager and booker better known by the ring name . He is best known for his work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as part of a tag team with his partner Gedo. Jado and Gedo's care ...

and Milano Collection A.T. and only losing to "Block A" winner Prince Devitt (Block winner) and Tiger Mask IV. In the semi-final of the tournament he was defeated by eventual tournament winner

Koji Kanemoto is a Japanese professional wrestler of Zainichi Korean descent. He has previously worked with New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling. He is currently a freelancer. Professional wrestling career Kanemoto practiced Judo during his hig ...

. Unlike the 2007 and 2008 version of the Nippon TV Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League Aoki's

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

participating alongside Kota Ibushi was much more successful as the team won all three round robin matches, defeating the teams of

Kenta Kenta (廉侍) is a masculine Japanese given name. (written: , , , or in katakana). Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese baseball player *, Japanese film director *, Japanese kickboxer *, Japanese professional wrestler *, Japane ...

and

, Genba Hirayanagi and

Kikutaro , better known as his wrestling persona and , is a Japanese professional wrestler who works as a freelancer. Though best known for wrestling under a mask, he also regularly works unmasked under the ring name Kikuzawa (stylized in all capital ...

and the team of Bryan Danielson and Roderick Strong. In the semi-final match they defeated Eddie Edwards and Ricky Marvin but lost to

Kotaro Suzuki , better known by the ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to Gleat. He is best known for working for the Pro Wrestling Noah and All Japan Pro Wrestling promotions, where he was a four-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Cha ...

and

Yoshinobu Kanemaru is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he is a member of House of Torture and a former member of Bullet Club. He also works as a backstage producer for NJPW. Professional wrestling career ...

in the finals of the tournament. In December, 2009 NJPW invited Aoki back, this time to compete in the 2009

Super J-Cup The Super J-Cup is a periodically held professional wrestling tournament featuring junior heavyweight wrestlers from all over the world promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). This tournament differs from NJPW's annual Best of the Super Juni ...

. Aoki did not make it past the first round as he was defeated by Prince Devitt.

Shining Magic 10 Match Series (2007–2010)

On December 23, 2007, Aoki took on a "10 match challenge" designed to push him to the limit and earn experience against very experienced wrestlers. The first match was against his mentor Jun Akiyama which he lost. The match series was called the "Shining Magic 10 Match Series" and would stretch out over the next two and a half years. In his second match he defeated Davey Richards, but went on to lose against Kenta, Bryan Danielson, Yoshinari Ogawa and

Kaz Hayashi , best known by the ring name , is a Japanese business executive and retired professional wrestler who last competed in Gleat and serves as the company's chief technical officer (CTO). He is best known for his work in World Championship Wrestlin ...

. The Seventh match in the series took place on November 14, 2008, and saw Aoki lose to Yoshinobu Kanemaru. In his eight Shining Magic 10 Match Aoki lost to Junior Heavyweight legend Jyushin Thunder Liger. In his penultimate Sining Magic match Atsushi Aoki lost to Naomich Marufuji on December 6, 2009, almost two years after the 10 Match series begun. His tenth and final match in the Shining Magic 10 Match series took place on February 28, 2010, which saw Aoki lose to

Minoru Suzuki (born June 17, 1968) is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and former Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist, known for his tenure in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a former one-time IWGP Intercontinental Ch ...

ending the series with one victory and nine defeats.

Tag team division (2010–2012)

On October 30, 2010, Aoki and Kenta defeated Roderick Strong and Eddie Edwards in the finals of a tournament to win the 2010 Nippon TV Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League. As a result, Aoki and Kenta received a shot at the

, but were defeated by the champions, New Japan Pro Wrestling representatives Koji Kanemoto and Tiger Mask IV, on November 23, 2010. On December 24, 2010, Aoki and Naomichi Marufuji defeated Kanemoto and Tiger Mask IV to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, Aoki's first title in Noah. Aoki and Marufuji were stripped of the title on April 29, 2011, after Marufuji suffered an injury. On July 30, Aoki and Kotaro Suzuki defeated Kenta and Yoshinobu Kanemaru to win the 2011 NTV G+ Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League, making both of them two-time winners of the tournament. On October 16, 2011, Aoki and Suzuki defeated Kenta and Kanemaru to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. They lost the title to Ricky Marvin and

Super Crazy Francisco Islas Rueda (born December 3, 1973), better known by his ring name Super Crazy, is a Mexican '' luchador'' (or professional wrestler). In Mexico, Islas has worked for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) and made appearances ...

on July 22, 2012. On December 19, Noah announced that Aoki would be leaving the promotion, after refusing to re-sign following the firing of

Kenta Kobashi (born, March 27, 1967) is a Japanese professional wrestling promoter and retired wrestler. Broadly referred to by the nickname , he is widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time. He is best known for his two run ...

. In his final match for the promotion on December 24, Aoki was defeated by Mr. Christmas, portrayed by his trainer Jun Akiyama.

AAA (2010)

On May 23, 2010, Aoki teamed up with Go Shiozaki to defeat the team of Takeshi Morishima and

to win the

AAA World Tag Team Championship The AAA World Tag Team Championship (''Campeonato en Parejas AAA'' in Spanish language, Spanish) is the main tag team championship (professional wrestling), title contested for in the Mexico, Mexican lucha libre professional wrestling promotion, p ...

, which was Aoki's first wrestling title.The AAA Tag team championship is primarily promoted in Mexico but Morishima and Ishimori won the titles during a tour of Mexico and were allowed to defend them in NOAH as well. At Triplemanía XVIII, Aoki and Shiozaki defended the championship against Beer Money, Inc. (

Robert Roode Robert Francis Roode Jr. (born May 11, 1976) is a Canadian retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler. He is signed to WWE, where he is a Producer (professional wrestling), producer and was formerly an in-ring performer. Roode is known ...

and

James Storm James Allen Cox (born June 1, 1977) is an American professional wrestler better known by the ring name James Storm. He currently competes on the independent circuit. He is best known for his time in Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). He sta ...

), ''La Hermandad 187'' ( Nicho el Millonario and Joe Líder) and ''Los Maniacos'' ( Silver King and Último Gladiador) in a four-way elimination match; they were the first team eliminated when Líder pinned Shiozaki, which meant that they lost the AAA Tag Team championship 14 days after winning it. ''Los Maniacos'' (Silver Cain and Último Gladiador) won the match and the championship.

All Japan Pro Wrestling (2013–2019)

On January 26, 2013, Aoki, Go Shiozaki, Jun Akiyama,

and

, all of whom had quit Noah at the same time, announced that they had joined

, forming the "

Burning Combustion, or burning, is a high-temperature exothermic redox chemical reaction between a fuel (the reductant) and an oxidant, usually atmospheric oxygen, that produces oxidized, often gaseous products, in a mixture termed as smoke. Combust ...

" stable. Aoki and Suzuki received their first shot at the

on March 17, but were defeated by the defending champions,

and Minoru Tanaka. On April 7, Aoki and Suzuki defeated Hikaru Sato and

Hiroshi Yamato , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler who works as a freelancer. Trained by the All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion, he started his career in February 2007 working in Mexico for the International Wrestling Revolution ...

to win the 2013 Junior Hyper Tag League and earn another shot at Kanemoto and Tanaka. On April 25, Aoki and Suzuki defeated Kanemoto and Tanaka in a rematch to become the new All Asia Tag Team Champions. On May 11, Aoki made a one night return to Noah to take part in Kenta Kobashi's retirement event, Final Burning in Budokan, during which he and Suzuki defeated Kentaro Shiga and Tamon Honda in a tag team match. On July 5, following a mass exodus led by

Keiji Mutoh is a Japanese professional wrestling executive, actor and retired professional wrestler. He is known for his work under his real name and as his alter ego in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), as well as World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and duri ...

, it was announced that Aoki, along with the rest of Burning, had signed an exclusive contract with All Japan. On October 29, Aoki and Suzuki quit Burning in order for Suzuki to challenge Kanemaru for the World Junior Heavyweight Championship. On November 21, Aoki and Suzuki, along with Kento Miyahara, joined Go Shiozaki's new Xceed stable. On January 26, 2014, Aoki and Suzuki lost the All Asia Tag Team Championship to former Burning stablemates Jun Akiyama and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. On February 5, Aoki announced he was quitting Xceed to go solo. On May 29, Aoki defeated

Último Dragón , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler signed to Dragon Gate (wrestling), Dragon Gate, where he acts as an in-ring talent, trainer and senior advisor. In addition to having trained in Japan, ...

to become the new World Junior Heavyweight Champion. On July 27, Aoki joined the

Evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

stable, after a successful title defense against one of its members, Hikaru Sato. In October, Aoki and Sato won the 2014 Jr. Tag Battle of Glory. On March 27, 2015, Aoki lost the World Junior Heavyweight Championship to Kotaro Suzuki. On October 23, Aoki and Hikaru Sato won their second Jr. Tag Battle of Glory in a row by winning the round-robin tournament with a record of three wins and one loss. On January 1, 2016, Aoki was appointed the president of talent relations. On February 21, 2016, Aoki defeated tag team partner Hikaru Sato in the finals to win the 2016 Jr. Battle of Glory and the vacant World Junior Heavyweight Championship. He went on to lose the title to Sato on June 19. On July 24, Aoki and Sato defeated Isami Kodaka and Yuko Miyamoto to win the All Asia Tag Team Championship. On November 17, Aoki and Sato won their third Jr. Tag Battle of Glory in a row by defeating Soma Takao and

Yuma Aoyagi is a Japanese professional wrestler working for All Japan Pro Wrestling. A member of the Zennichi Shin Jidai stable, he is a former AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, a two-time All Asia Tag Team Champion ...

in a playoff match. On November 27, Aoki and Sato lost the All Asia Tag Team Championship to

Atsushi Onita is a Japanese actor, politician, and semi-retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his work in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and is credited with introducing the hardcore wrestling, deathmatch style of professional wrestling t ...

and

Masanobu Fuchi is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is also a director and the co-head booker. Fuchi has exclusively worked for All Japan since his debut in 1974, and holds the record for the longest World Ju ...

. Aoki and Sato regained the title from Onita and Fuchi on June 20, 2017. They lost the title to Black Tiger VII and

Taka Michinoku (born October 26, 1973), better known by his ring name (stylized as TAKA Michinoku), is a Japanese professional wrestling, professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. He primarily appears for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he is a me ...

on August 27. In early 2018, still using his birth name, Aoki began working under a mask and regained the World Junior Heavyweight Championship from Tajiri on February 3 in Yokohama. Aoki held the title until August, when he dropped it to Koji Iwamoto. In April 2019, Aoki competed in the Champion Carnival once again as a last minute replacement for Kengo Mashimo. Aoki competed in A Block and managed to finish with 8 points, but was unable to advance to the final. Aoki regained the World Junior Heavyweight Championship for the fourth time on May 20, 2019, defeating Iwamoto. His last match took place on June 2, teaming with Hikaru Sato and Yusuke Okada in a loss to Jake Lee, Koji Iwamoto, and Nobe Bryant. At the time of his death, Aoki was scheduled to defend his title against Hikaru Sato on June 18. Despite his death, AJPW announced he would be recognized as champion until November 2019, allowing his 6-month defence clause to expire before crowning a new champion.

Death

On June 3, 2019, Aoki was killed in a motorcycle accident when he collided with the side wall around the expressway of

Kitanomaru Park is a public park in Chiyoda, Tokyo, Chiyoda, central Tokyo, Japan, just north of the Tokyo Imperial Palace. It is the location of the Nippon Budokan indoor sports and performance venue, the Science Museum, and the National Museum of Modern Art, T ...

in the Chiyoda ward of Tokyo. He was 41 years old. In a press conference in the days after the accident, All Japan Pro Wrestling president at the time, Jun Akiyama announced that the World Junior Heavyweight Championship was to be vacated at the end of the title's mandatory defence period, allowing Aoki to reign as ''de facto'' champion in honor of his contributions until late 2019, when the title would have been vacated for lack of defences.

Championships and accomplishments

Amateur wrestling

* Collegiate/High School ** All Japan National Champion (152lbs) *

** National Open Wrestling Champion (152lbs)

Professional wrestling

* AAA **

( 1 time) – with Go Shiozaki *

( 3 times) – with

(1) and Hikaru Sato (2) ** World Junior Heavyweight Championship ( 4 times) ** Jr. Battle of Glory (

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

) ** Junior Hyper Tag League (

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

) – with Kotaro Suzuki ** Jr. Tag Battle of Glory (

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

) – with Hikaru Sato * Hard Hit ** Second Grappling Tournament (

) *

Pro Wrestling Illustrated ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

**PWI ranked him #152 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the

PWI 500 ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' (''PWI'') is an American professional wrestling magazine that was founded in 1979 by publisher Stanley Weston. ''PWI'' is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and published by Kappa Publishing Group. The maga ...

in 2016 * Pro Wrestling Noah **

( 2 times) – with Naomichi Marufuji (1) and Kotaro Suzuki (1) ** Nippon TV Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League (

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

) – with

KENTA Kenta (廉侍) is a masculine Japanese given name. (written: , , , or in katakana). Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese baseball player *, Japanese film director *, Japanese kickboxer *, Japanese professional wrestler *, Japane ...

** NTV G+ Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League (

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

) – with

**VolcanoxSEM Tag Team Tournament (2008) – with Akihiko Ito *

Tokyo Sports is a Japanese daily sports newspaper founded in 1960. See also * Tokyo Sports Film Award * Tokyo Sports Puroresu Awards References External links

* http://www.tokyo-sports.co.jp Official website 1960 establishments in Japan Da ...

Lifetime Achievement Award Lifetime achievement awards are awarded by various organizations, to recognize contributions over the whole of a career, rather than or in addition to single contributions. Such awards, and organizations presenting them, include: A * A.C. ...

(2019) *

Wrestling Observer Newsletter The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four Wee ...

** Rookie of the Year (2006)

Footnotes

References

External links

All Japan Pro Wrestling profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Aoki, Atsushi 1977 births 2019 deaths Motorcycle road incident deaths Japanese male professional wrestlers Japanese male sport wrestlers Professional wrestlers from Tokyo Road incident deaths in Japan Japan Ground Self-Defense Force personnel GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions All Asia Tag Team Champions World Junior Heavyweight Champions (AJPW) Global Junior Heavyweight Tag League winners 21st-century male professional wrestlers 21st-century Japanese professional wrestlers