# Soma Watanabe

Soma Watanabe (皇壮馬, Watanabe Soma) is a Japanese professional wrestler and kickboxer signed to Gleat where he is the former G-Rex Champion . He is also known for competing in Wrestle-1 and Pro Wrestling Heat Up.

## Professional wrestling career
### Wrestle-1 (2017–2020)

Watanabe made his professional wrestling debut in Wrestle-1 as part of the sub-promotion Pro-Wrestling A.C.E. on February 25, 2017, at the house show of Pro-Wrestling ACE Vol. 3 where he went into a time-limit draw against Tatsuro Kami. During his entire tenure with Wrestle-1, Watanabe competed under the gimmick of "Pegaso Iluminar", a masked wrestler. At W-1 Wrestle Wars on March 21, 2019, Watanbe teamed up with Kaz Hayashi and unsuccessfully fought Alejandro and Masayuki Kono for the vacant Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship.
Watanabe took part into various signature tournaments of the promotion. He made his only appearance in the Wrestle-1 Grand Prix at the 2019 edition of the event where he fell short to Kumaarashi in the first rounds. As for the Wrestle-1 Tag League, he made his first appearance at the 2017 edition where he teamed up with Kaz Hayashi and competed in the A Block where they scored a total of four points after going against the teams of Manabu Soya and Daiki Inaba, Andy Wu and El Hijo del Pantera, and Shotaro Ashino and Kumaarashi, failing to qualify for the finals. At the 2019 and final edition, he teamed up with Jun Tonsho, failing to score any points in the A Block against the teams of T-Hawk and Shigehiro Irie, Shotaro Ashino and Yusuke Kodama, and Masayuki Kono and Alejandro.
On April 1, 2020, at W-1 WRESTLE-1 Tour 2020 Trans Magic, Wrestle-1 has held its last event before closure. Watanabe competed two times. First in a winning effort against Takanori Ito, and secondly, in a battle royal won by Manabu Soya and featuring various other members of the roster such as Cima, El Lindaman, Hiroshi Yamato, Jiro Kuroshio, Ryota Hama, Yasufumi Nakanoue and many others.

### Gleat (2020–present)

After Wrestle-1's closure, Watanabe made his debut in Gleat at the promotion's very first promoted event of Gleat Ver. 0 on April 1, 2020, where he fell short to Kenoh in singles competition. During his tenure with the promotion, he chased for various championships. At Gleat Ver. 33 on September 10, 2022, Watanabe teamed up with Yu Iizuka to unsuccessfully challenge Voodoo Murders (Minoru Tanaka and Toshizo) for the All Asia Tag Team Championship, titles promoted by AJPW. At At Gleat Ver. 47 on March 21, 2023, Watanabe teamed up with El Lindaman to unsuccessfully challenge Bulk Orchestra (Check Shimatani and Hayato Tamura) for the G-Infinity Championship. At Gleat Ver. 14 on December 30, 2024, Watanabe defeated Hayato Tamura to win the G-Rex Championship.
Watanabe competes in both professional wrestling and Mixed martial arts bouts, as Gleat promotes both types of sports. At Gleat MMA Ver.0 on December 14, 2022, he fell short to Shuya Arimura in a kickboxing bout.

### Pro Wrestling Heat Up (2021–present)

Another promotion in which Watanabe often competes is Pro Wrestling Heat Up, where he is a former one-time Heat Up Universal Tag Team Champion.

### New Japan Pro Wrestling (2023)

Watanabe participated at the All Star Junior Festival 2023 promoted by New Japan Pro Wrestling where he teamed up with Yoh and Kazuma Sumi to defeat Fuminori Abe, Ryo Hoshino and Akira Jumonji in a six-man tag team match.

## Championships and accomplishments

* Gleat
** G-Rex Championship (1 time)
** G PROWRESTLING Tournament (2021)
* Pro Wrestling Heat Up
** Heat Up Universal Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Kaz Hayashi

## Kickboxing record

Professional Kickboxing record :
| 0 wins, 1 losses, 0 draws ||||||||
| Date | Result | Opponent | Event | Location | Method | Round | Time |
| 2022-12-14 | Loss | Shuya Arimura | Gleat MMA Ver.0 | Tokyo, Japan | Decision (unanimous) | 3 | 3:00 |