Atsushi Aoki Atsushi Aoki ( September 25 , 1977 ) is a Japan ese professional wrestler working for the Japanese wrestling promotion Pro Wrestling Noah , where he is currently one half of the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions with Naomichi Marufuji . Aoki made his professional wrestling debut in 2005 and has worked primarily for NOAH where he is part of the Sternness group . Together with Go Shiozaki he held the AAA World Tag Team Championship which was his first professional wrestling championship ever . Professional wrestling career . Pro Wrestling Noah . 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 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 in the United Kingdom and westside Xtreme Wrestling in Germany for the two months the excursion lasted . Following his return to NOAH he teamed up with American Rocky Romero 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 and Davey Richards . On September 3 , 2007 Aoki teamed up with Ippei Ota for a match at an Asistencia Asesoría y Administración / 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 . 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 . He was invited to be part of New Japan Pro Wrestling ' 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 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 . Unlike the 2007 and 2008 version of the Nippon TV Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League Aoki ' s 2009 participating alongside Kota Ibushi was much more successful as the team won all three round robin matches , defeating the teams of Kenta and Taiji Ishimori , Genba Hirayanagi and Kikutaro 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 and Yoshinobu Kanemaru in the finals of the tournament . In December , 2009 NJPW invited Aoki back , this time to compete in the 2009 Super J Cup . Aoki did not make it past the first round as he was defeated by Prince Devitt . Shining Magic 10 Match Series . On December 23 , 2007 Atsushi 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 . 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 Jushin 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 ending the series with one victory and nine defeats . Tag team division . 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 GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship , 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 on July 22 , 2012 . On December 19 , 2012 , Noah announced that Aoki would be leaving the promotion , after refusing to re - sign following the firing of Kenta Kobashi . In his final match for the promotion on December 24 , Aoki was defeated by Mr . Christmas , portrayed by his trainer Jun Akiyama . Asistencia Asesoría y Administración . On May XX , 2010 Aoki teamed up with Go Shiozaki to defeat the team of Takeshi Morishima and Taiji Ishimori to win the AAA World Tag Team Championship , which was Aoki ' s first wrestling title . As a result of winning the title Aoki and Shiozaki are scheduled to travel to Mexico City , Mexico on June 6 , 2010 to defend the title as part of AAA ' s Triplemanía XVIII event against the teams of Beer Money , Inc . ( Robert Roode and James Storm ) , " La Hermandad 187 " ( Nicho el Millonario and Joe Lider ) and " Los Maniacos " ( Silver King and Último Gladiador ) . At Triplemanía Aoki and Shiozaki was the first team eliminated when Joe Lider 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 . On January 26 , 2013 , Aoki , Go Shiozaki , Jun Akiyama , Kotaro Suzuki and Yoshinobu Kanemaru , all of whom had quit Noah at the same time , announced that they had joined All Japan Pro Wrestling , forming the " Burning " stable . Aoki and Suzuki received their first shot at the All Asia Tag Team Championship on March 17 , but were defeated by the defending champions , Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka . On April 7 , Aoki and Suzuki defeated Hikaru Sato and Hiroshi Yamato 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 , 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 , 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 to become the new World Junior Heavyweight Champion . On July 27 , Aoki joined the Evolution stable , after a successful title defense against one of its members , Hikaru Sato . Personal life . Atsushi Aoki began wrestling in high school , winning the 69 kg ( 152 lb ) weight division in 2000 . He later began training under Jun Akiyama in the Pro Wrestling Noah Dojo in May , 2005 .