Atsushi Aoki

Atsushi Aoki (September 25, 1977 - June 3, 2019) was a Japanese professional wrestler. Aoki made his professional wrestling debut in 2005 and worked primarily for Pro Wrestling NOAH. 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 International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom 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 Aérea (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 TripleMania 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 AJPW 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.
==In wrestling==
*Finishing moves
**Assault Point (Snap bridging leg clutch belly-to-back suplex, sometimes while applying a wrist-clutch)
**Cross armbreaker
**Spiral Poseidon (Single-arm cut-throat scoop brainbuster)
**Trap Over (Cross armbreaker, while grapevining the arm)
*Signature moves
**Diving forward knee armbreaker
**Senton bomb to a standing opponent
**Frog splash
**Kimura lock
**Jumping scissor-motion side kick
**Multiple dropkick variations
***Front missile
***Low to the opponent's knees
***Running single leg to an opponent on his knees
***Standing
***Overhead to an opponent's grabbed arm
***Running spinning heel
**Multiple suplex variations
***Belly-to-back
***Cross-arm
***Northern Lights usually followed into either a Kimura lock, another Northern Lights suplex or a cross armbreaker
**Leg trap one shoulder powerbomb to an opponent sitted on the post
**Running elbow smash to the corner usually followed by a Northern Lights suplex
**Running headbutt
==Championships and accomplishments==
*All Japan Pro Wrestling
**AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship (3 times) with Kotaro Suzuki (1) and Hikaru Sato (2)
**AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship (4 times)
**Junior Hyper Tag League (2013) with Kotaro Suzuki
*Asistencia Asesoría y Administración
**AAA World Tag Team Championship (1 time) with Go Shiozaki (1)
*Hard Hit
**Second Grappling Tournament (2014)
*Pro Wrestling Illustrated
**PWI ranked him #254 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2013
*Pro Wrestling NOAH
**GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (2 times) with Naomichi Marufuji (1) and Kotaro Suzuki (1)
**Nippon TV Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League (2010) with KENTA
**NTV G+ Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League (2011) with Kotaro Suzuki
**VolcanoxSEM Tag Team Tournament (2008) with Akihiko Ito
*Wrestling Observer Newsletter
**Rookie of the Year (2006)
==External links==
* Atsushi Aoki profile at CAGEMATCH.net
* Profile
Category:2019 deaths
Category:Japanese wrestlers
Category:Pro Wrestling NOAH alumni
Category:2005 debuts
Category:1977 births
Category:All Japan Pro Wrestling alumni
Category:Kaientai Dojo alumni
Category:Fu-Ten Promotion alumni
Category:International Pro Wrestling: United Kingdom alumni
Category:Dramatic Dream Team alumni
Category:New Japan Pro Wrestling alumni
Category:Inoki Genome Federation alumni
Category:Asistencia Asesoría y Administración alumni
Category:Osaka Pro Wrestling alumni
Category:Diamond Ring alumni
Category:A-Merchandise alumni
Category:Global Pro-Wrestling Alliance alumni
Category:Pro Wrestling ZERO1 alumni
Category:Westside Xtreme Wrestling alumni
Category:Dragon Gate alumni
Category:Real Quality Wrestling alumni
Category:Premier Promotions alumni
Category:German Stampede Wrestling alumni
Category:Ring of Honor alumni
Category:Herts And Essex Wrestling alumni
Category:Male wrestlers
Category:Wrestlers who have died
Category:All Asia Tag Team Champions