Akio Ryuu

**Akio Ryuu** (born July 21, 1997) is a Japanese professional wrestler trained by and currently wrestling for True-1 Pro Wrestling.

## Personal life

Ryuu was born on July 21, 1997 in Kagoshima, Japan. As a child, he often watched Japanese professional wrestling with his grandmother, who also raised him and his brother. His brother also introduced him to the *Street Fighter* series, which he instantly became a fan of the series and character Ken since his brother liked Ryu. During his second year in lower secondary school, a friend of Ryuu's brother told them to check out Tokyo Wrestling Association, which was when ***Miyazaki Tatsuya*** was in his first reign of the TWA Heavyweight Championship. While watching Tatsuya's championship defenses, Ryuu fell in love with the Japanese puroresu style of wrestling.

Ryuu became a fan of Pro Wrestling Dynasty after watching the bout between ***Taiyo Tanakashi*** and ***MONROE*** at the Pro Wrestling Dynasty and American Wrestling Frontier inter-promotional pay-per-view during his first year of upper secondary school. Ryuu has stated on multiple occasions that Taiyo Tanakashi is his "favorite wrestler of all time." He also, hopes to have one match with him before he retires.

Ryuu is also a big anime fan; he has stated he rewatches *Yu Yu Hakusho* yearly. Outside of the ring, Ryuu has become good friends with professional wrestlers ***Gary Frank Simpson***. The two met while Ryuu was training in the True-1 Dojo, and became friends due to their love of anime and fighting games.

## Professional Wrestling Career

Akio Ryuu began training for a professional wrestling career in late 2016, initially training under ***Fujimori Masuhiro***. Until the middle of 2017, he landed himself a contract with True-1 Pro Wrestling (T1P) to train in their True-1 Dojo.

### **True-1 Pro Wrestling (2017–present)**

While training in the T1P dojo, Ryuu was known for his adaptability and perseverance, his training was intense and emphasized a heavy hand. Ryuu was referred as stone fist, as he was renowned for a heavy-handed striking style with deadly and debilitating chops. On April 9, 2018, Ryuu graduated from the dojo and earned a spot on the promotion's roster. After a month of more intense training, Ryuu wrestled his debut match on May 15, 2018 at Showdown III, defeating ***Nero Deminon*** via enziguri. At Roadshow I on June 19, 2018, he was dared by the veteran wrestlers to wear fake facial hair in his match, where Ryuu ended up losing to ***KENSHIN*** via popup bicycle kick.

At Showdown IV on August 20, 2018, Ryuu was attacked during his entrance by his opponent Gary Frank Simpson who he was exchanging words with on twitter days prior. There was a video that surfaced that showed Simpson attacking his good friend VICE to show Ryuu he meant business. Ryuu lost to Simpson via back suplex transitioned into a sitout liger bomb. Ryuu's performance in this match against Simpson impressed many veterans in the back, including Japanese legends ***RYŌMA*** *and **Tiger Roshii**.*

After impressing RYŌMA, Ryuu was challenged to a match at Final Form. On October 14, 2018 at Final Form, Ryuu picked up his biggest victory to date defeating the Japanese legend RYŌMA via roll-up on Night 1 of Final Form. On July 28, 2019, True-1 Pro Wrestling's twitter account announced that their next show will be the start of the first round of the Junior-Heavyweight division tournament and they presented the match card that has Ryuu facing Hitomi Kazuya.

## In Wrestling

* **Finishing Moves**
	+ Torunēdopanchi */ Tornado Punch* (Ripcord knockout punch) – 2018–present
* **Signature Moves**
	+ *Dragon Pinch* (Snap dragon suplex)
	+ *Hadouken* (Double palm thrust to the opponent's chest)
	+ Inverted frankensteiner
	+ Multiple Kick variation
		- Drop; occasionally while diving
		- Enzugiri
		- Overhead
		- Soccer
		- *Tatsumaki Senpukyaku / Hurricane Kick* (Spinning roundhouse kick)
		- Springboard
	+ Running shooting star splash

* **Managers**
	+ N/A
* **Nicknames**
	+ N/A
* **Entrance Themes**
	+ "Ken's Street Fight II Theme (Remix)" by Wolf and Raven (??????? ??, ????–present)

## External Links

* Official Twitter
* Official YouTube Channel