Dangan Yankees

**Dangan Yankees** (ダンガンヤンキース, *Dangan Yankies*), was a professional wrestling stable in Pro Wrestling Zero1 (ZERO1). Formed by Masato Tanaka and Yusaku Obata and Daichi Hashimoto. On January 16 Ikuto Hidaka joined the stable. On January 29 Fujita Hayato and Takashi Sugiura joined the stable. On February 27 Isami Kodaka and Yuko Miyamoto joined the stable and they also revealed the name of the stable that was Dangan Yankees the name Dangan was because of Tanaka nickname and Yankees was because of his ties with New York and because of the New York Yankees. On April 8, while Hashimoto was recovering from a broken jaw, Zero1 announced that his contract with the promotion had expired on March 31 and he had decided not to re-sign. At a press conference the following day, Hashimoto announced that going forward he would be working as a freelancer. On December 23 Sugiura left the stable after he turned on Noah and joined the villainous Suzuki-gun stable. In November 2016 Dangan Yankies quietly disbanded,

## History

### Pro Wrestling Zero1

On December 17, 2013 after Daemon Ueda and Yusaku Obata won the Furinkazan 2013 Ueda turned on Obata and Obata asked Masato Tanaka to form an alliance and Tanaka accept after that Daichi Hashimoto also joined them and they formed a stable. On January 1, 2014 Obata and Tanaka received an opportunity for the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship but they lost to KAMIKAZE and Shinjiro Otani. On January 11 they started a feud with Daemon Ueda's stable Daemon-Gun and they were turned by Takuya Sugawara and Mineo Fujita. Five days later Ikuto Hidaka joined the stable. On January 29 Ikuto Hidaka, Masato Tanaka & Yusaku Obata defeat Kohei Sato, Ryouji Sai and Shinjiro Otani after the match they invited Yoshikazu Yokoyama to the group but he refused and it was announced that Hidaka's friend Fujita Hayato and Takashi Sugiura joined the stable also Hashimoto challenged Tama Williams for the NWA United National Heavyweight Championship. On February 11 Hashimoto failed to capture the NWA United National Heavyweight Champion also Hidaka and Hayato defeated HUB and Tigers Mask and Obata defeated Daemon Ueda. On February 27 Isami Kodaka and Yuko Miyamoto joined the stable and they also revealed the name of the stable that was Dangan Yankees the name Dangan was because of Tanaka nickname and Yankees was because of his ties with New York and because of the New York Yankees. On March 18 Obata was against Daemon Ueda the loser had to change is name nad Obata lost and he was renamed to Omatayuuchaku. On March 30 Hayato and Hidaka had a chance for the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship and it was a Three-way tag team match but they failed to win the titles and the winners were Billyken Kid and Tigers Mask and the match also involved Jason Lee and Mineo Fujita. On April 8, while Hashimoto was recovering from a broken jaw, Zero1 announced that his contract with the promotion had expired on March 31 and he had decided not to re-sign. At a press conference the following day, Hashimoto announced that going forward he would be working as a freelancer, and Hashimoto left the stable. On May 6, Tanaka and Sugiura won the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship. On June 1 Tanaka and Sugiura made their first successful title defense by defeating Daisuke Sekimoto and Kazuki Hashimoto. On July 13 to August 3 Obata and Tanaka participated at the 2014 Fire Festival, Tanaka at block B and Obata on block A and Obata finished the tournament with 4 points and Tanaka with 6 points and they both failed to advance to the semifinals. On September 14 Hidaka received an opportunity for the International Junior Heavyweight Championship and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship in a three-way match but he lost the eventual winner was Jason Lee. Five days later Tanaka and Sugiura made their second title defense against Hidaka and Fujita. On September 21 Hidaka and Mineo Fujita had a chance for the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Titles but they lost the champions Takuya Sugawara and "brother" Yasshi. On October 10 Hidaka had another chance for the International Junior Heavyweight and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship but he lost to the champion Mineo Fujita. On October 24 Tanaka and Sugiura made their third title defense against Hideki Suzuki and Kohei Sato. On December 14 to December 24 Hidaka and Hayato and Tanaka and Sugiura and Obata and Akebono participated at the Furinkazan 2014 but Hayato and Fujita were eliminated by Obata and Akebono at the second round and Akebono and Obata were eliminated at the semifinals, and Tanaka and Sugiura won the tournament.

On February 2, 2015 Tanaka received an opportunity for the World Heavyweight Championship against Kohei Sato and he lost. On March 1 Tanaka and Sugiura made their fifth title defense by defeating Daisuke Sekimoto and Kohei Sato. On May 5 Hidaka had another chance for the International Junior Heavyweight and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship but he lost to the champion Minoru Tanaka and also Tanaka and Sugiura made their six successful title defense by defeating Kohei Sato and Shinjiro Otani. On June 7 Tanaka and Sugiura lost the titles to Kohei Sato and Shinjiro Otani in their seventh title defense also in that night Obata had a chance for the NWA United National Heavyweight title but he lost to the champion KAMIKAZE. On June 29 to July 17 Kodaka, Hidaka, Hayato and Miyamoto participated at the 2015 Tenkaichi Jr. and Hayato and Miyamoto were eliminated at the semifinals and Hidaka defeated Kodaka at the finals to win the tournament, also in June 29 Obata had another chance for the NWA United National Heavyweight title but he lost to the champion KAMIKAZE. On July 16 to August 2 at the 2015 Obata, Tanaka and Hayato participated at the 2015 Fire Festival but after the first match against Tanaka, Hayato was forced to pull out of the tournament with a knee injury, forfeiting the rest of his matches, finishing the tournament with 0 points and Obata finished the tournament with 5 points and Tanaka with 7 points and all of them failed to advanced to the finals. On September 23 Hidaka had another chance for the International Junior Heavyweight and the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship but he lost to the champion Minoru Tanaka later that night Obata had a shot for the World Heavyweight title but he lost to the champion Kohei Sato. On December 23 Sugiura left the stable after he turned on Noah and joined the villainous Suzuki-gun stable.

On January 1, 2016 Tanaka had a shot for the World Heavyweight title but he lost to the champion Hideki Suzuki. On April 7 Hidaka and Hayato defeated Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa to win the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Titles. On May 6 Tanaka and James Raideen defeated Daisuke Sekimoto and Kohei Sato to win the NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Titles. On July 8 to July 31 Obata, Tanaka and Hayato participated at the 2016 Fire Festival were Hayato finished the tournament with 23 points, Tanaka with 27 points and Obata with 28 points and Obata advanced to the finals were he defeated Shinjiro Otani to win the Fire Festival. On November 30 Hidaka and Hayato lost NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Champions in a Pro Wrestling Basara event to Kodaka and Takumi Tsukamoto. This turned out to be Dangan Yankies last match they would quietly disband after the Dangan Yankies members started to teaming with persons out of the stable.

### Pro Wrestling Noah

On February 22, 2014 Tanaka and Sugiura defeated Brave (Naomichi Marufuji and Atsushi Kotoge) in their tag team debut in Pro Wrestling Noah. On April 27, the two defeated Katsuhiko Nakajima and Naomichi Marufuji to win the 2014 Global Tag League. On May 31, Tanaka and Sugiura became double champions, when they defeated Maybach Taniguchi and Takeshi Morishima for Noah's GHC Tag Team Championship. On October 18 to November 8 both Tanaka and Sugiura participated at the 2014 Global League Tournament and Sugiura participated at the same block and Sugiura finished the tournament with 10 points and Tanaka with 8 points and Sugiura advanced to the finals and defeated Daisuke Sekimoto to win the Global League Tournament but he failed to win the GHC Heavyweight Championship from Naomichi Marufuji. In addition, *Tokyo Sports* named Dangan Yankies the 2014 tag team of the year. They lost the GHC Tag Team Championship to TMDK (Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste) on January 10, 2015.

On May 4, Tanaka and Sugiura won their second Global Tag League in a row. On May 10 they failed to regain the GHC Tag Team Champions losing to K.E.S. (Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr.) due to an interference by Shelton X Benjamin. Both Tanaka and Sugiura participated at Global League Tournament 2015 but both finished the tournament with 8 points and failed to advanced to the finals. On December 23 Sugiura left the stable after he turned on Noah and joined the villainous Suzuki-gun stable.

## In wrestling

* **Masato Tanaka's Finishing moves**
	+ *Complete Dust* (Inverted sitout side powerslam)
	+ *Dangan Bomb* – Innovated
	+ *Dangan Elbow*  / *Roaring Elbow* / *Rolling Elbow* (Discus elbow smash)
	+ *Diamond Dust* – Innovated
	+ *Sliding D* (Sliding forearm smash) – Innovated
	+ *Thunder Fire Powerbomb* (One shoulder powerbomb) – adopted from Atsushi Onita
	+ Tornado DDT, sometimes double underhook
* **Takashi Sugiura's Finishing moves**
	+ Ankle lock
	+ *Olympic Yosen Slam* (Olympic slam, sometimes from the top rope)
* **Yusaku Obata's finishing moves**
	+ Firebird Splash (Standing 450° splash)
	+ Dragon sleeper
	+ Diving Double Knee Drop
	+ Running Knee
	+ Double Arm *Codebreaker* (Double Arm double knee facebreaker)
	+ Phoenix splash
* **Ikuto Hidaka's finishing moves**
	+ *Iwami Ginzan* (Vertical suplex lifted and dropped into a single knee gutbuster)
	+ *Misty Flip* (Sitout shiranui, sometimes while standing)
	+ *Norainu High Kick* (High-speed roundhouse kick)
	+ *Shawn Capture* (Cross kneelock, sometimes from a wheelbarrow bodyscissors position)

* **Daichi Hashimoto's Finishing moves**
	+ Vertical drop brainbuster – adopted from his father
* **Fujita Hayato's Finishing moves**
	+ Nachi Waterfall (Diving double foot stomp)
	+ Sidmouth (Bridging wrist-clutch belly to back suplex)
	+ Sky Kick (Running punt)
* **Isami Kodaka's finishing moves**
	+ Diving double knee drop, sometimes while holding light tubes or a steel chair
	+ *Isami-ashi* (Superkick)
	+ *Isami-ashi Zan* (Superkick to a kneeling opponent, sometimes to the back of the head)
	+ *Rasengan* (Wheelbarrow bodyscissors flipped into a driver)
	+ *Roku Hachi Kyu* / *Yon Ichi Kyu* (Kneeling reverse cross armbreaker)
* **Yuko Miyamoto's finishing moves**
	+ Moonsault (sometimes from a scaffold)
	+ Spring Elbow (Running delayed high-impact elbow drop)
	+ Yankee Driver
	+ Fire Thunder
	+ *Valkyrie Splash* (Moonsault senton)

## Championships and accomplishments

* **Michinoku Pro Wrestling**
	+ Tohoku Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) Hidaka with Minoru Fujita
	+ UWA World Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) Hidaka with Minoru Fujita
* **Pro Wrestling Noah**
	+ GHC Tag Team Championship (1 time) - Sugiura and Tanaka
	+ Global Tag League (2014, 2015) - Sugiura and Tanaka
	+ Global League Tournament (2014) - Sugiura
* **Pro Wrestling Zero1**
	+ NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship (2 times) - Sugiura and Tanaka (1), Tanaka and James Raideen (1)
	+ NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship (2 times) - Hayato and Hidaka (1) and Kodaka and Takumi Tsukamoto (1)
	+ Furinkazan (2014) - Tanaka and Sugiura
	+ Tenkaichi Jr. (2015) - Hidaka
	+ Fire Festival (2016) - Obata
* ***Tokyo Sports***
	+ Best Tag Team Award (2014) – with Takashi Sugiura

## References

1. ↑ *ja:橋本大地選手　契約満了のお知らせ* (in Japanese). *Pro Wrestling Zero1* (2014-04-08). Retrieved on 2014-04-08.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 橋本大地がZero1を退団！4.9新木場大会に来場してファンに挨拶することに  (in Japanese). *Battle News* (2014-04-08). Retrieved on 2014-04-08.
3. ↑ *ja:橋本大地フリーになった理由は「自立」* (in Japanese). *Nikkan Sports* (2014-04-09). Retrieved on 2014-04-09.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 *ja:丸藤が鈴木を下し、悲願のGHC王座奪還！ しかし杉浦が衝撃の鈴木軍入り！ KESはタッグ王座死守、タイチはJr.王座陥落！【12.23ノア大田区結果1】* (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling* (2015-12-24). Retrieved on 2015-12-23.
5. ↑ *ja:橋本大地選手　契約満了のお知らせ* (in Japanese). *Pro Wrestling Zero1* (2014-04-08). Retrieved on 2014-04-08.
6. ↑ *ja:橋本大地フリーになった理由は「自立」* (in Japanese). *Nikkan Sports* (2014-04-09). Retrieved on 2014-04-09.
7. ↑ 【Zero1】耕平vs鈴木の世界ヘビー戦、大谷＆カミカゼvs田中＆杉浦のICタッグ戦  (in Japanese). *Battle News* (2014-05-06). Retrieved on 2014-05-06.
8. ↑ http://battle-news.com/?p=12033
9. ↑ *ja:グローバル・タッグリーグ戦2014* (in Japanese). *Pro Wrestling Noah*. Retrieved on 2014-04-27.
10. ↑ Navig. with Breeze 2014  (in Japanese). *Pro Wrestling Noah*. Retrieved on 2014-05-31.
11. ↑ New Year Navig. 2015  (in Japanese). *Pro Wrestling Noah*. Retrieved on 2015-01-10.
12. ↑ MIKE AWESOME VS MASATO TANAKA . WWE Network.
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 *ja:田中 将斗* (in Japanese). *New Japan Pro Wrestling*. Retrieved on 2013-09-09.
14. ↑ *ja:グローバル・リーグ戦2014* (in Japanese). *Pro Wrestling Noah*. Retrieved on 2014-11-08.
15. ↑ 【プロレス大賞：最優秀タッグ賞】杉浦と田中の弾丸ヤンキースが海外進出宣言  (in Japanese). *Tokyo Sports* (2014-12-09). Retrieved on 2014-12-09.