Madoka Kikuta

Kikuta in May 2022

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Kanazawa, Ishikawa, Japan

**Madoka Kikuta** (菊田円, *Kikuta Madoka*, born September 20, 1999 in Kanazawa, Japan) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for Dragon Gate (DG), where he is a former one-time Open The Dream Gate Champion.

Kikuta was trained in the Dragon Gate Dojo and made his debut in June 2020. Kikuta worked as a rookie alongside Kento Kobune and Taketo Kamei, before being placed on Dragon Gate's mid-card for under a year. In December, after Kobune had turned heel, Kikuta followed him and joined the villanous R.E.D stable, before renaiming himself to "HipHop Kikuta". Upon joining R.E.D, Kikuta received his first opportunity for the Open The Dream Gate Championship in May 2021. After returning from a shoulder injury in April 2022, Kikuta reverted his ring name to his real name, before winning the Open The Twin Gate Championship in September 2022 and the Open The Dream Gate Championship in May 2023.

## Professional wrestling career

### Dragon Gate

#### Early career (2020)

Kikuta trained for his professional wrestling career in the Japanese promotion Dragon Gate's wrestling school called "Dragon Gate Nex", wrestling several exhibition bouts before making officially his debut teaming with Último Dragón in a losing effort against Dragon Gate Generation (Ben-K and Kota Minoura) on June 6, 2020. As is customary for most professional wrestlers, Kikuta spent most of his matches losing to other, more experienced wrestlers, which would help put over other wrestlers while at the same time give Kikuta some in-ring, televised, experience. Throughout the year, Kikuta often faced off against fellow rookie Taketo Kamei, with both men trading victories in both singles and tag team competition, before eventually forming a team. On November 15, at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, Dragon Gate's biggest show of the year, Kikuta and Kamei faced Team Boku (Boku R Shimizu and Ryo Saito). Kikuta picked up the win for his team with him pinning veteran Ryo Saito for victory.

#### R.E.D (2020–2021)

On December 2, Dragon Kid was attacked by R.E.D. Afterwards, Kikuta and Taketo Kamei made the save, but instead Kikuta turned heel by removing Kid's mask, before turning on Kamei afterwards, revealing himself to be R.E.D's newest member. Kikuta, and his R.E.D stablemates Eita, Kaito Ishida, H.Y.O and SB KENTo then faced Toryumon Generation's Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, Kid, Shuji Kondo and Kamei in a winning effort after Kikuta pinned Yoshino. After the match, R.E.D challenged Toryumon Generation to a No Disqualification Losing Unit Disbands match at Final Gate. On December 9, Kikuta renamed himself to **"HipHop Kikuta"**, as part of the process of joining R.E.D. On December 20, at Final Gate, R.E.D forced Toryumon to disband, after defeating them in No Disqualification Losing Unit Disbands match. On February 23, 2021, Kikuta, and his R.E.D stablemates Diamante and Dia Inferno defeated Team Boku (Bokutimo Dragon, Punch Tominaga and Ryo Saito) in the finals to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship Next Challenger Team Decision Tournament to become the number one contenders to the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. On March 6, on the first night of the Champion Gate in Osaka, Kikuta, Diamante and Inferno unsucessfully challenged Natural Vibes (Kzy, Genki Horiguchi and Susumu Yokosuka) for the Open The Triangle Gate Championship.

Kikuta began being pushed to the main event picture, defeating former Open The Dream Gate Champion Ben-K in a match on March 27 at Memorial Gate in Wakayama. Later that night, Kikuta and rest of R.E.D attacked Open The Dream Gate Champion Shun Skywalker, before challenging him to a title match on May 5 at Dead or Alive. At the title match on May 5 at Dead or Alive, Kikuta unsucessfully challenged Skywalker for his title, after Kikuta was unable to continue the match due to Skywalker injuring his arm, forcing the referee to stop the match. He would then spend the rest of the year rehabilitating his injury, as R.E.D was rebranded to Z-Brats and he was not included in the new stable.

#### Return and D'Courage (2022–Present)

On April 2, 2022, Kikuta made a surprise return from his injury, attacking former stablemates H.Y.O and SB KENTo and saving Jacky "Funky" Kamei from a post match attack, before announcing his intentions to start over from scratch in order to reach his true potential and his in-ring return on May 5, at Dead or Alive. At the event, Kikuta teamed with Kamei in a losing effort against Z-Brats (BxB Hulk and H.Y.O), with Kikuta getting the pinfall. Later that moth, Kikuta took part in the 2022 King of Gate, being eliminated in the second round to BxB Hulk. On August 24, following a six-man tag team match, Kikuta and Dragon Dia, challenged Jason Lee and Jacky "Funky" Kamei to a title match for the Open The Twin Gate Championship, this was followed by High-End's Ben-K and YAMATO, who also challenged Lee and Kamei to a title match, leading to a number one contenders match between the two teams on September 4, which Kikuta and Dia won. On September 19 at Dangerous Gate, Kikuta and Dia defeated Jason Lee and Jacky "Funky" Kamei to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship. Shortly after, Kikuta eventually was accepted into D'Courage on October 15, turning the team into a stable, following his addition. On December 2, Kikuta and Dia lost the Open The Twin Gate Championship to BxB Hulk and KAI.

In February 2023, Kikuta and D'Courage stablemate Yuki Yoshioka took part in the 2023 Rey De Parejas, finishing the tournament with a record of two wins, two draws and one loss, advancing to the semifinals of the tournament. On March 2, Kikuta and Yoshioka defeated Z-Brats (KAI and Shun Skywalker) and then M3K (Susumu Mochizuki and Yasushi Kanda), in the semifinals and finals to win the 2023 Rey de Parejas. Traditionally, the winners of the tournament have earned a shot at the Open The Twin Gate Championship and following the win, Yoshioka and Kikuta called out reigning champions, Natural Vibes (Big Boss Shimizu and Kzy), and challenged them to a title match, which they accepted. On March 5, at Champion Gate in Osaka, Kikuta and Yoshioka unsuccessfully challenged Kzy and Shimizu for the Open The Twin Gate Championship. A month later, Kikuta defeated Kota Minoura to become the number one contender to the Open The Dream Gate Championship and following the match, Kikuta challenged Skywalker to a title match for the first time in two years. Afterwards, Skywalker reminded their title match two years ago, which Kikuta stated that he did not forget that day. This led to Skywalker stating that he wanted Kikuta to show more effort, challenging him to a Three-on-One Handicap match. On April 9, Kikuta was defeated by Skywalker and Z-Brats stablemate H.Y.O in the Three-on-One Handicap match. This match was part of a quest to impress Skywalker, which led to on May 3, Dia throwing in the towel tom stop the Z-Brats assault on Kikuta. On May 5, at Dead or Alive, after two years from their previous title match, Kikuta faced Shun Skywalker in rematch for Open The Dream Gate Championship. At the event, Kikuta defeated Skywalker to become the new champion, avenging his loss in their previous match that ended in a referee stoppage. He made his first successful title defense against fellow D'Courage stablemate Yuki Yoshioka on July 2 at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival. He made his second successful title defense against the winner of the 2023 King of Gate Kota Minoura on August 20 at Dangerous Gate. His third successful title defense came against Big Boss Shimizu on November 5 at Gate of Destiny. He lost the title to Luís Mante in a three-way match also involving Shun Skywalker on December 24 at Final Gate.

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ Discus lariat
	+ Snap piledriver - 2021-present
* **Signature moves**
	+ Bicycle kick
	+ Brainbuster
	+ Diving crossbody - early career
	+ Electric chair dropped into a sitout facebuster
	+ Elevated sitout powerbomb, sometimes while assisted
	+ Forearm smash
	+ Knife edge chop
	+ Multiple hip attack variations
		- Corner
		- Diving
		- Jumping
		- Running
		- Sliding
	+ Running shoulder tackle
	+ Sitout jawbreaker
	+ Standing leg drop
	+ *M.D.K* (Tilt-a-whirl sitout side powerslam)
* **Nicknames**
	+ **"Shiri Bakudan Kozō"** (Japanese for the "Hip Bomb Kid")
* **Entrance themes**
	+ "Dragon Storm 2019 (Instrumental Version)" by Dragon Gate
	+ "Delight Extra Realize" (2nd version) by YO-HEI (used as part of R.E.D.)
	+ **"Sparking Core"** by Goryu (Dopedown) and Masakazu Murata

 Championships and Accomplishments

* **Dragon Gate**
	+ Open The Dream Gate Championship (1 time)
	+ Open The Twin Gate Championship (1 time) – with Dragon Dia
	+ Rey De Parejas (2023) – with Yuki Yoshioka
	+ Open The Triangle Gate Championship Next Challenger Team Decision Tournament (2021) – with Diamante and Dia Inferno
	+ Best Bout Award (2020) R.E.D vs. Toryumon Generation on December 20
* **Wrestling Observer Newsletter**
	+ 4½ Star Match (2020) R.E.D vs. Toryumon Generation on December 20