Dragon Dia

Dia in February 2023

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Suzuka City, Nagano, Japan

**Dragon Dia** (ドラゴン・ダイヤ, *Doragon Daiya*) is a Japanese professional wrestler, trained and currently working for Dragon Gate (DG), where he is a former three-time Open The Twin Gate Champion, a former one-time Open The Brave Gate Champion and a former two-time Open The Triangle Gate Champion.

Dia was trained by the Dragon Gate Dojo and made his debut in November 2018, becoming Dragon Kid's protégé. He achieved his breakthrough upon joining the Dragon Gate Generation stable, winning the Open The Triangle Gate Championship in February 2020. In December, he was one of the founding members of the Masquerade stable. The following year, Dia had a year-long feud with Dia Inferno, which culminated on losing his own mask to Inferno and Diamante in a *Lucha de Apuestas* match. He returned in Janaury 2022, winning the Open The Brave Gate and Twin Gate Championships.

## Professional Wrestling Career

### Dragon Gate (2018–Present)

#### Early Career (2018-2019)

On October 2, 2018, Dragon Kid introduced a newly masked trainee Dragon Dia, announcing that his debut would be against R.E.D (Eita and Yasushi Kanda). On November 6, Dia and Kid were defeated by Eita and Kanda, with Dia being pinned by Kanda. Afterwards, Dia began losing most of his matches to other, more experienced wrestlers, which would help put him over other wrestlers while at the same time give him some in-ring, televised, experience as is customary for most professional wrestlers. In January 2019, Dia took part in the Rookie Ranking Tournament, losing to Shun Skywalker in the first round on January 12. Dia ended up finishing in seventh place, after being unable to take part of the match to determine the fifth place, due to being sidelined with influenza.

#### Breakthrough (2020)

On December 18, Dia achieved an important victory, after teaming with his mentor Dragon Kid in a winning effort against Natural Vibes ("brother" YASSHI and Susumu Yokosuka), after Dia pinned Yokosuka. Afterwards, Dia became part of the Dragon Gate stable in order to unite all Dragon Gate generation of wrestlers against Toryumon and R.E.D in a "Generation War". Dia started being pushed up the card, beginning winning more consistently against veterans and more established wrestlers such as Big R Shimizu, Genki Horiguchi and Kagetora. In January 2020, Dia and his Dragon Gate stablemate Kzy took part in a tournament to crown the new Open The Twin Gate Champions, losing to eventual winners R.E.D duo of BxB Hulk and Kazma Sakamoto in the semifinals of the tournament on January 15. On February 29 on the first night of the Champion Gate in Osaka, Dia, Ben-K and Strong Machine J defeated Toryumon's Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito and Kenichiro Arai to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. From May 17 until May 30, Dia took part in the 2020 King of Gate, losing in the quarterfinals to the eventual winner Eita, eliminating him from the tournament. On September 21, at Dangerous Gate, Dia, Ben-K and Machine lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to R.E.D's Diamante, Kazma Sakamoto and Takashi Yoshida.

#### Masquerade and D'Courage (2020-Present)

Meanwhile over the past months, Dragon Dia had been in angle with R.E.D where Dia entered in a losing streak in every match with R.E.D. On October 4, Eita teased a "secret weapon". On October 4, during the final angle of a match between Dia and Takashi Yoshida, Eita's secret weapon was revealed, with a mysterious wrestler under the name of "Dia Inferno", before ripping Dia's mask, interrupting a match between him and Takashi Yoshida, with Eita citing (on Inferno's behalf) his ambition to end Dia. On November 15, at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, Dragon Gate's biggest show of the year, Dia faced Inferno in a winning effort, after Inferno removed his mask causing the referee to award Dia the win. This outcome of the match led Dragon Gate to announce that Dia would face Inferno in a *Lucha de Apuestas* ("Bet Match"), Mask vs. Mask match at Final Gate, however the match was changed before the event, continuing the feud. On December 2, Dia alongside Jason Lee and Kota Minoura left Dragon Gate Generation to form their own stable with Shun Skywalker, which would be joined by a mysterious member on December 15. On December 15, it was announced that the stable would be named Masquerade, with the new member being revealed to be La Estrella. On May 5 at Dead or Alive, Dia, Estrella, and Lee defeated Natural Vibes (Genki Horiguchi, Kzy and Susumu Yokosuka) to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. They lost the titles to R.E.D (Eita, H.Y.O and Kaito Ishida) on September 20, 2021 at Dangerous Gate.

In October, as part of the feud between Masquerade and R.E.D, Dia reignited his feud with Dia Inferno. On November 5, Dia faced Dia Inferno in a no contest, leading General Manager Ryo Saito to announce a Mask vs. Mask tag team match, with Dia teaming Masquerade stablemate Shun Skywalker and Dia Inferno with R.E.D stablemate Diamante on December 1, with the loser of the fall having to unmask. At the event, Diamante and Inferno won the *Lucha de Apuestas* match, with Dia being pinned by Diamante after Skywalker pushed Dia into Diamante, and as a result, Dia was forced to unmask. On January 12, 2022, Dia made his return to Dragon Gate, repackaged with a skater gimmick, before defeating SB KENTo to win the Open The Brave Gate Championship in 90 seconds. Afterwards, Dia and Yuki Yoshioka, who was revealed to be Dia Inferno, challenged KENTo and H.Y.O to a title match for the Open The Twin Gate Championship. The following day, Dia and Yoshioka defeated KENTo and H.Y.O to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship, thus becoming a double champion in the process. On February 4, Dia proprosed a fan vote to decide the name for his team with Yoshioka. Following the result of the fan vote, on March 3, their team was named "D'Courage", a combination of the D from Dia and the Japanese word for courage "yūki", of which an alternate spelling is Yoshioka's first name. On May 5, at Dead or Alive, Dia and Yoshioka lost the Open The Twin Gate Championship to Z-Brats (Diamante and Shun Skywalker). Later that month, Dia took part in the 2022 King of Gate, being eliminated in the first round after facing H.Y.O in a double count out. On July 30 at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, Dia lost the Open The Brave Gate Championship to H.Y.O, ending his reign at 199 days. On September 19 at Dangerous Gate, Dia and Madoka Kikuta defeated Jason Lee and Jacky "Funky" Kamei to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship. They lost the titles to BxB Hulk and KAI on December 2.

In February 2023, Dia and Dragon Kid took part in the 2023 Rey de Parejas, finishing the tournament with a record of two wins and three losses, failing to advance to the semifinals of the tournament. On April 5, Jason Lee nominated Dia to be his challenger for the Open The Brave Gate Championship. Three days later, Dia defeated Minorita, Jacky "Funky" Kamei and Mochizuki Junior in a four-way match to become the number one contender to the Open The Brave Gate Championship. On May 5 at Dead or Alive, Dia unsuccessfully challenged Lee for the Open The Brave Gate Championship. On October 14, Dia and Yuki Yoshioka challenged M3K's (Susumu Mochizuki and Yasushi Kanda) to a title match for the Open The Twin Gate Championship. On November 5 at Gate of Destiny, Dia and Yoshioka defeated Mochizuki and Kanda to become the new champions. They relinquished the titles on December 20, after Yoshioka was sidelined with a detached retina.

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ *Double Cork/Reptilian Kai* (Flipover transitioned into a crucifix driver) - 2022-present
	+ *Firebird Splash* (450° splash) - 2021-present
	+ *Reptilian* (Flipover sunset flip powerbomb)
	+ *Reptilian Rana* (Flipover frankensteiner)
	+ *Treatrana* (Hurricanrana into a victory roll)
* **Signature moves**
	+ *Ashoka Pillar* (Springboard corkscrew tilt-a-whirl headscissors)
	+ Crucifix driver
	+ *DDDDT* (Diving DDT)
	+ Dropkick, sometimes to a kneeling opponent
	+ Enzuigiri
	+ *From Jungle* (Spinning headscissors takedown twisted into an octopus stretch) – adopted from Masato Yoshino
	+ Flying Front Cradle
	+ Missile dropkick
	+ Reverse rocking horse - 2022-present
	+ Running shooting star press
	+ Somersault seated senton
	+ Spinning hurricanrana
	+ Stunner, as a counter to a vertical suplex
	+ Super headscissors takedown – adopted from K-ness.
	+ Tiger feint kick to the head of an opponent draped over the second rope
	+ Tilt-a-whirl DDT
	+ Wheelbarrow bodyscissors transitioned into an arm drag
	+ Wheelbarrow victory roll
* **Nicknames**
	+ **"∞ Carat Diamond"**
* **Entrance themes**
	+ "Dragon Storm 2019" (Instrumental Version)" by ZIGGY
	+ **"∞ Carat Diamond"** by Syoko Koshino

 Championships and Accomplishments

* **Dragon Gate**
	+ Open The Brave Gate Championship (1 time)
	+ Open The Twin Gate Championship (3 times) – with Yuki Yoshioka (2) and Madoka Kikuta (1)
	+ Open The Triangle Gate Championship (2 times) – with Ben-K and Strong Machine J (1) and Jason Lee and La Estrella (1)
	+ Ashiyanikki Cup 6 Man Tag Team Tournament (2020) – with Ben-K and Strong Machine J
	+ Rookie Ranking Tournament: Seventh place

### Luchas de Apuestas record

1 **^**  This was a *Lucha de Apuestas* Mask vs. Mask tag team match also involving Shun Skywalker and Dia Inferno.