Ren Narita

Narita in October 2022

###

Aomori, Japan

**Ren Narita** (成田 蓮 *Narita Ren*, born November 29, 1997) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where he is a former one-time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion. He made his debut for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) on July 4, 2017, and worked as a "Young Lion" over the following two years.

In September 2019, Narita was sent to NJPW's L.A. Dojo under Katsuyori Shibata to further his wrestling training and gain international experience, a tradition with NJPW "Young Lions". While training under Shibata, he worked for the US-based All Elite Wrestling (ROH) until the fall of 2022, with Narita returning to NJPW in October 2022, repackaged as "Son of Strong Style", with a complete new persona, while maintaing the same look during his young lion period, similar to his trainer Shibata. He won the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship in February 2023 before losing it in May of the same year.

His quick ascension through the ranks of NJPW, led him to form the "Reiwa Three Musketeers" alongside Shota Umino and Yota Tsuji. He turned heel in December 2023, after joining House of Torture.

## Early Life

During his time in Junior High-School, Narita became fascinated with professional wrestling, after began reading the Japanese manga, Kinnikuman and also cited Mitsuharu Misawa and Kuniaki Kobayashi as his main inspirations for him to become a professional wrestler.

Before beginning his career in professional wrestling, Narita has played several sports, including baseball, kendo and amateur wrestling.

## Professional wrestling career

### New Japan Pro Wrestling (2017–2019)

Narita was trained under the promotion's "young lion" system. On July 4, 2017 at Lion's Gate Project 7, Narita made his professional wrestling debut against Shota Umino in a ten minute time limit draw. Later that month, Narita made his official debut teaming with Shota Umino in a losing effort against Suzuki-gun (El Desperado and Zack Sabre Jr.). From October 12 until December 21, Narita took part in the 2017 Young Lion Cup, finishing the tournament with a record of one draw and four losses, failing to win the tournament. Througout 2018 and mid-2019, as a customary process for young lions, Narita spent most of his matches losing to other, more experienced wrestlers, which would help put over other wrestlers while at the same time give him some in-ring, televised, experience. On May 10, it was was announced that Narita would replace Flip Gordon in the 2019 Best of the Super Juniors, after Gordon was forced to pull out of the tournament due to visa issues. Narita lost all his qualifying matches, being defeated by Bandido, BUSHI, DOUKI, El Phantasmo, Robbie Eagles, Rocky Romero, Ryusuke Taguchi and Will Ospreay.

In August 2019, Narita was one of the young lions of the Japan dojo were involved in a heated rivalry with the young lions of the L.A. dojo that was build up during the 2019 G1 Climax and Super J-Cup tours. In September, Narita took part in the 2019 Young Lion Cup, finishing the tournament with a record of five wins and two losses. Narita entered the final day with a chance to reach the finals, but a loss against Clark Connors on September 22 at Destruction in Kobe, eliminated him from the tournament. Afterwards, in post-match interview, Narita asked Katsuyori Shibata to join the L.A dojo, which Shibata accepted.

### Foregin excursion (2019–2022)

After being accepted to the L.A dojo, Narita began also working for various promotions in the American independent circuit. Through NJPW's working relationships, Narita also worked for British promotion Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW), making his debut for the promotion on November 24 defeating Brendan White. While also being in the United States, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, Narita along with several NJPW were unable to work events outside of the United States, leading him to take part in *NJPW Strong* series. On May 13, 2021, as part of NJPW's working relationship with American promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), Narita appeared at the eleventh episode of *Dark: Elevation*, defeating Royce Isaacs. On June 20, it was announced that Narita was going to take part of NJPW's return event in the United States Resurgence, part of his learning excursion. On January 4, 2022, at Wrestle Kingdom 16, Narita made his return to the promotion losing to Katsuyori Shibata in his in-ring return match.

### Return from excursion and Son of Strong Style (2022–2023)

On September 26, 2022, NJPW announced that Ren Narita would make his return in three years at the event, following the conclusion of his excursion in the LA Dojo with Katsuyori Shibata. On October 10 at Declaration of Power, Narita repackaged as "Son of Strong Style" made his return to NJPW, teaming with David Finlay, and Robbie Eagles in a winning effort against Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and DOUKI), with Narita pinning DOUKI to secured the victory for his. Afterwards, Narita revealed his unsatisfaction on being place in the opening match performance, and revealed that he had his sights set high. Later that month, Narita took part in a tournament to crown the NJPW World Television Championship, defeating SANADA on November 5 at Battle Autumn to advance to the finals. On January 4, 2023, at Wrestle Kingdom 17 in Tokyo Dome, Narita was defeated in the finals by Zack Sabre Jr.

The following day, at *New Year Dash!*, Narita was attacked by House of Torture, leading Minoru Suzuki and his former Suzuki-gun stablemate El Desperado, to assist them, quickly taking care of House of Torture. Afterwards, in a post-match interview, Desperado proposed Narita to form a team alongside him and Suzuki. This led to a title match for the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship at The New Beginning in Osaka on February 11, where Narita, Desperado and Suzuki defeated House of Torture to become the new champions. Shortly after, they named their team "Strong Style". On May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku, Narita, Desperado and Suzuki lost the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship to Kazuchika Okada, Hiroshi Tanahashi and Tomohiro Ishii. His quick ascension through the ranks of NJPW, led to the promotion announcing the formation of the Reiwa Three Musketeers, composing of Narita, Shota Umino and Yota Tsuji, with the distinction going back to 1988, when Masahiro Chono, Shinya Hashimoto and Keiji Mutoh were named the original Three Musketeers during an excursion together in Puerto Rico and later in 2004 to Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shinsuke Nakamura and Katsuyori Shibata as the New Three Musketeers, with each becoming indelible figures in NJPW's history. The following month, Narita was granted entry into the 2023 G1 Climax, his first G1 Climax tournament. On August 5, he finished the tournament with a record of two wins, two draws and three losses, failing to advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament. Following the tournament, on August 13, Strong Style began feuding with Master Wato, Shota Umino and Yuji Nagata, when Narita and Generation rival Umino rivalry's escalated after a heated brawl, which was followed by the addition of Desperado, Suzuki and Wato and Nagata, steeming from a mutal animosity between each other. This led to a Best of Seven Series, during the *Road to Destruction* tour, with the last match between them culminating at Destruction in Ryogoku, with the first match taking place on September 10, which ended in a draw. Over the course of the *Road to Destruction* tour, Strong Style were leading the Best of Seven Series, but on October 9 at Destruction in Ryogoku, after being defeated by Wato, Umino and Nagata, the Best of Seven Series ended in a draw, with three victories between the two sides.

### House of Torture (2023–Present)

From November 20 to December 10, Narita and Umino took part in the 2023 World Tag League. On December 6, in the final round robin match of the World Tag League, Narita turned on his partner Umino to join the House of Torture, becoming the stable's fifth member. Afterwards, Narita revealed that he had been looking forward to this for a long time. Shortly after, Narita and House of Torture embarked on feud with Umino and Kaito Kiyomiya, leading to two matches, with the first being on January 2, 2024 at NOAH The New Year, where House of Torture lost and the second two days later at Wrestle Kingdom 18, where Narita and EVIL got their revenge and defeated Shota Umino and Kaito Kiyomiya. Narita and Umino's feud culminated in a match on January 24, where Narita was defeated by Umino, despite the interference from House of Torture.

## Personal life

Narita is a big fan of manga, Kinnikuman, and the *Tokusatsu* (live-action superhero television series) Kamen Rider, and the Ultra series, with Kinnikuman in particular being what got him interested in professional wrestling, Inside Narita's dorm room, his room was decorated with sneakers and many figures of Kinnikuman.

Despite his in-ring gimmick, he is considered to have a humorous personality behind the scenes, making funny faces in group and private photos.

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ *Narita Special No.1* (Harai goshi)
	+ *Narita Special No.2* (Airplane spin)
	+ *Narita Special No.3* (Elevated figure four double ankle lock/cloverleaf combination)
	+ *Narita Special No.4* (Bridging double overhook suplex)
	+ *Double Cross* (Sitout Facebuster)
	+ *Paro Special* (Piggyback double chickenwing)
* **Signature moves**
	+ Boston crab
	+ Camel clutch
	+ Dropkick
	+ *Guillotine* (Jumping double knee strike to an oncoming opponent)
	+ *Hell’s Guillotine* (Diving Knee Drop to an Standing Opponent)
	+ Headbutt
	+ Low corner dropkick
	+ Multiple suplex variations
		- Backdrop
		- Front
		- German
		- Snap
		- Underhook
	+ *PK – Penalty Kick* (Soccer kick to the chest of a seated opponent) – adopted from Katsuyori Shibata
	+ Sleeper hold
	+ Triangle choke
* **Nicknames**
	+ "Son Of Strong Style"
	+ **"Souled Out"**
* **Entrance themes**
	+ **"**Maverick**"** by Yonosuke Kitamura
	+ "**Souled Out"** by Yonosuke Kitamura

## Championships and accomplishments

* **New Japan Pro Wrestling**
	+ NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with El Desperado and Minoru Suzuki

## External links

* NJPW Japanese profile
* NJPW English profile