Yuki Yoshioka

Yoshioka in December 2022

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Ogaki, Gifu, Japan

**Yuki Yoshioka** (吉岡有紀, *Yoshioka Yuki*, born September 14, 1994 in Ogaki, Gifu, Japan) is a Japanese professional wrestler, trained and currently working for Dragon Gate (DG), where he is a former two-time Open The Twin Gate Champion, a former one-time Open The Dream Gate Champion and the winner of the 2022 King of Gate.

Yoshioka was trained by the Dragon Gate Dojo and made his debut in October 2016, achieving largely a mid-card status. In March 2020, Yoshioka was sent to the Mexican International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG) promotion to further his wrestling training and gain international experience. Yoshioka returned to DG in October 2020 as the masked character **Dia Inferno**, entering a year-long feud with Dragon Dia, before unmasking himself, after forcing Dia to unmask.

In January 2022, Yoshioka formed a team with Dia, winning his first professional wrestling title, the Open The Twin Gate Championship, before being pushed into the main event picture, after winning Dragon Gate's premier tournament the King of Gate, headlining Dragon Gate's biggest annual event, Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, defeating KAI to win the Open the Dream Gate Championship, holding it for six months.

## Professional wrestling career

### Early Career (2016–2020)

Yoshioka started his professional wrestling career training in Dragon Gate's wrestling school, "Dragon Gate Nex". He made his main roster debut on October 10, 2016 teaming with Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!! and Ryo "Jimmy" Saito in a losing effort against Futa Nakamura, Masaaki Mochizuki, and Peter Kaasa. Afterwards, Yoshioka 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.

On November 11, Yoshioka and fellow rookie Katsumi Takashima were attacked by Mondai Ryu, before being saved by veteran CIMA. Afterwards, CIMA challenged Yoshioka, Takashima, Ben-K, Shun Skywalker, and Hyou Watanabe to a match. This led on December 1, Yoshioka, Takashima, Ben-K, Skywalker, and Watanabe being defeated by CIMA, Dragon Kid, Don Fujii, Gamma and Masaaki Mochizuki. Afterwards, Yoshioka was sent back to Dragon Gate Nex to finish his trial matches series. Yoshioka returned to the Dragon Gate's main roster in December taking part in the Doi Darts Christmas Special, where he teamed with "brother" YASSHI, Jimmy K-ness J.K.S., Jimmy Susumu, Naruki Doi, and Yosuke♥Santa Maria in a winning effort against Don Fujii, Hyou Watanabe, Jimmy Kanda, Mondai Ryu, Punch Tominaga, and YAMATO, scoring his first professional wrestling win in the process.

In August 2018, Yoshioka formed the Mochizuki Dojo stable with Shun Skywalker, Hyou Watanabe and Masaaki Mochizuki in order to progress their careers. In May 2019, Yoshioka took part in the 2019 King of Gate finishing the tournament with a record of one win and four losses, failing to advance to the semifinals of the tournament. In December, after Mochizuki Dojo was temporarily suspended, he joined the Dragon Gate Generation stable in order to unite all wrestlers of the Dragon Gate generation against Toryumon and R.E.D in a "Generation War".

On March 3, 2019, Yoshioka announced that he was going on a learning excursion. The following months, Yoshioka traveled to Mexico to work with DG's partner promotion, International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG) for an extended stay. He also worked for various promotions in the Mexican independent circuit, before returning to Dragon Gate in October.

### Dia Inferno and storyline with Dragon Dia (2020–Present)

As part of Generation War, between R.E.D, Dragon Gate and Toryumon, R.E.D's leader Eita teased a "secret weapon". Eita's secret weapon was revealed on October 4, with a mysterious wrestler under the name of "Dia Inferno", before ripping Dragon 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, Inferno faced Dia in a losing effort, after removing his Dia's mask causing the referee to award Dia the win. This outcome of the match led Dragon Gate to announce that Inferno would face Dia 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. In October 2021, as part of the feud between R.E.D and Masquerade, Inferno reignited his feud with Dragon Dia. On November 5, Inferno faced Dia in a no contest, leading General Manager Ryo Saito to announce a Mask vs. Mask tag team match, with Inferno teaming R.E.D stablemate Diamante and Dia with Masquerade stablemate Shun Skywalker on December 1, with the loser of the fall having to unmask. At the event, Inferno and Diamante won the *Lucha de Apuestas* match after Skywalker pushed Dia into Diamante, with Dia being forced to unmask afterwards. Following the match, after achieving his goal, Inferno revealed himself to be the returning Yuki Yoshioka, ending his association with R.E.D.

On January 12, 2022, Yoshioka made his return to the promotion, helping Dragon Dia win the Open The Brave Gate Championship, following the interference from H.Y.O. Afterwards, both Yoshioka and Dia formed a team and challenged SB KENTo and H.Y.O for the Open The Twin Gate Championships. The following day, Yoshioka and Dia defeated KENTo and H.Y.O to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship. On February 4, Dia proprosed a fan vote to decide the name for their team. 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, Yoshioka and Dia lost the Open The Twin Gate Championship to Z-Brats (Diamante and Shun Skywalker). From May 11 until June 7, Yoshioka took part in the 2022 King of Gate, which he eventually won, defeating Kota Minoura in the finals on June 2. Following the win, Yoshioka was granted a shot at the Open The Dream Gate Championship at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, which led to Yoshioka challenging KAI to a title match immediately after winning the tournament. However, KAI refused his challenge, giving instead the title match to Shuji Kondo, after he eliminated him from the King of Gate. On July 7, after the title match, ended in a no contest, Yoshioka, Minoura, and Kondo discussed on, who should be the next challenger, leading Dragon Gate General Manager Ryo Saito to announce a three-way match to decide the next challenger to the Open The Dream Gate Championship. On July 24, it was decided that Yoshioka would face KAI for the Open The Dream Gate Championship in the first night of the Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, with the winner of the match facing Minoura in the second night. At the event, on July 30, Yoshioka defeated KAI to win the Open The Dream Gate Championship. The following day, Yoshioka defeated Kota Minoura to make his first successfull title defense. His second successful defense took place on September 19 at Dangerous Gate against Eita. On November 6 at Gate of Destiny, Yoshioka made his third successful title defense against YAMATO. A month later, he defeated Masaaki Mochizuki for his fourth successful defense. His sixth title defense took place on December 25 at Final Gate, against Ben-K.

On January 11, 2023, Yoshioka lost the Open The Dream Gate Championship to Shun Skywalker. The following month, Yoshioka and D'Courage stablemate Madoka Kikuta 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, Yoshioka and Kikuta 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, Yoshioka and Kikuta unsuccessfully challenged Kzy and Shimizu for the Open The Twin Gate Championship. On July 12 at Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, Yoshioka unsuccessfully challenged Madoka Kikuta for the Open The Dream Gate Championship. The following month, Yoshioka took part in Pro Wrestling NOAH's 2023 N-1 Victory, finishing the tournament with a record of four wins and three losses, failing to advance to the finals of the tournament. On October 14, Yoshioka and Dragon Dia 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, Yoshioka and Dia 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**
	+ Backdrop
	+ *Bone Mace* (Choke lift transitioned into a one-handed falling powerbomb)
	+ *Hell Splash* (Frog splash)
	+ *Inferno* (Diving double knee facebreaker, sometimes from the second rope)
* **Signature moves**
	+ **As Yuki Yoshioka**
		- *Battle Hook* (Jumping lariat takedown)
		- Boston crab
		- Brainbuster
		- *Darkness Buster* (Straightjacket scoop brainbuster) - 2022-present; adopted from K-ness
		- Dropkick
		- *Groza* (Wheelbarrow facebuster)
		- Headbutt
		- Japanese armdrag
		- Lariat
		- Missile dropkick
		- *Reversal Samson* (Feint into a wheelbarrow bodyscissors victory roll)
		- Small package
	+ **As Dia Inferno**
		- Biting the head of a cornered opponent
		- Double knee backbreaker, sometimes held in a grounded position
		- Headbutt
		- Pop-up flapjack
		- Spinning backfist
		- Wheelbarrow double knee gutbuster
* **Nicknames**
	+ **"Bump Out"**
* **Entrance themes**
	+ "Dragon Storm 2007 (Instrumental Version)" by JAM Project
	+ **"Bump Out"** by Masakazu Murata
	+ "Delight Extra Realize" by YO-HEI (used as Dia Inferno, as part of R.E.D)

## Championships and accomplishments

* **Dragon Gate**
	+ Open The Dream Gate Championship (1 time)
	+ Open The Twin Gate Championship (2 times) – with Dragon Dia
	+ King of Gate (2022)
	+ Rey De Parejas (2023) – with Madoka Kikuta
	+ Rookie Ranking Tournament: Third place
	+ Open The Triangle Gate Championship Next Challenger Team Decision Tournament (2021) – with Diamante and HipHop Kikuta