Seiki Yoshioka

Yoshioka in September 2022

###

Kumamoto, Japan

**Seiki Yoshioka** (吉岡 世起, *Yoshioka Seiki*, born January 5, 1988) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working for Pro Wrestling Noah (NOAH), where he is a former four-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, while also being a former GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion. As part of a working relationship between NOAH and Dragon Gate (DG), he is a former one-time Open The Triangle Gate Champion.

Yoshioka started his career at Wrestle Gate, before moving to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in 2013, but left the promotion to join Keiji Mutoh's Wrestle-1 alongside several other wrestlers. He became known for his time at the promotion, winning several professional wrestling championships in his career; he is a former three-time Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Champion, a three-time UWA World Trios Champion and the winner of the 2019 Wrestle-1 Cruiser Festival. Through a working relationship between Wrestle-1 and Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1), Yoshioka also appearanced for the promotion, where he is a former one-time NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Champion. After Wrestle-1 closed in 2020, Yoshioka began working for Pro Wrestling Noah.

## Early life

Yoshioka grew up in Kumamoto, Kumamoto. His father and two older brothers are all doctors. After watching a pro-wrestling video while still in elementary school, he became inspired by Keiji Mutoh. While in third year of junior high, he learnt about Triple H attempting to recover from a serious quad injury, and was so impressed he decided to become a pro-wrestler. To supplement this, he attended a Taekwondo dojo, while attending Kumamoto Prefectural High School and learnt various techniques. Yoshioka attended Okayama University as it was close to the Wrestle Gate dojo in Hiroshima, and after one unsuccessful attempt, he entered into the college on his second attempt. He started in April 2007 and studied at their Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences for six years, earning a qualification as a pharmacist.

## Professional wrestling career

### Wrestle Gate (2007-2013)

After starting at university, Yoshioka began training at Wrestle Gate, run by HANZO, and trained there whilst also attending school. After nearly a year, Yoshioka was given exhibition matches on Wrestle Gate pre-shows, whilst wearing a mask. On October 5, 2008, he made his official debut teaming with Susumu in a losing effort against Kindaichi Hogo and Minoru Fujita on Wrestle Gate's 5th Anniversary show. Eventually, he changed his ring name to just **Seiki** (stylized in all capital letters). On November 27, 2011, SEIKI won his first professional wrestling title, the Hakata Tag Team Championship with Susumu, after forming a team known as "Scramble Time". They lost the titles to HANZO and Victory Shanghai on May 6, 2012.

In April 2013, after finishing his pharmacist degree, SEIKI decided to work professionl wrestling full-time in Tokyo and decided to leave Wrestle Gate. He wrestled his farewell match on May 26, 2013, teaming with Betcha Hogo in a winning effort against Daisuke Masaoka and Yuki Tanaka.

### All Japan Pro-Wrestling/Wrestle-1 (2013–2020)

He was signed by All Japan Pro-Wrestling on May 1 as Seiki's trainer, HANZO, was close with Kaz Hayashi, who was a senior figure at the promotion. He deciced to change his ring name to his real name **Seiki Yoshioka** and began retraining for AJPW. Later that year, following a mass exodus from AJPW, after issues relating to its new ownership, and Yoshioka was one of several wrestlers that joined Keiji Mutoh's new promotion Wrestle-1. He resumed his re-training, and debuted against Hiroshi Yamato on September 15 in a losing effort.

In March 2014, Yoshioka won a battle royal to face Seiya Sanada for the TNA X-Division Championship, facing him in a losing effort on March 22. On June 22, Yoshioka defeated Jiro Kuroshio, in another battle royal for a title shot All Star Wrestling (ASW)'s British Mid-Heavyweight Championship. On July 6, Yoshioka defeated Dean Allmark to win the title. Afterwards, Yoshioka was sent on a foreign learning excursion to Britain, were the title was quietly retired. After a month, he returned to Japan. On November 7, Yoshioka won Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1)'s NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship with Shuji Kondo, after defeating "brother" YASSHI and Takuya Sugawara. They lost the titles back to Sugawara and YASSHI on March 1, 2015.

Shortly after, Yoshioka started teaming with Jiro Kuroshio. This alliance eventually came to include Yasufumi Nakanoue, and the three became known as *Jackets*, as all three men wore jackets during their matches. They won the UWA World Trios Championship from *New Wild Order* (Akira, Jun Kasai and Kumagoro) on October 9, 2015. They lost those titles to *Real Desperado* (Kazma Sakamoto, Nosawa Rongai and Koji Doi) on November 3, before regaining it on November 27.

On January 7, 2017, *Jackets* vacated the UWA World Trios Championship, after Yoshioka could not make their next scheduled defence due to cecum surgery. In June, Nakanoue left Wrestle-1, and this led to *Jackets* disbanding. Their last match together was against *Real Desperado* (Yuji Hino, Kazma Sakamoto and Nosawa Rongai). In July, Yoshioka, Andy Wu, and Daiki Inaba defeated Kaz Hayashi, Minoru Tanaka and TAJIRI to win the UWA World Trios Championship. On December 9, Yoshioka, Daiki Inaba, Yusuke Kodama, Koji Doi, Kumagoro and Andy Wu formed the NEWERA stable. Later that night, Yoshioka, Wu, and Inaba lost the UWA World Trios Championship to Allied Forces (Shuji Kondo, Jun Kasai and Nosawa Rongai).

On March 20, Yoshioka defeated Mazada to win the Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship, but lost it to Andy Wu on May 4, before winning it back on September 2. On April 19, 2018, after some dimension between the group and some infighting NEWERA officially decided to disband. On June 13, Yoshioka lost the Wrestle-1 Cruiserweight Championship to Yusuke Kodama. Yoshioka suffered an injury that month on a J-Stage show and missed two months of action. On November 23, CIMA and Tonsho faced Kaz Hayashi and Pegasso Iluminar. The match ended in a no contest, when Yoshioka (disguised as Alejandro) interfered in the match and CIMA and Yoshioka turned on Tonsho. CIMA would reveal Yoshioka as a spy in Wrestle-1 and the newest member of Strong Hearts. On December 26, Yoshioka defeated El Hijo de Pantera to win the Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship for the third time.

On February 29, 2020, Wrestle-1 president, Kaz Hayashi announced that all activities of the promotion would be suspended indefinitely after April 1 with all of the contracted wrestlers being released on March 31, leading Strong Hearts to end their run with the promotion.

### Pro Wrestling Noah (2020–present)

On April 18, Yoshioka was revealed as the newest member of Sugiura-gun, after being recruited by Nosawa Rongai. On May 10, Yoshioka turned on Rongai, Hajime Ohara tried to keep calm things but ended up joining them, resulting in the formation of a stable, that was named "Full Throttle", after being joined by Atsushi Kotoge. In June, Kotoge began proclaiming himself as the leader of the stable, causing a disagreement with Yoshioka and Ohara, who also had their intentions of being the leader of the stable. The dispute over the leadership culminated on August 1, Noah holding an event to decide the leader of the stable which various matches between Yoshioka, Kotoge, and Ohara, which Kotoge became the leader.

On February 12, 2021 at Destination, Yoshioka defeated Daisuke Harada to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship. On March 14, at Great Voyage in Fukuoka, Yoshioka lost the GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion to former stablemate Atsushi Kotoge. On May 2, Full Throttle was defeated by Stinger in a tag team match. Afterwards, Yoshioka turned on Ohara to join Stinger. On August 1, Yoshioka and Stinger stablemate Yuya Susumu defeated Daisuke Harada and Hajime Ohara to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. On September 12, Yoshioka and Susumu lost the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships to Atsushi Kotoge and Hajime Ohara.

On January 10, 2022, Yoshioka and Susumu faced Atsushi Kotoge and Hajime Ohara in a time-limit draw. Afterwards, Susumu challenged Kotoge and Harada to a rematch, where the winners would become the number one contenders to the the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championships. However, on January 19, it was announced that the winners of their match would be crowned the new GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions, after Yoshinari Ogawa tested positive for COVID-19. On January 22, Yoshioka and Susumu defeated Atsushi Kotoge and Hajime Ohara to win the titles. The titles were vacated on February 11, after Yoshioka was sidelined with an heel injury. On May 4, Yoshioka and Susumu attacked Yoshinari Ogawa and Chris Ridgeway, before challenging them to a title match for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, with HAYATA siding with them due to a previously shared background. Afterwards, Ogawa and Ridgeway attacked HAYATA, Susumu and Yoshioka, during a post-match interview. This led to a match on May 21 at Dream On Final, for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship where the losing team would be forced to leave Stinger. The match ended in a no contest, following the interference from Los Perros del Mal de Japón, which in turn led the stable to reconcile. On June 7, Yoshioka, Susumu and Ogawa defeated Los Perros del Mal de Japón's Eita, Kotaro Suzuki and Nosawa Rongai to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. The following day, Yoshioka, Susumu, and Ogawa lost the titles to Atsushi Kotoge, Daisuke Harada and YO-HEY. Afterwards, Yoshioka decided to leave Stinger, which led to Susumu warn that he would not be forgiven, disbanding Sramble Time. Susumu then began trying to convince Yoshioka to reconcile, leading to a match between on June 23, which Yoshioka faced Susumu in a winning effort. On September 25 at Grand Ship In Nagoya, Yoshioka and Atsushi Kotoge defeated Chris Ridgeway and Yoshinari Ogawa to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. They lost the titles to Hajime Ohara and Shuji Kondo on November 10 at Global Honored Crown, before regaining them on November 23 at Noah the Best. They lost the titles to YO-HEY and Kzy on December 23.

On September 24, 2023, Yoshioka requested the time off as to prepare for a new challenge, with his last match being on October 28, as he would be absent for the rest of the year. It was later reported that, Yoshioka had previously wanted to work in the Japanese independent circuit, and did not expected to have a lenghty tenrue with the promotion, before the COVID-19 pandemic.

## In wrestling

* **Finishing moves**
	+ *Clock Strike* (Gory special twisted into a knee lift)
	+ *Crash Driver* (Belly to back inverted mat slam dropped into a modified powerbomb) – 2019–present
	+ *FUMIE* (Standing inverted Indian deathlock surfboard followed by a head stomp)
	+ *Swanton Bomb* (High-angle senton bomb)
* **Signature moves**
	+ Diving double foot stomp
	+ Multiple kick variations
		- Axe
		- Drop
		- Roundhouse to the head of a kneeling or seated opponent
		- *SK* (Sliding roundhouse to the head of a seated opponent)
		- Super
		- *Tornado Strike* (Corkscrew roundhouse)
		- *Zero-Sen Kick* (Step-up axe to the back of a bentover opponent's head)
	+ Sitout scoop slam piledriver
	+ *Torbellino* (Spinning headscissors takedown twisted into a single arm DDT)

## Championships and accomplishments

* **All Star Wrestling**
	+ British Light Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
* **Dragon Gate**
	+ Open The Triangle Gate Championship (1 time) – with Yoshinari Ogawa and Yuya Susumu
* **Pro Wrestling KAGEKI**
	+ Hakata Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Susumu
* **Pro Wrestling NOAH**
	+ GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship (1 time)
	+ GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship (4 times) – with Yuya Susumu (2) and Atsushi Kotoge (2)
	+ Scramble Shuffle Tag Tournament (2023) – with Katsuhiko Nakajima
* **Pro Wrestling Zero1**
	+ NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Shuji Kondo
* **Wrestle-1**
	+ UWA World Trios Championship (3 times) – with Jiro Kuroshio and Yasufumi Nakanoue (2), and Andy Wu and Daiki Inaba (1)
	+ Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship (3 times)
	+ Wrestle-1 Cruiser Festival (2019)
	+ High Speed Award (2017) vs. Andy Wu on September 2
* **Japan Indie Awards**
	+ Best Unit Award (2018, 2019) – Strong Hearts

## References

1. ↑ 「Wrestle-1 Tour 2017 Trans Magic」  (in Japanese). *Wrestle-1* (2017-03-20). Retrieved on 2017-03-20.