.jpg) Kenoh in 2015 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | Daisuke Nakae[3] (1985-01-01)January 1, 1985 (age 41)[4] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Budoka[1] Daisuke Nakae Kanmuriwashi Yoko Kenoh |
| Billed height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)[2] |
| Billed weight | 95 kg (209 lb)[2] |
| Trained by | Jinsei Shinzaki |
| Debut | March 2, 2008[2] |
Daisuke Nakae (Japanese:中栄 大輔,Hepburn:Nakae Daisuke)[3] (born January 1, 1985) is a Japaneseprofessional wrestler and martial artist, better known by the ring nameKenoh (拳王,Ken'ō).[2] He currently wrestles inPro Wrestling Noah, where he is a former 4-timeGHC Heavyweight Champion. He is also a formerGHC National Champion.
Kenoh began his career inMichinoku Pro Wrestling after being scouted byJinsei Shinzaki. There, he would eventually go on to win theTohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship three times, before leaving Michinoku Pro and signing withPro Wrestling Noah in 2015. Initially competing as a junior heavyweight, he formed a popular tag team withHajime Ohara, and the two went on to hold theGHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship two times. He graduated to the heavyweight division in 2017, and would go on to win theGlobal League and theGHC Heavyweight Championship in the same year.
Nakae started trainingnippon kempo at the age of 3, and while in highschool won the championship of his category. Later, in 2003, he was crowned as the youngest All Japan kenpo champion ever, and went to win the contest again in 2006 and 2007.
Nakae signed withMichinoku Pro Wrestling in 2007 after being scouted byJinsei Shinzaki, wrestling several exhibition bouts before officially debuting againstAlexander Otsuka. He went under the name of "Kenoh" (拳王,Ken'ō; Fist King), a reference to the characterRaoh from popularmanga andanimeFist of the North Star. He spent the year in low-profile matches against fellow traineesRui Hiugaji and Takayuki Aizawa, and in late 2008 he was sent to hone his skills in Okinawa Pro Wrestling, where he adopted aparodic gimmick named "Kanmuriwashi Yoko" patterned after famousboxerYoko "Kanmuriwashi" Gushiken. Under this character, Nakae sported anafro hairstyle similar to Gushiken's, although complete with alucha libre mask andkickboxing attire.
In September 2009, Kenoh made his return to Michinoku Pro, being introduced by Jinsei Shinzaki as a special ally to counter fellowshoot-style wrestlerFujita "Jr." Hayato and hisheelstable Kowloon. Kenoh declined an offer byGreat Sasuke of having his redebut match against him and instead demanded a match against Hayato for theTohoku Junior Heavyweight Champion, which the champion accepted. Shockingly, Kenoh won and captured the title, and went to enter in a heatedfeud with Fujita and his stablemates. He slowly became the nextace of the promotion, a place vacated afterYoshitsune's departure. The same year, Kenoh and Rui Hiugaji took part in the Michinoku Tag League, beating the teams ofMunenori Sawa and Yuta Yoshikawa and Kowloon's Fujita Hayato andRasse, but they were defeated at the finals by another Kowloon team,Takeshi Minamino andMaguro Ooma. On the individual field, Kenoh retained the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight title before Hayato, Minamino andTaro Nohashi, until he lost it to Great Sasuke.
In 2011, Kenoh andKenbai were sent to compete inPro Wrestling Noah's NTV G Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League, where they got a big victory over heavy favourite team No Mercy (Kenta andYoshinobu Kanemaru), with Kenoh personally pinning Kenta. They also challenged ANMU (Atsushi Aoki andKotaro Suzuki) for theGHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, but they were defeated.
Kenoh recaptured the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship from Rui Hiugaji in September 2011. Started 2012, he claimed to have the goal to "change Michinoku Pro," which few understood, but it was all revealed whenTaro Nohashi betrayed Fujita Hayato and expelled him from Kowloon, instead bringing Kenoh as the new leader. This made Kenoh turnheel, adopting a more arrogant persona for himself, and they renamed the stable as Asura, replacing with Hiugaji the members that had followed Hayato. They feuded with Hayato and his remnant group, called Bad Boy. Kenoh and Fujita clashed again, and this time Kenoh lost the match and the title, but he retaliated eliminating Bad Boy from the Michinoku Tag League 2012 to win it with stablemate Hiugaji.
In 2013, Kenoh pinned Hayato to gain the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship back, but on December 13, hevacated it, announcing his intention of joiningPro Wrestling Noah.[4]
Kenoh returned to Noah as a freelancer, joining the newChoukibou-gun stable in 2014 and forming a tag team with stablemateHajime Ohara.[5] On August 2, 2014, Kenoh and Ohara won the2014 NTV G+ Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League by defeatingDaisuke Harada and Quiet Storm in the finals.[6] On October 12, Kenoh and Ohara defeatedAtsushi Kotoge andTaiji Ishimori to win theGHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.[7] They lost the title toEl Desperado andTaka Michinoku on March 15, 2015.[8] On March 28, Kenoh signed a contract with Noah, officially ending his affiliation with Michinoku Pro.[9] On March 19, 2016, Kenoh and Ohara won the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the second time by defeating Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada.[10] They lost the title back to Kotoge and Harada on April 5.[11]
On July 5, Kenoh defeatedGenba Hirayanagi in a four-man tournament final to win one of Noah's three spots inNew Japan Pro-Wrestling's2016 Super J-Cup.[12] On July 20, Kenoh defeated Gurukun Mask in his first round match in the tournament.[13] On August 21, he was eliminated from the tournament in the second round by reigningIWGP Junior Heavyweight ChampionKushida.[14]
On December 23, 2016, after losing toTakashi Sugiura and Alejandro Saez, Kenoh officially announced the break up of Kenohara. Kenoh and Ohara wrestled their last match as a team on December 24, defeating Taiji Ishimori andHitoshi Kumano.[15]
Kenoh's heavyweight debut was on January 7, 2017, in a tag team match where he and partnerMasa Kitamiya defeatedAkitoshi Saito andMuhammad Yone. Following this match, the pairing made a challenge toGHC Tag Team Championship holdersGo Shiozaki andMaybach Taniguchi to a title match.[16] On January 21, Kenoh and Kitamiya defeated Shiozaki and Taniguchi to become the new GHC Tag Team Champions.[17]
On February 24, Kenoh turned on Kitamiya, forming an alliance with Takashi Sugiura, which led to the two being stripped of the tag team title.[18] This led to a match on March 12, where Kenoh and Sugiura defeated Kitamiya and Muhammad Yone to win the vacant GHC Tag Team Championship.[19] They lost the title to Maybach Taniguchi and Naomichi Marufuji on April 14.[20]
On November 19, Kenoh defeated Go Shiozaki in the finals to win the2017 Global League.[21] On December 22, Kenoh defeatedEddie Edwards to win theGHC Heavyweight Championship for the first time and was afterwards confronted by the returning Kaito Kiyomiya, who challenged him to a title match. This led to a match on January 6, where Kenoh defeated Kiyomiya for his first successful defense and along with Sugiura turned on Kiyomiya after the match.[22]
On February 6, 2018, he defeated Yuko Miyamoto for his second successful defense and afterwards accepted a challenge from his ally Takashi Sugiura. This led to a match on March 11, where he lost the title to Sugiura in his third defense. The two then made it to the finals of the 2018 Global Tag League where they lost to former ally Kaito Kiyomiya and Go Shiozaki.
He gained a measure of revenge on Kiyomiya by defeating him on June 10 to earn a chance to regain the GHC Heavyweight Championship, leading to a match on June 26, where he failed to regain the title from Takashi Sugiura.
AsNaomichi Marufuji andAkitoshi Saito vacated theGHC Tag Team Championship on November 28, a tournament to determine new champions happened on December 7. Kenoh tagged with former partnerMasa Kitamiya, but would fail to capture the titles on the finals againstKatsuhiko Nakajima and Go Shiozaki.
After Kaito Kiyomiya defeated Takashi Sugiura at the Great Voyage in Yokohama, Kenoh came to the ring and challenged the new champion. This led to a title match on January 6, where he was defeated by Kiyomiya.
On March 10, 2019, Kiyomiya defended the GHC Heavyweight Title against Naomichi Marufuji, after the match, Kenoh came to the ring and invited the champion to be his partner forGlobal Tag League, and Kiyomiya accepted.
On May 4, 2019, at a NOAH event held in Korakuen Hall, Kenoh established the faction known asKongo.[23]
On January 8, 2022, atWrestle Kingdom 16 held inYokohama Arena, Kongo, led by Kenoh, was defeated byLos Ingobernables de Japon in a 10-man tag team match.[24]
On January 21, 2023, in the main event ofWRESTLE KINGDOM 17 in Yokohama Arena, Kenoh faced Los Ingobernables de Japon leaderTetsuya Naito but was defeated.[25]
During his 15th-anniversary show, Kenoh announced the dissolution of "Kongo" and stated, "Pursuing stability means forsaking evolution."[26]
,Internet Wrestling Database
