 Matsunaga in May 2023 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1996-07-14)July 14, 1996 (age 29)[2] |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Junya Matsunaga |
| Billed height | 176 cm (5 ft 9 in)[1] |
| Billed weight | 94 kg (207 lb) |
| Debut | 2021 |
Junya Matsunaga (松永準也,Matsunaga Junya) is a Japaneseprofessional wrestler currently performing in the JapanesepromotionPro Wrestling Zero1 where he is a formerIntercontinental Tag Team Champion.[3]
Due to partially being a freelancer, Matsunaga is known for competing in various promotions of theJapanese independent scene. He is also known for seldomly competing in various joshi promotions as male talent. AtDiana Jaguar's Memorial 61th Birthday & 46th Anniversary, an event promoted byWorld Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana on July 25, 2022, he teamed up with Satsuki Nagao, Takafumi andTakumi Baba to defeat Tsugutaka Sato, Astroman and Ryo Hoshino in aneight-man tag team match.[4] AtMarvelous 6th Anniversary on May 1, 2022, Matsunaga teamed up withLeo Isaka in a losing effort againstShigehiro Irie andShoki Kitamura.[5]
Matsunaga made hisprofessional wrestling debut inPro Wrestling Zero1 atZERO1 Great East Japan Earthquake Reconstruction Charity Show on March 11, 2021, where he fell short to Takafumi insingles competition.[6] During his time in the company, he chased for various championships promoted by it. He won his first title, theZero1 Intercontinental Tag Team Championship atShinjiro Otani Debut 30th Anniversary Year & ZERO1 Launch 21st Anniversary Show on March 6, 2022, alongside Takafumi by defeating Gajo and Tomohiko Hashimoto.[7] Despite being a junior heavyweight wrestler, Matsunga competed in a number one contendership match for theZero1 World Heavyweight Championship atZERO1 22nd Anniversary where he fell short toChris Vice.[8] He took part in various match gimmicks such as abattle royal fromZERO1 Earthquake Disaster Reconstruction Dedication Pro-Wrestling on August 26, 2022, bout won byShoki Kitamura and also involving notable opponents, both male and female such asAja Kong,Astroman,Fuminori Abe,Masato Tanaka, Ryo Hoshino and Satsuki Nagao, Takafumi, Takumi Baba andTakuya Sugawara.[9]
Matsunaga is known for competing in various of the promotion's signature events. One of them is theFurinkazan, in which he made his first appearance at the 2021 edition where he teamed up withHartley Jackson and defeatedYumehito Imanari andYuna Manase in the first rounds,Masato Tanaka and Yasu Kubota in the second ones, but fell short toTomohiko Hashimoto and Gajo in the finals.[10] At the 2022 edition, he teamed up with Takafumi and defeated Noriyuki Yoshida and Tsugutaka Sato in the first rounds, but fell short to Kubota Brothers (Hide Kubota and Yasu Kubota) in the semifinals.[11] As for theFire Festival, he made his only appearance at the 2022 edition where he placed himself in the block A, scoring a total of five points after competing againstDaisuke Sekimoto, Chris Vice,Takuya Sugawara,Shu Asakawa and Tsugutaka Sato.[12]
One of the promotions he often uses to compete for due to Zero1's shared developmental talent isBig Japan Pro Wrestling. He usually performs in cross over events. One of these junctures was theBJW/ZERO1/2AW Big Clash from April 7, 2021, where he teamed up with Takafumi and Tsugutaka Sato in a losing effort againstHideyoshi Kamitani,Takuho Kato andTakuya Nomura as a result of asix-man tag team match.[13] He continued to make appearances in various anniversary events such as theBJW Daichi Hashimoto 10th Anniversary from December 12, 2021, where he teamed up with Shoki Kitamura, Takafumi and Takumi Baba in a losing effort againstDaiki Shimomura, Masato Kamino,Ryota Nakatsu andTakato Nakano.[14]
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