Hyo

Hyo in July 2024
Personal information
Born	(1997-01-04)January 4, 1997 (age 29)[2] Toyohashi,Japan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Hyosuke Santa Maria Hyo Watanabe H・Y・O Hyo
Billed height	163 cm (5 ft 4 in)[1]
Billed weight	73 kg (161 lb)
Trained by	Dragon Gate Dojo
Debut	2016

Hyo Watanabe (渡邉 彪,Watanabe Hyō; born January 4, 1997), better known simply asHyo (豹,Hyō; formerly stylized asH・Y・O), is a Japaneseprofessional wrestler, currently working for the JapanesepromotionDragongate. He is two-timeOpen the Brave Gate Champion, one-timeOpen the Twin Gate Champion and three-timeOpen the Triangle Gate Champion.^[3][4]

Watanabe made hisprofessional wrestling debut inDragon Gate atDragon Gate NEX Sanctuary.141, an event promoted on April 22, 2016, where he defeated Katsumi Takashima in adark match.^[5] After a few years of rookie status, he eventually began chasing various championships, and capturing theOpen the Triangle Gate Championship alongsideTakashi Yoshida andDiamante after defeatingStrong Machine J,Strong Machine F andStrong Machine G atKobe Pro-Wrestling Festival 2019 on July 21.^[6] AtFinal Gate 2021 on December 26, Watanabe teamed up with R.E.D. stablemate SB Kento to win theOpen the Twin Gate Championship fromNaruki Doi and Takashi Yoshida.^[7] His biggest accomplishment to date is theOpen the Brave Gate Championship, title which he has first won atKobe World 2022 on July 30 after defeatingDragon Dia.^[8] On February 4, 2022, on the first night of theDG Truth Gate, it was revealed that the unit ofR.E.D. was rebranded as Z-Brats, thus ending the initial stable's tenure as the main heel unit.^[9] Watanabe continued to be part of Z-Brats until November 2023, when he turned on the stable, and aligned himself with Luís Mante. Watanabe and Mante formed a tag team named Big Hug, which later became a stable with the addition ofJacky Kamei.

Watanabe is known for competing in various of the promotion's signature events, such as theKing of Gate tournament, making first appearance at the 2020 edition where he fell short toKzy in the first rounds.^[10] At the 2021 edition, he placed himself in the "Block C" where he failed to score any points after competing againstYamato,Shun Skywalker,Kaito Ishida andU-T.^[11] At the 2022 edition, he fought into a double disqualification against Dragon Dia which attracted an elimination for both of them from the first rounds.^[12]

Watanabe competed in theGate of Destiny series ofpay-per-views, which is considered to be the promotion's top yearly event. He made his first appearance at the 2016 edition where he teamed up with Shun Skywalker andFuta Nakamura and defeated Over Generation (Punch Tominaga, Kaito Ishida andTakehiro Yamamura) as a result of asix-man tag team match.^[13] One year later at the 2017 edition, he fell short to Skywalker in aDark match.^[14] At the 2018 edition, Watanabe teamed up with Natural Vibes (Punch Tominaga and"brother" Yasshi in a losing effort againstDon Fujii,Gamma andRyo Saito.^[15] In 2019, Watanabe joined theR.E.D. stable, and at the year's "Gate of Destiny" on November 3, he teamed up with stablematesKazma Sakamoto, Takashi Yoshida and Diamante, and foughtGenki Horiguchi,K-ness,Super Shisa andÚltimo Dragón into a double count-out.^[16] At the 2020 edition, he teamed up with stablematesBxB Hulk,Dia Inferno in a losing effort against Team Dragon Gate (Ben-K, Dragon Dia and Strong Machine J).^[17] His latest appearance was at the 2022 edition of the event where he successfully defended theOpen the Brave Gate Championship againstDragon Kid.^[18]

Watanabe has occasionally competed for a number of promotions in theJapanese independent scene. AtOsaka Pro Wrestling Rainy Season Sky Fly Away on June 2, 2018, he teamed up withOji Shiiba and Yuki Yoshioka to defeatKuishinbo Kamen,Tsubasa and Ultimate Spider Jr.^[19] AtMajestic 2022 - N Innovation, an event promoted byPro Wrestling Noah on April 29, Z-Brats stablemates SB Kento and Shun Skywalker to defeatAlejandro,Daisuke Harada andJunta Miyawaki.^[20]

• Dragon Gate
  • Open the Brave Gate Championship (2 times)
  • Open the Twin Gate Championship (1 time) – withSB Kento^[21]
  • Open the Triangle Gate Championship (4 times, current) – withEita andKaito Ishida (2);Takashi Yoshida andDiamante (1);Ben-K andMochizuki Jr. (1 time)^[22]
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Ranked No. 168 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in thePWI 500 in 2024^[23]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toHyou Watanabe.

• Hyo Watanabe's profile atCagematch

• 1997 births
• Living people
• Japanese male professional wrestlers
• Professional wrestlers from Aichi Prefecture
• 21st-century male professional wrestlers
• 21st-century Japanese professional wrestlers
• Open the Triangle Gate Champions
• Open the Brave Gate Champions
• Open the Twin Gate Champions

• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• CS1 uses Japanese-language script (ja)
• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Articles containing Japanese-language text
• Commons category link from Wikidata