Isami Kodaka (木高 イサミ,Kodaka Isami; born September 27, 1981)[5][6][9] is a Japaneseprofessional wrestler, currently signed toPro-Wrestling Basara (Basara). He originally started his career in theKaientai Dojo (K-Dojo)promotion in July 2002, but later left the promotion to become afreelancer, before signing withUnion Pro Wrestling (Union Pro) in 2005. Through Union Pro's working relationship, Kodaka also began working forBig Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), where he adopted his current,hardcore wrestling-based style. Kodaka remained affiliated with Union Pro until the promotion folded in October 2015, after which he became a founding member of Pro-Wrestling Basara (Basara).
In 2005, Isami ended his freelancing days, when he signed a contract with theUnion Pro Wrestling (Union Pro) promotion.[6] Through Union Pro's working relationship with theBig Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) promotion, Isami also made appearances for BJW, where he started a storyline withJaki Numazawa andMad Man Pondo, which led to him evolving hismixed martial arts-based wrestling style into a moredeathmatch-based style.[6][10][11] He was trained in the deathmatch style by Numazawa andJun Kasai at their BJW affiliated School of Death training school.[6][11] He made his deathmatch debut in 2006 and has retained the style ever since.[12] In the deathmatch circles, Isami found himself a generational rival in Yuko Miyamoto.[11][13]
Kodaka in May 2010
In June 2007, Kodaka suffered acervical disc herniation, which would sideline him for eleven months.[6][10][11] Upon his return to the ring, Kodaka, now working under his full name,[2] won his first professional wrestling title, when he andMasashi Takeda defeated Takashi Sasaki andYuko Miyamoto on May 28 to win BJW's2009 Saikyo Tag League and become the newBJW Tag Team Champions.[14][15] The duo held the title for two months, before losing it toDaisuke Sekimoto andYuji Okabayashi,[14] after which Kodaka formed a new tag team named "Deathmatch Nichokenju", later renamed "Yankii Nichokenju", with longtime rival Yuko Miyamoto.[10][16] In 2010, Kodaka made several appearances for women's wrestling promotionIce Ribbon, where he andChii Tomiya won theInternational Ribbon Tag Team Championship by defeating Jun Kasai andMiyako Matsumoto on August 7.[17] On June 25, Kodaka also made an appearance forSmash, losing toKushida in a "World Tryout" match.[18] On January 3, 2011, Kodaka won his first singles title and his first title in his home promotion of Union Pro, when he defeated Kim Nan Pun for theDDT Extreme Championship in a six-man tag team captain's fall match, where he,Keita Yano andSurvival Tobita faced Nan Pun, Cao Zhang andChoun Shiryu.[19] On May 5, Yankii Nichokenju won their first title together, when they defeated Jaki Numazawa and Jun Kasai for the BJW Tag Team Championship.[20] After an eight-month reign, Kodaka lost the DDT Extreme Championship toEl Generico on September 19.[21] Kodaka regained the title from El Generico on January 3, 2012,[22][23][24] only to lose it to his own tag team partner, Yuko Miyamoto, on March 29 as part of an interpromotional rivalry between Union Pro and BJW.[25] On April 1, Kodaka and Miyamoto also lost the BJW Tag Team Championship toShinobu andYoshihito Sasaki.[20] The two bounced back on November 22 by winning the2012 Saikyo Tag League and becoming the new BJW Tag Team Champions.[20][26] On January 14, 2013, Kodaka won the DDT Extreme Championship for the third time, after defeatingKeisuke Ishii.[27] However, his reign lasted only thirteen days, before losing the title toKenny Omega in a match also contested for Union Pro's parent promotionDDT Pro-Wrestling's top title, theKO-D Openweight Championship.[28][29] On August 18 atRyōgoku Peter Pan 2013, DDT's biggest event of the year, Kodaka and Miyamoto defeatedHikaru Sato andYukio Sakaguchi to win theKO-D Tag Team Championship for the first time and become double tag team champions.[30][31][32] Following their win, Kodaka and Miyamoto vowed to successfully defend their double crown hundred times.[33] Yankii Nichokenju went undefeated for most of 2013, before losing to Speed of Sounds (Hercules Senga andTsutomu Oosugi) in a non-title match on October 18.[34]
On November 4, Kodaka defeatedShuji Ishikawa to win BJW's top title, theBJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship, becoming the lightest champion in the title's history.[7][12][35] On November 22, Yankii Nichokenju avenged their loss against the Speed of Sounds in the finals of the2013 Saikyo Tag League to retain the BJW Tag Team Championship and become the first team to win the tournament twice in a row.[36][37] Kodaka dominated Samurai TV's year-end independent wrestling awards ceremony, winning the Best Unit Award with Yuko Miyamoto, the Best Bout Award with Shuji Ishikawa and the MVP Award.[38][39] Yankii Nichokenju's reign as double tag team champions came to an end on January 26, 2014, when they lost the KO-D Tag Team Championship to theGolden☆Lovers (Kenny Omega andKota Ibushi) in a three-way match, also involving the team ofKonosuke Takeshita andTetsuya Endo.[40][41][42] On March 23, Kodaka defeated Ivan Markov to become the secondUnion Max Champion.[43][44] On May 5, Yankii Nichokenju faced off in a300 fluorescent light tubeTLC deathmatch for the BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship. Kodaka won the match, making his fourth successful title defense.[45][46] On May 18, Kodaka lost the Union Max Championship to Hikaru Sato in his first defense.[47][48] On May 25, Kodaka also lost the BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship toRyuji Ito.[49] Six days later, Yankii Nichokenju lost the BJW Tag Team Championship to Twin Towers (Kohei Sato and Shuji Ishikawa), ending their eighteen-month reign at seventeen successful title defenses.[50]
On June 29, Kodaka defeatedKudo in the finals to win the 2014 King of DDT tournament and become the number one contender to the KO-D Openweight Championship for DDT's biggest event of the year,Ryogoku Peter Pan.[51][52][53] On July 27, Yankii Nichokenju won women's wrestling promotionPro Wrestling Wave'sTag Team Championship by defeating Las Aventureras (Ayako Hamada andYuu Yamagata).[54] On August 17 atRyogoku Peter Pan 2014, Kodaka failed in his attempt to capture the KO-D Openweight Championship fromHarashima in a three-way elimination match, which also includedKenny Omega.[55][56] On August 24, Yankii Nichokenju lost the Wave Tag Team Championship to Sakuragohan (Kyusei Sakura Hirota andMika Iida) in a three-way match, which also included Las Aventureras.[57] Back in Union Pro on August 31, Kodaka and Fuma defeated Hiroshi Fukuda andMen's Teioh to win theUWA World Tag Team Championship.[58][59] On October 2, Kodaka made an appearance forPro Wrestling Noah, teaming with Yuko Miyamoto and Daisuke Sekimoto in a six-man tag team main event, where they defeatedAtsushi Kotoge,Hitoshi Kumano andNaomichi Marufuji.[60] After finishing second in the Dramatic Sousenkyo ("general election"), Kodaka was granted another shot at the KO-D Openweight Championship, but was defeated by Harashima in the title match on October 26.[61][62] On November 21, Yankii Nichokenju defeatedAbdullah Kobayashi and Ryuji Ito in the finals to win their thirdSaikyo Tag League in a row.[63][64] On December 31, Yankii Nichokenju took part in Toshikoshi Puroresu, an annual new year's collaboration event between BJW, DDT and Kaientai Dojo, winning the Tenka Toitsu! tournament, held for the first time in a tag team format.[65][66] On January 24, 2015, Kodaka and Fuma lost the UWA World Tag Team Championship toMasato Shibata and Shuji Ishikawa in their fourth defense.[67][68]
Kodaka in May 2016
Shortly after losing to UWA World Tag Team Championship, Kodaka and Fuma began feuding with each other, starting on February 22, when Fuma defeated Kodaka in the finals of the Get the Glory 2015 tournament, following outside interference fromKazushi Miyamoto and Sagat, with whom he went on to form a newvillainousstable.[69] On March 1, Kodaka unsuccessfully challenged Fuma for the Union Max Championship.[70] On April 12, Kodaka returned to Kaientai Dojo, defeatingHi69 to win theIndependent World Junior Heavyweight Championship.[71][72] In July, Kodaka made it to the finals ofPro Wrestling Zero1's 2015Tenkaichi Jr. tournament, but was defeated there byIkuto Hidaka.[73][74] On August 30, Kodaka defeated Fuma to win the Union Max Championship for the second time.[75][76] On October 4, Union Pro held its tenth anniversary event, which also marked the promotion's final event before folding. The main event of the show saw Kodaka make his first successful defense of the Union Max Championship against Shuji Ishikawa, retiring the title immediately afterwards.[77][78]
On October 7, 2015, Kodaka, along with five other former Union Pro wrestlers, announced the formation of a new promotion namedPro-Wrestling Basara (Basara), set to launch in January 2016.[79][80] That same day, Kodaka won the 2015 Dramatic Sousenkyo, DDT's annual general election, to earn a shot at the KO-D Openweight Championship.[81][82][83] In October, Yankii Nichokenju took part inAll Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW)'sJr. Tag Battle of Glory, where they finished second with a record of two wins, one draw and one loss, suffered againstAtsushi Aoki and Hikaru Sato in their last round-robin match, thede facto final of the tournament.[84][85] On November 1, Kodaka lost the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship toShiori Asahi.[86] On November 15, Kodaka and Miyamoto defeatedKotaro Suzuki andYohei Nakajima in a decision match to win thevacantAll Asia Tag Team Championship.[87] On November 28, Kodaka defeated Yukio Sakaguchi to win the KO-D Openweight Championship for the first time.[88][89] After three successful defenses, he lost the title to Harashima on March 21, 2016, atJudgement 2016: DDT 19th Anniversary.[90][91] After six successful title defenses, Kodaka and Miyamoto lost the All Asia Tag Team Championship to Atsushi Aoki and Hikaru Sato on July 24 at a BJW event.[92][93] On November 30, Kodaka and Takumi Tsukamoto defeated Ikuto Hidaka andHayato Fujita at a Basara event to win Pro Wrestling Zero1'sNWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship.[94] On December 25, Kodaka defeated Trans-Am★Hiroshi in a decision match to win the reactivated Union Max Championship.[95][96] He lost the title to Fuma in his first defense on January 6, 2017.[97] Two days later, Kodaka and Tsukamoto lost the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship to Ryota Nakatsu and Ryuichi Sekine in their third defense.[98] They regained the title on February 12.[99] On March 2, Kodaka and Tsukamoto took the title back to Zero1, losing it toKoji Kanemoto andMinoru Tanaka.[100]
On May 28, Kodaka defeatedKengo Mashimo to win Kaientai Dojo's top title, theStrongest-K Championship.[101] After two successful defenses, he lost the title to Tank Nagai on September 18.[102] On October 1, Basara held Kodaka's 15th anniversary event, which saw him defeat Trans-Am★Ryuichi in the main event to become the new Union Max Champion.[103] Back in K-DOJO, Kodaka and Tank Nagai won theStrongest-K Tag Team Championship from Dinosaur Takuma and Kotaro Yoshino on November 12 and joined the Magatsuki stable.[104][105] On February 12, 2018, he went to a time limit draw with Yusuke Obata for theZero1 World Heavyweight Championship.[106] Despite the draw, Isami used this to angle a match with duel junior heavyweight champion Sean Guinness and defeated him on March 4 to win theInternational Junior Heavyweight Championship andWorld Junior Heavyweight Championship.[107] On April 5, Yankii Nichokenju defeated the Crazy Lovers (Masashi Takeda and Takumi Tsukamoto) for their third BJW Tag Team Championship.[108] After losing the Strongest-K Tag Team Championships on April 22,[109] Kodaka and Nagai were both kicked out of Magatsuki the following month.[105] On May 3, Kodaka lost the Union Max Championship toNaoki Tanizaki where the Dove World Heavyweight Championship was also on the line.[110] On June 20, Kodaka unsuccessfully challenged Masashi Takeda for the BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship.[111] On July 21, despite a successful title defences against the Crazy Lovers, Yankii Nichokenju were forced to vacate the BJW Tag Team Championship after Miyamoto forgot to bring the belt to the event.[112] On September 8, Kodaka travelled to the US to participate in theGame Changer Wrestling'sNick Gage Invitational 3, losing the finals to Masashi Takeda. On September 21, Kodaka fractured his jaw during a cage match against Masashi Takeda; he would be out for over three months and would be forced to vacate the Zero1 junior heavyweight titles.[113] Kodaka returned on January 6, 2019, losing to Naoki Tanizaki.[114][115] He formed the Sento Minzoku stable with Ryuichi Sekine and Daiki Shimomura to feud with Sparky and Ganbare☆Pro Wrestling; their gimmick takes inspiration fromDragon Ball Z with each member growing a tail to signify their power. Following an unsuccessful BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship challenge againstMasaya Takahashi on January 27,[116] Kodaka entered the2019 Ikkitousen Deathmatch Survivor which began on February 28. After losing his first two tournament matches, he rallied and finished top of Block A with tie breaker wins overAbdullah Kobayashi andJimmy Havoc.[117][118] The Sento Minzoku vs Ganbare☆Pro Wrestling came to a close when Kodaka defeated Ken Ohka on March 23.[119] They also won theYokohama Shopping Street 6-Man Tag Team Championship four days later. Back in BJW, Kodaka defeated Toshiyuki Sakuda in the semifinals on April 13 before going on to beat Masashi Takeda in the tournament final.[120] On May 5, Kodaka defeated Takahashi to win the BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship for a second time.[121][122] As champion, he went on to win the Nagoya Lottery Tag Team Tournament with Sekine in May and the Heaven Summit Itadaki in July.
(in Japanese)
