| Koji Doi | |
|---|---|
 Doi in May 2019 | |
| Born | (1990-02-11)February 11, 1990 (age 35)[1] Kawasaki,Japan |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name(s) | Koji Doi |
| Billed height | 178 cm (5 ft 10 in)[2] |
| Billed weight | 110 kg (243 lb) |
| Trained by | Animal Hamaguchi Shuji Kondo Tajiri |
| Debut | 2011 |
Koji Doi (土肥 孝司,Doi Kōji,ring name:土肥 こうじ) (born February 11, 1990) is a Japaneseprofessional wrestler currently working as a freelancer and is best known for his tenure with the JapanesepromotionsWrestle-1 andAll Japan Pro Wrestling.[3]
Doi has made freelance work ever since he started his career, competing in various promotions from theJapanese independent scene. AtEndless Survivor 2014, an event promoted byBig Japan Pro Wrestling on May 5, he teamed up withMasaya Takahashi to defeatHideyoshi Kamitani and Takayuki Ueki.[4] AtZero1 Yamanashi Pro Wrestling Festival Vol. 5 on November 13, 2022, he teamed up with Shoki Kitamura to defeat Minorita and Tsugutaka Sato.[5]
Doi is probably best known for his time in now defunct promotionWrestle-1. He made his debut in the company atW-1 WRESTLE-1 Tour 2014 After The IMPACT on July 12, where he teamed up withYusuke Kodama in a losing effort against Daiki Inaba andYasufumi Nakanoue.[6] During his time in the company, he chased for various titles promoted by it. Doi is a former five-timeWrestle-1 Tag Team Champion, titles which he held with three different partners, a four-timeUWA World Trios Champion and a formerWrestle-1 Result Champion. In separate occasions, he even challenged for titles owned by other promotions but held by Wrestle-1 personnel. AtW-1 WRESTLE-1 Tour 2020 Sunrise on January 12, he unsuccessfully challengedShigehiro Irie for theOWE Openweight Championship.[7] On April 1, 2020, atW-1 WRESTLE-1 Tour 2020 Trans Magic,Wrestle-1 has held its last event before closure. Doi teamed up with Daiki Inaba and Enfants Terribles (Kumaarashi and Shotaro Ashino) in a losing effort againstKaz Hayashi,Keiji Muto, Masayuki Kono and Shuji Kondo as a result of aneight-man tag team match.[8]
He is known for competing in various of the promotion's signature events. In theWrestle-1 Grand Prix, which was the biggest yearly event promoted by the company, he made his first appearance at the 2015 edition which was also the first ever held, where he defeatedMasayuki Kono in the first rounds but fell short to Tajiri in the second ones.[9] At the 2016 edition he fell short toAkira in the first rounds.[10] At the 2017 edition, he fell short toJiro Kuroshio in the first rounds.[11] At the 2018 edition, he fell short to Shuji Kondo in the first rounds.[12] At the 2019 and final edition of the tournament, he defeatedManabu Soya in the first rounds and fell short toShotaro Ashino in the second ones.[13]
As for theWrestle-1 Tag League, Doi made his first appearance at the 2014 edition where he teamed up with Yusuke Kodama as "Novus", placing themselves in the block B where they scored only one point after competing against the teams of Akatenrou (Kai andRyota Hama), New Wild Order (Akira and Manabu Soya), Too Sharp (Minoru Tanaka andSeiki Yoshioka), and Seiya to Hiroshi (Hiroshi Yamato andSeiya Sanada).[14] At the 2017 edition, he teamed up with Kumagoro as DoiKuma and won the entire tournament. They finished the A Block on the second spot with three points after going against the teams of New Era (Daiki Inaba and Jiro Kuroshio),Tokyo Gurentai (Mazada andNosawa Rongai), and Team 246 Presidents (Kaz Hayashi and Shuji Kondo), and then qualified for the semifinals where they defeated Beast Tyrant (Yuji Hino and Jake Omen), and furtherly Inaba and Kuroshio in the finals.[15] Doi also succeeded in winning the 2018 edition where he teamed up with Shuji Kondo and topped the block B with four points after taking onTakanori Ito andRyuji Hijikata, Masayuki Kono andYukio Naya, and Ganseki Tanaka and Tsugutaka Sato, and then moved to the finals where they outmatched Manabu Soya and Daiki Inaba.[16] At the 2019 and last edition, he teamed up with Inaba and scored a total of three points in the block B after competing against Kumaarashi andRené Duprée, Seiki Yoshioka andEl Lindaman, and Shuji Kondo and Manabu Soya.[17]
Doi is also known for his tenure withAll Japan Pro Wrestling. He made his debut in the company atAJPW Dynamite Series 2014 on June 15, where he teamed up withOsamu Nishimura to defeatMasato Shibata andYutaka Yoshie.[18] During his time with the promotion, he chased for various titles and took part of the "Total Eclipse" stable led by Jake Lee and formed a sub-tag team with his old Wrestle-1 tag team partner Kumaarashi.[19] AtAJPW Raising An Army Memorial Series on October 2, 2022, he and Arashi unsuccessfully challenged Gungnir Of Anarchy (Ryuki Honda and Shotaro Ashino) for theWorld Tag Team Championship.[20]
Doi competed in the promotion's biggest yearly series of events, the "AJPW New Year Wars". On the first night of the 2021 edition from January 2, he competed twice, first in abattle royal won by The Bodyguard and also involvingFrancesco Akira,Atsuki Aoyagi,Rising Hayato,Ryuji Hijikata,Yoshitatsu,Takayuki Ueki and others, and secondly by teaming up with Kumaarashi as a sub-group of the "Enfants Terribles" in a losing effort againstEvolution (Dan Tamura and Hikaru Sato).[21] On the second night, he and Arashi unsuccessfully challenged Purple Haze (Izanagi and Zeus) for theAll Asia Tag Team Championship.[22] On the second night of the 2022 edition from January 3, he unsuccessfully challenged Shigehiro Irie for theGaora TV Championship.[23]
He competed in various of the promotion's signature events such as theChampion Carnival in which he made his first appearance at the 2021 edition where he scored a total of two points after competing againstKento Miyahara,Yuma Aoyagi,Kohei Sato,Zeus,Shuji Ishikawa,Suwama, Shotaro Ashino andShinjiro Otani.[24] In theŌdō Tournament, he made his first appearance at the 2021 edition where he fell short toKoji Iwamoto in the first rounds.[25]
In theReal World Tag League, he made his first appearance at the 2016 edition where he teamed up with Kumagoro and scored a total of two points in the block B after competing against the teams ofTakao Omori and Manabu Soya,Jun Akiyama andKendo Kashin,Bodyguard and Zeus, Yuma Aoyagi andNaoya Nomura, andHikaru Sato andSuper Tiger.[26] After five years of hiatus, he returned at the 2021 edition where he again teamed up with Kumagoro (this time going under the name of Kumaarashi), won the block D with a total of four points after going against Koji Iwamoto andRyuki Honda, Zeus and Shigehiro Irie, and Takao Omori andIsami Kodaka, advanced to the semifinals where they outmatched Suwama and Shotaro Ashino but fell short to Kento Miyahara and Yuma Aoyagi in the finals.[27] At the 2022 edition, they teamed up again to score a total of six points in the only block of the tournament after going against Kento Miyahara and Takuya Nomura, Shuji Ishikawa and Cyrus, Jake Lee and Yuma Aoyagi, Suwama and Kono,Jun Saito and Rei Saito,Yuji Nagata and Yuma Anzai, and Shotaro Ashino and Ryuki Honda.[28]
Doi started making freelancer appearances for Colega Pro Wrestling since 2021. AtCPW Overheat on August 13, 2022, he defeatedAndy Wu to win the King of Colega Championship.[29]
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