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 Iwamoto in July 2023 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1990-03-20)March 20, 1990 (age 35)[1] Kuwana, Mie, Japan |
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Koji Iwamoto |
| Billed height | 1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[1] |
| Billed weight | 90 kg (200 lb)[1] |
| Debut | November 4, 2012[2] |
Koji Iwamoto (岩本 煌史,Iwamoto Kōji; born March 20, 1990) is a Japaneseprofessional wrestler best known for his time inAll Japan Pro Wrestling. Iwamoto has previously competed forDDT Pro-Wrestling[3] and Pro Wrestling Heat Up.[4] He is a former four timeAJPW World Junior Heavyweight Champion, as well as a two timeAll Asia Tag Team Champion.
After graduating fromAichi University as a practicedjudoka in 2012 Iwamoto began training with Shinya Ishida at the Sportiva Entertainment promotion. The two made their debuts together and became rivals throughout the coming years.
In 2013, Iwamoto primarily competed in Pro Wrestling HEAT UP andDDT Pro-Wrestling, more specifically Hard Hit DDT's brand as well as other promotions from time to time along. On February 28 Iwamoto competed in his first professional wrestling tournament at Hard Hit at the Second Grappling Tournament where he lost at the semifinals to Atsushi Aoki. On March 15, 2014, Iwamoto received his first ever title shot in a three-Way match between him,Hiroshi Fukuda andPsycho for the World Nice Guy Championship where PSYCHO came out victorious. On August 23 Iwamoto competed at the Next Contenders One Day Tournament defeating Kenta Hattori at the finals.
On March 22, 2015, Iwamoto participated at the Powerful Tag Tournament with Daisuke Kanehira where the duo was eliminated at the semifinals to Amigo Suzuki and Kazuhiro Tamura.
In January 2016 atPro-Wrestling Basara, Iwamoto formed a stable name Kibatai withRyota Nakatsu andRyuichi Sekine. On February 6, 2016, at Heat-Up Iwamoto participated at the 2016 Powerful Tag Tournament this time withMinoru Tanaka where the two lost at the first round withKazuhiro Tamura andMineo Fujita. On June 16 Iwamoto defeated Daisuke Kanehira to become the #1 Contendership to the Heat-Up Universal Championship. On July 19 to August 16 Iwamoto participated in a tournament to crown the vacantGWC 6-Man Tag Team Championship. His partners were Daisuke and Joji Otani; they lost at the finals to Amigo Suzuki, Masao Orihara andRyan Upin. On August 31, Iwamoto unsuccessfully challenged Tamura for the Heat-Up Universal Championship. On October 5 at Basara Iwamoto and his friendFuminori Abe participated at the Iron Fist Tag Tournament but lost toFuma andYusuke Kubo at the first round.
On 2016 Iwamoto started to compete inAll Japan Pro Wrestling. In November Iwamoto took part in the 2016 Jr. Tag Battle of Glory with Fuminori Abe. They finished the tournament with only two points defeating Axe Bombers (Daichi Kazato and Kazuhiro Tamura) on the last day of the tournament.[5] On December 26, 2016, he was signed to All Japan Pro Wrestling. In January 2017 it was announced that Iwamoto was going to participate in the 2017 Jr. Battle of Glory which he won on February 26 defeating Hikaru Sato at the finals;[6] with this Iwamoto won the tournament in his first appearance.[7]
On March 12, Iwamoto unsuccessfully challengedKeisuke Ishii for theWorld Junior Heavyweight Championship. He received another shot at the title on June 28, but was this time defeated by Hikaru Sato. On July 15, 2018, he unsuccessfully challenged Atsushi Aoki for the championship, but rebounded on August 25 when he and Tajiri defeated Aoki andHikaru Sato to win the 2018 Jr. Tag Battle Of Glory. Then the following day, he defeated Aoki to finally become the World Junior Heavyweight Champion. However, he wouldn't make any successful defenses as he lost the title toShuji Kondo on September 22, ending his reign after less than a month.[8] He faced Kondo again on November 29 and managed to defeat him to regain the World Junior Heavyweight Championship.[9] After 172 days as champion, Iwamoto would lose the belt to Aoki on May 20, 2019.[10]
After Iwamoto's loss, he would tag with Jake Lee to defeatKazumi Kikuta &Ryuichi Kawakami to become an All Asia Tag Team Champion for the second time on June 18, 2019.[11] During this time,Atsushi Aoki would unfortunately be killed in a motorcycle accident on June 3, 2019[12] and the World Junior Heavyweight Championship belt was vacated, and a tournament would be held to crown the new champion. Iwamoto would make it to the finals of said tournament, but would be defeated by Susumu Yokosuka on January 3, 2020. After four successful defenses, Iwamoto and Lee would lose the All Asia tag titles toIsami Kodaka andYuko Miyamoto in March 23. Iwamoto would then defeatYusuke Kodama in a #1 contender ship match in June 30 for the World Junior title.
He would then fulfil his opportunity the next month, by defeatingSusumu Yokosuka to regain the World Junior championship for the third time in July 30. Iwamoto & Lee would participate in the 2020 Real World Tag League, where the team would make it to the finals, but would lose to the team of Miyahara &Yuma Aoyagi, and end up with a score of 8 points. After four successful defenses and 210 days as champion, he would be defeated by CIMA on February 20, 2021.[13] Then during a six-man tag team match in February 23 between Iwamoto, Lee & Tajiri andShotaro Ashino,Kuma Arashi andKoji Doi; Lee would betray Iwamoto by beating up on him post match.
On June 9, Iwamoto would rematch CIMA and went on to defeat him to regain the World Junior Heavyweight Championship.[14] However, he lost the championship only 17 days later on June 26 toFrancesco Akira.[15] In August, Iwamoto competed in theOdo Tournament 2021 where he defeated Koji Doi in the first round on August 15 but lost to Jake Lee in the quarterfinals on August 18.[16] In the fall, Iwamoto then entered theReal World Tag League 2021 where he teamed withRyuki Honda. They tied in second place in Block D with 3 points.[17] On December 6, it was announced Iwamoto would leave All Japan following the expiration of his contract.[18] His last match would be on December 16 where he andBlack Menso~re lost toAtsuki Aoyagi andRising Hayato.[19]
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