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Mao

Mao in April 2025
Personal information
Born	Asō Inoue (1997-01-28)January 28, 1997 (age 28)[2] Osaki,Miyagi,Japan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)	Mao Inoue Mao
Billed height	1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Billed weight	80 kg (176 lb)
Trained by	Yasu Urano
Debut	2015

Asō Inoue (井上麻​​生,Inoue Asou; born January 28, 1997), better known by thering nameMao (stylized inall caps), is a Japaneseprofessional wrestler. As of 2015, he is signed toDDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT), where he is one-half of the currentKO-D Tag Team Champions withKanon. He is a former three-timeDDT Universal Champion and the winner of the2024King of DDT tournament.^[3]

Mao made hisprofessional wrestling debut as Mao Inoue atDDT Pro-Wrestling'sRyōgoku Peter Pan 2015 event from August 23, 2015, where he teamed up with Mizuki Watase and Kota Umeda, losing to Ryota Nakatsu and Smile Squash (Akito andYasu Urano) in asix-man tag team match.^[4] He is known for tenures with other promotions such asPro Wrestling Noah, participating in theNOAH Summer Navigation 2017 ~ 11th Global Junior Heavyweight Tag League ~ multiple-night event where he teamed up with his New Wrestling Aidoru (NωA) stablemateShunma Katsumata. They faced other infamous wrestlers such as Ratel's (Hayata andYo-Hey) which they defeated on July 15, and Phil Atlas andSeiya Morohashi whom they lost to on July 16.^[5] A couple of months later, on the second night ofThe Great Voyage 2017 In Yokohama event from October 1, 2017, Mao and Katsumata challenged Hayata and Yo-Hey again, third time for theGHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship but unsuccessfully.^[6] Mao worked forEvolve, teaming up withKonosuke Takeshita to unsuccessfully challenge The Unwanted (Eddie Kingston andJoe Gacy) for theEvolve Tag Team Championship atEVOLVE 125 on April 4, 2019.^[7] On April 18, 2019, he made an appearance forOriental Wrestling Entertainment on the first night ofOWE First Time Japan event, where he teamed up withKazuki Hirata andYuki Ueno to defeatMichael Nakazawa, Tang Huaqi and Yang Hao.^[8] At theRevolution Pro Wrestling'sLive At The Cockpit 47 show, Mao teamed up withMike Bailey as Moonlight Express to defeat Deadly Sins (JK Moody & Kane Khan) for the SWE Tag Team Championship.^[9]

On April 5, 2025, it was announced that Mao will participate inNew Japan Pro Wrestling's 2025Best of the Super Juniors tournament.^[10]

Mao worked almost his entire career for DDT, where he is a formerKO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champion alongsideMakoto Oishi and Shunma Katsumata as NωA, title which they won atJudgement 2017: DDT 20th Anniversary on March 20 after defeatingKazusada Higuchi, Kouki Iwasaki and Mizuki Watase.^[11] On July 22, 2018, atSummer Vacation, Mao teamed up with Mike Bailey to defeat Damnation (Mad Paulie andTetsuya Endo to win theKO-D Tag Team Championship.^[12] Mao is a former multiple-timeIronman Heavymetalweight Champion, last time winning it atWrestleCon Joey Ryan's Penis Party, a freelance event held and produced byJoey Ryan, in a7-person gauntlet match also involvingDanshoku Dino, Makoto Oishi,Sanshiro Takagi,Antonio Honda,Maki Itoh andYoshihiko (a love doll).^[13]

• Banger Zone Wrestling
  • BZW Tag Team Championship (1 time, current) – withYoshihiko^[14]
• DDT Pro-Wrestling
  • DDT Universal Championship (3 times)
  • Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (8 times)^[15]
  • KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) – withShunma Katsumata andMakoto Oishi^[16]
  • KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Championship (1 time) – withYuki Ueno, Shunma Katsumata,Toy Kojima andShinya Aoki^[17]
  • KO-D Tag Team Championship (6 times, current) – withMike Bailey (1),Asuka (1),^[18]Shunma Katsumata (2),To-y (1) andKanon (1)
  • King of DDT Tournament (2024)
  • Hanami King Of Drunk Preliminary Rumble (2025) with -Daisuke Sasaki
  • Hanami King Of Drunk (2025)
• Kaientai Dojo/Active Advance Pro Wrestling
  • Strongest-K Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Mike Bailey^[19]
• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • Ranked No. 88 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in thePWI 500 in 2024^[20]
• Revolution Pro Wrestling/Southside Wrestling Entertainment
  • SWE Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Mike Bailey^[21]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMao Inoue (wrestler).

• Mao's profile atCagematch

• 1997 births
• Living people
• Japanese male professional wrestlers
• Professional wrestlers from Miyagi Prefecture
• People from Ōsaki, Miyagi
• DDT Universal Champions
• KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions
• 21st-century male professional wrestlers
• 21st-century Japanese professional wrestlers
• KO-D 8-Man/10-Man Tag Team Champions
• KO-D Tag Team Champions
• Strongest-K Tag Team Champions
• Ironman Heavymetalweight Champions
• King of DDT winners

• CS1 German-language sources (de)
• CS1 uses Japanese-language script (ja)
• CS1 Japanese-language sources (ja)
• CS1 French-language sources (fr)
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• BLP articles lacking sources from March 2021
• All BLP articles lacking sources
• Articles containing Japanese-language text
• Commons category link from Wikidata