 Naya in February 2024 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1994-08-17)August 17, 1994 (age 31)[1] |
| Family |
|
| Professional wrestling career | |
| Ring name | Yukio Naya |
| Billed height | 2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)[1][2] |
| Billed weight | 110 kg (243 lb)[1] |
| Debut | 2017[3] |
Yukio Naya (納谷幸男,Naya Yukio; born August 17, 1994)[1] is a Japaneseprofessional wrestler, working for the Japaneseprofessional wrestling promotionDDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT). He is a formerKO-D 8-Man Tag Team Champion and co-holder of theIronman Heavymetalweight Championship.
Hailing from asumo family, he is the son of formersekiwakeTakatōriki and grandson of the 48thyokozunaTaihō. He has three younger brothers, Takamori, Konosuke and Kosei, who all compete in sumo under the respectiveshikona Naya,Ōhō and Mudōhō.
Naya made hisprofessional wrestling debut inReal Japan Pro Wrestling on September 14, 2017, at Legend of the Gold VIII, scoring a victory against Raijin Yaguchi.[4] He then appeared in a few tag matches, mainly teaming withMasayuki Kono. On March 15, 2019, at Dynamite Kid Memorial Performance, an event celebrating the life ofDynamite Kid, Naya teamed up withYuji Okabayashi andAlexander Otsuka to defeatHideki Suzuki,Hideyoshi Kamitani andRyoji Sai in his last match with the company.[5]
From September to October 2019, Naya toured withWrestle-1 alongside Masayuki Kono to take part in the2018 Wrestle-1 Tag League.[6][7] Together, they scored two points and failed to advance to the finals.[8]
Naya made hisDDT Pro-Wrestling debut on February 17, 2019, atJudgement 2019: DDT 22nd Anniversary where he teamed up withGo Shiozaki andKazusada Higuchi to defeatDaisuke Sekimoto,Toru Owashi andYuki Iino.[9] On July 15, atWrestle Peter Pan 2019, he faced Hideki Suzuki in a losing effort.[10]
On January 11, 2020, at the Handmade In Japan FES 2020, he teamed up withMakoto Oishi and fell short to Nautilus (Naomi Yoshimura andYuki Ueno), All Out (Shunma Katsumata and Yuki Iino) andKeigo Nakamura andMao in afour-way tag team match.[11] Naya formed a brief team withCody Hall, with whom he teamed up at Valentine Itabashi Series 2020 on February 1, where they defeatedDanshoku Dino andHiroshi Yamato.[12] On February 23, atInto The Fight 2020, he fell short toMad Paulie and Keigo Nakamura in athree-way match.[13] Naya won theIronman Heavymetalweight Championship alongsideMizuki Watase,Antonio Honda and Danshoku Dino atJudgement 2020: DDT 23rd Anniversary, on March 20, after they simultaneously pinnedMasahiro Takanashi to become co-champions.[14] On June 7, at the second night ofWrestle Peter Pan 2020, Naya unsuccessfully challengedShinya Aoki in aNo Countout match for theDDT Extreme Division Championship.[15] After having been eliminated from the2020 King of DDT Tournament byEl Lindaman in the first round,[16] Naya participated in a13-man battle royal for a chance to re-enter the tournament, where he competed against the eventual winnerTetsuya Endo, Antonio Honda,Kazuki Hirata andYukio Sakaguchi amongst others.
On February 20, 2021, at This Will Be Our Ninth Narimasu Event, Naya teamed up withChris Brookes andToy Kojima in a losing effort toGota Ihashi, Toru Owashi and Antonio Honda.[17] AtInto The Fight 2021 on February 28, Naya teamed up with Disaster Box (Harashima and Toru Owashi) to defeatDamnation (Daisuke Sasaki, Mad Paulie) andNobuhiro Shimatani.[18] AtJudgement 2021: DDT 24th Anniversary on March 28, he teamed up withSanshiro Takagi, Chikara and Yakan Nabe to defeat Shinya Aoki,Super Sasadango Machine, Antonio Honda and Kazuki Hirata for theKO-D 8-Man Tag Team Championship.[19]
On January 3, 2024, Naya defeated Tetsuya Endo to win theD-Oh Grand Prix 2023 tournament.[20]
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