Japanese professional wrestler (born 1985)
Daisuke Nakae
(
Japanese
:
中? 大輔
,
Hepburn
:
Nakae Daisuke
)
[1]
(born January 1, 1985) is a Japanese
professional wrestler
and martial artist, better known by the ring name
Kenoh
(
拳王
,
Ken'?
)
.
[3]
He currently wrestles in
Pro Wrestling Noah
, where he is a 3-time
GHC Heavyweight Champion
. He is also a former
GHC National Champion
.
Kenoh began his career in
Michinoku Pro Wrestling
after being scouted by
Jinsei Shinzaki
. There, he would eventually go on to win the
Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship
three times, before leaving Michinoku Pro and signing with
Pro Wrestling Noah
in 2015. Initially competing as a junior heavyweight, he formed a popular tag team with
Hajime Ohara
, and the two went on to hold the
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
two times. He graduated to the heavyweight division in 2017, and would go on to win the
Global League
and the
GHC Heavyweight Championship
in the same year.
Early life
[
edit
]
Nakae started training
nippon kempo
at the age of 3, and while in highschool won the championship of his category. Later, in 2003, he was crowned as the youngest All Japan kenpo champion ever, and went to win the contest again in 2006 and 2007.
Professional wrestling career
[
edit
]
Michinoku Pro Wrestling (2007?2013)
[
edit
]
Nakae signed with
Michinoku Pro Wrestling
in 2007 after being scouted by
Jinsei Shinzaki
, wrestling several exhibition bouts before officially debuting against
Alexander Otsuka
. He went under the name of "Kenoh"
(
拳王
,
Ken'?
, Fist King)
, a reference to the character
Raoh
from popular
manga
and
anime
Fist of the North Star
. He spent the year in low-profile matches against fellow trainees Rui Hiugaji and Takayuki Aizawa, and in late 2008 he was sent to hone his skills in Okinawa Pro Wrestling, where he adopted a
parodic
gimmick named "Kanmuriwashi Yoko" patterned after famous
boxer
Yoko "Kanmuriwashi" Gushiken
. Under this character, Nakae sported an
afro hairstyle
similar to Gushiken's, although complete with a
lucha libre
mask and
kickboxing
attire.
In September 2009, Kenoh made his return to Michinoku Pro, being introduced by Jinsei Shinzaki as a special ally to counter fellow
shoot-style
wrestler
Fujita "Jr." Hayato
and his
heel
stable
Kowloon. Kenoh declined an offer by
Great Sasuke
of having his redebut match against him and instead demanded a match against Hayato for the
Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Champion
, which the champion accepted. Shockingly, Kenoh won and captured the title, and went to enter in a heated
feud
with Fujita and his stablemates. He slowly became the next
ace
of the promotion, a place vacated after
Yoshitsune
's departure. The same year, Kenoh and Rui Hiugaji took part in the Michinoku Tag League, beating the teams of
Munenori Sawa
and Yuta Yoshikawa and Kowloon's Fujita Hayato and
Rasse
, but they were defeated at the finals by another Kowloon team,
Takeshi Minamino
and
Maguro Ooma
. On the individual field, Kenoh retained the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight title before Hayato, Minamino and
Taro Nohashi
, until he lost it to Great Sasuke.
In 2011, Kenoh and
Kenbai
were sent to compete in
Pro Wrestling Noah
's NTV G Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League, where they got a big victory over heavy favourite team No Mercy (
Kenta
and
Yoshinobu Kanemaru
), with Kenoh personally pinning Kenta. They also challenged ANMU (
Atsushi Aoki
and
Kotaro Suzuki
) for the
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
, but they were defeated.
Kenoh recaptured the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship from Rui Hiugaji in September 2011. Started 2012, he claimed to have the goal to "change Michinoku Pro," which few understood, but it was all revealed when
Taro Nohashi
betrayed Fujita Hayato and expelled him from Kowloon, instead bringing Kenoh as the new leader. This made Kenoh turn
heel
, adopting a more arrogant persona for himself, and they renamed the stable as Asura, replacing with Hiugaji the members that had followed Hayato. They feuded with Hayato and his remnant group, called Bad Boy. Kenoh and Fujita clashed again, and this time Kenoh lost the match and the title, but he retaliated eliminating Bad Boy from the Michinoku Tag League 2012 to win it with stablemate Hiugaji.
Kenoh in 2015
In 2013, Kenoh pinned Hayato to gain the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship back, but on December 13, he
vacated
it, announcing his intention of joining
Pro Wrestling Noah
.
[2]
Pro Wrestling Noah (2014?present)
[
edit
]
Teaming with Hajime Ohara (2014-2016)
[
edit
]
Kenoh returned to Noah as a freelancer, joining the new
Choukibou-gun
stable in 2014 and forming a tag team with stablemate
Hajime Ohara
.
[5]
On August 2, 2014, Kenoh and Ohara won the
2014 NTV G+ Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League
by defeating
Daisuke Harada
and Quiet Storm in the finals.
[6]
On October 12, Kenoh and Ohara defeated
Atsushi Kotoge
and
Taiji Ishimori
to win the
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
.
[7]
They lost the title to
El Desperado
and
Taka Michinoku
on March 15, 2015.
[8]
On March 28, Kenoh signed a contract with Noah, officially ending his affiliation with Michinoku Pro.
[9]
On March 19, 2016, Kenoh and Ohara won the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for the second time by defeating Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada.
[10]
They lost the title back to Kotoge and Harada on April 5.
[11]
On July 5, Kenoh defeated
Genba Hirayanagi
in a four-man tournament final to win one of Noah's three spots in
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
's
2016 Super J-Cup
.
[12]
On July 20, Kenoh defeated Gurukun Mask in his first round match in the tournament.
[13]
On August 21, he was eliminated from the tournament in the second round by reigning
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion
Kushida
.
[14]
Move to heavyweight (2016-present)
[
edit
]
On December 23, 2016, after losing to
Takashi Sugiura
and Alejandro Saez, Kenoh officially announced the break up of Kenohara. Kenoh and Ohara wrestled their last match as a team on December 24, defeating Taiji Ishimori and
Hitoshi Kumano
.
[15]
Kenoh's heavyweight debut was on January 7, 2017, in a tag team match where he and partner
Masa Kitamiya
defeated
Akitoshi Saito
and
Muhammad Yone
. Following this match, the pairing made a challenge to
GHC Tag Team Championship
holders
Go Shiozaki
and
Maybach Taniguchi
to a title match.
[16]
On January 21, Kenoh and Kitamiya defeated Shiozaki and Taniguchi to become the new GHC Tag Team Champions.
[17]
On February 24, Kenoh turned on Kitamiya, forming an alliance with Takashi Sugiura, which led to the two being stripped of the tag team title.
[18]
This led to a match on March 12, where Kenoh and Sugiura defeated Kitamiya and Muhammad Yone to win the vacant GHC Tag Team Championship.
[19]
They lost the title to Maybach Taniguchi and Naomichi Marufuji on April 14.
[20]
On November 19, Kenoh defeated Go Shiozaki in the finals to win the
2017 Global League
.
[21]
On December 22, Kenoh defeated
Eddie Edwards
to win the
GHC Heavyweight Championship
for the first time and was afterwards confronted by the returning Kaito Kiyomiya, who challenged him to a title match. This led to a match on January 6, where Kenoh defeated Kiyomiya for his first successful defense and along with Sugiura turned on Kiyomiya after the match.
[22]
On February 6, he defeated Yuko Miyamoto for his second successful defense and afterwards accepted a challenge from his ally Takashi Sugiura. This led to a match on March 11, where he lost the title to Sugiura in his third defense. The two then made it to the finals of the 2018 Global Tag League where they lost to former ally Kaito Kiyomiya and Go Shiozaki. He gained a measure of revenge on Kiyomiya by defeating him on June 10 to earn a chance to regain the GHC Heavyweight Championship, leading to a match on June 26, where he failed to regain the title from Takashi Sugiura.
Naomichi Marufuji
and
Akitoshi Saito
vacated the
GHC Tag Team Championship
on November 28, a tournament to determine new champions happened on December 7. Kenoh tagged with former partner
Masa Kitamiya
, and together, they would defeat 50 Funky Powers (Muhammed Yone and Quiet Storm), but would fail to capture the titles on the finals against
Katsuhiko Nakajima
and Go Shiozaki. After Kaito Kiyomiya defeated Takashi Sugiura at the Great Voyage in Yokohama, Kenoh came to the ring and challenged the new champion. This led to a title match on January 6, where he was defeated by Kiyomiya. On March 10, Kiyomiya defended the GHC Heavyweight Title against Naomichi Marufuji, after the match, Kenoh came to the ring and invited the champion to be his partner for
Global Tag League
, and Kiyomiya accepted. Kenoh said that, together, they're going to take NOAH back to
Nippon Budokan
.
Championships and accomplishments
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
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Members
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Associates
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Sub-groups
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- Haoh&Nioh
- The Tough
- The Aggression
- KenOhara
- Aagan Iisou
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Links to related articles
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