Tag: katsuya kitamura

Former NJPW young lion Katsuya Kitamura passes away

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Katsuya Kitamura, a former young lion in New Japan Pro Wrestling, has passed away at the age of 36.

Tokyo Sports reported Friday morning that Kitamura had passed away on October 12, with the cause of death currently unknown. He had kept a YouTube page, with the latest video uploading on October 9.

Kitamura first started as an amateur wrestler, at one point being considered for the 2012 Japanese Olympic team. However in 2011 he was banned from amateur wrestling for two years after testing positive for anabolic steroids. He entered New Japan Pro Wrestling’s dojo in 2015 and had his first professional wrestling match in September of 2016, wrestling Tomoyuki Oka (Great-O-Khan) to a time limit draw. He won the 2017 Young Lion Cup, defeating everyone in the block.

Early in 2018, Kitamura was put in a trial series where he would face seven wrestlers in singles matches. In his final match, he was set to face Manabu Nakaniashi. However, the company announced that he had suffered a cerebral concussion and was unable to compete. After a year, he left NJPW in January of 2019.

Following his departure from NJPW, Kitamura had one mixed martial arts match in RIZIN, losing to Bobby Ologun by rear naked choke at Rizin 32 on November 20, 2021.

Katsuya Kitamura leaves New Japan Pro Wrestling

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Katsuya Kitamura is out of New Japan.

The company posted an article on their website this morning saying that Kitamura has left New Japan Pro Wrestling. He hasn’t wrestled since last March, teaming with Manabu Nakanishi in a losing effort against Tomohiro Ishii and Toru Yano.

There has been speculation regarding why Kitamura has been out of action for so long. According to Chris Charlton, he sustained an injury while training and has spent the last year taking medical treatment and rehabbing. After discussions with the company, however, he decided to leave.

It was reported recently in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter that Kitamura had been given a new contract to sign for 2019, but hadn’t signed it yet. It’s also been reported in the past that the injury is a crushed leg following a scooter accident.

Kitamura, who had an accomplished amateur wrestling background was that marred by a steroid ban started to wrestle regularly for NJPW in March of 2017. At 6’0 and 265 pounds, he dwarfed the other young lions and stood out due to his look and natural charisma.

He had been given somewhat of a push as a young lion, winning the 2017 Young Lion’s Cup just a few months prior to the injury.

Kitamura, Hikuelo out of New Japan Cup tour due to injuries

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Two of New Japan’s young lions have been sidelined with injuries serious enough that they are being kept off of the next tour.

New Japan’s English website last night reported that Kitamura has been sidelined since March 4 with a concussion. He was originally set to take on Manabu Nakanishi a couple of days ago on the 46th anniversary show, but that match was postponed following the injury. Hikuleo has been out since March 3 with what the website described as ACL damage. Currently, there is no timetable for either’s return.

Tanga Loa will be taking Hikuelo’s place on the New Japan Cup tour. He will be teaming with various other members of the Bullet Club in multi-man matches.

Hikuleo had been wrestling with New Japan since the end of 2016, normally teaming with Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa. Katsuya Kitamura had been doing a best of seven series since winning the Young Lion’s Cup in December at Lion’s Gate Project 10.

NJPW Lion’s Gate Project 5 results: Tag match main event

Posted on by Bryan Rose

Here are results from this morning’s Lion’s Gate Project 5 show, a collaboration between New Japan and other promotions held at Shinjuku Face:

Hirai Kawato defeated Tetsuhiro Yagi

Yagi is another New Japan young lion making his debut here. There seem to be a lot of new lions coming out of the system lately. For his first match, he looked perfectly fine. It was a short match overall, and fine for what it was. Kawato submitted Yagi with the Boston crab.

El Desperado defeated Syota Umino

This felt pretty long and plodding. Desperado worked a lot of the match. He’s not a bad worker, but he’s not someone I would call special. He eventually won with the Guitarra de Angel.

Tiger Mask & Hiroyoshi Tenzan defeated Dinosaur Takumura & Toru Sugiura

Takumura is from Kaientai Dojo, with his gimmick being an actual dinosaur, complete with tail. Sugiura is from FREEDOMS and currently holds the King of FREEDOM tag titles with Mammoth Sasaki. Tenzan submitted Takumura while Sugiura kept Tiger Mask busy on the outside in a pretty solid match.

YOSHI-HASHI defeated Daisuke Kanehira

This was fine. YOSHI-HASHI dominated a lot of the match early on, but Kanehira (who is from HEAT UP) made a comeback. This was another solid match overall, with YOSHI-HASHI gaining the submission win with the butterfly lock.

Satoshi Kojima defeated Ayato Yoshida

Yoshida is also from Kaientai Dojo. They had another solid match, like many others on this card. It felt just kind of there crowd-wise.

Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi defeated Tomoyuki Oka & Katsuya Kitamura

Lo and behold, this too was just a solid match, nothing more, nothing less. All of the matches tonight were pretty basic, though nothing was terrible. Oka and Kitamura looked good here and could totally be stars in a few year’s time if given the right direction. Both are really green, but it’s easy to see their potential, even beyond the impressive size.

Nagata cut a promo to close out the show.