| Manabu Soya | |
|---|---|
Soya in April 2011. |
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| Ring name(s) | Manabu Soya |
| Billed height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1] |
| Billed weight | 99 kg (220 lb)[1][2] |
| Born | December 23, 1984 [1] Kamiina District, Nagano[1] |
| Resides | Windsor, Ontario |
| Trained by | Seiji Sakaguchi Scott D'Amore Osamu Nishimura |
| Debut | April 11th, 2007[1] |
Manabu Soya (born December 23, 1984) is a Japanese professional wrestler loyal to All Japan Pro Wrestling. Currently he is living in Canada training at the Can-Am Wrestling School under Scott D'Amore and a regular for All Japan Pro Wrestling and Maximum Pro Wrestling.
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Soya debuted in MUGA as Osamu Nishimura's pupil, losing to Katsushi Takemura on April 11. Over the next few days however Soya reached a five minute draw with Yutaka Yoshie, Katsushi Takemura, and Nobuyuki Kurashima to show that he was more than just your average rookie. On July 1 Soya got a match against Tatsumi Fujinami himself, but Fujinami would have little trouble putting him away. In October Soya and Nishimura would leave MUGA for All Japan Pro Wrestling, and Soya would join the other All Japan dojo mates (such as T28 and Seiya Sanada) to help form a very strong group of young wrestlers.
Soya teamed with Sanada for much of the year in the mid-card, as they gained valuable experience wrestling against the Voodoo Murderers. He did not take part in any of the tournaments, but he showed that perhaps he is the head of his class when he defeated Sanada convincingly at the November Sumo Hall event. In the Real World Tag League he teamed with Sanada, but the pair would come in last place.
After starting the year continuing with his mentor Nishimura, things didn't stay that way as Soya switched over to team with Nishimura's old nemesis Riki Choshu. Starting the year Nishimura and Soya wrestled together in the mid-card, but unlike Sanada he did not take part in the Champion Carnival. After teaming with Nishimura at Sumo Hall and losing to Choshu and Koshinaka, soon thereafter Soya decided he had enough of MUGA and switched to Choshu-ism. After teaming off and on during the fall (whenever Choshu was in All Japan), the pair teamed in the Real World Tag League, and they did very well as they came in 4th place including a big win over All Asia Tag Team Champions Akebono and Ryota Hama. Near the end of the year, Soya left Japan to train under Scott D'Amore at the Can-Am Wrestling School. He also began appearing on Ontario independent shows.
In Canada for the beginning of 2010, Soya has become a regular of the independent circuit in Ontario, most notably Maximum Pro Wrestling. After returning to Japan, Soya teamed up with Seiya Sanada and on August 29, 2010, they defeated the Voodoo Murders (Big Daddy Voodoo and TARU) to win the AJPW All Asia Tag Team Championship for the first time. They would lose the title to Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi on March 21, 2011.
1Championship not officially recognized by All Japan Pro Wrestling.