Manabu Soya

Manabu Soya

Soya in April 2011.
Born December 23, 1984[1]
Minowa, Nagano[1]
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s) Manabu Soya
Billed height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[1]
Billed weight 108 kg (238 lb)[1]
Trained by Seiji Sakaguchi
Scott D'Amore
Osamu Nishimura
Debut April 11, 2007[1]

Manabu Soya (征矢 学 Soya Manabu, born December 23, 1984) is a Japanese professional wrestler, best known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling. He previously lived in Canada training at the Can-Am Wrestling School under Scott D'Amore, working regularly for the Maximum Pro Wrestling promotion. He is currently signed to Wrestle-1.

Professional wrestling career

2007

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.

2008

Soya teamed with Sanada for much of the year in the mid-card, as they gained valuable experience wrestling against the Voodoo Murders. 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 World's Strongest Tag Determination League he teamed with Sanada, but the pair would come in last place.

2009

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 World's Strongest Tag Determination 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.

2010

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 All Asia Tag Team Championship for the first time. They would lose the title to Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi on March 21, 2011.

2012–2013

In late 2011 to early 2012 Manabu Soya and All Japan veteran Takao Ōmori formed the team "GET WILD". On March 20, 2012, Soya and Takao Ōmori defeated Dark Cuervo and Dark Ozz to win the World Tag Team Championship. After losing the title to Joe Doering and Seiya Sanada on May 20, Soya and Ōmori regained the title on June 17. They vacated the title on October 30, in time for the 2012 World's Strongest Tag Determination League. They then won Block A defeating the team of Turmeric Storm (Tomoaki Honma and Kazushi Miyamoto). They got to the finals defeating Last Revolution (Joe Doering and Suwama) to win 2012's World Strongest Tag Determination League and to become the 64th generation World Tag Team Champions. On December 11, Soya unsuccessfully challenged Masakatsu Funaki for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. As a result, Get Wild was forced to disband, despite still holding the World Tag Team Championship. Get Wild went on to lose the title to Burning (Go Shiozaki and Jun Akiyama) on March 17, 2013.[2] Following the loss, Soya was sidelined with a cervical hernia and an oculomotor nerve palsy.[3] Soya underwent eye surgery on May 29 and shoulder surgery on June 12.[4] While still sidelined from in-ring action, Soya held a press conference on December 27, 2013, to announce his resignation from All Japan.[5]

2014–present

On January 12, 2014, Soya made his debut for Keiji Mutoh's All Japan splinter promotion Wrestle-1, in an on-screen matchmaker role.[6] Soya was portrayed as a biased authority figure, favoring former tag team partner Seiya Sanada.[7] On February 15, Soya made a surprise in-ring return for a twenty-man battle royal, helping Sanada win the match to become the number one contender to the TNA X Division Championship.[8] Soya wrestled his official return match at a Wrestle-1 event on February 21, losing to Masayuki Kono.[9] On May 4, Soya was defeated by Kai in a grudge match and, as a result, lost his job as the matchmaker of Wrestle-1.[10] On August 8, Wrestle-1 announced Soya had signed with the promotion, ending his days as a freelancer.[11] On September 22, Soya entered the Wrestle-1 Championship tournament, but was defeated in his first round match by Kai.[12] In mid-2014, Soya entered a storyline, where he began accusing Akira of being a spy for the villainous Desperado stable. However, on November 1, after it had been revealed that Soya had been wrong and Tajiri had been the spy, Soya and Akira formed a new version of Get Wild,[13] later named "new Wild order".[14] Later that same month, new Wild order took part in the First Tag League Greatest tournament, set to determine the inaugural Wrestle-1 Tag Team Champions, where they finished second in their block with a record of two wins, one draw and one loss, advancing to the semifinals.[15] On November 30, new Wild order defeated Masayuki Kono and Tajiri to advance to the finals of the tournament, where, later that same day, they were defeated by Kaz Hayashi and Shuji Kondo.[16] On January 30, 2015, Soya received his first shot at the Wrestle-1 Championship, but was defeated by the defending champion, Keiji Mutoh.[17]

Personal life

Soya's younger brother Takumi is a former professional wrestler, having worked for All Japan from January 2011 to May 2012.

In wrestling

Championships and accomplishments

1Championship not officially recognized by All Japan Pro Wrestling.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 1.9 1.10 1.11 1.12 征矢 学. Wrestle-1 official website (in Japanese). Retrieved August 13, 2014.
  2. ↑ "2013 プロレスLove in 両国～Basic&Dynamic～". All Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved 2013-03-17.
  3. ↑ 征矢学選手欠場のお知らせ. All Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). 2013-03-18. Retrieved 2013-03-18.
  4. ↑ 征矢が肩関節症の手術成功、リハビリへ. Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). 2013-06-12. Retrieved 2013-06-14.
  5. ↑ 征矢　年内で全日本退団、フリーに. Daily Sports Online (in Japanese). 2013-12-27. Retrieved 2013-12-27.
  6. ↑ "【Wrestle-1】2014年闘い始めとなる後楽園大会". Battle News (in Japanese). 2014-01-12. Retrieved 2014-01-12.
  7. ↑ 「マッチメーカー征矢」が暴走の兆し. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). 2014-01-17. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
  8. ↑ "【Wrestle-1】TNA三大タイトル挑戦者決定戦". Battle News (in Japanese). 2014-02-15. Retrieved 2014-02-15.
  9. ↑ "Wrestle-1 Tour 2014 West Side Story". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). 2014-02-21. Retrieved 2014-02-21.
  10. ↑ "Wrestle-1 Tour 2014 Cherry blossom". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). 2014-05-04. Retrieved 2014-05-04.
  11. ↑ "Wrestle-1新入団選手のお知らせ". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). 2014-08-08. Retrieved 2014-08-08.
  12. ↑ "Wrestle-1 Tour 2014 初代王者決定トーナメント". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). 2014-09-22. Retrieved 2014-09-22.
  13. ↑ "W-1 11.1両国大会　武藤敬司デビュー30周年記念大会のメインで武藤が河野の持つW-1王座に挑戦". Battle News (in Japanese). 2014-11-01. Retrieved 2014-11-01.
  14. ↑ "いよいよ明日開幕！「First Tag League Greatest～初代タッグ王者決定リーグ戦～」出場各チーム名称決定!!". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). 2014-11-14. Retrieved 2014-11-14.
  15. ↑ "「First Tag League Greatest ～初代タッグ王者決定リーグ戦～」公式戦全日程終了！11月30日（日）東京・後楽園ホール（18時試合開始）大会での決勝トーナメント組み合わせ決定のお知らせ". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). 2014-11-28. Retrieved 2014-11-28.
  16. ↑ "Wrestle-1 Tour 2014 First Tag League Greatest ～初代タッグ王者決定リーグ戦～". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). 2014-11-30. Retrieved 2014-11-30.
  17. ↑ "Wrestle-1 Sunrise Tour 2015". Wrestle-1 (in Japanese). 2015-01-30. Retrieved 2015-01-30.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 18.5 18.6 18.7 "Manabu Soya". puroresuspirit.com. Retrieved 17 December 2012.
  19. ↑ "Pro Wrestling Illustrated (PWI) 500 for 2013". The Internet Wrestling Database. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
  20. ↑ 「２０１２年度プロレス大賞」受賞者. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). 2012-12-11. Retrieved 2012-12-10.

External links