Gamma (wrestler)

Yoshito Sugamoto (菅本儀人, Sugamoto Yoshito, born May 16, 1973 in Iwaki, Fukushima, Japan) is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Gamma (ガンマ, Ganma).^[1] He is currently working for the Dragon Gate promotion.

Professional wrestling career

Yoshito Sugamoto began his career in Michinoku Pro when he entered their dojo, where he often wrestled in dark matches. He then left for Osaka Pro, where he gained top heel status. When he left that promotion, he toured the Japanese independent circuit, appearing briefly in dragondoor and in the STONED stable in El Dorado.

He eventually turned up in Dragon Gate on March 19, 2006, being brought in by his friend Magnitude Kishiwada to take over his position in Blood Generation while he recuperated from a severe shoulder injury. He and stable head CIMA took an instant dislike to each other, however, and he was soon kicked out of the faction. Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, and Naoki Tanisaki followed him, causing Blood Generation to split in two, with them on one side and CIMA, Don Fujii and Shingo Takagi on the other. On April 23, 2006, he and Doi beat CIMA and Fujii in a tag match to earn full rights to the Blood Generation name, but they immediately renounced it, instead forming the Muscle Outlaw'z faction. Though Naruki Doi was seen as the leader, Gamma was considered a co-leader or even the real leader. The split also marked the beginning of a long feud he would have with CIMA.

As September 2007 neared, he challenged the group's personal referee Kinta Tamaoka to a match on September 22 where the loser would be banished from Muscle Outlaw'z, after Tamaoka had cost the group several matches due to misaimed protein powder attacks. He lost the match when the whole stable surprisingly interfered on Tamaoka's behalf, so he left the stable and also seemingly left Dragon Gate when he had his contract annulled soon after. However, he would return a month later, saving Typhoon and New Hazard from a MO'z beatdown, and pledged his allegiance to Typhoon. It was all a ruse, as he immediately attacked CIMA and rejoined MO'z, and then he and the others members mobbed Tamaoka and kicked him out.

After he returned, he was no longer treated as a top line player, instead wrestling mainly in tag matches in the midcards. However, at the end of the year, he won the King of Gate Tournament, beating CIMA in the finals. The victory came by referee stoppage, after he low-blowed CIMA and rendered him unable to continue. Speculation still exists as to whether this was the intended finish to the match or not, but nevertheless, his victory won him the right to face CIMA for his Open the Dream Gate Title, which was set for February 3, 2008. CIMA defeated him, and in the process settled their long feud.

On April 27, he captured the vacant Open the Brave Gate Championship, beating previous champion Anthony W. Mori in a tournament final. After winning it, he discarded the eight pieces that made up the logo plate on the belt's face and replaced it with his own plate, and renamed the title the Open the Gamma Gate Championship. During his reign, he mostly defended the belt against weak opponents, and sometimes retained his title through outrageous means, thanks to him going under his real name and playing the role of the belt's corrupt commissioner, with stablemate Genki Horiguchi enforcing the rules as secretary of the commissioner. He became a dual champion on May 14, when he, Shingo Takagi and YAMATO won the newly vacated Open the Triangle Gate titles, beating Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino and BxB Hulk in a decision match. Both of his reigns were brought to an end on June 28 and 29: He and his team lost the Triangle Gate to Keni'chiro Arai, Taku Iwasa and Shinobu on the former date (where he took the fall), and on the latter date he lost the Gamma Gate title when Masato Yoshino, as Dr. Muscle, defeated him, and the Brave Gate's faceplate was restored to the belt. He would win the Triangle Gate titles back with Yasushi Kanda and YAMATO on July 12, and lost them to Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii and Magnitude Kishiwada on September 28. He then got into a brief feud with BxB Hulk's "Killer Hulk" persona, and even came up with his own "killer" persona, Gamma Daiou, but he would lose their match on November 16 by countout after Hulk put him through a table on the outside with his E.V.O. finisher.

Shortly after losing the Triangle Gate titles, he began to have problems with Yasushi Kanda. These problems escalated when Kanda began to misfire on protein powder attacks during their tag matches, blinding him instead of their opponents and costing them the matches. He even chastized Kanda to the point that Kanda told him that he would rather team with Cyber Kongcito than him. Eventually, a match was made - at the request of YAMATO - between him and Kanda for January 18, 2009, where the loser would be kicked out of Real Hazard. He got the victory, but then, Keni'chiro Arai came out, seemingly to assist Kanda from a beatdown by him and the rest of Real Hazard. However, Arai attacked him, and then he, Kanda, and the other group members beat him down and booted him out of their ranks.

He began making a slow turn to the face side for the first time in his career, but a shadow of doubt was cast over his future in Dragon Gate. On February 15, he came to the aid of Susumu Yokosuka after Ryo Saito had turned on him to join Real Hazard and he and the stable were beating him down. This led to him and Yokosuka challenging for the Open the Twin Gate titles held by YAMATO & Cyber Kong on March 1, but with the added stipulation that he would be permanently banished from Dragon Gate if he lost. However, he and Yokosuka pulled through and won the titles after some assistance from Real Hazard member KAGETORA, and when CIMA made his return that night, he brought them and KAGETORA into his new WARRIORS-5 stable. On April 15, he, CIMA & KAGETORA won the Open the Triangle Gate titles from Shingo Takagi, Taku Iwasa & Dragon Kid, but on May 5 he and Yokosuka lost the Twin Gate titles to Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi in a three-way Match, which included Keni'chiro Arai & Yasushi Kanda. A month later, he, CIMA & KAGETORA would lose the Triangle Gate to Masato Yoshino, BxB Hulk & PAC.

In August 2009, he and CIMA participated in the annual Summer Adventure Tag League Tournament, but they performed very poorly, winning only one match out of eight and finishing in last place. However, they would win the Open the Twin Gate Titles on December 29, beating champions Shingo Takagi & YAMATO. Then, they strangely turned the belts in, declaring themselves to be only tentative champions, and announced their desire to face a strong team to determine the actual champions. On February 10, he and CIMA defeated Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino to become the full champions. On March 22 they lost the titles to Shingo and Cyber Kong. On May 13, 2010, Gamma, CIMA and Genki Horiguchi defeated Don Fujii, Masaaki Mochizuki and Akebono to win the Open the Triangle Gate Championship. On October 25, 2010, Gamma, CIMA and Horiguchi lost the Open the Triangle Gate Championship to Naoki Tanisaki, Yasushi Kanda and Takuya Sugawara.^[2] On November 13, Gamma betrayed WARRIORS by revealing his partner as Naruki Doi for his upcoming Twin Gate championship match at Gate of Destiny, joining Doi's unnamed unit. On November 23, 2010, Gamma and Doi defeated K-ness and Susumu Yokosuka to win the Open the Twin Gate Championship.^[3] They would lose the title to Don Fujii and Masaaki Mochizuki on January 10, 2011. On January 14, 2011, Doi's unnamed unit aligned themselves with the WARRIORS stable, who turned heel in the process.^[4] On January 18 the new group was named Blood Warriors.^[4] On May 27, the rest of Blood Warriors turned on Gamma and gave his spot in the group to Kzy.^[5] Gamma then went on to join Masaaki Mochizuki's Junction Three stable.^[6] On June 18, Gamma, Masato Yoshino and YAMATO defeated the Blood Warriors team of CIMA, Naruki Doi and BxB Hulk to win the vacant Open the Triangle Gate Championship. They would go on to lose the title to the Blood Warriors team of Kzy, Naoki Tanisaki and Naruki Doi on September 2. On January 21, Gamma was pinned in a six man "Loser Leaves Unit" match and was as a result forced to leave Junction Three. After aligning with Kaettekita Veteran-gun, Gamma and stablemates HUB and Magnitude Kishiwada won the Open the Triangle Championship on October 21.^[7] They lost the title to Masato Yoshino, Naruki Doi and Shachihoko BOY just a month later. On June 14, 2015, he, CIMA and Don Fujii defeated the Jimmyz (Ryo "Jimmy" Saito, Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!, and Jimmy Susumu) to win the Open the Triangle Gate Championship. On October 8, Gamma formed a new unit with CIMA, Eita, El Lindaman, Punch Tominaga, and rookies Takehiro Yamamura and Kaito Ishida. On November 1, the unit was named Over Generation. The same day, he, CIMA, and Don Fujii defended the Open the Triangle Gate Championship against the Jimmyz (Jimmy Susumu, Jimmy K-Ness J.K.S., and Ryo "Jimmy" Saito), and vacated the titles afterwards.

Factions

• Blood Generation (2006)^[8]
• Muscle Outlaw'z (2006–2008)^[8]
• Real Hazard (2008–2009)^[8]
• Warriors-5/Warriors (2009–2011)^[8]
• Blood Warriors (2011)^[8]
• Junction Three (2011–2012)^[8]
• Kaettekita Veteran-gun (2012–2013)
• Oretachi Veteran-gun (2013–2014)
• Mad Blankey (2014–2015)
• Over Generation (2015-present)

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Blitzen (Crucifix hold flipped forward into a sitout facebuster)^[1]
  • Blitzen B4 (Crucifix hold flipped forward into a sitout facebuster from the second rope)^[1]
  • Bridging German suplex^[9] – 1996–1999
  • Gamma Slash (High-speed vertical suplex powerslam)^[10] – 1999–2004
  • Gamma Special (Over the shoulder back-to-belly piledriver)^[1] – parodied from CIMA
  • Gamma Special Gekokujoh (Diving elbow drop)^[1] – parodied from Yasushi Kanda
  • Nadare-Shiki Tombstone Piledriver (Super kneeling reverse piledriver)^[1] – 2007–present
  • Shin Gamma Special (Diving double knee drop to a seated opponent's chest)^[11] – parodied from CIMA
  • Skytwister Press (Corkscrew moonsault)^[1]

• Signature moves
  • Belly-to-back suplex
  • Diving headbutt
  • Dragon suplex
  • Evian (Asian mist)^[1]
  • Flashback^[1] / Sugache Head Drop^[12] (Reverse piledriver hold lifted and dropped into a wheelbarrow facebuster)
  • Gammasuke Clutch^[13] / G9 Clutch^[14] (Gannosuke clutch)
  • Kendo stick shot
  • Kurotto Bomb (Powerbomb transitioned into a sitout facebuster)
  • Multiple kick variations
    • Drop
    • Enzuigiri
    • Spinning heel
    • Super
  • Osuikougeki (Spits water to the face of an opponent seated on the top turnbuckle)
  • Psycho Death Lock^[1] / Sugache Clutch^[15] (Cross-legged camel clutch)
  • Reverse frankensteiner
  • Springboard frog splash
  • Springboard moonsault to the outside of the ring
  • STF
  • Sweet Angel's Kiss (Spits in his hands and rubs them in the face of an opponent trapped in the corner)^[1]
  • Triangle choke^[16]

• Nicknames
  • "The Hated One"
  • "International 3rd Rate Local Wrestler"

• Entrance themes
  • "Gamma Slash" by Osaka Pro Wrestling
  • "The Dictator" by Osaka Pro Wrestling
  • "Shout at the Brain" by YO-HEI ft. Aki
  • "Shout at the Brain (Gamma-Daiou version)" by YO-HEI ft. Aki

Championships and accomplishments

• Dragon Gate

• Dragon Gate Open the Brave Gate Championship (1 time)
• Dragon Gate Open the Twin Gate Championship (5 times) – with Susumu Yokosuka (1), CIMA (3) and Naruki Doi (1)
• Dragon Gate Open the Triangle Gate Championship (13 times) – with Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino (3), Naruki Doi and Magnitude Kishiwada (1), YAMATO and Shingo Takagi (1), Yasushi Kanda and Yamato (1), CIMA and KAGETORA (1), CIMA and Genki Horiguchi (2), Masato Yoshino and YAMATO (1), HUB and Magnitude Kishiwada (1) and Cima and Don Fujii (2)
• King of Gate (2007)

• Osaka Pro Wrestling

• Osaka Pro Wrestling Championship (1 time)
• Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship (1 time) – with Daio QUALLT
• Osaka Pro Tag Festival (2001) – with Daio QUALLT

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated

• PWI ranked him #198 of the top 500 wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2012^[17]

Luchas de Apuestas record

Notes

References

External links

• Gamma profile at I Heart DG.com