Tomomitsu Matsunaga

Tomomitsu Matsunaga
Matsunaga in May 2016
Born (1980-11-13) November 13, 1980 (age 43)[1]
Koga, Japan
Professional wrestling career
Ring name(s)Darkside HERO!
Omori Utaemon
Tomomitsu Matsunaga
Billed height168 cm (5 ft 6 in)[2]
Billed weight95 kg (209 lb)
Trained byDick Togo
Debut2006

Tomomitsu Matsunaga (松永智充, Matsunaga Tomomitsu, born November 13, 1980) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working for DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT), a Japanese promotion where he is a former Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion.[3]

Professional wrestling career

Independent circuit (2006-present)

Matsunaga is known for competing in various promotions. He participated in one of the longest matches in professional wrestling history, a 108-man battle royal at Tenka Sanbun no Kei: New Year's Eve Special, a cross-over event held between Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), DDT and Kaientai Dojo (K-Dojo) from December 31, 2009, competing against other infamous wrestlers such as Great Kojika, Taka Michinoku, Yoshihito Sasaki, Abdullah Kobayashi,[4] and the winner of the match, Jun Kasai.[5] At BJW/DDT/K-DOJO New Year's Eve Toshikoshi Pro-Wrestling, a cross-over event produced by BJW, K-Dojo and DDT on December 31, 2012, he wrestled in a 12-man Cinderella Title battle royal also involving Emi Sakura, Ricky Fuji, Yasu Urano and others.[6]

DDT Pro-Wrestling (2006-present)

Matsunaga made his professional wrestling debut in DDT at DDT Non-Fix 5/19, an event promoted on May 19, 2006, where he teamed up with Sanshiro Takagi and The Mac, scoring a victory over Antonio Honda, Francesco Togo and Mori Bernard in a six-man tag team match.[7]

Matsunaga is known for his appearance in various signature events promoted by the promotion such as the DDT Peter Pan. He marked his first appearance at the first-ever event, the Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2009 from August 23 where he competed in a Rumble rules match for the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship also involving Yumiko Hotta, Giru Nakano, Riho and others.[8] At Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2018 on October 21, he teamed up with Michael Nakazawa and unsuccessfully competed in a Gauntlet tag team match also involving Shuten-dōji (Kudo and Masahiro Takanashi) defeated Mike Bailey and Antonio Honda, Renegades (Mizuki Watase and Jason "The Gift" Kincaid), Kazusada Higuchi and Kota Umeda, and Tanomusaku Toba and Keisuke Okuda.[9] At Wrestle Peter Pan 2019 on July 15, he participated in a Rumble rules match for the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship also involving the winner Yukio Sakaguchi, Gorgeous Matsuno, Shiro Koshinaka, Joey Ryan and others.[10] His last match occurred on the first night of the Wrestle Peter Pan 2020 from June 6, where he teamed up with Sanshiro Takagi and Kazusada Higuchi in a losing effort to Kongo (Kenoh, Masa Kitamiya and Haoh).[11]

Matsunaga is also known for competing in the DDT Judgement branch of events, especially in Rumble rules match for the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship. His last appearance occurred at Judgement 2019: DDT 22nd Anniversary on February 17 where he wrestled in such a match also involving Saki Akai, Gota Ihashi, Hoshitango, Mina Shirakawa and others.[12] Two years earlier, at Judgement 2017: DDT 20th Anniversary he made another appearance in this kind of match, this time also for the King of Dark Championship also involving Guanchulo, Poison Sawada Julie, Gentaro, Munenori Sawa and others.[13] At Judgement 2016: DDT 19th Anniversary on March 21, Matsunaga competed in a #1 Contendership & Right To Challenge Anytime, Anywhere Contract Battle Royal with the winner getting an opportunity to battle for the KO-D Openweight Championship also involving Ryuichi Sekine, Masa Takanashi, Cherry, Ken Ohka and others.[14]

Another event promoted by DDT in which Mastunaga competed is the DDT Ultimate Party. His only match occurred at Ultimate Party 2019 on November 3 where he teamed up with Mizuki Watase and Keigo Nakamura in a losing effort to Daichi Kazato, Masato Kamino and Shuhei Washida.[15]

On the DDT Into The Fight branch of events, Matsunaga scored his last appearance at Into The Fight 2019 on March 21 where he worked in two different matches. In the first one he teamed up with Hiroshi Yamato, Sanshiro Takagi, Masahiro Takanashi and Keisuke Okuda to defeat Michael Nakazawa in a Five-on-one handicap match, and in the second one he teamed up with Nakazawa as "Nuru Nuru Brothers" and Takanashi to defeat Sanshiro Takagi, Keisuke Okuda and Hiroshi Yamato.[16]

As for the King of DDT Tournament, Matsunaga scored his best result at the 2014 edition of the event where he defeated Kenny Omega in the first-round but fell short to Kudo in the second round.[17]

Championships and accomplishments

References

  1. ^ Saalbach, Axel. "Tomomitsu Matsunaga • General Information". wrestlingdata.com. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  2. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Tomomitsu Matsunaga/Career Data". cagematch.de (in German). Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  3. ^ Internet Wrestling Database (IWD). "Tomomitsu Matsunaga Profile & Match Listing". profightdb.com. Retrieved July 19, 2021.
  4. ^ Jayaram, Nishant (December 12, 2019). "10 longest matches in pro-wrestling history/#5 Battle Royal - BJW/DDT/K-DOJO Tenka Sanbun No Kai - New Years Eve Special (2009) - 85:12". sportskeeda.com. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  5. ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "BJW/DDT/K-DOJO Tenka Sanbun No Kai - New Years Eve Special". cagematch.net (in German). Retrieved March 15, 2021.
  6. ^ VSPlanet (January 2, 2013). "New Year's Eve Toshikoshi Pro-Wrestling 2012". vsplanet.net (in Russian). Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  7. ^ Purolove (May 19, 2006). "DDT "NON-FIX 5.19", 19.05.2006 Shin-Kiba 1st RING". purolove.com. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  8. ^ DDT “両国ピーターパン” 8/23 両国国技館大会その４. Extreme Party (in Japanese). Retrieved January 28, 2020.
  9. ^ 両国ピーターパン2018～秋のプロレス文化祭～. DDT Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). October 21, 2018. Retrieved February 3, 2020.
  10. ^ DDT Pro-Wrestling (July 15, 2019). "Wrestle Peter Pan 2019 Results". ddtpro.com (in Japanese). Retrieved February 4, 2020.
  11. ^ DDT Pro Wrestling (July 6, 2020). "DDT ProWrestling" WRESTLE PETER PAN 2020【DAY1】. ddtpro.com. Retrieved June 7, 2021.
  12. ^ Fischbeck, Thomas (February 20, 2019). "DDT JUDGEMENT 2019 (FEBRUARY 17) RESULTS & REVIEW". voicesofwrestling.com. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
  13. ^ Justin, Dylan (March 26, 2017). "DDT JUDGEMENT 20TH ANNIVERSARY (MARCH 20) REVIEW". voicesofwrestling.com. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
  14. ^ Justin, Dylan (March 25, 2016). "DDT JUDGEMENT 2016 (MARCH 21) RESULTS & REVIEW". voicesofwrestling.com. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
  15. ^ DDT Pro-Wrestling. "Ultimate Party 2019～DDTグループ大集合！～". ddtpro.com (in Japanese). Retrieved September 8, 2020.
  16. ^ Dark angel (March 28, 2019). "DDT: "Into the Fight 2019" goodbye Nakazawa, message from Kenny Omega". superluchas.com. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
  17. ^ "DDT Ryogoku Peter Pan 2014 ~ Maybe Summer Will Change My Life". Cagematch. Retrieved November 27, 2019.
  18. ^ Wrestling Titles (July 25, 2021). "Ironman Heavymetalweight Title". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  19. ^ Wrestling Titles. "Jiyūgaoka 6-person Tag Team Title". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  20. ^ Wrestling Titles (June 26, 2021). "KO-D (King Of DDT) Tag Team Title". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved August 2, 2021.
  21. ^ 日本海6人タッグ選手権. Extreme Party (in Japanese). Retrieved August 4, 2021.
  22. ^ Wrestling Titles (July 4, 2021). "Universal Wrestling Association World Trios Title". wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved July 19, 2021.