Japanese professional wrestler
Mao
Mao in February 2024
Birth name Mao Inoue Born (1997-01-28 ) January 28, 1997 (age 27)
[1]
Osaki ,
Miyagi ,
Japan
Ring name(s) Mao InoueMao Billed height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
[2] Billed weight 80 kg (176 lb) Trained by
Yasu Urano Debut 2015
Mao Inoue (井上 麻生 , Inoue Mao , born January 28, 1997) , better known by his
ring name Mao (stylized in all capital letters as MAO ), is a Japanese
professional wrestler currently working for the Japanese
professional wrestling promotion
DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT) where he is the current
DDT Universal Champion in his second reign.
[3]
Professional wrestling career
Independent circuit (2015–present)
Mao in 2018
Mao made his
professional wrestling debut as Mao Inoue at
DDT Pro-Wrestling 's
Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2015 event from August 23, 2015, where he teamed up with Mizuki Watase and Kota Umeda, losing to Ryota Nakatsu and Smile Squash (
Akito and
Yasu Urano ) in a
six-man tag team match .
[4] He is known for tenures with other promotions such as
Pro Wrestling Noah , participating in the NOAH Summer Navigation 2017 ~ 11th Global Junior Heavyweight Tag League ~ multiple-night event where he teamed up with his New Wrestling Aidoru (NωA) stablemate
Shunma Katsumata . They faced other infamous wrestlers such as Ratel's (
Hayata and
Yo-Hey ) which they defeated on July 15, and Phil Atlas and
Seiya Morohashi whom they lost to on July 16.
[5] A couple of months later, on the second night of The Great Voyage 2017 In Yokohama event from October 1, 2017, Mao and Katsumata challenged Hayata and Yo-Hey again, third time for the
GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship but unsuccessfully.
[6] Mao worked for
Evolve , teaming up with
Konosuke Takeshita to unsuccessfully challenge The Unwanted (
Eddie Kingston and
Joe Gacy ) for the
Evolve Tag Team Championship at EVOLVE 125 on April 4, 2019.
[7] On April 18, 2019, he made an appearance for
Oriental Wrestling Entertainment on the first night of OWE First Time Japan event, where he teamed up with
Kazuki Hirata and
Yuki Ueno to defeat
Michael Nakazawa , Tang Huaqi and Yang Hao.
[8] At the
Revolution Pro Wrestling 's Live At The Cockpit 47 show, Mao teamed up with
Mike Bailey as Moonlight Express to defeat Deadly Sins (JK Moody & Kane Khan) for the SWE Tag Team Championship.
[9]
DDT Pro-Wrestling (2015–present)
Mao worked almost his entire career for DDT, where he is a former
KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champion alongside
Makoto Oishi and Shunma Katsumata as NωA, title which they won at
Judgement 2017: DDT 20th Anniversary on March 20 after defeating
Kazusada Higuchi , Kouki Iwasaki and Mizuki Watase.
[10] On July 22, 2018, at Summer Vacation , Mao teamed up with Mike Bailey to defeat Damnation (
Mad Paulie and
Tetsuya Endo to win the
KO-D Tag Team Championship .
[11] Mao is a former multiple-time
Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion , last time winning it at WrestleCon Joey Ryan's Penis Party , a freelance event held and produced by
Joey Ryan , in a
7-person gauntlet match also involving
Danshoku Dino , Makoto Oishi,
Sanshiro Takagi ,
Antonio Honda ,
Maki Itoh and Yoshihiko (a love doll).
[12]
Championships and accomplishments
References
^ Saalbach, Axel.
"MAO/General Information" . wrestlingdata.com . Retrieved March 14, 2021 .
^ Kreikenbohm, Philip.
"Mao-Personal Data" . cagematch.de (in German). Retrieved March 14, 2021 .
^
"MAO • Profile & Match Listing" . profightdb.com . Retrieved March 14, 2021 .
^
DDT “両国ピーターパン2015~DDTより愛をこめて~” 8/23 両国国技館大会その3 . Extreme Party (in Japanese). Retrieved January 29, 2020 .
^ Dark angel (July 18, 2017).
"Pro Wrestling NOAH: Results «Summer Navigation 2017 ~ Jr. Heavy Tag League» 15/16/07/2017" . superluchas.com . Retrieved March 14, 2021 .
^ Remy, JoJo (September 28, 2017).
"NOAH GREAT VOYAGE 2017 IN YOKOHAMA VOL.2 PREVIEW & PREDICTIONS" . voicesofwrestling.com . Retrieved March 14, 2021 .
^ Rev. Claire Elizabeth (April 4, 2019).
"Evolve 125 live results: Theory vs. O'Reilly, Henry vs. Allin, and more!" . cagesideseats.com . Retrieved March 14, 2021 .
^ Oriental Wrestling Entertainment (February 14, 2019).
"#OWE lands in Japan! - 19:00 April 18th, Shinjuku Tokyo" . twitter.com . Retrieved March 14, 2021 .
^ Post Wrestling Staff (November 3, 2019).
"Live Report: Revolution Pro Live at The Cockpit 47" . postwrestling.com . Retrieved March 14, 2021 .
^
Judgement2017~DDT旗揚げ20周年記念大会~ .
DDT Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved March 20, 2017 .
^ DDT PRO-WRESTLING (July 22, 2018).
"ウチコミ!presents Summer Vacation 2018" (in Japanese). Retrieved March 14, 2021 .
^ Greer, Jamie (April 5, 2019).
"#WrestleManiaWeek Preview: WrestleCon presents Joey Ryan's Penis Party (4/5/19)" . Retrieved March 14, 2021 .
^
"Ironman Heavymetalweight Title" . wrestling-titles.com . February 28, 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2021 .
^
"KO-D (King Of DDT) 6-man Tag Team Title" . wrestling-titles.com . November 14, 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2021 .
^
KO-D8人タッグ/KO-D10人タッグ選手権 . Syu-Kaku Kombu (in Japanese). Retrieved June 25, 2022 .
^
"KO-D (King Of DDT) Tag Team Title" . wrestling-titles.com . October 25, 2020. Retrieved March 14, 2021 .
^
"Kaientai Dojo Strongest-K Tag Team Title" . wrestling-titles.com . Retrieved March 14, 2021 .
^ "The 33rd Annual PWI 500". Pro Wrestling Illustrated . 2023.
ISSN
1043-7576 .
^
"Southside Wrestling Entertainment Tag Team Title" . wrestling-titles.com . Retrieved March 14, 2021 .
Links to related articles
Individual champions
Collective champions (teams, groups)
2010s
Team Drift (
Keisuke Ishii ,
Shigehiro Irie and
Soma Takao )
Monster Army (
Antonio Honda ,
Daisuke Sasaki and
Yuji Hino )
Golden☆Rendezvous~ (
Gota Ihashi ,
Kenny Omega and
Kota Ibushi )
Monster Army (
Antonio Honda ,
Hoshitango and
Yuji Hino )
Ten Million Gay Powers (
Danshoku Dino ,
Kensuke Sasaki and
Makoto Oishi )
Akebono ,
Sanshiro Takagi and
Toru Owashi
Team Homo Sapiens (
Aja Kong ,
Danshoku Dino and
Makoto Oishi )
Golden☆Storm Riders (
Daisuke Sasaki ,
Kenny Omega and
Kota Ibushi )
Shuten-dōji (
Kudo ,
Masa Takanashi/Masahiro Takanashi and
Yukio Sakaguchi )
Happy Motel (
Antonio Honda ,
Konosuke Takeshita and
Tetsuya Endo )
T2Hii (
Kazuki Hirata ,
Sanshiro Takagi and
Toru Owashi )
Genpatsu Daio (
Brahman Kei, Brahman Shu and
Gorgeous Matsuno )
#OhkaTeikoku (
Danshoku Dino ,
Ken Ohka and
Super Sasadango Machine )
#OhkaTeikoku (
Danshoku Dino ,
Kenso and
Super Sasadango Machine )
Kazusada Higuchi ,
Kouki Iwasaki and
Shunma Katsumata
Damnation (
Daisuke Sasaki ,
Mad Paulie and
Tetsuya Endo )
Team DNA (
Kazusada Higuchi ,
Kouki Iwasaki and
Mizuki Watase )
NωA (
Makoto Oishi ,
Mao and
Shunma Katsumata )
All Out (
Akito ,
Diego and
Konosuke Takeshita )
Koju Takeda ,
Kota Umeda and
Yuki Ueno
All Out (
Akito ,
Shunma Katsumata and
Konosuke Takeshita )
Damnation (
Tetsuya Endo ,
Mad Paulie and
Soma Takao )
#StrongHearts (
Cima ,
T-Hawk and Duan Yingnan)
All Out (
Akito ,
Konosuke Takeshita and
Yuki Iino )
Sendai Girls' Pro Wrestling (
Chihiro Hashimoto ,
Dash Chisako and
Meiko Satomura )
All Out (
Konosuke Takeshita ,
Shunma Katsumata and
Yuki Iino )
2020s
#DamnHearts (
Tetsuya Endo ,
T-Hawk and
El Lindaman )
Eruption (
Kazusada Higuchi ,
Yukio Sakaguchi and
Saki Akai )
Young Communication Generation (
Akito ,
Kazuki Hirata and
Shota )
Damnation (
Tetsuya Endo ,
Soma Takao and
Yuji Hino )
Pheromones (
Danshoku Dino ,
Yuki Iino and
Yumehito Imanari )
Damnation T.A. (
Daisuke Sasaki ,
Minoru Fujita and
MJ Paul )
Damnation T.A. (
Daisuke Sasaki ,
MJ Paul and
Kanon ) (current)
Omega (
Yuji Hino ,
Makoto Oishi and
Shiori Asahi )
Naruki Doi ,
Toru Owashi and
Kazuki Hirata
Burning (
Tetsuya Endo ,
Kotaro Suzuki and
Yusuke Okada )
Shinya Aoki ,
Super Sasadango Machine and
Yuki Ueno
Harimau (
Kazusada Higuchi ,
Ryota Nakatsu and
Yuki Ishida )
Eruption (
Yukio Sakaguchi ,
Saki Akai and
Hideki Okatani )
D・O・A (
Jun Akiyama ,
Danshoku Dino and
Makoto Oishi )
2010s 2020s
Shinya Aoki ,
Super Sasadango Machine ,
Antonio Honda and
Kazuki Hirata
Team Thoroughbred (
Sanshiro Takagi ,
Yukio Naya , Chikara and Yakan Nabe)
Team Olympian (
Yoshiaki Yatsu ,
Akito ,
Hiroshi Yamato and
Keigo Nakamura )
Toru Owashi ,
Antonio Honda ,
Kazuki Hirata and Yoshihiko
Poison Sawada Julie ,
Gentaro ,
Takashi Sasaki ,
Mikami and
Thanomsak Toba
The37Kamiina (
Mao ,
Yuki Ueno ,
Shunma Katsumata ,
Toy Kojima ) and
Shinya Aoki
Schadenfreude International (
Antonio Honda ,
Masahiro Takanashi ,
Takeshi Masada , Mecha Mummy and
Takayuki Ueki )(current)