Shigehiro Irie

Shigehiro Irie (入江 茂弘, Irie Shigehiro, born March 23, 1988) is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed-martial artist primarily competing for Dramatic Dream Team (DDT). Irie has also competed for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) and a number of American independent promotions in the past.

Early life

Irie was born in Osaka and grew up a lifelong fan of both Japanese and American professional wrestling, citing Bill Goldberg and Shinjiro Otani as his favourite wrestlers. He began his initial pro wrestling training in 2002 at the age of 15, training alongside Atsushi Kotoge with Osaka Pro Wrestling. Irie eventually stopped training at Osaka Pro to pursue MMA, competing in a number of amateur fights, including some in Pancrase. Irie resumed training in 2007 with Dera Pro Wrestling in Nagoya, and made his debut in April 2008 against Shota Takanashi.

Professional wrestling career

Japan (2008-present)

Beginning in May 2008, Irie began sporadically appearing for DDT Pro, primarily teaming with other rookies against established wrestlers. In 2010, Irie began competing more often in DDT, and in August, Irie defeated Soma Takao in the final to win a special one day tournament. DDT owner Sanshiro Takagi became a fan of Irie after watching him compete, and offered him more regular bookings with DDT as a result. Irie competed in the 2010 Young Drama Cup, finishing with 6 points and not making it to the finals. Representing DDT, Irie debuted for New Japan Pro Wrestling in 2011, teaming with fellow DDT rookie Keisuke Ishii in a loss to NJPW's Tomoaki Honma and freelancer Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. Irie began to achieve success in 2011, beginning on May 21 when he defeated established DDT veteran Kota Ibushi, eliminating him from the 2011 King Of DDT tournament in what many considered to be Irie's "breakout match". The next month, Irie formed a tag team with Munenori Sawa, and the duo defeated Gentaro and Yasu Urano to win the KO-D Tag Team Championship, but lost the titles just days later to Kenny Omega and Michael Nakazawa. Irie participated in a falls count anywhere match the following month, teaming up with Takagi and SeXXXy Eddy in a loss to Omega, Ibushi and Nakazawa. On October 10, Irie captured the KO-D Tag Team Championship once again, this time teaming with Keisuke Ishii to defeat Makoto Oishi and Danshoku Dino. Irie and Ishii made their first successful defence on November 6, defeating Antonio Honda and Yasu Urano. The duo followed that up by retaining against Gorgeous Matsuno and Poison Sawada Julie on November 27, but dropped the championship to Urano and Yuji Hino on December 31 and unsuccessfully challenged them in a rematch on February 11. On April 1, 2012, Irie unsuccessfully challenged Kenny Omega for the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship. On May 4 at a Union Pro event, Irie teamed up with Shuji Ishikawa to capture the BJW World Tag Team Championship, defeating Shinobu and Yoshihito Sasaki. Irie and Ishikawa successfully defended the championship against Ryuji Ito and Abdullah Kobayashi on June 17, but dropped the titles to Shinobu and Yuji Okabayashi on July 15. Irie and Ishii once again challenged for the KO-D Tag Team Championship on July 22, losing to Makoto Oishi and Kudo. Irie and Ishii teamed up with Soma Takao as Team Dream Futures to enter the tournament for the vacant KO-D 6 Man Tag Team Championship, and captured the titles by defeating Oishi, Akito and Takagi in the final on January 12. The trio lost the championship to Monster Army (Yuji Hino, Antonio Honda and Daisuke Sasaki) on January 27. Irie won the right to challenge for the KO-D Openweight Championship on February 24, and defeated Kenny Omega on March 20 to win the championship for the first time in his career. Irie successfully defended the championship against Makoto Oishi, Yukio Sakaguchi, Kota Ibushi, Hikaru Sato, Keisuke Ishii, Daisuke Sasaki, Sanshiro Takagi and Yuji Okabayashi before losing the championship to Harashima on August 18. On January 26, 2014, Irie unsuccessfully challenged Harashima for the KO-D Openweight Championship. Irie, Ishii and Soma Takao successfully captured the KO-D 6 Man Championship once again in February 2014, defeating Aja Kong, Danshoku Dino and Makoto Oishi, but dropped them to Ibushi, Omega and Sasaki in April. On April 29, Irie and Ishii captured AJPW's All Asia Tag Team Championship, defeating Jun Akiyama and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Irie and Ishii successfully defended the championship until August, when they lost them to Xceed (Kento Miyahara and Kotaro Suzuki), however, the next day, Irie, Ishii and Takao captured the KO-D 6 Man Tag Team Championship once again, defeating Shuten Doji (Yukio Sakaguchi, Masa Takanashi and Kudo). They dropped the championship to T2Hii (Takagi, Toru Owashi and Kazuki Hirata]] on September 28. Team Dream Futures unsuccessfully challenged Konosuke Takeshita and Tetsuya Endo for the KO-D Tag Team Championship in November, and Irie once again unsuccessfully challenged Harashima for the KO-D Openweight Championship on December 23. On March 1, 2015, Irie, Ishii and Takao defeated Shuten Doji to once again become KO-D 6 Man Champions, but dropped the championship back to them in their first defence. Team Dream Futures defeated Shuten Doji on April 11 to regain the championship and successfully defended them until September when they lost to #OhkaEmpire (Ken Ohka, Danshoku Dino and Super Sasadango Machine). Irie returned to AJPW in December, teaming up with Yutaka Yoshie to take part in the Real World Tag League. Irie and Yoshie finished with 6 points, unable to advance to the finals. After Kota Ibushi was injured and forced himself and Daisuke Sasaki to vacate the KO-D Tag Team Championship, a tournament was set up to crown new champions. Irie teamed with Yuji Okabayashi, making it to the finals before losing to Tetsuya Endo and Konosuke Takeshita. Team Dream Futures once again captured the KO-D 6 Man Championship in May, defeating Kazusada Higuchi, Kouki Iwasaki and Shunma Katsumata. Irie took part in the 2016 King Of DDT tournament, making it to the final where he lost to Shuji Ishikawa. On July 17, Irie announced that he would be leaving Japan for the United States, taking part in a learning excursion to improve his in-ring work and become a better overall wrestler. In his farewell match, Irie teamed with Yukio Sakaguchi to defeat Harashima and Keisuke Ishii in a match Irie put together himself. Irie returned to DDT on November 6, teaming with Konosuke Takeshita to defeat Harashima and Yukio Sakaguchi. On December 25, Irie unsuccessfully challenged Harashima once again for the KO-D Openweight Championship. Irie took part in the 2016 Five Organisation Shuffle Tag Tournament, teaming with Kaientai Dojo's Kengo Mashimo. Irie and Mashimo eliminated Kouki Iwasaki and Naoya Nomura in the first round, but were eliminated by Daichi Hashimoto and Yukio Sakaguchi in the second round.

United States and Canada (2016-present)

Irie debuted in the United States on July 24 for Galli Pro Wrestling, unsuccessfully challenging Marshe Rockett for Gallo Junior Heavyweight Championship. Irie again competed for Galli on July 29, teaming with Gringo Loco and Skayde Jr. to defeat Zema Ion, GPA and Matt Knicks. Irie debuted for IWA: Mid-South on August 4, losing to Reed Bentley. Two days later he debuted for Hoosier Pro Wrestling, defeating JKO. Irie once again competed for IWA: MS on August 11, defeating John-Wayne Murdoch. Irie returned to Galli on August 14, unsuccessfully challenging GPA for the Junior Heavyweight Championship. On August 19, Irie debuted for AAW, losing to Chris Hero, and soon after debuted in Absolute Intense Wrestling (AIW) in a loss to Eddie Kingston. On August 28, Irie teamed with Furia Roja and Rey Furia in a loss to Skayde Jr., Billy Star and Valentino, once again in Galli. On August 30 Irie returned to IWA, losing to Matt Tremont. Irie lost to Colt Cabana at an AAW show on September 1, and unsuccessfully challenged Corey Hollis and John Skyler for the Resistance Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship alongside Daniel Eads on September 10. Irie competed twice in one night for IWA on September 15, first teaming with Cole Radrick and Corey Storm to defeat John-Wayne Murdoch, Nick Depp and Reed Bentley, and later on in the night losing to Shane Mercer. Irie returned to AIW on September 23 in a loss to Tracy Williams and debuting for Alternative Wrestling Show (AWS) the following day, unsuccessfully challenging Tyler Bateman for the AWS Heavyweight Championship. The following day on September 25, Irie competed at a Championship Wrestling from Hollywood TV taping, losing to Devin Sparks. Irie debuted for Freelance Wrestling on September 30 in a loss to Joey Ryan, and wrestled his final match before returning to Japan on September 6 for IWA, losing to Chris Hero in a triple threat match also featuring Kongo Kong. Irie returned to the west on January 10, debuting for Canada-based CWE, defeating Jacob Creed. The next day he lost to Chase Owens, but defeated Travis Cole the day after that. In the next few days, Irie lost to Danny Duggan, ACH, Shane Sabre, AJ Sanchez, Mentallo, and Tyler Colton, but defeated Dylan Knight, Mr Grim and TW3.

In wrestling

• Finishing moves
  • Beast Bomber (Axe Bomber)
  • Beast Splash / Flying Sausage (Diving Body Press)
  • Package Piledriver
• Signature moves
  • Black Hole Slam
  • Fire Thunder Driver
  • Gore (Spear)
  • Gorilla Clutch
  • Teddy Bear (Hip attack)
  • Back Flip (Vertical Fall Samoan Drop)
  • Batten Bomber (Lariat)
  • Idaho! Minnesota! Mississippi! Elbow
• Nicknames
  • "Wrestling Teddy Bear"

Championships and accomplishments

• All Japan Pro Wrestling
  • All Asia Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Keisuke Ishii
• Big Japan Pro Wrestling
  • BJW World Tag Team Championship (1 time) - with Shuji Ishikawa
• Dramatic Dream Team
  • Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (2 times)
  • KO-D 6 Man Tag Team Championship (6 times) - with Keisuke Ishii and Soma Takao (6)
  • KO-D Openweight Championship (1 time)
  • KO-D Tag Team Championship (2 times) - with Munenori Sawa (1) and Keisuke Ishii (1)

• ^ Kreikenbohm, Philip. "Titles « Shigehiro Irie « Wrestlers Database « CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". 
• "Ironman Heavymetalweight Title (Japan)".