In Japan on Sunday, former NJPW Young Lion Ayato Yoshida won the Active Advance Pro Wrestling (2AW) Openweight Championship, ending Yuji Okabayashi’s reign at 102-days. 2AW is the rebranded name of TAKA Michinoku‘s company formerly known as KAIENTAI DOJO (K-DOJO), which rebooted in May of 2019 after 17 years under the K-DOJO name.
本日の試合結果★7月5日（日） 2AW 旗揚げ1周年記念大会 GRAND SLAM in TKPガーデンシティ千葉https://t.co/sdZibYKH2q
— 2AW (@2awoffice) July 5, 2020
Ayato Yoshida originally began in 2015 as a young student in K-DOJO, training under Michinoku, before joining New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) as a Young Lion in 2016. He made his NJPW debut on May 19, 2016 at Lion’s Gate Project 2, in defeat to Hitoshi Kumano. He’s remained a constant fixture in K-DOJO and 2AW ever since his 2015 debut, but spent four years as a Young Lion in NJPW before departing in 2019 – his final New Japan appearance was in May of 2019 when he competed at the NJPW 47th Anniversary Show. Yoshida is a former K-DOJO STRONGEST-K Champion (K-DOJO’s top title before the reboot), as well as a former 2x K-DOJO Tag Team Champion. He also recently held the 2AW Tag Team title alongside long time partner Tank Nagai in early 2020.
Ayato Yoshida is only 27-years old, but many considered him a future star for New Japan, but his return full-time to 2AW last spring was seen as a sign of Yoshida looking to become the top star for the rebooted company going forward. His return to the top titleholder seems to indicate that 2AW is indeed going forward with Yoshida as one of its top stars going forward. Yoshida brings the 2AW Openweight title back to 2AW, as previous holder Okabayashi is actually a star from Big Japan Wrestling.
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