Daisuke Harada

Daisuke Harada (原田 大輔) (born November 13, 1986) is a retired Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah.

He’s a five-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion and a six-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion.

Harada is also known for his time in Osaka Pro Wrestling, where he was a two-time Osaka Pro Wrestling Champion and a two-time Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Champion as part of the tag team Momo no Seishun Tag (桃の青春タッグ) with Atsushi Kotoge.

Harada and Kotoge also worked together for various other promotions across Japan, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania–based Chikara in the United States & currently in Noah, where they are 4-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions.

Harada reportedly first got interested in professional wrestling through the video game Toukon Ratsuden, after which his first in–person professional wrestling experience was attending the January 4, 1998, Final Power Hall in Tokyo Dome show, witnessing the conclusion of Riki Choshu's retirement tour.

Harada began competing in amateur wrestling in his high school and ended up winning Osaka Prefecture's amateur wrestling championship at 60 kg.

Afterwards, he began training in professional wrestling at Osaka Pro Wrestling's school.

Harada made his debut for Osaka Pro Wrestling on August 5, 2006, facing Atsushi Kotoge in a losing effort.

He would spend his first months in the promotion feuding with Kotoge, before forming a tag team with him in November.

During the partnership, in May 2007, Harada defeated Kotoge in a tournament final to win the Kamigata Pro–Wrestling Newcomer Grand Prix.

After working as a tag team for over a year, Harada and Kotoge were finally granted a shot at the Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship on January 5, 2008, but were unsuccessful in their attempt at dethroning the defending champions, Bad Force (Gaina and Zero).

Just a month later on February 11, the team came to an abrupt end, when Kotoge turned heel and joined Bad Force.

Meanwhile, Harada formed a new partnership with Zeus, creating rival stable Blood & Guts, which was intended to highlight the promotion's younger performers.

In March, Harada and Zeus accepted Tadasuke as the third member of the group.

In May, Bad Force was dissolved, when the majority of its members jumped to splinter promotion Okinawa Pro Wrestling, after which Harada's former partner Atsushi Kotoge jumped to Blood & Guts.

In June, Blood & Guts sent two teams into the 2008 Osaka Tag Festival, with Harada teaming with Zeus and Kotoge with Tadasuke.

Both teams made it to the finals, where Harada and Zeus were victorious, after Harada pinned Kotoge with the Katayama German Suplex Hold.

As a result, Harada and Zeus were granted a shot at the Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship on September 6, but were defeated by the defending champions, GAINA and Zero.

The rest of the year, Harada spent mostly tagging with Kotoge and on November 15 the two received a shot at the Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship, but were once again unsuccessful in defeating the defending champions, Black Buffalo and Tigers Mask.

In March 2009, Harada, Kotoge and Tadasuke were entered in the Indie Junior Challenger Determination round-robin tournament, and after each of them finished with a record of 1–1, the winner was decided in a three–way final match on April 4.

In the end Harada pinned Tadasuke to win the tournament.

As a result, Harada was granted a shot at the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship, but was defeated by Makoto Oishi on April 29.

On June 6, 2009, Tadasuke, considered the lowest ranking member of Blood & Guts, turned on the stable and joined rival group LOV (Legion of Violence).

Shortly afterwards, Zeus left Osaka Pro, after which Harada and Kotoge disbanded the Blood & Guts stable, renamed their tag team Momo no Seishun Tag and concentrated on chasing the Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship.

On January 16, 2010, Harada and Kotoge defeated Orochi and Tadasuke to become the number one contenders to the Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship and finally, on February 11, defeated Hideyoshi and Masamune to win the Tag Team Championship for the first time.

On April 17, Harada defeated Tadasuke in a tournament final to become the number one contender to the Osaka Pro Wrestling Championship.

He would, however, fail in his attempt to win the title from Billyken Kid on April 29 at Osaka Pro's eleventh anniversary show.

On May 9, Harada and Kotoge teamed with Takoyakida to defeat Tokyo Gurentai (Fujita, Mazada and Nosawa Rongai) for the UWA World Trios Championship.

They would hold the Trios Championship for a month, before losing it to Ebessan, Kanjyuro Matsuyama and Kuishinbo Kamen.

On July 17, Momo no Seishun Tag lost the Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship to Don Fujii and Masaaki Mochizuki, representing rival promotion Dragon Gate.

On September 16, 2010, Harada made his debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), losing to Hirooki Goto at NEVER.2.

On October 15, Harada made his debut for another major promotion, Pro Wrestling Noah, when he and Kotoge entered the 2010 Nippon TV Jr. Heavyweight Tag League.

After one victory and three losses, Momo no Seishun Tag finished last in their block.

Upon their return to Osaka Pro, Momo no Seishun Tag defeated Fujii and Mochizuki on October 31 to regain the Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship.

Their second reign would last less than two months as they lost the title to Joker (Kuuga and Orochi) on November 28.

On January 15, 2011, Harada and Kotoge returned to Noah to unsuccessfully challenge Atsushi Aoki and Naomichi Marufuji for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.

On March 6, Harada and Kotoge wrestled Joker representatives Orochi and Tadasuke to a draw in an Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship number one contenders' match and afterwards agreed to a three–way match for the title.

The title match took place on March 19, when Orochi and Tadasuke defeated Momo no Seishun Tag and previous champions, Big Guns (Zeus and The Bodyguard) to become the new Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Champions.

On April 21 Momo no Seishun Tag returned to Noah, where they defeated GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion Kotaro Suzuki and Shane Haste in a tag team match.

Nicknamed ‘Young Master’, Harada is also the only two-time winner of Noah’s Global Junior Heavyweight League (winning in 2015 & 2020), and is ranked second for all-time defences of the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship, with 16.