Ryota Hama

Ryota Hama (濱 亮太) (born November 21, 1979) is a retired Japanese sumo wrestler and current professional wrestler, signed to Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) in the Strong BJ division.

Hama joined sumo in July 1995, and he fought for the Hakkaku stable run by former yokozuna Hokutoumi.

His shikona was Hokutoarashi (meaning "North Victory Storm") and he reached a highest rank of makushita 6 in November 2001.

Injury-prone in his knees, he fell greatly in rank and announced his retirement in May 2008.

His career record was 235 wins to 169 losses, with 114 absences due to injury.

After retiring from sumo, Hama became a professional wrestler.

Hama debuted in professional wrestling on November 3, 2008, losing to former Sumo champion Akebono.

On September 23, 2009, Hama and Akebono, known collectively as SMOP (Super Megaton Ohzumo Powers), won the All Asia Tag Team Championship, defeating Minoru Suzuki and Nosawa Rongai.

With Akebono as his partner, Hama participated in the 2009 World's Strongest Tag Determination League, finishing 5th out of 9 teams with four victories and four defeats.

While still holding the All Asia Tag Team Championship, Hama won the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, defeating champion Satoshi Kojima on March 21, 2010.

Hama holds the record for fastest superstar to attain the Triple Crown title, winning the title 503 days after his debut.

In 2010, Hama was also part of Suwama's New Generation Force stable, which rivaled Minoru Suzuki and his Partisan Forces faction.

After internal trouble in the group, Hama faced fellow member Masayuki Kono in a special match, but Kono defeated him thanks to the help of Kenso and Voodoo Murders, leading Kono to leave New Generation Force and join them.

The stable then dissolved, with Hama following Suwama while the other two remaining members, Manabu Soya and Seiya Sanada, went apart.

Hama finished the 2010 Champion Carnival in 4th place in Block A. He earned 4 points having defeated Minoru Suzuki and Seiya Sanada.

Hama and Akebono ended up losing the All Asia Tag Team Championship at the hands of Voodoo Murders' Taru and Big Daddy Voodoo on April 29, 2010.

Three days later, on May 2, 2010, he lost the Triple Crown Championship in a match against Minoru Suzuki.

On June 19, 2013, Hama announced his resignation from All Japan out of loyalty to Keiji Mutoh, who had left the promotion when Nobuo Shiraishi took over as its new president at the beginning of the month.

On July 10, 2013, Hama was announced as part of Keiji Mutoh's new Wrestle-1 (W-1) promotion.

Hama wrestled on the promotion's inaugural event on September 8, teaming with Yasufumi Nakanoue in a tag team match, where they were defeated by the Pro Wrestling Zero1 team of Kohei Sato and Ryoji Sai.

He adopted clothing and mannerisms inspired on WWF's Rikishi, like his trademark thong and Stink Face maneuver.

On September 21, 2014, Hama entered the Wrestle-1 Championship tournament, but was defeated in his first round match by Akira.

Through Wrestle-1's working relationship with American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Hama worked TNA's Bound for Glory event in Tokyo on October 12, losing to Ethan Carter III.

In 2015, whilst signed with Wrestle-1, Hama formed a tag team with Hideyoshi Kamitani named Hamakami in Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW).

They competed in that years Saikyou Tag League as part of the Strong Block.

Despite missing the semi-finals, they defeated eventual winners and new BJW Tag Team Champions Strong BJ (Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi).

On December 30, they challenged Strong BJ to a rematch and won the BJW Tag Team Championship.

On June 28, 2016, Hama announced he was leaving Wrestle-1 due to his contract with the company expiring.

On January 24, 2016, Hama unsuccessfully challenge Okabayashi for the BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship.

Hamakami also lost the BJW Tag Team Championship to Kohei Sato and Shuji Ishikawa on May 30.

After leaving Wrestle-1, Hama participated in Pro Wrestling Zero1's Fire Festival and briefly re-formed SMOP in BJW.

At Ryogokutan 2016, on July 24, SMOP unsuccessfully challenged Sato and Ishikawa for the BJW Tag Team Championship.

Later they entered the 2016 Saikyo Tag League as part of the Strong B Block, cruising through the block to win undefeated.

On October 14, they lost to Strong BJ in the quarter-finals.

On February 23, 2017, at a Diamond Stars Wrestling event, Hama unsuccessfully challenged Tim Storm for the NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship.

On May 25, he teamed with former Wrestle-1 talent Yasufumi Nakanoue to challenge BJW Tag Team Champions Strong BJ and lost.

In July, Hama officially signed with BJW.

Hama continued teaming with Nakanoue and they won the Yokohama Shopping Street 6-Man Tag Team Championship with Shogun Okamoto from Moon Vulcan (Hideki Suzuki, Takuya Nomura and Yoshihisa Uto) on July 3.

From September 6 and October 15, Hama and Nakanoue participated in the 2017 Saikyo Tag League as part of the Strong Block; they failed to advance to the semi-finals with only four points.

On December 17, Hama, Nakanoue and Okamoto lost the Yokohama Shopping Street title to Daisuke Sekimoto, Hideyoshi Kamitani and Kohei Sato.