Daisuke Harada

Daisuke Harada is a Japanese retired 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 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.
Nicknamed ‘Young Master’, Harada is also the only two-time winner of Noah’s Global Junior Heavyweight League, winner of the 2022 edition of the Jr. Rumble and is ranked second for all-time defenses of the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship, with 16.

Early life

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

Professional wrestling career

Osaka Pro Wrestling (2006–2013)

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. 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. 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 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, 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 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 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. On July 18 Momo no Seishun Tag defeated the teams of Joker and Takoyakida and Ultimate Spider Jr. in a three–way match to win the Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship for the third time. Four days later Harada and Kotoge returned to Pro Wrestling Noah to take part in the 2011 Nippon TV Jr. Heavyweight Tag League. After two victories and two losses, Harada and Kotoge finished third in their block, missing the finals of the tournament. On October 30, Momo no Seishun Tag lost the Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Championship to the Joker team of Hayata and Kuuga. On November 27, Harada entered Osaka Pro's annual Tenno-zan tournament, defeating tag team partner Atsushi Kotoge in his first round match. On December 18, Harada defeated Kuuga to win the 2011 Tenno-zan, avenging his loss in the previous year's finals in the process. Later that same day, Momo no Seishun Tag returned to Pro Wrestling Noah, where they teamed with Shane Haste to defeat Atsushi Aoki, Kotaro Suzuki and Taiji Ishimori in a six-man tag team match, afterwards challenging Aoki and Suzuki to a match for the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. On January 22, 2012, Momo no Seishun Tag failed to capture the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship from Aoki and Suzuki. On January 28, Harada defeated Masamune to become the number one contender to the Osaka Pro Wrestling Championship. On February 26, Harada defeated Billyken Kid to win the Osaka Pro Wrestling Championship for the first time. On March 25, Harada lost the title to Black Buffalo in his first title defense, ending his reign at 28 days, the shortest in the title's history. On April 29, Momo no Seishun Tag was officially disbanded, when Kotoge left Osaka Pro Wrestling to join Pro Wrestling Noah full-time. On May 26, Harada defeated Tadasuke in the finals of a tournament to earn a rematch for the Osaka Pro Wrestling Championship. On July 7, Harada formed a new partnership with Tadasuke and Hayata, who had recently turned on Joker and were now looking to stop their former stable. On July 14, the new alliance was named "Glare". On July 22, Harada defeated Black Buffalo in the main event of Osaka Pro's largest annual event, Hurricane, to regain the Osaka Pro Wrestling Championship, completing a clean sweep for Glare as earlier in the event Hayata and Tadasuke became the new Osaka Pro Wrestling Tag Team Champions. On September 30, Harada made his first successful defense of the Osaka Pro Wrestling Championship against Joker's newest member Quiet Storm. On October 21, Glare won the Osaka Pro Wrestling 6 Person Tag Tournament, defeating the Joker trio of Hideyoshi, Kuuga and Quiet Storm in the finals. In early December, Harada defeated Billyken Kid, Kengo Takai, and finally stablemate Hayata to advance to the finals of the 2012 Tenno-zan tournament. On December 16, Harada defeated Hub in the finals to win his second Tenno-zan in a row. On January 19, 2013, Glare defeated Black Buffalo, Kazuaki Mihara and Naoki Setoguchi in a six-man tag team main event. After the match, Harada revealed Buffalo as the newest member of Glare. On February 24, Harada, Buffalo, Hayata and Tadasuke of Glare faced Billyken Kid, Kazuaki Mihara, Naoki Setoguchi and Tigers Mask of the Osaka Pro Seikigun in an elimination match, where the losing team would be forced to disband. The match eventually came down to Harada and Billyken Kid and ended with Harada scoring the deciding pinfall, saving Glare and forcing Seikigun to disband. On March 2, Billyken Kid and Kazuaki Mihara joined Glare, announcing they now agreed with the stable's "revolution". Glare then declared war on Joker and Unique Gundan, the two remaining stables in Osaka Pro. The rivalry between Glare and Unique Gundan built to a four-on-four elimination match on March 24, where Harada, Hayata, Mihara and Tadasuke suffered an upset defeat at the hands of Ebessan, Kanjyuro Matsuyama, Kuishinbo Kamen and Takoyakida, with Ebessan scoring the last elimination over Harada. Afterwards, the two groups made peace with each other. On March 30, six top Osaka Pro wrestlers, including Harada and stablemate Hayata, announced that they were quitting the promotion. Harada announced that he was not going to re-sign with the promotion once his contract ran out on April 29, revealing that he was looking for a wrestling future in Tokyo. The announcement also led to him relinquishing the Osaka Pro Wrestling Championship. On April 29, Harada wrestled his final Osaka Pro match, where he, Hayata, Kazuaki Mihara and Tadasuke were defeated by Hideyoshi, Kuuga, Masamune and Orochi. After the match, Harada revealed that he was following his former partner Atsushi Kotoge to Pro Wrestling Noah.