MaxiMuM

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MaxiMuM
Background Information
Current Members	Naruki Doi Masato Yoshino Jason Lee Dragon Kid
Former Members	Big R Shimizu Ben-K Kotoka
Debut	May 4th, 2017
Disbanded
Promotion	Dragon Gate

MaxiMuM (マクシマム, Makushimamu), sometimes shortened to MMM, is a professional wrestling stable in the Japanese promotion Dragon Gate formed on April 7, 2017, by Ben-K, Big R Shimizu, Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino. On May 4, they would be joined by Kotoka, revealing the unit name, making their unit official in the process. They were formed after the disbanding of Monster Express and after Naruki Doi was kicked out of VerserK.

While part of the stable Ben-K, and Shimizu held the Open The Twin Gate Championship and with Doi the Open The Triangle Gate Championship and Yoshino the Open The Dream Gate Championship. Also Doi, Yoshino and Jason Lee held the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. Lee was added to MaxiMuM on November 8, 2017. Kotoka left MaxiMuM on March 6, 2018, after making his retirement match. Yoshino as also won the 2018 King of Gate. On August 8, 2018, Shimizu turned on Doi and joined ANTIAS, which was followed by Ben-K also turned on MaxiMuM to join ANTIAS in September. Shortly after, Dragon Kid and Kaito Ishida would join the stable replacing Ben-K and Shimizu.

History

Formation (2016–2017)

On October 12, 2016, VerserK were able to defeat Monster Express in a 5 vs 4 Loser Revival Captains Fall match, forcing Monster Express to disband. During the match, Dr. Muscle, who had cost El Lindaman his Open The Brave Gate Championship title match against Eita earlier in the night, attacked T-Hawk and caused him to be eliminated. He would unmask to reveal himself as a returning Kotoka who turned face and defected from VerserK in the process. After the match, T-Hawk would attack Naruki Doi, kicking him out of the VerserK and later Yoshino offered some support but at the time Doi refused.

After that, Doi became a tweener, and once again began teaming with his longtime partner Masato Yoshino. Meanwhile, Kotoka tried to return to VerserK by challenging El Lindaman to Loser Leaves unit match but ended with Shingo Takagi smashing a chair to his face and the rest of VerserK also jumped on him from behind. Later Kotoka blamed T-Hawk and Lindaman for changing VerserK. He would then cost VerserK their matches and aligned with Doi who also was kicked out of VerserK and Yoshino who also wanted revenge on VerserK for disbanding Monster Express. The three would then face VerserK members (Takagi, T-Hawk, and Lindaman) in a match but ended up losing to them. Then Kotoka and Yoshino would form an alliance with Ben-K. The trio took part in the New Years Unit War 6 Man Tag Team Tournament and even got to the finals but losing again to VerserK members (Takagi, T-Hawk, and Lindaman). After the match, VerserK attacked Kotoka, Yoshino, and Ben-K until Dr. Muscle who later revealed to be Doi made the save and the four made an alliance against VerserK. Later Yoshino and Kotoka were sidelined with injuries and Doi agreed to wait until Yoshino came back, in which would start teasing the return of Speed Muscle. Later Doi and Ben-K would form an alliance with Big R Shimizu and three would win the vacant Open The Triangle Gate Championship by defeating VerserK members (Takagi, T-Hawk and "brother" YASSHI).

On April 7, 2017, Ben-K, Shimizu and Doi successfully defended the Open The Triangle Gate Champions against Jimmyz (Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!, Jimmy Susumu and Ryo "Jimmy" Saito). After the match, Ben-K, Shimizu, Doi and the returning Masato Yoshino announced the formation of a new unit. On May 4 Kotoka would join in with the five unveiling that unit would be named MaxiMuM.

Feud with Jimmyz (2017)

The unit's official match took place at Dead Or Alive event on May 5, where the team of Yoshino, Kotoka, Shimizu and Ben-K were defeated by the Jimmyz team of Susumu, Saito, Horiguchi&and Jimmy K-ness J.K.S. After the match, Jimmyz attacked them with Genki Horiguchi saying that Jimmyz will show them the difference between amateurs and professionals. After the attack, Yoshino said that Jimmyz were MaxiMuM's first target. Thus leading a feud between the two stables. Later that night, Doi failed to capture the Open The Dream Gate Championship from YAMATO at the Dead or Alive Steel Cage match, due to Jimmyz member Ryo "Jimmy" Saito accidentally hitting him with a cannon of confetti, which caused him to be eliminated.  

The following weeks MaxiMuM and Jimmyz would face in various six-man tag team matches and even both stables attacked each other. Doi and Yoshino even made their tag team match return defeating Ryo "Jimmy" Saito and Jimmy Susumu in their return match. Kotoka would pin both Saito and Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!. Following a six-man tag team match between Kotoka, Yoshino and Ben-K and Masaaki Mochizuki and Jimmyz (Ryo “Jimmy” Saito and Jimmy Kagetora), where MaxiMuM won with Kotoka pinning Saito, the two units would confront and attack each other, then Dragon Gate general manager Takayuki Yagi would set up a ten-man tag team match with the Naniwa Elimination Rules where MaxiMuM would face Jimmyz members (Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!, Jimmy Kanda, Jimmy K-ness J.K.S., Jimmy Susumu and Ryo “Jimmy” Saito) with Kotoka and Horiguchi as captains for their team and the match was set to be on July 6. 

During this feud with the Jimmyz Ben-K, Shimizu and Doi would take part in the King of Gate, Shimizu at block A, Ben-K on block B and Doi on block C. Shimizu would finish the tournament with 5 points, Ben-K would finish the tournament with 2 points and Doi would finish the tournament with 7 points defeating Open The Brave Gate Champion Jimmy Kagetora on the final day, advancing to the semifinals. Doi would then defeat Shingo Takagi to get into the finals. On June 11 Doi failed to defeat T-Hawk in the finals of the King of Gate. On July 1 Doi, Ben-K and Shimizu lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to Takashi Yoshida, El Lindaman and Shingo Takagi. On July 6 MaxiMuM would defeat Jimmyz in the Naniwa Elimination Rules match winning them by 4-3 with Kotoka pinning Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!! to win the match. This would lead to MaxiMuM taking part of the 5 Unit Survival Race where the losing unit would be forced to disband. MaxiMuM managed to survive after getting seventeen wins and fourteen losses.

Championship Pursuits (2017–present)

On July 23 at the Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival, MaxiMuM ended up losing their matches with Ben-K, Kotoka and Shimizu lost to the Jimmyz in the finals of a tournament for the 1 contender for the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. Later that night, Doi and Yoshino unsuccessfully challenged CIMA and Dragon Kid for the Open The Twin Gate Championship. As part of MaxiMuM Ben-K and Shimizu formed a tag team named "Big Ben", unsuccessfully challenging CK-1 for the Open The Twin Gate Championship on November 3 at Gate of Destiny. On November 8 Jason Lee joined MaxiMuM after accepting Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino's offer to join them. On November 3, at Gate of Destiny, Yoshino, Doi and Kotoka unsuccessfully challenged VerserK (Shingo Takagi, Takashi Yoshida and El Lindaman) for the Open The Triangle Gate Championship in a Three-way six-man elimination tag team match also involving Tribe Vanguard (YAMATO, BxB Hulk and Kzy), with Kotoka being pinned by BxB Hulk after a First Flash. On December 23 at Final Gate, Doi, Yoshino and Lee defeated Tribe Vanguard (YAMATO, BxB Hulk and Kzy) to win the Open The Triangle Gate Championship.

On March 6, 2018, Kotoka made his retirement match defeating his younger brother Oji, thus leaving MaxiMuM. On May 6, at Dead or Alive, Ben-K and Shimizu defeated Eita and T-Hawk to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship. Later that night, Doi, Yoshino, and Lee lost the Open The Triangle Gate Championship to Natural Vibes (Kzy, Genki Horiguchi and Susumu Yokosuka). Following the Dead or Alive, all members of MaxiMuM took part in the King of Gate, Ben-K in block A, Shimizu and Lee in block B, Doi in block C and Yoshino in block D. Ben-K entered his last round-robin matches with a chance to advance to the semifinals, but was eliminated after losing to YAMATO. Shimizu finished his tournament with a record of one win and four losses and Lee with two wins and two losses, with Shimizu winning the head-to-head match between the two. This led to Shimizu being announced to take part in a tournament to decide the last placed wrestler in the tournament. Meanwhile, Doi and Yoshino win their respective blocks, Doi won his block with a clean record of four wins and zero losses, while Yoshino finished the tournament with a record of two wins, one loss, and one draw, advancing both to the semifinals of the tournament. On June 1, Doi lost to YAMATO in the semifinals. Meanwhile, Yoshino defeated Takashi Yoshida to advance to the finals of the tournament. On June 9, Yoshino defeated YAMATO in the finals to become the first wrestler to win the King of Gate for the second time. The following day, Yoshino defeated Masaaki Mochizuki to win the Open The Dream Gate Championship. During the tournament, a new storyline involving a tension between Doi and Shimizu was started, with Ben-K caught in the middle. On July 22 at Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival, Ben-K and Shimizu lost the Open the Twin Gate Championship to Tribe Vanguard (BxB Hulk and YAMATO). Following the match, Shimizu apologized Doi for blaming him for his losses, which Doi accepted after being sad of him losing the match. The two challenged Hulk and YAMATO to a title match for the Open the Twin Gate Championship. In the main event, Yoshino successfully defended the Open The Dream Gate Championship against Shingo Takagi. Following the Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival, Shimizu started weirdly praising Doi following their matches. On August 7, during the title match, Shimizu turned on Doi and joined ANTIAS. Yoshino and Ben-K made the save. The three would ask Hulk and YAMATO for help one time only, which they agreed for agreed to help MaxiMuM out, for one time. General Manager Takayuki Yagi announced that Doi, Yoshino, Ben-K, Hulk and YAMATO were going to face ANTIAS on September 6, leading Ben-K to turn on MaxiMuM and help ANTIAS, joining the stable in the process. On October 7, Dragon Kid and Kaito Ishida were accepted as members of the stable, after trying to join them in the past months.

Members

Current

Members	Time	Notes
Naruki Doi	02017-04-07-April 7, 2017 – Present	Co-Leader
Jason Lee	02017-11-08-November 8, 2017 – Present
Masato Yoshino	02017-04-07-April 7, 2017 – Present	Co-Leader
Dragon Kid	02018-10-07-October 7, 2018 – Present
Kaito Ishida	02018-10-07-October 7, 2018 – Present

Former

Members	Time
Kotoka	02017-05-04-May 4, 2017 – 02018-03-06-March 6, 2018
Big R Shimizu	02017-04-07-April 7, 2017 – 02018-08-07-August 7, 2018
Ben-K	02017-04-07-April 7, 2017 – 02018-09-06-September 6, 2018

Sub-groups

Affiliate	Members	Tenure	Type	Promotion(s)
DoiYoshi	Masato Yoshino Naruki Doi	2017-present	Tag Team	DG
Big Ben	Ben-K Big R Shimizu	2017-2018	Tag Team	DG

Championships and accomplishments

• Dragon Gate
  • Open The Dream Gate Championship (1 time, current) – Yoshino
  • Open The Twin Gate Championship (1 time) – Ben-K and Shimizu
  • Open The Brave Gate Championship (1 time, current) – Kid
  • Open The Triangle Gate Championship (2 times) – Ben-K, Doi and Shimizu (1) and Doi, Yoshino and Lee (1)
  • King of Gate (2018) – Yoshino