Yuya Uemura

Yuya Uemura (上村優也) is a Japanese male professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is the current Provisional KOPW Champion in is first reign, and a member of the Just 5 Guys stable. He has also made appearances for Impact Wrestling and All Elite Wrestling.

Early life
In March 2013, Uemura graduated from Imabari Technical High School. He wrestled collegiately before he started his professional wrestling career. In October 2016, he won the West Japan Collegiate Wrestling League's 71 kg Greco-Roman championship. In March 2017, Uemura graduated from Fukuoka University.

Young lion (2017–2021)
In April 2017, after graduating from Fukuoka University, Uemura was signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling under New Japan's "young lion" system. A year later, in April 2018, Uemura as well as fellow young lion, Yota Tsuji, made their pro-wrestling debuts at Lion's Gate Project 11 where Uemura was defeated by Ren Narita. On day one of Road to Wrestling Dontaku 2018, Uemura was defeated by Tetsuhiro Yagi. On day six, he was defeated by Tomoyuki Oka. On day eight, Uemura was defeated by Rocky Romero. On day 14, Uemura and Yuji Nagata were defeated by Oka and Shota Umino. On night two of Wrestling Dontaku 2018, Uemura teamed with Narita and Umino to be defeated by the team of veterans, Tiger Mask, Jushin Thunder Liger and Ryusuke Taguchi. At New Japan Road 2018, Uemura and Yota Tsuji wrestled to a time-limit draw. At Lion's Gate Project 12, Uemura and Tsuji once again wrestled to a time-limit draw. On day 6 of Best of the Super Juniors XXV, Uemura, Tsuji and Flip Gordon were defeated by Umino, Tiger Mask and Oka. On day 11, Uemura and Dragon Lee were defeated by Umino and Kushida. On day 12, Uemura, ACH and Tsuji were defeated by Umino, Oka and Tiger Mask. Throughout Kizuna Road 2018, Tsuji and Uemura wrestled to time-limit draws. On September 8, Uemura teamed with Shota defeat Tsuji and Ren Narita to win his first match. In October 2019, Uemura teamed with Tiger Mask as part of the Super Junior Tag Tournament where they came in last place with zero points. Uemura competed in the 2020 New Japan Cup for the first time being eliminated by Yoshinobu Kanemaru in the first round. In November 2020, he entered the Best of the Super Juniors tournament. He finished the tournament with 0 wins and 9 losses, failing to advance to the finals.

Foreign excursion (2021–2023)
In 2022, Uemura travelled to the United States as part of his learning excursion. There, he began competing for All Elite Wrestling, Impact Wrestling and Game Changer Wrestling. In August, Uemura defeated Kenny King in his Impact Wrestling debut and the next month picked up his first win on NJPW Strong when he defeated veteran wrestler Christopher Daniels. After being assaulted by Bully Ray and his enforcers, The Good Hands, in March 2023, Uemura joined forces with Tommy Dreamer and went on to defeat Team Bully as part of Team Dreamer at Rebellion.

Uemura teamed with Joe Hendry briefly in August as JOYA, complete with a new team theme and entrance akin to Hendry's. He would later reflect in an NJPW website interview how the pairing "broadened [his] horizons" about how wrestling can be presented in different ways. On the September 14, 2023 episode of Impact, Uemura competed in a Feast or Fired match, where he secured one of the four briefcases. The following week's episode revealed that he had the briefcase containing a pink slip, meaning he was fired.

Just 5 Guys (2023–present)
On October 9, 2023, at Destruction, Uemura made his return to NJPW, teaming with Taichi and Douki against House of Torture, thus becoming the newest member of Just 5 Guys. In November later that year, Uemura teamed with Taichi, in the World Tag League. The duo finished the tournament with 8 points, failing to advance to the semi-finals. Following the tournament's conclusion, Uemura began a feud with former Young Lion Dojo stablemate Yota Tsuji, who had also returned from his excursion and had since joined Los Ingobernables de Japon. The feud began when Uemura pinned Tsuji in a tag-team match. Due to this a singles match between the two men was set for Wrestle Kingdom 18. On January 4, 2024 at Wrestle Kingdom, Uemura defeated Tsuji. On February 24 at The New Beginning in Sapporo, Uemura was defeated by Tsuji in a Hair vs. Hair match.

Collegiate wrestling

 * West Japan Collegiate Wrestling League
 * 71 kg Greco-Roman championship (2016)

Professional wrestling

 * Impact Wrestling
 * Feast or Fired (2023 – Pink Slip)
 * New Japan Pro Wrestling
 * Provisional KOPW Championship (1 time)
 * Pro Wrestling Illustrated
 * Ranked No. 324 of the top 500 singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 2022