Dragon Kid

is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working for Dragon Gate as .

Nakamura initially broke into the wrestling business with Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW), but was not allowed to be a wrestler by owner Atsushi Onita and instead worked as a referee for the promotion during the mid-1990s. Longing to become a wrestler, he left FMW in 1997 and joined Ultimo Dragon's Toryumón Gym, where he was given the gimmick of “Dragon Kid”, a character he has used for his entire career.

Professional wrestling career

Training and early career (1994–1997) Nobuyoshi Nakamura wanted to be a wrestler for a long time, but he was told that he was too small to become one. He started training in the Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling dojo in 1994, but ended up as a referee (FMW head Atsushi Onita, wary of injury to smaller wrestlers from his days as a junior heavyweight in All Japan Pro Wrestling, prevented him from trying to achieve his potential). Nakamura never gave up his dream of being a wrestler. He was eventually introduced to Último Dragón by Nakamura's relative Jinsei Shinzaki, who told him that his wrestling school had no size restriction, so he entered the Último Dragón Gym.

Toryumon and Dragon Gate (1997–present)

Nakamura debuted in 1997 as a first term student, and was given the gimmick of Dragon Kid, Último Dragón's pupil, as he was perceived as the Último Dragón's heir. He spent 1998 wrestling in Mexico, but he did some spot participation with Michinoku Pro and also had a short run with World Championship Wrestling working as "Little Dragon." His only appearance on Monday Nitro would be a victory over Eddie Guerrero via rollup after interference.

In 1999, he debuted in Japan along with the rest of Toryumon.

When Dragon Kid returned in early 2007, Saito decided to end Do FIXER activity following the betrayal of Genki Horiguchi, and brought him along into CIMA's new Typhoon stable. He joined them with a new look, marking the first ever change of his ring attire. When Saito and Susumu Yokosuka started teaming together, he and CIMA started teaming up exclusively with each other, calling themselves CK-1. When CIMA was out injured in mid-2008, Dragon Kid formed a team with Shingo Takagi for that year's Summer Adventure Tag League Tournament. The team proved very successful, even making it to the finals, but they lost out to the previous year's winners Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino.

On December 28, he, Ryo Saito and Susumu Yokosuka fought a Unit Split Survival Three-Way Six-Man Tag Match against teams from WORLD-1 and Real Hazard, and they lost, bringing about the end of Typhoon. However, he did not remain unaligned for very long, for on January 11, 2009, he joined Shingo Takagi's new unit, KAMIKAZE. On February 15, he, Shingo, and Taku Iwasa won the Open the Triangle Gate titles, but they lost them two months later. On January 18 the new group was named Blood Warriors. On June 19 Dragon Kid gained a measure of revenge on Blood Warriors, when he and PAC defeated Ryo Saito and Genki Horiguchi to win the Open the Twin Gate Championship. They would lose the title to Blood Warriors representatives CIMA and Ricochet on July 17. On February 9, 2012, Junction Three was forced to disband, after losing a fourteen-man elimination tag team match to Blood Warriors. After joining the Veteran-gun, Dragon Kid won the Open the Brave Gate Championship for the second time on May 6, defeating Ricochet. After a reign of 364 days and nine successful defenses, he lost the title to Masato Yoshino on May 5, 2013. He would go on to team with Oretachi Veteran-gun stablemate K-Ness to win the Open the Twin Gate Championship, and with K-Ness and Masaaki Mochizuki, won the Open the Triangle Gate Championship. He would suffer an injury later on, and would be forced to vacate both titles. On August 17, 2014, Dragon Kid and Masaaki Mochizuki quit Oretachi Veteran-gun to form a new stable with BxB Hulk, which on September 9, 2014, would be named Dia.HEARTS. On February 4, 2016, Dia.HEARTS was forced to disband after losing a match to Monster Express and VerserK. On April 7, Dragon Kid joined the Over Generation unit.

On April 6, 2018, Kid defeated Kagetora to win the vacant Open the Brave Gate Championship for the third time.

Music career On November 11, 2007, Dragon Gate Records (a subsidiary of Dragon Gate Wrestling) released a CD featuring music from Nakamura and Eiji Ezaki (Japanese singer and retired wrestler, also known as Hayabusa).

Championships and accomplishments Dragon Gate Open the Brave Gate Championship (4 times) Toryumon Japan El Numero Uno (2004) UWA World Trios Championship (3 times) – with Magnum Tokyo and Ryo Saito (1), with Masaaki Mochizuki and Kenichiro Arai (1) and Kenichiro Arai and Second Doi (1) Westside Xtreme Wrestling wXw World Lightweight Championship (1 time) Wrestling Observer Newsletter Best Flying Wrestler (2001) Best Wrestling Maneuver (1999, 2000) Match of the Year (2006)