Shota Umino

Unno made his professional wrestling debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)'s developmental territory Lion's Gate on April 13, 2017, losing to Taka Michinoku at the Lion's Gate Project 4.[2] He then made his debut for NJPW's main roster at Road to Wrestling Dontaku 2017 on April 22, under the slightly modified ring name of Shota Umino, as a "young lion", losing to fellow young lion Hirai Kawato.[4] Umino obtained his first win in a six-man tag team match on the first night of the Best of the Super Juniors 24 event, teaming with Tomoyuki Oka and Volador Jr. to defeat Tetsuhiro Yagi, Katsuya Kitamura and ACH, after Oka pinned Yagi.[5] Throughout the following months, Umino would split his time between NJPW's main roster and Lion's Gate. Umino would compete in the 2017 Young Lion Cup, but did not win, with a final standing of 4 points (two wins and three losses).[6][7][8][9][10]

In April 2018, Umino main evented Lion's Gate Project 11, where he teamed with Yuji Nagata in a loss to Ayato Yoshida and Go Asakawa.[11] Umino would then lose to Yoshida in a singles match in the main event of Lion's Gate Project 13 in June.[12] Umino and Yoshida would subsequently form a tag team and competed in the 2018 World Tag League later that year, but lost all of their matches and ending with a final tally of 0 points (0 wins and 13 losses).[13] Umino also wrestled in the 2019 New Japan Cup tournament, but lost to Hiroshi Tanahashi in the first round.[14]

At Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall on June 9, Umino lost to IWGP United States Champion Jon Moxley.[15] Following the loss, Moxley would state his appreciation of Umino's efforts and adopt Umino as his tag team partner and manager for matches. Their debut as a team was a loss to Jeff Cobb and Ren Narita on July 14, which they lost after Umino was pinned by Cobb.[16] The two's partnership was halted when Moxley took a hiatus from NJPW after the end of the 2019 G1 Climax in August and began to wrestle more regularly for American promotion All Elite Wrestling.[17]

At Royal Quest on August 31, Umino teamed with Ren Narita and Ryusuke Taguchi in a loss to Roppongi 3K (Rocky Romero, Sho and Yoh).[18] Umino would then move onto compete in the 2019 Young Lion Cup. Although he would lose his first tournament match to Clark Connors,[19] Umino would win his next four matches against Ren Narita,[20] Michael Richards,[21] Yuya Uemura,[22] Alex Coughlin[23] and Yota Tsuji,[24] but lost the final match of the tournament to Karl Fredericks, failing to win the tournament with a final score of 10 points.[25] Following the end of the tournament, it was announced that Umino would begin a learning excursion in the United Kingdom.[26]

Umino made his debut for Revolution Pro Wrestling at the New Beginnings event on November 9, 2019, in a loss to Kyle Fletcher.[27] He had previously wrestled for RPW in 2018, during NJPW and RPW's collaborative two-night event Strong Style Evolved UK.[28][29] Umino also made his debut for Over the Top Wrestling (OTT) at the promotion's Stickin' Out event on January 5, 2020, where he lost to Scotty Davis.[30] On January 18, Umino won RPW's 40-man Revolution Rumble battle royal.[31]