Champion Carnival
From 1959 to 1972, the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance (JWA), run by Rikidōzan, held a tournament called World League (also known as the "World Big League"), which featured both Japanese and foreign professional wrestlers. Rikidōzan himself dominated the annual tournament early on, however, after his death in 1963, the tournament was won six times by Giant Baba and once by Antonio Inoki. JWA folded shortly after both Baba and Inoki left the promotion to create All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), respectively. Both men took the concept of World League with them to their new promotions, with Baba creating the "Champion Carnival" in 1973 and Inoki creating the World League in 1974, later renaming it G1 Climax.
National Wrestling Alliance
NWA also has affiliates throughout California and New Jersey. The largest and most successful member promotion of the NWA was New Japan Pro-Wrestling, the second-largest and most profitable wrestling promotion in the world (after WWE). NJPW was sanctioned by NWA member and wrestler, Antonio Inoki, who at times has also sanctioned Zero-One and the Universal Fighting Organization as NWA promotions. NJPW holds events consistently throughout Japan, and has also run shows in Europe and the United States. However, it is no longer an NWA territory, as Inoki transferred the rights to his Inoki Genome Federation when he left New Japan. At the 2010 Annual Meeting, New Japan did not renew its membership and has left the NWA. However, the NWA did re-appear in New Japan in 2013 as part of an angle with NWA wrestlers wrestling in Japan to try to take over the company, most notably former NWA Champion Rob Conway.