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.
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling
On June 4, 2012, Tokyo Joshi Pro was announced by DDT Pro Wrestling. Set to be run by former Ice Ribbon and Pro Wrestling Neo promoter and booker Tetsuya Kodo and wrestler Nozomi, the promotion was established in late 2012 and thus a recruitment process began for wrestlers. 4 of the first wrestlers recruited were Miyu Yamashita, Shoko Nakajima, Kanna and Chikage Kiba. The training of the wrestlers was mostly handled by Nozomi herself, with help from DDT wrestler Kyohei Mikami. Nozomi left DDT on November 30, 2012, but on the same day the trainees were introduced to the public in a press conference and it was announced they would debut in 2013. The trainees were required to follow three rules - no drinking, no smoking, and no boyfriends.