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.
AJPW Junior League
The Junior League is an annual professional wrestling round-robin tournament held by All Japan Pro Wrestling, to decide the promotion's top junior heavyweight wrestler, as well as the #1 contender to the World Junior Heavyweight Championship. It was established in 1983 as a single block round-robin tournament then in 2006 it began as a two-block round-robin tournament, in which each block's highest scorers face off in the finals. A victory is worth two points, a draw is worth one, and a loss zero; each match has a thirty-minute time limit. In 2012, the tournament was rebranded "Junior Hyper League". After no tournament took place in 2013, the 2014 tournament, dubbed "Jr. Battle of Glory", was announced as taking place in February, instead of its usual place in the summer.In 1983, All Japan Pro Wrestling held the "NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title League" between May 12 and 26, 1983. The winner, Chavo Guerrero, also won the vacant NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship.