When was the New Japan Pro Wrestling created?
National Wrestling Alliance
The NWA’s presence in Japan was established in 1953, when Japanese wrestler/promoter Rikidozan founded the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance, (JWA) which quickly became the main promotion in Japan. In 1972, the JWA’s two top draws Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki left to form their own promotions, All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) respectively. As a result, the JWA soon folded. AJPW became an NWA member upon its inception in 1973 and stayed until the late 1980s. NJPW was also a member of the NWA at various points between 1975 and 1985, mainly in order to gain control of the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship. In 1992 and 1993, NJPW joined with the NWA once more to re-establish and promote the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, but left the NWA when WCW withdrew. NJPW returned to the NWA in 2004, again mainly for the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship, and it is not a connection that is strongly emphasized. Between NJPW's departure in 1993 and its return in 2004 NWA representation in Japan was scattered among a few independent promotions: the International Wrestling Association of Japan (1994–1996); the Wrestle Yume Factory (1995–1997), the Universal Fighting Arts Organization (1999–2000); and Pro Wrestling Zero-One (2001–2004). In June 2007, the Inoki Genome Federation replaced NJPW as the Japanese affiliate of the National Wrestling Alliance. In February 2008, however, New Japan returned to the NWA. At the annual meeting in 2010, New Japan did not renew its membership and left the NWA yet again. In 2011, Pro Wrestling Zero1 returned to the NWA as their Japanese territory.
Wrestle Kingdom 12
Wrestle Kingdom 12 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on January 4, 2018, at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. It was the 27th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show, which is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".
The New Beginning in Sapporo (2017)
The New Beginning in Sapporo featured nine professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.
The New Beginning in Sapporo was main evented by Kazuchika Okada making his third defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Minoru Suzuki. After spending two years away in Pro Wrestling Noah, Minoru Suzuki, along with his Suzuki-gun stable, returned to NJPW on January 5, 2017, attacking Okada and his Chaos stable with Suzuki laying out Okada with his finishing maneuver, the "Gotch-Style Piledriver". Suzuki then declared war on all of NJPW, stating that his stable would take over all of the promotion's championships, just like they had done in Noah. Okada, however, promised to show Suzuki how far NJPW had come during the two years that Suzuki-gun had been away. The main event was officially announced on January 10. In interviews prior to the match, it was claimed that the bad blood between the two started on May 13, 2007, when Suzuki confronted then 19-year old Okada at an event promoted by Último Dragón. The two have since wrestled three singles matches against each other with Okada having won two and Suzuki one. In the days leading to the event, Suzuki targeted Okada's right knee with one attack taking place at a contract signing the day before the event.
Wrestling World 2004
Wrestling World 2004 was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It took place on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome. Wrestling World 2004 was the thirteenth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show held by NJPW. The show drew 40,000 spectators. Main event of the 15 match show was a unification match between IWGP Heavyweight Champion Shinsuke Nakamura and NWF Heavyweight Champion Yoshihiro Takayama. Nakamura won the match, retiring the NWF Championship after only being active for one year. The undercard saw NJPW mainstay Jushin Thunder Liger defeat Pro Wrestling Noah's Takashi Sugiura to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship, marking the first time a Noah championship changed hands at a January 4 Tokyo Dome Show. Additionally Gedo and Jado successfully defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against Heat and Tiger Mask and Hiroshi Tanahashi retained the IWGP U-30 Openweight Championship against Yutaka Yoshie.
Wrestle Kingdom 9
Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) promotion, which took place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on January 4, 2015. It was the 24th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the first event on the 2015 NJPW schedule. The event featured ten professional wrestling matches and one pre-show match, six of which were for championships.
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, often abbreviated to TJP, is a Japanese joshi puroresu or women's professional wrestling promotion founded in 2012 as a sister promotion of DDT Pro Wrestling. Initially running alongside other shows such as live music and other idol performances, it became its own fully fledged promotion starting on February 28, 2015.
King of Pro-Wrestling (2013)
King of Pro-Wrestling (2013) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on October 14, 2013, in Tokyo at Ryōgoku Kokugikan and featured ten matches (including one dark match), four of which were contested for championships. It was the second event under the King of Pro-Wrestling name.
Pro Wrestling USA
Pro Wrestling USA was a professional wrestling promotion in the United States of America in the mid-1980s. It was an attempt to unify various federations, including the American Wrestling Association (AWA), Jim Crockett Promotions and other members of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), against the national expansion of the World Wrestling Federation.
All Japan Pro Wrestling
On August 10, 2000, All Japan mainstay Masanobu Fuchi walked into the New Japan Pro Wrestling ring and declared that his intention was to "break down the walls" between All Japan and New Japan. In response, New Japan foreman Riki Choshu rushed into the ring and exchanged a firm handshake with Fuchi, signaling the beginning of the cross-promotional alliance. On September 16, 2000, Toshiaki Kawada followed Fuchi's path and vowed to crush New Japan ace Kensuke Sasaki, as he defeated Sasaki in the Tokyo Dome on October 9, 2000; the event sold out the building. In 2001, Keiji Mutoh and Shinjiro Otani created the interpromotional stable BATT (Bad Ass Translate Trading), which included All Japan's Taiyō Kea, Michinoku Pro's Jinsei Shinzaki and Hiroshi Hase. During this time, Mutoh challenged and defeated Tenryu for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, as well as capturing the World Tag Team Championship with Taiyō Kea. The alliance between the promotions lasted until January 11, 2002.
The New Beginning in Osaka (2017)
The New Beginning in Osaka (2017) was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on February 11, 2017, in Osaka, Osaka, at Edion Arena Osaka and featured nine matches, five of which were contested for championships. In the main event, Tetsuya Naito defended the IWGP Intercontinental Championship against Michael Elgin. This was the twelfth event under the New Beginning name and the fourth under the New Beginning in Osaka name.
Wrestling World 2003
Wrestling World 2003 was a professional wrestling event held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome. Wrestling World 2003 was the twelfth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show promoted by NJPW. The show drew 30,000 spectators. The show featured the semi-finals and the finals of the "Young Generation Cup", an NJPW tournament for relative newcomers who have yet to establish themselves as top level wrestlers, which saw Ryushi Yanagisawa defeat Yutaka Yoshie to win the cup. The show featured a total of eleven matches, including a match for the vacant NWF Heavyweight Championship that Yoshihiro Takayama won by defeating Tsuyoshi Kosaka in the finals of a four-man tournament. The main event was a successful defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship as champion Yuji Nagata defeated Josh Barnett.
Super Delfin
Hiroto Wakita joined New Japan Pro Wrestling's dojo. He was affiliated with the Takeshi Puroresu Gundan, a Japanese take on the "Rock 'n Wrestling" concept espoused by the WWF at the time in the United States, using comedian and director Takeshi Kitano as the manager of Riki Choshu and others who had returned from All Japan Pro Wrestling. As fans were not receptive to the angle, Kitano and New Japan parted ways, which left Wakita and his fellow dojo students, the future Jado and Gedo, without a home. The three men began training almost on their own, with Wally Yamaguchi as their trainer.
In 1994 he competed in the Best of the Super Juniors Tournament organised by New Japan Pro Wrestling. He finished second by losing to Jyushin Thunder Liger in the finals. He attempted to play mind games on Liger by dressing in a similar outfit for the match.
Westside Xtreme Wrestling
On July 18, 2015, New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced a working relationship with wXw as part New Japan's international expansion plans Which ended in 2016 due to wXw working with to much promotions and not having any Collaborated events. And not being in NJPW events in Europe, Also not having wXw titles being defended in NJPW events and no talent exchanges.
All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling
In 2002 AJW lost its television spot, and the promotion closed its doors in April 2005 after 37 years, making it the longest-running promotion in Japan up to that time (New Japan Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling for men have since reached 44 years as of 2016).
Sky Diving J
Sky Diving J was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on June 17, 1996 at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. The event was notable for revolutionizing junior heavyweight wrestling in NJPW and Japanese wrestling history. The event aired on television on TV Asahi on July 6, 1996. All of the matches contested at the event were junior heavyweight championship matches from different promotions from Japan. This was a very significant event in the revolution of junior heavyweight wrestling as title defences from various promotions at the event would result in the unification of various junior heavyweight championships to create the J-Crown.
Pro Wrestling Zero1
On September 12, 2006, Zero1-Max joined 12 other pro wrestling companies and joined the Global Professional Wrestling Alliance (GPWA), a professional wrestling alliance that fosters an environment of cooperation rather than competition. The alliance also occasionally puts on "Super Shows" where all the promotions send fighters to compete representing their own companies under the GPWA banner. Pro Wrestling Noah's CEO Mitsuharu Misawa was inaugurated as the first Chairman of the new alliance, with Zero1-Max's Yoshiyuki Nakamura announced as the company's President.
New World Order (professional wrestling)
The nWo storyline was an idea created by WCW Executive Vice President Eric Bischoff, whose inspiration for the angle came after attending New Japan Pro Wrestling's Battle Formation show at the Tokyo Dome on April 29, 1996. The show was headlined by a NJPW vs. UWFi match for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, as New Japan's Shinya Hashimoto defeated UWFi's Nobuhiko Takada. Bischoff wanted to do an invasion-type angle where WCW was being sabotaged by another wrestling group, initially insinuated as being the WWF, since the nWo's founding members had previously wrestled for the company. The nWo was originally portrayed as a separate entity from WCW. Often, propaganda-style vignettes and product commercials concerning the nWo were presented in the style of a broadcast signal intrusion, with a voice proclaiming, "The following announcement has been paid for by the New World Order". Others, such as Kevin Nash, television director Craig Leathers, chief WCW booker Terry Taylor, and Taylor's assistants Kevin Sullivan and Paul Orndorff, all contributed their own ideas to the nWo concept.
UWF Super Welterweight Championship
The UWF Super Welterweight Championship was a title in the Japanese professional wrestling, created by Universal Pro/FULL, then later on defended in Michinoku Pro and Osaka Pro before becoming inactive.
The inaugural tournament to crown the first champion was held on June 14 and June 15, 1992. It was a four-man tournament.
All Japan Pro Wrestling
On June 28, 2000, Misawa formally announced at a press conference that Pro Wrestling Noah would debut with two consecutive shows (titled "Departure") in Differ Ariake on August 5 and 6 in Tokyo.
Michinoku Pro Wrestling
Michinoku Pro Wrestling (also known as North Eastern Wrestling) is a Lucha libre professional wrestling promotion founded by The Great Sasuke in 1993. It was the first independent wrestling promotion in Japan to not base its operations in Tokyo, but rather in Morioka, Iwate. Since, the promotion is primarily focused on the Lucha libre style of wrestling, many of their wrestlers don masks and special motifs as they compete in the ring. However, Michinoku Pro has accepted wrestlers from various styles (such as shoot style and strong style) and backgrounds over the years. In 2003, Sasuke left the running of the promotion to Jinsei Shinzaki.
The Great Sasuke
In 1994, New Japan Pro Wrestling celebrated the first "Super J Cup", a junior heavyweight tournament for wrestlers from all over the world. Sasuke was drafted and reached the finals after beating NJPW favourites Jushin Thunder Liger and El Samurai, but fell to Wild Pegasus at the end. Despite his loss, Sasuke represented Michinoku Pro excellently and allowed for it to receive national coverage, and he himself became one of the most popular junior wrestlers in Japan.
2000 All Japan Pro Wrestling mass exodus
On June 16, 2000, a press conference was led by Mitsuharu Misawa, where 24 of the 26 native wrestlers contracted to All Japan Pro Wrestling joined him. With over 100 reporters and news outlets in attendance, Misawa announced that everyone surrounding him would be leaving All Japan Pro Wrestling after finishing their last committed appearances in July, and that they would be forming a new, then un-named promotion together. Misawa expressed his wish for the promotion to debut in August, with the Differ Ariake being the site of the promotion's debut. When asked what his reason for leaving All Japan was, Misawa said that it was so he could do things in a "modern style." A day later, Misawa announced the promotion's name: Pro Wrestling Noah, which was inspired by the Biblical story where Noah built an ark and led two of every kind of animal in existence onto the ark before God destroyed the world. On June 20, twelve All Japan office employees resigned from their positions with the promotion, with intentions to follow Misawa to Noah, and on June 28, 2000, Misawa formally announced at a press conference that Pro Wrestling Noah would debut with two consecutive shows (titled "Departure") in Differ Ariake on August 5 and 6 in Tokyo.
Super J-Cup (1994)
Super J-Cup: 1st Stage was the first Super J-Cup professional wrestling tournament hosted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on April 16, 1994, at Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan. The tournament featured fourteen junior heavyweight wrestlers and was created by Jushin Thunder Liger and was the first NJPW event to feature only junior heavyweight wrestlers. The event received critical acclaim and commercial success, leading to Japanese promotions hosting more editions of the tournament, leading to the event being renamed the "Super J-Cup: 1st Stage" in later years.
Super Junior Tag Tournament
Super J Tag Tournament was a one-night professional wrestling tournament hosted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling and took place on May 8. Most of the wrestlers involved were signed to New Japan but did feature wrestlers from other promotions like Mascara Dorada and Valiente from Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, Kota Ibushi from Dramatic Dream Team, Fujita Hayato and Taro Nohashi from Michinoku Pro Wrestling, and Kushida from Smash.
Gedo (wrestler)
Gedo debuted on March 19, 1989, for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) during the "Takeshi Puroresu Gundan" (TPG), NJPW's parody of World Wrestling Federation's "Rock 'n Wrestling" era. His debut match was against Magic Monkey Wakita, who would later be known as Super Delfin, on March 19, 1989. After TPG died out, Gedo, Wakita, and TPG comrade Jado left NJPW. Jado and Gedo went on to become one of the premiere tag teams in Japan.
World Tag Team Championship (AJPW)
The World Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team championship in Japanese promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling. It was created on June 10, 1988 as a unification of two previous tag team titles in All Japan; the PWF Tag Team Championship, and the NWA International Tag Team Championship; when the PWF champions Jumbo Tsuruta and Yoshiaki Yatsu defeated NWA champions The Road Warriors. As with the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, it is symbolized by four belts, two for each wrestler, representing the former PWF and NWA titles. It is currently the top of two tag team titles in AJPW, along with the secondary All Asia Tag Team Championship. There have been a total of 60 recognized individual champions and 53 recognized teams, who have had a combined 82 official reigns.
NOVA Pro Wrestling
NOVA Pro Wrestling (often referred to as simply NOVA Pro) is an American professional wrestling promotion that was established in 2015 based in Northern Virginia. The company's name comes from the abbreviation of its location, Northern Virginia ("NoVa"). The promotion was founded by Mike King Jr., and his son, Mike E. King, with the intention to showcase the top independent wrestlers of Virginia, Maryland, and the general Mid-Atlantic region, as well as bring some of independent wrestling’s popular names to the Northern Virginia area. The debut show, titled "The NOVA Project", took place on September 25, 2015 in Fairfax, Virginia.
Super J-Cup (1995)
The concept of featuring the world's best junior heavyweights was conceived by Jushin Thunder Liger, leading to New Japan Pro-Wrestling producing the Super J-Cup in 1994 and bringing the best junior heavyweight wrestlers from various Japanese promotions as well as from United States, Canada and Mexico as well. The event held at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan was a huge success as the Sumo Hall was sold out with a crowd of 11,500. The event was a critical and commercial success and received favourable reviews from all the critics. The event also allowed many participants including Jushin Thunder Liger, The Great Sasuke, Gedo Wild Pegasus to make a name for themselves and showcase their talents on a national level. Dave Meltzer of "Wrestling Observer Newsletter" rated the tournament final between Pegasus and Sasuke, a five-star match. Although initially conceived as a one-time only event, the success of the 1994 Super J-Cup led NJPW to collaborate with Wrestle Association R to hold the event again and bring in some new junior heavyweights while also bringing some of the previous year's participants. WAR hosted the event at the previous year's venue Sumo Hall and Último Dragón produced the event while also participating in it.
New Japan Cup
The New Japan Cup (often abbreviated NJC) is an annual single-elimination professional wrestling tournament held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling. Originally intended for every April, it was rescheduled to March in 2007. Though NJPW also runs the annual G1 Climax tournament, the NJC is different in that it is single-elimination, whereas the G1 is a round-robin. Like the G1 however, the winner of the tournament receives a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship; this stipulation was added in 2006. In 2014, the winner was given the right to choose whether to challenge for the IWGP Heavyweight or the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. The following year, the winner could have also chosen to challenge for the NEVER Openweight Championship.
Mio Shirai
On October 19, 2008, Mio and Io made their debuts for one of Japan's largest professional wrestling promotions, All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), wrestling in a match, where they defeated the team of Kyoko Kimura and Mikado. From January to March 2009, the Shirais also made several appearances for another large promotion not usually known for female wrestling, Pro Wrestling Zero1. On April 29, the Shirai sisters won their first championship by defeating Moeka Haruhi and Tomoka Nakagawa in a tournament final to become the first TLW (Totally Lethal Wrestling) World Young Women's Tag Team Champions. Despite its name, the championship was owned and promoted by Pro Wrestling Wave. From July to November, the Shirais spent four months working for the Ice Ribbon promotion.
Tokyo Pro Wrestling
In mid-1966, Japan Wrestling Association president Michiharu Toyonobori resigned his position and left the promotion, taking along with him some talent, including Katsuhisa Shibata (father of current New Japan Pro Wrestling star Katsuyori Shibata) and the future Rusher Kimura (Masao Kimura). Antonio Inoki, who was coming back from a long excursion to the United States, chose to join him and create a new venture, Tokyo Pro Wrestling.
Junji Hirata
Hirata made his debut in New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) on August 26, 1978, against Yoshiaki Fujiwara. In November 1982, he left on an overseas training expedition to Mexico, and later Canada, where in Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling he would create the famous Super Strong Machine persona, as well as use a First Nations gimmick as Sonny Two Rivers. In April 1986, he left NJPW with Riki Choshu for rival wrestling promotion, All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). In June 1987, he returned to NJPW and would soon capture the IWGP Tag Team Championship on three separate occasions with George Takano, Hiro Saito, and Shinya Hashimoto as his tag team partners.
WCW/New Japan Supershow I
WCW/New Japan Supershow I, (known as Starrcade in Tokyo Dome in Japan) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event that took place March 21, 1991 from the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, co-promoted by New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW), who hosted the event and the US-Based World Championship Wrestling (WCW) that supplied a number of the wrestlers on the show. The event was the inaugural WCW/New Japan Supershow.
Tokyo Pro Wrestling
The new version of Tokyo Pro Wrestling was started by former All Japan Pro Wrestling and Super World of Sports mid-carder Takashi Ishikawa in 1994, and it was one of the many independents that arose following SWS's collapse. In 1996 they found a businessman by the name of Kotaro Ishizawa who was willing to bankroll the promotion using his bike messenger business, which enabled Ishikawa to bring foreigners, namely Abdullah the Butcher, 2 Cold Scorpio, and Sabu. It was their peak year, when they were able to hold feuds against WAR and UWFI, but economic problems relating to Kotaro Ishizawa's business' collapse sent Tokyo Pro Wrestling on a downward spiral.
Japan Pro-Wrestling
Japan Puroresu (ジャパンプロレス) or Japan Pro-Wrestling was the first renegade professional wrestling promotion in Japan. It was formed by Riki Choshu and his Ishingun after leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1984. The promotion co-promoted with All Japan Pro Wrestling until 1987 when it dissolved.
Captain New Japan
Hirasawa originally debuted for New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) on 28 January 2006, losing to Takashi Iizuka. Hirasawa would wrestle on the NJPW undercards, mostly losing which is custom for new wrestlers in NJPW. His first win would come on 26 April, defeating the two year pro Yujiro Takahashi. Hirasawa teamed up with Ryusuke Taguchi to participate in his first tournament, the National Area Tag League 2006 where they were placed in block C and lost both of their matches. Hirasawa would make several appearances for Pro Wrestling Zero1, the most notable of which was when he and Manabu Nakanishi participated in the Passion Cup Tag Tournament 2008. In late 2008, Hirasawa would form a tag team with Yuji Nagata, which would be a precursor to Seigigun ("Blue Justice Army"). The pair participated in the 2008 G1 Tag League block B, they would only gain a single point when they drew with Manabu Nakanishi and Yutaka Yoshie. In the fall of 2009, Hirasawa joined Yuji Nagata's new Seigigun stable, along with Wataru Inoue and Super Strong Machine. At Wrestle Kingdom IV in Tokyo Dome, Hirasawa, along with Inoue and Super Strong Machine defeated Jyushin Thunder Liger, Koji Kanemoto, and Kazuchika Okada in the opening match. Even with joining this stable, Hirasawa largely continued in the midcard largely serving as the fall guy in tag match. On 28 June, Seigigun entered a six-man tag tournament with Nagata, Inoue, and Hirasawa forming one team, while Machine teamed with Tonga Strong Machine and Pink Strong Machine (Yoshie). However, both teams lost. On 12 September, there was a special Mitsuhide Hirasawa farewell match, which he would lose.
WAR (wrestling promotion)
Wrestle Association R (formerly known as Wrestle and Romance and abbreviated as WAR) was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded and run by Genichiro Tenryu as the successor to Super World of Sports, and which lasted from 1992 to 2000. The promotion initially established as Wrestle and Romance in 1992, had very few regular contracted workers, instead most of the workers were either freelance or employed in other promotions. Because of this WAR ran many all-star cards. It had interpromotional feuds against New Japan Pro Wrestling, Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, the new Tokyo Pro Wrestling, and UWF International. WAR also continued, albeit in a loose fashion, SWS's old working agreement with the World Wrestling Federation, when they backed the WWF's first Japanese tour, in 1994.
Pro Wrestling America
Pro Wrestling America is a regional independent wrestling promotion based in Minneapolis, Minnesota during the 1980s and early 1990s. Founded and promoted by retired wrestler Eddie Sharkey, a longtime veteran of the American Wrestling Association and owner of the Pro Wrestling America Training Center, Pro Wrestling America featured many established wrestlers while in between the then "Big Three" (American Wrestling Association, National Wrestling Alliance and the World Wrestling Federation) as well as providing many lightheavyweight and cruiserweight wrestlers with their first national exposure, most notably, Sabu, Jerry Lynn and The Lightning Kid.
GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship
The Global Honored Crown (GHC) Junior Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling title in Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling Noah, specifically for junior heavyweight (<100 kg) workers. It was created in 2001 when Yoshinobu Kanemaru defeated Juventud Guerrera in a 12-man tournament final. In addition to Japan, the title has also been defended in the United States, United Kingdom and Germany. There have been a total of 19 recognized champions who have had a combined 38 official reigns.
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.
All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling
Up until 1986, AJW had been the only major women's wrestling ("joshi puroresu" or simply "joshi") promotion in Japan. Then, on August 17, 1986, Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (JWP) was started, by former AJW stars Jackie Sato and Nancy Kumi, as well as boxer Rumi Kazama and others. In the 1990s the number of "joshi puroresu" promotions kept increasing, until, by the end of the decade, there were no fewer than seven operating in Japan.
History of professional wrestling
The dominant styles of Japanese professional wrestling were set in place by the two dominant promotions in Japan. New Japan Pro Wrestling, headed by Antonio Inoki, used Inoki's "strong style" approach of wrestling as a simulated combat sport. Wrestlers incorporated kicks and strikes from martial arts disciplines, and a strong emphasis was placed on submission wrestling. All Japan Pro Wrestling, under the direction of Shohei Baba, used a style referred to as "King's Road". The "King's Road" style was in large part derived from American wrestling, particularly the style of top wrestlers in the National Wrestling Alliance, such as Dory Funk, Jr., Terry Funk, and Harley Race, all of whom wrestled for Baba in Japan. As such, "King's Road" placed a heavy emphasis on working of holds, brawling, and the storytelling elements of professional wrestling. Throughout the 1990s, three individual styles — shoot style, lucha libre, and "garbage" — were the main divisions of independent promotions, but as a result of the "borderless" trend of the first decade of the 21st century to have interpromotional matches, the line between rules among major-league promotions and independents has for the most part been blurred to standardization.
Puroresu done by female wrestlers is called "joshi puroresu". Female wrestling in Japan is usually handled by promotions that specialize in "joshi puroresu", rather than divisions of otherwise male-dominated promotions as is the case in the United States (the only exception was FMW, a men's promotion which had a small women's division, but even then depended on talent from women's federations to provide competition). However, "joshi puroresu" promotions usually have agreements with male puroresu promotions such that they recognize each other's' titles as legitimate, and may share cards. All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling was the dominant "joshi" organization from the 1970s to the 1990s. AJW's first major star was Mach Fumiake in 1974, followed in 1975 by Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda, known as The Beauty Pair. The early 1980s saw the fame of Jaguar Yokota and Devil Masami. That decade would later see the rise of Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka, known as The Crush Gals, who as a tag team achieved a level of unprecedented mainstream success in Japan, unheard of by any female wrestler in the history of professional wrestling all over the world. Their long running feud with Dump Matsumoto and her Gokuaku Domei (loose translation: "Atrocious Alliance") stable would become extremely popular in Japan during the 1980s, with their televised matches resulting in some of the highest rated in Japanese television as well as the promotion regularly selling out arenas.
All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling
By the mid-1960s, the association had fallen apart, due to infighting between the member promotions, and female wrestling was relegated back to being a sideshow act in strip-tease theaters. In 1967, another attempt to organize the sport of women's professional wrestling was made with a new All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Association. This time the Fabulous Moolah, the NWA Women's Champion, came across from the United States and traded her title with Yukiko Tomoe, to lend legitimacy to the promotion. The new Association broke up later that year. Finally, Takashi Matsunaga, who had been the promoter for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Federation, formed the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Corporation (AJW) with his brothers. The promotion held its first card on June 4, 1968, and got a television deal with Fuji TV in the same year.
Michinoku Pro Wrestling
Michinonoku Pro Wrestling (Michinoku Pro or M-Pro) was founded on October 1, 1992 by The Great Sasuke as a community-based promotion for the greater Tohoku, North Eastern, region of Japan. Their first ever pre-show was held on November 27, 1992 in Takizawa City. Though due to disputes with the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF), the promotion was put on the back-burner for the next several months. Gran Hamada joined M-Pro, and their first ever show was held on Match 16, 1993 in Yahaba, Iwate.
All Japan Pro Wrestling
Some interpromotional activities that would not have happened under Shohei Baba's watch have taken place, including the previously unfathomable IWGP Heavyweight Champion vs. Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion bout on a New Japan Pro Wrestling event on February 20, 2005; Satoshi Kojima (who was the Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion) defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which made Kojima the only wrestler to ever hold both titles simultaneously to that point (Keiji Mutoh would later accomplish the feat in 2008. However, he would hold the IWGP Championship as Keiji Mutoh, and the Triple Crown Championship as his alter-ego The Great Muta) In addition, Keiji Mutoh and Satoshi Kojima are both New Japan Pro Wrestling alumni but played a consistent role in the main event picture of All Japan Pro Wrestling from the time of their arrival to the promotion. Furthermore, Keiji Mutoh competed at a Pro Wrestling Noah event on July 10, 2004, teaming with fellow AJPW wrestler Taiyō Kea to face Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa. On July 18, 2004, Mitsuharu Misawa returned to All Japan and defeated Satoshi Kojima at "Battle Banquet". Misawa returned to All Japan again on October 31, 2004 for the "Keiji Mutoh: Love and Bump" pay-per-view event, where he (along with Keiji Mutoh) defeated Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki in what was billed as a "Special Dream Tag Match".
Wrestling World 2002
Wrestling World 2002 was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). It took place on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome. Wrestling World 2002 was the eleventh January 4 Tokyo Dome Show held by NJPW. The show drew 52,000 spectators. The show was the first January 4 Tokyo Dome Show to feature wrestlers from Pro Wrestling Noah, with the main event of the nine match show being a successful defense of the GHC Heavyweight Championship as champion Jun Akiyama defeated NJPW representative Yuji Nagata. The show also featured a successful IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship defense by Kendo Kashin.
Toshiaki Kawada
Following the June 2000 series, Misawa and all but two native talent in All Japan resigned from their positions and defected to the newly formed Pro Wrestling Noah promotion; Toshiaki Kawada and Masanobu Fuchi were the only two native talent to stay with All Japan Pro Wrestling. With the promotion gutted of top talent, Kawada's old mentor Genichiro Tenryu was brought back and an interpromotional agreement was struck with New Japan; the first key match against New Japan saw Kawada defeat IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kensuke Sasaki on October 9, 2000 in a non-title match. On September 6, 2003, he won the Triple Crown for the fifth time in a tournament final against Shinjiro Ohtani. This time, however, Kawada embarked on a magnificent reign with 10 successful title defenses against the likes of Genichiro Tenryu, Shinya Hashimoto, Jamal, Taiyō Kea, Kensuke Sasaki and Hiroyoshi Tenzan; as a result, Kawada broke Misawa's record of 8 defenses during Misawa's third reign. In addition, 2004 became only the second year when the Triple Crown did not change hands (the first was 1993, during Misawa's first reign), which included a successful defense against Mick Foley in the HUSTLE promotion; in Misawa's era, the title was not defended during the Champion Carnival and World's Strongest Tag Determination League tours, which were dedicated to their namesake tournaments. Kawada's reign restored dignity to the Triple Crown at the expense of the said tournaments.
New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling
NZWPW started in October 2003 by martial arts trainer, Martin Stirling. Wrestlers trained by Stirling first performed at the Armageddon Convention on 20 September 2003, as part of an Impact Pro Wrestling show, and the promotion was launched under the name Wellington Pro Wrestling (WPW). Their first show was held on 14 November 2003 in Petone. WPW then got re-branded to New Zealand Wide Pro Wrestling in January 2005. This was partly because the domain name for WPW was already used and to reflect the growing interest in touring New Zealand (Christchurch, Masterton, Levin, Gisborne, Hastings and Auckland) as well as the Wellington area.
January 4 Tokyo Dome Show
The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is a professional wrestling event produced annually on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), a Japan-based professional wrestling promotion. NJPW has promoted events in the Tokyo Dome on January 4 since 1992. The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show has since became NJPW's premier annual event and the biggest event in Japanese wrestling, similar to what WrestleMania is for WWE and American professional wrestling.
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling's debut show took place on January 30, 2013 at Akihabara Twin Box in Tokyo. The show featured just two matches, a sambo exhibition between trainee Chikage Kiba and DDT referee and former sambo competitor Daisuke Kiso, and a singles match between trainees Miyu Yamashita and Kanna. The show did not use a wrestling ring, and instead all matches took place on training mats, similar to the Ice Ribbon promotion in its early years. Along with wrestling matches, the debut show featured live music from idol units. As TJP's roster was very small at the start, most of their early shows followed this same formula and only ran small venues. Entry to their first few shows was free as a way of introducing themselves to a bigger audience, and their first paid show was held on April 26. As their roster of trainees expanded in 2014, TJP began including more matches on their cards, and began using a ring. They also ran a show with an appearance from voice actress/wrestler Ai Shimizu in November 2014. TJP held its first full show without an idol performance on February 28, 2015 at Shinjuku Face. At the show, Ai Shimizu and Saki Akai confirmed they would be competing with the promotion regularly, and more trainees debuted at the show.
Puroresu
Since its establishment, professional wrestling in Japan has depended on foreigners, called gaijin, particularly North Americans, to get its own stars over. Rikidōzan's JWA and its successor promotions All Japan Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro-Wrestling were members of the American-based National Wrestling Alliance at various points, and used these connections to bring North American stars. International Pro Wrestling was the first Japanese promotion to link into European circuits. It was through IWE that Frenchman André the Giant got his international reputation for the first time.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
The NJPW Greatest Wrestlers is New Japan's hall of fame, established in 2007 to honor wrestlers who have wrestled for the promotion. From 2007 to 2011, the inductions begin on March 6, the anniversary of the promotion's founding.
King of Pro-Wrestling (2016)
King of Pro-Wrestling (2016) was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), which took place on October 10, 2016, in Tokyo at Ryōgoku Kokugikan. It was NJPW's biggest show between August's G1 Climax and January's Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome and featured nine matches with four of them contested for championships, main evented by Kazuchika Okada defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Pro Wrestling Noah representative Naomichi Marufuji. This was the fifth event under the King of Pro-Wrestling name.
Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling
Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling, also known as LLPW and currently as LLPW-X, is a Japanese independent women's professional wrestling promotion founded in 1992 by Rumie Kazama and Shinobu Kandori.
Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance
After Rikidōzan’s death in 1963, the company continued to operate as the nation’s premier (and only male) wrestling circuit until challenged in the late 1960s by International Wrestling Enterprise, which featured the first major World heavyweight championship based in Japan, the IWA title. The JWA's top stars, Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki left to form their own promotions (All Japan Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling, respectively) in 1972. With its top drawing cards gone, the JWA was therefore out of business the following year.World Big League, also known as World League was a professional wrestling tournament annually held by Japanese Wrestling Association from 1959 till 1972. The 1973 edition was not held as JWA folded that year.
The New Beginning in Sapporo (2018)
The New Beginning in Sapporo (2018) was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on January 27 and 28, 2018, in Sapporo, Hokkaido, at the Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center. The first night of the event featured nine matches, two of which were contested for championships, while the second night featured two championship matches out of nine matches overall. In the main event of the first night, Minoru Suzuki defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to become the new IWGP Intercontinental Champion, and on the second night Jay White defeated Kenny Omega to become the new IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion. This was the thirteenth event under the New Beginning name and the second to take place in Sapporo.
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.
NJPW The New Beginning
The New Beginning is an annual professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event has been held since 2011 as a pay-per-view (PPV). From 2013 to 2014, the event also aired outside Japan as an internet pay-per-view (iPPV). Since 2015, the event has aired worldwide on NJPW's internet streaming site, NJPW World. The event is held in February, the month following NJPW's biggest annual event, the January 4 Dome Show, usually the culmination point of major storylines. As the name of the event suggests, it marks the beginning of a new year for the promotion.
The New Beginning (2011)
The New Beginning (2011) was a series of two professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) events promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The events took place on February 15 and 20, 2011. The first was held in Tokyo at Korakuen Hall and the second in Sendai, Miyagi, at the Sendai Sun Plaza Hall. They were the first events held under the New Beginning name.
The New Beginning in Sapporo (2017)
The New Beginning in Sapporo (2017) was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on February 5, 2017, in Sapporo, Hokkaido, at the Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center. The event featured nine matches, four of which were contested for championships. In the main event, Kazuchika Okada successfully defended the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Minoru Suzuki. This was the eleventh event under the New Beginning name and the first to take place in Sapporo.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
On January 4, 2011, New Japan officially announced the NJPW Invasion Tour 2011: Attack on East Coast, the promotion's first tour of the United States to be held in May 2011. The tour featured shows in Rahway, New Jersey on May 13, New York City on May 14 and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 15, as well as cross-promotion with American independent group Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW). As part of the tour, NJPW introduced a new title, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. On January 31, 2012, Yuke's announced that it had sold all shares of New Japan Pro-Wrestling to card game company Bushiroad for ¥500 million ($6.5 million).
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
The promotion also has its own governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix, shortened as IWGP. NJPW currently has eight titles: the IWGP Heavyweight, IWGP Intercontinental, IWGP United States Heavyweight, IWGP Junior Heavyweight, IWGP Tag Team, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team, NEVER Openweight and the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships. It also holds several tournaments each year, including the G1 Climax, World Tag League, New Japan Cup and Best of the Super Juniors.
All Asia Tag Team Championship
The (All) Asia Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team title in Japanese promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). It was created on November 16, 1955, in the Japan Wrestling Association (JWA) when King Kong Czaya and Tiger Joginder Singh defeated JWA founder Rikidōzan and Harold Sakata in a tournament final. It was abandoned in 1973 when the JWA closed, but was later revived in 1976 by AJPW in response to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) announcing the creation of its own version of the title. It is currently one of two tag team titles in AJPW, along with the World Tag Team Championship. It is also the oldest active title in Japan. There have been a total 105 official reigns, as the first 27 reigns from the JWA is also recognized by AJPW.
NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship
The NWA Intercontinental Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team title in Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling Zero1, typically reserved for (but not exclusive to) heavyweight (>) wrestlers. It was created on June 14, 2001, three months after then Pro Wrestling Zero-One's creation, when Samoa Joe & Keiji Sakoda (though Zero1 has since ceased to recognize both their reign as well as the following reign by Steve Corino and Mike Rapada) defeated Yuuki Ishikawa & Katsumi Usuda. This was during a time when Zero-One was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance; since the two organizations' parting in late 2004, the NWA does not recognize or sanction it, though it retains the NWA initials. It is one of two tag team titles currently active in Zero1, along with the NWA International Lightweight Tag Team Championship, contested exclusively among junior heavyweights. There have been a total of 43 recognized individual champions and 37 recognized teams, who have had a combined 42 official reigns.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
In the past NJPW has worked with WWE, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Global Force Wrestling (GFW), and Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), among others. The company currently has working agreements with three foreign promotions—Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in Mexico, Ring of Honor (ROH) in the U.S., and the British Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW). Occasionally, NJPW will also host cross-promotional matches with other Japanese promotions, such as All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and Pro Wrestling Noah.
All Together (professional wrestling)
All Together was a series of two professional wrestling events organized together by Japan's three biggest promotions; All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Pro Wrestling Noah, in response to the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami. The first event was held in Tokyo on August 27, 2011, and the second in Sendai on February 19, 2012. All proceeds from the events were donated to Japanese Red Cross. The events featured no storylines or championship matches, instead they were booked as "supercards", putting together combinations of wrestlers from the three promotions that fans would normally not see.
Tokyo Pro Wrestling
The promotion was briefly reborn as Shin ("New") Tokyo Pro Wrestling but remained in an even bigger obscure status. One of its top trainees, Shigeo Okumura, ended up spending more time competing for AJPW and eventually joined it in 2000, following the Pro Wrestling Noah split.
Puroresu
Since its beginning, Japanese professional wrestling depended on television to reach a wide audience. Rikidōzan's matches in the 1950s, televised by Nippon TV, often attracted huge crowds to Tokyo giant screens. Eventually TV Asahi also gained the right to broadcast JWA, but eventually the two major broadcasters agreed to split the talent, centering about Rikidōzan's top two students: NTV for Giant Baba and his group, and Asahi for Antonio Inoki and his group. This arrangement continued after the JWA split into today's major promotions, New Japan and All Japan, led by Inoki and Baba respectively. In 2000, following the Pro Wrestling Noah split, NTV decided to follow the new venture rather than staying with All Japan. Nowadays, however, mirroring the decline that professional wrestling in the U.S. had in the 1970s and early 1980s, NOAH's "Power Hour" and New Japan's "World Pro Wrestling" have been largely relegated to the midnight hours by their broadcasters.
Wrestle Kingdom 11
Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on January 4, 2017, at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan. It was the 26th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show, which is NJPW's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl".
Big Japan Pro Wrestling
Big Japan has had interpromotional feuds with both New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW). These were both kayfabe feuds that were done in order to generate more income for both companies. During late 1996 and early 1997, BJW entered into an agreement with NJPW. Being a relatively new promotion, BJW was in need of mainstream publicity. NJPW agreed to a feud, which would allow Big Japan wrestlers to appear in their company and use New Japan's popularity to give exposure to their company. In return, Big Japan agreed to lose the feud and the majority of the interpromotional matches, therefore strengthening the New Japan brand. The situation provided an interesting clash of wrestling styles, as NJPW often favored a strong style of competition. The two promotions held Wrestling World 1997, the biggest event during the interpromotional feud and the fifth January 4 Tokyo Dome Show. In the late 1990s and into the 2000s, BJW competed against CZW. CZW was a relatively new American promotion at the time, and also largely focused on an extreme style of wrestling. Wrestlers feuded in both companies having matches in the United States and Japan. During the CZW feud, top star Tomoaki Honma departed the company to become a freelancer.
History of professional wrestling
Since its beginning, Japanese professional wrestling depended on television to reach a wide audience. Rikidōzan's matches in the 1950s, televised by Nippon TV, often attracted huge crowds to Tokyo giant screens. Eventually TV Asahi also gained the right to broadcast JWA, but eventually the two major broadcasters agreed to split the talent, centering about Rikidōzan's top two students: NTV for Giant Baba and his group, and Asahi for Antonio Inoki and his group. This arrangement continued after the JWA split into today's major promotions, New Japan and All Japan, led by Inoki and Baba respectively. In 2000, following the Pro Wrestling Noah split, NTV decided to follow the new venture rather than staying with All Japan. Nowadays, however, mirroring the decline that professional wrestling in the U.S. had in the 1970s and early 1980s; NOAH's "Power Hour" and New Japan's "World Pro Wrestling" have been largely relegated to the midnight hours by their broadcasters. The advent of cable television and pay-per-view also enabled independents such as RINGS to rise. WOWOW, a television network, had a working agreement with Akira Maeda that paid millions to RINGS when he was featured, but eventually was scrapped with Maeda's retirement and the subsequent RINGS collapse.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
New Japan aired its first internet pay-per-view, the fourth day of the 2012 G1 Climax, on August 5, 2012. The October 8, 2012, King of Pro-Wrestling pay-per-view marked the first time viewers outside Japan were able to order a pay-per-view by the promotion through Ustream. On October 5, 2012, New Japan announced the creation of the NEVER Openweight Championship, which would be contested for on the NEVER series. A two-day tournament to determine the inaugural champion was held between November 15 and 19, 2012.
List of New Japan Pro-Wrestling tournaments
On October 5, 2012, over two years after the founding of NEVER, New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced the creation of the project's first championship, the NEVER Openweight Championship. The title was originally created with the idea of using it to "elevate younger wrestlers". The first champion was to be determined in a sixteen-man single-elimination tournament, which was set to take place November 15 and 19, 2012. The title and the tournament were announced by New Japan president Naoki Sugabayashi and NEVER regular Tetsuya Naito, who was scheduled to enter the tournament, but was forced to pull out after suffering a knee injury. Much like regular NEVER events, the tournament also featured wrestlers not signed to New Japan; freelancer Daisuke Sasaki, Hiro Tonai, Kengo Mashimo, Ryuichi Sekine, Shiori Asahi and Taishi Takizawa from Kaientai Dojo, and Masato Tanaka from Pro Wrestling Zero1. The entire first round of the tournament took place on November 15 and saw Shiori Asahi, Yoshi-Hashi, Taishi Takizawa, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomohiro Ishii, Kengo Mashimo, Karl Anderson and Masato Tanaka advance. The rest of the tournament took place four days later. During the second round, Kengo Mashimo defeated Ryusuke Taguchi, Karl Anderson defeated Shiori Asahi, Masato Tanaka defeated Taishi Takizawa, Tomohiro Ishii defeated Yoshi-Hashi. The semifinals saw Anderson defeat Mashimo and Tanaka defeat Ishii. In the finals of the tournament, Tanaka, the 39-year-old, who, despite officially being affiliated with Pro Wrestling Zero1, had worked for NJPW regularly since August 2009, defeated Anderson to become the inaugural NEVER Openweight Champion. Though the title was originally designed to be defended at NEVER events, NJPW has not held a single NEVER event since the championship tournament.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
The promotion debuted a new series called NEVER in August 2010, designed to be a series of events spotlighting younger up-and-coming New Japan talent and feature more outsider participation in the promotion. The final NEVER event was held in November 2012.
Wrestling World 1997
Wrestling World 1997 was a professional wrestling event co-produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) promotions. It took place on January 4, 1997 in the Tokyo Dome. Officially, the show drew 62,500 spectators and $5,000,000 in ticket sales. The show featured 12 matches, including four matches that were promoted jointly with the BJW promotion and presented as a rivalry between the two promotions. The show featured 12 matches in total, including three title matches, two of which saw new champions crowned.
The New Beginning (2012)
The New Beginning (2012) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on February 12, 2012, in Osaka, Osaka, at the Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium. The event featured eight matches, four of which were contested for championships. The event was the first major event held by NJPW after the promotion had been sold to Bushiroad. It was the third event under the New Beginning name.
Dynamite Kid
After doing big business in Canada, Dynamite was booked on his first tour of Japan, working for International Pro Wrestling from 19–25 July 1979. Stu Hart and Stampede Wrestling switched their business relationship from IPW to New Japan Pro Wrestling shortly after Dynamite's first tour, and he wrestled for New Japan from 4 January 1980 to 2 August 1984. Perhaps the most memorable matches that came out of Dynamite's run in New Japan were from his now legendary feud against Tiger Mask; Tiger Mask's debut was against Dynamite, in which Tiger Mask shocked the wrestling world by gaining the victory over Dynamite. The two would compete against one another several more times in a feud that is often credited as putting Junior Heavyweight wrestling on the map, as well as setting the standard for future generations. Both the NWA and WWF Junior Heavyweight titles were vacated after Tiger Mask was injured by Dynamite Kid in a tag match on 1 April 1983. Dynamite and Kuniaki Kobayashi competed for the vacant titles, but no winner was decided. On 21 April 1983, Dynamite and Tiger Mask met for the vacant WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship, but no winner was decided after the match ended up as a draw three consecutive times.
Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance
Rikidōzan, a former "rikishi" (sumo wrestling practitioner) who had debuted as a Western-style professional wrestler in 1951, decided in 1953 to establish a territory that would represent the National Wrestling Alliance in Japan.
Pro Wrestling Zero1
The promotion was founded by former New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) stars Shinya Hashimoto and Shinjiro Otani. In 2000, Hashimoto proposed an independent promotion within NJPW called New Japan Pro Wrestling Zero, but the idea was shot down. When Hashimoto was fired by NJPW in November 2000, he registered the Pro Wrestling Zero-One name.
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.
King of Pro-Wrestling (2014)
King of Pro-Wrestling (2014) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on October 13, 2014, in Tokyo at Ryōgoku Kokugikan and featured ten matches, six of which were contested for championships. It was the third event under the King of Pro-Wrestling name.
Yoshihiro Momota
On October 21, 1972, Momota, along with Shohei "Giant" Baba and younger brother Mitsuo Momota, founded All Japan Pro Wrestling where he started out as a ring announcer for the promotion. Around the mid-1970s, Momota decided to become a wrestler just like his father and his brother. He started training with Terry Funk and Dory Funk Jr. and began wrestling in Texas before wrestling full-time for All Japan. His wrestling career didn't take off as well as planned although he did find a little success. In 1987 he retired from in-ring competition and decided to become a backstage helper and a member of the All Japan board of directors until he resigned from his position after Mitsuharu Misawa had disagreements with widow Motoko Baba. He joined Pro Wrestling Noah as a backstage helper and a member of the board of directors, but in September 2000, his health was beginning to deteriorate due to liver failure.
Gallows and Anderson
On November 11, 2013, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) announced the participating teams in the 2013 World Tag League. Included was a team representing the Bullet Club stable, made up of founding member Karl Anderson and the debuting Doc Gallows. Anderson had been working for NJPW regularly since 2008, while Gallows, a former WWE performer, had most recently worked for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). The two ended up winning their block with a record of four wins and two losses, and on December 8, first defeated Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma in the semifinals and then Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima in the finals to win the tournament. This led to a match on January 4, 2014, at Wrestle Kingdom 8 in Tokyo Dome, where they defeated K.E.S. (Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Lance Archer) to win the IWGP Tag Team Championship. Anderson and Gallows ended up holding the title for a full year, successfully defending it six times. In December 2014, the two made it to the finals of their second consecutive World Tag League, but were defeated there by Hirooki Goto and Katsuyori Shibata. who then went on to defeat them for IWGP Tag Team Championship on January 4, 2015, at Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome.
IWGP Heavyweight Championship
The is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the initialism of NJPW's governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix. The title was introduced on June 12, 1987, in the finals of an IWGP tournament.
Global Professional Wrestling Alliance
The Global Professional Wrestling Alliance (GPWA) was a cooperative group of professional wrestling promotions and wrestlers from around the world. Formed in 2006, the group was founded by the professional wrestler Mitsuharu Misawa, the founder of Pro Wrestling Noah. It was led by president Yoshiyuki Nakamura, co-owner of Pro Wrestling Zero1. The organization folded in 2009 and was subsequently purchased by WWE in 2010 after a bankruptcy auction.
Black New Japan
Black New Japan was a professional wrestling stable that competed in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Black New Japan was led by Masahiro Chono and was one of many of Chono's anti-New Japan stables.
Japan Pro-Wrestling
In August 1984, Riki Choshu had formed Ishin Gundan with Animal Hamaguchi, Isamu Teranishi, Yoshiaki Yatsu, Masa Saito and Kuniaki Kobayashi to feud with Antonio Inoki and New Japan Pro Wrestling. However, just as the feud was heating up, tensions both in and out of the ring forced Ishingun and a few others to leave NJPW that September. The next month, they formed Japan Pro-Wrestling and also announced a co-promotion with All Japan Pro Wrestling. Masa Saito briefly went back to North America but returned to Japan in 1985 and joined in the new promotion.
Tokyo Pro Wrestling
The original Tokyo Pro Wrestling operated from 1966 to 1967.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
The is a professional wrestling junior heavyweight championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix. The title was introduced on February 6, 1986, at a NJPW show. Only wrestlers under the junior heavyweight weight-limit may hold the championship. NJPW currently controls two junior heavyweight championships: the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. The weight-limit for the tag team title is ; it is assumed that this title has the same weight-limit. From August 5, 1996, until November 5, 1997, the title was part of the J-Crown, or J-Crown Octuple Unified Championship. The J-Crown was an assembly of eight different championships from several different promotions. It was created on August 5, 1996, when The Great Sasuke won an eight-man tournament. The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship, the British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship, the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship, the NWA World Welterweight Championship, the UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship, the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship, the WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship, and the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship were the eight championships that were involved. On November 5, 1997, then-champion Shinjiro Otani vacated all J-Crown belts but the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship after the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) retook control of its Light Heavyweight title, effectively ending the J-Crown.
International Wrestling Association of Japan
The International Wrestling Association of Japan, more commonly known as IWA Japan, was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion operating from 1994 to 1996 and again from 2011 onwards. It was formed by Victor Quiñones as a successor to the W*ING promotion, which was folding at the time as a rival to Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), the pioneer of deathmatch wrestling in Japan and the only deathmatch promotion in Japan at the time. Most of the wrestlers jumped ship to Quiñones' new IWA Japan group. He found a sponsor in Tatsukuni "Kinroku" Asano, a business man who owned several restaurants in Tokyo and had bought and run several wrestling shows prior to IWA Japan.
Kazushi Sakuraba
On August 12, 2012, Sakuraba, alongside Katsuyori Shibata, started appearing in New Japan Pro Wrestling. It was Sakuraba's first work for the company since 1995, and the first ever as a free agent instead of a representative from another promotion. Sakuraba and Shibata wrestled their first match on September 23, defeating Hiromu Takahashi and Wataru Inoue in a tag team match. Sakuraba and Shibata, collectively dubbed Laughter7, continued their winning ways at the following two pay-per-views, King of Pro-Wrestling on October 8 and Power Struggle on November 11, both times defeating the team of Togi Makabe and Wataru Inoue. Also at Power Struggle, Shinsuke Nakamura nominated Sakuraba as the next challenger for his IWGP Intercontinental Championship. On December 2, Sakuraba won his first exchange with Nakamura, when Laughter7 defeated Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii in a tag team match to remain undefeated since their return. On January 4, 2013, at Wrestle Kingdom 7 in Tokyo Dome, Sakuraba suffered his first defeat since his return to professional wrestling, when he unsuccessfully challenged Shinsuke Nakamura for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. Sakuraba and Shibata returned to their winning ways at the following pay-per-view, The New Beginning on February 10, where they defeated Hirooki Goto and Wataru Inoue in a tag team match. On April 7 at Invasion Attack, Sakuraba and Shibata suffered their first tag team loss, when they were defeated by Hirooki Goto and Yuji Nagata via referee stoppage, when Sakuraba injured his right elbow, after taking a belly-to-back suplex from Nagata, and unable to continue the match. New Japan later announced that Sakuraba would be sidelined for two to three months. Sakuraba wrestled his return match on July 20, defeating Yuji Nagata via submission. On September 8, Sakuraba and Shibata took part in the Wrestle-1 promotion's inaugural event, defeating Masakatsu Funaki and Masayuki Kono in a tag team match. Sakuraba continued his rivalry with Yuji Nagata at the September 29 Destruction pay-per-view, where he and Shibata defeated Nagata and Manabu Nakanishi with Sakuraba pinning his rival for the win.
Antonio Inoki
Fired from JWA in late 1971 for planning a takeover of the promotion, Inoki founded New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in 1972. His first match as a New Japan wrestler was against Karl Gotch.
Akio Sato (wrestler)
Akio Sato made his professional wrestling debut in 1970 in the old Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance, but left that promotion in 1972 to co-found (with Giant Baba) All Japan Pro Wrestling. During the middle of the 70s Sato went to the US and competed in various territories. He first attracted the attention of the US fans when he competed for the NWA Central States territory run by Bob Geigel as a face teaming with people like Jerry Oates and the Viking. On February 19, 1976 Sato teamed up with promoter Bob Geigel to win the "Central States" version of the NWA World Tag-Team Titles. The team vacated the titles by July, most likely so that Geigel could focus on booking the territory. Sato and new partner Pat O’Connor were unable to win the vacant titles.
Wrestle Kingdom I
When New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) held the 2006 January 4 Tokyo Dome Show, Toukon Shidou Chapter 1, some saw it as a possible "end of an era". In recent years, the January 4 show, held annually since 1992, had been suffering from a drop in both interest and attendance and while the 2006 show drew 31,000 fans to the Tokyo Dome, only around 10,000 of them paid for their ticket. The show, however, was still considered a success due to high merchandise sales, allowing NJPW to keep the tradition alive for another year. NJPW had previously had success promoting interpromotional shows with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and decided to partner with them again for the 2007 Tokyo Dome show in an effort to boost attendance numbers. The partnership was officially announced in a press conference on November 15, 2006. AJPW had recently partnered with Yuke's, the owners of NJPW, for the video game "Wrestle Kingdom". As a result, the 2007 January 4 Tokyo Dome show was dubbed "Wrestle Kingdom in Tokyo Dome". The name stuck and the annual January 4 Tokyo Dome show has been known as Wrestle Kingdom ever since.
The main event of the show was booked as a tribute to Shinya Hashimoto, who had died from cerebral hemorrhage on July 11, 2005. In the match, Hashimoto's Three Musketeers partners Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono would take on Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima. Both teams had actually disbanded years earlier due to Mutoh and Kojima having jumped from NJPW to AJPW at the start of 2002, but Kojima and Tenzan had recently reunited for AJPW's 2006 Real World Tag League. Mutoh was said to have been negative towards the idea of turning the match into a Hashimoto tribute, but was convinced to go along with it on the day of the show.
Pro Wrestling Zero1
Among the major changes to the federation's structure was joining the AWA Superstars of Wrestling (now Wrestling Superstars Live) as the only Japanese member. At the same time the owner of the company's National Wrestling Alliance promoting license, New Japan Pro Wrestling, took the license back for their own use.
Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi
Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Group ("Purofesshonaru-resuringu Fujiwara-Gumi", プロフェッショナルレスリング藤原組) was a shoot style professional wrestling promotion based in Japan, operating from 1991 to 1996. It was formed by Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki after the collapse of the Japanese UWF.
NEVER Openweight Championship
On October 5, 2012, over two years after the founding of NEVER, New Japan Pro-Wrestling announced the creation of the project's first championship, the NEVER Openweight Championship. The title was originally created with the idea of using it to "elevate younger wrestlers". The first champion was to be determined in a sixteen-man single-elimination tournament, which was set to take place November 15 and 19, 2012. The title and the tournament were announced by New Japan president Naoki Sugabayashi and NEVER regular Tetsuya Naito, who was scheduled to enter the tournament, but was forced to pull out after suffering a knee injury. Much like regular NEVER events, the tournament also featured wrestlers not signed to New Japan; freelancer Daisuke Sasaki, Hiro Tonai, Kengo Mashimo, Ryuichi Sekine, Shiori Asahi and Taishi Takizawa from Kaientai Dojo, and Masato Tanaka from Pro Wrestling Zero1. The entire first round of the tournament took place on November 15 and saw Shiori Asahi, Yoshi-Hashi, Taishi Takizawa, Ryusuke Taguchi, Tomohiro Ishii, Kengo Mashimo, Karl Anderson and Masato Tanaka advance. The rest of the tournament took place four days later. During the second round, Kengo Mashimo defeated Ryusuke Taguchi, Karl Anderson defeated Shiori Asahi, Masato Tanaka defeated Taishi Takizawa, Tomohiro Ishii defeated Yoshi-Hashi. The semifinals saw Anderson defeat Mashimo and Tanaka defeat Ishii. In the finals of the tournament, Tanaka, the 39-year-old, who, despite officially being affiliated with Pro Wrestling Zero1, had worked for NJPW regularly since August 2009, defeated Anderson to become the inaugural NEVER Openweight Champion. Though the title was originally designed to be defended at NEVER events, NJPW has not held a single NEVER event since the championship tournament.
WAR (wrestling promotion)
On July 28, 1995, WAR was renamed "Wrestle Association R" at a show held in the Korakuen Hall. In 1998, WAR cancelled contracts to the roster and began running less and less cards due to Tenryu's comeback in New Japan, and in July 2000, it promoted a farewell show that served as the prelude to Tenryu's return to All Japan Pro Wrestling (a lot of the wrestlers from WAR also joined AJPW to fill the void by those who joined Mitsuharu Misawa in forming Pro Wrestling Noah). The WAR name was kept for the use of a stable led by Tenryu during brief angles in All Japan and FMW in 2001.
Japan Pro-Wrestling
In 2003, Choshu reformed Japan Pro-Wrestling in Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling, but after a year, due to financial issues with Kensuke Sasaki, evolved the promotion to Riki Pro and ran smaller scale shows, until Chōshu finally returned to NJPW in 2005 as booker.Tag Team and Stables
All Japan Pro Wrestling
The promotion was founded by Shohei "Giant" Baba and the Momota brothers, Mitsuo and Yoshihiro, sons of Rikidōzan. Baba, a former professional baseball pitcher, joined the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance (JWA) in 1960. In October 1972, he left the JWA and formed his own group, All Japan. Their first card was on October 21, 1972 at Machida City Gym in Tokyo, Japan. The inaugural roster included Baba, Mitsuo Momota, Akio Sato, Samson Kutsuwada, Motoshi Okuma and Mashio Koma. Thunder Sugiyama, who had recently left International Wrestling Enterprise, also came along to help and brought some lower-level IWE wrestlers with him on a freelance basis. Some personalities from North America also helped with the few cards, including Dory Funk Sr., Terry Funk, Bruno Sammartino, Dominic DeNucci, Fred Blassie and The Destroyer.
Osaka Pro Wrestling Championship
The Osaka Pro Wrestling Championship is the top singles title in the Japanese professional wrestling promotion Osaka Pro Wrestling. The title was established in 2000. Super Delfin defeated Dick Togo to become the first champion. There have been a total of 18 recognized champions, who have had a combined 30 official reigns and there have been three vancancies.