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83-600: In January 2002, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) ace Keiji Mutoh left the promotion, jumping to rival All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) along with Satoshi Kojima and Kendo Kashin . Riki Choshu , NJPW's head booker at the time, was blamed for their departure and removed from his position by the president Antonio Inoki in February. Furious with Inoki's decision to do this, Choshu left the promotion altogether in May 2002 and blasted both Inoki and chairman Tatsumi Fujinami in interviews. At

166-580: A 39 °C (102.2 °F) fever. He won the G1 Climax for the second time in August 2000 with a victory over last year's winner Manabu Nakanishi in the final, now holding both of New Japan's two heavyweight singles crowns. On October 9, 2000, Sasaki surrendered the IWGP title after he lost to Toshiaki Kawada in a non-title match at an All Japan vs. New Japan event called Do Judge . In a tournament final, Sasaki regained

249-722: A Finals Decision match against Satoshi Kojima and Suwama on December 9; both teams were tied, and opponents were needed for Keiji Muto and Joe Doering in the final of the League. Sasaki successfully defended the Triple Crown Championship against Satoshi Kojima (on March 1, 2008). Sasaki participated in the 2008 Champion Carnival over five straight shows in the Korakuen Hall from April 5 to April 9, scoring 4 points after 1 win (over Joe Doering ), 1 loss (to Minoru Suzuki) and 2 draws (with Suwama and Osamu Nishimura ). Sasaki lost

332-775: A best-selling trading card game, King of Pro Wrestling , and appearances from NJPW stars in its various franchises. NJPW was affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance at various points in its history. NJPW also had agreements with various MMA and professional wrestling promotions around the world; including WWE , World Championship Wrestling , American Wrestling Association , World Class Championship Wrestling , Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , WAR , Jersey All Pro Wrestling , UWFi , Ring of Honor , Pride Fighting Championships , and All Elite Wrestling . Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s The promotion

415-487: A bid to recoup money and replicate the success of Pride FC and K-1 , Choshu announced "X1" in September, a sister MMA promotion of WJ which drew some attention after they announced Katsuhiko Nakajima , then 15 years old, would debut as the youngest MMA fighter ever on the card. Despite the attention, the show was heavily panned by fans who criticized the inexperienced fighters and low level of competition. In addition to this,

498-539: A fanbase, and attendance and interest soon began to dwindle. WJ struggled to turn a profit with any shows they ran, and Choshu's excessive spending soon became a problem; this had been a worry of investors for months, as Choshu had spent over ¥200 million ($ 1.8 million USD) before they had even run a show on building a dojo, a tour bus, a new car for himself, and an expensive year-end party attended by many celebrities and high profile figures. A tournament took place in July to crown

581-615: A few months later; however, that was very brief, lasting only 15 days. The pair would have two reigns as IWGP Tag Team Champions , and had memorable matches with The Steiner Brothers . Two more tag title reigns followed when in late 1992, Sasaki assumed the name "Power Warrior" and teamed with Road Warrior Hawk . As The Hell Raisers , they dominated the tag team scene in New Japan. In October 1992, he also started wrestling periodically for World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and would wrestle there on and off until December 1996. Sasaki dropped

664-527: A month to both of his daughters who were studying in the United Kingdom at the time. Numerous wrestlers began to claim they were owed money by Choshu, with Kensuke Sasaki putting up ¥5 million of his own money and canceling his life insurance to help continue to promote events. WJ's unpaid salaries were later parodied in the promotion, with Shiro Koshinaka forming the "Labour Union" stable and feuding with Choshu in kayfabe over his numerous debts to them. In

747-495: A new Greatest 18 Club Championship , awarding it to Riki Choshu . The 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. Domestic: International (former): International (current): Worldwide : Kensuke Sasaki Kensuke Sasaki ( Japanese : 佐々木 健介 , Sasaki Kensuke , born August 4, 1966)

830-474: A new partnership with The Crash Lucha Libre ; both partnerships ended later in 2019. On October 21, 2019, NJPW announced the formation of a new American subsidiary of the company, named New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America (NJoA). In 2019, they had run a record 13 shows in the United States, with plans to run double that in 2020. It was reported at the same time that NJPW and ROH had no joint shows planned for

913-468: A one-month span. Sasaki solidified his dominance in the heavyweight division by defeating both Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh in his first two title defenses, thus defeating The Three Musketeers in three straight title matches. In April 1998, he lost the title to Tatsumi Fujinami . In March 1999, he won another IWGP Tag Team Championship with Shiro Koshinaka . Sasaki won his second IWGP Heavyweight Championship from Genichiro Tenryu while wrestling with

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996-603: A press conference. With WJ established, Choshu began seeking talent to sign to the newborn promotion. Kensuke Sasaki , a trainee of Choshu and the former ace of NJPW, had grown disillusioned with New Japan's focus on MMA fighters over pro wrestlers and announced his departure from NJPW in October 2002 once his contract expired in January. Shiro Koshinaka , Kenzo Suzuki and referee Masao "Tiger" Hattori also announced they would not be renewing their contracts with New Japan in January, and

1079-544: A redemption storyline where he attempted to win back the support of both the wrestlers and fans in NJPW. In August, he entered his first G1 Climax since 2002, but was prevented from reaching the finals by losing to Tenryu on the final day. By October, Sasaki was once again a firm fan favourite, and regained the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in controversial fashion, beating Kazuyuki Fujita in just 2:29 after reversing

1162-794: A satellite of All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), in February 1986. On February 16, 1986, he made his debut against Shinji Sasazaki in a losing effort. Shortly afterwards, Sasaki became a regular in AJPW for over a year. He defected to rival promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), following Choshu, who returned to NJPW in 1987. During his time with NJPW, Sasaki teamed up with the likes of Osamu Matsuda and Kenichi Oya . In January 1989, Sasaki embarked on an excursion to North America. He first started wrestling there in Puerto Rico in World Wrestling Council (WWC), where he held his very first championship,

1245-457: A sleeper into a pinfall. This win was legitimately protested by Sasaki and his wife Akira Hokuto, who destroyed the trophy given to Sasaki backstage and criticised Fujita for purposely dropping the championship so he could focus on MMA. Nevertheless, Kensuke successfully defended the belt twice against Hiroshi Tanahashi and Minoru Suzuki , before dropping it to Tenzan in December. After dropping

1328-578: A tag team known as Pirates Gundan (Pirates Army), and regularly teamed with the likes of Scott Norton and Genichiro Tenryu . On March 12, he won back the IWGP Heavyweight Championship , defeating Hiroyoshi Tenzan in Tokyo. Sasaki dropped the title to Bob Sapp a little over two weeks later. After introducing his student Katsuhiko Nakajima and forming the Kensuke Family group, Sasaki began

1411-470: A total of seven points, losing out to eventual winner Yoshihiro Takayama . In 2005, Sasaki established his own agency, Kensuke Office. The agency is run by Sasaki's wife (former joshi wrestler), Akira Hokuto . Under the Kensuke Office agency, Sasaki and pupil Katsuhiko Nakajima toured other promotions, particularly All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah (PWN). In September 2006, Kensuke Office

1494-923: Is a Japanese retired professional wrestler , mixed martial artist , and founder of the now-defunct wrestling promotion Diamond Ring . Sasaki is the first of five men ever to hold all three of puroresu ' s major heavyweight titles (the IWGP Heavyweight Championship , the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship , and the GHC Heavyweight Championship ), the others being Yoshihiro Takayama , Keiji Muto , Satoshi Kojima , and Yuji Nagata - totalling seven world championship reigns. Sasaki also competed in MMA and won both fights by submission , remaining undefeated in mixed martial arts competition. Sasaki debuted in Riki Choshu 's Japan Pro-Wrestling ,

1577-494: Is currently owned by card game company Bushiroad , while TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares of the company. Naoki Sugabayashi has served as the promotion's Chairman since September 2013, while Hiroshi Tanahashi has served as the president of the promotion since December 2023. Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, NJPW is the largest and longest-running professional wrestling promotion in Japan. Their biggest event

1660-531: Is the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show (currently promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom banner) held each year since 1992. In addition to promoting professional wrestling matches, NJPW has also showcased mixed martial arts fights on some of its live events. The promotion was owned by Yuke's from 2005 until 2012. It was then sold to Bushiroad in 2012, which parlayed its entry to the world of professional wrestling into

1743-639: The 2020 New Japan Cup as well. World Wonder Ring Stardom is owned by Bushiroad , also made adjustments to their schedule, cancelling shows from February 18 to March 14. Their March 8 show in Korakuen Hall was held without any spectators in attendance, instead streaming live on their YouTube channel. On March 23, NJPW would later cancel the 2020 Sakura Genesis event that was originally scheduled to take place in on March 31. On April 8, NJPW would cancel more events from April 11 through May 4, which mean both nights of 2020 Wrestling Dontaku were cancelled as well. On May 6, NJPW cancelled their annual Best of

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1826-527: The Global Tag League of 2010, which ran from January 9 to January 24. Sasaki and Morishima finished the league with a total of four points, losing out to A-Block winners Yoshihiro Takayama and Takuma Sano . Sasaki also participated in Pro-Wrestling NOAH's Global League of 2010 from March 28 to May 2. During the league, he defeated Jun Akiyama in a highly acclaimed contest. Sasaki finished with

1909-493: The IWGP Tag Team Championships on November 11, 1990, defeating the team of Keiji Muto and Masahiro Chono . Holding the titles for only a month facing teams like Super Strong Machine and Tatsutoshi Goto , The Dragon Bombers ( Shiro Koshinaka and Takayuki Iizuka ) before eventually falling to Hiro Saito and Super Strong Machine on December 26 that same year. He would only win one more title with Hiroshi Hase

1992-897: The KOPW (King of Pro Wrestling) Championship. For tag teams, there is a traditional championship for two-man teams (the IWGP Tag Team Championship ), and one for three-man teams (the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship ). There are two championships in NJPW for junior heavyweight wrestlers - a singles title (the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship ) and one for tag teams (the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship ). In New Japan's United States based NJPW Strong brand, there are two championships for male wrestlers -

2075-842: 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 aired its first internet pay-per-view ,

2158-569: The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as well as holding more shows in Thailand , Singapore , and Taiwan . Also announced was the Lion's Gate Project , which would feature NJPW rookies as well as up-and-coming outsiders working trial matches in an effort to earn a spot in the promotion. Finally, it was announced that there were plans to take the company public with a listing on the stock market within three to five years. On December 21, 2015, NJPW announced

2241-473: The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from 1975 to 1985 and once more from 1992 to 1993. NJPW was briefly reaffiliated with the NWA in the late 2000s to the early 2010s as well. On January 4, 1992, NJPW partnered with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) to produce Super Warriors , the first ever January 4 Tokyo Dome Show , an event that would become an annual tradition for NJPW and is considered their biggest event of

2324-696: The New Zealand -based Fale Dojo , a pro wrestling training facility run by NJPW performer Bad Luck Fale . NJPW will utilize the partnership as an opportunity to scout talent from Oceania . The following month on April 24, 2017, it was announced that NJPW would co-present the Japanese qualifiers for the Pro Wrestling World Cup tournament hosted by the British What Culture Pro Wrestling (WCPW) promotion. On May 12, 2017, NJPW announced

2407-711: The Strong Openweight Championship for singles wrestlers, and the Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship for tag teams. There are two championships for female wrestlers in NJPW, the IWGP Women's Championship and the Strong Women's Championship . As of November 29, 2024. The Greatest 18 Club was New Japan's first hall of fame, being established in 1990 during Antonio Inoki's career 30th anniversary. Additionally, Lou Thesz also debuted

2490-614: The Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship , but saw success throughout the year, first winning the Champion Carnival by beating Jamal in the final. On July 26, Sasaki and his student Katsuhiko Nakajima then beat the Voodoo Murders ( "brother" Yasshi and Shuji Kondo ) to win the All Asia Tag Team Championship . Kensuke (as his old "Power Warrior" character) and Road Warrior Animal teamed up on September 1 at

2573-605: The United Center in Chicago, Illinois . During September 2022, NJPW announced NJPW Tamashii , an Oceania-based brand that would stage events throughout the region. On October 1, 2022, NJPW's founder Antonio Inoki died from systemic transthyretin amyloidosis at age 79. On January 4, 2023, NJPW held their Wrestle Kingdom 17 event in Inoki's honor. In October 2023, NJPW and sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom established

Fighting of World Japan Pro Wrestling - Misplaced Pages Continue

2656-580: The United Japan Pro-Wrestling (UJPW) alliance. The inaugural UJPW event took place on May 6, 2024, in the Nippon Budokan arena. On December 23, NJPW announced that Takami Ohbari had stepped down as the promotion's president, with Hiroshi Tanahashi replacing him as NJPW president and representative director. On April 23, 2024, NJPW announced that it would fully acquire sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom on June 28. The acquisition

2739-800: The WWC Caribbean Tag Team Championship , with Mr. Pogo twice between January 14, 1989, and April 1, 1989. He also wrestled for Stu Hart 's Stampede Wrestling promotion in Canada, where he wrestled under the name Benkei Sasaki and was trained by Hart in the Hart Dungeon . During his time in Canada, he won the Stampede International Tag Team Championship in August 1989, with All Japan loyalist Sumo Hara . He also wrestled for Otto Wanz 's Catch Wrestling Association (CWA) in tours of Austria and Germany under

2822-472: The American AXS TV network announced it had acquired rights to rebroadcast a series of thirteen episodes of NJPW matches from TV Asahi . The series premiered on January 16, 2015, airing weekly on Fridays. Averaging 200,000 viewers per episode, the show was considered a success, leading to AXS TV and TV Asahi signing a multi-year deal to continue airing the show. In June 2016, the show was also acquired by

2905-649: The Asia Pacific Pro-Wrestling Alliance, an interpromotional governing body that seeks to connect wrestling promotions across Asia. On January 5, 2024, the alliance was renamed the Asia-Pacific Federation of Wrestling (APFW). The inaugural event sanctioned by APFW, NJPW's Wrestling World in Taiwan, took place on April 14 in Taipei . In early December 2023, NJPW was announced as a founding member of

2988-482: The Canadian Fight Network . On December 1, 2014, NJPW and TV Asahi announced NJPW World , a new worldwide streaming site for the promotion's events. On July 18, 2015, NJPW announced the "New IWGP Conception", a global expansion strategy centered on their international partnerships with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), GFW, ROH, Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW), Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), and

3071-602: The Differ Ariake to defeat Yasshi and Kondo. On November 19, Sasaki got another shot at the Triple Crown, this time losing to Satoshi Kojima . In July 2006, Sasaki suffered an injury and required time off, meaning he and Nakajima had to vacate the All Asia Tag Titles. After five months away from the ring, Sasaki returned to All Japan in January 2007. In May, Sasaki and Nakajima teamed up with rookie Seiya Sanada to win

3154-705: The GHC Heavyweight Title, becoming the first person to hold the Heavyweight title in all three major Japanese promotions. On March 1, 2009, he lost the GHC Heavyweight title to Jun Akiyama . On September 21, 2009, he teamed with Morishima to win the GHC Tag Team titles from Akitoshi Saito and Bison Smith . They lost the titles on December 6, 2009, to Takeshi Rikio and Muhammad Yone . Sasaki teamed up with regular tag partner Takeshi Morishima to participate in

3237-619: The IWGP Title again, ally turned enemy Riki Choshu returned to NJPW in a backstage role which led to Sasaki's appearances became more sporadic, and he stopped wrestling for NJPW once again in early 2005. After returning to NJPW, Sasaki once again started wrestling for AJPW too as a freelancer, entering the 2004 Champion Carnival and making it to the final where he lost to Keiji Mutoh . After making occasional appearances throughout 2004, Sasaki went over to AJPW full-time in early 2005. On January 16, he unsuccessfully challenged Toshiaki Kawada for

3320-447: The Inoki family, the company began to reintegrate its prior puroresu style of wrestling. Also in 2007, NJPW hosted its first ever pay-per-view (PPV) event Wrestle Kingdom I . 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. On January 4, 2011, New Japan officially announced

3403-566: The Power Warrior persona in 1995 (as he only revived the persona on special occasions, such as teaming with Hawk and Animal in six-man tag team matches) and began climbing the ranks in singles competition. He won his first major title, the WCW United States Heavyweight Championship on November 13, 1995, defeating Sting at a NJPW Event. This was the title's first title change outside of the United States. He soon lost

Fighting of World Japan Pro Wrestling - Misplaced Pages Continue

3486-660: The Samurai! TV Triple Arrow Six Man Tag Team Cup, beating the Voodoo Murders (Kondo, Yasshi and Taru ) in the final. On August 26, 2007, Sasaki defeated Minoru Suzuki to become the Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion . Sasaki made his first defense against Toshiaki Kawada on October 18, 2007, and would go on to team with Kawada after Katsuhiko Nakajima suffered an injury on October 18 in the 2007 World's Strongest Tag Determination League . Sasaki and Kawada would lose

3569-903: The Super Juniors tournament. The next day, NJPW postponed their Wrestle Dynasty event to 2021, which was to take place in Madison Square Garden in New York. On June 9, NJPW announced their return with special show with mystery match card called Together Special on June 15 and the return of the New Japan Cup would now be held from June 16 until July 11, with the final being held at Osaka-jō Hall in Osaka alongside Dominion in Osaka-jo Hall being rescheduled to July 12. On September 29, NJPW announced that Meij would no longer be appointed president of

3652-546: The Triple Crown Championship to Carnival Winner Suwama on April 29, 2008, and left the promotion in June. Sasaki debuted for Pro Wrestling Noah in 2005, losing to Kenta Kobashi at Destiny 2005 . After losing the Triple Crown titles in 2008, he jumped to Pro Wrestling Noah and announced he would make it his full-time home promotion, while still operating the Kensuke Office . On September 6, 2008, he defeated Takeshi Morishima for

3735-687: The Worlds '15 on May 12 and 13 in Philadelphia and Global Wars '15 on May 15 and 16 in Toronto. In June 2014, New Japan announced a partnership with the new American Global Force Wrestling (GFW) organization helmed by Jeff Jarrett . In November 2014, GFW announced that it would be broadcasting NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome on pay-per-view in the United States as a four-hour event. Also in November 2014,

3818-437: The cage itself began to collapse during the show and had to be held up by ringside assistants during the last fights. Choshu himself walked out of the event and refused to talk to the media before the end of the show, to the anger of Sasaki and Nagashima. After the colossal failure of X1, many WJ events would be promoted and then suddenly canceled just days before; it was later revealed that Nagashima had either lied about booking

3901-458: The company to die a slow death. After leaving World Japan, Sasaki initially returned to NJPW in 2004 as a heel freelancer, with the New Japan roster, specifically Yuji Nagata unwelcoming of his return in kayfabe. In his return match, Sasaki lost to Nagata at Wrestling World 2004 by referee's decision in an extremely bloody contest. He later aligned himself with Manabu Nakanishi , who had recently begun his "lone wolf" character. The two formed

3984-596: The creation of a new title: the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, with the inaugural champion to be crowned during the promotion's G1 Special in USA shows in Long Beach, California on July 1 and 2. Four days later, NJPW held a press conference to announce plans to establish a subsidiary company, including a dojo, in the United States. A Los Angeles office was scheduled to be opened before

4067-408: The creation of its seventh active title and the first six-man tag team championship in the promotion's history, the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. On January 5, 2016, NJPW announced a partnership with the Amuse talent agency with the goal of making the promotion's wrestlers internationally recognized stars in the vein of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson . In March 2017, NJPW partnered with

4150-667: The dojo when he lost consciousness, but none of them were charged to his death. However, WJ faced severe media scrutiny for refusing to accept responsibility for the incident. In the fallout of Ochiai's death, Kenzo Suzuki and Yoshiaki Yatsu both left the promotion, with Yatsu, in particular, blasting Choshu in interviews with the media, famously telling Nikkan Sports "Riki Choshu has no idea how independent wrestling works". WJ's numerous financial issues also became greater and greater public knowledge around this time; Choshu's spending had not slowed down, and he continued to make extravagant purchases with investors money, including sending ¥1 million

4233-442: The early 2000s, the burgeoning popularity of mixed martial arts (MMA) in Japan was noticed by Inoki, who wanted to integrate elements of shoot wrestling to make the company appear more realistic. The company would partner with martial arts organization K-1 and begin to insert wrestlers into MMA fights, with the goal of pushing NJPW in a more realistic direction and to make it appear as an actual sport. The company's new management

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4316-431: The end of 2017, with a dojo scheduled to be opened at the start of 2018. NJPW's second American event, Strong Style Evolved , took place on March 25, 2018, also in Long Beach. In November 2017, NJPW signed a television deal with Discovery Communications , which would see the company's programming brought to 70 million Indian homes through DSport . In January 2018, NJPW announced the four-show Fallout Down Under tour,

4399-455: The first WMG (World Magma the Greatest) Heavyweight Champion, won by Sasaki, but did not receive the belt until weeks later due to it remaining incomplete by the supplier. On July 28, 2003, MMA fighter turned pro wrestler Giant Ochiai was training under Kenzo Suzuki in the WJ dojo when he lost consciousness and eventually fell into a coma, dying of an acute subdural hematoma on August 8, 2003. Choshu, Nagashima, and Suzuki were all present in

4482-410: The first ever IWGP Heavyweight Champion by defeating Inoki. However, this championship was later abandoned and the current version of the championship was established in 1987. Inoki would serve as the president of the promotion until 1989, when he was succeeded by Seiji Sakaguchi . On April 24, 1989, NJPW hosted Battle Satellite , its first show in the Tokyo Dome . The promotion was a member of

4565-403: The first round beating Dan Chase in 2001 and future UFC fighter Christian Wellisch in 2003. In November 2002, he was originally scheduled to fight Minoru Suzuki , but due to injury, he pulled out and was replaced by Jushin Thunder Liger . During this period, he would alter his look, cutting his signature mullet (he would occasionally dye his hair different colors), wearing ring gear bearing

4648-402: The formerly close relationship between Sasaki and Choshu; Sasaki lost over ¥5 million and canceled his life insurance to fund WJ events, leading to him and his wife Akira Hokuto facing severe money issues in late 2003 and Sasaki having to work up to two independent shows a day just to support his family. World Japan was ultimately viewed by Japanese fans as just another independent promotion in

4731-408: 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

4814-418: The future. On October 31, 2019, Super7 announced the first line of NJPW action figures . Amidst from the Japanese onset of the COVID-19 pandemic , in accordance with recommendations from the Japanese Ministry of Health, NJPW decided to cancel all scheduled shows from March 1 through March 15. On March 10, NJPW announced that they were cancelling all shows through March 22, which meant that they cancelled

4897-499: The inaugural New Japan Cup USA tournament. As part of NJPW's expansion into the United States, the series would be produced by NJoA. In February 2021, it was reported that NJPW had entered into partnerships with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Impact Wrestling . On November 19, 2021, NJPW would re-establish a relationship with Pro Wrestling Noah with Noah wrestlers being involved at the third night of NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 16 event. During Wrestle Kingdom 16 in January 2022, it

4980-586: The inaugural champion was held between November 15 and 19, 2012. The final NEVER event was held in November 2012. In February 2014, New Japan announced a partnership with Ring of Honor (ROH), which saw the promotion return to North America the following May to present two supershows; Global Wars in Toronto and War of the Worlds in New York City. During the tour, New Japan wrestlers also took part in an event held by Canadian promotion Border City Wrestling (BCW). A year later, NJPW and ROH announced another tour together to produce four more supershows; War of

5063-513: The main event of a Diamond Ring event. Two days later, Sasaki held a press conference to announce his retirement from professional wrestling. Following Sasaki's retirement, Diamond Ring was left with only one remaining wrestler, Katsuhiko Nakajima, with Satoshi Kajiwara resigning and Mitsuhiro Kitamiya joining Pro Wrestling Noah. Between 2001 and 2003, Sasaki took a couple hiatuses from pro-wrestling and focused on mixed martial arts . He has two fights under his belt, winning both by submission in

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5146-414: The name Kendo Sasaki. In December 1989, Stampede Wrestling closed its doors, and Sasaki wrestled for the Canadian National Wrestling Alliance (CNWA), until March 1990 when he was fired by Ed Whalen for kicking Mike Lozanski too stiff. Sasaki returned to NJPW in March 1990, and formed a popular tag team with Hiroshi Hase , with whom he would have a long on-off tag team partnership. They quickly won

5229-417: The promotion and was replaced by Takami Ohbari on October 23, who is the current CEO of New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America. In 2020, NJPW partnered with Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) and Major League Wrestling (MLW), with both promotions sending wrestlers to the Super J-Cup tournament. On July 31, NJPW announced a new weekly series titled NJPW Strong , with its initial episodes to feature matches from

5312-465: The promotion soon set out on its first tour the same month. They suffered their first setback on that very tour when Choshu himself was injured during the third match of his planned six-match series with Genichiro Tenryu and forced to pull out of all events for the foreseeable future. In addition, Atsushi Onita withdrew from all future events due to commitments to his political career. WJ began pushing Kensuke Sasaki as their top star but struggled to gain

5395-452: The promotion was returning to the multi-year contract system. The contracts forbid negotiations with other promotions. After All Elite Wrestling (AEW) was launched by wrestlers working for NJPW, they started signing foreigners to guaranteed deals as well. Any side contracts or agreements offered to wrestlers under NJPW contracts, need the promotion's approval before being signed. NJPW currently has partnerships with several promotions across

5478-420: The promotion's inaugural tour of Australia spanning from February 16–19. In March 2018, New Japan opened the NJPW LA Dojo with Katsuyori Shibata serving as head trainer and ROH wrestler Scorpio Sky serving as assistant trainer. On May 13, 2018, New Japan hired its first foreign president, Dutch businessman Harold Meij . In February 2019, NJPW re-established their partnership with the NWA and entered into

5561-472: The promotion, and booked himself into the main event of the first show against longtime rival Tenryu. With the roster established, WJ began planning its debut show for March 2003. It had originally been planned to debut in November 2002, however, Choshu had to wait until some of his wrestlers' contracts with NJPW had expired, and as a result, WJ's debut show, MAGMA01 , was postponed many times. It eventually took place on March 1, 2003 in Yokohama Arena , running

5644-437: The same day that Pro Wrestling NOAH and K-1 were also promoting major events in Nippon Budokan and Ariake Coliseum , respectively. This was the only day a major arena could be booked in March, and Nagashima and Choshu could not postpone the debut any longer as they had already done so several times and lost bookings in other arenas as a result. Despite the competition, MAGMA01 drew a respectable 13,000 fans to Yokohama, and

5727-401: The same time Mutoh had left NJPW, Choshu's longtime friend Katsuji Nagashima, who worked as a booker and head of NJPW's advertising department, had also left the company and formed his agency, Nagashima Promotions, working with Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE as a third party liaison to freelance wrestlers as well as a booking agency. Choshu proposed a partnership with Nagashima, and Nagashima Promotions

5810-524: The saturated world of pro wrestling, so it was not able to make a dent in the major promotions' fanbases. It officially closed in mid-2004 and was eventually succeeded by Riki Pro, a small-time independent promotion that mainly ran in Korakuen Hall. New Japan Pro-Wrestling New Japan Pro-Wrestling ( 新日本プロレスリング株式会社 , Shin Nihon Puroresuringu Kabushiki-gaisha ) ( NJPW ) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki , and based in Nakano, Tokyo . It

5893-720: The three committed to join WJ in December. Yoshiaki Yatsu (who had been Choshu's ally in New Japan, Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance , and All Japan Pro Wrestling in the 1980s), was also brought in as the head of the sales division, along with some of the talent from his regional SPWF promotion. Choshu filled his roster with young independent stars such as Tomohiro Ishii and Takashi Uwano , freelancers such as Genichiro Tenryu , Takao Omori and Atsushi Onita , gaijin including Vader , The Road Warriors , "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Big Vito , and young American wrestlers such as Lex Lovett, Steve Madison , The Maximos , and The Shane Twins . Choshu himself also announced he would wrestle for

5976-520: The title to dubious circumstances however, losing to One Man Gang which was later claimed to be an official title match. August 1997 skyrocketed Sasaki's rise to superstardom. On August 3, he won the G1 Climax tournament by defeating Hiroyoshi Tenzan in the final. A week later, he captured the IWGP Tag Team Championship with Kazuo Yamazaki . Finally at the end of the month, he captured the IWGP Heavyweight Championship by defeating long reigning champion Shinya Hashimoto , winning three major honors in

6059-582: The title, defeating Kawada, at the January 4, 2001, Tokyo Dome show. In March 2001, Sasaki lost the IWGP Heavyweight Title to Scott Norton and in late 2002 he resigned from the promotion after a falling out with company management. In the beginning of 2003, Sasaki joined his mentor, Riki Choshu, in his new Fighting of World Japan Pro Wrestling (World Japan) promotion. He became the only WMG Heavyweight Champion; however, tensions between him and Choshu over financial issues caused Sasaki to withdraw and

6142-626: The venues or not paid the money owed to hire them and when he was unable to secure them, simply canceled the events. The most infamous of these happened on October 22, 2003, when WJ had announced they were running Korakuen Hall; however, it was quickly pointed out that a boxing show was scheduled to take place in Korakuen on that day and Nagashima had once again lied about the booking. By the end of 2003, Shiro Koshinaka and Takao Omori had both left for other organizations, and WJ's ace Kensuke Sasaki returned to NJPW in December. The failure of WJ severely damaged

6225-527: The word, "Volcano", and adapting moves he learned in MMA training to expand his pro wrestling moveset. In March 2004, Sasaki defeated Francisco Filho in a sumo-style match for K-1 . Kensuke Sasaki married Akira Hokuto on October 1, 1995, after proposing to her on their first date. Together, they have two sons: Kennosuke (born November 1998) and Seinnosuke (born March 2003). Kennosuke married professional wrestler Rin Kadokura in 2022. Also, Kensuke has

6308-812: The world, for which NJPW wrestlers can also perform for. The promotion has its own fictional governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix, shortened as IWGP. At the top of NJPW's championship hierarchy for male wrestlers is the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship . Secondary titles include the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship , the NEVER Openweight Championship , the NJPW World Television Championship , and

6391-607: The year and comparable to WWE 's WrestleMania event. In April 1995, NJPW and WCW held the two-day Collision in Korea event at the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium in Pyongyang , North Korea . The event was the first professional wrestling event held in North Korea and holds the record for most attended wrestling event of all time, with 355,000 people packing the stadium over the two days. In

6474-663: Was announced as a member of the Global Professional Wrestling Alliance (GPWA). Beginning in 2007, Kensuke Office has organised its own shows, and some of the talent featured on the shows include Minoru Suzuki , Jun Akiyama , Genichiro Tenryu, Yoshihiro Takayama , Kikutaro , Takeshi Morishima, KENTA and Catfish Man . In January 2012, Kensuke Office was renamed Diamond Ring. Currently, Diamond Ring serves as developmental territory of Pro Wrestling NOAH, featuring several of its superstars. On February 11, 2014, Sasaki suffered his first loss to Katsuhiko Nakajima in

6557-530: Was announced that NJPW programming, including new programs and reruns of past English broadcasts, would return to AXS TV and Fight Network in the United States and Canada. Reruns will begin airing on AXS starting January 20, with all new content to premiere on March 3. On the April 20, 2022 episode of AEW Dynamite , it was announced that New Japan and AEW would co-promote a supershow called AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door . The event would take place on June 26, 2022, at

6640-411: Was completed on June 28, with Stardom Co., Ltd. becoming a subsidiary of NJPW. Up until the 1980s, NJPW signed its workers to multi-year contracts, before changing to a system where the promotion signed its wrestlers to one-year deals that expired at the end of every January. Following the departures of A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura , NJPW chairman Takaaki Kidani announced in February 2016 that

6723-561: Was criticized by critics and fans. Inoki later departed NJPW in 2005 after selling his share of the company to Yuke's , and began his own promotion, the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), in 2007. After his departure, Inoki's son-in-law Simon took over the company, before Naoki Sugabayashi was appointed president in 2007 after Simon also left NJPW to join Antonio in IGF. After the departure of

6806-681: Was founded by Antonio Inoki on January 13, 1972 after his departure from the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance promotion. The first NJPW event, titled Opening Series , took place on March 6, 1972, in the Ota Ward Gymnasium in Tokyo, to a crowd of 5,000. The following year, NJPW signed a television deal with NET TV, now known as TV Asahi . The company launched its own governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) ; and in 1983, Hulk Hogan became

6889-439: Was soon renamed "The Riki Nagashima Project". Shortly after this, the two began seeking a sponsor to fund their promotion. They were backed by Seiji Fukuda, a well-known entrepreneur from Hokkaido . Fukuda joined their project as president and representative director, Nagashima became managing director, and Choshu became the director. In November, Choshu officially announced the formation of Fighting of World Japan Pro Wrestling in

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