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Tatsuhito Takaiwa
(born Go Yong-Il (Hangul: 고 용일), July 5, 1972) is a Zainichi-Korean professional wrestler. Takaiwa is one of the more well-traveled junior heavyweights in Japan, having wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and Pro Wrestling Zero1, as well as making special appearances in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and Pro Wrestling Noah. He is known for his work as a tag team specialist, most notably in a successful tag team with Shinjiro Otani during the 1990s. The two won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship a number of times in 1998 and 1999. Professional wrestling career New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1992–2000) While attending vocational school, Takaiwa passed the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) entry exam and began training with the promotion in 1992. Takaiwa was part of the same trainee class as Shinjiro Otani and the two became frequent opponents and tag team partners when they eventually debuted. Takaiwa debuted on July 21, 1992, losing to Satoshi Kojima. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese language, Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin, Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the city had a population of 1.46 million. The city is the cultural anchor of a substantially larger metropolitan area known as Greater Kyoto, a metropolitan statistical area (MSA) home to a census-estimated 3.8 million people. Kyoto is one of the oldest municipalities in Japan, having been chosen in 794 as the new seat of Japan's imperial court by Emperor Kanmu. The original city, named Heian-kyō, was arranged in accordance with traditional Chinese feng shui following the model of the ancient Chinese capital of Chang'an/Luoyang. The emperors of Japan ruled from Kyoto in the following eleven centuries until 1869. It was the scene of several key events of the Muromachi period, Sengoku period, and the Boshin War, such a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Best Of The Super Juniors
The Best of the Super Juniors (often abbreviated BOSJ) is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), typically in May or June. Originally known as Top of the Super Juniors, the first tournament was held in 1988 with annual tournaments taking place since 1991. The wrestlers in the tournament are typically junior heavyweight wrestlers from promotions all over the world. NJPW has held 28 Super Juniors tournaments. Hiromu Takahashi holds the record for most tournament wins with four, while Jushin Thunder Liger and Koji Kanemoto have won three each. Takahashi is also the only wrestler to have won three consecutive tournaments. Kanemoto holds the record for the most final appearances, having wrestled eight finals between 1997 and 2009. Liger has participated in the most tournaments, competing in all tournaments except 1995 and 2000 until his 26th and final Super Junior tournament in 2017. History and format The tournament was formed in 1988 by N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minoru Tanaka (wrestler)
is a Japanese professional wrestler. Tanaka first gained prominence in Fujiwara Gumi and Battlarts before moving on to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he became a four time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, a five time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion and the winner of the 2006 Best of the Super Juniors tournament. After leaving NJPW, he joined All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he found continued success in the junior heavyweight and tag team ranks upon winning the World Junior Heavyweight Championship once and the All Asia Tag Team Championship twice. From 2013 to 2016, Tanaka worked for Wrestle-1. He is currently a freelancer, and primarily competes in Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah), where he has held the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship twice. He is a former GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, making him the second man (after Naomichi Marufuji) to hold all three major Japanese junior heavyweight singles titles as well as the only man to hold al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Junior Stars
is a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Minoru Tanaka and Koji Kanemoto. Forming in 1999, the team became one of the most popular in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship in June 2000. After Kanemoto joined Team 2000 and Minoru became the masked Heat character in 2002, the team went on hiatus until 2004, when they reunited albeit for one night only as Minoru turned on Kanemoto during the match. The team officially reunited in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in 2012, where they won the All Asia Tag Team Championship twice. The two left AJPW to join the newly formed Wrestle-1 in 2013, and continue to team together on the Japanese independent circuit. History Early years (1999-2001) Initially rivals, Kanemoto and Tanaka began teaming together in October 1999, and immediately set their sights on the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, then held by Shinjiro Otani and Tatsuhito Takaiwa. On October 11, the du ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Great Sasuke
, born July 18, 1969), is a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter and politician, currently wrestling for Michinoku Pro Wrestling (MPW) under the ring name . Aside from professional wrestling, he is also a former Iwate Prefectural Assembly legislator. He has wrestled in Japan and in the United States in various professional wrestling promotions. He is said to have an incredible tolerance for pain, mainly in reference to the injuries he has had including a cracked skull on two occasions. Professional wrestling career Universal Lucha Libre (1990-1993) After failing the entrance exams to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Murakawa joined Universal Lucha Libre and had his debut on March 1, 1990 against Monkey Magic Wakita. He later adopted the name Masa Michinoku, derived from his own given name and the alternate name for his Japanese home region of Tōhoku, Michinoku. He portrayed a Japanese folkloric gimmick who wore a cloak and a sandogasa hat in his ring entrance, which he trad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
January 4 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 venue every January 4 since Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome in 1992. The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show became NJPW's premier annual event and the biggest event in Japanese wrestling, similar to what WrestleMania is for WWE and American professional wrestling. It has been described as "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl". The show expanded to two nights, with the 2020 edition being the first one to include matches on January 5, and further expanded to include a third night (January 8) in 2022. The event would go back to one night in 2023. The first two January 4 Tokyo Dome Shows were also the last two WCW/New Japan Supershows. Since 2007, when the event was rename ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kendo Kashin
Tokimitsu Ishizawa (''Ishizawa Tokimitsu'', born August 5, 1968), better known by his ring name Kendo Kashin (ケンドー・カシン, ''Kendō Kashin''), is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his time in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he was a two time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, a one time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, and the winner of the 1999 Best of the Super Juniors. He is also known for his forays into mixed martial arts, most notably for Pride Fighting Championship (Pride), where he defeated Gracie Jiu Jitsu fighter Ryan Gracie at PRIDE 15. He currently wrestles for Pro Wrestling Noah. Career Ishizawa was an outstanding Amateur wrestler from Waseda University before being scouted and initiated into the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion on September 21, 1992, wrestling against Tiger Mask. During the NJPW vs. UWFi feud, he was taught the shoot style by Kazuo Yamazaki. After defeating Yuji Nagata to win ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
The is a professional wrestling tag team championship contested for in the Japanese promotion Wrestle Association R, and later Dragon Gate and Tenryu Project. This title was the first tag team championship in Japan dedicated to junior heavyweight wrestlers. There have been twenty-two reigns (including one unrecognized) shared among twenty-one teams and thirty-three individuals. The current champions are Kenichiro Arai and Rey Paloma. Title history The title was created in Wrestle Association R (WAR) on February 23, 1996, when Fuyuki-gun (Gedo and Lionheart) defeated Lance Storm and Yuji Yasuraoka in a tournament final. It was deemed inactive in 2000 when WAR folded, and was later revived by Dragon Gate on August 8, 2006. The I-J belts would be unified with the new Dragon Gate Open the Twin Gate Championship, a tag title made specifically for Dragon Gate, on October 12, 2007. In September 2010, the championship was reactivated by Tenryu Project. Reigns Combined reigns ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masao Orihara
(born June 16, 1969) is a Japanese professional wrestler. Orihara is known by his career in numerous Japanese promotions such as Michinoku Pro Wrestling, Wrestle Association R, Battlarts and Dramatic Dream Team. Professional wrestling career Orihara was trained in the All Japan Pro Wrestling Dojo under Genichiro Tenryu's tutelage. When Tenryu left for Super World of Sports, Orihara and others followed him to the new promotion. In 1992, Orihara was sent to Mexico, where he learnt the high-flying lucha libre style and wrestled for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre as Iga, a masked ninja character. Upon his return to SWS, now named Wrestle Association R, Masao showed his new style and competed in memorable cruiserweight bouts with Ultimo Dragon, with whom he formed a long friendship. After the WAR demise, Orihara landed in Michinoku Pro Wrestling, where he became Sasuke the Great, a The Great Sasuke copycat. Orihara formed a tag team with Takeshi Ono (who competed as Masked ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masaaki Mochizuki
is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for Dragon Gate and Pro Wrestling Noah. Mochizuki is a former FIP World Champion and three-time Open the Dream Gate Champion. Professional wrestling career Early years A former karateka and graduate of Koji Kitao's Bukō Dōjō, Masaaki spent the early part of his career wrestling for various promotions across Japan, namely WAR and BattlARTS. Most notable was his appearance in the 1995 Super J-Cup, where he took on Shinjiro Otani of New Japan Pro-Wrestling in the first round. Despite losing, Masaaki looked very competitive, using his sharp kicks and quick submission holds to pose a serious threat to the more experienced Otani. Toryumon In late 1999, Masaaki joined Toryumon, Último Dragón's upstart promotion, and quickly became recognized as one of the three "aces" of the company, alongside Cima, and Magnum Tokyo. In April 2000, he formed the heel group M2K with Susumu Mochizuki (no relation), and Yasushi Kanda ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wrestle Association R
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 inter-promotional 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. 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 fewer and fewer events due to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jushin Thunder Liger
, better known as and later , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is the longest-tenured member of the NJPW roster, having wrestled for the company since his debut in 1984 until his retirement in January 2020. Throughout his career, which spanned three-and-a-half decades, he wrestled over 4,000 matches and performed in major events for various promotions across the globe. Debuting under his real name for NJPW in 1984, he was given the gimmick of Jushin Liger in 1989, based on the anime series of the same name. Becoming Jushin "Thunder" Liger the following year, he saw unprecedented success in the junior heavyweight division when he won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship a record 11 times and set the record for its longest reign during his second reign, which lasted for 628 days. Liger was the first three-time Best of the Super Juniors tournament winner (a record eventually tied by K ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
