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 Shoot wrestling is a combat sport that originated in Japan's professional wrestling circuit of the 1970s. Professional wrestlers of that era attempted to use more realistic or even "full contact" moves in their matches to increase their excitem ...

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

promotion based in

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, operating from 1991 to 1996. It was formed by

Yoshiaki Fujiwara is a Japanese Professional Wrestler and trainer. He is famous for his long career in wrestling, having worked in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE (ZERO-ONE), and the two incarnations of shoot style promotion Universal Wres ...

Masakatsu Funaki is a Japanese actor, mixed martial artist and professional wrestler known professionally as , who has previously wrestled in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (PWFG), Newborn UWF (UWF ...

and

Minoru Suzuki (born June 17, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist, currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as a freelancer. In NJPW, Suzuki has held the IWGP Intercontinental Championship as well as twice h ...

after the collapse of the second incarnation of the UWF. The company had the financial backing of eyeglass brand Meganesuper Co., Ltd executive Hachiro Tanaka who was also funding Super World Sports (SWS). Its motto was " ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE". Although the company was considered the smallest of the three UWF offshoots, it had a strong roster which included former UWF wrestlers Yusuke Fuke,

Bart Vale Bart Vale (born May 4, 1957) is an American former kickboxer, mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. He is known for his "old school" American martial arts look, consisting of a mustache, mullet and American flag trunks. Career Bart Va ...

and future MMA star

Ken Shamrock Kenneth Wayne Shamrock ('' né'' Kilpatrick; born February 11, 1964) is an American bare-knuckle boxing promoter and semi-retired professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, and kickboxer. He is best known for his time in Ultimate Fighting Cham ...

. One of its most successful shows took place at the

Tokyo Dome is an indoor stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. It was designed as a baseball stadium following its predecessor, Korakuen Stadium. Construction on the stadium began on May 16, 1985, and it opened on March 17, 1988. It was built on the site of t ...

on October 4, 1992, headlined by Funaki versus Maurice Smith, which was attended by a record 40,000 fans. Legendary wrestler Karl Gotch acted as the face of the company, much like

Lou Thesz Aloysius Martin "Lou" Thesz (April 24, 1916 – April 28, 2002) was an American professional wrestler. He was a three-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion and held the title for a combined total of 10 years, three months and nine days (3,749 ...

did for fellow promotion

UWF International Union of Professional Wrestling Force International, better known as UWF International, U-Inter, or simply UWFi, was a shoot style professional wrestling promotion in Japan from 1991 to 1996. The UWF international was the successor to the ''New ...

. In December 1992, Suzuki, Funaki, and Fuke left the promotion over Fujiwara's decision to send PWFG wrestlers to appear for SWS,

Universal Lucha Libre Universal Lucha Libre (Universal Pro-Wrestling until 1991; Federación Universal de Lucha Libre afterward; UWF and FULL used as acronyms) was a professional wrestling promotion in Japan from 1990 to 1995. The name Universal Lucha Libre is used to ...

and

W*ING Wrestling International New Generations (W*ING) was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion specialized in deathmatches. History After leaving Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling in the summer of 1991, Kazuyoshi Osako and Kiyoshi "Mickey" Ibara ...

. The trio would go on to form

Pancrase Pancrase Inc. is a mixed martial arts promotion company founded in Japan in 1993 by professional wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. The name was based on pankration, a fighting sport in the Ancient Olympic Games. Suzuki and Funaki ...

several months later. Fujiwara decided to close down PWFG in November 1995, however, the company was revived briefly for a few of shows during the following summer. After 1996, when everyone on the roster except Fujiwara left to form

BattlARTS , more commonly referred to as simply Battlarts was a professional wrestling promotion based in Koshigaya, Saitama, Japan. The promotion was formed in 1996 by Japanese wrestler Yuki Ishikawa and featured all of the wrestlers from the Fujiwara Gu ...

, the Fujiwara Gumi name was kept as the name of the booking office handling Fujiwara's appearances for other promotions. In retrospect, PWFG, along with other shoot style promotions, served as a precursor to

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inco ...

and to popular Japanese MMA promotions, particularly

Pride FC PRIDE Fighting Championships (Pride or Pride FC, founded as KRS-Pride) was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts even ...

Roster

*Natives:

, Yusuke Fuke,

Kazuo Takahashi , ring name , is a Japanese retired mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 1993 until 2013 (and then once again in 2018), he competed for the UFC, PRIDE Fighting Championships, Pancrase, RINGS, K-1 HERO'S, and World Victory Road. ...

, Yuki Ishikawa,

Daisuke Ikeda is a Japanese professional wrestler who is currently wrestling in the Independent circuit in Japan. Since debuting in 1993, Ikeda has worked for a number of promotions in Japan, including Battlarts, All Japan Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Noah a ...

Katsumi Usuda is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. Debuting for Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (PWFG) in 1993, he is best known for his work in Battlarts, where he was a 2 time Independent World Junior Heavyweight Champion. Usuda is also known for his ...

, Minoru Tanaka, Shoichi Funaki, Mamoru Okamoto, Satoshi Yoneyama (Muhammad Yone) *Foreigners:

, Victor Krueger, Joe Malenko,

Mark Starr Mark Ashford-Smith (December 26, 1962 – June 7, 2013) was an English professional wrestler best known by his ring name Mark Starr. He competed as a member of several tag teams. Wrestling career Continental Wrestling Association (1986–198 ...

, Dino Ventura,

Jerry Flynn William Brenneman (born November 21, 1959) is an American retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, better known by his ring name Jerry Flynn. Flynn is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling between 1996 an ...

, Starman, Glenn Jacobs, Dieusel Berto

References

External links

Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi at Cagematch.netPro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi at Wrestlingdata.com
{{Professional wrestling in Japan Japanese professional wrestling promotions Entertainment companies established in 1991 Entertainment companies disestablished in 1996 1991 establishments in Japan

Roster

See also

References

External links