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Battlearts
, 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 Gumi promotion, who had abandoned the promotion in favor of Battlarts. They ran shows in the Tokyo area regularly from 1998 to 2002. Even though Battlarts' style was based on shoot wrestling, the promotion often cooperated with other federations and styles, including RINGS, Kingdom, Michinoku Pro and Big Japan Pro Wrestling. The biggest co-promotion occurred on October 17, 1999 when Battlarts and The Great Sasuke's Michinoku Pro Wrestling presented "Michinoku Pro vs. Battlarts", which was headlined by a tag match pitting the owners of both promotions (Great Sasuke and Ishikawa) against Jinsei Shinzaki and Alexander Otsuka. The promotion ceased running regular shows and events in 2001 due to "management aggravation". Battlarts eventually be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shoot Wrestling
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 excitement. The name "shoot wrestling" comes from the professional wrestling term " shoot", which refers to any unscripted occurrence within a scripted wrestling event.http://dansmuaythaimma.com/?p=346 Prior to the emergence of the current sport of shoot wrestling, the term was commonly used in the professional wrestling business, particularly in the United Kingdom, as a synonym for the sport of catch wrestling. Shoot wrestling can be used to describe a range of hybrid fighting systems such as shootfighting, shoot boxing and the styles of mixed martial arts done in the Shooto, Pancrase and RINGS promotions. Organizations, promotions and gyms with origins in shoot wrestling are referred as the " U-Kei". History Historically, shoot wrestli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shinjiro Otani
is a semi-retired Japanese professional wrestler and the current acting president of Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1). He is currently inactive from pro-wrestling competition due to a cervical spine injury substained in April 2022. A product of the New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) dojo, Otani is best known for his longtime association with Zero1, a promotion he founded in 2001 along with Shinya Hashimoto. Starting his career in NJPW as a junior heavyweight, Otani gained a reputation as a gutsy underdog and would go on to hold several championships during his nine-year run with the promotion, including the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and the J-Crown, as well as forming a successful tag team with dojo classmate Tatsuhito Takaiwa, twice holding the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. After jumping to the heavyweight division in 2001, Otani would leave New Japan the same year, joining Shinya Hashimoto as one of the founders of Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1). Following th ... [...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 Ti ... [...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] |
Keita Yano
is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist currently working for Professional Wrestling Wallabee. He started his career with Battlarts in February 2007 and remained with the promotion for four years, winning the B-Rule Tournament in 2009. During his tenure, Yano also represented Battlarts in major Japanese promotions such as New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Pro Wrestling Zero1 and American promotion Chikara, where he took part in the Young Lions Cup VIII tournament in August 2010. After the folding of Battlarts, Yano began working for DDT Pro-Wrestling, where, as a representative of the Crying Wolf stable, he became a one-time Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion, before parting ways with the promotion in July 2012. Professional wrestling career Battlarts (2006–2011) Yano began training professional wrestling with Battlarts in 2006, when the promotion accepted his third application to enter its training program. He eventually made his in-ring debut on Feb ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 appearances in Pro Wrestling Zero-One, Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling, Big Mouth Loud, and Fu-Ten. Career Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (1993–1995) A student of Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Usuda debuted in Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi at the age of 23, going to a 30 minute time limit draw with Carl Greco. He took part in the 1994 Challenge Cup, where he was beaten by Shoichi Funaki in the final. After 2 years and limited success in PWFG, Usuda and the rest of the roster all followed Yuki Ishikawa in an exodus on November 19, 1995, after Ishikawa discovered that the sponsors of Fujiwara Gumi planned to massively restructure the roster and change the landscape of the entire promotion. Battlarts The entirety of the PWFG roster (bar Fujiwara ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Malenko
Jody Simon (born June 4, 1956) is an American pharmacist and retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Joe Malenko. He is the son of Boris Malenko and the older brother of Dean Malenko. Professional wrestling career Japan Malenko is most known for his stints wrestling in Japan. Malenko began in the Universal Wrestling Federation (Japan) in May 1985 for 13 days. One of his most well known matches in the UWF was his tag match with Super Tiger where they faced the team of Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Osamu Kido. Malenko would then team up with his brother, Dean, in All Japan Pro Wrestling to form "The Malenko Brothers". Malenko would tour regularly with All Japan from February 1988 until May 1992. Malenko had two reigns as World Junior Heavyweight Champion. From late 1989 to early 1990, he teamed with Kenta Kobashi against the Can-Am Express ( Dan Kroffat and Doug Furnas) for the All Asia Tag Team Championship. Joe's most memorable matches came in his match versus h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shannon Ritch
Shannon Grey Ritch (born September 27, 1970) is an American professional mixed martial artist, boxer, grappler, professional wrestler and kickboxer. In mixed martial arts competition he is the former King of the Cage Middleweight Champion and the inaugural BKFC International Heavyweight Champion in bare-knuckle boxing. A professional competitor since 1998, Ritch has competed for M-1 Global, Combate Americas, MFC, Shark Fights, Pancrase, Battlarts, K-1, Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, PRIDE, Rebel Fighting Championship, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, King of the Cage, Gladiator Challenge, Hart Legacy Wrestling and the WEC. Background Ritch was born in Coolidge, Arizona and was raised "dirt poor" on a farm in Randolph. Ritch began learning karate from a young age and also competed in high school wrestling before becoming a professional kickboxer beginning as an amateur sometime in 1988. Ritch attended Central Arizona College and Arizona State University. Shannon also had a brief ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santino Marella
Anthony Carelli (born March 14, 1974) is a Canadian judoka and semi-retired professional wrestler. He is known for his 11-year tenure with WWE where he wrestled under the ring name Santino Marella. He is the founder of and instructor at Battle Arts Academy, a martial arts and professional wrestling training facility in Mississauga, Ontario, and the official ambassador of Judo Canada. Carelli was signed by World Wrestling Entertainment in 2005, being assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling, WWE's farm territory. He made his debut on ''Raw'' during a live episode from Milan, Italy. Under the character of Santino Marella, a fan selected from the audience, he defeated the Intercontinental Champion Umaga, winning the title in his debut match. During the following years, he would win the Intercontinental title one more time, the United States Championship and the WWE Tag Team Championship. He was also involved in a storyline where he worked as Santina Marella, Santino's twin sister. Carelli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ikuto Hidaka
(born August 5, 1972) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently performing for Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah). Hidaka was the regular partner of Minoru Fujita, with whom he has held the Zero1-Max International Lightweight Tag Team and Intercontinental Tag Team Titles, making them the only team to do so. He has also worked for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). Professional wrestling career Battlarts (1997–2001) Hidaka debuted for the Battlarts shoot style promotion in 1997 after training in the Animal Hamaguchi Dojo. He spent his rookie year venturing to promotions like Michinoku Pro Wrestling (Michinoku Pro) and Kingdom Pro Wrestling (KPW), sharing rings with names like Yuki Ishikawa, Daisuke Ikeda, Minoru Tanaka and Yoshihiro Tajiri. In 1998, he challenged for the vacated UWA World Middleweight Championship, but was defeated by Willow. Shortly after, he formed a tag team with Minoru Fujita, who was based in Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), and they competed at t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fujita Hayato
Hayato Fujita (藤田 勇人 ''Fujita Hayato'', born September 20, 1986) is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Fujita "Jr." Hayato (フジタ"Jr"ハヤト). Despite his small stature and physique for a professional wrestler, he is known for his toughness and hard shoot-style strikes. Professional wrestling career Hayato started training amateur wrestling at 8 under influence of his father, who had overcome a cerebral palsy to become a successful wrestler himself. Fujita specialized in Greco Roman wrestling and competed at national level, and it was in one of his wrestling tournaments in Tokyo that he was introduced to Michinoku Pro Wrestling (MPW) president Jinsei Shinzaki, who invited him to MPW to compete in professional wrestling. Prior to his debut, he also trained in mixed martial arts under Norifumi "KID" Yamamoto, and as a tribute to his trainer he would his guillotine choke finishing hold the "K.I.D." Michinoku Pro Wrestling (2004–201 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dieusel Berto
Dieusel Berto, (March 24, 1958 – December 29, 2018) was a Haitian professional mixed martial artist, professional wrestler, and kickboxer. He is the father of professional boxers Andre Berto and James Edson Berto. Berto competed at UFC 10 in 1996. for He founded Tiger's World of Martial Arts in Florida. Background Originally from Modle, Haiti, Berto moved to Florida in 1980. Berto first worked picking fruit and worked in the restaurant industry. Began training in martial arts. He practiced, Shoodokan and Jeet Kune Do, until he was introduced to the world of professional wrestling, where he was known as ‘The Caribbean Kid.” Professional wrestling career Berto made his professional wrestling debut in 1992 where he worked in Japan for Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi until 1994. His biggest victory was a win over Katsumi Usuda. On September 10, 1993 Berto wrestled one night for Fighting Network Rings where he lost to Masayuki Naruse. In 1996, he last wrestled for Battlarts ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
