was a

Japanese professional wrestling Professional wrestling in Japan has existed for several decades. The first Japanese person to involve themselves in catch wrestling (the basis of traditional professional wrestling) was former sumo wrestler Sorakichi Matsuda. There were subsequ ...

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

operating from 2004 to 2009 and from 2010 to 2016.

History

Following the closure of

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion (FMW-E) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as (FMW). The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fir ...

(FMW) in 2002, FMW booker

Hiromichi Fuyuki (May 11, 1960 – March 19, 2003) was a Japanese professional wrestler and promoter better known by his ring name best known for his time in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), ...

formed his own promotion, which ran under the names World Entertainment Wrestling (WEW) and Fuyuki-Gun Promotion (originally used by Fuyuki for an FMW-aligned venture following his withdrawal from

WAR War is an armed conflict between the armed forces of states, or between governmental forces and armed groups that are organized under a certain command structure and have the capacity to sustain military operations, or between such organi ...

), and administered the WEW singles and tag team championships originally created in FMW in 1999. FMW alumni such as

Kintaro Kanemura , better known by his ring name , is a Zainichi Korean retired professional wrestler. He also wrestled under the ring name (stylized as W*ING Kanemura). He is best known for his death matches in Apache Army, Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), Ext ...

Tetsuhiro Kuroda is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently competing as a freelancer on the Japanese independent circuit. He is best known for his time with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW), where he primarily competed from 1993 until the promotion's c ...

, and Go Ito maintained Fuyuki-Gun Promotion and WEW even after Fuyuki's death in March 2003, but stopped in May 2004. Apache Pro-Wrestling Army (Apache Pro) was founded by Ito and Kanemura in 2004 as a replacement for Fuyuki-Gun Promotion and WEW. Their first event was on August 30, the main event was a six-man tag team match which had Ichiro Yaguchi,

Riki Choshu , better known by his ring name , is a South Korean-Japanese retirement, retired Puroresu, professional wrestler who is best known for his longtime work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as both a wrestler and a Booker (professional wrestling), bo ...

, and

Tomohiro Ishii is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is currently a double champion: being the Strong Openweight Champion in his first reign, and one-half of the current IWGP Tag Team Champions with Ta ...

defeating BADBOY Hido,

Dick Togo , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestling, professional wrestler. Togo is signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of House of Torture and a former member of Bullet Club. Togo has spent the major ...

, and Kanemura. The first WEW Heavyweight Champion under Apache Pro was

Togi Makabe , better known by his ring name is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, trained by and performing for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a former one-time IWGP Heavyweight Championship, IWGP Heavyweight Champion, L ...

. On August 1, 2006, Apache Pro would hold a tournament to see which tag team would become the first

WEW World Tag Team Champions WEW (770 AM) is a commercial radio station in St. Louis, Missouri. Owned by Birach Broadcasting Corporation, its studios are on Hampton Avenue in St. Louis. First licensed in March 1922, WEW is one of the oldest radio stations in the Unite ...

under the promotion. In the finals, BADBOY Hido and

Takashi Sasaki is a Japanese people, Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and the owner of Pro Wrestling Freedoms (Freedoms). A regular on the Japanese independent circuit for over 25 years, Sasaki began his career with International Wrestling ...

defeated

Jun Kasai (born September 9, 1974) is a Japanese professional wrestler, primarily competing for Pro Wrestling Freedoms. Dubbed the for his violent and often self-harmful style of hardcore wrestling, Kasai is considered a breakthrough talent in Japanese w ...

and Tetsuhiro Kuroda. In 2006, The Winger would win Apache Pro's first and only Death Match Tournament. In 2007, Takashi Sasaki and The Winger would win the Interim WEW Tag Team Title Tournament. In 2008, Kanemura was involved in a sexual harassment scandal with a female office worker from

Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established in 1995. It is most famous for its deathmatch style contests. History Big Japan Pro Wrestling was founded in March 1995 by former AJPW wrestlers Shinya Kojika and Kendo Nagas ...

. After the scandal, Kanemura departed Apache Pro. Kanemura would form a new promotion called the Xtreme Wrestling Force (XWF). XWF ceased running shows in 2010. Apache Pro closed on June 26, 2009, after which its owner Takashi Sasaki founded

Pro Wrestling Freedoms , also known simply as Freedoms (stylized in capital letters as FREEDOMS), is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Chigasaki, Kanagawa. Founded by Takashi Sasaki in 2009, the promotion's name is derived from its founding philosoph ...

. On December 27, 2010, Kanemura and Kuroda started to promote Apache Pro shows again, this time basing the promotion around

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

. The promotion lasted until

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

2016, when it closed for a final time due to Kanemura's retirement from active competition. After Apache Pro's closure,

Tomohiko Hashimoto is a Japanese professional wrestler and former judoka and mixed martial artist, best known for his time with Dramatic Dream Team (DDT), where he competed as a mainstay from 2000 to 2006. After working as a freelancer on the Japanese independent ...

launched a new offshoot promotion Pro-Wrestling A-Team, which continues to promote the WEW championships as of 2025.

Roster at the time of closure

Wrestlers

;Apache Army *

;Demolition *

Staff

* Hasegawa (General Manager) * Takafumi Fujioka (Announcer)

Alumni

Jushin Thunder Liger , better known as and later , is a Japanese retired Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as a trainer. He is the longest-tenured member of the NJPW roster, having work ...

Keiji Takayama is a Japanese professional wrestler, manager and booker signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) under the ring name . Gedo has been the main booker of NJPW since the early 2010s. As a wrestler, Gedo is best known for his tag team work with part ...

Mad Man Pondo Kevin Canady (born June 24, 1969) is an American professional wrestler better known by his ring name Mad Man Pondo. Best known for his hardcore wrestling style, Canady has wrestled for various wrestling promotions, including Independent Wrest ...

Masada Masada ( ', 'fortress'; ) is a mountain-top fortress complex in the Judaean Desert, overlooking the western shore of the Dead Sea in southeastern Israel. The fort, built in the first century BCE, was constructed atop a natural plateau rising ov ...

Masato Tanaka is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in Japan where he was a FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship#Title History, one-time FMW Brass Knuckle ...

Necro Butcher Dylan Keith Summers (born July 13, 1973), better known by the ring name Necro Butcher, is an American professional wrestler. Throughout the years he has worked for various promotions, including Ring of Honor, Full Impact Pro, IWA Mid-South, Pr ...

Ricky Fuji (born September 27, 1965) better known under his ring name is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to Action Advance Pro Wrestling, where he also runs the day-to-day operations. He is perhaps best known for his time with Frontier M ...

* Shigeki Sato *

Shoji Akiyoshi (born September 28, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestler, manager and booker better known by the ring name . He is best known for his work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as part of a tag team with his partner Gedo. Jado and Gedo's care ...

Taka Michinoku (born October 26, 1973), better known by his ring name (stylized as TAKA Michinoku), is a Japanese professional wrestling, professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. He primarily appears for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he is a me ...

*The Winger *Apache Kosakai * Kenichi Yamamoto *Rikimaru *Shinjuku Shark *Tomohiro Waki *One Man Kru

Championships

References

{{Professional wrestling in Japan Japanese professional wrestling promotions 2004 establishments in Japan Defunct professional wrestling promotions