Big Japan Pro Wrestling
 |
| Acronym |
BJW |
| Founded |
1995 |
| Style |
Deathmatch |
| Headquarters |
Japan |
| Founder(s) |
Shin'ya Kojika
Kendo Nagasaki |
| Owner(s) |
Eiji Tosaka |
BJW Chairman,Great Kojika.
Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established in 1995. It is most famous for its deathmatch style contests.
History[edit]
Big Japan Pro Wrestling was founded in March 1995 by former AJPW wrestlers Shinya Kojika and Kendo Nagasaki, during the boom period for Deathmatch wrestling in Japan. Kendo Nagasaki left in 1999; Shinya Kojika is still president of the company to date.
The promotion followed in the footsteps of organisations such as Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and the International Wrestling Association of Japan (IWA Japan), who helped popularise a hard-hitting, violent and bloody style of wrestling known as the Deathmatch, or in more recent years, "hardcore" wrestling. These matches are usually weapon filled, using both "conventional" weapons (such as chairs and tables), as well as "extreme" weapons not usually seen in main-stream wrestling, and previously unused in wrestling at all. These weapons include, but are by no means limited to, nails, thumbtacks, fire and fluorescent light tubes. Barbed wire is also often used liberally in these matches, sometimes wrapped around other weapons, laid on the floor surrounding the ring, wrapped around the ring ropes or even replacing the ropes altogether. In it early years, BJW was unable to directly compete with the budgets of its competition. This led to the innovation of a number of unique gimmick matches, many of which helped hide its monetary shortcomings. These include:
Steel cage deathmatch with 200 fluorescent light tubes -
Ryuji Ito vs.
Yuko Miyamoto at
BJW 15th Anniversary Show ~Death & Crazy That's The Way Of The BJ-World~ on May 4, 2010
[1]
- Circus Deathmatch- above the ring is a scaffold and under that scaffold there is a type of circus net made of barbed wire. When a wrestler falls off of the scaffold the barbed wire spider net is there to "catch" the wrestlers. After a wrestler, or a team of wrestlers, have been thrown into the net it is cut down and the match continues to a pin fall.
- Piranha Deathmatch- Barbed wire boards are placed in the corners. In the middle of the ring, there is a tank full of Piranhas. To win you must hold your opponent in the tank for ten seconds.
- Scorpion Deathmatch- This match is similar to the Piranha Deathmatch. However, instead of barbed wire boards, there are two cacti. And instead of Piranhas, there is a tank full of scorpions.
- Crocodile Deathmatch- Two wrestlers compete in a non-specific death match. The loser of the match must then go on to wrestle a crocodile.(This match has only been performed once in a death-match between Shadow WX & Mitsuhiro Matsunaga.)
- Fire Stone Deathmatch- Both the inside and outsides of the ring are lined with electrified space heaters wrapped in barbed wire. The match is won by pin fall.
- Big Japan W*ING Crisis Big Born Deathmatch- Barbed-wire-board, thumbtacks, bed-of-nails, circus-style-scaffold into a barbed-wire-trampoline, tub of scorpions, cactus plants, light bulbs, fire stones, dry Ice, barbed-wire-bat, drills, swords, knives and buzzsaws.
- "Ancient Way" Death Match- Both fighters wrap their hands in hemp rope, which is then coated in honey and dipped in broken glass to make them deadly weapons.
Away from the Deathmatches, BJW also has had well-established normal wrestling titles. On February 3, 1998, Yoshihiro Tajiri won a one night only 8 man tournament in Tokyo to crown BJW's first World Junior Heavyweight Champion. This match showed a distinct departure from the violent matches BJW is known for. The company also has had a World Heavyweight Championship, a World Women's Championship, a World Tag Team Championship, and a World 4-Man Tag Team Shuffle Championship. Although the World Tag Team titles and Deathmatch titles are the only ones still active.
Inter-promotional feuds[edit]
Big Japan has feuded with both New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW). These were both kayfabe feuds that were done in order to generate more income for both companies. During late 1996 and early 1997, Big Japan entered into an agreement with New Japan. Being a relatively new promotion, BJW was in need of mainstream publicity. NJPW agreed to a feud, which would allow Big Japan wrestlers to appear in their company and use New Japan's popularity to give exposure to their company. In return, Big Japan agreed to lose the feud and the majority of the inter-promotional matches, therefore strengthening the New Japan brand. The situation provided an interesting clash of wrestling styles, as NJPW often favored a strong style of competition. The biggest show featuring both companies occurred at the Tokyo Dome on 4 January 1997.
In the late 1990s and into the 2000s, Big Japan competed against Combat Zone Wrestling. CZW was a relatively new American promotion at the time, and also largely focused on an extreme style of wrestling. Wrestlers feuded in both companies having matches in the United States and Japan. During the CZW feud top star Tomoaki Honma departed the company to become a freelancer. He would later sign with All Japan Pro Wrestling.
In October 2008 several BJPW wrestlers came to America and faced Chikara in The Global Gauntlet. BJPW did well, winning the best of 5 series on night one, but narrowly lost the Global Gauntlet match on night 2.
Death Match Office[edit]
Strong BJ[edit]
- Kazuki Hashimoto
- Shinya Ishikawa
- Ryuichi Kawakami
|
|
- Atsushi Ohashi (Occasional wrestler)
- Daikokubo Benkei (Inactive)
- Hideyoshi Kamitani (BJW Dojo)
|
- MEN's Teioh (Occasional wrestler)
- Yuichi Taniguchi (Unaffiliated)
- Ryuji Yamakawa (Retired)
|
|
|
"Razor Blade Cross Board" - Six Man Tag Team Barbed Wire Razor Blade Death Match ( Jun Kasai & DJ Hyde & Nick Gage vs Jaki Numazawa & Isami Kodaka & Masashi Takeda) at BJW 15th Anniversary Show ~Death & Crazy That's The Way Of The BJ-World~ on May 4, 2010 [1]
|
CZW Warriors (2000 - 2002)[edit]
This stable also appeared in Fire Pro Wrestling Returns as the Mad Gaijins, excluding Ric Blade.[2]
Championships[edit]
Current[edit]
Defunct[edit]
References[edit]
External links[edit]
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Defunct promotions
|
|
| National promotions |
|
|
| Independent promotions |
|
|
| Interpromotional alliances |
|
|
|
