New Japan Pro Wrestling

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New Japan Pro-Wrestling
Acronym NJPW
Founded June 1972
Style Strong Style
Headquarters Japan
Founder(s) Antonio Inoki
Owner(s) Bushiroad

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (新日本プロレス Shin Nihon Puroresu?) (NJPW) is a major professional wrestling promotion in Japan, founded in June 1972 by Antonio Inoki, who sold the promotion to Yuke's in 2005 and sold in 2012 to Bushiroad. Naoki Sugabayashi is the current President of the promotion and has held that position from 2007.[1] Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, it is the largest wrestling promotion in Japan and one of the largest in the world. From its creation in 1972 until 1986, NJPW was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance. NJPW is known for openly engaging in working agreements with various MMA and pro wrestling promotions around the world, including: World Wrestling Entertainment, World Championship Wrestling, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, WAR, Ring of Honor, Pride Fighting Championships, and Jersey All Pro Wrestling[1] and various other MMA and pro wrestling promotions. NJPW's biggest event of the year is the January 4th at the Tokyo Dome, an event they have held each year since 1992.

Contents

History[edit]

Originally founded by Antonio Inoki in 1972, New Japan Pro Wrestling, also known as "Shin Nihon Puroresu", is considered the top promotion in Japan and is comparable to WWE in the United States in terms of popularity and size in Japan. They promote events throughout Japan with their biggest event being their annual blowout show held every year on January 4 at the Tokyo Dome, which is Japan's version of WWE's annual WrestleMania event. In the past they have worked with WWE, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) among others and currently have a working agreement with Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion, additionally they occasionally do cross-promotion matches with other Japanese promotions, such as All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah. The promotion is currently owned by Japanese card game company Bushiroad. Antonio Inoki is no longer affiliated with NJPW.

The promotion also has its own governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP). Thus all the promotion's titles are referred to as IWGP Championships. They currently have six titles: Heavyweight, Junior Heavyweight, Tag Team, Junior Heavyweight Tag Team, Intercontinental and the NEVER Openweight Championship. They also hold several tournaments each year, including G1 Climax, World Tag League, New Japan Cup and Best of the Super Juniors.

The promotion debuted a new series called NEVER in August 2010, designed to be a series of events spotlighting younger up-and-coming talent and feature more outsider participation in the promotion.

On January 4, 2011, New Japan Pro Wrestling officially announced their first tour of the United States in May 2011, when they held shows in Rahway, New Jersey on May 13, New York City on May 14 and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 15. As part of the tour, NJPW introduced a new title, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.[2] On January 31, 2012, Yuke's announced that it had sold all shares of New Japan Pro Wrestling to card game company Bushiroad for ¥500 million ($6.5 million).[3] New Japan aired its first internet pay-per-view, the fourth day of the 2012 G1 Climax, on August 5, 2012.[4] The October 8, 2012, King of Pro-Wrestling internet pay-per-view marked the first time viewers outside of Japan were able to order a pay-per-view by the promotion.[5][6] On October 5, 2012, New Japan announced the creation of the NEVER Openweight Championship, which would be contested for on the NEVER series. A two-day tournament to determine the inaugural champion was held between November 15 and 19, 2012.[7]

Roster[edit]

See: New Japan Pro Wrestling roster

Current championships[edit]

The championships recognized by NJPW are called International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP).

Championship Current champion(s) Held since
IWGP Heavyweight Championship Kazuchika Okada April 7, 2013[8]
IWGP Tag Team Championship Ten-Koji
(Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima)		 May 3, 2013[9]
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship Prince Devitt November 11, 2012[10]
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Forever Hooligans
(Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero)		 May 3, 2013[11]
IWGP Intercontinental Championship La Sombra May 31, 2013[12]
NEVER Openweight Championship Masato Tanaka November 19, 2012[13]

Annual tournaments[edit]

Tournament Last winner(s) Last held Type Created Notes
G1 Climax Kazuchika Okada 02012-08-12August 12, 2012 Open weight 1991 NJPW's biggest annual tournament, primarily for heavyweights but there is no official weight limit. Mostly in a league format[Note 1]
World Tag League Sword & Guns
(Hirooki Goto and Karl Anderson)		 02012-12-02December 2, 2012 Tag team 1991 NJPW's annual tag team tournament.[Note 2]
New Japan Cup Kazuchika Okada 02013-03-23March 23, 2013 Open weight 2005 Single-elimination tournament (cf. the League Cup and the FA Cup in English Association football)
Best of the Super Juniors Prince Devitt 02013-06-09June 9, 2013 Junior Heavyweight 1988 Annual tournament featuring top Junior Heavyweights from all over the world.
Super J Cup Naomichi Marufuji 02009-12-23December 23, 2009 Junior Heavyweight 1994 Sporadic tournament featuring top junior heavyweights from all over the world. The tournament has been hosted by other promotions than NJPW as well.
Super Jr. Tag Tournament Time Splitters
(Alex Shelley and Kushida)		 02012-11-02November 2, 2012 Junior Heavyweight Tag Team 1994 Sporadic tournament featuring junior heavyweight tag teams from all over the world.[Note 3]
Young Lion Cup Hirooki Goto 2005 Rookies 1985 Tournament that is not held every year.[Note 4]
J Sports Crown 6 Man Openweight Tag Team Tournament Apollo 555
(Hirooki Goto, Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi)		 June 23, 2011 Six man tag team 2010

Footnotes[edit]

  1. ^ Before the G1 Climax, NJPW had had an annual single tournament since 1974 under various names: the World League (1974-77), the Madison Square Garden (MSG) League (1978-82), the International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) League (1983-87) and the World Cup Tournament (1989).
  2. ^ Before the G1 Climax Tag league, NJPW had had an annual Tag tournament since 1980 under various names: the Madison Square Garden (MSG) Tag League (1980-85) and the Japan Cup Tag League (1986-87).
  3. ^ NJPW has previously held similar tournaments for junior heavyweight tag teams, the first being the Junior Heavyweight Super Grade Tag League in 1996, won by Eddie Guerrero as Black Tiger II and The Great Sasuke. They also held the G1 Junior Tag League in 2001: it was won by El Samurai and Jushin Liger. On May 8, 2010, NJPW also held a one night, single elimination tournament, under the name Super J Tag Tournament 1st, which was won by El Samurai and Koji Kanemoto. On November 13, 2010, NJPW held the Super J Tag League, a round-robin tournament, which was won by Jado and Gedo.
  4. ^ In 1974 and 1975 NJPW held the "Karl Gotch Cup" a similar style rookie wrestler tournament.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b "New Japan Pro Wrestling comes to the U.S.". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. October 3, 2010. Retrieved October 4, 2010. 
  2. ^ Caldwell, James (January 5, 2011). "NJPW News: New Japan to introduce new title on U.S. tour, officially announces dates & venues for "Invasion" tour". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved January 5, 2011. 
  3. ^ Caldwell, James (January 31, 2012). "NJPW News: New Japan sold to new owners, change-over taking effect February 1". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved January 31, 2012. 
  4. ^ Caldwell, James (August 1, 2012). "NJPW debuting on iPPV this weekend". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved August 1, 2012. 
  5. ^ "10月8日『キングオブプロレスリング』 ＰＰＶ配信が更に規模を拡大して「全世界」へ！ Ustream all over the world !". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). September 28, 2012. Retrieved September 28, 2012. 
  6. ^ Caldwell, James (September 28, 2012). "NJPW offering Oct. 8 show on iPPV". Pro Wrestling Torch. Retrieved September 28, 2012. 
  7. ^ "あの『NEVER』がリニューアル!! “無差別級王座”も新設!! 11.15＆11.19Shibuya Axで再出発!!". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). October 5, 2012. Retrieved October 5, 2012. 
  8. ^ "Heavy weight class". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved September 19, 2011. 
  9. ^ "Heavy tag weight class". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved September 19, 2011. 
  10. ^ "Jr. Heavy weight class". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved September 19, 2011. 
  11. ^ "Jr. Heavy tag weight class". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved September 19, 2011. 
  12. ^ "InterContinental champion". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved September 19, 2011. 
  13. ^ "NEVER open weight class". New Japan Pro Wrestling (in Japanese). Retrieved February 10, 2013. 

External links[edit]

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