Kingdom (professional wrestling)
 | |
| Founded | 1997 |
|---|---|
| Defunct | March 1998 |
| Style | Shoot style |
| Headquarters | Tokyo, Japan |
| Founder(s) | Former UWFi Wrestlers |
Kingdom was a professional wrestling company in Japan from 1997 to 1998. It was essentially a continuation of UWF International, having most of its former roster: Nobuhiko Takada, Yoji Anjo, Kazushi Sakuraba, Daijiro Matsui, Naoki Sano, Masahito Kakihara, Yoshihiro Takayama, Kenichi Yamamoto and Hiromitsu Kanehara.
History
Kingdom's popularity did not reach or surpass that of the UWF International, which saw most of its major events at the 2,000-seater Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Attempts to rectify this by using talent from other shoot-style promotions including Battlarts did little to help, and it seemed that in the eyes of the Japanese fans the era of shoot-style wrestling had ended. As a result, Kingdom would go out of business in March 1998.
In the aftermath, Matsui, Sakuraba, Sano and Takada focused on competing for PRIDE as part of the Takada Dojo camp. Yamamoto and Kanehara jumped to RINGS, which had been a splinter promotion formed from the UWF much like UWF International had been. Meanwhile Kakihara and Takayama joined All Japan Pro Wrestling as free agents, while Anjo dabbled in K-1 before later reappearing in All Japan Pro Wrestling and Dream Stage Entertainment's HUSTLE as "Commander ANJOE".
See also
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