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New Japan Pro Wrestling
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is a major professional wrestling promotion in Japan and is a member of the National Wrestling Alliance, founded by Antonio Inoki in 1972. 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. Although attendance has declined in recent years, it still recorded a yearly attendance of approximately 50,000 fans higher than their closest rival Pro Wrestling Noah in 2005 according to Weekly Fight. In October 2005, 51.5% of NJPW was sold to YUKE's Future Media Creators, an Osaka based company that markets home videos and video games.
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Encyclopedia
is a major professional wrestling promotion in Japan and is a member of the National Wrestling Alliance, founded by Antonio Inoki in 1972. 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. Although attendance has declined in recent years, it still recorded a yearly attendance of approximately 50,000 fans higher than their closest rival Pro Wrestling Noah in 2005 according to Weekly Fight. In October 2005, 51.5% of NJPW was sold to YUKE's Future Media Creators, an Osaka based company that markets home videos and video games. NJPW has working agreements with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, National Wrestling Alliance and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling. It previously had working agreements withWorld Championship Wrestling and the World Wrestling Federation.
It has also been named Wrestling Observer Newsletter's "Promotion of the Year" 8 times, more than any other wrestling promotion in the world.
Brand Extension
On 31st March, 2006, NJPW announced the creation of two brands who would run shows in addition to New Japan. These would be known as LOCK UP and WRESTLE LAND. Unlike WWE's brand extension, where it is considered a permanent division of the roster with few shows featuring performers from both brands, the two brands in New Japan will only have occasional shows and workers are able to work on both brands. This is done in the hope that strengths that are found in the brands may be implemented in the more regular New Japan shows in order to make for a better product. Wrestle Land has recently been replaced by PREMIUM run by Masahiro Chono on April 15, 2008.
LOCK UP is booked by Riki Choshu and the focus is intended to be on pure wrestling. The brand will be similar to Choshu's Riki Pro, with some of the same talent appearing.
PREMIUM is produced by Masahiro Chono and replacing the long defunct WRESTLE LAND. PREMIUM is now being promoted as a brand of New Japan much in the same way as LOCK UP is and 'WRESTLE LAND was. Masahiro Chono is an influential man in the professional wrestling industry, and his special shows will bring together wrestlers in "premium" pairings that would be hard to set up elsewhere.
Former Brands
WRESTLE LAND was presented in the form of sports entertainment similar to that of HUSTLE in Japan and the American WWE. Its ace was to be Hiroshi Tanahashi. (Tiger Mask IV was announced as one, but his position dropped strongly in the second show after his main event match against Tanahashi at the debut show was considered a failure, and he did not appear at the third show.) It used primarily New Japan wrestlers in new gimmicks such as Minoru doubling as "childhood friend Tanaka," Prince Devitt as the second Pegasus Kid, and El Samurai as Edo Samurai, as well as outsiders such as Gran Naniwa and Tsubo Genjin (all three shows had them in the opening match under a 'pinfalls count anywhere' stipulation), Daigoro Kashiwa and Teppei Ishizaka (Kaientai Dojo), Milano Collection AT; the apparent sole heel faction is a revived Makai Club.
Roster
See: New Japan Pro Wrestling roster
Workers
Some notable workers that work or have worked for New Japan:
- Natives: Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Riki Choshu, Masa Saito, Akira Maeda, Keiji Mutoh, Masahiro Chono, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Shinya Hashimoto, Nobuhiko Takada, Shinsuke Nakamura, Hiroshi Hase, Kensuke Sasaki, Hiroyoshi Tenzan, Yuji Nagata, Jushin Liger, Original Tiger Mask, Tiger Mask IV, Koji Kanemoto, Shinjiro Otani, Último Dragón, Minoru Tanaka, Satoshi Kojima, Ryusuke Taguchi, Shiro Koshinaka, Manabu Nakanishi, Gedo, Jado ,Wataru Inoue,Osamu Nishimura, Giant Ochiai
- Foreigners: Hulk Hogan, André the Giant, Stan Hansen, Bam Bam Bigalow, Big Van Vader, Rick and Scott Steiner, Road Warriors, Bruiser Brody, Scott Norton, Ric Flair, Eddie Guerrero, Chris Benoit, Sabu, Giant Singh, Giant Silva, Owen Hart, Dean Malenko, Tiger Jeet Singh, Karl Gotch, Kurt Angle, Brock Lesnar, Dynamite Kid, Chris Jericho, Tyson Tomko, Chyna, Low Ki, Jimmy Rave, Giant Bernard, Rick Fuller
Titles promoted
New Japan has its own governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP). IWGP titles, in order of founding, and current champions are:
NJPW also holds several annual tournaments throughout the year, to determine the #1 contender or contenders to a particular title, and in general the top wrestler or team in the promotion.
Before the IWGP's founding, New Japan promoted the following titles:
Abandoned:
External links
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