Akihito Terui
, is a Japanese color commentator and retired professional wrestler, better known by his ring name . As Milano, Sawafuji adopted the gimmick of an Italian fashion aficionado/supermodel, reflected in his ring attire. Milano is also known for walking to the ring with an invisible dog known as Mikeru. After retiring from in-ring competition in 2010, Milano began working as a color commentator for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), a position he maintains to this day. Professional wrestling career Sawafuji debuted in 2000 in Toryumon, where he later adopted the persona and ring name of ''Milano Collection A. T.'', an Italian fashion aficionado/supermodel, wearing lavish coats and trunks and walking to the ring with an invisible dog named Mikeru to much more success, and upon his arrival in Japan, he was the ace of Toryumon's T2P class. In 2002, he won the T2P Strongest Merit Assessment League defeating Masato Yoshino and received the NWA International Light Heavyweight Championship for ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Best Of The Super Juniors
The Best of the Super Juniors (often abbreviated BOSJ) is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), typically in May or June. Originally known as Top of the Super Juniors, the first tournament was held in 1988 with annual tournaments taking place since 1991. The wrestlers in the tournament are typically junior heavyweight wrestlers from promotions all over the world. NJPW has held 28 Super Juniors tournaments. Hiromu Takahashi holds the record for most tournament wins with four, while Jushin Thunder Liger and Koji Kanemoto have won three each. Takahashi is also the only wrestler to have won three consecutive tournaments. Kanemoto holds the record for the most final appearances, having wrestled eight finals between 1997 and 2009. Liger has participated in the most tournaments, competing in all tournaments except 1995 and 2000 until his 26th and final Super Junior tournament in 2017. History and format The tournament was formed in 1988 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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NWA International Light Heavyweight Championship
The NWA International Light Heavyweight Championship was a professional wrestling championship promoted by Último Dragón's Toryumon 2000 Project (T2P) promotion. Although having the "NWA" initials, it was not officially sanctioned by the National Wrestling Alliance. T2P closed a month after CIMA won the title, so CIMA took the title to Toryumon Japan but never defended it. The title was later abandoned when CIMA won the Último Dragón Gym Championship. Title history {, class="wikitable" !style="background: #e3e3e3;", Wrestler: !style="background: #e3e3e3;", Reigns: !style="background: #e3e3e3;", Date: !style="background: #e3e3e3;", Place: !style="background: #e3e3e3;", Notes: , - , Milano Collection AT , 1 , March 3, 2002 , Tokyo, Japan , Defeated Masato Yoshino in the T2P Strongest League Finals to become the first champion. , - , CIMA , 1 , December 26, 2002 , Tokyo, Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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TNA 2008 World X Cup Tournament
The 2008 TNA World X Cup Tournament was a professional wrestling X Cup Tournament produced by the Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion. It was the third World X Cup Tournament and the last held as of . The competition began on June 10, 2008 and concluded on July 13, 2008 at TNA's Victory Road pay-per-view (PPV) event. The tournament featured several international wrestlers alongside several TNA wrestlers. The theme of the contest was four competing teams, each representing a specific country or organization. However, the 2008 competition featured the debut of Team International, which represented several countries and cultures. Daivari, Tyson Dux, Doug Williams, Alex Koslov, Averno, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero, Volador Jr., Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, Puma, Milano Collection A.T., Kaz, Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, and Curry Man all competed in the 2008 installment. They formed the four teams involved: Team International, Team Mexico, Team Japan, and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Total Nonstop Action Wrestling
Impact Wrestling (stylized as ''IMPACT! Wrestling''), is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Nashville, Tennessee. It is a subsidiary of Anthem Sports & Entertainment. Founded by Jeff and Jerry Jarrett in 2002, the promotion was initially known as NWA: Total Nonstop Action (''NWA-TNA'') and was associated with the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), though not an official member. In 2004, the promotion became known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), but it continued to use the NWA World Heavyweight and Tag Team championships as part of its agreement with the NWA. After the agreement ended in 2007, the company created its own TNA World Heavyweight and TNA World Tag Team championships. The promotion was purchased by Anthem at the beginning of 2017 and, in March of that year, was fully rebranded under its current name after its flagship, weekly television series. From its inception, the promotion had been considered the second-largest in the United ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chikara (professional Wrestling)
Chikara (stylized in all capital letters and sometimes referred to as Chikara Pro) was an American professional wrestling promotion based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The company took both its name and logo from the Japanese ''kanji'' meaning strength. It was founded in 2002 by professional wrestlers Mike Quackenbush and Reckless Youth, who also served as trainers and in-ring performers. The promotion held multiple live events per month, with the majority taking place at the Wrestle Factory. Two of their major events, September's King of Trios, the promotion's premiere event, and April's Tag World Grand Prix were centered on tag team and '' trios'' matches. Their other major events included Aniversario, held in May, and the Young Lions Cup tournament, held between June and August. In 2011, Chikara introduced the Grand Championship, the promotion's primary singles championship. Influenced by the '' lucha libre'' tradition, Chikara performers were grouped into ''tecnicos'' a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ring Of Honor
Ring of Honor (ROH) is an American professional wrestling promotion based in Jacksonville, Florida. The promotion was founded by Rob Feinstein on February 23, 2002, and was operated by Cary Silkin from 2004 until 2011, when the promotion was sold to the Sinclair Broadcast Group. After a deal was struck in March 2022, ROH was officially sold to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) founder, co-owner, president, and CEO Tony Khan two months later. Throughout the 2010s, Ring of Honor was considered a major wrestling promotion in the United States, alongside WWE and Impact Wrestling. Under Sinclair Broadcast Group's ownership, ROH began talent-sharing deals with wrestling companies outside the U.S., expanded their television visibility through Sinclair's broadcast stations, and eventually established its own streaming service in 2018 called Honor Club. But as time went on and the industry saw the creation and subsequent rise of All Elite Wrestling (AEW), ROH would be seen as a smaller promotion ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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East Coast Wrestling Association
East Coast Wrestling Association (ECWA) is an American professional wrestling promotion, founded by promoter Jim Kettner. It is home to the annual ECWA Super 8 Tournament, Super 8 Tournament, one of the longest-running independent wrestling tournaments in the country, as well as the annual ECWA Super 8 ChickFight Tournament, Super 8 ChickFight Tournament. In 2010, Kettner announced his retirement and turned the promotion over to Mike Tartaglia and Joe Zanolle. Mike Tartaglia officially put the company on hiatus on June 5, 2019. In December 2019, Tartaglia sold the promotion to Zanolle. Championships Personnel ECWA Hall of Fame Established in 1982, the East Coast Wrestling Association (ECWA) Hall of Fame honors performers and staff members alike for their contributions to the organization. Though there is no physical location for the Hall of Fame, the organization acknowledges all inductees on its website. ;Inductees See also *List of independent wrestling promotions in the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Professional Wrestling In The United States
Professional wrestling in the United States, until the 1920s, was viewed as a legitimate sport. This view did not endure into the 1930s, as professional wrestling became identified with modern theatrics, or "admitted fakeness" ("kayfabe"), moving away from being a showcase for true competition. The scripted nature of the art has made critics view it as an illegitimate sport, particularly in comparison to boxing, mixed martial arts, amateur wrestling, and the real sport itself, wrestling. No major promoter or wrestler denies that modern professional wrestling has predetermined match outcomes. Through the advent of television in the 1950s and cable in the 1980s, professional wrestling began appearing in powerful media outlets, reaching never before seen numbers of viewers. It became an international phenomenon with the expansion of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Throughout the 1990s, professional wrestling achieved highs in both viewers and financial success during a time of f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shoichi Funaki
(born August 24, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestler and color commentator signed to WWE, where he is a one-time Cruiserweight Champion and a one-time Hardcore Champion. He currently works for WWE as a Japanese-language play-by-play commentator. Professional wrestling career Early years (1990–1998) Funaki started as a shoot style wrestler in Yoshiaki Fujiwara's Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi promotion and moved to its successor promotion, Battlarts. He later found the lucha libre style more to his liking, so he moved to The Great Sasuke's promotion, Michinoku Pro Wrestling. In that promotion, he joined with Taka Michinoku, Dick Togo, Men's Teioh and Shiryu in the Kai En Tai stable. Funaki also wrestled in the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) where he won the UWA World Middleweight Championship from El Pantera on March 19, 1997, in Japan. World Wrestling Federation/Entertainment Kai En Tai (1998–2001) In March 1998, Funaki, along with Teioh and Togo, joined the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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World Wrestling Entertainment
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and various other business ventures. The company is additionally involved in licensing its intellectual property to companies to produce video games and action figures. The promotion was founded in 1953 as the Capitol Wrestling Corporation. It is the largest wrestling promotion in the world with its main roster divided up into two primary touring groups, along with a developmental roster based in Orlando, Florida (referred to by WWE as "brands"). Overall, WWE is available in more than 1 billion homes worldwide in 30 languages. The company's global headquarters is located in Stamford, Connecticut, with offices in New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore, Dubai and Munich. As in other professional wrestling promotions, WWE sh ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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San Antonio, Texas
("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_type2 = Counties , subdivision_name2 = Bexar, Comal, Medina , established_title = Foundation , established_date = May 1, 1718 , established_title1 = Incorporated , established_date1 = June 5, 1837 , named_for = Saint Anthony of Padua , government_type = Council-Manager , governing_body = San Antonio City Council , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Ron Nirenberg ( I) , leader_title2 = City Manager , leader_name2 = Erik Walsh , leader_title3 = City Council , leader_name3 = , unit_pref = Imperial , area_total_sq_mi = 504.64 , area_total_km2 = 1307.00 , area_land_sq_mi = 498.85 , area_land_km2 = 1292.02 , area_water_sq_mi = 5.79 , area_water_km2 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tzuki
Tzuki (sometimes spelled Tsuki or Tzuky) is a Mexican ''Luchador enmascarado'', or masked professional wrestler, who works as a ''Mini-Estrella'' or "Mini" division in Mexico. Throughout his career Tzuki has worked under various ring names, most notably Máscarita Sagrada Jr., Mini Rey Misterio Jr. and Max Mini. Tzuki has worked for (AAA), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and a variety of special appearances for independent promotions all over Mexico, the United States, Europe and Japan and currently works for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL). Tsuky's real name is not a matter of public record, as is often the case with masked wrestlers in Mexico where their private lives are kept a secret from the wrestling fans. While not all ''Mini-Estrellas'' in Mexico have dwarfism, Tzuki is one of the ''Mini-Estrellas'' that actually is a dwarf. Professional wrestling career The wrestler who would later be known as Tzuki trained under Furia Guerrera and El Gallo, both average sized ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |