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Battlarts
, more commonly referred to as simply Battlarts was a professional wrestling promotion based in Koshigaya, Saitama, Japan. The promotion was formed in 1996 by Japanese wrestler Yuki Ishikawa and featured all of the wrestlers from the Fujiwara Gumi promotion, who had abandoned the promotion in favor of Battlarts. They ran shows in the Tokyo area regularly from 1998 to 2002. Even though Battlarts' style was based on shoot wrestling, the promotion often cooperated with other federations and styles, including RINGS, Kingdom, Michinoku Pro and Big Japan Pro Wrestling. The biggest co-promotion occurred on October 17, 1999 when Battlarts and The Great Sasuke's Michinoku Pro Wrestling presented "Michinoku Pro vs. Battlarts", which was headlined by a tag match pitting the owners of both promotions (Great Sasuke and Ishikawa) against Jinsei Shinzaki and Alexander Otsuka. The promotion ceased running regular shows and events in 2001 due to "management aggravation". Battlarts eventually beg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keita Yano
is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist currently working for Professional Wrestling Wallabee. He started his career with Battlarts in February 2007 and remained with the promotion for four years, winning the B-Rule Tournament in 2009. During his tenure, Yano also represented Battlarts in major Japanese promotions such as New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Pro Wrestling Zero1 and American promotion Chikara, where he took part in the Young Lions Cup VIII tournament in August 2010. After the folding of Battlarts, Yano began working for DDT Pro-Wrestling, where, as a representative of the Crying Wolf stable, he became a one-time Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion, before parting ways with the promotion in July 2012. Professional wrestling career Battlarts (2006–2011) Yano began training professional wrestling with Battlarts in 2006, when the promotion accepted his third application to enter its training program. He eventually made his in-ring debut on Febr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katsumi Usuda
is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. Debuting for Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (PWFG) in 1993, he is best known for his work in Battlarts, where he was a 2 time Independent World Junior Heavyweight Champion. Usuda is also known for his appearances in Pro Wrestling Zero-One, Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling, Big Mouth Loud, and Fu-Ten. Career Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (1993–1995) A student of Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Usuda debuted in Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi at the age of 23, going to a 30 minute time limit draw with Carl Greco. He took part in the 1994 Challenge Cup, where he was beaten by Shoichi Funaki in the final. After 2 years and limited success in PWFG, Usuda and the rest of the roster all followed Yuki Ishikawa in an exodus on November 19, 1995, after Ishikawa discovered that the sponsors of Fujiwara Gumi planned to massively restructure the roster and change the landscape of the entire promotion. Battlarts The entirety of the PWFG roster (bar Fujiwara him ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexander Otsuka
, better known by his ring name Alexander Otsuka and Otoko Sakari, is a retired Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. Having competed for multiple pro wrestling organizations in his career, most recently with Antonio Inoki's Inoki Genome Federation, he is known for his work in the promotion Battlarts. Otsuka made the move from a successful professional wrestling career to mixed martial arts competition in 1995. He earned a notable victory over Vale Tudo pioneer Marco Ruas in 1998. Though Otsuka finished his career in 2006 with a 4-13 record, he mostly faced very high-ranked opponents, including all-time greats Renzo Gracie, Ken Shamrock, Igor Vovchanchyn, Quinton Jackson, Wanderlei Silva, and Anderson Silva, all of whom defeated him. Otsuka was famous for his toughness in the ring. Professional wrestling career A former amateur wrestler since high school, Otsuka was contacted by Yoshiaki Fujiwara to train in Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi. Takashi debuted in 1994 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ikuto Hidaka
(born August 5, 1972) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently performing for Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah). Hidaka was the regular partner of Minoru Fujita, with whom he has held the Zero1-Max International Lightweight Tag Team and Intercontinental Tag Team Titles, making them the only team to do so. He has also worked for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW). Professional wrestling career Battlarts (1997–2001) Hidaka debuted for the Battlarts shoot style promotion in 1997 after training in the Animal Hamaguchi Dojo. He spent his rookie year venturing to promotions like Michinoku Pro Wrestling (Michinoku Pro) and Kingdom Pro Wrestling (KPW), sharing rings with names like Yuki Ishikawa, Daisuke Ikeda, Minoru Tanaka and Yoshihiro Tajiri. In 1998, he challenged for the vacated UWA World Middleweight Championship, but was defeated by Willow. Shortly after, he formed a tag team with Minoru Fujita, who was based in Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), and they competed at the ''Tag L ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shannon Ritch
Shannon Grey Ritch (born September 27, 1970) is an American professional mixed martial artist, boxer, grappler, professional wrestler and kickboxer. In mixed martial arts competition he is the former King of the Cage Middleweight Champion and the inaugural BKFC International Heavyweight Champion in bare-knuckle boxing. A professional competitor since 1998, Ritch has competed for M-1 Global, Combate Americas, MFC, Shark Fights, Pancrase, Battlarts, K-1, Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship, PRIDE, Rebel Fighting Championship, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, King of the Cage, Gladiator Challenge, Hart Legacy Wrestling and the WEC. Background Ritch was born in Coolidge, Arizona and was raised "dirt poor" on a farm in Randolph. Ritch began learning karate from a young age and also competed in high school wrestling before becoming a professional kickboxer beginning as an amateur sometime in 1988. Ritch attended Central Arizona College and Arizona State University. Shannon also had a brief ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santino Marella
Anthony Carelli (born March 14, 1974) is a Canadian judoka and semi-retired professional wrestler. He is known for his 11-year tenure with WWE where he wrestled under the ring name Santino Marella. He is the founder of and instructor at Battle Arts Academy, a martial arts and professional wrestling training facility in Mississauga, Ontario, and the official ambassador of Judo Canada. Carelli was signed by World Wrestling Entertainment in 2005, being assigned to Ohio Valley Wrestling, WWE's farm territory. He made his debut on ''WWE Raw, Raw'' during a live episode from Milan, Italy. Under the character of Santino Marella, a fan selected from the audience, he defeated the Intercontinental Champion Umaga (wrestler), Umaga, winning the title in his debut match. During the following years, he would win the Intercontinental title one more time, the United States Championship and the WWE Tag Team Championship. He was also involved in a storyline where he worked as Santina Marella, Santi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carl Ognibene
Carl Ognibene (born January 25, 1970) is an American professional wrestler, freestyle wrestler and mixed martial artist who is best known as Carl Malenko who competed in Battlarts, Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi, All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pride Fighting Championships. Professional wrestling career Trained by Boris Malenko, Carl Contini was transformed into a top flight worker like his step-brothers Joe and Dean. Malenko made his professional wrestling debut in 1993 for Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi in Japan using the name Carl Greco. In 1996, he made his debut for BattlARTS. In 1999, he changed his name to Carl Malenko during his time in BattlARTS andformative years, when he became the top gaijin for BattlARTS in its later years, mainly pushed as a tag wrestler. Malenko changed his name to Carl Contini in 2003 while working for All Japan Pro Wrestling. His final match for BattlArts took place in 2008. In 2011, Malenko made his debut for the independent promotion in Florida, Defini ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minoru Fujita
(born September 5, 1977) is a Japanese professional wrestler who works as a freelancer. He is known for working at Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling. He is the current Super Asia Champion in his first reign. Career Fujita started in Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) as a protégé of its top junior heavyweight, Yoshihiro Tajiri. When Tajiri, who was Big Japan junior heavyweight champion, quit the company and gave up the title, Fujita had a decision match against Katsumi Usuda from the Battlarts promotion but ended up losing. Fujita spent his time leaving Big Japan to venture into other Japanese independents, meeting Ikuto Hidaka of Battlarts along the way and making memorable tag team matches with him. The combination, however, despite their combined talent, could not have a future due to their separate schedules; Fujita tried a move to Michinoku Pro Wrestling in 2000, but despite the higher exposure, it did little for him financially and did not raise his stock as a viable junior heavyweig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daisuke Ikeda
is a Japanese professional wrestler who is currently wrestling in the Independent circuit in Japan. Since debuting in 1993, Ikeda has worked for a number of promotions in Japan, including Battlarts, All Japan Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Noah and Frontier Martial Arts Wrestling (FMW). Professional wrestling career Ikeda was trained by Yoshiaki Fujiwara and joined Fujiwara's promotion Fujiwara Gumi in 1993. In 1995 he moved to BattlARTS. As one of the few heavyweights competing in a promotion made up mostly of junior heavyweights (compare Jinsei Shinzaki in Michinoku Pro Wrestling), he often had to look out of the promotion for challenges, including Shinzaki and FMW talent such as Hayabusa, Masato Tanaka, and Hiromichi Fuyuki. In 1998 he started making appearances in All Japan Pro Wrestling, and finally in early 2000 he joined the promotion as a full-time worker. He did not stay long as later that year he left for Mitsuharu Misawa's new promotion Pro Wrestling Noah. He briefly j ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masao Orihara
(born June 16, 1969) is a Japanese professional wrestler. Orihara is known by his career in numerous Japanese promotions such as Michinoku Pro Wrestling, Wrestle Association R, Battlarts and Dramatic Dream Team. Professional wrestling career Orihara was trained in the All Japan Pro Wrestling Dojo under Genichiro Tenryu's tutelage. When Tenryu left for Super World of Sports, Orihara and others followed him to the new promotion. In 1992, Orihara was sent to Mexico, where he learnt the high-flying lucha libre style and wrestled for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre as Iga, a masked ninja character. Upon his return to SWS, now named Wrestle Association R, Masao showed his new style and competed in memorable cruiserweight bouts with Ultimo Dragon, with whom he formed a long friendship. After the WAR demise, Orihara landed in Michinoku Pro Wrestling, where he became Sasuke the Great, a The Great Sasuke copycat. Orihara formed a tag team with Takeshi Ono (who competed as Masked Tiger) and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dieusel Berto
Dieusel Berto, (March 24, 1958 – December 29, 2018) was a Haitian professional mixed martial artist, professional wrestler, and kickboxer. He is the father of professional boxers Andre Berto and James Edson Berto. Berto competed at UFC 10 in 1996. for He founded Tiger's World of Martial Arts in Florida. Background Originally from Modle, Haiti, Berto moved to Florida in 1980. Berto first worked picking fruit and worked in the restaurant industry. Began training in martial arts. He practiced, Shoodokan and Jeet Kune Do, until he was introduced to the world of professional wrestling, where he was known as ‘The Caribbean Kid.” Professional wrestling career Berto made his professional wrestling debut in 1992 where he worked in Japan for Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi until 1994. His biggest victory was a win over Katsumi Usuda. On September 10, 1993 Berto wrestled one night for Fighting Network Rings where he lost to Masayuki Naruse. In 1996, he last wrestled for Battlarts wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Backlund
Robert Louis Backlund (born August 14, 1949) is an American retired amateur and professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances in the World Wide Wrestling Federation/World Wrestling Federation from 1976 to 1984 and in the 1990s, where he held the WWWF Championship/WWF Championship on two occasions. His first reign was the second longest in history as recognised by the WWE. (Backlund lost the title to Antonio Inoki in Japan in 1979 but regained the belt within a week, and the WWF never acknowledged the title change in the USA) Backlund was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013. Backlund began his career in amateur wrestling, competing for the North Dakota State University Bison from the late 1960s to early 1970s. He began training as a professional wrestler in 1973 under Eddie Sharkey and competed for the American Wrestling Association. He then wrestled for the National Wrestling Alliance and won the NWA Missouri Heavyweight Championship in 1976. Later that year ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
