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Naomichi Marufuji
(born September 26, 1979) is a Japanese professional wrestler who competes for Pro Wrestling Noah, with occasional appearances in other professional wrestling promotions including New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Ring of Honor (ROH), and Impact Wrestling. Marufuji is a four-time GHC Heavyweight Champion, as well as the first of two men to win Junior Heavyweight Championships in all three major Japanese promotions ( Minoru Tanaka is the other). In 2009, he was appointed to the position of Vice President of Pro Wrestling Noah, and has retained the position since, being reappointed in September 2011. Professional wrestling career All Japan Pro Wrestling (1998–1999) Marufuji pursued amateur wrestling and basketball during his high school days before joining All Japan Pro Wrestling, and trained in Satoru Sayama's Super Tiger Gym. His debut match came on August 28, 1998 against Yoshinobu Kanemaru. For the first two years of his career, under Gian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pro Wrestling Noah
(stylised as Pro Wrestling NOAH) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2000 by former All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) ace Mitsuharu Misawa after he had led a mass exodus in which 24 of AJPW's 26 contracted wrestlers left the promotion to form Noah. Noah held its first shows in August 2000, and established the Global Honored Crown as the in-house governing body for its collection of championships. Throughout its -year history, Noah has had working relationships with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Ring of Honor (ROH), Impact Wrestling (formerly TNA), Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW). In January 2020, the company was purchased by CyberAgent, parent company of DDT Pro Wrestling, with DDT's executives taking over Noah's operations and Noah's content appearing on DDT's streaming service Wrestle Universe. History Noah under Misawa (2000–2009) In January 1999, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yoshinobu Kanemaru
is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he also works as a backstage producer. Kanemaru is best known for his work in Pro Wrestling Noah, where he holds the records for the most reigns with the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship. Professional wrestling career All Japan Pro Wrestling (1996–2000) Kanemaru debuted in 1996 for All Japan Pro Wrestling, in the last years of owner Giant Baba's regime, which had isolated the promotion from outsider wrestlers at the expense of the younger, lighter-weight talent. His first high-profile match in 1997 saw him team with New Japan Pro-Wrestling's Koji Kanemoto (Tiger Mask III) to battle freelancer Satoru Sayama, the original Tiger Mask, and his disciple, Michinoku Pro Wrestling's Yoshihiro Yamazaki (who would go on to become Tiger Mask IV), in a battle of Tiger Masks (as Mitsuharu Misawa, who once portrayed Tiger Mask II, was now a heavyweight and fully focused on the Triple Crown H ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tokyo Sports Puroresu Awards
The are Japanese professional wrestling, or ''puroresu'', awards that have been handed out by the ''Tokyo Sports'' magazine annually since 1974. The most publicized awards in Japanese professional wrestling, they are recognized by all the major promotions in the country, including All Japan Pro Wrestling, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling Noah. The awards are voted for by a committee made up of people involved with Japanese professional wrestling, including reporters and photographers. After the winners are announced in the middle of December, an award ceremony is held in Tokyo in January. Voting takes place in rounds. In landslide cases, the winner can be determined in a single round of voting, however, if no wrestler gets enough votes, the award can be left blank and not given out that year. Most notably, the award for female wrestler of the year was not given out between 2004 and 2008 and again in 2014, when the committee felt that no wrestler had the necessary qualifi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tokyo Sports
is a Japanese daily sports newspaper founded in 1960. See also * Tokyo Sports Film Award * Tokyo Sports Puroresu Awards The are Japanese professional wrestling, or ''puroresu'', awards that have been handed out by the ''Tokyo Sports'' magazine annually since 1974. The most publicized awards in Japanese professional wrestling, they are recognized by all the major pr ... References External links * http://www.tokyo-sports.co.jp Official website 1960 establishments in Japan Daily newspapers published in Japan Publications established in 1960 Sports newspapers published in Japan Newspapers published in Tokyo Japanese-language newspapers {{Asia-newspaper-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jun Akiyama
is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to DDT Pro-Wrestling, where he is a former KO-D Openweight Champion. He is best known for his time working for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he was the president, representative director, co-head booker, and an in-ring performer. In AJPW, he is a former two-time Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, while also being a six-time overall professional wrestling world champion. Akiyama is noted for his serious in-ring style and demeanor, innovating the '' Blue Thunder Driver'' and the wrist–clutch exploder suplex maneuvers. Considered an outstanding tag team wrestler, Akiyama is a three-time winner of the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' Tag Team of the Year award. Personal life In junior high school, Akiyama participated in swimming and in senior high school he competed in freestyle amateur wrestling and judo. After high school, he attended Senshu University in Tokyo, where he joined an amateur wrestling team that prod ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akira Taue
is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. He is also a former All Japan Pro Wrestling Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, a former GHC Heavyweight Champion and has had fourteen 5 Star Matches as awarded by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Early life and sumo career On the 8th of May, 1961 Akira Taue was born the eldest son of a construction worker, in Saitama, Japan. As a teenager and young adult in Kagemori Junior High School, Taue was quite active in various sports such as shotput, baseball and judo. After graduating, Taue would work as a part time auto-mechanic, while attending the Saitama Prefectural Chichibu High School. There Taue was sent a recommendation for the high school's sumo club. He joined the club in his second year of high school, and he won the third place in the national sumo high school championship. Taue was then invited in the Oshiogawa stable, and made his professional sumo debut, in January 1980. For the first six years of Taue's sumo career he w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GHC Heavyweight Champion
The is the professional wrestling world heavyweight championship created and promoted by the Japanese promotion CyberFight currently defended in the Pro Wrestling Noah brand division. It is one of CyberFight's two top men's world titles, alongside the KO-D Openweight Championship in DDT Pro-Wrestling. The title was also defended on Impact Wrestling which has a working relationship with Pro Wrestling Noah. It was created on April 15, 2001 when Mitsuharu Misawa defeated Yoshihiro Takayama in a 16-man tournament final. Though its name implies a particular weight class, it has been periodically held by junior heavyweights, including Yoshinari Ogawa, Kenta, Naomichi Marufuji, Katsuhiko Nakajima and Kenoh. There have been a total of 41 reigns shared between 22 different champions. The current champion is Kaito Kiyomiya, who is in his second reign. Tournament Noah held a 16-man tournament to crown the first champion, held over its month-long, 18-event Navigation for the Victory ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship
The is a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship in the Japanese All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion. History The championship was established after the unification of its then-flagship title the PWF World Heavyweight Championship, with the NWA United National Championship and the NWA International Heavyweight Championship. The titles were unified on April 18, 1989, when NWA International Heavyweight Champion Jumbo Tsuruta defeated the PWF World Heavyweight and NWA United National Champion Stan Hansen. Unlike most unified championships, the Triple Crown was originally represented through the continued use of the three individual championship belts. From 1989 to 2000, the holder of the Triple Crown was also presented by Nippon TV (AJPW's broadcaster at the time) with a large, globe-shaped trophy bearing the words "World Heavyweight Champion." The original title belts were returned to All Japan founder Giant Baba's widow Motoko in August 2013 and a new single ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minoru Suzuki
(born June 17, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist, currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as a freelancer. In NJPW, Suzuki has held the IWGP Intercontinental Championship as well as twice holding the NEVER Openweight Championship. Suzuki also wrestles for NJPW's international partners - most notably Revolution Pro Wrestling (RevPro) and Ring of Honor (ROH). In RevPro, he is also a former British Heavyweight Champion and co-holder of the Undisputed British Tag Team Championship alongside fellow Suzuki-gun stablemate, Zack Sabre Jr. In ROH, he is a former ROH World Television Champion; this was his first title in a U.S. based promotion. Suzuki was the co-founder of Pancrase, one of the first mixed martial arts organizations in the world. During the 1990s, he was widely considered one of the best fighters in the world and was the second King of Pancrase world champion. Suzuki returned to ''puroresu'' in 2003, when he has b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Super J-Cup
The Super J-Cup is a periodically held professional wrestling tournament featuring junior heavyweight wrestlers from all over the world promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). This tournament differs from NJPW's annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament in that it is single elimination, while Best of the Super Juniors has a round robin format. The Super J-Cup was originally conceived by Japanese wrestler Jushin Thunder Liger as a showcase for promotions from Asia and North America, including Liger's home promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (who hosted the first tournament in 1994), Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, Wrestle Association R, Michinoku Pro Wrestling, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, and the Social Progress Wrestling Federation. In the following years, wrestlers representing various other NJPW partner promotions would also participate. Since the original Super J-Cup in 1994, the tournament has taken place sporadically (1995, 2000, 2004, 2009, 2016, 2019, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Super J-Cup (2004)
Super J-Cup: 4th Stage: ''Osaka Hurricane 2004'' was the second Osaka Hurricane and the fourth Super J-Cup professional wrestling pay-per-view event, it was produced by Osaka Pro Wrestling on February 21, 2004, at Osaka-jō Hall in Osaka, Japan. The event was broadcast live on pay-per-view via SKY PerfecTV! direct broadcast satellite service. It was the fourth edition of the famous interpromotional junior heavyweight tournament Super J-Cup, featuring the best junior heavyweight wrestlers from Japan and marked the tenth anniversary of the inaugural Super J-Cup event held in 1994. It was a three-round single elimination tournament featuring eight wrestlers, marking the fewest participants in a Super J-Cup tournament ever. The event featured twelve professional wrestling matches. The main focus was the namesake Super J-Cup tournament as OPW's own Takehiro Murakama faced Pro Wrestling Noah's Naomichi Marufuji in the final round of the 2004 Super J-Cup, which Marufuji won. On the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenta Kobayashi
is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he performs under the mononymous ring name Kenta (stylised in all capital letters), and is a member of the Bullet Club stable. He also makes occasional appearances for All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is known for his time in Pro Wrestling Noah where he was a one-time Global Honored Crown (GHC) Heavyweight Champion, three-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion, three-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion, and one-time GHC Tag Team Champion; once was the inaugural reign with longtime partner and rival, Naomichi Marufuji, which saw the two hold the title for almost two years, as well as a reign with protégé Taiji Ishimori. He was also the winner of the 2012 Global League and the 2013 Global Tag League tournaments. Kobayashi started his career in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), before moving to Pro Wrestling Noah; through Noah's involvement in the Global Professional Wrestling Alliance ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
