Shoichi Funaki
(born August 24, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestling manager, color commentator and former professional wrestler 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 (1993–1998) 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 (1998-2010) Kai En Tai (1998–2 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Dorling Kindersley
Dorling Kindersley Limited (branded as DK) is a British multinational publishing company specialising in illustrated reference books for adults and children in 63 languages. It is part of Penguin Random House, a subsidiary of German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. Established in 1974, DK publishes a range of titles in genres including travel (including DK Eyewitness travel), history, geography, science, space, nature, sports, gardening, cookery and parenting. The worldwide co-CEOs of DK is Paul Kelly and Rebecca Smart. DK has offices in New York, Melbourne, London, Munich, New Delhi, Toronto, Madrid, Beijing, and Jiangmen. DK works with licensing partners such as Disney, LEGO, DC Comics, the Royal Horticultural Society, MasterChef, and the Smithsonian Institution. DK has commissioned Mary Berry, Monty Don, Robert Winston, Huw Richards, and Steve Mould for a range of books. History DK was founded in 1974 by Christopher Dorling and Peter Kindersley in London as a book ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Taka Michinoku
(born October 26, 1973), better known by his ring name (with his first name usually stylized in all capital letters), is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. Michinoku is known in North America for his work for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) where he had the first ever WWF Light Heavyweight Championship reign recognized by the promotion. Michinoku is the founder and former promoter of Kaientai Dojo (now Active Advance Pro Wrestling), where he also primarily wrestled until 2019. In 2019, Michinoku started another promotion, Professional Wrestling Just Tap Out (JTO). Michinoku has also appeared for New Japan Pro-Wrestling since 2011 where he is a member of Suzuki-gun. Having held championship titles in Japan, North America, Mexico and Europe, Yoshida is known for his long title reigns. He held the FMW Independent World Junior Heavyweight Title for a combined duration of more than 15 months, the WWF Light Heavyweight Title for a then rec ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
King Of The Ring (1998)
The 1998 King of the Ring was the sixth annual King of the Ring professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) that featured the 12th King of the Ring tournament. It took place on June 28, 1998, at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Nine matches were scheduled on the event's card. The main event was a First Blood match featuring Kane defeating Stone Cold Steve Austin for the WWF Championship. The other main match was a Hell in a Cell match featuring The Undertaker defeating Mankind. Featured matches on the undercard included the 1998 King of the Ring tournament final between Ken Shamrock and The Rock, which Shamrock won to win the tournament. Another prominent match was a tag team match for the WWF Tag Team Championship (which was only added to the card earlier that morning) between the New Age Outlaws defeating The Midnight Express, to retain the championship. This event produced the best-known ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
The Headbangers
The Headbangers are a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Mosh (Charles Warrington) and Thrasher (Glenn Ruth). As the name of the team implies, their gimmick is that they are a pair of metalheads, complete with heavy metal related T-shirts, kilts, piercings, goatees, shaved heads, and black face paint. History Beginning (1994–1996) They were both trained by Larry Sharpe in New Jersey in the early 1990s. Warrington and Ruth teamed up in 1994 as the Spiders in their home state, New Jersey, for the National Wrestling Alliance. They made an Eastern Championship Wrestling appearance in June 1994, losing to The Bad Breed ( Axl and Ian Rotten). Also they worked for United States Wrestling Association (USWA) feuding with the Rottens and The Eliminators. They had a brief stint in Dallas for the NWA in 1995. Later that year they moved down to Tennessee in Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW). It was there that they changed their gimmicks to the Headbangers. Their slogan was "Real men ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
In Your House
In Your House (known as NXT TakeOver: In Your House in 2020 and 2021) is a professional wrestling series of events created by WWE, a professional wrestling promotion based in Connecticut. The events originally aired on pay-per-view (PPV) from May 1995 to February 1999 when the promotion was still called the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In 2020, In Your House was revived as a subseries of the NXT TakeOver events, which aired on the WWE Network in addition to traditional pay-per-view and Peacock, the latter two with the 2021 event. The original concept was that in the months when the promotion was not holding one of its major PPV events, they would offer a two-hour PPV for a lower price. In Your House was established in response to a move by competitor World Championship Wrestling (WCW) to increase their annual pay-per-view events. The In Your House branding was retired following February 1999's St. Valentine's Day Massacre: In Your House event, as the company moved to ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Professional Wrestling Match Types
Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "concept" or " gimmick matches" in the jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick matches are more common than others and are often used to advance or conclude a storyline. Throughout professional wrestling's decades long history, some gimmick matches have spawned many variations of the core concept. Singles match The singles match is the most common of all professional wrestling matches, which involves only two competitors competing for one fall. A victory is obtained by pinfall, submission, knockout, countout, or disqualification. Some of the most common variations on the singles match is to restrict the possible means for victory. Duchess of Queensbury Rules match A Duchess of Queensbury Rules match is a singles match contested under specific, often disclosed rules is replaced by a title usually meant to sound traditional for one combatant. A wrestler challenging another wrestler to a ma ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
John Layfield
John Charles Layfield (born November 29, 1966), better known by the ring name John "Bradshaw" Layfield (abbreviated to JBL), is an American retired professional wrestler and football player. He is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand as the manager of Baron Corbin. Layfield is currently a financial commentator and is featured regularly on Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network. He is also employed by Northeast Securities as its senior vice president. Layfield rose to prominence in WWE (then the World Wrestling Federation, WWF) during its Attitude Era under the ring name Bradshaw, during which time he became a three-time WWF Tag Team Champion with Ron "Faarooq" Simmons as part of the Acolytes Protection Agency (APA), a feared pair of strong and tough mercenaries who, aside from occasionally wrestling and doing “work” for “clients” spent most of their time sitting around in their “office” playing cards, drinking beer, fighting people backs ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Pantera (wrestler)
Francisco Javier Pozas (born February 3, 1964) is a Mexican professional wrestler, or luchador, who is best known under the ring name El Pantera, but has also worked as Pantera II, El Manaya, América, Tritón and TANAKA over the years. Pozas made his wrestling debut in 1985, working as an '' enmascarado'' (masked wrestler) with a panther-inspired mask to go with his ring character of "El Pantera". Over the years Pozas has worked in Mexico, Japan and the United States; In Mexico he has worked for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA), International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG), in Japan he's worked for Universal Lucha Libre (ULL) and All-Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and in the United States he's most known for his work in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1997 to 1999 and Chikara where he has worked shows since 2007. In 2006 Pantera lost his mask as a result of a match. He, however, continued wearing the mask when working f ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
UWA World Middleweight Championship
The UWA World Middleweight Championship (''Campeonato Mundial de Peso Medio UWA'' in Spanish) is a professional wrestling championship originally created and sanctioned by the Mexican lucha libre promotion Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) from 1976 until the UWA closed in 1995. Upon the closing of the UWA, the title migrated to Japan's Michinoku Pro Wrestling and Toryumon Japan promotions. Currently, the title resides in Kaientai Dojo, where it is held by Kyu Mogami. As it was a professional wrestling championship, the championship was not won not by actual competition, but by a scripted ending to a match determined by the bookers and match makers. On occasion the promotion declares a championship vacant, which means there is no champion at that point in time. This can either be due to a storyline, or real life issues such as a champion suffering an injury being unable to defend the championship, or leaving the company. Title history Combined reigns {, class="wiki ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Universal Wrestling Association
The Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) was a Mexican ''Lucha Libre'' or professional wrestling promotion based in Naucalpan, Mexico State that operated from 1975 until 1995. The name of the actual promotion was Lucha Libre Internacional (LLI) ("International wrestling") but outside of Mexico it is generally referred to as the UWA as it was the name of the fictional international sanctioning body that in storyline terms oversaw all championships promoted by the UWA. The company was founded by wrestler and trainer Ray Mendoza, promoter Francisco Flores and investor Benjamín Mora, Jr. as when they broke away from Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre to form their own promotion. The company had working agreements with wrestling promotions both in the United States and Japan as they worked with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (JWP). History In 1974 Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (CMLL) founder and owner Salvador Lutteroth Gonzá ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Stable (professional Wrestling)
Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable amount of jargon throughout its existence. Much of it stems from the industry's origins in the days of carnivals and circuses. In the past, professional wrestlers used such terms in the presence of fans so as not to reveal the nature of the business. Into the 21st century, widespread discussion on the Internet has popularized these terms. Many of the terms refer to the financial aspects of professional wrestling in addition to in-ring terms. A B C D E F G H I J K L M mic work, mic skills, microphone work The ability to generate reaction from the audience using words, and generally by speak ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Kai En Tai
Kai En Tai (also spelled Kaientai) was a professional wrestling stable made up of Japanese wrestlers Shiryu, Dick Togo and Men’s Teioh, later joined by Sho Funaki and Taka Michinoku. The group was managed by Yamaguchi-San when they were in the WWF. History Michinoku Pro Wrestling The group debuted in Japan's Michinoku Pro wrestling promotion in late 1994 when SATO, Terry Boy and Shiryu introduced themselves as Kai En Tai. The name "Kai En Tai" was based on Japan's first modern corporation, Kaientai ("Naval Auxiliary Force"), a naval institution and paramilitary organization dedicated to freeing Japan from feudal rule and protecting the country's national sovereignty that was a major player in the introduction of the Meiji Restoration. Kai En Tai had many high profile tag team matches before two of them changed their names; SATO became Dick Togo, Terry Boy became Men's Teioh while Shiryu's name remained unchanged. The stable's name was also changed to "Kaientai Deluxe", ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |