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Sakura Genesis 2018
Sakura Genesis 2018 was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), which took place on April 1, 2018, in Tokyo at Ryōgoku Kokugikan. The main event featured the 2018 New Japan Cup winner Zack Sabre Jr. challenging Kazuchika Okada for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Previously held under the Invasion Attack name, this marked the second show under the Sakura Genesis name. Storylines Sakura Genesis 2018 will feature professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches. On March 21, 2018, Zack Sabre Jr. won the New Japan Cup after defeating Hiroshi Tanahashi in the final. Sabre Jr. had previously beaten Tetsuya Naito in the first round on March 11, Kota Ibushi in the second round on March 15, and Sanada in the semifi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
(NJPW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares of the company. Naoki Sugabayashi has served as the promotion's Chairman since September 2013, while Takami Ohbari has served as the president of the promotion since October 2020. Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, NJPW is the largest and longest-running professional wrestling promotion in Japan. It was affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance at various points in its history. NJPW has had agreements with various MMA and professional wrestling promotions around the world, including WWE, World Championship Wrestling, American Wrestling Association, World Class Championship Wrestling, Impact Wrestling, WAR, Jersey All Pro Wrestling, UWFi, Ring of Honor, Pride Fighting Championships, and All Elite Wrestling. NJPW's bigge ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Face (professional Wrestling)
In professional wrestling, a face (babyface) is a heroic, "good guy" or "fan favorite" wrestler, booked (scripted) by the promotion with the aim of being cheered by fans, and acts as a protagonist to the heels, who are the villainous antagonist or "bad guy" characters. Traditionally, they wrestle within the rules and avoid cheating (in contrast to the villains who use illegal moves and call in additional wrestlers to do their work for them) while behaving positively towards the referee and the audience. Such characters are also referred to as blue-eyes in British wrestling and ''técnicos'' in ''lucha libre''. The face character is portrayed as a hero relative to the heel wrestlers, who are analogous to villains. Not everything a face wrestler does must be heroic: faces need only to be clapped or cheered by the audience to be effective characters. When the magazine ''Pro Wrestling Illustrated'' went into circulation in the late 1970s, the magazine referred to face wrestlers as " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sho Tanaka
(born August 27, 1989), known mononymously as Sho (stylized as SHO), is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of Bullet Club, and its sub-group House of Torture. He is a former member of Chaos and was a part of the tag team Roppongi 3K along with Yoh; the two are five-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. He has previously worked for the American promotion Ring of Honor (ROH) and Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), where he was known under the ring name , named after the Japanese God of thunder, and was part of ''La Ola Amarilla'' ("the Yellow Wave") alongside Okumura, Kamaitachi and Fujin. Early life Sho Tanaka was born on August 27, 1989, in Uwajima, Ehime, Japan. While in high school he became involved with Greco-Roman wrestling, something he continued to practice as he attended Tokuyama University. At Tokuyama he was the vice-captain of the wrestling team, compet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roppongi 3K
Roppongi 3K was a professional wrestling tag team made up of Japanese wrestlers Sho Tanaka, Sho and Yohei Komatsu, Yoh, active from 2013 to 2021 in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in the Junior Heavyweight Tag Team division. They were managed by Rocky Romero from late 2017 till their breakup . They are former five-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. After training together in NJPW's dojo since February 2012, the two begun wrestling in the federation as young lions under their full names Sho Tanaka and Yohei Komatsu in November of the same year, starting a feud with each other the following month. They became tag team partners on March 3, 2013, until the promotion sent them on an overseas learning excursion in January 2016 which notably saw them wrestle in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) under the names Raijin and Fujin, and in Ring of Honor (ROH) as The Tempura Boyz. The duo returned to NJPW as Roppongi 3K during the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The New Beginning In Sapporo (2018)
The New Beginning in Sapporo (2018) was a professional wrestling event promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on January 27 and 28, 2018, in Sapporo, Hokkaido, at the Hokkaido Prefectural Sports Center. The first night of the event featured nine matches, two of which were contested for championships, while the second night featured two championship matches out of nine matches overall. In the main event of the first night, Minoru Suzuki defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to become the new IWGP Intercontinental Champion, and on the second night Jay White defeated Kenny Omega to become the new IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion. This was the thirteenth event under the New Beginning name and the second to take place in Sapporo. Production Background In recent years, NJPW has held the opening day of the G1 Climax tournament in Sapporo. With The New Beginning in Sapporo, the promotion revived an old tradition of holding a show during the annual Sapporo Snow F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IWGP Heavyweight Championship
The was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the . The title was introduced on June 12, 1987, in the final of an IWGP tournament. It was unified with the IWGP Intercontinental Championship on March 4, 2021 to form the new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. The championship was represented by four different belts from 1987 to 2021. The fourth and last generation belt was introduced in March 2008. The title formed what was unofficially called the along with the IWGP Intercontinental Championship and the NEVER Openweight Championship. Title history An early version of this championship was introduced in 1983 for the winner ( Hulk Hogan) of the IWGP League 1983. Since then, the championship was defended annually against the winner of the IWGP League of the year. A new IWGP Heavyweight Championship arrived only in 1987, replacing the old version. The 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
IWGP Intercontinental Championship
The was a professional wrestling championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the . The title was officially announced on January 5, 2011 and the Inaugural Champion MVP was crowned on May 15, 2011 during NJPW's first tour of the United States. On March 4, 2021, the championship was retired by NJPW after being unified with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to form the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. The final champion was Kota Ibushi, who was in his second reign at the time of the title's retirement. The title formed what was unofficially been called the "New Japan Triple Crown" (新日本トリプルクラウン, ''Shin Nihon Toripuru Kuraun'') along with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and the NEVER Openweight Championship. History Inaugural championship tournament On October 3, 2010, American promotion Jersey All Pro Wrestling announced that it had reached an agreement with NJPW to co-promote NJPW's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NEVER Openweight Championship
The is a professional wrestling championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. NEVER is an acronym of the terms "New Blood", "Evolution", "Valiantly", "Eternal", and "Radical" and was an NJPW-promoted series of events, which featured younger up-and-coming talent and outside wrestlers not signed to the promotion. The project was officially announced on July 12, 2010, and held its first event on August 24, 2010. On October 5, 2012, NJPW announced that NEVER was going to get its own championship, the NEVER Openweight Championship. The current champion is WWE Raw wrestler Karl Anderson, who is in his first reign. The title was originally scheduled to be defended exclusively at NEVER events, but this plan was quickly changed and since its foundation, the title has been defended on the undercards of NJPW events. The original concept of having younger workers wrestle for the title has also not been realized with the first seven holders of the title having been in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Seiya Sanada
, better known by his ring name Sanada (stylized as SANADA), is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). He is a member of the stable ''Los Ingobernables de Japón''. As part of NJPW, Sanada is mostly known for his tag team with Evil, with whom he is a two time IWGP Tag Team Champion, two time World Tag League winner, and a three time NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion (alongside Bushi). He won his first NJPW singles title, the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, in early 2022. He is also known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he was the first Gaora TV Champion, a two-time All Asia Tag Team Champion, a one-time World Tag Team Champion, and the winner of the 2011 World's Strongest Tag Determination League tournament. Sanada is also known for his time in the Japanese Wrestle-1 (W-1) and American Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotions. Through the W-1/TNA working relationship, Sanada became a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kota Ibushi
is a Japanese professional wrestler and martial artist signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), but is currently inactive due to suffering a shoulder injury. In March 2021, he became the company's inaugural IWGP World Heavyweight Champion by unifying the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, the company's previous top title, with the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, therefore also becoming the final holder of both. His career began with the Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) promotion in 2004 and over the next eleven years became a three-time KO-D Openweight Champion, five-time KO-D Tag Team Champion and a two-time KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champion. Two of the KO-D Tag Team title reigns was with Kenny Omega as the Golden☆Lovers; their combined total of 351 days is still a DDT record. In 2009, Ibushi started working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling and eventually signed with the promotion in 2013. In NJPW, Ibushi is a former NEVER Openweight Champion, three-time IWGP Junior Heavyweight Ch ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tetsuya Naito
is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is the leader of the ''Los Ingobernables de Japón'' faction. Tetsuya Naito began training for a professional wrestling career in 2000, initially under Animal Hamaguchi before joining NJPW in 2004, where he underwent further training. He is a former NEVER Openweight Champion, and a former IWGP Tag Team and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship with former No Limit partner Yujiro Takahashi. In addition, Naito is the winner of the 2013 and 2017 editions of the G1 Climax, NJPW's premier singles tournament, and of the 2016 New Japan Cup. Regarded as one of the most popular and successful wrestlers in NJPW history, In 2016 and 2017, ''Tokyo Sports'' awarded Naito with the MVP Award, the publication's highest honor. In 2020, Naito became the first person to hold both the IWGP Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships at the same time, accomplishing that feat twice, becoming a three-t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hiroshi Tanahashi
is a Japanese professional wrestler. He works primarily for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, his accolades in NJPW include a record setting eight reigns as IWGP Heavyweight Champion, a record three reigns as IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion, two reigns as IWGP Intercontinental Champion, three reigns as IWGP Tag Team Champion, one reign as NEVER Openweight Champion and three reigns as NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Champion. All totaled, Tanahashi has won 22 championships in NJPW. He has also won NJPW's premier tournament, the G1 Climax, on three occasions (2007, 2015 and 2018) and won the New Japan Cup twice, in 2005 and 2008, and is recognised as the fourth wrestler to accomplish NJPW's Triple Crown and the second to accomplish its Grand Slam, making him one of the most decorated wrestlers in NJPW. Through NJPW's working agreements with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), Pro Wrestlin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
