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The Three Musketeers (professional Wrestling)
was a Japanese professional wrestling trio consisting of Keiji Mutoh, Masahiro Chono, and Shinya Hashimoto. While the Japanese name of the trio literally translates to "Fighting Spirit Three Musketeers", in English they are commonly known simply as "The Three Musketeers". Careers Keiji Mutoh, Masahiro Chono, and Shinya Hashimoto were part of the Class of 1984 of the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) Dojo, which included Akira Nogami and Jyushin Thunder Liger. Hashimoto would be the first to make his debut in September 1984, while Mutoh and Chono faced each other in their debuts a month later. In 1988, while on an excursion in Puerto Rico, the three formed Toukon Sanjushi or The Three Musketeers. They had one match in NJPW as a team together on July 29 against Kengo Kimura, Shiro Koshinaka, and Tatsumi Fujinami, before Mutoh returned to North America for more seasoning. Chono and Hashimoto would remain a tag team for a couple years, with their most notable match against Antonio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Keiji Mutoh
is a Japanese professional wrestler and professional wrestling executive currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah), where he is a former GHC Heavyweight Champion. He is best known for his work as in World Championship Wrestling (WCW) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) during the 1980s and 1990s, and from his runs in other American, Puerto Rican, and Mexican promotions. He was the president of All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) from 2002 to 2013 and representative director of Wrestle-1 (W-1) from 2013 to 2020. Considered one of the greatest wrestlers of all time, Muto is also one of the first Japanese wrestlers to gain an international fanbase. "The Great Muta" gimmick is one of the most influential in puroresu, emulated by many wrestlers, including Satoshi Kojima (as The Great Koji), Kazushi Miyamoto (as The Great Kazushi), Atsushi Onita (as The Great Nita), and Seiya Sanada (as The Great Sanada). Others copied or modified some of the moves that he popularized or innovated ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NWA World Heavyweight Championship
The NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship is a world heavyweight professional wrestling championship owned and promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an American professional wrestling promotion. The current champion is Tyrus, who is in his first reign. Although formally established in 1948, its lineage has been traditionally traced back to the first World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship, which traces its lineage to the title first awarded to George Hackenschmidt in 1905. This effectively makes it the oldest surviving wrestling championship in the world. The title began as a governing body's world championship and has been competed for in multiple major promotions around the world, including Capitol Wrestling Corporation (which seceded from the NWA and became World Wide Wrestling Federation, now WWE), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA, now Impact Wrestling), Ring of Honor (ROH), Combat Zone Wrestling ( ... [...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 titl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daichi Hashimoto
is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) in the Strong BJ division, where he is a former two-time BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion and three-time BJW Tag Team Champion. He is the son of Shinya Hashimoto and started his career in his father's Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1) promotion. Early life The oldest of three children, Daichi Hashimoto grew up around full-contact sports, as his father Shinya was a famous pro wrestler, alongside his "uncles" Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh. Since the sixth grade, Daichi took up karate, and was part of his middle school's MMA team, Blue Sky. When his father died in July 2005, Daichi decided he wanted to become a professional wrestler in order to honour his father's memory. In September 2009, he took part in his father's 25th Anniversary show, hosted by Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1). He competed in an exhibition kickboxing match against Satoshi Kobayashi. The match was declared a draw after two ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
January 4 Tokyo Dome Show
The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show is a professional wrestling event produced annually on January 4 in the Tokyo Dome by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), a Japan-based professional wrestling promotion. NJPW has promoted events in the venue every January 4 since Super Warriors in Tokyo Dome in 1992. The January 4 Tokyo Dome Show became NJPW's premier annual event and the biggest event in Japanese wrestling, similar to what WrestleMania is for WWE and American professional wrestling. It has been described as "the largest professional wrestling show in the world outside of the United States" and the "Japanese equivalent to the Super Bowl". The show expanded to two nights, with the 2020 edition being the first one to include matches on January 5, and further expanded to include a third night (January 8) in 2022. The event would go back to one night in 2023. The first two January 4 Tokyo Dome Shows were also the last two WCW/New Japan Supershows. Since 2007, when the event was renamed Wr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wrestle Kingdom I
(sequentially known as Wrestle Kingdom I) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event co-produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) promotions, which took place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on January 4, 2007. It was the 16th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the first held under the new "Wrestle Kingdom" name. Wrestle Kingdom is traditionally NJPW's biggest event of the year and has been described as their equivalent to WWE's WrestleMania. The show marked the 35th anniversary celebration for NJPW, who teamed up with one-time rival promotion AJPW to produce the show. Headlined by two title matches, contested for NJPW's top title, the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, and AJPW's top title, the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, as well as the reunion of Keiji Mutoh and Masahiro Chono, all in all, the event featured nine matches. Production Background When New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) held the 2006 January 4 Tokyo Dome Show, To ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Satoshi Kojima
is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, but makes appearances for Pro Wrestling Noah. Considered to be one of the greatest Japanese professional wrestlers of the 21st century and of all-time, he was the first wrestler to hold NJPW's IWGP Heavyweight Championship and All Japan Pro Wrestling's Triple Crown Championship simultaneously, the fourth to win the three major heavyweight championships in Japan with the Triple Crown Heavyweight, IWGP Heavyweight, and Noah's GHC Heavyweight Championship, and one of three wrestlers to hold the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Triple Crown Championship, and NWA World Heavyweight Championship (the other two being Keiji Mutoh and Shinya Hashimoto), and is an overall seven-time world champion in major professional wrestling promotions. Since 2022, he also wrestles for Pro Wrestling Noah. As a team, he and Hiroyoshi Tenzan are six-time IWGP Tag Team Champions and became the first team to win G1 Tag League and World' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hiroyoshi Tenzan
is a Japanese professional wrestler who currently works for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, and is better known by his ring name . With Satoshi Kojima, in 2008, they won the World's Strongest Tag Determination League in All Japan Pro Wrestling and the G1 Tag League in NJPW, becoming the only tag team which has done both. He is a four-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion and a record twelve-time IWGP Tag Team Champion. He is also a former National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) World Heavyweight Champion. Professional wrestling career New-Japan Pro Wrestling (1991–1993) Hiroyoshi Yamamoto first worked for New Japan Pro-Wrestling. He debuted in January 1991, wrestling Osamu Matsuda. Catch Wrestling Association (1993–1995) In 1993, after winning the Young Lions Cup, NJPW sent Yamamoto on a European excursion; one of his stops was in the Catch Wrestling Association in Germany, where in July 1993, he defeated Lance Storm to become the promotion's first World Junior Heavyweight Champion. A few we ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitsuharu Misawa
was a Japanese amateur and professional wrestler and promoter. He is primarily known for his time in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and also for forming the Pro Wrestling Noah promotion in 2000. In the early 1990s, Misawa gained fame alongside Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, and Akira Taue, who came to be nicknamed AJPW's " Four Pillars of Heaven", and whose matches developed the '' ōdō'' (, "King's Road") style of puroresu and received significant critical acclaim. Despite never working in the United States during the 1990s, Misawa had significant stylistic influence upon American independent wrestling, through the popularity of his work among tape-traders in the country. Misawa is regarded by some as the greatest professional wrestler of all time. However, the physical demands and consequences of the style in which he worked and the circumstances of his death have made his legacy, or at least that of ''ōdō'', somewhat problematic. Debuting in 1981, Misawa became the seco ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wrestling Observer Newsletter
The ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') is a newsletter that covers professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Founded in print in 1982 by Dave Meltzer, the ''Wrestling Observer'' website merged with Bryan Alvarez's ''Figure Four Weekly'' website in 2008, becoming ''Wrestling Observer Figure Four Online''. Issues are offered in print and digital. The newsletter is often considered the first "dirt sheet", which is a wrestling publication which covers the art from a real-life perspective. History The beginnings of the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' date back to 1980, when Meltzer began an annual poll amongst those with whom he corresponded regarding professional wrestling. According to Meltzer, he was just a fan at first. A short time later, he began maintaining a tape-trading list, and would occasionally send match results and news updates along with tape updates. Meltzer stated that he wanted to keep his friends in college "in the loop" for his tape trading as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shinsuke Nakamura
is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown (WWE brand), SmackDown WWE brand extension, brand. Nakamura is known for his time in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a former three-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion, with his first reign coming at the age of 23 years and 9 months; making Nakamura the youngest IWGP Heavyweight Champion. His other accomplishments within the company include winning the G1 Climax#2011, 2011 G1 Climax and the New Japan Cup#2014, 2014 New Japan Cup, and being the final IWGP Heavyweight Championship (IGF), IWGP Third Belt Champion, the final NWF Heavyweight Championship, NWF Heavyweight Champion, and the longest reigning IWGP Intercontinental Champion for his first reign (he formerly held the record for most reigns at List of IWGP Intercontinental Champions, five). He is also a founding member and the original leader of the stable Chaos (professional wrestling), Chaos. Vivi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Katsuyori Shibata
is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and professional wrestling trainer. In professional wrestling, he is known for his hard hitting offense. He is currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). In NJPW, he is a former three-time NEVER Openweight Champion, a one-time IWGP Tag Team Champion (with Hirooki Goto), and the winner of the 2017 New Japan Cup. He is also a former holder of Revolution Pro Wrestling's British Heavyweight Championship. Since March 2018, Shibata has served as the head coach of NJPW's dojo in Los Angeles. Early life Shibata attended Kuwana Kogyo High School in Kuwana, Mie, where he was classmates with Hirooki Goto. The son of former Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance and New Japan Pro-Wrestling competitor Katsuhisa Shibata, Katsuyori was an amateur wrestler during his school days and was competing at national level in 1997. Professional wrestling career New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1999–2005) Shibata made his professional wrestlin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
