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Tiger Hattori
, known as is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, referee and manager best known for his work as a referee in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). Hattori is the current foreign liaison officer of NJPW. Hattori has been active in pro wrestling since the 1970s, and is one of the longest tenured members of the New Japan roster, having made his first appearance in 1982. He has also worked for other companies, including Japan Pro Wrestling, Fighting of World Japan Pro Wrestling, and Pro Wrestling Noah. Hattori retired from refereeing on February 19, 2020. Career Early career Hattori excelled in amateur wrestling during his time at Meiji University, winning the 1966 Greco-Roman All Japan Wrestling Championship in the bantamweight category. The following year, he travelled to Romania, where he won the World Wrestling Championship as a bantamweight. Hattori would move to the United States after graduation, and was bought in by professional wrestler Hiro Matsuda to work as a coach at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chūō, Tokyo
is a Special wards of Tokyo, special ward that forms part of the heart of Tokyo, Japan. The ward refers to itself in English as Chūō City. It was formed in 1947 as a merger of Kyōbashi, Tokyo, Kyobashi and Nihonbashi wards following Tokyo City's Local Autonomy Act, transformation into Tokyo Metropolis. Chūō-ku, as a combination of Kyobashi and Nihonbashi, is the core of Shitamachi, the original downtown center of Edo-Tokyo. Literally meaning "Central Ward", it is historically the main commercial center of Tokyo, although Shinjuku has risen to challenge it since the end of World War II. The most famous district in Chūō is Ginza, built on the site of a former silver mint from which it takes its name. The gold mint, or , formerly occupied the site of the present-day Bank of Japan headquarters building, also in Chūō. As of October 1, 2020, the ward has a resident population of 169,179, and a population density of 16,569 persons per km2. The total area is 10.21 km2. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Killer Khan
Krugman, Michael. ''André the Giant: A Legendary Life'', p.48. (born March 6, 1947) is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. Popularly known as Killer Khan, he was billed from Mongolia and had numerous high-profile matches with André the Giant in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) during the 1980s, including a high profile "Mongolian stretcher match". Khan used Asian mist against opponents. Professional wrestling career Ozawa's Mongolian giant character was created by Karl Gotch. He traveled to America in 1979 to wrestle. The following year, in 1980, Khan first wrestled André the Giant in a tag team match for Georgia Championship Wrestling. Later that same year, he was hired by the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). In the WWF, Khan originally feuded with WWF Champion Bob Backlund, as well as the WWF Intercontinental Champion Pedro Morales. Khan was then placed in feud with André the Giant. During one match in May 1981, a kayfabe Khan kneedrop off of the top turnbuckle r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Takashi Sugiura
is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah). Sugiura, an accomplished amateur wrestler, joined Noah's dojo in 2000, making his professional debut on December 23, 2000, and thus becoming the first wrestler to make his pro wrestling debut in Noah. He has also competed in mixed martial arts with a notable victory over Giant Silva. Sugiura wrestled as a junior heavyweight in his earlier pro career and is a former GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion. Sugiura moved up to heavyweight and became the second longest reigning GHC Heavyweight Champion, having held the title for 581 days between December 2009 and July 2011. As of September 2011, Sugiura is the chairman of Noah's Wrestler's Association and holds the concomitant position on the promotion's board of directors. On November 2, 2019, Sugiura defeated Michael Elgin to become the inaugural GHC National Champion, becoming the only man to have held all of Noah's concurrent championships. Early ... [...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 List of Pancrase champions#Openweight Championship, King of Pancrase world champion. Suzuki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
GHC Heavyweight Championship
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] |
Fighting World Of Japan Pro Wrestling
Fighting of World Japan Pro-Wrestling, frequently shortened to World Japan or WJ was a professional wrestling promotion formed in Japan in 2002 by former New Japan Pro-Wrestling employees Riki Choshu and Katsuji Nagashima, who also served as chairmen along with Tomohiro Ishii. History Formation In January 2002, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) ace Keiji Mutoh left the promotion, jumping to rival All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) along with Satoshi Kojima and Kendo Kashin. Riki Choshu, NJPW's head booker at the time, was blamed for their departure and removed from his position by the president Antonio Inoki in February. Furious with Inoki's decision to do this, Choshu left the promotion altogether in May 2002 and blasted both Inoki and chairman Tatsumi Fujinami in interviews. At the same time Mutoh had left NJPW, Choshu's longtime friend Katsuji Nagashima, who worked as a booker and head of NJPW's advertising department, had also left the company and formed his agency, Nagashima Promotion ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naoya Ogawa
(born 31 March 1968) is a Japanese Olympic and world champion judoka, retired professional wrestler, and mixed martial artist. He won a total of seven medals at the All-Japan Judo Championships (second only behind Yasuhiro Yamashita), and set a record of seven medals at the World Judo Championships. Ogawa won the silver medal in the +95 kg judo weight class at the 1992 Summer Olympics. Ogawa is also known for his career in professional wrestling, where he primarily worked for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and took part in one of the promotion's most high-profile feuds of the 1990s with Shinya Hashimoto. In professional wrestling, Ogawa was a two-time National Wrestling Alliance world heavyweight champion. Life and judo career Ogawa first started in judo in his high school years. He continued on in college attending Meiji University in 1986. In his second year at school he became a world freeclass champion, the youngest in the history of judo. He won many mo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shinya Hashimoto
was a Japanese professional wrestler, promoter and actor. Along with Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh, Hashimoto was dubbed one of the "Three Musketeers" that began competing in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) in the mid-1980s and dominated the promotion in the 1990s. He is one of three wrestlers (the others being Keiji Mutoh and Satoshi Kojima) that have held the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship and the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and is an overall five-time world champion. Professional wrestling career Early years (1984–1988) Hashimoto grew up in Toki City in Gifu and began training in judo and karate in his late teens. His training helped him in his transition to professional wrestling, as he joined the NJPW Dojo in April 1984. He made his debut for NJPW in September 1984 at the age of 19, wrestling against Tatsutoshi Goto. Hashimoto worked on becoming a skilled wrestler over the next few years, traveling whenever necessary to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Teruo Takahashi
is a Japanese professional wrestling referee and writer, as well as an occasional wrestler. He is famous for his career in New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he was also known by his ring name Mr. Takahashi, and for his post-retirement writing work, where he gained controversy for his autobiographical statements and books detailing the inner side of the business. Biography After a decorated career in judo and powerlifting, Takahashi became a professional wrestler in Toshio Yamaguchi's trope in 1963. Later, in 1972, he joined New Japan Pro-Wrestling by mediation of his childhood friend Kotetsu Yamamoto. He worked mainly as a referee for the company, certified as such by National Wrestling Alliance, and acted too as a booker, a column writer and a producer for Asahi TV's ''World Pro Wrestling'' show.Teruo Takahashi, ''Knowing the disappointing legends of pro wrestling'', 2018, Takarajimasha In 1990, Takahashi left his place and most of his functions to Tiger Hattori, and retired fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Higuchi
, better known as was a Japanese professional wrestler, road agent, on-air personality and referee best known for his tenures with the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance (JWA) and All Japan Pro-Wrestling. The first official Japanese referee in the NWA, he was known as one of the best referees in the business and the most popular referee in Japanese Puroresu history. He was inducted into the Professional Wrestling Hall of Fame and Museum as a member of the Class of 2018. Early life Higuchi Kanji was born on January 19, 1929, in Yokohama, Japan. He was a judo practitioner in his youth and became a judo instructor for the GHQ after World War II. Working as a trainer for the mostly-American soldiers, he was able to learn English and gained the nickname "Joe". JWA Higuchi had trained in professional wrestling with Raul Romero and Tojo Yamamoto and in 1954, he joined the All Japan Pro-Wrestling Association (which was run by Toshio Yamaguchi and Umeyuki Kiyomikawa) as a professional wrest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
All Japan Pro Wrestling
(AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established on October 21, 1972 when Giant Baba split away from the Japanese Wrestling Association and created his own promotion. Many wrestlers had left with Baba, with many more joining the following year when JWA folded. From the mid-1970s, All Japan was firmly established as the largest promotion in Japan. As the 1990s began, aging stars gave way to a younger generation including Mitsuharu Misawa, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, Kenta Kobashi, Gary Albright, Toshiaki Kawada, Mike Barton (Bart Gunn), Akira Taue and Jun Akiyama, leading to perhaps AJPW's most profitable period in the 1990s. In 1999, Giant Baba died and the promotion was run by Motoko Baba. Misawa was named President but left in 2000 after disagreements with Motoko. Misawa created Pro Wrestling NOAH and every single native wrestler besides Masanobu Fuchi and Toshiaki Kawada left All Japan. This led to a loss of All Japan's TV deal and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Japan Pro-Wrestling
Japan Puroresu (ジャパンプロレス) or Japan Pro-Wrestling was the first renegade professional wrestling promotion in Japan. It was formed by Riki Choshu and his Ishingun after leaving New Japan Pro-Wrestling in 1984. The promotion co-promoted with All Japan Pro Wrestling until 1987 when it dissolved. History In August 1984, Riki Choshu had formed Ishin Gundan with Animal Hamaguchi, Isamu Teranishi, Yoshiaki Yatsu, Masa Saito and Kuniaki Kobayashi to feud with Antonio Inoki and New Japan Pro-Wrestling. However, just as the feud was heating up, tensions both in and out of the ring forced Ishingun and a few others to leave NJPW that September. The next month, they formed Japan Pro-Wrestling and also announced a co-promotion with All Japan Pro Wrestling. Masa Saito briefly went back to North America but returned to Japan in 1985 and joined in the new promotion. In the beginning JPW promoted their own shows, but soon these began to be on-and-off. By the end of 1985, the entir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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