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Universal Lucha Libre
Universal Lucha Libre (Universal Pro-Wrestling until 1991; Federación Universal de Lucha Libre afterward; UWF and FULL used as acronyms) was a professional wrestling promotion in Japan from 1990 to 1995. The name Universal Lucha Libre is used to differentiate the promotion from the Japanese UWF, which presented a very different style of professional wrestling. Overview The promotion was the first in Japan to be based around the Mexican style of professional wrestling, known as ''Lucha Libre'' (free fighting). Although since 1956 some Mexican wrestlers had appeared in Japanese promotions, their style was mixed with the American-originated standard, and not many of them could rise above mid-card level because of their size, which on average was less than Japanese wrestlers. The first Mexican ''luchador'' (wrestler) to become a star in Japan was Mil Máscaras, who competed for the Japanese Wrestling Association (JWA) and one of its successor groups, All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lucha Libre
Lucha libre (, meaning "freestyle wrestling" or literally translated as "free fight") is the term used in Latin America for professional wrestling. Since its introduction to Mexico in the early 20th century, it has developed into a unique form of the genre, characterized by colorful masks, rapid sequences of holds and maneuvers, and "high-flying" maneuvers, some of which have been adopted in the United States, Japan, and elsewhere. The wearing of masks has developed special significance, and matches are sometimes contested in which the loser must permanently remove his mask, which is a wager with a high degree of weight attached. Tag team wrestling is especially prevalent in lucha libre, particularly matches with three-member teams, called ''trios''. Although the term today refers exclusively to professional wrestling (staged performances with predetermined outcomes), it was originally used in the same style as the American and English term "freestyle wrestling", referring to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WAR (wrestling Promotion)
Wrestle Association R (formerly known as Wrestle and Romance and abbreviated as WAR) was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded and run by Genichiro Tenryu as the successor to Super World of Sports, and which lasted from 1992 to 2000. The promotion initially established as Wrestle and Romance in 1992, had very few regular contracted workers, instead most of the workers were either freelance or employed in other promotions. Because of this WAR ran many all-star cards. It had inter-promotional feuds against New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, the new Tokyo Pro Wrestling, and UWF International. WAR also continued, albeit in a loose fashion, SWS's old working agreement with the World Wrestling Federation, when they backed the WWF's first Japanese tour, in 1994. On July 28, 1995, WAR was renamed "Wrestle Association R" at a show held in the Korakuen Hall. In 1998, WAR cancelled contracts to the roster and began running fewer and fewer events due to T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Lynn
Jeremy Lynn (born June 12, 1963), better known by the ring name Jerry Lynn, is an American retired professional wrestler currently signed with All Elite Wrestling as a producer and coach. He has worked for promotions such as World Championship Wrestling (WCW), Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), NWA Total Nonstop Action (NWA TNA), and Ring of Honor (ROH). Lynn is a two time world heavyweight champion, having held the ECW World Heavyweight Championship once and the ROH World Championship once. Other championships held by Lynn in his career include the GWF Light Heavyweight Championship (once), WWF Light Heavyweight Championship (once), the TNA X Division Championship (twice), the NWA World Tag Team Championship (twice) and the WWA International Cruiserweight Championship (once). Lynn retired as an active wrestler on March 23, 2013, exactly 25 years after his career began. Professional wrestling career Early career (1988–1991) Lynn star ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sean Waltman
Sean Michael Waltman (born July 13, 1972) is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE under a legends contract. He is best known for his appearances for the World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) under the ring names 1–2–3 Kid and X-Pac, World Championship Wrestling (WCW) as Syxx, and NWA Total Nonstop Action (NWA-TNA) as Syxx-Pac and Sean Waltman. Waltman began his career in the WWF in 1993, where he performed under several monikers as a jobber, until he was branded the 1-2-3 Kid after an upset victory over Razor Ramon on ''Raw''. As 1-2-3 Kid, he held the WWF Tag Team Championship twice and challenged Bret Hart for the WWF World Heavyweight Championship in July 1994 in what was ranked by WWE as the third-best match ever aired on ''Raw''. During this time, he was part of The Kliq, a backstage group that was known for their influence on WWF storylines in the 1990s. During the Monday Night Wars, Waltman left the WWF in 1996 to join Kliq members Kevin Nash a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. The United States is also in free association with three Pacific Island sovereign states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. It is the world's third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders with Canada to its north and with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations. With a population of over 333 million, it is the most populous country in the Americas and the third most populous in the world. The national capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. and its most populous city and principal financial center is New York City. Paleo-Americ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Togo
, better known by his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler. Togo is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of the Bullet Club stable, and its sub-group House of Torture. Togo has spent the majority of his career as a freelancer, wrestling most notably for Michinoku Pro Wrestling and DDT Pro-Wrestling. Sato has wrestled under various ring names such as Francesco Togo, Rey Cubano and Prince Togo. Togo retired in September 2012, but returned to the ring in July 2016. Togo has held the KO-D Openweight Championship four times, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship once with Taka Michinoku and the British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship once. Professional wrestling career Sato has performed for numerous Japanese promotions as well as American promotions such as Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and Ring of Honor (ROH). While in Michinoku Pro Wrestling, he formed a stable ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Men's Teioh
(born December 16, 1966) is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Men's Teioh (also written MEN's Teioh). The English translation of his ring name, Terry Boy, is a homage to American professional wrestler Terry Funk. Men's Teioh is a longtime mainstay of Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) as well as a former competitor of Michinoku Pro Wrestling (Michinoku Pro). He is known as an original member of the group, Kai En Tai, which competed in Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) and the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) during the late 1990s. He was also briefly a member of the BWO while in Extreme Championship Wrestling, and appeared on the promotion's first PPV event Barely Legal in 1997. Professional wrestling career Ōtsuka was trained to wrestle by Gran Hamada and Super Delfín. He debuted in September 1992 for Federación Universal de Lucha Libre (FULL) under his birth name, adopting the ring name "Men's Teioh" the following month. In March 1993, he be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jinsei Shinzaki
Kensuke Shinzaki (新崎 健介 ''Shinzaki Kensuke'', born December 2, 1966) is a Japanese professional wrestler and professional wrestling executive, better known by his ring name, Jinsei Shinzaki (新崎 人生 ''Shinzaki Jinsei''). He is currently signed to the Michinoku Pro Wrestling promotion where he is the promotion's president. He also performs for Michinoku Pro as a wrestler, serving as the sole heavyweight wrestler on the roster. Shinzaki is also known for his appearances with other Japanese promotions such as All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW). To American fans, Shinzaki is perhaps most known for his stint in the United States based World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1994 to 1996 under the ring name Hakushi. Professional wrestling career Universal Lucha Libre (1992–1993) A former soccer player, Shinzaki trained in amateur wrestling in high school. He firstly started working a career as an ac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kaz Hayashi
is a Japanese professional wrestler known simply as . He is best known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where in addition to being a wrestler for the promotion, he also served as the head booker for the company's junior heavyweight division. After leaving AJPW in 2013, Hayashi competed for Wrestle-1, where he also worked as a trainer. In April 2017, Hayashi took over as the new president of Wrestle-1, remaining in the position until the promotion's closure in 2020; he was also the promotion's final champion of the Wrestle-1 Championship. In August 2020, Hayashi joined Gleat as both an in-ring wrestler and the promotion's Chief Technical Officer. Professional wrestling career Early career (1992–1997) For much of his early career, Hayashi wrestled in Michinoku Pro Wrestling (Michinoku Pro/MPW) under a mask, using the ring name Shiryu (Growing Dragon in Japanese). As Shiryu, he was part of the memorable rudo group, Kaientai Deluxe, which waged war with Michinoku Pr ... [...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] |
Jado
(born September 28, 1968) is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name . He is best known for his work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) as part of a tag team with his partner Gedo. Jado and Gedo's careers have largely paralleled each other, except for a brief period Jado spent in Universal Lucha Libre in 1993, a stint in Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in 1997 where they were on opposing sides, and Jado not having emulated Gedo's tour of North America with World Championship Wrestling. The World Class Tag team has held numerous championships in wrestling, including NJPW's IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, the Universal Wrestling Association's UWA/UWF Intercontinental Tag Team Title, and Dragon Gate's International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, as well as having won NJPW's Super J Tag League once. Jado and Gedo are co-head bookers of NJPW. Professional wrestling career Early career Under his real name, Akiyoshi debuted for F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gedo (wrestler)
is a Japanese professional wrestler and manager, currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) under the ring name . Gedo has been the main booker of NJPW since the early 2010s. As a wrestler, Gedo is best known for his tag team work with partner Jado, forming a very successful tag team from 1990 through the mid-2010s. Alongside his backstage work, Gedo is also an on-screen character in NJPW, working as a manager for Jay White and the villainous Bullet Club faction. Prior to this, he was also a manager for Kazuchika Okada and his Chaos stable. Jado and Gedo have won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship four times, the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship one-time, BJW Tag Team Championship and several other tag team championships. Gedo is an eight-time recipient of the Best Booker award from the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter''. Professional wrestling career Early career and WAR (1989-2001) Gedo debuted on March 19, 1989, for New Japan Pro-Wrestli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
