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Yoshihito Sasaki
is a retired Japanese professional wrestler, best known for his time with the Japanese professional wrestling promotions Big Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Zero1. Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (2001-2013) Sasaki made his professional wrestling debut for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, competing at one of the promotion's biggest shows, the FMW 12th Anniversary Show which took place on May 5, 2001, where he teamed up with Tomokazu Morita in a losing effort to Ricky Fuji and Satoru Makita. He also competed in Onita Pro Wrestling, a promotion created by Atsushi Onita at a house show from June 23, 2002, where he teamed up with Masato Tanaka in a losing effort to Kintaro Kanemura and Tetsuhiro Kuroda. Sasaki worked a match for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, at ''NJPW Lock Up'' from February 24, 2008, where he teamed up with Tengu Kaiser, falling short to Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe and Toru Yano). He even made an appearance in the Puroresu, joshi puroresu promo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yoshihito Sasaki
is a retired Japanese professional wrestler, best known for his time with the Japanese professional wrestling promotions Big Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Zero1. Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (2001-2013) Sasaki made his professional wrestling debut for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, competing at one of the promotion's biggest shows, the FMW 12th Anniversary Show which took place on May 5, 2001, where he teamed up with Tomokazu Morita in a losing effort to Ricky Fuji and Satoru Makita. He also competed in Onita Pro Wrestling, a promotion created by Atsushi Onita at a house show from June 23, 2002, where he teamed up with Masato Tanaka in a losing effort to Kintaro Kanemura and Tetsuhiro Kuroda. Sasaki worked a match for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, at ''NJPW Lock Up'' from February 24, 2008, where he teamed up with Tengu Kaiser, falling short to Great Bash Heel (Togi Makabe and Toru Yano). He even made an appearance in the Puroresu, joshi puroresu promo ... [...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] |
Keiji Muto
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] |
Ryota Hama
(born November 21, 1979) is a retired Japanese sumo wrestler and current professional wrestler, signed to Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) in the Strong BJ division. Sumo career Hama joined sumo in July 1995, and he fought for the Hakkaku stable run by former ''yokozuna'' Hokutoumi. His ''shikona'' was Hokutoarashi (meaning "North Victory Storm") and he reached a highest rank of ''makushita 6'' in November 2001. Injury-prone in his knees, he fell greatly in rank and announced his retirement in May 2008. His career record was 235 wins to 169 losses, with 114 absences due to injury. Professional wrestling career All Japan Pro Wrestling (2008–2013) After retiring from sumo, Hama became a professional wrestler. Hama debuted in professional wrestling on November 3, 2008 losing to former Sumo champion Akebono. On September 23, 2009, Hama and Akebono, known collectively as SMOP (Super Megaton Ohzumo Powers), won the All Asia Tag Team Championship, defeating Minoru Suzuki and Nosawa Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Akebono Tarō
is an American-born Japanese former professional sumo wrestler and professional wrestler from Waimānalo, Hawaii. Joining sumo in Japan in 1988, he was trained by pioneering Hawaiian wrestler Takamiyama and rose swiftly up the rankings, reaching the top division in 1990. After two consecutive '' yusho'' or tournament championships in November 1992 and January 1993 he made history by becoming the first non-Japanese-born wrestler ever to reach ''yokozuna'', the highest rank in sumo. One of the tallest and heaviest wrestlers ever, Akebono's rivalry with the young Japanese hopefuls, Takanohana and Wakanohana, was a big factor in the increased popularity of sumo at tournament venues and on TV in the early 1990s. During his eight years at the ''yokozuna'' rank, Akebono won a further eight tournament championships, for a career total of eleven, and was a runner-up on thirteen other occasions, despite suffering several serious injuries. Although his rival ''yokozuna'' Takanohana wo ... [...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] |
Yuji Okabayashi
is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) in the Strong BJ division. He has been working in BJW since his debut in June 2008. He is best known as part of a tag team with Daisuke Sekimoto, with whom he has held the BJW Tag Team Championship, All Japan Pro Wrestling's (AJPW) World Tag Team and All Asia Tag Team Championships and DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT)'s KO-D Tag Team Championship. As a singles wrestler, he is a former BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion. Professional wrestling career Okabayashi is a former member of the Japan Self-Defense Forces and had a sports background in judo and weightlifting, when he joined Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) in 2008 for a new career in professional wrestling. He made his debut for the promotion against Katsumasa Inoue on June 27, 2008. Okabayashi joined the promotion's non-deathmatch division, Strong BJ, eventually becoming one of its cornerstones alongside the likes of Daisuke Sekimoto and Yoshih ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kazuki Hashimoto
is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW), competing in the Strong J division, where he is a former BJW Junior Heavyweight Champion. Professional wrestling career Hashimoto enrolled in Animal Hamaguchi's professional wrestling dojo while still in high school at the age of 18 in 2008, and eventually graduated from the school in 2009. Hashimoto then joined Big Japan Pro Wrestling's dojo for further training before making his debut on September 21, wrestling Takumi Tsukamoto to a time limit draw. Only a few months into his career, Hashimoto won Kaientai Dojo (K-Dojo)'s 2010 K-Metal League, defeating Ganko Taketo in the final. This earned him a match for the Independent Junior Heavyweight Championship, where he unsuccessfully challenged Marines Mask on June 20, 2010. Hashimoto competed primarily in BJW for the next few years of his career, whilst also making occasional appearances for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and Pro Wrestling Zer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daisuke Sekimoto
(born February 9, 1981) is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) in the Strong BJ division. He is also known for his appearances in Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max. He is a three-time BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion, while also being a former one-time NWA Pan-Pacific Premium Heavyweight Champion, one-time wXw Unified World Wrestling Champion and a two-time Zero1 World Heavyweight Champion. Other major singles championships include the BJW Heavyweight Championship, the KO-D Openweight Championship and the Strongest-K Championship. Also a successful tag team wrestler, he has held the AJPW World Tag Team Championship three times, the All Asia Tag Team Championship two times, the BJW Tag Team Championship twelve times and the KO-D Tag Team Championship two times with his most successful tag team combination being with Yuji Okabayashi. Professional wrestling career Big Japan Pro Wrestling (1999–present) Daisuke Sekimoto made his professi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ryuji Ito
(born April 8, 1976) is a Japanese professional wrestler currently competing in Big Japan Pro Wrestling in the Deathmatch division. He is well known for his death match style of wrestling. Career Big Japan Pro Wrestling (1999–present) Ito, whose gimmick is reminiscent of the Mortal Kombat icon Liu Kang, has been known for competing in many deathmatches over the span of his career, including a Cage match variation which saw him defeat Kintaro Kanemura. Ito is perhaps most famous for participating in an infamous "Lightube Lightsaber match" in which he fought and defeated Abdullah Kobayashi. The match has since become a hit video among hardcore wrestling fans on the website YouTube. In 2008, Ito competed at IWA East Coast's Masters of Pain, where he lost to Thumbtack Jack in the finals after defeating Drake Younger and Danny Havoc. He also wrestled in Chikara at The Global Gauntlet the same year. In addition to his gruesome matches, Ito has accumulated several championship ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oz Academy
is a Japanese ''joshi puroresu'' or women's professional wrestling promotion founded by Mayumi Ozaki. The promotion's full official name is . In addition to the contracted members of the roster, Oz Academy has also employed some of the top freelancers in all of ''joshi puroresu'', including Ayumi Kurihara, Hiroyo Matsumoto, Manami Toyota and Tomoka Nakagawa. The promotion has a television deal with Gaora. History While working in the Gaea Japan promotion in mid-90s, Ozaki formed the villainous Oz Academy stable with Chikayo Nagashima, Rieko Amano and Sugar Sato, eventually opening a training school under the same name. Oz Academy eventually started promoting sporadic independent events, featuring members of the stable and Ozaki's trainees, with the first event held on June 21, 1998. Following the folding of Gaea Japan in 2005, Ozaki turned Oz Academy into a full promotion with a full schedule of approximately one to two events per month, while also recruiting veteran wrestlers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Puroresu
is the predominant style of professional wrestling that has developed in Japan. The term comes from the Japanese pronunciation of , which is shortened to puroresu. The term became popular among English-speaking fans due to Hisaharu Tanabe's activities in the online Usenet community. Growing out of origins in the traditional US style of wrestling, it has become an entity in itself. Japanese pro wrestling is distinct in its psychology and presentation of the sport. It is treated as a legitimate fight, with fewer theatrics; the stories told in Japanese matches are about a fighter's spirit and perseverance. In strong style, the style most typically associated with puroresu, full contact martial arts strikes and shoot submission holds are implemented. Overview Despite some similarities to the popular style of professional wrestling in the United States, Japanese wrestling is known for many differences from the Western style. ''Puroresu'' is known for its "''fighting spirit''" ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
