No Fear was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring o ...

tag team that consisted of

Takao Omori is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is a one-time Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion and seven-time World Tag Team Champion. He is also part of the All Japan Board of Directors. He ...

and

Yoshihiro Takayama is a former Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Debuting for UWF International (UWFI) in the 1990s, Takayama joined All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in 1997 after UWF-i folded. In 2000, he joined Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah), and ...

. During their history, the team competed in

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, ...

and

Pro Wrestling Noah (stylised as Pro Wrestling NOAH) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2000 by former All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) ace Mitsuharu Misawa after he had led a mass exodus in which 24 of AJPW's 26 contracted wrestlers left the ...

History

All Japan Pro Wrestling (1998–2000)

No Fear formed in

in the fall of 1998 as a subset of the "Triangle of Power" stable led by

Gary Albright Gary Mitchell Albright (May 18, 1963 – January 7, 2000) was an American professional wrestler best known for his work in Japan, first with UWF International (UWFi), and later All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). In AJPW, Albright was a two-time Worl ...

. The first highlight for the team was participating in the 1998

World's Strongest Tag Determination League __NOTOC__ The , more commonly known in the West as the Real World Tag League, is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by All Japan Pro Wrestling since 1977, usually, run on the first weeks of December. The first tournament was actually ...

but they ended up finishing in last place with 2 points by only beating Albright and Giant Kimala. A few months later they teamed with

Hiroshi Hase is a Japanese politician who is currently the governor of Ishikawa Prefecture. He served as the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology under Prime Minister Shinzō Abe. Prior to his appointment in the Cabinet, he also ser ...

in a one night six-man tag team tournament where they made it to the semi-finals before losing to

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 ...

Yoshinari Ogawa (born November 2, 1966) is a Japanese professional wrestler who currently works for Pro Wrestling Noah. He has earned the nickname of "Rat Boy" from the English-speaking Puroresu fanbase due to his sneaky, clever in-ring tactics and baiting his ...

, and

Masahito Kakihara is a former Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, who is known for his work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and UWF International (UWFI). Professional wrestling career Union of Wrestling Forces International (1991–1996) Ka ...

. After Albright left them, Omori and Takayama began slowly moving up the ranks over the next few months. No Fear won their first title on June 4, 1999 when they defeated

Hayabusa was a robotic spacecraft developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) to return a sample of material from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa to Earth for further analysis. ''Hayabusa'', formerly known as MUSES-C ...

and

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 curre ...

to win the

All Asia Tag Team Championship The is a professional wrestling tag team title in Japanese promotion All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). It was created on November 16, 1955, in the Japan Wrestling Association (JWA) when King Kong Czaya and Tiger Joginder Singh defeated JWA fou ...

. One month later, on July 23rd, No Fear defeated

Johnny Ace John Marshall Alexander Jr. (June 9, 1929 – December 25, 1954), known by the stage name Johnny Ace, was an American rhythm-and-blues singer. He had a string of hit singles in the mid 1950s. Alexander died of an accidental self-inflicted gunsh ...

and

Bart Gunn Michael Polchlopek (born December 27, 1965) is an American retired professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1993 to 1999 under the ring names Bart Gu ...

to win the

World Tag Team Championship The world tag team championship is the name usually given to the primary tag team championship (professional wrestling), championships in professional wrestling Professional wrestling promotions, promotions. Nomenclature The name of the promo ...

thus giving the team a monopoly on the All Japan tag team division. On August 25th, No Fear lost both tag titles to Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa and World Junior Heavyweight Championship Yoshinari Ogawa. Three months later, on October 30th, No Fear challenged

Kenta Kobashi is a Japanese former professional wrestler. He started his career in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in 1988, where he became one of the promotion's top stars, holding the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship three times, and winning the Champ ...

and

Jun Akiyama is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to DDT Pro-Wrestling, where he is a former KO-D Openweight Champion. He is best known for his time working for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he was the president, representative director, c ...

for the World Tag Team Championship but lost. After that, they entered the 1999 World's Strongest Tag Determination League where they finished in 6th place with 4 points, by beating the team of Vader and

Johnny Smith Johnny Henry Smith II (June 25, 1922 – June 11, 2013) was an American cool jazz and mainstream jazz guitarist. He wrote "Walk, Don't Run" in 1954. In 1984, Smith was inducted into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. Early life During the Great D ...

and the team of Gary Albright and

Wolf Hawkfield The following is a list of characters from the ''Virtua Fighter'' fighting game series released by Sega. Starting with ''Virtua Fighter'', this series has spanned five games (not including updates) and has been released on arcade systems as well ...

. On June 9, 2000, No Fear entered a tournament for the vacant World Tag Team Championship. They defeated Misawa and Ogawa in the semi-finals but lost to

The Holy Demon Army The Holy Demon Army (HDA) was a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue. The HDA competed in All Japan Pro Wrestling during the 1990s and is considered the most successful and dominant team in the history of Al ...

in the finals. Shortly afterwards, Misawa left All Japan to form

with No Fear (along with the majority of the native roster) following Misawa to Noah.

Pro Wrestling Noah (2000–2002)

No Fear debuted at Noah's first show on August 5, 2000 as they teamed with

Satoru Asako is a retired Japanese professional wrestler who worked for All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah. Professional wrestling career All Japan Pro Wrestling (1991–2000) Asako made his debut in a tag team match with Richard Slinger, losin ...

in a six-man tag losing to Yoshinari Ogawa,

, &

Daisuke Ikeda is a Japanese professional wrestler who is currently wrestling in the Independent circuit in Japan. Since debuting in 1993, Ikeda has worked for a number of promotions in Japan, including Battlarts, All Japan Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Noah ...

. No Fear would also take part in the debut show for

Pro Wrestling Zero1 (stylized as Pro Wrestling ZERO1), formerly known as Pro Wrestling Zero-One and Pro Wrestling Zero1-Max (stylised in all capital letters) and often referred to simply as Zero1, is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded in 2001. ...

on March 2, 2001, defeating

Tatsuhito Takaiwa (born Go Yong-Il (Hangul: 고 용일), July 5, 1972) is a Zainichi-Korean professional wrestler. Takaiwa is one of the more well-traveled junior heavyweights in Japan, having wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), and Pro Wrestling Zero1, ...

and

Alexander Otsuka , better known by his ring name Alexander Otsuka and Otoko Sakari, is a retired Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. Having competed for multiple pro wrestling organizations in his career, most recently with Antonio Inoki's ...

. In 2001, Noah eventually started a tag team division and on December 9th, No Fear defeated Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa to win the

GHC Tag Team Championship The Global Honored Crown (GHC) Tag Team Championship is a professional wrestling tag team title in Japanese promotion Pro Wrestling Noah. It was created on October 19, 2001, when Scorpio & Vader defeated Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito in a tourname ...

. The team would hold the titles for 2 months before losing them to

Takeshi Morishima (born October 15, 1978) is a Japanese former professional wrestler. Morishima is best known for his work with Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is a former three-time GHC Heavyweight Champion. He has also performed for Ring of Honor (ROH) in the Un ...

and

Takeshi Rikio Takeshi Inoue (born December 20, 1972) known by his stage name , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, who worked for Pro Wrestling Noah. He is also a former sumo wrestler. Sumo career He made his sumo debut in March 1988, after leav ...

on February 17, 2002. No Fear eventually broke up in May 2002 when both Omori and Takayama left Noah with their last match being a loss to Jun Akiyama and

Yoshinobu Kanemaru is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where he also works as a backstage producer. Kanemaru is best known for his work in Pro Wrestling Noah, where he holds the records for the most reigns with the GHC ...

on May 9th.

Reunions (2011, 2013, 2016)

No Fear reunited the first time in nine years on August 27, 2011 at the New Japan, All Japan, Noah co-promoted show All Together losing to Jun Akiyama and

Kensuke Sasaki is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, and founder of the now-defunct wrestling promotion Diamond Ring. Sasaki is the first of four men ever to hold all three of '' puroresus major heavyweight titles (the IWGP Heav ...

. They reunited a second time on May 11, 2013 at Kenta Kobashi's retirement show Final Burning in Budokan where they defeated

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 hol ...

and

Naomichi Marufuji (born September 26, 1979) is a Japanese professional wrestler who competes for Pro Wrestling Noah, with occasional appearances in other professional wrestling promotions including New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), ...

. On August 21, 2016, No Fear teamed for the final time at an All Japan/Land's End show defeating Suwama and Rikiya Fudo.No Fear
Cagematch retrieved February 24, 2019 On May 4, 2017, Takayama suffered a career ending spinal cord injury during a match which left him paralyzed from the shoulders down, leaving Omori as the only former No Fear member still in active competition.

Championships and accomplishments

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History

All Japan Pro Wrestling (1998–2000)

Pro Wrestling Noah (2000–2002)

Reunions (2011, 2013, 2016)

Championships and accomplishments

References

External links