Wrestle Association R (formerly known as Wrestle and Romance and abbreviated as WAR) was a Japanese

professional wrestling promotion A professional wrestling promotion is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling that has little relationship to the rules of the amateur olympic form. "Promotion" also describes a role which entails man ...

founded and run by

Genichiro Tenryu , better known as is a retired Japanese professional wrestler and professional wrestling promoter. At age 13, he entered sumo wrestling and stayed there for 13 years, after which he turned to Western-style professional wrestling. "Tenryu" was his ...

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 (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 ...

Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as (FMW). The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fire. They held their ...

, the new

Tokyo Pro Wrestling Tokyo Pro Wrestling is the name of two unrelated Japanese professional wrestling promotions. Despite their common name, they did not share management, promotional style, or talent in any way. Original Tokyo Pro Wrestling The original Tokyo Pro W ...

, and UWF International. WAR also continued, albeit in a loose fashion, SWS's old working agreement with the

World Wrestling Federation World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...

, when they backed the WWF's first

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese tour, in 1994. On July 28, 1995, WAR was renamed "Wrestle Association R" at a show held in the

Korakuen Hall is a famous sports arena in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan, which has hosted many notable boxing, professional wrestling, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and Lethwei matches. History On April 16, 1962, the Korakuen Hall was officially opened with ...

. In 1998, WAR cancelled contracts to the roster and began running fewer and fewer events due to Tenryu's comeback in New Japan, and in July 2000, it promoted a farewell show that served as the prelude to Tenryu's return to

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, ...

(many wrestlers from WAR also joined AJPW to fill the void by those who joined Mitsuharu Misawa in forming

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 ...

). The WAR name was kept for the use of a

stable A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; the ...

led by Tenryu during brief angles in All Japan and FMW in 2001. On July 27, 2006, WAR staged a reunion show at Tokyo

. The show was supported by various Japanese wrestling promotions including New Japan,

and Dragon Gate. This was also the final card promoted under the WAR banner. WAR was the first promotion to create a steady junior heavyweight

tag team Tag team wrestling is a type of professional wrestling in which matches are contested between teams of multiple wrestlers. Tag teams may be made up of wrestlers who normally wrestle in singles competition, but more commonly are made of establish ...

title long before

WCW World Championship Wrestling, Inc. (WCW) was an American professional wrestling promotion founded by Ted Turner in 1988, after Turner Broadcasting System, through a subsidiary named Universal Wrestling Corporation, purchased the assets of Nationa ...

, and

hit upon the idea. In 2010, the Tenryu Project was organised, and is somewhat of a successor to WAR.

Championships

J-1 Heavyweight Championship

This title used the

championship belt A championship belt is a large, extravagantly designed belt used primarily in combat sports such as boxing, mixed martial arts, and professional wrestling to signify the champions of the promotion or company, much like a cup or trophy in other s ...

originally used in the 1950s by the old Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance for their JWA Japanese Heavyweight Championship, held throughout its existence by

Rikidōzan (born Kim Sin-rak; ; November 14, 1924 – December 15, 1963), better known as Rikidōzan (), was a Korean-born Japanese wrestler who competed in sumo and professional wrestling. He was known as The Father of Puroresu, and one of the most inf ...

Other titles

WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship The is a professional wrestling championship contested for in the Japanese professional wrestling promotion Tenryu Project. The title was established in 1995 in Wrestle Association R (WAR). There have been a total of 24 reigns shared between 17 ...

* WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship *

WAR World Six-Man Tag Team Championship The is a six-man tag team title contested for in the Japanese professional wrestling promotion Tenryu Project. The title was established in Wrestle Association R (WAR) in 1994. There have been a total of twenty reigns shared among sixteen team ...

Alumni

These are not exhaustive lists. Guest Japanese wrestlers from other promotions, such as Nobuhiko Takada from UWF International and The Great Sasuke from

Michinoku Pro Wrestling (originally known as North Eastern Wrestling) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded by The Great Sasuke on October 1, 1992. It was the first independent wrestling promotion in Japan to not base its operations in Tokyo, but rather ...

, are not listed.

Notable events

WAR/WWF

An inter-promotional show between WAR and the

was held on September 15, 1992, at the Yokohama Arena in

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

, Kanagawa,

WAR Anniversary Show

WAR Anniversary Show was the flagship event of WAR which was used to celebrate the anniversary of the promotion. The event was held between 1993 and 2000, when the promotion was discontinued.

WAR/LLPW

An inter-promotional event featuring talent from WAR and

Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling, also known as LLPW and currently as LLPW-X, is a Japanese independent women's professional wrestling promotion founded in 1992 by Rumi Kazama and Shinobu Kandori. History Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling split in 1992 ...

was held on November 28, 1993, at the

Sumo Hall is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by thr ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

Revolution

Revolution was a special event held on December 15, 1993, at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

Revolution Rumble '94 In Ryogoku Kokugikan

Revolution Rumble '94 In Ryogoku Kokugikan was a special event held on March 2, 1994, at the

Ryōgoku Kokugikan , also known as Ryōgoku Sumo Hall or Kokugikan Arena, is the name bestowed to two different indoor sporting arenas located in Tokyo. The fist ''Ryōgoku Kokugikan'' opened its doors in 1909 and was located on the lands of the Ekōin temple in Ry ...

in Tokyo, Japan. The event was notable for an inter-promotional

main event In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

match in which

and Ashura Hara represented WAR against

's Atsushi Onita and Tarzan Goto. Onita pinned Tenryu and the match set up a major main event between Tenryu and Onita for FMW's

5th Anniversary Show Fifth is the ordinal form of the number five. Fifth or The Fifth may refer to: * Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, as in the expression "pleading the Fifth" * Fifth column, a political term * Fifth disease, a contagious rash that ...

at the Kawasaki Stadium on May 5, 1994.

Super J-Cup

Super J-Cup The Super J-Cup is a periodically held professional wrestling tournament featuring junior heavyweight wrestlers from all over the world promoted by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). This tournament differs from NJPW's annual Best of the Super Junio ...

is a professional wrestling tournament featuring junior heavyweight wrestlers from all over the world. The tournament was originally conceived by

ese wrestler Jushin Thunder Liger as a showcase for junior heavyweights from promotions from Asia and North America on a national level. WAR hosted the second edition of the tournament on December 13, 1995, at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

WAR vs. UWFI: Super Summer Wars

An inter-promotional event featuring wrestlers from WAR and

UWFI Union of Professional Wrestling Force International, better known as UWF International, U-Inter, or simply UWFi, was a shoot style professional wrestling promotion in Japan from 1991 to 1996. The UWF international was the successor to the ''Newbo ...

, among other promotions as well. The event took place a day after the 4th Anniversary Show on July 21, 1996, at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan.

Final - Reborn to Future

Final - Reborn to Future was a reunion event of WAR after the promotion had closed down in 2000 and marked the final event ever in WAR history. The event took place on July 27, 2006, at the

in Tokyo, Japan. The event aired via tape delay on Gaora TV on August 17. The event featured a title defense of the

which had been in possession of Masaaki Mochizuki since WAR closed in 2000 and the main event was an eight-man tag team match, in which WAR wrestlers took on

Heisei Ishingun Heisei Ishingun was a Japanese professional wrestling stable led by Shiro Koshinaka during the 1990s, primarily in New Japan Pro-Wrestling. History After an intense feud with each other early from 1988, Shiro Koshinaka and Kuniaki Kobayashi form ...

References

External links

Wrestling-Titles.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:War (Wrestling Promotion) 1992 establishments in Japan Japanese professional wrestling promotions Organizations disestablished in 2000