Tokyo Pro Wrestling is the name of two unrelated

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 n ...

ese

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 or ...

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 Wrestling operated from 1966 to 1967. In mid-1966,

Japan Wrestling Association The was the first professional wrestling promotion to be based in Japan. It operated from 1953 to 1973. History JWA under Rikidōzan (1953–1963) Rikidōzan, a former ''rikishi'' ( sumo wrestling practitioner) who had debuted as a Western-s ...

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Michiharu Toyonobori resigned his position and left the promotion, taking along with him some talent, including Katsuhisa Shibata (father of current

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 sha ...

star

Katsuyori Shibata is a Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and professional wrestling trainer. In professional wrestling, he is known for his hard hitting offense. He is currently working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). In NJPW, he is a f ...

) and the future Rusher Kimura (Masao Kimura).

Antonio Inoki Muhammad Hussain Inoki (born ; February 20, 1943 – October 1, 2022) was a Japanese professional wrestler, martial artist, politician, and promoter of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. He was best known by the ring name , a homage ...

, who was coming back from a long excursion to the

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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, chose to join him and create a new venture, Tokyo Pro Wrestling. Tokyo Pro's biggest rising star was Inoki, who

feud A feud , referred to in more extreme cases as a blood feud, vendetta, faida, clan war, gang war, or private war, is a long-running argument or fight, often between social groups of people, especially families or clans. Feuds begin because one par ...

ed with

Johnny Valentine John Theodore Wisniski (September 22, 1928 – April 24, 2001), better known by his ring name Johnny Valentine, was an American professional wrestler with a career spanning almost three decades. He has been inducted into four halls of fame fo ...

over the "United States" heavyweight title (as Valentine had held in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and t ...

and

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, he was "recognized" as champion by Tokyo Pro so as to lose the belt to Inoki). Inoki's feud with Valentine cemented him not only as a rising star, but also as a tough wrestler who could take on anyone, any style, anywhere. Nevertheless, problems between Toyonobori and his business backers led him and Isao Yoshiwara to dissolve the promotion in 1967 and replace it with Kokusai Puroresu Kaisha (International Wrestling Enterprise/International Pro Wrestling), which would promote on a larger scale in Japan and eventually become the third most important men's promotion, after New Japan and All Japan, which would appear in 1972. Tokyo Pro-Wrestling is also the place where

Haruka Eigen (January 11, 1946 – November 28, 2016) was a Japanese professional wrestler. He was an executive director of Pro Wrestling Noah. Sumo career In July 1961, Haruka Eigen began wrestling as a sumo. He was part of the Tatsunami stable. He quit s ...

, who was still active into his 60s wrestling for

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 th ...

, debuted. He joined Inoki and Shibata in going back to JWA.

Alumni

Natives

Toyonobori , known in sumo and professional wrestling as or simply , was a sumo wrestler from Japan. After retiring as a rikishi from sumo, he became a professional wrestler. Career In professional wrestling On December 12, 1954, Toyonobori became a profe ...

* Masanori Saito * Masao Kimura * Masaru Eigen *Katsuhisa Shibata *Sankichi Takasakiyama (Shoji Kai) *Tsuyoshi Sendai (Tokyo Joe/Joe Daigo) *Mammoth Suzuki *Mr. Suzuki/Matty Suzuki

Foreigners

* Johnny Powers *

Sonny Myers Harold "Sonny" Myers (January 22, 1924 – May 7, 2007) was an American professional wrestler, involved in the business for sixty years. Professional wrestling career Myers held prominent heavyweight championships in several territories, most ...

Dean Higuchi Dean Kiyoshi Higuchi (July 18, 1940 – February 20, 2021) was an American bodybuilder and professional wrestler, known by his ring name, Dean Ho. He competed in North American promotions including Pacific Northwest Wrestling, the World Wide W ...

Stan Stasiak George Emile Stipich (April 13, 1937 – June 19, 1997) was a Canadian professional wrestler, better known by his ring name, Stan Stasiak. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF) in the 1970s, where he ...

*Lucky Simunovich *Mysterious Medico (Lou Newman) *Steve Stanlee

New Tokyo Pro Wrestling

The new version of Tokyo Pro Wrestling was started by former

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

Super World of Sports Super World of Sports, more commonly known as SWS, was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion from 1990 to 1992. Its motto was "Straight and Strong". History Formation In April 1990, Genichiro Tenryu, one of the top stars of All Japan Pro Wr ...

wrestler

Takashi Ishikawa is a former professional wrestler and sumo wrestler from Fujishima, Higashitagawa District, Yamagata Prefecture, Japan. Sumo wrestling career He played baseball up to junior high school, but at Sakata Minami High School he switched to sumo an ...

in 1994, and it was one of the many independents that arose following SWS's collapse. In 1996 they found a businessman by the name of Kotaro Ishizawa who was willing to bankroll the promotion using his bike messenger business, which enabled Ishikawa to bring foreigners, namely

Abdullah the Butcher Lawrence Robert Shreve (born January 11, 1941), better known by the ring name Abdullah the Butcher, is a Canadian retired professional wrestler. He has a reputation for being involved in some of the most violent and bloody hardcore wrestling m ...

2 Cold Scorpio Charles Bernard Scaggs (born October 25, 1965) is an American professional wrestler, better known by the ring name 2 Cold Scorpio (sometimes spelled Too Cold Scorpio). He is best known for his appearances with World Championship Wrestling, Extrem ...

, and Sabu. It was their peak year, when they were able to hold feuds against

WAR War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

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 ''Newb ...

, but economic problems relating to Kotaro Ishizawa's business' collapse sent Tokyo Pro Wrestling on a downward spiral. The promotion was briefly reborn as Shin (''New'') Tokyo Pro Wrestling but remained in an even bigger obscure status. One of its top trainees,

Shigeo Okumura is a Japanese professional wrestler who works for the Mexican professional wrestling promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and is billed as Okumura. Okumura originally worked for Tokyo Pro Wrestling (TPW) and later on All Japan Pro Wres ...

, ended up spending more time competing for AJPW and eventually joined it in 2000, following the

split.

References

External links

"The Damnedest Company", a description of the 90's Tokyo Pro Wrestling promotion, by Masanori HorieOriginal Tokyo Pro Wrestling statistics90's Tokyo Pro Wrestling statistics
{{Professional wrestling in Japan versions of the NWA US title Japanese professional wrestling promotions 1966 establishments in Japan 1967 disestablishments in Japan