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UWFi
Union of Wrestling Forces 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 ''Newborn UWF'' that ran from 1988 to 1990, which itself was the successor to the original Universal Wrestling Federation. Although the matches were predetermined, the UWF-i was very convincing for its time, promoting a combat-based style featuring a mix of wrestling, submission grappling and kickboxing. The promotion also held kickboxing contests and, in rare instances, special shoot matches. In retrospect, UWFi, along with other shoot-style promotions, served as a precursor to mixed martial arts and to popular Japanese MMA promotions, particularly Pride FC. The promotion was also known for hiring dangerous shooters Lou Thesz, Billy Robinson and Danny Hodge as trainers and promoters of their product in order to establish legitimate credibility. Hist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 World Tag Team Champion. Albright was also known for his work with Stampede Wrestling in Canada, under his birth name as well as the ring name Vokhan Singh. An accomplished amateur wrestler, Albright translated this into his professional wrestling style, utilising many suplexes and throws throughout his career, earning the nickname "Master of Suplex". Albright was a member through marriage of the famous Anoaʻi wrestling family. His widow, Monica, is the daughter of Afa Anoaʻi. On January 7, 2000, Gary Albright collapsed in-ring upon receiving a cutter from his opponent. Only minutes after being removed from the ring, Albright was pronounced dead. The cause of death was later ruled to be a heart attack. Amateur wrestling car ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mitsuharu Misawa
was a Japanese professional wrestler and promoter. He is primarily known for spending 18 years with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and subsequently leading the 2000 All Japan Pro Wrestling mass exodus, which culminated in him forming Pro Wrestling Noah. In the early 1990s, Misawa gained fame alongside friend and tag team partner Kenta Kobashi, as well as rivals Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue, who came to be nicknamed AJPW's . Their matches developed the '' ōdō'' (, "King's Road") style of puroresu, and received significant critical acclaim. Despite never working in the United States during the 1990s, Misawa had a significant stylistic influence upon independent wrestling through the popularity of his work among tape-traders as wide-reaching as Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Debuting in 1981, Misawa became the second wrestler to assume the Tiger Mask persona in 1984, which he maintained until the end of the decade. After the departure ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pride Fighting Championships
PRIDE Fighting Championships (Pride or Pride FC, founded as KRS-Pride) was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts events, broadcast to about 40 countries worldwide.What is Pride? , Official Pride site. Last retrieved December 5, 2006 PRIDE was owned by the Dream Stage Entertainment (DSE). For the ten years of its existence, PRIDE was one of the most popular MMA organizations in the world. Pride broadcast its event on Japanese |
Big Van Vader
Leon Allen White (May 14, 1955 – June 18, 2018), better known by his ring names Big Van Vader or simply Vader, was an American professional wrestler and professional American football, football player. During his career, he performed for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Catch Wrestling Association (CWA), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), the WWE, World Wrestling Federation (WWF), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and Pro Wrestling Noah during the 1990s and 2000s. He is widely regarded as the greatest super-heavyweight professional wrestler of all time. White performed as a monstrous wrestler, and he was capable of aerial maneuvers: his diving moonsault was voted the "List of Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards#Best Wrestling Maneuver, Best Wrestling Maneuver" of 1993 by ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON'') readers. White is a 12-time world champion—he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, the CWA World Heavyweight Championship and the WCW World Heavyweight Championshi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shoot Style
Shoot wrestling is a Japanese hybrid grappling style and combat sport. Shoot wrestling incorporates techniques from various wrestling, submission grappling, kickboxing and karate styles. It was particularly inspired and influenced by catch wrestling, a form of wrestling with submissions that was the predominant style of professional wrestling in the 19th and early 20th century, at the time a competitive sport and not yet predetermined. Shoot wrestling originated in Japan's professional wrestling circuit (''puroresu'') of the 1970s, particularly stemming from the influence of wrestlers Karl Gotch, Lou Thesz and Billy Robinson, all who had an enduring popularity in Japan due to their serious submission wrestling style. Professional wrestlers of that era attempted to use more realistic or even "full contact" moves in their matches to increase their excitement, diminishing or eschewing the theatrical elements and acrobatics, looking more similar to an actual, unscripted fight. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kiyoshi Tamura
is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Once a student of legendary professional wrestlers Billy Robinson, Lou Thesz and Akira Maeda, Tamura was known for his skills in catch wrestling and is considered to be one of the greatest shoot wrestlers of all time. Competing exclusively in shoot style wrestling, Tamura began his career with UWF Newborn and later joined its successor group UWF International before transitioning to mixed martial arts. A professional MMA fighter from 1995 until 2008, he competed for the PRIDE Fighting Championships, RINGS, DEEP, DREAM, and fought at K-1's 2007 and 2008 Dynamite!! events. He is a two-time RINGS Openweight Champion and holds notable wins over Renzo Gracie, former UFC Welterweight Champion Pat Miletich, former UFC Middleweight Champion Dave Menne, former Pancrase Super Heavyweight Champion Tsuyoshi Kosaka, former Pancrase Openweight Champion Masakatsu Funaki, Olympic judo gold medallist Makoto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Masahito Kakihara
is a Japanese former professional wrestler and mixed martial arts, 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) Kakihara actually joined Universal Wrestling Federation (Japan), UWF Newborn in 1989 and debuted a year later, but the promotion folded shortly after. He then joined its new incarnation, UWF-i, where he became an apprentice under Nobuhiko Takada. A promising rookie, he was booked accordingly and soon had wins over Kiyoshi Tamura, Gary Albright and Dan Severn. In 1995, during the interpromotional feud between UWF-i and New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Kakihara was one of the few who were given victories in his side, defeating Kensuke Sasaki, Shinjiro Otani and Yuji Nagata. Later, when UWF-i started another feud with Wrestle Association R, Kakihara teamed up with Takada and Yuhi Sano to win the WAR World Six-Man Tag Team Championshi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shoot Style
Shoot wrestling is a Japanese hybrid grappling style and combat sport. Shoot wrestling incorporates techniques from various wrestling, submission grappling, kickboxing and karate styles. It was particularly inspired and influenced by catch wrestling, a form of wrestling with submissions that was the predominant style of professional wrestling in the 19th and early 20th century, at the time a competitive sport and not yet predetermined. Shoot wrestling originated in Japan's professional wrestling circuit (''puroresu'') of the 1970s, particularly stemming from the influence of wrestlers Karl Gotch, Lou Thesz and Billy Robinson, all who had an enduring popularity in Japan due to their serious submission wrestling style. Professional wrestlers of that era attempted to use more realistic or even "full contact" moves in their matches to increase their excitement, diminishing or eschewing the theatrical elements and acrobatics, looking more similar to an actual, unscripted fight. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
List Of Professional Wrestling Terms
Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable amount of jargon throughout its existence. Much of it stems from the industry's origins in the days of carnival Carnival (known as Shrovetide in certain localities) is a festive season that occurs at the close of the Christian pre-Lenten period, consisting of Quinquagesima or Shrove Sunday, Shrove Monday, and Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras. Carnival typi ...s and circuses. In the past, professional wrestlers used such terms in the presence of fans so as not to reveal the nature of the business. Into the 21st century, widespread discussion on the Internet has popularized these terms. Many of the terms refer to the financial aspects of professional wrestling in addition to in-ring terms. A B C D E F G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kingdom Professional Wrestling
Kingdom, or Kingdom Professional Wrestling, was a Japanese shoot style professional wrestling promotion that held events in 1997 and 1998. It was considered a continuation of UWF International, having most of its former roster: Nobuhiko Takada, Yoji Anjo, Kazushi Sakuraba, Daijiro Matsui, Naoki Sano, Masahito Kakihara, Yoshihiro Takayama, Kenichi Yamamoto and Hiromitsu Kanehara. Several wrestlers began pursuing mixed martial arts during their time at the promotion, most notably Kazushi Sakuraba who won the UFC Japan: Ultimate Japan heavyweight tournament representing Kingdom. The promotion is also a predecessor to the Pride Fighting Championships, which held their first event towards the demise of Kingdom. With the rise of mixed martial arts, Kingdom held legitimate shoot fights in their events. History Kingdom's popularity did not reach or surpass that of the UWF International. Attempts to rectify this by using talent from other shoot-style promotions including Battlarts di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Universal Wrestling Federation (Japan)
The original Japan-based Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) was a Professional wrestling in Japan, Japanese professional wrestling promotion from 1984 to 1986, formed by wrestlers who had left New Japan Pro-Wrestling. It was a pioneer in shoot-style wrestling, which emphasized legitimate techniques and realism. It was revived as the Newborn UWF in 1988. Newborn UWF lasted until 1990. It was revived again in 1991 as Union of Wrestling Forces International (UWF International or UWFi), which in turn lasted until 1996. Although short-lived, the UWF spawned a number of successor "shoot-wrestling" promotions collectively nicknamed the "U-Kei (martial arts), U-Kei", and also served as a predecessor for Japanese mixed martial arts, with many of its alumni founding proto-MMA organizations such as Shooto, Pancrase and RINGS, eventually leading to the creation of Pride FC. Original UWF The original roster included Rusher Kimura, Akira Maeda, Ryuma Go, Mach Hayato, and Gran Hamada. Soon, h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yoji Anjo
(born March 28, 1967) is a retired Japanese professional wrestler, mixed martial artist and kickboxer. Anjo is considered to be one of the pioneers of the shoot style movement during the 1980s and early 90s. Professional wrestling career Universal Wrestling Federation and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (1985–1988) A former practitioner of judo, sumo and muay thai, Anjo tried professional wrestling after meeting Nobuhiko Takada. He passed the original Universal Wrestling Federation's entrance tests and had his debut on July 6, 1985, against Osamu Hoshina. He only wrestled a handful of matches for the company, as it collapsed later in the year and its roster moved back to New Japan Pro-Wrestling, where Anjo debuted as a low-ranking member of the UWF "invading" army. Often teaming with fellow shooter Tatsuo Nakano, he feuded with names like Akira Nogami, Osamu Matsuda and Masakatsu Funaki as part of the NJPW junior heavyweight division. He eventually left the company in 1988 follow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
