The (IGF), also known in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

as International Glory Fighting, was a Japanese professional wrestling and

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

promotion founded by

Antonio Inoki (born ; 20 February 1943 – 1 October 2022) was a Japanese professional wrestler, Glossary of professional wrestling terms#school, professional wrestling trainer, martial arts, martial artist, politician, and Promoter (entertainment), promot ...

in 2007.

History

Antonio Inoki founded the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) after selling

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) is a Puroresu, Japanese professional-wrestling Professional wrestling promotion, promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki, and based in Nakano, Tokyo. It is currently majority owned by card-game company Bushiroad, with TV As ...

(NJPW), a promotion he founded in 1972. The first IGF show was held on June 29, 2007 at the Sumo Hall in

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

. The show's main event was a match between

Kurt Angle Kurt Steven Angle (born December 9, 1968) is an American retired professional wrestler and amateur wrestling, amateur wrestler. He first earned recognition for winning a Wrestling at the 1996 Summer Olympics – Men's freestyle 100 kg, gold me ...

and

Brock Lesnar Brock Edward Lesnar ( ; born July 12, 1977) is an American Professional wrestling, professional wrestler and former Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist, Amateur wrestling, amateur wrestler and professional American football player. As a ...

, where they competed for Lesnar's

IWGP Heavyweight Championship The was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion. "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the . The title was introduced on June 12, 1987, in the final of an IW ...

. From 2007 to 2008, the IGF served as the Japanese

territory A territory is an area of land, sea, or space, belonging or connected to a particular country, person, or animal. In international politics, a territory is usually a geographic area which has not been granted the powers of self-government, ...

of the

National Wrestling Alliance The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) is an American professional wrestling professional wrestling promotion, promotion and governing body owned by Billy Corgan and operated by its parent company Lightning One, Inc. Founded in 1948, the NWA be ...

. On December 31, 2010, Shinichi Suzukawa was scheduled to face Bob Sapp in an IGF special

Super Heavyweight Super heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and bodybuilding, competitive bodybuilding. Boxing In amateur boxing, the super heavyweight division is a weight class division for fighters weighing in excess of 91 kilograms (200 pounds). Int ...

bout at

K-1 K-1 is a professional kickboxing promotion established in 1993 by karateka Kazuyoshi Ishii. Originally under the ownership of the Fighting and Entertainment Group (FEG), K-1 was considered to be the largest Kickboxing organization in the worl ...

Dynamite!! 2010. The fight was to be held under modified

MMA Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

rules, with the fighters being barred from wearing gloves, closed-fist strikes being illegal, and palm strikes being permitted. The fight was planned to air on

HDNet AXS TV () is an American specialty television, cable television channel majority-owned by Canadian broadcaster Anthem Sports & Entertainment. It is devoted primarily to Music television, music-related programming (such as concert films, Document ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

. However, the fight was canceled due to a last-minute contract dispute with Sapp; the Japanese audience in attendance were told by the K-1 promoters involved in the dispute that Sapp “had lost his will to fight.” In 2011, the promotion presented a gift to

Kim Jong Il Kim Jong Il (born Yuri Kim; 16 February 1941 or 1942 – 17 December 2011) was a North Korean politician who was the second Supreme Leader (North Korean title), supreme leader of North Korea from Death and state funeral of Kim Il Sung, the de ...

, the-then leader of

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

as part of a diplomatic effort. In August 2014, IGF held two shows in

Pyongyang Pyongyang () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of North Korea, where it is sometimes labeled as the "Capital of the Revolution" (). Pyongyang is located on the Taedong River about upstream from its mouth on the Yellow Sea. Accordi ...

, North Korea. On December 29, 2014, IGF announced a deal with PPTV to bring its programming to Chinese audiences. In 2015, Durango Kid and Laberinto, two of Inoki's former students, along with karateka Alfredo Perez, established an IGF off-shoot promotion in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

called Inoki Sports Management, also known as Lucha Wrestling Puroresu. The three men would also re-establish the

Inoki Dojo (born ; 20 February 1943 – 1 October 2022) was a Japanese professional wrestler, professional wrestling trainer, martial artist, politician, and promoter of professional wrestling and mixed martial arts (MMA). He is best known as the fou ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. In 2017, Antonio inoki began distancing himself from the IGF and created a new promotion called ISM. After the creation of ISM, Antonio's son-in-law Simon Inoki gained more influence within the promotion and created a new brand under the IGF banner called Next Exciting Wrestling (NEW). The IGF's inaugural NEW show was held on April 20, 2017. On March 23, 2018, Antonio Inoki sold his part of the promotion and left the IGF. In April 2018,

Nosawa Rongai , better known by his ring names Nosawa and , is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, best known for his appearances in All Japan Pro Wrestling and various independent promotions. Career Early career (19952004) Nosawa spent most of his ea ...

, along with IGF wrestlers Kendo Kashin and

Kazuyuki Fujita is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, former Mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist and freestyle wrestling, freestyle wrestler, currently signed to Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is a one-time GHC Heavyweight Championship ...

, created an IGF off-shoot promotion known as Hagure IGF International. A new brand featuring IGF's Chinese wrestlers called was later founded by Simon Inoki. On June 26, Eastern Heroes wrestlers participated on night 8 of Pro Wrestling Noah's Navigation with Emerald Spirits tour. The IGF closed on January 9, 2019. After the IGF's closure, Assist Co., Ltd., the promotion's parent company, opened a chain of bakeries, leading to both Kendo Kashin and Simon Inoki to humorously state "IGF has become a bakery". In August 2022, Antonio Inoki revived the IGF, now standing for the Inoki Genki Factory, to serve as his official management company. On October 1, at age 79, Inoki died from systemic transthyretin amyloidosis. On December 28, the Inoki Genki Factory held their first show, Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye x Ganryujima, a memorial event honoring Inoki organized in collaboration with Samurai Warriors Ganryujima and NJPW. On December 14, 2024, IGF participated in the Antonio Inoki Memorial Show organized in

Shanghai, China Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

by NJPW and various Asia-Pacific Federation of Wrestling promotions.

Roster

Roster at time of closing

*Atsushi Sawada * Black Tiger V * Crusher Kawaguchi * Daichi Hashimoto *Erik Hammer *

*Keisuke Okuda * Kendo Kashin * Kevin Kross * Knux * Mason Williams * Minowaman *Mitsuyoshi Nakai *Montanha Silva *

Naoya Ogawa (born 31 March 1968) is a Japanese world champion judoka, retired professional wrestler, and mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. He won a total of seven medals at the All-Japan Judo Championships (second only behind Yasuhiro Yamashita), an ...

* Oli Thompson * Shinichi Suzukawa *

Shinya Aoki is a Japanese mixed martial artist, professional wrestler and grappler competing in ONE Championship's Welterweight division. He also competes in DDT Pro-Wrestling where he is a former three-time DDT Extreme Champion. A professional competit ...

* Shogun Okamoto *Vito Rea

Notable alumni

* Alexander Kozlov * Bobby Lashley *

Daijiro Matsui is a Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. A professional MMA competitor since 1998, he has competed for the PRIDE Fighting Championships, Cage Rage, DEEP, Pancrase, and King of the Cage. As a professional wrestler, Matsui ...

* Erik Paulson * Harry Smith * Hideki Suzuki * Hikaru Sato * Jerome Le Banner * Jienotsu (Yuichiro Nagashima) *

Mirko Cro Cop Mirko Filipović (; born 10 September 1974), better known by his ring name Mirko Cro Cop, is a Croatian former professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer and amateur boxer. He is mostly known for his time in Pride Fighting Championships. Cro ...

* Peter Aerts * Shodai Tiger Mask * Raj Singh * Tatsumi Fujinami * Wang Bin * Yoshiaki Fujiwara *

Necro Butcher Dylan Keith Summers (born July 13, 1973), better known by the ring name Necro Butcher, is an American professional wrestler. Throughout the years he has worked for various promotions, including Ring of Honor, Full Impact Pro, IWA Mid-South, Pr ...

*X (Durango Kid) ;Guests * Abdullah the Butcher * The Destroyer * Dory Funk, Jr. * Stan Hansen * Tiger Jeet Singh ;Supervisor * Billy Robinson

Championships

IWGP Heavyweight Championship

IGF Championship

In February 2011, IGF started a tournament to determine the first ever IGF Champion, which eventually led to a final match between Jérôme Le Banner and Josh Barnett. However, just days prior to the final match taking place, IGF announced on August 19 that Barnett would not be able to attend the event. On August 22, IGF declared Le Banner the first champion. The title was founded as a professional wrestling championship, but has since December 31, 2013, been contested in legitimate mixed martial arts fights.

Title history

Tournaments

IGF Championship Tournament

*Erik Hammer replaced Shinichi Suzukawa in the tournament after defeating Ray Sefo.

World Bantamweight Grand Prix

*This tournament was co-promoted with

DREAM A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...

and M-1 Global.

Inoki Genome Tournament 2012

*Ths tournament took place entirely on the Genome20 event.

Inoki Genome Tournament 2013

*This tournament took place entirely on the Genome26 event. *Shinichi Suzukawa received a bye to the semi-finals. Hideki Suzuki received a bye to the final after defeating Crusher Kawaguchi in a match. Atsushi Sawada advanced to the final despite his match against Shinichi Suzukawa ending in a double countout.

Road to Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye Challenge Tournament

*This tournament took place entirely on the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2014 event.

IGF World GP

*Quarterfinals took place on April 11, 2015 at Inoki Genome Fight 3. *Semi-finals took place on August 29, 2015 at Inoki Genome Fight 4. *The final took place on December 31, 2015 at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2015.

Genome-1: Osaka

*This tournament took place entirely on the Genome33 event.

Genome-1: Nagoya

*This tournament took place entirely on the Genome34 event.

Lucha Libre World Cup 2017

*This tournament took place entirely on night 2 of the Lucha Libre World Cup 2017 event and was co-promoted with

Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide Promociones Antonio Peña, S.A. de C.V. doing business as, d/b/a Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (commonly referred to as simply AAA, pronounced "Triple A" – an abbreviation of its original name Asistencia, Asesoría y Administración de Espectáculos ...

and

Lucha Underground Lucha Underground was an American professional wrestling promotion founded in 2014 by United Artists, United Artists Media Group. ''Lucha Underground'' also refers to its weekly television program, which featured List of former Lucha Underground p ...

IGF events

References

External links

Official site (archived)
{{National Wrestling Alliance Japanese professional wrestling promotions 2007 establishments in Japan Japanese companies established in 2007 Entertainment companies established in 2007 Japanese companies disestablished in 2019 Entertainment companies disestablished in 2019 Companies based in Tokyo National Wrestling Alliance members Defunct professional wrestling promotions