New Japan Pro-Wrestling

New Japan Pro-Wrestling Co., Ltd.
Shin Nihon Puroresu Kabushiki-kaisha
新日本プロレス株式会社

The logo of New Japan Pro-Wrestling
NJPW headquarters in Tokyo, Japan
Acronym	NJPW
Trading name	New Japan Pro Wrestling
Native name	新日本プロレス
Romanized name	Shin Nihon Puroresu
Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Professional wrestling Sports entertainment Streaming media
Corporate number	6010901005487
Founded	01972-01-13-0000January 13, 1972
Founder(s)	Antonio Inoki
Owner(s)	Bushiroad (85%) TV Asahi (10%) Amuse (5%)
Style	Strong Style Puroresu
Headquarters	JR Tokyu Meguro Building, 16F, 3-1-1 Kamiosaki, Shinagawa, Tokyo, Japan
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Takaaki Kidani (President of Bushiroad) Hiroshi Tanahashi (President and Representative Director) Taro Okada (President and CEO) Naoki Sugabayashi (Chairman) Hitoshi Matsumoto (Chief of Business Production)
Products	Television Publishing Films Music Merchandise Streaming network service
Services	Licensing
Revenue	¥5.4 billion (2019)
Sister	World Wonder Ring Stardom (Stardom)
Number of employees	83 (2019)
Divisions	New Japan Pro Wrestling World Team NJPW Tokon Shop NJPW Music Group NJPW Dojo
Subsidiaries	New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America NJPW LA Dojo
Website	Official Japanese Website

New Japan Pro-Wrestling Co., Ltd. (新日本プロレス株式会社 Shin Nihon Puroresu Kabushiki-Kaisha), operating as New Japan Pro-Wrestling (新日本プロレス Shin Nihon Puroresu) and sometimes referred to as NJPW or simply New Japan, is a major promotion founded in January 13, 1972 by Antonio Inoki. In 2005, Inoki sold the promotion to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares of the company. Naoki Sugabayashi has served as the Chairman of the promotion since September 2013, while Takami Ohbari has served as the President of the promotion since October 2020.

Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, NJPW is the largest wrestling promotion in Japan in terms of attendance and revenue. From its creation in 1972 until 1986, it was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance. NJPW is known for openly engaging in working agreements with various MMA and professional wrestling promotions around the world, including WWE, All Elite Wrestling, World Championship Wrestling, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, WAR, UWFi, Ring of Honor, Pride Fighting Championships, and Jersey All Pro Wrestling. NJPW's biggest event is the January 4th at the Tokyo Dome show, held each year since 1992 and currently promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom banner.

The promotion is currently owned by Japanese card game company Bushiroad, which parlayed its entry to the world of professional wrestling into a best-selling trading card game, King of Pro Wrestling, and appearances from NJPW stars in its various franchises.

History

Formation and early history

The promotion was founded by Antonio Inoki on January 13, 1972. The first NJPW event, titled Opening Series, took place on March 6, 1972, in the Ota Ward Gymnasium in Tokyo, to a crowd of 5,000. The following year, NJPW signed a television deal with NET TV, now known as TV Asahi. The company was overseen by its governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix. In 1983, Hulk Hogan became the first ever IWGP Heavyweight Champion by defeating Inoki. However, this championship was later abandoned and the current version of the championship was established in 1987. Inoki would serve as the president of the promotion until 1989, when he was replaced by Seiji Sakaguchi.

On April 24, 1989, NJPW hosted Battle Satellite, its first show in the Tokyo Dome. The promotion was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from 1975 to 1985 and once more from 1992 to 1993. NJPW was briefly reaffiliated with the NWA in the late 2000s to the early 2010s as well. On January 4, 1992, NJPW partnered with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) to produce WCW/New Japan Supershow II, the first ever January 4 Tokyo Dome Show, an event that would become an annual tradition for NJPW and is considered their biggest event of the year and comparable to WWE's WrestleMania event. In April 1995, NJPW and WCW held the two-day Collision in Korea event at the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium in Pyongyang, North Korea. The event is the first professional wrestling event held in North Korea and also holds the record for most attended wrestling event of all time, with 355,000 people packing the stadium over the two days.

Inokisim and Inoki's departure

In the early 2000s, the burgeoning popularity of mixed martial arts in Japan was noticed by Inoki, who wanted to integrate elements of shoot wrestling to make the company appear more realistic. The company would partner with martial arts organization K-1 and begin to insert wrestlers into MMA fights, with the goal of pushing NJPW in a more realistic direction and to make it appear as an actual sport. The company's new management was criticized by critics and fans, and the combination of MMA and professional wrestling was dubbed "Inokism". Inoki later departed NJPW in 2005 after selling his share of the company to Yuke's, and began his own promotion, the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), in 2007. After his departure, Inoki's son-in-law Simon took over the company, before Naoki Sugabayashi was appointed president in 2007 after Simon also left NJPW to join Antonio in IGF. After the departure of the Inoki family, the company began to reintegrate its prior puroresu style of wrestling.

Resurgence and expansion

Also in 2007, NJPW hosted its first ever pay-per-view (PPV) event Wrestle Kingdom I.

The promotion debuted a new series called NEVER in August 2010, designed to be a series of events spotlighting younger up-and-coming New Japan talent and feature more outsider participation in the promotion. The final NEVER event was held in November 2012.

On January 4, 2011, officially announced the NJPW Invasion Tour 2011: Attack on East Coast, the promotion's first tour of the United States to be held in May 2011. The tour featured shows in Rahway, New Jersey on May 13, New York City on May 14 and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 15, as well as cross-promotion with American promotion JAPW. As part of the tour, NJPW introduced a new title, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. On January 31, 2012, Yuke's announced that it had sold all shares of to card game company Bushiroad for ¥500 million (6.5 million) of dollars or (4.4 million) of euros.

New Japan aired its first internet pay-per-view, the fourth day of the 2012 G1 Climax, on August 5, 2012. The October 8, 2012, King of Pro-Wrestling pay-per-view marked the first time viewers outside Japan were able to order a pay-per-view by the promotion through Ustream. On October 5, 2012, New Japan announced the creation of the NEVER Openweight Championship, which would be contested for on the NEVER series. A two-day tournament to determine the inaugural champion was held between November 15 and 19, 2012.

In February 2014, New Japan announced a partnership with ROH, which saw the promotion return to North America the following May to present two supershows; Global Wars in Toronto and War of the Worlds in New York City. During the tour, New Japan wrestlers also took part in an event held by Canadian promotion Border City Wrestling (BCW). A year later, NJPW and ROH announced another tour together to produce four more supershows; War of the Worlds '15 on May 12 and 13 in Philadelphia and Global Wars '15 on May 15 and 16 in Toronto.

In June 2014, New Japan announced a partnership with the new American GFW organization helmed by Jeff Jarrett. In November 2014, GFW announced that it would be broadcasting NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome on pay-per-view in the United States as a four-hour event. Also in November 2014, the American AXS TV network announced it had acquired rights to rebroadcast a series of thirteen episodes of NJPW matches from TV Asahi. The series premiered on January 16, 2015, airing weekly on Fridays. Averaging 200,000 viewers per episode, the show was considered a success, leading to AXS TV and TV Asahi signing a multi-year deal to continue airing the show In June 2016, the show was also acquired by the Canadian Fight Network. On December 1, 2014, NJPW and TV Asahi announced NJPW World, a new worldwide streaming site for the promotion's events.

On July 18, 2015, NJPW announced the "New IWGP Conception", a global expansion strategy centered on their international partnerships with CMLL, GFW, NWA, ROH, RPW, and wXw as well as holding more shows in Thailand, Singapore, and Taiwan. Also announced was the Lionsgate Keikaku ("Lionsgate Plan"), which would feature up-and-coming outsiders working trial matches in an effort to earn a spot in the promotion. Finally, it was announced that there were plans to take the company public with a listing on the stock market within three to five years.

On December 21, 2015, NJPW announced the creation of its seventh active title and the first six-man tag team championship in the promotion's history, the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. On January 5, 2016, NJPW announced a partnership with the Amuse talent agency with the goal of making the promotion's wrestlers internationally recognized stars in the vein of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

In March 2017, NJPW partnered with the New Zealand-based Fale Dojo, a pro wrestling training facility run by NJPW performer Bad Luck Fale. NJPW utilized the partnership as an opportunity to scout talent from Oceania until 2020 when it become their New Zealand-based dojo with Fale serving as a head trainer. The following month on April 24, 2017, it was announced that NJPW would co-present the Japanese qualifiers for What Culture Pro Wrestling (WCPW)'s Pro Wrestling World Cup tournament. On May 12, 2017, during the third night of the War of the Worlds tour, co-produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Ring of Honor (ROH), NJPW United States Ambassador George Carroll announced the creation of the IWGP United States Championship. The following day, NJPW revealed the title's official name as the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship. On May 16, NJPW held a press conference to announce plans to establish a subsidiary company, including a dojo, in the United States. A Los Angeles office is scheduled to be opened before the end of 2017, with a dojo to be opened at the start of 2018. NJPW's second American event was Strong Style Evolved and took place on March 25, 2018, in Long Beach. In November 2017, NJPW signed a television deal with Discovery Communications, which would see the company's programming brought to 70 million Indian homes through DSport.

In January 2018, NJPW announced its inaugural Fallout Down Under tour, a four-show tour of Australia spanning from February 16–19. In March 2018, NJPW opened the New Japan LA Dojo, with Katsuyori Shibata serving as a head trainer and ROH wrestler Scorpio Sky serving as an assistant trainer. On May 13, 2018, New Japan hired its first foreign President, Dutch businessman Harold Meij. On July 6, it was announced the Lion's Break Project a counterpart of the Lion's Gate Project shows in Japan, which would feature NJPW Young Lions trained in the USA dojo.

In February 2019, NJPW re-established its partnership with the NWA and entered into a new partnership with The Crash Lucha Libre. On October 21, NJPW announced the creation of its American subsidiary named New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America, based in California, with the goal of expanding in the American market. On December 27, NJPW ended its television deal with AXS TV. On February 10, 2020, NJPW established its own dojo in New Zealand with tryouts taking place on May 9 and 10.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic

On February 26, following recommendations by the Japanese Ministry of Health regarding the coronavirus outbreak, NJPW canceled the events between March 1 and March 15 including the promotion's Anniversary Event and the first and the second round of New Japan Cup. On March 23, NJPW also canceled the 2020 Sakura Genesis event, which was originally scheduled to take place on March 31. On April 8, NJPW canceled more events from April 11 through May 4, leading to the cancelation of both nights of 2020 Wrestling Dontaku and would also cancel the whole Best of the Super Juniors tournament as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on May 6. During this time, NJPW wrestlers and staff created the NJPW Together project in order to do bring content to NJPW World with interviews and old archived matches. On May 6, NJPW announced that their Wrestle Dynasty event would be postponed to 2021, due to the effects of the 2019-20 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

On June 8, during an online press conference, NJPW Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi announced that the promotion would start to held shows on June 15, starting with the Together Project Special and the return of the 2020 New Japan Cup between June 16 and July 11, with all shows being held behind closed doors. It was also that the finals of the New Japan Cup and the Dominion in Osaka-jo Hall would be the first shows to allow fans into the arena, but only a third of the venue's normal capacity, after the Japanese Government lifted some restrictions on many regions in Japan.

On September 29, it was announced that Harold Meij would resign as President and CEO and would departing the promotion in October, being replaced by NJoA's CEO Takami Obari. On October 6, it was announced that the 2020 Best of the Super Juniors would be resumed alongside the 2020 World Tag League, due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic, with the tounaments taking place between November 15 until December 11. With both tournaments consisting of ten nights, taking place on alternate days opposed to each other with the exceptions being the first round on November 15, final round on December 6 and the finals on December 11. On November 8, during a press conference, NJPW Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi revealed that since July 11, NJPW had promoted 54 live events, with an combined attendance of 72,706 paid fans, due to their guidelines, there were no positive cases, arising as a result of its live events.

During those months, in July, NJPW partnered with the United Wrestling Network (UWN) to launch its American-based NJPW Strong program. Over the following months, NJPW also established a working relationship with Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) and Major League Wrestling (MLW), with both promotions' talent being featured on NJPW Strong. In February 2021, it was reported that NJPW began partnerships with American promotions All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Impact Wrestling. On May 4, on the second night of Wrestling Dontaku, it was announced that two wrestlers complain of a fever at the beginning of the show, leading them to undergo examinations and a PCR test. As a precaution, the card has been changed. The following day, NJPW announced that those two wrestlers had tested positive for COVID-19. This was followed by seven more positive cases upon further testing on May 9. On May 18, NJPW announced they would resume promoting events on May 22. On June 20, NJPW announced their return show to the United States with fans, with event being named Resurgence, taking place on August 14 at the The Torch in the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. NJPW's last show with a live audience was The New Beginning in USA in Atlanta, Georgia on February 1, 2020 at the Coca-Cola Roxy before the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic hit the United States.

Post-COVID and new partnerships

On November 20, 2021, NJPW and Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah), held a joint press conference, annoucing the return of their partnership, with Noah's participation at the third night of Wrestle Kingdom 16, featuring an "inter-promotional" rivalry between NJPW and Noah. During Wrestle Kingdom 16 in January 2022, it was announced that NJPW programming, including new programs and reruns of past English broadcasts, would return to AXS TV and Fight Network in the United States and Canada with reruns airing on AXS starting January 20, with all new content to premiering on March 3.

On July 29, 2022, NJPW announced the creation of its nineth active title and the first women's championship in the promotion's history, the IWGP Women's Championship. During that day, it was also announced that NJPW and their sister promotion Stardom were going to promoted a event called Historic X-Over which would take place on November 20, 2022, at the Ariake Arena in Tokyo, Japan. On October 10, NJPW President Takami Ohbari and TV Asahi's Hiroyoki Mihira announced the creation of the NJPW World Television Championship, a title created to celebrated NJPW's and TV Asahi's 50-year partnership.

A year later, NJPW and STARDOM held a joint business strategy presentation, where NJPW announced that they reached their revenue level of 98% of its 2019 peak, before the COVID-19 pandemic, with forecasts setting record setting revenues in 2024. NJPW also announced a new phase of their international expansion, with both promotions seeking a bigger presence further afield in the Asia-Pacific region, due to the growing demand of professional wrestling in the Asian market, established the Asia Pacific Pro-Wrestling Alliance, an interpromotional governing body that seeks to connect wrestling promotions across Asia, while also stressing the importance of American and European markets. On December 15, NJPW was announced as one of the founding members of the United Japan Pro-Wrestling alliance, as part of a joint effort to further develop professional wrestling through promotion and organization, with Seiji Sakaguchi being named as the chairman of the project. On February 22, 2024, NJPW established a working relationship with Costa Rica Wrestling Embassy (CWE).

Contracts

Up until the 1980s, NJPW signed its workers to multi-year contracts, before changing to a system, where the promotion signed its wrestlers to one-year deals that expired at the end of every January. Following the departures of AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura, NJPW owner Takaaki Kidani announced in February 2016 that the promotion was returning to the multi-year contract system. The contracts forbid negotiations with other promotions.

After All Elite Wrestling (AEW) was launched by wrestlers working for NJPW, they started signing foreigners to guaranteed deals as well. Any side contracts or agreements offered to wrestlers under NJPW contracts, need the promotion's approval before being signed. NJPW currently has partnerships with several promotions across the world, for which NJPW wrestlers can also perform for.

Partnerships

Promotion	Country
All Elite Wrestling (AEW)	United States
Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA)
Major League Wrestling (MLW)
Ring of Honor (ROH)
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL)	Mexico
Costa Rica Wrestling Embassy (CWE)	Costa Rica
All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW)	Japan
Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW)
Dragon Gate (DG)
DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT)
GLEAT
Pro Wrestling NOAH (NOAH)
Pro Wrestling Freedoms (Freedoms)
Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling (TJPW)
World Wonder Ring Stardom (Stardom)
Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW)	United Kingdom

Developmental partnerships

Promotion	Country
Dragon Fighting Wrestling (DFW)	China
Puzzle	Taiwan
Grapplemax Pro Wrestling Studios (Grapplemax)	Singapore
Setup Thailand Pro Wrestling (Setup)	Thailand

Roster

	David Finlay        Alex Coughlin        Gabe Kidd        Clark Connors        Drilla Moloney        Gedo        KENTA        Taiji Ishimori        Chase Owens        Bad Luck Fale
	EVIL        Dick Togo        Yujiro Takahashi        Sho        Yoshinobu Kanemaru        Ren Narita        Jack Perry
	Hirooki Goto        Yoshi-Hashi        Tomohiro Ishii        Toru Yano        Yoh        Rocky Romero
	Tetsuya Naito        Shingo Takagi        Yota Tsuji        Hiromu Takahashi        BUSHI        Titán
	Jeff Cobb        Great O-Khan        HENARE        Francesco Akira        TJP        Callum Newman
	Zack Sabre Jr.        Mikey Nicholls        Shane Haste        Bad Dude Tito        Robbie Eagles        Kosei Fujita
	SANADA        Taichi        Taka Michinoku        DOUKI        Yuya Uemura
	Hikuleo        El Phantasmo        Tanga Loa        Jado
	Satoshi Kojima        Tiger Mask        Yuji Nagata        Hiroyoshi Tenzan        Ryusuke Taguchi        Hiroshi Tanahashi        Master Wato        Togi Makabe        Tomoaki Honma        Ryohei Oiwa        Yuto Nakashima        KUSHIDA        Kevin Knight        Alex Zayne        Shota Umino        El Desperado        Stephanie Vaquer        Mayu Iwatani        Eddie Kingston        Matt Riddle        Nic Nemeth

Broadcasters

Domestic

• TV Asahi (1973–present, currently broadcasting weekly highlights show World Pro Wrestling Returns and live specials)
• Fighting TV Samurai (1996–present, currently broadcasting live specials, retrospective shows and magazine show NJPW Battle DX)
• AbemaTV (2015–present, online linear television service, live-streaming episodes of World Pro Wrestling Returns)

International

Current

• AXS TV (2014–2019, 2022–present, United States, broadcasted World Pro Wrestling Returns and major shows, dubbed with English commentary)
• The Fight Network (2016–2019, 2022–present, Canada, broadcasting the AXS version of World Pro Wrestling Returns)
• The Roku Channel (2021–present, United States, United Kingdom and Canada broadcasting World Pro Wrestling Returns and major shows, dubbed with English commentary)

Former

• Eurosport (mid '90s–2007, Europe, dubbed episodes of World Pro Wrestling and major shows for various continental markets)
• The Wrestling Channel (2002–2005, UK and Ireland, dubbed and undubbed broadcasts of major shows)
• 1Sports (2020, Indian Subcontinent, broadcast the AXS version of World Pro Wrestling)
• J-One (May 2018–2020, France, dubbed with French commentary)
• DSport/Eurosport (2017–2020, 2021, Indian Subcontinent, broadcasting the AXS TV version of World Pro Wrestling, with Season 3-5)
• FX (2019–2020, South Korea, broadcasting the AXS TV version of World Pro-Wrestling Returns)

Worldwide

• New Japan Pro Wrestling World (streaming service, in partnership with TV Asahi, broadcasting most NJPW shows live, as well as on-demand classic, documentary and anime content, as well as content from other promotions, beginning with promotional partner CMLL's weekly Super Viernes shows and AEW's weekly Dynamite and Rampage shows)
• FITE TV (2019–present, streaming service, broadcasting most NJPW big shows live, as well as on-demand classic)

Championships

Current championships

Singles

Championship	Current champion(s)		Reign	Date won	Days held	Location
IWGP World Heavyweight Championship		Tetsuya Naito	1	January 4, 2024	106+	Tokyo
IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship		Nic Nemeth	1	February 23, 2024	56+	Sapporo
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship		Sho	1
NEVER Openweight Championship		EVIL	3	January 20, 2024	90+	Nagoya
NJPW World Television Championship		Matt Riddle	1	February 23, 2024	56+	Sapporo

Tag Team

Championship	Current champion(s)		Reign	Date won	Days held	Location
IWGP Tag Team Championship		Bullet Club (KENTA and Chase Owens)	1	February 11, 2024	68+	Osaka
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship		Bullet Club War Dogs (Clark Connors and Drilla Moloney)	2	February 4, 2023	75+	Tokyo
NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship		Vacated	—	January 24, 2024	86+

Miscellaneous

Championship	Current champion(s)		Reign	Date won	Days held	Location
KOPW 2023		Great O-Khan	—	January 20, 2024	90+	Nagoya
IWGP Women's Championship		Mayu Iwatani	1	April 23, 2023	362+	Yokohama

NJoA championships

Championship	Current champion(s)		Reign	Date won	Days held	Location
Strong Openweight Championship		Eddie Kingston	1	July 5, 2023	289+	Tokyo
Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship		Guerrillas of Destiny (Hikuleo and El Phantasmo)	1	October 9, 2023	193+
Strong Women's Championship		Stephanie Vaquer	1	March 10, 2024	40+

Defunct championships

Championship	Last champion(s)	Date retired
Asia Heavyweight Championship	Tiger Jeet Singh	May 21, 1981
Asia Tag Team Championship	Tiger Jeet Singh and Umanosuke Ueda	May 21, 1981
AWA Heavyweight Championship	Mr. Saito	December 12, 1990
IWGP Provisional Tag Team Championship	Wild Child (Manabu Nakanishi and Takao Omori)	October 29, 2006
IWGP Heavyweight Championship	Kota Ibushi	March 4, 2021
IWGP Intercontinental Championship
IWGP Third Belt Heavyweight Championship	Shinsuke Nakamura	February 17, 2008
IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship	Will Ospreay	December 11, 2023
IWGP U-30 Openweight Championship	Hiroshi Tanahashi	June 7, 2006
J-Crown	Shinjiro Otani	November 5, 1997
NWA North American Tag Team Championship	Seiji Sakaguchi and Riki Choshu	February 14, 2015
NWA World Heavyweight Championship	Hiroyoshi Tenzan	February 14, 2015
NWA International Junior Heavyweight Championship	Kengo Kimura	July 2, 1980
NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship	Tiger Mask IV	September 23, 2015
NWF Heavyweight Championship	Shinsuke Nakamura	January 5, 2004
NWF North American Heavyweight Championship	Tiger Jeet Singh	May 21, 1981
The Greatest 18 Club Championship	The Great Muta	August 16, 1992
WWF International Heavyweight Championship	Tatsumi Fujinami	October 31, 1985
WWF International Tag Team Championship	Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura	October 31, 1985
WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship	The Cobra	October 31, 1985

Events

Marquee events

• Wrestle Kingdom
• The New Beginning
• Sakura Genesis
• Wrestling Dontaku
• Dominion
• Kizuna Road
• Destruction
• King of Pro-Wrestling
• Power Struggle

Collaborated events

• All Together (with NOAH and AJPW)
• Fantastica Mania (with CMLL)
• Forbidden Door (with AEW)
• Multiverse United (with TNA)
• Historic X-Over (with Stardom)

Tournaments

Current

Tournament	Last winner(s)	Last held	Type	Created	Notes
G1 Climax	Tetsuya Naito	August 13, 2023	Openweight	1991	NJPW's biggest annual tournament, primarily for heavyweights but there is no official weight limit. Mostly in a round-robin format
World Tag League	Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi)	December 10, 2023	Tag team	1991	NJPW's annual tag team round-robin tournament.
New Japan Cup	Yota Tsuji	March 20, 2024	Openweight	2005	Single-elimination tournament
Best of the Super Juniors	Master Wato	May 28, 2023	Junior Heavyweight	1994	Annual round-robin tournament featuring top junior heavyweights from all over the world.
Super Jr. Tag League	Catch 2/2 (Francesco Akira and TJP)	November 4, 2023	Junior heavyweight tag team	2010	Annual round-robin tournament featuring junior heavyweight tag teams from all over the world.

Defunct

Tournament	Last winner(s)	Last held	Type	Created	Finished	Notes
World League	Seiji Sakaguchi	1977	Heavyweight	1974	1977	NJPW's biggest annual tournament, only for heavyweights. Mostly in a round-robin format. The tournament was replaced by the G1 Climax.
MSG League	André the Giant	1982	Heavyweight	1978	1982	NJPW's biggest annual tournament, only for heavyweights. Mostly in a round-robin format. The tournament was replaced by the G1 Climax.
International Wrestling Grand Prix	Antonio Inoki	1988	Heavyweight	1983	1988	NJPW's biggest annual tournament, only for heavyweights. Mostly in a round-robin format. The tournament was replaced by the G1 Climax.
World Cup Tournament	Riki Choshu	1989	Heavyweight	1989	1989	NJPW's biggest annual tournament, only for heavyweights. Mostly in a round-robin format. The tournament was replaced by the G1 Climax.
New Japan Cup USA	Tom Lawlor	2020	Openweight	2020	2021	Single-elimination tournament
Top of the Super Juniors	Pegasus Kid	1993	Junior Heavyweight	1988	1993	Annual round-robin tournament featuring top junior heavyweights from all over the world. The tournament was replaced by the Best of the Super Juniors.
MSG Tag League	Antonio Inoki and Tatsumi Fujinami	1984	Heavyweight	1980	1984	NJPW's annual tag team round-robin tournament. The tournament was replaced by the World Tag League.
Japan Cup Tag League	Tatsumi Fujinami and Kengo Kimura	1987	Heavyweight	1986	1987	NJPW's annual tag team round-robin tournament. The tournament was replaced by the World Tag League.
Super Grade Tag League	Satoshi Kojima and Keiji Mutoh	1998	Heavyweight	1991	1998	NJPW's annual tag team round-robin tournament. The tournament was replaced by the World Tag League.
Super J Cup	El Phantasmo	2020	Junior Heavyweight	1994	2020	Sporadic single-elimination tournament featuring top junior heavyweights from all over the world. The tournament has been hosted by other promotions than NJPW as well.
G1 Tag League	Minoru Suzuki and Lance Archer	2011	Openweight	1999	2011	NJPW's annual tag team round-robin tournament. The tournament was replaced by the World Tag League.
J Sports Crown Openweight 6 Man Tag Tournament	Apollo 555 (Hirooki Goto, Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi)	June 23, 2011	Six-man tag team	2010	2011	Single-elimination six-man tag team tournament held in 2010 and 2011.
G2 U-30 Climax	Hiroshi Tanahashi	June 16, 2005	Openweight	2003	2005	Tournament for wrestlers under the age of 30.
Karl Gotch Cup	Shunji Kosugi	1976	Rookies	1974	1976	Tournament that is not held every year. The tournament was replaced by the Young Lion Cup.
Young Lion Cup	Karl Fredericks	2019	Rookies	1985	2019	A tournament held by NJPW for younger wrestlers.

Hall of Fame

Greatest 18 Club

See also: Greatest 18 Club Championship

The Greatest 18 Club was New Japan's first hall of fame, being established in 1990 during Antonio Inoki's career 30th anniversary. Additionally, Lou Thesz also debuted a new Greatest 18 Club Championship, awarding it to Riki Choshu.

Ring name (Birth name)	Accolades
Lou Thesz (Aloysius Thesz)	Considered to be one of the greatest wrestlers of all time. He was a three-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion, three-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion and a two-time World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. In Japan, he helped train young Japanese talents.
Karl Gotch (Charles Istaz)	Inaugural and two-time Real World Champion. Wrestled Antonio Inoki in the main event of the very first show in NJPW. Helped training young Japanese talents.
André the Giant (André Roussimoff)	Winner of the 1981 MSG Tag League, 1982 MSG Series and 1985 IWGP League and the Sagawa Express Cup.
Dusty Rhodes (Virgil Runnels Jr.)	Three-time NWA World Heavyweight Champion and one-time NWF World Tag Team Champion. Participated in several NJPW tournaments.
Stan Hansen (John Hansen)	One-time NWF Heavyweight Championship.
Wim Ruska (Willem Ruska)	Professional wrestler and a judoka, only athlete to win two gold medals in Judo in one Olympics.
Billy Robinson (William Robinson)	Two-time IWA World Heavyweight Champion, one-time NWA United National Championship and PWF World Heavyweight Champion. Helped training young Japanese talents.
Hiro Matsuda (Yasuhiro Kojima)	Two-time NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion and one-time NWA North American Tag Team Champion.
Bob Backlund (Robert Blacklund)	Two-time WWWF Heavyweight Champion, and one-time WWF Tag Team Champion.
Verne Gagne (Laverne Gagne)	Ten-time AWA World Heavyweight Champion, four-time AWA World Tag Team Champion and one-time IWA World Heavyweight Champion.
Strong Kobayashi (Shozo Kobayashi)	Two-time NWA North American Tag Team Champion.
Hulk Hogan (Terry Bollea)	First original IWGP Heavyweight Champion, winner of 1982 and 1983 MSG Tag Leagues and 1983 IWGP Leagues. In United States he was also six-time WWE Champion and six-time WCW World Heavyweight Champion.
Muhammad Ali (Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.)	Considered to be one of the greatest professional boxers of all time. Three-time heavyweight lineal champion. Fought Antonio Inoki in a wrestler vs. boxer match.
Seiji Sakaguchi	Four-time NWA North American Tag Team Champion, one-time NWF North American Heavyweight Champion and WWF North American Heavyweight Champion.
Nick Bockwinkel (Nicholas Warren Francis Bockwinkel)	Four-time AWA World Heavyweight Champion, three-time AWA World Tag Team Champion and one-time AWA Southern Heavyweight Champion.
Johnny Powers (Dennis Waters)	One-time NWF Heavyweight Champion, one-time NWF North American Heavyweight Champion and one-time NWA North American Tag Team Champion (Los Angeles-Japan Version).
Johnny Valentine (John Theodore Wisniski)	Five-time WWWF United States Television Champion, four-time WWWF United States Tag Team Champion, one-time NWA United States Heavyweight Champion, three-time NWA Mid-Atlantic Heavyweight Champion, one-time NWA World Tag Team Champion (Minneapolis Version), one time NWA International Tag Team Champion and one-time NWA United National Champion.
Antonio Inoki (Kanji Inoki)	NJPW founder and first IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Also won many top titles, including the WWF World Martial Arts Heavyweight Championship, NWA United National Championship and NWF Heavyweight Championship.

NJPW Greatest Wrestlers

The NJPW Greatest Wrestlers is NJPW's hall of fame, established in 2007 to honor wrestlers who have wrestled for the promotion. Individuals were inducted into the hall of fame from 2007 to 2011 on March 6, the anniversary of the promotion's founding.

Inductees

#	Year	Ring name (Birth name)	Notes
1	2007	Antonio Inoki (Kanji Inoki)	NJPW founder and first IWGP Heavyweight Champion. Also won many top titles, including the WWF World Heavyweight Championship, NWA United National Championship and NWF Heavyweight Championship.
2	2007	Seiji Sakaguchi	Three-time NWA North American Tag Team Champion and one-time NWF North American Heavyweight and WWF North American Heavyweight Champion.
3	2007	Kantaro Hoshino (Takeo Hoshino)	One-time IWA World Tag Team Champion with Kotetsu Yamamoto as the Yamaha Brothers. Also known as a promoter and manager.
4	2007	Kotetsu Yamamoto (Masaru Yamamoto)	One-time IWA World Tag Team Champion with Kantaro Hoshino as the Yamaha Brothers.
5	2007	Shoji Kai (Motoyuki Kitazawa)	Winner of the 1976 Karl Gotch Cup. Famous as the debut opponent of many legends, including Rusher Kimura, Masa Saito, Tatsumi Fujinami, Osamu Kido, Mitsuo Momota, Satoru Sayama (the original Tiger Mask) and Hiro Saito.
6	2009	Kuniaki Kobayashi	One of NJPW's top junior heavyweights of the 1980s and of a few to win the junior heavyweight titles in both New Japan and All Japan Pro Wrestling.
7	2009	Akira Maeda	Two-time IWGP Tag Team Champion. Founder of the Japanese UWF and Rings
8	2009	Black Cat (Víctor Manuel Mar)	One-time National Junior Heavyweight Champion and Naucalpan Tag Team Champion.
9	2010	Animal Hamaguchi (Heigo Hamaguchi)	Trainer and two-time All Asia Tag Team Champion. Also four-time IWA World Tag Team Champion.
10	2010	Shinya Hashimoto	One of the Three Musketeers. Three-time IWGP Heavyweight and IWGP Tag Team Champion. Founder of Pro Wrestling Zero1.
11	2011	Don Arakawa (Makoto Arakawa)	One-time WWC Caribbean Tag Team Champion. Best known as an underdog and comedy wrestler.