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Revision as of 16:26, 6 January 2020
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 | Private |
Industry | Professional wrestling Sports entertainment Streaming media |
Corporate number | 6010901005487 |
Founded | January 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) Harold Meij (President) Naoki Sugabayashi (Chairman) |
Products | Television
Publishing Films Music Merchandise Streaming network service |
Services | Licensing |
Revenue | ¥3.859 billion (2017) |
Operating income | ¥92.5 million |
Number of employees | 61 (2017) |
Divisions | New Japan Pro Wrestling World Team NJPW Tokon Shop NJPW Music Group NJPW Dojo Lion's Gate |
Subsidiaries | Lion's Break NJPW LA Dojo New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America NJPW Music Group |
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 Harold Meij has served as the President of the promotion since May 2018.
Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, NJPW is the largest wrestling promotion in Japan and the second largest in the world in terms of attendance and revenue (behind WWE). 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, 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.
Overview
History
The promotion was originally founded by Antonio Inoki in 1972 after he left the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance promotion. The first card took place on March 6, 1972, in Tokyo. Inoki was president of the promotion until 1989 when he stepped down to pursue a political career as a member of the Japanese House of Councillors. 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.
Also known as "Shin Nihon Puroresu", is considered the top promotion in Japan and is comparable to WWE in the United States in terms of popularity in the country. They promote events throughout Japan with their biggest event being their annual blowout show held every year on January 4 at the Tokyo Dome, currently billed as Wrestle Kingdom, which is Japan's version of WWE's annual WrestleMania event.
In the past, NJPW has worked with WWE, World Championship Wrestling (WCW), and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), among others. The company currently has working agreements with the Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion, the American Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion, and the European Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW) promotion. Occasionally, NJPW will host cross-promotional matches with other Japanese promotions, such as All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH.
The promotion is currently owned by Japanese card game company Bushiroad, who parlayed their entry to the world of professional wrestling into a best-selling trading card game, King of Pro Wrestling, and appearances from NJPW stars in their various franchises.
The promotion also has its own governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix, shortened as IWGP. They currently have seven titles: the IWGP Heavyweight, IWGP Intercontinental, IWGP United States Heavyweight, IWGP Junior Heavyweight, IWGP Tag Team, IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team, NEVER Openweight and the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championships. They also hold several tournaments each year, including the G1 Climax, World Tag League, New Japan Cup and Best of the Super Juniors.
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 announcedNJPW 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 will utilize the partnership as an opportunity to scout talent from Oceania. 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.
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. Any side contracts or agreements offered to wrestlers under NJPW contracts need the promotion's approval before being signed.
Roster
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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 (2014–present, online linear television service, live-streaming episodes of World Pro Wrestling Returns)
International:
- Eurosport (mid '90s–2007, Europe, dubbed episodes of World Pro Wrestling and major shows for various continental markets)
- The Wrestling Channel (2002–2005, UK & Ireland, dubbed and undubbed broadcasts of major shows)
- AXS TV (2014–2021, America, broadcasted World Pro Wrestling Returns and major shows, dubbed with English commentary)
- The Fight Network (2016–present, Canada, broadcasting the AXS version of World Pro Wrestling Returns)
- DSport (2017–present, Indian Subcontinent, broadcasting the AXS TV version of World Pro Wrestling, started in November 2017 with Season 3, then Season 4 in November 2018)
- J-One (May 2018–present, France, dubbed with French commentary)
- FX (2019–present, South Korea)
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)
- FITE TV (2019–present, streaming service, broadcasting most NJPW bigs shows live, as well as on-demand classic)
Current championships
Championship | Current champion(s) | Reign | Date won | Days held | Location | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
IWGP Heavyweight Championship | Tetsuya Naito | 2 | January 5, 2020 | 1566+ | Tokyo | |
IWGP Intercontinental Championship | 5 | January 4, 2020 | 1567+ | |||
IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship | Jon Moxley | 2 | January 4, 2020 | 1567+ | Tokyo | |
IWGP Tag Team Championship | FinJuice (Juice Robinson and David Finlay) |
1 | January 4, 2020 | 1567+ | Tokyo | |
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship | Hiromu Takahashi | 1 | January 4, 2020 | 1567+ | Tokyo | |
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship | Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) |
4 | January 5, 2020 | 1566+ | Tokyo | |
NEVER Openweight Championship | Hirooki Goto | 5 | January 5, 2020 | 1566+ | Tokyo | |
NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship | Los Ingobernables de Japón (EVIL, Shingo Takagi and BUSHI) |
1 | January 5, 2020 | 1566+ | Tokyo |
Defunct championships
Events
Marquee events
- Wrestle Kingdom
- The New Beginning
- Wrestling Hinokuni
- Wrestling Dontaku
- Dominion
- Kizuna Road
- Destruction
- King of Pro-Wrestling
- Power Struggle
Collaborated events
- Crockett Cup (with ROH, CMLL, NWA)
- Fantastica Mania (with CMLL)
- G1 Supercard (with ROH)
- Global Wars (with ROH)
- Global Wars UK (with RPW)
- Honor Rising: Japan (with ROH)
- War of the Worlds (with ROH)
Developmental events
Tournaments
Current
Tournament | Last winner(s) | Last held | Type | Created | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
G1 Climax | Kota Ibushi | August 12, 2019 | 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 | Juice Robinson and David Finlay | December 8, 2019 | Tag team | 1991 | NJPW's annual tag team round-robin tournament. |
New Japan Cup | Kazuchika Okada | March 24, 2019 | Openweight | 2005 | Single-elimination tournament |
Best of the Super Juniors | Will Ospreay | June 5, 2019 | Junior Heavyweight | 1994 | Annual round-robin tournament featuring top junior heavyweights from all over the world. |
Super Jr. Tag League | Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) |
November 3, 2019 | Junior heavyweight tag team | 2010 | Annual round-robin tournament featuring junior heavyweight tag teams from all over the world. |
Super J Cup | El Phantasmo | August 25, 2019 | Junior heavyweight | 1994 | 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. |
Young Lion Cup | Karl Fredericks | September 22, 2019 | Rookies | 1985 | A tournament held by NJPW for younger wrestlers. |
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 | 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. |
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. |
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. |
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. |