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150-506: In 1999, Giant Baba died and the promotion was run by Motoko Baba. Misawa was named president but left in 2000 after disagreements with Motoko. Misawa created Pro Wrestling Noah and every single native wrestler besides Masanobu Fuchi and Toshiaki Kawada left All Japan. This led to a loss of All Japan's TV deal and a period of hardship for the company. In 2001, they entered a cross-promotion agreement with New Japan Pro-Wrestling which proved very successful, allowing All Japan to remain one of

300-441: A 75% stake in the company. This was followed the next month by the first major rebranding in company history. Pro Wrestling Noah not only changed their logo but also replaced the green mat with a white canvas. On July 26, 2019, Major League Wrestling announced a working agreement with Pro Wrestling Noah, which would include a talent-exchange agreement and content collaboration between the two promotions. On December 5, 2019, it

450-818: A Domed Globe design. During the mid-1990s, the NWA World Tag Team Championship was represented by Domed Globe belts, which were used during the NWA's partnership with IWA Japan . Numerous other championship belts have used the Domed Globe design, with some being NWA-sanctioned championships (such as the NWA Women's Pacific Championship ) and others being unauthorized by the NWA (such as the FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship ). The fifth design

600-870: A June 30 event in Ryōgoku Kokugikan (the TV taping for the July 5 episode where the Pro Wrestling Love era ended) and went on to form the Wrestle-1 promotion the following month and announced their first show was held September 8 at Tokyo Dome City Hall . At the event, the Gaora TV Champion René Dupree made his debut in Wrestle-1, leaving AJPW. Before the end of the year, Manabu Soya also quit All Japan to jump to Wrestle-1. After

750-407: A Montreal rematch on July 24. It had been planned that the NWA would present Thesz and Carpentier as rival champions in different cities following a similar pattern to the successful title dispute matches between Thesz and Leo Nomellini in 1955. Carpentier would also be able to make appearances in the U.S. as champion while Thesz was on an overseas tour. However, as a result of various disputes within

900-859: A New Japan Pro-Wrestling event on February 20, 2005; Satoshi Kojima (who was the Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion) defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which made Kojima the only wrestler to ever hold both titles simultaneously to that point. Muto later accomplished the feat in 2008. However, he would hold the IWGP Championship as Keiji Muto, and the Triple Crown Championship as his alter-ego The Great Muta. In addition, Keiji Muto and Satoshi Kojima are both New Japan Pro-Wrestling alumni but played

1050-480: A collaborated event tour called Lucha Fiesta . On February 4, 2018, AJPW announced " All Japan Pro Wrestling TV ", a new worldwide streaming site for the promotion's events. On October 10, 2019, Akiyama left his position as president to become General Manager. Tsuyoki Fukuda was later made president of AJPW. On April 2, 2020, AJPW president Tsuyoki Fukuda decided to cancel the 2020 Champion Carnival in April, with

1200-467: A consistent role in the main event picture of All Japan Pro Wrestling from the time of their arrival to the promotion, who along with longtime veteran Toshiaki Kawada main-evented All Japan during the mid-2000s. After John Tenta left All Japan in July 2003 and Jerry Tuite's death in December, who often tag-teamed with each other to fight Keiji Muto's posse, Jamal (Umaga) and Taiyō Kea would take

1350-498: A contract to officially join All Japan full-time. On September 11, Hirota Inoue, one of the executive directors originally brought to the promotion by Shiraishi, was announced as the new president of All Japan. On October 27, Dory Funk, Jr. was announced as the new Pacific Wrestling Federation chairman. On June 5, 2014, All Japan announced a corporate restructuring taking place on July 1, which would see Jun Akiyama take over as

1500-624: A departure in 1990 to form the Super World of Sports ), as he would team with Kawada to face Maunnakea Mossman and Stan Hansen on July 23 (at the final tour show). On July 20, 2000, Yoshinobu Kanemaru , Takeshi Morishima , Naomichi Marufuji , Kentaro Shiga , Takeshi Rikio , Mitsuo Momota , Rusher Kimura , Haruka Eigen , Tsuyoshi Kikuchi , Kenta Kobayashi , Takao Omori, Yoshihiro Takayama, Jun Izumida , Masao Inoue , Yoshinari Ogawa , Akira Taue, Jun Akiyama and Mitsuharu Misawa competed in their last matches for All Japan Pro Wrestling at

1650-713: A failed bid to go national and almost filed for bankruptcy in an attempt to compete with the WWF . Turner Broadcasting purchased the company, because it had a high rated program airing on the WTBS cable station. Completing the deal in November 1988, Turner began changing the company to World Championship Wrestling (WCW), which maintained a partnership with the NWA and continued promoting the NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair. WCW stayed in

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1800-747: A few hundred, so that all fans could sit close to the ring. Sem events usually took place in the Differ Ariake in Tokyo. No Sem events have been held since 2015. Domestic: Worldwide : NWA World Heavyweight Championship The NWA World's Heavyweight Championship is a men's professional wrestling world heavyweight championship owned and promoted by the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), an American professional wrestling promotion . Although formally established in 1948, its lineage has been traditionally traced back to

1950-671: A freelance basis. Some personalities from North America also helped with the few cards, including Dory Funk Sr. , Terry Funk , Bruno Sammartino , Dominic DeNucci , Freddie Blassie and The Destroyer . Baba established the Pacific Wrestling Federation ( PWF ) as the governing body for all future titles in All Japan. In the beginning the PWF recognized a world heavyweight championship and several "regional championships" given as billing to foreign stars depending from which region they came from, but after All Japan joined

2100-444: A freelancer, but chose to stay with AJPW on a pay per performance basis. On July 5, 2013, all five members of Burning (Akiyama, Shiozaki, Aoki, Suzuki, and Kanemaru) officially signed exclusive contracts with AJPW, ending their tenure as freelancers, along with the returns of Taiyo Kea and referee Kyohei Wada. On July 14, during the launching event of the post-Muto All Japan, Masanobu Fuchi announced that he had officially re-signed with

2250-619: A governing body. After nearly a year, the organization planned to scheduled a tournament to crown a new champion and brought back the "Ten Pounds of Gold" to represent this new champion. By 1994, the Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW) territory became the NWA's most televised affiliated wrestling promotion. The NWA decided to hold an NWA World Title Tournament through ECW at the ECW Arena in August 1994, which

2400-540: A licensing deal with the NWA and its affiliated promotions, with NWA-TNA receiving control over the NWA World Heavyweight and NWA World Tag Team titles. While working out a cable deal, the Jarretts put NWA-TNA on weekly pay-per-view during the company's first two years of existence. The NWA World Heavyweight Champion at the time, Dan Severn, was unable to appear on the inaugural NWA-TNA PPV card, and he

2550-636: A match to Freddie Blassie which created the basis for the Los Angeles version of the WWA World Heavyweight Championship . The title ceased to exist when the WWA returned to the NWA on October 1, 1968. The World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF), which later evolved into today's WWE , was the major wrestling promotion in the northeast United States in the early 1960s. Vincent J. McMahon 's Capitol Wrestling Corporation (CWC),

2700-559: A new championship called the Gaora TV Championship . The tournament for the title began on September 8, and ended on October 7 with Seiya Sanada defeating Yasufumi Nakanoue in the final to become the inaugural champion. The "Pro Wrestling Love" name and theme was retired on July 5, 2013, thus ending the era. On November 1, 2012, IT company Speed Partners purchased all shares of All Japan from Keiji Muto and his business partners like Gaora TV for ¥ 200 million, however,

2850-437: A new title belt to represent it. The three original belts were defended for the last time on August 25, when Suwama successfully defended them against Go Shiozaki. The new title belt was revealed on October 27. On August 27, Shiraishi announced that he would be stepping down as the All Japan president by the end of the month. He would, however, remain the owner of the promotion. On September 1, longtime freelancer Akebono signed

3000-410: A professional wrestler on May 11, 2013. On May 1, 2013, it was reported that negotiations had started between Speed Partners president Nobuo Shiraishi and All Japan president Masayuki Uchida, which would see Keiji Muto regain the promotion's presidency before the end of the month. However, on May 27, it was reported that Shiraishi himself would take over the presidency of All Japan effective June 1. This

3150-584: A right to the physical Big Gold Belt and its historical lineage per a signed agreement between the previous NWA President Seiji Sakaguchi and WCW. Per this court ruling, the title belt dropped the recognition as being the NWA World Heavyweight title but continued to be billed as the World Heavyweight Championship by WCW. Soon after, the Big Gold Belt was defended without any company affiliation, even being referred to simply as

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3300-541: A row first is declared the winner. On October 18, 2021, Zeus announced his resignation from All Japan after he had purchased all shares of Osaka Pro Wrestling from Yuji Sakagami announcing that he would be leaving the promotion on December 31 when his contract expires. Zeus himself expressed interest in a future collaboration between AJPW and Osaka Pro, with whom Zeus previously worked in the past which would also lead to more departures with Naoya Nomura and Koji Iwamoto announcing on December 5, that he would also be leaving

3450-463: A series of matches dubbed the "Seven Levels of Hate" – a best of seven series between the two wrestlers. The fourth match of the series was a two out of three falls contest held on July 21, 2012, in Kansas City, Missouri. The NWA sanctioned the match as a world championship match and Pearce emerged victorious to become a five-time world champion. Both wrestlers were tied at three matches apiece when

3600-434: A third exodus began, primarily of gaijin wrestlers. The most notable included "Dr. Death" Steve Williams , KroniK (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark), Bill Goldberg and Mike Rotunda . They had wrestled their last matches on pay-per-views that month, not renewing their contracts after the new ownership fully realized. Williams would only make one more appearance in the Pro Wrestling Love era on a July 22, 2004 pay-per-view, who at

3750-869: A two-page written statement, which claimed that Misawa "took no responsibility and abandoned his duty." In addition, she hinted that Toshiaki Kawada and Masanobu Fuchi would be the only two native wrestlers to stay with All Japan, as "Kawada and Fuchi have sworn to carry out Baba-san's last wish: to keep All Japan Pro Wrestling alive"; this was confirmed a day later when Kawada and Fuchi both renewed their contracts with All Japan, along with referee Kyohei Wada. The gaijin wrestlers that chose to stay with AJPW were Maunakea Mossman , Johnny Smith , George Hines , Mike Barton , Jim Steele , Mike Rotunda , Stan Hansen and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams , while Scorpio , Vader and Richard Slinger joined Misawa's crew. Not wanting to choose sides, Johnny Ace would retire from active competition and return to World Championship Wrestling in

3900-793: Is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion , founded in 2000 by former All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) wrestler Mitsuharu Misawa after he had led a mass exodus in which 24 of AJPW's 26 contracted wrestlers left the promotion to form Noah. Noah held its first shows in August 2000, and established the Global Honored Crown as the in-house governing body for its collection of championships. Throughout its 24-year history, Noah has had working relationships with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Ring of Honor (ROH), TNA (Formerly Impact Wrestling), Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA), All Elite Wrestling (AEW), and Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW). In January 2020,

4050-625: Is commonly referred to as the " Big Gold Belt ". In 1985, Jim Crockett Jr. of Jim Crockett Promotions commissioned Charles Crumrine, a silversmith in Reno, Nevada specializing in rodeo-style belt buckles, to produce the new design. The belt made its debut in February 1986. When WCW left the NWA in 1993, the Big Gold Belt continued serving as the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship , then

4200-442: Is commonly referred to as the "Ten Pounds of Gold" or the “Domed Globe Belt”. It is the design most commonly identified with the title. It has also been referred to on Championship Wrestling from Hollywood , NWA Powerrr , and in other NWA-related media as "Sweet Charlotte", a nickname coined by Adam Pearce in 2008 as a nod to the hometown of Ric Flair , one of the belt's most famous holders. The original Ten Pounds of Gold belt

4350-520: Is often referred to as the " Lou Thesz Belt". The championship belt, which was a holdover from Thesz's reign as the National Wrestling Association's champion , consisted of seven plates and a leather strap. The main plate had a royal crown, a wrestling ring, and a five-pointed star in a vertical alignment, top to bottom down the center. A belt with a similar design was given to Rikidōzan when he defeated Thesz in 1958 to claim

4500-468: Is something that Giant Baba had forbid. Noah also features a strong junior heavyweight division, which was something that AJPW had been relatively lacking in the 1990s due to lack of pushes for the younger stars (such as Yoshinobu Kanemaru , Kenta and Naomichi Marufuji , who quickly became Noah's junior aces). October 12, 2007 Baseball Magazine Sha, the publisher of Puroresu Shukan released Noah trading cards . The Wrestling Observer named Noah as

4650-593: The ACC World Heavyweight Championship and later Boston's Big Time Wrestling (BTW) Heavyweight Championship. The "Crown" version of the championship belt debuted in 1959. The North American Wrestling Alliance (NAWA, later the Worldwide Wrestling Associates (WWA)) in Los Angeles recognized Carpentier as NWA champion in July 1959 as part of gradually splitting from the NWA. On June 12, 1961, Carpentier lost

All Japan Pro Wrestling - Misplaced Pages Continue

4800-581: The Keiji Muto: Love and Bump pay-per-view event, where he (along with Keiji Muto ) defeated Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki in what was billed as a "Special Dream Tag Match". On the January 15, 2005 edition of AJPW TV, Jamal and Taiyō Kea won the vacant AJPW World Tag Team Titles by defeating cult favorite Hiroshi Tanahashi and Yutaka Yoshie. The team of Jamal and Kea won every tag-team title defense throughout 2005, before Jamal left to join

4950-580: The NWA 70th Anniversary Show , the New Year's Clash pop-up event , and the 2019 Crockett Cup . By July 2019, the NWA would begin to transition into a singular wrestling promotion, with the NWA announcing television tapings in Atlanta for a new standalone weekly series. The series was later revealed as NWA Powerrr , which has since hosted occasional NWA World's Heavyweight Championship matches. During

5100-690: The NWA International Heavyweight Championship , which Rikidōzan in turn held until his death in 1963. Rikidōzan's NWA International Heavyweight Championship design subsequently inspired the designs of All Japan Pro Wrestling 's PWF World Heavyweight Championship and Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship . In 1992, Thesz lent the original "Lou Thesz Belt" to the Union of Professional Wrestling Forces International (UWFi) to represent their Pro-Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship . Nobuhiko Takada and Super Vader were

5250-578: The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the PWF world title was downgraded to a regional championship. The first PWF Chairman, who presented the belts to the winners in title bouts, was Lord James Blears . As a loyal member of the NWA, All Japan enjoyed the ability to bring in foreigners, and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship was frequently defended. In the beginning Baba continued the Japanese vs. foreigner formula for

5400-598: The PWF World Heavyweight Championship and Yuma Aoyagi the NWA United National Championship to symbolize the origin of the title belt. This kind of match was last fought at the 1997 Champion Carnival where Toshiaki Kawada defeated Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi to win the tournament, the match usually starts with consecutive singles matches between three wrestlers, which wrestler who have two wins in

5550-573: The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) in February 1995. Severn held the belt continuously for four years, appearing on both wrestling and UFC events with the NWA World championship belt. Although Severn had attempted to go the "traveling champion" route done by former champions Thesz, Dory Funk, Jr. , Harley Race , and Terry Funk , the competition level was relatively minor due to the lack of strong NWA territories. It

5700-572: The United Japan Pro-Wrestling alliance, a joint effort to further develop professional wrestling in Japan through promotion and organization, with Seiji Sakaguchi being named as the chairman of the project. Pro Wrestling Noah Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Pro Wrestling Noah ( プロレスリング・ノア , Puroresuringu Noa ) (stylised as Pro Wrestling NOAH )

5850-783: The WCW World Heavyweight Championship (which it is most commonly known for), and eventually as the World Heavyweight Championship in WWE . Also in WWE, the Big Gold Belt was used in tandem to represent the then- Undisputed WWF Championship after the former WCW Championship was unified with the then-WWF World Championship in 2001, and then again in tandem to represent the WWE World Heavyweight Championship after

6000-766: The unification of the titles in All Japan into the Triple Crown Heavyweight and the World Tag Team Championship , as well as the promotion of talent including Jumbo Tsuruta , Genichiro Tenryu , Akira Taue , Mitsuharu Misawa , Toshiaki Kawada and Kenta Kobashi , the promotion was able to carve a loyal fanbase that lasted during the 1990s. Interpromotional matches were rare, and wrestlers who arrived from other Japanese promotions (such as Hiroshi Hase , Shigeo Okumura and Yoshihiro Takayama ) were not given pushes, but in Hase's case, it

6150-451: The "Domed Globe Belt") version of the championship belt debuted on July 20, 1973, having been first presented to Harley Race by then-NWA President Sam Muchnick . When Jim Crockett Promotions wrestler Ric Flair won the NWA World title in 1981, he traveled to other NWA territories and defended the belt. He would drop the belt and regain it, as the NWA board of directors decided. On more than one occasion, however, Flair lost and regained

All Japan Pro Wrestling - Misplaced Pages Continue

6300-594: The Baba-run All Japan, as the Champion Carnival and World's Strongest Tag Determination League remained annual events. During this time, All Japan was struggling financially and Muto had to borrow money from Mrs. Baba as of November 28, 2002. This led to rumors that Muto was going to sell the company to Fuji TV by the time of the next WRESTLE-1 pay-per-view, which ultimately did not happen. Instead, shares of All Japan were sold to Gaora TV with

6450-547: The Big Gold Belt for a short time, until it became known as the WCW International World Heavyweight Championship . This title was recognized as the championship of a fictitious entity known as "WCW International", which served as a replacement for the NWA Board, until the title was unified with the main WCW title on June 23, 1994. Despite losing WCW as its flagship promotion, the NWA picked up new members and remained in existence as

6600-465: The Differ Ariake being the site of the unnamed promotion's debut. When asked what his reason for leaving All Japan is, Misawa claimed that it was so he could do things in a "modern style." A day later, Misawa announced the promotion's name: Pro Wrestling Noah , which was inspired by the Biblical story where Noah built an ark and put two of every kind of animal in the world in the ark before God destroyed

6750-603: The February 22, 2004 pay-per-view, while at that show Jamal and D'Lo Brown lost to Keiji Muto and Bob Sapp . Jamal would later get his revenge on Muto defeating him in the Champion Carnival tournament on the April 15, 2004 edition of AJPW TV. Jamal feuded with Toshiaki Kawada in pursuit of his Triple Crown Championship in the spring and summer of 2004, but would lose to Kawada on the June 12, 2004 edition of AJPW TV by submission. However, Jamal and Kea continued dominating

6900-667: The March 4, 1992 pay-per-view All Japan sold out the Nippon Budokan for the first time, with an attendance of 16,300. All Japan's highest-selling show was the Giant Baba Memorial pay-per-view on May 2, 1999, which sold out the Tokyo Dome with an attendance of 65,000. The January 28, 2001 pay-per-view was All Japan's second highest attendance of all time at 58,700, which was notable for Stan Hansen's retirement and

7050-830: The Momota brothers, Mitsuo and Yoshihiro , sons of Rikidōzan . Baba, a former professional baseball pitcher, joined the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance (JWA) in 1960. In October 1972, he left the JWA and formed his own group, All Japan. Their first card was on October 21, 1972, at Machida City Gym in Tokyo , Japan. The inaugural roster included Baba, Mitsuo Momota, Akio Sato , Samson Kutsuwada , Motoshi Okuma and Mashio Koma. Thunder Sugiyama , who had recently left International Wrestling Enterprise , also came along to help and brought some lower-level IWE wrestlers with him on

7200-496: The NWA World Heavyweight Champion. Flair took the NWA belt with him because WCW and Herd had not returned the $ 25,000 bond Flair had paid on the belt. After Flair's departure from WCW, the company had made a new, separate WCW World title belt. A match was held for the vacated WCW World Heavyweight Championship within two weeks of the departure, but no mention was made of the NWA title. Flair was stripped of

7350-698: The NWA World Heavyweight Championship (renamed the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship) and the NWA World Women's Championship , would be vacated in the months following the acquisition. On October 20, 2017, the NWA debuted the YouTube series, Ten Pounds of Gold , focused primarily around the NWA World's Heavyweight Champion at the time Tim Storm , chronicling his travels across the United States, and defenses of

7500-664: The NWA World Heavyweight Championship by NWA's board of directors shortly after he signed with the WWF in September 1991; an NWA board had to be reconstituted, as most members had gone out of business or been bought out by JCP/WCW. Flair displayed the Big Gold Belt on WWF television, calling himself the "Real World's Heavyweight Champion". After winning the WWF Championship, Flair's "Real World's Heavyweight Champion" belt

7650-630: The NWA World Heavyweight Championship was later known simply as the Omaha version of the World Heavyweight Championship . The title was unified with the AWA World Heavyweight Championship on September 7, 1963. The Boston NWA affiliate known as the Atlantic Athletic Commission (AAC) arranged a match between Killer Kowalski and Carpentier in 1958. Kowalski's victory created what was after known as

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7800-480: The NWA World's Heavyweight Championship. The first design was only held by the very first NWA World's Heavyweight Champion, Orville Brown . This belt consisted of one metal plate with a picture frame at the center. It had gemstones of various sizes around the edges of the belt, with the center featuring larger stones. The belt was retired after Orville's accident, and it remains with the Brown family. The second design

7950-554: The NWA and became World Wide Wrestling Federation , now WWE), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), Ring of Honor (ROH), Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) and the now-defunct American Wrestling Association (AWA), Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP, later called World Championship Wrestling , WCW), Eastern Championship Wrestling (ECW, later Extreme Championship Wrestling), World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), and many other defunct wrestling promotions. In October 2017,

8100-518: The NWA announced a tournament, titled Reclaiming the Glory, to fill the title vacancy left after the end of the NWA's relationship with TNA . Sixteen men competed for the championship, with Adam Pearce , filling in for an injured Bryan Danielson , winning the belt by defeating Brent Albright on September 1, 2007, in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. Pearce was active in defending the championship but suffered from

8250-415: The NWA board began emerging in the summer of 1993 over a variety of issues, primarily a storyline by WCW that would have had the NWA title switch to Rick Rude . On September 1, 1993, WCW withdrew their membership from the NWA but kept the NWA title belt which they owned. A court battle decided that WCW could not continue to use the letters "NWA" to describe or promote the belt, but ruled that WCW did possess

8400-434: The NWA governing body was purchased by Billy Corgan and gradually evolved into a stand alone wrestling promotion with the NWA World’s Heavyweight Championship as its premier title. With many territorial promotions appearing across the United States, the NWA was formed in 1948 as a professional wrestling governing body. The NWA World Heavyweight Championship was created that same year. Like franchises, these territories had

8550-445: The NWA title. Despite this blow to the organization, the NWA held another tournament three months later in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, hosted by Coralluzzo and Smoky Mountain Wrestling (SMW) owner Jim Cornette . Chris Candido won this tournament and the title was recognized and defended in promotions such as SMW and the United States Wrestling Association . Candido held the belt for a few months before dropping it to Dan Severn of

8700-415: The NWA underwent another major change. In August 2012, International Wrestling Corp, LLC, a holding company run by Houston-based attorney and wrestling promoter R. Bruce Tharpe, sued the NWA, two of its recent Executive Directors (Robert Trobich and David Baucom) and its then-parent company, Pro Wrestling Organization LLC, claiming insurance fraud regarding the NWA's liability insurance policy. A settlement

8850-492: The NWA, Carpentier's manager, wrestling promoter Eddie Quinn , left the organization in August making Carpentier unavailable to the NWA. The organization dealt with the situation by announcing 71 days after Carpentier's win in Chicago that it did not recognize Carpentier's win and had never recognized it . Quinn started promoting Carpentier as the true NWA world champion based on the match with Thesz. In 1958, Quinn started shopping Carpentier around to promoters interested in leaving

9000-432: The NWA, but Turner slowly phased out the NWA name. The NWA organization existed only on paper at this point; on television, it was portrayed that, by early 1991, the NWA World Heavyweight Championship had become the WCW World Heavyweight Championship . Due to a falling out with WCW Executive Vice-President Jim Herd , WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair was fired from WCW on July 1, 1991, while still being recognized as

9150-477: The NWA. A victory over Carpentier could give a local champion a credible claim to the world championship of wrestling. Verne Gagne, who had been trying to become NWA World Heavyweight Champion for some time, defeated Carpentier in Omaha, Nebraska, on August 9, 1958. This was recognized as a title change by NWA affiliate promotions in the state – these promotions would later evolve into the American Wrestling Association (AWA) in 1960. This disputed Nebraska version of

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9300-448: The October 15, 2019 episode of Powerrr , it was announced that the NWA would be holding a pay-per-view (PPV) called Into the Fire on December 14, 2019. This would be the first PPV event produced exclusively by the NWA without another promotion or production company’s involvement. At the event, NWA World's Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis defeated James Storm to remain the champion. There have been six belt designs used to represent

9450-497: The Stan Hansen cup in July 2002, Barton also being able to prevent Williams from winning. On September 30, 2002, during an All Japan 30th Anniversary party at the famed Tokyo City Hotel, Mrs. Baba officially announced Muto's appointment as the new president of All Japan, transferring all of the Baba family stock to him. Mrs. Baba's last on-screen appearance was on the October 27, 2002 pay-per-view, before leaving All Japan altogether by January 2003. Muto upheld some traditional aspects of

9600-401: The Steve Williams vs. Mike Barton Brawl For All revenge angle. The last two matches of the card featuring Keiji Muto vs. Taiyō Kea , as well as the main event tag-team match, did not appear on the initial television broadcast in 2001, the original broadcast instead ending with Williams finally getting his redemption and defeating Barton in the main event. In April 1990, Genichiro Tenryu led

9750-505: The Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, as well as capturing the World Tag Team Championship with Taiyō Kea. The alliance between the promotions lasted until January 11, 2002. Signs of what would become the Pro Wrestling Love era would be seen in the spring and summer of 2001, when Keiji Muto , as a member of New Japan Pro-Wrestling , made part-time appearances to All Japan, fighting Toshiaki Kawada and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams in major singles matches on pay-per-view. A notable shift in

9900-417: The United States as a road agent. On June 16, 2000, 24 out of the 26 contracted native wrestlers for All Japan were led by Misawa for a press conference, where it was announced that they would be leaving the promotion ( Masanobu Fuchi and Toshiaki Kawada remained). More than 100 reporters and photographers attended the press conference, and Misawa expressed his wish for the promotion to debut in August, with

10050-430: The WWE in December 2005, later debuting as Umaga in April 2006. Taiyō Kea would team with other RO&D stable members throughout 2006 while embarking on a strong singles push. Kea defeated Toshiyaki Kawada for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion on the August 27, 2006 pay-per-view, before losing it to up-and-comer Minoru Suzuki a week later on the September 3, 2006 edition of AJPW TV. On July 10, 2007, Hiroshi Hase

10200-493: The WWF. Turner's company still maintained its WCW World Championship, thus having two World Heavyweight titles present in the same promotion. The tournament was won by Japanese wrestler Masahiro Chono . From 1992 to 1993, the NWA belt was defended in Japan and on WCW television. Flair returned to WCW and regained the NWA belt from Barry Windham in July 1993; that same year, WCW recognized the Ric Flair- Tatsumi Fujinami NWA title changes from 1991. Disputes between WCW management and

10350-472: The World Tag Team Championship from All Japan's Nippon Budokan show from June 9. On June 28, 2000, Misawa formally announced at a press conference that Pro Wrestling Noah would debut with two consecutive shows (titled "Departure") in Differ Ariake on August 5 and 6 in Tokyo. On July 2 in the Korakuen Hall, Motoko Baba announced the unfathomable return of Genichiro Tenryu (as Giant Baba publicly swore that he would never be allowed back in All Japan, following

10500-479: The agreement ended, with TNA creating its own World and Tag Team championships. During this agreement, TNA co-founder Jeff Jarrett would hold the title the most often with six reigns, followed by A.J. Styles with three, and lastly Ron Killings and Christian Cage with two reigns each. During the TNA years, a title change unauthorized by the NWA took place on an International Wrestling Association event in Puerto Rico, where Ray González pinned Jarrett to win

10650-516: The beginning of the cross-promotional alliance. On September 16, 2000, Toshiaki Kawada followed Fuchi's path and vowed to crush New Japan ace Kensuke Sasaki , as he defeated Sasaki in the Tokyo Dome on October 9, 2000; the event sold out the building. In 2001, Keiji Muto and Shinjiro Otani created the interpromotional stable BATT (Bad Ass Translate Trading), which included All Japan's Taiyō Kea , Michinoku Pro's Jinsei Shinzaki and Hiroshi Hase. During this time, Muto challenged and defeated Tenryu for

10800-484: The belt featured a modified version of the older Canadian Red Ensign rather than the official Canadian flag, the Maple Leaf , which had been adopted in 1965. The belt originally had a red suede/velvet strap along with a nameplate. The nameplate was only used once, by Jack Brisco , before it was removed from the design. The red leather strap was replaced with a black laced leather strap soon into Brisco's reign due to

10950-557: The belt without the official sanctioning of the NWA. In most cases (such as the case of Jack Veneno 's championship victory), these switches continue to be ignored by the NWA. However, since 2015, the NWA has occasionally recognized the unauthorized Flair-Race switches that had occurred in March 1984 in New Zealand and Singapore. By early 1985, Jim Crockett Promotions (JCP) controlled many NWA territories and limited championship matches to performers under contract with JCP thus making

11100-445: The best promotion in 2004 and 2005, as well as having the best weekly television show in 2003. On June 13, 2009, Misawa teamed with Go Shiozaki against Akitoshi Saito and Bison Smith at Hiroshima Green Arena . After taking a belly to back suplex from Saito, Misawa lost consciousness and was taken to a hospital. He was pronounced dead in the hospital at 10:10 p.m. JST due to spinal damage . On June 27, 2009, Akira Taue

11250-517: The champion would make in different regions. On June 14, 1957, in Chicago, Thesz defended the world title against Canadian wrestler Édouard Carpentier in a two out of three falls match . Thesz and Carpentier split the first two falls. In the third fall, Thesz was disqualified by referee Ed Whalen who raised Carpentier's hand in victory. The NWA later voided the title change based on the disqualification. Thesz defeated Carpentier by disqualification in

11400-498: The championship before being stripped of the title later on the same event. While the González title change was initially ignored by both the NWA and TNA, beginning in 2015, the NWA has occasionally recognized González as a former NWA champion. This makes González the first Caribbean wrestler to be recognized as NWA World champion (the reigns of Caribbean wrestlers Jack Veneno and Carlos Colón remain unrecognized). On May 22, 2007,

11550-416: The championship. Continuing to operate as a governing body, Billy Corgan's NWA worked collaboratively with various promotions to sanction Storm's championship matches. On December 9, 2017, Nick Aldis won the championship from Storm on a Combat Zone Wrestling show. Since the championship change, Ten Pounds of Gold focused on "The Aldis Crusade", a series of 20 title defenses over the course of 60 days in

11700-506: The championships, but gradually Dory Funk Jr. and his brother Terry Funk , as well as Mil Máscaras from Mexico became fan favorites when wrestling other foreigners and subsequently one of the few foreign wrestlers to become icons in Japan. When the NWA territorial system collapsed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Baba distanced himself from other promoters at home and abroad, and began a system of promoting talent (both Japanese and foreign ) who competed exclusively for his promotion. With

11850-430: The company was purchased by CyberAgent , parent company of DDT Pro-Wrestling , with DDT's executives taking over Noah's operations and Noah's content appearing on DDT's streaming service Wrestle Universe . In January 1999, AJPW founder and promoter Giant Baba died, leaving the company in the hands of his widow Motoko Baba as owner and Misawa as president. However, disheartened with Motoko Baba's proposed direction for

12000-428: The company, Misawa departed the promotion on May 28, 2000 to form a new promotion called Pro Wrestling Noah. All but two native stars ( Masanobu Fuchi and Toshiaki Kawada ) and eight gaijin ( Maunakea Mossman , Johnny Smith , George Hines , Mike Barton , Jim Steele , Mike Rotunda , Stan Hansen and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams ) followed Misawa. The promotion's name alludes to the Biblical story of Noah , in which

12150-493: The company, gradually over time All Japan took a more sports-entertainment based approach, featuring more in-ring promos, comedy segments, and gimmick matches. This would be controversial among traditional All Japan fans, where All Japan resembled later WCW from both a creative and business stanpoint, but being successful enough to stay in business and not be sold to competing promotions like New Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah . The creative shift became most noticeable by

12300-484: The conclusion of his match, with the championship receiving official recognition from ROH shortly after. On October 25, 2008, Blue Demon Jr. became the first Mexican professional wrestler, as well as first masked luchador , to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship when he defeated champion Adam Pearce in Mexico City. In early-to-mid-2012, NWA champion Colt Cabana and Adam Pearce began facing each other in

12450-514: The creation of its sixth active title and the first six-man tag team championship in the promotion's history, the AJPW TV Six-Man Tag Team Championship . On November 28, the board of directors Suwama announced the launching of AJPW's own women's division "Evolution's Girls". Suwama announced that he would be heading the division alongside Shuji Ishikawa , intending to recruit and hopes to train women wrestlers for

12600-404: The credibility of the world title. The NWA's board of directors , composed mostly of territory owners, decided when the title changed hands via a vote. By the late 1950s, however, the system began to break down. As Lou Thesz continued to hold the title, other popular wrestlers such as Verne Gagne became frustrated over the lack of change. There were also disputes over the number of appearances

12750-480: The end of 2003 and the beginning of 2004. Throughout 2003 and 2004, recent debuts like John "Earthquake" Tenta , Bull Buchanan , Jamal (Umaga) , Taiyō Kea , D'Lo Brown and Gigantes (Jerry Tuite) would become the main gaijins after the gaijin exodus. Some interpromotional activities that would not have happened under Shohei Baba's watch have taken place, including the previously unfathomable IWGP Heavyweight Champion vs. Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion bout on

12900-524: The end of a year-long cross-promotional angle with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Keiji Muto shocked the Japanese wrestling world by defecting to All-Japan as a full-time competitor, taking Satoshi Kojima and Kendo Kashin with him. This is considered the official start of the era. Muto would lose to Steve Williams in a grudge feud in March 2002, but a month later Muto defeated Mike Barton in the 2002 Championship Carnival tournament main-event. Despite Barton's loss, he and Jim Steele would find success in winning

13050-489: The end of the year. On June 13, 2016, freelancer Go Shiozaki officially re-signed with Noah, three and a half years after his resignation from the promotion. On November 1, 2016, it was announced that Noah had been sold to IT development company Estbee, Co, Ltd. As a result, former AJPW president Masayuki Uchida took over as the new Noah president. On November 7, Estbee officially changed its name to "Noah Global Entertainment kabushiki gaisha ". On December 27, Noah announced

13200-519: The exodus (along with the departures of ring announcer Makoto Abe and referees Daichi Murayama and Daisuke Kanbayashi), the promotion has now been reduced to less than half the active roster. On June 21, 2013, it was revealed that since 2009, AJPW mainstay Masanobu Fuchi , who has been with the promotion since debuting in 1974, had long since resigned from the AJPW Board of Directors and has not been on an exclusive contract due to his age, thus becoming

13350-401: The fallout. On December 4, 2012, Noah released Kenta Kobashi from his contract, reportedly leading to Atsushi Aoki , Go Shiozaki , Jun Akiyama , Kotaro Suzuki and Yoshinobu Kanemaru all announcing that they were not going to re-sign with the promotion after their own contracts expired in January 2013. On December 19, Noah confirmed that the five men had indeed refused to re-sign with

13500-457: The final match was scheduled for October 27, 2012, in Melbourne, Australia, at an NWA Warzone Wrestling event. Pearce wanted the NWA to sanction the match as a world title match, as they had done earlier. The NWA, however, refused to do this and did not want Pearce and Cabana to go forward with the match. They did anyway, with Cabana winning the match. Pearce and Cabana both broke kayfabe after

13650-506: The first World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship , which traces its lineage to the title first awarded to George Hackenschmidt in 1905. This effectively makes it the oldest surviving wrestling championship in the world. The title began as a governing body's world championship and has been competed for in multiple major promotions around the world, including the Capitol Wrestling Corporation (which seceded from

13800-399: The first exodus of wrestlers ( The Great Kabuki , Samson Fuyuki , Tatsumi Kitahara , Masao Orihara , Yoshiaki Yatsu , Goro Tsurumi, and Shinichi Nakano) lured as they were to form Super World of Sports , which enabled Baba to push Misawa, Kawada, Taue and Kobashi to be his new stars. With the death of Shohei "Giant" Baba on January 31, 1999, top star Mitsuharu Misawa immediately inherited

13950-417: The first four months of 2017. On February 7, 2017, Noah announced a business alliance with American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), which was extended in July, after TNA had been renamed Global Force Wrestling (GFW). In March 2017, Noah formed another partnership with Canadian promotion Border City Wrestling (BCW). On February 1, 2019, Noah was purchased by Lidet Entertainment, acquiring

14100-515: The founding members of the United Japan Pro-Wrestling alliance, a joint effort to further develop professional wrestling in Japan through promotion and organization, with Seiji Sakaguchi being named as the chairman of the project. Similar to New Japan Pro-Wrestling's International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP), Noah has its own title governing body, the Global Honored Crown (GHC) system. Noah also holds annual tournaments to decide

14250-548: The larger promotions in the country, although now firmly behind NJPW. In January 2002, Keiji Muto defected to All Japan, and was officially appointed as its new president that September. He would then acquire the rights to the company and Baba family stock by early 2003, when another exodus of gaijin wrestlers began, most notably Steve Williams , KroniK ( Brian Adams and Bryan Clark ), Bill Goldberg and Mike Rotunda . Not long after George Hines and Johnny Smith also left. By mid-2005, All Japan's attendance had dropped and

14400-601: The match, with Pearce saying that Cabana was the rightful champion and Cabana saying that he did not want the title as it was about the past and he was about the future. Pearce declared he did not want the title either and left it in the ring as the two exited the arena. On May 1, 2017, Billy Corgan 's company, Lightning One, Inc., purchased the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), including its name, rights, trademarks, and championships. Corgan's ownership took effect on October 1, 2017. At that point, all existing NWA affiliation agreements were ended and all NWA championships, except

14550-485: The material lacking durability. The original Domed Globe Belt was retired in 1986; Ric Flair retained possession of the original belt. It is currently located at WWE 's Connecticut headquarters . This design was revived in 1994 with a new belt that continues to represent the NWA World's Heavyweight Championship presently. In 2021, the NWA replaced the Australian flag side plate with a United Kingdom flag side plate, at

14700-507: The new Chairman of All Japan's Pacific Wrestling Federation title governing body, replacing Lord James Blears . On August 10, 2000, All Japan mainstay Masanobu Fuchi walked into the New Japan Pro-Wrestling ring and declared that his intention was to "break down the walls" between All Japan and New Japan. In response, New Japan foreman Riki Choshu rushed into the ring and exchanged a firm handshake with Fuchi, signaling

14850-416: The new head booker of Noah. On April 21, one of Noah's bigger stars, Takeshi Morishima , was forced to retire from professional wrestling due to issues with his blood. On December 24, 2015, Noah announced the signing of freelancer Katsuhiko Nakajima . Four days later, Noah announced the departures of Mikey Nicholls, Shane Haste and Takeshi Morishima, following their contracts with the promotion expiring at

15000-460: The only wrestlers to hold the belt in UWFi, as Thesz withdrew from UWFi in 1995 due to his disagreement over the company co-promoting with New Japan Pro-Wrestling , taking the belt with him. The third design is sometimes referred to as the "Crown Belt". It had a prominent royal crown at its top, a globe underneath it, and the letters "NWA" horizontally across the center behind two wrestlers. The design

15150-455: The option of NWA membership. Member promotions had to recognize the NWA World Heavyweight Champion as world champion while retaining the ability to promote their own top championships. Every year, the NWA World Heavyweight Champion would travel to each territory and defend the title against the territories' top contender or champion. The purpose of the NWA world champion was to make the top wrestlers of each territory look good, while still upholding

15300-424: The people and animals in the ark survive the flood and make a new beginning in the world, a story which was seen as a parallel to the wrestlers' departure from AJPW. Noah's original logo, an ark with a dove holding an olive branch, referred to this. Pro Wrestling Noah is essentially a continuation of AJPW's promotional system in the 1990s, with a slight leeway to allow wrestlers from other promotions to compete, which

15450-497: The position of company president. On May 28, 2000, Misawa was removed from his position by a majority vote of the executive board. At a regular All Japan board meeting on June 13, 2000, Misawa, Mitsuo Momota (co-vice president, member of directory), Kenta Kobashi (member of directory), Akira Taue (member of directory, chairman), Kenichi Oyagi (member of directory) and Yoshihiro Momota (member of directory) resigned from their board positions. A day later, Motoko Baba ("Mrs. Baba") released

15600-492: The precursor to the WWWF, seceded from the NWA for a variety of reasons including the selection of the NWA World Heavyweight Champion and the number of dates wrestled by the champion in the promotion. Ostensibly, the dispute was over Buddy Rogers losing the NWA World Heavyweight Championship to Lou Thesz in one fall instead of a best-of-three; the format in which NWA World Heavyweight Championship matches were traditionally decided at

15750-521: The product was seen in July 2001, when in a pay-per-view main event, Steve Williams lost to Keiji Muto for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship , where it ended in an altercation. After leaving the backstage area Williams would then going on a huge swearing tirade, where he kicked a trash can, was about to cry in tears, and then throwing his armpads to the ground while swearing again. On January 11, 2002, following

15900-541: The promotion and would be wrestling their final matches for the promotion on December 23 and 24. The following month, all five men joined AJPW. Kobashi returned to wrestle his retirement match in a Noah ring on May 11, 2013, at Final Burning in Budokan . On May 12 at Noah's "New Chapter" show held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo , Akira Taue announced the signings of Daisuke Harada , Mikey Nicholls and Shane Haste of The Mighty Don't Kneel (TMDK) as full-time members of

16050-591: The promotion announced it had reached a deal with satellite television provider Nippon BS Broadcasting for a monthly highlights show, Eleven , to be broadcast on the third Monday of each month. On November 27, 2016, the promotion returned to Ryōgoku Kokugikan for its first event at the venue in three years, headlined by Kento Miyahara defending the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship against Suwama. In August 2017 Toryumon Mexico started working with All Japan Pro Wrestling in with

16200-456: The promotion not only as a wrestler, but also as a member of the Board of Directors, ending his tenure as a freelancer. On August 1, all of the All Japan shares were moved from Speed Partners to Shiraishi's Red Wall Japan corporation, which effectively became the new parent company of the promotion. Meanwhile, the promotion's corporate name was changed to "Zen Nihon Puroresu Systems". On August 7, it

16350-414: The promotion on December 31 when their contract expires only to Nomura return to the promotion in June 2022. On July 12, 2022, it was announced that AJPW would be celebrating its 50th anniversary event on September 18, 2022, at the Nippon Budokan , marking the return of the promotion to the arena for the first time in eighteen years. On December 15, 2023, AJPW was announced as one of the founding members of

16500-487: The promotion seemed to be in trouble again but by 2007 had new sponsors and seemed to have recovered. After Misawa and most of the other wrestlers left the promotion, there was a lull in developing new stars until the likes of KAI , Suwama , Hama and T28 debuted from the mid-2000s onward and helped restrengthen the company. With established stars such as Keiji Muto , Satoshi Kojima , John "Earthquake" Tenta , Masakatsu Funaki , D'Lo Brown and Minoru Suzuki anchoring

16650-485: The promotion still operating in its usual corporate manner led by Keiji Muto, rarely broadcasting pay-per-views to SKY PerfecTV! and SAMURAI TV. While Muto owned 75% of All Japan's shares beginning in 2003 after Mrs. Baba permanently left, the remaining shares went to Gaora TV, who would oversee All Japan's production and would buy the majority of the tape library post-2003. They upload several segments of their tape library to their official YouTube channel. In January 2003,

16800-412: The promotion's new president. On July 1, the promotion announced another corporate name change to "All Japan Pro Wrestling kabushiki gaisha " (dropping the Japanese "Zen Nihon Puroresu" name), while also relocating its headquarters from Tokyo to Yokohama . Akiyama established a new company named Zen Nihon Puroresu Innovation, through which he will run the new All Japan Pro Wrestling. Akiyama also serves as

16950-405: The promotion, the younger wrestlers were given time to grow and by 2010 were set to help lead All Japan. While still without a great TV deal, All Japan has operated consistently since 1972, making it the second-longest running promotion in Japan. Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s The promotion was founded by Shohei "Giant" Baba and

17100-400: The promotion, with intentions to follow Misawa to Noah. NTV also announced that they will carry weekly tapings of Misawa's Noah promotion, with the title of the program being called "Colosseo." Noah took All Japan's 30-minute timeslot on Sundays at midnight. Misawa was interviewed in Tokyo on June 21, where he announced that he and the other wrestlers leaving to form Noah would compete on four of

17250-521: The promotion. Taue also announced his retirement from in-ring competition to focus on his duties as the Chairman of the promotion and his retirement match would take place on December 7, 2013 at the Ariake Coliseum . On April 30, 2014, Noah's arguably biggest star and ace Kenta announced his resignation from the promotion to sign with WWE . In early 2015, NJPW wrestler Jado took over as

17400-485: The promotion. In April, during an interview with Tokyo Sports, Suwama expressed his intention to establish a women's division, however, his plans were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Afterwards, AJPW also established a working relationship with Joshi promotion Ice Ribbon , during which Tsukasa Fujimoto was announced as an advisor for the new division. On May 7, 2021, the Japanese government announced an extension to

17550-476: The purchase was not made public until February 2013. In January 2013, AJPW signed Atsushi Aoki , Go Shiozaki , Jun Akiyama, Kotaro Suzuki and Yoshinobu Kanemaru , all of whom had quit Pro Wrestling Noah the previous month, to return to AJPW, initially as freelancers. On March 17, 2013, it was announced that Hiroshi Hase was stepping down as Pacific Wrestling Federation Chairman, and that he would be succeeded by Kenta Kobashi , following Kobashi's retirement as

17700-419: The reigning World Junior Heavyweight Champion Kotaro Suzuki, announced his departure from All Japan at the end of the month. Four days later, Yoshinobu Kanemaru also announced he would be leaving All Japan following December 15. Akiyama revealed that the departures were all for the same reason: All Japan had recently decided to change all of its wrestler contracts to pay-per-appearance contracts. In October 2016,

17850-471: The relocating of its offices from Ariake, Tokyo to Kanda-Misakichō due to Differ Ariake 's scheduled closing in June 2018. At the end of 2016, NJPW pulled all of its wrestlers, including the entire Suzuki-gun stable, from Noah with reports stating that the relationship between the two promotions had turned "extremely sour". Having lost the NJPW relationship, Noah's attendance numbers went down by 29% during

18000-421: The representative director of the promotion and reports to a board of directors, which most notably includes Suwama and Akebono. Motoko Baba also joined the promotion as a consultant. On September 28, 2015, Go Shiozaki announced his resignation from All Japan. On November 2, it was announced that Akebono was also leaving All Japan with the goal of returning to mixed martial arts. On November 16, yet another wrestler,

18150-581: The request of then-champion Nick Aldis . The Mexican-based lower weight classes Domed Globe championship belts featured the flag of Mexico on their main plates instead of the U.S. flag. From 1995 to 1997, the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship also had a Domed Globe design, as part of the J-Crown , with the U.S. flag in front; briefly during the 2010s, the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship once again had

18300-406: The roll as the top gaijins in the mid-2000s. They became the main attractions Taka Michinoku 's Roughly Obsess and Destroy (R.O.D.) stable, being rapidly pushed when they debuted in November 2003. They were a heel stable akin to the early New World Order , trying to take over All Japan and defeat all of the native roster. In February 2004, Taiyō Kea pulled an upset victory against Satoshi Kojima at

18450-518: The same problems that had plagued other champions in the post-1980s NWA: a lack of stable promotions within the NWA made it difficult to have a "traveling champion", so most of Pearce's defenses took place in the NWA Pro promotion owned by David Marquez and John Rivera. On June 7, 2008, at the Ring of Honor (ROH) event, Respect is Earned II , Pearce revealed the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt at

18600-562: The sixteen shows in All Japan's Summer Action Series 2000 tour, which began on July 1. NTV also aired the final All Japan TV show on the network, which aired for 45 minutes and featured footage from Jumbo Tsuruta 's funeral, the Noah wrestlers' press conference from June 16, Kawada's press conference from June 19, highlights of the first ever Kawada vs. Misawa Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship match from October 21, 1992, and Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue vs. Yoshihiro Takayama and Takao Omori for

18750-494: The sold out Hakata Star Lane in Fukuoka. After the show, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams came out and shook Misawa's hand, and requested one last singles match between the two. However, Misawa returned to the bus immediately after his match, not staying for the last two matches of the show. Every one of All Japan's titles were vacated due to the departure of the aforementioned wrestlers and title holders. Mrs. Baba appointed Stan Hansen as

18900-629: The spring of 2018 and concluding with a title defense against Colt Cabana in Wenzhou, China. Ten Pounds of Gold , together with the Being The Elite web series produced by The Young Bucks , then focused on the build towards a championship match between Aldis and Cody as part of the All In supercard event on September 1, 2018, where Cody would win the match and the championship. Ten Pounds of Gold continued to cover subsequent defenses at

19050-574: The state of emergency currently in place in Tokyo and other prefectures, leading AJPW to postpone their event on May 15 at Ota City General Gymnasium to June 26. On June 26, it was announced since the creation of the Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion that the title would be decided in a Tomoe Battle, where in cooperation with the Baba family, Jake Lee would bring the NWA International Heavyweight Championship , Kento Miyahara

19200-758: The tag-team division, where they won several victories. By the end of 2004, Jamal got even with Kawada, where he and Kea eliminated Kawada and Mitsuya Nagai in the Real World Tag League '04 tournament semifinals. Jamal and Kea would defeat Satoshi Kojima and Kaz Hayashi to win the tournament with the trophies on the December 1, 2004 edition of AJPW TV. Keiji Muto competed at a Pro Wrestling Noah event on July 10, 2004, teaming with fellow AJPW wrestler Taiyō Kea to face Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa. On July 18, 2004, Mitsuharu Misawa returned to All Japan and defeated Satoshi Kojima at Battle Banquet . Misawa returned to All Japan again on October 31, 2004, for

19350-542: The time was going through throat cancer recovery and made a surprise appearance. In April 2003 Johnny Smith also left AJPW, followed by George Hines in July 2003, leaving a void in the gaijin roster. In both of their cases they would defect to IWA Japan , where Williams and Rotunda would also go find work. However, despite his material being shown on IWA TV, Smith's planned in-ring debut in March 2004 for IWA Japan never happened due to him choosing to permanently retire because of his aforementioned injury. After Mrs. Baba sold

19500-508: The time. This one fall match was sanctioned by NWA promoters, despite objections from CWC executives, who held majority control over the NWA board of directors at the time. Following Lou Thesz's World Heavyweight Championship win, CWC seceded from the NWA and became the World Wide Wrestling Federation. Rogers was then recognized as the first WWWF World Heavyweight Champion . The "Ten Pounds of Gold" (also known as

19650-455: The title exclusive to the promotion. The " Big Gold Belt " version of the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt debuted on February 14, 1986, at Battle of the Belts II, an event co-promoted by Championship Wrestling from Florida and JCP. At the event, NWA World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair successfully defended the title against Barry Windham . It was during this time that JCP made

19800-424: The title picture became slightly more competitive. The champions nonetheless remained wrestlers from independent promotions, regardless of whether they were from North America (Severn, Mike Rapada , Sabu ), Asia (Ogawa, Shinya Hashimoto ), or Europe ( Gary Steele ). In June 2002, Jeff and Jerry Jarrett formed NWA: Total Nonstop Action (NWA-TNA; was known as Impact Wrestling 2017-2024). The Jarretts worked out

19950-558: The top wrestler or tag team in the promotion: Pro Wrestling Sem was the junior affiliate of Pro Wrestling Noah launched in 2006. Its name came from the biblical figure Sem , the eldest son of Noah. Sem was originally headed by Naomichi Marufuji and Kenta, acting as coaches for the rookie competitors. Mitsuharu Misawa's inspiration for the venture came from the German Westside Xtreme Wrestling promotion, where he wrestled in March 2005. The seats are limited to

20100-542: The tournament being rescheduled for a later date and three opening shows of the Super Power Series 2020 tour would also be canceled following that the promotion would start to do empty arenas shows at 2AW 's 2AW Square arena. On June 26, AJPW General Manager Jun Akiyama announced that he would leave AJPW for DDT after nine years with the promotion and announced that management of the promotion would be transferred to Tsuyoki Fukuda. On November 14, AJPW announced

20250-422: The vacant title by defeating Barry Windham on Monday Night Raw . The NWA's deal with the WWF never accomplished its intended purpose of reestablishing the NWA as a major force in wrestling and McMahon ended it in less than a year. The NWA belt went back to being defended on the independent circuit and in the remaining NWA territories. In 1999, Severn lost the title to former Olympic judoka Naoya Ogawa , and

20400-443: The world. On June 19, 2000, it was confirmed (at a press conference at All-Japan's dojo held by Toshiaki Kawada and Masanobu Fuchi) that NTV decided to discontinue broadcasting All Japan after 27 years; however, NTV maintained their 15% stock in All Japan (as Motoko Baba held the remaining 85%), and would prevent All Japan from being put on another network. On June 20, twelve All Japan office employees resigned from their positions with

20550-550: Was announced Noah and DDT would merge in a new company, CyberFight . Both companies would run as separate brands under the CyberFight banner. On November 19, 2021 Noah re-established its relationship with NJPW with Noah wrestlers being involved at the third night of NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 16 event, with a portion of proceeds donated to the Japanese Red Cross. On December 15, 2023, Noah was announced as one of

20700-734: Was announced that Noah and the Mexico-based International Wrestling Revolution Group had entered into a talent-sharing partnership. In January 2020, Noah was acquired by CyberAgent , parent company of DDT Pro Wrestling . DDT's President Sanshiro Takagi was named the President of Pro Wrestling Noah and Naomichi Marufuji the Vice President. Noah's events began airing on DDT's streaming service DDT Universe starting with Noah Global Jr. League 2020 on January 30. On July 27, 2020, it

20850-553: Was appointed as the new Chairman of the Pacific Wrestling Federation , following Stan Hansen 's voluntary resignation. Hase is the third chairman in PWF's history. Joe Doering would become the main gaijin around this time. October 12, 2007 Baseball Magazine Sha, the publisher of Puroresu Shukan released AJPW trading cards . On June 7, 2011, Keiji Muto announced his resignation as the President of All Japan Pro Wrestling and named Masayuki Uchida as his successor. On August 28, 2012, AJPW and Gaora TV announced that AJPW would introduce

21000-406: Was dropped. WCW, which had subsequently filed a lawsuit against the WWF to prevent them from using the Big Gold Belt on television, eventually dropped the action because the belt was returned to WCW in July 1992. In August 1992, the NWA board authorized WCW and New Japan Pro-Wrestling to hold a tournament to decide a new NWA World Heavyweight Champion using the Big Gold Belt, now returned to WCW by

21150-451: Was during this time, Severn had a customized NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt made exclusively for him. Trying to get back in the national spotlight, the NWA made a deal in 1997 with Vincent K. McMahon to appear on World Wrestling Federation (WWF) television. In 1998, NWA World champion Dan Severn became part of Jim Cornette's NWA faction . Also part of Cornette's NWA faction was NWA North American Champion Jeff Jarrett , who won

21300-414: Was later confirmed by All Japan, and led to Keiji Muto's resignation from the promotion. In the weeks that followed, Masakatsu Funaki , Kaz Hayashi , Shuji Kondo , Ryota Hama , Masayuki Kono , Hiroshi Yamato , Koji Kanemoto , Minoru Tanaka , Yasufumi Nakanoue, Kai , Seiya Sanada and Andy Wu announced their resignation from the promotion out of loyalty to Muto. They all left the promotion following

21450-844: Was later used to represent the NWA United National Championship (which later became part of the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship), the Japanese version of the NWA North American Tag Team Championship , the championships of Blue Demon Jr. 's NWA Mexico territory, the Tenryu Project 's United National Tag Team Championship , and the current version of the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship . The fourth design

21600-455: Was made in 1973 by an unidentified jeweler in Mexico – similar belts were made for the NWA's Mexican-based World Light Heavyweight , Middleweight and Welterweight titles. The Domed Globe NWA World Heavyweight title featured the flag of the United States on its main plate, as well as those of Mexico, Canada, Australia, and Japan on its side plates. The second side plate on the left side of

21750-419: Was named as Misawa's successor, taking over as President of Pro Wrestling Noah. Also in 2009, Noah lost their weekly television show on Nippon TV . In March 2012, it was revealed that Noah management had ties to a yakuza crime syndicate, which resulted in the promotion demoting General Manager Ryu Nakata and Counselor Haruka Eigen and enforcing new anti-yakuza protocols; Noah also lost its TV show as part of

21900-498: Was negotiated that transferred the rights to the NWA from Pro Wrestling Organization LLC to International Wrestling Corp, LLC. After 64 years, the new organization moved from a membership model to a licensing model, licensing the NWA brand name to wrestling promotions which caused many promotions to immediately cut ties with the NWA, including some of the largest remaining NWA affiliated promotions. With both Cabana and Pearce even at three victories in their “Seven Levels of Hate” series,

22050-588: Was reported that All Japan had agreed to return the NWA International Heavyweight , NWA United National and PWF World Heavyweight Championship belts, which make up the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, to Motoko Baba, the widow of the promotion's founder Giant Baba, bringing an end to the final remnant of the Giant Baba All Japan. The Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship retained its old name, but All Japan introduced

22200-461: Was stripped of the NWA title. Ken Shamrock was then declared the new NWA World Heavyweight Champion after winning a Gauntlet for the Gold battle royal. In 2004, NWA-TNA withdrew from the NWA, dropping the NWA from their promotion name and becoming known as Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). However, TNA retained the rights to use the NWA World Heavyweight and Tag Team titles until May 13, 2007, when

22350-630: Was voluntarily, due to his primary involvement with the House of Councillors . Gaijins who signed with AJPW full-time were given pushes regardless of which promotion they arrived, most notably Stan Hansen , "Dr. Death" Steve Williams , Gary Albright , Vader and Mike Barton . All Japan would achieve its third best-selling attendance with an attendance of 58,300 in the Tokyo Dome on the May 1, 1998 pay-per-view, having seen consistent growth since 1992. On

22500-514: Was won by Shane Douglas . Due to a dispute between NWA President Dennis Coralluzzo and ECW owner Tod Gordon , after the match, Douglas threw the NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt down and picked up the ECW Heavyweight Championship belt, proclaiming himself ECW World champion. Almost immediately thereafter ECW withdrew from the NWA and became Extreme Championship Wrestling , with Coralluzzo stripping Douglas of

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