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68-795: Following the closure of Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in 2002, FMW booker Hiromichi Fuyuki formed his own promotion, which ran under the names World Entertainment Wrestling (WEW) and Fuyuki-Gun Promotion (originally used by Fuyuki for an FMW-aligned venture following his withdrawal from WAR ), and administered the WEW titles originally created in FMW in 1999. FMW alumni such as Kintaro Kanemura , Tetsuhiro Kuroda , and Go Ito maintained Fuyuki-Gun Promotion and WEW even after Fuyuki's death in March 2003, but stopped in May 2004. Apache Pro-Wrestling Army (Apache Pro)

136-409: A Pro-Wrestling A-Tean (Apache Army's successor promotion) event. After this he would come back as a wrestler having matches with Combat Zone Wrestling , Big Japan Pro-Wrestling , World Wonder Ring Stardom and DDT Pro-Wrestling . In 2021, Onita announced that he would be starting Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion , a promotion under the FMW name that specialized in exploding death matches,

204-472: A Western audience as FMW could now be seen officially on VHS and DVD in the United States . They would go on to release 12 programs which were old FMW cards shortened down to feature the best matches or they were compilations of specific talent like Hayabusa. They also featured dubbed commentary from Eric Gellar and John Watanabe. Later releases would feature Dan Lovranski replacing Eric Gellar. As

272-399: A changing of the guard as Onita would retire and Hayabusa would step up and be the face of FMW. Onita would go on and sell the company to FMW ring announcer, Shoichi Arai . The Shoichi Arai era of FMW would end up issuing changes to the promotion and gave the promotion a new look and feel. Arai would slowly phase out the deathmatches that Atsushi Onita would help popularize and what put

340-595: A higher level of recognized achievement, such as a different belt color or title. The type of testing used varies from system to system but may include forms or sparring . Various forms and sparring are commonly used in martial art exhibitions and tournaments. Some competitions pit practitioners of different disciplines against each other using a common set of rules, these are referred to as mixed martial arts competitions. Rules for sparring vary between art and organization but can generally be divided into light-contact , medium-contact , and full-contact variants, reflecting

408-434: A match type in which Onita became famous for. The new promotion will have Hidetaka Kajiki serving as president. Onita stated he got the idea for the promotion after All Elite Wrestling 's 2021 Revolution PPV in which the event held an exploding barbed wire death match and seeing that there was still a market for these types of matches internationally in the pro wrestling world and with the popularity of online media streaming

476-552: A nasty gash on his arm. Onita would take it one step further as he would go on to have the first ever exploding barbed wire match in August of 1990, as he challenged his rival, Tarzan Goto . As the years would progress further, we would see an influx of American & Foreign talent begin to appear in FMW with talent ranging from Chris Jericho , Lance Storm , The Original Sheik , Sabu , Damián 666 , Dr. Luther , Leon Spinks , Tiger Jeet Singh and so forth. During these years,

544-533: A sexual harassment scandal with a female office worker from Big Japan Pro Wrestling . After the scandal, Kanemura departed Apache Pro. Kanemura would form a new promotion called the Xtreme Wrestling Force (XWF). XWF ceased running shows in 2010. Apache Pro closed on June 26, 2009, after which its owner Takashi Sasaki founded Pro Wrestling Freedoms . On December 27, 2010, Kanemura and Kuroda started to promote Apache Pro shows again, this time basing

612-415: A similar method of compliant training that is equivalent to light or medium contact. In some styles (such as fencing and some styles of taekwondo sparring), competitors score points based on the landing of a single technique or strike as judged by the referee, whereupon the referee will briefly stop the match, award a point, then restart the match. Alternatively, sparring may continue with the point noted by

680-445: A successor promotion, Apache Pro-Wrestling Army , which continued the WEW titles until 2016 when Kanemura retired and closed the promotion. Today the WEW titles are administered by Tomohiko Hashimoto 's Pro-Wrestling A-Team promotion. On April 3, 2015, Hideki Takahashi, Hayabusa and Choden Senshi Battle Ranger held a press conference, announcing they were reviving FMW under the new name "Chō Sentō Puroresu FMW". Takahashi would serve as

748-562: A tournament to see which tag team would become the first WEW World Tag Team Champions under the promotion. In the finals, BADBOY Hido and Takashi Sasaki defeated Jun Kasai and Tetsuhiro Kuroda. In 2006, The Winger would win Apache Pro's first and only Death Match Tournament. In 2007, Takashi Sasaki and The Winger would win the Interim WEW Tag Team Title Tournament. In 2008, Kanemura was involved in

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816-1037: A traditional system of athletics originally used to train warriors in Iran ( Persia ), and first appearing under this name and form in the Safavid era, with similarities to systems in adjacent lands under other names. Human warfare dates back to the Epipalaeolithic to early Neolithic era. The oldest works of art depicting scenes of battle are cave paintings from eastern Spain ( Spanish Levante ) dated between 10,000 and 6,000 BCE that show organized groups fighting with bows and arrows. Similar evidence of warfare has been found in Epipalaeolithic to early Neolithic era mass burials , excavated in Germany and at Jebel Sahaba in Northern Sudan . Wrestling

884-549: A tumor in December 2015. She would succumb to the disease in 2018, she was 36 years old. On March 3, 2016, Haybusa would pass away at his home from a brain aneurysm, he was 47 years old. On October 31, 2017, FMW founder Atsushi Onita retired after 43 years in the ring. The promotion held its most recent event as Chō Sentō Puroresu FMW in 2018. Although not officially closing once again the revival seemed to have been forgotten about. In 2018, Onita would come out of retirement at

952-486: A wide spectrum of melee weapons, including bladed weapons and polearms . Such traditions include eskrima , silat , kalaripayat , kobudo , and historical European martial arts , especially those of the Italian Renaissance . Many Chinese martial arts also feature weapons as part of their curriculum. Sometimes, training with one specific weapon may be considered a style in its own right, especially in

1020-467: Is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on July 28, 1989, by Atsushi Onita as Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (フロンティア・マーシャルアーツ・レスリング,Furontia Māsharuātsu Resuringu) ( FMW ). The promotion specializes in hardcore wrestling involving weapons such as barbed wire and fire. They held their first show on October 6, 1989. In the late 1990s, FMW had a brief working agreement with Extreme Championship Wrestling , and as well had 14 DVDs released in

1088-532: Is likely facilitated by cultural exchanges of early Chinese and Indian martial arts . During the Warring States period of Chinese history (480–221 BC) extensive development in martial philosophy and strategy emerged, as described by Sun Tzu in The Art of War ( c.  350 BC ). Legendary accounts link the origin of Shaolinquan to the spread of Buddhism from ancient India during

1156-452: Is still actively performed in tournaments across the world. Practitioners in some arts such as kickboxing and Brazilian jiu-jitsu often train for sport matches, whereas those in other arts such as aikido generally spurn such competitions. Some schools believe that competition breeds better and more efficient practitioners, and gives a sense of good sportsmanship. Others believe that the rules under which competition takes place have diminished

1224-564: Is the oldest combat sport , with origins in hand-to-hand combat . Belt wrestling was depicted in works of art from Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt c.  3000 BC , and later in the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh . The earliest known depiction of boxing comes from a Sumerian relief in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) from the 3rd millennium BC. The foundation of modern East Asian martial arts and South Asian martial arts

1292-482: Is the value of "inner peace" in a practitioner, which is stressed to be only achievable through individual meditation and training. The Koreans believe that the use of physical force is only justifiable for self defense. Pahlevani and zourkhaneh rituals is the name of a Persian Martial arts inscribed by UNESCO for varzesh-e pahlavāni ( Persian : آیین پهلوانی و زورخانه‌ای , "heroic sport") or varzesh-e bāstāni ( ورزش باستانی ; varzeš-e bāstānī , "ancient sport"),

1360-570: The Ancient Olympic Games . The Romans produced gladiatorial combat as a public spectacle. A number of historical combat manuals have survived from the European Middle Ages . This includes such styles as sword and shield , two-handed swordfighting and other types of melee weapons besides unarmed combat. Amongst these are transcriptions of Johannes Liechtenauer 's mnemonic poem on the longsword dating back to

1428-668: The Joseon era and texts such as Muyejebo (1598). European swordsmanship always had a sportive component, but the duel was always a possibility until World War I . Modern sport fencing began developing during the 19th century as the French and Italian military academies began codifying instruction. The Olympic games led to standard international rules, with the Féderation Internationale d'Escrime founded in 1913. Modern boxing originates with Jack Broughton 's rules in

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1496-635: The Kuomintang government. Western interest in Asian martial arts arises towards the end of the 19th century, due to the increase in trade between the United States with China and Japan. Relatively few Westerners actually practiced the arts, considering it to be mere performance. Edward William Barton-Wright , a railway engineer who had studied jujutsu while working in Japan between 1894 and 1897,

1564-642: The Lonsdale Belt , introduced in 1909. The International Boxing Association was established in 1920. World Fencing Championships have been held since 1921. As Western influence grew in Asia a greater number of military personnel spent time in China, Japan and South Korea during World War II and the Korean War and were exposed to local fighting styles. Jujutsu, judo and karate first became popular among

1632-687: The Meiji Restoration In 1882, Kano Jigoro established the Kodokan School of judo which began the sport of judo. Kano Jigoro had gathered the old knowledge of jujutsu before establishing his school of judo. Modern Muay Thai rules date to the 1920s. In China, the modern history of martial arts begins in the Nanjing decade (1930s) following the foundation of the Central Guoshu Institute in 1928 under

1700-647: The UFC 1 , there was no scoring, though most now use some form of judging as a backup. Due to these factors, full-contact matches tend to be more aggressive in character, but rule sets may still mandate the use of protective equipment, or limit the techniques allowed. Nearly all mixed martial arts organizations such as UFC , Pancrase , Shooto use a form of full-contact rules as do professional boxing organizations and K-1 . Kyokushin karate requires advanced practitioners to engage in bare-knuckled, full-contact sparring allowing kicks, knees and punching although punching to

1768-413: The booker , he would put forth his vision on how FMW should be run as Arai would sign the checks and book the arenas for the promotion. During this time, Onita would return to professional wrestling and start a faction that would rival FMW and they were known simply as ZEN . This group was loosely based on World Championship Wrestling 's group known as The New World Order . Onita would run shows under

1836-574: The 18th century, and reaches its present form with the Marquess of Queensberry Rules of 1867. Certain traditional combat sports and fighting styles exist all over the world, rooted in local culture and folklore. The most common of these are styles of folk wrestling , some of which have been practiced since antiquity and are found in the most remote areas. Other examples include forms of stick fighting and boxing. While these arts are based on historical traditions of folklore, they are not "historical" in

1904-694: The 1970s, and the term Chinese boxing was also used to refer to Chinese martial arts until then. Some authors have argued that fighting arts or fighting systems would be more appropriate terms on the basis that many martial arts were never "martial" in the sense of being used or created by professional warriors . Martial arts may be categorized using a variety of criteria, including: Unarmed martial arts can be broadly grouped into those focusing on strikes , those focusing on grappling , and those that cover both fields, often described as hybrid martial arts . Strikes Grappling The traditional martial arts that cover armed combat often encompass

1972-509: The 1970s, especially Bruce Lee films , popularized martial arts in global popular culture . A number of mainstream films produced during the 1980s also contributed significantly to the perception of martial arts in Western popular culture. These include The Karate Kid (1984) and Bloodsport (1988). This era produced some Hollywood action stars with martial arts background, such as Jean-Claude Van Damme and Chuck Norris . Also during

2040-647: The 20th century, a number of martial arts were adapted for self-defense purposes for military hand-to-hand combat . World War II combatives , KAPAP (1930s) and Krav Maga (1950s) in Israel, Systema in Soviet-era Russia, and Sanshou in the People's Republic of China are examples of such systems. The US military de-emphasized hand-to-hand combat training during the Cold War period , but revived it with

2108-644: The Czech dance odzemek , and the Norwegian Halling . The mid to late 19th century marks the beginning of the history of martial arts as modern sports developed out of earlier traditional fighting systems. In Europe, this concerns the developments of boxing , wrestling and fencing as sports. In Japan, the same period marks the formation of the modern forms of judo , jujutsu , karate , and kendo (among others) based on revivals of old schools of Edo period martial arts which had been suppressed during

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2176-406: The U.S. by Tokyopop . On March 4, 2015, FMW was resurrected under the name Chō Sentō Puroresu FMW (超戦闘プロレスFMW, Chō Sentō Puroresu FMW). With the resurrected FMW not holding any events since 2018, Onita announced in 2021 that he would be starting Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion (FMW-E) in which the promotion would specialize in exploding death matches . The promotion was highlighted in

2244-525: The USA inspired by the Brazilian Vale tudo tradition and along with other minimal rule competitions, most notably those from Japan such as Shooto and Pancrase , have evolved into the combat sport of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA). Some martial artists compete in non-sparring competitions such as breaking or choreographed routines of techniques such as poomse , kata and aka , or modern variations of

2312-519: The ZEN label and these shows would feature FMW talent. Hayabusa would continue to be featured as the ace of FMW and would go on to feud with the likes of Mr. Gannosuke , Kintaro Kanemura , and, Tetsuhiro Kuroda . As the booker of FMW, Kodo Fuyuki also continued to wrestle and he would go on to help form the top heel faction known as Team No Respect . In 2000, FMW would sign a distribution deal with Tokyopop which would help get their product out to

2380-406: The amount of force that should be used on an opponent. These types of sparring restrict the amount of force that may be used to hit an opponent, in the case of light sparring this is usually to 'touch' contact, e.g. a punch should be 'pulled' as soon as or before contact is made. In medium-contact (sometimes referred to as semi-contact) the punch would not be 'pulled' but not hit with full force. As

2448-522: The amount of force used is restricted, the aim of these types of sparring is not to knock out an opponent; a point system is used in competitions. A referee acts to monitor for fouls and to control the match, while judges mark down scores, as in boxing. Particular targets may be prohibited, certain techniques may be forbidden (such as headbutting or groin hits), and fighters may be required to wear protective equipment on their head, hands, chest, groin, shins or feet. Some grappling arts, such as aikido, use

2516-504: The art in secret, or by telling the colonial authorities that it was a form of dance. While many regional Indian martial arts forms are fading into obscurity, martial arts such as Gatka and Kalaripayattu are experiencing a gradual resurgence. Testing or evaluation is important to martial artists of many disciplines who wish to determine their progression or own level of skill in specific contexts. Students often undergo periodic testing and grading by their own teacher in order to advance to

2584-515: The case of Japanese martial arts , with disciplines such as kenjutsu and kendo (sword), bojutsu (staff), and kyūdō (archery). Similarly, modern martial arts and sports include modern fencing , stick-fighting systems like canne de combat , modern competitive archery and practical shooting . Traditional Korean martial arts place emphasis on the development of the practitioner's spiritual and philosophical being. A common theme in most Korean styles, such as Taekkyon , taekwondo , and Hapkido

2652-610: The colonial authorities during the period of British rule in India , which led to a decline in their popularity. Some, such as Kalaripayattu , were able to resist this decline by practicing in secret. Other Indian martial art, such as Silambam , while not widely practiced in India, continue to be practiced in other countries in the Indian cultural sphere such as Indonesia and Malaysia. Many other Indian martial arts such as Mardhani Khel and Paika Akhada survived by practitioners practicing

2720-478: The combat effectiveness of martial arts or encourage a kind of practice which focuses on winning trophies rather than a focus such as cultivating a particular moral character. The question of "which is the best martial art" has led to inter style competitions fought with very few rules allowing a variety of fighting styles to enter with few limitations. This was the origin of the first Ultimate Fighting Championship tournament (later renamed UFC 1: The Beginning ) in

2788-639: The company on the map and would bring in a more "sports entertainment" look and feel for the promotion that would be almost similar to that of the WWE . In a nod to the WWE, the old Brass Knuckles and Independent championships were abandoned and replaced with new titles, the World Entertainment Wrestling (WEW) championships. Arai would enlist the help of professional wrestler , Kodo Fuyuki as both men would usher in this new era. Having Fuyuki as

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2856-511: The crowds continued to decrease, the amount of debt became too much for Arai, as he finally decided to announce that he has filed for bankruptcy and FMW would go on to have their final show on February 4, 2002. As 2001 came to a close, it was stated that Arai owed the sum of what would be the equivalent of one million US dollars to yakuza due to the money he would constantly borrow but never pay back. Running out of options, on May 16, 2002, Shoichi Arai would commit suicide so his family could collect

2924-597: The early 5th century CE , with the figure of Bodhidharma , to China. Written evidence of martial arts in Southern India dates back to the Sangam literature of about the 2nd century BCE to the 2nd century AD. The combat techniques of the Sangam period were the earliest precursors to Kalaripayattu In Europe, the earliest sources of martial arts traditions date to Ancient Greece . Boxing ( pygme , pyx ), wrestling ( pale ) and pankration were represented in

2992-573: The forefront for promoting Chinese martial arts in the Western world since the late 20th and early 21st centuries. With the continual discovery of more medieval and Renaissance fighting manuals, the practice of Historical European Martial Arts and other Western Martial Arts have been growing in popularity across the United States and Europe. On 29 November 2011, UNESCO inscribed Taekkyon onto its Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity List. Many styles of Indian martial arts were banned by

3060-440: The head is disallowed while wearing only a karate gi , mouthguard , groin guard for males , or chest guard worn under the karate gi for females . Brazilian jiu-jitsu and judo matches do not allow striking, but are full-contact in the sense that full force is applied in the permitted grappling and submission techniques. Competitions held by World Taekwondo requires the use of Headgear and padded vest, but are full contact in

3128-481: The introduction of LINE in 1989. In 1993, the first Pancrase event was held in Japan. The K-1 rules of kickboxing were introduced, based on 1980s Seidokaikan karate. During the 1990s, Brazilian jiu-jitsu became popular and proved to be effective in mixed martial arts (MMA) competitions such as the UFC and PRIDE . Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee were prominent martial artists who became major movie figures. Their popularity and media presence has been at

3196-463: The judges. Some critics of point sparring feel that this method of training teaches habits that result in lower combat effectiveness. Lighter-contact sparring may be used exclusively, for children or in other situations when heavy contact would be inappropriate (such as beginners), medium-contact sparring is often used as training for full contact. Full-contact sparring or competition, where strikes or techniques are not pulled but used with full force as

3264-577: The late fourteenth century. Likewise, Asian martial arts became well-documented during the medieval period, Japanese martial arts beginning with the establishment of the samurai nobility in the 12th century, Chinese martial arts with Ming era treatises such as Ji Xiao Xin Shu , Indian martial arts in medieval texts such as the Agni Purana and the Malla Purana , and Korean martial arts from

3332-418: The life insurance to pay back the money owed to the yakuza. The talent divided into two promotions: Kodo Fuyuki's World Entertainment Wrestling (WEW), the name of FMW's title governing body since 1999, and Mr. Gannosuke 's Wrestlings Marvelous Future (WMF). Some of the talent also made appearances on Onita's special shows. Following Fuyuki's death in 2003, most of the WEW talent under Kintaro Kanemura formed

3400-490: The mainstream from the 1950s–1960s. Due in part to Asian and Hollywood martial arts movies , most modern American martial arts are either Asian-derived or Asian influenced. The term kickboxing (キックボクシング) was created by the Japanese boxing promoter Osamu Noguchi for a variant of muay Thai and karate that he created in the 1950s. American kickboxing was developed in the 1970s, as a combination of boxing and karate. Taekwondo

3468-498: The martial arts which include dance-influenced competitions such as tricking. Martial traditions have been influenced by governments to become more sport-like for political purposes; the central impetus for the attempt by the People's Republic of China in transforming Chinese martial arts into the committee-regulated sport of wushu was suppressing what they saw as the potentially subversive aspects of martial training, especially under

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3536-456: The name implies, has a number of tactical differences from light and medium-contact sparring. It is considered by some to be requisite in learning realistic unarmed combat. In full-contact sparring, the aim of a competitive match is to knock out the opponent or to force the opponent to submit . Where scoring takes place it may be a subsidiary measure, only used if no clear winner has been established by other means; in some competitions, such as

3604-537: The new promotion was formed. The promotion, however, held its last card to date on December 19, 2021, after which Onita went freelance yet again. In October 2022, FMW-E started back up promoting cards. Deceased individuals are indicated with a dagger (†). Martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence ; military and law enforcement applications; competition ; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment ; and

3672-567: The preservation of a nation's intangible cultural heritage . "Martial arts" is a direct English translation of the Sino-Japanese word ( Japanese : 武芸 , romanized :  bu-gei , Chinese : 武藝 ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī : bú-gē ; pinyin : wǔyì ). Literally, it refers to "武 martial" and "艺 arts". The term martial arts was popularized by mainstream popular culture during the 1960s to 1970s, notably by Hong Kong martial arts films (most famously those of Bruce Lee ) during

3740-596: The president and Hayabusa as the executive producer of the promotion, which would also feature participation from Atsushi Onita. The promotion held its first event on April 21. On October 30, 2015, they announced that they were reviving the FMW World Street Fight 6-Man Tag Team Championship , as they set a match to determine new champions on December 22. In 2016, two tragedies had befallen FMW. On February 17, 2016, Ray would announce that she had inoperable stage three brain cancer after being diagnosed with

3808-414: The promotion around Osaka . The promotion lasted until Christmas 2016, when it closed for a final time due to Kanemura's retirement from active competition. After Apache Pro's closure, Tomohiko Hashimoto launched a new offshoot promotion Pro-Wrestling A-Team, which continues to promote the WEW titles. Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling-Explosion ( FMW-E )

3876-401: The promotion for his high flying style and it was known that Hayabusa was the "ace" of FMW. Onita was fixing to retire once again from professional wrestling and his retirement match was held at the annual May 5th, Kawasaki Stadium show. This was FMW's biggest show of the year and Onita would take on Hayabusa in an exploding barbed wire cage, timebomb deathmatch. This match now signified

3944-504: The sense that full force is applied to strikes to the head and body, and win by knockout is possible. Martial arts have crossed over into sports when forms of sparring become competitive, becoming a sport in its own right that is dissociated from the original combative origin, such as with western fencing. The Summer Olympic Games includes judo, taekwondo, western archery, boxing, javelin, wrestling and fencing as events, while Chinese wushu recently failed in its bid to be included, but

4012-763: The sense that they reconstruct or preserve a historical system from a specific era. They are rather contemporary regional sports that coexist with the modern forms of martial arts sports as they have developed since the 19th century, often including cross-fertilization between sports and folk styles; thus, the traditional Thai art of muay boran developed into the modern national sport of muay Thai , which in turn came to be practiced worldwide and contributed significantly to modern hybrid styles like kickboxing and mixed martial arts . Singlestick , an English martial art can be seen often used in morris dancing . Many European dances share elements of martial arts with examples including Ukrainian Hopak , Polish Zbójnicki (use of ciupaga ),

4080-508: The so-called " chopsocky " wave of the early 1970s. According to John Clements, the term martial arts itself is derived from an older Latin term meaning "arts of Mars ", the Roman god of war, and was used to refer to the combat systems of Europe ( European martial arts ) as early as the 1550s. The term martial science , or martial sciences , was commonly used to refer to the fighting arts of East Asia ( Asian martial arts ) up until

4148-696: The third season of the Vice TV 's pro wrestling docuseries Dark Side of the Ring in September 2021. The Atsushi Onita era of FMW originally consisted of a promotion that featured not only professional wrestling but the best martial arts fighters in the world. Onita would bring in American talent that were known in Japan like Jos LeDuc and Dick Murdoch , as well female talent and midget wrestlers. As

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4216-406: The traditional system of family lineages. Martial arts training aims to result in several benefits to trainees, such as their physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health. Through systematic practice in the martial arts a person's physical fitness may be boosted (strength, stamina, speed, flexibility, movement coordination, etc.) as the whole body is exercised and the entire muscular system

4284-430: The years progressed with FMW, Onita decided to phase out the martial arts aspect of the company and focus strictly on professional wrestling . Onita would go on to have violent and bloody matches like the first ever barbed wire match in the company where he would team with Tarzan Goto as they took on the team of Mitsuhiro Matsunaga and Jerry Flynn . Onita would use real barbed wire which resulted in him receiving

4352-423: The years progressed, the audiences for the live shows began to decrease and Arai would slowly sink further and further into debt. Tragedy struck the promotion on October 22, 2001, during a match with Hayabusa and Mammoth Sasaki. Hayabusa attempted a springboard moonsault —one of his signature moves—but he accidentally slipped on the ropes and fell directly on his neck, breaking it and paralyzing him. As

4420-408: The young Eiji Ezaki started to slowly work his way through the ranks. He was known as a prodigy in the world of wrestling and like a-lot of promotions in Japan do, send him on excursion away from the company as they will learn and develop. Ezaki would go on excursion to Mexico and wrestle for a couple of different promotions and developed the character of Hayabusa . Hayabusa became a fan favorite in

4488-699: Was developed in the context of the Korean War in the 1950s. The later 1960s and 1970s witnessed an increased media interest in Chinese martial arts , influenced by martial artist Bruce Lee . Bruce Lee is credited as one of the first instructors to openly teach Chinese martial arts to Westerners. World Judo Championships have been held since 1956, Judo at the Summer Olympics was introduced in 1964. Karate World Championships were introduced in 1970. The " kung fu wave " of Hong Kong action cinema in

4556-400: Was founded by Ito and Kanemura in 2004 as a replacement for Fuyuki-Gun Promotion and WEW. Their first event was on August 30, the main event was a six-man tag team match which had Ichiro Yaguchi, Riki Choshu , and Tomohiro Ishii defeating BADBOY Hido , Dick Togo , and Kanemura. The first WEW Heavyweight Champion under Apache Pro was Togi Makabe . On August 1, 2006, Apache Pro would hold

4624-522: Was the first man known to have taught Asian martial arts in Europe. He also founded an eclectic style named Bartitsu which combined jujutsu, judo, wrestling, boxing, savate and stick fighting . Fencing and Greco-Roman wrestling was included in the 1896 Summer Olympics . FILA Wrestling World Championships and Boxing at the Summer Olympics were introduced in 1904. The tradition of awarding championship belts in wrestling and boxing can be traced to

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