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121-455: After failing the entrance exams to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Murakawa joined Universal Lucha Libre and had his debut on March 1, 1990, against Monkey Magic Wakita . He later adopted the name "Masa Michinoku", derived from his own given name and the alternate name for his Japanese home region of Tōhoku , Michinoku. He portrayed a Japanese folkloric gimmick who wore a cloak and a sandogasa hat in his ring entrance, which he traded for

242-786: A best-selling trading card game, King of Pro Wrestling , and appearances from NJPW stars in its various franchises. NJPW was affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance at various points in its history. NJPW also had agreements with various MMA and professional wrestling promotions around the world; including WWE , World Championship Wrestling , American Wrestling Association , World Class Championship Wrestling , Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , WAR , Jersey All Pro Wrestling , UWFi , Ring of Honor , Pride Fighting Championships , and All Elite Wrestling . Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s The promotion

363-639: A four-way match for the WEW Hardcore Tag Team Championship and lost. 2007 kicked of for Michinoku in the form of a New Year battle royal, which was won by Boso Boy Raito. Michinoku teamed up with Kazma to take part in the GET block part of K-DOJO Tag League 2007, the pair reached the final before being eliminated by Makoto Oishi and Shiori Asahi. After Hi69's departure, Taka Michinoku became commissioner of RAVE and 296 became commissioner of GET. On April 22, 2007, RAVE ran its last show;

484-472: A gimmick based on Randy "The Ram" Robinson, Mickey Rourke 's character from the professional wrestling film The Wrestler . He started wrestling barechested for the first time in his career, donned green tights with, and adopted a taunting diving headbutt just like the film character. He abandoned the impersonation after a couple years, though he retained the custom to wear only shorter tights as opposed to his old bodysuit. On April 15, 2011, Sasuke returned to

605-503: A large group of wrestlers. He would found Michinoku Pro Wrestling , the first Japanese independent promotion not to be based around the Tokyo area. MPW kicked off in March 1993, when Sasuke and the rest of babyface wrestlers entered an intense feud against the villainous Super Delfin and his Delfín Corps. This rivalry would last many years. In 1994, New Japan Pro-Wrestling celebrated

726-655: A loss against Jerry Lynn & his last two matches for ECW was in the form of two wins against Mosco de la Merced. While competing in ECW and then in WWF, Michinoku also had a spell in CMLL in 1997, competing as a tecnico . In that period, two other Japanese wrestlers wrestled in Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre , namely Ultimo Dragon and Yoshihiro Tajiri . Michinoku fought between the others The Headhunters and Val Venis , at

847-757: A lot more because of it. They would defend their championship against other factions such as Omega and Gekirin. However, on June 20, 2008, Handsome would lose the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship to Omega's Kazma and Miyawaki. Handsome would regain the championship a few months later on August 31. They would lose it to Omega once again with Makoto Oishi & Shiori Asahi defeating them on December 14. Handsome would take part in K-DOJO Tag Team League 2009 but didn't progress further. Michinoku won Strongest-K next challenger tournament and went on to beat Kengo Mashimo to become

968-586: A new Greatest 18 Club Championship , awarding it to Riki Choshu . The Greatest Wrestlers is New Japan's hall of fame , established in 2007 to honor wrestlers who have wrestled for the promotion. From 2007 to 2011, the inductions begin on March 6, the anniversary of the promotion's founding. Domestic: International (former): International (current): Worldwide : Taka Michinoku Takao Yoshida ( 吉田 貴男 , Yoshida Takao ) (born October 26, 1973), better known by his ring name Taka Michinoku ( Taka みちのく ) (stylized as TAKA Michinoku ),

1089-583: A new mask modified to resemble the Brahmans. It marked the first time Sasuke had turned heel in many years. Mu no Taiyo opposed the Michinoku home army, but had a particular beef with popular tag team of Yapper Man 1 and Yapper Man 2 , as well as New Phase, the new team of Ayumu Gunji and Daichi Sasaki. In early 2021, the Brahman Brothers kicked Sasuke out of Mu no Taiyo following a loss to

1210-481: A new partnership with The Crash Lucha Libre ; both partnerships ended later in 2019. On October 21, 2019, NJPW announced the formation of a new American subsidiary of the company, named New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America (NJoA). In 2019, they had run a record 13 shows in the United States, with plans to run double that in 2020. It was reported at the same time that NJPW and ROH had no joint shows planned for

1331-601: A problem for Michinoku as on January 6, 2006, he would lose the Strongest-K Championship to JOE, holding the championship for almost one year and making him the longest Strongest-K Champion up to that point. However, after losing the championship, a few months later on June 4, 2006, Michinoku teamed up with TOMO Michinoku to beat Shiori Asahi and Makoto Oishi to win the WEW Hardcore Tag Team Championship and would lose

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1452-455: A second Mexico tour, he finally tweaked his name to "The Great Sasuke", and adopted a red, black, and white mask patterned after kumadori makeup, reminiscent of the one worn by fellow Japanese wrestler Mach Hayato. Shortly after, Sasuke proclaimed he was going to found a professional wrestling promotion in Tohoku, initially thought as an Universal Lucha Libre branch, and left the promotion with

1573-523: A series of challenges, Sasuke initiated the tradition of the Great Space War ( 宇宙大戦争 , Uchuu Daisensou ) , a garbage wrestling event where he would face off against the Sato brothers under outrageous costumed identities and fantastic storylines. After sitting out of most of 2007 due to his political career, he returned to form a tag team with upcoming ace Yoshitsune . Stoned disappeared later in

1694-716: A storyline, where the entire stable invaded the Pro Wrestling Noah promotion. Michinoku and El Desperado won the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship on March 15 by defeating Choukibou-gun ( Hajime Ohara and Kenoh ) and No Mercy ( Daisuke Harada and Genba Hirayanagi ) in a three-way match. They lost the title to Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada in their fifth defense on October 4. Suzuki-gun's Noah invasion storyline concluded in December 2016, which led to

1815-765: A total of six points, not enough to progress to the next stage. At AJPW Excite Series 2004, Michinoku took on Kaz Hayashi in a match for the vacant World Junior Heavyweight Championship , which Hayashi won. On January 10, 2005, Michinoku took on Hayashi in an all or nothing match where the Strongest-K Championship and World Junior Heavyweight Championship were on the line and Michinoku won. With this win and many more successes, RO&D would dominate AJPW, which led to an AJPW vs RO&D best of three falls match, which RO&D won. Michinoku teamed up with RO&D honorary member PSYCHO to take part in All Asia Tag Team Championship tournament and reached

1936-581: A two time Strongest-K Champion. Michinoku finally lost the championship to his longtime rival Kazma on October 10, 2009. In late 2009, Handsome went separate ways. Michinoku teamed up with Taishi Takizawa in K-DOJO Tag League 2010 and reached the final before being eliminated by Daigoro Kashiwa and Kengo Mashimo and would lose to Kengo Mashimo again in Strongest-K 2010. Michinoku would be part of multiple number one contendorship matches for

2057-533: A white ōendan gakuran every time he wrestled abroad. His underling Taka Michinoku would receive a similar character. During a tour in Mexico for Universal Wrestling Association , Murakawa adopted the character of Ninja Sasuke, a ninja gimmick inspired by the legendary Sarutobi Sasuke . He started wearing a black bodysuit with a matching lucha libre mask , and utilized a wrestling style set between lucha libre and martial arts . Upon returning to Japan after

2178-538: Is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist . He primarily appears for New Japan Pro-Wrestling , where he is a member of the Just 5 Guys stable. From 2011, he was a member of Suzuki-gun , until the faction's disbandment in 2022. Michinoku also is the founder and regularly appears for Just Tap Out (JTO), which was founded in 2019. Michinoku is also known in North America for his work for

2299-498: Is currently owned by card game company Bushiroad , while TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares of the company. Naoki Sugabayashi has served as the promotion's Chairman since September 2013, while Hiroshi Tanahashi has served as the president of the promotion since December 2023. Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, NJPW is the largest and longest-running professional wrestling promotion in Japan. Their biggest event

2420-543: Is the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show (currently promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom banner) held each year since 1992. In addition to promoting professional wrestling matches, NJPW has also showcased mixed martial arts fights on some of its live events. The promotion was owned by Yuke's from 2005 until 2012. It was then sold to Bushiroad in 2012, which parlayed its entry to the world of professional wrestling into

2541-584: The 2013 Best of the Super Juniors . After originally failing to advance from his block, Michinoku was given a spot in the semifinals, after original block winner Ryusuke Taguchi suffered a hip injury. He was eliminated from the tournament in the semifinals on June 9 by Alex Shelley. On July 20, Michinoku and Taichi received another shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, but were defeated by

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2662-701: The 2020 New Japan Cup as well. World Wonder Ring Stardom is owned by Bushiroad , also made adjustments to their schedule, cancelling shows from February 18 to March 14. Their March 8 show in Korakuen Hall was held without any spectators in attendance, instead streaming live on their YouTube channel. On March 23, NJPW would later cancel the 2020 Sakura Genesis event that was originally scheduled to take place in on March 31. On April 8, NJPW would cancel more events from April 11 through May 4, which mean both nights of 2020 Wrestling Dontaku were cancelled as well. On May 6, NJPW cancelled their annual Best of

2783-518: The AJPW Junior League 2006 and therefore didn't progress. In late 2006, RO&D disbanded. After RO&D Michinoku participated in World's Strongest Tag Determination League 2006 and teamed up with former RO&D member Taiyo Kea and gained only five points and didn't progress further. Pepe Michinoku (Taka Michinoku), El Nosawa Mendoza , and Miguel Hayashi Jr formed a team during

2904-913: The Acolytes Protection Agency . In 2000 they had a chance to become the number one contenders for the WWF World Tag Team Championship in a number one contendership battle royal in which The APA won. In 2001 KaiEnTai took on the Dudley Boyz for the WWF Tag Team Championship but failed to capture them. In 2000 and 2001 Michinoku had multiple opportunities to become the WWF Light Heavyweight Champion taking on Dean Malenko , Jeff Hardy and others. In their last match together as KaiEnTai, due to Michinoku leaving

3025-683: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship , which Devitt retained. Michinoku teamed up with Taichi to take on Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship and lost. After Satoshi Kojima lost the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to Hiroshi Tanahashi at Wrestle Kingdom V , Kojima suffered another big loss against longtime rival Togi Makabe on May 3 and following

3146-614: The Iwate Prefectural Assembly as an independent supported by the Liberal Party , making him the first actual masked legislator in history. He became the fourth Japanese wrestler to get elected to office. Antonio Inoki , Hiroshi Hase and Atsushi Onita preceded him, though all of them were elected to the Diet of Japan at the national level. Sasuke unsuccessfully ran in his bid to become governor of Iwate in

3267-806: The KOPW (King of Pro Wrestling) Championship. For tag teams, there is a traditional championship for two-man teams (the IWGP Tag Team Championship ), and one for three-man teams (the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship ). There are two championships in NJPW for junior heavyweight wrestlers - a singles title (the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship ) and one for tag teams (the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship ). In New Japan's United States based NJPW Strong brand, there are two championships for male wrestlers -

3388-917: The NJPW Invasion Tour 2011: Attack on East Coast , the promotion's first tour of the United States to be held in May 2011. The tour featured shows in Rahway, New Jersey on May 13, New York City on May 14 and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 15, as well as cross-promotion with American independent group Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW). As part of the tour, NJPW introduced a new title, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. On January 31, 2012, Yuke's announced that it had sold all shares of New Japan Pro-Wrestling to card game company Bushiroad for ¥ 500 million ( $ 6.5 million). New Japan aired its first internet pay-per-view ,

3509-578: The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as well as holding more shows in Thailand , Singapore , and Taiwan . Also announced was the Lion's Gate Project , which would feature NJPW rookies as well as up-and-coming outsiders working trial matches in an effort to earn a spot in the promotion. Finally, it was announced that there were plans to take the company public with a listing on the stock market within three to five years. On December 21, 2015, NJPW announced

3630-476: The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from 1975 to 1985 and once more from 1992 to 1993. NJPW was briefly reaffiliated with the NWA in the late 2000s to the early 2010s as well. On January 4, 1992, NJPW partnered with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) to produce Super Warriors , the first ever January 4 Tokyo Dome Show , an event that would become an annual tradition for NJPW and is considered their biggest event of

3751-731: The New Zealand -based Fale Dojo , a pro wrestling training facility run by NJPW performer Bad Luck Fale . NJPW will utilize the partnership as an opportunity to scout talent from Oceania . The following month on April 24, 2017, it was announced that NJPW would co-present the Japanese qualifiers for the Pro Wrestling World Cup tournament hosted by the British What Culture Pro Wrestling (WCPW) promotion. On May 12, 2017, NJPW announced

The Great Sasuke - Misplaced Pages Continue

3872-750: The Strong Openweight Championship for singles wrestlers, and the Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship for tag teams. There are two championships for female wrestlers in NJPW, the IWGP Women's Championship and the Strong Women's Championship . As of November 28, 2024. The Greatest 18 Club was New Japan's first hall of fame, being established in 1990 during Antonio Inoki's career 30th anniversary. Additionally, Lou Thesz also debuted

3993-652: The UWA World Middleweight Championship for the first time. On May 11, he defeated Nanjyo Hayato in a title vs. title match to also win the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship for the third time. Michinoku lost the UWA title to Ryuichi Sekine on August 11. On November 10, he once again became a double champion, when he and Kaji Tomato defeated Kazma Sakamoto and Kengo Mashimo for

4114-621: The United Center in Chicago, Illinois . During September 2022, NJPW announced NJPW Tamashii , an Oceania-based brand that would stage events throughout the region. On October 1, 2022, NJPW's founder Antonio Inoki died from systemic transthyretin amyloidosis at age 79. On January 4, 2023, NJPW held their Wrestle Kingdom 17 event in Inoki's honor. In October 2023, NJPW and sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom established

4235-598: The United Japan Pro-Wrestling (UJPW) alliance. The inaugural UJPW event took place on May 6, 2024, in the Nippon Budokan arena. On December 23, NJPW announced that Takami Ohbari had stepped down as the promotion's president, with Hiroshi Tanahashi replacing him as NJPW president and representative director. On April 23, 2024, NJPW announced that it would fully acquire sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom on June 28. The acquisition

4356-524: The World Tag League & Best of the Super Juniors finals, Minoru Suzuki announced the disbandment of Suzuki-gun by the end of the year. The final match between the faction took place on December 23, where the team of Taichi, Sabre Jr, Kanemaru and Douki defeated Suzuki, Archer, Desperado and Michinoku. After the match, each of the Suzuki-gun members spoke about their memories as a part of

4477-496: The World Wrestling Federation (WWF, now WWE) where he had the first WWF Light Heavyweight Championship reign recognized by the promotion. Michinoku is the founder and former promoter of Kaientai Dojo (now Active Advance Pro Wrestling), where he also primarily wrestled until 2019. Having held championship titles in Japan, North America, Mexico and Europe, Yoshida is known for his long title reigns. He held

4598-779: The World Wrestling Federation , one of them at In Your House 16: Canadian Stampede . It was apparent that Sasuke would sign up with WWF, but it was Michinoku who ended up being signed on his place for unknown reasons. Upon returning to Japan, Sasuke and Tiger Mask IV began feuding with two heel doppelgängers , Sasuke the Great and Masked Tiger (played respectively by Masao Orihara and Takeshi Ono), aside from usual villain Super Delfin. Around this time, however, Sasuke would take repeated hiatuses in order to have time to heal injuries, which led him to clash against other wrestlers, most particularly Delfin, who accused him of being unfit to lead

4719-516: The 2007 election. This championship is promoted by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), it was on loan to them from New Japan Pro-Wrestling when he won it. Also, despite the title still using the NWA initials, it is no longer recognized or sanctioned as a world title by the National Wrestling Alliance . The same goes for the NWA World Middleweight Championship . Despite winning the title twice, neither of

4840-540: The AJPW Champion Carnival called Mexico Amigos. El Hijo del Araya Segundo (Nobutaka Araya) joined the team after Six-Man Action between Mexico Amigos and Araya/Fuchi/Hirai at the Carnival's final show. After multiple bouts against Minoru Suzuki , Nosawa (NOSAWA Rongai) offered Suzuki an invitation into Mexico Amigos, to which he declined. This resulted in the group changing multiple assets. Their name

4961-529: The All Asia Tag Team Championship with Black Tiger VII . In the beginning of 2007, Michinoku would team up sporadically at New Japan events with Kaientai Dojo wrestler Dick Togo . On May 2, 2007, Michinoku and Togo would beat tag team legends Gedo and Jado to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions . The pairing would defend the championships on both New Japan events but also Kaientai events too. Although holding

The Great Sasuke - Misplaced Pages Continue

5082-479: The American AXS TV network announced it had acquired rights to rebroadcast a series of thirteen episodes of NJPW matches from TV Asahi . The series premiered on January 16, 2015, airing weekly on Fridays. Averaging 200,000 viewers per episode, the show was considered a success, leading to AXS TV and TV Asahi signing a multi-year deal to continue airing the show. In June 2016, the show was also acquired by

5203-681: The Asia Pacific Pro-Wrestling Alliance, an interpromotional governing body that seeks to connect wrestling promotions across Asia. On January 5, 2024, the alliance was renamed the Asia-Pacific Federation of Wrestling (APFW). The inaugural event sanctioned by APFW, NJPW's Wrestling World in Taiwan, took place on April 14 in Taipei . In early December 2023, NJPW was announced as a founding member of

5324-582: The Brahman Brothers) defeated Sasuke after the latter crashed in a dangerous stunt, which prompted him to reflect about the state of things. Sasuke then said he knew the Brahmans were attempting to protect the Earth from alien invaders, and asked them to join forces to fight for the greater good. This led to the creation of Mu no Taiyo ( ムーの太陽 , Mū no Taiyō ) , a shinshūkyō cult -themed stable, with Sasuke posing as their messianic leader under

5445-492: The Canadian Fight Network . On December 1, 2014, NJPW and TV Asahi announced NJPW World , a new worldwide streaming site for the promotion's events. On July 18, 2015, NJPW announced the "New IWGP Conception", a global expansion strategy centered on their international partnerships with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), GFW, ROH, Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW), Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), and

5566-520: The Chiba 6 Man Tag Team Champions. They would lose the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship to Saburo Inematsu and Yuji Hino. He would lose to Taishi Takizawa in the semifinal of Kaio Tournament. On October 14, 2012, Michinoku celebrated his twentieth anniversary in professional wrestling with a six-man tag team match, where he, Cima and Funaki were defeated by Minoru Suzuki, Nosawa Rongai and Taichi . On April 14, 2013, Michinoku defeated Yuki Sato to win

5687-942: The FMW Independent World Junior Heavyweight Title for a combined duration of more than 15 months, the WWF Light Heavyweight Title for a then record-setting 10 months and the WEW Six-Man Tag Team Title for almost a year. Yoshida has held the World Junior Heavyweight Championship , Michinoku Pro Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship and Kaientai Dojo (K-Dojo) Strongest-K Championship simultaneously for almost 10 months. During his reign, he has defended his titles against both AJPW and independent circuit talent to increase his base of opponents, and thus has increased

5808-486: The Forever Hooligans to become the new IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions. Michinoku and Taichi made their first successful title defense on November 1, defeating Gedo and Jado at their self-produced independent event. After a reign of 26 days, Michinoku and Taichi lost the title to The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) on November 9 at Power Struggle . In January 2015, Suzuki-gun entered

5929-500: The Inoki family, the company began to reintegrate its prior puroresu style of wrestling. Also in 2007, NJPW hosted its first ever pay-per-view (PPV) event Wrestle Kingdom I . The promotion debuted a new series called NEVER in August 2010, designed to be a series of events spotlighting younger up-and-coming New Japan talent and feature more outsider participation in the promotion. On January 4, 2011, New Japan officially announced

6050-600: The Light Heavyweight division. He was entered in the WWF Light Heavyweight Title Tournament where the winner would become the first WWF Light Heavyweight Champion , he beat Devon Storm in the quarterfinal, Aguila in the semifinal. On December 7, 1997, Michinoku defeated Brian Christopher at D-Generation X: In Your House to become the first WWF Light Heavyweight Champion recognized by the WWF. Taka successfully defended

6171-513: The Sasuke Group and the rest of Michinoku wrestlers would have the effect of fracturing the promotion, as Dick Togo and Super Delfin had their own feud about the latter's role in the babyface team. After Togo humiliated Delfín by forcing him to crawl between his legs and later caused a riot by abusing him further, Sasuke adopted the same approach against Delfín in their battles, which eventually led to his departure from MPW to form Osaka Pro Wrestling due to both kayfabe and real dissatisfaction with

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6292-402: The Sato brothers turned heel the same year and joined Kagetora to create Stoned, the next great heel stable. Sasuke spent 2006 in an interpromotional feud with Osaka Pro Wrestling , eventually having a degree of reconciliation with Super Delfin in the ring, and continued wrestling in Hustle and other promotions, allying with tarento Hitomi Kaikawa in her wrestling debut. The same year, after

6413-421: The Strongest-K Championship and also participated in Strongest-K tournament 2011 but lost all. Michinoku and Quiet Storm took on Ryuichi Sekine & Saburo Inematsu in a match for the Strongest-K Tag Team Championship and lost. Michinoku teamed with Kengo Mashimo to become the Strongest-K Tag Team Champions and would go on to win the K-DOJO Tag League 2012. Michinoku and Kengo teamed with Isami Kodaka to become

6534-441: The Strongest-K Tag Team Championship alongside Men's Teioh. In November 2018, it was revealed Michinoku had an extra-marital relationship of 8 years with a woman. After this scandal, K-Dojo fired Michinoku from the administration and a one-year payment suspension. On January 22, 2019, Michinoku also left the promotion, working as a freelancer. Michinoku debuted for All Japan Pro Wrestling in August 2003. `He would quickly join

6655-448: The Strongest-K Tag Team Championship. They, however, lost the title to Hiroshi Fukuda and Shiori Asahi just six days later. Michinoku and Tomato regained the title from Fukuda and Asahi on January 26, 2014. On March 2, Michinoku and Tomato lost the title to Hiroki and Yuji Hino. On September 6, Michinoku lost the Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship to Teppei in his seventeenth title defense. On July 12, 2015, Michinoku won

6776-574: The Super Juniors tournament. The next day, NJPW postponed their Wrestle Dynasty event to 2021, which was to take place in Madison Square Garden in New York. On June 9, NJPW announced their return with special show with mystery match card called Together Special on June 15 and the return of the New Japan Cup would now be held from June 16 until July 11, with the final being held at Osaka-jō Hall in Osaka alongside Dominion in Osaka-jo Hall being rescheduled to July 12. On September 29, NJPW announced that Meij would no longer be appointed president of

6897-441: The Super Juniors 1994 and only gained two points therefore losing the tournament. He also went up against Super Delfin for the CMLL World Welterweight Championship and had a J-Crown Title #1 Contendership match with Koji Kanemoto , both of which he lost. Michinoku's first title reign came in the form of the FMW Independent Junior Heavyweight Championship , which he won by defeating Koji Nakagawa on May 5, 1996. He would lose

7018-436: The Super Juniors XIX , however, neither progressed to the semifinal. After their elimination from the tournament, Michinoku and Taichi had set their sights on the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, but were, on June 16 at Dominion 6.16 , defeated by Jyushin Thunder Liger and Tiger Mask in a match for the vacant championship. In August, Michinoku and Taichi began blaming each other for their recent losses, which led to

7139-404: The United States to wrestle for Chikara in the 2011 King of Trios tournament , where he would represent Michinoku Pro with Dick Togo and Jinsei Shinzaki. In their first round match Team Michinoku Pro defeated Team Minnesota ( 1-2-3 Kid , Arik Cannon and Darin Corbin). The following day, Team Michinoku Pro defeated Jigsaw , Manami Toyota and Mike Quackenbush to advance to the semifinals of

7260-534: The WWF Light Heavyweight Title at No Way Out of Texas: In Your House against Pantera , at WrestleMania XIV against Aguila and against multiple different opponents on Raw is War and Shotgun Saturday Night . After holding the title for more than 10 months, Michinoku lost the title to Christian at Judgment Day: In Your House on October 18. Taka started to become "Americanised" and on Raw, he teamed with Bradshaw and segments where shown of Taka and Bradshaw doing generalised and stereotyped American activities. He

7381-709: The WWF, they defeated Justin Credible and Raven on the October 20, 2001 edition of WWF Jakked . Taka was released by WWF. After departing from the WWF in early 2002, Michinoku returned to Japan to rehabilitate a serious shoulder injury. On May 19, 2002, Michinoku debuted for Kaientai Dojo at K-Dojo New Talent Presentation where Michinoku had several matches with four new K-Dojo talents and won all four matches. In June, Michinoku took part in CLUB-K Super Take tournament and would be knocked out by Daigoro Kashiwa . In March 2003, Michinoku teamed up with Mr. X5 to take part in UWA/UWF Intercontinental Tag Team Championship number one contendership tournament and were eliminated in

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7502-429: The Worlds '15 on May 12 and 13 in Philadelphia and Global Wars '15 on May 15 and 16 in Toronto. In June 2014, New Japan announced a partnership with the new American Global Force Wrestling (GFW) organization helmed by Jeff Jarrett . In November 2014, GFW announced that it would be broadcasting NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome on pay-per-view in the United States as a four-hour event. Also in November 2014,

7623-403: The Yapper Men and GAINA. Two months later, Sasuke would reunite with Shinozaki and the two would beat Mu no Taiyo for the MPW Tohoku Tag Team Championships and the UWA World Tag Team Championships. In 1999, Sasuke performed on Sasuke , the popular Japanese obstacle course competition. In the Third Competition, he got stuck at the Rolling Log and timed out on the Hill Climb. When the name SASUKE

7744-430: The angle. Sasuke continued his war on MPW until 1999, when he was forcefully turned face again after Jinsei Shinzaki " exorcized the evil out of him." Now devoid of talent due to the absence of wrestlers who had left with Delfín and other ventures, MPW was left in ruins, a situation the now heroic Sasuke vowed to mend. In 1999 he won the NWA World Middleweight Championship vacated by old rival Ultimo Dragon . Although

7865-442: The bottom of the block with 0 points, failing to win a single match. On January 4, 2022, at night one of Wrestle Kingdom 16 , Michinoku competed in the New Japan Rambo but failed to last till the final 4. In March, Michinoku competed in the New Japan Cup , losing to Cima in the first round. Michinoku continued to team with his Suzuki-gun stablemates for the remainder of the year in mainly tag-team matches. In December 2022, at

7986-460: The championship to Apple Miyuki and YOSHIYA almost a month later on July 8. K-DOJO was separated into two distinct sides, GET and RAVE, which ran separate shows but often joined during large shows and tours and GET was led by Taka Michinoku while RAVE's leader was Hi69 . Michinoku participated in the GET block of Strongest-K 2006, Michinoku gained four points and therefore did not progress forward. Michinoku teamed up with TAKU Michinoku to take part in

8107-631: The championships for several months, Michinoku and Togo would rarely compete for New Japan and only wrestled in matches for the championships, however, the pair would still regularly compete for Kaientai Dojo. After several defences against the likes of Koji Kanemoto and Wataru Inoue , the pair finally lost the championships to Control Terrorism Unit members Prince Devitt and Minoru . In late 2010, Michinoku returned to New Japan and began teaming up with Satoshi Kojima , Nosawa Rongai and Taichi to form Kojima-gun in early 2011. On February 20, 2011, at The New Beginning , Michinoku took on Prince Devitt for

8228-412: The creation of a new title: the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, with the inaugural champion to be crowned during the promotion's G1 Special in USA shows in Long Beach, California on July 1 and 2. Four days later, NJPW held a press conference to announce plans to establish a subsidiary company, including a dojo, in the United States. A Los Angeles office was scheduled to be opened before

8349-408: The creation of its seventh active title and the first six-man tag team championship in the promotion's history, the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. On January 5, 2016, NJPW announced a partnership with the Amuse talent agency with the goal of making the promotion's wrestlers internationally recognized stars in the vein of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson . In March 2017, NJPW partnered with

8470-479: The creation of the J Crown title, with Sasuke winning it in the final of a tournament against Último Dragón on August. For two months, Sasuke was one of the most decorated wrestlers in history, until he lost all of it to Dragón in Wrestle Association R in October 1996. In February 1997, Sasuke and several of his MPW teammates made a pair of appearances for Extreme Championship Wrestling in United States. In July, he and Taka Michinoku also wrestled two matches for

8591-461: The defending champions, the Forever Hooligans ( Alex Koslov and Rocky Romero ). On September 29 at Destruction , Michinoku and Taichi failed to earn another shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship, when they were defeated in a number one contender's match by Time Splitters. However, when Alex Shelley was sidelined with an injury, Michinoku and Taichi were given the title shot and, on October 14 at King of Pro-Wrestling , defeated

8712-442: The early 2000s, the burgeoning popularity of mixed martial arts (MMA) in Japan was noticed by Inoki, who wanted to integrate elements of shoot wrestling to make the company appear more realistic. The company would partner with martial arts organization K-1 and begin to insert wrestlers into MMA fights, with the goal of pushing NJPW in a more realistic direction and to make it appear as an actual sport. The company's new management

8833-490: The end of 2017, with a dojo scheduled to be opened at the start of 2018. NJPW's second American event, Strong Style Evolved , took place on March 25, 2018, also in Long Beach. In November 2017, NJPW signed a television deal with Discovery Communications , which would see the company's programming brought to 70 million Indian homes through DSport . In January 2018, NJPW announced the four-show Fallout Down Under tour,

8954-463: The fallen Toryumon X wrestlers, Sasuke commanded the Michinoku home army against the new top heel faction, Los Salseros Japoneses ( Takeshi Minamino , Pineapple Hanai and Mango Fukuda ). He formed tag teams with Dick Togo and Garuda, but also joined Kei and Shu Sato to try to reform Sailor Boys, the boy band stable they formed in Toryumon with Taiji Ishimori . However, this was short-lived, as

9075-535: The first Super J Cup , a junior heavyweight tournament for wrestlers from all over the world. Sasuke was drafted and reached the finals after beating NJPW favourites Jushin Thunder Liger and El Samurai , but fell to Wild Pegasus at the end. Despite his loss, Sasuke represented Michinoku Pro excellently and allowed for it to receive national coverage, and he himself became one of the most popular junior wrestlers in Japan. The same year, Sasuke competed in

9196-468: The first ever IWGP Heavyweight Champion by defeating Inoki. However, this championship was later abandoned and the current version of the championship was established in 1987. Inoki would serve as the president of the promotion until 1989, when he was succeeded by Seiji Sakaguchi . On April 24, 1989, NJPW hosted Battle Satellite , its first show in the Tokyo Dome . The promotion was a member of

9317-763: The form of a loss to the Hardy Boyz . At WrestleMania 2000 the pair were part of a hardcore battle royal for the WWF Hardcore Championship , Funaki even became the Hardcore champion for a small amount of time however Michinoku never held the title. Taka's biggest venture in WWF came when he challenged Triple H for the WWF Championship on the April 10, 2000 edition of Raw , coming up short despite interference on his behalf from Funaki and

9438-544: The fourth day of the 2012 G1 Climax , on August 5, 2012. The October 8, 2012, King of Pro-Wrestling pay-per-view marked the first time viewers outside Japan were able to order a pay-per-view by the promotion through Ustream . On October 5, 2012, New Japan announced the creation of the NEVER Openweight Championship, which would be contested for on the NEVER series. A two-day tournament to determine

9559-597: The future. On October 31, 2019, Super7 announced the first line of NJPW action figures . Amidst from the Japanese onset of the COVID-19 pandemic , in accordance with recommendations from the Japanese Ministry of Health, NJPW decided to cancel all scheduled shows from March 1 through March 15. On March 10, NJPW announced that they were cancelling all shows through March 22, which meant that they cancelled

9680-570: The group and thanked leader Suzuki. The night ended with all members posing with the Suzuki-gun flag, only to be interrupted by former member Takashi Iizuka , causing all 9 men to pose in the ring, behind the Suzuki-gun flag, which was raised by Michinoku. On April 12, 2019, Yoshida announced that he would be creating a new promotion, called Professional Wrestling Just Tap Out (JTO). They held their first show on July 8, 2019, in Korakuen Hall, where Yoshida (still wrestling as Taka Michinoku)

9801-554: The inaugural New Japan Cup USA tournament. As part of NJPW's expansion into the United States, the series would be produced by NJoA. In February 2021, it was reported that NJPW had entered into partnerships with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Impact Wrestling . On November 19, 2021, NJPW would re-establish a relationship with Pro Wrestling Noah with Noah wrestlers being involved at the third night of NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 16 event. During Wrestle Kingdom 16 in January 2022, it

9922-812: The inaugural champion was held between November 15 and 19, 2012. The final NEVER event was held in November 2012. In February 2014, New Japan announced a partnership with Ring of Honor (ROH), which saw the promotion return to North America the following May to present two supershows; Global Wars in Toronto and War of the Worlds in New York City. During the tour, New Japan wrestlers also took part in an event held by Canadian promotion Border City Wrestling (BCW). A year later, NJPW and ROH announced another tour together to produce four more supershows; War of

10043-570: The match, Michinoku and Taichi entered the ring and attacked Kojima, who quickly took care of both of them. This led to the surprise return of freelancer Minoru Suzuki, who appeared behind Kojima and locked him in a sleeper hold, before leaving the ringside area with Michinoku and Taichi, who proclaimed Suzuki as their new leader and renamed the stable "Suzuki-gun". Michinoku participated in Best Of The Super Juniors XVIII and gained eight points but not enough to progress to

10164-794: The match. With Kai En Tai in 1998 he had multiple chances to become a champion, going up against Christian and Duane Gill for the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship and X-Pac for the WWF European Championship . After Togo, Teioh and both Yamaguchis left the WWF, Michinoku and Funaki began wrestling as a tag team using the name Kaientai. They were primarily comedy jobbers, best known for their "Indeed!" skits in which voices in English were dubbed by Bruce Prichard into their promos while they badly lip-synced. Their first tag team match together came in

10285-508: The new year. After one last "Viva Mexico" Mexico Amigos disbanded. Between 2008 and 2009, Michinoku would sporadically compete at All Japan, which included Nobutaka Araya retirement show. In 2010, he lost to Kaz Hayashi in a match for the World Junior Heavyweight Championship and would also participate in AJPW Junior League 2010 . At AJPW Summer Explosion 2017, Michinoku made his return to AJPW and won

10406-551: The pair teamed up to take on Togo and Funaki in a tag team match, Taka made a swerve, however, by turning against Venis, proclaiming that Mrs. Yamaguchi-San was his sister. Venis was dragged backstage by Kaientai to be castrated, though the audience did not see what happened next. A few weeks later Michinoku was involved in a gauntlet match with Togo, Teioh and Funaki to defeat Venis. Michinoku once again teamed up with Togo, Teioh and Funaki to go against The Oddities ( Giant Silva , Golga & Kurrgan ) at SummerSlam 1998 only to lose

10527-414: The president job to him. He lost the NWA title to Último Dragón, who then vacated it in preparation for his WWE career. The same year, Sasuke reconciled with Super Delfin for a special match on November 2 by mediation of Shinzaki. In 2004, Sasuke became a regular wrestler for Hustle , where he played a lieutenant role to "Hustle Captain" Naoya Ogawa . At the same time, with MPW now repopulated by most of

10648-476: The promotion and was replaced by Takami Ohbari on October 23, who is the current CEO of New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America. In 2020, NJPW partnered with Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) and Major League Wrestling (MLW), with both promotions sending wrestlers to the Super J-Cup tournament. On July 31, NJPW announced a new weekly series titled NJPW Strong , with its initial episodes to feature matches from

10769-452: The promotion was returning to the multi-year contract system. The contracts forbid negotiations with other promotions. After All Elite Wrestling (AEW) was launched by wrestlers working for NJPW, they started signing foreigners to guaranteed deals as well. Any side contracts or agreements offered to wrestlers under NJPW contracts, need the promotion's approval before being signed. NJPW currently has partnerships with several promotions across

10890-481: The promotion's inaugural tour of Australia spanning from February 16–19. In March 2018, New Japan opened the NJPW LA Dojo with Katsuyori Shibata serving as head trainer and ROH wrestler Scorpio Sky serving as assistant trainer. On May 13, 2018, New Japan hired its first foreign president, Dutch businessman Harold Meij . In February 2019, NJPW re-established their partnership with the NWA and entered into

11011-585: The promotion. This dissension would end up switching their respective alignment, with Delfín joining the home army and turning into the promotion's ace while Sasuke turned heel for the first time on his career and became an egotistical overlord. He would even change his mask, replacing its red stripes for blue stripes, as well as his name, leaving it as just "Sasuke" written in all caps. Sasuke would create his personal villainous stable, Sasuke Group, by allying with resident heels and summoning Crazy Max ( Shiima Nobunaga 's punk faction) from Toryumon . The battle between

11132-598: The reach of the World Junior Heavyweight Championship, which was closed off to outside competition in the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s. Taka Michinoku took his name as a sign of respect for his mentor The Great Sasuke , who was the owner of Michinoku Pro Wrestling and had been the first to use Michinoku as part of his ring name. He debuted Wrestling International New Generations and Michinoku Pro Wrestling joint event by teaming up with Great Sasuke , they lost to Super Delfin & Terry Boy . He would later move to Federacion Universal De Lucha Libre and debuted by beating

11253-605: The reigns are recognized by World Wrestling Entertainment . No reigns with the title prior to December 1997 are recognized by the WWE. New Japan Pro-Wrestling New Japan Pro-Wrestling ( 新日本プロレスリング株式会社 , Shin Nihon Puroresuringu Kabushiki-gaisha ) ( NJPW ) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki , and based in Nakano, Tokyo . It

11374-611: The same time Michinoku and Dick Togo became the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions for New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Handsome and Strongest-K Tag Team Championship was put on the back burner somewhat. In the beginning of 2008 Handsome took part in K-DOJO Tag Tag League 2008 and were eliminated in the first round by Kazma and Yuji Hino. During this time, Michinoku and Togo lost their championship and Handsome would compete

11495-419: The second round before being eliminated by Katsuhiko Nakajima and Tomoaki Honma . On October 22, 2005, Michinoku would lose the World Junior Heavyweight Championship to Shuji Kondo . Michinoku would team up with RO&D enemy Kaz Hayashi to take part in World's Strongest Tag Determination League 2006 but with only five points the pair didn't progress to the next stage. Michinoku gained only four points in

11616-561: The second round by MIYAWAKI and Ofune. On January 10, 2005, Michinoku defeated Kaz Hayashi for the Strongest-K Championship , the highest honor one can achieve in Kaientai Dojo. Michinoku started a feud with Kazma , which led to several championship matches between the two where Michinoku would come out on top. He would go on to beat Bambi in the finals of Strongest-K 2005. The beginning of 2006 proved to be

11737-885: The semifinal. Michinoku and Taichi became a tag team in New Japan's junior heavyweight tag team division. On September 11, 2011, the pair would take on Apollo 55 for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and for the second time running lost. At Power Struggle , Michinoku for the second time took on Devitt for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and for the second time lost. At Wrestle Kingdom VI in Tokyo Dome , Michinoku and Taichi teamed up with Atlantis and Valiente to lose to Jyushin Thunder Liger , Kushida , Máscara Dorada and Tiger Mask . Both Michinoku and Taichi participated in Best of

11858-404: The similar NJPW Super Grade Jr. Heavyweight Tag League , where he teamed up with Black Tiger . As with the previous, Sasuke and Tiger amassed a high number of wins and came to the finals, but were eliminated there by Wild Pegasus and Shinjiro Otani . Sasuke also participated in the first Fukumen World League , hosted by Michinoku Pro Wrestling in 1995 and admitting only masked wrestlers . Sasuke

11979-494: The stable called Roughly Obsess and Destroy (RO&D). He would regularly team up with The Gladiator and Gigantes , which led to Michinoku and Gigantes gaining a shot at the World Tag Team Champions Arashi and Keiji Muto on September 6 at AJPW Summer Action Series II. Michinoku would go on to team up with D'Lo Brown to take part in World's Strongest Tag Determination League 2003 and gained

12100-549: The stable's return to NJPW on January 5, 2017. In May, Michinoku took part in the 2017 Best of the Super Juniors , where he finished second to last in his block with a record of two wins and five losses. From March 2018 until May 2019, he was the manager and occasional tag team partner of Zack Sabre Jr. In May 2019, Michinoku participated in the 2019 Best of the Super Juniors . Going winless in his first 5 matches, he injured his ankle during his 6th match against Shingo Takagi . He would then forfeit his remaining matches, finishing

12221-426: The team of Mongolian Yuga & Shiryu with Buffalo Chohe. Then he debuted for Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling in a six-man tag team match at Summer Spectacular in 1993. Michinoku would primary compete at MPW, UWF and FMW in his early career. His debut for New Japan Pro-Wrestling came during Super J-Cup 1994 and was eliminated from the competition in the first round by Black Tiger . He competed in Best of

12342-403: The time using the mask of Steele . In the summer of 1997, both Taka Michinoku and Yoshihiro Tajiri moved to World Wrestling Federation. He made his World Wrestling Federation (WWF) debut on July 6, 1997, at the WWF pay-per-view Canadian Stampede losing to The Great Sasuke but getting a huge reaction from the crowd. He lost a rematch to Sasuke the following night on Raw . Taka was part of

12463-730: The title to El Satanico after holding the title for one year and one month and defeating fellow young wrestlers Minoru Tanaka , Naohiro Hoshikawa and Hayato Nanjyo, he would later regain the championship two months later. He would vacate the championship to focus on the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship . Michinoku made his ECW and American debut on February 14, 1997, in a match where he teamed with Dick Togo & Terry Boy to defeat Gran Hamada , Gran Naniwa & The Great Sasuke . This three on three feud lasted until ECW Barely Legal 1997 Gran Hamada , Masato Yakushiji & The Great Sasuke would defeat

12584-511: The tournament was promoted by Ultimo's Toryumon Japan promotion, Sasuke took the title to his base at Michinoku and styled himself a "traveling world champion" in the style of NWA World Heavyweight Champions from the 1960-80s. In 2001, Sasuke had a feud in Michinoku Pro against a returning Dick Togo and his sable, Far East Connection. Sasuke left the running of the promotion to Shinzaki in 2003 to focus on his political career, handing

12705-446: The tournament with 0 wins and 9 losses. Michinoku would disappear shortly after to focus on starting his new promotion, Professional Wrestling Just Tap Out. In November 2021, through the NJPW website, it was announced that Michinoku would return after 2 years and 6 months away to participate into the World Tag League tournament, with his partner being his "boss" and teammate Minoru Suzuki. The duo finished their Tag League campaign at

12826-412: The tournament. On April 17, Team Michinoku Pro was eliminated from the tournament in the semifinal stage by F.I.S.T. ( Chuck Taylor , Icarus and Johnny Gargano ). At the end of 2013, Sasuke took part in the classic "Great Space War" match, where he performed a striptease with Macho Pump parodying the film Magic Mike . However, for the first time in the history of GSW, Kei and Shu Sato (now known as

12947-525: The trio. This was also Michinoku's first pay per view appearance. After this Michinoku left the company to join the World Wrestling Federation . In 1999 Michinoku would return at ECW Cyberslam 1999 defeating Papi Chulo . He also wrestled Super Crazy at Hardcore Heaven 1999 . Other matches include two tag matches teaming with Yoshihiro Tajiri , a Hardcore Heaven rematch with Super Crazy ending In another victory for Super Crazy,

13068-636: The two agreeing to a match, where the loser would be expelled from Suzuki-gun. The match took place on August 22 at Michinoku's Kaientai Dojo promotion, but ended without a winner as Minoru Suzuki interrupted the match and got the two men to make peace with each other. Taka and Taichi participated in Super Junior Tag Tournament 2012 and made it to the semifinal before losing to the Time Splitters ( Alex Shelley and Kushida). From late May to early June 2013, Michinoku took part in

13189-606: The two brands merged and now run joint shows. Michinoku would go on to win Strongest-K 2007 after defeating Yuji Hino in the final. With this win, he went on to take on Strongest-K champion Kengo Mashimo in September and lost. Michinoku would bounce back from this defeat by teaming up with JOE and defeated Kengo Mashimo and Madoka to become the Strongest-K Tag Team Champions in November. Michinoku and JOE would begin calling themselves Handsome. At

13310-880: The world, for which NJPW wrestlers can also perform for. The promotion has its own fictional governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix, shortened as IWGP. At the top of NJPW's championship hierarchy for male wrestlers is the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship . Secondary titles include the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship , the NEVER Openweight Championship , the NJPW World Television Championship , and

13431-627: The year and comparable to WWE 's WrestleMania event. In April 1995, NJPW and WCW held the two-day Collision in Korea event at the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium in Pyongyang , North Korea . The event was the first professional wrestling event held in North Korea and holds the record for most attended wrestling event of all time, with 355,000 people packing the stadium over the two days. In

13552-611: The year, leaving place for the rise of Kowloon, a traitorous faction apparently led by Hayato Fujita . Yoshitsune departed at the end of 2008, leaving Sasuke and Shinzaki to delegate the Michinoku Seikigun on Kenou . In 2010, Sasuke's old enemy Ultimo Dragón appeared to reveal himself as the master behind Kowloon. In August 2009, months after unsuccessfully challenging Fujita for the Tohoku Junior Heavyweight Championship, Sasuke adopted

13673-482: Was announced that NJPW programming, including new programs and reruns of past English broadcasts, would return to AXS TV and Fight Network in the United States and Canada. Reruns will begin airing on AXS starting January 20, with all new content to premiere on March 3. On the April 20, 2022 episode of AEW Dynamite , it was announced that New Japan and AEW would co-promote a supershow called AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door . The event would take place on June 26, 2022, at

13794-574: Was attacked by Kai En Tai for unknown reasons, and their alliance with Taka in Japan was not mentioned. Taka began feuding with Kai En Tai . Michinoku would team up with Bradshaw to take on Dick Togo , Mens Teioh & Shoichi Funaki at Over the Edge: In Your House only to be defeated. He would then also team up with The Headbangers to defeat Togo, Teioh & Funaki at King of the Ring . With Kai En Tai also feuding with Val Venis

13915-446: Was being taken with a cellphone camera. The incident happened on a Jōban Line train at Minami-Senju Station . However, all charges were dropped and was released from jail on February 21, after serving 40 hours in jail, after Sasuke apologized to the man. The man who took Sasuke's photograph was said to not have known who he was and thought he was just a "crazy" person wearing a mask in public. On April 13, 2003, Sasuke won election to

14036-678: Was changed to Mexico Amigos Black, the previous worn Mexican Flag attire became Black and Gold attire, and Nobutaka Araya was kicked out of the group. At the AJPW's December 16, 2007 "Fan Appreciation Day" show, The Mexico Amigos teamed with "Ray Suzuki" and defeated Ryuji Hijikata, Kikutaro, T28 and Ryuji Yamaguchi. After the match, Ray Suzuki revealed himself as Minoru Suzuki and stated the starting next year he would throw his Amigos tights away and return to Nosawa Rongai, then kidnapped him to start early training. This led to Pepe and Miguel stating they would return to Mexico, but Kaz and Taka would return come

14157-467: Was completed on June 28, with Stardom Co., Ltd. becoming a subsidiary of NJPW. Up until the 1980s, NJPW signed its workers to multi-year contracts, before changing to a system where the promotion signed its wrestlers to one-year deals that expired at the end of every January. Following the departures of A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura , NJPW chairman Takaaki Kidani announced in February 2016 that

14278-579: Was criticized by critics and fans. Inoki later departed NJPW in 2005 after selling his share of the company to Yuke's , and began his own promotion, the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), in 2007. After his departure, Inoki's son-in-law Simon took over the company, before Naoki Sugabayashi was appointed president in 2007 after Simon also left NJPW to join Antonio in IGF. After the departure of

14399-422: Was defeated in the final round by Dos Caras . In April 1996, Sasuke returned to NJPW and defeated Liger for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship , which he defended five times at both NJPW and MPW. His reign, along with his next title win over NWA World Junior Heavyweight Champion Masayoshi Motegi and WWF Light Heavyweight and WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight double champion El Samurai, would lead to

14520-767: Was founded by Antonio Inoki on January 13, 1972 after his departure from the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance promotion. The first NJPW event, titled Opening Series , took place on March 6, 1972, in the Ota Ward Gymnasium in Tokyo, to a crowd of 5,000. The following year, NJPW signed a television deal with NET TV, now known as TV Asahi . The company launched its own governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) ; and in 1983, Hulk Hogan became

14641-473: Was translated into "Ninja Warrior" for the United States , the translators ignored his wrestling background and called him "The Great Ninja Warrior". Sasuke is also part of the rock band Crazy Crew with Ricky Fuji and Ken45° . On February 19, 2009, Sasuke was arrested for assault after kicking a 36-year-old man and grabbing him by the shirt collar. Sasuke was reported to be angry because his picture

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