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54-553: This style was largely contributed to by Taka Michinoku and is gaining popularity in Japan and abroad. K-DOJO is also heavily influenced by American-style wrestling and places a large amount of importance on presentation. For instance, each Club-K 3000 show that K-DOJO runs is equipped with a large screen near the entrance gate, similar to the Titantron, where a short introductory vignette is played during each wrestler's entrance and where

108-583: A mass exodus to form Pro Wrestling Noah , particularly when Motoko Baba sold her stock to Keiji Mutoh, but Noah would continue to practice ōdō (referred to as Royal Road with Ark by the promotion) in its booking. This element of ōdō has been criticized for its negative influence on professional wrestling, and 1990s All Japan been cited as a cautionary tale in response to legitimately dangerous maneuvers. Meltzer wrote in 2009 that head drops were "never necessary" as Misawa and his peers in AJPW were already "having

162-416: A real fight against Muhammad Ali in 1976 that was watched by an estimated 1.4 billion people worldwide. Many of New Japan's wrestlers, including top stars such as Seiji Sakaguchi , Tatsumi Fujinami , Akira Maeda , Satoru Sayama , Yoshiaki Fujiwara , Nobuhiko Takada , Masakatsu Funaki , Masahiro Chono , Shinya Hashimoto , Riki Choshu , Minoru Suzuki , Shinsuke Nakamura , and Keiji Mutoh , came from

216-432: A submission , but fights can also end in a referee stoppage or by a judge decision. Legal techniques include general grappling , chokeholds , joint locks , kicks , knee strikes , punches , takedowns and throws . Illegal techniques include biting , elbow strikes , eye-gouging , forearm strikes, hair pulling, headbutting , kicking or kneeing the head of a downed opponent , small joint manipulation , strikes to

270-401: A basis for Pride Fighting Championships , which would become the world's largest MMA promotion, which many Shootist would join it. Vale Tudo Japan events were held annually from 1994 to 1999. In May 2009, it was announced that Vale Tudo Japan would return for the first time in ten years on October 30, 2009. In 1996 Satoru Sayama left Shooto due to disagreements with the board of directors, and

324-402: A combat sport, influenced strongly by the styles of catch wrestlers such as Lou Thesz , Karl Gotch , and Billy Robinson . Wrestlers incorporated kicks and strikes from martial arts disciplines, and a strong emphasis was placed on submission wrestling . Inoki became known for "different styles fights" which were predetermined matches against practitioners of various martial arts. This led to

378-705: A critically acclaimed era with several classic matches authorized by the American wrestling publication Wrestling Observer Newsletter featuring wrestlers such as Manami Toyota , Aja Kong , Kyoko Inoue , Bull Nakano , Mayumi Ozaki , Megumi Kudo , Dynamite Kansai , amongst others. This era was also notable for multiple wrestlers returning from retirement such as Chigusa Nagayo , Lioness Asuka , Jaguar Yokota , Devil Masami , and Bison Kimura , which increased interest. In 2022, New Japan Pro Wrestling inaugurated their own IWGP Women's Championship . Shooto Shooto ( Japanese : 修斗 , Hepburn : shūto )

432-535: A fighter has gathered enough wins and experience in Class-B he will get awarded with a Class-A license, as a sign that he's part of the elite professional fighters. Shooto organize most of their events in Japan, although it has organized some amateur tournaments in China . Shooto consists of a multi-layered system designed to develop fighters from grassroots level, aspirants to professional fighters must start through

486-458: A legitimate martial arts background. This style led to the development of shoot wrestling and the spin-off Universal Wrestling Federation . Sayama developed and founded Shooto , a pioneer mixed martial arts (MMA) organization, in 1985. That same year, Sayama's student Caesar Takeshi founded Shootboxing . Funaki, Suzuki and others would found Pancrase and hold their first event almost two months before UFC 1 . Maeda founded RINGS in 1991 as

540-694: A more "narrative" style, derived from the American model of professional wrestling as physical storytelling. However, ōdō distinguished itself from American professional wrestling by largely eschewing many of its storytelling devices. Angles and gimmicks were virtually non-existent, as all the storytelling in ōdō occurred through the matches themselves. Blading was also banned outright. Because Baba disliked submissions, they were also eschewed for decisive pinfalls. In 2011, Japanese wrestling magazine G Spirits cited Misawa's July 29, 1993 Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship title defense against Kawada as

594-717: A press conference in Tokyo. Shooto made its Fight Pass debut Saturday, April 23, with “Fight & Mosh” live from Maihama Amphitheater in Urayasu, Japan. Two world titles were on the line, Masaaki Sugawara made his first defense of the 125-pound belt against Hiromasa Ogikubo, plus Koshi Matsumoto and Yuki Kawana vied for the vacant 155-pound mantle. Shooto followed that up with events on July 17 and Nov. 12, both took place at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo as well as VTJ in Osaka” June 19 at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, and “VTJ 9th” on Sept. 19 which saw

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648-822: A shoot-style promotion, which began transitioning to legitimate MMA competition in 1995. Takada was a co-founder of PRIDE and Rizin . Ōdō ( 王道 , "King's Road"; also translated as "Royal Road") is a style which originated in All Japan Pro Wrestling , and is most closely associated with the Four Pillars ( 四天王 , Shitennō ) , the informal Western fan’s nomenclature for 1990s AJPW wrestlers Toshiaki Kawada , Kenta Kobashi , Mitsuharu Misawa , and Akira Taue . However, matches involving these four have been also referred to in Japan as Shitennō puroresu ( 四天王プロレス ) . As opposed to strong style's European catch wrestling influences, ōdō opted for

702-565: A small wrestling school in Puerto Rico run by Taka Michinoku. After Taka returned to Japan in 2002, he established the Japanese branch of Kaientai Dojo, which would soon become a wrestling promotion. The small federation grew over the years and is now an independent league that runs as a promotion, wrestling school, and talent loan organization to various other leagues such as AJPW , Dragon Gate and Michinoku Pro . Until recently, K-DOJO

756-518: A team of two or more. Most team matches are governed by tag team rules (see below). The match is won by scoring a "fall", which is generally consistent with standard professional wrestling: Additional rules govern how the outcome of the match is to take place. One such example would be the Japanese Universal Wrestling Federation , as it does not allow pinfall victories in favor of submissions and knockouts; this

810-465: A woman. After this scandal, the promotion fired him and sanctioned him for one year without payment. In April 2019, the promotion announced that they were rebranding as Active Advance Pro Wrestling (2AW for short). This came as the company attempted to rebrand itself after the Taka Michinoku scandal, also changing its colors to black & white. That same night, young wrestler Ayato Yoshida won

864-562: Is a combat sport and mixed martial arts organization that is governed by the Shooto Association and the International Shooto Commission (ISC). Shooto was originally formed in 1985, first as a particular fighting system and then in 1989 as a mixed martial arts promotion . It is considered one of the first true mixed martial arts competitions, with its Vale Tudo Japan events being essential to

918-422: Is completely Japanese-English, and in the U.S. the same word is used for both pro and amateur wrestling. It may be easier to understand if you think of wrestling in the U.S. as having the same nuance as ' sumo ' in Japanese. You call both 'wrestling' even if it's competitive or professional wrestling." Puroresu has a variety of different rules, which can differ greatly from wrestling in other countries. While there

972-464: Is distinct in its psychology and presentation of the sport and how it functions based on Japanese culture. It is treated closer to a legitimate competition, with fewer theatrics ; the stories told in Japanese matches are about a fighter's spirit and perseverance. Pro wrestling in Japan led to the development of shoot wrestling and has been closely related to mixed martial arts (MMA) starting with Shooto and Pancrase , organizations which predate

1026-458: Is mostly seen as a system of MMA promotions, organizing events from amateur grassroots to professional levels. The Japanese word "shooto" is derived from the English word " shoot ". Although the word is of foreign origin, it is not written in katakana , but rather as an ateji : 修 斗 . Its first kanji means "to practice or train in", and the second kanji is an alternative form of 戦 in

1080-408: Is no governing authority for puroresu, there is a general standard which has developed. Each promotion has its own variation, but all are similar enough to avoid confusion. Any convention described here is simply a standard, and may or may not correspond exactly with any given promotion's codified rules. Matches are held between two or more sides ("corners"). Each corner may consist of one wrestler, or

1134-459: Is seen as an early influence of mixed martial arts , as some wrestlers broke away from traditional wrestling endings to matches in favor of legitimate outcomes . Another example is that most promotions disallow punches, so many wrestlers utilize open handed strikes and stiff forearms; this rule was also applied in the early stages of Pancrase . New Japan Pro-Wrestling , headed by Antonio Inoki , used Inoki's "strong style" approach of wrestling as

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1188-404: Is that it is one of the few wrestling promotions to feature both men and women. Women can wrestle in the same ring as men, either during mixed tag matches or even singles matches. Also, they can challenge for championship belts, something that would be unheard of in most wrestling promotions. In November 2018, it became known that Taka Michinoku had an eight-year-long extramarital relationship with

1242-606: Is usually promoted by companies that specialize in women’s wrestling, rather than divisions of otherwise male-dominated promotions as is the case in the United States (a major exception was FMW , a men's promotion which had a small women's division, but even then depended on talent from women's federations to provide competition). However, joshi puroresu promotions usually have agreements with male puroresu promotions such that they recognize each other's titles as legitimate, and may share cards . All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling

1296-523: The Japanese pronunciation of "professional wrestling" ( プロフェッショナル・レスリング , purofesshonaru resuringu ) , which in Japanese is abbreviated to “puro” (プロ- “pro”) & “resu” (レス - an abbreviation of “wrestling”). The term became popular among English -speaking fans due to Hisaharu Tanabe's activities in the online Usenet community. Growing out of origins in the traditional US style of wrestling, it has become an entity in itself. Japanese pro wrestling

1350-591: The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), along with influencing subsequent promotions such as RINGS and PRIDE . It is common for pro wrestlers and mixed martial artists in Japan to cross over . Despite some similarities to the popular style of professional wrestling in the United States , Japanese wrestling is known for many differences from the Western style. Puroresu in Japan is known for its " fighting spirit " ( 闘魂 , tōkon ), and

1404-557: The Vale Tudo Japan tournament in the summer of 1994. The objective was to create a more rules-free event similar to the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the United States and Vale Tudo in Brazil. The star of the first events was Rickson Gracie , older brother of three-time UFC champion Royce Gracie . Vale Tudo Japan was a smashing success, leading to the popularization of MMA around Japan, and its format and rules were used as

1458-520: The groin or throat and since September 1, 2008, strikes to the back of the head. Shooto evolved in parallel with Mixed Martial Arts, including most of its techniques and strategies, to the point that both fighting styles are almost indistinguishable. However, fans, fighters and overseers still see Shooto as its own standalone combat sport. Shooto fighters are categorized into four classes. Fighters start out as Class-D or Class-C fighters and enter amateur competitions that Shooto hosts together with

1512-814: The 1980s, with their televised matches resulting in some of the highest rated broadcasts in Japanese television as well as the promotion regularly selling out arenas. In 1985, Japan's second women's wrestling promotion formed in Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling . The promotion ran their first show on August 17, 1986. It featured Jackie Sato who returned from retirement and future stars such as Shinobu Kandori , Mayumi Ozaki , Cutie Suzuki , and Dynamite Kansai , who would go on to be top stars in LLPW and JWP . In 1992, Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling dissolved, splitting into LLPW and JWP . These promotions worked together with FMW and All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling to create

1566-589: The Inosanto Academy in 1991, and is the instructor of Erik Paulson, Ron Balicki, Dan Inosanto, Larry Hartsell, and many others. Shooto South America, also known as ShootoBrazil is managed by founder of Nova União mixed martial arts academy , André Pederneiras . Its first event was held in Rio de Janeiro in May 2002. There has been an ongoing effort, spearheaded by Rich Santoro, to promote Shooto competition into

1620-490: The Japanese professional wrestling circuit, and Sayama would use it as a basis for his new martial art. He also founded his own school named the "Super Tiger Gym" for training and development of this new martial art. After its establishment, New Martial Arts was renamed "Shooting" which came from " shoot ", a term of professional wrestling meaning a legitimate contest as opposed to a worked match, but this changed to "Shooto" to avoid confusion with shooting sports . Compared with

1674-651: The Strongest-K Championship, symbolically leading the company into the future. On January 10, 2020, it was announced that 2AW is now part of the Allied Independent Wrestling Federations as their Japanese affiliate. Puroresu#Joshi puroresu Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Puroresu ( プロレス ) is a Japanese term used for professional wrestling in and outside of Japan . The term comes from

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1728-895: The United States and Canada. He was officially named the Director of the International Shooto Commission - SHOOTO Americas division (the North American branch of the Shooto Association) in 2001. He has worked with both U.S. event promoters and state officials to spread the Shooto brand of competition throughout North America. As of 2006 Shooto has taken place in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri, Nevada, Hawaii, and Vancouver, British Columbia. Promoters of Shooto events in North America have been HOOKnSHOOT (one of

1782-426: The best matches in wrestling" before they incorporated these maneuvers into their style. Throughout the 1990s, three individual styles— shoot style , lucha libre , and hardcore —were the main divisions of independent promotions , but as a result of interpromoting, it is not unusual to see all three styles on the same card. Pro wrestling done by female wrestlers is called joshi puroresu, or women’s wrestling, and

1836-565: The class, Class C and D are amateur and have more restricted rules more similar to their first events, while professional classes are now true mixed martial arts competitions. Shooto weight classes are different from those of the United States Association of Boxing Commissions , which are used by most MMA promotions. Although modern Shooto is indistinguishable from MMA, in Japan promoters, fighters and fans still see it as its own standalone combat sport. While outside it

1890-512: The crowd can follow the action on-screen. They had a home building that doubles as their training facility, Chiba Blue Field, where all of their Club-K 3000 shows were held; in December 2011, the building was bought by the joshi pro-wrestling promotion Universal Woman's Pro Wrestling Reina, but K-Dojo continues to run shows from the renamed Reina Arena. On April 1, 2013, the arena was again renamed Blue Field. Kaientai Dojo originated in 2000 as

1944-423: The first MMA organisations in the United States to allow Women's MMA ), The Ironheart Crown, Midwest Fighting, Tennessee Shooto, RSF Shooto Challenge, TUFF-N-UFF, World Freestyle Fighting, SHOOTO Hawaii and Mannidog Productions. Previous to 2009, Shooto's rules included a knockdown rule giving knocked down fighters an eight-count to recover as well as allowing strikes to the back of the head. Shooto had argued that

1998-567: The first match in the Shitennō style, and the 1993 World's Strongest Tag Determination League final, in which Misawa and Kobashi wrestled Kawada and Taue , was referred to as the "completed form" of the style by Tokyo Sports in 2014. According to Kawada, ōdō matches, which placed a heavy emphasis on fighting spirit , were about "breaking the limit you set in the last". AJPW referee Kyohei Wada , who recounted that Baba told his talent "whatever you want to do, do it, and whatever you can show

2052-547: The help of local gyms all over Japan. Class-D Shooto does not allow knee strikes to the face or striking on the ground. Class-C Shooto does not allow striking on the ground, but knee strikes to the head are allowed. There are regional championship and once a year the All-Japan amateur championships. Then a fighter can get a Class-B pro license, these fights are 2x5 minute long and use the same rules as Class-A fights. Shooto holds yearly rookie tournaments in each weight class. When

2106-443: The major promotions. With this and its relationship with other martial arts disciplines, the audiences and wrestlers treat puroresu as a combat sport . It should be also noted that the term "Puroresu" in Japan refers to all professional wrestling, regardless of country of origin. For example, American promotions WWE and Ring of Honor are referred to as "Puroresu" in Japan. Japanese wrestling historian Fumi Saito noted: "Puroresu

2160-410: The organization return to its birthplace of Chiba prefecture. In 2019 Shooto entered into a partnership with ONE Championship . Under the terms of the partnership, Shooto champions will have the opportunity to sign a contract with ONE, while their amateur champions will be given an opportunity to train at Evolve MMA for a year. The aim in a shooto match is to defeat the opponent by a knockout or

2214-416: The organization's amateur events, winning their regional tournaments (spread out throughout all the forty-seven prefectures of Japan ) and performing well on the annual All-Japan tournament. As the fighter progress they will graduate from lower classes (Class-D and Class-C) until they are graduated into the professional classes (Class-B and Class-A) and now can compete on Shooto's professional events. In Japan

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2268-565: The other professional wrestling organizations of the time, such as the New Japan Pro-Wrestling and the Universal Wrestling Federation , Shooto was aimed at having no predetermined results. The first amateur event was held in 1986 and the first professional event in 1989. Due the origins in the shoot-style circuit, Shooto is considered part of the " U-Kei " system. The Shooto organization hosted

2322-711: The people, show it", would later compare his job officiating these matches to "conducting a symphony". However, this escalation eventually manifested through the use of dangerous maneuvers that focused on the head and neck, particularly during the finishing stretches of ōdō matches. The physical consequences of this style, or at least its use of head drops, has often been cited as the underlying reason for Misawa's death after an in-ring accident in 2009. Professional wrestling journalist and historian Dave Meltzer noted, after his death, that Misawa "regularly took psychotic bumps", including back suplexes where he would land on his head. AJPW would steer away from ōdō after Misawa led

2376-438: The potential for a knocked out (and thus unconscious) fighter to receive unnecessary damage while on the ground necessitated the rule, but with Shooto being one of the lone organizations still having the rule, consideration of the potential for injury allowing a knocked down fighter time to recover thus allowing additional blows, and with the original vision of Shooto's founder being a synthesis of striking, throwing and submitting -

2430-405: The rise of Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka , known as the " Crush Gals ", who as a tag team achieved a level of unprecedented mainstream success in Japan, unheard of by any female wrestler in the history of professional wrestling all over the world. Their long running feud with Dump Matsumoto and her "Gokuaku Domei" ("Atrocious Alliance") stable would become extremely popular in Japan during

2484-528: The rise of Pride Fighting Championships and the development of modern MMA. Many Japanese MMA fighters had their start at Shooto and the organization still holds both professional and amateur tournaments. As a fighting system, Shooto is considered a hybrid martial art derived from shoot wrestling . It is focused on all aspects of fighting: striking , stand-up grappling and ground fighting . Practitioners are referred to as shooters or shootists . Shooto rules have evolved with time, are different depending on

2538-438: The rule change was instituted in mid-2008. The disallowment of strikes to the back of the head was done for similar medical reasons. The long-running Japanese league Shooto and sister organization Vale Tudo Japan live-streamed its first shows on UFC Fight Pass in 2016. Vale Tudo Japan bouts are contested in a cage instead of Shooto's traditional ring. Broadcast schedules for both promotions were announced April 20, 2016 during

2592-533: The sport is organized by the Shooto Association , however, the Association doesn't organize directly all events, be them professional or low-level amateur, letting gyms and independent promoters organize it. The International Shooto Commission on the other hand, works to create Shooto organizations outside Japan. The Commission allows local independent organizations to promote their events under

2646-443: The word tatakai ( 戦い , meaning "battle" or "war") . Shooto was established as "New Martial Arts" ( 新格闘技 , Shin-kakutōgi ) in 1985 by Satoru Sayama (the original Tiger Mask ), a Japanese professional wrestler trained in shoot wrestling , who wished to create a sport that revolved around a realistic and effective fighting system. Sayama was influenced by his former teacher, legendary pro wrestler Antonio Inoki , who

2700-534: The wrestlers are known for their full contact strikes. Many Japanese wrestlers have some degree of knowledge in many different martial arts and wrestling styles; because of this, there are usually doctors and trainers at ringside for assisting the wrestlers after a match. Most matches have clean finishes and many of the promotions do not use any angles or gimmicks . Japanese wrestling is also known for its relationship with fellow mixed martial arts promotions. Puroresu remains popular, and it draws huge crowds from

2754-438: Was known for his more realistic style of pro wrestling known as "Strong Style", which mixed various styles of striking martial arts (such as karate ) with catch wrestling submission grappling, taught by Karl Gotch . This style eventually evolved into the more developed " shoot-style wrestling ", which was also further influenced by more martial arts such as kickboxing , muay thai , judo and sambo . It became very popular in

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2808-421: Was separated into two distinct sides, GET and RAVE, which ran separate shows but often joined together during large shows and tours. GET was led by Taka Michinoku while RAVE's leader was Hi69 . 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; the two brands merged and now run joint shows. A particular aspect of K-DOJO

2862-560: Was succeeded by Taro Wakayabayshi. In April 1996, World Shooto , the Shooto Association and the International Shooto Commission were formed. This marked the end of Shooto as a single organization, and turned it into a combat sport with governing bodies. Since establishment of ISC, the champions of Shooto are called "World Champion". Shooto was brought to America in the late 1980s by top student of Satoru Sayama, Yorinaga Nakamura . He began teaching Shooto at

2916-408: Was the dominant joshi organization from the 1970s to the 1990s. AJW's first major star was Mach Fumiake in 1974, followed in 1975 by Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda, known as the " Beauty Pair ". The early 1980s saw the fame of Jaguar Yokota and Devil Masami , major stars of the second wave of excellent workers who took the place of the glamour-based "Beauty Pair" generation. That decade would later see

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