JWP Joshi Puroresu ( JWP女子プロレス , JWP Joshi Puroresu ) , also known as JWP Project ( JWPプロジェクト , JWP Purojekuto ) or simply JWP, was a Japanese joshi puroresu ( women's professional wrestling ) promotion , founded in 1992 as a splinter promotion of Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. Celebrating its 25th anniversary at the time of its folding in 2017, JWP was the oldest joshi puroresu promotion in Japan and its Openweight Championship was the oldest championship in all of joshi . Command Bolshoi , who had worked for the promotion since the beginning, served as the final president of JWP. The promotion's slogan was "Pure Heart, Pure Wrestling".
18-497: JWP Joshi Puroresu was founded in early 1992, when Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (JWP), ravaged by internal politics, split up into two camps, dubbed the " shooters " and the " entertainers ", and eventually folded on January 18. The "shooter" side went on to form Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling (LLPW), while the "entertainer" side, led by Jackie Sato and financed by Masatoshi Yamamoto, founded JWP Project, later renamed JWP Joshi Puroresu, which held its first event on April 3, 1992. Already
36-783: A close working relationship with the Ice Ribbon promotion. JWP also had a relationship with American promotion Chikara , with Hanako Nakamori, Tsubasa Kuragaki and Kaori Yoneyama , a replacement for an injured Command Bolshoi, representing the promotion at Chikara's JoshiMania weekend in December 2011. JWP has also participated in Chikara's premier tournament, the King of Trios , on two occasions, with Bolshoi, Kuragaki and Yoneyama participating in 2012 , and Bolshoi, Hanako Nakamori and Manami Katsu in 2016 . On February 8, 2017, JWP held
54-508: A co-promoted event with AJW in February 2000 turned out to be a failure, JWP closed its doors at the end of the year. However, the promotion returned just a few months later, now under new management, headed by wrestler Command Bolshoi . JWP continued working with former rival promotion AJW until the promotion folded in April 2005. JWP then adopted AJW's premier wrestling tournament, Tag League
72-520: A famous Japanese idol appeared. This show was notable for featuring the debut of future stars such as Mayumi Ozaki , Dynamite Kansai , Cutie Suzuki and Rumi Kazama along with the main event being Jackie Sato's return from retirement as she faced Shinobu Kandori . Suzuki and Kazama became idol's through music and television, with Kazama appearing in Japan's version of Penthouse . The promotion started to fracture on July 6, 1987, when Sato hit
90-466: A press conference to announce that the promotion would fold following its 25th anniversary event on April 2, 2017, after which all of its wrestlers would become freelancers. The group's contract with the JWP production company was set to expire in April and the two sides had not been able to come to terms on a new one. Bolshoi would remain in charge of Pure Dream kabushiki gaisha , which she had established
108-428: A top All Japan Women's star that was forced to retire at the age of 25. The promotion also was able to recruit Shinobu Kandori , a judoka who had captured the bronze medal at the 1984 World Judo Championships and Nancy Kumi, a former All Japan Women's wrestler. Gran Hamada and Atsushi Onita also joined as coaches. Japan Women's Wrestling had their first show on August 17, 1986. Antonio Inoki and Minako Honda ,
126-466: Is currently unknown whether the JWP producers plan to stay in the professional wrestling business. The JWP Junior Championship was originally meant for wrestlers with less than four years of experience in professional wrestling, but in June 2010, the limit was raised to five years. In May 2012, the experience limit was lowered back down to four years. The title was vacated eight times; five times due to
144-791: The Best , and also inherited the promotion's old sponsor, the Daily Sports newspaper, which led to JWP most notably introducing the Daily Sports Women's Tag Team Championship in August 2008. JWP not only trained a large number of wrestlers, but was also able to recruit wrestlers from other folding joshi puroresu promotions, including Arisa Nakajima , Leon and Sachie Abe from AtoZ, Kazuki from JDStar and Hanako Nakamori and Tomoko Morii from Ito Dojo, while also employing freelancers such as Emi Sakura , Kana and Misaki Ohata . JWP had
162-452: The country, but always remained in its shadow. After closing the gap between the two promotions in 1996, JWP was hit hard in 1997, when two of its top workers, Candy Okutsu and Hiromi Yagi retired, Dynamite Kansai was sidelined with health problems and finally, when, on August 16, another top worker, Plum Mariko , died in the ring during one of its events. These were followed by Jackie Sato's death from stomach cancer on August 9, 1999. After
180-624: The following year, JWP managed to sign a television deal with the WOWOW channel. In 1994, Jaleco published the JWP Joshi Pro Wrestling: Pure Wrestle Queens ( JWP女子プロレス ピュア・レッスル・クイーンズ , JWP Joshi Puroresu Pyua Ressuru Kuīnzu ) video game for the Super Famicom game console. JWP's goal from the start was to rival All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW), the top joshi puroresu promotion in
198-901: The injured eye of Kandori. The two exchanged words and on July 18, 1987, a match between the two turned into a shoot , which became an infamous incident. In October 1987, Kandori, who had become a free agent due to the incident, appeared at an All Japan Women's show to challenge Yukari Omori. She attempted to join All Japan Women's, but was prevented from doing so due to contractual disputes and eventually returned to Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. Jackie Sato retired on March 20, 1988. The promotion officially closed on January 26, 1992 and split into two groups: Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling which featured Shinobu Kandori , Rumi Kazama, Harley Saito and others while JWP formed with Mayumi Ozaki , Dynamite Kansai , Cutie Suzuki and others. JWP Junior Championship The JWP Junior Championship
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#1732797209339216-624: The previous November and through which she would launch a new promotion on August 11, 2017. The new company would retain control of the Daily Sports Women's Tag Team and Princess of Pro-Wrestling Championships , while the JWP name and the JWP Openweight , Tag Team and Junior Championships all remained with the JWP production company. JWP's folding marked the end of the oldest women's professional wrestling promotion still in operation at that point in time. The following month, it
234-563: The reigning champion surpassing the experience limit. Like most professional wrestling championships, the title was won as a result of a scripted match. There were thirty-one reigns shared among twenty-six different wrestlers. The title was retired on April 2, 2017, when JWP Joshi Puroresu went out of business. That same day, Yako Fujigasaki won the final match contested for the JWP Junior Championship by making her second successful defense against Saori Anou. Candy Okutsu
252-498: The two titles were technically not unified , they were defended together from this point onward. The titles remained together in JWP for nearly a decade before it was announced on February 8, 2017, that the promotion was shutting down. As a result, the two titles would once again be separated with the JWP title remaining with the promotion's production company, while the POP title moved on to Command Bolshoi 's follow-up promotion to JWP. It
270-503: Was a joshi puroresu ( women's professional wrestling ) promotion established in 1988. The first event took place on August 17, 1986. All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling was the only women's professional wrestling promotion prior to 1986. All Japan Women's was experiencing a boom period due to the Crush Gals of Lioness Asuka and Chigusa Nagayo as was Onyanko Club , a Japanese idol music group. Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling
288-610: Was a women's professional wrestling championship owned by the JWP Joshi Puroresu promotion . It was introduced on June 16, 1995, when Candy Okutsu defeated Hiromi Sugou and Hiromi Yagi in a three-way match to become the inaugural champion. On June 17, 2007, the reigning JWP Junior Champion Arisa Nakajima won the Princess of Pro-Wrestling (POP) Championship on the JDStar promotion's second to last event. Though
306-528: Was announced that Bolshoi's new promotion would be called " Pure-J ". JWP's final show in Korakuen Hall on April 2, 2017, was attended by 1,180 people, and featured appearances by several wrestlers from the promotion's past, including Azumi Hyuga, Cutie Suzuki , Dynamite Kansai, Hikari Fukuoka, Kayoko Haruyama and Mayumi Ozaki . Japan Women%27s Pro-Wrestling Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling ; (In Japanese: ジャパン女子プロレス, also known as Original JWP )
324-401: Was imagined to be a wrestling version of Onyanko Club . All Japan Women's had strict rules, including what became known as "the three no's" of no drinking, no smoking and no boys, along with a rule that all wrestlers must retire once reaching the age of 25 years old. Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling countered this by having no such rules and due to this were able to recruit Jackie Sato , who was
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