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48-498: NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling was founded during All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling financial struggles. The figurehead of the company was Kyoko Inoue , a former All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling wrestler. The name was meant to reference the "Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling" part of the name for All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling. The group was pegged with problems from the beginning as the group was initially supposed to be called New Japan Women's Pro Wrestling, but due to copyright concerns, NEO

96-583: 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

144-416: 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

192-692: A TV program on Fuji TV called Women's Professional Wrestling . The All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Corporation , established in 1968, was the successor to the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Association , which had been formed in August 1955, to oversee the plethora of women's wrestling promotions that had sprung up in Japan following a tour in November, 1954, by Mildred Burke and her World Women's Wrestling Association (WWWA). These promotions included

240-402: 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

288-458: 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

336-694: 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

384-524: A nightmare year for All Japan Women as the owners of All Japan Women's went bankrupt after losing money in real estate, the stock market and other business ventures. Due to this, they lost 14 wrestlers from July to September 1997. Kyoko Inoue , Etsuko Mita , Mima Shimoda , Chaparita Asari, Yoshiko Tamura and others left to form NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling . Toshiyo Yamada left for Gaea Japan . Aja Kong , Mariko Yoshida , Reggie Bennett , Yumi Fukawa and Rie Tamada left to form Arsion . In October 1997,

432-822: 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

480-644: A sideshow act in strip-tease theaters. In 1967, another attempt to organize the sport of women's professional wrestling was made with a new All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Association. This time the Fabulous Moolah , the NWA Women's Champion , came across from the United States and traded her title with Yukiko Tomoe , to lend legitimacy to the promotion. The new Association broke up later that year. Finally, in 1968, Takashi Matsunaga, who had been

528-555: A singles match on May 6, 1998, for JDStar's TWF Title, in which Asuka won the title back. In August 1998, Nicole Bass toured with the promotion, defeating Etsuko Mita , Chaparita ASARI and Kyoko Inoue on August 16, 1998. On October 29, 1998, the promotion featured a match between Kyoko Inoue and Aja Kong for Kyoko Inoue's 10th anniversary as a wrestler. During Summer 1999, the promotion feuded with JWP and All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling , resulting in multiple inter-promotional matches. On July 11, 1999, Kyoko Inoue captured

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576-518: 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

624-478: 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

672-464: 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

720-408: 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

768-459: 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

816-606: 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

864-463: The All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Federation , and the All Japan Women's Wrestling Club , started in 1948, which was the first women's wrestling promotion in Japan. For a time the Club pushed female wrestling as a legitimate sport, booking sporting arenas. By the mid-1960s, the association had fallen apart, due to infighting between the member promotions, and female wrestling was relegated back to being

912-563: The Crush Gals ( Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka ). The feud between the pop culture sensations, the Crush Gals, and the heel stable, Gokuaku Domei, led by Matsumoto, was possibly the most popular angle in all of Japanese wrestling during the 1980s, bringing very high ratings to AJW's weekly television program which caused the show be aired during prime-time. This also resulted in record numbers of girls wanting to become wrestlers with

960-523: 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

1008-591: 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

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1056-585: The WWWA World Single Championship of All Japan Women's, defeating Yumiko Hotta . The two had a rematch at a NEO event on October 22, 1999, with Hotta winning the title back. The original incarnation of the promotion only lasted until January 6, 2000, less than two years after its first show. The last show featured Kyoko Inoue wrestling in every match on the card. NEO renamed itself to NEO Women's Wrestling after NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling closed in 2000. The promotion's pre-debut show

1104-602: The Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan . This was at AJW's 30th anniversary event. All but two members of the Hall of Fame (indicated with a † ) were inducted at the initial ceremony. 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

1152-528: The promoter for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Federation, formed the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Corporation (AJW) with his brothers Kenji, Kunimatsu and Toshikuni. The promotion held its first card on June 4, 1968, and got a television deal with Fuji TV in the same year. In the fall of 1970, AJW, which had been contesting the American Girls' Wrestling Association Championship since

1200-814: 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

1248-408: The 1984 auditions having 2,000 candidates. Up until 1986, AJW had been the only major women's wrestling ( joshi puroresu or simply joshi ) promotion in Japan. Then, on August 17, 1986, Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (JWP) was started, by former AJW stars Jackie Sato and Nancy Kumi, as well as boxer Rumi Kazama and others. As All Japan Women's popularity cooled off after the Crush Gals retired,

1296-768: The Beauty Pair ( Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda ). On March 19, 1975, Mach Fumiake won the WWWA Championship from Jumbo Miyamoto, breaking the pattern in the singles division. After that, only three non-Japanese women ever won the belt, the Canadian Monster Ripper , on July 31, 1979, and March 15, 1980, the Mexican La Galactica , on May 7, 1983, and the American Amazing Kong , on June 4, 2004. On July 6, 1980,

1344-535: The Best was held each fall, also from 1985 to 2004, and was a tag team tournament. AJW also held several regular annual events during the 1990s. The first was Wrestlemarinpiad , which was held in the fall or spring from 1989 to 1997, and for the last time in 2000. Also prominent was Wrestling Queendom , held from 1993 to 1997, the first held in November and the rest in the end of March. The AJW Hall of Fame had its first inducted class enshrined on November 29, 1998, at

1392-520: The NEO roster competing in 10-minute time limit trios match. All Japan Women%27s Pro-Wrestling All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling ( 全日本女子プロレス , Zennihon Joshi Puroresu ) , nicknamed Zenjo (全女: 全 meaning "All", 女 meaning "Woman") was a joshi puroresu ( women's professional wrestling ) promotion established in 1968 by Takashi Matsunaga and his brothers. The group held their first card on June 4 of that year. For close to 33 years it had

1440-426: 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

1488-669: The cards were sporadic. In 2012 the "New" AJW stopped promoting cards. The most notable annual events in AJW were the Japan Grand Prix and Tag League the Best . The Japan Grand Prix was held each summer, from 1985 to 2004, and was a tournament to determine the number one contender for the WWWA World Single Championship , similar to the G1 Climax or Champion Carnival seen in the men's promotions New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling , respectively. Tag League

NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling - Misplaced Pages Continue

1536-417: The first champions on June 30, 1971. During the early 1970s, AJW's championship booking was dominated by the traditional trading between a Japanese face and a foreign (usually North American) heel . The tag belt, for example, was traded fifty-six times between 1971 and 1975, each time between a Japanese team and an American team. This pattern began to change in 1975 with the new stardom of Mach Fumiake and

1584-567: 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

1632-462: The longest-running promotion in Japan up to that time (Men's promotions New Japan Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling have since reached 50 years as of 2022). Promotion company Tajima Kikaku re-established "New" AJW in 2006, however they only acquired the rights to the promotion's name and logo from the Matsunaga family, not the titles. The talent was mostly borrowed from JWP Project and

1680-443: 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

1728-711: 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

1776-682: The previous year, hosted Marie Vagnone , new holder of Mildred Burke's WWWA World Single Championship which had been revived in a WWWA tournament earlier that year in Los Angeles . On October 15, 1970, in Tokyo , Vagnone lost the WWWA title to Aiko Kyo , and AJW had a new world championship singles belt. The next year, AJW acquired the WWWA World Tag Team Championship as well, when Jumbo Miyamoto and Aiko Kyo were made

1824-542: The promotion had enough popularity to run more shows throughout the country, which resulted in AJW splitting into two teams. Team A featured wrestlers such as Jackie Sato , Jaguar Yokota and Mimi Hagiwara while Team B featured Nancy Kumi , Lucy Kayama and Chino Sato . This lasted until June 1981. During the 1980s, AJW continued to feature extraordinarily talented and popular female wrestlers, including Wrestling Observer Newsletter (WON) Hall of Famers , Bull Nakano , Jaguar Yokota , Devil Masami , Dump Matsumoto , and

1872-557: The promotion's building which held the AJW office, the wrestler dormitories, the training area, the garage (where small events were sometimes held) and a restaurant where the younger wrestlers worked was handed over to creditors. In October, they also lost their television show on Fuji TV which they later regained in July 1998. In 2002, AJW lost its television spot again and the promotion closed its doors in April 2005 after 37 years, making it

1920-436: The promotion's television show was moved to midnight. While AJW remained the top promotion through the early 1990s, due to talent including Akira Hokuto , Aja Kong , Manami Toyota and Kyoko Inoue , the number of joshi puroresu promotions kept increasing, with Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling and JWP forming in 1992 after the collapse of Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling . This created an unprecedented era of co-operation between

1968-405: 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

NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling - Misplaced Pages Continue

2016-414: The roster would have only been left with three wrestlers, due to the companies struggles with finding new talent. The company held their final show on December 31, 2010. The first main event featured Ayumi Kurihara capturing her long-awaited first major singles title by defeating Yoshiko Tamura for the NWA Women's Pacific/NEO Single Championship and the second main event featured the remaining members of

2064-472: The various companies which resulted in many inter-promotional shows including Big Egg Wrestling Universe , the first ever all women's show at the Tokyo Dome . Competition increased again as Gaea Japan formed in 1995 and JDStar formed in 1996 with both promotions having former All Japan Women's stars including Chigusa Nagayo , Akira Hokuto , Lioness Asuka and Jaguar Yokota . 1997 would prove to be

2112-534: 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

2160-499: Was chosen instead. Their first show on January 9, 1998, featured the 9 members of the roster wrestling multiple times due to the small roster. The main event of the first show featured Las Cachorras Orientales of Etsuko Mita and Mima Shimoda teaming with Saya Endo to defeat Chaparita Asari, Kyoko Inoue and Yoshiko Tamura . During Spring 1998, Kyoko Inoue feuded with Lioness Asuka . Kyoko captured Lioness' TWF title on April 26, 1998. The feud carried over to NEO where they met in

2208-558: Was on March 16, 2000, and their official debut was on May 31, 2000. The promotion regularly held events at Itabashi Green Hall in Itabashi , Tokyo , due to its smaller size, while running Korakuen Hall for bigger events. The promotion rose to power in 2005 after the closure of All Japan Women's Pro Wrestling and Gaea Japan , with NEO being considered by many to be the top joshi puroresu promotion during this time. In 2007, founder Kyoko Inoue had complications from her pregnancy and

2256-408: 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

2304-408: Was unable to wrestle, which hurt the promotion. In 2009, business declined when two of their top stars, Etsuko Mita and idol wrestler Haruka Matsuo retired. The promotion announced its closure May 5, 2010. Kyoko Inoue announced her resignation, Yoshiko Tamura , Tanny Mouse and Yuki Miyazaki were slated to retire, young wrestlers Aoi Ishibashi and Natsumi Kawano had already left the company and

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