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58-769: The tour was first announced on October 3, 2010, when American promotion Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW) announced it had reached a deal with NJPW to host the promotion's first ever shows in the country. NJPW officially announced the "NJPW Invasion Tour 2011: Attack on East Coast" tour on January 4, 2011, during Wrestle Kingdom V in Tokyo Dome , announcing that the events would be taking place on May 13 in Rahway, New Jersey , May 14 in New York City and May 15 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . NJPW also announced that during

116-618: A tournament to become the inaugural IWGP Intercontinental Champion . The event concluded with a hardcore rules match between Rhino and Togi Makabe , playing off the history of the former ECW Arena. Makabe ended up winning the final match of the tour over the former ECW and WWE wrestler. MVP held the IWGP Intercontinental Championship for five months and successfully defended it twice in rematches against Toru Yano, before being defeated by Masato Tanaka on October 10, 2011, at Destruction '11 . Following

174-466: A few complaints against the promotion, the politicians used this hardcore/extreme wrestling as an election ploy to keep their names in the press. During the spring of 2000, the City of Bayonne revoked JAPW's entertainment license, preventing the promotion from running events at Charity Hall. This forced JAPW to find a different venue to house their shows and alter their wrestling style. This was done to appease

232-476: A learning excursion to American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) since February 2010; Hideo Saito , who had been on a similar tour of Puerto Rico 's World Wrestling Council since September 2010; former IWGP Tag Team and IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Tetsuya Naito and Yujiro Takahashi of No Limit ; NJPW regulars Tama Tonga and Toru Yano , and; American independent worker Dan Maff , who made his first appearance for NJPW during

290-579: A member of Kojima-gun, but had not chosen sides in the conflict up until the event. In the second title match of the event, Apollo 55 ( Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi ) made their fifth successful defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against the Strong Style Thugz ( Homicide and Low Ki ). In the third title match of the event, MVP defeated Toru Yano in the finals of

348-403: A show called "South Philly Invasion." JAPW was planning to go back to their roots, but once again politics from Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission put a quick stop to it and prevented the show from moving forward. JAPW was allowed to return to Bayonne and Charity Hall but not without major changes. JAPW has to abide by strict Bayonne and New Jersey rules because it was under scrutiny from both

406-459: A venue, he met a local businessman by the name of Jeff Shapiro. Shapiro owned a local building called Charity Hall and was also a wrestling fan. Iadevaia and Shapiro agreed to a one-year lease of Charity Hall. On July 25, 1997, JAPW was born. During the early days of JAPW, they featured wrestlers who were established in the New Jersey independent wrestling scene looking for that big break. One of

464-549: The Asylum Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . The event featured eight matches, three of which were contested for championships . The first title match of the event was contested for Jersey All Pro Wrestling 's (JAPW) Light Heavyweight Championship , which NJPW wrestler Jyushin Thunder Liger had captured the previous December. In the match Kenny Omega , a regular for both JAPW and NJPW, defeated Liger to become

522-569: The Chaos stable. Kazuchika Okada meanwhile returned to Total Nonstop Action Wrestling and did not return to NJPW until January 2012. Repackaged as the "Rainmaker", Okada received a strong push and just a month later at The New Beginning defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi to end his thirteen-month reign as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion and become the new champion in what NJPW called the "upset of the century". NJPW eventually returned to

580-588: The IWGP Intercontinental Championship tournament , which saw Toru Yano defeat Yujiro Takahashi and MVP defeat Tetsuya Naito . Following his match, MVP was attacked by Yano to build up the following day's tournament final. In the first title match of the event, Prince Devitt made his seventh successful defense of the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against former champion Low Ki . In

638-411: The IWGP Intercontinental Championship tournament , which saw Yujiro Takahashi advance over Hideo Saito , Tetsuya Naito advance over Josh Daniels, Toru Yano advance over Dan Maff and MVP advance over Kazuchika Okada . In the main event tag team match, Charlie Haas and Rhino defeated Hiroshi Tanahashi and Togi Makabe with Rhino pinning Makabe, building up the storyline rivalry between

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696-705: The NEVER Openweight Championship . On October 3, 2010, American promotion Jersey All Pro Wrestling announced that it had reached an agreement with NJPW to co-promote NJPW's first shows in the United States. NJPW officially announced the NJPW Invasion Tour 2011: Attack on East Coast tour on January 4, 2011, with shows taking place on May 13 in Rahway, New Jersey , May 14 in New York City and May 15 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania . The following day, NJPW added that, during

754-652: The New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion . "IWGP" is the acronym of NJPW's governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix ( インターナショナル・レスリング・グラン・プリ , intānashonaru resuringu guran puri ) . The title was officially announced on January 5, 2011, and the Inaugural Champion MVP was crowned on May 15, 2011, during NJPW's first tour of the United States . On March 4, 2021, the championship

812-631: The Butcher . Don Montoya, Reckless Youth, Russ and Charlie Haas (the Haas Brothers), The Big Unit, Nova , The Nation Of Immigration (Homicide & Kane "D"), Chino Martinez and The Sickness were the local homegrown in the show. After the JAPW First Anniversary Show, they showed they had the potential to be a major promotion thus putting the independent wrestling scene on notice. The rest of 1998 included more growth for

870-574: The IWGP Intercontinental Championship tournament and the second on the other big matches of the tour. The first event on the NJPW Invasion Tour 2011: Attack on East Coast tour took place on May 13, 2011, at the Rahway Recreation Center in Rahway, New Jersey . The event featured eight matches and was the only event on the tour to not include any championship matches. The event included all four first round matches in

928-605: The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship on May 3 at Wrestling Dontaku 2012 , in a rematch of their title match in New York City. Lance Archer, however, did become a regular for NJPW following the tour, joining Suzuki-gun and winning the 2011 G1 Tag League at the end of the year alongside the stable's leader, Minoru Suzuki. Hideo Saito ended his excursion with the tour and returned to NJPW at Dominion 6.18, attacking Yuji Nagata and joining

986-674: The Intercontinental and Heavyweight Championships were now equals, while Dave Meltzer wrote that Nakamura and Tanahashi made the Intercontinental Championship feel like "the real world title belt". Nakamura regained the title from Tanahashi in another main event match on April 6 at Invasion Attack 2014 . Nakamura's association with the championship continued to 2016, when he successfully defended it against former IWGP Heavyweight Champion A.J. Styles at Wrestle Kingdom 10 . On January 25, 2016, Nakamura

1044-527: The Invasion Tour, JAPW stopped promoting shows due to the heavy financial losses caused by the tour. The promotion eventually returned, however, only promoting one anniversary show per year. Five of the six JAPW regulars who took part in the tour did not make another appearance for NJPW. The only exception was Low Ki, who joined NJPW in April 2012, and concluded his return tour by defeating Prince Devitt for

1102-602: The Invasion Tour, Prince Devitt held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship for another month, before losing it to Kota Ibushi in his eighth defense on June 18 at Dominion 6.18 . Apollo 55 held the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship for another five months and successfully defended it two more times, before losing it to the No Remorse Corps ( Davey Richards and Rocky Romero ) at Destruction '11. Following

1160-800: The JAPW Light Heavyweight Championship in December 2010. In May 2011 JAPW hosted NJPW in the United States during their Invasion Tour 2011: Attack on East Coast . The NJPW tour caused heavy financial losses for JAPW, leading to the promotion going on a hiatus from 2010 until April 14, 2012, when they held their 14th Anniversary Show in Rahway. Afterwards, JAPW promoted only one anniversary show per year. On September 23, 2015, JAPW founder and promoter Frank Iadevaia died in his sleep at 43. They have not promoted an event since February 2018. The JAPW Student Championship

1218-794: The JAPW Wrestling School also had a breakout year. Dixie and Insane Dragon became fan favorites and underdogs while on their quest to capture the JAPW Tag Team Championship. On May 18, 2001, at Youth Gone Wild , Dixie and Insane Dragon defeated Da Hit Squad to become the JAPW Tag Team Champions. Their reign only lasted 50 days as family drama slowly unfolded between the two brothers. During the feud, other family members get involved such as their father and younger sister. On December 15, 2001, JAPW learned of Russ Haas 's passing, which affected all in

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1276-620: The JAPW locker room. Then on February 2, 2002, JAPW presented the Russ Haas Memorial Show. Over 600 fans attended the memorial event while over 50 professional wrestlers from around the United States showed up and donated their salary for that evening. Even wrestlers from Florida flew up to the show as a show of respect for Haas to work the show. Charlie and the rest of the Haas family were also in attendance. The proceeds raised at

1334-553: The Sheraton Hotel in Newark . The convention had over 2,500 fans attend, and the live event had over 1,000 fans in attendance. This was the biggest at that time to ever hit the New Jersey independent wrestling scene. That show attracted some of biggest names in business including Stone Cold Steve Austin , The Dudley Boyz , Rob Van Dam , Tommy Dreamer , Paul Heyman , The Wild Samoans , Al Snow , Shane Douglas , and Abdullah

1392-461: The United States and Mexico . On May 31, 2013, while on tour with Mexican promotion Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), with whom NJPW has a working relationship, Nakamura lost the title to La Sombra . This marked the first time the title had changed hands outside of NJPW. Nakamura regained the title back in NJPW two months later on July 20, and in the process became the first two-time holder of

1450-574: The United States in May 2014 under a working arrangement with the Ring of Honor (ROH) promotion. Jersey All Pro Wrestling Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW) was an independent wrestling promotion based in New Jersey , United States . Jersey All Pro Wrestling was an independent wrestling promotion that was founded by "Fat" Frank Iadeavia and Angel Surita on April 19, 1997. This promotion

1508-452: The United States, but also featured a storyline development, where Rhino interrupted Togi Makabe and threatened to destroy him, setting up a storyline rivalry between the two, which lasted for the entire tour. Workers at the hotel were reportedly not in on the storyline interruption and were close to calling the police. In Japan, the tour was broadcast on tape delay by Fighting TV Samurai in two two-hour specials. The first concentrated on

1566-459: The city and state. Plus, officials were sent to the shows to monitor the promotion. Thus ended the era "Blood is Better" on February 2, 2001. Frank Iadevaia, Jeff Shapiro, Pierre Pilger, and Angel Surita met with many of the promotions wrestlers to talk about the future of the promotion. If the company was going exist into the future, than change was crucial. So the company went into a new direction. In effect of this change "We are hard hitting" became

1624-452: The first belt design—which had bronze plates on a black strap—for its resemblance to a 10 yen coin and saw it as a mockery of the IWGP. The new design featured gold plates on a white strap. The white strap was unprecedented for the IWGP, and symbolized a clean slate for its holder to add to and define. After Nakamura's departure, the title was most associated with Tetsuya Naito , who held

1682-507: The first of the JAPW originals to take that opportunity and shine was Homicide who made his debut on September 12, 1997. Also during the early days of JAPW, their shows were bloody and violent. Hardcore wrestling during that time was due to the craze of ECW and JAPW was seen as an alternative. Not long after, several ECW stars started making appearances in JAPW due to Iadevaia's friendship with former ECW star Jason. The Pitbulls, 911 , The Samoan Gangsta Party, and others made their debut for

1740-499: The local politicians who were now fully aware of Jersey All Pro Wrestling and their reputation. On September 18, 2000, New Jersey governor Whitman signed into law bill number A2304 banning extreme wrestling. This bill altered the face of JAPW. With the bill putting the promotion in a proverbial chokehold, the outlook for the future of the promotion seemed bleak. But in November 2000, ECW was facing bankruptcy, and JAPW had plans to put on

1798-523: The main event of the evening, Hiroshi Tanahashi made his fourth successful defense of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against former WWE wrestler Charlie Haas . This marked the second time NJPW's top title had been defended in the United States, ten years after Scott Norton had made the original title defense. The third and final event on the NJPW Invasion Tour 2011: Attack on East Coast tour took place on May 15, 2011, at

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1856-648: The monthly shows. JAPW held their events once a month in small venues such as the Rahway Rec Center, and the Golden Door Charter School in Jersey City. On May 22, 2010, Japanese legend Jushin Thunder Liger made his debut for JAPW, wrestling Homicide in the main event of the show in which he lost. In the fall of 2010 JAPW started a working relationship with New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), which saw Jushin Thunder Liger capturing

1914-452: The most brutal and bloody matches in JAPW history. In early 1998, JAPW flourished and attracted a larger fan base. Due to JAPW's continued growth, Jeff Shapiro saw the potential the promotion had and thus became an investor. Then on March 28, 1998, JAPW did something their critics and other New Jersey promoters never thought they would do: last a year and put on a their First Anniversary Show and Convention. The show and convention took place at

1972-459: The new champion. Following the fourth match, Lance Archer made his NJPW debut by attacking Satoshi Kojima . Kojima was saved by MVP , who suggested the two should form a tag team together. This played on a NJPW storyline from earlier in the month, when members of the Kojima-gun stable had turned on Kojima and appointed Minoru Suzuki as the leader of the new Suzuki-gun stable. MVP was

2030-492: The new slogan and rally cry for JAPW. Many stars were influential during this new era, but the leaders of the new era were Da Hit Squad, Homicide, and Low Ki . JAPW once again showed their innovative style when they were the first independent promotion to showcase the strong style in the United States on a regular basis. It was also during 2001, that Philadelphia joined Bayonne as stops during their monthly shows for

2088-483: The politics in the New Jersey wrestling scene at that time. Also featured wrestlers like A-Train, and Alexander the Great who are better known as D-Von Dudley and Big Dick Dudley respectively. Other wrestlers like Rockin' Rebel and Little Guido who moved on to ECW as well as others became the foundation of the future of JAPW. During July 1997, "Fat" Frank searched for a venue to house the promotion. While looking for

2146-521: The promotion during 1997. Due to JAPW increasing popularity, it was considered the hottest ticket in Bayonne at the time, and fans craved blood and violence like their ECW counterparts. On December 5, 1997, JAPW closed out their first year with Night of Barb Wire #1 . It saw the Blood Angels defeat Homicide and Don Montoya to win the vacant JAPW Tag Team Championship in what is considered one of

2204-587: The promotion. By the end of 2001, JAPW invaded Hackettstown . During that year, many stars had breakout years, but it would be known as the breakout year for Da Hit Squad ( Monsta Mack and Mafia ), who were into their second reign as the JAPW Tag Team Champions . "Wall" become a common chant for the Bayonne fans whenever Da Hit Squad were in action. They chanted "wall, wall, wall..." until Da Hit Squad Gorilla Press Slammed their opponents out of

2262-504: The ring and into the wall at Charity Hall. The Wall is said to be one of the most talked and devastating finishers in wrestling at that time. While a top force in the JAPW tag team division, Da Hit Squad also elevated other wrestlers into future stars with their ability to put over other opponents. The Briscoe Brothers , Dixie, Insane Dragon, Deranged, JT Jobber, and many others benefited from working with Da Hit Squad. Dixie and Insane Dragon were two local Bayonne brothers who got their starts

2320-449: The same time. Sometimes, they were called "Double Championship". On March 4, 2021, one year after Naito's victory, the titles were unified to form the new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. During the championship's existence there have been twenty-seven reigns shared among fifteen wrestlers with one vacancy . MVP was the first champion in the title's history. Tetsuya Naito has the most reigns with six. Shinsuke Nakamura holds

2378-555: The show went to the widow of Russ Haas. That night for the first time ever in JAPW history, a Triple Crown Champion was determined. The match was contested in a Triple Threat Match. JAPW Heavyweight Champion Homicide was challenged by JAPW Light Heavyweight Champion The Insane Dragon and JAPW New Jersey State Champion Dixie. Dixie won the match and became the Triple Crown Champion. JAPW was in talks to do business with California based Xtreme Pro Wrestling when XPW

NJPW Invasion Tour 2011 - Misplaced Pages Continue

2436-687: The title for a record six times. During his first reign, he began systematically destroying the title belt, forcing NJPW to have it repaired in June 2017. Unlike Nakamura, Naito firmly saw the Heavyweight Championship as the top title, and had no desire for the Intercontinental Championship when he first won it. On January 5, 2020, at Wrestle Kingdom 14 , Tetsuya Naito won the Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships. Both titles keep their individual history, but were defended at

2494-506: The title. Nakamura continued elevating the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, culminating with the IWGP Intercontinental Championship match receiving top billing over the IWGP Heavyweight Championship match at NJPW's biggest annual event, Wrestle Kingdom 8 on January 4, 2014, where former multi-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion Hiroshi Tanahashi became the new champion. Afterwards, Tokyo Sports wrote that

2552-413: The tour the promotion would introduce its fifth active title, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship . Most of the wrestlers taking part in the tour were NJPW regulars, however, several JAPW workers, who were not regulars with NJPW, also took part in the tour; namely Charlie Haas , Dan Maff , Homicide , Josh Daniels, Low Ki and Rhino . Daniels was a late replacement for a NJPW regular Tama Tonga , who

2610-480: The tour, the promotion would introduce the IWGP Intercontinental Championship, with the inaugural champion to be crowned in a tournament taking place over the three shows. Participants for the tournament were announced on April 8, 2011. The list of participants included: former World Wrestling Entertainment performer MVP , who had signed a contract with New Japan in January 2011; Kazuchika Okada , who had been on

2668-424: The tour. On May 6, it was announced that Tonga had suffered an injury which would force him out of the tournament. He was replaced by former TNA and Ring of Honor performer Josh Daniels. On May 15, MVP defeated Yano in the final of the tournament to become the inaugural champion. Through MVP's inaugural reign and the subsequent reigns of Masato Tanaka and Hirooki Goto , the IWGP Intercontinental Championship

2726-515: The two and also a future IWGP Heavyweight Championship match between Tanahashi and Haas. The second event on the NJPW Invasion Tour 2011: Attack on East Coast tour took place on May 14, 2011, at Basketball City in New York City, New York . Prior to being announced at Basketball City, the event was scheduled to be held in Brooklyn . The event featured eight matches, two of which were contested for championships . The event also featured semifinals in

2784-692: The way with their extreme, hardcore, and brutal style. JAPW peaked in popularity around 2000. With this increased popularity, JAPW was all over the news. The promotion was even featured in every major New Jersey newspaper and on major television stations. On a national level JAPW was featured in The New York Times , ABC's Nightline , and MSNBC . The newfound publicity helped the company flourish even more with record attendance numbers. But that also came with increasing scrutiny towards Bayonne mayor, New Jersey Senator Joseph Doria , and New Jersey governor Christine Todd Whitman . While there were only

2842-734: The young promotion. "We guarantee excitement" and "blood is better" quickly became two trademark slogans for the up-and-coming promotion. Charity Hall continued to sell out crowds for each and every show JAPW put on there. Along with the sell out crowd, JAPW brought in top talent and showcased local undiscovered talent that became stars. Also during that time, the shows became increasingly more violent in nature with more blood and weapons. Death matches became commonplace in JAPW with every show featuring such weapons as barbed wire , thumbtacks , fire , mouse traps, light tubes, and other weapons became standard. Glenn "The Maniac" Strange, "Lightning" Lou Diamond, Kane "D", Homicide, Jay Lover, and Low Life Louie led

2900-481: Was a hardcore baller sport. It was retired on 2000 when the state of New Jersey banned death match style/hardcore style wrestling. The JAPW Television Championship was a title in the Jersey All Pro Wrestling professional wrestling promotion . It became an official title on June 7, 2002, with Dixie becoming the first champion. It was retired in 2004. The JAPW Students Tag Team Championship

2958-406: Was a title in the Jersey All Pro Wrestling professional wrestling promotion . It became an official title on August 6, 1999, with Jay Lover becoming the first champion. It was retired in 2002. The JAPW Suicidal Championship was a title in the Jersey All Pro Wrestling professional wrestling promotion . It became an official title on August 29, 1999, with Jay Lover becoming the first champion. It

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3016-409: Was a title in the Jersey All Pro Wrestling professional wrestling promotion . It became an official title on December 21, 2001, with Just G and Johnny T becoming the first champions. It was retired in 2002. IWGP Intercontinental Championship The IWGP Intercontinental Championship ( IWGPインターコンチネンタル王座 , IWGP intākonchinentaru ōza ) was a professional wrestling championship owned by

3074-482: Was born out of a dream of "Fat" Frank and Angel. They wanted to take the promotion in a different direction than others. "Fat" Frank and Angel took a group of misfit wrestlers who were not used in other promotion for various reasons and booked them in a show on that night under the promotion name. During 1997, only two shows were run, Northern States Wrestling Alliance a precursor to JAPW, the wrestlers were friends who were not getting booked in other wrestling shows due to

3132-429: Was largely a midcard title, remaining firmly behind the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and IWGP Tag Team Championship in importance. However, after Shinsuke Nakamura captured the title from Goto on July 22, 2012, the title began gaining importance. He was already a former three-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion and his first reign lasted 313 days. Nakamura also made the title international again, defending it in both

3190-501: Was making its East Coast debut in 2002. JAPW also made their debut in Seaside Heights in 2002 with several shows during the summer. They ended the year back in Bayonne. In December 2002, JAPW learned the fate of their existence at Charity Hall. Jeff Shapiro sold Charity Hall to a developer, and the promotion was forced to look for another venue to house the shows. A short term was in place until JAPW found another venue to house

3248-574: Was retired by NJPW after being unified with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship to form the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship . The final champion was Kota Ibushi , who was in his second reign at the time of the title's retirement. The title formed what was unofficially called the "New Japan Triple Crown " (新日本トリプルクラウン, Shin Nihon Toripuru Kuraun ) along with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and

3306-577: Was sidelined with an injury. Hideo Saito and Kazuchika Okada , two NJPW contracted wrestlers, who were at the time on learning excursions to Puerto Rico and American Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) respectively, also returned to take part in the tour. The official cards for the events were released on May 4. The day before the start of the tour, NJPW held a press conference at the Ramada hotel in Newark, New Jersey . The conference mainly featured wrestlers talking about their feelings about working in

3364-483: Was stripped of the title due to his departure from the promotion at the end of the month. From 2012 to 2016, Nakamura held the IWGP Intercontinental Championship five times and defended it at four consecutive Wrestle Kingdom events. The title was also associated with Nakamura as it was he who personally introduced the new title belt design shortly into his first reign in August 2012. He was outspokenly disapproving of

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