Mid 20th Century
18-485: NJPW Strong is a brand name utilized by Japanese professional wrestling promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and its New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America (NJoA) subsidiary. In its original incarnation, NJPW Strong was the name of a weekly professional wrestling streaming television show produced by NJoA. The series debuted on August 7, 2020, airing on Saturdays at 8 pm ET on NJPW World and FITE TV until its final episode aired on January 28, 2023. After
36-665: A scandal revealed that some of the Noah management had had ties to a Yakuza syndicate between 2003 and 2010. As part of the fallout, Noah lost its TV show. In the years that followed, many major stars such as Kenta Kobashi , Kenta and Jun Akiyama left the company. On October 1, 2016, it was announced that Noah had been purchased by IT company Estbee, Co., Ltd. As a result, former AJPW president Masayuki Uchida replaced Taue as president. On November 7, Estbee changed its legal name to Noah Global Entertainment, Inc. ( ノア・グローバルエンタテインメント株式会社 , Noa Gurōbaru Entateinmento Kabushiki gaisha ) . At
54-442: Is a company or business that regularly performs shows involving professional wrestling . "Promotion" also describes a role which entails management, advertising and logistics of running a wrestling event. Within the convention of the show , the company is a sports governing body which sanctions wrestling matches and gives authority to the championships and is responsible for maintaining the divisions and their rankings. In truth,
72-529: Is a Japanese professional wrestling parent company based in Tokyo . It is a subsidiary of the CyberAgent digital advertising company. CyberFight serves as an umbrella brand for three promotions: Pro Wrestling Noah , DDT Pro-Wrestling and Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling . In April 1997, following the success of the first Judgement event held on March 25, Sanshiro Takagi , Mikami and Nosawa Rongai left
90-615: The COVID-19 pandemic . Sanshiro Takagi was named as president of the promotion and he established a plan of running events at the Tokyo Dome and overtaking NJPW in popularity. It was also revealed that the Noah and DDT brands would not be retired and would maintain their unique and current brand names, logos, etc. and would act as two separate brands within CyberFight. On June 6, 2021, CyberFight held its first event promoted under
108-539: The CyberAgent company. Sanshiro Takagi remained as the DDT president. On January 28, 2020, it was announced that CyberAgent had purchased Pro Wrestling Noah from Lidet Entertainment. On July 27, 2020, it was announced that Noah, DDT Pro-Wrestling and the DDT Foods company would merge in a new company that would eventually be called CyberFight . The decision came after financial troubles faced by Noah and DDT due in part to
126-919: The National Wrestling Alliance , act as an umbrella organization which governs titles that are shared among multiple promotions. During the 1950s, the National Wrestling Alliance oversaw many wrestling territories such as Mid-Atlantic Wrestling and NWA San Francisco , in a business model known as the "territory system". This is a list of the most notable past and present professional wrestling promotions. Active Defunct Active Defunct Active Defunct Active Defunct Active Defunct Active Defunct (Modern-era) Defunct (Territory-era) Active Defunct CyberFight CyberFight Co., Ltd. ( 株式会社CyberFight , Kabushiki gaisha Saibāfaito ) , operating simply as CyberFight (CF),
144-492: The Pro Wrestling Crusaders promotion to start their own promotion called Dramatic Dream Team with Takagi and Shoichi Ichimiya as owners. In June 2000, the promotion was incorporated as Dramatic Dream Team, Co., Ltd. ( 有限会社ドラマチック・ドリーム・チーム , Yūgen gaisha Doramachikku Dorīmu Chīmu ) and Koichiro Kimura was appointed director. In 2003, Ichimiya was appointed representative director . In April 2004,
162-608: The CyberFight name, CyberFight Festival 2021 , at the Saitama Super Arena . On December 15, 2023, the four brands of CyberFight were announced as founding members of the United Japan Pro-wrestling alliance, a joint effort to further develop professional wrestling in Japan through promotion and organization, with Seiji Sakaguchi being named as the chairman of the project. On January 31, 2024,
180-925: The January Strong tapings would be the last, and that "overseas tournaments" would be held in a different format in the future. On January 30, NJPW announced that all of the promotion's future American events would be branded under the NJPW Strong name, and be available for purchase via pay-per-view (PPV) providers. Beginning with Battle in the Valley on February 18, the NJoA PPVs began airing as NJPW Strong Live . These PPV events will later air on NJPW World in hour-long installments known as NJPW Strong on Demand . Professional wrestling promotion 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s A professional wrestling promotion
198-476: The best weekly television show in 2003 by the Wrestling Observer . On June 13, 2009, after taking a belly to back suplex from Akitoshi Saito , Misawa lost consciousness in the ring and was taken to a hospital. He was pronounced dead in the hospital later that day due to spinal damage. Two weeks later, Akira Taue was named as Misawa's successor, taking over as president of Noah. In March 2012,
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#1732784030738216-484: The company changed its name to DDT Pro-Wrestling, Co., Ltd. ( 有限会社DDTプロレスリング , Yūgen gaisha Dī Dī Tī Puroresuringu ) . On December 28, 2005, Ichimiya announced his retirement from professional wrestling and stepped down from his position in the company, leaving Takagi as the sole owner and new president. In 2009, DDT changed its legal form of incorporation to a kabushiki gaisha . On January 31, 1999, All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) founder Giant Baba died and left
234-577: The company serves as a touring theatre troupe , as well as event promotion body for its own events. Most promotions are self-contained, organized around one or more championships and do not acknowledge or recognize the legitimacy of other promotions' titles unless they share a working agreement. Governing bodies, such as the CyberFight , United Wrestling Network , WWNLive , Allied Independent Wrestling Federations , Union of European Wrestling Alliances, Pro Wrestling International and, previously,
252-412: The company to his widow Motoko Baba as owner and Mitsuharu Misawa as president. Disagreements over the proposed direction for the company led Misawa to leave AJPW on May 28, 2000, to form a new promotion called Pro Wrestling Noah . He was followed in this venture by almost the entire AJPW roster. The promotion quickly rose in popularity and was even named best promotion in 2004 and 2005, as well as having
270-414: The end of 2016, relations between Noah and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) reportedly turned "extremely sour" and NJPW pulled all of its wrestlers from Noah. In the months following the end of the relationship, Noah's attendance numbers went down by 29%. On January 29, 2019, Uchida announced that Lidet Entertainment had acquired 75% of Noah's shares. On September 1, 2017, 100% of DDT's shares were sold to
288-670: The inaugural New Japan Cup USA tournament. As part of NJPW's expansion into the United States, the series would be produced by NJoA. The premiere episode of Strong aired on August 7, 2020, broadcast live from NJPW's training dojo in Los Angeles , and streaming on NJPW's service NJPW World . The event was held with no spectators due to the COVID-19 pandemic . On August 19, NJPW announced that Strong would be streaming on FITE TV in conjunction with NJPW World. On January 6, 2023, Hiroshi Tanahashi announced on his blog that
306-772: The program's end, NJPW Strong became the branding for NJPW events held in the United States . These events are distributed live via PPV under the NJPW Strong Live banner, and are later distributed as part of the NJPW Strong on Demand series. On November 24, 2014, AXS TV , under the AXS TV Fights banner, announced that it had acquired a thirteen-episode series produced by TV Asahi featuring matches from New Japan Pro Wrestling . The series premiered on January 16, 2015, airing on Friday evenings. This
324-419: Was the first time NJPW had been aired on an American television network since its formation in 1972. NJPW content would continue to air on AXS until December 2019. On October 21, 2019, NJPW announced the formation of an American subsidiary called "New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America" (NJoA). On July 31, 2020, NJPW announced a new weekly series titled NJPW Strong , with its initial episodes to feature matches from
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