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104-615: The ROH Tag Team Championship was introduced at Unscripted on September 21, 2002, where ROH held a tournament to crown the first champions. At the time, ROH did not have title belts, and instead presented Christopher Daniels and Donovan Morgan , the winners of the tournament, with a trophy. The title became the ROH World Tag Team Championship after then champions Austin Aries and Roderick Strong defeated Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino on July 9, 2006, while on

208-633: A cage match. At Sacrifice , Daniels pinned Rhino after hitting him with a baseball bat. Daniels began feuded with Sting , costing him a King of the Mountain match qualifier by hitting him with a baseball bat. Sting attacked him the next week on Impact! . On June 17 at Slammiversary , Sting pinned him after the Scorpion Death Drop . According to Daniels, the feud ended before start because Vince Russo did not know what to do with his Fallen Angel gimmick. At Victory Road , Daniels won

312-574: A dark match to Mick Tierney, and went on to be used as a jobber on the WWF's B-shows , Sunday Night Heat and WWF Shotgun Saturday Night , throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 2000, he donned a mask and teamed (as Dos ) with Aaron Aguilera (Uno) as Los Conquistadores , as part of The Hardy Boyz ' feud with Edge and Christian . He also appeared as one of the Los Conquistadores alongside Aaron Aguilera where they competed in

416-690: A face, under his "Fallen Angel" gimmick (his name shortened to just Daniels afterwards) on the April 16 TNA Impact! . He defeated Kurt Angle to give Jeff Jarrett 's team the first-man advantage in Lethal Lockdown , at Lockdown . He was then announced as a member of Team Jarrett. The win was overturned by Jeff Jarrett, after he noticed Angle's shoulder was up during the pinfall and Daniels' shoulders were down. At Lockdown , Team Jarrett defeated Team Angle. Daniels then feuded with Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin ( The Motor City Machine Guns ), who, on

520-471: A match. He then took the mic and challenged Low Ki and Danielson to a round robin tournament at ROH's second show, Round Robin Challenge . Daniels defeated Danielson in the first match, then forced him to shake his hand. He next submitted to Low Ki's Dragon Clutch, but again refused to shake hands and said he would have won if he had not already wrestled that night, vowing to not wrestle Low Ki again unless

624-481: A new partnership with The Crash Lucha Libre ; both partnerships ended later in 2019. On October 21, 2019, NJPW announced the formation of a new American subsidiary of the company, named New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America (NJoA). In 2019, they had run a record 13 shows in the United States, with plans to run double that in 2020. It was reported at the same time that NJPW and ROH had no joint shows planned for

728-471: A pin on the eventual winner, Low Ki, and was the only wrestler not to lose a fall by pin or submission. Two months later, Low Ki defended the title against Xavier . During the match, Daniels came to the ring to distract Low Ki, allowing Xavier to attack the champion with a chair and pin him for the title. Xavier was subsequently announced as the newest member of The Prophecy. Later that night, Daniels and Morgan defeated Danielson and Michael Modest to become

832-405: A preview match, he lost to Team Japan 's Milano Collection A.T. in the tournament. At Victory Road , Curry Man wrestled in a four-team, twelve-man elimination tag match; he was eliminated by Team Mexico 's Último Guerrero . Curry Man and Shark Boy then allied with Super Eric to form a comedic superhero-themed stable called The Prince Justice Brotherhood . At Final Resolution , Curry Man

936-405: A rivalry between The Prophecy and Punk's stable, The Second City Saints . On January 10, 2004, at Battle Lines are Drawn , The Prophecy (Daniels, Whitmer, and Dan Maff ) faced The Second City Saints (Punk, Colt Cabana , and Ace Steel ) in a six-man tag team main event. The Prophecy was disqualified when Whitmer accidentally hit the referee with a chair. After the match, Punk dropped Daniels from

1040-516: A six-way elimination match to determine the #1 contender for the X Division Championship , where he was the runner-up, being eliminated by Low Ki . The following week, on July 17, Daniels teamed with Elix Skipper for the first time in a losing effort against The Flying Elvises ( Jorge Estrada and Sonny Siaki ). After a long hiatus, Daniels returned to TNA on December 18 and joined Vince Russo 's Sports Entertainment Xtreme stable, along with Low Ki and Elix Skipper by attacking Curt Hennig . Later in

1144-423: A surprise early return, confronting and challenging the new ROH World Champion, CM Punk, who had threatened to leave for World Wrestling Entertainment with the title. Punk refused the challenge and fled the arena. At the next show, Sign of Dishonor , Daniels defeated Punk's stablemate, Colt Cabana, when Punk attempted to hit Daniels with a steel chain, but instead hit Cabana. At Fate of an Angel , Daniels lost to

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1248-752: A tag match with Titan to The Manson Brothers (Ripper and Skull). The following month he defeated Trevor Blanchard for the WCPW Light Heavyweight Championship, and shortly thereafter won the WCPW Tag Team Championship with Kevin Quinn. Daniels subsequently traveled to Puerto Rico to wrestle for the World Wrestling Council , and on October 22, 1995, teamed with Kevin Quinn (as the team of Overkill) to defeat Huracán Castillo Jr. and Invader I for

1352-460: A team and marked Daniels' sixth individual reign. At Bound for Glory , Styles and Daniels lost the titles to LAX in a Six Sides of Steel match to end the rivalry. On November 16, Daniels defeated Styles and Chris Sabin in a three-way match on the primetime debut of Impact! on Spike TV , by pinning Sabin, to win his third TNA X Division Championship. Daniels successfully defended the title against Sabin at Genesis and Turning Point before losing

1456-557: A ten-man Ultimate X Gauntlet match with the assistance of Senshi and Elix Skipper, thus reuniting Triple X in the process. At Hard Justice , Daniels and Senshi competed against Jay Lethal and Sonjay Dutt and Motor City Machine Guns (Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin) in a three-way dance which Lethal and Dutt won. At No Surrender , Daniels and Senshi participated in a gauntlet match for a future TNA World Tag Team Championship opportunity but failed to win. At Bound for Glory on October 14, Daniels unsuccessfully challenged for Jay Lethal for

1560-641: A ten-minute time limit draw, resulting in AMW and Triple X both unsuccessfully challenging Naturals for the tag team titles in a three-way on September 1. On September 8, Harris and Skipper won the tag team titles after both Daniels and Storm were injured by The Naturals. On the September 24 episode of Impact! , Daniels and Storm defeated Harris and Skipper to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship, marking Daniels' fourth reign. They lost

1664-442: A third, they became tag team partners in the summer of 2006. On August 26, they failed in their first shot at the ROH World Tag Team Championship, against Austin Aries and Roderick Strong . On November 25, they defeated Chris Hero and Claudio Castagnoli for the title, making Daniels a two-time champion. After defending against CIMA and Shingo, Austin Aries and Roderick Strong and Jack Evans and Shingo, Daniels and Sydal lost

1768-546: A tour in Japan with Dragon Gate and Pro Wrestling Noah . Since then, the title has also been defended in the United Kingdom . On December 10, 2022 at Final Battle The Briscoe Brothers became record setting 13-time champions. During their reign, Jay Briscoe died in a car accident on January 17, 2023. His brother kept the title until it was vacated at Supercard of Honor on March 21, 2023. 1 ^ Neither team

1872-532: Is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded on January 13, 1972, by Antonio Inoki , and based in Nakano, Tokyo . It is currently owned by card game company Bushiroad , while TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares of the company. Naoki Sugabayashi has served as the promotion's Chairman since September 2013, while Hiroshi Tanahashi has served as the president of the promotion since December 2023. Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, NJPW

1976-404: Is sort of like a circle like repetitive round crown on all five plates of the belt that is gold with red and silver diamonds all around the center and side plates (two side plates per side equaling to four side plates total) with also gold wording in the middle with black outlining on them and on the side of the belts plates that say ROH Tag Team but in the main middle center plate separating it from

2080-589: Is the largest and longest-running professional wrestling promotion in Japan. Their biggest event is the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show (currently promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom banner) held each year since 1992. In addition to promoting professional wrestling matches, NJPW has also showcased mixed martial arts fights on some of its live events. The promotion was owned by Yuke's from 2005 until 2012. It

2184-701: The 2020 New Japan Cup as well. World Wonder Ring Stardom is owned by Bushiroad , also made adjustments to their schedule, cancelling shows from February 18 to March 14. Their March 8 show in Korakuen Hall was held without any spectators in attendance, instead streaming live on their YouTube channel. On March 23, NJPW would later cancel the 2020 Sakura Genesis event that was originally scheduled to take place in on March 31. On April 8, NJPW would cancel more events from April 11 through May 4, which mean both nights of 2020 Wrestling Dontaku were cancelled as well. On May 6, NJPW cancelled their annual Best of

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2288-509: The APA 's bar room brawl at the WWE Vengeance pay-per-view event in 2003. He made several appearances on WWF Jakked during the spring of 2001, including a singles loss to Jerry Lynn and a tag team loss to Kaientai with Scoot Andrews as his partner. On January 14, 2000, Daniels received a tryout match with World Championship Wrestling , defeating Mikey Henderson. The original idea

2392-1089: The British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship . Back in the U.S., he defeated Michael Modest for the APW Worldwide Internet Championship in All Pro Wrestling and won the 4th Annual ECWA Super 8 Tournament. He then won APW's King of the Indies tournament, the WCPW League Championship, and the UPW Heavyweight Championship. In 1998, Daniels signed a developmental deal with the World Wrestling Federation and trained at Dory Funk Jr. 's Funkin' Dojo. He made his WWF debut on January 19, 1998, losing

2496-1002: The KOPW (King of Pro Wrestling) Championship. For tag teams, there is a traditional championship for two-man teams (the IWGP Tag Team Championship ), and one for three-man teams (the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship ). There are two championships in NJPW for junior heavyweight wrestlers - a singles title (the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship ) and one for tag teams (the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship ). In New Japan's United States based NJPW Strong brand, there are two championships for male wrestlers -

2600-917: The NJPW Invasion Tour 2011: Attack on East Coast , the promotion's first tour of the United States to be held in May 2011. The tour featured shows in Rahway, New Jersey on May 13, New York City on May 14 and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 15, as well as cross-promotion with American independent group Jersey All Pro Wrestling (JAPW). As part of the tour, NJPW introduced a new title, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. On January 31, 2012, Yuke's announced that it had sold all shares of New Japan Pro-Wrestling to card game company Bushiroad for ¥ 500 million ( $ 6.5 million). New Japan aired its first internet pay-per-view ,

2704-552: The NWA World Tag Team Championship . Daniels was recognized as the champion as well with any two of the three members defending the tag team titles via the Triple X Rule . The titles were vacated via a double pin against The Harris Brothers on February 5. On March 12, Daniels and Low Ki defeated America's Most Wanted to win the vacant NWA World Tag Team Championship, beginning the trio's second reign with

2808-658: The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) as well as holding more shows in Thailand , Singapore , and Taiwan . Also announced was the Lion's Gate Project , which would feature NJPW rookies as well as up-and-coming outsiders working trial matches in an effort to earn a spot in the promotion. Finally, it was announced that there were plans to take the company public with a listing on the stock market within three to five years. On December 21, 2015, NJPW announced

2912-476: The National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) from 1975 to 1985 and once more from 1992 to 1993. NJPW was briefly reaffiliated with the NWA in the late 2000s to the early 2010s as well. On January 4, 1992, NJPW partnered with World Championship Wrestling (WCW) to produce Super Warriors , the first ever January 4 Tokyo Dome Show , an event that would become an annual tradition for NJPW and is considered their biggest event of

3016-731: The New Zealand -based Fale Dojo , a pro wrestling training facility run by NJPW performer Bad Luck Fale . NJPW will utilize the partnership as an opportunity to scout talent from Oceania . The following month on April 24, 2017, it was announced that NJPW would co-present the Japanese qualifiers for the Pro Wrestling World Cup tournament hosted by the British What Culture Pro Wrestling (WCPW) promotion. On May 12, 2017, NJPW announced

3120-582: The ROH World Championship was on the line. At Ring of Honor's third show, A Night of Appreciation , Daniels lost to Donovan Morgan , with both men showing mutual respect. The two men formed a partnership, eventually adding other members and growing into the stable known as The Prophecy. Daniels defeated AJ Styles on June 22, to qualify for the first ROH World Championship match, a one-hour Iron Man match against Spanky , Doug Williams , and Low Ki. In this title match, Daniels scored

3224-750: The Strong Openweight Championship for singles wrestlers, and the Strong Openweight Tag Team Championship for tag teams. There are two championships for female wrestlers in NJPW, the IWGP Women's Championship and the Strong Women's Championship . As of November 28, 2024. The Greatest 18 Club was New Japan's first hall of fame, being established in 1990 during Antonio Inoki's career 30th anniversary. Additionally, Lou Thesz also debuted

ROH World Tag Team Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

3328-621: The United Center in Chicago, Illinois . During September 2022, NJPW announced NJPW Tamashii , an Oceania-based brand that would stage events throughout the region. On October 1, 2022, NJPW's founder Antonio Inoki died from systemic transthyretin amyloidosis at age 79. On January 4, 2023, NJPW held their Wrestle Kingdom 17 event in Inoki's honor. In October 2023, NJPW and sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom established

3432-598: The United Japan Pro-Wrestling (UJPW) alliance. The inaugural UJPW event took place on May 6, 2024, in the Nippon Budokan arena. On December 23, NJPW announced that Takami Ohbari had stepped down as the promotion's president, with Hiroshi Tanahashi replacing him as NJPW president and representative director. On April 23, 2024, NJPW announced that it would fully acquire sister promotion World Wonder Ring Stardom on June 28. The acquisition

3536-863: The WWC World Tag Team Championship . They lost the titles a month later to The Canadian Glamour Boys ( Val Venis and Shane Sewell ). Back in Windy City, Daniels defeated Bret Sanders for the WCPW Middleweight Championship, losing it to Brandon Bishop 17 days later. Around this time, he also wrestled for the Empire Wrestling Federation, where he won the EWF Heavyweight Championship . Daniels teamed with Kevin Quinn to defeat Danny Dominion and Ace Steele at

3640-536: The Xscape match for the X Division Title at Lockdown , along with Jay Lethal, Sonjay Dutt , Shark Boy, Consequences Creed , and Johnny Devine . He eliminated Creed from the match after hitting his Spice Rack finisher, and was eliminated by Devine after the Devine Intervention . In June, Curry Man represented Team TNA in the 2008 World X Cup . After losing to Team International's Alex Koslov in

3744-526: The ring name Christopher Daniels , is an American professional wrestler . He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW) where he works as the Head of Talent Relations as well as an in-ring performer and an on-screen interim executive vice president. He is best known for his time in Impact Wrestling (TNA) and Ring of Honor (ROH), as well as extensive time on the independent circuit ; he is known as

3848-795: The "King of Indies" for his work with independent promotions across the world, including Frontier Wrestling Alliance (FWA), International Wrestling Cartel (IWC), and Pro Wrestling Guerrilla (PWG). Daniels has won 20 total championships between Impact, ROH, and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), with three reigns as Impact X Division Champion , six reigns as NWA World Tag Team Champion , and two reigns as Impact World Tag Team Champion during his time with Impact Wrestling; one reign as ROH World Champion , one reign as ROH World Television Champion , four reigns as ROH World Tag Team Champion , and one reign as ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Champion while wrestling for ROH; and one reign as IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion in NJPW. Christopher Daniel Covell

3952-479: The American AXS TV network announced it had acquired rights to rebroadcast a series of thirteen episodes of NJPW matches from TV Asahi . The series premiered on January 16, 2015, airing weekly on Fridays. Averaging 200,000 viewers per episode, the show was considered a success, leading to AXS TV and TV Asahi signing a multi-year deal to continue airing the show. In June 2016, the show was also acquired by

4056-526: The April 30 Impact! , accused him of being Suicide. On the May 7 Impact! , Jay Lethal and Consequences Creed echoed the accusations. On the May 14 Impact! , Daniels helped Suicide clear the ring of Shelley, Sabin, Lethal, and Creed after they attempted to unmask him. At Sacrifice , Daniels defeated Suicide to win the TNA X Division Championship. After the match, Daniels saw a replay of the finish, involving Alex Shelley's interference. He said he didn't want to win

4160-681: The Asia Pacific Pro-Wrestling Alliance, an interpromotional governing body that seeks to connect wrestling promotions across Asia. On January 5, 2024, the alliance was renamed the Asia-Pacific Federation of Wrestling (APFW). The inaugural event sanctioned by APFW, NJPW's Wrestling World in Taiwan, took place on April 14 in Taipei . In early December 2023, NJPW was announced as a founding member of

4264-492: The Canadian Fight Network . On December 1, 2014, NJPW and TV Asahi announced NJPW World , a new worldwide streaming site for the promotion's events. On July 18, 2015, NJPW announced the "New IWGP Conception", a global expansion strategy centered on their international partnerships with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), GFW, ROH, Revolution Pro Wrestling (RPW), Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), and

ROH World Tag Team Championship - Misplaced Pages Continue

4368-500: The Inoki family, the company began to reintegrate its prior puroresu style of wrestling. Also in 2007, NJPW hosted its first ever pay-per-view (PPV) event Wrestle Kingdom I . The promotion debuted a new series called NEVER in August 2010, designed to be a series of events spotlighting younger up-and-coming New Japan talent and feature more outsider participation in the promotion. On January 4, 2011, New Japan officially announced

4472-589: The January 14, 2005, episode of Impact! , Daniels lost to Chris Sabin in a qualifier for the Ultimate X match at Final Resolution . However, Daniels competed at the event as he teamed with Michael Shane and Kazarian against 3Live Kru in a losing effort. On the January 21 episode of Impact! , Daniels lasted ten minutes with A.J. Styles , thus earning a title shot against Styles for the TNA X Division Championship at Against All Odds , where Daniels failed to win

4576-763: The NWA's 50th Anniversary show in October 1998 to become the first NWA Midwest Tag Team Champions. He participated in the 3rd Annual ECWA Super 8 Tournament, reaching the finals where he lost to Steve Bradley. After a short stint in Extreme Championship Wrestling he traveled to Japan, where he developed his masked persona, Curry Man, and competed in the Masked Man League, finishing third. On December 19, 1999, he defeated Minoru Fujita in Michinoku Pro Wrestling for

4680-716: The November 5 Impact! , Daniels confronted the TNA World Heavyweight Champion , A.J. Styles, and claiming he was just as good a wrestler as Styles, but was not given the same breaks by TNA, which he said was pampering, coddling and spoiling Styles. At Turning Point , Styles retained his title in a three-way match against Daniels and Samoa Joe by pinning Joe. On the November 19 Impact! , Daniels completed his heel turn and teamed with Desmond Wolfe against Styles and Kurt Angle, pinning Styles. At Final Resolution , Daniels unsuccessfully challenged Styles for

4784-652: The ROH Tag Team Championship. At the next show, The Prophecy also lost the ROH Championship, when former member Samoa Joe defeated Xavier. On April 26, Daniels won the second Round Robin Challenge by defeating Amazing Red and Paul London in singles matches. On June 14, The Prophecy put their existence in ROH on the line in a six-man tag team match against The Group (Samoa Joe, C. W. Anderson , and Michael Shane ). The Prophecy won, and The Group

4888-942: The Super Juniors tournament. The next day, NJPW postponed their Wrestle Dynasty event to 2021, which was to take place in Madison Square Garden in New York. On June 9, NJPW announced their return with special show with mystery match card called Together Special on June 15 and the return of the New Japan Cup would now be held from June 16 until July 11, with the final being held at Osaka-jō Hall in Osaka alongside Dominion in Osaka-jo Hall being rescheduled to July 12. On September 29, NJPW announced that Meij would no longer be appointed president of

4992-601: The TNA World Heavyweight Championship. The following month at Genesis , Daniels lost to Sean Morley in Morley's TNA debut. On the March 8 Impact! , Daniels vowed to re-ignite the flame of the X Division. That night, he was pinned by X Division Champion Doug Williams in a three-way title match, also involving Kazarian. At Destination X , Daniels competed in a four-way ladder match for

5096-429: The Worlds '15 on May 12 and 13 in Philadelphia and Global Wars '15 on May 15 and 16 in Toronto. In June 2014, New Japan announced a partnership with the new American Global Force Wrestling (GFW) organization helmed by Jeff Jarrett . In November 2014, GFW announced that it would be broadcasting NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome on pay-per-view in the United States as a four-hour event. Also in November 2014,

5200-400: The X Division Championship. At Turning Point , Daniels participated in the inaugural Feast or Fired but failed to win any briefcase. On the December 6 episode of Impact! , Daniels beat Senshi in a match for his "Feast or Fired" briefcase, refereed by Elix Skipper. The next week, the briefcase was revealed to contain a pink slip, meaning Daniels was fired from TNA. One month after Daniels

5304-418: The belt like that and asked for five extra minutes. The five minutes expired in a draw, and Suicide kept the title. At Slammiversary , Daniels pinned Shane Douglas in a match with Daniels' job on the line, after hitting the Best Moonsault Ever. At Victory Road , Wrestling Observer's Worst Show of the Year, Daniels lost to Matt Morgan . At Hard Justice , Daniels won the Steel Asylum match to become

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5408-445: The belt when the ref woke, thus winning his first X Division Championship. Daniels successfully defended the title against Skipper in a Six Sides of Steel match at Lockdown . Daniels successfully defended the title against Shocker at Hard Justice , Chris Sabin and Michael Shane in a three-way match at Slammiversary and Petey Williams at No Surrender . After defeating Austin Aries in a non-title match at Sacrifice , Daniels lost

5512-412: The creation of a new title: the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship, with the inaugural champion to be crowned during the promotion's G1 Special in USA shows in Long Beach, California on July 1 and 2. Four days later, NJPW held a press conference to announce plans to establish a subsidiary company, including a dojo, in the United States. A Los Angeles office was scheduled to be opened before

5616-408: The creation of its seventh active title and the first six-man tag team championship in the promotion's history, the NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship. On January 5, 2016, NJPW announced a partnership with the Amuse talent agency with the goal of making the promotion's wrestlers internationally recognized stars in the vein of Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson . In March 2017, NJPW partnered with

5720-430: The debuting Matt Hardy after Punk interfered. Later that night, after Punk's successful defense against James Gibson , Daniels stole the belt and was granted a title shot. On July 23, at The Homecoming , Daniels wrestled Punk to a one-hour time limit draw; the time expired just as Daniels hit his Angel's Wings finisher. At the next show on August 12, Redemption , Daniels, Gibson and Samoa Joe challenged CM Punk for

5824-442: The early 2000s, the burgeoning popularity of mixed martial arts (MMA) in Japan was noticed by Inoki, who wanted to integrate elements of shoot wrestling to make the company appear more realistic. The company would partner with martial arts organization K-1 and begin to insert wrestlers into MMA fights, with the goal of pushing NJPW in a more realistic direction and to make it appear as an actual sport. The company's new management

5928-431: The end of 2017, with a dojo scheduled to be opened at the start of 2018. NJPW's second American event, Strong Style Evolved , took place on March 25, 2018, also in Long Beach. In November 2017, NJPW signed a television deal with Discovery Communications , which would see the company's programming brought to 70 million Indian homes through DSport . In January 2018, NJPW announced the four-show Fallout Down Under tour,

6032-410: The first ever IWGP Heavyweight Champion by defeating Inoki. However, this championship was later abandoned and the current version of the championship was established in 1987. Inoki would serve as the president of the promotion until 1989, when he was succeeded by Seiji Sakaguchi . On April 24, 1989, NJPW hosted Battle Satellite , its first show in the Tokyo Dome . The promotion was a member of

6136-399: The first person to win the NWA World Tag Team Championship individually. Shortly after, Low Ki left TNA while Daniels and Skipper continued to team as Triple X and defend the tag team titles until losing them to America's Most Wanted in a steel cage match on June 25. Following the title loss, Triple X disbanded as both men went their separate ways. Daniels briefly feuded with Jeff Jarrett in

6240-408: The fourth day of the 2012 G1 Climax , on August 5, 2012. The October 8, 2012, King of Pro-Wrestling pay-per-view marked the first time viewers outside Japan were able to order a pay-per-view by the promotion through Ustream . On October 5, 2012, New Japan announced the creation of the NEVER Openweight Championship, which would be contested for on the NEVER series. A two-day tournament to determine

6344-418: The future. On October 31, 2019, Super7 announced the first line of NJPW action figures . Amidst from the Japanese onset of the COVID-19 pandemic , in accordance with recommendations from the Japanese Ministry of Health, NJPW decided to cancel all scheduled shows from March 1 through March 15. On March 10, NJPW announced that they were cancelling all shows through March 22, which meant that they cancelled

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6448-499: The inaugural New Japan Cup USA tournament. As part of NJPW's expansion into the United States, the series would be produced by NJoA. In February 2021, it was reported that NJPW had entered into partnerships with All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Impact Wrestling . On November 19, 2021, NJPW would re-establish a relationship with Pro Wrestling Noah with Noah wrestlers being involved at the third night of NJPW's Wrestle Kingdom 16 event. During Wrestle Kingdom 16 in January 2022, it

6552-537: The inaugural ROH Tag Team Champions , giving The Prophecy possession of all championships in Ring of Honor. At Glory By Honor, Daniels defeated Doug Williams, who was consequently banned from shaking hands in ROH. The Prophecy recruited the debuting Samoa Joe to take out Low Ki in the first ever Fight Without Honor , a match that does not follow ROH's Code of Honor rules. Low Ki won the match and shook Joe's hand. On March 13, 2003, A.J. Styles and Amazing Red defeated Daniels and Xavier (substituting for Morgan) for

6656-586: The inaugural champion was held between November 15 and 19, 2012. The final NEVER event was held in November 2012. In February 2014, New Japan announced a partnership with Ring of Honor (ROH), which saw the promotion return to North America the following May to present two supershows; Global Wars in Toronto and War of the Worlds in New York City. During the tour, New Japan wrestlers also took part in an event held by Canadian promotion Border City Wrestling (BCW). A year later, NJPW and ROH announced another tour together to produce four more supershows; War of

6760-446: The independent circuit, winning multiple titles and tournaments and debuting in Canada and the United Kingdom. On February 23, 2002, Daniels wrestled in the triple threat main event of Ring of Honor's first show, The Era of Honor Begins , against Low Ki and Bryan Danielson . He lost the match, then refused to shake hands with his opponents, breaking ROH's "Code of Honor", which mandated that all wrestlers shake hands before and after

6864-403: The match, Joe attacked Daniels and hit him with a Muscle Buster onto a chair, leading to Daniels sustaining a (storyline) concussion. At Turning Point , when Joe tried to similarly injure A.J. Styles after winning the X Division Championship from him, Daniels returned and attacked Joe, enabling security guards to protect Styles and restrain Joe. At Final Resolution , Daniels challenged Joe for

6968-461: The match, he attempted a springboard moonsault , but his left foot missed the ring rope. Unable to sufficiently push off to complete the rotation, he botched the move and landed on his head, damaging his neck. Though he was able to finish the match, his left arm was impaired throughout it. Afterwards, Daniels and Modest signed 90-day contracts, but Daniels was released before he had another match. Throughout 2001 and 2002, he continued wrestling on

7072-399: The night, the trio defeated Amazing Red and The S.A.T. in a six-man tag team match. On January 8, the trio of Daniels, Ki and Skipper was named Triple X as all three members competed against Jeff Jarrett for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in a gauntlet match but failed to win. On January 22, Ki and Skipper defeated America's Most Wanted ( Chris Harris and James Storm ) to win

7176-412: The number one contender for the NWA World Tag Team Championship, held by America's Most Wanted. Daniels and Styles unsuccessfully challenged AMW for the titles at Sacrifice , before beating them in a rematch at Slammiversary , marking Daniels' fifth reign with the title. At Victory Road , Daniels and Styles teamed with Sirelda to defeat Gail Kim and AMW in a six-person mixed tag team match to retain

7280-449: The number one contender for the X Division Championship, reigniting his feud with champion Samoa Joe. Daniels lost to Joe at No Surrender , then lost a three-way match (also involving Homicide) to him on the following Impact . At Bound for Glory , Daniels wrestled a six-man Ultimate X match for the X Division Championship, also featuring Alex Shelley, Chris Sabin, Suicide, Homicide and successfully defending champion, Amazing Red. On

7384-428: The number one contendership for the X Division title, and was defeated by Kazarian. Two days later, Daniels defeated Kazuchika Okada in a dark match at the Impact! taping. Covell was released from his TNA contract on March 31, 2010, after nearly eight years with the company. New Japan Pro-Wrestling New Japan Pro-Wrestling ( 新日本プロレスリング株式会社 , Shin Nihon Puroresuringu Kabushiki-gaisha ) ( NJPW )

7488-476: The promotion and was replaced by Takami Ohbari on October 23, who is the current CEO of New Japan Pro-Wrestling of America. In 2020, NJPW partnered with Game Changer Wrestling (GCW) and Major League Wrestling (MLW), with both promotions sending wrestlers to the Super J-Cup tournament. On July 31, NJPW announced a new weekly series titled NJPW Strong , with its initial episodes to feature matches from

7592-452: The promotion was returning to the multi-year contract system. The contracts forbid negotiations with other promotions. After All Elite Wrestling (AEW) was launched by wrestlers working for NJPW, they started signing foreigners to guaranteed deals as well. Any side contracts or agreements offered to wrestlers under NJPW contracts, need the promotion's approval before being signed. NJPW currently has partnerships with several promotions across

7696-481: The promotion's inaugural tour of Australia spanning from February 16–19. In March 2018, New Japan opened the NJPW LA Dojo with Katsuyori Shibata serving as head trainer and ROH wrestler Scorpio Sky serving as assistant trainer. On May 13, 2018, New Japan hired its first foreign president, Dutch businessman Harold Meij . In February 2019, NJPW re-established their partnership with the NWA and entered into

7800-583: The record for the most reigns with 13 (both as a team and individually). The current champions are The Sons of Texas ( Dustin Rhodes and Sammy Guevara ), who are in their first reign both as a team and individually. They defeated The Undisputed Kingdom ( Mike Bennett and Matt Taven ) on August 17, 2024 at Collision in Arlington, Texas to win the titles. Christopher Daniels Christopher Daniel Covell (born March 24, 1970), better known by

7904-517: The ropes through a table with the Pepsi Plunge, putting him out of ROH. In reality, Daniels' exit was a result of Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) not allowing their contracted wrestlers to work ROH shows, in light of a scandal surrounding ROH promoter Rob Feinstein. In the summer of 2005, Ring of Honor announced that, after a sixteen-month absence, Daniels would return on July 8. However, on June 18, at Death Before Dishonor III, he made

8008-522: The sides has the extra words World and champions in the middle. Overall, there have been 69 reigns among 73 different wrestlers and 42 different teams. The inaugural champions were The Prophecy ( Christopher Daniels and Donovan Morgan ), who defeated American Dragon and Michael Modest on September 21, 2002, to become the champions. The team of Jay Lethal and Jonathan Gresham have the longest reign as champions with their first reign lasting 441 days. The Briscoes ( Jay Briscoe and Mark Briscoe ) hold

8112-433: The summer of 2003. He then regularly wrestled in the X Division and pursued the X Division Championship before briefly reuniting Triple X with the returning Low Ki in March 2004 as they participated in a tournament for the vacant NWA World Tag Team Championship by defeating The New Franchise ( Michael Shane and Shane Douglas ) and The Naturals ( Andy Douglas and Chase Stevens ) before losing to Kid Kash and Dallas in

8216-635: The tag team titles. On April 16, Daniels and Skipper lost the titles to Jerry Lynn and Amazing Red. On April 23, Triple X defeated America's Most Wanted to earn a rematch for the tag team titles. However, Daniels lost a match to Lynn on April 30 and as per pre-match stipulation, Lynn and Red would have to defend the titles against one member of Triple X of their choosing and Daniels was chosen. The subsequent handicap match took place on May 7, where Daniels defeated Lynn and Red via disqualification to win Triple X's third NWA World Tag Team Championship and becoming

8320-579: The title but lost when Styles threw in the towel to protect Daniels, badly beaten and defenseless, from further damage. The next week, Daniels accused Styles of doing this to get the number one contendership for the X Division Championship. That night, he cost Styles a match against Shannon Moore by throwing in the towel. At Against All Odds , Joe retained the title in a three-way match against Daniels and Styles. The following month, at Destination X , Daniels defeated Joe and Styles in an Ultimate X match to win his second X Division Championship, before losing

8424-559: The title in a Four-Way Elimination match . While Joe had Daniels in a submission move, Daniels put his foot on the rope to force a break. Punk knocked it off before the referee noticed, and Daniels submitted. Daniels tried to get revenge, but inadvertently helped Punk eliminate Joe. Daniels remained a regular member of the ROH roster, while also working other promotions. He made his U.S. debut as Curry Man on August 27, against Shingo Takagi at Dragon Gate Invasion After defeating Matt Sydal in two singles matches and losing to him in

8528-403: The title to The Briscoe Brothers on February 24, 2007. At Good Times, Great Memories on April 28, Daniels wrestled a fifteen-minute time-limit draw with Erick Stevens. Following the match, Daniels turned heel and quit ROH. Daniels joined the newly founded Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) in 2002. He debuted for TNA at a weekly pay-per-view event on July 10, where he participated in

8632-471: The title to Joe on the April 13 episode of Impact! after taking a second rope Island Driver . Daniels was then scheduled to face Jushin Thunder Liger in a cage match at Lockdown , but Liger pulled out of the match. Instead, he faced a mystery opponent, who turned out to be the returning Low Ki (now named Senshi), who defeated him. Daniels turned face by teaming with A.J. Styles and becoming

8736-517: The title to Sabin in a three-way match at Final Resolution on January 14, 2007, also involving Jerry Lynn . Daniels then took time off from TNA. He made his return, as a heel, at Destination X , distracting Lynn during his match with Sabin. After the match, the newly bearded Daniels, sporting tribal-styled paint on one side of his face, hit Sabin with the Angel's Wings and Lynn with the X Division title belt. At Lockdown , Daniels pinned Jerry Lynn in

8840-599: The title to Styles in a three-way dance also involving Samoa Joe at Unbreakable on September 11 when Styles reversed an Angel's Wings attempt into a pin. This match received a 5-star rating from Dave Meltzer . Daniels set the record for the longest reign at the time, ending at 150 days. Daniels unsuccessfully challenged Styles for the title in an Iron Man match at Bound for Glory . On November 13 at Genesis , Daniels teamed with Alex Shelley , Roderick Strong and Samoa Joe to defeat Austin Aries, Chris Sabin, Matt Bentley and Sonjay Dutt in an Elimination X match . After

8944-441: The title. This marked the beginning of a lengthy feud between Daniels and Styles over the X Division Championship. On the March 11 episode of Impact! , Daniels defeated Chris Sabin to qualify for the Ultimate X Challenge at Destination X against Styles, Ron Killings and Elix Skipper. The match ended in a screwjob . Styles had retrieved the belt, but the referee was unconscious. Daniels hit Styles with an Angel's Wings and took

9048-466: The titles to Team Canada's Bobby Roode and Eric Young on the October 15 episode of Impact! . Triple X would resume their feud with America's Most Wanted after the title loss, which led to a last man standing match between the two teams at TNA's first-ever monthly pay-per-view Victory Road on November 7, which Triple X lost. The following month, at Turning Point , Triple X lost to AMW in a Six Sides of Steel match, which forced Triple X to disband. On

9152-483: The titles. They then feuded with The Latin American Xchange ( Homicide and Hernandez ). At Hard Justice , Styles and Daniels successfully defended the titles against LAX. However, on the August 24 episode of Impact! , Styles and Daniels lost the titles to LAX in a Border Brawl . At No Surrender , Styles and Daniels defeated LAX in an Ultimate X match to win their second NWA World Tag Team Championship as

9256-484: The tournament final. Ki left TNA shortly after. On April 21, Daniels defeated Michael Shane to qualify for Team USA for the 2004 World X Cup , where Daniels was reunited with his Triple X teammate Elix Skipper as they defeated Team Canada members Bobby Roode and Johnny Devine . After the World X Cup, Daniels reunited Triple X with Skipper and they participated in a Best of Three Series against America's Most Wanted with

9360-403: The winning team earning the #1 contendership for the NWA World Tag Team Championship. After both teams won the first and second matches respectively, the third match ended in a no contest after interference by The Naturals. A rematch between both teams on the August 27 episode of Impact! would turn into a singles match between Daniels and Harris after Storm suffered an injury. The match ended in

9464-880: The world, for which NJPW wrestlers can also perform for. The promotion has its own fictional governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix, shortened as IWGP. At the top of NJPW's championship hierarchy for male wrestlers is the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship . Secondary titles include the IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship , the NEVER Openweight Championship , the NJPW World Television Championship , and

9568-402: The world; including WWE , World Championship Wrestling , American Wrestling Association , World Class Championship Wrestling , Total Nonstop Action Wrestling , WAR , Jersey All Pro Wrestling , UWFi , Ring of Honor , Pride Fighting Championships , and All Elite Wrestling . Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s The promotion

9672-627: The year and comparable to WWE 's WrestleMania event. In April 1995, NJPW and WCW held the two-day Collision in Korea event at the Rungrado 1st of May Stadium in Pyongyang , North Korea . The event was the first professional wrestling event held in North Korea and holds the record for most attended wrestling event of all time, with 355,000 people packing the stadium over the two days. In

9776-399: Was able to compete after being attacked by The Carnage Crew before the start of their scheduled match. Source: Since originating in 2002, the title belts were introduced in 2003 and redesigned in 2005, 2010, 2012, 2018, and 2023. On March 31, 2023, the sixth belt design debuted at Supercard of Honor . The sixth design of the ROH World Tag Team Championship from years 2018 to 2022

9880-482: Was announced that NJPW programming, including new programs and reruns of past English broadcasts, would return to AXS TV and Fight Network in the United States and Canada. Reruns will begin airing on AXS starting January 20, with all new content to premiere on March 3. On the April 20, 2022 episode of AEW Dynamite , it was announced that New Japan and AEW would co-promote a supershow called AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door . The event would take place on June 26, 2022, at

9984-574: Was born in Kalamazoo , Michigan , on March 24, 1970. When Covell was three, his family relocated to Fayetteville , North Carolina , where he became an avid fan of Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling . After he graduated from Methodist College with a degree in theater , Covell and his wife moved to Chicago , Illinois , where he planned to become an actor . After being trained by Sam DeCero, Mike Anthony and Kevin Quinn, Daniels made his debut for Windy City Pro Wrestling in April 1993, losing

10088-467: Was completed on June 28, with Stardom Co., Ltd. becoming a subsidiary of NJPW. Up until the 1980s, NJPW signed its workers to multi-year contracts, before changing to a system where the promotion signed its wrestlers to one-year deals that expired at the end of every January. Following the departures of A.J. Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura , NJPW chairman Takaaki Kidani announced in February 2016 that

10192-579: Was criticized by critics and fans. Inoki later departed NJPW in 2005 after selling his share of the company to Yuke's , and began his own promotion, the Inoki Genome Federation (IGF), in 2007. After his departure, Inoki's son-in-law Simon took over the company, before Naoki Sugabayashi was appointed president in 2007 after Simon also left NJPW to join Antonio in IGF. After the departure of

10296-417: Was fired, Covell returned to TNA as the colourful, masked Curry Man, who soon became allied with Shark Boy . Unlike the brooding serious nature of his "Fallen Angel" persona, Curry Man was a dancing, cartoonish comedy act. He and Shark Boy feuded with Team 3D , and won a "Fish Market Street Fight" against them at Destination X . On the March 13, 2008 Impact! , Curry Man beat Petey Williams to qualify for

10400-471: Was for Daniels to portray Vampiro 's dark master, Syndrome, but his WCW debut was continually postponed, and he eventually returned to the independent scene. On the June 17, 2000, episode of WCW WorldWide , Daniels lost to Chris Candido and on the October 21 episode of WorldWide , Daniels lost to Kwee Wee . On the January 22, 2001, episode of WCW Monday Nitro , Daniels wrestled Michael Modest . During

10504-592: Was forced to disband. Daniels defeated the returning Xavier on August 16 to become number one contender for the ROH World Championship, only to be defeated by champion Samoa Joe on September 20. After CM Punk declined an offer to join The Prophecy, someone assaulted his girlfriend Lucy backstage, forcing her out of ROH. On December 23, 2003, Daniels revealed that B. J. Whitmer , the newest member of The Prophecy, had attacked Lucy, starting

10608-767: Was founded by Antonio Inoki on January 13, 1972 after his departure from the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance promotion. The first NJPW event, titled Opening Series , took place on March 6, 1972, in the Ota Ward Gymnasium in Tokyo, to a crowd of 5,000. The following year, NJPW signed a television deal with NET TV, now known as TV Asahi . The company launched its own governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP) ; and in 1983, Hulk Hogan became

10712-471: Was one of the four participants in the "Feast or Fired" match (along with Jay Lethal, Homicide and Hernandez) to retrieve a briefcase. His contained a pink slip, meaning he was fired. In early 2009, Covell began playing the role of the masked Suicide , while Frankie Kazarian (the original Suicide) recovered from injury. As Suicide, he won the X Division Championship in an Ultimate X match at Destination X . Christopher Daniels returned to TNA television as

10816-408: Was then sold to Bushiroad in 2012, which parlayed its entry to the world of professional wrestling into a best-selling trading card game, King of Pro Wrestling , and appearances from NJPW stars in its various franchises. NJPW was affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance at various points in its history. NJPW also had agreements with various MMA and professional wrestling promotions around

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