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28-659: On July 28, 1995, WAR was renamed "Wrestle Association R" at a show held in the Korakuen Hall . In 1998, WAR cancelled contracts to the roster and began running fewer and fewer events due to Tenryu's comeback in New Japan, and in July 2000, it promoted a farewell show that served as the prelude to Tenryu's return to All Japan Pro Wrestling (many wrestlers from WAR also joined AJPW to fill the void by those who joined Mitsuharu Misawa in forming Pro Wrestling Noah ). The WAR name

56-566: A hand by helping some of the foreign talent, mostly from the Tennessee area, get booked on their cards. In 1992, the UWFi introduced its first championship, the "Real Pro-Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship", which was won by Takada after a victory over top foreign antagonist Gary Albright . Lou Thesz acted as commissioner and lent his 1950s NWA World title belt to be used as the distinction for it. The theme of UWFi being "real pro-wrestling"

84-555: A national level. WAR hosted the second edition of the tournament on December 13, 1995, at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan. An inter-promotional event featuring wrestlers from WAR and UWFI , among other promotions as well. The event took place a day after the 4th Anniversary Show on July 21, 1996, at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Final - Reborn to Future was a reunion event of WAR after the promotion had closed down in 2000 and marked

112-466: A precursor to mixed martial arts and to popular Japanese MMA promotions, particularly Pride FC . The promotion was also known for hiring dangerous shooters Lou Thesz , Billy Robinson and Danny Hodge as trainers and promoters of their product in order to establish legitimate credibility. The promotion was founded on May 10, 1991, as a continuation of the UWF . The UWF-i featured most of UWF's roster, and

140-741: A steady junior heavyweight tag team title long before New Japan Pro-Wrestling , WCW , and Pro Wrestling Noah hit upon the idea. In 2010 the Tenryu Project was organised and is somewhat of a successor to WAR. This title used the championship belt originally used in the 1950s by the old Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance for their JWA Japanese Heavyweight Championship , held throughout its existence by Rikidōzan . These are not exhaustive lists. Guest Japanese wrestlers from other promotions, such as Nobuhiko Takada from UWF International and The Great Sasuke from Michinoku Pro Wrestling , are not listed. An inter-promotional show between WAR and

168-535: A team at start time. In 1995, rules were somewhat relaxed to allow pinfalls in order to allow for New Japan, WAR, and other non-submission-oriented wrestlers (such as Abdullah the Butcher ) to compete. In 2017 an American independent promotion , Paradigm Pro Wrestling , based in Jeffersonville, Indiana , revived the rules for its matches. Natives: Foreigners: The championship used

196-404: A team at start time. However, the points system was rarely referred to, as a wrestler or team losing points could still win by forcing his opponent to submit or by knocking him out. No pinfall counts were allowed, and no countouts were allowed (in practice, wrestlers never set foot outside the ring during the match). Similarly, six-man tag team matches occurred, but were rare, with 30 points given to

224-619: Is a sports arena in Bunkyo , Tokyo , Japan , which has hosted boxing , professional wrestling , kickboxing , mixed martial arts and Lethwei matches. On April 16, 1962, the Korakuen Hall was officially opened with a capacity of approximately 2,000 people. It is located inside the Tokyo Dome City , one of Tokyo's biggest attractions. The venue hosted the boxing events for the 1964 Summer Olympics . In March 2011, as

252-530: The Pro Wrestling Zero1 show in early 2008. During 2009, JCB Hall was used twice for pro wrestling, both times for a tour ending show by Pro Wrestling Noah . UWF International Union of Wrestling Forces International , better known as UWF International , U-Inter , or simply UWFi , was a shoot style professional wrestling promotion in Japan from 1991 to 1996. The UWF international

280-605: The World Wrestling Federation was held on September 15, 1992, at the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama , Kanagawa , Japan . WAR Anniversary Show was the flagship event of WAR which was used to celebrate the anniversary of the promotion. The event was held between 1993 and 2000, when the promotion was discontinued. An inter-promotional event featuring talent from WAR and Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling

308-522: The belt used by Lou Thesz as NWA World Champion during the 1950s. In 1995, Hudson Soft published a video game , Saikyō: Takada Nobuhiko (最強～高田延彦～) for the Super Famicom in Japan. Unlike most wrestling games, Saikyō was a linear fighting game , but moves such as suplexes counted for heavy scoring, like in the real-life promotion. Nobuhiko Takada was the only actual wrestler licensed as

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336-436: The condition that New Japan have full control over the booking of the interpromotional matches. Thesz, who saw New Japan as another gimmicky promotion, withdrew his support as a result and took the belt with him. For Choshu, it was an opportunity to get payback for Thesz and Takada's earlier derision of their wrestling style, and he was determined to show fans that the real stars were in New Japan. All of UWFi's stars mainly lost

364-702: The final event ever in WAR history. The event took place on July 27, 2006, at the Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. The event aired via tape delay on Gaora TV on August 17. The event featured a title defense of the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship which had been in possession of Masaaki Mochizuki since WAR closed in 2000 and the main event was an eight-man tag team match, in which WAR wrestlers took on Heisei Ishingun . Korakuen Hall Korakuen Hall ( Japanese : 後楽園ホール , Hepburn : Kōrakuen Hōru )

392-579: The hall suffered structural damage in the Tōhoku earthquake . Events including a World Boxing Council triple female world title fight were postponed or canceled. The repair work was completed on March 18. The Hall was closed until the next day, then gradually resumed a variety of events. On October 27, 2016, the hall became the chosen venue for the International Lethwei Federation Japan . The Lethwei Grand Prix Japan 2016

420-553: The hall were purchased by Japan Credit Bureau (JCB) so it opened as JCB Hall. After the construction completed, the Tokyo Dome Corporation, which owns the original Korakuen Hall as well as the Tokyo Dome , would continue to rent out the original Korakuen Hall, lowering rental prices (currently it costs 1,500,000 Yen to rent) to allowing smaller promotions to use the building on a regular basis. Although most of

448-433: The heavyweight tournament. The combatants would start with 15 points each. Points would be lost for knockout attempts, being at a disadvantage during a hold, and/or for breaking a hold by grabbing onto the ring ropes with hand(s) and/or feet. The only way to win was by submission, knockout (count of 10) or a wrestler's points being reduced to 0. Tag team matches were allowed as well, with 21 points (instead of 15) given to

476-493: The interpromotional matches, with the exception of Takada, who won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship on January 4, 1996. Kiyoshi Tamura had left UWFi before the feud in 1995, to join rival promotion, RINGS . In 1996, as the New Japan feud died down, UWFi formed an alliance with Genichiro Tenryu 's WAR . On August 17, 1996, Takada defeated Yoji Anjo at Tokyo's Meiji-Jingu Stadium . The damage to

504-558: The match set up a major main event between Tenryu and Onita for FMW's 5th Anniversary Show at the Kawasaki Stadium on May 5, 1994. Super J-Cup is a professional wrestling tournament featuring junior heavyweight wrestlers from all over the world. The tournament was originally conceived by Japanese wrestler Jushin Thunder Liger as a showcase for junior heavyweights from promotions from Asia and North America on

532-423: The promotion was left with a lack of credible challengers to Takada's title, and interest in the promotion began to wane. After being overlooked several times over the years, Kazuo Yamazaki left to return to New Japan in July 1995. In 1995, Anjo and other UWFi bookers proposed co-promoting with New Japan Pro-Wrestling , as a potential solution to their financial problems. New Japan booker Riki Choshu agreed, under

560-404: The promotion's credibility had already been done, however, and UWFi had its farewell card ("UWF FINAL") on December 27, 1996, at Tokyo's Korakuen Hall arena. Most of the UWFi roster formed Kingdom , which would promote a similar product on a smaller scale. Kingdom would have a presence at UFC Japan: Ultimate Japan in 1997, as Yoji Anjo would lose to Tank Abbott , while Kazushi Sakuraba won

588-582: The sporting events take place at the Tokyo Dome, the JCB Hall is considered one of the primary spots in Tokyo Dome City for smaller scale sporting events, like boxing , pro-wrestling , Lethwei and mixed martial arts . The JCB Hall hosted Miss International Japan . Since its completion, JCB Hall has been host of Lethwei in Japan 4 , and has been rarely used for pro wrestling events after

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616-770: The time), Masahiro Chono (NWA World Heavyweight Champion at the time), and The Great Muta (IWGP Heavyweight Champion at the time), in an effort to determine who was the true world champion. In 1993, Super Vader , the World Heavyweight Champion from the United States-based World Championship Wrestling , accepted Thesz and Takada's grandstand challenge, whereas the aforementioned champions were "too afraid" of Takada to face him. After Gary Albright quit UWFi to join All Japan and Vader left over money disputes,

644-426: Was central to the promotion's image, and both Thesz and Takada would deride other Japanese promotions (particularly Takada's old promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling ) for being "fake", while claiming themselves to be legit. UWF-i, however, was no more legit than any other group at the time. Takada went so far as to challenge the champions of other major Japanese promotions ( Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW Triple Crown Champion at

672-708: Was held on November 28, 1993, at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo , Japan . Revolution was a special event held on December 15, 1993, at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Revolution Rumble '94 In Ryogoku Kokugikan was a special event held on March 2, 1994, at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan. The event was notable for an inter-promotional tag team main event match in which Genichiro Tenryu and Ashura Hara represented WAR against Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling 's Atsushi Onita and Tarzan Goto . Onita pinned Tenryu and

700-400: Was kept for the use of a stable led by Tenryu during brief angles in All Japan and FMW in 2001. On July 27, 2006, WAR staged a reunion show at Tokyo Korakuen Hall . The show was supported by various Japanese wrestling promotions including New Japan, All Japan Pro Wrestling and Dragon Gate . This was also the final card promoted under the WAR banner. WAR was the first promotion to create

728-575: Was led by Nobuhiko Takada , who was the top star and the face of the promotion. Other natives for the promotion included Kazuo Yamazaki , Yoji Anjo , Kiyoshi Tamura , Tatsuo Nakano, Yuko Miyato, Masahito Kakihara and kickboxer Makoto Oe. Vintage shooter Billy Robinson was used as head trainer for their gym (the UWFi Snakepit), and wrestling legends Lou Thesz and Danny Hodge occasionally served as trainers in their pursuit of old-school credibility. Former pro wrestler Shinji Sasazaki would lend

756-438: Was the first event of the promotion held at the venue. The Tokyo JCB Hall also known Tokyo Dome City Hall is a facility for sports, fashion shows, and live concerts inside the Tokyo Dome City complex, a few minutes walk from the Korakuen Hall. It was announced that a new version of Korakuen Hall would be built in Tokyo Dome City which would act as the Korakuen Hall 2 and it would hold 2,500–3,000 people. The naming rights of

784-615: Was the successor to the Newborn UWF that ran from 1988 to 1990, which itself was the successor to the original Universal Wrestling Federation . Although the matches were predetermined, the UWF-i was very convincing for its time, promoting a combat -based style featuring a mix of wrestling , submission grappling and kickboxing . The promotion also held kickboxing contests and, in rare instances, special shoot matches. In retrospect, UWFi, along with other shoot-style promotions, served as

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