Shoot wrestling is a Japanese hybrid grappling style and combat sport . Shoot wrestling incorporates techniques from various wrestling , submission grappling , kickboxing and karate styles. It was particularly inspired and influenced by catch wrestling , a form of wrestling with submissions that was the predominant style of professional wrestling in the 19th and early 20th century, at the time a competitive sport and not yet predetermined.
44-516: 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 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,
88-619: A " shoot ". Later on, many wrestlers became interested in promoting this more realistic style of professional wrestling and in 1984, the Universal Wrestling Federation was formed. The UWF was a professional wrestling organisation that promoted the shoot and strong styles of wrestling. While predetermined, the UWF featured effective and practical martial arts moves, which were applied with force. The organization would even host some legitimate mixed martial arts fights, where
132-695: A character, all others used made-up pseudonyms made through alterations of their kana or kanji names, such as Gary Albright being known as Gary Briant . Shoot style Shoot wrestling originated in Japan's professional wrestling circuit ( puroresu ) of the 1970s, particularly stemming from the influence of wrestlers Karl Gotch , Lou Thesz and Billy Robinson , all who had an enduring popularity in Japan due to their serious submission wrestling style. Professional wrestlers of that era attempted to use more realistic or even "full contact" moves in their matches to increase their excitement, diminishing or eschewing
176-467: A considerable influence on the sport of mixed martial arts. Prior to the emergence of the current sport of shoot wrestling, the term was commonly used in the professional wrestling business, particularly in the United Kingdom , as a synonym for the sport of catch wrestling . Shoot wrestling can be used to describe a range of hybrid fighting systems such as shootfighting , shoot boxing and
220-645: A few companies have been promoting shoot-wrestling events. GLEAT is a Japanese promotion founded in 2020 by LIDET Entertainment consists of former Pro Wrestling NOAH officials. The "Lidet UWF" is a sub-brand which has UWF-style matches. Game Changer Wrestling —an American New Jersey –based promotion—promotes shoot-style wrestling events known as the GCW Bloodsport . The events counted with former MMA and shoot-inspired pro wrestlers such as Minoru Suzuki , Josh Barnett , Matt Riddle and Dan Severn . Shoot wrestling branched into several sub disciplines after
264-566: 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"
308-600: A new champion, while Lesnar kept the physical belt. He signed with Antonio Inoki 's Inoki Genome Federation (IGF) in 2007, and lost the championship to Kurt Angle on the promotion's inaugural event. Angle later lost the belt in a unification match to the NJPW-recognized champion Shinsuke Nakamura in 2008. On January 5, 2020, Tetsuya Naito won the Heavyweight and Intercontinental Championships. Both titles kept their individual history, but were defended at
352-521: A stiffer and more realistic wrestling style. Their students left NJPW to form the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) in 1984, pioneering in the new style. Shoot wrestling was popular in Japan from the 1980s until the mid-1990s, fading from popularity due the demise of the leading shoot-style promotion UWFi in 1996 and the simultaneous rise of mixed martial arts (MMA) in Japan. Most shoot wrestlers started to migrate to MMA or back to more theatrical forms of professional wrestling. Shoot wrestling had
396-601: A student of full contact karate, kodokan judo, and sumo . Yoshiaki Fujiwara was already a black belt in judo, while Satoru Sayama had studied Muay Thai with Toshio Fujiwara and went on to study sambo with Victor Koga . This would eventually lead to the added influences of karate, Muay Thai and judo to the wrestling style. One of Gotch's students, Antonio Inoki, hosted a series of mixed martial arts -style wrestling matches in which he pitted his " strong style professional wrestling" against other martial arts in an attempt to show that professional wrestling and shoot wrestling were
440-535: 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
484-404: 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
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#1732797186472528-510: Is that percussion techniques are basically prohibited and are often practiced as mixed martial arts performed by amateurs. Professional wrestler Satoru Sayama , a student of Antonio Inoki , founded Shooto in 1985 with the goal creating a sport that revolved around a realistic and effective fighting system. Shooto is focused on all aspects of fighting: striking , stand-up grappling and ground fighting . Practitioners are referred to as shooters or shootists . An early term for MMA, based on
572-418: Is usually not seen by amateur wrestlers and mixed martial arts fighters, is attractive and is now a successful door for mixed martial arts fighters. In addition, joint levers and chokes are considered fouls unless they lead to a fall, but in combat wrestling a fall does not result in victory (it will be a point at judgment). If a wrestler taps from joint blocks or throttling, a winner is declared. The basic rule
616-592: The G1 Climax , winner Kazuchika Okada asked for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship belt to be awarded to him for winning the G1 instead of the typical briefcase and contract for an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match at Wrestle Kingdom 16 . On October 25 at Road to Power Struggle, Okada's request was approved and he appeared with the championship; despite holding the championship belt, Okada
660-462: The " U-Kei " ("U-Group" or "U-Class"). Shoot wrestling itself was popular until the mid-90s due the demise of the UWFi in 1996 and the simultaneous rise of mixed martial arts in Japan led to a sharp decline in popularity. Most shoot wrestlers started to migrate into MMA— Fighting Network RINGS itself became a full MMA promotion—or back to more theatrical forms of professional wrestling. Currently,
704-572: The Indian system of exercises using push-ups, neck exercises, yogic breathing exercises and "Hindu squats" for conditioning. Gotch attained legendary status in Japan, earning the nickname God of Wrestling. In the 1970s he taught catch wrestling-based hooking and shooting to the likes of Antonio Inoki , Tatsumi Fujinami , Yoshiaki Fujiwara , Satoru Sayama , Masami Soranaka, and Akira Maeda . Most of these professional wrestlers already had backgrounds in legitimate martial arts. Masami Soranaka had been
748-434: The UWF wrestlers were able to test their shoot wrestling techniques against fighters with other styles, mimicking Inoki's own exploits. However, internal conflicts between the wrestlers soon resulted in a breakup of the company. After the breakup of the original Universal Wrestling Federation, shoot wrestling branched into several disciplines. One of the first top stars to leave was " Tiger Mask " Satoru Sayama in 1985, he
792-479: 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 a precursor to mixed martial arts and to popular Japanese MMA promotions, particularly Pride FC . The promotion
836-470: 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
880-444: The breakup of the original Universal Wrestling Federation. The main forms and revivals are listed below. Combat wrestling, also known as "MMA without strikes" is a shoot wrestling variation founded by Kiguchi Dojo. Doojo, a former wrestler, incorporated classic wrestling rules in his sport. Famous mixed martial artists also participate in the tournament and a tournament is also held throughout Japan. Even matchmaking, which
924-493: 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
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#1732797186472968-433: 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
1012-412: The history of the championship, several wrestlers were forced to relinquish the title due to an inability to participate in title defenses. When a wrestler had been injured or unable to compete for other reasons, tournaments were held to determine the new champion. In 2006, Brock Lesnar was stripped of the title for refusing to defend it, claiming he was owed money by NJPW. The company went on to crown
1056-493: 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
1100-466: The latter, a few wrestlers such as Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki , dissatisfied with Fujiwara's turn to lucha libre -inspired style and lack of focus in fighting skills, founded Pancrase in 1993, a company which used shoot-wrestling rules but promoted real unscripted fights. The multiple successors and organizations inspired by the UWF range from professional wrestling, to MMA and even standalone martial arts styles, they are collectively known as
1144-751: The new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship . The championship was represented by four different belts from 1987 to 2021. The fourth and last generation belt was introduced in March 2008. 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 Intercontinental Championship and the NEVER Openweight Championship . An early version of this championship
1188-442: The pro wrestling term " shoot " to denote that the fighting is not staged . It encompasses striking and grappling like MMA, however has slightly different rules to MMA, including rope breaks. Kickboxer Caesar Takeshi founded Shoot boxing in 1985, a stand-up fighting league allowing standing submissions and throws. IWGP Heavyweight Championship The IWGP Heavyweight Championship ( IWGPヘビー級王座 , IWGP hebī-kyū ōza )
1232-475: 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
1276-474: 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
1320-404: 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
1364-508: The renowned catch wrestler Billy Riley in Wigan . The gym was the centre of learning submission wrestling as practiced in the mining town of Wigan, popularly known as catch-as-catch-can wrestling. It was here that Karl Gotch honed his catch wrestling skills. Karl Gotch also travelled to India to practice the wrestling form of Pehlwani ; later on he would propagate the exercises using the "Hindu mace" (large clubs) and would go on to incorporate
UWF International - Misplaced Pages Continue
1408-556: The same time. Sometimes, they were called "Double Championship". One year after Naito's victory, Chairman Naoki Sugabayashi announced the unification of both titles, deactivating the Intercontinental title and forming the new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. On March 4, 2021, the Double Champion Kota Ibushi defeated El Desperado to unify and retire both titles. On October 21, 2021, after winning
1452-470: The sport's later stages. Karl Gotch is one of the most important figures in the development of shoot wrestling. Karl Gotch would begin his journey into wrestling in the German and North American professional wrestling circuits, where Gotch found moderate success. However, it was in his tours of Japan that the early formations of shoot wrestling took place. Gotch was a student of the " Snake Pit " gym, run by
1496-462: The strongest fighting disciplines. Inoki would go on to teach these fighting techniques to a new generation of wrestlers in the dojo of his professional wrestling promotion, New Japan Pro-Wrestling . These matches eventually culminated into the Muhammad Ali vs. Antonio Inoki . While the previous matches were predetermined, Ali and Inoki could not agree on the terms of the match and it turned into
1540-577: The styles of mixed martial arts done in the Shooto , Pancrase and RINGS promotions. Organizations, promotions and gyms with origins in shoot wrestling are referred as the " U-Kei ". Mid 20th Century 1970s and 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s and 2020s Historically, shoot wrestling has been influenced by many martial arts, most influential of them being catch wrestling , but also freestyle wrestling , Greco-Roman wrestling , and then sambo , karate , Muay Thai and judo in
1584-420: The theatrical elements and acrobatics, looking more similar to an actual, unscripted fight. The name "shoot wrestling" comes from the professional wrestling term " shoot ", which refers to any unscripted occurrence within a scripted wrestling event. The first wave of shoot wrestlers were students of Antonio Inoki and Karl Gotch from New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), two wrestlers which already were advocates of
1628-770: 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,
1672-459: The title, with Vader being the first American champion, Hashimikov being the only Soviet-born champion, Omega is the only Canadian champion and White the only New Zealand champion. Antonio Inoki was the first champion in the title's history. Hiroshi Tanahashi held the record for most reigns with eight. Kazuchika Okada held the record for the longest reign in the title's history at 720 days during his fourth reign, over which he successfully defended
1716-713: Was a professional wrestling world heavyweight championship owned by 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 introduced on June 12, 1987, in the final of an IWGP tournament . It was unified with the IWGP Intercontinental Championship on March 4, 2021, to form
1760-451: 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 was led by Nobuhiko Takada , who was the top star and the face of the promotion. Other natives for
1804-426: 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
UWF International - Misplaced Pages Continue
1848-559: Was dissatisfied with the UWF's internal politics and decided to follow his dream of founding his own martial art discipline. He combined his knowledge of shoot wrestling and other martial arts to create a legitimate fighting style which he later named " Shooto ", holding the first amateur event in 1986 and first professional event in 1989. Nobuhiko Takada and his supporters went to found UWF International , Akira Maeda founded Fighting Network RINGS while Yoshiaki Fujiwara went to found Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi ("Fujiwara family"), in
1892-644: Was introduced in 1983 for the winner ( Hulk Hogan ) of the IWGP League 1983 . Since then, the championship was defended annually against the winner of the IWGP League of the year. A new IWGP Heavyweight Championship arrived only in 1987, replacing the old version. The 1987 version was defended regularly and was the top championship of NJPW until the introduction of the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship in 2021. Throughout
1936-439: Was not recognized as the official IWGP Heavyweight Champion and the belt is still considered deactivated. There were seventy three reigns shared among thirty-one wrestlers with ten vacancies . Title changes happen at NJPW-promoted events. Big Van Vader , Salman Hashimikov , Scott Norton , Bob Sapp , Brock Lesnar, A.J. Styles , Kenny Omega and Jay White were the eight non-Japanese wrestlers (billed as gaijin ) to have held
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