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Jushin Thunder Liger |
History of Puroresu : 1990s
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1980s
- 10/06/89
- Frontier Martial-arts Wrestling has its first card
in Nagoya with Atsushi Ohnita as the president
and the top star. Their style would eventually empasize on the bloody death match
style, which is totally opposite from the UWF.
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- 02/10/90
- New Japan Pro-Wrestling has their second Tokyo
Dome card. Jumbo Tsuruta, Gen'ichiro
Tenryu, and Tiger Mask(Mitsuharu Misawa) from All
Japan Pro-Wrestling wrestle on a New Japan card for the first time.
A former yokozuna Kouji Kitao debuts also on this card.
- 03/01/90
- Universal Pro-wrestling, the first lucha libre promotion in Japan, starts
with Gran Hamada, Yoshihiro
Asai, and Mexican wresters.
- 03/15/90
- Seiji Sakaguchi retires.
- 04/01/90
- Bull Nakano becomes the
first Japanese heel to win the WWWA
World title.
- 04/13/90
- All Japan, New Japan, and WWF have a combined
card at Tokyo Dome. In main event, Hulk
Hogan pins Stan Hansen. Giant
Baba and Andre the Giant team for the
first time to defeat the Demolition.
- 04/26/90
- Gen'ichiro Tenryu leaves All Japan and sings a contract with Megane Super,
the second biggest eyeglass company in Japan.
- 05/14/90
- During a tag match, Tiger Mask tells his partner Toshiaki
Kawada to unmask him as Mitsuharu
Misawa. Misawa starts without the mask two days later.
- 07/02/90
- All Japan's Hiromichi Fuyuki, Shunji Takano, Shin'ichi Nakano, Tatsumi
Kitahara, and Masao Orihara all join SWS as well as New Japan's George Takano
and Naoki Sano.
- 08/04/90
- Ohnita has the first of his famou death matches. He defeats Tarzan
Goto in a no-rope electric-explosive barbed-wire death match.
- 09/30/90
- Both Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki have
the 30th anniversary cards. Baba teams with Abdullah
the Butcher to wrestle against Andre the Giant and Stan Hansen. Inoki
teams with Tiger Jeet Singh
to defeat Big Van Vader & Animal
Hamaguchi. In attendance for Inoki's ceremony are Johnny
Valentine, Nick Bockwinkel,
Lou Thesz, Billy
Robinson, Tiger Jeet Singh, Johnny Powers, Stan Hansen, Willem Ruska,
Andre the Giant, and Hiro Matsuda.
- 10/18/90
- Super World Sports has its first card. The top star of the promotion is
Gen'ichiro Tenryu. The fans, press, and many wrestlers of other promotions
criticized SWS as "a money puroresu" because of the way wrestlers jumped.
- 11/20/90
- SWS and WWF sign the working relationship.
- 12/01/90
- UWF has its last card in Matsumoto, Nagano. President Shinji Jin announces
that all wrestlers are fired.
- 12/20/90
- New Japan and World Championship Wrestling
sign the working relationship.
- 12/26/90
- On a New Japan card, Lou Thesz has his last match at the age of 74.
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- 03/04/91
- Yoshiaki Fujiwara
starts New UWF Fujiwaragumi(later Pro-Wrestling Fujiwaragumi) with Masakatsu
Funaki, Minoru Suzuki, and Yuusuke Fuke.
- 03/21/91
- New Japan has "Starrcade at Tokyo Dome", an interpromotional card with
WCW. In main event, Tatsumi Fujinami defeats Ric
Flair to defend his IWGP Heavyweight
title and win NWA World Heavyweight
title. Later, the decision is reversed by WCW, and Flair keeps the "WCW"
title while Fujinami is introduced in Japan as NWA World champion.
- 03/30/91
- SWS has an interpromotional card with WWF at Tokyo Dome.
- 04/01/91
- After a match against John Tenta, Kouji Kitao has an inappropriate comment
using a mic and is fired by SWS immediately.
- 05/10/91
- UWF International has its first card at Kourakuen Hall. The wrestlers
include everybody from UWF except Akira Maeda and those in Fujiwaragumi.
- 05/11/91
- Akira Maeda's RINGS has its first card at Yokohama Arena.
- 05/19/91
- On a WCW card, Flair defeats Fujinami in St. Petersburg, FL to end the
dispute over NWA and/or WCW World Heavyweight title.
- 05/31/91
- Tatsumi Fujinami has his 20th anniversary of his puroresu career and defends
IWGP Heavyewight title against Masahiro
Chono at Osaka Castle Hall in memorial card.
- 07/04/91
- Jushin Thunder Liger defeats
Pegasus Kid in a mascara contra mascara. Pegasus unmasks as Chris Benoit,
a former New Japan trainee.
- 08/91
- Some wrestlers who left FMW start W*ING(Wrestling International New Generation),
but W*ING folds in '94 with a poor leadership of the president Kiyoshi Ibaraki.
- 09/04/91
- Misawa defeats Tsuruta with a facelock during a tag match to be the first
Japanese to defeat Tsuruta with a submission hold.
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- 04/03/92
- JWP Project has its first card at Kourakuen Hall after
Japan Women's Pro breaks up. Starts include Dynamite
Kansai, Devil Masami,
Mayumi Ozaki, Plum Mariko, Cutie Suzuki, and Hikari Fukuoka. The rest of
the group starts Ladies' Legend Pro-Wrestling and has
the first card on 08/29 at Kourakuen Hall with Shinbu
Kandori as their top star.
- 05/14/92
- Yoshiaki Yatsu leaves SWS. Later, he starts Social Pro-Wrestling Federation.
- 05/92
- FMW has cards in Los Angeles and Tijuana, Mexico.
- 06/19/92
- SWS has its final card at Nagasaki International Gym. Gen'ichiro Tenryu's
group forms Wrestling And Romance(WAR) while Takano
Bros., Kendo Nagasaki and others form Network Of Wrestling(NOW). However,
Takano Bros. quit NOW before its first card and formed the Pro Wrestling
Crusaders(PWC).
- 12/27/92
- Motoshi
Okuma, one of original members of All Japan, dies at the age of 51.
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- 01/04/93
- Gen'ichiro Tenryu pins Riki Choshu on the annual New Japan Tokyo Dome
card.
- 01/27/93
- Andre "the Giant" Rousimoff dies with a heart attack at his home in France.
- 02/13/93
- PWC(Pro-Wrestling Crusaders) opens at Tokai City Gym.
- 03/16/93
- A lucha libre group Michinoku Puroresu(North Eastern
Wrestling), the first regional promotion in Japan, has its first card
in Iwate with The Great Sasuke
as the top star.
- 04/93
- As its 25th anniversary, All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling
promoted women's all-star cards "Dream Slam" in Yokohama and Osaka.
- 04/18/93
- Masahiko Kimura, the
greatest judoka ever and puroresu legend, dies with a lung cancer at the
age of 75.
- 05/03/93
- New Japan has the first puroresu card at Fukuoka Dome. In main event,
Antonio Inoki & Tatsumi Fujinami defeat Choshu & Tenryu. Fujiwara returns
to New Japan for the first time in four years.
- 05/05/93
- On FMW Kawasaki Stadium card, Atsushi Ohnita defeats Terry
Funk in a typical death match.
- 07/29/93
- All Japan holds the retirement ceremony for The
Destroyer at Nippon Budokan.
- 09/21/93
- Masakatsu Funaki, Minoru Suzuki, and other wrestlers who left Fujiwaragumi
form Pancrase
and have their first card at Tokyo Bay NK Hall.
- 09/26/93
- On New Japan's Osaka Castle Hall card, Tatsumi Fujinami pins Tenryu in
their first singles match.
- 12/05/93
- On a UWF International card at Jingu Stadium, Nobuhiko Takada defeats
Super Vader with a cross arm scissors.
- 12/15/93
- On Gen'ichiro Tenryu's 30th Anniversary card in fighting sports(include
both sumo and puroresu), Tenryu defeats Fujinami.
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- 01/04/94
- On the annual New Japan Tokyo Dome card, Gen'ichiro Tenryu pins Inoki
to be the first Japanese to pin both Baba and Inoki.
- 02/04/94
- Michinoku has the first card in Tokyo at Kourakuen Hall.
- 03/05/94
- Baba & Stan Hansen vs. Misawa & Kenta
Kobashi. Misawa becomes the second Japanese ever to pin Baba.
- 04/94
- Masutatsu Ooyama, the
founder of Kyokushin
Kaikan karate, dies.
- 04/16/94
- New Japan holds a one-night all-star junior heavyweight tournament "Super
J Cup - 1st stage -", organized by Jushin Thunder Liger, at Ryogoku Kokugikan.
In the final, Wild Pegasus pins Great Sasuke of Michinoku who pinned Liger
in semi-final.
- 05/94
- WWF has their first Japanese tour. None of the cards is sold-out.
- 05/05/94
- Gen'ichiro Tenryu pins Onita in a no-rope barbed-wire electric explosive
steel cage death match at an FMW Kawasaki Stadium card.
- 05/23/94
- IWA Japan holds its first card at Kourakuen Hall.
- 10/15/94
- On Pancrase Ryogoku Kokugikan card, Masakatsu Funaki defeats Minoru Suzuki
with a choke sleeper in 1'51".
- 11/13/94
- Heisei Ishingun has their first card at Tokyo Bay NK Hall. In the main
event, Shiro Koshinaka,
the group leader, defeats Tiger Jeet Singh with Antonio Inoki as referee.
- 11/20/94
- All Japan Women's holds their first Tokyo Dome card. Akira Hokuto wins
the V*TOP Woman Japanese Championship Tournament, defeating Aja
Kong in the final.
- 12/07/94
- Youji Anjoh of UWF International goes to Los Angeles to challenge Rickson
Gracie, the strongest in the famous Gracie Juujutsu. Gracie destroys
Anjoh in 3minutes.
- 12/17/94
- Wayne Shamrock becomes the first King
of Pancrase, defeating Funaki in semi-final and Manabu Yamada in final.
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- 04/02/95
- Baseball Magazine Sha, the publisher
of Weekly Puroresu,
has an interpromotional card at Tokyo Dome with the wrestlers from New Japan,
All Japan, FMW, UWF International, Fujiwaragumi, RINGS, Pancrase, All Japan
Women's, Michinoku, JWP, LLPW, IWA Japan, and Go Gundan. On the same day,
WAR has a card at Kourakuen Hall with wrestlers from New Japan, Michinoku,
and LLPW.
- 04/07/95
- NWA World heavyweight
champion Dan Severn wins the Ultimate
Fighting Championship tournament at Charlotte Independence Arena, "the
House Ric Flar built", in Charlotte, NC, defeating Dave Bennetau in the
final. On the same card, the King of Pancrase title holder Ken
Wayne Shamrock fights Royce Gracie to a 36min time limit draw.
- 04/15/95
- Chigusa Nagayo, who returned to puroresu in previous year, starts GAEA
JAPAN with KAORU and Bomber Hikaru(Mitsuyo Mura, a former wrestler of Japan
Women's Pro).
- 04/23/95
- Tarzan Goto, Mr. Gannosuke, and Flying Kid Ichihara leave FMW.
-
Muhammad Ali, Ric Flair,
and Antonio Inoki |
04/28 & 04/29/95
- New Japan has the first pro-wrestling cards in North Korea, Rikidozan's
home country, with Muhammad Ali in attendance. On the second day, Antonio
Inoki pins Ric Flair in front of 190 thousands people in the audience.
- 05/05/95
- Atsushi Ohnita defeats Hayabusa
in a typical FMW style death match in his retirement. Hayabusa becomes the
top star of FMW.
- 07/25/95
- Kazuo Yamazaki appears on a Heisei Ishingun card after leaving UWF International.
- 08/30/95
- Dynamite Kansai(JWP) defeats Aja Kong to become the first Japanese wrestler
outside All Japan Women's to win the WWWA World Singles Title.
- 10/01/95
- Kensuke Sasaki(New Japan) and Akira Hokuto(All Japan Women's) marry to
be the first couple of active Japanese pro-wrestlers.
- 10/02/95
- Nobuhiko Takada vacates his World Heavyweight Title when Lou Thesz refuses
to recognize the double title match between Takada and IWGP champion Keiji
Mutoh on 10/09/95 at Tokyo Dome.
- 10/09/95
- New Japan vs. UWF International at Tokyo Dome, promoted by New Japan with
a record-breaking crowd of 67,000. In main event, Keiji Mutoh defends IWGP
heavyweight title against Nobuhiko Takada.
- 11/19/95
- All wrestlers except Yoshiaki Fujiwara leave the Fujiwaragumi and form
"Battlarts."
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- 06/01/96
- Antonio Inoki holds an international card "World Wrestling Peace Festival"
in Los Angeles; wreslters from New Japan, WCW, Michinoku, EMLL,
and AAA participate on the card. In the main
event, Inoki teams with Dan Seven to defeat a team of Yoshiaki Fujiwara
and Oleg Taktarov.
- 06/15/96
- Just two months before his 50th birthday, Dick
Murdoch, one of top foreign stars in All Japan, New Japan, and FMW,
passes away with a heart attack at his home in Amarillo, Texas.
- 06/30/96
- An interpromotional card "Rikidozan Memorial" is held at Yokohama Arena.
15 organizations are involved on the card but show the gap between major
league organizations and independent promotions.
- 08/02/96 - 08/05/96
- The J-CROWN tournament is
held to unify eight titles in lighter weight divisions. The Great Sasuke
of Michinoku Pro-Wrestling wins and becomes the octuple crown champion.
- 09/11/96
- U.W.F. International holds a card at Kawasaki Stadium. Toshiaki Kawada
of All Japan makes the first appearance for a different promotion and defeats
Yoshihiko Takayama with high kicks. The original Tiger
Mask defeats The Cobra, who was the replacement after Tiger Mask first
left New Japan in '83, via count out of ring. In main event, Nobuhiko Takada
defeats Gen'ichiro Tenryu with an arm submission hold.
- 12/27/96
- U.W.F. International holds its last card at Kourakuen Hall. The promotion
closes because of financial problems.
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- 04/12/97
- Naoya Ogawa, former judo
world heavyweight champion, defeats Shin'ya Hashimoto in a mixed martial
arts match at Tokyo Dome. Also on the same card, Inoki defeats Tiger King
(formerly known as the original Tiger Mask) in the first match between two.
- 08/16/97
- Plum Mariko of JWP Project
passes away due to the brain injury she suffered in a tag team match from
previous day. This is the first time a wrestler dies from an accident in
the ring in Japan.
- 08/31/97
- In Riki Choshu's retirement ceremony at Yokohama Arena, Akira Maeda appears
on New Japan's ring for the first time in ten years.
- 09/10/97
- Fritz Von Erich dies with
cancer at the age of 68.
- 10/11/97
- The first PRIDE card is held at Tokyo Dome. Rickson Gracie, who is said to be the strongest in the Gracie Jiu-jitsu, defeats Nobuhiko
Takada in a vale-tudo match. Takada taps out at 4:47 in the
first round.
- 11/06/97
- After being forced by WWF to vacate WWF
World Light Heavyweight Title, Septuple Crown champion Shinjiro
Ohtani vacates all titles except IWGP
Junior Heavyweight Title.
- 12/21/97
- UFC is held in Japan for the first time. Kazushi Sakuraba of Kingdom wins
the heavyweight division by defeating Conan Silvera.
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- 01/04/98
- Riki Choshu retires.
- 01/14/98
- Tenryu defeats Nobukazu Araya in tournament final to become the first
J1 Heavyweight Champion and is awareded the old Japanese Heavyweight Championship
belt originally held by Rikidozan.
- 01/20/98
- Bobo Brazil, a rival of both Rikidozan and Giant Baba, passes away of
heart problems.
- 04/04/98
- Inoki has retirement match, defeating Ultimate Fighting champion Don Frye,
in front of the record-breaking crowd of 70,000 at the Tokyo Egg Dome. Muhammad
Ali, Bob Backlund, Willem Ruska, Maeda, Tenryu, Hamaguchi, Killer Khan,
and the first K-1 champion Andy Hug are in attendance for Inoki's retirement
ceremony. On the same card, Fujinami wins IWGP Heavyweight Title for the
sixth time, defeating Kensuke Sasaki.
- 05/01/98
- All Japan Pro-Wrestling holds a supercard at Tokyo Dome. In main event,
Toshiaki Kawada defeats Mitsuharu Misawa to win Triple Crown Heavyweight
Title. Kobashi and Johnny Ace defeat Stan Hansen and Vader.
- 07/01/98
- Toyonobori, one of the pioneers of puroresu, passes away.
- 10/24/98
- Inoki's new organization, Universal Fighting-arts Organization, has the
first card at Ryogoku Kokugikan with Naoya Ogawa defeating Don Frye in main
event.
- 11/29/98
- All Japan Women's has the 30th anniversary card at Yokohama Arena with
Nagayo defeating Manami Toyota to defend AAAW Heavyweight Title. The organization
also had the first induction ceremony of All
Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling Hall of Fame.
- 12/26/98
- In her retirement match, Jaguar Yokota loses to Devil Masami.
- 12/27/98
- Cuty Suzuki retires.
- 12/30/98
- Long-time NWA president and St. Louis promoter Sam
Muchnick dies at age of 93.
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- 01/04/99
- New Japan has an annual Tokyo Dome card. Mutoh defeats Scott Norton to
win the IWGP Heavyweight Title. However, in what seem to be more significant,
Ogawa-Hashimoto match ends as a no-contest when Ogawa "shoots" on Hashimoto,
and Ohnita wrestles in a New Japan card for the first time only to get disqualified
blowing fire into Sasaki's face.
- 01/19/99
- Former wrestler and JWA president Junzo Yoshinosato dies at the age of
70.
- 01/20/99
- Dream Stage Entertainment is founded. DSE takes over the PRIDE events from Kakutougi Revolution Spirits (KRS).
- 01/31/99
- Giant Baba passed away at the age of 61.
- 02/20/99
- Less than a month after his teacher's death, Tsuruta announces that his
retirement ceremony is to be held on 99/03/06 at the Budokan. After his
wrestling career, Tsuruta becomes a professor at the University of Portland.
- 02/21/99
- Akira Maeda loses his retirement match against Alexander Kareline, who
is known as the strongest fighter on the earth, at Yokohama Arena.
- 03/01/99
- Pancrase's Satoshi Hasegawa dies by falling out from his third floor apartment
at the age of 22.
- 03/14/99
- Naoya Ogawa defeats Dan Severn to win the NWA World Heavyweight title
with Dory Funk Jr. as the special referee. Ogawa successfully defends the
title for five occasions in the U.S. in June of the same year.
- 04/17/99
- The webmaster and his fiancee finally meet Dory Funk Jr. and Marti Funk.
- 05/07/99
- All Japan announces the new board members after the death of the founder/president
Giant Baba. Misawa becomes the new president, and Kawada and Mitsuo Momota
are the vice presidents.
- 05/23/99
- During a WWF PPV card, former IWGP Junior Heavyweight champion Owen Hart
accidentally his his head into the corner post and dies while making an
entrance from the ceiling of the arena.
- 06/24/99
- Fujinami is promoted to the president of New Japan.
- 08/09/99
- Jackie Satoh, former WWWA World singles and tag team champion and one
half of the legendary Beauty Pair, passes away with a stomoach cancer at
the age of 41.
- 10/11/99
- Ogawa defends NWA World Heavyweight title against Hashimoto by TKO.
- 11/27/99
- Hiro Matsuda, famous for training the stars like Hogan, Mutoh, Lex Luger,
etc., passes away of colon cancer in Tampa, Florida.
- 12/10/99
- Tenryu defeats Mutoh for the IWGP Heavyweight Title in Osaka to become
the only Japanese to hold the heavyweight titles of the two major organizations:
All Japan's Triple Crown and New Japan's IWGP.
2000s
Puroresu Awards : 1990s
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