All Japan Pro Wrestling
| All Japan Pro Wrestling | |
|---|---|
| shape | promotion |
| Establishment date | 1972 |
| Location | Yokohama |
| Territories | Japan |
| founder | Shōhei Baba |
| management | Keiji Muto |
| Branch | Pro wrestling |
| Further information | |
| Website | official homepage |
All Japan Pro Wrestling ( Japanese 全 日本 プ ロ ・ レ ス リ ン グ 株式会社 , Zennihon Pro Wrestling Kabushiki kaisha , AJPW for short ) is the name of a Japanese wrestling association . AJPW was founded in 1972 by Shōhei Baba .
The promotion is one of the so-called Puroresu leagues and the abbreviation is All Japan .
history
In 1972, wrestler Shohei Baba left the Japanese Wrestling Association . Since his former training partner Antonio Inoki had built up his own wrestling league with New Japan Pro Wrestling a few months earlier , Baba also founded an independent promotion, which was named All Japan Pro Wrestling and represented a merger of several regional leagues.
Shohei Baba was able to negotiate a television contract with Nippon TV , which received a 15% stake in AJPW. All Japan Pro Wrestling replaced the Japanese Wrestling Association in the National Wrestling Alliance . Therefore, American wrestlers could also appear in the AJPW and defend their titles there. At the end of the 1980s, the collaboration with the NWA was discontinued and the AJPW began to combine their individual titles and work with a permanent cadre.
After Baba's death in January 1999, the wrestler Mitsuharu Misawa took over the management of AJPW. In May 2000, however, this was voted out by the board. Baba's widow, Motoko Baba, publicly expressed her distrust of him and other wrestlers who held positions in management. As a result, Misawa and 24 other wrestlers left the organization in June 2000 and founded the independent promotion Pro Wrestling NOAH .
The existing television contract was finally terminated by Nippon TV. However, their stake remained and prevented AJPW from receiving a slot on another broadcaster.
In order to remain present, they worked with New Japan Pro Wrestling until January 2002 and organized joint shows. Shortly thereafter, Japanese superstar Keji Mutoh joined All Japan Pro Wrestling and was elected president of the organization in September of that year. Mutoh managed to bring All Japan Pro Wrestling closer to both New Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH , so that now cross-league matches and shows are often held.
title
Current title holders
| title | Current title holder | Regency | Days | Date of title win | place | annotation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship * | Kento Miyahara | 4th | 680 | October 21, 2018 | Tokyo | Defeated Zeus in the 2018 Raising an Army Memorial Series . |
| AJPW World Tag Team Championship ** | Violent Giants ( Suwama and Shuji Ishikawa ) | 4 (5.4) |
242+ | January 2, 2020 | Tokyo, Japan | Defeated Zeus and Ryoji Sai in 2020 New Year Wars |
| World Junior Heavyweight Championship | Susumu Yokosuka | 1 | 241+ | January 3, 2020 | Tokyo, Japan | Defeated Hikaru Santo in a tournament final at 2020 New Year Wars . |
| All Asia Tag Team Championship | Jake Lee and Koji Iwamoto | 2 (2.2) |
440 | 18th June 2019 | Tokyo, Japan | Defeated Ryuichi Kawakami and Kazumi Kikuta in the 2019 Dynamite Series . |
| Gaora TV Championship | Yoshitatsu | 1 | 462+ | May 27, 2019 | Gifu | Defeated Tajiri in the 2019 Super Power Series . |
* The AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship consists of the NWA International Heavyweight Championship , the NWA United National Championship and the PWF Heavyweight Championship.
** The AJPW World Tag Team Championship consists of the NWA International Tag Team Championship and the PWF Tag Team Championship.
Tournaments
AJPW organizes several tournaments every year, the winners of which are determined by storylines. The winners can compete in a title match in their respective division. Often these tournaments are also used to bring a wrestler or a tag team over .
| competition | Last winner | Date of title win |
|---|---|---|
| Champion's Carnival | Taiyo Kea | May 7, 2012 |
| Junior League | Hiroshi Yamato | July 29, 2012 |
| World's Strongest Tag Team League | Masayuki Kono and Masakatsu Funaki | 4th December 2011 |