| Acronym | NJPW |
|---|---|
| Founded | June 1972 |
| Style | Strong Style |
| Headquarters | Japan |
| Founder(s) | Antonio Inoki |
| Owner(s) | Yuke's |
New Japan Pro-Wrestling (新日本プロレス Shin Nihon Puroresu) (NJPW) is a major professional wrestling promotion in Japan, founded by Antonio Inoki in June 1972 and owned by Yuke's since 2005, when Inoki sold the promotion. Naoki Sugabayashi is the current President of the promotion and has held that position from 2007.[1] Owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, it is the largest wrestling promotion in Japan and one of the largest in the world. From its creation in 1972 until 1986, NJPW was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance. NJPW is known for openly engaging in working agreements with various MMA and pro wrestling promotions around the world, including: World Wrestling Entertainment, World Championship Wrestling, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, WAR, Ring of Honor, PRIDE Fighting Championships, and Jersey All Pro Wrestling[1] and various other MMA and pro wrestling promotions. NJPW's biggest event of the year is the January 4th at the Tokyo Dome, an event they have held each year since 1992.
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Originally founded by Antonio Inoki in 1972, New Japan Pro Wrestling, also known as "Shin Nihon Puroresu", is considered the top promotion in Japan and is comparable to WWE in the United States in terms of popularity and size in Japan. They promote events throughout Japan with their biggest event being their annual blowout show held every year on January 4 at the Tokyo Dome, which is Japan's version of WWE's annual WrestleMania event. In the past they have worked with WWE, WCW and NWA among others and currently have working agreements with Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) and American Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotions, additionally they occasionally do cross-promotion matches with other Japanese promotions, currently they are doing such a program with Pro Wrestling Noah. The promotion is currently owned by Japanese media/entertainment company Yuke's. Antonio Inoki is no longer affiliated with NJPW.
The promotion also has its own governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP). Thus all the promotion's titles are referred to as IWGP Championships. They currently have five titles: Heavyweight, Junior Heavyweight, Tag Team, Junior Heavyweight Tag Team and Intercontinental, which was introduced in May 2011 during the promotion's first ever tour of the United States. They also hold several tournaments each year, including G1 Climax, G1 Climax Tag League, New Japan Cup and Best of the Super Juniors.
The promotion debuted a new series called NEVER in August 2010, designed to be a series of events spotlighting younger up-and-coming talent and feature more outsider participation in the promotion.
On January 4, 2011, New Japan Pro Wrestling officially announced their first tour of the United States in May 2011, when they held shows in Rahway, New Jersey on May 13, New York City on May 14 and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on May 15. As part of the tour, NJPW introduced a new title, the IWGP Intercontinental Championship.[2]
See: New Japan Pro Wrestling roster
The championships recognized by NJPW are called International Wrestling Grand Prix (IWGP).
| Championship | Current champion(s) | Held since |
|---|---|---|
| IWGP Heavyweight Championship | Hiroshi Tanahashi | January 4, 2011[3] |
| IWGP Tag Team Championship | Ten-Koji (Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima) |
January 4, 2012[4] |
| IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship | Prince Devitt | September 19, 2011[5] |
| IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship | Apollo 55 (Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) |
January 4, 2012[6] |
| IWGP Intercontinental Championship | Masato Tanaka | October 10, 2011[7] |
| Tournament | Last winner | Last held | Type | Created | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G1 Climax | Shinsuke Nakamura | August 14, 2011 | Open weight | 1991 | NJPW's biggest annual tournament, primarily for heavyweights but there is no official weight limit. Mostly in a league format[Note 1] |
| G1 Climax Tag League | Suzuki Army (Lance Archer and Minoru Suzuki) |
November 6, 2011 | Tag team | 1991 | NJPW's annual tag team tournament.[Note 2] |
| New Japan Cup | Yuji Nagata | March 20, 2011 | Open weight | 2005 | Single-elimination tournament (cf. the Premier League and the FA Cup in English football) |
| Best of the Super Juniors | Kota Ibushi | June 10, 2011 | Junior Heavyweight | 1988 | Annual tournament featuring top Junior Heavyweights from all over the world. |
| Super J Cup | Naomichi Marufuji | December 23, 2009 | Junior Heavyweight | 1994 | Sporadic tournament featuring top Junior Heavyweights from all over the world, Tournament has been hosted by other promotions than NJPW as well. |
| Super J Tag League | Jado and Gedo | November 13, 2010 | Junior Heavyweight Tag Team | 2010 | Tournament created in 2010, may be an annual event for NJPW.[Note 3] |
| Young Lion Cup | Hirooki Goto | 2005 | Rookies | 1985 | Tournament that is not held every year.[Note 4] |
| J Sports Crown 6 Man Openweight Tag Team Tournament | Apollo 555 (Hirooki Goto, Prince Devitt and Ryusuke Taguchi) |
June 23, 2011 | Six man tag team | 2010 |
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