Written by: Super Mastodon (@SuperMastodon) An extensive version of my original article about The History of Puroresu divided by the decades. The Failed Rebellion (SWS) A decision that left a surprise to many at the time took place on April 1990. Genichiro Tenryu who was one of the biggest stars in AJPW and practically a national superstar in the country, left his home promotion to create his own wrestling company. On that same date Super World of Sports (SWS) was founded with their motto "Straight and Strong." Tenryu was the first to lead a roster exodus in All Japan's history which left a sour taste on Giant Baba's mouth. His former mentor and boss famously said that as long as he was alive, Tenryu is never allowed to step foot in an All Japan ring ever again which turned out to be true. Baba was betrayed by one of his top stars, Tenryu wanted to strive on his own and he wasn't alone in this endeavor, bringing in other members of the AJPW roster along with him. Megane Super, an eyeglass company was the main backer/sponsor of SWS. The company wanted to dip their feet into the growing wrestling market, Tenryu seemed to have a nice momentum to kick things off as he himself is already one of the most established pro wrestlers in Japan, enough name value to draw events. The SWS roster did not only compose of ex-AJPW talent but also they were able to recruit former NJPW wrestlers. The promotion's wrestlers were primarily split into three factions. Revolution was continued from AJPW bringing in Tenryu's stable into his own company. He was still joined by his long time partner Ashura Hara alongside with The Great Kabuki, Takashi Ishikawa, and Samson Fuyuki as some of the former All Japan wrestlers. Revolution would also have Koji Kitao, a former sumo turned pro wrestler among their ranks this time as well as Tatsumi Kitahara and Masao Orihara. Palaestra is another group composing of mainly former NJPW wrestlers led by George Takano (aka The Cobra) who was joined by young stars Naoki Sano, Shunji Takano, and Kenichi Oya. They also had veteran and original New Japan dojo alumnus Don Arakawa with them. Then you have the Geki Dojo stable led by manager and part-time wrestler KY Wakamatsu, who was best known for managing The Machines stable in NJPW. Unlike the previous two stables, Geki Dojo were neutral heels who did not align themselves with either former AJPW or NJPW talents. Kendo Nagasaki, Yoshiaki Yatsu, Goro Tsurumi, and Isao Takagi (aka Arashi) were some of the notable members of this group. What the SWS was best known for was their relationship with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF.) This allowed wrestlers from both promotions to collaborate in their respective events. This resulted into back-to-back massive shows in the early years of the Tokyo Dome in 1991 where the SWS and WWF hosted WrestleFest and SuperWrestle respectively. Co-promotional shows which featured cards wherein wrestlers from the two companies battled it out in "dream match" scenarios. Most notably in the main events, for the March 30, 1991 show The Legion of Doom (aka The Road Warriors) took on the super team of Hulk Hogan and Genichiro Tenryu, several months later on December 12 it was Hogan and Tenryu who faced each other 1 on 1 as the headliner. In the same year, Tenryu also participated in some WWF events in the US. He was involved at WrestleMania 7 where him and Koji Kitao defeated Crush and Smash of Demolition. He was also booked for a house show match in Hawaii where he was reunited in the ring with former AJPW dojo student Haku. Later on the SWS would also forge connections with smaller tier wrestling companies such as Gran Hamada's Universal Lucha Libre and the Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi which gave them a nice mix of styles for their opening contests. Freelance gaijins who were frequently booked for SWS through the years were the likes of Killer Tim Brooks, Jeff Jarrett, Cowboy Bob Orton, and Chavo Guerrero Sr. just to name a few. Luchadors such as El Dandy, Atlantis, Blue Panther, and El Satanico also competed for the SWS. As ambitious and big time it seemingly all felt like, the SWS only lasted for two and a half years before it went defunct. There are a multitude of reasons for the company's inevitable failure. First, it was never taken seriously as a competitor for NJPW and AJPW. The SWS was only seen as a "money mark" promotion, who's backers only supported it due to the wrestling boom period at the time which did end up drawing in well for two Tokyo Dome events but their entire business model was not good for the long haul as the economic problems of Japan would soon rise, eventually Megane Super broke up its partnership with SWS which led to its demise. Not only that but other than Tenryu, there is not enough star power to sustain frequent draws for their shows. They had veterans like Yatsu, Hara, and Kabuki but none of them had the same level of star power as Tenryu. Some of their projected young stars like Koji Kitao for example, didn't live up to expectations due to Kitao's own attitude problems in and out of the ring. He is best known for his infamous match that turned into a shoot fight against fellow former sumo "Earthquake" John Tenta. The relationship with the WWF while it looked good on paper, having these personalities wrestle on the cards did not draw in enough buzz or interest from the Japanese audience. Having Tenryu wrestle other WWF superstars will only get you so far without having actual storylines or rivalries to compel the fans to keep watching. The final SWS event took place on June 19 , 1992 with the main event six man tag headlining the show: Tenryu, Hara, and Ultimo Dragon beating the team of Kabuki, Haku, and Jerry Estrada. When the company closed down, the roster was split into two as Yoshiaki Yatsu founded Social Pro Wrestling Federation (SPWF) and Tenryu created Wrestle Association R (WAR.) The SWS may have tried to establish itself as the "third brand" of pro wrestling in the country against NJPW and AJPW much like Akira Maeda's UWF before but they did not have the right elements to connect in achieving long term success. They had their highs at some point, but the lows were too steep to rise back again. It would eventually lead to a much more successful attempt for Tenryu with his WAR promotion down the line. Pillars of the King's Road (AJPW) Tenryu may have left All Japan at the start of the decade but Jumbo Tsuruta's star power is still strong enough to keep the company afloat, plus he wasn't alone as a new set of talents were about to rise up to the occasion and define the rest of the 90's for the company, together that group was called the "Four Heavenly Pillars." Around July 1990 Jumbo formed his own stable called "Tsuruta-Gun" initially teaming up with his tag partner Yoshiaki Yatsu and junior heavyweight ace Masanobu Fuchi. Later on Akira Taue, Mighty Inoue, Yoshinari Ogawa, and Jun Akiyama would join in as well. Tsuruta-Gun basically represented the veterans of the AJPW roster, primarily Jumbo who still upheld the generation of the past decade and still being the ace of the company onto a new era. However he would soon find the next group of talents as his adversaries for his throne with Mitsuharu Misawa forming the "Super Generation Army" the same year with fellow rising stars Toshiaki Kawada and Kenta Kobashi. To trace the history of the rivalry between the reigning ace Jumbo and the challenger for his throne Misawa, we have to go back to the early 80's at the start of Misawa's career. Misawa was a pro wrestling fan since his youth. Appropriately enough, he mentioned before that he watched AJPW at an early age and cites German wrestler Horst Hoffman as his favorite. Hoffman was known for wearing emerald green trunks in his gear which was emulated by Misawa and became a signature color connected to his career and legacy. Misawa always wanted to pursue pro wrestling as a profession so he underwent amateur wrestling training in high school. Later on he would have an encounter with a junior schoolmate named Toshiaki Kawada. It would not be the last time those two crossed paths again. In his amateur years, Misawa was also able to meet Jumbo Tsuruta whom by this point was already a well established name within the ranks of AJPW and advised the young trainee to finish his high school studies before entering the business, an advise which Misawa followed. In 1980 Misawa won the national high school championship and placed fifth at the freestyle World Championships in his junior age group. He had a good track record as an amateur but Misawa only saw it as a leeway into his true goal which is to become a professional wrestler. Finally, on March 1981 he began his training at the AJPW Dojo. He officially debuted on August 21, 1981 against fellow rookie upstart Shiro Koshinaka. In 1984 Giant Baba and AJPW were able to purchase the rights to the Tiger Mask character, in the same year a young Misawa would go on to become the successor of the original Tiger Mask Satoru Sayama by becoming the second wrestler to don the iconic character. These were Misawa's years as a junior heavyweight and had rivalries with the likes of Dynamite Kid and Kuniaki Kobayashi both of whom were also rivals to the original Tiger Mask in NJPW. On July 3, 1987 Tiger Mask II won the PWF World Tag-Team Championships with Jumbo Tsuruta beating the team of Stan Hansen and Ted DiBiase but dropped them right back just 8 days later. The following year Tiger Mask II fought Curt Hennig for the AWA World Heavyweight Championship but was unsuccessful in gaining the title despite winning via countout. On January 2, 1990 the NJPW and AJPW had a rare collaborative event at the Tokyo Dome. Tiger Mask II teamed up with Genichiro Tenryu to take on the team of George Takano and Riki Choshu. It was Misawa's first match in the Dome in front of a sold out 53,000 fans. A few months later Tiger Mask II teamed up with Kenta Kobashi and they won the All-Asia Tag-Team Championships and four days later was back in the Dome this time not only with NJPW but the WWF participating in this SuperCard event. Misawa had his infamous match with Bret Hart. It was the only match these two greats ever faced each other in the ring. The Tiger Mask II gimmick in hind sight was always meant to be temporary for Misawa. His talents were too good to be stuck in a cartoonish character for the rest of his career. With Tenryu's departure in AJPW, Baba was forced to push the rising young talents he had in the roster in the main event picture as it was only Jumbo Tsuruta who was left as the top star, he needed some contention to be an effective ace after all. On May 14, 1990 it was a date that changed the tides of All Japan forever. During a tag-team match Tiger Mask II teamed up with Toshiaki Kawada to take on the veteran team of Yoshiaki Yatsu and Samson Fuyuki. In the middle of the match, Misawa commanded his partner Kawada to unmask him, thus giving a re-birth to what would become a future legend and officially taking off what would become a symbol of his past which was the Tiger Mask. Now Misawa was a man of his own, no longer needing to be a flashy or colorful character. He only needs himself and his talents in his eventual chase for the main event spot of the Triple Crown. A few days after his unmasking, seeds were planted for the eventual rivalry that defined the AJPW main event scene in the early part of the decade when Misawa and Jumbo had numerous altercations that were more stiff than usual in their six man tag match on May 26, 1990. In the same year, Misawa founded the Super Generation Army stable. Initially all Four Pillars were members of said faction but Akira Taue wound up leaving to join the enemy team of Tsuruta-Gun led by its name sake leader Jumbo Tsuruta who was alligned by numerous veterans. Later on Jun Akiyama, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, and Satoru Asako would join within the Super Generation Army but it was mainly defined by the trio of Misawa, Kawada, and Kobashi all of whom are proving their worth to be in the top of the food chain so to speak. By this point, the fans were starting to sway on Misawa's side. Jumbo who was still the de facto ace, was seen as the "old guard" and it is time for the rising young talents to shine. The match that truly catapulted Misawa from being potential main eventer to a true adversary to Jumbo's throne was on June 8, 1990 in Budokan Hall, the main event was a singles match between the two. The story has it that Jumbo was originally booked to win the match but Giant Baba saw the money was now on the emerald green train. Fans were chanting Misawa's name louder than ever and his merchandise sales was at the top more than anybody in the roster at the time. So after a grueling 24 minute match, Misawa successfully pinned Jumbo for the first time in a singles match. The following years Misawa contineud his pursuits for both singles and tag-team gold. By this point mainly teaming up with Kawada, winning the AJPW World Tag-Team Championships on two occasions. Finally after numerous unsuccessful attempts before, he finally won the Triple Crown Championship for the first time on August 22, 1992 defeating another one of his arch enemies Stan Hansen. It was somewhat of a true passing of the torch moment as well. For a long time, Hansen's role has been the top gaijin for native talents to overcome and Misawa has done just that. He would go on to make history and become the longest reigning Triple Crown Champion in history which still stands to this day at an impressive 705 days. Within that impressive timeframe, Misawa successfully defended the belt seven times. He tripled Jumbo's record by that point which was 374 days. However Jumbo's health started to decline around the time of Misawa's stardom. Moving forward Jumbo primarily wrestled in the undercard, mostly in opening multi-men tags with other old veterans like Baba, Eigen, Rusher, and Momota. It was quite a disappointing end to the former ace's run but the throne was safe for now at the hands of his successor as Misawa would go on to define the rest of the decade for All Japan along with his three other notable peers. One would be wrong to mention Misawa without also talking about arguably his greatest rival of all time, Toshiaki Kawada. He was already mentioned previously, but to formally start, Kawada much like his future tag-team partner and adversary started out as an amateur wrestler in high school. In fact he was classmates with Keiichi Yamada aka the future Jushin "Thunder" Liger. Kawada already crossed paths with Misawa around this time who was his senior school mate. The two would once again meet each other when Kawada decided to go pro and continue his training with All Japan. He officially made his debut on October 4, 1982 against Hiromichi Fuyuki. Kawada was mentored by Genichiro Tenryu during the first few years of his career. He learned under his wing by being a part of Revolution. Kawada and the aforementioned Fuyuki would have a short tag-team run around this time, dubbed as "Footloose" the duo won the All Asia Tag-Team Championships three times. They had a rivalry against the Can-Am Express (Dan Krofatt and Doug Furnas.) When Ashura Hara was fired from AJPW due to gambling issues, Kawada took his place as Tenryu's regular tag-team partner and the two even participated on the World's Strongest Tag Determination League. When Tenryu left AJPW in 1990, Kawada joined Misawa in his Super Generation Army stable. When Akira Taue left their ranks, him and Kawada ignited a fierce rivalry against one another. Before becoming the well known tag-team years later, Kawada and Taue had literal blood matches against one another. Their rivalry is what helped elevated both of them from being second fiddle to their stable leaders, to noteworthy wrestlers of the roster and someone to keep an eye on as potential World Champions someday. Around the early 90's while frequently still tagging with Misawa, Kawada did have his chances at the Triple Crown particularly in 1991 when he was defeated by Jumbo Tsuruta, then the following year loss twice to Hansen and stable leader Misawa respectively. Kind of a similar scenario when Tenryu left AJPW, this time Jumbo's career was on the downside due to health issues, Kawada was once again given the opportunity to boost up his own career. He would leave Misawa and the Super Generation Army and team up with former enemy Akira Taue forming what would become the most dominant and greatest tag-team in AJPW history: "The Holy Demon Army." After their 1993 Champion Carnival match, Kawada and Taue shook hands officially ending their feud and signaling a new page to the books of their respective careers so far. Speaking of Taue, his path to All Japan was a little different from Misawa and Kawada. Before his pro wrestling career, he was already a somewhat well established in the lower ranks of sumo prior to entering the squared circle. Taue had a strong run in sumo for six years. His peak was reaching the rank of juryo and fought in seven tournaments before retiring in July 1987. Months later he would enter the AJPW dojo under the tutelage of his mentor Giant Baba whom he would emulate a lot of his skill set and adapted many of the legend's maneuvers. The influence was strong as throughout Taue's career he was very similar and even coined as the smaller version of Baba plus the red trunks helped to further the similarities. But Taue was far from little, standing at 6'4'' and weighed in at 265 lbs. he was the biggest among the Four Pillars. He officially made his debut on January 2, 1988 in a 16 man battle royal. The same day he tagged with Giant Baba to beat the team of Buddy Landel and Paul Harris. During the early stages of Taue's career he often teamed up with veterans such as the aforementioned Baba and The Great Kabuki. When Mitsuharu Misawa was starting to grow in popularity, Taue joined him in the Super Generation Army but that was short lived as he would soon defect to Jumbo Tsuruta and the Tsuruta-Gun, becoming tag-team partners with the ace, winning the AJPW World Tag-Team Championships for the first time with Jumbo on March 4, 1992. Around this time as mentioned earlier, Taue developed even further as a character during his rivalry with Toshiaki Kawada where the two would often have action-packed matches that led to brutal and bloody encounters. It wasn't until when the Holy Demon Army was formed when the two found common ground and become a formidable tag-team that dominated the scene within the promotion. The Holy Demon Army were a 6x AJPW World Tag-Team Champions and still hold the record for total combined days as champions at 912. Throughout the entire decade, Kawada and Taue had a strong foothold within the tag division scene of the promotion. They faced off with various tag-teams over the years such as different pairings of gaijins that included the likes of Johnny Ace, Dr. Death, and Gary Albright just to name a few. But the one pair that truly put AJPW on the map for the whole world to see was their set of matches against the duo of Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi. Among the Four Pillars, Kobashi was the last one to debut. Doing so on February 26, 1988. His origin story was vastly different from his peers however. Misawa and Kawada had backgrounds in amateur wrestling, Taue being a former sumo, Kobashi had none of those. Due to his poor upbringing, he did not have the privilege of experiencing athletics of any form in his youth. While he did practiced judo and rugby, he only did them sparingly. Upon graduation to support his family, he worked various regular jobs. He never got the chance to compete in wrestling tournaments or reach ranks in sumo. But what he had, quite possibly even bigger than his peers was determination. Kobashi was always a pro wrestling fan deep in his heart, it is what he always aspired to be. After several try outs, he was finally accepted to train at the All Japan dojo in 1987. Because of his lack of in-ring experience he had a different path to start off his career. He was not a solid five star wrestler from the get-go, but was seen as a "work in progress" by Giant Baba. Certainly the potential was there and the burning passion he had for improving was palpable, but he was far off from reaching the same heights as those that came before him, particularly the other members of the Pillars. Kobashi was booked to lose his first 63 single matches. This was done deliberately as he would go on to have an underdog tale at the start of his career. Despite losing all of his matches, he would still come out strong in the end, but never quite enough to take the win. The fans would slowly get invested to Kobashi's journey. Out of all the Pillars, he would turn out to be the most relatable due to his blue collar background, whilst also portraying the fiery, gutsy, and charismatic never-say-die fighter he showcased in the ring. Later on in his career, Kobashi would join Mitsuharu Misawa in the Super Generation Army. In the early parts of his career, he learned heavily under Misawa's wing and was the underdog between their trio with Kawada against the Tsuruta-Gun rivals. By the mid 90's Kobashi was starting to grow on his own. While he was still the lowest in the totem pole among his peers within the Pillars, support from the fans was starting to grow even further because of his continuously improving talents in the ring. All of the Four Pillars had something special to offer in the ring. Misawa with his fluid showcase of his in-ring abilities, Kawada's intensity against any opponents and execution of moves, Taue's underappreciated agility as a big man, then you have Kobashi's sheer power to invoke emotion with every step he took in the ring. It is what made him to instantly connect with the audience and they reciprocated with their undying support for him which continued for the rest of his career. Around this time the main event title picture for AJPW was at its peak in terms of wrestlers contending for the Triple Crown. Proven gaijin workers like Stan Hansen and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams were two obstacles the Pillars had to overcome in order for them to take the gold. It was mentioned earlier that Misawa's historic 705 day reign started by beating Hansen in 1992. It was ended at the hands of Dr. Death on July 28, 1994 who was in turn defeated by Toshiaki Kawada on November 22, 1994. By this point Kawada was already the "number two" behind Misawa in terms of the native talents. His success with Taue in the tag division catapulted him further as a singles act. However he would not have that long of a run with the belt which would become a running theme for him throughout the decade due to unfortunate circumstances, primarily because of injuries which left him being the "unproven ace" and could not totally overcome Misawa's shadow despite their fierce and memorable matches in the entire 90's. Kobashi and Taue would have their share of winning the big one. On May 24, 1996 Akira Taue scored a surprising victory ending Mitsuharu Misawa's second reign with the belt that lasted for an entire year. At this point, it seemed like Taue was going down the path of never becoming a World Champion due to losing constantly the opportunities he had in title matches but this time he has finally done it and defeated the ace Misawa in doing so which was a big deal on its own. However despite the ceremonious victory, it only lasted for 61 days until he was defeated by Kobashi on July 24, 1996. This was Taue's first and only run with the Triple Crown belt. Kobashi on the other hand was somewhat on a similar story as well but his was more on waiting for the right time to finally hold it. His first title victory with the Triple Crown was just as emotional and by this point, he has already defected from Misawa's group and started his own stable of "Burning" named after his iconic signature move the Burning Hammer. In total from 1992 to 1999, the Four Pillars altogether are 11 time winners of the Triple Crown (Misawa - 5, Kawada - 3, Kobashi - 2, Taue - 1). They deservingly defined the main event scene for All Japan in the whole decade, continuing to blaze the torch that was left by Jumbo and Tenryu. The matches of the Pillars also went down in history as some of the most influential from a wrestling stand point. Tape trading amongst hardcore fans in the West became prominent because of how heavily covered their matches were in magazines and newsletters. They sort of had this "mythology" status thrown at them around this time as the presentation is vastly different from the soap opera/entertainment driven wrestling shows the WWF and WCW offered. Whether it is their tag-team matches or single bouts with any combination of the four, the Pillars to this day are still the standard bearers for genuinely great professional wrestling. Amidst the dominance of what was dubbed as the "Four Heavenly Pillars" a certain individual is often left out or forgotten by some who was also in the middle of this era in AJPW. A wrestler who started his career while the Pillars were at the top of their game hence why he was overshadowed by his seniors, nevertheless he was still just as great and sometimes even revered in the same pedestal as them. This man is Jun Akiyama. Sometimes coined as the honorary "fifth pillar" Akiyama debuted for All Japan on September 17, 1992 against Kenta Kobashi. Akiyama initially joined the ranks of Tsuruta-Gun in the earlier part of his career, often teamed up with Akira Taue. It would pretty much become the story for Akiyama's first run in All Japan. As great of a talent he was, it just was not enough to share a spotlight with the other four especially Misawa and Kawada who were nearing the heights of their rivalry by the mid to late 90's. Nevertheless, he was still an accomplished member of the tag division. First winning the All Asia Tag-Team Championships with Takao Omori. That title reign lasted for an astounding 1,076 days although the bulk of the run can be attributed to inactivity as later on the AJPW World Tag-Team Championships would gain prominence. Later on as his career progresses, Akiyama left Tsuruta-Gun to become a part of Misawa's Super Generation Army. Around this time he was a constant tag-team partner to his stable leader. It wasn't until in the late 90's where he started to become a more prominent member of the roster. In 1997 for the first time he had a chance against the Triple Crown but failed to usurp Misawa. The following year he became a part of the Kobashi-led stable "Burning." Their duo would go on to win the AJPW World Tag-Team Championships twice by the end of the decade which at that point were Akiyama's biggest accomplishments yet as he was not able to fully develop into an all-star main eventer just yet. In the 80's Giant Baba decided to part ways with the NWA so there were not a lot of gaijin talents that toured with AJPW moving forward and he also wanted to focus his product with home grown native talents hence the Pillars being a big part of the main event picture at this point. Nevertheless, there were still notable foreign talents that left a mark for All Japan around this particular decade. Stan Hansen was still going strong well into the early 90's being the constant threat to the Pillars' rise to the top. Some other noteworthy adversaries were the Miracle Violence Connection, one of the most accomplished tag-teams in AJPW history consisting with the duo of "Dr. Death" Steve Williams and Terry Gordy. They dominated the tag-team scene in the early 90's being 5x AJPW World Tag-Team Champions while also winning the NWA/WCW Unified World Tag-Team Championships at some point. Overall, Dr. Death and Gordy were had a total combined reign of 484 days. Individually they were just as great. Gordy was the first gaijin to win the Triple Crown beating Jumbo Tsuruta on June 5, 1990. He would win the belt again a month later on July 17, 1990. Both of his reigns were not really anything special as they just combined for 13 days but it is a testament to how successful his career was in Japan being able to win World Champions and being placed in the main event against top talents, able to showcase more of his abilities unlike in the US where he was primarily best known as member of the Fabulous Freebirds. On July 28, 1994 Dr. Death ended Misawa's historic 705 day reign with the Triple Crown. He had a solid 86 day run until he was defeated by Toshiaki Kawada who won the belt for the first time in his career, sort of a passing of the torch after their battles with the tag-team titles the prior year. Other notable gaijins for AJPW during the 90's who left an impression to a lot of fans were the likes of Johnny Ace. While never particularly being a main eventer, Johnny Ace was a decorated tag-team wrestler in Japan and was a great worker in his own right. He is a 4x AJPW World Tag-Team Champion and 2x All Asia Tag-Team Champion between 1990 and 1999, best known for his pairing with Kobashi. Gary Albright is a name that does not often come up in conversations these days but he was also an underappreciated talent in the mid to late 90's era of All Japan. After spending a bulk of the early decade in UWFi, Albright had many memorable matches in AJPW as well particularly in the tag division where he teamed up with both Stan Hansen and Dr. Death winning the AJPW World Tag-Team Championships on two different occasions. Due to his amateur background and training he received from Stu Hart, Albright had no problem in adjusting to the Puroresu style, while he may not have reached the same levels as the aforementioned gaijins, he still left an impressive set of matches during his time with the company. Johnny Smith, Wolf Hawkfield, Giant Kimala II (aka The Botswana Beast), and an aging Abdullah the Butcher were some other gaijins wrestling for All Japan in the undercard. The heavyweight scene was prospering for most of the 90's in All Japan. However the same couldn't be said for their junior heavyweight division. While there were some hidden gem matches and moments here and there, for the most part the entire title picture was bleak. Entering the decade "Mr. Junior" himself Masanobu Fuchi was the reigning champion well onto his dominant thousand day plus reign. By the early 90's he was mainly feuding and interchanging the belt with Dan Kroffat. In the middle of the decade, a new junior star was starting to emerge and make a name for himself, slowly relinquishing Fuchi off his throne as the top junior heavyweight. This man was Yoshinari Ogawa. Originally a disciple of Genichiro Tenryu, once his sensei left the company and Revolution disbanded, Ogawa was guided under the wing of Mitsuharu Misawa by alligning himself with the Super Generation Army. On October 10, 1995 he solidified his status in the division by defeating Kroffat to earn his first AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship reign. Ogawa had a solid run that lasted for 294 days with four successful defenses. First against a young Rob Van Dam, then the following year in 1996 he won over Rex King who was also known as Timothy Well in the WWF as 1/2 of the tag-team "Well Dunn." He would then defeat two rising stars of the division in Tsuyoshi Kikuchi and Satoru Asako before dropping the belt to his senior Fuchi. On January 15, 1997 Ogawa got his second reign with the belt beating Kikuchi this time it lasted for 219 days. He only had one successful defense against RVD once again before losing the belt to a new rival in Maunakea Mossman. By the late 90's Ogawa was starting to transition into the heavyweights by teaming up more with Misawa but he was still considered a junior for the most part. In 1998 Mossman vacated the World Junior Heavyweight belt due to moving up to the heavyweights then Ogawa won a tournament for the title and he would go on to have the longest title reign of his career for 698 days starting on July 19, 1998. The following year he won the World Tag-Team Titles with Misawa. Ogawa would be the final Junior Heavyweight Champion for All Japan during the "Pillars Era" as in 2000 he would jump ship with Misawa to NOAH along with many other wrestlers and thus vacating the title. Although the junior heavyweights of the 90's for AJPW cannot even be compared to their heavyweight division in terms of match quality, there were still some noteworthy names that were able to shine around this time and make of something with their weight division. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi isn't exactly a name that is synonymous around this era of All Japan but he certainly made an impact in his own way. Trained in the AJPW Dojo, he made his debut on February 26, 1988 against veteran Mitsuo Momota. For the most part, just like a lot of young trainees, Kikuchi spent this time of his career in the undercard, primarily losing and paying his dues. It wasn't until in the early 90's where he was starting to gain some steam, joining Misawa's Super Generation Army. He challenged for the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship for the first time on July 12, 1990 but was unsuccessful in beating the dominant run of Fuchi, one of his mentors in the dojo along with Jumbo. The following year he started to tag often with fellow stable mate Kenta Kobashi. This pair would become popular amongst the fans as Kikuchi was treated like a little brother to Kobashi, they had his instant chemistry with one another as a team due to somewhat similar underdog stories. On May 25, 1992 one of the most memorable matches around this time for AJPW took place when Kobashi and Kikuchi took on the team of Doug Furnas and Dan Kroffat for the All Asia Tag-Team Championships. What was only billed as your ordinary tag-team match in the card, it surprised everyone by being arguably the show stealer for how good of a match it turned out to be. It was awarded 5 stars in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter and to this day is the match commonly linked throughout Kikuchi's career. Him and Kobashi ended up winning the belts. By the mid 90's when his partnership with Kobashi ended, Kikuchi mainly floundered in the midcard. It wasn't until on July 24, 1996 when he finally defeated Fuchi for the AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Championship, finally winning the belt he chased for a long time. Kikuchi's time with the belt only lasted for 175 days with two successful defenses then dropped the belt to Ogawa on January 15, 1997. Unfortunately, that was pretty much the peak of Kikuchi's career. Afterwards, he was relegated into the opening acts of the undercard with veterans such as Momota, Eigen, and Rusher. He would also be one of the many to join to NOAH in the year 2000. Another example would be the aforementioned Maunakea Mossman. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Mossman was personally recruited by Giant Baba himself while touring the country. He had an amateur wrestling background and he was seen with potential by the president. His uncle was King Curtis Iaukea, who had his fair share of matches in Japan and he was referred to join the AJPW Dojo which he did. Mossman was immediately pushed into the top of the juniors, making his debut on November 26, 1994. Just four years later he would go on to defeat Yoshinari Ogawa for the title and the two would have a long standing rivalry for the belt which pretty much highlighted the entire junior heavyweight scene in the late 90's. There was an interesting dynamic between the two, Mossman was Baba's protege in the making while Ogawa being Misawa's friend and student. A clash of ideologies if you will. Mossman's time in the juniors didn't last too long after his reign of 294 days. He only had three successful defenses when he was moved up to the heavyweights then he had a seven match trial series wherein he faced established names. He won three out of four by beating Johnny Smith, Wolf Hawkfield, and Giant Kimala II but ended up losing to all the Pillars. He was able to win over undercard wrestlers but still not quite prepared for the main event, but he was gaining momentum because of these series of matches. The Three Musketeers Era (NJPW) AJPW cemented themselves as the premier destination for high quality matches of any wrestling promotion in the world throughout the 1990's. The rival company, New Japan Pro Wrestling while had a lot of great matches under their belt as well, made statements in their own way by establishing new superstars whose names will be mentioned forever in wrestling history, while also countless of memorable moments both good and bad. Needless to say NJPW in the 90's was some of the most fun and chaotic the company has been thus far since its inception by that point. It all started with the emergence of three particularly individuals that would go on to define the following two decades for mainstream Puroresu, together they were known as Toukon Sanjushi, translated to English as The Three Musketeers. Fujinami and Choshu were still going strong for NJPW in the 80's. Antonio Inoki hasn't fallen off in popularity as well. But there were three men that made their debuts around this time who would go on to reach the same levels as their seniors and some argued even surpass them. First was Shinya Hashimoto. Having a background in judo and karate during his younger years, Hashimoto brought the fundamentals he learned from these sacred forms of martial arts when he decided to become a pro wrestler in the early 80's entering the NJPW Dojo in April 1984 and a few months later had his first match at the age of 19. Over the next couple of years, Hashimoto travelled around the world and honing his skills even further. Competing for Jerry Lawler's CWA promotion in Memphis, Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling, and Carlos Colon's WWC. In the latter, it was wherein him, Mutoh, and Chono formed the now famous trio of "The Three Musketeers." Speaking of Mutoh and Chono, they were both classmates of Hashimoto in the dojo. They would make their debuts just one month apart from him. In fact Mutoh and Chono's first in-ring opponents were each other wherein Mutoh gained victory on October 5, 1984. The careers of these three gentlemen would be intertwined for the rest of their active careers in wrestling. By the late 80's it was evident that the Musketeers were on their way to being pushed as rising stars. Returning from their respective excursions, the first time they all teamed up together in a New Japan ring was on July 29, 1988 where Mutoh, Chono, and Hashimoto defeated the veteran trio of Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, and Shiro Koshinaka. While it was just an ordinary six man tag on paper, it was able to establish the new young stars as hungry for success, not backing down or showing any fears of these already established names. The crowd was primarily in their favor as well, cheering them on heavily. An indication of what's to come moving forward, a new era of Strong Style was slowly emerging. Throughout the early 90's Hashimoto, Mutoh, and Chono all actively partnered together in NJPW. Sometimes teaming up with other wrestlers. Some of the notable feuds they had was with the stable Heisei Ishingun led by Koshinaka. Individually they would all find success in their own ways. Hashimoto was the first one to gain an opportunity for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in 1989 participating in a tournament for the vacant belt which he ended up losing in the finals to Vader. He would challenge for the belt once more in the same year but still couldn't get over the big man. His first title run was with the IWGP Tag-Team Championships alongside Masa Saito on September 20, 1989. They defeated Riki Choshu and Takayuki Iizuka to win the belts. Their duo would go on to have three successful title defenses, all of which are interesting in their own simple ways. The first defense they defeated Vader and The Great Kokina, who would later on become Yokozuna in the WWF on January 31, 1990. Two months later the duo of Scott Hall and Punisher Dice Morgan were unsuccessful in taking the belts, the latter whom you might know better as The Undertaker. The last successful defense for Hashimoto and Saito was on the Wrestling Summit event in the Tokyo Dome for the collaboration show between NJPW, AJPW, and WWF where they defeated Choshu and Chono. They would eventually drop the belts to Chono and Mutoh on April 27, 1990. The following year 1991, the IWGP Tournament was officially renamed to the "G1 Climax" and that name has stuck ever since and one of the brands that is closely associated best with New Japan. This was the year where the Three Musketeers became breakout stars. They all surpassed the veterans of the roster, Mutoh and Chono winning their respective blocks while Hashimoto was on par with Chono. They had massive leads over Fujinami and Choshu, the latter of which did not even score a single victory in the tournament. Chono would end up winning the first G1 ever and would go on to become synonymously connected with the tournament for the rest of his career as being the wrestler who has won the G1 more than anyone ever in history. Five times to be exact. Around this time though, Chono was far from the character most fans know him best for. He was still being booked as this clean cut babyface. While he certainly had the impressive in-ring skills he was still severely lacking something fresh for the fans to fully get behind him yet. They were clearly seeing him as a potential ace, but his time was not there yet despite receiving early success from the management. Chono was the first to win a major World Title among the three on August 12, 1992 when he became the NWA World Heavyweight Champion. The belt was fought as the prize for that year's G1 Climax, wherein he defeated Rick Rude in the finals. Around this time NJPW were still heavily partnered with WCW so many of their wrestlers competed in the promotion, vice versa as well. Chono's reign was a decent 145 days, nothing great or memorable, but not bad for an inaugural run with a World Title. In his first defense on September 23, 1992 he defeated "Stunning" Steve Austin who also competed in the G1. The next two months he defended the title in a WCW ring first on Halloween Havoc where his re-match with Rick Rude who actually won via DQ but Chono retained the belt. It was quite an infamous match for both men's careers as it was notably a boring affair. He had a defense against Scotty Flamingo of all wrestlers on a TV episode the next month, Flamingo would later become better known to ECW fans as Raven. He returned to New Japan that same month beating Scott Steiner, then at Starrcade on December defeated The Great Muta. On January 4, 1993 at the traditional Tokyo Dome event, The Great Muta finally relinquished Chono off the belt while also being the reigning IWGP Heavyweight Champion being the second wrestler behind Fujinami to hold both belts simultaneously. In his match against Austin, Chono suffered a neck injury that would end up shelf him for awhile as he needed time to heal. This would somewhat turn out to be a blessing in disguise for him down the line as he was about to make a huge character transformation when he returns. But for now, his fellow Musketeers already had him beat in terms of a new re-defined take on their gimmick. Back in 1989 Keiji Mutoh created "The Great Muta" persona during his excursion in the US. Inspired by his predecessor The Great Kabuki, in fact he was initially billed as the son of Kabuki and was also managed by the devious "Playboy" Gary Hart. The Great Muta would go on to become one of the most popular heels in the NWA/WCW territory around this time, feuding with top superstars like Sting, Lex Luger, and Ric Flair. Him and Sting would have a series of matches together in which Muta eventually defeated him for the NWA World Television Championship. Entering the new decade in 1990 The Great Muta has officially made his presence known in New Japan. The interesting dynamic about Mutoh around this point of his career is that he was interchanging between himself and his alternate persona. Treating The Great Muta as a separate person altogether which made his work all the more interesting for the fans and they gravitated towards this mythical figure. Between the three, he was the first to become IWGP Heavyweight Champion on August 16, 1992 defeating Riki Choshu for both the IWGP and Greatest 18 Championships. This was officially the signal of a new era for NJPW as Choshu who was once at the top with Fujinami in the previous decade, has finally been beaten by one of the Three Musketeers. The Great Muta had an astounding 400 days as IWGP Champion which at the time was the record longest reign. He had five successful defenses, first beating Hashimoto on September 23, 1992. Then the following two months won over gaijins Scott Norton and old rival Sting. As mentioned earlier he defeated Chono at the Tokyo Dome to retain the IWGP Title and winning the NWA World Championship. In an interesting clash of past and present, his next title defense was against The Great Kabuki which ended up in a DQ. His reign would finally end at the hands of Hashimoto on September 20, 1993. This would not be the last time members of the Three Musketeers would make their presence known in New Japan around this time but there are also other wrestlers who started to rise up in the ranks and establish their careers in the 90's for NJPW. Two students of Riki Choshu in particular made their debuts just days apart from one another in 1986. Kensuke Sasaki competed in the short lived JPW promotion then later on had a run in the AJPW undercard before defecting to NJPW. Hiroshi Hase is another one of Choshu's students around this time actually making his debut at Stu Hart's Stampede Wrestling promotion. In the first few years of his return to the promotion from excursion, Hase competed in the junior heavyweight division and even winning the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship capturing it for the first time on December 27, 1987 beating Kuniaki Kobayashi. He would have a decent 153 day reign with three successful defenses before dropping the belt to fellow Stampede alumnus Owen Hart on May 27, 1988. Hase won the belt for the second and last time on March 16, 1989 beating Koshinaka with only 70 days this time before losing the belt to Jushin "Thunder" Liger in what would be the start of the junior heavyweight frenzy. Afterwards, it wouldn't take long before Hase moved up to the heavyweight division and in 1990 Kensuke Sasaki made his return to NJPW and the two would form what became one of the most successful young tag-teams in New Japan history. On November 1, 1990 Sasaki and Hase ended the 188 day run of Mutoh and Chono as IWGP Tag-Team Champions. For 55 days they held onto the belts having two successful defenses before losing them to the veteran team of Hiro Saito and Super Strong Machine. The following year on March 6, 1991 they got the belts right back but this time for only 15 days before dropping them to the Steiner Brothers. While it may have been a short lived pairing, Sasaki and Hase were able to establish themselves as two promising talents in the roster because of their duo. Their match against the Steiners is still considered by many as one of the greatest tag-team matches ever in NJPW. In 1992 both men went their own ways but were still prominent part of the tag-team division. Sasaki would don the persona of "Power Warrior" as 1/2 of the Hell Raisers tag-team with Road Warrior Hawk, being his tag-team partner during their run in Japan as Animal was sidelined with injury at the time. The Hell Raisers became one of the most dominant tag-teams of the decade for New Japan becoming 2x IWGP Tag-Team Champions with a total combined reign of 559 days. Sasaki and Hawk also competed tons in WCW then later on Animal joining back to the fray making them an even more powerful trio. As for Hase, he dabbled into some singles action in the same year, he had arguably the biggest match of his career against The Great Muta. Up to that point it was the bloodiest match in New Japan history as both men were terribly busted open. This match ended up giving birth to the infamous "Muta Scale" wherein matches going forward were measured as to how bloody they were in comparison to the Muta-Hase encounter. Ironically, these two would go on to become tag-team partners, Hase and Mutoh had a successful partnership as well in the early 90's winnign the IWGP Tag-Team Championships on November 5, 1991 beating Rick Steiner and Scott Norton, the latter was a replacement for an injured Scott. They had two successful defenses before losing the belts to the super heavyweight pair of Bam Bam Bigelow and Vader. Hase would be reunited with his former partner Sasaki as the two got into a tag-team feud with their respective partners. On November 25, 1994 Mutoh and Hase dethroned the Hell Raisers off the IWGP Tag-Team Championships then the following year at the Tokyo Dome defeated The Steiners for said belts. Their reign ended after Mutoh won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Also it should be noted that Hase won his only "World Title" in WCW by capturing the International Heavyweight Championship, a spinoff of the original big gold belt as it was a temporary title for the company when Ric Flair brought the original when he came to the WWF. It was quite the complicated story in itself and some wrestling historians do not even consider this as a legitimate World Title but nevertheless he held it for only 8 days. While Hase is considered as one of the greatest wrestlers in Puroresu, he is often synonymous with never winning a major World Title in Japan, particularly the "Big Three" of the IWGP, Triple Crown, or GHC. The same cannot be said for Sasaki who would later on have a decorated career well onto the following decades. Best of the Super Juniors (NJPW) All Japan's junior heavyweight scene was far from its best in the 90's but it was vastly different in New Japan where the juniors were prospering following the trails of the original Tiger Mask. On March 3, 1984 Keiichi Yamada made his debut in professional wrestling. He was on the same dojo class as the Three Musketeers and just like them was sent to excursions in several countries to hone his craft. He competed in Mexico, Europe, and Canada. Blending in all of the styles, techniques, and other elements of pro wrestling he learned during his tours and mixed them with the brand of Puroresu he was trained in which is Strong Style. Heavily influenced by all kinds of wrestling, his transition in what would be arguably the most iconic character in Japanese wrestling all the more easier. Six years after his pro debut, the first ever episode of the Jushin Liger TV anime series was released. It was quite popular for its time and New Japan wanting to expand its audience further and with the Tiger Mask license no longer within their rights as it was bought by AJPW, they needed another anime-inspired character to lead their division. Enter Jushin "Thunder" Liger. Right from the get-go, Liger was pushed as the top star of the junior heavyweight division. May 25, 1989 he would have his first of many IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship runs defeating Hiroshi Hase. Afterwards he would have his iconic feud against Naoki Sano. It was Tiger Mask vs. Dynamite Kid that really set the tone for junior heavyweight matches and rivalries in NJPW but Liger vs. Sano took those foundations to a whole other level. Their matches were way ahead of their time, not only were they all technically great, but full of excitement, action, and drama. It wasn't a long rivalry in the sense that it lasted for decades but within the timeframe they battled for the Junior Heavyweight Championship, they really added more prestige to that belt and set the standard for what was to come for the division throughout the decade. Liger's first run only lasted for 77 days as he was defeated by Sano on August 10, 1989. He would take the belt back 174 days later and his second run lasted for 200 days officially cementing him as the face of the juniors. Liger would go on to hold the title nine more times in his career making him a total 11x IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion which is likely a record that will never be broken and this made him synonymous with the title's history forever. As dominant as he was, Liger was not the only great junior that made a name for himself around this time as mentioned earlier, NJPW's junior heavyweights expanded as more local stars were becoming recognized names and some gaijins were thriving within the scene as well. In 1988 a round-robin tournament similar to the G1 Climax was created for the junior heavyweight division known as "Top of the Super Juniors." The inaugural tournament was won by Shiro Koshinaka who faced Hiroshi Hase in the finals. In 1991 Norio Honaga won, the following year Liger was victorious for the first time and in 1993 The Pegasus Kid took the trophy. Starting in 1994 it was re-named to the "Best of the Super Juniors" and has been that way ever since. Appropriately enough Liger was the inaugural winner of the tournament since it was called the BOSJ. As mentioned prior due to New Japan's relationships with other promotions, several notable junior heavyweights continued to compete for the company around this time such as Eddie Guerrero as Black Tiger II, Chris Benoit as the Pegasus Kid/Wild Pegasus, Dean Malenko, and later on Chris Jericho. Lucha Libre superstar Negro Casas also frequently toured with NJPW around the mid 90's. Coinciding with the rise of international stars competing in the junior heavyweight scene was the creation of the Super J-Cup tournament in 1994. It was a concept created by Liger himself, a single elimination tournament featuring wrestlers from different local promotions and even outside territories, opening the doors of opportunity for other wrestlers to showcase their talents in Japan. In the inaugural Super J-Cup the finals was between Wild Pegasus (Chris Benoit) who loss to eventual winner: The Great Sasuke. Originally a protege of Gran Hamada, Masanori Murakawa would go on to make a name for himself as "The Great Sasuke" his most iconic gimmick which was conceptualized during his tour in Mexico and partly inspired from the Sarutobi Sasuke persona in Japan who was basically the blueprint for ninja/shinobi-esque characters in their national pop culture. Mixing in elements of both lucha libre, martial arts, and Puroresu, The Great Sasuke became one of the most highly sought after junior heavyweights in the country throughout the 90's. In 1993 Sasuke founded his own local promotion "Michinoku Pro Wrestling." He represented MPW the following year during his participation in the Super J-Cup. He would freelance every now and then to NJPW and have matches there even after the tournament setting up a rivalry with numerous of their junior stars, particularly Liger. Around the same time, another masked marvel established his persona in the country and amazed fans with his aerial maneuvers. Yoshihiro Asai was a graduate of the New Japan dojo initially but would go on to work under the tutelage of Gran Hamada. Initially finding success in Mexico much like Sasuke, he would also formulate his most well known persona combining elements of lucha and Puroresu creating "Ultimo Dragon" which meant the last dragon, this gimmick coincided with the lore that Dragon is supposedly the final student of the legendary martial artist Bruce Lee but this is all just under kayfabe. Nevertheless, Ultimo Dragon had a successful run particularly in CMLL. When Genichiro Tenryu's SWS went defunct, he created a new promotion in Wrestle Assocation R (WAR) and Ultimo Dragon became one of the notable parts of the roster. WAR would then form an alliance with NJPW which allowed wrestlers from both promotions to collaborate in matches. In 1995 the second Super J-Cup was hosted in WAR. Ultimo Dragon reached the semi-finals beating the likes of Shoichi Funaki and Shinjiro Otani along the way before losing to future rival Jushin "Thunder" Liger. For the rest of the early 90's, Dragon competed primarily in both Japan and Mexican territories. He would go down in history as an influential wrestler in his own right due to the innovative style of highflying wrestling he brought to the ring during his prime which inspired countless of wrestlers not only in Japan but all over the world as well. The final masked legend who is often forgotten or not as popular as his aforementioned peers but still played just as vital in the growth of the junior heavyweights in the 90's was Osamu Matsuda. A graduate of the NJPW dojo in the same class as Minoru Suzuki and Masakatsu Funaki, Matsuda was also later on sent to an excursion in Mexico and had a same origin story to his most well known character: El Samurai. Upon his return to NJPW in 1992, El Samurai quickly became one of the top juniors and was pushed to the title picture. On June 26 of that year he defeated Liger to become IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion for the first time and had a reign that lasted for 149 days with three successful defenses before losing it to Ultimo Dragon. The latter's run was short for only 43 days when he dropped the belt to Liger on the traditional January 4 Tokyo Dome event in 1993 which kickstarted Liger's 6th reign a record 628 days as IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion and was only vacated due to injury. Apart from masked wrestlers dominating the junior heavyweight division, there were some outliers that became successful by not needing flashy or colorful theatrics but by simply being themselves and presenting their skills in the ring. Shinjiro Otani is one of the names often mentioned around this time of the junior heavyweights era in NJPW. He had many battles with Liger, Sasuke, and Samurai often for the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship. He was a graduate of Animal Hamaguchi's dojo and idolized Kengo Kimura growing up. Otani made his debut on June 25, 1992 losing to Hiroyoshi Yamamoto (aka the future Hiroyoshi Tenzan.) By the mid 90's he was starting to develop as a potential top star of his weight class, capturing the UWA World Welterweight Championship in Mexico and two years later became the inaugural WCW World Cruiserweight Champion. Otani also found success in the tag-team division, his pairing with long time partner and dojo classmate Tatsuhito Takaiwa can be argued as the greatest junior tag-team in NJPW of the 90's. They were the inaugural IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag-Team Champions upon the belts' creation in 1997 which they held twice with a total combined reign of 497 days. Koji Kanemoto is another wrestler who began his career in NJPW around the same timeframe. He debuted on November 7, 1990 and was initially under the "Tiger Mask" gimmick being the third wrestler to ever don the persona after Mitsuharu Misawa. His time as the anime-inspired character did not last long however as he would soon lose a mask vs. mask match against Jushin Liger which prompted to begin competing as himself. Earlier on much like most juniors, Kanemoto's offense was largely on the highflying side, but later on changed his moveset to a much more realistic approach as due to the influences of Kazuo Yamazaki and Kazushi Sakuraba, his moves centered around martial art maneuvers. Kanemoto first won the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship on February 19, 1995 beating Norio Honaga. He would trade the belt back-and-forth with US indie superstar Sabu. He wouldn't hold the belt again until much later. On August 5, 1996 the J-Crown Octuple Unified Championship was formed in NJPW unifying eight junior heavyweight and cruiserweight titles from several promotions. It would become one of the most recognizable accomplishments in Puroresu history. The original eight titles that were included in the J-Crown were as follows: British Commonwealth Jr. Heavyweight Championship (MPW), IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Championship (NJPW), NWA World Jr. Heavyweight Championship, NWA World Welterweight Championship (CMLL), UWA World Jr. Light Heavyweight Championship, WAR International Jr. Heavyweight Championship, WWA World Jr. Heavyweight Championship, and the WWF Light Heavyweight Championship which later became owned by the NJPW. The first J-Crown tournament was held on August 2, 1996. In the end The Great Sasuke became the inaugural winner and held eight different championships simultaneously. On October 11, 1996 at a WAR event, Ultimo Dragon defeated Sasuke for the J-Crown, during this reign Dragon was also the NWA World Middleweight Champion and WCW Cruiserweight Champion, in total holding 10 championships which is a record that still holds to this day as the most wrestling titles held at the same time. At the Tokyo Dome the following year, Liger defeated Dragon for the J-Crown. Several months later El Samurai won over Liger in a house show, then two months later Shinjiro Otani defeated Samurai. On November 5, 1997 the WWF demanded the return of the Light Heavyweight Championship belt which prompted the end of the short lived J-Crown Championship. NJPW vs. NWO Back to the heavyweight scene, by the mid 90's the Three Musketeers were leading the charge at the main event picture. In particular, Shinya Hashimoto became the new ace of NJPW officially surpassing Tatsumi Fujinami. While Hashimoto had already won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in 1993, it wasn't until on May 1, 1994 when he defeated Fujinami when he was solidified as the new top dog of the promotion. Hashimoto held onto the belt for an entire year. This run would go on to become the record for most successful title defenses in NJPW as the heavyweight champion for a long time. He defeated 9 wrestlers at this point, without a doubt cementing himself as the ace. It wasn't until he was dethroned by one of his closest rivals and former ally Keiji Mutoh at the same arena in Fukuoka where he initally won the belt, dropped it to him which would then start the rise of the New Japan vs. UWF-I rivalry (more on that later.) Around this time mainly competing as himself and not as The Great Muta, Keiji Mutoh had a respectable run with the heavyweight title at 246 days with five successful defenses. He would drop the belt to Nobuhiko Takada in the Tokyo Dome at the January 4, 1996 event. Takada would then be defeated by Hashimoto on April 29, 1996 which was one of the most iconic matches in NJPW history. Hashimoto was met with loud cheers after his victory and he would start another record during this reign as the longest running IWGP Heavyweight Champion which stood still for two decades at 489 days. This was the point where Hashimoto was the clear top face and draw of New Japan. This was the timeline which made immortalized his career as one of the best to ever step in the ring with his series of amazing matches whether for the belt or otherwise. He successfully defended the title seven times around this point. Bash at the Beach 1996. An infamous PPV that will be remembered by wrestling fans forever. The official creation of the New World Order (nWo) when Hulk Hogan became the third man to join the Outsiders (Scott Hall & Kevin Nash) which then formed arguably the biggest and greatest faction in American professional wrestling and would go on to dominate WCW for the rest of its existence, changing pop culture forever. Over in Japan, after his return from hiatus due to neck injury, Masahiro Chono returned no longer as the typical "fighting spirit" babyface he once was. Now he had a more brash attitude and heelish persona. Much earlier before nWo was created in WCW, around 1995 founding members of the Team Wolf was organized with Hiro Saito joining forces with the tag-team of Masahiro Chono and Hiroyoshi Tenzan. Cho-Ten as they were called would go on to dominate the tag-team division for the forseeable future in NJPW, becoming 5x IWGP Tag-Team Champions. Two years later in 1997 due to the partnership of WCW and NJPW, nWo would find its way to Japan. The Great Muta joined forces with Chono, Tenzan, and Saito to form the four original members of "nWo Japan" then later on they'd be joined by Jeff Farmer who was better known as the nWo Sting. The impostor gimmick who copied the original Sting in WCW. Ironically nWo Sting became a semi-successful gimmick in Japan and was one of the consistent gaijin workers for NJPW around this time, often teaming up with his stable mates. nWo Japan quickly took over the entire promotion much like its Western counterpart. Chono and Muta were also competing in WCW representing the brand. They mainly battled with the group of New Japan loyalists primarily led by Shinya Hashimoto. Kensuke Sasaki was also one of the top babyfaces around this time heading into war with nWo Japan while rising young stars such as Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Takayuki Iizuka, and Satoshi Kojima also battled against their foes. However the latter would join the opposition down the line. The NJPW vs. nWo angle was one of the highest selling storylines in NJPW history as they had numerous sell outs around this time. On August 31, 1997 Sasaki ended Hashimoto's historic 489 day run, winning the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the first time in his career. At Antonio Inoki's retirement show on April 4, 1998 veteran Fujinami had his final run with the belt beating Sasaki in the Tokyo Dome before 126 days later dropped the belt to nWo leader Masahiro Chono who once again won the G1 Climax and captured the IWGP Championship for the first time in his career, however this was only a short run as Chono continued to struggle with his neck injury thus vacating the title 44 days later. Scott Norton is the gaijin wrestler who benefited the most from this era of NJPW. A former arm wrestling champion, he entered professional wrestling in 1989 competing for the AWA. The following year Norton entered the New Japan dojo and in 1991 competed in cross promotional events in WCW and NJPW. Throughout his career from the early to mid 90's, Norton found minimal success as a midcard wrestler. It wasn't until in 1996 when he joined the nWo where he was able to shine as a singles talent, however not in America but in Japan. The Japanese fans always loved a good hoss wrestler which is why Norton became a much bigger hit in the East than in WCW where the main event was already littered with bigger names like Hogan, Sting, and later on Goldberg. Norton held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the first time on September 23, 1998 representing the nWo. The tournament for the vacant title saw the finals between Norton and young up and comer Yuji Nagata. Although Nagata tried his best in the name of New Japan, Norton was still too much to handle for him and he got dominated by the much bigger opponent. Around this point however, there were cracks starting to loom over amongst the ranks of nWo Japan. After a long absence by Chono with Mutoh acting as the leader in his behalf, there were some changes that were made around this time and the group was divided due to their philosophies as both men were no longer having the same vision for the stable. A civil war erupted between inner members of the nWo which ultimately signaled the end of the storyline as the babyface side of Mutoh, Tenzan, and Kojima battled against Chono's new group called "Team 2000" with Norton, Don Frye, and Super J (fka nWo Sting.) At the January 4, 1999 event in the Tokyo Dome, Keiji Mutoh successfully defeated Scott Norton for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship which he held for 340 days. He would then drop the belt to Genichiro Tenryu during the New Japan vs. WAR promotional rivalry. Tenryu was the final IWGP Champion of the 90's as on January 4, 2000 he dropped the belt to Kensuke Sasaki at the Dome, ushering in a new decade for the company. Around the mid to late 90's, a group of wrestlers were starting to make some noise for themselves in their careers. These four individuals would go down as legends in New Japan as well as make impact in other promotions, primarily being some of the biggest stars of the 2000's. However around this point, they were still rising among the field of talents in NJPW. Known collectively as "The Third Generation." The first one to debut was Hiroyoshi Yamamoto on January 11, 1991 in a match against fellow young lion and dojo classmate Osamu Nishimura, who was mentored by Tatsumi Fujinami. Yamamoto won the 1993 Young Lions Cup then proceeded for a European tour specifically in Germany for his excursion. In 1995 he returned to New Japan under the new ring name "Hiroyoshi Tenzan" coined by referee Tokyo Joe. Tenzan was immediately pushed to the top, granted an IWGP Heavyweight Championship match against Shinya Hashimoto but ended up in the losing side. Tenzan would then become one of the founding members of "Team Wolf" along with Masahiro Chono. This would become the predecessor that resulted into the creation of nWo Japan along with other members Keiji Mutoh and Hiro Saito. Shortly after Tenzan's debut in 1991, he was followed by future long time partner and rival Satoshi Kojima. Their connection can be traced right from the beginning as Kojima's debut match was against Tenzan when he was still called Yamamoto. Likewise, after winning the 1994 Young Lions Cup Kojima also went to excursion in Europe then returned to NJPW forming the Bull Powers tag-team with Manabu Nakanishi. Making his pro debut on October 13, 1992, Manabu Nakanishi was an accomplished amateur wrestler before turning pro. He represented Japan multiple times on numerous freestyle wrestling events. In 1987 he placed fifth in the Asian Championship in Bombay, India. He also participated in the Asian Games in China placing fourth. His biggest tournament win was in 1992 bagging the Bronze Medal for the Asian Championships in Tehran, Iran. Upon graduating from the dojo, due to his amateur background, Nakanishi was quickly trusted in forming a tag-team with the veteran Tatsumi Fujinami. They participated in the Super Grade Tag League. It wasn't a successful tag though as Nakanishi ate most of the losses except for one match wherein they were victorious against Jim Neidhart and Z-Man (aka Tom Zenk.) His first singles bout was against fellow young lion Takayuki Iizuka. The next couple of years, Nakanishi was sent to WCW for further learning of his craft wherein he competed under the name "Kurasawa." He mainly tagged with Meng in a feud against Sting and Road Warrior Hawk, the latter of which he had a storyline when he broke Hawk's arm during a tag match. In 1996 Nakanishi returned to NJPW as mentioned previously, teamed up with Kojima as Bull Powers. The pair won the IWGP Tag-Team Championships on May 3, 1997 beating Kensuke Sasaki and Riki Choshu. They had a 99 day reign before losing them to Kazuo Yamazaki and Sasaki. During the nWo Japan invasion, Nakanishi and Kojima were some of the representatives of NJPW led by Shinya Hashimoto. Another one of these wrestlers was the last one to debut among the Third Generation on September 14, 1992 was Yuji Nagata. Like Nakanishi, Nagata also had a background in amateur wrestling although not as accomplished as his future tag partner, mainly competing for local Greco-Roman tournaments. Nagata's debut opponent was Hiroyoshi Yamamoto. His loyalty with New Japan was tested from the get-go, being a young lion he was pitted against several UWF-I wrestlers who were invading the company at the time in an angle. Because of this storyline, Nagata got connected with Kazuo Yamazaki who helped him innovating and learning the shoot style wrestling in which Nagata incorpated in his offense for the rest of his career. In the late 90's he had a short run in WCW feuding with Ultimo Dragon then having a short tag run with Kensuke Sasaki challenging for the company's World Tag-Team Championships. Nagata was also one of the New Japan defenders during the peak of the NJPW vs. nWo Japan angle. He challenged for the vacant IWGP Heavyweight Championship on September 23, 1998 but lost to Scott Norton. The late 90's, Tenzan and Kojima who were once on opposite sides began teaming up after the dissolution of nWo Japan forming what would become the greatest and most decorated tag-team in New Japan history: TenCozy. Nagata and Nakanishi would also become frequent tag-team partners, thanks to their connection in similar backgrounds to amateur wrestling. Other notable young lions that competed around the same time as the Third Generation included the likes of Osamu Nishimura, Yutaka Yoshie, and Kendo Kashin. Hashimoto vs. Ogawa (NJPW) During the same time, while Chono and Mutoh found themselves in turmoil during the late 90's and the nWo Japan saga was nearing its conclusion, a new rivalry was began brewing between New Japan ace Shinya Hashimoto and newcomer Naoya Ogawa. This feud would become a pre-cursor for the future of NJPW in the following years. Naoya Ogawa was perhaps one of the most notable judoka in Japan during his time. He was an accomplished fighter in the sport having bagged multiple gold and bronze medals in World Championships from 1987 to 1995. He was also a silver medalist in the 1992 Barcelona Olympics for the +95 kg category. Because of his notoriety, Antonio Inoki, NJPW's president who's fascination with martial arts is well documented took interest in Ogawa and recruited him to join the New Japan roster after retiring from his judo career. He initially competed in Inoki's side project of Universal Fighting-Arts Organization (UFO) which was a promotion heavily based on martial arts rather than pro wrestling. Ogawa trained with Satoru Sayama (Tiger Mask I) and made his pro wrestling debut in NJPW at the Tokyo Dome on April 12, 1997 against Shinya Hashimoto. Right from the get-go, it was obvious that Inoki sees Ogawa as a potential top star of his company. He saw a portion of his younger self in Ogawa which resonated a lot, thus immediately pushing him through the top of the roster instead of doing the traditional paying of his dues by starting out as a young lion. Ogawa's debut match in itself was a shocker and one of the biggest upsets in pro wrestling history at the time as he defeated Hashimoto in under 10 minutes. This decision was shocking for a multitude of reasons, firstly by this point Hashimoto was built up as the ace of New Japan. His strong man persona is heavily tied to the New Japan brand at this point and by being the main draw, his character was protected a lot, plus comin off his record long reign of the IWGP Title. Secondly, Ogawa was for the most part still an unknown commodity and the fans are not used to this type of an arc where a newcomer is immediately put on the main event picture before even going through the ranks and proving himself as a worthy contender. Naoya Ogawa stepped over what NJPW stood for a long time, an outlier and sign for things to come in the promotion. The following year Ogawa was feuding with fellow martial artist Don Frye and even participated in the tournament to wrestle as Antonio Inoki's final opponent in his retirement tour but Frye ended up winning. Then in 1999 Ogawa continued with his feud against Hashimoto. At the Tokyo Dome the same year for the annual January 4 Wrestling World event (pre-cursor to Wrestle Kingdom), took place what can be argued as New Japan's equivalent to the WWE's Montreal Screwjob. It was the most infamous moment in company history as one of the high profile matches in the card, a singles match between Hashimoto and Ogawa ended in controversy. It was ruled as a No Contest which ended after the 6:58 mark. It was a confusing match in itself as it blurred the lines between kayfabe and reality. Durin the bout, Ogawa was visibly stiffer than usual to Hashimoto, even going as far as to bust him open, embarrasing the ace in front of the entire Tokyo Dome crowd. Numerous wrestlers began flooding the ring both on the NJPW and UFO sides, arguing over the debacle. This all ended when head booker and wrestling legend Riki Choshu stormed in the ring, visibly angry over Ogawa's actions. To this day it is still unclear whether the whole moment was a work or a shoot. Either way, it did not do any favors for Hashimoto, who's time in the company was beginning to tick as he wasn't particularly in favor of the direction Inoki was taking the company in. On March 14, 1999 Naoya Ogawa ended Dan Severn's historic 1,479 day reign as NWA World Heavyweight Champion in an independent event at Yokohama, Japan. He would defend the title at the Tokyo Dome on November 11, 1999 defeating Hashimoto by referee's decision who was Tatsumi Fujinami. Entering the year 2000 Ogawa and Hashimoto continued their bloody feud. This time with tag-team partners, Ogawa was teamed up with fellow martial artist turned wrestler Kazunari Murakami wherein they loss in a tag match against Hashimoto and Iizuka at the January 4 Wrestling World show in the Tokyo Dome. A few months later, the two had their final match in a New Japan ring in the Dome once more on April 7, 2000 where Ogawa defeated Hashimoto via KO. Hashimoto decided to leave New Japan and form his own promotion Pro Wrestling ZERO1 which ironically Ogawa would later join and from being rivals, they'd end up becoming tag-team partners. It was the end of the Musketeers Era in New Japan as a whole new period was looming for the company in the form of Inokism. The MMA Movement |
AuthorSuper Mastodon. Spent countless of hours throughout my life watching professional wrestling. Now I write about it, because I like that too. Archives
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