1.
Oga, Akita
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Oga is a city located in northern Akita Prefecture, in the northern Tohoku region of Japan. As of May 2015, the city has an population of 29,318. The total area was 240.80 square kilometres, much of the city is within the boundaries of the Oga Quasi-National Park. Oga is located on the Oga Peninsula in northwestern Akita Prefecture, bordered by the Sea of Japan to the north, west, the modern city of Oga was created on March 31,1954 by the merger of the town of Funagawaminato with four neighboring villages. On March 22,2005, the town of Wakami was merged into Oga, the economy of Oga is based on commercial fishing and agriculture. Oga has seven schools, four middle schools and two high schools. Livingston, California, USA since August 18,1984 Oga City official website
2.
Shinagawa
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Shinagawa is a special ward in Tokyo, Japan. While somewhat misleadingly referred to as Shinagawa City in bureaucratic English translations, it can be referred to as Shinagawa, as Shinagawa Ward, the ward is home to ten embassies. As of 1 April 2016, the ward has an population of 380,293. The total area is 22.84 km², Shinagawa includes natural uplands and lowlands, as well as reclaimed land. The uplands are the end of the Musashino Terrace. They include Shiba-Shirokanedai north of the Meguro River, Megurodai between the Meguro and Tachiai Rivers, and Ebaradai south of the Tachiai River, the ward lies on Tokyo Bay. Its neighbors on land are all wards of Tokyo, Kōtō to the east, Minato to the north, Meguro to the west. The ward consists of five districts, Shinagawa District, including the former Shinagawa-juku on the Tōkaidō, Ōsaki District, formerly a town of that name, stretching from Ōsaki Station to Gotanda and Meguro Stations. Ebara District, formerly a town of that name, Ōi District, formerly a town of that name. Yashio District, consisting of reclaimed land, including Higashiyashio on Odaiba, most of Tokyo east of the Imperial Palace is reclaimed land. A large portion of reclamation happened during the Edo period, following the Meiji Restoration and the Abolition of the han system, Shinagawa prefecture was instituted in 1869. The prefectural administration was planned to be set up in present-day Shinagawa in the Ebara District, in 1871, Shinagawa prefecture was integrated into Tokyo Prefecture. The ward was founded on March 15,1947 through the amalgamation of the former Ebara Ward with the former Shinagawa Ward. Both Ebara Ward and Shinagawa Ward had been created in 1932, in the Edo period, Shinagawa-juku was the first shukuba in the 53 Stations of the Tōkaidō a traveler would reach after setting out from Nihonbashi on the Tōkaidō highway from Edo to Kyoto. The post-town function is retained today with several hotels near the train station offering 6,000 hotel rooms. The Tokugawa shogunate maintained the Suzugamori execution grounds in Shinagawa, the Tōkaidō Shinkansen high-speed rail line began serving Shinagawa Station in 2003. Shinagawa is run by a city assembly of 40 elected members, the mayor as of 2007 is Takeshi Hamano, an independent. Liberal Democratic Party together with New Komeito currently forms government, Shinagawa local election,2007 Shinagawa mayoral election,2006 Many companies are headquartered in Shinagawa
3.
Tokyo
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Tokyo, officially Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan and one of its 47 prefectures. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous area in the world. It is the seat of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government, Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Formerly known as Edo, it has been the de facto seat of government since 1603 when Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters. It officially became the capital after Emperor Meiji moved his seat to the city from the old capital of Kyoto in 1868, Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture and the city of Tokyo. The Tokyo metropolitan government administers the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo, the metropolitan government also administers 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the wards is over 9 million people. The prefecture is part of the worlds most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 37.8 million people, the city hosts 51 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest number of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked third in the International Financial Centres Development IndexEdit, the city is also home to various television networks such as Fuji TV, Tokyo MX, TV Tokyo, TV Asahi, Nippon Television, NHK and the Tokyo Broadcasting System. Tokyo ranked first in the Global Economic Power Index and fourth in the Global Cities Index. The city is considered a world city – as listed by the GaWCs 2008 inventory – and in 2014. In 2015, Tokyo was named the Most Liveable City in the world by the magazine Monocle, the Michelin Guide has awarded Tokyo by far the most Michelin stars of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked first in the world in the Safe Cities Index, the 2016 edition of QS Best Student Cities ranked Tokyo as the 3rd-best city in the world to be a university student. Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics, the 1979 G-7 summit, the 1986 G-7 summit, and the 1993 G-7 summit, and will host the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tokyo was originally known as Edo, which means estuary. During the early Meiji period, the city was also called Tōkei, some surviving official English documents use the spelling Tokei. However, this pronunciation is now obsolete, the name Tokyo was first suggested in 1813 in the book Kondō Hisaku, written by Satō Nobuhiro. When Ōkubo Toshimichi proposed the renaming to the government during the Meiji Restoration, according to Oda Kanshi, Tokyo was originally a small fishing village named Edo, in what was formerly part of the old Musashi Province. Edo was first fortified by the Edo clan, in the twelfth century
4.
Professional wrestling
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Professional wrestling is a dramatized athletic performance that portrays a combat sport. Various forms of weaponry are sometimes used, the content – including match outcomes – is scripted and choreographed, and the combative actions and reactions are performed to appear violent without injuring the wrestlers. Before the 1980s, these facts were considered trade secrets, in the mid-90s, the presentation of scripted events as legitimate is known as kayfabe. Although the combative content is staged and communicated between the wrestlers, there are physical hazards involved - including permanent injury and death. While it has declined in Europe, in North America it has experienced several different periods of prominent cultural popularity during its century. The advent of television gave professional wrestling a new outlet, unlike in Europe, show wrestling has become especially prominent in Japan and in North America. In Brazil, there was a popular wrestling television program from the 1960s to the early 1980s called Telecatch. High-profile figures in the sport have become celebrities or cultural icons in their native or adopted home countries, although professional wrestling started out as petty acts in sideshows, traveling circuses and carnivals, today it is a billion-dollar industry. Revenue is drawn from live event ticket sales, network television broadcasts, pay-per-view broadcasts, personal appearances by performers, branded merchandise, pro wrestling was also instrumental in making pay-per-view a viable method of content delivery. Annual shows such as WrestleMania, SummerSlam, Royal Rumble, and formerly Bash at the Beach, Halloween Havoc, home video sales dominate the Billboard charts Recreational Sports DVD sales, with wrestling holding anywhere from 3 to 9 of the top 10 spots every week. Due to its persistent cultural presence and to its novelty within the performing arts, there have also been many fictional depictions of wrestling, the 2008 film The Wrestler received several Oscar nominations and began a career revival for star Mickey Rourke. Because actual events are often co-opted by writers for incorporation into storylines for the performers, special care must be taken when talking about people who perform under their own name. The actions of the character should be considered fictional events, wholly separate from the life of the performer and this is similar to other entertainers who perform with a persona that shares their own name. Some wrestlers will incorporate elements of their real-life personalities into their characters, even if they and those who participated felt that it was necessary that spectators should be kept in a constant and complete illusion of a real competition to keep audience interest. For decades, up until the mid-1980s, wrestlers lived their lives as though they were their characters. Wrestlers, bookers and promoters all rigorously enforced the illusion and very few were allowed into the society of professional wrestling to maintain suspension of disbelief. The practice of keeping the illusion, and the methods used to do so, came to be known as kayfabe within wrestling circles. An entire lexicon of slang jargon and euphemism developed to allow performers to communicate without outsiders knowledge of what was being said, occasionally a performer will deviate from the intended sequence of events
5.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling
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In 2005, Inoki sold the promotion to Yukes, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. Naoki Sugabayashi has served as the Chairman of the promotion since September 2013, owing to its TV program aired on TV Asahi, NJPW is the largest professional wrestling promotion in Japan and the second largest promotion in the world. It was affiliated with the National Wrestling Alliance at various points, NJPWs biggest event is the January 4 Tokyo Dome Show, held each year since 1992 and currently promoted under the Wrestle Kingdom banner. The promotion was founded by Antonio Inoki in 1972, after his departure from the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance promotion, the first NJPW event took place on March 6,1972, in Tokyo. Inoki would serve as the president of the promotion until 1989, the promotion was a member of the National Wrestling Alliance from 1975 to 1985 and once more from 1992 to 1993. NJPW briefly reaffiliated with the NWA in the early 2010s as well, also known as Shin Nihon Puroresu, NJPW is considered the top wrestling promotion in Japan and is comparable to WWE in the United States in terms of popularity in the country. In the past NJPW has worked with WWE, World Championship Wrestling, occasionally, NJPW will also host cross-promotional matches with other Japanese promotions, such as All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah. The promotion also has its own governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix and they also hold several tournaments each year, including the G1 Climax, World Tag League, New Japan Cup and Best of the Super Juniors. The final NEVER event was held in November 2012, on January 4,2011, New Japan officially announced the NJPW Invasion Tour 2011, Attack on East Coast, the promotions first tour of the United States to be held in May 2011. The tour featured 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. On January 31,2012, Yukes announced that it had sold all shares of New Japan Pro Wrestling to card game company Bushiroad for ¥500 million, New Japan aired its first internet pay-per-view, the fourth day of the 2012 G1 Climax, on August 5,2012. The October 8,2012, King of Pro-Wrestling pay-per-view marked the first time viewers outside Japan were able to order a pay-per-view by the promotion through Ustream. On October 5,2012, New Japan announced the creation of the NEVER Openweight Championship, a two-day tournament to determine the inaugural champion was held between November 15 and 19,2012. During the tour, New Japan wrestlers also took part in an event held by Canadian promotion Border City Wrestling. A year later, NJPW and ROH announced another tour together to four more supershows, War of the Worlds 15 on May 12 and 13 in Philadelphia. In June 2014, New Japan announced a partnership with the new American GFW organization helmed by Jeff Jarrett, in November 2014, GFW announced that it would be broadcasting NJPWs Wrestle Kingdom 9 in Tokyo Dome on pay-per-view in the United States as a four-hour event. Also in November 2014, the American AXS TV network announced it had acquired rights to rebroadcast a series of thirteen episodes of NJPW matches from TV Asahi, the series premiered on January 16,2015, airing weekly on Fridays. Averaging 200,000 viewers per episode, the show was considered a success, in June 2016, the show was also acquired by the Canadian Fight Network
6.
Kenzo Suzuki
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Kenzo Suzuki is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is perhaps best known for his appearances with New Japan Pro Wrestling and in the United States with World Wrestling Entertainment, where he was a one-time Tag Team Champion in the latter company. He currently performs for All Japan Pro Wrestling under the ring name Kenso, where he is a one-time World Tag Team Champion, Suzuki was a rugby union player, playing at the international level for Japan prior to his professional debut as a wrestler in January 2000. Suzuki debuted on January 4,2000, at New Japan Pro Wrestlings Wrestling World 2000 event at the Tokyo Dome, replacing Bill Goldberg, later that year, Suzuki won NJPWs Young Lion Cup tournament, defeating Shinya Makabe. He also won Rookie of the Year honors from NJPW in the same year, in 2003, Suzuki resigned from NJPW, choosing to follow his mentor and trainer, Riki Choshu, to Choshus World Japan promotion. Later in the year, he left to wrestle in the United States and it is speculated that he was forced to resign because a wrestler he was helping to train, Giant Ochiai, died while training on his watch. In early 2004, Suzuki signed a deal with World Wrestling Entertainment and was assigned to their developmental territory Ohio Valley Wrestling in February. Originally, Suzuki was scheduled to debut on the Raw brand in May under the ring name Hirohito, however, the gimmick was dropped, and Suzuki as well as his valet and legitimate wife Hiroko were instead moved to the SmackDown. Together, they made their debut on the June 10 episode of SmackDown. Where Suzuki defeated Scotty 2 Hotty, Suzuki then began a short feud with Billy Gunn, which ended with Suzuki defeating Gunn at The Great American Bash. On the September 9 episode of SmackDown, Suzuki and René Duprée won the Tag Team Championship, defeating Billy Kidman and Paul London. Beginning with their reign, Suzuki adopted a comedic pro-American gimmick that saw him poorly sing popular songs. Suzuki and Duprée later lost the title to Rob Van Dam, Van Dam and Mysterio retained the title in a rematch at Armageddon. In singles action he briefly feuded with John Cena for the United States Championship, ultimately, Suzuki was unsuccessful in defeating Cena for the title. He was soon injured with a lung and returned to Ohio Valley Wrestling immediately after his recovery. Suzuki and Hiroko were traded to the Raw brand on June 30,2005 at the end of the Draft Lottery, on July 6,2005, both Suzuki and Hiroko were released from the company without ever making their debuts on the brand. After leaving WWE, Suzuki returned to Japan, where he began performing for Hustle and wrestled in a number of matches against the likes of Liosazer. In addition to Hustle, Suzuki also began performing for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre alongside fellow WWE alumnus Mark Jindrak, who began performing as Marco Corleone
7.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
8.
Mixed martial artist
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Mixed martial arts is a full-contact combat sport that allows both striking and grappling, both standing and on the ground, using techniques from other combat sports and martial arts. The first documented use of the mixed martial arts was in a review of UFC1 by television critic Howard Rosenberg in 1993. The term gained popularity when newfullcontact. com, then one of the largest websites covering the sport, the question of who actually coined the term is subject to debate. During the early 20th century, various mixed-style contests took place throughout Japan, in 1980 CV Productions, Inc. created the first regulated MMA league in the United States, named Tough Guy Contest, later renamed Battle of the Superfighters. The company sanctioned ten tournaments in Pennsylvania, however, in 1983 the Pennsylvania State Senate passed a bill prohibiting the sport. In 1993, the Gracie family brought vale tudo, developed in Brazil from the 1920s, later, individual fighters employed multiple martial arts into their style. MMA promoters were pressured to adopt additional rules to increase safety, to comply with sport regulations. Following these changes, the sport has increased popularity with a pay-per-view business that rivals boxing. In Ancient Greece there was a sport called pankration, which featured a combination of grappling and striking skills similar to found in modern MMA. Pankration was formed by a combination of the already established wrestling and boxing traditions and, in Olympic terms, All strikes and holds were allowed with the exception of biting and gouging, which were banned. Fighters, also known as pankratists, fought until a fighter submitted, according to E. Norman Gardiner, No branch of athletics was more popular than the pankration. From its origins in Ancient Greece, pankration was later passed on to the Romans, the mid nineteenth century saw the prominence of the new sport savate in the combat sports circle. At that time, French fighters wanted to test out the sport against the traditional styles of its time. However, the English team still won the four other match-ups during the contest, since then other similar contest also occurred by the late 19th to mid-20th century between French Savateurs and other combat styles. The next publicized encounter occurred in the late 1890s when future heavyweight boxing champion Bob Fitzsimmons took on European Greco-Roman Wrestling champion Ernest Roeber. In September 1901, Frank Paddy Slavin, who had been a contender for Sullivans boxing title, knocked out future world wrestling champion Frank Gotch in Dawson City, Canada. The judo-practitioner Ren-nierand who gained fame after defeating George Dubois, would again in another similar contest against Ukrainian wrestler Ivan Poddubny. Another early example of mixed martial arts was Bartitsu, which Edward William Barton-Wright founded in London in 1899, merikan contests were fought under a variety of rules, including points decision, best of three throws or knockdowns, and victory via knockout or submission
9.
Shooto
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Shooto is a combat sport/mixed martial arts system and mixed martial arts organization that is governed by the Shooto Association and the International Shooto Commission. Shooto was originally formed in 1985, as an organization and as a fighting system derived from shoot wrestling. Practitioners are referred to as shooters, similarly to practitioners of shoot wrestling, Shooto rules have evolved such that their events are now true mixed martial arts competitions. The word shooto is an English transliteration of 修斗, a derived from the English word shoot. The word 修斗 can be translated as learn combat, the first amateur event was held in 1986 and the first professional event in 1989. The Shooto organization hosted the Vale Tudo Japan tournament in the summer of 1994, in April 1996, World Shooto, the Shooto Association and the International Shooto Commission were formed. This marked the end of Shooto as an organization. Since establishment of ISC, the champions of Shooto are called World Champion, Vale Tudo Japan events were held annually from 1994 to 1999. In May 2009, it was announced that Vale Tudo Japan would return for the first time in ten years on October 30,2009, Shooto was brought to America in the late 1980s by top student of Satoru Sayama, Yorinaga Nakamura. He began teaching Shooto at the Inosanto Academy in 1991, and is the instructor of Erik Paulson, Ron Balicki, Dan Inosanto, Larry Hartsell, Shooto South America, also known as ShootoBazil is managed by founder of Nova União mixed martial arts academy, André Pederneiras. Its first event was held in Rio de Janeiro in May 2002 There has been an effort to bring Shooto competition to the United States. He was officially named the Director of the International Shooto Commission - SHOOTO Americas division in 2001 and he has worked with both U. S. event promoters and state officials to spread the Shooto brand of competition throughout North America. As of 2006 Shooto has taken place in Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Tennessee, Missouri, Nevada, Hawaii, previous to 2009, Shootos rules included a knockdown rule giving knocked down fighters an eight-count to recover as well as allowing strikes to the back of the head. The disallowment of strikes to the back of the head was done for medical reasons. 2016, Long-running Japanese league Shooto and sister organization Vale Tudo Japan will live-stream at least five shows on UFC Fight Pass in 2016, broadcast schedules for both promotions were announced April 20,2016 during a press conference in Tokyo. Shooto will make its Fight Pass debut this Saturday, April 23, following Saturday’s card, Shooto will return with events on July 17 and Nov.12, both set to take place at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Vale Tudo Japan, whose bouts are contested in a cage instead of Shooto’s traditional ring, “VTJ in Osaka” takes place June 19 at Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium, while “VTJ 9th” on Sept.19 will see the organization return to its birthplace of Chiba prefecture. The aim in a match is to defeat the opponent by a knockout or a submission
10.
Pride Fighting Championships
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Pride Fighting Championships was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company founded by Nobuyuki Sakakibara and Nobuhiko Takada. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11,1997, Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts events, broadcast to about 40 countries worldwide. For ten years PRIDE was one of the most popular MMA organizations in the world, in March 2007, Dream Stage Entertainment sold Pride to Lorenzo Fertitta and Frank Fertitta III, co-owners of Zuffa, which owns the Ultimate Fighting Championship. While remaining as separate entities with separate managements, the two promotions were set to cooperate in a manner akin to the AFL-NFL merger. However, such an arrangement did not materialize, and in October 2007, Pride Worldwides Japanese staff was laid off, as a result, many of the Pride staff left to form a new organization alongside K-1 parent company Fighting and Entertainment Group. That new organization, founded in February 2008, was named Dream, in 2015, Prides co-founder and former president Nobuyuki Sakakibara established Rizin Fighting Federation in Japan with the same philosophy and ambition as for the defunct Pride organization. The event, held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11,1997, the success of the first event enabled its promoters to hold a regular series of mixed martial arts events, and a year later in 1998, to promote a rematch between Takada and Gracie. With K-1 enjoying popularity in Japan, Pride began to compete with monthly showings on Fuji Television, the series was taken over by the DSE after the dissolvement of the KRS following the fourth event and it was accordingly renamed as the Pride Fighting Championships. In 2000, Pride hosted the first Pride Grand Prix, a two-part openweight tournament held to find the worlds best fighter. The tournament was held over the course of two events, with sixteen fighters competing in a round and the eight winners returning three months later for the final round. In August 2002, Pride teamed up with Japans leading kickboxing and fight promotion, K-1, and held the worlds biggest fight event, Shockwave, which attracted over 71,000 fans. Speculation loomed whether this could possibly be the reason, as trouble with tax authorities. Nobuyuki Sakakibara later assumed the presidency, in 2003 Pride introduced the Bushido series of events, which focused mainly, but not exclusively, on the lighter weight classes of lightweights and welterweights. Also in 2003, Pride returned to the tournament format, with a grand prix spanning two events, Pride Total Elimination 2003 and Final Conflict 2003. The format was expanded to three events in 2004, adding Critical Countdown 2004 as the second round, Pride would go on to hold annual tournaments, a heavyweight tournament in 2004, a middleweight in 2005, and an openweight in 2006. This statement was due to the failure of previous attempts between Zuffa and DSE to organize a fighter exchange agreement. On June 5,2006, the Fuji Network announced that they were terminating their contract with Pride Fighting Championships effective immediately due to a breach of contract by DSE. This left Pride with only SKY PerfecTV, a carrier, as a television outlet in Japan
11.
Afro
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The hairstyle is created by combing the hair away from the scalp, allowing the hair to extend out from the head in a large, rounded shape, much like a cloud or ball. In people with naturally curly or straight hair, the hairstyle is created with the help of creams. Particularly popular in the African-American community of the late 1960s, the hairstyle is often shaped and maintained with the assistance of a wide-toothed comb colloquially known as an Afro pick, Afro is derived from the term Afro-American. In the 1860s, a similar to the Afro was worn by the Circassian beauties. Sometimes known as Moss-haired girls, they were a group of women exhibited in sideshow attractions in the United States by P. T. Barnum, the Circassian blended elements of white Victorian True Womanhood with traits of the enslaved black woman in one curiosity. During the history of slavery in the United States, most African-Americans styled their hair in an attempt to mimic the styles of the white society in which they lived. Afro-textured hair, characterized by its tight kinks, has described as being kinky, coarse, cottony, nappy. These characteristics represented the antithesis of the European American standard of beauty, as a result, the practice of straightening gained popularity among African-Americans. In the late 1890s/early 1900s, Madam C. J. Walker also popularized the use of the hot comb in the United States and those who chose not to artificially treat their hair would often opt to style it into tight braids or cornrows. With all of these methods, one ran the risk of damaging the hair shaft. This cultural movement marked a return to natural, untreated hairstyles. To some African-Americans, the Afro also represented a link to West Africa. In the mid-1960s, the Afro hairstyle began in a fairly tightly coiffed form, as the 1960s progressed towards the 1970s, popular hairstyles, both within and outside of the African-American community, became longer and longer. As a result, the late 1960s/early 1970s saw an expansion in the size of Afros. The 1970s saw an increase in the popularity of braided hairstyles such as cornrows among both sexes of African-Americans, the Afro saw some resurgence in both the 1990s and 2000s. These Afros would take varied forms—some incorporating elements such as braids, beads or twists—as well as various sizes—from close-cropped natural hairstyles all the way to expansive Afro wigs. Beyoncé Knowles also donned a large Afro wig for her role as Foxxy Cleopatra in the 2002 film Austin Powers in Goldmember, a Jewfro or Isro refers to a mop-like hairstyle worn by certain people usually of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, who often have naturally curly hair. Similar hairdos worn by people are usually considered, with humor
12.
Pancrase
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Pancrase Inc. is a mixed martial arts promotion company founded in Japan in 1993 by professional wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. The name was based on pankration, a sport in the Ancient Olympic Games. Suzuki and Funaki practised catch wrestling and they based the promotion and its rules on professional wrestling. The promotion claimed that its events consisted of rather than works. The promotions champions were called King of Pancrase, the rules allowed closed-fisted punches, except to the head, and palm strikes to the head. A wrestler must break a hold when the opponent reaches the ropes. A wrestler who claims a number of rope breaks was disqualified. From 1998 to 2000, the changed its rules to resemble other mixed martial arts promotions. There were repeated accusations that Pancrase matches were works with predetermined outcomes, Pancrase participant Guy Mezger said that there was not very many works. Maybe 4 or 5 total and most of them were before I was fighting for them, I hate when people say that there was so many works in Pancrase, they truly do not know what they are talking about. Beginning in 2007, Pancrase, Legends of Mixed Martial Arts aired weekly on ImaginAsian TV, in 2008, the Fight Network began airing Pancrase events in Canada and the U. K. As suggested by Karl Gotch, Pancrase was formed by Funaki, Suzuki and Fuke, on May 16,1993, they established World Pancrase Create Inc. with the capital of 30,000,000 Japanese yen. Masami Ozaki was chosen for its Executive president at time. On September 21,1993, Pancrase promoted their first event at Tokyo Bay NK Hall, all the matches were finished with knockout and submission. The first King Of Pancrase Open Weight champion was Ken Shamrock, over the years, Funaki and Suzuki held the title alongside other big names, such as Bas Rutten, Frank Shamrock and Guy Mezger. The open weight title was restored and is currently held by Josh Barnett, who formerly competed in PRIDE. Minoru Suzuki no longer competes for Pancrase, as he returned to professional wrestling in 2003 as a freelancer. In May 2008, Pancrase Inc. was established as a new management company for Pancrase, when Pancrase Inc. was established, Yasushi Sakamoto, a managing director of WPC, was installed as the Executive president
13.
King of the Cage
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King of the Cage, also known as KOTC, is a mixed martial arts promotion based in Southern California, United States. KOTC was founded in 1998 by Terry Trebilcock, KOTC features mostly amateur as well as up and coming MMA stars and former mainstream combat fighters. KOTC has promoted a majority of its events at Native American casinos throughout the United States, KOTC also promotes events in Canada, Australia & Japan. King of The Cage events are also broadcast on most national pay-per-view platforms, the Cage Announcer for KOTC is Dean Stone. In September 2007, Trebilcock sold KOTC to ProElite, bully Beatdown, a Burnett produced program, aired three seasons on MTV and featured several KOTC competitors. On January 30,2010, it was announced that KOTC would begin airing monthly shows on Mark Cubans HDNet channel, the initial deal was for 36 events to air. The announcers included Michael Schiavello, Jason Mayhem Miller and Maria Kanellis, the most recent event on HDNet aired on September 17,2010 with No Mercy. There has been no news regarding King of the Cage events on the channel. Only 6 events aired from February 2010 to September 2010, in November 2012, MAVTV struck a 5-year deal with King of the Cage. The only two weight classes not in accordance with the Unified Rules are a 165-pound Light Welterweight division, List of King of the Cage events List of KOTC champions King of the Cage Official website KOTC event results at Sherdog Dean Stone Official website
14.
Glossary of professional wrestling terms
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Professional wrestling has accrued a considerable nomenclature throughout its existence. Much of it stems from the origins in the days of carnivals and circuses. In the past, professional wrestlers used such terms in the presence of fans so as not to reveal the nature of the business. In recent years, widespread discussion on the Internet has popularized these terms, many of the terms refer to the financial aspects of professional wrestling in addition to performance-related terms. A-show A wrestling event where a companys biggest draws wrestle, a-team A group of a wrestling promotions top stars who compete at an A-show. Abort To discontinue a feud, angle, or gimmick suddenly, usually without explanation or due to a lack of fan interest, ace A term typically only used in Japanese puroresu for a wrestler designated as the face of the promotion. Not necessarily the same as the top champion, examples of modern aces include Hiroshi Tanahashi in New Japan Pro Wrestling and Suwama in All Japan Pro Wrestling. Agent A management employee, often a former wrestler, who helps set up matches, plans storylines. Often acts as a liaison between wrestlers and higher-level management, referred to as producers by WWE and sometimes by other companies. Sometimes they help train and teach younger active wrestlers and give criticism, Alliance A cooperative relationship developed between two or more wrestlers, whether wrestling as a tag team or in individual matches. Alliances are often formed for the purpose of retaining titles between the members of the alliance, or to counter a specific foe or group of foes. The formation of an alliance can be a storyline of its own, an angle usually begins when one wrestler attacks another, which results in revenge. An angle may be as small as a match or a vendetta that lasts for years. It is not uncommon to see an angle become retconned due to it not getting over with the fans, Apter mag An old-style professional wrestling magazine that sticks to kayfabe articles. The term refers to the magazines at one time connected to journalist Bill Apter, B-show A wrestling event featuring the middle and lower-level talent of a wrestling promotion. Sometimes includes well-known wrestlers making a return or finishing up their career, b-team The group of wrestlers on a B-show. Babyface A wrestler positioned as a hero, who the crowd are typically cheering for in a match, often simply known as a face. Beat down A situation in which a wrestler or other performer is the recipient of a one-sided beating, blading A wrestler intentionally cutting themself to provoke bleeding
15.
Battlarts
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Battlarts was a professional wrestling promotion based in Koshigaya, Saitama, Japan. The promotion was formed in 1996 by Japanese wrestler Yuki Ishikawa and featured all of the wrestlers from the Fujiwara Gumi promotion and they ran shows in the Tokyo area regularly from 1998 to 2002. Even though Battlarts style was based on wrestling, the promotion often cooperated with other federations and styles, including RINGS, Kingdom, Michinoku Pro. The promotion ceased running regular shows and events in 2001 due to management aggravation, on September 14,2008 at a press conference with Yuki Ishikawa and Shinjiro Otani Battlarts announced a working agreement with Pro Wrestling ZERO1. It was revealed in late December 2010 that Battlarts would be closing their doors sometime in 2011, the promotion held its final event on November 5,2011
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Riki Choshu
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Mitsuo Yoshida, better known by his ring name Riki Choshu, is a Korean-Japanese professional wrestler who is most known for his longtime work in New Japan Pro Wrestling as a wrestler and a booker. After Choshu left NJPW in 2002, he formed Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling, in October 2005, he returned to New Japan as a site foreman, a booker, and a part-time wrestler. Kwak Gwang-ung represented South Korea in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich and he did not place in the tournament. He debuted in New Japan Pro Wrestling in August 1974, in the mid-1970s, Choshu was sent to North America to gain experience. Wrestling under his name, he appeared in George Cannons Superstars of Wrestling promotion as a heel. Choshu had a feud with the top fan favorite of Cannons promotion. Choshu was the first traitor heel in a Japanese promotion, upon returning to NJPW in 1987, Choshu was a part of the Takeshi Puroresu Gundan. After NJPW split ties with Takeshi Kitano over the December 27 Sumo Hall riot, in June 1988, he won his first IWGP Tag Team Championship with Masa Saito, with whom he had also partnered during a brief stint in the American Wrestling Association. At the same time, he feuded with Tatsumi Fujinami over the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, on May 27, the match ended in a no contest, in which the title was held up. Fujinami won the rematch on June 24, in July 1989, he won his first IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Salman Hashimikov of the Soviet Union. The same month, he would win his second IWGP Tag Team title with young up-and-comer Takayuki Iizuka. Two more IWGP Heavyweight title reigns would follow between August 19,1990 and January 4,1992, in August 1996, he won the G1 Climax, winning every single match in the tournament. In 1997, he won his third IWGP Tag Team title with Kensuke Sasaki, in January 1998, he retired from the ring, for his retirement match, he wrestled five matches in one night, winning four out of five matches. He would focus on booking matches for NJPW, retirement did not last long, as Atsushi Onita challenged Choshu to a barbed wire deathmatch in 2000. After leaving NJPW, he formed Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling in 2003 and he ran Riki Pro until 2005 when he returned to NJPW as a site foreman, booker, and wrestler. In 2007, Choshu joined the Legend stable with Masahiro Chono, Jushin Thunder Liger, Choshu also promotes an occasional series of events called LOCK UP, which feature talent from New Japan and other promotions. New Japan supported this financially until 2008 before withdrawing, in 2012 Riki was booked in a series of matches for LEGEND The Pro Wrestling and Dradition
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Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling
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Fighting World of Japan Pro-Wrestling, frequently shortened to World Japan or WJ, and also known as Riki Pro, was a professional wrestling promotion formed in Japan in 2003. Riki Choshu, one of New Japan Pro Wrestlings top stars who had out of semi-retirement in 2000 left the New Japan promotion for the second time in the fall of 2002. Yoshiaki Yatsu, was brought in along with some of the talent of his small-time SPWF promotion. Other independent wrestlers and freelancers such as Genichiro Tenryu, Takao Omori, after an August 2003 training accident while training with Kenzo Suzuki at World Japans dojo, Giant Ochiai suffered an acute subdural hematoma and died on August 8,2003. Giant Ochiais August 13 wake was attended by World Japan Management Director Katsuji Nagashima, World Japan was ultimately viewed by Japanese fans as just another independent promotion in the saturated world of pro wrestling, so it wasnt able to make a dent in the major promotions fanbases. Despite having tournaments to crown WMG champions in both the heavyweight and tag team divisions, these events didnt draw much interest. Eventually, the talent, went back to the major leagues. In December 2004, however, Choshu himself appeared again on a New Japan card, the failure of World Japan has put a strain on some relationships, especially the one with Kensuke Sasaki and Riki Choshu. So much to the point when Choshu returned to NJPW, Sasaki abruptly left, refusing to work with Choshu at all, professional wrestling in Japan List of professional wrestling promotions in Japan
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Nobuhiko Takada
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Nobuhiko Takada is a Japanese former mixed martial arts fighter and professional wrestler. He was an executive of PRIDE Fighting Championships and founder of the HUSTLE professional wrestling promotion, despite his irregular fight record and kayfabe politics, Takada is credited with the existence and boom of Japanese MMA. After training in the New Japan Pro Wrestling dojo under Yoshiaki Fujiwara, as accustomed to puroresu neophites, Takada spent his first year as a jobber, though scoring occasional victories against other rookies. Among them, he feuded with Kazuo Yamazaki, and their matches were so well received that TV Asahi included one of them as part of the NJPW show, Takada was appointed Antonio Inokis personal assistant. It granted an ascension in the rankings for Takada, and he was part of the 1984 WWF Junior Heavyweight Championship league, facing Bret Hart, Dynamite Kid and Davey Boy Smith. His staying in NJPW lasted until April 1984, when started working in Universal Wrestling Federation by Fujiwaras invitation, Takadas first matches in Universal Wrestling Federation were as a NJPW representative, but he soon joined full-time. He started with a singles run, defeating foreign wrestlers. On 20 January 1985 he would get an important victory over Super Tiger by referee stoppage, the tenure was short, however, as UWF folded shortly after, and Takada and other wrestlers returned to NJPW. Upon their return, the former UWF wrestlers formed an stable with the storyline of invading the promotion, as a singles wrestler, Takada was involved in a heated feud with IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion Shiro Koshinaka, who had been Giant Babas assistant just like Takada had been Inokis. Now in the peak of his popularity, Takada received the nickname of Wagamamana Hikazoku for his hard and he finally lost it to Koshinaka in a rubber match on February 5. In March 1987, Nobuhiko amplied the feud to a tag team one when Maeda and him defeated Koshinaka and they retained it for months, until they lost it to colleagues Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Kazuo Yamazaki. In March 1988, Takada left NJPW along with Maeda and most of the original UWF wrestlers to form the second incarnation of the Universal Wrestling Federation called Newborn UWF, after the event, Takada was almost unbeaten in singles matches until the promotions closure in December 1990. Nobuhiko opened his run as the top star of the company beating Tatsuo Nakano, Kazuo Yamazaki and American wrestler Bob Backlund and they rematched after two months, with Takada coming over by submission after fifteen minutes. Immediately after his affair with Backlund, Takada was put in a different style fight against boxing champion Trevor Berbick, the nature of the bout as a worked match or a shoot fight is unknown, but what transpired in the bout was again not the planned course. Early in the match, after receiving some low kicks from Takada to his leg, Berbick immediately protested. According to UWFi trainer Pat McCarthy, no rules were ever changed, anyways, the win increased Takadas popularity. Takada had also feuds with Gary Albright and Super Vader, in 1992, Takada was awarded an old NWA World Heavyweight Title belt by Lou Thesz, after defeating Albright, and was proclaimed the Pro-Wrestling World Heavyweight Champion. He defended the title until Thesz withdrew the belt in 1995, losing the Title once, the high point of his reign came on December 5,1993, when he defeated Super Vader before 46,168 fans at Tokyos Meiji-Jingu Stadium
19.
Kazushi Sakuraba
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Kazushi Sakuraba is a Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler, currently signed to Rizin Fighting Federation. He has competed in traditional puroresu for New Japan Pro Wrestling and shoot-style competition for UWFi and he has fought in MMA competition in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Pride Fighting Championships, Heros and Dream. He is known as the Gracie Hunter or the Gracie Killer due to his wins over four members of the famed Gracie family, Royler Gracie, Renzo Gracie, Ryan Gracie, in particular, Sakuraba is famous for his initial fight with Royce, which lasted ninety minutes. He is also the 1st of only 2 Japanese champions in UFC history, Sakuraba began his career in amateur wrestling at the age of 15. He won the East Japan Freshman championship in his first year, in his senior year, he finished fourth place in the All-Japan tournament. Amongst his notable wins was a defeat of future Olympic bronze medalist Takuya Ota, upon graduating from the university, Sakuraba had initially thought to remain with Chuo University as a coach. However, at the last minute he decided to pursue a career as a professional wrestler and his time in the UWFI would prove to be a formative experience for Sakuraba, it was there under the tutelage of Billy Robinson that he received his initial instruction in catch wrestling. It is catch wrestling that would serve as the base of the unorthodox ground-game that would lead him to success in the Pride Fighting Championships. In spite of his pedigree, Sakuraba was forced to work his way up from the bottom of the UWFis rung. Sakuraba lost his debut in 1993 to Steve Nelson and went winless through his year with the league. It is also alleged that under the eye of Kiyoshi Tamura. Though his record remained below.500, Sakuraba continued to edge his way closer to mid-card status through the rest of the year, then, in 1995, the UWFi began an interpromotional feud with New Japan Pro Wrestling. The vast majority of UWFi workers came out on the end of the booking to the larger and more mainstream promotion. He was defeated in high-profile bouts to Tokimitsu Ishizawa, Koji Kanemoto and Shinjiro Otani, the ring psychology and technical prowess he displayed in the bouts also impressed the management of the UWFi enough that he was finally pushed towards main event status. New Japans dominance in the injured the marketability of the UWFi promotion. With the UWFis formerly fearsome reputation in tatters, its attendance numbers swiftly decreased, with the federation closing its doors once, in their final show it was Sakuraba who at long last headlined, defeating Anjoh by submission. In the vein of its predecessor, Kingdom was primarily a league devoted to shoot-style realistic-looking works, having by now established his ability, Sakuraba was this time booked as a main-eventer from the outset. However, unlike the UWFi, Kingdom struggled from the beginning to draw substantial crowds, on August 12,2012, Sakuraba, alongside Katsuyori Shibata, returned to New Japan Pro Wrestling
20.
Moment of silence
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A moment of silence is a period of silent contemplation, prayer, reflection, or meditation. Similar to flying a flag at half-mast, a moment of silence is often a gesture of respect, most commonwealth countries call it a minutes silence or a one-minute silence as that is the shortest period of silence that they observe after a tragic event. Silent prayer, including moments of silence practiced during other activities, have been practiced by Quakers for more than 300 years. This is also the case within many institutions where diverse groups are expected to participate but not necessarily share beliefs such as in government, schools, businesses and the military. The period of silence is essentially a ritualized night vigil bracketed by the bugle call The Last Post and The Rouse. The Last Post was the bugle call at the end of the day. This makes the ceremony not so much an act of remembrance, the act is enhanced by the use of dedicated cenotaphs and the laying of wreaths—the traditional means of bestowing high freedoms in Ancient Rome. Some schools and colleges across the UK often sound the bell or fire alarm to start and end the period of silence. One minute is a length of time for the commemoration, though other periods of time may be chosen. During the moment of silence, participants may typically bow their heads, remove hats, a person officiating or presiding over the gathering will be responsible for the declaring and timing of the period of silence. In Israel, moments of silence are held in memory of the victims of the Holocaust, the moment of silence are marked as a time to live peacefully with other countries. During this time, most Israelis stand at attention, and most of the comes to a standstill as people pay silent tribute to the dead. A moment of silence may be accompanied by acts of symbolic significance, such as the screeching of death. The silence is usually ended by the referee blowing his whistle, in recent years, a trend has developed to fill the traditional minute of silence with a minute of applause. Psychologically this is seen by some to celebrate the persons life rather than mourn his/her death. Recent recipients of the minutes applause include deceased footballers Jock Stein, George Best, Ernie Cooksey, the first recorded instance of an official moment of silence dedicated to a persons death took place in Portugal on February 13,1912. This moment of silence was registered in the Senates records of that day. This was instituted by the Cape Town Mayor, Sir Harry Hands, on May 14,1918, one minute was a time of thanksgiving for those who had returned alive, the second minute was to remember the fallen
21.
Wayback Machine
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The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
22.
Sherdog
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Sherdog is an American website devoted to the sport of mixed martial arts. The site is a member of the Crave Online network and provides MMA related content for ESPN. com, Sherdog was created by photographer Jeff Sherwood in 1997 and was later refined with the help of Garrett Poe. Sherdog is also home to the Sherdog Radio Network, a sports talk network featuring Sherdog writers and staffers. Until recently, the schedule included Beatdown on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, Its Time on Tuesdays, Cheap Seats on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Also included for big events were SRN Roundtables providing previews and Beatdown After the Bell for post-fight recaps, as of April 8,2016, the SRN was rebuilt after Jeff Sherwood and his namesake website parted ways. The current lineup of programming includes Cheap Seats with Jordan Breen and Greg Savage on Mondays and Wednesdays which was cancelled after the organization, TJ & The Tooth with TJ De Santis and Nick The Tooth Gullo on Tuesdays, and The Neutral Corner hosted by MMA veteran Yves Edwards. Still standard for high-profile events are Jack Encarnacaos SRN Roundtables providing previews, while not officially a part of the Sherdog Radio Network, the SRN feed also inclues Press Row audio blogs starring Jordan Breen and various guests in the world of MMA media. Sherdog has also affiliated with ESPN to provide extensive MMA content for their site, the deal includes ESPN sharing Sherdogs extensive Fight Finder database. The deal would include the Sherdog Radio Network being part of ESPNs podcast center. The website also has a forum section composed of more than 60 thousand members from all over the world. The site hosts free live streams of mixed martial arts events from organizations such as Palace Fighting Championships, Wargods, ESPN Inside MMA HDNet List of Internet forums Official website
