1.
Jushin Liger (anime)
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Jushin Liger is an anime superhero TV series created by Go Nagai. A manga series, written and drawn by Go Nagai, was released alongside the anime. This anime series inspired the real-life pro-wrestler, Jushin Thunder Liger, the opening theme Ikari no Jushin, which was performed by Yumi Hiroki, is also wrestler Jushin Thunder Ligers theme song. The song Kiseki no Jushin was also used by Liger on occasion, in Kushiro, Hokkaido, three bodies of Dragonite appear. Possessing overwhelming destructive force, they attack the city and they also awaken the evil Jashin Drago from the holy seal he was trapped in. 200 years ago, Drago was trapped in the seal by a warrior with the tattooed mark of the Liger. Assuming that the warrior is dead, Drago and Empress Zara are free to conquer the Earth using their army of biomechanical beasts, even the Japan Self-Defense Forces are no match for the Dragonites awesome power. One of the people fleeing is the protagonist, a milquetoast 16-year-old boy named Ken Taiga, unbeknownst to the Dragonites, Ken realizes that he is the descendant of the Liger warrior. In a burst of anger, Kens Liger birthmark appears, and he rises his palm into the air, shouting the henshin command, LIGER. which then covers him in demonic, Ken transforms into Jushin Liger to fight the evil forces of the Dragonite. Ken Taiga Ryuzo Taiga Yui Kamishiro Mai Kamishiro Saeko Yagami Dangoro Mini-Knight Empress Zara Ryu Dolk Doll Satan Doll Command Doll Phantom Doll Navy Source Airtime, Saturday,17,30 -18,00 hrs. The Ikari no Jushin, besides being still by Japanese wrestler Jushin Liger, has been used by the Hanshin Tigers as the theme of pitcher Hirotaka Egusa. Its one of the themes that has been in constant use even after the TV show ended. The manga, which was published in Kodanshas magazine Comic Bom Bom, was not published in tankōbon format by this company. Instead, it was published by Keibunsha, Daitosha and Daiso Shuppan, Keibunsha Daitosha Daiso Shuppan The TV series was released in VHS format by King Records in 1989 and 1990. The whole series was released in DVD by Geneon Entertainment in two DVD boxes of 4 discs each, with standard numbers GNBA-1230 and GNBA-1231 and released in August 25,2006, the anime has generated the following records and CDs, all of them produced by King Records. The theme Ikari no Jushin appears in both its original and arranged versions in these CD music collections, Jushin Liger appears in the Wii video game Super Robot Wars NEO. Jushin Thunder Liger the pro wrestler, Jushin Thunder Liger, Fist of Thunder, the 1995 OVT tokusatsu film. Jushin Liger official website at Sunrise Inc
2.
Hiroshima
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Hiroshima is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu - the largest island of Japan. The citys name, 広島, means Broad Island in Japanese, Hiroshima gained city status on April 1,1889. On April 1,1980, Hiroshima became a designated city, as of August 2016, the city had an estimated population of 1,196,274. The GDP in Greater Hiroshima, Hiroshima Metropolitan Employment Area, is US$61.3 billion as of 2010, kazumi Matsui has been the citys mayor since April 2011. Hiroshima was established on the river delta coastline of the Seto Inland Sea in 1589 by powerful warlord Mōri Terumoto, Hiroshima Castle was quickly built, and in 1593 Terumoto moved in. Terumoto was on the side at the Battle of Sekigahara. The winner of the battle, Tokugawa Ieyasu, deprived Mōri Terumoto of most of his fiefs, including Hiroshima and gave Aki Province to Masanori Fukushima, after the han was abolished in 1871, the city became the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture. Hiroshima became an urban center during the imperial period, as the Japanese economy shifted from primarily rural to urban industries. During the 1870s, one of the seven government-sponsored English language schools was established in Hiroshima, Ujina Harbor was constructed through the efforts of Hiroshima Governor Sadaaki Senda in the 1880s, allowing Hiroshima to become an important port city. The Sanyō Railway was extended to Hiroshima in 1894, and a line from the main station to the harbor was constructed for military transportation during the First Sino-Japanese War. During that war, the Japanese government moved temporarily to Hiroshima, New industrial plants, including cotton mills, were established in Hiroshima in the late 19th century. Further industrialization in Hiroshima was stimulated during the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, the Hiroshima Prefectural Commercial Exhibition Hall was constructed in 1915 as a center for trade and exhibition of new products. Later, its name was changed to Hiroshima Prefectural Product Exhibition Hall, during World War I, Hiroshima became a focal point of military activity, as the Japanese government entered the war on the Allied side. About 500 German prisoners of war were held in Ninoshima Island in Hiroshima Bay, during World War II, the 2nd General Army and Chugoku Regional Army were headquartered in Hiroshima, and the Army Marine Headquarters was located at Ujina port. The city also had large depots of supplies, and was a key center for shipping. The bombing of Tokyo and other cities in Japan during World War II caused widespread destruction, there were no such air raids on Hiroshima. However, a real threat existed and was recognized, in order to protect against potential firebombings in Hiroshima, school children aged 11–14 years were mobilized to demolish houses and create firebreaks. On Monday, August 6,1945, at 8,15 a. m, by the end of the year, injury and radiation brought the total number of deaths to 90, 000–166,000
3.
Hiroshima Prefecture
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Hiroshima Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan located in the Chūgoku region on Honshu island. The capital is the city of Hiroshima and it has a population of around 2.8 million. The area around Hiroshima was formerly divided into Bingo Province and Aki Province and this location has been a center of trade and culture since the beginning of Japans recorded history. Hiroshima is a center of the Chūgoku region and was the seat of the Mōri clan until the Battle of Sekigahara. Hiroshima prefecture lies in the middle of Chūgoku, most of the prefecture consists of mountains leading towards Shimane Prefecture, and rivers produce rich plains near the coast. The province faces Shikoku across the Seto Inland Sea, Hiroshima Bay opens on the Inland Sea. The prefecture also includes small islands. The sheltered nature of the Inland Sea makes Hiroshimas climate very mild, fourteen cities are located in Hiroshima Prefecture, These are the towns in each district, Hiroshimas main industries include automobiles and shipbuilding. ISBN 978-0-674-01753-5, OCLC58053128 Official Hiroshima Prefecture homepage Life in Hiroshima, Hiroshima map National Archives of Japan, Itsukushima kakei, illustrated scroll describing Itsukushima, text by Kaibara Ekiken
4.
Fukuoka
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Fukuoka is the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, situated on the northern shore of the Japanese island of Kyushu. It is the most populous city on the island, followed by Kitakyushu and it is the largest city and metropolitan area west of Keihanshin. The city was designated on April 1,1972, by government ordinance, Greater Fukuoka, with 2.5 million people, is part of the heavily industrialized Fukuoka–Kitakyushu zone as well as Northern Kyushu. As of 2015, Fukuoka is Japan’s fifth largest city, having passed the population of Kobe, as of July 2011, Fukuoka passed the population of Kyoto. Since the founding of Kyoto in 794, this marks the first time that a city west of the Kinki region has a population than Kyoto. In ancient times, however, the area near Fukuoka, the Chikushi region, was thought by historians to have possibly been even more influential than the Yamato region. Exchanges from the continent and the Northern Kyushu area date as far back as Old Stone Age and it has been thought that waves of immigrants arrived in Northern Kyushu from mainland Asia. Fukuoka was sometimes called the Port of Dazaifu, Dazaifu was an administrative capital in 663 A. D. but a historian proposed that a prehistoric capital was in the area. Ancient texts, such as the Kojiki, Kanyen and archaeology confirm this was a critical place in the founding of Japan. Some scholars claim that it was the first place outsiders and the Imperial Family set foot, Fukuoka is sometimes still referred to as Hakata, the central ward of the city. In 923, the Hakozaki-gū in Fukuoka was transferred from Daibu-gū in Daibu the origin of Usa Shrine, in Ooho, there are remains of a big ward office with a temple, because in ancient East Asia, an emperor must have three great ministries. In fact, there is a record in Chinese literature that a king of Japan sent a letter in 478 to ask the Chinese emperors approval for employing three ministries, in addition, remains of the Korokan were found in Fukuoka underneath a part of the ruins of Fukuoka Castle. Kublai Khan of the Mongol Empire turned his attention towards Japan starting in 1268, Kublai Khan first sent an envoy to Japan to make the Shogunate acknowledge Khans suzerainty. Mongolia repeatedly sent envoys thereafter, each time urging the Shogunate to accept their proposal, in 1274, Kublai Khan mounted an invasion of the northern part of Kyushu with a fleet of 900 ships and 33,000 troops, including troops from Goryeo on the Korean Peninsula. This initial invasion was compromised by a combination of incompetence and severe storms, after the invasion attempt of 1274, Japanese samurai built a stone barrier 20 km in length bordering the coast of Hakata Bay in what is now the city of Fukuoka. The wall, 2–3 metres in height and having a width of 3 metres, was constructed between 1276 and 1277, and was excavated in the 1930s. Kublai sent another envoy to Japan in 1279, at that time, Hōjō Tokimune of the Hōjō clan was the Eighth Regent. Not only did he decline the offer, but he beheaded the five Mongolian emissaries after summoning them to Kamakura, infuriated, Kublai organized another attack on Fukuoka Prefecture in 1281, mobilizing 140,000 soldiers and 4,000 ships
5.
Fukuoka Prefecture
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Fukuoka Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan on Kyūshū Island. The capital is the city of Fukuoka, Fukuoka Prefecture includes the former provinces of Chikugo, Chikuzen, and Buzen. Kōra taisha, Sumiyoshi-jinja, and Hakosagi-gū are the chief Shinto shrines in the prefecture, Fukuoka Prefecture faces the sea on three sides, bordering Saga, Ōita, and Kumamoto prefectures and facing Yamaguchi Prefecture across the Kanmon Straits. Fukuoka includes the two largest cities on Kyūshū, Fukuoka and Kitakyushu, and much of Kyūshūs industry and it also includes a number of small islands near the north coast of Kyūshū. Major industries include automobiles, semiconductors, and steel, Fukuoka prefecture is where tire manufacturer Bridgestone and consumer electronics chain Best Denki were founded. According to 1 June 2013 Japanese estimates, the population in Fukuoka Prefecture reached 5,088,483 inhabitants, Fukuoka Art Museum – In Ohori Park, contains a wide selection of contemporary and other art from around the world. Fukuoka Asian Art Museum – contains art from Asia, Fukuoka City Museum – displays a broad range of items from the regions history, including a spectacular gold seal. Genko Historical Museum in Higashi Koen displays Japanese and Mongolian arms, hakata Machiya Folk Museum – Dedicated to displaying the traditional ways of life, speech, and culture of the Fukuoka region. Fukuoka Castle – a castle in Chūō-ku, Fukuoka, hakata Gion Yamakasa – Japanese festival celebrated 1–15 July. Ōhori Park – a registered Place of Scenic Beauty, HKT48 Theater – where the idol group HKT48 performs every day. LinQ – the Kyushu idol group meaning Love in Kyushu, local theater where the LinQ performs weekly on Saturday and Sunday in Tenjin Best Hall, the marathon has been held in Fukuoka since 1959 and has seen world records broken. Fukuoka Prefecture has the most designated yakuza groups among all of the prefectures, at five, the Kudo-kai, the Taishu-kai, the Fukuhaku-kai, the Dojin-kai, between 2004 and 2009, and in early 2011, Fukuoka Prefecture lead the nation in gun-related incidents. These incidents were related to the local yakuza syndicates, specifically the Kudo-kai, the Dojin-kai. Fukuoka Prefecture has had the highest frequency of youth crime among the prefectures of Japan since 2003, the most popular place for tourism is Fukuoka City, especially at the time of the Dontaku festival, and Dazaifu, although Kitakyūshū has tried to attract tourists
6.
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
7.
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
8.
Tatsumi Fujinami
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Tatsumi Fujinami is a Japanese professional wrestler, who famously used the nickname The Dragon. He is credited for inventing the dragon sleeper and the dragon suplex and he is also the owner and founder of the Dradition wrestling promotion. In 2015, Fujinami was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, WWE Hall of Famer Bret Hart has said of Fujinami, I always wanted to be the great wrestler that Tatsumi Fujinami was. Fujinami started in the old Japanese Wrestling Association under Antonio Inokis wing at the age of 17, when Inoki was fired from JWA in 1971, Fujinami and a few others followed him in forming a new promotion, New Japan Pro Wrestling. Inoki, Fujinami, Osamu Kido and Kotetsu Yamamoto are recognized as NJPWs founding fathers, in those early days, he served as opponent for debuting rookies, such as Mr. Pogo, Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Gran Hamada. Fujinami, Fujiwara, Hamada and three other rookies competed in the 1974 Karl Gotch Cup, in the late 1970s, Fujinami was sent abroad, to Mexicos Universal Wrestling Association and to Jim Crockett Promotions in the U. S. In the late 1970s he went to the World Wide Wrestling Federation where he first made a name for himself and he won the WWWF Junior Heavyweight Championship on January 23,1978. and brought it to Japan, establishing it as the premier junior heavyweight title in Japan. In October 1981, he graduated to the heavyweight division, Fujinami would be the first wrestler to be successful in both the junior heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. 1988 proved to be Fujinamis banner year, on May 8, he defeated Big Van Vader by disqualification, to win the title vacated by Antonio Inoki. However, within days, the title was held up after he fought Riki Choshu to a no contest, in October, he won the NWA Pacific Northwest Heavyweight Championship, and he ended the year by winning the WCWA World Heavyweight Championship in December. 1989 proved to be a year for Fujinami. In April, he vacated the title to be determined in a tournament at New Japans first Tokyo Dome show, in June, during a match with Vader, Fujinami suffered a severe back injury and pulled a hernia. He wouldnt wrestle at all until he returned in September 1990, in December 1990, he regained the title he never lost, the IWGP Heavyweight title from Choshu. His reign was short-lived, as he lost the title to Vader a month later, Fujinami rebounded by regaining the title two months later. Within days, Fujinami made history, as he defeated Ric Flair to win the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, making him the very first man to hold the IWGP, Flair retained his WCW Championship and regained Fujinamis NWA title by a school boy pin with a handful of tights. In 1993, Fujinami won the G1 Climax tournament, defeating Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido, Keiji Mutoh, in April 1994, he defeated Shinya Hashimoto to win his fifth IWGP Heavyweight title, but lost it back to Hashimoto three weeks later. In January 1997, he reunited with Kengo Kimura to win the IWGP Tag Team titles from Masahiro Chono and they would hold onto the belts for over three months before losing them to Riki Choshu and Kensuke Sasaki. In April 1998, Fujinami won his sixth and final IWGP Heavyweight title by defeating Sasaki and he would hold onto the belt for over four months, before losing the title to Chono
9.
Yoshiaki Fujiwara
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Yoshiaki Fujiwara is a Japanese actor, and professional wrestler. He is famous for his career in wrestling, having worked in New Japan Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling ZERO-ONE. Fujiwara is known for his catch wrestling expertise, having been praised by fighters like Josh Barnett, Fujiwara was the first graduate of the New Japan Pro Wrestling dojo. A former Muay Thai kickboxer, Fujiwara was easily able to absorb and apply the Strong Style of professional wrestling taught by Inoki, in 1975, this led Fujiwara to win the Karl Gotch Cup. In the late 1970s, Fujiwara became embroiled in a feud with Allen Coage over the petty issue of who had the strongest head. All the while, Fujiwara remained a member of the undercard. In 1984, however, all that would change when Fujiwara was among the defectors who created the Japanese UWF. When he and most of them returned in 1986, they formed their own stable, indicating they would battle major New Japan wrestlers and receive recognition on their own terms. As a member of the UWF stable, Fujiwara, along with Akira Maeda, focused on Inokis IWGP Heavyweight Championship, pushing him to the limit in the annual IWGP tournaments. This split, also in the wake of Riki Choshus return to NJPW after leaving in circumstances similar to Maeda and the rest of the UWF roster, eventually weakened the UWF stable. When Maeda was fired from New Japan for an attack on Choshu during a match in late 1987, all the other UWF stable members except for Fujiwara. Inoki had already gained respect for him enough to be his tag partner in 1986 for the annual tag team tournament. In the meantime, Fujiwara trained rookies Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki, in 1989, however, Fujiwara felt the need to continue shoot-style wrestling, also due to the rise of Choshu in backstage politics, so he moved to the UWF with Funaki and Suzuki. In Newborn UWF, Fujiwara was clearly seen as the peer to Maeda. After Newborn UWF collapsed in December 1990, Fujiwara, Funaki, Suzuki, although it was a shoot style promotion, Fujiwara had agreements with SWS, W*ING and Universal Lucha Libre, whereupon he would send talent to compete in them. Fujiwara Gumi had a big supercard at the Tokyo Dome in 1992, involving all the talents in the promotion, Fujiwara, Funaki, Suzuki, Fuke, Yoshiki Takahashi, Yuki Ishikawa. Problems involving the collapsing Japanese economy and the essence of Fujiwara Gumis wrestling, however, Funaki, Suzuki, Fuke and Takahashi, apparently unsettled by the performing direction Fujiwara was taking, abandoned him in late 1993 to form Pancrase. Fujiwara already had back-up talent - Ishikawa, Daisuke Ikeda, Katsumi Usuda, Minoru Tanaka, Mamoru Okamoto, Muhammad Yone, in need of funds, however, Fujiwara proposed to cooperate with their root promotion, New Japan
10.
Stu Hart
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Stewart Edward Stu Hart was a Canadian amateur wrestler, professional wrestler, promoter and trainer. Hart founded Stampede Wrestling, a promotion based in Calgary, Alberta, the patriarch of the Hart wrestling family, Stu was the father of many wrestlers, most notably Bret and Owen Hart. Hart has been referred to by writers, including wrestling historian Dave Meltzer, as one of the most influential. His greatest contribution to the art was as a trainer, along with Bret and Owen, Harts trainees included future world champions Fritz Von Erich, Superstar Billy Graham, Chris Jericho, Edge, Christian, Mark Henry, Chris Benoit, and Jushin Thunder Liger. Hart was also known for his involvement in over thirty charities, for which he was given a position in the Order of Canada. He was born in Saskatoon in 1915 to Edward and Elizabeth Stewart Hart and he was mainly of Scots-Irish descent but also had Scottish and English ancestry. His childhood was impoverished, as a boy, Stu Hart lived in a tent with his family on the prairie in Alberta, living off the land, milking cows and wild game that Stu took down with his slingshot. As a child Hart and his sisters were often mistreated at school by both students and teachers since it was well known that they were from such a poor family. Hart was also berated and treated with disdain for being lefthanded and he was like most lefthanded children at the time forced to work with his right and as a result he became ambidextrous. In 1928, his father was arrested for failure to pay taxes, while the Salvation Army sent Stu, his mother. Due to his childhood and youth Hart did not experience a dramatic shift in life quality or mentality during the Great Depression which affected most others around him in Edmonton. During his time in Edmonton with his mother and sisters Hart began finding an interest in sports with wrestling and he started weightlifting and training for wrestling when he was fourteen years old and quickly built a strong neck and impressive arms. He began attending amateur wrestling classes when he joined the YMCA in Edmonton in 1929, Hart was trained in catch wrestling in his youth by other boys. Speaking of it, Stu said that his head would be blue by the time they let go of him. Stu taught this style to all who trained under him in the 1980s and 1990s with the thought that teaching his students real submission moves would make their pro wrestling style sharper. By 1937 he won a medal in the welterweight class from the Amateur Athletic Union of Canada. His amateur career peaked in May 1940 when Hart won the Dominion Amateur Wrestling Championship in the heavyweight category. During the mid 30s Hart also coached wrestling at the University of Alberta, Hart played football for the Edmonton Eskimos in the 1938 and 1939 seasons as a centre
11.
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
12.
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
13.
Toshiaki Kawada
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Toshiaki Kawada is a Japanese semi-retired professional wrestler who is most known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling. In 2005, he started freelancing in other promotions, Kawada was very active during his high school years in amateur wrestling, becoming a national champion in his senior year after defeating Keiichi Yamada in the finals. He made his wrestling debut at the age of 18 on October 4,1982 for All Japan Pro Wrestling, competing against Hiromichi Fuyuki. He was under adverse circumstances, and rarely has he talked about his days in American/Canadian wrestling and his first major break came in 1987 when he joined his mentor Genichiro Tenryus Revolution group. As part of the feud, Kawada had very heated rivalry with Tsurutas main partner, Misawa and Kawada would win the World Tag Team Championship twice, as well as the 1992 Worlds Strongest Tag Determination League. In early 1993, after it became apparent that Tsurutas days as a wrestler were over, AJPW promoter Giant Baba asked Kawada to team with his rival Taue. Kawada and Taue went to a draw in the 1993 Champion Carnival, in their first title match as a team, Kawada and Taue defeated World Tag Team Champions Terry Gordy and Steve Williams. Kawada won the 1994 Champion Carnival by defeating Steve Williams on April 16,1994, stan Hansen ended Kawadas Triple Crown reign on March 4,1995. Kawada worked one match on a major UWFi show. He was allowed out of the doghouse in time for Kawada & Taue to break through in 1996 to win the Worlds Strongest Tag Determination League for the first time, beating Misawa and Jun Akiyama. Kawada and Taue would take their second straight World Tag League championship to close out year that saw both spend much of it in the shadows of Misawa and Kobashi. The crowning moment of Kawadas career came on May 1,1998, however, he was promptly defeated by Kobashi on June 12,1998, in his first title defense. However, he broke his arm during the match and vacated the title the following day and he also inadvertently invented what many call the most dangerous finisher in wrestling history- the ganso Bomb. Kawada was attempting a powerbomb on Misawa but could not lift him high enough because of his broken arm, Kawada returned in May 1999, but would revert to the sidelines due to an eye injury in August. He didnt return until January 2000, but suffered losses to Kobashi, Vader. On September 6,2003, he won the Triple Crown for the time in a tournament final against Shinjiro Ohtani. Kawadas reign restored dignity to the Triple Crown at the expense of the said tournaments, after losing the titles to Satoshi Kojima on February 16,2005, Kawada signed a contract with Dream Stage Entertainment, the parent company of PRIDE Fighting Championships. Due to the way Kawadas contract with DSE was structured, he was free to work where he pleased, on July 18,2005, at the Tokyo Dome, Kawada wrestled one final 27-minute classic against his old rival Mitsuharu Misawa
14.
Mexico
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Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a federal republic in the southern half of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States, to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean, to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea, and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost two million square kilometers, Mexico is the sixth largest country in the Americas by total area, Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and a federal district that is also its capital and most populous city. Other metropolises include Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Toluca, Tijuana, pre-Columbian Mexico was home to many advanced Mesoamerican civilizations, such as the Olmec, Toltec, Teotihuacan, Zapotec, Maya and Aztec before first contact with Europeans. In 1521, the Spanish Empire conquered and colonized the territory from its base in Mexico-Tenochtitlan, Three centuries later, this territory became Mexico following recognition in 1821 after the colonys Mexican War of Independence. The tumultuous post-independence period was characterized by instability and many political changes. The Mexican–American War led to the cession of the extensive northern borderlands, one-third of its territory. The Pastry War, the Franco-Mexican War, a civil war, the dictatorship was overthrown in the Mexican Revolution of 1910, which culminated with the promulgation of the 1917 Constitution and the emergence of the countrys current political system. Mexico has the fifteenth largest nominal GDP and the eleventh largest by purchasing power parity, the Mexican economy is strongly linked to those of its North American Free Trade Agreement partners, especially the United States. Mexico was the first Latin American member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and it is classified as an upper-middle income country by the World Bank and a newly industrialized country by several analysts. By 2050, Mexico could become the fifth or seventh largest economy. The country is considered both a power and middle power, and is often identified as an emerging global power. Due to its culture and history, Mexico ranks first in the Americas. Mexico is a country, ranking fourth in the world by biodiversity. In 2015 it was the 9th most visited country in the world, Mexico is a member of the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G8+5, the G20, the Uniting for Consensus and the Pacific Alliance. Mēxihco is the Nahuatl term for the heartland of the Aztec Empire, namely, the Valley of Mexico, and its people, the Mexica and this became the future State of Mexico as a division of New Spain prior to independence. It is generally considered to be a toponym for the valley became the primary ethnonym for the Aztec Triple Alliance as a result. After New Spain won independence from Spain, representatives decided to name the new country after its capital and this was founded in 1524 on top of the ancient Mexica capital of Mexico-Tenochtitlan
15.
Keiji Mutoh
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Keiji Mutoh is a Japanese professional wrestler who first gained international fame in the National Wrestling Alliance. He is mostly known for his work as The Great Muta in New Japan Pro Wrestling during the 1990s, but he has worked in the United States, Puerto Rico, Mexico. He is a president of All Japan Pro Wrestling, as well as being a full-time wrestler for the promotion from 2002 to 2013. He also gained the rank of the Master Sergeant during his service in Japan. Mutoh is credited as one of the first Japanese wrestlers to achieve a fan base outside of his native Japan. The Great Muta gimmick is one of the most influential gimmicks in puroresu, having been emulated by many wrestlers including Satoshi Kojima, Kazushi Miyamoto, Atsushi Onita, in addition, countless other wrestlers have paid tribute to Muta through emulation and imitation. Mutoh is one of three wrestlers to hold the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, the AJPW Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, and he is also a former five-time AJPW World Tag Team Champion and a six-time IWGP Tag Team Champion. He is also famous for taking part in what was considered to be the bloodiest professional wrestling match of all time against Hiroshi Hase. Between AJPW, NJPW, World Championship Wrestling and W-1, Mutoh has held a total of 22 championships, Mutoh was a judo black belt with experience in many national competitions prior to being trained by Hiro Matsuda in the New Japan Pro Wrestling Dojo. He debuted on October 5,1984 against Masahiro Chono, in 1985, Mutoh was sent on his first learning excursion to the United States. In March 1987, Mutoh won the IWGP Tag Team Championship with Shiro Koshinaka, before losing the titles to Akira Maeda, in the summer of 1987, Mutoh took part in the NOW vs. In January 1988, Mutoh went on another excursion, this time in Puerto Rico for the World Wrestling Council under his new ring name and he feuded with Miguel Perez, Jr. with whom he lost a hair vs. hair match to that April. It was in Puerto Rico he formed The Three Musketeers with Masahiro Chono and he wrestled only one match in New Japan during this period on July 29, before returning to Puerto Rico. Mutohs personality and ring skills shown in his early American matches earned him a high billing within the National Wrestling Alliance, Mutoh first appeared as The Great Muta in the NWA on the March 18,1989 edition of WCW Saturday Night. His manager Gary Hart introduced him as the son of the Great Kabuki and he wrestled his first match under the new persona on April 2 against Scott Casey. Muta would feud with stars like Lex Luger, Ric Flair, Mutoh quickly rose in the ranks upon returning to New Japan in March 1990. His Great Muta persona would make its NJPW debut six months later, in April 1990, he won his second IWGP Tag Team title with Masahiro Chono, defeating Shinya Hashimoto and Masa Saito. He and Chono would hold the titles for six months, before finally losing them to Hiroshi Hase
16.
Masahiro Chono
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Masahiro Chono, is a semi-retired American-born Japanese professional wrestler. He primarily wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling, but has made appearances for World Championship Wrestling. Chono was also known by the nickname Mister Black Jack when he first started portraying a villainous character and he is a former NWA World Heavyweight Champion and IWGP Heavyweight Champion. He has become known for his appearances on the new years specials of Downtowns This Is No Task for Kids. His ritual appearance always involves slapping Hōsei Tsukitei in the face, chōno debuted in 1984 against Keiji Mutoh at a New Japan Pro Wrestling event in Saitama, Japan. In 1987, he defeated Shinya Hashimoto to win the Young Lions Cup, after winning the tournament, he went on an excursion that started in Europe, wrestling for Otto Wanzs Catch Wrestling Association. After a while in Europe, Chono went on an excursion to North America, starting in the United States and he would also later wrestle in the Canadian Maritimes and in Puerto Rico, where he, Hashimoto, and Mutoh formed The Three Musketeers. Chono returned to NJPW part-time in July 1988, during this time, he would return to the United States and have a brief run in Australia. The next year, Chono solidified his main-event status with a performance in the first G1 Climax tournament. He won the tournament again in 1992, winning the NWA World Heavyweight Championship in the process, since then, he has won the tournament on three more occasions. On September 23,1992, Chono suffered a neck injury while defending the NWA World Heavyweight Championship against Steve Austin. On January 4,1993, he lost the NWA World title to IWGP Heavyweight champion The Great Muta in a Title vs. Title match. Around 1993, he participated in his third G1 Climax tournament, in January 1994, he received a shot at the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Shinya Hashimoto, he would ultimately lose the match. In August 1994, he won his third G1 Climax tournament, a short time after winning his third G1 Climax, Chono underwent a change in attitude. Chonos partnering with Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Hiro Saito as Team Wolf provided a foundation to NJPWs nWo Japan, establishing himself as leader of its Japanese sister stable, Chono joined the American nWo in December 1996 as it was gaining momentum in World Championship Wrestling. He would also join its successor, Team 2000, which would eventually restructure again, in a match against WCWs Bill Goldberg, Chono supposedly shot the match and dislocated his shoulder. Upon returning to Japan, Chono rejoined NJPW, where he achieved much success and he won the IWGP Tag Team Titles on six occasions and also won the very prestigious IWGP Heavyweight Title in 1998. In 2002, Chono won his fourth G1 Climax tournament and he also became a booker for NJPW around this time
17.
Shinya Hashimoto
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Shinya Hashimoto was a Japanese professional wrestler. Along with Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh, Hashimoto was dubbed one of the Three Musketeers that began competing in New Japan Pro Wrestling in the mid-1980s and dominated the promotion in the 1990s. He is often compared to All Japan Pro Wrestlings Toshiaki Kawada, Hashimoto grew up in Toki City in Gifu, and began training in judo in his late teens. His training helped him in his transition to professional wrestling, as he joined the NJPW Dojo in April 1984 and he made his debut for NJPW in September 1984 at the age of 19, wrestling against Tatsutoshi Goto. Hashimoto worked on becoming a wrestler over the next few years, travelling whenever necessary to gain more seasoning, such as over in the United States, Canada. It was in Puerto Rico in 1988 that Hashimoto formed The Three Musketeers with Masahiro Chono, upon Hashimotos return to New Japan in July 1988, he started to climb his way up the NJPW ladder. In September 1989, Hashimoto teamed with Masa Saito to win his first gold, the two would hold the belts until the next year, losing in April 1990 to two other up-and-comers, Masahiro Chono and Keiji Mutoh. In August 1991, Hashimoto, Chono, and Mutoh cemented their status as the aces of NJPW during the G1 Climax, surpassing longtime aces Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, and Riki Choshu. Hashimoto finally hit the big time in 1993, as he won the IWGP Heavyweight Championship from the Great Muta in September, Hashimoto held the biggest belt in NJPW for the next seven months before being taken down by the legendary Tatsumi Fujinami. Hashimoto regained the gold only a later, in May 1994. For the next year, Hashimoto stayed a dominating force in New Japan, in fact, Hashimoto reigned as the IWGP Heavyweight Champion for over a year, losing the belt to Mutoh only two days after celebrating the milestone. Soon, Hashimoto enjoyed another lengthy run, as he. Hashimoto also became a champion, as he defeated Nobuhiko Takada to regain the IWGP Heavyweight Title on April 29,1996. Hashimoto and Hirata lost the tag title in June 1996, when they fell to Takashi Iizuka, Hashimoto soldiered on to focus solely on the singles gold, as he worked on another lengthy run. In 1997, he was presented with a new championship belt, on August 31,1997, Hashimoto lost the title to Kensuke Sasaki, after reigning as champion for a record-breaking 489 days. Hashimoto continued to work for NJPW for the few years. Hashimoto launched into a rivalry against Judo champion Naoya Ogawa in 1997, leading to Hashimoto vowing to retire if he lost again. Despite the vow, he returned to New Japan for the New Japan/All Japan Do Judge, card on October 9, where he defeated Tatsumi Fujinami by submission
18.
Martial arts
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Although the term martial art has become associated with the fighting arts of eastern Asia, it originally referred to the combat systems of Europe as early as the 1550s. The term is derived from Latin, and means arts of Mars, Martial arts may be categorized along a variety of criteria, including, Traditional or historical arts vs. contemporary styles of folk wrestling and modern hybrid martial arts. Such traditions include eskrima, silat, kalaripayat, kobudo, and historical European martial arts, Many Chinese martial arts also feature weapons as part of their curriculum. Similarly, modern Western martial arts and sports include fencing, stick-fighting systems like canne de combat or singlestick. Combat-oriented Health-oriented Many martial arts, especially those from Asia, also teach side disciplines which pertain to medicinal practices and this is particularly prevalent in traditional Asian martial arts which may teach bone-setting, herbalism, and other aspects of traditional medicine. Spirituality-oriented Martial arts can also be linked with religion and spirituality, numerous systems are reputed to have been founded, disseminated, or practiced by monks or nuns. Throughout Asia, meditation may be incorporated as part of training, in those countries influenced by Hindu-Buddhist philosophy, the art itself may be used as an aid to attaining enlightenment. Japanese styles, when concerning non-physical qualities of the combat, are strongly influenced by Mahayana Buddhist philosophy. Concepts like empty mind and beginners mind are recurrent, aikido, for instance, can have a strong philosophical belief of the flow of energy and peace fostering, as idealised by its founder Morihei Ueshiba. Traditional Korean martial arts place emphasis on the development of the spiritual and philosophical development. A common theme in most Korean styles, such as taekkyeon and taekwondo, is the value of peace in a practitioner. The Koreans believe that the use of force is only justified through defense. Many such martial arts incorporate music, especially strong percussive rhythms, the oldest works of art depicting scenes of battle are cave paintings from Spain dated between 10,000 and 6,000 BCE that show organized groups fighting with bows and arrows. Chinese martial arts originated during the Xia Dynasty more than 4000 years ago and it is said the Yellow Emperor Huangdi introduced the earliest fighting systems to China. The Yellow Emperor is described as a general who, before becoming Chinas leader, wrote lengthy treatises on medicine, astrology. One of his opponents was Chi You who was credited as the creator of jiao di. The foundation of modern Asian martial arts is likely a blend of early Chinese, during the Warring States period of Chinese history extensive development in martial philosophy and strategy emerged, as described by Sun Tzu in The Art of War. Legendary accounts link the origin of Shaolinquan to the spread of Buddhism from India during the early 5th century AD, with the figure of Bodhidharma, to China
19.
Professional wrestling attacks
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Attacking maneuvers are offensive moves in professional wrestling, used to set up an opponent for a submission hold or for a throw. There are a variety of attacking moves in pro wrestling. Professional wrestlers frequently give their finishers new names, occasionally, these names become popular and are used regardless of the wrestler performing the technique. Professional wrestling contains a variety of punches and kicks found in martial arts and other fighting sports, many of the moves below can also be performed from a raised platform, these are called aerial variations. Moves are listed under general categories whenever possible, also known as a splash, a body press involves a wrestler falling against the opponent with the core of their body. It is executed from a running or jumping position, using momentum and weight to impact the opponent and this attack is a plancha in lucha libre. The big splash involves a wrestler jumping forward and landing stomach-first across an opponent lying on the ground below, on some occasions a wrestler has a short running start before executing the move. The wrestler charges into an opponent in the corner of the ring without leaving their feet and this is normally used by bigger, heavier wrestlers. There is also a variation, known as a diving crossbody. A move named after Sting, who popularized it, the Stinger splash involves the wrestler trapping his opponent in a corner. This move is described as a crossbody as a counter of a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker/tilt-a-whirl mat slam. The bronco buster is normally treated as having comic or sexual connotations rather than as a painful move. Similar to a bronco buster, the wrestler jumps onto a standing opponent in the corner, straddling and sitting on the opponents chest. The attacking wrestler then follows with mounted punches, the act of a wrestler to slap the chest of his opponent with the palm of the hand using a backhand swing. Many wrestlers use this chop, often referring to it as a knife edge chop, because it was popularized by Ric Flair the crowd always responds with a woo noise. Sometimes referred to as a frying pan chop or an open-hand chop, the act of slapping the chest of the opponent using the forehand. A downward diagonal backhand chop to the side of the opponents neck, the act of karate chopping both the opponents shoulders and sides of the neck with the hands edges in a swinging motion at the same time. Also known as a brain chop or a tomahawk chop, the wrestler draws his hand back and hits the opponent vertically with a backhand chop, usually hitting the head
20.
IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
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The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship is a professional wrestling junior heavyweight championship owned by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling promotion. IWGP is the acronym of NJPWs governing body, the International Wrestling Grand Prix, the title was introduced on February 6,1986, at a NJPW show. Only wrestlers under the junior heavyweight weight-limit may hold the championship, NJPW currently controls two junior heavyweight championships, the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. The weight-limit for the tag team title is 100 kg, it is assumed that title has the same weight-limit. From August 5,1996, until November 5,1997, the J-Crown was an assembly of eight different championships from several different promotions. It was created on August 5,1996, when The Great Sasuke won an eight-man tournament, being a professional wrestling championship, the title is won as a result of a predetermined outcome. Overall, there have been 76 reigns shared among 35 wrestlers, Title changes happen mostly at NJPW-promoted events, as it has only changed hands at non-NJPW events twice. The inaugural champion was Shiro Koshinaka, who defeated The Cobra on February 6,1986, Liger holds the record of most reigns, with 11. At 628 days, Ligers sixth reign is the longest in the titles history, Liger, with a combined 11 reigns, holds the record for most days as champion at 2,245. Guerreras only reigns holds the record for shortest reign at one week, with 11 successful defenses, Minoru Tanakas reign under the ring name Heat had the most during a single reign. Over his 11 reigns, Liger successfully defended the title 31 times, hiromu Takahashi is the current champion in his first reign, after defeating Kushida on January 4,2017, at NJPWs Wrestle Kingdom 11 in Tokyo Dome event to win the title. ^ Each wrestlers total number of days as champion is ranked highest to lowest, general Benaka, Matt, Westcott, Brian, Zadarnowski, Andrew. Wrestling Title Histories by Gary Will and Royal Duncan, Japan & Korea, New Japan IWGP Tag Team Title
21.
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
22.
All Star Wrestling
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Dixons promotion tours theatres, leisure centres, town halls and similar venues, many of them old venues for televised wrestling in the UK in the 1950-1980s, as well as holiday camps. These matches are currently being repeated on the Men & Movies channel, Haystacks would go on to achieve household fame in the UK after he moved to Joint Promotions in 1975 as the tag team partner and later the archenemy of Big Daddy. This title continued until champion Adrian Street emigrated to America in 1981, Wrestling Enterprises also collaborated heavily with another independent promoter, former middleweight star Jackie Pallo. Neither promoter was able to gain a slice of ITV coverage however, by the mid-1980s All Star was running shows head-to-head with Joint Promotions and had its own TV show on satellite channel Screensport. The beginning of this period coincided with the return to action for legendary masked wrestler Kendo Nagasaki under the All Star banner. At the end of 1988, Greg Dyke cancelled wrestling on ITV after 33 years, headline matches frequently pitted Nagasaki in violent heel vs heel battles against the likes of Rocco, Dave Fit Finlay, Skull Murphy and even Giant Haystacks. All Stars post-television boom wore off after 1993 when Nagasaki retired for a second time, however, the promotion kept afloat on live shows at certain established venues and particularly on the holiday camp circuit. Since the mid-1990s, the promotion has mainly been focussed on family entertainment, after the demise of Joint/RWS, All Stars chief rival on the live circuit was Scott Conways TWA promotion, founded as the Southeastern Wrestling Alliance in 1989. Disaffected with this and other matters, Conway cut his links with All Star and he began to promote his TWA as an alternative, featuring more serious wrestling. All Star duly adapted to meet the challenge, recruiting a new generation of such as Dean Allmark and Robbie Dynamite. The promotional war came to an end in 2003 when Conway relocated to Thailand. All Star has re-established old links with promoters in France, Germany, Japan, mason would also guest on WWE Smackdown in 2008, defeating MVP. The promotion also runs a school in Birkenhead, Merseyside, with Allmark. Dixon and Muellers daughter Laetitia, a ring announcer for the promotion, is married to Allmark and the couple have one son, Joseph. In April 2014, ASW established a relationship with Japanese promotion Wrestle-1, the Mountevans committee was an independent committee which met in 1947 to establish a set of rules and championships for the British professional wrestling scene. Four of the six current titles listed above were set up by the committee, All Star Wrestling hosted many other such championships in the past, some of which have since been moved to or revived by other promotions. TNA World Tag Team Title Defended on All Star shows by then-champions Doug Williams, Title still active, mostly in its promotion of origin. WCW TV Title Brought to All Star briefly by Lord Steven Regal while on World Tour in 1996, pan Pacific World Heavyweight title Claimed on All Star shows by Joe E Legend c
23.
England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
24.
ITV (TV network)
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ITV is a commercial TV network in the United Kingdom. Since the passing of the Broadcasting Act 1990 its legal name has been Channel 3, to distinguish it from the analogue channels at the time, namely BBC1, BBC2. ITV is a network of channels that operate regional television services as well as sharing programmes between each other to be displayed on the entire network. In recent years, several of companies have merged so currently the fifteen franchises are in the hands of two companies. With the exception of Northern Ireland, the ITV brand is the used by ITV plc for the Channel 3 service in these areas. In Northern Ireland, ITV plc uses the brand name UTV, STV Group plc, uses the STV brand for its two franchises of central and northern Scotland. The origins of ITV lie in the passing of the Television Act 1954, the act created the Independent Television Authority to heavily regulate the industry and to award franchises. The first six franchises were awarded in 1954 for London, the Midlands, the first ITV network to launch was Londons Associated-Rediffusion on 22 September 1955, with the Midlands and North services launching in February 1956 and May 1956 respectively. Following these launches, the ITA awarded more franchises until the country was covered by fourteen regional stations. Following the 1993 changes, ITV as a network began to consolidate with several companies doing so to save money by ceasing the duplication of services present when they were all separate companies. The ITV Network is not owned or operated by one company, since 2016 the fifteen licences are held by two companies, with the majority held by ITV Broadcasting Limited, part of ITV plc. The network is regulated by the media regulator Ofcom who is responsible for awarding the broadcast licences, the last major review of the Channel 3 franchises was in 1991, with all operators licences having been renewed between 1999 and 2002 and again from 2014 without a further contest. However, due to amalgamation of several of companies since the creation of ITV Network Limited. Approved by Ofcom, this results in ITV plc commissioning and funding the network schedule, all licensees have the right to opt out of network programming, however many do not due to pressures from the parent company or because of limited resources. The network also needs to produce accessible output containing subtitles, signing, in exchange for this programming, the ITV network is available on all platforms free to air and can be found at the top of the EPG of all providers. Since the launch of the platform in 1998, all of the ITV licensees have received gifted capacity on the terrestrial television platform. At present, the companies are able to broadcast additional channels and all choose to broadcast the ITV plc owned ITV2, ITV3, ITV4 and CITV in their region. UTV and STV previously broadcast their own services – UTV2 in Northern Ireland and S2 in central and northern Scotland – until 2002, the broadcasters all make use of the Digital 3&4 multiplex, shared with Channel 4
25.
Masakatsu Funaki
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Masakatsu Funaki is a Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler, who has previously wrestled in All Japan Pro Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling, PWFG, UWF and Wrestle-1. He is also the co-founder of Pancrase, one of the first mixed martial arts organizations and he is the only fighter in mixed martial arts to hold wins over both Shamrock brothers and Bas Rutten, and was the first man to win the King of Pancrase title twice. Funaki is widely considered to be one of the greatest Japanese fighters in mixed martial arts history. Sherdog. com ranked him as the #1 mixed martial artist in the world for the years 1996 and 1997, the son of a movie theater owner, Masaharu Funaki was exposed to martial arts films at an early age. He idolized Bruce Lee above all others, but also eagerly watched the films of Sammo Hung and his father would ultimately abandon young Funaki and his family. Instead of entering high school, he applied to New Japan Pro Wrestlings dojo and he was in the same class as Keiichi Yamada, Shinya Hashimoto, Minoru Suzuki, Masahiro Chono, and Chris Benoit. The New Japan Dojo had a reputation for being harsh on its trainees. However, Funaki stunned the New Japan trainers with his athleticism, timing, along with the former Olympic alternate Minoru Suzuki, Funaki formed a strong bond with the dojos head grappling instructor, Yoshiaki Fujiwara. Funaki debuted as a Jr. Heavyweight at the age of 15, and as such, the owner, Antonio Inoki, decided to shift the focus towards his heavyweight division which dominated the cards. He did, however have many matches with Naoki Sano and Keiichi Yamada and was the first person to take the Shooting Star Press from Yamada. In 1988, he wrestled an excursion in Europe, competing in Catch Wrestling Association in Austria and Germany, Funaki, seeing an opportunity to shine and showcase what he could do, wanted to follow. Maeda negotiated the acquisition of his, along with friend Suzuki, Funaki became a top draw and a nemesis to Akira Maeda. When Newborn UWF folded in December 1990, Funaki decided to sign with mentor Fujiwaras new Fujiwara Gumi promotion, Funaki left Fujiwara Gumi in 1993 to form the mixed martial arts promotion Pancrase. Funakis MMA career began when he founded Pancrase along with Minoru Suzuki, Funaki defeated Bas Rutten, Ken Shamrock, Frank Shamrock, Minoru Suzuki, and Guy Mezger. Frank Shamrock said, Funaki was like a mad scientist and he took the idea of submissions to an even higher level than the rest of the Japanese contingent. He had this desire to learn more and push his body harder. And as an entertainer he understood the need to entertain and this realization for the need to entertain often resulted in Funaki carrying some of their opponents during fights. In essence, in order to entertain the crowd, Funaki and Suzuki would occasionally give their opponents opportunities to create drama before finally finishing them off
26.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
27.
Stampede Wrestling
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Stampede Wrestling is a Canadian professional wrestling promotion based in Calgary, Alberta and was for nearly 50 years one of the main promotions in western Canada and the Canadian Prairies. Bought out by promoter Vince McMahon, the company was run by the World Wrestling Federation before being sold back to the Hart family the following year. Run by Bruce Hart until January 1990, he and Ross Hart reopened the promotion in 1999, Stampede Wrestling was operated by Stu Hart from 1948 to 1984. Longtime Stampede announcer Ed Whalen reportedly became distraught during the riot, in which a woman was trampled, speaking of the events he remarked, Were starting to scare the patrons with this violence outside the ring, and I will not be associated with it anymore. The event led to Stampede Wrestling being banned from Calgary for six months by the wrestling and boxing commission. In 1985, the WWF sold Stampede back to the Hart family, the promotion was reopened on April 2,1999 by Bruce and Ross Hart. Stampedes weekly shows were mostly at the Victoria Pavilion in Calgary. In the 1970s and early 1980s, Stampede Wrestling was one of the top wrestling promotions in Canada, one of its main legacies was its impact on the WWF. All these wrestlers later joined the WWF when it expanded across Canada, the British Bulldogs and the Hart Foundation were among the top tag teams in the WWF in the 1980s. Stampede Wrestling was the basis for a weekly sports broadcast produced in Calgary showcasing many of the promotions most popular wrestlers. Hosted by Ed Whalen most of its run, which went from 1957 to 1989, in early 1999, Bruce and Ross Hart reopened Stampede Wrestling after a nine-year hiatus showcasing graduates from the Hart Dungeon training school. However, only weeks after their first event, the once again became inactive following the death of Owen Hart in May. Although considering closing the promotion, the Hart family continued to promote events five months later, although successful, the Harts were forced to cancel several tours in late 2001 and early 2002 due to the arrival of a rival promotion backed by a Calgary businessman. The promotion also lost much of its due to its rival hiring away top stars. In 2005, promoters Bill Bell and Devon Nicholson took over operations for Stampede Wrestling. At that same event, longtime tag team partners TJ Wilson, earlier in 2007, Stampede Wrestling lost the use of the Ogden Legion which was their home base for the past number of years. Stampede Wrestling announced on their website that the promotion would begin to run at the Bowness Sportsplex with the first show being September 7,2007. Bruce and Ross Hart sold Stampede Wrestling to Bill Bell in 2007, the promotion ceased operations again in April 2008
28.
Calgary
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Calgary is a city in the Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated at the confluence of the Bow River and the Elbow River in the south of the province, in an area of foothills and prairie, the city anchors the south end of what Statistics Canada defines as the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor. The city had a population of 1,239,220 in 2016, making it Albertas largest city, also in 2016, Calgary had a metropolitan population of 1,392,609, making it the fourth-largest census metropolitan area in Canada. The Calgary CMA is home to the second-highest number of head offices in Canada among the countrys 800 largest corporations. In 1988, Calgary became the first Canadian city to host the Winter Olympic Games, Calgary was named after Calgary on the Isle of Mull, Scotland. In turn, the name originates from a compound of kald and gart, similar Old Norse words, meaning cold and garden, alternatively, the name might be Gaelic Cala ghearraidh, meaning beach of the meadow, or Gaelic for either clear running water or bay farm. The Calgary area was inhabited by people whose presence has been traced back at least 11,000 years. Before the arrival of Europeans, the area was inhabited by the Blackfoot, Blood, Peigan, in 1787, cartographer David Thompson spent the winter with a band of Peigan encamped along the Bow River. He was a Hudsons Bay Company trader and the first recorded European to visit the area, John Glenn was the first documented European settler in the Calgary area, in 1873. The site became a post of the North-West Mounted Police, the NWMP detachment was assigned in 1875 to protect the western plains from US whisky traders, and to protect the fur trade. Originally named Fort Brisebois, after NWMP officer Éphrem-A, Brisebois, it was renamed Fort Calgary in 1876 by Colonel James Macleod. When the Canadian Pacific Railway reached the area in 1883, over a century later, the Canadian Pacific Railway headquarters moved to Calgary from Montreal in 1996. Calgary was officially incorporated as a town in 1884, and elected its first mayor, in 1894, it was incorporated as The City of Calgary in what was then the North-West Territories. The Calgary Police Service was established in 1885 and assumed municipal, local duties from the NWMP, the Calgary Fire of 1886 occurred on November 7,1886. Fourteen buildings were destroyed with losses estimated at $103,200, although no one was killed or injured, city officials drafted a law requiring all large downtown buildings to be built with Paskapoo sandstone, to prevent this from happening again. After the arrival of the railway, the Dominion Government started leasing grazing land at minimal cost, as a result of this policy, large ranching operations were established in the outlying country near Calgary. Already a transportation and distribution hub, Calgary quickly became the centre of Canadas cattle marketing and meatpacking industries. By the late 19th century, the Hudsons Bay Company expanded into the interior and established posts along rivers that later developed into the cities of Winnipeg, Calgary
29.
Hart House (Alberta)
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The Hart House, sometimes known as the Hart mansion, is a residence located in the Patterson Heights neighbourhood of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Once owned by Stu Hart, it was home to his professional wrestling family. While no longer under ownership of the Harts, the continues to be referred to as the Hart House. Besides the Hart family the mansion also housed many other wrestlers as well as an abundance of family pets, in 2012 the building was declared a heritage site by the city of Calgary. The 5, 600-square-foot home, sitting on 2.17 acres of land, was built in 1905 by businessman Edward Crandell and it was converted into the Soldiers Childrens Home for Orphans in 1920 and then bought by Judge Henry Stuart Patterson from the Crandells. It was sold to Stu Hart in 1951 for $25,000, after the death of Stu Hart on October 16,2003, the ten remaining Hart siblings put the Hart mansion up for sale. Alison Hart gave several tours of the home to guests before finally handing down ownership of the $2 million home, in June 2006, preservation plans for the mansion were defused in a tied 7-7 vote, leaving it susceptible to demolition. In October, however, a plan was authorized for thirteen townhouses to be built around the mansion as well as its restoration. Construction was stated to begin in summer 2007, but these plans were never implemented, although the property went up for sale again in spring 2010, it was not sold. The Hart Dungeon was the gym and training used by Stu Hart and some of his sons to train wrestlers. Sports, Stories on The Hart Family IGN, Bret Hart Interview, pg.2
30.
Manga
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Manga are comics created in Japan or by creators in the Japanese language, conforming to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century. They have a long and complex pre-history in earlier Japanese art, the term manga in Japan is a word used to refer to both comics and cartooning. Manga as a term used outside Japan refers to comics published in Japan. In Japan, people of all ages read manga, many manga are translated into other languages. Since the 1950s, manga has become a major part of the Japanese publishing industry, representing a ¥406 billion market in Japan in 2007. Manga have also gained a significant worldwide audience, in Europe and the Middle East the market was worth $250 million in 2012. In 2008, in the U. S. and Canada, the market was valued at $175 million, the markets in France. Manga stories are printed in black-and-white, although some full-color manga exist. In Japan, manga are usually serialized in manga magazines, often containing many stories. If the series is successful, collected chapters may be republished in tankōbon volumes, frequently but not exclusively, a manga artist typically works with a few assistants in a small studio and is associated with a creative editor from a commercial publishing company. If a manga series is popular enough, it may be animated after or even during its run, sometimes manga are drawn centering on previously existing live-action or animated films. Manga-influenced comics, among original works, exist in parts of the world, particularly in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan. The word manga comes from the Japanese word 漫画, composed of the two kanji 漫 meaning whimsical or impromptu and 画 meaning pictures, rakuten Kitazawa first used the word manga in the modern sense. In Japanese, manga refers to all kinds of cartooning, comics, among English speakers, manga has the stricter meaning of Japanese comics, in parallel to the usage of anime in and outside Japan. The term ani-manga is used to describe comics produced from animation cels, writers on manga history have described two broad and complementary processes shaping modern manga. One view emphasizes events occurring during and after the U. S, occupation of Japan, and stresses U. S. cultural influences, including U. S. comics and images and themes from U. S. television, film, and cartoons. Regardless of its source, an explosion of artistic creativity certainly occurred in the period, involving manga artists such as Osamu Tezuka. Astro Boy quickly became popular in Japan and elsewhere
31.
Fist of the North Star
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Fist of the North Star is a Japanese manga series written by Buronson and illustrated by Tetsuo Hara. Serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1983 to 1988, the 245 chapters were collected in 27 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. Kenshiro dedicates his life to fighting against the various ravagers who threaten the lives of the weak and innocent, as well as martial artists. Several films, OVAs, and video games have been produced as well, the original manga was published in English by Viz Communications as a monthly comic book, and later by Gutsoon. Entertainment as a series of colorized graphic novels, although neither translation was completed, English adaptations of other Fist of the North Star media have been licensed to other companies, including the TV series and the 1986 film. In the 1990s, civilization was ruined as a result of a nuclear war. Kenshiro, successor to the ancient assassination art of Hokuto Shinken, wanders into a village in search of water when he is caught in a trap, in prison, he befriends a young orphaned girl named Rin who nursed him back to health. When the village is attacked by a gang and Rin is taken hostage by their leader, Ken breaks free from his cell and rescues Rin. Kenshiro leaves the village and continues his journey, now accompanied by a thief named Bat. He becomes involved against the King organization after witnessing the atrocities they have committed. Kenshiro emerges victorious in his rematch with Shin, only to find out from Shin that Yuria killed herself in despair, Shin, not wanting to die by Kenshiros hand, kills himself in the same manner. Kenshiro continues his journey, fighting against the Golan army, Jackals gang, Jagi seeks vengeance against Kenshiro by committing heinous crimes while impersonating him, seeking to defame Kenshiro, but is quickly exposed and eliminated. Just before dying, however, Jagi discloses to Kenshiro that their other two brothers-in-training are still alive, Kenshiro goes on to search for the second brother, a gentle healer named Toki, and learns that he is being kept prisoner in the dungeon city of Cassandra. After rescuing Toki, Kenshiro learns that Raoh, the eldest of the four brothers, has become a warlord known as Ken-Oh and is now seeking to conquer the post-apocalyptic world. Kenshiro goes on to challenge Raoh, but the grueling battle ends in a stalemate. After defeating Juda, Rei goes on to die, at peace with himself, with Raoh still recovering from his wounds, another warlord, the Nanto Hōōken successor Thouzer, proclaims himself as the Holy Emperor. Kenshiro joins a movement led by an old benefactor, the Nanto Hakuroken successor Shew. When Shew is captured and executed by Thouzer, Kenshiro confronts Thouzer, with Thouzer now gone, Raoh recovers from his wounds and goes on to resume his reign of conquest
32.
Owen Hart
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A member of the Hart wrestling family, he was born in Calgary, Alberta, the youngest of 12 children of Stampede Wrestling promoter and WWE Hall of Famer Stu Hart, and Helen Hart. He is considered by many of his peers to be one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, Owen was born on May 7,1965 in Calgary, Alberta into the Hart wrestling family and was the youngest child of Stu and Helen Hart. Hart grew up in a household with 11 siblings, Smith, Bruce, Keith, Wayne, Dean, Ellie, Georgia, Bret, Alison, Ross and he was of Greek descent through his maternal grandmother and Irish through his maternal grandfather. His father was mainly of Scots-Irish descent, but also had Scottish and English ancestry, Hart was a dual citizen of Canada and the United States since his mother Helen was born in New York. Hart first gained wrestling experience in the wrestling division at high school, through which he met his wife. Wrestling was not Harts first choice for a career, as Martha explained in her book Broken Harts, Owen is quoted as saying, in the WWEs Home Video Owen Hart of Gold that during his time in the University, he wrestled incognito as the original British Bulldog. Then, after he graduated from the University, he wrestled as Bronco Owen Hart at Royal Albert Hall in London and he remained with Stampede for the next couple of years while honing his skills. During 1986, Hart teamed with Ben Bassarab and won the Stampede Wrestling International Tag Team Championship, the success of the team and Harts in ring skills earned him Pro Wrestling Illustrateds Rookie of the Year Award in 1987. After he and Bassarab lost the tag title, he feuded with Johnny Smith. In 1987, Hart branched out to Japan where he wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling on several tours, in NJPW, he wrestled Keiichi Yamada, and later under the Jushin Liger gimmick. On May 27,1988, Hart defeated Hiroshi Hase for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and his reign would end nearly a month later, as he lost the title to Shiro Koshinaka on June 24,1988. Harts success in Japan and Stampedes working relationship with the World Wrestling Federation led to Hart signing with the company in the summer of 1988. Instead of promoting Owen as Bret Harts younger brother, the WWF decided to create a masked superhero type gimmick for him which played to his high-flying style, the Blazer was eliminated by Valentine, but his team went on to win the match. Shortly after WrestleMania, Hart left the WWF to tour the world both with and without the Blue Blazer gimmick and he also returned to Stampede, until it shut down in December 1989. In 1991, Hart lost the Blue Blazer mask in a mascara contra mascara match against Mexican wrestler El Canek, thus bidding farewell to the Blue Blazer gimmick. Hart debuted in World Championship Wrestlings self-titled TV show on March 16,1991, one of the bouts saw him team with Ricky Morton. Hart had been engaged in discussions with WCW but the deal was never struck, as Owen was not willing to move himself. Instead, he signed with the WWF for a second time, in the WWF the popular Hart Foundation, composed of his brother Bret and real-life brother-in-law Jim Neidhart, had split up, Bret set out on a singles career while Neidhart was used sparingly
33.
Shiro Koshinaka
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Shiro Koshinaka is a Japanese professional wrestler who has competed in All Japan Pro Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling and Wrestle Association R during the 1980s and 1990s. He was also the very first IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, after months of training, on March 5,1979, he debuted against one of his trainers, Kazuharu Sonoda. In 1983, Koshinaka defeated Mitsuharu Misawa to win the Lou Thesz Cup, his first tournament. In 1984, Koshinaka went on an excursion to Mexico, wrestling as Samurai Shiro in Empresa Mexicana de la Lucha Libre, where in July, he lost a Hair vs. Hair match to El Satanico. While AJPW pushed Misawa, the man Koshinaka beat to win the Lou Thesz Cup the year before, as the incarnation of Tiger Mask. Frustrated, Koshinaka left AJPW in August 1985, after his excursion in Mexico, Koshinaka joined New Japan Pro Wrestling in September 1985. On February 6,1986, he defeated The Cobra in a tournament to become the inaugural IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion, Koshinaka lost the title to Takada on May 19,1986, but regained the title exactly four months later on September 19,1986. On August 2,1987, Koshinaka vacated the Junior Heavyweight title due to an ankle injury and he tried again to wrest the Junior Heavyweight title from Hase on May 8,1988, but failed again. Finally, on June 24,1988, the time was the charm, as Koshinaka finally won his third. He would hold on to the title, before losing the title to Hase on March 16,1989, as a new decade began, Koshinaka graduated to the Heavyweight division. In August 1990, he went to Austria to Otto Wanzs Catch Wrestling Association to challenge Steve Wright for the CWA World Middleweight Championship, but failed, as he lost on the tenth round. Returning to Japan in September 1990, he was the very first opponent for Mutohs alter-ego, The Great Muta, in December 1991, Koshinaka and Kuniaki Kobayashi were involved in a violent feud with karatekas Akitoshi Saito and Masashi Aoyagi. After their feud ended in the summer of 1992, the four formed a stable that would eventually become Heisei Ishingun. Heisei Ishingun would also self-promote their own shows and they were also wrestle in WAR, which they feuded with several stars including Genichiro Tenryu, Ashura Hara, Takashi Ishikawa, Hiromichi Fuyuki, and Koki Kitahara, among others. In July 1998, he won his second IWGP Tag Team title and he and Tenryu would on to the titles until January 1999, when they lost the belts back to Tenzan and his new partner, Satoshi Kojima. After Heisei Ishingun disbanded, Koshinaka rebounded and regained the IWGP Tag Team titles in March 1999 and he and Sasaki held on to the belts until June 1999, when they lost the belts to The Mad Dogs. In the summer of 2000, AJPW and NJPW were working together after the Pro Wrestling Noah exodus nearly killed AJPW and this led Koshinaka to return to his home promotion after fifteen years. In January 2003, Koshinakas contract was not renewed by NJPW officials, since January 2003, Koshinaka has been a freelancer, wrestling for various promotions through Japan, both major and independent
34.
Best of the Super Juniors
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The Best of the Super Juniors is an annual professional wrestling tournament held by New Japan Pro-Wrestling, typically in May or June. The wrestlers in the tournament are typically junior heavyweight wrestlers from all over the world. NJPW has held 24 Super Juniors tournaments, Liger has participated in the most tournaments as he has wrestled in all tournaments except the 1995 and 2000 tournaments. His participation in the 2016 tournament marked his 25th Super Junior tournament, the tournament was formed in 1988 by NJPW. It was originally called the Top of the Super Juniors, the tournament is a round-robin style tournament where a wrestler scores points. The winner, assuming they are not already the champion, receives an opportunity to wrestle for the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship not long after the tournament is over, since 2010, the title match has taken place at June/Julys Dominion event. In 1994, the tournament was renamed to the Best of the Super Juniors, since 1996 the tournament has been divided into a two-block system used in many other puroresu tournaments. In this format the top two scorers in each block advance to the semifinals, at which point single-elimination rules take effect. During the round-robin portion, a win is worth two points, a draw is one, and a loss zero, all matches have a 30-minute time limit. The 1988 Top of the Super Juniors was a 12-man tournament held from January 4 to February 7, the points system at this time was different from todays, though exactly how is unclear. The two wrestlers with the most points at the end of the tournament, Shiro Koshinaka and Hiroshi Hase, faced off in a singles match to determine the winner. The winner, Koshinaka, went on to win the Junior Heavyweight Championship from Owen Hart on June 24,1988, after failing to win the title from Hiroshi Hase twice on March 19 and May 8. The 1991 Top of the Super Juniors was a tournament held from April 15 to April 30. The 1992 Top of the Super Juniors was a nine-man tournament, the winner, Jushin Thunder Liger, became the first man to win the tournament while holding the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship. The 1993 Top of the Super Juniors was an 11-man tournament held from May 26 to June 14, Pegasus became the first foreign wrestler to win the tournament as a result. He also went on to challenge the champion Liger unsuccessfully on August 8, Jushin Thunder Liger once again won while also the reigning Junior Heavyweight champion, and also became the first wrestler to win the tournament twice. Guest natives included Super Delfin and Taka Michinoku from Michinoku Pro Wrestling, the 1995 Best of the Super Juniors was a 10-man tournament held from June 23 to July 13. Like Jushin Thunder Liger the year prior, Wild Pegasus won the tournament for the second time, like in 1993, Pegasus failed in his championship challenge, this time against Koji Kanemoto on September 25,1995
35.
Anime
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Anime is Japanese hand-drawn or computer animation. The word is the pronunciation of animation in Japanese, where this term references all animation. Arguably, the abstract approach to the words meaning may open up the possibility of anime produced in countries other than Japan. For simplicity, many Westerners strictly view anime as a Japanese animation product, some scholars suggest defining anime as specifically or quintessentially Japanese may be related to a new form of orientalism. The earliest commercial Japanese animation dates to 1917, and Japanese anime production has continued to increase steadily. Anime is distributed theatrically, by way of television broadcasts, directly to home media and it is classified into numerous genres targeting diverse broad and niche audiences. Anime is an art form with distinctive production methods and techniques that have been adapted over time in response to emergent technologies. It consists of an ideal story-telling mechanism, combining art, characterization, cinematography. The production of anime focuses less on the animation of movement and more on the realism of settings as well as the use of effects, including panning, zooming. Being hand-drawn, anime is separated from reality by a gap of fiction that provides an ideal path for escapism that audiences can immerse themselves into with relative ease. Diverse art styles are used and character proportions and features can be quite varied, the anime industry consists of over 430 production studios, including major names like Studio Ghibli, Gainax, and Toei Animation. Despite comprising only a fraction of Japans domestic film market, anime makes up a majority of Japanese DVD sales and it has also seen international success after the rise of English-dubbed programming. This rise in popularity has resulted in non-Japanese productions using the anime art style. Anime is an art form, specifically animation, that all genres found in cinema. In Japanese, the term refers to all forms of animation from around the world. In English, anime is more used to denote a Japanese-style animated film or television entertainment or as a style of animation created in Japan. The etymology of the anime is disputed. The English term animation is written in Japanese katakana as アニメーション and is アニメ in its shortened form, in English, anime—when used as a common noun—normally functions as a mass noun
36.
Superhero
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A female superhero is sometimes called a superheroine. Fiction centered on characters, especially in American comic books since the 1930s, is known as superhero fiction. By most definitions, characters do not require actual supernatural or superhuman powers or phenomena to be deemed superheroes, some superheroes use their powers to counter daily crime while also combating threats against humanity from supervillains, who are their criminal counterparts. Often at least one of these supervillains will be the superheros archenemy, some long-running superheroes such as Iron Man, Captain America, Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Spider-Man have a rogues gallery of many villains. The word superhero dates to at least 1917, antecedents of the archetype include such folkloric heroes as Robin Hood, who adventured in distinctive clothing. The 1903 play The Scarlet Pimpernel and its spinoffs popularized the idea of a masked avenger, during the 1940s there were many superheroes, and only a few of these were female. The Flash, Green Lantern and Blue Beetle debuted in this era, most of the other female costumed crime-fighters during this era lacked superpowers. The most iconic comic book superheroine, who debuted during the Golden Age, is Wonder Woman, inspired by the Amazons of Greek mythology, she was created by psychologist William Moulton Marston, with help and inspiration from his wife Elizabeth and their mutual lover Olive Byrne. Wonder Womans first appearance was in All Star Comics #8, published by All-American Publications, in 1952, Osamu Tezukas manga Tetsuwan Atom was published. The series focused upon a robot boy built by a scientist to replace his deceased son, the 1950s saw the Silver Age of Comics. During this era DC introduced the likes of Batwoman in 1956, Supergirl, Miss Arrowette,1958 saw the debut of superhero Moonlight Mask on Japanese television. In 1963, Astro Boy was adapted into a highly influential anime television series, Phantom Agents in 1964 focused on ninjas working for the Japanese government and would be the foundation for Sentai-type series. Another important event was the debut of Mazinger Z by Go Nagai, Go Nagai also wrote the manga Cutey Honey in 1973, although the Magical Girl genre already existed, Nagais manga introduced Transformation sequences that would become a staple of Magical Girl media. The dark Skull Man manga would later get a television adaptation, the protagonist was redesigned resemble a grasshopper, becoming the renowned first masked hero of the Kamen Rider series. Kamen Rider is a motorcycle riding hero in an insect-like costume, both major publishers began introducing new superheroines with a more distinct feminist theme as part of their origin stories or character development. Examples include Big Barda, Power Girl, and the Huntress by DC comics, and from Marvel, the second Black Widow, Shanna the She-Devil, and The Cat. In 1975 Shotaro Ishinomoris Himitsu Sentai Gorenger debuted on what is now TV Asahi, it brought the concepts of multi-colored teams, in 1978, Toei adapted Spider-Man into a live-action series. In subsequent decades, popular characters like Dazzler, She-Hulk, Elektra, Catwoman, Witchblade, Spider-Girl, Batgirl, volume 4 of the X-Men comic book series featured an all-female team as part of the Marvel NOW. branding initiative in 2013
37.
Go Nagai
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Kiyoshi Nagai, better known by the penname Go Nagai, is a Japanese manga artist and a prolific author of science fiction, fantasy, horror and erotica. He made his debut in 1967 with Meakashi Polikichi, but is best known for creating Cutie Honey, Devilman. He also pioneered the genre with Harenchi Gakuen. He is credited with creating the Super Robot genre and for designing the first mecha robots piloted by a user from within a cockpit with Mazinger Z, in 2005, he became a Character Design professor at the Osaka University of Arts. Since 2009, he is a member of Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prizes nominating committee, Go Nagai was born on September 6,1945 —in the Ishikawa Prefecture city of Wajima. He is the son of Yoshio and Fujiko Nagai, and the fourth of five brothers and his family had just returned from Shanghai. While he was still in his childhood, he along with his mother. As a child, he was influenced by the work of Gustave Doré, after he graduated from the Metropolitan Itabashi High School of Tokyo, he entered the world of manga. While passing his ronin year in a school in order to aim at the Waseda University. Aware of his own mortality, he wanted to leave evidence that he had lived, by doing something that he liked as a child. He was determined to one work of manga in what he thought were his last months. As Nagai prepared for the task, he went to the hospital, where he was diagnosed with catarrh of the colon, but this was the turning point in his life. Convinced that he would continue working on manga, he stopped attending school after three months and started living as a ronin, with the help of his brother Yasutaka, he created his first manga works. Aiming to be a manga artist, despite the fact that his mother opposed his manga career and it is said that when the young Nagai submitted his tables to publishers, his mother secretly convinced publishers to reject them. However, his work was noticed by Shōnen Sunday, which contacted Shotaro Ishinomori, thanks to some trial manga he created with the help of his brother Yasutaka, he was finally accepted in the studio of Ishinomori in 1965. The trial manga was about a science fiction ninja, and was a prototype for a different story, Kuro no Shishi. Nagai was 19 years old when he made this work, it started at 15 or 16 pages and ended up being 88 pages long after a year, and was untitled at that time. Ishinomori saw this work and praised Nagai for it, but commented that the design was too chunky and his professional career began in 1967, despite the opposition of his mother
38.
Tiger Mask
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Tiger Mask is a Japanese manga series written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Naoki Tsuji. The series was first published in Kodanshas Bokura Magazine from 1968 to 1971 and was published in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 1970 to 1971. It was later adapted into a series by Toei Animation which first aired on Yomiuri TV on October 2,1969 and ended its run on September 30,1971. In real life, the name has been used by a succession of Japanese professional wrestling characters as a gimmick. The Tiger Mask persona is instantly recognizable by its trademark mask, designed to look like a head, as well as the combination of high flying attacks. In the manga and anime, Tiger Mask was a heel wrestler in America who was extremely vicious in the ring. However, he became a face after returning to Japan when a boy said that he wanted to be a villain like Tiger Mask when he grew up. The boy resided in an orphanage, the one that Tiger Mask grew up in during his childhood. Feeling that he did not want the boy to idolize a villain, Tiger Mask was once a member of the Tigers Den under the name Yellow Devil, but no longer wanted anything to do with them, instead donating his money to the orphanage. This infuriated the leader of the organization and he sent numerous assassins, including other professional wrestlers, in Tiger Mask II, Naoto dies while saving a child, pushing him out of the path of a speeding car. The story begins with a new opponent called Outer Space Mask who bullies his way into the ring without representing any wrestling federation, tatsuo Aku, once an orphan child from the house of the children, was a fan of Naoto. He would put on his old heros mask to become the new Tiger Mask, Boss / Miracle 3 / Tiger The Great Voiced by, Taimei Suzuki The Boss is the leader of the Tigers Den. He makes his first appearance disguised as the unbelievably strong fighter Miracle 3, Miracle 3 wins every fight in a clear and correct way, studying Tiger Mask style against some fighters chosen by him. The night of September 3,1971, when he fights with Tiger Mask, he reassumes his old name. Tiger The Great is too strong even for Naoto, the match rapidly becomes a brutal beatdown, culminating when Tiger The Great rips the mask off Naotos face with a broken wood board. This act snaps the already fragile mind of Naoto, driving him to an escalation of violence that only with the death of Tiger The Great. Big Tiger Voiced by, Yonehiko Kitagawa Black Tiger Voiced by, Kenji Nakagawa King Tiger Voiced by and he was considered the strongest fighter ever. He was forced to retire because nobody was capable to fight him on an even basis, adding to his considerable technique, King Tiger is the absolute master of illegal moves
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Tokusatsu
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Tokusatsu is any Japanese live-action film or television drama that features considerable use of special effects. Tokusatsu entertainment often deals with science fiction, fantasy or horror, some tokusatsu television programs combine several of these subgenres, for example the Ultraman and Super Sentai series. Tokusatsu is one of the most popular forms of Japanese entertainment, tokusatsu has origins in early Japanese theater, specifically in kabuki and in bunraku, which used some of the earliest forms of special effects, specifically puppetry. Modern tokusatsu, however, did not begin to take shape until the early 1950s, with the conceptual and creative birth of Godzilla, the special effects artist Eiji Tsuburaya and the director Ishirō Honda became the driving forces behind 1954s Godzilla. Godzilla forever changed the landscape of Japanese science fiction, fantasy, however, in 1957 Shintoho produced the first film serial featuring the superhero character Super Giant, signaling a shift in popularity that favored masked heroes over giant monsters. Along with the anime Astro Boy, the Super Giant serials had an effect on the world of tokusatsu. The following year, Moonlight Mask premiered, the first of numerous televised superhero dramas that would make up one of the most popular tokusatsu subgenres, suitmation in Japanese identifies the process in tokusatsu movies and television programs used to portray a monster using suit acting. The exact origin of the remains unknown. At the least, it was used to promote the Godzilla suit from The Return of Godzilla, the many productions of tokusatsu series have general themes common. Kaiju productions primarily feature monsters, or giant monsters, such series include Ultra Q, the Godzilla films, the Gamera series, the Daimajin series, and films such as Frankenstein Conquers the World, War of the Gargantuas, and The X from Outer Space. Kaijin productions primarily feature a supervillain as their central character and this category includes films such as The Secret of the Telegian, The Human Vapor, The H-Man, Half Human, and Tomei Ningen. Since about 1960, several long-running television series have combined other themes, Tsuburaya Productions has had the Ultra Series starting with Ultra Q and Ultraman in 1966. P Productions began their foray into tokusatsu in 1966 with the series Ambassador Magma and they also had involvement in the Lion-Maru series that concluded in November 2006. Toei Company has several series that fall under their Toei Superheroes category of programming, starting in 1961 with the single series, Moonlight Mask. Toei also produced several television series based on Ishinomoris works, including Android Kikaider and Kikaider 01, Robot Detective, Inazuman and Inazuman Flash. Toei was involved in the Spider-Man television series, which influenced their subsequent Super Sentai series, in 2003, TV Asahi began broadcasting the Super Sentai and Kamen Rider series in a one-hour block known as Super Hero Time. Toho, the creators of Godzilla, had their hands in creating the Chouseishin Series of programs from 2003 to 2006, Toeis tokusatsu productions were not limited to action-oriented superheroes and robots. Robocon, featuring friendly robot-suited actors, were successful, in 2006, Keita Amemiyas Garo, a mature late-night tokusatsu drama was released, starting a franchise composed of television series and films
40.
Tokyo Dome
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Tokyo Dome is a stadium in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. Construction on the stadium began on May 16,1985, and it was built on the site of the Velodrome, adjacent to the predecessor ballpark, Kōrakuen Stadium. It has a total capacity of 55,000 depending on configuration. Tokyo Domes original nickname was The Big Egg, with calling it the Tokyo Big Egg. Its dome-shaped roof is a structure, a flexible membrane held up by slightly pressurizing the inside of the stadium. It became the first Japanese venue with an American football attendance above 50,000 and it is also the location of the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame which chronicles the history of baseball in Japan. The Tokyo Dome was developed by Nikken Sekkei and Takenaka Corporation, Tokyo Dome is part of a greater entertainment complex known as Tokyo Dome City, built of the grounds of the former Tokyo Koishikawa arsenal. Tokyo Dome City includes an amusement park and Tokyo Dome City Attractions and this amusement park occupies the former Korakuen Stadium site and includes a roller coaster named Thunder Dolphin and a hubless Ferris wheel. Mariah Careys three sold out shows at the Dome during her 1996 Daydream World Tour on March 7,10 and 14 set records when all 150,000 tickets sold in under 3 hours. She later performed at the Dome for 4 nights during her 1998 Butterfly World Tour on January 11,14,17,20 and 2 nights during her 2000 Rainbow World Tour on March 7 and 9. Overall, Carey performed at the Tokyo Dome 9 sold out concerts to date and she holds the record for the most number of shows performed at the venue for a female solo artist, both in her country of origin and international. The second is Janet Jackson with a total of 8 shows, mick Jagger was the first international act to play in the Tokyo Dome on March 22 and 23,1988. Bon Jovi followed suit and played at the Tokyo Dome on 31 December 1988, the band has since performed total of 19 concerts at Tokyo Dome, most recently in 2010 as part of The Circle Tour. American singer Janet Jackson performed at the Dome in 1990, selling out four shows in 7 minutes and this record was later surpassed by Japanese rock band LArc~en~Ciel. The stadium played host to Amnesty Internationals Human Rights Now, benefit Concert on September 27,1988. After an 11-year absence in Japan, he performed again in the Tokyo Dome for three nights in November 2013 and another 3 nights in April 2015 during the Out There, Tour, for a total of 18 performances at the venue. The Rolling Stones performed 10 concerts at the stadium during Steel Wheels/Urban Jungle Tour, later they performed seven concerts during the Voodoo Lounge Tour in 1995. The band returned to Japan in 1998 to play four more concerts, part of the Bridges to Babylon Tour then again in 2003, after three years, the band returned in 2006 to perform two more shows at the venue as part of their A Bigger Bang Tour
41.
Tatsuhito Takaiwa
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Tatsuhito Takaiwa is a Zainichi-Korean professional wrestler. Takaiwa is one of the more well-traveled junior heavyweights in Japan, having wrestled for New Japan and he formed a successful tag team with Shinjiro Otani during the 1990s and won the IWGP Jr Heavyweight Tag Titles in 1998 and 1999. On February 15,2009, Takaiwa debuted as the fifth Black Tiger, breaking the Black Tiger tradition of foreigners under the mask, by attacking Tiger Mask. On June 20,2009, at Dominion 6.20 Tiger Mask defeated him in a mask vs. mask match and afterwards Takaiwa revealed his identity by removing his mask. Takaiwa lost his mask as Black Tiger V for the time on May 14,2011. Despite losing his mask twice, Takaiwa continues to make appearances as Black Tiger V, tatsuhito Takaiwa at the Internet Movie Database
