New Japan Pro Wrestling: Quick Guide to the King of Sports
New Japan Pro Wrestling is becoming one of the most popular sports entertainment brands. It is a promotional brand that has been around since 1972.
As professional wrestling grows , promotions such as new japan are becoming one of the preferred go to sports entertainment brands.
You may have seen New Japan Pro Wrestling but did not know. New Japan has worked and has been involved with WWE, WCW, TNA, GFW, and other promotions.
Several titles were abandoned after the relationship between WWF(WWE) ended in 1985.
When it comes to talent and contracts. Talent can sign multi year deals but contracts do expire at the end of January, this became common since 1980.
Acronym Meaning:
IWGP– International Wrestling Grand Prix
NEVER– acronym of “New Blood”, “Evolution”, “Valiantly”, “Eternal”, and “Radical” features up and coming talent and outside wrestlers not signed to the promotion.
Unit=Faction/team/group
Current Active Titles
- The IWGP Intercontinental Championship
- The IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship
- The NEVER Open weight Championship
- The IWGP Tag Team Championship
- The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship
- The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship
- The NEVER Open weight 6-Man Tag Team Championship
The streaming video service for New Japan Pro Wrestling is on ¥999 per month on select devices.
Length of matches:
Title Matches: 60 Minutes
Non-Title Matches: 20-30 Minutes
Preliminary Matches: 10 Minutes
Wrestlers can win via pin fall, submission, count out, or disqualification.
Draws and count outs can occur but it rarely happens.
Count out go to 20 instead of 10.
Tournaments
G1 CLIMAX
Annual tournament held in the late summer. G1 last a month long. G1 Climax features 2 blocks of 10 opponents. The winner receives a title match contact with in a briefcase which can be cashed in at any time for a championship. It is the longest running tournament.
WORLD TAG LEAGUE
G1 Tag League, this late autumn tournament usually gives the victors an IWGP Heavyweight Tag Title match at Wrestle Kingdom.
NEW JAPAN CUP
Elimination tournament for the New Japan Cup. NJPW selects 16 of the top contenders to decide a main event for April’s Invasion Attack PPV. The tournament winner can choose to compete for any of the titles listed.
BEST OF THE SUPER JUNIORS
Summer Tournament with two groups, the winners of each group go on to wrestle each other in the final.
SUPER JUNIOR TAG TOURNAMENT
Tournament began in 2010 to determine which team will be the IWGP Junior Heavyweight tag champions.
YOUNG LION CUP
Known as the tournament for the rookie wrestlers.
Events
WRESTLE KINGDOM
NJPW’s biggest show of the year. The event has taken place in Tokyo Dome in January ever since 1992.
NEW BEGINNING
Split in two nights. Matches are usually between NJPW and CMLL wrestlers. The events aren’t shown on Pay Per View, and don’t effect the progress in main NJPW storylines.
SAKURA GENESIS
Stories continue to lead into Invasion or Dontaku.
HINOKUNI
Stories continue to lead into Invasion or Dontaku.
INVASION ATTACK
Features the winner of New Japan Cup going up against the champion of his choosing.
WRESTLING DONTAKU
On a Japan holiday known as dontaku. A 2-Night tournament.
ROH/NJPW GLOBAL WARS
Most common in the US. Features NJPW and Ring of Honor wrestlers.
DOMINION
IWGP Heavyweight Championship is defended in the main event.
G1 CLIMAX FINAL
Final tournament match.
DESTRUCTION
Where the main prize is to be featured in King of Pro Wrestling.
KING OF PRO-WRESTLING
My personal favorite. This sets the tone or stage for the next Wrestle Kingdom.
POWER STRUGGLE
Final PPV for the year. Often aired in November. Where all of the championships are settled leading to Wrestle Kingdom.
I know that NJPW is a style that is new for some people. Japanese strong style is more of a rugged style compared to what you may see in the states. However, the promotion is not limited to Japanese Strong Style, some of the talent is skilled in mixture of different styles. If you never have seen it, you are in for a real treat as a wrestling fan. Now there are some events that are not listed above. The ones that are not listed are some that are considered collaborated events with ROH (Ring Of Honor).
Now, I hope this helps you in your discovery of New Japan Pro Wrestling known as the King of Sports. Go check it out you get a free trial or you can check out some matches on youtube, but you get a fantastic amount of content with the subscription.
I am Ashley Rose now on BodySlam.net signing out.
