50 Fun Facts About New Japan Pro-Wrestling

Which boxing legend did NJPW founder Antonio Inoki fight to a 15-round draw in Tokyo in June 1976?

Muhammad Ali took 107 kicks to the legs because Inoki spent most of the bout on his back, a tactic the hastily agreed rules allowed.

In which country did NJPW and WCW stage a two-night 1995 show that drew wrestling's largest ever crowds?

North Korea filled Pyongyang's May Day Stadium with claimed crowds of 165,000 and 190,000, who watched Antonio Inoki face Ric Flair in the finale.

Which American star beat Antonio Inoki in the 1983 final of NJPW's first IWGP tournament?

Hulk Hogan won by knockout, but that version of the title was later abandoned, so NJPW's official lineage begins in 1987 with Inoki as its first champion.

In which country did NJPW founder Antonio Inoki stage a 1990 wrestling show to help free Japanese hostages?

Iraq freed 36 of its 41 Japanese captives after Inoki, then a member of Japan's upper house, went to negotiate with Saddam Hussein before the Gulf War.

Which venue has hosted NJPW's biggest show of the year every January 4 since 1992?

The Tokyo Dome tradition began in 1992 with a joint card with America's WCW, and the show has been branded Wrestle Kingdom since 2007.

Which former WWE and future UFC champion won the IWGP Heavyweight title in his first NJPW match in 2005?

Brock Lesnar never lost the title in the ring: NJPW stripped him in 2006 when he refused to defend it, and he kept the physical belt.

Which NJPW stable of foreign villains did Irish wrestler Prince Devitt found in May 2013?

Bullet Club outlasted its founder, who left NJPW in April 2014 and resurfaced in WWE as Finn Bálor.

Which NJPW star, nicknamed the Rainmaker, held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for a record 720 days?

Kazuchika Okada defended the title twelve times in that reign, which ended in a 65-minute two-out-of-three-falls match in June 2018.

Which Canadian NJPW star named his One-Winged Angel finisher after Final Fantasy VII's villain Sephiroth?

Kenny Omega also took his V-Trigger knee strike from Street Fighter V, and in 2017 he became the first IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion.

Which masked NJPW junior heavyweight of the early 1980s was licensed from the hero of a 1968 manga?

Tiger Mask was first played by Satoru Sayama, who walked out of NJPW in 1983 because he hated wrestling's backstage politics.

Which eight-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion became NJPW's president in December 2023 while still wrestling?

Hiroshi Tanahashi ran the company and kept wrestling for two more years before retiring in the ring on January 4, 2026.

Which WWE veteran became the first to hold both the WWE and NJPW Intercontinental titles in June 2018?

Chris Jericho's NJPW comeback at Wrestle Kingdom 12 earlier that year was the first match of his career to earn five stars from the Wrestling Observer.

Which former TNA star joined NJPW in April 2014 and won the IWGP Heavyweight title a month later?

AJ Styles won the belt at Wrestling Dontaku, held it twice, and signed with WWE in January 2016, debuting days later in the Royal Rumble.

Which masked NJPW junior heavyweight took his look in 1989 from an anime superhero created by Go Nagai?

Jushin Liger won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title a record 11 times and entered the WWE Hall of Fame in 2020, the year he retired.

Which NJPW heavyweight tournament, first held in August 1991, is usually fought as a summer round-robin?

From 2012 the G1 Climax winner earned a contract for a world title shot at NJPW's biggest show, kept in a briefcase much like WWE's Money in the Bank.

Which wrestler founded NJPW's Los Ingobernables de Japón in 2015 after a tour with Mexico's CMLL?

Tetsuya Naito had once been so coldly received that a fan vote bumped his title match from the main event of NJPW's biggest show.

Which three-time IWGP Heavyweight Champion left NJPW in 2016 and became a two-time NXT Champion in WWE?

Shinsuke Nakamura, once nicknamed Super Rookie, first won the IWGP title in 2003 at the age of 23 years and 9 months.

Which WCW faction gained a Japanese branch in NJPW after Masahiro Chono joined it in late 1996?

The New World Order's Japanese wing held the IWGP Heavyweight title three times, including a reign for American powerhouse Scott Norton.

Which former Los Angeles Rams lineman won the IWGP Heavyweight title three times as a masked NJPW monster?

Big Van Vader was drafted by the Rams in 1978 as a center and earned an NFC championship ring in his second season.

What name is given to the annual supershow NJPW has co-promoted with All Elite Wrestling since 2022?

Forbidden Door borrows a phrase AEW used for working with rival companies; the first show was held at Chicago's United Center in June 2022.

Which NJPW stable formed in 2009 when most of Great Bash Heel turned on their leader Togi Makabe?

Chaos began when Toru Yano cost his own leader a match in April 2009, and the group lasted until it disbanded in March 2025.

Which NJPW stable invaded Pro Wrestling Noah in 2015 and won all four of its titles within two months?

Suzuki-gun started life as Kojima-gun, until its members turned on founder Satoshi Kojima in 2011 and made Minoru Suzuki their leader.

Which NJPW stable, formed in October 2020, has counted Great-O-Khan, Jeff Cobb and Aaron Henare as members?

United Empire was first called simply The Empire, and Great-O-Khan took his ring name from Genghis Khan of the Mongol Empire.

Which NJPW stable did Evil form in September 2021, recruiting Sho after he turned on tag partner Yoh?

House of Torture came together at the MetLife Dome on September 4, 2021, right after Sho beat Yoh there, with Dick Togo and Yujiro Takahashi completing the group.

Which NJPW tag team did brothers Tama Tonga and Tanga Loa, sons of WWF veteran Haku, form in 2016?

Guerrillas of Destiny won the IWGP Tag Team Championship seven times before the brothers left NJPW in 2024.

What name did one of NJPW's Three Musketeers use for a mist-spitting, face-painted alter ego that was a hit in WCW?

The Great Muta was Keiji Muto, introduced to American fans as the son of the Great Kabuki, a villain his manager Gary Hart had handled years earlier.

Which trading card game company bought NJPW from Yuke's in January 2012 for 500 million yen?

Bushiroad turned its wrestlers into a best-selling card game, King of Pro Wrestling, and owned NJPW until selling its shares in 2026.

What name is given to the combat-sport approach to wrestling that Antonio Inoki built NJPW around?

Strong style was shaped by catch wrestlers such as Lou Thesz and Billy Robinson, and it treats a match as a real contest.

Which NJPW star popularised the Sasori-gatame, known in English as the Scorpion Deathlock or Sharpshooter?

Riki Choshu wrestled at the 1972 Olympics before turning professional, and he later ran NJPW's matches as its booker.

Which NJPW legend, nicknamed The Dragon, is credited with inventing the dragon sleeper and the dragon suplex?

Tatsumi Fujinami was named NJPW's president in 1999, only to be ousted in 2004, and he now sits in the WWE Hall of Fame.

What name does NJPW give its rookies, who wrestle in plain black trunks and boots and lose most matches?

Young Lions are traditionally sent to a foreign promotion to gain international experience as the last step of their training.

Which NJPW star completed the Three Musketeers alongside Keiji Muto and Masahiro Chono?

Shinya Hashimoto formed the trio with them in Puerto Rico in 1988, and the three went on to dominate NJPW in the 1990s.

Which Olympic gold medallist held a disputed IWGP Heavyweight title that NJPW called the IWGP 3rd Belt?

Kurt Angle won that belt in 2007 at the first show of Antonio Inoki's breakaway promotion and lost it in a unification match in 2008.

Which K-1 star and former NFL draft pick won NJPW's IWGP Heavyweight Championship in March 2004?

Bob Sapp, a third-round pick of the Chicago Bears in 1997, had made his wrestling debut only two years before he beat Kensuke Sasaki for the belt.

Which former sumo wrestler, hailed as the father of Japanese pro wrestling, trained NJPW founder Antonio Inoki?

Rikidōzan reached sekiwake, sumo's third-highest rank, before switching to wrestling, and the WWE Hall of Fame inducted him in 2017, decades after his death.

Which rival promotion did Giant Baba found in October 1972, months after Antonio Inoki launched NJPW?

All Japan Pro Wrestling took many wrestlers with Baba and was soon competing with NJPW to be the largest promotion in the country.

Which comedian and film director fronted a wrestling 'army' whose NJPW debut in 1987 ended in a fan riot?

Takeshi Kitano's recruit beat a worn-down Antonio Inoki, and the crowd's fury got NJPW banned from Sumo Hall, its home arena.

Which New Zealander returned to NJPW in 2017 as Switchblade and became its first Grand Slam Champion?

Jay White made his NJPW debut in January 2015 as a dojo trainee and went on to win its top heavyweight title twice before leaving for AEW.

Which English wrestler, the second leader of TMDK, won NJPW's premier singles tournament in 2024?

Zack Sabre Jr. was only the second foreign-born winner, and he took his world title shot that October instead of waiting for Wrestle Kingdom.

Which annual NJPW tournament for lighter wrestlers did Hiromu Takahashi win in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022?

Best of the Super Juniors began in 1988 as Top of the Super Juniors, and its winner earns a shot at the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title.

Which NJPW wrestler needed emergency surgery after a 2017 title match, then ran its Los Angeles dojo?

Katsuyori Shibata's subdural hematoma was blamed on the headbutt he had made a signature move since the summer of 2016.

Which Belgian-born 'God of Wrestling' faced Antonio Inoki in the main event of NJPW's first show in 1972?

Karl Gotch also taught Inoki his bridging German suplex, and their talks in Philadelphia in January 1972 led to NJPW's creation.

Which Englishman became the first British holder of NJPW's top title in 2021, only to vacate it through injury?

Will Ospreay earned the title shot by winning the 2021 New Japan Cup, and he left NJPW for AEW when his contract ended in 2024.

Which wrestler became the first IWGP World Heavyweight Champion in 2021 after asking NJPW to merge two titles?

Kota Ibushi had won both of NJPW's top singles belts at Wrestle Kingdom 15 that January, then campaigned for them to be unified.

Which wrestler, formerly WWE's Dean Ambrose, won the IWGP United States title on his NJPW debut in June 2019?

Jon Moxley held that belt twice and set the record for its longest reign, all while wrestling for AEW in America.

Which New York venue did NJPW and Ring of Honor sell out for a joint supershow in April 2019?

Madison Square Garden had not hosted a wrestling show by a promoter outside the McMahon family since 1960, and the last tickets went in 16 minutes.

Which NJPW title is named after a 2010 event series that showcased younger talent and outside wrestlers?

NEVER Openweight takes its first word from an acronym: New Blood, Evolution, Valiantly, Eternal, Radical.

What do the letters IWGP stand for in the names of NJPW's championships?

International Wrestling Grand Prix is the governing body NJPW created for itself, and its heavyweight title began as a 1983 tournament prize.

Which Japanese network, called NET TV when it signed NJPW in 1973, became the company's parent in 2026?

TV Asahi had long been a minority shareholder before it and an internet company bought out the previous owner's 70 percent stake.

To which South American country did NJPW founder Antonio Inoki emigrate with his family at the age of 14?

Brazil is where the teenage Inoki worked twelve-hour shifts on a coffee plantation and won national titles in shot put and discus.