All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW/AJP) or simply All Japan is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established on October 21, 1972, when Giant Baba split away from the Japanese Wrestling Association and created his own promotion. Many wrestlers had left with Baba, with many more joining the following year when JWA folded. From the mid-1970s, All Japan was firmly established as the largest promotion in Japan. As the 1990s began, aging stars gave way to a younger generation including Mitsuharu Misawa, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, Kenta Kobashi, Gary Albright, Toshiaki Kawada, Mike Barton, Akira Taue and Jun Akiyama, leading to perhaps AJPW's most profitable period in the 1990s.
International Wrestling Enterprise was a professional wrestling promotion in Japan from 1966 to 1981. Founded by Isao Yoshihara, it was affiliated with the American Wrestling Association in the United States and also had tie-ins with promotions in Canada and Europe. In 1972, it became the first Japanese promotion to bring European wrestler André the Giant to the country. The promotion cooperated with All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and later, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW); the three promotions later came together for an interpromotional event, organized by Tokyo Sports, held at Budokan Hall on August 26, 1979.
Kenta Kobashi is a Japanese professional wrestling promoter and retired professional wrestler. He started his career in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in 1988, where he became one of the promotion's top stars, holding the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship three times, and winning the Champion Carnival in 2000. Kobashi left All Japan in June 2000, taking part in a mass exodus led by Mitsuharu Misawa, which led to the formation of Pro Wrestling Noah.
Satoshi Kojima is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is currently signed to both New Japan Pro-Wrestling and Major League Wrestling (MLW), where he is the current MLW World Heavyweight Champion in his second reign and a former one-time MLW World Tag Team Champion. He also makes appearances for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). Considered to be one of the greatest Japanese professional wrestlers of the 21st century and of all-time, he was the first wrestler to hold NJPW's IWGP Heavyweight Championship and AJPW's Triple Crown Championship simultaneously, the fourth to win the three major heavyweight championships in Japan with the Triple Crown Heavyweight, IWGP Heavyweight, and Noah's GHC Heavyweight Championship, and one of three wrestlers to hold the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Triple Crown Championship, and NWA Worlds Heavyweight Championship, and is an overall eight-time world champion in major professional wrestling promotions.
Houston Harris was an American professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Bobo Brazil. Credited with breaking down barriers of racial segregation in professional wrestling, Harris is considered one of the first black professional wrestlers.
Steve Regal is an American retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the American Wrestling Association.
Dragongate Japan Pro-Wrestling, often referred to simply as Dragongate or Dragon Gate, is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion founded and headquartered in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture. Most of the promotion's wrestlers are graduates of its Dojo or Yoshihiro "Último Dragón" Asai's Toryumon Gym, and thus the promotion is based on a junior heavyweight style with varying emphasis on high flying maneuvers, flashy technical grappling, and submission wrestling. The promotion is the byproduct of the original Japanese Toryumon promotion.
Tomomi "Tommy" Tsuruta, better known by his ring name Jumbo Tsuruta, was a Japanese professional wrestler who wrestled for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) for most of his career, and is well known for being the first ever Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, having won the PWF Heavyweight Championship, the NWA United National Championship, and the NWA International Heavyweight Championship, and unifying the three titles. He is also known for being one-half of the first World Tag Team Champions with Yoshiaki Yatsu, having won the NWA International Tag Team Championship and the PWF Tag Team Championship, and unifying the two titles.
Papali'itele Max Amata Taogaga is a Samoan retired professional wrestler. He is best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) in the late-1980s under the ring name Siva Afi.
Frank Sexton was an American professional wrestler in the early to mid-twentieth century. Along with Orville Brown, Bill Longson, and Lou Thesz, he was one of the biggest stars of the 1940s. A multiple-time world champion, his most significant run was as the Boston American Wrestling Association (AWA) World Heavyweight Champion from June 27, 1945 until May 23, 1950, when he lost the championship to Don Eagle in Cleveland, Ohio. Sexton died in 1990.
Larry Edward "Rocky" Hamilton, better known by his ring name the Missouri Mauler, was an American professional wrestler who competed in the National Wrestling Alliance, becoming a mainstay of the latter promotion throughout the 1960s.
Steven James Bisson was an American professional wrestler who wrestled under the ring name Steve Bradley. He competed in various North American independent promotions as well as spending over three years in World Wrestling Entertainment developmental territories including Power Pro Wrestling, Heartland Wrestling Association, Memphis Championship Wrestling and Ohio Valley Wrestling.
George Hines is an American retired professional wrestler, best known by his ringname Jackie Fulton, who competed in regional and independent promotions including the American Wrestling Association, East Coast Championship Wrestling, the National Wrestling Alliance, World Championship Wrestling and, most notably, his brief but memorable stint in Smoky Mountain Wrestling where he teamed with his real life brother Bobby Fulton as The Fantastics.
Carolina Wrestling Federation Mid-Atlantic is an American independent professional wrestling promotion founded by Jeff Rudd in 2000. The promotion is based in the southeastern United States, largely covering the Carolinas and Virginia, with its headquarters in Burlington, North Carolina. It is one of the oldest "indy" groups in North Carolina, succeeding Count Grog's Southern Championship Wrestling as the state's top promotion shortly before its close in 2004.
The MLW World Heavyweight Championship is a world heavyweight championship owned and promoted by Major League Wrestling (MLW). It is the promotion's principal championship. The championship was established on June 15, 2002 at the Genesis and was active until February 10, 2004 after the promotion stopped hosting events. The championship was reactivated in 2018.
The Renegade Warriors, also known as the Youngblood Brothers, were a professional wrestling tag team composed of brothers Mark and Chris Youngblood. They performed under the name "The Renegade Warriors" in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), World Championship Wrestling (WCW), World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW), and the World Wrestling Council (WWC) and the name "Tribal Nation" in the Global Wrestling Federation (GWF). They are the sons of Ricky Romero and the brothers of Jay Youngblood.
Pro Wrestling eXpress is a professional wrestling promotion that was founded in North Versailles, Pennsylvania in 1994 by Jim Miller and Sean "Shocker" Evans. It is the longest-running promotion in the Pittsburgh metropolitan area. PWX was the main rival of Steel City Wrestling during the 1990s and was an affiliate of the National Wrestling Alliance from 1997 to 2012. PWX held a prominent role in the organization during this period. It was part in the annual NWA Anniversary Shows from 1998 to 2000 and brought national and world NWA champions to audiences in the East Coast of the United States. The promotion also collaborated with non-NWA members on the local independent circuit holding several interpromotional shows with Chris Lash's Allied Powers Wrestling Federation and participated in Deaf Wrestlefest (2010).
Big Time Wrestling was a professional wrestling promotion that held events in the New England area of the United States from 1960 to 1975. For much of the 1960s, BTW was the top professional wrestling promotion in Boston, Massachusetts, and was a significant competitor to the World Wide Wrestling Federation (WWWF).
