Yoshihiro Asai, better known by his ring name Último Dragón, is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to Dragon Gate, where he acts as an in-ring talent, trainer and senior advisor. In addition to having trained in Japan, Asai learned to wrestle in the lucha libre style while working in Mexico. He is credited with popularizing the "Asai Moonsault".
Francisco Islas Rueda, better known by his ring name Super Crazy, is a Mexican luchador. In Mexico, Islas has worked for Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) and made appearances for various independent promotions but is not currently associated with one specific Mexican promotion. As Super Crazy, Islas gained American exposure by working for Extreme Championship Wrestling (ECW) between 1998 and 2000 and for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) between 2005 and 2008. He has also toured Japan on several occasions, working for New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Pro Wrestling Zero-One (Zero-1), All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and Pro Wrestling Noah.
Keiko Aoki is a Japanese retired professional wrestler and professional golfer better known as Bull Nakano. She began competing in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW) as a teenager under the ring name Bull Nakano. As a wrestler she was a villain, who often teamed with her mentor Dump Matsumoto. In Japan, she held several of AJW's singles and tag team championships. After being phased out by the company in the early 1990s, she traveled to North America, where she first competed in Mexico's Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL), becoming its first World Women's Champion. In 1994, she made her way to the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), where she had feuded with Alundra Blayze over the WWF Women's Championship. After holding the title once, she also competed in World Championship Wrestling (WCW). In 1998, Nakano began competing as a professional golfer, and in 2006, she joined a tour with the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). She was inducted into the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame on 2001 and was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2024.
Universal Lucha Libre was a professional wrestling promotion in Japan from 1990 to 1995 and again briefly in 1998. The name Universal Lucha Libre is used to differentiate the promotion from the Japanese UWF, a predecessor promotion which presented a very different style of professional wrestling.
A championship or title in professional wrestling is a recognition promoted by professional wrestling organizations. Championship reigns are determined by professional wrestling matches, in which competitors are involved in predetermined rivalries. These narratives create feuds between the various competitors, which cast them as villains and heroes. The bookers in a company will place the title on the most accomplished performer, or whom they believe will generate fan interest in terms of event attendance and television viewership.
Eduardo Aníbal González Hernández, better known by his ring name Juventud "Juvi" Guerrera, is a Mexican professional wrestler currently performing on the independent circuit.
Hiroaki Hamada, better known by his ring name Gran Hamada, is a Japanese professional wrestler, the first to adopt the high-flying Mexican lucha libre style. He has wrestled for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, the Universal Wrestling Federation, Michinoku Pro and All Japan Pro Wrestling and was the founder of Universal Lucha Libre. He has also had stints with the World Wrestling Federation and Extreme Championship Wrestling in the United States. His daughters Xóchitl Hamada and Ayako Hamada are professional Japanese-Mexican wrestlers.
The Universal Wrestling Association (UWA) was a Mexican Lucha Libre or professional wrestling promotion based in Naucalpan, Mexico State that operated from 1975 until 1995. The name of the actual promotion was Promociones Mora y Asociados and later Lucha Libre Internacional (LLI) but outside of Mexico it is generally referred to as the UWA as it was the name of the fictional international sanctioning body that in storyline terms oversaw all championships promoted by LLI. The company was founded by wrestler and trainer Ray Mendoza, promoter Francisco Flores and investor Benjamín Mora, Jr. as when they broke away from Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre to form their own promotion. The company had working agreements with wrestling promotions both in the United States and Japan as they worked with Lou Thesz's American-based Universal Wrestling Association, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), Universal Lucha Libre (UWF), and Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (JWP) amongst other promotions.
Professional wrestling in the United States, through the advent of television in the 1950s, and cable in the 1980s, began appearing in powerful media outlets, reaching never before seen numbers of viewers. It became an international phenomenon with the expansion of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF). Throughout the 1990s, professional wrestling achieved highs in both viewers and financial success during a time of fierce competition among competing promotions, such as WWF, World Championship Wrestling, and Extreme Championship Wrestling.
José Luis Rodríguez Arellano is a Mexican Luchador Enmascarado who wrestles under the ring name Dos Caras. His most active years were in the 1970s and 1980s, and he achieved his greatest success in Mexico's Universal Wrestling Alliance (UWA), where he won the UWA World Heavyweight Championship three times. He has been called "the greatest heavyweight ever to come out of Mexico". He is the creator of the Dos Caras Clutch, a hammerlock head scissors pinning combination.
John Jesús Yurnet, better known by his ring name Mecha Wolf, is a Puerto Rican professional wrestler and professional wrestling trainer. He is best known for his work in World Wrestling Council (WWC), where he is a former two-time holder of the WWC Universal Heavyweight Championship.
The history of professional wrestling, as a performing art, started in the late 19th century, with predecessors in funfair and variety strongman in the 1830s.
Professional wrestling in Japan has existed for several decades. The first Japanese person to involve themselves in catch wrestling was former sumo wrestler Sorakichi Matsuda. There were subsequent attempts before and after World War II to popularize the sport in Japan, but these generally failed until the advent of its first big star, Rikidōzan, in 1951, who became known as the "father" of the sport. Rikidōzan brought the sport to tremendous popularity with his Japanese Wrestling Association (JWA) until his murder in 1963. Following his death, professional wrestling thrived, creating a variety of personalities, promotions and styles. It has also created a mass of other cultural icons in Japan including: Antonio Inoki, Giant Baba, Jyushin "Thunder" Liger, Tiger Mask, Keiji Mutoh/The Great Muta, Mitsuharu Misawa, and Kenta Kobashi among others. Throughout the years, several promotions have opened and closed, but a few have persisted to remain the most popular and thriving companies: New Japan Pro-Wrestling is currently considered by many as the top promotion.
Professional wrestling has been considered one of the most popular forms of entertainment in Puerto Rico for more than fifty years. It is considered the highest source of income in the sports entertainment industry on the island; a minor industry within its tertiary sector in its overall economy. After sports commentator José Antonio Géigel and a group of wrestlers founded the first promotion based in Puerto Rico, the discipline has consistently remained being broadcast in local television. Originally a mixture of foreign wrestling styles, the Puerto Rican wrestling style developed into a unique form of performing. Most notably, local promotions relied on unusual matches, often involving foreign objects or odd arenas. Local wrestling is considered to be one of the pillars that contributed to modern hardcore wrestling, being the territory where the first "fire" and "death" matches took place. Local promotions exploited the innovation and held their cards in large stadiums, eventually becoming an element of popular culture. During the course of six decades, Carlos Colón Sr. has developed over 70 scars in his forehead that are product of this method of performing, becoming the main symbol of the style's nature. The storylines in Puerto Rico have historically revolved around the "foreign heel" formula, with local wrestlers obtaining victories over notable figures that include Ric Flair, Harley Race, Hulk Hogan, Terry Funk, Diamond Dallas Page, Scott Hall, Booker T, Samoa Joe and Curt Hennig among several others.
Professional wrestling is a dramatic enactment of wrestling as a spectator sport. As is the norm for this sport, women's professional wrestling is organized by wrestling federations called promotions. Some promotions are exclusively for women, while others have separate divisions for women. Among the nations that have women's professional wrestling are Australia, Bolivia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Manuel Alejandro Saez Palominos, better known simply as Alejandro Saez, is a Chilean professional wrestler currently competing for various professional wrestling promotions on the independent circuit. He is known by the ring name Xtra Large on the independent scene. In 2016, Saez was a participant in the WWE Cruiserweight Classic, where he was eliminated in the first round. In addition to WWE, Saez has also toured with Pro Wrestling Noah, where he competed in the 2016 Global League.
Bandido is a Mexican luchador enmascarado. He is signed to All Elite Wrestling (AEW). He is widely known for his work in Ring of Honor (ROH), where he is a former ROH World Champion as well as his work in a range of promotions, such as promotions Lucha Libre Elite (LLE), The Crash Lucha Libre and Dragon Gate (DG).
U-Kei is a Japanese combat sports related term that refers to shoot style professional wrestling, martial arts, or mixed martial arts organizations that are derived from the Universal Wrestling Federation (UWF) or have other shoot wrestling roots. Through various splits, the U-Kei system also came to encompass deathmatch, lucharesu, and sports entertainment promotions.
