No Fear (professional wrestling)

Last updated
No Fear
Tag team
Members Takao Omori
Yoshihiro Takayama
Name(s)No Fear
Takao Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama [1]
Billed heights1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)- Omori [2]
2.01 m (6 ft 7 in)- Takayama [3]
Combined
billed weight		235 kg (518 lb)
Hometown Tokyo, Japan
Debut1998 [1]
Disbanded2002 [1]

No Fear was a professional wrestling tag team that consisted of Takao Omori and Yoshihiro Takayama. During their history, the team competed in All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah.

Contents

History

All Japan Pro Wrestling (1998–2000)

No Fear formed in All Japan Pro Wrestling in the fall of 1998 as a subset of the "Triangle of Power" stable led by Gary Albright. The first highlight for the team was participating in the 1998 World's Strongest Tag Determination League but they ended up finishing in last place with 2 points by only beating Albright and Giant Kimala. [4] A few months later they teamed with Hiroshi Hase in a one night six-man tag team tournament where they made it to the semi-finals before losing to Mitsuharu Misawa, Yoshinari Ogawa, and Masahito Kakihara. [5] After Albright left them, Omori and Takayama began slowly moving up the ranks over the next few months. No Fear won their first title on June 4, 1999, when they defeated Hayabusa and Jinsei Shinzaki to win the All Asia Tag Team Championship. [6] [7] One month later, on July 23, No Fear defeated Johnny Ace and Bart Gunn to win the World Tag Team Championship [8] [9] thus giving the team a monopoly on the All Japan tag team division. On August 25, No Fear lost both tag titles to Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion Mitsuharu Misawa and World Junior Heavyweight Championship Yoshinari Ogawa. [9]

Three months later, on October 30, No Fear challenged Kenta Kobashi and Jun Akiyama for the World Tag Team Championship but lost. [10] After that, they entered the 1999 World's Strongest Tag Determination League where they finished in 6th place with 4 points, by beating the team of Vader and Johnny Smith and the team of Gary Albright and Wolf Hawkfield. [4] On June 9, 2000, No Fear entered a tournament for the vacant World Tag Team Championship. They defeated Misawa and Ogawa in the semi-finals but lost to The Holy Demon Army in the finals. [11] Shortly afterwards, Misawa left All Japan to form Pro Wrestling Noah with No Fear (along with the majority of the native roster) following Misawa to Noah.

Pro Wrestling Noah (2000–2002)

No Fear debuted at Noah's first show on August 5, 2000, as they teamed with Satoru Asako in a six-man tag losing to Yoshinari Ogawa, Masahito Kakihara, & Daisuke Ikeda. [11] No Fear would also take part in the debut show for Pro Wrestling Zero1 on March 2, 2001, defeating Tatsuhito Takaiwa and Alexander Otsuka. [12] In 2001, Noah eventually started a tag team division and on December 9, No Fear defeated Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa to win the GHC Tag Team Championship. [13] [14] The team would hold the titles for 2 months before losing them to Takeshi Morishima and Takeshi Rikio on February 17, 2002. [13] No Fear eventually broke up in 2002 with their last match ending in a no contest against Jun Akiyama and Yoshinobu Kanemaru on May 9 after Omori brutally hit Takayama with an Axe Bomber, betraying him. [15]

Reunions (2011, 2013, 2016)

No Fear reunited the first time in nine years on August 27, 2011, at the New Japan, All Japan, Noah co-promoted show All Together losing to Jun Akiyama and Kensuke Sasaki. They reunited a second time on May 11, 2013, at Kenta Kobashi's retirement show Final Burning in Budokan where they defeated Minoru Suzuki and Naomichi Marufuji. On August 21, 2016, No Fear teamed for the final time at an All Japan/Land's End show defeating Suwama and Rikiya Fudo. [16]

On May 4, 2017, Takayama suffered a career ending spinal cord injury during a match which left him paralyzed from the shoulders down, leaving Omori as the only former No Fear member still in active competition.

Championships and accomplishments

Related Research Articles

Tsuyoshi Kikuchi is a Japanese retired professional wrestler. He is best known for All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH. Kikuchi idolized and patterned his style after the Dynamite Kid.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenta Kobashi</span> Japanese professional wrestler

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jun Akiyama</span> Japanese professional wrestler (born 1969)

Jun Akiyama is a Japanese professional wrestler signed to DDT Pro-Wrestling, where he is a former KO-D Openweight Champion. He is best known for his time working for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he was the president, representative director, co-head booker, and an in-ring performer. In AJPW, he is a former two-time Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion, while also being a six-time overall professional wrestling world champion.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Takao Omori</span> Japanese professional wrestler (born 1969)

Takao Omori is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), where he is a one-time Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion and seven-time World Tag Team Champion. He is also part of the All Japan Board of Directors. He has worked in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah) and Pro Wrestling Zero1 (Zero1).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yoshihiro Takayama</span> Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial arts fighter

Yoshihiro Takayama is a Japanese former professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Debuting for UWF International (UWFI) in the 1990s, Takayama joined All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in 1997 after UWF-i folded. In 2000, he joined Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah), and later became a mainstay in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) where he arguably achieved his greatest success, holding the IWGP Heavyweight Championship and NWF Heavyweight Championship simultaneously in 2003. He is one of only five men to hold all three puroresu major heavyweight titles, the others being Kensuke Sasaki, Keiji Muto, Satoshi Kojima, and Yuji Nagata.

Yoshinari Ogawa is a Japanese professional wrestler who currently works for Pro Wrestling Noah. He has earned the nickname of "Rat Boy" from the English-speaking Puroresu fanbase due to his sneaky, clever in-ring tactics and baiting his opponents into quick pins, as well as the disheveled, greasy appearance he cultivated during the late-90's.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Taiyō Kea</span> American professional wrestler

Maunakea Mossman is an American semi-retired professional wrestler, better known under his stage name Taiyō Kea (太陽ケア). Best known for his work in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), he is the only wrestler in AJPW's history to have held the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, the World Tag Team Championship and the World Junior Heavyweight Championship.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Akitoshi Saito</span> Japanese professional wrestler (born 1965)

Akitoshi Saito is a Japanese professional wrestler who is best known for his work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah). He is currently the World Heavyweight Champion at Pro Wrestling Zero1.

Takeshi Inoue known by his stage name Takeshi Rikiō, is a Japanese retired professional wrestler, who worked for Pro Wrestling Noah. He is also a former sumo wrestler.

Kentaro Shiga is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working as a freelancer. He returned from a two-year hiatus due to injury in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masao Inoue (wrestler)</span> Japanese professional wrestler (born 1970)

Masao Inoue is a Japanese professional wrestler who currently works for Pro Wrestling Noah as a freelancer. He started his career in All Japan Pro Wrestling in 1991, before jumping to Pro Wrestling Noah during a mass exodus in 2000. Inoue spent the next 12 years with Noah before returning to AJPW in 2012. Since then, he has competed regularly for both promotions as a freelancer.

Mitsuo Momota is a retired Japanese professional wrestler and executive, known for his work in the Japanese promotions All Japan Pro Wrestling and later in Pro Wrestling NOAH. He is the son of wrestler Rikidōzan.

Richard Aslinger is a retired American professional wrestler, known by his ring name Richard Slinger. Slinger was a long-time mainstay of All Japan Pro Wrestling and later Pro Wrestling Noah, where he was one of two gaijin heels to compete in the promotion. He is also one of several Noah wrestlers to be featured in the Japanese video game King of Colosseum II.

The Holy Demon Army (HDA) was a professional wrestling tag team consisting of Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue. The HDA competed in All Japan Pro Wrestling during the 1990s and is considered the most successful and dominant team in the history of All Japan as they held the World Tag Team Championship a record six times, as well as having won the World's Strongest Tag Determination League on two occasions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masahito Kakihara</span> Japanese professional wrestler

Masahito Kakihara is a former Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, who is known for his work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) and UWF International (UWFI).

Satoru Asako is a retired Japanese professional wrestler who worked for All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah.

Wild Burning is a tag team composed of Japanese professional wrestlers Jun Akiyama and Takao Omori. Although Akiyama and Omori have been using the team name since 2013, their team goes back almost to the era of their debut in All Japan Pro Wrestling in the early 1990s. The name is a portmanteau of their previous stables Burning (Akiyama) and Get Wild (Omori).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Departure (2004)</span> 2004 Pro Wrestling NOAH event

Departure was a major professional wrestling event produced by Pro Wrestling Noah. The event took place on July 10, 2004 at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan, and marked Noah's first ever show in the arena.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2000 All Japan Pro Wrestling mass exodus</span> Incident in Japanese All Japan Pro Wrestling

The 2000 All Japan Pro Wrestling mass exodus was an incident in the Japanese All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) professional wrestling promotion that took place throughout May and June 2000, and culminated in 24 of the 26 contracted native wrestlers leaving the promotion. Led by Mitsuharu Misawa, they later formed their own promotion, Pro Wrestling Noah.

This is a list of Japanese professional wrestler Mitsuharu Misawa's championships and accomplishments. Misawa (1962–2009) debuted for All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in 1981, and began work as the second incarnation of the Tiger Mask gimmick in 1984. He achieved some success as the character, but when he unmasked mid-match in May 1990, Misawa was pushed to the top of the company, and became one of AJPW's most decorated wrestlers of the 1990s. When he led a mass exodus to start his promotion Pro Wrestling Noah, he continued to have great success until his death in an in-ring accident. Misawa also received significant critical acclaim from domestic and international publications throughout his career.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". Cagematch.de. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  2. ↑ "Purolove.Com". Purolove.Com. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  3. ↑ "Purolove.Com". Purolove.Com. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  4. 1 2 "Wrestling Information Archive - All-Japan Real World Tag League". 100megsfree4.com. Archived from the original on 2011-08-13. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  5. ↑ "CAGEMATCH - The Internet Wrestling Database". Cagematch.de. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  6. ↑ "All Asia Tag Team Championship". Puroresucentral.com. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  7. ↑ "All Asia Tag Team Title". Wrestling-titles.com. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  8. ↑ "All Japan World Tag Team Championship". Puroresucentral.com. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  9. 1 2 "World Tag Team Title (All Japan Pro-Wrestling)". Wrestling-titles.com. 2011-06-19. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  10. ↑ "Purolove.Com". Purolove.Com. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  11. 1 2 "Pro Wrestling History". Pro Wrestling History. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  12. ↑ No Fear Cagematch retrieved February 24, 2019
  13. 1 2 "GHC Tag Team Championship". Puroresucentral.com. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  14. ↑ "GHC Tag Team Title". Wrestling-titles.com. 2011-06-18. Retrieved 2011-08-07.
  15. ↑ No Fear Cagematch retrieved February 24, 2019
  16. ↑ No Fear Cagematch retrieved February 24, 2019
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.