| Founded | February 2, 2010 |
|---|---|
| Defunct | March 14, 2012 |
| Style | Puroresu Strong style |
| Founder(s) | Yoshihiro Tajiri |
| Owner(s) | Quantum Jump Japan Co. Ltd. |
| Merged with | Pancrase |
| Predecessor | Hustle |
| Successor | Wrestling New Classic |
Smash was a Japanese puroresu and combat sports promotion, founded in December 2009 following the folding of Hustle. In the fall of 2009 Hustle ran into financial problems that led to several show cancellations. After a planned restructuring and restarting of the promotion failed, a number of officials and wrestlers decided to start a new project. Smash held its first show on March 26, 2010.
Smash promoted three divisions: professional wrestling, mixed martial arts and kickboxing. The professional wrestling branch is led by Yoshihiro Tajiri, while Akira Shoji is responsible for the MMA branch. Yuji Shimada leads the overall supervision of the whole project. Since 2010 Smash has had an active exchange of wrestlers with the Finnish Fight Club Finland promotion.
In April 2011, it was announced that Deep and the MMA division of Smash had formed an amateur promotion named the Japan MMA League (JML). [1]
On February 10, 2012, Smash announced that the promotion would be folding after its March 14 event, following a disagreement between Tajiri and financial backer (Quantum Jump Japan CEO) Masakazu Sakai. [2] [3] On April 5, 2012, Tajiri announced the follow-up promotion to Smash, Wrestling New Classic, which would hold its first event on April 26. [4] [5] On June 1, 2012, Sakai and his Smash backers bought Pancrase, officially incorporating Smash's MMA division into the promotion and re-affirming the partnership with Deep in JML. [6] [7] [8]
Smash Seikigun
Fight Club Finland
| Triple Tails.SUnaffiliated
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| Championship | Final Champion(s) | Date won | Previous Champion(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Smash Championship | Dave Finlay | November 24, 2011 | StarBuck |
| Smash Diva Championship | Syuri | February 19, 2012 | Kana |
Yoshihiro Tajiri is a Japanese professional wrestler and promoter primarily known under the ring name Tajiri, he has also competed under his real name as well as under the names Aquarius and Kikkoman and briefly worked as the masked character Tigre Blanco.
Pancrase is a Japanese mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Tokyo. It was founded in 1993 by professional wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki.
Takumi Nakayama is a Japanese mixed martial artist and former King of Pancrase Featherweight Champion. He is also the former King of the Cage Lightweight Champion.
Akira Nogami is a Japanese professional wrestler and actor, currently working as Akira. He has also worked as a trainer.
Hajime Ohara is a Japanese professional wrestler. Ohara worked for Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) in Mexico for several years as part of his training, mixing the lucha libre style of Mexico with the Japanese Puroresu style of wrestling. In Japan, Ohara is best known for his work in the Hustle, Smash and Wrestling New Classic (WNC) promotions. He is signed to Pro Wrestling Noah, where he is a one time GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion and a six-time GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champion.
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Erdenebilegiin Bolormaa, better known by her ring name Esui (エスイ) is a Mongolian female professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. She is considered as Mongolia's first female professional wrestler and also the first female mixed martial artist from Mongolia.
Masayuki Kono is a Japanese professional wrestler and former mixed martial artist. He is currently working as a freelancer. He is best known for his time in Wrestle-1, where he is a former two-time Wrestle-1 Champion.
Makoto is a Japanese professional wrestler. Trained by Emi Sakura, Makoto made her debut for her Ice Ribbon promotion in July 2006. During the next five years, Makoto went on to win Ice Ribbon's top title, the ICE×60 Championship, once and the International Ribbon Tag Team Championship twice, before transferring over to the Smash promotion in August 2011. She remained with Smash until March 2012, when the promotion folded. The following month, Makoto was announced as part of the roster of the new Wrestling New Classic (WNC) promotion. In March 2013, Makoto became the second WNC Women's Champion. In January 2014, Makoto made Reina Joshi Puroresu her second home promotion in addition to WNC. Reina became her primary home promotion after WNC shut down in June 2014. She is a former one-time Reina World Women's Champion and a two-time Reina World Tag Team Champion. She is also known for working at Seadlinnng where she and Asuka are the current title holders of Beyond The Sea Tag Team Championship. She is also known for being a group in Seadlinnng called “Las Fresa De Ego Istas.”
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Hiroaki Sato is a Japanese professional wrestler and mixed martial artist, better known by the ring name Hikaru Sato. Sato started his MMA career in February 2000, fighting for Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling. During the next eight years, Sato fought, on average, five times a year, compiling a record of 18 wins, 19 losses and four draws, which included fights against the likes of Keiichiro Yamamiya, Nathan Marquardt, Ryo Chonan and Yushin Okami. In May 2008, Sato transitioned into the world of professional wrestling, when he was signed by the Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) promotion. He has since had ten MMA fights. In November 2010, Sato first became a triple crown trios champion with Michael Nakazawa and Tomomitsu Matsunaga and then also won DDT's top singles title, the KO-D Openweight Championship. Sato remained affiliated with DDT until January 2014. He is currently working for the All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion, where he is a former two-time World Junior Heavyweight Champion and four-time All Asia Tag Team Champion, while also being a five-time winner of the Jr. Tag Battle of Glory tournament.
Wrestle-1 was a Japanese puroresu or professional wrestling promotion, founded in July 2013 by Keiji Mutoh following his resignation from All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). The core of the promotion's roster was formed by wrestlers loyal to Mutoh, who left AJPW in a mass exodus during June 2013. Mutoh served as the promotion's first president and the head of its parent company, kabushiki gaisha named GEN Sports Entertainment. In March 2017, Kaz Hayashi took over as the new president of Wrestle-1. The promotion held its first event on September 8, 2013, at Tokyo Dome City Hall.
Sōjirō Higuchi is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by the ring name Jiro "Ikemen" Kuroshio. He is best known for his work in the Wrestle-1 promotion, where he was a former Wrestle-1 Result Champion and Wrestle-1 Tag Team Champion before leaving the promotion in January 2019. He worked for WWE from 2019 to 2023, performing for the NXT brand under the ring name Ikemen Jiro. He was released in 2023.
Rin Nakai is a Japanese professional female mixed martial artist. Starting her MMA career in 2006, she has participated in the organizations Pancrase, Smackgirl, Valkyrie and the UFC.
Masaya Takahashi is a Japanese professional wrestler currently signed to Big Japan Pro Wrestling in the deathmatch division. He is a former two-time BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Champion and nine-time Yokohama Shopping Street 6-Man Tag Team Champion. He also won the 2017 Ikkitousen Deathmatch Survivor.
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