|
| |
Naoya Ogawa |
History of Puroresu : 2000s
|
1990s
2000
| 2000/01/04 |
Kazuo Yamazaki retires
at New Japan's Tokyo Dome card. Both Akira Maeda and Nobuhiko Takada are
in attendance. Maeda has a meeting with Antonio Inoki and New Japan president
Tatsumi Fujinami after the card. Also, Kenzo Suzuki debuts on the same card. |
| 2000/01/07 |
Gary Albright passes
away due to heart attack during a match in Pennsylvania. The card is promoted
by Afa the Samoan, Albright's father-in-law. |
| 2000/01/30 |
Dream Stage Entertainment promotes the first round of PRIDE Grand Prix
2000 tournament at Tokyo Dome. Kazuyuki Fujita, formerly with New Japan,
defeats Han Nyman at 2'48". Masaaki Satake, formerly with Seido Kaikan karte,
lost to Mark Coleman at 1'14". |
| 2000/04/07 |
After being defeated by Naoya Ogawa once again at Tokyo Dome, Shin'ya
Hashimoto announces his retirement. |
| 2000/04/09 |
Following the first round of the 16-man tournament on 04/01 in Sendai,
Michinoku promotes the final rounds of Super J-Cup 3rd Stage at Ryogoku
Kokugikan. Jushin Thunder Liger defeats CIMA in final. |
| 2000/04/19 |
New Japan's Masakazu Fukuda
passes away of internal bleeding in brain at the age of 27. |
| 2000/04/21 |
New Japan's Kuniaki
Kobayashi retires. Satoru Sayama is in attendance, and Dynamite Kid
sends a message for the ceremony. |
| 2000/05/01 |
Kazushi Sakuraba defeats Royce Gracie in the second round of the PRIDE
Grand Prix tournament after six 15-min rounds of the battle. Also, Kazuyuki
Fujita, a former New Japan wrestler, defeats Mark Kerr. |
| 2000/05/13 |
Jumbo Tsuruta passes away at the age of 49 due to failure of a liver transport
surgery in Manila, PHILIPPINES. |
| 2000/05/28 |
Mitsuharu Misawa is removed from the position as the president of All
Japan Pro-Wrestling by the majority votes of the executive board. He and
some other wrestlers have had conflict with Motoko Baba, a widow of late
Giant Baba. |
| 2000/06/13 |
All Japan holds a regular board meeting. Following Misawa, six more members
resign from their position. Three days later, 24 former All Japan wrestlers
have a press conference and annouce the starting of new promotion. |
| 2000/06/29 |
Gran Hamada & Ayako Hamada defeat Minoru Tanaka & Yumi Fukawa in 14-team
P*MIX championship tournament. The Hamadas become the first mixed gender
tag team champions in the world as well as the first parent-child tag team
champions in Japan. |
| 2000/07/02 |
Gen'ichiro Tenryu appears on an All Japan card for the first time in ten
years. He greets to the remaining members and the fans from the ring. On
07/23/00, Tenryu returns to All Japan as a full-time member. |
| 2000/07/30 |
Riki Choshu returns to the ring only to destroy Atsushi Ohnita at 7'46"
in a death match for New Japan's Yokohama Arena card. |
| 2000/08/05 |
Misawa's new group "Pro-Wrestling NOAH" has the first card at Differ Ariake. |
| 2000/08/22 |
"Professor" Toru Tanaka passes away due to heart attack at the age of 70. |
| 2000/10/09 |
All Japan's top star Toshiaki Kawada defeats New Japan's IWGP Heavyweight
champion Kensuke Sasaki at Tokyo Dome in a non-title match. Sasaki vacates
the title immediately after the match. On the opening card, Shin'ya Hashimoto
returns to the ring and defeats Tatsumi Fujinami. |
| 2000/11/15 |
New Japan announces the release of Shin'ya Hashimoto from the organization.
Hashimoto has started a new group called "ZERO"(later renamed "ZERO-ONE")
in the previous month. |
| 2000/12/22 |
Yoshihiro Momota, a son of Rikidozan and one of the founding members of
All Japan and NOAH, passes away due to a liver failure at the age of 54. |
2001
| 2001/01/28 |
Stan Hansen has retirement ceremony on All Japan card at Tokyo Dome. |
| 2001/03/02 |
Shin'ya Hashimoto's "ZERO-ONE" has debut card at Ryogoku Kokugikan. |
| 2001/03/20 |
Yumi Fukawa has retirement match against Mariko Yoshida at Kourakuen Hall. |
| 2001/04/24 |
Johnny Valentine, known in Japan as one of Inoki's biggest rivals, passes
away at the age of 71. |
| 2001/07/16 |
The original Freebird Terry "Bam Bam" Gordy passes away at the age of
40 at his home in Tennessee due to a heart failure. |
| 2001/07/27 |
"Monster Ripper" Rhonda Singh commits suicide at the age of 40. |
| 2001/07/30 |
Atsushi Ohnita is eleceted as a senator from the majority Liberal Democratic
Party. He is the third pro-wrestler to become a congressman in Japan following
Antonio Inoki and Hiroshi Hase. |
| 2001/10/08 |
New Japan has memorial card for 50th year of puroresu at Tokyo Dome. In main event, Yuji Nagata (New Japan) & Jun Akiyama (NOAH) defeat Mutoh (New Japan) & Hiroshi Hase (All Japan). Earlier on the card, Fujinami has his 30th anniversary match, teaming with Bob Backlund to defeat Dory Funk Jr. & Terry Funk. |
| 2001/10/22 |
Hayabusa (FMW) is paralyzed due to an accident during a match against Mommoth Suzuki. |
| 2001/10/28 |
All Japan's World Tag Team champions Mutoh & Taiyo Kea defeat New Japan's IWGP Tag Team champions Fujianmi & Osamu Nishimura and become the firs team to hold the titles from both organizations. |
| 2001/11/02 |
Osamu Kido, one of the original members of New Japan, retires. He teams with Choshu to face Fujinami & Kengo Kimura to a 10min time limit draw. |
| 2001/11
/06 |
Shinji Ueda, a former long-time commissioner of All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, passes away. |
| 2001/12/15 |
In McKeepsport, PA, Shin'ya Hashimoto defeats Steve Corino and Gary Steele in a triangle round-robin tournament to win NWA World Heavyweight Title, which has been held up since Hashimoto-Corino match declared no-contest10/13/01 in St. Petersburg, FL. |
2002
| 2002/01/18 |
Keiji Mutoh leaves New Japan. Shortly after, Satoshi Kojima and several others including office employees leave the promotion. |
| 2002/02/15 |
F.M.W. closes. RINGS also has its final card. |
| 2002/03/11 |
Kiyoshi Sagawa, president of Sagawa Express and owner of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, passes away due to heart failure. |
| 2002/03/29 |
All Japan Women's TV program on Fuji TV is cancelled. |
| 2002/04/07 |
Akira Hokuto has retirement match on GAEA JAPAN card in Yokohama, teaming with Meiko Satomura to face Chigusa Nagayo & Ayako Hamada. |
| 2002/04/14 |
Hiromichi Fuyuki, no longer able continue to wrestle due to a stomach cancer, has retirement match on NOAH card at Differ Ariake, teaming with Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa to face the team of Akira Taue, Masao Inoue, & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. |
| 2002/04/18 |
Wahoo McDaniel passes away at the age of 63 due to diabetes. |
| 2002/04/21 |
Taka Michinoku's KAIENTAI-DOJO has the debut card at Differ Ariake. |
| 2002/04/28 |
Lou Thesz passes away due to heart failure at the age of 86.
Bob Sapp has his first MMA match on PRIDE 20 against Norihisa Yamamoto.
Tomezo Tsunokake, a midget wrestler, has retirement match against Mr. Buttaman. |
| 2002/05/02 |
In the first female match ever on New Japan card, Manami Toyota & Yumiko Hotta face Kaoru Itoh & Momoe Nakanishi at Tokyo Dome. |
| 2002/05/05 |
Hiromichi "Kohdoh" Fuyuki has an opening card for his newly created "World Entertainment Wrestling" with some of the former FMW stars. |
| 2002/05/13 |
George Gordienko passes away due to brain tumor at the age of 74. |
|
|
| 2002/05/16 |
Former FMW president Shouichi Arai committs suicide. |
| 2002/05/17 |
Davey Boy Smith passes away due to heart failure at the age of 39. |
| 2002/08/01 |
Legendary promoter Don Owen passes away at the age of 90. |
| 2002/08/15 |
Legendary midget wrestler Little Frankie passes away at the age of 44. |
| 2002/08/28 |
W.M.F. (Wrestling Marvelous Future) has its opening card with Hayabusa as the president. |
| 2002/08/29 |
Legendary midget wrestler Little Frankie passes away at the age of 44.Shinsuke Nakamura has his debut match at Nippon Budokan against Tadao Yasuda. |
| 2002/09/22 |
Toshikuni Matsunaga, former president of All Japan Women's, passes away at the age of 57. |
| 2002/09/27 |
Atsushi Ohnita promotes a wrestling card in Afghanistan. |
| 2002/10/19 |
Former female wrestler and referee Miyuki Yanagi passes away at the age of 64. |
| 2002/10/23 |
Kaori Nakayama has retirement match at Kourakuen Hall against Shark Tsuchiya. |
| 2002/11/22 |
Thunder Sugiyama passes away due to heart failure caused by diabetes at the age of 62. |
| 2002/11/24 |
Nobuhiko Takada has retirement match on PRIDE 23 at Tokyo Dome and loses to Kiyoshi Tamura. |
| 2002/11/28 |
New Japan's Hiroshi Tanahashi is stabbed by his girl friend. |
2003
| 2003/01/04 |
Former UFC champion Josh Barnett has his first pro-wrestling match, challenging Yuuji Nagata's IWGP Heavyweight Title at Tokyo Dome. |
| 2003/01/09 |
Naoto Morishita, PRIDE promoter, commits suicide at the age of 42. |
| 2003/01/10 |
NOAH's Mitsuharu Misawa and New Japan's Masahiro Chono teams for the first time and lose to Kenta Kobashi & Akira Taue on a NOAH card at Nippon Budokan. |
| 2003/01/18 |
The Sheik passes away due to lung failure at the age of 73. |
| 2003/02/15 |
Michiaki Yoshimura, probably the greatest side player in the history, passes
away. |
| 2003/02/15 |
Kiyoshi Tamura's U-STYLE has its debut card at Differ Ariake |
| 2003/03/01 |
Riki Choshu's WJ Pro-Wrestling has the debut card at Yokohama Arena. |
| 2003/03/09 |
MMA fighter Ensen Inoue has his first pro-wrestling match in a 8-man tag team match at Nagoya Rainbow Hall. |
| 2003/03/19 |
After a one-year battle with cancer, Hiromichi Fuyki passes away. |
| 2003/04/13 |
The Great Sasuke of Michinoku Pro-Wrestling is elected a congressman of Iwate Prefecture. He is the first masked wrestler in the world to become a politician. |
| 2003/04/18 |
Kengo Kimura has retirement match against Osamu Nishimura at Kourakuen Hall. |
| 2003/05/05 |
Chapparita ASARI has retirement match against Kyoko Inoue in a NEO card at Kourakuen Hall. |
| 2003/06/02 |
Fred Blassie, one of the greatest gaijin pioneers, passes away at the age of 85 |
| 2003/06/25 |
At the Iwate Prefecture congress, The Great Sasuke of Michinoku Pro-Wrestling is allowed to continue wearing the mask during the official activities.. |
| 2003/07/25 |
AtoZ has the debut card at Kawasaki City Gym. |
| 2003/08/03 |
Rumi Kazama retires. |
| 2003/08/28 |
Yoshihiro Takayama and Masahiro Chono wrestles in the first steel cage match ever to take place on a New Japan card. |
| 2003/09/06 |
Katsuhiko Nakajima, a 15-year old, has his debut match against Jason Ray in Yokohama. |
| 2003/09/08 |
Great Antonio, who had famous matches against Rikidozan and Antonio Inoki, passes away due to heart attack at the age of 77. |
| 2003/09/13 |
Mima Shimoda has retirement match at Ariake Coliseum. |
| 2003/10/16 |
Stu Hart, the head of the legendary wrestling dynasty from Calgary, passes away due to heart attack and lung failure at the age of 88. |
| 2003/10/16 |
The Mask of Tiger (Satoru Sayama, the legendary original Tiger Mask) wrestles for All Japan for the first time and defeats Gran Hamada. |
| 2003/10/19 |
Hawk Warrior, one half of the legendary tag team Road Warriors, passes away due to heart attack at the age of 45. |
| 2003/10/28 |
Mitsu Hirai passes away due to heart failure at the age of 60. |
| 2003/11/20 |
WJ Pro-Wrestling releases all wrestlers due to financial problem. |
| 2003/12/22 |
Shoji Nakamaki retires in a 8-man tag match on a card promoted by Atsushi Onita at Kourakuen Hall. |
| 2003/12/23 |
Death: Sunoe Matsunaga, one of the first trainees in All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling who wrestled under the name of "Yuriko Amami" passed away at the age of 67. |
| 2003/12/31 |
The MMA promotional war takes place when Inoki Bombaye 2003 (Antonio Inoki), Dynamite! (K-1), and PRIDE Otoko Matsuri (DSE) are held and aired on television at the same day. Former yokozuna Akebono has his first MMA match on Dynamite! and loses to Bob Sapp at Nagoya Dome.
|
2004
| 2004/01/05 |
Katsuhiko Nakajima has his first wrestling match at the age of 15 on a WJ card. |
| 2004/02/11 |
WMF has the last card at Kourakuen Hall. |
| 2004/03/20 |
Akira Hokuto becomes the first female to appear on an All Japan card. |
| 2004/04/03 |
New Japan's weekly television show on TV Asahi "World Pro-Wrestling" becomes a 30-min program. |
| 2004/04/04 |
"M's Style" has the debut card at Differ Ariake. |
| 2004/04/18 |
Kayo Noumi has retirement match against Kumiko Maekawa at Kourakuen Hall. |
| 2004/05/04 |
Mike Rutondo has retirement match at Kourakuen Hall. |
| 2004/05/05 |
Fuyuki Army Promotion has its last card at Kawasaki Stadium. |
| 2004/05/18 |
Sambo Asako passes away due to diabetes at the age of 40. |
| 2004/06/23 |
Masakazu Kusama becomes the New Japan president. Tatsumi Fujinami, former president, becomes vice-chairman of the board. |
| 2004/07/04 |
Kensuke Sasaki and his wife Akira Hokuto team in a match for the first time. |
| 2004/07/05 |
Toryumon Japan becomes Dragon Gate. Ultimo Dragon is no longer with the promotion. |
| 2004/08/19 |
Riki Choshu's "Riki Production" has the first card at Kourakuen Hall. |
| 2004/08/22 |
Rie Tamada has retirement match at Kourakuen Hall, teaming with Aja Kong to face Manami Toyota & Takako Inoue. |
| 2004/09/16 |
New Japan has its first chain death match with Masahiro Chono defeating Gen'ichiro Tenryu at Miyagi Prefecture Sports Center. |
| 2004/09/22 |
Big Boss Man passes away at the age of 41. |
| 2004/10/12 |
Samson Kutsuwada, the first one to wrestle under the Tiger Mask gimmick, passes away due to marrow leukemia at the age of 57. |
| 2004/10/14 |
Ultimo Dragon has the last match under the character at Kourakuen Hall, teaming with Jushin Thunder Liger and The Great Sasuke to face the original, third, & fourth Tiger Masks. |
| 2004/10/31 |
Keiji Muto and Mitsuharu Misawa team for the first time and defeat the team of Kensuke Sasaki & Hiroshi Hase on an All Japan card at Ryogoku Kokugikan. |
|
|
| 2004/12/22 |
ZERO-ONE has its last card at Kourakuen Hall. The promotion becomes ZERO1-Max with Shin'ya Hashimoto no longer as the president. |
2005
| 2005/01/07 |
Momoe Nakanishi has retirement match against Nanae Takahashi at Kourakuen Hall. |
| 2005/01/23 |
ZERO1-MAX, formerly Pro-Wrestling ZERO-ONE, has the first card since the company was renamed upon the resignation of the president Shin'ya Hashimoto. |
| 2005/02/05 |
The 7th annivarsary card for Giant Baba's death is held at Nippon Budokan. Motoko Baba, the widow, retired from the pro-wrestling business. |
| 2005/03/26 |
Atsushi Onita has a "graduation" match at Kourakuen Hall, teaming with Ichiro Yaguchi to face the team of Gen'ichiro Tenryu & Shiro Koshinaka. |
| 2005/03/26 |
"HERO'S" has the debut card at Saitama Super Arena. |
| 2005/04/03 |
Lioness Asuka has retirement match on a GAEA JAPAN card at Yokohama Culture Gym, teaming with Chigusa Nagayo to face Sugar Sato & Chikayo Nagashima. |
| 2005/04/10 |
GAEA JAPAN has its final card at Kourakuen Hall. All titles are vacated. Chigusa Nagayo has retirement match against Meiko Satomura. Sakura Hirota and Ayana Mizumura also retire on the same card. |
| 2005/04/10 |
ZERO1-Max holds the first wrestling card in 44 years at Yasukuni Shrine. |
| 2005/04/17 |
All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, the oldest promotion in Japan, has its final card. |
| 2005/04/27 |
Ultimo Dragon Gym Toryumon starts a new group "dragondoor" with the wrestlers who fired by Dragon Gate. |
| 2005/05/14 |
During a New Japan card at Tokyo Dome, Tatsumi Fujinami & Mitsuharu Misawa team for the first time and defeat Masahiro Chono & Jushin Thunder Liger. |
| 2005/07/11 |
Shin'ya Hashimoto passes away at the age of 40 due to the internal bleeding in the brain. |
| 2005/10/22 |
Crusher Lisowski dies at the age of 79. |
| 2005/11/13 |
Eddie Guerrero dies at the age of 38. |
| 2005/11/14 |
New Japan president Simon Kelly Inoki announces the aquisition of Antonio Inoki's 51.5% share of the company by Yukes, a video game company. |
2006
| 2006/01/15 |
"King's Road" has its opening card at Kourakuen Hall. |
| 2006/01/28 |
Black Cat dies at the age of 51 due to heart failure. |
| 2006/02/23 |
"dragondoor" announces that the group will now operate under a new name, "Pro-Wrestling El Dorado". |
| 2006/03/26 |
Haruka Eigen has retirement match, teaming with Jun Akiyama against Akira Taue & Masao Inoue. |
| 2006/03/26 |
Kumiko Maekawa has retirement match at Kourakuen Hall and loses the WWWA World Title to Nanae Takahashi. Takahashi, however, retires the title immediately after the match by returning the belt to Takashi Matsunaga, the chairman of All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. |
| 2006/05/28 |
Masahito Kakihara has retirement match against Kouji Kanemoto at Kourakuen Hall. |
| 2006/06/07 |
John Tenta dies due to bladder cancer at the age of 42. |
| 2006/06/20 |
Tatsumi Fujinami, who has been with New Japan since its opening, gives a notice of resignation to the company. |
| 2006/07/12 |
Former New Japan ring announcer Hidekazu Tanaka, along with Fujinami, Osamu Nishimura, Hiro Saito, and Tatsutoshi Goto, have a press conference to announce the name of their new company, "Muga World Pro-Wrestling". |
| 2006/07/27 |
WAR has its final card ato Kourakuen Hall in Tokyo. |
| 2006/08/27 |
Hiroshi Hase retires on All Japan's card at Ryogoku Kokugikan. |
| 2006/09/12 |
Global Professional Wrestling Alliance is formed with various organizations in Japan as well as European Wrestling Association and some American organizations such as Ring of Honor, WORLD-1, and WLW. The first chairman is Mitsuharu Misawa. |
| 2006/09/15 |
Muga World Pro-Wrestling has its first card in Fukuoka. |
| 2006/10/26 |
Kim Il (Kintaro Ohki) passes away due to heart failure at the age of 77. |
| 2006/11/14 |
GPWA has its first card at Kourakuen Hall in Tokyo. |
| 2006/12/13 |
One of the most respected puroresu journalists, Yoshihiro Inoue, passes away due to stomach cancer at the age of 72. |
2007
| 2007.01.19 |
Bam Bam Bigelow passes away at the age of 45. |
| 2007/02/11 |
Kensuke Sasaki's "Kensuke Office" has its first card. |
| 2007/02/17 |
"The Gladiator" Mike Awesome passes away at the age of 42. |
| 2007/03/06 |
A long time New Japan regular Bad News Allen passes away due to heart failure at the age of 63. |
| 2007/03/12 |
Former New Japan wrestler Katsuyori Shibata has his first MMA match on "HERO'S" card at Nagoya Rainbow Hall. He defeats former RINGS Japan star Yoshihisa Yamamoto by KO. |
| 2007/03/27 |
Dream Stage Entertainement sells the promotional rights of the PRIDE events to Zuffa, the promoter of Ultimate Fighting Championship. |
| 2007/04/08 |
DSE promotes its last PRIDE card at Saitama Super Arena. |
| 2007/04/11 |
Chavo Guerrero (Sr.) has his Japanese retirement match against Tatsumi Fujinami on a Muga card at Kourakuen Hall in Tokyo. |
| 2007/04/27 |
Yukio Sakaguchi, the first son of Seiji Sakaguchi, has his debut match on Pancarase card at Kourakuen Hall in Tokyo. |
| 2007/05/20 |
LLPW veteran Eagle Sawai has retirement match, teaming with Mayumi Ozaki against Harley Saito & Dynamite Kansai at Kourakuen Hall in Tokyo. |
| 2007/06/23 |
Former New Japan trainee and long-time regular Chris Benoit commits suicide in Atlanta at the age of 40. |
| 2007/06/29 |
Antonio Inoki's new group, "Inoki Genome Federation", has its first card at Ryogoku Kokugikan. |
| 2007/07/16 |
JD Star, a women's group, has its final card at Shinkiba 1st Ring in Tokyo. |
| 2007/07/23 |
Killer Tor Kamata passes away due to heart failure at the age of 70. |
| 2007/07/28 |
Karl Gotch (Karl Istaz), who has been a mentor to almost everyone in pre-1980s New Japan Pro-Wrestling, passes away at the age of 82. |
| 2007/10/04 |
PRIDE Japan office closes. |
| 2007/10/19 |
Osamu Nishimura leaves Muga to join All Japan. |
| 2007/11/29 |
Muga terminates the contract with Tatsutoshi Goto. |
| 2007/12/09 |
Michiko Ohmukai has retirement match at Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo. |
2008
| 2008/03/01 |
Dory Funk Jr. has his Japanese retirement match on All Japan card at Ryogoku Kokugikan, teaming with Osamu Nishimura to defeat Gen'ichiro Tenryu & Masanobu Fuchi. |
| 2008/03/16 |
Gary Hart, who has managed Japanese wrestlers including the Great Kabuki, Dragon Master, and Great Muta during their U.S. stints, passes away due to heart failure at the age of 66. |
Puroresu
Awards : 2000s |
|
