The story
Founded by Giant Baba on Oct 21, 1972, in Tokyo.1
NWA membership
The promotion was founded by Shohei "Giant" Baba and the Momota brothers, Mitsuo and Yoshihiro, sons of Rikidōzan. Baba, a former professional baseball pitcher, joined the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance (JWA) in 1960. In October 1972, he left the JWA and formed his own group, All Japan. Their first card was on October 21, 1972, at Machida City Gym in Tokyo, Japan. The inaugural roster included Baba, Mitsuo Momota, Akio Sato, Samson Kutsuwada, Motoshi Okuma and Mashio Koma. Thunder Sugiyama, who had recently left International Wrestling Enterprise, also came along to help and brought some lower-level IWE wrestlers with him on a freelance basis. Some personalities from North America also helped with the few cards, including Dory Funk Sr., Terry Funk, Bruno Sammartino, Dominic DeNucci, Freddie Blassie and The Destroyer.
Baba established the Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF) as the governing body for all future titles in All Japan. In the beginning the PWF recognized a world heavyweight championship and several "regional championships" given as billing to foreign stars depending from which region they came from, but after All Japan joined the National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), the PWF world title was downgraded to a regional championship. The first PWF Chairman, who presented the belts to the winners in title bouts, was Lord James Blears. As a loyal member of the NWA, All Japan enjoyed the ability to bring in foreigners, and the NWA World Heavyweight Championship was frequently defended. In the beginning Baba continued the Japanese vs. foreigner formula for the championships, but gradually Dory Funk Jr. and his brother Terry Funk, as well as Mil Máscaras from Mexico became fan favorites when wrestling other foreigners and subsequently one of the few foreign wrestlers to become icons in Japan.
Separation from the NWA, new stars and company growth
When the NWA territorial system collapsed in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Baba distanced himself from other promoters at home and abroad, and began a system of promoting talent (both Japanese and foreign) who competed exclusively for his promotion. With the unification of the titles in All Japan into the Triple Crown Heavyweight and the World Tag Team Championship, as well as the promotion of talent including Jumbo Tsuruta, Genichiro Tenryu, Akira Taue, Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada and Kenta Kobashi, the promotion was able to carve a loyal fanbase that lasted during the 1990s. Interpromotional matches were rare, and wrestlers who arrived from other Japanese promotions (such as Hiroshi Hase, Shigeo Okumura and Yoshihiro Takayama) were not given pushes, but in Hase's case, it was voluntarily, due to his primary involvement with the House of Councillors.
Gaijins who signed with AJPW full-time were given pushes regardless of which promotion they arrived, most notably Stan Hansen, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, Gary Albright, Vader and Mike Barton.
All Japan would achieve its third best-selling attendance with an attendance of 58,300 in the Tokyo Dome on the May 1, 1998 pay-per-view, having seen consistent growth since 1992. On the March 4, 1992 pay-per-view All Japan sold out the Nippon Budokan for the first time, with an attendance of 16,300.
All Japan's highest-selling show was the Giant Baba Memorial pay-per-view on May 2, 1999, which sold out the Tokyo Dome with an attendance of 65,000. The January 28, 2001 pay-per-view was All Japan's second highest attendance of all time at 58,700, which was notable for Stan Hansen's retirement and the Steve Williams vs. Mike Barton Brawl For All revenge angle. The last two matches of the card featuring Keiji Muto vs. Taiyō Kea, as well as the main event tag-team match, did not appear on the initial television broadcast in 2001, the original broadcast instead ending with Williams finally getting his redemption and defeating Barton in the main event.
First exodus: Super World of Sports
In April 1990, Genichiro Tenryu led the first exodus of wrestlers (The Great Kabuki, Samson Fuyuki, Tatsumi Kitahara, Masao Orihara, Yoshiaki Yatsu, Goro Tsurumi, and Shinichi Nakano) lured as they were to form Super World of Sports, which enabled Baba to push Misawa, Kawada, Taue and Kobashi to be his new stars.
All Japan under Mitsuharu Misawa (1999–2000)
With the death of Shohei "Giant" Baba on January 31, 1999, top star Mitsuharu Misawa immediately inherited the position of company president. On May 28, 2000, Misawa was removed from his position by a majority vote of the executive board. At a regular All Japan board meeting on June 13, 2000, Misawa, Mitsuo Momota (co-vice president, member of directory), Kenta Kobashi (member of directory), Akira Taue (member of directory, chairman), Kenichi Oyagi (member of directory) and Yoshihiro Momota (member of directory) resigned from their board positions. A day later, Motoko Baba ("Mrs. Baba") released a two-page written statement, which claimed that Misawa "took no responsibility and abandoned his duty." In addition, she hinted that Toshiaki Kawada and Masanobu Fuchi would be the only two native wrestlers to stay with All Japan, as "Kawada and Fuchi have sworn to carry out Baba-san's last wish: to keep All Japan Pro-Wrestling alive"; this was confirmed a day later when Kawada and Fuchi both renewed their contracts with All Japan, along with referee Kyohei Wada. The gaijin wrestlers that chose to stay with AJPW were Maunakea Mossman, Johnny Smith, George Hines, Mike Barton, Jim Steele, Mike Rotunda, Stan Hansen and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, while Scorpio, Vader and Richard Slinger joined Misawa's crew. Not wanting to choose sides, Johnny Ace would retire from active competition and return to World Championship Wrestling in the United States as a road agent.
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Second exodus: Pro Wrestling Noah
On June 16, 2000, 24 out of the 26 contracted native wrestlers for All Japan were led by Misawa for a press conference, where it was announced that they would be leaving the promotion (Masanobu Fuchi and Toshiaki Kawada remained). More than 100 reporters and photographers attended the press conference, and Misawa expressed his wish for the promotion to debut in August, with the Differ Ariake being the site of the unnamed promotion's debut. When asked what his reason for leaving All Japan is, Misawa claimed that it was so he could do things in a "modern style." A day later, Misawa announced the promotion's name: Pro Wrestling Noah, which was inspired by the Biblical story where Noah built an ark and put two of every kind of animal in the world in the ark before God destroyed the world.
On June 19, 2000, it was confirmed (at a press conference at All-Japan's dojo held by Toshiaki Kawada and Masanobu Fuchi) that NTV decided to discontinue broadcasting All Japan after 27 years; however, NTV maintained their 15% stock in All Japan (as Motoko Baba held the remaining 85%), and would prevent All Japan from being put on another network. On June 20, twelve All Japan office employees resigned from their positions with the promotion, with intentions to follow Misawa to Noah. NTV also announced that they will carry weekly tapings of Misawa's Noah promotion, with the title of the program being called "Colosseo." Noah took All Japan's 30-minute timeslot on Sundays at midnight. Misawa was interviewed in Tokyo on June 21, where he announced that he and the other wrestlers leaving to form Noah would compete on four of the sixteen shows in All Japan's Summer Action Series 2000 tour, which began on July 1. NTV also aired the final All Japan TV show on the network, which aired for 45 minutes and featured footage from Jumbo Tsuruta's funeral, the Noah wrestlers' press conference from June 16, Kawada's press conference from June 19, highlights of the first ever Kawada vs. Misawa Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship match from October 21, 1992, and Toshiaki Kawada and Akira Taue vs. Yoshihiro Takayama and Takao Omori for the World Tag Team Championship from All Japan's Nippon Budokan show from June 9.
On June 28, 2000, Misawa formally announced at a press conference that Pro Wrestling Noah would debut with two consecutive shows (titled "Departure") in Differ Ariake on August 5 and 6 in Tokyo.
Rebuilding
On July 2 in the Korakuen Hall, Motoko Baba announced the unfathomable return of Genichiro Tenryu (as Giant Baba publicly swore that he would never be allowed back in All Japan, following a departure in 1990 to form the Super World of Sports), as he would team with Kawada to face Maunnakea Mossman and Stan Hansen on July 23 (at the final tour show). On July 20, 2000, Yoshinobu Kanemaru, Takeshi Morishima, Naomichi Marufuji, Kentaro Shiga, Takeshi Rikio, Mitsuo Momota, Rusher Kimura, Haruka Eigen, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Kenta Kobayashi, Takao Omori, Yoshihiro Takayama, Jun Izumida, Masao Inoue, Yoshinari Ogawa, Akira Taue, Jun Akiyama and Mitsuharu Misawa competed in their last matches for All Japan Pro-Wrestling at the sold out Hakata Star Lane in Fukuoka. After the show, "Dr. Death" Steve Williams came out and shook Misawa's hand, and requested one last singles match between the two. However, Misawa returned to the bus immediately after his match, not staying for the last two matches of the show. Every one of All Japan's titles were vacated due to the departure of the aforementioned wrestlers and title holders. Mrs. Baba appointed Stan Hansen as the new Chairman of All Japan's Pacific Wrestling Federation title governing body, replacing Lord James Blears.
Interpromotional feud against New Japan (2000–2002)
On August 10, 2000, All Japan mainstay Masanobu Fuchi walked into the New Japan Pro-Wrestling ring and declared that his intention was to "break down the walls" between All Japan and New Japan. In response, New Japan foreman Riki Choshu rushed into the ring and exchanged a firm handshake with Fuchi, signaling the beginning of the cross-promotional alliance. On September 16, 2000, Toshiaki Kawada followed Fuchi's path and vowed to crush New Japan ace Kensuke Sasaki, as he defeated Sasaki in the Tokyo Dome on October 9, 2000; the event sold out the building. In 2001, Keiji Muto and Shinjiro Otani created the interpromotional stable BATT (Bad Ass Translate Trading), which included All Japan's Taiyō Kea, Michinoku Pro's Jinsei Shinzaki and Hiroshi Hase. During this time, Muto challenged and defeated Tenryu for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, as well as capturing the World Tag Team Championship with Taiyō Kea. The alliance between the promotions lasted until January 11, 2002.
Start of the Pro Wrestling Love era
Signs of what would become the Pro Wrestling Love era would be seen in the spring and summer of 2001, when Keiji Muto, as a member of New Japan Pro-Wrestling, made part-time appearances to All Japan, fighting Toshiaki Kawada and "Dr. Death" Steve Williams in major singles matches on pay-per-view. A notable shift in the product was seen in July 2001, when in a pay-per-view main event, Steve Williams lost to Keiji Muto for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, where it ended in an altercation. After leaving the backstage area Williams would then going on a huge swearing tirade, where he kicked a trash can, was about to cry in tears, and then throwing his armpads to the ground while swearing again.
On January 11, 2002, following the end of a year-long cross-promotional angle with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, Keiji Muto shocked the Japanese wrestling world by defecting to All-Japan as a full-time competitor, taking Satoshi Kojima and Kendo Kashin with him. This is considered the official start of the era. Muto would lose to Steve Williams in a grudge feud in March 2002, but a month later Muto defeated Mike Barton in the 2002 Championship Carnival tournament main-event. Despite Barton's loss, he and Jim Steele would find success in winning the Stan Hansen cup in July 2002, Barton also being able to prevent Williams from winning.
Company turmoil and sale of All Japan
On September 30, 2002, during an All Japan 30th Anniversary party at the famed Tokyo City Hotel, Mrs. Baba officially announced Muto's appointment as the new president of All Japan, transferring all of the Baba family stock to him. Mrs. Baba's last on-screen appearance was on the October 27, 2002 pay-per-view, before leaving All Japan altogether by January 2003. Muto upheld some traditional aspects of the Baba-run All Japan, as the Champion Carnival and World's Strongest Tag Determination League remained annual events.
During this time, All Japan was struggling financially and Muto had to borrow money from Mrs. Baba as of November 28, 2002. This led to rumors that Muto was going to sell the company to Fuji TV by the time of the next WRESTLE-1 pay-per-view, which ultimately did not happen. Instead, shares of All Japan were sold to Gaora TV with the promotion still operating in its usual corporate manner led by Keiji Muto, rarely broadcasting pay-per-views and events to SKY PerfecTV! and SAMURAI TV. While Muto owned 75% of All Japan's shares beginning in 2003 after Mrs. Baba permanently left, the remaining shares went to Gaora TV, who would oversee All Japan's production and would buy the majority of the tape library post-2003. They upload several segments of their tape library to their official YouTube channel.
In January 2003, a third exodus began, primarily of gaijin wrestlers. The most notable included "Dr. Death" Steve Williams, KroniK (Brian Adams and Bryan Clark), Bill Goldberg and Mike Rotunda. They had wrestled their last matches on pay-per-views that month, not renewing their contracts after the new ownership fully realized. Williams would only make one more appearance in the Pro Wrestling Love era on a July 22, 2004 pay-per-view, who at the time was going through throat cancer recovery and made a surprise appearance. In April 2003 Johnny Smith also left AJPW, followed by George Hines in July 2003, leaving a void in the gaijin roster. In both of their cases they would defect to IWA Japan, where Williams and Rotunda would also go find work. However, despite his material being shown on IWA TV, Smith's planned in-ring debut in March 2004 for IWA Japan never happened due to him choosing to permanently retire because of his aforementioned injury.
Creative restructuring after the sale
After Mrs. Baba sold the company, gradually over time All Japan took a more sports-entertainment based approach, featuring more in-ring promos, comedy segments, and gimmick matches. This would be controversial among traditional All Japan fans, where All Japan resembled later WCW from both a creative and business stanpoint, but being successful enough to stay in business and not be sold to competing promotions like New Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah. The creative shift became most noticeable by the end of 2003 and the beginning of 2004.
Throughout 2003 and 2004, recent debuts like John "Earthquake" Tenta, Bull Buchanan, Jamal (Umaga), Taiyō Kea, D'Lo Brown and Gigantes (Jerry Tuite) would become the main gaijins after the gaijin exodus.
Some interpromotional activities that would not have happened under Shohei Baba's watch have taken place, including the previously unfathomable IWGP Heavyweight Champion vs. Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion bout on a New Japan Pro-Wrestling event on February 20, 2005; Satoshi Kojima (who was the Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion) defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, which made Kojima the only wrestler to ever hold both titles simultaneously to that point. Muto later accomplished the feat in 2008. However, he would hold the IWGP Championship as Keiji Muto, and the Triple Crown Championship as his alter-ego The Great Muta.
In addition, Keiji Muto and Satoshi Kojima are both New Japan Pro-Wrestling alumni but played a consistent role in the main event picture of All Japan Pro-Wrestling from the time of their arrival to the promotion, who along with longtime veteran Toshiaki Kawada main-evented All Japan during the mid-2000s.
After John Tenta left All Japan in July 2003 and Jerry Tuite's death in December, who often tag-teamed with each other to fight Keiji Muto's posse, Jamal (Umaga) and Taiyō Kea would take the roll as the top gaijins in the mid-2000s. They became the main attractions Taka Michinoku's Roughly Obsess and Destroy (R.O.D.) stable, being rapidly pushed when they debuted in November 2003. They were a heel stable akin to the early New World Order, trying to take over All Japan and defeat all of the native roster. In February 2004, Taiyō Kea pulled an upset victory against Satoshi Kojima at the February 22, 2004 pay-per-view, while at that show Jamal and D'Lo Brown lost to Keiji Muto and Bob Sapp. Jamal would later get his revenge on Muto defeating him in the Champion Carnival tournament on the April 15, 2004 edition of AJPW TV.
Jamal feuded with Toshiaki Kawada in pursuit of his Triple Crown Championship in the spring and summer of 2004, but would lose to Kawada on the June 12, 2004 edition of AJPW TV by submission. However, Jamal and Kea continued dominating the tag-team division, where they won several victories. By the end of 2004, Jamal got even with Kawada, where he and Kea eliminated Kawada and Mitsuya Nagai in the Real World Tag League '04 tournament semifinals. Jamal and Kea would defeat Satoshi Kojima and Kaz Hayashi to win the tournament with the trophies on the December 1, 2004 edition of AJPW TV.
Keiji Muto competed at a Pro Wrestling Noah event on July 10, 2004, teaming with fellow AJPW wrestler Taiyō Kea to face Mitsuharu Misawa and Yoshinari Ogawa. On July 18, 2004, Mitsuharu Misawa returned to All Japan and defeated Satoshi Kojima at Battle Banquet. Misawa returned to All Japan again on October 31, 2004, for the Keiji Muto: Love and Bump pay-per-view event, where he (along with Keiji Muto) defeated Hiroshi Hase and Kensuke Sasaki in what was billed as a "Special Dream Tag Match".
On the January 15, 2005 edition of AJPW TV, Jamal and Taiyō Kea won the vacant AJPW World Tag Team Titles by defeating cult favorite Hiroshi Tanahashi and Yutaka Yoshie. The team of Jamal and Kea won every tag-team title defense throughout 2005, before Jamal left to join the WWE in December 2005, later debuting as Umaga in April 2006.
Taiyō Kea would team with other RO&D stable members throughout 2006 while embarking on a strong singles push. Kea defeated Toshiyaki Kawada for the Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion on the August 27, 2006 pay-per-view, before losing it to up-and-comer Minoru Suzuki a week later on the September 3, 2006 edition of AJPW TV.
Later Pro Wrestling Love era
On July 10, 2007, Hiroshi Hase was appointed as the new Chairman of the Pacific Wrestling Federation, following Stan Hansen's voluntary resignation. Hase is the third chairman in PWF's history. Joe Doering would become the main gaijin around this time.
October 12, 2007 Baseball Magazine Sha, the publisher of Puroresu Shukan released AJPW trading cards.
On June 7, 2011, Keiji Muto announced his resignation as the President of All Japan Pro-Wrestling and named Masayuki Uchida as his successor.
On August 28, 2012, AJPW and Gaora TV announced that AJPW would introduce a new championship called the Gaora TV Championship. The tournament for the title began on September 8, and ended on October 7 with Seiya Sanada defeating Yasufumi Nakanoue in the final to become the inaugural champion.
The "Pro Wrestling Love" name and theme was retired on July 5, 2013, thus ending the era.
From Wikipedia’s article on All Japan Pro Wrestling, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4