Big Japan Pro Wrestling

Big Japan Pro Wrestling
Acronym BJW
Founded 1995
Style Deathmatch
Strong BJW Style
Headquarters Japan
Founder(s) Shin'ya Kojika
Kendo Nagasaki
Owner(s) Eiji Tosaka
BJW Chairman, Great Kojika.
BJW owner, Eiji Tosaka.

Big Japan Pro Wrestling (BJW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion established in 1995. It is most famous for its deathmatch style contests.

History

Big Japan Pro Wrestling was founded in March 1995 by former AJPW wrestlers Shinya Kojika and Kendo Nagasaki, during the boom period for Deathmatch wrestling in Japan. Kendo Nagasaki left in 1999; Shinya Kojika is still president of the company to date.

The promotion followed in the footsteps of organisations such as Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) and the International Wrestling Association of Japan (IWA Japan), who helped popularise a hard-hitting, violent and bloody style of wrestling known as the Deathmatch, or in more recent years, "hardcore" wrestling. These matches are usually weapon filled, using both "conventional" weapons (such as chairs and tables), as well as "extreme" weapons not usually seen in mainstream wrestling, and previously unused in wrestling at all. These weapons include, but are by no means limited to, nails, thumbtacks, fire and fluorescent light tubes. Barbed wire is also often used liberally in these matches, sometimes wrapped around other weapons, laid on the floor surrounding the ring, wrapped around the ring ropes or even replacing the ropes altogether. In it early years, BJW was unable to directly compete with the budgets of its competition. This led to the innovation of a number of unique gimmick matches, many of which helped hide its monetary shortcomings. These include:

Steel cage deathmatch with 200 fluorescent light tubes - Ryuji Ito vs. Yuko Miyamoto at BJW 15th Anniversary Show ~Death & Crazy That's The Way Of The BJ-World~ on May 4, 2010[1]

Away from the Deathmatches, BJW also has had well-established normal wrestling titles. On February 3, 1998, Yoshihiro Tajiri won a one night only 8 man tournament in Tokyo to crown BJW's first World Junior Heavyweight Champion. This match showed a distinct departure from the violent matches BJW is known for. The company also has had a World Heavyweight Championship, a World Women's Championship, a World Tag Team Championship, and a World 4-Man Tag Team Shuffle Championship. Although the World Tag Team titles and Deathmatch titles are the only ones still active.

Currently, the BJW roster is split into "Deathmatch BJ" and "Strong BJ". The deathmatch workers wrestle for the BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Championship and the non-deathmatch workers for the BJW World Strong Heavyweight Championship.

Inter-promotional feuds

Big Japan has feuded with both New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) and Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW). These were both kayfabe feuds that were done in order to generate more income for both companies. During late 1996 and early 1997, Big Japan entered into an agreement with New Japan. Being a relatively new promotion, BJW was in need of mainstream publicity. NJPW agreed to a feud, which would allow Big Japan wrestlers to appear in their company and use New Japan's popularity to give exposure to their company. In return, Big Japan agreed to lose the feud and the majority of the inter-promotional matches, therefore strengthening the New Japan brand. The situation provided an interesting clash of wrestling styles, as NJPW often favored a strong style of competition. The biggest show featuring both companies occurred at the Tokyo Dome on 4 January 1997.

In the late 1990s and into the 2000s, Big Japan competed against Combat Zone Wrestling. CZW was a relatively new American promotion at the time, and also largely focused on an extreme style of wrestling. Wrestlers feuded in both companies having matches in the United States and Japan. During the CZW feud, top star Tomoaki Honma departed the company to become a freelancer. He would later sign with All Japan Pro Wrestling.

In October 2008 several BJW wrestlers came to America and faced Chikara in The Global Gauntlet. BJPW did well, winning the best of 5 series on night one, but narrowly lost the Global Gauntlet match on night 2.

In 2012, BJW established a three-way working relationship with CZW and German promotion Westside Xtreme Wrestling (wXw), which led to the creation of the World Triangle League tournament.

BJW has also had a long working relationship with the Union Pro Wrestling promotion, which has included BJW workers holding titles in Union Pro and vice versa.

Roster

Deathmatch BJ

Strong BJ

  • Ryuichi Kawakami
  • Toshiyuki Sakuda
  • Yoshihisa Uto
  • Yuichi Taniguchi
  • Yuji Okabayashi

Guests

  • Masato Inaba (Freelancer)
  • Masaya Takahashi (Freelancer)
  • Onryo (666)
  • Shinobu (666)
  • Yuko Miyamoto (666)

Staff

  • Eiji Tosaka (Owner, Announcer)
  • Mac Takeda (Referee)
  • Nikkan Lee (Referee)

  • Ryuji Yamakawa
  • Yuji Shindo (Announcer)
  • Hirotsugu Suyama (Color Commentator)

Notable alumni

Ryuji Ito
"Razor Blade Cross Board" - Six Man Tag Team Barbed Wire Razor Blade Death Match (Jun Kasai & DJ Hyde & Nick Gage vs Jaki Numazawa & Isami Kodaka & Masashi Takeda) at BJW 15th Anniversary Show ~Death & Crazy That's The Way Of The BJ-World~ on May 4, 2010[1]

CZW Warriors (2000 - 2002)

This stable also appeared in Fire Pro Wrestling Returns as the Mad Gaijins, excluding Ric Blade.[2]

Championships

Current

Championship Current champion(s) Date won
BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight ChampionshipRyuji ItoJuly 20, 2015
BJW Tag Team ChampionshipHideyoshi Kamitani and Ryota HamaDecember 30, 2015
BJW World Strong Heavyweight ChampionshipYuji OkabayashiJuly 20, 2015
Sakatako Intercontinental Tag Team ChampionshipDaisuke Sekimoto and Kazuki HashimotoSeptember 20, 2014
Yokohama Shopping Street 6-Man Tag Team ChampionshipGreat Kojika, Kankuro Hoshino and Masato Inaba July 20, 2015

Defunct

Championship: Final champion(s): Date won:
BJW Heavyweight Championship Men's Teioh September 5, 2004
BJW Junior Heavyweight Championship Homicide November 15, 2002
BJW Women's Championship Kaori Yoneyama January 2, 2003
BJW 8-Man Scramble Championship The Great Kojika

Former

Championship Last recognized champion(s) Date won
FMW/WEW Hardcore Tag Team Championship Saburo Inematsu and Ryuichi Sekine April 12, 2015

References

External links

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