PROMOTION HISTORY
WRESTLE-1 is a promotion run by Keiji Mutoh, following his resignation from All Japan and then 2/3rd’s of the All Japan Pro-Wrestling following suit at the end of June of 2013.
The promotion is to hold their first show on September 8, 2013 at the Tokyo Dome City Hall in Tokyo, Japan.
Mutoh will be working under GEN Sports Entertainment as the management company for the new promotion, while he will be the acting president/representing director of WORLD-1.
In 2014 W-1 made a series of moves that promoted the growth of the company, first of all announcing a partnership with the American TNA company, sending young star Seiya Sanada over for an extended run, bringing in TNA talent for multiple tours, even hosting the American company’s biggest show of the year Bound for Glory in October. And during 2014 arguably an even bigger move took place when they introduced the Wrestle-1 Title to be the main championship of the company. Followed shortly by the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Titles, with each hosting a tournament to determine the inaugural champions, which were Masayuki Kono and the team of Team 246 (Kaz Hayashi & Shuji Kondo) becoming the first champions.
2015 also is a big year with new beginnings but also a great deal of challenges, having to see a company wide invasion from Pro Wrestling ZERO1 culminating with the brazen Hideki Suzuki defeating KAI in his first title defense and turning his dream title into a nightmare. Though recently on July 12th KAI Regained his honor and the Title, defeating Suzuki.
Also this year Wrestle-1 saw a new power player in it’s front office, reaching out to the famous owner of the DDT promotion and fellow wrestler Sanshiro Takagi, and on May 5th Takagi revealed he was the new CEO of the company, though insisted DDT and Wrestle-1 would not exchange wrestlers, and with the additions of a 3rd title belt in the form of the rare in Japan Cruiserweight Title won by the great Minoru Tanaka, a brand new company-wide tournament announced for August, the Wrestle-1 Grand Prix, and successful negotiations with 21 new contracts signed, Takagi, Muto, & K.K GEN Sports Entertainment are determined to make Wrestle-1 a player in the Puroresu scene.
ACTIVE ROSTER
Keiji Mutoh
Kaz Hayashi
Shuji Kondo
Minoru Tanaka
KAI
Ryota Hama
Masayuki Kono
Yasufumi Nakanoue
Hiroshi Yamato
Andy Wu
Daiki Inaba
Seiki Yoshioka [formerly SEIKI in WRESTLE GATE]
Manabu Soya
Kumagoro
Shotaro Ashino
Kazma Sakamoto
Jay Freddie
Jiro Kuroshio
Yusuke Kodama (Currently On an American Excursion)
Hiroki Murase [Trainee, former WNC]
Masaya Suzuki [Trainee]
Kohei Fujimura [Trainee]
—————————————–
Affiliated under W-1 as of 7/1/2014
AKIRA
Yusuke Kodama
Koji Doi
Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio
—————————————–
ACTIVE STAFF
Makoto Abe (ring announcer)
Daichi Murayama (referee)
Daisuke Kambayashi (referee)
FREELANCE WRESTLERS/OTHER PROMOTIONS
(Japan)
NOSAWA Rongai [Tokyo Gurentai]
Hideki Suzuki [ZERO1]
Jun Kasai [FREEDOMS]
MAZADA [Tokyo Gurentai]
Kohei Sato [ZERO1]
Ryoji Sai [ZERO1]
Masaaki Mochizuki [DRAGON GATE]
Fujita “Jr” Hayato [Michinoku]
Daisuke Sekimoto [BJW]
Yuji Okabayashi [BJW]
Kazushi Sakuraba [Laughter7]
Katsuyori Shibata [Laughter7]
Masakatsu Funaki [FREE]
Otokozakari [AODC/Alexander Otsuka]
HUB [Free]
Tajiri [FREE/Acupuncture]
(North America)
Rene Dupree [Canada]
Zodiac [USA]
Bob Sapp [Free]
Jeff Jarrett [GFW]
Taiyo Kea [FREE]
(Joshi)
Mayu Iwatani [Stardom]
Shu Shibutani [WAVE]
Ryu Mizunami [WAVE]
Syuri [FREE]
Makoto [FREE]
Former
Brian Ishizaka (Did not pass training)
Tomoyo Ebina (Did not pass training)
Rionne Fujiwara (Left in 2015)
Seiya Sanada (Left in 2015 to compete in the USA)
————————————————————-
Championships/Current Champions
Wrestle-1 Championship: KAI – Won July 12th, 2015 (Has yet to Defend the Title)
Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championships: “new WILD order” Jun Kasai & Manabu Soya – Won July 12th, 2015
Wrestle-1 Cruiserweight Championship: Minoru Tanaka – Won May 5th, 2015 (5 Successful Defenses
V1: TAJIRI – May 23rd, 2015
V2: TAJIRI (Won in a Double Title Match with Tanaka’s EWP Intercontinental Title also on the line) – May 30th, 2015
V3: Hiroshi Yamato – June 7th, 2015
V4: Seiki Yoshioka – July 4th, 2015
V5: Seiki Yoshioka – July 12th, 2015
DEBUT SHOW
WRESTLE-1 “Raising an Army Event”, 9/8/2013 [Sun] 16:00 @ Tokyo Dome City Hall in Tokyo [RESULTS]
Official Website
http://www.w-1.co.jp/
Puroresu Spirit 