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Tiger Mask |
History of Puroresu : 1980s
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See also: Showa
Puroresu Message Board
1970s
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- 02/01/80
- WWF Junior Heavyweight Champion
Tatsumi Fujinami wins NWA
World Junior Heavyweight International Title from Steve Keirn.
- 02/18/80
- Kintaro Ohki (Il Kim) joins
IWE.
- 02/27/80
- Antonio Inoki fights against Willie Williams,
a former Kyokushin
Kaikan karateka, at Kuramae Kokugikan(the old Sumo Hall). DCOR.
- 04/04/80
- Kotetsu Yamamoto,
one of the original New Japan wrestlers, retires.
- 04/19/80
- Giant Baba has 3000th match since his
debut without any absences.
- 06/28/80
- Giant Baba & Jumbo Tsuruta
win a tournament in Detroit for the NWA World Tag Team Title. They vacate
the title, however.
- 09/04/80
- Baba defeats Harley Race
to win the NWA World Heavyweight
Title for the third time. Race regains the title on 09/10/80.
- 10/23/80
- Yoshiaki Yatsu of the All Japan Olympic Wrestling Team joins New Japan
Pro Wrestling after Japan boycotts the Olympic Games in Moscow, USSR.
- 11/10/80
- Kintaro Ohki(Ill Kim) leaves IWE.
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- 01/18/81
- In the 3000th memorial match of Baba(without absences since his debut
match), Baba puts his PWF Heavyweight
title against Verne Gagne,
putting his AWA World Heavyweight title.
DCOR.
- 02/25/81
- Jaguar Yokota defeats
Jackie Sato to win the WWWA World title.
Also Mimi Hagiwara defeats
Yumi Ikeshita to win All Pacific Title.
With Yokota, Hagiwara, and Devil
Masami, new generation of women's pro-wrestling begins.
- 04/01/81
- The International Wrestling Grand Prix Committee is founded.
- 04/13/81
- Kintaro Ohki(Ill Kim) is ordered by the NWA Board
to vacate his NWA International Heavyweight
Title which he has been defending since December, '72.
- 04/23/81
- The legendary Tiger Mask(Satoru Sayama)
debuts in New Japan with a victory over Dynamite
Kid. Antonio Inoki wins the held-up NWF
Heavyweight title, defeating Stan
Hansen. However, he abandons the title to participate the International
Wrestling Grand Prix. All titles in New Japan except junior heavyweight
are abandoned.
- 04/30/81
- Dory Funk Jr. wins the
vacant NWA International Heavyweight Title when Bruiser
Brody is unable to wrestle in the tournament final because of an injury.
Instead, Dory has his first title defense against his own brother Terry
Funk.
- 05/08/81
- Abdullah the Butcher, the top heel
of All Japan Pro-Wrestling, appears on New Japan
card for the first time. The promotional war between All Japan and New Japan
starts.
- 05/21/81
- Jackie Satoh retires.
- 07/03/81
- Tiger Jeet Singh,
the top heel of New Japan, appears on an All Japan card.
- 08/09/81
- IWE has its last card. Mighty Inoue, Goro Tsurumi, Hiromichi Fuyuki, and
Nobuyoshi(Apollo) Sugawara join All Japan on 09/16/81. Ashura Hara also
joins All Japan after having a match against Gen'ichiro
Tenryu on 10/02/81.
- 10/08/81
- Former IWE wrestlers, Rusher
Kimura, Animal Hamaguchi, and Isamu Teranishi, join New Japan on a card
billed as "New Japan vs IWE."
- 10/16/81
- After defending the title against Steve Travis, Tatsumi Fujinami vacates
the WWF Junior Heavyweight Title in order to move up to the heavyweight
division.
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- 01/01/82
- Tiger Mask defeats Dynamite Kid for the vacant WWF Junior Heavyweight
Title.
- 01/15/82
- Stan Hansen has his first match since jumping to All Japan in previous
December.
- 01/28/82
- Abdullah the Butcher, who joined New Japan previous year, wrestles against
Inoki.
- 02/04/82
- Stan Hansen has the first singles match against Baba.
- 03/07/82
- Atsushi Ohnita defeats Chavo Guerrero
in Charlotte, NC to win NWA World Junior Heavyweight International Title.
This title is renamed NWA International Junior Heavyweight Title at NWA
Board meeting in August,'82.
- 05/01/82
- Tiger Mask vacates the WWF Junior Heavyweight Title because of an knee
injury.
- 05/25/82
- Tiger Mask wins the NWA World Junior
Heavyweight Title from Les Thornton. He also defeats Black Tiger(Mark
Rocco) for the vacant WWF Junior Heavyweight Title next day.
- 10/08/82
- Riki Choshu, who came back from Mexico after winning the UWA
World Heavyweight title, turns on Fujinami during a 6men tag match.
After the match, a former "jobber-to-the-star" Choshu says to Fujinami,
"I'm not a dog that lets you bite myself(Japanese expression for "I'm not
to kiss your ass," or "I'm not a jobber for you.")."
-
- 05/06/83
- The 1st International Wrestling
Grand Prix(IWGP) touranment starts. The participants include Antonio
Inoki(the last NWF Heavyweight champion who abandoned the title for the
IWGP tournament), Killer Khan,
Hulk
Hogan, Andre the Giant, Big John Studd,
Rusher Kimura(the last IWA World Heavyweight champion, replacement for Dino
Bravo), Canek(UWA World champion),
Enrique Vera, Otto Wanz(CWA
World champion), and Akira Maeda(European
Heavyweight champion).
 06/02/83
- Hulk Hogan KOs Inoki to win the 1st IWGP.
- 06/17/83
- Riki Choshu, Hamaguchi, Killer Khan, and Kuniaki
Kobayashi form the original Ishin Gundan(Restruction Force) with a support
of Masa Saito.
- 08/11/83
- Tiger Mask retires.
- 08/25/83
- A coup in New Japan office. Inoki and Seiji
Sakaguchi are forced to resign from their positions as the president
and vice-president. They return to the positions on 11/11/83.
- 08/31/83
- In his retirement match, Terry Funk teams with Dory Funk Jr. and defeat Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy. Jumbo Tsuruta defeats Bruiser Brody to win NWA International Heavyweight Title on the same card.
- 12/15/83
- Shikina Oki, a former JWA referee and Rikidozan's
wrestling teacher, dies in Honolulu, HI. Rikidozan died exactly 20 years
ago(12/15/63).
- 12/26/83
- Bob Backlund loses WWF
Heavyweight Title to Iron Sheik after almost 6 years of the title reign.
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- 01/23/84
- On the webmaster's 13th birthday, the '83 IWGP winner Hulk Hogan wins
WWF Heavyweight Title from Iron Sheik at Madison
Square Garden in New York City.
- 02/05/84
- Mexican legend El Santo passes away.
- 02/10/84
- David Von Erich dies in a hotel in Tokyo in the night before the first
card of the tour. His United National title is vacated.
- 02/23/84
- Jumbo Tsuruta pins Nick
Bockwinkel to be the first Japanese to win the AWA
World Heavyweight title.
 04/10/84
- The original UWF formed with Akira Maeda, Rusher Kimura, Ryuma Go, Mach
Hayato, and Gran Hamada.
Later, Yoshiaki Fujiwara
and Nobuhiko Takada
join the promotion and start the shoot style pro-wrestling which would cause
Kimura, Go, and Hamada to leave the promotion for All Japan.
- 04/11/84
- UWF has its first card in Omiya.
- 04/25/84
- In the match to determine the first PWF
World Tag Team Champions, Bruiser Brody & Stan Hansen defeat Giant Baba
& Dory Funk Jr. Baba injures his neck and stops his record of appearing
3711 matches continuously.
- 05/13/84
- Rick Martel defeats Tsuruta in St. Paul, MN to win the AWA World Heavyweight
Title.
- 05/27/84
- WWF's Vince McMahon dies with cancer of the
esophagus.
- 06/28/84
- Satoru Sayama and Kazuo Yamazaki join the UWF.
- 07/23/84
- Sayama has his first match in 354days on a UWF card at Kourakuen Hall.
- 08/02/84
- Antonio Inoki pins Choshu at Kuramae Kokugikan(old Sumo Hall). This was
the last puroresu card the at Kuramae Kokugikan that has the history of
30 years. Kuramae Kokugikan is replaced by newly built Ryogoku Kokugikan(today's
Sumo Hall).
- 08/23/84
- The second Tiger Mask debuts on an All Japan card.
- 08/26/84
- Shozo "Strong" Kobayashi retires on a New Japan card.
- 09/11/84
- Osamu Kido, one of New
Japan's original wrestlers, jumps to UWF.
- 09/21/84
- Riki Choshu and his Ishin Gundan leave New Japan and form Japan Pro-Wrestling.
- 11/14/84
- In a shocking news, the British Bulldogs jump from New Japan to All Japan.
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- 01/03/85
- Atsushi Ohnita retires.
- 01/21/85
- Former NWA president Eddie Graham commits suicide in Tampa, FL at the
age of 55.
- 02/21/85
- Japan Pro starts copromoting with All Japan.
- 03/09/85
- The Road Warriors have their first Japanese match on the first puroresu
card at Ryogoku Kokugikan(Sumo Hall) promoted by All Japan.
- 03/21/85
- Bruiser Brody jumps to New Japan.
- 09/02/85
- During a Akira Maeda-Satoru Sayama match, Maeda intentionally throws several
kicks into Sayama's low-blow. This becomes Maeda's last match in UWF. Many
wrestlers were unhappy with Sayama's selfish leadership.
- 09/11/85
- UWF has a card at Kourakuen Hall. This ends up being the last card of
the promotion.
- 10/11/85
- Sayama leaves UWF.
Ric Flair vs. Rick Martel
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- 10/21/85
- On an All Japan card in Tokyo, Ric Flair DCORs with Rick Martel in the
only NWA & AWA World Heavyweight Double Title Match ever in history.
- 10/31/85
- New Japan's contract with WWF expires. New Japan abandons WWF Junior Heavyweight,
International Heavyweight,
and International Tag Team
Titles.
- 11/04/85
- On an All Japan card, Tsuruta wrestles Riki Choshu to the 60min time limit
draw in the first singles match between the two.
 12/06/85
- Five UWF wrestlers, Maeda, Nobuhiko Takada, Yoshiaki Fujiawara, Osamu
Kido, and Kazuo Yamazaki, return to New Japan and appear on New Japan's
Ryogoku Kokugikan card.
- 12/12/85
- Bruiser Brody and Jimmy Snuka no-showed in the final of the tournament
for the IWGP Tag Team titles
against Inoki and Sakaguchi. The replacements, Tatsumi Fujinami & Kengo
Kimura, won when Fujinami pinned Inoki with Dragon Suplex Hold and became
the first champions. This is the first time for Fujinami to pin Inoki.
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- 01/03/86
- The UWF wrestlers, Maeda, Nobuhiko Takada, Fujiawara, Kido, and Yamazaki
start a so-called interpromotional feud againt New Japan.
- 04/06/86
- A Mexican legend El Solitario
passes away with a heart attack.
- 04/13/86
- A former yokozuna Hiroshi Wajima joins All Japan. However, he retires
on 12/27/88.
-
- 08/17/86
- Japan Women's Pro-wrestling starts in Tokyo with former stars such as
Jackie Sato and Nancy Kumi, Rumi Kazama(former shootboxer), Shinbu
Kandori(former 3times Japanese women's judo champion and bronze medalist
of world judo championship), and others.
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- 02/23/87
- Riki Choshu leaves All Japan. Ishin Gundan break up, and Killer Khan goes
to the WWF for his last run as a pro-wrestler. Choshu, Kuniaki Kobayashi.
Hiro Saito, Hiroshi Hase, Super Strong Machine, and Norio Honaga appear
during the main evnet Inoki vs. Masa Saito of a New Japan card on 04/27/88.
- 04/22/87
- Hisa arrives to the United States from Japan at the age of 16 (without
his parents, by the way). His crazy American life starts.
- 06/12/87
- After winning the final of '87 IWGP Champinship against Masa Saito, Inoki
abandones the annual tournament and becomes the first IWGP
Heavyweight champion.
- 08/20/87
- After getting sick of his group's jumps, Animal Hamaguchi retires on a
New Japan card.
- 09/06/87
- Hisa goes to a Japanese restaurant in Charlotte and happes to meet Ric
Flair. However, it is only the third month in the U.S. for the webmaster,
and he is unable to communicate with the Nature Boy in English and ends
up only asking for a autograph saying, "champion, sign please."
- 10/04/87
- Antonio Inoki wrestles Masa Saito in Ganryujima Island in a no-audience
match. Inoki wins by TKO in 2:05'14".
- 10/05/87
- Bruiser Brody returns to All Japan.
- 10/25/87
- Japan Pro closes after Choshu returns to New Japan. Yatsu and those who
didn't return to New Japan join All Japan.
- 11/27/87
- Maeda's infamous kick on Choshu's face. This causes Maeda to be fired
by New Japan.
- 11/29/87
- All Japan's Haru Sonoda dies in a plane crash.
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- 03/01/88
- New Japan fires Maeda.
- 04/08/88
- Maeda, Nobuhiko Takada, Yamazaki, and few others announce that they will
start the new UWF.
- 04/19/88
- Tsuruta regains the International Heavyweight Title that he has lost to
Bruiser Brody on 03/27/88. This is the last match between the two.
- 05/08/88
- Tatsumi Fujinami defeats Big Van Vader for the IWGP Heavyweight Title,
that Inoki has vacated on 05/02/88 because of a leg injury.
- 07/04/88
- Adrian Adonis dies in an auto accident at age of 34.
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Bruiser Brody
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07/16/88
- Bruiser Brody dies after being stabbed
by Jose Gonzales in Puerto Rico. Brody was scheduled to wrestle against
Stan Hansen in Tokyo during the summer in a dream match voted by the fans.
- 08/08/88
- Tatsumi Fujinami defends IWGP heavyweight title against Antonio Inoki
in a 60-minute time limit draw in Yokohama.
- 08/29/88
- All Japan holds the first annual Bruiser Brody Memorial Night in Budokan.
- 11/15/88
- Ryuma Go, Apollo Sugawara, and Masahiko Takasugi announce the foundation
of "Pioneer Senshi," the first independent promotion in Japan.
- 12/09/88
- Tatsumi Fujinami defeats Kerry
Von Erich for the WCWA World Heavyweight
Title. Fujinami now holds the three heavyweight titles: IWGP, World
Class, and Pacific Northwest.
However, he vacates and returns the World Class title to Kerry on next day.
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- 01/07/89
- Because of the death of Emperor Hirohito, all promotions cancel their
scheduled cards for two days.
- 02/02/89
- All Japan holds a card in Kansas City. In the main event, Tsuruta & Gen'ichiro
Tenryu win the World Tag Team Title
from Stan Hansen & Terry Gordy.
- 02/11/89
- Soviet Wrestlers that Inoki scouted in previous year come to Japan for
the first time.
- 02/15/89
- Gen'ichiro Tenryu team with the Road Warriors in Cleveland, OH to defend
their NWA World 6man Tag Team title.
- 02/18/89
- The first WWWA World Champion Mildred Burke passes away at the age of
73.
- 04/09/89
- Inoki has a meeting with Akira Maeda. They reach the agreement to let
Masaharu(Masakatsu) Funaki
and Minoru Suzuki leave New Japan for the UWF.
- 04/18/89
- Tsuruta, the International Heavyweight champion, defeats PWF and United
National heavyweight champion Stan Hansen, to become the first Unified
Triple Crown Heavyweight Champion.
- 04/24/89
- New Japan holds the first puroresu card at Tokyo Dome. Jushin
Thunder Liger debuts on this card.
- 05/06/89
- Chigusa Nagayo, one-half of the famous Crush Gals, retires. Her partner
Lioness Asuka also retires on 07/25/89.
- 07/24/89
- Antonio Inoki wins a seat in the House of Council(Japanese equivalent
to the US Senate) and becomes the first pro-wrestler to be a congressman.
- 10/06/89
- Frontier Martial-arts Wrestling has its first card
in Nagoya with Atsushi Ohnita as the president and the top star. Later,
their style will empasize on the bloody death match style, which is totally
opposite from the UWF.
1990s
Puroresu Awards : 1980s
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