International Wrestling Association of Japan

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This article is about the Japan based wrestling promotions. For similarly named wrestling promotions, see International Wrestling Association (disambiguation).
International Wrestling Association
of Japan
Acronym IWA Japan
Founded 1994
Defunct 2014
Style Deathmatch (original)
Comedy (current)
Headquarters Japan
Founder(s) Victor Quiñones
Owner(s) Tatsukuni Asano

International Wrestling Association of Japan, more commonly known as IWA Japan, was a Japanese professional wrestling promotion operating from 1994 to 1996 and again from 2011 onwards. It was formed by Victor Quiñones as a successor to the W*ING promotion, which was folding at the time. Most of the wrestlers jumped ship to Quiñones' new IWA Japan group. He found a sponsor in Tatsukuni "Kinroku" Asano, a business man who owned several restaurants in Tokyo and had bought and run several wrestling shows prior to IWA Japan. After the failure of IWA Japan Victor Quiñones founded a homonymous federation in Puerto Rico in 1999, the International Wrestling Association.

Opening stage

They had their first show in Yokosuka, Kanagawa on May 21, 1994 which was taped for TV. The early shows often featured many ex W*ING wrestlers like Yukihiro Kanemura, Shoji Nakamaki, Nobutaka Araya and the Head Hunters. They also had fans to fill out questionnaires about the shows and sometimes gave away freebies. Quiñones booked talent from all over the world to compete in IWA, including Cactus Jack and Terry Funk who engaged in some of their most famous bouts.

1995 King of the Death Match Tournament

File:King of the Deathmatch DVD.jpg
DVD Release of IWA Japan's "King of the Deathmatch" Tournament

With IWA getting more popular due to the charisma of some of their wrestlers, they decided to produce a show called Kawasaki Dream, which was held on August 20, 1995 at the Kawasaki Baseball Stadium. The main attraction of the show was the first ever 8-man single elimination deathmatch tournament, which featured Cactus Jack, Terry Funk, Shoji Nakamaki, Hiroshi Ono, Leatherface, Tiger Jeet Singh, Terry Gordy and former FMW wrestler Mr. Gannosuke. The show also featured an NWA World Heavyweight Championship defense, as Tarzan Goto challenged then-champion Dan Severn for the title.

The standout in this tournament were the three matches in which Mick Foley wrestled. The first one was a "Barbed Wire, Baseball Bat, and Thumbtack Match". The second was a "Barbed Wire Board Spike Nail Match". The third was a "Barbed Wire Rope, Exploding C4, and Time Bomb Match".

Show results

Dark Matches:

Quarter-Finals:

Mid-Card:

  • Takashi Okano defeated Flying Kid Ichihara via pinfall for the WWA World Light Heavyweight Championship (17:01)
  • Iceman defeated Kamikaze via pinfall (9:45)

Semi-Finals:

  • Terry Funk defeated Tiger Jeet Singh in a Barbed Wire Board & Glass Match via pinfall (6:04)
  • Cactus Jack defeated Shoji Nakamaki in a Barbed Wire Board & Spike Nail Match via pinfall (9:49)

World Championship Bouts:

Finals:

  • Cactus Jack defeated Terry Funk in a Barbed Wire Rope, Exploding Barbed Wire Boards & Exploding Ring Time Bomb Death Match via pinfall (13:21)

King of the Death Match Tournament winner: Cactus Jack

Post 1996 and The Demise of IWA Japan

Quiñones left IWA at the end of 1995, along with the NWA affiliation. Goto, Gannosuke, and Flying Kid Ichihara followed suit in late-1996 to join Tokyo Pro. Subsequently, IWA started to go downhill after losing much of the talent that Quiñones booked and then in late 1996 the promotion having lost all of its major talent went out of business.

Tatsukuni Asano revived IWA Japan in June 2011 at a much smaller scale, while also changing the promotion's focus from deathmatches to a more comedy based wrestling style. The promotion folded again on October 13, 2014, following its 20th anniversary event and the retirement of Asano.[1]

Championships

Current
  • IWA Triple Crown Championship
Defunct

Roster

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.tokyo-sports.co.jp/prores/mens_prores/322684/

External links

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