AJPW History

This series covers the history of All Japan Pro Wrestling. The company was founded by Shohei “Giant” Baba in 1972 and has gone through numerous phases over the last half century. In the ring, it started as something heavily influenced by the American NWA style and the 1970s footage we have features the top wrestlers of the era — Harley Race, the Funks, Billy Robinson and Jack Brisco, among others — taking on native AJPW stars, most frequently Baba and the rising Jumbo Tsuruta. In the early 1980s, Terry Funk, who became one of the greatest babyfaces in wrestling history in his AJPW tenure, Race and Ric Flair continued in that tradition until the arrival of Riki Choshu in late 1984, which prompted a shift to a more all-action style, with Choshu and Yoshiaki Yatsu facing Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu in some legendary tag team matches that were almost a pseudo-interpromotional feud with rival New Japan Pro Wrestling. After Choshu’s departure in early 1987, the Jumbo-Tenryu team was split and the former duo feuded with each other for nearly three years in some of the most legendary main events of all time. Tenryu departed the company in 1990, which prompted Baba to elevate a new generation of stars, most prominently Mitsuharu Misawa. Former Tenryu junior partner Toshiaki Kawada became a breakout star and a young Kenta Kobashi showed incredible promise. The decade ahead is legendary for the sheer number of classic matches those three wrestlers had against each other and other natives such as Jun Akiyama and Akira Taue, and also against top foreign talent like Stan Hansen and “Dr. Death” Steve Williams. In 2000, a year after Baba’s passing, Misawa departed AJPW with most of the roster at his side to form Pro Wrestling NOAH. The task of rebuilding the company fell on Kawada, who stayed behind, and the returning Tenryu. The glory years of AJPW were largely over, but the company exists and produces wrestling worth watching to this day, with top stars like Kento Miyahara, Zeus (no, not him), Suwama and others as top stars in recent years.

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