Written by: Super Mastodon (@SuperMastodon)
Originally posted on: Mastodon Wrestling Blog
After years worth of consuming matches, documentaries, articles, and podcasts, I thought of doing something on my own and hopefully everyone whether a long time fan or even better, new fans who are just beginning their journey into the world of Puro, hopefully you’ll learn something here such as different contexts of stories, moves, monumental moments, promotions, and of course the wrestlers themselves and their careers.
Professional wrestling in Japan or simply Puroresu has been a long standing tradition in the country for decades. We can trace its roots with their national sport: sumo in which it has taken a lot of inspiration from. Through the years Puroresu itself has evolved into different types of presentation thanks to the continuously innovative wrestlers that have shared their talents in the craft.
For this article I am going to discuss and showcase the history of Puroresu but through its major stars. All the way from Rikidozan to the 21st century superstars such as Kazuchika Okada and Kento Miyahara. Who were some of the wrestlers (native & foreign) that have immense and notable contributions, became national icons, who were at the peak of their popularity in certain decades, and all other related criteria. This is not a ranking list of the best, far from it and I have already made a separate article about that. What this is more of a historical piece of Puroresu in chronological order of its wrestlers and documenting their significance around that timeframe.
What I like the most about Puroresu is there is a wide variety of styles, so whatever type of pro wrestling you fancy there is something for you. Traditional grappling, competitive strong style, mixed martial arts, Joshi/women’s wrestling, hardcore/death matches, high-flying lucha libre style, comedy matches, and everything in between. We will be covering all of that in here too.
So buckle up and grab your snacks for reading as this will be quite a ride. Without further ado, let’s get straight into the action and see the history of Puroresu by the stars!
The Three Musketeers
The 1990’s was an interesting decade for the Puroresu scene. New stars continued to surface for the two top promotions while also many forms of styles were popularized around this time and shook things up in terms of influencing the next generation that would follow. Giving them options for different ways in expressing their identity as pro wrestlers and their performances in the ring which we will all get into.
Beginning this decade, we cannot mention arguably the best batch of graduates from the New Japan Dojo in 1984 where three men were seen with tons of potential and they would prove it by going on to become the biggest names in Japanese wrestling history: Keiji Mutoh, Shinya Hashimoto, and Masahiro Chono. Also in the same class with them were Keiichi Yamada, the future Jushin “Thunder” Liger as well as Akira Nogami and Naoki Sano, all of whom are former IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champions. So the 1984 class is without a doubt the best in terms of successful and decorated stories. Hashimoto was the first one to debut among the three while a month later, Chono and Mutoh would follow. In 1988 they were all sent to Puerto Rico together and that is where they formed their trio: Toukon Sanjushi which literally translates to “Fighthing Spirit Three Musketeers” but in English, they just simply called them “The Three Musketeers” and that is how that group was born. Their only match together as a team would be in a six man tag against the trio of Shiro Koshinaka, Kengo Kimura, and Tatsumi Fujinami.
Speaking of Fujinami, him, Choshu, and Inoki were still pretty much the leading stars of the company as the early 90’s rolled around but soon enough their spots would be surpassed by the Musketeers one by one. They cemented their place onto the top of the cards in 1991 when the World Cup Tournament was renamed as the “G1 Climax” and the winner was Masahiro Chono, whose name is still synonymous with the tournament to this day, having the most G1 victories out of any other wrestler in history with five and earning the nickname “Mr. G1.” In 1995 Mutoh won his first G1 while it was in 1998 for Hashimoto. All three men would also fulfill the prophecy and became IWGP Heavyweight Champions at least once throughout their careers. Initially all three of them were partners but soon enough, they developed identities of their own and carved separate paths for their careers.
Shinya Hashimoto (Debut: September 1, 1984) – Throughout the 90’s, there was no other wrestler more dominant in the New Japan roster than Shinya Hashimoto. He would adapt a martial arts inspired gimmick, known for his violent strikes and kicks, elevating the term “Strong Style” to another level. He won his first title in 1989 the IWGP Tag-Team Championships with the trio’s mentor Masa Saito and they reigned for 219 days, then three years later Hashimoto won the prestigious IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the first time by defeating his old rival The Great Muta. He won the belt two more times in his career, with his third one in 1996 having one of the most famous reigns with the title as it lasted for 489 days which for two decades it stood as the longest reign with the IWGP Title, with seven successful title defenses against some of the greatest wrestlers at the time including Ric Flair. After his controversial rivalry with Naoya Ogawa by the tail end of his New Japan run, Hashimoto left the company and created Pro Wrestling ZERO-1, his own promotion while also competing as a freelancer. In 2001 he became NWA World Heavyweight Champion and 2003 became the Triple Crown Champion for AJPW. Sadly in 2005 he would unexpectedly passed away at the age of 40. Hashimoto is still considered as one of the greatest New Japan wrestlers of all time. His peak with the company is comparable to the likes of Tanahashi and Okada today. While his two compatriots became more well known from an international stand point, Hashimoto carried the NJPW banner proud as its ace for an entire decade. A massive fan favorite but his tough persona never wavered and always brought the fight to his opponents until the end.
Keiji Mutoh (Debut: October 5, 1984) – Personally trained by Hiro Matsuda in the New Japan dojo, Keiji Mutoh would go on to have a successful career in pro wrestling not only in Japan but all over the world thanks to his innovative moveset and captivating personality. Unlike Hashimoto who had more grit in his offense, focused on the strikes and whatnot, Mutoh was more of a flashier performer, eliciting “oohs” and “aahs” from the crowd with his Shining Wizards and Moonsault Press both of which he invented. On March 18, 1989 while competing for the NWA in the US, The Great Muta makes his entrance for the first time and since then became one of the most memorable characters in pro wrestling. He was inspired by The Great Kabuki, also using face paint and mists into his character and basically taking what Kabuki started and raising the potential of the gimmick even more. Around the first few years of the 90’s he would only gain tag-team gold but in 1993 established himself as a top star by becoming IWGP Heavyweight Champion for the first time as The Great Muta when he defeated Riki Choshu and went on an impressive 400 day reign. He also defeated rival and former partner Masahiro Chono for the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, making him the second only wrestler to hold the IWGP and NWA titles simultaneously, the first one was Fujinami. Throughout the 90’s Mutoh would win more championships whether as a singles or tag-team competitor and instantly became one of the main event level wrestlers of New Japan while also competing for WCW during the nWo years, wherein him and Chono were leading the Japanese side of the faction. In 1999 he had his third run with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship beating Scott Norton, a couple of years later he’d leave the company and went on to their long time rival promotion AJPW and became one of its top draws. From a technical stand point, most can agree that Hashimoto is the better wrestler over Mutoh, but when it comes to overall presentation and working the crowd to its fullest potential, he was always on top of his game with his mannerisms alone. Whether it’s Keiji Mutoh or The Great Muta, just by making his entrance there’s always a guaranteed strong reaction from the crowd. The success of his wrestling career and his influence in the scene is something that cannot be denied.
Masahiro Chono (Debut: October 5, 1984) – As mentioned earlier, Chono debuted with Mutoh together as a team. The two of them would pretty much become synonymous with one another throughout their careers winning tag-team gold together but also by being rivals. Around the early 90’s, Chono still competed as the typical “ace in the making” babyface character, who is an excellent worker but lacked the “it factor” to boost him for the true main event picture. He has won the G1 Climax numerous times already and even became the NWA World Heavyweight Champion but there’s still something missing there. Well he would eventually find that missing ingredient in the form of a character change but he had to go through something tough first, in 1992 in a match against Steve Austin he suffered a neck injury due to a botched sit down piledriver. Because of this, he became a limited worker in the ring in terms of his offensive moves but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise for Chono as in 1994 he officially debuted his yakuza boss gimmick which he would become best known for to this day. From your boring bland babyface to instantly becoming one of the most entertaining personalities in the roster, Chono became an even bigger star because of this and paved the way for the concept of “cool heels.” He formed the stable Team Wolf along with Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Hiro Saito, which laid the foundation for what will become the nWo Japan. In 1998 Chono defeated Tatsumi Fujinami for his first and only run with the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, only had a short reign at 44 days due to vacating it because of injury. In terms of tag-team gold though he is successful being a 7x IWGP Tag-Team Champion between 1989 to 2006. Although Hashimoto and Mutoh had more successful careers in terms of accolades, Chono is still one of the most iconic figures in Puroresu and is a widely respected legend of the industry as a whole.
The Four Heavenly Pillars
AJPW found their next crop of talents to lead them in the 90’s in the form of Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada, Kenta Kobashi, and Akira Taue, or better known together as “The Four Heavenly Pillars.” While The Three Musketeers were leading NJPW with their showmanship and personalities, what made them different from The Pillars is that they still upheld the philosophies of Giant Baba and All Japan with focused more on the technicalities of a match, which in turn becomes your character. These four men were very much influential not only in their home country but outside as well especially in the US independent scene as most wrestlers at the time like Bryan Danielson and Chris Hero give credit to the work of the Four Pillars as inspirations for developing their own style of wrestling which would become widespread in the entire scene such as the early years of ROH and PWG and to this day that high quality style of wrestling is still emulated. Their matches were the stuff of legends thanks to Dave Meltzer’s constant praise for them in his Newsletter, there is no other group of wrestlers together that has gained more five star match ratings than them, which garnered a lot of attention in the States and the tape trading scene became more prominent too in hopes of witnessing matches involving these four. Whether it was singles matches against one another or their highly acclaimed tag-team bouts that changed the phase of tag wrestling forever, the matches they had are all held in high esteem.
It was also thanks to the Pillars they created what is now famously known today as the “King’s Road” a style of wrestling wherein the road pertains to the path they have to go through in order to become a “king” and basically reach the pinnacle of the top of the wrestling world. The wrestling in the ring itself is the story and the psychology of it is fueled by the desires of the wrestlers to get to their goal. This is evident when you watch any of the matches involving the Pillars with their unwavering attitudes whenever they are faced with tough opponents, their matches being paced in getting from one stage to another, overcoming obstacles along the way and eventually get the best of your opponent. Of course this style would only work if the ones doing it are actually credible and AJPW got lucky as they did not only find one potential top star in the bunch, but four!
Mitsuharu Misawa (Debut: August 21, 1981) – Before he became one of the all-time greats in the ring, Misawa first competed under the Tiger Mask gimmick, being the second wrestler to portray the character after AJPW receiving the rights to use it in their promotion. He started out in the junior heavyweight division and did have a lot of good matches but he was being held back by the mask to show his full potential. On May 14, 1990 marked the beginning of something unbelievable going forward for AJPW, in the middle of their tag-team match against Yoshiaki Yatsu and Samson Fuyuki, Toshiaki Kawada removed the Tiger Mask and showed to the world Mitsuharu Misawa. The shackles are finally gone and now he is himself again and the journey to dominate the ranks of the heavyweight slowly begins from here on out. His first clean victory over Jumbo Tsuruta signaled the beginning of a new era for AJPW, eventually the torch would be passed and Giant Baba found his new ace. There’s an interesting story going into their historic match, originally he had Jumbo going over but while roaming around the arena, he saw fans flocking in the merchandise stand to buy stuff related to Misawa, that was when he knew, it was time for a new era in his company. August 22, 1992 would be another memorable date for his career as he captured the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship for the first time, surpassing another AJPW veteran in Stan Hansen. When Jumbo’s health started to decline and Genichiro Tenryu leaving in an exodus, Mitsuharu Misawa became the de facto top star of AJPW and he cemented this status by having the longest run with the Triple Crown at 705 days straight, a record that will likely go unbroken for years to come. Out of the Four Pillars, Misawa is usually the one thought of being the best and while it may be a cliche opinion at this point, I do agree. While there are others who may be better in some aspects, from a pure wrestling technicality stand point, I do believe Mitsuharu Misawa is the greatest Japanese wrestler ever and I do have him in my personal Top 4 all time in terms of workers. While seemingly stoic in emotion, Misawa could actually convey a lot in his matches and you can feel the emotions in any of his bouts, especially high stakes ones and allows you to be invested in the story being told in the ring, which is somewhat of a lost art in mainstream wrestling nowadays. The build may be slow but the match itself is a journey from testing out the strengths and weaknesses of his opponents, getting to the climax of absolute destruction, then the conclusion to which all the pain that they’ve felt will come to a halt after nailing the finisher in such precise moment to fully get the victory. As an audience, it makes you feel just as exhausted watching him after a hard fought battle. Misawa’s endurance was a testament to his greatness too, reigning over primarily in the top for the rest of the 90’s in AJPW and establishing himself as one of the greats, if not the greatest in entire world and the company as the number one source for high quality matches.
Toshiaki Kawada (Debut: October 4, 1982) – Although Misawa’s greatness was truly a sight to behold, it cannot be denied he wouldn’t have achieved it if he didn’t have the right opponents to face. His greatest rival whom he shares a long history with going back to their high school years was Toshiaki Kawada. Originally Kawada wanted to go to the NJPW dojo but was persuaded by Misawa to join AJPW instead and so the adventure began for the Dangerous K on becoming one of the most feared wrestlers in all of Puro. After numerous successful runs in the tag division, Kawada got to established himself as one of the promising top stars of the company by feuding with Misawa. In the earlier parts of their rivalry, Kawada could not get a concise victory over his opponent. Despite having fantastic matches against one another, with one getting the recognition of “Singles Match of the Decade” in 1993 between the two of them, Misawa seemed like too difficult of an opponent for Kawada. So much so that slowly, Kawada would look like the underdog in the story and the narrative would shift as fans rallied behind him to finally get the win someday. Finally on May 1, 1998, Kawada finally got the decisive win over his lifelong rival and it was also for the Triple Crown Championship, a title he has already won before but this time the taste of victory is much sweeter. Kawada has proven that he isn’t going to be left behind the shadow of his rival and be able to become the King with his capabilities too. Soon enough, the black and gold would take over the emerald green. Misawa had his signature elbows, Kawada had his devastating kicks. In all of my time watching pro wrestling, I have never seen such effective and more deadlier kicks than Kawada, he delivers them every time very deliberate to inflict damage and became such a staple part of his arsenal. The “Kawada Kicks” as they call them would become such a highly influential move to many wrestlers around the world that it has become a common part of their move sets now, but no one can truly do them better than the master. After the mass exodus of AJPW wrestlers and staff led by Misawa, Kawada was left behind with only three other roster members. He would have to work even harder in living up to the promise to Giant Baba in keeping the company alive, no matter what happens.
Akira Taue (Debut: January 2, 1988) – Unlike the two previously discussed members of the Pillars who’s backgrounds can be traced in their amateur days, Akira Taue used to be a sumo wrestler and found his way into professional wrestling by the late 80’s. Taue has one of the best tag-team careers in Puroresu, after learning under the wing of Jumbo Tsuruta, he began teaming up with Toshiaki Kawada and together they were known as the “Holy Demon Army” and between 1993 to 2000 they held the AJPW World Tag-Team Championships six times and have a record for total combined days at 912 which will likely never be matched by any team again in the near future. As I’ve said the tag matches between the Holy Demon Army vs. Misawa & Kobashi are the stuff of legends, to this day they are still considered by many as the greatest series of tag-team matches ever. In terms of his singles career, while having many memorable bouts against other members of the AJPW roster, accolades wise Taue didn’t have much gold in comparison to his tag-team resume. His first and only run with the Triple Crown Championship took place on May 24, 1996 when he ended Misawa’s second reign with the belt that ran for an entire year, it was also Taue’s first major victory over his rival and his win is one of the most memorable moments of AJPW at that time. Unfortunately though the run itself lasted only 61 days before he dropped it back to Kobashi. The thing about Taue, despite being a high caliber performer, it seemed like All Japan didn’t have as much faith in him being the top star in comparison to the rest of his peers, which is unfortunate as he totally deserved to have a proper run with the Triple Crown but I also understand that Misawa and Kawada were far bigger draws. What I do not enjoy seeing though is the common sentiment of him being lumped as the “Weakest Pillar” as if that’s an insult? First off, determining who’s the best between them is a subjective take on its own and second, being the worst at literally a group of ring generals does not mean he’s an awful worker which is what others automatically think, but I guess those opinions are only shared by fans who never actually got to watch him. He may not be your cup of tea, as his style can be polarizing, working more of a big man similar to that of Giant Baba, but calling him a bad wrestler is just disrespectful to his great body of work that lasted for decades. Even though Taue was never really the “ace” per se, his wins especially title victories, are often celebrated with loud cheers from the crowd. He has become a sentimental favorite among the audience who always rooted for his success. Might’ve been overshadowed by his workers, he was still able to have a career that certifies him as a legend.
Kenta Kobashi (Debut: February 26, 1988) – Last but certainly not the least of the Four Pillars, the final one to debut is the great Kenta Kobashi. What makes Kobashi’s career path into wrestling in comparison to the other three who have some background into the sport one way or another, Kobashi barely had any working odd jobs and bodybuilding in his youth, but was always a pro wrestling fan by heart, he would eventually get accepted into the All Japan Dojo and began his training there like all rookies. Underdog stories have always been a part of wrestling history for ages now, Baba booked Kobashi into the situation and while he may not have had a lot of wins in his column in the early parts of his career, it would eventually pay off into his rise in to main event scene, because at the end of the day the fans will always cheer for a classic and well done underdog story. All of his first 63 singles matches, he loss. It wasn’t until on May 16, 1989 in an 11 minute match against Mitch Snow where he finally got his first taste of victory. Kobashi played the role perfectly of the determined fighter, despite receiving tons of setbacks since his training days up until losing all of his matches in the beginning, he didn’t give up and would eventually rise up in the ranks among the best, then earning his spot with the rest of the Pillars. He won his first championship in 1990 with Tiger Mask II (Misawa) as 1/2 of the All Asia Tag-Team Champions. Then the highest point of his career thus far was on July 24, 1996 when he won the Triple Crown Championship for the first time defeating Akira Taue, he would win the belt two more times in his career. Kobashi was the final Triple Crown Champion before the mass exodus onto NOAH which he was a part of. Out of the Four Pillars, while I do think Misawa is the best, admittedly Kenta Kobashi is my personal favorite. I can relate heavily to his story just like most fans did, he was a believable underdog because he wasn’t just merely playing a character, it was really his life story, been through so many struggles yet he kept on fighting, hitting chops and lariats along the way. It’s an old school booking tactic but when done right by both the booker and the wrestler, it will always result into something great, Kobashi’s tough journey to initially being rejected by the dojo to eventually becoming one of the sport’s all-time greatest legends, you can’t write something like that. An inspiring story by a very inspirational man himself.
“Overlooked” Stars
Now that we’re done discussing the top players for NJPW and AJPW in the 90’s, let’s take a look at some of their peers who also started to grow as performers around the same time, but aren’t really considered to be a part of the aforementioned groups by most of the fans. I put the term “overlooked” on quotes because it doesn’t necessarily mean that they didn’t have great careeers, far from it, but they are somewhat overshadowed by their much more popular fellow workers at the time, sure their names are also recognized but not enough credit is given because of the dominance the Musketeers and Pillars had at that point.
For example is Kensuke Sasaki, if you’re a Puro fan chances are you probably know his name as around the late 90’s to 2000’s he became one of the most decorated wrestlers ever, especially during his run as a freelancer where he was able to accomplish is win the “Big Three World Titles” of Japan, the IWGP (NJPW), Triple Crown (AJPW), and GHC (NOAH) Heavyweight Championships throughout his career. The only other wrestler to do this was Yoshihiro Takayama. Before he became the multi-time World Champion he’d become known for though, after his excursion in various parts of the world, Sasaki returned to NJPW and for the most part acted as a solid midcard tag-team act in the early 90’s teaming up with Hiroshi Hase and Road Warrior Hawk as 1/2 of the Hell Raisers with him taking on the persona of “Power Warrior.” On August 31, 1997 Sasaki defeated Shinya Hashimoto to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship for the first time, a title he’d go on to win four more times in his career. When the Three Musketeers’ run started to end in NJPW, it was Sasaki who was being slowly pushed to the top. His hoss style of wrestling with lariats and chops, made him an effective heavyweight wrestler and his charisma to be able to connect with the audience slowly built up too. He continued wrestling until 2014, overall a very solid career.
In AJPW, Jun Akiyama I think has more of an appropriate case of being overlooked in his initial run there. I always compare his status at the time to that of The Beatles, the band had its core four members, and then there’s always someone who had the distinction of being the “5th Beatle” who made notable contributions but not good enough to reach the level of greatness and become an “official member” so to speak. While Akiyama was one of the best workers in the country in his time in AJPW during the 90’s, he was always overshadowed by the Pillars. He couldn’t have been able to squeeze his way through the top spot because the four of them were already so dominant, plus you have credible gaijins being prioritized as well so his only accolades by that point was being a 4x Tag-Team Champion at best. It wasn’t until years later when he’d finally get that long awaited main event level push in All Japan but we’ll get there eventually. But like I said, Akiyama’s first run established him to the same level of his peers, he just didn’t find that much personal success.
I’ve already mentioned him as a tag partner of Sasaki but someone who has been overlooked throughout his entire career is Hiroshi Hase. The man’s legacy to most people is literally never winning “the big one” at least in Japan where he never won a World Heavyweight Title. He’s had solid runs in both NJPW and AJPW from the late 80’s to 90’s, being 2x IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion and 4x IWGP Tag-Team Champion but was on the similar position Hirooki Goto is now. Again, another one of the best workers in the entire country but was unable to reach the end goal of winning the title. The thing about Hase is that he had no problem putting over all of his opponents, which is good for his reputation as a co-worker as no one’s said anything bad against him as a wrestler and seems to be a professional in general, not having any ounce of ego, but from a fan perspective, you wish that sometimes his hard work could’ve been rewarded but alas he retired “ring less” as they say in sports. One of my all-time favorite moments/matches of his though was the one against Great Muta on December 14, 1992 where it became one of the bloodiest match in wrestling history, inventing the “Muta Scale” in determining how bloody matches are in comparison to theirs.
For gaijins around the 90’s, the set of wrestlers we’ve seen in the 80’s were pretty much still going strong around this decade. Stan Hansen, Vader, Abdullah The Butcher, The Road Warriors, Bam Bam Bigelow, Killer Brooks, and many more are still around. But then you got others elevating their status even further in the Japanese scene and winning World Titles, particularly in All Japan as in NJPW it was primarily native wrestlers who reigned as IWGP Heavyweight Champion throughout the 90’s with the exception of Vader. “Dr. Death” Steve Williams and Terry Gordy, the Miracle Violence Connection became one of the most dominant tag-teams in All Japan around this time, becoming 5x AJPW World Tag-Team Champions and also 2x NWA/WCW Unified World Tag-Team Champions. Individually, they also found success.
Gordy became the first gaijin to become Triple Crown Champion when he defeated Jumbo Tsuruta on Juen 5, 1990. He’d win the belt again a month later from Stan Hansen. Four years later, July 28, 1994 “Dr. Death” Steve Williams had a hellacious match against Mitsuharu Misawa ending his 705 day reign as Triple Crown Champion. He’d lose the belt two and a half months later to Toshiaki Kawada. Johnny Ace (aka John Laurinaitis) is probably best remembered for being one of the controversial authority figures in the WWE later on in his career but before that, he was actually a very solid worker and started to consistently work in AJPW around the 1990’s. While never receiving the same push/success as Dr. Death and Terry Gordy, Johnny is a six time tag-team champion in AJPW, famous for his team ups with Kenta Kobashi. Also he’s the inventor of the Ace Crusher which both DDP and Randy Orton would popularize and use effectively in their careers.