Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance


The Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance, also known as the Japan Pro Wrestling Association and the Japanese Wrestling Association, was the first professional wrestling promotion to be based in Japan. It operated from 1953 to 1973.

History

JWA under Rikidōzan (1953–1963)

, a former rikishi who had debuted as a Western-style professional wrestler in 1951, decided in 1953 to establish a territory that would represent the National Wrestling Alliance in Japan. Patronages and board members were consisted mostly of Yoshio Kodama and his acquaintances, such as Hisayuki Machii, Kazuo Taoka,, Shinsaku Arata,,,,,, Tsunenohana Kan'ichi, Masaichi Nagata, Banboku Ōno,, Etsusaburo Shiina, and so on. Kawashima, a former police bureaucracy, concerned adhesions between political circles and yakuza and entertainment industries, and later negotiated with Rikidōzan's wife Keiko Tanaka to exile Machii and Taoka.
In those early days, Japanese professional wrestlers came from out of the sumo or judo ranks; former sumotori usually used their shikona while former judokas usually used their real names or modifications of them Rikidōzan pushed himself as the top star of the promotion, first battling other Japanese wrestlers such as Kimura and Toshio Yamaguchi, but found a strong niche in feuds with American wrestlers such as Lou Thesz, The Destroyer and Bobo Brazil. In 1957 he defeated Thesz to win the title that would be the JWA's top title thereafter, the NWA International Heavyweight Championship. As a newly found hero to the war-weary Japanese masses, Rikidōzan expanded into several business ventures. It resulted in his murder at the hands of a gangster in 1963, at the peak of his fame.

JWA after Rikidōzan (1963–1973)

After Rikidōzan's death in 1963, he was replaced as president by Michiharu Sadano, who wrestled as Toyonobori. In 1966, Sadano was replaced by Junzo Yoshinosato.
The company continued to operate as the nation's premier wrestling circuit until challenged in the late 1960s by International Wrestling Enterprise, which featured the first major World heavyweight championship based in Japan, the IWA title. The JWA's top stars, Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki left to form their own promotions in 1972. With its top drawing cards gone, the JWA was therefore out of business the following year.

Championships

World Big League

World Big League, later renamed to simply World League was a professional wrestling tournament annually held by Japanese Wrestling Association from 1959 till 1972. The 1973 edition was not held as JWA folded that year.
Wrestlers from all over the world participated in the various editions of the tournament, as it was meant since its beginning to be a world tournament. It had been one of the most important pro-wrestling tournaments of its time, because it was one of the very few pro-wrestling tournament of its time to be considered representative of the entire pro-wrestling world.
In 1970, JWA created a tag team counterpart of the World League, known as World Tag League.
Its prestige led Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba to create their own respective promotions, New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling, tournaments which were presented as the direct followers to the JWA World League. Therefore, respectively, the G1 Climax for the NJPW and the Champion Carnival for the AJPW are considered the direct descendants of the original World League.
The following is a list of the winners of each edition:
NWA Tag League, also called World Tag League, was a professional wrestling tournament annually held by Japanese Wrestling Association from 1970 till 1972. The 1973 edition was not held as JWA folded that year. Wrestlers from all over the world participated in the various editions of the tournament, as it was meant to be a world tournament. It was created in 1970 as the tag team counterpart of World Big League.
Its prestige led Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba to create in their respective promotions, New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling, tournaments which were presented as the direct followers to the JWA World Tag League. Therefore, respectively, the G1 Tag League for the NJPW and the World's Strongest Tag Determination League for the AJPW are the indirect descendant of the original World Tag League. In fact, in 2012, NJPW renamed the G1 Tag League the World Tag League.
The following is a list of the winners of each edition:
In 2024, the revival of Maple Leaf Pro Wrestling lead by Scott D'Amore established the PWA Champions Grail, a new championship merging the lineage of Rikidozan and Toyonobori's 1962 Toyonaka trophy with the Wrestling Retribution Project trophy won by Kenny Omega in Hollywood in 2011.

Alumni

This is not an exhaustive list, as the JWA was the only Japanese promotion until 1966 and many wrestlers, both Japanese who competed for a brief time and then retired, or foreigners who came for a single tour, were booked.
;Japanese
  • Rikidōzan
  • Masahiko Kimura
  • Azumafuji
  • Surugaumi
  • Toshio Yamaguchi
  • Toyonobori
  • Michiaki Yoshimura
  • Joe Higuchi
  • Yoshinosato
  • Kokichi Endo
  • Isao Yoshiwara
  • Yasuhiro Kojima
  • Kintarō Ōki
  • Shohei "Giant" Baba
  • Kanji "Antonio" Inoki
  • Umanosuke Ueda
  • Atsuhide/Kakutaro/Masio Koma
  • Katsuhisa Shibata
  • Mitsu Hirai
  • Kantaro Hoshino
  • Kotetsu Yamamoto
  • Motoshi Ohkuma
  • Raizō Kojika
  • Masao Kimura
  • Haruka Eigen
  • Seiji Sakaguchi
  • Masanori Saito
  • Katsuji Adachi
  • Akihisa Takachiho
  • Kazuo Sakurada
  • Masanori Toguchi
  • Masashi Ozawa
  • Osamu Kido
  • Tatsumi Fujinami
  • Akio Sato
  • Kengo Kimura
  • Mitsuo Hata
  • Mitsuo Momota
  • Masao Itoh
;Foreigners
  • Lou Thesz - first NWA World Heavyweight Champion to defend the title in Japan
  • King Kong Czaya
  • Tiger Joginder Singh
  • Dara Singh
  • Freddie Blassie
  • Yusuf Turk
  • The Destroyer
  • Bobo Brazil
  • The Sheik
  • Bill Dromo
  • Fritz Von Erich
  • Gene Kiniski
  • Bruno Sammartino
  • Dory Funk, Jr.
  • Terry Funk
  • Abdullah the Butcher
  • Mil Máscaras
  • Crusher Lisowski
  • Dick the Bruiser
  • Wilbur Snyder
  • Danny Hodge
  • Karl Gotch
  • Johnny Valentine
  • Harley Race
  • Fritz von Goering
  • Bob Roop
  • Mike Sharpe Sr.
  • Ben Sharpe
  • Bobby Bruns
  • Harold Sakata