All Japan Pro Wrestling
全日本プロレス（ぜんにほんプロレス）は、日本のプロレス団体。興行会社としての正式社名はオールジャパン・プロレスリング株式会社（オールジャパン・プロレスリングかぶしきがいしゃ）。正確（法人登記上）には2度運営企業が破綻している。以前の運営会社は全日本プロ・レスリング株式会社（ぜんにほんプロ・レスリングかぶしきがいしゃ）及び全日本プロレスリングシステムズ株式会社（ぜんにほんプロレスリングシステムズかぶしきがいしゃ）。
Japan Puroresu (ジャパンプロレス) or Japan Pro-Wrestling was the first renegade professional wrestling promotion in Japan. It was formed by Riki Choshu and his Ishingun after leaving New Japan Pro Wrestling in 1984. The promotion co-promoted with All Japan Pro Wrestling until 1987 when it dissolved.
In August 1984, Riki Choshu had formed Ishin Gundan with Animal Hamaguchi, Isamu Teranishi, Yoshiaki Yatsu, Masa Saito and Kuniaki Kobayashi to feud with Antonio Inoki and New Japan Pro Wrestling. However, just as the feud was heating up, tensions both in and out of the ring forced Ishingun and a few others to leave NJPW that September. The next month, they formed Japan Pro-Wrestling and also announced a co-promotion with All Japan Pro Wrestling. Masa Saito briefly went back to North America but returned to Japan in 1985 and joined in the new promotion.
In the beginning JPW promoted their own shows, but soon these began to be on-and-off. By the end of 1985, the entire active roster (excluding trainees and wrestlers on foreign circuits) were essentially AJPW wrestlers working on a separate contract, that of their promotion. While New Japan suffered from the lack of strong Japanese vs. Japanese feuds due to the loss of Choshu and Akira Maeda who led the Japanese UWF, All Japan enjoyed banner years as Choshu feuded with its luminaries Jumbo Tsuruta and Genichiro Tenryu, and Kobayashi feuded with the new version of Tiger Mask, Mitsuharu Misawa.
On March 23, 1987, Choshu and JPW announced the cancellation of the contract with AJPW. By the end of March 1987, Japan Pro-Wrestling dissolved, as some went back to NJPW, while some stayed with AJPW. AJPW championships were stripped off of the JPW stars that went back to NJPW. Hamaguchi chose to retire (he would return to wrestling in 1990) and Killer Khan, who had joined in 1985, would return to the WWF for a final run.
In 1995, Choshu reformed his Ishingun with Animal Hamaguchi, Isamu Teranishi, Yoshiaki Yatsu, and Masa Saito to briefly feud with Heisei Ishingun, which included Kuniaki Kobayashi.
In 2003, Choshu reformed Japan Pro-Wrestling in Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling, but after a year, due to financial issues with Kensuke Sasaki, evolved the promotion to Riki Pro and ran smaller scale shows, until Chōshu finally returned to NJPW in 2005 as booker.
プロレスは、リング上で主に観客へ見せることを目的とした攻防を展開する、格闘技を基本としたスポーツのことである。もしくは、その試合を複数展開することにより開催される興行のことである。正式名称はプロフェッショナルレスリング（Professional Wrestling）、興行レスリング、職業レスリングとも呼ばれる。古くは西洋相撲（角力）と呼ばれた。アメリカなどの国では単に「レスリング」と呼ばれることも多い。メキシコでは「ルチャリブレ」、ヨーロッパでは「キャッチ」と呼ばれる。
試合は打撃、投げ技、関節技、時には凶器などを用いて行われて試合において闘う者をプロレスラーもしくはレスラーと呼ぶ。
アメリカ、メキシコ、日本などにおいて歴史があり複数のプロレス団体を有しており全国各地で興行が連日行われている。プロレス興行がない国においてもテレビとインターネットを通じて世界中の人にも楽しまれている。
興行会社が試合、その他で構成される興行を開催することで観戦料などの収入を得るビジネスモデル。プロレス業界において興行会社は「団体」と呼ばれる。 アメリカのWWEを代表とする台本の存在を公にしているエンターテインメント系団体と日本の主流である競技性を前面に押し出している団体が存在する。また女性のプロレスラーの行うプロレスは特に女子プロレスとされ区別される。それ単独での興行は存在しないものの低身長症のプロレスラーが行うプロレスを「ミゼットプロレス」と呼ぶこともある。
事業収入を得ないアマチュア組織も存在する。その中でも学生の愛好家達によるものは学生プロレスと呼称される。メキシコを除いてはライセンス制度も無いため厳密にアマチュアとプロを分類することは不可能であるが、強いて分類するなら観戦料徴収の有無で分けることが出来る。アマチュアプロレスは地域の催事ないしは祭事でプログラムの一環として行われることが多い。「アマチュアプロレス」という表現が矛盾していることもありプロではないがプロと同じ形式という意味で「プロスタイルレスリング」、「ノンプロ」との合成語として「ノンプロレス」と表現することもある
Professional wrestling is a dramatized athletic performance inspired by competitive combat sports. Taking the form of live events held by touring promotions, it is a unique style of combat based on a combination of adopted styles, which include classical wrestling, catch wrestling and various forms of martial arts, as well as an innovative style based on grappling (holds/throws), striking, and aerialism. Various forms of weaponry are sometimes used.
The content – including match outcomes – is choreographed and the combative actions and reactions are performed to appear violent without injuring the wrestlers. Before the 1980s, these facts were considered trade secrets; in the mid-90s, the pretense that professional wrestling was 'real' was largely done away with. By and large, the true nature of the content is ignored by the performing promotion in official media in order to sustain and promote the willing suspension of disbelief for the audience by maintaining an aura of verisimilitude. Fan communications by individual wrestlers and promotions through outside media (i.e., interviews) will often directly acknowledge the fictional nature of the spectacle, making the predetermined nature of the sport something of an open secret. The presentation of scripted events as legitimate is known as "kayfabe".
Although the combative content is staged and communicated between the wrestlers, there are legitimate physical hazards involved; professional wrestling involves carefully-choreographed stunt work, with all of the dangers inherent to that profession.
Originating as a popular form of entertainment in 19th-century Europe and later as a sideshow exhibition in North American traveling carnivals and vaudeville halls, professional wrestling grew into a standalone genre of entertainment with many diverse variations in cultures around the globe, and is now considered a multimillion-dollar entertainment industry. While it has greatly declined in Europe, in North America it has experienced several different periods of prominent cultural popularity during its century and a half of existence. The advent of television gave professional wrestling a new outlet, and wrestling (along with boxing) was instrumental in making pay-per-view a viable method of content delivery.
Fighting