Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant documents that can help answer the question.
Query: When was the New Japan Pro Wrestling created?
New Japan Pro-Wrestling Co., Ltd.(新日本プロレスリング株式会社,Shin Nihon Puroresuringu Kabushiki-kaisha) (NJPW)[4] is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Nakano, Tokyo. Founded in January 1972 by Antonio Inoki, the promotion was sold to Yuke's, who later sold it to Bushiroad in 2012. TV Asahi and Amuse, Inc. own minority shares of the company.[4] Naoki Sugabayashi has served as the promotion's Chairman since September 2013,[6] while Harold Meij has served as the President of the promotion since May 2018.[3]
From 1959 to 1972, the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance (JWA), run by Rikidōzan, held a tournament called World League (also known as the "World Big League"), which featured both Japanese and foreign professional wrestlers. Rikidōzan himself dominated the annual tournament early on, however, after his death in 1963, the tournament was won six times by Giant Baba and once by Antonio Inoki. JWA folded shortly after both Baba and Inoki left the promotion to create All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), respectively. Both men took the concept of World League with them to their new promotions, with Baba creating the "Champion Carnival" in 1973 and Inoki creating the World League in 1974, later renaming it G1 Climax.
The NWA’s presence in Japan was established in 1953, when Japanese wrestler/promoter Rikidozan founded the Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance, (JWA) which quickly became the main promotion in Japan. In 1972, the JWA’s two top draws Giant Baba and Antonio Inoki left to form their own promotions, All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) respectively. As a result, the JWA soon folded. AJPW became an NWA member upon its inception in 1973 and stayed until the late 1980s. NJPW was also a member of the NWA at various points between 1975 and 1985, mainly in order to gain control of the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship. In 1992 and 1993, NJPW joined with the NWA once more to re-establish and promote the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, but left the NWA when WCW withdrew. NJPW returned to the NWA in 2004, again mainly for the NWA Junior Heavyweight Championship, and it is not a connection that is strongly emphasized. Between NJPW's departure in 1993 and its return in 2004 NWA representation in Japan was scattered among a few independent promotions: the International Wrestling Association of Japan (1994–1996); the Wrestle Yume Factory (1995–1997), the Universal Fighting Arts Organization (1999–2000); and Pro Wrestling Zero-One (2001–2004). In June 2007, the Inoki Genome Federation replaced NJPW as the Japanese affiliate of the National Wrestling Alliance. In February 2008, however, New Japan returned to the NWA. At the annual meeting in 2010, New Japan did not renew its membership and left the NWA yet again. In 2011, Pro Wrestling Zero1 returned to the NWA as their Japanese territory.
When IWE closed its doors in 1981, Inoue, Hara, Tsurumi, and Fuyuki joined All Japan Pro Wrestling, while Kimura, Hamaguchi and Teranishi joined New Japan Pro Wrestling as a stable that formed the first "invasion" angle in history, later copied by the Japanese UWF, Japan Pro-Wrestling, and the nWo in WCW in America. The promotion is also credited for making Rusher Kimura a major star in Japanese Puroresu and holding Japan's first steel cage match. Isao Yoshihara eventually became a booker in New Japan, until his death in 1985.IWE's governing body was called the International Wrestling Alliance and administered the following titles:
The is a professional wrestling tournament held by All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). The tournament is also known by the nickname and is sometimes abbreviated to CC. Created by AJPW founder Giant Baba, the tournament has been held annually since 1973 and is the longest-running singles tournament in professional wrestling, while also ranking as the most prestigious event in the AJPW calendar. It is considered a successor to the World League, held by Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance (JWA) between 1959 and 1972, predating the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) G1 Climax tournament by a year.
On August 27, 2011, Japan's three biggest professional wrestling promotions; All Japan Pro Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah came together to produce a charity event titled All Together at the arena. On August 10, 11 and 12, 2018 New Japan Pro Wrestling will have the final 3 days of the G1 Climax in Budokan and that will mark the first time in 15 years New Japan has promoted an event there. 
Without a top star, Rikidozan’s Japan Pro Wrestling Alliance (JWA) and pro wrestling in Japan as a whole suffered greatly. Despite this, Rikidōzan’s two best students Inoki and Baba vowed to keep professional wrestling alive and continued to run JWA into the 1970s. The two eventually left JWA in 1972 and formed their own promotions. Baba formed All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), and Inoki formed New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW). Both promotions remain active to this day.
WAR was the first promotion to create a steady junior heavyweight tag team title long before New Japan Pro Wrestling, WCW, and Pro Wrestling NOAH hit upon the idea.
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.
Virtual Pro Wrestling 64 is a professional wrestling video game released in 1997 on the Nintendo 64 game console and the second game in the "Virtual Pro Wrestling" series. The game is a sequel to the original "Virtual Pro Wrestling" released in 1996 exclusively for the PlayStation. The game was only released in Japan, and is the Japanese counterpart to "". The game features wrestlers from World Championship Wrestling, but also includes generic renditions of wrestlers from major Japanese promotions such as New Japan Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling, a feature that would continue following the release of the sequel "Virtual Pro Wrestling 2". "VPW 64" was succeeded by Virtual Pro Wrestling 2: Ōdō Keishō, which was released on the Nintendo 64 in 2000.
The Rikidozan Memorial Show was a professional wrestling event held in 1996, and again in 2000, as a tribute to "the father of puroresu," Rikidozan (also known as Mitsuhiro Momota). Both shows were considered major events in Japan and had involvement from virtually every major wrestling promotion at the time. The first show was held in Yokohama, Japan at the Yokohama Arena on June 30, 1996, with 16,000 in attendance. The show featured interpromotional matches of wrestlers from All Japan Pro Wrestling, Big Japan Pro Wrestling, Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling, IWA Kakutoshijuku, International Wrestling Association, Japan Pro Shooting, Kitao Dojo, Michinoku Pro, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Professional Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi, Samurai Project, UWFi, Wrestle Association R and joshi promotions GAEA Japan, JWP Joshi Puroresu and Ladies Legend Pro-Wrestling. In the main event, Genichiro Tenryu and Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Koki Kitihara and Riki Choshu in a tag team match. On the undercard, Keiji Mutoh & Kensuke Sasaki defeated Shinya Hashimoto & Junji Hirata and a "PWFG vs. UWFI" match between Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Yoji Anjoh resulted in a double-countout.
"Power Move Pro Wrestling" is a pro wrestling game from Japan, featuring 12 wrestlers. The original Japanese version of the game was originally a New Japan Pro Wrestling licensed video game; due to limited popularity of the promotion outside the country, an original roster of wrestlers was created for "Power Move Pro Wrestling" while retaining NJPW wrestler move sets.
New Japan Pro-Wrestling World (also referred to as NJPW World and New Japan World) is a subscription-based video streaming service owned by New Japan Pro-Wrestling. On December 1, 2014, NJPW and TV Asahi announced "New Japan Pro-Wrestling World", a new worldwide streaming site for the promotion's events. All major NJPW events air live on the service, which also features matches from the promotion's archives, dating back to 1972. In 2015, King of Pro-Wrestling marked the first ever event on NJPW World to feature English commentary, provided by Kevin Kelly and Matt Striker. Currently, English commentary is provided by Kelly and Don Callis. As part of a working relationship between NJPW and the Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotion, NJPW began airing CMLL's "Viernes Espectaculares" show on NJPW World, starting July 9, 2016.
The series became popular in Japan, but did not see an international release until after Spike took over the franchise in 2000. Early games in the Fire Pro Wrestling series were popular outside Japan with import gamers, and at least one game, "Super Fire Pro Wrestling X Premium" for Super Famicom, received an unofficial fan translation through video game console emulators. "Fire Pro Wrestling A" for the Game Boy Advance was released internationally as "Fire Pro Wrestling" in 2001, and was one of the titles initially available when the Game Boy Advance was launched in Japan and North America. Four editions of the game have received official English translations: Fire Pro Wrestling (2001) and Fire Pro Wrestling 2 (2002) for the GBA, Fire Pro Wrestling Returns for PS2 (2007), and Fire Pro Wrestling World for the Steam PC platform and PS4 (2017/2018) .
Zero1 has had working agreements with Pro Wrestling Noah, All Japan Pro Wrestling, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Riki Pro, Hustle, Big Mouth Loud, King's Road and Dragondoor (now El Dorado Wrestling) which enabled Zero1 wrestlers to challenge for and hold the other promotions' titles.
After being released, Shiga made appearances in New Japan Pro Wrestling. He wrestled on their January 31, 2010 show teaming with Tamon Honda in a losing effort to GBH (Togi Makabe and Tomoaki Honma). He also participated in New Japan's J Sports Crown Openweight 6-Man Tag Tournament, where he teamed with Honda and Makoto Hashi but the team lost in the first round. Shiga also began wrestling in Kensuke Office and returned to NOAH but is used in opening matches. On August 27, 2011, Shiga took part in the charity event "All Together", put together by New Japan Pro Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah, and defeated 25 other men in a battle royal to win the Destroyer Cup.
The promotion was founded by former New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) stars Shinya Hashimoto and Shinjiro Otani. In 2000, Hashimoto proposed an independent promotion within NJPW called New Japan Pro Wrestling Zero, but the idea was shot down. When Hashimoto was fired by NJPW in November 2000, he registered the Pro Wrestling Zero-One name.
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.
Chieko Suzuki was born on December 4, 1969, and was raised in Kyoto, Japan. In 1986 she auditioned for All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling (AJW), but was unsuccessful, and instead joined the first rookie class of Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling. She debuted on August 17, 1986 in Korakuen Hall, Tokyo under the ring name "Miss A". When Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling was dissolved, Suzuki became part of the JWP Project. She wrestled in the United States for World Championship Wrestling, but returned to Japan in 1991, and changed her ring name to "Dynamite Kansai". After leaving Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling in the mid-1990s, she joined a new wrestling promotion organisation, GAEA Japan. In 2006, she worked for Mayumi Ozaki's promotion, OZ Academy. In 2015, Kansai returned to the United States for the first time in twenty-four years, appearing for Shimmer Women Athletes alongside Aja Kong. In 2012, she was diagnosed with lung cancer and was declared cancer-free after a four-year battle. Kansai ended her 30-year career on December 11, 2016, defeating Mayumi Ozaki in her retirement match.
Nakagawa grew up a fan of professional wrestling, watching promotions like All Japan Pro Wrestling, All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling, but was forced to give up her dream of becoming a professional wrestler, when she discovered that, at , she was 5 cm (2 in) below the minimum height required for a woman to enter the All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling dojo, and instead began studying, eventually becoming a qualified nurse. While working in her new job, Nakagawa would often go to watch professional wrestling at Korakuen Hall and finally, at the age of 22, decided to pursue her original dream and began training professional wrestling under Taka Michinoku.
In mid-1966, Japan Wrestling Association president Michiharu Toyonobori resigned his position and left the promotion, taking along with him some talent, including Katsuhisa Shibata (father of current New Japan Pro Wrestling star Katsuyori Shibata) and the future Rusher Kimura (Masao Kimura). Antonio Inoki, who was coming back from a long excursion to the United States, chose to join him and create a new venture, Tokyo Pro Wrestling.
Yuke's, the developer of "SmackDown!" had previously created the well-known "Toukon Retsuden" series of wrestling games in Japan for New Japan Pro Wrestling. Despite this, the game engine used in "SmackDown!" is not based on contemporary "Toukon Retsuden" titles, but rather "The Pro Wrestling", a title developed by Yuke's as part of D3 Publisher's Simple series and released several months in Japan beforehand.
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 League. Therefore, respectively, the G1 Climax for the NJPW and the Champion Carnival for the AJPW are the indirect descendant of the original World League.
The original roster included Rusher Kimura, Akira Maeda, Ryuma Go, Mach Hayato, and Gran Hamada. Soon, however, they were joined by Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Nobuhiko Takada, Satoru Sayama (the original Tiger Mask) and Kazuo Yamazaki, and this changed the orientation of the UWF's wrestling from the traditional style to a more martial arts oriented style. Maeda, Fujiwara, Takada, Sayama and Yamazaki had been martial artists before joining New Japan Pro Wrestling, and they began incorporating realistic moves, including submission holds and kickboxing-style kicks, which created a new form of wrestling called shoot-style. Kimura, Go, and Hamada, unable to cope with the new style, decided to leave and join All Japan Pro Wrestling instead.
BATT was a professional wrestling stable that competed in both New Japan Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling from 2001 to 2002. The name: BATT is short for "Bad Ass Translate Trading", meaning a group of wrestlers that crossed borders. The groups is best known for the fact that its members were from different promotions: New Japan (Mutoh, Frye, & Ohtani), All Japan (Kea & Hase), and Michinoku Pro (Shinzaki).