Thea Trinidad Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (2011-2013, 2015) What is Total nonstop Action Wrestling? After being discovered by Tommy Dreamer, Trinidad wrestled in a tryout dark match at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's (TNA) Impact! television tapings on January 11, 2011, What happened in that match? losing to Angelina Love.
Did he continue to wrestle for TNA?
Did Thea Trinidad continue to wrestle for TNA after losing to Angelina Love?
After being discovered by Tommy Dreamer, Trinidad wrestled in a tryout dark match at Total Nonstop Action Wrestling's (TNA) Impact! television tapings on January 11, 2011, losing to Angelina Love. On January 27 it was reported that Trinidad had signed a contract with the promotion. On the February 10 episode of Impact!, Trinidad, under the ring name Rosita debuted as the storyline cousin of Sarita in an eight knockout tag team match, where the two of them teamed with Madison Rayne and Tara and defeated Angelina Love, Mickie James, Velvet Sky and Winter, when Rosita pinned Sky. The following week Rosita and Sarita defeated Angelina Love and Velvet Sky in a tag team match to earn a shot at Love's and Winter's TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship. On March 13 at Victory Road, Rosita and Sarita defeated Love and Winter to win the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship, with Sarita proclaiming that their victory would start a Mexican takeover of TNA. On the following episode of Impact!, the alliance of Rosita, Sarita and Hernandez was named Mexican America. The three of them were then defeated in a six-person street fight by Love, Winter and Matt Morgan. On March 24, the three were joined by Anarquia. In the following weeks Rosita and Sarita successfully defended the Knockouts Tag Team Championship first against The Beautiful People (Angelina Love and Velvet Sky) and then against Madison Rayne and Tara. They made their third successful defense on the June 16 episode of Impact Wrestling, defeating Velvet Sky and Ms. Tessmacher, following outside interference from ODB. Rosita and Sarita lost the TNA Knockouts Tag Team Championship to Ms. Tessmacher and Tara on July 12 at the tapings of the July 21 episode of Impact Wrestling. They received a rematch on August 7 at Hardcore Justice, but were defeated by Tessmacher and Tara. On the March 22, 2012, episode of Impact Wrestling, Rosita and Sarita again failed to recapture the Knockouts Tag Team Championship, when they were defeated by Eric Young and ODB.  On April 19 episode of TNA Impact, Rosita and Sarita teamed up with Madison Rayne and Gail Kim in a losing effort to Brooke Tessmacher, Tara, Velvet Sky and Mickie James. Rosita and Sarita were given another title opportunity on April 15 at Lockdown, but were once again defeated by Eric Young and ODB, this time in a steel cage match. Afterwards, both Rosita and Sarita went inactive from TNA, while Anarquia left the promotion and Hernandez turned face, effectively ending Mexican America. After months of inactivity, it was reported on January 9, 2013, that Trinidad's contract with TNA had expired and she had parted ways with the promotion. On February 1, Trinidad confirmed that her contract had expired the previous day.  On February 14, 2015, Trinidad returned to TNA for Knockouts Knockdown 3 as Rosita, where she defeated Angelina Love. CANNOTANSWER
On January 27 it was reported that Trinidad had signed a contract with the promotion.
was a professional wrestling event produced by the Wrestle-1 promotion (W-1), that took place on March 2, 2014, at Ryōgoku Kokugikan in Tokyo, Japan. For the event – W-1's first at Ryōgoku Kokugikan – the promotion collaborated with American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA), the first of two W-1/TNA joint events in 2014 (along with Bound for Glory).

The event was split into two parts; part one included four matches featuring exclusively Japanese wrestlers, and part two featured eight matches involving wrestlers from TNA. All in all, 14 wrestlers from TNA took part in the event, which featured three title matches, contested for the TNA World Heavyweight, TNA X Division and TNA World Tag Team Championships.

The event saw two titles change hands; in the first The BroMans (Jessie Godderz and Robbie E) captured the TNA World Tag Team Championship in a three-way match involving the defending champions The Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards) and W-1's Team 246 (Kaz Hayashi and Shuji Kondo). In the second W-1's Seiya Sanada captured the TNA X Division Championship from Austin Aries. The main event saw Magnus successfully defend the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against W-1's Kai.

The event aired live in Japan on the NTV G+ channel. TNA would later in the year air the second half of the event as a One Night Only pay-per-view titled Global Impact Japan.

Background

Kaisen: Outbreak featured twelve professional wrestling matches involving different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds, plots, and storylines that played out on Wrestle-1's house shows, as well as several cross-promotional matches with American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Wrestlers portray villains or heroes as they follow a series of events that build tension, and culminate in a wrestling match or series of matches. All storyline developments for Kaisen: Outbreak took place at events held by Wrestle-1.

After founding Wrestle-1 in July 2013, Keiji Mutoh quickly established a working relationship with TNA, visiting Jeff Jarrett at the promotion's offices in Nashville, Tennessee before the end of the month. Jarrett ended up working a Wrestle-1 event on October 6, which was followed by A.J. Styles coming in to defend the TNA World Heavyweight Championship on November 16, and Jay Bradley and Rob Terry working a tour with the promotion starting November 16. While Bradley left Wrestle-1 to return to TNA following December 1, which was shortly afterwards followed by the American promotion releasing him from his contract, Terry remained with Wrestle-1 for the next few months. Following Jarrett's departure from TNA, the relationship was handled by Bob Ryder and John Gaburick on the Americans' side.

On November 16, 2013, Wrestle-1 announced its first ever event at Tokyo's Ryōgoku Kokugikan, to be held on March 2, 2014. On January 30, 2014, the promotion announced that the event would feature a "Wrestle-1 vs. TNA" theme with eleven wrestlers coming in to represent the American promotion. The event would be broadcast live in Japan on the NTV G+ channel and later by TNA on pay-per-view as part of its One Night Only series. The following day Wrestle-1 added that the event, titled Kaisen: Outbreak ("Kaisen" being Japanese for "outbreak of war"), would feature matches for the TNA World Heavyweight, TNA X Division and TNA World Tag Team Championships. It was however noted by American reporters that the original list of TNA wrestlers announced for the event did not include the reigning TNA World Tag Team Champions, The BroMans (Jessie Godderz and Robbie E). This was later changed by Wrestle-1, who began advertising the two for the event. It was also reported that Jeff Jarrett was originally booked for Kaisen: Outbreak and even though he would have wrestled in a match not involving TNA wrestlers, his booking was canceled by Wrestle-1 following pressure from TNA. As part of the relationship between Wrestle-1 and TNA, Mutoh, using his Great Muta persona, and his protégé Seiya Sanada were announced for TNA's March 9 Lockdown event.

On January 31, 2014, Wrestle-1's on-screen matchmaker Manabu Soya announced matches to determine the challengers for each TNA title. Soya first announced a battle royal to determine the X Division Championship challenger and then a single tag team match to determine the TNA World Tag Team Championship challenger. Finally, Soya announced that Yasufumi Nakanoue, Masakatsu Funaki, Minoru Tanaka and Seiya Sanada would enter a four-man tournament to determine the number one contender to the TNA World Heavyweight Championship. This was part of a storyline, where Soya was favoring his old tag team partner Seiya Sanada, while making disparaging comments about Kai, who had been battling Sanada for the role of Wrestle-1's "ace" or top wrestler. Kai instantly confronted Soya on being left out of the tournament, which led to Sanada announcing that since he had already unsuccessfully challenged A.J. Styles for the TNA World Heavyweight Championship during his Wrestle-1 visit, he instead wanted to go for the TNA X Division Championship and offered his spot in the four-man tournament to Kai, which was finally accepted by Soya. Meanwhile, Team 246 (Kaz Hayashi and Shuji Kondo) nominated themselves as one of the teams to battle for the shot at the TNA World Tag Team Championship, but were interrupted by the villainous Desperado stable, who made their own nomination. This led to Soya announcing a match between Team 246 and any two members of Desperado, where the winning team would get the title shot on March 2.

All of the decision matches took place at Wrestle-1's February 15 event. First up was the match to determine the challenger for the TNA World Tag Team Championship, which was won by Team 246, who defeated Desperado representatives Kazma Sakamoto and Masayuki Kono. Next up was a twenty-man "extreme" battle royal for the shot at the TNA X Division Championship, held by Austin Aries. Seiya Sanada ended up winning the match by scoring the last elimination over Yoshihiro Takayama, following help from Manabu Soya, who returned from a shoulder injury to take part in the match. The first round of the tournament to determine the TNA World Heavyweight Championship challenger saw Masakatsu Funaki defeat Yasufumi Nakanoue and Kai end his recent losing streak and pick up his first win in 2014 by defeating Minoru Tanaka, in the process avenging a loss suffered the previous month. The finals of the tournament saw Kai avenge another loss by defeating Funaki to earn his shot at the title, held by Magnus. On February 23, at a TNA house show in Morgantown, West Virginia, The Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards) captured the TNA World Tag Team Championship from The BroMans, changing Team 246's opponents for Kaisen: Outbreak. The Wolves had been advertised as taking part in Kaisen: Outbreak from the start, while The BroMans had not been.

On February 20, Wrestle-1 announced the first non-title matches for Kaisen: Outbreak, which would see Masakatsu Funaki face Bobby Roode and the Junior Stars (Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka) face Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels and Kazarian). Five days later matches, where TNA wrestler Abyss would face freelancer Yoshihiro Takayama and an all-TNA women's match, where Gail Kim would face Madison Rayne, were also announced for the event. The women's match continued a trend, where Wrestle-1, though not having any female wrestlers under contract, had held one women's match per event, using wrestlers from various joshi promotions. Also announced was the first match to not involve any TNA wrestlers as Yasufumi Nakanoue was announced as taking on New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) representative and reigning NWA World Heavyweight Champion Satoshi Kojima. The following day it was clarified that Kaisen: Outbreak would be split into two parts with the first involving only Japanese wrestlers and the second involving the TNA wrestlers. The match between Nakanoue and Kojima was the only one announced for the first half beforehand. Meanwhile, the TNA half of the card was completed with the addition of a six-man tag team match, where Keiji Mutoh, Rob Terry, who had remained with Wrestle-1 since the past November, and a mystery partner were set to take on TNA wrestler Samoa Joe and Desperado representatives Masayuki Kono and René Duprée. Mutoh promised to retire from professional wrestling if he was defeated in the match. At a press conference held the day before the event, former TNA World Tag Team Champions, The Bromans, barged in to demand their rematch for the title. This was accepted by Mutoh, who agreed to change the TNA World Tag Team Championship match into a three-way match.

Days before the event, the advance ticket sales were described as "very poor" with heavy papering expected from Wrestle-1's side.

Event

Part 1

Kaisen: Outbreak opened with the half containing matches with only Japanese wrestlers. The opening match was a six-man tag team match, where the "Japanese Million Dollar Man" Kazushi Miyamoto teamed with Tokyo Gurentai representatives Mazada and Nosawa Rongai to take on Andy Wu, Daiki Inaba and Hiroshi Yamato, who were accompanied by Pan'nyan, a man in a panda/cat hybrid costume. The storyline rivalry between Tokyo Gurentai and Wrestle-1's rookies, led by Yamato, had been going on since the promotion's first event. In late 2013, Yamato had tried to switch sides in the rivalry and join Tokyo Gurentai, but after being turned down, he returned to leading the Wrestle-1 rookies on January 31, 2014. Towards the end of the match, Yamato was in control of the match against Miyamoto, when Inaba surprised his partner by blind tagging himself into the match. Miyamoto then hit Inaba with a lariat and pinned him for the win with the Million Dollar Driver.

The second match of the event was a short comedy match between Ryota Hama and freelancer Kikutaro, which Hama won with the Hamaketsu. Post-match, Kikutaro showed respect to Hama, but the two were interrupted and insulted by Desperado representatives Kazma Sakamoto and Ryoji Sai.

In the third match, Sakamoto and Sai took on Manabu Soya and Seiki Yoshioka in a tag team match. Towards the end of the match, Yoshioka dove out of the ring onto Sai, while Soya hit Sakamoto with the Wild Bomber and then pinned him for the win.

The fourth and final match of part one saw Yasufumi Nakanoue take on NJPW's Satoshi Kojima, who entered the arena carrying his NWA World Heavyweight Championship belt. In the finish of the match, Nakanoue removed his elbow pad and was setting up his elbow strike finishing move, but was surprised by Kojima hitting him with his own finishing move, the lariat, for the win. Post-match, Kojima shook hands with Nakanoue.

During the intermission, Wrestle-1 announced events for May 4 at the Tokyo Dome City Hall and July 6 back in Ryōgoku Kokugikan. This was followed by Desperado, accompanied by Samoa Joe, coming to the ring. The stable's leader Masayuki Kono downplayed Keiji Mutoh and Rob Terry's mystery partner and promised to retire Mutoh later in the event.

Part 2
The second half of the event kicked off with a tag team match, where the Junior Stars (Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka) took on Bad Influence (Christopher Daniels and Kazarian). Towards the end of the match, the Junior Stars had the match won, when Tanaka hit Daniels with the Fireball Splash, but Kazarian prevented the referee of the match from making a three count. Tanaka then locked Daniels in the Minoru Special, while Kanemoto held Kazarian in an ankle hold. The TNA duo, however, managed to get out of the holds and hit Tanaka with the Bad Elimination for the win.

The sixth match of the event was a women's match between Gail Kim and TNA Knockouts Champion Madison Rayne. Kim won the match by pinning Rayne following the Eat Defeat.

The seventh match saw Yoshihiro Takayama take on Abyss in a wild brawl. The storyline before the match was that backstage Mazada and Nosawa Rongai warned Takayama that Abyss was going to be bringing his signature bag of thumbtacks to the ring with him and suggested that he took a weapon of his own or something to cover himself up with him. Takayama, however, refused the suggestion. In the finish of the match, Abyss emptied his bag on the entrance ramp and then body slammed Takayama onto the thumbtacks. Takayama, however, recovered and began exchanging punches with Abyss. Having lost control of the match, the referee decided to disqualify both Abyss and Takayama, ending the match in a draw. Post-match, the two men brawled backstage.

In the eighth match of the event Masakatsu Funaki took on Bobby Roode. Towards the end of the match Funaki got out of Roode's fireman's carry and locked him in an ankle hold, which he had also used earlier in the match, which resulted in Roode submitting and giving Funaki the win. Following the match, Funaki challenged TNA wrestler Kurt Angle, who was not present at the event, to a future match.

The ninth match of the event was a six-man tag team match between the team of Masayuki Kono, René Duprée and Samoa Joe and Keiji Mutoh, Rob Terry and their mystery partner, who was revealed as Mutoh's old tag team partner Taiyō Kea. The match featured constant cheating from Desperado's side, including outside interference from Kazma Sakamoto and Ryoji Sai. In the finish of the match, Joe turned on his own partners, taking a steel chair away from Duprée, while Terry took Sakamoto and Sai out with a double lariat. Kea then hit Duprée with the TKO, which was followed by Mutoh pinning him for the win with the Shining Wizard.

The tenth match was the first title match of the event and saw The Wolves (Davey Richards and Eddie Edwards) defend the TNA World Tag Team Championship in a three-way match against previous champions The BroMans (Jessie Godderz and Robbie E) and Team 246 (Kaz Hayashi and Shuji Kondo). Towards the end of the match, The Wolves were in control, hitting Hayashi with a double-team double knee backbreaker and Kondo with the Alarm Clock. However, before The Wolves could pin either one of Team 246 for the win, The BroMans returned to the ring, hit Hayashi with the Bro Down and pinned him to win the match and regain the TNA World Tag Team Championship. In a post-match interview, Team 246 and The Wolves agreed to a rematch in the United States.

In the eleventh match of the event, Austin Aries defended the TNA X Division Championship against Seiya Sanada. In the end, Sanada avoided two of Aries' finishing moves, the Last Chancery and the 450° splash and then hit him with a series of a German suplex, a dragon suplex and a tiger suplex, before climbing to the top rope, hitting a moonsault and pinning Aries to win the match and become the new TNA X Division Champion. Following the match, Aries raised Sanada's hand in the air.

The main event saw Magnus defend the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Kai. The match ended with a sequence, where the two wrestlers exchanged finishing moves, with Kai surviving the Magnus Driver and the diving elbow drop and Magnus the Kai Clutch. Magnus then hit Kai with a lariat, before dropping him with another Magnus Driver and then pinning with the diving elbow drop to win the match and retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship.

Aftermath
The day after Kaisen: Outbreak, Wrestle-1 announced that following Lockdown, Seiya Sanada would remain in TNA indefinitely. On March 6, TNA announced that Yasufumi Nakanoue would also be taking part in Lockdown. At the pay-per-view on March 9, The Great Muta, Sanada, working under just his family name, and Nakanoue, working as Yasu, defeated Chris Sabin, Christopher Daniels and Kazarian in a six-man tag team steel cage match with Sanada pinning Daniels following a moonsault. Though now a regular for TNA, Sanada also made special one-night returns to Wrestle-1, successfully defending the X Division Championship against Seiki Yoshioka on March 22 and Christopher Daniels on April 17. Kaisen: Outbreak led to an escalation in the storyline rivalry between Kai and Manabu Soya, who, in light of the results of the last two matches, felt he had been vindicated in his view of Sanada as the Wrestle-1 ace and began taunting Kai as a "fake ace". The rivalry culminated on May 4, when Kai defeated Soya, who, as a result, lost his job as the matchmaker of Wrestle-1. TNA's One Night Only broadcast of the second half of Kaisen: Outbreak was named "Global Impact Japan" with a premiere on July 4. A second W-1/TNA joint event, Bound for Glory, took place on October 12 at Tokyo's Korakuen Hall. The event, produced by TNA, featured eleven wrestlers from Wrestle-1.

Results

References

External links
Wrestle-1.co.jp 
ImpactWrestling.com

Wrestle-1
Wrestle-1 events
2014 in professional wrestling
Events in Tokyo
Impact Wrestling shows
2014 in Japan
Professional wrestling in Tokyo
Professional wrestling joint events was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by the New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) promotion, which took place at the Tokyo Dome in Tokyo, Japan on January 4, 2011. It was the 20th January 4 Tokyo Dome Show and the fifth held under the "Wrestle Kingdom" name. The event featured thirteen matches (including two dark matches), four of which were contested for championships. Wrestle Kingdom is traditionally NJPW's biggest event of the year and has been described as their equivalent to WWE's WrestleMania.

The show included wrestlers from the American Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) and Mexican Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) promotions for the fourth and third year in a row, respectively. During the show, the TNA World Heavyweight Championship was defended for the first time in Japan. The three matches involving TNA wrestlers were aired by the American company as part of Global Impact 3. Wrestlers from DDT Pro-Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Noah and Pro Wrestling Zero1 also took part in the show.

While NJPW announced an attendance number of 42,000, which would have been the largest audience at a January 4 Tokyo Dome Show in six years, Dave Meltzer claimed that the actual attendance number was 18,000, tied with the 2007 Tokyo Dome show for the smallest audience in the event's history.

Storylines
Wrestle Kingdom V featured thirteen professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Wrestle Kingdom V was headlined by Satoshi Kojima defending the IWGP Heavyweight Championship against Hiroshi Tanahashi in what was described as a "typical" NJPW storyline, where the company had put their top title on an outsider, leading to their biggest star getting it back at the Tokyo Dome. Kojima had started his career in NJPW, but jumped to All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in 2002 and was now working as a freelancer.

Event

In the main event of the show, Hiroshi Tanahashi defeated Satoshi Kojima to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, bringing the title back to NJPW. The semi-main event was a grudge match, where Togi Makabe defeated Masato Tanaka.

The event featured several wrestlers from the American Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) promotion as part of a relationship between NJPW and TNA. In the highest-profile of the matches involving TNA, Jeff Hardy successfully defended the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against NJPW's Tetsuya Naito, who had previously worked for TNA as part of the No Limit tag team. In another interpromotional match, TNA's Rob Van Dam defeated NJPW's Toru Yano in a hardcore match. In the first match involving TNA wrestlers, Beer Money, Inc. (James Storm and Robert Roode) unsuccessfully challenged Bad Intentions (Giant Bernard and Karl Anderson) for the IWGP Tag Team Championship in a three-way match, also involving Muscle Orchestra (Manabu Nakanishi and Strong Man).

In addition, the event included two interpromotional matches between NJPW and Pro Wrestling Noah. In the first, Noah's Takashi Sugiura and Yoshihiro Takayama defeated Hirooki Goto and Kazuchika Okada. This match was a one night NJPW return for Okada, who afterwards returned to TNA to continue his overseas learning excursion. In the second match, NJPW's Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Noah's Go Shiozaki.

The IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship was also defended during the event with Prince Devitt defeating Kota Ibushi for his fourth successful defense.

Results

See also

TNA Global Impact!

References

External links
NJPW.co.jp 

2011 in professional wrestling
2011 in Tokyo
Wrestle Kingdom 5
January 2011 events in Japan
Events in Tokyo was a Japanese puroresu or professional wrestling promotion, founded in July 2013 by Keiji Mutoh following his resignation from All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW). The core of the promotion's roster was formed by wrestlers loyal to Mutoh, who left AJPW in a mass exodus during June 2013. Mutoh served as the promotion's first president and the head of its parent company, kabushiki gaisha named GEN Sports Entertainment. In March 2017, Kaz Hayashi took over as the new president of Wrestle-1. The promotion held its first event on September 8, 2013, at Tokyo Dome City Hall.

The promotion shares its name with a series of professional wrestling events run by AJPW, K-1 and Pride Fighting Championships in the first half of the 2000s, but it is not considered a direct continuation of that project.

On April 1, 2020, Wrestle-1 ceased operations.

History

Formation
On November 1, 2012, IT company Speed Partners bought 100% of All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) shares from main shareholder Keiji Mutoh and his business partners for ¥200 million. In late May 2013, Speed Partners president Nobuo Shiraishi fired AJPW president, Mutoh's longtime right-hand man Masayuki Uchida, and took over as the promotion's new president himself effective June 1, which led to Mutoh resigning as the chairman of the board and leaving the promotion. For the next weeks, Mutoh attempted to buy back his shares of the promotion from Speed Partners, but eventually gave up the attempt before the end of the month. During the rest of June, Masakatsu Funaki, Kaz Hayashi, Shuji Kondo, Ryota Hama, Hiroshi Yamato, Masayuki Kono, Koji Kanemoto, Minoru Tanaka, Yasufumi Nakanoue, Kai, Seiya Sanada, and Andy Wu all announced their resignation from AJPW out of loyalty to Mutoh and left the promotion following a June 30 event in Ryōgoku Kokugikan, which marked the official end of the eleven-year-long "Mutoh All Japan".

On July 10, Mutoh held a press conference to announce the foundation of his new promotion, named "Wrestle-1". Mutoh got the name from a series of professional wrestling events that were produced by his AJPW, K-1 and Pride Fighting Championships between 2002 and 2005. Wrestle-1 continues Mutoh's brand of "Pro Wrestling Love", which he had launched after taking over AJPW in 2002. Mutoh dubbed Wrestle-1's style of puroresu "Fighting Entertainment". As the label suggests, Wrestle-1 is considered more entertainment based than the traditional AJPW. The press conference was also attended by Funaki, Hama, Hayashi, Kai, Kondo, Kono, Nakanoue, Tanaka and Yamato. Andy Wu would also join the promotion, once he returned from an excursion to Mexico, along with trainees Brian Ishizaka, Daiki Inaba and Seiki Yoshioka, ring announcer Makoto Abe and referees Daichi Murayama and Daisuke Kanbayashi. The promotion announced its inaugural event for September 8, 2013, at Tokyo Dome City Hall. At the press conference, Mutoh stated that Wrestle-1 was open to working with other promotions and that he was looking to use Taiwan as a stepping stone towards an Asian and eventually global expansion. Mutoh also stated that he was open to the idea of having a women's division in Wrestle-1. On July 26, the Gaora television station announced that it would broadcast the inaugural event, as well as a 30-minute preview show, live on its channels. On July 30, Mutoh met with Jeff Jarrett in Nashville, Tennessee, United States to discuss a possible working relationship between Wrestle-1 and Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). Jarrett was later announced as a participant in Wrestle-1's October 6 event. Mutoh later also revealed that he wanted to form partnerships with promotions in Europe and Mexico, specifically mentioning Lucha Libre AAA World Wide (AAA), and create a "true" world championship that would be recognized on three continents. On August 9, Mutoh revealed the promotion's official logo and a partial card for the inaugural event. Also announced was a sponsorship deal with the Ezaki Glico confectionery company, with its sales department and product manager Hiroki Kuwabara signed to Wrestle-1 as a conditioning coach.

Wrestle-1 Hataage Sen
 was Wrestle-1's inaugural event, which took place on September 8, 2013, at Tokyo Dome City Hall. On August 9, Wrestle-1 released the first partial card for the event, which revealed only the Wrestle-1 signed workers taking part in the event, but none of their partners or opponents. The event featured a women's match and the Japanese in-ring debut of Daiki Inaba. None of the other workers were revealed before the event, though Mutoh stated that TNA wrestlers would not be taking part in the event. The event aired in Japan on Gaora and internationally on internet pay-per-view (iPPV) through Niconico and Ustream. Tickets to the 2,500 seat arena were sold out the day they went on sale. Sports journalist Dave Meltzer wrote that this, coupled with AJPW's recent decline in attendance numbers, showed that "fans are taking  group as the real future of All Japan rather than All Japan". The event featured outside participation from several freelancers as well as wrestlers from Big Japan Pro Wrestling, Dragon Gate, Michinoku Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling Zero1 and World Wonder Ring Stardom. Koji Kanemoto, René Duprée, Seiya Sanada and Zodiac, who were with AJPW prior to Mutoh's departure, but had not announced their affiliation with Wrestle-1, made surprise appearances during the event. In fact, Duprée, who took part in the main event, was still officially AJPW's reigning Gaora TV Champion at the time of the event. Duprée returned the title belt to AJPW three days after the event. Bob Sapp, who had appeared in several of the old Wrestle-1 events, made an appearance in a tag team main event with Mutoh. Kenta Kobashi, who had the previous March announced that he would be joining AJPW following his retirement in May, worked the event as a color commentator.

Regular tours
Wrestle-1 began running regular tours right after Hataage Sen; the first tour ran until September 22 and the second from October 6 to 14. Many of the outsiders taking part in the inaugural event became regular members of the Wrestle-1 roster with the exception of Bob Sapp, Fujita Hayato, Katsuyori Shibata, Kazushi Sakuraba and Masaaki Mochizuki. Though Wrestle-1 also did not have regular female wrestlers on its roster, each event included a women's match, featuring wrestlers such as Ryo Mizunami and Shuu Shibutani from Pro Wrestling Wave, Koharu Hinata, Makoto and Syuri from Wrestling New Classic, Hikaru Shida, Maki Narumiya, Risa Sera and Tsukasa Fujimoto from Ice Ribbon, and freelancers Akino and Hiroyo Matsumoto. Wrestle-1 sought to introduce an "openweight division", where its wrestlers would not be typecast as heavyweights or junior heavyweights, like in most Japanese promotions, but would be able to interact with each other across weight limits. On September 24, Wrestle-1 announced that Seiya Sanada had signed a contract to officially become part of the promotion's roster effective October 1. On October 6, Wrestle-1 held its first event in Korakuen Hall in front of a sold-out crowd of 1,750. On October 18, Mutoh announced his semi-retirement from in-ring action, saying that in the future he would be concentrating on running Wrestle-1.

The following month saw the continuation of a working relationship between Wrestle-1 and TNA, with A.J. Styles coming in to defend the TNA World Heavyweight Championship against Seiya Sanada on November 16 and Jay Bradley and Rob Terry working the entire tour from November 16 to December 1. Meanwhile, Andy Wu also made his return from his seven-month Mexican excursion, making his debut for his new home promotion on November 16. During the event, Wrestle-1 announced its first ever event at Ryōgoku Kokugikan, set to take place on March 2, 2014. Mutoh later announced that this would mark only the first of four events Wrestle-1 intended to run at Ryōgoku Kokugikan in 2014.

2014
On January 12, 2014, Manabu Soya, who had resigned from AJPW the previous month, joined Wrestle-1 as a freelancer, taking the role of an on-screen matchmaker, while recovering from a recent shoulder surgery. On January 26, Wrestle-1 held its first tryout, which resulted in three men being accepted to begin training at the promotion's dojo the following April.

On January 30 it was announced that the March 2 Ryōgoku Kokugikan event would feature a "Wrestle-1 vs. TNA" theme with thirteen wrestlers coming in to represent the American promotion in addition to Rob Terry, who had remained with Wrestle-1 since the past November. Jeff Jarrett, the original man behind the Wrestle-1-TNA relationship, had since parted ways with TNA and now the relationship was handled by Bob Ryder and John Gaburick on the Americans' side. On March 2 at Kaisen: Outbreak, three TNA titles were defended as part of Wrestle-1's first Ryōgoku Kokugikan event. While Kaz Hayashi and Shuji Kondo failed to capture the TNA World Tag Team Championship and Kai the TNA World Heavyweight Championship, Seiya Sanada defeated Austin Aries to become the new TNA X Division Champion. The event also saw the debut of another former AJPW worker, Taiyō Kea. The following day, it was announced that Sanada would be leaving Wrestle-1 to work for TNA indefinitely. Also in March, Wrestle-1 relocated their offices from Minami-Azabu, Minato, Tokyo to Hyakunincho, Shinjuku, Tokyo to their own four-story building called "GEN Sports Palace", which also includes the promotion's dojo. In April, Wrestle-1 established two more international relationships with British promotion All Star Wrestling (ASW) and German promotion European Wrestling Promotion (EWP). As part of the relationship, EWP wrestlers Ecki Eckstein and Leon Van Gasteren worked a tour with Wrestle-1 from April 27 to May 4, with Van Gasteren successfully defending the EWP Intercontinental Championship against Hiroshi Yamato on the final day.

On June 18, Wrestle-1 held a press conference to announce that effective July 1 the promotion would be joined by Akira, Jiro Kuroshio, Koji Doi, Rionne Fujiwara, Tajiri and Yusuke Kodama, after their previous promotion Wrestling New Classic went inactive following June 26. On July 1, Wrestle-1 was also joined by Hiroki Murase, a freelancer who had started his career with WNC in January 2013. Wrestle-1's second Ryōgoku Kokugikan event, Shōgeki: Impact, took place on July 6 and featured matches for ASW's British Light Heavyweight Championship, EWP's Intercontinental Championship, TNA's World Tag Team Championship and Zero1's World Heavyweight Championship with Hiroshi Yamato capturing the EWP title from Leon Van Gasteren, Masakatsu Funaki the Zero1 title from Kohei Sato and Seiki Yoshioka the ASW title from Dean Allmark. The following day, Seiya Sanada announced he had agreed to a contract with TNA, which meant that he would continue to spend most of his time in the United States, occasionally returning to take part in Wrestle-1's larger events. Sanada remained with TNA until April 2015. Meanwhile, Seiki Yoshioka left for an extended tour of the United Kingdom with ASW, during which he lost the British Light Heavyweight Championship back to Allmark.

On July 21, Wrestle-1 announced the creation of its first own title, the Wrestle-1 Championship, with the inaugural champion being determined in a sixteen-man single-elimination tournament taking place between September 21 and October 8. On August 8, Wrestle-1 announced that Manabu Soya had signed with the promotion, ending his days as a freelancer. On September 22, Wrestle-1 announced the creation of the Wrestle-1 Tag Team Championship with the inaugural champions being determined in a round-robin tournament taking place between November 15 and 30. On September 25, Wrestle-1 and Pro Wrestling Zero1 announced that the two promotions would be coming together to hold three joint shows at Shinjuku Face between November 5 and 7. On October 8, Masayuki Kono defeated Kai in the finals of the sixteen-man tournament to become the inaugural Wrestle-1 Champion. The relationship between Wrestle-1 and TNA continued on October 12 with eleven Wrestle-1 wrestlers taking part in TNA's Bound for Glory event in Korakuen Hall. On November 1, Wrestle-1 held an event at Ryōgoku Kokugikan celebrating Keiji Mutoh's 30th anniversary in professional wrestling. The main event of the show saw Mutoh defeat Masayuki Kono to become the second Wrestle-1 Champion. On November 30, Team 246 (Kaz Hayashi and Shuji Kondo) won the First Tag League Greatest to become the inaugural Wrestle-1 Tag Team Champions.

2015
On February 25, 2015, Wrestle-1 announced the creation of a cruiserweight division and a new third title, which was on March 9 officially named the Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Championship. Starting on April 11, Wrestle-1 began holding shows at their dojo under the brand name "Wrestle-1 Starting Point", which were intended to showcase the promotion's younger wrestlers. On March 6, Minoru Tanaka won the tournament to become the inaugural Wrestle-1 Cruiser Division Champion. Also in May, it was reported that the relationship between Wrestle-1 and TNA had come to an end. Seiya Sanada remained in the United States, working on the local independent circuit.

In March 2015, Wrestle-1's management was hit with several resignations, which led to Mutoh offering DDT Pro-Wrestling president Sanshiro Takagi a job in his promotion's management. On May 5, Takagi was officially revealed as Wrestle-1's new chief executive officer (CEO). His goal was to make Wrestle-1 more profitable by getting sales up and increasing the number of shows. There were no plans for Takagi to start wrestling for Wrestle-1 or for Wrestle-1 and DDT to exchange talent. On May 13, Wrestle-1 and Seiya Sanada held a press conference, where it was announced that the two sides had decided to amicably part ways when Sanada's contract with the promotion would expire two days later, so he could continue working in the United States full-time as a freelancer. Later that month, it was announced that Wrestle-1 would be teaming up with American Pro Wrestling Alliance (APWA) to hold their first tour of the United States, holding five shows in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia, including one at the former ECW Arena, between June 23 and 28. However, on June 19, the tour was canceled with APWA citing a sponsor pulling out due to miscommunication between the two promotions as the reason. That same day, Wrestle-1 announced that Masakatsu Funaki would be leaving the promotion following his contract expiring on June 30. Meanwhile, Tajiri would only work sporadic Wrestle-1 events from July onwards. On June 26, Wrestle-1 announced the results of their recent contract negotiations with their wrestlers. 21 wrestlers had signed new contracts, including freelancer Kazma Sakamoto who in the process made Wrestle-1 his new home promotion, while Rionne Fujiwara became the second wrestler to leave the promotion following his contract expiring at the end of the month.

On July 13, Wrestle-1 announced the first "Wrestle-1 Grand Prix", a single-elimination tournament featuring 21 participants and taking place between August 2 and 30. The tournament was billed as the Wrestle-1 equivalent of New Japan Pro-Wrestling's G1 Climax. On August 3, Wrestle-1 announced the establishment of Puroresu Sōgō Gakuin ("Pro wrestling comprehensive school"), where Akira, Hiroshi Yamato, Kaz Hayashi, Shuji Kondo and Yasufumi Nakanoue would train both men and women in six-month-long terms. Graduates from the school are not automatically signed to Wrestle-1 and are free to join other promotions. The school's first term started two months later. On August 30, Wrestle-1 announced it was reviving two inactive titles on October 9; the UWA World Trios Championship and the F-1 Tag Team Championship, the latter being a comedy title Mutoh created in AJPW in 2006 for teams made up of a wrestler and an impressionist. On October 27, Wrestle-1 announced a new project named "Wrestling Camp", headed by Kaz Hayashi and former wrestler American Balloon, with the goal of recruiting more foreign wrestlers for the promotion.

2016
On March 30, 2016, Wrestle-1 held a show to celebrate the conclusion of the first term of the Puroresu Sōgō Gakuin, while also announcing the graduation of Hana Kimura, Jun Tonsho, Reika Saiki and Seigo Tachibana. With two women graduating from the class, Keiji Mutoh teased the possibility of starting a women's division in Wrestle-1. On May 4, AJPW president Jun Akiyama made a surprise appearance for Wrestle-1, facing off with Keiji Mutoh with the two agreeing to a tag team match against each other on August 11. On June 28, Wrestle-1 announced that Akira, Minoru Tanaka, Ryota Hama, Tajiri and Yasufumi Nakanoue would all be leaving the promotion following the expiration of their contracts two days later. On August 11, Wrestle-1 presented an interpromotional six-man tag team match, which saw AJPW president Jun Akiyama take on former AJPW president Keiji Mutoh. In the match, the AJPW trio of Akiyama, Naoya Nomura and Yuma Aoyagi was victorious over the Wrestle-1 trio of Mutoh, Koji Doi and Kumagoro. On August 31, Kazma Sakamoto also left Wrestle-1 following the expiration of his contract. On September 18, Wrestle-1 announced a new sub-promotion Pro-Wrestling A.C.E. (Academy, Challenge, Entertainment), which was made up of rookies from their wrestling school. On December 20, Kai announced he would be leaving Wrestle-1 and becoming a freelancer at the end of the year.

2017
On January 8, 2017, Wrestle-1 announced the creation of a new title, the Wrestle-1 Result Championship, meant for the promotion's younger wrestlers. On March 27, Wrestle-1 announced it was undergoing a change in management on April 1 with Keiji Mutoh moving on to the role of representative director, while Kaz Hayashi would become the new president. Also, Shuji Kondo takes over as the new executive vice president, while Sanshiro Takagi moves from being the CEO to the role of an advisor. On June 14, Wrestle-1 announced the creation of the Wrestle-1 Tag League in the fall and Wrestle-1 Cruiser Festival in the winter. On September 2, Sanshiro Takagi resigned from his advisory role in Wrestle-1. It was stated that the company would continue to have a friendly relationship with Takagi's DDT promotion.

2018
On January 17, 2018, Wrestle-1 established a working relationship with Booker T's Reality of Wrestling (ROW) promotion.

2019
In 2019, Wrestle-1 established the "Wrestle-1 Alliance", a promotional partnership with multiple U.S.-based wrestling companies.

2020
On February 29, 2020, Wrestle-1 announced that they would be holding their final event on April 1, with all members of the roster being released from their contracts the day prior. In the last card, on April 1 (with no attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic), Manabu Soya won a 30-man battle royal, last eliminating Akira. Keiji Muto participated in the match prior to the main event, teaming with Hayashi, Kono and Kondo in a losing effort against Ashino, Inaba, Doi and Kuma Arashi, but did not participate in the battle royal.

Roster

Natives
Andy Wu
CIMA
Daiki Inaba
El Lindaman
Kannazuki
Kaz Hayashi
Keiji Mutoh
Manabu Soya
Masakatsu Funaki
Masato Tanaka
Masayuki Kono
Mazada
Minoru Tanaka
Nosawa Rongai
Jiro Kuroshio
Kai
Ryota Hama
Seiki Yoshioka
Seiya Sanada
Shotaro Ashino
Shuji Kondo
T-Hawk
Tajiri
Takanori Ito
Yusuke Kodama
Hiroki Murase/UTAMARO
Koji Doi
Kumagoro/Kuma Arashi

Foreigners
Bob Sapp
El Hijo del Pantera
Jay Bradley
René Duprée
Rob Terry
Taiyo Kea
Zodiac

Championships

Other championships used by Wrestle-1

Tournaments

See also
All Japan Pro Wrestling
Pro Wrestling Zero1
Wrestling New Classic

References

External links
 
Wrestle-1 on YouTube 

 
Shinjuku
2013 establishments in Japan
Talent agencies based in Tokyo
Mass media companies based in Tokyo
Sports organizations established in 2013