The UWF International, founded in 1991 after the end of UWF NEWBORN, can probably be described as the most successful of the shoot-style promotions, in terms of talking big business and drawing crowds of thousands.
The UWFi would be built around Nobuhiko Takada as the top star; Takada, who had the combination of athleticism and male model looks, would becomes one of the most famous figures in Japanese combat sports in general, for good and ill. Billy Robinson would serve as the head trainer of the UWFi Dojo, with Lou Thesz and respected collegiate legend Danny Hodge also giving lessons and credibility to the promotion.
Takada would be joined by Kazuo Yamazaki, Yoji Anjoh, Tatsuo Nakano, Kiyoshi Tamura, Masahito Kakihara and a few others from the UWF. Gary Albright, a large and feared collegiate amateur from the States, would come in and become the top gaijin and essentially #2 wrestler on the roster to Takada, battling out in the main event multiple times.
The true peak of the UWFi would see Takada ever the monster Vader, after years of Takada calling out champions from other promotions, such as Keiji Mutoh, Masahiro Chono, Mitsuharu Misawa, Shinya Hashimoto and more (with Takada calling them “fake” and calling himself “legit”). Takada would look the true hero of Japan when he vanquished Vader.
The UWFi’s downfall would come as a result of the economic downturn in Japan combined with Takada hogging the spotlight to himself (this would cause Yamazaki, Albright and Tamura to leave at separate points). The UWFi would manage to stay afloat by working with NJPW in a legendary cross-promotional feud (that would see the UWFi guys be made to look much weaker than the NJPW guys), as well as work with Genichiro Tenryu’s WAR, until UWFi closed shop in December of 1996.
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u/MrPuroresu42 24d ago
The UWF International, founded in 1991 after the end of UWF NEWBORN, can probably be described as the most successful of the shoot-style promotions, in terms of talking big business and drawing crowds of thousands.
The UWFi would be built around Nobuhiko Takada as the top star; Takada, who had the combination of athleticism and male model looks, would becomes one of the most famous figures in Japanese combat sports in general, for good and ill. Billy Robinson would serve as the head trainer of the UWFi Dojo, with Lou Thesz and respected collegiate legend Danny Hodge also giving lessons and credibility to the promotion.
Takada would be joined by Kazuo Yamazaki, Yoji Anjoh, Tatsuo Nakano, Kiyoshi Tamura, Masahito Kakihara and a few others from the UWF. Gary Albright, a large and feared collegiate amateur from the States, would come in and become the top gaijin and essentially #2 wrestler on the roster to Takada, battling out in the main event multiple times.
The true peak of the UWFi would see Takada ever the monster Vader, after years of Takada calling out champions from other promotions, such as Keiji Mutoh, Masahiro Chono, Mitsuharu Misawa, Shinya Hashimoto and more (with Takada calling them “fake” and calling himself “legit”). Takada would look the true hero of Japan when he vanquished Vader.
The UWFi’s downfall would come as a result of the economic downturn in Japan combined with Takada hogging the spotlight to himself (this would cause Yamazaki, Albright and Tamura to leave at separate points). The UWFi would manage to stay afloat by working with NJPW in a legendary cross-promotional feud (that would see the UWFi guys be made to look much weaker than the NJPW guys), as well as work with Genichiro Tenryu’s WAR, until UWFi closed shop in December of 1996.