International Pro Wrestling
From Freepedia
International Pro-Wrestling (国際プロレス会社, Kokusai Puroresu Kaisha, International Wrestling Enterprise) was a professional wrestling promotion in Japan from 1967 to 1981. It was affiliated with the American Wrestling Association in the United States. Its championship titles were governed by the International Wrestling Alliance, in the ranks of heavyweight, tag team, and "mid-heavyweight" (junior heavyweight, an earlier version).
Roster
- Natives: Thunder Sugiyama, Great Kusatsu, Strong Kobayashi, Rusher Kimura, Mighty Inoue, Animal Hamaguchi, Ashura Hara, Isamu Teranishi, Goro Tsurumi, Hiromichi Fuyuki
- Foreigners: Billy Robinson, Verne Gagne, André the Giant, Wahoo McDaniel
The promotion cooperated often, but infrequently, with All Japan Pro Wrestling and later, New Japan Pro Wrestling. When it closed its doors in 1981, Inoue, Hara, Tsurumi, and Fuyuki joined All Japan, while Kimura, Hamaguchi and Teranishi joined New Japan as an stable that formed the first "invasion" angle in history, later copied by the Japanese UWF, Japan Pro-Wrestling, and America's nWo.
In 1994, Goro Tsurumi formed a promotion called IWA Kakutou Shijuku (IWA格闘志塾, International Wrestling Alliance Fighting Hope Training School), but in 1997 he renamed the promotion International Wrestling Promotion(国際プロレス・プロモーション). The promotion revived the old IWA heavyweight, tag team and mid-heavyweight titles, adding middleweight and junior heavyweight tag team titles to its lineup. However, the only recognizable name in this rather obscure promotion is Tsurumi himself; all other members of the roster use masked identities, but names from other independents have been invited, including Shoji Nakamaki and Yukihide Ueno.
