Puroresu ( プロレス ) is the predominant style and gengre of professional wrestling in Japan. The name is a shortened version of the Japanese pronunciation of the English term professional wrestling.

Puroresu developed in Japan out of the traditional United States style of professional wrestling.

Most puroresu wrestlers in Japan are male, but female professional wrestlers also exist. Puroresu with female wrestlers is known as joshi puroresu ( 女子プロレス ). Joshi puroresu is typically handled by promoters specializing in joshi puroresu, rather than by the same promoters that handle male puroresu. One notable exception was Chō Sentō Puroresu FMW, which promoted both male and female wrestlers. Joshi puroresu promoters often work together with male puroresu promoters and can for instance share cards.

Style

Puroresu share many traits with United States professional wrestling, but there are also many differences. In the Japanese language, however, the word puroresu is used for all forms of wrestling, so United States professional wrestling is also called puroresu in Japan.

Generally speaking, Japanese puroresu have clean finishes and the promoters aren’t as reliant on angles or gimmicks as their U.S. counterparts. The stories told are often focused on the wrestler’s spirit and perseverance.

It is common for Japanese professional wrestlers to be at least somewhat proficiencient in several different Asian martial art techniques, and this has had an impact on the development of puroresu.

In strong style puroresu, full contact martial arts strikes and shoot submission holds are common.

Also, many puroresu promoters have strong working relationships with mixed martial arts promoters. Having wrestling matches and MMA fights on the same card is not unheard of.

NJPW & AJPW

The dominant styles of Japanese puroresu have been established by the two dominant promotions: New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling.

Headed by Antonio Inoki, NJPW pushed Inoki’s “strong style” where puroresu was seen as a combat sport. This meant including plenty of kicks and strikes from matiral arts, and placing a storng focus on submission wrestling. Many of the wrestlers signed with NJPW have a solid martial arts background.

Under the direction os Shohei Baba, AJPW adopted the King’s Road style, which is more similar to U.S. style professional wrestling than NJPW’s style. King’s Road have an emphasis on holds and brawling, and storytelling is important.

Both New Japan Pro-Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling are privately owned and it is not possible to invest directly in either of the wrestling leagues.  Investors who want to invest in wrestling  in Japan have only one option.  Investing in Amuse, Inc. Amuse, Inc. is a minority owner in New Japan Pro-Wrestling and are listed on the Tokyo stock exchange. The company is relatively small with less than 300 employees.

Background

It wasn’t until after World War II that puroresu really began to develop in the country, but the 19th century wrestler Srakichi Matsuda (1859-1891) is sometimes mentioned as an early trailblazers for what would eventually become puroresu in Japan.

In 1951, the first major star of puroresu emerged: Rikidōzan. Rikidōzan was born in Korea, but established himself as japanese post-war hero by defeating wrestlers from the United States. The U.S. Wrestlers aided Rikidōzan by portraying themselves as cheating villians. Conversely, Rikidōzan would travel to North America to wrestle and always be booked as a villian there. Rikidōzan was instrumental for popularizing puroresu in Japan and he formed the Japanese Wrestling Association (JWA). Regretably, he was murdered by the Yakuza in 1963.

Joshi

From the 1970s to the 1990s, All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling was dominating force within the field of joshi puroresu in Japan. Their first major stars were Mach Fumiake, Jackie Sato and Maki Ueda. The 1980s brought a second wave of starts, such as Jaguar Yokota, Devil Masami, Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka.

With the tag team “Crush Gals”, Nagayo and Asuka achieved unprecedented mainstream success in Japan and helped bring joshi puroresu into the spotlight. In the 1980s, their televised matches resulted in some of the highest rated broadcasts in Japanese television history and they often performed in sold-out arenas.

In the 1990s, joshi puroresu began attracting critical acclaim outside Japan, with wrestlers such as Akira Hokuto, Cutie Suzuki, Bull Nakano, Manami Tyotoa, Takao Inoue and Dyanmite Kansai.

Examples of professional wrestling promotions in Japan

Major promotions (male)

Major promotions (female)

Independent promotions (male)

Independent promotions (female)

This article was last updated on: September 29, 2026