 Logo of Super World of Sports | |
| Acronym | SWS |
|---|---|
| Founded | April 1990 |
| Defunct | 1992 |
| Headquarters | Tokyo,Japan |
| Split from | All Japan Pro Wrestling |
| Successor | Wrestle Association R Social Pro Wrestling Federation Network of Wrestling Pro Wrestling Crusaders |
Super World of Sports, also known asSuper World Sports or simplySWS, was aJapanese professional wrestling promotion from 1990 to 1992. Its motto was "Straight and Strong".
In April 1990,Genichiro Tenryu, one of the top stars ofAll Japan Pro Wrestling, left the company to become a spokesmodel for Megane Super, whom were one of the best-known makers of eyeglasses in Japan at the time. However, the company decided to instead used him as the launching pad for a new pro-wrestling circuit, which Megane Super executive Hachiro Tanaka named Super World of Sports.
With his backing, Megane Super began throwing money offers around to build up their roster.Yoshiaki Yatsu,Ashura Hara,Shunji Takano,The Great Kabuki,Hiromichi Fuyuki,Tatsumi "Koki" Kitahara,Masao Orihara,Isao Takagi (the future Arashi), and referee Hiroyuki Umino joined in from All-Japan. But SWS would attractNew Japan Pro-Wrestling talent as well, includingGeorge Takano (the former Cobra),Naoki Sano,Hisakatsu Oya, Akira Katayama, former superstaryokozuna (grand champion insumo wrestling)Koji Kitao, and Stampede Wrestling powerhouse Dino Ventura (605 lb bench press) who had extraordinary MMA and technical wrestling skills. Because of this, fans, wrestlers, and administrators of other Japanese promotions criticized SWS as being a "money puroresu" (Megane Super being themoney mark) because of the way wrestlers flocked to it. The feeling was compounded when in October, SWS signed a working relationship contract withVince McMahon'sWorld Wrestling Federation, for interpromotional purposes.
The SWS/WWF co-promotion produced several cards, including two shows at theTokyo Dome. The events took place on March 30, 1991, and December 12, 1991[1] (The March show saw a near-shoot between former sumos Kitao andEarthquake; Kitao was fired for subsequently cutting a shoot promo exposing the business afterwards). SWS also had a small agreement with two smaller Japanese federations,Gran Hamada'sUniversal Lucha Libre andYoshiaki Fujiwara'sFujiwara Gumi (shoot-style wrestling), which provided alternative matches and opponents to the cards.
SWS's peak coincided with thegeneral Japanese economic downturn of the early 1990s, though AJPW and NJPW continued to do good business during that period. Along with criticism of the wrestlers for selling out their original promotions, which was still fairly rare at that time, SWS was also hampered by the lack of Japanese vs Japanese rivalries, which had become a staple of NJPW and AJPW booking since the mid-eighties. Tenryu mainly battled foreigners such as Hogan and Flair since none of the other Japanese wrestlers in SWS were positioned as being at or near his level. As Megane Super began withdrawing its support, the company began running fewer cards, and in May 1992 Yatsu withdrew. On June 19 1992, SWS held its final card at Nagasaki International Gym. The promotion's talent split into the following federations: Yatsu'sSPWF; Tenryu's new promotion,WAR, including Hara, Fuyuki, Kitahara;NOW, including Kendo Nagasaki, andPWC, including the Takano brothers and Takagi.
Unlike many wrestling promotions, SWS had a wrestling roster that was divided into three stables, reminiscent of thesumoheya system. Revolution was mostly AJPW alumni, Palaestra was mostly NJPW alumni, and Geki Dojo were neutrals led by a heel manager, KY Wakamatsu. Yoshiaki Yatsu, who defected from AJPW three months after Tenryu, was added to Geki Dojo to give the group a senior level star.
Revolution[edit] | Geki Dojo[edit] | Palaestra[edit]
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SWS never had a Heavyweight Championship.
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific champion |
| Days | Number of days held |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||
| 1 | Naoki Sano | December 12, 1991 | SWS/WWF SuperWrestle | Tokyo, Japan | 1 | 190 | Won a tournament to become the SWS/Japanese representative and then defeatedWWF representativeRick Martel to become the inaugural champion. | [2] |
| — | Deactivated | June 19, 1992 | — | — | — | — | Title retired when SWS closed. | [2] |
| No. | Overall reign number |
|---|---|
| Reign | Reign number for the specific team—reign numbers for the individuals are in parentheses, if different |
| Days | Number of days held |
| No. | Champion | Championship change | Reign statistics | Notes | Ref. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Date | Event | Location | Reign | Days | ||||
| 1 | Yoshiaki Yatsu andKing Haku | February 14, 1992 | Live event | Kyoto, Japan | 1 | 62 | DefeatedGenichiro Tenryu andAshura Hara in a tournament final to become the first champions. | [3] |
| 2 | George Takano andShunji Takano | April 16, 1992 | Live event | Minamiashigara, Japan | 1 | 1 | [3] | |
| 3 | The Natural Disasters (Earthquake John Tenta andTyphoon) | April 17, 1992 | Live event | Yokohama, Japan | 1 | 1 | [3][4] | |
| 4 | Yoshiaki Yatsu andKing Haku | April 18, 1992 | Live event | Tokyo, Japan | 2 | 62 | [3] | |
| — | Deactivated | June 19, 1992 | — | — | — | — | Title retired when SWS closed. | [3] |
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