| The Skydiving-J | |
|---|---|
| Promotion | New Japan Pro-Wrestling |
| Date | June 17, 1996 |
| City | Tokyo,Japan |
| Venue | Nippon Budokan |
| Attendance | 13,500[1] |
The Skydiving-J was aprofessional wrestling event produced byNew Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW).[2] The event took place on June 17, 1996 at theNippon Budokan inTokyo,Japan. The event was notable for revolutionizingjunior heavyweight wrestling in NJPW andJapanese wrestling history. The event aired on television onTV Asahi on July 6, 1996.[3] All of the matches contested at the event werejunior heavyweight championship matches from different promotions from Japan. This was a very significant event in the revolution of junior heavyweight wrestling as title defences from various promotions at the event would result in theunification of various junior heavyweight championships to create theJ-Crown.[4]
Eight professional wrestling matches were contested at the event and all of the matches were contested for various junior heavyweight championships from all over Japan. In themain event,The Great Sasuke successfully defended theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship againstBlack Tiger. Six of the titles were retained at the event while two championships changed hands at the event asJushin Thunder Liger defeatedDick Togo to capture theBritish Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship whileShinjiro Otani defeatedKazushi Sakuraba for the vacantUWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship.[5]
NJPW had previously held an annualround-robin tournament calledBest of the Super Juniors but the tournament was not of much significance for thejunior heavyweight division. In 1994,Jushin Thunder Liger conceptualized a junior heavyweight tournament to determine the best junior heavyweights from all over the world calledSuper J-Cup. The tournament was an enormous success and it led to asecond tournament being held the following year in 1995.
| Role: | Name: |
|---|---|
| Commentators | Masa Saito |
| Yoshinari Tsuji | |
| Soichi Shibata | |
| Yuichi Tabata | |
| Yu Manabe | |
| Jushin Thunder Liger |
In the opening match, the team of Lance Storm and Yuji Yasuraoka defended the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against the team of El Samurai and Norio Honaga. Storm pinned Honaga following a hurricanrana to retain the titles.
Next, Masayoshi Motegi defended the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship against Shiryu. In the end, Motegi delivered a top rope gutwrench suplex to Shiryu to retain the title.
Next, Gran Hamada defended the WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship against Tatsuhito Takaiwa. In the end, Hamada executed a tornado DDT on Takaiwa to win the match and retain the title.
The next match was contested for the vacant UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship between Kazushi Sakuraba and Shinjiro Otani. In the end, Otani applied a chickenwing facelock on Sakuraba and made him submit to the hold to win the title.
Next, Super Delfin defended the CMLL World Welterweight Championship against Taka Michinoku. In the end, Delfin performed a double chickenwing suplex to Michinoku to retain the title.
Later, Último Dragón defended the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship against Gran Naniwa. Dragón pinned Naniwa with a crucifix to retain the title.
In the penultimate match, Dick Togo defended the British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship against Jushin Thunder Liger. In the end, Liger delivered aShotei to Togo to win the title.
In the main event, The Great Sasuke defended the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship against Black Tiger. Sasuke executed a top rope frankensteiner to Tiger to retain the title.
The all-junior heavyweight card featuring junior heavyweight championship matches of all major Japanese promotions led toJushin Thunder Liger conceptualizing the idea of a tournament tounify all the junior heavyweight singles championships. He challenged all the champions and a tournament took place to create theJ-Crown, the unifier of various singles junior heavyweight championships. The tournament took place on August 5, 1996, withThe Great Sasuke winning the tournament to become the first champion.[4]
| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lance Storm andYuji Yasuraoka (c) defeatedEl Samurai andNorio Honaga | Tag team match for theWAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship | 13:28 | ||
| 2 | Masayoshi Motegi (c) defeatedShiryu | Singles match for theNWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship | 11:51 | ||
| 3 | Gran Hamada (c) defeatedTatsuhito Takaiwa | Singles match for theWWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship | 12:05 | ||
| 4 | Shinjiro Otani defeatedKazushi Sakuraba | Singles match for the vacantUWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship | 8:15 | ||
| 5 | Super Delfin (c) defeatedTaka Michinoku | Singles match for theCMLL World Welterweight Championship | 16:09 | ||
| 6 | Último Dragón (c) defeatedGran Naniwa | Singles match for theWAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship | 13:58 | ||
| 7 | Jushin Liger defeatedDick Togo (c) | Singles match for theBritish Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship | 15:56 | ||
| 8 | The Great Sasuke (c) defeatedBlack Tiger | Singles match for theIWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship | 16:54 | ||
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