UWF International

The promotion was founded on May 10, 1991, as a continuation of the UWF. The UWFi featured most of UWF's roster, and was led by Nobuhiko Takada, who was the top star and the face of the promotion. Other natives for the promotion included Kazuo Yamazaki, Yoji Anjo, Kiyoshi Tamura, Tatsuo Nakano, Yuko Miyato, Masahito Kakihara and kickboxer Makoto Oe. Vintage shooter Billy Robinson was used as head trainer for their gym (the UWFi Snakepit), and wrestling legends Lou Thesz and Danny Hodge occasionally served as trainers in their pursuit of old-school credibility. Former pro wrestler Shinji Sasazaki would lend a hand by helping some of the foreign talent, mostly from the Tennessee area, get booked on their cards.

In 1992, the UWFi introduced its first championship, the "Real Pro-Wrestling World Heavyweight Championship", which was won by Takada after a victory over top foreign antagonist Gary Albright. Lou Thesz acted as commissioner and lent his 1950s NWA World title belt to be used as the distinction for it. The theme of UWFi being "real pro-wrestling" was central to the promotion's image, and both Thesz and Takada would deride other Japanese promotions (particularly Takada's old promotion New Japan Pro-Wrestling) for being "fake", while claiming themselves to be legit. UWFi, however, was no more legit than any other group at the time. Takada went so far as to challenge the champions of other major Japanese promotions (Mitsuharu Misawa (AJPW Triple Crown Champion at the time), Masahiro Chono (NWA World Heavyweight Champion at the time), and The Great Muta (IWGP Heavyweight Champion at the time), in an effort to determine who was the true world champion.

The UWFi's emphasis on proving the superiority of its "Real Pro-Wrestling" style was inspired in part by Antonio Inoki's famous inter-style bouts, particularly his 1976 match against Muhammad Ali. The promotion incorporated fighters and contests representing a range of disciplines, including kickboxing, Muay Thai, karate, Kempo karate and Savate in matches against their wrestlers. Notable examples included Nobuhiko Takada vs. WBC Heavyweight boxing champion Trevor Berbic, Kiyoshi Tamura vs. former WBC light-heavyweight boxing champion Matthew Saad Muhammad, and Nobuhiko Takada vs. former sumo grand champion and karate stylist Koji Kitao.^[1]

The UWFi also featured a separate division of "Standing Bouts", originally billed as the "UWF International Stand-up Fighting Division". These were genuine kickboxing contests held alongside the promotion's shoot-style wrestling, with rules varying between Oriental-style kickboxing, Full-Contact kickboxing and Muay Thai without elbows. The division's regular fighters were Makoto Ohe, a former All Japan Shootboxing champion, Bovy Chowaikung and Gong Yuttachai, who faced opponents from around the world with backgrounds in kickboxing, Muay Thai, karate, Kempo karate and Savate. Ohe's June 1991 bout with American kickboxer Rudy Lovato was particularly notable, while Ohe and Chowaikung later won ISKA world titles during their UWFi tenure. The UWFi also hosted the first ISKA-sanctioned bout in Japan and became the only professional wrestling promotion to have held world kickboxing titles.^[1]

In 1993, Super Vader, the World Heavyweight Champion from the United States-based World Championship Wrestling, accepted Thesz and Takada's grandstand challenge, whereas the aforementioned champions were "too afraid" of Takada to face him. After Gary Albright quit UWFi to join All Japan and Vader left over money disputes, the promotion was left with a lack of credible challengers to Takada's title, and interest in the promotion began to wane. After being overlooked several times over the years, Kazuo Yamazaki left to return to New Japan in July 1995.

In July 1994, Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner Rickson Gracie won the inaugural Vale Tudo Japan tournament, defeating four opponents in legitimate bouts. Gracie's victory drew UWFi's attention, as the promotion was seeking legitimate inter-style contests to demonstrate the superiority of its "Real Pro-Wrestling" style. UWFi approached Gracie about a fight with Nobuhiko Takada, but Gracie refused, as he reportedly expressed little interest in working with professional wrestlers or participating in matches that he regarded as staged rather than legitimate. The dispute was further inflamed by Takada, who publicly provoked and challenged Gracie, contributing to a personal feud between the two fighters. In December 1994, Yoji Anjo, accompanied by UWFi executive Shinji Sasazaki and members of the Japanese press, traveled to Gracie's academy in Los Angeles and performed a dojo storm, challenged him to a fight. Gracie accepted the challenge and defeated Anjo in the unsanctioned bout, dominating him with a violent ground-and-pound and choking him out with a rear-naked choke. The confrontation was subsequently publicized in Japan and became a serious embarrassment for UWFi, intensifying Gracie's rivalry with the promotion and fueling interest in a Gracie–Takada fight, which ultimately took place not at the UWFi, but at the inaugural Pride Fighting Championships event in 1997.^[2]

The combatants would start with 15 points each. Points would be lost for knockout attempts, being at a disadvantage during a hold, and/or for breaking a hold by grabbing onto the ring ropes with hand(s) and/or feet. The only way to win was by submission, knockout (count of 10) or a wrestler's points being reduced to 0.

Tag team matches were allowed as well, with 21 points (instead of 15) given to a team at start time. However, the points system was rarely referred to, as a wrestler or team losing points could still win by forcing his opponent to submit or by knocking him out. No pinfall counts were allowed, and no countouts were allowed (in practice, wrestlers never set foot outside the ring during the match). Similarly, six-man tag team matches occurred, but were rare, with 30 points given to a team at start time.

In 1995, rules were somewhat relaxed to allow pinfalls in order to allow for New Japan, WAR, and other non-submission-oriented wrestlers (such as Abdullah the Butcher) to compete.

In 2017 an American independent promotion, Paradigm Pro Wrestling, based in Jeffersonville, Indiana, revived the rules for its matches.

In 1995, Hudson Soft published a video game, Saikyō: Takada Nobuhiko (最強～高田延彦～) for the Super Famicom in Japan. Unlike most wrestling games, Saikyō was a linear fighting game, but moves such as suplexes counted for heavy scoring, like in the real-life promotion. Nobuhiko Takada was the only actual wrestler licensed as a character, all others used made-up pseudonyms made through alterations of their kana or kanji names, such as Gary Albright being known as Gary Briant.

• Professional wrestling in Japan