Active Advance Pro Wrestling Explained

Active Advance Pro Wrestling
Acronym:2AW
Established:2002
Style:Puroresu
Formerly:Kaientai Dojo (K-DOJO)

Active Advance Pro Wrestling (2AW) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion and training facility originally owned and promoted by Taka Michinoku. The promotion places emphasis on a style of puroresu that combines high-flying, technical wrestling, and martial arts. The promotion was originally called Kaientai Dojo (or K-DOJO for short).

This style was largely contributed to by Taka Michinoku and is gaining popularity in Japan and abroad. K-DOJO is also heavily influenced by American-style wrestling and places a large amount of importance on presentation. For instance, each Club-K 3000 show that K-DOJO runs is equipped with a large screen near the entrance gate, similar to the Titantron, where a short introductory vignette is played during each wrestler's entrance and where the crowd can follow the action on-screen.

They had a home building that doubles as their training facility, Chiba Blue Field, where all of their Club-K 3000 shows were held; in December 2011, the building was bought by the joshi pro-wrestling promotion Universal Woman's Pro Wrestling Reina, but K-Dojo continues to run shows from the renamed Reina Arena.[1] On April 1, 2013, the arena was again renamed Blue Field.

History

Kaientai Dojo originated in 2000 as a small wrestling school in Puerto Rico run by Taka Michinoku. After Taka returned to Japan in 2002, he established the Japanese branch of Kaientai Dojo, which would soon become a wrestling promotion. The small federation grew over the years and is now an independent league that runs as a promotion, wrestling school, and talent loan organization to various other leagues such as AJPW, Dragon Gate and Michinoku Pro.

Until recently, K-DOJO was separated into two distinct sides, GET and RAVE, which ran separate shows but often joined together during large shows and tours. GET was led by Taka Michinoku while RAVE's leader was Hi69. After Hi69's departure, Taka Michinoku became commissioner of RAVE, and 296 became commissioner of GET. On April 22, 2007, RAVE ran its last show; the two brands merged and now run joint shows.

A particular aspect of K-DOJO is that it is one of the few wrestling promotions to feature both men and women. Women can wrestle in the same ring as men, either during mixed tag matches or even singles matches. Also, they can challenge for championship belts, something that would be unheard of in most wrestling promotions.

In November 2018, it became known that Taka Michinoku had an eight-year-long extramarital relationship with a woman. After this scandal, the promotion fired him and sanctioned him for one year without payment.[2]

In April 2019, the promotion announced that they were rebranding as Active Advance Pro Wrestling (2AW for short). This came as the company attempted to rebrand itself after the Taka Michinoku scandal, also changing its colors to black & white. That same night, young wrestler Ayato Yoshida won the Strongest-K Championship, symbolically leading the company into the future.[3]

On January 10, 2020, it was announced that 2AW is now part of the Allied Independent Wrestling Federations as their Japanese affiliate.[4]

Roster

See main article: List of Active Advance Pro Wrestling personnel.

Championships

Current

Championship Current champion(s) Reign Date won Days held Location Notes
2AW Openweight ChampionshipTakuro Niki1October 29, 2023+Chiba, JapanDefeated Kohei Sato at 2AW Grand Slam In TKP Garden City Chiba.
2AW Tag Team Championship
Kengo Mashimo & Naka Shunma1
December 3, 2023+Tokyo, JapanDefeated Bug's Mutation (Ayumu Honda & Chango) at 2AW Grand Slam In Korakuen Hall.
Chiba Six Man Tag Team Championship

Ayumu Honda, Kyu Mogami & Taishi Takizawa1
+Tokyo, JapanDefeated Ayato Yoshida, Kotaro Yoshino & Tank Nagai at GRAND SLAM In TKP Garden City Chiba.

Formerly promoted

Championship Last champion(s) Reign Date won Location
AIWF World Heavyweight ChampionshipKevin Phoenix1August 24, 2019
Independent World Junior Heavyweight ChampionshipArata2January 15, 2021Tokyo, Japan
UWA World Middleweight ChampionshipKyu Mogami1Tokyo, Japan
UWA World Tag Team ChampionshipJinsei Shinzaki & The Great Sasuke1
Yahaba, Iwate, Japan
FMW/WEW Hardcore Tag Team ChampionshipKunio Toshima & Yuma Aoyagi1
Tokyo, Japan

2AW Openweight Championship

2AW Openweight Championship
Promotion:Active Advance Pro Wrestling
Currentholder:Taishi Takizawa
Created:September 1, 2019
Won:June 23, 2024
Firstchamp:Shu Asakawa
Mostreigns:Ayato Yoshida and Taishi Takizawa (2 reigns)
Longestreign:Ayato Yoshida (298 days)
Shortestreign:Yuji Okabayashi (102 days)
Oldest:Kohei Sato
Youngest:Takuro Niki
Heaviest:Yuji Okabayashi (264 lb)
Lightest:Shu Asakawa (187 lb)

The 2AW Openweight Championship is a professional wrestling world championship created and promoted by the Japanese promotion Active Advance Pro Wrestling. There have been a total of ten reigns shared between eight different champions. The current champion is Taishi Takizawa who is in his second reign.

Combined reigns

As of, .

Indicates the current champion
RankWrestlerNo. of
reigns
Combined
defenses
data-sort-type="number"Combined
days
12 12 508
21 7 279
3Takuro Niki 1 6 238
4Taishi Takizawa2 5 +
51 4 206
61 3 144
71 2 102
81 1 98

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 千葉BlueField名称変更のお知らせ . December 10, 2011 . December 12, 2011 . Kaientai Dojo . ja . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121213041246/http://www.k-dojo.co.jp/news/index.html . December 13, 2012 .
  2. Web site: K-Dojo despide de su administración a su fundador TAKA Michinoku. 9 November 2018.
  3. Web site: KAIENTAI DOJO 17周年記念大会 GRAND SLAM in 後楽園ホール KAIENTAI DOJO. www.k-dojo.co.jp. 2019-04-14.
  4. Web site: Welcome 2AW of Japan to AIWF Wrestling Family!. https://ghostarchive.org/iarchive/facebook/54634690635/10156610285185636 . 2022-02-26 . limited. January 10, 2020 . January 10, 2020.