This article is from the Pro-Wrestling FAQ, by macika@emunix.emich.edu (Dominic Macika) with numerous contributions by others.
Shootwrestling is the idea of making wrestling matches seem as
legitimate or "real" as possible. It got its start in 1984 in the
original UWF group, with such stars as Akira Maeda, Super Tiger
(Satoru Sayama, the original Tiger Mask), Yoshiaki Fujiwara and
Kazuo Yamazaki. Also in the group were Nobuhiko Takada and Osamu
Kido. The original UWF was popular, but for various reasons did
not succeed. The second Japanese UWF formed in 1988 with Maeda,
Fujiwara and Takada as top stars. In 1992, this group split into
UWF-Fujiwara Gumi (later PWF) RINGS and UWFI. Currently, there
are a number of "shoot" groups in Japan, such as Pancrase and
Rings. UWFI aired some of its shows in the US on PPV under the
Shootwrestling name, but the group folded in 1995.
 
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