Toryumon (Último Dragón)

History

During his time working for World Championship Wrestling (WCW) in the United States Japanese wrestler Último Dragón decided to open up a wrestling school in Naucalpan, Mexico to give Japanese hopefuls the chance to learn the Mexican lucha libre style like Dragón had. The wrestling school operated after the same principles of a university, divided into classes with several terms where wrestlers would "graduate" (debut) at the same time. The Ultimo Dragon Gym's first graduating term consisted of CIMA, Don Fujii, Dragon Kid, Magnum Tokyo and SUWA who collectively became known as Toryumon Japan (a name that would be used for the first four terms). Toryumon promoted their first show on May 11, 1997, in Naucalpan, Mexico on a show that was co-promoted with International Wrestling Revolution Group (IWRG). Toryumon and IWRG would co-promote shows in Japan from 1997 until 2001, allowing the Ultimo Dragon Gym graduates to work on IWRG shows and even saw several graduates wrestlers win IWRG Championship. Through his contacts with WCW Último Dragón also arranged for some of his first term graduates to wrestle on World Championship Wrestling shows. On January 1, 1999, Toryumon held its first show in Japan and from that point forward began promoting regular shows in Japan. Toryumon's combination of traditional Japanese Puroresu, Mexican Lucha Libre and elements of Sports Entertainment that Último Dragón had observed while working for WCW such as outside interference and referee's being knocked out, something that at the time was not traditionally used in Japanese wrestling. The second class of Último Dragón Gym graduates began their own promotion, called the Toryumon 2000 Project, or T2P for short. The T2P promotion debuted on November 13, 2001, and became known for their use of the six-sided wrestling ring, the first promotion to regularly use such a ring shape. T2P wrestlers primarily used a submission based style called Llave (Spanish for "Key" the lucha libre term for submission locks). T2P ran until January 27, 2003, when the roster was absorbed into Toryumon. The third graduating class was known as "Toryumon X" and like T2P also started their own promotion under their class name. Toryumon X made its debut on August 22, 2003, and lasted until early 2004.

Último Dragón had been forced to retire from active competition in 1998 after a mistake during an elbow surgery that caused nerve damage. In 2001 Dragón had another round of surgery on his elbow, restoring mobility and feeling. Following his rehabilitation Último Dragón made his return to active wrestling on a Toryumon / T2P co-promoted pay-per-view on September 8, 2002. In the following months Dragón wrestled regularly for Toryumon and various companies around the world. Because of his active scheduled Último Dragón stepped down as the director of Toryumon leaving the job to Takashi Okamura. Okamura handled the job while Dragón began working full-time for World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) in the United States. After his run with WWE ended Dragón returned to Japan and announced that he was leaving Toryumon and taking all the trademarks he owned with him. Toryumon Japan changed its name to Dragon Gate as a result of this, continuing the traditions of Toryumon Japan including references to Último Dragón. Since the break Toryumon has primarily promoted shows in Mexico, featuring students trained by Dragón and Jorge "Skayde" Rivera and a number of wrestlers from various Mexican and American promotions.

In Japan a group of remaining Toryumon students, including ousted members of Dragon Gate, joined with the internet-firm Livedoor to create the promotion dragondoor, a promotion that only ran six shows. The group launched another wrestling venture in 2006 called El Dorado: Next Door Project.

Toryumon Japan

As the Ultimo Dragon Gym students were developing their own reputations within Mexico, Japan, and to an extent the United States, it was decided for a promotion to be developed in Japan. Through it, the students would be able to gain some more in-ring experience. The Japan-based Toryumon promotion ran its first show on January 31, 1999 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo.

The names of the shows for Toryumon Japan remained true to its Mexican origins. This included pay-per-view shows being called "Vamonos Amigos" and "Revolucion." In addition, the promotion held an annual Numero Uno League tournament and recognized two championships that originated from Mexico, the NWA World Welterweight Championship and the UWA World Trios Championship.

In the beginning, Toryumon Japan consisted of the first class of Ultimo Dragon Gym graduates and a number of journeymen wrestlers such as Masaaki Mochizuki, Takashi Okamura, and Yoshikazu Taru. In 2002, they would begin a feud with the Toryumon 2000 Project wrestlers, or second class graduates. This led to a highly acclaimed and successful pay-per-view on September 8, 2002, which also saw the in-ring return of Ultimo Dragon. After T2P closed on January 27, 2003, all of its talent was absorbed into Toryumon Japan. That same year, Ultimo Dragon stepped down as President and Director of the Toryumon promotion, handing the reigns over to business partner Okamura and then leaving Japan to sign with World Wrestling Entertainment.

After his one-year stint in the WWE, Ultimo Dragon returned to Japan in mid-2004. However, in early June, a press conference was held in which it was announced that Ultimo Dragon was pulling out of the promotion all together and take the Toryumon name with him since he owned the rights. The last show to be promoted under the Toryumon name would be at the fifth anniversary show "Vo Aniversario" at Kobe World Hall in Hyogo on July 4, 2004. Immediately afterward, the promotion would continue on independently as Dragon Gate.

Ultimo Dragon Productions

Since the split with Dragon Gate in July 2004, Ultimo stepped away from promoting shows in Japan and instead primarily wrestled for New Japan Pro Wrestling. After giving Toryumon X a proper finale, Ultimo promoted Dragon Fire ~The Final Challenge~, which was seen as a send off before he concentrated his efforts in Mexico and making fewer trips to Japan. His appearances in Japan in 2005 would through DragonDoor and would be under the guise of a different gimmick such as The Tiger and Tiger Dragon.

When DragonDoor closed and El Dorado opened in its place in 2006, the promotion decided to operate without Ultimo's involvement, feeling his bringing in his friends from Mexico was one of the reasons for DragonDoor's failure. As a result, Ultimo would return to promoting shows, this time on a limited basis due to his schedule in Mexico and wrestling for other promotions in Japan. The primary focus of the shows would be on his lucha libre comrades along with friends in Japan and introducing the 4th Class of graduates from the Ultimo Dragon Gym.

While the shows would not carry the Toryumon name, they were nonetheless under the Toryumon banner as they use Toryumon ring mats.

Toryumon X

On August 22, 2003, a third Toryumon promotion was put together made up of students who graduated from the Ultimo Dragon Gym. As a means of separating them from Toryumon Japan and Toryumon 2000 Project, Toryumon X had a greater emphasis on the actual lucha libre-style of wrestling in general as opposed to a collective mix.

It has been implied that everyone in the group was brought up sooner than they were supposed to and were immediately pressured to be at the level Toryumon Japan and T2P were at. Some of whom never even made their debut at all. Poor decision making, bad booking, and the obvious inexperience of the talent was all too apparent and Toryumon X was closed in early 2004, though they would have a final show on September 9 of that year.

Of all of the talent in the group, only Naoki Tanizaki was initially brought into Toryumon Japan while everyone else scattered. The group's inability to take off has been seen as one of the reasons for the split in 2004 that resulted in the formation of Dragon Gate.

Toryumon 2000 Project

While the first class of Ultimo Dragon Gym graduates were starting up their own promotion in Japan, a second class of students were being trained back in Mexico. What would make this group of students stand out from their predecessors would be a greater emphasis in lucha libra-style submissions, or Llave. They would make their debut as a separate promotion on November 13, 2001.

In addition to their differing wrestling style, T2P would stand out for having matches contested within a six-sided wrestling ring as opposed to the standard four-sided. T2P would be the first promotion to use a six-sided ring, a concept that would later be adopted by Mexican promotion Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) and United States promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA). The group would successfully develop their own following and it created a debate among fans as to which class of Ultimo Dragon Gym graduates were better.

After a series of incidents with talent from both sides crossing over, they put together a pay-per-view show on September 8, 2002 with the majority of the matches seeing Toryumon Japan talent against T2P talent. Afterward, the two classes would mix together until T2P was formally closed on January 27, 2003 with all of its talent being absorbed into Toryumon Japan.

Shows and events

Toryumon Japan ran a series of PPVs under the names Vamonos Amigos ("Let's go friends" in Spanish) and "Revolucion" ("Revolution") as well as an annual anniversary show. They also held an annual Numero Uno League that became one of the highlights of the promotional year. Since the split in 2004 Toryumon has not promoted any major shows or PPVs, focusing their promotional efforts on Toryumon Mexico. In Mexico Dragón promotes an annual DragonMania show, with the last being DragonMania XI held on May 28, 2016.

Championships promoted

Before the Dragon Gate split in 2004 Toryumon Japan promoted a series of championships, only one of which originated in the promotion, Último Dragón Gym Championship, the rest were either bought from its previous owner or acquired after promotions closed. When the promotion turned to Dragon Gate all its championships were vacated, leaving only the Toryumon Mexico promoted titles.

Suzuki Cup

Suzuki Cup is a Team Tournament that began in 2007

Young Dragons Cup

Every year Toryumon Mexico holds the Young Dragons Cup, an annual tournament that began in 1997. The tournament is used to showcas Dragon Gym students. Originally it was a traditional single-elimination tournament, in 2006 it was changed into a torneo cibernetico and has had that format ever since. Rocky Romero, Kota Ibushi, Ryuji Yamaguchi and Trauma II are the only tournament winners who were not actually trained by Último Dragón.

Yamaha Cup

Toryumon Mexico holds the Yamaha Cup about once a year, although there have been years without a Cup. The Yamaha Cup is a tag team tournament that features a mixture of Último Dragón trainees and a combination of wrestlers from the Mexican Independent circuit, IWRG and Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL).