page_title: Burning (professional wrestling)
section_title: Third incarnation (2012–2015)
hierarchical_section_title: Burning (professional wrestling) / History / Third incarnation (2012–2015)
caption_attribution_description: Jun Akiyama, August 2008.
context_page_description: Burning was a professional wrestling stable originally formed in All Japan Pro Wrestling in August 1998 by Jun Akiyama, Kenta Kobashi, Kentaro Shiga and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Akiyama and Kobashi dominated AJPW's tag team ranks for the next two years, winning the World Tag Team Championship twice and the World's Strongest Tag Determination League also twice.
  In July 2000, Burning took part in a mass exodus led by Mitsuharu Misawa and left AJPW to join the newly founded Pro Wrestling Noah promotion, where it was rebuilt with Akiyama leaving the alliance and Kobashi taking several rookies under his wing. As representatives of Burning, Kobashi held the GHC Heavyweight Championship for two years and he and Tamon Honda won the GHC Tag Team Championship on two occasions, while the stable also launched the careers of Kenta and Go Shiozaki, both of whom eventually climbed to the top of the promotion. Eventually Kobashi's battle with kidney cancer and other various injuries led to the quiet dissolution of the stable.
context_section_description: On December 3, 2012, the Tokyo Sports newspaper reported that Pro Wrestling Noah had decided to terminate the contract of Kenta Kobashi, who had suffered various injuries the past years and was at the time again sidelined from in-ring action. Tokyo Sports also reported that the termination led to a backlash from Noah wrestlers with Atsushi Aoki, Go Shiozaki, Jun Akiyama, Kotaro Suzuki and Yoshinobu Kanemaru announcing that they were not going to re-sign with Noah, when their contracts with the promotion ran out at the end of the year. Noah president Akira Taue responded to the report, announcing that Kobashi would address his situation at Ryōgoku Kokugikan on December 9, while also confirming that the promotion was in negotiations with five wrestlers whose contracts were set to expire shortly. On December 9, Kobashi announced that he would wrestle one more match and retire in a Noah ring sometime during 2013. On December 19, Noah announced that the negotiations with Atsushi Aoki, Go Shiozaki, Jun Akiyama, Kotaro Suzuki and Yoshinobu Kanemaru had ended and all five men would leave the promotion following December 24. After parting ways with Noah, the five men made an unadvertised appearance for AJPW on January 26, 2013, announcing that they had joined the promotion, forming the third incarnation of the Burning stable. Though essentially working exclusively for AJPW, the five were officially freelancers. The five quickly laid claim to All Japan's top titles.
  Yoshinobu Kanemaru was the first of the five to receive his title shot and on February 23, defeated Shuji Kondo for the World Junior Heavyweight Championship. The event was headlined by a five singles match series between members of Burning and representatives of AJPW; Burning won the series 3–2 with Kanemaru clinching the decisive win in the main event. Burning received two more title shots on March 17. After Aoki and Suzuki failed to capture the All Asia Tag Team Championship from the Junior Stars (Koji Kanemoto and Minoru Tanaka), Akiyama and Shiozaki brought the stable its second title by defeating Get Wild (Manabu Soya and Takao Omori) for the World Tag Team Championship. Also during the event, Kenta Kobashi made an appearance, publicly giving his blessing to the newest incarnation of Burning, while also announcing that he was joining AJPW following his retirement match as the new Pacific Wrestling Federation (PWF) chairman. On April 7, Aoki and Suzuki defeated Jounetsu Hentai Baka (Hikaru Sato and Hiroshi Yamato) in the finals to win the 2013 Junior Hyper Tag League and earn another shot at the All Asia Tag Team Championship. This led to a rematch between Aoki and Suzuki and the Junior Stars on April 25, where Burning took home its third title. Burning's domination led to a storyline, where even rivals such as Suwama and Takao Omori came together to rally AJPW in its war with the stable. Burning continued its winning ways on April 29, when Jun Akiyama won the 2013 Champion Carnival, being victorious in the finals over Kai, who had defeated Go Shiozaki in his semifinal match. As a result, Akiyama became the number one contender to AJPW's top title, the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship. On May 11, all five members of Burning made a one-night return to Noah to take part in Kenta Kobashi's retirement event, titled Final Burning in Budokan. While Aoki and Suzuki wrestled in a midcard tag team match, where they defeated former Burning members Kentaro Shiga and Tamon Honda, the other three members took part in Kobashi's retirement match, an eight-man tag team main event, where Kanemaru, Shiozaki, Kenta and Maybach Taniguchi, another Kobashi trainee and a member of the second incarnation of Burning, were defeated by Kobashi, Akiyama, Keiji Mutoh and Kensuke Sasaki, with Kobashi pinning Kanemaru for the win.
  On June 30, Akiyama received his shot at the Triple Crown Heavyweight Championship, but was defeated by the defending champion, Suwama. Post-match, Suwama accepted a challenge made for his title by another Burning member, Go Shiozaki. June 30 also marked the end 
caption: Jun Akiyama, original co-founder and the leader of the third incarnation of Burning
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