Sky Diving J

**Sky Diving J** was a professional wrestling event produced by New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW). The event took place on June 17, 1996 at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo, Japan. The event was notable for revolutionizing junior heavyweight wrestling in NJPW and Japanese wrestling history. The event aired on television on TV Asahi on July 6, 1996.

All of the matches contested at the event were junior heavyweight championship matches from different promotions from Japan. This was a very significant event in the revolution of junior heavyweight wrestling as title defences from various promotions at the event would result in the unification of various junior heavyweight championships to create the J-Crown.

## Background

NJPW had previously held an annual round-robin tournament called Best of the Super Juniors but the tournament was not of much significance for the junior heavyweight division. In 1994, Jushin Thunder Liger conceptualized a junior heavyweight tournament to determine the best junior heavyweights from all over the world called Super J-Cup. The tournament was an enormous success and it led to a second tournament being held the following year in 1995.

## Event

**Other on-screen personnel**

### Preliminary matches

In the opening match, Lance Storm and Yuji Yasuraoka defended the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship against El Samurai and Norio Honaga. Samurai and Honaga double teamed Yasuraoka but Storm took advantage and pinned Samurai with a roll-up to retain the titles.

Next, Masayoshi Motegi defended the NWA World Junior Heavyweight Championship against Shiryu. After a series of near-falls, Motegi pinned Shiryu to retain the title.

Next, Gran Hamada defended the WWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship against Tatsuhito Takaiwa. Hamada delivered a Tornado DDT to Takaiwa to retain the title.

Next, Kazushi Sakuraba competed against Shinjiro Otani for the vacant UWA World Junior Light Heavyweight Championship. Otani defeated Sakuraba to win the vacant title.

Next, Super Delfin defended the CMLL World Welterweight Championship against TAKA Michinoku in a match which Delfin won to retain the title.

Next, Último Dragón defended the WAR International Junior Heavyweight Championship against Gran Naniwa. Dragón defeated Naniwa to retain the title.

In the penultimate match of the event, Jushin Thunder Liger defeated Dick Togo to retain the British Commonwealth Junior Heavyweight Championship.

### Main event match

In the main event, The Great Sasuke defeated Black Tiger to retain the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship.

## Aftermath

The all-junior heavyweight card featuring junior heavyweight championship matches of all major Japanese promotions led to Jushin Thunder Liger conceptualizing the idea of a tournament to unify all the junior heavyweight singles championships. He challenged all the champions and a tournament took place to create the J-Crown, the unifier of various singles junior heavyweight championships. The tournament took place on August 5, 1996, with The Great Sasuke winning the tournament to become the first champion.

## References

1. ↑ Skydiving J . *Pro Wrestling History* (1996-06-17). Retrieved on 2018-10-01.
2. ↑ NJPW Skydiving J . Cagematch. Retrieved on 2018-10-01.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 Moe Lakser. Skydiving J . *Puroresu Central*. Retrieved on 2018-10-01.