Wrestling New Classic

Wrestling New Classic (WNC) (レスリング・ニュー・クラシック) was a Japanese puroresu or professional wrestling promotion, founded in April 2012 by Yoshihiro Tajiri. WNC was the follow-up promotion to Smash, which folded in March 2012.

History
On April 5, 2012, Tajiri held a press conference to announce the forming of Wrestling New Classic, which would hold its first two events on April 26 at Shinjuku Face and on May 24 at Korakuen Hall. The promotion's new financial backer at the time was Tsutomu Takashima, the executive director of real estate company Avance Avant Corporation. WNC continued Smash's working relationship with Finnish professional wrestling promotion Fight Club Finland. Unlike Smash, which held, on average, one event per month, WNC had a more regular schedule, producing three events in its official opening month, May 2012. The promotion is named after a comment made by final Smash Champion Dave Finlay, who, at the promotion's penultimate event, told Tajiri to "keep wrestling classic" with his new promotion. Several WNC wrestlers also booked and promoted their own events in collaboration with the promotion, including Kana's Kana Pro, Makoto's Mako Pro, Syuri's Stimulus, and Takuya Kito's Kuzu Pro.

In late 2013, WNC also established a working relationship with joshi puroresu promotion Reina Joshi Puroresu, as part of which all of WNC's female wrestlers became officially affiliated with both promotions in January 2014. On June 18, 2014, Tajiri held a press conference with Keiji Mutoh, where he announced that WNC would be going inactive following June 26. Afterwards, all female WNC wrestlers remained affiliated with WNC-Reina, while six male wrestlers, Tajiri and Akira included, transferred over to Mutoh's Wrestle-1 promotion. WNC held its final event on June 26, 2014, in Tokyo's Shinjuku Face.

Notable guests

 * Adam Angel / Backpacker Joe
 * Arisa Nakajima
 * Atsushi Kotoge
 * The Bodyguard
 * Brahman Kei
 * Brahman Shu
 * Carlito
 * Command Bolshoi
 * Daisuke Sekimoto
 * Dave Finlay
 * Dump Matsumoto
 * El Samurai
 * Emil Sitoci
 * Gedo
 * Gran Hamada
 * Jado
 * Kaoru
 * Kyoko Kimura
 * Masato Tanaka
 * Osamu Nishimura
 * Maybach Taniguchi


 * Mikey Whipwreck
 * Mio Shirai
 * Misaki Ohata
 * Miyako Matsumoto
 * Naomichi Marufuji
 * Ray Mendoza Jr.
 * Ricky Marvin
 * Riho
 * Serena
 * StarBuck
 * Super Crazy
 * Tadasuke
 * Taiji Ishimori
 * Takeshi Morishima
 * Tatsumi Fujinami
 * Tommy Dreamer
 * Tomoka Nakagawa
 * Toru Yano
 * Último Dragón
 * Zeus