History
Antonio Inoki left New Japan Pro Wrestling, a promotion he founded in 1972, to start the IGF. Inoki carried over to IGF his National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) accreditation, making IGF the official Japanese territory of the NWA.
In 2007, the IGF began a talent exchange with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) of the United States, with Kurt Angle being the first TNA talent used by IGF.
The first IGF show was held on June 29, 2007 at the Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan. The card was completely changed at the last minute, resulting in the 8,426 fans in attendance not knowing who or what they were going to see outside of the main event of Kurt Angle vs. Brock Lesnar.
On February 22, 2010, IGF ran their 11th show since its inception.
Shinichi Suzukawa was scheduled to face Bob Sapp in an IGF special rules Heavyweight bout on December 31, 2010, at K-1 Dynamite!! 2010. The fight was to be held under MMA rules, but the fighters wouldn't be wearing gloves. Closed-fist strikes would have been allowed, but palm strikes wouldn't have been permitted. The event was to air on HDNet in North America. However, the fight was canceled due to a last-minute contract dispute but the Japanese audience in attendance were told by the promoter involved in the contract dispute that Sapp “had lost his will to fight.”
In 2011 the company gave a gift to Kim Jong Il, leader of North Korea.
Read more about this topic: Inoki Genome Federation
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