8. Keiji Mutoh And Nobuo Shiraishi
Keiji Mutoh was both an active wrestler and former president of All Japan Pro Wrestling, the second biggest wrestling company in Japan. A change in the ownership of the company forced him to leave. Last year, Speed Partners purchased the company and new president Nubuo Shiraishi had big plans for his new item, plans the long serving Mutoh didn't like the sound of. The Wrestling Observer newsletter's Dave Meltzer reported that Mutoh left the company and in riposte wanted to start his own new wrestling promotion with all the other disgruntled members of the All Japan roster. Shiraishi certainly made an impression after taking the hot seat as he initiated a war of words with New Japan Pro Wrestling's boss Takaaki Kidani. Shiraishi claimed All Japan would become the number one wrestling promotion in Japan within one year and would buy out their competition. He also knocked New Japan's roster claiming their only good talent was Shinsuke Nakamura and Yuji Nagata. Then, in another move reminiscent of WCW, Shiraishi became embroiled in an argument with the phoney Kenso. Nubuo had previously said he should have fired Kenso for not being real quality and started shoving him in front of fans. This was at a live event, not the place two employees should be scrapping. In another strange move Shiraishi accused New Japan of fixing their matches and how it was his job to rid pro wrestling of such practices. His volatility continued as he fired All Japan's president Masayuku Uchida despite openly admitting he was learning the business from him. Former President Mutoh was expected to take Uchida's place but Nubuo ended up appointing himself as acting President. This double cross was the final straw and Mutoh left the company, vowing to start his own wrestling promotion. He found financial backers and Wrestle-1 was born.