Battlarts

Kakuto Tanteidan Battlarts (格闘探偵団バトラーツ, Kakutō Tanteidan Batorātsu; "Fighting Detectives Battlarts" or "Fighting Investigation Team Battlarts"), more commonly referred to as simply Battlarts (also stylized as BattlARTS) was a professional wrestling promotion founded in 1996 by Yuki Ishikawa following the mass exodus he led from Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (PWFG) amidst the financial struggle that ultimately led the company to fold. The initial promotion's roster was composed of the entire PWFG roster that did not depart for Pancrase, thus making Battlarts a direct successor to PWFG.

Battlarts

Founded	1996
Defunct	2011
Style	Bati-bati style (Shoot style wrestling)
Headquarters	Koshigaya, Saitama, Japan
Founder(s)	Yuki Ishikawa
Owner(s)	Yuki Ishikawa
Predecessor	Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi
Successor	Professional Wrestling Wallabee Battle Arts Battle Art Pro-Wrestling Kakuto Tanteidan

The promotion ceased operations in 2011, but was succeeded in 2023 by the independent Kakuto Tanteidan project led by Fuminori Abe and Takuya Nomura.

History

Original Battlarts (1996–2011)

The promotion was formed in 1996 by Japanese wrestler Yuki Ishikawa and featured all of the wrestlers from the Fujiwara Gumi promotion, who had abandoned the promotion in favor of Battlarts. They ran shows in the Tokyo area regularly from 1998 to 2002.

Even though Battlarts' style was based on shoot wrestling, the promotion often cooperated with other shoot style and mixed martial arts promotions, including Fighting Network Rings, Kingdom, Michinoku Pro and Big Japan Pro Wrestling, therefore matches sometimes resembled more traditional professional wrestling matches. The biggest co-promotion occurred on October 17, 1999, when Battlarts and The Great Sasuke's Michinoku Pro Wrestling produced "Michinoku Pro vs. Battlarts", which was headlined by a tag team match pitting the owners of both promotions (Great Sasuke and Ishikawa) against Jinsei Shinzaki and Alexander Otsuka.

The promotion ceased running regular shows and events in 2001 due to "management aggravation". Battlarts eventually began to run monthly shows mainly in Tokyo, Saitama, and Shizuoka Prefecture, often co-promoting with Daisuke Ikeda's Fu-ten, Kiyoshi Tamura's U-Style and Satoru Sayama's Real Japan Pro Wrestling promotions. On September 14, 2008, at a press conference with Yuki Ishikawa and Shinjiro Otani Battlarts announced a working agreement with Pro Wrestling Zero1.

It was revealed in late December 2010 that Battlarts would be closing their doors sometime in 2011.^[1] The promotion held its final event on November 5, 2011.

Kakuto Tanteidan (2023–present)

On June 26, 2023, Fuminori Abe and Takuya Nomura held a press conference to announce they would hold an independent show titled We Are Kakuto Tanteidan (ぼくらは格闘探偵団, Bokura wa Kakutō Tanteidan) on October 12 at Shinjuku Face, broadcast on Wrestle Universe.^[2][3] The idea of reviving Battlarts into a new organization came from founder Abe, a student of Battlarts alumnus Munenori Sawa, who was fascinated by the promotion and aspired to become a professional wrestler, with the ideal of creating a "state-of-the-art B". The decision to organize an independent event was made in cooperation with Nomura, and with the support of Yuki Ishikawa, Ikuto Hidaka and others.^[4]

A second event titled Kakuto Tanteidan 2: From Shinjuku With Love (格闘探偵団2〜新宿より愛をこめて〜, Kakutō Tanteidan Tsū: Shinjuku yori ai wo komete) was held on October 23, 2024,^[5] and a third titled Kakuto Tanteidan III: One Life to Live (格闘探偵団III～One Life to Live～, Kakutō Tanteidan Surī: One Life to Live) was held at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring on April 8, 2025.^[6]

Alumni

• Bob Backlund
• Johnny Geo Basco
• Dieuseul Berto
• Hayato Fujita
• Minoru Fujita
• Shoichi Funaki
• Ikuto Hidaka
• Ryuji Hijikata
• Daisuke Ikeda
• Yuki Ishikawa
• Ryuichi Kawakami
• Carl Malenko
• Joe Malenko
• Masaaki Mochizuki
• Masao Orihara
• Alexander Otsuka
• Shannon Ritch
• Road Warrior Animal
• Road Warrior Hawk
• Munenori Sawa
• Super Tiger II
• Taka Michinoku
• Minoru Tanaka
• Tiger Shark
• Turtle Kamen
• Katsumi Usuda
• The Willow
• Keita Yano
• Muhammad Yone

Championships

Championship	Final recognized champion(s)	Date won
UWA World Middleweight Championship	Psycho	August 9, 2009
Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship	Marines Mask II	April 2, 2010
FMW Brass Knuckles Tag Team Championship	Koji Nakagawa and Gedo	June 13, 1999
P☆Mix Tag Team Championship	Gran Hamada and Ayako Hamada	June 29, 2000

Notable events

We Are Kakuto Tanteidan

The first event of the Kakuto Tanteidan revival project took place on October 12, 2023, at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo.

No.	Results[3]	Stipulations	Times[3]
1	Hideki Suzuki defeated Yu Iizuka [ja] by technical knockout	Singles match	6:56
2	Hikaru Sato and "brother" Yasshi defeated Ikuto Hidaka and Thanomsak Toba by submission	Tag team match	10:41
3	Super Tiger II defeated Keita Yano by technical knockout	Singles match	11:05
4	Yuki Ishikawa and Daisuke Sekimoto defeated Daisuke Ikeda and Minoru Fujita by submission	Tag team match	13:57
5	Fuminori Abe defeated Takuya Nomura by submission	Singles match	19:16

Kakuto Tanteidan 2: From Shinjuku With Love

The second Kakuto Tanteidan event took place on October 23, 2024, at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo. All matches were fought under Battlarts rules.

No.	Results[5]	Stipulations	Times[5]
1	Hikaru Sato defeated Kosuke Sato by submission	Singles match	9:13
2	"brother" Yasshi and Hikaru Machida [ja] defeated Thanomsak Toba and Manabu Hara [ja] by knockout	Tag team match	12:28
3	Masashi Takeda defeated Kengo by submission	Singles match	11:54
4	Ikuto Hidaka vs. Minoru Fujita ended in a double knockout draw	Singles match	18:46
5	Takuya Nomura and Kazunari Murakami defeated Fuminori Abe and Yuki Ishikawa by submission	Tag team match	27:54

Kakuto Tanteidan III: One Life to Live

The third Kakuto Tanteidan event took place on April 8, 2025, at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring in Tokyo. All matches were fought under Battlarts rules.

No.	Results[6]	Stipulations	Times[6]
1	Shuji Ishikawa defeated Satsuki Nagao [ja] by technical knockout	Singles match	10:38
2	Masashi Takeda defeated Kosuke Sato by technical knockout	Singles match	10:19
3	Yuki Ishikawa and Tyson Maeguchi defeated Super Tiger II and Thanomsak Toba by submission	Tag team match	13:38
4	Dan Tamura defeated "brother" Yasshi by technical knockout	Singles match	11:20
5	Astronauts (Fuminori Abe and Takuya Nomura) defeated Hikaru Sato and Manabu Hara [ja] by submission	Tag team match	28:47

Kakuto Tanteidan IV: Straight Ahead

The fourth Kakuto Tanteidan event will take place on October 23, 2025, at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo.

No.	Results	Stipulations

See also

• Japan portal

• Professional wrestling in Japan
• List of professional wrestling promotions in Japan