Burning (professional wrestling)

Burning
Logo of Burning's third incarnation
Stable
Members
Former
member(s)		See below
DebutFirst incarnation:
August 1998 (August 1998)[5]
Second incarnation:
2000 (2000)[5]
Third incarnation:
January 26, 2013 (January 26, 2013)[6]
Fourth incarnation:
December 26, 2021 (December 26, 2021)[7]
Years active1998–2000
2000–2012
2013–2015
2021–present

Burning (バーニング, Bāningu, usually stylized in all capital letters as BURNING) is a professional wrestling stable originally formed in All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) in August 1998 by Jun Akiyama, Kenta Kobashi, Kentaro Shiga and Yoshinobu Kanemaru. Akiyama and Kobashi dominated AJPW's tag team ranks for the next two years, winning the World Tag Team Championship twice and the World's Strongest Tag Determination League also twice.

In July 2000, Burning took part in a mass exodus led by Mitsuharu Misawa and left AJPW to join the newly founded Pro Wrestling Noah promotion, where it was rebuilt with Akiyama leaving the alliance and Kobashi taking several rookies under his wing. As representatives of Burning, Kobashi held the GHC Heavyweight Championship for two years and he and Tamon Honda won the GHC Tag Team Championship on two occasions, while the stable also launched the careers of Kenta and Go Shiozaki, both of whom eventually climbed to the top of the promotion. Eventually Kobashi's battle with kidney cancer and other various injuries led to the quiet dissolution of the stable.

Burning was reformed back in AJPW in January 2013, when original members Jun Akiyama and Yoshinobu Kanemaru and second incarnation member Go Shiozaki along with Atsushi Aoki and Kotaro Suzuki quit Pro Wrestling Noah and joined AJPW as a unit. The stable quickly began dominating the promotion, winning three titles and two tournaments within three months of its reformation. Despite the success, Aoki, Shiozaki and Suzuki all quit Burning before the end of 2013 to form their own new group. The stable was effectively dissolved when Kanemaru left AJPW at the end of 2015.

With the endorsement of Kenta Kobashi, the stable was reformed in DDT Pro-Wrestling in December 2021. This fourth incarnation was made of original member Jun Akiyama along with Yusuke Okada, Yuya Koroku and their new leader Tetsuya Endo.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Endo was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Okada was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Koroku was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Suzuki was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference IncarnationHistory was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Burning2013Debut was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference Burning2021Debut was invoked but never defined (see the help page).