simply canceled the events. The most infamous of these happened on October 22, 2003, when WJ had announced they were running Korakuen Hall; however, it was quickly pointed out that a boxing show was scheduled to take place in Korakuen on that day and Nagashima had once again lied about the booking. By the end of 2003, Shiro Koshinaka and Takao Omori had both left for other organizations, and WJ's ace Kensuke Sasaki returned to NJPW in December. The failure of WJ severely damaged the formerly close relationship between Sasaki and Choshu; Sasaki lost over ¥5 million and canceled his life insurance to fund WJ events, leading to him and his wife Akira Hokuto facing severe money issues in late 2003 and Sasaki having to work up to two independent shows a day just to support his family. World Japan was ultimately viewed by Japanese fans as just another independent promotion in the saturated world of pro wrestling, so it was not able to make a dent in the major promotions' fanbases. It officially closed in mid-2004 and was eventually succeeded by Riki Pro, a small-time independent promotion that mainly ran in Korakuen Hall. Championships World Magma the Greatest (WMG) Heavyweight Championship World Magma the Greatest (WMG) Tag Team Championship See also Professional wrestling in Japan List of professional wrestling promotions in Japan References External links Japanese professional wrestling promotions 2003 establishments in Japan