Champion: The Triumphant AJPW Career of Joe Doering

By: Lewis Carlan

The entire world of professional wrestling has been mourning the loss of an incredible competitor as Joe Doering passed away on June 26th at the age of Forty-four after a long battle with brain cancer.

Joe Doering had a remarkable twelve year career with All Japan Pro-Wrestling in which he won the Triple Crown Title twice and AJPW World Tag Team Titles on four different occasions. In addition, he won the AJPW Real World Tag League three times with three different partners, one of which was the legendary Keiji Mutoh.

It was back in 2004 when Joe Doering began his pro-wrestling training in Windsor, Ontario at the Can-Am Wrestling School which is run by Scott D’Amore. From 2004 through 2006, Doering wrestled on the independent scene for various promotions. In addition, he had a short run in Puerto Rico for the World Wrestling Council and made three appearances for TNA Wrestling.

It was on June 24th 2007 that Doering made his debut for AJPW. Doering teamed with Nobukazu Hirai & T28 in a losing effort to Hawaiian Lion, Phil Atlas & Taiyo Kea. The company was looking to revitalize it’s roster at the time and felt confident that Doering had the ability to breathe fresh life into the promotion. This is the main reason why AJPW signed Doering to a contract on September 2007 which made him an official member of the roster. Throughout 2007, Doering found himself on the winning side of most of his matches including singles victories over Suwama and Seiya Sanada (NJPW’s SANADA).

In Nov. 2007, Doering competed in his first AJPW tournament as he teamed with the legendary Keiji Mutoh in the Real World Tag League. The duo of Mutoh & Doering enjoyed great success as they lost only one match throughout the tournament. Mutoh & Doering defeated Suwama & Satoshi Kojima in the finals to win the 2007 AJPW Real World Tag League.

With the tournament win, Mutoh & Doering earned an AJPW World Tag Team Title shot against then champions Satoshi Kojima & TARU of Voodoo Murders. On Jan 3rd, 2008 in front of 2,100 fans at Korakuen Hall, Doering won his first major title as he and Mutoh defeated Kojima & TARU to become the AJPW World Tag Team Champions. The two would hold the titles for five months before losing them on June 28th 2008 to Minoru Suzuki & Taiyo Kea.

In 2010, Doering signed a developmental contract with the WWE and spent a number of months with the company before being released and ultimately returning to AJPW in Nov. 2010. Between 2010 and 2014, Doering would go on to win the AJPW World Tag Team Titles three more times with KONO, Seiya Sanada & Suwama.

During Doering’s twelve years with AJPW, he and Suwama had quite a memorable rivalry. The two were both enemies and allies that engaged in some classic singles and tag team bouts over the years. It was Suwama and Doering that joined forces in 2013 and created the AJPW unit Evolution.

The Doering/Suwama rivalry came to critical point when Suwama defended the AJPW Triple Crown Championship against Doering on July 27th 2014 at Korakuen Hall. Suwama was in his fourth reign having won the coveted title only twenty-eight days earlier on June 29th 2014. The day before he entered his 4th reign, Suwama & Joe Doering lost the AJPW World Tag Team Titles. June 2014 through July 2014 was a great example of how they could be the best of friends as well as great rivals.

Prior to July 27th 2014, Doering had two opportunities at the AJPW Triple Crown Championship against Satoshi Kojima and Akebono but was unsuccessful both times. His Triple Crown challenge against Suwama lasted over twenty one minutes and this time Joe Doering accomplished arguably his biggest feat as a pro-wrestler by winning the prestigious AJPW Triple Crown Championship.

Doering held the Triple Crown Title for 160 days and made three successful title defenses. One title defense was held in Windsor, Ontario at Scott D’Amore’s Border City Wrestling on Oct. 18th 2014. This marked the first time the AJPW Triple Crown Title was defended outside of Japan. Doering defeated challenger Rhino to retain the championship.

On Sept. 28th 2014, Go Shiozaki won the 2014 Oudou Tournament when he defeated Suwama in the finals. With the victory, Shiozaki earned a shot at Joe Doering’s AJPW Triple Crown Title. The two met on Oct. 29th 2014 at the AJPW Raising An Army Memorial Series inside the Yamagata General Sports Center with Doering’s Triple Crown belt on the line. It took a little over twenty minutes for Doering to defeat Shiozaki and make his third successful championship defense of AJPW’s top title.

Doering granted Shiozaki a rematch on Jan. 3rd 2015 which was the main event for AJPW New Year Wars 2015 at Korakuen Hall. The two engaged in absolute war that keep the fans on the edge of their seats. This time Shiozaki was able to end Doering’s reign as the AJPW Triple Crown Champion after a hard fought crowd-pleasing bout.

Doering competed for AJPW through July 2015 and was scheduled to return to participate in the 2016 AJPW Champion Carnival. Unfortunately, Doering was diagnosed with brain tumour and was forced to step away from pro-wrestling in 2016 to treat his brain cancer. Doering had the brain tumour removed and spent the year recovering.

On Nov. 27th 2016, Doering made a surprise appearance at the AJPW New Explosion in front of over 6,500 fans at the Ryogoku Kokugikan to announce he was fully recovered and would be returning to AJPW in Jan. 2017 much to the delight of everyone in attendance.

Doering’s triumphant return occurred on Jan. 2nd 2017 at AJPW New Year Wars 2017. Doering teamed with his Evolution faction members Suwama & Hikaru Sato as they defeated Jake Lee, Kento Miyahara & Naoya Nomura. One thing was certain, Joe Doering was back and he didn’t seem to miss a beat.

Doering spent the next three months primarily teaming with Suwama as the two enjoyed great success with numerous victories. In addition, Doering competed in three singles bout and won all of them leading up to his participation in the 2017 Champion Carnival Tournament. He had a very successful 2017 Champion Carnival Tournament as Doering reached the finals before losing to Shuji Ishikawa in a battle of powerhouses.

In late July 2017, Doering surprised everyone when he decided to leave Evolution after forming it four years earlier with Suwama. This basically ended the friendship between Doering and Suwama as they two became heated rivals.

Doering and Suwama battled each other in a number of high profile matches for the remainder of 2017. On Sept. 17th 2017, Suwama defeated Doering in the semifinals of the AJPW Oudou Tournament 2017 which catapulted him into the finals. Suwama went on to win the entire tournament and earned a shot at Kento Miyahara who was in his second reign as the AJPW Triple Crown Champion.

On Oct. 9th 2017, Suwama defeated Miyahara and won the Triple Crown belt for the 6th time in his career. Suwama granted Joe Doering a title shot at his newly on title on Oct. 21 2017 at the AJPW Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori 25th Anniversary with almost 2,000 fans in attendance at Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium.

The two engaged in yet another tough battle but in the end, Doering would end Suwama’s 6th title reign at only 12 days as he became the Triple Crown Champion for the second time in his career.

 

Doering would hold the AJPW Triple Crown Title for 155 days during his second reign as he made three successful title defenses before losing the belt to Kento Miyahara on March 25th 2018. After losing the title to Miyahara, Doering spent the much of 2018 competing in singles and tag team bouts, many of which saw Suwama on the opposite side of the ring.

On Nov. 13th 2018, the AJPW Real World Tag League kicked off with many teams vying for a shot at the then AJPW World Tag Team Champions Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa. Suwama & Ishikawa formed a powerhouse tag team which was aptly named Violent Giants and had entered the Real World Tag League 2018 tournament.

Doering found himself a monster tag team partner in the form of Dylan James and the two were named participants in the Real World Tag League 2018 tournament. Doering and James referred to their formidable tag team as Bomber. The Violent Giants and Bomber both enjoyed great success throughout the tournament with each team racking up numerous victories.

On Dec. 11th 2018 at the final AJPW Real World Tag League 2018 event of the tournament, it came down to two teams that were tied at 12 points apiece: Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa and Joe Doering & Dylan James. In yet another bout that had fans on the edge of their seats and the announcers nearly losing their voices, Doering & James defeated the Violent Giants to win the AJPW Real World Tag League 2018 and earn a shot at their AJPW World Tag Team Championship.

Doering & James received their shot at the World Tag Title on Jan. 2nd 2019 at AJPW New Year Wars 2019 inside Korakuen Hall. Despite the momentum they had going into the bout, Suwama & Ishikawa proved to be too much for Doering & James and retained their belts in a little over eighteen minutes. Bomber received another shot at the Violent Giants and the AJPW World Tag Team Titles in June 2019 but were unsuccessful once again thus denying Doering a fifth reign with the Tag Team belts.

Doering remained with AJPW throughout all 2019 in which he continued to compete in mainly tag team bouts with the majority of them with his Bomber partner Dylan James. He did face Suwama once in a singles encounter at the Champion Carnival 2019 Tournament. Suwama defeated Doering via referee stoppage. Doering finished with eight points and in fourth place in the B Block of the 2019 Champion Carnival.

He competed in the AJPW Oudou Tournament 2019 but was eliminated in the first round by Kento Miyahara. To close out 2019, Doering entered the AJPW Real World Tag League 2019 tournament only this time it was with Jun Akiyama and not Dylan James. Doering & Akiyama finished fourth with 10 points. One of their victories in the tournament was against the eventual winners Suwama & Shuji Ishikawa.

Doering wrestled in his final AJPW match on Dec. 9th 2019 as he teamed with Akiyama to defeat Daisuke Sekimoto & Tsugutaka Sato. Doering ended his twelve year with AJPW by pinning Sato following a Flying Body Attack.

After his triumphant career with AJPW, Doering found a new home with TNA Wrestling from Nov. 2020 through Aug. 2022 and aligned himself with the Violent By Design faction led by Eric Young. While with TNA, Doering held the TNA World Tag Team Titles on two separate occasions.

In Aug. 2022, Doering stepped away from pro-wrestling once again as his brain cancer returned and he underwent another surgery. After the second surgery he developed Ataxia which affected his mobility. In Nov. 2025, he was diagnosed with a third tumour and on June 26th, 2026 Joe Doering tragically passed away after being in Hospice for three days.

After his passing, Suwama spoke to reporters and opened up about his friend Joe Doering.

From Suwama:

“Man, I was really shocked—my mind went completely blank. It was such a shock that my thoughts just stopped. I kind of thought he might pull off a miracle. I couldn’t believe a monster like him would be brought down by illness. I have good memories of both teaming up with him and fighting him. Every single move was intense, and I clearly remember how terrifying the Revolution Bomb was—its destructive power was off the charts. I remember us training together desperately, huffing and puffing the whole time. His matches were amazing, but deep down, he was Japanese at heart. He was incredibly serious in his approach and kind-hearted. But he was scary when he got angry, and he had a lot of pride. His philosophy on pro-wrestling was similar to mine. We often talked about ‘how All Japan Pro-Wrestling should be,’ and he truly loved All Japan Pro-Wrestling. Seriously, thank you for everything. I hope he can rest in peace. Don’t go too wild up in heaven.”

Numerous pro-wrestlers issued heartfelt comments on the passing of Joe Doering, which can be read here.

Joe Doering had quite an amazing career as a pro-wrestler and has entertained fans from Japan to the USA. If one wants to remember Joe Doering or if someone who isn’t familiar with him would like for someone to describe him, the same word can be used for both.

Champion.

Rest in peace Joe Doering and thank you.