Union of Wrestling Forces International, better known as UWF International or simply UWFi, was a stiff-style professional wrestling promotion in Japan from 1991 to 1996.

It was founded on May 11, 1991. Essentially the main continuation of the UWF, it featured most of its roster, led by Nobuhiko Takada as the top star and face, Kazuo Yamazaki as the main face enforcer, and Yoji Anjo as the main native heel. Other natives included Kiyoshi Tamura, Tatsuo Nakano, Yuko Miyato, and Masahito Kakihara.

UWFI adopted its own set of rules for its matches: The combatants would start with 15 points each, with points lost for knockout attempts, for how long they were at a disadvantage during a hold, or for breaking a hold by grabbing the ring ropes with their hand(s) and/or feet. Tag team matches would be allowed as well, with 21 points given to a team at start time. In reality, however, the points system was rarely referred to, as a wrestler or team of wrestlers losing points could still win by forcing his opponent (the legal opponent in a tag match) to submit or by knocking him out.

In 1992 Yoshihiro Takayama, now one of the top heavyweights in Japan, and Hiromitsu Kanehara debuted. That same year came to a battle for the UWFI's first championship, the "Real Pro-Wrestling World Heavyweight Title", between Takada and the top foreign antagonist of the era, the late Gary Albright. As a gimmick, Lou Thesz acted as commissioner and gave his old 1950s NWA World title belt to be used as the distinction. Takada won and became the first champion.

In 1993 Naoki Sano, formerly of New Japan Pro Wrestling and SWS, joined in, changing his given name to Yuhi for stage purposes. The same year saw the rise of Big Van Vader, who already held the WCW World title, as the top foreigner in UWFI. Rookie Kazushi Sakuraba also debuted as a wrestler for the promotion.

In late 1995 Anjo and other UWFI bookers proposed co-promoting with their root promotion, New Japan Pro Wrestling. Thesz, who saw New Japan as another gimmicky promotion, withdrew his support as a result, taking the belt with him. Thus, the UWFI-New Japan "feud" began, with Takada taking on the top stars (Keiji Mutoh, Shinya Hashimoto) and getting the IWGP heavyweight title, but other UWFI stars, despite putting great effort, mostly losing matches. Yamazaki, who had in fact quit UWFI and rejoined New Japan earlier in the year, participated in only a few matches on New Japan's side, but displayed his good talents as a teacher by training New Japan rookies Yuji Nagata and Kendo Ka Shin in the use of the shoot-style.

In 1996, as the New Japan feud died down, UWFI formed another alliance this time with Genichiro Tenryu's WAR, but the damage to its credibility had already been done. UWFI, which once could sell out Meiji-Jingu Stadium, now had to resort to using WAR and Tokyo Pro-Wrestling talent, and even that could not draw above 15,000 fans to its shows. On December 27, 1996, UWFI had its farewell card, at Tokyo's Korakuen Hall arena.

The UWFI wrestlers separated yet again, with most of the roster going to Kingdom, which would promote on a smaller scale. The exception was Tamura, who joined Akira Maeda's Fighting Network RINGS.

UWFI matches can still be seen in re-runs of "Bushido - The Way Of The Warrior", an English-language program originally made for British TV, in which early to mid 90's UWFI matches were featured. Kickboxing matches were also occasionally shown. The program showcased UWFI in a serious manner and promoted the matches as legitimate and real. Possibly due to this fact, the 1 hour episodes excluded matches containing Big Van Vader (he was a well-known WCW and WWF professional wrestler), and the UWFI-New Japan "feud".

• Natives: Nobuhiko Takada, Kazuo Yamazaki, Naoki Sano, Kazushi Sakuraba, Yoshihiro Takayama, Koji Kitao, Masahito Kakihara, Yoji Anjo, Tatsuo Nakano, Hiromitsu Kanehara, Kenichi Yamamoto, Yuko Miyato, Masakazu Maeda, Kiyoshi Tamura, Makoto Oe (kickboxer)
• Foreigners: Big Van Vader, Gary Albright, Dan Severn, Victor Zangiev, Salman Hashimikov, Vladimir Berkovitch, Iron Sheik, Bob Backlund, Gene Lydick, JT Southern, Bad News Allen, Tom Burton, Steve Nelson, Mark Silver, Billy (Jack) Scott, Dennis Koslowski, Tommy Cairo, Steve Cox, Greg Bobchuck, Pez Whatley, Jim Boss, Bowy Chowaikun (kickboxer), Danny Steel (kickboxer)

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