Author: Alex Podgorski

High-flying wrestling wouldn’t exist today without Eiji ‘Hayabusa’ Ezaki. He was a pioneer, an innovator, and a trendsetter. He was so influential that many of today’s top wrestlers have praised and emulated him. Without Hayabusa, there wouldn’t be PAC, the Young Bucks, AJ Styles, or Chris Jericho. Sadly, Hayabusa’s career was cut short due to a horrifying botch that left him paralyzed. But not even being paralyzed from the neck down was enough to keep Ezaki in one place. Today we look at the life and career of one of the most innovative and influential wrestlers of the past thirty…

Kenta Kobashi and Kensuke Sasaki. You couldn’t find a more perfect pairing in Japan for a big dream match. The two of them were arguably the two strongest wrestlers in the country. Both were known for their power-based offense, hard-hitting strikes, and devastating lariats. They had both been champions from their respective companies and were adored by their fanbases. Today we’ll look at their epic singles match on the second-biggest NOAH show every Destiny 2005. Kenta Kobashi and Kensuke Sasaki Background By mid-2005, Kenta Kobashi had done it all. He was GHC Heavyweight Champion for over two full years. His…

The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels was one match that is truly worth watching from start to finish. Many wrestling fans consider this the best WrestleMania match ever. It was a dream match that, by all rights, should’ve closed the show. In fact, this match is more synonymous with the words ‘WrestleMania XXV’ than anything else. The Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels In early 2009, Shawn Michaels was involved in a feud with JBL. This story focused on JBL using his wealth to save Shawn, who had (allegedly) lost much of his fortune when the Great Recession hit the United States. This…

Kenta Kobashi and Jun Akiyama. On July 10th, 2004, the Tokyo Dome bore witness to one of the most intense and exciting pro-wrestling matches ever. 58,000 fans packed the arena for a match that was twelve years in the making. It was to be the conclusion of a rivalry born of that one unshakeable human emotion: jealousy & it was that jealousy that caused one wrestler to betray the other and turned a tag team into bitter rivals. This took place on the thirteenth and final big match between Kenta Kobashi vs Jun Akiyama, and their feud was supposed to…

On October 1st, 2022, NJPW founder Kanji “Antonio” Inoki passed away at 79 years old. He had been in poor health for many years and had recently been diagnosed with cardiac amyloidosis. And with his passing, we would like to look back at the legacy Inoki leaves behind. Because few people in wrestling’s long history come close to achieving the same heights as him. Antonio Inoki – A handpicked superstar Kanji Inoki didn’t come to wrestling; wrestling came to him. Inoki was scouted by none other than Rikidozan himself when Inoki was living in Brazil. Rikidozan was so impressed with…

This was one of the best wrestling matches of the entire year back in 1999. It was yet another example of why these two men are lauded so frequently as the best of all time. Even after wrestling with each other many times, they still managed to tell a new story and maintain their high standards as wrestlers. Today we look at one of the best matches in AJPW history: Misawa vs Kobashi from June 11, 1999. Misawa vs Kobashi – 6-11-99 – Backstory This was the third in a trilogy of epic singles title matches between Mitsuharu Misawa and…

Naomichi Marufuji. Think of the first image that comes to mind when you hear the term ‘modern professional wrestling’. Is that image the sight of two wrestlers trading hard kicks back and forth while no-selling each other’s offense? Is it daredevil acrobatics and blistering speed? Or maybe it’s insane high-spots and increasingly dangerous moves layered on top of each other? Whatever image you conjure up, one thing’s for certain: Naomichi Marufuji’s the one that popularized it. He was so innovative and changed expectations so much, that people all over the world had no choice but to emulate what he did…

‘6-9-95’. You know a match is special when people refer to it by its date. For Misawa, Kobashi, Kawada, and Taue, that date will live in the minds and hearts of Purosesu wrestling fans forever. This match is widely regarded as one of the best wrestling matches ever, period. It’s considered the peak of the King’s Road wrestling style. It has aged remarkably well for a contest that took place twenty-five years ago. This match took four legendary wrestlers and made them into heavenly kings. This is the epic encounter between the Super Generation Army (Misawa and Kobashi) and the…

The golden age of All Japan Pro-Wrestling began with this match. It was the catalyst in a chain of events that led to AJPW putting on the best matches of all time. This was the moment that Mitsuharu Misawa went from a small mid-card tag team wrestler to the future ace of the company against the true Ace of Jumbo Tsuruta. It’s a match that’s as important for its historical significance as it is for its quality. Today we revisit this classic. Tsuruta vs Misawa – Their Classic AJPW Confrontation Background Jumbo Tsuruta was AJPW’s ace going into this match,…

At NJPW’s The New Beginning, Hiroshi Tanahashi was challenged by the most unlikely of people: Kazuchika Okada. And when Okada made his challenge, most fans laughed. This pretty blonde-haired boy wasn’t anywhere near Tanahashi’s level. He had spent those three years on a foreign excursion, wrestling mainly in TNA. While there, he was saddled with an embarrassing gimmick that made him look like nothing more than a sidekick. It was such a bad situation that it led to NJPW severing its ties with TNA completely. This is the History of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, Part 5. ________________ But this Okada…