Author: Alex Podgorski

When Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Kurt Angle to unify his championship with the IGF version of the belt, it marked an end of an era. It marked the end of Antonio Inoki’s influence on New Japan Pro-Wrestling and their most cherished championship. No longer would New Japan Pro-Wrestling have his main event championship desecrated by non-wrestlers in failed wrestling/MMA crossover experiments. Instead, it would be about pro wrestling, like it was in the past. This is History of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship Part 4. ____________________ But this new age was about New Japan’s future, and unfortunately for Nakamura, he wasn’t meant…

Tadao Yasuda’s first and only reign as IWGP Heavyweight Champion lasted a mere 48 days. On April 5th, 2002, he lost the title to someone who actually deserved to hold it. Someone who was actually skilled as a pro wrestler, stemming from his NJPW training and origins as an amateur wrestler: Yuji Nagata. This is part 3 of the History of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Nagata’s reign provided a brief reprieve from NJPW owner Antonio Inoki’s obsession with MMA. At last, the biggest draw in New Japan Pro Wrestling was an actual pro wrestler through and through. But Nagata more…

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) had one of its biggest paydays on April 29th, 1996. On that Tokyo Dome Showcard, company savior Shinya Hashimoto defeated outside menace Nobuhiko Takada to recapture the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. With that victory, Hashimoto concluded one of the most lucrative storylines in the company’s history: he defeated the head of the outside invaders and saved NJPW and its Strong Style presentation. The History of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship – Part 2 explores Inoki’s Descent Into Madness. _________________ But behind closed doors, a storm was brewing. NJPW owner Antonio Inoki needed to figure out where the company…

The IWGP Heavyweight Championship is the most prestigious wrestling title in New Japan Pro Wrestling. It boasts a long and interesting history and has been held by some of the best wrestlers of all time. Yet there were also times when the title – like the company that spawned it – experienced controversy and hardship. It is one of the most respected and rewarding wrestling titles in the entire wrestling industry. This is part one of the history of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. The History of the IWGP Heavyweight Championship Part 1: Origin and Peak NJPW was founded in 1972…

One of the greatest and most legendary tag team matches in history took place thirty-two years ago when Kroffat and Furnas faced Kikuchi and Kobashi. Not only was it a perfect wrestling contest in which everything clicked. It also took place in front of one of the hottest crowds ever. Indeed, if you ever wanted to understand just how vital a live crowd is to pro wrestling, watch this match. Kroffat and Furnas faced Kikuchi and Kobashi – A stereotype destroyed Many North American wrestlers have wrestled in Japan over the decades. And many of those have described a collective…

The Curtain Call Incident. On May 19th, 1996, pro wrestling in North America changed in a major way. This was because four wrestlers decided to break the sacred, time-honored tradition of protecting pro-wrestling’s code of secrecy for their own personal self-satisfaction. And in doing so, they changed the future of the pro-wrestling industry, for better or worse. Twenty-six years ago today, the Curtain Call, a.k.a. The Madison Square Garden Incident, took place. The Curtain Call Incident – Who was involved? The Curtain Call/MSG Incident took place at an untelevised WWF/E event and involved four wrestlers: Shawn Michaels, Razor Ramon (Scott…

KUSHIDA is one of the most talented and technically gifted wrestlers in wrestling. He can do pretty much anything. And while he’s main-event events after departing the WWE’s NXT program, fans knew it was only a matter before this would happen. This is the journey of KUSHIDA prior to joining the WWE. KUSHIDA – Hybrid Training Yujiro Kushida began his training to become a wrestler in the Fall of 2005. His first employer was the Takada Dojo, run by Nobuhiko Takada. A former world champion pro wrestler and shootfighting aficionado. As such, KUSHIDA learned both pro wrestling and mixed martial…

The history between Manami Toyota and Kyoko Inoue isn’t a brief one. We have already seen one match between these two legendary ladies from 1992, and now we revisit them once again. But this time, they wrestled in the epic of epics, arguably the greatest women’s wrestling match ever. On this day twenty-nine years ago, Toyota and Inoue put on such a great match. So much so, that it was voted Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s Match of the Year in 1995. It was the only women’s match to ever do so. But how did it become so great? What was it…

Shinya Hashimoto had one of the most interesting careers in Japanese history. He was one of the biggest draws ever prior to WWE’s explosive success from the late 1990s to the present. He sold out the cavernous Tokyo Dome many times. His home promotion, New Japan Pro-Wrestling, made millions in profit thanks to Hashimoto’s work. And this was without much of a TV presence and a nearly non-existent PPV mechanism. He was to NJPW what Roman Reigns has become for WWE. And yet, his career ended in both professional and personal tragedy. How did this happen? Let’s find out by…

Ten years ago, AJ Styles walked into New Japan Pro-Wrestling. He proved he could be a wrestling star anywhere in the world. What could come next is a collision between Kazuchika Okada and AJ Styles. In his first actual wrestling match, Styles not only defeated the man being groomed to carry the company into the future but also took from that same person the company’s top prize, the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. Kazuchika Okada and AJ Styles – How it started This was a major accomplishment for Styles. This is why we’re taking a closer look at it now. Styles’ 2014…