Author: Alex Podgorski

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…

On April 25, 1992, one of the greatest professional wrestling matches ever took place as Kyoko Inoue and Manami Toyota took place. And not just women’s pro wrestling, but pro wrestling in general. It was said to be so revolutionary, so spectacular, so far ahead of its time that renowned wrestling Journalist Dave Meltzer rated it ‘5+++’. That meant it was better than perfect, better than a masterpiece. Kyoko Inoue and Manami Toyota: The Joshi style Women’s pro wrestling in Japan, called ‘Joshi’ is unlike anything else in the world. In Japan, they take full advantage of the fact that…

Megumi Kudo was known as ‘The Extreme Queen’ in Japan. She broke barriers – and many other things as well – during her run as a professional wrestler. She reached such great heights that, to this very day, few women, if any, have shown as much dedication to hardcore wrestling as she has. Megumi Kudo – She Was Hardcore Before It Was Cool Like many joshis, Kudo began her wrestling career at 16 with All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling (AJW). Unfortunately, she didn’t achieve much during that first run. Disappointed, she left wrestling for over a year to work as a…

On March 1st 2003, Misawa and Kobashi faced each other for the final time. Many wrestling fans call this the best match of all time. It’s widely regarded as one of if not the best match of the 21st century. Plenty of fans have put it up there in the same conversation as the now-fabled Okada vs. Omega match from January 4th, 2017. Today, we look at the final major singles match between Japanese wrestling legends Mitsuharu Misawa and Kenta Kobashi. Misawa and Kobashi | An extensive backstory Going into this match, Misawa & Kobashi had an extensive history together.…

Jushin Thunder Liger is quite possibly the most innovative and influential pro wrestler of all time. Through hard work, dedication, and constant adaptation, ‘Thunder’ Liger went from being a completely forgettable smaller guy to a true wrestling legend. Many wrestlers the world over have paid tribute to Liger and have praised him for his contributions to the wrestling industry. For those reasons and more, we look at Liger’s career and how he came to be the gods of cruiserweights. _____________ Jushin Thunder Liger Humble beginnings Unlike other masked wrestlers, Jushin Liger was only ever portrayed by one person. Keiichi Yamada…