Author: Alex Podgorski

Misawa debuts Tiger Driver 91. Some fans don’t like seeing wrestling but just want to see wrestling moves. They don’t care about angles, stories, subtleties, or background; they just want to see crazy moves. And few wrestlers are more famous in this day and age for crazy moves than Mitsuharu Misawa. Although his career has long come and gone, he is still known today for crazy wrestling moves, both as someone that delivered them and as someone who took them. We’ve already seen two notable examples of Misawa taking wrestling moves; he was the poor soul who suffered the debut…

On September 5th, 2021, AEW’s Jon Moxley faced off against NJPW legend in the form of Satoshi Kojima. But despite the age difference between them  – this wouldn’t be an easy match for Moxley. Kojima is one of the most accomplished wrestlers still active in Japan. And even though he’s well past his prime, there’s a good chance he’ll bring out something special for his first AEW appearance. But Kojima isn’t just another hard-hitter. He’s also one of the most decorated wrestlers in Japan. He was the first man to hold NJPW’s IWGP Heavyweight Championship and AJPW’s Triple Crown Heavyweight…

Kawada and Taue and The Night They Brought A Bloodbath To All-Japan. When wrestling fans see or hear the words ‘All Japan Pro Wrestling’, a few specific things come to mind. Excellent technical wrestling. High-impact bombs. Dangerous head-spikes. Stiff strikes. Classic pure wrestling matches. Essentially, AJPW was and is the home of pure wrestling without over-the-top gimmicks or angles. One doesn’t think of All Japan and think of hardcore violence and weapons shots. Except in this case. This match was the exception to the rule in All Japan. Instead of being a pure wrestling match or a classic NWA-style brawl,…

January 4th might as well be renamed ‘Pro Wrestling Day’ in Japan. For over thirty years, New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) has put on their premier annual event on that day. It didn’t matter what day of the week it was; January 4th was NJPW’s Tokyo Dome Show. _______________ NJPW In The Tokyo Dome Since 1992, NJPW’s annual Tokyo Dome show has been considered the biggest show of the year in Japan. It marked the culmination of the previous year’s storylines and the beginning of the new year’s. Because of that, the majority of NJPW’s best-ever matches have taken place on…

Jun Akiyama is unjustly forgotten when people talk about AJPW’s success in the 1990s. When one heard the words ‘All Japan Pro-Wrestling’, a few specific names come to mind. The first that do tend to be those of the fabled Four Pillars of Heaven: Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, Toshiaki Kawada, or Akira Taue. Others think of Giant Baba, the promoter that came up with the genius booking philosophy that became known as ‘King’s Road’. Others think of the stiff foreigners’/gaijins that became legends there like Vader, Stan Hansen, and ‘Dr. Death’ Steve Williams. But there’s one wrestler that doesn’t seem…

AJ Styles and The Undertaker. It was called one of the WWE’s last true dream matches. One has been referred to as WWE’s ‘Phenom’ in AJ Styles and the other himself ‘The Phenomenal’ in The Undertaker for almost two decades. At WrestleMania, The Undertaker and AJ Styles would finally cross paths. As wrestlers, they’re almost mirror images of each other. Styles is one of the best in-ring performers alive and the best wrestler on the planet in many fans’ eyes. The Undertaker, meanwhile, is the ultimate wrestling character, a mythical figure whose persona has withstood the test of time. Fans…

The End of the Four Pillars of Heaven. On December 3rd, 1993, the Four Pillars style of wrestling match first took place. Two years later, on December 9th, 1995, that style was shown for the last time as Misawa and Kobashi vs. Taue and Kawada. December 9th, 1995, marked the last time the Four Pillars – Misawa, Kobashi, and the Holy Demon Army, Kawada, and Taue – wrestled in the same two-on-two tag match together. After this, things changed for the company in terms of legendary match-ups. Kawada spoke out publicly against All Japan Pro-Wrestling, leading to his punishment and…

When exploring Jun Akiyama’s Greatest Tag Team Match Ever, one need not go any further than looking at his time in AJPW. All Japan Pro-Wrestling had its golden age during the 1990s. That company produced some of the greatest wrestling matches to ever take place. They were such time-tested classics that they became the standard for highest-quality in-ring action for professional wrestling. One of those classics to see why it still holds up after almost twenty-five years. It’s the classic tag team bout between Mitsuharu Misawa & Jun Akiyama vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue from December 6th, 1996. ____________________________________________________________________…

Mitsuharu Misawa. Kenta Kobashi. Toshiaki Kawada. Akira Taue. Collectively they were known as ‘The Four Pillars of Heaven.’ They were the biggest stars of All Japan Pro-Wrestling during the 1990s. Collectively they have one of the deepest and greatest catalogues of excellent wrestling matches in history. And today, we revisit the match that is widely believed to have started their famous main event run. This is the story of The True Beginning of the King’s Road, 12-03-93. It’s the tag team match between Misawa & Kobashi and Kawada & Taue in the final of the 1993 World’s Strongest Tag Determination…

Could you ever picture Kenta Kobashi and Colt Cabana standing across the ring from one another? When one thinks of Japanese pro wrestling, a few images come to mind. Full-contact strikes. High-impact wrestling moves. Wrestlers getting dropped on their necks. A sense of danger and legitimacy. A willingness to go to extremes, whether it’s to be serious or to be comedic. Yet somehow, those two worlds – the serious and the comedic – clashed in Pro Wrestling NOAH. In one of the strangest examples of the ‘Forbidden Door’ ever, no-nonsense legend Kenta Kobashi took on…joker Colt Cabana. Kenta Kobashi and…