Author: Alex Podgorski

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…

When people think of  ‘the longest wrestling PPV ever’, the first name that usually comes to mind is (pre-COVID) WrestleMania. Before the pandemic hit, WWE’s approach to its annual spectacle was to stretch it out as much as possible. After all, the company was no longer beholden to PPV providers, so who was to tell them to stop shoving so much content onto a single show? But even though WrestleMania 35 is the longest WWE show in history, it isn’t the longest wrestling show ever. That honor goes to an event that took place twenty-five years prior, and it’s the…

Few wrestlers inspire as much awe and unease as the Great Muta. He’s the most famous face-painted wrestler in Japanese history. He has spent decades dazzling audiences with his incredible athleticism and unusual antics. And he has mastered the art of creating something inhuman out of the human sport of pro wrestling. The Great Muta terrorized his opponents as much as he did fans that were looking on. Who, or what, is The Great Muta? Muta is the alter-ego of Keiji Mutoh, who is one of the most iconic Japanese wrestlers of all time. From 1989 to the present, Mutoh…

Eddie Guerrero is an icon to both wrestlers and wrestling fans. Many people still remember him fondly long after his untimely death, and wrestlers tribute and reference him all the time. Much has been discussed about his work in North America. But little has been discussed about his time abroad. As such, we’d like to highlight some of Eddie’s greatest accomplishments from his time wrestling in Japan. Like many smaller and more technically adept wrestlers, Eddie found work in New Japan Pro-Wrestling during the 1990s. Eddie went on a foreign excursion to Japan to learn from NJPW’s cruiserweights and hone…

Mitsuharu Misawa and Toshiaki Kawada. This was one of the most brutal, intense, and personal rivalries in pro wrestling history. It was one that blended professional competitiveness with real-life animosities. They were high school friends, tag team partners, professional adversaries, and in the end, bitter archrivals. Their rivalry bled into their real lives to the point that they fought for real. And yet, they managed to make the most out of that bitterness and use it in their matches. In doing so, they put on quite possibly the best collection of wrestling matches of all time. ______________ Misawa and Kawada…

Pro wrestling, at its core, is a manly profession. It’s the embodiment of toughness, determination, intensity, and the iron will to win. And no wrestling company understood that better than All Japan Pro-Wrestling (AJPW). Their original owner and creative figurehead, Shohei ‘Giant’ Baba, built his entire wrestling style around this philosophy. That style, called ‘King’s Road’ is considered the pinnacle of professional wrestling. It combines the classic American style of storytelling with legitimate Japanese martial prowess and physical intensity. That led to a golden age in AJPW that lasted from 1990 to 2000. And one of the best examples of…

On this day, Hulk Hogan wins the IWGP Championship. Thirty-eight years ago, Hulk Hogan made history as the first-ever IWGP Champion in New Jew Japan Pro-Wrestling. Not only did this win bring huge exposure to NJPW, but it also changed the direction of wrestling history. Hogan was part of a ten-man tournament in 1983 called the IWGP League. That tournament involved a multitude of top-level wrestlers from all over the world. Other participants included NJPW founder Antonio Inoki, UWA World Heavyweight Champion Canek, and CWA World Heavyweight Champion Otto Wanz. Inoki wanted the best wrestlers from far and wide to…