Stardom Throwback: Osaka 1st RING (3/4/11) Review

Credit: Stardom

For the first time in their history Stardom stepped away from Tokyo and Shinkiba to make their way to Osaka, a city that you could probably call their second home. With a small roster, the chance to go on the road and reach new territories was going to be a pretty essential part of their growth, so let’s see how they did in front of a new audience.

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Tale Of The Feud: Katsuyori Shibata vs The Third Generation

Mission TAKE OVER (Katsuyori Shibata/Yuji Nagata Theme) - YouTube
Fighting for respect. Credit: NJPW

Welcome to Tale of the Feud, a series in which I go back and cover iconic wrestling feuds. Previously, I’ve gone back and looked at the violent rivalry between Bryan Danielson and KENTA before covering the generational battles of Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada. Today’s entry, though, is about redemption. It’s the story of Katsuyori Shibata proving himself to the New Japan fans and the legends they revere. Enjoy this dive into Shibata vs The Third Generation.

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AJW Throwback: AJW Classics Episode 1 Review

Queen.

Joshi puroresu was a very different world in 1980. Unlike the modern-day where even the biggest companies in the scene draw rather modest crowds, All Japan Women were the big dog. Acts like the Crush Girls and Jaguar Yokota had pushed them into the spotlight, and they were riding a wave. So what better time could be there to go back and explore?

Unlike my ROH or Stardom Throwbacks, this won’t be going show by show. Instead, I’m going through AJW Classics episodes, which Mort kindly posted an archive of at the start of this mess. That means the matches won’t necessarily be from the same show, but I’ll make sure to try and provide context as we go. Fair? Great.

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TJPW: Battling Without Fans

There is also a lot of dancing. Credit: TJPW

When you get past the discussion as to whether wrestling should be running empty arena shows, the biggest talking point for most fans at the moment is how to go about making those shows work. As I write this, the only WWE I’ve watched took place in a graveyard, but it’s safe to say their television efforts have been widely criticised and while AEW hasn’t been quite as badly received, no-one is screaming from the rooftops about them being shows of the year. Wrestling is struggling with how to present itself in a fan-less environment, and it’s quite interesting watching companies scramble for answers.

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