Deep Dives

All the opinions you didn’t know you needed.

BJW World Is Not Enough (30/12/19) Ramble

/ Stuart Iversen / Leave a comment
Image result for big japan wrestling world is not enough

I’m in Tokyo! A fact that still seems unbelievable despite being very much the truth. That means all the usual reviews will be delayed (I’m going to try and get some stuff up, including my match of the year list, over the next few days), but that I have other stuff to ramble about. To kick that off, I went to Korakuen Hall yesterday for my first live Japanese wrestling show and damn, did I have a good time. This won’t be a standard review. I wasn’t taking notes and had a few drinks, but will instead be a rumination of what it was like to go to Korakuen and watch Big Japan.

Continue reading →

Minoru Suzuki: The Perfect Wrestler

/ Stuart Iversen / 1 Comment
Image result for minoru suzuki
I certainly wouldn’t fight him.

Minoru Suzuki is a badass. That’s a fair opinion to hold, right? Even at the age of fifty-one, the man is terrifying, while a twenty-second dive into his career will only add to your fear. There is not only the stellar pro-wrestling, filled with hard-hitting matches against some of the very best but the fact he was a founding figure in Pancrase, holding MMA victories over the likes of Ken Shamrock. His credentials weren’t dreamt up in the mixed-reality of kayfabe. They come from blood, sweat and the tears’ of his enemies.

Continue reading →

The Wrestling Media

/ Stuart Iversen / Leave a comment

It might surprise those of you who regularly read the grammatical nightmares that are my ramblings, but I have a Master’s degree in Journalism. In another world where the industry wasn’t dying, and I had the enthusiasm to push towards getting a proper job, there is every chance I would be working as a journalist right now. I wouldn’t be very good at it, but if Boris Johnson can do it, I’m sure I would have managed.

Continue reading →

NJPW G1 Climax 29 A Block Preview

/ Stuart Iversen / 1 Comment
G1 CLIMAX 29 Press Conference, Meet & Greet Scheduled for Dallas! Additional Tickets Released!【G129】
Credit: NJPW

The 29th G1 is slinking into view and it is looking particularly sexy this year. I can’t imagine being a wrestling fan and not being excited about this tournament. It has everything, and if you’re wondering what that everything is, then wonder no more, for I am here to help. Starting with the A Block, I am going to run through every wrestler in the tournament, rambling my thoughts onto the page and providing a few key matches. Enjoy.

Continue reading →

Enough Is Enough, Fuck WWE.

/ Stuart Iversen / 1 Comment

For a long time I, and many others, have been saying things like: ‘well, if a wrestler wants to go to WWE, I can’t hold it against them’ or ‘watch it if you must, but you do know there is better wrestling out there, yea?’ Like most, if not all, Western fans, WWE is a part of my history. It’s the thing that made me care about the stuff I write about nearly every day. However, enough is enough. I can no longer sit back and pretend that it’s okay to associate with that company. It’s not. It’s fucked-up.

Continue reading →

The New Day: You’ve Got A Friend In Me

/ Stuart Iversen / Leave a comment

Kofi Kingston has the chance to go to WrestleMania. On the final PPV before the fifty-hour-long event that is WWE’s version of the Superbowl, Kofi will face off against Daniel Bryan for the WWE Title. Will he win? Probably not, but that doesn’t really matter. The point is that after eleven years of being stuck in th mid-card, Kingston is getting his shot, and he got there with the help of his friends.

Continue reading →

AEW: The Joy Of Choice

/ Stuart Iversen / Leave a comment
Image result for aew
It’s a new world.

Times they are a-changin’. Old Bob probably wasn’t reflecting on the shifting tides of the wrestling industry, but it seems a pertinent song in 2019’s world of graps. In the last few months, there hasn’t been so much a shake-up as someone’s punted the whole thing across a car park just to see what would happen. Why a car park? Fuck knows, to be honest.

Continue reading →

The Rise Of The Switchblade

/ Stuart Iversen / Leave a comment
He looks like such a cunt, I love it. Credit: NJPW

On Monday evening Jay White did something that if you had merely suggested it to New Japan fans a year ago, would have resulted in you being scoffed out the building. After a thirty minute match, in which he dominated the majority of the action, he pinned Hiroshi Tanahashi to claim the IWGP Heavyweight Championship.

Continue reading →

A Beginner’s Guide To Wrestle Kingdom 13

/ Stuart Iversen / Leave a comment
The biggest event of NJPW's calendar kicks off the wrestling year
Get excited! Credit: NJPW

Now we’ve got all that Christmas and New Year malarky out the way we can get down to the real business. It’s Wrestle Kingdom season, truly the most wonderful time of the year. Last year I put together a little preview/prediction post intended for people who haven’t watched much NJPW, and I’ve decided to do it again. I’m going to dive into the background of each match, how I think they’ll go and who should come out as the winner. WRESTLE KINGDOM!

Continue reading →