An Idiotic Gaijin’s Guide to Puroresu: Japanese Pro Wrestling

Brian Damage

I just want to preface this piece by saying I am a big fan of Japanese wrestling…but am still a relative amateur to it compared to others. I fell in love with it after watching a bootleg tape of Kenta Kobashi vs. Mitsuharu Misawa a few years ago.

Believe it or not, there is an entire world professional wrestling outside of the WWE. While the United States has a deep and rich history in this form of entertainment…Japan has developed a great lineage as well. While a piece on the entire history of puroresu(pro wrestling) would in itself be fascinating…this piece will just cover some of the events and people who made Japanese wrestling what it is now.

Monday Night Wars: 28 September 1998

Craig Wilson & Jamie Lithgow

‘Monday Night Wars’ continues with the episodes of Raw and Nitro from 28 September 1998. It’s the Raw after Breakdown and we’re set to hear from Vince McMahon over the future of the WWF title. Over on Nitro the main event was Hollywood Hogan v Bret ‘The Hitman’ Hart.

All this and more as Monday Night Wars continues…

Sunday Sermon: The Chance for Dean Ambrose To Shine

Craig Wilson, Jamie Lithgow, Russ Morgan, Brian Damage and Gary Henderson

Without doubt the injury to Roman Reigns certainly lobbed a spanner into the works of the wwe creative department.

It also further highlighted the dearth of over good guys on the roster at the moment. But is Dean Ambrose the superstar with the most to gain from Reigns’ knack? That’s the topic that the team will cover in this week’s Sunday Sermon.

This Week in Wrestling 2014 week 39

Jamie Lithgow & Brian Damage

In the latest iinstalmentof ‘This Week in Wrestling’ Jame shares what wrestling taught him this week and Brian finds the best images and videos on the web.

All that and more in the latest ‘This Week in Wrestling’

Backstory: Origins of Some of Your Favorite and Not So Favorite Gimmicks

Brian Damage

Before Hollywood script writers were hired and enveloped “creative teams” in professional wrestling…..bookers and wrestlers came up with gimmicks for characters. They usually weren’t done in huge corporate conference rooms…but in locker rooms and/or while driving countless hours on the road.

The Face of Fear: The Legend of Tonga Fifita

Brian Damage

“There are 3 types of men: tough men, wrestler-tough men, and then there’s Meng.”-Arn Anderson

Very few men in the history of pro wrestling has garnered fear…legitimate fear for a single individual than Tonga Fifita. If the name doesn’t sound familiar, he was also known as Meng in WCW and Haku in the WWF. Regardless what you call him, make sure you do it with a smile and respect…because Tonga Fifita has one heck of a reputation.

Wrestling With Sin: The Ocho

Brian Damage

This is the eighth installment of the ‘Wrestling with Sin’ series which examines the darker, seedier side of professional wrestling. Some stories involve sex, assault and even murder. These are stories that are at times…graphic in nature. As always, I do not condemn nor condone any of the incidents or alleged suspects in these pieces.

WTF 2?!? Storyline Boogaloo

Brian Damage

This is the second installment of WTF (Wrestling’s Terrible Failures)….this edition will focus on horrible storylines that polluted the pro wrestling airwaves.

Monday Night Wars: 21 September 1998

Craig Wilson & Jamie Lithgow

‘Monday Night Wars’ continues with the episodes of Raw and Nitro from 21 September 1998. On Raw, The Rock, Ken Shamrock and Mankind fought in a triple threat match to be the number one contender while on Nitro the Hogan/Warrior antics continue.

All this and more as Monday Night Wars continues…