Another week, another in-memoriam special, unfortunately. Last week, one of the focal points from the Attitude era left us too soon, when Joan Laurer, best known to fans as Chyna, was found dead at the age of 45.
Month: April 2016
New Japan’s Road to Wrestling Dontaku tour continued on Wednesday – yes, it’s an awkward day for a live televised show – with a rare stop in Hataka, for a card featuring a moved Intercontinental title match.
It can be daunting to start following a new promotion, especially a group like PROGRESS. With almost thirty events under their belt (plus their ENDVR shows), the group thankfully advises on some entry points… and since we’ve already covered the first Thunderbastard match, we may as well dive in on a recommended point: starting with July 2015’s Chapter 20: Thunderbastard – Beyond Thunderbastard.
Sunday April 24 saw New Japan complete a double header at Korakuen Hall, with another Road to Wrestling Dontaku card, headlined with another elimination match between the Bullet Club and the rest of New Japan.
If you’re a fan of video games as well as wrestling, it is fair to say that the genre hasn’t always been well represented. In the early days of home consoles, wrestling games often featured sparse rosters and at worst were unplayable. The first wrestling game I owned was on the Nintendo Entertainment System and whilst it wasn’t licensed, it was perhaps one of the best I’ve ever played.
With the recent earthquake in Kumamoto forcing New Japan to cancel a pay-per-view later this week and shuffle some cards around, New Japan World brought us another Korakuen Hall event this past Saturday, as the Road to Wrestling Dontaku continued!
It feels way too soon to be doing another one of these “in memoriam” specials… last week, Jon Rechner – best known as Balls Mahoney in ECW – passed away at the age of 44. This week, we pay tribute by taking a look at some of his in-ring work.
The passing of Joanie “Chyna” Laurer has caused an outpouring of grief amongst wrestling fans – and those inside the business – who fondly remember her in-ring career and the massive strides she took in women being “more than just valets”, more than 15 years before the WWE’s “Diva Revolution”.