Interesting Facts about Giant Baba

Interesting Facts about Giant Baba
February 7, 2024

By Ryan Porzl

The professional wrestling world is filled with wrestlers and legends that can be considered "larger than life". Some wrestlers were even known not only universally in the wrestling industry but also in pop culture and mainstream. One man who checks those boxes is Shohei "Giant" Baba. Baba is one of wrestling's biggest names and one of the few to enjoy massive success as both a wrestler and promoter as the owner of All Japan Pro Wrestling. During his near 40 year career, Baba became the third biggest name in all of Japanese wrestling behind only his mentor Rikidozan and fellow Rikidozan trainee Antonio Inoki. By the time of his passing in 1999, he was a pop culture icon in all of Japan to the point where not only did the business mourn him but so did the entirety of the country. With Baba's 86th birthday having come on January 23rd and the 25th anniversary of his passing on January 31st, I'll take a look at one of wrestling's biggest names both figuratively and literally.

Note: I don't own any of the pictures as I found them on Google. Credit to their owners and I apologize for not knowing their names.

Interesting Facts about Jim Duggan

Interesting Facts about Jim Duggan
January 27, 2024
By Ryan Porzl

Whenever you think of some of wrestling's more popular talents, especially during the golden age of the 80s, one name that comes to mind must be "Hacksaw" Jim Duggan. Duggan would originally achieve fame and success in Bill Watts' Mid South Wrestling/Universal Wrestling Federation before working the national scene first for the WWF and later for WCW. Though he wasn't a main event player in the nationals nor did he ever hold a world championship, Duggan had a Hall of Fame worthy career with plenty of highlights. With his 70th birthday having recently came and went, I decided why not do my interesting facts on 'Ol Hacksaw.

Note: I don't own the pictures as I got them on Google. Credit to WWE or whoever owns them. I apologize for not knowing the exact owners.

Interesting Facts about Ted Dibiase

Interesting Facts about Ted Dibiase

January 25, 2024
By Ryan Porzl

One thing that's certain is in the 1980s, wrestling had it's share of talented wrestlers and colorful characters. One of the men to check both boxes is Ted Dibiase. Dibiase was one of wrestling's best technicians during the 1970s to 1990s while also being one of the most memorable characters during the 80s wrestling boom period as the greedy and obnoxious Million Dollar Man. Few were as good as Dibiase at his best during his era. This past January 18th marked The Million Dollar Man's 70th Birthday so I'll celebrate with a look at some interesting facts regarding the man who believed everyone had a price.

Notes: I don't own any of the pictures, I found them on Google. Credit to WWE or whoever the owners are. I apologize for not knowing.

AEW Has A Potentially Serious Issue Regarding Star Power

AEW Has A Potentially Serious Issue Regarding Star Power

January 23, 2024
By Ryan Porzl

On New Years Day 2024, AEW celebrated their fifth year anniversary. Since it's launch in 2019, it has exceeded expectations in many ways and has had their share of success. Like any promotion, they've had their ups and downs. Perhaps, the promotion's biggest downs is their inability to build new stars to eventually replace the guys who have been on top the last five years and are getting older. Now, we're five years into AEW and despite that along with having nearly 200 wrestlers on the roster with Tony Khan having no plans to slow down anytime soon, the clock is ticking for AEW to build new stars and while the promotion won't go under anytime soon, it can affect their bottom line big time. Not to mention, it creates an atmosphere where young wrestlers will feel AEW isn't the place to become a star. Here, we'll take a look at AEW's roster both young and old and why AEW's issues regarding star power in becoming a big problem.

Things and Improvements I Would Like To See TNA Do With This Rebrand

Things and Improvements I Would Like To See TNA Do With This Rebrand
December 30, 2023
By Ryan Porzl

This past October 21st, Impact Wrestling ran their biggest show of the year Bound For Glory. After the show, which ran like you would expect, the ending would see the promotion shock fans and those in the industry by announcing the promotion would once again rebrand itself under it's old identity of TNA or Total Nonstop Action, the name it had used from it's formation in 2002 to Anthem's purchase in 2017. After seven years, the promotion would embrace it's past to continue moving towards the future. Since the announcement, Impact would release a press release making it clear they had big plans from running bigger buildings to upgrading the look and feel of the show to new championship belts to improving their production with the latter having been announced months earlier. The return of TNA has tremendous potential and while they seem to be making some good moves so far, there's things that I like to see them do or attempt in the new year and here's a list of my requests. Keep in mind, I'm not going to bring up stuff like promotion as I feel their promotional work has improved and they are planned to improve their production so I won't include those.

Note: I don't own the pictures. I found them on Google. Credit to TNA or whoever owns them. I apologize for not knowing the exact owners.

Interesting Facts about Toshiaki Kawada

Interesting Facts about Toshiaki Kawada
December 23, 2023
By Ryan Porzl

In the 1990s, All Japan Pro Wrestling was arguably the hottest and best promotion in the world, at least from a match quality standpoint. During this period, the promotion was represented by four wrestlers called "The Four Pillars of Heaven" or "The Four Heavenly Kings" which consisted by Mitsuharu Misawa, Akira Taue, Kenta Kobashi, and the man we'll be talking about Toshiaki Kawada. A long time mainstay for All Japan, his career was born and bred there and during his prime was among the best. He was easily one of the best wrestlers in the world, his tag teams with Misawa and Taue (especially Taue) were among the best tag teams of the decade and all time, and he was partially responsible for some of both the greatest singles and tag team matches of all time. With Kawada recently turning 60 years old, it's time I take a look at some interesting facts regarding the man nicknamed "Dangerous K".

Note: I don't own the pictures, I found them on Google. Credit to their owners as I apologize for not knowing who owns what.

Interesting Facts about "Ravishing" Rick Rude

Interesting Facts about "Ravishing" Rick Rude

December 19, 2023

By Ryan Porzl

It's almost impossible to argue that one of wrestling's greatest heels was the legendary "Ravishing" Rick Rude. One of wrestling's biggest acts during the 1980s and early 1990s, Rude perfected the character of an unlikeable, arrogant, womanizing heel that knew how to flaunt his good looks while getting booed and hated by audiences everywhere. Sadly, Rude would be one of many during his generation to pass too soon which happened in 1999. This December would've marked The Ravishing One's 65th birthday and I decided to do another look at some interesting facts as this time we'll look at Rick Rude.

Note: I don't own the photos as I got them on Google. Credit to WWE or whoever owns them as I apologize for not knowing the exact owners.