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1001 MATCHES: Akira Taue

(by PHIL RIPPA) Akira Taue is clearly the most underappreciated of the All Japan Big 4. Heck – the Big 5 if you expanded to include Jun Akiyama. Lord – it would take awhile before you went through the 90s AJ roster before you found someone that Taue was overappreciated (yes – I am making […]

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DEATH VALLEY DRIVER VIDEO REVIEW – ISSUE #25

TAJIRI! Ohtani! YAKUSHIJI! Jaguar Yokota! GREAT SASUKE! TAKA MOTHERFUCKING MICHINOKU! and other stuff I saw this week! Howdy! Welcome to DEATH VALLEY DRIVER VIDEO REVIEW #25! I gotta another tape from the kind and benevolent Glenn In Japan (the Mother Theresa of wrestling fans) and GOD did it rock! WOO-HOO! ~!~ The coolest match on […]

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1001 MATCHES: ROOKIE OF THE YEAR

(by PHIL RIPPA) Settle in for another round of crazy Rippa methodology. All the matches feature someone who was named Rookie of the Year by either the Wrestling Observer Newsletter or Pro Wrestling Illustrated. I used both just to provide some variety in the names. The WON provided more international names. PWI brought the wackadoo. […]

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DEATH VALLEY DRIVER VIDEO REVIEW – ISSUE #17

MASATO TANAKA! HOTTA rules the freakin world! AJA fucking KONG! CHONO! YAMAZAKI! Shiryu! Jaguar Yokota! the marathon of wrestling continues! Woo-Hoo! Howdy! Welcome to DEATH VALLEY DRIVER VIDEO REVIEW #17! This is another supplemental thing as I keep getting an influx of tres cool wrestling and I’m trying to keep up with the massive coolness […]

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DEATH VALLEY DRIVER VIDEO REVIEW – ISSUE #11

KANDORI! YAMADA! CHIGUSA! KOBASHI! KROFFAT! AKIYAMA! WILLIAMS! BENNETT! and other stuff I saw and heard this week! Howdy! Welcome to Death Valley Driver Video Review #11!!! I’m a ONE MAN BANDWIDTH SLAUGHTERHOUSE this weekend, what with batches of tapes from benevolent Scott, Dams the Man, and Paul the Stud with it All (sorry!) to yammer […]

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DEATH VALLEY DRIVER VIDEO REVIEW – ISSUE #3

BENOIT! KOBASHI! TAUE! DIBIASE! BUZZ SAWYER! and other stuff I’ve seen and heard so far this week!  Howdy! I’m a do these every three days or so, so they don’t get too unweildy (or something spelled similar to that). I just saw the Kenta Kobashi/Akira Taue match on tape (God bless Phil!) with the Triple […]

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1001 MATCHES: Medium One (Part 1)

50 matches to get 700. Part 2 can be found here. 651) RIKIDOZAN vs. MASAHIKO KIMURA – JAPAN PRO WRESTLING ALLIANCE (12/22/54 – Japan Heavyweight Championship) Rikidozan shoots on Kimura and this happens ~!~ 652) GIANT BABA vs. THE DESTROYER – JWA (03/05/69) A long match that seems to go by in the blink of […]

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1001 MATCHES: This Was A Thing Once

(by PHIL RIPPA) Sometimes in wrestling – there will be things were you will be like “Oh yeah – I remember when that was a thing once”. And then you forget again because you are old. 527) BUNKHOUSE BATTLE ROYAL – WWF (01/03/87) https://youtu.be/j2VN4cwsEcc For some reason, one of my vivid memories of the WWF […]

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1001 MATCHES: A to Z

(by PHIL RIPPA) A straight forward theme this time which I, of course, made way more difficult for myself. A 501) ARN ANDERSON vs. THE GREAT MUTA – NWA POWER HOUR – (01/02/90 – NWA TV Title) Arn beats Muta in a match as good as you would hope it would be when seeing the […]

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1001 MATCHES: Tsuyoshi Kikuchi

(by PHIL RIPPA) Here we have a mini bunch of matches from the insanely underrated Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. The Bobby Eaton of Japan. 301) JOE MALENKO/TSUYOSHI KIKUCHI vs. THE FANTASTICS (Bobby Fulton/Tommy Rogers) – ALL JAPAN (09/01/90 All Asian Tag Titles) https://youtu.be/flj-qp2cdeA JOE MOTHERFUCKING MALENKO in what is probably his best match. If you haven’t seen […]