PURO #16: Puroresu Academy 1964 (Life After Rikidozan, Baba Returns, Inoki Departs)

by admin19 hours ago

Dan Ginnetty and Ray Russell are back as The Puroresu Academy enters 1964 and Japanese Pro Wrestling faces its greatest test yet: life after Rikidozan. We explore how the JWA’s four pillars of Toyonobori, Yoshinosato, Kokichi Endo, and Michiaki Yoshimura take responsibility for holding the promotion together and carrying their late leader’s vision forward. Toyonobori takes the main event slot, while Giant Baba’s growing push offers a glimpse of the superstar who will help define Japanese wrestling’s future. Baba’s homecoming brings out 20,000 fans in Sanjo, giving the hometown boy made good a hero’s welcome and providing a major boost to the rebuilding promotion. Meanwhile, Antonio Inoki heads overseas with big ambitions, as the development of the next generation becomes crucial to the JWA’s future. We spotlight the year’s record number of events and the new arrivals and future stars taking their earliest steps, including the debut of the man who will become the Great Kabuki. Major foreign attractions include Gene Kiniski, Nick Bockwinkel, Johnny Barend, Bull Curry, and the returning Destroyer, with the All Asia Tag Team title changes and Toyonobori’s WWA World Heavyweight Championship victory marking important shifts at the top. Join us for a year of uncertainty, rebuilding, and emerging stars, as Japanese wrestling begins discovering what it can become without the man who built it.

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