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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After a lengthy absence, the Puroresu Academy Podcast is finally back as "The Professor of Puroresu" Dan Ginnetty and Ray Russell resume the journey through the history of Japanese professional wrestling. We spend some time at the beginning of the program re-familiarizing the listeners with the Top 8 players in Japan as of 1963. Rikidozan remains the unquestioned king of the JWA, but Giant Baba is rapidly emerging, Antonio Inoki is still fighting his way up the native ranks, and trusted veterans Toyonobori, Michiaki Yoshimura, Kokichi Endo and Yoshinosato each occupy vital roles within the promotion. We pick up with the second half of the Summer Battle tour as Japan’s top stars collide with Sonny Myers, Don Jardine and Mr. Zero. From there, we follow the JWA through its long fall campaign and the return of The Destroyer for Rikidozan’s final series of matches. Behind the booming business and packed arenas, however, Rikidozan’s declining health and complicated ties to the Japanese underworld cast a growing shadow over the promotion. We then examine the disputed circumstances surrounding his stabbing at the New Latin Quarter, the medical decisions that followed and the many rumors that have clouded the truth for more than six decades. It is the dramatic conclusion to Rikidozan’s remarkable life, and the beginning of an uncertain new era for professional wrestling in Japan.

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The Puro Wrestling Academy returns for the Season Finale episode, as Professor Dan Ginnetty & Ray Russell cover the first 8 months of 1963 in Japan. Giant Baba returns from his 2 -Year North American excursion, the 5th Annual World League is upon us, Rikidozan married for a 4th time, even in losing Antonio Inoki continues to generate much-needed experience, "Mammoth" Suzuki demoted to a "Gorilla", Toyonobori comes out of hiding due to gambling debts (again), a young Umanosuke Ueda appears, rules of a Japanese Battle Royal, Buddy Rogers' entourage, both Killer X and Mr. ZERO unmasked. Plus, a loaded ensemble of foreign talent arrive including The Destroyer's debut in Japan, Haystacks Calhoun, Killer Kowalski, Gino Marella (Gorilla Monsoon), Pat O'Connor, Fred Atkins, Bob Ellis, Sandor Szabo, Hard Boiled Haggerty, Don Jardine, Bull Ortega, Tony Marino, & much more!

While you await Season Two of the free-for-all podcast, please consider joining us for a separate VIDEO version of the Puroresu Academy currently covering 1970s All Japan with 30+ episodes already available. Located at the VIP Tier of https://www.patreon.com/wrestlecopia

If you're enjoying WrestleCopia and interested in helping us continue to grow, please consider Subscribing to our Patreon to help us cover some of our costs! https://www.patreon.com/wrestlecopia
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Includes the $5 “All Access” Tier $9 "VIP Superfan" Tier, and "The ULLLTIMATE Tier", featuring our various VIDEO-CAST Series, Early Show Releases, our insanely detailed show notes (for the Grenade, Monday Warfare, Regional Rasslin, Puro Academy, & Retro Re-View), monthly DIGITAL DOWNLOADS for your viewing and reading pleasure, & more!

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