Unlike Puerto Rico!

I think he's just speaking off the cuff. I can't see how it would be possible to obtain a work visa without some sort of contract.

@@MisterBeauJanGels Giant Baba had a lot of pull that's how he got Doctor Death Steve Williams to get out back to america after he was caught with drugs and then comeback a year later ...

And I did Terry and Dory were good drinkers after the matches in Tampa !!!!!!

same. that old dude could probably kick 99 percent of the country's ass, including mine.

He's an incredibly nice guy. The polar opposite of who he is in the wrestling world. He appeared at an indy show in Dallas a few years back and I met him. He was very polite and friendly to everyone that approached him. He shook hands with everyone, took pictures, signed autographs and never said no. Complete gentleman and I can't say enough nice things about him. Humble, laid back and not in the least bit arrogant.

I met him two years ago super nice guy.

What happened to All Japan? Is it still around?? Now I only hear about New Japan

Thanks for the info. Did they have financial issues???

To me the 90s were even better. I think there was never a wrestling product so consistently good from an in-ring perspective over such a long time like All Japan from 1989/90 till the exodus in 2000. Jumbo Army vs New Generation Army, Misawa and Kobashi vs Holy Demon Army, Misawa vs Kobashi. All great feuds that deliverd countless great matches. And inbetween Hansen, Williams, Gordy, Vader, Furnas & LaFon, Ace and Albright. Simply amazing. Also I noticed that back in the 70s and early 80s it seems that there weren't really that many Japanese stars in AJPW. It was mostly Jumbo and Baba and the rest of the main eventers seemed to be Americans like the Funks, Hansen, Brody, Snuka, Flair, Race, Bockwinkel or Billy Robinson.

The Von Erich boys were big in Japan too

When David died in Japan there was 130 thousand at his wake ! Japan loved those boys

I know what you mean.

Sean Rankin //))]

You're mentioning 2 top tag team. They are standing out in Japan.

Stay On Stan IS the man

To be fair the style Hansen talks about, the 10-minute hold-milking style from the 60s, 70s and early 80s, can be so mindnumbingly boring I would take a no-brain-spotfest over it any day. I've watched a lot of those matches. Some of them were interesting, especially when the Destroyer was in them, but as soon as I watched an Inoki match and he locked in that short arm scissors I groaned because I knew they would stay in that exact position without moving for like the next 15-20 minutes. I literally could get up, make a sandwich, come back and miss nothing. I once saw an Inoki match against a relatively lower card guy that only went about 10 minutes. And even in those 10 minutes he spend like half of it in that move. This style couldn't last. Baba knew that too, that's why he replaced it with his King's Road style, while New Japan started using strong style and started building up their Junior Heavyweight Division.

If you have seen a boring Hansen match... let me know.

Zc Justice I was mostly refering to the hold milking style that was wrestled in the 60s and 70s and that could be either interesting or very boring. Even back in the 70s, Hansen already wrestled a much more brawly style that spiced things up a bit. But if you insist, there are Hansen matches that didn't really bring the house down so to speak: - vs Jumbo in the Triple Crown unification match. Wasn't really bad, but wasn't interesting either except for the historic value of the match. - vs Kawada in 95 for the Triple Crown. Granted Hansen was getting on in age, but that's why it was baffling that they actually put the belt on him for one last run. - And I'm quite sure I saw some Hansen vs Gordy matches in 1990 that were also not the most exciting matches I have ever seen.

I know, right? Hansen to me was the most non-stop, hard hitting, exciting wrestler ever. An insanely fast pace. He was the greatest.

Not a boring one but his first (I think first) match with Misawa, the one where Mitsuharu first won the Triple Crown, was a massive disappointment. Their other matches together were better.

Yep - I believe he was the first person to slam Andre. Either him or Harley Race. Here's a list of people who have done so; all of them are bad mother fuckers (except for Hogan and Warrior, of course): Antonio Inoki Riki Choshu Stan Hansen Steve Williams Harley Race Seiji Sakaguchi Hulk Hogan Ultimate Warrior

Panzer4F2 bill Eddie (masked superstar and Ax) slammed him. Supposedly

Add El Canek to the list

Kimala

It's important to note when each of these people slammed him though