The death of Tom Cole this week takes us back to one of the most sordid pro wrestling stories of the last 50 years, which involved media heavyweights at the time like Phil Donahue, Larry King, Geraldo Rivera and Phil Mushnick. It s the lead story of a new double issue of the Observer.
We look at the story and its tragic end this past week and all the key characters involved. We look at Cole s death, what exactly happened to him, different media appearances at the time, the WWF first settling his case, the unique plans for the Phil Donahue show, at the time the leading daytime talk show in the U.S. with a gigantic audience and how Vince McMahon planned the show and why it never transpired the way it was planned. Cole s memories of what happened, and things that triggered his past including a first suicide attempt that few knew about. This is a major piece of wrestling history that has been largely hidden except from those who were around at the time.
SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN).
With last week’s episode of AEW Dynamite ending with the appearance of New Japan’s Kenta, and Tony Khan’s announcement that the Bullet Club member will team with Kenny Omega to face Lance Archer & Jon Moxley, the wrestling world is abuzz with the possibility of the “forbidden door” being opened.
Whether it’s AAA, Impact Wrestling, the NWA, ChocoPro, Tokyo Joshi Pro, or now apparently New Japan Pro Wrestling, Khan has adhered to his “all options on the table” mantra even during a pandemic. Given these recent developments, I wanted to point out a few New Japan wrestlers who fit, should COVID travel restrictions allow. I have also included for the uninitiated a few matches you can watch that sell you on why I think these wrestlers would be a great ambassador of New Japan to an AEW/American audience.
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Welcome back to Part Twelve of the 411 Wrestling Year-End Awards of 2020! The Year-End Awards have been out for a couple of years but they’re back, and here’s how they work. For the next couple of weeks, we will present our top choices for a particular topic relating to wrestling in 2020. All the writers here on 411 will have the ability to give us their Top 5 on said topic and the end, based on where all of the votes rank on people’s list, we will create an overall Top 5 list. It looks a little like this… 1st – 5
1.
Asuka – My eternal love and respect for Grace and Shirai aside, this is pretty easily a two-horse race. Bayley and Asuka were dominant for long stretches of 2020. Asuka really shined at the start of the no-crowd era where he incessant yelling and taunting made her stand out against so many people just going through the motions. Bayley was the must-see heel that WWE thought Charlotte would be post-Mania; her work was so obnoxious, and she seemed to be