The Long & Winding Royal Road

WH Park welcomes New Japan Pro Wrestling’s “Filthy” Tom Lawlor to talk about a hidden gem of a match between Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Masahito Kakihara from January 15, 1999.

WH Park welcomes the creator of the Grappl App, Gareth Hodgson to discuss The British Bulldogs vs Joe & Dean Malenko from January 28th, 1989.

WH Park welcomes Daniel Makabe back to discuss a 1989 Real World Tag League match featuring the superteam of Genichiro Tenryu & Stan Hansen taking on the not-so-super combination of Giant Baba and Rusher Kimura.

Karen Peterson & WH Park discuss a pivotal match in the post-Exodus era of AJPW: Satoshi Kojima vs. Toshiaki Kawada for the Triple Crown from February 16, 2005.

POST MMA correspondent Eric Marcotte joins WH Park to talk about the first match in one of the greatest rivalries in pro wrestling history: Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Toshiaki Kawada from October 21, 1992.

WH Park & John Pollock discuss what many consider to be the greatest tag match in wrestling history: Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi vs. Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue from June 9th, 1995.

WH Park is joined by British Wrestling Experience’s Benno to talk about a legendary NJPW/AJPW match between Big Van Vader and Stan Hansen from February 10, 1990.

AEW wrestler Eddie Kingston joins WH Park to discuss one of his favorite matches – the Triple Crown Title match between champion Toshiaki Kawada and Kenta Kobashi from June 12, 1998.

Robert McCauley joins WH Park to talk about a World Tag Team Title match between Burning (Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama) and NO FEAR (Takao Omori & Yoshihiro Takayama) from October 30, 1999 at Budokan Hall.

Episode #20 of the Long & Winding Royal Road brings us another biography, this time with the person referred to as the “Fifth Pillar” in Jun Akiyama.

WH Park and BWE’s Martin Bushby venture outside of both the 1990s and AJPW to jump to Pro Wrestling NOAH and 2003 to review Mitsuharu Misawa vs. Kenta Kobashi for the GHC Heavyweight Title from March 1st.

On this month’s Long & Winding Royal Road, WH Park is joined by Dylan Fox (The Eastern Lariat) to look at an important match in the Toshiaki Kawada vs. Mitsuharu Misawa rivalry from AJPW’s 25th Anniversary Show at the Tokyo Dome on May 1, 1998.

WH Park and Jamesie discuss one of the most popular matches in the history of All Japan: the April 20, 1991, six-man tag match between Mitsuharu Misawa, Toshiaki Kawada & Kenta Kobashi vs. Jumbo Tsuruta, Akira Taue & Masanobu Fuchi.

The Long & Winding Royal Road biography episodes continue with a look at the life and career of Akira Taue as WH Park is joined by Dave Musgrave, who has written for the Wrestling Observer, Slam Wrestling and is the former co-host of the Wrestling Culture podcast with Dylan Hales.

WH Park and Joey Bay jump one year ahead to April 20, 1996 and that year’s Champion Carnival Final with the returning Akira Taue and his opponent, “Dr. Death” Steve Williams.

WH Park and JP Houlihan talk about a pivotal match in the careers of both Mitsuharu Misawa and Akira Taue: their Champion Carnival final confrontation from April 15, 1995.

WH Park is joined by Mark Buckeldee to review a classic tag match from 10/23/99 as Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa (The Untouchables) defend their AJPW World Tag Team Titles against challengers, Kenta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama (Burning).

The Long & Winding Royal Road continues as WH Park is joined by co-host of the Open The Voice Gate podcast, Case Lowe for a spotlight on “Orange Crush” Kenta Kobashi!

WH Park is joined by Rich Fann from the Pro Wrestling Torch to talk about one of the Royal Road era’s best matches: Kenta Kobashi vs. Stan Hansen from July 29, 1993 in Budokan Hall. 

WH Park and newcomer to the King’s Road style of wrestling, Stephanie Chase discuss a hidden gem of a match between Kenta Kobashi and Johnny Ace from May 26, 1995.