One of the toughest men to ever lace up the boots, Stan Hansens success in Japan arguably paved the way for all that followed after him. Starting out with NJPW in 1980, Hansen would move to AJPW a year later and it was here that his most notable successes would come. Over two decades Hansen would frequently be featured in high profile matches against the biggest names in the country at the time, including a particularly famous match against Vader in 1990. Before Vader even made it to the ring Hansen managed to break the big mans nose with his bullrope. Later on Hansen also popped Vaders eye out of his socket, which Vader proceeded to merely pop back in and continue the match. Unsurprisingly, the match ended in a no contest. Eyeball-dislodging aside, Hansen was more successful in Japan than the States without doubt. He would amass some 23 championships in his time there, and was the only man to ever pin Antonio Inoki and Giant Baba in championship singles matches. After losing his final match to Genichiro Tenryu in 2001, Hansen promptly retired. Eyeballs everywhere rejoiced.
Born in the middle of Wales in the middle of the 1980's, John can't quite remember when he started watching wrestling but he has a terrible feeling that Dino Bravo was involved. Now living in Prague, John spends most of his time trying to work out how Tomohiro Ishii still stands upright. His favourite wrestler of all time is Dean Malenko, but really it is Repo Man. He is the author of 'An Illustrated History of Slavic Misery', the best book about the Slavic people that you haven't yet read. You can get that and others from www.poshlostbooks.com.
