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Post by magic89 on Aug 17, 2022 5:29:08 GMT -5
Film Director Wolfgang Petersen RIP Das Boot, Air Force One, Troy and others.
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Post by Woody Alien on Aug 31, 2022 5:45:20 GMT -5
Mikhail Gorbachev passed away at 91. Esteemed political figure in the West, much less in his home country.  |
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Post by vnisanian2001 on Sept 8, 2022 12:58:28 GMT -5
The Queen is officially dead at 96. A year after Prince Philip.
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Post by vnisanian2001 on Sept 29, 2022 1:55:24 GMT -5
Coolio dead. Damn.
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Post by spanky on Oct 1, 2022 7:51:07 GMT -5
Antonio Inoki died at 79.
One of the most famous Japanese pro wrestlers ever and the founder of New Japan Pro Wrestling. Inoki was a proponent of using more realistic catch wrestling-based techniques in pro wrestling matches, which would be dubbed "strong style." He was fond of booking (scripted) matches against practicioners of other disciplines. Most notably, he had a match against Muhammad Ali which was originally intended to be a worked exhibition but at the last minute was changed to a real proto-MMA fight between the wrestler and the boxer. Ali agreed to do it but set a number of limitations on what Inoki could do. In particular, he could only throw a kick if he had one knee on the ground. The match is honestly quite boring and ended in a draw (though the repeated kicks from Inoki did do some long term damage to Ali's legs). It's considered a somewhat embarrassing footnote to Ali's career in the west but it's considered a bit of a cultural touchstone in Japan and Inoki's funny kicks are referenced in Japanese media sometimes. This match and Inoki are often credited for helping MMA as we know it today. Inoki was never super well known in the west but he is a non-recognized 1 time WWF champ. He also hosted a completely bizarre joint show with WCW (he wrestled Ric Flair, naturally) taking place in North Korea with over 150k fans.
The Japanese really buy into the idea of pro wrestlers being legitimate tough fighters. At least they had these attitudes in the past. Inoki himself was obsessed with this idea - pro wrestlers should be able to fight and fighters should be able to pro wrestle. This idea (called Inoki-ism) was put to the test during the 2000s golden age of Japanese MMA. This ended as you might expect. The pro wrestlers got destroyed by real fighters, and after the initial excitement, the MMA guys weren't draws in pro wrestling and Inoki ended up being ousted from New Japan and the company entered a dark age until guys like Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada helped revive it.
He even had a pretty active political career for a number of years though he often courted controversy for his diplomatic visits for North Korea. The man was incredibly popular and influential - a real national icon.
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Post by lurker on Oct 11, 2022 19:56:55 GMT -5
RIP Angela Lansbury
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Post by lurker on Oct 26, 2022 14:32:46 GMT -5
RIP Jules Bass (the Bass in Rankin Bass)
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Post by lurker on Nov 11, 2022 12:02:31 GMT -5
RIP Kevin Conroy
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Post by spanky on Nov 11, 2022 19:04:11 GMT -5
And Gallagher!
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Post by magic89 on Nov 20, 2022 23:19:14 GMT -5
RIP Jason David Frank aka Tommy Oliver from Power Rangers.
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Post by magic89 on Nov 29, 2022 20:15:58 GMT -5
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Post by lurker on Dec 4, 2022 17:43:58 GMT -5
RIP Sesame Street's Bob McGrath
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Post by magic89 on Dec 6, 2022 7:31:59 GMT -5
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Post by Snake on Dec 12, 2022 13:06:46 GMT -5
Ichirou Mizuki, singer of many great songs. Mazinger Z is my personal favorite. RIP.
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Post by Snake on Dec 15, 2022 19:27:15 GMT -5
RIP tWitch, Boss.
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