Pro wrestling in the final days of the Soviet Union

[Phil Lions]

I figured I'd plug this here, because some people might be interested. I did some new research recently and I'm in the process of releasing a series of four articles covering pro wrestling (catch) in the Soviet Union in 1989-1991 (and going a little bit into 1992 when the USSR was no more). Two of the articles are already out, the other two should be out within the next couple of weeks. I'll add them here when they're ready.

Article 1: The Soviet Perspective: Soviet Wrestlers in NJPW and NJPW in Russia - This one traces the Soviet press' coverage of the Soviet wrestlers in NJPW, provides some additional details on the NJPW show in Moscow, and at the end there are also translated interviews with the likes Inoki, Zangiev, Hasimikov, etc.

Article 2: An Ambitious Pro Wrestling Tour of the Soviet Union in 1990 - This one looks at a unique tour, run by an Olympic medalist, that went all over the Soviet Union visiting more than 20 cities with probably over 50 shows in total in venues ranging from 5,000 to 50,000.

Article 3: The Early 1990s Russian GLOW - Yes, there was a Russian GLOW-like women's wrestling show, and there's even some footage of it. This will be an in-depth look at the project, which by the way was run by let's just say a guy with an interesting career trajectory and leave it at that for now.

Article 4: The Soviet Union's First Pro Wrestling Organization - The article will take a look at its formation in 1990, the infamous mafia boss that was involved, and the subsequent shows in Russia featuring the likes of Bam Bam Bigelow, Victor Zangiev, Andrei Kopylov, and others.

If you have any comments or questions, feel free to post them below.