This week on Wrestling Omakase it&#39;s our fifth annual year end awards spectacular, as we break down the best and worst of 2021 in all of professional wrestling!John is joined by an all-star panel of 2021 guests: VOW contributors Sean Sedor (@SASedor2994), Suit Williams (@SuitWilliams), Gerard di Trolio (@GerarddiTrolio) and Paul Volsch (@Darth_Dragon), plus Devin (@MoreThanMeatJoy), Mongo (@mongo_ebooks) and Liam McCann (@liam_d_mccann). They all talk a little about what they liked and didn&#39;t like about 2021, and what they thought of wrestling as a whole, before getting into their individual award picks. John also gives the overall winners of the voting, with all Omakase guests from the year being invited to send in their picks. Here&#39;s the awards in the order covered on the show:-Worst Weekly TV-Worst Major Show-The WWE Memorial Award for Worst Promotion-Worst Feud-Worst Match of the Year-Best Weekly TV-Best Major Show-Best Promotion-Best Feud-Most Outstanding Wrestler-Tag Team of the Year-Match of the Year-Wrestler of the YearThanks for joining us at the end of another truly wild and somewhat awful year on this planet! Here&#39;s to 2022 being a whole lot better, both for wrestling and just the world in general!Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up- @wrestleomakase!Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Wrestling Omakase

Wrestling Omakase #242: 2021 Year End Awards w/ 7 Guests!

This week on Wrestling Omakase we take our third completely randomized look back at shows that took place inside the Big Egg, the Tokyo Dome!John is joined by returning guest & VOW contributor Jeri Evagood (@TheJerriest_Jer) for her record TENTH appearance of the year! Wow! John crowns her MVP (Most Valuable Podcaster) before they get into what they&#39;ve both been up to, including Christmas, worrying about Omicron cancelling their plans, and a whole lot more. Plus there&#39;s some discussion of Jeri&#39;s semi-recent Atlantic City trip, and John&#39;s pre-emptive year end thoughts ahead of next week&#39;s 2021 Year End Awards episode. Once that&#39;s out of the way they get into their topic, which is six randomly selected matches from six randomly selected Tokyo Dome shows (all Dome shows were eligible, not just 1/4 and not just NJPW). As always, stop reading here if you want to be surprised, but if you&#39;d like to know beforehand here they are below:1. Great Muta vs. Masahiro Chono, NJPW 1/4/93 (NJPW World: https://front.njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00114_1_7)2. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Kengo Kimura & Tatsutoshi Goto, NJPW 1/4/95 (NJPW World: https://front.njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00132_1_9)3. Randy Savage vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, NJPW 4/29/96 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYbamFhKl-g)4. Yuji Nagata vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, NJPW 5/2/02 (NJPW World: https://front.njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00160_1_2 or https://front.njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00160_2_2)5. Heat vs. Tiger Mask, NJPW 1/4/05 (NJPW World: https://front.njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00165_1_3)6. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Go Shiozaki, NJPW 1/4/10 (NJPW World: https://front.njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00174_1_8)Topics that come up along the way include: since we did get all NJPW this time John gives some background on the promotion&#39;s very turbulent history as we go through the years here, Chono&#39;s bizarre clean-cut years, Muta nearly commits a random murder, a little background on both Heisei Ishingun and Yatsu&#39;s very strange career journey to this point, a boring match with not much to talk about, how the hell did we get Savage vs. Tenzan again, Savage at least puts in some effort this time, Takayama on the verge of breaking out as a megastar, Yuji Nagata FUCKING OWNS, Minoru Tanaka&#39;s bizarre videogame gimmick, EVIL HEAT, Love & Energy forever, a damn great match to close things out, and much more!Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up- @wrestleomakase!Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Wrestling Omakase #241: Tokyo Dome Retro Roulette Vol. 3 w/ Jeri

This week on Wrestling Omakase we take a completely randomized look back at the "granddaddy of them all", WCW Starrcade!John is joined by returning guest & VOW contributor Matt Francis (@archivingmatt) for his third WCW Retro Roulette episode of the year! Before they get into the episode topic John discusses attending AEW&#39;s Dynamite/Rampage taping at UBS Arena on Long Island this past Wednesday, including a little bit about how people apparently don&#39;t understand what crowd numbers in certain buildings actually mean. Once that&#39;s all out of the way they get into this episode&#39;s randomly selected six matches from six randomly selected years of WCW Starrcade- if you want to be surprised you should stop reading now and go ahead and listen, but otherwise here they are below (all can be found on Peacock in the US and WWE Network in the rest of the world):1994: Johnny B. Badd vs. Arn Anderson (World TV Title)1995: Randy Savage vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (World Cup of Wrestling)1996: Hollywood Hogan vs. Roddy Piper1997: Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko (Cruiserweight Title)1998: Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash (World Heavyweight Title)2000: Mike Awesome vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (Ambulance Match)Topics that come up along the way include: Honky Tonk Man is mad about his lack of a contract, Arn Anderson is a more than suitable replacement, Johnny B. Badd was more popular than you probably remember, the WORLD CUP OF WRESTLING draws a bad buy rate, WCW can&#39;t spell Tenzan, Savage was pretty bad at this point, a match that looks awesome on paper just doesn&#39;t live up to it at all, how fitting that was for one of the biggest letdown PPVs of all time, nobody remembers how over Kevin Nash was at the time (and WCW flushed it down the toilet!), when backstage politics attack, THE WRATH OF THE CATTLE PROD, very unconvincing disguises, WCW&#39;s "unique" booking for Mike Awesome, camera shots that give away gimmicked ambulance roofs, and a whole lot more.Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up- @wrestleomakase!Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Wrestling Omakase #240: WCW Starrcade Retro Roulette w/ Matt

This week on Wrestling Omakase we take a completely randomized look back at WWE&#39;s late November/Thanksgiving tradition, Survivor Series!John is joined by first time guest & VOW contributor Liam Byrne (@tvtimelimit), who as we discuss probably sets some kind of record for "most Omakase guests with the same first name". Liam goes into his history as a fan and why he maybe hasn&#39;t appeared on an episode until now, and John makes a quick little detour to talk about their trip to the new UBS Arena this past Wednesday at Belmont (an arena that will soon host two wrestling shows over the next couple weeks!). Once that&#39;s all out of the way they get into this episode&#39;s randomly selected six matches from six randomly selected years of Survivor Series- if you want to be surprised you should stop reading now and go ahead and listen, but otherwise here they are below (all can be found on Peacock in the US and WWE Network in the rest of the world):1987: Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Jake Roberts, Jim Duggan & Brutus Beefcake vs. The Honky Tonk Man, Hercules, King Harley Race, Ron Bass & Danny Davis1990: Hulk Hogan, The Big Bossman, Jim Duggan & Tugboat vs. Earthquake, Haku, The Barbarian & Dino Bravo1998: Steve Austin vs. Big Bossman2000: The Rock vs. Rikishi2003: Eddie & Chavo Guerrero vs. Doug & Danny Basham2016: Brock Lesnar vs. GoldbergTopics that come up along the way include: how weird is it that we got randomly assigned the very first match in Survivor Series history, Randy Savage&#39;s first face turn, a couple wrestlers who usually get ragged on manage to look pretty good here, Hulk Hogan is still extremely over, the future Natural Disasters collide (but not really), the history of the Deadly Game tournament, is this the best thing Vince Russo ever did, inconsistent heel authority figure logic, Rikishi&#39;s disaster of a heel turn, Rock does everything in his power to make his cousin look like a monster, the very strange Bashams/Shaniqua gimmick, incredible creepy spots in hindsight, the start of the second brand split, the strange build up for Brock vs. Goldberg, and finally: WWE booking critiques that look kinda pointless in hindsight.Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up- @wrestleomakase!Wrestling Omakase has dedicated channels on TWO Discords! Come join either one where you can chat with John and show guests and submit questions for future episodes!Super J-Cast Discord: https://discord.gg/zWEgNK5VOW Network Discord: https://discord.gg/rGTXwXdSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Wrestling Omakase #239: Survivor Series Retro Roulette w/ Liam

This week on Wrestling Omakase we review two big shows from the past weekend- AEW&#39;s Full Gear and NJPW&#39;s Battle in the Valley!John is joined by returning guest Chris Samsa (@TheChrisSamsa) as they start out with some quick updates on their lives and then talk for quite a bit on the dual possibilities of reopening borders and crowd cheering in Japan. They then get into a full review of AEW&#39;s Full Gear PPV from Minneapolis, talking about the good, the bad and the ugly from the latest show. The good: an awesome main event, a match with some real emotion in Punk/Kingston (plus some chat about how Punk maybe needs that kind of emotion to hit anything close to his peak) and an amazing opener from MJF & Darby Allin. The bad: A very weirdly and unevenly paced show with two walk-n-brawls, and just a general feeling of doing way too much that makes the show kind of drag. The ugly: Jay Lethal signing with the company, and what it says about them.Then they turn their attention to NJPW&#39;s Battle in the Valley, as they discuss some of the issues that New Japan&#39;s US brand continues to have. They break down a pretty fun show though with plenty of good matches, and then rant (and debate a little) about the rather convoluted set up for the upcoming Tokyo Dome nights of Wrestle Kingdom.Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up (both free feed & Patreon)- @wrestleomakase!Wrestling Omakase has dedicated channels on TWO Discords! Come join either one where you can chat with John and show guests and submit questions for future episodes!Super J-Cast Discord: https://discord.gg/zWEgNK5VOW Network Discord: https://discord.gg/rGTXwXdSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Wrestling Omakase #238: AEW Full Gear & NJPW Battle in the Valley w/ Chris

This week on Wrestling Omakase we take our second completely randomized look back at WCW&#39;s annual spooktacular, Halloween Havoc!John is joined by returning guest Matt Francis (@archivingmatt), as they start out with a bit of a longer off-topic discussion than usual. John & Matt discuss weird trick or treat times before John gets into the recent announcement that the Wrestling Omakase Patreon will be going on hiatus (although you can still check out the rather extensive archives at any time for only $5, as John goes over on the episode- http://patreon.com/wrestlingomakase), and that then evolves into a discussion on why the current state of wrestling and wrestling discussion isn&#39;t doing a lot for either of them. Once that&#39;s out of the way they get into the actual topic, which is six randomly selected matches from six randomly selected years of WCW&#39;s annual Halloween Havoc pay-per-view. If you&#39;d like to be surprised you can of course stop reading here, but if you&#39;d like to know ahead of time what matches we got, please see below (all can be found on Peacock in the US and WWE Network elsewhere):1990: Rick & Scott Steiner vs. The Nasty Boys1991: Oz vs. Bill Kazmaier1992: Big Van Vader vs. Nikita Koloff1994: Arn Anderson vs. Dustin Rhodes1995: Hulk Hogan vs. The Giant1999: Sting vs. GoldbergTopics that come up along the way include: a strangely fun Nasty Boys match, why wouldn&#39;t you have these guys under contract before you start this big feud, the no longer Great or Powerful Oz, the weird and short career of Bill Kazmaier that took him from Stampede to RINGS to WCW, WCW announcers spending more time about New Japan&#39;s next Tokyo Dome show than the match they&#39;re supposed to be calling, Dustin Rhodes not listening to Arn Anderson when he&#39;s talking, a weirdly non-grudge feeling grudge match, the start of crash TV era 90s wrestling is right here, Hulk Hogan&#39;s weird "darkside" gimmick, the SUMO MONSTER TRUCK MATCH, the Giant dies and then rises from the grave in the span of about 15 minutes, Vince Russo takes over WCW and immediately does away with all their existing storylines, the "pin me may me" Hogan angle that no one even remembers, Sting really never said this was for the WCW title did he, and finally: Madusa kicking ass.Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up- @wrestleomakase!Wrestling Omakase has dedicated channels on TWO Discords! Come join either one where you can chat with John and show guests and submit questions for future episodes!Super J-Cast Discord: https://discord.gg/zWEgNK5VOW Network Discord: https://discord.gg/rGTXwXdSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Wrestling Omakase #237: WCW Halloween Havoc Retro Roulette Vol. 2 w/ Matt

This week on Wrestling Omakase we review the penultimate nights of the NJPW G1 Climax for each block, plus give our top 10 G1 matches so far and more!The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. The vast majority of our coverage of the G1 Climax lives exclusively on the Patreon- every previous night of both tournaments that wasn&#39;t covered on a free episode, and all three nights that remain, are covered exclusively on the Patreon! Don&#39;t miss out on our coverage of the final shows of the G1! Plus, you can listen to every single piece of audio we&#39;ve done since the start- including our Tokyo Dome series covering every single Dome main event of the 1990s! Feeling nostalgic about Okada/Tanahashi after their recent G1 match? Then check out our series covering the entire Okada/Tanahashi match series as well! And finally, don&#39;t forget that you get more full episodes too- every week there isn&#39;t a new show on the free feed, there&#39;s a full length episode exclusive to the Patreon! You can get all of this right now for only $5 at http://patreon.com/wrestlingomakaseJohn is joined by returning guest Jon Hernandez (@OldJonHernandez) as they start out by discussing all sorts of random stuff: how both of them have been attending all sorts of wrestling shows lately, how they&#39;re both attending the NJPW Strong tapings in Philadelphia this coming weekend as well, HOT TUBS, the return of the NHL, the NHL&#39;s weird recent history on national television, Charles Barkley, more Revolutionary Girl Utena and a little Neon Genesis Evangelion, and frankly some other random crap John&#39;s probably forgetting about now.Once that&#39;s all out of the way they get into the main topic, as they break down Nights 15 & 16 of the G1 Climax- the penultimate night of each block. They start with a great Night 15, including a third straight awesome Great-O-Khan main event. They then break down the many confusing different tiebreaker scenarios heading into the final night for A block. Then they turn their attentions to the unfortunately quite bad Night 16. John gives another EVIL rant right after promising they weren&#39;t going to do another EVIL rant, and they discuss how Kazuchika Okada apparently will explode if he wrestles a match under 20 minutes. They wrap things up by breaking down the much, much simpler scenario to decide who wins B block, and then giving each of their top 10 matches in the G1 so far.Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up (both free feed & Patreon)- @wrestleomakase!Wrestling Omakase has dedicated channels on TWO Discords! Come join either one where you can chat with John and show guests and submit questions for future episodes!Super J-Cast Discord: https://discord.gg/zWEgNK5VOW Network Discord: https://discord.gg/rGTXwXdSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Wrestling Omakase #235: NJPW G1 Climax Nights 15 & 16 w/ Jon

This week on Wrestling Omakase we break down Night 9 of the NJPW G1 Climax from Nagoya and the finals of NOAH&#39;s N-1 Victory from Korakuen Hall!The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. The vast majority of our coverage of both the G1 Climax & NOAH N-1 Victory lives exclusively on the Patreon- every previous night of both tournaments that wasn&#39;t covered on a free episode, and every single night of the G1 going forward until the next one, is covered exclusively on the Patreon! Don&#39;t miss out on our daily coverage of both tournaments! Plus, you can listen to every single piece of audio we&#39;ve done since the start- including our Tokyo Dome series covering every single Dome main event of the 1990s! Feeling nostalgic about Okada/Tanahashi after their recent G1 match? Then check out our series covering the entire Okada/Tanahashi match series as well! And finally, don&#39;t forget that you get more full episodes too- every week there isn&#39;t a new show on the free feed, there&#39;s a full length episode exclusive to the Patreon! You can get all of this right now for only $5 at http://patreon.com/wrestlingomakaseJohn is joined by returning guest Liam McCann (@liam_d_mccann) as they start off with a discussion of sports heartbreak and fandom. This has been brought on by the fact that John is a Toronto Blue Jays fan and they were eliminated from the MLB postseason earlier on Sunday in about the worst way possible, but they touch on other sports too (mainly NHL hockey and Premier League soccer), and the whole discussion is probably pretty universal to the sports fan experience (they even compare it to some of what it&#39;s like to be a fan of a specific wrestler as well!). The conclusion: don&#39;t be a sports fan, do drugs instead, it&#39;s better for you.Once that&#39;s out of the way the two of them turn to the ongoing NJPW G1 Climax, specifically Night 9 (10/3) from Nagoya. John opens up with a bit of a rant on how different clap crowds can actually make a huge difference, no matter what anyone else has told you, before they get into a very good show with two strong matches at the end as the highlight. Liam disagrees a bit on Ibushi/Shingo and on Kota Ibushi&#39;s current arc in general, so there&#39;s quite a lot on that, but they go into every match in some detail. Then they give a standings update for the A block and look ahead to the next two nights of the G1.Then it&#39;s on to Pro Wrestling NOAH, as they discuss the final night of their own N-1 Victory tournament, also on 10/3 from Korakuen Hall. John & Liam review the entire show in detail including two great semifinal matches and an absolutely outstanding finals. Plus: confusing talk about age in the old fuck offer six-man! NOSAWA continues to book the juniors like an absolute mad man! And a look ahead to possible matches for January&#39;s big Budokan show, as John somehow forgets that Go Shiozaki exists and should be coming back soon! Look, they had a rough day.Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up (both free feed & Patreon)- @wrestleomakase!Wrestling Omakase has dedicated channels on TWO Discords! Come join either one where you can chat with John and show guests and submit questions for future episodes!Super J-Cast Discord: https://discord.gg/zWEgNK5VOW Network Discord: https://discord.gg/rGTXwXdSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Wrestling Omakase #233: NJPW G1 Climax Night 9 & NOAH N-1 Victory Finals w/ Liam

This week on Wrestling Omakase we kick off the NJPW G1 Climax with the opening two nights, along with some bonus coverage of the NOAH N-1 Victory!The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. The vast majority of our coverage of both the G1 Climax & NOAH N-1 Victory will live exclusively on the Patreon- every single night of both tournaments from now until our next free episode in two weeks will be covered on the Patreon in detail! Don&#39;t miss out on our daily coverage of both tournaments! Plus, you can listen to every single piece of audio we&#39;ve done since the start- including an extensive G1 preview that can help you pick which nights to watch and which to skip (if you&#39;re looking to do that sort of thing), plus our Tokyo Dome series covering every single Dome main event of the 1990s! Feeling nostalgic about Okada/Tanahashi after their match this past weekend? Then check out our series covering every single Okada/Tanahashi match in history as well! And finally, don&#39;t forget that you get more full episodes too- every week there isn&#39;t a new show on the free feed, there&#39;s a full length episode exclusive to the Patreon! You can get all of this right now for only $5 at http://patreon.com/wrestlingomakaseJohn is joined by returning guest Harley Duncan. Harley&#39;s under lockdown still in Australia while John recounts their recent trip to western New York to see Niagara Falls and a bunch of other stuff- kind of mean on their part, really! Once that&#39;s out of the way John & Harley review both the opening nights of NJPW&#39;s G1 Climax 31! They talk a little about some of the dumb New Japan takes that have been out there lately (including some folks telling on themselves when it comes to how little they&#39;ve been watching....), while breaking down each and every match so far in detail. It was a great start to the tournament, and they go over all of it, including the "big three" matches of Naito/ZSJ, Ishii/Shingo and Okada/Tanahashi!Then the two of them turn their attentions to NOAH&#39;s N-1 Victory tournament, specifically Night 2 from the empty arena. John & Harley discuss how difficult it was going from even a clap crowd New Japan show to the fully empty arena of NOAH, and then break down two subpar matches along with two better ones (one that was much better).Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up (both free feed & Patreon)- @wrestleomakase!Wrestling Omakase has dedicated channels on TWO Discords! Come join either one where you can chat with John and show guests and submit questions for future episodes!Super J-Cast Discord: https://discord.gg/zWEgNK5VOW Network Discord: https://discord.gg/rGTXwXdSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Wrestling Omakase #231: NJPW G1 Climax Nights 1 & 2, NOAH N-1 Victory Night 2 w/ Harley

This week on Wrestling Omakase we review the greatest pay-per-view in AEW history, discuss two good shows from NJPW, and talk about a LOT of very stupid takes!The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. Our series covering every Tokyo Dome main event in order is about to finish the 1990s, and you can listen to all of the past episodes right now covering it all! We discuss the main events of each show in detail but also talk about everything else going on in Japanese wrestling around that time, so you can relive the nWo Japan split, Inoki&#39;s ill-fated UFO promotion, the shocking death of Giant Baba and all the related fallout, and a lot more as you follow along with us. Plus, coming up this month will be daily audio coverage of the G1 Climax and NOAH N-1 Victory tournaments, which you&#39;ll only find on the Patreon. And finally, don&#39;t forget that you get more full episodes on there too- every week there isn&#39;t a new show on the free feed, there&#39;s a full length episode exclusive to the Patreon! You can get all of this right now for only $5 at http://patreon.com/wrestlingomakaseJohn is joined by returning guest Chris Samsa (@TheChrisSamsa) from VOW & Sport of Pro Wrestling. They start off with some quick thoughts on both their live adventures- John being in attendance for the Toronto Blue Jays CRUSHING the New York Yankees and Chris being in attendance for one of the greatest North American PPVs of all time. One is a little more relevant than the other for sure. They then get into a very long (nearly 2 hours!) and very detailed review of AEW All Out, as they discuss all the matches and big debuts, what stood out for them and what didn&#39;t work quite as well, and much more. Chris also gives us the live perspective throughout the show of course, which is very nice to have.Once that&#39;s out of the way they turn their attention to good &#39;ol New Japan Pro Wrestling. John has read some very, very stupid and repetitive takes on Twitter lately and sounds off a little about them before the two of them get into full reviews of two Wrestle Grand Slam in Metlife Dome events, two shows that were 2021 NJPW in a nutshell: no atmosphere whatsoever but a lot of great wrestling. There was some bad stuff too though for sure, and they discuss that as well. They also quickly go through the G1 blocks and what stands out to them, if anything. Finally, they wrap things up with your mailbag questions on the end of DAMNATION in DDT, who we&#39;d want to redeem our nutz, what we think the Power Struggle main event will be and more.Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up (both free feed & Patreon)- @wrestleomakase!Wrestling Omakase has dedicated channels on TWO Discords! Come join either one where you can chat with John and show guests and submit questions for future episodes!Super J-Cast Discord: https://discord.gg/zWEgNK5VOW Network Discord: https://discord.gg/rGTXwXdSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Wrestling Omakase #229: AEW All Out & NJPW Wrestle Grand Slam w/ Chris

This week on Wrestling Omakase we reviewed the alleged and the actual biggest party of the summer- WWE Summerslam and DDT Wrestle Peter Pan!The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. Our series covering every Tokyo Dome main event in order is pulling up on the end of the 1990s, and we&#39;ve just recently put up all sorts of great episodes- Misawa vs. Kawada! Antonio Inoki&#39;s retirement! Riki Choshu&#39;s retirement! And much more! We discuss the main events of each show in detail but also talk about everything else going on in Japanese wrestling around that time, so you can relive the nWo Japan split, Inoki&#39;s ill-fated UFO promotion and a lot more as you follow along with us. Plus, coming up in September will be daily audio coverage of the G1 Climax and NOAH N-1 Victory tournaments, which you&#39;ll only find on the Patreon. And finally, don&#39;t forget that you get more full episodes on there too- every week there isn&#39;t a new show on the free feed, there&#39;s a full length episode exclusive to the Patreon! You can get all of this right now for only $5 at http://patreon.com/wrestlingomakaseJohn is joined by returning guest Jamie (@JamieOD), who of course runs the English language DDT resource Dramatic DDT (http://dramaticddt.wordpress.com). John & Jamie start out by discussing CM Punk&#39;s return to wrestling for AEW from this past Friday, as John touches on what it was like to see him come back after following along with his early career in Ring of Honor (most of which they attended live). Then the two of them turn their attention to the first main topic of the episode, as they review WWE Summerslam from Las Vegas in detail. They go over each and every match on the show, discussing the good (a couple strong matches), the bad (yet another crappy WWE live crowd) and the ugly (the complete destruction of Bianca Belair and the total debacle that was Goldberg/Lashley). Also as John types up this episode description they just remembered they forgot to talk about the Miz & Morrison/Xavier Woods segment, so they just wanted to note here that it absolutely sucked.Once WWE&#39;s out of the way they head over to the land of DDT for a much more enjoyable overall show, Wrestle Peter Pan from Kawasaki. They again review every match in detail including the electric current bat match with Onita, the teenage wrestlers, a trio of fantastic matches, and the Saki Akai/Yuji Hino storyline that was better "storytelling" than anything the storytellers of WWE pull off nowadays. Finally, they wrap things up by taking some of your mailbag questions on both promotions, as Jamie explains why DDT&#39;s comedy is superior to WWE&#39;s and much more.Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up (both free feed & Patreon)- @wrestleomakase!Wrestling Omakase has dedicated channels on TWO Discords! Come join either one where you can chat with John and show guests and submit questions for future episodes!Super J-Cast Discord: https://discord.gg/zWEgNK5VOW Network Discord: https://discord.gg/rGTXwXdSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Wrestling Omakase #227: WWE Summerslam & DDT Wrestle Peter Pan w/ Jamie

This week on Wrestling Omakase we take a completely randomized look back at the biggest party of the summer, SummerSlam!The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. Patrons get so much bonus audio that never hits the free feed, most notably two full length exclusive episodes per month. Right now we&#39;re in the middle of our series looking back at every Tokyo Dome main event in order- we just got through 1997, as we discussed the very memorable circumstances behind the start of the famous Shinya Hashimoto vs. Naoya Ogawa feud. We break down each of these main events in detail but also go into lots of other notes and memorable moments from each and every Tokyo Dome show! Plus, our most recent Patreon exclusive full episode reviewed the NJPW WRESTLE GRAND SLAM in Tokyo Dome show in detail, along with all the major matches from the Summer Struggle shows from Osaka & Nagoya! You can also listen to all of our previous audio, including our various rivalry series (Okada/Tanahashi, Naito/Ishii, Naito/Tanahashi), our series reviewing matches submitted by Omakase patrons, ANIME OMAKASE, and much more, with access only costing $5 right now at www.patreon.com/wrestlingomakase!John is joined by returning guests Jeri Evagood (@The_JerriestJer) & Neil David (@chubby_cthulhu) for our SummerSlam Retro Roulette episode! As always for a Retro Roulette episode, we chose six random years and then chose a random match (all done through an RNG) from each one. You can see below for what we ended up with, or skip this and go right to the episode if you&#39;d rather be surprised. All matches can of course be found on either Peacock or WWE Network, depending on where you live/are pretending to live.1991: The British Bulldog, The Dragon & The Texas Tornado vs. Power And Glory (Hercules & Paul Roma) & The Warlord1999: D-Lo Brown vs. Jeff Jarrett2000: Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho2005: The Undertaker vs. Randy Orton2008: CM Punk vs. John Bradshaw Layfield2013: CM Punk vs. Brock LesnarTopics that come up along the way include: who does and doesn&#39;t have nostalgia for early 90s WWF, The Dragon is maybe every Vince-ism combined, who cares about two titles when you have two large fake breasts to talk about, a very stereotypical Vince Russo finish, doing a 2 out of 3 falls match for literally no reason, THIS FEUD MUST CONTINUE (except it oddly didn&#39;t really!), a Taker vs. Orton match that nobody seems to remember (maybe for good reason), Bob Orton&#39;s fake wig makes Undertaker very mad, we swear we didn&#39;t fix the results to give us two CM Punk matches while his name is in the news lately (honest!), Punk&#39;s flaccid 2008 title run, Punk and Brock tear the house down, and finally: forgetting how much Paul Heyman was involved.Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up (both free feed & Patreon)- @wrestleomakase!Wrestling Omakase has dedicated channels on TWO Discords! Come join either one where you can chat with John and show guests and submit questions for future episodes!Super J-Cast Discord: https://discord.gg/zWEgNK5VOW Network Discord: https://discord.gg/rGTXwXdSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Wrestling Omakase #225: SummerSlam Retro Roulette w/ Neil & Jeri

This week on Wrestling Omakase we once again take a completely randomized look at events from the Tokyo Dome!The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. Patrons get so much bonus audio that never hits the free feed, most notably two full length exclusive episodes per month. Right now we&#39;re in the middle of our series looking back at every Tokyo Dome main event in order- we&#39;re in 1995, in the midst of the memorable NJPW vs. UWFi trilogy. We break down the main events in detail but also go into lots of other notes and memorable moments on each and every Tokyo Dome show! Plus, our most recent Patreon exclusive full episode recapped both NJPW Summer Struggle in Sapporo shows in detail, plus previewed the upcoming WRESTLE GRAND SLAM in Tokyo Dome event and more! You can also listen to all of our previous audio, including our various rivalry series (Okada/Tanahashi, Naito/Ishii, Naito/Tanahashi), our series reviewing matches submitted by Omakase patrons, ANIME OMAKASE, and much more. You can get access to all of this and much more right now for only $5 at www.patreon.com/wrestlingomakase!John is joined once again by returning guest and longtime friend Bryan Quinlan (@IM_NOT_QUINLAN). They start by apologizing for the fan in the background, which is quite loud, but it felt like 100 degrees in New York City when they recorded this and they didn&#39;t wanna die of heatstroke. They then get into the reason why they&#39;re here, breaking down six different randomly selected matches from six different randomly selected Tokyo Dome shows, in our second episode talking random Dome matches! They have six entirely different Dome shows from the last time around, so here&#39;s the full list of matches covered on the episode in order:SWS Wrestlefest: Mr. Perfect vs. The Texas Tornado, 3/30/91- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7rmbLEMMBcNJPW Wrestling World: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto, 1/4/99- https://njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00153_1_4NJPW Wrestling World: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, 1/4/01- https://front.njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00157_1_6NOAH Departure: Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Keiji Mutoh & Taiyo Kea, 7/10/04- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJWD1MCNcaENJPW Wrestle Kingdom 5: Takashi Sugiura & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Hirooki Goto & Kazuchika Okada, 1/4/11- https://front.njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00175_1_9NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 7: Prince Devitt vs. Kota Ibushi vs. Low Ki, 1/4/13- https://njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00203_1_7Topics that come up along the way include: boy did we not expect to watch a WWF match on this, three people involved in this match are dead (and one of them is a pedophile), the iron claw is over at least, Kanemoto is a jerk, Liger doesn&#39;t sell the leg, why did they bother with this IWGP title tournament, Kawada and Tenzan just beat the absolute piss out of each other, everyone wanted to see Misawa vs. Mutoh but this is the best we got, some history on Taiyo Kea, this man looks nothing like Kazuchika Okada, how did Okada tear himself away from that TNA excursion to do this match, what in god&#39;s name is wrong with Low Ki, and finally: three ways are still bad.Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up (both free feed & Patreon)- @wrestleomakase!Wrestling Omakase has dedicated channels on TWO Discords! Come join either one where you can chat with John and show guests and submit questions for future episodes!Super J-Cast Discord: https://discord.gg/zWEgNK5VOW Network Discord: https://discord.gg/rGTXwXdSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Wrestling Omakase #223: Tokyo Dome Retro Roulette Vol. 2 w/ Quinlan

This week on Wrestling Omakase we wrap up our King of DDT coverage with a full review of the finals from Korakuen Hall, and take a look at new promotion GLEAT&#39;s official launch show from Tokyo Dome City Hall!The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. We just completed our series watching all ten of the Naito/Tanahashi singles matches that were available online, and you can relive their entire decade-spanning rivalry with us right now! With that now behind us we&#39;ll be resuming our series covering every Tokyo Dome main event in order (we left off in 1995, so we&#39;re about to hit all the NJPW vs. UWFi stuff!) leading up to New Japan&#39;s rescheduled WRESTLE GRAND SLAM event at the end of July. You get access to all of this plus everything else we&#39;ve ever done- our 1st Round coverage of the 2021 King of DDT, exclusive full episodes, matches requested by patrons, all the major tournaments of the past year covered, ANIME OMAKASE, and much more! Next week we&#39;ll have exclusive coverage of the NJPW Summer Struggle in Sapporo shows, only on the Patreon! You can get all of this right now for only $5 at http://patreon.com/wrestlingomakaseJohn is joined by first time guest Devin (@MoreThanMeatJoy) as they start by doing what they always do with first time guests- ask them to get into their background with wrestling in general and puro specifically. Once that&#39;s out of the way they talk about what else has been going on- John is very excited about their new soundbar and Dolby Atmos, Devin watched the original Dragonball and saw Goku&#39;s little wee-wee, John was thrilled to welcome Bakarina And Her Fabulous Bisexual Harem back to the airwaves with the return of Hamefura, and who knows what other random stuff they talked about.But then they do turn their attention to some actual Japanese wrestling shows, starting with the King of DDT finals from July 4th at Korakuen Hall. John and Devin discuss the semi final matches, the Danshoku Akai Adventures, and the finals in detail. Plus, some breaking news on a big upcoming tag team match for their outdoor Kawasaki Peter Pan show in August and the start of the next D-Ou.After the DDT talk is over, John and Devin head over to GLEAT to discuss their official launch show (after months of "soft launch" shows), GLEAT Ver. 1. This is a great primer for you if you don&#39;t know who any of these wrestlers or this promotion are, as they introduce the various wrestlers in each match and where they came from, plus go over the rules for the UWF style matches (and how they differ from the old UWF rules) in detail. They also of course review all the matches as well. Finally, they wrap things up by going over the upcoming GLEAT dates for late July/early August.This week’s edition of Wrestling Omakase is sponsored by Manscaped. Get 20% off + free shipping with promo code OMAKASE at http://www.manscaped.comFollow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up (both free feed & Patreon)- @wrestleomakase!Wrestling Omakase has dedicated channels on TWO Discords! Come join either one where you can chat with John and show guests and submit questions for future episodes!Super J-Cast Discord: https://discord.gg/zWEgNK5VOW Network Discord: https://discord.gg/rGTXwXdSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Wrestling Omakase #221: King of DDT Finals & GLEAT Ver. 1 w/ Devin

This week on Wrestling Omakase we review two shows from Korakuen Hall: the 2nd Round of the King of DDT tournament and Tokyo Joshi&#39;s 6/17 show, Additional Attack.The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. We&#39;ve hit the home stretch of our series covering every Naito vs. Tanahashi match in order, as we&#39;re right in the middle of their legendary 2017 trilogy! Listen now as we go over their epic match from Wrestle Kingdom 10, and coming this week we&#39;ll discuss the rematches from Dominion & the G1 Climax! Plus: our annual Mid-Year Awards, held every year at the end of June, will be this coming week and exclusively on the Omakase Patreon! And once the Naito/Tanahashi series wraps up, we&#39;ll be resuming our series covering every Tokyo Dome main event in order (we left off in 1995, so we&#39;re about to hit all the NJPW vs. UWFi stuff!) leading up to New Japan&#39;s rescheduled WRESTLE GRAND SLAM event at the end of July. You get access to all of this plus everything else we&#39;ve ever done- our 1st Round coverage of the 2021 King of DDT, exclusive free episodes, matches requested by patrons, all the major tournaments of the past year covered, ANIME OMAKASE, and much more! You can get all of this right now for only $5 at http://patreon.com/wrestlingomakaseJohn is joined by returning guest Hayley (@choerrycoloured) as they start out with the ever-popular anime discussion, going over shows they&#39;ve been watching lately, more thoughts on the return of cons and more. Once that&#39;s out of the way they turn to the King of DDT 2nd Round show, held on June 20th at Korakuen Hall, breaking it all down match-by-match. They get into a disappointing main event, another Sasaki Screwjob™, Takeshita and MAO having a friendly bro battle, Endo and Higuchi tearing the house down, a rant on how good Tetsuya Endo is (and a prominent British flippy wrestler he&#39;s better than), some upcoming DDT announcements, a fun 3-way tag, UTAMI&#39;S DAD GETS SOME, and the saga of the Paulie clan. Plus, somehow a digression about AEW stables is in there somewhere. I don&#39;t know how that happened either.Once that&#39;s finally done they head over to the magical world of Tokyo Joshi to break down their June 17th Additional Attack show, also from Korakuen Hall. They start with a long review of the NEO Biishiki-gun vs. Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh main event, a truly awesome match that they break down from all angles, which includes another rant on why Sakisama is so great. Then they break down the rest of the show, including long explanations on Japanese Gal/Gyaru culture (due to "Gal Wrestler" Marika Kobashi challenging for the International Princess Title in the semi-main) and the 48/46 groups (because SKE48 idol and new wrestler Yuki Arai has her first ever singles match here), and this has to be the only wrestling podcast you can come to for that kind of information. If there&#39;s another one, I&#39;d love to meet them.This week’s edition of Wrestling Omakase is sponsored by Manscaped. Get 20% off + free shipping with promo code OMAKASE at http://www.manscaped.comFollow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up (both free feed & Patreon)- @wrestleomakase!Wrestling Omakase has dedicated channels on TWO Discords! Come join either one where you can chat with John and show guests and submit questions for future episodes!Super J-Cast Discord: https://discord.gg/zWEgNK5VOW Network Discord: https://discord.gg/rGTXwXdSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Wrestling Omakase #219: King of DDT 2nd Round & TJPW Additional Attack w/ Hayley

Omakase means, literally, "I&#39;ll leave it up to you". It&#39;s a term primarily used in modern Japanese in sushi restaurants, where you allow the chef to prepare their own personal favorites, leaving your meal completely in their hands. Wrestling Omakase, therefore, is a show where we place each episode into the hands of one or two passionate fans, from all across the wrestling spectrum. Our regular host John Carroll has over 20 years of diverse wrestling fandom to draw upon, and they will be joined by a revolving door of guests who will share their knowledge and passion for particular promotions or time periods. While our primary focus will be on modern Japanese wrestling, we will also at least touch on wrestling from all over the world, in addition to the occasional episode covering historical periods of various promotions. This is a journey with wrestling fans around the world, bringing you the promotions they know and love the best, and we hope you will join us!Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donations

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Wrestling Omakase

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