Eastern Lariat

After three years New Japan made the decision to go back to have Wrestle Kingdom only on "Ittenyon", so they went back to January 4 as the one date for their biggest show of the calendar year. With Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay the show set the bar high for match of the year candidates, while in the actual main event of the show Kazuchika Okada stood tall over Jay White. STRIGGA & Dylan talk extensively about these two matches, give some insight on the ideas behind the structure of the matches and of course discuss all the title matches on the card. You'll also get takes on the young talent that was prominently placed on the card in Shota Umino, Master Wato and Ren Narita. At the same time the Eastern Lariat team also discusses the angles and directions from New Year Dash the day thereafter and previews the Yokohama Arena show on the 21st that also has the Wrestle Kingdom branding.

The new year always brings a LOT to discuss in japanese pro-wrestling and with Pro Wrestling NOAH choosing January 1st as the date of their big Budokan show there's more to discuss than ever: Muto vs. Nakamura, Kiyomiya vs. Kenoh, Jake Lee debuting, the puzzling placement of the tag title matches and what does the future hold for NOAH after Muto? But first, STRIGGA and Dylan address the big title change from Syuri to Giulia in Stardom as well as the DDT & GLEAT shows from Tokyo Dome City Hall and New Year's Eve Pro-Wrestling from Korakuen. The final topic of the show are the first two AJPW shows of the new year that saw Kento Miyahara and Takuya Nomura in prominent positions as well as many puzzling elements such as the All Asia Tag Team Title match and a Voodoo Murder breakup tease.

The Final Eastern Lariat episode of the year is one of the most important and the biggest episode at the same time. With the support of their listeners AND special guest Michelle (@puroresueikaiwa) STRIGGA and Dylan assembled a list and their picks for the Year End Awards 2022 that range from New Japan and Stardom to DRAGONGATE and DDT with the inclusion of promotions like Ganbare Pro, Tenryu Project, Michinoku Pro and various others. You'll hear unique takes in a lot of the 14 categories both from afar and directly from Japan through Michelle's viewpoint!

The band is back together in a new episode of the Eastern Lariat podcast! STRIGGA returns and tackles some talking points from the past weeks and days in Japanese pro wrestling mostly focusing on All Japan Pro Wrestling, their Real World Tag League, their Jr. Battle of Glory and of course on Jake Lee leaving the company to maybe join New Japan. After a brief discussion on the Super Jr. Tag League in NJPW the final topic of the show addresses Sasha Banks apparently being in Tokyo on January 4 and what it could lead to. The show however starts with the question whether or not an indie wrestler bias is in place when judging talent from the US.

Fumi Saito returns! The legendary Japamese wrestling journalist joins Dylan once again to sit down for a chat about Japanese wrestling and even questionable wrestling media and some rumors and the like we've heard about. We talk about NJPW and it's business, as well as STARDOM and what's going on there. We follow it up with a little bit of NOAH before we wrap up nice and tidy so Fumi can get back to his job. As always I appreciate the time given greatly! Hopefully you enjoy the show as well.

Follow the Eastern Lariat: @EasternLariat

Follow Dylan: @Viva_Zero

Follow Fumi: @fumihikodayo

Check out Fumi's other work including his shows like the Pacific Rim with Jim Valley on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter: https://www.f4wonline.com/podcasts/pacific-rim-pro-wrestling-podcast

As well as Write That Down! With Justin Knipper on the Fight Game Media Network: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/write-that-down-antonio-inoki-part-four-international/id1594255707?i=1000550724447

And as always if you want to support the Eastern Lariat heading into the holiday season, while also getting many many hours of show reviews and additional content, or just wanna read some free Toyota match reviews Dylan puts up check out our Patreon: patreon.com/easternlariat

And as always thank you for listening and your time. STRIGGA returns on the next episode!

For the first time ever, NJPW and STARDOM, the top men's and women's companies in Japan unite to come up with a co-promoted show. Dylan is joined by his usual Patreon guest Sondre Bjørn to talk both major shows for STARDOM, first Gold Rush which featured two great title matches and one of the craziest main events of the year, and then the Historic X-Over, featuring a long discussion on the return of Kenny Omega to NJPW with his announced match vs. Will Ospreay as well as the crowning of the first ever IWGP Women's Champion between KAIRI vs. Mayu Iwatani.

Follow @SondreBjorn - @Viva_Zero - @EasternLariat for more coverage of STARDOM, NJPW, & all the great pro wrestling companies in Japan, and if you want more podcasts featuring Dylan and a ton of other special guests give our Patreon, patreon.com/easternlariat a look!

Enjoy the show with tons of airtime on this special all Joshi edition of the show, STARDOM, and all of pro wrestling!

With the end of the year approaching step by step all promotions are bracing themselves for the big shows coming up at the end of the year or in very early 2023. NOAH presented a double shot in Korakuen Hall with all GHC Title matches plus their DRAGONGATE joint venture Global Dream, All Japan's & Stardom's tag leagues started while DDT is closing in on their D King Grand Prix. While there's tons of stuff going on – All Japan are even running two tournaments at the same time – most companies don't feel as hot as they would love to and there's a number of reasons why that is. STRIGGA & Dylan bring up some of them and of course also point out what's working.

The traditional "big three" get a look at in the newest Eastern Lariat episode. It seems like All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH have much more issues bubbling than New Japan Pro Wrestling right now so first STRIGGA & Dylan address All Japan's missed opportunities to pur over their younger talent to the degree where the crowd reactions are a clear indicator of wrong decisions made. Wrong decisions also is the focal point when it comes to GHC Heavyweight Champion Kaito Kiyomiya who doesn't come across like he should cosplaying Keiji Muto. Muto himself has his big match with Shinsuke Nakamura coming up so his retirement road is another big topic once again. In contrast to thee two promotiomns things seem to be on the upswing for NJPW after their well received Battle Autumn show from Osaka that saw Ren Narita & Shota Umino in prominent positions. Join in for some positivity on the "King of Sports"!

Dylan is back with part 2 of the Wrestling Observer newsletter Hall of Fame coverage with another voter! This time it's Gerard di Trolio from the Emerald Flowshow hops on to talk about the Non-Wrestler category which features Japanese promoters Sanshiro Takagi & Rossy Ogawa, legendary Japanese referee in JWA & AJPW and later NOAH's On-Air GHC Title Commissioner Joe Higuchi, AJPW's Triple Crown foreign liaison and chairman of the Pacific Wrestling Federation Lord James Blears, and the man who helped get Rikidozan into wrestling, Bobby Bruns, along with all the non-Japanese candidates which include commentators, promoters, legendary writers, managers, belt makers and music men:

Lord James Blears Dave Brown Bobby Bruns Bob Caudle Bobby Davis Joe Higuchi Jim Johnston Larry Matysik James Melby Rossy Ogawa Reggie Parks Morris Sigel Tony Schiavone George Scott Sanshiro Takagi Mike Tenay Ted Turner Roy Welch Stanley Weston The Grand Wizard

We also go over the historical candidates in the North American region and finally circle back around to the Japanese region for another Round of Dylan trying to get a voter to vote for Yoshiaki Fujiwara and just Gerard's thought on this year's cast of characters, which ends with Gerard giving us his ballot, which differs a bit from Case Lowe, our last guest.

If you enjoy the Eastern Lariat and want more, including reviews of major live events, tournaments (right now STARDOM's Goddesses of Tag League, as well as DDT's D-Ou tournament), historical content like the 90's project covering the top 50 matches every year of the 90s and a top 10 and awards audio and currently running a daily written review feature on the career of Manami Toyota, check out our Patreon: patreon.com/easternlariat

Follow us on Twitter: @EasternLariat

Follow Dylan: @Viva_Zero

Follow Gerard and his show, the Emerald FlowShow for more fun stuff on Japanese Pro Wrestling: @EmeraldFlowshow

And most importantly, support Japanese pro wrestling in every company you enjoy!