Eastern Lariat

With a japanese bank holiday upon us, the Eastern Lariat returns this time for a rare preview episode as STRIGG A & Dylan take a look at some of the cards scheduled for this coming Monday, October 9 known as Sports Day in Japan. The focused promotions this time are NOAH, GLEAT, AJPW, TJPW and NJPW. Before going into any cards though, the first big chunk of discussion revolves around Katsuhiko Nakajima's departure from Pro Wrestling NOAH and the speculation where he might end up. From there, the Eastern Lariat duo looks at the title matches T-Hawk vs. Shuji Ishikawa, Yuma Aoyagi vs. Kento Miyahra and EVIL vs. SANADA while also discussion the current state of each company.

The Eastern Lariat tackles the Final of the 5 Star Grand Prix from STARDOM. And boy do we go in depth on this tournament. We go through the final night, breaking down every single participant's tournaments, the blunders that haunted this tournament in terms of scheduling, a disappointing ending after a really strong match, a defense of Suzu Suzuki and average ratings for the tournament rounded up on average courtesy of the inmates of Cagematch.net and we found out what the people think, as well as where they're going as a company heading into the big year end show, with the winners of our own awards. Finally...we get GLEAT into STARDOM as we head towards Halloween and try to figure out what the heck is going on around here. "Where is my STARDOM!?"

For more coverage of Japanese wrestling, and wrestling past and present please check out our Patreon for literally 1000s of hours of audio and written content as well PLUS same day reviews of G1 Climax Shows + STARDOM 5 Star GP Reviews: https://www.patreon.com/easternlariat

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In this episode of the Eastern Lariat, STRIGGA & Dylan mostly focus on the young and more up and coming talent that AJPW, DDT and DRAGONGATE have to offer as they discuss guys like Ryuki Honda, Yuki Ueno or the recent debut of T.N.Revolucion in DG. The show also offers a look at Pro Wrestling NOAH using and wasting potential, recommended matches from All Japan this month and a full review of DDT's Big Bang event from this past Saturday.

Dylan is joined by regular EL NOAH contributor Dean to talk about NOAH's N1 Victory Final which saw Go Shiozaki emerge victorious for his first ever NOAH tournament win. We talk about the whole show, the developments with Psycho Clown coming in to face Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. for the National Title, the developments of the Jr. Division and a get well soon to Chris Ridgeway. We talk about Kaito Kiyomiya's return to the promotion and the potential of him bringing back Oiwa from NJPW. Finally we go over the entire tournament and break down all 16 competitors. Who shined, who stood out, who disappointed, and who was the MVP? Finally, we talk about the near future of the company and Dean throws out some great predictions and ideas for the big Ariake show on January 2nd.

For more coverage of Japanese wrestling, and wrestling past and present please check out our Patreon for literally 1000s of hours of audio and written content as well PLUS same day reviews of G1 Climax Shows + STARDOM 5 Star GP Reviews: https://www.patreon.com/easternlariat

Follow us on Twitter/X:

https://www.twitter.com/EasternLariat https://www.twitter.com/STRIGGA https://www.twitter.com/Viva_Zero https://www.twitter.com/dnmt67

In an impromptu show, STRIGGA called Dylan to look back at a weekend in japanese pro wrestling that had ups and downs, was hot and cold and something in between. After first going over the next big show line ups for New Japan Pro Wrestling, they discuss DRAGONGATE's Dangerous Gate from Ota City as well as their immediate future with some ideas for turns. The next big chunk of the show is devoted to NOAH's N-1 Victory, which is on its home stretch now. You can't claim that about Stardom's 5 Star Grand Prix, but it's another hot tournament on the menu for this episode. At the end of the show, STRIGGA & Dylan get into some All Japan with a main focus on Ryuki Honda's rise within the company and them trying to figure out what AJPW will do in Yoyogi.

New Japan's big traditional summer tournament has come to a climatic finish with Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada as the last match of the G1 Climax 33. The Eastern Lariat takes a look back at the penultimate show featuring the semi finals of Okada vs. EVIL and Naito vs. Ospreay as well as the final show including all storyline developments on all shows and ultimately, STRIGGA & Dylan rate the tournament as a whole. Before that, the first half hour of the show is dedicated to TJPW's Princess Cup and Pro Wrestling NOAH's N-1 Victory while at the end of the show, there's a brief discussion about the upcoming Royal Road tournament for All Japan Pro Wrestling.

The G1 Climax semi finals are set so STRIGGA & Dylan take a look back at the D & D Block finals that created very different emotional reactions and a very controversial match with EVIL and Shingo Takagi that STRIGGA compares to the likewise very controversial Mio Momono vs. Mayumi Ozaki match from Marvelous. The jury is out for The Eastern Lariat on SANADA as champion after the quarterfinals and another match with EVIL. After discussing the three G1 shows and knowing the semi finals, STRIGGA & Dylan lay out their scenarios for the G1 final, the tournament victory and who's going to walk into Wrestle Kingdom as IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. Things looked obvious before the tournament, then seemed obvious in the quarterfinals and now the obvious choices might not been those they go with.

On the previous episode, STRIGGA had beaten Dylan to the punch on the first night of the N1. So as a make good the first episode of the Patreon N1 coverage is airing for free for everyone and Dylan has recruited his friend Squill, the one behind Wrestling with the Narrative YouTube channel and noted Timothy Thatcher respector to cover the show where the Thatch man main events against the GHC Heavyweight Champion, Jake Lee!

Follow Dylan + the Eastern Lariat on X: @EasternLariat @Viva_Zero

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And check out for the other nights of the N1 Victory Dylan bringing in multiple special guests to talk Pro Wrestling NOAH's top tier tournament on our Patreon which also supports the show and the thousands of hours put into this wonderful world of Japanese wrestling:

patreon.com/easternlariat

Also listen to our preview and predictions episode for EVERY SINGLE MATCH: https://www.cagematch.net/?id=128&nr=953

On Super Sunday in japanese pro wrestling all major companies ran major events that varied in success depending on how you looked at them. The Eastern Lariat of course takes an extensive look at New Japan Pro Wrestling's G1 Climax and the finals of Block A & B. Given the results, they discuss the outlook for Hikuleo, the performance of the Reiwa 3 and # Kaito Kiyomiya's future. Block B leads straight to the discussions about the knockout stages and who will be winning. Before the G1 talk, STRIGGA & Dylan looked back at DRAGONGATE's King of Gate Final, the crazy GLEAT show from Sumo Hall as well as AJPW & NOAH from Super Sunday!

This time the Eastern Lariat starts with a look at the two joshi tournaments running at the moment with Stardom's 5 Star Grand Prix and Tokyo Joshi Pro's Princess Cup. Since the Princess Cup is coming to an and, STRIGG A& Dylan discuss possible outcomes of that before turning their attention to the G1 Climax 33 that also is nearing towards its end – at least when it comes to the group stage. Here, the Eastern Lariat discusses the 3 shows from Nagoya, Takamatsu and Hiroshima and then it's G1 MATH with intense discussions about Kaito Kiyomiya, Jeff Cobb and yes, of course Tanga Loa. Join in, get a coffee and a flip chart!