in this episode of The Beginner's Guide to Japan, James and Chelsea explore the weird and wonderful world of Michinoku Pro Wrestling and its wider influence on the wrestling business up until this day including in depth analysis on their legendary performers The Great Sasuke, Jinsei Shinzaki, Super Delphin and TAKA Michinoku. This begins the five episode sweep of 1993 and the start of chapter four in this series.

James is joined by Chelsea Spollen of ShouldersUp.net to take apart the Destruction in Kobe. Kenny Omega makes the very first defense of the IWGP US Heavyweight Championship. War Machine defend their titles against Killer Elite Squad from Suzuki Gun and Guerrillas of Destiny from Bullet Club. Trent Baretta makes his heavyweight solo debut in a grudge match against Yujiro Takahashi. We also go to Sam's Town Casino in Las Vegas, NV to discuss KUSHIDA's ROH TV title defense against Kenny King and Minoru Suzuki.

James is joined by Chelsea Spollen of shouldersup.net this week to go back to The Beginner's Guide of Japanese Wrestling. Whilst taking a slight detour to pay tribute to the late, great, Bobby "The Brain" Heenan.

Its August of 1992, and the biggest tournament in the country's history is in full swing. This card features the semi final and final and some breath taking undercard action as the LCO including their fearless leader Akira Hokuto take on her former partners Suzuki Manami, Yumiko Hotta and Bull Nakano. With other key names of the era involved like Manami Toyota, Toshiyo Yamada and Aja Kong, this card sets the tone for All Japan Women for the next five years.

James is joined by Marcus Green this week to discuss the New Japan Pro Wrestling Destruction tour. This series of shows over fourteen days produced some lively main events and helps the build towards King of Pro Wrestling. On the first night Minoru Suzuki defended his NEVER Openweight title against Michael Elgin and the dark leader of Suzuki Gun explained more of the Suzuki Gun philosophy, "We don't live by your rules.". Feelings shared Desperado and Killer Elite Squad who challenged for KUSHIDA's IWGP Jr Heavyweight and War Machine's IWGP Tag belts respectively. Two nights of action are reviewed for you here.

By 1992, Giant Baba had rebuilt All Japan's reputation when it came to quality wrestling. Having hired a crew of top notch Gaijin including "Doctor Death" Steve Williams, Terry "Bamm Bamm" Gordy and Stan "The Lariat" Hansen. The top of his home grown talent had been thinned with the departure Genichiro Tenryu and his roster to SWS, so in the spring of 1992 Baba launched his youth offensive. James is joined by Simon Heath as they explore the '92 Championship Carnival Tour and the impact it had on King's Raod style.

With so much going on in the wrestling business this week, James and Chelsea take an hour to round up the news in the non mainstream world of wrestling. There is the PWI 500, NOAH, GFW, TripleMania and King of Trios to discuss as well as the glory of the Mae Young Classic.

James is joined by Simon Heath this week and after a big come down from the G! they return to the Beginner's Guide to Japanese Wrestling looking at FMW in 1992. FMW in '92 was a strange place, they toured Mexico and the USA, you know kinda like Japanese companies do now. They had a heel champion who was a vaguely racist Indian stereotypical caricature, um, okay. And they had a resurgent women's division that had been held down and never given an opportunity to shine until now. Oh yes and some odd MMA matches between World Champions and ground based fighters . . . so essentially the predicted everything about 2017 but the Trump Presidency.

This week James is joined by Alex Edwards, Alex Watt, Chelsea Spollen and Simon Heath to celebrate the glory of the G1 Climax Final from Ryogoku Sumo Hall in Japan. After a grueling month, the final two wrestlers went into a no time limit match for the G1 Title and the opportunity to main event at Wrestle Kingdom in January. Also on a stacked under card, The Young Bucks defended their IWGP Jnr. Tag Team Titles against Taguchi Japan, Taguchi and Ricochet, and War Machine defended their titles against the Bullet Club pairing of Hangman Paige and Cody.

James is joined by Marcus Green and Alex Edwards for a monster episode that discusses all the G1 Action from nights 12-18. As the tournament draws to a close this is an emotional roller coaster ride for all involved with the key players Tanahashi, Naito, Omega, Okada and Suzuki all making their final grasps at the G1 Trophy with breakout performances from Tama Tonga and Juice Robinson, as always there is plenty of Yano to pass around. So join James, Marcus and Alex as they dissect the G1's last few days.

James is joined by Simon Heath for this bonus episode covering nights 10 & 11 of the G1 Climax Tournament. Pretty deep into the tournament now, options are closing for those hoping to win the whole shebang, and Simon takes his usual round about path to wrestling commentary. Juice Robinson in Revenge of Taguchi Gun and the hair fatigue index.