Voices of Wrestling Podcast Network

This week on Wrestling Omakase we talk, honestly, a whole lot of mid-to-late 2010s NJPW. If you haven't listened to a 5 Matches episode yet, every week John and the guest each choose 2 matches to watch and talk about on the episode. Then we each choose a third match, which is put up to a vote on the @wrestleomakase Twitter account, letting the listeners choose our fifth and final match of the week. It's a fun retro format featuring all sorts of different wrestling!

John is joined by first time guest Liam, co-host of fellow VOW network podcast Wednesday War Games (@WarGamesPod). Before they get into the fun stuff, John and Liam do briefly touch on the tragic week in wrestling, including of course Hana Kimura's incredibly sad and sudden death, so I wanted to make sure you're warned about that here. We do not spend very long on this subject nor do we get into any details surrounding how it happened; John briefly talks about meeting Hana at the STARDOM NYC show last year and both talk a little about how much it upset them, but that's really about it. If you're in the US and need to talk to someone, the suicide hotline number is 1-800-273-8255. Please know people out there care about you.

After that unfortunately tragic opening we thankfully move on to much lighter topics, including a brief review of the previous night's AEW Double or Nothing PPV (or at least the three matches John saw of the show). Then we get into our 5 Matches picks for the week, and here they all are in order:

1. Nick & Matt Jackson vs. Bryan Danielson & Roderick Strong, PWG 5/22/09 (Highspots Network, match starts around 2:19:24)

2. Kota Ibushi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, NJPW 1/4/15 (NJPW World: English or Japanese)

3. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn, WWE NXT 4/1/16 (WWE Network)

4. Tetsuya Naito vs. Kenny Omega, NJPW 8/3/16 (NJPW World: English or Japanese)

5. Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega, NJPW 6/11/17 (NJPW World: English or Japanese)

Topics that come up along the way include: Liam watching PWG as a 12 year old, Ibushi/Nakamura vs. Ibushi/Zayn, Naito vs. Omega both as a series and why this match is their very bets one, Liam gives a prepared speech about why Okada-Omega II is his favorite match ever and then John says it was Actually Bad (okay, not really, but not that great!), and then a long discussion on mid-to-late 2010s NJPW in general and their favorite and least favorite years at the very end. It's a real fun time that will hopefully get your mind off what an incredibly shitty week it's been in wrestling!

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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

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Missed any of the 5 Matches episodes or just want to revisit one of the matches discussed previously but aren't sure what episode it took place on? Here's a handy Google Doc with links to every single match we've discussed on this series so far, which will continue to be updated every week!

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Chris and Jeff discuss the untimely deaths of Larry Csonka of 411Wrestling and Shad Gaspard of Cryme Tyme. In less important stuff we discuss Drew Gulak leaving WWE, if Charlotte needs to be on all three shows, how Aunt Pam has grown in the empty arena era, the last stand of Drake Maverick and our feeling of "eh" going into Double Or Nothing.

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How safe is it to continue running empty arena wrestling events in the United States and Florida compared to Japan or Tokyo? Brandon Thurston looks at the data around testing, cases, and deaths.

What do Google searches tell us about the title reigns of WWE champions and the popularity of WWE from 2004 to the present?

The latest on TV viewership, including the success of the Dark Side of the Ring series.

For more information visit http://www.wrestlenomics.com

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Garrett and Liam break down the fairly lackluster final Double or Nothing build plus talk NXT on the road to In Your House.

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Today on the Voices of Wrestling Flagship podcast we preview of AEW's Double or Nothing, talk Dragon Gate's King of Gate tournament, AAA's Lucha Fighter tournament, Dark Side of the Ring's Owen Hart special and the unfortunate deaths of Shad Gaspard and Larry Csonka. 

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Welcome to Episode 73 of Everything Elite! This week, AB, Nate and Mike are back to talk all about All Elite Wrestling and the Elite Extended Universe. The Road to Double or Nothing is OVER and it’s time to talk all about the go home edition of AEW: Dynamite, play ELITE OR DELETE and the returning Hangman Meter game, talk about ratings, preview Double or Nothing and predict and guess its buy rate!

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We continue in our Classic Watch-Along series with matches featuring Yoshihiro Takayama, Tomoaki Honma, Hulk Hogan, and Kensuke Sasaki. Joel and Damon also give their thoughts and opinions on the art of blading, Story Time With Damon with an epic Abdullah the Butcher , Knightmare memories, and so much more. 

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Welcome back to Open the Voice Gate! Case (https://twitter.com/_inyourcase) and Mike (https://twitter.com/fujiiheya) are back with your King of Gate Update. Each week during King of Gate, Case and Mike will have a shorter episode breaking down the recent tournament matches, and looking ahead to the future matchups. On this first episode, they talk about the first round matchups that aired on Dragongate Network on May 15, 16 & 17th, and discuss the positives and the negatives about them doing this sort of empty arena tournament. After that, they talk about the second round matchups happening this weekend, their predictions for the remainder of the tournament, and the upcoming rookie debuts!

Our podcast provider, RedCircle, offers the listeners the option to sponsor the show. Click on “Sponsor This Podcaster” at https://redcircle.com/shows/open-the-voice-gate and you can donate a single time, or set up a monthly donation to Open the Voice Gate!

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The 5 Star Match Game returns with a show dedicated to Pro Wrestling NOAH, as Joe Gagne takes contestants Alan Counihan (@Alan4L), Joey Bay (@joey_bay), and JoJo Remy (@jojo_runs) through a true global honored competition over the last 20 years of NOAH! Another great competition that comes down to the wire!

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Welcome back to Open the Voice Gate - Rewind and Rewatch, where Case (https://twitter.com/_inyourcase) and Mike (https://twitter.com/fujiiheya) are Rewinding and Rewatching the Dragon Gate USA era of shows.

This episode covers Open the Northern Gate, from Windsor, Ontario, Canada on May 7, 2010 at the Windsor Armoury. As Dragon Gate USA refused to treat this disappointing sojourn as a B-Show, OTVG refuses to as well as Case and Mike broke down the news and events between Mania Weekend 2010 and the May 7th show, including some big indie happenings, another departure from the DGUSA universe and the 2010 editions of King of Gate and Dead or Alive. After that, they review a very weird but very fun show with the conclusion of the Dragon Kid and Masato Yoshino storyline, the DGUSA debuts of PAC and Akira Tozawa, the reintroduction of Johnny Gargano to the DGUSA audience, and much much more!

The Open the Northern Gate awkward YouTube video we talked about is included at the end of the show or can be seen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h2bAHOrm9mI

The show review starts at 00:30:15 on this episode.

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