June 04, 2025

Wrestling Omakase #251: Natsu & Saory 10th Anniversary, STARDOM May Recap, NJPW BOSJ Wrap-Up, Marigold Shine Forever & King of DDT w/ Arametha

4 hours 3 minutes

You waited a month for another new Omakase (if you cared at all) but don't worry, because here's one that's over four hours long!! Wow! John is joined by first time guest and longtime listener Arametha as they spend the first half hour of this show embarrassingly weebing out together. Anime! Tokusatsu! Anime cons! Iowa city names, for some reason! Once that is mercifully out of the way, the two of them head to the World Wonder Ring for 90 minutes of STARDOM talk, starting with a full review of the Natsu & Saory 10th Anniversary Show from Ota Ward Gym. They talk about the impact of the original Actwres Girlz class, Saori & Poi apparently getting free reign over Bushiroad, some theories on why the young women wrestlers of Japan seem so far ahead of the men right now and much more! Then the two of them talk about recent shows in Osaka & Kyoto plus the two May Korakuens, before finally wrapping up the STARDOM talk with a brief look ahead to the next Korakuen show coming up in the first week of June.

Then they move over to New Japan for a full recap of the Best of the Super Juniors 32 tournament, including a review of the finals match between YOH and Kosei Fujita, block rankings by average star rating with thoughts on each wrestler's tournaments, and some big picture thoughts on where the booking may have struggled. Afterward they give a brief audio preview of the upcoming Dominion card as John shares some thoughts on why they're not quite as hyped for this show as some others.

Next the two of them talk about DREAM STAR FIGHTING MARIGOLD, a first for Omakase, with a full review of the Marigold Shine Forever show! They discuss the diverging paths of Marigold's young wrestlers, an absolutely *incredible* debut match, Mayu Iwatani's somewhat confusing "grand slam" goal, and the retirement of Nanae Takahashi (including some brief thoughts on her overall career and some past match recommendations if you're so inclined!).

Finally, because this episode just wasn't long enough already, they wrap things up with some brief King of DDT thoughts on the semifinals and an outstanding final match, plus Minoru Suzuki vs. Danshoku Dieno, because why not at this point?! If you want to hear an absolute metric ton of Japanese wrestling audio, well, you've definitely come to the right place this week!

Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter @WrestleOmakase, or follow John on Bluesky instead @justoneenby.

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By Wrestling Omakase