Wrestling Omakase

Wrestling Omakase returns for a special episode! John is joined by returning guest and longtime friend Bryan Quinlan (@Not_Quinlan on Bsky) for our podcast all about traveling to Japan to watch pro wrestling! After taking some quick little sideswipes at NJPW for their latest attendance bomb, we give a comprehensive look at all the elements involved in planning for a trip to Japan! John & Quinlan (who have 8 trips between them going back 9 years!) start by going over all of their own past trips and some of the major differences in all of the different seasons they've gone in, which then transitions into a longer discussion on the different times of year you can choose to go and what some of the pluses & minuses of each are. Once that's done, they cover everything else you could ever want to know for planning your first wrestling trip to Japan (or just planning a better one if you've gone before!), including:

-Overall trip budgeting and what the minimum amount you can get away with is

-Different accommodation options for different group sizes: solo travelers, couples, big groups, etc.

-Some of the various neighborhoods you could choose to stay in

-Various options for buying tickets (including John finding out that one has gotten a little more complicated than when they just used it a few months ago, live on the air!) and how they work, including how to pick up your tickets when you get there- and which is the only option that actually lets you pick your exact seat! Plus a little bit about the various sections in Korakuen Hall specifically.

-Specific Wrestle Kingdom ticket options by section and where each actually locates you

-Venue locations and other quirks about them

-Other major wrestling-related landmarks in multiple cities: restaurants, bars, and stores!

-Leaving Tokyo to see other cities: how to buy Shinkansen (bullet train) tickets, some cities besides Osaka/Kyoto that you might want to check out, and more

-Some brief thoughts on language barrier and what you could pick up relatively quickly for a better experience

-Food recommendations, especially budget ones

But honestly, this is just everything I can remember off the top of my head that we talked about in a sprawling three and a half hour podcast, so check it out for yourself!

Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: @WrestleOmakase

Follow John on Bluesky: @justoneenby

We're back for another episode of Wrestling Omakase, and this time around John is joined by three recent guests for the return of an old favorite: the Mid-Year Awards! We present our picks for the best & worst of Japanese wrestling so far in 2025 in a ton of Wrestling Observer-style year end awards, along with some analysis on how likely these winners are to stand as full year award contenders by the time 2025 comes to an end. John's guests include: Paul Volsch from the Emerald FlowShow (@EmeraldFlowShow on Twitter & Bsky), Velkej Bracha from the ActWres Stage podcast (here's their most recent episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqIHVjqO6_8), and Arametha! Together the four seasoned Japanese wrestling watchers break down the best and worst of the year of Japanese wrestling. But before they get into the actual awards, as a bonus we provide some breaking news audio on the major title change that happened earlier today (being purposefully vague in case anyone is trying to avoid spoilers on that very weirdly aired show!) as well as the news that Syuri is taking a hiatus from STARDOM and what that might mean for the upcoming 5STAR GP, among other things.

Then it's awards time, and here's a full list of all the categories we covered in the order they appeared on the episode:

-Best Rookie

-Best Tag Team

-Best Feud

-Most Improved

-Most Overrated/Overpushed

-Most Underrated/Underpushed

-Best Unit

-Worst Unit

-Best Major Show

-Worst Major Show

-Most Outstanding Wrestler (in ring only)

-Best Promotion

-Worst Promotion

-Match of the (Half) Year

-Worst Match of the (Half Year)

-Flair/Thesz Award (in ring + drawing, basically MVP)

For most of the best categories we each give a top 3, while we only give one pick each for the worst....mostly so we don't have to stew in negativity for very long, haha. So come hear all of our picks for the best & worst of Japanese wrestling halfway through 2025, as we discuss all the major promotions- NJPW, STARDOM, NOAH, AJPW, DDT, Dragongate, Marigold, Sendai Girls, and of course since Velkej is here we discuss Actwres Girlz as well! A packed show!

Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: @WrestleOmakase

Follow John on Bluesky: @justoneenby

John is back yet again for another long dive through the world of Japanese professional wrestling, and boy do they have a mixed bag to discuss this week! Returning guest Velkej Bracha (@Velkej_Bracha on X), host of the ActWres Stage podcast (here's their most recent episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqIHVjqO6_8) joins them and starts by breaking down their recent trip to Japan, as he gives the live perspective on All Star Grand Queendom, Tetsuya Naito's final night in NJPW at Dontaku and more! Plus the two of them generally bullshit about Japan travel for a good long while because, to be honest, nobody wanted to talk about Dominion. But talk about Dominion they must, so they give a full review of a very, very bad show full of absolutely horrible and baffling booking decisions, and fair warning: John gets more than a little fired up about a few of them in particular. May wanna turn your headphones down for that part. They also discuss the quite bad looking G1 lineup and bury New Japan again for being completely unwilling to do anything fun or interesting these days.

But once the badness is over, we head back to the wonderful world of the World Wonder Ring, STARDOM, for a full preview of their upcoming 6/21 show from Yoyogi, The Conversion! John & Velkej talk all about recent storylines and developments as they break down the entire card in full, so if you've heard some of the recent hype for the promotion and want a good jumping in point you might want to listen to our preview here and check out the show! Finally, they wrap up the episode by heading back to another joshi promotion, Marigold, as John gives abbreviated thoughts on some of the matches from the 6/15 & 6/16 weekend shows in Osaka & Shizuoka (including the debut of another impressive looking rookie!), before they then give a full review of the 6/17 Korakuen show, including the big Marigold vs. Marvelous interpromotional main event. Lots of thoughts on how certain Marigold wrestlers are and aren't developing, Velkej breaks some news about one right on the air, and then some discussion of their upcoming schedule and their own big tournament that's coming up, the Dream Star GP. Another packed show!

John is back for another new episode of Wrestling Omakase (I know, already??) as we do a deep dive into VOW's annual 30 Under 30 list, which just came out a few days ago! They're joined by two voters for the 2025 list: host of VOW podcast The Good, The Bad & The Hungee Fred Morlan (can also check out Fred's Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/flagrantwrestling) and Paul Wedding (@PaulEWedding on Twitter), who also happen to be two first time Omakase guests. John, Fred and Paul proceed to break down the 30 Under 30 results, starting with a bit of a deep dive on the promotion breakdown of the list- and John comes armed with some hard attendance figures to discuss that one promotion in particular may have been shortchanged by the results!

Once that's out of the way they proceed to break down all their selections for this year, started with wrestlers they all voted for and going in the order of their finishes on the final list (followed by wrestlers only two of three voted for and then of course wrestlers only one of them voted for). A ton of names across Japan, Mexico & the US are discussed as well as a ton of different topics, including but not limited to: surprise at Gabe Kidd going number one and the backlash to the pick on social media, how much the booking of Kaito Kiyomiya has hurt him, whether Yuma Anzai may eventually have to go elsewhere, MAO being a highlight of BOSJ, Saya Kamitani and Sareee both getting ranked way too low, other major STARDOM snubs, Kosei Fujita's eventual ceiling, a hasty MJF defense from Fred before he has to go early (and a burial from John), and a lot of shoutouts from Paul of some Osaka talent that you may not have heard from. Plus a whole lot more!

Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: @WrestleOmakase

Follow John on Bluesky: @justoneenby

Check out Paul's wrestling substack here: http://pwfg.substack.com

Check out Paul's wrestling interviews for his radio station here: http://WFAA.com

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.

Wrestling Omakase is back with another new episode! John is joined by returning guest Paul Volsch from the Emerald FlowShow (@EmeraldFlowShow on Twitter & Bsky) and first time guest Will Young from VOW and his Creative Control PW blog (@CreativeControlPW on Bsky) to break down three big shows from Japan! But first, John gives an update on the current podcast schedule (as you may have noticed, we're doing these things more often again now!) and some brief thoughts on two major recent joshi shows: STARDOM's All Star Grand Queendom and Sendai Girls' Meiko Satomura Retirement Show.

Then all three of them get into the main topics, starting with NOAH's big Sumo Hall show from May 3rd. They discuss NOAH's best attendance number at Ryogoku in six years, OZAWA's title reign and whether or not it should have ended here, whether the booking has been affected by Tetsuya Naito possibly coming in (and actually get breaking Naito news during the middle of recording!), and break down every match on the card as well.

Afterward they review NJPW's two Wrestling Dontaku shows from 5/3 & 5/4 in Fukuoka (after a brief overview of big matches from two previous stops on the tour in Hiroshima & Saga), including: full breakdowns of every match on both show, the Dog Pound Steel Cage match and how it compares to last year, directions heading into Dominion, Tetsuya Naito & BUSHI's goodbye to New Japan (for now?), LIJ's official breakup, Hirooki Goto's already record breaking title reign and how it compares to other recent title reigns, a bit of a mea culpa from John on Callum Newman, ZSJ & Shingo being the next title challengers and whether Shingo might win the title (and turn heel??), Kyushu Pro involvement, and much more! A packed, three hour-plus show with all the Japanese wrestling talk you can handle!

Wow, TWO new episodes of The Most Active Podcast in History™ in one month?! Aren't you lucky?? Yes, John is back again this time with a special double-sized episode of Omakase that's essentially two episodes in one!

For the first half, John is joined by Beth (@lovesongwriter on X) as the two longtime Tetsuya Naito superfans talk about the shocking news of his & BUSHI's departure from New Japan Pro Wrestling. They get into their feelings when the news dropped, what it was like to get checked in on by everyone they both knew like someone just died, wild speculation on what might be next for Naito (and what they would personally like to see as fans), and discussion of his career and legacy with New Japan!

The second half of the episode sees John joined by Velkej Bracha (@Velkej_Bracha on X), host of the ActWres Stage podcast (here's their most recent episode on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDfPF6W4M9U) and a longtime STARDOM/joshi fan for a full primer on the World Wonder Ring in 2025! John and Velkej go over what they both feel has been the promotion of the year so far, discussing the incredibly deep roster, various units, and some of the biggest moments and matches dating back to last December's Sumo Hall show. Then they launch into a preview of STARDOM's huge All Star Grand Queendom show from Yokohama Arena next week (which Velkej will be attending live!), plus a brief preview of the final Korakuen show a few days earlier as well.

We're back for our first new episode of Wrestling Omakase in quite a while, as John is once again coming to you live from Japan! First, they're joined by Joel from the Super J-Cast for a full review of the NJPW Sakura Genesis 2025 show, with John giving you the live perspective from the front row of Sumo Hall. Lots of talk about NJPW's current booking direction, where things may be going from here, and of course full reviews of all the matches. Then, John goes solo for an additional 45 minutes as they take you through their entire Japan trip so far, including shorter reviews of the NJPW Jr. Genesis show from Korakuen, STARDOM's 4/2 Korakuen featuring Tam Nakano vs. Saori Anou, Sendai Girls 4/3 and WAVE 4/1 (both from Shinjuku FACE) including Meiko Satomura vs. Minoru Suzuki, and, yes, a review of a Secret Base (!) show from the tiny Ring Soul bar in Kobe! Plus lots of other random Japan travel talk and complaining about tariffs!

The Most Active Podcast in History™ is back for our third episode of 2024! John is joined by returning guest Chris Samsa (@TheChrisSamsa) from Sport of Pro Wrestling/VOW and, somehow, first time guest J. Michael (@ryugu_go) from Voices of Wrestling for the most thorough and complete wrap-up of the 34th edition of the Grade One Climax you're going to find anywhere! John, Chris and J. Michael break down the tournaments of all twenty wrestlers, talk about where they ranked by match quality, their strengths & weaknesses throughout the tournament, and where they might be heading from here as NJPW transitions into the fall season and Wrestle Kingdom. Along the way a very wide range of topics are covered, with a lot of focus on how the new generation of NJPW is shaping up. Plus, an extensive discussion on the controversial booking decision to have Zack Sabre Jr. take his IWGP World Heavyweight Title challenge at King of Pro Wrestling in October instead of Wrestle Kingdom, and where things might be going for the Dome!

Follow us on Twitter (I will never call it the other thing): @wrestleomakase

Wrestling Omakase is back for another new episode! John is joined by returning guest Joel of the Super J-Cast (@thesuperjcast) for a bit of a state of New Japan Pro Wrestling update. Where does NJPW stand after losing Okada & Ospreay to AEW? What does fan reaction look like after the controversial New Beginning in Sapporo shows? What strengths do NJPW still have, and what are their big threats heading into the future? Then John & Joel bring back a former annual Omakase tradition: the New Japan Cup Pick "Ems! They each give their (sometimes very different!) picks for each and every 2024 New Japan Cup match, right down to who they ultimately think will lift the trophy this time around! All this plus a (well deserved) burial of a popular wrestling website, wow!