Wrestling Omakase

We're back once again for another Very Special Episode of Wrestling Omakase! John is LIVE ON LOCATION from the Conrad and also a random AirBNB in Tokyo, as they're joined by returning guest Paul and THE BEBBLER to discuss all things Wrestle Kingdom 18! All three of them go over everything you could ever want to know about attending WK live, including various seat sections and what you might get when you choose them, beer girls (and their fanboys), fan calls, food options and much more! They also of course review the show in some detail and give their thoughts on the various matches. Once that's out of the way, it's time to go BACK IN TIME to earlier recorded audio with John & Paul from their AirBNB (which is why the sound is slightly different- it had a very high ceiling!) following the AJPW 12/31 show from Yoyogi National Gymnasium #2. John & Paul discuss the incredible Miyahara vs. Nakajima main event, Nakajima's Inoki tribute trolling, a big junior title change, and just talk about how much better it is to attend shows in Japan than in the West in general.

Wrestling Omakase is back for another very special episode! Tetsuya Naito has won the G1 Climax for the first time in six years, so you know John has some thoughts about it. John is joined by Chris Samsa (@TheChrisSamsa) to break down the entire G1 Climax 33, as the two of them start with a detailed review of the last two nights from Sumo Hall. They discuss of course the semi finals & finals but also all the other programs that were started for the upcoming Destruction tour, the young wrestlers who got to take a big step forward, what the fuck is going on with Kaito Kiyomiya, and much more. Then they go block-by-block and give some thoughts on each individual wrestler's tournaments (ranking them by John's average star rating), and give their overall top 10 matches of the tournament if you're looking for stuff you may have missed to go back and watch as well. Finally, they wrap up the episode with a quick check-in to the world of All Elite Wrestling, as they look ahead to the major upcoming PPVs, All In and All Out, with previews of both confirmed & rumored matches.

We're back for a very special episode! John is joined by returning guest Mongo (@mongo_ebooks), and only one thing can get them out of podcast semi-retirement: Tetsuya Naito is a 2022 Wrestling Observer Hall of Famer!

John & Mongo talk a little about all of the new inductees but the most focus is on Naito, Kota Ibushi, and some of the other people who didn't get in (one CM Punk perhaps?). They discuss why Naito was such a slam dunk candidate even if you didn't necessarily love him or his fans, using some cold hard facts and business metrics to make their case. Plus, a look ahead to next year's nominees and more!

This week on Wrestling Omakase it's our fifth annual year end awards spectacular, as we break down the best and worst of 2021 in all of professional wrestling!

John is joined by an all-star panel of 2021 guests: VOW contributors Sean Sedor (@SASedor2994), Suit Williams (@SuitWilliams), Gerard di Trolio (@GerarddiTrolio) and Paul Volsch (@Darth_Dragon), plus Devin (@MoreThanMeatJoy), Mongo (@mongo_ebooks) and Liam McCann (@liam_d_mccann). They all talk a little about what they liked and didn't like about 2021, and what they thought of wrestling as a whole, before getting into their individual award picks. John also gives the overall winners of the voting, with all Omakase guests from the year being invited to send in their picks. Here's the awards in the order covered on the show:

-Worst Weekly TV

-Worst Major Show

-The WWE Memorial Award for Worst Promotion

-Worst Feud

-Worst Match of the Year

-Best Weekly TV

-Best Major Show

-Best Promotion

-Best Feud

-Most Outstanding Wrestler

-Tag Team of the Year

-Match of the Year

-Wrestler of the Year

Thanks for joining us at the end of another truly wild and somewhat awful year on this planet! Here's to 2022 being a whole lot better, both for wrestling and just the world in general!

Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up- @wrestleomakase!

This week on Wrestling Omakase we take our third completely randomized look back at shows that took place inside the Big Egg, the Tokyo Dome!

John is joined by returning guest & VOW contributor Jeri Evagood (@TheJerriest_Jer) for her record TENTH appearance of the year! Wow! John crowns her MVP (Most Valuable Podcaster) before they get into what they've both been up to, including Christmas, worrying about Omicron cancelling their plans, and a whole lot more. Plus there's some discussion of Jeri's semi-recent Atlantic City trip, and John's pre-emptive year end thoughts ahead of next week's 2021 Year End Awards episode. Once that's out of the way they get into their topic, which is six randomly selected matches from six randomly selected Tokyo Dome shows (all Dome shows were eligible, not just 1/4 and not just NJPW). As always, stop reading here if you want to be surprised, but if you'd like to know beforehand here they are below:

1. Great Muta vs. Masahiro Chono, NJPW 1/4/93 (NJPW World: https://front.njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00114_1_7)

2. Riki Choshu & Yoshiaki Yatsu vs. Kengo Kimura & Tatsutoshi Goto, NJPW 1/4/95 (NJPW World: https://front.njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00132_1_9)

3. Randy Savage vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, NJPW 4/29/96 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYbamFhKl-g)

4. Yuji Nagata vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, NJPW 5/2/02 (NJPW World: https://front.njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00160_1_2 or https://front.njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00160_2_2)

5. Heat vs. Tiger Mask, NJPW 1/4/05 (NJPW World: https://front.njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00165_1_3)

6. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Go Shiozaki, NJPW 1/4/10 (NJPW World: https://front.njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00174_1_8)

Topics that come up along the way include: since we did get all NJPW this time John gives some background on the promotion's very turbulent history as we go through the years here, Chono's bizarre clean-cut years, Muta nearly commits a random murder, a little background on both Heisei Ishingun and Yatsu's very strange career journey to this point, a boring match with not much to talk about, how the hell did we get Savage vs. Tenzan again, Savage at least puts in some effort this time, Takayama on the verge of breaking out as a megastar, Yuji Nagata FUCKING OWNS, Minoru Tanaka's bizarre videogame gimmick, EVIL HEAT, Love & Energy forever, a damn great match to close things out, and much more!

Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up- @wrestleomakase!

This week on Wrestling Omakase we take a completely randomized look back at the "granddaddy of them all", WCW Starrcade!

John is joined by returning guest & VOW contributor Matt Francis (@archivingmatt) for his third WCW Retro Roulette episode of the year! Before they get into the episode topic John discusses attending AEW's Dynamite/Rampage taping at UBS Arena on Long Island this past Wednesday, including a little bit about how people apparently don't understand what crowd numbers in certain buildings actually mean. Once that's all out of the way they get into this episode's randomly selected six matches from six randomly selected years of WCW Starrcade- if you want to be surprised you should stop reading now and go ahead and listen, but otherwise here they are below (all can be found on Peacock in the US and WWE Network in the rest of the world):

1994: Johnny B. Badd vs. Arn Anderson (World TV Title)

1995: Randy Savage vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan (World Cup of Wrestling)

1996: Hollywood Hogan vs. Roddy Piper

1997: Eddie Guerrero vs. Dean Malenko (Cruiserweight Title)

1998: Goldberg vs. Kevin Nash (World Heavyweight Title)

2000: Mike Awesome vs. Bam Bam Bigelow (Ambulance Match)

Topics that come up along the way include: Honky Tonk Man is mad about his lack of a contract, Arn Anderson is a more than suitable replacement, Johnny B. Badd was more popular than you probably remember, the WORLD CUP OF WRESTLING draws a bad buy rate, WCW can't spell Tenzan, Savage was pretty bad at this point, a match that looks awesome on paper just doesn't live up to it at all, how fitting that was for one of the biggest letdown PPVs of all time, nobody remembers how over Kevin Nash was at the time (and WCW flushed it down the toilet!), when backstage politics attack, THE WRATH OF THE CATTLE PROD, very unconvincing disguises, WCW's "unique" booking for Mike Awesome, camera shots that give away gimmicked ambulance roofs, and a whole lot more.

Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up- @wrestleomakase!

This week on Wrestling Omakase we take a completely randomized look back at WWE's late November/Thanksgiving tradition, Survivor Series!

John is joined by first time guest & VOW contributor Liam Byrne (@tvtimelimit), who as we discuss probably sets some kind of record for "most Omakase guests with the same first name". Liam goes into his history as a fan and why he maybe hasn't appeared on an episode until now, and John makes a quick little detour to talk about their trip to the new UBS Arena this past Wednesday at Belmont (an arena that will soon host two wrestling shows over the next couple weeks!). Once that's all out of the way they get into this episode's randomly selected six matches from six randomly selected years of Survivor Series- if you want to be surprised you should stop reading now and go ahead and listen, but otherwise here they are below (all can be found on Peacock in the US and WWE Network in the rest of the world):

1987: Randy Savage, Ricky Steamboat, Jake Roberts, Jim Duggan & Brutus Beefcake vs. The Honky Tonk Man, Hercules, King Harley Race, Ron Bass & Danny Davis

1990: Hulk Hogan, The Big Bossman, Jim Duggan & Tugboat vs. Earthquake, Haku, The Barbarian & Dino Bravo

1998: Steve Austin vs. Big Bossman

2000: The Rock vs. Rikishi

2003: Eddie & Chavo Guerrero vs. Doug & Danny Basham

2016: Brock Lesnar vs. Goldberg

Topics that come up along the way include: how weird is it that we got randomly assigned the very first match in Survivor Series history, Randy Savage's first face turn, a couple wrestlers who usually get ragged on manage to look pretty good here, Hulk Hogan is still extremely over, the future Natural Disasters collide (but not really), the history of the Deadly Game tournament, is this the best thing Vince Russo ever did, inconsistent heel authority figure logic, Rikishi's disaster of a heel turn, Rock does everything in his power to make his cousin look like a monster, the very strange Bashams/Shaniqua gimmick, incredible creepy spots in hindsight, the start of the second brand split, the strange build up for Brock vs. Goldberg, and finally: WWE booking critiques that look kinda pointless in hindsight.

Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up- @wrestleomakase!

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: https://discord.gg/zWEgNK5

VOW Network Discord: https://discord.gg/rGTXwXd

This week on Wrestling Omakase we review two big shows from the past weekend- AEW's Full Gear and NJPW's Battle in the Valley!

John is joined by returning guest Chris Samsa (@TheChrisSamsa) as they start out with some quick updates on their lives and then talk for quite a bit on the dual possibilities of reopening borders and crowd cheering in Japan. They then get into a full review of AEW's Full Gear PPV from Minneapolis, talking about the good, the bad and the ugly from the latest show. The good: an awesome main event, a match with some real emotion in Punk/Kingston (plus some chat about how Punk maybe needs that kind of emotion to hit anything close to his peak) and an amazing opener from MJF & Darby Allin. The bad: A very weirdly and unevenly paced show with two walk-n-brawls, and just a general feeling of doing way too much that makes the show kind of drag. The ugly: Jay Lethal signing with the company, and what it says about them.

Then they turn their attention to NJPW's Battle in the Valley, as they discuss some of the issues that New Japan's US brand continues to have. They break down a pretty fun show though with plenty of good matches, and then rant (and debate a little) about the rather convoluted set up for the upcoming Tokyo Dome nights of Wrestle Kingdom.

Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up (both free feed & Patreon)- @wrestleomakase!

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: https://discord.gg/zWEgNK5

VOW Network Discord: https://discord.gg/rGTXwXd

This week on Wrestling Omakase we take our second completely randomized look back at WCW's annual spooktacular, Halloween Havoc!

John is joined by returning guest Matt Francis (@archivingmatt), as they start out with a bit of a longer off-topic discussion than usual. John & Matt discuss weird trick or treat times before John gets into the recent announcement that the Wrestling Omakase Patreon will be going on hiatus (although you can still check out the rather extensive archives at any time for only $5, as John goes over on the episode- http://patreon.com/wrestlingomakase), and that then evolves into a discussion on why the current state of wrestling and wrestling discussion isn't doing a lot for either of them. Once that's out of the way they get into the actual topic, which is six randomly selected matches from six randomly selected years of WCW's annual Halloween Havoc pay-per-view. If you'd like to be surprised you can of course stop reading here, but if you'd like to know ahead of time what matches we got, please see below (all can be found on Peacock in the US and WWE Network elsewhere):

1990: Rick & Scott Steiner vs. The Nasty Boys

1991: Oz vs. Bill Kazmaier

1992: Big Van Vader vs. Nikita Koloff

1994: Arn Anderson vs. Dustin Rhodes

1995: Hulk Hogan vs. The Giant

1999: Sting vs. Goldberg

Topics that come up along the way include: a strangely fun Nasty Boys match, why wouldn't you have these guys under contract before you start this big feud, the no longer Great or Powerful Oz, the weird and short career of Bill Kazmaier that took him from Stampede to RINGS to WCW, WCW announcers spending more time about New Japan's next Tokyo Dome show than the match they're supposed to be calling, Dustin Rhodes not listening to Arn Anderson when he's talking, a weirdly non-grudge feeling grudge match, the start of crash TV era 90s wrestling is right here, Hulk Hogan's weird "darkside" gimmick, the SUMO MONSTER TRUCK MATCH, the Giant dies and then rises from the grave in the span of about 15 minutes, Vince Russo takes over WCW and immediately does away with all their existing storylines, the "pin me may me" Hogan angle that no one even remembers, Sting really never said this was for the WCW title did he, and finally: Madusa kicking ass.

Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up- @wrestleomakase!

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: https://discord.gg/zWEgNK5

VOW Network Discord: https://discord.gg/rGTXwXd

This week on Wrestling Omakase we review the penultimate nights of the NJPW G1 Climax for each block, plus give our top 10 G1 matches so far and more!

The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. The vast majority of our coverage of the G1 Climax lives exclusively on the Patreon- every previous night of both tournaments that wasn't covered on a free episode, and all three nights that remain, are covered exclusively on the Patreon! Don't miss out on our coverage of the final shows of the G1! Plus, you can listen to every single piece of audio we've done since the start- including our Tokyo Dome series covering every single Dome main event of the 1990s! Feeling nostalgic about Okada/Tanahashi after their recent G1 match? Then check out our series covering the entire Okada/Tanahashi match series as well! And finally, don't forget that you get more full episodes too- every week there isn't a new show on the free feed, there's a full length episode exclusive to the Patreon! You can get all of this right now for only $5 at http://patreon.com/wrestlingomakase

John is joined by returning guest Jon Hernandez (@OldJonHernandez) as they start out by discussing all sorts of random stuff: how both of them have been attending all sorts of wrestling shows lately, how they're both attending the NJPW Strong tapings in Philadelphia this coming weekend as well, HOT TUBS, the return of the NHL, the NHL's weird recent history on national television, Charles Barkley, more Revolutionary Girl Utena and a little Neon Genesis Evangelion, and frankly some other random crap John's probably forgetting about now.

Once that's all out of the way they get into the main topic, as they break down Nights 15 & 16 of the G1 Climax- the penultimate night of each block. They start with a great Night 15, including a third straight awesome Great-O-Khan main event. They then break down the many confusing different tiebreaker scenarios heading into the final night for A block. Then they turn their attentions to the unfortunately quite bad Night 16. John gives another EVIL rant right after promising they weren't going to do another EVIL rant, and they discuss how Kazuchika Okada apparently will explode if he wrestles a match under 20 minutes. They wrap things up by breaking down the much, much simpler scenario to decide who wins B block, and then giving each of their top 10 matches in the G1 so far.

Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter to submit questions for future episodes and get alerts every time new episodes go up (both free feed & Patreon)- @wrestleomakase!

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: https://discord.gg/zWEgNK5

VOW Network Discord: https://discord.gg/rGTXwXd