Wrestling Omakase

This week on Wrestling Omakase we break down Night 9 of the NJPW G1 Climax from Nagoya and the finals of NOAH's N-1 Victory from Korakuen Hall!

The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. The vast majority of our coverage of both the G1 Climax & NOAH N-1 Victory lives exclusively on the Patreon- every previous night of both tournaments that wasn't covered on a free episode, and every single night of the G1 going forward until the next one, is covered exclusively on the Patreon! Don't miss out on our daily coverage of both tournaments! 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 Liam McCann (@liam_d_mccann) as they start off with a discussion of sports heartbreak and fandom. This has been brought on by the fact that John is a Toronto Blue Jays fan and they were eliminated from the MLB postseason earlier on Sunday in about the worst way possible, but they touch on other sports too (mainly NHL hockey and Premier League soccer), and the whole discussion is probably pretty universal to the sports fan experience (they even compare it to some of what it's like to be a fan of a specific wrestler as well!). The conclusion: don't be a sports fan, do drugs instead, it's better for you.

Once that's out of the way the two of them turn to the ongoing NJPW G1 Climax, specifically Night 9 (10/3) from Nagoya. John opens up with a bit of a rant on how different clap crowds can actually make a huge difference, no matter what anyone else has told you, before they get into a very good show with two strong matches at the end as the highlight. Liam disagrees a bit on Ibushi/Shingo and on Kota Ibushi's current arc in general, so there's quite a lot on that, but they go into every match in some detail. Then they give a standings update for the A block and look ahead to the next two nights of the G1.

Then it's on to Pro Wrestling NOAH, as they discuss the final night of their own N-1 Victory tournament, also on 10/3 from Korakuen Hall. John & Liam review the entire show in detail including two great semifinal matches and an absolutely outstanding finals. Plus: confusing talk about age in the old fuck offer six-man! NOSAWA continues to book the juniors like an absolute mad man! And a look ahead to possible matches for January's big Budokan show, as John somehow forgets that Go Shiozaki exists and should be coming back soon! Look, they had a rough day.

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 kick off the NJPW G1 Climax with the opening two nights, along with some bonus coverage of the NOAH N-1 Victory!

The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. The vast majority of our coverage of both the G1 Climax & NOAH N-1 Victory will live exclusively on the Patreon- every single night of both tournaments from now until our next free episode in two weeks will be covered on the Patreon in detail! Don't miss out on our daily coverage of both tournaments! Plus, you can listen to every single piece of audio we've done since the start- including an extensive G1 preview that can help you pick which nights to watch and which to skip (if you're looking to do that sort of thing), plus our Tokyo Dome series covering every single Dome main event of the 1990s! Feeling nostalgic about Okada/Tanahashi after their match this past weekend? Then check out our series covering every single Okada/Tanahashi match in history 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 Harley Duncan. Harley's under lockdown still in Australia while John recounts their recent trip to western New York to see Niagara Falls and a bunch of other stuff- kind of mean on their part, really! Once that's out of the way John & Harley review both the opening nights of NJPW's G1 Climax 31! They talk a little about some of the dumb New Japan takes that have been out there lately (including some folks telling on themselves when it comes to how little they've been watching....), while breaking down each and every match so far in detail. It was a great start to the tournament, and they go over all of it, including the "big three" matches of Naito/ZSJ, Ishii/Shingo and Okada/Tanahashi!

Then the two of them turn their attentions to NOAH's N-1 Victory tournament, specifically Night 2 from the empty arena. John & Harley discuss how difficult it was going from even a clap crowd New Japan show to the fully empty arena of NOAH, and then break down two subpar matches along with two better ones (one that was much better).

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 review the greatest pay-per-view in AEW history, discuss two good shows from NJPW, and talk about a LOT of very stupid takes!

The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. Our series covering every Tokyo Dome main event in order is about to finish the 1990s, and you can listen to all of the past episodes right now covering it all! We discuss the main events of each show in detail but also talk about everything else going on in Japanese wrestling around that time, so you can relive the nWo Japan split, Inoki's ill-fated UFO promotion, the shocking death of Giant Baba and all the related fallout, and a lot more as you follow along with us. Plus, coming up this month will be daily audio coverage of the G1 Climax and NOAH N-1 Victory tournaments, which you'll only find on the Patreon. And finally, don't forget that you get more full episodes on there 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 Chris Samsa (@TheChrisSamsa) from VOW & Sport of Pro Wrestling. They start off with some quick thoughts on both their live adventures- John being in attendance for the Toronto Blue Jays CRUSHING the New York Yankees and Chris being in attendance for one of the greatest North American PPVs of all time. One is a little more relevant than the other for sure. They then get into a very long (nearly 2 hours!) and very detailed review of AEW All Out, as they discuss all the matches and big debuts, what stood out for them and what didn't work quite as well, and much more. Chris also gives us the live perspective throughout the show of course, which is very nice to have.

Once that's out of the way they turn their attention to good 'ol New Japan Pro Wrestling. John has read some very, very stupid and repetitive takes on Twitter lately and sounds off a little about them before the two of them get into full reviews of two Wrestle Grand Slam in Metlife Dome events, two shows that were 2021 NJPW in a nutshell: no atmosphere whatsoever but a lot of great wrestling. There was some bad stuff too though for sure, and they discuss that as well. They also quickly go through the G1 blocks and what stands out to them, if anything. Finally, they wrap things up with your mailbag questions on the end of DAMNATION in DDT, who we'd want to redeem our nutz, what we think the Power Struggle main event will be and more.

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 reviewed the alleged and the actual biggest party of the summer- WWE Summerslam and DDT Wrestle Peter Pan!

The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. Our series covering every Tokyo Dome main event in order is pulling up on the end of the 1990s, and we've just recently put up all sorts of great episodes- Misawa vs. Kawada! Antonio Inoki's retirement! Riki Choshu's retirement! And much more! We discuss the main events of each show in detail but also talk about everything else going on in Japanese wrestling around that time, so you can relive the nWo Japan split, Inoki's ill-fated UFO promotion and a lot more as you follow along with us. Plus, coming up in September will be daily audio coverage of the G1 Climax and NOAH N-1 Victory tournaments, which you'll only find on the Patreon. And finally, don't forget that you get more full episodes on there 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 Jamie (@JamieOD), who of course runs the English language DDT resource Dramatic DDT (http://dramaticddt.wordpress.com). John & Jamie start out by discussing CM Punk's return to wrestling for AEW from this past Friday, as John touches on what it was like to see him come back after following along with his early career in Ring of Honor (most of which they attended live). Then the two of them turn their attention to the first main topic of the episode, as they review WWE Summerslam from Las Vegas in detail. They go over each and every match on the show, discussing the good (a couple strong matches), the bad (yet another crappy WWE live crowd) and the ugly (the complete destruction of Bianca Belair and the total debacle that was Goldberg/Lashley). Also as John types up this episode description they just remembered they forgot to talk about the Miz & Morrison/Xavier Woods segment, so they just wanted to note here that it absolutely sucked.

Once WWE's out of the way they head over to the land of DDT for a much more enjoyable overall show, Wrestle Peter Pan from Kawasaki. They again review every match in detail including the electric current bat match with Onita, the teenage wrestlers, a trio of fantastic matches, and the Saki Akai/Yuji Hino storyline that was better "storytelling" than anything the storytellers of WWE pull off nowadays. Finally, they wrap things up by taking some of your mailbag questions on both promotions, as Jamie explains why DDT's comedy is superior to WWE's and much more.

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 a completely randomized look back at the biggest party of the summer, SummerSlam!

The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. Patrons get so much bonus audio that never hits the free feed, most notably two full length exclusive episodes per month. Right now we're in the middle of our series looking back at every Tokyo Dome main event in order- we just got through 1997, as we discussed the very memorable circumstances behind the start of the famous Shinya Hashimoto vs. Naoya Ogawa feud. We break down each of these main events in detail but also go into lots of other notes and memorable moments from each and every Tokyo Dome show! Plus, our most recent Patreon exclusive full episode reviewed the NJPW WRESTLE GRAND SLAM in Tokyo Dome show in detail, along with all the major matches from the Summer Struggle shows from Osaka & Nagoya! You can also listen to all of our previous audio, including our various rivalry series (Okada/Tanahashi, Naito/Ishii, Naito/Tanahashi), our series reviewing matches submitted by Omakase patrons, ANIME OMAKASE, and much more, with access only costing $5 right now at www.patreon.com/wrestlingomakase!

John is joined by returning guests Jeri Evagood (@The_JerriestJer) & Neil David (@chubby_cthulhu) for our SummerSlam Retro Roulette episode! As always for a Retro Roulette episode, we chose six random years and then chose a random match (all done through an RNG) from each one. You can see below for what we ended up with, or skip this and go right to the episode if you'd rather be surprised. All matches can of course be found on either Peacock or WWE Network, depending on where you live/are pretending to live.

1991: The British Bulldog, The Dragon & The Texas Tornado vs. Power And Glory (Hercules & Paul Roma) & The Warlord

1999: D-Lo Brown vs. Jeff Jarrett

2000: Chris Benoit vs. Chris Jericho

2005: The Undertaker vs. Randy Orton

2008: CM Punk vs. John Bradshaw Layfield

2013: CM Punk vs. Brock Lesnar

Topics that come up along the way include: who does and doesn't have nostalgia for early 90s WWF, The Dragon is maybe every Vince-ism combined, who cares about two titles when you have two large fake breasts to talk about, a very stereotypical Vince Russo finish, doing a 2 out of 3 falls match for literally no reason, THIS FEUD MUST CONTINUE (except it oddly didn't really!), a Taker vs. Orton match that nobody seems to remember (maybe for good reason), Bob Orton's fake wig makes Undertaker very mad, we swear we didn't fix the results to give us two CM Punk matches while his name is in the news lately (honest!), Punk's flaccid 2008 title run, Punk and Brock tear the house down, and finally: forgetting how much Paul Heyman was involved.

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 once again take a completely randomized look at events from the Tokyo Dome!

The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. Patrons get so much bonus audio that never hits the free feed, most notably two full length exclusive episodes per month. Right now we're in the middle of our series looking back at every Tokyo Dome main event in order- we're in 1995, in the midst of the memorable NJPW vs. UWFi trilogy. We break down the main events in detail but also go into lots of other notes and memorable moments on each and every Tokyo Dome show! Plus, our most recent Patreon exclusive full episode recapped both NJPW Summer Struggle in Sapporo shows in detail, plus previewed the upcoming WRESTLE GRAND SLAM in Tokyo Dome event and more! You can also listen to all of our previous audio, including our various rivalry series (Okada/Tanahashi, Naito/Ishii, Naito/Tanahashi), our series reviewing matches submitted by Omakase patrons, ANIME OMAKASE, and much more. You can get access to all of this and much more right now for only $5 at www.patreon.com/wrestlingomakase!

John is joined once again by returning guest and longtime friend Bryan Quinlan (@IM_NOT_QUINLAN). They start by apologizing for the fan in the background, which is quite loud, but it felt like 100 degrees in New York City when they recorded this and they didn't wanna die of heatstroke. They then get into the reason why they're here, breaking down six different randomly selected matches from six different randomly selected Tokyo Dome shows, in our second episode talking random Dome matches! They have six entirely different Dome shows from the last time around, so here's the full list of matches covered on the episode in order:

SWS Wrestlefest: Mr. Perfect vs. The Texas Tornado, 3/30/91- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7rmbLEMMBc

NJPW Wrestling World: Jushin Thunder Liger vs. Koji Kanemoto, 1/4/99- https://njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00153_1_4

NJPW Wrestling World: Toshiaki Kawada vs. Hiroyoshi Tenzan, 1/4/01- https://front.njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00157_1_6

NOAH Departure: Mitsuharu Misawa & Yoshinari Ogawa vs. Keiji Mutoh & Taiyo Kea, 7/10/04- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJWD1MCNcaE

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 5: Takashi Sugiura & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Hirooki Goto & Kazuchika Okada, 1/4/11- https://front.njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00175_1_9

NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 7: Prince Devitt vs. Kota Ibushi vs. Low Ki, 1/4/13- https://njpwworld.com/p/s_series_00203_1_7

Topics that come up along the way include: boy did we not expect to watch a WWF match on this, three people involved in this match are dead (and one of them is a pedophile), the iron claw is over at least, Kanemoto is a jerk, Liger doesn't sell the leg, why did they bother with this IWGP title tournament, Kawada and Tenzan just beat the absolute piss out of each other, everyone wanted to see Misawa vs. Mutoh but this is the best we got, some history on Taiyo Kea, this man looks nothing like Kazuchika Okada, how did Okada tear himself away from that TNA excursion to do this match, what in god's name is wrong with Low Ki, and finally: three ways are still bad.

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 wrap up our King of DDT coverage with a full review of the finals from Korakuen Hall, and take a look at new promotion GLEAT's official launch show from Tokyo Dome City Hall!

The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. We just completed our series watching all ten of the Naito/Tanahashi singles matches that were available online, and you can relive their entire decade-spanning rivalry with us right now! With that now behind us we'll be resuming our series covering every Tokyo Dome main event in order (we left off in 1995, so we're about to hit all the NJPW vs. UWFi stuff!) leading up to New Japan's rescheduled WRESTLE GRAND SLAM event at the end of July. You get access to all of this plus everything else we've ever done- our 1st Round coverage of the 2021 King of DDT, exclusive full episodes, matches requested by patrons, all the major tournaments of the past year covered, ANIME OMAKASE, and much more! Next week we'll have exclusive coverage of the NJPW Summer Struggle in Sapporo shows, only on the Patreon! You can get all of this right now for only $5 at http://patreon.com/wrestlingomakase

John is joined by first time guest Devin (@MoreThanMeatJoy) as they start by doing what they always do with first time guests- ask them to get into their background with wrestling in general and puro specifically. Once that's out of the way they talk about what else has been going on- John is very excited about their new soundbar and Dolby Atmos, Devin watched the original Dragonball and saw Goku's little wee-wee, John was thrilled to welcome Bakarina And Her Fabulous Bisexual Harem back to the airwaves with the return of Hamefura, and who knows what other random stuff they talked about.

But then they do turn their attention to some actual Japanese wrestling shows, starting with the King of DDT finals from July 4th at Korakuen Hall. John and Devin discuss the semi final matches, the Danshoku Akai Adventures, and the finals in detail. Plus, some breaking news on a big upcoming tag team match for their outdoor Kawasaki Peter Pan show in August and the start of the next D-Ou.

After the DDT talk is over, John and Devin head over to GLEAT to discuss their official launch show (after months of "soft launch" shows), GLEAT Ver. 1. This is a great primer for you if you don't know who any of these wrestlers or this promotion are, as they introduce the various wrestlers in each match and where they came from, plus go over the rules for the UWF style matches (and how they differ from the old UWF rules) in detail. They also of course review all the matches as well. Finally, they wrap things up by going over the upcoming GLEAT dates for late July/early August.

This week’s edition of Wrestling Omakase is sponsored by Manscaped. Get 20% off + free shipping with promo code OMAKASE at http://www.manscaped.com

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 review two shows from Korakuen Hall: the 2nd Round of the King of DDT tournament and Tokyo Joshi's 6/17 show, Additional Attack.

The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. We've hit the home stretch of our series covering every Naito vs. Tanahashi match in order, as we're right in the middle of their legendary 2017 trilogy! Listen now as we go over their epic match from Wrestle Kingdom 10, and coming this week we'll discuss the rematches from Dominion & the G1 Climax! Plus: our annual Mid-Year Awards, held every year at the end of June, will be this coming week and exclusively on the Omakase Patreon! And once the Naito/Tanahashi series wraps up, we'll be resuming our series covering every Tokyo Dome main event in order (we left off in 1995, so we're about to hit all the NJPW vs. UWFi stuff!) leading up to New Japan's rescheduled WRESTLE GRAND SLAM event at the end of July. You get access to all of this plus everything else we've ever done- our 1st Round coverage of the 2021 King of DDT, exclusive free episodes, matches requested by patrons, all the major tournaments of the past year covered, ANIME OMAKASE, and much more! You can get all of this right now for only $5 at http://patreon.com/wrestlingomakase

John is joined by returning guest Hayley (@choerrycoloured) as they start out with the ever-popular anime discussion, going over shows they've been watching lately, more thoughts on the return of cons and more. Once that's out of the way they turn to the King of DDT 2nd Round show, held on June 20th at Korakuen Hall, breaking it all down match-by-match. They get into a disappointing main event, another Sasaki Screwjob™, Takeshita and MAO having a friendly bro battle, Endo and Higuchi tearing the house down, a rant on how good Tetsuya Endo is (and a prominent British flippy wrestler he's better than), some upcoming DDT announcements, a fun 3-way tag, UTAMI'S DAD GETS SOME, and the saga of the Paulie clan. Plus, somehow a digression about AEW stables is in there somewhere. I don't know how that happened either.

Once that's finally done they head over to the magical world of Tokyo Joshi to break down their June 17th Additional Attack show, also from Korakuen Hall. They start with a long review of the NEO Biishiki-gun vs. Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh main event, a truly awesome match that they break down from all angles, which includes another rant on why Sakisama is so great. Then they break down the rest of the show, including long explanations on Japanese Gal/Gyaru culture (due to "Gal Wrestler" Marika Kobashi challenging for the International Princess Title in the semi-main) and the 48/46 groups (because SKE48 idol and new wrestler Yuki Arai has her first ever singles match here), and this has to be the only wrestling podcast you can come to for that kind of information. If there's another one, I'd love to meet them.

This week’s edition of Wrestling Omakase is sponsored by Manscaped. Get 20% off + free shipping with promo code OMAKASE at http://www.manscaped.com

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 review two of the biggest shows from Japan in quite a while: NJPW Dominion and the CyberFight Festival!

The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. We're in the middle of our series covering every Tanahashi vs. Naito match in order, but we'll be taking a pause this week to bring you exclusive tournament coverage of the 1st Round of the 2021 King of DDT! Plus: our latest Retro Roulette episode, NJPW Dominion Retro Roulette, coming next week exclusively to the Patreon! You get access to all of this plus everything else we've ever done- matches requested by patrons, every Tokyo Dome main event through 1995 (with more to come), all the major tournaments of the past year covered, ANIME OMAKASE, and much more! You can get all of this right now for only $5 at http://patreon.com/wrestlingomakase

John is joined by returning guest, VOW contributor and ex-Wednesday Wargames co-host Liam (@TheGLEATMuta), as they start out by discussing how bad American wrestling is for some reason. Also, John gives Liam some lessons on hockey (this happens at the start AND the end of the show) while cursing the damn Islanders. Once that's out of the way they get into the first of two major shows, NJPW Dominion, and Shingo Takagi's huge IWGP World Heavyweight Title victory. The two of them break it down from every possible angle, going quite a while on both Shingo's win, what it could mean about NJPW's future booking plans (and what the original plans may have been before Will Ospreay lost his smile or whatever), and of course give a full review of the match. They then break down the rest of the card, including Kota Ibushi vs. Jeff Cobb, the junior title match and more.

Then they turn their attention to the stacked CyberFight Festival, the big interpromotional NOAH/DDT/Tokyo Joshi/Ganbare show from Saitama Super Arena. They review all FIFTEEN (!) matches, obviously some in a little more detail than others, starting at the top with a great triple main event and heading into some awesome NOAH vs. DDT matches, a not-quite-as-awesome undercard, some thoughts on the English commentary, and a whole lot more. Finally, they give a brief preview of the upcoming King of DDT 1st Round & Tokyo Joshi's next Korakuen, plus a couple notes on upcoming NOAH events.

This week’s edition of Wrestling Omakase is sponsored by Manscaped. Get 20% off + free shipping with promo code OMAKASE at http://www.manscaped.com

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 it's our first 5 Matches episode on the free feed in a very long time, as John & Jon discuss the ROH vs. CZW feud, Goto vs. Tanahashi from 2009, IRON HEAD FUJITA vs. Shibata from 2004 and more! If you haven't listened to a 5 Matches episode yet, each episode John and the guest each choose 2 matches to watch and talk about. Then we each choose a third match, which is put up to a vote right here on the Patreon, letting the patrons choose our fifth and final match to discuss. It's a fun retro format featuring all sorts of different wrestling!

The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. Right now on the Patreon we're currently reliving the Tetsuya Naito vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi rivalry, watching every singles match between the two of them that made tape. We're still right at the start but doing 2 per week, so it's a great time to jump onboard and follow along with this legendary feud (with plenty of historical notes and talk about the periods as well!). Coming up in a couple weeks, before the end of May, we'll be doing our Best of the Super Juniors Final Retro Roulette, as we discuss five randomly selected finals of NJPW's late spring classic! On top of all of this recent and upcoming stuff, you always get instant access to all of our archived content, including our many 1 Match episodes covering everything from Omakase patron requests, early Dome main events and famous rivalries, our exclusive Retro Roulette & 5 Matches episodes (if you enjoy this format there's MANY more on the Patreon!), ANIME OMAKASE, and more! You can get all of this right now for only $5 at http://patreon.com/wrestlingomakase

John is joined by returning guest & VOW contributor Jon Hernandez (@OldJonHernandez), and they start things off with 26 minutes (!) of completely off topic banter. So if that's your sort of thing, feel free to indulge as we talk indoor dining awkwardness, Atlantic City (and gambling in general), the start of the NHL playoffs and the end of the NHL on NBC era, and much more. Or, you can just skip ahead to get to this week's five matches, which are as follows:

1. Daisuke Masaoka v. Violento Jack, FREEDOMS 11/13/17 (IWTV: https://independentwrestling.tv/player/Jdv1RkP4bN/1542, match starts around 1:41:25)

2. Kazuyuki Fujita vs. Katsuyori Shibata, NJPW 7/19/04 (https://dailymotion.com/video/x3dd3v)

3. Chris Hero, Necro Butcher & Super Dragon vs. Samoa Joe, Adam Pearce & BJ Whitmer, ROH 4/22/06 (https://bilibili.com/s/video/BV1XE411r74G)

4. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Hirooki Goto, NJPW 5/3/09 (NJPW World: https://njpwworld.com/p/s_archive_65_1_08)

5. Bret Hart vs. Jean-Pierre LaFitte, WWF 9/24/95 (Peacock: https://peacocktv.com/watch/playback/vod/GMO_00000000378101_01/75be8263-fe0a-33b9-bfec-abf00b88e948, match starts around 1:09:45)

Topics that come up along the way include: two deathmatch guys you should know if you don't already, HEEL DON'T PLAY, matches just on wood look weird but also awesome, Shibata's departure from NJPW (and then soon after from wrestling in general), Iron Head Fujita's IWGP title reigns and their inauspicious endings, an awesome match between two bad-asses, ROH vs. CZW, That Super Dragon vs. John Story Again, shoot monkey-flips, having to look at yourself from fifteen years ago, a brief history of Hirooki Goto IWGP Heavyweight Title challenges, how Goto & Tanahashi work differently (and how they work the same) now vs. twelve years ago, PCO the Pirate, Bret Hart's wonderful 1995 feuds (and promo lines), and a match that was probably too good for the WWF in 1995.

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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 time: https://bit.ly/3dv3BjF