Wrestling Omakase

Episode 2 of the three-episode Arametha takeover is a bonafide Korakuen-palooza, as the two of them discuss new Korakuen shows from NJPW (a big Road to G1 show featuring a major title change and then Tiger Mask's retirement), STARDOM (featuring an awesome red belt match), Dragongate (yet another middling show) and NOAH (which the two hosts strenuously disagreed on about almost everything!). They also preview a busy upcoming summer in Japanese wrestling with breakdowns of NJPW's G1 Climax and STARDOM's 5STAR GP tournaments, including predictions and full rundowns of both opening nights. And then they preview Dragongate's biggest show of...

It's an annual tradition here on Wrestling Omakase, and John isn't going to get the fact that they are very, very jet lagged put a stop to it! They're joined by an all star panel of frequent Omakase guests for our 2026 Mid-Year Awards, as all five choose the best & worst of the first half of a busy year in Japanese wrestling! See below for the full list of awards that were covered on the episode, in order.

Best Tag Team

Best Feud

Most Improved

Most Overrated/Overpushed

It's another Live from Japan episode, this time covering STARDOM The Conversion. John (while a little drunk) and Matt break down what was possibly the show of the year, featuring shocking results, a mega-hot crowd, and a whole lot more. Very short description because I'm in a rush to go to club MOGRA. Go listen. Or don't, it makes no difference to me really.

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It's the THREE HUNDRETH EPISODE of Wrestling Omakase (!!), and in very fitting fashion we are live from Japan! John is joined by first time guest Matt from their hotel room in Osaka for a full review of an eventful NJPW Dominion show from Osaka Jo Hall. Lots of live notes of course on the building and what the crowd was like in person as they break it all down match by match. A bit of a shorter episode than usual this week (the izakaya was calling us to be honest), but definitely a fun one!

John is back on another Japan trip eve-eve, so they're filled with restless energy at the prospect of soon being back in a giant metal tube for 14 hours and they're pretty sure it showed! Thankfully returning guest Velkej is here to help them break down the end of the NJPW Best of the Super Juniors tournament, and boy is there a lot to talk about: the very divisive winner, who had the best and worst tournaments, the giant gap between A and B blocks, and a whole lot more! Plus, a preview of a very underwhelming-on-paper Dominion card for...

John and Eric (fka Snazzy??) are back for another super packed episode of Wrestling Omakase! They start things off with some discussion of VOW's latest edition of the 30 Under 30 project- who they voted for that got lost in the honorable mentions, then as 30-16 dropped right when they started recording they go through that list as well. Plus, lots of discussion on young wrestlers and how different places do (or don't) develop them in general! Then it's on to a major topic from last week, as they talk the major news of NJPW's sale from Bushiroad to TV Asahi...

John is joined once again by Arametha, the man of many pronunciations, as they discuss mostly absolute nonsense for 45 minutes before finally getting into STARDOM's Queen Dynasty show! They break down another strong showing for the World Wonder Ring at the box office, a fun undercard, and then very notable first title defenses for Sayaka Kurara & Hanan! After that it's over to New Japan for continuing coverage of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, covering night 4 from Korakuen Hall (the final true dual block show for a while) before heading into single block nights from Osaka, Hyogo & Kyoto...

John is back alongside returning guest Velkej Bracha as they open things up with the start of NJPW's annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament! They discuss all the tournament action from nights 1 through 3 all around Tokyo, breaking down which performances have been entertaining and which ones have been grating so far (and there's been plenty of both!). Then they head back to AJPW to wrap up their surprisingly good 2026 Champion Carnival, in front of one of their biggest crowds in years at Ota, before looking ahead to some big upcoming shows next month.

...

John is back on the air for a special split episode! They start things out with returning guest Chris from Social Suplex, making his first appearance since the MOTY episode a few months back. After much complaining about broken phones and Apple bullshit they reminisce a little about being in Vegas for the Marvelous & West Coast shows, which is an excellent transition into the review of Marvelous' huge 10th Anniversary Show from Yokohama Buntai! They discuss a divisive main event and a ton of other huge matches. Then it's over to Sendai Girls for a typically low key but...

The John & John connection is back on the airwaves as John is once again joined by John Bivins to break down, well, fewer wrestling shows than they originally planned! John (Classic) is sorry for the bad mood they were in at the start of this podcast, but at least they cheered themselves up by accidentally doxxing someone! Which they edited out, don't worry. Anyway! NJPW put on two Wrestling Dontaku shows that weren't very good, and John & John take you through all of it. Then it's over to Tokyo Joshi for a Korakuen show that absolutely ruled, followed by...

John is back on the air with Paul from the Emerald Flowshow for an absolutely jam packed episode! First, it's a long and detailed review of STARDOM's biggest show of the year, All Star Grand Queendom, which for the second year in a row did their biggest attendance in company history at the Yokohama Arena! They break down each and every match, all the major title changes and where things might be going heading into May, and a whole lot more! Then it's over to NJPW for Redzone in Hiroshima featuring two title matches, as well as a look...

John is back from Las Vegas where they only lost SOME money! Yeah!! They're joined by Eric aka Snazzy from the Joshi-ing Around podcast & Social Suplex newsletter, who is in fact about to leave for a big trip himself- Japan for ASGQ, Marvelous' 10th anniversary show and more! They talk a bit about that before transitioning to a long recap of John's entire Vegas trip, including reviews of eight different wrestling shows- many of them from Japanese promotions- and a ton of random anecdotes on just what things were like on the ground. Then John & Snazzy do a full...

No exploding tooth or sudden new job could keep these two Johns off the air! Your humble host is having a slightly harder time talking than usual, but they gut through it for YOU, THE LISTENER, as they break down a surprisingly strong opening night of AJPW's 2026 Champion Carnival! Plus, full reviews of two STARDOM Korakuens back to back as the road to Yokohama Arena (finally) heats up, an enormous Sendai Girls Korakuen with a crazy woman almost breaking her face, THE FINAL GLEAT REVIEW IN THE HISTORY OF THIS PODCAST (maybe), and finally, two perfectly fine little Tokyo...

It's another episode of Wrestling Omakase, but this time around with a bit of a split format twist! First, John is joined by debuting guest Hal to discuss a very eventful (and apparently very divisive) NJPW Sakura Genesis show from Ryogoku (plus the two junior title matches from Korakuen a couple days earlier)! Why are people so stupid? We'll sure tell you! Then, Arametha comes back on to talk STARDOM's 3/31 Korakuen (and a surprisingly "meh" feeling about the Yokohama Arena build this year), DG's 4/6 Korakuen (their best show in god only knows how long), DDT's 4/5 Korakuen (feat. the incredibly...

Arametha is back with John and (for maybe the first time ever??) we're actually leading off with Tokyo Joshi! Wow! It's a long, detailed review of TJPW's biggest show of the year, Grand Princess from Ryogoku Kokugikan, featuring a legitimate match of the year contender, three big title changes, Super Sentai fights, idol singers with swords and a whole lot more! Then it's over to NJPW for a full and detailed preview of this weekend's Sakura Genesis show, with lots of baseless speculation on where the return of Will Ospreay might be going from here. Afterward we go right...

It's another John & John episode! John Bivins is back as the two of them break down an outstanding end to the New Japan Cup, talking the final two quarterfinal matches from night 10, both semifinals from night 11, and then the entire final night including of course the tournament final itself. Lots of talk about NJPW's young generation really stepping up, Shota Umino maybe forcing people to take some Ls (including at least one John!) and more, plus a look ahead to what the rest of the year might look like. Then it's over to DDT to talk an equally outstanding...

John and returning guest Velkej Bracha start with their usual banter/assorted nonsense, before then discussing the recent announcement of Shinjuku FACE's impending closure and the enormous hole it will be leaving in the Japanese wrestling scene. Then they discuss the last two nights of the STARDOM Cinderella Tournament in great detail, beginning with the 3/11 Korakuen and then the finals on 3/15 from Yokohama. They also look ahead to the enormous Saya Kamitani vs. Sayaka Kurara red belt vs. unit disbands match, and discuss where the promotion could possibly be going from here in general. Then it's over to NJPW...

It's another absurdly jampacked show covering all of the biggest promotions in Japan and some of the smallest too, men's and women's! John is joined by returning guest John DK for their first solo episode together (he had previously appeared during the WK preview) and they DEFINITELY DON'T WEEB OUT IN EMBARRASSING FASHION FOR 20+ MINUTES. Nosiree. Once they get into the actual wrestling topics for this episode, it's, uh, not a short list:

-Nights 1-3 of the 2026 STARDOM Cinderella Tournament covered in great detail! Already a great tournament and it's not even over yet!

-Nights 1...

"This week on Wrestling Omakase John is joined by returning guest (and A+ drinking buddy) Paul Volsch from the Emerald FlowShow, their first time talking since they were just in Japan together for Wrestle Kingdom season! They reminisce a little of course, John tries to convince Paul to go again in December, and then John reveals that they'll be making their Wrestlemania weekend debut this year! Then it's on to the actual shows we're here to talk about, starting with another one John saw live in person: NJPW's New Beginning in US show from beautiful (??) Trenton, New Jersey! Lots...

Wrestling Omakase is back with another packed episode, and unfortunately a lot of these shows were #bad. But hey, our returning guest Eric aka Snazzy from the Joshi-ing Around podcast and the Social Suplex newsletter is never bad! John & Eric discuss an absolutely wretched Dragongate Uno Dos Tres show from Fukuoka, as they unfortunately turned in a supremely poor effort for one of their biggest shows of the year. Then it's over to AJPW for their 2/23 Ota Ward Gym show, which cleared the DG show but was still fairly middling, before they wrap up the men's portion of the...

The John & John: Both Took At Least One Bump Connection™ are back once again, as John is joined by John Bivins for another long path through a whole lot of Japanese wrestling! First up: a full review of NJPW New Beginning in Osaka, featuring some weird vibes but also some great wrestling. Also was Jake Lee really that bad? The answer may surprise you! Then John & John give a full preview of the New Japan Cup as they both pick who will advance in each match, who will end up being the winner who goes on to Sakura Genesis an...

"We're back to our regular format for another episode of Omakase, as John is once again joined by returning guest Arametha to break down a ton of Japanese wrestling. But first: alpine skiing, for some reason. Then it's off to STARDOM to talk their 1/31 Korakuen and their VERY newsworthy 2/7 Osaka show, with some thoughts on Is There Too Much HATE, which seems to be the big debate of the day. Over in NJPW, they discuss two strong Road to shows and then preview the big New Beginning in Osaka event, as well as talk yet another major departure in...

With Japanese wrestling having an uncharacteristically quiet week, it's the perfect opportunity for us to take a look back at the best of 2025! Voices of Wrestling just rolled out its 2025 Match of the Year poll (always one of the coolest things the site does every year), and John is joined by four fellow voters: Joshi-ing Around's Tim Hunter, Social Suplex's Chris Whitehead, VOW's Sean Sedor and Brady from, uh, an organic cooking company? Anyway! All five of them go over their own personal ten favorite matches from 2025 in great detail, as it's basically 4+ hours of them raving about what...

Wrestling Omakase is finally back to its regularly scheduled programming, as we're once again going weekly from here on out following our part-time schedule earlier in January (due to a combo of Japan trip, post-Japan trip blues/jet lag and then work stuff). John is joined by returning guest Velkej Bracha to discuss NJPW's 1/19 & 1/20 Road to New Beginning Korakuens (feat. the end of EVIL, a classic tag match, and a hot unit feud), STARDOM's 1/21 Korakuen (feat. the Tokyo HATE Squad Showdown and more blissful Maki/Saori interactions) and Marigold's 1/24 Korakuen (feat. Mayu Iwatani's 15th anniversary, now without STARDOM IP...

Well folks, it's finally here. After we couldn't tear ourselves away from the karaoke rooms, Club MOGRA, or.....other activities long enough to get you an Omakase live from Japan this time, returning guest Arametha and I are here to recap 16 days and 22 shows of absolute insanity. We talk about attending everything from Wrestle Kingdom & Dream Queendom to Just Tap Out and Sportiva, plus answer YOUR questions about food, who the best karaoke performer was, what the gayest thing Arametha ever saw in his life was (hint: John did it), and much much more! I could never possibly do...

Wrestling Omakase is back already after going 9 and a half hours for our two part Wrestle Kingdom Week preview, but thankfully this time we kept it under 3.5 hours. Yes, somehow! John and returning guest Arametha are just a few days away from leaving from Japan and somehow manage to keep the off topic/trip chatter to a minimum (well, at the start at least- later on there's a Gundam tangent among other things), and that's a good thing because they have a whole bunch of final wrestling shows to talk about leading up to all the upcoming big ones...

It's the biggest episode of Wrestling Omakase ever- so big in fact that we had to split it in two, and here's the second part! John is back with an absolutely enormous lineup of 13 (!) guests for a two-part preview of Wrestle Kingdom Week, as we break down a simply absurd number of different promotions- 20 in total. All of our guests start by giving their opinions on each promotion's 2025 by giving them a letter grade, with thoughts on what went well and what could have gone better, as well as a look ahead at what 2026 could be for each one...

It's the biggest episode of Wrestling Omakase ever- so big in fact that this is only part 1! John is back with an absolutely enormous lineup of 13 (!) guests for a two-part preview of Wrestle Kingdom Week, as we break down a simply absurd number of different promotions- 20 in total. All of our guests start by giving their opinions on each promotion's 2025 by giving them a letter grade, with thoughts on what went well and what could have gone better, as well as a look ahead at what 2026 could be for each one in general. Then we break down the Wrestle...

This week on Wrestling Omakase, John is joined by returning guest Snazzy from Social Suplex & the Joshi-ing Around podcast, as they start out with- you guessed it- Japan travel talk! Whoa, what a shock! There's like 30 minutes of it I think if you'd like to fast forward to the actual wrestling- there's your damn timestamp for ya. Then they discuss the last four nights of the Goddesses of STARDOM Tag League- nights 10 (11/26), 11 (11/28), 12 (11/29) & the finals (11/30). They break down all the remaining tournament matches, discuss who the best & worst teams in the field ended up being, talk about the rather heartwarming...

"This week on Wrestling Omakase John is joined by returning guest Velkej Bracha as they start out by discussing bad booking (AEW, because John went to Full Gear for god knows what reason) and good booking (STARDOM, despite what you may have heard!). And, uh, vaccines I guess? Then they move into their planned topics for the episode, which start out with NOAH's 11/21 Cross Over show from Sendai. John discusses NOAH absolutely bombing at the gate, Kaito Kiyomiya's continued very bad year, Team 2000X being like the House without any of the charm, and the NOAH juniors saving the...

This week on Wrestling Omakase the double John connection is back at it again, as John is once again joined by John Bivins! First, some complaints about a much too tiny anime convention John just went to, plus John B. also went to a renaissance faire (can you believe both these people have girlfriends??) where he ran into a Randy Savage impersonator, for some reason. Hear all about it! Once the assorted wackiness is out of the way the two of them start off with a pair of Korakuen shows from joshi promotions: first, Sendai Girls' 11/16 show that just...

This week on Wrestling Omakase John is joined by returning guest Paul Volsch of VOW's own Emerald FlowShow (https://redcircle.com/shows/the-emerald-flowshow) as they start things out with a bit of discussion about the recent announcement of Kazuchika Okada as Hiroshi Tanahashi's retirement opponent. Once that unfortunate topic is out of the way, they break down NOAH's 11/8 Korakuen show which featured two title changes, one welcome and one not-so-welcome. Plus, they discuss where NOAH might be going for the big 1/1 Nippon Budokan show and look ahead to the rest of their November.

Next...

This week on Wrestling Omakase we talk a trio of big shows from big companies! But first, John REALLY doesn't want to talk about what just happened to the Toronto Blue Jays, but for some reason returning guest Arametha insisted, so there's that. Also there's a little bit of talk about everyone's favorite subject, AMERICAN POLITICS! Yeah! And some other stuff too, who even knows at this point. Probably the Japan trip I'm guessing.

The first real topic of the show though is STARDOM (as usual), as they talk about the Crimson Nightmare show...

This week on Wrestling Omakase we've got another packed trip around most of the Japanese wrestling world! John is joined by returning guest Snazzy from Joshi ing Around & Social Suplex as they start things out with Marigold's enormous Shine Forever show from Ryogoku, which they both agree was the fledgling promotion's very best show of all time so far! They discuss a stacked top of the lineup featuring the first Io Shirai vs. Mayu Iwatani match in well over seven years, a very divisive red belt match with a shocking finish, a white belt match they both have lots...

Wrestling Omakase is back for a very special episode! John is joined by returning guests Paul Wedding (@PaulEWedding on Twitter) and Jeff Andrews, as well as first time guest Adam Berger, to break down all the candidates in the Japan region of the 2025 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Hall of Fame voting in detail! Here's everybody covered on this week's episode in order:

-Satoshi Kojima & Hiroyoshi Tenzan

-Yoshiaki Fujiwara

-Hayabusa

-Masaaki Mochizuki

-Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi

-Zack Sabre Jr.

-Meiko Satomura

-Io...

After a brief one week absence Wrestling Omakase is back on the air with another packed show talking four shows from all around the Japanese wrestling world! John is joined by returning guest Paul Volsch of VOW's own Emerald FlowShow (https://redcircle.com/shows/the-emerald-flowshow) as they start things out with some chat about the upcoming Wrestle Kingdom trip they'll both be on together, plus John celebrates the Blue Jays beating the Yankees in the ALDS! Yeah! Once that's all out of the way it's time for NJPW talk, as they break down three matches from their recent 10/6 Korakuen...

Wrestling Omakase is back for another absolutely jam packed episode as John & returning guest Arametha have major shows from SIX different Japanese promotions to break down! But first, John celebrates the first AL East title from the Toronto Blue Jays in a decade! Sad, but also hell yeah! Then the two of them start out- where else- but with the World Wonder Ring STARDOM, as they cover their 9/23 Osaka & 9/27 Korakuen shows that both set new all-time company attendance records in their respective buildings! They discuss a hot promotion staying hotter, yet more mainstream attention in Japan, Natsupoi slapping the...

We're back for another episode of Wrestling Omakase as John is joined by a first time guest, another John, US indie wrestler John Bivins! John tells John all about working as an indie wrestler in the southeast US, how he got started and what it was like starting at the height of the pandemic in 2020, how the wrestling he does himself is very different from all the Japanese wrestling he enjoys watching as a fan and a whole lot more! Plus, John (as in your humble host) shares more baseball nervousness, the two talk a bit about flying nerves...

We're back for another week of Wrestling Omakase as John is once again joined by returning guest Snazzy from the Social Suplex newsletter (and the new Joshi ing Around podcast!) to discuss four very different wrestling promotions. They start things out by heading back to the world of Marigold for the first time in quite a while, as they discuss the 9/14 Marigold Dream Star GP finals. John is just parachuting in for this after having missed the tournament up to this point while Snazzy has seen it all, so he's able to give the lowdown on everyone's performances and...

We're back on Wrestling Omakase to discuss four very different Japanese wrestling promotions in another jampacked episode! John is joined by Milo (@primasteras on Twitter), someone they used to host Open the Voice Gate with right on this very network many, many years ago by now, making it a bit of a reunion for the two of them! Unfortunately the tragic passing of AJPW's Taishin Nagao absolutely had to be our first topic, so major content warning there (not that we really discuss anything that happened in detail though). The discussion of his death goes for about the first...