Eastern Lariat

Fumi Saito returns! The legendary Japamese wrestling journalist joins Dylan once again to sit down for a chat about Japanese wrestling and even questionable wrestling media and some rumors and the like we've heard about. We talk about NJPW and it's business, as well as STARDOM and what's going on there. We follow it up with a little bit of NOAH before we wrap up nice and tidy so Fumi can get back to his job. As always I appreciate the time given greatly! Hopefully you enjoy the show as well.   Follow the Eastern Lariat: @EasternLariat   Follow Dylan: @Viva_Zero   Follow Fumi: @fumihikodayo   Check out Fumi's other work including his shows like the Pacific Rim with Jim Valley on the Wrestling Observer Newsletter: https://www.f4wonline.com/podcasts/pacific-rim-pro-wrestling-podcast   As well as Write That Down! With Justin Knipper on the Fight Game Media Network: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/write-that-down-antonio-inoki-part-four-international/id1594255707?i=1000550724447   And as always if you want t

For the first time ever, NJPW and STARDOM, the top men's and women's companies in Japan unite to come up with a co-promoted show. Dylan is joined by his usual Patreon guest Sondre Bjørn to talk both major shows for STARDOM, first Gold Rush which featured two great title matches and one of the craziest main events of the year, and then the Historic X-Over, featuring a long discussion on the return of Kenny Omega to NJPW with his announced match vs. Will Ospreay as well as the crowning of the first ever IWGP Women's Champion between KAIRI vs. Mayu Iwatani. Follow @SondreBjorn - @Viva_Zero - @EasternLariat for more coverage of STARDOM, NJPW, & all the great pro wrestling companies in Japan, and if you want more podcasts featuring Dylan and a ton of other special guests give our Patreon, patreon.com/easternlariat a look! Enjoy the show with tons of airtime on this special all Joshi edition of the show, STARDOM, and all of pro wrestling!

With the end of the year approaching step by step all promotions are bracing themselves for the big shows coming up at the end of the year or in very early 2023. NOAH presented a double shot in Korakuen Hall with all GHC Title matches plus their DRAGONGATE joint venture Global Dream, All Japan's & Stardom's tag leagues started while DDT is closing in on their D King Grand Prix. While there's tons of stuff going on – All Japan are even running two tournaments at the same time – most companies don't feel as hot as they would love to and there's a number of reasons why that is. STRIGGA & Dylan bring up some of them and of course also point out what's working.

The traditional “big three” get a look at in the newest Eastern Lariat episode. It seems like All Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH have much more issues bubbling than New Japan Pro Wrestling right now so first STRIGGA & Dylan address All Japan's missed opportunities to pur over their younger talent to the degree where the crowd reactions are a clear indicator of wrong decisions made. Wrong decisions also is the focal point when it comes to GHC Heavyweight Champion Kaito Kiyomiya who doesn't come across like he should cosplaying Keiji Muto. Muto himself has his big match with Shinsuke Nakamura coming up so his retirement road is another big topic once again. In contrast to thee two promotiomns things seem to be on the upswing for NJPW after their well received Battle Autumn show from Osaka that saw Ren Narita & Shota Umino in prominent positions. Join in for some positivity on the “King of Sports”!

  Dylan is back with part 2 of the Wrestling Observer newsletter Hall of Fame coverage with another voter! This time it's Gerard di Trolio from the Emerald Flowshow hops on to talk about the Non-Wrestler category which features Japanese promoters Sanshiro Takagi & Rossy Ogawa, legendary Japanese referee in JWA & AJPW and later NOAH's On-Air GHC Title Commissioner Joe Higuchi, AJPW's Triple Crown foreign liaison and chairman of the Pacific Wrestling Federation Lord James Blears, and the man who helped get Rikidozan into wrestling, Bobby Bruns, along with all the non-Japanese candidates which include commentators, promoters, legendary writers, managers, belt makers and music men: Lord James Blears Dave Brown Bobby Bruns Bob Caudle Bobby Davis Joe Higuchi Jim Johnston Larry Matysik James Melby Rossy Ogawa Reggie Parks Morris Sigel Tony Schiavone George Scott Sanshiro Takagi Mike Tenay Ted Turner Roy Welch Stanley Weston The Grand Wizard We also go over the historical candidates in the North American regi

All Japan and Dramatic Dream Team are the main focus of the newest edition of the Eastern Lariat as both companies came off a weekend with multiple title matches. While DDT is giving us one of the best championship runs in recent history with Kazusada Higuchi, many decisions in AJPW, specifically around the Voodoo Murders, are mind boggling and they led to in part atrocious matches. Besides these two companies STRIGGA & Dylan also briefly preview the big NOAH & DRAGONGATE shows on the coming weekends and the final of the IWGP Women's Championship and its impact on NJPW is up for discussion at the end of the show!

A special episode of the Eastern Lariat sees Dylan tackel a never before done subject on the show: The Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame. To do so he's joined by special guest Case Lowe from the Open the Voice Gate show, as well as a tried and true Hall of Fame voter for the first time! Case & Dylan discuss the candidates for the Japan region, which features 14  candidates we run through their candidacy in terms of drawing power, in-ring ability & influence including: Riki Choshu & Animal Hamaguchi CIMA TenCozy (Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima) Yoshiaki Fujiwara Hayabusa Kota Ibushi Antonio Inoki & Seiji Sakaguchi Tomohiro Ishii Naomichi Marufuji Tetsuya Naito Meiko Satomura Shingo Takagi 1987 Gold Combo (Manami Toyota & Toshiyo Yamada) Holy Demon Army (Toshiaki Kawada & Akira Taue) There's some differences in their ideas for who they think are strong candidates and not and they go through them all! As a bonus we go over the US Region that Case will also be voting in which includes

On a special edition of the Eastern Lariat podcast, Dylan welcomes Japanese wrestling translator & historian Cameren Lee on to discuss the life and career of Antonio Inoki. From an unbelievably harsh childhood and improbable upbringing in the wrestling industry we discuss his early days as Rikidozan's trainee and his ascent and attempts to ascend to leading the company which turns into the formation of New Japan Pro Wrestling. From there we go into the deep political waters Inoki was forced to wade through with other wrestlers and especially TV Networks, his rivalry with his former tag team partner Giant Baba as they engage in constant attempts to one up each other as AJPW & NJPW owners. We talk about some of his biggest triumphs and matches in the ring and how he was even more than his reputation hails him as, which leads to scandals as time goes along with questionable decisions being made personally and professionally. We also discuss the underrated hand Inoki's wife at the time, the actress Mitsuk

The Eastern Lariat returns with Big Match Sunday … on a Monday! This past weekend saw many big title matches including Higuchi vs. Takeshita and Kenoh vs. Kiyomiya so STRIGGA & Dylan's primary focus was on those matches as well as on some more bullet points from each promotion including the future of the GHC Heavyweight Title, GLEAT's identity, Naruki Doi's status as well as the upcoming D-King Grand Prix. The show however starts with an extensive look at All Japan Pro Wrestling's big 50th Anniversary from Budokan the weekend before plus their Korakuen Hall event the day thereafter.

Next weekend is loaded with shows in Japan, because September 19 brings another public holiday with Keiro no Hi (Respect for the Aged Day) so STRIGGA & Dylan got together to discuss Jun Akiyama's 30th anniversary, All Japan's business ideas going into their 50th anniversary show in Nippon Budokan as well as the card itself and possible outcomes for the future. Who's leaving with the Triple Crown? Who's challenging one day later in Korakuen? Will Chris Daniels be there? While AJPW is full of questions, DRAGONGATE delivers some answers with the pushes of Mochizuki Jr., Ishin Iihashi and D'courage so their upcoming Dangerous Gate gets a preview as well. Other topics are Keiji Muto's retirement show in Tokyo Dome plus an update on Stardom's 5 Star Grand Prix!

Tournament season and no end! On this episode STRIGGA & Dylan discuss NOAH's N-1 Victory in depth in its entirety: Kaito Kiyomiya winning and possibly reclaiming his spot as the ace, Hideki MVP, Great Muta's business for NOAH, Nakajima/Okada and of course all performers and best matches. On top of that the Eastern Lariat crew compares the N-1 with New Japan's G1 Climax. Stardom's tournament however is still going on so STRIGGA & Dylan make predictions on who's going to advance, name best matches and their top performers.

New Japan Pro Wrestling has crossed the finish line and after a little over one month the 32nd G1 Climax is over! Kazuchika Okada scored back to back tournament wins and called his shot, Will Ospreay rose to new hights and left Tetsuya Naito behind, which caught many fans by surprise. Tama Tonga got revenge on Jay White and much, much more happened in these 4 weeks. STRIGGA & Dylan put it all into perspective while bringing up both, the positive and negative aspects of the tournament itself and the surroundings of it. Some of the talking points include their lack of making new stars, their rigid booking patterns and the lack of fan interest, but also the great individual performances and the overall enjoyable tournament. There was a lot to get into, so hop on and enjoy the ride!

After being rather negative on the last episode, STRIGGA & Dylan bounce back with an episode covering two topics that let them enjoy japanese pro-wrestling more than last time while also pointing out what went wrong in their opinions. Part of that is Yuka Sakazaki winning the Princess Cup 2022 over Miu Watanabe about which The Eastern Lariat Crew has a clear opinion and also discusses the general possibility of upward movement within the Cyberfight groups. After that it's G1 time once again with days 16 & 17 of the tournament that delivered one match in particular that STRIGGA & Dylan had totally different takes on. To close out the show they go over the tournament standings and predict the semi finals for Wednesday. A fun time to be had!

This episode of the Eastern Lariat is a mixed bag in many ways. One, because of the usual range of topics from ZERO1 over NOAH to New Japan. Then, there's a lot of mixed feelings towards many of the matches that occurred in the Fire Festival, the N-1 Victory and especially the G1 Climax. STRIGGA & Dylan shout out some of the most outstanding tournamens matches in Tanahashi vs. Goto and Okada vs. Lawlor, while at the same time 2022 feels like a down period in japanese pro-wrestling across the board.

The Eastern Lariat rolls on through the summer with another look at a trifecta of G1 Climax shows form Ehime and Osaka that saw one of the most universally praised matches of the entire tournament with Ospreay vs. Takagi – but was it really that outstanding? Was the first day in Osaka a show of the year contender? Who's beating Jay? Where's the road taking Ishii? Those are some of the talking points being brought up during G1 talk. Besides that STRIGGA & Dylan also discuss All Japan's Oudou tournament and the general direction of the company bewildered once more. This episode though starts with the recent changes in NOAH's N-1 Victory due to Timothy Thatchers absence.  

This time the Eastern Lariat has an appealing Sandwich of topics to offer. The show starts out with the first slice of topics as STRIGGA & Dylan discuss three tournaments with ZERO1's Fire Festival, TJPW's Princess Cup and Stardom's 5 Star Grand Prix. Then, the Kobe World double shot of DRAGONGATE is the center piece of attention and the base of an honest discussion about the current and future direction of the company, while the weekend also produced one of the best matches of the year. To complete the Sandwich, the half way point of another tournament is up for discussion, so STRIGGA & Dylan name their top performers in the G1 Climax so far and go over days 8 & 9 of the tournament that left some good and some bad tastes.

Two more down, a lot more to go! That's the motto for the G1 Climax after 7 days of block matches. The Eastern Lariat takes a look at the double shot from Korakuen Hall on July 26 & 27 that delivered an incredible grudge match between Juice Robinson and David Finlay, another strong performance by Henare, a hard hitting main event between Tama Tonga and Tomohiro Ishii and of course a continuation of the Yujiro/Pieter saga! Besides that STRIGGA & Dylan talk about Kaito Ishida leaving DRAGONGATE as well as the Kobe World Cards, GREAT's G-INFINITY tournament, TJPW's Princess Cup, the ZERO1 Fire Festival and Yuya Aoki returning!  

With five G1 Climax shows down, The Eastern Lariat returns to look back at this trifecta of events from Sendai as well as the double shot from Ota Ward this past weekend. Dylan & STRIGGA have some clear favorites that stood out and some clear criticisms on some of the performers jumping to Takaaki Kidani's side as he criticized that NJPW matches often follow the same pattern. At the end of the show Dylan and STRIGGA briefly talk about Higuchi & Yoshimura winning the KO-D Tag Team Title and Dylan gives a run down of the Stardom double shot from the weekend.

Every year Umi no Hi, or the Day of the Ocean, marks the start of one of the busiest and most exciting weeks of the year for japanese pro-wrestling. Not only did the 32nd G1 Climax start with a big double header in Hokkaido, but Pro Wrestling NOAH also ran one of their biggest and most well received shows in recent history in Nippon Budokan. Besides a discussion about these shows, matches and developments, STRIGGA & Dylan also analyse All Japan's booking around Suwama winning the Triple Crown, the newest advent of the Voodoo Murders and Budokan on the horizon.

For the 4th consecutive year The Eastern Lariat once again proudly presents the Half Year Awards! On this show Dylan Fox and STRIGGA crown the very best in japanese pro-wrestling in the first six months of 2022 – in 14 categories! This also means the companies represented range from New Japan Pro Wrestling over Ice Ribbon to GLEAT and Ganbare Pro and include men's and women's wrestlers. On top of that Dylan & STRIGGA also discuss the choices that YOU, the listeners, made! This is your guide through the first 6 months of 2021!