g1climax

The summer of tournaments rolls on and so does the Eastern Lariat. In this episode STRIGGA & Dylan look back at Days 3 & 4 of the G1 Climax 33 from Yamagata and Sendai, which leads to a discussion about the format of the tournament. What improvements could there be to provide more interesting undercards and an more intriguing field of competitors? While some matches are lacking excitement, others over delivered so far – the G1 has truly started. At the end of the show the Eastern Lariat duo also discusses DRAGONGATE's King of Gate as well as the N-1 Rumble leading up to NOAH's N-1 Victory and the Sumo Hall Cards for DDT & GLEAT.

With STRIGGA back after an hiatus of 5 weeks, him and Dylan open the show with a preview of the newly named categories for the Half Year Awards. From there, the two discuss Forbidden Door, STRIGGA's take on the G1 Climax as well as the N-1 Victory Blocks for Pro Wrestling NOAH. Dylan gives his take on the highly acclaimed 12 Women Cage Match from Stardom's Sunshine show and the duo talk about DRAGONGATE's upcoming biggest show of the year: Kobe World! Who's gonna lose their mask?The show closes with a quick discussion about Yuji Okabayashi, who's taking an indefinite hiatus.

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.

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 32^nd 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.

With this huge episode The Eastern Lariat first catches up with NJPW Dominion, the G1 line up, the card for Forbidden Door and the question what could've been and what we're getting now. Then STRIGGA & Dylan discuss the big Cyberfight Festival and from there on focus on the two big topics coming out of that show: Keji Muto announcing his retirement and Tetsuya Endo suffering a concussion which led to him having for forfeit the KO-D Openweigth Championship. From there the two transition to King of DDT, TJPW's Additional Attack plus the card for Summer Sun Princess as well as GLEAT's big card for July 1^st. The final topic of the show is the most recent All Japan show from Ota Ward that saw Kento Miyahara vs. Jake Lee for the Triple Crown.

In this two parter The Eastern Lariat first covers the untimely passing of BADBOY Hido before turning the attention to some brighter topics with Osaka Pro Wrestling & All Japan's Champion Night 2. The second part of the episode is completely dedicated to New Japan Pro Wrestling's G1 Climax 31 that ended with a show that was a roller coaster of emotions with the big return of Katsuyori Shibata to pro-wrestling and Kota Ibushi being seriously injured. Amidst the shock about Ibushi arose the confusion about Okada's claim to be the IWGP Heavyweight Champion and thus unseating Shingo Takagi in his vision. STRIGGA & Dylan try to make sense of this all and after that name their top G1 matches & performers.

After a huge weekend of professional wrestling in Japan the Eastern Lariat returns with a wide range of topics and promotions! STRIGGA & Dylan discuss the current situation in the G1 Climax and shed a light of the good, the bad and stuff in between. From there they take it to Tokyo Joshi Pro and Stardom, two promotions that ran big shows on the second weekend of October. What's there to say about the title picture in TJPW? What's the outlook for Stardom's main event scene? The title picture is the main focus for Pro Wrestling NOAH as well after Katsuhiko Nakajima won the GHC Heavyweight Championship and declared himself “NOAH” - what's next for the company and its new champion?

Tournaments all over the place! STRIGGA & Dylan look back at the beginning of this year's G1 Climax where we saw highlights, but also lowlights and repetitive & tired tropes. The N-1 Victory and Stardom's 5 Star GP come across like fresher and more diverting tournaments – just because of their concepts? Besides these 3 tournaments The Eastern Lariat crew also looks at the most recent All Japan Korakuen Hall show, discusses Jake Lee as Champion and breaks down the Real World Tag League Line Up.

With Wrestle Grand Slam in the rear view mirror and the G1 Climax right around the corner STRIGGA & Dylan got back on track to discuss the two nights of New Japan Pro Wrestling in the MetLife Dome including big title matches, turns and a horrendous match between Yano and Owens. The Eastern Lariat crew gives their take on the G1 Climax line up and has a clear winner in mind. Other topics besides NJPW include the STARDOM 5 Star Grand Prix, GLEAT & ZERO1 in dispute over Hayato Tamura, Suwama challenging for the Triple Crown & DAMNATION disbanding.

The Eastern Lariat once again revolves around all the tournaments in Japan and two of those have already come to a close which allows both a look back at the finals and a look forward to the immediate future of All Japan and Pro Wrestling NOAH. Still ongoing is the ZERO1 Fire Festival, but since none of it has made air yet STRIGGA & Dylan make quick work of that and focus on the main topic of the show: The G1 Climax and its final scenarios. With 4 days of block action left there are some possible finals left that would then create different roads to Wrestle Kingdom. Are they going with SANADA? Is it Okada's year? What about Jay White, EVIL and the BULLET CLUB? That and much more on a new Eastern Lariat episode!