kotaibushi

With the "Big 3" of japanese pro-wrestling running big shows around New Year's Eve, the Eastern Lariat starts off the new year in proper fashion and very much in the tradition of the show's history. Of course one major talking point is Wrestle Kingdom 18 with Tetsuya Naito's roll call and Championship win, Okda vs. Danielson and all the fallout after New Year Dash, but that's not all. STRIGGA & Dylan go into depth with Pro Wrestling NOAH's New Year show in Ariake that featured the already infamous Kota Ibushi vs. Naomichi Marufuji match, but that also saw some great action. A very emotional point of discussion is AJPW and all the developments since mid December until now with a focus on Katsuhiko Nakajima's title run and his defense against WWE's Charlie Dempsey.

STRIGGA & Dylan return with an impromptu episode after news and cards dropped on a rapid speed at the beginning of the week. Not only did New Japan announce a new Championship, Stardom, NOAH, DRAGONGATE and GLEAT also announced their cards for the upcoming big shows at the end of the year. The Eastern Lariat digests these developments, previews the big matches and while the recording happened, the Tokyo Sports Awards were announced. So this is a jam packed episode putting companies' situations into perspective.

On Super Sunday in japanese pro wrestling all major companies ran major events that varied in success depending on how you looked at them. The Eastern Lariat of course takes an extensive look at New Japan Pro Wrestling's G1 Climax and the finals of Block A & B. Given the results, they discuss the outlook for Hikuleo, the performance of the Reiwa 3 and # Kaito Kiyomiya's future. Block B leads straight to the discussions about the knockout stages and who will be winning. Before the G1 talk, STRIGGA & Dylan looked back at DRAGONGATE's King of Gate Final, the crazy GLEAT show from Sumo Hall as well as AJPW & NOAH from Super Sunday!

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.

More than ever in the past three years it feels like pro-wrestling in Japan is once again gaining momentum. Therefore, STRIGGA & Dylan first discuss Kota Ibushi's freelance status as well as Keiji Muto's big retirement show on the horizon. With a lot of promotions represented on that show, the Eastern Lariat also looks at the individual shows that DRAGONGATE, AJPW and NJPW put on plus Dylan gives his rundown of the big Osaka show Stardom ran this weekend. Exciting times in japanese pro-wrestling may be ahead, which also leaves the Eastern Lariat crew feel that same excitement!

This week on the Roadshow we're taking a look at some of wrestling's unsolved mysteries. Topics covered include David von Erich, Ultimate Warrior, Kota Ibushi, New Japan Pro Wrestling, the yakuza, Iron Sheik, Pat Patterson and a legendary tournament in Rio de Janeiro.

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With the two biggest junior heavyweight tournaments in Japan each year being on the closing stretch, the Eastern Lariat reflects on both DRAGONGATE's King of Gate and NJPW's Best of the Super Junior. STRIGGA & Dylan especially go in depth on the BOSJ ranking each performer and naming each wrestler's best matches. The show though starts with a heartfelt look back at the Hana Kimura Memorial show and a roundup on All Japan's current stable swap as well as their Ota Ward card. At the end of the show there's a brief preview of the Cyberfight Fes and the Eastern Lariat's take on the Kota Ibushi situation.

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.

This episode of the Eastern Lariat starts out with an hour long synopsis of the current state of New Japan Pro Wrestling after Sakura Genesis. This includes the new IWGP World Heavyweight Championship, Kota Ibushi's fall from grace, Will Ospreay's rise to such as well as Okada, Tanahashi and much, much more. After that STRIGGA & Dylan make their picks for the 2021 Champion Carnival of All Japan Pro Wrestling thus mapping out their ideas for storylines within the tournament. Join in for a fun ride!

This episode of the Eastern Lariat starts off with rather difficult topics as STRIGGA & Dylan discuss Marty Scurll potentially coming into New Japan, Hiromo Takahashi being out for a long time and Kota Ibushi's weird body language. But fear not! The guys have a lot of fun discussing All Japan's recent and upcoming events as well as the Champion Carnival line up plus CyberFight's announcement of a big joint show of all companies under their umbrella.

How do you like your steak? Medium? Medium rare? With out without mashed potatoes? Did you maybe not even ask for the mashed potatoes? Answering these questions is important of course, but even more important are the topics on this edition of the Eastern Lariat! STRIGGA & Dylan once again look at New Japn Pro Wrestling and their New Beginning in Hiroshima events as well as at their business stateside. The second big topic of the show is Pro Wrestling NOAH's return to Budokan that saw Keiji Muto capture the GHC Heavyweight Title. Join us in our discussion of NOAH Destination 2021, the company's new logo, English commentary and much more!

...there was a lot to talk about. This is why the Eastern Lariat is already back with a new MAXIMUM sized edition of the acquainted Puroresu Potpourri! This episode heavily revolves around New Japan's business including Harold Meij, Roku TV and AEW, but of course also around the wrestling side of things itself. Tanahashi won the NEVER Title, Jay White returned, there's big shows coming up. This New Japan package is complemented by DDT's big card for 2/12, Dragon Gate's Truth Gate kicking off, THE BODYGAAAH's Colega Pro Wrestling and Dylan's MARCHMADNESS!

After two nights full of highlights, great matches, questionable decisions and also some underwhelming performances The Eastern Lariat presents Wrestle Kingdom 15 In Review! STRIGGA & Dylan tackle all the important matches, stories and developments surrounding New Japan Pro Wrestling's biggest and most important show of the year in a 2 hour show that praises where praise is due and that doesn't hold back when criticism is appropriate.

With the New Japan Cup hitting the home stretch STRIGGA & Dylan return to discuss all the tournament matches plus some of the key non-tournament developments in New Japan Pro Wrestling. There also is a lengthy discussion about Master Wato's debut, gimmicks in NJPW and elevating talent – something New Japan seems hesitant about.

The second day of Wrestle Kingdom 14 is in the books and it was an historic event for many reasons. STRIGGA & Dylan got together to discuss their top 5 moments and matches from the show including the main event, Jushin Thunder Liger's retirement, Minoru Suzuki's entrance and the Jay White character. Other topics include a discussion about the general idea of running two Tokyo Dome shows, the post main event angle and – starting the show – a look at Joshi Wrestling in the year 2020.