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This week, (almost) the entire focus of the show lies on the 30^th Best of the Super Junior, New Japan's annual Junior Heavyweight Tournament that has produced some of the best and most talked about matches of the year as well as some unforgettable moments in its past iteration. This year, some new competitors enter the field to mix it up with the top of the junior division in New Japan, which already provided some great pro-wrestling. STRIGGA & Dylan look back at the first half of the tournament and rate each wrestler, their matches, their stories and their chances of advancing to the semi finals. Before that, the show opens with All Japan Pro Wrestling and Shotaro Ashino's tragic injury, his replacement and a look at the first matches for All Together.

New Japan Pro Wrestling has crossed the finish line and after a little over one month the 32^nd 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!

NINE PROMOTIONS are in the focus of this episode of the Eastern Lariat! The Eastern Lariat looks at matches, upcoming cards, stories and overall developments in Stardom, NJPW, NOAH, DDT, TJPW, DRAGONGATE, AJPW, BJW and GLEAT. On top of that for each promotion STRIGGA & Dylan give their excitement level. Join in on a comprehensive tour through japanese pro-wrestling!

STRIGGA & Dylan revive the great tradition of drafts on the Eastern Lariat with a special New Year Draft creating to new companies of 25 wrestlers in a very unique setting which in the end led to picks from 11 different companies from all over Japan. While discussing their draft picks, the combatants also talk about some recent shows and matches their picks have been featured in so you'll get both: A fantasy draft and a d look at current events placed in reality!  

This time around STRIGGA & Dylan are joined by fellow podcaster (Puro In The Rough) and long time Twitter friend Izzac (@izzacwrestles) from Australia. They go over topics such as the final WRESTLE-1 show, the debut of Shotaro Ashino & Yusuke Kodama in All Japan, Big Japan's Strong Climb Final and 2AW running their own building besides all the other companies using it in the Corona crisis. The trio also tackles dark topics such as the recent scandal involving Hiroshi Hase and the financial crisis of Big Japan Pro Wrestling.

The Eastern Lariat returns with a two parted episode: First STRIGGA & Dylan talk about the call for help of the pro-wrestling community to the japanese government and its implications and they also debate the (likely) end to all NXT Japan plans in the current state of the COVID-19 crisis. Not only the crisis is the talk of the town, but also a possible Supershow organized by multiple japanese promotions when things get back to normal so the Eastern Lariat crew booked two All Together style shows following another FANTASY DRAFT~!

In this episode STRIGGA & Dylan talk about japanese pro wrestling under the influence of the Coronavirus. They first talk about Big Japan trying to hold onto their Hokkaido tour despite infections rising and what that could mean for them as a promotion. Then the Eastern Lariat crew talks about empty arena wrestling from Pro Wrestling NOAH and All Japan Pro Wrestling from late March and early April that featured some heavily debated matches including Shiozaki vs. Fujita and THAT Six Man Tag.

In this episode the Eastern Lariat crew first catches up on Big Japan Pro Wrestling from late February and early March where they put on one of the best shows of the year in Korakuen Hall to start their Strong Climb Tournament. From there STRIGGA & Dylan talk about saftey measures in the current Coronavirus crisis that are applied by most groups running Korakuen. Finally they discuss the set of DDT shows from their empty dojo as well as Street Pro-Wrestling in Saitama Super Arena before they turn their attention to the most recent event Judgment 2020.

The 150th episode of The Eastern Lariat Podcast starts with Dylan going over his March Madness Tournament that you can vote for on Twitter at @EasternLariat. In the second half of the show Dylan changes gears as he represents Pro Wrestling NOAH while STRIGGA is an executive of All Japan Pro Wrestling. With WRESTLE-1 closing down it looks like that a lot of wrestlers will need to find a new home base so Dylan & STRIGGA each draft 8 wrestlers from the current WRESTLE-1 roster who in this parallel universe will be additions to either NOAH or AJPW.

This week The Eastern Lariat tries to unravel the bundle of event cancellations in Japan due to the Coronavirus outbreak while explaining the reasons behind WRESTLE-1 closing down. Another major topic of course is Tokyo Sports breaking the story of meetings between All Japan Pro Wrestling and World Wrestling Entertainment and the involvement of Jun Akiyama. Closing out the show is a discussion about current independent talent to pay attention for.

It's time for a New Japan centric episode with STRIGGA & Dylan looking back at The New Beginning from Sapporo, Korakuen and Osaka by discussing some of the top names of the company both during this tour and what their future holds in 2020. Will Naito hold on to the double title? Where's KENTA gonna fit in after his title shot? Are SANADA, Shingo Takagi or Will Ospreay knocking at the main event door? What about Okada? The Eastern Lariat tries to predict where the pieces fall until G1 Climax!

In an effort to compile and to reflect on japanese pro-wrestling from 2010 to 2019 The Eastern Lariat presents the “Best of the Decade”. STRIGGA & Dylan go into depth when it comes to categories like MVP, best wrestler, best tag team, best promotion, best match and much more. Who qualifies? Who doesn't? The past 10 years have argubly been the most exciting years in japanese wrestling ever so join us in our attempt to recall the past.

Wrestle Kingdom weekend is over and the end of Wrestle Kingdom always is the beginning of the new season for New Japan Pro Wrestling. So the Eastern Lariat takes a look back at New Year Dash which featured Jushin Thunder Liger's retirement and set the direction for some programs in months to come. Besides that STRIGGA & Dylan also discuss the mystery show Pro Wrestling NOAH had in Korakuen on 1/5 that had a great main event.

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.

It's the Final Lariat of 2019! STRIGGA & Dylan first revisit the Year End Awards episode, name their Joshi MVP of 2019, debate about Hazuki, Kagetsu and Miyu Yamashita's plan to make TJP the #1 Joshi company before turning their attention to Dramatic Dream Team's D-King Grand Prix 2020 that also took place in 2019. From there on it's all about the future as the Eastern Lariat previews the AJPW double header on Januar 2nd & 3rd as well as the NOAH double header on January 4th & 5th. With NOAH's show on the 5th being a mystery show STRIGGA & Dylan go deep into fantasy booking bot mode. Last, but not least, Dylan brings up his thoughts on Tanahashi, AEW and The Elite which brings STRIGGA to an interesting business model between AEW and NJPW in the US.

The Eastern Lariat proudly presents the Year End Awards 2019! Based on the Tokyo Sport Awards STRIGGA, Dylan and their guest WH Park present their picks for some of the Tokyo Sports categories and for some of their own which include best promotion, best show, most underrated and more! Dive into the year 2019 with us and join us in our look back at an exciting year in japanese pro-wrestling!

In the latest Eastern Lariat episode STRIGGA & Dylan take a look back at the trifecta of Sumo Hall shows that Pro Wrestling NOAH, DDT and Big Japan put on in early November while also addressing the recent comments from Takaaki Kidani about Io Shirai, Kairi Hojo and an IWGP Women's Championship.

It is the year 1997. Scientists discovered a big curvature in the space-time-continuum which has led to the formation of a giant interstellar waiting room filled with professional wrestlers from allover Japan who are confused and are wondering why they're there and what's going to happen to them. At this point, STRIGGA, Dylan and their guest WH Park come into play as they each present a scenario that could've taken place in an alternate reality of 1997. From there on they each draft 25 wrestlers to create a new promotion to lead japanese pro-wrestling to the 2000s!

A wild and crazy Taiiku no Hi (Health & Sports Day) lies behind us which in the very early hours brought us Giulia jumping from Ice Ribbon to Stardom which caused a lot of turmoil in the Joshi scene. STRIGGA & Dylan first address this topic and look at the possible motivations. In that context the two also debate a possible big breaking news story shaking up Japan. The main topic of the show however is New Japan Pro Wrestling's King of Pro Wrestling from Sumo Hall headlined by Kota Ibushi vs. EVIL and Kazuchika Okada vs. SANADA. Since the show traditionally sets up Wrestle Kingdom the Eastern Lariat once more dares to look ahead to January 5 & 5, 2020.

In their quest to find what sets their world on fire STRIGGA & Dylan Fox return with a new episode which focuses on WRESTLE-1, All Japan Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling. At first the Eastern Lariat crew extensively debates the positives, the negatives and the business model of WRESTLE-1 while looking back at their big Yokohama show from early September. Then STRIGGA & Dylan take a look back at AJPW's Oudou Tournament and its future implications before talking about the main matches of NJPW's Destruction tour that – truth be told – didn't set their world on fire.