Eastern Lariat

Dylan is joined by regular EL NOAH contributor Dean to talk about NOAH's N1 Victory Final which saw Go Shiozaki emerge victorious for his first ever NOAH tournament win. We talk about the whole show, the developments with Psycho Clown coming in to face Hijo del Dr. Wagner Jr. for the National Title, the developments of the Jr. Division and a get well soon to Chris Ridgeway. We talk about Kaito Kiy...

In an impromptu show, STRIGGA called Dylan to look back at a weekend in japanese pro wrestling that had ups and downs, was hot and cold and something in between. After first going over the next big show line ups for New Japan Pro Wrestling, they discuss DRAGONGATE's Dangerous Gate from Ota City as well as their immediate future with some ideas for turns. The next big chunk of the show is devoted t...

New Japan's big traditional summer tournament has come to a climatic finish with Tetsuya Naito vs. Kazuchika Okada as the last match of the G1 Climax 33. The Eastern Lariat takes a look back at the penultimate show featuring the semi finals of Okada vs. EVIL and Naito vs. Ospreay as well as the final show including all storyline developments on all shows and ultimately, STRIGGA & Dylan rate the to...

The G1 Climax semi finals are set so STRIGGA & Dylan take a look back at the D & D Block finals that created very different emotional reactions and a very controversial match with EVIL and Shingo Takagi that STRIGGA compares to the likewise very controversial Mio Momono vs. Mayumi Ozaki match from Marvelous. The jury is out for The Eastern Lariat on SANADA as champion after the quarterfinals and a...

On the previous episode, STRIGGA had beaten Dylan to the punch on the first night of the N1. So as a make good the first episode of the Patreon N1 coverage is airing for free for everyone and Dylan has recruited his friend Squill, the one behind Wrestling with the Narrative YouTube channel and noted Timothy Thatcher respector to cover the show where the Thatch man main events against the GHC Heavy...

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 strai...

This time the Eastern Lariat starts with a look at the two joshi tournaments running at the moment with Stardom's 5 Star Grand Prix and Tokyo Joshi Pro's Princess Cup. Since the Princess Cup is coming to an and, STRIGG A& Dylan discuss possible outcomes of that before turning their attention to the G1 Climax 33 that also is nearing towards its end – at least when it comes to the group stage. Here,...

Dylan engages in a full preview of Pro Wrestling NOAH's N1 Victory tournament with predictions for every single match up to the final, and he's joined by Dean and Dr. Jonathan Foye who also give their predictions and as it turned all 3 had different winners of the tournament! It's long, but we talk about everyone and go over a ton of scenarios, and somehow come out with everything being alright by...

The G1 Climax has reached its half way point and also delivered three shows in Tokyo so this is the perfect moment to not only look back on two Korakuen Hall shows and an event from Ota Ward that delivered some of the best matches of the tournament, but it's also an opportunity to highlight each block's best performers, which Dylan takes care of with his scientifically certified ratings system – u...

This past weekend New Japan presented two G1 Climax shows that could not have been more different. While the one from Nagaoka received almost unanimous praise, the one two days later in Nagano was rated the lowest of all G1 shows this year so far. STRIGGA & Dylan discuss all the matches and go into some wrestler's quest so far and in some cases – once again – question their role in the biggest tou...

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...

The first weekend of the 33 rd G1 Climax is in the books, so Dylan & STRIGGA sat down to look back at the best matches of the first set of shows – was there a signature G1 match that takes the tournament out of the gates? Besides the matches, the two talk about the start of the Reiwa Toukon Three Musketeers and their individual prospects of positioning within the company. STRIGGA & Dylan also lay...

Out with the old, in with the new! The Eastern Lariat got new any shiny awards waiting for winners in 13 different categories that saw almost every japanese promotion represented in some form or fashion. Led by the ballots sent in by the listeners, STRIGGA and Dylan make their own picks starting with Best Foreigner, going over most improved, best promotion, best wrestler and much more until the fi...

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 DRAG...

Come for the All Together Again, stay for an hour on each company involved with it! No stone gets left unturned with everything going on in NJPW and AJPW and NOAH. Dylan is joined by Dean again and talk about the full card of All Together and then go over the G1 Climax Blocks, where AJPW, NJPW & NOAH go from here and a breakdown of all sorts of stories and wrestlers going on in each company with t...

With STRIGGA on vacation and a big STARDOM show to talk about Dylan brings back Sondre Bjørn for a ride through, as they go through the spectacular finals of NJPW's Best of the Super Jr. Run down best matches, what they think of Wato and his big win, as well as where the Jrs. and the company as a whole is headed towards in the future. The second half of the show is dedicated to STARDOM, as we talk...

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 alr...

Golden Week traditionally is the week of the year that delivers the most concentration of big shows apart from the first week of January. This year was no different as every major company ran shows during the holidays so the Eastern Lariat's plate was full of matches, developments and surprises to talk about. STRIGGA & Dylan of course focus on the traditional big three, but also dive into Big Japa...

With the announcement of All Together Again on June 9, the Eastern Lariat returns to discuss a possible card for the show and to take a look back in history when STRIGGA & Dylan first fantasy booked All Together shows in 2020. After that the attention is on two of the three companies represented on All Together: Pro Wrestling NOAH presented a loaded show from Sendai that saw Jake Lee vs. Katsuhiko...

Tokyo once more was the center of japanese pro-wrestling this past Saturday with both New Japan Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling running important shows. While New Japan's Sakura Genesis in Sumo Hall produced amazing matches and stunning title changes in front of an ecstatic crowd, the opening day of the Champion Carnival 2023 left a lot to be desired and there were clear reasons for this...

At the beginning of 2023, japanese pro-wrestling has some great champions and challengers alike to offer. STRIGGA & Dylan discuss the champions of the traditional "big three" as well as those holding the gold in six other companies. With the general rule of thumb of the champion reflecting the state of a company, the Eastern Lariat crew not only discusses potential challengers, but also look at ro...

Eastern Lariat is back with a very special episode focused all on Pro Wrestling NOAH and Dylan is joined by his regular NOAH Patreon guest Dean (dnmt) The first part of the show is all about Daisuke Harada's retirement and we talk about his career, Dylan talks about some of his favorite memories and matches of Harada coming in from Osaka Pro to being the NOAH Jr. Ace. After that we talk about thei...

What a spectacle it was. Keiji Muto retired on unquestionably the biggest show in japanese pro-wrestling in decades. The Eastern Lariat looks back at the entire show with discussions about Keiji Muto vs. Tetsuya Naito and Kazuchika Okada vs. Kaito Kiyomiya and their implications for the future taking center stage. With Muto presenting this huge event, two questions seem crucial: Can japanese pro-w...

Dylan is joined by a shocking return in WH Park from POST Wrestling! And on top of it it's to talk about a full length NOAH show! We go over NOAH's Osaka offering and then use that to talk about the Muto Dome show just one more time before it happens as the show is so prominent, even on the NOAH show with yet another memorable Kaito & Okada main event angle. We transition to NJPW and a little bit...