Eastern Lariat

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...

The great tradition of drafts on the Eastern Lariat continues once more, but in a completely different format! This time, Dylan & STRIGGA don't draft a roster for a fictional parallel reality. Instead the rosters based on 7 divisions and 5 bench slots will accompany both managers for a full year, so much like other fantasy sports work. Join in for the fun, maybe draft your own team and follow alon...

After three years New Japan made the decision to go back to have Wrestle Kingdom only on "Ittenyon", so they went back to January 4 as the one date for their biggest show of the calendar year. With Kenny Omega vs. Will Ospreay the show set the bar high for match of the year candidates, while in the actual main event of the show Kazuchika Okada stood tall over Jay White. STRIGGA & Dylan talk extens...

The new year always brings a LOT to discuss in japanese pro-wrestling and with Pro Wrestling NOAH choosing January 1 st as the date of their big Budokan show there's more to discuss than ever: Muto vs. Nakamura, Kiyomiya vs. Kenoh, Jake Lee debuting, the puzzling placement of the tag title matches and what does the future hold for NOAH after Muto? But first, STRIGGA and Dylan address the big title...

The Final Eastern Lariat episode of the year is one of the most important and the biggest episode at the same time. With the support of their listeners AND special guest Michelle (@puroresueikaiwa) STRIGGA and Dylan assembled a list and their picks for the Year End Awards 2022 that range from New Japan and Stardom to DRAGONGATE and DDT with the inclusion of promotions like Ganbare Pro, Tenryu Proj...

The band is back together in a new episode of the Eastern Lariat podcast! STRIGGA returns and tackles some talking points from the past weeks and days in Japanese pro wrestling mostly focusing on All Japan Pro Wrestling, their Real World Tag League, their Jr. Battle of Glory and of course on Jake Lee leaving the company to maybe join New Japan. After a brief discussion on the Super Jr. Tag League...

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...

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...

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...

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. Wro...

  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 f...

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...

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 candi...

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 formati...

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 Gr...

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 30 th anniversary, All Japan's business ideas going into their 50 th anniversary show in Nippon Budokan as well as the card itself and possible outcomes for the future. Who's leaving with the Triple Crown...

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 howeve...

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 int...

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...

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. L...

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 poin...

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 di...

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 o...

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 sho...