Eastern Lariat

The Eastern Lariat returns with a close look at All Japan, DDT and Pro Wrestling NOAH. The focal point of AJPW right now is the change of the book and the departure of promising talent Yusuke Okada. Besides that STRIGGA & Dylan discuss the Real World Tag League, Yuma Aoyagi's upcoming challenge for the Triple Crown and the highlights of the D-King Grand Prix. NOAH once again is the main topic of t...

This time the Eastern Lariat focuses on two promotions: Big Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH. BJW recently ran EDION Arena Osaka with a loaded show coming off a 14 show tour in November so there's a lot to unpack. NOAH also had a big show to offer that was headlined by Shiozaki vs. Nakajima that got rave reviews. Was it THAT good? When looking towards the future for NOAH STRIGGA & Dylan...

In a new Eastern Lariat episode STRIGGA & Dylan first tackle the absolutely disappointing Power Struggle show an the baffling booking behind New Japan Pro Wrestling in recent months where multiple panic buttons seem to be pushed since the peak of popularity has not only been reached for the company as a whole, but also for their top stars. In brighter news Tokyo Joshi Pro had a very good show on t...

Among the dozens of shows that were promoted all over the country on Bunka no Hi (Culture Day) on November 3 rd , two clearly stuck out: Dramatic Dream Team's Ultimate Party in Ota Ward Gymnasium and The Gate of Destiny 2020 by Dragon Gate. So STRIGGA & Dylan got together to take a deep dive into DDT & DG to discuss all the matches, storylines, developments, characters and what's on the horizon fo...

This week the Eastern Lariat has a potpourri of different topics to offer as STRIGGA & Dylan discuss a wide range of promotions from VKF over VAMOSTAR to ZERO1, Tenryu Project and the debut of GLEAT. Of course the fantastic NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Title match is a topic of interest just like BJW with their Saikyou Tag Tournament, title changes and upcoming cards as well as All Japan's ev...

It's all said, it's all done, Ibushi is on top again! The 30 th G1 Climax is in the books and just like every year the Eastern Lariat looks back at the grand scheme of things on the Monday after the tournament ended. Joined by Rob, who did the Patreon reviews with Dylan, the trio rates each performer's tournament, mentions some of the best matches and goes in depth on the key storylines throughout...

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...

In this episode the Eastern Lariat podcast opens up the tournament headquarters as STRIGGA & Dylan talk about all four ongoing heavyweight tournaments in japanese wrestling at the moment: ZERO1's Fire Festival, All Japan's Champion Carnival, NOAH's N-1 Victory and of course the 30 th G1 Climax of New Japan Pro Wrestling. For AJPW & NOAH STRIGGA & Dylan shout out the best shows and best matches whi...

With the 30 th anniversary of the biggest tournament in japanese professional wrestling right around the corner New Japan Pro Wrestling finally announced the full line up of the G1 Climax 30 stat's starting on September 19 in Osaka. Like every year STRIGGA & Dylan got together to discuss potential winners, dark horses, alternative candidates and of course who gets to beat the champion. This time t...

The Eastern Lariat returns with a huge episode covering all the events that occured last weekend in New Japan, Big Japan and All Japan. From New Japan's first outdoor show since 1999 over the last Yokohama Bunka show ever STRIGGA & Dylan go to All Japan's Korakuen Hall show. Other talking points are the AXIS split in Pro Wrestling NOAH, the new Joshi „Assemble" as well as the first GLEAT card.  

The tournament season continues on the Eastern Lariat podcast! This week STRIGGA & Dylam take a deeper dive into All Japan's Champion Carnival as well as Pro Wrestling NOAH's N-1 Victory. They rate the blocks, go over every wrestler and their chances and lay out some potential scenarios as well as dark horses in each tournament. Another big talking point this week is the formation of GLEAT, the ne...

In a new edition of the Eastern Lariat STRIGGA & Dylan first discuss corona numbers in Japan rising and a possible correlation to crowds at wrestling shows. Dylan then goes over his reccomendations for the Stardom 5 Star Grand Prix so far while STRIGGA jumps in as the two debate Tokyo Joshi Pro's Tokyo Princess Cup and Dramatic Dream Team's King of DDT tournament. Another huge talking point is Pro...

After an eventful weekend in the realm of japanese pro-wrestling and an unexpected eventful Monday with the announcement of CyberFight The Eastern Lariat returns yet again to discuss a bunch of different topics starting with smaller companies such as Ganbare Pro, ZERO1, DOVE, BASARA and from there going to Stardom, their recent shows and the upcoming 5 Star Grand Prix. STRIGG A & Dylan also talk a...

In another super sized edition The Eastern Lariat looks back at possibly the most challenging and unusual six months in wrestling history from a japanese stand point. Like most other countries, Japan was affected by outbreaks of COVID-19 and still though wrestling found a way – mostly through empty arena shows. That's why this year for the first (and only?) time the Half Year Awards saw the awards...

Calling the New Japan double shot eventful would probably be the understatement of the year. We saw turns, title changes, returns, ref bumps and shenanigans en masse. The Eastern Lariat tries to make sense of it all as STRIGGA & Dylan dicuss all of the important matches, EVIL joining the BULLET CLUB, the debut of his new "pareja" Dick Togo, Dangerous Tekkers and much, much more in a HUGE episode o...

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 Eastern Lariat is back with a review of all the first round matches of the New Japan Cup. STRIGGA & Dylan highlight the best matches, surprises, upsets while also discussing the low light of the tournemant so far.

With pro-wrestling "returning" or more precisely getting back to normalcy step by step The Eastern Lariat debates which promotion made the most out of the unfavorable circumstances during the height of the Coronavirus pandemic. In doing so STRIGGA & Dylan talk about 2AW, AJPW, Dragon Gate, DDT and NOAH and name some of the best matches and moments while also pointing out what didn't work. From the...

The tragedy of Hana Kimura's death at the age of 22 has hit the wrestling word extremely hard. STRIGGA & Dylan try to find words about the circumstances of her death, but more importantly look back at her short career that made her popular within, but also beyond the joshi circles.

The Eastern Lariat comes to you with a bunch of different topics such as Hiromu Takahashi's idea of running the Best of the Super Junior and the G1 Climax simultaneously, Dragon Gate's King of Gate, All Japan's latest event featuring a great Junior Title match and DDT putting out more great content. The big talking point though is the junior division of Pro Wrestling NOAH that's full of turns, twi...

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 tri...

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 prom...

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...

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 DD...

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 ba...