Omakase means, literally, &#34;I&#39;ll leave it up to you&#34;. It&#39;s a term primarily used in modern Japanese in sushi restaurants, where you allow the chef to prepare their own personal favorites, leaving your meal completely in their hands. Wrestling Omakase, therefore, is a show where we place each episode into the hands of one or two passionate fans, from all across the wrestling spectrum. Our regular host John Carroll has over 20 years of diverse wrestling fandom to draw upon, and they will be joined by a revolving door of guests who will share their knowledge and passion for particular promotions or time periods. While our primary focus will be on modern Japanese wrestling, we will also at least touch on wrestling from all over the world, in addition to the occasional episode covering historical periods of various promotions. This is a journey with wrestling fans around the world, bringing you the promotions they know and love the best, and we hope you will join us!<h2>This podcast is a member of the Voices of Wrestling Podcast Network. </h2>Learn more about the Voices of Wrestling Podcast Network at <a href="http://www.voicesofwrestling.com" rel="nofollow">voicesofwrestling.com</a>.

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Omakase is back for another episode, as John is joined by returning guest Paul Volsch, co-host of the Emerald Flow Show on this very network! They start out a week of talking about mostly smaller shows building to bigger ones with STARDOM&#39;s 9/6 Korakuen Hall event, a show that featured some good build to their upcoming Yokohama Budokan show and also a truly horrendous High Speed Title match. They then give a full preview of said Yokohama Budokan show on 9/12 including how likely they think all the major titles are to change hands. Then it&#39;s back to the world of Tokyo Joshi to cover their 9/5 Yokohama Radiant Hall event, featuring a great three-way tag match to determine the Princess Tag challengers on their major Ota show early next month. They also give a quick look ahead at what&#39;s coming up for TJPW, including an early look at said Ota card and how tickets are moving for it so far. They then continue their ongoing coverage of Marigold&#39;s Dream Star GP with a look at the day/night doubleheader from Osaka, including some stuff that really worked for them and a couple things that really, really didn&#39;t. (NOTE: This was recorded before Nao Ishikawa withdrew from the rest of her Dream Star GP matches- just noting this since at one point we speculate about whether or not she&#39;s out for the rest of the tournament, and now we obviously know she is!) Finally, they wrap things up with a quite passionate review of Dragongate&#39;s 9/3 Korakuen show, a truly baffling event on multiple levels. Allegedly this was to build their own major show, also on 9/12 from Ota, but unless you count Jiro Shimbashi it&#39;s hard to figure out how exactly this show was supposed to even do that. They rant quite a bit about DG booking in 2026 in general as they also preview said Ota show with an absolutely absurd name (seriously, what was wrong with Dangerous Gate guys??). Also some other odds &amp; ends including Paul attending All In in London, the Wrestle Kingdom 21 ticket prices &amp; on sale dates finally being revealed, and more! Check out the Emerald FlowShow: https://redcircle.com/shows/the-emerald-flowshow Follow Wrestling Omakase&#39;s Twitter account: http://www.twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on Bluesky: http://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #312: STARDOM 9/6 Korakuen Review & 9/12 Yokohama Preview, TJPW 9/5 Yokohama, Marigold Dream Star GP Night 3 & DG 9/3 Korakuen w/ Paul

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Omakase is back for another fun filled week, as John is once again joined by Czechia&#39;s hardest working farmer Velkej Bracha! They&#39;re checking in on a whole bunch of promotions they haven&#39;t talked about in a while (due to the combined trio of the G1, 5 Star &amp; Princess Cup eating up a great deal of our time of course!), and it begins with All Japan&#39;s big show from EBARA WAVE Arena Ota! They talk about an unexpected result in the Triple Crown title match, where things might be headed with the Oudou tournament approaching, and a whole lot more. Then it&#39;s over to Sendai Girls for their own big show from Yoyogi Gym #2, another edition of &#34;lol Chihiro wins&#34;. But also we get to talk about yet another amazing joshi rookie, of which there is apparently just an endless supply.Then it&#39;s over to Marigold for the opening two nights of the Dream Star GP tournament, which was actually a bit better than expected! John is very, very happy to have Victoria Yuzuki back at least! Finally, things wrap up with SEAdLINNNG&#39;s 11th anniversary show from Korakuen, featuring some really good action and also a pair of fake Mexicans winning their tag titles, for some reason. Yeah.Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #311: AJPW 8/29 Ota, Sendai Girls 8/28 Yoyogi, Marigold Dream Star GP Nights 1 & 2, SEAdLINNNG 8/25 Korakuen w/ Velkej

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It&#39;s a jam packed episode of Wrestling Omakase this week that features not one, not two, but THREE guests! Wow! Arametha is onboard for the entire thing, but meanwhile we&#39;re also joined again by Suit Williams to review the final night of the STARDOM 5 Star GP and then go over every wrestler in the tournament and how we thought they performed! The trio discusses the entire finals card from Ryogoku in great detail (along with some history of STARDOM in the venue and how their attendance here compares), including the semis and finals, the big Natsupoi vs. Saori Anou match as Poi&#39;s retirement road continues, and also discuss all the upcoming matches and possible directions heading into the fall! Plus, a review of every wrestler&#39;s overall tournament! Then Suit says goodbye but John &amp; Arametha are joined by first time guest Ed Kody! Ed is a big Tokyo Joshi fan so they were the perfect person to have on to help break down another awesome show out of this promotion from Korakuen Hall, on a great run of them! But first John discusses being inspired by Jeff Hawkins&#39; goodbye podcast from this past week and how it made them think of &#39;ol TJPW (seriously!). Also I think there was some stuff in here about anime con raves getting shut down. I don&#39;t know, this segment was a little all over the place. But most importantly, it&#39;s PARTY TIME because Suzume won the Princess Cup, as they review the final night of the tournament and look ahead to what&#39;s coming next! Finally, John &amp; Arametha review the Sareee-ism Chapter XI show from Shinjuku FACE, breaking down what was another excellent show out of the sun god. It features another big Poi retirement road match, plus Chi Chi vs. Senka in a battle of young demons and a whole lot more! Somehow this episode went nearly four and a half hours despite ostensibly only being three individual show reviews. Who could possibly be surprised by now really. Williams Watches Wrestling blog: https://suitwilliams.com/ Name a Dirtsheet podcast: https://youtu.be/pqtLG3f3KkQ?si=F0s0Ya4nRkVKOi2e Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #310: STARDOM 5 Star GP Finals & Wrap-Up, TJPW Princess Cup Finals & Sareee-ism Chapter XI w/ Arametha, Suit & Ed

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Wrestling Omakase is back on the air with everyone&#39;s favorite Czech farmer Velkej Bracha joining us as the summer tournaments continue (and end, in one case!). They start things off with some of the usual topics (mostly- you&#39;ll never believe this- Japan travel) before heading over to NJPW for the final 4 nights of the G1 Climax! There is a TON to talk about here, including the, uh, very *interesting* reactions to the big Oiwa/Uemura final, but they don&#39;t shy away from any of it- full reviews of all four shows, plus thoughts on the individual performances of each and every wrestler and John gives their top 10 matches of the entire tournament! Then it&#39;s over to STARDOM for the most recent 4 nights of the 5 Star GP, which is also very close to wrapping up but not quite over yet! John &amp; Velkej talk yet more Julia Hart, Starlight Kid taking down the talls, who we want to see back next year (and who we don&#39;t), and a whole lot more! Finally, John goes solo to wrap up the episode with Night 5 of TJPW&#39;s Princess Cup, featuring the semifinals! Bee vs. Hair! Hip vs. Lariat! Pom Harajuku pretends to be the creepy ghost girl from the Ring for some reason! This show really had it all! Follow Velkej on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Velkej_Bracha Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #309: NJPW G1 Climax Nights 16-18 & Finals, STARDOM 5 Star GP Nights 12-15 & TJPW Princess Cup Night 5 w/ Velkej

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John is back home from a very crappy anime con and ready to talk a WHOLE lot of wrestling! Their good pal Arametha is back to hear them complain about how much Otakon sucked (again), how much their latest flight to Japan cost, and- especially- how bad The Zoomers™ are at taking turns at arcade games, but eventually they get around to talking some wrestling too! First, it&#39;s three nights of the STARDOM 5 Star GP (Nights 9-11- 8/3, 8/8 &amp; 8/9), a mixed bag of shows from Korakuen and Sapporo, as the picture starts to get a lot clearer on who&#39;s moving on (especially in the Red Blocks!). Then it&#39;s the NJPW G1 Climax (Nights 12-15- 8/6, 8/8, 8/9 &amp; 8/11) as they talk a legitimate MOTYC *and* a couple Worst Match of the Year contenders! Wow! And no, one of them wasn&#39;t *that* match.The third and final ongoing tournament they check in on is the Tokyo Joshi Princess Cup, as they cover the quarterfinals from 8/8 at Ryogoku KFC Hall- featuring an amazing match between Suzume and Shoko Nakajima! They also speculate on who among the final four will ultimately take home the crown. Then it&#39;s over to NOAH for the first time in a while as John watched two (2) whole matches, but Arametha thankfully watched way more than that. One of the matches John did watch though was, swear to god, a ****1/2 Tetsuya Naito match. In 2026. Truly wild. They also discuss the revealed blocks for the 2026 N-1 Victory tournament.Up next it&#39;s Marvelous&#39; 8/8 Korakuen Hall show featuring two matches that John happens to think are a bit overhyped, and also a very funny wrestler-joining-a-unit angle. And then finally the episode wraps up with a check in on Marigold (another one we haven&#39;t talked about much in forever) to see how things are going over there for their big 8/9 Ota Ward Gym show. Spoiler: Not particularly well! And then they talk about the Dream Star GP blocks, aka Why The Fuck Is Megaton In This.Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #308: STARDOM 5 STAR GP Nights 9-11, NJPW G1 Climax Nights 12-15, TJPW Princess Cup Night 4, NOAH 8/9 & 8/10, Marvelous 8/8 & Marigold 8/9 Ota w/ Arametha

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It&#39;s another tournament season edition of Wrestling Omakase, and it&#39;s also time once again to take Omakase on the road to DC! John is recording this chronologically while attending two Blue Jays games and a VERY underwhelming Otakon convention in the capital of one of the shittiest nations on god&#39;s green Earth, but unlike last year they decided to arrange it by promotion still, so this one is REALLY all over the place. But there&#39;s some great stuff here too, as first John goes solo to discuss three more nights of the 5 Star GP in STARDOM including the long-awaited first tournament matches of TV&#39;s Julia Hart™! Oh, and also some much better matches featuring the likes of Saya Kamitani, Starlight Kid, Momo Watanabe and many more, but really mostly TV&#39;s Julia Hart™. Can you believe she had three matches and the *Ruaka match* was the best one by far? Me neither, but it happened!Then John is joined by their good friend Quinlan for four more nights of the NJPW G1 Climax, and boy do they have some TAKES for you on this one! They cover Yota Tsuji&#39;s incredible tournament, a very divisive match with Yuto-Ice, whether some people are actually just too stupid to be watching Japanese professional wrestling, and a whole lot more!Finally, the episode wraps up with John going solo again to break down night 3 of the Tokyo Joshi Princess Cup, featuring an outstanding power battle between Yuki Aino and Miu Watanabe, a couple shocking eliminations, and Pom Harajuku trying to catch Suzume in a bug net like she&#39;s a goddamn Bug Catcher from Pokemon. Screw those guys.<a href="http://twitter.com/wrestleomakase" rel="nofollow">Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter</a><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social" rel="nofollow">Follow John on BlueSky</a> Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #307: STARDOM 5 Star GP Nights 6-8, NJPW G1 Climax Nights 8-11 & TJPW Princess Cup Night 3 w/ Quinlan

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It&#39;s time already for another super packed episode of Wrestling Omakase, as tournament season waits for no man, woman or enby! John is joined once again by Eric (FORMERLY KNOWN AS SNAZZY!) from the Joshi-ing Around podcast and Social Suplex newsletter, as they start out by discussing all sorts of topics, both wrestling and non-wrestling related. Then comes the first big topic of the episode: the announcement from last week (of course, the morning after the last episode of this podcast was recorded....) that Natsupoi will retire on January 3rd, 2027. John and Eric discuss the announcement, her career, her legacy, speculate on whether or not she might decide to come back one day (and how she gave a bit of conflicting answers on that subject during her press conference!) and a whole lot more!Then we stick in STARDOM to discuss the next two nights of the 5 Star GP, nights 4 (7/25) and 5 (7/26), both all red block shows. They discuss what worked and didn&#39;t work, Azusa Inaba going a bit &#34;red Azusa&#34; on us in STARDOM (which leads to an interesting discussion on whether or not you should want wrestlers from smaller promotions to leave for bigger ones full time), and a whole lot more. After that it&#39;s over to NJPW for nights 6 (7/25) &amp; 7 (7/26), one show each from the very different A &amp; B blocks. They break down a match that sucked and three really awesome ones from the first night, a mixed bag on the second night, whether this Gabe Kidd character is working and a whole lot more.Afterward it&#39;s over to Tokyo Joshi to review the first two nights of the Tokyo Princess Cup, featuring again a very mixed bag of some great stuff and a few things that didn&#39;t work nearly as well for the two of us. Then they give a brief preview of the big DDT Wrestle Peter Pan show from next month in Ryogoku now that we have the full card, before finally wrapping up with AJPW&#39;s 7/25 show from Kobe. Another packed show covering a ton of Japanese wrestling from all over the scene!Joshi-ing Around podcast: https://redcircle.com/shows/1309343e-3781-4750-9209-4efbc9976ab6Social Suplex newsletter: https://www.socialsuplex.com/newsletter/Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #306: Natsupoi's Retirement, STARDOM 5 Star GP Nights 4 & 5, NJPW G1 Climax Nights 6 & 7, TJPW Princess Cup Nights 1 & 2, AJPW 7/25 Kobe & DDT Wrestle Peter Pan Preview w/ Eric

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Wrestling Omakase is back on the air after a little time off, and boy do we dive right back into it with the start of tournament season in Japan! John&#39;s originally planned guest unfortunately had to miss the show due to circumstances out of their control, but thankfully their buddies Suit Williams &amp; Quinlan (who, in a very weird coincidence, are both celebrating a birthday this coming Saturday!) came in to pinch hit and do a very able job.First, Suit gives an interesting perspective of a relative STARDOM newcomer who decided to jump in for the 5 Star GP this year, as John &amp; Suit break down a great opening three nights of the tournament (and an incredible MOTYC that had nothing to do with it at all, oddly enough). Then Quinlan joins John to talk about a very promising first four shows from Japan in the G1 Climax. Finally, John then goes solo for the rest of the episode as they discuss Dragongate&#39;s biggest show of the year, another great Tokyo Joshi Korakuen, Sendai Girls&#39; not 20th anniversary show (also from Korakuen) and finally NOAH Summer Epic. Well, some of it anyway.Williams Watches Wrestling blog: https://suitwilliams.com/Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #305: STARDOM 5 STAR GP Nights 1-3, NJPW G1 Climax Nights 2-5, DG Kobe World 7/20, TJPW Summer Sun Princess, Senjo 7/20 Korakuen & NOAH Summer Epic w/ Suit & Quinlan

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It&#39;s another LIVE ON LOCATION episode of Wrestling Omakase, this time from BEAUTIFUL Hoffman Estates, Illinois! John is joined by three frequent Omakase guests all live in the hotel room, as Arametha, Quinlan &amp; John Bivins help them break down an incredible first night of the New Japan Grade One Climax! All nine matches get reviewed, vibes get talked, and a whole lot more.John Bivins&#39; Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/punkrock.darkroast/Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #304: NJPW G1 Climax Night 1 Live from Hoffman Estates w/ Arametha, Quinlan & John Bivins

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Episode 2 of the three-episode Arametha takeover is a bonafide Korakuen-palooza, as the two of them discuss new Korakuen shows from NJPW (a big Road to G1 show featuring a major title change and then Tiger Mask&#39;s retirement), STARDOM (featuring an awesome red belt match), Dragongate (yet another middling show) and NOAH (which the two hosts strenuously disagreed on about almost everything!). They also preview a busy upcoming summer in Japanese wrestling with breakdowns of NJPW&#39;s G1 Climax and STARDOM&#39;s 5STAR GP tournaments, including predictions and full rundowns of both opening nights. And then they preview Dragongate&#39;s biggest show of the year, Kobe World, as well as NOAH&#39;s big upcoming show in Osaka. There&#39;s a lot going on right now. Also as a warning, this episode might have a lot of random/off topic banter even by our standards....<a href="http://twitter.com/wrestleomakase" rel="nofollow">Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter</a><a href="https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social" rel="nofollow">Follow John on BlueSky</a> Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #303: Korakuen-palooza (NJPW 7/6 & 7/7, STARDOM 6/30, DG 7/2 & NOAH 7/5), G1 Climax & 5STAR GP Previews w/ Arametha

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It&#39;s an annual tradition here on Wrestling Omakase, and John isn&#39;t going to get the fact that they are very, very jet lagged put a stop to it! They&#39;re joined by an all star panel of frequent Omakase guests for our 2026 Mid-Year Awards, as all five choose the best &amp; worst of the first half of a busy year in Japanese wrestling! See below for the full list of awards that were covered on the episode, in order. Best Tag TeamBest FeudMost ImprovedMost Overrated/OverpushedMost Underrated/UnderpushedBest UnitWorst UnitBest Major ShowWorst Major ShowMost Outstanding Wrestler (in ring only)Best PromotionWorst PromotionMatch of the (Half) YearWorst Match of the (Half) YearFlair/Thesz Award (in ring + drawing, basically MVP) Apologies for Zencastr repeatedly fucking with us, as well as John falling asleep at the end. Jet lag is real!! It&#39;s a menace!! Joshi-ing Around podcast: https://redcircle.com/shows/1309343e-3781-4750-9209-4efbc9976ab6 Check out the Emerald FlowShow: https://redcircle.com/shows/the-emerald-flowshow Social Suplex newsletter: https://www.socialsuplex.com/newsletter/ Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #302: 2026 Mid-Year Awards w/ Arametha, Paul, Eric & Velkej

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It&#39;s another Live from Japan episode, this time covering STARDOM The Conversion. John (while a little drunk) and Matt break down what was possibly the show of the year, featuring shocking results, a mega-hot crowd, and a whole lot more. Very short description because I&#39;m in a rush to go to club MOGRA. Go listen. Or don&#39;t, it makes no difference to me really.Follow Matt on Twitter: http://twitter.com/armanishoeFollow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #301: STARDOM The Conversion Live from Japan w/ Matt

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It&#39;s the THREE HUNDRETH EPISODE of Wrestling Omakase (!!), and in very fitting fashion we are live from Japan! John is joined by first time guest Matt from their hotel room in Osaka for a full review of an eventful NJPW Dominion show from Osaka Jo Hall. Lots of live notes of course on the building and what the crowd was like in person as they break it all down match by match. A bit of a shorter episode than usual this week (the izakaya was calling us to be honest), but definitely a fun one! Follow Matt on Twitter: http://twitter.com/armanishoe Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #300: NJPW Dominion Live from Japan w/ Matt

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2026/6/9/13/7be8bed0-1e3f-4110-be12-092bd9d6d968_omakase_episode_299.mp3

John is back on another Japan trip eve-eve, so they&#39;re filled with restless energy at the prospect of soon being back in a giant metal tube for 14 hours and they&#39;re pretty sure it showed! Thankfully returning guest Velkej is here to help them break down the end of the NJPW Best of the Super Juniors tournament, and boy is there a lot to talk about: the very divisive winner, who had the best and worst tournaments, the giant gap between A and B blocks, and a whole lot more! Plus, a preview of a very underwhelming-on-paper Dominion card for Osaka Jo Hall (not ideal when you&#39;re going to it of course!).Then it&#39;s over to Tokyo Joshi for nothing but unabashed praise (well, not quite as much from Velkej but hey) as John happened to think this random Korakuen show from them ended up being one of the very best shows of the year- from any promotion. They break down a MOTYC tag title match, a strong undercard with their young wrestlers once again showing out, and a surprisingly great main event. Afterwar they head back to Dragongate for a very mixed bag of two more Korakuen Hall shows, including the enormous news of Shun Skywalker&#39;s imminent departure. They break down the perplexing way that&#39;s been handled so far, comparisons to Okada&#39;s NJPW departure, some really weird and stupid angles, and Kobe World being booked seemingly on the fly.Finally, John goes solo to break down AJPW&#39;s 6/6 show from Nikko, another fun show from the most improved promotion of 2026. They wrap things up with a little bit of rambling on as we approach the 300th episode of this stupid podcast, somehow. Thanks to our listeners!!!Follow Velkej on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Velkej_BrachaFollow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #299: NJPW BOSJ Nights 11-13 & Finals, Dominion Preview, TJPW 6/7, DG 6/4 & 6/5 Korakuens, AJPW 6/6 Nikko w/ Velkej

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2026/6/2/14/85aeb842-508d-47d6-9d12-a9859b859e6f_omakase_episode_298.mp3

John and Eric (fka Snazzy??) are back for another super packed episode of Wrestling Omakase! They start things off with some discussion of VOW&#39;s latest edition of the 30 Under 30 project- who they voted for that got lost in the honorable mentions, then as 30-16 dropped right when they started recording they go through that list as well. Plus, lots of discussion on young wrestlers and how different places do (or don&#39;t) develop them in general! Then it&#39;s on to a major topic from last week, as they talk the major news of NJPW&#39;s sale from Bushiroad to TV Asahi &amp; Cyberagent, including a lot of things they think people are getting wrong about this topic so far.Then of course it&#39;s on to our show reviews, starting out with a STARDOM Korakuen show from 5/26 packed with major news: of course, Utami Hayashishita&#39;s sudden return to the company being the big one, but also a major title change on top. They break it all down as well as the sudden burst of unit movement from this past weekend as well. Then it&#39;s on to NJPW BOSJ Nights 8-10 (5/27, 5/29 &amp; 5/30) which were kind of the dog days of the tournament, though there were still a couple highlights (and some real lowlights as well).Afterward they talk a trio of shows that all took place on May 31st, starting with the King of DDT finals from Korakuen Hall. They break down a somewhat surprising winner, whether or not this was a mistake, if DDT&#39;s young talent is being pushed fast enough, &#34;vibes&#34; and more. Then it&#39;s over to Marvelous to talk their latest Shin Kiba 1st Ring show, featuring some notable foreign talent, Chigusa Nagayo&#39;s divisive commentary (Nicole made a run in for this part- she is not a fan!), and what&#39;s coming up next for them. Finally, it&#39;s back to the land of Ice Ribbon to discuss their show from Yokohama that John was particularly invested in the result of, as their favorite wrestler in the promotion tries to earn a title shot on a show they&#39;re going to next month! Also somewhere in here we rank the Omakase co-hosts by who would beat who in a FIGHT, so definitely don&#39;t miss that!Joshi-ing Around podcast: https://redcircle.com/shows/1309343e-3781-4750-9209-4efbc9976ab6Social Suplex newsletter: https://www.socialsuplex.com/newsletter/Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #298: NJPW Sale, 30 Under 30, STARDOM 5/26 Korakuen, BOSJ Nights 8-10, DDT 5/31 Korakuen, Marvelous 5/31 & Ice Ribbon 5/31 w/ Eric

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2026/5/26/16/33d0312c-e802-4ab0-9cee-c12742548518_omakase_episode_297.mp3

John is joined once again by Arametha, the man of many pronunciations, as they discuss mostly absolute nonsense for 45 minutes before finally getting into STARDOM&#39;s Queen Dynasty show! They break down another strong showing for the World Wonder Ring at the box office, a fun undercard, and then very notable first title defenses for Sayaka Kurara &amp; Hanan! After that it&#39;s over to New Japan for continuing coverage of the Best of the Super Juniors tournament, covering night 4 from Korakuen Hall (the final true dual block show for a while) before heading into single block nights from Osaka, Hyogo &amp; Kyoto! Who&#39;s been standing out so far, and who&#39;s been disappointing?Then it&#39;s back to joshi with Marigold&#39;s Shine Forever, their annual anniversary show from Ota Ward Gym. We discuss a difficult time for the embattled young promotion due to a mix of injuries and departures, and talk about where they might be able to go from here. Finally, we wrap things up with Tokyo Joshi&#39;s 5/22 Shinjuku FACE show, a delightful little event on their road to their next Korakuen show next month.Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #297: STARDOM Queens Dynasty, NJPW BOSJ Nights 4-7, Marigold Shine Forever & TJPW 5/22 Shinjuku w/ Arametha

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John is back alongside returning guest Velkej Bracha as they open things up with the start of NJPW&#39;s annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament! They discuss all the tournament action from nights 1 through 3 all around Tokyo, breaking down which performances have been entertaining and which ones have been grating so far (and there&#39;s been plenty of both!). Then they head back to AJPW to wrap up their surprisingly good 2026 Champion Carnival, in front of one of their biggest crowds in years at Ota, before looking ahead to some big upcoming shows next month. Next up it&#39;s back to the World Wonder Ring, as John &amp; Velkej discuss another solid Korakuen Hall show from STARDOM, celebrate the long-awaited return of the Artist six-woman belts (and talk a little about why they&#39;ve been so important to the promotion historically), and then preview this coming weekend&#39;s Queen&#39;s Dynasty PPV from Aichi. Finally, they wrap up the episode with a review of Marigold&#39;s most recent Korakuen, including some surprisingly frank English commentary on everything surrounding Utami Hayashishita&#39;s departure, the promotion&#39;s current struggles but also the young talent we think can help them turn things around in the future. There&#39;s also a few very brief notes on NOAH&#39;s latest Korakuen, which we meant to review more in full but ran out of time this week. Follow Velkej on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Velkej_Bracha Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #296: NJPW BOSJ Nights 1-3 (5/14, 5/16 & 5/17), AJPW Champion Carnival Finals (5/17), STARDOM 5/17 & Marigold 5/16 Korakuens w/ Velkej

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2026/5/12/13/b16f360c-3ac2-48b6-b3c9-b0374209c348_omakase_episode_295.mp3

John is back on the air for a special split episode! They start things out with returning guest Chris from Social Suplex, making his first appearance since the MOTY episode a few months back. After much complaining about broken phones and Apple bullshit they reminisce a little about being in Vegas for the Marvelous &amp; West Coast shows, which is an excellent transition into the review of Marvelous&#39; huge 10th Anniversary Show from Yokohama Buntai! They discuss a divisive main event and a ton of other huge matches. Then it&#39;s over to Sendai Girls for a typically low key but enjoyable 5/10 Shin Kiba show, featuring another great performance from Chihiro Hashimoto (but what else is new this year). To wrap up the joshi talk, John then goes solo to discuss the back half of Ice Ribbon&#39;s 5/10 show featuring a great world title match.Then John is joined by John Bivins, making his second straight appearance, as they cover all the men&#39;s wrestling together for the week. It starts out with Pro Wrestling NOAH, who we haven&#39;t covered in a while on this show and as it turns out for good reason, as they bury a mostly quite bad major show from Ryogoku, discuss a better effort from Korakuen Hall a few days later, and just generally talk about the current state of the once-proud green ring. Then it&#39;s back to AJPW to wrap up the Champion Carnival&#39;s last two block nights, which continued the trend of a quite enjoyable tournament. Speaking of enjoyable tournaments, it&#39;s the second round of the King of DDT from Shinjuku FACE! And finally, John goes solo again for a review of Dragongate&#39;s 5/8 Korakuen, as they talk the directions (and lack thereof) coming out of the big Nagoya event and some really weird booking in general, even if the show was mostly pretty good in ring wise. An absolutely packed show!---Social Suplex newsletter: https://www.socialsuplex.com/newsletter/John Bivins&#39; Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/punkrock.darkroast/ Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on BlueSky: <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social" rel="nofollow">https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social</a> Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #295: NOAH 5/2 Ryogoku & 5/5 Korakuen, Marvelous 10th Anniversary Show, AJPW Champion Carnival Nights 8/9, Sendai Girls 5/10, King of DDT 2nd Round, ICE 5/10 & DG 5/8 w/ Chris & John

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2026/5/6/16/c180419c-2187-4a4f-ba8f-c92ea6cdaa13_omakase_episode_294.mp3

The John &amp; John connection is back on the airwaves as John is once again joined by John Bivins to break down, well, fewer wrestling shows than they originally planned! John (Classic) is sorry for the bad mood they were in at the start of this podcast, but at least they cheered themselves up by accidentally doxxing someone! Which they edited out, don&#39;t worry. Anyway! NJPW put on two Wrestling Dontaku shows that weren&#39;t very good, and John &amp; John take you through all of it. Then it&#39;s over to Tokyo Joshi for a Korakuen show that absolutely ruled, followed by the first round of the King of DDT tournament, which was also very good. Finally, it&#39;s Night 7 of AJPW&#39;s Champion Carnival from Tochigi, another good show in a surprisingly good tournament. Everything was pretty damn good here *except* for the King of Sports, actually!John Bivins&#39; Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/punkrock.darkroast/Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #294: NJPW Wrestling Dontaku Nights 1 & 2, TJPW Yes! Wonderland, King of DDT 1st Round & AJPW Champion Carnival Night 7 w/ John Bivins

https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/pod-public-media-files/2026/4/29/14/f2307a13-5264-46f6-8a71-dcba1eaeb9ab_omakase_episode_293.mp3

John is back on the air with Paul from the Emerald Flowshow for an absolutely jam packed episode! First, it&#39;s a long and detailed review of STARDOM&#39;s biggest show of the year, All Star Grand Queendom, which for the second year in a row did their biggest attendance in company history at the Yokohama Arena! They break down each and every match, all the major title changes and where things might be going heading into May, and a whole lot more! Then it&#39;s over to NJPW for Redzone in Hiroshima featuring two title matches, as well as a look ahead at next week&#39;s Wrestling Dontaku shows from Fukuoka. And the big shows aren&#39;t done yet, as we talk Dragongate trying to bounce back from a rough start to their year with Golden Colosseum from Nagoya, including the big six-way cage match that featured a unit disbanding.After that it&#39;s over to the land of All Japan for continuing coverage of the Champion Carnival tournament, covering nights 4 through 6 (4/23, 4/25 &amp; 4/26). John and Paul break down why this tournament has been quite a bit better than last year&#39;s and review every tournament match. Finally, they wrap things up with Marigold&#39;s 4/25 Korakuen which featured a truly shocking announcement at the end of the show, but was a pretty damn good little show before that too! A fun show packed to the brim with pre-Golden Week festivities!Check out the Emerald FlowShow: https://redcircle.com/shows/the-emerald-flowshowFollow Wrestling Omakase&#39;s Twitter account: http://www.twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on Bluesky: http://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social&#34; Advertising Inquiries: <a href='https://redcircle.com/brands'>https://redcircle.com/brands</a> Privacy & Opt-Out: <a href='https://redcircle.com/privacy'>https://redcircle.com/privacy</a>

Wrestling Omakase #293: STARDOM All Star Grand Queendom, NJPW Redzone in Hiroshima, DG Golden Colosseum, AJPW Champion Carnival Nights 4-6, Marigold 4/25 Korakuen w/ Paul

Omakase means, literally, "I'll leave it up to you". It's a term primarily used in modern Japanese in sushi restaurants, where you allow the chef to prepare their own personal favorites, leaving your meal completely in their hands. Wrestling Omakase, therefore, is a show where we place each episode into the hands of one or two passionate fans, from all across the wrestling spectrum. Our regular host John Carroll has over 20 years of diverse wrestling fandom to draw upon, and they will be joined by a revolving door of guests who will share their knowledge and passion for particular promotions or time periods. While our primary focus will be on modern Japanese wrestling, we will also at least touch on wrestling from all over the world, in addition to the occasional episode covering historical periods of various promotions. This is a journey with wrestling fans around the world, bringing you the promotions they know and love the best, and we hope you will join us!