Wrestling Omakase

Wrestling Omakase
  • 3.8 (32)
  • Wrestling
  • Updated Weekly

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! This podcast is a member of the Voices of Wrestling Podcast Network. Learn more about the Voices of Wrestling Podcast Network at voicesofwrestling.com.

  1. 5h ago

    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

    John and Eric (fka Snazzy??) are back for another super packed episode of Wrestling Omakase! They start things off with some discussion of VOW'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't) develop them in general! Then it's on to a major topic from last week, as they talk the major news of NJPW's sale from Bushiroad to TV Asahi & Cyberagent, including a lot of things they think people are getting wrong about this topic so far. Then of course it's on to our show reviews, starting out with a STARDOM Korakuen show from 5/26 packed with major news: of course, Utami Hayashishita'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's on to NJPW BOSJ Nights 8-10 (5/27, 5/29 & 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's young talent is being pushed fast enough, "vibes" and more. Then it's over to Marvelous to talk their latest Shin Kiba 1st Ring show, featuring some notable foreign talent, Chigusa Nagayo's divisive commentary (Nicole made a run in for this part- she is not a fan!), and what's coming up next for them. Finally, it'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'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't miss that! Joshi-ing Around podcast: https://redcircle.com/shows/1309343e-3781-4750-9209-4efbc9976ab6 Social Suplex newsletter: https://www.socialsuplex.com/newsletter/ Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakase Follow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    4 hr

  2. May 26

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

    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'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 & Hanan! After that it'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 & Kyoto! Who's been standing out so far, and who's been disappointing? Then it's back to joshi with Marigold'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'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/wrestleomakase Follow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    4h 7m

  3. May 20

    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

    John is back alongside returning guest Velkej Bracha as they open things up with the start of NJPW'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'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's back to the World Wonder Ring, as John & 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've been so important to the promotion historically), and then preview this coming weekend's Queen's Dynasty PPV from Aichi. Finally, they wrap up the episode with a review of Marigold's most recent Korakuen, including some surprisingly frank English commentary on everything surrounding Utami Hayashishita's departure, the promotion's current struggles but also the young talent we think can help them turn things around in the future. There's also a few very brief notes on NOAH'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/wrestleomakase Follow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    3h 44m

  4. May 12

    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

    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 b******t they reminisce a little about being in Vegas for the Marvelous & West Coast shows, which is an excellent transition into the review of Marvelous' huge 10th Anniversary Show from Yokohama Buntai! They discuss a divisive main event and a ton of other huge matches. Then it'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'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's wrestling together for the week. It starts out with Pro Wrestling NOAH, who we haven'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's back to AJPW to wrap up the Champion Carnival's last two block nights, which continued the trend of a quite enjoyable tournament. Speaking of enjoyable tournaments, it's the second round of the King of DDT from Shinjuku FACE! And finally, John goes solo again for a review of Dragongate'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' Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/punkrock.darkroast/ Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakase Follow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    5h 15m

  5. May 6

    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

    The John & 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't worry. Anyway! NJPW put on two Wrestling Dontaku shows that weren't very good, and John & John take you through all of it. Then it'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's Night 7 of AJPW'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' Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/punkrock.darkroast/ Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakase Follow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    3h 2m

  6. Apr 29

    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

    John is back on the air with Paul from the Emerald Flowshow for an absolutely jam packed episode! First, it's a long and detailed review of STARDOM'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's over to NJPW for Redzone in Hiroshima featuring two title matches, as well as a look ahead at next week's Wrestling Dontaku shows from Fukuoka. And the big shows aren'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'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 & 4/26). John and Paul break down why this tournament has been quite a bit better than last year's and review every tournament match. Finally, they wrap things up with Marigold'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-flowshow Follow Wrestling Omakase's Twitter account: http://www.twitter.com/wrestleomakase Follow John on Bluesky: http://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social" Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    5h 7m

  7. Apr 23

    Wrestling Omakase #292: Wrestlemania Week Live Report (STARDOM, TJPW, Marvelous, DG, West Coast & More), All Star Grand Queendom Preview, AJPW Champion Carnival Nights 2/3 & SEAdLINNNG 4/17 Korakuen w/ Snazzy

    John is back from Las Vegas where they only lost SOME money! Yeah!! They're joined by Eric aka Snazzy from the Joshi-ing Around podcast & Social Suplex newsletter, who is in fact about to leave for a big trip himself- Japan for ASGQ, Marvelous' 10th anniversary show and more! They talk a bit about that before transitioning to a long recap of John's entire Vegas trip, including reviews of eight different wrestling shows- many of them from Japanese promotions- and a ton of random anecdotes on just what things were like on the ground. Then John & Snazzy do a full preview of STARDOM's biggest show of the year from Yokohama Arena, discuss the chances of Sayaka Kurara actually winning the red belt, compare the show to last year on paper and more. After that it's time to talk about some shows that actually happened in Japan, starting with nights 2 & 3 of the AJPW Champion Carnival. John was apparently lower on some of this than consensus and shares some thoughts. Then they discuss SEAdLINNNG for maybe the first time ever on Omakase, as they break down their big Korakuen Hall show that featured two outstanding matches. Eric does a great job introducing their young roster if you'd like a good place to jump in, and the two of them discuss just how great the joshi scene is right now in general as well. Joshi-ing Around podcast: https://redcircle.com/shows/1309343e-3781-4750-9209-4efbc9976ab6 Social Suplex newsletter: https://www.socialsuplex.com/newsletter/ Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakase Follow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    3h 32m

  8. Apr 14

    Wrestling Omakase #291: AJPW Champion Carnival Night 1, STARDOM 4/8 & 4/11 Korakuens, Sendai Girl 4/12 Korakuen, GLEAT 4/8 Shinjuku FACE & TJPW 4/11 & 4/12 Vancouver w/ John DK

    No exploding tooth or sudden new job could keep these two Johns off the air! Your humble host is having a slightly harder time talking than usual, but they gut through it for YOU, THE LISTENER, as they break down a surprisingly strong opening night of AJPW's 2026 Champion Carnival! Plus, full reviews of two STARDOM Korakuens back to back as the road to Yokohama Arena (finally) heats up, an enormous Sendai Girls Korakuen with a crazy woman almost breaking her face, THE FINAL GLEAT REVIEW IN THE HISTORY OF THIS PODCAST (maybe), and finally, two perfectly fine little Tokyo Joshi shows from Vancouver. Check out John DK's website here: https://dk1105.neocities.org/ Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakase Follow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.social Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

    2h 53m
See All (264)

3.8
out of 5
32 Ratings

About

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! This podcast is a member of the Voices of Wrestling Podcast Network. Learn more about the Voices of Wrestling Podcast Network at voicesofwrestling.com.

Information

  • Creator
    Wrestling Omakase
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2026
  • Episodes
    264
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © All rights reserved.
  • Show Website
    Wrestling Omakase

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