Eastern Lariat

Episode 322: Secret Sauce

STRIGGA & Dylan celebrate Dylan's 10th Anniversary show the only way they know and could: With a jam-packed episode covering current and upcoming events, stories and matches from seven japanese promotions. They kick things off with the joshi block on the show with Sendai Girls in Korakuen from 4/12, Stardom's All Star Grand Queendom card for 4/26, and Marvelous heading to Yokohama Buntai on May 5. Turning to the men's side, Pro Wrestling NOAH enters the conversation with Apex Conquest 2026 in Nagoya, a card that brought its own share of intrigue with the return of Shane Haste, while Dragon Gate's Golden Colosseum lineup continues to build momentum leading to a big Six Way Cage Match. Finally, New Japan's big matches on the Road to Wrestling Dontaku and on Dontaku itself are part of the discussion as well as Callum Newman as IWGP Heavyweight Champion and the upcoming Best of the Super Junior.

Episode 321: Easter Potpourri

Returning from a hiatus, The Eastern Lariat jumps right back into the mix of japanese pro wrestling starting with TJPW's Texas Tour and Grand Princess, where Yuki Arai stood tall above all. Then they shift to Sendai Girls with Chihiro Hashimoto continuing to be the measuring stick of joshi wrestling. Since the world of professional wrestling is ever evolving, STRIGGA & Dylan also discuss the departures of Chi Chi & ZONES from Evolution and Dragon Dia aka. DIA from DRAGONGATE. This leads right away to NJPW and the preview of Sakura Genesis plus the roster for the Best of the Super Junior 33 (so far). The final topic of the show is another preview with All Japan's Champion Carnival coming up in mid April.

Episode 320: Osaka Pro, Shinjuku FACE Closing, Solo Catchup

Halfway through the show STRIGGA had an unexpected and unfortunate situation where is X (formerly known as Twitter) account @STRIGGA was hacked. Therefore Dylan went solo for the last half or so after the 42 minute mark. We apologize for the inconvenience and will make it up one day! On the return effort with Strig back from WxW we talk a bit about the state of the scene as well as an unexpected foray into the US and even Australian indies, but it leads us to Dylan's pick for a promotion to watch: Osaka Pro! We talked about the recent Tag Festival and the great storyline with VerteX and Rogue Nation, with great vibes of the promotion in particular. We then talk about the significance of Shinjuku FACE and how it will effect multiple companies going forward when it closes, along with the history of the building itself and Strig's past visits there. After Dylan takes over solo he does a mini-run through of multiple big stories right now including: - NJPW New Japan Cup - Stardom Cinderella Tournament - AJPW Champion Carnival Blocks - NOAH's 3.8 show featuring 2 great matches and a lot of rookies! - DG in Disarray and KAI vs. Kikuta being the next Dream Gate match For more coverage of Japanese wrestling, and wrestling past and present please check out our Patreon for literally 1000s of hours of audio and written content as well, including the brand new EL Weekly Newsletter: https://www.patreon.com/easternlariat Follow us on Twitter/X: https://www.twitter.com/easternlariat https://www.twitter.com/strigga https://www.twitter.com/viva_zero Follow us on BlueSky: @easternlariat.bsky.social @vivazero.bsky.social @strigga.bksy.social Follow us on IG: https://www.instagram.com/easternlariat If you would like more info check out Ruth (@ruthisanotter) and her great coverage of the company and it's Units, check her out on Twitter/X as well as their fantastic article on the subject: https://sixtyminutedraw.com/guide-to-osaka-pro-factions

Episode 319: A New Beginning?

This week, the Eastern Lariat dives into a possibly defining show for New Japan Pro Wrestling on 2/11: Tsuji remains champ, Jake Lee looked goofy and Tsuji called out Bushiroad – a lot to unwind for STRIGGA & Dylan! They also discuss the big question: where exactly do you go with Olympic gold medalist Aaron Wolf from here? Who's stepping up after Finlay and Hiromu being added to the list of departures? Maybe Callum Newman? The New Japan Cup may provide some answers. Dylan also plugs his obituary for Tadao Yasuda and STRIGGA is hyped for Katsuya Murashima moving to Europe. After 90 minutes of NJPW, the Lariat goes rapid fire with the Champion Carnival line up, NOAH's latest Korakuen, GLEAT, TJPW and of course Saya Kamitanis's tremendous performance on February 7!

Episode 318: New Year Potpourri

Welcome to the 2026 edition of the New Year Potpourri! After Wrestle Kingdom and the Year End Awards, this show looks back how the first month of the year went for some of the top companies in Japan. Of course STRIGGA & Dylan start off by breaking down EVIL leaving NJPW and reflecting his legacy with the company. Was he a true top guy? From there on, the Eastern Lariat talks about the identity of Hayabusa and his match on Monday Magic including some more developments in the new season of the show. Then, the show takes a closer look at DDT's busy January including the D GENERATIONS Cup and weird WCW vibes. The show adds in a stop for All Japan Pro Wrestling in Chiba, featuring Kento Miyahara vs. Talos and Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Seigo Tachibana before wrapping up with DRAGONGATE, spotlighting BIGBOSS Shimizu vs. Natural Vibes and possible directions for Yuki Yoshioka and Ryoya Tanaka heading towards Kobe World in the summer.