Podcast
Wrestling Omakase
Hosted by Wrestling Omakase · EN
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.
43episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Wrestling Omakase #252: 30 Under 30 (2025) w/ Paul Wedding & Fred Morlan
Jun 9, 202503:10:31Tap to summarizeJohn is back for another new episode of Wrestling Omakase (I know, already??) as we do a deep dive into VOW's annual 30 Under 30 list, which just came out a few days ago! They're joined by two voters for the 2025 list: host of VOW podcast The Good, The Bad & The Hungee Fred Morlan (can also check out Fred's Patreon here: https://www.patreon.com/flagrantwrestling) and Paul Wedding (@PaulEWedding on Twitter), who also happen to be two first time Omakase guests. John, Fred and Paul proceed to break down the 30 Under 30 results, starting with a bit of a deep dive on the promotion breakdown of the list- and John comes armed with some hard attendance figures to discuss that one promotion in particular may have been shortchanged by the results!Once that's out of the way they proceed to break down all their selections for this year, started with wrestlers they all voted for and going in the order of their finishes on the final list (followed by wrestlers only two of three voted for and then of course wrestlers only one of them voted for). A ton of names across Japan, Mexico & the US are discussed as well as a ton of different topics, including but not limited to: surprise at Gabe Kidd going number one and the backlash to the pick on social media, how much the booking of Kaito Kiyomiya has hurt him, whether Yuma Anzai may eventually have to go elsewhere, MAO being a highlight of BOSJ, Saya Kamitani and Sareee both getting ranked way too low, other major STARDOM snubs, Kosei Fujita's eventual ceiling, a hasty MJF defense from Fred before he has to go early (and a burial from John), and a lot of shoutouts from Paul of some Osaka talent that you may not have heard from. Plus a whole lot more!Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: @WrestleOmakaseFollow John on Bluesky: @justoneenbyCheck out Paul's wrestling substack here: http://pwfg.substack.comCheck out Paul's wrestling interviews for his radio station here: http://WFAA.comSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Transcribe →Wrestling Omakase #251: Natsu & Saory 10th Anniversary, STARDOM May Recap, NJPW BOSJ Wrap-Up, Marigold Shine Forever & King of DDT w/ Arametha
Jun 4, 202504:03:31Tap to summarizeYou waited a month for another new Omakase (if you cared at all) but don't worry, because here's one that's over four hours long!! Wow! John is joined by first time guest and longtime listener Arametha as they spend the first half hour of this show embarrassingly weebing out together. Anime! Tokusatsu! Anime cons! Iowa city names, for some reason! Once that is mercifully out of the way, the two of them head to the World Wonder Ring for 90 minutes of STARDOM talk, starting with a full review of the Natsu & Saory 10th Anniversary Show from Ota Ward Gym. They talk about the impact of the original Actwres Girlz class, Saori & Poi apparently getting free reign over Bushiroad, some theories on why the young women wrestlers of Japan seem so far ahead of the men right now and much more! Then the two of them talk about recent shows in Osaka & Kyoto plus the two May Korakuens, before finally wrapping up the STARDOM talk with a brief look ahead to the next Korakuen show coming up in the first week of June.Then they move over to New Japan for a full recap of the Best of the Super Juniors 32 tournament, including a review of the finals match between YOH and Kosei Fujita, block rankings by average star rating with thoughts on each wrestler's tournaments, and some big picture thoughts on where the booking may have struggled. Afterward they give a brief audio preview of the upcoming Dominion card as John shares some thoughts on why they're not quite as hyped for this show as some others.Next the two of them talk about DREAM STAR FIGHTING MARIGOLD, a first for Omakase, with a full review of the Marigold Shine Forever show! They discuss the diverging paths of Marigold's young wrestlers, an absolutely *incredible* debut match, Mayu Iwatani's somewhat confusing "grand slam" goal, and the retirement of Nanae Takahashi (including some brief thoughts on her overall career and some past match recommendations if you're so inclined!).Finally, because this episode just wasn't long enough already, they wrap things up with some brief King of DDT thoughts on the semifinals and an outstanding final match, plus Minoru Suzuki vs. Danshoku Dieno, because why not at this point?! If you want to hear an absolute metric ton of Japanese wrestling audio, well, you've definitely come to the right place this week!Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter @WrestleOmakase, or follow John on Bluesky instead @justoneenby.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Transcribe →Wrestling Omakase #185: NJPW BOSJ/World Tag League Night 9 & DDT D-Ou GP Night 6 w/ Jeri
Dec 7, 2020Tap to summarizeThis week on Wrestling Omakase we look back at a great final night of tournament action in both the Best of the Super Juniors and World Tag League, recap both tournaments overall, and review Night 6 from the DDT D-Ou Grand Prix!The Wrestling Omakase Patreon is your best source for coverage of Japanese wrestling, from yesterday and today. You can sign up right now and listen to everything from daily audio coverage of EIGHT different tournaments this year across a wide variety of promotions (NJPW, AJPW, NOAH, DDT and TJPW), our 1 Match series looking back at every Tanahashi vs. Okada and Naito vs. Ishii match in order, our 5 Matches series featuring John and a ton of different guests from both VOW and places like the PWTorch as well breaking down some of their all time favorite matches, and a lot more! Plus, coming up in December will be our new 1 Match series covering every Tokyo Dome main event in order, and some of our annual Year in Review coverage will move to the Patreon as well. And you can vote in our first ever Wrestling Omakase Patron awards! You can get access to all of it right now for only $5 at www.patreon.com/wrestlingomakase!John is joined by first time guest and VOW contributor Jeri Evans (@TheJerriest_Jer) as they review the combined Night 9 of the NJPW Best of the Super Juniors and World Tag League. They review all ten matches in detail, discuss how we ended up with our two finals, and then also rank all ten wrestlers and ten teams by John's average star rating across each tournament, with Jeri throwing in her thoughts on all of them as well. They don't spare any harsh words for those who deserve it (Wato! Chase! Fale!) but of course there's tons of praise for those who deserve that too (Hiromu! SHO! Tekkers! Many others!).Once that's out of the way John goes solo for the rest of the show, and before they get into their DDT review John brings the breaking news of the final card for the upcoming BOSJ/WTL finals at the Nippon Budokan on Friday. They speculate a little on some potential Wrestle Kingdom matches too. Then they turn their attention to the DDT D-Ou Night 6, a very solid night of action from a tournament that's been more miss than hit so far. John breaks down an excellent Takeshita-Sakaguchi match and a very good Endo-Takao match, plus all the other matches on the card as well. Finally, John looks ahead to next Saturday's Night 7, the last round robin night, and what the scenarios look like for all the remaining contenders to advance to the finals.Support Wrestling Omakase with a donation through Red Circle! All donations are split with that week's guest. We really appreciate it: http://bit.ly/2o42FP6Wrestling Omakase has dedicated channels on TWO Discords! Come join either one where you can chat with John and show guests and submit questions for future episodes!Super J-Cast Discord: https://discord.gg/zWEgNK5VOW Network Discord: https://discord.gg/rGTXwXdSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/wrestling-omakase/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
Transcribe →