This is a Patreon-exclusive full episode. Sign up to the Wrestling Omakase Patreon now for just $5 a month to get access to it, along with:
–Last week’s Patreon-exclusive full episode with Alan4L from the PWTorch.
-John’s series watching and recapping all of the Kazuchika Okada vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi matches in order, which already has six episodes up and ready for you to listen now.
-Anime Omakase, our new series exclusively on the world of anime, which already has its first episode up (with another one to come next week!).
-Bonus audio with John and VOW contributor Tyler Forness giving their 2020 New Japan Cup picks, filling out their brackets live on the air.
-And much more to come!

This week on Wrestling Omakase the BOSS MAN is here for our second Patreon-exclusive full episode! If you haven’t listened to a 5 Matches episode yet, every week John and the guest each choose 2 matches to watch and talk about on the episode. Then we each choose a third match, which is put up to a vote on the @wrestleomakase Twitter account (or on the Patreon!), letting the listeners choose our fifth and final match of the week. It’s a fun retro format featuring all sorts of different wrestling!

John is joined by VOW flagship co-host Rich Kraetsch (@voiceswrestling) as they start by talking the major milestone for Omakase, our 150th episode, and the history of how the show got started. Then they get into the 5 matches for this week, and it’s a loaded lineup:

1. Team NJPW (Antonio Inoki, Tatsumi Fujinami, Kengo Kimura, Umanosuke Ueda & Kantaro Hoshino) vs Team UWF (Akira Maeda, Yoshiaki Fujiwara, Osamu Kido, Nobuhiko Takada & Kazuo Yamazaki), NJPW 3/26/86 (NJPW World)
2. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Minoru Suzuki, NJPW 10/8/12 (NJPW World)
3. Diesel & Shawn Michaels vs. Razor Ramon & 1-2-3 Kid, WWF 10/30/94 (Dailymotion)
4. Steve Austin vs. Bret Hart, WWF 11/17/96 (WWE Network)
5. Rob Van Dam vs. Jerry Lynn, ECW 3/21/99 (WWE Network)

Topics that come up along the way include: Rich doesn’t hate shoot style he just hates one guy in particular, where the fuck did that “quiet Japanese crowds” shit actually come from, doing more with less, going with your fans instead of fighting them every step of the way, getting inspired by early 90s AJPW and also probably cocaine, Why Can’t American Wrestling Just Always Be Like This, remember when the WWE(F) used to actually know where their fans were going, also remember when their commentators used to talk like actual human beings, Rich picked the wrong match, and doing stupid shit with chairs.

Link: https://www.patreon.com/posts/38331927

Wrestling 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
VOW Network Discord

Missed any of the 5 Matches episodes or just want to revisit one of the matches discussed previously but aren’t sure what episode it took place on? Here’s a handy Google Doc with links to every single match we’ve discussed on this series so far, which will continue to be updated with every new episode.