Let Me Tell You Something!

This is such good shit. Recently liberated from WWE and the Dean Ambrose moniker, Jon Moxley is reborn and has been travelling around many a promotion to pick a fight. He enters the G1 Climax with something to prove, and a man in Tomohiro Ishii is more than happy to provide the test he's looking for in a New Japan ring. Your wartime correspondents Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to assess the damage and record their eye-witness accounts for posterity.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's fair to say that the first half of 2019 has been a remarkable six month period for Will Ospreay. He opened the year winning the Never Openweight Championship in the Tokyo Dome at Wrestle Kingdom, he claimed his second Best of the Super Juniors tournament, and followed that up with reclaiming the IWGP Junior Heavyweight championship only four days later. Entering the second half of 2019 he's got a brand new goal, to win the G1 Climax at his first attempt. Unfortunately for him, the damage he's endured has left a toll and a negative win record going into his re-match with the man whom he defeated in a slight upset at Wrestle Kingdom, and a man hoping to go one step further from his runner-up finish at the previous G1 Climax, Kota Ibushi. Both men come in severely damaged physically and both desperate for a win to stay in contention in the tournament. Will the physical limitations impact both their performances and the match itself? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to find out.lmtysp

It's been a mere four days since Will Ospreay both won the Best of the Super Juniors tournament and scored another five-star match in the eyes of Dave Meltzer. But here is doing it again in the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship match that his BOSJ victory guaranteed. Facing him on the opposite corner is Dragon Lee, one of the most exciting young prospects in wrestling who has already garnered many a prize and a lot of acclaim along the way. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to find out if it is all deserved, whilst pondering what Ospreay may have done to have such a startlingly successful year compared to what had already been a meteoric rise up the global wrestling rankings.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the third consecutive Best of the Super Juniors to gain five stars, and it's between two men that were treading the fine line of the junior and heavyweight divisions of New Japan. Powerhouse and longtime Dragon Gate ace, as well as newest LIJ member, Shingo Takagi enters on a perfect group stage record of 9-0 whilst Ospreay battles through a pain and adversity to reach the first BOSJ final to main event Sumo Hall. Will they be able to put on a showcase worthy of such a grand stage? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to find out.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a last-minute booking for the previous NXT Takeover show, this time Johnny Gargano and Adam Cole have had time to develop their feud, and this was all about proving something. Gargano has to prove that he's not a flash in the pan, and Cole is challenged to prove he can win the big match without any interference from his fellow Undisputed Era team-mates. On the external level, however, the bigger question was how could they possibly match or even top their incredible match that they'd already had? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to hopefully help people decide one way or the other.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From its official announcement on New Year's Day 2019, to its first five-star match less than six months later, it's fair to say this has been an impressive first year for All Elite Wrestling. What makes this even more unlikely is that it's a match between two brothers who had previously wrestled a disappointingly forgettable match with each other a few years earlier in the WWE. But the restrictions are not there anymore, and they put on a very different kind of match. Even more remarkable is the age of Dustin as he records his second Meltzer five-star match, after his previous one had happened more than half of his lifetime ago. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) try to not to reflect on their own achievements and the inexorable march of time whilst deciding what are shortcuts and what is an extra layer of storytelling.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's Best of the Super Juniors time yet again, but for the first time in the tournament's history, it's a block match and not just the final that gains the perfect score from Dave Meltzer. If there's been a stand-out star in 2019 you can make a valid case that it's Will Ospreay, and this match with fellow hot up-and-comer Bandido is the start of a two-month period where Ospreay scored five matches rated five out of five. It's a battle in the skies as two men pushing what wrestling can achieve meet in front of an appreciative Korakuen Hall crowd. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here as always to try to keep up with the pace and provide their own thoughts.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After more than a year of build-up, the epic feud between Johnny Gargano and NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa was supposed to finally blow-off in the NXT Takeover before WrestleMania. However, with only weeks to go, Ciampa required neck surgery and Takeover had lost its main event. With little time to get people interested, leader of the Undisputed Era Adam Cole steps into the Ciampa-shaped hole as he and Gargano battled for the now vacant NXT title. Will they be able to provide a match entertaining enough for you to forget that Ciampa was supposed to be there? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to find out.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A match happened in Japan. A guy in America gave it five out of five. Two guys from England called Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) watched it. This is what they thought.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So the Meltzer Five-Star Project has finally lapped itself with the first match to get the perfect score rating from Dave that happened after Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) had started this project and uploaded episodes. Appropriately enough, it starts with the main event of a match at the Tokyo Dome as Kenny Omega now enters a Wrestle Kingdom in the new role of defending IWGP Heavyweight Champion facing off against the man that bleeds New Japan more than anyone else in 'The Ace of Universe'. A very personal conflict of ideologies plays out in front of our two hosts, and, although unknown at the time, Omega was taking part in his final match for the promotion that made him a worldwide name.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the final Debrief before Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) have finally completed their year-long five-star project. 2018 was when the five-star dam truly broke, resulting in twenty-one matches given the perfect rating that had only a few years earlier had gaps of over a year between matches. What changed? What non-five-star match is there for Lorcan and Simon to discuss? Has the individual top 10 and mutual top 5 changed? You'll have to listen to find out!lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With only two weeks left in a miraculous year of perfect matches, in the opinion of Dave Meltzer, New Japan were able to squeeze one last five-star affair before 2018 reached its conclusion. It involved four men who have all been involved in multiple perfect matches this year, and it was one of the final chances for the IWGP Heavyweight and NEVER Openweight champions and challengers to size each other up before Wrestle Kingdom. Tanahashi teaming with CHAOS member, and fellow title challenger, Ospreay to take on the seemingly invincible reunited dream team of Omega & Ibushi as the Golden Lovers. Will this makeshift team pull off an upset and get into the champions' minds before their title defences? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to find out.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As we wind our way down to the end of the record-breaking year for five-star matches that was 2018, we have our one and only match featuring Kazuchika Okada to be a team affair, as 'The Rainmaker' teams up with his CHAOS cohort 'The Stone Pitbull' to face The Golden Lovers. It is, at time of release, the final in-ring encounter between Okada and Kenny Omega, and features four of the top performers in all of wrestling in front of an excited U.S. crowd as NJPW continues its global expansion. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to savour what they can whilst keeping up with the frantic pace of a match where everyone is accustomed to having a bit more time to get their stuff in.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hiroshi Tanahashi continues his miraculous journey back to the main event of Wrestle Kingdom to challenge once again for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship. In order to reach that match against Kenny Omega, though, he must first finally claim a victory over the man who replaced him as the Ace of the promotion in 'The Rainmaker' Kazuchika Okada. Whilst Okada has been in a different, more troubled mood since being vanquished for the title by Omega, it's obvious that whenever he faces Tanahashi he ups his game. So will Tanahashi be able to achieve something he hasn't done in more than four years? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to find out.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After producing six five-star (and above) matches in the build up, it seems that once again they've saved the best for last as the G1 Climax final for 2018 earned a whopping five-and-three-quarter stars from Dave Meltzer. A generational conflict that sees the Ace of the Universe Hiroshi Tanahashi try once again to turn back time as he faces off against the younger upstart Kota Ibushi who entered the final off the back of defeating IWGP Heavyweight Champion and best friend Kenny Omega. With Omega in Ibushi's corner and Tanahashi's former fourth generation Three Musketeer ally/rival Katusyori Shibata in his, this is a clash you don't want to miss, and maybe you'll want to hear Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) and find out what they think too. Given you've read this whole blurb it really would be silly not to now...lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Golden Lovers collide! It's a match everyone wanted but feared what would happen if it did. Having finally reunited a few months earlier, Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi find themselves in opposite corners to decide who wins the G1 Climax B Block and faces Hiroshi Tanahashi in the final. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are still battling with the nastiest feedback they've ever received (thankfully not from listeners) but making sure to provide its listerns with the insight and analysis it has come to expect, and wish for more of but know better than to expect that of them...lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's fair to say that losing the IWGP Heavyweight Championship has affected Okada. We're not explicitly saying he might be partaking in certain narcotics that has affected his behaviour, but he certainly seems to be a man feeling a since of liberty sincce he's no longer carrying the mantle of champion. In the other corner is his greatest rival, and a man who always seems to have stuck to the straight-and-narrow, and on a great run that puts him in pole position to reach another G1 Climax final with this block decider. Will Tanahashi hold out or can Okada just rely on his physical gifts when his mental discipline seems to have gone wandering? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to find out.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the final match of the self-contained round robin in B Block of the 2018 G1 Climax. Kenny Omega and Tomohiro Ishii both have victories over Hirooki Goto that gained the full five stars from Dave Meltzer, they now go head-to-head themselves as the flash and spectacle of the leader of the Bullet Club meets the no-nonsense Stone Pitbull in a bruising and literally smash-mouth encounter. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) have a nearly as fraught battle with the feedback issues in their studio hire, but will fight on regardless to provide another episode of discussion and analysis. In many ways we're the real heroes.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

According to Google Translate, the appropriate Japanese word to call this match is a Surobbānokkā (the equivalent of a 'slobberknocker'). Two big burly brawling bastards battle it out in a G1 Climax group match. Goto has already fallen to Kenny Omega in our previous five-star match, and just a few days later he's in another match (wrestled in an entirely different style) to get the perfect score from Dave Meltzer against many people's G1 MVP 'The Stone Pitbull'. Will Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) be similarly impressed?lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Apologies in advance, but somehow recording in a hired studio face-to-face (instead of the usual recorded Skype conversation) has somehow resulted in a lower quality audio recording and us having to contend with (and mostly edit out) issues with feedback. But Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) carry on regardless as they review another G1 Climax B Block match, as IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kenny Omega continues to be cock of the walk as he takes part in a champion vs. champion match against NEVER Openweight champion, and perennial bride of New Japan's main event scene, Hirooki Goto. Will the leader of the Bullet Club continue to stretch out in front of his competition, or will the determined, but often unlucky, Goto bring him down to size? And will they have a match worthy of the full five-star rating in the process?lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.