Let Me Tell You Something!

It's flash against fundamentals, colour against monochrome, cockiness against resilience, as 'The Rainmaker' defends his IWGP Heavyweight Championship against 'The Wrestler'. Okada goes into this match full of confidence, to the point of dismissal against a man who has had to wait more than a decade to challenge for New Japan's top title against a man who has basically owned the belt since his return to the promotion. Lorcan(@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to see which overriding ideology is successful and consider the career and character of Shibata.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Usually a match for a championship is reason for a wrestler to be at the top of their game in order to achieve the pinnacle of their sport. Unless your name is Tetsuya Naito and you're defending the IWGP Intercontinental Championship. In which case, you're only hoping to defend the title in order to deny someone else happiness, insult your company, and physically abuse the physical embodiment of everything that has held him back and denied him his deserved place at the top of the promotion. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) try not to damage their microphones like Naito does the IC belt and provide entertaining observations of this match where it is the gaijin as the defender of the promotion's integrity.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to adjust their list, discuss a listener's corrspondence, and provide an alternative five-star match to discuss. Obviously, we recorded this before we realised we screwed up about Okada vs. Tanahashi from October 2013. Rest assured it will be factored in as soon as we've caught up with ourselves!lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here it is. The match that, perhaps more than any other, is responsible for the increased public profile of New Japan, Kenny Omega, Kazuchika Okada, the creation of AEW, and even the significance of Dave Meltzer's star ratings. This was also the match that maybe broke the system as we know it. It's not the first six-star match, but it's the one that changed the scale forever after. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) still have the previous six-star match ranked as the best match of the series so far, so it's going to be intriguing to see how this affects both them individually, and how they perceive its impact on the rest of wrestling culture.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's our first foray into where Meltzer likes to hang out for some wrestling fun (but with his trusty pad and pencil with him) as he sits front row to watch a bumper collection of all the moves as three-quarters of PWG's main event faction Mount Rushmore (interesting name...) face off against the high flying dream team of Ricochet, Matt Sydal, and a young up-and-comer making waves from Essex called Will Ospreay. A true marmite match, let's see if Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) would spread it all over their baked products or chuck it in the bin!lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The leaders of the top two heel stables of New Japan, Bullet Club's Omega and Los Ingobernables de Japon's Naito, collided in the block decider for the 2016 G1 Climax and they went out of their way to tear the house down. The first of many five-star matches for both individuals, the changing fortunes of both Naito and Omega are charted both in their backstory and in the match itself. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to trade words with hopefully less spittle utilised compared to those taking part in this match.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Okada may now be the Ace of the promotion, but that doesn't mean he has to face challengers, even within his own faction! It's G1 Climax time, and it's the only year where faction civil war takes place, and the 'Stone Pitbull' has risen in the ranks to become the de factor second-in-command of the group. Will that mean he can finally get a win over the 'Rainmaker' in one of his rare chances to take on the perennial IWGP Heavyweight champ. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to find out.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We are back on the chronological track (at least in release order, it'll be a long time before we get back to the right record order!) but we're still with the great rivalry of the decade as Hiroshi Tanahashi and Kazuchika Okada once again battle it out for supremacy. Whilst Tanahashi is trying to once again reclaim the IWGP Heavyweight Championship, it's the defending champion Okada with even more to gain, as he now knows he must defeat his older rival on the biggest stage of his promotion's year and do it convincingly if he is to truly carry himself as the Ace of the promotion, and gain redemption for a loss the previous year that left him in such distress he wept as he left the Tokyo Dome. Will Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) need to bring hankies with them? And if so, for what exactly?! Listen if you dare to find out!lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

So we made a little screw up. We're sure you're all shocked. We got a little mixed up with the multiple Okada-Tanahashi matches and which match was rated what. So we're turning back the clocks a couple of years to play catch up and watch another match in what may come to be seen as the greatest rivalry in pro wrestling history. Will Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) contain their embarassment enough to provide qualitative analysis on what was billed at the time as Tanahashi's last chance to win the IWGP title from Okada? There's always a first time for everything!...lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whilst they main evented three separate Wrestle Kingdom events, this was the only time that the two top New Japan stars of the fourth generation both clashed in the G1 Climax final and had a match together that gained the perfect five-star rating from Dave Meltzer. It's Ace vs. King and Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) place all their cards on the table when it comes to combat critique.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's fair to say that Ishii and Honma are two of the most unlikely wrestlers to ever become stars big enough to find themsevles headlining a New Japan event, contesting a vacant title. Neither were a home-grown talent, both started at the lowest point of the pecking order you can be whilst not being a Young Lion, and both have an unconventional wrestling style. Yet, it all came together in an alchemical blend to create a five-star match in the eyes of Dave Meltzer. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to try to unpack both everything that went into the match and everything within the match itself.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's a debut for two of the top current stars in wrestling, as the 'King of Strong Style' Shinsuke Nakamura defended his beloved IWGP Intercontinental Championship against newly signed DDT 'Golden Star' Kota Ibushi. A clash of hard strikes and unusual haircuts, Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) take it all in and consider each man's respective place at the start of this match, the end of it, and in the late 2019 landscape at the time of recording.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As much a family dispute in a soap opera as it is a wrestling match, the Ace who spent the past decade shouldering the main event burden of the promotion faces off against the man who should have been sharing that weight as part of the Fourth Generation's new "Three Musketeers", this is a very personal one. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to find out "what's gaing on!" and tell them to "leave it aahht!" before finding out if the match deserves the full perfect rating that it got from Meltzer.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first G1 Climax match to gain five stars, but the first of many as August becomes a hotbed of perfect wrestling in the eyes of one Dave Meltzer. To start things off we've got a quick, violent slice of strong style striking as The Wrestler faces off against The Stone Pitbull and everyone in the audience in the venue and watching at home starts to feel pain in their own jaw just watching the match. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross) hope that the second-hand pain won't be too much to prevent them having a natter about the action they witnessed and to decide if they agree with the rating for a match that some may consider the pinnacle of their favourite version of pro wrestling.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been a long time for everyone for ten five-star matches to occur. more than a full decade. So Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) have a long period of time to discuss in their alternative 5-star match, to the point that they've decided to cover both a highly-rated match and its equally lauded re-match that didn't quite gain a perfect score from Dave Meltzer. As well as that they attempt to answer a listener's question and reconfigure their top 10 lists to determine the best of the best.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As the era of New Japan dominance in this list kicks off, this golden age of five-star matches wrestled on the cereleun blue mat was born from the epic rivalry for the role of 'Ace' of the promotion between the long-standing top star and 'Once in a Century Talent' Hiroshi Tanahashi and the cocky 'Rainmaker' Kazuchika Okada. Going into the fourth match of this series (and the first to gain a perfect score from Dave Meltzer) Tanahashi has recovered from the shock title loss in February of the previous year to regain the title at Dominion and successfully defending it at WrestleKingdom VII to currently holld the lead at 2-1. Surely another convincing victory and all talk of Tanahashi's time at the top being finished will be forgotten, and the arrogant 24-year-old upstart will learn his place in the pecking order. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) get ready to watch the first of many Okada matches they will cover over the next few months and see whether that was something that fills them with excite

It's the first of many, MANY matches this decade from New Japan that Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) will be covering for the rest of this five-star series. This one sees the Ace of Universe defend his IWGP Heavyweight Championship against every Young Lion's worst nightmare, and a man who could steal your girl as a young man and steal one of your limbs now, Minoru Suzuki.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When it burst on the scene in 2002, Ring of Honor quickly became the wrestling hipster fan's promotion of choice. A decade on and the praise was increasingly infrequent. Despite this, they achieved their fourth and final five-star clash during WrestleMania 28 weekend as Davey Richards defended his ROH Championship against "Unbreakable" Michael Elgin in what is frequently cited as his star-making turn. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) have previously dished out five star ratings to all the previous three ROH matches in this series, will it be four for four? Listen to find out!lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's been a long time, but you will be happy for the wait because we've got A LOT of audio to provide you with over the rest of the year. After Meltzer also took a long break from rating a match five stars, we took a little break from uploading. So we thought we'd make up for that with the longest episode in this series so far, and there's no more fitting a match to make Meltzer go the full five and for Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) for natter for over an hour-and-a-half to maybe the most culturally significant wrestling match of this century so far. Your hosts discuss the before, during, and after of this all-time classic and ponder just where the legacy of this match (and the infamous promo that set it up) is to be found in today's wrestling landscape.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the final five-star match for over five years as Ring of Honor plays host to a six-man Dragon Gate clash between the rival facctions of Blood Generation (CIMA, Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino) against the Do Fixer trio (Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito). Can Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) keep up with rapid fire move-for-move exchange? Listen to find out and then stick around to hear the co-hosts explain the planned course of action as the series enters the 2010s.lmtyspod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.