Wrestling Omakase #157: 5 Matches with Joe Gagne (5 Star Match Game)

This week on Wrestling Omakase we talk Dick Togo in Osaka Pro, Kobashi vs. Nagata from NOAH in 2003, a classic Blood Generation vs. DoFIXER 6-man from Dragon Gate in 2005, Honma in BJW and TAKA & Sasuke in the WWF. If you haven't listened to a 5 Matches episode yet, 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!

Wrestling Omakase now has a Patreon. Head to http://patreon.com/wrestlingomakase where you can listen now to our latest Patreon-exclusive full episode, Omakase #156: 5 Matches with Robin Reid (host of VOW Quiz Night and ex-host of the Brit Wres Roundtable). Plus: three more exclusive 5 Matches episodes with VOW flagship co-host Rich Kraetsch, Alan4L from the PWTorch and Nate from Everything Elite, our complete series covering all fourteen matches of Okada vs. Tanahashi in chronological order, our upcoming series doing the same for Naito vs. Ishii, an exclusive same-day reaction show following NJPW Sengoku Lord next Saturday, 3 episodes of Anime Omakase and more to come! You can get access to all of our bonus audio for just $5 per month!

John is joined by returning guest Joe Gagne (@joegagne) from the 5 Star Match Game, our second quiz show host in three days! John starts by asking for Joe's takes on the hot topic of the week, EVILGATE, before we quickly head into discussing our 5 Match picks of the week. Here they are in order:

1. Super Delfin, Super Demekin & Tsubasa vs Black Buffalo, Daio QUALLT & Dick Togo, Osaka Pro 3/25/00 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYZdQEBpVXk&feature=youtu.be, Match starts at 32:12)

2. Kenta Kobashi vs. Yuji Nagata, NOAH 9/12/03 (http://youtube.com/watch?v=OgXdbnP4qA0)

3. Tomoaki Honma vs Ryuji Yamakawa, BJW 6/20/99 (https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV12W411U7Ss?p=2, Note: Does not work on mobile, only desktop)

4. Ryo Saito, Dragon Kid & Genki Horiguchi vs. CIMA, Naruki Doi & Don Fujii, DG 7/3/05 (https://www.bilibili.com/video/av73410351, Note: Does not work on mobile, only desktop)

5. The Great Sasuke vs. TAKA Michinoku, WWF 7/6/97 (WWE Network: https://watch.wwe.com/episode/In-Your-House-Canadian-Stampede-11766)

Topics that come up along the way include: DICK WORLD, really hoping a wrestler is wearing a mask because otherwise it looks distressingly like blackface, John quizzes the quizmaster (again!), lots of head drops, Nagata channeling the very spirit of NJPW against the NOAH ace, Honma does way more cool moves in a deathmatch than he ever did in NJPW (even back when he was still good), FLAMING KENDO STICK BALCONY ATTACKS, Dragon Gate six-mans are tough to do play-by-play on, 'Stone Cold' Dragon Kid, adventures in Japanese pronunciation, and indeed, what a maneuver.

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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: https://discord.gg/zWEgNK5

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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 every week: https://bit.ly/3dv3BjF