Wrestling Omakase #145: 5 Matches with Liam (Wednesday War Games)

This week on Wrestling Omakase we talk, honestly, a whole lot of mid-to-late 2010s NJPW. 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, 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 first time guest Liam, co-host of fellow VOW network podcast Wednesday War Games ( @WarGamesPod ). Before they get into the fun stuff, John and Liam do briefly touch on the tragic week in wrestling, including of course Hana Kimura's incredibly sad and sudden death, so I wanted to make sure you're warned about that here. We do not spend very long on this subject nor do we get into any details surrounding how it happened; John briefly talks about meeting Hana at the STARDOM NYC show last year and both talk a little about how much it upset them, but that's really about it. If you're in the US and need to talk to someone, the suicide hotline number is 1-800-273-8255. Please know people out there care about you. After that unfortunately tragic opening we thankfully move on to much lighter topics, including a brief review of the previous night's AEW Double or Nothing PPV (or at least the three matches John saw of the show). Then we get into our 5 Matches picks for the week, and here they all are in order: 1. Nick & Matt Jackson vs. Bryan Danielson & Roderick Strong, PWG 5/22/09 ( Highspots Network , match starts around 2:19:24) 2. Kota Ibushi vs. Shinsuke Nakamura, NJPW 1/4/15 (NJPW World: English or Japanese ) 3. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn, WWE NXT 4/1/16 ( WWE Network ) 4. Tetsuya Naito vs. Kenny Omega, NJPW 8/3/16 (NJPW World: English or Japanese) 5. Kazuchika Okada vs. Kenny Omega, NJPW 6/11/17 (NJPW World: English or Japanese ) Topics that come up along the way include: Liam watching PWG as a 12 year old, Ibushi/Nakamura vs. Ibushi/Zayn, Naito vs. Omega both as a series and why this match is their very bets one, Liam gives a prepared speech about why Okada-Omega II is his favorite match ever and then John says it was Actually Bad (okay, not really, but not that great!), and then a long discussion on mid-to-late 2010s NJPW in general and their favorite and least favorite years at the very end. It's a real fun time that will hopefully get your mind off what an incredibly shitty week it's been in wrestling! Support Wrestling Omakase with a donation through Red Circle! All donations are split with that week's guest. We really appreciate it! 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 every week! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands Privacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy