Let Me Tell You Something!

One of the most important figures in the history of professional wrestling died on the same year the promotion he founded celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. Antonio Inoki was a lightning rod for controversy and creativity within pro wrestling and even the wider world of politics. Although known for pushing the notion of pro wrestling as the "King of Sports" and engaging in matches with high-profile figures from legit combat, even most famously Muhammad Ali, and as a result being one of the pioneers of what we now know as MMA, he was still a great in-ring technical wrestling. Therefore the LMTYS hosts have chosen to discuss a match from 1975 that is oft-cited as one of his best wrestling matches, and winner of multiple Match of the Year awards in 1975. It's against another innovative and influential figure in wrestling and MMA, Billy Robinson. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to provide their thoughts on this techinical masterclass, and even fitting in brief side discussions on matters including the recent scandals in the world of chess! https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

Be it a manger or an agent, a bodyguard or a valet, or maybe your childhood ventriloquist dummy requisitioned from the remnants of your demolished housing estate, many a wrestler has had a ringside accomplice. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) accompany each other in a thoughtful conversation about this very subject matter. https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

Walter's second ever Meltzer five-star match was when he defended his NXT UK Championship in Cardiff's Motorpoint Arena in front of 3,600 fans against plucky underdog Tyler Bate. Three years and three days later, he is now Gunther, he's defending the WWE Intercontinental Championship in Cardiff's Principality Stadium in front of just under twenty times that number. This time his opponent is the definition of 'picking on someone your own size' in the 'Celtic Warrior' Sheamus. Thirteen years into his WWE career may not have been when you'd expect Sheamus to gain his first five-star match from Meltzer, but here we are. For the first time in The Meltzer 5-Star Project's history, one of the hosts was live at the venue when this match occurs. Simon (@simoncross3) is here to recount his first-hand experiences, and Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) is here to find a way to still somehow talk more than Simon in the episode. https://pateron.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

The final chapter of the Ospreay-a-thon sees 'The Commonwealth Kingpin' round out the month of August with his fourth five-star-plus match in a third different continent. Having just fallen at the final of the G1 to Okada, and then lost his RevPro title to RKJ, he's headed to the States with his United Empire partners (and five-star debutants) Aussie Open and hope to become the first ever AEW Trios Champions. To do so, they have to get past the trio many think the titles only exist for them, and the man that Ospreay has been sending messages of a subliminal, liminal, and superliminal kind throughout the month, in the recently returned Kenny Omega. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are going to watch this melee in the hopes of making some bitingly trenchant points and hope not to get a flying chair into their face for making their feelings understood. https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

It's the third of four Will Ospreay matches to gain at least five stars from Dave Meltzer. The previous one only occured three days earlier on an entirely different continent, but Ospreay has already defended the title once a day before against Mike Bailey (a mere 4.75 stars) and now it's the third and last shot for the third generation RKJ on RevPro's tenth anniversary show. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to arrange the party streamers and tin cups and give their own assessments of the action. https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

So, what do you think we should talk about this week on our wrestling podcast? A match from a month ago? LET'S DO THIS THING! https://pateron.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

The first of (at least) four matches involving Will Ospreay that Dave Meltzer has rated five stars or higher. First, Ospreay faces off for the fifth time with Shingo Takagi, and continues the record they have achieved in all their singles matches for getting at least perfect score from the Observer. Does it match such lofty standards, and what is there left for the duo to do that won't feel unoriginal? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to find out. https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

The re-match to what is currently the closest to a consensus pick Match of the Year for 2022, FTR look to continue their remarkable year of matches and triumphs by defending their ROH World Tag Team Championship against the team that they won the title from, looking to start their thirteenth reign as tag champs, and doing so in the 2 out of 3 falls stipulation that they have a history of dominating. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to provide two straight falls of opinion. Will they ever bring in a third thought? Almost certainly not. Listening to other people's opinion is not what podcasts are for. Now listen to us talk about a forty-five minute wrestling match for more than forty-five minutes. patreon.com/lmtyspod facebook.com/lmtyspod twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) discuss a not particularly important event that happened this week and it's potential immediate and longer consequences. https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

It's a title vs. title match between the champions of the main two sister promotions of WWNLive, as the Evolve Champion Drew Galloway, in the middle of a reinvention after his unceremonious dumping from the WWE only a few years after being introduced by Vince McMahon himself as a future world champion, against Dragon Gate USA's Open the Freedom Gate Champion Johnny Gargano, a man who had carved a reputation over the previous years as one of the best wrestlers on the indie scene. Together they would both raise in stature and profile in WWE's NXT a few years alter. And many traces of those NXT matches can be found right here in front of a small-ish indie crowd. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) compare the journeys of both men before and after this match and how certain aspects of the match ring differently today. https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

El Hijo del Santo and Negro Casas face off in a lucha des apuestas match where the hatred is so intense you don't know if it's un trabajo o un rodaje

El Santo is arguably the most important a cultural figure that any wrestler has even been in a single country. A superhero who played his role, and wore his mask, in the ring, in public, and in over fifty films. For their first pick of this particular sub-genre that has a cult following to this day, Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) have picked a battle royal of a movie, with Santo and co-star Blue Demon, arguably the second biggest star in all of lucha libre history, battling a marauding band of supernatural horror villains that bear more than a striking resemblence to the Universal horror movie villains of the 30s and 40s. Although the costumes don't quite measure up... https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

Before we had the PR campaign called the Divas Revolution, some women wrestlers in the default no. 2 US promotion post-WCW pre-AEW were putting on matches that were an equal to anything the men could do and were garnering praise and presenting a very different kind of story to what we were being force-fed with the narrow aesthetics requirements of the WWE's Divas division. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) pick up their conversation from Blayze-Nakano to further discuss the shifting and changing role of women in pro wrestling and the stories they are allowed to tell, and what issues they may have that are part of their own struggles, and what fit into the wider aspects of wrestling culture. Still two blokes talking about it, though. https://pateron.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

For the first time since Cena-Punk at Money in the Bank 2011, Dave Meltzer gave a match on the main roster WWE a five-star rating. And all it took was for one of the participants to wrestle the entire match with a torn pec, with brusing covering almost half of Cody Rhodes's torso and arm. Meltzer considered it 'among the most compelling matches in pro wrestling history', but is there actually anything to the match itself beyond Rhodes's war wounds going in? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to find out one way or the other. https://pateron.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

For the third time in the three-year history of AEW, the two teams of brothers who so often wrestle as mirror images of each other, engaged in a match that Dave Meltzer gave the perfect five-star rating as a minimum rating. This time there are no championships on the line, and both are looking to rally themselves after recent defeats. Will Penta & Fenix continue to stretch out their lead on overall wins, or will Matt & Nick Jackson claim their first victory over their Mexican counterparts in their home promotion of AEW? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to find out https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

Only the one five-star match from Meltzer for the latest AEW pay-per-view, this is a match that certainly lives up to its billling of 'Anarchy in the Arena'. The shit hits the fan before the wrestling even starts, and it gets a rocking soundtrack for a lot of the chaos too! Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) reach perhaps their most diametrically opposed when a point of contention rears its head in this episode. Let us know where you stand on this matter! Outro music: John Foxx - Stars on Fire https://pateron.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

Before there were Divas and Women's Revolutions, there was a brief moment where two women wrestled some of the most exciting and state of the art matches in all of North America. For once, Alundra Blayze has an opponent who can keep up with her pace, as she faces Bull Nakano. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to help assess the fluctuating qualities of women's wrestling in the U.S, both in the past and the present, through a match and rivalry that has rightly been placed on a higher pedestal within the WWE, and wrestling fandom in general, in recent years. https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

Max Oleskar and Ivan Gonzalez are a successful live comedy double act who created Edinburgh Fringe history with their bi-annual show at the Pleasance Grand that pit comedians alongside and against pro wrestlers. As a result of the success, Max & Ivan have now written and co-star in this new series set within the small town petty politics of low-budget wrestling promotions in North West England. Can they translate their comedy skills (and Max's experience as a one-time pro wrestler himself) into that most challenging of all mediums - the sitcom! Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) have go their analytical Goggleboxes on and discuss where the series goes and where it could go in the future. https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

It's been two decades of news updates, feuds, factions, temper tantrums, face and heel turns, championship runs, and most importantly RKOing out of nowhere. Randy Orton is a man for whom it's almost impossible for any wrestling fan to have neutral feelings towards. His pluses and minuses are discussed on this episode of LMTYS to commemorate the recent twentieth anniversary of his TV debut on the 25th April 2002 episode of Smackdown. Has "The Viper" staked his claim as one of the all-time greats? Do his most ardent critics have a point? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are going to try to untangle it all whilst fitting in as many important landmarks in Orton's two decade on-screen that can fit into a somewhat reasonable length of time for a podcast. https://pateron.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

It's a tag team dream match that lived up to the hype and was close to a consensus choice for best match to take place at any show during WrestleMania weekend. FTR have a week to remember for the ages, first by challenging the perennial top dogs of Ring of Honor on their own turf in the first show of the Tony Khan era of that promotion. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) deftly link up with quick tags of talking and double team moves of trenchant observation. https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

It's the second half of a ZSJ double bill as the submission specialist faces off against the MVP of New Japan in 2021. Who will come out on top and reach the final of the New Japan Cup? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) spoil that fairly early on in this conversation, but it's about the art of the match, not the result itself, that matters with the LMTYS lads! https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

It's the first half (or maybe first third?) of a ZSJ double bill, as Zack Sabre's journey through the 2022 New Japan Cup tournament brings him to a quarter-final rematch of last year's second round opponent (and fellow Meltzer five-star rating generator) Will Ospreay. 'The Commonwealth Kingpin' won what Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) described as the most impressive fight outside of a Wetherspoon's they've ever seen. Can they live up to the hype again this year? Listen on to find out. https://patreon.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com https://twitter.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod

Scott Hall (aka Razor Ramon) - 1958-2022

Before Jon Moxley headlined WWE and AEW PPVs, before Nick Gage became a cult legend, and before Drake Weurtz started yelling crazy shit at school board meetings, they were all slicing each others' faces, backs, and whatever else was available on their bodies in front of two-figure audiences in the middle of nowhere in South Carolina. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) exchange metaphorical light tubes of knowledge and opinion with each other to see what this says about all three men involved, and can it explain where they are now and how this style of match now sits in the modern context of pro wrestling. https://pateron.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

Before Jushin Thunder Liger became the centrepiece for the explosion of junior heavyweight wrestling in the 1990s, he learnt his craft in the New Japan dojo and on his learning excursions where he gained experience in a variety of styles and fused them together. One of those stops on the way was a time working on the UK circuit, and he faced off against a man who was no stranger to Japan and its wrestlng customs - the hot-headed Mark "Rollerball" Rocco. A state of the art match that wouldn't look out of place if watched thirty-five years later, as has been the case for this episode by Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3). https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

Wrestling is a deep and wide world of matches, angles, promos, feuds, and botches, with decades and decades worth of the stuff. How to make senseofit all to someone with fresh eyes? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) have picked up their notepads and pens and have crafted together some honourable mentions anddefinitive picks for a match in each of the five categories to help someone either introduce themselves to wrestling, or take adeeper dive into different times and promotions beyond current WWE, which you would assume would be the obvious choice for most. The five categories we chose for our first of these episodes (hopefully more will come in the future) are: - Introducing someone to wrestling - Introducing someone to the 80s/90s "Golden Age" of wrestling - Introducing someone to the WWF Attitude Era - Introducing someone to AEW - Introducing someone to modern New Japan Pro Wrestling Feel free to add your own suggestions to these categories, or maybe pick some categories yourself for a future episode and send them to us. https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

In anticipation of CM Punk's Dog Collar Chain match against MJF at AEW's Revolution PPV, Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) travel back nearly twenty years to watch the match, and what is usually cited as the peak of the feud, between Punk and Raven. Just as MJF projected so much of the scars of his youth onto Punk, so to had a young Punk against the recovering addict Raven. But instead of greeting him with sympathy, he views him with pure hatred, and the most heated feud in the short history of ROH at this point put both Punk and the promotion down a new path. https://pateron.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com https://twitter.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod

NINE belts are on the line in this one. Dean Malenko has been the ace of cruiserweight division since its inception earlier in 1996, and now he caps off the year hoping to gain eight more titles to his colleciton by defeating J-Crown champion Ultimo Dragon. Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) talk about both this clash of experts in the grapple game and what led to perhaps the biggest belt collection in wrestling during this Golden Age of junior heavyweight wrestling. https://patreon.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com https://twitter.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod

It's a comedy double bill as Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) watch an episode each of South Park and It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia that show the respective ensembles try to enter the world of pro wrestling, but both have a limited knowledge of what that means. In the case of at least one of these shows, it would appear that the creatives behind it didn't really know much about wrestling, either. Do they hold up? Let's find out! https://patreon.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com https://twitter.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod

His belt collection may now be lacking the IWGP World title, but Will Ospreay is still a man with a lot of luggage to carry with him, and his longest-held championship is what's being defended this time, as 'Billy GOAT' defends against rising UK star Micahel Oku for the RevPro British Championship. Having recently beaten Oku by stoppage in the twenty-ninth minute of a match with a thirty-minute time limit, this time the rule has been made to not have any stoppages. Will this have an effect to the finish? Of course it bloody will, and Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to state the obvious as well as anyone else. What did you expect? Outro music: Tiny Deaths - Stop the Stars https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

Only two five star matches in the eyes of Dave Meltzer during the first month of 2022? That's a bad sign if ever there was one. But despite all that despair and suffering, Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) have survived to watch and discuss AEW's opener for the final Dynamite of January, as Cody Rhodes defends his TNT Championship against the man who he beat to start this third reign, the current holder of Interim TNT Championship after the postponment of this match originally planned for Battle of the Belts, and a five-star debutant: 'The Spanish God' Sammy Guevara. This had also been the opening match of the first episode of Dynamite back in late 2019. A lot has changed since then, has one of those changes been Guevara maturing to finally get a win over the most divisive figure in AEW's short history? Let's watch and find out! Outro music: 'Polvo de Estrellas' by Javier de Mabel https://pateron.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

In anticiation of the upcoming Owen Hart Cup tournaments in AEW, Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are looking back at the legacy of the youngest sibling, but probably the best athlete, of the Hart family. Instead of going to his best known WWF matches, they are looking further back to the point where Owen was the top gaijin wrestler in New Japan's junior heavyweight division. Having recently won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight title, the first non-Japanese wrestler to achieve this, Owen defends it against Shiro Koshinaka, a perennial figure in New Japan despite receiving his training in All Japan only a few years earlier. https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

It's the land of Extreme that Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are venturing into this time, as Rob Van Dam faces the man he often cites as his favourite opponent of all time in Jerry Lynn. It's the Whole F'N Show against the New F'N Show, and perhaps where your alleigances lie tells a lot about the sort of wrestling fan you are. https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

This time last year we were spoilt for choice with the number of five-star matches. This year it's a veritable drought with only one match producing a rating of five stars or above from Dave Meltzer. Fortunately for Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) it's a five-and-three-quarter-star match! Or is it? It's the match to finally decide the undisputed IWGP World Heavyweight Champion after Kazuchika Okada dethroned Takagi for the official championship, finally abandoning his beloved V4 Heavyweight belt, and now has to face his former protege, opponent at last year's Wrestle Kingdom, and the man who never officially lost the title before being forced to vacate due to injury, 'The Aerial Assassin' Will Ospreay. Outro music: Nicola Conte - Quiet Star https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

Another gap is plugged as Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (simoncross3) travel back to All Japan. The six-man tag matches between Tsuruta-gun and the Super Generation Army were maybe what made the LMTYS hosts fall in love with All Japan wrestling, so this being a prequel to that rivalry, with Jumbo's previous great rival Tenryu leading his army of disciples, including a young zebra-print wearing Kawada, against Taue and his top two lieutenants, including the always welcome return of the Shithouse himself, Masanobu Fuchi! Outro music: Samson - A Star Died https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

2021 was a year, wasn't it? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to talk about it. https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

Less than a month since his five-and-a-half-star (in the eyes of Dave Meltzer) title win over Kenny Omega, 'Hangman' Adam Page faces two different challenges. First the challenge of the reinvigorated 'American Dragon' Bryan Danielson in-storyline, who has had a fun time tormenting him in the build up to this match, but also Page faces the challenge of keeping up with the top names in all of wrestling as far as perception of their abilities as an in-ring performer. Can Page keep pace with another in-ring great? Will his title reign come to an ignomonious end at the first hurdle? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to find out. Outro song: Maximum Sixty - Lost in the Stars https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://twtitter.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

I don't know whether this was accidentally deleted, or I just failed to upload it in the first place, but this is an early recording of Match of the Week that we're now reuploading in anticipation of Bryan Danielson achieving a second ever five-star match in the eyes of Dave Meltzer. A match we cite frequently in other episodes, this is probably as close as we got to Bryan Danielson in Daniel Bryan. Also, thanks to the five-star project, we notice some references to another smaller wrestler who is able to bully larger opponents like Sheamus and gain sympathy. Also, this is Daniel Bryan showing why he deserved more than eighteen seconds as the previous WrestleMania. Adam Page vs. Bryan Danielson Meltzer five-star match review episode coming on Thursday 23rd! https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

The last territory standing outside of the big two of WWF and WCW, Memphis was a little land unto itself with its own fanbase, its own style of wrestling, and its own top star - Jerry 'The King' Lawler. Drawing thousands of fans to the Mid-South Coliseum on a weekly basis, Lawler could be tangling with up-and-coming stars (making sure to repeat footage of him beating them when they do become national stars in the future), bizarre gimmick characters that would even make the Gobbldy Gooker look relatively realistic, or in this case a fellow showman able to work the Memphis style better than most, and maybe a man who never reached the full star potential he showed, Austin Idol. Accompanying him is the young man referred to by the commentator as "Paul Dangerly". Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) observe all this with 2021 eyes to see what worked then, what influence this style of wrestling has or doesn't have in today's climate, and whether it would still work now. Also, knowing Lawler mostly as a horny, squeaky voiced middle-aged man on Raw, how believable is it to see him as a Hogan-level unstoppable superhero babyface? https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

2001 was probably the most tumultuous year in the history of pro wrestling. Not only were the three major promotions in North American being absorbed by the winner-take-all WWF, but in Japan the longtime top two promotions of New Japan and All Japan saw a splintering for the first time since their creation in 1972, when Misawa and the majority of AJPW talent departed to form NOAH. A threadbare roster called for desperate times for those left in All Japan, and that's why we see a match for the promotion's top prize be contested between a man who Giant Baba had said he'd never allow to return to the promotion after his unexpected departure in 1990, and one of the top stars of New Japan, and longtime fan of the 'King's Road' style of wrestling, Keiji Mutoh, who was halfway into his miraculous comeback when it seemed he was nothing but a shattered, broken down husk of his former self less than a year earlier. The match was voted the best of the year by Wrestling Observer readers, and 2001 was a year of great matches around the world. Does it hold up? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to find out.

A five-star match, or a five-star storyline, or both? Or something more?! A multiple-year storyline reached its conclusion at the end of Full Gear 2021 as 'Hangman' Adam Page looked to exorcise every last demon he had to contend with after failing to become the first AEW World Champion by challenging the current champion, and his former tag team champion partner, Kenny Omega. It's about more than just a title. But is worth more than a perfect five-star rating as Dave Meltzer thought? Or is it even worth a perfect five-star rating. Or does that even matter in the first place? https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

Chaos, action, and wheelbarrow racing are the topics of conversation this time as Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) cover the first of two matches from AEW's Full Gear PPV. Will the Superkliq continue to dominate trios action? Or can the unlikely partnering of the veteran Cage, the monstrous Luchasaurus, and the maturing Jungle Boy pool their talents together and score the upset under falls count anywhere rules? https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

Two men currently in a no-man's-land of sorts in the WWE were, seven years ago, wrestling for the top singles prize in the hippest promotion in all of wrestling - California's Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. But whilst Ricochet and Kyle O'Reilly have gone onto greater heights as far as reaching a mass audience and making money, this might have been at a time when they were both approaching their cultural zeitgeist in the wrestling world. Have their talents been squandered? Is the best still to come? Is this a match that holds up when seen beyond the context of very drunk wrestling hipsters watching with a slightly detached irony? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to find out one way or the other. https://pateron.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

Chikara's King of Trios tournaments from the late 2000s to the mid 2010s were a major highlight in the indy wrestling calendar and matches like this are proof of why that was the case. Featuring three wrestlers who would go onto great successes today in WWE, AEW, and New Japan, alongside one of the top students to ever come from the Chikara training gym, it's a high-speed action fest from start to finish. But does it have enough grasp of the fundamentals to avoid the harshest critiques of Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3)? Listen to find out! https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

An earnest attempt to give classic British wrestling of the 70s and 80s the 'Full Monty' feelgood cinema treatment. Does the ambition match the ability? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to find out.

As Lisa Simpson once told Homer, the Chinese use the same word for crisis as they do opportunity. Out of the ashes of tech issues, rises a new sub-genre within the LMTYS family, book club. We kick off with our resident wordsmith Lorcan talking about his book, Confessions of a Smart Wrestling Fan, as well as the dulcet tones of Simon reading out the first chapter.

It's spots galore this week as AAA hosts its first five-star match, at least in the eyes of Dave Meltzer, in a long time. Not happy with just tearing it up in AEW, the Lucha Bros. of Pentagon Jr. and Rey Fenix defend their other tag team titles, the AAA belts, against two of the top young stars of lucha libre, El Hijo del Vikingo and the Laredo Kid. Will they keep the double gold? Will anyone be able to keep up with it? Will you be able to hear your own thoughts over the air horns? Let's see if Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) heard and retained those thoughts long enough to talk about them in this episode... https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

The mid-80s was the best of times for the American wrestling scene, and the worst of times for their counterparts in the UK. This match is often cited as a sign of the beginning of the end for the old 'World of Sport'-defined culture of British wrestling leaving the terrestrial television airwaves. However, it is also a match containing one of the most well-remembered figures of the British scene in Kendo Nagasaki, and two young men who would go onto fly the flag of their country's style of wrestling in both the States and back in what was left of the British scene. Now they are two of the key figures in the WWE's developmental program. So what were Steve (William) Regal and Robbie Brookside like when they themselves were still nearer their rookie years than attaining veteran status? Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are here to find out. https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

The first ever five-star match in the twenty-year career of 'American Dragon' Bryan Danielson, at least in the eyes of Dave Meltzer, is what greets Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) in this episode. His first match under his real name since his eleven-year run with WWE as Daniel Bryan ended, he enters the match with a smile on his face and a point to prove. This isn't your sports entertainer, this is the pro wrestler who was seen by many as the best in the world whilst he was working the U.S. indie scene. Has he still got what it takes against another man who is often cited, in both the recent past and the present, as the best in the business? Over twenty thousand fans in the Arthur Ashe stadium are screaming their lungs out to find out for themselves too... https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com

It's supposed to be the most blessed time of the year as far as the Meltzer five-star rewards go, but when the blocks were announceed for the 2021 iteration of the G1 Climax, it's fair to say positivity was not the outlook of most people on the Internet. Perhaps cognizant of this problem, New Japan made the sensible move of having their opening day of the tour be headlined by the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Shingo Takagi against the man who went against the odds with his stature and outsider positioning to become a star within the New Japan ranks thanks to his MVP performances on many G1 Climax matches, 'The Stone Pitbull' Shingo Takagi. A big beefy slab of meat colliding with an equally big beefy slab of meat, and Lorcan (@lorcanmullan) and Simon (@simoncross3) are at virtual ringside with a metaphorical pair of knives and forks to carve it all up, in an intelllectually manner...

This episode is long for a Match of the Week. But it's still not as long as this match. And if this match is remember for anything it's that. The length of the match, I mean. Not its length in comparison to this podcast episode. https://patreon.com/lmtyspod https://twitter.com/lmtyspod https://facebook.com/lmtyspod lmtyspod@gmail.com