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Last time we spoke about the beginning of the battle of lake Khasan. On a frost-bitten dawn by the Chaun and Tumen, two empires, Soviet and Japanese, stared at Changkufeng, each certain the ridge would decide their fate. Diplomats urged restraint, but Tokyo's generals plotted a bold gamble: seize the hill with a surprise strike and bargain afterward. In the Japanese camp, a flurry of trains, orders, and plans moved in the night. Officers like Sato and Suetaka debated danger and responsibility, balancing "dokudan senko", independent action with disciplined restraint. As rain hammered the earth, they contemplated a night assault: cross the Tumen, occupy Hill 52, and strike Changkufeng with coordinated dawn and night attacks. Engineers, artillery, and infantry rehearsed their movements in near-poetic precision, while the 19th Engineers stitched crossings and bridges into a fragile path forward. Across the river, Soviet scouts and border guards held their nerve, counting enemy shadows and watching for a break in the line. The clash at Shachaofeng became a lightning rod: a small force crossed into Manchurian soil in the restless dark, provoking a broader crisis just as diplomacy teetered.   #179 From Darkness to Crest: The Changkufeng Battle Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. As remarked in the 19th division's war journal "With sunset on the 30th, the numbers of enemy soldiers increased steadily. Many motor vehicles, and even tanks, appear to have moved up. The whole front has become tense. Hostile patrols came across the border frequently, even in front of Chiangchunfeng. Tank-supported infantry units were apparently performing offensive deployment on the high ground south of Shachaofeng." Situation maps from the evening indicated Soviet patrol activity approaching the staging area of Nakano's unit near the Tumen, moving toward Noguchi's company to the left of Chiangchunfeng, and advancing toward Matsunobe's unit southwest of Shachaofeng. Russian vessels were depicted ferrying across Khasan, directly behind Changkufeng, while tanks moved south from Shachaofeng along the western shores of the lake. The 19th division's war journal states "Then it was ascertained that these attack forces had gone into action. All of our own units quietly commenced counteraction from late that night, as scheduled, after having systematically completed preparations since nightfall." Meanwhile, to the north, the Hunchun garrison reinforced the border with a battalion and tightened security. All evidence supported the view that Suetaka "in concept" and Sato"(in tactics" played the main part in the night-attack planning and decisions. Sato was the only infantry regimental commander at the front on 30 July. One division staff officer went so far as to say that Suetaka alone exerted the major influence, that Sato merely worked out details, including the type of attack and the timing. Intertwined with the decision to attack Changkufeng was the choice of an infantry regiment. The 76th Regiment was responsible for the defense of the sector through its Border Garrison Unit; but the latter had no more than two companies to guard a 40-mile border extending almost to Hunchun, and Okido's regimental headquarters was 75 miles to the rear at Nanam. T. Sato's 73rd Regiment was also at Nanam, while Cho's 74th Regiment was stationed another 175 miles southwest at Hamhung. Thus, the regiment nearest to Changkufeng was K. Sato's 75th, 50 miles away at Hoeryong. Although Suetaka had had time to shuffle units if he desired, Sasai suggested that troop movements from Nanam could not be concealed; from Hoeryong they might be termed maneuvers. Suetaka undoubtedly had favorites in terms of units as well as chiefs. K. Sato had served longest as regimental commander, since October 1937; Okido's date of rank preceded K. Sato's, but Okido had not taken command until 1938. He and Cho were able enough, but they were unknown quantities; T. Sato and Cho were brand-new colonels.  Thus, K. Sato was best known to Suetaka and was familiar with the terrain. While he did not regard his regiment as the equal of units in the Kwantung Army or in the homeland, K. Sato's training program was progressing well and his men were rugged natives of Nagano and Tochigi prefectures. From the combat soldier's standpoint, the Changkufeng Incident was waged between picked regulars on both sides. The matter of quantitative regimental strength could have played no part in Suetaka's choice. The 74th, 75th, and 76th regiments each possessed 1,500 men; the 73rd, 1,200. Even in ordinary times, every unit conducted night-attack training, attended by Suetaka, but there was nothing special in July, even after the general inspected the 75th Regiment on the 11th. It had been said that the most efficient battalions were selected for the action. Although, of course, Sato claimed that all of his battalions were good, from the outset he bore the 1st Battalion in mind for the night attack and had it reconnoiter the Changkufeng area. Some discerned no special reasons; it was probably a matter of numerical sequence, 1st-2nd-3rd Battalions. Others called the choice a happy coincidence because of the 1st Battalion's 'splendid unity' and the aggressive training conducted by Major Ichimoto, who had reluctantly departed recently for regimental headquarters. Coming from the 75th Regiment headquarters to take over the 1st Battalion was the 40-year-old aide Major Nakano. By all accounts, he was quiet, serious, and hard-working, a man of noble character, gentle and sincere. More the administrative than commander type, Nakano lacked experience in commanding battalions and never had sufficient time to get to know his new unit (or they, him) before the night assault. He could hardly be expected to have stressed anything particular in training. Since there was no battalion-level training, the most valid unit of comparison in the regiment was the company, the smallest infantry component trained and equipped to conduct combat missions independently. Sato valued combat experience among subordinates; Nakano's 1st Battalion was considered a veteran force by virtue of its old-timer company commanders. All but one had come up through the ranks; the exception, young Lieutenant Nakajima, the darling of Sato, was a military academy graduate. For assault actions synchronized with those of the 1st Battalion, Sato selected Ito, the one line captain commanding the 6th Company of the 2nd Battalion, and Takeshita, 10th Company commander, one of the two line captains of the 3rd Battalion. In short, Sato had designated five veteran captains and a promising lieutenant to conduct the night-attack operations of 30-31 July, the first Japanese experience of battle against the modern Red Army. During the last two weeks of July, numerous spurious farmers had gambled along the lower reaches of the Tumen, reconnoitered the terrain, and prepared for a crossing and assault. Scouts had operated on both the Manchurian and Korean sides of the river. Major Nakano had conducted frequent personal reconnaissance and had dispatched platoon and patrol leaders, all heavy-weapons observation teams, and even the battalion doctor to Sozan Hill, to Chiangchunfeng, and close to enemy positions. In Korean garb and often leading oxen, the scouts had threaded their way through the Changkufeng sector, sometimes holing up for the night to observe Soviet movements, soil and topography, and levels of illumination. From this data, Nakano had prepared reference materials necessary for an assault. Hirahara, then located at Kucheng BGU Headquarters, had established three observation posts on high ground to the rear. After Chiangchunfeng had been occupied, Hirahara had set up security positions and routes there. Regarding Changkufeng, he had sought to ensure that even the lowest private studied the layout. Formation commanders such as Takeshita had volunteered frequently. Sato had also utilized engineers. Since the order to leave his station on 17 July, Lieutenant Colonel Kobayashi had had his regiment engage in scouting routes, bridges, and potential fords. Sato's 1st Company commander had prepared a sketch during 3% hours of reconnaissance across from Hill 52 during the afternoon of 18 July. Captain Yamada's intelligence had contributed to the tactical decisions and to knowledge of Russian strength and preparations. The most important information had been his evaluation of attack approaches, suggesting an offensive from the western side, preferably against the right flank or frontally. This concept had been the one applied by the regiment in its night assault two weeks later; Yamada had died on the green slopes he had scanned. Cloudy Saturday, 30 July, had drawn to a close. The moment had been at hand for the 75th Regiment to storm the Russians atop Changkufeng. Setting out from Fangchuanting at 22:30, Nakano's battalion, about 350 strong, had assembled at a fork one kilometer southwest of Changkufeng. The roads had been knee-deep in mud due to intermittent rain and downpours on 29–30 July. Now the rain had subsided, but clouds had blotted out the sky after the waning moon had set at 22:30. Led by Sakata's 1st Platoon leader, the men had marched silently toward the southern foot of Changkufeng; the murk had deepened and the soldiers could see no more than ten meters ahead. It had taken Sakata's men less than an hour to push forward the last 1,000 meters to the jump-off point, where they had waited another two hours before X-hour arrived. Scouts had advanced toward the first row of wire, 200–300 meters away. Platoon Leader Amagasa had infiltrated the positions alone and had reconnoitered the southeastern side of the heights. Sakata had heard from the patrols about the entanglements and their distance and makeup. While awaiting paths to be cut by engineer teams, the infantry had moved up as far as possible, 150 meters from the enemy, by 23:30. Although records described Changkufeng as quite steep, it had not been hard to climb until the main Russian positions were reached, even though there were cliffs. But as the craggy peak had been neared, the enemy defenses, which had taken advantage of rocks and dips, could not have been rushed in a bound. It had been 500 meters to the crest from the gently sloping base. The incline near the top had been steep at about 40 degrees and studded with boulders. Farther down were more soil and gravel. Grass had carpeted the foot. Japanese Army radio communications had been in their infancy; wire as well as runners had served as the main means of linking regimental headquarters with the front-line infantry, crossing-point engineers, and supporting guns across the Tumen in Korea. From Chiangchunfeng to the 1st Battalion, lines had been installed from the morning of 29 July. Combat communications had been operated by the small regimental signal unit, 27 officers and men. In general, signal traffic had been smooth and reception was good. Engineer support had been rendered by one platoon, primarily to assist with wire-cutting operations. Nakano had ordered his 1st Company to complete clearing the wire by 02:00. At 23:30 the cutters had begun their work on the right with three teams under 1st Lieutenant Inagaki. Since the proposed breach had been far from the enemy positions and there were no outposts nearby, Inagaki had pressed the work of forced clearing. The first entanglements had been breached fairly quickly, then the second. At about midnight, a dim light had etched the darkness, signaling success. There had been two gaps on the right. On the left side, Sakata's company had hoped to pierce the barbed wire in secrecy rather than by forced clearing. Only one broad belt of entanglements, actually the first and third lines, had been reconnoitered along the south and southeastern slopes. Sakata had assigned one team of infantry, with a covering squad led by Master Sergeant Amagasa, to the engineer unit under 2nd Lieutenant Nagayama. Covert clearing of a pair of gaps had begun. The Russian stakes had been a meter apart and the teams cut at the center of each section, making breaches wide enough for a soldier to wriggle through. To the rear, the infantry had crouched expectantly, while from the direction of Khasan the rumble of Soviet armor could be heard. At 00:10, when the first line of wire had been penetrated and the cutters were moving forward, the silence had been broken by the furious barking of Russian sentry dogs, and pale blue flares had burst over the slopes. As recalled by an engineer "It had been as bright as day. If only fog would cover us or it would start to rain!" At the unanticipated second line, the advancing clearing elements had drawn gunfire and grenades. But the Russians had been taken by surprise, Sakata said, and their machine guns had been firing high. Two engineers had been wounded; the security patrol on the left flank may have drawn the fire. Sakata had crawled up to Lieutenant Nagayama's cutting teams. One party had been hiding behind a rock, with a man sticking out his hand, grasping for the stake and feeling for electrified wire. Another soldier lay nearby, ready to snip the wire. The enemy had seemed to have discerned the Japanese, for the lieutenant could hear low voices. Although the cutters had been told to continue clearing in secrecy, they had by now encountered a line of low barbed wire and the work had not progressed as expected. Forced clearing had begun, which meant that the men had to stand or kneel, ignoring hostile fire and devoting primary consideration to speed. The infantrymen, unable to delay, had crawled through the wire as soon as the cutters tore a gap. Ten meters behind the small breaches, as well as in front of the Soviet positions, the Japanese had been troubled by fine low strands. They had resembled piano-wire traps, a foot or so off the ground. The wires had been invisible in the grass at night. As one soldier recalled "You couldn't disengage easily. When you tried to get out, you'd be sniped at. The wires themselves could cut a bit, too." Sakata had kept up with the clearing teams and urged them on. On his own initiative, Amagasa had his men break the first and third lines of wire by 01:50. Meanwhile, at 01:20, Nakano had phoned Sato, reporting that his forces had broken through the lines with little resistance, and had recommended that the attack be launched earlier than 2:00. Perhaps the premature alerting of the Russians had entered into Nakano's considerations. Sato had explained matters carefully, that is, rejected the suggestion, saying Changkufeng must not be taken too early, lest the enemy at Shachaofeng be alerted. The entire battalion, redeployed, had been massed for the charge up the slope. In an interval of good visibility, the troops could see as far as 40 meters ahead. A little before 02:00, Nakano had sent runners to deliver the order to advance. When the final obstructions had been cut, Nagayama had flashed a light. Then a white flag had moved in the darkness and the infantry had moved forward. Sakata's company, heading directly for Changkufeng crest, had less ground to traverse than Yamada's, and the point through which they penetrated the wire had been at the fork, where there appeared to have been only two lines to cut. The soldiers had crawled on their knees and one hand and had taken cover as soon as they got through. It had been 02:15 when the battalion traversed the barbed wire and began the offensive. The Japanese Army manual had stated that unaimed fire was seldom effective at night and that it had been imperative to avoid confusion resulting from wild shooting. At Changkufeng, the use of firearms had been forbidden by regimental order. Until the troops had penetrated the wire, bayonets had not been fixed because of the danger to friendly forces. Once through the entanglements, the men had attached bayonets, but, although their rifles had been loaded, they still had not been allowed to fire. The men had been traveling light. Instead of the 65 pounds the individual rifleman might ordinarily carry, knapsack, weapons and ammunition, tools, supplies, and clothing, each helmeted soldier had only 60 cartridges, none on his back, a haversack containing two grenades, a canteen, and a gas mask. To prevent noise, the regulations had prescribed wrapping metal parts of bayonets, canteens, sabers, mess kits, shovels, picks, and hobnails with cloth or straw. The wooden and metal parts of the shovel had been separated, the canteen filled, ammunition pouches stuffed with paper, and the bayonet sheath wrapped with cloth. Instead of boots, the men had worn web-toed, rubbersoled ground socks to muffle sound. Although their footgear had been bound with straw ropes, the soldiers occasionally had slipped in the wet grass. Considerations of security had forbidden relief of tension by talking, coughing, or smoking. Company commanders and platoon leaders had carried small white flags for hand signaling. In Sakata's company, the platoons had been distinguished by white patches of cloth hung over the gas masks on the men's backs, triangular pieces for the 1st Platoon, square for the second. Squad leaders had worn white headbands under their helmets. The company commanders had strapped on a white cross-belt; the platoon leaders, a single band. Officer casualties had proven particularly severe because the identification belts had been too conspicuous; even when the officers had lay flat, Soviet illuminating shells had made their bodies visible. On the left, the 2nd Company, 70–80 strong, had moved up with platoons abreast and scouts ahead. About 10 meters had separated the individual platoons advancing in four files; in the center were Sakata and his command team. The same setup had been used for Yamada's company and his two infantry platoons on the right. To the center and rear of the lead companies were battalion headquarters, a platoon of Nakajima's 3rd Company, and the Kitahara Machine-Gun Company, 20 meters from Nakano. The machine-gun company had differed from the infantry companies in that it had three platoons of two squads each. The machine-gun platoons had gone through the center breach in the entanglements with the battalion commander. Thereafter, they had bunched up, shoulder to shoulder and with the machine guns close to each other. Kitahara had led, two platoons forward, one back. The night had been so dark that the individual soldiers had hardly been able to tell who had been leading and who had been on the flanks. The 2nd Company had consolidated after getting through the last entanglements and had walked straight for Changkufeng crest. From positions above the Japanese, Soviet machine guns covering the wire had blazed away at a range of 50 meters. Tracers had ripped the night, but the Russians' aim had seemed high. Soviet illuminating shells, by revealing the location of dead angles among the rocks, had facilitated the Japanese approach. Fifty meters past the barbed wire, Sakata had run into the second Soviet position. From behind a big rock, four or five soldiers had been throwing masher grenades. Sakata and his command team had dashed to the rear and cut down the Russians. The captain had sabered one soldier who had been about to throw a grenade. Then Master Sergeant Onuki and the others had rushed up and overran the Russian defenses. The Japanese had not yet fired or sustained casualties. There had been no machine guns in the first position Sakata had jumped into; the trenches had been two feet deep and masked by rocks. To the right, a tent could be seen. Blind enemy firing had reached a crescendo around 02:30. The Russians had resisted with rifles, light and heavy machine guns, hand grenades, rifle grenades, flares, rapid-fire guns, and a tank cannon. "The hill had shaken, but our assault unit had advanced, disregarding the heavy resistance and relying only on the bayonet." The battalion commander, Major Nakano, had been the first officer to be hit. Moving to the left of Sakata's right-hand platoon, he had rushed up, brandishing his sword, amid ear-splitting fire and day-like flashes. He had felled an enemy soldier and then another who had been about to get him from behind. But a grenade had exploded and he had dropped, with his right arm hanging grotesquely and many fragments embedded in his chest and left arm. After regaining consciousness, Nakano had yelled at soldiers rushing to help him: "You fools! Charge on! Never mind me." Staggering to his feet, he had leaned on his sword with his left hand and pushed up the slope after the assault waves, while "everybody had been dashing around like mad." Sakata had encountered progressive defenses and more severe fire. The main body of the company had lost contact with other elements after getting through the entanglements. Sakata had thought that he had already occupied an edge of Changkufeng, but about 30 meters ahead stood a sharp-faced boulder, two or three meters high, from which enormous numbers of grenades had been lobbed. The Japanese, still walking, had come across another Soviet position, manned by four or five grenadiers. Sword in hand, Sakata had led Sergeant Onuki and his command team in a rush : "The enemy was about to take off as we jumped them. One Russian jabbed the muzzle of his rifle into my stomach at the moment I had my sword raised overhead. He pulled the trigger but the rifle did not go off. I cut him down before he could get me. The others ran away, but behind them they left grenades with pins pulled. Many of my men fell here and I was hit in the thighs".  Onuki had felled two or three Russians behind Sakata, then disposed of an enemy who had been aiming at Sakata from the side. It had been around 03:00. On the right, the 1st Company had made relatively faster progress along the western slopes after having breached two widely separated belts of barbed wire. Once through the second wire, the troops had found a third line, 150 meters behind, and enemy machine guns had opened fire. Thereupon, a left-platoon private first class had taken a "do or die" forced clearing team, rushed 15 meters ahead of the infantry, and tore a path for the unit. At 03:00, Yamada had taken his men in a dash far up the right foot of the hill, overran the unexpected position, and captured two rapid-fire guns. The company's casualties had been mounting. Yamada had been hit in the chest but had continued to cheer his troops on. At 03:30, he had led a rush against the main objective, tents up the hill, behind the antitank guns. Yamada had cut down several bewildered soldiers in the tents, but had been shot again in the chest, gasping "Tenno Heika Banzai!" "Long Live the Emperor!", and had fallen dead. His citation had noted that he had "disrupted the enemy's rear after capturing the forwardmost positions and thus furnished the key to the ultimate rout of the whole enemy line." Sergeant Shioda, though wounded badly, and several of the men had picked up their commander's body and moved over to join Lieutenant Inagaki. On the left, Kadowaki had charged into the tents with his platoon and had played his part in interfering with the Russian rear. After this rush, the unit had been pinned down by fire from machine-gun emplacements, and Kadowaki had been wounded seriously. His platoon had veered left while watching for an opportunity to charge. Eventual contact had been made with Sakata's company.   The assault on the right flank had been failing. With the death of Yamada, command of the company had been assumed temporarily by Inagaki. He and his right-flank platoon had managed to smash their way through the entanglements; Inagaki had sought to rush forward, sword in hand. Furious firing by Soviet machine guns, coupled with hand grenades, had checked the charge. Losses had mounted. Still another effort had bogged down in the face of enemy reinforcements, supported not only by covered but by tank-mounted machine guns. Russian tanks and trucks had appeared to be operating behind Changkufeng. Sergeant Shioda had been trying to keep the attack moving. Again and again, he had pushed toward the Soviet position with five of his surviving men, to no avail. The left-flank platoon had sought to evade the fierce fire by taking advantage of rock cover and hurling grenades. Finally, a private first class had lobbed in a grenade, rushed the machine gun, and silenced the weapon. By now, precious time and lives had been lost. Either instinctively or by order, the 1st Company had been shifting to the left, away from the core of the enemy fire-net. Inagaki had decided to veer left in a wide arc to outflank Changkufeng from the same side where the 2nd Company and most of the battalion were at-tacking. There would be no further attempts to plunge between the lake and the heights or to head for the crest from the rear. Military maps had indicated tersely that remnants of the 1st Company had displaced to the 2nd Company area at 04:00, sometime after the last charge on the right by Yamada. On the left front, in the sector facing the main defenses on Changkufeng crest, Sakata had fallen after being hit by a grenade. A machine gunner had improvised a sling. "I had lost a lot of blood," Sakata had said, "and there were no medics. Onuki, my command team chief who had been acting platoon leader, had been killed around here. I had ordered Warrant Officer Kuriyama to take the company and push on until I could catch up." As Sakata lay on the ground, he had seen the battalion commander and the Nakajima company move past him in the darkness. Nakano had said not a word; Sakata had not known the major had been maimed. "I still hadn't felt intense pain," Sakata had recalled. "I had rested after the first bad feelings. In about 15 minutes I had felt well enough to move up the hill and resume command of my company." With both Nakano and Sakata wounded, individual officers or noncoms had kept the assault moving. The 1st Platoon leader, Kuriyama, had been securing the first position after overrunning it but had become worried about the main force. On his own initiative, he had brought his men up the hill to join the rest of the company, while the battalion aide, 2nd Lieutenant Nishimura, had made arrangements to deploy the heavy machine guns and reserve infantry in support. Before 4 A.M., these troops under Kitahara and Nakajima had caught up with the remnants of the 2nd Company, which had pressed beyond the third position to points near the Soviet Crestline.   By the time Sakata had regained his feet and moved toward the peak, somewhere between 03:30 and 04:00, the Japanese had been pinned down. Most of the losses had been incurred at this point. "Iron fragments, rock, sand, blood, and flesh had been flying around," Akaishizawa had written. Grenades had caused the preponderance of wounds after the men had penetrated the barbed wire. Deaths had been inflicted mainly by the Soviet "hurricane" of small arms and machine-gun fire and by ricochets ripping from man to man. Six Russian heavy weapons had kept up a relentless fire from three emplacements, and milk-bottle-shaped grenades had continued to thud down on the Japanese. The grenades had hindered the advance greatly. Mainly at the crest, but at every firing position as well, the Russians had used rifle grenades, primarily to eliminate dead angles in front of positions. There had been low piano wire between firing points, and yellow explosive had been planted amidst rock outcroppings and in front of the emplacements. "The Russians had relied exclusively on fire power; there had been no instance of a brave enemy charge employing cold steel." Only 20 meters from the entrenchments atop Changkufeng, Kitahara had been striving to regain the initiative and to hearten the scattered, reeling troops. One Japanese Army motto had concerned the mental attitude of commanders: "When surprised by the enemy, pause for a smoke." Kitahara had stood behind a rock, without a helmet, puffing calmly on a cigarette—a sight which had cheered the men. Sakata could not forget the scene. "It really happened," he had said, respectfully. As soon as Sakata had reached the forward lines, he had joined Kitahara (the senior officer and de facto battalion commander till then) and three enlisted men. All had been pinned behind the large boulder, the only possible cover, which had jutted in front of the Soviet crestline positions. Fire and flame had drenched the slopes, grenades from the peak, machine guns from the flank. The eastern skies had been brightening and faces could be discerned. Troubled by the stalemate yet not feeling failure, Sakata had said nothing about his own wounds but had told Kitahara he would lead his 2nd Company in a last charge up the left side of Changkufeng if only the machine gun company could do something about the enemy fire, especially some Soviet tanks which had been shooting from the right. "The enemy must have learned by now," the regimental records had observed, "that our forces were scanty, for the Soviets exposed the upper portions of their bodies over the breastworks, sniped incessantly, and lobbed illuminating shells at us." Agreeing with Sakata that the "blind" Japanese would have to take some kind of countermeasure to allow his two available heavy machine guns to go into concerted action, Kitahara had ordered illuminating rounds fired by the grenade dischargers. He had clambered atop the boulder and squatted there amidst the furious crossfire to spot for his guns, still only 20 meters from the Russian lines. Perhaps it had been the golden spark of Kitahara's cigarette, perhaps it had been the luminescence of his cross-bands, but hardly a moment later, at 04:03 am, a sniper's bullet had caught the captain between the eyes and he had toppled to his death. Nakajima had wanted to support Sakata's stricken company as well. The lieutenant had seen the advantage of outflanking the emplacements from the far left of Changkufeng where the fire of two Soviet heavy machine guns had been particularly devastating. Nakajima had swung his reserve unit around the crest to the southwest side, pressed forward through deadly grenade attacks, and had managed to reach a point ten meters from the Russian positions. Perched on the cliff's edge, he had prepared to continue: "Nakajima, who had been calming his men and looking for a chance to advance, leaped up and shouted, "Right now! Charge!" Sword in hand, he led his forces to the front on the left and edged up against the crest emplacements. But the enemy did not recoil; grenades and machine gun fusillades burst from above on all sides. Men fell, one after another. [During this final phase, a platoon leader and most of the key noncoms were killed.] A runner standing near Nakajima was hit in the head by a grenade and collapsed. Nakajima picked up the soldier's rifle, took cover behind a boulder, and tried to draw a bead on a Russian sniper whom he could see dimly 20 meters away through the lifting mist. But a bullet hit him in the left temple and he pitched forward, weakly calling, "Long Live the Emperor!" A PFC held the lieutenant up and pleaded with him to hang on, but the company commander's breath grew fainter and his end was at hand. The time was 4:10 am". Nakajima's orderly said of the event "Lieutenant Nakajima charged against the highest key point on Changkufeng, leading the reserve unit, and ensured the seizure of the hill. The lieutenant was wearing the boots which I had always kept polished but which he had never worn till this day." Akaishizawa added that Nakajima had purified himself in the waters of the Tumen before entering combat, in traditional fashion. Lieutenant Yanagihara had penned a tribute to his young fellow officer, the resolute samurai "Lt. Nakajima must have been expecting a day like today. He was wearing brand-new white underclothes and had wrapped his body with white cloth and the thousand-stitch stomach band which his mother had made for him. .. . Was not the lieutenant's end the same as we find in an old tanka verse? "Should you ask what is the Yamato spirit, the soul of Japan: It is wild cherry blossoms glowing in the rising sun."  On this main attack front, Soviet heavy machine guns and tanks had continued to deliver withering fire against the Japanese remnants, while Russian snipers and grenadiers had taken an increasing toll. Shortly after 04:00, enemy reinforcements had appeared at the northeast edge. Of the company commanders, only Sakata had still been alive; the other three officers had died between 03:30 and 04:30. A machine gunner who had been pinned down near the crest had commented: "It must have been worse than Hill 203" (of bloody Russo-Japanese War fame). Between a half and two-thirds of each company had been dead or wounded by then. Sakata had still been thinking of ways to rush the main positions. After Kitahara had been shot down, he had moved around to investigate. A colleague had added: "The agony of the captain's wounds had been increasing. He rested several times to appease the pain while watching intently for some chance to charge once more." Now, Sakata had been wounded again by grenade fragments tearing into the right side of his face. "It hadn't been serious," Sakata had insisted. As he had limped about, he could see his platoon leader, Kuriyama, sniping at a Russian grenadier.   Much would depend on the effectiveness of supporting firepower. With the death of Kitahara, control of the machine-gun company had been assumed by Master Sergeant Harayama. There had been almost no time to coordinate matters before Kitahara had fallen, but Harayama as well as Sakata had known that the infantry could not break loose until the Soviet heavy weapons had been suppressed. Working with another sergeant, Harayama had ordered his gunners to displace forward and rush the positions 20 meters away. The one heavy machine gun set up for action had been the first to fire for the Japanese side at Changkufeng, after its crew had manhandled it the last few meters to the first Soviet trench below the crest. The trench had been empty. Thereupon, the gunner had opened up against tents which could be seen 20 meters to the rear. Other friendly machine guns had begun to chatter. Kuriyama had dashed up and secured the southeast edge of the heights. Enemy resistance had begun to slacken. What appeared to be two small Soviet tanks, actually a tank and a tractor had been laying down fire near the tents in an apparent effort to cover a pullback. The two vehicles had advanced toward the Japanese and sought to neutralize the heavy machine guns. A squad leader had engaged the tractor, set it afire, and shot down the crewmen when they had tried to flee. Next, the tank had been stopped. The Japanese lead gun had consumed all of its armor-piercing (AP) ammunition—three clips, or 90 rounds—in 10 or 15 seconds. No more AP ammunition had been available; one box had been with the last of the six squads struggling up the heights. "More AP!" had yelled the 1st Squad leader, signaling with his hand—which had at that moment been hit by a Russian slug. A tank machine-gun bullet had also torn through the thumb and into the shoulder of the squad's machine gunner, whereupon the 21-year-old loader had taken over the piece. Similar replacements had occurred under fire in all squads, sometimes more than once in the same unit. "It had been a fantastic scene," Sakata had commented. "Just like grasshoppers! But they had finally neutralized the heavy weapons." The knocked-out Russian vehicles had begun to blaze while the eastern skies had lightened. New enemy tanks (some said many, others merely three) had lumbered up the slopes, but the Japanese heavy machine guns had continued to fire on them, and the tanks had stopped. If the machine guns had gone into action minutes later, the Russian armor might have continued to the top, from which they could have ripped up the surviving Japanese infantrymen: "So we gunners fired and fired. I could see my tracers bouncing off the armor, for there was still no AP. We also shot at machine guns and infantry. Since we carried little ammo for the night attack, my gun ran out, but by then the enemy had been ousted. We had originally expected that we might have to fire in support of the infantry after they took the crest. We lost none of our own heavy machine guns that night, overran four Maxims and captured mountains of hand grenades. By dawn, however, our machine gun company had lost more than half of its personnel—about 40 men".  The light-machine-gun squad leader had been wounded in the hand by a grenade near the site where Sakata had been hit. Nevertheless, the superior private had clambered up the slope with his men. After 04:00, when he and his squad had been pinned down with the infantry below the crest, he had heard Japanese heavy machine guns firing toward the foe on the right: "Our units were in confusion, bunched up under terrific fire in a small area. Getting orders was impossible, so I had my light machine gun open up in the same direction at which the heavies were firing. We could identify no targets but tried to neutralize the enemy located somewhere on the crest. Although Soviet flares were going off, we never could glimpse the enemy clearly. But we heard the Russians yelling "Hurrah!" That ought to have been the signal for a charge; here it meant a retreat".  But, of the ten men in this Japanese machine-gun squad, only four had been in action when dawn had come. The turning point had arrived when the machine-guns belonging to Sakata, and the reserves of the late Nakajima, had torn into the Russian emplacements, tanks, and tents behind. Others had said the key had been the fire of grenade dischargers belonging to the same units. A high-angle weapon, the grenade discharger, had been light, effective, and ideal for getting at dead space. In terms of ammunition, it had been especially useful, for it could fire hand grenades available to the foot soldier. Undoubtedly, the combined action of the grenade dischargers and machine guns (heavy and light) had paved the way for a last charge by the infantry. The four light machine guns of the 2nd and 4th companies had played their part by pouring flank fire against the Russians, who had clung to the position although Kuriyama's platoon had made an initial penetration. At about 04:30, Japanese assault forces could be seen dimly, in the light of dawn, exchanging fire with the Russians only a few meters away on the southern edge of Changkufeng Hill. At the same time, on the northern slopes, enemy reinforcements numbering 50 men with trucks and tanks had been scaling the hill. Around 04:45, Japanese grenades began to burst over the heads of the last enemy atop Changkufeng; the Russians had wavered. After the heavy weapons had finally begun to soften up the Soviet positions, Sakata had judged that there were not many Russians left. He had jumped into the first trench, ahead of his only surviving platoon leader, Kuriyama, and several soldiers. Two or three Russians had been disposed of; the rest had fled. By then the 2nd Company had been chopped down to a platoon; about 40 men still lived. There had been no cheer of banzai, as journalists had written; it would have drawn fire to stand up and raise one's arms. But Sakata had remained proud of the assertion by Sato that, from Chiangchunfeng, he had observed the last rush and knew the "real story," that "Sakata was the first to charge the peak." The regimental eulogist had written that Sakata's earnestness "cut through iron, penetrated mountains, and conquered bodily pain." As for Inagaki, about 15 or 20 minutes after the badly wounded Sakata had managed to reach the point where Kitahara and Nakajima had been pinned down near the Crestline, the lieutenant had arrived with the remnants of Yamada's company, probably by 04:20. The records would have us believe that Sakata had been able to coordinate the next actions with Inagaki despite the storm of fire: "The acting battalion commander [Sakata] resumed the charge with a brand-new deployment—his 2nd Company on the right wing and the 1st Company on the left." Actually, all Sakata could think of had been to charge; it had been too confused a time to issue anything like normal orders as acting battalion commander: "About all I remember asking Inagaki was: "What are you doing over here? What happened to your company commander?" I think he told me that Yamada had been killed and resistance on the right flank had been severe. Undoubtedly, he acted on his own initiative in redeploying. Nor was there any particular liaison between my company and Inagaki's force." To the left of Sakata's survivors were the vestiges of Nakajima's platoon, and further to the left, the outflanking troops brought up by Inagaki. These forces gradually edged up to the rear of the foe, in almost mass formation, on the western slope just below the top. "The enemy soldiers who had been climbing up the northern incline suddenly began to retreat, and Inagaki led a charge, fighting dauntlessly hand-to-hand." As a result of the more or less concerted Japanese assaults, "the desperately resisting enemy was finally crushed and Changkufeng peak was retaken completely by 05:15," three hours after the night attackers had jumped off. Akaishizawa had said that the troops "pushed across the peak through a river of blood and a mountain of corpses. Who could withstand our demons?" Sato's regimental attack order had called for the firing of a green star shell to signal success. At 05:15, according to the records, "the signal flared high above Changkufeng, showering green light upon the hill; the deeply stirring Japanese national flag floated on the top." Sakata thought that this must have been 10 or 20 minutes after the hill was taken, but he remembered no flare. "After the last charge I had no time to watch the sky!" The flare had probably been fired from a grenade launcher by the battalion aide or a headquarters soldier. After the final close-quarter fighting, Sakata had pressed forward while the survivors came up. The captain had deployed his men against possible counterattack. Later he had heard that Soviet tanks had lumbered up to reinforce the peak or to counterattack but that, when they observed the Japanese in possession of the crest, they had turned back. Only after his men had secured the peak had Sakata talked to Inagaki about sharing defensive responsibility. The records described Sakata's deployments at 05:20, but there had been painfully few men to match the tidy after-action maps. Did Sakata and his men push across the peak? "Not downhill a bit," he had answered. "We advanced only to the highest spot, the second, or right-hand peak, where we could command a view of the hostile slope." He had merely reconnoitered to deploy his troops. The senior surviving Japanese officer atop Changkufeng heights had been Sakata. What had happened to Major Nakano, who had been wounded shortly after jump-off? Although his right arm had been shattered, he had dragged himself to his feet, once he had regained consciousness, and kept climbing to catch up. His men had pleaded with him to look after his terrible wounds, but he had insisted on advancing, leaning on his sword and relying on spiritual strength. "Left! Move left!" he had been heard to shout, for the faltering Japanese had apparently been of the opinion that they were at the enemy's rear. Instead, they had pressed against the Russians' western wing, directly in front of the enemy works, from which murderous fire had been directed, especially from machine-gun nests ripping at their flanks. With sword brandished in his uninjured hand, high above his head, Nakano had stood at the corner of the positions. The explosion of an enemy grenade had illuminated him "like the god of fire," and he had been seen to crumple. He had died a little before 0500, to the left of where young Nakajima had fallen at 0430. His citation had said: "The battalion commander captured Changkufeng, thanks to his proper combat guidance and deployments. He provided the incentive to victory in the Changkufeng Incident." A eulogist had called Nakano a "human-bullet demon-unit commander": "All who observed this scene were amazed, for it was beyond mortal strength. One could see how high blazed the flame of his faith in certain victory and what a powerful sense of responsibility he had as unit commander. Major Nakano was a model soldier." When Nakano had pitched forward, badly wounded PFC Imamura had tried to protect the commander's corpse. Imamura had killed a soldier who appeared from behind a boulder, had lunged at another two or three, but had toppled off the cliff. Two other Japanese privates—a battalion runner and PFC Iwata—had been lying nearby, hurt seriously; but when they saw Imamura fall to his death, leaving the major's body undefended, they had dragged themselves to the corpse, four meters from the foe. Iwata, crippled and mute, had hugged Nakano's corpse until other soldiers managed to retrieve it. While death had come to Nakano, Sakata had been fighting with no knowledge of what was going on to his left. Pinned behind a boulder, he had had no way of checking on the battalion commander. Only after Sakata had charged onto the crest and asked for the major had he been told by somebody that Nakano had been killed. He had not even been sure where the commander had fallen. Such had been the time of blood and fury when battalion chief, company commanders, and platoon leaders had fought and died like common soldiers, pressing on with saber or pistol or sniping rifle under relentless cross-fire. Pretty patterns of textbook control had meant nothing. Life—and victory—depended on training, initiative, raw courage, and the will to win. The result of this combination of wills could not be ascertained, on 31 July 1938, until dawn brightened the bleeding earth on Changkufeng Hill. I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. Tokyo gambled on a night strike to seize Changkufeng, while diplomacy urged restraint. Amid mud, smoke, and moonless skies, Nakano led the 1st Battalion, supported by Nakajima, Sakata, Yamada, and others. One by one, officers fell, wounds multiplying, but resolve held. By 05:15, shattered units regrouped atop the peak, the flag rising as dawn bled into a costly, hard-won victory.

After taking a week off to celebrate the Thanksgiving holiday with their families Bill and JCB return to try and catch up with the wrestling world. The 1 count is WWE highlighted by Survivor Series WarGames. Who do they think is the masked man? Thoughts on Bron Breakker pinning CM Punk. The boys give some flowers to Dominik Mysterio and John Cena as Liv Morgan makes her return. On RAW Bron gets a title match vs CM Punk on the 2nd anniversary of RAW on Netflix. The women's tag division is apparently heating up. Gunther and LA Knight advance to the finals of the Last Time Is Now tournament. The 2 count is AEW as the boys catch up with the start of the Continental Classic sprinkling in some Full Gear talk as well. Babes of Wrath vs Timeless Love Bombs for the AEW women's tag titles. Hangman Page attacks the Opps with more help on the way next week. The Don Callis family continues to play peacemaker between Okada and Takeshita. Young Bucks refusing to turn towards the Don Callis family. Eddie Kingston and Samoa Joe with an entertaining promo battle to open Dynamite. The 3 count is a NXT review with odds and ends to close the pod! Available on all audio podcast platforms. Listen Share Subscribe Repeat! Rate and review on Apple and Spotify! WWE AEW 59:44 NXT 1:34:30

Last time we spoke about the beginning of a conflict between the USSR and Japan. In the frost-hardened dawns by the Chaun and Tumen, two powers eye a ridge called Changkufeng, each seeing a prize and fearing a trap. On the Soviet side, weary front-line troops tighten their grip, while Moscow's diplomats coaxed restraint through Seoul and Harbin.  As July unfolds, Tokyo's generals push a dangerous idea: seize the hill with a surprise strike, then bargain for peace. Seoul's 19th Division is readied in secret, trains loaded with men and horses, movement masked, prayers whispered to avoid widening the rift. Japanese scouts in white Hanbok disguise, peering at trenches, wire, and watchful Russians. Russian border guards appear as shadows, counters slipping into place, yet both sides hold their fire. On July 29, a skirmish erupts: a platoon crosses a shallow line, clashes flare, and bodies and banners ripple in the cold air.    #178 Night Attacks and Diplomatic Strains: The Lake Khasan Conflict Welcome to the Fall and Rise of China Podcast, I am your dutiful host Craig Watson. But, before we start I want to also remind you this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Perhaps you want to learn more about the history of Asia? Kings and Generals have an assortment of episodes on history of asia and much more  so go give them a look over on Youtube. So please subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry for some more history related content, over on my channel, the Pacific War Channel where I cover the history of China and Japan from the 19th century until the end of the Pacific War. A second troop train was scheduled to depart Agochi for Nanam on the night of 29 July, carrying back the initial elements of the 75th Infantry. At Haigan, regimental commander Sato was pulling on his boots at 16:00 when the division informed him that fighting had broken out near Shachaofeng since 15:00 and that the Russians were assembling forces in that area. Suetaka ordered Sato's 3rd Battalion, which had not been slated to leave until the following night, to proceed to Kucheng; the remainder of the regiment was to assemble at Agochi. After consulting with Division Staff Officer Saito at Agochi, Sato returned to Haigan with the conclusion that "overall developments did not warrant optimism, it was imperative to prepare to move the entire regiment to the battlefield." One of Sato's first actions was to telephone a recommendation to the division that he be allowed to occupy Hill 52, which commanded the approaches to Changkufeng from south of Khasan. Suetaka approved, and at 17:30, Yamada's company was ordered to proceed to Shikai along with Hirahara's battalion. Meanwhile, Suzuki's 15th Heavy Field Artillery Regiment, which had been among the last units ordered to leave, had finished loading at Agochi by about 15:00. Sato recommended to Suetaka that a portion of Suzuki's regiment be attached to him; this was why Suetaka decided to transfer one of the two batteries to the 75th Infantry. The rest of the heavy artillery concentrated at Kyonghun. Suetaka's orders, issued at 18:20, called for Sato to have two of his battalions, the 1st and 3rd, cross the Tumen as soon as possible, with engineer support. Attached was Narukawa's heavy battery. Sato's mission was twofold: to assist Senda and to watch the enemy in the Changkufeng area. Sato arrived at 21:15 in Shikai. There, he assembled a number of his officers, including Yamada, and explained his plan: the 1st Company plus machine guns were to cross the Tumen from Sozan ahead of the other units, occupy Hill 52 with an element, and concentrate the main body at the foot of Fangchuanting to await Hirahara's battalion. A portion of the 19th Engineers would go to Sozan to assist the 1st Company with its river crossing. Amid heavy rain and darkness, the various units set out at 22:15. The platoon sent to Hill 52 arrived before dawn on the 30th, the rest of the forces somewhat later, though Sato had intended to move everybody across the river by the early hours. On the 29th the engineer regiment commander, Kobayashi, had also arrived at Shikai. He ordered Captain Tomura to handle the crossing in the vicinity of Sozan, as well as preparations for a future offensive with the main body. When Kobayashi reached Kucheng, he learned from Hirahara not only about the front-line situation but also about Sato's important plans: "The K. Sato force is going to cross the river tonight, 29–30 July. A night attack will be launched against Changkufeng on the night of 30–31 July." Kobayashi issued orders to his two commanders to assist the crossing by Nakano's infantry unit, 1st Battalion, 75th Regiment at Matsu'otsuho and Sozan, and, in addition, to cooperate with the position attack by Nakano and help in the assault at Hill 52. Most of these young officers, such as Seutaka dishing out orders were performing what the Japanese termed "dokudan senko" or "arbitrary or independent action". Japanese operational regulations actually contained a section dealing with dokudan senko, by which initiative, not imperiousness, was meant. Two elements were involved: control but encouragement of self-reliant thinking. This subject became important in training officers, all of whom, including such infantry experts as Suetaka, were well acquainted with the requirements. Combat missions were stipulated in operations orders, but, if these were not realistic, initiative was to come into play, though only when there was no time to contact superiors. By the same token, commanders had to be ready to assume full responsibility if matters turned out adversely. "We were disciples of the 'Moltke' system of AGS control, with dual authority vis-à-vis the local forces and the chief of staff."  The Korea Army's version of events on 29 July, there was no mention of any report received from the division prior to 17:30. Details did not reach Seoul, in the form of printed divisional intelligence reports and operational orders, until 1 August. The late afternoon report from Kyonghun provided the Korea Army authorities with little solid information, but Seoul had to notify higher headquarters immediately. Kitano sent messages to Tokyo and Hsinking at 19:15. The command and Kwantung Army were told that, in addition to Senda's assault party, 40 Japanese soldiers were deployed west of Changkufeng and at Yangkuanping. The division's main forces had begun the rail pullback from the 28th, leaving behind only two infantry battalions and a mountain artillery battalion for the time being. At 21:20 on 29 July, Korea Army Headquarters received the text of Suetaka's full report, which concluded: "With a view toward a possible emergency, the division suspended movement back of the 75th Regiment and is making necessary arrangements to have them advance instead. The latest affair derives sheerly from the enemy's unlawful challenge. It is my firm belief that the nature of this incident differs completely from the one at Changkufeng and should be handled separately. At present, since communication with the forward lines is not good, Lieutenant Colonel Senda (who is at the front) has been entrusted with command, but I assume entire responsibility for the consequences." Instead of boarding their trains at Agochi, Sato's regiment and supporting engineers moved to the Manchurian side of the Tumen as soon as possible. Suetaka called Sato's 2nd Battalion to Kyonghun as divisional reserve. Subsequent dispatches claimed that: (1) Senda's unit, which had driven off intruders in the Shachaofeng area once, was engaged against new Soviet forces (sent at 18:20, 29th);  (2) Senda's unit had expelled trespassers, and a combat situation had developed near Shachaofeng (22:00, 29th);  (3) fighting was going on in the vicinity of Shachaofeng (06:40, 30th).  Korea Army Headquarters, however, obtained no more important communication concerning the events of 29 July than a report, sent that evening by Suetaka, that revealed his concern about a possible Soviet attack in the Wuchiatzu sector near the neck of the long Changkufeng appendix.  After the clash at Shachaofeng, a general officer, Morimoto, happened to be visiting Colonels Okido and Tanaka in Nanam. Both of them were said to be of the pronounced opinion that no troubles ought to be provoked with the USSR while the critical Hankow operation lay ahead; yet Suetaka apparently had some intention of striking at the Soviet intruders, using the 75th Regiment. They urged that this policy not be adopted and that Suetaka be approached directly; the channel through Y. Nakamura, the division chief of staff, was hopeless. Although in agreement, General Morimoto declined to approach Suetaka; since the latter seemed to have made up his mind, it would be inappropriate to "meddle" with his command. Suetaka was functioning as an operations chief at that time. Apart from the mobilization staff officer, who was not enthusiastic about aggressive action, the only other officer who may have affected the decisionmaking process was the Hunchun OSS chief, Maj. Tanaka Tetsujiro, a positive type who shared Suetaka's views and was probably with him on the 29th as well as 30th. Although developments at Suetaka's command post were known more as the result of silence than of elucidation, we possessed considerable information about thinking at the Korea Army level: "Suetaka contacted us only after his men had driven out the enemy near Shachaofeng. Till then, the front had been relatively quiet and we were of the opinion all or most of the deployed forces were on their way home. We at Seoul had no foreknowledge of or connection with the 29 July affair. Reports came in; we never sent specific orders. Triggered by the affray at Shachaofeng, the division attacked on its own initiative. It was our understanding that very small Japanese forces had been committed to evict a dozen enemy scouts and that, when a platoon of ours got atop the hill, they observed surprisingly huge hostile concentrations to the rear. This was probably why the platoon pulied back, although much has been made of the desire to obey the nonaggravation policy to the letter. We at Seoul felt that this was a troublesome matter—that our side had done something unnecessary. When the division finally made its report, the army had to reach some decision. There were two irreconcilable ways of looking at things. We might condemn what had been done, and the division ought to be ordered to pull out promptly, having arbitrarily and intolerably acted against the known facts that Imperial sanction for use of force had been withheld and Tokyo had directed evacuation of the moved-up units. The opposing, eventually predominant view was that the division commander's course of action ought to be approved. Perusal of small-scale maps of the locale indicated a clear violation of the frontier, something not proved in the case of Changkufeng. We shared the division commander's interpretation. His BGU had its mission, and he was acting with foresight to solve matters positively and on his own, since he was the man closest to the problem. General Nakamura felt that the latest development was inevitable; our units did not cross the Tumen until the Soviets attacked us in force. Therefore, the division's actions were approved and a report was rendered promptly to Tokyo. It could be said that our outlook served to "cover" the division commander, in a way. But if IGHQ had ordered us to desist, we would have".  Nakamura added: "I was of the opinion the only solution was to drive the Soviet troops outside Manchukuoan territory; therefore, I approved the action by the division." Such sanction had been granted on the basis of information supplied to Seoul by Suetaka on the evening of 29 July, again post facto. At 01:20 on the 30th, Nakamura wired Suetaka a message characterized by gracious phrasing that suggested his grave concern: "One ought to be satisfied with expelling from Manchurian territory the enemy attacking our unit on the . . . heights southwest of Shachaofeng. It is necessary to keep watch on the enemy for the time being, after having pulled back to the heights mentioned above, but we desire that matters be handled carefully to avoid enlargement; in case the foe has already pulled back south of Shachaofeng . . . he need not be attacked." Nakamura also sent a wire to the AGS chief, the War Minister, and the Kwantung Army commander. After conveying the information received from Suetaka, Nakamura continued: "In spite of the fact that our troops have been patient and cautious . . . this latest incident [near Shachaofeng] started with Soviet forces' arrogant border trespassing and . . . unlawful challenge. Therefore, I am convinced that this affair must be dealt with separately from the incident at Changkufeng. Nevertheless, I shall endeavor to handle matters so that the incident will not spread and shall make it my fundamental principle to be satisfied with evicting from Manchurian territory the hostile forces confronting us. The Korea Army chief of staff is being dispatched quickly to handle the incident".  The Korea Army, "painfully slow to act," says a Kwantung Army major, was merely the intermediary link, the executor of Tokyo's desires. In the case of remote Shachaofeng, there was an inevitable gap between on-the-spot occurrences and AGS reactions. By then, Arisue, Kotani, and Arao, Inada's observers, had returned to Japan—an important fact, given the "Moltke" system of staff control. Nevertheless, their return must have exerted significant effects on central operational thinking. Kotani remembered that his AGS subsection had given him a welcome-home party on the night of 29 July when an emergency phone call was received from the duty officer. "It was about the clash at Shachaofeng. The festivities came to an abrupt end and I headed for the office. From then till the cease-fire on 11 August, I remained at the AGS night and day." Since the 19th Division had furnished higher headquarters with minimal information, Tokyo, like Seoul, had only a few ostensible facts to act upon. But this had been the first combat test for the Korea Army, which needed all the encouragement and assistance possible. Although Japanese field armies, notably the Kwantung Army, were notorious for insubordination, one could not overemphasize the fact that the Korea Army was meek and tractable. If Nakamura had concluded that Suetaka acted properly (which reports from Seoul indicated), the AGS could hardly demur. It would have been unrealistic to think that Tokyo, although cautious, was "softer" about the Russian problem than front-line forces. There had been no concern over time lags; details were Seoul's province. Reaction took time at every level of the chain of command. Decision making in the Japanese Army had been a many-layered process. The Army general staff had been of the opinion that initial guidance ought to have been provided to the Korea Army soon, particularly since there had been evidence of failure to convey intentions promptly to the front and no high command staff officer remained to direct matters. After hearing from Seoul twice about the Shachaofeng affair, the responsible Army general staff officers conferred at length. Stress had been laid on the indivisibility of the Shachaofeng and Changkufeng incidents. It had also been evident that further information was required. On that basis, a "handling policy for the Shachaofeng Incident" was drafted, and Tada notified the Korea and Kwantung armies accordingly on 30 July. Nakamura had received the telegram at 16:50 and had its contents retransmitted to Kitano, then at Kyonghun: "Shachaofeng Incident is progressing along lines of our policy, leave things to local units, which have been adhering to the principle of nonenlargement. Have them report on front-line situation without fail."  The Army general staff and the Korea Army were calling for prudence, but the division, well down the rungs of the ladder of command, was initiating actions that jeopardized the government's basic policy. Earlier quibbling about restraints on "unit-size" elements crossing into Manchuria had been abandoned after the firefight near Shachaofeng on 29 July. At 15:30, Takenouchi's battalion, part of the 76th Regiment, had been directed to assist Senda near Yangkuanping; at 18:20 Suetaka was ordering the 75th Regiment to head for the Kucheng sector and be ready to assault the Russians in the Changkufeng area. Support was to be provided by Kobayashi's engineers, by Iwano's transportation men, and by Suzuki's heavy guns. Of particular interest had been Suetaka's acceptance of Sato's recommendation that elements be sent to occupy Hill 52, a measure linked with a possible Japanese attack against Changkufeng.   Sato had decided by evening that the new situation required rapid deployment of his forces across the river. At Shikai, he conducted a briefing of his officers. Suetaka's orders conveyed orally by staff officers had stipulated: "The division will take steps to secure the border line immediately, even if the situation undergoes change. The Sato unit will advance immediately to the left shore, reinforce Senda's unit, and maintain a strict watch on the enemy in the Changkufeng area." Around 23:20, the last elements ordered forward arrived at Shikai station. Sato instructed only his headquarters and the Ito company to get off. The rest of the troop train primarily the 1st [Nakano's] Battalion was to move on to Hongui. From there, the soldiers proceeded to the Tumen near Sozan. With his staff and Ito's company, Sato trudged in silence through the mud from Shikai to the shore at Matsu'otsuho, starting at 00:30 and reaching the crossing site at 03:00. Reconnaissance had proved satisfactory, Sato remembered.  At the crossings, the hardworking engineers rowed his 1st and 3rd battalions across, company by company. Near dawn, around 04:30, he traversed the river. The movement had been completed in about an hour. When Sato's infantry finally got across, they proceeded to the skirt of Fangchuanting and assembled in secrecy. Not until about 08:00 did the regimental headquarters, Ito's company, and Hirahara's battalion reach Hill 147, already held by Noguchi's company west of Changkufeng. By then, plans had fallen behind schedule by at least several hours because of difficulties in train movement forward. Sato also remembered torrential rains; other officers mentioned darkness. Members of Nakano's battalion pinpointed a shortage of engineer boats from Kucheng. Engineers rowed some boats downstream during the night, but six of them were kept at Matsu'otsuho. This left only three boats for moving the 400 men of the 1st Battalion, the unit slated to storm Changkufeng, across the river at Sozan. Sato had wanted all of his troops across well before dawn on the 30th. A division staff officer rightly thought that Suetaka had already advised Sato, in secret, to "attack at an opportune time," and that the night of 29–30 July had been intended for the surprise assault. "Perhaps there was not enough time for all the attack preparations." Kobayashi's engineers admitted problems in moving boats to Sozan: "Although the water level had gone up because of daily rains recently, there were still many shallows and the current was irregular. Not only was it hard to move downstream, but dense fog also complicated the work. Nevertheless, the units at both sites were able to accomplish the river-crossing operation approximately as scheduled".  Meanwhile, after reconnoitering Soviet defenses along the Manchurian bank, Suzuki, commander of the 15th Heavy Field Artillery Regiment, crossed the Kyonghun Bridge on 30 July with his 1st Battery and established positions on the edge of Shuiliufeng Hill. Once Captain Narukawa was attached to the 75th Infantry on 29 July, he dispatched his 2nd Battery by train to Shikai that night. Although firing sites had been surveyed northwest of Sho-Sozan, the battery had to traverse two weak, narrow bridges in the darkness. With two 15-centimeter howitzers to haul, plus five caissons and wagons, the unit faced tense moments. The gun sites themselves were worrisome: they were scarcely masked from observation from Changkufeng, and the single road to them from the unloading station ran through a paddy area and was similarly exposed. By 1200 hours on 30 July, Sato exerted operational control over the following units: his own forces, Nakano's battalion east of Fangchuanting; Hirahara's reinforced battalion west of Chiangchunfeng; a platoon from Nakajima's infantry company on Hill 52; and Noguchi's company on Hill 147; and from other forces, Senda's 2nd (Kanda) BGU Company; two reinforced companies from Takenouchi's battalion of Okido's 76th Regiment near Shachaofeng; and a 75-mm half-battery from the 25th Mountain Artillery on the Manchurian side with Sato. On the Korean shore, another half-battery comprising two 15-centimeter howitzers from Narukawa's unit of the 15th Heavy Field Artillery was in place. The 19th Engineers operated near the crossing sites, though one platoon remained at Fangchuanting. Sato said, "We were now deployed at last, to cope with any situation." His command post was set in foxholes on open ground at Chiangchunfeng, a central hill that offered excellent observation and control over actions around Changkufeng to the east and Shachaofeng to the north. Not content with suspending the pullout of units and deploying additional combat troops across the Tumen, Suetaka decided to recall division headquarters, mountain artillery, cavalry, signal, medical, and veterinary personnel from Nanam. At dawn on 30 July, Nanam issued orders for Colonel Tanaka to move 500 men and 300 horses to Agochi by rail; most of the increment came from Tanaka's horse-drawn 25th Mountain Artillery. The colonel reached the Korean side of the Tumen at 05:00 on 31 July. The preceding emergency measures were being implemented by Suetaka, even as he received Nakamura's calming telegram of 30 July enjoining nonexpansion. Changkufeng Hill was not even mentioned. Nakamura's concern was typified by Kitano flying to the front. At 10:00 on 30 July, Kitano sent the division chief of staff a cautious follow-up cable: "Based on the consistent policy for handling the Changkufeng Incident and on the army commander's earlier telegram, kindly take steps to ensure careful action in connection with the affair in the Shachaofeng vicinity lest there be enlargement." At 13:45, Nakamura transmitted another restraining message to Suetaka: "The division is to secure … Chiangchunfeng and … the heights southwest of Shachaofeng, using present front-line units. Unless there is an enemy attack, however, resort to force will depend on separate orders." Several hours later, at 16:50, Nakamura received instructions from Tada: the Shachaofeng case was being left to the local forces, who were pursuing the desired policy of nonenlargement, but prompt reporting was desired. At 19:30, the retransmitted message was received by Kitano, already at the front with Suetaka at Kyonghun. After his units had crossed the Tumen on 30 July, Sato Kotoku ordered a strict watch and directed preparations for an assault based on the plans. He conferred with Senda at Chiangchunfeng and observed the enemy. Even after dawn, the frontline commanders who had crossed the river remained uncertain about when the attack would be staged. While Sato's force conducted reconnaissance to prepare for a daytime offensive, orders arrived around 08:00 indicating, "We intend a night attack, so conceal your activities." Daytime movements were prohibited. Sato then explained the impression he had derived from Senda and the intelligence on which he based his estimates: " Exploiting the impasse in diplomatic negotiation, the enemy side had steadily reinforced front-line offensive strength and trespassed anew near Shachaofeng. They now had a battalion and a half of infantry plus 20 artillery pieces in the area, some south of Shachaofeng and the others at four positions immediately east of Lake Khasan. At least a dozen (maybe 20) tanks were deployed in the sector opposite us. About 300 well-armed, active Russian troops were at Changkufeng. I decided that an attack ought to be staged that night. First of all, we were going to chill the insolent enemy by a courageous night assault—a method characteristic of the Imperial Army. Then all kinds of fire power were to be combined in a surprise attack against the positions. Our intention was to jo lt the Russians, demonstrate the true strength of our combat fire, and, by a combination of night and dawn attacks, cut down losses which our left-flank units would have incurred if a night assault alone were staged. We had considered two plans—a night attack against Changkufeng by the 3rd Battalion from the north, or by the 1st Battalion from the south. On 30 July, I decided to execute the second plan, using my 1st (Nakano's) Battalion, to avoid simultaneous involvement around Shachaofeng where the foe was by now alerted."  The Japanese Army ordinarily favored surprise assaults without supporting guns, since firepower was regarded as secondary in close combat and artillery was in short supply. According to the regimental journal, telephone contacts from the morning of the 30th indicated that the division commander shared the same line of thinking as Sato. By noon, Suetaka made his stance explicit. A phone call from Kucheng conveyed to Sato the gist of a critical division order: first, a detailed briefing on Soviet troop concentrations and dispositions, firing positions, troops, and armor south of Shachaofeng; entanglements and forces at Changkufeng; large concentrations behind west of Khasan; tanks and ground formations moving north of the lake; a heavy concentration near the lake to the northwest; one confirmed and two suspected positions along the eastern shore and another with artillery far to the south. Then the order stated that K. Sato's forces, including the Takenouchi battalion from the 76th Infantry, one mountain artillery platoon, and one engineer platoon were to strengthen their positions and, at the same time, promptly evict from Manchurian territory the intruding and advancing enemy. However, pursuit must not be pushed too far lest the border be crossed. Shortly after noon, Suetaka issued another order to form a new force under Senda, who was to strengthen border security along the Shuiliufeng–Hunchun line. As with Sato, Senda was to eject the intruding and advancing enemy from Manchurian soil but not pursue them across the border. By midafternoon, Sato knew not only what he wanted to do but also Suetaka's intentions. At 15:30, he assembled all subordinate officers at Chiangchunfeng and dictated minute attack instructions. Intelligence indicated that the enemy continued to fortify points of importance along the Changkufeng–Shachaofeng line. Sato's plan was to annihilate hostile elements that had crossed the border north and south of Changkufeng. His concept went beyond a frontal assault. While Nakano's battalion would jump off south of Changkufeng, one reinforced company, Takeshita's 10th was to attack north. Since the sun rose at about 05:00, Sato intended to wipe out the enemy during three hours of darkness. Another battalion, Hirahara's 3rd would be held in reserve, with Ito's 6th Company ready to launch a night attack against Changkufeng from the northwest if necessary. Small forces deployed southeast at Hill 52 were to block the arrival of Soviet reinforcements around the southern shores of Khasan. Only after Changkufeng was secured and fire swept the high ground south of Shachaofeng would a reinforced battalion, Takenouchi's 1st from the 76th Regiment undertake a dawn assault to clear the Russians from that sector. An engineer platoon would assist both the night and dawn assault battalions with obstacle clearing. There would be no artillery support until dawn, when the available guns were to provide maximum coverage. Notably, even the movement of a single antitank gun warranted mention. Sato concluded the attack order by directing that each unit mask its intentions after sunset. Takenouchi was to act to check the enemy as soon as the sun went down. In connection with the dawn barrage against the enemy southwest of Shachaofeng, key personnel were to study the best way to exploit sudden fire described as gale and lightning. They were also to be ready to destroy enemy tanks. A green star shell would be fired to signal the success of the night attack. The code words were shojiki "honesty" and ydmo "bravery". At midnight, the regiment commander would be at the northwest foot of Chiangchunfeng. The order stressed typical night-attack precautions: secrecy and concealment, avoidance of confusion, antitank defense, and flare signaling of success. Sato added his own flair with his daily motto as code words and the reference to "whirlwind" fire. Impending action times were explicitly set when the order was issued at 15:30 on the 30th, more than ten hours before the 1st Battalion was to jump off. The key to success in a night assault lay in an absolute prohibition on firing by their side, and bold, courageous charging. Sato reminded his men that life is granted again after death. Nakano then assembled his company commanders east of Fangchuanting and issued his battalion order at 18:30. A few hours after Sato's briefing of the assault commanders, Suetaka arrived at the 75th Regiment command post. This visit late on 30 July is central to allegations that Sato, not Suetaka, conceived and executed the night attack on his own initiative. Divisional orders giving Sato his core mission had already been conveyed by telephone. After 16:00, Suetaka boarded a motorboat at Kucheng and went to the Manchurian side to verify front-line conditions. Soviet snipers south of Yangkuanping fired several shots, but his craft reached the Matsu'otsuho landing and proceeded to Chiangchunfeng to meet Sato. Sato described the situation: "frontline enemy forces had been reinforced steadily and had begun a vigorous offensive. The foe was provoking us, and the matter had grown very serious. I had already issued orders at 15:30 to take the initiative and deal the enemy a smashing blow." I would like to take this time to remind you all that this podcast is only made possible through the efforts of Kings and Generals over at Youtube. Please go subscribe to Kings and Generals over at Youtube and to continue helping us produce this content please check out www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. If you are still hungry after that, give my personal channel a look over at The Pacific War Channel at Youtube, it would mean a lot to me. On a frost-bitten dawn by the Chaun and Tumen, Russia and Japan lock eyes over Changkufeng. Diplomats urge restraint, yet Tokyo's generals push a bold gamble: seize a hill with a surprise strike and bargain later. Japanese divisions, engineers, and artillery edge toward the border, while Soviet sentries brace for a confrontation that could widen the war. 

Hangman Page ha perdido el campeonato de AEW en una decisión muy controvertida. Analizamos la victoria de Samoa Joe, el turn de Hook, el regreso de Swerve Strickland y mucho más. También el resto de un Full Gear que da para podcast: Mark Briscoe campeón TNT, Ricochet campeón Nacional, Brodido pierde los títulos por parejas, lío con Okada y Takeshita, reunión de The Elite, Mercedes Moné quedándose a las puertas del campeonato... Todo, con x.com/MiguelJuarezU. ¡Adéntrate en el análisis más completo del wrestling en español! Suscríbete por 1,99€/mes y escucha episodios especiales cada sábado en: — iVoox (pestaña 'Apoyar') — Spotify (https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/uhep/subscribe) — Apple Podcasts (https://apple.co/3pqZLmZ) — YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MrSWLf) Con acceso al Discord para mecenas: https://discord.gg/G79hvUCRSR ➕ Artículos para suscriptores Compra merchandising oficial de WWE en Fanatics con mi código: http://fanatics.93n6tx.net/baXOax Sígueme en X: https://www.twitter.com/SrAlexGomez Sígueme en Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/siralexgomez Sígueme en Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/SrAlexGomez Compra merchandising en la tienda de UHEP: https://www.latostadora.com/uhep #AEW #FullGear #HangmanPage #MercedesMone #Wrestling #LuchaLibre 00:00 Intro 00:24 Editorial 11:09 Duración de AEW All Out 13:47 Hangman Page pierde el título 22:49 Kris Statlander vs. Mercedes Moné 25:34 Kyle Fletcher vs. Mark Briscoe 29:59 Jon Moxley vs. Kyle O'Reilly 32:56 Pac vs. Darby Allin 36:11 Brodido vs. FTR 39:19 Okada-Takeshita 40:01 Casino Gauntlet por el título Nacional 43:02 Reunión de The Elite 44:43 SmackDown + Q&A

In this week's episode of All Elite Conversation Club, PWTorch contributors Joel Dehnel and Gregg Kanner cover these topics:(00:00) Intro, Joel is back!(03:58) Full Gear Preview(06:38) Tailgate brawl includes Big Boom vs. Roppongi Vice, $200K four-way, CMLL trios, Hook/Eddie vs. Workhorse Men, Okada and Takeshita on pre-show(17:14) Tag title match - FTR vs. BroDido(25:07) Million Dollar Trios - Elite reunion setup with Kenny Omega and Young Bucks(30:13) TNT Championship - Kyle Fletcher vs. Mark Briscoe rematch with stipulation(38:51) Darby vs. PAC and Kyle O'Reilly vs. Jon Moxley - Death Riders storyline crucial matches(48:32) National Championship Casino Gauntlet(53:17) Women's World Championship(1:02:16) World Championship(1:16:01) Zach's Email and triviaBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/pwtorch-dailycast--3276210/support.

This week 3 Beer Zach and JCB sit down and discuss the happenings in the squared circle. The 1 count is WWE featuring a recap of Saturday Night's Main Event. Jade Cargill beats down Tiffany Stratton. CM Punk returns to the top of the hill. Cody Rhodes continues to toe the line between good and evil. Ilja Dragnov with another entertaining US title open challenge. Logan Paul returns to confront CM Punk; could he be the next member of the Vision? Dominik and Rey Mysterio with an intriguing promo on RAW. ;The 2 count is AEW. Bandido continues to win over both 3 Beer Zach and JCB as Wrestler Of The Year as his match vs Mascara Dorada impresses. The Opps retain the Trios titles tapping out Hook again. Blood And Guts advantage matches for the men and women are covered. Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron pull one of the upsets of the year. A new title being introduced in AEW and Takeshita/Okada play nice long enough to beat the Acclaimed. The 3 count is New Japan Pro Wrestling reviewing the Super Junior Tag League and Tanahashi's Final Homecoming card. It looks like we have a Wrestle Kingdom main event; Tsuji vs Takeshita title for title. NXT odds and ends to close the pod! Available on all audio podcast platforms. Listen Share Subscribe Repeat! Rate and review on Apple and Spotify! WWE AEW 53:50 NJPW 1:33:38

Join SP3, J-News and Sonal for our NJPW Tanahashi Final Homecoming Review breaking down the final major show of 2025 for New Japan Pro Wrestling ft. Konosuke Takeshita vs Hirooki Goto for the IWGP World Heavyweight Title. Leave your thoughts on this show and review in the live chat and comments section. Like, share, superchat and subscribe to support! #njhomecoming #njpw #AEW #KonosukeTakeshita #HirookiGoto #HiroshiTanahashi #YotaTsuji #njsjtl #HouseofTorture #AaronWolf #EVIL #BulletClubWarDogs Welcome to the Tru Heel Heat Wrestling YouTube channel where we cover  the sport of professional wrestling including all WWE TV shows (Raw,  Smackdown, & NXT), AEW Dynamite/Dark, IMPACT Wrestling, NJPW, ROH,  Dark Side of the Ring and more. Our weekly podcast hosted by SP3, Top  Guy JJ & Miss Krssi Luv breaking down the weekly wrestling news and  present unfiltered, honest thoughts and opinions for wrestling fans by  wrestling fans, drops every Saturday. We also include PPV reviews,  countdowns, and exclusive interviews with wrestlers from all promotions  hosted by a wide range of personalities such as Romeo, Chris G, Ness,  StatKing, Drunk Guy JJ, J-News and more. Subscribe and enable ALL  notifications to stay posted for the latest wrestling WWE news,  highlights, commentary, updates and more.Become a member of Tru Heels Facebook community: www.facebook.com/groups/1336177103130224/Subscribe to Tru Heel Heat on YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC0AmFQmsRyQYPKyRm5hDwNgFollow Tru Heels on Twitter: twitter.com/truheelheatFollow Tru Heels on Instagram: www.instagram.com/truheelheat/Music composed by JPM

Are we too honest on this episode...maybe? Goto returns to Nooj, #BloodAndGuts get finalized, Takeshita continues world domination, Saya Kamitani rules, and even a little kissin'! https://linktr.ee/WeNeedWrestling #Stardom #NJPW #DDTpro #TenryuProject #WrestlingPodcast #ProWrestling Rate and Review on your favorite PodCatcher! Reach out on Social Media! www.WeNeedWrestling.com  WeNeedWrestling@gmail.com

This week 3 Beer Zach and JCB sit down and discuss the happenings in the squard circle. The 1 count is WWE featuring a recap of Saturday Night's Main Event. Jade Cargill beats down Tiffany Stratton. CM Punk returns to the top of the hill. Cody Rhodes continues to toe the line between good and evil. Ilja Dragnov with another entertaining US title open challenge. Logan Paul returns to confront CM Punk; could he be the next member of the Vision? Dominik and Rey Mysterion with an intriguing promo on RAW. The 2 count is AEW. Bandido continues to win over both 3 Beer Zach and JCB as Wrestler Of The Year as his match vs Mascara Dorada impresses. The Opps retain the Trios titles tapping out Hook again. Blood And Guts advantage matches for the men and women are covered. Willow Nighingale and Harley Cameron pull one of the upsets of the year. A new title being introduced in AEW and Takeshita/Okada play nice long enough to beat the Acclaimed. The 3 count is New Japan Pro Wrestling reviewing the Super Junior Tag League and Tanahashi's Final Homecoming card. It looks like we have a Wrestle Kingdom main event; Tsuji vs Takeshita title for title. NXT odds and ends to close the pod!Avaiable on all audio podcast platforms! Listen Share Subscribe Repeat! Rate and review on Apple and Spotify! WWEAEW 53:50NJPW 1:33:38

This week 3 Beer Zach and JCB sit down and discuss the happenings in the squared circle. The 1 count is WWE featuring a recap of Saturday Night's Main Event. Jade Cargill beats down Tiffany Stratton. CM Punk returns to the top of the hill. Cody Rhodes continues to toe the line between good and evil. Ilja Dragnov with another entertaining US title open challenge. Logan Paul returns to confront CM Punk; could he be the next member of the Vision? Dominik and Rey Mysterio with an intriguing promo on RAW. The 2 count is AEW. Bandido continues to win over both 3 Beer Zach and JCB as Wrestler Of The Year as his match vs Mascara Dorada impresses. The Opps retain the Trios titles tapping out Hook again. Blood And Guts advantage matches for the men and women are covered. Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron pull one of the upsets of the year. A new title being introduced in AEW and Takeshita/Okada play nice long enough to beat the Acclaimed. The 3 count is New Japan Pro Wrestling reviewing the Super Junior Tag League and Tanahashi's Final Homecoming card. It looks like we have a Wrestle Kingdom main event; Tsuji vs Takeshita title for title. NXT odds and ends to close the pod!Available on all audio podcast platforms. Listen Share Subscribe Repeat! Rate and review on Apple and Spotify!WWEAEW 53:50NJPW 1:33:38

This week 3 Beer Zach and JCB sit down and discuss the happenings in the squared circle. The 1 count is WWE featuring a recap of Saturday Night's Main Event. Jade Cargill beats down Tiffany Stratton. CM Punk returns to the top of the hill. Cody Rhodes continues to toe the line between good and evil. Ilja Dragnov with another entertaining US title open challenge. Logan Paul returns to confront CM Punk; could he be the next member of the Vision? Dominik and Rey Mysterio with an intriguing promo on RAW. The 2 count is AEW. Bandido continues to win over both 3 Beer Zach and JCB as Wrestler Of The Year as his match vs Mascara Dorada impresses. The Opps retain the Trios titles tapping out Hook again. Blood And Guts advantage matches for the men and women are covered. Willow Nightingale and Harley Cameron pull one of the upsets of the year. A new title being introduced in AEW and Takeshita/Okada play nice long enough to beat the Acclaimed. The 3 count is New Japan Pro Wrestling reviewing the Super Junior Tag League and Tanahashi's Final Homecoming card. It looks like we have a Wrestle Kingdom main event; Tsuji vs Takeshita title for title. NXT odds and ends to close the pod!Available on all audio podcast platforms. Listen Share Subscribe Repeat! Rate and review on Apple and Spotify!WWEAEW 53:50NJPW 1:33:38

This week on Wrestling Omakase we talk a trio of big shows from big companies! But first, John REALLY doesn't want to talk about what just happened to the Toronto Blue Jays, but for some reason returning guest Arametha insisted, so there's that. Also there's a little bit of talk about everyone's favorite subject, AMERICAN POLITICS! Yeah! And some other stuff too, who even knows at this point. Probably the Japan trip I'm guessing.The first real topic of the show though is STARDOM (as usual), as they talk about the Crimson Nightmare show that took place on Monday 11/3 from Ota Ward Gym. John & Arametha do things a little backward here as they first discuss what's coming up in STARDOM next, mainly with the two Saya Kamitani title matches announced for Dream Queendom and Wrestle Kingdom. John gives their case for why Saya might actually lose to Saori Anou, despite what current conventional wisdom would seem to have you believe. Then they get into a full review of the show featuring a very controversial Saya vs. Momo Watanabe main event, the end of Starlight Kid's epic white belt reign, yet another High Speed title defense for Mei Seira and more. Finally, they wrap up the STARDOM portion with a look ahead to the upcoming Goddesses of STARDOM Tag League that kicks off in just a couple days, giving some early picks for who might make it out of each block and even win the entire thing.Next up they head over to New Japan and again do things kind of backwards, first looking ahead to the upcoming World Tag League and giving the thoughts on the (kind of hilarious!) field of competitors. Then they review the top matches from the Hiroshi Tanahashi Homecoming show on 11/2 from Gifu, discussing the finals of the world's most pointless tournament that apparently made everyone except John really mad, Tanahashi having one more great match against Yota Tsuji in his hometown, how we somehow STILL don't know who Tana's retirement opponent will be, and a Takeshita main event that John almost skipped right over.The last but certainly not least slot goes to DDT for their annual Ultimate Party show, also from 11/3 at Ryogoku. John & Arametha break down the entire ten match card in detail, discussing some truly funny comedy, a lot of fun matches, and the good vibes around this promotion right now in general. They also speculate a little on what might be coming next with the tease of Takeshita vs. Takechi, and look ahead to some future cards in general. Yet another packed show!Fill out this form if you're interested in appearing on our Wrestle Kingdom Week preview show: https://forms.gle/PoTPsfetRribc4Av9Follow Wrestling Omakase on Twitter: http://twitter.com/wrestleomakaseFollow John on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/justoneenby.bsky.socialAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Support our sponsors this week by using the links below for the exclusive Solomonster offers!HIMS ▶ Start your FREE online visit today at http://www.hims.com/SOLOMONSTER for your personalized hair loss treatment options!EXPRESSVPN ▶ Get an extra FOUR MONTHS FREE of the #1 trusted VPN at http://www.expressvpn.com/solomonsterYouTube TV continues its vendetta against its own customers, but I've also got news on Mike Rotunda's health... Saturday Night's Main Event fallout including the absolute STATE of Jey Uso in that main event last night, CM Punk winning the World championship and MAJOR news on how WWE intends to decide John Cena's final opponent (no, it will not be Adam Copeland)... the NXT star vowing to avenge his father's humiliation against Cena... Men's and Women's BLOOD AND GUTS teams revealed... Takeshita gets his challenger for the Tokyo Dome, and the likely name to wrestle Tanahashi in his final match at Wrestle Kingdom... the class action lawsuit against Logan Paul gets dismissed... VINCE RUSSO is back in wrestling in 2025... why we need more SHORT TITLE REIGNS in wrestling... and the best DQ or count out finishes of all time!***Follow Solomonster on X (formerly Twitter) for news and opinion:http://x.com/solomonsterSubscribe to the Solomonster Sounds Off on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSolomonster?sub_confirmation=1Become a Solomonster Sounds Off Channel Member:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9jcg7mk93fGNqWPMfl_Aig/join

Join SP3, J-News and Sonal for our NJPW Tanahashi Final Homecoming 2025 Preview breaking down the upcoming New Japan event ft. Konosuke Takeshita vs Hirooki Goto for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Leave your thoughts on this preview and give your predictions on this card in the live chat and comments section. Like, share, superchat and subscribe to support! #njhomecoming #AEW #NJPW #KonosukeTakeshita #HirookiGoto #HiroshiTanahashi #YotaTsuji #njsjtl Welcome to the Tru Heel Heat Wrestling YouTube channel where we cover  the sport of professional wrestling including all WWE TV shows (Raw,  Smackdown, & NXT), AEW Dynamite/Dark, IMPACT Wrestling, NJPW, ROH,  Dark Side of the Ring and more. Our weekly podcast hosted by SP3, Top  Guy JJ & Miss Krssi Luv breaking down the weekly wrestling news and  present unfiltered, honest thoughts and opinions for wrestling fans by  wrestling fans, drops every Saturday. We also include PPV reviews,  countdowns, and exclusive interviews with wrestlers from all promotions  hosted by a wide range of personalities such as Romeo, Chris G, Ness,  StatKing, Drunk Guy JJ, J-News and more. Subscribe and enable ALL  notifications to stay posted for the latest wrestling WWE news,  highlights, commentary, updates and more.Become a member of Tru Heels Facebook community: www.facebook.com/groups/1336177103130224/Subscribe to Tru Heel Heat on YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC0AmFQmsRyQYPKyRm5hDwNgFollow Tru Heels on Twitter: twitter.com/truheelheatFollow Tru Heels on Instagram: www.instagram.com/truheelheat/Music composed by JPM

Welcome back to 4 Sides Of The Ring, the ultimate professional wrestling podcast for fans of WWE, AEW, NXT, NJPW, and everything in between! In this week's episode, Markus, TZK, Chano, and Nitram dive deep into the hottest stories shaking up the wrestling world!

Tim and Tom are back for a spooky edition of the All Elite Wrapup after an unexpected week off (blame the dishwasher!). The guys break down all the action from AEW's Fright Night Dynamite, including the Trick or Treat Tornado Tag match that saw Darby Allin and Orange Cassidy take on Daniel Garcia and Wheeler Yuta.The discussion then moves to the Don Callis Family Summit, where a new family portrait was unveiled, and tensions flared between Takeshita and Okada. This leads into the Fright Night Four-Way tag match, with FTR emerging as the new #1 contenders for the Trios Titles held by Brodido.In the women's division, an injury to Penelope Ford shakes up the tag team tournament, leading to Marina Shafir stepping in to team with Megan Bayne. The rivalry between Kris Statlander and Mercedes Moné explodes, drawing in Athena and Willow Nightingale for a chaotic brawl.Finally, the crew recaps the wild four-way main event for a shot at the AEW World Championship, where Samoa Joe outlasted Hook, Ricochet, and Bobby Lashley. The night ends with a surprise contract signing, an appearance by the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man, and the shocking reveal of Hangman Adam Page, setting the stage for a major title clash. All this, plus Tom pays off a lost bet by sporting a truly terrifying Jeff Jarrett t-shirt. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.allelitewrapup.com

Diana's off this week, gearing up for her big Texas show with Joe Bob Briggs — so Johnny and Gringo take the reins for Episode 206 and break down a spooky, chaotic Fright Night edition of AEW Dynamite from Edinburg! Samoa Joe survives HOOK, Bobby Lashley, and Ricochet in the Fright Night Four-Way to earn a World Title shot at Full Gear, but Hangman Page gets the upper hand during the contract signing. FTR fight their way through JetSpeed, Jurassic Express, and the Young Bucks to earn a Tag Title match with Brodido, while Darby Allin & Orange Cassidy score the Trick or Treat Tornado Tag win over the Death Riders. The Sisters of Sin advance in the AEW Women's Tag Title Tournament, and Okada's staredown with Takeshita at the Don Callis Family Summit has the wrestling world buzzing. Johnny and Gringo cover all the highlights, twists, and setups as AEW barrels toward Blood and Guts and Full Gear — with no Diana, but plenty of AEW-some energy. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of theAll Elite Talk podcast, the AEW Fan Hub community reviews Fight Night Dynamite, discussing key matches including the main event featuring Samoa Joe and Ricochet, the tag team contender match with FTR and the Young Bucks, and the kickoff of the Women's Tag Team Tournament. They also address Penelope Ford's injury and its impact on upcoming matches, recap John Moxley vs. Kyle O'Reilly, and share excitement for the upcoming Blood and Guts event. The conversation wraps up with a potpourri of other highlights from the show.TakeawaysSamoa Joe's victory was expected but Ricochet had strong support.The post-match segment added excitement for the upcoming match.FTR's win was anticipated, but the Young Bucks are still a strong team.The Women's Tag Team Tournament is heating up with surprising outcomes.Penelope Ford's injury led to unexpected match changes.John Moxley and Kyle O'Reilly's match set the stage for Blood and Guts.Blood and Guts will feature exciting matchups and high stakes.Takeshita's character development is intriguing as he transitions to a babyface role.Fright Night Collision promises a stacked card with engaging matches.The host encourage listener interaction and feedback.

In this week's episode of All Elite Conversation Club, PWTorch contributors Joel Dehnel and Gregg Kanner cover these topics:(00:00) Introduction and NFL discussion(03:09) WrestleDream in St. Louis - Joel's live experience(09:51) Jurassic Express vs. Young Bucks(10:56) Statlander vs. Storm(12:35) Mercedes Monet open challenge(13:21) Bandido and Brody King vs. Okada and Takeshita(16:08) Hangman vs. Samoa Joe(17:09) Main event I Quit match - Missouri Athletic Commission restrictions(18:49) Sting's return(21:28) San Antonio Dynamite(24:02) Moxley's confidence crisis storyline(29:34) Repetitive feuds(32:56) Women's Tag Team Championship Tournament announced(36:30) Stantlander vs. Mone set for Full Gear(39:43) Mercedes celebration with Harley Cameron puppet(44:33) Okada defeats Bandido(49:27) Full Gear ticket sales(54:44) Collision line-up(55:26) Next Dynamite Friday in Edinburgh(55:40) Zach Barber email and trivia(1:17:52) Marko Stunt now working as car salesmanBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/pwtorch-dailycast--3276210/support.

Topics NXT (1:50) [Zaria replacing Sol Ruca for Halloween Havoc, Halloween Havoc Predictions]  AEW (21:12) [Opps/Hurt Syndicate trios match, Mox beginning to lose the Death Riders, Takeshita death stared Okada] WWE Main Roster (42:40) [Jey Uso facing CM Punk at SNME, Jade Cargill returning and attacks Tiffany Stratton, my suggestion on Paul Heyman potentially influencing Maxxine Dupri] National Suicide Prevention line: 1-800-273-8255 Twitter: @My2Podcast Instagram: my2centspodcastg2 Business email: my2centspod@yahoo.com

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Ref Aubrey Edwards and Will Washington relive all the chaos and emotion from AEW WrestleDream in St. Louis! Hear about Jamie Hayter's breakout run, Darby Allin's wild main event win over Jon Moxley, Sting's surprise appearance and handoff of his signature bat, and what Okada & Takeshita's tag team loss might mean for the Don Callis Family's future. Ref Aubrey also shares her whirlwind trip from officiating in Mexico City to making it just in time for WrestleDream's opening match, and Will breaks down AEW main event stats (who has the most appearances), shocking turns, and what's next on the road to Full Gear. AEW Unrestricted is sponsored by Upper Deck. Get closer to the ring than ever before. Unwrap your favorite AEW wrestling trading cards and build your collection today! Visit https://UpperDeck.com to learn more. Follow & Subscribe:

Sorg and Rizz are joined by commentator Eamon Paton (880 Wrestling / VCW) for a chaotic and hilarious look at the week in pro wrestling and behind the camera.

Sorg and Rizz are joined by commentator Eamon Paton (880 Wrestling / VCW) for a chaotic and hilarious look at the week in pro wrestling and behind the camera.

Sorg and Rizz are joined by commentator Eamon Paton (880 Wrestling / VCW) for a chaotic and hilarious look at the week in pro wrestling and behind the camera.

Episode 147 is live. Acefield Retro and Chad are back with a brand-new edition of Wrestling Tonight to break it all down, a massive week across AEW, WWE, and beyond. AEW WrestleDream 2025 in St. Louis felt like a complete show from start to finish. Every match had purpose, and every moment built toward something meaningful. Darby Allin finally defeated Jon Moxley in a violent but deeply emotional I Quit match that ended with Sting's return.  Hangman Page and Samoa Joe delivered the kind of world title match that rewards patience, ending with Page barely surviving before The Opps made their presence felt again. Cracks began to form in Don Callis' camp when Kazuchika Okada accidentally hit Takeshita with a Rainmaker, costing them the tag titles. Kris Statlander's win over Toni Storm was the title defense her reign needed, and Mercedes Moné continued her dominant streak by defeating Mina Shirakawa to break Ultimo Dragon's record. Elsewhere, Jurassic Express reunited to beat the Young Bucks in a fast, fun tag match that raised new questions about Kenny Omega's next move. Fletcher retained against Briscoe, Hayter and Thekla tore into each other, and The Hurt Syndicate picked up a strong win that puts them in line for gold. In WWE, Seth Rollins' shoulder injury could reshape the road to WrestleMania, but the larger story is the company's quiet rollout of an AI-driven storytelling system. Reports suggest WWE creative has begun testing artificial intelligence to help design character arcs, anticipate audience reactions, and fine-tune story pacing before scripts reach production. Whether this becomes a valuable tool or a creative crutch remains to be seen, but it marks a major shift in how wrestling stories might be told. Jacob Fatu's violent write-off and Ilja Dragunov's surprise United States Title win over Sami Zayn arrived with uncanny timing, fueling speculation that elements of the new system are already in play. Across the Pacific, AJ Styles may have wrestled his final match in Japan, closing the night with an emotional farewell speech delivered in Japanese by Shinsuke Nakamura. It was a week that balanced endings and beginnings. AEW delivered purposeful, organic storytelling while WWE stepped into uncharted territory by blending creativity with artificial intelligence. Wrestling keeps evolving, and nights like these remind everyone why they care.

Join SP3, Miss Krssi Luv and Tru Draw Josh for an all-new edition of our flagship podcast Tru Heel Heat 351 discussing the latest wrestling news including: 0:00 Intro 5:41 SP3, Miss Krssi Luv & Tru Draw Josh welcome you to the show 21:40 AEW Dynamite & Collision ft. Moxley/Darby prison scene 35:45 Andrade absent from AEW due to a potential 1-year WWE non-compete clause & StatKing joins to talk some legalities 1:16:55 Chris Jericho & Britt Baker potentially hinting at AEW exit, ROH TV plus more AEW news 1:53:58 NJPW King of Pro Wrestling ft. Takeshita's IWGP Title win & CMLL Viernes Espectacular 2:06:22 WWE SmackDown ft. Ilja Dragunov's return & U.S. Title win 2:14:48 Jacob Fatu injury update, WWE using A.I. creative, plus more news 2:25:19 WWE Raw on Netflix ft. The Vision turns on Seth Rollins 2:32:52 Seth Rollins injury fallout & what it means for Bron Breakker 2:49:33 TIK TOK TIME - Build The Perfect Wrestler, WHO BETTA & Guess The Faction by Emoji 3:12:52 Krssi Luv signs off 3:13:15 Changes to WWE plans after Seth Rollins' injury, John Cena I.C. Champ, plus more news 3:20:22 WWE NXT & Evolve Succession plus Ridge Holland let go from the company 3:32:32 TNA Bound For Glory plus news & notes 3:39:00 Best, Worst, Moments & Matches of the Week 3:42:58 AEW WrestleDream final predictions Leave your thoughts on this podcast in the live chat and comments section. Like, share, superchat and subscribe to support! #WWE #Andrade #AEW #SethRollins #TheVision #BronBreakker #PaulHeyman #BronsonReed #ChrisJericho #AI #JohnCena #AJStyles #AEWWrestleDream Welcome to the Tru Heel Heat Wrestling YouTube channel where we cover  the sport of professional wrestling including all WWE TV shows (Raw,  Smackdown, & NXT), AEW Dynamite/Dark, IMPACT Wrestling, NJPW, ROH,  Dark Side of the Ring and more. Our weekly podcast hosted by SP3, Top  Guy JJ & Miss Krssi Luv breaking down the weekly wrestling news and  present unfiltered, honest thoughts and opinions for wrestling fans by  wrestling fans, drops every Saturday. We also include PPV reviews,  countdowns, and exclusive interviews with wrestlers from all promotions  hosted by a wide range of personalities such as Romeo, Chris G, Ness,  StatKing, Drunk Guy JJ, J-News and more. Subscribe and enable ALL  notifications to stay posted for the latest wrestling WWE news,  highlights, commentary, updates and more.Become a member of Tru Heels Facebook community: www.facebook.com/groups/1336177103130224/Subscribe to Tru Heel Heat on YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC0AmFQmsRyQYPKyRm5hDwNgFollow Tru Heels on Twitter: twitter.com/truheelheatFollow Tru Heels on Instagram: www.instagram.com/truheelheat/Music composed by JPM

Episode 205 brings all the smoke as Johnny Taylor, Diana Prince, and Gringo Fantastico break down this past weekend's AEW Wrestledream! There were betrayals, bathroom breaks, and bedlam. Jon Moxley repurposed the lost art of the swirlie in an attempt to make someone much smaller than him (Darby Allin) cry uncle, much to the chagrin of social media. Samoa Joe and “Hangman” Adam Page went full on classic wrestling match for the AEW World Heavyweight Championship. Tag matches were off the chain as the Hurt Syndicate went 3 on 3 is with the terribly named “The Demand.” Brodido went to blows with a fractured team up of Okada and Takeshita, while Jurassic Express put on an absolute banger with the Bucks. Oh... and Mercedes Moné was there to take the fun out of the PPV with her 8,000 title belts as she spoiled the celebration for the winner of the Women's Championship match between Toni Storm and the champ, Kris Statlander. More happened, but you'll have to listen to find out! Join the trio for this exciting hour of all the analytics, shenanigans, and hot takes you can handle! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this episode, Brandon Tanguma recaps AEW WrestleDream, emanating from St. Louis, Missouri, and he runs down all the matches, including the "I Quit" match in the main event between Darby Allin and Jon Moxley. Did they go too far or not far enough? Since it's an AEW PPV, you know many more matches are on the card, including Adam Page vs. Samoa Joe and Kris Stander vs. Toni Storm for the World Championships. Some great tag team wrestling was on display with FTR taking on JetSpeed, Jurassic Express vs. The Young Bucks, Brodido defending the tag titles against Takeshita and Okada, and much more.Have a question or idea email us bulletcast2sweet@gmail.comPlease check out our What A Maneuver! Store: https://whatamaneuver.net/collections/bullet-castPlease check out our Pro Wrestling Tees Store: https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/bulletcastFollow Bullet Cast On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thebulletcast/?hl=enFollow Bullet Cast On Twitter: https://twitter.com/BulletCastFollow Bullet Cast On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BulletCast2sweet/Subscribe to Bullet Cast On Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrKHzfruskD8imAVVmWAaSQBullet Cast Link Tree: https://linktr.ee/thebulletcast

On this episode, Brandon Tanguma recaps AEW WrestleDream, emanating from St. Louis, Missouri, and he runs down all the matches, including the "I Quit" match in the main event between Darby Allin and Jon Moxley. Did they go too far or not far enough? Since it's an AEW PPV, you know many more matches are on the card, including Adam Page vs. Samoa Joe and Kris Stander vs. Toni Storm for the World Championships. Some great tag team wrestling was on display with FTR taking on JetSpeed, Jurassic Express vs. The Young Bucks, Brodido defending the tag titles against Takeshita and Okada, and much more. Have a question? Send it to CurveballandCS@gmail.comFollow us on social media: https://linktr.ee/CurveballsandCS

Michael Sidgwick and Michael Hamflett preview AEW WrestleDream and discuss...The NEW Best Fantasy Booking Idea EVERDarby Allin Vs Jon Moxley!Toni Storm Vs Kris Statlander!Brodido Vs Kazuchika Okada & Konosuke Takeshita!Hangman Page Vs Samoa Joe!@MSidgwick @MichaelHamflett Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this week's episode of All Elite Conversation Club, PWTorch contributors Joel Dehnel and Gregg Kanner cover these topics:(00:00) Introduction - back after week hiatus(01:04) Kota Ibushi injury(08:32) Andrade legal situation breakdown - WWE ninety-day non-compete clause dispute(11:16) Switchblade Jay White "ready?" tweet(13:07) Eddie Kingston and Orange Cassidy relegated to pre-show(15:12) WrestleDream ticket sales update - just over 5,500 sold in 6,000 capacity venue(16:51) Overall card assessment lacking major hook(26:18) Kenny Omega missing from card(30:26) Tailgate Brawl preview - Eddie Kingston and Hook vs TBA speculation(31:02) FTR vs Jet Speed(34:27) Megan Bayne character development(37:21) Death Riders vs. Conglomeration(38:05) Kyle Fletcher vs Mark Briscoe 5(39:29) Jamie Hayter vs Tekla(42:02) Mercedes Moné Wrestle appearance(46:13) Hurt Syndicate vs The Demand(48:55) Brodido defending tag titles vs Okada & Takeshita(55:17) Jurassic Express vs Young Bucks(59:16) Kenny Omega likely involvement speculation during Young Bucks match(1:01:19) Kris Statlander vs Toni Storm(1:06:01) Hangman Page vs Samoa Joe world title match(1:12:17) Darby Allin vs Jon Moxley I Quit match(1:14:53) Full year Death Riders storyline culmination discussion(1:16:31) Final thoughts on expecting good wrestling but lacking big moments or surprises(1:19:21) Zach's comments and triviaBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/pwtorch-dailycast--3276210/support.

The boys breakdown a fun week in Wrestling with WWE spending it in AUSTRALIA and AEW gearing up for PPV! John Cena and AJ Styles write a love letter to Pro Wrestling and Seth Rollins beats Cody just to be betrayed by his own vision. Over in AEW it is time for Wrestledream with Samoa Joe challenging Hangman Page for the title, Jon Moxley and Darby Allin get ready to murder each other in an I Quit match and we congratulate young Takeshita on winning the glorious IWGP World Heavyweight title.WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT PRO WRESTLING?

Join SP3 and J-News for our NJPW King of Pro Wrestling 2025 Review breaking down the latest New Japan Pro Wrestling event ft. Zack Sabre Jr. vs Konosuke Takeshita for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Leave your thoughts on this event and review in the live chat and comments section. Like, share, superchat and subscribe to support! #njkopw #NJPW #AEW #KonosukeTakeshita #ZackSabreJr #YotaTsuji #GabeKidd #HirookiGoto #KnockoutBrothers #YuyaUemura #Sareee #Syuri #ShotaUmino #EVIL Welcome to the Tru Heel Heat Wrestling YouTube channel where we cover  the sport of professional wrestling including all WWE TV shows (Raw,  Smackdown, & NXT), AEW Dynamite/Dark, IMPACT Wrestling, NJPW, ROH,  Dark Side of the Ring and more. Our weekly podcast hosted by SP3, Top  Guy JJ & Miss Krssi Luv breaking down the weekly wrestling news and  present unfiltered, honest thoughts and opinions for wrestling fans by  wrestling fans, drops every Saturday. We also include PPV reviews,  countdowns, and exclusive interviews with wrestlers from all promotions  hosted by a wide range of personalities such as Romeo, Chris G, Ness,  StatKing, Drunk Guy JJ, J-News and more. Subscribe and enable ALL  notifications to stay posted for the latest wrestling WWE news,  highlights, commentary, updates and more.Become a member of Tru Heels Facebook community: www.facebook.com/groups/1336177103130224/Subscribe to Tru Heel Heat on YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC0AmFQmsRyQYPKyRm5hDwNgFollow Tru Heels on Twitter: twitter.com/truheelheatFollow Tru Heels on Instagram: www.instagram.com/truheelheat/Music composed by JPM

#wwe #aew #wrestling E:202 T:7 Aquí hablamos “Santana brilla en TNA, Takeshita arrasa Japón y Moxley vs. Allin prende WrestleDream" y más…

This week, Steven and Jeremy reviewed King of Pro Wrestling match-by-match, and why Konosuke Takeshita's title win was expected. Plus, the Knockout Brothers continue to shine, why the War Dogs' alliance with Unaffiliated was booked in self-defense, and why Aaron Wolf's first angle was so awkward. Plus, Tsuji's future and Sareee's abrupt title loss. They also previewed Taichi's homecoming and Super Junior Tag League. 

Joel and Damon are back to review King of Pro Wrestling from Ryogoku Kokugikan, as we break down the impact of Takeshita's big win, Aaron Wolf's feud with EVIL, and possible directions for Wrestle Kingdom 20. www.patreon.com/superjcastSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/super-j-cast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Joel and Damon are back to review King of Pro Wrestling from Ryogoku Kokugikan, as we break down the impact of Takeshita's big win, Aaron Wolf's feud with EVIL, and possible directions for Wrestle Kingdom 20. www.patreon.com/superjcastAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This weekend captured the full scope of what wrestling looks like in 2025. WWE delivered layered storytelling and big moments in Perth, TNA tapped into its history and emotion in Lowell, and AEW kept its focus sharp heading into WrestleDream. Each promotion showed what makes it stand out in today's landscape. At Crown Jewel, Seth Rollins outlasted Cody Rhodes in a physical, methodical main event to win the Men's Crown Jewel Championship. The finish saw Rollins use the wristwatch Cody once gave him as a weapon before landing two Curb Stomps to close the show. Just 48 hours later on Raw, everything unraveled. The Vision turned on its leader — Bron Breakker dropped Rollins with a spear, Bronson Reed followed with a Tsunami, and Paul Heyman silently joined their side as Breakker raised the World Heavyweight Title. Rollins' declaration that he didn't need anyone came full circle in a single segment. Bronson Reed's weekend was career-defining. He pinned Roman Reigns in an Australian Street Fight after Jey Uso accidentally speared his cousin through a table. Afterward, Reigns told The Usos he loved them but didn't want to see them until Christmas — a rare glimpse of distance inside The Bloodline. Stephanie Vaquer's victory over Tiffany Stratton gave credibility to WWE's new women's title, Rhea Ripley's homecoming drew an emotional response, and John Cena's match with AJ Styles served as a fitting farewell to his international career. In Lowell, TNA's Bound for Glory focused on closure and renewal. Mike Santana defeated Trick Williams to capture the TNA World Championship in an emotional moment that felt earned. The Hardys and Team 3D shared the ring for what appeared to be their final meeting, giving the crowd one last look at a legendary rivalry. Leon Slater and Je'Von Evans delivered a standout X-Division match that showcased the next generation, even with interference affecting the outcome. AEW stayed consistent in its build to WrestleDream. The St. Louis card is locked in: Hangman Page vs. Samoa Joe for the world title, Jon Moxley vs. Darby Allin in an I Quit Match, Toni Storm vs. Kris Statlander for the women's championship, and Okada teaming with Konosuke Takeshita for tag gold. During an interview with Ariel Helwani, Allin said the locker room feels “as strong as it's ever been,” crediting a more focused and cooperative atmosphere behind the scenes. Meanwhile in Japan, Konosuke Takeshita defeated Zack Sabre Jr. to win the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at King of Pro-Wrestling. The 31-minute match saw Sabre attack Takeshita's neck before the new champion rallied with back-to-back Powerdrive Knees to close out Sabre's 106-day reign. Takeshita becomes the first AEW-contracted wrestler to hold New Japan's top title and will bring the championship into WrestleDream alongside Okada. The weekend showed just how global and interconnected wrestling has become. WWE continues refining its presentation, TNA is rebuilding through passion and legacy, AEW is focused on consistency and collaboration, and NJPW's partnership moments keep expanding what's possible in the modern era.

Topics AEW (1:50) [Title Tuesday results. Okada & Takeshita get title shot at WrestleDream.] TNA & NXT (19:24) [Results from TNA/NXT Showdown. Idea for a potential Bragging Rights between TNA, AAA, & NXT.]  TNA's Bound For Glory Predictions (35:22) WWE Main Roster (42:00) [Seth Rollins having inner doubt. Roman Reigns continues to toy with the Usos. The MFTs return becoming more vicious.] WWE's Crown Jewel Predictions (1:08:44) National Suicide Prevention line: 1-800-273-8255 Twitter: @My2Podcast Instagram: my2centspodcastg2 Business email: my2centspod@yahoo.com

Join SP3 & J-News for our NJPW King of Pro Wrestling 2025 Preview breaking down the latest New Japan major show ft. Zack Sabre Jr. vs Konosuke Takeshita for the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship. Leave your thoughts on this preview and give your predictions on this card in the live chat and comments section. Like, share, superchat and subscribe to support! #njkopw #NJPW #kopw #AEW #KonosukeTakeshita #ZackSabreJr #ZSJ Welcome to the Tru Heel Heat Wrestling YouTube channel where we cover  the sport of professional wrestling including all WWE TV shows (Raw,  Smackdown, & NXT), AEW Dynamite/Dark, IMPACT Wrestling, NJPW, ROH,  Dark Side of the Ring and more. Our weekly podcast hosted by SP3, Top  Guy JJ & Miss Krssi Luv breaking down the weekly wrestling news and  present unfiltered, honest thoughts and opinions for wrestling fans by  wrestling fans, drops every Saturday. We also include PPV reviews,  countdowns, and exclusive interviews with wrestlers from all promotions  hosted by a wide range of personalities such as Romeo, Chris G, Ness,  StatKing, Drunk Guy JJ, J-News and more. Subscribe and enable ALL  notifications to stay posted for the latest wrestling WWE news,  highlights, commentary, updates and more.Become a member of Tru Heels Facebook community: www.facebook.com/groups/1336177103130224/Subscribe to Tru Heel Heat on YouTube: www.youtube.com/channel/UC0AmFQmsRyQYPKyRm5hDwNgFollow Tru Heels on Twitter: twitter.com/truheelheatFollow Tru Heels on Instagram: www.instagram.com/truheelheat/Music composed by JPM

The Dadley Boyz review last night's episode of AEW Dynamite and discuss...Darby Allin goes CRAZY!More matches added to WrestleDream!Okada & Takeshita are #1 contenders!Mercedes Moné vs. Lacey Lane!Who is the better Kyle?!ENJOY!Follow us on Twitter:@AdamWilbourn@MichaelHamflett@MSidgwick@WhatCultureWWEFor more awesome content, check out: whatculture.com/wwe Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

JJ, Jamie and Austin Reddick review and react to AEW's Dynamite from Jacksonville (10-7-25)! They go over all the Title Tuesday action like the Hurt Syndicate and The Demand's street fight, Jurassic Express' first match in 3 years, Kyle vs Kyle 2, Takeshita and Okada inching ever closer to finally colliding and Darby Allin trying to burn down Daily's Place. Also, an update for week 5 of Total Spotfest Fantasy Football, plus So Much More!!!!!! --------------------------------------------------------Intro Music:VOYAGER 1 by John Tasoulas | https://soundcloud.com/john-tasoulas Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported LicenseLicense: Creative Commons Attribution license (reuse allowed)

In this week's episode of All Elite Conversation Club, PWTorch contributors Joel Dehnel and Gregg Kanner cover these topics:(00:00) Introduction and 6-year Dynamite anniversary(03:19) Favorite Dynamite moments(08:04) Hangman Page vs Samoa Joe main event announcement(12:00) WrestleDream injury-forced card reshuffling(14:31) Andrade El Idolo return after WWE disciplinary firing(20:54) Jurassic Express reunion and Young Bucks feud setup(25:00) Mercedes Moné cryptic Florida challenger tease for Title Tuesday(29:43) Toni Storm vs Kris Statlander women's title rematch confirmed(32:19) El Clone debut pretending to be Hologram(37:39) Okada and Takeshita tag team tease(44:49) Kyle Fletcher vs Orange Cassidy excellent match(46:38) Women's Tag Team Championship tournament bracket potential idea(50:16) Darby Allin insane chair crash(53:23) Blood and Guts women's match announcement for November Greensboro show(56:00) Collision in Lakeland, FL card and Title Tuesday Mercedes open challenge(58:30) Zach's comments(1:00:51) Who Am I trivia gameBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/pwtorch-dailycast--3276210/support.

Hoo boy, it's our post-PPV episode and it's STUFFED. To be perfectly frank, it'd be faster to tell you what we didn't talk about, which is: the Hurt Syndicate. We didn't talk about them at all. But everything else on All Out, from Kyle Entertainment Fletcher to Max Entertainment Caster? We got into it! We didn't have the best time watching the PPV, though that was on us as much as on the matches, but we're thrilled with all our 2019 and 2020 originals either coming back or getting titles and extra double thrilled that Mox and Darby brought each other to completion so many times they have to do it again at the next one. Strap in, it's a long one!(00:00) Chitchat Time(5:48) All Out overview(11:02) Hangman vs. Kyle Fletcher (21:47) Takeshita, Okada, Mascara Dorada(28:12) Eddie Kingston, Big Bill, Hook(38:31) Tag Teams and Jungle Boy(49:24) MJF(1:01:47) Orange Cassidy, the Conglomeration, the DCF(1:15:40) Mercedes and Riho(1:25:22) Cope, Christian, FTR(1:39:13) Kris Statlander, Death Riders and Darby(2:00:02) The AcclaimedSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/social-suplex-podcast-network/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

All Out 2025 brought shocking debuts, surprise returns, and nonstop chaos to Toronto, and we are breaking it all down. From Beth Copeland's debut alongside Christian and Adam Copeland to Eddie Kingston's emotional return after 16 months, this card was stacked with unforgettable moments. In this review we talk about the tailgate brawl that felt like Sunday Night Heat, Garcia showing off a ruthless new side, and Orange Cassidy being announced for Pittsburgh this week. We dive into Statlander finally winning her first AEW Women's Title, the bloody war of MJF vs Mark, and Okada retaining in a triple threat classic that left us wanting Okada vs Takeshita one on one. We also cover Darby vs Mox and the wild return of PAC, Brodido pulling off one of the most insane ladder matches in AEW history, and Jurassic Express reuniting with Jack Perry and Luchasaurus. Plus the main event where Hangman and Kyle Fletcher tore the house down and proved Fletcher is the future. Join us as we give our thoughts on what delivered, what shocked us, and what this all means for AEW moving forward.For a full episode archive (AD FREE) and exclusive content visit CWKPOD.COMMake sure and follow the show and leave us a 5 Star Frog Splash of a review!Be sure to Follow us on all of our socials @CruisingwithKayfabe on Facebook and Instagram, @ItsMongo and @CruisingWithKayfabe_Emily on TikTok. Visit Dubby Energy at https://www.dubby.gg/discount/Mongo?ref=TokPgWhTYa3YrX and use promo code "MONGO" to save 10% on all orders all the time!Special Thanks to friends of the show the Undone for letting us use their song Miss Fortune! Now available to stream or purchase on Apple, Amazon Music & Spotify.  For more information visit https://wearetheundone.com/ and make sure to give them a follow!

PWTorch's Brian Zilem and Sean Radican discuss the AEW All Out PPV. "Hangman" Adam Page retains against Kyle Fletcher for the AEW World Title, Kris Statlander becomes new Women's Champion in the four-way clash with Toni Storm, Hayter, and Thekla, Okada retains Unified Title over Takeshita & Máscara Dorada, Brodido holds on to Tag Team gold in a wild ladder match vs. Young Bucks, JetSpeed, and others, Jon Moxley beats Darby Allin in a Coffin match, Mark Briscoe defeats MJF in a brutal Tables 'n' Thumbtacks match, Adam Copeland & Christian Cage take down FTR, plus surprise returns from Pac, Jack Perry, and Eddie Kingston, and the debut of Beth Copeland.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/pwtorch-dailycast--3276210/support.

In this week's episode of All Elite Conversation Club, PWTorch contributors Joel Dehnel and Gregg Kanner cover these topics:(00:00) Introduction(00:54) Gregg's weekend plans(02:16) HBO Max streaming test run vs traditional pay-per-view ordering debate(03:28) WWE Wrestlepalooza counter-programming discussion and viewing strategy(04:30) Initial All Out card reactions(10:19) Tailgate Brawl pre-show breakdown with 8-woman tornado match featuring Harley Cameron, Mina Shirakawa and others(17:50) Daniel Garcia vs Katsuyori Shibata(20:30) Samoa Joe and Powerhouse Hobbs vs Workhorsemen(25:09) Christian/Copeland vs FTR(29:17) Hurt Syndicate vs Ricochet and Gates of Agony(33:59) Mercedes Moné vs Riho TBS Championship(38:34) Darby Allin vs Jon Moxley coffin match(43:10) Eddie Kingston injury return(48:17) Four-way ladder match for AEW World Tag Team Championships(52:27) AEW Unified Championship three-way with Okada, Takeshita and Mascara Dorada(56:06) Mark Briscoe vs MJF tables and tacks match as potential MJF sendoff(59:48) Women's World Championship 4-way(1:02:30) Hangman Page vs Kyle Fletcher main event with Don Callis family interference stipulation(1:05:49) Post-All Out direction speculation - Kenny Omega return potential and WrestleDream booking(1:12:02) Zach's thoughts on AEW Allout and odd man out triviaBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/pwtorch-dailycast--3276210/support.

Today's free Dailycast is a double-header. First up is the All Elite Conversation Club, with PWTorch contributors Joel Dehnel and Gregg Kanner covering these topics:(00:00) Mike Tyson vs Floyd Mayweather exhibition fight announced for spring 2026(05:10) AEW pay-per-views finally arrive on HBO Max for $39.99 with technical debut concerns(11:31) All Out moved to 3pm Eastern to avoid WWE Wrestlepalooza head-to-head collision(17:55) Weak All Out card shaping up with no clear main event(20:09) Kenny Omega disputes "time off" reports(25:38) Babyface roster crisis with Ospreay, Swerve, and potentially Omega unavailable(31:36) Gabe Kidd vs Darby Allin setup could bring back Eddie Kingston storyline(34:47) Record-low AEW Dynamite ratings hit 472,000 viewers in regular time slot(38:05) 2300 Arena residency fatigue shows in crowd energy and viewership decline(41:10) Gabe Kidd establishment and Hook's terrible jazz music(46:13) Brody King and Bandido partnership continues to impress Philadelphia crowds(48:56) Women's division booking struggles with rushed Riho return for Mercedes match(53:35) Collision preview features Moxley vs Garcia and Briscoe vs Takeshita(57:49) Zach's email suggests women's Blood and Guts match as All Out main event and football wrestling triviaNext is Acknowledging WWE, with Javier Machado and Mike Meyers acknowledging the following:It's obvious that AJ Lee is coming back, right?Clash in Paris review – PLE or glorified Raw/SD episode?Seth vs. Jey vs. Knight vs. Punk vs. the anticipation of interferenceGreat time to bring back the mixed match challengeLA Knight and how he's made the most with his opportunityRoman Reigns vs. Bronson Reed – exactly what the match needed to beVidya games!Wyatts vs. Profits – Are the Profits heading to splitsville?Nikki vs. BeckySheamus vs. Rusev and how the WWE is still after “moments”Cena vs. Logan Paul and how Logan continues to impressWill Sami forgoing the “big” titles for the US Championship hurt him?The Iyo, Rhea, Asuka love triangle…and moreBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/pwtorch-dailycast--3276210/support.

Support our sponsors this week by using the links below for the exclusive Solomonster offers!GREEN CHEF ▶ Get 50 PERCENT off your first month with the number one meal kit for clean eating at http://www.greenchef.com/50SOLOMONSTER and start eating well!Solomonster reviews the post Forbidden Door episode of AEW Dynamite from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia with a big tag team match already made official for All Out and storyline directions teased for Hangman Adam Page, MJF, The Hurt Syndicate and MORE teases of dissention between Okada and Takeshita.  Wardlow has already been reduced to background noise with the Callis Family and Mercedes NINE BELTS could be anyl ess interesting than she is right now, so it was a mixed bag to be sure.***Follow Solomonster on X (formerly Twitter) for news and opinion:http://x.com/solomonsterSubscribe to the Solomonster Sounds Off on YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/user/TheSolomonster?sub_confirmation=1Become a Solomonster Sounds Off Channel Member:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC9jcg7mk93fGNqWPMfl_Aig/join