OddCast

Korakuen Hall – December 7, 2025 Anniversary shows in professional wrestling are usually exercises in self-congratulation. Old photos on the screen, ceremonial main events, polite applause for the passage of time. Kaito Kiyomiya’s 10th Anniversary Produced Event, Mad Decade , was not that. Instead, it functioned as something far more ambitious—and far more dangerous: a living résumé, publicly audited, in the most unforgiving building in Japanese wrestling. Korakuen Hall has n

These are all my personal picks, so if you agree or disagree that is totally fine and I respect that. Brock Lesnar: When the Final Boss Stops Feeling Final For nearly two decades, Brock Lesnar  has been WWE’s nuclear option. When things felt stale, when ratings dipped, when they needed instant legitimacy, Brock Lesnar showed up—suplexes flying, champions falling, aura intact. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: that aura is gone. And it’s not just about age, repetition, or ov

It’s 1977 in Memphis, Tennessee — the BBQ is smoky, the river’s muddy, and the polyester is loud . Elvis Presley is just months away from leaving the building for good, but another kind of King is about to rise in the city that gave us rock ’n’ roll. From the Bluff City to Body Slams: How It All Began Enter Jerry Jarrett , a sharp-minded promoter and former wrestler with a knack for storytelling, and Jerry “The King” Lawler , a cocky, charismatic grappler who could draw heat

ACT 1: “IN THE BEGINNING, THERE WAS LASER LIGHTS AND CONFUSION” The date was January 1, 2004  — the kind of morning when half of Japan was nursing sake hangovers and the other half was watching TV marathons in kotatsu comfort. Somewhere in Tokyo, however, a former shoot-style purist named Nobuhiko Takada  was unveiling his newest creation — a professional wrestling promotion that would make the word “absurd”  blush. It was called HUSTLE , and it promised to deliver what Takad

1. Where It All Began — “From Pubs to Primetime” If you tuned into ITV on a Saturday afternoon in the mid-1960s, you might have caught the tail end of a darts match, a brief chat about greyhound racing, and then—bang—two blokes in spandex were throwing each other across a ring while grandmas in hats screamed for blood. Welcome to World of Sport  wrestling: Britain’s most unexpectedly beloved cultural hybrid of sports, theatre, and pantomime. Before the Bell: Wrestling’s Pre-T

Buckle up, wrestling nerds: this is your deep dive — with a sprinkle of humor — into the roller-coaster life of World Wrestling All‑Stars (WWA). The good, the bad, the guitars, the Bananas in Pajamas, the losing streaks, and the legacy. Grab your popcorn. Chapter 1. “Down Under, Gimmicks & Grand Ambitions” The Wild Birth of the World Wrestling All-Stars (WWA) Let’s rewind to the year 2001  — a time when wrestling fans everywhere were still recovering from what can only be des

There are ambitious wrestling promotions — and then there was 5★ Wrestling , the Scottish-born brainchild that tried to leapfrog the indies, conquer television, and tie it all together with a PlayStation video game. It had AJ Styles, John Morrison, Rey Mysterio, and even a (very theoretical) million-dollar offer to CM Punk. It had a 128-man tournament “bigger than the G1.” It also had… cancellations, empty arenas, broken promises, and one of the most gloriously weird wrestlin

Prologue: Before the Gold — TNA’s Turbulent Genesis In the summer of 2002, while the wrestling world was still mourning the collapse of WCW and ECW, two men — Jeff Jarrett  and his father Jerry Jarrett  — looked around and said, “Hey, someone’s got to give the boys another place to work… and give me another title belt to hold.” Thus, Total Nonstop Action Wrestling  (TNA) was born. It was a mix of wild creativity, southern wrestling grit, and occasional chaos — like an indie r

In the autumn of 2014, television and professional-wrestling collided in a flash of neon, blood, mysticism and spectacle. What emerged was not merely a wrestling promotion, but a cinematic world: the “Temple” of Lucha Underground. A unique hybrid of Mexican lucha libre tradition and Hollywood production values, Lucha Underground rewrote the rulebook of pro-wrestling presentation in the United States. Over four seasons, it unleashed masked heroes and mythic monsters, storyline

After the Monday Night War imploded in 2001 the wrestling business looked like an emptied stadium — one dominant company, lots of displaced talent, and several entrepreneurs sniffing opportunity. The X Wrestling Federation (XWF, later styled Xcitement Wrestling Federation) was one of the most visible of those attempts: well-funded on paper, star-studded on the roster sheets, and paradoxically ephemeral in practice. Below is a deeper chronological and analytic account of how i

“We are PROGRESS — and this is our religion.”— Jim Smallman, Chapter One (2012) In the beginning, there was no titan of television, no corporate titan promising global eyes — only a cramped room above a pub, a homemade ring, and a feverish belief that British wrestling could be something more . In March 2012, in London’s Islington Garage, a handful of dreamers rewrote the book — or rather, began a new one. They didn’t call their events “shows.” They called them Chapters , as

A love letter to a promotion that started with memes and ended up changing the indie game. 1. From Podcast Mics to Powerbombs How three wrestling nerds turned inside jokes into body slams To understand Deadlock Pro Wrestling , you have to start where all great internet movements begin: a Discord call full of laughter, caffeine, and questionable ideas. It all started with three friends — James Darnell (Pulse) , Anthony Douglas (TonyPizzaGuy) , and John Blud  — whose love for w

The big mood: “End of an Age” prestige TV Wrestle Kingdom 20 is built around two core ideas: The Ace says goodbye. The next centerpiece arrives holding two  belts and a mission statement. It’s not subtle. The show is structured so the Dome audience gets: warm-up, chaos, a serious women’s title feature, faction warfare, a crisp junior contender sprint, a “sports crossover” debut, a modern-epic double-title match… and then Okada vs. Tanahashi  as the closing chapter. Also, as a

I want to be clear up front: this review comes from a place of respect and long-term affection for TNA Wrestling . TNA has survived more resets, rebrands, and near-death experiences than almost any modern wrestling company. The move to AMC   matters . It is real opportunity, real visibility, and real stakes. That’s why this debut episode was so disappointing. Not because it was “bad” in the catastrophic sense—but because it didn’t understand what a debut should prioritize , a

Prologue: Before the Pyro — The State of Wrestling in 1995 Professional wrestling in 1995 stood at an uneasy crossroads. The World Wrestling Federation (WWF) was still the household name, but its product had softened — a swirl of cartoonish gimmicks, family-friendly lighting, and declining ratings. Meanwhile, in Atlanta, Georgia, Ted Turner’s cable empire quietly kept alive a rival: World Championship Wrestling (WCW) . WCW’s roots stretched back to the Jim Crockett Promotions

Few championships in modern wrestling capture the imagination quite like the NXT Championship . Born in 2012 during a time when WWE was quietly incubating a creative revolution, the title became the heartbeat of a brand that was part developmental system, part super-indie, part counter-culture movement. If Raw and SmackDown were blockbuster movies, NXT was the cult-favorite series with a fiercely devoted fanbase , the kind that spoke in message boards, trended hashtags, and p

Introduction — When the Bell Rang and the Dream Faded In the early 2000s, New Japan Pro Wrestling (NJPW) stood at a crossroads between glory and collapse. It was an era when professional wrestling’s grandest ideals clashed with the rising obsession for “legitimacy.”At the center of it all was Antonio Inoki , the godfather of Japanese pro wrestling — a visionary, a showman, and a man consumed by the belief that pro wrestling must be real fighting . What emerged was a philosoph

Introduction In the landscape of Japanese professional wrestling, NOAH stands out not just as a promotion but as a living myth. Its very name evokes the Biblical story of the flood and the ark: survivors rebuilding after catastrophe. From its genesis in the dramatic roster exodus of the year 2000, through glory, tragedy, scandal and reinvention, NOAH has consistently symbolised both endurance and transformation. Section I – Underlying Structures: Weight-Classes & Styles Weigh

NXT is the developmental brand of WWE, where the future of WWE hones their craft and turn into polished, bonafide superstars. Or at least...

It's been quite a while since I last did a pro wrestling review, but with a jam packed weekend I thought I would try to get back into it....