It's finale time once again at TIA so of course that means Joaquin, Frank and Chuck are joined by Producer Tom to decompress before the off-season. Listen in as your wrestleboys break a couple STAR rating ties, discuss whether technicality scoring needs to be adjusted for inflation, and give their final thoughts on what they've learned this season.
Meltzer: The numbers all go to six. Look, right across the board, six, six, six and...
Twitter: Oh, I see. And most scores go up to five?
Meltzer: Exactly.
Twitter: Does that mean it's better? Is it any better?
Meltzer: Well, it's one better, isn't it? It's not five. You see, most blokes, you know, will be wrestling at five. You're on five here, all the way up, all the way up, all the way up, you're on five on your stars. Where can you go from there? Where?
Twitter: I don't know.
Meltzer: Nowhere. Exactly. What we do is, if we need that extra push over the cliff, you know what we do?
Twitter: Put it up to six.
Meltzer: Six. Exactly. One better.
Twitter: Why don't you just make five better and make five be the top number and make that a little better?
Meltzer: [pause] These go to six.
Joining your boys this week is TIA's first returning guest Ana Espinoza! (@Espinoza_Ana)
Also, for an extra deep dive on this match, check out episode 9.5 that posted last week. It's a time capsule of Joaquin, Frank and Chuck's in-the-moment thoughts on the match days after it happened - what effects has time had on their meticulous scientifically based opinions.
Remember to send in your match suggestions for season 4! @TIAPOD on twitter, thisisawesomepod@gmail.com or leave a short voice-mail via the hotline phone number found on our home page thisisawesomepod.com
[Kazuchika Okada vs Kenny Omega - January 4 2017 - NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 11]
Next week's final match for season 3 is Kenny Omega vs Kazuchika Okada from Wrestle Kingdom 11 - the match that melted the internet for a few days in early 2017 when Dave Meltzer gave out his very first 6 star rating and people were discussing whether or not it was the greatest match of all time.
Back in January of 2017 - shortly after the match took place - Joaquin, Frank and Chuck sat down to record their fresh thoughts and feelings on the match as an experiment to see how much, if at all, their opinions would change when they finally got around to reviewing it for an episode. Consider this podcast supplemental material to next week's final match when the guys re-visit Omega/Okada I and answer the questions that they posed to themselves in this time capsule recording.
On this week's episode Joaquin, Frank and Chuck are excited to finally explore the wonderful world of Joshi with an absolutely wild inter-promotional brawl. It's AJW's "Dangerous Queen" Akira Hokuto taking on LLPW's Shinobu Kandori.
A bit of a content warning for this week's pod: if you're not a fan of blood then this might not be the match for you. But if you've got the stomach for it then watch a match that garnered 5 stars from Dave Meltzer and is widely considered one of the greatest women's wrestling matches of all time.
And of course joining your boys this week to break down this Joshi classic is Sam Krumrine! (@samkrumrine)
[Akira Hokuto vs Shinobu Kandori, All Japan Women's Pro-Wrestling, April 2nd 1993]