Wrestling Omakase #296: NJPW BOSJ Nights 1-3 (5/14, 5/16 & 5/17), AJPW Champion Carnival Finals (5/17), STARDOM 5/17 & Marigold 5/16 Korakuens w/ Velkej

John is back alongside returning guest Velkej Bracha as they open things up with the start of NJPW's annual Best of the Super Juniors tournament! They discuss all the tournament action from nights 1 through 3 all around Tokyo, breaking down which performances have been entertaining and which ones have been grating so far (and there's been plenty of both!). Then they head back to AJPW to wrap up their surprisingly good 2026 Champion Carnival, in front of one of their biggest crowds in years at Ota, before looking ahead to some big upcoming shows next month.Next up it's back to the World Wonder Ring, as John & Velkej discuss another solid Korakuen Hall show from STARDOM, celebrate the long-awaited return of the Artist six-woman belts (and talk a little about why they've been so important to the promotion historically), and then preview this coming weekend's Queen's Dynasty PPV from Aichi. Finally, they wrap up the episode with a review of Marigold's most recent Korakuen, including some surprisingly frank English commentary on everything surrounding Utami Hayashishita's departure, the promotion's current struggles but also the young talent we think can help them turn things around in the future. There's also a few very brief notes on NOAH's latest Korakuen, which we meant to review more in full but ran out of time this week.Follow Velkej on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Velkej_BrachaFollow 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