Foreign Aces

Our own Paul Crockett chats with Beyond Wrestling owner/promoter/booker Drew Cordiero about his new weekly Uncharted Territory series that starts this Wednesday April 3rd at 8 PM on IWTV and FITE TV. Drew discusses how the idea came about to go weekly and the pros and cons of doing it. He also discusses plans for the future and where he currently sees the landscape of independent wrestling amongst many other subjects. Plus, we find out what Drew really thinks of Paul as an employee!

Yes, we will talk about the New Japan Cup, but it takes a few detours to get there. After we get through that, we hand our awards for MVP, best match, and most underrated match/competitor. Lots of Ishii love and appreciation for Colt Cabana. This morphs into a conversation about how the G1 Supercard was formed, including some questions from you!

We're approaching the final four of the New Japan Cup, so we have updates and thoughts of the matches we've liked, disliked, and those who have stood out. Colt Cabana's Cinderella story is one bracket buster, but defending champion Zack Sabre Jr.'s win over Ibushi was a huge killer of brackets. The SANADA bandwagon continues to build up steam after arguably the match of the tournament (and year?) against Minoru Suzuki. Ring of Honor held their 17th Anniversary Show last week and they went broadway at the very worst time. The company continues to do no favors for their top singles talent, which is leading to a lackluster MSG card (on the ROH side). OTT presented ScrapperMania, so we review the show including a tremendous main event with WALTER and Jordan Devlin. Oh, and why is the show called New Japan Squares? Tune in!

This show includes our interview with the man in charge of @OTT_Wrestling, Joe Cabray (@Luther__Ward). Learn about the good (and challenging) of the rise of OTT, including investing in certain wrestlers and working with those who wrestle in multiple companies. He helps preview ScrapperMania 5: Ireland vs The World, which features WALTER vs Jordan Devlin, Meiko Satomura vs Session Moth Martina, and Jushin Thunder Liger vs Scotty Davis at the top of the card. We're five days into the New Japan Cup, so it's time to take a look at the standings. A familiar face leads the way thanks to...Colt Cabana and Toru Yano? Is Juice Robinson stuck in quicksand and is he the victim of bad timing much like Dalton Castle's ROH run. The guys run down a strong first round, which includes standout performances from guys we don't see get singles opportunities very often. Does Shota Umino even need to go on excursion? After a look ahead to the second round, possibilities for the rest of the tournament are covered. We steer away fro

New Japan had their Anniversary show and the best performer may have been Jushin Thunder Liger. Little did we know by the end of the show, major news would come down about Liger. The ups and downs of Ishimori are discussed, including comparisons to Jay White. Fallout from the rest of the show is intertwined with full NJ Cup predictions from Crockett, The Choice, and Camp. One match could be the key to the whole tournament, which seems to have a lot of real possibilities. In addition, the show touches on the passing of King Kong Bundy, sponsoring Kojima, disappointment in AJPW's Champion Carnival, and the new (bad) look for NOAH. Check out the episode and make sure to fill out your NJ CUP bracket for our contest. Download here: tinyurl/fanjcup and send to foreignacespod@gmail.com by end of day 3/7!

Everyone is back together to talk about the New Japan Cup. Get all the details on the Foreign Aces New Japan Cup Bracket Contest including how you can enter, rules, and the prizes we'll be distribution. See @ForeignAces on Twitter for your bracket. Before you fill it out, hear the guys talk about Dave Finlay's injury and do a preview of each first round matchup. They also look back on Honor Rising, which featured title changes, storyline developments, and a potential BOSJ contender who shined in his New Japan debut. There's plenty of love for OTT and their 5th Anniversary show in addition to some excitement for Scrappermania. Did you Minoru Suzuki and Rene Dupree are friends? It's a huge revelation to open the show.

The Choice continues to look for his Jim Crockett Cup partner, so it's Paul Crockett and Matt Camp talking the Giant Baba Memorial Show, which featured quite a mix of New Japan, AJPW, Big Japan, and other wrestlers from every big company in Japan. Somehow that transitions into Undertaker's match with Hakushi into Taker appearing at Starrcast into ways NJPW stars can appear on local NY radio to promote the MSG including Tanahashi joining the Howard Stern show and riding the...machine in the studio. Iizuka had his retirement show and it was...something. The Iron Fingers went to the wrong person. It's another quick preview of Honor Rising and ways potential G1 Supercard matches could develop. Plus, The Institute is no more! Ibushi comments on that and his decision to sign with NJPW and not AEW. This is some kind of show.

The guys are all back together for a jam-packed show. Obviously, there's plenty of discussion about Jay White's IWGP Title victory over Tanahashi. Was it a total surprise? A look back over the last year shows how NJPW built The Switchblade and why they were able to pivot to him from original plans that featured Okada/Omega at MSG. So who will face White at MSG? The NJ Cup is discussed, including Ibushi's increased chances of winning/main event push now that he's officially under contract with New Japan. There's also a review of everything that went down on all The New Beginning cards and a look ahead to notable future matches, included an extensive look at weird, but fun Honor Rising cards. There's some AEW talk after a sellout of Double or Nothing and Val Venis' AJPW run?!

In honor of his IWGP Heavyweight Championship victory over Tanahashi, check out this interview Paul Crockett conducted in May of 2018 during the Global Wars tour in Lowell, MA. This is just five months into the Switchblade character, so you can see how it started and how far White has come in the last year.

With The Choice scouting for NXT Japan, Crockett and Camp take you through all the New Beginning happenings in both America and Japan. Camp provides his thoughts on Kushida's farewell, NXT TakeOver, and the Royal Rumble. That leads into a discussion of how characters are coming back around with so much good wrestling available everywhere. Where should NJPW go with the NJ Cup? Timing would line up with making the winner the top contender for The Garden. AEW just announced new talent and agreements, so what does that mean for potential working relationships? Finally, we get MULTIPLE Kojima Twitter updates and an offer from Camp.

KUSHIDA is gone from NJPW and we have all the details of his last match against Tanahashi. The New Beginning kicked off in the USA, and we discuss the upcoming show in Japan. Plus, news on NOAH's new owners, KENTA returning to Japan, Takeover, the Royal Rumble and where will Dean Ambrose go?

Don't worry about your visa because you won't need it for this show. We address the NJPW US cards. Are they underwhelming? Are you disappointed in what happened? The guys examine what happened with the visa issues for the Japanese talent and if the company is to blame and/or the government shutdown deserves the majority of the blame. Is this more about the company having little direction in the United States? KUSHIDA's farewell match with Tanahashi is coming at a Road to New Beginning show. Guess who isn't excited? We check in on Kojima's Twitter account and create his own version of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives with...Otis Dozovic?! Finally, the guys present their dream final four for this weekend's Royal Rumble.

In a mostly quiet week for NJPW (other than FantasticaMania!), the guys open the show with a look at the NXT Takeover Liverpool show including differing thoughts on Balor/Devlin, plenty of praise for the tag match, future expectations for RIpley/Storm, and a very long main even that was saved by a large German man making his fantastic debut. Camp reacts to more news about KUSHIDA including his likely next stop and what KUSHIDA pitched for himself in NJPW. ROH is throwing some serious money around and their latest signing is RUSH, so what's next for exclusive deals? LIFEBLOOD is a thing and so is ROH Tag Wars. That's something, but we take it a step further and book the Paul Crockett Cup.

The guys are back together to give their thoughts on the AEW rally. They go over the announced roster, how everything was presented, and who else they'd like to see get added to the company. Plus, they address the TV rumors and how that could affect money offered and who that could attract. New Year's Dash didn't have any big surprises, yet some title matches are set up, including TAICHI challenging for the IC Title. This leads to the guys talking about KUSHIDA's exit from NJPW and how baffling it is that his going-away match is vs Tanahashi. Also, find out how SANADA leads us to Gwen Stefani. Wait, what?

The guys are back together for an immediate reaction to Wrestle Kingdom 13. They discuss the speed of the show, how it affected the early matches, and why the results still made sense. The show clearly picked up over the last three matches, including the appearances of Jay White and Okada. Jericho/Naito was another example of a proper blow-off, but was it better than expected? The main event's result was in question, yet a return to glory seemed to make sense. Who is the next challenger and what will we learn at New Year's Dash?

With The Choice preparing for his Tokyo Dome debut, Camp and Crockett take you through the Wrestle Kingdom 13 card including a debate on Ospreay/Ibushi opening the show. They also discuss the buzz on the show and how it will be received to both hardcore and casual fans. The guys talk about the passing of Mean Gene with some examples of how great he was and some fun promos featuring Meng and...Natural Born Thrillaz?! Of course, we get a lot more on All Elite Wrestling and what could be coming in the next week and in the future.

The Choice is preparing for his role as the CHAOS mole, so Camp and Crockett take you through the year-end awards including best match (NJPW and non-NJPW), wrestler of the year, tag team of the year, show of the year, most underappreciated star, breakout star, and moment of the year. They also talk about the creative process in NJPW vs WWE vs NXT and how organic means everything. Plus, Tanahashi's thoughts on how his alliance with Okada was handled, THE FUCKING BOMB is a champion, and much more. We'll be back next week a day earlier for our WrestleKingdom show and very likely lots of big, ELITE news to discuss,.

The boys are back to discuss their live take on ROH Final Battle, the Golden Lovers vs Tanahashi & Ospreay match which included THE MOMENT! Plus, the teams in the NEVER Gauntlet, where do Chase Owens & Yujiro Takahashi go next, and which WCW superstar does Brandi Rhodes most reflect? All that and more on this edition!

We have World Tag League Champs....and it doesn't matter. Lots of fallout both expected and unexpected from the World Tag League finals show, including Makabe and Yano back together. Will Ospreay took another step towards the heavyweight division by having a great match with...Taichi? It wasn't a memorable match, but we have takeaways from the eight-man tag featuring the Young Bucks, Marty Scurll, and Kenny Omega. If you were looking for the teams for the NEVER OPENWEIGHT SIX-MAN TAG TEAM TITLES #1 CONTENDERSHIP GAUNTLET WORLD WAR 6 INTERGENDER CHALLENGE, we have you covered. It's a program!

The guys talk about the life of Dynamite Kid (the good and the bad), which quickly morphs into a discussion of who best represents current tag team wrestling. That leads to the obligatory World Tag League update including predictions both real and fantastical. We appear to be on a (literal) crash course to Ibushi vs Ospreay at the Dome, but what if Ospreay isn't ready? What if Ibushi needs someone to fight the evil out of him? Suzuki-Gun. ICHIBAN. After we hinted about it months ago, there appears to be legs to the KUSHIDA to WWE rumors, so the guys try to book NXT Japan. This show is a bit off the rails, so hopefully you enjoy it.