HARD HIT Ryo Kawamuras Retirement ~ Complete Disposal 11/29/2025

 Kenta Hattori vs Ryutaro Watanabe
 

Pretty much what could be considered a light sparring session. Both these guys certainly looked like they could grapple, but there weren't a ton of highlights to what they were doing or anything. Hattori had this really cool sleeper hold into a Russian Leg Sweep. I thought that was cool. Solidly executed but forgettable stuff otherwise.

Yukito vs Takuma Uchiyama

Serious shootstyle, where they didn't hold back when it came to kicking and slapping each other hard. The grappling is decent and I liked the increase of aggression whenever either guy dropped a point. Nothing super great or anything but it's decent shootstyle wrestling. Uchiyama, I think is an MMA guy and based and this he would make good if he just continued to do shootstyle. I continue to enjoy Yukito, he does well for a 50 year old guy and I hope to see him more outside HEAT-UP.

Takahiro Tababa vs Koki Fujimoto

Kobe Merikens shooter boy Fujimoto shows up in his karate gi. This was a bit conservative when they were grappling as basically Tababa used Fujimotos gi to his advantage and Fujimoto couldn't do much, but it was really fun whenever they started beating the shit out of each other. We all know Tababa is a pitbull, but Fujimoto was standing up to him. Even knocking him down twice in succession, and on the 3rd the bell actually rang but referee Nikkan Lee had the decision reversed. Maybe Tababa was KOd legit as he seemed to struggle to get his senses, but then he threw Fujimoto with an incredible hard German Suplex and finished him with a nasty gi choke. I'm really gonna need a rematch between them in Kobe Merikena after Koki was robbed like this, regardless I am really happy to see guys like Fujimoto emerging in the Japan indy scene and branching out.

Hideki Sekine vs KURO-OBI

Pretty much a grappling match, and it was some nice slick grappling. KURO-OBI clearly has some BJJ skill as he transitions really nice and smooth from all kinds of esoteric leglocks and positions. Hideki Sekine is a real monster of a man. In the times of Giant Baba and Strong Kobayashi he probably would have been considered exceptionally handsome and he'd rock an afro or something and have epic battles with those guys and the tabloids would write about his affairs but the times have changed and now they call him Shrek. His grappling felt a bit like he was being overly nice, like if he really tried he could rip any mortal man in half but he was playing nice. But the one time he went for that old school wrestling leg split that harkened back to Giant Baba and it's the one thing in the match that really made the crowd wake up. Really good grappling otherwise and there was a cool finish, but I kinda wanted to see Sekine fight Gilbet Leduc and work a match around a bearhug or a canadian backbreaker or something like that. Talk about being out of time.

Takuya Wada vs Tyson Maeguchi

Two not very exciting wrestlers in a mediocre match. They tried to do the routine with Maeguchi being the dangerous striker, but he really doesn't hit any impressive strikes. Wada just kind of keeps him at bay with some forgettable grappling for the most part. And worst of all they just kind of went to a 10 minute draw without either guy really pressing for a win at point. Yeah, you don't need to know more about this than the first sentence I wrote.

Minoru Suzuki & Takafumi Ito vs Yoshiki Takahashi & Mitsuhisa Sunabe

Takahashi comes out rocking the Yasushi Sato tough old man with greying hair, wrestling shoes and baggy trunks look, AND a badass Pirata Morgan eyepatch on top of all that. So that alone makes this worth checking out. Takahashi had some slick takedowns here, I would've liked to see him more in the match. Ito and Sunabe did some really slick grappling that was great to watch and easily the best shootstyle grappling I've seen in a while. I'm puzzled by the career trajectory of Mitsuhisa Sunabe, who has been around a long time and popping up once or twice on OZ Academy cards. What's up with this connection to Oz Academy of all places? Regardless, Suzuki just has to shoehorn in a bunch of comedy stuff. The finishing sequence between him and Sunabe was cool, but otherwise, Suzuki was really bleh here. It's an old man grappling match, wtf are you doing shoehorning your old comedy spots in? You really need to settle down sometimes, Minoru Suzuki.

Ryo Kawamura vs Hikaru Sato

The final match of Ryo Kawamuras career, and a somewhat bittersweet reminder that this man could've been a lot more as a wrestler. After a somewhat tentative beginning where Kawamura easily lost a point, this turns into a pretty great shootstyle encounter. Both guys really palm striked the hell out of each other, and there were some choice submission counters. More importantly the story of the match was Kawamuras absolute determination to edge out one last triumph and really popping Sato with his shots. Great, super intense stuff, really some of the best work of the year here even when it feels like a short match, both guys displayed a ton of passion here and it was just really enthralling. 

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2025 Matchguide Week 50

 
Kotaro Nasu vs Yukito, Heat-Up 5/25

A very good little quasi-shootstyle match. Reminded me a lot of a Fu-Ten undercard match which is a very good thing in 2025. Yukito continues to be decent while Nasu continues to elevate things by being really vicious. He had some of the most vicious kicks and open hands I've seen all year in this. Him looking in a cool calf slicer and then going in further on Yukitos leg with brutal low kicks was quite good, poignant shootstyle action. There was also a nice punishing aspect since Nasu is the veteran so he is obligated to try and kick right though Yukito. It's really really fun and if it hadn't been for the somewhat awkward insertion of a few irish whip moves it would've been one of my favourite singles matches of the year. My man Nasu deserves more recognition (and more bookings so I can watch him more, dammit).

Sareee vs Chihiro Hashimoto, Sendai Girls 11/16

A no-brainer great match up that delivers pretty much what you expect. Still, I was pleasantly surprised by the opening half of this which was really good, smart pro wrestling. We get some cool matwork where Hashimoto shows off her Alexander Otsuka-ish cartwheels and granby rolls and what not, dominating Sareee in cool ways, then cutting her of with those massive body checks. It was great stuff. Sareee was fighting against a wall here, and she had to figure out how to get by and start bombing her with her signature crowbar dropkicks and stomps. Sareee then trying to break Hashimoto leg with nasty twisting legbars and diving stomps was quite great. Of course, that legwork was pretty much forgotten as soon as Hashimoto got back on offense. They have their obligatory 'we both no sell a suplex' moment and the match is a lot less interesting suddenly. Some Takaiwa-ish crowbar strikes, headbutts, bombs and lariats happen to get me back into the match. After some more trite no-selling we get at least a graceful finish. I really wonder if it's possible for a Japanese big match to exist these days without a bunch of suplex no-selling. Even the crowd seems bored of that stuff at this point. It's a slight let down because there was a bunch of objectively really great work here.


Shinya Aoki vs T-Hawk, GLEAT 10/9

As usual, Aoki provides plenty of entertainment toying with his opponent on the mat and trying to force his shoulders down for the pin in painful looking ways. T-Hawk knocking him off the top rope and then proceeding to bitch slap him around on the floor was some surprisingly adept brawling considering T-Hawk is a Dragon Gate guy. Still, I thought Aoki needs to learn how to sell. I get that he's supposed to be a monster but he shouldn't be making stupid faces after getting punched in the face. As such the end of the match was a bit underwhelming. Fair play to T-Hawk as throwing Shinya Aoki into a row of chairs and then bitchslapping him was probably the greatest thing he ever did.

 

AKARI vs Crea, PURE-J 5/16

Impressive 2/3 falls match between two skillful wrestlers. Crea is quite the fun hard hitting machine with her boots and chops and AKARI had lots of nifty lucha-esque takedowns and submissions attempts. Though Crea also had some good submission work of her own. There was some quite evil stomping and smacks to the face here. Really liked the struggle over the tarantula attempt. Creas jumping big boot thing that she does is awesome. The match felt gritty and most importantly, they fought really hard in all 3 falls and had an unpredictable match that had some thought put into everything down to how they built up things throughout all the 3 falls without going cookie cutter. Definitely felt like more people should have their eyes on these two. Admittedly, Crea could've done with a bit less slapping of the thigh, but other than this was great. 

2025 Matchguide 

Footage mining: Actwres GirlZ

Tae Honma vs Miyuki Takase, AWG 11/3/2019

Straight-forward awesome match. Begins strong with solid lockups and some slick matwork. The match soon turns into an ARSION-like affair as Tae Honma is an armbar fiend and was constantly trying to snap Takases arm off. Honmas laser focus and variety of ways to lock in shoulder popping joint locks is really entertaining, and Takase constantly cutting her off with gritty lariats to the throat was great. Takase continueing to crowbar Honma throughout the match while selling the damage to her shoulders felt like something out of a grittier Choshu match. Even the chest forearms, which I’m not a huge fan of, where pretty vicious and hard hitting here. I was surprised at the greatness of Honmas selling too as she really sold being almost choked out by a modified triangle choke very well, and then taking more shots to the windpipe from Takases lariat. Second half of the match had quite a bit of unexpected brutality such as a vicious boot from Honma, and Honma cycling in on Takase to destroy her shoulders and face with dropkicks out of a Santo/Casas match. The insane headbutt was by far the highlight. I’ve seen my fair share of gritty headbutts in Japanese matches by now, this one stood out because it came completely out of nowhere. Takases sleeper attempts becoming ineffective due to her arms being shot was another neat detail. There is one kinda weak sling blade from Takase and they do overindulge a bit with nearfalls, though Honmas counters were great and Takase never let up with those lariats. Real sleeper great match, by far one of the best joshi matches of the decade if you ask me.

 Mari vs Yumiko Hotta, AWG 3/28/2019

This was something to remind you how magical pro wrestling can be. 2019 Hotta is really over the hill, but still has insane levels of aura, and she does actually wrestle in this. She has that Johnny Valentine-feeling where even a basic headlock or half crab from her feel like she’s brutalizing the other person. Hotta is basically like a wall of concrete in this. Mari struggles to do anything at all to her, and that makes this really compelling. Mari is still a ninja at this stage, but she does look like a great wrestler already. Really does a great job putting over the struggle of facing the ultra-tough veteran, and hitting lots of great kicks, which most importantly were all insanely well timed. It starts like a pretty fun match but the way Mari kept chopping away at Hotta and selling even mundane submissions like a surfboard stretch as an insane struggle it really starts to feel like a special match. Hottas performance here felt like a combination of nearly immobile Tenryu and Yoshiaki Fujiwara, she still kicks hard as hell but is vulnerable due to being so shot, and really tears into Mari with submissions. Then you have Mari getting her nose busted and the finish which felt legit as hell. Really starkly different match from pretty much anything else in the modern wrestling landscape, and to see it in a promotion like AWG is downright insane. Best post-prime Hotta match I’ve seen by a mile and Maris great performance was a big part of it.

 

Mari & Yumiko Hotta vs Tae Honma & Hikari Shimizu, AWG 4/7/2019

This was another winner. Hotta is so immobile and lethargic that conventional wrestling becomes impossible, so all her interactions become interesting by default. There is some really good stuff between her and Honma with Honma trying to damage her arm and Hotta snapping into armbars. I also loved Hotta nonchalantly breaking up an armbar attempt. The non-Hotta women her were working pretty hard. Shimizu is all hard kicks and she’s pretty fun. Mari was doing more athletic stuff than nowdays, lots of ninja kip ups and such that are cool mixed with also hard kicks. Honma continued to look good with her flash submissions and she does pull off a really cool finish against Mari. Seems these two never had a singles match which strikes me as a bit of a waste. Cool submission work, lots of stiff offense, grumpy old lady Hotta bonus, yeah this was pretty unique and enjoyable.

Mari vs Hikari Shimizu, AWG 3/17/2021

Impressive match that had well executed wrestling, great selling, a clear story, and they both absolutely bruised each other with brutal kicks. After some slick opening wrestling, Mari caught a Shimizu crossbody and slammed her hard in a great spot to establish the roles. It quickly turns into overdog Mari punishing Shimizu with her kicks and submissions, and Shimizu having to try to gut it out. Shimizu had multiple great comeback attempts that were extremely sharp. She is not quite as brutal as Mari, but she was kicking pretty hard too, and they both have effective straight forward offense. Mari clearly excels when she is trashing an underdog like this, and Shimizu had a few great hope spots. Really liked the struggle over a basic body slam towards the end. Leg kick battle towards the end was also quite intense. Most importantly, it was a modern Japanese big match that didn’t have anyone no-selling a suplex.

Hikari Shimizu vs Hiroyo Matsumoto, AWG 11/20/2021

Probably even better than the Mari match, which I nearly didn’t expect. This was just the 3^rd match on the card and honestly when was the last time you watched a card where match 3 out of 5 was fucking great? But this was pretty fucking great. Very similar to Shimizu vs Mari except Matsumoto is more of a big bruising monster. Matsumoto is really impressive beating the life out of Shimizu here with stiff chops and elbows and Shimizu was just as good as in the Mari match, kicking away at Matsumoto with hard kicks and selling pretty great. Just really effiecient. Once again I thought all of Shimizus comebacks/hopespots were insanely well timed and executed. Loved her desperate sleeper attempt towards the end, just trying to choke the beast out. Need more of that ‘just trying really hard to win’ energy. Matsumotos spinning back elbow was also a thing of beauty and timed just perfectly.

Yasushi Sato vs Konaka, AWG 6/24/2018

Yes, these two are also Actwres Girlz! It’s pretty cool that one of the greatest match ups in all of Japanese wrestling ever just so happened at a random joshi card. This was them pretty much doing the Velocity version of their match – very technically sound, but with a few jokes thrown in and made palatable for a more casual audience. They still mixed in lots of great stuff that you won’t see from any other two wrestlers. There’s this little sequence with both of them balancing on their heads and foot-wrestling which was pretty insane. Konaka does some great sleeper hold work, and Sato hits this hammerlock Russian legsweep that was just a thing of beauty. Sato busts out his big springboard dive which I always love, and even a perfect looking Victory Roll. Konaka has a really nifty counter to Satos attempted gutwrench. Really cool to watch. I still want to see their Ironman match, dammit.

2025 Matchguide Week 49

Pantera Jr vs Sangre Azteca Jr, Michinoku Pro 11/2

Really enjoyable lucha libre action here, with both guys busting out some creative and unhinged big spots. There was also some surprisingly deep selling and match psychology. There were some 2025esque thigh slappy spin kicks and such which I didn't love, but the overall energy here is good. Mostly, this is a match about two guys nailing every spectacular thing they now, and they nailed all that. Pretty enjoyable. 

 

Kotaro Nasu & FUMA vs Kotaro Suzuki & Tetsuya Izuchi, GLEAT 12/6

Pretty good UWF style action here. The main reason this is worth watching is NASU, who looked like a killer. He was hitting insanely hard and constantly trying to rush through guys with his quick hands, crowbar kicks and powerful suplexes. The action was great pretty much anytime he was in the ring. FUMA is solid at best, but I liked his weird submission a lot, and both Suzuki and Izuchi are pretty competent at this style, which is enough to produce some excellent exchanges with Nasu. Nasu almost caving in Izuchis skull with a massive high kick was awe inspiring and Izuchi fired back with a sick Maeda level kick of his own. Suzuki is pretty good here for his old age and he does pull off a cool finish. Still, Nasu was the man here pretty much.

Marino Saihara vs Sakura Mizushima, GLEAT 12/6

It's kinda cool that the athress girls are also regularily called into GLEAT to do shootstyle matches. Mizushima, for someone who has shown zero shootstyle in her AWG matches, was surprisingly good here. This is a striker vs grappler match with Saihara being the obvious striker and Mizushima doing a cool job getting past her kick barrages and hitting some impressive suplexes and latching into submissions. Saiharas kicks were ever solid and she also had some nifty judo throws. The finish was really cool with Saihara having Mizushima in a leg crab hold, with Mizushima trying to gut it out only for Saihara to switch into this nasty achilles hold variation and crank back for the tap.

 

Drew Gulak vs. Timothy Thatcher, Beyond 10/12

This was an exercise in bending ankles in painful ways. Naturally I dug all that, the twisting of the legs, the slow takedown that was done by leaning on the shin. It's a great display of leverage and some carny creativity. Aside from that they didn't do much fancy here, it was pretty much the kind of grappling match between two gruff balding men in front of a small quiet audience you imagine these two having. Just tight armlocks and nothing much fancy besides a few WoS inspired escapes. Thought this was getting really good when Gulak tried to damage Thatchers leg and immediately got punished with a hard kick to the spine. I would have liked them to continue going in a more BattlARTS direction, but they kind of stuck to grappling it out. Gulaks painful looking instep hold thing that bent Thatchers leg all the wrong way was easily the highlight. I like how they kept it in the scope of an opening match, pretty much no big nearfalls, no overkill, no high spots. They seemed to be making it all up on the fly which benefited the match a lot, a nice stark contrast to the current wrestling scene where everything feels hyper choreographed. A fine piece of wrestling that felt a bit like a skinnier leaner version of an Arn vs Ole Anderson match.

 

Mari & Act vs Anri & Erisa Nagai (AWG 7/18)

Another very good little tag. This was built around Mari and Act being monsters with Anri and Nagai hardly being able to touch them. That can normally be trite, but they delivered a number of neat moments here. Anri and Nagai had to work hard to get anything at all and that made this a pretty intense match. Once again, Anri had a lot of aura and even her initial face off with Mari felt intense. Act didn't do a ton in the match, but I'd be lying if I said she didn't add to the match. She was a really effective monster early on. Mari did pretty much the rest of the match, and it was good stuff. Thought she stuck a great balance between overconfident and untouchable badass to being put on her ass with the slim chance of being caught by a rollup. Nagai is pretty much all rollups and a split legged leg drop, but they were slick roll ups and she really had to earn that split legged leg drop. Anris intensity once again jumped off the screen. Her thrust kicks were awesome and she gets a lot of mileage out of those sillas she does. There was also some fun brutality from Mari and Act, at one point Mari was basically cracking Anris ribs with her kicks. In the end Mari and Act finished their opponents off with ease, which I thought was fine since Nagai and Anri only have about one year of experience each. For a top heels vs hapless rookies match this was really good considering it could've just been a low effort squash.

2025 Matchguide 

Exploring various Japanese YouTube Channels

Masao Ando vs Yuki Toyoura, R-Planning 8/25/2024

Cool match up since Masao Andos is everyones favourite thickly built indy shooter boy and Toyoura is a mysterious guy with origins in JWA Tokai. Since Ando also has history with the JWA sphere that makes this interesting. And they deliver a really fun indy big boys match! Ando is really cool here as always kicking his opponent really hard and attacking his arms with painful looking submissions and hard kicks to the shoulder. Toyoura had some impressive offense including a huge dropkick and even bigger springboard dropkick which was impressive since he doesn’t exactly look like a small guy. He also wasn’t afraid to fire back with hard chops. Short and fun match with the right spirit being in place.

 

 

 Manabu Hara vs CHANGO, 10/1/2017

This was such an interesting match, and pretty much entirely due to CHANGO. Not that Hara is bad, but Chango brings such a fresh vibe with his animalistic vibe and unconventional tactics. He's not exactly a shoot grappler, but he's not a push over on the mat either. His scrambling, trying to pounce on Hara and grabbing limbs was a lot of fun and it made for a cool match up. CHANGO baiting Hara into doing a macho exchange and then hurting his leg was a really smart moment and should be stolen by pro wrestlers everywhere. Chango then proceeded to give Hara a good working over with a few unique leg attack spots. There were cool moments such as Hara having Chango in an anklelock while upside down, as well as a cool tarantula-esque leg stretch in the ropes that was pretty unique. Chango then proceeded to try and win the match with the old WWF No Mercy trick of locking in a submission on the floor and waiting until the countout. The finish was this great sequence of CHANGO trying to pin Hara with Hara reversing into armlocks repeatedly and CHANGO doing all these great pins. It really was some fine fine wrestling. 

 

Koji Kanemoto & Badmax Fujinaga vs Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Yusaku Ito, Kasuyaro Pro Wrestling 7/1/2018

What a sleaze soaked wonder of a match. This was a shortlived Fujinaga/Yasshi promotion it seems, seems this was held in a small club room or something. Imagine going to your local venue to see legends the caliber of Kanemoto and Takaiwa kick the shit out of some local guys. Seeing Takaiwa and Kanemoto lock up here and doing some hard hitting wrestling was quite enjoyable. Takiawa is old, slow, still hits heavy like a track. Kanemoto is quite a bit more nimble and hasn’t lost much of a step at all. He was good as ever being a prick here kicking the crap out of people. The real story are your sleazebag shooters Fujinaga and Ito, though. You could tell they were both hyped to be in the ring with legends and they were laying everything in extra hard, and both of them took some hard as hell beatings from the big names. Ito especially gets at it with Kanemoto and it’s a lot of fun. I really liked how Kanemoto, instead of falling into a macho exchange, just judo tripped Ito and then locked in a smothering Dragon Sleeper. We do get all your Kanemoto and Takaiwa signatures – the nasty face wash, the jaw cracking lariats, and there’s even a brief segment where they face off. The finishing run is Fujinaga vs Ito, and while Fujinaga is a bit of a clumsy wrestler he gets in some good hits carried by the energy of the lineup that he is in. Ito is ever reliable as your sleaze karateka with cool kicks who will occasionally try to maul someone with headbutts. As a match this was pretty much your typical indy main event tag formula with the stiffness and sleaze factor dialed way up and it was immensely enjoyable.

 

2025 Matchguide Week 48

 Yasu Urano vs Akito, 11/16
Two guys grappling in the dojo for 60 minutes and livestreaming it seemingly from a phone camera. That is pretty much the most reverseviperhold match that can happen in 2025, so I am obligated to love it, but there was a ton of great stuff going on here. Akito is a total grappling freak, the guy was in the junior olympics and he used to wrestle Yasushi Sato 3 times a month in his Sportiva days. He rarely gets to show off that kind of talent in DDT, so I am glad he got to let out his freak in this. Really a great showing as he mixed in a ton of sweet techniques, some great leg grapevine moves, unique pins, the guy has a knack for this kind of clinical mat wrestling match. Urano is such a deceptive technician, he doesn't have quite the flashy techniqe of Akito, but he can really get down and gritty, at times he would just snatch an arm and armdrag Akito down really aggressively. He is also really vocal and was constantly letting out these miserable death rattles, like this match was totally killing him, and Akito would really cinch in any headlock or sleeper so hard that you buy wheezing old Yasu Urano passing out in the moment. They do get in a ton of neat details and unique touches, really a study of how you can work each hold to the maximum. It is a bit slow here and there and they do lose steam a bit towards the end, though I appreciate they didn't even try to tack on a bunch of nearfalls, they just kept struggling and resisting down to the last minute and that rules. I get that this is a highly specific type of match that these two probably did because they would get a kick out of it more than everyone else. But fuck if you wanna see some slick leg grapevines and awesome inventive headscissor work and shoulder exploding armbar pins and more gritty struggling over takedowns and pins and leglocks than you can imagine this is the match for you. Definitely one of my favourite bouts of the year, old school and raw passion for pro wrestling at its purest.

 Leon & Makoto vs Moeka Haruhi & Misa Kagura, PURE-J 6/29

Super enjoyable joshi tag that doesn't waste much time and just delivers non-stop action the joshi way. Everything felt nice and aggressive here, these 4 all have offense that hits hard. Kagura, who is yet another girly girl in a frilly pink dress looks solid. Makoto is putting a lot of force into her kicks these days, she was really fun here kicking people out the way with her big boots. Leon is classy as always, I could watch her impale people with spears all day long, and her tilt a whirl slams are great. Haruhi may have been the best of the bunch, her offense is plenty violent, just crushing people with double stomps and knee drops, and she has some impressive wrestling skill with cool suplexes, making intelligent use of the straight jacket hold, and even catching Leon in a crafty pin. Finishing run had a lot of fun creative stuff and never loses your attention. It wasn't a super deep match or anything but there wasn't any egregious noselling or overkill either and sometimes you just wanna watch 4 cool wrestlers go full bore.

Ali Najima & Tomoki Hatano vs Takahiro Hirakimoto & Yu Shimizu, Sportiva 11/26
Najima vs Yu Shimizu feud continues, which makes this fun. Hatano is a bit of a downgrade compared to yuta Oya in the tag from the previous week to say the least. Hirakimoto is still in the black trunks rookie phase and only doing a body slam and suplex, but he's alright. As a result the match did not go as deep as the tag from the weak before but it's nice to see Najima and Shimizu continueing their animosities. The finish builds right on the tag from the week before and that's always a nice thing to see.


Senka Akatsuki & Seri Yamaoka vs Takumi Iroha & Sareee, Marvelous 10/24
Usual good stuff from this crew. Akatsuki and Yamaoka are facing two monsters, but they are still busy having contempt for each other. A bit predictable, but reliable rookie vs veterans stuff, and they do surprise you with some things they bust out. Senka has been good all year long, at this point it's just a matter of when she will do the next step. Iroha and Sareee did their thing pretty much, and Seri was fairly impressive here.

Marino Saihara & Sakura Mizushima vs Anri & Yukina Uehara (AWG 7/11)

Fast paced, quite hard hitting pro wrestling that doesn't waste your time. I have no idea why AWG athresses are taking wrestling more seriously than almost everyone else in the country but here it is, there were no jokes here, no cutesy stuff, they just wrestled a really convincing match. Anri is another AWG wrestler that looks deceptively harmless but is actually really intense. This was mostly about Saihara vs Anri, with Saihara playing the veteran that can't be knocked down and Anri being a really good underdog that keeps coming back. I really liked how they seemed to go for the traditional rookie beatdown at first, but then Anri was able to catch Mizushima with a surprise thrust kick to the throat and then lock in this really cool rolling strangle hold while Uehara kept Saihara at bay. Mizushima is also in the process of becoming a really respectable wrestler. The moment where she caught Ueharas kick and landed her painful looking leg breaker was great and example of great timing as Uehara seemed to be in control and about to gain momentum. I also dug how they protected the submissions. When Mizushima went for her signature bridging figure 4, it was broken up just as she went into the bridge. Later, Saihara was trying to lock in a chickenwing crossface with all her might, the tension building as she started to get her fingers together and then the submission being broken at the last second. It's basic stuff but you rarely see it done like this these days. Once it came down to Anri vs Saihara it was really intense stuff and just really good wrestling. The finish is Saihara landing a jumping knee strike to Anris face, hitting a judo throw and locking in a plain straight armbar and cranking it for the tap, which is a really FUTEN finish to happen in 2025. Am I saying this is a FUTEN match? Hell no, but the energy is a ton of fun. AWG has one hell of a back catalogue with even minor matches like this being really compelling.

2025 Matchguide
 

Battle and Arts Pro 2/8/2025

 

Yujiro Yamamoto vs Kazuki Teramae

Teramae is another Seichi Ikemoto guy. That is a bit shocking, because he looked pretty much incapable of putting up a fight against Yamamoto here. His kicks looked good, but other than that he looked about as talented as any other indy nobody as he just wanted to go to his spots instead of actually shootgrappling with Yamamoto like god intended. Yamamoto is pretty fun here, as he cuts off pretty much everything Teramae tries and smacks him really hard for his troubles. But mostly this was about Teramae learning the lesson that he will actually need to fight.

Hiromasa Koyama & Maori Kawashima vs Sho Mizuno & Tetsuya Goto

Pretty much the sleazy crossover of a BattlARTs match and your typical scuzzy divebar indy tag. Koyama and Mizuno scrapping at the beginning was pretty fun, they understood the assignment. Kawashima kind of sucks as he is like a crappier version of Onryo, and Goto didn’t really show how anything outstanding, so the match degraded to bog standard trained monkey show indy levels when they were involved. Koyama looked like the best guy in the match, simply because he was beating the shit out of everyone the most. He was putting some real piss and vinegar into everything he threw, even into stuff like his european uppercuts, and he had a crazy judo throw that spiked Mizuno on his head. Mizuno, the other shooter in the match, looked good early on but unfortunately didn’t do much more in the second half. This veered between having some fun moments and being forgettable. I wouldn’t mind seeing more of Koyama going sicko mode on people like this, though.

Yujiro Yamamoto vs Tsuyoshi Michibata

This was better. Just two guys kicking the living hell out of each other in a bar, as god intended. Michibata seemed to not quite take the match seriously early, so Yamamoto started stomping the crap out of him in the ropes. Michibata got more serious after that. He started to work over Yamamotos arm with some really painful kicks to the shoulder. Lots of both guys kicking each other full force in this. The one downside was Yamamoto insisting on forcing some irish whips and his rope-assisted octopus hold into the match. I dunno why he always does that. Also, the match needed BattlARTS rules. Other than that, this delivered on straight punishment and gritty bar shootstyle action. Cool to see Michibata in this kind of match and I loved his finishing submission.

 

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