Ran YuYu 7 Match Gauntlet

     Ran YuYu vs. Azumi Hyuga, JWP 12/3/2005

These two have fought each other a bunch in the past, in matches where they threw everything imaginable at each other. This was shorter (at 20 minutes), more focused and quite great if I may say so. It was basically an amalgamation of their rivalry but put together very well. Everything here felt like it mattered and they were always doing something cool, even making things like a figure 4 or german suplex that are often just thrown out in joshi matches look like a struggle and putting some fresh spins into everything. There are some great missed moves and reversals and cool touches like Hyuga sidestepping YuYus kitchen sink and making her fall through the ropes that nobody else would really think of working into a match. The body of the match was really good and the finishing run was next level with both of them trying to crack each others heads and YuYu going crazy trying to topple the eternal ace. Hyuga did pretty much her thing, which is not bad as she has such great offense, she did bust out one Honda-ish deadlift german suplex that was really sweet. YuYu showed the fire and charisma and some great strikes as she always does. It goes without saying these two have great offense but their creativity is what really brings it to the next level, just some amazing ideas here without becoming too cute, they would always maintain that gritty vibe. It feels like a bit of a putdown to say a match is ‘just what you expect’ but from these two you expect a great match, and this may have been a bit better because they went above and beyond.

Ran YuYu vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki, JWP 3/22/2010

JWP may actually be my favourite non-shootstyle promotion going in this period, at least when it comes to these kinda big move slinging main events they do them better than everyone else as far as I’m concerned. Kuragaki is a badass wrestler in her own right, and these two could’ve just had a generic match and I would’ve liked it, but they decided to make things a bit more interesting. Basically Ran is a total prick with her kicks and knees that were stinging Kuragaki like needles to the face, while Kuragaki is working like the more valiant clean wrestler, almost a bit like Hash/Tenryu in 1993. Kuragaki is pretty great at that and Ran is a really great prick. I just love her use of the elbows and knees, there was also some cool leg selling from her as Kuragaki is too valiant to outright attack her bandaged leg but she does sell that it’s bothering her in some cool moments. Really good build here the finish was great with both of them going for the KO.

Ran YuYu vs. Azumi Hyuga, JWP 6/16/2002

This was a 2/3 Falls match. Like I said, in 2002 these two had a bunch of matches where they really went all out in ways few other wrestlers have. It was sometimes ill-fated but this one really distillates what these two stood for. This had the special rule that the first fall was 2 count pinfalls, 2^nd was submissions, and 3^rd a regular match. They go way past 30 minute so it’s not for the faint of the heart but there is a ton of damn great wrestling here. 1^st fall was already worked at a sprint pace as they both did a mix of insanely fast pin combos and trying to knock each other out with some really hard strikes. It’s brisk, creative wrestling that few others could pull off. 2^nd fall gets all gritty and dirty as they get on the mat and try to tap each other out. It could feel like a bunch of performative time killing, but these two do so much cool stuff to remind you that they are a class above when it comes to skill. There are cool moments such as Ran looking in a great rolling crucifix hold during a shootstyle exchange and there’s some really good arm and leg submission work. Hyuga hitting a missile dropkick to Rans bad shoulder, or Ran locking in a great rolling cross kneebar, all straight up high end wrestling.Again these two are really creative to make that stuff as interesting as they do here. And they just keep bringing the hard hitting, almost everything these two has insane force, down to their signature knee strikes and elbows but also other things like their dropkicks, slaps and even shoot headbutts. Hyuga even hits a gritty out of nowhere lariat to mix things up. The 3^rd fall retains that vibe nicely though it does go a bit long they never lost me. These two were insanely ambitious but with the kind of talent they had you can’t fault them for flexing their skills like this. Even though it was a long match they always managed to do something interesting so it never feels pointlessly long, just super impressive wrestling.

Ran YuYu vs. Sawako Shimono, Ayumi Kurihara Produce 12/12/2010

We go from Ran going over 30 against arguably the top womans wrestler of the 2000s, to Ran taking on a stocky underdog on the second match of a random produce show. Matches like that can be totally mailed in and by the numbers, but this was insanely entertaining to watch and imaginative. Basically Ran is all ornery and evil, stomping on Shimonos face and not taking her seriously, but Shimono could overpower her with her thrusty offense, even crashing into her with body checks in positions that no other wrestler has taken a body check in. It’s really well done and you can see Ran is a) really nice to sell for Shimono this much and let her get in a lot of offense and not making her look like a total jobber and b) making the effort to make even a throwaway match like this memorable. Rans offense did look great – that low angle sideways jumping knee thing she does is an amazing piece of offense, and all her knees were really knocking the wind out of Shimono. I also appreciate her making the effort to make basic things, like the lift for a firemans carry, or getting out of a pinfall, or any of the basic knees she throws etc, look important.

Ran YuYu vs. Yuka Shiina, NEO 5/3/2002

Shiina is a pretty unique wrestler. She’s not exactly a shootstyle grappler, but she’s quite stubborn in going for submissions, in a way that makes her holds actually feel like a big deal. Of course Ran is no slouch on the mat either so you’ve got a rad match up here. Shiina has some awesome twisting ways to lock in sleepers and armbars, and YuYu is a good overdog here smacking her around and kicking her in the ribs really hard. She does let Shiina look great even in losing, and I love her use of the double armbar.

Ran YuYu vs. Mima Shimoda NEO 5/4/2002

Mima Shimoda rules in this. YuYus arm took a beating from Shiina the night before, so Shimoda goes right at it, and constantly goes back to it, with YuYu looking like she really did not want Shimoda to keep attacking her arm. Shimoda would also look Tenryu-ish kicking and booting Ran in the face with her gravel voice. It’s some really good compelling work that unfortunately isn’t paid off well as Ran seems to not really give a shit about the armwork once it’s done. Her stuff still looks great and she times it very well, still I would’ve liked her to take the ball and roll with Shimoda a bit more. The finish is some bullshit run in so maybe that explains that. Still, it’s nice to see Ran against someone who’s not one of her JWP peers, even if the match ended up being more simplistic.

Ran YuYu & Toshie Uematsu vs. Kaori Yoneyama & Leon, JWP 9/18/2006

I want to focus more on singles matches with these but Rans team with Uematsu was a major part of her career. This is pretty much what you associate with joshi, it’s a totally insane movezfest where they try to cram everything they can think of and more into a span of about 20 minutes and never really slowing down. It wasn’t the most substantial or consequential but when it comes to pure action they pulled off some face melting intensity here. There’s some learned spot across the 2/3 falls format for some semblance of psychology, and I enjoyed the hell out of Ran and Uematsu here as they understood you have to mix in some really hard shots in between the moves to pepper everything up a little. Not that Leon and Yoneyama were bad. Lots of nifty unique move combos that you won’t ever see attempted by saner wrestlers, and the finish is just Ran knocking someone the fuck out with an elbow to the face and I love that.

The Shinya Hashimoto/Keiji Muto Trilogy

     Shinya Hashimoto vs Keiji Muto, NJPW 6/5/1997

Fucking masterpiece of a wrestling match, there’s no other way to put it. So much wrestling is focussed on action-action-action, but this was like a great suspense flick with the most intense ending you’ve ever seen. Right from the go it’s clear what both men are all about, Hashimoto wants to kick, and Muto wants to get underneath him and take out his legs. What follows was some of the best defense-based and slow building pro wrestling ever caught on film. Neither guy was willing to make the slightest mistake and this made all their exchanges really interesting. There is so much great stuff going on. Almost none of what they do would fit into a highlight clip or GIF and yet it’s wrestling of the highest caliber. I love how even a basic knee that Hashimoto throws when locking up sets up a thunderous kesagiri chop that immediately draws a gasp from the crowd, with a panicking Muto firing back right away with a messy hitting solebutt and taking down Hashimoto immediately, with Hash not even wanting to allow a basic headscissor being locked in. Watching prime Hashimoto from a 2026 perspective is insane because I am used to seeing guys allowing themselves to be hit, asking the other guy to hit them, even laying down so they can be hit in a bizarre game of contrived tough man posturing etc. With Hashimoto, Mutoh absolutely does not want to be hit by anything. He wants absolutely none of those neck chops and none of those kicks. So even though this is a pro wrestling match, it feels like an MMA fight with an expert striker vs a takedown artist. And whenever Hashimoto unleashes it’s like the thunder of an erupting volcano. Absolutely great Hashimoto performance as he’s awesome as a monster that wants to strike but is getting worn out. Muto was also absolutely great here. He did a lot of great stuff, such as a really sweet legscissor takedown, I also really liked how he teased a dragon screw but instead went for his flashing elbow. Even his goofy handspring elbow looked great as he hit it so fast with absolutely no breathing time. There’s this great bit where Hashimoto rages on the outside after being frustrated by Mutohs tactics so Mutoh cockily offers him the re-entry. Hash gets back in and he has this amazing look on his face, like he is going to kill Mutoh. And seconds later Mutoh is on the mat getting the shit kicked out of him. The whole match was full of great little moments like this and it just kept building and building to a molten hot finale. I can see why some fans were more drawn to the All Japan stuff that was chock full of cool moves while this match spent like 20 minutes building to a dragon screw, but holy shit this is just great stuff on a completely different level. Loved the unique twist on their signatures, Hashimotos revenge leg kick, Mutoh hitting the moonsault to Hashimotos legs, Hash firing away this great last gasp barrage off offense. Really felt like they put their all into this and if that’s not the best a wrestling match can be I don’t know what is.

Shinya Hashimoto vs Keiji Muto, 12/10/1993

Not quite *as* great as the 1997 match, but still a solid stone cold classic. Match was already built around the chess game of takedown artist Muto frustrating Hashimoto and trying to avoid the dangerous strikes. Highlights include Hash shrugging off a surprise attempt at an octopus hold, and both guys going into a judo scramble. I also appreciate that there was no legwork/figure 4 stuff, although Muto really wanted to go for it. Hash throwing leg kicks, daring Muto to go for the leg, and then responding to some gritty surprise headbutts by rushing Muto like an angry bull is why he’s the GOAT. He was also able to make Mutos basic short arm scissor look killer. His response was, of course, to rain punches onto Muto. Hash then got up with blood coming out of his nose and a sliver of blood from his mouth like a slit in his face and you know the fight is on. Second half was quite epic as you had Hash laying devastation on Muto with his kicks and Muto pushing the bleeding Hashimoto to the brink of defeat. Several ridiculously well timed moments. The sequence with Mutoh landing on his feet on the attempted moonsault was an example of something that modern workers probably would have rushed in an effort to force as many moves and reversals into a short sequence as possible, whereas these two were smart enough to slow down enough to make the payoff feel really rewarding. We also get some beautiful Hashimoto wrestling such as hitting a perfect German Suplex on Muto. Hash drilling Muto with a surprise bulldog was also another great unexpected moment. Muto trying to resist the DDT with all his remaining lifeforce only to end up eating the deadliest brainbuster ever may be a top 10 moment in any wrestling match. This crowd was really freaking rabid for Hash’s DDT too. You may say ‘well, it was 1993, times were different, a DDT was exciting…’ but fuck that, these people had already seen Liger and his shooting star press and Tiger Masks shit and whatnot, and here they were flipping the fuck out for a 30 minute match culminating in a DDT because these guys are fucking masters at this.

Shinya Hashimoto vs Keiji Muto, 8/15/1995

‘nother masterpiece between these two. At this point it’s a coin toss which of these matches is the best but fuck, they are all great. This was one was a bit more conventional but still had that strategic, struggle-loaded chess match feel early on with neither guy wanting to get caught. Muto seemed a bit less engaged, perhaps because he was worn down from the G1. Hash catches him a lot early, sprawling on a takedown attempt, catching his jumping savate kick. Even almost turning the tide in his favor by going for Mutohs arm briefly. It’s not quite the same level of intricacy as Muto showed in the 93 and 97 matches but it’s still some pretty damn good pro wrestling. Loved the bit where Hash struggled against a German Suplex so Muto went for the Dragon, and then the Octopus Hold. Pretty damn epic ending with Hash trying to bust Mutos skull with some beautiful high kicks. Man alive does Hashimoto just look like a god when he’s charging up and gathering energy for those kicks. Mutoh seemed dead in the water and was left with a few great desperation counters. It’s New Japan so something like a straight armbar is a totally believable possible finisher to go for. Another epic jumping DDT from Hash ends up spiking Muto causing his bandage to come off with blood streaming down. Doesn’t get more italo western than that when it comes to pro wrestling.

Carlos Amano 7 Match Gauntlet

     Carlos Amano vs Dynamite Kansai, GAEA 2/29/2004

I’m a fan of these two, so a match between them could never disappoint me – even that said, I thought this was really great, pretty much the perfect underdog vs monster undercard match with both of them bringing their unique styles to the table. Opening grapple was effective as you immediately had Kansai going for more power-based holds with Amano trying to lock in a shoot submission. As soon as Kansai started throwing kicks she started to look like a cat playing with her food. I also loved her use of the iron claw slam as it establishes that she can always snatch an opponent. In addition to the violent kicks there were also some pretty hard feeling slams with Amano getting rag dolled. Amano was pretty freaking godly here trying to take down a monster as basically everything she did was nifty shootstyle submission counters and several really well timed, really violent shoot headbutts. Her running face first into a Kansai kick was also pretty awe inspiring. Great match, clocking in at just a bit over 10 minutes but every second was worthwhile.

Carlos Amano vs. Aja Kong, GAEA 4/4/2004

Hem, let’s see… it’s Carlos vs. Aja. In Korakuen Hall. No filler, any move could be a finish type work. Of course this is great. Aja is good as usual being an unfuckwithable brickwall and crushing Amano with her superior size and hard hitting, though Amano is pretty much the one who raises this from a somewhat rote (but good) Aja performance to the next level. She comes up with all kinds of cool ways to stop Aja, mostly by trying to crack her skull with her own hard head. Lot of fun to be had just from Amano having so many different ways to smash her head into Aja, even cracking Ajas hand when she goes for the Uraken because Carlos skull is so damn hard, and there are a bunch of great moments in which Aja smacks her down like a fly. I love Carlos fire here, nobody has been so confident and spunky just to get swatted down. I’m not sure which is better – this or vs Kansai – but both matches were pretty different considering they had a similar set up with Carlos taking on a bigger powerhouse – but both were pretty great.

Carlos Amano vs Ayako Hamada, GAEA 12/14

More cool GAEA sprint action. This one’s from a one night tournament and for that I think it does a really nice job bringing lots to the table while still leaving something for the later round matches. We get some cool grappling that kind of forces Ayako to go back to her ARSION roots in testing herself against a slick grappler that is trying to armbar her. Ayako quickly goes to her kick variations that look insanely sharp – boy do I miss wrestlers actually having devastating looking worked kicks and cool ways to hit their worked kicks – the match seems to go to an early finish but Carlos keeps finding ways to go for the ankle lock. It culminates in Amano catching another kick and headbutting away at Ayakos knee, a really nice little bit of a continuous story. I really wish we had a bigger match between these two at their peak, talk about missed potential because the taste we got here was pretty sweet.

Carlos Amano vs Chigusa Nagayo, GAEA 6/29/2003

Carlos throws the god damn kitchen sink at Chigusa. There’s a neat moment early where Amano goes for a suicide dive, Nagayo sidestepping, and Amano sort of catching herself halfway in the ropes and then eating a hard european uppercut from Chiggy. But Carlos is a ball of fiery energy that won’t be contained. She keeps barraging Chigusa with elbows and her signature headbutts. Just when she’s raining forearms on Chigusa and I’m thinking “She looks like she’s about to bite her damn face off” Amanos headbutts start drawing hardway blood and Carlos starts biting the cut. Awesome. That’s the kind of ruggedness GAEA has along with the slick wrestling that made it pretty great. And Chigusa does hit her with the hardest god damn kick you’ve ever seen to come back. I wasn’t quite in love with Chigusa just kind of beating Carlos. Carlos does get to no sell a powerbomb but one lariat later she’s toast. It felt like a typical Chigusa thing, always keen to squish someone like this, even knowing that Carlos would go 18 minutes against Lioness Asuka next. Carlos looked so fantastic up to that point that it made me sad she was jobbing like this.

Carlos Amano vs Devil Masami, GAEA 6/14/2003

Devil Masami was embracing the Undertaker-isms lots around this time, so there were creepy glares and superhuman displays of strength in this. The match had a lot of great ideas and devastating offense, but it was kind of marred by both of them constantly popping up and no-selling everything. Also thought Masami spent a bit too much time lying in Amanos submissions, though she looked good otherwise. After spending like half the match surviving Carlos’ fully cranked armbars Masami takes the win with a basic figure 4 necklock. Shit just doesn’t make sense sometimes.

Carlos Amano vs Mayumi Ozaki, GAEA 5/25/2003

Very 2003 Mayumi Ozaki style match, so that means KAORU and Police interfer a bunch, there’s blood, weapons, lots of odd complexity. If you can get past all the shenanigans there’s some really sweet wrestling here, Ozaki looks great smacking Amano and she has a fun ragdoll-ish way of hitting jumping kicks, while Amanos slick submission counters look great. At one point Amano was just this juggernaut cracking Ozaki with one headbutt after another, landing a sick Honda-ish deadlift german and then going to eat her forehead, it was awe inspiring. She knew she was in a chaotic brawl and she had to work this like Kintaro Oki or Bobo Brazil, downtune the fancies and instead go to crush skulls. I do wish the shenanigans had been tuned back here or there but for this kind of chaotic attitude era style match it’s really good.

Carlos Amano vs Chikayo Nagashima, GAEA 4/6/2003

Fuck did this rule. We’ve seen Amano against a gauntlet of old time veterans, playing underdog to monsters. Now she gets to face a peer that she can go toe to toe with, and they really use the chance to cook up something good. These two could easily just hit spots and please the crowds but they went far beyond that. This was a match that really felt like it was being crafted as it went. Lots of really cool wrestling and struggle early on, Nagashima hangs on to a headlock, Amano takes her over with a beautiful hip toss from there. Then Nagashima does this cool bit where she refuses to be moved, there’s also a bit with Nagashima working guard and doing crazy legs and hitting Amano with a nasty upkick, to which Amano responds by jumping on her and raining some angry strikes. Just really cool, creative wrestling. Later we get another moment where Nagashima goes for an upkick but Amano is wiser and they reset into a really intense lock up. There’s a great bit on the ramp that’s as well done as any ramp bit I can remember, really putting maximum struggle into a potential suplex on the ramp. Match had great grappling and some insanely nasty offense, Nagashimas double stomps and Amanos headbutts being hellish, Nagashima at one point just punching her straight in the face, but still keeping the nifty technical stuff important. Great shit, the kinda match that can not be replicated, they were both totally in their own world here and killed it.

BattlARTS History #3 - October 1996

 
Minoru Tanaka vs Katsumi Usuda, 10/2/1996
Not the most exciting shootstyle as neither guy seemed particularily inspired. Thy were rolling on the mat like they were warming up. There were a few good kick combos from Usuda, but it's a BattlARTS match. Tanaka added pretty much nothing.

Minoru Tanaka vs Shoichi Funaki, 10/4/1996
Tanaka hits a big dropkick and kick combo to start but is quickly cut off by a dropkick to the knee from Funaki. We then get a solid 5 or 6 minutes of Funaki working the leg which means he's just slapping on various basic leglocks and Tanaka slowly crawls to the ropes. Tanaka gets the win with a flash armbar at 7 and a half minutes. This is the kind of pro wrestling that really puts you to the test because it makes sense and is executed solid but feels like a complete waste still.


Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Naohiro Hoshikawa, BattlARTS 10/2/1996 - GREAT

I think the earliest showing of Ikeda and Ono teaming, and they are already a unit. This wasn‘t an all out brawl like many of these matches, but the opening Ikeda/Ishikawa work was tough as nails. These guys locking in submissions look like they‘re trying to bend iron bars. Hoshikawa was solid, and got punched in the face for his troubles by Ono when he tried going for an Irish Whip. Ono and Ikeda eventually cracked up the violence attacking people two on one, Ono kicking people in the face hard and both guys landing some brutal saves. It ended a bit early as Ikeda bloodied Hoshikawas nose and dispatched him like a piece of trash so you didn‘t get a grandstand final, but the match delivered everything you want from Team Taco. 


Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs Katsumi Usuda & Yuki Ishikawa, BattlARTS 10/4/1996

This ones JIP. Not quite as great as you'd hope for given you have 4 of the 5 best guys in the company at this point in the match, but still pretty good BattlARTS style tag action. The shenanigans of Ikeda and Ono were in full effect once again. Mostly ground-based action and at this point their matwork was not yet super exciting, but enough crushing blows and big suplexes to make this a wortwhile quick. It seems Ishikawa had not quite the arsenal yet to really fire back and as such he got KO'd hard after a brief final stand off with Ikeda. Ono was a stiff bastard and relentless on the mat as usual, seemingly never quitting. Usuda was a bit non-descript but he put in the work as always. It seems Team Taco are unstoppable at this point which, sets up their faceoff with Ishikawa and Otsuka at the big Korakuen Hall show later that month nicely.


10/30/1996

 
Tetsuhiro Kuroda vs Satoshi Yoneyama
Two young guys mauling each other hard for 5 minutes and I can get all the way behind that. Yoneyama hits Kuroda with a hard kick barrage right at the go and Kuroda would hit back hard with some really hard elbows and kicks. Kuroda feels very much like a pro wrestler forced to shoot here with the way he locks in a pro wrestling style spinning toe hold and cinches it so hard that it believably forces a rope break and it's a lot of fun. 

Viktor Krüger vs Shoichi Funaki
Krüger was a big austrian guy, who had a background in American football somehow and WCW ambitions at some point. As a transplant to BattlARTS he was super weird and random but they worked their hardest to make it work. This was pretty much a pro wrestling match with Funaki working full on cat and mouse spots, slipping underneath, getting chased, running the ropes. Could've had almost the exact same match on Velocity, like it's hard to imagine Funaki vs Kane being much different. It's fun though as Funaki manages to not look like a chump and even almost submits Krüger a few times. Krüger looked somewhat inept but made it through the match without hiccups.

Carl Malenko vs Katsumi Usuda
Mostly grappling, and they sure do some slick grappling. It could've been a bit better considering how great both guys can be when they're on but that's just a minor complaint when you get 2 beast matworkers grappling it out for 10 minutes. Crowd was really into it too and it's always cool to hear a Korakuen Hall reacting to someone grabbing a heel hook. Their best match so far?!

TAKA Michinoku vs Minoru Tanaka
The conclusion to their year-long rivalry! Some really good fireworks at the end here with some great submission nearfalls, a few violent shotai rushes from Tanaka and both guys trying to crunch each others necks with snatched Michinoku Drivers and big suplexes. Still I thought shorter matches suit them better at this point, as it felt like not a ton happened in the first 10 minutes as it was just rather tentative unspectacular work. Still for 'epic' feeling this might be your match just for it's length and build, even though their earlier matches have been more compact. Still I love how the crowd flips out for even a basic toe hold counter, and there's s great finish here with a perfect execution of how to do a sleeper.

Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka (BattlARTS 10/30/1996) - EPIC

Okay, everybody knows this match is amazing. In context, it's pretty much the quintessence of what BattlARTS had been doing that year, so it was a suitable main event to their first Korakuen Hall show. Ikeda and Ono were an amazing pair of absolute pricks here, really upping the heel tactics they've in part displayed before up to 11 and trying to stomp Ishikawa and Otsuka to a paste. Right at the start they double team Ishikawa pasting him with kicks and cutting off the ring to isolate him while he busts out cool mat counters to defend himself. Ishikawa and Otsuka in turn took insane beatings and retaliated with some insane suplexes and a few choice revenge spots. In between that they do lots of really gritty feeling matwork. It really felt on a different level to shootstyle tag-wrestling up to that point. There was one bit that resembled modern MMA where Ono kept stopping Otsukas takedown attempts and trying to scramble his brains with super violent kicks. I don't have to tell you that all the Ishikawa/Ikeda exchanges were just glorious brutality. Some of the hardest stuff they ever did, and their last exchange was just mental, full on punches do the face, Ikeda hitting these crazy back kick while upside down, it was hatred embodied. Ishikawa wasn't quite the full-on Inoki worshipper yet and he kept doing those Jimmy Snuka jumping headbutts. Otsuka has these really awesome moments of explosive hot tags where he just runs in and snatches and dumps somebody on their head right off the bat, he was a suplex monster in this. Just like Ishikawa/Ikeda had their dynamic he has this dynamic with Takeshi Ono, who spends most of the fight on the apron waiting to sneak in and kick somebody in the eye to break a submission. Otsuka pummeling Ono around was pretty great and when he hits that big giant swing it's just transcendental. When Ono actually was in the ring, we got to see either his slick skinny ratboy grappling or his reckless kicks. We also get to see what Ishikawa is really about as later in the match he gets his comeuppance hooking one nastier and nastier submission on Ikeda. What a quintessential piece of 90s wrestling greatness, up there with your high end AJPW tags or Michinoku Pro multimans or FMW explosion deathmatches, just a snapshot of a totally unique point in time with these dudes just going all out on the mat, this is what BattlARTS really was all about. And man their final showdown is just pure undistillated face punching goodness. Awesome matwork, big suplexes, intrigueing tag psychology, all-time brutality, just one of the sickest matches ever.

The Show Library

Complete Takeshi Ono 

Eternal GAEA

     Chigusa Nagayo vs Mayumi Ozaki, GAEA 12/9/2001

You know I should just sit down and watch GAEA all day long. This was a chaotic brawl with an insanely gory bladejob from Chigusa, so just what you expect. There’s comical amounts of outside interference from Police and KAORU, chairs are thrown, staffs broken, and Chiggy hits a full on Terry Funk style punch combo to comeback. Chigusa has the unique ability to make even mundane submissions like a sleeper or abdominal stretch look dangerous and they do get a ton of mileage out of that here, as of course Chigusa can drop Ozaki with some mad bombs but the focus was mostly on Nagayo doing nifty submission counters and trying to squeeze out a submission. Ozakis backhands and open hands looked good. Yes yes, they may overdo it a little on the outside interference and I maybe would’ve liked a moment where Chigusa goes full Stone Cold and beats the hell out of everyone, but what we got was pretty nifty, and felt unique, like a joshi take on a WWF Attitude Era brawl mixed with Villano III/Atlantis and a dose of Inokiism.

Ran YuYu & Toshie Uematsu vs Chigusa Nagayo & Toshiyo Yamada, GAEA 11/30/2003

Incredibly neat match where they basically packed as many nifty moments and transitions into a short match as they could. Nagayo has a bad leg and YuYu and Uematsu are like terriers trying to due further damage. An angry Chigusa would in turn try to snap their legs with some really fast dragon screws. There was also some brutality thanks to Yamada and YuYu, mostly. Uematsu and Ran are so mean here that it seems Uematsu busts out a foreign object, and YuYu keeps trying to strangle Yamada and throwing the refee around, which made for some unusual intensity. After the match Chigusa hits a downright criminal kick to YuYus face. A match where every second was interesting and nothing felt by the numbers. GAEA was wild.

Sakura Hirota & Carlos Amano vs Ayako Hamada & Ran YuYu, GAEA 10/25/2003

Pretty much the Sakura Hirota show. She was on fire here. Mind you, it was comedic, but the match still felt like competitive pro wrestling, and the jokes were funny, creative and displayed considerable skill especially the little lucha routine she did with Ayako, so it was fine by me. Basically Hirotas thing is that she’s a useless idiot, but she keeps on trying despite her failures and she is totally capable of putting someone down for the 3 with a roll up if she just gets things right, so that’s compelling. There’s like a 9 minute stretch or so in this that’s almost all Hirota antics and it’s exhilarating. When Amano is in there’s some pretty damn good straight up wrestling too. It all builds to a really good and quite intricate finishing stretch with Amano hitting flash armbars and Hirota upsetting people with her unique ways. Pretty damn fun and unique match that never missed a beat.

Mayumi Ozaki vs Ai Fujita, GAEA 4/4/2004

Ai Fujita in GAEA?! She was a really fun wrestler. Anyone who can do lucha exchanges and look athletic, bust out slick submissions and shoot punch people in the face has some real talent in my book. It’s a good showing from Ozaki too. Not everything she did landed perfectly but her palm strikes and backfists were pretty fun, really catching Fujita to the mush. She also busted out a cool rolling leglock. Match was going fun but really kicked into next gear once Fujita started punching Ozaki in the face. Her punch combo may be one of my favourite ever in wrestling, it was Takeshi Ono level. Match also had the GAEA-typical odd touches nifty moments. Good stuff, bit unfortunate Fujita retired just shortly after this, though I guess the joshi scene didn’t hold much more for types like her at this point.

Meiko Satomura & Chikayo Nagashima vs Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada, GAEA 4/10/2004

Tons of fun, even for a tag that’s kind of on a smaller show. Early goings were basic but engaging, as they put a ton of struggle and vigor even into things as basic as a test of strength or struggling over a top wristlock, and with the people involved there’s always the factor that someone might get kicked really hard. Yamada in her later days may be physically over the hill but I always find her interesting to watch. This stuff rules not because it's hard hitting (it is) but also because they display lots of creativity. Things kick up a notch when Satomura started getting into kick battles with Kansai and Yamada. You know these 3 are GOATs and they are breathtaking to watch even compared to GOATs, every thing hitting snug and they have a bunch of different interesting ways to land their kicks and strikes. Especially dug Satomuras out of nowhere mule kick from the corner. The finishing run is Kansai vs Nagashima and it’s more about Nagashima trying to pull off a tricky pin combination to take down the juggernaut but it’s also pretty great. Kansai is so good even late in her career, her strikes land hard and she knows exactly how to be a monster, these two have a cool dynamic together like a more hard hitting Rey/Psicosis.

2025 Matchguide - Addendum #3 & Wrap-Up

 
Mad Dog Connelly vs Adam Priest, ACTION DEAN 5/24

An old school brawl in 2025! It works pretty well. I liked how both guys covered up for the ref messing up with the dog collar at the beginning. The brawling here was good, and... well... it was a good match. I feel like a hypocrite for saying it but it didn't feel like much more aside from the novelty of seeing two guys just having a no nonsense brawl and beating on each other in the modern day. Connellys comeback with the back headbutts and tumbling through the ropes was great, so was his dropkick. Thought he should've pounded on Priest a bit more. But, sometimes matches end just like that, and that's fine. It's a bloody old school brawl so it's better than 99% of wrestling nowadays easily. I enjoyed this.

Hechicero & Dr. Cerebro & Xelhua vs Blue Panther & El Pantera & Virus, ACTION Dean 9/11

6 awesome wrestlers pretty much doing what they are paid to do. That said, I thought some of the early exchanges were a bit loose, though I love Blue Panther still putting in the effort to make things look competitive, not allowing people to grab limbs easily etc. They kind of get moving in the second fall which is still nice and competitive. Lots of enjoyable sequences where they manage to not get lost. Even with the cool matwork, I thought the old man highspots (Panthers ranas, El Panteras corner headstand) were the highlights. Also really enjoyed Panther simply armdragging an intefering Hechicero away, that should happen more often. I actually thought the first Dean trios was a bit better but ymmv. It's really enjoyable stuff anyways though you will know exactly what you are getting.

Josh Barnett vs Tom Pestock, GCW 1/19

Slow paced heavyweight shootstyle?! In the middle of a 6 hour GCW PPV? Despite the surroundings I thought this was pretty good! Pestock is better on the mat than you'd expect from looking at him, and Barnett made the challenge of facing a much bigger guy feel pretty intense. Really enjoyed Pestocks giftwrap set up for the armbar, as well as his ground and pound. Vertical suplex looked great and believable. The match may have fizzled out a bit towards the end - maybe Barnetts kicks needed a bit more zest, but Pestocks clobbering was cool -  but I really enjoyed Barnettts last ditch leg submission.

Final Thoughts 

Well, I've certainly watched a lot of wrestling from 2025! So, there were a lot of good matches.  Not a lot that really punctured into mind-blowing greatness to me, but definitely some fantastic discoveries and a lot of great matches. I went through my Matchguide and there were easily 50 matches that definitely stick in my mind as not just being good or fun but actually GREAT. It is quite burning to watch current wrestling because let's be real - so much is insanely loose, overly long, choreographed, self-indulgent and/or just plain bad with no substance. I tried to watch some US Indy wrestling, and boy oh boy that scene is looking not good. Everytime I look at modern WWE for 5 seconds it's just totally ass. Even straight up good workers often indulge in bad tendencies, but that has always been the case in a way. And I can accept that. It's just not for me anymore, I am not even close to the realm of the fanbase that stuff is appealing to. I've been watching wrestling for well over 20 years now and there are dedicated AEW and WWE fans who got into wrestling like last year, for crying out loud. The stuff that I find repelling is what they are actually into, I think. I'm like 4 generations removed from the intended target audience. But I definitely can't say that there's not a lot of good wrestling around nowadays. The things that kept me compelled the most were watching the rise of talented new grapplers like Senka Akatsuki and the Sportiva boys, delving into the completely unknown territory of AWG like a true uncle, keeping an eye on cult heroes and obscure scenes like the Mutoha crew, Takahiro Tababa, XGF, JWA Tokai, the last few niches and one shots that appeal to my weird sensibilities. Discovering unfamiliar wrestling is always fun and for me it's probably the funnest part of being a wrestling fan. Unfortunately I have been mostly ignorant to lucha libre throughout the year while CMLL was having a record breaking run but there's only so much wrestling an employed man can watch. Maybe that's something I'll go and rediscover in 2045 if the world hasn't blown up by that time.

The Top Promotions (That I can name)

ActWres GirlZ (AWG) 

 Discovering AWG completely blindsided me in 2025. A wrestling promotion that doesn't even call itself wrestling but rather 'a theatrical performance based on wrestling' somehow has a really respectable backlog of good-great wrestling matches, using mostly workers that even the person training them to wrestle doesn't call wrestlers. It feels like something that's takes a bit of a different approach from regular wrestling so it's refreshing. Even more interesting is that the promotion apparently went through a nearly life-threatening roster split the before, so workers were pushed into a position to try and make something of what was left. I'm not saying it's some miracle genius promotion because often there's bad stuff and some wrestlers definitely look like they don't belong in a ring, but I was impressed by others and their effort to put on earnest matches with minimal bullshit despite all of them being 'just' actresses. Most importantly they run 3 shows a months with usually 2-3 good and sometimes better matches coming out of each show, and that's better output that I can say for any other promotion that I've observed in 2025.

Sportiva 

 Well, Sportiva is kind of a no brainer. It's the one wrestling product that I've followed weekly with considerable excitement in 2025. They've got a crop of exciting young wrestlers, some interesting veterans, and they brought as things such as curry sportsbar shootstyle and Kings Road. The end result was maybe the biggest and most consistent output of good/great matches in 2025, although mostly involving the same handful of workers. I'm not too fond of their comedy matches and some acts on their cards but that's something that can be said about pretty much any other promotion too. Sportiva is the hottest wrestling hub on earth and they were cooking in 2025.

Marvelous

While carrying the spirit of Chigusa, Marvelous ended up being perhaps the most exciting womens promotion in 2025 even while running on a paper thin roster. Much credit goes to Senka Akatsuki whose initial SHOOT PIN victory over veteran Ai Houzan in January 2025 wound up making her one of the most interesting rookies on earth pretty much immediately, and following the story throughout the year was a cool ride with lots of good matches coming out. You also had the feud with Marigold that was pretty cool. Speaking of Marigold, that promotion also put on some good matches although watching an entire show would probably put me in a coma. Some credit also goes to the other womens promotions that still try to put on somewhat serious womens pro wrestling - PURE-J and Sendai Girls, though they haven't been quite as exciting as Marvelous in 2025.

Kakuto Tanteidan/Mutoha/JWA Tokai/XGF/SAREEEism/your flavour of the month niche one-shot...

I love variety in my pro wrestling. Unfortunately, a lot of pro wrestling in 2025 felt the fucking same. It's really hard to stay engaged when everywhere it's the same by the numbers slop that you get. A big reason why AWG probably ended up being my favourite promotion to watch in 2025 - simply because they weren't afraid to break established formulas and stray away from cookie cutter sequences. The variety that the 90s had - with shootstyle, lucharesu, the grandiose Kings Road and the more simplistic New Japan strongstyle being in full bloom - is sorely missing. Oddly enough the one thing that seems to hang on is deathmatch wrestling. As such, if a full time promotion started up that ran monthly shows in shoot-style like Kakuto Tanteidan or weird chess-match grappling like Mutoha or greco roman rules matches like JWA Tokai, then that promotion would probably surely be my promotion of the year. As such since these niche productions only run a handful of times a year it's hard to call them promotion of the year even though I always end up enjoying the likes of Mutoha or Kakuto Tanteidan more than anything else. Shows like that, while having almost no wider appeal are a much needed shot in the arm when it comes to enjoying wrestling. Who knows - if all wrestling suddenly was shootstyle or weirdo grapplefuck or creepy backyard brawling, then maybe I would suddenly start craving more thigh slapping superkicks and backcrackers and canadian destroyers in my wrestling. But until then - just inject all that weird stuff in my veins.

The Top Workers

Meiko Satomura

Naming Meiko Satomura feels like a trivial answer. Obviously she's the best. Default top female wrestler in the world for like forever... well when she's not stuck in the WWE black hole anyways. She also got a run of big matches leading up to her retirement that were all memorable and better than pretty much anything else going. Her one flaw is that she's the same as always, though that seems like a non-critique considering she's always been great. Still as stiff, precise and exciting as ever in 2025 even to her last match. What, you're complaining that this GREAT wrestler delivers GREAT wrestling just exactly as you expected? I would've liked to see her maybe show a new wrinkle in the final days of her career but whatever. She's  great and that's been a constant pretty much since I started watching Japanese wrestling.

 Mari

Of all the new exciting wrestlers I've discovered in 2025, Mari is probably the most complete - and also the one where I could honestly say she might give Meiko a run for her money when it comes to the top spot among wrestlers. Well, Mari is also a veteran, though only for around 10 years. Like Meiko, she is stiff, exciting, inventive, has the vibe of a badass - unlike Meiko, she also shows some variety. She's done some great work in tags, working as a stiff overdog heel leading a Heisei-Ishingun like heel group in which she's in the Kengo Kimura role of hitting cool leg lariats to Act Yasukawas Tatsutoshi Goto hitting cool lariats. She's also a pretty fun stooge working light hearted matches that still contain some wrestling. She's had the great singles matches, the great tag work, the great undercard performances that I would want from a #1 level wrestler. She's also in a unique position  that apparently she's the one coaching all the 'actresses' that step on the mat in AWG, so it could be argued that she's also the one responsible for that promotion being good at all. Eitherways, she's become someone who I always want to check out, and as the top worker in her promotion with a few of the best matches of the year being under her belt I can see her being a valid #1 pick for workers.

Ali Najima

 Well, Najima is a no-brainer pick here. Pretty much had good-great matches weekly in Sportiva while being a rookie with just about a year of experience, and he definitely wasn't carried in those matches. Also brought us the joy of bar floor shootstyle brawling. Also looked great when he stepped into Kakuto Tanteidan and I definitely want to see more of that. Checking out his weekly progression in 2025 has been one of the most exciting things in 2025.

Yasushi Sato

From what I know, Yasushi Sato has had a total of 6 matches in 2026. I was able to see 3 of them, all great, including a mind bogglingly interesting greco roman rules match. He'd probably be a strong number 1 contender if he'd just show up on tape like 3 more times, but that has been the case for many other great wrestlers throughout history. Musing about lack of footage aside, while Yasushi Satos body has declined a little - the man is 60 years old, jesus christ! - his wrestling mind is still one of the sharpest and most interesting around. Great grappler, really intelligent wrestler, everytime he gets to do his thing it's a joy to watch.

 Blue Panther

I haven't been able to check out lucha libre much. But, as rule, old men are usually the best at lucha libre, so Blue Panther is my go to guy. At the age of 65, can it be said that he's declining a little? Or is 65 just prime age for luchadores? At any rate, few wrestlers ever have such a charisma as Blue Panther does when he hits a top rope rana in a sold out Arena Mexico, and he also has the technical skill and nuance to back it up.

Yu Shimizu/Yuta Oya/Rico Fukunaga/Avisman/Super Taira/Keita Yano/MARU/Mad Dog Connelly/Dekai Ichimotsu/Marino Saihara/Minoru Kido/CHANGO/Paul Ishida/Chon Shiryu/Hideaki Sumi/Akiyama Who Just Wants To Do It...

 You can fill the rest of the ranks with pretty much any variety of guys and girls that I've been watching in 2025. At some point it becomes hard to rank them - like how do you decide who is better: a guy who's had 3 good-great matches in a sportsbar and a great shootstyle grappling match on a JWA Tokai show, or a guy who's had 3 good-great bloody brawls in XGF and a great old school grappling match on a Health Pro show? At some point you just have to be glad that we have all of them. We tend to focus on the workers who have the greatest, the most grandiose, the longest matches - although it's usually just the wrestlers who are put in position to have them. I know for sure - without guys like Yu Shimizu or women like Marino Saihara caring enough about wrestling to put on great little performances even in a tiny sportsbar or at a half empty Shin Kiba 1st ring, wrestling would be a lot less fun for me. As such - acknowledge them and give them their flowers. So, let's say it out loud - Yu Shimizu fucking rules - Super Taira fucking rules - Rico Fukunaga fucking rules - and so on. 

 The Top 100 Matches (in no particular order. Just watch them all if you haven't already. A lot of the enjoyment here comes from watching this in context so if you're a freak from the future reading this wondering how the career of IWGP Champion Yuta Oya began,  just go and watch all the Sportiva episodes in chronological order.)

Cosmo Soldier vs Michio Kageyama, Sportiva 1/1
Ai Hozan vs Senka Akatsuki, Marvelous 1/4 
Blue Panther vs Hechicero, CMLL 1/10
Senka Akatsuki vs Ai Houzan, Marvelous 1/12 
Yusaku Ito vs Yu Shimizu, Sportiva 1/22
Meiko Satomura vs Sareee, Sareee-ISM  1/23/2025
Act & Mari vs Haruka Ishikawa & Kyoka Iwai, AWG 1/24 
Mari vs Haruka Ishikawa, AWG 2/5
Kenichiro Arai & CHANGO & PSYCHO vs. GENTARO & Akira Jo & Taro Yamada, Mutoha 2/16
Yasushi Sato vs Shoji Ohno, Mutoha 2/16
Takahiro Tababa vs GAJO, Big Bear Produce 2/22 
Yuta Oya & Ali Najima vs Konaka & Shinya Ishida, Sportiva 2/26
Mariah May vs Toni Storm, AEW 3/9 
Haruka Ishikawa & Ayano Irie vs Erisa Nagai & Rico Fukunaga, AWG 3/9
Sakura Mizushima vs Mari, AWG 3/16 
Meiko Satomura vs Chihiro Hashimoto, Sendai Girls 3/21
Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha vs Nanae Takahashi & Seri Yamaoka, Marigold 3/30
Satsuki Nagao vs Shuji Ishikawa, KT 4/8
Kosuke Sato vs Masashi Takeda, KT 4/8
Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura vs Hikaru Sato & Manabu Hara, KT 4/8 
Meiko Satomura vs Takumi Iroha, Marvelous 4/10 
ZEAL & Koji Sudo vs Sanada Ten Braves & Hiroshi Ando, Kishu Bundara 4/13
Meiko Satomura & Sareee vs Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu, Fortune Dream 4/16 
Sho Mizuno vs Yu Shimizu, Kobe Meriken 4/18
Yasushi Sato vs Super Taira, JWA Tokai 4/20/2025 
Elimination Gauntlet: Ai Houzan, Maria, Riko Kawahata, Sora Ayame & Takumi Iroha vs. Chika Goto, Kizuna Tanaka, Miku Aono, Natsumi Showzuki & Rea Seto, Marigold 4/25 
Shiori Asahi & Makoto Oishi vs CHANGO & Ayumi Honda, 2AW 4/27 
Tonikaku Yaritai Akiyama & Nakata Bide vs Masanobu Koppu No Fuchi & SUMA, AZW 4/? 
Munetatsu Nakamura vs Hagane Shinnou, Choco Pro 5/5
Shinya Aoki vs Kazusada Higuchi, 5/6 
Ali Najima vs Kanu(?) Watanabe, Sportiva 5/7
Paul Ishida vs taku, XGF 5/10 
Mentai Kid vs GENKAI, Kyushu Pro 5/11 
Senka Akatsuki vs DASH Chisako, Tenryu Project 5/21 
Seri Yamaoka vs Takumi Iroha Marigold 5/24
Cibernetico, ACTION 5/24
Chihiro Hashimoto & Mika Iwata vs Saori Anou & Natsupoi, Stardom 5/31 
Sui Cup Kenchiro vs Great Mara, CWP 6/1 
White Moriyama vs Ari Najima, HEAT-UP 6/1 
Sareee vs Ranna Yagami, Stardom 6/8
Masanori Watanabe vs Kazuhiro Tamura, Sportiva 6/11  
Sareee vs Syuri, STARDOM 6/21 
Yasushi Sato & Taro Yamada vs Akira Jo & Hideya Iso, Yoshino Aid 6/22 
Shinya Ishida & Yu Shimizu vs Ari Najima & Masanori Watanabe, Sportiva 7/2 
Ari Najima vs Masanori Watanabe, Sportiva 7/9 
Marino Saihara & Sakura Mizushima vs Anri & Yukina Uehara, AWG 7/11 
Act & Maru vs Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki, AWG 7/11 
Leon & AKARI vs Moeka Haruhi & Rydeen Hagane, Pure-J 7/13 
Saya Kamitani & Natsuki Tora vs Sareee & Takumi Iroha, Sareeeism 7/14 
Mari & Act vs Anri & Erisa Nagai (AWG 7/18) 
Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase, Sendai Girls 7/19 
Zandokan Jr. vs Judas El Traidor, Lucha Memes 7/19 
Keita Yano vs brother YASSHI, Tenryu Project 7/20
Virus vs Xelhua, RoH 7/26 
ACT vs MARU, AWG 7/26 
Sareee vs Konami, STARDOM 7/27
Ultimate Spider Jr. vs Yasutaka Ooosera, Osaka Pro 7/27 
Ali Najima vs Yuta Oya, Sportiva 7/30 
Mari & Ayano Irie vs Anri & Erisa Nagai, AWG 8/2 
Masato Tanaka vs Hayabusa, Zero1 8/3 
Ali Najima vs Masanori Kanu Watanabe, Sportiva 8/6
Konaka vs Chon Shiryu, Sportiva 8/13
Act & Mari vs Marino Saihara & Rico Fukunaga, AWG 8/13
Ali Najima & Yuta Oya vs Michio Kageyama & Shinya Ishida, Sportiva 8/13 
Makoto vs Hiroyo Matsumoto, Seadlinnng 8/22 
Chon Shiryu & Shin Suzuki vs Makoto & Sayaka, Choco Pro 8/27 
Hideaki Sumi vs Tatsunori Oya, Kobe Meriken 8/29 
Yuta Oya vs Super Taira, Sportiva 9/3 
Mari & ACT & MARU vs Marino Saihara & Sakura Mizushima & Naru, AWG 9/7
Ali Najima & Super Taira vs Yuta Oya & Ryutaro Ohno, Sportiva 9/17/2025
Chihiro Hashimoto vs Mika Iwata, Sendai 9/23 
Kenichiro Arai vs Ayumu Honda, Tenryu Project 9/23 
Ali Najima vs Konaka, Sportiva 9/24 
Virus & Xelhua vs Charles Lucero & Erick Ortiz, Sugehit Produce 9/27 
Avisman vs Eragon, Vikmask 10/4 
Merman Masakazu vs Aesop, Health Pro 10/5 
Dekai Ichimotsu vs Vasaru Ikeuchi, Health Pro 10/5 
Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha & Mio Momono vs Seri Yamaoka & Mayu Iwatani & Utami Hayashishita, NOAH 10/6 
Drew Gulak vs Timothy Thatcher, Beyond 10/12 
GENTARO vs Shuichiro Katsumura, Ganbare Pro/FREEDOMS 10/16 
Keita Yano vs Hikaru Sato, Tenryu Project 10/17 
Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara vs Rico Fukunaga & Sakura Mizushima, AWG 10/19 
Takumi Iroha vs Senka Akatsuki, Marvelous 10/19 
Ali Najima vs Kosuke Sato, KT 10/23 
Tanomusaku Toba & Kengo Mashimo vs Yuko Miyamoto & brother YASSHI, KT 10/23 
Keita Yano vs Manabu Hara, KT 10/23
Keita Yano vs Koji Iwamoto, Tenryu Project 10/25 
El Hijo del Santo & Santo Jr. & Ciclon Ramirez Jr vs. El Hijo de Fishman & El Hijo de LA Park & Texano Jr., TxT/Lucha Libre World Berlin 11/2
Sareee vs Chihiro Hashimoto, Sendai Girls 11/16 
Yasu Urano vs Akito, 11/16 
Minoru Kido vs taku, XGF 11/23
MARU & Ayano Irie vs Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara, AWG 11/24 
Ryo Kawamura vs Hikaru Sato, Hard Hit 11/29 
Yu Shimizu & Yuta Oya vs Ali Najima & Hajime Enshu, Sportiva 11/19
Kotaro Nasu & FUMA vs Kotaro Suzuki & Tetsuya Izuchi, GLEAT 12/6
MARU vs Chii Aoba, AWG 12/15 
Marino Saihara vs Rico Fukunaga, AWG 12/20 
BADMAX Fujinaga vs Great Kuririn, Kobe MERIKEN 12/25
Senka Akatsuki vs Seri Yamaoka, Marvelous 12/28 
MARU vs Rico Fukunaga, AWG 12/29 

The full guide: 

2025 Matchguide 

Shinya Hashimoto in ZERO1

   

Shinya Hashimoto vs Hirotaka Yokoi, Z1 6/5/2003

This was pretty freaking awesome. It’s Hashimoto vs an aggressive hard hitting shooter in a Korakuen Hall main event, so that shouldn’t come as a huge surprise… still, this a gem. Opening establishes the story of the match nicely as Yokoi came at Hashimoto with a barrage of wild punches but get knocked back by a karate chop. Hashimoto was a total killer here, basically every single thing he did was awesome. Cutting through Yokoi with extremely well timed strikes, trying to break his leg with punches, catching him with a Fujiwaraish leg hook… really had the feel of a wily veteran putting a faster younger fighter through the wringer using experience. So Hashimoto is not just a monster, he is an intelligent monster. Even basic things like a kneedrop looked insanely violent. Yokoi was swinging his fists fast and hard at Hash but kept getting caught by Hashimotos counter kicks and occasionally a shoot heabdutt to the face. At the same time, it seemed Yokoi could beat Hashimoto anytime if he just punched him hard enough or locked in a submission. As such the whole match was intense. Another chapter in the book of Why Shinya Hashimoto is the Greatest Wrestler of All Time.

Shinya Hashimoto & Kohei Sato vs Katsuhiko Ogasawara & Akio Kobayashi, Z1 3/27/2003

Fuck yeah Pro Wrestling vs Karate! Ogasawara breaks a baseball bat with a spin kick before the match to establish dominance. This is really the dream match of every 8 year old kid who loves pro wrestling and karate (now you can guess what I was like at 8). Just 4 men leveling gritty beatdowns on each other for 13 minutes with hardly a breather. The first Hashimoto vs Ogasawara exchange is so awesome as you really get the feeling that Ogasawara was pushing Hashimoto to break out faster and more agile strikes than he usually does. It’s rare Hashimoto faces someone who matches him when it comes to killer strikes but fuck Ogasawara was destroying people here. He looked insanely precise and killer here just stabbing through people with his axe kicks and piercing gut punches. And Hashimoto would always time his strikes and put people down with a big swing. Kobayashi feels very sleazy with his oily hair and colour mismatched taped hands. You look at him and you immediately want to see Hashimoto stomping his guts out and and that’s pretty much what happens. Kohei Sato is kind of the red headed step child here – he’s outmatched against the striking expert. When Hashimoto tags him in, Sato would gleefully take the chance to lay some hard kicks into an exposed Ogasawara. Later we see him going for a running move only to crotch himself in the ropes like a goof ball. One big Ogasawara punch to the gut sent Kohei crawling to the floor clutching himself like he just got his intestines rearranged. Though to his credit Sato fights hard dropping karatekas with some hard suplexes that looked like they had minimal cooperation. It all builds to Ogasawara taking a huge beatdown as Hashimoto just decides to punch him in the face until he starts bleeding. That is actually what happens – Hashimoto nails his signature double stomp, landing on Ogasawara like a fat cartoon dog would land on Tom from Tom & Jerry, then taking a look at Ogasawara and deciding he wants this old man to bleed, and a couple measured knuckle punches to Ogasawaras face later he is indeed covered in blood. The finish is Sato putting the pressure on a seemingly dead Ogasawara only to get knocked out by a lucky hit like the goofball that he is and then crawling all over the referee in confusion. It’s a sudden ending but it makes sense given the build, Ogasawara can just KO anyone with one precise blow. I would’ve hoped this would set up some kind of epic Hashimoto/Ogasawara bloodfeud but instead they only tagged together for the rest of the year because japanese wrestling is like that. I wrote a lot of words about this one but to sum it up they hit each other with lots of really hard punches and kicks and it was great.

Shinya Hashimoto vs Shinjiro Otani, Z1 12/24/2003

I don’t think I’ve seen this match before, and it’s not something that’s brought up much, which is a bit odd because it’s two of the greatest Japanese wrestlers stiffing the daylights out of each other in a big match. Undoubtedly the action here was simplistic, but rather great. These guys really know how to get the most out of everything. During the opening grappling, which was classic New Japan style, simple but believable, they really made basic things like going for an armbar feel meaningful and putting some grit and struggle into it. Of course, Hashimoto is this really towering presence and everyone is thinking if Otani can somehow overcome the king. Everybody knows Otani will probably not tap out to a kimura from Hashimoto 3 minutes into the match but just the way Hashimoto would really crank would let everyone know that he was putting Otani in trouble. Otani knows this so he goes and slaps the shit out of Hashimoto. They stiff the hell out of each other, spirited Otani gets the advantage, he facewashes Hashimoto, and to top it off puts a kimura on Hashimoto for some nice mirroring. Hashimoto would in turn increase the viciousness again, kicking Otani all over the ring, until Otani is the one crumbled in the corner. Otani stopping Hashimotos beastly onslaught with a messy headbutt to the shoulder is so great because it’s simple, believable and Hashimotos selling immediately lets you know that he’s in trouble. Not just because he’s in pain and screaming, but also because he stops using the arm and instead opts for his spinning legsweep in a great spot. This is why Hashimotos just the fucking best, whole match was done in a fairly simple fashion but just oozing with aura and everything meaning something. I could see some people being unhappy with the finish but I thought it was just fine since I am tired of 2.9 ending runs anyways. In a way that would have gone against the story they were telling. Tall that and they absolutely stiffed the daylights out of each other, goodness gracious.

Shinya Hashimoto vs Alexander Otsuka, Z1 7/13/2001

This was kinda like the pro wrestling version of those PRIDE fights with an insane size mismatch. We don’t really think of Otsuka as ‘small’ because usually he works like he’s such a beast, but he does look quite small next to Hashimoto here. This is close to a squash but it’s memorable. Basically Otsuka tries to get something in on Hashimoto and just gets mauled. Hashimoto would shrug off Otsukas early attempts at takedowns and then proceed to try and pulverize him with vicious kicks. Just destroying his shoulders and arms with bone breaking kicks and karate chops. Otsuka looks really tough not backing down against the beast and he gets a few cool hope spots but is quickly destroyed. Highlight was clearly Hashimotos gritty crowbar shoulderblock that blew Otsuka away, and the finishing submission which looked like a killing. Still you want it to be a bit more epic considering it’s Hashimoto vs Alexander freaking Otsuka but sometimes you can’t have it all.