Pro Wrestling in 2025 Week 25

 Wolf Ozawa & Aesop vs Super Shimizu & Merman Masakazu, 666 6/6

Old ama-pro guys getting together in Korakuen Hall and worshipping Showa era wrestling. Pretty fun stuff. Super Shimizu is pretty rough, very much a skinny old man trying to move and struggling, but it's kinda fun. Aesop and Masakazu both look good, they actually get nice height on their jumping kicks and execute the technical stuff well, Masakazu even hit an enzuigiri into the steel pole. Wolf Ozawa doesn't do much in this match and its probably for the better.

Kenichiro Arai vs Nobutaka Moribe, Yoshino Aid 6/22

Haven't seen much of Moribe, let alone recent Moribe, but he looked pretty good here. As far as I know he's a Dick Togo guy who used to worship Eddie Guerrero. He looked pretty comfortable grappling with Arai here, never lost, adding a few neat touches. The grappling portion felt very lucharesu-tinged with small details like Moribes reversal of the reverse hammerlock or Arai using a leg grapevine to set up a headlock being the highlights. After that they morph into an old studio scientific match, like Pat OConnor vs Mike Graham. They did headlocks into hip tosses, flying headscissors, everything. If you like Kenichiro Arais work you will like this. I wouldn't mind seeing Moribe grappling with the other Mutoha guys after this because he lookde capable. Pretty short match though but sometimes short and sweet is cool, not every Arai match needs to be 60 minutes.

Yasushi Sato & Taro Yamada vs Akira Jo & Hideya Iso, Yoshino Aid 6/22

This was the raw Mutoha style action that your brain craves. 4 great grapplers squaring off and just having a bunch of great mat exchanges, and then a bunch of ridiculously awesome stuff in the 2nd half. Yamada vs Iso is known quality and they seemed pretty spry here, with Iso really not letting up for such an old seemingly outmatched guy, I really like his use of the Fujiwara Armbar and there were a few nifty moments that Iso has a knack for such as his reversal of a dragon sleeper. At this point I've seen a bunch of great Iso matches so I know the guy is really capable yet he keeps surprising me. I don't think we've seen Yasushi Sato and Akira Jo really match up, but my god they are a good match up for each other. We've seen Jo tap people out with a side headlock so when he cinches in just a basic cravate or wristlock its pretty intense. Sato trying to catch the more physically forceful Jo was really cool to watch and Jo had this grin on him all the time, you could tell he loved grappling with an old master. As always with Sato we get a bunch of nifty stuff centered around Russian Legsweeps and him tying someones legs up in a cool way. First half was pretty mat based but they really drop bombs in the second half with some sick headbutts, nifty team work and unexpected high spots. Sato busting out a perfect springboard dive looks pretty epic at his age, I also loved how they couldn't tag out, Isos out of nowhere enzuigiri and they made me flip out for the sleeper hold. Really really good stuff, once again affirming the greatness of the Mutoha guys there are few wrestlers in the world who can even hold a candle to this crew.

Chihiro Hashimoto & Mika Iwata vs Saouri Anou & Natsupoi, Stardom 5/31

Really entertaining, borderline excellent tag that felt big time. Basically like a warped version of Rockers vs Twin Towers. Anou and Natsupoi are two girly, dainty, skinny models, it's crazy how over the top they look even compared to the Takako Inoues of the past, and Hashimoto and Iwata look starkly like real fighters in comparison to them. The match is basically Iwata and Hashimoto kicking their asses and looking pretty impressive in doing so, Iwata has lots of spectacular kicks and Hashimotos juggernaut-like power is in full bloom. Loved all the moments where Hashimoto came in to clear house and blow people away with her charges. Loved when Hashimoto said 'fuck your flippy bullshit' and did a cartwheel. Anou and Poi have minimal offense in this, a surprising choice considering this is their produce show, but they work pretty well as overmatched faces. When they get on offense it's well done, and they do display good skills, Anou at one point hit a really stiff forearm smash, and Natsupois cartwheels are fun. Thought this was shaping up to be one of the best matches of the year, until they kinda overreached with the kick sequence between Poi and Iwata. 

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

Random Joshi

Yoshiko Tamura vs Emi Sakura, NEO 5/5/2009

Nearly perfect 15 minute war, I know both these two can be pretty great when they’re inspired, and they still surprised me with how great they were. A big part of why the match rocks is Emi Sakura, who brings a ton of spunk and clever spots outsmarting Tamura and doing damage to her higher ranked opponent. Tamura cutting off Sakura by viciously strangling her with a cobra clutch was pretty perfect. There isn’t a ton of groundwork but they do a few neat inventive holds that are well worked. Sakura working the back was brisk, pretty violent with Sakura dropping her body weight on Tamuras spine in nasty ways and sold very well by Tamura. Final minutes were really good high end workrate stuff with Sakura desperately trying to pull off a flash pin, some really good dodge and counter move stuff and Tamura just demolishing her with her awesome pummeling elbows, I think her spin kick also gave Sakura a bloody lip. Do yourself a favour and go out of your way to watch this match.

 

Dynamite Kansai vs Sonoko Kato, Oz Academy 9/11/2016

This is definitely something I should have checked out in 2016, because this was pretty awesome, hard hitting pro wrestling with no padding. It’s one of Kansais last singles matches, but she goes all out here and still has her moments where she looks like a monster and kicks her opponent in the face. Thought Kato was pretty great here, really giving Kansai a working over with badass kicks and staying on her with submissions. What was best about this was that they went out and delivered 20 minutes of straight up non-formulaic pro wrestling. Loved the opening second as Kato kept stubbornly going for a waistlock to hit the German Suplex on Kansai. Build to the big bombs was really good as there was plenty of facekicking and struggle. I loved how even with the bigger moves, a basic kick to the face from Kansai could be a near finish. Great match, made me think I should go back and watch like 200 Sonoko Kato matches.

 

Azumi Hyuga & Command Bolshoi & Ran Yu Yu vs Misae Genki & Yoshiko Tamura & Carlos Amano, JWP 10/13/2002

Insane 45 minute iron woman match with everyone going insanely hard right from the start and never really letting up, just busting out one great exchange after another. The stiffness her was outstanding, they all decided to put some extra oomph and hatred into every blow, things like a headstomp or dropkick were really cracking people her. They mostly stuck to your classic match ups of Hyuga/Tamura, Genki/Ran and Bolshoi/Amano, although they cycle through here and there so you get a little bit of everything. Hyuga is a reliable tireless dynamo as always and her jumping knees and face kicks were sick, Tamura hits some of the hardest elbows as always and it seems she had gotten the hang out of how to work a more meaningful pace. Yu Yu vs Genki is always reliable and gritty, just two tanks with awesome offense barraging each other. Bolshoi/Amano is an all time great match up and they were going hard as fuck here. Tons of slick grappling, at one point they both were in a leg ride and twisting each others legs up in ridiculous ways. Their later exchange in the match was completely awesome with amazing submission counters, Amano hitting a Honda-style deadlift German with Bolshoi desperately trying to resist, incredible stuff. For a long match I think they did a great job mixing up the offense without repeating their moves too often, everything still felt meaningful, and because of the rules and the length of the match you buy something random like a dragon sleeper counter 40 minutes in as a potential finish. For that they did a great job, and like I said holy fuck did they go all out guns blazing in this, just ridiculous wrestling. Crazy this was done for 200 fans and a shitty one camera production. The business may have been nosediving but these women were still pushing the envelope when it comes to in-ring action. Great shit, really a bit of a hidden all timer in the rubble.

Pro Wrestling in 2025 Week 24

 Super Taira & Ali Najima vs Ishikiri & Grand Passion Mask #4, Sportiva 6/18

Fun match with again the only problem being that it was short. I mean this went like 7 minutes or so. It's a cool look at a Velocity style short tag though. Grand Passion Mask from what I've seen mostly does comedy style wrestling but he worked some serious lucha exchanges with Taira here that were fun. Ishikiri is a thickly built dude with some cool moves squishing opponents under his size, and Najima is always reliable with his kicks. I like that little sliding firemans carry thing he added to his arsenal recently. Still, to short for a match with someone as talented as  Super Taira in it.

Robert Martyr vs Shoji Ohno vs Kohei Sato, Marvelous 6/10

Shoji Ohno is a must-watch guy for me, and this Robert Martyr kid seems really talented. Unfortunately this just had to be a 3 way match for some reason, and a 3 way that went only about 6 minutes to boot. I bet literally any of these guys in a singles match against each other would be really good. In this constellation we got some fun Ohno palm rushes and Martyr hitting a nasty powerbomb but not much more. Sato can still hit a hard kick and mean knee lift so maybe even he would've been better in a singles match. Whoever is booking Marvelous, please give us Robert Martyr vs Shoji Ohno at some point.

Nanae Takahashi vs Mayu Iwatani (Marigold 5/4)

Big Matches Nanaes run continued. I'm not familiar with Iwatani. She is certainly skinny, and not really a very impressive wrestler. But the crowd is super into her, so even a basic test of strength had heat. Nanae largely carries this in the first half dominating on the mat and with some hard punting kicks. Mayu struggles to hit even a bodyslam on Nanae which is compelling. Nanae ends up cracking Mayu with a chair which was really unexpected, and even tossing her down a flight of stairs then dragging her to the ring by her hair. It settles a bit into a more generic finishing run with Iwatanis crucifix driver looking blown and her seemingly hitting Nanaes face with a moonsault. Nanaes Tenryuisms were really fun and there was a pretty hard headbutt at some point, so it's a wortwhile match just went a hair too long at 25 minutes length.

Toshiyuki Sakuda vs Keito Murota, DIE 2/23

I decided to check out some DIE, because they are nice enough to upload some stuff on YouTube. And what do ya know, I really really liked this! I've been burnt out because of deathmatch wrestling thanks to BJW. What set this apart from your typical BJW deathmatch is the SELLING. In BJW, for years I've seen guys deliberately running into the lighttubes, cutting themselves, jumping into broken glass and not selling it, just completely burying the danger and pain of the lighttubes. Here, these guys were making it excrutiatingly clear they were rolling around in broken glass and how much of a fucking nightmare that is. This match had maybe 20 lighttubes compared to the 100-200 of other deathmatches but felt way grittier. Sakuda actually works a two on one on Murota, trying to force the hand into the broken glass, with Murota selling that he really doesn't even want his hand in the glass, and then Sakuda goes for a far side cradle that just looks torturous. Moreover, when Murota grabs something sharp, Sakuda grabs a chair to defend himself. Murota also goes to grab a chair, but Sakuda rushes over to clock him with his chair before he can actually use it, instead of waiting for the stereotypical chain duel spot. Smart! Murotas selling is great as he is wheezing and whimpering like he wants to die just from getting slammed into a chair. When he starts to hit Russian Leg Sweeps, it really looks like he is crazy enough to destroy himself just to beat his opponent. He also hits some really sick headbutts. There is the mouth skewering again, which still freaks me out, and taking a stiff headbutt with a skewer stuck in your face is pretty insane. The pulling the skewer out of the mouth is also one hell of a strap drop. Also the sound mixing for this is really great, we get a ringside camera and really get to enjoy all the nightmarish crushing of the glass and clonking of chairs. Little bit long and slightly slow, but the grittiness of it all kept me enthralled and they end it with a suitably insane big spot. Deathmatch wrestling still has something in it in 2025.

 

2025 Roundup 

Ice Ribbon Club Ice Ribbon Match Vol. 2 3/30/2022

 Adversity Nine: Tsukasa Fujimoto vs Kaho Matsushita vs Saran vs Nao Ishikawa vs Yuuki Mashiro vs Asahi vs Ibuki Hoshi vs Totoro Satsuki vs Tsukushi

Adversity 9 baby. I really really enjoyed the 2011 version of this crazy concept, so I was really curious what the 2022 Ice Ribbon roster would do with the concept. To remind: This is a double gauntlet match, everybody fights each other, twice, in about 72 consecutive singles matches each with a 1 minute time limit. And for the most part, yeah this is really good! Basically 8 rounds of grueling hell sprints that got incredibly intense in parts. The thing with the 2011 match was that the weakest wrestlers would get moved to the back, here it was the other way around with everyone facing the weaker opponents first and at the end having to survive against Tsukushi and then Tsukasa Fujimoto. That made the dynamic a bit different, but still really interesting. The format is great because it makes any basic pinfall, roll up or boston crab into credible nearfalls. And you get these intense, unique moments like the almost amateur-like forcing of a pinfall, or having to survive a boston crab. So anything can finish, and everyone is in out of the match quickly enough to not get exposed, and when they have to face the gauntlet each individual character shines.

So like with most modern joshi I am hardly familiar with the kind of wrestlers that Ice Ribbon had in 2022. I vaguely know Tsukasa and Tsukushi. Tsukasa is a good ace figure with some hard kicks and works well as a tough final test for everyone, she was also hellbent on hitting people with the Japanese Ocean Suplex, but I was surprised by the kind of violence Tsukushi brought. She’s under 5 feet tall but was really brutalizing people, crushing faces with sick low dropkicks, trying to drill through people with double stomps. Her double stomp to poor Nao Ishikawas spine was especially evil as Ishikawa had just spent a minute surviving a boston crab. I’m pretty sure she also kneed someone in the throat at some point.

Of all the wrestlers I didn’t know I think I liked Satsuki the most. She’s just a big old tank and having her in there to crush people with splashes and slams is a nice different vibe to break up the dropkicks-and-rollups generic joshi stuff that many others in the match were doing. Thought her segment was really impressive as she worked some great stuff with everyone, I also got a kick out of when she submitted someone by simply squishing them when they attempted to backslide her, really unique and made perfect sense. Ibuki Hoshi is a fun chopping machine and Asahi had some cool submissions. The others were a lot more basic and generic, which is not necessarily a bad thing, and had some moments but didn’t stand out in a major way. The one negative standout was Mashiro who really took out the intensity with her silly bullshit a few times, unnecessary in a match where everyone else was working hard to keep the intensity high for like 70 minutes, even when she tried to wrestle seriously she wasn’t much good, she hit some dropkicks where even the commentator was yelling that she’s not hitting her target at all. Also Saran is like 13 and the others weren’t going easy on her at all which made her gauntlet part quite insane, though she did get a kind of epic rush at the end, pretty unique and one of those ‘pro wrestling is real as fuck’ moments that you only really get in Japan. In total this wasn’t as good as the 2011 match but definitely still really good. The wrestling didn’t reach the same heights as you didn’t really have any Emi Sakura-Hikaru Shida-Chii Tomiya type in the match to elevate things to that level but the intensity was great and there lots of great moments.

The Library

Pro Wrestling in 2025 Week 23

 Ranna Yagami vs Sareee (STARDOM 6/8)

This was good shit. Basically Sareee faces a spunky underdog who kicks really hard and they throw the kitchen sink. Sareee has great offense and because she was beating on someone who felt like an outmatched underdog that offense meant a lot more. Yagami looked good. She kicked hard, and had a few cool bits of offense. Seemed like one of the better talents on the current scene. The pop-up no selling annoyed me slightly, but its forgivable in this kind of high intensity affair. Most importantly this felt like a fight. Good contender for the best 10 minute match of the year.

Nanae Takahashi vs Miku Aono, Marigold 5/24

Nanae is the next in the 2025 competition of who can have the best retirement match. And this is a pretty respectable entry! It's perfectly fun pro wrestling for the opening minutes. Miku Aono is another name in the joshi scene who I know absolutely nothing about. Based on what I see here, she's solid. Has good solid offense, lots of kicks, doesn't kick as hard as Ranna Yagami, a little clumsy here and there, but a perfectly capable pro wrestler overall. She is smart enough to change the submission hold she's applying when Nanae starts making the ropes and that kind of thing goes a long way for me. Then Nanae gets some chairs in the ring and they do the Necro chair spot where they sit opposite each other and smack each other?! Is that a common spot in Japan now or did Nanae Takahashi watch some Necro Butcher tapes and decide 'Yeah, this is what I need to be doing'? Regardless, this turns really good in the ending portion with lots of nasty hard hitting, clobbering lariats, some sick headbutts, Aonos kicks getting more violent and Takahashi punching her in the face. Aonos big kick that swatted Nanae down was probably the highlight of the match. Struggle over the Styles Clash also felt pretty epic. Kinda awesome to see Nanae put it all together to go out in style like this, actually made me want to go back and watch more Nanae matches because this was really boss and stands up to Meikos retirement match.

Yuta Oya & Konaka vs Ali Najima & Yu Shimizu, Sportiva 6/11

Usual good weekly action from Sportiva. Solid stuff in the first half, and lots of really nifty stuff in the 2nd. Konaka is always interesting to watch no matter what he does, even when its a basic arm drag exchange or a hot tag. There were some really good mat exchanges between him and Najima that made me long for a singles match between them. Yuta Oya is continueing his transformation into the best wrestler in all of Japan, it's really cool to watch him climb the ranks. So far Najima has been the overdog to his underdog so the almost All Japan style finish between them was a great piece of story. Really exciting stuff and another piece in Sportivas really good little 2025 run.

Masanori Kanu Watanabe vs Kazuhiro Tamura, Sportiva 6/11

More sportsbar shootstyle baby. I love that we have this now. Apparently Watanabe is actually an MMA guy so that explains why he hangs really well with Tamura on the mat. This starts with 5 minutes of slick U-Style grappling with both guys trying to lock in submissions but not quite succeeding, and its really cool to see that kind of thing in 2025. The non-matwork portion was really good too. I'm excited about Watanabe because it seems he really gets it, he sold a random leglock from Tamura like it nearly twisted out his knee and it made the second half of the match pretty intense. Tamura is odd, he's rarely great in his own promotion but for some reason often puts in really good little performance in this damn sportsbar. Exciting stuff, a genuinely really good 10 minute match.

 

2025  Wrestling Roundup

Matches from Itigaya Ice Box

 Shuichiro Katsumura vs Shota, Ganbare 2018/10/26

Very nice technical match taking place on a tiny mat in that same space where Emi Sakura runs her shows. The story is pretty simple, Katsumura is the shooty grappler and Shota is the oldschool grappler, so Katsumura will force Shota to break with dangerous submissions, and Shota would short arm scissor the fuck out of Katsumura. Shota actually has lots of compelling Short Arm Scissor work, and there were some great slick reversals including an absolutely spectacular armbar counter from underneath from a test of strength/bridge spot. I loved how Shota got pissed and made it a point to force Katsumura to use the out of bounds to escape from the short arm scissor. Pretty nice crafty pro wrestling.

Fumihito Kihara vs Yumehito Imanari, Ganbare 2013/5/10

Before this match, I wasn’t familiar with Fumihito Kihara. Apparently he has been AJPWs ring announcer for ‘several years’. His history of matches that he had according to Cagematch is thinly spread out and confusing, only making a handful of appearances in companies as different as K-Dojo or the reborn PWC throughout the years. He walks out here tanned as hell and wearing some neon orange trunks. He does not look like someone who only wrestles sparringly, he looks like someone who has been grinding himself to dust in the pro wrestling business for decades. Looking quite literally as tough as a human brick. And he wrestles kind of like a WAR guy! Immediately they go for an uncooperative vibe, blocking some strikes and then Kihara goes to choke Imanari and kick him in the face. Kihara cinches basic holds with the intent to tap Imanari out, really torturing him and giving him a hiding. The actual match is not quite as great as those first couple minutes promised, but its fun. Uncooperative, stiff, different. Eventually Imanari starts firing back with some kicks of his own and running into Kihara with repeated Shining Wizards, and the finish is great. I think Kihara vs Keita Yano would’ve been an awesome matchup.

Mai Ichii vs Miki Ishii, Ice Ribbon 2/22/2008

Brutal stiff fight where they both didn’t hold back on any strike and fought really hard, which is kind of the best kind of no-ring wrestling there is. Way better and more passionate than a lot of matches in big arenas. Ichii is a legit MMA fighter with some wins and she’s a monster with the kicks, kind of the last breath of the Toshiyo Yamada/Kumiko Maekawa type fighters. She’s a gem and clearly someone I need to look up more because everytime I see her she brings the fight. Ishii is 2 days away from retirement and she really uses that momentum to go as intense as she can. Ishii doesn’t have the martial-artist moves like Ichii, but her basic dropkicks, kicks and forearms landed insanely hard and you have to love that. She also had some really cool leg submissions, and is tough enough to take some absolutely insane kicks from Ichii. Here jumping move of the wall was also impressive. There was a short joke where Ishiis tag team partner(?) came in to help but it lasted only about to 30 seconds and it lead to Ichii thrust kicking them hard. Great 10 minute fight.

Pro Wrestling in 2025 Week 22

 Nanae Takahashi vs NORI, LLPW 4/14

When I saw this happened, I was intrigued. Not just because it's Nanae, but because it's an LLPW match! I had no idea LLPW was still around let alone that you could watch it. And yeah apparently they have put up a handful of recent matches on YouTube. I saw that apparently NORI has a decent MMA background, so she definitely fits Shinobu Kandoris mold. Don't get your hopes too high, because she largely wrestles a generic style. That said, this is quite the good little match and definitely worth watching. NORI is fairly generic, aside from a few kicks and some cool armlocks, but she makes up for it with intensity and passion. And Nanae is quite grounding these matches. It's smarter work than I recall her doing when she was in her prime, but better late than never I guess. Just Nanae grabbing a basic front headlock and snapping her opponent down was a really simple spot that immediately got me into the match. The same goes for her basic dragon screw later in the match. No rocket science here, just well executed basic pro wrestling with a good deal of struggle and urgency, and NORI occasionally connecting with some hard kicks or locking in a cool armlock to try and force a tap, with the veteran vs young upstart story being felt strongly. Absolutely give it a shot if you can get into modern joshi at all.

Seri Yamaoka vs Komomo Minami, Marigold 4/27

This caught my attention because it had some low ratings on Cagematch. A joshi match really has to be special when it gets low ratings on cagematch. The match I thought was a pretty cool showcase for all the cool shit Yamaoka can do, twisting her opponent around in Honda-ish ways. Minami didn't look bad either, she showed up in wrestling shoes and grappled a little, her offense wasn't entirely great, lots of slightly flimsy DDTs, but overall I thought there wasn't anything terribly wrong here, worth checking out to see Yamaoka against someone she can twirl around and put down for the 3 with a cool pin.

Seri Yamaoka vs Takumi Iroha, Marigold 5/24

Really good stuff I thought, that delivers pretty much what you hope with both of them doing what makes them cool, while also having a really sensible match layout. Obviously there is a world difference between them in ranking so Yamaoka is a huge underdog against Iroha. I thought they did a great job telling the story that Iroha is a nigh untouchable badass but Yamaoka could get her if she could just get ahold of her and start doing her wrestling thing. Iroha was very good here, she is one of the few modern wrestlers who when hitting stomps and kicks actually looks like she is stomping and kicking the shit out of someone, I also thought she did a great job giving Yamaoka just the right amount of offense and selling how Yamaoka was trying to sprain her ankle. Yamaoka still needs a dose of confidence but her potential is clearly enormous and she was sticking her neck out here taking an asskicking from Iroha and hitting cool suplexes and trying like hell to pin Irohas damn shoulders to the mat. I love that intense pinfall attempts are a big thing in 2025 now. I can definitely see Yamaoka tearing people apart in a years time if this continues and I look forward to it.

Ali Najima & Ryutaro Ohno vs Kanu Watanabe & Yu Shimizu, Sportiva 6/4

More good rookie action from Sportiva. It's basic, but these matches are proof that basic doesn't have to be boring. In this case we get some cool aggression between Najima and Watanabe, with all their forearms really hitting with a thud. Najima is now in the position where he has to defend his ranking against the younger upstarts and it makes things interesting. Shimizu is really reliable in his role as a old guy who hits like a truck and really cracks people with elbows. Ohno and Watanabe continue their journey into my heart, Ohno with his clunky lovable charisma and Watanabe by hitting some really hurty looking kicks to Shimizus shoulder and trying to submit him.

Yuta Oya & TORU vs Shinya Ishida & Enshu Hajime, Sportiva 6/4

Somehow Sportiva produces lots of good wrestlers on their own, but often bring in wrestlers who kind of suck into their shows. TORU isn't terrible, but he is kind of zany. Enshu Hajime is tall-ish and really skinny and kind of awkward, though he does come into his own a little when it's time to throw kicks. Oya is the glue in this match, since TORU isn't exactly treating this match too serious. It's all about Oya taking a nasty beatdown from Ishida with some hard stomps and a cool build to Oyas comeback. Then we get Hajime laying into Oya with more kicks and knees. Oya is a great gutsy wrestler, the struggle he put into his steamroller move was awesome, it was so simple but it made that whole basic ending run a whole lot better. Really nice finish with Oya absolutely spiking Hajimes skeleton-ish body with the Harai Goshi to pick up a really nice W.

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

Some more 80s AJW

 

Jaguar Yokota vs Devil Masami, AJW 9/7/1983

An amazing piece of new footage for the history, but also simply because it’s another Jaguar Yokota in her physical prime big match dropping on us out of nowhere. Watching this, it’s very much an early 80s AJW styled match. Serious, straight forward pro wrestling from before the Crush Gals melodrama took over. Starts with some fast paced moves, then they settle into hold-based groundwork before building up to another explosion. As much praise as Jaguar gets for being ahead of her time and insanely athletic, I always end up most impressed by the intensity of her basic wrestling. Just the fact she makes something like a schoolboy rollup look like an insanely forceful takedown or how she would pull back her opponent in the indian deathlock from the ropes. They work some momentum shifts that feel to happen at the drop of a coin but they still feel meaningful, loved how Jaguar immediately grounded the match again. Devil is as solid as you know her to be, hadn’t quite come into her character yet but her wrestling was credible and she made a fun powerful counterpart for the lighter Jaguar. However the big turning point was when Masami decided to hoist Yokota up and drop her straight on her head with probably the sickest ganso bomb I’ve ever seen. Yokota was able to slip out and hit Masami with a desperation suplex, and both of them looked like they had taken significant damage at that point. Something I miss about old school wrestling – the selling is not hyper-theatralic as it is now, but you can still tell damage was done and both of them were fighting for survival. This culminates in a brief but very memorable finishing run with some insanely intense pin attempts. Fairly modest compared to other AJW big matches, but memorable because they kept it intense and to the point. Jaguar looked liked a wrestling godess as she always does and the earnest challenger Devil Masami was really cool. A hell of a match to randomly drop on all of us.

Kazue Nagahori vs Yumi Ogura, AJW 3/20/1986

Another stellar match in the underrated careers of these two. This was both of them going hard for 30 minutes, with hardly a moment that dragged. No restholds or tentativeness, both of them go at it immediately, throwing explosive kicks and fighting like mad on the mat. Their kicks weren’t quite UWF-like yet either, so that made this pretty unique as you had the two of them spin kicking each other in the ribs and sometimes in the face. There is not a ton of overarching psychology, but there are some neat emphasized moves like the mirrored figure 4s throughout the match. Tons of cool moments of great struggle and some things that felt like a big deal. Heck, like 25 minutes into this match they would still scramble out of pinfalls before a 1 count like it was an amateur wrestling match, and that rules. Great last couple minutes with the repeated crashing and burning and both of them throwing the kitchen sink trying to win. Really unique to see a pure wrestling match in joshi like this and this ended up going down as one of the best bouts of the 80s.

Grizzly Iwamoto & Bison Kimura vs Akira Hokuto & Suzuka Minami, AJW 6/18/1989

Man checking out old AJW can be jarring. This was full-on in your face intensity, plenty of scrappy WAR-esque exchanges that would probably cause an uproar if they happened on US TV, borderline reckless brutality on display with girls slapping the shit out of each other, basic stomps and elbows executed with a real meanness, dropkicks landing flush in peoples face. First fall is pretty much an asskicking tour de force from Iwamoto and Kimura, who are in their badass military get up and there to stomp ass, with a few unpredictable babyface spots from Hokuto and Minami thrown in to keep things exciting. Minami getting punched in the face when she tried to go for a basic cover and then getting crushed by stomps and knee drops was another one of those basic but really violent moments that you seemingly don’t get in modern wrestling anymore. Minami and Hokuto won’t set your world on fire as a babyface team here, Hokuto is not yet Hokuto and Minami doesn’t have much personality at this point either, but they are energetic. Loved how Kimura and Iwamoto said ‘fuck this’ after the babyface started getting in some offense so they just grabbed some chairs and nightsticks to beat the shit out of their opponents some more. It does get a little meandering (30 minutes is long for an all out brawl) and there are some fuckups, though there is some more harrowing uncalled for kendo stick violence in the 3^rd fall, also blood because of course there’s blood. You really owe it to yourself to check this out just to see Iwamoto and Kimura kick ass.

Chigusa Nagayo vs Yukari Omori, AJW 1/5/1988

Insanely heated, bloody, clash of the titans match in Korakuen Hall, what else do I need to say to sell you on this? This was pretty fucking great, like the female version of Hash vs Tenryu but with more blood and bigger suplexes. I quite like Yukari Omori – she’s big, has a kind of understated charisma without trying to be dramatic, and her brain chops are a pretty fun different kind of weapon for joshi. She comes across like a force of nature, and Chigusa really feels that. Chiggy ends up getting chopped in the face which causes her to bounce out of the ring and bleed, which is awesomely old school. Chigusa hitting a desperation kick to Omoris face and then smashing her into a table was one hell of a comeback. After that both of them are gushing blood and it’s all desperation face kicks and shootstyle uncooperativeness. Omori is a great asskicker, and of course Nagayo is insanely good when its time to bleed and sell like you’re about to pass out. The finish was kind of beautiful as they are in kind of a stalemate and go into a test of strength – like they had done at the beginning of the match – only for Chigusa to hit a dirty headbutt and an angry Omori firing back with a swatting lariat. Kind of the pinnacle of Chigusas style, car crash violence, blood, drama, tinges of shootstyle, this may be one of my favourite 80s AJW matches I’ve seen because it doesn’t meander or waste your time. Just to the point, gory and awesome.

Pro Wrestling 2025 Week 21

 
Nanae Takahashi vs Seri Yamaoka, Marigold 5/17

Nanae Takahashi is the next joshi veteran on her way out. At least just like with Meiko, this little retirement tour is giving her some interesting opponents and motivation to show she still has something in the tank. I thought Yamaoka would be a bit of a super rookie, but this is mostly Takahashi giving her a hiding. Yamaokas grappling-tinged approach rules and if she continues she is poised to become something of a female Tamon Honda, which would probably make her my default #1 wrestler in the world. She is already halfway there, just needs to work on her stuff a little, but the ingredients are present, and she's really cool to watch when she gets going and starts busting out the amateur moves. Takahashi is still effective beating her down and the grappling stuff made the match cool. Yamaoka looked a bit like a scared puppy when she was taking a beating, her killer instinct needs to come out a little more. Still a pretty cool match and really fun to watch.

Ali Najima vs Ryutaro Ono, Sportiva 5/21

Najimas debut wasn't long ago, but now he's in the position to put a beatdown on a longer ranked rookie. This was quite the fight. Very much the standard rookie match but their intensity and passion was great. Onos kicks are slightly clunky but that's part of the charm. Najima keeps it basic but he really puts energy even into standard stuff, he really beat the heck out of Onos shoulder here. Onos weird axe kick to the back of Najimas head was really cool. Like I said, not much in terms of moves but head and shoulders above a lot of other wrestling these days when it comes to intensity, which is how it should be.

Sho Mizuno vs Yu Shimizu, Kobe Meriken 4/18

Do NOT sleep on this match. Mizuno is a Seichi Ikemoto trainee, so he's another indy shooter, and he makes the early goings of this match wonderfully uncooperative, and it devolves into a really good, scrappy, hate filled little match. Shimizu is the Scum Bastard and while he's not much of a shoot grappler he proves his worth here by trying to scramble Mizunos brains with his trademark elbows. Mizuno is game to throw down and both guys beat the shit out of each other. Really dug the moments where one guy would have a submission on and would just aggressively hack away at the opponents head with scrappy elbows. The hard hitting here felt genuinely violent - a rare thing in modern wrestling where it often feels like its turning into a lovetap exhibition. They also made me give a shit about the sleeper hold. The one downgrade is that they briefly ventured outside and the stationary camera didn't catch anything. After this Mizuno will definitely be on my watchlist.

Sui Cup Kenchiro vs Great Mara, CWP 6/1

Come On Wrestling Party, baby. An 'ama-pro' wrestling match has no business being better than the matches from Japans major leagues, but here we are. Really raw pro wrestling that felt real as fuck. I've enjoyed the bits of Kenchiro I've seen, and he is clearly a king in this little scene. Mara I haven't seen before, he looks dorky even by the standards of semi professional wrestling and this match definitely had the vibe of him being way outmatched and trying to gut it out. Kenchiro puts a major ass kicking on Mara, kicks to the face, hard chops, king-sized backdrop suplexes, Sui Cap Kenchiro has really internalized the philosophy of doing just a handful of things really well. Mara is mostly getting his ass kicked but occasionally he is able to reach deep and crack Kenchiro with some gnarly shots of his own. There were some crazy headbutts, knee drops and face punches. Him desperately avoiding Kenchiros suplexes was also quite entertaining. Also gotta hand it to Kenchiro as he knew exactly how to bump for Mara and his last backdrop was criminal and awesome. How the fuck is this stuff closer to Hashimoto/Tenryu than whatever the major leagues are putting out I have no idea, but I really enjoyed watching.

2025 Pro Wrestling Roundup