2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 33

Masato Tanaka vs Hayabusa, Zero1 8/3

I did not think I would be watching a Masato Tanaka vs Hayabusa match in 2025 but here we are. And this had amazing magnitude! It's Tanakas career vs the revived Hayabusas mask. The news Hayabusa looks fantastic. Not only does he hit all the spots, but he can actually work. And this match feels competitive and not like some kind of nostalgia tour. Tanaka sidestepping the asai moonsault really accentuates this. Tanaka was pretty great here - it's insane how much the guy has in the tank. They went a fast pace with no real slow down, and the action was crisp and punctuated by Tanakas cracking elbows and Hayabusas exploding athleticism. First 15 minutes of this I thought were pretty much flawless pro wrestling, almost shockingly so. The opening chain wrestling and Hayabusas armwork were really crisp and fun. It definitely stands way up to any Tanaka/Hayabusa match from the 90s. They do no sell a bunch of big moves in the middle, but that just kind of sets up the increasing stakes in the second half. Legwork on Hayabusa was a blatant breather since it isn't really sold, but we do get Tanaka smashing table pieces on Hayabusas leg and they didn't drag it on for too long. There was also the cool moment of Hayabusas leg giving him trouble when he countered Tanakas splash so it was kinda paid off. The rest of this was quite great, mostly thanks to a few well worked transitions and a certain unpredictability factor. A lot of the fascination definitely comes from watching 52 year Masato Tanaka doing this kind of match and looking like he hasn't lost a step. It's not a flawless bout, but overall a really well structured match that was gripping from start to finish, had plenty of hard hitting and deadly bombs being thrown without getting repetitive and was just one hell of a ride. 

 Virus vs Xelhua, RoH 7/26

A match where they both hit the mat for 7 minutes and proved proved what everyone knows already, that they are among the absolute elite tier when it comes to mat technicians in all of wrestling history. So no surprise here, and that's kind of the one fault of this. You get exactly what you expect, and for that it's a really good little match albeit a slight bit exhibitiony with neither guy displaying a ton of fire since they had to fit everything into a 7 minute sandwhich. Kind of the Velocity version of an epic lucha title match and that is a really cool thing to see by itself. I did really like the mixing in of basic movements like the dropkicks, side headlock takeover or hip toss in between all the more esoteric holds. And Xelhua getting Virus to tap out felt like a big deal so that's really cool.

Seri Yamaoka & Victoria Suzuki vs Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame, Marigold 7/16

Heated rookie vs rookie action, or in this case swimsuits vs fancy outfits. Good solid stuff as usual but I thought the match could've used a bit more of Senka. Instead Ayame was the focus at the end and while she's quite fun she doesn't hit quite at that level yet. The brief mat scramble between Akatsuki and Seri was obviously the highlight. I love that while Seri is the 'grappler' Senka is such an animal that she can totally overwhelm her on the mat and maul her with headbutts. Her entire thing is that despite her limited experience she's a force of nature and they only thing containing her right now is her rookie status.

Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase (Sendai Girls 7/19)

Team 200 KG are a pretty reliable joshi twin towers. They can go a fast pace, provide plenty of hard hitting, and the big vs small aspect always forces opponents to get a bit more creative than just running through their offense as usual. This was all about what Iwata and Takase would bring to the table to a reliable story, and Iwata and Takase brought plenty. Iwata seems like she's ready to fill the void that Satomura has left. She's got the cool kicks, the slicked back hair and the stoic attitude to fill the mantel. She just needs to figure out to spam her kicks a little bit less so they will mean more, but that should come with some time. All of her exchanges with Hashimoto were real highlights and hinted at a great singles match between them. Even something thats often trite like the armbar over the ropes spot looked vicious and fresh here. Takase and Yuu were playing second fiddle, but they are pretty solid and I was even surprised by Takases angry headbutting. Add some violent vader hammers from Hashimoto and you've got yourself a pretty satisfying match.

Keita Yano vs brother YASSHI, Tenryu Project 7/20 - GREAT

Godhead vs Godhead! Even knowing that YASSHI can be really sick when he wants to, and Keita being Keita, I thought this even exceeded my expectations. A cool match up on paper, that really delivers what you want. Really cool technical work here, with Yasshi busting out cool amateur wrestling takedowns and transitions and Keita tying him up repeatedly. Really enjoyed how Yasshi would escape from something like Yanos straight jacket armbar like it was a shootstyle hold and then even put on an Achilles Hold. I thought Yano may have gotten a bit predictable recently, but he was cooking here. Energetic Yasshi is really fun too, he really had the working boots on here. I kind of like that Yano keeps working a slower pace. He doesn't need to speed it up, he's kind of like a slow moving eldritch abominations that assimiliates other wrestling styles, and sooner or later will entangle his opponent in some predicament they can't escape from. It really suits his 'you pressed random on the character creator' look. The bar for slow paced technical wrestling is getting pretty high in 2025, but this holds up. Really enjoy that these two got to paint a little art on that canvas together.

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

Keita Yano Documentation Project 

Exploring... Dyna-Mido

Dyna-Mido vs A-Z, Shin Osaka Pro Wrestling(?) 2/16/2020

Dyna-Mido is a fascinating wrestler. Apparently, he’s a veteran of the JWA Kansai days, so he is a stalwart of serious no ring pro wrestling. When you search his name on YouTube, you get all kind of wonderous results. Matches in Fu*ck, battles against grapplers and MMA fighters, fighting in parking lots with no ring. And this was the no-ring shootstyle action that your brain craves. I think I’ve only seen A-Z in FU*CK one or two times, and his Cagematch profile reveals that he’s been creeping around the seediest places ranging from EXIT to KOBE Meriken and other micro indies. Apparently he belongs to something called AVANZAR which mainly seems to specialize in no-ring wrestling so A-Z has quite the pedigree. But A-Z is a serious shooter who kicks really hard. These two level some hellish strikes against each other here. It’s a totally serious match and it rules. A-Zs kicks are hard and he landed this one enzuigiri to Midos skull that was horrific. Mido is as solid as a brick and he looks tough as hell here absorbing punishing kicks and firing back with brutal headbutts and elbows of his own. There is some fun groundwork, too. The audience for this couldn’t be more than 20 people and it’s just filmed with a single overhead cam, yet these two went out here and tried to crush each other. This is the kind of stuff that embodies pro wrestling.

Dyna-Mido vs Yuko Miyamoto, B168 5/30/2021

This takes place on a parking lot, in the blazing sun, on some mats that are flimsily held together by a plastic wrapping. It’s a deathmatch too and they got barbedwire and a ladder and other things. There are a bunch of ladies in the audience for this too, mostly with hats or towels on their head because of the sun burning and it’s during the height of COVID. It’s insane to think the Japanese authority allowed this to happen at the time. They do some snappy opening chain wrestling before Miyamoto grabs a barbedwire bat and bangs it into Midos shin to escape a front headlock. Miyamoto is clever enough to do the Sakuraba dragging spin to Mido on the pavement which I assume is scorching hot. It soon turns into a surreal gritty trenchfight with Mido bleeding in this parking plot. Miyamoto looks really sharp here, making the general deathmatch affair more fun with his explosive kicks and athleticism, and Mido is just pure guts. Miyamoto wraps barbedwire around Midos had and snapmares him across the mat in an incredibly nasty spot that I don’t recall seeing before. There’s Miyamotos cool spin kicks, Mido has a really nice Northern Lights Suplex.. at one point Mido gets hit by a truck. Mido ends up taking a press slam off the ladder and bounces really hard on those flimsy mats. There are gritty no hands headbutts and a few cool moments that caught me unexpectedly. This match isn’t anything intelligent, it’s just two crazy guys fighting and bleeding grittily in a parking lot and occasionally smashing a barrel or barbedwire board into the other. Truck getting involved added to the craziness too. Another piece of immensely sick and enjoyable raw pro wrestling.

Dyna-Mido vs Jun Masaoka, B168 12/12/2015

This also on just a mat held in a bright but small Japanese multi purpose hall. Description says this show was held without prior announcement so yeah they work their butts off here. Masaoka is a bouncy lithe junior wrestler and his bouncing around makes this pretty fun. More fast paced action than you expect from such a match and Mido is as solid and reliable as you need a thickly built shaven headed ass kicker to be. He made sure to really punish Masaoka slamming him on the tin mat, and the contrast between Masaokas twisty rollups and high jumping dropkicks and Midos lariats and slams makes this a really fun match.

Dyna-Mido vs Maori Kawashima, Steak Pro Wrestling 10/16/2021

This is held in a small BJJ gym room and it looks like they just glued some foam mats together to make a ring. I am fascinated with this. Kawashima has been a bit of an indy hotness with his cool look, but Mido just eats him up here. Mido toys with Kawashima on the mat in fun ways and when Kawashima tries to get into a strike contest Midos elbows are just way too hard for him. Both guys try to go for sneaky rollups but the time limit runs out after like 5 minutes. Probably the most grappling I’ve seen Mido do and it was pretty fun, it does make me want to see him against someone who can provide a bit more of a challenge.

Dyna-Mido & Daisuke Masaoka vs Jun Kasai & Kamui, Steak Pro Wrestling 10/16/2021

Oh, they had another match that day, so that’s why the previous match went short. This is not as gritty and insane as the Miyamoto match, but it’s still quite fun Mido plays the crazy old coot here, and he does get his head skewered. It was even kinda smart since Mido got pinned early and after the restart they kept teasing another pin on him. Masaoka and Kamui are pretty fun hitting their flying headscissors stuff in this no ring environment. And Kasai is good as he always is, does this guy simply have infinite HP? Gritty finish where Mido takes a nasty double arm facebuster on his head with the skewers in.

2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 32

Ultimate Spider Jr. vs Yasutaka Oosera, Osaka Pro 7/27

Decided to check out some Osaka Pro since they are nice enough to upload their stuff for free now. That turned out to be a really good decision because this was actually really good lucharesu, a breath of fresh air in 2025. The match started with actually good matwork for a bit before Spider Jr. woke everyone up with an eardrum shattering slap to Oosera. Oosera seems to be another scummy heel, and while he doesn't seem to have a ton of personality he strikes a good balance between heel tactics and wrestling. I really liked how Spider Jr. initially prevented the cheap eye rake. Oosera ended up hitting a hard flip dive that took out Spider and set up Oosera being in control for a bit. This really felt like lucharesu, some cool athleticism, a bigger focus on submissions and pins so things don't delve into senseless bomb dropping too hard, another great dive from Spider Jr. There were nifty reversals and most importantly, actual selling which made even something like a superplex feel pretty epic. They didn't even do any no-selling fighting spirit spots! Spider Jr. looked good as your masked sympathetic technico, by far his best peformance that I've come across, and Oosera also looked really good, his super fast Tornado DDT was awesome, which is really cool to hit such a spot out of nowhere. Immensely cool to check out and definitely one of the better singles matches out of Japan that I've seen this year. 

 Tonikaku Yaritai Akiyama & Nakata Bide vs Masanobu Koppu no Fuchi & SUMA, AZW ?/2025 

 
 What a match! This kind of well executed, innovative ama-pro wrestling is some of the funnest wrestling you can watch. There was pretty much no difference between this and a match from the pro leagues, and in many ways this was better that what you get to see in the pro leagues these days, which is pretty insane. Masanobu Koppu no Fuchi and SUMA are the heel champions and they do a good job early on working over Akiyamas arm. Akiyama is this thickly built guy, which makes him a bit more interesting than your typical skinny small guy. Nakata Bide is a more energetic type wrestler and he's a great hot tag. I also really liked Masanobu Koppu no Fuchi - he doesn't look like Fuchi at all, he is a sleazy gangly guy with a sleeveless shirt and scuzzy jiu jitsu pants, who hits some really awesome palm strikes and a great STO. Fuchi vs Nakata exchanges had some great stuff and counters, there was an awesome spot where Fuchi went for a spinning torture rack type move and Nakata hit a sling blade which looked more awesome than pretty much any sling blade I've ever see Tanahashi hit. The fun really begins though when Akiyama tags back in. The whole time I was wondering what Akiyama was gonna do because of his interesting look. SUMA is a fun dickish guy with kickpads, and he does a great job cutting of Akiyama and building to Akiyamas bigger spots. When Akiyama hit a basic samoan drop it popped me and it looked the most awesome thing ever. And Akiyama had a lot more cool stuff up his sleeve after that. They build to everything really well, and it's just a cracking match. I was surprised even the armwork from earlier mattered later in the match. A level of thought in this that you don't even see in pro leagues, and it was peppered with a number of awesome spots and inventive ideas. Definitely on the shortlist of the funnest matches I've seen in 2025.

Sareee vs Konami, STARDOM 7/27

Sareee saying 'Fuck this bullshit idol company' and just coming in straight trying to kill people may end up making for the angle of the year. Vicious opening here with both of them going for sick headbutts. Sareee not caring about Konami being out of position and just kicking her in the face was harsh. Konami trying to weather the storm by working the arm was good, only for Sareee constantly going to crush her with her crowbar dropkicks and double stomps. This kind of shorter match really works well for Sareee with her killer offense because she just comes across as trying to crush whatevers in her path. Konami eventually remembers that she's an asskicker and really blasts Sareee with some strikes of her own. Cool finish. This STARDOM grand prix is off to a hot start with this. 

  Act & Mari vs Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki, AWG 7/11

 I watched this on a whim not really knowing anything about any of these wrestlers. Turns out this is really, really good stuff. Everyone here was pretty much going all out from the get go in the best way. Act and Mari looked like quite the badass heel tag team unit here destroying their opponents with cool kick variations, like a face painted leather clad 2025 joshi version of Heisei Ishingun (yes, there were Inazuma Leg Lariats). Face team  also had quite the asskicker in Natsuki, too. She was all hard kicks and crashing into people with running knees that mostly looked great. Aside from one or two occasions of thigh slapping she was great. Nagisa Shiotsuki was the low light with her flimsy offense, but thankfully she's not in the match much. Second half is basically all Natsuki having a series of violent standoffs against Act and Mari that were badass. These matches can easily devolve into a frenzy  of moves, thought they did a great job here working in a few neat moments. Act and Mari were both great setting themselves up for Natsuki and cutting them off. Big credit goes to Mari who looked like an absolute badass and lagely carried this, although Act also carried herself remarkably well. Also really liked the moment where they got carried away taking their time to finish off Shiotsuki with an absolutely sick double team move, allowing the sidelined Natsuki to recover and rush in with a jumping knee. Finish aswell as the build to the finish were excellent. This low key ruled, Shiotsuki aside this was one of the best joshi tags of 2025.

2025 Matchguide 

Sportiva Wednesday Curry Pro Wrestling 8/13/2025

 Watch

 Mikiya Sasaki vs Yacchae Seven, Sportiva 8/13

 A fun opening match between two fun wrestlers. It had some jokes, but enough serious wrestling for me to like it, and it made for a pretty entertaining mix. Yacchae Seven is this energetic masked wrestler, his springboard flip senton was pretty impressive, but a lot of this was him leaping into Sasakis atomic drops and getting rolled up in comical ways. Mikiya Sasaki is another guy who worships the Funk brothers. He won't make you forget Crusher Takahashi, but he is pretty solid at what he does, and he brings some fun character touches like how he loves the old school suplex over the ropes. His dropkick to the face was genuinely impressive and this was probably the most solid I've seen him look so far. At 7 minutes they move through it pretty fast. An enjoyable match that is worth a look if you want to have some fun.
 
 Super Taira & Yasu Kubota vs Masanori Kanu Watanabe & Yu Shimizu, Sportiva 8/13
 
 Pretty much 4 cool wrestlers having a cool match. I always look forward to seeing Super Taira, and he once again proved himself to be one of the best technicians around when he grappled with Shimizu. It wasn't showing off, it was Taira being pesky and dominating his opponent, and it was cool to watch. Kubota in the past has looked a little lazy but he was surprisingly on point, despite looking gray like your uncle. He was hitting really hard elbows, and while what he did was simple it never felt like there was a wasted moment when he was in the ring. Everyone who reads my blog should know by now that I really like Watanabe and Shimizu. Shimizu once again proved his salt hitting some of the hardest elbows and having a great exchange with Kubota. Watanabe continues to get better, he blasted Taira with some devastating knees and I really liked that russian legsweep into a heel hook thing he did. Pretty much a match where everyone looked good and was doing something interesting all the time, that didn't go to long but will probably surprise you with how hard they fought. I would look forward to seeing singles matches between any of them coming out of this.
 
Konaka vs Chon Shiryu, Sportiva 8/13
 
Two gods of the indy scene meeting in a match... and an SRS rules match no less! SRS means they have to fight on the wooden floor of the bar and entering the ring leads to a countout. Oh, and you can touch an audience member for a rope break. These are two all timers when it comes to fun creative wrestling, and the wrestling on the floor adds a nice dose of insanity. We get the usual cool kung fu kicks and flying around from Shiryu, and the high pitched yelling chops from Konaka, and then they start climbing on the ceiling and using the barstools and doing some crazy flying to the floor... apparently this was a rematch from 11 years prior. I had no idea how they got the idea to deliver this rematch now but it was a spectacle and really delivers everthing you wish. Painful bumps, both guys hanging upside down from the ceiling, Shiryu hitting a kung fu flying kick over a bar stool... I think these two even in a regular match against each other would be dynamite, but this was crazy and fun in the best way.
 
Ali Najima & Yuta Oya vs Michio Kageyama & Shinya Ishida, Sportiva 8/13

Ali Najima and Yuta Oya continue to be the best story on the Japanese scene this year. This was an incredibly compelling match, with Najima and Oya throwing everything they have trying to beat their more established opponents. After an explosive beginning the veterans were able to slow the pace down, only for things to get heated again when Najima and Oya got the upper hand again. Both Najima and Oya were great here as always. Najima looked like a killer when he was circling around Kageyama kicking him in his bad arm like a shark in the water smelling blood, and he did great job showing the pain in his leg after Kageyama caught him. Oya is such a unique wrestler, he is a powerhouse but also vulnerable, it feels extra mean when he gets blasted with a kick to the face or walks into a sneaky rollup. This was a really ambitious match with multiple layers, but they all stuck to what they do well. And Oya and Najima are making things like a firemans carry or hip throw look cool. I also liked Ishida a lot here, he got blitzed early on but after getting himself together he got pretty evil stomping the hell out of people and even mocking Najimas limp. The week to week progression of the rookies is so satisfying to watch as they keep adding new touches to their game, and the willingness of Najima and Oya to win this match was palpable like in a classic match from the 90s. It really felt like getting a pin on Ishida or Kageyama meant the world to them. It absolutely feels like the best thing going right now and they are just about a year into their career, if they keep progressing like this the next 1-2 years will be insane.

The Library

2025 Matchguide 

2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 31

 
Sareee & Takumi Iroha vs Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame, Marvelous 6/27/2025

Well this just writes itself. Sareee and Iroha are probably the top two women in the industry right now. Akatsuki and Ayame are rookies with the most barebones level of offense you can imagine. They get the heck beaten out of them, but just keep plucking away in the hope of scoring a massive upset. Tried and true formula, and they do it very well. The match was built around Ayame and Akatsuki trying to avoid an early destruction while chipping away at their opponents. Sora is still flimsy with her offense, but she's mostly getting trashed, while Senka has insane levels of aura. I liked how Senka seemed a bit of an unstoppable force even while hitting basic shoulderblocks early on as she avoided the initial beatdown. And the spot where Senka hit the deadlift suplex on  Sareee was just awesome. Sareee and Iroha are ever reliable in their roles here. You know exactly what you are getting here, but it's a nearly perfectly worked match with a number of satisfying moments.

Judas El Traidor vs Disturbio, Lucha Memes 6/22

Coliseo Coacalco was almost empty here, so naturally this started with a bit over 10 minutes of great lucha matwork that wouldn't have looked out of place in a classic title match from the 90s. Judas looked like a master, and Disturbio was also pretty good for someone who I remember not being anything great as a CMLL undercarder from a while back, but I guess often seemingly unspectacular CMLL undercarders are the hidden best grapplers. Mostly back and forth chain wrestling with a few cool holds peppered in. The brawling portion was fun too but not quite as good (Judas punches were missing by a mile). A nice reminder of how great indy lucha libre can be.

Virus vs Energia, Lucha Memes 6/29

Oh look Virus had a singles match. That is really unfair to every other wrestler in the world. Opening matwork was a nice reminder that Virus is still the best technician there is. This Energia guy looked pretty good, and a lot of this had the feel of Energia trying to upset Virus and Virus putting him in place. Loved how downright torturous some of Virus submissions felt e.g. the crazy modified Figure 4, and getting pissed when Energia was slow to apply a hold. The second half is mostly Energia trying to give Virus everything he's got. Always love the shoulderblock to the knee thing that Virus does. Eventually he caught Energia in a nasty submission and that was it. I love watching Virus do his thing.

Solar vs Xelhua, Lucha Memes 6/29

Solar is 69 years old. That doesn't matter though, because it's lucha libre baby~! Solar still gets into a waistlock as energetic as anyone, and still looks perfectly comfortable rolling around on the mat. Some genuinely great exchanges here, with a few impressive takedowns and escapes, I just love that Solar can still seamlessly do a smooth leg scissor takedown into a heel hook from standing. Xelhua has looked slightly overzealous in the past but it seems he's really gotten the hang of how to be a master now, he was super impressive here and looked like a genius of the 'tie-em-up' style. This didn't feel like an exhibition at all and that's great. Feel good finish because it's Solars anniversary and why not. I should probably watch a 100 more Xelhua matches.

Ali Najima vs Masanori Kanu Watanabe, Sportiva 8/6

The monthly great match between these two. They do some fun groundwork as usual, and then go on to have a BattlARTS style match where they kick the hell out of each other. The best thing about this how both guys clearly were trying to avoid getting hit. Too much modern wrestling has guys voluntarily allowing themselves to be hit, completely taking the violence out of it. This was pretty much the popular opposite and it was great. And as a result there were lots of scrappy out of nowhere hits, like Watanabes nonchalant headbutt, the big leaping open hand from Najima, or the big head kick from Watanabe that looked straight out of a 90s classic. Really almost had the feeling of Mantell/Lawler with both guys showing exhaustion while continueing to hit each other in evil ways, at one point Watanabe just started punching Najima in the kidneys in frustration. Also loved the intense struggle over the basic full nelson of all things, and the finish was abrupt and cold. I am loving the rivalry between these two, every match keeps bringing new things to the table. At this rate Najima may actually be the forerunner for wrestler of the year he is on an absolute roll, and Watanabe is doing insanely well for someone whose debut was like 3 months sago.
 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

Cosmo Soldiers YouTube Channel Pt. 2

 

Cosmo Soldier & Hakaru vs Oga Nozaki & Hiroshi Toyoda, KAGEKI 7/20/2014

Cosmo Soldiers continues to deliver the gems on his YouTube channel. In this match we get a look at Oga Nozaki and Hiroshi Toyoda! For those who don’t know, they were the #1 and #2 guy of JWA Tokai in the 2010s so it’s awesome to get a look at them. Oh and Hakaru is there too! And wow this is a really good match. Really scrappy with everybody hitting each other insanely hard with open hand strikes and elbows, and breaking into elbows and dropkicks even from basic movements. A number of unpredictable moments here, which made this feel a bit like a WAR tag. Toyoda was this energetic guy with jeans shorts, he mostly stuck to basic elbows and lariats and exploders and he looked good. Nozaki, the JWA Tokai ace for over a decade, had a bit of a mysterious aura with his bowl cut and dark pants. He liked to throw really hard kicks and go for submissions on the ground but also had some explosive agility. His jumping enzuigiri was awesome, and I liked his flair for the handspring elbow. The handspring elbow is a kind of goofy move but he made it cool in this match by hitting it pretty fast without much addo. He had no problem going toe to toe in violent exchanges and at point he almost shattered Cosmos face with a jumping savate kick that was Daisuke Ikeda levels of sick. So yeah I liked Oga Nozaki a lot on this. Cosmo was also in the match a lot and as always he is always balancing between genius and chaos. He does slip up here and there and there were moments where I couldn’t tell if what he was going for came out as intended, but I think it actually added to the match in some ways. And he also had lots of moments of good wrestling. His dives were amazing, and he brought some evil violence to the match with his double stomps, aggressively slapping guys around and his sickening headbutt to Toyoda. Hakaru was the guy I would’ve liked to see more, he was actually a lot of fun immediately trying to snap an arm. He looked scrappy in a cool way. The match is elimination rules so we get an unpredictable finish, and a cool ending run between 2 guys that was really really good. This was a cool look at some really obscure guys and it really delivered a lot to enjoy.

Cosmo Soldier vs El Samurai, KAGEKI 2010/8/1

Wow, El Samurai! A really fun match where the main appeal is to see Soldier throwing everything he’s got at Samurai. Seriously, Samurai gets a lot of bombs dropped on him in this. There is some cool scrappy matwork and then Soldier comes dropkicking Samurai hard in the ribs from odd angles. Samurai punches Soldier in the face because he’s the man and there are some really stiff exchanges with both guys really clapping each other with open hand strikes. And then you have Soldier hitting this NJPW legend with double foot stomps and suplexing him and just coming up with all kinds of things, in his own somewhat clumsy ways. It’s unusual to see. Samurai has never been a guy who hits a ton of offense, and the few things he does he picks pretty well here. It actually builds to a quite big ending where you really wonder if the indy sensation could put the old legend away.

Cosmo Soldier & Super Taira vs Koji Niizumi & Kitai Kubo, KAGEKI 2011/2/27

 

Awesome battle, the kind that will erase all negative memories from your head and make you remember why you love wrestling again. Niizumi and Kubo are two really obscure wrestlers. From what I can tell they have been KAGEKI mainstays so it’s really hard to find any video of them if you don’t live in Japan. Judging from this match they are an absolute monster team. Niizumi is just a beast, he wrestles like a WAR guy from the 90s who will hit psychotically hard with his elbows and kicks. His jumping knees look like they could kill a person, and I also really liked his one jumping kick. This also takes place in a boxing ring so you know when something like a german suplex or northern lights bomb is hit it’s even harder than in a regular wrestling ring. Everybody was hitting insanely hard in this, with the masked guys coming flying with dropkicks to the face. Taira is also great here, he doesn’t look like the type but he can really dish out and take some crazy strikes, including those awesome jumping kicks. I am mostly used to seeing Taira as grappler but he looked like a total asskicker going toe to toe against someone like Niizumi. Cosmo also brought the violence and a few unique and violent spots, he was pretty straightforward here. Kubo wasn’t tagged in as much as Niizumi but he also looked really fun, he seemed a bit like a sleazy Hiro Saito type with his mullet and pants, he did one hell of a job helping out his buddy though and coming at people with rastand brutal lariats. This match is just a blast, just 4 really cool wrestlers going hard and raining hell on each other for 20 minutes, and awesome to check out, made me want to see more of Kubo and Niizumi because they were killers here. So Cosmo if you are reading this, thank you so much, it’s amazing to see this stuff even 14 years later.

2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 30

 Ali Najima vs Yuta Oya, Sportiva 7/30

It's been 1 year since they both have made their debut, and what a ride it has been. Incredible growth for both of them. Najima is on absolute killer run putting in quality performances week after week now, and to say Oya is a phenom would be an understatement. This is just a really impressive match, quality matwork, a lot of hard hitting and nifty counters, and a tremendous amount of passion displayed. The best thing is probably the sense of nothing being held back. Najima hit Oya with a running headbutt, kicked him really hard, at one point just smacked him square in the face which feels like a really mean thing to do to  a blind guy. Oya was relentless chopping away and constantly going for his deadly hip throw and Najimas counters were fantastic. It's also awesome to see Oya doing things like easily locking in a kneebar or hitting a jumping enzuigiri. A great piece of pro wrestling which feels like a career highlight for both of them.

Tyson Maeguchi vs Yumehito Imanari, Ganbare Pro 6/22

Fun wrestler vs kickboxer match with Maeguchi hitting some hard punches and Imanari hitting some snug straight forward pro wrestling offense to combat the shooter. There were moments were both guys kinda looked like crap (namely Maeguchi feebly punching at Imanaris shoulder and then butchering an attempted rollup, and Imanari hitting a flimsy bulldog) but overall the vibe was right. Enough hard punches to keep you entertained, and the finish is cool. Seems they are trying to make Maeguchi into the next Toba, and while he has a loooong way to go before he is anywhere near at the level of prime Toba this is hinting in the right direction.

Sareee vs Syuri, STARDOM 6/21

Maybe it's because I was in a good mood, but I thought this was better than their match earlier in the year. The same problems mostly still apply - bit too long, not much selling, submissions felt like blatant filler - but in a way it came across much better to me this time. Great pace, they both still have plenty of great offense, and there was enough psychotic hard hitting to keep things entertaining. Legwork was filler and never slowed Syuri down, but it was gritty enough and didn't really hurt the pace of the match. Thought it was really impressive how the 30 minutes flew by. There were lots of good moments throughout that came across as nice and hate filled (Sareee had shit-talked STARDOM before), like the scuffle that ended them on the ramp. Sareees headbutts throughout were certifiably insane and actually made for a few great comebacks. I also really appreciated that Sareee, once she was able to hit the uranage, just hit a bunch of uranages in a row and then got the nearfall. For some reason I thought that was better than hitting a bunch of uranages throughout the match over and over again. And they actually ended it with the biggest move, making this a pretty satisfying match overall. I really wish these matches would have a bit more selling and spice to make things meaningful but for what they are going for this was probably the best of its kind in 2025.

Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame vs Seri Yamaoka & Victoria Yuzuki, Marigold 7/16

A fun quick tag. Akatsuki and Yamaoka have a bit of a rivalry going and their exchange were a ton of fun. Yuzukis stuff looked solid and Ayame is also a lot of fun here. She looks so wee and non-threatening especially compared to Senka, but the fact she can get people to pop for a bodyslam nearfall is awesome and her flash pins were basic stuff done really well. Needed a bit more of that Senka/Seri stuff because when they forearmed each other and grappled it was really good, but that's the point of matches like these I guess. Also really enjoyed Senka putting Victoria in trouble with the SHOOT PIN~ again. Good stuff with a satisfying conclusion that leaves you wanting to see more.

Yujiro Yamamoto vs Koki Fujimoto, KOBE Meriken 8/1

Oh look it's nice to see Yujiro Yamamoto again in my sportsbar livestream feed. And here he is slapping the shit out of a guy! Koki Fujimoto doesn't even have a cagematch profile. He has kickpads and is not afraid to take a beating from a BattlARTS vet and he fires back with some big kicks of his own and a pretty big corner dropkick. My guess is he may be another Seichi Ikemoto guy, or somehow adjacent to the general sportsbar sleaze shooter scene that seems to be brewing right now. Either way this is pretty fun. Feels more like a WAR match, almost no submissions or matwork just two guys trying to shatter each other. Yamamoto is starting to work like a grumpy amalgamation of his old BattlARTS seniors. Short, and violent and fun.

2025 Wrestling Roundup