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.
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