2025 Matchguide Week 42

 Masanori Watanabe vs Yusaku Ito, Sportiva 10/29


This was a short undercard match but it was cool. Watanabe is still being put through the paces, but he is already really really good. He did a lot of cool stuff during the opening grappling, and his straight forward approach of attacking the arm to set up a rolling kimura just straight up works. Ito is good as always relishing in his scummy ways. He has the seedy vibe of a delinquent hired to do some dirty work and he was putting the hurt on Watanabe with closed fist punches, boots and nasty headbutts. I also really liked the ultra tight sleeper he did, and then the knee to the face he did was really cool. Solid and worth watching.

Masamune vs Shinji Kamakura, KOBE Meriken 10/17

Masamune stretching someone in a sportsbar. This was not the amateur wrestler Masamune, he was kind of working like William Regal here, and it's pretty fun. Kamakura kind of gave me the vibe of a Japanese David Burkhead, fun pudgy guy who clashes violently into his opponent. I enjoy watching Masamune do his thing and he needs to show up on tape way more often because he's low key really good.

Keita Yano vs Koji Iwamoto, Tenryu Project 10/25 - GREAT

October 2025 was ripe with big matches for Keita Yano. I'm just getting to them, but this is a strong start. Long, drawn out technical match. Of course our lord and savior Keita really shines at that stuff, and he is doing so much cool stuff here that it carried the match no problem. His transition into a stump puller was awe inspiring. A lot of chaining, mostly based on World of Sport style but veering into Karl Gotch shootstyle territory here and there, and all done incredibly smooth and inventive. He's really become a master at this stuff no doubt about it. Iwamoto is very much the 1977 Jumbo Tsuruta to Keitas 1977 Billy Robinson, he's capable but doesn't stand out in a huge way when grappling with Keita. He does have those awesome judo throws and he hits them and that's all you really wanna see him do. Very good match all in all.

GENTARO vs Shuichiro Katsumura, FREEDOMS/Ganbare Pro 10/16

GENTARO is such a great wrestler. With him, everything feels like it master, and his old school technical moves rule of course. Who knew that building a match around struggle and nifty counters would work well? Katsumura has always struck me as good but never quite reaching 'great' level. This was probably the best matwork I've seen him to, and a lot of credit for that can go to GENTARO. At times this resembled an old UWF vs NJPW match but with better pacing and more cool moments. Really need more GENTARO singles matches like this, oh and bring back Mutoha too for that matter.

Marino Saihara vs Yui Tensho, AWG 10/1

Another quality match from AWG. This was built around Saihara with her kicks and submissions putting the heat on Tensho. Tensho would try to pounce on any kind of advantage but kept getting shut down in cool ways. The apron spot was especially good as Saihara took out Tensho with a leg kick and then just blasted her with a dropkick. Eventually Tensho found what she was looking for when she got Saihara in her reverse gory special hold, and there was some nice struggle leading up to that. They both have believable offense, there was a story, good selling and intensity... Saihara ended up beating Tensho rather easily, which I thought was fine and a bit of a cool change from the usual nearfall fest as Tensho had been desperate to put the champ away but just came short. The one not-so-good part of the match was their forearm trading, and even that lead to a cool moment with confident champion Saihara hitting a hurty looking leg kick and Tensho deciding she had enough of that.

2025 Matchguide

Keita Yano Documentation 

Command Bolshoi Treasure Trove #8

 

Command Bolshoi vs Ran Yu Yu (JWP 11/11/2012)

This was right before Rans retirement. While she had slowed down a little, she could still bring the badass knee lifts and elbows. And Bolshoi had pretty much turned into a monster wrestler around this time period. Just such a well rounded wrestler who’s always doing something cool. Both these two have great offense, anytime YuYu hits a knee or elbow to stop Bolshoi it feels big, and everytime Bolshoi does something it feels like a cool trick to deal with her beastly opponent. Especially dug her 619s, the 619 is such a tired spot that few wrestlers pull off well but hers were great here, mostly because they came out of unexpected positions. Match also had some good matwork and well worked transitions. A nice late career highlight for Ran, and another entry in Bolshois resume of great matches around this time period.

Command Bolshoi vs Konami, GPS 12/19/2018

These two had already faced in 2017, now Bolshoi was just a year from retirement and Konami had advanced a little. As a result this is longer, and more stubborn. Loved how Bolshoi resisted the armbar over the ropes spot. At first it’s largely Bolshoi tearing Konami apart with her cool submissions and its really fun. Bolshoi makes even something like a basic stomp to the kneecap look outstanding which you have to love. Konami, however remains stubborn fighting back with her hard kicks and flash armbars. Bolshoi is up for a challenge against a shooter, but after some more hard fighting Konami is able to get Bolshoi in a great modified calf slicer. Bolshoi comes up limping, and what follows are some of the better minutes of pro wrestling I’ve seen in a while. A limping Bolshoi with her kneecap exposed desperately trying to avoid the killing blow and shutting down Konami with palm strikes, punching her in the face and sinking in a choke was pretty epic and exactly the kind of ‘wounding the veteran’ moment Konami needed. Finishing run had Bolshoi tying up Konami with more crazy submissions and palm strike maulings as well as more cool kicks and counter work. Really good stuff, Konami looked good engaging in this kind of stubborn submission-centric match and its just another great Bolshoi performance raising it to the next level with some great selling and character.

Command Bolshoi vs Ran Yu Yu, JWP 3/30/2006

Tremendous match, great in the same way as their 2012 encounter, but faster, scrappier, more tricked out, and bigger. This was really about Bolshoi evading Rans dangerous strikes and in the process busting out a ton of cool stuff. It really works because Ran is established that even a basic elbow or knee from her will fuck you up. Bolshoi was performing at peak level, hitting cool out of nowhere shotais and 619s, scrambling into triangle chokes, rolling her opponent up with ridiculous lucha pins or doing awesome submission counters into tying Ran up, and doing lots of cool blocking, dodging and evading with Ran eventually catching her. Ran has a bunch of awesome moments of her own, at this point she was a total a queen at these lengthy matches built around a few strikes, I mean I think you can count the ‘moves’ she hit in this on like 1 hand but she was incredibly compelling. So, smart match with a lot of great shit in it, no downtime, plenty unique and choice counters… yeah this pretty much ruled. One of the best of 2006.

2025 Wrestling Matchguide Week 41

 Avisman vs Eragon, 10/4

Mask vs hair baby. They brought it here and that is a nice thing to see for two indy luchadores working in a dingy hall. Avisman has always been a really good worker and Eragon, for someone who I last heard about like 15 years ago working undercard matches in IWRG, looked good. Most notably this was an apuestas match that brought a lot to the table. I mean, I haven't watched too many of these matches lately, but a lot of what has plagued these matches from what I've seen in the 2010s-2020s is absent here. There are no throwaway falls, they made sure to create struggle and drama, and even did callbacks to tie everything. And on top of that you have all the mask ripping and gory sick blood and headbutts you want from your gritty indy apuestas match. Bit odd that they started with llave style mat wrestling and it was good work. Avisman increasing the pressure by hitting a dive and going to town on Eragon tearing him up and bloodying him was also good work. Hey, the dives in this actually feel important which is great and another aspect of classic lucha that is often missing from modern wrestling. Really a nice piece of wrestling all things considered.

Ali Najima & Masanori Watanabe vs Yoichi Shinmei & Yuta Oya, Sportiva 10/22

Sportiva continues to deliver. Shinmei is this guy who has been around a really long time, being the ace of JWA Tokai 20 years ago. At some point he vanished, and now he's back in Sportiva. He was this really athletic old guy who would hit cool stylized elbows. He had good chemistry with both Najima and Watanabe, never looking out of his depth. It was pretty cool to see such an obscure wrestler showing up and doing his thing, and I hope he becomes a regular appearance in Sportiva. We all know how good the other 3 have gotten and this was another night where Najima, Watanabe and Oya proved they might be the most talented trio of young wrestlers on earth right now. Just loads of good wrestling with the matchtime just flying by. Some great limbwork here, and the Watanabe/Oya finishing run is good stuff. After this I really want to see a singles match between Watanabe and Oya.

Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone & Naomichi Marufuji vs Shuji Ishikawa & Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Kotoge, NOAH 8/25/2025

I will be upfront here: the main reason you want to see this is the 2 minutes or so where Ikeda and Shuji Ishikawa try to headbutt each others brains to a molten pulp. That was some pretty good pro wrestling. Other than that, eh parts of this were fun and the crowd was hot. Yone looked good here, hitting people really hard and doing his signature glassy eyed selling which I always love. I could actually see myself enjoying him in a match against some better guys. I don't really care about the other guys here and there was lots of chopping and standing in front of each other... Marufuji was so comically bad and his superkicks were missing by a mile. His little segment with Shuji Ishikawa felt like old man comedy. Kotoge is pretty worthless with his constant thigh slapping and Shiozaki was probably the least impressive as always. Nevermind that, Ikeda hit someone with a really hard lariat too~!

Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara vs Rico Fukunaga & Sakura Mizushima, AWG 10/19

Credible, stiff pro wrestling with a fast pace. Hard to believe but AWG is quietly putting out some really good stuff. Everyone here looked good, sticking to what they were good at. Thought this got really good when Fukunaga and Mizushima started damaging Ueharas legs. Uehara needs a bit of work as a wrestler, but her kicks are pretty fun. Fukunaga definitely knows what she's doing. Her working over Uehara with low kicks, and even goading her into falling for a dragonscrew was quality stuff. Match then went from very good to great with the Saihara vs Fukunaga finishing run. Lots of great exchanges and desperation, and the build to Saiharas German suplex was amazing. Saihara is the AWG champ, and Fukunaga and Mizushima do everything in their power to beat her. It was 100% classic Japanese wrestling stuff, lots of kicks, shootstyle submissions all building to a suplex. This ended up great, and Saihara and Fukunaga looked like two of the best wrestlers in the country.

2025 Matchguide

Return to MUGA

 Osamu Nishimura vs Shane Rigby, MUGA 1995/10/29

 MUGA from 1995 baby. Rigby is one of those catch guys from northern england. He is a pretty fun grappler, cool suplexes and has a certain unique flavor to him the way he would angle for submissions. Obviously there’s a bunch of cool matwork and submissions here, but also a surprising amount of aggression. Surprisingly Nishimura is the one who starts by cheapshotting Rigby, and Rigby fires off some low kicks at one point. They keep refusing to clean break with the referee admonishing them so much. Nishimura bitchslapping Rigby was a real fucker move. Then he even punches the ref, but he’s somehow not disqualified. The finish is this really nice struggle over a suplex before Nishimura is able to throw Rigby with a cool shootstyle looking northern lights suplex. Lots of cool grappling and moments throughout this, felt like something out of the 1930s.

2025 Matchguide Week 40

 Ushiku "THE CHAMP" Gotaro & Tonikaku Yaritai Akiyama vs Hinjaku Ningen Casshern & Renoir Komeda, AZW 5/5

Again, not entirely sure about these names. Could be Tonikaku Yaritai Akiyama, could be Akiyama Who Just Wants To Do It. To be honest Akiyama Who Just Wants to Do It would be one of the sickest names a wrestler has ever had, but for the sake of brevity I will stick with just Akiyama. This is just straight up another good match from AZW. The action is solid, there are clear roles, a story is being told, and everybody here can bring some neat offense. Starts just fine and solid and quickly gets good when Akiyama and Gotaro start isolating Komeda. They do a really solid job just working him over with body slams and elbows, could be straight out of an SWS or 80s AJPW tag. Akiyama hitting a backbreaker, big splash to the back and then locking in a camel clutch just plain works. Komeda is pretty fun, energetic short underdog type who throws himself at opponents really recklessly. AZW guys are really good at tricked out runs, and we get a really good run between Casshern and Akiyama. Casshern is pretty cool just attacking arms and locking in cool Octopus Holds. I really liked how he kept selling his own leg after it get swatted by a harsh lariat. Akiyama is clearly a guy to watch as he's a really fun big guy. Gotaro is a bit more clumsy, but his ending run with Komeda was also good stuff. Really liked his reckless looking shoulder attacks, pretty fun unique stuff. Last two backbreakers were just downright disgusting. Says a lot when 'amateur' guys have better looking offense than a lot of pros. Pretty cool, well executed, unique stuff, just what you want from your AZW.

Koji Iwamoto vs Ryutaro Ohno, Sportiva 10/8

Iwamoto did a good job the week before tearing up Watanabes leg, and he continues to do a good job here tearing up Ohnos neck. Almost Regal-ish in working him over with neck holds and nasty short kicks. Dare I say, Iwamoto is looking like a pretty fine wrestler these days. Ohno continues to be the least of the Sportiva rookies, and this match does go a bit too long for him, but he also continues to be chunky and spirited and lovable. A few cool things here, such as a great struggle over a boston crab, and an awesome judo throw from Iwamoto which is what you want from him.

Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha & Mio Momono vs Seri Yamaoka & Mayu Iwatani & Utami Hayashishita, NOAH 10/6

Marvelous vs Marigold feud continues to deliver. The interpromotional rivalry adds quite a bit of heat and energy to their exchanges. Still, I thought the match needed a bit more hatred and less cutesy face spots from Momono. In fairness, Momono did crank up the violence later with her double stomps, and Iroha is effective as a bruiser throwing kicks. Screw all that though, because this match is all about Senka vs Seri. The Senka Akatsuki experiment continues to be really interesting in 2025 as she's such a complete polar opposite to what everyone else is doing with her ultra-basic style and raw energy. Her boston crab and pin felt more dangerous than pretty much anything else in the match that came before. Yamaoka is also continueing to get better. This match was a bit spotty and go-go but they settled down in a really nice way when it was just Yamaoka and Akatsuki facing off and struggling over pins and hitting deadlift suplexes. The Akatsuki shoot pin continues to work. It's really such a game changer that her finisher is just a pin and then Yamaoka reverses the pin and it really feels like a holy shit moment that all their interactions throughout the year have been building up to. Really a killer match, breathless action in the first and then completely subverts your expectations by ending with the rookies delivering really no-nonsense simplistic and heated action.

Mari vs Ayano Irie, AWG 7/26

Another wildly good AWG undercard match, is this promotion actually underrated? Basically the story here is that Irie is in the same stable as Mari and much lower ranked, however Irie keeps plugging away and getting the better of Mari, inching closer to an upset. Based on what I've seen from Mari, I am tempted to say she is easily the most underrated wrestler on the planet. Her offense is badass (leg lariats never get old), but her timing and the way she made Irie look killer was great. She went from cocky and overconfident, to upset that Irie was getting the better of her, to making more desperate comebacks and finally being almost knocked out. I also loved how she was constantly going for her finisher. I've never really thought much of the Widows Peak as a finisher but the struggle here made it look great. Irie has some slightly flimsy looking offense, but she also proved that she could wrestle by doing a slick counter into a boston crab for example. Most importantly the match worked because it wasn't predictable and there was always something attention-grabbing going on.

MARU & Great Asako vs Marino Saihara & Rico Fukunaga, AWG 8/2

Excellent MARU performance. This starts out with some really nice, cagey matwork between MARU and Saihara, before MARU goes to brawling and beating on people with a chain. Aside from the brawler act, it's kind of crazy how enjoyable MARU is to watch as a wrestler. Pretty much whenever she was in the ring here it was good stuff with her slick submissions and knack for catching people with odd dropkicks and double stomps. Saihara and Fukunaga also deserve credit, they are energetic and kicking hard as hell. Great Asako is a joke character, and the joke is that she's useless and failing constantly. Admittedly she really doesn't seem to be good at wrestling but the act works and actually produces some entertaining results. Early on we also get Saihara shoot kicking Asako down the stairs of Shin Kiba 1st Ring and that is some mean brawling. Saihara almost submitting Asako also works. It makes MARUs performance the more impressive because she basically works the whole match, even saving her partner with a gritty double stomp. Finishing run was all MARU and it was once again good stuff with some brutal kicks from Saihara and Fukunaga and MARU clocking them with nasty double stomps and a sick headbutt. Safe to say MARU pretty much rules. 

 

2025 Matchguide 

Various No-Ring Matches

 Koji Sudo vs Seiya Nishiyama, NEXUS PROJECT 8/8/2021

 They ran this show in what looks like a cafe, or a souvenir shop, with a wrestling mat thrown in it and some ladders set up. The audience looks to be about 7 people, mostly elderly ladies. Sudo is 51 here, apparently he’s another Kurisu trainee. He has dyed hair and a small stature looking like he would make a sick tag team partner for Yasushi Sato. This is an entirely serious match where they go really hard, almost as if to prove that you can do it all even in this tiny cramped space. The match had everything – some cool mat wrestling, some snug strikes, a lot of cool offense, and a well told story with Sudo the older guy trying to outsmart and beat his younger opponent. Oddly enough most of the cool offense came from Sudo, the guy was wrestling almost like a joshi wrestler, hitting some hair throws, a great wrist clutch german suplex on that tin mat, some sick double stomps, a really choice roll up. It’s palpable that Nishiyama, being younger, better looking and fitter would quickly beat Sudo so Sudo tried to counter and outsmart him constantly while throwing everything he had at him. This kind of stuff is just the pure expression of love for pro wrestling, just go out there and being way too proud to not bring it even when you’re wrestling in the tiniest venue.

Super Guapo MEX vs Kaito Sero, AVANZAR 2018/2/24

This is Mascara vs Mascara. I do not know what went down in the history of AVANZAR for these two fine men to put their masks on the line, but I can see that the result was a nice hate filled scrap. Right from the go MEX was just punishing his opponent by torturing his arm in various ways. He had about the most painful version of the ‘push opponents arm back and stomp on his elbow’ spot I’ve ever seen. Often that spot can look a little time but here it genuinely looked like Super Guapo MEX wanted to kick Seros elbow out of his arm. MEX would also do mean things like kicking away at Sero with his ankle while having him trapped in a llave, just total dickhead stuff. When Sero comes back he is throwing every shot as hard as he can. There are some scrappy no-ring flying headscissors with one of them throwing MEX into a gentleman in the first row, who spends much of the match then keeling over in pain. That’s what these no ring matches are all about, the sheer danger of it. They have a ladder for a turnbuckle pad, and at one point MEX throws Sero face first into the ladder, with Sero taking it so fast and reckless like he didn’t really expect he would be about to be swept face first into a ladder. Sero pushing his own arm to get out of MEX’ cobra clutch is also good pro wrestling. Same goes for MEX collapsing when Sero tried to set up his finisher. The last llave has Sero struggling with all his might, desperately trying to his hand hooked on his own pants only for MEX to force it and lean all the way back almost snapping the guy in half. It was genuinely good wrestling, wrapped in a sleazy hate filled underground mask vs mask match with no ring. It’s a bit slow here and there but you have to love this stuff. The wrestling gods smiled on them that day for sure.

Koji Sudo & ZEAL vs Hiroshi Ando & Sanada Ten Braves, Kishu Bundara 4/13/2025

Not sure what Kishu Bundara is. Apparently Tsubasa Shiratori is the owner. Regardless, this match is a banger. They put a mat on some cobblestone pavement and wrestle hard, punishment style. Ando has MMA gloves and does honest to god shootstyle with Ando dishing out some really mean kicks and knees. Then Sudo tags in and we get some great wrestler vs shooter exchanges. Sanada Ten Braves is this tough looking lady, and she is not afraid to engage in some absolutely harrowing exchanges. ZEAL has the vibe of a tough old man with a shot body and a big balding patch who can’t move very well anymore but still do some neat things. There were sick headbutts, closed fist punches, people smacking the absolute dog shit out of each other, and Sudo here and here doing improbable cool things like hitting a springboard crossbody off of a flimsy looking ladder. Towards the end it starts raining and yeah it feels like an epic match. At just a bit over 10 minutes they cut a relentless pace too. Match had story, shootstyle, cool wrestling, plenty of sick punishment, and a surreal vibe that you don’t get twice. Yeah this ruled.

2025 Matchguide Week 39

 Ali Najima vs Masanori Watanabe, 10/1

Sportiva starts strong into October with the hottest match up in Japanese wrestling! Well, the first couple minutes weren't as good as their previous matches, as they just kinda did generic rookie punishment stuff. But the second half of this is very good with both guys getting insanely stiff and Watanabe trying to break Najimas arm. Watanabe did this arm takedown from a russian tie into an armlock that was Tamon Honda levels of awesome. Worth watching just for that alone.

Masanori Watanabe vs Koji Iwamoto, Sportiva 9/17

Iwamoto had been away from Sportiva for a bit. He was goofing around early, but Watanabe quickly caused him to snap out of it with a hard kick to the shoulder. Iwamato then proceeded to kick the scrap out of Watanabes leg with some mean short kicks and stomps. Pretty good work from Iwamoto, and Watanabe sold the hell out of that leg work. Once Watanabe came to attacking the arm again things were getting intense. Most inspired performance I've seen from Iwamoto in a while, and Watanabe is progressing insanely well considering he's only been wrestling for a few months.

Chihiro Hashimoto vs Mika Iwata, Sendai 9/23

Last time I checked out these two I felt they would make for an amazing singles matchup, and well here we are. This had a solid story, with Hashimoto the newly arrived ace trying to control Iwata who's trying to topple her. Iwatas trump is the fact she can stop Hashimoto in a flash, either with her kicks or an armbar. Hashimoto controlling was pretty good as she's just a force who can grapple and throw people around like a beast, and Iwata does have pretty badass kicks. They peppered in some really cool reversals and moments that showed these two are a class above, along with some sensible stuff like the slick go behinds being important or Hashimotos abdominal stretch. Dug the violent outbursts, like Iwatas KO high kick that stopped Hashimoto in her tracks, or Hashimotos violent takedown and mauling Iwata on the ground. The only letdowns in the match are a) the length, as the match felt a bit dragged out and suffering in pace and b) both of them starting to blatantly no-sell towards the end where they are just taking big moves and getting up. I wanted to see how Iwata would comeback against Hashimotos onslaught and her just kicking out of a pin, getting up and firing back after seemingly being on the verge of defeat moments earlier was really stupid. That was really unfortunate because if it wasn't for that ending taking me out of the match this had some of the best wrestling I've seen all year.

Chon Shiryu & Shin Suzuki vs Makoto & Sayaka, Choco Pro 8/27

I honestly thought this was totally awesome, and one of the most straight forwardly enjoyable matches I've seen all year. If you don't like Choco Pro and their silly mat in a dentists office set up, I can understand, but I thought there was some undeniably great work here. This was a title match and they went all out to deliver. Of course, a big part of why the match works so well is Chon Shiryu, who is a total superstar and just the king of that little room with the way he will bounce around and hit 619s off the window sill and what not. Everyone else delivered too and there wasn't really any let down. Match had everything - fun exchanges, good rudo work from Suzuki and Shiryu, hard hitting, cool submissions, slick technical stuff and nifty transitions, and a finishing run that was packed with cool stuff and never really got into silly territory. We usually see Shiryu as the babyface kung fu hero type, here he is asshole kung fu rudo and he is really good at that too, hitting nasty face scrapes and twisting peoples limbs. Shin Suzuku is also a quite good wrestler, I should probably watch more of him sometime because he was always insanely on point and constantly doing interesting stuff. The women also looked good, Sayaka being more of a slick technical moves and dropkicks type, though she did hit a pretty hard elbow smash at one point, and Makoto kicking people hard and crushing them with knee drops and stomps. And Chon Shiryu was going all out. It's funny how one can watch a ton of him and still be surprised by the things he does. Most importantly everything was timed really well and their pace never let up. It totally works in the confines of that small space and there were a few awesomely slick pin combos and submissions that would make your best WoS technicians sick with jealousy. This kind of no ring almost lucharesuish stuff with a focus on slick pins and submissions is a pretty unique thing for Choco Pro and this was one of the best matches of that type I've seen.

Mari vs Haruka Ishikawa, AWG 2/5

This was insanely good, possibly the best womens match I've seen all year. Ishikawa is the lower ranked wrestler who is just trying to reach the upper echelons of this little promotion. Accordingly, Mari caught Ishikawas energetic charge with a front headlock and then folded her in some cagey matwork. After that Mari proceeded to kick the crap out of her opponent with some rib-cracking stiff kicks. Ishikawa was able to catch Mari in a cool leg submission, and then proceeded to desperately stomp the crap out of that leg. Thought Ishikawa was pretty great as a shark smelling blood in the water and going after Mari with gritty stomps and dropkicks to the head. Maris leg selling was right on the money, really some of the best selling of a bad leg I've seen in a long time. The struggle over Maris crazy submission hold was also great. Whole match was worked in a really sensible way like that, built around Maris stiff kicks, while trying to deal with her bad leg, and Haruka desperately trying to squeeze out a win. Mari going for ground and pound, trying to tap Haruka with a basic side headlock to protect her bad leg was great and felt like something out of a smart 90s AJPW match. I mean it's pretty simple but it's rare to see a worker apply that kind of cleverness in a match nowadays. Great finish, too. Match had a good story, plenty of stiffness and gritty stomps, struggle and intensity were fantastic. Yeah, great stuff.

 

2025 Wrestling Matchguide 

Back to GAEA

 

Meiko Satomura & Chikayo Nagashima vs Ran Yu yu & Ayako Hamada, GAEA 10/13/2003

Not as good as the August tag with all the youngguns, but still pretty damn good pro wrestling. After a good opening exchange from Satomura and Hamada, Nagashima and Ran kinda flub something and Nagashima puts the pointless Figure 4 of doom on Ran. The match gets back on track fast though when Ran starts beating the shit out of Nagashima. Nagashimas headscissors and ranas give a different vibe to everyone else, some of her stuff looked a little clunky but its fun, and I liked when Ayako just chucked her to the mat like a piece of trash. Match gets awesome really quickly again when Satomura tags back in and everybody just starts teeing off on each other. Satomura vs Ran is especially great, just two badass wrestlers who hit like a truck squaring off. Rans elbows once again ruled and there were a handful of cool experimental moments. Really liked how there was a sense of going for the kill constantly, all killer no filler, and the finish is freaking sweet.

No Rules Streetfight Handicap Match: Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka vs Mayumi Ozaki & KAORU & Takako Inoue, GAEA 10/13/2003

No Rules Streetight, yeah! Takako had done a run in on a previous show, costing the Crush Gals a win with her goofy cattle prod. They had all kinds of props for this – barbedwire boards, a ladder, various weapons and that damn cattle prod, and they really got the most mileage out of it all. This could easily have been a total geek show if it was just a bunch of deathmatch guys but these are all talented enough to get serious drama out of everything. Chigusa in 2003 is so good that she makes even something like tugging on a chain compelling, and of course her crowd connection is just unreal. Asuka is good as you need a sidekick to be, being stoic, dropping bombs, spin kicking people in the head, bringing out her goofy tribal design table that she really likes. Right at the go Inoue - who's in a Playboy shirt - has her cattle prod but gets headkicked into dropping it. Later she ends up getting it back but seems to shock herself somehow when she touches the barbedwire. Awesome. And these legends are all not afraid to roll around in the barbedwire. Frantic pace, super heat, lots of chaos and fun unique spots and drama, all leading to a satisfying ending where they all get bowled into the wire, GAEA was on a roll with these crazy spectacle brawls in 2003.

Dynamite Kansai vs Chikayo Nagashima, GAEA 10/24/2003

If I had to name a perfect big vs little sprint, I think this would be pretty close to it. Tremendous match which delivered hard all the way through. The more I watch late career Dynamite Kansai, the more I appreciate her. She is clearly marred by her health, but still totally works as a monster and can still pull off great stuff. Lot of great cat and mouse chases here with Nagashima being like an airplane trying to take down King Kong. Nagashimas offense being a mix of lucha rollups and really violent double stomps was pretty perfect. Of course, Kansai still has those violent kicks and can drop bombs, but she uses everything sparringly, which makes her one of the smarter wrestlers around IMO. A few mind blowing counters here especially the finish. Just a great 10 minute match.

Toshiyo Yamada vs KAORU, GAEA 10/25/2003

Frantic brawl with a lot of raw chaotic energy. This was all action, but they weren’t just doing moves, they were constantly creating moments, so it was intrigueing all the way through. Right away KAORU starts brawling. She goes for a moonsault off the top to the floor, missing but landing on her feet, which is pretty crazy. Yamada ends up kicking the guardrail, and there’s a lot of hard banging on metal in this match. KAORU proceeds to clobber her knee with a steel chair. Ozaki is also at ringside, interferring in a few ways including just tossing a steel chain at Yamada here and there. It could get grating but it doesn’t and I appreciate the referee for not counting a pin after Ozaki had just done a blatant run in to hit a 3D with KAORU in Yamada. Yamadas selling of the leg is just fine – acknowleding that damage had been done, limping a little, but not going too over the top with it and just working her way back into the match and moving on. She starts kicking the shit out of KAORU and there’s real heat here and it’s great. They just keep going relentlessly, and keep creating moments. KAORUs athleticism is really good, I also liked how she pretended that her bad knee gave out, and she has a lot of cool ways to get out of Yamadas finisher. Yamada still has badass kicks in 2003 and shows fire here. Selling in the last minutes wasn’t super important but I thought for this kind of hit and run brawl it works. Good stuff, and these two seem underappreciated.

2025 Wrestling Matchguide Week 38

 
Ultimate Spider Jr vs SUZAKU, Osaka Pro 5/24

Another very fun match from Osaka Pro. Two athletic guys doing a lot of athletic stuff but with a decent pace and a good layout. SUZAKU is the more young-ish and he seemed a bit generic but good, he had a few kick variations including the Inazuma Leg Lariat which always gets a wrestler on my good side. Spider Jr. continued to look good, I really appreciate that after taking over with a flying neckbreaker and a DDT he continued to go right after SUZAKUs neck, including viciously elbowing him in the neck. That kind of stuff always gets me into a match and SUZAKU to his credit sold that bad neck all the way. This was a bit more spotty than the Oosera match but it never really gets into stupid territory, both guys have cool offense and at 12 minute it's a fun watch.

Super Chino vs HAMATANI, Fukumen Mania 5/3

Super Chino is Chon Shiryu basically going full bore with the Drunken Master stuff, stumbling and wine bottle included. Loved Drunken Master as a kid, so I am all in for it, and if you're gonna give me some light hearted comedy AND give me Shiryus cool diving kicks and martial arts stuff on top of it I am happy. HAMATANI is a game opponent, he can do some solid lucharesu exchanges, has fun kicks and capeoeira kinda shtick... I wouldn't mind seeing more of him. Or Shiryu, for that matter! This is nothing big but it's a fun little match of two unique wrestlers doing their thing.

Virus & Xelhua vs Charles Lucero & Erick Ortiz, Sugehit Produce 9/27

A very good maestros match with some really complex work. I was really happy to see my man Charles Lucero come out and be awesome still at the age of 65. This starts out good with Xelhua and Erick Ortiz putting each other in upper body ties and and then getting more esoteric. Still I thought the Virus/Lucero section was next level as it felt almost like RINGS. Virus was creating sick submissions out of thin air and Lucero adds a lot of personality. Never seen Ortiz before but he did look good. And then they shuffle through all the possible matchups and give us 3 extended falls. This turned out the same way all these maestro matches usually do - a ton of submission work leading to a double pinfall for some reason - but if you're in the mood to watch 25 minutes of this kind of matwork you're in for a treat.

MARU vs ACT, AWG 7/26

A pretty badass little match between two tough heel types. There was some floor brawling which was cool, but they also showcased some nifty wrestling. MARUs use of the Stretch Muffler has to be some of the coolest submission work I've seen in 2025. She also had some really sharp leg attacks including a brutal stomp to ACTs thigh. ACT seems a bit over the hill but she can also bring the good stuff, she had a really slick unique submission into a back stretch, and a cool spinning choke into a suplex that was pretty badass. The most impressive thing about the match was that it was a short undercard match but they still worked hard. It easily could've been just some bullshit but everything here was fresh, there was selling, well worked transitions, at no point did it feel like they were mailing it in, that in itself is a really nice thing to see these days. Nifty finish too, maybe we can get a bigger match between them in the future but for now this was a really good 9 minutes.

 

2025 Matchguide