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.
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