BattlARTS History #3 - October 1996

 
Minoru Tanaka vs Katsumi Usuda, 10/2/1996
Not the most exciting shootstyle as neither guy seemed particularily inspired. Thy were rolling on the mat like they were warming up. There were a few good kick combos from Usuda, but it's a BattlARTS match. Tanaka added pretty much nothing.

Minoru Tanaka vs Shoichi Funaki, 10/4/1996
Tanaka hits a big dropkick and kick combo to start but is quickly cut off by a dropkick to the knee from Funaki. We then get a solid 5 or 6 minutes of Funaki working the leg which means he's just slapping on various basic leglocks and Tanaka slowly crawls to the ropes. Tanaka gets the win with a flash armbar at 7 and a half minutes. This is the kind of pro wrestling that really puts you to the test because it makes sense and is executed solid but feels like a complete waste still.


Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Naohiro Hoshikawa, BattlARTS 10/2/1996 - GREAT

I think the earliest showing of Ikeda and Ono teaming, and they are already a unit. This wasn‘t an all out brawl like many of these matches, but the opening Ikeda/Ishikawa work was tough as nails. These guys locking in submissions look like they‘re trying to bend iron bars. Hoshikawa was solid, and got punched in the face for his troubles by Ono when he tried going for an Irish Whip. Ono and Ikeda eventually cracked up the violence attacking people two on one, Ono kicking people in the face hard and both guys landing some brutal saves. It ended a bit early as Ikeda bloodied Hoshikawas nose and dispatched him like a piece of trash so you didn‘t get a grandstand final, but the match delivered everything you want from Team Taco. 


Daisuke Ikeda & Takeshi Ono vs Katsumi Usuda & Yuki Ishikawa, BattlARTS 10/4/1996

This ones JIP. Not quite as great as you'd hope for given you have 4 of the 5 best guys in the company at this point in the match, but still pretty good BattlARTS style tag action. The shenanigans of Ikeda and Ono were in full effect once again. Mostly ground-based action and at this point their matwork was not yet super exciting, but enough crushing blows and big suplexes to make this a wortwhile quick. It seems Ishikawa had not quite the arsenal yet to really fire back and as such he got KO'd hard after a brief final stand off with Ikeda. Ono was a stiff bastard and relentless on the mat as usual, seemingly never quitting. Usuda was a bit non-descript but he put in the work as always. It seems Team Taco are unstoppable at this point which, sets up their faceoff with Ishikawa and Otsuka at the big Korakuen Hall show later that month nicely.


10/30/1996

 
Tetsuhiro Kuroda vs Satoshi Yoneyama
Two young guys mauling each other hard for 5 minutes and I can get all the way behind that. Yoneyama hits Kuroda with a hard kick barrage right at the go and Kuroda would hit back hard with some really hard elbows and kicks. Kuroda feels very much like a pro wrestler forced to shoot here with the way he locks in a pro wrestling style spinning toe hold and cinches it so hard that it believably forces a rope break and it's a lot of fun. 

Viktor Krüger vs Shoichi Funaki
Krüger was a big austrian guy, who had a background in American football somehow and WCW ambitions at some point. As a transplant to BattlARTS he was super weird and random but they worked their hardest to make it work. This was pretty much a pro wrestling match with Funaki working full on cat and mouse spots, slipping underneath, getting chased, running the ropes. Could've had almost the exact same match on Velocity, like it's hard to imagine Funaki vs Kane being much different. It's fun though as Funaki manages to not look like a chump and even almost submits Krüger a few times. Krüger looked somewhat inept but made it through the match without hiccups.

Carl Malenko vs Katsumi Usuda
Mostly grappling, and they sure do some slick grappling. It could've been a bit better considering how great both guys can be when they're on but that's just a minor complaint when you get 2 beast matworkers grappling it out for 10 minutes. Crowd was really into it too and it's always cool to hear a Korakuen Hall reacting to someone grabbing a heel hook. Their best match so far?!

TAKA Michinoku vs Minoru Tanaka
The conclusion to their year-long rivalry! Some really good fireworks at the end here with some great submission nearfalls, a few violent shotai rushes from Tanaka and both guys trying to crunch each others necks with snatched Michinoku Drivers and big suplexes. Still I thought shorter matches suit them better at this point, as it felt like not a ton happened in the first 10 minutes as it was just rather tentative unspectacular work. Still for 'epic' feeling this might be your match just for it's length and build, even though their earlier matches have been more compact. Still I love how the crowd flips out for even a basic toe hold counter, and there's s great finish here with a perfect execution of how to do a sleeper.

Takeshi Ono & Daisuke Ikeda vs. Yuki Ishikawa & Alexander Otsuka (BattlARTS 10/30/1996) - EPIC

Okay, everybody knows this match is amazing. In context, it's pretty much the quintessence of what BattlARTS had been doing that year, so it was a suitable main event to their first Korakuen Hall show. Ikeda and Ono were an amazing pair of absolute pricks here, really upping the heel tactics they've in part displayed before up to 11 and trying to stomp Ishikawa and Otsuka to a paste. Right at the start they double team Ishikawa pasting him with kicks and cutting off the ring to isolate him while he busts out cool mat counters to defend himself. Ishikawa and Otsuka in turn took insane beatings and retaliated with some insane suplexes and a few choice revenge spots. In between that they do lots of really gritty feeling matwork. It really felt on a different level to shootstyle tag-wrestling up to that point. There was one bit that resembled modern MMA where Ono kept stopping Otsukas takedown attempts and trying to scramble his brains with super violent kicks. I don't have to tell you that all the Ishikawa/Ikeda exchanges were just glorious brutality. Some of the hardest stuff they ever did, and their last exchange was just mental, full on punches do the face, Ikeda hitting these crazy back kick while upside down, it was hatred embodied. Ishikawa wasn't quite the full-on Inoki worshipper yet and he kept doing those Jimmy Snuka jumping headbutts. Otsuka has these really awesome moments of explosive hot tags where he just runs in and snatches and dumps somebody on their head right off the bat, he was a suplex monster in this. Just like Ishikawa/Ikeda had their dynamic he has this dynamic with Takeshi Ono, who spends most of the fight on the apron waiting to sneak in and kick somebody in the eye to break a submission. Otsuka pummeling Ono around was pretty great and when he hits that big giant swing it's just transcendental. When Ono actually was in the ring, we got to see either his slick skinny ratboy grappling or his reckless kicks. We also get to see what Ishikawa is really about as later in the match he gets his comeuppance hooking one nastier and nastier submission on Ikeda. What a quintessential piece of 90s wrestling greatness, up there with your high end AJPW tags or Michinoku Pro multimans or FMW explosion deathmatches, just a snapshot of a totally unique point in time with these dudes just going all out on the mat, this is what BattlARTS really was all about. And man their final showdown is just pure undistillated face punching goodness. Awesome matwork, big suplexes, intrigueing tag psychology, all-time brutality, just one of the sickest matches ever.

The Show Library

Complete Takeshi Ono 

Eternal GAEA

     Chigusa Nagayo vs Mayumi Ozaki, GAEA 12/9/2001

You know I should just sit down and watch GAEA all day long. This was a chaotic brawl with an insanely gory bladejob from Chigusa, so just what you expect. There’s comical amounts of outside interference from Police and KAORU, chairs are thrown, staffs broken, and Chiggy hits a full on Terry Funk style punch combo to comeback. Chigusa has the unique ability to make even mundane submissions like a sleeper or abdominal stretch look dangerous and they do get a ton of mileage out of that here, as of course Chigusa can drop Ozaki with some mad bombs but the focus was mostly on Nagayo doing nifty submission counters and trying to squeeze out a submission. Ozakis backhands and open hands looked good. Yes yes, they may overdo it a little on the outside interference and I maybe would’ve liked a moment where Chigusa goes full Stone Cold and beats the hell out of everyone, but what we got was pretty nifty, and felt unique, like a joshi take on a WWF Attitude Era brawl mixed with Villano III/Atlantis and a dose of Inokiism.

Ran YuYu & Toshie Uematsu vs Chigusa Nagayo & Toshiyo Yamada, GAEA 11/30/2003

Incredibly neat match where they basically packed as many nifty moments and transitions into a short match as they could. Nagayo has a bad leg and YuYu and Uematsu are like terriers trying to due further damage. An angry Chigusa would in turn try to snap their legs with some really fast dragon screws. There was also some brutality thanks to Yamada and YuYu, mostly. Uematsu and Ran are so mean here that it seems Uematsu busts out a foreign object, and YuYu keeps trying to strangle Yamada and throwing the refee around, which made for some unusual intensity. After the match Chigusa hits a downright criminal kick to YuYus face. A match where every second was interesting and nothing felt by the numbers. GAEA was wild.

Sakura Hirota & Carlos Amano vs Ayako Hamada & Ran YuYu, GAEA 10/25/2003

Pretty much the Sakura Hirota show. She was on fire here. Mind you, it was comedic, but the match still felt like competitive pro wrestling, and the jokes were funny, creative and displayed considerable skill especially the little lucha routine she did with Ayako, so it was fine by me. Basically Hirotas thing is that she’s a useless idiot, but she keeps on trying despite her failures and she is totally capable of putting someone down for the 3 with a roll up if she just gets things right, so that’s compelling. There’s like a 9 minute stretch or so in this that’s almost all Hirota antics and it’s exhilarating. When Amano is in there’s some pretty damn good straight up wrestling too. It all builds to a really good and quite intricate finishing stretch with Amano hitting flash armbars and Hirota upsetting people with her unique ways. Pretty damn fun and unique match that never missed a beat.

Mayumi Ozaki vs Ai Fujita, GAEA 4/4/2004

Ai Fujita in GAEA?! She was a really fun wrestler. Anyone who can do lucha exchanges and look athletic, bust out slick submissions and shoot punch people in the face has some real talent in my book. It’s a good showing from Ozaki too. Not everything she did landed perfectly but her palm strikes and backfists were pretty fun, really catching Fujita to the mush. She also busted out a cool rolling leglock. Match was going fun but really kicked into next gear once Fujita started punching Ozaki in the face. Her punch combo may be one of my favourite ever in wrestling, it was Takeshi Ono level. Match also had the GAEA-typical odd touches nifty moments. Good stuff, bit unfortunate Fujita retired just shortly after this, though I guess the joshi scene didn’t hold much more for types like her at this point.

Meiko Satomura & Chikayo Nagashima vs Dynamite Kansai & Toshiyo Yamada, GAEA 4/10/2004

Tons of fun, even for a tag that’s kind of on a smaller show. Early goings were basic but engaging, as they put a ton of struggle and vigor even into things as basic as a test of strength or struggling over a top wristlock, and with the people involved there’s always the factor that someone might get kicked really hard. Yamada in her later days may be physically over the hill but I always find her interesting to watch. This stuff rules not because it's hard hitting (it is) but also because they display lots of creativity. Things kick up a notch when Satomura started getting into kick battles with Kansai and Yamada. You know these 3 are GOATs and they are breathtaking to watch even compared to GOATs, every thing hitting snug and they have a bunch of different interesting ways to land their kicks and strikes. Especially dug Satomuras out of nowhere mule kick from the corner. The finishing run is Kansai vs Nagashima and it’s more about Nagashima trying to pull off a tricky pin combination to take down the juggernaut but it’s also pretty great. Kansai is so good even late in her career, her strikes land hard and she knows exactly how to be a monster, these two have a cool dynamic together like a more hard hitting Rey/Psicosis.

2025 Matchguide - Addendum #3 & Wrap-Up

 
Mad Dog Connelly vs Adam Priest, ACTION DEAN 5/24

An old school brawl in 2025! It works pretty well. I liked how both guys covered up for the ref messing up with the dog collar at the beginning. The brawling here was good, and... well... it was a good match. I feel like a hypocrite for saying it but it didn't feel like much more aside from the novelty of seeing two guys just having a no nonsense brawl and beating on each other in the modern day. Connellys comeback with the back headbutts and tumbling through the ropes was great, so was his dropkick. Thought he should've pounded on Priest a bit more. But, sometimes matches end just like that, and that's fine. It's a bloody old school brawl so it's better than 99% of wrestling nowadays easily. I enjoyed this.

Hechicero & Dr. Cerebro & Xelhua vs Blue Panther & El Pantera & Virus, ACTION Dean 9/11

6 awesome wrestlers pretty much doing what they are paid to do. That said, I thought some of the early exchanges were a bit loose, though I love Blue Panther still putting in the effort to make things look competitive, not allowing people to grab limbs easily etc. They kind of get moving in the second fall which is still nice and competitive. Lots of enjoyable sequences where they manage to not get lost. Even with the cool matwork, I thought the old man highspots (Panthers ranas, El Panteras corner headstand) were the highlights. Also really enjoyed Panther simply armdragging an intefering Hechicero away, that should happen more often. I actually thought the first Dean trios was a bit better but ymmv. It's really enjoyable stuff anyways though you will know exactly what you are getting.

Josh Barnett vs Tom Pestock, GCW 1/19

Slow paced heavyweight shootstyle?! In the middle of a 6 hour GCW PPV? Despite the surroundings I thought this was pretty good! Pestock is better on the mat than you'd expect from looking at him, and Barnett made the challenge of facing a much bigger guy feel pretty intense. Really enjoyed Pestocks giftwrap set up for the armbar, as well as his ground and pound. Vertical suplex looked great and believable. The match may have fizzled out a bit towards the end - maybe Barnetts kicks needed a bit more zest, but Pestocks clobbering was cool -  but I really enjoyed Barnettts last ditch leg submission.

Final Thoughts 

Well, I've certainly watched a lot of wrestling from 2025! So, there were a lot of good matches.  Not a lot that really punctured into mind-blowing greatness to me, but definitely some fantastic discoveries and a lot of great matches. I went through my Matchguide and there were easily 50 matches that definitely stick in my mind as not just being good or fun but actually GREAT. It is quite burning to watch current wrestling because let's be real - so much is insanely loose, overly long, choreographed, self-indulgent and/or just plain bad with no substance. I tried to watch some US Indy wrestling, and boy oh boy that scene is looking not good. Everytime I look at modern WWE for 5 seconds it's just totally ass. Even straight up good workers often indulge in bad tendencies, but that has always been the case in a way. And I can accept that. It's just not for me anymore, I am not even close to the realm of the fanbase that stuff is appealing to. I've been watching wrestling for well over 20 years now and there are dedicated AEW and WWE fans who got into wrestling like last year, for crying out loud. The stuff that I find repelling is what they are actually into, I think. I'm like 4 generations removed from the intended target audience. But I definitely can't say that there's not a lot of good wrestling around nowadays. The things that kept me compelled the most were watching the rise of talented new grapplers like Senka Akatsuki and the Sportiva boys, delving into the completely unknown territory of AWG like a true uncle, keeping an eye on cult heroes and obscure scenes like the Mutoha crew, Takahiro Tababa, XGF, JWA Tokai, the last few niches and one shots that appeal to my weird sensibilities. Discovering unfamiliar wrestling is always fun and for me it's probably the funnest part of being a wrestling fan. Unfortunately I have been mostly ignorant to lucha libre throughout the year while CMLL was having a record breaking run but there's only so much wrestling an employed man can watch. Maybe that's something I'll go and rediscover in 2045 if the world hasn't blown up by that time.

The Top Promotions (That I can name)

ActWres GirlZ (AWG) 

 Discovering AWG completely blindsided me in 2025. A wrestling promotion that doesn't even call itself wrestling but rather 'a theatrical performance based on wrestling' somehow has a really respectable backlog of good-great wrestling matches, using mostly workers that even the person training them to wrestle doesn't call wrestlers. It feels like something that's takes a bit of a different approach from regular wrestling so it's refreshing. Even more interesting is that the promotion apparently went through a nearly life-threatening roster split the before, so workers were pushed into a position to try and make something of what was left. I'm not saying it's some miracle genius promotion because often there's bad stuff and some wrestlers definitely look like they don't belong in a ring, but I was impressed by others and their effort to put on earnest matches with minimal bullshit despite all of them being 'just' actresses. Most importantly they run 3 shows a months with usually 2-3 good and sometimes better matches coming out of each show, and that's better output that I can say for any other promotion that I've observed in 2025.

Sportiva 

 Well, Sportiva is kind of a no brainer. It's the one wrestling product that I've followed weekly with considerable excitement in 2025. They've got a crop of exciting young wrestlers, some interesting veterans, and they brought as things such as curry sportsbar shootstyle and Kings Road. The end result was maybe the biggest and most consistent output of good/great matches in 2025, although mostly involving the same handful of workers. I'm not too fond of their comedy matches and some acts on their cards but that's something that can be said about pretty much any other promotion too. Sportiva is the hottest wrestling hub on earth and they were cooking in 2025.

Marvelous

While carrying the spirit of Chigusa, Marvelous ended up being perhaps the most exciting womens promotion in 2025 even while running on a paper thin roster. Much credit goes to Senka Akatsuki whose initial SHOOT PIN victory over veteran Ai Houzan in January 2025 wound up making her one of the most interesting rookies on earth pretty much immediately, and following the story throughout the year was a cool ride with lots of good matches coming out. You also had the feud with Marigold that was pretty cool. Speaking of Marigold, that promotion also put on some good matches although watching an entire show would probably put me in a coma. Some credit also goes to the other womens promotions that still try to put on somewhat serious womens pro wrestling - PURE-J and Sendai Girls, though they haven't been quite as exciting as Marvelous in 2025.

Kakuto Tanteidan/Mutoha/JWA Tokai/XGF/SAREEEism/your flavour of the month niche one-shot...

I love variety in my pro wrestling. Unfortunately, a lot of pro wrestling in 2025 felt the fucking same. It's really hard to stay engaged when everywhere it's the same by the numbers slop that you get. A big reason why AWG probably ended up being my favourite promotion to watch in 2025 - simply because they weren't afraid to break established formulas and stray away from cookie cutter sequences. The variety that the 90s had - with shootstyle, lucharesu, the grandiose Kings Road and the more simplistic New Japan strongstyle being in full bloom - is sorely missing. Oddly enough the one thing that seems to hang on is deathmatch wrestling. As such, if a full time promotion started up that ran monthly shows in shoot-style like Kakuto Tanteidan or weird chess-match grappling like Mutoha or greco roman rules matches like JWA Tokai, then that promotion would probably surely be my promotion of the year. As such since these niche productions only run a handful of times a year it's hard to call them promotion of the year even though I always end up enjoying the likes of Mutoha or Kakuto Tanteidan more than anything else. Shows like that, while having almost no wider appeal are a much needed shot in the arm when it comes to enjoying wrestling. Who knows - if all wrestling suddenly was shootstyle or weirdo grapplefuck or creepy backyard brawling, then maybe I would suddenly start craving more thigh slapping superkicks and backcrackers and canadian destroyers in my wrestling. But until then - just inject all that weird stuff in my veins.

The Top Workers

Meiko Satomura

Naming Meiko Satomura feels like a trivial answer. Obviously she's the best. Default top female wrestler in the world for like forever... well when she's not stuck in the WWE black hole anyways. She also got a run of big matches leading up to her retirement that were all memorable and better than pretty much anything else going. Her one flaw is that she's the same as always, though that seems like a non-critique considering she's always been great. Still as stiff, precise and exciting as ever in 2025 even to her last match. What, you're complaining that this GREAT wrestler delivers GREAT wrestling just exactly as you expected? I would've liked to see her maybe show a new wrinkle in the final days of her career but whatever. She's  great and that's been a constant pretty much since I started watching Japanese wrestling.

 Mari

Of all the new exciting wrestlers I've discovered in 2025, Mari is probably the most complete - and also the one where I could honestly say she might give Meiko a run for her money when it comes to the top spot among wrestlers. Well, Mari is also a veteran, though only for around 10 years. Like Meiko, she is stiff, exciting, inventive, has the vibe of a badass - unlike Meiko, she also shows some variety. She's done some great work in tags, working as a stiff overdog heel leading a Heisei-Ishingun like heel group in which she's in the Kengo Kimura role of hitting cool leg lariats to Act Yasukawas Tatsutoshi Goto hitting cool lariats. She's also a pretty fun stooge working light hearted matches that still contain some wrestling. She's had the great singles matches, the great tag work, the great undercard performances that I would want from a #1 level wrestler. She's also in a unique position  that apparently she's the one coaching all the 'actresses' that step on the mat in AWG, so it could be argued that she's also the one responsible for that promotion being good at all. Eitherways, she's become someone who I always want to check out, and as the top worker in her promotion with a few of the best matches of the year being under her belt I can see her being a valid #1 pick for workers.

Ali Najima

 Well, Najima is a no-brainer pick here. Pretty much had good-great matches weekly in Sportiva while being a rookie with just about a year of experience, and he definitely wasn't carried in those matches. Also brought us the joy of bar floor shootstyle brawling. Also looked great when he stepped into Kakuto Tanteidan and I definitely want to see more of that. Checking out his weekly progression in 2025 has been one of the most exciting things in 2025.

Yasushi Sato

From what I know, Yasushi Sato has had a total of 6 matches in 2026. I was able to see 3 of them, all great, including a mind bogglingly interesting greco roman rules match. He'd probably be a strong number 1 contender if he'd just show up on tape like 3 more times, but that has been the case for many other great wrestlers throughout history. Musing about lack of footage aside, while Yasushi Satos body has declined a little - the man is 60 years old, jesus christ! - his wrestling mind is still one of the sharpest and most interesting around. Great grappler, really intelligent wrestler, everytime he gets to do his thing it's a joy to watch.

 Blue Panther

I haven't been able to check out lucha libre much. But, as rule, old men are usually the best at lucha libre, so Blue Panther is my go to guy. At the age of 65, can it be said that he's declining a little? Or is 65 just prime age for luchadores? At any rate, few wrestlers ever have such a charisma as Blue Panther does when he hits a top rope rana in a sold out Arena Mexico, and he also has the technical skill and nuance to back it up.

Yu Shimizu/Yuta Oya/Rico Fukunaga/Avisman/Super Taira/Keita Yano/MARU/Mad Dog Connelly/Dekai Ichimotsu/Marino Saihara/Minoru Kido/CHANGO/Paul Ishida/Chon Shiryu/Hideaki Sumi/Akiyama Who Just Wants To Do It...

 You can fill the rest of the ranks with pretty much any variety of guys and girls that I've been watching in 2025. At some point it becomes hard to rank them - like how do you decide who is better: a guy who's had 3 good-great matches in a sportsbar and a great shootstyle grappling match on a JWA Tokai show, or a guy who's had 3 good-great bloody brawls in XGF and a great old school grappling match on a Health Pro show? At some point you just have to be glad that we have all of them. We tend to focus on the workers who have the greatest, the most grandiose, the longest matches - although it's usually just the wrestlers who are put in position to have them. I know for sure - without guys like Yu Shimizu or women like Marino Saihara caring enough about wrestling to put on great little performances even in a tiny sportsbar or at a half empty Shin Kiba 1st ring, wrestling would be a lot less fun for me. As such - acknowledge them and give them their flowers. So, let's say it out loud - Yu Shimizu fucking rules - Super Taira fucking rules - Rico Fukunaga fucking rules - and so on. 

 The Top 100 Matches (in no particular order. Just watch them all if you haven't already. A lot of the enjoyment here comes from watching this in context so if you're a freak from the future reading this wondering how the career of IWGP Champion Yuta Oya began,  just go and watch all the Sportiva episodes in chronological order.)

Cosmo Soldier vs Michio Kageyama, Sportiva 1/1
Ai Hozan vs Senka Akatsuki, Marvelous 1/4 
Blue Panther vs Hechicero, CMLL 1/10
Senka Akatsuki vs Ai Houzan, Marvelous 1/12 
Yusaku Ito vs Yu Shimizu, Sportiva 1/22
Meiko Satomura vs Sareee, Sareee-ISM  1/23/2025
Act & Mari vs Haruka Ishikawa & Kyoka Iwai, AWG 1/24 
Mari vs Haruka Ishikawa, AWG 2/5
Kenichiro Arai & CHANGO & PSYCHO vs. GENTARO & Akira Jo & Taro Yamada, Mutoha 2/16
Yasushi Sato vs Shoji Ohno, Mutoha 2/16
Takahiro Tababa vs GAJO, Big Bear Produce 2/22 
Yuta Oya & Ali Najima vs Konaka & Shinya Ishida, Sportiva 2/26
Mariah May vs Toni Storm, AEW 3/9 
Haruka Ishikawa & Ayano Irie vs Erisa Nagai & Rico Fukunaga, AWG 3/9
Sakura Mizushima vs Mari, AWG 3/16 
Meiko Satomura vs Chihiro Hashimoto, Sendai Girls 3/21
Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha vs Nanae Takahashi & Seri Yamaoka, Marigold 3/30
Satsuki Nagao vs Shuji Ishikawa, KT 4/8
Kosuke Sato vs Masashi Takeda, KT 4/8
Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura vs Hikaru Sato & Manabu Hara, KT 4/8 
Meiko Satomura vs Takumi Iroha, Marvelous 4/10 
ZEAL & Koji Sudo vs Sanada Ten Braves & Hiroshi Ando, Kishu Bundara 4/13
Meiko Satomura & Sareee vs Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu, Fortune Dream 4/16 
Sho Mizuno vs Yu Shimizu, Kobe Meriken 4/18
Yasushi Sato vs Super Taira, JWA Tokai 4/20/2025 
Elimination Gauntlet: Ai Houzan, Maria, Riko Kawahata, Sora Ayame & Takumi Iroha vs. Chika Goto, Kizuna Tanaka, Miku Aono, Natsumi Showzuki & Rea Seto, Marigold 4/25 
Shiori Asahi & Makoto Oishi vs CHANGO & Ayumi Honda, 2AW 4/27 
Tonikaku Yaritai Akiyama & Nakata Bide vs Masanobu Koppu No Fuchi & SUMA, AZW 4/? 
Munetatsu Nakamura vs Hagane Shinnou, Choco Pro 5/5
Shinya Aoki vs Kazusada Higuchi, 5/6 
Ali Najima vs Kanu(?) Watanabe, Sportiva 5/7
Paul Ishida vs taku, XGF 5/10 
Mentai Kid vs GENKAI, Kyushu Pro 5/11 
Senka Akatsuki vs DASH Chisako, Tenryu Project 5/21 
Seri Yamaoka vs Takumi Iroha Marigold 5/24
Cibernetico, ACTION 5/24
Chihiro Hashimoto & Mika Iwata vs Saori Anou & Natsupoi, Stardom 5/31 
Sui Cup Kenchiro vs Great Mara, CWP 6/1 
White Moriyama vs Ari Najima, HEAT-UP 6/1 
Sareee vs Ranna Yagami, Stardom 6/8
Masanori Watanabe vs Kazuhiro Tamura, Sportiva 6/11  
Sareee vs Syuri, STARDOM 6/21 
Yasushi Sato & Taro Yamada vs Akira Jo & Hideya Iso, Yoshino Aid 6/22 
Shinya Ishida & Yu Shimizu vs Ari Najima & Masanori Watanabe, Sportiva 7/2 
Ari Najima vs Masanori Watanabe, Sportiva 7/9 
Marino Saihara & Sakura Mizushima vs Anri & Yukina Uehara, AWG 7/11 
Act & Maru vs Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki, AWG 7/11 
Leon & AKARI vs Moeka Haruhi & Rydeen Hagane, Pure-J 7/13 
Saya Kamitani & Natsuki Tora vs Sareee & Takumi Iroha, Sareeeism 7/14 
Mari & Act vs Anri & Erisa Nagai (AWG 7/18) 
Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase, Sendai Girls 7/19 
Zandokan Jr. vs Judas El Traidor, Lucha Memes 7/19 
Keita Yano vs brother YASSHI, Tenryu Project 7/20
Virus vs Xelhua, RoH 7/26 
ACT vs MARU, AWG 7/26 
Sareee vs Konami, STARDOM 7/27
Ultimate Spider Jr. vs Yasutaka Ooosera, Osaka Pro 7/27 
Ali Najima vs Yuta Oya, Sportiva 7/30 
Mari & Ayano Irie vs Anri & Erisa Nagai, AWG 8/2 
Masato Tanaka vs Hayabusa, Zero1 8/3 
Ali Najima vs Masanori Kanu Watanabe, Sportiva 8/6
Konaka vs Chon Shiryu, Sportiva 8/13
Act & Mari vs Marino Saihara & Rico Fukunaga, AWG 8/13
Ali Najima & Yuta Oya vs Michio Kageyama & Shinya Ishida, Sportiva 8/13 
Makoto vs Hiroyo Matsumoto, Seadlinnng 8/22 
Chon Shiryu & Shin Suzuki vs Makoto & Sayaka, Choco Pro 8/27 
Hideaki Sumi vs Tatsunori Oya, Kobe Meriken 8/29 
Yuta Oya vs Super Taira, Sportiva 9/3 
Mari & ACT & MARU vs Marino Saihara & Sakura Mizushima & Naru, AWG 9/7
Ali Najima & Super Taira vs Yuta Oya & Ryutaro Ohno, Sportiva 9/17/2025
Chihiro Hashimoto vs Mika Iwata, Sendai 9/23 
Kenichiro Arai vs Ayumu Honda, Tenryu Project 9/23 
Ali Najima vs Konaka, Sportiva 9/24 
Virus & Xelhua vs Charles Lucero & Erick Ortiz, Sugehit Produce 9/27 
Avisman vs Eragon, Vikmask 10/4 
Merman Masakazu vs Aesop, Health Pro 10/5 
Dekai Ichimotsu vs Vasaru Ikeuchi, Health Pro 10/5 
Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha & Mio Momono vs Seri Yamaoka & Mayu Iwatani & Utami Hayashishita, NOAH 10/6 
Drew Gulak vs Timothy Thatcher, Beyond 10/12 
GENTARO vs Shuichiro Katsumura, Ganbare Pro/FREEDOMS 10/16 
Keita Yano vs Hikaru Sato, Tenryu Project 10/17 
Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara vs Rico Fukunaga & Sakura Mizushima, AWG 10/19 
Takumi Iroha vs Senka Akatsuki, Marvelous 10/19 
Ali Najima vs Kosuke Sato, KT 10/23 
Tanomusaku Toba & Kengo Mashimo vs Yuko Miyamoto & brother YASSHI, KT 10/23 
Keita Yano vs Manabu Hara, KT 10/23
Keita Yano vs Koji Iwamoto, Tenryu Project 10/25 
El Hijo del Santo & Santo Jr. & Ciclon Ramirez Jr vs. El Hijo de Fishman & El Hijo de LA Park & Texano Jr., TxT/Lucha Libre World Berlin 11/2
Sareee vs Chihiro Hashimoto, Sendai Girls 11/16 
Yasu Urano vs Akito, 11/16 
Minoru Kido vs taku, XGF 11/23
MARU & Ayano Irie vs Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara, AWG 11/24 
Ryo Kawamura vs Hikaru Sato, Hard Hit 11/29 
Yu Shimizu & Yuta Oya vs Ali Najima & Hajime Enshu, Sportiva 11/19
Kotaro Nasu & FUMA vs Kotaro Suzuki & Tetsuya Izuchi, GLEAT 12/6
MARU vs Chii Aoba, AWG 12/15 
Marino Saihara vs Rico Fukunaga, AWG 12/20 
BADMAX Fujinaga vs Great Kuririn, Kobe MERIKEN 12/25
Senka Akatsuki vs Seri Yamaoka, Marvelous 12/28 
MARU vs Rico Fukunaga, AWG 12/29 

The full guide: 

2025 Matchguide 

Shinya Hashimoto in ZERO1

   

Shinya Hashimoto vs Hirotaka Yokoi, Z1 6/5/2003

This was pretty freaking awesome. It’s Hashimoto vs an aggressive hard hitting shooter in a Korakuen Hall main event, so that shouldn’t come as a huge surprise… still, this a gem. Opening establishes the story of the match nicely as Yokoi came at Hashimoto with a barrage of wild punches but get knocked back by a karate chop. Hashimoto was a total killer here, basically every single thing he did was awesome. Cutting through Yokoi with extremely well timed strikes, trying to break his leg with punches, catching him with a Fujiwaraish leg hook… really had the feel of a wily veteran putting a faster younger fighter through the wringer using experience. So Hashimoto is not just a monster, he is an intelligent monster. Even basic things like a kneedrop looked insanely violent. Yokoi was swinging his fists fast and hard at Hash but kept getting caught by Hashimotos counter kicks and occasionally a shoot heabdutt to the face. At the same time, it seemed Yokoi could beat Hashimoto anytime if he just punched him hard enough or locked in a submission. As such the whole match was intense. Another chapter in the book of Why Shinya Hashimoto is the Greatest Wrestler of All Time.

Shinya Hashimoto & Kohei Sato vs Katsuhiko Ogasawara & Akio Kobayashi, Z1 3/27/2003

Fuck yeah Pro Wrestling vs Karate! Ogasawara breaks a baseball bat with a spin kick before the match to establish dominance. This is really the dream match of every 8 year old kid who loves pro wrestling and karate (now you can guess what I was like at 8). Just 4 men leveling gritty beatdowns on each other for 13 minutes with hardly a breather. The first Hashimoto vs Ogasawara exchange is so awesome as you really get the feeling that Ogasawara was pushing Hashimoto to break out faster and more agile strikes than he usually does. It’s rare Hashimoto faces someone who matches him when it comes to killer strikes but fuck Ogasawara was destroying people here. He looked insanely precise and killer here just stabbing through people with his axe kicks and piercing gut punches. And Hashimoto would always time his strikes and put people down with a big swing. Kobayashi feels very sleazy with his oily hair and colour mismatched taped hands. You look at him and you immediately want to see Hashimoto stomping his guts out and and that’s pretty much what happens. Kohei Sato is kind of the red headed step child here – he’s outmatched against the striking expert. When Hashimoto tags him in, Sato would gleefully take the chance to lay some hard kicks into an exposed Ogasawara. Later we see him going for a running move only to crotch himself in the ropes like a goof ball. One big Ogasawara punch to the gut sent Kohei crawling to the floor clutching himself like he just got his intestines rearranged. Though to his credit Sato fights hard dropping karatekas with some hard suplexes that looked like they had minimal cooperation. It all builds to Ogasawara taking a huge beatdown as Hashimoto just decides to punch him in the face until he starts bleeding. That is actually what happens – Hashimoto nails his signature double stomp, landing on Ogasawara like a fat cartoon dog would land on Tom from Tom & Jerry, then taking a look at Ogasawara and deciding he wants this old man to bleed, and a couple measured knuckle punches to Ogasawaras face later he is indeed covered in blood. The finish is Sato putting the pressure on a seemingly dead Ogasawara only to get knocked out by a lucky hit like the goofball that he is and then crawling all over the referee in confusion. It’s a sudden ending but it makes sense given the build, Ogasawara can just KO anyone with one precise blow. I would’ve hoped this would set up some kind of epic Hashimoto/Ogasawara bloodfeud but instead they only tagged together for the rest of the year because japanese wrestling is like that. I wrote a lot of words about this one but to sum it up they hit each other with lots of really hard punches and kicks and it was great.

Shinya Hashimoto vs Shinjiro Otani, Z1 12/24/2003

I don’t think I’ve seen this match before, and it’s not something that’s brought up much, which is a bit odd because it’s two of the greatest Japanese wrestlers stiffing the daylights out of each other in a big match. Undoubtedly the action here was simplistic, but rather great. These guys really know how to get the most out of everything. During the opening grappling, which was classic New Japan style, simple but believable, they really made basic things like going for an armbar feel meaningful and putting some grit and struggle into it. Of course, Hashimoto is this really towering presence and everyone is thinking if Otani can somehow overcome the king. Everybody knows Otani will probably not tap out to a kimura from Hashimoto 3 minutes into the match but just the way Hashimoto would really crank would let everyone know that he was putting Otani in trouble. Otani knows this so he goes and slaps the shit out of Hashimoto. They stiff the hell out of each other, spirited Otani gets the advantage, he facewashes Hashimoto, and to top it off puts a kimura on Hashimoto for some nice mirroring. Hashimoto would in turn increase the viciousness again, kicking Otani all over the ring, until Otani is the one crumbled in the corner. Otani stopping Hashimotos beastly onslaught with a messy headbutt to the shoulder is so great because it’s simple, believable and Hashimotos selling immediately lets you know that he’s in trouble. Not just because he’s in pain and screaming, but also because he stops using the arm and instead opts for his spinning legsweep in a great spot. This is why Hashimotos just the fucking best, whole match was done in a fairly simple fashion but just oozing with aura and everything meaning something. I could see some people being unhappy with the finish but I thought it was just fine since I am tired of 2.9 ending runs anyways. In a way that would have gone against the story they were telling. Tall that and they absolutely stiffed the daylights out of each other, goodness gracious.

Shinya Hashimoto vs Alexander Otsuka, Z1 7/13/2001

This was kinda like the pro wrestling version of those PRIDE fights with an insane size mismatch. We don’t really think of Otsuka as ‘small’ because usually he works like he’s such a beast, but he does look quite small next to Hashimoto here. This is close to a squash but it’s memorable. Basically Otsuka tries to get something in on Hashimoto and just gets mauled. Hashimoto would shrug off Otsukas early attempts at takedowns and then proceed to try and pulverize him with vicious kicks. Just destroying his shoulders and arms with bone breaking kicks and karate chops. Otsuka looks really tough not backing down against the beast and he gets a few cool hope spots but is quickly destroyed. Highlight was clearly Hashimotos gritty crowbar shoulderblock that blew Otsuka away, and the finishing submission which looked like a killing. Still you want it to be a bit more epic considering it’s Hashimoto vs Alexander freaking Otsuka but sometimes you can’t have it all.