Masanori Watanabe & Yuta Oya vs. Ryutaro Ono & Ali Najima, Sportiva 1/7
Good main event from Sportiva to open the year. Opening floor brawling wasn't anything brilliant though it was energetic hard hitting pro wrestling and just watching Yuta Oya do anything is always interesting. Second half of the match is quite fun - there's a great exchange between Najima and Oya culminating in Najima hitting a really violent headbutt. It comes down to Ohno vs. Watanabe as Ohno has been kind of in Watanabes shadow so he tries to put him down with basic boston crabs etc while Watanabe is always angling for a leg submission. They make it pretty interesting and it's good shit along with the continued interactions between Oya and Najima. I cannot overstate how incredible Oya is, and because he's blind you get those odd plausible moment like Najima just sneaking past him to break up a nearfall.
Sho Mizuno & Ryuya Matsufusa vs Tigers Mask & Aran Sano, Osaka Pro 2/22
An enjoyable big match, the recent Osaka Pro resurgence is really cool. Some modernisms hampered this a bit (kind of slow pace, some thighslapping) but overall it delivers a lot of good hard hitting action. Matsufusa is the ace of Osaka Pro right now and he has some fun athleticism and I guess that's his thing. Aran Sano is quite generic - though he has some good offense later in the match, he showed pretty much 0 personality. Nothing against guys like that, but it does make one long for the days of the likes of Ashura Hara or Hiromichi Fuyuki when it comes to secondary guys. The main reason I liked this match was Tigers Mask and Sho Mizuno. Tigers Mask in his old days has become a really cool wrestler, like a sleazy hybrid of Takeshi Ono and Tajiri, nonchalantly kicking guys really hard, employing scummy tactics, and his out of nowhere Necro bump was really gritty. Really made me want to check out more of him. Sho Mizuno is the guy who was coming up in the sleazy ranks of Kobe Meriken last year and now he's looking like quite the budding talent. He's a really enjoyable underdog with his hard kicks. His jumping knees ruled and the finishing run between him and Sano is quality stuff. Naturally I enjoyed Tigers and Mizuno the most in this match because I am just that kind of person though Matsufusa and Sano were also bringing it.
Senka Akatsuki vs Chihiro Hashimoto, Sendai Girls 2/15
Awesome match, it was kind of inevitable. Akatsukis whole thing the past year has been being this tenacious rookie who shoot pins people and doesn't back down, now she faces the grappling monster herself. This was allll about tenacity, struggle and making the most out of basic things, so it was pretty much my kind of pro wrestling to a tee. Opening headlock work was basic but fairly great as they made everything look like a struggle. That opening sequence of headlocks and shoulder blocks may have been about 500 times better than those things usually are. Hashimoto always looked like the more expert wrestler when grappling - dug that headlock escape - but Akatsuki would always try to forearm her hard or catch her with basic shoulder blocks. Akatsukis entire thing at this point is that her moveset is still very basic but she can still chip away, do some damage, get the most out of everything and eventually force a pin, and it's really gold. Hashimoto cinching in a body scissor only for Senka to reverse into a boston crab may be the closest we get to Jaguar Yokota/Jackie Sato in 2026 and that rules that I'm even watching a match that forces the comparison. Hashimoto getting slapped and trying to bash Senkas head in in retaliation was reminescent of a Shinya Hashimoto match. Intense pin struggle with Hashimotoo reversing to get on top and then slamming Senka was also perfect. One of the best rookie/veteran matches in a long time.
PSYCHO vs. Shuichiro Katsumura, Ganbare Pro 3/28/2026
Great 10 minute match. PSYCHO is awesome as a dirtbag technical wrestler who just wants to steal a pinfall, and Katsumura has gotten quite good by now. Really liked how Katsumura immediately went for the arm after hitting a kick to PSYCHOs shoulder which always adds to the 'everything matters' feel. PSYCHO taking control by catching Katsumura with a dirty trip and hitting a really fast kneedrop was great. Him hitting the springboard backflip was also pretty awesome considering he must be pretty old by now. Katsumuras counters were downright masterful, especially loved the Yoshida-esque sweep to armbar. I am not sure how I feel about Katsumura using the Go 2 Sleep as a transition move and then hitting an elbow drop like a CM Punk tribute, but it was kinda funny. Great finish courtesy of PSYCHO, too.
Mari & MARU vs. Rio & Sakura Mizushima, AWG 5/16
Another fun match from AWG. Again, the match had a complex layout and told a story, making it more interesting than your typical Japanese match these days. Rio and Mizushima are still a bit on the goofy side, but there was plenty of serious wrestling with Mizushima showing she could keep up better and better against the heel duo of Mari and MARU. She looked quite good, of course it's not hard when you're facing two pro heels like these two but she looked on point. Rio was the story of the match as she was the one who would have to dig deep and push herself and it made for some compelling moments. The highlight was easily the creatively set up 3 on 1 splash they did. Mari and MARU were reliable as ever providing some punishing offense and stooging extremely well.
Yujiro Yamamoto vs Yu Shimizu, Kobe Meriken 4/10
I'd be shocked if I see a more violent match this year. This was a midcard match on a sportsbar show, I like both guys and expected a decent effort, but these two unleashed hell on earth at each other here. Just some of the hardest elbows and slaps you will ever see. Shimizu was trying to scramble Yamamotos brains to paste and Yamamoto looked like a demon here. Initially Yamamoto was shrugging off anything that Shimizu threw at him, probably not taking him seriously, until Shimizu was able to knock him back. After that Yamamoto started targeting Shimizus leg with some brutal low kicks and knee-crushing technical moves. This was definitely the most inspired I've seen Yamamoto in a long time, he was torturing Shimizu in Fuchi-ish ways and also busted out a bunch of great flash submission counters. He also kept increasing the violence, by the end he was cracking Shimizu with FUTEN-esque kicks to the head. Shimizu was mostly the underdog here, while he was mostly getting trashed I always dig his scrappy vibe and simplistic backdrops/sleeper/elbow approach. Really liked how he just car crashed into the back of Yamamotos head with an elbow, and his flash rear naked choke may be my favourite spot in wrestling. There was also some great struggle over the backdrop suplex. That said this was just a downright evil fight but pretty great for what it was.
Bocky Kong vs. TATSUYA, Health Pro 4/12/2026
Hell yeah. Give me 2 tubby asskickers like this painting out their pro wrestling vision. This also happened to be a titanic 30 minute epic were they basically worship 90s IWGP heavyweight or WAR style. Can these two men who exist in the most obscure bowels of pro wrestling pull it off? Hell yeah they can. What I liked about this was that it felt not a single minute was wasted. They make the whole thing competitive, every single move here feels like offense intended to damage, never like time wasting. Most of the early goings they spend grappling with a lot of hanging on to side headlocks and cravates. Those holds seem fairly basic but with the way they were hanging on and really wrenching them they make it really compelling. There were a ton of cool moments too. I loved the way TATSUYA would keep clubbing his way out of the cravate hold, really making it look like he was trying to chop Bockys arm off. So often escapes from holds just look graceful or buttery smooth with all the struggle missing, these escapes looked painful and brutal. Really loved Bocky Kongs Honda-like arm takeover. It feels like it's 10 or 15 minutes of both guys just trying to squeeze heads into grape juice or crank necks with their holds, with the occasional explosion. Only 15 minutes in does a shoulderblock exchange occur, and it really feels like two guys recklessly crashing into each other. I even liked the bodyslam war they started, so exhausting and they both were rolling dropping bombs with those body slams. When they start hitting they really hit each other insanely hard. Kong worships Hashimoto like no tomorrow so he's all chest kicks, neck chops and neck-cranking DDTs. TATSUA works really simplistic with his chops and lariats but it's all cool. Again, they do simple stuff but with a lot of intensity and in an unpredictable things-happening-as-they-do way that makes it really compelling to watch. Yes, it may be a bit long, but I was hooked all the way through. What these two lack in refinement they make up for in spades with attitude and spirit. Really loved how they tied it together by going for their headlocks and cravates again towards the end to set up the finish. A hard fought, hard hitting war with lots of awesome moments, I really enjoyed this.
