Dick Togo vs Daisuke Sasaki, DDT 6/18
Impressive showing by Dick Togo. Man retired like 12 years ago and here he is again working the same pace. You really couldn't tell he's a 55 year old man here, he even busts out the old rolling senton to the floor. This is mostly delightfully old school work with a few impressive moments that catch you of guard. Felt wonderfully spontaneous throughout, with moments such as Togo punishing a weak stomp from Sasaki by instantly taking him down, or later cutting him off with a gritty lariat. Sasaki is solid enough angling to attack Togos leg from all angles, without ever falling into drawn out limbwork. Could've done with a bit more leg selling but it's not like that stuff ate up a big part of the match. Got a bit too drawn out at the end for my liking, though it delivers the big punch exchange, senton and crossface nearfalls that a Dick Togo fan will like. And the finish is just a big old punch to the face and you have to love that.
Strong Machine J vs Madoka Kikuta, Dragon Gate 7/13
How strange that the son of the legendary Strong Machine is a Dragon Gate wrestler. If it wasn't for that I never would've watched this, and well this was a reminder why Dragon Gate isn't for me. Machine looked cool, he has energetic offense, his dropkicks are awesome and he looks really good when he starts punching and lariating a guy, and just the fact he wrestles a lot like his dad and is willing to get his mask ripped open makes him interesting. This Kikuta guy really sucks, I thought there might be potential when he clocked Machine J with a hammer but then he proceeded to just slowly rummage around for weapons and it was probably the slowest negative intensity wrestling I've seen all year. Really too much rummaging around and not enough hate. Machine throwing the table at the cameraman felt crazier than anything in the match. I think that kid really needs to show up in Tenryu Project.
Gauntlet: Hummingbird vs Komomo Minami vs Nagisa Tachibana vs Senka Akatsuki, Marigold 6/28
Didn't really care for all the non-Senka wrestlers in this, as far as I can tell everyone just did a bunch of flimsy offense with little intensity. The contrast when Senka steps in with her basic offense that actually looks good and means something is stark. Really enjoyed watching her take out these half baked wrestlers with shoot pins and body slams. Senka is getting the monster push, and rightfully so.
Ari Najima & Yuta Oya vs Masanori Kanu Watanabe & Ryutaro Ono, Sportiva 7/16
'Nother good match from Sportiva. Najima vs Watanabe continues to deliver, they did some more cool grappling and another cool grappling exchange. Ono continues to be fun in the hapless rookie role. What's cool about this is that we now get to see Oya and Najima beat on some lower ranked guys. That brief section of attacks on the back was pretty fun. Good stuff, not mindblowing but they are all continueing on the right path.
Poison Sawada & Kazuhiko Matsuzaki & Masaru Toi & Vasara Ikeuchi vs Guts Ishijima & Masked Mystery & Michio Kageyama & Yuki Kanzaki, Yoshino Aid 6/22
This was CRAZY UNION vs TTT and a pretty fun take on an indy brawl. Just a bunch of crazy looking guys with charisma beating on each other, and running in and out really fast so it doesn't get broing. Ikeuchi and Kanzaki wailing on each other was probably the highlight but there was also a crazy moment where Poison Sawada busted out a damn knife. It was kind of over in a flash, but it was a blast to see guys like Toi and Matsuzaki still around and brawling, Toi looked so energetic.
Tuesday, July 22, 2025
2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 28
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 27
Ari Najima vs Masanori Watanabe, Sportiva 7/9
The U-Style-in-a-sportsbar-resurrgence continues. Some great grappling exchanges here, with Najima looking really good, he may be one of the best guys on earth right now, which is pretty crazy considering his debut was like a year ago, but I guess when you wrestle twice a week for a year you get good fast. Both guys deciding to do shootstyle grappling on the floor was a crazy moment and they actually continued to do grappling. Liked how Najima, after just getting entangled in an armbar by Watanabe continued to sell an arm/shoulder injury throughout. Back in the ring we get some more scrappy exchanges and Watanabe kicking Najima in the bad shoulder and hitting cool arm takeovers. Headbutt exchange leading to the running headbutt was pretty sick too. Ending felt premature, but I guess these two will fight each other a lot more, at least I hope so because this definitely made me excited to see these two develop a full on rivalry. Great stuff, more passion, skill and energy on display here than in a lot of matches on much bigger shows, Sportiva is on a roll.
Asuka Fujitaki vs Yuria Hime, STARDOM 6/4
This was good pro wrestling. Basically Yuria tries to hit fast and hard to take down the bigger Fujitaki. When Fujitaki tried to give Hime the rookie treatment with a boston crab (that Hime desperately tried to avoid), Hime came back with some quite vicious big boots. I also dug how they built to the bodyslam. Fujitaki doesn't do the cool submissions she showcased in the YuuRi match, but she is effective her putting down her opponent with basic lariats. Good basic all action match, the one let down was a somewhat awkward transitoin into Yurias skullsmasher move thing.
Utami Hayashishita & Mayu Iwatani & Seri Yamaoka vs Takumi Iroha & Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame, Marigold 6/17
Interpromotional joshi action! They put all these rookies in the main event so they know what kinda gold they have on their hands right now. And this largely delivers. First Yamaoka vs Senka exchange is a lot of fun. Then the intensity picks up a lot when Iroha tags in and starts waffling Seri. Iroha did a great job carrying herself like a badass in this and delivering character moments. Hayashishita is cool but I thought she could've carried herself as bigger considering she's the world champion of this promotion. I mean, her getting shoved around by the rookies is fun, but I thought her later exchanges with Senka would've been a bigger deal if she had established herself as more of a badass earlier. Iwatani is hit and miss but was able to engage in some hot exchanges largely thanks to Iroha. But the match delivers the Senka moments that you want. Her testing herself against Utami is fun, she had a killer sleeper hold at one point and the SHOOT PIN~ is still strong. Also the match needed more Seri. Still, a really fun match that delivers more complex action than you'd expect going in and made me invested in this little Marigold/Marvelous feud.
Averno, Dr. Cerebro, Euforia, Volador Jr. & Xelhua vs. Blue Panther, Hologram, Neon, Valiente & Virus (ACTION 5/24/2025)
20 minutes of non-stop goodness. Your GOATS Blue Panther and Virus looked insane, and everyone else was a ton of fun. Match had a little bit of everything: cool lucha matwork, but they move on to standing exchanges pretty fast, lots of dives, complicated highspots from Neon and Hologram, and thankfully also plenty of rudo antics. Loved the rudo stuff honestly as it was just right to stop the match from becoming a total exhibition. Also loved Euforias little monster run, and Valientes highflying was really impressive considering he must be pretty old by now. Blue Panther continues to be the greatest plucky old man in wrestling, and Virus still looked like the best guy in the match. A lot of cool highspots but Holograms no brakes suicide dive probably took the cake. Finish looked too easy, but sometimes you just gotta take it home and give the fans a feel good moment.
White Moriyama vs Ari Najima, HEAT-UP 6/1
It's White Moriyama for real this time! Once again, this had the weird rules with 1st round being kickboxing, 2nd grappling and 3rd is straight forward everything goes. Kickboxing was alright, with a few punches landing pretty hard, grappling round was pretty intense where it seemed neither wanted to give up the advantage. And finally in the 3rd it's a pretty awesome breakdown with Najima really laying into Moriyama with hard shots. Moriyama seemed to have slowed down and looked like dead meat, but then started giving Najima back as good as he got. Last strike exchange was downright savage and the finish was rad. Seems Moriyama has only stepped a few times in the ring this year which is regrettable because he can clearly still go.
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 26
Shinya Ishida & Yu Shimizu vs Ari Najima & Masanori Watanabe 7/2
Really good match from Sportiva this week. Solid no frills pro wrestling early on and a bunch of really good stuff in the second half. Once again, I was really impressed by Yu Shimizu. His brutal elbows rule and he's always doing something nifty. His boot that knocked Watanabe off the apron was straight out of 90s AJPW. Ishida stuck to his stuff, but he looked slick and did a bunch of awesome quick exchanges with Najima in the second half. Najima has also grown to the point where he now keeps up with more complicated stuff pretty well. Watanabe is still green-ish but he's really good when he's grappling or attacking someones arm. The finish was Shimizu mauling him with elbows and Watanabe trying to break Shimizus elbow with nasty kicks and elbows. Very good stuff, I can't wait to see another singles match between these guys.
Senka Akatsuki vs DASH Chisako, Tenryu Project 5/21
Great little match that brought some sick violence worthy of WAR. DASH just beat the hell out of young Senka here, some crazy violent slaps and dropkicks and stomps on display. Senka takes a big beating, but you know it all can change when she gets her opponents shoulders down and starts working for the pin. The shoot pin still rules. I liked when DASH did the 'okay, hit me' Senka was immediately right there and started to maul her with open hands, Senka is pretty big. Some great cutoffs from DASH here. I'm digging this 2025 joshi resurgence, you know the passion is back when a throwaway match on a mens show is this heated, and it all started with Senka.
Ari Najima vs Yukito, HEAT-UP 5/3
This had the rule that it was a rounds match with the 1st round being kickboxing with gloves, 2nd round being grappling only and the 3rd just regular pro wrestling. Kickboxing part was alright, they were holding back a little. Grappling part was really good, Najima is clearly really good at this kind of slick shootstyle grappling and it was nice that he get to test himself like this. 3rd round was also really fun with both guys kicking and slapping each other in fun ways and developing good intensity, check out Aris arm selling. Good stuff but I'd like to see just a proper shootstyle match between them because at just 3 minute rounds this felt a little short.
Monday, March 3, 2025
2025 Wrestling Week 9
Ari Najima vs Yuta Oya, Sportiva 2/24
Another very good little performance from the Sportiva super rookies. I love the absence of bullshit and rope running in Oyas matches. This was really straight forward, two guys hitting the mat, with Najima eventually working over Oyas arm with nasty cranks and kicks. Another great harai goshi spot from Oya here, and I loved the intense fighting for the sharpshooter with Najima selling his back. Really simple but enjoyable match.
Leon vs Hanako Nakamori, PURE-J 2/16/2025
These two had some of my favourite matches of the last decade. This was a 2 count pinfall match with the extra rule that there was a plastic circle in the middle of the ring and if you touch it you lose. That is a lot of bullshit ruleset. These two have a ton of fun ways to work around "the middle is lava" and clearly still have awesome chemistry. Lots of fun to be had here and some wild body control and ring positioning stuff (I imagine working a match where you can't touch the middle of the ring is pretty hard with most wrestlers being trained to work towards the middle). Still I want to see these two get up and face each other in a straight match again.
Ai Houzan vs Senka Akatsuki, Marvelous 1/4
Really enjoyed their shoot pinfall match, so I decided to check this out. Starts a little mundane but soon turns into hard as fuck match with Houzan beathing the hell out of the rookie. Lots of evil slaps and stomps from her. Sick moment where Akatsuki really cracks Houzan with a headbutt and Chigusa on commentary cracks up. Last couple minutes were pretty intense with Akatsuki trying to hit a bodyslam for the finish. For a wrestler whose signature moves are 'body slam' and 'intensely worked pinfall' she's really cool.
Ryo Mizunami & Sonoko Kato vs Mio Momono & Yurika Oka, OZ Academy 2/9
A lot of this was very good, but a lot of this was also not my cup of tea. One of the most annoying things about modern wrestling is the insistence of getting all your contrived sequences in, especially when you are a babyface tag team. Lots of hitting 3 or 4 moves after another really fast that just comes across like Momono & Oka were just running through their offense with none of it meaning much. I kind of hate the Motor City Machineguns for infecting wrestling with this shit. That said a lot of what Oka & Momono did was really solid and some of the sequences were genuinely impressive, so maybe I am just a miserable negative bastard. I was impressed with Kato and Mizunami. No offense to Momono and Oka, but once Kato stepped into the ring the match got about ten times more real. Her kicks are still vicious and she never looked out of place in this fast paced go-go match, which goes pretty hard considering she's 48. I also dig Mizunami when she's not goofing around. Her leg drops and Honda-ish shoulder chokes are great. Also, watching Momono doing the second half of the match with her injured arm in a bandage was pretty insane. I'd say this was very good for a modern style match.
Thursday, January 2, 2025
2025 Wrestling Week 1
Michio Kageyama vs Cosmo Soldier, Sportiva 1/1
No better way to start wrestling in 2025 with Sportiva. This was really raw, just two tough old guys trying to smash each other which is kind of the best type of Japanese pro wrestling. Cosmo Soldier is such a force of chaos. He looks like a stereotypical masked hero, but his moves are somewhere between graceful and reckless, and often more reckless. I especially liked his 619 that cracked Kageyama square in the face. Kageyama was up there with him here, trying to smash him with vicious kicks and that old Sportiva bar stool, even tearing off Cosmos protective bandage to kick him in the spine harder.. He acted like a real scumbag, too. There is something savage about Cosmo hitting a suicide dive on that wooden bar floor. Add in some skull cracking headbutts from Cosmo and yeah, this definitely adds up to a match worth checking out.
Yasu Kubota vs Ari Najima, Sportiva 1/1
I was surprised how much I enjoyed this. Yasu Kubota is an old scumbag, but he's the champion now and he puts in effort, in his own scummy way. Ari Najima is really good as the young hotness, he's explosive and hits really hard, and it's really interesting to see how the much less physically intimidating champion would respond. The answer is that Kubota put in an almost Bret-Hart-like workman performance, giving Najima a stiff working over. He was really mauling Najima with nasty elbows and really cranking back on those spine stretches, and using his experience to his advantage. So even though Najima is younger, faster, cooler, it was believable that Kubota could put him through the wringer, and that is impressive. I also loved Kubota busting out the reverse gory special to target Najimas weak back further. Smart match that I think people will really enjoy, that really told a good story and was a good long form title match for the small confines of a humble sportsbar.