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 

2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 34

Blue Panther vs Ultimo Guerrero, CMLL 8/8/2025

Blue Panther does it all, even at the age of 64. Flying headscissors, dives, bumps on the floor, even a big dragonsteiner off the top! Age is just a number and there's no limit, at least when you're a GOAT level luchador like Mr. Panther. This was really well laid out and a super fun big arena match, just for the insanity of seeing Panther doing all this stuff. There's mask ripping and some mean boots from Ultimo, but he mostly stooges for Panther. It was a bit slow and the finish cheap, but just a boatload of fun here.

Kazusada Higuchi vs HARASHIMA, DDT 7/13

HARASHIMA has been one of the more reliable Japanese big match workers for a long time now. He's 51 years old, which surprised me honestly, putting him at the age range of some of the Mutoha regulars, and here he is still, doing the same thing he has been doing for nearly 20 years now. And this was very much a Japanese big match with all that usually entails. Slow pace, with some limb work that really only serves a perfunctory purpose, and then a bit of cool stuff at the end. For that it was well executed and, but my heart longed for a bit more. The match was also plagued by 'lets stand in front of each other and patiently wait for the other guy to hit back' syndrome which has to be the biggest cancer in modern wrestling. Higuchi seems cool, but being slotted in this kind of formulaic match doesn't allow for a ton of spontaneity. By all means he should be a Tenryu type who fucks shit up and turns things upside down, being big, cool looking and an ex sumo, but it doesn't quite happen. The iron claw is ridiculously fun and I would've been fully on board for them working a match around an iron claw but it didn't play a big role in the match. There are some violent strikes at the end and it rounds up to being a fun match overall though largely feels like something you've seen a 100 times before.

Zandokan Jr vs Judas el Traidor, Lucha Memes 7/19

Here's your lucha brawl of the year. The crowd is solidly behind Judas the Traitor. There's blood, mask ripping, both guys smashing stuff on each others heads, and they never really slow down. And some blood drenched shoot headbutts for good measure. Could've been a bit deeper, as there wasn't a ton of flavor besides Zandokan putting his pirate flag over Judas head and kicking him in the face. That was cool. And the finish is totally fucked up and gnarly. But those shoot headbutts put it over the top for me. More than anything, the match had soul. And blood. Lots of it. What more can you ask for?

Act & Mari vs Marino Saihara & Rico Fukunaga, AWG 8/13

Really enjoyed the previous months big tag involving Act & Mari, so this is another great upload. What do ya know, this was really good too! The... act of Act and Mari is clearly one of the coolest things around since they know just the right balance being a pair of badass heels and also throwing out lots of cool kicks. I've never seen Saihara and Fukunaga before, but they are clearly a pair of pretty solid talents. They don't try to be overly flashy which I think is great, they are just really straight forward and solid with their kicks and submissions. They may need a bit more polish but Saiharas German Suplex may have been one of the most beautiful I've ever seen, so yeah Saihara and Fukunaga get a lot right. This is intense from the get go and it felt like everyone was going for the kill constantly, all killer no filler. Saihara and Fukunaga seemed outgunned at first and hanging on for survival, but by the end the tide had turned and Mari was getting destroyed. Thought it was remarkable that they cut such a sharp pace with no obvious filler work, and there were a few moments of cool struggle, the struggle over Saiharas German Suplex or even just catching a random kick at a critical moment certainly felt like a big deal and memorable. Act takes a bit of back seat to the more energetic Mari but I thought all of her involvements were well done, I really enjoyed that spinning front headlock that she angrily threw Fukunaga around with. Mari is clearly really good too, she has the badass vibe of a quicker Akitoshi Saito or Kengo Kimura, she brings both a unique flavor with the cool jumping kicks and also some character. So yeah, fast pace, intense, no nonsense action, heated, doesn't insult your intelligence, this was another really good match from AWG!

Mio Momono & Senka Akatsuki vs MIRAI & Kizuna Tanaka, Marvelous 7/13

Mio Momono is back, and she's got that little pitbull Senka on her side! It's a pretty fun match, and as always they make Senka look unstoppable. Plus you have the aspect of Senka helping out Mio which is always fun. The opening of this gave me bigger hopes than the match could end up delivering on as it turns into a Momono tour de force with endless kick outs. Momono may have great energy, but she really doesn't like selling. There is some good armwork by MIRAI and Tanaka that ends up being completely pointless. Eventually we do get the extended finishing stretch centered around Mio, with her basically taking on both opponents for like 15 minutes straight and not even tagging out to Senka again. Mio survives both opponents, and even wins the match. MIRAI and Tanaka seemed okay as workers but about as generic as they come so there wasn't a ton for me to get into here. Mios offense is fun but when it comes to violent headbutts and double stomps Sareee kind of has the market cornered. Match needed more of Senka. 

2025 Matchguide 

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.

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

2025 Wrestling Week 2

 
Yujiro Yamamoto vs Tsuyoshi Okada, Kobe Meriken 1/10

Yujiro Yamamoto is one of the last BattlARTS mohicans and I always enjoy when he works a match and I get to see him. Takeshi Okada is a sleazy looking shooter. He looks like he would play bass in a crustcore band but he can actually scrap on the mat and do hard hitting. Him and Akira Jo would make a sick tag team. The early minutes of this are really good, credible shootstyle grappling. Okada can actually hang and pull of some cool transitions. Even when they go into the pretty standard "two guys holding leglocks and slapping each other" spot, they do it with so much force and ferocity it actually comes out as violent. After the matwork the match takes a bit more of a pro style direction with an irish whip and some of the usual back and forth elbow exchanges. A bit disappointed because I would've liked to see them go full BattlARTS style but they were still doing pretty snug hard hitting pro wrestling. The finish was a bit sudden, I would like to see these two go a little longer and really work their magic next time.

brother YASSHI vs Maori Kawashima, Kobe Meriken 1/10

Brother Yasshi wrestles a bit like a dreadlocked Tamon Honda with llaves now, which is really cool. He would twirl his skinny opponent around with some impressive amateur moves, then base really well in some lucharesu exchanges, and finally stretch him with llaves. Yes, brother YASSHI is a good wrestler. Kawashima is kind of not very good - he blows his huracanrana, and when on offense he's far from impressive. They start doing a weird thing too where they take turns giving each other head snapdowns and bumping. YASSHI gets things on track with a brutal headbutt and throwing Kawashima with a really cool deadlift German for the 3. I need more of this YASSHI.

Judas El Traidor vs Fly Star, Lucha Memes 1/1

I always enjoy watching Judas El Traidor. Fly Star is a sleazy looking indy luchador with tattoos. Opening minutes here have some fun llave exchanges with Judas hitting one particularily cool leg scissor takedown. This Fly Star guy tries, but he seems to not have quite the athleticism needed to pull off everything that he's going for. I really liked the couple minutes where Judas had enough of clean wrestling and start bitchslapping Fly Star around. Just Judas El Traidor living up to his name. Fly Star hits a pretty cool flip senton to the grimy floor of Coliseo Coacalco. I didn't like his other offense much - some weak looking fast kick combos and a lot of unnecessary dodge and move running around - he also blows the last sequence. They actually go back to the llaves for the finish and Judas wins it with a cool Gory Special into a slam. A good slice of work from Judas to usher in the new year.

Meiko Satomura vs Manami, Sendai Girls 1/5/2025

Well it's Meiko Satomura. It's always good to see her fight a game opponent on her home turf. I think she's retiring soon, which is a shame because all of her kicks and submissions still look great. I am not familiar with Manami and based on this I don't really want to see more of her. She's okay and has decent fight in her, but she slaps her leg constantly whenever she's doing knee strikes and her forearms were insanely weak looking. That and she didn't leave a huge impression on terms of style. I guess that's fine since she's clearly an underdog against Big Meiko. In the end Manami was mostly here to get walloped by Meikos kicks and try and survive her submissions. Meikos low kicks ended up pushing Manami to the limit. I'm not sure if it was a legit injury or a rare case of excellent selling, but it was one of those moments that really underlined Meikos status as a Hashimoto-like badass who can mess anyone up with a basic low kick. Love how Satomura cut off Manamis comeback by aggressively going for the takedown and locking in a submission. In the end this was pretty much the Meiko Satomura show, and tha tis a show I tend to enjoy.

Blue Panther vs Hechicero, CMLL 1/10/2025

Well I saved the best for last. With this and last years Danielson match, Blue Panther is building quite the resume of matches in his 60s. Yes, you will think, Blue Panther is old. He doesn't quite move like he used to. Yes, him taking on the tank that is Hechicero straight on is a bit silly. But fuck that, this is PRO WRESTLING and there haven't been many wrestlers as entuned to the heart and soul of pro wrestling as Blue Panther. To think - Blue Panther was born in 1960. He did not make tape much before turning 30. In 2012 we thought it was crazy that he was still having MOTYs with the likes of Negro Casas. And here he is still delivering some of the best pro wrestling on earth. My one complaint is that the matwork in the first fall should have gone longer. It was really nice, intricate stuff. Hechicero is such a unit that it looks like he just has to squeeze your arm and it would really hurt, so Blue Panther was getting small victories. Small victories like trapping Hechiceros leg, cradling him from below, or delivering his old bridging escape from the headscissor without hiccup. It was a brief first fall with some really nice grappling and it made me think that if I had Tony Khan level wrestling billionair money it would be my top priority to make Blue Panther vs Yasushi Sato or vs GENTARO happen. Anyways, the other 2 falls of the match were still pretty much flawless. Blue Panther bouncing around busting out crazy shit like he's not old enough to be Hechiceros grandpa was amazing and actually added to the match as you really felt like you were watching an old guy tough it out, reach deep and try to hit something entirely improbable to pull of the upset. There was also plenty of fighting going on, things never got to cooperative. Hechicero abusing the old man was great. Obviously Hechicero is an impeccable base and probably one of the few guys on earth I'd trust to take Panthers flying ranas and dives here. Hechicero abusing the old man was great. There was definitely a Hansen-ish feeling to the way he kept aggressively cracking his opponent, down to a thing as basic and easy to take as the flying elbow to the guardrail looking great. Even the botched suicide dive may have made the match better as that is what you'd expect to happen when someone tries to push beyond his limits. For a second you think Panther may be paralyzed or dead or concussed. Then Hechicero even bashes him against the post and hits some headbutts, only to be pulled off the apron for a great, simple comeback. I also loved the stair stuff and Hechicero kicking Kemonito. Hechicero was just the right mix of his old self, not being afraid to hit Blue Panther with some high level offense and a bumbling violent rudo who kept setting himself up to fall into Panthers trap. It's lucha libre so even a basic cradle can win a match and that makes this stuff gold. So yeah, great match and as long as someone like Blue Panther is alive pro wrestling can't be entirely dead.

 

2025 Wrestling Worth Watching

2024 MOTYC List #2

 
Kazushi Sakuraba vs Daisuke Sekimoto, NOAH 2/15/2014

Terrific match. Very Fujiwaraish performance from Sakuraba doing lots of really great submission entries and counters on Sekimoto. Sekimoto is really effective as a simpleton powerhouse here, he makes a great foil for Saku as his style is basic enough to make Sakuraba look spectacular, but also because of his freakish strength you buy that Sekimoto could just squeeze Sakuraba to death if he simply gets his arms around him.  A few really smart spots here. Sakuraba dropping a nasty knee on Sekimotos face, as well as deciding to later work him over with knees to the body and low kicks was unexpected. Also, because Sakuraba is so frail whenever Sekimoto actually starts doing damage it looks like he's just killing him.


Kazushi Sakuraba & Ulka Sasaki vs Hikaru Sato & Shuhei Taniguchi, NOAH 5/4

I'm liking this old man shooter division. Sakuraba is 54 years old now, but he is still pretty amazing on the mat. Ulka is an ex UFC guy and he shows promise. I thought Shuhei Taniguchi was pretty great here as outmatched but still dangerous old guy and if he wrestles like this more often I'd like to see more of him. Initially Sakuraba was tooling him by reversing Taniguchis greco roman style with his own unorthodox submissions. Just when Taniguchi seemed to not get anywhere, he threw Saku with a big head and arm throw and locked in a Honda-esque choke hold. He then dropped Sasaki with a nasty STO and tried to smash his head with an out of nowhere soccer kick. Sasaki and Hikaru Sato also had an awesome mat exchange. Taniguchi getting heated with Sakuraba and going for suplexes and more out of nowhere headkicks was pretty great. Finish was sudden but also pretty spectacular.


Outsider Negishi vs Dekai Ichimotsu, Health Pro Wrestling 4/14

Great little match. Negishi is gray and old and kind of gangly and Ichimotsu is rocking the wrestling shoes black t-shirt and slicked back hair like a sleazy Osamu Kido. Almost all on the mat. After some cool opening grappling with both guys displaying cool indian deathlock entries, Negishi starts going for the leg. Negishi has a kind of frail old man vibe but he is fun yanking at Ichimotsus leg. Ichimotsu was pretty great selling the legwork and making comeback attempts by going after the arm. Highlights include some great work around a body slam, and Ichimotsus leg giving out when he attempted his finisher.

Bryan Danielson vs. Blue Panther, CMLL 4/5/24

Thankfully Arena Mexico saved this match from being another boring dream match by booing Danielson and rallying behind Panther. Danielson was clever enough to lean into it and Panther was pretty damn awesome here. Opening grappling wasn't anything mindblowing but it's fun to see Danielson go at it with a genuine maestro. I actually thought they could have done a little more on the mat, tho Bryan going into scarecrow position and twisting Panthers head was cool. Panther then taking all this stiff offense and a big dive and suplex on the floor was pretty sick. Initially I liked Danielson selling his leg being damaged by Panthers Tapatia, but him just popping up to hit a dropkick pissed me off a little. Panther desperately avoiding the submission was great and so much better than the usual reversal fest. He also took another big bump off the top, why is this 63 year old man taking all the huge bumps in the match?? Danielson retaliating to the flubbed submission with head stomps was great and probably the best moment of the match. I'm not sure why Panther was the first one to get up after Danielsons 2nd dive and simply hit a dive on his own. The running knee in the ring was a bit lost on me. I get that Danielson was trying to lean into his arrogant outsider act by smiling and not following up, but it still took me out of it a bit before they followed with the cheap finish. Tho Panthers super fast armbar was awesome. Good to very good match with a very impressive performance by Panther overall.

Kazuhiro Tamura vs Akira Jo, HEAT UP 4/7

Very good big match I thought. Jo has roots tracing to IGF, but he has turned into a complete sleazeball now. He really has the vibe that he is a capable wrestler, as evidenced by him doing some grappling and throwing Tamura with a really nice belly to belly early on, but he would rather rake eyes and be a scumbag than continue on that path. The main reason I liked this was a) the selling throughout was very good, and b) they mixed in a lot of cool stuff to keep my attention. Highlights include Jos amazing Rikishi bump that was really well timed, as well as some choice counters that they mixed in. Tamuras armwork was really good throughout the match, lots of nasty kicks to Jos shoulder, and the selling was good. Both guys end up taking big bumps that are important in the scheme of the match. They also ended the match on just the right note with one of the nastiest finishes I've seen in a while. They lose some points because the early goings were noticably lacking fire and engagement from both guys when it comes to their body language, as well as Kazuhiro Tamuras tendency to do moves like a shitty NJPW main eventer instead of embracing his U-File origins. That said, I was positively surprised by this.

 

2024 MOTY Master List

Assorted Lucha

Gran Apache & El Mestizo vs. Escudero Rojo & Reyes Veloz (CMLL 9/12/1993)

It‘s a double hair match, baby! And this was pretty great. We move straight to brawling with the rudos Escudero Rojo and Reyes Veloz lazing into the technicos with cool big boots and clotheslines. Gran Apache looks great here, throwing his awesome punches and flying, and there was one absolutely ridiculous base spot from the rudos where Veloz (?) sprinted into the ring and halfway across to catch an Apache moonsault. Fun layout here with the technicos turning the 1st fall around but getting DQ‘d in the second due to not being able to hold back their hatred for their foes. It builds to an inferno of a 3rd caida where Apache and Mestizo bleed like hell and the rudos make several edge-of-your-seat comebacks. It comes down to Apache vs. Escudero and it‘s everything you want from a hair match with Apache throwing out huge dives, both guys going splat hard on missed flying moves and some big nearfalls. Apaches selling after the tope rope dropkick was epic and so was Escudero Rojo desperately trying to get away.

Blue Panther vs. Dos Caras, AWS 9/25/2004

I had no idea this match ever happened, let alone at a random US indy show. Of course, these guys are way too proud to dog it in such a setting. This was quite the clinic. Both guys did it all. Dos Caras was pretty old here, but he had no problem going hard. It made me wonder what else he was doing during this time period. The crowd responding nicely to this kind of maestros match was cool. Dos Caras is a different weight class, but the match wasn‘t affected. Really good stuff, exactly as good as it looks on paper.

PWC BORN AGAIN 5/9/1996

 Motherfucking Pro Wrestling Crusaders. Full show is here

Sanshiro Takagi vs. Hiroshi Watanabe

Unto all things… a beginning! Takagi would go on to conquer Japanese wrestling in the next 2 decades. Watanabe remained hidden in the underworld. They are both mere black trunks wearing rookies here, although they have a solid black trunks rookie match. Watanabe has kickpads and both guys crack each other hard with some shots and Watanabe hits a really nice dropkick. Single leg crab ends it because that is how these things go.

Super Judist vs. Raioh

I think Super Judist may be Black Hole. He is a tubby guy in a judo gi with a mask. What gives? Raioh has the cool “singlet and taped feet” look and sumo rushes the Judist at one point. This was a fun if inconsequential big boy tumbling match that lasted about 6 minutes. Raioh hits an Ace Crusher of all things but Judist completely no sells it. Judist was putting on cool submissions on Raioh the whole match and he wins with a really cool facelock and armlock move.

Kazushige Nozawa vs. Masakazu Nagase

A singlet wearing Nozawa completely steamrolls Nagase, choking him out within seconds. TAMA mastermind Kancho Nagase deserved better.

Uchu Power X vs. Super Rider

It’s alien shootstyle, baby. I think this is Koichiro Kimura under the Uchu Power mask. This was a completely straight grappling match. They didn’t even do any floor brawling like I’ve seen them do in West Japan and DDT, and there were only one or two vicious strikes from the alien. Other than that, this was all guys in poncho and freaky masks scrambling for chokes and heel hooks. Rider looked good tenaciously grappling with his bigger opponent. Cool match and I wish we had more alien shootstyle.

Blue Panther & Fuerza Guerrera vs. Hijo del Santo & El Sharak

El Sharak was a guy in a ninja costume. I am guessing he was a Japanese guy that PWC was going to push, because he was the focus of this match, although he looked a bit amateurish here and there and blew some spots. The other guys could have a good match in their sleep though and all their stuff was super on point. No matwork sadly but they were there to pop the crowd, and that they did.

Hiroshi Shimada vs. Shogun KY Wakamatsu

Weird match. Wakamatsu is the guy with the hat who managed the Strong Machines in NJPW and various monsters on the indy scene. He was an IWE guy who came back to pro wrestling in SWS and then just kind of stuck around in these sleaze indies. He would hit lots of eccentric offense, chokes, throat jabs etc. He controlled basically the entire match and it really wasn’t very good. There was also some chaos around Uchu Power X being Wakamatsus second at ringside and more random guys interferring. I guess it upholds the sleaze factor but I I thought Shimada, who apparently was the PWC World Champion at this point (raising even more questions about PWC than I had before) deserved better.

Shunji Takano & BATMAN (Great Sasuke) vs. Great Zebra & Gran Naniwa

I have no idea who this Great Zebra guy is. Maybe George Takano? This was a pretty fun match where everyone had their working boots on. We start with a cool 5 minute stretch of matwork which was neat. Sasuke and Naniwa worked hard for their paychecks here. Sasuke in the 90s is such a guy where even when he is kind of mailing it in he looks like a high end pro wrestler. Takano didn’t brutalize anyone, but he showed he could go. You can say a lot about the whackiness of sleaze companies like PWC, but there was lots of good serious pro wrestling on this card.

THE LIBRARY