2026 Matchguide #1

 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.
 

2026 Matchguide 

2025 Matchguide Week 50

 
Kotaro Nasu vs Yukito, Heat-Up 5/25

A very good little quasi-shootstyle match. Reminded me a lot of a Fu-Ten undercard match which is a very good thing in 2025. Yukito continues to be decent while Nasu continues to elevate things by being really vicious. He had some of the most vicious kicks and open hands I've seen all year in this. Him looking in a cool calf slicer and then going in further on Yukitos leg with brutal low kicks was quite good, poignant shootstyle action. There was also a nice punishing aspect since Nasu is the veteran so he is obligated to try and kick right though Yukito. It's really really fun and if it hadn't been for the somewhat awkward insertion of a few irish whip moves it would've been one of my favourite singles matches of the year. My man Nasu deserves more recognition (and more bookings so I can watch him more, dammit).

Sareee vs Chihiro Hashimoto, Sendai Girls 11/16

A no-brainer great match up that delivers pretty much what you expect. Still, I was pleasantly surprised by the opening half of this which was really good, smart pro wrestling. We get some cool matwork where Hashimoto shows off her Alexander Otsuka-ish cartwheels and granby rolls and what not, dominating Sareee in cool ways, then cutting her of with those massive body checks. It was great stuff. Sareee was fighting against a wall here, and she had to figure out how to get by and start bombing her with her signature crowbar dropkicks and stomps. Sareee then trying to break Hashimoto leg with nasty twisting legbars and diving stomps was quite great. Of course, that legwork was pretty much forgotten as soon as Hashimoto got back on offense. They have their obligatory 'we both no sell a suplex' moment and the match is a lot less interesting suddenly. Some Takaiwa-ish crowbar strikes, headbutts, bombs and lariats happen to get me back into the match. After some more trite no-selling we get at least a graceful finish. I really wonder if it's possible for a Japanese big match to exist these days without a bunch of suplex no-selling. Even the crowd seems bored of that stuff at this point. It's a slight let down because there was a bunch of objectively really great work here.


Shinya Aoki vs T-Hawk, GLEAT 10/9

As usual, Aoki provides plenty of entertainment toying with his opponent on the mat and trying to force his shoulders down for the pin in painful looking ways. T-Hawk knocking him off the top rope and then proceeding to bitch slap him around on the floor was some surprisingly adept brawling considering T-Hawk is a Dragon Gate guy. Still, I thought Aoki needs to learn how to sell. I get that he's supposed to be a monster but he shouldn't be making stupid faces after getting punched in the face. As such the end of the match was a bit underwhelming. Fair play to T-Hawk as throwing Shinya Aoki into a row of chairs and then bitchslapping him was probably the greatest thing he ever did.

 

AKARI vs Crea, PURE-J 5/16

Impressive 2/3 falls match between two skillful wrestlers. Crea is quite the fun hard hitting machine with her boots and chops and AKARI had lots of nifty lucha-esque takedowns and submissions attempts. Though Crea also had some good submission work of her own. There was some quite evil stomping and smacks to the face here. Really liked the struggle over the tarantula attempt. Creas jumping big boot thing that she does is awesome. The match felt gritty and most importantly, they fought really hard in all 3 falls and had an unpredictable match that had some thought put into everything down to how they built up things throughout all the 3 falls without going cookie cutter. Definitely felt like more people should have their eyes on these two. Admittedly, Crea could've done with a bit less slapping of the thigh, but other than this was great. 

2025 Matchguide 

2025 Matchguide Week 44

 Merman Masakazu vs Aesop, Health Pro 10/5

Two somewhat lumpy old men, hitting the mat and displaying their love for pro wrestling. The match felt like a love letter to 80s NJPW type wrestling. Masakazu is a really cool Inoki worshipper. He looks older than dirt but he will give his all. Aesop also looked like quite the nifty technical wrestler, and he had a great discus punch. Mat work was really fun here with both guys rocking the figure 4 necklock, multiple stump pullers, really cinching armbars and finding cool ways out of holds. Most importantly everything felt spontaneous. There were no overly set up spots, instead Aesop would just rush over and blast Masakazu in the face with a jumping dropkick. Epic feeling finish too with both guys trying to blast each other with jumping kicks. In a way, guys like these two understand the heart and soul of pro wrestling better than most, even if they are limited by age. 

Hechicero vs Bandido, RoH 8/29/2025

Long modern style epics aren't exactly my cup of tea, but this was better than most of that style. A lot of that is due to their skillset which is way better than what your typical thighslappers have to offer. Hechicero is a credible badass grappler/powerhouse, and Bandido I buy as a superhero type. So there was a ton of enjoyable action here, mostly Hechiceros excellent submission work and some high level athletic spots. The drawback was that as typical the match went way longer than it needed to and eventually it stopped feeling like a competitive match and more like a loosely strung together sequence of cool moves and spots. Don't get me wrong they were some immensely cool moves and some huge spots and bumps, but the 15th cool spot in a 35 minute match eventually just doesn't hit very hard anymore, especially since there was little consequence to what was going on. Arm work, legwork, a huge slam on the guardrail, didn't matter, Bandido kept coming back in the same way. It very much felt like they were just shoeing as much different stuff as they knew. I don't need every match to have a loser focus on a singular story but there wasn't really much of anything to focus on here besides 'wow look at what these guys can do'. Not even something basic like a power vs speed aspect because Bandido just gorilla pressed Hechicero. In a way this stuff is the counterpart to the Masakazu/Aesop match discussed above: way higher in athletic prowres, variety, even ideas, but the soul was lacking.

Shinji Kamakura vs Blankey Maho, Kobe Meriken 11/7

Blankey Maho has come back from Mexico, and she starts this by showing off some cool lucha armdrags! Nevermind that, because this match soon turns into a WAR style match with both of them hitting each other insanely hard. Still, it's fun to watch a wrestler developing new skills. Maho still has some of the best kicks around. I especially love her thrust kick. It's an actual thrust kick, not a half baked superkick, and she nails Kamakura right in the throat with it. Kamakuras skillset is very basic at this point, but he's fun, and everything he hits he seems to nail with 100% force. Nothing deep her just two talented wrestlers cracking each other hard for 8 minutes and that is very respectable.

Seri Yamaoka vs Chihiro Hashimoto, Marigold 10/26

Well.... this match up is a real no brainer. You have two amaresu freaks in colorful singlets in a match, and they deliver pretty much the kind of match you expect. Mostly Hashimoto putting Yamaoka through the wringer, and Yamaoka having to work hard to even do minimal damage to Hash. The rank difference is well integrated and there is some cool grappling and a few neat moments. Nice to see this kind of Alexander Otsuka/Tamon Hondaesque match in 2025 and the finish was very much Tamon Honda flavoured. Not blowaway great - Seri is still getting there - but a cool little match.

Keita Yano vs Zack Sabre, Jr. Tenryu Project 11/4 - GREAT

Yano takes on the former IWGP champion! Okay, it's crazy that ZSJ is that. They do mostly smooth World of Sport style grappling here. It's probably the best of that kind of stuff you'll see in 2025. Nothing mindblowing if you've seen your fair share of that thing but it was fun, and Yano being such a cult hero taking on a star adds a lot. I found myself hoping Yano would just shoot headbutt Zack in the face or something, though. I would actually look forward to seeing them rematch because I thought there was still plenty on the table here.

2025 Matchguide 

Keita Yano Documentation 

2025 Matchguide Week 39

 Ali Najima vs Masanori Watanabe, 10/1

Sportiva starts strong into October with the hottest match up in Japanese wrestling! Well, the first couple minutes weren't as good as their previous matches, as they just kinda did generic rookie punishment stuff. But the second half of this is very good with both guys getting insanely stiff and Watanabe trying to break Najimas arm. Watanabe did this arm takedown from a russian tie into an armlock that was Tamon Honda levels of awesome. Worth watching just for that alone.

Masanori Watanabe vs Koji Iwamoto, Sportiva 9/17

Iwamoto had been away from Sportiva for a bit. He was goofing around early, but Watanabe quickly caused him to snap out of it with a hard kick to the shoulder. Iwamato then proceeded to kick the scrap out of Watanabes leg with some mean short kicks and stomps. Pretty good work from Iwamoto, and Watanabe sold the hell out of that leg work. Once Watanabe came to attacking the arm again things were getting intense. Most inspired performance I've seen from Iwamoto in a while, and Watanabe is progressing insanely well considering he's only been wrestling for a few months.

Chihiro Hashimoto vs Mika Iwata, Sendai 9/23

Last time I checked out these two I felt they would make for an amazing singles matchup, and well here we are. This had a solid story, with Hashimoto the newly arrived ace trying to control Iwata who's trying to topple her. Iwatas trump is the fact she can stop Hashimoto in a flash, either with her kicks or an armbar. Hashimoto controlling was pretty good as she's just a force who can grapple and throw people around like a beast, and Iwata does have pretty badass kicks. They peppered in some really cool reversals and moments that showed these two are a class above, along with some sensible stuff like the slick go behinds being important or Hashimotos abdominal stretch. Dug the violent outbursts, like Iwatas KO high kick that stopped Hashimoto in her tracks, or Hashimotos violent takedown and mauling Iwata on the ground. The only letdowns in the match are a) the length, as the match felt a bit dragged out and suffering in pace and b) both of them starting to blatantly no-sell towards the end where they are just taking big moves and getting up. I wanted to see how Iwata would comeback against Hashimotos onslaught and her just kicking out of a pin, getting up and firing back after seemingly being on the verge of defeat moments earlier was really stupid. That was really unfortunate because if it wasn't for that ending taking me out of the match this had some of the best wrestling I've seen all year.

Chon Shiryu & Shin Suzuki vs Makoto & Sayaka, Choco Pro 8/27

I honestly thought this was totally awesome, and one of the most straight forwardly enjoyable matches I've seen all year. If you don't like Choco Pro and their silly mat in a dentists office set up, I can understand, but I thought there was some undeniably great work here. This was a title match and they went all out to deliver. Of course, a big part of why the match works so well is Chon Shiryu, who is a total superstar and just the king of that little room with the way he will bounce around and hit 619s off the window sill and what not. Everyone else delivered too and there wasn't really any let down. Match had everything - fun exchanges, good rudo work from Suzuki and Shiryu, hard hitting, cool submissions, slick technical stuff and nifty transitions, and a finishing run that was packed with cool stuff and never really got into silly territory. We usually see Shiryu as the babyface kung fu hero type, here he is asshole kung fu rudo and he is really good at that too, hitting nasty face scrapes and twisting peoples limbs. Shin Suzuku is also a quite good wrestler, I should probably watch more of him sometime because he was always insanely on point and constantly doing interesting stuff. The women also looked good, Sayaka being more of a slick technical moves and dropkicks type, though she did hit a pretty hard elbow smash at one point, and Makoto kicking people hard and crushing them with knee drops and stomps. And Chon Shiryu was going all out. It's funny how one can watch a ton of him and still be surprised by the things he does. Most importantly everything was timed really well and their pace never let up. It totally works in the confines of that small space and there were a few awesomely slick pin combos and submissions that would make your best WoS technicians sick with jealousy. This kind of no ring almost lucharesuish stuff with a focus on slick pins and submissions is a pretty unique thing for Choco Pro and this was one of the best matches of that type I've seen.

Mari vs Haruka Ishikawa, AWG 2/5

This was insanely good, possibly the best womens match I've seen all year. Ishikawa is the lower ranked wrestler who is just trying to reach the upper echelons of this little promotion. Accordingly, Mari caught Ishikawas energetic charge with a front headlock and then folded her in some cagey matwork. After that Mari proceeded to kick the crap out of her opponent with some rib-cracking stiff kicks. Ishikawa was able to catch Mari in a cool leg submission, and then proceeded to desperately stomp the crap out of that leg. Thought Ishikawa was pretty great as a shark smelling blood in the water and going after Mari with gritty stomps and dropkicks to the head. Maris leg selling was right on the money, really some of the best selling of a bad leg I've seen in a long time. The struggle over Maris crazy submission hold was also great. Whole match was worked in a really sensible way like that, built around Maris stiff kicks, while trying to deal with her bad leg, and Haruka desperately trying to squeeze out a win. Mari going for ground and pound, trying to tap Haruka with a basic side headlock to protect her bad leg was great and felt like something out of a smart 90s AJPW match. I mean it's pretty simple but it's rare to see a worker apply that kind of cleverness in a match nowadays. Great finish, too. Match had a good story, plenty of stiffness and gritty stomps, struggle and intensity were fantastic. Yeah, great stuff.

 

2025 Wrestling Matchguide 

2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 33

Masato Tanaka vs Hayabusa, Zero1 8/3

I did not think I would be watching a Masato Tanaka vs Hayabusa match in 2025 but here we are. And this had amazing magnitude! It's Tanakas career vs the revived Hayabusas mask. The news Hayabusa looks fantastic. Not only does he hit all the spots, but he can actually work. And this match feels competitive and not like some kind of nostalgia tour. Tanaka sidestepping the asai moonsault really accentuates this. Tanaka was pretty great here - it's insane how much the guy has in the tank. They went a fast pace with no real slow down, and the action was crisp and punctuated by Tanakas cracking elbows and Hayabusas exploding athleticism. First 15 minutes of this I thought were pretty much flawless pro wrestling, almost shockingly so. The opening chain wrestling and Hayabusas armwork were really crisp and fun. It definitely stands way up to any Tanaka/Hayabusa match from the 90s. They do no sell a bunch of big moves in the middle, but that just kind of sets up the increasing stakes in the second half. Legwork on Hayabusa was a blatant breather since it isn't really sold, but we do get Tanaka smashing table pieces on Hayabusas leg and they didn't drag it on for too long. There was also the cool moment of Hayabusas leg giving him trouble when he countered Tanakas splash so it was kinda paid off. The rest of this was quite great, mostly thanks to a few well worked transitions and a certain unpredictability factor. A lot of the fascination definitely comes from watching 52 year Masato Tanaka doing this kind of match and looking like he hasn't lost a step. It's not a flawless bout, but overall a really well structured match that was gripping from start to finish, had plenty of hard hitting and deadly bombs being thrown without getting repetitive and was just one hell of a ride. 

 Virus vs Xelhua, RoH 7/26

A match where they both hit the mat for 7 minutes and proved proved what everyone knows already, that they are among the absolute elite tier when it comes to mat technicians in all of wrestling history. So no surprise here, and that's kind of the one fault of this. You get exactly what you expect, and for that it's a really good little match albeit a slight bit exhibitiony with neither guy displaying a ton of fire since they had to fit everything into a 7 minute sandwhich. Kind of the Velocity version of an epic lucha title match and that is a really cool thing to see by itself. I did really like the mixing in of basic movements like the dropkicks, side headlock takeover or hip toss in between all the more esoteric holds. And Xelhua getting Virus to tap out felt like a big deal so that's really cool.

Seri Yamaoka & Victoria Suzuki vs Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame, Marigold 7/16

Heated rookie vs rookie action, or in this case swimsuits vs fancy outfits. Good solid stuff as usual but I thought the match could've used a bit more of Senka. Instead Ayame was the focus at the end and while she's quite fun she doesn't hit quite at that level yet. The brief mat scramble between Akatsuki and Seri was obviously the highlight. I love that while Seri is the 'grappler' Senka is such an animal that she can totally overwhelm her on the mat and maul her with headbutts. Her entire thing is that despite her limited experience she's a force of nature and they only thing containing her right now is her rookie status.

Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase (Sendai Girls 7/19)

Team 200 KG are a pretty reliable joshi twin towers. They can go a fast pace, provide plenty of hard hitting, and the big vs small aspect always forces opponents to get a bit more creative than just running through their offense as usual. This was all about what Iwata and Takase would bring to the table to a reliable story, and Iwata and Takase brought plenty. Iwata seems like she's ready to fill the void that Satomura has left. She's got the cool kicks, the slicked back hair and the stoic attitude to fill the mantel. She just needs to figure out to spam her kicks a little bit less so they will mean more, but that should come with some time. All of her exchanges with Hashimoto were real highlights and hinted at a great singles match between them. Even something thats often trite like the armbar over the ropes spot looked vicious and fresh here. Takase and Yuu were playing second fiddle, but they are pretty solid and I was even surprised by Takases angry headbutting. Add some violent vader hammers from Hashimoto and you've got yourself a pretty satisfying match.

Keita Yano vs brother YASSHI, Tenryu Project 7/20 - GREAT

Godhead vs Godhead! Even knowing that YASSHI can be really sick when he wants to, and Keita being Keita, I thought this even exceeded my expectations. A cool match up on paper, that really delivers what you want. Really cool technical work here, with Yasshi busting out cool amateur wrestling takedowns and transitions and Keita tying him up repeatedly. Really enjoyed how Yasshi would escape from something like Yanos straight jacket armbar like it was a shootstyle hold and then even put on an Achilles Hold. I thought Yano may have gotten a bit predictable recently, but he was cooking here. Energetic Yasshi is really fun too, he really had the working boots on here. I kind of like that Yano keeps working a slower pace. He doesn't need to speed it up, he's kind of like a slow moving eldritch abominations that assimiliates other wrestling styles, and sooner or later will entangle his opponent in some predicament they can't escape from. It really suits his 'you pressed random on the character creator' look. The bar for slow paced technical wrestling is getting pretty high in 2025, but this holds up. Really enjoy that these two got to paint a little art on that canvas together.

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

Keita Yano Documentation Project 

Pro Wrestling in 2025 Week 25

 Wolf Ozawa & Aesop vs Super Shimizu & Merman Masakazu, 666 6/6

Old ama-pro guys getting together in Korakuen Hall and worshipping Showa era wrestling. Pretty fun stuff. Super Shimizu is pretty rough, very much a skinny old man trying to move and struggling, but it's kinda fun. Aesop and Masakazu both look good, they actually get nice height on their jumping kicks and execute the technical stuff well, Masakazu even hit an enzuigiri into the steel pole. Wolf Ozawa doesn't do much in this match and its probably for the better.

Kenichiro Arai vs Nobutaka Moribe, Yoshino Aid 6/22

Haven't seen much of Moribe, let alone recent Moribe, but he looked pretty good here. As far as I know he's a Dick Togo guy who used to worship Eddie Guerrero. He looked pretty comfortable grappling with Arai here, never lost, adding a few neat touches. The grappling portion felt very lucharesu-tinged with small details like Moribes reversal of the reverse hammerlock or Arai using a leg grapevine to set up a headlock being the highlights. After that they morph into an old studio scientific match, like Pat OConnor vs Mike Graham. They did headlocks into hip tosses, flying headscissors, everything. If you like Kenichiro Arais work you will like this. I wouldn't mind seeing Moribe grappling with the other Mutoha guys after this because he lookde capable. Pretty short match though but sometimes short and sweet is cool, not every Arai match needs to be 60 minutes.

Yasushi Sato & Taro Yamada vs Akira Jo & Hideya Iso, Yoshino Aid 6/22

This was the raw Mutoha style action that your brain craves. 4 great grapplers squaring off and just having a bunch of great mat exchanges, and then a bunch of ridiculously awesome stuff in the 2nd half. Yamada vs Iso is known quality and they seemed pretty spry here, with Iso really not letting up for such an old seemingly outmatched guy, I really like his use of the Fujiwara Armbar and there were a few nifty moments that Iso has a knack for such as his reversal of a dragon sleeper. At this point I've seen a bunch of great Iso matches so I know the guy is really capable yet he keeps surprising me. I don't think we've seen Yasushi Sato and Akira Jo really match up, but my god they are a good match up for each other. We've seen Jo tap people out with a side headlock so when he cinches in just a basic cravate or wristlock its pretty intense. Sato trying to catch the more physically forceful Jo was really cool to watch and Jo had this grin on him all the time, you could tell he loved grappling with an old master. As always with Sato we get a bunch of nifty stuff centered around Russian Legsweeps and him tying someones legs up in a cool way. First half was pretty mat based but they really drop bombs in the second half with some sick headbutts, nifty team work and unexpected high spots. Sato busting out a perfect springboard dive looks pretty epic at his age, I also loved how they couldn't tag out, Isos out of nowhere enzuigiri and they made me flip out for the sleeper hold. Really really good stuff, once again affirming the greatness of the Mutoha guys there are few wrestlers in the world who can even hold a candle to this crew.

Chihiro Hashimoto & Mika Iwata vs Saouri Anou & Natsupoi, Stardom 5/31

Really entertaining, borderline excellent tag that felt big time. Basically like a warped version of Rockers vs Twin Towers. Anou and Natsupoi are two girly, dainty, skinny models, it's crazy how over the top they look even compared to the Takako Inoues of the past, and Hashimoto and Iwata look starkly like real fighters in comparison to them. The match is basically Iwata and Hashimoto kicking their asses and looking pretty impressive in doing so, Iwata has lots of spectacular kicks and Hashimotos juggernaut-like power is in full bloom. Loved all the moments where Hashimoto came in to clear house and blow people away with her charges. Loved when Hashimoto said 'fuck your flippy bullshit' and did a cartwheel. Anou and Poi have minimal offense in this, a surprising choice considering this is their produce show, but they work pretty well as overmatched faces. When they get on offense it's well done, and they do display good skills, Anou at one point hit a really stiff forearm smash, and Natsupois cartwheels are fun. Thought this was shaping up to be one of the best matches of the year, until they kinda overreached with the kick sequence between Poi and Iwata. 

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

Pro Wrestling 2025 Week 20

 Shinya Aoki vs Kazusada Higuchi, DDT 5/6/2025

A power vs technique match up that actually feels very close to a classic puro match! I am not entirely convinced that Shinya Aoki is as good as the likes of GENTARO or Yasushi Sato yet, but he sure is scratching on their throne. This had a bunch of really fun ultra-tight, high resistance grappling. I wanted Higuchi to be a bit of a bigger badass - I mean, he does look like a cool motherfucker being a tall ex sumo with slicked back hair, and he does hit pretty hard, but I wanted him to go ham and tear up Aokis spindly body a slightly bit more. I guess not everyone can be Tenryu, but I sense there is potential in him and I should probably watch him more. The ringside brawling was slightly weak but seeing legendary grappler Aoki get bowled into chairs and retaliating by smashing someones luggage into Higuchis head was a sight. I also love how unhinged Aoki feels when he starts flying around. I hope he won't go down the Minoru Suzuki route with the crazy faces but I thought for this match it was appropriate. Great, off the wall finish. They made a brain claw a deadly hold in 2025 and you have to love that. Really really fun, Aokis little reign is such a reset for a Japanese mainstream promotion and I hope they continue further on that route.

Keita Yano vs Tsuyoshi Okada, Dove Pro 2/9 - FUN

Oh Keita. This is a rounds match with Okada having MMA gloves and they're blaring some trance electronic music throughout, ZST style. With stuff like this it's starting to feel like Yano is slowly returning to form. It's a bit slow to get going as they go for really uncooperative shootstyle ala KINGDOM, but Yano does some fun grappling. 2nd round is a lot better with Okada really knocking the hell out of Keita. Not as epic as it would've been in like 2013 when Keitas psychosis was in full bloom, but a fun little occurance and I wanna see more of gloves Okada for sure after that.

Keita Yano vs Ayumu Honda, Tenryu Project 4/25 - FUN

Usual good Keita performance working circles around a guy with graceful WoS style matwork. At first I thought this Honda guy would be along for the right, but he actually brought a little something as the match proceeded by attacking Keitas arm in a few different ways. Keitas selling was pretty good for a short match and there is a nifty finish. Nothing grand in in the scheme of Keita Yano matches but it's good that he is still doing his thing even though the camera at Tenryu Project shows seems to get further and further away from the ring.

Shiori Asahi & Makoto Oishi vs CHANGO & Ayumu Honda, 2AW 4/27

CHANGOs grip on the Japanese indy scene with scumbag technical matches continues, and he's now infecting everyone around him. After Asahi, Oishi is the next guy to just say fuck it and wrestle in a grease monkey suit. These two used to be a team of sensationally spotty and smooth juniors and to see them say fuck it and be sleazy and hit fist drops and kung fu eye pokes is low key awesome. They didn't go full Mutoha here, but this is very much a refreshingly outside the norm match. Lots of WORKING as in making small, miniscule things a focal point, such as the build to the basic 'guy hits a diving elbow to opponents arm that is held in place by tag team partner' spot. Asahis and Oishis assault on people with rapidly hit knee drops and fist drops was reminiscent of a surreal version of the Yamaha Bros, and CHANGO is CHANGO. Honda is the weakest guy in the match and doesn't stand out much early, but he does come into his own when its to work an arm, and him trying to steal the win with plain straight armbars was pretty fun. Finishing run had a lot of the super tricked out slick spots that CHANGO, Asahi and Oishi have a knack for. Lots of roll ups within rollups if you catch my drift. It's a bit of an aquired taste but if you are reading this blog I can definitely imagine you getting into this, it's worthy continuation from the Asahi/CHANGO tag from earlier in the month.

Meiko Satomura & Sareee vs Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu, Fortune Dream 4/16

Stiff, fast paced, crisp, serious pro wrestling. Maybe one of the best of the year from the women in fact when it comes to action from start to finish, and definitely worth checking out even if you've been watching all the Satomura matches. Satomura vs Hashimoto is known quality, and Sareee makes a really fun addition. Her matches earlier in the year were spotty, but I thought she was really effective here just coming and trying to crack peoples faces with vicious dropkicks. It helps that Hashimoto ate the fuck out of those dropkicks. Yuu also looked like an impressive monster. The one thing I didn't like was her weird rolling move. That felt too comical for this kind of affair. Thought the sick Sareee/Hashimoto was the highlight, until Meiko came in and she and Chihiro wailed on each other some more. Awesome. Thought the match needed a bit more Meiko vs. Chihiro duelling instead of having Chihiro and Yuu just go to hit their double teams but I guess that was the point. Also, selling wasn't super important here, but that's joshi for you sometimes. I'm gonna miss Meiko.

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

Keita Yano Documentation

Pro Wrestling 2025 Week 19

 Super Taira vs Ryutaro Ono, Sportiva 5/14

Ono is another Sportiva rookie who just made his debut. Given how Sportiva rookies are usually good, them having 4 of those rookies now plus a couple more workers that I really like (Taira, Ishida, Konaka..) it begs the question if Sportiva actually has the greatest roster in the world now because that is sure more interesting wrestlers than most other companies have right now. This Ono guy is chunky and old, like a middle aged businessman who decided to get in the ring, he has kickpads too but he seems like he will be a bit more of a raw fighter. But well this match isn't much about Ono, this is about my man Taira stretching and beating him around the ring. This is my first time seeing Taira in a while and he still looks like one of the best wrestlers on earth. Lots of cool groundwork of him controlling the bigger guy and there are bits of fun aggression and violence. Really hope Super Taira becomes a Sportiva mainstay again because he's clearly still on top of his game.

Masanori Watanabe vs Kengo Takai, Sportiva 5/14

Boy Takai looks over the hill. Really really over the hill, but he can still put the boots to a rookie, and that makes this pretty fun. Watanabe hits some fun, painful looking kicks to Takais arm and shoulder and does some cool arm attacks, so he continues to look promising, although at this point he still mostly gets squashed. But that's the fun in watching these Sportiva rookies develop, it's a week-to-week progress. And Takai can totally still hit a nasty lariat.

Charlie Dempsey vs Shinya Aoki, Bloodsport 4/17

Cool we got to see these two grapple it out. Standards for grappling-matches are actually kinda high in 2025 I think, so the first couple minutes were just alright, the highlight being Dempsey putting himself in the figure 4 to stretch Aokis ankle, but the last couple minutes were pretty great. Loved the intense struggle over the reverse gutwrench suplex, Aoki going for the abdominal stretch etc. Bit of a size mismatch but it was a really good match all around.

Meiko Satomura & Manami vs Chihiro Hashimoto & Aja Kong, 4/29

Obviously a really important match. Hashimoto looked like she was about to cry during the opening exchanges. Setting aside the emotional context, there was a lot of good wrestling to enjoy here. For Meiko, it's very much just her doing her thing for the last time, until about the last 3rd of the match where it kicks into high gear. The other participiants are pretty fun, though. Aja is still really compelling, kicking ass and knowing exactly when to do what, despite being really over the hill physically. Manami is fun for the most part and Chihiro is just a big old juggernaut who's really fun to watch charging into people with body checks and tossing them around. It's good wrestling until Meiko starts throwing open hands at Chihiro and Chihiro responds with Vader Hammers in kind. Meiko and Aja doing their old trademark exchanges was awesome considering how over the hill Aja looks and I loved that they put actual emotional stake into whether Satomura could beat her old nemesis finally. Very good match even setting aside the context, doesn't quite top the Mentai Kid match for me when it comes to high end retirement matches this year but it's absolutely worth watching, and what kind of person would you be if you didn't!

2025 Wrestling Roundup

2025 Wrestling Week 12

 Yu Shimizu vs Leo Isaka Marvelous 3/16

A lot of big matches happening in March 2025, and here I am, excited to watch Yu Shimizu vs Leo Isaka. This was a bit slow but solid and had a really good ending. Shimizu has really come into his own providing lots of cool moments with his dragon sleeper/reverse DDT work and his rear naked choke is the best I've ever seen. Isaka is a fun fast moving babyface. It kind of rules to have a short mens match like this on a joshi card.

Meiko Satomura vs Chihiro Hashimoto, 3/21

It's Meiko on her way out vs her top student. Obviously it's a great match. Great straight forward hard hitting pro wrestling. Hashimoto is clearly Meikos best opponent in recent years and this was probably their finest match together. Hash with her grappling skill and sheer physicality really forces Meiko to show more intensity of her own. Some genuinely violent strikes, sick head kicks and Chihiro trying to take her head off with vader hammers here. Loved the constant teasing of the basic German Suplex and something like a basic powerslam from Hashimoto being a huge nearfall. I assume this was ran in a much too large building so the heat was a little subdued early on, so the crowd coming alive with a big Satomura chant breaking out late in the match was awesome. Plenty of great spots and transitions without becoming too cute, I also loved the sleeper hold. What really makes this pop as a great match is the 'passing off the torch aspect' with Hashimoto trying to topple her teacher and Meiko being so unwilling to just lay down and stay down for the 3 and trying her damndest to win the title even on the brink of retirement. Great stuff and easily one of the finest matches not just of the year but of the decade so far.

Yumiko Hotta vs VENY, Seadlinnng 3/20

Yumiko Hotta main eventing a big show in a cage match. Why? I don't know, but I'm watching it. Hotta is 58 years old. She really can't bump, she doesn't even do cool kicks anymore. They just chuck metal objects at each others heads, bleeding, Hotta punches through a chair, they use a rickety ladder to try and climb the cage... some outside interference happens and a bunch of other girls storm into the ring, one of them diving off the cage. VENY is a psychotic hero in this, taking the gnarliest bump and also moonsaulting off the cage with nobody really catching her. When she hits the red mist on Hotta it looks like she spray vomited blood on her. I can't tell if this was any good but I sure enjoyed the spectacle of it, so it was good.

Sareee vs Syuri, Sareee-ism 3/10

I'll start with the positives: they both have plenty of great looking offense and a fair amount of intensity. They really blast each other with everything they've got for 30 minutes and there are a few murderous headbutts. Maybe I was too tired while watching this, but this match just didn't click for me. It starts bad enough with the super generic beginning - perfunctory matwork where nothing happens, some lucharesu-flavoured running exchange before they exchange snapmares and kick each other in the back a lot. It gets better later on, but aside from their offense there is not really much too hook me in. There is some semblance of psychology with Sareee attacking Syuris leg to slow her down, but Syuri never really sells any of it and quickly goes back on offense anyways. Syuri keeps going for armlocks but again Sareee never really sells it and at some point the submissions start to feel like padding. With the lack of a story or focus and the only selling point being how many moves these two can hit in a lot of minutes I started to zone out. Plus, 30 minutes was far too long for this, especially since they both lack offense, so Sareee must have hit like a dozen meaningless uranages in this. At 20 this could've been pretty good, at 30 this made the most bloated early 2000s NOAH matches look fresh and conservative.

Mariah May vs Toni Storm, AEW 3/9

Fun psycho bumpfest with plenty of blood and gross out carnage. I imagine this is how people felt watching Ian vs Axl Rotten in ECW. Brawling or subtleness were non existant but this has enough broken bottle to the crotch to make up for it. Actually thought the one broken glass punch was pretty sick so it was funny they didn't continue with the taipei stuff. I also liked May constantly selling the self-damage and the hip attacks were actually nasty looking and felt innovative. Not something I would want to watch again because I would get desensitized to piledrivers and headdrops but they made the most of what they had.

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup