2025 Matchguide - Addendum #2: AWG Edition

 MARU vs Chii Aoba, AWG 12/15

After doing some matches in GLEAT, Aoba is now going for a shooter vibe, which I am all here for, and this match was a cool coming out party. I loved the opening here, with MARU going 'okay, you wanna be a shooter, let's grapple' and hitting the mat. As soon as Aoba got the advantage, MARU went straight to beating on her with a chain and roughing her up with some nasty face scrapes again. Aoba knocking Maru off the top only to be dragged to the outside was also a good moment. MARU was pretty great here as she usually is. The big stomp off the bleachers looked really sick. Aoba tackling MARU into the chairs as a desperation comeback was also great as it came completely out of nowhere and MARU had this reaction like she didn't know what just hit her. The match was basically about Aoba trying to find her inner badass and it was cool storytelling. There was this odd moment where MARU went to attack her with a bottle and Aoba grabbed the bottle and drank from it, but just keeled over. Aside from that, I loved the new holds Aoba busted out. Her dropkicks still need a bit more force, but I like how MARU mostly seemed annoyed by them. Finishing run was really good and heated with MARU adding cool touches and Aoba having a sole focus on hitting a backdrop suplex for the win. It was for the most part really good, hard fought pro wrestling that told a cool story and easily won me over.

Rico Fukunaga vs MARU, AWG 12/29

Rico Fukunaga has done it, she climbed to the top and won the AWG singles title. Her reward is to get the holy hell beaten out of her by MARU in her first defence. Surprisingly underdog showing from Fukunaga here as MARU tore into her like a mad dog. The set up works as you get some really effective cheating heel vs kicker stuff. I was ready to complain when Fukunaga took a nasty double stomp off the bleachers and kind of no-sold it but then an angry MARU proceeded to beat her down further. Lots of nifty moments here especially from MARU, things like catching a kick, her biting the leg and then trying to snap it over the rope just plain work. At one point she also straight threw the chain at Fukunagas face. 2nd half was pretty much flawless I thought with MARU providing her usual cool touches, such as some great stretch muffler counters and nasty stomps, and Fukunaga going for the kill by clocking her in the head with those big kicks that all looked great and were timed really well. Mostly importantly they didn't drag this match out. Top stuff and I thought one of the better AWG singles of 2025.

Mari & Ayano Irie vs Sakura Mizushima & Naru, AWG 12/20

Quite good undercard action I thought. Opening section had Mari working some fun and creative joshi-meets-lucharesu sections with Mizushima et al. The Irie vs Mizushima section is solid but won't blow you away if you've seen their stuff before. Mari vs Naru finishing stretch was quite good 'underdog trying to topple the bigger badass' stuff. There were some sweet exchanges with Naru busting out some slick spots to target Maris leg and Mari selling it in just the right way, while retaliating with her signature cool leg lariats etc, and a few unpredictable twists and turns being worked in. Mari keeps impressing me putting in good little peformances like this even in midcard matches and everyone else was also putting in the effort.

Mari & Ayano Irie vs Anri & Erisa Nagai, AWG 8/2

Really good slice of pro wrestling. They told a pretty impeccable underdog vs established heels story with Mari & Irie dominating initially and Anri and Nagai having to make gradual comebacks. They worked their butts off and there were a number of cool individual moments especially when Mari was involved. The ending may have gone a tad too long but I can't fault them for going out of their way to make Anri look like a tough little nut. This would've been a really decent main event in any promotion let alone for a midcard match.

Anri & Natsuki vs Rio & Yukina Uehara, AWG 6/22

A lot of hard hitting kicks here. This was the most inspired I've seen Natsuki in a while. Often she just runs through her offense, but her she did a few nifty things: working Rio over with stiff leg kicks, hitting a really precise dropkick to the leg when her opponent went for a kick, and helping out Anri at the right time. I also enjoyed Rio who's a feisty powerhouse type and brings a slightly different vibe, plus she makes things interesting because she's a rookie with some power. Most of the action here was Anri vs Uehara, clearly a match up that they had some stake in for the future. Uehara was still a bit awkward here and there but mostly brings it, her spinning back kick looked like it nearly took Anris head off. And Anri brought plenty of fire as usual. I love her thrust kicks. This was good stuff as a result and very well put together.

Haruka Ishikawa & Ayano Irie vs Erisa Nagai & Rico Fukunaga, AWG 3/9

Another midcard match that ends up being really interesting. Nagai is a rookie with 6 months experience, so accordingly she takes a beating early. This gets us to the more experienced Fukunaga evening things up with some pretty hard kicks to the heel team but taking damage herself. Thought the match was really good when Fukunaga was in the ring as she was dishing out really hard kicks while the heels chipped away at her and there were a number of interesting moments. Fukunaga vs Ishikawa sections especially hinted at a quite good singles match between them. It ends up coming down to Nagai vs Ishikawa, which while it was simple was about ten thousand times more interesting than the usual nearfall fest because they both displayed an absolute will to win the match and there were a few creative ideas, e.g. with Nagai immediately going for shootstyle submission and even a basic lift becoming a struggle for Ishikawa. Even Nagais cutesy leg drop seemed desperate and because she's so low on the totem pole I was biting even on the nearfalls for Ishikawas basic sentons. Pretty rad stuff with an unorthodox layout that delivered lots of good, believable wrestling.

2025 Matchguide 

2025 Matchguide Week 46

 
Yuji Nagata vs Shinya Aoki, DDT 10/14

A 30 MINUTE Yuji Nagata match in 2025?! I am too prone to morbid curiosity to not watch. The first 10 minutes of this was great as it was all matwork. It's probably been forever since Nagata grappled with anyone for longer than 5 minutes in a match. 2003 Nagata would've put up a good fight, but Aoki was mostly toying with him here. Aokis single-minded focus to put Nagatas shoulders to them was fascinating to watch and there was some really compelling grappling going on. I was ready for them to go completely sicko and just grapple for the whole duration, but alas, after 10 or 12 minutes they start to do some blatantly pointless 'brawling' on the floor. Aoki is great on the mat, but he is pretty bad at regular wrestling things like irish whipping someone or even looking like he is in a fight when Nagata is doing stuff to him on the floor. A lot of the time he just stands there and looks like he's just waiting for his opponent to do something. Back in the ring I get some hope back in the match as Aoki hits a really choice counter from Nagatas exploder into a sweet rolling chokehold. There are some more somewhat compelling moments of struggle down the stretch, but mostly they kill the rest of the 15 minutes with overly drawn out submissions - including a 5 minute figure four leg lock, and lots of Nagatas signature weak elbow exchanges. The worst was probably that Nagata just absorbed basically everything Aoki did, never really doing anything particularily interesting to get back at him. It was probably Nagatas best match in years still since he was forced to actually wrestle and not just coast with elbows and funny faces. But even for all the good stuff this brought I thought it could've been a heck of a lot better. And most importantly I want to see Aoki face someone who can match him on the mat.

Minoru Suzuki vs Yuki Ueno, DDT 11/3

A 34 MINUTE Minoru Suzuki match in 2025?! We are really going beyond the limits this week. In fairness, this is a really respectable performance from Suzuki and he's pretty much the reason why this is an entirely watchable match. From the very get go you could tell Suzuki was putting in the effort and trying to make this compelling all the way through. He was really fun here stretching Ueno like Fuchi, beating the snot out of him, and hitting cool Fujiwaraish counters. Ueno is... athletic and well that's about all that I can say about him. The match had a ton of legwork, and while Ueno was selling it almost all his offense involves jumping or leaping and running and all that. It seems everytime he makes a comeback it's just him popping up and hitting a move. What he does he hits well, but he puts in zero extra. He just hits his moves and that is maybe the worst sin a wrestler can commit in 2025 in my eyes. Especially when facing a freakshow like Suzuki. And the goofy finish just kinda underlines that. This was really well worked and had  good layout, but holy shit why are they making all these 60 year old wrestlers have 30 minute matches. This felt slower than something from the 1950s. I think there was like a 5 minute achilles hold or something. It's a bit of a shame because there's a genuinely great Minoru Suzuki performance here and it's wasted in a type of match that just feels like a chore to watch at this point. I loved everything Minoru Suzuki did here, the counters, the leg kicks, the viciousness in going for the sleeper. It's an A+ performance in a type of match that is just grating my nerves now.

Rico Fukunaga vs Chii Aoba, AWG 6/28
Their little feud has produced some good stuff, and this was more of that. The most important thing here is that this is an atypical match. Nothing here came across as cookie cutter, and that alone is really refereshing. Just give me two wrestlers with credible offense who look like they are trying their hardest to win. That was the case here. Right at the go, Aoba took Fukunaga down and latched really hard onto a leglock that forced Fukunaga to the ropes. Fukunaga in turn tried to go for an armbar that Aoba desperately resisted. Seconds later, Aoba avoided Fukunagas kicks and surprised Fukunaga with a really elegant judo throw. While their execution wasn't exactly UWF-level, just the fact they did something other than the stereotypical side headlocks and wristlocks that seem to begin every match now made me enjoy watching. Aoba is really small and skinny and she comes across as trying to prove herself as a wrestler and it's really respectable. Her holds are cool, she has the bridging full nelson which is awesome (and they really made that full nelson look like a struggle) and she also did this cool series of chancery takeovers, her basic powerslam was also perfectly timed. I've no idea how to quite classify her but she's cool. Fukunaga caught her with some pretty hard, credible kicks too. This was a good match that stood precisely because of what  I mentioned: not cookie cutter, both treating the match as really important, credible offense from both, clear story/hierarchy etc. It's not mindblowing greatness or anything but somehow it's way better than what other feds are putting out. Give me something like this over another trite 30 minute DDT main event slog every day.

MARU vs Kyoka Iwai, AWG 11/15

A hard as fuck brawl with both of them beating the hell out of each other with chairs, chains, a ladder and basically everything they could get their hands on. There were some creative spots without getting too cute, and even something a bit silly like the hits with the plastic bucket felt pretty mean and evil. It felt straight out of early 2000s JD and that is a very good thing to me. Execution was a bit slow here and there especially from Iwai but that aside this was a ton of fun. I really liked how whenever one of them turned her head too long the other would come and ambush her from behind. That is exactly what should happen in a crazy brawl. And there were some damn big bumps to top it off too. It could've just been the brawling/hardcore stuff and it would've been a really fun match, but then they really did this dramatic finishing run with MARU trying to smash Iwais legs to dust and Iwai doing some great desperation selling. Iwai needs a bit of work before she'll be a great wrestler but she brought it here, and MARU is quietly one of the best wrestlers on earth.

2025 Matchguide 

 

 

2025 Matchguide Week 43

 Dekai Ichimotsu vs Vasaru Ikeuchi, Health Pro 10/5

Dekai Ichimotsu always puts my butt in the seat. This was a lot of fun. I know Vasaru Ikeuchi is another guy from the ama-pro scene who has appeared in Crazy Union a lot, but he can handle himself just fine in a more technical match. They start fun with some smooth World of Sport-style hold exchanges and then got into the more gritty detail-oriented stuff that we all love Dekai Ichimotsu for. Lots of trying to snap arms. Really liked Ikeuchi trying to prevent the figure 4 by twisting the ankle. Ichimotsu was clearly hyped to step in the ring for a lengthier match again and he threw this beautiful bridging double overhook suplex. Finishing run was built around Ikeuchi trying to lock in a WAR special with Ichimotsu producing neat counters and that is a lot of fun too. There was some gritty headbutting too. I love watching Dekai Ichimotsu do his thing.

Yuta Oya vs Shota, Sportiva 11/5

This was a nice surprise. Shota is one of those really good under the radar indy workers. He's crafty and has a knack for making a lot out of very little, so him taking on a guy as talented as Oya is really cool. And the match pretty much delivered as Shota wrestled almost exactly like it was some high end 80s TV match. Shota was being a sneaky bastard and trying to outmaneuver Oya using his blindness to his advantage the whole match. There's really no GIF-worthy moments, no notable high spots, it's just really well worked wrestling with an obvious story and super enjoyable. Well, Shotas reversal of the sharpshooter was super cool. Oya kind of just does his thing here, but I enjoy watching him toss a little rat into the turnbuckles really hard and hit his cool judo throws. His progression is becoming notable as he's now working a 17 minute main event without much issue.There was also some cool blind grappler matwork that was really enjoyable. 

Keita Yano vs Hikaru Sato, Tenryu Project 10/17

Good to see this little rivalry getting another entry. I'll admit - this was slow paced, filmed from a camera far away, and will probably appeal mainly to people who are already fans of the two. That said, there was a lot of great stuff here. Real chess match type with Yano trying to entrap Sato and Sato trying to beat him to a pulp. Lots of sick hard hitting, gruesome headbutts, and nifty escapes here. Sato was really pushing his striking advantage here raining hell on Yano with hard kicks, elbows and eventually open hands and headbutts, who in turn was almost purely focussed on outwrestling Sato and getting the winning submission. I love that when Yano forces a hammerlock like 20 minutes in it feels like a holy shit spot. These two always bring out the best in each other, and Yanos October of 2025 is stacking up quite nicely.

Rico Fukunaga vs Chii Aoba, AWG 9/18

Really hard-fought opening match that was better than it had any right to be. I thought Aoba would be some hapless idol-type, but she fought hard and showed fire. Fukunaga dominated the action with her cool kicks and submissions and looked good doing that. Aoba catching her with a surprise legsweep and then desperately latching onto a leglock was some excellent simplistic pro wrestling due to both of them really selling the struggle. Aoba was mostly relegated to desperation comebacks and relying on luck here but it made for a pretty good match. Dug her memorable body slam. I don't know if it's because AWG has great up close camera work and sound mixing but I'm enjoying this stuff more than the undercards from Marigold, STARDOM, TJPW etc. The work here feels less spotty and there's more struggle and creativity put into everything.

Rico Fukunaga & Naru vs Chii Aoba & Yukina Uehara, AWG 9/13

I watched this based on the Fukunaga/Aoba match being good. This starts out as the kinda cutesy happy-go-lucky idol wrestling that I don't like, but the second half is hands-down greatness. Basically Fukunaga, who should be above everyone here, has a bad arm and this makes for some great desperation when Aoba and Uehara try to cut her down. Uehara likes to go for kicks, she definitely has the vibe of someone who's still a little half-baked and needs some time to mature into a good wrestler but she was landing some good blows here. Aobas bridging full nelson hold is one of the coolest submissions I've seen in a while, especially when you consider that a full nelson is legit dangerous and barred from amateur wrestling. Fukunaga desperately trying to cut her off by cranking a basic headlock was some great pro wrestling. There was also a great struggle over a tiger suplex which I love. It was genuinely exciting, dramatic stuff with a few well timed spots. In a way in combination with the Aoba singles match on the 18th it makes it more impressive because in the singles match Aoba was outmatched, here she was pushing an injured Fukunaga to the limit and both times it was pretty credible and compelling. Also loved the gritty Dragon Sleeper finish.

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

This was an amazing experience. A huge crowd had gathered for this event, 2000 or 3000 people, maybe the biggest crowd in Germany for a non-WWE event since the days of old, and that alone speaks volumes about the power of lucha libre. And all these guys are way too proud and too good at what they do to not deliver a fantastic match. Long, quality 2/3 falls match, maybe 20 or 30 minutes in length, that delivered everything you can ask for from a trios and more. Comedy, some spectacular exchanges, the sheer aura of El Hijo del Santo, brawling, mask ripping, some absolutely huge dives. It was classic lucha libre mexicana all the way through and it had the audience by the balls the whole time. What was cool was that there were lots of fans from the Mexican community there (it's Berlin and there were Mexican-themed cultural festivities) but also lots of casuals and typical wrestling fans. I think not many of the more casual fans knew what a legend El Hijo del Santo is but by the end everyone understood it and when the match was over people were jumping out of their seats and rushing to the ring to tap him on the shoulder. Rudos were great here. Hijo de Fishman looks like such a monster in person and it says a lot about how respected he is as a wrestler that he got to work with El Hijo del Santo, and throw him headfirst into chairs too of course. Haven't thought about Texano Jr. in a long time but he looked quite excellent here too, great bumping, timing and crowd control, he also brought a big bullrope like Stan Hansen to beat on people with. Hijo de LA Park was also quite effective as a dickish dancing skeleton who would leather people with his belt. The man who was announced as Ciclon Ramirez also looked great. Cool dance moves, pulled off some really intricate flying headscissors and armdrags, he also may have had the biggest dive of the night when he hit a beautiful high moonsault off the top to the outside (and there were a lot of dives that night with Puma King et al hitting like a dozen in the previous match). He was a great spectacular technico with some spice. Obviously getting to see Santito doing his thing was great. The man is in his 60s, yeah, but everything be damned, he's El Hijo del Santo, he will give people their moneys worth and prove lucha libre is the greatest thing on earth, he still did all his big flying headbutts off the top, a suicide dive that looked faster than everyone elses, and he did fly into the chairs and beat on people with a bullrope as good as everyone else. Santo Jr. also looked good, obviously a bit overshadowed by the presence of the old man but he brought a fun classic vibe with the things he was doing, I was also really impressed by his bridging german suplex that looked flawless. Brawling was great and the audience was shocked by the sudden violence of luchadores flying into chairs, beating on each other with a bullrope, chairs and a leather belt, as well as the visual of Santito and Fishman ripping each others masks open, and then they brought it back seamlessly from chaos back to great wrestling. After the match Santito was carried around like a hero, with an ocean of kids pooling into the ring to get picked up for pictures. Seeing this stuff in person just hits different, it's not hard to see why lucha libre is such a huge deal in Mexico, truely the greatest spectacle in the world, and what a farewell statement from Santito to go a country that he's never wrestled in before and have a match like this. 

 

2025 Pro Wrestling Matchguide