2025 Matchguide: Addendum #3

 Sareee & Takumi Iroha vs Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe, Ito Dojo 10/16

Oh look it's an Ito Dojo match! This is so unlikely but it's a ton of fun. Ito and Watanabe are way over the hill, but they still have enough energy to go all the way with Sareee and Iroha. A big part of the fascination of this match is 'Will they..?' and yes they totally will. Ito and Watanabe are still bumping and taking all of the hot young guns big offense. We do get to see Ito crush people with her big uranage and double stomp. In some ways you can see a wrestlers true talent when they are fat and old and Watanabe and especially Ito were still able to work entertaining exchanges. I would've liked the match to have a bit more of Ito/Watanabe clobbering the smaller two and working like the Twin Towers/Nigerian Nightmares but as it is this a ton of fun.

Mad Dog Connelly vs Isaiah Broner, NAP 1/12

You know maybe I should just watch as much Mad Dog Connelly as possible. To me the best of US wrestling is that Wahoo McDaniel, Buzz Sawyer, Dick Murdoch, Johnny Valentine gritty brawling stuff, and the Mad Dog Connelly is probably the closest you get to that vibe in the modern scene. This was just two mean tough looking dudes wailing on each other and throwing each other around. The bumps on the floor were pretty insane and felt very bar fight-esque. Very little fancy just straight up punishment. I loved how gnarly the last few strike exchanges felt, and the unhinged doctor bomb from Connelly. Could have done with out  the distraction finish but sometimes it just goes like that. No moment wasted here, a starkly straight forward affair without much fancydoings or obvious showmanship making this stuff a cool standout in the modern landscape.

Ali Najima vs Kazuhiro Tamura, HEAT UP 11/15

This looks like a good match up, and fuck yeah it is a good matchup. Najima is pretty much on top when it comes to being a reliable worker in 2025, for a rookie with a little over a year of experience he can do no wrong and he works this main event like a piece of cake. I would have liked them to go full on shootstyle but we just get a bit of shootstyle tinge in an indy match. The matwork is fun, Tamura is kind of a U-Style guy that never was in U-Style and he would not let himself be shown up easily. The match has lots of fun tricked out stuff, cool limbwork and neat pin combos. It's really enjoyable without overstaying its welcome. The beginning was kind of filmed like it was a 2009 livestream and they changed the camera settings midway into it so we don't get to see the transition to Tamuras legwork, which is a bit regrettable, but otherwise this is good all around.

Jun Kasai vs El Desperado, NJPW 6/24

A deathmatch that has amassed quite a lot of praise, even getting a **** 3/4 rating from pro wrestlings #1 authority on what's good and what isn't.  How so? My guess is because it's a) in NJPW, so more people watched it and b) it's absurdly long and delivers spots, spots and more spots at a consistent pace. Don't get me wrong, it's a well worked and entertaining match with most of the big bumps feeling like important transitions, but it definitely feels like something that I've seen Jun Kasai do a million times. All the respect in the world to the man that he can still do this kind of gorefest without problem at the age of 50, and there's definitely an allure to watching him do his thing, but there was 0 element of surprise in this. Desperado is rocking the Yamakawa pants and technically he should act like this kind of bloody spectacle is beneath him as an NJPW guy, but that element is not really felt at all. So you get your forgettable brawling segment, your lighttube carvings, your moves into broken glass, all feeling entirely predictable. Deathmatches used to feel dangerous - with fans genuinely not wanting to see their favourite wrestlers fall into barbedwire and such - and Jun Kasai taking a broken lighttube to someones face feels about as expected and welcome as a politician picking up and kissing a baby at a rally. There were still a few deathmatches even in 2025 that felt ghoulish, visceral, repulsive, hate filled and demented, but this was not quite that, it was pretty much the Jun Kasai 'can he stll do it -yes he can' rally for me. If you've never seen Jun Kasai before it's probably mindblowing for you so you can just take this review as the pointless musings of an out of touch old man. All that said I mainly didn't need this to be 30 fucking minutes long.

Tachishon Crazy vs Hinjaku Ningen Casshern, AZW 10/13

AZW delivers - better late than never! This was refreshing and a ton of fun. Almost like a mat spotfest as both guys seemed to try to outdo each other with nifty reversals and entries into submissions or pin attempts. Early scientific wrestling exchanges were really fun, they even seemed to knick some things from French Catch.Made me think maybe we should see Casshern in a promotion like Mutoha, locking up with someone like Dekai Ichimotsu or Yasushi Sato? Maybe I'm seeing things but I thought he has gotten quiet good by now, the execution problems he's had in the past not being there anymore and his selling in this being really good. And he's really one of the better octopus hold users still around. This Tachishon Crazy guy was also quite decent and a good antagonist. Really liked how he stayed on Casshern early on working him over with quick attacks on the ground and he had a few cool ways to get out of Cassherns octopus hold attempts. AZW guys when they're on will deliver some of the funnest wrestling you can imagine and this was another nifty match in their catalogue.

Dekai Ichimotsu & Great Zako vs MAD APE & Insect #2, XGF 11/23

Our heros Ichimotsu and Zako gather in the hellish battlefield of XGF to be attacked by two weird monsters. So it's everything that's right with pro wrestling by default. Ichimotsu is a lot of fun here, putting on wrestling holds on the freakish insect and bare knuckle punching him from mount. Besides Ichimotsu the other guys don't do a ton, Insect #2 didn't do any of the freakish antics that made him kinda fun before, and Mad Ape feels very much like just a guy. Still there's a few fun moments throughout, at one point they set off some firecrackers with Zako doing a heroic job rolling around in the tiny explosion like he was a guy getting turned into cheese in a vietnam movie. There's also things like a giant swing on the pavement, and Ichimotsus piledriver on the concrete was plenty sick. It went a little long but it's worth watching if you are into the griminess of XGF.

2025 Matchguide 

Exploring... Dyna-Mido

Dyna-Mido vs A-Z, Shin Osaka Pro Wrestling(?) 2/16/2020

Dyna-Mido is a fascinating wrestler. Apparently, he’s a veteran of the JWA Kansai days, so he is a stalwart of serious no ring pro wrestling. When you search his name on YouTube, you get all kind of wonderous results. Matches in Fu*ck, battles against grapplers and MMA fighters, fighting in parking lots with no ring. And this was the no-ring shootstyle action that your brain craves. I think I’ve only seen A-Z in FU*CK one or two times, and his Cagematch profile reveals that he’s been creeping around the seediest places ranging from EXIT to KOBE Meriken and other micro indies. Apparently he belongs to something called AVANZAR which mainly seems to specialize in no-ring wrestling so A-Z has quite the pedigree. But A-Z is a serious shooter who kicks really hard. These two level some hellish strikes against each other here. It’s a totally serious match and it rules. A-Zs kicks are hard and he landed this one enzuigiri to Midos skull that was horrific. Mido is as solid as a brick and he looks tough as hell here absorbing punishing kicks and firing back with brutal headbutts and elbows of his own. There is some fun groundwork, too. The audience for this couldn’t be more than 20 people and it’s just filmed with a single overhead cam, yet these two went out here and tried to crush each other. This is the kind of stuff that embodies pro wrestling.

Dyna-Mido vs Yuko Miyamoto, B168 5/30/2021

This takes place on a parking lot, in the blazing sun, on some mats that are flimsily held together by a plastic wrapping. It’s a deathmatch too and they got barbedwire and a ladder and other things. There are a bunch of ladies in the audience for this too, mostly with hats or towels on their head because of the sun burning and it’s during the height of COVID. It’s insane to think the Japanese authority allowed this to happen at the time. They do some snappy opening chain wrestling before Miyamoto grabs a barbedwire bat and bangs it into Midos shin to escape a front headlock. Miyamoto is clever enough to do the Sakuraba dragging spin to Mido on the pavement which I assume is scorching hot. It soon turns into a surreal gritty trenchfight with Mido bleeding in this parking plot. Miyamoto looks really sharp here, making the general deathmatch affair more fun with his explosive kicks and athleticism, and Mido is just pure guts. Miyamoto wraps barbedwire around Midos had and snapmares him across the mat in an incredibly nasty spot that I don’t recall seeing before. There’s Miyamotos cool spin kicks, Mido has a really nice Northern Lights Suplex.. at one point Mido gets hit by a truck. Mido ends up taking a press slam off the ladder and bounces really hard on those flimsy mats. There are gritty no hands headbutts and a few cool moments that caught me unexpectedly. This match isn’t anything intelligent, it’s just two crazy guys fighting and bleeding grittily in a parking lot and occasionally smashing a barrel or barbedwire board into the other. Truck getting involved added to the craziness too. Another piece of immensely sick and enjoyable raw pro wrestling.

Dyna-Mido vs Jun Masaoka, B168 12/12/2015

This also on just a mat held in a bright but small Japanese multi purpose hall. Description says this show was held without prior announcement so yeah they work their butts off here. Masaoka is a bouncy lithe junior wrestler and his bouncing around makes this pretty fun. More fast paced action than you expect from such a match and Mido is as solid and reliable as you need a thickly built shaven headed ass kicker to be. He made sure to really punish Masaoka slamming him on the tin mat, and the contrast between Masaokas twisty rollups and high jumping dropkicks and Midos lariats and slams makes this a really fun match.

Dyna-Mido vs Maori Kawashima, Steak Pro Wrestling 10/16/2021

This is held in a small BJJ gym room and it looks like they just glued some foam mats together to make a ring. I am fascinated with this. Kawashima has been a bit of an indy hotness with his cool look, but Mido just eats him up here. Mido toys with Kawashima on the mat in fun ways and when Kawashima tries to get into a strike contest Midos elbows are just way too hard for him. Both guys try to go for sneaky rollups but the time limit runs out after like 5 minutes. Probably the most grappling I’ve seen Mido do and it was pretty fun, it does make me want to see him against someone who can provide a bit more of a challenge.

Dyna-Mido & Daisuke Masaoka vs Jun Kasai & Kamui, Steak Pro Wrestling 10/16/2021

Oh, they had another match that day, so that’s why the previous match went short. This is not as gritty and insane as the Miyamoto match, but it’s still quite fun Mido plays the crazy old coot here, and he does get his head skewered. It was even kinda smart since Mido got pinned early and after the restart they kept teasing another pin on him. Masaoka and Kamui are pretty fun hitting their flying headscissors stuff in this no ring environment. And Kasai is good as he always is, does this guy simply have infinite HP? Gritty finish where Mido takes a nasty double arm facebuster on his head with the skewers in.

Secret Base 10/20/2009

 

Kinya Oyanagi vs. Skayde Jr.

Fun opening match. I‘m guessing this is actually Skaydes kid. He wrestles like the actual Skayde but is way skinnier. Oyanagi has some cool llaves of his own and bases well for Jrs. Stuff. A cool 7 minutes.

Spark Aoki & Go vs. Kazuhiro Tamura & Masashi Takeda

Fun sleazy undercard quasivshootstyle match. Dig Takeda as a deathmatch scarred punk who will kneebar you. Spark Aoki was in the tall awkward kid phase of his career here, and he got the shit slapped out of him. Go didn‘t really impress, but he was smart enough to tag out so Aoki could drop the fall. Not a fan of K. Tamuras thigh slappiness, but his submissions are cool. Overall, a satisfying match due to the abuse of Spark Aoki.

Frank Ohashi & Ferist vs. Kamui & Mineo Fujita

Pretty forgettable indy lucharesu match. These guys aren‘t very athletic, don‘t have much personality and don‘t do anything complex. The match also went far too long at 19 minutes with way too many nearfalls for your midcard match.

Kinya Oyanagi & Satoshi Kajiwara vs. Jun Ogawauchi & Masa Takanashi

Ogawauchi is another ex T2P guy who looked pretty talented but had his career derailed by injury. The opening Oyanagi/Ogawauchi matwork section was really fun. The rest of the match was a let down as Takanashi and Kajiwara had the same syndrome as the guys in the previous match. Once again, there were too many pointless nearfalls. Oyanagi was fun doing his thing though and was the only guy who showed any personality.

Mototsugu Shimizu & Yamada Man Pondo vs. Jun Kasai & Jaki Numazawa

This was your typical plunder brawl made better by the fact that it felt like it was the two deathmatch kingpins invading Secret Base to slaughter their boys. Shimizu & Pondo bleed and showed good fire and Kasai and Numazawa are decent dickhead heels. Finishin run was rather standard but the match felt shorter than the previous one.

Bear Fukuda & Masaki Okimoto vs. CHANGO & Amigo Suzuki vs. Takeshi Minamino & Manjimaru

3 ways are pretty dumb. 3 way tags are even dumber. They realized this too and didn‘t try at all. Apparently Okimoto is RASSE but didn‘t do anything cool.

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