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 - 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 51

 Mari & ACT & MARU vs Marino Saihara & Sakura Mizushima & Naru, AWG 9/7

Entertaining 3 vs 3 match that culminated in one of the best moments of the year. We get some fun exchanges early on with everyone playing their role. Mizushima is good in her underdog role as usual, and it escalates to some brawling with MARU busting out the chain. The two later had another extended in-ring segment that was pretty fun. The real greatness happens when Mari and Saihara tag in to face off. Just great wrestling as the usual confident overdog Mari was desperately scrambling for the ropes by Saiharas crossface and trying to avoid the German Suplex at all cost. Mari would then reestablish herself by braining Saihara with some hard kicks. Tremendous struggle here, even over something like a Sidewalk Slam. Mari getting caught by a surprise German suplex, being seemingly KO'd was ridiculously great. A bunch of chaos happens andhe faces all got together to try and have a superhero moment but it backfired in a funny moment on them. Then when Saihara gets the pin on Mari it actually feels like she did the impossible. Great stuff just for that, really intense without relying on an assload of nearfalls, just great character work, timing and struggle here, a good example of the kind of unique thing the AWG crew can pull off insanely well.

Senka Akatsuki vs Seri Yamaoka, Marvelous 12/28

The most awaited rookie face off of the year! And for the most part this delivers. Opening of this was great as they just did stubborn grappling, slapping the shit out of each other and sprawling on attempted takedowns. Loved how even something like the half crab felt intense and got a reaction. I could've done without the no selling in the middle but the finish is intense. Liked how Yamaoka had to constantly scramble to the ropes when Akatsuki started working for the dreaded pinfall. Also dug Yamaokas early Honda-ish submission. She should stick with that stuff more often given how everyone's just no selling German suplexes these days. I need these two to become perma-rivals.

Makoto vs Hiroyo Matsumoto, Seadlinnng 8/22

Well executed big match and probably one of the better ones of the year considering this was a believable match that felt like a struggle, never got boring and they both fucking walloped each other hardcore throughout this. Really liked Makoto putting over Matsumotos monster strength early on even when basic wristlocking stuff was going on. Makoto was ultra-vicious in this and Matsumoto is insanely hard hitting, putting some real violence even into something like corner stomps or an elbow smash. Makoto pulling illegal tactics to stop the beast made for good pro wrestling. Her kicking the rope into Matsumotos throat was really nasty looking, and her boots and double knee drops were devastating. Should also point out that Makoto going for an eye rake felt meaningful and lead to an important moment. Finishing stretch was mostly a damaged Matsumoto getting more desperate but also repeatedly re-establishing herself as a monster. Really liked how she tried to force a tap with a basic facelock that left Makoto hurting. The entire ending run was well put together thanks to Makotos precise offense and Matsumotos knack for unpredictable transitions and never lost me. Even the suplex no-sell was done right as Makoto was desperate to not loose the advantage and Matsumoto put her right back down turning her lights out and ending the match. Quality stuff and definitely a high note for joshi in 2025.

Minoru Kido vs taku, XGF 11/23

Ghoulish deathmatch spectacle + brutal face punches and headbutts. Oh and it's held in some apocalyptic setting outside a deserted factory. They are wrestling on concrete with just a little mat put on it. Last time I checked out xgf taku looked like a fairly normal guy, now he seems to sport a face tattoo and a green iro. I am only slowly getting into Kido but I am starting to see what makes him a modern cult favourite. He was pretty terrifying in this. The buzzing of the tattoo gun he used to cut taku open was haunting. I liked how whenever Kido got too comfortable in his casual sadism, taku would punch him in the face really hard. While there is some exhibition-y stuff typical of deathmatch wrestling here, there is a real vicious edge the way these two would waffle each other with a kendo stick or wooden plank in this. And they just keep punching and kicking each other in the face. Finish may have been the most insane I've ever seen as Kido just tried headbutting takus face to a mush. I liked how Kido didn't even care to piledrive taku onto those things he emptieed on the floor properly. This was like a combination of a Kurisu/Necro Butcher match and a leaked snuff video.

BADMAX Fujinaga vs Great Kuririn, Kobe MERIKEN 12/25

Who's Great Kuririn? Well, he's clearly stylized after Krillin from Dragonball. But here this bald little man who has a thick body and skinny arms and legs shows up in thai shorts and gloves to fight the man known as Badmax Fujinaga, who puts on the gloves and otherwise wears his usual shirt and pants. They start fighting and this seems to be a real fight. They start swinging and Kuririn quickly goes down and Fujinaga starts kicking the living shit out of him with brutal kicks and stomps to his bald head. Kuririn actually survives this by slipping out the ring. He continues to try and fight, but BADMAX is an unstoppable machine here quickly knocking him down again and then trying to crack his skull with knees on the ground. Kuririn tries to go for a takedown and is stuffed and after some more mauling a nasty armbar tweaks Krillins arm for the tap. I think this may have been a real fight. Whatever it was, it was a weapons grade sleaze at its finest.

2025 Matchguide 

Footage mining: Actwres GirlZ

Tae Honma vs Miyuki Takase, AWG 11/3/2019

Straight-forward awesome match. Begins strong with solid lockups and some slick matwork. The match soon turns into an ARSION-like affair as Tae Honma is an armbar fiend and was constantly trying to snap Takases arm off. Honmas laser focus and variety of ways to lock in shoulder popping joint locks is really entertaining, and Takase constantly cutting her off with gritty lariats to the throat was great. Takase continueing to crowbar Honma throughout the match while selling the damage to her shoulders felt like something out of a grittier Choshu match. Even the chest forearms, which I’m not a huge fan of, where pretty vicious and hard hitting here. I was surprised at the greatness of Honmas selling too as she really sold being almost choked out by a modified triangle choke very well, and then taking more shots to the windpipe from Takases lariat. Second half of the match had quite a bit of unexpected brutality such as a vicious boot from Honma, and Honma cycling in on Takase to destroy her shoulders and face with dropkicks out of a Santo/Casas match. The insane headbutt was by far the highlight. I’ve seen my fair share of gritty headbutts in Japanese matches by now, this one stood out because it came completely out of nowhere. Takases sleeper attempts becoming ineffective due to her arms being shot was another neat detail. There is one kinda weak sling blade from Takase and they do overindulge a bit with nearfalls, though Honmas counters were great and Takase never let up with those lariats. Real sleeper great match, by far one of the best joshi matches of the decade if you ask me.

 Mari vs Yumiko Hotta, AWG 3/28/2019

This was something to remind you how magical pro wrestling can be. 2019 Hotta is really over the hill, but still has insane levels of aura, and she does actually wrestle in this. She has that Johnny Valentine-feeling where even a basic headlock or half crab from her feel like she’s brutalizing the other person. Hotta is basically like a wall of concrete in this. Mari struggles to do anything at all to her, and that makes this really compelling. Mari is still a ninja at this stage, but she does look like a great wrestler already. Really does a great job putting over the struggle of facing the ultra-tough veteran, and hitting lots of great kicks, which most importantly were all insanely well timed. It starts like a pretty fun match but the way Mari kept chopping away at Hotta and selling even mundane submissions like a surfboard stretch as an insane struggle it really starts to feel like a special match. Hottas performance here felt like a combination of nearly immobile Tenryu and Yoshiaki Fujiwara, she still kicks hard as hell but is vulnerable due to being so shot, and really tears into Mari with submissions. Then you have Mari getting her nose busted and the finish which felt legit as hell. Really starkly different match from pretty much anything else in the modern wrestling landscape, and to see it in a promotion like AWG is downright insane. Best post-prime Hotta match I’ve seen by a mile and Maris great performance was a big part of it.

 

Mari & Yumiko Hotta vs Tae Honma & Hikari Shimizu, AWG 4/7/2019

This was another winner. Hotta is so immobile and lethargic that conventional wrestling becomes impossible, so all her interactions become interesting by default. There is some really good stuff between her and Honma with Honma trying to damage her arm and Hotta snapping into armbars. I also loved Hotta nonchalantly breaking up an armbar attempt. The non-Hotta women her were working pretty hard. Shimizu is all hard kicks and she’s pretty fun. Mari was doing more athletic stuff than nowdays, lots of ninja kip ups and such that are cool mixed with also hard kicks. Honma continued to look good with her flash submissions and she does pull off a really cool finish against Mari. Seems these two never had a singles match which strikes me as a bit of a waste. Cool submission work, lots of stiff offense, grumpy old lady Hotta bonus, yeah this was pretty unique and enjoyable.

Mari vs Hikari Shimizu, AWG 3/17/2021

Impressive match that had well executed wrestling, great selling, a clear story, and they both absolutely bruised each other with brutal kicks. After some slick opening wrestling, Mari caught a Shimizu crossbody and slammed her hard in a great spot to establish the roles. It quickly turns into overdog Mari punishing Shimizu with her kicks and submissions, and Shimizu having to try to gut it out. Shimizu had multiple great comeback attempts that were extremely sharp. She is not quite as brutal as Mari, but she was kicking pretty hard too, and they both have effective straight forward offense. Mari clearly excels when she is trashing an underdog like this, and Shimizu had a few great hope spots. Really liked the struggle over a basic body slam towards the end. Leg kick battle towards the end was also quite intense. Most importantly, it was a modern Japanese big match that didn’t have anyone no-selling a suplex.

Hikari Shimizu vs Hiroyo Matsumoto, AWG 11/20/2021

Probably even better than the Mari match, which I nearly didn’t expect. This was just the 3^rd match on the card and honestly when was the last time you watched a card where match 3 out of 5 was fucking great? But this was pretty fucking great. Very similar to Shimizu vs Mari except Matsumoto is more of a big bruising monster. Matsumoto is really impressive beating the life out of Shimizu here with stiff chops and elbows and Shimizu was just as good as in the Mari match, kicking away at Matsumoto with hard kicks and selling pretty great. Just really effiecient. Once again I thought all of Shimizus comebacks/hopespots were insanely well timed and executed. Loved her desperate sleeper attempt towards the end, just trying to choke the beast out. Need more of that ‘just trying really hard to win’ energy. Matsumotos spinning back elbow was also a thing of beauty and timed just perfectly.

Yasushi Sato vs Konaka, AWG 6/24/2018

Yes, these two are also Actwres Girlz! It’s pretty cool that one of the greatest match ups in all of Japanese wrestling ever just so happened at a random joshi card. This was them pretty much doing the Velocity version of their match – very technically sound, but with a few jokes thrown in and made palatable for a more casual audience. They still mixed in lots of great stuff that you won’t see from any other two wrestlers. There’s this little sequence with both of them balancing on their heads and foot-wrestling which was pretty insane. Konaka does some great sleeper hold work, and Sato hits this hammerlock Russian legsweep that was just a thing of beauty. Sato busts out his big springboard dive which I always love, and even a perfect looking Victory Roll. Konaka has a really nifty counter to Satos attempted gutwrench. Really cool to watch. I still want to see their Ironman match, dammit.

2025 Matchguide Week 49

Pantera Jr vs Sangre Azteca Jr, Michinoku Pro 11/2

Really enjoyable lucha libre action here, with both guys busting out some creative and unhinged big spots. There was also some surprisingly deep selling and match psychology. There were some 2025esque thigh slappy spin kicks and such which I didn't love, but the overall energy here is good. Mostly, this is a match about two guys nailing every spectacular thing they now, and they nailed all that. Pretty enjoyable. 

 

Kotaro Nasu & FUMA vs Kotaro Suzuki & Tetsuya Izuchi, GLEAT 12/6

Pretty good UWF style action here. The main reason this is worth watching is NASU, who looked like a killer. He was hitting insanely hard and constantly trying to rush through guys with his quick hands, crowbar kicks and powerful suplexes. The action was great pretty much anytime he was in the ring. FUMA is solid at best, but I liked his weird submission a lot, and both Suzuki and Izuchi are pretty competent at this style, which is enough to produce some excellent exchanges with Nasu. Nasu almost caving in Izuchis skull with a massive high kick was awe inspiring and Izuchi fired back with a sick Maeda level kick of his own. Suzuki is pretty good here for his old age and he does pull off a cool finish. Still, Nasu was the man here pretty much.

Marino Saihara vs Sakura Mizushima, GLEAT 12/6

It's kinda cool that the athress girls are also regularily called into GLEAT to do shootstyle matches. Mizushima, for someone who has shown zero shootstyle in her AWG matches, was surprisingly good here. This is a striker vs grappler match with Saihara being the obvious striker and Mizushima doing a cool job getting past her kick barrages and hitting some impressive suplexes and latching into submissions. Saiharas kicks were ever solid and she also had some nifty judo throws. The finish was really cool with Saihara having Mizushima in a leg crab hold, with Mizushima trying to gut it out only for Saihara to switch into this nasty achilles hold variation and crank back for the tap.

 

Drew Gulak vs. Timothy Thatcher, Beyond 10/12

This was an exercise in bending ankles in painful ways. Naturally I dug all that, the twisting of the legs, the slow takedown that was done by leaning on the shin. It's a great display of leverage and some carny creativity. Aside from that they didn't do much fancy here, it was pretty much the kind of grappling match between two gruff balding men in front of a small quiet audience you imagine these two having. Just tight armlocks and nothing much fancy besides a few WoS inspired escapes. Thought this was getting really good when Gulak tried to damage Thatchers leg and immediately got punished with a hard kick to the spine. I would have liked them to continue going in a more BattlARTS direction, but they kind of stuck to grappling it out. Gulaks painful looking instep hold thing that bent Thatchers leg all the wrong way was easily the highlight. I like how they kept it in the scope of an opening match, pretty much no big nearfalls, no overkill, no high spots. They seemed to be making it all up on the fly which benefited the match a lot, a nice stark contrast to the current wrestling scene where everything feels hyper choreographed. A fine piece of wrestling that felt a bit like a skinnier leaner version of an Arn vs Ole Anderson match.

 

Mari & Act vs Anri & Erisa Nagai (AWG 7/18)

Another very good little tag. This was built around Mari and Act being monsters with Anri and Nagai hardly being able to touch them. That can normally be trite, but they delivered a number of neat moments here. Anri and Nagai had to work hard to get anything at all and that made this a pretty intense match. Once again, Anri had a lot of aura and even her initial face off with Mari felt intense. Act didn't do a ton in the match, but I'd be lying if I said she didn't add to the match. She was a really effective monster early on. Mari did pretty much the rest of the match, and it was good stuff. Thought she stuck a great balance between overconfident and untouchable badass to being put on her ass with the slim chance of being caught by a rollup. Nagai is pretty much all rollups and a split legged leg drop, but they were slick roll ups and she really had to earn that split legged leg drop. Anris intensity once again jumped off the screen. Her thrust kicks were awesome and she gets a lot of mileage out of those sillas she does. There was also some fun brutality from Mari and Act, at one point Mari was basically cracking Anris ribs with her kicks. In the end Mari and Act finished their opponents off with ease, which I thought was fine since Nagai and Anri only have about one year of experience each. For a top heels vs hapless rookies match this was really good considering it could've just been a low effort squash.

2025 Matchguide 

2025 Matchguide Week 47

 Yu Shimizu & Yuta Oya vs Ali Najima & Hajime Enshu, Sportiva 11/19

Best Sportiva in a while, for 2 reasons: 1) we get some cool Najima/Oya matwork at the start and it's always awesome to see Oya grapple it out and b) an unusal level of disdain between Najima and Shimizu, and thankfully they settle out to deliver a hot finishing stretch between the two that is packed with everything you can ask for. Enshu very much exists in this match, apparently he's a 40-something year old guy who was briefly an AJPW rookie in 2010s and only came back to wrestling last year after a +10 year hiatus. Interesting backstory aside he is a not very impressive skinny old man wrestler, though he can lay it in here and there, and we do get to see Oya judo throwing his skinny ass, so that was cool, and then he doesn't get in the way anymore. Shimizu vs Najima is just great. Obviously these are two very straight forward hard hitting pro wrestlers and they do clock each other with their kicks and elbows good, but the really impressive finish is built around submissions. All year we've seen Shimizus rear naked choke and Najimas achilles hold built up as killing moves so seeing them scramble out of those here was a really sweet piece of long term wrestling storytelling, and the surrounding wrestling was impressive. Finish was actually great too. If Sportiva at some point ends up giving us a singles match between these two I'll be delighted but for now this was a really nice stand-in.

Tomoki Hatano vs Shota Marlon Miwa, HEAT-UP 5/25

This was unexpectedly good. I've only known Hatano as the less impressive, less scummy tag partner of Yu Shimizu. But in this match, he was breathing the spirit of the scum bastard as he basically made it a point to be as evil to his opponent as possible. Really uncooperative looking matwork where Hatana threw the skinnier Miwa around and scrambled for chokes, hard brain scrambling elbows, shrugging off his kicks and just being a total prick. Just the first half of this was like 20 times more interesting than the average indy match due to sheer uncooperativeness and a disdainful nature. Shota Marlon Miwa has the dubious fame of being the first German-Japanese pro wrestler, he is a kind of skinny lanky karateka, he sells his ass off and his kicks are really fun which is all you really want from a karateka. His axe kick and big jumping leg lariat are awesome, so when you have an awesome leg lariat you are an awesome wrestler in my book. Hatanos enzuigirs were also impressively hard kicking, catching Miwa right in his skinny neck. Really good uncooperative little match.

MARU & Ayano Irie vs Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara, AWG 11/24

A lot of pretty badass wrestling here. MARU continues to look like a killer as she's constantly inflicting punishment, biting, pulling hair, waffling people with a chain and killing them with double stomps. The chain stuff is cheap but effective and the surprise chain attacks are fun, and I am even fine with the comical amount of ref distractions, and it always looks punishing. There was also some great stretch muffler work here. Initially Uehara scrambled right out of the hold, so later MARU goaded her into throwing kicks just to catch her leg and go for the move again. It's super simple stuff but it's a lot of fun and somehow very few wrestler are smart enough anymore to do things like that. Uehara and Saihara were also pretty great here dishing out punishment constantly barraging people with kicks. Uehara seems to be turning into a good wrestler now, even her somewhat goofy hip attack hit hard, and she's just a ton of fun, imagine Torrie Wilson blasting people with credible shoot kicks. One thing that stands out here was the smart use of transitions, it never felt like I was just watching people run through their offense. They settle into a Saihara vs Irie finishing run which is surprisingly white hot. Irie had some problems executing stuff early on, but she held up pretty well against Saiharas UWF style barraging her with big boots from every angle. Saihara is a super reliable wrestler too just constantly putting the heat on people with shoot kicks and submissions and her suplexes. It's simple, straight forward wrestling that hits hard. There were also some great dramatic saves including Uehara just running in and braining Nagai with a BattlARTS-worthy high kick. Just great action. The finish is Saihara nailing Irie with a jumping knee to the face and then throwing her with a huge deadlift German which is one hell of a finish in 2025. I have no explanation for the greatness of AWG, they draw small crowds, which mostly seem to be uncles that seem to be there to look at the pretty girls, yet they keep putting on these banger matches that are more straightforwardly enjoyable than almost anything else I'm seeing in 2025.  

Mari & Act vs Haruka Ishikawa & Kyoka Iwai, AWG 1/24

Great tag, which was refreshingly different. Basically, Mari and Act are the top heel act in AWG and Ishikawa and Iwai are a pair of lesser evils. Haruka Ishikawa was going after Mari like an absolute pitbull here, just an absolute demon, and in turn Mari would maul her with some really violent kicks. Iwai likes to hit people with a gimmicked umbrella, so Mari shutting that down quickly and Act giving her a taste of her own medicine was good. Mari and Act toyed with their opponents for a bit before Ishikawa and Iwai gained control in a smart spot. After that it was just a relentless as they tried to take down Mari with Mari having great violent retaliations. Heck, there was a chair throw in this that felt like one of the most memorable things I've seen in a while. The one slight let down is the finish, since they were setting up the upcoming Mari/Ishikawa title match. But this is a great prelude to that, as convincing and intense as you can ask for any match to be mostly thanks to Haruka and Mari.

2025 Matchguide 

2025 Matchguide Week 45

 Shinya Ishida & Ali Najima & Masanori Watanabe vs Yu Shimizu & Yuta Oya & Ryutaro Ohno, Sportiva 11/12

Sportiva with an all star 6 man tag! And yeah this resembled one of those 90s AJPW 6 mans just in a sportsbar. A bit less grand in scope if you will, but everyone here got to do some fun wrestling and it ended up being a very well put together super enjoyable match. Starts out nice and basic. Shimizu always looks great in these tags, in this case by kicking things off booting people off the apron and putting effort into working an abdominal stretch. We do get touches of everyone doing what they do best and giving an impression of what has made Sportiva such a good promotion this year. We get a great Najima/Oya exchange, which made me think we're due for another singles match between them. Their progression continues as they keep going toe to toe, and the same goes for Najima standing up to higher ranked guys like Ishida in a bigger way now. Ohno is still in his rookie role, but we know he can be fun doing his thing. This was a lot of fun and a reminder that this crew is one of the best things going in 2025 altough I am thirsting after some singles matches between any two of these guys.

Yukito vs Bomber Okuno, HEAT-UP 9/13

I quite like Yukito. In a world full of guys with a shootstyle moveset, an actual Kiyoshi Tamura trainee is always a welcome change of pace. Even more interesting is the fact that he's a 47 year old rookie, although you don't really notice his age. This is not shootstyle or anything, but just the way Yukito would aggressively hook his boody into Okuno and take him down loos just legit enough for it to get my attention. The match soon becomes about Okunos toughness. Okuno is more of a Jun Izumida type guy: hard head, slow moving, doesn't do many things. He's often trite, but in this match Yukito gets just on his grill enough that everything becomes a bit more contemptful, making this match interesting. Okuno would keep shrugging of Yukitos kicks, laying back into him with really hard elbows and headbutts, and rattle him with cool outdated offense like Coconut Crushers or falling headbutts. It's compelling precisely because it's not your typical even steven match up. Okuno would absorb Yukitos kicks and then just grab him and slam him really hard again. It becomes about Yukito trying to crack a tough, stubborn opponent. When he finally starts gaining momentum and starts to get ahold of Okunos arm, it really feels like he was going for the kill rather than getting in some cute reversals. Some really nice desperation down the stretch here with those submissions, and you do get those kicks vs hard head spots and Bomber cracking Yukito really hard. Super simple but highly enjoyable match.

Mari & Haruka Ishikawa vs Yui Tensho & Sakura Mizushima, AWG 2/24

'nother good match from AWG. Aside from a few light hearted moments, this delivered plenty of good action. Yui Tensho was in goofball mode early, trying to hit the AXE BOMBA~, which lead to Mari and Haruka doing an Anderson Bros style job working over her arm. We got see some good armwork from both of them. When Mizushima tagged in, I thought she would be one of these idol types - you know, very skinny, hits flimsy dropkicks and rollups, but she tried to take out Maris leg with some pretty brutal double stomps. Her dropkicks aren't amazing but I thought she was pretty effective as she always knew what to do. Loved Mari putting her in her place with some hard kicks and then almost ripping her in half with a crazy submission. Second half was about Tensho vs Haruka Ishikawa. Tensho cut back the goofiness and I thought Ishikawa was quite efffective pouncing on Tensho with sentons over and over, she looked like a pitbull. They just build to the axe bomber and it's good stuff. I like that Tensho getting a win over Maris team was made to feel like a big deal.

Mari vs Sakura Mizushima, AWG 3/16

Their exchanges in the February tag hinted at a good match, and this pretty much delivered just that! This was pretty great overdog vs underdog stuff. Mari outclassed Mizushima initially, and the match quickly turned into a nasty trashing with Maris kicks and sadism. Mizushima took one of the hardest throws into a row of chairs I've ever seen (and think of the ground that covers in joshi). Mizushima was able to catch one of Maris kicks and hit this nasty move where she dropped her entire body weight on Maris leg. She then proceeded to drop some more nasty double stomps on Maris leg. That legwork is very brief and doesn't slow Mari down too hard, probably since they wanted to keep Mari being the overdog, but it gives Mizushima some breathing space to mount a comeback. Thought the match was pretty much perfectly laid out with Mizushima getting just the right amount of desperate and urgent hopespots and Maris cutoffs being hard and mean. Mind you, Sakura could be a bit better when it comes to footwork and the force of her execution, but for what her role is she does pretty well. Also loved Maris quick use of the Gory Special. Very good stuff and Mari continues to deliver. 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

2025 Matchguide Week 40

 Ushiku "THE CHAMP" Gotaro & Tonikaku Yaritai Akiyama vs Hinjaku Ningen Casshern & Renoir Komeda, AZW 5/5

Again, not entirely sure about these names. Could be Tonikaku Yaritai Akiyama, could be Akiyama Who Just Wants To Do It. To be honest Akiyama Who Just Wants to Do It would be one of the sickest names a wrestler has ever had, but for the sake of brevity I will stick with just Akiyama. This is just straight up another good match from AZW. The action is solid, there are clear roles, a story is being told, and everybody here can bring some neat offense. Starts just fine and solid and quickly gets good when Akiyama and Gotaro start isolating Komeda. They do a really solid job just working him over with body slams and elbows, could be straight out of an SWS or 80s AJPW tag. Akiyama hitting a backbreaker, big splash to the back and then locking in a camel clutch just plain works. Komeda is pretty fun, energetic short underdog type who throws himself at opponents really recklessly. AZW guys are really good at tricked out runs, and we get a really good run between Casshern and Akiyama. Casshern is pretty cool just attacking arms and locking in cool Octopus Holds. I really liked how he kept selling his own leg after it get swatted by a harsh lariat. Akiyama is clearly a guy to watch as he's a really fun big guy. Gotaro is a bit more clumsy, but his ending run with Komeda was also good stuff. Really liked his reckless looking shoulder attacks, pretty fun unique stuff. Last two backbreakers were just downright disgusting. Says a lot when 'amateur' guys have better looking offense than a lot of pros. Pretty cool, well executed, unique stuff, just what you want from your AZW.

Koji Iwamoto vs Ryutaro Ohno, Sportiva 10/8

Iwamoto did a good job the week before tearing up Watanabes leg, and he continues to do a good job here tearing up Ohnos neck. Almost Regal-ish in working him over with neck holds and nasty short kicks. Dare I say, Iwamoto is looking like a pretty fine wrestler these days. Ohno continues to be the least of the Sportiva rookies, and this match does go a bit too long for him, but he also continues to be chunky and spirited and lovable. A few cool things here, such as a great struggle over a boston crab, and an awesome judo throw from Iwamoto which is what you want from him.

Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha & Mio Momono vs Seri Yamaoka & Mayu Iwatani & Utami Hayashishita, NOAH 10/6

Marvelous vs Marigold feud continues to deliver. The interpromotional rivalry adds quite a bit of heat and energy to their exchanges. Still, I thought the match needed a bit more hatred and less cutesy face spots from Momono. In fairness, Momono did crank up the violence later with her double stomps, and Iroha is effective as a bruiser throwing kicks. Screw all that though, because this match is all about Senka vs Seri. The Senka Akatsuki experiment continues to be really interesting in 2025 as she's such a complete polar opposite to what everyone else is doing with her ultra-basic style and raw energy. Her boston crab and pin felt more dangerous than pretty much anything else in the match that came before. Yamaoka is also continueing to get better. This match was a bit spotty and go-go but they settled down in a really nice way when it was just Yamaoka and Akatsuki facing off and struggling over pins and hitting deadlift suplexes. The Akatsuki shoot pin continues to work. It's really such a game changer that her finisher is just a pin and then Yamaoka reverses the pin and it really feels like a holy shit moment that all their interactions throughout the year have been building up to. Really a killer match, breathless action in the first and then completely subverts your expectations by ending with the rookies delivering really no-nonsense simplistic and heated action.

Mari vs Ayano Irie, AWG 7/26

Another wildly good AWG undercard match, is this promotion actually underrated? Basically the story here is that Irie is in the same stable as Mari and much lower ranked, however Irie keeps plugging away and getting the better of Mari, inching closer to an upset. Based on what I've seen from Mari, I am tempted to say she is easily the most underrated wrestler on the planet. Her offense is badass (leg lariats never get old), but her timing and the way she made Irie look killer was great. She went from cocky and overconfident, to upset that Irie was getting the better of her, to making more desperate comebacks and finally being almost knocked out. I also loved how she was constantly going for her finisher. I've never really thought much of the Widows Peak as a finisher but the struggle here made it look great. Irie has some slightly flimsy looking offense, but she also proved that she could wrestle by doing a slick counter into a boston crab for example. Most importantly the match worked because it wasn't predictable and there was always something attention-grabbing going on.

MARU & Great Asako vs Marino Saihara & Rico Fukunaga, AWG 8/2

Excellent MARU performance. This starts out with some really nice, cagey matwork between MARU and Saihara, before MARU goes to brawling and beating on people with a chain. Aside from the brawler act, it's kind of crazy how enjoyable MARU is to watch as a wrestler. Pretty much whenever she was in the ring here it was good stuff with her slick submissions and knack for catching people with odd dropkicks and double stomps. Saihara and Fukunaga also deserve credit, they are energetic and kicking hard as hell. Great Asako is a joke character, and the joke is that she's useless and failing constantly. Admittedly she really doesn't seem to be good at wrestling but the act works and actually produces some entertaining results. Early on we also get Saihara shoot kicking Asako down the stairs of Shin Kiba 1st Ring and that is some mean brawling. Saihara almost submitting Asako also works. It makes MARUs performance the more impressive because she basically works the whole match, even saving her partner with a gritty double stomp. Finishing run was all MARU and it was once again good stuff with some brutal kicks from Saihara and Fukunaga and MARU clocking them with nasty double stomps and a sick headbutt. Safe to say MARU pretty much rules. 

 

2025 Matchguide 

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 

Some more modern joshi

 Moeka Haruhi vs ASUKA (Veny), Ganbare Pro 11/23/2020

A surprisingly scrappy joshi big match where they both decided to absolutely grill each other with tons of violent offense. Thought Asuka was quite effective here as the taller sadistic asskicker booting Haruhi in the face. Apparently Haruhi used to be a teen idol (horrifying) and has only been in a handful of longer singles matches over the years, but she was quite good here. Her submissions were cool and she absolutely drilled Asuka with some insane headbutts and double stomps. She also really kept trying to rip Asuka in half with her straight jacket holds. Selling wasn’t a huge deal here but they kept a good pace with little letdown and sometimes you just wanna watch two wrestlers try to kill each other.

Mari vs MARU, AWG 12/29/2024

MARU had a run in JD Star in the early 2000s before retiring 2005. Somehow she came back 17 damn years later and now she’s having wild brawls like this. That is pretty crazy in itself, and this match is pretty damn crazy too. Reminded me of those early 2000s JD brawls in the best way. MARU provided some cool wrestling with her nifty Stretch Muffler counters and Mari is just a badass with her kick variations. Match had plenty of violent chain punches and soon, after some scrappy opening fighting it turned into a psycho bump fast. MARU taking those bumps at her age was pretty insane. I did love how Mari would just pick her up and throw her into chairs or a ladder, totally not caring about making it fancy. There was also a kick that lead to MARU spilling down the Korakuen Hall stairs which again was straight out of those old JD street fights. MARU was feeling it here, just taking totally crazy punishment and dishing it right back at her opponent. It really felt like they were trying to crush each other. In the end it seemed MARU was too caught up in trying to hurt Mari instead of winning the match, which costed her as Mari finally caught her and finished her off with a series of devastating kicks. Really good brawl that had both the big spots and the gritty fighting that is often lacking from these modern hardcore matches. Insane MARU performance and Mari looked like total badass.

 

Misaki Ohata vs Hiroe Nagahama, WAVE  10/22/2017

Very good joshi style match. Energetic Nagahama overwhelmed Ohata initially, but quickly became the underdog due to Ohatas vicious style. Ohata was pretty brutal here: trying to take Nagahamas head off with elbows, almost ripping her in half with several Fuchi-ish submissions, and dropping some vicious knees and stomps. This builds to a few increasingly desperate and great comeback attempts from Nagahama. Good stuff, they had another match the following year that was also good and pretty similiar to this but I thought this one had more of an epic well together title match vibe. At 13 minutes it's pretty compact too.

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 32

Ultimate Spider Jr. vs Yasutaka Oosera, Osaka Pro 7/27

Decided to check out some Osaka Pro since they are nice enough to upload their stuff for free now. That turned out to be a really good decision because this was actually really good lucharesu, a breath of fresh air in 2025. The match started with actually good matwork for a bit before Spider Jr. woke everyone up with an eardrum shattering slap to Oosera. Oosera seems to be another scummy heel, and while he doesn't seem to have a ton of personality he strikes a good balance between heel tactics and wrestling. I really liked how Spider Jr. initially prevented the cheap eye rake. Oosera ended up hitting a hard flip dive that took out Spider and set up Oosera being in control for a bit. This really felt like lucharesu, some cool athleticism, a bigger focus on submissions and pins so things don't delve into senseless bomb dropping too hard, another great dive from Spider Jr. There were nifty reversals and most importantly, actual selling which made even something like a superplex feel pretty epic. They didn't even do any no-selling fighting spirit spots! Spider Jr. looked good as your masked sympathetic technico, by far his best peformance that I've come across, and Oosera also looked really good, his super fast Tornado DDT was awesome, which is really cool to hit such a spot out of nowhere. Immensely cool to check out and definitely one of the better singles matches out of Japan that I've seen this year. 

 Tonikaku Yaritai Akiyama & Nakata Bide vs Masanobu Koppu no Fuchi & SUMA, AZW ?/2025 

 
 What a match! This kind of well executed, innovative ama-pro wrestling is some of the funnest wrestling you can watch. There was pretty much no difference between this and a match from the pro leagues, and in many ways this was better that what you get to see in the pro leagues these days, which is pretty insane. Masanobu Koppu no Fuchi and SUMA are the heel champions and they do a good job early on working over Akiyamas arm. Akiyama is this thickly built guy, which makes him a bit more interesting than your typical skinny small guy. Nakata Bide is a more energetic type wrestler and he's a great hot tag. I also really liked Masanobu Koppu no Fuchi - he doesn't look like Fuchi at all, he is a sleazy gangly guy with a sleeveless shirt and scuzzy jiu jitsu pants, who hits some really awesome palm strikes and a great STO. Fuchi vs Nakata exchanges had some great stuff and counters, there was an awesome spot where Fuchi went for a spinning torture rack type move and Nakata hit a sling blade which looked more awesome than pretty much any sling blade I've ever see Tanahashi hit. The fun really begins though when Akiyama tags back in. The whole time I was wondering what Akiyama was gonna do because of his interesting look. SUMA is a fun dickish guy with kickpads, and he does a great job cutting of Akiyama and building to Akiyamas bigger spots. When Akiyama hit a basic samoan drop it popped me and it looked the most awesome thing ever. And Akiyama had a lot more cool stuff up his sleeve after that. They build to everything really well, and it's just a cracking match. I was surprised even the armwork from earlier mattered later in the match. A level of thought in this that you don't even see in pro leagues, and it was peppered with a number of awesome spots and inventive ideas. Definitely on the shortlist of the funnest matches I've seen in 2025.

Sareee vs Konami, STARDOM 7/27

Sareee saying 'Fuck this bullshit idol company' and just coming in straight trying to kill people may end up making for the angle of the year. Vicious opening here with both of them going for sick headbutts. Sareee not caring about Konami being out of position and just kicking her in the face was harsh. Konami trying to weather the storm by working the arm was good, only for Sareee constantly going to crush her with her crowbar dropkicks and double stomps. This kind of shorter match really works well for Sareee with her killer offense because she just comes across as trying to crush whatevers in her path. Konami eventually remembers that she's an asskicker and really blasts Sareee with some strikes of her own. Cool finish. This STARDOM grand prix is off to a hot start with this. 

  Act & Mari vs Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki, AWG 7/11

 I watched this on a whim not really knowing anything about any of these wrestlers. Turns out this is really, really good stuff. Everyone here was pretty much going all out from the get go in the best way. Act and Mari looked like quite the badass heel tag team unit here destroying their opponents with cool kick variations, like a face painted leather clad 2025 joshi version of Heisei Ishingun (yes, there were Inazuma Leg Lariats). Face team  also had quite the asskicker in Natsuki, too. She was all hard kicks and crashing into people with running knees that mostly looked great. Aside from one or two occasions of thigh slapping she was great. Nagisa Shiotsuki was the low light with her flimsy offense, but thankfully she's not in the match much. Second half is basically all Natsuki having a series of violent standoffs against Act and Mari that were badass. These matches can easily devolve into a frenzy  of moves, thought they did a great job here working in a few neat moments. Act and Mari were both great setting themselves up for Natsuki and cutting them off. Big credit goes to Mari who looked like an absolute badass and lagely carried this, although Act also carried herself remarkably well. Also really liked the moment where they got carried away taking their time to finish off Shiotsuki with an absolutely sick double team move, allowing the sidelined Natsuki to recover and rush in with a jumping knee. Finish aswell as the build to the finish were excellent. This low key ruled, Shiotsuki aside this was one of the best joshi tags of 2025.

2025 Matchguide