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 

 

 

Pro Wrestling in 2025 Week 16

 
Rydeen Hagane vs Chie Ozora, Pure-J 4/5

Pretty fun, I continue to dig Rydeen Hagane big matches. And Chie Ozora turns into a really serious wrestler when in a big match. Good big vs little match here with Chie barraging Hagane with her offense, cool quick dropkicks and armbars. You really got the sense Ozora was giving everything she had and her wild eyed determination was fantastic. There's not really any other wrestler around that I know of doing the face painted monster thing and while Hagane is no Aja Kong, she is pretty good in her own right. The match had a few great moments i.e. Hagane powering out of the hanging armbar which was a great simple monster spot. I also liked that Hagane finished the match fairly quickly. Ozora gave her best shot but once she was caught Hagane made pretty quick work of her. It's a different vibe for a title match and I would like to it more often that a big match doesn't get all drawn out for no reason.

Shinya Aoki & Keigo Nakamura vs Minoru Suzuki & Akito, DDT 3/29

Aoki and Suzuki grappling was pretty fun. Can't imagine Suzuki looking much better in 2025 honestly. He still tries, god bless him, and Aoki does some freaky scarecrowd submissions and such. Aoki is obviously really fun to watch grappling and I am sad Mutoha ended before we got to see him have a match there, however unlikely that may have been. The rest of the match was alright, but pretty much a standard indy fare. Nakamura displays some cool athleticism, but in the case of things like his bridge roll over, it looks cool, but I am not sure it makes sense. That seems to be the theme of a lot of pro wrestling in 2025, doing things to show that you can do them, not because they make sense. Akitos thing is all about attacking someones legs, and he does have some cool leg attacks, but Nakamura spends pretty much 0 effort on selling it. I get that being a selling nazi is kind of pointless, but still, you don't have to rub it in my face that you are putting no thought into what you are doing. I know Akito had a ton of awesome looking grappleriffic matches with Yasushi Sato in the past which made me interested in watching him grapple with Shinya Aoki, but sadly that doesn't happen at all in this match.

CHANGO & Kengo Mashimo vs Shiori Asahi & Takuro Niki, 2AW 4/6

CHANGO vs Asahi is a pretty banging match up. I've always enjoyed Asahi, thought he had cool spots and above average fundamentals, but he might be on his way to becoming a godhead now. He's in a kung fu suit now and wrestling like he devoured Kenichiro Arais soul. Their matwork was great, lots of both guys slipping into armlocks in slick ways, Asahi even busted out his old banana split submission with CHANGO countering in cool fashion. CHANGO wrestles a lot like Tajiri, very slick with lots of unique spots, he's really fun to watch.They settle into Mashimo & CHANGO attacking Asahis arm, which lead to this cool armbreaker/sleeper hold battle, which is a basic spot but they really made it look amazing here. The finish settles for CHANGO vs Asahi again, with CHANGO having some awesome counters for Asahis signature sweep kicks that look great. Mashimo and Niki pretty much just do very generic indy wrestling here, its alright and doesn't take up a big part of the match, you could've pretty much edited their sections out and ended with a kickass CHANGO vs Shiori Asashi match, which really needs to happen on a Mutoha revival show or something.

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Project #3

 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Dean Malenko, ECW 3/3/1995 - FUN

Cool houseshow match with Scorpio doing some more technical work. It's funny how you can watch a ton of wrestling and a random Scorpio houseshow match from 27 years ago has some stuff you've never seen. Really liked Scorpios kneedrops on Deans face too to break up the niceness of their wrestling. Malenko is bland but insanely crisp. His control segment was a bit trite, but I liked his big stomp to cut off Scorpio. Boring chants start to come up so Scorpio just punches back to offense and starts hitting his high spots to shut the crowd up. The timing on the time limit draw was really impressive as the bell rung just as Scorpio hit the moonsault and had Dean beaten, although it may have been worked time.

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Lord Steven Regal, WCW 7/27/1993 - GREAT

Regal trying to take Scorpio apart in a really technical manner for 10 minutes. Great stuff, and Scorpio can hang very well in this kind of mat based match. When Scorpio got the advantage, Regal just stomped on his face  and proceeded to grind him down even more viciously. Some great stretches and holds in this. Scorpio makes this big comeback with a great punch combo and starts blasting Regal with his supreme high spots just as the time runs out. Regal getting hit with a 450 splash in 1993 is something else, would he have thought that would happen within 5 years as Kendo Nagasaki put a spell on his partner in Britain in 1988? Really good match though.

2 Cold Scorpio vs. Minoru Suzuki, GCW 4/23/2022 - FUN

Fun veteran match. I enjoyed these two trading holds and wish they had done a bit more of that, and Scorpios awesome punch combo on the floor. Could have done with a bit less back and forth strike exchanges, but that is how these guys get their paycheck now, and Suzuki doing stares to get reactions is effective. Scorpios high kicks and splashes aren't as smooth as they used to be but still look good, and I didn't expect him to take a boot to the face from Minoru.

2 Cold Scorpio Documentation Master List

2021 MOTY Project Update #6

 

6. Bryan Danielson vs. Dustin Rhodes, AEW 10/23

Pretty interesting match between a hybrid wrestler and an aging heavyweight star. Dustin is lower ranked, so Bryan was absorbing most of his moves and obviously the superior technician. It builds to a handful of excellent Dustin comebacks. Obviously the superplex felt like an epic moment, and when he hit that powerslam it felt like the whole match had built to that. Great cover after the reverse DDT as well. When Dustin hit the lariat, it felt like Jumbo on his last legs trying to shut down Misawa. Danielson was a bit go-go when he went back to offense, but Dustin kept edging out nearfalls so you knew Dustin was close to pulling off an upset. Really cool how they eschewed a traditional match structure and just had a really good match.

8. Josh Barnett vs. Tiger Ruas, Bloodsport 10/22

I thought this was well nomination worthy. Ruas was winning the match through elite level grappling and superior conditioning, so Barnett was left to rely on blasting him with suplexes and strikes. Mat section had a number of slick moments and was extremely well executed. Ruas was controlling and throwing strikes on the ground. Even after Barnett had hit a big suplex and hit some strikes from mount, he looked pretty spent. Ruas capeoeira kick was an amazing spot as not only was it cool looking but also extremely well timed. Barnett was just making his big comeback and then Ruas bounced back with THAT. It made Ruas look unstoppable. Finish worked as an out nowhere bomb being dropped. Barnett had been the biggest badass to walk the US indy scene so Ruas pretty much destroying him made for an exciting match. Great stuff and probably better than the recent Bryan/Suzuki match

10. Bryan Danielson vs. Minoru Suzuki, AEW 10/15 

This had a bit too many Your Turn/My Turn exchanges for my taste. I get Suzuki probably has to do these because he has to be pretty banged up at this point but too much of this felt like a glorified Nagata match. I also don't by Bryans character engaging in that macho stuff since he is supposed to be a smart technician. Outside of that this was very good. Opening PANCRASE grappling was cool, dug Bryans fast shoot for the single leg, and there were plenty more great transitions and counters throughout the rest of it. I was a bit annoyed with Bryan doing things like the face stomps and elbows mid-match since I see those as finishers, but what can you do. Submission work was great and I dug all the pins. 

 

2021 MOTY List 

GWE Watching #8: Yuji Nagata

 Yuji Nagata vs. Kazuyuki Fujita, NJPW 6/6/2001

This was quite great. They had the MMA gloves and did hybrid style match. It wasn't UWF 2.0 or a BattlARTS knockoff match, they did their own thing here. The match felt like it could end at any moment, and the heat was off the charts. They really use things like the struggle over a takedown or Fujita trying to get mount to full effect. They really made people believe Fujita was gonna crush Nagatas skull once he got to mount position. Nagata looked like quite the valiant fighter trying to not get his head caved in by this beast. And well, then Fujita pretty much just smashed him. They never should have ditched the gloves.

Minoru Suzuki vs. Yuji Nagata, NJPW 11/3/2003

I am so used to seeing these two guys do a bunch of love tapping while making goofy faces that I was caught off guard by this being a no frills contest. Suzuki was projecting the aura of a killer at this time, and there was some really good grappling in this. He reminded me a bit of Negro Casas and that is huge praise. Nagata was a surely company ace here. Suzuki putting a random sleeper on Nagata and Nagata selling it like death created huge drama. Then you had Nagata catching Suzuki with a suplex and just trying to crush his shoulder with kicks. Suzukis selling actually was the right mix between being in serious pain and putting on his psycho act. Really good ending to an intense match.

Yuji Nagata vs. Enson Inoue, NJPW 7/21/2003

For some reason, I find Nagata tangling with some semitrained crowbar more entertaining than him dealing with his dojo mates. Enson was swinging wild punches here and trying to knock Nagatas block off. Nagata mostly used grappling to defend himself and looked solid. Then he nailed Inoue with a big suplex and that as it. Solid showing from Nagata, although he kinda needed to unleash a bigger asskicking to look truelybadass in a Hashimoto way against the fighter.

Yuji Nagata vs. Katsuyori Shibata, NJP 8/14/2003

Shibata is all punk here, throwing flurries of strikes and his gloves at Nagatas face. Nagata does a lot of grappling in these matches. I've really noticed it before, but I guess they were pushing his strength as a grappler since he had submission finishers and all. This was Shibata acting like a fucker and Nagata punishing him with some nasty face grinding and hard smacks. Nagata putting the boot down is no frills, mean and effective. Shibata looked like the more exciting wrestler, even as he got the snot beaten out of him. Unfortunately, the crowd was dead silent for Shibatas offense. Finish was fun with Stone Cold Nagata taking a chair to Yasuda.