Command Bolshoi 7 Match Gauntlet

  

Command Bolshoi vs Kayoko Haruyama, JWP 4/13/2008

This was really great. It was very much a 25 minute epic where they kick out of everything, but for that it was about as good as these kinda matches can get. Early build was great and added to the match. We know Bolshoi is the submission queen, and she absolutely is that here, but Haruyama was able to rip out some awesome surprise Fujiwara armbars and go after the arm. Really enjoyed Haruyama modifying her signature corner fame asser to target Bolshois shoulder. Bolshois comeback was great as she hit a cool odd angle 619 and then a choice huracanrana to the floor that bowled Haruyama into the chairs. Bolshoi then hit one of the craziest flash submissions I’ve ever seen as she busted out this wild flying twisting bodyscissor into calf slicer thing. Haruyamas leg selling was also really great as she was constantly slowed down and it added some drama to her buildig to her big leg drop. Another neat moment Haruyama eating a leg kick but firing back with a spin kick and collapsing.Ending run had a ton of big moves but was peppered with great selling and tons of amazing counters especially from Bolshoi. Haruyama was a great base. The way Bolshoi would bust out flash pins, submissions and ranas was just peak level. They were also hitting really hard, Bolshoi with her palm strikes. Haruyamas lariat fury in the corner before collapsing was also an awesome moment. At one point Haruyama just kicked Bolshoi straight in the face. Just a ton of really intricate awesome stuff here, a lot of flash but also great substance, a rare combo when it comes to these kinda big matches in the late 2000s. But fuck are these two great.

Command Bolshoi vs. Nanae Takahashi, JWP 6/13/2010

Command Bolshoi has a great fucking match against somebody, are you really surprised?! Lots of really masterful wrestling from Bolshoi in this, holy shit she was just great from the late 2000s onward. The early chain wrestling reminded me a bit of Billy Robinson carrying Jumbo, Bolshoi would do all these cool touches even when doing basic holds against the taller, stronger Nanae, while Nanae was quite good here cinching in side headlocks and cravate holds. Nanae is slightly generic but she can totally drop bombs and clobber someone, very late 2000s-early 2010s flavoured bomb dropping like a twisted fisherman suplex into an ace crusher because why not. Her selling of the bad leg that Bolshoi kept chipping away at also gave the match some great hope spots. Really hot crowd for this that badly wanted to see their cult hero defeat the former AJW star, which combined with Bolshois Honda/Fujiwaraish counters and submissions makes for a really great big match. There was one moment where they did a Benoit/Angle sequence with crossfaces and ankle locks which is not my favourite thing in wrestling but Bolshoi was able to salvage even that by trying to lock in a nifty leg scissor move. Finishing run was 2.9 ville but the good kind thanks to Bolshois reversals and the big vs. little psychology remaining in tact.

Command Bolshoi vs. Kayoko Haruyama, JWP 7/11/2015

Alright, these two have had a few really great matches against each other. But, in 2015? Haruyama is on the verge of retiring and looks over the hill, while Bolshoi looks ridiculously yoked here, just totally shredded. No way it’s as good as their earlier matches, right..? But fuck it this is another great fucking match. It was a more deliberate and storytelling encounter than their other matches but for that it was great. Early goings Bolshoi was really good as an annoying bug outwrestling Haruyama, hanging on to submissions and staying out of reach of Haruyamas power. Top rope uranage was completely unexpected and immediately increased the tension after just a few minutes. The match seemed to be a piece of cake for Bolshoi, but Haruyama would show some hard and fight her way back into the match in compelling fashion. Haruyama has clearly slowed down, but she was still bringing it hard, clobbering Bolshoi and mule kicking her really hard. Her basing for Bolshois complicated highspots was also really great. I also dug her use of snapping Bolshoi down when she was draped on the ropes. Bolshoi also hits about the greatest jumping knees ever in this. It’s a great match, not just ‘for what it is’ but straight up great pro wrestling and these two rule.

Command Bolshoi vs. Tsubasa Kuragaki, JWP 7/31/2016

Great 10 minute match. It’s Bolshoi vs Kuragaki, so you know it’s gonna rule, but this was also a pretty smart match. Kuragaki is so fucking cool. Opening matwork felt very much like maestros stuff. I love how Bolshoi sells her wrists after Kuragaki throws her across the ring. There is passion in that kind of attention to detail. The match was pretty much their usual thing with Bolshois technique vs. Kuragakis power, but it was very well put together and as always they do some awesome stuff with Kuragaki being really great lifting Bolshoi from all kinds of positions and dropping her to the mat with some big bombs and suplexes. She even busts out a moonsault. I really hope her knees are fine now.

Command Bolshoi vs. Hikari Fukuoka, JWP 9/20/1997

Bolshois most famous 90s match. I hadn’t seen this one in forever so I decided to give it another look. Early goings of this were just brimming with intensity. Fukuoka seemed to be trying to punch through Bolshoi with her forearms, even with a move like her handspring elbow she just crashed into her. Bolshoi took a beating but wouldn’t back down and fight back with tenacity. Bolshoi didn’t do any of her signature submissions here, it was a bomb throwing war, but pretty smartly done as they put a ton of effort to create some meaningful struggle for control and unpredictable moments. Fukuoka looks great here, just absolutely nailing everything she did, even her dropkicks look like she’s just crushing Bolshoi. After she basically ran through Bolshoi early on, seeing her selling the damage and looking pushed to the limit towards the end made the match feel pretty epic. Of course you also have the famous spot where Bolshoi takes her mask off. There is some legwork that is done with intensity but ultimately is just filler, and there’s one kind of ugly no-sell, but other than that it’s an all-around great match.

Command Bolshoi vs. Toshie Uematsu, JWP 6/15/2006

Two wrestlers who can bring some serious goodness, bringing some serious goodness. While this was somewhat light-hearted the jokes were all done well, and they both do some ridiculously great pin-point accurate wrestling that it ends up being a really good undercard bout. Uematsu is great – her dropkicks are like something out of an unhinged Casas/Santo exchange, and she has no problem leaning into comical angles. Bolshoi decides to work like Volk Han for a bit, they do a thing where they both resist arm drags and it’s kinda comical but also cool, a ton of really good sprint action down the stretch with some sweet reversals and cool bits of creativity, especially from Uematsu. Yeah I love them both.

Command Bolshoi vs. Manami Katsu, JWP 6/26/2016

Katsu was one of the last wrestler to debut in JWP. She is kind of like a worse version of Haruyama here, she did some good stuff attacking Bolshois back but also seemed a bit sloppy here or there and it seems she doesn’t sell very well. Still Bolshoi is really enjoyable to watch, even when she’s dominating on the mat early on she makes you feel that Katsu is bigger and stronger and thus caution is required, and she’s always really fun to just tear into someones arm with submissions and hitting palm strikes. Enjoyable Bolshoi performance as always even against someone who is rather mid.

Assorted 19 O Clock Girls Pro Wrestling

 Chii Tomiya vs Makoto, Ice Ribbon 12/10/2010

This is from the 19 O’Clock Girls Pro Wrestling era. Basically Ice Ribbon just livestreamed dojo matches every week. This was way way better than you’d expect a match like that to be, as they basically went all out to have a great 10 minute TV match with no audience. Starts out very good with both of them showing some slick mat wrestling. Tomiya has really fast ankle picking takedowns and Makoto also looked good exchanging holds and making fancy escapes. It’s just really solid, targetted wrestling with purpose. I always like when every move has a follow up, i.e. Makoto would target Tomiyas back further after locking in a boston crab. Cool transition where Makoto tries to do further damage to Tomiya outside of the ring, but Tomiya is able to hit a Dudley Dog into a chair. Tomiya then climbs onto a poll and hits a diving stomp to Makotos mid-section. Tomiya proceeded to further attack the mid section, with an angry Makoto in turn attacking her mid-section too in retaliation. Finishing run had some really awesome rewindworthy submissions and pin counters with both of them really sinking deep into Fujiwara armbars. There were cool transitions, unique spins on more standard move, good pace, believable offense from both of them. Great intro to the world of 19 O Clock Girls Pro Wrestling.

Nanae Takahashi vs Sayaka Obihiro, Ice Ribbon 12/10/2010

Yeah, another really good 10 minute match. By far the best I’ve seen Obihiro look – not that I’ve seen a ton of Obihiro. From what I know, she’s seemingly a comedy character in recent years, but she was fighting hard here. Starts great with Obihiro stopping Takahashis onslaught by latching onto her leg, leading to some cool stubborn grappling. The match story is simple: Takahashi would blow Obihiro a way, and Obihiro would desperately try to latch onto any kind of advantage. When Obihiro got a basic sleeper she really went for that sleeper like she wanted to choke out Takahashi more than anything else in her life. Takahashi is great here – putting a ton of force into basic moves like a dropkick, shoulder block or back suplex, and punishing Obihiros audacity. Even the blown spots kinda worked for the story of the match, and the Ice Ribbon complicated pin housestyle works pretty well for an underdog story. Yeah, I’m having a lot of fun here.

Chii Tomiya vs Hikari Minami, Ice Ribbon 6/1/2011

This was two talented wrestlers going really really hard and having a match that was just off the wall with unique ideas and some amazing wrestling. I’ve never seen Hikari Minami before, but she looked good – quite athletic in fact. She had no problem doing springboard dives, basing for Tomiya, doing slick counters and engaging in some wild shit outside the ring. I’ve no idea if her falling off the rope to the outside was intentional but they continued so seamlessly in their chaotic rhythm that I want to believe it was. They do some pretty fun stuff outside the ring, going into a full on lucha sequence with leapfrogs and legsweeps on the floor, which is pretty unique and worked really well. Tomiya ends up hitting a tornado DDT into the ring bell and then using the hammer in a unique spot. Tomiya is looking quite great in these old webcam matches, just relentless constantly going for flash pins, cool takedowns and submissions. Minami brings quite a bit to the table too. I love how they put a lot of gruesomeness into things as basic as a crabhold. Finishing run had so many unique and cool counters. Tomiyas Jungle Clutch has to be the greatest flash pin I’ve ever seen and then Minami reverses it and it’s real jaw dropping stuff. So good, I’m so happy this stuff survived the Ustream apocalypse because it’s tremendously fun.

Tsukushi vs Emi Sakura, Ice Ribbon 4/10/2011

Hey – it’s a no ring match! It seems to be held in an elementar school… maybe an amateur wrestling room, but there’s also a blackboard on the wall. Anyways! This match is great shit! It’s another for the category of ‘how hard can you go when you have no ring’. They do it all here. And the match had a good teacher vs student story, too. You may hate Emi Sakura, but when she wants to go she’s pretty undeniable. This had a ton of good wrestling, cool submission work, and it was almost an entirely serious and hard fought match. They put considerable struggle into things like Tsukushis bow and arrow hold, nifty things like Tsukushi using the Pallo Special to get into a Tiger Suplex, and lots of cool counters and moments and both of them waffling each other pretty hard. The atmosphere with all the schoolkids watching is pretty fun and this is really a breathless match. All serious, with the exception of one moment where Tsukushi lead an army of school children to roll over Emi Sakura, and even that was kind of fitting.

Pro Wrestling in 2025 Week 24

 Super Taira & Ali Najima vs Ishikiri & Grand Passion Mask #4, Sportiva 6/18

Fun match with again the only problem being that it was short. I mean this went like 7 minutes or so. It's a cool look at a Velocity style short tag though. Grand Passion Mask from what I've seen mostly does comedy style wrestling but he worked some serious lucha exchanges with Taira here that were fun. Ishikiri is a thickly built dude with some cool moves squishing opponents under his size, and Najima is always reliable with his kicks. I like that little sliding firemans carry thing he added to his arsenal recently. Still, to short for a match with someone as talented as  Super Taira in it.

Robert Martyr vs Shoji Ohno vs Kohei Sato, Marvelous 6/10

Shoji Ohno is a must-watch guy for me, and this Robert Martyr kid seems really talented. Unfortunately this just had to be a 3 way match for some reason, and a 3 way that went only about 6 minutes to boot. I bet literally any of these guys in a singles match against each other would be really good. In this constellation we got some fun Ohno palm rushes and Martyr hitting a nasty powerbomb but not much more. Sato can still hit a hard kick and mean knee lift so maybe even he would've been better in a singles match. Whoever is booking Marvelous, please give us Robert Martyr vs Shoji Ohno at some point.

Nanae Takahashi vs Mayu Iwatani (Marigold 5/4)

Big Matches Nanaes run continued. I'm not familiar with Iwatani. She is certainly skinny, and not really a very impressive wrestler. But the crowd is super into her, so even a basic test of strength had heat. Nanae largely carries this in the first half dominating on the mat and with some hard punting kicks. Mayu struggles to hit even a bodyslam on Nanae which is compelling. Nanae ends up cracking Mayu with a chair which was really unexpected, and even tossing her down a flight of stairs then dragging her to the ring by her hair. It settles a bit into a more generic finishing run with Iwatanis crucifix driver looking blown and her seemingly hitting Nanaes face with a moonsault. Nanaes Tenryuisms were really fun and there was a pretty hard headbutt at some point, so it's a wortwhile match just went a hair too long at 25 minutes length.

Toshiyuki Sakuda vs Keito Murota, DIE 2/23

I decided to check out some DIE, because they are nice enough to upload some stuff on YouTube. And what do ya know, I really really liked this! I've been burnt out because of deathmatch wrestling thanks to BJW. What set this apart from your typical BJW deathmatch is the SELLING. In BJW, for years I've seen guys deliberately running into the lighttubes, cutting themselves, jumping into broken glass and not selling it, just completely burying the danger and pain of the lighttubes. Here, these guys were making it excrutiatingly clear they were rolling around in broken glass and how much of a fucking nightmare that is. This match had maybe 20 lighttubes compared to the 100-200 of other deathmatches but felt way grittier. Sakuda actually works a two on one on Murota, trying to force the hand into the broken glass, with Murota selling that he really doesn't even want his hand in the glass, and then Sakuda goes for a far side cradle that just looks torturous. Moreover, when Murota grabs something sharp, Sakuda grabs a chair to defend himself. Murota also goes to grab a chair, but Sakuda rushes over to clock him with his chair before he can actually use it, instead of waiting for the stereotypical chain duel spot. Smart! Murotas selling is great as he is wheezing and whimpering like he wants to die just from getting slammed into a chair. When he starts to hit Russian Leg Sweeps, it really looks like he is crazy enough to destroy himself just to beat his opponent. He also hits some really sick headbutts. There is the mouth skewering again, which still freaks me out, and taking a stiff headbutt with a skewer stuck in your face is pretty insane. The pulling the skewer out of the mouth is also one hell of a strap drop. Also the sound mixing for this is really great, we get a ringside camera and really get to enjoy all the nightmarish crushing of the glass and clonking of chairs. Little bit long and slightly slow, but the grittiness of it all kept me enthralled and they end it with a suitably insane big spot. Deathmatch wrestling still has something in it in 2025.

 

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Pro Wrestling in 2025 Week 23

 Ranna Yagami vs Sareee (STARDOM 6/8)

This was good shit. Basically Sareee faces a spunky underdog who kicks really hard and they throw the kitchen sink. Sareee has great offense and because she was beating on someone who felt like an outmatched underdog that offense meant a lot more. Yagami looked good. She kicked hard, and had a few cool bits of offense. Seemed like one of the better talents on the current scene. The pop-up no selling annoyed me slightly, but its forgivable in this kind of high intensity affair. Most importantly this felt like a fight. Good contender for the best 10 minute match of the year.

Nanae Takahashi vs Miku Aono, Marigold 5/24

Nanae is the next in the 2025 competition of who can have the best retirement match. And this is a pretty respectable entry! It's perfectly fun pro wrestling for the opening minutes. Miku Aono is another name in the joshi scene who I know absolutely nothing about. Based on what I see here, she's solid. Has good solid offense, lots of kicks, doesn't kick as hard as Ranna Yagami, a little clumsy here and there, but a perfectly capable pro wrestler overall. She is smart enough to change the submission hold she's applying when Nanae starts making the ropes and that kind of thing goes a long way for me. Then Nanae gets some chairs in the ring and they do the Necro chair spot where they sit opposite each other and smack each other?! Is that a common spot in Japan now or did Nanae Takahashi watch some Necro Butcher tapes and decide 'Yeah, this is what I need to be doing'? Regardless, this turns really good in the ending portion with lots of nasty hard hitting, clobbering lariats, some sick headbutts, Aonos kicks getting more violent and Takahashi punching her in the face. Aonos big kick that swatted Nanae down was probably the highlight of the match. Struggle over the Styles Clash also felt pretty epic. Kinda awesome to see Nanae put it all together to go out in style like this, actually made me want to go back and watch more Nanae matches because this was really boss and stands up to Meikos retirement match.

Yuta Oya & Konaka vs Ali Najima & Yu Shimizu, Sportiva 6/11

Usual good weekly action from Sportiva. Solid stuff in the first half, and lots of really nifty stuff in the 2nd. Konaka is always interesting to watch no matter what he does, even when its a basic arm drag exchange or a hot tag. There were some really good mat exchanges between him and Najima that made me long for a singles match between them. Yuta Oya is continueing his transformation into the best wrestler in all of Japan, it's really cool to watch him climb the ranks. So far Najima has been the overdog to his underdog so the almost All Japan style finish between them was a great piece of story. Really exciting stuff and another piece in Sportivas really good little 2025 run.

Masanori Kanu Watanabe vs Kazuhiro Tamura, Sportiva 6/11

More sportsbar shootstyle baby. I love that we have this now. Apparently Watanabe is actually an MMA guy so that explains why he hangs really well with Tamura on the mat. This starts with 5 minutes of slick U-Style grappling with both guys trying to lock in submissions but not quite succeeding, and its really cool to see that kind of thing in 2025. The non-matwork portion was really good too. I'm excited about Watanabe because it seems he really gets it, he sold a random leglock from Tamura like it nearly twisted out his knee and it made the second half of the match pretty intense. Tamura is odd, he's rarely great in his own promotion but for some reason often puts in really good little performance in this damn sportsbar. Exciting stuff, a genuinely really good 10 minute match.

 

2025  Wrestling Roundup

Pro Wrestling in 2025 Week 22

 Nanae Takahashi vs NORI, LLPW 4/14

When I saw this happened, I was intrigued. Not just because it's Nanae, but because it's an LLPW match! I had no idea LLPW was still around let alone that you could watch it. And yeah apparently they have put up a handful of recent matches on YouTube. I saw that apparently NORI has a decent MMA background, so she definitely fits Shinobu Kandoris mold. Don't get your hopes too high, because she largely wrestles a generic style. That said, this is quite the good little match and definitely worth watching. NORI is fairly generic, aside from a few kicks and some cool armlocks, but she makes up for it with intensity and passion. And Nanae is quite grounding these matches. It's smarter work than I recall her doing when she was in her prime, but better late than never I guess. Just Nanae grabbing a basic front headlock and snapping her opponent down was a really simple spot that immediately got me into the match. The same goes for her basic dragon screw later in the match. No rocket science here, just well executed basic pro wrestling with a good deal of struggle and urgency, and NORI occasionally connecting with some hard kicks or locking in a cool armlock to try and force a tap, with the veteran vs young upstart story being felt strongly. Absolutely give it a shot if you can get into modern joshi at all.

Seri Yamaoka vs Komomo Minami, Marigold 4/27

This caught my attention because it had some low ratings on Cagematch. A joshi match really has to be special when it gets low ratings on cagematch. The match I thought was a pretty cool showcase for all the cool shit Yamaoka can do, twisting her opponent around in Honda-ish ways. Minami didn't look bad either, she showed up in wrestling shoes and grappled a little, her offense wasn't entirely great, lots of slightly flimsy DDTs, but overall I thought there wasn't anything terribly wrong here, worth checking out to see Yamaoka against someone she can twirl around and put down for the 3 with a cool pin.

Seri Yamaoka vs Takumi Iroha, Marigold 5/24

Really good stuff I thought, that delivers pretty much what you hope with both of them doing what makes them cool, while also having a really sensible match layout. Obviously there is a world difference between them in ranking so Yamaoka is a huge underdog against Iroha. I thought they did a great job telling the story that Iroha is a nigh untouchable badass but Yamaoka could get her if she could just get ahold of her and start doing her wrestling thing. Iroha was very good here, she is one of the few modern wrestlers who when hitting stomps and kicks actually looks like she is stomping and kicking the shit out of someone, I also thought she did a great job giving Yamaoka just the right amount of offense and selling how Yamaoka was trying to sprain her ankle. Yamaoka still needs a dose of confidence but her potential is clearly enormous and she was sticking her neck out here taking an asskicking from Iroha and hitting cool suplexes and trying like hell to pin Irohas damn shoulders to the mat. I love that intense pinfall attempts are a big thing in 2025 now. I can definitely see Yamaoka tearing people apart in a years time if this continues and I look forward to it.

Ali Najima & Ryutaro Ohno vs Kanu Watanabe & Yu Shimizu, Sportiva 6/4

More good rookie action from Sportiva. It's basic, but these matches are proof that basic doesn't have to be boring. In this case we get some cool aggression between Najima and Watanabe, with all their forearms really hitting with a thud. Najima is now in the position where he has to defend his ranking against the younger upstarts and it makes things interesting. Shimizu is really reliable in his role as a old guy who hits like a truck and really cracks people with elbows. Ohno and Watanabe continue their journey into my heart, Ohno with his clunky lovable charisma and Watanabe by hitting some really hurty looking kicks to Shimizus shoulder and trying to submit him.

Yuta Oya & TORU vs Shinya Ishida & Enshu Hajime, Sportiva 6/4

Somehow Sportiva produces lots of good wrestlers on their own, but often bring in wrestlers who kind of suck into their shows. TORU isn't terrible, but he is kind of zany. Enshu Hajime is tall-ish and really skinny and kind of awkward, though he does come into his own a little when it's time to throw kicks. Oya is the glue in this match, since TORU isn't exactly treating this match too serious. It's all about Oya taking a nasty beatdown from Ishida with some hard stomps and a cool build to Oyas comeback. Then we get Hajime laying into Oya with more kicks and knees. Oya is a great gutsy wrestler, the struggle he put into his steamroller move was awesome, it was so simple but it made that whole basic ending run a whole lot better. Really nice finish with Oya absolutely spiking Hajimes skeleton-ish body with the Harai Goshi to pick up a really nice W.

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

Pro Wrestling 2025 Week 21

 
Nanae Takahashi vs Seri Yamaoka, Marigold 5/17

Nanae Takahashi is the next joshi veteran on her way out. At least just like with Meiko, this little retirement tour is giving her some interesting opponents and motivation to show she still has something in the tank. I thought Yamaoka would be a bit of a super rookie, but this is mostly Takahashi giving her a hiding. Yamaokas grappling-tinged approach rules and if she continues she is poised to become something of a female Tamon Honda, which would probably make her my default #1 wrestler in the world. She is already halfway there, just needs to work on her stuff a little, but the ingredients are present, and she's really cool to watch when she gets going and starts busting out the amateur moves. Takahashi is still effective beating her down and the grappling stuff made the match cool. Yamaoka looked a bit like a scared puppy when she was taking a beating, her killer instinct needs to come out a little more. Still a pretty cool match and really fun to watch.

Ali Najima vs Ryutaro Ono, Sportiva 5/21

Najimas debut wasn't long ago, but now he's in the position to put a beatdown on a longer ranked rookie. This was quite the fight. Very much the standard rookie match but their intensity and passion was great. Onos kicks are slightly clunky but that's part of the charm. Najima keeps it basic but he really puts energy even into standard stuff, he really beat the heck out of Onos shoulder here. Onos weird axe kick to the back of Najimas head was really cool. Like I said, not much in terms of moves but head and shoulders above a lot of other wrestling these days when it comes to intensity, which is how it should be.

Sho Mizuno vs Yu Shimizu, Kobe Meriken 4/18

Do NOT sleep on this match. Mizuno is a Seichi Ikemoto trainee, so he's another indy shooter, and he makes the early goings of this match wonderfully uncooperative, and it devolves into a really good, scrappy, hate filled little match. Shimizu is the Scum Bastard and while he's not much of a shoot grappler he proves his worth here by trying to scramble Mizunos brains with his trademark elbows. Mizuno is game to throw down and both guys beat the shit out of each other. Really dug the moments where one guy would have a submission on and would just aggressively hack away at the opponents head with scrappy elbows. The hard hitting here felt genuinely violent - a rare thing in modern wrestling where it often feels like its turning into a lovetap exhibition. They also made me give a shit about the sleeper hold. The one downgrade is that they briefly ventured outside and the stationary camera didn't catch anything. After this Mizuno will definitely be on my watchlist.

Sui Cup Kenchiro vs Great Mara, CWP 6/1

Come On Wrestling Party, baby. An 'ama-pro' wrestling match has no business being better than the matches from Japans major leagues, but here we are. Really raw pro wrestling that felt real as fuck. I've enjoyed the bits of Kenchiro I've seen, and he is clearly a king in this little scene. Mara I haven't seen before, he looks dorky even by the standards of semi professional wrestling and this match definitely had the vibe of him being way outmatched and trying to gut it out. Kenchiro puts a major ass kicking on Mara, kicks to the face, hard chops, king-sized backdrop suplexes, Sui Cap Kenchiro has really internalized the philosophy of doing just a handful of things really well. Mara is mostly getting his ass kicked but occasionally he is able to reach deep and crack Kenchiro with some gnarly shots of his own. There were some crazy headbutts, knee drops and face punches. Him desperately avoiding Kenchiros suplexes was also quite entertaining. Also gotta hand it to Kenchiro as he knew exactly how to bump for Mara and his last backdrop was criminal and awesome. How the fuck is this stuff closer to Hashimoto/Tenryu than whatever the major leagues are putting out I have no idea, but I really enjoyed watching.

2025 Pro Wrestling Roundup 

2025 Wrestling Week 14

 Atsushi Onita, Raijin Yaguchi & The Shooter 2025 vs. Hayato Mashita, Hideki Sekine & Kazunari Murakami, SSPW 2025/3/13

Normally, I probably wouldn't watch a 2025 Onita match. But the thumbnail showed me that Murakami is also in this match, so I was intrigued. And well, this was a fun ghoulish spectacle. 2025 Onita looks and walks like he is held together by duct tape, but to hell with it, he is pro wrestling incarnate, and he still spits green mist, hits people with chairs, and bites, so he delivers. Getting bitten by 2025 Onita has to turn you into some kind of cryptid. Murakami is in his weird glittery suit and he still mugs and hits people recklessly like he's in his prime. I wish the camera had been on Murakami a little more, because he still showed plenty of energy when he was throwing chairs on someone. Hideki "Shrek" Sekine looks so grotesque like he's a One Piece character. And Mashita tried to get some fire out of his miserable existance. This is pretty fun, and it does have a moment where Onita and Murakami get in the ring at the same time and start circling each other giving menacing glares, so it delivers that money moment that you want too. A barbedwire board comes into play, and you won't believe who gets slammed into it. Also an abundance of green mist. You may want to watch this.

Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha vs Seri Yamaoka & Nanae Takahashi, Marigold 3/30

Really cool match that showcases some of the top prospects in the world of womens wrestling now. Senka Akatsuki rules, literally all she has is a body slam and a shoot pin that she can beat even established wrestlers with, and it totally works, whenever she starts pinning people Korakuen Hall goes crazy because the match might now turn into a shoot. Seri Yamaoka is also well on her way to become the joshi version of Tamon Honda, with the cool unique mat transitions and amateur wrestling moves, so of course I'm really excited about her. Really liked the aggressive opening grappling, with Yamaoka trying to put the pin expert Akatsuki on her shoulders only for Akatsuki to force her to the ropes with a really tight armbar. Iroha is a bit of an odd case, by all means she has the potential to be the most badass woman on earth, and there are shades of that here, but she also likes lazy thigh slaps a lot. That said there were some awesome aggressive moments here where they stomped and slapped the shit out of each other and it was pretty great. You'd think 25 minutes would be a little long for a match with 2 rookies that have less than a year of experience combined, but I thought they did just fine thanks to the constant aggression and scrappiness throughout. You had the contrast of Iroha and Takahashi doing some more advanced stuff and then Akatsuki and Yamaoka coming in to get huge reactions with pin and suplex attempts. Really fun last couple minutes with a really good build to Yamaokas suplex and Akatsuki putting her in trouble with half nelsons. Takahashi seems over the hill but she still has her moments. Overall a really fun ride that makes me excited for the further deveopments of Seri Yamaoka and Senka Akatsuki.

Shinya Aoki vs Keigo Nakamura, DDT 2/14

Way too fun. Basically Nakamura can't do anything to Aoki, and Aoki just toys with him for a couple minutes showcasing how tight you can facelock and stretch someone without snapping them. Aoki has a bunch of cool ways to twist someone up on the mat, and watching him basically forcing a bunch of classic pro wrestling style pins in a shootstyle manner was really cool. The highlight was easily Aoki stepping on Nakamuras face. Nakamuras one hope spot is when he desperately latches onto Aokis leg but Aoki quickly thwarts that like its nothing. Pretty unique and fun to watch.

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