Mad Dog Connelly vs Adam Priest, ACTION DEAN 5/24
An old school brawl in 2025! It works pretty well. I liked how both guys covered up for the ref messing up with the dog collar at the beginning. The brawling here was good, and... well... it was a good match. I feel like a hypocrite for saying it but it didn't feel like much more aside from the novelty of seeing two guys just having a no nonsense brawl and beating on each other in the modern day. Connellys comeback with the back headbutts and tumbling through the ropes was great, so was his dropkick. Thought he should've pounded on Priest a bit more. But, sometimes matches end just like that, and that's fine. It's a bloody old school brawl so it's better than 99% of wrestling nowadays easily. I enjoyed this.
Hechicero & Dr. Cerebro & Xelhua vs Blue Panther & El Pantera & Virus, ACTION Dean 9/11
6 awesome wrestlers pretty much doing what they are paid to do. That said, I thought some of the early exchanges were a bit loose, though I love Blue Panther still putting in the effort to make things look competitive, not allowing people to grab limbs easily etc. They kind of get moving in the second fall which is still nice and competitive. Lots of enjoyable sequences where they manage to not get lost. Even with the cool matwork, I thought the old man highspots (Panthers ranas, El Panteras corner headstand) were the highlights. Also really enjoyed Panther simply armdragging an intefering Hechicero away, that should happen more often. I actually thought the first Dean trios was a bit better but ymmv. It's really enjoyable stuff anyways though you will know exactly what you are getting.
Josh Barnett vs Tom Pestock, GCW 1/19
Slow paced heavyweight shootstyle?! In the middle of a 6 hour GCW PPV? Despite the surroundings I thought this was pretty good! Pestock is better on the mat than you'd expect from looking at him, and Barnett made the challenge of facing a much bigger guy feel pretty intense. Really enjoyed Pestocks giftwrap set up for the armbar, as well as his ground and pound. Vertical suplex looked great and believable. The match may have fizzled out a bit towards the end - maybe Barnetts kicks needed a bit more zest, but Pestocks clobbering was cool - but I really enjoyed Barnettts last ditch leg submission.
Final Thoughts
Well, I've certainly watched a lot of wrestling from 2025! So, there were a lot of good matches. Not a lot that really punctured into mind-blowing greatness to me, but definitely some fantastic discoveries and a lot of great matches. I went through my Matchguide and there were easily 50 matches that definitely stick in my mind as not just being good or fun but actually GREAT. It is quite burning to watch current wrestling because let's be real - so much is insanely loose, overly long, choreographed, self-indulgent and/or just plain bad with no substance. I tried to watch some US Indy wrestling, and boy oh boy that scene is looking not good. Everytime I look at modern WWE for 5 seconds it's just totally ass. Even straight up good workers often indulge in bad tendencies, but that has always been the case in a way. And I can accept that. It's just not for me anymore, I am not even close to the realm of the fanbase that stuff is appealing to. I've been watching wrestling for well over 20 years now and there are dedicated AEW and WWE fans who got into wrestling like last year, for crying out loud. The stuff that I find repelling is what they are actually into, I think. I'm like 4 generations removed from the intended target audience. But I definitely can't say that there's not a lot of good wrestling around nowadays. The things that kept me compelled the most were watching the rise of talented new grapplers like Senka Akatsuki and the Sportiva boys, delving into the completely unknown territory of AWG like a true uncle, keeping an eye on cult heroes and obscure scenes like the Mutoha crew, Takahiro Tababa, XGF, JWA Tokai, the last few niches and one shots that appeal to my weird sensibilities. Discovering unfamiliar wrestling is always fun and for me it's probably the funnest part of being a wrestling fan. Unfortunately I have been mostly ignorant to lucha libre throughout the year while CMLL was having a record breaking run but there's only so much wrestling an employed man can watch. Maybe that's something I'll go and rediscover in 2045 if the world hasn't blown up by that time.
The Top Promotions (That I can name)
ActWres GirlZ (AWG)
Discovering AWG completely blindsided me in 2025. A wrestling promotion that doesn't even call itself wrestling but rather 'a theatrical performance based on wrestling' somehow has a really respectable backlog of good-great wrestling matches, using mostly workers that even the person training them to wrestle doesn't call wrestlers. It feels like something that's takes a bit of a different approach from regular wrestling so it's refreshing. Even more interesting is that the promotion apparently went through a nearly life-threatening roster split the before, so workers were pushed into a position to try and make something of what was left. I'm not saying it's some miracle genius promotion because often there's bad stuff and some wrestlers definitely look like they don't belong in a ring, but I was impressed by others and their effort to put on earnest matches with minimal bullshit despite all of them being 'just' actresses. Most importantly they run 3 shows a months with usually 2-3 good and sometimes better matches coming out of each show, and that's better output that I can say for any other promotion that I've observed in 2025.
Sportiva
Well, Sportiva is kind of a no brainer. It's the one wrestling product that I've followed weekly with considerable excitement in 2025. They've got a crop of exciting young wrestlers, some interesting veterans, and they brought as things such as curry sportsbar shootstyle and Kings Road. The end result was maybe the biggest and most consistent output of good/great matches in 2025, although mostly involving the same handful of workers. I'm not too fond of their comedy matches and some acts on their cards but that's something that can be said about pretty much any other promotion too. Sportiva is the hottest wrestling hub on earth and they were cooking in 2025.
Marvelous
While carrying the spirit of Chigusa, Marvelous ended up being perhaps the most exciting womens promotion in 2025 even while running on a paper thin roster. Much credit goes to Senka Akatsuki whose initial SHOOT PIN victory over veteran Ai Houzan in January 2025 wound up making her one of the most interesting rookies on earth pretty much immediately, and following the story throughout the year was a cool ride with lots of good matches coming out. You also had the feud with Marigold that was pretty cool. Speaking of Marigold, that promotion also put on some good matches although watching an entire show would probably put me in a coma. Some credit also goes to the other womens promotions that still try to put on somewhat serious womens pro wrestling - PURE-J and Sendai Girls, though they haven't been quite as exciting as Marvelous in 2025.
Kakuto Tanteidan/Mutoha/JWA Tokai/XGF/SAREEEism/your flavour of the month niche one-shot...
I love variety in my pro wrestling. Unfortunately, a lot of pro wrestling in 2025 felt the fucking same. It's really hard to stay engaged when everywhere it's the same by the numbers slop that you get. A big reason why AWG probably ended up being my favourite promotion to watch in 2025 - simply because they weren't afraid to break established formulas and stray away from cookie cutter sequences. The variety that the 90s had - with shootstyle, lucharesu, the grandiose Kings Road and the more simplistic New Japan strongstyle being in full bloom - is sorely missing. Oddly enough the one thing that seems to hang on is deathmatch wrestling. As such, if a full time promotion started up that ran monthly shows in shoot-style like Kakuto Tanteidan or weird chess-match grappling like Mutoha or greco roman rules matches like JWA Tokai, then that promotion would probably surely be my promotion of the year. As such since these niche productions only run a handful of times a year it's hard to call them promotion of the year even though I always end up enjoying the likes of Mutoha or Kakuto Tanteidan more than anything else. Shows like that, while having almost no wider appeal are a much needed shot in the arm when it comes to enjoying wrestling. Who knows - if all wrestling suddenly was shootstyle or weirdo grapplefuck or creepy backyard brawling, then maybe I would suddenly start craving more thigh slapping superkicks and backcrackers and canadian destroyers in my wrestling. But until then - just inject all that weird stuff in my veins.
The Top Workers
Meiko Satomura
Naming Meiko Satomura feels like a trivial answer. Obviously she's the best. Default top female wrestler in the world for like forever... well when she's not stuck in the WWE black hole anyways. She also got a run of big matches leading up to her retirement that were all memorable and better than pretty much anything else going. Her one flaw is that she's the same as always, though that seems like a non-critique considering she's always been great. Still as stiff, precise and exciting as ever in 2025 even to her last match. What, you're complaining that this GREAT wrestler delivers GREAT wrestling just exactly as you expected? I would've liked to see her maybe show a new wrinkle in the final days of her career but whatever. She's great and that's been a constant pretty much since I started watching Japanese wrestling.
Mari
Of all the new exciting wrestlers I've discovered in 2025, Mari is probably the most complete - and also the one where I could honestly say she might give Meiko a run for her money when it comes to the top spot among wrestlers. Well, Mari is also a veteran, though only for around 10 years. Like Meiko, she is stiff, exciting, inventive, has the vibe of a badass - unlike Meiko, she also shows some variety. She's done some great work in tags, working as a stiff overdog heel leading a Heisei-Ishingun like heel group in which she's in the Kengo Kimura role of hitting cool leg lariats to Act Yasukawas Tatsutoshi Goto hitting cool lariats. She's also a pretty fun stooge working light hearted matches that still contain some wrestling. She's had the great singles matches, the great tag work, the great undercard performances that I would want from a #1 level wrestler. She's also in a unique position that apparently she's the one coaching all the 'actresses' that step on the mat in AWG, so it could be argued that she's also the one responsible for that promotion being good at all. Eitherways, she's become someone who I always want to check out, and as the top worker in her promotion with a few of the best matches of the year being under her belt I can see her being a valid #1 pick for workers.
Ali Najima
Well, Najima is a no-brainer pick here. Pretty much had good-great matches weekly in Sportiva while being a rookie with just about a year of experience, and he definitely wasn't carried in those matches. Also brought us the joy of bar floor shootstyle brawling. Also looked great when he stepped into Kakuto Tanteidan and I definitely want to see more of that. Checking out his weekly progression in 2025 has been one of the most exciting things in 2025.
Yasushi Sato
From what I know, Yasushi Sato has had a total of 6 matches in 2026. I was able to see 3 of them, all great, including a mind bogglingly interesting greco roman rules match. He'd probably be a strong number 1 contender if he'd just show up on tape like 3 more times, but that has been the case for many other great wrestlers throughout history. Musing about lack of footage aside, while Yasushi Satos body has declined a little - the man is 60 years old, jesus christ! - his wrestling mind is still one of the sharpest and most interesting around. Great grappler, really intelligent wrestler, everytime he gets to do his thing it's a joy to watch.
Blue Panther
I haven't been able to check out lucha libre much. But, as rule, old men are usually the best at lucha libre, so Blue Panther is my go to guy. At the age of 65, can it be said that he's declining a little? Or is 65 just prime age for luchadores? At any rate, few wrestlers ever have such a charisma as Blue Panther does when he hits a top rope rana in a sold out Arena Mexico, and he also has the technical skill and nuance to back it up.
Yu Shimizu/Yuta Oya/Rico Fukunaga/Avisman/Super Taira/Keita Yano/MARU/Mad Dog Connelly/Dekai Ichimotsu/Marino Saihara/Minoru Kido/CHANGO/Paul Ishida/Chon Shiryu/Hideaki Sumi/Akiyama Who Just Wants To Do It...
You can fill the rest of the ranks with pretty much any variety of guys and girls that I've been watching in 2025. At some point it becomes hard to rank them - like how do you decide who is better: a guy who's had 3 good-great matches in a sportsbar and a great shootstyle grappling match on a JWA Tokai show, or a guy who's had 3 good-great bloody brawls in XGF and a great old school grappling match on a Health Pro show? At some point you just have to be glad that we have all of them. We tend to focus on the workers who have the greatest, the most grandiose, the longest matches - although it's usually just the wrestlers who are put in position to have them. I know for sure - without guys like Yu Shimizu or women like Marino Saihara caring enough about wrestling to put on great little performances even in a tiny sportsbar or at a half empty Shin Kiba 1st ring, wrestling would be a lot less fun for me. As such - acknowledge them and give them their flowers. So, let's say it out loud - Yu Shimizu fucking rules - Super Taira fucking rules - Rico Fukunaga fucking rules - and so on.
The Top 100 Matches (in no particular order. Just watch them all if you haven't already. A lot of the enjoyment here comes from watching this in context so if you're a freak from the future reading this wondering how the career of IWGP Champion Yuta Oya began, just go and watch all the Sportiva episodes in chronological order.)
Cosmo Soldier vs Michio Kageyama, Sportiva 1/1
Ai Hozan vs Senka Akatsuki, Marvelous 1/4
Blue Panther vs Hechicero, CMLL 1/10
Senka Akatsuki vs Ai Houzan, Marvelous 1/12
Yusaku Ito vs Yu Shimizu, Sportiva 1/22
Meiko Satomura vs Sareee, Sareee-ISM 1/23/2025
Act & Mari vs Haruka Ishikawa & Kyoka Iwai, AWG 1/24
Mari vs Haruka Ishikawa, AWG 2/5
Kenichiro Arai & CHANGO & PSYCHO vs. GENTARO & Akira Jo & Taro Yamada, Mutoha 2/16
Yasushi Sato vs Shoji Ohno, Mutoha 2/16
Takahiro Tababa vs GAJO, Big Bear Produce 2/22
Yuta Oya & Ali Najima vs Konaka & Shinya Ishida, Sportiva 2/26
Mariah May vs Toni Storm, AEW 3/9
Haruka Ishikawa & Ayano Irie vs Erisa Nagai & Rico Fukunaga, AWG 3/9
Sakura Mizushima vs Mari, AWG 3/16
Meiko Satomura vs Chihiro Hashimoto, Sendai Girls 3/21
Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha vs Nanae Takahashi & Seri Yamaoka, Marigold 3/30
Satsuki Nagao vs Shuji Ishikawa, KT 4/8
Kosuke Sato vs Masashi Takeda, KT 4/8
Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura vs Hikaru Sato & Manabu Hara, KT 4/8
Meiko Satomura vs Takumi Iroha, Marvelous 4/10
ZEAL & Koji Sudo vs Sanada Ten Braves & Hiroshi Ando, Kishu Bundara 4/13
Meiko Satomura & Sareee vs Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu, Fortune Dream 4/16
Sho Mizuno vs Yu Shimizu, Kobe Meriken 4/18
Yasushi Sato vs Super Taira, JWA Tokai 4/20/2025
Elimination Gauntlet: Ai Houzan, Maria, Riko Kawahata, Sora Ayame & Takumi Iroha vs. Chika Goto, Kizuna Tanaka, Miku Aono, Natsumi Showzuki & Rea Seto, Marigold 4/25
Shiori Asahi & Makoto Oishi vs CHANGO & Ayumi Honda, 2AW 4/27
Tonikaku Yaritai Akiyama & Nakata Bide vs Masanobu Koppu No Fuchi & SUMA, AZW 4/?
Munetatsu Nakamura vs Hagane Shinnou, Choco Pro 5/5
Shinya Aoki vs Kazusada Higuchi, 5/6
Ali Najima vs Kanu(?) Watanabe, Sportiva 5/7
Paul Ishida vs taku, XGF 5/10
Mentai Kid vs GENKAI, Kyushu Pro 5/11
Senka Akatsuki vs DASH Chisako, Tenryu Project 5/21
Seri Yamaoka vs Takumi Iroha Marigold 5/24
Cibernetico, ACTION 5/24
Chihiro Hashimoto & Mika Iwata vs Saori Anou & Natsupoi, Stardom 5/31
Sui Cup Kenchiro vs Great Mara, CWP 6/1
White Moriyama vs Ari Najima, HEAT-UP 6/1
Sareee vs Ranna Yagami, Stardom 6/8
Masanori Watanabe vs Kazuhiro Tamura, Sportiva 6/11
Sareee vs Syuri, STARDOM 6/21
Yasushi Sato & Taro Yamada vs Akira Jo & Hideya Iso, Yoshino Aid 6/22
Shinya Ishida & Yu Shimizu vs Ari Najima & Masanori Watanabe, Sportiva 7/2
Ari Najima vs Masanori Watanabe, Sportiva 7/9
Marino Saihara & Sakura Mizushima vs Anri & Yukina Uehara, AWG 7/11
Act & Maru vs Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki, AWG 7/11
Leon & AKARI vs Moeka Haruhi & Rydeen Hagane, Pure-J 7/13
Saya Kamitani & Natsuki Tora vs Sareee & Takumi Iroha, Sareeeism 7/14
Mari & Act vs Anri & Erisa Nagai (AWG 7/18)
Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase, Sendai Girls 7/19
Zandokan Jr. vs Judas El Traidor, Lucha Memes 7/19
Keita Yano vs brother YASSHI, Tenryu Project 7/20
Virus vs Xelhua, RoH 7/26
ACT vs MARU, AWG 7/26
Sareee vs Konami, STARDOM 7/27
Ultimate Spider Jr. vs Yasutaka Ooosera, Osaka Pro 7/27
Ali Najima vs Yuta Oya, Sportiva 7/30
Mari & Ayano Irie vs Anri & Erisa Nagai, AWG 8/2
Masato Tanaka vs Hayabusa, Zero1 8/3
Ali Najima vs Masanori Kanu Watanabe, Sportiva 8/6
Konaka vs Chon Shiryu, Sportiva 8/13
Act & Mari vs Marino Saihara & Rico Fukunaga, AWG 8/13
Ali Najima & Yuta Oya vs Michio Kageyama & Shinya Ishida, Sportiva 8/13
Makoto vs Hiroyo Matsumoto, Seadlinnng 8/22
Chon Shiryu & Shin Suzuki vs Makoto & Sayaka, Choco Pro 8/27
Hideaki Sumi vs Tatsunori Oya, Kobe Meriken 8/29
Yuta Oya vs Super Taira, Sportiva 9/3
Mari & ACT & MARU vs Marino Saihara & Sakura Mizushima & Naru, AWG 9/7
Ali Najima & Super Taira vs Yuta Oya & Ryutaro Ohno, Sportiva 9/17/2025
Chihiro Hashimoto vs Mika Iwata, Sendai 9/23
Kenichiro Arai vs Ayumu Honda, Tenryu Project 9/23
Ali Najima vs Konaka, Sportiva 9/24
Virus & Xelhua vs Charles Lucero & Erick Ortiz, Sugehit Produce 9/27
Avisman vs Eragon, Vikmask 10/4
Merman Masakazu vs Aesop, Health Pro 10/5
Dekai Ichimotsu vs Vasaru Ikeuchi, Health Pro 10/5
Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha & Mio Momono vs Seri Yamaoka & Mayu Iwatani & Utami Hayashishita, NOAH 10/6
Drew Gulak vs Timothy Thatcher, Beyond 10/12
GENTARO vs Shuichiro Katsumura, Ganbare Pro/FREEDOMS 10/16
Keita Yano vs Hikaru Sato, Tenryu Project 10/17
Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara vs Rico Fukunaga & Sakura Mizushima, AWG 10/19
Takumi Iroha vs Senka Akatsuki, Marvelous 10/19
Ali Najima vs Kosuke Sato, KT 10/23
Tanomusaku Toba & Kengo Mashimo vs Yuko Miyamoto & brother YASSHI, KT 10/23
Keita Yano vs Manabu Hara, KT 10/23
Keita Yano vs Koji Iwamoto, Tenryu Project 10/25
El Hijo del Santo & Santo Jr. & Ciclon Ramirez Jr vs. El Hijo de Fishman & El Hijo de LA Park & Texano Jr., TxT/Lucha Libre World Berlin 11/2
Sareee vs Chihiro Hashimoto, Sendai Girls 11/16
Yasu Urano vs Akito, 11/16
Minoru Kido vs taku, XGF 11/23
MARU & Ayano Irie vs Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara, AWG 11/24
Ryo Kawamura vs Hikaru Sato, Hard Hit 11/29
Yu Shimizu & Yuta Oya vs Ali Najima & Hajime Enshu, Sportiva 11/19
Kotaro Nasu & FUMA vs Kotaro Suzuki & Tetsuya Izuchi, GLEAT 12/6
MARU vs Chii Aoba, AWG 12/15
Marino Saihara vs Rico Fukunaga, AWG 12/20
BADMAX Fujinaga vs Great Kuririn, Kobe MERIKEN 12/25
Senka Akatsuki vs Seri Yamaoka, Marvelous 12/28
MARU vs Rico Fukunaga, AWG 12/29
The full guide:
