2026 Matchguide #3

 

Ryohei Oiwa vs. Yuya Uemura, NJPW 8/16 

This is the first New Japan main event I've checked out in a long time. My first impression is that they both look like Tanahashi clones. Okay, that's the most cynicism you'll get from me. The first 20 minutes of this are worked like a classic 70s or 80s match and it's fantastic stuff. They absolutely knew what they were doing. Getting into headlocks, trying to escape from headlocks, preventing escapes from headlocks, avoiding getting-counter headlocked and so on. Textbook stuff and they absolutely knew what they were doing. They mixed in a few more modern movements like a cartwheel or banderas, but for what it's worth, it was genuine classic pro wrestling in the vein of Flair/Steamboat, Dory Jr/Briscoe or Animal Hamaguchi/Mighty Inoue. So they basically did the thing that nerds like me were wishing for, and it rocked. It was genuinely some of the most compelling opening work to an NJPW big match I've seen in god knows how long. It felt like it mattered, because they were really hanging on to those headlocks and armlocks. Both guys acknowledged the squeeze too. I particularily enjoyed Oiwa selling his aching jaw after being tortured in the headlock for 5 minutes or so. The armdrag work and switches were spectacular. Just when I thought this was on it's way to becoming the greatest singles match NJPW has had since the Hashimoto era, the middle portion happened. There was a flimsy looking DDT, and both guys started no-selling. They continued to work tightly with a few neat spots and moments of genuine struggle, but it threw me off a little. You just worked hard to make people believe in a side headlock in 2026, and now you're getting up right away after a german suplex? That stuff doesn't compute with me. That said, they got back on track and settled for a finishing run in which they basically tried to tap each other out with the most basic holds and it was really compelling. I liked how they hit the shoot headbutts like battering rams, Fujiwara style. The overhead armdrag was also an amazing spot. All is well that ends well so I thought it was a lovely match and a great piece of work from both guys. They solved the modern big match problem where nothing really matters until one guy hits his finisher, and that's a big achievement. I'd thought this kind of wrestling would remain in the underground in promotions like Mutoha with matches like GENTARO/Arai or even Koichi Wakikaido doing experimental headlock-only matches in his dojo. Seeing it on a big stage like this and totally having the crowd by the balls the whole way was amazing in itself. Alas, even my complaints about the middle section are just a minor nitpick. The match had the excellent build and struggle of a classic match and the balls to try something completely different. The praise is deserved and New Japan might actually be on a good track now with these two at the front.

 

Ai Houzan vs Mio Momono, Marvelous 2/5

More of a psychological test than a wrestling match. Houzan has been kind o a perennial loser, so in this one Momono dares her to fight and they just stand in front of each other and hit each other as hard as humanly possible for a few minutes. Would've been pretty awesome stuff if they had integrated it into a bit more of a match but it was still pretty harrowing pro wrestling.
 

Hiroto Okubo & Tetsuya Goto vs Ayato Horiuchi & Hiroaki Taniguchi, Shi-En 3/21

Neat indy match where they went out of their way to make every section interesting. Horiuchi is a promising looking thickly built rookie who sticks to the basics and has some cool judo-style moves. Goto and Okubo sure to make him eat some hard dropkicks and stomps to the neck. Taniguchi is a fun powerhouse cleaning house and press slamming a guy to the floor, and I was surprised that when Horiuchi tagged back in he actually kept selling that neck. It made the finishing stretch a lot more dramatic as they put some good struggle even into basic stuff like a German suplex. 

 

Masanori Kanu Watanabe vs. Super Taira, Sportiva 5/6

I always thoroughly enjoy Super Taira whenever he shows up, and this was no exception in his streak of interesting little matches. There was some quite good shootstyle matwork to begin here. Watanabe dominated the action, locking in a beautiful Mariko Yoshida-esque armbar, until Super Taira was able to catch him in an awesome llave in a Volk Han-like moment. During standing Watanabe tried to cave Taira chest in with some insanely hard kicks. Dig Tairas focus on trying to catch Watanabe with a flash pin, and he does throw the greatest european uppercut in the world. I guess the last couple minutes could've been a bit more interesting as basically Taira survived a bunch of offense before catching Watanabe slipping on a banana peel. 

 

Rio vs. Sakura Mizushima, AWG 6/13

Nice little match, the kind that made AWG so fun last year. Mizushima avoiding Rios shoulderblock early on and cutting her down with some stomps to the shoulder before stretching her was some basic but very fun pro wrestling. Subsequent action was also quite good due to the building up of basic things like a body slam as important and showing some struggle. I like Rio, despite being bigger and packing more of a punch still came across as the underdog against the more experienced Mizushima who had a few believable ways to stay in control. The build to Rios Fireman Carry Slam was also excellent. Also really liked Mizushima coming back by catching Rio with a drop toe hold and then just stomping away at her. I always like a good stomping.

 

Karl Malenko vs. Tim Bosby, PRODUCE 8/3/2026

Probably my favourite Karl match since his return. Bosby reminded me a bit of an Alexander Otsuka type here, a burly amateur wrestler in a singlet who will suplex and banana split the fuck out of you. He actually looked like a worthy opponent for Karl, putting some pressure on him. Karl again showed little sign of his age and came up with some great counters and transitions. I loved how Bosby initially seemed to dominate on the ground with his powerful takedown only for Karl to tie him up in seconds. Bosby hurling the older guy around without holding back was great. Deadlift backbreaker was an awesome spot. I kind of expected something bigger after the Bosby strap drop ( he needs to learn to time those a bit better) but they wrapped it up with a nice finish. 

 

2026 Matchguide 

Pro Wrestling in 2025 Week 17

 Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs Mayumi Ozaki & Chikayo Nagashima, Oz Academy 4/13

A tag on the coattails of Satomuras retirement run, but Kato vs Nagashima was probably the standout match up here. Don't get me wrong, Satomura is solid as always, but seeing these two revive their old rivalry and kicking ass was quite refreshing. I also enjoyed Ozaki here, she's 56 now and I imagine she can't do much. Some of her brawling with the chain felt a bit like a nostalgia act than actually viciously going after an opponent, but she looked still quite effective when she was beating on Katos hand with metal objects and backfisting Satomura in the face. Kato still has a badass vibe and Nagashima moves amazingly well still. Nice to see a match like this that's just fun all around without much nonsense, this resurrgence of old joshi stars is providing quite a bit of entertainment.

Bomber Okuno & Yosuke Takii vs Hiroaki Taniguchi & Tetsuya Goto, Pro Wrestling Shi-En 4/20


Really fun, effective indy tag. Takii is an old favourite of mine and he still looks really sharp here, his little matwork section with Tetsuya Goto is pretty slick. Tetsuya Goto is another guy whose name I keep seeing but I think I never really watched, checking him out here he's actually pretty good, and not afraid to rock bold colour combinations. Okuno and Taniguchi are two powerhouse guys which means lots of shoulder blocks and the usual, they aren't terribly interesting early on but Taniguchi at least puts really impressive oomph into all his stuff, even a basic body slam or shoulder block so he's fun to watch. The ending run for this turns into smashmouth wrestling though with Goto busting out some impressive babyface spots and everyone else turning it up a notch and doing the most awesome stuff they could think of. At first I thought Okuno sucked since he's a pathetic unimpressive looking chubby loser, but he's actually kinda gold in the last couple minutes feeding into Gotos stuff and setting his own power moves up in fun ways, he also does the coconut crush that is endearing. I would've liked to see Takii also getting to do a bit more but sometimes short and sweet is better. Most importantly, there was no thigh slapping or other stupid shit. This kind of indy formula tag is really easy but nowadays almost nobody seems to do it well anymore, so it's really nice to see one that hits, a solid basic build topped off with lots of sweet stuff towards the end. I should probably check out more of Shi-En.

Yuta Oya vs Yasuhiro Higuchi, Sportiva 4/9

It's been too long since we got to see my man Yuta Oya in a singles match. This Yasuhiro Higuchi guy looks insanely old,  like old enough to be my grandpa. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but he's kinda not very good. but he does try, and Oya is really fun here working over his back and judo tossing him which looks painful because Higuchi is such a brittle old man. Pretty fun to watch considering Higuchi looked like he's in wrestling for a participation trophy, Oya is really impressive with what he can do, even against a limited opponent.

 2025 Pro Wrestling Roundup

A brief Yosuke Takii career overview

 

Yosuke Takii vs. Yusaku Obata, ?? 9/26/2010

As far as indy matches between two chiselled boy band looking pretty boys go, this was about as good as you can ask for. Non-stop action, with both guys trying to take chunks out of each other with some really stiff hits and hitting bonkers dives. Obata is pretty underrated and it‘s a bit sad his career just fizzled away, the guy could really bring the heat. He looked great tearing up Takiis leg, and really clocking him in the face with his jumping kicks. Takii was basically a more jacked version of Ibushi, he had no problem hitting some crazy highspots and trying to kick Obatas skull in. They don‘t overdo the highspots, they keep laying into each other hard and it‘s just a really good match.

Yosuke Takii vs. El Samurai, ?? 5/5/2010

Really cool late career Samurai performance. Word on Samurai is that he barely had good matches in the 2000s, but this was a nice journeyman brawling performance. He beat the heck out of Takii with some great looking punches, dumping chairs on him and just generally kicking his ass. He knew to keep things moving too and Takii kept coming back, so it wasn‘t a dry one sided beat down, either. Takii was kicking him really hard, too and even stole Samurais Fire Powerbomb as a neat fuck you. Some bigger bombs and a way bigger finish than you expect from a rookie/veteran match. Dig it!

Yosuke Takii vs. Hiroaki Taniguchi, Pro Wrestling Shi-En 8/22/2021

 This is 2021, so there‘s no crowd heat, and the match is a bit slower paced. That said this was really solid and Taniguchi was pretty good here too. Takii still has a bowlcut and mullet which is I guess the pro wrestling equivalent to a boyband haircut. Takii may be even more jacked than in 2010, I‘m surprised no bigger indy promotion has picked him up, but Japanese wrestling is weird like that. Takii still lays really hard kicks into Taniguchi and tore up his shoulder briefly before we got Taniguchi destroying him. Taniguchi is a really solid power guy and I liked how he seemingly didn‘t care to work a body part, initially he attacked Takiis legs to get the upper hand but then he just kept dropping and crushing him. Takii has some neat offense and can take a big beating. The big powerslam actually ending the match was a nice surprise. Cool stuff that would rock a Velocity episode.