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 

XGF Backyard Brawl 7 5/10/2025

 Dekai Ichimotsu vs The Insect #2

I've noticed that my reviews have been getting a bit awfully normal lately, so let's change that with some XGF. This takes place in an amazingly creepy looking industrial hall with all kinds of trash laying around in the outskirts of god knows where, Japan. Insect #2 is a masked creep doing constant weird breathing noises and scuttling about. Naturally, Dekai chucks him to the mat and works some nelson hold variations to prove his wrestling superiority over the bug. Some surprisingly reckless strikes are thrown and Insect briefly gets the advantage when he suddenly connects with a foreign object, but doesn't seem to know what to do as he is a brainless bug after all. He does find his luck eventually biting Ichimotsus neck which is disgusting enough. We then get some attempted strangulation and Insect #2 going for the dreaded CROTCH BITE~! I wish Dean were alive to see this. The attempted hanging was gritty as fuck and Ichimotsu seemed to start bleeding from his mouth. When Ichimotsu falls to the floor, he comes up all dirty and dusty, adding to the grittiness. The Insect does fine mostly for someone who is probably not a good wrestler at all, as evidenced by his lousy punches whereas everything Dekai does looks great. Dekai does punch the insect in the face, hit a sick headbutt and then a piledriver on a pickup truck which is a finish to match. Very gritty and surreal, felt like a deranged version of a Survival Tobita fight, a great little match to set the tone for this Backyard Brawl.

Great Zako vs MAD APE

MAD APE!! Perhaps a relative of Virgon? His low grunt is convincing, but otherwise he feels very much just like a dude in a mask, making this feel a bit less like a surreal monsterfight than the previous match. Other than that there is some good gritty brawling going on with both guys trashing things on each others heads. When they venture outside, there is this really nice shot following them before the lush green bushes and trees. Zako ends up going face first into a pile of rubble and ends up lying bleeding on the ground which makes this feel like a snuff film. Both of them go for rusty, dirty pieces of metal that are lying around, poking them in each others face, its concentrated tetanus horror when Zako starts bleeding. At some point they venture downstairs, continueing to beat on each other while the camera unsuccesfully tries to get a look. Eventually Ape is able to hit a chokeslam into a pile of sand or cement and bury Zako with a shovel for the win. It's Backyard Brawl, what do you expect?

Paul Ishida vs taku

Now we are talking. Paul Ishida has a creepy ponytail, lots of jewelry, tabi poots, is built like a troll. He seems like he crawled out of the deepest darkest hole. taku, who belongs to the mysterious group called Ignite, wears regular pants and a wifebeater, but also has MMA gloves and likes to punch and kick. He is a bit hesitant at first, and Paul Ishida punishes that hesitancy quickly with some hard punches and bulldogging taku into a car tire because that's how thigs go in this XGF. taku does wake up when Ishida starts stapling stuff to his arm, and it's on. There are reckless punches and kicks, some great fistfighting, gritty submission fighting on the dirty floor next to oil puddles, guys get thrown into a car and half decayed debries etc. Ishida summons some Mr. Pogo weapons and both guys bleed big. At one point Ishida kicks out of a move on the floor and a pile of dirty weed gets stuck to his hair as he gets up. Really awesome gritty mix of face punches, blood, ghoulish vibe and some big bumps.

Minoru Kido vs Ryunosuke Takeda

This was pretty gory too. I gather Minoru Kido is some kind of cult hero among people, and this is my first time seeing him. Based on his demeanor and freakish look I can see the appeal. This was a bit milque toast deathmatch stuff, which is a bit weird for an XGF match. It had the standard opening chain wrestling, chair duel, and then guys taking turns doing repulsive things to each other. There was a bit of a malaise here, an absence of the passion, recklessness and absurdity that the previous matches had. That can be pretty sick too, and all those deathmatch spots feel a lot sicker when they are happening on a grimy sheet laid over a mat in the middle of some warehouse. Still there is plenty of violence and gore to be enjoyed here, and the folks in attendance for this event noticably moved back a bit to be safe from what these two lunatics were doing.

 

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