Pro Wrestling in 2025 Week 25

 Wolf Ozawa & Aesop vs Super Shimizu & Merman Masakazu, 666 6/6

Old ama-pro guys getting together in Korakuen Hall and worshipping Showa era wrestling. Pretty fun stuff. Super Shimizu is pretty rough, very much a skinny old man trying to move and struggling, but it's kinda fun. Aesop and Masakazu both look good, they actually get nice height on their jumping kicks and execute the technical stuff well, Masakazu even hit an enzuigiri into the steel pole. Wolf Ozawa doesn't do much in this match and its probably for the better.

Kenichiro Arai vs Nobutaka Moribe, Yoshino Aid 6/22

Haven't seen much of Moribe, let alone recent Moribe, but he looked pretty good here. As far as I know he's a Dick Togo guy who used to worship Eddie Guerrero. He looked pretty comfortable grappling with Arai here, never lost, adding a few neat touches. The grappling portion felt very lucharesu-tinged with small details like Moribes reversal of the reverse hammerlock or Arai using a leg grapevine to set up a headlock being the highlights. After that they morph into an old studio scientific match, like Pat OConnor vs Mike Graham. They did headlocks into hip tosses, flying headscissors, everything. If you like Kenichiro Arais work you will like this. I wouldn't mind seeing Moribe grappling with the other Mutoha guys after this because he lookde capable. Pretty short match though but sometimes short and sweet is cool, not every Arai match needs to be 60 minutes.

Yasushi Sato & Taro Yamada vs Akira Jo & Hideya Iso, Yoshino Aid 6/22

This was the raw Mutoha style action that your brain craves. 4 great grapplers squaring off and just having a bunch of great mat exchanges, and then a bunch of ridiculously awesome stuff in the 2nd half. Yamada vs Iso is known quality and they seemed pretty spry here, with Iso really not letting up for such an old seemingly outmatched guy, I really like his use of the Fujiwara Armbar and there were a few nifty moments that Iso has a knack for such as his reversal of a dragon sleeper. At this point I've seen a bunch of great Iso matches so I know the guy is really capable yet he keeps surprising me. I don't think we've seen Yasushi Sato and Akira Jo really match up, but my god they are a good match up for each other. We've seen Jo tap people out with a side headlock so when he cinches in just a basic cravate or wristlock its pretty intense. Sato trying to catch the more physically forceful Jo was really cool to watch and Jo had this grin on him all the time, you could tell he loved grappling with an old master. As always with Sato we get a bunch of nifty stuff centered around Russian Legsweeps and him tying someones legs up in a cool way. First half was pretty mat based but they really drop bombs in the second half with some sick headbutts, nifty team work and unexpected high spots. Sato busting out a perfect springboard dive looks pretty epic at his age, I also loved how they couldn't tag out, Isos out of nowhere enzuigiri and they made me flip out for the sleeper hold. Really really good stuff, once again affirming the greatness of the Mutoha guys there are few wrestlers in the world who can even hold a candle to this crew.

Chihiro Hashimoto & Mika Iwata vs Saouri Anou & Natsupoi, Stardom 5/31

Really entertaining, borderline excellent tag that felt big time. Basically like a warped version of Rockers vs Twin Towers. Anou and Natsupoi are two girly, dainty, skinny models, it's crazy how over the top they look even compared to the Takako Inoues of the past, and Hashimoto and Iwata look starkly like real fighters in comparison to them. The match is basically Iwata and Hashimoto kicking their asses and looking pretty impressive in doing so, Iwata has lots of spectacular kicks and Hashimotos juggernaut-like power is in full bloom. Loved all the moments where Hashimoto came in to clear house and blow people away with her charges. Loved when Hashimoto said 'fuck your flippy bullshit' and did a cartwheel. Anou and Poi have minimal offense in this, a surprising choice considering this is their produce show, but they work pretty well as overmatched faces. When they get on offense it's well done, and they do display good skills, Anou at one point hit a really stiff forearm smash, and Natsupois cartwheels are fun. Thought this was shaping up to be one of the best matches of the year, until they kinda overreached with the kick sequence between Poi and Iwata. 

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

Mutoha Premium 2/16/2025

As always, buy it from the source on X or  the base!

 

Hideya Iso vs Crusher Takahashi

A cool opening match between two fighters who look older than dirt that still have more fire in them than you expect. As is the style of Mutoha they spend a lot of time grappling on the ground, but they do a cool job keeping it unpredictable and going at a fairly quick pace. A lot of this felt like an old Mid South TV match from the early 80s or 70s. Crusher still throws some of the greatest punches you will see in pro wrestling. I also loved when he did the Mutoh leg snap thing because he's so massive. You don't expect it given his size and age and when he does it it looks like he really snapped Isos leg and that's what makes it awesome. Iso was also pretty fired up - he would hit these really cool jumping enzuigiris. I don't recall many instances in the past where I saw Hideya Iso, who is as stoic and grappling-oriented as they come leaving his feet, but his enzugiris looked great. I also went crazy when he tried to hit the German suplex on Crusher. And the finish was really cool too. A nice way to open this card.

Unicorn Rules:
Kenichiro Arai & CHANGO & PSYCHO vs. GENTARO & Akira Jo & Taro Yamada

As any die hard Mutoha fan knows, a Unicorn rules match is a 2/3 falls where the first fall is a 1 vs 1 match, the 2nd a 2 vs 2 match with the remaining participiants and the 3rd a 6 man tag with everyone involved. This always creates an interesting dynamic. The story of this match were CHANGO and PSYCHO, who I believe appeared in MUTOHA for the first time. They are technically skilled, but they are also scumbags and not afraid to steal a win using foul tactics. That was heavily felt when they put the Mutoha regulars under pressure with their underhand moves. Really this was some highly intelligent pro wrestling where you could never be sure what would happen next, and everyones tactics were really cool, with PSYCHO and CHANGO also providing plenty of slick technical moves. It was awesome to watch Yamada and Jo turn the tables on them. Obviously, the best part of this was the 3rd fall, however. They all just get down and wrestle and it reminded me of the best of the CMLL Ciberneticos. Everyone on the Mutoha team is among the best grapplers in the world and CHANGO and PSYCHO showed that they can handle themselves with them, I especially enjoyed PSYCHOs twistiness and penchant for odd angle moves, he is really interesting to watch. Man alive GENTARO is just an absolute grappling master at this point in time. He and Arai probably stood out in the biggest way, GENTARO for his classiness, and Arai for his talent at turning the most miniscule actions into something memorable. Arai really wrestles to prove a point, what he does is just a giant flex of his intelligence and skill. There was this takedown he did where he stepped on Akira Jos foot and painfully drove his knee into Akiras leg that was amazing and I will probably remember that move more than anything else this year. There was also this great segment he worked against Yamada built around snapping Yamada down in really forceful ways. At the end we get another grandstand exchange between Arai and GENTARO so yes this is really worthwhile. Yamada and Akira Jo are kind of supporting players but everyone who is familiar with them knows how good they are and they showed their classy skill level in contrast to the scumminess of CHANGO and PSYCHO, Jo with his great suplexes and submission skill and Yamada with his penchant for quirky technical wrestling. In the end this ended up being extremely enjoyable, highly skillful wrestling with a multilayered story and everyone looking great. I cannot say enough to praise the craftsmanship of all these guys. I came out of this wanting to see singles match between everyone involved, and that's why I hope Mutoha will continue, or that at least another promotion will see the potential in these matchups here. A great match that stands out in a big way in the 2025 wrestling landscape.

Yasushi Sato vs Shoji Ohno

The last gong of Mutoha for now, and this is a memorable match. This was really freaking amazing as well. You had the usual enjoyable technical pro wrestling that is the signature of Mutoha, but this also told a great story. Yasushi Sato is the defiant champion, unwilling to be humbled by the young spry 40 year old challenger Shoji Ohno. We know Sato is a master wrestler, who is always tireless and rarely humbled, so seeing Ono getting in his head and forcing him to show a meaner streak was something else. Ohno is so cool in Mutoha and this match is a fantastic conclusion to his Mutoha trilogy with his 2 amazing singles matches last year. He has technical skill, but he is also really straight forward and goes for the kill when he can, and his palm strike rush is the coolest thing in wrestling. The second half here was really great with Ono being relentless, going after Satos neck with sick looking stretches and a desperate Sato trying to comeback and increasing the violence with headbutts and Ono just drilling him. Outstanding big match, what a way to end Mutoha for now. Hopefully to come back some time, but in the meantime we should cherish the amazing wrestling they gave us, a totally unique and charming style of wrestling in the modern era!

 The Library

Mutoha 12/1/2024

Get it from @itako18jp on X!

 

 Mighty Yuki & Hoshitango & Shigeo Kato vs Super Crafter U & Nobu Kaseda & Crusher Takahashi

A fast paced 6 man tags with a lot of old guys and two fiery but unique youngsters in Nobu Kaseda and Mighty Yuki. It reminded me of those old guy tags from AJPW or NOAH, although this was a bit more serious maybe. Everybody did the stuff that makes them unique - so you had Shigeo Kato doing his signature sneaky ratboy technical heel tactics, and Crusher Takahashi hitting beautiful punches and Hoshitango being a cranky old sumo. Mighty Yuki is actually the son of Masahiko Takasugi, and he was paying tribute to the recently deceased Mighty Inoue, which feels strangely fitting. I would've liked to see Super Crafter U get to do a little more because he is an awesome beast. A fun match, while it wasn't overly technical it suits the vibe of MUTOHA.

 

Leo Cristiani vs Deimos Hatebreed vs El Hijo de Alebrije

Well, this match doesn't suit the vibe of Mutoha. All these guys were also on the Secret Base show the same day. Cristiani and Hatebreed are two wrestlers from Europe. I think it would be cool to see European technical style on a Mutoha show, but these two are just two random high flyers who wrestle in the same way as everybody now, and there was nothing here that stood out to me. They hit some big flying moves, one after another, some looking sloppy and some impressive, and in the end I remembered nothing about this match. Now, will an Italian or Portuguese promotion book GENTARO vs Kenichiro Arai?

Shoji Ohno vs Dekai Ichimotsu

With this match the show really begins. This was really unique, and amazing. They are both so cool. Even the basic early wrestling in this was great as both guys were trying to snap limbs and joints in unusual ways. Then Ichimotsu began cluster bombing Ohnos legs. I gotta give it to Dekai Ichimotsu, he is the king when it comes to painfully dropkicking a guy in the knee joint from odd angles. By the end Ohno was like a soldier who has lost his legs to a landmine but somehow kept fighting. It was a truely gritty and dirty fight, while retaining the technical edge that is the signature of Mutoha. Both guys hit skull cracking headbutts and Ichimotsu pulled off cool reversals and more leg attacks. Once again Ohno rushed his opponent with an amazing flurry of palm strikes. Ohno looks really tough fighting through the leg damage and trying to pull off a win. I like that Ohno seems like a tough brawler guy, but occasionall he can pull of something surprisingly technical. A great match, no doubt about it.

 

Hiroshi Yamamoto vs Taro Yamada

A very promising match up. Hiroshi Yamamoto is the man who can do it all on the Japanese indy scene, he wrestles everywhere and he can pull off seemingly every style of match. Looking up info about him, it seems that he was trained by Virus, so he should be a good opponent for Yamada. And Taro Yamadas is one of the best kept secrets in Japanese indy wrestling. But Yamamoto has stood tall in big leagues like All Japan, so in away Yamada is punching way upwards here. And this match felt a bit like an All Japan match, too. It wasn't as technical as the more intense  Mutoha matches, but there was a lots of hold for hold stuff that felt very battle-for-control in the style of old Jumbo Tsuruta matches, and they both mixed in some explosive surprise moves that were bigger than you'd expect. In the end it was a very worthy match, although I don't like everything that Yamamoto does, such as his goofy X-chop attack. I will give it to him that he is a very graceful wrestler, though. And Yamada proved that he can step on the mat with the best in his country and go along every step of the way.

Akira Jo vs Hideya Iso

One of Akira Jos best performances I've seen so far, because he was clinical taking Iso apart with nasty headlocks and neck cranks, while Iso did an awesome job gutting it out and trying to pull of the biggest upset of his life. Iso for a guy who looks pretty ancient and crusty pulls of some great surprises here. Jo trying to crank Isos neck with basic headlocks actually made for a compelling story, there's something distinctly awesome about him going 'fuck you, I'm gonna beat you with a side headlock'. There was one absolutely awesome moment that involved Iso escaping a sleeper attempt that was honestly probably the best thing I've seen in a match all year. Iso looks outmatched but he just kept fighting like a god damn hero and I was thoroughly impressed. I really like this kind of single minded approach to a match, really making you appreciate the most basic elements of pro wrestling in a new light. It's the kind of match that you will only ever see in Mutoha these days and that is why I appreciate this company so much.

Yasushi Sato vs Kenichiro Arai

 
Another chess match that had touches of the unique grappling that both guys do so well, as well as a hearty dose of Memphis. Everything mattered, even something as simple as shaking your opponents hand, or getting in the ring, and there was tons of great struggle. Right at the first hold exchange, Sato went for the Russian Leg Sweep looking to grapevine his opponent, with Arai desperately scrambling out. The rest of the match was largely about Arai trying to weaken Sato while Sato would go for throws and flash pins that Arai would desperately avoid. Both guys acted wary of the danger of any pinfall. I am endlessly fascinated by Yasushi Sato. As far as I know, his wrestling career begin 16 years ago and now he is 58 years old, which is crazy. He is starting to show his age physically but his wrestling mind is still one of the greatest I've ever seen. He was going at it with Arai like no tomorrow, trying to shock the champion with surprise moves, even using underhand tactics of his own, and always trying to put Arai on his shoulders for the 3. It was the kind of stuff that would make the likes of Dick Murdoch proud. The one weak point of the match was the slap exchange but that was a minor criticism. The ending was baffling and thrilling but it made sense, sometimes it can really be all over like that and you have to love it if you appreciate pro wrestling as a crafty sport. As it stands this had a lot of really good grappling and technical work, both guys looked like sly foxes, and everything they did felt spontaneous and fresh. There aren't many wrestlers who can wrestle like this left in the world, and for that I appreciate these two!

2024 MOTY List

The Library

Mutoha 7/7/2024

 Dekai Ichimotsu vs Super Crafter U

Great beginning as Super Crafter U immediately starting throwing really violent kicks at Ichimotsu. Ichimotsu is smaller and clearly does not have the same firepower as his shooter opponent, so he works the match in a strategic manner focussing all his effort on Crafters arm. Ichimotsus arm attack is really great, he may be at his very best now, as he knows how to twist an arm in so many ways, and the painfully bending the arm to force Crafters shoulders to the mat was fascinating to watch. I should say I love Ichimotsus enzuigiri to the elbow joint, and his elbow drop to the arm/shoulder always looks devastating. Crafter was always dangerous, though as he knows some spectacular submissions and counters, so even when Ichimotsu was controlling he was in danger. As such the match felt like a great battle of skill and a test of Ichimotsus persistance and Crafters pain tolerance. By the end Crafter was quite damaged and desperately tried to knock Ichimotsu out with a head kick. Very nice chess match with both guys displaying great skill. The only thing holding it back was the 10 minute time limit since this was the opening match of the show. Both guys looked great and I could see another match between them easily developing into a classic over 10 minute in length. A great little bout to open the show, however.

Masamune vs Takahiro Katori

This was a match I didn't quite know what to expect from since I wasn't sure how good Katori is on the ground. This ended up being very good though and very much a Katori-proving-himself story. Right away Masamune (who has a strong background in olympic wrestling) was taking down Katori, twirling him around and putting nasty stretches on the younger man. It's a good thing Katori is young and flexible or Masamune would have broken him, there was one hold where Masamune touched Katoris foot to his head. Katori handled himself pretty well, he was clearly trying to prove he belonged in Mutoha and while he has a bit to learn still he is on the right path. As the match was Rounds style it had a very clear structure, first round had very good ground work with some impressive holds and counters, and establishes the story of the match. The second round introduces more spark as Katoris leg seemed to be hurt and Masamune started bullying him, before the final round where both guys go for the kill and the tempers start to flare. As soon as Katori started limping Masamune was hellbent on ankle picking him and trying to break his leg. Katoris grounded Octopus Hold is very cool and Masamune countering his way out of it was great. I also liked Katori being prepared for Masamunes 619. This could have been a main event on another show, excellent stuff. Great Masamune performance who looked like a wrestlers wrestler and Katori looked like he belonged.

Taro Yamada vs Shoji Ono

I wasn't very familiar with Shoji Ono before watching this. But damn this may have made a Shoji Ono fan out of me. He had the vibe of classic tough scum brawler, like Hiro Saito maybe, which is really cool to see in 2024. Keep in mind, Yamada is a really great wrestler. The early goings are, of course, technical with Yamada tying Ono into crazy holds. Yamada really does things that nobody else does. He also did the classic Masanobu Fuchi leg stretch at one point which looked really painful. Ono was willing to wrestle, but he soon found himself outclassed and having to resort to sneaking in cheapshots against Yamada. It's a classic story. I really liked that Ono would do the headlock punches to Yamada and make sure to torn his back to the referee. Later, Ono would switch to open handed strikes. His big palm strike combo was one of the greatest I've ever seen in any wrestling match. It was outstanding. Like a classic scum brawler, Ono takes the match to the floor and kicks Yamadas ass, with Yamada taking a big bump on the stage. Back in the ring Yamada clocks Ono with this really great desperation headbutt. Great surprise finish, too. Really nice match that had a classic story and both guys showcased themselves at their best.

Yasushi Sato vs Takafumi Ito

Maybe the match from this card that I was looking forward to the most, and it was really good as I expected. Ito was really dominant here, reversing almost everything Sato tried into a shoot submission, really great Fujiwara-ish performance from him. He was not treating the old man gingerly at all. Sato trying to seize  every single opening and trying to pull off a flash pin the whole time was really great. Also, Sato was deathly afraid of Itos high kick, so that was a factor too. It's pretty amazing Sato is 58 years old and can still go like this for 20 minutes. He looked  little less tireless than usual, but he was facing a dangerous Pancrase fighter after all. My one complaint about the match is that it needed more Russian Leg Sweeps and Itos weird superkick didn't look good.

GENTARO vs Akira Jo

Another old school epic, every match on this card is delivering hard. They started with about 15 minutes of  unconventional, ultra-high resistance matwork similiar to GENTARO/Arai. It wasn't quite as amazing but still pretty great. Jo is a very competent grappler and GENTARO as always looks great pulling off crafty reversals and generally selling everything like the most important thing in his life. Then Jo hits his Arn Anderson spinebuster which GENTARO sells like absolute death and they move into a really good ending run with both guys slapping the taste out of each others mouth, some big suplexes, a hard move on the floor and the hardest fought most grueling backslide I've ever seen. The finish was so cool too. Awesome stuff, great groundwork and the last third was as hard fought and epic as any 70s big match.

Crusher Takahashi vs Kenichiro Arai

This card had it all. You had the shootstyle, the Inoki worship, the esoteric, and now there is a NWA style main event. What they did was not as elaborate as stuff we saw in previous matches, but they treated every hold, every reversal with the utmost importance. As such the bout had the feel of a chess match that slowly escalated into a battle of underhand moves. Arai of course is so crafty at pulling off dirty moves against an opponent. He must've raked Crushers eyes a dozen different ways in this match. Crusher was initially frustrated by Arais sneaky tactics and eventually starts roughing him up too. I loved all the painful wristbending Arai did, and his super swift drop toe hold was spectacular for such a basic move. Crusher is quite old now and he is not as fast and smooth as he used to be, but he still throws some of the greatest punches in wrestling. I loved the Spinning Toe Hold being treated like death and the chess match feel everytime someone slapped on a hold. A match where every move counted and both guys were just in the moment. I think there was only one bump in this +20 minute bout. What a way to end this great card, this honestly may have been one of the best Japanese wrestling shows I've ever seen, every match brought something unique and was great in its own way.

 

The Library

2024 MOTY List

Mutoha worth seeing

 Yasushi Sato vs Taro Yamada, Mutoha 4/21/2018

It’s another amazing match between two of the best Japanese workers of the 21^st century. I say that without hesitation at this point, both these guys just keep proving themselves. This had the rule that there would be no rope breaks which is an interesting touch, especially since they were wrestling in a tiny ring in some little cafe. They ended up not using the rule as much as I expected but there were some interesting moments throughout where they used the ropes to entangle each other, and one particularily gnarly moment where Yamada tried to stretch Yatos ankle in the corner only for some gritty leg stomping to ensue. If you are familiar with these two you will not be shocked to hear that them match had a ton of really good matwork. In this match Yamada was a force, tying up Sato with his crazy llaves. Notice that there was pretty much no capture and release stuff from Yamada. He really is one of the best guys doing this style, ever. In the end Sato resorted to try and catch Yamada with his leg grapevine moves. He really is Honda-ish the way he does that stuff, attaching himself to his opponent and angling his leg to either drive him into the mat really hard or hit a swift take down and turn it into a crazy submission. Even if Yamada would block the Russian Legsweep, Sato might shift the momentum and roll him into a different move. It’s such an interesting game Yasushi Sato plays. However the breaking point in the match was when Yamada decided to clock Sato with a gritty headbutt. That turned the match from an intense chess match into an intense bar fight as Sato decided to bitchslap Yamada and they traded sickening headbutts like a FUTEN match. I loved the increased sense of violence as Sato would lock in a leg grapevine and then start elbowing Yamadas kidneys to set up another leg grapevine move, and another Russian Legsweep attempt that lead to more sick headbutts. He also had some great suplexes, there is no way a 52 year old man should be able to have this much energy but here we are. Yamada also had this amazing leg submission to counter Satos continued legsweep attack and I loved his continued attempts to snap Satos leg in unconventional ways. This was really really nice wrestling for the first 15 minutes or so – these guys are a trip to watch when they just grapple and hit the mat then in the last 3^rd or so they really kicked it up a notch. Sick violence, some brilliant submissions and counters and nifty strategic aspects at work it’s just a great match. Mutoha keeps delivering the gems.

Yasushi Sato vs Hiroshi Watanabe, Mutoha 9/22/2015

Terrific maestros match. Mutoha at it’s best. Both these two are amazing grapplers, but they also did an incredible job working with the Rounds stipulation. Tons of great matwork, with both guys really cinching their holds in such a way that you expect an arm or leg to snap if the guy in the hold made the wrong movement. There was this one bit where they did a shootstyle leglock exchange that slowly turned into a Figure 4 that was absolutely masterful. As always I really enjoyed Satos unique style of tying his opponent up in unique ways and hitting cool Russian Leg Sweeps and suplexes out of nowhere. Watanabes flexibility and old school moves were great as usual. The guy may be the best on earth at doing that kind of throwback style in a post-Osamu Nishimura world. I thought Watanabe might be outclassed by Satos more impactful style at first, but he made a good comeback by grabbing Sato and shooting  him up hard for an awesome out of nowhere backbreaker. Each round was great and the finale with Watanabe desperately trying to resist another deadly Russian Legsweep was pro wrestling at it’s finest. Really great match, probably the best of the year to be honest, both guys showed tremendous skill and crafted a really compelling, unique match.

Hiroshi Watanabe vs Hideo Toda, Mutoha/Mumeijuku 7/12/2009

Very interesting style clash. Hideo Toda is a CAPTURE-trained shooter and he doesn't try to wrestle Watanabes style at all, he will go for the kill with brutal kicks and suplexes. Just getting to see a fighter as obscure as Hideo Toda in itself is amazing. Toda also has quite the size advantage. Watanabe combating him is really interesting to watch and Watanabe does a stellar job trying to solve the problem before Toda turns his lights out. It remdinded me of similiar Osamu Nishimura vs shooter matches. Toda was vicious and most importantly he did not hold back at all, Watanabe had some brilliant counters, totally staying true to his 70s technician act. Really good bout that was a bit different from the usual more technical Mutoha stuff.

Continueing to watch Mutoha and being amazed

 

Ho Death Min vs. Diablo, 3^rd Brand 3/11/2023

This is from 3^rd Brand which is like a brawling-focussed Mutoha side brand. Decreasing the stunt show aspect of modern hardcore wrestling and increasing scrappiness is a really good aesthetic and they pulled off what they aimed at beautfully. Right at the go the match feels unhinged as Ho Death Min comes in with a fucking machete. He has to be held back and Diablo jumps him. They make use of a bunch of weapons that are laying around and they do a really good using them in unique hurty ways. Diablo at one point lands several nasty jabbing hits with a kendo stick to Mins leg, he also tries to behead him with a shovel horror movie style at one point. What really makes the match is the tumbling they do between shots. Often in brawls guys hit with a weapon, then lazily walk to the next location for another spot. That wasn’t the case here as both guys were always fighting, rolling on the floor punching each other, trying to sweep a leg or get in a bite when they were down etc. The laptop destruction is fun because that laptop is probably like half of Mutohas budget. for such a long brawl this never dragged and always kept my attention, I was really invested in some of the super simple things they did like the double clothesline exchange on the floor and they keep the crazy moments coming such as Diablo trying to stab Min with a piece of plastic or fucking Leatherface doing a run in with a running chainsaw. The stipulation of the match is that you have to put your opponent in a big bag to win and it kind of really works in its goofiness. After the match we get more sleaze characters brawling including fucking Katsunari Toi coming out to hit people with a kendo stick. Diablo really works in these kind of seedy brawls and almost 60 year old Poison Sawada worked his butt off. Super fun unique match, I love the technical stuff but I also love that they are doing this kind of brawling. People should pay attention to the art of this stuff just like to the art of something like Arai/GENTARO.

Hiroshi Watanabe vs. Kazuhiko Matsuzaki, Mutoha 2/14/2016

Interesting match because Matsuzaki, while being “old school” is not exactly a technician who will do lengthy hold for hold stuff. And thankfully they worked the match just like that, resulting in a really cool contest. Matsuzaki works  this like an 80s or 90s New Japan heavyweight. He doesn’t want to play Watanabes game and instead tries to go the few impact moves that he has, clocking Watanabe with headbutts and kicks to break the holds. At one point he grabbed a tight headlock and then drove Watanabe hard into the mat with a big bulldog, which is something that pretty much nobody does anymore but it totally rules. Later, Matsuzaki would power out of an attempted Cobra Twist, sell how painful that hold was for his abdomen, then try to put the same hold on Watanabe only for sneaky technician to immediately reverse it and torque Matsuzaki some more. Matsuzakis kicks and headbutts don’t hit as hard as they did in 1993 but otherwise the man did very well. And Watanabe is perfect in this kind of match, too. This match didn’t have much mat wizardry, it was more about timing and struggle, and there was a complete lack of contrived sequences. Very nice stuff without trying to force an epic, this kind of wrestling is so good, give me a good story and a sense of struggle with some cool moments and I will be very happy.

 

Taro Yamada vs Konaka, Mutoha 7/5/2015

Terrific match, Mutoha at its very best. It’s a rounds match that begins in a fashion inspired by World of Sport matches, with both guys displaying slick counters and moving in and out of holds very swiftly, but it quickly becomes a tangled nightmare as both guys would tie each other up in increasingly esoteric ways. Yamada was an absolute monster here, he looked like a true master of the llave style, and he just does things that nobody else does. He was tying up Konaka in so many different ways here, but also putting lots of creativity into his set ups and escapes, it was an absolute onslaught. Yamada is very much the driving force for most of the match, just tying Konaka in knots, and it seems Konaka only survives because Konaka is a flexibility demon and he can be put into contortions that not many other wrestlers could stand being put in. Although Konaka has a few moments where he really catches Yamada and it feels like a big victory each time. Not only were the submissions mind blowing, but so were their escapes from them. It was a display of mat wizardry in the truest sense. They do 20 minutes of outstanding grappling before the fifth round of 5, at which point Yamada loses his cool and finally nails Konaka with that curb stomp he likes to use. After that the time was running out and each moment felt frantic. Really edge of your seat stuff with both guys displaying incredible technical proficiency and body control while maintaining a competitive aura. I have been watching technical matches from Europe, Japan, Mexico, America for 15 years now and this was as good as any that I’ve seen.

Mutoha Customer Reviews #2

 Crusher Takahashi vs. Diablo, Mutoha 2018/4/21

Mutoha normally showcases throwback technical matches, this however was a throwback to the brawls of old, with Crusher Takahashi doing a full on Terry Funk impression, punch combo and everything. Diablo is fun as a guy with a basic toolset of hitting good looking throat thrusts and beating on you with a chain, and this was just a fun little brawl between two old guys punching each other and bleeding in a bar. They briefly go outside to fight in the street, with Crusher making sure to leave a bloodstain on a pipe and taking a bump onto the concrete which was pretty sick for such an old guy. Last few minutes were really good with Crusher hitting awesome punches, teasing a Calf Branding etc. and some cool work around Diablos rope strangulation spot which is a different type of nearfall.

Hiroshi Watanabe & Yasushi Sato & Shigeo Kato vs. Masamune & Hideya Iso & Taro Yamada (Unicorn Style 12/24/2018)

This was pretty phenomenal. Unicorn Style means that you get a 1 vs. 1 pairing for the first fall, then a 2 vs. 2, and if it’s 1:1 after that a 3 vs. 3 pairing for the third fall. Apparently the pairings are decided at random right before the match so there’s no rehearsing and every match has to be done on the spot. I have no idea if that’s true, but everything looked like it was improvised right there, old school style. Running a 60 minute match without any rehearsed sequences or planning is pretty damn radical to do, even more so in 2018.

First match is Watanabe vs. Yamada and it’s really great. Yamadas unorthodox attacks ruled and the matwork was some of the best you’ll ever see in a Japanese non-shootstyle match. Just a ridiculously fun mix of Yamadas llave style and Watanabes persistant old school grappling, built around cool indian deathlocks, leg stretches and pin attempts. Yamada found himself outclassed by Watanabes technical skill, so resorted to all kinds of sneaky moves such a as tying Watanabes leg up in the ropes in painful looking fashion. Match keeps building in nice fashion until Yamada started out bigger bomps while keeping it technical, such as a curb stomp and a big leg breaker where he just dropped Watanabe in a nasty way on his knees. There was a great sequence building to a Robinson backbreaker, and the finish was done super well. Extremely impressive stuff.

The subsequent matchups were really good, too. Sato and Kato started using lots of rough tactics while keeping things mat based, so you would see a guy get taken down with an armlock and then get choked with a shin across the throat etc. Katos technical ratboy style is quite fun. Sato vs. Masamune was a pretty great match up, felt like two guys with excellent legit credentials squaring off and proving their pride. Masamune looks always really good when he does technical stuff, it’s kind of a shame he mostly works as a rudo. Sato was probably the best guy in the second half of the match, hitting the mat, working his awesome Russian Leg Sweep and Cobra Clutch spots, later throwing a great punch combo etc. His suplex comeback ruled, too. Iso was really fun here as a guy just torquing people with armbars. The segment where he was shredding Satos shoulder only to get caught in a unique cradle was great. The third fall amped up the pace after the more deliberate technical stuff of the first 2 and everybody got to shine. Super enjoyable and rewatchable match, the first fall was an amazing match in its own right and the rest of the match brought plenty more to the table and set up the ending. Easily 60 minutes of the best wrestling you’ll see in post-FUTEN Japan, strongly recommended if you’re a fan of MUGA, 70s All Japan and quirky indy wrestlers.

Mutoha Customer Reviews

The group known as Mutoha is probably one of the most interesting things going on today. They are staunchly indifferent to the general trajectory of the current wrestling landscape and instead resolve to convince fans of the awesomeness of mat-based matches and weird rulesets. You can now directly buy their stuff for about 2 bucks per video from @itako18jp on Twitter. The process is really simple, ask them to DM and you will receive a message, then give your PayPal email adress and select what you want, then you can download and will receive a bill to your PayPal later. You can find their general selection here and sometimes you will also receive something extra. I will be reviewing matches as I purchase them to give you a general idea of why you want this stuff, and you do want this stuff.

 

Yasushi Sato vs. Konaka, 7/21/2018

Quirky technical match between two of the greatest to ever do quirky technical matches. I think at one point Konaka looked in the greatest submission anyone has ever done on Sato in this. It was pure yoga demon insanity. The rest of the match was really great too. It was a 15 minute Ironman Match with 2 count pinfalls, so… they did a lot of unique stuff. Sato was dominating with his knack for pin combos and out of nowhere Russian Leg Sweeps so Konaka had to come up with something. Great sense of struggle over the pinfalls/submissions and Satos suplexes were really cool as usual, and the psychology was truely excellent. Absolutely tremendous stuff, basically a 5 star match as far as technical matches in Japanese bars go, this kind of whacky creative oddball scientific match was really the best thing going in Japan at the time.

Hiroshi Watanabe vs. Konaka, 4/21/2018

This was “just” a rounds match so it didn’t have the insane creativity of Konaka/Sato but it was still really excellent. Watanabe is super athletic for an old guy just bouncing around effortlessly and hitting cool hip throws that I’ve only seen done by old timey French workers before, so you know he was on to some different level. Konaka is once again really good, always doing something interesting. These guys are no worse than your top flight WoS or lucha matworkers. The hold for hold stuff was really good and I dug the exchange of llaves in the last round. It caps out at 3 rounds so it was more of a taste than a full blown epic, but maybe another match between them is somewhere that really breaks the scale.

Hideya Iso vs. Taro Yamada, 1/13/2020

Another really good match from Mumejuku. Very mat based as you expect. Iso has that Osamu Kido-like vibe, he’s a dumpy technician who doesn’t look like much and doesn’t do fancy moves but he has that easily overlooked kind of charisma and he can pull out some cool crafty stuff. This was Isos best performance that I’ve seen and Yamada looked like one of the best wrestlers in the world. It was pretty much Isos traditional, basic skillset vs. Yamadas llave holds. Several really good mat exchanges here, I especially liked Yamada pulling off a Paradise Hold in plausible fashion. They just went out and wrestled so there wasn’t some kind of exceptional story although I was rooting for Iso to upset his opponent. Sometimes you just want to watch two guys wrestle for 20 minutes and they delivered. Gnarly finish. This stuff is why Mumei was maybe the most important promotion in the world during that time period.

Masamune Produce Murasaki Hige Dokugan 3 6/19/2022

 Kagura vs. CHANGO

Started as a really solid undercard lucharesu match. Apparently Kagura is Taro Yamada, who's really good on the mat and can do athletic stuff, and CHANGO is a trickier worker than you expect from someone who works the lowest tier indy undercards. Really liked how Chango reversed a bodyslam attempt into a cool llave, and his 619 over the rope was another cool spot that a more famous indy wrestler could steal for a potentially viral GIF. However Chango does two comedy spots, one where he entangles Kagura in the ring apron, and one where he undoes ALL the turnbuckle pads and wraps them around his fist. Both took forever and took me out of the match. They also kept doing ref bumps and such bullshit spots which is a bit much for an opener. Aside from that you had a pretty good match here.

Gabai Ji-Chan vs. Pretty Ota

More old man comedy. Lots of walking cane jokes, apparently the cane is cursed or something and whoever holds it has to walk around like an old man. Gabai Ji-Chan ends up breaking the cane in a moment that feels like it should bury the gimmick, but I'm sure he will be back on the next z-tier indy undercard to repeat the same jokes soon enough.

Keita Yano & Takafumi Ito vs. MASAMUNE & Harutoki - FUN

 Nice thrown together match. Apparently Masamune is a Jiraya trainee which explains his adeptness at both llave and shootstyle matwork. He meshes extremely well with Keita and Ito, and the second exchange between Ito and him where they went all out was really good shit. It was all submission work, and then suddenly Ito ate a fucking Regalplex out of nowhere. Harutoki isn't terribly interesting, he needs to learn some llaves, and he doesn't have great execution, so the finish between him and Keita was really solid. Keita looked good as usual doing his weird stuff, I really liked how he broke out of a pin by raking the eyes. The finish with Keita doing a bunch of Negro Navarro stuff into a super tight chickenwing crossface was awesome. This was FUN as far as Keita performances go, but the Masamune vs. Takafumi Ito stuff here was money.

GENTARO vs. Kenichiro Arai

Slow, deliberate 70s style grappling match that really explores working holds and breaking out of them to the maximum. It‘s an aquired taste, but really good for what it was. Gentaro when in a technical match always looks like one of the greatest grapplers on earth. Arai looked comfortable rolling with him too. They kept doing these intense struggles over basic holds and most importantly, they absolutely sold their butts off. Something like a bow & arrow, or a double axe handle felt epic. The last 5 minutes was Arai just desperately trying to hang on with Gentaro busting out cool, unexpected finish attempts. It's a shame GENTARO rarely gets booked into matches like this because he's looks world class in them.

The Library

Assorted Japan Indy Wrestling

 

Keita Yano vs. Taro Yamada (WALLABEE, 6/14/2012)

Damn great match, I imagine if Yano had never stunk up BattlARTS and instead was only known for doing weird technical matches while wearing his joker makeup and clown singlet in a tiny gym we’d all be Yano superfans. Taro Yamada is the last guy in Japan still holding up the T2P style matwork and one of the most underrated grapplers on the independent scene. This was 25 minutes of matwork that was like a great IWRG style title match. It was a mix of Yamadas llave holds with Yano going along and some cool RINGs-like leglock work thrown in, with both guys doing a great job escaping and transitioning between holds. Whole match felt fresh and competitive and never was like a derivative or weird LARP, these guys were trying to pop each others shoulders and/or ankles the whole time. There were one or two geeky moments where Yano did some “rope running” although it was more like a comedy spot with Yano hooting like an owl, and both these moments lead to cool spots, one where Yamada actually trips Keita with a drop down and another where Yano tricks Yamada into his special hold. There wasn’t some kind of story if you are into that but there were a few great nearfalls and I deeply respect these two for just grappling it out for 25 minutes without slowing down, and never throwing a strike or even a body slam, it was all submissions and funky cradle pins (especially loved Yamadas weird Delfin Clutch variation), just really tightly worked stuff that wouldn’t look out of place in a WoS or lucha title match. I did love Yanos dickish knee slide across Yamadas face and the moment where Yano had enough of the llave holds and challenged Yamada to an amateur match was really cool. Finish was great aswell. Best Yano match I’ve seen by far and actively a great match, which is a major shocker. Yamada played a huge part too but I’ll be damned if Yano wasn’t feeling it that night. Apparently there have been a few matches between these two and I look forward to checking them all out but as it stands this is the best I’ve seen from Yano by a mile.

Yu Iizuka vs. ZIMA Yoshida (RAW 9/30/2018)

ZIMA Yoshida makes his return to the blog. This Yu Izuka is a HEAT-UP guy. While Heat-Up is technically the follow promotion to Style-E, it doesn’t really do shootstyle, but Izuka works full shootstyle here, and actually looks like a guy with lineage to Tamura. Really promising performance from Iizuka, throwing wild spin kicks and looking in cool submissions while doing lightning smooth mat transitions. Our man ZIMA is overwhelmed but he manages to lock in a cool leg lock/neck crank submission of his own. Def. Would’ve liked this to go longer.

Hideki Suzuki & MIKAMI vs. UTOMARO & Yuiga (Batos Cafe, ?/?/??)

Not a pleasant match. Yuiga is a NEO-wrestler who has been working scum indies for 20 years. She tries to take it to Hideki Suzuki in this, who responds by punting her in really violent, unpredictable ways. Yuiga is throwing some crowbar shots and sick headbutts but it seems Suzuki is untouchable. He even no-sells UTOMARO completely. Their match up is really intense and it builds to a great moment where Yuiga is finally able to get something in when she counters a sleeper attempt into a judo throw and tries to sink into a desperation armbar. MIKAMI and UTOMARO basically just provide some fluff between the Yuiga vs. Hideki sections. Great sleeper hold finish.