2025 Matchguide Week 52

 Leon & AKARI vs Moeka Haruhi & Rydeen Hagane, Pure-J 7/13

Dojo matches can be a mixed bag. Either you get something comedic or generic, or something that completely blows the expectations away. This was on the blowaway side. It's fun to watch these wrestlers have exchanges without relying too much on taking bumps. Lots of fast moving standing exchanges early on that were nifty. AKARI continues to impress although she was more hard hitting. Rydeen Hagane is also still a really fun power house, who mixes up the formula of the match a bit. Loved her going beast mode on AKARI after AKARI did the somewhat cutesy foot choke in the ropes, and she makes things more interesting simply by being hard to pick up for something like a suplex, and her hard lariats and big power moves were on point. Finishing stretch was super elaborate as they mix up all the possible pairings which each one making for a cool match up. Leon is ever classy and makes everyone else look good, and Haruhi continues to make any finishing stretch she's in fun with her violent offense and surprising knack for cool reversals. The ending of this was just two wrestlers frantically going for a pin fall and it was probably the most credible and breathless of that kind of exchange I've seen in quite some time. 20 minutes that flew by in a breeze with a lot of good stuff in it.

Kenichiro Arai vs Ayumu Honda, Tenryu Project 9/23

Excellent chess match. Arai is truely one of the most interesting guys going when he gets going, and Honda has seemingly been thoroughly Yanoified and is fully embracing the weird technical wrestling. Lots of takedowns from odd angles, neat tie-ups, cool bits of struggle and making something out of basic moves. Thought Arai could've sold Hondas arm work a bit more, but aside from that this really rocked. I can't say much more than that, they grappled a lot and did their thing and it was never boring and just a really good match. Either you love it or you won't care for it.

Takumi Iroha vs Senka Akatsuki, Marvelous 10/19

Well crafted match that avoided the typical overdog vs underdog tropes you'd expect. Typically, you'd have the veteran no-selling the rookie a bunch. Not the case here, because Iroha knows Senka is an animal and will maul her if given the chance. After Akatsukis early takedown and elbows, Iroha made sure to stay all over her. I really liked Akatsukis comeback, which just consisted of yanking Iroha off the apron and smashing her into the steel pole. It was a hell of a lot closer to something Roddy Piper would do in 1983 in the Mid South Coloseum than your typical 2025 transition. Finishing run had a few great moments: teasing Senkas signature deadlift suplex, a big slap that almost KO'd Akatsuki and Senka then going for the shoot pin, and Iroha just having enough and trying to snap an arm. Iroha also dialed back the thighslapping a bit and wrestled more like a female version of Hashimoto - loved her big spin kick that landed square in Akatsukis face. Really good, borderline great match, and one hell of a stepping stone for Senka who is being made to look like a killer.

Paul Ishida vs ASUKA The World, XGF 2025/11/23

More delightfully demented carnage from XGF. This starts somewhat lighthearted as ASUKA takes it to Paul with a Super Nintendo, but quickly turns as seedy and deranged as you want your nihilistic backyard wrestling deathmatches to be. They go to brawl in this big dark hall with ASUKA dripping blood on the floor and the shoots looking like something out of the Descent as they brawl in the darkness. Tons of inventive and nasty spots, I was particular to Ishida mimicking spurting sparks onto Asuka, although the ladder dropkick neckbreaking spot was also incredibly nasty. The long shot where ASUKA, covered in blood and with oil all over him falling around on the floor while Ishida was getting ready to run him over with a truck was straight out of a horror movie. Thought ASUKA was pretty great here as a bloody mess, he had some great offense too, great jumping kick and a great backdrop suplex that twisted Ishida around. Ishida was reliably trollish and gloriously seedy here too. I think this didn't need to be 25 minutes but that's really my only critique. Ghouls should have a field day with this.

Marino Saihara vs Rico Fukunaga, AWG 12/20

AWG puts up the big match for their main title for free, just like that! Really good match too! It's a short match too so you basically get all killer no filler. Lots of hard kicks, cool bits of struggle,  a few neat counters, and both of them going for the kill. Saihara had been the dominant champion for a while now so Fukunaga who had been in her shadow was pulling all the stops. There was a sense of desperation, even when Saihara was just able to lock 2 fingers together when trying for a crossface chickenwing. Loved the use of the savate kicks by Fukunaga, and her big reversal of Saiharas stalling german suplex was completely spectacular. I'm not sure what was up with Fukunagas weird catapult but other than that everything looked really good, not UWF level but good. I can't say much more than that, it's just well worked match between two wrestlers with believable hard hitting offense who put in some thought into their matches and an earnest effort, everything was sold and there was nothing that felt trite or by the numbers, it's just really good stuff all around and another great little chapter in AWGs current outstanding run.

2025 Matchguide 

2025 Matchguide Week 44

 Merman Masakazu vs Aesop, Health Pro 10/5

Two somewhat lumpy old men, hitting the mat and displaying their love for pro wrestling. The match felt like a love letter to 80s NJPW type wrestling. Masakazu is a really cool Inoki worshipper. He looks older than dirt but he will give his all. Aesop also looked like quite the nifty technical wrestler, and he had a great discus punch. Mat work was really fun here with both guys rocking the figure 4 necklock, multiple stump pullers, really cinching armbars and finding cool ways out of holds. Most importantly everything felt spontaneous. There were no overly set up spots, instead Aesop would just rush over and blast Masakazu in the face with a jumping dropkick. Epic feeling finish too with both guys trying to blast each other with jumping kicks. In a way, guys like these two understand the heart and soul of pro wrestling better than most, even if they are limited by age. 

Hechicero vs Bandido, RoH 8/29/2025

Long modern style epics aren't exactly my cup of tea, but this was better than most of that style. A lot of that is due to their skillset which is way better than what your typical thighslappers have to offer. Hechicero is a credible badass grappler/powerhouse, and Bandido I buy as a superhero type. So there was a ton of enjoyable action here, mostly Hechiceros excellent submission work and some high level athletic spots. The drawback was that as typical the match went way longer than it needed to and eventually it stopped feeling like a competitive match and more like a loosely strung together sequence of cool moves and spots. Don't get me wrong they were some immensely cool moves and some huge spots and bumps, but the 15th cool spot in a 35 minute match eventually just doesn't hit very hard anymore, especially since there was little consequence to what was going on. Arm work, legwork, a huge slam on the guardrail, didn't matter, Bandido kept coming back in the same way. It very much felt like they were just shoeing as much different stuff as they knew. I don't need every match to have a loser focus on a singular story but there wasn't really much of anything to focus on here besides 'wow look at what these guys can do'. Not even something basic like a power vs speed aspect because Bandido just gorilla pressed Hechicero. In a way this stuff is the counterpart to the Masakazu/Aesop match discussed above: way higher in athletic prowres, variety, even ideas, but the soul was lacking.

Shinji Kamakura vs Blankey Maho, Kobe Meriken 11/7

Blankey Maho has come back from Mexico, and she starts this by showing off some cool lucha armdrags! Nevermind that, because this match soon turns into a WAR style match with both of them hitting each other insanely hard. Still, it's fun to watch a wrestler developing new skills. Maho still has some of the best kicks around. I especially love her thrust kick. It's an actual thrust kick, not a half baked superkick, and she nails Kamakura right in the throat with it. Kamakuras skillset is very basic at this point, but he's fun, and everything he hits he seems to nail with 100% force. Nothing deep her just two talented wrestlers cracking each other hard for 8 minutes and that is very respectable.

Seri Yamaoka vs Chihiro Hashimoto, Marigold 10/26

Well.... this match up is a real no brainer. You have two amaresu freaks in colorful singlets in a match, and they deliver pretty much the kind of match you expect. Mostly Hashimoto putting Yamaoka through the wringer, and Yamaoka having to work hard to even do minimal damage to Hash. The rank difference is well integrated and there is some cool grappling and a few neat moments. Nice to see this kind of Alexander Otsuka/Tamon Hondaesque match in 2025 and the finish was very much Tamon Honda flavoured. Not blowaway great - Seri is still getting there - but a cool little match.

Keita Yano vs Zack Sabre, Jr. Tenryu Project 11/4 - GREAT

Yano takes on the former IWGP champion! Okay, it's crazy that ZSJ is that. They do mostly smooth World of Sport style grappling here. It's probably the best of that kind of stuff you'll see in 2025. Nothing mindblowing if you've seen your fair share of that thing but it was fun, and Yano being such a cult hero taking on a star adds a lot. I found myself hoping Yano would just shoot headbutt Zack in the face or something, though. I would actually look forward to seeing them rematch because I thought there was still plenty on the table here.

2025 Matchguide 

Keita Yano Documentation 

2025 Matchguide Week 43

 Dekai Ichimotsu vs Vasaru Ikeuchi, Health Pro 10/5

Dekai Ichimotsu always puts my butt in the seat. This was a lot of fun. I know Vasaru Ikeuchi is another guy from the ama-pro scene who has appeared in Crazy Union a lot, but he can handle himself just fine in a more technical match. They start fun with some smooth World of Sport-style hold exchanges and then got into the more gritty detail-oriented stuff that we all love Dekai Ichimotsu for. Lots of trying to snap arms. Really liked Ikeuchi trying to prevent the figure 4 by twisting the ankle. Ichimotsu was clearly hyped to step in the ring for a lengthier match again and he threw this beautiful bridging double overhook suplex. Finishing run was built around Ikeuchi trying to lock in a WAR special with Ichimotsu producing neat counters and that is a lot of fun too. There was some gritty headbutting too. I love watching Dekai Ichimotsu do his thing.

Yuta Oya vs Shota, Sportiva 11/5

This was a nice surprise. Shota is one of those really good under the radar indy workers. He's crafty and has a knack for making a lot out of very little, so him taking on a guy as talented as Oya is really cool. And the match pretty much delivered as Shota wrestled almost exactly like it was some high end 80s TV match. Shota was being a sneaky bastard and trying to outmaneuver Oya using his blindness to his advantage the whole match. There's really no GIF-worthy moments, no notable high spots, it's just really well worked wrestling with an obvious story and super enjoyable. Well, Shotas reversal of the sharpshooter was super cool. Oya kind of just does his thing here, but I enjoy watching him toss a little rat into the turnbuckles really hard and hit his cool judo throws. His progression is becoming notable as he's now working a 17 minute main event without much issue.There was also some cool blind grappler matwork that was really enjoyable. 

Keita Yano vs Hikaru Sato, Tenryu Project 10/17

Good to see this little rivalry getting another entry. I'll admit - this was slow paced, filmed from a camera far away, and will probably appeal mainly to people who are already fans of the two. That said, there was a lot of great stuff here. Real chess match type with Yano trying to entrap Sato and Sato trying to beat him to a pulp. Lots of sick hard hitting, gruesome headbutts, and nifty escapes here. Sato was really pushing his striking advantage here raining hell on Yano with hard kicks, elbows and eventually open hands and headbutts, who in turn was almost purely focussed on outwrestling Sato and getting the winning submission. I love that when Yano forces a hammerlock like 20 minutes in it feels like a holy shit spot. These two always bring out the best in each other, and Yanos October of 2025 is stacking up quite nicely.

Rico Fukunaga vs Chii Aoba, AWG 9/18

Really hard-fought opening match that was better than it had any right to be. I thought Aoba would be some hapless idol-type, but she fought hard and showed fire. Fukunaga dominated the action with her cool kicks and submissions and looked good doing that. Aoba catching her with a surprise legsweep and then desperately latching onto a leglock was some excellent simplistic pro wrestling due to both of them really selling the struggle. Aoba was mostly relegated to desperation comebacks and relying on luck here but it made for a pretty good match. Dug her memorable body slam. I don't know if it's because AWG has great up close camera work and sound mixing but I'm enjoying this stuff more than the undercards from Marigold, STARDOM, TJPW etc. The work here feels less spotty and there's more struggle and creativity put into everything.

Rico Fukunaga & Naru vs Chii Aoba & Yukina Uehara, AWG 9/13

I watched this based on the Fukunaga/Aoba match being good. This starts out as the kinda cutesy happy-go-lucky idol wrestling that I don't like, but the second half is hands-down greatness. Basically Fukunaga, who should be above everyone here, has a bad arm and this makes for some great desperation when Aoba and Uehara try to cut her down. Uehara likes to go for kicks, she definitely has the vibe of someone who's still a little half-baked and needs some time to mature into a good wrestler but she was landing some good blows here. Aobas bridging full nelson hold is one of the coolest submissions I've seen in a while, especially when you consider that a full nelson is legit dangerous and barred from amateur wrestling. Fukunaga desperately trying to cut her off by cranking a basic headlock was some great pro wrestling. There was also a great struggle over a tiger suplex which I love. It was genuinely exciting, dramatic stuff with a few well timed spots. In a way in combination with the Aoba singles match on the 18th it makes it more impressive because in the singles match Aoba was outmatched, here she was pushing an injured Fukunaga to the limit and both times it was pretty credible and compelling. Also loved the gritty Dragon Sleeper finish.

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

This was an amazing experience. A huge crowd had gathered for this event, 2000 or 3000 people, maybe the biggest crowd in Germany for a non-WWE event since the days of old, and that alone speaks volumes about the power of lucha libre. And all these guys are way too proud and too good at what they do to not deliver a fantastic match. Long, quality 2/3 falls match, maybe 20 or 30 minutes in length, that delivered everything you can ask for from a trios and more. Comedy, some spectacular exchanges, the sheer aura of El Hijo del Santo, brawling, mask ripping, some absolutely huge dives. It was classic lucha libre mexicana all the way through and it had the audience by the balls the whole time. What was cool was that there were lots of fans from the Mexican community there (it's Berlin and there were Mexican-themed cultural festivities) but also lots of casuals and typical wrestling fans. I think not many of the more casual fans knew what a legend El Hijo del Santo is but by the end everyone understood it and when the match was over people were jumping out of their seats and rushing to the ring to tap him on the shoulder. Rudos were great here. Hijo de Fishman looks like such a monster in person and it says a lot about how respected he is as a wrestler that he got to work with El Hijo del Santo, and throw him headfirst into chairs too of course. Haven't thought about Texano Jr. in a long time but he looked quite excellent here too, great bumping, timing and crowd control, he also brought a big bullrope like Stan Hansen to beat on people with. Hijo de LA Park was also quite effective as a dickish dancing skeleton who would leather people with his belt. The man who was announced as Ciclon Ramirez also looked great. Cool dance moves, pulled off some really intricate flying headscissors and armdrags, he also may have had the biggest dive of the night when he hit a beautiful high moonsault off the top to the outside (and there were a lot of dives that night with Puma King et al hitting like a dozen in the previous match). He was a great spectacular technico with some spice. Obviously getting to see Santito doing his thing was great. The man is in his 60s, yeah, but everything be damned, he's El Hijo del Santo, he will give people their moneys worth and prove lucha libre is the greatest thing on earth, he still did all his big flying headbutts off the top, a suicide dive that looked faster than everyone elses, and he did fly into the chairs and beat on people with a bullrope as good as everyone else. Santo Jr. also looked good, obviously a bit overshadowed by the presence of the old man but he brought a fun classic vibe with the things he was doing, I was also really impressed by his bridging german suplex that looked flawless. Brawling was great and the audience was shocked by the sudden violence of luchadores flying into chairs, beating on each other with a bullrope, chairs and a leather belt, as well as the visual of Santito and Fishman ripping each others masks open, and then they brought it back seamlessly from chaos back to great wrestling. After the match Santito was carried around like a hero, with an ocean of kids pooling into the ring to get picked up for pictures. Seeing this stuff in person just hits different, it's not hard to see why lucha libre is such a huge deal in Mexico, truely the greatest spectacle in the world, and what a farewell statement from Santito to go a country that he's never wrestled in before and have a match like this. 

 

2025 Pro Wrestling Matchguide 

2025 Matchguide Week 42

 Masanori Watanabe vs Yusaku Ito, Sportiva 10/29


This was a short undercard match but it was cool. Watanabe is still being put through the paces, but he is already really really good. He did a lot of cool stuff during the opening grappling, and his straight forward approach of attacking the arm to set up a rolling kimura just straight up works. Ito is good as always relishing in his scummy ways. He has the seedy vibe of a delinquent hired to do some dirty work and he was putting the hurt on Watanabe with closed fist punches, boots and nasty headbutts. I also really liked the ultra tight sleeper he did, and then the knee to the face he did was really cool. Solid and worth watching.

Masamune vs Shinji Kamakura, KOBE Meriken 10/17

Masamune stretching someone in a sportsbar. This was not the amateur wrestler Masamune, he was kind of working like William Regal here, and it's pretty fun. Kamakura kind of gave me the vibe of a Japanese David Burkhead, fun pudgy guy who clashes violently into his opponent. I enjoy watching Masamune do his thing and he needs to show up on tape way more often because he's low key really good.

Keita Yano vs Koji Iwamoto, Tenryu Project 10/25 - GREAT

October 2025 was ripe with big matches for Keita Yano. I'm just getting to them, but this is a strong start. Long, drawn out technical match. Of course our lord and savior Keita really shines at that stuff, and he is doing so much cool stuff here that it carried the match no problem. His transition into a stump puller was awe inspiring. A lot of chaining, mostly based on World of Sport style but veering into Karl Gotch shootstyle territory here and there, and all done incredibly smooth and inventive. He's really become a master at this stuff no doubt about it. Iwamoto is very much the 1977 Jumbo Tsuruta to Keitas 1977 Billy Robinson, he's capable but doesn't stand out in a huge way when grappling with Keita. He does have those awesome judo throws and he hits them and that's all you really wanna see him do. Very good match all in all.

GENTARO vs Shuichiro Katsumura, FREEDOMS/Ganbare Pro 10/16

GENTARO is such a great wrestler. With him, everything feels like it master, and his old school technical moves rule of course. Who knew that building a match around struggle and nifty counters would work well? Katsumura has always struck me as good but never quite reaching 'great' level. This was probably the best matwork I've seen him to, and a lot of credit for that can go to GENTARO. At times this resembled an old UWF vs NJPW match but with better pacing and more cool moments. Really need more GENTARO singles matches like this, oh and bring back Mutoha too for that matter.

Marino Saihara vs Yui Tensho, AWG 10/1

Another quality match from AWG. This was built around Saihara with her kicks and submissions putting the heat on Tensho. Tensho would try to pounce on any kind of advantage but kept getting shut down in cool ways. The apron spot was especially good as Saihara took out Tensho with a leg kick and then just blasted her with a dropkick. Eventually Tensho found what she was looking for when she got Saihara in her reverse gory special hold, and there was some nice struggle leading up to that. They both have believable offense, there was a story, good selling and intensity... Saihara ended up beating Tensho rather easily, which I thought was fine and a bit of a cool change from the usual nearfall fest as Tensho had been desperate to put the champ away but just came short. The one not-so-good part of the match was their forearm trading, and even that lead to a cool moment with confident champion Saihara hitting a hurty looking leg kick and Tensho deciding she had enough of that.

2025 Matchguide

Keita Yano Documentation 

2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 33

Masato Tanaka vs Hayabusa, Zero1 8/3

I did not think I would be watching a Masato Tanaka vs Hayabusa match in 2025 but here we are. And this had amazing magnitude! It's Tanakas career vs the revived Hayabusas mask. The news Hayabusa looks fantastic. Not only does he hit all the spots, but he can actually work. And this match feels competitive and not like some kind of nostalgia tour. Tanaka sidestepping the asai moonsault really accentuates this. Tanaka was pretty great here - it's insane how much the guy has in the tank. They went a fast pace with no real slow down, and the action was crisp and punctuated by Tanakas cracking elbows and Hayabusas exploding athleticism. First 15 minutes of this I thought were pretty much flawless pro wrestling, almost shockingly so. The opening chain wrestling and Hayabusas armwork were really crisp and fun. It definitely stands way up to any Tanaka/Hayabusa match from the 90s. They do no sell a bunch of big moves in the middle, but that just kind of sets up the increasing stakes in the second half. Legwork on Hayabusa was a blatant breather since it isn't really sold, but we do get Tanaka smashing table pieces on Hayabusas leg and they didn't drag it on for too long. There was also the cool moment of Hayabusas leg giving him trouble when he countered Tanakas splash so it was kinda paid off. The rest of this was quite great, mostly thanks to a few well worked transitions and a certain unpredictability factor. A lot of the fascination definitely comes from watching 52 year Masato Tanaka doing this kind of match and looking like he hasn't lost a step. It's not a flawless bout, but overall a really well structured match that was gripping from start to finish, had plenty of hard hitting and deadly bombs being thrown without getting repetitive and was just one hell of a ride. 

 Virus vs Xelhua, RoH 7/26

A match where they both hit the mat for 7 minutes and proved proved what everyone knows already, that they are among the absolute elite tier when it comes to mat technicians in all of wrestling history. So no surprise here, and that's kind of the one fault of this. You get exactly what you expect, and for that it's a really good little match albeit a slight bit exhibitiony with neither guy displaying a ton of fire since they had to fit everything into a 7 minute sandwhich. Kind of the Velocity version of an epic lucha title match and that is a really cool thing to see by itself. I did really like the mixing in of basic movements like the dropkicks, side headlock takeover or hip toss in between all the more esoteric holds. And Xelhua getting Virus to tap out felt like a big deal so that's really cool.

Seri Yamaoka & Victoria Suzuki vs Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame, Marigold 7/16

Heated rookie vs rookie action, or in this case swimsuits vs fancy outfits. Good solid stuff as usual but I thought the match could've used a bit more of Senka. Instead Ayame was the focus at the end and while she's quite fun she doesn't hit quite at that level yet. The brief mat scramble between Akatsuki and Seri was obviously the highlight. I love that while Seri is the 'grappler' Senka is such an animal that she can totally overwhelm her on the mat and maul her with headbutts. Her entire thing is that despite her limited experience she's a force of nature and they only thing containing her right now is her rookie status.

Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase (Sendai Girls 7/19)

Team 200 KG are a pretty reliable joshi twin towers. They can go a fast pace, provide plenty of hard hitting, and the big vs small aspect always forces opponents to get a bit more creative than just running through their offense as usual. This was all about what Iwata and Takase would bring to the table to a reliable story, and Iwata and Takase brought plenty. Iwata seems like she's ready to fill the void that Satomura has left. She's got the cool kicks, the slicked back hair and the stoic attitude to fill the mantel. She just needs to figure out to spam her kicks a little bit less so they will mean more, but that should come with some time. All of her exchanges with Hashimoto were real highlights and hinted at a great singles match between them. Even something thats often trite like the armbar over the ropes spot looked vicious and fresh here. Takase and Yuu were playing second fiddle, but they are pretty solid and I was even surprised by Takases angry headbutting. Add some violent vader hammers from Hashimoto and you've got yourself a pretty satisfying match.

Keita Yano vs brother YASSHI, Tenryu Project 7/20 - GREAT

Godhead vs Godhead! Even knowing that YASSHI can be really sick when he wants to, and Keita being Keita, I thought this even exceeded my expectations. A cool match up on paper, that really delivers what you want. Really cool technical work here, with Yasshi busting out cool amateur wrestling takedowns and transitions and Keita tying him up repeatedly. Really enjoyed how Yasshi would escape from something like Yanos straight jacket armbar like it was a shootstyle hold and then even put on an Achilles Hold. I thought Yano may have gotten a bit predictable recently, but he was cooking here. Energetic Yasshi is really fun too, he really had the working boots on here. I kind of like that Yano keeps working a slower pace. He doesn't need to speed it up, he's kind of like a slow moving eldritch abominations that assimiliates other wrestling styles, and sooner or later will entangle his opponent in some predicament they can't escape from. It really suits his 'you pressed random on the character creator' look. The bar for slow paced technical wrestling is getting pretty high in 2025, but this holds up. Really enjoy that these two got to paint a little art on that canvas together.

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

Keita Yano Documentation Project 

2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 26

Shinya Ishida & Yu Shimizu vs Ari Najima & Masanori Watanabe 7/2

Really good match from Sportiva this week. Solid no frills pro wrestling early on and a bunch of really good stuff in the second half. Once again, I was really impressed by Yu Shimizu. His brutal elbows rule and he's always doing something nifty. His boot that knocked Watanabe off the apron was straight out of 90s AJPW. Ishida stuck to his stuff, but he looked slick and did a bunch of awesome quick exchanges with Najima in the second half. Najima has also grown to the point where he now keeps up with more complicated stuff pretty well. Watanabe is still green-ish but he's really good when he's grappling or attacking someones arm. The finish was Shimizu mauling him with elbows and Watanabe trying to break Shimizus elbow with nasty kicks and elbows. Very good stuff, I can't wait to see another singles match between these guys.

Senka Akatsuki vs DASH Chisako, Tenryu Project 5/21

Great little match that brought some sick violence worthy of WAR. DASH just beat the hell out of young Senka here, some crazy violent slaps and dropkicks and stomps on display. Senka takes a big beating, but you know it all can change when she gets her opponents shoulders down and starts working for the pin. The shoot pin still rules. I liked when DASH did the 'okay, hit me' Senka was immediately right there and started to maul her with open hands, Senka is pretty big. Some great cutoffs from DASH here. I'm digging this 2025 joshi resurgence, you know the passion is back when a throwaway match on a mens show is this heated, and it all started with Senka.


Ari Najima vs Yukito, HEAT-UP 5/3

This had the rule  that it was a rounds match with the 1st round being kickboxing with gloves, 2nd round being grappling only and the 3rd just regular pro wrestling. Kickboxing part was alright, they were holding back a little. Grappling part was really good, Najima is clearly really good at this kind of slick shootstyle grappling and it was nice that he get to test himself like this. 3rd round was also really fun with both guys kicking and slapping each other in fun ways and developing good intensity, check out Aris arm selling. Good stuff but I'd like to see just a proper shootstyle match between them because at just 3 minute rounds this felt a little short.

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

Pro Wrestling 2025 Week 20

 Shinya Aoki vs Kazusada Higuchi, DDT 5/6/2025

A power vs technique match up that actually feels very close to a classic puro match! I am not entirely convinced that Shinya Aoki is as good as the likes of GENTARO or Yasushi Sato yet, but he sure is scratching on their throne. This had a bunch of really fun ultra-tight, high resistance grappling. I wanted Higuchi to be a bit of a bigger badass - I mean, he does look like a cool motherfucker being a tall ex sumo with slicked back hair, and he does hit pretty hard, but I wanted him to go ham and tear up Aokis spindly body a slightly bit more. I guess not everyone can be Tenryu, but I sense there is potential in him and I should probably watch him more. The ringside brawling was slightly weak but seeing legendary grappler Aoki get bowled into chairs and retaliating by smashing someones luggage into Higuchis head was a sight. I also love how unhinged Aoki feels when he starts flying around. I hope he won't go down the Minoru Suzuki route with the crazy faces but I thought for this match it was appropriate. Great, off the wall finish. They made a brain claw a deadly hold in 2025 and you have to love that. Really really fun, Aokis little reign is such a reset for a Japanese mainstream promotion and I hope they continue further on that route.

Keita Yano vs Tsuyoshi Okada, Dove Pro 2/9 - FUN

Oh Keita. This is a rounds match with Okada having MMA gloves and they're blaring some trance electronic music throughout, ZST style. With stuff like this it's starting to feel like Yano is slowly returning to form. It's a bit slow to get going as they go for really uncooperative shootstyle ala KINGDOM, but Yano does some fun grappling. 2nd round is a lot better with Okada really knocking the hell out of Keita. Not as epic as it would've been in like 2013 when Keitas psychosis was in full bloom, but a fun little occurance and I wanna see more of gloves Okada for sure after that.

Keita Yano vs Ayumu Honda, Tenryu Project 4/25 - FUN

Usual good Keita performance working circles around a guy with graceful WoS style matwork. At first I thought this Honda guy would be along for the right, but he actually brought a little something as the match proceeded by attacking Keitas arm in a few different ways. Keitas selling was pretty good for a short match and there is a nifty finish. Nothing grand in in the scheme of Keita Yano matches but it's good that he is still doing his thing even though the camera at Tenryu Project shows seems to get further and further away from the ring.

Shiori Asahi & Makoto Oishi vs CHANGO & Ayumu Honda, 2AW 4/27

CHANGOs grip on the Japanese indy scene with scumbag technical matches continues, and he's now infecting everyone around him. After Asahi, Oishi is the next guy to just say fuck it and wrestle in a grease monkey suit. These two used to be a team of sensationally spotty and smooth juniors and to see them say fuck it and be sleazy and hit fist drops and kung fu eye pokes is low key awesome. They didn't go full Mutoha here, but this is very much a refreshingly outside the norm match. Lots of WORKING as in making small, miniscule things a focal point, such as the build to the basic 'guy hits a diving elbow to opponents arm that is held in place by tag team partner' spot. Asahis and Oishis assault on people with rapidly hit knee drops and fist drops was reminiscent of a surreal version of the Yamaha Bros, and CHANGO is CHANGO. Honda is the weakest guy in the match and doesn't stand out much early, but he does come into his own when its to work an arm, and him trying to steal the win with plain straight armbars was pretty fun. Finishing run had a lot of the super tricked out slick spots that CHANGO, Asahi and Oishi have a knack for. Lots of roll ups within rollups if you catch my drift. It's a bit of an aquired taste but if you are reading this blog I can definitely imagine you getting into this, it's worthy continuation from the Asahi/CHANGO tag from earlier in the month.

Meiko Satomura & Sareee vs Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu, Fortune Dream 4/16

Stiff, fast paced, crisp, serious pro wrestling. Maybe one of the best of the year from the women in fact when it comes to action from start to finish, and definitely worth checking out even if you've been watching all the Satomura matches. Satomura vs Hashimoto is known quality, and Sareee makes a really fun addition. Her matches earlier in the year were spotty, but I thought she was really effective here just coming and trying to crack peoples faces with vicious dropkicks. It helps that Hashimoto ate the fuck out of those dropkicks. Yuu also looked like an impressive monster. The one thing I didn't like was her weird rolling move. That felt too comical for this kind of affair. Thought the sick Sareee/Hashimoto was the highlight, until Meiko came in and she and Chihiro wailed on each other some more. Awesome. Thought the match needed a bit more Meiko vs. Chihiro duelling instead of having Chihiro and Yuu just go to hit their double teams but I guess that was the point. Also, selling wasn't super important here, but that's joshi for you sometimes. I'm gonna miss Meiko.

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

Keita Yano Documentation

Keita Yano Documentation #5

 

Keita Yano vs Drew Parker, Tenryu Project 12/11/2022 - EPIC

I wasn’t sure how deathmatch guy Drew Parker would do going 30 minutes in a technical clinic, but he does fine. Maybe even one of Keitas better dance partners in a while. We start with lots of really beautiful hold for hold wrestling that felt reminiscent of a 70s classic without being too much of a rehash. Parker had some nice movements, particularily his bridging. There was plenty of struggle and Keita mixing in shootish counters. Whenever Drew could he would grab ahold of Yanos fingers and bend them in nasty ways. I loved how Keita, after making a solid pro wrestling comeback following a Parker control segment, immediately made sure to start stomping on Drews fingers. Subsequently whenever Parker would try any offense Keita would go for his hands and wrists. I also loved how Keita, when Drew went to taunt him immediately punched him in the face. I didn’t have a problem with Parkers comebacks and his offense focussed on moves that didn’t use his hands. The one weak pint was Parkers crossface – that really needed a bit more selling after how much work Keita had done on his hand. Keita responding to a somewhat limp wristed forearm by headbutting Drew right in the fucking face is why Keitas so great. Last 3^rd was almost all Keita just doing so much crafty intricate shit. Drew had few comebacks mostly basic rollups which worked extremely well, he was overwhelmed trying to survive and going for basic stuff whenever there was an opening, his Magistral cradle was definitely the most memorable Magistral I’ve seen in a while. Didn’t really like the draw finish as by all logic Keita should have had the victory here. Anyways, it was a very intricate, smart old school epic with lots of beautiful wrestling and a certified Keita masterpiece if you ask me.

 

Keita Yano Documentation Project

Tenryu Project 11/13/2022 - Part 2

 

Kohei Sato vs. Hikaru Sato

5 minute match. First 2 minutes or so they did an endless back and forth chest slap exchange. Last 3 or so minutes were much more interesting and pretty good due them working the match as a violent short eruption but ultimately wasn’t very good due to Kohei completely lacking any kind of fire, who can blame him. You may fast forward until Kohei Sato hits his elbow.

Keita Yano vs. Takuro Niki - FUN

Pretty much Yano doing his thing, and doing a really nice job at it. I liked Nikis spunkiness in the previous match but he showed none of that here. He had a nice dropkick and pretty much nothing else. Still, I love to watch Yano doing his thing. He had some really cool arm works and several crafty pin combos and holds, my favourite being the Kido Clutch he set up in a cool way.

Kotaru Nasu & Oji Shiiba vs. Kazumasa Yoshida & Kenshin Chikano

I would’ve liked to see a bit more of the Nasu vs. Chikano match up here. Both guys are shooty and can take and give hard kicks. Chikano was hit and miss. He had some good offense but also did some missable stuff like a terrible looking knee strike. Japanese undercarders of the past were definitely better at picking offense that suited them, you would’ve never seen Jun Izumida throw something as bad as that knee. I liked some of Shiibas kicks, particularily the big enzugiri to the back of Chikanos head. Okay-ish formula tag overall.

Keita Yano vs. Hikaru Sato - GREAT

These two are pretty much a guaranteed good match up at this point. This was another good entry in their series, not as good as their other matches but there was a ton of cool matwork thanks to Yano and some insane stiffness. Yanos carny stuff ruled and while Sato wasn’t as ON as he has been in their other matches, he did almost knock Yano into a coma with a nasty headbutt and he engaged well with Yanos crazy holds. 

Keita Yano Documentation Project

The Library

Tenryu Project 11/13/2022 - Part 1

 

Don Fujii vs. Kohei Sato

Haven’t seen a Fujii match in a while, but based on this I should probably watch some. Fuji is all kinds of fun here sumo rushing Sato, trying to force a count out, hitting cool lariats and chops and a big knee drop. It could have been a cool under 5 minute match had Sato done anything at all but he simply won with a sloppy Magistral after absorbing all of Fujis cool offense. What, you’re Kohei Sato, are you not gonna at least recklessly potatoe your opponent with a headbutt or something?

Keita Yano vs. Naoki Tanizaki - SKIPPABLE

Wow, Tanizaki may be one of the worst wrestlers I’ve ever seen. He’s sloppy, adds nothing interesting to the mat exchanges, and out of position. Yano makes the most of this stretching this guy a bit although it was quite painful watching him trying to make something out of a guy who messes up the easiest stuff. Yano is still able to work a crafty finish, so go Yano!

Hikaru Sato vs. Kouki Iwasaki

Good stuff early on with Iwasaki trying to outgrapple the Pancrase veteran early on. I’ve no idea if I would be into what Iwasaki is usually doing with way different guys than this, but he had basic skills and I found him engaging. Second half was really good with Sato constantly attacking the arm and some stiff, unpredictable kicks being thrown. Few neat counter spots, especially dug the struggle over Sato trying to throw Iwasaki over his targeted arm. Crafty finish. This well exceeded expectations. 

Added to 2022 MOTY List

Mizuki Watase vs. Takuro Niki

This Takuro Niki guy is spunky. He gets on Watases grill and bitchslaps him in the mouth, causing Watase to jump him and beat on him in the ropes for a cheap DQ win. Watase annoys me with his no selling but at least I am looking forward to seeing more of Takuro Niki.

SUSHI vs. Kenichiro Arai vs. Rey Paloma vs. Masayuki Kono

In theory, a 4 way with these guys in their working boots could be fun considering you have two tricky technical wrestlers and two big lugs in Sushi and Kono there. In reality it was mail-it-in city with lots of butt-centric comedy.

 

Keita Yano Documentation Project 

The Library

Keita Yano Documentation #4

 Keita Yano vs. Katsumi Usuda, BattlARTS 11/16/2008 - EPIC

Really great match which I have no problem calling a BattlARTS classic. Back then a lot of BattlARTS diehards hated Yano for bringing some of his whackier ideas into that promotion, but to me he added a lot to this match. He has hanging really well with Usuda on the mat, producing some really good straight shootstyle exchanges, he was able to credibly to do some damage to Usuda standing and otherwise, and he added plenty of neat touches such as turning a stretch into his cool bridging choke during the last few minutes. When Usuda started blasting him with kicks, he would take Usuda down and immediately try to take the wind out of him with some vicious knees on the ground. Later he‘d cut Usuda off with a flurry of open hands and spinning backhand before nailing Usuda with a nasty dropkick to the head. The one questionable thing he did was the attempted lariat from the ropes, and that led to him getting kicked in the face. Usuda was tremendous here, really punishing Keita with painful holds and some of the most brutal kicks ever caught on film. He did a tremendous job turning Keitas zealousness against him while also selling for him and allowing him just enough offense to not look like a chump. All-time series of brutal kicks leading to one of the sickest match endings of all time was one hell of a way to end this. Incredible match considering Yano was barely in his second year as a wrestler.

Keita Yano vs. Yuki Ishikawa, BattlARTS 3/21/2011 - GREAT

I remember watching this at the time. Yanos Joker makeup was new and we all thought he was losing his mind. Little did we know what was to come. This was about as good as I remember it being, lots of really fun matwork with Yano doing some cool unorthodox chokeholds and both guys ripping each others legs up. Yano did hit some great looking european uppercuts and aside from one slightly awkward lariat he had no goofs. And Ishikawa was Ishikawa. I felt like it didn’t quite push into next level territory but it was a really good match up.

 

Keita Yano vs. Shota, Tenryu Project 8/17/2022 - FUN

Nice match between two guys who totally have an epic in them. This was just a 3rd match on the card so they didn‘t exactly go all out, but it was all in all one of the niftiest matches of the year. They start with a 70s style control segment about hitting armdrags and reversing armdrags before moving on to trickier stuff with Yano working over Shotas leg. Yanos bridging indian deathlock was obviously the highlight, and Shota sold really well. Shota is honestly a pretty underrated indy talent himself, he had some neat transitions and never overreached. Really well done technical match, only criticism is that I wanted more but I always want more wrestling like this.

Keita Yano Documentation

2022 MOTY List Update #5

 

Keita Yano vs. Hikaru Sato, Tenryu Project 9/19/2022 - EPIC

This was really long and thus a bit slow-paced and tentative here and there. That aside this was largely excellent. Yano did a ton of great matwork and I loved all of Satos vicious strikes, especially the constant kicks to the mid section. Sato zoning in on Yanos arm and busting out cool armbar variations was good although they may have gone a bit overboard. The finishing run had a bunch of cool Yano moments, such as for example working a takedown attempt for a ropebreak before turning it into a gritty leglock battle. I didn’t think it was the MOTY like some people – it was just a bit too long and slow for that – but it was really good stuff and worth watching all the way through.

Naoya Nomura & Hayato Mashita vs. Super Tiger II & Shingo Suzuki, DIANA 10/16/2022

This was four sleazy shooters doing a random undercard match on a joshi show. It easily could have been mailed in, but instead they busted their ass and had a match that was actually unpredictable, had no downtime, a few neat moments and was stiff and exciting. Big credit goes to Nomura who was just awesome with his out of nowhere spears and shoulder tackles. I also really enjoyed Shingo Suzuki, who apparently is a seasoned MMA fighter turned pro wrestler. He got some nice shooty exchanges out of people, and he had a really insane dive that I won't spoil. I also continue to be impressed by how STII is not completely broken down and even looking quite spirited, hitting cool spin kicks. I thought Mashita stunk a bit in the first minute of this but he wasn't bad at the end. For 9 minutes this was way way too fun.

GENKAI & Hitamaru Sasaki vs. HUB & Tigers Mask, Kyushu Pro, 11/12/2022

Once in a while I am reminded that Kyushu Pro puts on some really good matches. This was a match that showcased 4 cool unique wrestlers to the best of their abilities busting their asses, impressive considering everyone here is in their 40s. GENKAI did some really great shoulder selling, best "wounded beast" selling performance I've seen in a while, I also really liked how they didn't go for the obvious route by working his shoulder a bunch, instead people would try to tag him in the shoulder and he would overpower them, all while doing this great pained selling. HUB was really cool here, like a slithery version of Tajiri, he had a really nice opening segment against Genkai, and his weird whip thing actually looked super painful, he also had an insane right hook to Genkai when the whip didn't do it at one point and his jumping knees look great. Tigers Mask also looked good, he hit some painful looking kicks to Genkais shoulder and generally was really spry, I am annoyed his recent matches in Osaka Pro only seem to air in clips. Sasaki was the least guy in the match but he was still pretty solid, working a shootstyle mat segment against Tigers Mask. I will say his kicks and jumping knees look a bit weak compared to what Tigers Mask and HUB were doing. They worked this at a really good pace, doing plenty of tricked out stuff without going overboard, always sticking to their strengths, I actually wanted them to slow down  a bit because I was so into the story of their match. Regardless it was a really good long form match and ended at the right moment with a bunch of high notes.

2022 MOTY List

2021 MOTY Project Update #5

1. Kyosuke Sasaki vs. Daisuke Nakamura, Kyushu Pro 9/6

Proper 20 minute shootstyle main event. Sasaki has been a bit hit or miss in Kyushu Pro, but he cut out the bullshit here and had a real U-Style worthy contest with Nakamura who's like a great 20 year late RINGS worker. Opening grappling was the best shootstyle grappling in years. Both guys were of course ultra slick, but the refusal to go for the ropes created some great counterwork and intense scrambles. Highlights include a neat Kimura counter and a credible battle of shootstyle Figure 4s. Second half was pretty great too since both guys kept internal logic consistent. For example, Sasaki was able to overwhelm and down Nakamura with a  series of leg kicks, but once things went to the ground it immediately became difficult again to force submissions. Sasaki also had this sick looking choke attempt. Finishing run was pretty great with both guys grabbing submissions left and right and some dramatic near KOS. Gotch piledriver tease was tremendous as both guys sold it that you knew the match would be over if it was hit. The 1-1 situation at the end was pretty intense. I liked how Nakamura ate a head kick and fell on top of his opponent into another scramble to credibly not lose a point. Great match.

 

5. Keita Yano vs. Hikaru Sato, Tenryu Project 8/13

Yanos redemption is coming along nicely. This was the best striker vs. grappler match in a while. It was straight out of PWFG. Normally I associate Yano with carny matwork, but he really decided to be a makeup wearing Tamon Honda in this. Really cool dynamic in this with Yano going for fast takedowns and quirky stretches and Sato lighting him up. I've never been a Hikaru Sato fan but he was there to light  Yano up and he did just dead. Brutal, brutal ending that saw both guys throwing some insane shoot headbutts and bare knuckle punches. Actual finish was a thing of beauty.

7. Keita Yano vs. Hikaru Sato, Tenryu Project 8/26

Even more esoteric match which saw both guys grappling it out for 17 minutes. If you can get into that, this was excellent. No strikes, but a perfect balance between shootstyle grappling and carny holds. Yanos chokes were great. This may have been the best actual wrestling Sato was involved in. He did some cool things like a sweeping hip throw, or busting out a cool double leg stretch (which Yano reversed in a great moment). It can be hard to just grapple and keep momentum going and not put your audience to sleep but they succeeded here. Great little match. Is Yano the best wrestler in the world now?

2021 MOTY List