Ali Najima vs Yuta Oya, Sportiva 7/30
It's been 1 year since they both have made their debut, and what a ride it has been. Incredible growth for both of them. Najima is on absolute killer run putting in quality performances week after week now, and to say Oya is a phenom would be an understatement. This is just a really impressive match, quality matwork, a lot of hard hitting and nifty counters, and a tremendous amount of passion displayed. The best thing is probably the sense of nothing being held back. Najima hit Oya with a running headbutt, kicked him really hard, at one point just smacked him square in the face which feels like a really mean thing to do to a blind guy. Oya was relentless chopping away and constantly going for his deadly hip throw and Najimas counters were fantastic. It's also awesome to see Oya doing things like easily locking in a kneebar or hitting a jumping enzuigiri. A great piece of pro wrestling which feels like a career highlight for both of them.
Tyson Maeguchi vs Yumehito Imanari, Ganbare Pro 6/22
Fun wrestler vs kickboxer match with Maeguchi hitting some hard punches and Imanari hitting some snug straight forward pro wrestling offense to combat the shooter. There were moments were both guys kinda looked like crap (namely Maeguchi feebly punching at Imanaris shoulder and then butchering an attempted rollup, and Imanari hitting a flimsy bulldog) but overall the vibe was right. Enough hard punches to keep you entertained, and the finish is cool. Seems they are trying to make Maeguchi into the next Toba, and while he has a loooong way to go before he is anywhere near at the level of prime Toba this is hinting in the right direction.
Sareee vs Syuri, STARDOM 6/21
Maybe it's because I was in a good mood, but I thought this was better than their match earlier in the year. The same problems mostly still apply - bit too long, not much selling, submissions felt like blatant filler - but in a way it came across much better to me this time. Great pace, they both still have plenty of great offense, and there was enough psychotic hard hitting to keep things entertaining. Legwork was filler and never slowed Syuri down, but it was gritty enough and didn't really hurt the pace of the match. Thought it was really impressive how the 30 minutes flew by. There were lots of good moments throughout that came across as nice and hate filled (Sareee had shit-talked STARDOM before), like the scuffle that ended them on the ramp. Sareees headbutts throughout were certifiably insane and actually made for a few great comebacks. I also really appreciated that Sareee, once she was able to hit the uranage, just hit a bunch of uranages in a row and then got the nearfall. For some reason I thought that was better than hitting a bunch of uranages throughout the match over and over again. And they actually ended it with the biggest move, making this a pretty satisfying match overall. I really wish these matches would have a bit more selling and spice to make things meaningful but for what they are going for this was probably the best of its kind in 2025.
Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame vs Seri Yamaoka & Victoria Yuzuki, Marigold 7/16
A fun quick tag. Akatsuki and Yamaoka have a bit of a rivalry going and their exchange were a ton of fun. Yuzukis stuff looked solid and Ayame is also a lot of fun here. She looks so wee and non-threatening especially compared to Senka, but the fact she can get people to pop for a bodyslam nearfall is awesome and her flash pins were basic stuff done really well. Needed a bit more of that Senka/Seri stuff because when they forearmed each other and grappled it was really good, but that's the point of matches like these I guess. Also really enjoyed Senka putting Victoria in trouble with the SHOOT PIN~ again. Good stuff with a satisfying conclusion that leaves you wanting to see more.
Yujiro Yamamoto vs Koki Fujimoto, KOBE Meriken 8/1
Oh look it's nice to see Yujiro Yamamoto again in my sportsbar livestream feed. And here he is slapping the shit out of a guy! Koki Fujimoto doesn't even have a cagematch profile. He has kickpads and is not afraid to take a beating from a BattlARTS vet and he fires back with some big kicks of his own and a pretty big corner dropkick. My guess is he may be another Seichi Ikemoto guy, or somehow adjacent to the general sportsbar sleaze shooter scene that seems to be brewing right now. Either way this is pretty fun. Feels more like a WAR match, almost no submissions or matwork just two guys trying to shatter each other. Yamamoto is starting to work like a grumpy amalgamation of his old BattlARTS seniors. Short, and violent and fun.
2025 Wrestling Roundup
Monday, August 4, 2025
2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 30
Monday, July 28, 2025
2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 29
Tsuyoshi Michibata vs Tatsunori Oya, Kobe Meriken 5/23
No clue who this Oya guy is, but he tries to rush Michibata at the bell. Michibata proceeds to kick the absolute shit out of Oya. And slaps the shit out of him too for good measure. After taking a bunch of savage kicks Oya makes a somewhat crummy comeback hitting a flimsy X-Factor. He continues to get on track a bit locking in some submissions but is soon stopped dead in his straight when he runs into a Michibata knee to the face. Oya clumsily tries going for the arm but is soon put to sleep. Amazing the things that can happen in a tiny sportsbar.
Tanomusaku Toba & Tyson Maeguchi vs Takuya Wada & Shuichiro Katsumura, Ganbare Pro 6/1 - FUN
Kickboxers vs shooters! Pretty good action here. Even with a bunch of younger and faster guys around, I think Toba was probably the best guy in the match. He'd aggressively try to elbow people in the head, and sell vulnerability which made things interesting, then blast punch people in the face. That said Maeguchi was also pretty fun. He had some cool fast combos and good energy. Couple neat exchanges involving him down the stretch and a great finish. Wada and Katsumura don't leave a huge impression but they are solid enough. Good stuff.
Akito vs Yuya Koroku, DDT 6/1
Yuya Koroku is another wrestler from DDTs never ending supply wrestlers who are somewhat-competent-but-not-terribly-interesting-to-me. This was mostly WoS style chain wrestling and pretty fun. Akito is pretty good doing this stuff, not a master but it was fun watching him block Korokus basic escape attempts. Dug all the slick pin attempts. Koroku goes along fine and the veteran vs upstart aspect adds a bit of flavor.
Ali Najima & Masanori Kanu Watanabe vs Shota Marlon Miwa & Yukito, HEAT UP 7/12
This was about 8 minutes long and pretty great. We get some fun shootstyle grappling between Watanabe and Yukito at the beginning with Yukito once again looking very capable. Once Najima gets in the ring the match immediately becomes really stiff. Najima is turning into the most exciting wrestler on earth with his hard kicks and crazy running headbutts. I am also digging his use of the firemans carry. Almost everything he hit in this match rattled people and it's really fun. Shota Marlon Miwa is this skinny guy in karate pants but he seemed capable and also hit a really great axe kick at one point. BattlARTS-style KO finish was really cool. A lot of great action in a very short time, this was a winner.
Utami Hayashishita vs Takumi Iroha, Marigold 7/16
A lot of really good work in this. Thought the build from Iroha being the (convincing) overdog to Utami taking her down a peg and levelling the field by doing some pretty fun legwork was really good. There were a few awesome touches and they did an excellent job building to the big bombs, like there was remarkably little move spam for such a long match. Thought they both did a pretty good job selling the work on the back and leg. That said, holy fuck 56 minutes is too long for these two at this point, just way too much bloat. The match already started out slow, and 20 minutes in they were already at a snails pace doing constant double downs and things like that to stretch out the match to the maximum. The finish wasn't exactly Kandori vs Hokuto either. Edit it down to like 30 or even 40 minutes and add a better ending and you'd have the match of the year.
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Tanomusaku Toba Documentation Project #25
Pretty fun 6 man tag with TOBA~ spicing things up. Man I probably would never watch this if Tanomusaku Toba was not in it. Thankfully he is here, having some brief awesome exchanges with everyone and punching people in the face. He’s old, slow, but he’s seen in it all and can anticipate his opponents in such a way that they are sure to get punched in the face. His first exchange with Okada really had that feel. Toba even ends up taking Imanaris hot tag eating some hard chops and lariats. Everybody else here is a bit half baked and indyriffic, with not a ton of selling as everyone gets their shit in, but they are able to create some fun moments. Even Maeguchi, a shooter who likes to throw lots of kicks and open handed strikes, annoyed me somewhat with his irritating high pitched yelling. At the end he and Katsumura were able to have a decent PANCRASE-ish exchange into a cool finish with Katsumura hanging on to a ninja choke. Still, fuck that: TOBA~!
Tanomusaku Toba vs KAZMA, Ganbare Pro 8/11/2017 - GREAT
I haven’t heard much about KAZMA. He’s seemingly been around forever. So long that he was in BML. So long that he was in WWE one time. And apparently even did at least one match in TNA? Then he kind of went into an infinite loop of having multiman matches in promotions like GLEAT and Dragon Gate and WRESTLE-1 and the corpse of Pro Wrestling NOAH where there’s no chance I’ll ever watch him. I definitely don’t remember anyone ever coming out as a KAZMA Sakamoto fan. But fuck all that, KAZMA is facing Tanomusaku Toba now, and when you face TOBA it’s ride or die. Tanomusaku Toba is pretty much Everyone Has a Plan Until They Get Punched in the Face: The Wrestler and that really makes all his matches into something special. Right at the bell Toba is punching KAZMA in the face really hard. And, well, maybe KAZMA really is an underrated great of the indies and has been illuminating all those GLEAT and Wrestle-1 tags with a kind of greatness that people have unfairly failed to notice. Or getting punched in the face by Tanomusaku Toba has awoken something in KAZMA. Either way, Toba beats the living dog shit out of KAZMA here, with the super close camera work being pretty great as we get all these close handheld shots of KAZMAs soul leaving and re-entering his body. It turns into a brawl fast as they lay into each other on the floor. KAZMA actually puts violence into all his stuff – even his open-handed-probably-learned-from-Lord-Tensai-WWEish punches look sick, and there is some serious grit as Toba stonewalls an attempt at lazy brawling and punches KAZMA in the face some more, and we get close up handheld shots of KAZMA laying on the floor after getting his bell rung, and Tobas aging-kind-of-pudgy body being flung into the chairs. Back in the ring KAZMA contiues to match the tone putting some nice violence into all his stuff, really trying to crack Tobas frail old body. and Toba only knows one thing. Old Man Toba doesn’t really do any of the fancier kick and punch variations anymore that he would do in his younger days, all he knows is forward with straight rights driving into KAZMAS face and it’s awesome. That kind of simplicity is well appreciated and totally works for me. This thing kind of ruled. Does KAZMA rule? No clue, but he looked good in a gritty 10 minute match getting punched in the face a lot and giving back some violence. That’s a well worthy achievement in any wrestlers career.