2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 27

 Ari Najima vs Masanori Watanabe, Sportiva 7/9

The U-Style-in-a-sportsbar-resurrgence continues. Some great grappling exchanges here, with Najima looking really good, he may be one of the best guys on earth right now, which is pretty crazy considering his debut was like a year ago, but I guess when you wrestle twice a week for a year you get good fast. Both guys deciding to do shootstyle grappling on the floor was a crazy moment and they actually continued to do grappling. Liked how Najima, after just getting entangled in an armbar by Watanabe continued to sell an arm/shoulder injury throughout. Back in the ring we get some more scrappy exchanges and Watanabe kicking Najima in the bad shoulder and hitting cool arm takeovers. Headbutt exchange leading to the running headbutt was pretty sick too. Ending felt premature, but I guess these two will fight each other a lot more, at least I hope so because this definitely made me excited to see these two develop a full on rivalry. Great stuff, more passion, skill and energy on display here than in a lot of matches on much bigger shows, Sportiva is on a roll.

Asuka Fujitaki vs Yuria Hime, STARDOM 6/4

This was good pro wrestling. Basically Yuria tries to hit fast and hard to take down the bigger Fujitaki. When Fujitaki tried to give Hime the rookie treatment with a boston crab (that Hime desperately tried to avoid), Hime came back with some quite vicious big boots. I also dug how they built to the bodyslam. Fujitaki doesn't do the cool submissions she showcased in the YuuRi match, but she is effective her putting down her opponent with basic lariats. Good basic all action match, the one let down was a somewhat awkward transitoin into Yurias skullsmasher move thing.

Utami Hayashishita & Mayu Iwatani & Seri Yamaoka vs Takumi Iroha & Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame, Marigold 6/17

Interpromotional joshi action! They put all these rookies in the main event so they know what kinda gold they have on their hands right now. And this largely delivers. First Yamaoka vs Senka exchange is a lot of fun. Then the intensity picks up a lot when Iroha tags in and starts waffling Seri. Iroha did a great job carrying herself like a badass in this and delivering character moments. Hayashishita is cool but I thought she could've carried herself as bigger considering she's the world champion of this promotion. I mean, her getting shoved around by the rookies is fun, but  I thought her later exchanges with Senka would've been a bigger deal if she had established herself as more of a badass earlier. Iwatani is hit and miss but was able to engage in some hot exchanges largely thanks to Iroha. But the match delivers the Senka moments that you want. Her testing herself against Utami is fun, she had a killer sleeper hold at one point and the SHOOT PIN~ is still strong. Also the match needed more Seri. Still, a really fun match that delivers more complex action than you'd expect going in and made me invested in this little Marigold/Marvelous feud.


Averno, Dr. Cerebro, Euforia, Volador Jr. & Xelhua vs. Blue Panther, Hologram, Neon, Valiente & Virus (ACTION 5/24/2025)

20 minutes of non-stop goodness. Your GOATS Blue Panther and Virus looked insane, and everyone else was a ton of fun. Match had a little bit of everything: cool lucha matwork, but they move on to standing exchanges pretty fast, lots of dives, complicated highspots from Neon and Hologram, and thankfully also plenty of rudo antics. Loved the rudo stuff honestly as it was just right to stop the match from becoming a total exhibition. Also loved Euforias little monster run, and Valientes highflying was really impressive considering he must be pretty old by now. Blue Panther continues to be the greatest plucky old man in wrestling, and Virus still looked like the best guy in the match. A lot of cool highspots but Holograms no brakes suicide dive probably took the cake. Finish looked too easy, but sometimes you just gotta take it home and give the fans a feel good moment.

White Moriyama vs Ari Najima, HEAT-UP 6/1

It's White Moriyama for real this time! Once again, this had the weird rules with 1st round being kickboxing, 2nd grappling and 3rd is straight forward everything goes. Kickboxing was alright, with a few punches landing pretty hard, grappling round was pretty intense where it seemed neither wanted to give up the advantage. And finally in the 3rd it's a pretty awesome breakdown with Najima really laying into Moriyama with hard shots. Moriyama seemed to have slowed down and looked like dead meat, but then started giving Najima back as good as he got. Last strike exchange was downright savage and the finish was rad. Seems Moriyama has only stepped a few times in the ring this year which is regrettable because he can clearly still go.

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

2025 Wrestling Week 8

 Senka Akatsuki vs Ai Houzan, Marvelous 1/12

This was really unique and cool. Basically picture a basic joshi match, but make it insanely uncooperative. This was full of struggle and had some of the most intense pinfall attempts I've ever seen. Apparently this had the 'shoot pin' rule which means the wrestlers would (mostly) cooperate on standing stuff but once somebody was with their back to the mat the match would turn into a shoot while a pin was attempted. Leave it to Chigusa Nagayo to run that kind of insanity in 2025. Watching the rookie, Akatsuki put the more seasoned Ai Houzan in trouble for real was quite something to watch. Not a great match but really interesting and unique to see, maybe we should just turn pro wrestling into a shoot again.

Jaguar Yokota & Honori Hana vs Yumiko Hotta & Misa Kagura, SAREEE-ism 1/23

This is one of those matches that you have to love pro wrestling for. Yokota is 63, Hotta 58. They both can't move very well anymore, but they are still insanely charismatic, tough and know exactly what to do, so that made them really fascinating to watch here. Of course Yokota has to take most of the bumps in this match, she also busts out a dive to the outside and her insanely cool flipping axe kick. Wish their little exchange had gone longer because it was fascinating to watch. For some reason this match had some insane headbutts, Hana hits one on Hotta that left a dent in Hottas skull, and later Yokota tries to crack Kaguras head. The two young wrestlers didn't leave a huge impression, for some reason they just did a ton of shoulder blocks, but they kept it moving while you waited for Hotta or Yokota to tag in again. Fascinating match.

Takahiro Tababa vs GAJO, Big Bear Produce 2/22

Awesome brutal massacre, just two big monsters charging foreward and trying to tear each other apart. This felt like a fight to the death, 5 minutes in both guys are bleeding from elbows and headbutts. GAJO getting taken down, bloodied, rolling out, going back in trying to break Tababas jaw with a shooting headbutt was one of those 'pro wrestling exemplified' moments. Couldn't be happier that GAJO has come back to wrestling. I can't write many words here other than they brutalized each other and it felt like a fight to the death. Just the right mix of shootstyle and barfight. Felt like one of the greatest under 10 minutes ever on first watch.

Hechicero vs Valiente, CMLL 1/24

Really enjoyed this when it was just two masters putting holds on each other. Those first 90 seconds were some fine fine pro wrestling. Admittedly I thought they ended up doing a little too much, especially with the constant chopping, but it's also undeniable that they kept the cool stuff coming. I also liked how they made this match feel a lot bigger and more personal by going for their masks. I'm not sure why an under 10 minute match needs to have an apron bump but the apron bump here was pretty great, so was Valientes big dive. I also loved Hechiceros stomp in the ropes, he is really good at those little things. I thought this could have been better if they had kept it a bit more focussed and done slightly less, but you can't fault them for flexing their skills. Strong little match.

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup