2025 Matchguide Week 47

 Yu Shimizu & Yuta Oya vs Ali Najima & Hajime Enshu, Sportiva 11/19

Best Sportiva in a while, for 2 reasons: 1) we get some cool Najima/Oya matwork at the start and it's always awesome to see Oya grapple it out and b) an unusal level of disdain between Najima and Shimizu, and thankfully they settle out to deliver a hot finishing stretch between the two that is packed with everything you can ask for. Enshu very much exists in this match, apparently he's a 40-something year old guy who was briefly an AJPW rookie in 2010s and only came back to wrestling last year after a +10 year hiatus. Interesting backstory aside he is a not very impressive skinny old man wrestler, though he can lay it in here and there, and we do get to see Oya judo throwing his skinny ass, so that was cool, and then he doesn't get in the way anymore. Shimizu vs Najima is just great. Obviously these are two very straight forward hard hitting pro wrestlers and they do clock each other with their kicks and elbows good, but the really impressive finish is built around submissions. All year we've seen Shimizus rear naked choke and Najimas achilles hold built up as killing moves so seeing them scramble out of those here was a really sweet piece of long term wrestling storytelling, and the surrounding wrestling was impressive. Finish was actually great too. If Sportiva at some point ends up giving us a singles match between these two I'll be delighted but for now this was a really nice stand-in.

Tomoki Hatano vs Shota Marlon Miwa, HEAT-UP 5/25

This was unexpectedly good. I've only known Hatano as the less impressive, less scummy tag partner of Yu Shimizu. But in this match, he was breathing the spirit of the scum bastard as he basically made it a point to be as evil to his opponent as possible. Really uncooperative looking matwork where Hatana threw the skinnier Miwa around and scrambled for chokes, hard brain scrambling elbows, shrugging off his kicks and just being a total prick. Just the first half of this was like 20 times more interesting than the average indy match due to sheer uncooperativeness and a disdainful nature. Shota Marlon Miwa has the dubious fame of being the first German-Japanese pro wrestler, he is a kind of skinny lanky karateka, he sells his ass off and his kicks are really fun which is all you really want from a karateka. His axe kick and big jumping leg lariat are awesome, so when you have an awesome leg lariat you are an awesome wrestler in my book. Hatanos enzuigirs were also impressively hard kicking, catching Miwa right in his skinny neck. Really good uncooperative little match.

MARU & Ayano Irie vs Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara, AWG 11/24

A lot of pretty badass wrestling here. MARU continues to look like a killer as she's constantly inflicting punishment, biting, pulling hair, waffling people with a chain and killing them with double stomps. The chain stuff is cheap but effective and the surprise chain attacks are fun, and I am even fine with the comical amount of ref distractions, and it always looks punishing. There was also some great stretch muffler work here. Initially Uehara scrambled right out of the hold, so later MARU goaded her into throwing kicks just to catch her leg and go for the move again. It's super simple stuff but it's a lot of fun and somehow very few wrestler are smart enough anymore to do things like that. Uehara and Saihara were also pretty great here dishing out punishment constantly barraging people with kicks. Uehara seems to be turning into a good wrestler now, even her somewhat goofy hip attack hit hard, and she's just a ton of fun, imagine Torrie Wilson blasting people with credible shoot kicks. One thing that stands out here was the smart use of transitions, it never felt like I was just watching people run through their offense. They settle into a Saihara vs Irie finishing run which is surprisingly white hot. Irie had some problems executing stuff early on, but she held up pretty well against Saiharas UWF style barraging her with big boots from every angle. Saihara is a super reliable wrestler too just constantly putting the heat on people with shoot kicks and submissions and her suplexes. It's simple, straight forward wrestling that hits hard. There were also some great dramatic saves including Uehara just running in and braining Nagai with a BattlARTS-worthy high kick. Just great action. The finish is Saihara nailing Irie with a jumping knee to the face and then throwing her with a huge deadlift German which is one hell of a finish in 2025. I have no explanation for the greatness of AWG, they draw small crowds, which mostly seem to be uncles that seem to be there to look at the pretty girls, yet they keep putting on these banger matches that are more straightforwardly enjoyable than almost anything else I'm seeing in 2025.  

Mari & Act vs Haruka Ishikawa & Kyoka Iwai, AWG 1/24

Great tag, which was refreshingly different. Basically, Mari and Act are the top heel act in AWG and Ishikawa and Iwai are a pair of lesser evils. Haruka Ishikawa was going after Mari like an absolute pitbull here, just an absolute demon, and in turn Mari would maul her with some really violent kicks. Iwai likes to hit people with a gimmicked umbrella, so Mari shutting that down quickly and Act giving her a taste of her own medicine was good. Mari and Act toyed with their opponents for a bit before Ishikawa and Iwai gained control in a smart spot. After that it was just a relentless as they tried to take down Mari with Mari having great violent retaliations. Heck, there was a chair throw in this that felt like one of the most memorable things I've seen in a while. The one slight let down is the finish, since they were setting up the upcoming Mari/Ishikawa title match. But this is a great prelude to that, as convincing and intense as you can ask for any match to be mostly thanks to Haruka and Mari.

2025 Matchguide 

2025 Matchguide Week 45

 Shinya Ishida & Ali Najima & Masanori Watanabe vs Yu Shimizu & Yuta Oya & Ryutaro Ohno, Sportiva 11/12

Sportiva with an all star 6 man tag! And yeah this resembled one of those 90s AJPW 6 mans just in a sportsbar. A bit less grand in scope if you will, but everyone here got to do some fun wrestling and it ended up being a very well put together super enjoyable match. Starts out nice and basic. Shimizu always looks great in these tags, in this case by kicking things off booting people off the apron and putting effort into working an abdominal stretch. We do get touches of everyone doing what they do best and giving an impression of what has made Sportiva such a good promotion this year. We get a great Najima/Oya exchange, which made me think we're due for another singles match between them. Their progression continues as they keep going toe to toe, and the same goes for Najima standing up to higher ranked guys like Ishida in a bigger way now. Ohno is still in his rookie role, but we know he can be fun doing his thing. This was a lot of fun and a reminder that this crew is one of the best things going in 2025 altough I am thirsting after some singles matches between any two of these guys.

Yukito vs Bomber Okuno, HEAT-UP 9/13

I quite like Yukito. In a world full of guys with a shootstyle moveset, an actual Kiyoshi Tamura trainee is always a welcome change of pace. Even more interesting is the fact that he's a 47 year old rookie, although you don't really notice his age. This is not shootstyle or anything, but just the way Yukito would aggressively hook his boody into Okuno and take him down loos just legit enough for it to get my attention. The match soon becomes about Okunos toughness. Okuno is more of a Jun Izumida type guy: hard head, slow moving, doesn't do many things. He's often trite, but in this match Yukito gets just on his grill enough that everything becomes a bit more contemptful, making this match interesting. Okuno would keep shrugging of Yukitos kicks, laying back into him with really hard elbows and headbutts, and rattle him with cool outdated offense like Coconut Crushers or falling headbutts. It's compelling precisely because it's not your typical even steven match up. Okuno would absorb Yukitos kicks and then just grab him and slam him really hard again. It becomes about Yukito trying to crack a tough, stubborn opponent. When he finally starts gaining momentum and starts to get ahold of Okunos arm, it really feels like he was going for the kill rather than getting in some cute reversals. Some really nice desperation down the stretch here with those submissions, and you do get those kicks vs hard head spots and Bomber cracking Yukito really hard. Super simple but highly enjoyable match.

Mari & Haruka Ishikawa vs Yui Tensho & Sakura Mizushima, AWG 2/24

'nother good match from AWG. Aside from a few light hearted moments, this delivered plenty of good action. Yui Tensho was in goofball mode early, trying to hit the AXE BOMBA~, which lead to Mari and Haruka doing an Anderson Bros style job working over her arm. We got see some good armwork from both of them. When Mizushima tagged in, I thought she would be one of these idol types - you know, very skinny, hits flimsy dropkicks and rollups, but she tried to take out Maris leg with some pretty brutal double stomps. Her dropkicks aren't amazing but I thought she was pretty effective as she always knew what to do. Loved Mari putting her in her place with some hard kicks and then almost ripping her in half with a crazy submission. Second half was about Tensho vs Haruka Ishikawa. Tensho cut back the goofiness and I thought Ishikawa was quite efffective pouncing on Tensho with sentons over and over, she looked like a pitbull. They just build to the axe bomber and it's good stuff. I like that Tensho getting a win over Maris team was made to feel like a big deal.

Mari vs Sakura Mizushima, AWG 3/16

Their exchanges in the February tag hinted at a good match, and this pretty much delivered just that! This was pretty great overdog vs underdog stuff. Mari outclassed Mizushima initially, and the match quickly turned into a nasty trashing with Maris kicks and sadism. Mizushima took one of the hardest throws into a row of chairs I've ever seen (and think of the ground that covers in joshi). Mizushima was able to catch one of Maris kicks and hit this nasty move where she dropped her entire body weight on Maris leg. She then proceeded to drop some more nasty double stomps on Maris leg. That legwork is very brief and doesn't slow Mari down too hard, probably since they wanted to keep Mari being the overdog, but it gives Mizushima some breathing space to mount a comeback. Thought the match was pretty much perfectly laid out with Mizushima getting just the right amount of desperate and urgent hopespots and Maris cutoffs being hard and mean. Mind you, Sakura could be a bit better when it comes to footwork and the force of her execution, but for what her role is she does pretty well. Also loved Maris quick use of the Gory Special. Very good stuff and Mari continues to deliver. 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

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 Wrestling Matchguide Week 41

 Avisman vs Eragon, 10/4

Mask vs hair baby. They brought it here and that is a nice thing to see for two indy luchadores working in a dingy hall. Avisman has always been a really good worker and Eragon, for someone who I last heard about like 15 years ago working undercard matches in IWRG, looked good. Most notably this was an apuestas match that brought a lot to the table. I mean, I haven't watched too many of these matches lately, but a lot of what has plagued these matches from what I've seen in the 2010s-2020s is absent here. There are no throwaway falls, they made sure to create struggle and drama, and even did callbacks to tie everything. And on top of that you have all the mask ripping and gory sick blood and headbutts you want from your gritty indy apuestas match. Bit odd that they started with llave style mat wrestling and it was good work. Avisman increasing the pressure by hitting a dive and going to town on Eragon tearing him up and bloodying him was also good work. Hey, the dives in this actually feel important which is great and another aspect of classic lucha that is often missing from modern wrestling. Really a nice piece of wrestling all things considered.

Ali Najima & Masanori Watanabe vs Yoichi Shinmei & Yuta Oya, Sportiva 10/22

Sportiva continues to deliver. Shinmei is this guy who has been around a really long time, being the ace of JWA Tokai 20 years ago. At some point he vanished, and now he's back in Sportiva. He was this really athletic old guy who would hit cool stylized elbows. He had good chemistry with both Najima and Watanabe, never looking out of his depth. It was pretty cool to see such an obscure wrestler showing up and doing his thing, and I hope he becomes a regular appearance in Sportiva. We all know how good the other 3 have gotten and this was another night where Najima, Watanabe and Oya proved they might be the most talented trio of young wrestlers on earth right now. Just loads of good wrestling with the matchtime just flying by. Some great limbwork here, and the Watanabe/Oya finishing run is good stuff. After this I really want to see a singles match between Watanabe and Oya.

Daisuke Ikeda & Mohammed Yone & Naomichi Marufuji vs Shuji Ishikawa & Naomichi Marufuji & Atsushi Kotoge, NOAH 8/25/2025

I will be upfront here: the main reason you want to see this is the 2 minutes or so where Ikeda and Shuji Ishikawa try to headbutt each others brains to a molten pulp. That was some pretty good pro wrestling. Other than that, eh parts of this were fun and the crowd was hot. Yone looked good here, hitting people really hard and doing his signature glassy eyed selling which I always love. I could actually see myself enjoying him in a match against some better guys. I don't really care about the other guys here and there was lots of chopping and standing in front of each other... Marufuji was so comically bad and his superkicks were missing by a mile. His little segment with Shuji Ishikawa felt like old man comedy. Kotoge is pretty worthless with his constant thigh slapping and Shiozaki was probably the least impressive as always. Nevermind that, Ikeda hit someone with a really hard lariat too~!

Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara vs Rico Fukunaga & Sakura Mizushima, AWG 10/19

Credible, stiff pro wrestling with a fast pace. Hard to believe but AWG is quietly putting out some really good stuff. Everyone here looked good, sticking to what they were good at. Thought this got really good when Fukunaga and Mizushima started damaging Ueharas legs. Uehara needs a bit of work as a wrestler, but her kicks are pretty fun. Fukunaga definitely knows what she's doing. Her working over Uehara with low kicks, and even goading her into falling for a dragonscrew was quality stuff. Match then went from very good to great with the Saihara vs Fukunaga finishing run. Lots of great exchanges and desperation, and the build to Saiharas German suplex was amazing. Saihara is the AWG champ, and Fukunaga and Mizushima do everything in their power to beat her. It was 100% classic Japanese wrestling stuff, lots of kicks, shootstyle submissions all building to a suplex. This ended up great, and Saihara and Fukunaga looked like two of the best wrestlers in the country.

2025 Matchguide

2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 37

 
Grand Passion Mask #4 vs Super Taira, Sportiva 8/27

Grand Passion Mask #4 has been one of those acts that has been kind of lost on me. But this was a pretty good match! No surprise since it has Super Taira in it. The most straight wrestling I've seen GP4 do, he brought a lot of cool holds to the table, and Taira is really cool to watch as always. This had a lot of quasi-lucha style work. Cool moment where GP turned a mishappen roll up attempt by Taira into a cool Full Nelsion hold, and then a facebuster to gain control. GP proceeded to work over Taira with cool lucha holds. The second half was cool mostly because Taira is established that he can win the match whenever he ties his opponent up, either with a llave or a pin combo. GP Mask even did an Hijo del Santo style tope into a camel clutch with Taira fighting out of the camel clutch. I think fighting out of submissions is cool. This was a fun creative 10 minute undercard match that felt competitive, which is just what I need, feels like a breath of fresh air.

Ali Najima & Super Taira vs Yuta Oya & Ryutaro Ohno, Sportiva 9/17/2025

Whenever I watch a Sportiva main event, its almost guaranteed to be one of the best matches of the match. That is remarkable, and it has probably made Sportiva my favourite promotion to watch this year just because of their incredible consistency and charming recurring cast of wrestlers. This had a dream team in Najima and Taira, the continuation of the rivalry between Oya and Najima, and greenhorn Ohno showing up in a main event tag. It was good as you expect. I wish the first Taira vs Oya exchange had gone longer as these two are always fascinating against each other. Ohno is as solid in the old businessman rookie role as you need him to be. He still has to fight to hit even a bodyslam on Najima, and that makes him compelling. He also adds some cool flavour with his kicks and his chunkiness. The real story of the match is Yuta Oya being the underdog teamed with the rookie against two higher ranked wrestlers. He takes an Anderson Bros-like beating from them. There was a great moment where Najima was hitting all kinds of nasty kicks to Oya, and Taira was also bending his leg pretty hard. Tairas 'dangerous lucha maestro who uses submissions and pins like a shooter' act is really cool. There are some quality exchanges between Ohno and Taira which is really fun to see because Taira is such a unique wrestler, and then we get Oya vs Najima. Both these guys were hitting really hard and doing good stuff. The saves were also really dramatic. There are so many modern tags where it feels like there's endless saves by the partner and it starts to feel meaningless. Here there were 2 or 3 crucial saves and they were really dramatic and important. And then you have the aspect of all these guys constantly adding new stuff to their skillset. Very good match, another good chapter in the Sportsbar Kings Road.

Ali Najima & Ryutaro Ono vs Yu Shimizu & Masanori Watanabe, Sportiva 9/3

Onos return match after a 2 month absence, glad he's back. This was a short match but really hard hitting and with some nifty wrestling. Watanabe was just destroying Onos leg here with nasty low kicks. Ono is in the role that he's mostly taking a beating but he can fire back with big crowbar elbows and the occasional hard kick of his own, he's a fun chubby hard hitter. Shimizu vs Najima sprint section was really good. Najima is still building up to things like a body slam or suplex and he's always compelling, and Shimizu continues to be reliable with his simple style of hard elbows and sleepers. At one point, Najima punched him square in the face. The finish had Watanabe just obliterating Ono with a brutal headkick. Watanabe is quickly becoming a guy who's must watch in my book, and everyone else here is realiably good even in a small dose.

Yusaku Ito & Michio Kageyama vs Shinya Ishida & Konaka, Sportiva 9/3

Yusaku Ito baby. With his gritty headbutts and general scumminess always make him a highlight when he shows up. The parts where he and Ishida were beating on each other were easily the selling point of the match. Not that anything else was bad here, but the match got a bit more heated when they faced off. First with Ito starting to bitchslap Ishida and then pulling him over and raining punches on him. Later they had another gritty exchange wailing on each other in the corner. Ishida is not afraid to hit back and stomp the shit out of a guy. Aside from that refreshing scrappiness there was also some fun methodical Konaka work. Kageyama is solid but won't set your world on fire here. He's not much in the match anyways. Ito on the other hand was working his ass off having some great exchanges with Konaka and Ishida. I love that the sleeper is always a plot point in Sportiva. Quality match with an interesting layout.

Ali Najima vs Konaka, Sportiva 9/24

When I saw this would be happening I thought it would be the main event. It was the opening match, I thought it could be an amazing main event but as an opening match it was still really good. It was a classic match that was nearly all grappling with Najima attacking Konakas arm and Konaka in turn going for his leg. Lots of nifty cerebral wrestling moments and it felt like every moment counted, which made it so good. Konaka is pretty much always doing something neat, and Najima is getting really good at making simple holds interesting. I loved his nasty hammerlock takedown, so simple but cool. Konakas counters were amazing. I love the hard hitting Ali Najima but it's cool to seem him do well in this kind of chess style mat wrestling match.

Yasu Kubota vs Yu Shimizu, Sportiva 9/10

The Scum Bastard challenges for the title! Yasu Kubota is a type of wrestler that is easily underrated. What he does is very simple, straight forward, basic - but he has a knack for mixing in a few cool touches that make him stand out. And most importantly, everything matters. He's also a 51 year old geezer, so he has to be smart about what he does. Shimizu is quite unrelenting with his hard elbows and sleepers. The result is a simple, but very enjoyable and compelling match that is built around Shimizu elbowing the champion really hard, and Kubota hitting back hard slowing him down by taking out his legs and locking in a few cool holds. Shimizus elbows and sleepers are awesome and there is some gritty leg selling. It's a very old school type match with the high spots being something like a reverse DDT or lariat. I could see some people finding this boring but I really enjoyed it and I was rooting hard for Shimizu to take the title. His chokes made me jump out of my seat and a match that can make me super excited about a chokehold in 2025 has to be a really well crafted piece of wrestling. 

2025 Wrestling Matchguide 

2025 Wrestling Week 35

 
Shinya Aoki vs Suwama, Evolution 7/5

First 6 minutes of this were very good as it was basically Aoki taking the much bigger Suwama apart on the mat. Aoki pretty much dominated him almost completely, with Suwama seemingly only leaning on his size advantage, almost baffingly so when you remember Suwama actually has a strong background in amateur wrestling. There were a few cool moments especially the weird pin Aoki did. Aoki gets cocky and Suwamas response is to chuck him outside and go for chairs. A good idea in theory, but the crowd brawling was kind of ass in practise and took too long. The match actually gets good again when they get back in the ring. Suwama looked like an angry bear trying to maul Aokis skinny ass. Loved Aokis ultra tight full nelson hold that nearly seemed to crank Suwamas thick neck. Good stuff, edit out the wandering around in the crowd  and you'd have something leaning into greatness.

Yuta Oya vs Super Taira, Sportiva 9/3

This was so good. Both these guys are great grapplers and really interesting wrestlers in general, but there's also the power vs skill aspect. Oya can really wrestle, and it's fascinating to watch him find his way around the mat and lock in complex submissions, but he also has the power to slam you really hard. There was a sense that Taira was really trying to avoid Oyas power and it felt when Oya got him even in a basic side headlock, Taira was in trouble. There was this bit where they both stubbornly struggled over ground octopus hold variations and it was a glorious bit of pro wrestling. Taira continues to be one of the more interesting wrestlers around with his blend of shootstyle and lucha grappling and his hard kicks and penchant for a sneaky flash submission or pin. And then you have Oyas killer judo throw. This was a great match up and they delivered a great 10 minute undercard match which is a wonderful thing in itself.

Hideaki Sumi vs Tatsunori Oya, Kobe Meriken 8/29

Kobe Meriken finally fixed the audio/video delay on their camera, so now you get to watch the glorious violence of Hideaki Sumi in more accuracy. Seriously wicked performance by Sumi here who looked like an all time great karate asskicker. He was beating the absolute shit out of Oya with sick kicks, punches and headbutts. It would've made Daisuke Ikeda worship. That half handspring enzuigiri Sumi does that landed right in Oyas face is a thing of absurd violent beauty. Insane Sumi performance when you consider he's 56, he looked like an asskicker on the level of any asskicker in wrestling here. He also displayed some cool submission skill which I always appreciate in a striker. Oya was also pretty good here. He tried to shoot grapple with the karateka and he had a cool judo throw and generally looked a lot better than in his last appearance than I saw. And he absolutely got his ass kicked here, making this one hell of a 7 minute sportsbar BattlARTS match. I need to watch like a 100 more Sumi matches after this.

Sareee & Takumi Iroha vs Natsuki Tora & Saya Kamitani, SAREEE-ism 7/14

Fast pace, some chaos and brawling, a clear face heel dynamic leading to real heat... this is a fun classic look for joshi in 2025! The fact this is not a typical workratefest made me give a shit and all these 4 do an excellent job keeping this formula interesting. Tora and Kamitani are hardly Gokuaku Domei, but they do a good job here. Kamitani was not afraid to get into sicko headbutting wars with Sareee and Tora is a really fun tubby girl wrestler who blows mist and squishes people with brutal sentons (I looked up Natsuki Tora and apparently joshi fans hate her. Well, that figures.) Iroha is great here as Chigusas heir kicking the shit out of bad people and looking like a badass. Sareee is also a lot of fun doing her thing in this environment - watching her suplex the bigger Tora around was pretty crazy. There is some interference which is done in a non-match derailing way and there was a crazy shot with a baseball bat. Not a ton of selling but that's not a huge detriment in this kind of match I think. Sareee actually looked damaged after eating a nasty Death Valley Bomb and it actually looked dramatic. Enough fun twists and turns to keep you entertained, and of course they all nuke each other with some big time bombs without going too overboard. I really really liked this a lot.

2025 Matchguide 

Sportiva Wednesday Curry Pro Wrestling 8/13/2025

 Watch

 Mikiya Sasaki vs Yacchae Seven, Sportiva 8/13

 A fun opening match between two fun wrestlers. It had some jokes, but enough serious wrestling for me to like it, and it made for a pretty entertaining mix. Yacchae Seven is this energetic masked wrestler, his springboard flip senton was pretty impressive, but a lot of this was him leaping into Sasakis atomic drops and getting rolled up in comical ways. Mikiya Sasaki is another guy who worships the Funk brothers. He won't make you forget Crusher Takahashi, but he is pretty solid at what he does, and he brings some fun character touches like how he loves the old school suplex over the ropes. His dropkick to the face was genuinely impressive and this was probably the most solid I've seen him look so far. At 7 minutes they move through it pretty fast. An enjoyable match that is worth a look if you want to have some fun.
 
 Super Taira & Yasu Kubota vs Masanori Kanu Watanabe & Yu Shimizu, Sportiva 8/13
 
 Pretty much 4 cool wrestlers having a cool match. I always look forward to seeing Super Taira, and he once again proved himself to be one of the best technicians around when he grappled with Shimizu. It wasn't showing off, it was Taira being pesky and dominating his opponent, and it was cool to watch. Kubota in the past has looked a little lazy but he was surprisingly on point, despite looking gray like your uncle. He was hitting really hard elbows, and while what he did was simple it never felt like there was a wasted moment when he was in the ring. Everyone who reads my blog should know by now that I really like Watanabe and Shimizu. Shimizu once again proved his salt hitting some of the hardest elbows and having a great exchange with Kubota. Watanabe continues to get better, he blasted Taira with some devastating knees and I really liked that russian legsweep into a heel hook thing he did. Pretty much a match where everyone looked good and was doing something interesting all the time, that didn't go to long but will probably surprise you with how hard they fought. I would look forward to seeing singles matches between any of them coming out of this.
 
Konaka vs Chon Shiryu, Sportiva 8/13
 
Two gods of the indy scene meeting in a match... and an SRS rules match no less! SRS means they have to fight on the wooden floor of the bar and entering the ring leads to a countout. Oh, and you can touch an audience member for a rope break. These are two all timers when it comes to fun creative wrestling, and the wrestling on the floor adds a nice dose of insanity. We get the usual cool kung fu kicks and flying around from Shiryu, and the high pitched yelling chops from Konaka, and then they start climbing on the ceiling and using the barstools and doing some crazy flying to the floor... apparently this was a rematch from 11 years prior. I had no idea how they got the idea to deliver this rematch now but it was a spectacle and really delivers everthing you wish. Painful bumps, both guys hanging upside down from the ceiling, Shiryu hitting a kung fu flying kick over a bar stool... I think these two even in a regular match against each other would be dynamite, but this was crazy and fun in the best way.
 
Ali Najima & Yuta Oya vs Michio Kageyama & Shinya Ishida, Sportiva 8/13

Ali Najima and Yuta Oya continue to be the best story on the Japanese scene this year. This was an incredibly compelling match, with Najima and Oya throwing everything they have trying to beat their more established opponents. After an explosive beginning the veterans were able to slow the pace down, only for things to get heated again when Najima and Oya got the upper hand again. Both Najima and Oya were great here as always. Najima looked like a killer when he was circling around Kageyama kicking him in his bad arm like a shark in the water smelling blood, and he did great job showing the pain in his leg after Kageyama caught him. Oya is such a unique wrestler, he is a powerhouse but also vulnerable, it feels extra mean when he gets blasted with a kick to the face or walks into a sneaky rollup. This was a really ambitious match with multiple layers, but they all stuck to what they do well. And Oya and Najima are making things like a firemans carry or hip throw look cool. I also liked Ishida a lot here, he got blitzed early on but after getting himself together he got pretty evil stomping the hell out of people and even mocking Najimas limp. The week to week progression of the rookies is so satisfying to watch as they keep adding new touches to their game, and the willingness of Najima and Oya to win this match was palpable like in a classic match from the 90s. It really felt like getting a pin on Ishida or Kageyama meant the world to them. It absolutely feels like the best thing going right now and they are just about a year into their career, if they keep progressing like this the next 1-2 years will be insane.

The Library

2025 Matchguide 

2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 30

 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

2025 Wrestling Roundup Week 28

 Dick Togo vs Daisuke Sasaki, DDT 6/18

Impressive showing by Dick Togo. Man retired like 12 years ago and here he is again working the same pace. You really couldn't tell he's a 55 year old man here, he even busts out the old rolling senton to the floor. This is mostly delightfully old school work with a few impressive moments that catch you of guard. Felt wonderfully spontaneous throughout, with moments such as Togo punishing a weak stomp from Sasaki by instantly taking him down, or later cutting him off with a gritty lariat. Sasaki is solid enough angling to attack Togos leg from all angles, without ever falling into drawn out limbwork. Could've done with a bit more leg selling but it's not like that stuff ate up a big part of the match. Got a bit too drawn out at the end for my liking, though it delivers the big punch exchange, senton and crossface nearfalls that a Dick Togo fan will like. And the finish is just a big old punch to the face and you have to love that.

Strong Machine J  vs Madoka Kikuta, Dragon Gate 7/13

How strange that the son of the legendary Strong Machine is a Dragon Gate wrestler. If it wasn't for that I never would've watched this, and well this was a reminder why Dragon Gate isn't for me. Machine looked cool, he has energetic offense, his dropkicks are awesome and he looks really good when he starts punching and lariating a guy, and just the fact he wrestles a lot like his dad and is willing to get his mask ripped open makes him interesting. This Kikuta guy really sucks, I thought there might be potential when he clocked Machine J with a hammer but then he proceeded to just slowly rummage around for weapons and it was probably the slowest negative intensity wrestling I've seen all year. Really too much rummaging around and not enough hate. Machine throwing the table at the cameraman felt crazier than anything in the match. I think that kid really needs to show up in Tenryu Project.

Gauntlet: Hummingbird vs Komomo Minami vs Nagisa Tachibana vs Senka Akatsuki, Marigold 6/28

Didn't really care for all the non-Senka wrestlers in this, as far as I can tell everyone just did a bunch of flimsy offense with little intensity. The contrast when Senka steps in with her basic offense that actually looks good and means something is stark. Really enjoyed watching her take out these half baked wrestlers with shoot pins and body slams. Senka is getting the monster push, and rightfully so.

Ari Najima & Yuta Oya vs Masanori Kanu Watanabe & Ryutaro Ono, Sportiva 7/16

'Nother good match from Sportiva. Najima vs Watanabe continues to deliver, they did some more cool grappling and another cool grappling exchange. Ono continues to be fun in the hapless rookie role. What's cool about this is that we now get to see Oya and Najima beat on some lower ranked guys. That brief section of attacks on the back was pretty fun. Good stuff, not mindblowing but they are all continueing on the right path.

Poison Sawada & Kazuhiko Matsuzaki & Masaru Toi & Vasara Ikeuchi vs Guts Ishijima & Masked Mystery & Michio Kageyama & Yuki Kanzaki, Yoshino Aid 6/22

This was CRAZY UNION vs TTT and a pretty fun take on an indy brawl. Just a bunch of crazy looking guys with charisma beating on each other, and running in and out really fast so it doesn't get broing. Ikeuchi and Kanzaki wailing on each other was probably the highlight but there was also a crazy moment where Poison Sawada busted out a damn knife. It was kind of over in a flash, but it was a blast to see guys like Toi and Matsuzaki still around and brawling, Toi looked so energetic.

2025 Match Roundup 

Pro Wrestling in 2025 Week 23

 Ranna Yagami vs Sareee (STARDOM 6/8)

This was good shit. Basically Sareee faces a spunky underdog who kicks really hard and they throw the kitchen sink. Sareee has great offense and because she was beating on someone who felt like an outmatched underdog that offense meant a lot more. Yagami looked good. She kicked hard, and had a few cool bits of offense. Seemed like one of the better talents on the current scene. The pop-up no selling annoyed me slightly, but its forgivable in this kind of high intensity affair. Most importantly this felt like a fight. Good contender for the best 10 minute match of the year.

Nanae Takahashi vs Miku Aono, Marigold 5/24

Nanae is the next in the 2025 competition of who can have the best retirement match. And this is a pretty respectable entry! It's perfectly fun pro wrestling for the opening minutes. Miku Aono is another name in the joshi scene who I know absolutely nothing about. Based on what I see here, she's solid. Has good solid offense, lots of kicks, doesn't kick as hard as Ranna Yagami, a little clumsy here and there, but a perfectly capable pro wrestler overall. She is smart enough to change the submission hold she's applying when Nanae starts making the ropes and that kind of thing goes a long way for me. Then Nanae gets some chairs in the ring and they do the Necro chair spot where they sit opposite each other and smack each other?! Is that a common spot in Japan now or did Nanae Takahashi watch some Necro Butcher tapes and decide 'Yeah, this is what I need to be doing'? Regardless, this turns really good in the ending portion with lots of nasty hard hitting, clobbering lariats, some sick headbutts, Aonos kicks getting more violent and Takahashi punching her in the face. Aonos big kick that swatted Nanae down was probably the highlight of the match. Struggle over the Styles Clash also felt pretty epic. Kinda awesome to see Nanae put it all together to go out in style like this, actually made me want to go back and watch more Nanae matches because this was really boss and stands up to Meikos retirement match.

Yuta Oya & Konaka vs Ali Najima & Yu Shimizu, Sportiva 6/11

Usual good weekly action from Sportiva. Solid stuff in the first half, and lots of really nifty stuff in the 2nd. Konaka is always interesting to watch no matter what he does, even when its a basic arm drag exchange or a hot tag. There were some really good mat exchanges between him and Najima that made me long for a singles match between them. Yuta Oya is continueing his transformation into the best wrestler in all of Japan, it's really cool to watch him climb the ranks. So far Najima has been the overdog to his underdog so the almost All Japan style finish between them was a great piece of story. Really exciting stuff and another piece in Sportivas really good little 2025 run.

Masanori Kanu Watanabe vs Kazuhiro Tamura, Sportiva 6/11

More sportsbar shootstyle baby. I love that we have this now. Apparently Watanabe is actually an MMA guy so that explains why he hangs really well with Tamura on the mat. This starts with 5 minutes of slick U-Style grappling with both guys trying to lock in submissions but not quite succeeding, and its really cool to see that kind of thing in 2025. The non-matwork portion was really good too. I'm excited about Watanabe because it seems he really gets it, he sold a random leglock from Tamura like it nearly twisted out his knee and it made the second half of the match pretty intense. Tamura is odd, he's rarely great in his own promotion but for some reason often puts in really good little performance in this damn sportsbar. Exciting stuff, a genuinely really good 10 minute match.

 

2025  Wrestling Roundup

Pro Wrestling in 2025 Week 22

 Nanae Takahashi vs NORI, LLPW 4/14

When I saw this happened, I was intrigued. Not just because it's Nanae, but because it's an LLPW match! I had no idea LLPW was still around let alone that you could watch it. And yeah apparently they have put up a handful of recent matches on YouTube. I saw that apparently NORI has a decent MMA background, so she definitely fits Shinobu Kandoris mold. Don't get your hopes too high, because she largely wrestles a generic style. That said, this is quite the good little match and definitely worth watching. NORI is fairly generic, aside from a few kicks and some cool armlocks, but she makes up for it with intensity and passion. And Nanae is quite grounding these matches. It's smarter work than I recall her doing when she was in her prime, but better late than never I guess. Just Nanae grabbing a basic front headlock and snapping her opponent down was a really simple spot that immediately got me into the match. The same goes for her basic dragon screw later in the match. No rocket science here, just well executed basic pro wrestling with a good deal of struggle and urgency, and NORI occasionally connecting with some hard kicks or locking in a cool armlock to try and force a tap, with the veteran vs young upstart story being felt strongly. Absolutely give it a shot if you can get into modern joshi at all.

Seri Yamaoka vs Komomo Minami, Marigold 4/27

This caught my attention because it had some low ratings on Cagematch. A joshi match really has to be special when it gets low ratings on cagematch. The match I thought was a pretty cool showcase for all the cool shit Yamaoka can do, twisting her opponent around in Honda-ish ways. Minami didn't look bad either, she showed up in wrestling shoes and grappled a little, her offense wasn't entirely great, lots of slightly flimsy DDTs, but overall I thought there wasn't anything terribly wrong here, worth checking out to see Yamaoka against someone she can twirl around and put down for the 3 with a cool pin.

Seri Yamaoka vs Takumi Iroha, Marigold 5/24

Really good stuff I thought, that delivers pretty much what you hope with both of them doing what makes them cool, while also having a really sensible match layout. Obviously there is a world difference between them in ranking so Yamaoka is a huge underdog against Iroha. I thought they did a great job telling the story that Iroha is a nigh untouchable badass but Yamaoka could get her if she could just get ahold of her and start doing her wrestling thing. Iroha was very good here, she is one of the few modern wrestlers who when hitting stomps and kicks actually looks like she is stomping and kicking the shit out of someone, I also thought she did a great job giving Yamaoka just the right amount of offense and selling how Yamaoka was trying to sprain her ankle. Yamaoka still needs a dose of confidence but her potential is clearly enormous and she was sticking her neck out here taking an asskicking from Iroha and hitting cool suplexes and trying like hell to pin Irohas damn shoulders to the mat. I love that intense pinfall attempts are a big thing in 2025 now. I can definitely see Yamaoka tearing people apart in a years time if this continues and I look forward to it.

Ali Najima & Ryutaro Ohno vs Kanu Watanabe & Yu Shimizu, Sportiva 6/4

More good rookie action from Sportiva. It's basic, but these matches are proof that basic doesn't have to be boring. In this case we get some cool aggression between Najima and Watanabe, with all their forearms really hitting with a thud. Najima is now in the position where he has to defend his ranking against the younger upstarts and it makes things interesting. Shimizu is really reliable in his role as a old guy who hits like a truck and really cracks people with elbows. Ohno and Watanabe continue their journey into my heart, Ohno with his clunky lovable charisma and Watanabe by hitting some really hurty looking kicks to Shimizus shoulder and trying to submit him.

Yuta Oya & TORU vs Shinya Ishida & Enshu Hajime, Sportiva 6/4

Somehow Sportiva produces lots of good wrestlers on their own, but often bring in wrestlers who kind of suck into their shows. TORU isn't terrible, but he is kind of zany. Enshu Hajime is tall-ish and really skinny and kind of awkward, though he does come into his own a little when it's time to throw kicks. Oya is the glue in this match, since TORU isn't exactly treating this match too serious. It's all about Oya taking a nasty beatdown from Ishida with some hard stomps and a cool build to Oyas comeback. Then we get Hajime laying into Oya with more kicks and knees. Oya is a great gutsy wrestler, the struggle he put into his steamroller move was awesome, it was so simple but it made that whole basic ending run a whole lot better. Really nice finish with Oya absolutely spiking Hajimes skeleton-ish body with the Harai Goshi to pick up a really nice W.

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup 

Pro Wrestling in 2025 Week 17

 Meiko Satomura & Sonoko Kato vs Mayumi Ozaki & Chikayo Nagashima, Oz Academy 4/13

A tag on the coattails of Satomuras retirement run, but Kato vs Nagashima was probably the standout match up here. Don't get me wrong, Satomura is solid as always, but seeing these two revive their old rivalry and kicking ass was quite refreshing. I also enjoyed Ozaki here, she's 56 now and I imagine she can't do much. Some of her brawling with the chain felt a bit like a nostalgia act than actually viciously going after an opponent, but she looked still quite effective when she was beating on Katos hand with metal objects and backfisting Satomura in the face. Kato still has a badass vibe and Nagashima moves amazingly well still. Nice to see a match like this that's just fun all around without much nonsense, this resurrgence of old joshi stars is providing quite a bit of entertainment.

Bomber Okuno & Yosuke Takii vs Hiroaki Taniguchi & Tetsuya Goto, Pro Wrestling Shi-En 4/20


Really fun, effective indy tag. Takii is an old favourite of mine and he still looks really sharp here, his little matwork section with Tetsuya Goto is pretty slick. Tetsuya Goto is another guy whose name I keep seeing but I think I never really watched, checking him out here he's actually pretty good, and not afraid to rock bold colour combinations. Okuno and Taniguchi are two powerhouse guys which means lots of shoulder blocks and the usual, they aren't terribly interesting early on but Taniguchi at least puts really impressive oomph into all his stuff, even a basic body slam or shoulder block so he's fun to watch. The ending run for this turns into smashmouth wrestling though with Goto busting out some impressive babyface spots and everyone else turning it up a notch and doing the most awesome stuff they could think of. At first I thought Okuno sucked since he's a pathetic unimpressive looking chubby loser, but he's actually kinda gold in the last couple minutes feeding into Gotos stuff and setting his own power moves up in fun ways, he also does the coconut crush that is endearing. I would've liked to see Takii also getting to do a bit more but sometimes short and sweet is better. Most importantly, there was no thigh slapping or other stupid shit. This kind of indy formula tag is really easy but nowadays almost nobody seems to do it well anymore, so it's really nice to see one that hits, a solid basic build topped off with lots of sweet stuff towards the end. I should probably check out more of Shi-En.

Yuta Oya vs Yasuhiro Higuchi, Sportiva 4/9

It's been too long since we got to see my man Yuta Oya in a singles match. This Yasuhiro Higuchi guy looks insanely old,  like old enough to be my grandpa. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but he's kinda not very good. but he does try, and Oya is really fun here working over his back and judo tossing him which looks painful because Higuchi is such a brittle old man. Pretty fun to watch considering Higuchi looked like he's in wrestling for a participation trophy, Oya is really impressive with what he can do, even against a limited opponent.

 2025 Pro Wrestling Roundup

2025 Wrestling Week 11

 Hanako Nakamori & Leon vs Crea & Moeka Haruhi, Pure-J 3/9

Really good go-go tag with lots of quality exchanges throughout. Everyone here is really fun to watch. Nakamori still has vicious kicks, Crea is a really fun energetic enforcer booting people in the face, and Leon hasn't lost anything in all these years. I wasn't familiar with Haruhi but she was pretty cool too, she had some really violent double stomps and cool ways to stretch opponents. They bust out some bigger spots than you'd expect from a dojo show and the finish is a damn finish. Real quality stuff, just all 4 of them going hard and it was really cool.

Chon Shiryu & Leon vs Mei Suruga & Baliyan Akki, Choco Pro 2/2/225

This was a MOVEZ~ match but it was a pretty fun one. Shiryu is still really awesome and can bust out awesome exchanges and nifty things like no tomorrow. Enjoyed Leon a lot as always, her team with Shiryu is really random but they have some cool moments together. The cutesy act of Akki and Suruga isn't for me, but they also did some cool stuff especially Suruga. The finish was really cool as the constant double team assisted moves blew back up in their face and it was the kind of nifty touch Shiryu is so damn good at pulling off.

Yuta Oya & Ali Najima vs Konaka & Shinya Ishida, Sportiva 2/26

Another week, another quality match from Sportiva. These 4 guys are some of my favourites in the world to watch so it's really nice to see them all square off in a tag match. First half is really solid, we get to see Konaka grappling with Najima which is always cool, while Najimas skillset is stil basic he will only get better wrestling guys like Konaka on the regular. I like how Shinya Ishida is always a total dick to Oya, fully taking advantage of his blindness to attack him. The 2nd half is really really good - I don't know what got into them, but Ishida suddenly starts wrestling like Yasushi Sato and busting out a bunch of awesome Russian Leg Sweep variations, even a cool Russian Leg Sweep into a submission hold. Konaka would join he madness with some Russian Leg Sweeps of his own and even a Russian Leg Sweep into a pin. Both these guys wrestled Sato a lot, and sadly I don't think we have any of the Sato vs Ishida and only a few Sato vs Konaka matches, but if that was not a distant homage to the Russian Leg Sweep god then I don't know. Some really nifty counters in this, especially those around Oyas signature sidewalk slam and harai goshi. Those are two cool moves to build nifty counters around. Really cool, really unique stuff that would absolutely recommend everyone to check out, don't sleep on this just because it happens in a tiny sportsbar, it's easily some of the best wrestling around.

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup

2025 Wrestling Week 9

 
Ari Najima vs Yuta Oya, Sportiva 2/24

Another very good little performance from the Sportiva super rookies. I love the absence of bullshit and rope running in Oyas matches. This was really straight forward, two guys hitting the mat, with Najima eventually working over Oyas arm with nasty cranks and kicks. Another great harai goshi spot from Oya here, and I loved the intense fighting for the sharpshooter with Najima selling his back. Really simple but enjoyable match.

Leon vs Hanako Nakamori, PURE-J 2/16/2025

These two had some of my favourite matches of the last decade. This was a 2 count pinfall match with the extra rule that there was a plastic circle in the middle of the ring and if you touch it you lose. That is a lot of bullshit ruleset. These two have a ton of fun ways to work around "the middle is lava" and clearly still have awesome chemistry. Lots of fun to be had here and some wild body control and ring positioning stuff (I imagine working a match where you can't touch the middle of the ring is pretty hard with most wrestlers being trained to work towards the middle). Still I want to see these two get up and face each other in a straight match again.

Ai Houzan vs Senka Akatsuki, Marvelous 1/4

Really enjoyed their shoot pinfall match, so I decided to check this out. Starts a little mundane but soon turns into hard as fuck match with Houzan beathing the hell out of the rookie. Lots of evil slaps and stomps from her. Sick moment where Akatsuki really cracks Houzan with a headbutt and Chigusa on commentary cracks up. Last couple minutes were pretty intense with Akatsuki trying to hit a bodyslam for the finish. For a wrestler whose signature moves are 'body slam' and 'intensely worked pinfall' she's really cool.

Ryo Mizunami & Sonoko Kato vs Mio Momono & Yurika Oka, OZ Academy 2/9

A lot of this was very good, but a lot of this was also not my cup of tea. One of the most annoying things about modern wrestling is the insistence of getting all your contrived sequences in, especially when you are a  babyface tag team. Lots of hitting 3 or 4 moves after another really fast that just comes across like Momono & Oka were just running through their offense with none of it meaning much. I kind of hate the Motor City Machineguns for infecting wrestling with this shit. That said a lot of what Oka & Momono did was really solid and some of the sequences were genuinely impressive, so maybe I am just a miserable negative bastard. I was impressed with Kato and Mizunami. No offense to Momono and Oka, but once Kato stepped into the ring the match got about ten times more real. Her kicks are still vicious and she never looked out of place in this fast paced go-go match, which goes pretty hard considering she's 48. I also dig Mizunami when she's not goofing around. Her leg drops and Honda-ish shoulder chokes are great. Also, watching Momono doing the second half of the match with her injured arm in a bandage was pretty insane. I'd say this was very good for a modern style match.

2025 Wrestling Roundup

 

2025 Wrestling Roundup

2025 Wrestling Week 6

 Hideaki Sumi vs Sho Mizuno, KOBE Meriken 1/31

I love to see my man Hideaki Sumi show up. For those who don't know, he's this aging karateka with a grey mullet with really precise hard hitting kicks, so he's awesome. He can grapple too, so he's more interesting than your typical karateka. I haven't seen Sho Mizuni before, and he doesn't even have a Cagematch profile, but he has a half-mullet-half-iro and he does pretty well here. He also has kickpads and is not afraid to kick hard, and he had some cool slick rides on the ground. But you want to watch this because it's two japanese guys with mullets in a bar kicking and smacking the hell out of each other and for that it really delivers. Some cool moments in this and the finish was a brutalizing. This gets the full indy sleaze point.

Yujiro Yamamoto vs Takaku Fuke, KOBE Meriken 2/7/2025

Well it's a good run for Kobe Meriken right now. These two square of doing some nice shootstyle grappling. It was pretty uncooperative stuff but there were a number of cool moments, in particular Yujiro Yamamoto dragging Fuke around by a nasty double wristlock, and Yamamoto having a really cool throw counter to an attempted Russian tie from Fuke. The part where Yamamoto went for an irish whip was a little weird, I have no idea why he keeps forcing that into his matches. But the last couple minutes they went back to shootstyle. Fuke is getting cloes to 60 now and has been wrestling for around 35 years, which is pretty insane. He is not mindblowing at this point but he doesn't exactly suck either, and Yamamoto has no problem keeping this moving. Pretty enjoyable.

Shinya Ishida vs Yuta Oya, Sportiva 2/5

Yuta Oya continues to deliver. How this man is not a sensation is beyond me. 40 years old, blind, and the best rookie going right now. This was a really impressive little match. It kind of reminded me a bit of early 90s AJPW. It was a pro-style match, but rather unpredictable. Really good "rookie does a surprising job controlling the veteran" performance from Oya. He would hurl Ishida around with his judo throws and catch him with out of nowhere power moves. And Ishida is good as he usually is. I don't have a ton to say here, I am just asking people to watch this and see for themselves. Really good under 10 minute match.

PSYCHO vs Leo Isaka, Marvelous 2/4

I enjoyed this a lot too. Some great technical wrestling here. They did some really cool transitions and reversals, making the usual standard opening chain wrestling actually interesting. PSYCHO was great - he looked like a great technician, surprisingly athletic, and his leg selling was top notch. I have no idea how a guy like him with his iro and tattered clothes somehow ends up being a great technician but here we are. Isaka looked good too. Really looking forward to check out PSYCHOs upcoming match in MUTOHA after this.

2025 Wrestling Roundup