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.
