Sections

STARDOM are building towards their biggest show of the year “All Star Grand Queendom” on 26th April at Yokohama Arena, hoping to build upon the undeniable success of their 2025 edition of the show which attracted 7,503 fans for Tam Nakano’s retirement.

Before that, we have a combination review of Dream Queendom from 29th December written by our very own David Hayter and Chris Whitehead, covering both the live and taped versions of the show. The short of it is that the World of STARDOM Champion Saya Kamitani reigns supreme over STARDOM, overcoming a challenge from Saori Anou. Her next challenger was arguably the second most popular wrestler in the company (alongside Natsupoi and Saori Anou), Starlight Kid, with the showdown set for “Supreme Fight in Osaka” on 7th February. After Saya broke her finger during the match, it ended up being one of the best World of Stardom Title matches in quite a while. We will bring you coverage of that show and the fall out in our next issue as we look towards All Star Grand Queendom, which looks to be building towards the downfall of H.A.T.E. The babyfaces have been teaming together in STARDOM across unit boundaries to take on the unit that holds all the gold, as Konami and BMI2000 (Natsuko Tora & Ruaka) have fended off all challengers to retain the Wonder of STARDOM, Goddess of STARDOM and Artist of STARDOM Titles. It is not a coincidence that they hold all the gold heading into Yokohama. It is setting up for a dramatic, possibly another all-timer show, so if you were ever unsure of when to jump into STARDOM, now is the time.

In other news, STARDOM held four Korakuen Hall shows through January, which if it isn’t a record for a joshi promotion, I would be astonished. New Japan ran four Korakuen Hall shows in February. Their average attendance for all four was 1,379, which is very strong when you consider that the cards were more “Road To” shows, the same style that New Japan do, rather than the impactful, all-timer shows Stardom were doing in Korakuen in 2025 with the red belt in the main event. While there were still some title matches, such as for the Artists of STARDOM or Wonder of STARDOM, the fact their attendances did not drop while doing these types of shows is very encouraging for Bushiroad, which sees New Japan’s “Road To” Korakuen Hall shows achieving attendances in the 1,000-1,300 range.

Saki Kashima has announced that she will be retiring in April. Kashima has been a part of the roster since 2011 providing an alternative style of match on tour stops throughout her tenure. Before that, she had a singles match with Syuri booked for the big Osaka show on 7th February in which she lost to her own pin move, with Syuri not wanting to destroy her stablemate.

Natsupoi and Shingo Takagi announced their marriage in a Tokyo Sports interview that was released on 13th January. They subsequently provided interviews to outlets such as Weekly Pro Wrestling Magazine. As described by the couple in Shupro #2395, they were brought together after meeting at a Stardom show in Yamanashi in May 2024. They exchanged details and the rest is history, as Poi relentlessly chased Takagi until he let up. Poi travelled to Dominion in 2025 following Takagi’s loss to Goto in the main event. Goto mentioned that one day, Takagi would find a wife. Two days later, Takagi proposed to Poi.

Maki Itoh, formerly of TJPW, has joined the promotion full-time and launched herself into a feud with Aya Sakura. Sakura has cut career-best promos during this feud, which was sparked by Sakura taking offence to Maki calling herself the “cutest in the universe”, which Sakura feels like is reserved for the retired Tam Nakano. The feud highlights the value that Maki Itoh has had lower down the card in the promotion, especially with the impending retirement of Saki Kashima.

Bozilla tore her ACL on the 11th January Korakuen Hall show and will be out of action for the foreseeable future. This is terrible timing as she was a key player in the Empress X Venus and Mi Vida Loca feud that was building towards its culmination in Osaka. Rookie Matoi Hamabe has also re-injured her knee and is out of action. Hanan returned to action on 21st January at Korakuen Hall and unsuccessfully challenged for the Goddess of STARDOM Title with Bea Priestley on 7th February.

Mei Seira and Starlight Kid will be competing at CMLL’s big women’s only show on 6th March, “FUNCIÓN 100% FEMENIL”. They will challenge Lluvia & La Jarochita for the CMLL World Women’s Tag Team Title. India Sioux and Tabata will be competing in STARDOM. Maika is heading to Mexico and will face Dark Silueta on the same show. It is unclear how long she will be there for, but she made backstage comments that she would be leaving for a bit which makes it seem like more than a one-off match.

Recommended Matches This Issue

These are in order of personal preference rather than chronological.

Saya Kamitani vs. Starlight Kid – 7th February at EDION Arena Osaka
Konami vs. Saya Iida – 29th December at Ryogoku Kokugikan
Saori Anou vs. Saya Kamitani – 29th December at Ryogoku Kokugikan
Aya Sakura & Sayaka Kurara vs. Natsuko Tora & Ruaka – 29th December at Ryogoku Kokugikan
Konami vs. Rina – 21st January at Korakuen Hall
Bozilla, Itsuki Aoki, Rina Yamashita & Suzu Suzuki vs. HANAKO, Maika, Megan Bayne & Xena – 29th December at Ryogoku Kokugikan
Mase Hiiro & Moe Hiiro vs. Ranna Yagami & Tomoka Inaba – 3rd February at TOKYOSQUARE
Hazuki vs. Mei Seira – 11th January at Korakuen Hall
Natsupoi vs. Sareee – 29th December at Ryogoku Kokugikan
Aya Sakura & Sayaka Kurara vs. Mase Hiiro & Moe Hiiro – 4th February at TOKYOSQUARE
Hazuki vs. Olympia – 25th January at Belle Salle Takadanobaba
Fuwa-chan vs. Hazuki – 29th December at Ryogoku Kokugikan

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

The usual disclaimer applies about this being one person’s tastes, it is a general recommendation to help readers seek out some matches, not a science. If one of a category is not mentioned, then no match meets that criteria. The reason for doing it this way is to compare across promotions, e.g. the top three “MOTY” buckets can compete on a cross-promotion MOTYC list, while “Promotion MOTYC” means it is one of the best matches in that promotion during 2025, but not necessarily a MOTYC in itself.

MOTY

27 Apr 2025 – Saya Kamitani vs. Tam Nakano (My #1 across all promotions)
21 Jun 2025 – Sareee vs. Syuri (My #4 across all promotions)

MOTYC+

3 Mar 2025 – Saya Kamitani vs. Tam Nakano
2 Apr 2025 – Saori Anou vs. Tam Nakano (My #9 across all promotions)
27 Apr 2025 – Mayu Iwatani vs. Syuri
27 Apr 2025 – Mei Seira vs. Suzu Suzuki (My #8 across all promotions)

MOTYC

2 Feb 2025 – AZM, Miyu Amasaki & Starlight Kid vs. Natsupoi, Saori Anou & Tam Nakano
24 Feb 2025 – Rina vs. Starlight Kid
21 Jul 2025 – Saori Anou vs. Starlight Kid
23 Aug 2025 – AZM vs. Rina
29 Dec 2025 – Konami vs. Saya Iida

Stardom MOTYC

2 Feb 2025 – Saya Kamitani vs. Suzu Suzuki
15 Mar 2025 – Konami vs. Starlight Kid
27 Apr 2025 – Hanan & Saya Iida vs. Hazuki & Koguma
24 Jul 2025 – AZM vs. Bozilla
9 Aug 2025 – Sareee vs. Suzu Suzuki
20 Aug 2025 – Saori Anou vs. Suzu Suzuki
23 Aug 2025 – AZM vs. Momo Watanabe
29 Dec 2025 – Saori Anou vs. Saya Kamitani
29 Dec 2025 – Aya Sakura & Sayaka Kurara vs. Natsuko Tora & Ruaka

Excellent

3 Jan 2025 – Aya Sakura vs. Chi Chi
13 Jan 2025 – Aya Sakura, Sayaka Kurara & Yuna Mizumori vs. Natsupoi, Saori Anou & Tam Nakano
24 Feb 2025 – Hanan & Saya Iida vs. Mei Seira & Suzu Suzuki
3 Mar 2025 – AZM, Miyu Amasaki & Starlight Kid vs. Lady C, Ranna Yagami & Tomoka Inaba
8 Jun 2025 – AZM, Mei Seira, Miyu Amasaki & Starlight Kid vs. Konami, Momo Watanabe, Rina & Saya Kamitani
21 Jun 2025 – Akira Kurogane, Itsuki Aoki, Rina Yamashita & Suzu Suzuki vs. AZM, Mei Seira, Miyu Amasaki & Starlight Kid
21 Jul 2025 – Natsupoi vs. Saya Kamitani
27 Jul 2025 – Konami vs. Sareee
27 Jul 2025 – Starlight Kid vs. Tomoka Inaba
3 Aug 2025 – Hina vs. Sareee
6 Aug 2025 – AZM vs. Rina
20 Aug 2025 – Natsupoi vs. Rina
20 Aug 2025 – Momo Watanabe vs. Sareee
23 Aug 2025 – Konami vs. Sareee
6 Sep 2025 – Starlight Kid vs. Tomoka Inaba
6 Sep 2025 – Sareee vs. Suzu Suzuki
30 Oct 2025 – Aya Sakura & Sayaka Kurara vs. HANAKO & Waka Tsukiyama
3 Nov 2025 – Konami vs. Starlight Kid
30 Nov 2025 – Aya Sakura & Sayaka Kurara vs. Natsuko Tora & Ruaka
8 Dec 2025 – Ami Sourei vs. Saya Iida
29 Dec 2025 – Bozilla, Itsuki Aoki, Rina Yamashita & Suzu Suzuki vs. HANAKO, Maika, Megan Bayne & Xena

Highly Recommended

23 Jan 2025 – AZM, Mei Seira, Miyu Amasaki, Starlight Kid & Suzu Suzuki vs. HANAKO, Maika, Mina Shirakawa, Rian & Waka Tsukiyama
9 Feb 2025 – AZM & Momo Watanabe vs. Mayu Iwatani & Tam Nakano
2 Apr 2025 – Maika vs. Mina Shirakawa
6 Apr 2025 – Akira Kurogane, Anne Kanaya, Aya Sakura, AZM, HANAKO, Hanan, Hina, Lady C, Maika, Mei Seira, Miyu Amasaki, Momo Kohgo, Ranna Yagami, Saori Anou, Saya Iida, Sayaka Kurara, Syuri, Tomoka Inaba, Unagi Sayaka, Waka Tsukiyama, Yuna Mizumori & Yuria Hime vs. Mina Shirakawa
24 Apr 2025 – AZM & Saya Kamitani vs. Starlight Kid & Tam Nakano
27 Apr 2025 – AZM vs. Starlight Kid
11 May 2025 – Aya Sakura vs. Syuri
8 Jun 2025 – Ranna Yagami vs. Sareee
21 Jun 2025 – Hanan & Saya Iida vs. Natsupoi & Saori Anou
24 Jul 2025 – Chi Chi, Miku Kanae & Sareee vs. Konami, Momo Watanabe & Saya Kamitani
27 Jul 2025 – Saori Anou vs. Saya Iida
30 Jul 2025 – AZM vs. Tomoka Inaba
2 Aug 2025 – Hanan vs. Mei Seira
3 Aug 2025 – Momo Watanabe vs. Suzu Suzuki
6 Aug 2025 – Bozilla vs. Saori Anou
6 Aug 2025 – Natsuko Tora vs. Sayaka Kurara
10 Aug 2025 – Natsupoi vs. Rina
10 Aug 2025 – Natsuko Tora vs. Starlight Kid
16 Aug 2025 – Rina vs. Starlight Kid
17 Aug 2025 – Natsupoi vs. Starlight Kid
20 Aug 2025 – AZM vs. Saya Kamitani
23 Aug 2025 – Momo Watanabe vs. Saori Anou
23 Sep 2025 – Aya Sakura, AZM, Bea Priestley, Saori Anou & Sayaka Kurara vs. Azusa Inaba, Momo Watanabe, Natsuko Tora, Ruaka & Saya Kamitani
27 Sep 2025 – AZM vs. Saya Kamitani
11 Oct 2025 – Koguma vs. Hazuki
3 Nov 2025 – Hazuki vs. Mei Seira
29 Dec 2025 – Natsupoi vs. Sareee

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

3 Jan 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs. Maika & HANAKO
13 Jan 2025 – Athena vs. Thekla
16 Feb 2025 – AZM, Starlight Kid & Suzu Suzuki vs. Konami, Rina & Ruaka
24 Feb 2025 – Natsuko Tora & Saya Kamitani vs. Sayaka Kurara & Tam Nakano
24 Feb 2025 – Hina vs. Miyu Amasaki
15 Mar 2025 – Rina vs. Sayaka Kurara
27 Mar 2025 – Misa Kagura vs. Tam Nakano
11 Apr 2025 – Hanan, Mayu Iwatani & Momo Kohgo vs. Ranna Yagami, Syuri & Tomoka Inaba
24 Apr 2025 – Cohaku, Mei Seira & Miyu Amasaki vs. Itsuki Aoki, Rina Yamashita & Suzu Suzuki
27 Apr 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Maika
27 Apr 2025 – Aya Sakura, Natsupoi & Saori Anou vs. Meiko Satomura, Mika Iwata & YUNA
11 May 2025 – Saya Kamitani vs. Sayaka Kurara
21 May 2025 – HANAKO vs. Starlight Kid
21 May 2025 – Natsupoi & Saori Anou vs. Rian & Waka Tsukiyama
24 May 2025 – HANAKO, Rian & Waka Tsukiyama vs. Natsupoi, Saori Anou & Yuna Mizumori
21 Jun 2025 – Hina vs. Rian
29 Jun 2025 – AZM, Miyu Amasaki, Natsupoi, Saori Anou & Starlight Kid vs. Azusa Inaba, Konami, Momo Watanabe, Rina & Saya Kamitani
6 Jul 2025 – AZM, Hanan, Natsupoi, Saori Anou, Saya Iida & Starlight Kid vs. Fukigen Death, Konami, Momo Watanabe, Natsuko Tora, Ruaka & Saya Kamitani
6 Jul 2025 – Ranna Yagami vs. Syuri
17 Jul 2025 – Aya Sakura, Saori Anou & Yuna Mizumori vs. AZM, Mei Seira & Starlight Kid
21 Jul 2025 – Hina vs. Sayaka Kurara
1 Aug 2025 – Ami Sourei vs. Saya Iida
2 Aug 2025 – Natsupoi vs. Tomoka Inaba
3 Aug 2025 – Mei Seira vs. Yuna Mizumori
3 Aug 2025 – Ami Sourei vs. Saori Anou
11 Aug 2025 – Bozilla vs. Saya Iida
16 Aug 2025 – Momo Watanabe vs. Sareee
17 Aug 2025 – Ami Sourei vs. Bozilla
20 Aug 2025 – Bozilla vs. Suzu Suzuki
10 Sep 2025 – AZM, Miyu Amasaki & Starlight Kid vs. Fukigen Death, Konami & Rina
10 Sep 2025 – Mei Seira vs. Yuna Mizumori
21 Sep 2025 – AZM, Miyu Amasaki & Starlight Kid vs. Aya Sakura, Natsupoi & Yuna Mizumori
23 Sep 2025 – Fukigen Death, Konami & Rina vs. Hanan, Momo Kohgo & Saya Iida
27 Sep 2025 – Kaoru Ito & Sareee vs. Syuri & Tomoka Inaba
27 Oct 2025 – Miku Kanae & Sareee vs. Saori Anou & Yuna Mizumori
27 Oct 2025 – Itsuki Aoki & Rina Yamashita vs. Natsuko Tora & Ruaka
3 Nov 2025 – Momo Watanabe vs. Saya Kamitani
7 Nov 2025 – Mei Seira & Yuna Mizumori vs. Miku Kanae & Sareee
8 Nov 2025 – Miku Kanae & Sareee vs. Rian & Waka Tsukiyama
23 Nov 2025 – Ami Sourei & Lady C vs. Saki Kashima & Syuri
26 Nov 2025 – HANAKO & Megan Bayne vs. Rina Yamashita & Suzu Suzuki
28 Nov 2025 – Miku Kanae & Sareee vs. Natsupoi & Saori Anou
29 Nov 2025 – Akira Kurogane & Bozilla vs. Miku Kanae & Sareee
30 Nov 2025 – Miku Kanae & Sareee vs. Natsupoi & Yuna Mizumori
8 Dec 2025 – Aya Sakura, Natsupoi & Yuna Mizumori vs. Chi Chi, Miku Kanae & Sareee
21 Dec 2025 – Ami Sourei, Lady C & Ranna Yagami vs. Bozilla, Rina Yamashita & Suzu Suzuki
29 Dec 2025 – Fuwa-chan vs. Hazuki

“Stardom Dream Queendom” 2025

29th December 2025
Company Announced Attendance: 6,563 (Sell Out)
Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan
Review by David Hayter, with live notes by Chris Whitehead

David

It is testament to the incredible year that the Taro Okada, Saya Kamitani and Starlight Kid‑helmed Stardom had that the promotion managed to sell out Sumo Hall (in advance) without giving away any of their most marquee matchups. The runaway success of “Dream Queendom” is a demonstration of just how radically times have changed. The idea that an all‑women’s promotion, without the benefit of network television, has reached a point where not only can they draw 6,563 fans, but they can do it with the bravado and insouciance of knowing that the best is yet to come.

“Dream Queendom”, which was once Stardom’s tentpole end‑of‑year extravaganza, is still a major event but one that pales in comparison to “All Star Grand Queendom”. It may also pale in comparison to Stardom’s upcoming date at Edion Arena (to be headlined by Starlight Kid and Saya Kamitani). Okada’s ambition runs deeper still; at every opportunity Saya Kamitani continues to advocate for women’s wrestling to make its return to the Tokyo Dome – a dream that feels less farfetched with every passing week.
Rather bizarrely, this great sense that the promotion was looking beyond “Dream Queendom” only served to showcase the incredible breadth of talent and star power the promotion has at its disposal. The house was drawn without sacrificing Kamitani vs Kid or Sareee; in fact, Kid – in her return from injury layoff – found herself working the opener alongside Syuri, AZM and Tomoka Inaba. There is no greater indicator of Stardom’s embarrassment of riches, nor Taro Okada’s confidence in their current direction, than the fact he allowed four stars of that quality to jerk the curtain.

Despite losing his top draw (Tam Nakano), biggest star (Giulia) and best wrestler (Mayu Iwatani) among a seemingly endless list of others, Okada had confidence to trust the process and continue the ongoing development of his home‑grown stars Saya Iida, Rina, Sayaka Kurara and Aya Sakura on what was once the biggest show of the year. In many ways, the show was less concerned with blowing off the promotion’s most storied rivalries (as it had in years past with Nakano–Giulia or Utami–Syuri) and instead focused on setting the table for the year to come.
The biggest single storyline thread coming out of “Dream Queendom” was the dominance of the H.A.T.E. faction. The (nominally) heel contingent led by Saya Kamitani came out on top in every major match in which they competed. Saya Kamitani, Konami and BMI 2000 all retained their titles, while future ace Rina won a wildly entertaining (if uneven) Rumble. H.A.T.E. is clearly being built up for a mighty fall; the only question is who will strike the first blow: Starlight Kid, Maika, Hanan, or perhaps a breakaway from within their own camp? Only time will tell.
The show itself was long, but unquestionably excellent, with a refreshingly diverse blend of stylistic and thematic storytelling, all within the confines of the rules of a traditional wrestling match. No gimmicks necessary. Instead, the workers relied on a mix of hard-fought emotional storytelling and state-of-the-art wrestling to send the crowd home happy. One suspects Taro Okada’s only regret when looking back at this show will be his own conservatism. Had he made the person-per-box capacity of the sumo boxes two or four, rather than one or two, there’s a real chance Stardom could have broken its all-time attendance record for the second time in 2025.

Chris

Selfishly, I am glad Okada didn’t dream bigger with the seating plan for this show. The luxury of having the box to myself was very likely a once in a lifetime experience and one I will treasure forever. The view from the boxes, even from my spot in the seventh row (of approximately twenty rows of boxes) was among the best of any large show I have ever attended, and in a way that is hard to explain, a significant upgrade from the third-row floor seat I had in the same venue a year earlier.

Beyond that, the key to the live experience of this show was the immaculate vibes in the room on that day. Seemingly everyone in the building was sharing the same joy in experiencing the wave this company is currently surfing, with possibly every member of the roster more over than they have ever been. My colleague Tim Hunter has described himself as being ‘in a trance’ the whole show, and I would share that sentiment. It wasn’t that I felt entranced, exactly, but I don’t recall ever feeling as in the moment for so much of a five-hour show as I did here. The comfort of the box was surely part of it, as was enjoying the show with a good friend sitting next to me, as was, of course, the quality of the show.

Even without a match peaking as high as Starlight Kid and Natsupoi did one year earlier, this felt like the perfect live show experience and one that will likely stay with me for a very long time if not forever. The following morning I found myself on the verge of tears as I emotionally explained to my wife the gratitude I was feeling that we were fortunate and privileged enough to be able to make the trip and hence that show, how special an experience I woke up realizing I had, and how meaningful it felt that this company and, more importantly, the friends I made from following it are a part of my life.

Saori Anou Knocks Saya Kamitani Loopy In A Violent Speed Run Of A World Title Fight

David

Saya Kamitani and Saori Anou found themselves in the unenviable position of having to follow three deeply emotive, slow-burn, story-driven epics to close a five-hour-long PPV. The pair certainly had enough backstory of their own to pull from as well as a flair for larger-than-life storytelling, but despite wrestling the longest straight match on the card, Anou and Kamitani opted for speed and violence.

Playing off Kamitani’s clash with Natsupoi earlier in the year, where the Phoenix Queen had gotten under her challenger’s skin causing Poi to repeatedly lose her composure at key moments, Saya would try the same tactics again. She would endeavour to goad Anou with taunts, tricks and sarcastic kicks into entering an outlaw brawl through the crowd. The trouble for Saya was that, while callously walking over Natsupoi like a stepping stone flustered her diminutive opponent, Saori Anou is made of sterner stuff. In fact, Anou rather famously can be a seething psychopathic killer and an eerily unflappable android at the exact same time. So, when Saya tried to psyche her opponent out, Saori simply upped the intensity of the violence to a level that Kamitani couldn’t hope to match. The World of Stardom champion soon found herself being hung with a steel chain, thrown recklessly onto the apron and suplexed on her head and neck over and over and over again.

Any vision of control Kamitani imagined she’d have over proceedings evaporated as the pair returned to the ring. Saya was never portrayed as cowardly or weak, but she was being definitively beaten to the punch as Saori appeared to exhibit the killer instinct that both Natsupoi and, tragically, Tam Nakano lacked. Saori simply would not relent. Every suplex she threw was followed in short order by a transition to a vicious strike or tight hold. Saya was being denied the opportunity to think, let alone breathe.

The main event of “Dream Queendom” had become a breathless firefight. Saya would snatch a second of oxygen with a big boot only for Saori to immediately blast her with a forearm and hit a snap fisherman’s suplex her off the second rope before breaking into a demented sprint. In a brilliant bit of physical selling, Saya would cut off Saori’s momentum with her trademark standing double stomp, but rather than maintaining a graceful form she sprang off Saori’s gut like a salmon and collapsed exhausted to the canvas. Not that she had a moment to rest, don’t be silly, instead she stampeded forward with a spinning heel kick, springboard plancha and Northern Lights suplex on the floor in a sequence that lasted 15 seconds at most.

Suffice it to say, the match became nigh on impossible to recap as this insane sequence of back-and-forth offence, with both women screaming bloody murder, simply would not end until they eventually levelled one another with simultaneous pump kicks to the face. If trading top-rope Frankensteiners and top-rope planchas wasn’t loco enough, at this point they decided to up the ante by trying to slap and kick each other in the face as hard as possible.

The trouble with getting lost in the intensity of the moment is that Saya and Saori both started going so hard that they began to lose their aim — but not in the way you might think. Rather than missing strikes, they started hitting them exactly where you’re not supposed to hit. Saori held her hands behind her back and allowed Saya to tee off… and Saya landed flush in the middle of her face to the point where you could see Saori’s nose redden and swell in real time. Not to be outdone, Saori would return fire by catching Saya in the eyes and teeth respectively.

For a moment it seemed as though the pair were settling down as they sprinted through a more traditional series of violent but graceful finisher reversals and nearfalls. However, the raw ultra-physical insanity of the match would quickly rear its ugly head again. Kamitani would rise up from the mat bleeding from the nose with a doolally expression on her face, only to have her spinning Star Crusher countered into a behind-the-back straight-jacket suplex that deposited her directly and grotesquely on her head for a nearfall.

Following the match Saya Kamitani would announce that she was rushed to hospital, claiming she had no memory of the second half of the bout and Stardom have subsequently given her almost a month off to recover. Whether that is kayfabe flourish or not (Editor’s Note: it was not), it’s remarkable that both women managed to be so incredibly precise during this blitzkrieg finishing stretch despite having endured so much unprotected head trauma.

There would be brilliant false finishes (particularly from Saori’s special Potato-Ring pinning combination and when Saya collapsed atop Saori following a pump kick), but my personal favourite moment came as Saya trapped Saori on her knees and began brutalising her with straight kicks to the face that Saori would smile and no-sell like a maniac. Then, when Saya finally had her dead to rights for one big final Kamigoye, Saori sprang forward off her knees to shoot headbutt Saya in the gut in one of the gnarliest, most creative, yet utterly believable spots imaginable. It was a devil may care gambit born of pure desperation, and I loved it.

When all was said and done, Saori’s resistance came to nought as Saya would go on to win this brilliant, bonkers and utterly reckless match with a spinning Star Crusher. The main event of “Dream Queendom” was a fast-paced and thrilling title match that shrewdly played off Kamitani’s past defences against Saori’s fellow Cosmic Angels, but it was also absurdly dangerous.

Chris

David’s analysis of this match mirrors mine, especially drawing the comparison to Saya and Natsupoi’s match from the summer. Saori being less emotionally vulnerable to Saya’s tricks than Natsupoi and answering them with a rawer violence than Poi did, felt to me like an excellent study in all three wrestlers’ motivations and characters. I was also not surprised with either how violently this match was wrestled and the noise those slaps made were disgusting (laudatory and also derogatory), so the subsequent news of the concussion came as no great surprise to me. The outcome of the match was also no surprise to me (unlike Saya’s match at the Dome a week later), but I was delighted to witness this classic first hand, likely because the level of violence was so viscerally felt in the room. These are the deep waters I want a main event to be swimming in and this was comfortably the best Kamitani main event since the magnum opus on 27th April 2025.

Anything Poi Can Do, Sareee Can Do Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

David

I wonder if, in kayfabe, Natsupoi regrets having Sareee as her best friend, because it sure seems, even for a woman who loves blasting her opponents into oblivion, that Sareee reserves a little extra disdain for her BFF. The tone was set incredibly early in this brutal war as Poi tried to surprise Sareee with a spinning back kick and a flipping neckbreaker, only for Sareee to deny her friend even a moment on top. Sareee would spring from the floor in a flash, jerk Poi off the top rope by the hair and send her crashing spine-first over the edge of the apron. Make no mistake, Natsupoi would show plenty of resilience of her own: as soon as Sareee mounted the top rope for a flying attack, she found Poi stood atop the announcer’s table staring daggers at her friend-turned-foe.

The pair would somewhat cordially return to the ring, but the tone had been set. Every time Poi would attempt to assert dominance or snatch control, Sareee would viciously beat her back into place. It all sounds rather depressing on paper, but in reality it proved utterly compelling, with Natsupoi showing boundless fire and underdog spirit in the face of the ultimate immovable obstacle. Every so often it would look as if Poi finally had the measure of the bigger, badder bully, only for an enraged Sareee to pop up, cut her down and grind her underneath her boot.
Granted, if the strikes and throws were brutal, the submissions were downright gruesome. Sareee would sit back and wrench on every hold at the most uncomfortable of angles, making Natsupoi scream and squeak like a squirrel crushed underneath the tires of a 16-wheeler. The gnarliest of all came when Sareee cruelly manipulated Natsupoi into a Steiner Recliner-style variant of her signature bridging Indian deathlock.

Sareee was arguably too effective in her demolition of Natsupoi as a strange atmosphere descended on Sumo Hall. Sareee was not being booed like she was in the G1 — not remotely — but instead a strange silence descended. The crowd would roar along with every strike Natsupoi landed and rally at every glimmer of a hope spot, but as the match wore on the response to Sareee’s ferocious offence went from a light groan to an eerie quiet. In many ways, this was testament to the quality of the work and the depth of the storytelling, but it also made for a surreal atmosphere for those of us watching at home. The striking exchanges were less “yay/boo” and more roar-and-vacuum; it was as if licensed music was being played every time Sareee went on offence and the audio feed had to be abruptly cut.

As surreal and disquieting as the atmosphere proved to be, it couldn’t undermine the phenomenal work of the two women. Natsupoi launched into a hyper-intense comeback, throwing her entire bodyweight into every dive, strike and slam before expertly working over Sareee’s right arm. Fittingly, Sareee would respond to Poi’s attempts to isolate her arm by simply clobbering and uranage-ing her friend into dust. Natsupoi would be granted a few desperate nearfalls, but it wasn’t long before a wrist-clutch uranage put her down for good.

Chris

This was a match that felt like it was booked for me personally as I am famously a mark for both wrestlers; they are possibly my two favourite active wrestlers. That said, my preference for who I supported was in no doubt, as from the start every fibre of my being was entirely behind Natsupoi. That became even more true as the match progressed, given the layout of the match and the dynamic David laid out above. The silence David mentions above was fascinating to read about, because in the room while there was certainly a tension in the air throughout this match it never felt silent. Rather, I would say there was more of a low buzz but nothing that could or should be confused for apathy (not that David did). I found the combination of the structure and the outcome of this match to be unexpected: I expected Sareee to take most of the match and then lose, I suppose, so I can only assume this story must continue, perhaps back where it began under the Sareee-ism banner. If it doesn’t, I will assume Natsupoi’s inevitable post-marriage retirement is coming much sooner than later.

Konami Completes Her Bounce Back Year By Submitting A Valiant Saya Iida

David

If the brilliant Natsupoi/Sareee match had a strange and at times uncomfortable atmosphere within the crowd, then Konami and Saya Iida offered the purest and most straightforward of babyface/heel dynamics. Saya Iida, the muscle-laden runt of Stardom’s golden generation, was absolutely beloved by the Sumo Hall faithful, while Konami was happy to sardonically soak in the boos with her usual array of villainous snickers and smirks.

The story of the match was that Iida had asked Konami to play it straight, to wrestle her one-on-one: no chairs, no pipes, no spray cans and no interference. Going into the match no one actually knew if Konami would oblige. After all, she had won the Wonder of Stardom title from Starlight Kid in an absolutely brilliant match, but one that was punctuated by interference. Fittingly, for the biggest match of Saya Iida’s career to date, Konami decided to play fair — of course, while the match was happening no one in the crowd or at home knew this was the case — so there was always that dramatic tension: would the rug be savagely pulled out from underneath Iida?

Naturally, Konami playing it straight simply meant she rejected the extremes of foul play. She was still a merciless dickhead throughout, who would routinely rake Iida’s eyes to regain the advantage before unleashing both savage and sarcastic kicks to her downed opponent while merrily smiling to herself. There was no question of Konami being seen as valiant — she was a heel through and through — which allowed Iida to take on the ultimate underdog babyface role.

At times it felt like Konami was too dominant, as she would carefully pick Iida apart with a blend of technical submissions and stiff kicks. It wasn’t long before Iida’s opening rampage was a distant memory, replaced by Konami’s prolonged dissection of her opponent’s arm, punctuated every so often by a barrage of heavy high kicks. It seemed that every time Iida was on the verge of landing a signature lariat, Konami would wrap her up with some remarkably slick armbar counter. The lariat, the flying shoulder tackle, the muscle buster…Konami had an answer for it all.

The longer Konami maintained control, the longer this repressed groundswell of desperation in both Iida and the crowd was allowed to bubble up. When the dam finally burst, it was glorious. Konami deserves incredible praise; she is not the most athletic or flexible woman on the Stardom roster, but when it came time to show are and sell, she took a series of great neck and shoulder bumps for Iida’s bombastic lariats.

In rewatching the match, it’s shocking how little offence Iida actually gets to deliver in the second half of the match. Despite this, Iida wrings every ounce of drama out of each slither of offence, no matter how small. The brainbuster and Iidabashi made for edge-of-your-seat nearfalls, despite the fact Konami was so clearly and decisively on top. Iida would, in due course, be made to submit to a variation of Konami’s Triangle Lancer at the end of a richly compelling saga that elevated both women’s stock immeasurably heading into 2026.

Chris

The sheer volume of the “Iida…Iida” chants was louder than anything else all night and a testament to how much both wrestlers have been elevated this year, by the quality of their own work and by the savvy choices of the booking team. I really enjoyed being in a Japanese crowd for such a pure heel/babyface dynamic and I remain fascinated by the White Belt booking, which continues to zig where I expect it to zag. The Konami reign is not for me, but I cannot say it’s been anything other than a big success so far.

Too Much Of A Good Thing: BMI 2000 vs Sakurara Is One Epic Encounter Too Many

David

“Dream Queendom” had been an absolutely tremendous watch up until the point when the video package hit for the Goddess of Stardom showdown between BMI 2000 (Natsuko Tora & Ruaka) and Sakurara (Aya Sakura and Sayaka Kurara). The trouble wasn’t the execution; despite the odd feather‑light dropkick from Sayaka and the usual collection of clumsy Ruaka‑isms, this tag title match was very smartly plotted out, well worked and dramatic. The issue was simply the length of the show. After the gruellingly brilliant Natsupoi and Sareee match, it felt like time for intermission.

Watching at home on my couch with my feet up I felt tired; god knows how a poor fella sitting cross‑legged in a sumo box was coping after three hours. You could even hear a creeping exhaustion seeping into the calls from the crowd. This exact match headlining Korakuen Hall or being second from top on a regular‑length PPV would have gone down a treat, but sandwiched between two intense psychological masterpieces, it felt like the wrong time for Sakurara’s signature drama‑laden emotive storytelling.

Now all that being said, the match was really well crafted, especially when the young upstarts paired off with Natsuko Tora. Sayaka has an incredibly expressive face and has a brilliant ability not only to convey plucky determination and pained anguish, but also confidence. Unlike so many young lions, Sayaka remembers to exude self‑belief: beneath all the frills and cutesy flourishes, she is a star athlete who believes she will be victorious.

Sakura, for her part, is excellent at structuring matches for someone with her level of experience. She had a tough task matched up with Ruaka (the likeable but lumbering half of BMI). So rather than attempting anything too fancy, she decided to simply blast Ruaka with high kicks and lock her in holds.

Having already defeated BMI 2000 in the final of the Goddess Tag League, Sakurara told a clever and compelling story whereby, no matter how brutally they were squished by their larger opponents, they had the enduring belief that they could and would win in the end. In fact, it was the champions who seemed lost, as they would be run together repeatedly and even accidentally land their signature sentons and splashes on one another. Still, it was all a ruse. Despite kicking out of simultaneous Violent Freezers, Sakurara would fall at the last. BMI would survive the Tomeki Spear-German suplex combo and a barrage of question-mark kicks, and, ultimately, Ruaka would isolate Aya, hitting the stalling German suplex of her own to pick up the victory.

This is a match that greatly benefits from a rewatch in isolation.

Chris

I agree with David’s assessment of some tiredness in the crowd, if only because I was ready for the intermission when this match started. Not because I needed to stretch my legs – the box was big enough to sit with them out, and with my back resting against the elevated box behind me and a cushion beneath my glutes, I was as comfortable as you can be at a wrestling show – but because I needed a break after the crushing defeat of Natsupoi and the strain of multiple beers on my bladder. That said, as David notes, the match was excellently put together and executed, and I think the belief the booking team had in Sakurara’s ability to get the crowd up while we were tired ultimately paid off, and in turn helped Saya Iida and Konami benefit from the intermission. I am fascinated to find out which team will end this BMI2000 reign, as I thought this would be the one match H.A.T.E. lost on the night.

Fuwa-chan Exceeds Expectations in Her Re-Debut

David

The showdown between the internet comedian turned mainstream celebrity Fuwa‑chan and her trainer, the peerless Hazuki, was undeniably intriguing. There were so many what‑ifs. Fuwa‑chan made her shock return not only to wrestling, but to public life at large just a few months earlier. The bubbly young star had been cancelled and entered into a period of self‑imposed exile after she publicly called for another celebrity to kill themselves. Similar to the Japanese tradition where male stars would often shave their heads following a public disgrace and disappear out of the public eye to earn forgiveness, Fuwa‑chan had been banished.

The first question, of course, was whether the general public would still care about an influencer after a year’s absence. The answer proved to be a resounding yes, when the tweet recapping her return – in a wrestling ring of all places – drew millions of likes. Her fans were still out there. The second question was whether Stardom, the home of Hana Kimura, who was tragically bullied via social‑media pressure into taking her own life, should embrace Fuwa‑chan given her misdeeds. The answers here again seemed to be yes: Fuwa had served her time, wholeheartedly apologised and, like Aaron Wolf, had embraced the role of the humble young lion cleaning and setting up the ring. In short, everyone who is genuine in seeking forgiveness deserves a second chance.

The third question was the most curious of all. The public remembered her and had forgiven her, but Stardom is a promotion which (let’s be honest) primarily draws older men with their (as Ozawa memorably put it) bazooka‑like mega‑zoom‑lens cameras. Was an older male wrestling audience really going to embrace a young, exuberant, day‑glo influencer? That could only be answered at Sumo Hall. (Chris’s Note: while this is still true, the change in the Stardom crowd in the last year was clearly evident in Sumo Hall as compared to the same day in 2024, with noticeably more women, younger people of all genders and children present this time.)

In many ways, were this scenario to take place in America, the equivalent of Hazuki would be the absolute worst person for an influencer to face. Hazuki is a supremely talented, perennially under‑pushed veteran who is absolutely beloved and gets over in front of even the sleepiest of crowds. In many ways it would be like expecting fans to cheer a debuting Logan Paul against Sami Zayn or Kevin Owens. But lo and behold, not only was Fuwa‑chan cheered, she drew massive chants (not something joshi fans are particularly known for) and, best of all, her response only grew stronger as the match progressed.

Fuwa, to her credit, was incredibly impressive. She has a long, rectangular physique more reminiscent of a swimmer than a wrestler and, in spite of her effervescent styling and signature hair clips, she actually cuts an imposing figure. (Chris’s Note: in person, her body type and movement felt reminiscent of an early version of Mayu Iwatani.) Better yet, as Hazuki engaged her brilliant, bullying, cocksure veteran persona, Fuwa‑chan showed not only the fire and timing you’d expect of someone raised in front of the camera, but an impressive degree of precision and athleticism when making her comeback.

Hazuki was, of course, an incredibly giving performer, bumping and selling big for her opponent while timing her kick‑outs for the very last moment to hook the crowd. She made Fuwa‑chan in this match, but the erstwhile influencer did everything she could to seize the opportunity. The best aspect of Fuwa’s presentation, believe it or not, might actually be her hair. It started out locked in her knowingly wacky double‑bun style, but by the end of the match her barnet had come crazily uncurled and she looked like a madwoman as she threw everything she had at Hazuki. It was a forlorn effort, of course, and in time she would fall to Hazuki’s senton.

Make no mistake, Fuwa‑chan is not a prodigy. There were some visible holes in her game in what was likely a heavily rehearsed match, but, oddly, her flaws suit her. Fuwa has the same vice as many young trainees the world over: you can see her take a big inhale of breath, pause, and it’s almost like a cartoon thought bubble appears over her head that says “I am going to do a spot now.” This lack of fluidity is normally a telltale sign of greenness in a wrestler and can be immersion‑breaking, but because Fuwa is such an over‑the‑top cartoon character to begin with, the big pausing mannerism felt natural – like a Looney Toon gearing up to sprint. All in all, this was a home run.

Chris

In a low-key way this was maybe the match I was most interested in seeing, having been very impressed with Fuwa’s previous matches years ago. If she was good then, how would she be now, with real time spent training. The answer, as David points out above, is very good. I was blown away by this match and I am extremely excited about where they can go with Fuwa-chan in the coming years.

An Embarrassment Of Riches: The Best Wrestlers On The Planet Open The Show

David

AEW and CMLL aren’t the only promotions with a truly preposterous talent roster. Stardom found itself in the enviable situation of having Syuri, Tomoka Inaba, AZM and the returning Starlight Kid hanging around without anything in particular to do on their end-of-year spectacular. So, the dream team of Kid and AZM were sent out to face the karate and MMA fighter tandem. They were given 13 minutes and, while they clearly weren’t aiming to put on an epic match for the ages, they instead went out and delivered a technically crisp and pretty much immaculate opener.

This was a clash of big stars with big personalities designed to give Starlight Kid a key credibility enhancing win on her return to set her on course for a World of Stardom challenge later in the show. The match itself became two lightning-fast singles matches. AZM and Syuri paired off, reminding the world of their incredible and underutilised chemistry – AZM’s high-speed sweeps and leaps proving the perfect counter to Syuri’s violent strikes (and trust me, there were plenty of those). Kid and rising star Inaba have already proved how sublimely they mesh with two classic encounters in 2025. The pair split their singles matches 1–1 and this felt like the spiritual decider. Kid had Inaba’s number in the end. After a valiant flash pinfall attempt, Inaba relented; AZM hit a top-rope double foot stomp and Tomoka screamed in agony as Kid followed with a beautiful moonsault for the 1-2-3.

Chris

What David said, plus what I have said in the past – any day you get to see AZM wrestle is a good day.

Mi Vida Loca and EXV Are Perfect Dance Partners

David

The clash between the Suzu Suzuki‑led Mi Vida Loca and Maika’s big‑gal army, aka Empress Nexus Venus, was arguably the lowest‑stakes match‑up on the “Dream Queendom” main card, but by god did it deliver. The premise was simple: take eight of the biggest, baddest and most charismatic women on the Stardom roster, pit them against one another and let the bomb‑throwing commence. The action proved frantic and gleefully chaotic. Suzu would force a freshly returned Maika to wrestle at a ferocious pace, while Xena, Aoki, HANAKO and Rina Yamashita engaged in a deranged array of striking and dead‑lift slam contests.

The best was saved for last, of course, as the two giants Bozilla and Megan Bayne squared off. Bozilla exuded charisma and bravado, running the ropes like a demonic ogre, while Bayne projected power and poise. The action proved so meaty and intense that the wrestlers themselves became swept up in the moment. Ioki was visibly having the time of her life watching these two goliaths trade blows, throws and even dives. The action would eventually spill to the outside for a pier‑six brawl resulting in a double count‑out, with both teams tearing strips off one another on their way to the back. Normally a cop‑out draw would be a disappointment, but the promise of future chapters and greater violence to come proved oddly satisfying.

Chris

I loved the finish to this match. Megan deciding “ah, fuck this match result, I’m gonna do a cool dive to keep the fight going on the outside even if we get counted out” is perfect wrestler brain; plus, as David notes, the count out finish was just the start of the issues with these groups. This was an excellent vibes match, with many fan favourites on both sides. It was kind of the perfect encapsulation of what I said at the beginning about the vibes in the room and so much of the roster being so over.

The Stardom Rumble Is Messy, Chaotic, Sloppy, But Wildy Enjoyable Glimpse Into Promotion’s Future

David

The “Dream Queendom” card was rounded out by the annual Stardom Rumble, your typical “get everyone on the card” affair. Mercifully, unlike the New Japan equivalent, it’s clear that a fair degree of thought had gone into this 21‑woman sideshow. Make no mistake, the early portion of the match was defined by a blend of comedy and sloppiness as tentative youngsters Rian and Akira were mixed in with notorious pranksters Koguma, Fukigen Death and Saki Kashima — the latter of whom eliminated her hapless frenemy Lady C via a feigned display of affection.

Where the “Wrestle Kingdom” Rambo was a disaster, cramming too many men into too little time, the Stardom Rumble was given a full 36 minutes, affording each act plenty the opportunity to hit their signature spots and make an impression. Mei Seira and Yuna Mizumori got to showcase their speed, while Olympia and Ami displayed raw power. So, with the notable exception of the Japanese obsession with having eliminations take place during entrances, the Rumble was progressing harmlessly enough.

Then the match got serious. First came the big surprise: Yuzuki Aikawa made her shock return to Stardom. Yuzuki is a Stardom original, a former gravure model who worked hard to become a credible wrestler and legitimate star in Stardom’s pink‑logo era back in 2012. She would retire in 2013 after a two‑and‑a‑half‑year career. Despite having 12 years on the couch, Yuzuki looked both aesthetically and athletically great. She landed her signature Taekwondo kicks and started a mini‑feud with rookie (and fellow gravure model) Yuria Hime before being eliminated. Her cameo was really tastefully handled by the promotion and proved a genuine feel‑good surprise.

Fittingly, the past (Yuzuki) would give way to the future, as the final three of Miyu Amasaki alongside sisters Hina and Rina were left standing. At this point, the campy fun of the Rumble dissipated in favour of an intense battle to be the new face of the promotion. Hina took the fight to her sister but made a critical mistake. Rather than going for the pin after hitting her signature fisherman’s jackhammer, she instead went for a frogsplash. When Rina rolled out of the way, Miyu dashed in and eliminated Hina with her special back‑bridging pinning combination. From here on in, Miyu and Rina would engage in an intense sprint of a match. Rina survived a swinging DDT and the same bridging combination that felled her sister before blasting Miyu with a Yakuza kick and a Pink Devil Gory Bomb to secure the Rumble win. She would later be revealed as the next contender to Konami’s title.

Chris

Sad to report that I missed parts of this match because I was at the bar and then scoping the view from various vantage points around the Sumo Hall lower bowl, trying to really drink in the atmosphere in the whole room and not just my section. But the parts of the match I saw were excellent, and the live reports from my friends and colleagues who were sitting on the floor speak to how fun this was and how the little interactions the wrestlers had with the fans in the front rows make for a unique experience.

Full Results

Pre-Show Match:
Ema Maishima & Kikyo Furusawa defeat Anne Kanaya & Matoi Hamabe (10:46)

Neo Genesis (AZM & Starlight Kid) defeat God’s Eye (Syuri & Tomoka Inaba) (12:42)

Rumble Match:
Rina defeats Akira Kurogane and Ami Sourei and Azusa Inaba and Bea Priestley and Fukigen Death and Hina and Kiyoka Kotatsu and Koguma and Lady C and Mei Seira and Miyu Amasaki and Momo Kohgo and Olympia and Ranna Yagami and Rian and Saki Kashima and Waka Tsukiyama and Yuna Mizumori and Yuria Hime and Yuzuki Aikawa (36:35)

Empress Nexus Venus (HANAKO, Maika & Xena) & Megan Bayne vs. Mi Vida Loca (Bozilla, Itsuki Aoki, Rina Yamashita & Suzu Suzuki) – Double Count Out (16:27)

Hazuki defeats Fuwa-chan (11:33)

Sareee defeats Natsupoi (18:20)

Goddesses Of Stardom Title Match: H.A.T.E. (Natsuko Tora & Ruaka) (c) defeat Cosmic Angels (Aya Sakura & Sayaka Kurara) (19:58)

Wonder Of Stardom Title Match:
Konami (c) defeats Saya Iida (20:34)

World Of Stardom Title Match:
Saya Kamitani (c) defeats Saori Anou (22:40)

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“STARDOM 15th Anniversary Supreme Fight 2026 In Osaka”

7th February 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 2,563
EDION Arena Osaka #1, Osaka, Japan
Watch On: StageCrowd (PPV) / Stardom World (after PPV window ends)

By Tim Hunter

A mixed bag of a show was capped off by an all time great performance from Saya Kamitani and Starlight Kid that was underlined by a shoot injury to Kamitani’s hand, which – while unfortunate – undeniably enhanced the viewing experience and brilliance of the match.

The show opened with a two match pre-show which consisted of a Highspeed Championship number one contender 5-way match that included the champion Yuna Mizumori herself, who dubbed the match a Pinespeed 5-way match, being as she is a tropical pineapple lover. The other competitors were Momo Kohgo, Azusa Inaba, Lady C and Kiyoka Kotatsu. Yuna herself was pinned by Kohgo, who would get her title shot on the upcoming Korakuen Hall show on February 13th. The next pre-show bout was a trios match between Sayaka Kurara, Anne Kanaya, Kikyo Furusawa fighting Hina, Ranna Yagami, Tomoka Inaba. The noteworthy thing about this match was that Hina pinned Sayaka Kurara while Sayaka was teaming with two rookies who are way below her in the pecking order. This makes sense, on one hand, because Hina would challenge for the white belt later on in the show, so giving her one more big scalp as she’s been on a real roll lately sounds like a great idea. Kurara, however, would come out after the red belt match to everyone’s surprise, challenging Saya Kamitani. Now there are two schools of thought as for why they would do this: either they are playing the long game with Sayaka and telling a story of failure and despair before she truly ascends to the red belt level further in the future, or they thought if they elevate her to the red belt level right now with no further explanation, they might as well have her lay down and give someone else a big win before her ascension. I can see how this loss would make sense on some levels, but it was still a rather unexpected decision here nonetheless.

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The main show started with another showcase for former social media megastar Fuwa Chan, who took on H.A.T.E.’s most promising upstart Rina. This opened the show because STARDOM decided to stream this for free on YouTube, undoubtedly a smart decision to get some more eyes on the product from Fuwa’s fanbase. This was another very good showing from the celebrity wrestler, who had only 6 matches under her belt in total before this match, but this didn’t stop her from pulling out moves that were way above her level of experience, including German Suplexes and an honestly gorgeous looking Shining Wizard. In the end, however, it wouldn’t be enough, as the far more experienced (despite being 13 years younger) Rina took away the win after a really good bout and joins her sister Hina in their consistent ascent to the top of the card in STARDOM.

The second match on the show saw Maki Itoh defeat Aya Sakura in their much heated rivalry over the prestigious “Kawaii of Kawaii” championship. This was obviously a very gimmick heavy match that was more about the personalities on display than the workrate, as probably most of Maki Itoh’s matches in STARDOM are going to be. Now this is where the opinions may fall in various different directions. I think the match still had its merits, with some nice looking kicks and a deep triangle choke from Aya almost taking Maki out, and I
have always been a big fan of Maki’s Clover Leaf – which she applies at a very steep angle, almost like a lion tamer, and she used it here to pick up the win. Aya built this match on her word to defend the honor of Tam Nakano as the top kawaii of the cosmos, so we will see what her failure in this quest will mean for the future of the long winding Tam Road the company is still comfortably traveling on.

The 4-way tag team match that followed was really a nothing match, mostly standing out for some very nice high speed action in the middle and the costumes Kaori Yoneyama and Hazuki showed up in, which were depictions of famous Osaka statues. 02-Line (Miyu Amasaki and AZM) picked up the win, much to the dismay of one Saori Anou, who fell into a deeply depressed state and had to be dragged out by the wrist by tag partner Natsupoi, after Saori already ate the pin in the preceding Korakuen Hall from Hina and of course losing her red belt challenge last month. At this point it should be noted that with Yuna Mizumori, Sayaka Kurara and Aya Sakura pinned as well as Natsupoi and Saori failing their challenge here, all “angle-alerts” in my head went off seeing how devastated Saori acted here and the brooding manner Sayaka appeared in later in the show. This feels like a real low point for the Cosmic Angels, who have really been sort of aimless since their leader Tam Nakano vanished last year. One has to wonder where this leads and whether it plays into the other big overarching STARDOM storyline happening right now that we will get to later.

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Next on the card was a special singles match between Syuri and the soon-to-be-retiring Saki Kashima. The two God’s Eye members share a lot of history in STARDOM, as Saki Kashima has been chronically afraid of the big bad ex-UFC fighter Syuri, who, in a heartwarming turn of events, saved Saki Kashima from a beatdown after she was kicked out of her former unit Oedo Tai (now H.A.T.E.) and welcomed her into her own unit. Clearly this was a special match for both of them on Saki’s retirement road. However, it kind of underdelivered on my expectations; I think I preferred most other matches these two had against each other in the past. There were still some really fun and lovely spots involving the entire God’s Eye faction stopping Saki from running away and then stopping Syuri from straight murdering Saki on the ramp. In the end there was a rare showing of true fighting spirit from Kashima refusing to be put away by Syuri’s kicks, so she ended up pinning Saki with her own signature roll up instead. I would still give it a thumbs up.

Now we have probably the most divisive match on the card, as Mi Vida Loca defeated Empress Nexus Venus in a 4v5 Handicap gauntlet match. This match went almost 35 minutes, which is probably where a lot of the ire from the viewers was drawn, but I thought the individual parts of the match were all very entertaining and ranged from good to great, so I wasn’t one to complain that much about it. The rules for the match were 1v1 match ups with a ten minute time limit and over the top rope elimination rules, in addition to standard falls. The winner of each match up stays in the match and the losing unit sends a new wrestler for the next 1v1 to start. In case of a draw, both wrestlers are eliminated. It started off with an absolute hero performance by Itsuki Aoki, who managed to eliminate both Waka Tsukiyama and Xena, as well as taking HANAKO to her limits for a while before the exhausted Itsuki fell to the floor for a top rope elimination from a big boot. After that, Rina Yamashita entered the ring to take on HANAKO and they had one of those matches that looked very dangerous and sloppy, but in a way that actually enhanced the match and made it feel a lot more exciting and like a shoot. There were some near disastrous attempts at suplexes and powerbombs that constantly fell apart – and for the health of either wrestler, that was probably for the best. They ended up drawing the match by eliminating each other over the top rope at the same time.

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Surprisingly, the two unit leaders would not be the ones to finish the match but entered the ring at this point instead. Maika vs Suzu Suzuki was absolutely banging. These two, who had several great bouts in the past, were just simply throwing bombs over and over until both were so exhausted that neither woman could get the win in ten minutes. This was just pure beast energy full of adrenaline and two tanks throwing each other around non-stop. I loved these ten minutes. As it happens when two monsters fight, the bout was not without damage, as Maika had to be put into a neckbrace after the match and seemingly couldn’t move her right arm. (Editor’s Note: She wrestled the following week and appears to be fine.)

Now after everything was evened up the “main event” of the match was left for…Akira and Rian? The two youngsters on each team? Yes, and I loved the decision as well, not only because it shone a nice spotlight on the two rookies, but also because these two have had a rather underrated feud brewing; Rian has been beating Akira in singles matches, much to the frustration of the latter. Rian is not the most winningest person on the STARDOM roster, to say the least, and her getting several wins over another wrestler is something that stands out. So to have this mini feud be the decider for the big overarching MVL vs EXV feud is a great decision in my book. This once again showed the improvement of both wrestlers. Akira has shown tremendous leaps as a talent in recent months and she finally managed to beat Rian too, debuting a really cool arm lock to tap Rian out, win the match and definitively win the feud for her team, as Maika announced the disbandment of Empress Nexus Venus backstage after the match. This disbandment had been coming for a while. The “Venus” in Empress Nexus Venus, Mina Shirakawa, hasn’t been around in close to a year and HANAKO has been fed up with Maika’s leadership lately, leading to several internal clashes after matches. Maika will also be taking some time away from STARDOM, visiting CMLL for a short Mexico excursion.

The big theme for the final three matches was: can anyone finally put a dent into the H.A.T.E. armor and take one of their titles or will their reign of dominance continue to roll on? The answer was resoundingly the latter. In some ways, maybe in many ways, that is for the best. These title reigns have been so massive that they deserve a bigger stage to be ended on and not a thrown together challenge with essentially no build, like with this Bea Priestley and Hanan tag title challenge. Even if this Ruaka and Natsuko Tora title reign has gotten a bit long in the tooth, there is no doubt in my mind that they have to keep it going until the big April show “All Star Grand Queendom” at this point. And thankfully it looks like it will, as they retained over the two members from STARS in really a nothing match. Hanan has looked good since her return, but this match wasn’t really noteworthy at all.

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Next up we had the white belt match where another H.A.T.E. member retained her championship over challenger Ami Sourei. Similarly to the tag match, this just wasn’t really the challenger that should beat Konami at this point. Ami lost a number one contendership match just two months before, so this was more something like a consolation title challenge if anything, not to mention that Konami has a big feud with someone else brewing in the background of it all: the aforementioned Hanan, who was put out of action for several months at Konami’s hands. Unlike the tag title match, however, this one was really quite remarkable and well worked. Ami managed to convince me of this challenge during the match, as her babyface fire was massive and she looked like an absolute beast fighting off all heel interference and completely shaking off Konami’s feared spray paint attack at one point like it was nothing. Ami essentially had the match won with her big Michinoku Driver but Azusa Inaba managed to pull the ref out of the ring at the last millisecond. In the end, all the superhero fight in Ami’s soul wouldn’t be enough, as the evil would overcome once more and Konami managed to put her away with her lethal trademark kicks and her deadly chokehold. This was excellent and, in my opinion, a good example of heel interference as it made Ami look like the greatest babyface in the world; it was just simply not the right time to change the belt.

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Now the big main event, as mentioned before, saw Saya Kamitani defend her World of STARDOM championship against Starlight Kid. This was the long awaited showdown of probably the two biggest stars in STARDOM right now and the third big H.A.T.E. title defense of the night. As many predicted, H.A.T.E. would go 3 for 3 as well, even though this match turned out to be anything but predictable. I think it is clear that at this point the downfall of H.A.T.E. will be a bigger happening on one of the big shows of the year, and until then the unit will keep all their titles; however, the aforementioned real injury to Saya Kamitani’s fingers in this match threw all bets off. Starlight Kid is only missing the red belt in order to complete the full STARDOM grand slam, even including New Blood titles; she is a homegrown star and has always been a top 3 merch seller in the company, so if there was ever a point in time and a wrestler worthy of calling an audible on, this would have been it. Even with this loss, I think the chance of Starlight Kid actually being the one to dethrone Saya is still there and the probability of Kid getting the red belt at any point in the future is a near 100%.

The match started off with each competitors’ signature offense, as Kamitani dominated early with heel work on the outside and her typical cocky and overconfident taunting, while Starlight Kid was attacking Saya’s leg in order to prepare her for the Black Tiger Leg Killer. Then on a top rope splash attempt from Kid, it happened. Saya did a dropkick to counter the flying attack and upon landing she either dislocated or broke at least one finger. What sounds like a rather tame injury can turn out pretty badly, as Bianca Belair has been out for almost a year with a broken finger. It also has to be said that losing grip like this in one of your hands can be incredibly challenging for pulling off just a regular wrestling match, nevermind the high octane style Kamitani is known for.

Nonetheless, after a break of several minutes during which Saya was examined by the ring doctor, who ended up taping her fingers together with a splint, the decision was made to continue the match.

I want to commend the excellent officiating here, as Daichi Murayama kept a cool head and managed to keep many plates spinning at once: assessing Kamitani’s injury, talking to the doctor, coordinating the wrestlers acting as seconds to run and fetch doctors and officials, calling an official time out on the match clock, consulting with President/Booker Taro Okada, communicating with Starlight Kid and finally taking the house mic and informing the live crowd what happened. A remarkable job from the best ref in the business.

- Chris Whitehead

This made for an incredibly volatile and unpredictable atmosphere for everything that happened after. Would they decide to go straight to the finish? Would they call an audible and put the title on Kid? Nobody knew. And these two wrestlers, brilliantly, worked exactly to this match state in a complete frenzy at 200 kilometres per hour. They went straight to a piledriver on the apron from Starlight Kid which led to an incredible nearfall. SLK would then turn a spin kick from Kamitani into a stretch muffler in an incredibly smooth looking counter sequence. She would later get Kamitani in the full Black Tiger Leg Killer, which led to a tense submission stretch sold wonderfully by Kamitani. They threw bomb after bomb and it would be absolutely amazing if they could even pull off half the things they did with the injury and fascinating how much it actually played into the intensity of the situation. There were top rope tiger drivers and top rope starcrushers; at one moment after trying to knock each other silly on their knees, Saya stood up and roared to the crowd with such a primal intensity, it was clear that she was on pure adrenaline for the entire finishing stretch of this match and it was absolutely goosebumps inducing. And in a total miracle this finishing stretch somehow managed to go another 20 minutes. It never felt like a 27 minute match, it felt like a complete blur and it was an all time performance by both wrestlers.

Starlight Kid should not be forgotten in all this, as she had the impossible mission to work over an injured Saya Kamitani (with no knowledge of how bad the injury actually was), the company’s golden goose; further injury was absolutely not an option and she passed with flying colours. I’m still not sure how these two pulled this off, but this was one of the easier 5 star matches you’ll ever see, obviously vastly enhanced by the injury being a silver lining in the moment. This was something you had to be there for as it happened; watching it after the fact will never have the same effect.

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With the match over, a still adrenaline driven Kamitani screamed her heart out in an emotional post match promo only to be interrupted by none other than Sayaka Kurara. The loser of the pre-show match. Obviously there is a lot going on here, maybe enough for a full feature in a future newsletter, but the short story of it all is that Kurara was Tam Nakano’s protegé and Saya Kamitani is the one responsible for Nakano disappearing forever. Kurara’s words were simple: “I will take everything from you that you have taken from me and I will become the brightest shining star in STARDOM.” Saya Kamitani obviously laughed it off, as she already beat Kurara last May in a highly emotional affair and given that Kurara is not exactly on a winning streak deserving of a title shot right now. “Just go home!” she screamed at Kurara over and over. Obviously Saya is not wrong, Sayaka is a rather curious choice for a challenger right now, but it is easy to see that this serves as nothing but a set up for the next chapter in Kamitani’s career and ultimately the elevation for Kurara into her mentor’s spot at some point in the future, as STARDOM is still deep in the gripping aftermath of Tam Road, soaring to new heights on their journey towards the Tokyo Dome.

By Tim Hunter

Full Results

Pre-Show:

Momo Kohgo defeats Azusa Inaba and Kiyoka Kotatsu and Lady C and Yuna Mizumori (6:27)

God’s Eye (Hina, Ranna Yagami & Tomoka Inaba) defeat Anne Kanaya, Kikyo Furusawa & Sayaka Kurara (11:29)

Main Show:

Rina defeats Fuwa-chan (13:22)

Kawaii Of Kawaii Title Match:
Maki Ito (c) defeats Aya Sakura (12:06)

Neo Genesis (AZM & Miyu Amasaki) defeat Billy Ken Death (Fukigen Death) & Kuidaore Hazuki (Hazuki) and Cosmic Angels (Natsupoi & Saori Anou) and STARS (Saya Iida & Yuria Hime) (9:21)

Syuri defeats Saki Kashima (7:06)

Five On Four Handicap Gauntlet Match:
Mi Vida Loca (Akira Kurogane, Itsuki Aoki, Rina Yamashita & Suzu Suzuki) defeat Empress Nexus Venus (HANAKO, Maika, Rian, Waka Tsukiyama & Xena) (34:34)

Itsuki Aoki defeats Waka Tsukiyama (4:00)
Itsuki Aoki defeats Xena (9:39)
HANAKO defeats Itsuki Aoki (13:02)
HANAKO and Rina Yamashita double elimination (18:56)
Maika vs. Suzu Suzuki – Time Limit Draw (28:56)
Akira Kurogane defeats Rian (34:34)

Goddesses Of Stardom Title Match:
HATE (Natsuko Tora & Ruaka) (c) defeat STARS (Bea Priestley & Hanan) (15:04)

Wonder Of Stardom Title Match:
Konami (c) defeats Ami Sourei (19:04)

World Of Stardom Title Match:
Saya Kamitani (c) defeats Starlight Kid (27:26)



Social Suplex welcomes Joshi'ing Around

If you would also like an audio review of the show, The Social Suplex Podcast Network welcomes the Joshi’ing Around podcast to the team, where regular newsletter contributors Tim Hunter and Eric Addy discuss being at the show live, as well as in-depth coverage of almost every other Japanese women’s promotion you can think of.

Watch on NJPW World

New Japan Pro Wrestling

Recommended Matches This Issue

These are in order of personal preference rather than chronological.

Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada – 4th January at Tokyo Dome
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yota Tsuji – 4th January at Tokyo Dome
Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura vs. Taichi & Tomohiro Ishii – 19th January at Korakuen Hall
OSKAR & Yuto-Ice vs. Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura – 11th February at EDION Arena Osaka #1
OSKAR & Yuto-Ice vs. Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. – 5th January at Ota Ward General Gymnasium
Aaron Wolf vs. EVIL – 4th January at Tokyo Dome
YOSHI-HASHI vs. Zack Sabre Jr. – 2nd February at Korakuen Hall
Hartley Jackson vs. Oleg Boltin – 2nd February at Korakuen Hall
Hirooki Goto vs. Ryohei Oiwa – 2nd February at Korakuen Hall
Callum Newman & Jakob Austin Young vs. David Finlay & Hiromu Takahashi – 1st February at Korakuen Hall

News Round-up

By Trish Speirs

New Japan contract season is once again dominating news around the promotion in the early months of the year, with the biggest departure so far being that of EVIL. The 39 year old has been with NJPW for his entire career up until this point, having begun as a young lion in the New Japan dojo in 2011. His House of Torture faction have been popular domestically in recent years, with the years before spent as part of the massively successful Los Ingobernables de Japon stable, mostly as a tag team wrestler. The man who was the first person to be added to LIJ by Tetsuya Naito in October 2015 is now the latest from the faction to be heading out from the promotion following the departures of BUSHI and Naito last May.

EVIL, real name Takaaki Watanabe, said goodbye to the New Japan roster after the Korakuen Hall show on January 20th. There was nothing on the show to mark the departure, and even his backstage leaving was so low key that some New Japan talent thought he was departing for his spring vacation rather than taking his leave in full. News of his full departure was broken by the Super J Cast, and later collaborated by Bryan Alvarez of Wrestling Observer Live, with both outlets suggesting that he was heading to WWE. New Japan officially announced the departure of the former IWGP Champion on January 26th.

There is another former LIJ faction member who has also departed New Japan over the last week, as Hiromu Takahashi was confirmed to also not be renewing with the company. Takahashi had been expected to work more for Pro Wrestling NOAH at the start of the year whilst retaining New Japan dates, but a number of New Japan sources have now indicated that he may also head to WWE. Takahashi, 36, has reiterated in Tokyo Sports interviews since the announcement was made that his decision comes at the same age that Kazuchika Okada and Shinsuke Nakamura left Japan for the US, and that he now has a second goal to chase away from his ambition of becoming the first junior to to win the IWGP Heavyweight Championship in New Japan.

Having become one of the most decorated juniors in New Japan history, there had been talk since last May of moving Hiromu up to the heavyweights division within the company. There is a divergence as to why this did not happen, with New Japan sources split over whether this was a pay issue (heavyweights make significantly more than juniors in the pay structure), whether Takahashi would be looking to join Tetsuya Naito and BUSHI in Pro Wrestling NOAH after his excellent GHC Junior Title run in the later part of last year, or whether he was insisting on staying part of the junior division. Some remain sceptical as to whether the talk of an international departure is cover for a NOAH jump, a tactic we have seen used previously, whilst others note that Takahashi has remained closed to EVIL throughout his career and was essentially in the shopping window with his match with Kyle Fletcher at AEW’s “Forbidden Door” event in August last year. One WWE source has expressed to us that their belief is that he would go to NXT, should he join the company.

Regardless of the eventual landing point, the inability of the promotion to capitalise on Takahashi from the New Japan Cup and EVIL title challenge in 2020 onwards has been a booking failure that has, in part, led to this situation. More was made of Takahashi’s departure than was for EVIL, with the announcement being made on February 2nd ahead of his final New Japan matches in Osaka on February 11th, before giving a full in ring speech as the show closer after the main event.

The “New Beginning in Osaka” on February 11th show appeared to indicate another departure from the promotion, with David Finlay losing clean to Callum Newman in very decisive fashion. Finlay was incredibly emotional after the bout and after the show, leading to most New Japan talent believing that this was the end for him with the company in Japan. The 32 year old is booked for the “New Beginning USA” show on February 27th in Trenton, New Jersey, but is not listed for any further Japanese dates at present. He will face Fred Rosser in the opening match in New Jersey, a show which he has been advertised for since early January.

If the directions of potential travel sounded complicated for Takahashi, Finlay’s are perhaps even more so. The Irishman is well equipped in terms of working the media, but this is perhaps the contract situation which has already had the most fluidity over the past month, and may continue to do so. Fightful have confirmed that there has been contact between WWE and Finlay, with Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer stating that people in WWE have believed him to be coming in for the past few months. WWE sources have indicated to us that they believe that the offer would be NXT at the start, similar to Takahashi. A high up AEW source had indicated to us, and we believe to others, that AEW would be making an offer to Finlay in mid January. This was somewhat surprising, considering that the War Dogs leader was the only member of the faction not to be used in the build to last year’s “Forbidden Door” event, nor has he had regular appearances in the company since his match in June 2022 with Hangman Adam Page on “Dynamite”.

Multiple US offers for anyone can quickly take a talent out of the realms of New Japan’s pay structure, depending on whether these offers turn into a bidding war. It is a reality that Nippon baseball has come to contend with over the last decade and is now one that pro wrestling in Japan faces. There are wrestlers who will prefer the New Japan schedule of intense tours followed by breaks at home, whilst others will prefer the regularity of working for a US company, which will be easier on the body and allow for being home on a weekly basis. Finlay’s schedule in 2025 saw him touring with New Japan for around twenty-one weeks of the year.

Over the past week, the finality of the departure that was felt at “New Beginning” has been rowed back, with several New Japan sources now believing he could stay with the promotion. Whether this is down to negotiations with US companies, or any other factors, are not clear. Each promotion has potential slot-in spots should he sign there, with New Japan having a very much straightforward Tsuji story over the creation of Unbound Company if he does choose to re-sign. A contract with longevity, similar to the multiple year one recently signed by Callum Newman, may help with that, but there are a lot of factors in play when he considers where to go next at this point in his career.

Unbound Company stablemate Gabe Kidd cut a backstage promo after “New Beginning” that some fans took as an indication that he would also be departing the company. Kidd will miss the New Japan Cup and will be wrestling in AEW during the spring. His deal was renewed much later than others last year, meaning there are still multiple months left upon it; however, current indications are that he will become a dual contracted wrestler rather than depart fully to AEW. Clark Connors is believed to be signed solely to AEW at this point, even if the promotion is yet to give him his full graphic welcome. Drilla Maloney has made clear throughout January that he wishes to stay with New Japan, with his renewal being officially announced this past week. Also re-signed are Yota Tsuji, Konosuke Takeshita for another year and Chase Owens, who is believed to be on a per tour deal, rather than a full contract. Henare put “free agent” into his X bio before removing it, causing a bit of a stir. There are indications that he has had passing contact with WWE but nothing more than that at this time. Shane Haste and Mikey Nicholls, who were part of Zack Sabre Jr’s TMDK faction, did not have their contracts renewed and are now free agents.

SANADA, who had a digital board on his entrance gear during “New Year’s Dash” that read “goodbye New Japan”, is not expected to leave the company. New Japan issued a statement that he would be taking a leave of absence in the week that followed the show and he has been backstage at multiple events since. The belief is that SANADA will finally be getting surgery on the arm/shoulder injury which he has been working with for over two years.

Whilst the period of heavy activity is not particularly unusual, it has also seen several former New Japan talents, as well as the current IWGP Champion raise their voices when it comes to working conditions. Kazuchika Okada, in the week following his Tokyo Dome with Hiroshi Tanahashi, talked about the lack of recognition for his efforts in the match by New Japan management. Appearing on Toru Yano’s podcast (a roster member who also has his hand in creative), Okada stated that: “After the match, no one from the office or management came to the locker room. Not a single person said ‘good job’ or ‘Thank You Okada’. Nothing. In AEW, Tony Khan is the boss, but he always shows up backstage, shakes hands, and shows appreciation for what we do. It’s a small thing, but it matters.” Whilst Okada did receive a standing ovation in the team meeting after, this criticism appears to be reserved for higher ups, such as Takaaki Kidani, and very much resembles a similar pattern to what was put out by Hiromu Takahashi post “Forbidden Door” last summer.

Tetsuya Naito, never one to miss the opportunity to air grievances, gave his own thoughts to Tokyo Sports as to why longstanding members of the New Japan roster were departing: “It may be natural to move on to the next stage once you’ve achieved a certain goal, but is that really the only reason so many wrestlers are leaving? I want New Japan Pro Wrestling to seriously consider this issue. If we don’t find out what the cause is for the departure of so many wrestlers, especially those who were so passionate about their work, I feel like we’ll see even more wrestlers leaving next year and the year after.”

Naito did note that the departures do open up a door for new talent to ascend, and the first to ascend to the role, Yota Tsuji, offered his own thoughts, seemingly getting into hot water with Kidani in the process. Tsuji used his show closing speech, post-defeating Jake Lee in front of a sell out crowd in Osaka, to criticise New Japan’s parent company Bushiroad. He pointed to talent feeling undervalued by management in his own way by exclaiming, “We wrestlers aren’t just cards in one of your trading card games! We’re risking our lives in this ring! Do you understand the weight of this belt? This belt represents the resolve and price paid by every wrestler who fights here. This ring, it’s where we wrestlers express our very lives.” Bushiroad President Takaaki Kidani, seemingly choosing to miss the point, or actually doing so, instead apologised to TCG fans for the comments. They were also criticised on X by Hirooki Goto, who was then challenged in return by Shingo Takagi.

Tsuji’s show closing promo came on the back of an interview for the “New Beginning” build carried out earlier in the week alongside New Japan President Hiroshi Tanahashi where he criticised other working practices, whilst also continuing his commentary on New Japan’s relationship with AEW, which live in the grey between kayfabe and what outlets such as Fightful have expressed to be Tsuji’s actual feelings on the arrangement.

Tsuji would issue an apology of sorts to Tokyo Sports in the aftermath:

I want to apologize because the word ‘Bushiroad’ was not good.

While the current wrestlers are also dissatisfied, someone had to say something, as everyone is numb about [the other wrestlers] leaving. I want to put a stop to this situation. That’s why I thought that I, as the champion, had to throw a stone. This is an opportunity, while the fans are also thinking, ‘Is everything okay?’; I want to expose the current situation and make New Japan Pro Wrestling more exciting, after we drain the pus.

I didn’t want to criticize the company at all. I am 100% aware that the departures have their own circumstances. I understand that there is a difference in business between the United States and Japan in terms of money, but there must be a way.

Yota Tsuji

Tokyo Sports

He goes on to clarify his earlier comments:

The main premise is that we are human beings. It’s also true that there are times when I wonder if I’m being treated properly as a professional wrestler, even in terms of my contract. I wanted to convey that we are fighting for our lives.

I think, from the bottom of my heart, that New Japan is the best wrestling company in the world, so I wanted to change this situation beyond just saying ‘it’s sad’. That’s what I’m prepared to do.

Yota Tsuji

Tokyo Sports

The statements of Tsuji, as well as the departed Hiromu Takahashi, Kazuchika Okada and Tetsuya Naito, very much reflect on a company still very much reliant on live event revenue that is unable to transform like its American counterparts with their high paying media rights deals, on top of a challenging Japanese economic environment, devaluation of the yen and a continually tough road schedule that causes significant wear on the bodies of performers.

Whilst the general atmosphere within the company has remained pretty good over the last year, the relationship with management of Bushiroad’s wrestling division and the feeling of contract offers not reflecting a wrestler’s worth have been regular points of aggravation for the roster.

Yota Tsuji will defend the IWGP Global Championship against Andrade El Idolo of United Empire in the main event of the “New Beginning USA” show from Trenton, New Jersey, on February 27th. IWGP Women’s Champion Syuri will defend her title against Athena in the semi main, whilst IWGP Tag Champions, the Knock Out Brothers, will look to continue their current stellar run against the Gates of Agony. Ricochet, who was a potential G1 participant last year, will put his AEW National Championship up against Taiji Ishimori, whilst Tomohiro Ishii defends the New Japan Strong Openweight belt against Oleg Boltin. And just in case you don’t have belt exhaustion, El Phantasmo will once again wrestle Konosuke Takeshita for the TV title. The show will air solely on PPV on New Japan World, which has been the case since last spring.

After no US shows in the second half of last year, New Japan will be involved with the “Death Pain Invitational” show in Las Vegas on April 16th, before re-adopting their 2019 strategy by having the first night of this year’s G1 tournament in the US, with Chicago replacing Dallas as the host city. The Now Arena, on the city’s outskirts, will be the venue on July 11th.

The New Japan Cup will begin on March 4th in Korakuen Hall, with the finals on March 20th and 21st in Aore, Nagaoka. The first two nights at Korakuen Hall will lead into New Japan’s 54th anniversary show on March 6th at Ota Ward Gymnasium. Outside of cup matches, junior title defenses for Douki against Master Wato and Kosei Fujita and Robbie Eagles vs Robbie X and Taiji Ishimori have been announced.

Shingo Takagi suffered a rib injury during the January 20th show at Korakuen Hall, returning to the ring on February 11th. There was better news for Takagi on the personal front, though, as he and STARDOM’s Natsupoi announced their marriage on January 12th. Congratulations and many happy returns to both wrestlers.

Takagi’s tag partner in-ring, Drilla Maloney, worked the tour with a significant right triceps injury.

Katsuya Murashima defeated Shoma Kato on February 2nd in Korakuen Hall to win this year’s Young Lions Cup. Both Murashima and Kato were announced for excursions in the aftermath. Kato will head to CMLL, where he may wrestle under a mask, whilst Murashima will become a full time member of the wXw roster in early March, with the opportunity to spend time training in Australia still on the table.

Bushiroad announced their Quarter 2 (Japanese Financial Year) results this past week, with the sports division containing New Japan and STARDOM bringing in 1.485 billion yen in revenue, up 218 million yen from the same trading period the year before. The detail released with the results cited year over year attendance growth for New Japan on the back of Tanahashi’s “Final Road”, a growth in STARDOM attendance and net sales (both from the previous quarter and Q2 the previous year), as well as increase in content revenue thanks to PPV events, with the noted one being the House of Torture show on November 19th.

New Japan announced the creation of a Management Strategy Division on February 1st that will be “aimed at strengthening strategic marketing for further business expansion” and led by current STARDOM President and booker Taro Okada, who will continue in his current roles alongside this new venture.

We will have reviews of the “New Beginning” shows and “Fantasticamania” shows in our next issue.

We have a full breakdown of Wrestle Kingdom, the fallout as well as tributes to Hiroshi Tanahashi in our lead article.

Watch on Wrestle Universe

NOAH

Bitesize Round-up

NOAH kicked off their new year with a bit of a flat performance creatively at the Nippon Budokan on 1st January. In an uninspiring show, OZAWA failed to capture the GHC Heavyweight Title from Yoshiki Inamura, who still remains the champion after also defeating Masa Kitamiya on 11th January, pending a showdown with Team 2000X’s Takashi Sugiura on 11th February. Tetsuya Naito made his appearance and won the GHC Tag Team Title with BUSHI, dethroning MaruKen (Kenoh & Naomichi Marufuji). Naito helped draw one of their best crowds at the Budokan in quite some time, as 6,278 attended the show. In what may end up as one of the best matches of the year in NOAH, AMAKUSA defeated the final boss of the junior heavyweight division, and his friend, Hiromu Takahashi. AMAKUSA followed up that match with another great defense against a future ace of the junior heavyweight division, Daiki Odashima.

Alpha Wolf and Kai Fujimura have joined Team 2000X after turning heel on 1st January and 11th January respectively. Early observations are that Alpha Wolf seems more interesting than before and has found a new coat of paint, whereas Kai Fujimura’s character will need some real fine tuning for it to yield any returns, and it feels more of a step back for him.

KENTA’s unit with HAYATA, Tetsuya Endo and Ulka Sasaki is now called “White Raven Sqwad” (yes, spelt like they’re a 2000s UK Garage band). Right after revealing their name and new shirts, Sasaki announced that he is going on an excursion to the US. KENTA and HAYATA will be challenging for the GHC Tag Team Title on 11th February after BUSHI misted KENTA on 2nd January.

Masa Kiyamiya and Takashi Sugiura will be joining PSYPATRA in their war against Gajadokuro on 23rd February at one of Dragongate’s biggest shows of the year “Uno, Dos, Tres!” in Fukuoka, Japan. There is a pact between PSYPATRA and Team 2000X. Let’s see how long that lasts.

The “NOAH Junior Tag League 2026” began on 6th February at Korakuen Hall and will finish on 1st March at Korakuen Hall. It is a single round-robin group, with the top two teams facing off in the final. If there are tiebreakers, head-to-head results will be used, and failing that, there will be a playoff match.

Recommended Matches This Issue

These are in order of personal preference rather than chronological.

AMAKUSA vs. Hiromu Takahashi – 1st January at Nippon Budokan
AMAKUSA & Black Menso-re vs. Eita & Katsumi Inahata – 14th February at Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX
AMAKUSA vs. Daiki Odashima – 11th January at Korakuen Hall

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

MOTYC+

6 Oct 2025 – Mayu Iwatani, Seri Yamaoka & Utami Hayashishita vs. Mio Momono, Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha (My #6 across all promotions)

NOAH MOTYC

1 Jan 2025 – Kaito Kiyomiya vs. OZAWA
19 Jul 2025 – Kenoh vs. OZAWA
20 Jul 2025 – Kenoh vs. KENTA
7 Dec 2025 – Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Kenoh

Excellent

24 May 2025 – Alpha Wolf & Dragon Bane vs. HAYATA & Yuto Kikuchi
26 Jul 2025 – Daga & Takashi Sugiura vs. Daiki Inaba & Manabu Soya
25 Aug 2025 – Atsushi Kotoge, Go Shiozaki & Shuji Ishikawa vs. Daisuke Ikeda, Mohammed Yone & Naomichi Marufuji

Highly Recommended

18 May 2025 – Kaito Kiyomiya vs. OZAWA
7 Jun 2025 – Daiki Odashima vs. Owadasan
16 Jun 2025 – Fuminori Abe vs. Ulka Sasaki
13 Jul 2025 – Galeno vs. Will Kroos
3 Aug 2025 – Daiki Odashima vs. Owadasan
23 Sep 2025 – Alejandro & Kai Fujimura vs. Alpha Wolf & Dragon Bane
11 Oct 2025 – Alpha Wolf & Dragon Bane vs. Daga & Daiki Odashima
23 Dec 2025 – Hiroto Tsuruya & Midori Takahashi vs. Kenoh & Naomichi Marufuji

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

1 Jan 2025 – Kenoh vs. KENTA
11 Feb 2025 – Kenoh & KENTA vs. Kaito Kiyomiya & Shuhei Taniguchi
3 May 2025 – Alpha Wolf & Dragon Bane vs. AMAKUSA & Junta Miyawaki
3 May 2025 – Eita vs. YO-HEY
3 Jun 2025 – OZAWA vs. Takashi Sugiura vs. Tetsuya Endo
7 Jun 2025 – Alpha Wolf & Eita vs. AMAKUSA & Junta Miyawaki
16 Jun 2025 – Daiki Odashima, Masa Kitamiya & Shuji Kondo vs. Robert Martyr, Ryan Clancy & Titus Alexander
21 Jun 2025 – Daiki Odashima vs. Will Kroos
3 Aug 2025 – Alpha Wolf & Dragon Bane vs. Eita & Shuji Kondo
17 Sep 2025 – Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Tetsuya Endo
23 Sep 2025 – Jack Morris vs. Masa Kitamiya
4 Oct 2025 – Galeno vs. Jack Morris
16 Oct 2025 – Dragon Bane vs. Galeno
8 Nov 2025 – KENTA vs. Yoshiki Inamura
8 Nov 2025 – Daiki Odashima vs. Hiromu Takahashi
21 Nov 2025 – Kaito Kiyomiya vs. Yoshiki Inamura
7 Dec 2025 – Daiki Odashima vs. Yuto Koyanagi
23 Dec 2025 – AMAKUSA & Daiki Odashima vs. Daiki Nagai & Hiromu Takahashi
23 Dec 2025 – Kaito Kiyomiya, Tetsuya Endo & Yoshiki Inamura vs. Masa Kitamiya, OZAWA & Tadasuke

NOAH The New Year 2026

1st January 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 6,287
Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: AMAKUSA vs. Hiromu Takahashi

NOAH kicked off their new year with a bit of a flat performance at the Nippon Budokan on 1st January. It wasn’t a flat performance financially, as they drew 6,278. One of the most sure-fire draws in the business today, aside from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, is Tetsuya Naito. That has been the case for several years, so there should be no surprise at NOAH’s attendance being strong on any show that Naito is on, regardless of what state he is in, which we’ll get to later.

But first, in the main event, Yoshiki Inamura successfully defended his GHC Heavyweight Title against his long-time rival in OZAWA. It was OZAWA’s second match since his injury return. I wrote quite a long preview as part of our lead article in the previous issue. In that, I explored the rivalry between Inamura and OZAWA, and where OZAWA’s hatred for “Mr. Smack Daddy” originated from. In light of all that, this match was extremely disappointing. I should be clear in saying that this match was not bad. I simply had higher expectations for OZAWA to weave in some storyline elements into the match, and be a bit more ruthless to match the story he was telling in the media and in promos. Of course, I am no stranger to OZAWA’s antics. It is part of his charm. I have long criticised his lack of ability in being able to put together a compelling main event, and this was yet another example. He has always been like this, ever since his match with Kaito Kiyomiya on 1st January 2024. But there are people who can bring the best out of him and really showcase the potential OZAWA has: Kaito Kiyomiya and Kenoh. That’s it. Kaito has done it on several occasions, so I am confident in their chemistry, and while the Kenoh match had a lot of antics, OZAWA stuck his chin out (literally) to produce the greatest KO finish in years, his antics played directly into the finish. OZAWA needs to learn to not just spam antics when he doesn’t know what to do, and be smarter about his big matches. Once he does that, his potential is limitless. This match did leave me wondering: is it really Kaito/Kenoh or nothing for OZAWA? The fun part is watching his journey and seeing which it is.

All I know is, Inamura was not the right dance partner for OZAWA, and it didn’t help that Inamura was not as over as a world heavyweight champion should be. He’s still over, just mildly so. OZAWA had some solid crowd support, including a chorus of chants for him as he countered the DISCHARGE. OZAWA’s main gimmick is stealing the moves of his opponent, to mock them and get under their skin. On this occasion, it was a DISCHARGE into a beautiful 450 splash. He followed up by climbing the ropes for The Real Rebel (Phoenix splash) with the crowd chanting his name but missed. Inamura pinned OZAWA with the DISCHARGE. The finish was good. The Real Rebel finisher was protected, and so was DISCHARGE. In the aforementioned preview, I did also talk about how NOAH would have big balls if they decided to keep the title on Inamura, and I suppose they did. If OZAWA is not the champion, he needs to be doing something important. So far, since 1st January, that has not happened, so I question their decision at New Year given OZAWA is one of the most popular guys on the roster to the domestic audience. Additionally, I was not filled with confidence when Masa Kitamiya turned out to be Inamura’s next challenger. The match itself is fine, but the booking is again uninspiring given that Kitamiya had just lost to KENTA for the title in October, then lost the Tag Team Title to Hanky and Tanky, and then regained them, then lost again to MaruKen (Kenoh & Naomichi Marufuji). I understand it is a filler defence, but it is indicative of a lack of a major plan for Inamura, so I think they should’ve just put the belt on their most popular star. The show set in a feeling that the heavyweight scenes (singles and tags) will lack some juice in 2026, at least the early part, and it will be up to the juniors to carry the heavy load, much like most of 2025. (Editor’s Note: Uninspiring booking? In NOAH? Surely not?)

Speaking of which, AMAKUSA won the GHC Junior Heavyweight Title from the final boss of the junior heavyweight division, Hiromu Takahashi. This match was legitimately excellent. If you heard this match was good and are doubting it, you should watch it. It is a match that will end up competing for the NOAH Match of the Year 2026. Hiromu was on another level in this match, harking back to some of his best work. Hiromu began the match chopping the ever-living crap out of AMAKUSA. Hiromu turned to the crowd and asked them what AMAKUSA’s name was, prompting loud chants for the challenger. He then shrugged off AMAKUSA’s dives, which are some of the prettiest in the world, such as “Vuelo de Aguilar.”

There were so many small spots that indicated that these two were totally invested in this fight and wanted to put on a great battle, such as Hiromu hitting the ropes which wobbled AMAKUSA off the rope. It was one of the best done versions of that spot that I have seen and helps you completely immerse in the match. Another example of these small spots are when AMAKUSA pinned Hiromu, Hiromu would kick out, but AMAKUSA would just slap him back down immediately. These small things were sandwiched between effective, amazing high spots such as AMAKUSA’s first kick out of the Time Bomb which caused the crowd to scream its lungs out given that it put AMAKUSA away at Korakuen Hall previously. AMAKUSA hit Hiromu with a corkscrew splash. He knew it would not be enough and went for another, but Hiromu interrupted him with deadly chops and followed up with the avalanche time bomb. Nippon Budokan then proceeded to go wild as AMAKUSA kicked out. There were large AMAKUSA chants during this finishing stretch. He finished out the match with a headbutt, into an inverted suplex and another corkscrew splash for the win. To be honest, there were another ten spots in this match that were excellently executed. This match will end up being underrated as the year goes on.

Alpha Wolf and Dragon Bane for the GHC National Title was a match made several weeks before the show. It was a highly anticipated matchup between two of the best workers in NOAH in 2025. Unfortunately, it was marred by Wolf’s heel turn. After a Santa Maria nearfall from Bane, Yoshitatsu came out and held up an X. Alpha Wolf returned the X symbol and then put Bane away with a sick looking Wolf Driver. The finish was quite bad, but the idea of Alpha Wolf being a heel is fine. It wasn’t necessarily needed for the faction, especially if Owadasan is coming back and Kai Fujimura turning over a week later, but it’s fine for some characters to undergo changes. I think the main utility in the heel turn is Alpha Wolf freshening up some lower card Team 2000X matches, which I was really struggling with as Tadasuke had to carry the load in those matches.

BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito debuted in NOAH, immediately winning the GHC Tag Team Title from Kenoh & Naomichi Marufuji. This was speculated for months, so it was more like an AEW-CM Punk debut, rather than a surprise. It felt special and there was a lot of energy in the crowd, with repeated Naito chants. The match itself was nothing special. BUSHI misted Marufuji then rolled him up. The title switch makes sense, I mean, it’s Tetsuya Naito.

Full Results

GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title Three Way:
Los Intocables (Daga & Daiki Odashima) (c) defeat All Rebellion (Alejandro & Kai Fujimura) and Eita & Shuji Kondo (7:43)

Team 2000X (Jun Masaoka, Masa Kitamiya, Tadasuke & Takashi Sugiura) defeat Junta Miyawaki, Kazuyuki Fujita, Minoru Suzuki & Shuhei Taniguchi (6:48)

PROGRESS Atlas Title:
Saxon Huxley defeats Will Kroos (c) (8:07)

White Raven Squad (HAYATA, KENTA, Tetsuya Endo & Ulka Sasaki) defeat Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara, Hi69 & Mohammed Yone (6:53)

GHC National Title:
Alpha Wolf defeats Dragon Bane (c) (13:17)

Good Brothers (Doc Gallows & Karl Anderson) defeat Jack Morris & Kaito Kiyomiya (11:50)

GHC Tag Team Title:
Los Tranquilos de Japon (BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito) defeat Kenoh & Naomichi Marufuji (c) (13:16)

GHC Junior Heavyweight Title:
AMAKUSA defeats Hiromu Takahashi (c) (17:24)

GHC Heavyweight Title:
Yoshiki Inamura (c) defeats OZAWA (21:18)

NOAH Reboot - 2nd January 2026

NOAH Reboot
2nd January 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

Katsumi Inahata, formerly known as Fire Katsumi who left JTO on 24th August, faced Naomichi Marufuji. He was dressed as a rookie, but given his level of experience compared to the three other rookies, he was given a lot against Marufuji including his very own chopping war against the chop master himself. Despite that, he lost in the most rookie way possible, a headlock. Marufuji handed Katsumi a NOAH jacket after the match, meaning he will join Yuto Koyanagi, Hiroto Tsuruya and Midori Takahashi as NOAH’s rookies in 2026.

BUSHI misted KENTA after his match, setting up a tag title belt for 11th February between Los Tranquilos de Japon (BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito) against KENTA and HAYATA, so he can eat the pin since Endo is relatively protected and very over (minus that random pinfall on 23rd November).

Legacy Rise 2026

11th January 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,498
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: AMAKUSA vs. Daiki Odashima

Yoshiki Inamura continued his GHC Heavyweight Title reign with a successful defence against the Chairman of Team 2000X, Masa Kitamiya. The match came about as Kitamiya stole the opportunity simply by pushing Kenoh away to the side after the main event on 1st January. The story being told is that Inamura’s past affiliations are popping up to challenge him and he can’t refuse because he wants to beat them up so bad, so Kenoh keeps getting pushed back. Kitamiya and Inamura were in a tag team together called “THE TOUGH” and this was their first singles match in over 17 months since Kitamiya beat Inamura in the 2023 N-1 on 11th August at Korakuen Hall. Coincidentally, that was exactly two years to the day before Kitamiya turned heel. The main issue with the challenge is that Kitamiya had just lost to KENTA in October, and this was Kitamiya’s 10th time challenging for the title, losing every single time. He’s now 0-10. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Korakuen Hall filler defence, it’s still not compelling.

Anyway, this match was quite interesting, because it was a great match sandwiched by some sections that did not work out so well. At the beginning of the match, they started with some great chain wrestling. I watched this after the fact and was expecting worse based on the reviews the match had gotten, which is always why I endeavour to watch matches live. Then, the initial interference in the match arrived. This didn’t seem to matter much and felt quite pointless, so while it detracted from the great match they were having, it did not ruin anything. The two got back to having their great match. In fact, the middle part of this match was so good that I was wondering if I had seen Masa Kitamiya be this good in years. They both looked inspired and even clonked heads with a shoot headbutt. They capped off an excellent middle stretch of the match with Inamura’s DISCHARGE pin being broken up by Yoshitatsu pulling the ref out of the ring. In this interference spot, Kenoh helped out. The involvement of Kenoh was clearly planting seeds for the future, which I don’t mind seeing in my matches, so this also wasn’t enough to put me off completely.

Kitamiya put on the Stranglehold Gamma, a Kensuke Sasaki move that he inherited and had been booked extremely strong since he turned heel in August 2025. Part of that strong booking is what made this submission sequence so compelling, so in a way it felt like a pay off to a long-term storyline. If you follow NOAH, you would absolutely believe that it could have been the finish, and so did the fans which is why they shouted Inamura’s name, when he has had some issues getting the same popularity as the previous two GHC Heavyweight Champions. Inamura rallied with DISCHARGE for the win. The last few minutes didn’t quite stick the landing for me, and the runtime with some pointless filler spots, like the first interference, mean I cannot recommend this match, but initial chain wrestling, and the post-first interference up to the end of the Stranglehold Gamma spot is an excellent match and Inamura’s best performance yet. Kenoh was about to challenge Inamura but Takashi Sugiura interrupted him. Inamura accepted Sugiura’s challenge because he admired his former mentor.

In the semi-main event, AMAKUSA continued his charge as the ace of the junior heavyweight division as he defended his GHC Junior Heavyweight Title against the future ace of the division, Daiki Odashima. I talk too much about Daiki. He is awesome, he’s super over, and his tag team with Daga has helped him flesh out his character. He is a sure-fire star. AMAKUSA is also great. So obviously, this match was really great. It’s worth watching rather than recapping the moves, especially if you haven’t seen Daiki Odashima before, and double especially if you didn’t vote for him as Rookie of the Year (I did). The best thing about it is that it felt as if it truly made Daiki. Daiki was already very popular, and we all knew how good he was, but it was extremely smart to have Daiki be AMAKUSA’s first challenger and put on a banger. Now he will always be seen as capable of taking that title any time he challenges in the future, and the crowd will be ready for it. Backstage, AMAKUSA said “wow, and he’s only 18 months into his career!” Yes AMAKUSA, tell me about it.

OZAWA faced Tetsuya Endo in a special singles match. Endo’s arc in NOAH has probably been the most interesting, because it’s been under the radar, bubbling underneath the surface. He is secretly one of the most over people on the roster, and they put him in positions where they can utilise that support, but end up never pulling the trigger. The N-1 Victory in 2025 was the best example of that. Imagine my shock when they put him against their former top star and Endo’s former stablemate in OZAWA and actually give him a pinfall victory. The match was not excellent, but it was very good, probably even more so if you were there live. The finish in particular was excellent as Endo rolled OZAWA up with a Tornado Clutch for the win. During the match, Endo also broke OZAWA’s Tokyo Sports award which was a good spot. It elevated Endo immediately and means he is in prime position for a GHC Heavyweight Title run. I think they should pull the trigger and give him a run on top.

Kai Fujimura turned heel and joined Team 2000X as he betrayed his brother Alejandro. Kai said that Alejandro was in his way and called him a “trash masked guy”.

Ulka Sasaki had his final match against KENTA before heading to the US on excursion. After the match, BUSHI attacked KENTA again to continue building the feud between Los Tranquilos de Japon and White Raven Sqwad (KENTA, HAYATA, Tetsuya Endo & Ulka Sasaki).

Eita once again teased bringing in a big name for the NOAH Junior Tag League. He specifically said:

He’s the face of NOAH’s juniors, you know? If the face of the NOAH juniors isn’t in the Junior Tag League, nothing even starts! I’m bringing someone… a big deal. A big deal.

Eita teasing his mystery partner for NOAH Junior Tag League

It turned out to be NOAH rookie Katsumi Inahata. I’m guessing a deal with Hiromu Takahashi fell through.

Full Results

Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara, Hi69 & Shuhei Taniguchi defeat Hiroto Tsuruya, Katsumi Inahata, Midori Takahashi & Yuto Koyanagi (6:21)

Daga, Dragon Bane, Galeno, Jack Morris & Will Kroos defeat Eita, Kenoh, Manabu Soya, Mohammed Yone & Naomichi Marufuji (7:56)

KENTA defeats Ulka Sasaki (11:03)

Team 2000X (Alpha Wolf, Jun Masaoka, Tadasuke & Takashi Sugiura) defeat All Rebellion (Alejandro, Harutoki, Kai Fujimura & Kaito Kiyomiya) (11:33)

GHC Junior Heavyweight Title:
AMAKUSA (c) defeats Daiki Odashima (16:06)

GHC Heavyweight Title:
Yoshiki Inamura (c) defeats Masa Kitamiya (28:26)

Alpha Wolf retains GHC National Title - 25th January 2026

25th January 2026
EDION Arena Osaka #2, Osaka, Japan

In the semi-main event, Dragon Bane, Jack Morris & Yoshiki Inamura faced Team 2000X (Kai Fujimura, OZAWA & Takashi Sugiura) Given various life things and holidays, this show was the first time I saw Kai Fujimura as part of Team 2000X. It is slightly weird. It feels like whiplash from the same Kai I had been watching all of 2025, especially when it felt he was finally starting to get some momentum making it to the final of the NOAH Junior Grand Prix. But I suppose you do have to switch it up now and again and largely he had been in the same spot his entire career. I don’t know why he’s acting like some sort of feral beast now though. He wrestles as if he is possessed. It is really bizarre and over the top. Maybe I missed a promo and they’ve injected him with something? The giant X on his face and the contact lens are just a bit too cartoonish for a turn that felt like it came out of nowhere. But again, maybe I missed something. Let’s see where it goes. I am not hopeful considering the finish to this match was Kai Fujimura being exorcised as he continued to strangle Dragon Bane with a t-shirt leading to a DQ. Right. At least Dragon Bane is awesome.

On the topic of character alignment changes, Alpha Wolf defended the GHC National Title against Daga in the main event. Wolf had turned on his brother on the New Year’s show to capture the title. This was my first time seeing him work heel. It was more interesting than Fujimura and I think he is fine in the role. It’s not exactly exciting but it’s not terrible either. Daga on the other hand, has been one of the best character turns of 2025, kickstarting a strong babyface run out of nowhere at the N-1 Finals on 23rd September. I will not forget how hot the crowd was for his turn, and it was not really signalled at all. The crowd is still solidly behind Daga, and he’s a good babyface. This match also felt like it lingered a bit too long, but the finishing stretch was good as Wolf hit clean, great sounding strikes and Daga attempted some nearfalls that the crowd bit on. There was some interference at the end with the ref being pulled out to protect Daga’s finisher. Tadasuke hit Daga with a chair and then Wolf hit the Wolf Driver. The referee was slow to get back in the ring so Daga kicked out. Wolf hit an even crazier Wolf Driver for the win.

In the opener, AMAKUSA, Manabu Soya, Tetsuya Endo, Black Menso-re & Hiroto Tsuruya faced Midori Takahashi, Daiki Odashima, Eita, Katsumi Inaba & Yuto Koyanagi. NOAH feels fresh with all the new faces around. I’m excited to see how all four of Tsuruya, Midori, Katsumi and Koyanagi progress. They have some potential, which could be seen as Koyanagi flung GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion AMAKUSA across the ring with a great looking belly-to-belly suplex. Katsumi is being brought in as a rookie, but at a slightly higher level than the others given his level of experience from his JTO run. This was apparent as he took the pin on Hiroto Tsuruya.

Overall, watching this show has not left me excited at the current creative direction of NOAH. I do not think it is terrible, but it is not exactly inspiring, especially in comparison to the start of 2025. I think the recent heel turns were not what was needed, and I think the promotion is sorely missing a key storyline for OZAWA, as he currently feels like a bit part actor. It is as if STARDOM just decided Saya Kamitani needed a break and was kept away from the top of the card. It’s a really easy way to cool down your stars, and I don’t believe NOAH has the ability of the booking committee of STARDOM to elevate people effectively throughout the card in compensation of OZAWA’s de-push. These are just initial thoughts on 2026. Let’s see how it plays out leading up to the Sumo Hall show in May.

Legacy Rise 2026 at Korakuen - 6th February 2026

Legacy Rise 2026
6th February 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,522
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Tetsuya Naito made his second appearance in NOAH at a sellout of Korakuen Hall. Only one of the balconies seemed to be populated, indicating it wouldn’t break two of STARDOM’s Korakuen Halls from 2025 that were super no-vacancy sellouts. Nevertheless, it is quite obvious that Tetsuya Naito is a draw, for the one or two people in the world who maybe still doubted it. There was nothing else on this card to attribute credit to. Japanese fans tend to not turn out for junior tag league action, across all promotions. This was Naito’s house, also indicated by how quickly tickets sold once he was announced. Los Tranquilos de Japon (BUSHI, RYUSEI & Tetsuya Naito) faced off against White Raven Sqwad (HAYATA, KENTA & Tetsuya Endo). RYUSEI was originally marketed as “XXXXXX” which drew speculation that it may be Hiromu Takahashi, who had left New Japan. NOAH announced days before the show that it was in fact RYUSEI, Naito’s new rookie and the twin brother of New Japan young lion Masatora Yasuda. RYUSEI debuted on 31st January in Italy in the Squash A Jobber promotion where Naito had a booking.

KENTA is now donning a Guy Fawkes mask that he throws into the crowd. Weirdly, BUSHI’s entrance mask had half Guy Fawkes too. Did they not check in with each other? Is BUSHI joining White Raven Sqwad? Anyway, this match took ages to get started. There was a lot of aura farming. When it finally did, Naito attacked KENTA from behind eliciting boos. When Endo and Naito were in the ring, the crowd chanted “Tetsuya,” referencing their first names. RYUSEI, not even a week removed from his debut, started rubbing his boot in KENTA’s face. KENTA stood up and slapped RYUSEI around the face before eventually submitting him. This match was fine. Naito looked the same as he did at the New Year show, not great. But that’s just his new default, and it doesn’t really matter for anything except match quality, which will obviously be difficult for him. The fans will still show up. Everyone except Endo and RYUSEI wrestled in a t-shirt, so that told you the level of this match. This was a preview for the GHC Tag Team Title match on 11th February.

Galeno, Manabu Soya & GHC Heavyweight Champion Yoshiki Inamura faced Team 2000X (Masa Kitamiya, OZAWA & Takashi Sugiura). Team 2000X had announced a pact with Dragongate’s PSYPATRA unit (Shun Skywalker, Homare, El Cielo and Gianni Valletta) just the day before, with Kitamiya and Sugiura due to appear in Dragongate alongside PSYPATRA to take on Gajadokuro, the top heel unit. This was a bit of a weird main event with Galeno and Soya in it. Maybe I missed something, but it seemed quite random, especially since Galeno is a WWE-contracted wrestler.

MaruKen (Kenoh & Naomichi Marufuji), Hajime Ohara and rookie Yuto Koyanagi faced off against All Rebellion (Harutoki & Kaito Kiyomiya) and rookie pair Hiroto Tsuruya & Midori Takahashi. Koyanagi has been split up from the other rookies on a few occasions, which I’m not sure if it’s intentional, but if it is, I’d understand it as he looks to be a cut above the others. Koyanagi looks fully comfortable in the ring and also the most athletically impressive. There was a small moment after the match where he posed with MaruKen and Hajime and had a comical look on his face. Small things like that help build a picture of a rookie’s potential, and I believe he has a strong future.

See the dedicated Junior Tag League section for the review of those matches.

Legacy Rise 2026 at Korakuen (not good) - 11th February 2026

NOAH Legacy Rise 2026
11th February 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,598
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

NOAH once again packed out Korakuen Hall, without OZAWA being on the card. It’s important to note that OZAWA isn’t a Tetsuya Naito-level draw, and well, Naito was on this show, so as long as that remains, these Korakuens will continue to do well. However, I haven’t really been a NOAH doomer. If you read the past reviews, there are some aspects I haven’t enjoyed, namely OZAWA’s de-push and Kai Fujimura, but everything else has mostly been fine. Not outstanding, but fine. This show however, was pretty putrid. In my New Year preview, I mentioned that NOAH needed a shift in direction to bounce back from a less than ideal fourth quarter, and I was fairly optimistic they could do so with OZAWA returning. They haven’t done that. They are continuing to slide in the same direction. I do not think the product is unwatchably bad. Up until this show, I was enjoying parts of promotion, such as the junior heavyweights (AMAKUSA, Daiki Odashima, Daga, etc.) and the rookies. Not even those guys could save this show as they were lower on the card in shorter matches. It is still astonishing to me that OZAWA is not in a hot program with someone like Kaito Kiyomiya. They are both doing nothing. The promotion appears to be deliberately holding off on its hot feuds for perhaps bigger buildings and relying on Naito to carry the attendance load in the meantime. The issue with that is that creatively, it is just not as enjoyable to watch. It makes business sense, but sometimes I just want to be entertained!

In the main event, Yoshiki Inamura faced Takashi Sugiura for the GHC Heavyweight Title. When Sugiura sent Team 2000X to the back early on in the match, I got pretty excited. Then, there was a totally nothing match, before Team 2000X rolled out a cage. Sugiura distracted the referee while Team 2000X loaded Inamura into a cage. Kenoh saved Inamura and then locked OZAWA and someone else. I don’t care enough to go back and see who it was. This was stupid. I am baffled that this is the match they chose to have with Inamura and Sugiura. Daiki Inaba had multiple matches with Sugiura within the past 6 months. Just beat each other up. It’s what these two do best. Do we need to gain sympathy for Inamura? Just let him go wild. A really odd decision. They did it in the final minutes. Why couldn’t it have been more? This was a let down. After the match, Kenoh finally got his challenge in, which will take place on 8th March at Yokohama Budokan. Kenoh promised they wouldn’t have a “sloppy, dragged-out GHC title match.” Please.

Los Tranquilos de Japon (BUSHI & Tetsuya Naito) successfully defended their GHC Tag Team Title against White Raven Sqwad (HAYATA & KENTA). KENTA and Naito had a “rizz-off” as the kids say, and KENTA fared pretty well in it, eliciting KENTA chants as he did a “kawaii” pose. The match obviously had a lot of heat, but I do not have any attachment to Naito, so it makes these matches difficult to get into when not much action is going on. It’s also difficult when he’s botching moves such as the tornado DDT. HAYATA is another white noise wrestler to me. KENTA can be truly great, as we saw several times in 2025, but only in short bursts at this point in his career. The most excited I got was when KENTA ripped BUSHI’s shirt open and started chopping him. HAYATA was about to pin BUSHI and then Naito pulled the referee out. A fourth member of Los Tranquilos de Japon was revealed. It was Angel Reyes, a Spanish independent wrestler who had already joined the faction in Europe. An independent wrestler with a solid reputation, even he managed to botch his tope con giro, likely due to being infected by Naito’s botch-itis. Anyway, they retained. Manabu Soya challenged after the match. His partner is unknown.

In the opener, Hajima Ohara, Manabu Soya and rookie pair Hiroto Tsuruya & Yuto Koyanagi took on All Rebellion (Galeno, Harutoki & Kaito Kiyomiya) and Midori Takahashi. Galeno pinned Koyanagi. It should be noted that Galeno is a WWE-contracted talent. I know Koyanagi is a rookie, but, why? It’s not a big deal, in fact, it doesn’t matter at all in the grand scheme of things, but it just seemed pointless to me. Kaito will face Galeno, presumably his last match before being in WWE for good. This match was fine. It didn’t get much time.

For Junior Tag League Day 2 results, see our dedicated section.

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026

Participating Teams

Daga & Daiki Odashima (Los Intocables)
Alejandro & Dragon Bane
Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69 (TEAM NOAH)
AMAKUSA & Black Menso-re (AMAKUSHA—!!!)
Kieron Lacey & Mark Trew
Jun Masaoka & Tadasuke (TEAM 2000X)
Alpha Wolf & Kai Fujimura (TEAM 2000X)
Eita & Katsumi Inahata

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 - Day 1 - 6th February 2026

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 – Day 1
6th February 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,522
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

The Junior Tag League 2026 kicked off at a sold out Korakuen Hall, largely thanks to Tetsuya Naito’s presence on the card. Interestingly, the main event of the show was Alejandro & Dragon Bane taking on the team from the UK, Kieron Lacey & Mark Trew. Lacey & Trew were a big part of the same tournament last year before Trew was injured in the final at Yokohama Budokan and the match had to be stopped. Clearly, NOAH thinks highly of them to give them that spot, and also the spot on this show, but also they were not brought back for the rest of 2025. The fact that this was the main event was clearly the best decision too, as this match was great. There were some awesome high spots in this match, poisonranas, dives, avalanche Code Reds, planchas, shooting star presses, and of course, Alejandro’s Zero Gravity (avalanche corkscrew splash) which picked up the win.

Daga & Daiki Odashima faced Team 2000X (Alpha Wolf & Kai Fujimura). I mentioned in my last review that I was not sure about the Kai Fujimura gimmick. I’m now sure about it. It’s awful. I don’t know why turning heel has to come along with seemingly brain damage in that now he’s behaving like a possessed animal. It is the opposite of what I want to see in wrestling. On the other hand, Alpha Wolf’s heel turn is totally fine and he’s adapted well, and is more interesting than he was as a babyface. Daiki is a sure-fire superstar of the junior heavyweight scene, even more so than maybe Kosei Fujita in his own promotion. The amount of calls for Daiki in this match was crazy. The ladies absolutely love Daiki, and it’s not like he’s conventionally handsome. A large part of it is actually because of how he wrestles, sells and presents himself, meaning while most of the calls for Daiki are from the women in the crowd, the men equally get behind him. So of course, NOAH had the geek (Kai Fujimura if it wasn’t obvious), beat Daiki. There was total silence after the victory. The match itself was good given how over and great Daiki is. It’s hard for Daiki to have a bad match with anyone.

NOAH new blood, Katsumi Inahata, kicked off the tournament with his partner Eita, facing Team 2000X (Tadasuke & Jun Masaoka). Unfortunately, there is very little that Tadasuke could do to get me invested in any of his matches. The match was fine. Of course Team 2000X picked up the win, but NOAH’s future is quite exciting with the five “rookies” (Daiki Odashima, Katsumi Inahata, Yuto Koyanagi, Midori Takahashi and Hiroto Tsuruya).

AMAKUSA & Black Menso-re lost to Team NOAH (or whatever they’re called) (Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69) after a match where both teams showed a few more skills and tricks than they normally would, including a rare German suplex from Menso-re for a nearfall. Unfortunately, Hi69 pinned him shortly after with the Samson clutch.

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 - Day 2 - 11th February 2026

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 – Day 2
11th February 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,598
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

In a match third from the top at Korakuen Hall, Alejandro & Dragon Bane attempted to exact revenge on their respective brothers who had betrayed them to join Team 2000X (Alpha Wolf & Kai Fujimura). Both teams were undefeated heading into the match, so, you’d think it was a big match, but it really didn’t feel like one, and didn’t have the heat of one. I’m just going to say it every time I see him. This Kai Fujimura gimmick is probably the worst gimmick in wrestling today. I watch a lot of wrestling. I genuinely cannot think of a gimmick I hate more. CHIAKI is close. It is funny because Alpha Wolf’s direction of travel after a Team 2000X heel turn is in the opposite direction to Kai’s. On top of his dumb gimmick, Kai was lost in this match. Wolf had to communicate, in English, twice to Kai what the next spot was, as loud as he possibly could. It was almost like it was part of the gimmick, and maybe I’m being worked and it was? It was so bad that I cannot tell. For example, Kai was on his knees, expecting Wolf to use him as a platform to do a corner splash. But Wolf was like “Kai! Up! Up!” Wolf then motioned it out. Kai was like “Oh!” The crowd just laughed it off. Kai pinned his brother after a lowblow and his finisher. Anyway, Bane is incredible and they should re-run the GHC National Title match now that Wolf is heel so they can have a proper match with a conclusive finish.

The GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Los Intocables (Daga & Daiki Odashima) beat Eita and rookie Katsumi Inahata. This was a solid match. I love that Daiki has been elevated to acting like a vet when he’s against Katsumi, encouraging Katsumi to keep chopping him and leaning his chest forward. Daiki is eighteen months into his career, Katsumi is four years in.

Crowd favourites AMAKUSA & Black Menso-re faced the UK crew (unofficial name) Kieron Lacey & Mark Trew. Lacey & Trew are great bumpers. They wrestle a high risk high reward style meaning all of their stuff doesn’t normally come off as they expect. Trew won with a shooting star press that missed quite a bit, but more importantly it deflated the crowd because of how over Menso-re is in this tournament.

TEAM 2000X (Jun Masaoka & Tadasuke) beat Team NOAH (Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69) because Tadasuke hit Hi69 in the back with a chair and then Masaoka hit his finisher, “Ambitions,” for the win.

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 - Day 3 (AM & PM) - 14th February 2026 (*)

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 – Day 3 (AM & PM)
14th February 2026
Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: AMAKUSA & Black Menso-re vs. Eita & Katsumi Inahata

Morning

NOAH held a double-header show in Shinagawa in the capital, hosting four matches of the NOAH Junior Tag League 2026. In the morning, Team NOAH (Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69) failed to take points in their match against one of the tournament favourites in Alejandro & Dragon Bane. Bane, one of the most over people on the roster, won with the Shooting Star Press onto Hi69.

The second tournament match of the morning was an all-Team 2000X affair as Alpha Wolf & Kai Fujimura took on Jun Masaoka & Tadasuke. Interestingly, the designated babyface was Jun Masaoka. Kai and Wolf worked him over and the crowd got behind him. Kai’s ‘hanging the opponent over the ropes spot’ needs to stop immediately. He looks like an idiot. Anyway, this was fine before the last minute or two where Kai ruined my immersion. If my wife walked in on me when Kai was doing that spot I would switch to porn.

I did stick around for the main event out of curiosity. It was Kieron Tracey, Mark Trew & Yoshiki Inamura against Daga, Daiki Odashima and Kenoh. I burst out laughing when Mark Trew was encouraging Inamura from the sidelines and said, with a straight face and a thick London cockney accent “Come on Mister Smack Daddy!” I will say, these two chatting crap on these house shows is quite funny to me, and I’m a Brit so I should be bored of this. You know what, I like these two. I don’t know why, I just do. They entertain me. They fully embrace their characters. Mark was yelling from the sidelines “Come on Kieran. He’s just a mug, Kieran. It’s just Daiki, Kieran.” I hated it when Oddyssey was talking non-stop in All Japan. But I can’t help laughing when these two do it. I’m a hypocrite. I’m ashamed. It might be because I have met people like them and so their characters are so believable to me, whereas Oddyssey comes off fake and inauthentic as he tries to chat up the Japanese women at ringside. You ain’t him. Kieron and Mark are like characters from the Inbetweeners. They’re idiots. It cracks me up. Anyway, this main was a lot of fun. It was also a preview for Kenoh and Inamura and their interactions were great, making me look forward to the match. Good stuff.

Afternoon

AMAKUSHA (AMAKUSA & Black Menso-re) faced Eita and rookie Katsumi Inahata. This match was kind of awesome. They cooked. Hard. AMAKUSHA is a really fun team in the tournament. It’s a bit like Syuri and Saki Kashima in STARDOM, or if Kazuki Hirata had a teammate in DDT. You bite on every single nearfall because the match could end at any moment, and the crowd are fully behind Menso-re. Then on the other side, Katsumi is just a really good rookie, because he’s not really a rookie. He’s been wrestling for years in JTO and even won titles there. So Katsumi and AMAKUSA combined for some great sequences, including AMAKUSA just slapping the taste out of Katsumi’s mouth. There were some interesting moments such as Katsumi trying to get Menso-re for a powerbomb several times. I am leaning on the side of “it was deliberate to tease a future move” but I am not sure. They eventually gave up. After AMAKUSA’s awesome dive, Menso-re hit a German suplex which I was sure was the finish, but Katsumi kicked out at the last second. The heat for this match was great. There were just constant screeches and screams on every nearfall. Katsumi dropkicked AMAKUSA out of the air and hit a falcon arrow for a nearfall. They then traded nearfalls up to the time-limit draw. AMAKUSA hit a leg-trap German suplex with 10 seconds to go but Eita saved the pin. The result was a draw. What a match.

Following on from the preview tag in the morning, Kieron Lacey & Mark Trew fought Los Intocables (Daga & Daiki Odashima) in a Junior Tag League match in the afternoon. I think this match suffered from the match that came before it, in that I was worn out a bit by how good it was. The main event here was still good, but I did not fully invest myself in the work being done. Los Intocables won.

Los Tranquilos de Japon (Angel Reyes, BUSHI, RYUSEI & Tetsuya Naito) faced Team NOAH (Atsushi Kotoge, Hajime Ohara, Hi69 & Muhammed Yone). I was surprised when I saw the card for this show. It’s a Shinagawa house show, why is Naito on it? Well the answer was that they needed to build towards a title match with, wait for it, Manabu Soya and Shuji Kondo. Soya and Kondo came out after the match to challenge. Can you still bet on wrestling matches?

I also saw White Raven Sqwad (HAYATA & Tetsuya Endo) against Kenoh and Yuto Koyanagi, just because I like watching Yuto. This guy can throw some suplexes. I have no idea what his ceiling is though. He looks like another junior heavyweight. If that’s the case then that will be quite the stacked division in five or ten years. Imagine Daiki and Yuto just trading the title in absolute bangers over the course of years. Sorry, I started daydreaming.

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 - Day 4 - 20th February 2026

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 – Day 4
20th February 2026
Hiroshima Industrial Hall East Exhibition Hall, Hiroshima, Japan

The GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Champions Los Intocables (Daiki Odashima & Daga faced Team NOAH (Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69). The match was pretty much as you’d expect, aside from the shoot headbutt that Kotoge decided to hit Daiki with. On a house show. In Hiroshima. Sure. Okay. Hi69 got the flash pin on Daga, which could earn them a shot at the belts even if they don’t win the tournament. Every champion needs filler defences I guess.

Eita & Katsumi Inahata put on another great match against Alejandro & Dragon Bane, not as if that’s difficult to do. Katsumi is obviously far ahead of his fellow “rookies” and is allowed to do a bunch of moves and stuff that the others aren’t. So, despite him being dressed like them. He very much ain’t like them. Alejandro won with Zero Gravity.

Kieron Lacey & Mark Trew took on Team 2000X (Jun Masaoka & Tadasuke) in a match that clearly showcased why I prefer Lacey & Trew as heels. I could not get into this match. They’re good workers but a lot of their entertainment value, for me at least, comes from them being aggressive loudmouthes. I was surprised they won, handing Masaoka & Tadasuke their first loss.

After having the best match of the tournament, and likely what will be one of the better matches in NOAH in the year, AMAKUSHA (AMAKUSA & Black Menso-re) were brought back to reality as they faced Team 2000X (Alpha Wolf & Kai Fujimura). No one cares about Kai. This is the closest to an “X-Pac heat” gimmick I have experienced. Just dead silence as he was hanging AMAKUSA over the ropes. It is truly awful wrestling.

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 Standings - As of 20th February 2026

Jun Masaoka & Tadasuke — 6 pts (3-1-0)
Alpha Wolf & Kai Fujimura — 6 pts (3-1-0)
Alejandro & Dragon Bane — 6 pts (3-1-0)
Daga & Daiki Odashima — 4 pts (2-2-0)
Atsushi Kotoge & Hi69 — 4 pts (2-2-0)
Kieron Lacey & Mark Trew — 4 pts (2-2-0)
AMAKUSA & Black Menso-re — 1 pts (0-3-1)
Eita & Katsumi Inahata — 1 pts (0-3-1)

Monday Magic Rising Sun

There are a few shows and/or promotions which I review that I don’t care about or actively come to not enjoy reviewing. I think I have firmly come to the conclusion that the magic of Monday Magic has finally died. This show feels like a slog. It feels like a completely different show to the first season which, in particular, had a super hot crowd. The booking of these shows, run by former NOAH booker NOSAWA Rongai, has had its wheels stuck in the mud. Instead of being excited at who may show up, I am filled with dread wondering what random wrestler from international indies NOSAWA has scouted out. It isn’t anything against those wrestlers. It is just difficult to replicate the hotness of the series when that is what he is choosing to use the show for, and it has changed the identity of the series. Monday Magic now feels like NOSAWA just wanting to start his own promotion and develop his own roster.

Monday Magic Rising Sun Episode 1 - 19th January 2026

Monday Magic Rising Sun Episode 1
19th January 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

Open The Brave Gate Champion Ryoya Tanaka showed up to face Alejandro in a singles match. That was certainly a cool way to open up Monday Magic and in the spirit of the original series. Alejandro seemed a bit off his game, but Tanaka was great. There was a sick Cross-saber bump from Alejandro, which Tanaka returned the favour with as he took a great DDT bump, spiking on his head and selling it like death, of course though, in true Monday Magic fashion, it was an obvious time-limit draw.

Danny Duggan is back. As a reminder, he trains catch wrestling with AKIRA, who is a friend of NOSAWA. Duggan teamed with Shigehiro Irie against Manabu Soya and Hiroshi Yamato, an independent wrestler based out of Chiba. Danny is always booked reasonably strong in Monday Magic, so he beat Yamato with a tombstone piledriver.

Galeno, Jack Morris & Nathan De Wind faced Archie Cole, Dragon Bane & Iker Navarro, so the European contingent from the previous series are back for more. Archie pinned Nathan with a swanton bomb. Galeno and Archie both looked great.

NOSAWA announced that ZERO1, GanPro, BASARA, Uptown, Michinoku Pro, Monday Magic, NOAH and DDT wrestlers will participate in the Universe Magic Cup from 9th March to 6th April.

Notable freelancer Naruki Doi faced Kaito Kiyomiya. There were some excellent nearfalls, including Doi dodging a Skywalker elbow and going for a casadora pin for a nearfall. The crowd was very into this match. Kaito, with a red chest from chops, squeezed through the match with a legroll clutch.

Weirdly, what Monday Magic does very well on the first episode of its series is book great joshi matches. It was EVO’s turn to collaborate with Monday Magic as EVO Strong Women’s Champion Chi Chi and former EVO Strong Women’s Champion ZONES faced GHC Women’s and Superfly Champion Mayu Iwatani and Marigold World Champion Miku Aono. This was the first ever time Chi Chi and ZONES had met either Mayu or Miku. The match was mostly ZONES and Mayu working together. Mayu was as awesome as ever, although ZONES had a cool stretch muffler swing. Mayu won with the moonsault press. The Great Sakuya (Riko Kawahata) challenged Mayu for the GHC Women’s Title after.

Titus Alexander defeated HAYATA for the GHC Hardcore Title. You cannot say that Titus did not put his body on the line in this match. Titus took one of the nastiest looking bumps as he went through a table from the top rope and scraped his back on the table causing a massive gash. That scar has been on his back for weeks later on all other shows I’ve watched him on, such as Marvelous. Titus hit a great Fisherman buster through a table onto HAYATA. HAYATA initially dodged the Big Ugly but Titus eventually hit the move (it is a Chaos Theory) and won the title. The commentator called Titus the “Shinjuku Ace”, which I feel is a fitting name for one of the best in-ring US talents today.

Monday Magic Rising Sun Episode 2 - 26th January 2026

Monday Magic Rising Sun Episode 2
26th January 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

The opener of Monday Magic shows continues to be the best match on the show as Los Intocables (Daga & Daiki Odashima) faced Archie Cole and Dragon Bane. The teenager from the UK had clearly been having some reps with Daiki in the NOAH dojo. Daiki is a coach in the dojo and these two had amazing chemistry together. This was just a great junior heavyweight tag team match.

Daisuke Sekimoto made a surprise appearance teaming with Jack Morris against Danny Duggan & Harutoki and Nathan De Wind & Tetsuya Endo. Sekimoto left BJW in Summer 2025 and has been freelancing since, with a lot of dates in all Japan. Nathan got a big win pinning Danny with the Firebird splash, reversing Danny’s normally strong record in the series. I suppose the wins have to be shared out amongst the European contingent.

NOSAWA announced that there will be a six-women tag on 9th March, with one participant from Marigold, Sendai Girls and Marvelous on each side.

There was a “polar bear in Arlington, Texas” scenario as Iker Navarro and Kaito Kiyomiya faced Titus Alexander and Yoshiki Inamura. I’ll let you decide who the polar bear is. Surprisingly, the crowd did chant for the polar bear, making me think that there must have been a plant in the audience. Titus’ back was still screwed from the week before.

Alejandro used all his power to give himself all the cool Monday Magic matches as he teamed with Dragongate legend Dragon Kid and the new Hayabusa from ZERO1 to take on… HAYATA, MAZADA and Shujo Kondo. It was a shame we could not have cooler opponents for the sick masked trio. It was incredibly difficult to care about this match as they worked with MAZADA, but at least there were a lot of cool dives.

Monday Magic Rising Sun Episode 3 - 2nd February 2026

Monday Magic Rising Sun Episode 3
2nd February 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

My enjoyment of the series wasn’t helped by the fact that they chose to debut all of Sonny Onoo’s trainees from the “Chosen One” series. Yes, the same Sonny Onoo who made an appearance in WCW in the late 90s. The series is essentially promoted as a pathway to opportunities in Japan.

The first of this group to debut were in the second match as Chase Emery faced Sodapop. Chase is a US independent wrestler who was based in the Carolinas and Kentucky and Sodapop was based in Texas.

Then in a three-way tag team match we had Alivia Rose & Great Sakuya vs. Dream Girl Ellie & ZONES vs. Marie Malenko & Sofia Sivan. Of course, if you read previous reviews we have gone over Great Sakuya and ZONES. The other four are all trainees from the same Chosen One series. Alivia, Sofia and Ellie are all US independent wrestlers, with Sofia Sivan being the same independent wrestler brought in to AEW for an angle with Andrade where he gave her his number during a match. Marie Malenko is actually Dean Malenko’s daughter, so she was making her wrestling debut. After the match, Sakuya once again challenged Mayu Iwatani for the GHC Women’s Title. This time, Mayu appeared and accepted the challenge for the week after.

After, there was a battle royal including Archie Cole, Galeno, HAYATA, Iker Navarro, Jacob Crane (BJW), Nathan De Windt, Rich Port Ayala (Sonny Onoo trainee) and GHC Hardcore Champion Titus Alexander. Titus eliminated HAYATA, so taking HAYATA’s GHC Hardcore Title wasn’t enough for him. The final two were Archie and Titus and they had a very fun singles match. They were also at Marvelous shows together, presumably they have wrestled each other quite a bit in the dojo. There were some great striking exchanges, including an awesome spot where Titus had Archie up in the Gorilla Press position but Archie countered it into a Poisonrana, which elicited huge “Archie” chants. Afterwards, the Mummy came out and attacked Titus, but it was ZERO1’s Masato Tanaka who announced he was challenging for the GHC Hardcore Title. The two have had a match in Marvelous before which I thought was awesome. It was one of the few men’s matches booked by Chigusa Nagayo that hit the spot for me. Having Titus obviously helped because he is outstanding.

In a match that does feel like Monday Magic, but not an interesting match in-ring, was Daichi Hashimoto (BJW), Hikaru Sato (notable freelancer) & Masaaki Mochizuki (Dragongate legend) facing Kenoh, Masakatsu Funaki (MMA legend & wrestler) & Naomichi Marufuji. Funaki had a lot of matches against Daichi’s father, Shinya Hashimoto, in the late 80s in New Japan, so there were some fun links here. For the match itself, it was the most obvious time-limit draw ever. Not a good use of 20 minutes.

Finally, the last of the Chosen Ones group, and considered their best prospect, Texas-based wrestler Izzy James debuted against the modern day ace of NOAH in Kaito Kiyomiya. Again, the fact the crowd did not know these people hurt all the matches. Izzy James looked good, but it’s hard to be invested into a match when a crowd isn’t. But that’s my personal preference.

Monday Magic Rising Sun Finale - 9th February 2026

Monday Magic Rising Sun Episode 4
9th February 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

It’s the finale. Yay. They’ll be back on 9th March for the Universe Cup. Boo.

Titus Alexander defended the GHC Hardcore Title against Masato Tanaka. They had met before in Marvelous in a great match on 10th June, so I had no doubt this match would be good, although the hardcore element can always go one of two ways. It went the right way. They did just enough to keep the Hardcore stipulation alive, while mixing in their great chemistry in the ring. Titus is a star in NOAH, it is mindblowing he hasn’t been signed to a major promotion, either in Japan or the US. While Tanaka didn’t kick directly out of the Big Ugly (which I personally hadn’t seen before), he did kick out of a Big Ugly followed by a long gap and a running knee strike. I suppose it is Masato Tanaka. Tanaka hit Titus with a chair headshot before hitting the Sliding D for the win.

They announced the first round of the Universe Cup, Sanshiro Takagi vs. Great Mummy, Kuroshio TOKYO Japan vs. Naomichi Marufuji, Isami Kodaka vs. Great Sasuke and Hayabusa vs. Yumehito Imanari.

Marie Maleno, Miyuki Takase and Sofia Sivan faced Alivia Rose, Dream Girl Ellie and ZONES. The match was fine. Marie, Sofia, Alivia and Ellie are touring with Marigold too. Archie Cole, Dragon Bane, Eita and HAYATA were in a four-way match. They chanted “Lucha Libre” a lot. More of the “Chosen One” faced each other. It was Chase Emery, Danny Duggan, Galeno & Iker Navarro vs. Izzy James, Nathan De Wind, Rich Port Ayala & Sodapop. Everyone except Duggan, Galeno, De Wind and Navarro are “Chosen One” recruits. The other four are Magic exclusives. Ayala was pinned. Another okay match.

Los Tranquilos de Japon (BUSHI & RYUSEI) faced All Rebellion (Alejandro & Kaito Kiyomiya). RYUSEI is a solid rookie. For his level of experience, he wrestles well and has a good look.

In the main event, Mayu Iwatani defended her GHC Women’s Title against Great Sakuya. Sakuya got herself over with the Shinjuku FACE crowd, with sustained chants deep into the match, especially when she continued to kick out of a combination of Mayu’s moves. Then, Mayu sucked the mist out of Sakuya’s mouth and sprayed it in Sakuya’s face before finishing her off with the moonsault press. Well then, I wasn’t expecting that. That was fun.

Watch on Wrestle Universe

Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling

Bitesize Round-up

TJPW’s next major show is on 29th March at Ryogoku Kokugikan for “Grand Princess ‘26”. It is their first time returning to the venue since Miu Watanabe won the Princess of Princess Title for the first time against Miyu Yamashita in the March 2024 main event. It is their third time running the venue. Some matches are already known. Yuki Arai won a #1 contenders gauntlet on 10th January to become the next challenger for Miu Watanabe’s Princess of Princess Title, while TJPW legend Yuka Sakazaki will team with her husband Konosuke Takeshita against Hyper Misao & Super Sasadango Machine.

The annual “Max Heart Tag Team Tournament” has been ongoing. The finals on 14th February was contested by Princess Tag Team Champions Ober Eats (Wakana Uehara & Yuki Kamifuku) and Mizuki & Uta Takami. The only top teams they have not yet beat are Daisy Monkey (Arisu Endo & Suzume) and K!SS Kick Slash (Kaya Toribami & Miyu Amasaki). They will defend against The IInspiration (Cassie Lee & Jessie McKay) at “Grand Princess ’26”. And the crowd goes mild.

TJPW has finalised most of their US tour in March. TJPW will have two shows back-to-back in Austin, Texas, on 17th and 18th March at Palmer Events Center before moving to Dallas on 21st March at College Park Center in Arlington. Details for the final tour stop in Houston have not yet been released.

TJPW has announced that it will hold its first-ever events in Vancouver. The dates are two shows on 11th April and 12th April. Vancouver resident and former TJPW ring announcer Sayuri Namba has been appointed as the event’s “Ultimate Executive Producer,” and will also serve as the ring announcer.

TJPW announced a new recruiting round. TJPW is accepting applications from women aged 13 to 25. There are no requirements on height, weight or sports background.

Chilean wrestler Sara Phoenix will be wrestling in TJPW until 28th February. Sara cited Chilean wrestler and DDT veteran Diego as a huge career influence. She previously challenged 121000000 (Maki Itoh & Miyu Yamashita) for the Princess Tag Team Title alongside Pandora in Chile on 9th February 2025 in a great match.

Recommended Matches This Issue

These are in order of personal preference rather than chronological.

Miu Watanabe vs. Suzume – 4th January at Korakuen Hall (My TJPW Match of the Year)
Arisu Endo vs. MIRAI – 4th January at Korakuen Hall
MIRAI vs. Toga – 14th February at Korakuen Hall
Mifu Ashida & Yuki Arai vs. Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi – 14th February at Korakuen Hall
Arisu Endo & Suzume vs. Kaya Toribami & Miyu Yamashita – 25th January at Ryogoku KFC Hall
J-Rod & Mifu Ashida vs. Kaya Toribami & Miyu Yamashita – 4th January at Korakuen Hall

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

MOTY

17 Aug 2025 – Miu Watanabe vs. Shoko Nakajima (My #2 across all promotions)

MOTYC

13 Jul 2025 – Miu Watanabe vs. Shoko Nakajima

TJPW MOTYC

9 Aug 2025 – Arisu Endo vs. Miyu Yamashita
20 Sep 2025 – Miu Watanabe vs. Mizuki

Excellent

4 Jan 2025 – Miu Watanabe vs. Mizuki
16 Mar 2025 – Hyper Misao & Shoko Nakajima vs. Maki Itoh & Miyu Yamashita
27 Jun 2025 – Hyper Misao vs. Yuki Aino

Highly Recommended

16 Mar 2025 – Mizuki vs. Rika Tatsumi
18 Apr 2025 – Miyu Yamashita vs. Mizuki
21 Jul 2025 – Hyper Misao & Shoko Nakajima vs. Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi
23 Aug 2025 – Arisu Endo vs. Miu Watanabe
18 Oct 2025 – Miu Watanabe vs. Yuki Aino

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

4 Jan 2025 – Maki Itoh & Miyu Yamashita vs. Masha Slamovich & Zara Zakher
9 Feb 2025 – Maki Itoh & Miyu Yamashita vs. Pandora & Sara Phoenix
22 Feb 2025 – Arisu Endo, Hyper Misao, Rika Tatsumi & Shoko Nakajima vs. Maki Itoh, Miyu Yamashita, Mizuki & Suzume
16 Mar 2025 – Miu Watanabe vs. Willow Nightingale
29 Mar 2025 – Moka Miyamoto & Miyu Yamashita vs. Mizuki & Rika Tatsumi
18 Apr 2025 – Jada Stone vs. Suzume
5 May 2025 – Arisu Endo, HIMAWARI, Miu Watanabe, Suzume & Uta Takami vs. Haru Kazashiro, Mizuki, Pom Harajuku, Rika Tatsumi & Shino Suzuki
8 Jul 2025 – Yoshiko Hasegawa Retirement Gauntlet
10 Jul 2025 – Maki Itoh vs. Miyu Yamashita
13 Jul 2025 – Maki Itoh vs. Mizuki
13 Jul 2025 – Billie Starkz & Yuka Sakazaki vs. Miyu Yamashita & Vert Vixen
21 Jul 2025 – Mizuki vs. Yuki Arai
21 Jul 2025 – Chris Brookes & Emi Sakura vs. El Desperado & Maki Itoh
9 Aug 2025 – Mizuki vs. Shoko Nakajima
9 Aug 2025 – Haru Kazashiro vs. Miu Watanabe
18 Oct 2025 – Shoko Nakajima vs. Uta Takami
9 Nov 2025 – J-Rod vs. Miu Watanabe
22 Nov 2025 – HIMAWARI & Shoko Nakajima vs. Miu Watanabe & Uta Takami
13 Dec 2025 – Matcha vs. Miu Watanabe

Ittenyon 2026

4th January 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,564
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Watch On: Wrestle Universe
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Matches: J-Rod & Mifu Ashida vs. Kaya Toribami & Miyu Yamashita, Arisu Endo vs. MIRAI, Miu Watanabe vs. Suzume

TJPW held their traditional 4th January Korakuen Hall show which leads directly into New Japan’s Wrestle Kingdom show at the Tokyo Dome right next door to it. While this is a yearly occurrence for the promotion, this was their best Korakuen Hall attendance ever, with a large contingent of travelling fans, including myself! This match was excellent live, largely because of the top two matches, but the card also felt well rounded with moments to pop for on the undercard. However, the main event was a match I am not quite sure I will ever forget.

Miu Watanabe is one of the best wrestlers in the world. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise. If people retort back that they’re “not into the TJPW style”, just link them to any big Miu match. She does it like no one else, and I truly believe she is a generational talent. I already had that opinion before this match. Imagine my opinion now having seen her successfully defend her Princess of Princess Title against best friend Suzume in an incredible, emotional, nail-biting match, that is likely one of the best, if not the best, matches in TJPW history. If you were following their preview tag matches, then you already knew this match was going to be good. They had done a magnificent job during the preview tags in establishing the symmetry between these two best friends. Suzume’s Ring A Bell was a legitimate threat to Miu, a move that scared and worried Miu and broke through her defenses. There was a moment where Suzume hit a Ring A Bell out of nowhere on a previous show and Miu sold it like she had actually been killed, with her legs subtly wobbling and her awareness no longer there for several minutes after. It was almost too good of a sell. On the other hand, they had also established that Suzume was terrified of Miu’s giant swing and would do anything she could to get out of the move. I vividly remember Suzume clawing onto the ropes when Miu began to swing her in one of the preview tags.

Miu and Suzume used those devices to put on a bout that rewarded viewers who had followed everything, but also was equally accessible to first-time viewers. Early on in the match, Suzume clutched at Miu’s ankles to prevent a swing, clearly indicating to people that being swung was not on her agenda for the night. Suzume, while going for a headscissors, was caught by Miu and the entire crowd believed they were going to witness the craziest swing yet, but Suzume escaped. Suzume was at her best, establishing that she too can wrestle a big main-event style as she held Miu in a submission lock. Miu powered her up, but Suzume countered Miu’s strengths, placing her once again into a headlock submission. It was a submission transition you would expect in a Zack Sabre Jr. match, yet we were seeing it in TJPW. After escaping the hold, Miu’s lip was quivering. I have no idea if it made the stream. I was in the third row and right in front of me, I could feel the pain Miu was going through trying to withstand Suzume’s onslaught. Miu has the best facial expressions in wrestling, bar none. Of course, she wasn’t actually in pain, but upon seeing that expression, my default was to feel sad for her. That takes an incredibly high level of skill, not only to pull off physically, but also to suck me in that hard emotionally into forgetting that what I’m watching is pretend, and no one else can do it like Miu.

Miu then caught Suzume’s Ring A Bell attempt before launching into a dragon sleeper swing to pay off the angle of Suzume struggling out of it. In line with the established symmetry, Suzume countered Miu’s Tear Drop into a Ring A Bell that blew the roof off the of place. Every single fan in the building could not believe what they had seen. It’s not as if it was a technically difficult move to pull off, although it wasn’t easy either. It was that Miu and Suzume had perfectly paced the match and told the story that allowed the crowd to peak at that moment. That is what wrestling is all about. No audio or stream will do it justice how loud the pop was for the move.

Miu did what she does best and sold the Ring A Bell like death. However, that does not mean she was out of the fight. Before that, she had rattled Suzume with an avalanche powerslam. This allowed both the Ring A Bell and the avalanche powerslam to be sold and let the match breathe a little. The best thing about Miu’s selling is that it isn’t one and done. Her selling is multiplicative. She carries forward the pain and it wracks up as her selling intensifies throughout a match. That is an incredibly rare thing to see done well. After Miu gets up from the surprise cutter, she doesn’t do random moves. She gets hit by a dropkick and sells it so much harder than you’d expect a dropkick to be sold, simply because of the prior damage that Miu received. For anyone that doubts me, just go and see that moment in the match. If you’re not sold on Miu being one of the best in the world, that may change your mind. Eventually though, Miu would win with the spinning Tear Drop. This match was a masterpiece. My wife, who also was at the show and is not a wrestling fan, turned to me to say “They are both so good that they can make you believe that it’s not scripted.” Yes, yes they are.

MIRAI pinned Arisu Endo with a fierce running lariat to win the International Princess Title. MIRAI has been booked everywhere and anywhere, except STARDOM, since her return to the independent scene late in 2025. Despite that, it was still not on my bucket list for her to pick up a title in TJPW and think it is an inspired choice. MIRAI’s next challenger is Toga, and putting on tough title defences against up and coming TJPW talent is exactly what MIRAI should be booked to do. It will be exciting to see Toga unleash some of her “un-TJPW-like” offenses such as stiff elbows against someone like MIRAI, in the same way that Arisu did in her unsuccessful defence. Arisu and Suzume have solidified themselves in the top tier of workers in the promotion.

Hyper Misao and Shoko Nakajima had their annual 4th January bout. As it is the Year of the Horse, they had a horse racing match. Three rookies, Ren Konatsu, Shion Kanzaki and Uta Takami were dressed up as horses. Misao and Shoko picked Shion and Uta, meaning Ren was the odd one out. The horses would do laps around Korakuen Hall with the usual shenanigans of Misao and Shoko attempting to sabotage each other. Of course, Ren was the horse that ended up winning. This was a big hit inside the building and I had a lot of fun live. Speaking of Shion Kanzaki, a new rookie who debuted in the opener, she is certainly a TJPW wrestler. By that, I mean TJPW are excellent at recruiting and tend to know who will fit in with their roster. Shion fits the vibes immaculately.

One final shout out on this show goes to J-Rod, who seemed to have fully captured my wife’s attention due to her… voluptuous physical presentation. (Editor’s note: I don’t know why he is dancing around it here after saying on audio that “J’Rod’s ass” was the focus of said attention.) The match itself was totally eye-opening for me, for another reason. J-Rod teamed with Mifu Ashida as they faced K!SS Kick Slash (Kaya Toribami & Miyu Yamashita). At first, I was thinking that Mifu seemed out of place. Then all of the sudden, she looked the best I had ever seen her as she launched her opponents with a German suplex. There was an English-speaking TJPW superfan next to me, so much so that they knew all the Japanese chants. I turned to ask them if it was Ashida’s first German suplex in TJPW, as I had not seen her use that move in the promotion yet. They confirmed that it was. I was there. This match was excellent and much better than you may think it would be on paper. My wife loved Miyu and Kaya’s kicks as she always gets worked by the sound made by the wrestlers when they connect, which means they are well executed.

Full Results

Chika Nanase & Uta Takami defeat Ren Konatsu & Shion Kanzaki (9:02)

Toga & Yuna Manase defeat HIMAWARI & Kira Summer (9:27)

DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Title Four Way:
Aja Kong defeats Mahiro Kiryu (c) and Rika Tatsumi and Shino Suzuki (9:59)

DDT Iron Man Heavy Metal Title:
Mahiro Kiryu defeats Aja Kong (c)

TJPW Uma Princess Cup:
Hyper Misao vs. Shoko Nakajima – No Contest (13:52)

Kaya Toribami & Miyu Yamashita defeat J-Rod & Mifu Ashida (10:39)

Magical Sugar Rabbits (Mizuki & Yuka Sakazaki) & Yuki Arai defeat Max The Impaler, Pom Harajuku & Raku (10:30)

International Princess Title:
MIRAI defeats Arisu Endo (c) (12:51)

Princess Tag Team Title:
Ober Eats (Wakana Uehara & Yuki Kamifuku) (c) defeat Haru Kazashiro & Yuki Aino (14:07)

Princess Of Princess Title:
Miu Watanabe (c) defeats Suzume (22:28)

Yuki Arai is Miu’s next challenger! - 10th January 2026

New Year Party 2026
10th January 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

Yuki Arai was crowned as the #1 contender to Miu Watanabe’s Princess of Princess Title after winning a six-person elimination match in the main event at Shinjuku FACE. The match will take place at “Grand Princess ‘26” at Ryogoku Kokugikan on 29th March. Personally, I think that Arai’s path should be through the Princess Cup. That is the one hurdle that she has consistently failed to clear, reaching the semi-finals for the past three years in a row. It would be a great way to give her a story rather than having title shots handed to her in one-off #1 contenders’ matches on house shows. I do think that is part of the problem with Yuki Arai’s booking in that she is booked differently from the rest of the talent, able to be free from the usual glacial-paced booking of Tetsuya Koda. I do not disagree with the push she is receiving. Yuki Arai is part of the next generation. She should be getting pushed. I just think the way she is being pushed could be tweaked to create a more compelling storyline, which is one of the things the promotion typically does well.

In the match itself, also involving Max The Impaler, Miyu Yamashita, Mizuki, Rika Tatsumi and Shoko Nakajima, as soon as Max was pinned first by Shoko’s diving senton, all suspense had left the match for me as I was certain that Yuki was winning. Miyu, Mizuki, Rika and Shoko are all part of the previous generation who have had their run on top and were deliberately put into different roles in the second half of 2025 to try and usher in a new guard. On top of that, Miu Watanabe had also already been elevated beyond the clutches of that generation. She had overcome Shoko, both in Texas in July 2025 and in the Tokyo Princess Cup semi-final on 17th August 2025 (one of the best matches of the year). She beat Miyu Yamashita for her first Princess of Princess Title at “Grand Princess ‘24” at Ryogoku Kokugikan in March 2024. She took the Princess of Princess Title from Mizuki at Summer Sun Princess in July 2025. She successfully defended her Princess of Princess Title against Rika Tatsumi during her first reign in 2024. Miu has been there and done that. Max would have been a fresh challenge, so when she was dumped out first, I essentially had no suspense for the rest of the match. That being said, it was well wrestled, particularly by Miyu Yamashita who has been one of the best undercard wrestlers in the entire world in 2025. She put over Yuki Arai big as she tapped out, which again, felt a bit forced.

J-Rod and Miu faced Ryo Mizunami and Yuki Aino in a 20-minute time-limit draw. I enjoyed the match, but it did feel like they did not have enough content to do the full time-limit draw, but it was still a great match. Mizunami turned it on and wrestled her best, as she does occasionally, especially when she is in Sendai Girls.

Shoko Nakajima’s Homecoming - 11th February 2026

Shoko Quest IV: Those Guided by the Snow Country
11th February 2026
Duo CEREZO, Niigata, Japan

Shoko Nakajima was the star of the show in her hometown as she teamed up with “Raging Fire Spring Thunder!! Prism Greed” (Haru Kazashiro & Yuki Aino) against HIMAWARI, Toga and Yuki Arai. This match was all about Shoko with all the spots planned around her and an invested crowd. It’s a good watch, especially if you’re a Shoko Nakajima fan.

Hyper Misao is preparing for her match at “Grand Princess ‘26” against Yuka Sakazaki and Konosuke Takeshita so she called on Niigata native Super Sasadango Machine (who is also her partner at “Grand Princess ‘26”) to bring out some sasadango sweets which are native to Niigata. Her idea was to entice Max The Impaler away so she and Chika Nanase could pin Pom Harajuku in seconds. It did not work out that way.

Miyu Yamashita won the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Title in a three-way involving Mahiro Kiryu and Raku. Despite Raku and Kiryu’s efforts to work together, it was still not enough to prevent Miyu from achieving her victory. It is really underrated booking how wrestlers like Rika Tatsumi and Miyu have made space at the top of the card and had enjoyable feuds in the midcard with this belt. Also an example of the CyberFight promotions working together to improve each other’s products.

Rookie Shion Kanzaki faced Arisu Endo in a singles match. This was a pretty solid match, an indicator that Shion is yet another solid recruit for TJPW. Much more on the side of Uta Takami and Ren Konatsu than Chika Nanase. Mifu Ashida faced Suzume. I’ve enjoyed Ashida a lot in 2026 and this match was no different. It was a good performance.

Max Heart Tag Team Tournament

The annual “Max Heart Tag Team Tournament” kicked off on 17th January, with the finals set to be held on 14th February. The winner will receive a shot at Ober Eats (Wakana Uehara & Yuki Kamifuku) and their Princess Tag Team Title.

Max Heart Tournament - Day 1 - First Round - 17th January 2026

Max Heart Tournament – Day 1 – First Round
17th January 2026
Yokohama Radiant Hall, Kanagawa, Japan

TJPW kicked off their annual Max Heart Tournament at Shinjuku FACE on 10th January. In the main event, K!SS Kick Slash (Kaya Toribami & Miyu Yamashita) scored a huge scalp as they ejected former Princess Tag Team Champion Kyoraku Kyomei (Hyper Misao & Shoko Nakajima) in the first round of the Max Heart Tournament. It was a solid main event, which showcased Kaya Toribami’s continued consistency. The finish was great as Kaya countered a La Magistral attempt with a flash pin.

Mifu Ashida had been lighting the world on fire ever since I saw her hit a German suplex in TJPW at Korakuen Hall on 4th January. I was no longer Ashida-agnostic, I wanted her to go all the way in this tournament. She teamed up with fellow Kyoto colleague and #1 Contender for the Princess of Princess Title, Yuki Arai, to face Bumping gRitters (HIMAWARI & Shino Suzuki). Bumping gRitters had just challenged Ober Eats for the Princess Tag Team Title but had come up short. Much like Mifu, Shino had started to have standout performances, pretty much ever since that great match with Miyu Yamashita at Korakuen Hall months prior. Mifu picked up where she left off on 4th January, rocking Shino with a clean headkick. She then followed up with another German suplex for the win. The Ice Ribbon in Mifu is slowly finding its way to the surface. Great stuff.

In the first two matches, Mizuki & Uta Takami and Pompaler (Max The Impaler) overcame Chika Nanase & Kira Summer and Raku & Ren Konatsu respectively.

Max Heart Tournament - Day 2 - Quarter Finals - 25th January 2026 (*)

Max Heart Tournament – Day 2 – Quarter Finals
25th January 2026
Ryogoku KFC Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Arisu Endo & Suzume vs. Kaya Toribami & Miyu Yamashita

“Raging Fire Spring Thunder!! Prism Greed” (Haru Kazashiro & Yuki Aino) had a bye in the first round and kicked off their tournament in the second round, donning new matching gear against Mizuki & Uta Takami. Unfortunately, the gear wouldn’t be enough and Uta Takami scored a huge upset which blew the roof off the place. I think it must be one of the loudest pops I have heard for a TJPW house show, ever. The finish was quite interesting as Haru Kazashiro was going for a bridging cradle on Uta, but Uta slipped out and Mizuki dropkicked Haru mid-bridge, allowing Uta to get the flash pin. The crowd chanted “Uta” as she left the ring, a show of how over she is getting with the TJPW audience.

K!SS Kick Slash (Miyu Yamashita & Kaya Toribami) were eliminated by Daisy Monkey (Arisu Endo & Suzume) in what will probably be the best-worked match of the entire tournament. That’s no surprise given who was in the match. Arisu closed out the match with Ju no Okite onto Kaya.

Pompaler (Max The Impaler & Pom Harajuku) used their large repertoire of double team moves to overcome the sasumata-wielding nuisance team of Daydream (Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi). Max launched Pom onto Rika before obliterating Rika with a Vader bomb for the win. This was fun.

After watching the Daisy Monkey and K!SS Kick Slash match earlier in the show, I had whiplash watching the main event with Ober Eats (Wakana Uehara & Yuki Kamifuku) and Kyoto Tag Team (my unofficial name) (Mifu Ashida & Yuki Arai). It was not a great match, indicated by the fact that Mifu Ashida was the best part of it. Mifu deserves credit for having put in great performances for the entire month of January, and I have really turned a corner with her, now rooting for her in all her matches. Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be here as Wakana collected another soul for her jar containing the lives of all her 2023 classmates when she submitted Mifu with the Banana Pillow. She has now completed the full collection and has pinned or submitted all her 2023 classmates in a tag match since becoming champion (all of them being title matches except this last one against Mifu).

Max Heart Tournament - Day 3 - Semi Finals - 31st January 2026

Max Heart Tournament – Day 3 – Semi Finals
31st January 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

Goblin Monsters (unofficial name) (Mizuki & Uta Takami) advanced to the finals as Mizuki pinned Arisu Endo with the Cutie Special, knocking out Daisy Monkey (Arisu Endo & Suzume). Daisy Monkey continues to show why they are one of the best tag teams in joshi as they are quite literally incapable of having a bad match. Of course, it helped being against Mizuki and Uta who the crowd rallied behind. Neither Arisu’s Ju no Okite nor Suzume’s Ring A Bell could find their target, opening up Mizuki & Uta to take the win. Mizuki & Uta will be facing the Princess Tag Team Champions Ober Eats (Wakana Uehara & Yuki Kamifuku) in the finals as Ober Eats beat Pompaler (Pom Harajuku & Max The Impaler) in the main event.

MIRAI and Toga continued their build for the International Princess Title match on 14th February, where MIRAI will be looking to make her first successful defence. Miyu Yamashita, Raku & Ren Konatsu took on Mahiro Kiryu and Daydream (Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi). Rika and Mahiro have been feuding over the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Title for several months, so of course Rika tried to pin her own teammate before the bell rang. Even Miyu Yamashita has had run-ins with Mahiro over the title, so Mahiro was a marked woman on this show.

6th Max Heart Tag Team Tournament Finals

14th February 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 732
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Matches: Mifu Ashida & Yuki Arai vs. Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi, MIRAI vs. Toga

The Princess Tag Team Champions Ober Eats (Wakana Uehara & Yuki Kamifuku) won the 6th “Futari wa Princess” Max Heart Tournament Final, beating the most over team that was put together for the tournament in Mizuki and Uta Takami. One issue with the tournament was that the title did not get put on the line, which means the only stakes involved in this were either the champions win the tournament, which is quite frankly lazy, or Mizuki and Uta would have to face Ober Eats again at “Grand Princess ‘26”. This is simply how the tournament works, but that’s a reason to not have the champions go through to the final. It didn’t have to be booked in such a way to have Ober Eats go to the final, it was what they chose to do, so some criticism is warranted for producing such a final. So of course, Ober Eats won to prevent the rematch which would have been quite predictable. Ober Eats going over everyone has honestly been one of the TJPW lowlights in recent months. They do not wrestle at a main-event level, yet they regularly main-event because they are champions. On the three shows they main evented in this tournament, there were better matches on the undercard every single time, without fail. Not even Mizuki and Uta’s overness could save this match as Ober Eats failed to execute several moves, even simple spots such as Mizuki’s running footstomp was made difficult and looked messy. This meant the show ended on a bit of a sour note with the overpushed tag team incapable of putting on main event matches toppling the super over babyface team that had been fresh at the top of the card.

MIRAI successfully defended her International Princess Title against Toga. This match was interesting to see what style of match Toga would wrestle with MIRAI who has been going hard on the independent scene following her departure from Marigold in 2025. MIRAI, who won’t compromise with the way she wrestles, doesn’t wrestle in the typical TJPW house style. Toga has shown glimpses of her also breaking out of that style, most notable at Wrestle Princess VI when she took on Hiroyo Matsumoto and delivered memorable, hard-hitting elbows. That Toga seemed to shirk back away in the darkness and hadn’t resurfaced very often, so I was hoping we would get a full dose of “indie Toga” on this show. Well, they even made it the story of the match. I thought I was going crazy writing about Toga’s elbows since that Wrestle Princess VI match, but it seems like Toga was actually aware of her unique striking being a story thread coming into this belt with an outsider wrestler. Early on, MIRAI was pelted with Toga’s elbows, but MIRAI started working Toga’s arm over to try and weaken that weapon of Toga’s. I loved this story because it rewarded me for picking up on this months ago, that Toga goes harder against outside talent. What I found myself doing during this match is focusing more on Toga rather than the star MIRAI, and to me, that means it was a perfectly laid out match. It used obvious storylines coming into the match to tug on my emotions and on top of that, it got me to focus on the talent being elevated rather than the established star. This was an excellent match. MIRAI’s next challenger will be Suzume at “Grand Princess ‘26”.

Daydream (Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi) took on Kyoto Tag Team (unofficial name) (Mifu Ashida & Yuki Arai) in a preview match of the Princess of Princess Title match at Ryogoku Kokugikan on 29th March. This preview reinforced to me that if Yuki Arai is going to have the best Princess of Princess Title match in her career, then it needs to be with Miu Watanabe. They were great together in this match as Miu really brought out the best in Yuki, in particular, letting her sell Miu’s believable offence. Selling is something Yuki does well. Miu struck Yuki with a deadly chop to the upper chest/throat, and Yuki sold it as if she had died. The spot of the match came where Arai, looking slightly unhinged, slammed Miu from the apron to outside the ring with a full nelson slam. Miu’s selling for the remainder of the match was “best in the world”-type selling. I write a lot about how I believe Miu to be one of the best wrestlers in the world, and yet I still think she is underrated. I was totally immersed in this match from the second she took that bump until the end of the match. That is what selling is. It was an incredible performance. There were moments where she couldn’t walk properly because of her back and she moved in such a believable way that someone with a back injury might walk. She momentarily, through a feat of strength, was able to lift Mifu for a Teardrop to win the match. Incredible performance. I am now looking way more forward to the Arai match than I was before. That’s called a successful preview, folks.

Daisy Monkey (Arisu Endo & Suzume) faced Sara Phoenix & Shoko Nakajima. This was a great match that reaffirmed Daisy Monkey’s status as a top tag team in the scene. It was also a confident and solid performance from Sara Phoenix, likely the best yet from her current tour.

Mahiro Kiryu faced an uphill battle as she defended the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Title against Aja Kong. Yes, I know the last show review said that Miyu Yamashita won the title in Niigata. She did. Then Kiryu won the title back before the Korakuen Hall show. Such is the way of the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Title. The crowd rallied behind Mahiro but it wasn’t enough as Aja won the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Title with a backdrop driver.

Raku & Pompaler (Max The Impaler & Pom Harajuku) faced Ryo Mizunami & Raging Fire Spring Thunder!! Prism Greed (Haru Kazashiro & Yuki Aino). Initially, Max tried to swap Raku with Yuki Aino. Raku was sad. But Pom took Raku back and reassured her that the team would be fine. It would be Pom that caused the team to lose to Aino’s Venus DDT. There were some fun moments throughout this match, such as Max slamming Haru so hard into the mat with an Alabama slam that the crowd immediately burst into “Haru!” chants. Max was great, bringing out the best of Mizunami as they squared up.

Chika Nanase, Hyper Misao, Kakeru Sekiguchi & Kira Summer faced HIMAWARI, Kaya Toribami, Miyu Yamashita & Shino Suzuki. Chika, Misao, Kakeru and Kira tried to profess their love for Miyu on Valentine’s Day, but Miyu, after initially being so overwhelmed by the display and showing a rare vulnerability, she went on to say how she could not accept the gifts which immediately got her jumped, leading to her cleaning house on everyone single handedly after. HIMAWARI pinned Kira with Sunflower Tempest. This was a match with a lot of good action.

There was a rookie showdown in the opener as Ren Konatsu and Shion Kanzaki faced off. This was a good showcase for both, especially as Ren won her first singles match with a new springboard dropkick that looked incredible. I bet she was relieved she pulled it off flawlessly. These two fit the TJPW aesthetic perfectly.

Full Results

Ren Konatsu defeats Shion Kanzaki (5:57)

HIMAWARI, Kaya Toribami, Miyu Yamashita & Shino Suzuki defeat Chika Nanase, Hyper Misao, Kakeru Sekiguchi & Kira Summer (7:43)

Pompaler (Max The Impaler & Pom Harajuku) & Raku defeat Haru Kazashiro, Ryo Mizunami & Yuki Aino (11:51)

DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Title:
Aja Kong defeats Mahiro Kiryu (6:58)

Daisy Monkey (Arisu Endo & Suzume) defeat Sara Phoenix & Shoko Nakajima (9:49)

Daydream (Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi) defeat Mifu Ashida & Yuki Arai (17:55)

International Princess Title:
MIRAI (c) defeats Toga (10:24)

Futari Wa Princess Max Heart Tournament 2026 Final:
Ober Eats (Wakana Uehara & Yuki Kamifuku) defeat Mizuki & Uta Takami (14:25)

Shinagawa House Show - 15th February 2026

15th February 2026
Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX, Tokyo, Japan

In the main event, Hyper Misao, Raku, Ren Konatsu and Shoko Nakajima concocted a plan to defeat Ober Eats (Wakana Uehara & Yuki Kamifuku) and K!SS Kick Slash (Kaya Toribami & Miyu Yamashita). The answer was kidnap Kick Slash when they were doing their entrance, blindfold them and tie them up, and then leave out Ren Konatsu’s home-baked treats for Wakana to get distracted with. Miyu Yamashita was disguised so Yuki Kamifuku started beating her up thinking she was Ren Konatsu. Ober Eats got the win with a double submission on Raku and Konatsu. Their Grand Princess opponent was still not clear as of this show.

Daisy Monkey (Arisu Endo & Suzume) faced Pompaler (Max The Impaler & Pom Harajuku) in the semi-main event. Max is awesome. I am pretty sure at one point they may have accidentally gone too hard and clonked heads with Arisu during a headbutt. Shoot headbutts are not something you see in TJPW very often (ever?), so it was likely an accident.

Daydream (Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi) faced Haru Kazashiro & Yuki Aino. Rika Tatsumi is continuing the storyline that she may have some hidden evil within her. Rika got jealous that Haru was on Aino’s shoulders and wanted to get on Miu’s shoulders. Miu refused as she was in rough shape, probably from the preview tag the show before, but also because Rika is quite big. Rika just slapped Miu around the face. It was a much harder slap than I was expecting. This was a very solid match as you can expect from these teams.

Shion Kanzaki faced Toga in the opener. Toga wrestled as if she had a new confidence about her following her excellent singles match against MIRAI the day before. Toga has the chance to stand out on the roster wrestling a different style.

Mahiro Kiryu faced Sara Phoenix and asked her, in English, “How do you say sorry in Spanish?” Sara replied with “We say, ‘perdón’.” Kiryu thanked her, beat her up, and then apologised to her while kneeling on her back using the Spanish word.

Watch on Wrestle Universe

DDT

Bitesize Round-up

On 3rd January at Korakuen Hall, the ace and one of the best champions in wrestling today, Yuki Ueno, attempted to defend both his KO-D Openweight Title and DDT Universal Title in a three-way two-falls match against Chris Brookes and Daisuke Sasaki. Unfortunately, it was too much for the ace and Daisuke Sasaki walked away with the DDT Universal Title from the first fall, but Ueno held onto the main prize in the second fall. Ueno will face Kaisei Takechi on 22nd February at Korakuen Hall in a non-title special singles match. It’s only a matter of time before that match is for the title. Kaisei Takechi, who was due to have a special tag match against Konosuke Takeshita, had to miss the 25th January Korakuen Hall show at the last minute due to conjunctivitis. DDT offered optional refunds to fans, given that Takechi plays a main role in selling out Korakuen Hall for the promotion.

Chris Brookes has disbanded Schadenfreude International on 3rd January as a result of Takeshi Masada leaving and has established FANTÔMES DRAMATIC with Antonio Honda, HARASHIMA, Hinata Kasai and Munetatsu Nakamura. The Nakamura addition is not official, but come on. The Apex (Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya) have joined Strange Love Connection (KANON & MAO) to create one joint unit.

Junta Miyazaki will be making regular appearances in DDT. He fits right in and should be made a permanent member of the roster, and likewise with Tetsuya Endo in NOAH. They have figured out a smart way to exchange talent between the two companies. Kazusada Higuchi is taking some time off to heal his neck. DDT Universal Champion Daisuke Sasaki will be on excursion for the month of April, meaning he will miss all DDT shows in Japan. Evil Uno will be making an appearance on the 22nd March Korakuen Hall show. Shunma Katsumata will be returning on the same show after nine months on the shelf due to an ACL injury.

DDT announced a recruiting round for new trainees, targeting men aged 18–24 with a height of 170 cm or taller. The auditions will be held on 5th April.

The D Generations Cup focusing on DDT’s incredible pool of young talent has been going since 5th January, with the finals hosted on 22nd February. As you can tell from the recommended matches in this issue, I like the DDT younger guys. This tournament is my favourite in all of wrestling. The tournament is still wide open at the time of writing, with Kazuma Sumi, Daichi Satoh in the A Block and Yuya Koroku, Rukiya and Takeshi Masada in the B Block all capable of advancing to the final.

One last important update is that Illusion (and his DAMNATION T.A. teammates) won the KO-D Openweight Ten Man Tag Team Title on 28th December. He has been wearing all five titles to the ring ever since, and requesting the referee to slowly unstrap them from him as he lays down flat.

Recommended Matches This Issue

These are in order of personal preference rather than chronological.

Kaisei Takechi, To-y & Yuki Ueno vs. KANON, Kazuma Sumi & MAO – 3rd January at Korakuen Hall
Daichi Satoh vs. Yuki Ishida – 5th January at Shinjuku FACE
Invisible Man To-y & To-y vs. Invisible Man Kazuki Hirata & Kazuki Hirata – 12th January at Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX
HARASHIMA & To-y vs. Jun Akiyama & Konosuke Takeshita – 25th January at Korakuen Hall
Antonio Honda, Chris Brookes & HARASHIMA vs. Daisuke Sasaki, Demus & Hideki Okatani vs. Kazusada Higuchi, To-y & Yuki Ueno – 5th January at Shinjuku FACE
Shinya Aoki vs. Fuminori Abe – 12th January at Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX
Daichi Satoh vs. Kazuma Sumi – 4th February at Shinjuku FACE
Junta Miyawaki vs. Shinya Aoki – 25th January at Korakuen Hall
To-y vs. Yuki Ishida – 17th January at Yokohama Radiant Hall
Rukiya vs. Takeshi Masada vs. Yuya Koroku – 8th February at Imaike Gas Hall
Rukiya vs. Yuya Koroku – 5th January at Shinjuku FACE
Yuni vs. Yuya Koroku – 12th January at Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX
Junta Miyawaki, Takeshi Masada, Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya vs. Jun Akiyama, KANON, MAO & Munetatsu Nakamura – 5th January at Shinjuku FACE
Junta Miyawaki, KANON & MAO vs. Yuki Iino, Yukio Naya & Yuya Koroku – 17th January at Yokohama Radiant Hall
Akito, Junta Miyawaki & Sanshiro Takagi vs. KANON, MAO & Yukio Naya – 15th February at Rembrant Hotel Atsugi
Antonio Honda & Chris Brookes vs. Jun Akiyama & Yuki Ueno – 15th February at Rembrant Hotel Atsugi

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

MOTYC

3 Nov 2025 – Kaisei Takechi & Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kazusada Higuchi & Takeshi Masada

DDT MOTYC

20 Mar 2025 – Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura vs. MAO & To-y
6 May 2025 – Kazusada Higuchi vs. Shinya Aoki
17 May 2025 – Daisuke Sasaki & Dick Togo vs. Konosuke Takeshita & Yuki Ueno
31 Aug 2025 – Kazuki Hirata vs. Yuki Ueno
31 Aug 2025 – Kazusada Higuchi vs. Yuki Ueno
6 Sep 2025 – Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada vs. Minoru Suzuki & Shinya Aoki
28 Sep 2025 – Kazuki Hirata vs. Yuki Ueno
21 Dec 2025 – Takeshi Masada vs. Yuki Ueno

Excellent

18 Jan 2025 – MAO & To-y vs. Kazuma Sumi & Yuni
26 Jan 2025 – Chris Brookes vs. Shuji Ishikawa
23 Feb 2025 – Antonio Honda vs. Kazuki Hirata
12 Mar 2025 – Hiromu Takahashi, Kazuki Hirata & Keisuke Ishii vs. Kenshin Chikano, Soma Takao & YO-HEY
12 Mar 2025 – HARASHIMA & Pokotan vs. MAO & Yoshihiko
20 Mar 2025 – Minoru Suzuki vs. Yuki Ueno
23 Mar 2025 – Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada vs. HARASHIMA & Yuya Koroku
26 Mar 2025 – Daisuke Sasaki vs. Kazusada Higuchi vs. MAO vs. Shunma Katsumata vs. Soma Takao vs. Yuki Ishida vs. Yuki Ueno vs. Yukio Naya
6 Apr 2025 – Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura vs. Keigo Nakamura & Shinya Aoki
25 May 2025 – KANON vs. Kazusada Higuchi
25 May 2025 – Kazusada Higuchi vs. Yuki Ueno
30 Aug 2025 – Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada vs. Kosei Fujita & Zack Sabre Jr.
31 Aug 2025 – Danshoku Dino vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi
15 Sep 2025 – Daichi Satoh vs. Kazusada Higuchi
28 Sep 2025 – Kazuki Hirata vs. Yoshihiko
28 Sep 2025 – Kazuma Sumi vs. Yuki Ueno

Highly Recommended

14 Feb 2025 – Keigo Nakamura vs. Shinya Aoki
23 Feb 2025 – Takeshi Masada vs. Yuya Koroku
20 Mar 2025 – Chris Brookes vs. Masahiro Takanashi
29 Mar 2025 – Danshoku Dino, HARASHIMA, Kazuki Hirata & Takeshi Masada vs. MAO, Shunma Katsumata, To-y & Yuki Ueno
9 Apr 2025 – Jun Kasai vs. Maki Itoh
18 Apr 2025 – Konosuke Takeshita vs. MAO
6 May 2025 – Antonio Honda vs. Yuki Ueno
1 Jun 2025 – Daisuke Sasaki, Hideki Okatani & Ilusion vs. Shunma Katsumata, To-y & Yuki Ueno
1 Jun 2025 – Akito vs. Yuya Koroku
18 Jun 2025 – Daisuke Sasaki vs. Dick Togo
29 Jun 2025 – Chris Brookes vs. Kazusada Higuchi
29 Jun 2025 – Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura vs. Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya
13 Jul 2025 – HARASHIMA vs. Kazusada Higuchi
16 Jul 2025 – Chris Brookes vs. Daisuke Sasaki vs. HARASHIMA
9 Aug 2025 – Daisuke Sasaki, Hideki Okatani & Ilusion vs. Kazuma Sumi, Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya
14 Aug 2025 – Antonio Honda & Chris Brooks vs. Bunbun & Takeshi Masada
30 Aug 2025 – Jun Akiyama vs. Kazusada Higuchi
6 Sep 2025 – Antonio Honda vs. Danshoku Dino vs. Kazuki Hirata
19 Oct 2025 – Kazusada Higuchi & Yuki Ishida vs. Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya
23 Oct 2025 – Chris Brookes vs. Daisuke Sasaki vs. HARASHIMA vs. MAO
3 Nov 2025 – Chris Brookes vs. Zack Sabre Jr.
6 Nov 2025 – Antonio Honda vs. Konosuke Takeshita
8 Nov 2025 – Daisuke Sasaki, Ilusion & Konosuke Takeshita vs. HARASHIMA, Kazuma Sumi & MAO

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

3 Jan 2025 – Jun Akiyama & Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya
9 Feb 2025 – MAO & Yuki Ueno vs. Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya
27 Mar 2025 – Kazusada Higuchi, Shunma Katsumata & Yuki Ueno vs. Soma Takao, Yuki Ishida & Soma Takao
27 Mar 2025 – Daisuke Sasaki vs. MAO
29 Mar 2025 – Chris Brookes & Kazuma Sumi vs. Kazusada Higuchi & Yuya Koroku
6 Apr 2025 – Chris Brookes vs. Yuya Koroku
8 Apr 2025 – Daichi Satoh vs. Shigehiro Irie
18 Apr 2025 – Minoru Suzuki vs. Yoshihiko
19 Apr 2025 – Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada vs. Daichi Satoh & HARASHIMA
20 Apr 2025 – HARASHIMA vs. Keigo Nakamura
23 Apr 2025 – Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada vs. Daichi Satoh & Jun Akiyama
23 Apr 2025 – Keigo Nakamura vs. Yuki Ueno
3 May 2025 – Daichi Satoh & Yuya Koroku vs. To-y & Yuki Ueno
6 May 2025 – Takeshi Masada vs. Yuya Koroku
6 May 2025 – Chris Brookes vs. HARASHIMA
13 May 2025 – Chris Brookes & Yuki Ueno vs. Takeshi Masada & To-y
17 May 2025 – HARASHIMA & Kazusada Higuchi vs. Shigehiro Irie & Shuji Kondo
17 May 2025 – Chris Brookes vs. Kohei Kinoshita
21 May 2025 – Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada vs. Shunma Katsumata & To-y
25 May 2025 – Danshoku Dino vs. Minoru Suzuki
7 Jun 2025 – Akito & Yuya Koroku vs. Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura
12 Jun 2025 – Kazuma Sumi & Takeshi Masada vs. Shigehiro Irie & Shota
2 Jul 2025 – Keisuke Ishii & Shigehiro Irie vs. To-y & Yuya Koroku
13 Jul 2025 – Minoru Suzuki vs. Shinya Aoki
13 Jul 2025 – Kosei Fujita & Takeshi Masada vs. To-y & Yuya Koroku
15 Jul 2025 – Chris Brookes, Kazusada Higuchi & Yuki Ueno vs. Daichi Satoh, Kazuma Sumi & Yuni
16 Jul 2025 – Daichi Satoh, Kazuma Sumi & Shinya Aoki vs. Kazusada Higuchi, Ryoma Tsukamoto & Yuki Iino
16 Jul 2025 – Antonio Honda, Kazuki Hirata, MAO, Takeshi Masada, To-y, Yuki Ishida, Yuki Ueno, Yuya Koroku
2 Aug 2025 – Kazusada Higuchi, Yuki Ishida & Yukio Naya vs. Shinya Aoki, To-y & Yuki Ueno
16 Aug 2025 – Kazuma Sumi & Takeshi Masada vs. Ali Najima & Yu Shimizu
19 Aug 2025 – Fuminori Abe, Hikaru Sato & Munenori Sawa vs. Brahman Kei, Brahman Shu & Brahman Yuji
31 Aug 2025 – MAO vs. Minoru Suzuki
6 Sep 2025 – Takeshi Masada vs. To-y
6 Sep 2025 – Jun Akiyama, Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya vs. To-y, Yuki Ueno & Yuya Koroku
6 Sep 2025 – Daichi Satoh vs. Ryoma Tsukamoto
12 Sep 2025 – Antonio Honda vs. Chris Brookes vs. Danshoku Dino vs. KANON vs. Kazuki Hirata
14 Sep 2025 – Akito vs. Kazuki Hirata
15 Sep 2025 – Akito vs. Kazuki Hirata
15 Sep 2025 – HARASHIMA & Yuya Koroku vs. KANON & MAO
17 Sep 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs. Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada vs. Danshoku Dino & Kazuki Hirata vs. KANON & MAO vs. Kazuma Sumi & Yukio Naya vs. Yuki Ueno & Yuya Koroku
23 Sep 2025 – Daichi Satoh, Kazusada Higuchi & Tomomitsu Matsunaga vs. HARASHIMA, Jun Akiyama & Yuki Ueno
23 Sep 2025 – To-y & Yuya Koroku vs. Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya
28 Sep 2025 – Akito & Kazuma Sumi vs. KANON & MAO vs. Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya
28 Sep 2025 – Shinya Aoki vs. Yuya Koroku
8 Oct 2025 – Daichi Satoh & Yuya Koroku vs. KANON & MAO
23 Oct 2025 – Daichi Satoh & Takeshi Masada vs. Shinya Aoki & Yuki Ueno
25 Oct 2025 – Kazuki Hirata vs. MAO
3 Nov 2025 – Minoru Suzuki vs. Yuki Ueno
3 Nov 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs. KANON & MAO vs. Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya
3 Nov 2025 – AMAKUSA vs. Daisuke Sasaki
8 Nov 2025 – Kazuki Hirata vs. Takeshi Masada vs. To-y
9 Nov 2025 – Kazusada Higuchi vs. Yuya Koroku
9 Nov 2025 – Demus vs. Kazuma Sumi
30 Nov 2025 – Sanshiro Takagi vs. To-y
30 Nov 2025 – Konosuke Takeshita vs. Shinya Aoki

New Year☆Dramatic Parade 2026 ~Answer will be given in a year~

3rd January 2026
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Kaisei Takechi, To-y & Yuki Ueno vs. KANON, Kazuma Sumi & MAO

Out of all of the shows I wish I went to during my trip to Japan over the holiday period, this was the show I most regret not being able to attend. It was a mystery card show, with the only announced match being the main event where 37KAMIINA (To-y & Yuki Ueno) and Kaisei Takechi would defend their KO-D Six Man Tag Team Title against the KO-D Tag Team Champion Strange Love Connection (KANON & MAO) and Kazuma Sumi. It is funny that Takechi and Sumi are basically honorary members of their respective teammates’ unit. Just make it official already. Anyway, there was some history between these teams. MAO used to be a part of 37KAMIINA and is even holding a 37KAMIINA produce show with To-y and Ueno on 14th February. These two teams are also the top two babyface units in the company and are the most comfortable landing points for any celebrities that collaborate on big shows. Most importantly, they’re probably the top workers in the entire company, so needless to say, with the heat of a sold out Korakuen Hall crowd, I was excited.

This match ruled. I wear my biases on my sleeve, and Kazuma Sumi is my guy. I chose him as my guy ever since I heard the crowd go absolutely wild for him in a series of nearfalls against Hideki Okatani on a random show in Yokohama for the KO-D Six Man Tag Team Title on 3rd May 2025. That is when I decided I will follow Kazuma Sumi to the ends of the Earth. So imagine my pure, child-like excitement when I saw that this match was being built around Kazuma Sumi rather than Kaisei Takechi. I mean, Sumi is the best midcarder on the planet, why wouldn’t it be built around him? The DDT bookers recognised this and used how over he is to lay out an excellent match. Not only that, but this match reminded me of those exact performances that made me fall in love with him in the first place as he made the crowd become unglued with his nearfalls. Sumi’s athleticism was on full display as he gained so much height and speed on his signature repertoire of lucharesu moves. Sumi had some incredible moments, including an assisted moonsault off of MAO’s shoulders, which was followed up by MAO’s moonsault. As if that wasn’t enough, Sumi also hit an assisted 450 splash off of MAO – an excellent nearfall that the crowd, and I, bit on. Sumi tried an inverted 450, one of the most impressive moves in wrestling, but he missed which led to To-y attempting a Kojima Wonderland. Sumi, somehow, countered it and turned it into an absolutely insane Canadian destroyer. To-y’s no-sell gimmick almost ruined the moment for me, but they brought it back with one of the best Kojima Wonderlands To-y has ever hit for a nearfall. To-y closed out the match with the Kojima Impact after Sumi tried one tornado DDT too many.

While I’ve spoken mostly about my favourite dude, Kaisei Takechi did get some shine of his own. He would go up against KANON in his most intimidating and bully form so far, which is by far the best version of KANON. It worked so well that there were extremely high pitched Kaisei chants, more so than any other Korakuen Hall show he is on. This show had probably the largest contingent of RAMPAGE fans ever. The crazy amount of screams and shrieks when Takechi was stuck in KANON’s octopus stretch, or held up for KANON’s LONELY DEZIRES finisher, was beautiful.

Elsewhere, Konosuke Takeshita made a special appearance before his “Wrestle Kingdom” match the night after. He teamed with Akito to face Danshoku Dieno and Super Sasadango Machine. I love Takeshita in DDT. All the fans are genuinely happy to see him back every time. There was an audible pop when his music started playing and as soon as he came through the curtain. The fans knew things were about to get weird given he was going up against Dieno and SSM. Akito took the microphone and said that Takeshita’s key to victory was his right knee. Akito convinced Takeshita to take the knee pad off. They all prayed together to the knee pad and worshipped it. Shunma Katsumata at ringside took the knee pad and paraded it around the arena for people to worship. Takeshita won the match immediately as SSM ran immediately into the turnbuckle and hurt himself. The GM was very angry and restarted the match as he wanted the crowd to enjoy more of Takeshita. Dieno said that Takeshita was clearly too strong for them so that they needed Akito to join them in a three on one handicap match. The GM agreed. Dieno then went to work, grabbing Takeshita’s ass and humping him. No one is above Dieno’s lovebombing. The three of them worked over Takeshita’s exposed knee while Katsumata continued parading the knee pad around the crowd. Dieno set up on top of the turnbuckle with his ass exposed. Takeshita big booted Dieno’s ass off the turnbuckle, a fate rarely achieved. Katsumata brought Takeshita back with his knee pad now that it had been blessed by the crowd. It reinvigorated Takeshita with the power of a thousand suns. He immediately stopped selling his legs. He hit the Danshoku exploder suplex onto Dieno himself, before kissing Dieno and then landing the Raging Fire for the win. Takeshita explained that he did not want to use his right knee for the win, as everyone had blessed it and he was saving it for the Tokyo Dome.*

*(Editor’s Note: Heart eyes heart eyes heart eyes!!)

Shingo Takagi came out to the ring. Given the audience did not know the card, they were shocked to find Shinya Aoki arrive after him. This was not the match you expect Takagi to have in 2026, but he did. They had a technical bout, with Takagi showing some impressive strength in his bridging hold with Aoki. Takagi then attempted the Aoki clutch which was fun to see. Aoki is the most unique wrestler in the world who builds his matches around a genuine struggle to get his opponent into the Aoki clutch. Each opponent sells that struggle differently, and Aoki does different transitions in every match, keeping his matches always fresh. After that initial period of a match, each Aoki match diverges. With Minoru Suzuki, they descended into a wild brawl. With Takagi, he tried to beat Aoki with his power but was caught out by the Aoki clutch. This was a good match.

Full Results

Junta Miyawaki defeats Rukiya (4:27)

DAMNATION T.A (Daisuke Sasaki, Demus, Hideki Okatani, Ilusion & MJ Paul) defeat Daichi Sato, Hinata Kasai, Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Yuni & Yuya Koroku (9:29)

Shinya Aoki defeats Sanshiro Takagi (6:39)

The Apex (Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya) & Jun Akiyama defeat Harimao (Kazusada Higuchi, Naomi Yoshimura & Yuki Ishida) (9:46)

Schadenfreude International (Antonio Honda, Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada) defeat HARASHIMA, Kazuki Hirata & Toru Owashi (13:25)

Akito & Konosuke Takeshita defeat Danshoku Dino & Super Sasadango Machine (0:56)

Three On One Handicap:
Konosuke Takeshita defeats Akito, Danshoku Dino & Super Sasadango Machine (9:59)

KO-D Six Man Tag Team Title:
The 37KAMIINA (To-y & Yuki Ueno) & Kaisei Takechi (c) defeat Kazuma Sumi & Strange Love Connection (KANON & MAO) (23:57)

Live Report - Daichi steals the show! - 5th January 2026 (*)

Live Report – Daichi steals the show!
5th January 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Matches: Daichi Satoh vs. Yuki Ishida and a lot of things because I liked this show a lot live

When people talk about a “live bump,” they mean that the matches when attending a show live are so much better that the opinion of the crowd in attendance differs from watching at home. Well, this show having a “live bump” for me was an understatement. This show was one of the most fun shows I attended over the holiday period. My wife, an avowed Danshoku Dieno hater and not a pro wrestling fan, came along with me, as well as one of my good friends, Emi, who didn’t watch DDT but had known about it through editing this very newsletter. While Emi left the show with a handful of new favourites, my wife left the show convinced that I was not in fact wasting my time watching DDT, and it wasn’t just all bare-ass gags. There were, in fact, some pretty cool wrestlers who were very good at what they did.

(Editor’s Note: It was everything I dreamed it would be!)

After meeting Demus, buying a Strange Love Connection hoodie and Takeshi Masada’s new t-shirt, we made our way to our seats. Kazusada Higuchi and Yuki Ueno were doing photo signings. Ueno had a full queue of fans, while not a single person went up to Higuchi. I thought about going back to the merch stand to buy his photo in order to get it signed but it was too late. Poor Higuchi. Chris Brookes’ press conference began and he announced a new unit named “FANTÔMES DRAMATIC” that would include himself, Antonio Honda, rookie Hinata Kasai and finally, HARASHIMA. I am assuming Munetatsu Nakamura will be made a part of that at some point. One interesting tidbit is that Brookes mentioned to me at a meet and greet that he specifically wanted to stop doing the elastic band spot in his unit, simply because it was “lame” if he created a new unit and did the same thing. So far, a month later, I do not believe they have done the spot. In the other press conference for the KO-D Tag Team Title fight on 25th January, Yuki Iino stole the show, seemingly capturing the heart of Emi.

(Editor’s Note: It’s true. Sometimes a rugby player hunk of a man walks out to the ring with a big booming voice and a charming smile that he uses to flirt with his enemies and you just have to roll with it, he’s yours now.)

They later locked horns as The Apex (Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya), Junta Miyawaki & Takeshi Masada faced Strange Love Connection (KANON & MAO), Munetatsu Nakamura and Jun Akiyama. This match is probably the biggest recipient of the live bump. It was really fun seeing all the big guys ping around the arena and fly around me. Akiyama gave Junta a body slam right next to me. Masada and Nakamura were incredible together and I’m hoping Nakamura makes the DDT jump full time.

In the first D Generations Cup matches of the tournament, Yuni beat Hinata Kasai in a good match. Yuni did mess up the Phoenix splash but overall he is still great for a 17 year old. In the second match of the tournament, Yuya Koroku, the eldest and probably best worker in the tournament, took on Rukiya. I have not been much of a fan of Rukiya and thought that he did not offer anything that other characters didn’t. I also hadn’t seen him have a great in-ring performance. But Yuya Koroku brought it out of him. Rukiya was much better live and I enjoyed his selling. I looked over at my wife and saw her wincing as Koroku worked over Rukiya’s arm. This was a great match. In the third match, Kazuma Sumi faced Ilusion. Ilusion is a great asshole and Sumi was incredibly over, so that dynamic helped this match a lot. It was fun and all of Ilusion’s usual antics worked perfectly with the crowd, including myself, biting on all of them.

The best match of the tournament (as of before the finals on 22nd February) was our favourite big beefy boy Daichi Satoh against Yuki Ishida. The bully role suits Daichi perfectly. He threw Ishida into the corner closest to us and leathered him with some of the loudest kicks I have heard live. I was practically sweating during this match. It was an amazing match watching it live. There were sick strikes, kicks, German suplexes and even a damn Gonzo bomb (Brody King’s finisher) into a frog splash for a nearfall. Ishida was the ultimate babyface and even had a shiner under his eye, probably due to a strike that actually landed by accident. Emi turned to me and asked me how Satoh could be that good at 17 years old. Later my wife, again, who is not a wrestling fan, asked me how Satoh was only 17 years old. I know! He’s incredible. As Emi said, Satoh is the only good “triple B” in wrestling. Our big beefy boy.

Elsewhere, Akito, Danshoku Dieno and Kazuki Hirata were in a three-way. This is the type of match my wife was dreading. She doesn’t find the Dieno gimmick funny at all. All three went on strike wanting more pay. GM Hisaya Imabayashi asked them why they weren’t fighting. Akito said that he wanted to be the GM by himself, Hirata wanted a reprint of his glasses as they were running low, and Dieno wanted a photoshoot with his dog Haku. Imabayashi didn’t want to give up the GM spot so tried a Bomaye knee and a Rainmaker lariat but broke his arm. Imabayashi said Hirata and Dieno could only get their demands if they helped him defeat Akito. They obviously failed. Akito agreed to be a co-GM with Imabayashi and that they’d get to the Tokyo Dome together. During that promo, Kazuki Hirata was just chilling behind me, allowing me to take a selfie. He then sat down on an empty chair next to me and allowed me to take a one-shot photo as he posed. My wife said after, “okay, that wasn’t that bad.” Told you.

In the main event FANTÔMES DRAMATIC (Antonio Honda, Chris Brookes & HARASHIMA) took on DAMNATION T.A. (Daisuke Sasaki, Demus & Hideki Okatani) and Kazusada Higuchi & 37KAMIINA (To-y & Yuki Ueno) in a three-way trios match. This was a total “live match.” There’s no more fun than when bodies are dropping all around you, and Anton just decides to walk through your row of chairs for shits and giggles. To-y was a great sympathetic babyface, where, despite having not seen him before, my friend Emi was calling out To-y’s name.* The beauty of professional wrestling. My wife described the main event as an “immersive experience” as we had to move out of chairs for a bunch of suicide dives. This was one of the most fun shows of my trip.

*(Editor’s Note: Listen, I am a talker. Find me at an American wrestling show and I am heckling my favorite heels, showering my favorite babyfaces with love, rallying the people around me for the underdog in the ring, starting claps, telling ‘CM Punk’ chanters to STFU, you name it. I cannot stay quiet. And boy, is To-y’s name absolutely fun to shout. What a great show. The vibes of DDT at Shinjuku FACE were immaculate.)

Live Report - Chris Brookes Meet & Greet - 10th January 2026

Live Report – Chris Brookes Meet & Greet
10th January 2026
Azalea Taisho Hall, Osaka, Japan

DDT was the first promotion that I decided to do multiple shows of, which makes sense considering how much I enjoy it. On the 10th January, I went to EDION Arena Osaka #2. Given how often I cover promotions that run EDION Arena, and I knew DDT had a show in Osaka, I had somehow convinced myself that that was the place to be for the show. When I arrived, I recognised a few GLEAT wrestlers such as Kaito Ishida. I walked down into the arena with no one stopping me, and just slightly nodded my head at some GLEAT wrestlers while being utterly confused. They must have thought I was a cleaner or something. I then suddenly remembered that Azalea Taisho Hall was another popular venue that smaller promotions run in Osaka. I didn’t even check my phone to confirm, I just knew it was Azalea Taisho Hall because DDT had run there before, so I sprinted out of EDION Arena, googled the bus route, jumped on a bus, and made it in time for the show. It was stressful, but we made it.

Azalea Taisho Hall is a cute arena, it’s well lit, it smells good, it’s modern and the seats are comfy with a lot of room. At some arenas, the seats are stuck together and you don’t have much room between you and the next person. There were also no bright lights unlike in Shinjuku FACE, in fact it was probably the best lit venue I had visited so far. At the start of the show, referee Matsui announced his “Dramatic Dreams” produce show in Osaka for 17th May. Junta Miyawaki opened up the show, but like the dunce that he is, he was looking the wrong way and didn’t know where the hardcam was.

There were two D Generations Cup matches on this show. First, Takeshi Masada beat Hinata Kasai with a running knee strike. Masada wrestled like a vet in this match. He feels slightly too big for this tournament. The KO-D Openweight Title match against Yuki Ueno did a lot to elevate my already extremely high perception of him. Then, Rukiya beat Yuni with a spinning side slam. This was another good performance from Rukiya.

This was my second attempt at getting kissed by Danshoku Dieno, but he once again went to every section except mine. He teamed with Hirata against Akito and Daichi Satoh. The story of this match was that Dieno had a rabid, horny interest in Daichi Satoh, and Daichi wanted the match turned into a four-way. Hirata reassured him that he would protect him. Dieno eventually got tagged in and tried to pull his trunks down to sit on Daichi’s face, but Hirata pulled them back up again. Akito was not much help and refused Daichi’s tag because he wanted to see Daichi get thrown into Dieno’s ass. Daichi dodged and then attempted to lawndart Hirata into Dieno’s ass. Hirata talked himself out of it, but then Daichi gave Hirata a cracking head kick and threw him into Dieno’s ass, gave Dieno’s back a powerful forearm, and then hit a penalty kick on Hirata for the win. Daichi was great.

Strange Love Connection (KANON & MAO) and The Apex (Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya) had another banger preview on the undercard. Kazuma Sumi, who was teaming with The Apex, was very ambitious in this match. He was in the powerbomb position on KANON and then wanted to jump up and turn it into flying headscissors onto MAO who was standing behind. It would have been quite insane, but I suppose these are the shows you try it on.

After the show, I left quickly as I had booked a Chris Brookes meet and greet at 2.99 Bar in Osaka, a famous pro-wrestling bar. I passed Danshoku Dieno and exchanged a polite nod and hello, before seeing Chris Brookes at the merch stand. I panicked and asked him if he was going to be at his very own meet and greet. He looked at me. He said yes. His eyes were too powerful and he managed to get me to buy one of his hoodies for 14k yen.* The meet and greet later on was very interesting. I was of course the only English-speaking fan, and I did not realise it would be such an intimate environment. It was only once I got there that I realised I would be forcing Chris to switch between English for me and my wife and Japanese for the other fans. I felt bad so I mostly just let Chris talk to the fans, but he was very polite and translated all conversations for me. HARASHIMA and referee Matsui showed up. At the meet and greet, the wrestlers are supposed to spend a certain amount of time at a table before moving to the next to distribute time spent with fans. HARASHIMA got so drunk he stayed at the same table the entire time. Chris, however, can handle his liquor well, as the fans kept buying him drinks and he kept on downing them. The Japanese fans were lovely, and offered to share food that they brought. I did not also realise that they feed the wrestlers at these meet and greets and we brought nothing. It was certainly a learning experience. The only “scoop” I can provide is that Chris absolutely hates Yuya Koroku, and teased one of the fans there who was a Koroku superfan.

*(Editor’s Note: Can confirm, his eyes are so powerful I thought he was flirting with me mid-match on 5th January.)

(Writer’s Note in response to Editor: He probably was.)

The Invisible MOTY - 12th January 2026 (*)

12th January 2026
Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Matches: Fuminori Abe vs. Shinya Aoki, Invisible Man To-y & To-y vs. Invisible Man Kazuki Hirata & Kazuki Hirata

This was a great house show main evented by ‘strange bedfellows’ as FANTÔMES DRAMATIC (Antonio Honda & Chris Brookes), The Apex (Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya) and Strange Love Connection (KANON & MAO) were all split apart onto opposite teams in a six-man tag. This has pretty much every bit you could think of relating to these six wrestlers, but also, KIMIHIRO is starting to take more bumps and do more moves as time goes on.

Daichi Satoh and HARASHIMA faced Kazusada Higuchi and Yuya Koroku in a Hard Hit Rules bout, where the match could end by KO, TKO or pinfall. Each team starts with 8 points, and points are deducted for knockdowns, rope breaks and fouls. The team that ends on 0 peoples first loses by TKO. If the time limit ends, the team with the most points wins. Koroku wore his amateur wrestling gear from college. Koroku and Daichi mat wrestling was awesome and all I could have asked for in life, and then Daichi dropped Koroku on his head with a disgusting German suplex, so I suppose I could have asked for more.

One of my favourite wrestlers on the planet that I really wished I could watch more of, Fuminori Abe, faced Shinya Aoki in a special singles match. This was great. After a few minutes of struggling on the mat to escape Aoki’s intricate pins again and again, Abe was sweating buckets. Mat wrestling is hard work, people. This match is for the grapple nerds. I just wish we had another 10 minutes of it, at least, but also, these types of matches ending suddenly in 8 minutes is what they are all about. After the match, Junta Miyawaki came out. Abe stayed behind thinking Junta was coming out for him and asked him, Junta had to clarify he was there to challenge Aoki, so Abe happily went to the back. I love that guy. This set up Junta and Aoki for Korakuen Hall.

Kazuki Hirata and Invisible Man Kazuki Hirata faced To-y and Invisible Man To-y. Yes, this was a tag match in which Hirata and To-y have invisible tag team partners. Yes, it was awesome. Everything you can think of to increase the illusion that they were actually wrestling with invisible men, they did. All the little things. Even pretending like they were walking out through the curtain on their entrance by someone behind the curtain flinging it up in the air out of sight. This is pro wrestling. I will say, while To-y is still very good at it, Hirata is on another level. Hirata’s selling is so good that you can picture the person he is wrestling, despite no one being there. Of course he already showed this in his match with Yoshihiko, but it is a unique, world-class physical ability that no one else in the industry can exhibit. It is fascinating to me how he can feign force being applied to his body. When it’s two wrestlers together, selling is an art, that is true, but you are helped by the other wrestler. It is easier to sell an arm drag when there is a wrestler actually pulling you along. It is a completely different skill to be able to sell an arm drag when it is just yourself. Anyway, the two invisible men then faced off against each other, chopping each other’s chests into hamburger meat while the crowd willed them on. Later in the fight, Hirata tried a double team with Invisible Hirata and Irish whipped him towards To-y. Of course, since it’s still an invisible version of himself, in total Hirata fashion he completely missed the splash and sprawled out of the ring. I burst out laughing at this point. Later, Invisible Hirata made a comeback and attacked To-y with his blade before putting on the Tokyo Go glasses and doing the dance. To-y attacked Invisible Hirata during his dance, but Invisible Hirata picked up the win with the Invisible Miracle One Shot Cradle. Invisible Yuki Ueno came out and hit both Hirata and To-y with the Invisible WR. Real Yuki Ueno then shook Invisible Ueno’s hand. What makes DDT one of the best promotions on the planet is their ability to have this match on the same card as Shinya Aoki vs. Fuminori Abe, and the Hard Hit Rules bout in the semi-main event.

Kazuma Sumi’s alter ego Sumi Caras, the masked luchador hero who has a plastic bag for a mask, teamed with his famed partner Yuni Caras to take on Daisuke Sasaki and Demus in a Mask vs. Hair match. The heat for this match was absolutely insane. The 100,000* fans in attendance were on their feet for this apuestas match as the four put on a memorable performance that far surpassed similar matches such as MJF vs. Místico.** In addition to the sold out crowd in Shinagawa, the 12 million* fans watching at home could not will Yuni Caras on to survive DAMNATION’s onslaught. Yuni Caras was humiliatingly unmasked, tears rolling down his face as the announcer read out his names and age in true lucha libre tradition. Sumi Caras however, ran off, his mask intact, to survive another day.

*(Editor’s Note: These numbers seem real and true.) **(I believe this.)

D Generations 7 - 12th January 2026 (*)

D Generations 7
12th January 2026
Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Yuni vs. Yuya Koroku

The D Generations Cup continued with four matches on the eponymous show. Yuni tried to overcome the final boss of D Generations in Yuya Koroku. Koroku is becoming one of my favourite performers in D Generations (outside of Daichi, Sumi, Masada and Ilusion… oh, I like a lot of them I guess!). Koroku has gotten the most out of matches I would not expect anything from, first with Rukiya, and now with Yuni. Koroku is basically a much more polished version of Marigold’s Rea Seto, using targeted limb work to weaken his opponents but giving them the opportunity to showcase their selling ability, grit and fight (Rea hasn’t gotten there yet with that). While Koroku beat Yuni, this match was great and left me thinking Yuni actually had a chance as I bit on some of the near-fall cradles. That’s two for two for Koroku.

Rukiya picked up a surprise win over D Generations golden boy Takeshi Masada. This match was well laid out, with Masada playing the vet bully, much like Koroku, but in his own way. Masada was cocky, boastful, over-the-top until he realised Rukiya posed a serious threat. Masada stepped on the gas, but Rukiya’s sheer force allowed him to pick up the win as he put all his weight onto Masada to score the pinfall.

To-y started off his D Generations campaign with a win against the permanently over underdog, Kazuma Sumi. “There were some cool moves in this match” feels like an evergreen statement for a Sumi match, but it is and there were. For example, Sumi countered To-y’s Kojima in Wonderland (full nelson slam) with a Canadian destroyer. I don’t know how, but he did. After Sumi almost scored the win, the nearfall sent the crowd into a frenzy of “Sumi!” calls for the closing stretch, a scene I have seen so many times that it’s impossible for me not to think Sumi is the greatest midcarder alive. To-y finished Sumi off with the full nelson slam for the win.

Yuki Ishida overcame all of Illusion’s antics to take the win. After bumping the ref and then forcing him into a corner, Ilusion tied the ref up in the corner by wrapping two of his five KO-D Ten Man Tag Team belts around him. Ishida helped the referee free. The referee was very lenient for not disqualifying Ilusion here. Ishida hit the running palm strike, which Ilusion bumped his ass off for, to pick up the 2 points.

To-y and Ishida battle to a time-limit draw - 17th January 2026 (*)

17th January 2026
Yokohama Radiant Hall, Kanagawa, Japan
Recommended Match: To-y vs. Yuki Ishida, Junta Miyawaki, KANON & MAO vs. Yuki Iino, Yukio Naya & Yuya Koroku

Two matches of the D Generations Cup were held in Yokohama. First, Daichi Satoh against the twerp Ilusion, with the twerp poking around Daichi’s stomach implying he’s fat. Daichi destroyed Ilusion which brought me great satisfaction, meaning both men played their roles perfectly. Daichi dropped Ilusion on his head with a sick German suplex before hitting him with a running elbow. Ilusion stood up and put his middle fingers up, so Daichi thumped him with a Takeshita-like rolling elbow. That’s my f-ing Daichi.

In the second D Generations match, To-y and Yuki Ishida went to a hard-hitting, all-out time-limit draw. That’s pretty much it. They beat the crap out of each other for 15 minutes with the crowd on the edge of their seats.

FANTÔMES DRAMATIC (Chris Brookes & HARASHIMA) teamed together for the first time as a duo against DAMNATION T.A. (Daisuke Sasaki & Hideki Okatani), in a preview of the KO-D Openweight & DDT Universal Title match on 25th January.

The Apex (Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya) and Strange Love Connection (KANON & MAO) continued their preview matches for Strange Love Connection’s KO-D Tag Team Title, which included a sequence between KANON and Naya that was so stiff you could only recoil when watching. They blasted each other with chops, lariats and extremely hard kicks. This was essentially a great singles match between the two. KANON attempted LONELY DEZIRES on Naya, which was insanely dangerous, almost dropping Naya on his head. Thankfully, he was interrupted on the second attempt so Naya wouldn’t have to take that bump. These two were absolute sickos in this match.

In the opener, Kazuki Hirata teamed up with D Generations pair Takeshi Masada and Rukiya and vowed to team together until there was a revolution in DDT. Then, the team of Akito, Antonio Honda and Danshoku Dieno came out all guns blazing, brawling with them in a six-man tag. They were annoyed that the D Generations squad wanted to vaporise the old timers. Dieno set up in the corner with his pants down and the D Generations squad were sacrificed to his asshole. Akito tried to pin Rukiya but referee Matsui wouldn’t count because he had thrown his lot in with the D Generations crew, and he laughed at the old-timers alongside GM Hisaya Imabayashi, who proceeded to flip Akito and co. off. Somehow this turned into all out war and referee Daisuke gave referee Matsui a dragon screw. Then, the D Generations team threw Akito in Dieno’s ass, who was still perched at the top of the turnbuckle this entire time, and they all pinned Akito to win the war.

Mission In Battle ~ Shinshun Kenran ~

25th January 2026
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Junta Miyawaki vs. Shinya Aoki, HARASHIMA & To-y vs. Jun Akiyama & Konosuke Takeshita

The ace of DDT, KO-D Openweight Champion, DDT Universal Champion and KO-D Six Man Champion Yuki Ueno had a target on his back heading into a sold-out Korakuen Hall. He was challenged by both Chris Brookes and Daisuke Sasaki, leading him to put both of his singles titles on the line in a two-fall match, with each fall contesting for each title separately. At the press conference the show before, Chris Brookes said that he was tired of seeing Yuki Ueno plastered all over DDT and wanted to change things away from the focus on Ueno and back on DDT as a whole. DAMNATION T.A. leader, the charismatic Daisuke Sasaki, simply wanted to make Ueno miserable, fall into the abyss and “freeze to death in this cold winter.” To be honest, this match didn’t need much build. Well, I say that as someone who watches every show. For me, the allure of this match was entirely in the booking, which is actually quite a rare scenario in DDT. This was a very interesting match to see what they would do to both protect their ace, but also open up a bunch of extra stories below him on the card.

When I met Chris Brookes on 10th January at a meet and greet, he was talking about how much he hated Yuya Koroku, since one of the Japanese fans sitting at our table was a massive Koroku fan. He was gloating about how he had destroyed Koroku in a KO-D Openweight Title match in early 2025, how lame he was, and how he could never win anything. Koroku had never gotten his win back. We spoke about the D Generations Cup and I jokingly brought up how Koroku could win the cup and then earn a shot at the DDT Universal Title, which he could win from Yuki Ueno. Chris just looked at me and replied with “that’s a lot of what ifs.” Alternatively, Chris could feud with his former stablemate Takeshi Masada, who he frequently referred to as “the best wrestler in the world” at the meet and greet. On the other side, with the DDT Universal Title Sasaki could provide a solid upper mid-card obstacle for a lot of the younger guys on the roster and have a strong run with a singles title after he has taken more of a backseat in the past year. In that scenario, Daichi Sato or Yuki Ishida could be a great defence against Sasaki. Note that in every scenario, I never considered Yuki Ueno dropping the KO-D Openweight Title. That’s for Kaisei Takechi, and Takechi alone.

Am I fantasy booking? Yes, but the point is that there really were a million different ways this could have gone, which is what made the bout so interesting outside of any storylines, which was mostly just “f Yuki Ueno” from both Chris and Sasaki. The destination chosen by DDT was to have Daisuke Sasaki as the Universal Champion and Yuki Ueno as the KO-D Openweight Champion which made all the sense in the world. In fact, while I had fantasy booked more Chris Brookes scenarios, it probably made more sense for the secondary belt in the promotion to be held by the top heel in the company and give people someone to root against in the division that’s supposed to elevate people up the card.

Both Chris and Sasaki started the match with that philosophy intact as they aligned with each other, briefly, to put a beating on the champion. Of course, that wouldn’t remain the case, and despite a comeback from the champion, he was frozen out of the match. Sasaki’s minion Hideki Okatani grabbed onto Ueno’s leg, hidden from the sight of the referee, which prevented Ueno from breaking up the La Mistica submission hold that Sasaki had cranked onto Chris, forcing him to tap in the first fall. Immediately after the second fall began, Sasaki speared Ueno from the apron through a table that was previously set up outside the ring, before putting on another La Mistica on Chris inside the ring. Chris escaped on this occasion. Sasaki then removed his shirt. The only three times he has done this in the past year have been twice against his mentor, Dick Togo, and then once in his own 20th anniversary match at Korakuen Hall. So it doesn’t happen often. Given that, when the three got into a chop war, Sasaki almost immediately bowed out, likely not used to the flesh-on-skin stinging rash. That was a clever spot. Shirtless Sasaki almost stole the title with a great cradle which even I bit on, despite thinking it was impossible beforehand. Ueno kicked out at the last second before hitting the WR on Sasaki for the win. This was a good main event, although there were not too many times I felt suspenseful outside of that Sasaki flash pin nearfall.

After the match, KIMIHIRO of Strange Love Connection came out to introduce KANON as the next challenger of the KO-D Openweight Title on 22nd March at Korakuen Hall, the 29th anniversary show title “Judgement”. This is a well booked filler defence for Ueno and another first time challenger for the title. It feels like too small of a match for “Judgement” in March, but considering the challenger was Masahiro Takanashi last year, it seems to follow a pattern. The crowd did not seem too excited for this challenge and KANON came out to a muted response which is a bit worrying. He hasn’t been super over, but if you think back to the King of DDT Finals against Higuchi, the crowd were very behind KANON. It seems to have dissipated a bit as part of Strange Love Connection, but perhaps he can get them all back on side during the preview tags.

Since defeating The Apex (Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya) and Team 200kg (Chihiro Hashimoto and Yuu on 3rd November at Ultimate Party, Strange Love Connection (KANON & MAO), The Apex have been on the path to regaining their KO-D Tag Team Title. With no third team in the mix this time, Iino could channel all his passion, infatuation and energy into the champions rather than be distracted by an obsession of Chihiro Hashimoto.* Instead, Iino was now obsessed with “MAOKANON” and “KANONMAO”, the names he referred to the champions by because “Strange Love Connection” is a bit too difficult for the room temperature IQ lovable idiot. These teams have been crashing into each other for over a month in various previews, those matches often being the best thing on each show as they combined hard-hitting action with excellent comedic timing, especially from Iino who I feel has been outstanding since his return.

(Editor’s Note: WAIT, he was obsessed with Big Hash? I KNEW I loved this man.)

Despite that, Strange Love Connection retained their titles after a hard fought battle. The match was physical and well worked, but this is the rare time where I believe it was affected by the “Marigold effect,” where the preview matches are so great, that the title match itself somehow has less of an effect on you despite it being a good match itself. The previous preview tag on 17th January was so brutal and stiff between KANON and Naya that anything they did here didn’t live up to it. The preview tags on 5th and 10th January were so chaotic and packed with perfect timing of bits, that this match seemed to retread those than go a step further. This is not a criticism. It is an observation of how previews can certainly skew the feeling of the resultant match. This was a great match, but I will not remember it weeks from now. I will remember the feud itself, though. After the match, Yuki Iino asked Strange Love Connection if The Apex could join them. Iino said that after losing the titles to MAO at Sumo Hall, and now to KANON at Korakuen Hall, The Apex have grown to love the SLC guys. To be honest, that really works. Their idiot dynamic is incredible. They need a ‘smol’ boy too, though. Kazuma Sumi, just make it official. It would be funny if they announced a new member on 22nd February and it wasn’t Kazuma Sumi. Keep up the bit of everyone assuming he is with them and he continues tagging with them but he never gets officially announced.*

*(Editor’s Note: RJ City core.)

Undercard

As Sarah from the Trish & Sarah Podcast said, the best way to use a multi-contracted talent outside of their primary promotion is to use them as a special attraction. That’s something that New Japan didn’t figure out, but DDT did, very quickly, with Konosuke Takeshita. Takeshita’s booking in DDT is perfect. He comes in once a month on average, has a great match, and goes away. The fans are happy to see him every time. On this show, Takeshita teamed with Jun Akiyama to take on HARASHIMA & To-y, who was a replacement for Kaisei Takechi. Takechi is DDT’s main project for 2026 and they are finding a way to get the top title on him before the year’s over. Takeshita is part of that plan, which has been teased since “Ultimate Party” on 3rd November. Takechi not being available for one of Takeshita’s dates is a massive blow to their big plans. On the other hand, this was To-y’s dream scenario, as he was made the focal point of the match. To-y made the most of the moment, immediately attacking Takeshita and doing an over-the-turnbuckle dive to the outside. Takeshita didn’t take too kindly to that and suplexed To-y into the crowd’s chairs. This die hard attitude of To-y led to the match having super heat, as he tried to stand up to the final boss of DDT in Takeshita. If you weren’t a fan of To-y before, it was hard not to be watching this performance. Ultimately, despite trying his hardest, To-y fell to Takeshita’s running knee strike. This is how you do special attractions. Take notes, New Japan.

Blow-up doll Yoshihiko made a spectacular return following their title match against Kazuki Hirata in September as they teamed up with Danshoku Dieno and former rival Minoru Suzuki against Antonio Honda, Kazuki Hirata & Super Sasadango Machine. The bell rang during Suzuki’s entrance to start the match, resulting in Dieno pinning Hirata and winning the match before “Kaze ni nare” could be sung. GM Hisaya Imabayashi and Minoru were furious. They restarted the match. The second time, Minoru was quite suspicious and kept on looking in the ring to make sure the bell wasn’t going to ring as he made his way around the ring evoking applause ahead of the big chorus. “Kaze ni nare” blared out, Minoru walked into the ring and was attacked immediately by SSM, so Minoru tapped out SSM to win. GM Imabayashi was still not happy, because Yoshihiko had not made their entrance yet. They restarted the match again. Yoshihiko made their entrance but the match started again so Yoshihiko had to run in and break the pin on Anton, and then we had a proper match. The proper match included Anton charging up his Gongitsune attack via Dieno’s electric ass juice, but it misfired, taking him out of the match. Yoshihiko pinned his eternal foe Hirata with Reincarnation. After the match, they announced Kazuki Hirata against Konosuke Takeshita for 22nd March at “Judgement”. That is awesome.

NOAH junior Junta Miyawaki being reassigned to DDT just feels right. He’s such a goof that he fit in perfectly from the first time he showed up. To be honest, they should just make it permanent and put him in a unit. I am already convinced he fits in the roster, way more than, say, Rukiya (sorry). Junta opened the show in a special singles match, that he requested, against master grappler Shinya Aoki. I loved Junta being the one to roll Aoki around into his own intricate pins. This match felt unique, even from other Aoki matches. Junta got way more than I expected, including converting these pretzel-holds into his own Sunshine driver. There was a great touch from Aoki as he bit the rope in frustration after breaking Junta’s ankle hold on him. Junta’s strikes (or lack thereof) stood out a bit against Aoki. This was very enjoyable. Now that he has had the Aoki match, we just need to see a singles match with Danshoku Dieno for Junta to be a fully fledged member of the DDT roster.

D Generations is one of my favourite things about DDT. A group of some of the most talented young wrestlers on the planet, with varying styles, character alignments and even ages. With the ongoing D Generations Cup, the group took a back seat on this show and were thrown into a ten-man tag team match with Daichi Satoh, Ilusion, Kazuma Sumi, Ryoma Tsukamoto & Yuki Ishida facing Hinata Kasai, Rukiya, Takeshi Masada, Yuya Koroku & Yuni. The most pushed of the group, To-y, was originally scheduled to be in this match but due to Kaisei Takechi’s absence, he was put into Takechi’s spot and replaced by Tsukamoto in this tag. If it wasn’t obvious, DDT sees To-y as the next guy out of all the D Generations boys. The match itself was quite short and nothing to write home about. The funniest moment was Ilusion tagging in ‘The Human Thumb’ Ryoma Tsukamoto by slapping his bald head and Ryoma just looking at him in disgust. The best moment outright was Daichi and Masada finishing the match, with Daichi hitting Masada with a penalty kick and cranking back on both legs for the flash pin. Those two will face each other in a future KO-D Openweight Title match for sure.

Naomi Yoshimura teamed with O-MENZ rapper & dancer Kumadori against DAMNATION T.A. (Hideki Okatani & MJ Paul). Naomi Yoshimura is due a mini-push at some point. That is all.

Full Results

Junta Miyawaki vs. Shinya Aoki – Time Limit Draw (15:00)

Daichi Satoh, Ilusion, Kazuma Sumi, Ryoma Tsukamoto & Yuki Ishida defeat Hinata Kasai, Rukiya, Takeshi Masada, Yuni & Yuya Koroku (6:10)

Kumadori & Naomi Yoshimura defeat DAMNATION T.A (Hideki Okatani & MJ Paul) (7:59)

Danshoku Dino, Minoru Suzuki & Yoshihiko defeat Antonio Honda, Kazuki Hirata & Super Sasadango Machine (0:06)

Danshoku Dino, Minoru Suzuki & Yoshihiko defeat Antonio Honda, Kazuki Hirata & Super Sasadango Machine (0:05)

Danshoku Dino, Minoru Suzuki & Yoshihiko defeat Antonio Honda, Kazuki Hirata & Super Sasadango Machine (5:23)

Jun Akiyama & Konosuke Takeshita defeat HARASHIMA & To-y (12:40)

KO-D Tag Team Title:
Strange Love Connection (KANON & MAO) (c) defeat The Apex (Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya) (15:35)

DDT Universal Title Three Way:
Daisuke Sasaki defeats Chris Brookes and Yuki Ueno (c) (16:14)

KO-D Openweight Title Three Way:
Yuki Ueno (c) defeats Chris Brookes and Daisuke Sasaki (10:05)

Kazuma Sumi is the best midcarder in the world - 4th February 2026 (*)

Sumi is the best midcarder in the world
4th February 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Daichi Satoh vs. Kazuma Sumi

My favourite tournament in wrestling continued with some dramatic developments at Shinjuku FACE. With Ilusion already out of the tournament with 3 losses, despite being my dark horse for the tournament (ouch), he had nothing to lose against To-y, who was undefeated alongside Daichi in the A Block. So, in Illusion-fashion, he low-blowed both To-y and the referee at the same time and then hit To-y with his Swanton bomb for the win.

In the main event, Daichi Satoh faced Kazuma Sumi, where if Daichi won, it was hard to see him not go through to the finals as he had already sat at the top of the A Block undefeated and also Daichi was helped out by To-y dropping points against Illusion. These are my two favourite DDT wrestlers. I’m not saying they’re the best, but they’re my favourite. This was their first ever singles match, and only their second time across from each other, ever. They do not wrestle each other very often, so I didn’t actually know what to expect. The match was slower than I thought it would be, but not in a boring way. Daichi and Sumi traded stiff kicks with each other. While Sumi was kicking Daichi’s tree trunk thigh, Daichi was kicking Sumi in the ribs. Then suddenly, Sumi blasted a kick so hard that it dropped Daichi on his ass, and then followed up with a PK and a standing moonsault for a great nearfall. Sumi gave Daichi a receipt, landing a jumping enzuigiri to Daichi’s head. The finishing stretch was awesome with several counters. Sumi stole the roll-up with his last bit of energy as he collapsed from Daichi’s beautiful rolling elbow strike. The pop for Sumi’s win was monstrous, as it always is, every single time, and I’ve been writing about it for months. He is the best midcarder in the world. The result actually put Sumi in control of his own destiny in the A Block.

Takeshi Masada bounced back from a surprise loss to Rukiya by beating Yuni. But also, surprise! Another good match! Masada looked like an absolute beast throwing around the tiny Yuni, 16, with a wheelbarrow German suplex and then knocking him out with a running knee strike, which Yuni took a crazy bump for.

Hinata Kasai failed to pick up his first win of the tournament against Yuya Koroku, while Koroku remained undefeated at the top of B Block. Koroku had put on surprisingly excellent matches against Rukiya and Yuni. They were surprisingly excellent not because of Koroku, we all know he is one of their best young talents, but because I did not even realise that either Rukiya or Yuni had that type of match in them. Well, this time it was Hinata’s turn to have a great match with Koroku. It was not as good as Koroku’s other two matches this tournament, but it was probably Hinata’s best match yet. That’s a sign of how good Koroku is. There were some very dramatic nearfalls in this match where the crowd believed Hinata would get the upset before Koroku destroyed Hinata with his Triangle Lancer submission. This result meant that Koroku vs. Masada was a key match for the winner of the B Block, unless Rukiya won his match which would allow Koroku to advance with a draw.

Following the integration of The Apex (Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya) into Strange Love Connection (KANON & MAO), Yukio Naya wore an SLC shirt to the ring as he, KANON & MAO took on Shinya Aoki, Tomomitsu Matsunaga and the ace and KO-D Openweight Champion Yuki Ueno. This was the first preview between KANON and Ueno. After they beat each other up for a bit, KANON finished off the match pinning Matsunaga. KANON spoke about how Ueno was the first person to pin him when he came to DDT. The match has stuck with KANON for four years and he wants to beat Ueno. Ueno just called KANON a liar and left. Interesting.

In a three-way six-man tag it was Akito, Junta Miyawaki & Yuki Ishida versus FANTÔMES DRAMATIC (Antonio Honda, Chris Brookes & HARASHIMA) versus DAMNATION T.A. (Daisuke Sasaki, Hideki Okatani & MJ Paul). Immediately at the start of the fight, Sasaki whipped his coat over Anton’s head. Anton left the camera for a while, but when he was back, his bald head and the side of his face had blood on it. Brookes just looked at him like “what the hell?” but Anton continued as if nothing had happened. He even did his usual Gon the Little Fox bit. Sasaki jokingly kept throwing up the “X”. Anton took the mic and blamed Sasaki’s jacket. He asked for a towel. Brookes wrapped it around Anton’s head like a bandana while Anton was still doing his whole bit. He looked like a badass and the crowd was fully on his side but he was pinned by Okatani.

Danshoku Dieno and Jun Akiyama took on Kazuki Hirata and Toru Owashi. GM Hisaya Imabayashi told them that he had sold fifty tickets to friends in the entertainment industry and wanted to look good, so he wanted a fast match so that he could lose his cool and show them his shouting gimmick. When Dieno failed to pin Hirata, Imabayashi came into the ring very upset. Hirata calmed him down and told him he could look good in front of his friends if he joined the match, so it became a three on two handicap. Are Imabayashi’s friends all deaf? They were using microphones. Anyway, Imabayashi called for a tag. He got the hot tag and knocked Dieno down and gassed himself up so much, shaking the ropes. He turned around and saw the scary Jun Akiyama and immediately regretted his decision. He knew his fate. He took his glasses off, readying himself for battle. He launched himself at Jun Akiyama throwing forearms but they were entirely ineffective and hurt him more than they hurt Akiyama. However, he never gave up hope. The heroic GM hit Akiyama with a stunner and tried a pin count, but Akiyama kicked out at one and just stared at Imabayashi with incredulity. Akiyama heatbutt Imabayashi and then gave him a signature knee strike. Somehow, Imabayashi kicked out. The crowd was screaming his name. He must’ve looked so cool in front of his friends. He did it. Akiyama locked in his finisher, the exploder suplex, but Imabayashi tapped immediately before letting Akiyama throw him. He was carried out by members of the DDT roster. Cinema. (Tam/Saya type cinema not Bloodline type cinema.)

Kazuma Sumi wins Block A - 7th February 2026

Kazuma Sumi wins Block A
7th February 2026
Imaike Gas Hall, Aichi, Japan

On the first of two days in Nagoya, Block A of the D Generations Cup was decided. The first of two matches to decide the block was our big beefy boy, Daichi Satoh, facing To-y. The match started slower than I was expecting, but the finish was great. It was fast-paced, hard-hitting and heated. The DDT D Generations gang do nearfalls better than a lot of wrestlers around the world. To-y won with a flash pin on Daichi.

That result meant that Kazuma Sumi only needed a win to advance to the final. Standing in his way was Yuki Ishida. The crowd, as always, were behind Sumi, with a constant parade of “Sumi!” calls throughout the match until Sumi caught Ishida with a flash-pin. I had much higher expectations from these top two matches. It is not that they were bad, it is that I have ridiculously unrealistic expectations for the D Generations boys and these matches were simply good when I was expecting awesome. But! How can I be nitpicking, my guy, Kazuma Sumi, made it to the finals.

The annual Imaike Rumble took place. First, Kazuki Hirata and Chris Brookes started. I believe Chris has new music. Unfortunately, I’m tone deaf, so I can’t tell the difference. I’m joking, but not really. I actually can’t tell. I’m 99% sure it’s new. It’s the 1% that kills you. Hirata immediately tried to eliminate himself because he’s scared of Chris who is in a new unit. Chris kept him in the ring so he could beat him more. Hirata put his glasses on during MAO’s entrance which cut off his theme song. MAO was not happy. Towards the end of the rumble, Hirata was the last person standing after he decapitated Pokotan, mostly eliminated each other and then he rolled up Chris. However, a surprise entrance came in. It was Hirata’s nemesis, Yoshihiko. Yoshihiko almost pinned Hirata with Reincarnation but Yoshimura saved the pin. Pokotan came back, but it was actually Ilusion under the costume who was never eliminated. Yoshimura clotheslined Ilusion’s head off and ended up pinning him to win the rumble.

On the undercard I had a lot of fun with Antonio Honda against KANON. At one point, KIMIHIRO (KANON’s second who is a non-wrestler and is a rapper) grabbed the mic and started doing a freestyle rap on Honda. They have an impromptu rap battle. Later, back in the ring, Anton fell and hurt his leg. Anton did his Gongitsune routine, telling a dirty joke before attacking with Gon the Fox. But, before attacking, he had another impromptu music session with KANON and KIMIHIRO as they improvised “Chinpo” back and forth, such as Anton saying “Chin” and KANON & KIMIHIRO saying “Po” in a rhythmic fashion. Of course, it ended up being attacked. Finally there was a strong finishing stretch before KANON lariated Anton out of his boots for the win.

Takeshi Masada wins Block B, with a twist! - 8th February 2026 (*)

Takeshi Masada wins Block B, with a twist!
8th February 2026
Imaike Gas Hall, Aichi, Japan
Recommended Match: Rukiya vs. Takeshi Masada vs. Yuya Koroku

Block B of the D Generations Cup ended in style as a Rukiya victory of Hinata Kasai and Yuya Koroku dropping a match to Takeshi Masada led to an exciting three-way finish between Rukiya, Koroku and Masada, with all men tied on points 6 points, unable to be split by head-to-head records. Masada and Koroku’s singles match in the lead up to the three-way final was great, but it was like the basic level of match they could have together, clearly leaving some left in the tank. Sumo rules are the best rules in wrestling. The three-way was basically a singles match, with the third wrestler waiting outside. If a wrestler is pinned, they are swapped out. A wrestler has to win two pinfalls in a row to win the match. Rukiya and Koroku started the match, and Rukiya looked unhinged, attacking a tired Koroku. It was one of Rukiya’s best performances since… well, since he last faced Koroku on 5th January – I was there live! Rukiya picked up the first pinfall which shocked the crowd. Masada was up next and, despite being exhausted, he managed to score a flash pin on Rukiya with the crowd on the edge of their seats. It was back to Koroku against Masada and they were gassed. Their selling was excellent, in particular Koroku’s face. The crowd was at its peak when Koroku tried to lock in his signature Triangle Lancer and Masada kept fighting against it. There was a great spot where Koroku caught Masada’s arm when Masada tried his triangle kick. Masada held on and won with a running knee strike. The tension in this main event was great. As an aside, I truly believe Koroku is one of the best workers on the DDT roster.

KANON and Yuki Ueno continued their previews before their 22nd March date for the KO-D Openweight Title as Strange Love Connection (KANON & MAO) faced 37KAMIINA (To-y & Yuki Ueno), FANTÔMES DRAMATIC (Antonio Honda & Chris Brookes) and DAMNATION T.A. (Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Paul) in a four-way tag team match. To-y did his no-selling gimmick before proceeding to slap the opponents out of the ring. For some reason, before his suicide dive, To-y decided to reach down into his pants and then smell his fingers. Anton once again had a jam session with the Gongitsune gimmick, harmonising with SLC and To-y. They received a round of applause before Anton attacked them. Classic.

Yuki Ishida got his win back over Daichi Satoh on the undercard in a six-person tag match. The two have excellent chemistry together. I would not have expected that pairing to have probably the best chemistry out of all the D Generations guys. I feel like the only pairing that comes close is possibly Hideki Okatani and Kazuma Sumi but is Okatani really considered a D Generations guy? Well I guess he wrestles on some of the shows.

Final D Generations Cup 2026 Standings (W-L-D)

A Block

Kazuma Sumi — 6 pts (3-1-0) – Advances to final
To-y — 5 pts (2-1-1)
Daichi Satoh — 4 pts (2-2-0)
Yuki Ishida — 3 pts (1-2-1)
Ilusion — 2 pts (1-3-0)

B Block

Yuya Koroku — 6 pts (3-1-0)
Rukiya — 6 pts (3-1-0)
Takeshi Masada — 6 pts (3-1-0) – Advances to final via tiebreaker three-way
Yuni — 2 pts (1-3-0)
Hinata Kasai — 0 pts (0-4-0)

37KAMIINA Produce Show at Shinjuku FACE - 14th February 2026

37KAMIINA Produce Show
14th February 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

37KAMIINA (Shunma Katsumata, To-y & Yuki Ueno) held a produce show on 14th February. Boy does it feel good to type out Katsumata’s name once again. It has been a long time. Katsumata has been out since 29th June 2025 after he tore the ACL in his left knee during training. The unit is also known as the “Sauna Boys”, since 37 can be shortened in wordplay to become “san-na”. Kamiina is just a general term. So, whatever you want it to be. It was founded in 2021 with Shunma, Ueno, MAO and Konosuke Takeshita, one of Ueno’s best friends. Ever since MAO left the unit to form Strange Love Connection with KANON (and now Yuki Iino, Yukio Naya and X), the unit has been somewhat floundering without a real identity. They regularly team up with superstar Kaisei Takechi, but he is not formally a member of the unit. So they are essentially the “jocks” of DDT in that they tend to be the most popular people on the roster and are pushed strongly. To-y is in the midst of a pretty strong push and as such, on this show his unit booked him to face Minoru Suzuki in the main event. It was a great match. It was Minoru at his best, as the big invading heel caused the whole crowd to rally against the over babyface. And boy, is To-y over. The amount of “To-y” calls throughout this match was ridiculous. This match actually reminded me of Minoru’s match with Ueno at Korakuen Hall almost a year ago where they beat the hell out of each other and Ueno looked tough as hell.

I will have to get used to typing out Shunma Katsumata’s name as on this show he announced his return to the ring, which will take place on 22nd March at “Judgement”. After To-y’s main event with Minoru, Ueno and Shunma had a three-minute exhibition match. This was incredibly hype and the crowd was super hyped to see him back. He looked great.

The ace of DDT and founding member of the unit, Ueno, was relegated to the semi-main event where he faced one of the greatest DDT wrestlers of all time, Pokotan. This match was great fun. The DDT crowd are the best in the world at playing into a bit which elevates all of these matches an extra step. Ueno spinned Pokotan’s head around and the whole crowd squealed as if his neck had been broken. Later, Ueno did a double knee drop onto Pokotan’s head, which crumbled. Pokotan’s skull was broken and the whole crowd screamed in horror about what Ueno had done (the actor just moved his head down into the body before impact). Ueno ended up winning the match with a frog splash while holding Pokotan’s head.

Rookie Hinata Kasai was put through the ringer in a singles match against Shinya Aoki. There’s no affiliation between Hinata, Aoki and 37KAMIINA. I think they booked this just to haze the rookie. The crowd were very into this match with constant calls for Hinata. I think this match probably surpassed his D Generations Cup matches in being his new best. His selling here was quite good. But it might not be sweating. People underestimate how tiring grappling is. Hinata was sweating like crazy. Aoki won with the Aoki clutch.

Yuya Koroku joined NWA Jr. pretending to be Shunma Katsumata (he is a part of the boy band that performs at the start of shows, like Up Up Girls in TJPW, alongside Kazuma Sumi and Yuni). The crowd popped big when Koroku came out singing. There’s a DDT superfan that I see at almost every single show in the front row who was belting out the song. He was so happy. They were against the Brahman Brothers (Kei & Shu) and Daisuke Sasaki dressed up as a third member, painted in full blue representing a blue oni, a Japanese folklore creature. Everyone had to wear their waterproof jackets in preparation. If you’re wondering why they need waterproof jackets, well we have a long-standing policy in this newsletter to not recap the specifics of Brahman Brothers matches. Go watch it. Sasaki as part of the Brahman Brothers was hilarious.

MAO dressed up as Shunma Katsumata and teamed up with Shin Sakura Hirota, dressed up as Konosuke Takeshita, and Takeshi Masada. They took on Danshoku Dieno, Kazuki Hirata and Koju Takeda. Takeda is set to retire March 4th at Shinjuku Ni-chome Pro-Wrestling. Takeda was in the old Pheromones faction in DDT alongside Dieno. He also likes showing his ass. After Dieno got onto the turnbuckle and showed ass, Takeda got on top of him and also showed ass, so there was a stack of asses on the turnbuckle. They stayed there for the rest of the match while Shin Takeshita was helped by ShunMAO and Masada to do a wheelbarrow German suplex and Raging Fire. Shin Takeshita then removed her knee pad and hit the Wagamama for the win. These matches are super fun. They’re also a way to keep Takeshita integrated in DDT lore for his return appearances and keep him popular and over. And it works. The crowd were calling for Shin Takeshita all match. If you don’t think that all transfers then you’re mistaken.

In the opener, new rookie Akito Nishigaki faced Rukiya. Of course, the new rookie is in fact the co-GM of DDT Akito who was pretending to be a rookie. He was great at acting like a rookie in his black trunks. It was a 5-minute time-limit draw. Rukiya allowed the rookie to get in a lot of offense. The ring announcer, Shunma Katsumata, restarted the match which went to another 5-minute time-limit draw. Overtime included a side suplex from Akito. I am pretty sure that’s a banned rookie move, unless you’re Yuto Koyanagi or Seri Yamaoka or something.

I like DDT - 15th February 2026 (*)

15th February 2026
Rembrandt Hotel Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan
Recommended Match: Akito, Junta Miyawaki & Sanshiro Takagi vs. KANON, MAO & Yukio Naya, Antonio Honda & Chris Brookes vs. Jun Akiyama & Yuki Ueno

In the main event at the familiar Rembrandt Hotel, FANTÔMES DRAMATIC (Antonio Honda & Chris Brookes) faced Jun Akiyama and Yuki Ueno. It looked like there was a slight problem with the wrestling mat that they took some time to sort out. I was surprised they left it in the VOD but it was fun to see. Also, I absolutely love Anton’s calling in the new unit, having main events where he has to get beat up and get cut on the head by jackets. It’s a more serious version of Anton, but it still feels totally Anton with the usual bits. The new beard makes it work even better. Like the grumpy old vet that has been called out of retirement to help Chris build out this new unit from scratch. It’s great and he’s as over as ever. He’s basically the star of all these house show main events. He’s getting his ass beat. But he’s doing it for the love of the new unit. I think it’s sick. To be honest, this is one of my more wacky recommendations. I just think Anton in this role works very well, the crowd loves it, and I was incredibly entertained. I can see others not caring at all about this match! Maybe I was just in the right mood when I watched this, which is a big part of wrestling.

Akito, Junta Miyawaki & Sanshiro Takagi faced the hyperactive toddler group of Strange Love Connection (KANON, MAO & Yukio Naya). Seriously, they were just having a lot of fun. It was like they were on the playground. If you told me those three were drunk, I’d believe it, but it’s just what they’re like. They were just themselves to a tee in this match. Honestly I’m not recapping this match. It was hyper, chaotic and I think this is SLC’s calling card. I enjoyed this a lot.

Daisuke Sasaki defended his O-40 Title against Danshoku Dino, HARASHIMA and Tomomitsu Matsunaga. As you can imagine, it’s fought for by over 40s. Dieno and Sasaki were due to have a very kinky match at Ultimate Party on 3rd November, but Dieno was out with appendicitis. It was going to call back to their almost butt-naked match they had several years back. Well, they alluded to some ideas they had for a new match here as Dieno was going to town on Sasaki from behind while Sasaki was yelling “oh, f- me, yeah”. Well, then.

To-y & Kazuma Sumi met Takeshi Masada and Yura Koroku, in what I would call an all-star D Generations preview tag for the final between Sumi and Masada. Sumi pinned Koroku and the crowd popped big for it. What I loved about this match is the girls calling for the guys’ names. I just love it. The “Sumi!” and the “To-y!” This is the future of DDT, and these fans will tell their friends about the guys they love. That’s how wrestling has been growing again in Japan. It’s not been dudes. It’s been the girls coming to the shows with full support for the wrestlers. It was funny I did see Sumi mess up the ‘through-the-ropes into a schoolboy’ move that he always does, for what is probably the first time ever. He just gave up half way through!

Watch on AJPW TV

All Japan Pro Wrestling

Bitesize Round-up

The Kento Miyahara era of All Japan continued as the current ace fended off a Triple Crown challenge from the ace-in-waiting, Yuma Anzai, on 31st December at Yoyogi National Gymnasium #2. Kento followed that up with a further successful defence against Talos, and has another scheduled soon against Jun Saito, the same person Kento beat for the title in Tachikawa on 23rd September. It is a quite uninspired choice for a defence, even if it is filler, given how neverending Jun Saito’s first run was. Rei Saito is returning on that same show on 23rd February at Ota Ward, so it is being billed as the Saitos back on top with Rei’s return and Jun’s challenge. Couldn’t they just have challenged Titans of Calamity or something? Rei’s opponent is unknown as at the time of writing.

Meanwhile, Talos captured some gold himself as he and Ren Ayabe, named the Titans of Calamity, cashed in on their World’s Strongest Tag League victory, challenging and defeating HAVOC (Oddyssey & XYON) for the World Tag Team Title. Talos has been an underreported success story as far as foreigners in All Japan go.

Go Shiozaki and Shota Kofuji have officially joined All Japan. They were revealed as members of the roster on the 2nd January Korakuen Hall show. Rookie Kofuji will remain dual contracted with Osaka Style Wrestling (OSW).

In some “punch yourself in the face” news, masked wrestler KURAMA faced Atsuki Aoyagi for the Junior Heavyweight Title on 3rd January at Korakuen Hall in the main event. After the match, KURAMA cut a promo saying that they wanted to start again as an All Japan trainee under the name of Yasutaka Yano. It was made official on the 11th January Shin-Kiba show. The issue with that is that Yano was a NOAH wrestler who was fired, alongside Kinya Okada for committing sexual assault against a women in her 20s in Sendai in April 2023. Yano was arrested but charges were dropped in December 2023. He emerged in Mexico under a mask to continue his career. All Japan has taken it upon themselves to rehabilitate his image, rather than leaving it to the independents like PPP Tokyo who are more than happy to harbour such individuals.

The All Japan Junior Tag Team Festival starts on 15th February at Korakuen Hall, with further rounds on 23rd February at Ota Ward Gym and 15th March at Korakuen Hall. The finals will be held in Hachioji, Tokyo on 20th March. The winners of the tournament will face the All Asia Tag Team Champions, Dragongate’s Don Fujii and Masaaki Mochizuki, who beat Gajadokuro (ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato) on 18th January, who themselves took the titles from Mu-chan & Sei-chan (MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka) on 31st December in Yoyogi.

Daisuke Sekimoto won the GAORA TV Title from Shotaro Ashino on 3rd January in an excellent match.

The first entrants for the Champion Carnival tournament have been announced. Rei Saito, Kento Miyahara, Go Shiozaki, Hideki Suzuki, Jun Saito, Ryuki Honda, Ren Ayabe, Yuma Anzai, XYON, Oddyssey, Talos, Cyrus, Kuma Arashi, Kengo Mashimo, Daisuke Sekimoto and Dragongate’s Open The Dream Gate Champion Madoka Kikuta (who is probably not champion by the time the Carnival rolls around).

Recommended Matches This Issue

These are in order of personal preference rather than chronological.

Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Seigo Tachibana – 25th January at Makuhari Messe & International Exhibition Hall 4 (My All Japan MOTY)
Kento Miyahara vs. Yuma Anzai – 31st December at Yoyogi National Gymnasium
Atsuki Aoyagi, Fuminori Abe & MUSASHI vs. Mochizuki Jr., Ryo Inoue & Seiki Yoshioka – 18th January at Shin-Kiba 1st RING
Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO vs. Fuminori Abe & Seigo Tachibana – 15th February at Korakuen Hall
Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Shotaro Ashino – 3rd January at Korakuen Hall

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

All Japan MOTYC

26 Jul 2025 – Rising HAYATO vs. Seigo Tachibana

Excellent

24 Feb 2025 – Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura vs. Rising HAYATO & Yuma Anzai
18 May 2025 – Hideki Suzuki vs. Rei Saito
18 Jun 2025 – Hideki Suzuki vs. Jun Saito
3 Aug 2025 – Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Rising HAYATO
3 Aug 2025 – Naoya Nomura vs. Ryuki Honda
24 Aug 2025 – Naoya Nomura vs. Yuma Aoyagi
14 Oct 2025 – Go Shiozaki, Oddyssey, Shotaro Ashino & XYON vs. Jun Saito, Kento Miyahara, Yuma Anzai & Yuma Aoyagi
10 Dec 2025 – Dan Tamura & Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Go Shiozaki & Shotaro Ashino
31 Dec 2025 – Kento Miyahara vs. Yuma Anzai

Highly Recommended

9 Mar 2025 – Jun Saito & Rei Saito vs. Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi
9 Mar 2025 – MUSASHI vs. Seigo Tachibana
20 Apr 2025 – Ryuki Honda vs. Yuma Anzai
23 Apr 2025 – Madoka Kikuta vs. Yuma Anzai
11 May 2025 – Hokuto Omori vs. Yuma Aoyagi
3 Aug 2025 – Hideki Suzuki & Kengo Mashimo vs. Kento Miyahara & Yuma Aoyagi
15 Sep 2025 – Kento Miyahara vs. Ryuki Honda
14 Oct 2025 – Naoya Nomura vs. Ryuki Honda
3 Nov 2025 – Hokuto Omori vs. Kento Miyahara
22 Nov 2025 – Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO vs. Yuma Anzai & Yuma Aoyagi
28 Nov 2025 – Go Shiozaki & Shotaro Ashino vs. MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

3 Jan 2025 – Daisuke Sekimoto & Hideki Suzuki vs. Jun Saito & Ren Saito
3 Jan 2025 – Shotaro Ashino vs. Yuma Anzai
18 Jan 2025 – Kento Miyahara vs. Taishin Nagao
9 Feb 2025 – Atsuki Aoyagi & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Jun Saito & Ren Saito
9 Feb 2025 – Kuma Arashi vs. Shotaro Ashino
9 Apr 2025 – Madoka Kikuta vs. Yuma Aoyagi
27 Apr 2025 – Aigle Blanc vs. Madoka Kikuta
29 Apr 2025 – Mike D Vecchio vs. Ryuki Honda
6 May 2025 – Kuma Arashi vs. Shotaro Ashino
10 May 2025 – Aigle Blanc vs. Ryuki Honda
11 May 2025 – Rei Saito vs. Yuma Anzai
18 May 2025 – MUSASHI vs. Seiki Yoshioka
15 Jun 2025 – Atsuki Aoyagi & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Rising HAYATO & Yuma Anzai
17 Jul 2025 – Rising HAYATO vs. Seiki Yoshioka
21 Jul 2025 – Dan Tamura vs. MUSASHI
10 Aug 2025 – Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Seiki Yoshioka
24 Aug 2025 – Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO vs. Dan Tamura & Ryo Inoue
3 Sep 2025 – Daisuke Sekimoto vs. Ryo Inoue
23 Sep 2025 – Naoya Nomura & Yuma Aoyagi vs. Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai
23 Sep 2025 – Jun Saito vs. Kento Miyahara
14 Oct 2025 – Dan Tamura vs. Shota Kofuji
14 Oct 2025 – Hikaru Sato & Ryo Inoue vs. Hokuto Omori & Kuma Arashi
22 Oct 2025 – Go Shiozaki vs. Kento Miyahara
22 Nov 2025 – Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Kento Miyahara vs. Naoya Nomura & Ryuki Honda
6 Dec 2025 – Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Kento Miyahara
7 Dec 2025 – Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Kento Miyahara vs. Jun Saito & Yuma Anzai

New Year’s Eve 2025

31st December 2025
Company Announced Attendance: 2,730
Yoyogi National Gymnasium #2, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Kento Miyahara vs. Yuma Anzai

All Japan held their annual New Year’s Eve show at Yoyogi National Gymnasium #2, and boy was it an improvement on last year which saw Jun Saito win the title from Davey Boy Smith Jr. in what was definitely a match of all time. This was one of the shows I had wished I could attend, but with only wanting to do one show a day, I had other priorities (Ribbonmania). The match I regret not seeing live is the main event in which Kento Miyahara defended his Triple Crown against Yuma Anzai. I had no doubts it would be a great match. You can read my preview if you don’t believe me. With that being said, while the match was undoubtedly excellent, I could not help but feel that they were definitely holding back, given how hard I have seen Yuma Anzai wrestle before. The two have great chemistry and they were 1-1 in singles matches, so it genuinely could have gone either way. That uncertainty added to the drama of the match. But also, it’s a rivalry they know they can come back to time and time again given Kento is astonishingly still only 36 years old, so from that point of view, they didn’t have to give everything away, and I don’t believe that they did. This was basically the floor of a Kento-Yuma match, which, given how great it was, makes me excited to see what their future encounters will yield.

The story of the match was Yuma Anzai not being that young boy rookie that Kento faced in the past. He was better, smarter and stronger. They established this through a great spot at the beginning of the match as Anzai outsmarted Kento, not allowing him to do his usual schtick on the outside of the ring. Anzai then taunted Kento with his own signature poses, encouraging the crowd to chant his name rather than Kento’s. This was a great spot to signal progress in their feud, that Anzai one day, will absolutely and totally take the mantle from Kento. Kento even referred back to this in his closing promo after the match, calling Anzai not the rookie, but as the “star.” Of course, Kento referred to himself as the “superstar,” which allows some room for their story to continue.

I am quite sensitive to the pacing of matches, in particular when matches slow down significantly and have dramatic changes in pace. I prefer a smooth progression of action leading to a crescendo. So this probably affected me more than others, but the match’s pace took a dip after Kento delivered an apron piledriver to Anzai. I suppose you could see it as Anzai selling how deadly such a move is, but then Kento taking his time was a bit too indulgent. It was not bad enough to totally take me out of the match, and Kento is an excellent worker and so tried to get the heat back onto Yuma by bullying him, including trying to knock him out. Kento realises that in order for the struggle of his signature delayed German suplex, the Shudown suplex, to be effective, the fans either need to want to see Kento hit it badly, or the victim to escape the hold. It depends on the opponent which is more effective, and I think Kento working heel made sense against Anzai in this arena. The finishing sequence was excellent. There were a ton of blackout kicks, which is a great device at building drama in Kento’s finishing stretches. Anzai’s own jumping knee countered one of them. Anzai then delivered his own Shutdown suplex to Kento for an excellent nearfall, before Kento showed him how it was done, picking up the win.

Mu-chan & Sei-chan (MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka) kicked off their rivalry as some miscommunication led to them losing their All Asia Tag Team Title to Dragongate’s Gajadokuro (ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato). The match had preposterous levels of heat because of how over the Dragongate guys are with the All Japan women, especially Kato. This meant there were a series of shrieks and yelps that followed Kato whenever he wrestled and did promos. The title switch made sense, as despite MUSASHI and Yoshioka having a great run and being one of the most underrated teams on the roster in 2025, they were also getting a bit stale.

Jun Saito picked up a key win against Go Shiozaki in a special singles match that included shoot headbutts which seemed to cause things to go off the rails and Go may not have known where he was. Saito was picking up momentum leading up to his Triple Crown challenge.

Full Results

Fuminori Abe, KURAMA, Naruki Doi & Seigo Tachibana defeat Atsuki Aoyagi, Dan Tamura, Rising HAYATO & Ryo Inoue (13:34)

Battle Royal:
Dump Matsumoto defeats Aizawa NO. 1 and Aja Kong and Hikaru Sato and Jack Kennedy and Kengo Mashimo and Kikutaro and Kuroshio TOKYO Japan and Senor Saito and Takashi (10:25)

Hideki Suzuki & Yuko Miyamoto defeat Ryuki Honda & Shota Kofuji (7:44)

Three Way Nine Man Tag Team:
HAVOC (Oddyssey, Shotaro Ashino & Xyon) defeat Cyrus & Hokuto-gun (Hokuto Omori & Kuma Arashi) and Daisuke Sekimoto & Titans Of Calamity (Ren Ayabe & Talos) (13:28)

Jun Saito defeats Go Shiozaki (14:28)

All Asia Tag Team Title:
Gajadokuro (ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato) (w/KAI) defeat MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka (c) (23:21)

Triple Crown Title:
Kento Miyahara (c) defeats Yuma Anzai (28:37)

Korakuen Hall Full Results - 2nd January 2026

Go Shiozaki defeats Shota Kofuji (8:48)
Hokuto-gun (Cyrus, Hokuto Omori & Kuma Arashi) defeat Baka No Jidai (Hideki Suzuki, Hikaru Sato & Kengo Mashimo) (6:39)

Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO defeat KURAMA & MAZADA (12:33)

Jun Saito, Kento Miyahara, MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka defeat Dan Tamura, Ryuki Honda, Shotaro Ashino & Yuma Anzai (10:00)

Daisuke Sekimoto defeats Ryo Inoue (10:40)

AJPW World Tag Team Title:
Titans Of Calamity (Ren Ayabe & Talos) defeat HAVOC (Oddyssey & Xyon) (c) (17:40)

Battle Royal:
Yuma Anzai defeats Atsuki Aoyagi and Cyrus and Daisuke Kamibayashi and Daisuke Sekimoto and Dan Tamura and Go Shiozaki and Hideki Suzuki and Hikaru Sato and Hokuto Omori and Jun Saito and Kengo Mashimo and Kento Miyahara and Kuma Arashi and KURAMA and MUSASHI and Naruki Doi and Oddyssey and Ren Ayabe and Rising HAYATO and Ryo Inoue and Ryuki Honda and Seiki Yoshioka and Senor Saito and Shota Kofuji and Shotaro Ashino and Talos and Xyon (16:48)

Korakuen Hall Full Results - 3rd January 2026 (*)

Fuminori Abe, Kota Sekifuda, Seigo Tachibana & Yuko Miyamoto defeat Dan Tamura, Naruki Doi, Rising HAYATO & Shota Kofuji (11:11)

Hokuto-gun (Cyrus, Hokuto Omori & Kuma Arashi) defeat MUSASHI, Ryo Inoue & Seiki Yoshioka (9:39)

HAVOC (Go Shiozaki, Oddyssey & Xyon) defeat Baka No Jidai (Hideki Suzuki, Hikaru Sato & Kengo Mashimo) (9:24)

Titans Of Calamity (Ren Ayabe & Talos) & Yuma Anzai defeat Jun Saito, Kento Miyahara & Ryuki Honda (13:29)

GAORA TV Title (*recommended):
Daisuke Sekimoto defeats Shotaro Ashino (c) (16:38)

AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title:
Atsuki Aoyagi (c) defeats KURAMA (20:04)

Xceed reunite for first time in 10 years - 11th January 2026

11th January 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

Former Xceed tag team partners, and brief enemies, Go Shiozaki and Kento Miyahara re-united for the first time in ten years to take on one of the best tag teams in All Japan in 2025, Rising HAYATO and Yuma Anzai. As far as I was concerned, this was a match containing four of my All Japan standouts from 2025. Kento and Yuma are the company’s top two stars and each had a great 2025. Sure, Shiozaki came late, but he had a very good few months. HAYATO was my favourite All Japan wrestler of 2025, carrying undercards and house shows throughout the year. He has managed to become one of the most loved undercarders on the roster, even making the crowd boo Kento as he wailed on HAYATO. Of course, they’re not going to give away everything on a Shinjuku FACE show, so despite the participants, it was worked more as a house show match with some fun crowd-pleasing spots such as misfires between Shiozaki and Kento. This was a fun main event, and it didn’t try to be anything more than that. If I was there live I imagine I would be loving this match and screaming for HAYATO. It was still great on stream.

Ryuki Honda and Kuma Arashi locked up in singles action in the opener. This match was the beginning of Kuma Arashi beginning his charge towards a singles title as he beat Honda with the diving senton. There was no better opponent to kickstart Arashi’s ambitions for a title than the same person he would rough up back in their WRESTLE-1 days, as this match also allowed Arashi to get revenge for being knocked out of the 2025 Royal Road Tournament. Arashi dropped Honda on his head early on, before throwing him around the arena. This was a slow burner, boy did Honda kill a few minutes with his selling. I like selling, but this was a bit too slow. I zoned out, but I got back into this match when they started throwing bombs. While I’m fine with the idea of a mini Arashi push, I do wonder when it will be Honda’s time. Perhaps the Royal Road tournament?

Seiki Yoshioka and MUSASHI continued their tag team breakup following the loss of their All Asia Tag Team Title to Gajadokuro on 31st December in Yoyogi. This time their respective teams egged on them to continue beating each other up.

Junior heavyweights steal the show! - 18th January 2026 (*)

18th January 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Atsuki Aoyagi, Fuminori Abe & MUSASHI vs. Mochizuki Jr., Ryo Inoue & Seiki Yoshioka

While this show did not reach the heights of the previous show in Shin-Kiba on 14th October, I still thought this show was a great easy watch. Skip All Japan Tokyo house shows at your own peril. This show had some more misses than the October show, but I still came out with a recommended match which is not the case for the vast majority of All Japan house shows. The show was main evented by a preview between Triple Crown Champion Kento Miyahara and challenger on 25th January, Talos. Kento teamed with Ryuki Honda and Hideki Suzuki, while Talos chose his Titans of Calamity teammate and fellow All Japan World Tag Team Champion Ren Ayabe as well as Yuma Anzai. This match had a lot of heat and the finishing stretch was wild with Honda doing his best to try and knock the giants down with the crowd’s support, unsuccessfully. Talos pinned Honda to win the preview tag.

Ahead of the All Japan Junior Tag Team Festival, the junior heavyweights stole the show with a match that showcased everything I love about the All Japan juniors. The hard-hitting strikes mixed with well-placed comedic timing that pops the crowd like no other. These are the most over juniors in the world. Well, that or the DDT youngsters, but I’d still say the All Japan juniors edge out DDT on overness with their audience. Atsuki Aoyagi, Fuminori Abe & MUSASHI faced Mochizuki Jr., Ryo Inoue & Seiki Yoshioka, with the addition of one of Dragongate’s best in Mochizuki Jr. providing another shot in the arm. His back and forth with one of my favourite wrestlers, Fuminori Abe, was the highlight of the match for me. Of course, MUSASHI and Yoshioka continued to build to their singles match on 25th, but for me that was a side show rather than the main course.

Baka no Jidai (Daisuke Sekimoto & Kengo Mashimo) faced HAVOC (Go Shiozaki & Shotaro Ashino) in a match where Ashino and Sekimoto had the chance to pick up where they left off on 3rd January when Sekimoto took the GAORA TV Title from Ashino. It was also a chance for Sekimoto and Shiozaki to meet in the ring in tag action for the second time in All Japan. This was a great big hoss match. It is frightening how easy Ashino makes some of his suplexes look. I know he’s called the Suplex Machine, but he genuinely has some of the cleanest looking suplexes on the planet. The crowd were going crazy in the final moments as Sekimoto fired up, lariating Shiozaki and Ashino out of their boots. This was a wild match which ended with Kengo catching Ashino in the nuts while Sekimoto and Shiozaki chopped each other up and down the ramp. The finish is fine because it was the first of two matches the teams would have against each other.

In his second singles as a signed member of All Japan, Shota Kofuji took on fan favourite Rising HAYATO. I remembered how loud the crowd was at the last show and thought it was quieter, but it was just my volume. The instant I turned up the volume, HAYATO pelted Kofuji with a signature, disgustingly loud, open-hand chop to the chest. People must hate seeing their name on the card against HAYATO, knowing they have to endure some of the roughest chops in wrestling today. This was a great match. I loved seeing Kofuji struggle against bully HAYATO, who is often in that position themselves. The finish was an absolute exclamation point as HAYATO drove Kofuji’s head into the mat with the Hitodenashi Driver. I was legitimately worried for Kofuji because he looked like he did not tuck his chin in properly and the crowd shrieked. He was able to move after so I probably got worked, but that was a nasty finish.

Kuma Arashi continued his singles push, taking Dan Tamura’s scalp in the process. I thought the Honda match was quite slow, but after watching this match, it seems to be a feature more than a bug. I do hope he switches it up if he’s making an extended singles run.

New Year Wars 2026

25th January 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,057
Makuhari Messe & International Exhibition Hall 4, Chiba, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Seigo Tachibana

Triple Crown Champion Kento Miyahara continued his run on top as he defeated the 7ft American, Talos. Talos has been one of the best foreign wrestlers in Japan in 2025, and by that, I am not necessarily comparing skill levels to others, moreso talking about his fit in the promotion and the number of good matches he has put on. One thing that makes him stand out more is how prone All Japan is at failing in bringing in suitable foreign wrestlers, so it feels like Talos’ great run is even more pronounced. This was another good match from Talos. If you imagine “Kento works a big dude” and what that match would be like, this was it. It completely hit all my expectations, meaning it was well worked and enjoyable. I wasn’t expecting it to be a MOTYC or anything like that, and it wasn’t. Sometimes, you just need something simple, and that’s what this was. Kento selling his ass off for a big man and getting the crowd behind him leading up to a great last few minutes. Kudos to Talos for his whole run in general. After the match, Jun Saito came out to challenge (roll eyes). Kento denied the challenge (huge pop), but we all know Jun will eventually get his way. That will be on 23rd February at Ota Ward.

The ace of the junior heavyweight division, and its current champion, Atsuki Aoyagi, finally lost his crown to Seigo Tachibana. Tachibana is somewhat seen as a comedy figure, given his ties to Kuroshio TOKYO Japan and his previous work in All Japan. But, for me, Tachibana had always been capable of having a run as World Junior Heavyweight Champion. Tachibana was in my 2025 All Japan Match of the Year where he and Rising HAYATO beat the crap out of each other in front of a Shin-Kiba crowd that caused the mics to peak. Tachibana may have also repeated that feat very early on in 2026 as he toppled Atsuki Aoyagi off the top of the division in Chiba. I jumped out of my chair for the switch here after a captivating, excellent almost 30-minute bout. I can understand this match being too long for people, but this match was perfect for someone who was getting bored of Atsuki’s match formula. The match beautifully played on your pre-conceptions of what an Atsuki match was in order to hit the emotional peaks of this encounter. For those unaware, despite him being obviously over with the audience, Atsuki’s formula is somewhat stale. They also involve Atsuki selling for 15 minutes before hitting three Fisherman suplexes, the Hauser Impact, some moonsaults and then a Firebird splash for the win. However, this match cleverly deviated away from that formula and subverted your expectations in the most beautiful way. This match felt like the two were actually having a fight. At no point did the match lose my attention because they put in twists and turns that I couldn’t figure out. This match deviated from Atsuki’s normal formula, so as someone totally bored by Atsuki, I was enamoured for all 30 minutes.

In my view, this was Atsuki’s best title match by far, even surpassing the HAYATO match where he initially won the World Junior Heavyweight Crown. First off, the nearfalls were great. There was a moment where Tachibana spiked Atsuki with the Hitodenashi driver on the apron before dropping him with an insane tope con hiro, then threw him into the ring with purpose, following up with a nasty spear for a nearfall. Tachibana relentlessly continued the assault with an avalanche Angle slam for another nearfall. This rallied the crowd behind Atsuki, so what did Tachibana do? He destroyed him with his signature elbow strikes, strikes so stiff you could believe they were the finish. Now, the next phase of the match was quite interesting, as this was the point at which I thought Atsuki would make his signature comeback given Tachibana had delivered all of that, but it was not enough. But again, this match deviated from the Atsuki formula. Atsuki hit the Fisherman suplexes, the Hauser Impact and even the moonsaults, but Tachibana managed to avoid the Firebird splash, which prompted another excellent stand-up back and forth between the two to close out the match. Atsuki hit a beautiful spinning tornado kick rocking Tachibana, but as Tachibana was going to the floor, he hit a nasty elbow to the back of Atsuki’s head. They had managed to peak this match just right, with the crowd going crazy. I thought it was a matter of time before Atsuki would find a way to hit the Firebird splash, the move never kicked out of. Instead, Tachibana lined up the most sick running axe elbows to the back of Atsuki’s head. The ref starts counting, I stare intently at my screen, expecting a kick out, but the three hits. Finally, my guy has become champion. I truly thought there was less than zero chance. All Japan gives me enough of these beautiful gems to keep me going. Unless something crazy happens, judging by last year, this match will end up in my top 5, and might be my All Japan MOTY.

Round two of the big hoss fight between tag teams Baka no Jidai (Daisuke Sekimoto & Kengo Mashimo) and HAVOC (Go Shiozaki & Shotaro Ashino) didn’t quite hit the same, mainly because the All Japan Shin-Kiba crowd is absolutely insane. While acoustics are not necessary for great matches (see COVID period), I do think they can elevate matches. Mashimo wanted to kick Ashino in the nuts again, but Ashino was wiser to it on the first attempt. The second attempt worked though, but this time didn’t result in the pin as Shiozaki ran in and lariated Mashimo and then Sekimoto out of their boots. Ashino forced Sekimoto to verbally submit with an ankle lock, evening things up to 1-1 between the pairs.

Ever since losing the All Asia Tag Team Title to Dragongate’s Gajadokuro (ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato) (who have since lost the titles to Don Fujii & Masaaki Mochizuki), Mu-chan & Sei-chan (MUSASHI & Seiki Yoshioka) have been experiencing a descent into divorce. Their miscommunication initially cost them the title, and every show since they have been unleashing their fury against each other, all building up to this special singles match. As with a lot of Yoshioka singles matches, this was well wrestled, but I couldn’t bring myself to care about it. Yoshioka no-sold a sick German suplex before MUSASHI hit a La Magistral variation flash pin for the win.

As Hikaru Sato had some booking conflicts, Suwama stepped in at the last moment and made his return to his former promotion by teaming up with Dan Tamura and Hideki Suzuki to try and wrest the Six-Man Tag Team Title from Hokuto-gun (Hokuto Omori, Kuma Arashi & Takashi). One interesting note is that not only Dan Tamura, but Hideki Suzuki too, both wore Evolution shirts to the ring in support of Suwama’s promotion. Dan has appeared in EVO several times, whereas Hideki is quite influential in the All Japan back office. Maybe it was one of Suwama’s demands to stand in for Sato. Suwama pinned Hokuto Omori to win the Six-Man Tag Team Title, so Hokuto is back to square one following his mini-Hokkaido push.

The opener was the usual “throw everyone left over in there” as 2AW’s Ayato Yoshida (based in Chiba), Ren Ayabe, Ryo Inoue & Ryuki Honda faced Naruki Doi, Rising HAYATO, Shota Kofuji & Yuma Anzai. They did try to have some purpose to the match, which seemed to be letting Kofuji have some shine as he got in more offense than I was expecting. Ren Ayabe was, and is, an absolute sicko as he hit Shota Kofuji with some incredibly stiff elbows.

Jun Saito beat Cyrus in a special singles match.

Titans retain tag gold against Hokuto-gun - 1st February 2026

1st February 2026
Okinawa Prefectural Budokan, Okinawa, Japan

All Japan flew to the island of Okinawa for a house show which included the Titans of Calamity (Ren Ayabe & Talos) defending their World Tag Team Title against Hokuto-gun (Hokuto Omori & Kuma Arashi). While Arashi has been booked strong for a future singles title challenge, there was nothing to suggest a switch here, and indeed there wasn’t one. The match was good. If you know all four, then that’s the match this was. If you don’t, then it was big tall beefy guys putting on a beating on the small dude (Hokuto Omori). The small guy makes a comeback with some great sounding strikes, but the big tall guy crushes him with Death Roulette for the finish. Backstage, Hideki Suzuki announced that he and Suwama will challenge next, while Kuma Arashi left Hokuto-gun. Arashi wants results and he felt like he could no longer achieve them by Hokuto’s side. Damn.

Dan Tamura, Hideki Suzuki & Kento Miyahara faced Jun Saito, Ryo Inoue & Yuma Anzai in the chaotic, party style, brawling, house show match of the card. Kento simply does not have an off switch. He lives for this. He loves entertaining the crowd as much as possible. As much of a pro wrestler as a pro wrestler can be. Inoue took the time to continue being highlighted as he rocked Kento with a series of cracking buzzsaw kicks which the crowd loved for a nearfall. Kento repaid him with the Shutdown suplex.

Go Shiozaki & Shotaro Ashino versus Rising HAYATO & Ryuki Honda was definitely better in my head than in execution, but that’s because in my head it has potential to be excellent and one of the best for the promotion in the year. But, it was second on the card in Okinawa, so I don’t blame them for doing a simpler version of a match they could have. Shiozaki won with the Gowan lariat on HAYATO who sold it so well that I heard a woman scream in the crowd.

Shota Kofuji continued his series of trials in the opener, this time against Seiki Yoshioka. This was a chance for Kofuji to show off his fast-paced wrestling and wow the crowd, and they were certainly happy with what they saw out of the rookie in the early exchanges. The match ramped to hard kicks which rocked Kofuji and concerned the crowd. You could hear gasps when Yoshioka hit an enzuigiri aimed at Kofuji’s head. Kofuji is a strong recruit.

Another good Shin-Kiba show! - 7th February 2026

7th February 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan

If you’ve read any of my All Japan reviews, then you already know All Japan Shin-Kiba shows are my guilty pleasure. Molten hot crowds, 110% effort from the wrestlers, mostly great cards and matchmaking. It just hits the spot. This match was not as good as the October show, but it was still pretty great overall. My All Japan MOTY was in Shin-Kiba last year, as Rising HAYATO took on the now World Junior Heavyweight Champion Seigo Tachibana. Well Tachibana kicked off the show teaming with Yuko Miyamoto against Good HAVOC (Go Shiozaki & Shotaro Ashino). This match was short and sweet with Shiozaki pinning Miyamoto with the Gowan lariat.

Next, there were a series of All Japan Junior Tag Festival previews as Dan Tamura & Hikaru Sato faced MUSASHI & Shota Kofuji and AtsuHaya (Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO) took on Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu. The most exciting thing about the tag festival is that rookie and new All Japan signee Shota Kofuji is taking part. He showed his ferocity here in this match as he attempted to blast Dan with some forearms but was rebutted, violently. In total All Japan Shin-Kiba fashion, that match totally overdelivered with the loud crowd willing Kofuji on as Sato slapped on the Boston crab, but it wasn’t enough and Kofuji submitted. As for the AtsuHaya match, well, it was great. It felt like it went a bit long for me as they went to a 20-minute time-limit draw, but then again, AtsuHaya are two of the most over people in the company aside from Kento Miyahara and Yuma Anzai, so they didn’t lose the crowd at any point whatsoever.

Kuma Arashi, on a singles tear on the road to a title, was due to face Hokuto Omori in a singles match before leaving Hokuto-gun. Omori was unable to wrestle and so Arashi faced fellow Hokuto-gun member, Takashi, instead. This was a bit of a downgrade. Let’s hope Arashi does that Hokuto match soon.

Mashimon (Hideki Suzuki & Kengo Mashimo) & Daisuke Sekimoto faced Yuma Anzai & Titans of Calamity (Ren Ayabe & Talos). The interactions between Hideki and Ayabe had so much hate and violence that I thought that there was legit heat between them. Either way it was interesting to watch. Ayabe pinned Hideki with the Death Roulette, so if there was heat there, I doubt Hideki would put himself in that position to take the pin, but with Mashimo and Sekimoto being freelancers, and champions in other companies in Mashimo’s case, Hideki was always the likely one losing. It was still great work to blur the lines with their work.

The Saito Family (Jun Saito, Naruki Doi (Mr. Saito) and MAZADA (Senor Saito)) faced Kento Miyahara, Ryo Inoue and Ryuki Honda in a preview for the Triple Crown match on 23rd February. Kento was in full asshole mode as he took a fan’s Jun towel and wiped it on his crotch in the middle of the ring to loud boos. He later strangled Jun with that same towel and repeatedly wiped it between his legs. This match was by far the most heated on the show. It was absolutely deafening and it made for an awesome match. I don’t exactly know where Ryo Inoue is going to fit in in the grand scheme of things, but he is a joy to watch and has genuinely continued to improve in each elevated spot he gets put into. It was only 6 months ago that they were running a storyline with him getting squashed by vets in openers, which was the start of his push. Now, he does not look out of place at all in the main event. Jun pinned him.

Another skippable Fuji show! - 11th February 2026

11th February 2026
Fuji City General Gymnasium, Shizuoka, Japan

Dan Tamura & Yuma Anzai took on Good HAVOC (Go Shiozaki & Shotaro Ashino) in a match that if it was in the main event and had twenty minutes, could certainly have potential. As it was second on the card, it was a much toned down version of what they could do, but still very good. This was the best match by far on one of the more skippable house shows in a while.

The Saito Family (Jun Saito & Senor Saito) faced Triple Crown Champion Kento Miyahara and Ryuki Honda in the main event, a preview of Jun and Kento’s upcoming title match on 23rd February. Kento tried to bring a child to the ring but was told off by the referee. I think Kento is the best house show wrestler in the world. I need to make it a bucket list item to see him in a random town. He just makes it feel worth it for you having spent the money and time to travel for a house show.

Hideki Suzuki and the Junior Heavyweight Champion Seigo Tachibana lost to the World Tag Team Champions Titans of Calamity (Ren Ayabe & Talos).

Hokuto Omori faced Kuroshio TOKYO Japan. They used to be in a faction together called the G Boys briefly during World’s Strongest Tag League season but they broke up immediately after. Omori lost again, so after the mini-push for the Hokkaido tour he’s basically not doing anything. He was meant to be facing Kuma Arashi, but was injured, and for some reason it has not been re-scheduled so I guess the story isn’t that important.

There was a preview of the upcoming All Japan Junior Tag Festival as Atsuki Aoyagi, Hikaru Sato, MUSASHI & Rising HAYATO faced Kota Sekifuda, Ryo Inoue, Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu. Before the match, Atsuki was definitely getting the most calls from the women in the audience.

All Japan Junior Tag Team Festival

It’s Junior Tag Team League season in Japan, and the All Japan Junior Tag Team Festival kicked off at Korakuen Hall on 15th February, with further rounds on 23rd February at Ota City General Gymnasium and 15th March at Korakuen Hall. The finals will be held in Hachioji, Tokyo, on 20th March. Eight teams are participating in the single-elimination tournament.

AtsuHaya (Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO)
Fuminori Abe & Seigo Tachibana
Mochizuki Jr. & Ryo Inoue
Naruki Doi (“Mr. Saito”) & Senor Saito
MUSASHI & Shota Kofuji
Seiki Yoshioka & Yuya Susumu
Dan Tamura & Hikaru Sato
Kota Sekifuda & Toshiyuki Sakuda

The winners receive a shot at the All Asia Tag Team Title held by Masaaki Mochizuki and Don Fujii. I am almost convinced that Mochizuki Jr. and Ryo Inoue are beating AtsuHaya in the final to set up a father-son battle for the All Asia belts.

All Japan Junior Tag Festival - Day 1 - 15th February 2026 (*)

All Japan Junior Tag Festival – Day 1
15th February 2026
Company Announced Attendance:
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO vs. Fuminori Abe & Seigo Tachibana

To kick off the tournament, one of the favourites to make the final, AtsuHaya (Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO) faced Fuminori Abe and the World Junior Heavyweight Champion Seigo Tachibana. I had high expectations for this match given it was also the main event at Korakuen Hall and all four of these wrestlers have a point to prove and actively talk about wanting the junior heavyweights to step up. I never doubted these four for a second. This match was great. I am admittedly a huge fan of all three of HAYATO, Tachibana and Abe, but this match hit the spot for me. In particular there were some incredible nearfalls that I bit on. Atsuki, who I have criticised a few times but had an amazing performance when he lost the title, was great here. He was selling his leg being worked on, and there were some clever spots such as being unable to complete the back flip spot that he had done so flawlessly for so long in such a rehearsed manner that I genuinely thought he had hurt his leg. AtsuHaya hit “Sid & Nancy”, a move they had brought out in the World’s Strongest Tag League in order to try and take on the heavyweights. It’s a double Spanish Fly and looks sick. Atsuki followed up with a Firebird Splash for the win. This was the expected result. The only unexpected part was that Tachibana, the champion, took the pin rather than Abe who doesn’t really do much in All Japan.

In the only other tournament match on the show, Dragongate’s Mochizuki Jr. teamed up with Ryo Inoue to face the Saitos (Naruki Doi (Mr. Saito) & Senor Saito). Mochizuki and Inoue have been linked with each other since their singles match against each other on Naruki Doi’s 25th anniversary show on 7th November 2025, which was awesome by the way. If they’re not in the final with AtsuHaya, then something has gone seriously wrong. While Junior and Inoue are great, they were against Senior Saito (a.k.a. MAZADA), and while Doi can still go, I wasn’t expecting fireworks in this match. While I wouldn’t say I got a full display of fireworks, this match was definitely great. Doi got rid of Junior by delivering a Doi 555 to the apron, which was a brutal bump by Junior. Then, the crowd were fully behind Inoue and it was smart to have Doi in the finishing stretch of the fight with Inoue rather than MAZADA, since Doi made the crowd bite on several nearfalls such as his Bakatare sliding kick. Inoue won by catching Doi’s second sliding kick attempt with a flash pin.

Jun Saito and Yuma Anzai faced Kento Miyahara and Ryuki Honda in a preview between Jun and Kento for the Triple Crown Title match on 23rd February. Kento continued the antics he was doing on the house show tour as he beat up a fan’s Jun Saito towel, causing him to get booed heavily. This was a pretty good preview tag.

Daisuke Sekimoto, Hideki Suzuki & Suwama took on Kuma Arashi and Titans of Calamity (Ren Ayabe & Talos). This was your “big men fight each other” match which was solid, but the purpose of this match was for Hideki to choke out Ayabe and continue building towards their World Tag Team Title match at Ota Ward on 23rd February.

Oddyssey and XYON returned to join their HAVOC teammates, Go Shiozaki and Shotaro Ashino as the faction faced Hokuto-gun (AIZAWA NO. 1, Hokuto Omori, Jack Kennedy & Takashi). HAVOC won easily as the entire team took turns punking out Hokuto. It’s an ongoing storyline.

Shota Kofuji continued his opening singles match trials against Kengo Mashimo. Kofuji has strong support from the All Japan crowd, but it wasn’t his best singles match during the trials by any means. Kengo won with an armbar.

Watch on Dragongate Network

Dragongate

Bitesize Round-up

After over a year out of action due to undisclosed reasons, BIG BOSS Shimizu returned to Dragongate on 8th January at Kobe Sambo Hall. His Natural Vibes brethren embraced him with happiness. Shimizu turned on them the night after and joined the top heel unit Gajadokuro. His return also came with a complete body transformation, becoming possibly the most cut wrestler on the planet. Along with his return, he ran a train through his former unit, Natural Vibes, having excellent matches with U-T, Strong Machine J and Kzy, before returning his attention to assist Gajadokuro in their neverending war against PSYPATRA (Shun Skywalker, Homare & El Cielo, with Gianni Valletta on another break).

All Japan’s All Asia Tag Team Title were won by ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato in All Japan on 31st December at Yoyogi National Gymnasium #2. They subsequently lost the titles to Don Fujii and Masaaki Mochizuki, who will defend against Strong Machine J and Tatsumi Fujinami on 3rd March.

All other champions have held onto their belts leading into one of Dragongate’s biggest shows of the year on 23rd February in Fukuoka titled “Uno! Dos!! Tres!!!”
Open The Dream Gate Champion Madoka Kikuta will attempt to keep hold of the title against his nemesis Yuki Yoshioka, in a story which was almost a year in the making, ever since Kikuta turned on D’courage and caused Yoshioka to shave his head on 5th May 2025. Yoshioka’s redemption arc has been predictable but good storytelling which will likely end with him holding the Dream Gate Title for the second time. Ryoya Tanaka will defend his Open The Brave Gate Title against Genki Horiguchi having staved off a challenge from Riiita in an excellent bout on 8th January.

The kings of the multi-man tag matches, the best in-ring unit on the planet, Love & Peace (Ben-K, Hyo, Jacky Kamei, Mochizuki Jr. & Riiita) go into the big show as both Open The Twin Gate and Open The Triangle Gate champions, so at least you know you’re going to have two excellent matches on the card. They will defend the Triangle Gate Title against Natural Vibes and PARADOX on 23rd February

Speaking of Natural Vibes, following BIG BOSS Shimizu destroying them to pieces, rather than disband, Daiki Yanagiuchi and Akihiro Sahara, formerly of Mochizuki Dojo, came to the rescue to glue the team back together. They’ve changed their look and gimmicks and now go by the names “GuC” and “@KEY” respectively. It’s actually pretty awesome.

WWE ID prospect Marcus Mathers has joined on tour with Dragongate and is teaming up with D’courage (Yuki Yoshioka, Dragon Dia & Ryoya Tanaka).

Gajadokuro (Madoka Kikuta, BIG BOSS Shimizu, ISHIN, Jason Lee, KAI, Kota Minoura & Yoshiki Kato) will hold a produce show on 13th March at Shinjuku FACE.

Ryukyu Dragon Pro-Wrestling are holding a one-day tournament on 23rd February to announce the next challengers for Kagetora & Susumu Yokosuka’s Souryu-Ou Tag Team Championship. The title match will be held on 22nd March in Naha, Okinawa.

On 9th November 2025, Mochizuki Jr. was in Himeji and he spotted a notice posted near the Otemon main gate area of Himeji Castle was set alight and on fire. A man had passed him fleeing. Junior put out the burning notice and then chased after the man while immediately calling the emergency services. The man escaped but he was later identified by Himeji Police Station. His actions prevented the fire from being spread further. On 3rd February, he received a certificate of appreciation from Mayor Kiyomoto at Himeji City Hall and has been dubbed the hero of Himeji Castle.

Recommended Matches This Issue

These are in order of personal preference rather than chronological.

Riiita vs. Ryoya Tanaka – 8th January at Kobe Sambo Hall
Dragon Dia, Ryoya Tanaka & Yuki Yoshioka vs. Jason Lee, Kota Minoura & Madoka Kikuta – 11th January at EDION Arena Osaka #2
ISHIN, KAI & Yoshiki Kato vs. Ben-K, Hyo & Mochizuki Jr. – 1st February at Wakayama Prefectural Gymnasium
BIG BOSS Shimizu vs. U-T – 10th January at Loisir Hotel Toyohashi
BIG BOSS Shimizu vs. Strong Machine J – 11th January at EDION Arena Osaka #2

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

MOTYC+

4 Jun 2025 – Masaaki Mochizuki vs. YAMATO (My #5 across all promotions)

MOTYC

9 May 2025 – Ben-K, JACKY KAMEI, Mochizuki Jr. & Riiita vs. Flamita, Kzy, Strong Machine J & U-T
13 Jul 2025 – Shun Skywalker vs. YAMATO

Dragongate MOTYC

8 Oct 2025 – Homare, Kazuma Kimura & Shun Skywalker vs. ISHIN, KAI & Yoshiki Kato
11 Aug 2025 – Ben-K, JACKY KAMEI & Riiita vs. Bendito, Flamita & Luis Mante vs. Dragon Dia, Ryoya Tanaka & Yuki Yoshioka
3 Nov 2025 – Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka vs. JACKY KAMEI & Riiita

Excellent

1 Mar 2025 – Kzy vs. YAMATO
30 Mar 2025 – Homare & Shun Skywalker vs. JACKY KAMEI & Riiita
7 Apr 2025 – Daiki Yanagiuchi vs. YAMATO
13 Jul 2025 – Bendito, Flamita & Luis Mante vs. Homare, ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato vs. JACKY KAMEI, Mochizuki Jr. & Riiita
28 Dec 2025 – Akihiro Sahara, Daiki Yanigiuchi & Ryu Fuda vs. Ben-K, Hyo & Mochizuki Jr.

Highly Recommended

13 Apr 2025 – Riiita vs. Ryoya Tanaka
5 Aug 2025 – Homare & Shun Skywalker vs. ISHIN & Madoka Kikuta
17 Aug 2025 – Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka vs. Jason Lee & Kota Minoura
4 Sep 2025 – JACKY KAMEI vs. Ryoya Tanaka
15 Nov 2025 – Ben-K vs. Susumu Yokosuka
3 Dec 2025 – Gianni Valletta vs. ISHIN
20 Dec 2025 – Ben-K, Hyo & Mochizuki Jr. vs. Dragon Dia, Ryoya Tanaka & Yuki Yoshioka

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

26 Apr 2025 – Ryoya Tanaka vs. U-T
19 Apr 2025 – Homore vs. JACKY KAMEI
5 May 2025 – Homare vs. U-T
4 Jun 2025 – Dragon Kid & Naruki Doi vs. Jason Lee & Kota Minoura
4 Jun 2025 – Mochizuki Jr. vs. U-T
4 Jun 2025 – Flamita, Kzy & Strong Machine J vs. Homare, ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato
4 Jun 2025 – Flamita, Kzy & Strong Machine J vs. Homare, ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato
15 Jun 2025 – Ben-K, Hyo, JACKY KAMEI, Mochizuki Jr. & Riiita vs. Homare, ISHIN, Jason Lee, Kota Minoura & Yoshiki Kato
22 Jun 2025 – Dragon Dia & Ryoya Tanaka vs. Hyo & JACKY KAMEI
3 Jul 2025 – Homare vs. YAMATO
13 Jul 2025 – Ryoya Tanaka vs. U-T
23 Jul 2025 – Masaaki Mochizuki & Punch Tominaga vs. Daga & Owadasan
5 Aug 2025 – Alpha Wolf & Dragon Bane vs. Flamita & Luis Mante
17 Aug 2025 – Madoka Kikuta vs. Shun Skywalker
17 Aug 2025 – Alpha Wolf, Dragon Bane & Super Crazy vs. Bendito, Flamita & Luis Mante
17 Aug 2025 – Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Ryoya Tanaka
24 Aug 2025 – Bendito, Flamita & Luis Mante vs. ISHIN, KAI & Yoshiki Kato
14 Sep 2025 – Ryoya Tanaka vs. Ryu Fuda
24 Sep 2025 – Flamita & JACKY KAMEI vs. Luis Mante & Ryoya Tanaka
28 Sep 2025 – Akihiro Sahara & Daiki Yanagiuchi vs. Mochizuki Jr. & Riiita
19 Oct 2025 – Gurukun Mask & YAMATO vs. Kagetora & Susumu Yokosuka
6 Nov 2025 – Naruki Doi vs. Shun Skywalker
9 Nov 2025 – Jason Lee vs. Kzy
3 Dec 2025 – Gianni Valletta vs. Riiita
16 Dec 2025 – Demus & Luis Mante vs. JACKY KAMEI & Riiita

Open The New Year Gate 2026

8th & 9th January 2026
Kobe Sambo Hall, Hyogo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Live Report
Recommended Match: Riiita vs. Ryoya Tanaka

Dragongate kicked off the new year with a set of back-to-back shows in their familiar home of Kobe Sambo Hall in the middle of the city. This was a surprisingly easy venue for me to get to while staying in Osaka near Umeda. It took perhaps less than an hour from the door of my hotel in Osaka to Kobe Sambo Hall which sounds pretty ridiculous if you live in a country with bad transport. By chance, I was sitting next to another English-speaking fan who was from the UK and donning his Charlton Athletic hat, making him stand out, and he happened to be a mutual friend. What a coincidence. On the other side, I sat next to a lovely elderly lady who I wholly believe thought that wrestling was real, considering how into every single nearfall she was, and how nervous she would get when her favourites were close to being pinned, even in low-stakes undercard matches. It made me really appreciate how a lot of Japanese fans interact with wrestling and really enhanced my enjoyment of this show. She was even watching the stream on the app on her phone and commenting in the chat.

One thing I noticed is that Dragongate has more merch and autograph signing than any other promotion I went to, save for maybe Stardom’s second biggest show of the year, obviously. But Dragongate is much more dependent on these sales and fan interaction, and it makes sense. The Dragongate wrestlers interacted with me almost more than any other promotion, they are seriously good at working the crowd, such as when Dragon Dia spotted my shirt after his match and asked me what it was, while the show was live. Of course, there was also Shun Skywalker signing his picture with the most liquid ink silver marker ever, leading to my trousers being ruined as I thought it was dry ink. I had to throw them away, so Shun remains the biggest heel of all time to me.

In the main event, Ryoya Tanaka defended the Open The Brave Gate Title against Riiita in an excellent match. The aforementioned woman next to me was a massive Ryoya fan and was visibly nervous when Ryoya was put into a simple stretch hold by Riiita. She also regularly stood up just to make sure she could see how Ryoya was doing. This was an interesting match in which Riiita was the asshole bully rather than Ryoya, who suits it better. Of course, Riiita is the senior and a tag team champion, but that dynamic did throw me off slightly. There were some incredible back and forths in this match, too many to list, but each nearfall was done even better than the previous one. The crowd was heavily invested in this match and both men were bumping like crazy for each other. This is one of those matches you recommend to a friend who wants to get into Dragongate and wants a recent match. Tanaka finished the match with a perfect Stardust Press (or whatever he is calling it!)

The other notable match was Don Fujii and Masaaki Mochizuki facing Gajadokuro (ISHIN and Jason Lee) which led to Mochi and Fuji’s challenge for the All Asia Tag Team Title. The women next to me absolutely loved seeing ISHIN eat shit. Every single time Mochi outsmarted Gajadokuro she was giggling and cackling. Fujii hit a German suplex, which someone mentioned was his first German suplex in a decade which doesn’t sound quite right. Mochi is quite interesting in the sense that he looks phenomenal for his age in the ring, but when you see him walking around the arena offscreen, he walks exactly as you’d expect, a 56-year-old with over 30 years of wear and tear from wrestling. It is like the ring regenerates him every time he steps through those ropes.

The other news from the first show on 8th January is that BIG BOSS Shimizu had returned. The woman next to me was delighted at his return. She was a big fan of Natural Vibes given by her reaction to Kzy in the opener. It was quite funny as Shimizu’s return happened during the usual intermission spot, so there were a horde of girls that rushed to the toilet, but then had to run back out when they heard the music. This segment was suspicious. Natural Vibes, and U-T in particular were incredibly happy to see Shimizu. That’s fine, but they were almost… too happy. U-T and Shimizu are from the same class of 2013, so that made sense, but still… my pro wrestling spidey senses were tingling. So, of course, Shimizu turned on Natural Vibes the next night as he teamed with them against Gajadokuro. He shook hands with Madoka Kikuta, making it official. This kicked off Shimizu’s reign of terror through Natural Vibes.

8th January Full Results

Natural Vibes (Kzy, Strong Machine J & U-T) defeat PARADOX (KAGETORA, Naruki Doi & Susumu Yokosuka) (8:47)

Battle Royal:
Hyo defeats BxB Hulk and Dragon Kid and Jiro Shinbashi and Mochizuki Jr. and Mondai Ryu and Ryu Fuda and Shachihoko BOY and Takashi and YAMATO and Yasushi Kanda (10:57)

Demus, El Cucuy & Ultimo Dragon defeat Ho Ho Lun, Ho Ri & Reach Tominaga (7:56)

Don Fujii & Masaaki Mochizuki defeat Gajadokuro (ISHIN & Jason Lee) (8:27)

Gajadokuro (KAI, Kota Minoura, Madoka Kikuta & Yoshiki Kato) defeat D’courage (Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka), Daiki Yanagiuchi & Kazuma Kimura (5:13)

PSYPATRA (El Cielo & Shun Skywalker) defeat Love And Peace (Ben-K & JACKY KAMEI) (9:56)

Open The Brave Gate Title:
Ryoya Tanaka (c) defeats Riiita (18:54)

9th January Full Results

Love And Peace (Hyo, JACKY KAMEI, Mochizuki Jr. & Riiita) defeat Akihiro Sahara, Daiki Yanagiuchi, Kazuma Kimura & Ryu Fuda (10:04)

PARADOX (BxB Hulk, KAGETORA & Naruki Doi) defeat Demus, Masaaki Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda (7:07)

Shun Skywalker defeats Jiro Shimbashi (0:12)

Battle Royal:
ISHIN defeats Don Fujii and Ho Ho Lun and Ho Ri and KAI and Mondai Ryu and Punch Tominaga and Shachihoko BOY and Takashi and Ultimo Dragon (10:56)

D’courage (Dragon Dia, Ryoya Tanaka & Yuki Yoshioka) defeat PARADOX (Dragon Kid, Susumu Yokosuka & YAMATO) (9:43)

Gajadokuro (Jason Lee, KAI, Kota Minoura & Madoka Kikuta) defeat Natural Vibes (BIG BOSS Shimizu, Kzy, Strong Machine J & U-T) (11:41)

Yoshiki Kato defeats El Cielo (12:51)

BIG BOSS Shimizu begins his warpath against U-T - 10th January 2026 (*)

10th January 2026
Nagoya International Legend Hall, Nagoya, Japan
Recommended Match: BIG BOSS Shimizu vs. U-T

Following his heel turn the night before, U-T wanted to exact revenge on his former teammate, the new and improved BIG BOSS Shimizu. U-T had control for many early parts of the fight as he unleashed his aggression on Shimizu. The match significantly ramped up after the two started exchanging open-handed strikes, with Shimizu downing U-T with a slap so hard you wouldn’t be blamed for thinking you were watching an MMA bout. As will become a signature of Shimizu’s following singles matches, the match built to a crescendo with ear-splitting nearfalls (that might be because I was watching the version with wrestler’s commentary), before Shimizu finished U-T with the Shot Put Slam. This was a great match. This set up Shimizu’s following singles matches against Natural Vibes members and kicked off a really great re-introduction into the promotion for Shimizu.

Live Report - D'courage show out - 11th January 2026 (*)

Live Report – D’courage show out
11th January 2026
EDION Arena Osaka #2, Osaka, Japan
Recommdended Matches: BIG BOSS Shimizu vs. Strong Machine J, Dragon Dia, Ryoya Tanaka & Yuki Yoshioka vs. Jason Lee, Kota Minoura & Madoka Kikuta

In my second Dragongate and final overall wrestling show of the trip, me and my non-wrestling fan wife hit up EDION Arena in Osaka for some high-speed action, and boy did we get that and more. The card for this show wasn’t announced until that day, which was quite surprising considering it was a relatively big arena. When I read the card initially, I felt bad that I had brought my wife, but my faith was misplaced as the top two matches on the card were fantastic, and it turned out that this was her favourite show of the trip, out of Marvelous on 28th January, TJPW on 4th January, and DDT on 5th January. I did kind of think that Dragongate would be a hit with the uninitiated. I had deliberately chosen these four promotions to show different styles of both men and women’s wrestling. In particular, it was Ryoya Tanaka that left an impression on my wife, to the point she asked “can we wrap him up and take him home?”

The main event was simply excellent live in the building, and one of the better Dragongate main events I had seen in a while. This was probably the best I had seen Gajadokuro work in a multi-man tag too. Everyone was on their A game with precise, hard-hitting strikes and spectacular dives. Madoka Kikuta looked like a beast as he was bullying Dragon Dia, with the crowd screaming Dia’s name. Kikuta at one point walked behind me and my wife and strangled Ryoya, which is maybe where the seed was planted for my wife. There was so much fast paced action that it’s better observed than recapped. Dia remembered asking me about my shirt in Kobe days earlier, and while he was jumping the turnbuckle about to launch an avalanche Frankensteiner, he briefly looked at me and smiled. He then later waved to me during his closing promo. We have a special connection. Of course I went to the D’courage table and bought some merch and got their signatures after. The only previous exposure to live wrestling that my wife had was All In 2023, and then some WWE shows in 2015-16 (don’t shame me, I shame myself enough). During those WWE shows, Adrian Neville (now PAC) was always her favourite, and she compared Ryoya Tanaka to PAC, which I suppose is a massive compliment considering she remembers PAC after a decade.

The other match on this show which left an impression on her was BIG BOSS Shimizu against Strong Machine J, as Shimizu continued to beat up his former teammates. Granted, my wife spent most of the match trying to catch pictures of Shimizu and her initial reaction to him taking his jumper off was “Holy f***!” But I digress. Shimizu’s matches follow a similar formula but it works every time. There were stiff chops and lariats, but the match slowly built to a series of great nearfalls. Shimizu hit a nasty lariat-powerbomb combo into a nearfall before putting SMJ away with the Shot Put Slam for the win. There were a hell of a lot of neck bumps in this match.

The rest of the show, aside from the Love & Peace opener (so of course it was good), was not to my wife’s tastes. There was a lot of comedy that fell flat, although Jiro Shinbashi made a good impression, and the two messy finishes to two Gajadokuro matches before intermissions made the undercard a bit of a slog.

During intermission, we saw the best high-flyer in the world, Jacky Kamei, just walking around selling food, I think. He wore a tray around his neck like the servers at baseball stadiums. Or something. I’m not American. I think that’s what they look like. Anyway, just Jacky casually walking around the arena, minding his own business. It is quite crazy how many second jobs and chores the wrestlers have to do just to make ends meet.

Open The New Year Gate 2026

18th January 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,556
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show

Dragongate returned to Korakuen Hall for the first time since the King of Gate winner, Gianni Valletta, failed to win the Dream Gate Title from Madoka Kikuta on 16th December. I am not quite sure why, but Dragongate did their best number at the venue since the pandemic, a legit sell out of 1,556. They did have some viewers in the balcony but it did not look like a super no-vacancy sellout like STARDOM’s where they hit 1,639 in September 2025. This card was not particularly loaded, and in fact the only match of note was the return of BIG BOSS Shimizu in the main event. I was not aware that he was this much of a draw, and I guess we will wait to see if it was him that spiked a number, or if it was pure happenstance. Sure, it was a weekend, but there are plenty of weekend Korakuens that don’t sell out to this degree. This was a legit number and full credit is due.

BIG BOSS Shimizu continued his warpath against his former Natural Vibes teammates as he clashed with Kzy in the main event, having already destroyed U-T and Strong Machine J (SMJ) in the preceding weeks. As a newer Dragongate viewer, I have not seen any of Shimizu’s previous forms. Nevertheless, I was extremely excited about this match, having seen the Shimizu and Strong Machine J match live. The thing that captured me about the current Shimizu is his ability to dominate the early parts of the match, due to his new and improved physique, while making the opponent look good. The matches build to a frantic, chaotic back and forth in the closing stretch with a bunch of nearfalls that make you jump out of your seat. Shimizu seems to have struck a great balance between looking and seeming imposing while ensuring he is making his opponent look as good as possible, especially as they overcome the Gajadokuro antics on the way. I think this was the weakest of the three singles matches, but it was still great. I did want to see a bit more back and forth because Kzy’s offense is some of the best in the world but this still worked.

Shun Skywalker wanted revenge on Shimizu, who attacked him at the 9th January Kobe show. That set up a singles match for 5th February at Korakuen Hall. They brawled to the back leaving Kzy, U-T and SMJ in the ring. As Kzy was closing out the show on a sour note, Daiki Yanigiuchi came to the ring wanting to join the unit. Then, rookie Akihiro Sahara sprinted to the ring with a wig, also wanting to become part of the unit. They did the Natural Vibes dance together to close out the show. They would debut as members of Natural Vibes on 5th February at Korakuen Hall. Daiki and Akihiro were part of Mochizuki Dojo which disbanded a few months ago. One of the best things about Dragongate I’ve found is that they tend to not leave anyone behind. It may feel like a certain unit hasn’t received a storyline progression in a while, but immediately after you have that thought, they will be catapulted into the spotlight. Natural Vibes haven’t done much since the Hyo contra Hyo match in May 2025 and were mostly relegated to openers, asides SMJ’s brief feud with Kikuta. Now, they have been established in the key return of Shimizu and made whole again by recruiting two new members. It feels fresh and updated. All units receive a new coat of paint once in a while, things are never left to get too stale. So while Natural Vibes failed to get revenge on Shimizu, that chapter is closed for now and they can begin a new chapter with their new stablemates. As an aside, Shupro was reporting Akihiro’s new name as “@key”. Feels like a screenname from 2008.

Don Fujii, 55, and Masaaki Mochizuki, 55, turned back the clock and took the All Asia Tag Team Title from ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato in the semi-main event. One of the cool things here is that the All Asia Tag Team Title is, supposedly, the oldest championship in wrestling today, with a lineage stretching back to 1955. It’s only fitting that the best oldest wrestlers on the planet today hold them. We already know that Mochi still has it. He showed that in his Dream Gate match against YAMATO, and also his Ganbare Pro defences in 2025. So this match was a lot of fun to see Don Fujii have the spotlight, including getting a flash pin on ISHIN to a large pop. Another fun note is that a day after turning 56, Mochi is now a double champion (All Asia Tag Team & Spirit of Ganbare World Openweight Title). Talk show host Seiji Miyane wrapped the belts around his friends’ waists. This was great.

After their explosive encounters in Osaka, D’courage (Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka) were back at it again battling Gajadokuro (KAI & Madoka Kikuta). This match set the direction for Dragongate’s big show at Fukuoka International Center on 23rd February, as Yuki Yoshioka finally challenged Madoka Kikuta for the Open The Dream Gate Title. Yoshioka had returned from a detached retina injury at the beginning of 2025. That led to the Dead or Alive 2025 in the mask vs. hair survival cage match, where Kikuta betrayed his D’courage teammates and joined Z-Brats, causing Yoshioka to spiral to rock bottom and losing his hair. Yoshioka’s redemption story has been ongoing, including capturing the Open The Twin Gate Title along the way, but more importantly defeating Madoka Kikuta in the King of Gate Tournament a few months ago. This storyline has been obvious since the start, and sometimes, that’s exactly what I want out of my professional wrestling. It has been set up to attempt and make Yuki Yoshioka the ace of the promotion, and it may well end up working depending on the strength of his Dream Gate Title win (if he does not beat Kikuta, I would be extremely surprised).

PARADOX (BxB Hulk, Dragon Kid, KAGETORA, Susumu Yokosuka & YAMATO) continued their mini-feud with Love & Peace (Ben-K, Hyo, JACKY KAMEI, Mochizuki Jr. & Riiita) in a ten-man tag. This was very much in the same vein as the Osaka match. Non-stop action and a lot of fun.

Following the events of Osaka, PSYPATRA’s Homare returned with his teammate El Cielo to face Gajadokuro duo Jason Lee & Kota Minoura. They seemed to progress a storyline that may lead to Cielo’s unmasking. As a reminder, it is heavily speculated that Cielo is TN Revolucion, a previous standout debutant who retired a month into his Dragongate career following an injury. Yoshiki Kato took Cielo’s mask, leading to Cielo to cover his face with a towel. Yoshiki said that he knew who was under the mask. Then they left.

WWE ID prospect Marcus Mathers made his Dragongate debut, aligning with D’courage as he and Ryoya Tanaka faced Natural Vibes (Strong Machine J & U-T). There was a funny moment where Ryoya was getting double teamed and Jae on commentary pointed out that Mathers needed to acclimatise to Dragongate rules, considering you never wait for a tag in this promotion. Mathers won with a 450 splash onto U-T.

Full Results

Marcus Mathers & Ryoya Tanaka defeat Natural Vibes (Strong Machine J & U-T) (6:52)

Akihiro Sahara, Daiki Yanagiuchi, Kazuma Kimura & Ultimo Dragon defeat Mondai Ryu, Naruki Doi, Punch Tominaga & Toru Owashi (8:08)

Gajadokuro (Jason Lee & Kota Minoura) defeat PSYPATRA (El Cielo & Homare) (3:35)

Love And Peace (Ben-K, Hyo, JACKY KAMEI, Mochizuki Jr. & Riiita) defeat PARADOX (BxB Hulk, Dragon Kid, KAGETORA, Susumu Yokosuka & YAMATO) (11:28)

D’courage (Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka) defeat Gajadokuro (KAI & Madoka Kikuta) (10:36)

All Asia Tag Team Title (Special Referee: Kyohei Wada):
Don Fujii & Masaaki Mochizuki defeat Gajadokuro (ISHIN & Yoshiki Kato) (c) (15:03)

BIG BOSS Shimizu defeats Kzy (13:43)

Memorial Gate 2026

1st February 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 326
Wakayama Prefectural Gymnasium, Wakayama, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Review By Taylor McClernan / YouTube

Editors’ Note: We are delighted to welcome Taylor to our Newsletter Team and he will be picking up much of the Dragongate coverage in future issues. As always if you want to know more about becoming a contributor, please reach out to us at [email protected]

The Main Event

The championship trio of Love & Peace defended their Open the Triangle Gate titles against the heavyweight team from Gajadokuro of ISHIN, Yoshiki Kato & KAI. The opening sequence of this match was between each team’s powerhouses, Ben-K & KAI, with feats of strength exchanged before Ben ultimately got the upper hand. Gajadokuro would stymie the Love & Peace tower pose, and instead hit one of their own before moving into the patented crowd brawling Z-Brats & Gajadokuro are known for. There was an long period of all 3 of the Snake Skulls wearing down Mochi Jr but he continued to will himself thru the fire. A hot tag to Ben-K led to both co-leaders of Love & Peace doing an extended stretch of offense turning the momentum a full 180 degrees. The momentum swapped again once Junior re-entered the fray with him seeming the clear weak link in the trio. This match was built around a series of Ishin & Junior sequences; and for good reason as those two seem to be wrestling soul mates. A sickening lariat from Ishin and a stalling German from Junior pushed this match into its final gear. Following those near falls we sped through all the trademark Dragongate heel tactics and Love & Peace countering with Jacky Riita, before Hyo successfully scored the victory with the Samson Driver.

Undercard

The show opened with the Open the Twin Gate champions, Jacky Kamei & Riiita, facing the Psypatra duo of Homare & El Cielo in a non title match. Despite being the Twin Gate champions, the micro-sized Jackyriiita worked as the underdogs against the mysterious El Cielo and super sophomore Homare. El Cielo, being the only heavyweight in the match, worked that style incorporating more power move offense than usual for him. This is the first time Homare and El Cielo worked as a tag team (on tape) and while they individually were winning exchanges, the tag work of the champions ultimately did them in with Kamei rolling up Homare after some combo offense with the JFK.

The semi main event was an 8 man tag pitting all 4 members of D’Courage against the Paradox quartet of Yamato, Dragon Kid, BxB Hulk & Naruki Doi. This match let us know this was a super houseshow card with the mix of comedy in the match throughout. D’Courage has a lot of momentum entering 2026, and the addition of WWE ID star Marcus Mathers has only added more. It was fun getting to see Mathers mix it up with the likes of Yamato, but this was more or less just a vehicle to set up Kagetora challenging Ryoya Tanaka for a Brave Gate title match after Ryoya pinned BxB Hulk. It seemed fairly straight forward until H.A.G.E.’s music hit and the former 4 time Open the Brave Gate champion Genki Horiguchi emerged to challenge as well. Tanaka, on a quest to top PAC’s record 11 defenses, said that he was happy that veterans were fighting over the chance to face him, and suggested they face each other in a #1 contender match. Ryo Saito agreed, so Genki and Kagetora would face off on 7th February in Kobe, and the winner would face Ryoya at “Uno! Dos!! Tres!!!” on 23rd February.

The first appearance that we’ve seen on the network of the Full 5 (minus Flamita) of Natural Vibes since Daiki and Aki joined the group. Aki was still rocking the Rastafarian wig and knock-off Vibes merch, and the dance routine had a few hiccups; but it was still fun to see the new version of Vibes make their team entrance. The OG Vibes members still have an ax to grind with Shimizu and attack Gajadokuro before the opening bell to lay some boots 3 on 1 to their traitor stablemate. Gajadokuro would eventually gain control and use their heavyweight size to muscle around Kzy. Shimizu and Kikuta traded off doing a spinning sleeper and giant swing. Vibes were fueled by revenge against Shimizu and all 3 members were able to get an adrenaline dump for 1 last chance to beat on Shimizu, but ultimately Kikuta and Gajadokuro were just too much. While it would have been nice to see Vibes get the win here; Shimizu is the story of 2026 Dragongate thus far, and Kikuta is the reigning Dream Gate champion. Kikuta cut a post match promo where his challenger at “UnoDosTres”, Yuki Yoshioka, quickly came out to join him in the ring. The man that returned from serious injury in 2025 and was gifted the High Fly Flow from Tanahashi in July looked and sounded confident letting the man who betrayed him and shaved him bald at Dead or Alive that he was bringing the title back to D’Courage.

Finally we wrap up with two glorified comedy matches in Jiro Shinbashi vs Genki Horiguchi as well as Ultimo Dragon & Ho Ho Lun vs Susumu Yokosuka & Kagetora. Fairly standard affair from the Salaryman Jiro, as this rookie comedy act has his handful of signature spots that you get in sub 7 minute matches and this one was no different. These two just faced off on January 11th, so it was more or less the same match as that.

A pretty standard affair for an Ultimo tag match. Ultimo gets in his signature spots while not taking a single bump. Ho Ho added to the comedy with his inability to slam Susumu. Tagging with Ultimo allowed Ho Ho to work a much longer match than he typically gets in Dragongate, but once Ultimo ran out of spots and Ho Ho was left in the ring the writing was on the wall. Susumu and Kagetora worked some combination offense and hit both finishers on the Hong Kong native to seal the victory.

Full Results

Jacky Kamei & Riiita defeat Homare & El Cielo (9:26)

Genki Horiguchi defeats Jiro Shinbashi (5:00)

Susumu Yokosuka & Kagetora defeats Ho Ho Lun & Ultimo Dragon (9:18)

Gajadokuro (Big Boss Shimizu, Madoka Kikuta & Kota Minoura) defeat Natural Vibes (Kzy, Strong Machine J & UT) (8:17)

D’Courage (Yuki Yoshioka, Dragon Dia, Ryoya Tanaka & Marcus Mathers) defeat Paradox (Yamato, Dragon Kid, BxB Hulk & Naruki Doi) (12:05)

Open the Triangle Gate Title Match:
Love & Peace (Ben-K, Hyo, Mochizuki Jr.) © defeat Gajadokuro (Ishin, Yoshiki Kato, & KAI) (19:53)

Watch on Wrestle Universe

Marigold

Bitesize Round-up

Marigold is somewhat in a cooling period after the initial bump in attendances following Mayu Iwatani’s arrival last May. Marigold had a strong run between their two big shows in May and October, but since October it has moved into cruise control until the next big show in May 2026. The attendances have reflected this at Korakuen Hall, with lows of 705 and 768 (announced, it looked much less than that for the show I attended) peaking at only 1,195 for Mayu Iwatani’s 15th anniversary show, which was unthinkable in the middle of 2025. They should be back to normal, and back to their best, leading up to the big show in May and throughout the summer, but for now, the shows are lost in the shuffle of outstanding wrestling that’s out there in 2026, despite the Marigold roster working their hardest to put on good matches. The booking needs to match their effort. If you want a snippet of how bad the booking can get, then look no further than Rea Seto being submitted by Marie Malenko on the 8th February show. Submissions are kind of Rea’s thing, by the way.

Miku Aono continued her reign at the top of the promotion as World Champion as she defended her crown against Mai Sakurai on 3rd January. Miku is currently in a program with CHIAKI with a match set for 23rd February. Victoria Yuzuki and Mayu Iwatani have continued to defend their United National and Superfly Titles respectively.

Marigold have introduced a new trios championship for their roster of 22 wrestlers. The semi finals will take place on 13th and 15th February, with the finals at Korakeun Hall on 23rd February. The four teams remaining are Erina Yamanaka, Mai Sakurai & Natsumi Showzuki and SYOKO Koshino, Seri Yamaoka and Yuuka Yamazaki on one side of the bracket, and Darkness Revolution (Misa Matsui, Nagisa Nozaki & Rea Seto) and Mayu Iwatani & her proteges (Victoria Yuzuki & Komomo Minami) on the other side of the bracket. Natsumi Showzuki has returned to action in the promotion.

Mayu Iwatani celebrated her 15th Anniversary on 24th January at Korakuen Hall in a singles match against Utami Hayashishita, which we have a review of.

Kizuna Tanaka was injured on a show in Osaka on 17th January. Kizuna Tanaka underwent immediate surgery and will be sidelined for the time being.

Overseas talent Angel Hayze, 25 and Maddy Morgan, 18, will join the next Marigold tour. They have talent from NOAH’s “Chosen One” program joining them on the current tour that are also appearing on the Monday Magic series.

Marigold will run a show near Yasukuni Shrine on 29th March, which commemorates those who fell in war, including some war criminals who waged war against Japan’s current day allies. It is a controversial shrine in terms of foreign relations but it will not register on the radar of the domestic audience, which is of course who these promotions do and should cater to.

Marigold got caught with their pants down trying to sell Mayu Iwatani merch that had STARDOM copyrighted material on it. STARDOM’’s statement confirmed that Marigold’s merchandise used their intellectual property and also incorrectly used Marigold’s copyright on the material rather than STARDOM’s. They also confirmed that they were not asked for permission and that they will consider and implement any necessary measures to protect their intellectual property going forward.

Recommended Matches This Issue

These are in order of personal preference rather than chronological.

Mayu Iwatani vs. Takumi Iroha – 3rd January at Ota City General Gymnasium
Mayu Iwatani & Victoria Yuzuki vs. Miku Aono & Utami Hayashishita – 12th January at Korakuen Hall
Komomo Minami vs. Victoria Yuzuki – 24th January at Korakuen Hall
Mayu Iwatani vs. Utami Hayashishita – 24th January at Korakuen Hall

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

MOTYC

30 Mar 2025 – Nanae Takahashi & Seri Yamaoka vs. Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha
4 May 2025 – Mayu Iwatani vs. Nanae Takahashi

Marigold MOTYC

25 Apr 2025 – Ai Houzan, Maria, Riko Kawahata, Sora Ayame & Takumi Iroha vs. Chika Goto, Kizuna Tanaka, Miku Aono, Natsumi Showzuki & Rea Seto
14 Sep 2025 – Mayu Iwatani vs. Victoria Yuzuki
17 Oct 2025 – Kizuna Tanaka vs. Rea Seto
26 Oct 2025 – IYO SKY vs. Mayu Iwatani
26 Oct 2025 – Mai Sakurai vs. Victoria Yuzuki
26 Oct 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Seri Yamaoka

Excellent

3 Jan 2025 – Sareee vs. Utami Hayashishita
3 Jan 2025 – MIRAI vs. Seri Yamaoka
24 May 2025 – Miku Aono vs. Nanae Takahashi
5 Jul 2025 – Chika Goto & Utami Hayashishita vs. Mayu Iwatani & Miku Aono
2 Aug 2025 – Mayu Iwatani vs. Seri Yamaoka
30 Aug 2025 – Mayu Iwatani vs. Utami Hayashishita
26 Oct 2025 – Miku Aono vs. Utami Hayashishita

Highly Recommended

20 Feb 2025 – Nanae Takahashi & Seri Yamaoka vs. Utami Hayashishita & Victoria Yuzuki
20 Feb 2025 – Bozilla vs. MIRAI
9 Mar 2025 – Utami Hayashishita vs. Victoria Yuzuki
6 Apr 2025 – MIRAI & Seri Yamaoka vs. Utami Hayashishita & Victoria Yuzuki
14 Apr 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto, Rina Yamashita & Ryo Mizunami vs. MIRAI, Nanae Takahashi & Yuu
14 Apr 2025 – Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi vs. Seri Yamaoka & Victoria Yuzuki
4 May 2025 – MIRAI & Seri Yamaoka vs. Utami Hayashishita & Victoria Yuzuki
24 May 2025 – MIRAI vs. Utami Hayashishita
24 May 2025 – Mai Sakurai vs. Shinno
16 Jul 2025 – Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame vs. Seri Yamaoka & Victoria Yuzuki
10 Aug 2025 – Seri Yamaoka vs. Victoria Yuzuki
20 Sep 2025 – Komomo Minami & Mayu Iwatani vs. Seri Yamaoka & Victoria Yuzuki
17 Nov 2025 – Mai Sakurai vs. Nao Ishikawa
6 Dec 2025 – Hummingbird vs. Mayu Iwatani

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

9 Mar 2025 – Mai Sakurai vs. MIRAI
11 Mar 2025 – Nanae Takahashi vs. Victoria Yuzuki
25 Apr 2025 – Mai Sakurai & MIRAI vs. Utami Hayashishita & Victoria Yuzuki
17 May 2025 – Nanae Takahashi vs. Seri Yamaoka
24 May 2025 – Mayu Iwatani vs. Victoria Yuzuki
24 May 2025 – Ai Houzan, Maria, Riko Kawahata, Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame vs. Hummingbird, Komomo Minami, Nao Ishikawa, Natsumi Showzuki & Rea Seto
5 Jun 2025 – Chanyota, Mai Sakurai & Komomo Minami vs. MIRAI, Rea Seto & Utami Hayashishita
5 Jun 2025 – Mayu Iwatani vs. Misa Matsui
17 Jun 2025 – Mayu Iwatani, Seri Yamaoka & Utami Hayashishita vs. Senka Akatsuki, Sora Ayame & Takumi Iroha
21 Jun 2025 – Kizuna Tanaka, Utami Hayashishita & Victoria Yuzuki vs. MIRAI, Rea Seto & Seri Yamaoka
29 Jul 2025 – Chanyota, Kizuna Tanaka, Mai Sakurai & Miku Aono vs. Kouki Amarei, Seri Yamaoka, Utami Hayashishita & Victoria Yuzuki
2 Aug 2025 – Utami Hayashishita vs. Victoria Yuzuki
17 Aug 2025 – Komomo Minami, Utami Hayashishita & Victoria Yuzuki vs. Mayu Iwatani, Seri Yamaoka & Shinno
22 Aug 2025 – Chika Goto vs. Mayu Iwatani
2 Sep 2025 – Rea Seto vs. Victoria Yuzuki
4 Oct 2025 – Chika Goto, Mai Sakurai & Utami Hayashishita vs. Mayu Iwatani, Miku Aono & Victoria Yuzuki
11 Oct 2025 – Kizuna Tanaka, Mai Sakurai, Shinno & Utami Hayashishita vs. Miku Aono, Seri Yamaoka, Victoria Yuzuki & Yuuka Yamazaki
13 Oct 2025 – Mayu Iwatani vs. Seri Yamaoka
17 Oct 2025 – Mai Sakurai, Seri Yamaoka & Shinno vs. Utami Hayashishita, Victoria Yuzuki & Yuuka Yamazaki
26 Oct 2025 – CHIAKI & Misa Matsui vs. Maria & Riko Kawahata
1 Nov 2025 – Kizuna Tanaka vs. Megaton
13 Nov 2025 – Rea Seto vs. Victoria Yuzuki
17 Nov 2025 – CoCo vs. Mayu Iwatani
10 Dec 2025 – Mai Sakurai, Mayu Iwatani & SYOKO Koshino vs. Miku Aono, Seri Yamaoka & Victoria Yuzuki
14 Dec 2025 – Mai Sakurai & Seri Yamaoka vs. Miku Aono & Victoria Yuzuki

Live Report - Spunky Monster earn a shot - 27th December 2025

27th December 2025
Company Announced Attendance: 768
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Marigold held a one-day tag team tournament at a largely empty Korakuen Hall, where the announced number of 768 is slightly generous given the orange seats were barely filled up. I do not blame the domestic crowd for not showing up, considering it was a tournament that lacked a lot of juice. While it was a show that overall I enjoyed, it did end up being the most forgettable of my trip. The show was made more memorable by the fact I had never tried a lemon sour, ordered one on account of John Carroll from Voices of Wrestling’s “Wrestling Omakase” podcast ordering one, and then after downing it because I was thirsty, I realised it was alcoholic. So the show was great from that point onwards. (Editor’s Note: no, Eric is not joking, he really didn’t realize a Lemon Sour is a cocktail.)

The wrestling on the show was quite good. I just unfortunately did not care about any of the results since half the bracket was wiped out by double count outs. It felt like a Shinjuku FACE level show and well, they attracted a Shinjuku FACE level crowd. Megaton was by far the most over person on the show. I did have a lot of fun when CHIAKI threw Hummingbird into my seats.

The best match on the show was Komomo Minami and Mayu Iwatani against Nagisa Nozaki and Rea Seto. Rea is a total sicko and one of my favourites, and she hit a dropkick on Komomo in this match that was one of the best dropkicks I’ve seen live. It was beautiful. They messed up the time-limit draw in which the referee should have counted three but he didn’t, but I appreciated the idea. The Megaton match was much better live than watching at home. Well, I would skip watching it at home. The crowd absolutely adored Megaton and that dynamic made some moves super fun, such as Megaton’s attempted super splash off of Miku Aono’s shoulders. For a short match, it was pretty good.

The finals were Spunky Monster (Seri Yamaoka & Shinno) against Darkness Revolution (CHIAKI & Misa Matsui). It was fine. Spunky Monster won, earning a future title shot.

First Dream

3rd January 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,812
Ota Ward General Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan
Watch On: Wrestle Universe
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Mayu Iwatani vs. Takumi Iroha

There were a few matches on “First Dream” that piqued my interest. In the first of those matches, Kizuna Tanaka, Komomo Minami and Yuuka Yamazaki competed against CoCo, Seri Yamaoka and Shinno in a match that was showcasing the future of Marigold. Of course, CoCo is just 15 years old and part of the My Way promotion based out of Fukuoka, but it’s hard to see her not getting signed by Marigold given how much time she is being given, including a title match at Korakuen Hall against one of the Mount Rushmore of modern-day joshi wrestlers in Mayu Iwatani. However, my standout Marigold rookies that I love watching are Seri and Yuuka. I have been on board the Yuuka train since day one. There was always a frightening confidence in everything she did that rookies just don’t have. There was therefore no surprise that Seri and Yuuka going back and forth in this match was the highlight. The best thing about Yuuka is it feels like she tries something new every match. I remember seeing her launch a random handspring back elbow in a house show. I haven’t seen it since, probably because it didn’t look great, but it’s about the confidence to try. In this match she pulled off a mid-section flying scissors on Seri. Nothing spectacular, just cool. Seri destroyed Yuuka with two spears for a nearfall. Seri’s spears have gone from one of the most dangerous (stupid) spear bumps ever, into becoming some of the best spears in the business. That was what generational rookies do. They try stuff, it might not work, but they’re so good they’ll eventually figure it out. Buy your Seri stocks. As a whole, this match had basically no heat. It was fine for what it was. Seri beat Yuuka with a great German suplex.

Victoria Yuzuki successfully defended her United National Title against SYOKO Koshino, who headed into the bout undefeated. I have been quite clear in the Marigold columns how I feel about Koshino’s overpush, and seeing the two botch a powerbomb spot outside the ring early on did not fill me with confidence they could pull it off. However, Yuzuki had it all figured out. Just hit each other hard. And it worked. I enjoyed the stiff strikes in this match, which ended up meaning this match was better than I expected it to be. I should really stop doubting any match that has Yuzuki involved. Not only that, but Yuzuki sold like death for Koshino, like spiking herself on her head for a DDT sell. Koshino is still clearly very inexperienced, shown by her running the ropes for a lariat when Yuzuki was still on the ground and needing to repeat the spot. This was a match made good by Yuzuki. That is until the disastrous finishing stretch. Yuzuki hit the Victory Shooting, which she regularly finishes matches with, but landed with her knees on Koshino’s face. She tries it again, and does the exact same thing, but decides to pin Koshino anyway. Koshino’s shoulders are slightly off the mat, so the referee only counts two. Yuzuki looks exasperated, and drags Koshino to the corner for Victory Sunset, her super finisher in big matches, and also botches that, landing horizontally across Koshino, rather than as a corkscrew senton, leaving her legs in Koshino’s face. But at least she got the win with that. This match felt like 50% 2024 Yuzuki, 50% 2025 Yuzuki and 100% Koshino. And I ended up thinking it was fine.

Mayu Iwatani captured the GHC Women’s Title from Takumi Iroha, in a match that added another beautiful chapter in their personal rivalry, following excellent matches in 2020, and a match that also added some fuel into the Marigold and Marvelous feud which can be heated up at any time they feel they need it, as we still haven’t had a definitive end to the interpromotional rivalry. Takumi, the ace, head coach, trainer and (largely) the booker of Marvelous, looked incredible. She has one of the best looks and entrances on the big stage. It immediately sets the tone for the match and projects big match vibes, allowing you to better immerse yourself once the bell rings. These two were trying to put on another classic in their already great catalogue, and they largely succeeded. Takumi did what Takumi does best, dominate a match with lethal strikes and offence, and Mayu did what Mayu does best, bump down some stairs and sell Takumi’s offence like no tomorrow. When Takumi is on top, she’s one of the best at holding my attention (unless it’s the first 25 minutes of the Utami match). Interspersed between the Boston crabs and lethal kicks was a great wheelbarrow German suplex spot, with Mayu trying to claw out of the wheelbarrow hold and find the ropes, unsuccessfully, before getting dropped on the top of the neck.

As this match progressed, all I could think was “I could watch these two wrestle forever.” That’s when I decided to stop making notes and enjoy the rest of the match. However, there was one thing I wanted to note that just perfectly captured how Mayu is one of the greatest of all time. I think that she deliberately botches her springboard poisonrana. It didn’t really dawn on me until this match. In the Syuri match at All Star Grand Queendom in April, I think most people, including myself, figured it was 100% a botch, and it most likely was. You would not be blamed for thinking that here, but to me, it fit so perfectly into the story of Mayu selling her exhaustion that I decided to look into it a bit more, and she does not even try to land on the top rope. It is deliberately the safest way she could botch it. And it was perfect. When she hits the move is when you know the end is near for the opponent. Mayu has perfected her big matches. This match was incredible. I loved it.

Takumi and Mayu putting on a barnburner meant that I had a slow start getting into Mai Sakurai and Miku Aono battling for the Marigold World Title. Miku is, by far, the most fitting red belt champion right now. She is Marigold’s ironwoman, its most consistent performer who hasn’t missed a single Marigold show. Mai Sakurai was a close contender on my “Most Improved 2025” list and had risen to the point where I firmly considered her one of the biggest sickos in the company. So, naturally, I was looking forward to this match, and, as they lived up to their names as early on there was a disgusting spot where Marigold Prime Sicko, Mai, decided to continue with a spot piledriving Miku through a table, but the table was already broken. It ended up with Miku smashing her head through the edge of the table. Somehow, the ironwoman got up and continued the match, but I would be surprised if she remembered any of the rest of the match, which was actually good. While that spot seemed to have hampered the full potential of this match, this was a good defence for Miku, and Mai has solidly elevated herself up the Marigold card over the past year. Miku won with a lethal looking “Red Sensation,” spiking Mai on her head. Of course, despite the scary table bump, Miku wrestled on the show right after. Ironwoman.

Full Results

CoCo, Seri Yamaoka & Shinno defeat Kizuna Tanaka, Komomo Minami & Yuuka Yamazaki (13:12)

Hummingbird, Kouki Amarei & Natsumi Showzuki defeat Momoka Hanazono, Nagisa Tachibana & Nao Ishikawa (9:59)

Kuroshio TOKYO Japan defeats Megaton (1:08)
Kuroshio TOKYO Japan defeats Megaton (1:00)
Kuroshio TOKYO Japan defeats Megaton (1:28)

Utami Hayashishita defeats Chika Goto (12:03)

Marigold Twin Star Title:
Darkness Revolution (CHIAKI & Misa Matsui) (c) defeat Darkness Revolution (Nagisa Nozaki & Rea Seto) (17:02)

Marigold United National Title:
Victoria Yuzuki (c) defeats SYOKO Koshino (16:11)

GHC Women’s Title:
Mayu Iwatani defeats Takumi Iroha (c) (25:09)

Marigold World Title:
Miku Aono (c) defeats Mai Sakurai (26:01)

Marigold's Strongest at Korakuen - 12th January 2026 (*)

12th January 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 705
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Miku Aono & Utami Hayashishita vs. Mayu Iwatani & Victoria Yuzuki

As a quick note, it says something if I don’t believe a Korkauen Hall show is a key show. This was entirely skippable, and the domestic fans agreed as only 705 turned out for it. The booking of Marigold’s Korakuens has been very poor. They are treating the venue as if it is Shinjuku FACE. You cannot just sleepwalk into the venue and expect success if you are a promotion of Marigold’s size. They are not STARDOM. They are not New Japan. They need storylines and culminating matches on each Korakuen Hall card. I have lost interest in Marigold’s Korakuen Hall shows because if they don’t care, why should I? With that out of the way, there was one great match on this show.

The current World Champion, Miku Aono, teamed up with the former World Champion, Utami Hayashishita, to take on the two other singles champions in the company, Superfly Champion Mayu Iwatani and United National Champion Victoria Yuzuki. If I was making a list of the top four wrestlers in the company throughout 2025, it would be these four. This certainly lived up to the billing of “Marigold’s Strongest Tag Match.” The clear best part of this match was Yuzuki and Miku trading stiff strikes and kicks in their mini-singles battle in the middle stretch of the match. The only negative I found watching this match is that it was quite long at 28 minutes. So while I largely enjoyed this match and would recommend it, the runtime meant that there are a lot of spots and parts of this match I won’t remember in a week as they served as filler. What I liked about this match is that it did build to an eventual singles match between Mayu and Utami.

Nine days after her violent battle with the ironwoman, Miku Aono, Mai jumped straight back into the fray with another one of Marigold’s sickos in Rea Seto. Rea is someone that has proved me wrong. Specifically, I was unsure about her heel turn. The girl who would (and still does) cry with every promo she does. It seems as though the wrestler cutting the promos is totally different to the wrestler in the ring, who is aggressive, violent and relentless. The fans have taken a liking to Rea significantly since her “heel turn.” As she reversed an Irish whip, launching Mai into the chairs, she received a raucous “Rea” chant from the crowd. Rea later followed up with open-handed strikes to Mai, eliciting a loud “oooh” response from the crowd. This match was great and Mai is a good dance partner for Rea.

Kizuna Tanaka and Komomo Minami faced Seri Yamaoka and Yuuka Yamazaki. I did watch this but there was not much to say. It was slightly better than the six-person tag from First Dream in terms of execution, but the lack of crowd heat made this match suffer. Komomo also looked better here than at First Dream. Seri won with another beautiful German suplex on Tanaka.

Yuuka Yamazaki main events her hometown - 17th January 2026

17th January 2026
176BOX, Osaka, Japan

It wasn’t exactly a must-see, but the main event in Osaka between Chika Goto, Utami Hayashishita & Yuuka Yamazaki against Komomo Minami, Mayu Iwatani and Victoria Yuzuki was very good. Yuuka continues to receive a spotlight in prominent positions, and doing very well in them, while Mayu and Utami continued building to their singles match with some great German suplex exchanges. Yuuka picked up a big win in her hometown over Komomo Minami and even closed out the show on the mic. Komomo has a title shot against Mayu upcoming. I suppose, we all know she wasn’t beating Mayu anyway so it didn’t matter that she gets pinned in preview tags.

Yuzuki spoke about Chika Goto’s weight as Gochika tried challenging for the United National Title, which is not weight restricted. It’s just a storyline for Gochika. They love talking about her weight for some reason. They are obsessed with it.

Rea Seto takes on Komomo Minami - 18th January 2026

18th January 2026
Shimizu Marine Building, Shizuoka, Japan

Dealing with a huge wrestling backlog after holiday, I had to be selective here and picked the two singles matches which kicked off the show. In the first, two of Marigold’s rising younger talents in Komomo Minami and Rea Seto faced off. Seto has widened the gap between her and Komomo significantly in the past few months in terms of in-ring ability, so this was a good opportunity to check back in with both. Rea, as she does in almost every match (which I like), attacked Komomo’s arm relentlessly as Komomo sold and sold. Rea picked up the win with her sick chickenwing submission, doing a headstand before locking it in, just to show off.

I also watched Nao Ishikawa against Yuuka Yamazaki, since I think Yuuka’s work for her level of experience is great. This was a solid bout, including a fun sequence on the outside of the ring where they traded stiff forearms. Nao hits pretty hard, as we saw most prominently in her singles match against Mai Sakurai at Korakuen Hall a few months ago. Shades of that come out in these house show matches. This was a good match which was given a lot of time, going to a 15-minute time-limit draw. Yuuka suplexed Nao after the bell out of frustration.

Nagisa Tachibana returned on this show, but then was pulled from the Korakuen Hall show immediately after.

Mayu Iwatani’s 15th Anniversary

24th January 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,195
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Matches: Komomo Minami vs. Victoria Yuzuki, Mayu Iwatani vs. Utami Hayashishita

One of the greatest to do it, Mayu Iwatani, celebrated her 15th anniversary at Korakuen Hall by successfully defending her GHC Women’s Title against Utami Hayashishita. In the press conference to build to the show, Utami spoke about how Mayu had always been across the ring from her her in her biggest moments, her first 5 Star Grand Prix Final, her first World of STARDOM Title win, her chase for the IWGP Women’s Title, both the #1 contender’s tournament in 2022 and Utami’s challenge to Mayu in 2023. Utami said that she felt like she had to be the ace when Marigold started, but when Mayu arrived, Utami could relax and become the ‘junior’, the ‘little sister’, and that helped her relax. Utami said that she felt truly saved when Mayu jumped to Marigold and in return, she’d give Mayu her all in the match. Before the match, Mayu was greeted by her friends from the impersonation comedy scene, Nanami Nana and Taizo Kimura, but also colleagues familiar with Mayu from the beginning of STARDOM, namely Yoko Bito, Miho Wakizawa, Nanae Takahashi and Takumi Iroha. Mayu and Utami went on to have a great match that felt more like a

After winning the tournament on 27th December, Spunky Monster (Seri Yamaoka & Shinno) (yes that’s their real tag team name) challenged Darkness Revolution (CHIAKI & Misa Matsui) for the Twin Star Tag Team Title. CHIAKI had the match won but lifted Shinno’s head from the mat so that she could blast her with a chair and immediately pin her again, but this time Shinno kicked out. I think that’s one of the worst pro wrestling tropes and it’s entirely immersion-breaking. CHIAKI won with a diving leg drop on Shinno shortly after.

The 3D Trios Tournament kicked off to crown the new 3D Trios Champion. Erina Yamanaka, Mai Sakurai and Natsumi Showzuki faced Kouki Amarei, Megaton and Marigold World Champion Miku Aono. The latter team are connected through their Actwres girl’Z past. Well, actually, so is the former team. This was an all Actwres girl’Z affair. The match was built around Megaton, who was over with the crowd. The best parts with Miku and Natsumi trading strikes. Natsumi pinned Megaton, allowing her team to advance. Thank god.

United National Champion Victoria Yuzuki and Komomo Minami went to a good 15-minute time-limit draw. Komomo started the match hot, attacking Yuzuki before the bell and displaying exactly what I would want to see from Komomo. Yuzuki fought back with a botched tope con giro which seemed to stall the pace of the match for a couple of minutes. Yuzuki kept the match on track as she bullied Komomo, and Komomo sold for her life, in what is probably one of her best selling performances yet. At points I genuinely thought that she was hurt. These two are essentially Mayu’s proteges in Marigold, so it made sense that they booked this, as they are all also teaming together for the 3D Trios Tournament.

Darkness Revolution (Nagisa Nozaki & Rea Seto) defeated Chika Goto & Nao Ishikawa. Rea Seto is a great wrestler. Sometimes, she decides to use her belt to strangle the opponents. Most of the time, it gets zero reaction. If a move designed for heel heat is getting no heat, it’s time to drop it because it serves no purpose and detracts from your wrestling, which is actually great. The crowd loves Rea, she consistently gets loud chants, as she did at the start of this match. Strangling an opponent with a belt to zero heat and then throwing said belt right under the nose of the referee is not it.

After unfortunately being converted into a three-way due to Nagisa Tachibana’s absence, Hummingbird, SYOKO Koshino and Yuuka Yamazaki continued the Marigold tradition of cursed, poor quality three-way matches. Whether it was Yuuka dropping Koshino, Yuuka’s slow motion 619, or Koshino’s botched tornado DDT, for some reason, three-ways in this promotion seem to make good, competent wrestlers forget how to wrestle. I no longer blame any of the wrestlers involved in these matches. It is a promotional curse.

Full Results

SYOKO Koshino defeats Hummingbird and Yuuka Yamazaki (8:23)

Darkness Revolution (Nagisa Nozaki & Rea Seto) defeat Chika Goto & Nao Ishikawa (11:11)

Komomo Minami vs. Victoria Yuzuki – Time Limit Draw (15:00)

Marigold 3D Trios Title Tournament First Round:
Erina Yamanaka, Mai Sakurai & Natsumi Showzuki defeat Kouki Amarei, Megaton & Miku Aono (16:38)

Marigold Twin Star Title:
Darkness Revolution (CHIAKI & Misa Matsui) (c) defeat Seri Yamaoka & Shinno (13:35)

GHC Women’s Title:
Mayu Iwatani (c) defeats Utami Hayashishita (14:45)

Komomo Minami challenges Mayu Iwatani - 30th January 2026

30th January 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

The show in Shinjuku had some card changes which did take some juice out of the show, but it was capped off by two fun matches, including a great main event where Mayu Iwatani defended the Superfly Title against Komomo Minami. Komomo putting these two matches on back-to-back signalled her return to form, and more than that, they were her coming out party as I believe they were her best ever two performances. It’s hard to compare them, as the Yuzuki match had a bit more drama in it leading to a time-limit draw, whereas the title match was in no doubt, but they were both good performances nevertheless. The match started off fast and furious with Mayu superkicking Komomo right out of the door and almost killing herself on a tope suicida. Mayu was in bully mode for this match, leading to an excellent super Frankensteiner from Komomo which made the Shinjuku crowd cheer fervently. Mayu sealed the victory with a snap dragon suplex into a moonsault, landing on Rea’s stomach with her knees. Painful.

Seri Yamaoka, SYOKO Koshino and Yuuka Yamazaki progressed to the next round of the 3D Trios Tournament, defeating Hummingbird, Nagisa Tachibana and Nao Ishikawa. The belts were shown off during the show with three diamonds on them representing dreams, destiny and… diamonds. It was a fun match, with the highlight being Nagisa Tachibana’s springboard to the outside which got perhaps the biggest pop of the night with the crowd chanting her name.

Even Mai Sakurai, Natsumi Showzuki and Victoria Yuzuki could not break the three-way Marigold curse. It’s not as though this match were bad, because it wasn’t. But it was certainly below the expectations these three wrestlers have set. This match didn’t do anything for me.

Misa Matsui scores an upset win on Utami - 7th February 2026

7th February 2026
Esforta Arena Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan

The first round of the 3D Trios Tournament wrapped up in Hachioji as Misa Matsui pinned Utami Hayashishita in a shock victory, meaning Darkness Revolution (Misa Matsui, Nagisa Nozaki & Rea Seto) advance to the semi-finals, while Chanyota, Chika Goto and Utami are knocked out. As with every DR match, you can skip the first few minutes if you’ve seen at least one of their matches before. It is them brawling in the crowd shortly followed by Rea Seto working an arm part, which is when you can tune in because she’s great. The match after that point was quite good, especially as it was Utami and Misa on the closing stretch and both are excellent wrestlers. Misa won with the European clutch which got a huge pop.

Komomo Minami, Mayu Iwatani & Victoria Yuzuki beat the NOAH Monday Magic trio of Alivia Rose, Dream Girl Ellie and Sofia Sivan to advance to the semi-finals where they will face Darkness Revolution on 13th February. Ellie in particular looked good. Yuzuki won with a German suplex on Alivia.

Marie Malenko, Dean Malenko’s daughter, faced Seri Yamaoka in a singles match. Marie is slightly green, which is to be expected considering she only surfaced the week before in Monday Magic. There was a surprising amount of mat wrestling, which was not necessarily a positive. There were some small moments where things weren’t smooth, but overall, Marie is somewhat athletic, with spots such as a decent looking jumping enzuigiri. Supposedly Seri was injured in this match, but I couldn’t tell when by watching it.

Nagisa Tachibana pinned Yuuka Yamazaki in the opener after a good match. This was my first time seeing Nagisa since her return from injury. She looked quite good! She was improving before her injury, but had a few wobbles here and there. In this match it was all clean with some good execution.

This booker is not good - 8th February 2026

8th February 2026
Kasukabe Fureai Cube, Saitama, Japan

Alivia Rose and Sofia Sivan faced Komomo Minami and Victoria Yuzuki. Yuzuki made Alivia’s lariat look insane as she flipped and landed on her neck. She took a crazy bump doing 99% of the work as the lariat did not even look that good. Sofia looked fine. I went down a rabbit hole and found out she did a tour in JTO at the end of 2024, merely months after her debut. I wonder how that happened. I suppose TAKA’s DMs are always open?

Marie Malenko, someone trying to wrestle a technical, mat-based style based on her match with Seri, faced one of the better young technical wrestlers in Rea Seto. Marie tried to get out of an armlock by doing a front flip and ended up landing on Rea’s face. Marie tried hard, but she is very green. It is a good sign that she’s taking a trip to Japan in the first place though. You don’t really do that unless you want to learn, especially with her name. I was absolutely stunned Marie tapped out Rea. This company is the worst booked promotion in the joshi scene. I actually don’t even want to waste my time typing any more about it. I didn’t bother with the rest of the show.

Rea Seto takes her team to the finals - 13th February 2026

Rea Seto takes her team to the finals
13th February 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

Darkness Revolution (Misa Matsui, Nagisa Nozaki & Rea Seto) clashed with Mayu Iwatani & her proteges (Komomo Minami & Victoria Yuzuki) for a spot in the finals of the 3D Trios Title tournament. Rea and Yuzuki picked up where they left off as Rea climbed into the stands and threw Yuzuki into the chairs to a chorus of loud “Rea!” chants from the crowd. Of course, this was the usual Darkness Revolution formula at the start of a match. If you were to count how many DR matches started with crowd brawling, I think you’ll find it to be upwards of 90%, and I’m just being generous. I’ve never seen a DR match without crowd brawling. This match was pretty good, but I was most happy about Rea getting the pin on Komomo to take her team through to the final. Rea needs more appreciation. The crowd certainly gave her it as she tripped up on her promo in very Rea fashion, eliciting a loud chant for her once again.

Chika Goto and Utami Hayashishita took on Kouki Amarei and a wrestler who is apparently the Marigold World Champion, Miku Aono. Huh, you wouldn’t think so. I was really enjoying Utami and Miku throwing lumps at each other, but then CHIAKI interrupted by pulling the referee out and getting Miku pinned by Utami’s German suplex. Miku said she was going to destroy CHIAKI, leaving nothing of her left. She also called her bulky trash, which the crowd started calling out to CHIAKI. The match is set for 23rd February. According to backstage comments, it’s not even a title match. Thanks for wasting our time. Why did they even make Miku the world champion if they don’t care enough to give her proper defences?

In the opener, Mai Sakurai and Natsumi Showzuki faced Seri Yamaoka and Yuuka Yamazaki (if you get the joke, well done). This match wasn’t as good as I was expecting it to be. There were some stumbles and awkward moments, such as Mai Sakurai getting monkey flipped by Yuuka into Seri and having to jump into Seri’s arms like Scooby Doo and Shaggy. Then, you have moments where Seri just ran in and decided to German suplex the hell out of Natsumi and you can’t help but pop at it. Yuuka tapped out to Mai’s STF. This was a preview for Mai’s team (including Erina and Natsumi) against Yuuka’s team (including Seri and SYOKO Koshino) facing off on 15th February in Osaka in the 3D Trios Title tournament semi-final.

Chika Goto challenges Victoria Yuzuki - 14th February 2026

Chika Goto challenges Victoria Yuzuki
14th February 2026
Aioi Hall, Aichi, Japan

In the main event, Chika Goto, Hummingbird and Kouki Amarei (what a team) faced Mayu Iwatani & her proteges (Komomo Minami & Victoria Yuzuki). This match was to set up a United National Title match where Yuzuki will defend against Chika Goto on 23rd February. No, Chika didn’t pin Yuzuki. Komomo pinned Hummingbird. Gochika challenged Yuzuki after the match in a promo where there’s no translations from Shupro because it’s a house show.

Mai Sakurai and Spunky Monster (Seri Yamaoka & Shinno) faced Nagisa Tachibana, Nao Ishikawa and Utami Hayashishita. This was a decent match. I’m happy to see Nao and Nagisa higher up the card, and Nagisa in particular has clearly improved. I did learn recently that she was in a Megan Thee Stallion music video. I don’t know what that has to do with anything. Shinno I think should drop the uppercut, it always looks bad.

Miku Aono got her hands on CHIAKI the day after she had annoyed her to the point of accepting a singles match at Korakuen. It was a match. I think the storyline is that Miku hates CHIAKI so keeps using foul language to describe her. I don’t know. It’s a waste of time. Especially if there isn’t a title on the line.

Nagisa Nozaki faced Yuuka Yamazaki in a singles match. Yuuka has on and off days, but I thought her performance here was good. There was a cool dragon sleeper spot where Yuuka’s selling was so good I thought it was the finish. She tried to twist and turn in the hold and grab Nagisa’s neck which I hadn’t seen before. This was a solid outing for Yuuka.

While the three-way between Natsumi Showzuki, Rea Seto and SYOKO Koshino wasn’t the usual Marigold three-way disaster, it definitely feels like each of them would just have better singles matches. They were hitting each other with forearms in a triangle and got confused at one point who was hitting who. Overall, it was fine though. Showzuki took the win pinning both cunningly.

Erina Yamanaka takes her team to the finals - 15th February 2026

Erina takes her team to the finals
15th February 2026
176BOX, Osaka, Japan

In the main event, Erina Yamanaka, Mai Sakurai and Natsumi Showzuki beat Seri Yamaoka, SYOKO Koshino and Yuuka Yamazaki to advance to the final of the 3D Trios Tournament. Erina won with a corkscrew splash, similar to YO-HEY’s Bamboo Dragonfly. It was quite impressive, although she only just managed it and was quite close to crushing Yuuka’s face. I couldn’t tell if Yuuka wasn’t positioned correctly or if that is how Erina intends to do that move going forward. It was an impressive debut of a new move. Overall though, the match was a messy affair with multiple moves not executed as expected leading to crowd laughter. Of course, the wrestlers are great and so they played them off as comedy and that can work sometimes. This didn’t really work for me and the quality of work was quite poor.

In the semi-main event, Miku Aono and Utami Hayashishita did what they did best, which was to beat the hell out of each other. Their sequences are also amazing and I wish they could just face each other all the time. This match had Kouki and Nagisa on the finishing stretch. It was fine, aside from the finish which was botched.

Darkness Revolution (CHIAKI & Rea Seto) faced Mayu Iwatani & Victoria Yuzuki. Aside from when CHIAKI was in the match, this was a lot of fun. Seto works really well with Yuzuki as they are both sickos and push each other to the limit, and Mayu was Mayu.

In the opener, Komomo Minami and Nao Ishikawa did not have a convincing outing and weren’t on the same page. That was followed up by Hummingbird and Misa Matsui having a mostly solid match until the finish, where Misa cracked Hummingbird with such a great sliding kick, it was so sick the referee was tricked into counting 3, but Hummingbird kicked out. The whole crowd started laughing, so they played it off. Misa then hit a running knee strike for the win. Something goes wrong quite frequently on these Marigold undercards, despite the progress made since 2024.

Match of the Issue for Japanese Independents

Ai Houzan vs. Mio Momono – Marvelous, 5th February at Shin-Kiba 1st RING

Japan Independents

Bitesize Round-ups

Here is a round-up of news from the Japanese independent scene. Feel free to Ctrl+F “Key Show” if you want to skip to the reviews for the big shows, or expand any promotion you are interested in and follow the link to the reviews for that promotion!

Note, recommended matches are in order of my own enjoyment of them, rather than chronological.

Marvelous

Marvelous, helmed by former Crush Gal and All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling legend Chigusa Nagayo and its ace and talisman, Takumi Iroha, has been on an upswing throughout 2025 leading into their 10th anniversary. Cagematch will list other events but they were not part of the official promotion as it is today, which held its first event on 3rd May 2016. They’ve gained renewed interest, both domestically and internationally, for their rookie Senka Akatsuki as well as their high-quality interpromotional feud with Marigold. Marvelous regularly runs Shin-Kiba 1st RING in Tokyo for its ‘canon’ shows, with house shows outside of Tokyo rarely having any coverage, aside from the Social Suplex Network. You can watch Marvelous live on Zaiko, where shows cost around ¥3800, or on demand roughly three to four weeks after the event date on Wrestle Universe.

Recommended Matches:

Ai Houzan vs. Mio Momono – 5th February at Shin-Kiba 1st RING (My Current MOTY 2026)
Senka Akatsuki vs. Seri Yamaoka – 28th December at Korakuen Hall
Mio Momono & Titus Alexander vs. Mizuki Watase & Yosuke Santa Maria – 12th January at Shin-Kiba 1st RING

Magenta (Maria & RIKO) are the new AAAW Tag Team Champions after defeating Spark Rush (Sareee & Takumi Iroha) at Korakuen Hall on 28th December. The promotion is now turning focus to its massive 10th anniversary show at Yokohama BUNTAI on the 5th May. Tickets have been on sale since 8th August. The promotion announced a number of names that will return for the show, including Masha Slamovich, who has not wrestled since she was accused of domestic violence and abuse by her former partner AKIRA. After being incredibly excited about being there live, those announcements certainly put a puncture in the tire. Also, Rin (f.k.a. Rin Kadokura) will retire at the 10th anniversary show.

Mahiro Namatame, 18, passed her pro test on 12th January. On the same show, Takumi Iroha asked Chigusa Nagayo to wrestle on the 5th May card at Yokohama BUNTAI, not against her, to be clear. Kaya Nishimura, 16, failed her pro test on 28th January, struggling with her stamina. Kaya is the last of the three new trainees to not pass her pro test. Fuuka, 13, passed her pro test in June 2025. Marvelous is intending to debut all three at the 10th anniversary show. Kaya will re-take her pro test in February in an attempt to debut on the 10th anniversary show in time. Chigusa Nagayo is also attempting to get in shape to wrestle on the card.

Marvelous will be hosting a show in Las Vegas over “WrestleMania” Weekend on 16th April. Senka Akatsuki will face Dani Luna on 15th April in West Coast Pro Wrestling.

Mio Momono and Ai Houzan put on a Match of the Year contender. You should not read the review before watching the match. After you finish the match, you can read the review, or see here for quick and dirty context. If you are into wrestling feeling as real as possible, there will likely not be a match that tops this for a long time.

Click here if you want show reviews of Marvelous!

Sendai Girls

Sendai Girls was founded in 2006 by one of the greatest joshi wrestlers of all time, Meiko Satomura. Satomura’s promotion is not one that is going to have blow away cards every single time, but they will almost always have at least one match that makes you raise your eyebrows in excitement, and the undercard will work hard to put on solid matches. In some ways, it feels like a gateway to the Japanese independent promotions. If you’re more used to Stardom or Marigold, it’s not hard to get into Sendai Girls. Satomura and her promotion’s standing mean they have access to a wide pool of freelancers and other promotion’s talents, transcending any political divides. Virtually all of their shows can be watched on Wrestle Universe.

Recommended Matches:

DASH Chisako & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Mio Momono & Yurika Oka – 8th February at Shinjuku FACE
Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Saya Iida – 11th January at Shin-Kiba 1st RING
Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Yuu – 28th December at Shinjuku FACE
Chi Chi & Mika Iwata vs. Mio Momono & Yurika Oka – 1st February at Azalea Taisho Hall
Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Miyuki Takase – 8th February at Shinjuku FACE

Yuu retired on 28th December in front of a packed crowd at Shinjuku FACE. She faced her tag team partner of six years, Chihiro Hashimoto, in the main event. The best part of the match by far was Hashimoto clubbing Yuu around the face with stiff lariats. Unfortunately, Yuu no-sold them. Anyway, after the match, Hashimoto said she realised how much she had relied on Yuu, but she would do her best in 2026 to lead Sendai Girls alone to the Nippon Budokan.

Bob Bob Momo Banana (Mio Momono & Yurika Oka) captured the Sendai Girls World Tag Team Title on 26th December just before Yuu’s retirement. Since Yuu’s retirement, World Champion Chihiro Hashimoto has made space available at the top of the card by wrestling in the semi-main event instead, allowing Bob Bob Momo Banana to put on great tag team matches and make a run for Tag Team of the Year. Bob Bob Momo Bana defended the Sendai Girls Tag Team Title against Reiwa Ultimate Powers (DASH Chisako & Hiroyo Matsumoto) on 8th February at Shinjuku FACE in an excellent match.

Marvelous’ Senka Akatsuki won the first title of her career, defeating YUNA on 23rd January in order to become the Sendai Girls Junior Champion.

Click here if you want show reviews of Sendai Girls!

OZ Academy

OZ Academy is one of the longest standing joshi independent promotions. As with a lot of other joshi promotions, it was founded by a legendary joshi wrestler known for her work in the 90s, Mayumi Ozaki. Her signature heel work manifests itself in this promotion and delivers a unique live experience, making OZ Academy primarily a touring promotion with only one show a month at Shinjuku FACE making tape, alongside special shows at Korakuen Hall and other arena shows a few times a year. OZ Academy can be viewed with a VPN via GAORA’s on demand service. The Shinjuku FACE shows can be watched live for around ¥3300, although sometimes they are on NicoPro where a VPN is not needed. There’s currently no official, international friendly alternative to watching the promotion. They’re only contracted wrestlers are Mayumi Ozaki and AKINO, so they rely heavily on freelancers and co-operating with other promotions.

Recommended Matches:

Hiroyo Matsumoto & ZONES vs. Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase – 30th December at Korakuen Hall
Kakeru vs. Sareee – 30th December at Korakuen Hall

Saori Anou gained her OZ Academy Openweight Title back from Ruaka on 30th December at Korakuen Hall. Ruaka wasn’t the champion, she had just stolen the belt back in August and never given it back. On the same show, Gojizones Union (Hiroyo Matsumoto & ZONES) defended their OZ Academy Tag Team Title against Red Energy (Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase) in a great match. On 4th January, Hiroyo Matsumoto won a one-day tournament to become the next challenger for Saori’s belt. She went on to capture the title on 8th February at Shinjuku FACE, dethroning Saori Anou. Mayumi Ozaki and AKINO have challenged Matsumoto for the belt, which should be resolved on the next Shinjuku FACE show on 8th March. Unagi Sayaka has a pending invitation to Seiki-gun. She’s currently part of AKINO’s Phantom Limit unit, so that will play into the storyline.

After losing Sonoko Kato due to retirement, Team Power Spot (Ryo Mizunami, Itsuki Aoki & Momoka Hanazano) combined with Gojizones Union (Hiroyo Matsumoto, Rina Yamashita & ZONES) to create one faction, called Powergoji Alliance. Momoka Hanazono then left that group to join a new faction of goblins with Kaori Yoneyama and Ram Kaicho. The romanised name is unknown, but it roughly translates to “Little Gremlins”. That’s an unofficial machine translation of the kanji, so we will wait for official confirmation.

Kato’s retirement also caused the OZ Academy Pioneer Title to be vacated. A tournament was kicked off to determine three finalists that would then compete for the title on 26th April at Korakuen Hall. Ryo Mizunami advanced on 4th January, defeating AKINO and Saori Anou, while Rina Yamashita beat Jaguar Yokota and Miku Kanae on 8th February. Freelancer Rin, retiring on 5th May, was entered as a participant for the last preliminary round on 8th March to determine the final competitor.

Click here if you want show reviews of OZ Academy!

Sareee-ISM

On 10th February, Sareee held a press conference announcing a large part of the “Sareee-ISM Chapter X” card for her 15th anniversary show on 22nd March at Yokohama Budokan. There are likely to be more matches announced given it is a big show, or, these matches will be getting a lot of time.

Kikyo Furusawa vs. Selene Misora

Two of the standout rookies in the joshi wrestling scene today meet in a special singles match in the opener. Selene Misora, 20, has a judo background and debuted on 17th June 2025 against Koguma. Her favourite wrestler is Sareee, but she also teams regularly with VENY and has also teamed with Manami Katsu. So if that doesn’t tell you what you need to know about her then nothing will. While she has significantly less match experience than Kikyo, I’m confident she will put on a performance that will make her idol proud.

Senka Akatsuki, X & XX vs. Fuwa-chan, X & XX

The STARDOM presence on the card continues as Fuwa-chan and mystery opponents take on Marvelous’ rookie Senka Akatsuki and other unanounced participants. While Fuwa-chan was secretly training to be a professional wrestler in the UK, the only people back home that would know about it were Sareee and Kaoru Ito. Fuwa-chan wants to repay Sareee for taking of her at the beginning of her career. Sareee has significant influence within Marvelous and specifically Senka, according to her own words.

Amu Fujiwara & Rina vs. Chi Chi & Miku Kanae

Chi Chi and Miku Kanae need no introduction on a Sareee-ISM card. They are Sareee’s proteges and train with her regularly. Rina, formerly known as NORI from LLPW-X, is a former MMA fighter that debuted in Ice Ribbon in 2017, retired from wrestling for a few years, then made her comeback with LLPW-X in 2023. She is a standout up-and-coming wrestler and Sareee has taken a liking to her, working with her on several occasions in recent months. Amu Fujiwara is LLPW-X’s new rookie, only two matches in, debuted on 18th December 2025. She’s 14, and apparently, when Sareee was visiting the LLPW-X dojo, she beat up Miku so hard at the LLPW-X that Sareee wanted to book her. Amu’s favourite is Poi and she has a background in karate. Miku wants revenge against Amu for punking her out, but also against Rina after they had an excellent 25-minute-plus match in the main event of the 7th January 2026 LLPW-X event.

Kaoru Ito vs. Natsupoi

Sareee spends quite a lot of her time training in the Ito Dojo alongside Chi Chi, Miku Kanae, MASA TAKA and Uta Shima. Sareee met her best friend, Natsupoi, through Ito which is the reason this match is taking place. Unlike a lot of other veteran joshi wrestlers, Ito is happy to take bumps, but that does not mean she will let them win. Except Natsupoi to get completely squished, physically, by Ito’s massive diving double foot stomp and her deadly powerbomb.

Chihiro Hashimoto & Syuri vs. Sareee & Takumi Iroha

This match will be incredible. Even if you are someone who is disappointed that Sareee is not in a big singles match for her show, there is little reason to doubt a tag match between these four women in a Sareee-ISM main event. Let’s not forget that one of the best tag team matches in history took place on a Sareee-ISM show on 2nd September 2024 (Chihiro Hashimoto & VENY vs. Mayu Iwatani & Sareee). Sareee will not want to disappoint on her big show. She specifically chose this match to bring the best out of her, selecting her two most prominent rivals, not only in the past year, but her entire career. Sareee said that she of course had to team with Takumi Iroha given their same vision for wrestling. It is that same vision that also led her to booking Hashimoto and Syuri, as they wrestle a style she wants to put on her cards. It’s an unlimited time limit match, so get those “time-limit draw” thoughts out of your head. Someone is taking the pin here. Have fun guessing who! If this does not end up as a Match of the Year Contender then something went wrong.

SEAdLINNNG

SEAdLINNNG was once a darling of the joshi independent scene, but with the departure of its founder Nanae Takahashi and the retirement of one of the best joshi of the 2010s in Arisa Nakajima, it has become a promotion more focused on its rookies and young talent, namely its core five young contracted talent in Honori Hana, Miria Koga, Selene Misora, Yuki Funa and Lana Hisaki. It is now run by the team of Natsuki Taiyo and Arisa Nakajima. SEAdLINNNG can be watched on its website. There are live shows which cost around ¥3500 each, or you can wait one month for them to show on the live streaming service if you have a ¥1000/month subscription.

Recommended Matches:

Honori Hana & Unagi Sayaka vs. Selene Misora & VENY – 10th February at Shinjuku FACE
Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. MIRAI – 13th January at Shin-Kiba 1st RING
Honori Hana & Unagi Sayaka vs. Mio Shirai & Natsu Sumire – 26th December at Korakuen Hall

SEAdLINNNG kicked off a new tournament to decide who the strongest wrestler was. The Beyond The Sea Champion Hiroyo Matsumoto participated in the tournament, where her title would be on the line in each matchup. Matsumoto was in the same bracket as MIRAI, YuuRI and Mio Shirai, while Ayame Sasamura, Sumika Yanagawa, Nagisa Nozaki and a rookie contested the other half of the bracket. Honori Hana, Yuki Funa and Miria Koga faced off, with Selene Misora pulling out due to injury. Miria Koga defeated Honori Hana to clinch the spot in the tournament. Hiroyo Matsumoto defeated MIRAI and Mio Shirai beat YuuRI in the first round of their bracket on 13th January. The Matsumoto and MIRAI match was excellent. Matsumoto faces Shirai on 19th March in the semi-finals and Ayame Sasamura faces Nagisa Nozaki. This tournament is a great idea and the exact shake-up the top of the card in SEAdLINNNG needed after a lacklustre second half of 2025. It’s also a great opportunity for Miria Koga to prove herself.

On 26th December at Korakuen Hall, Honori Hana finally won her first title in the promotion as she captured the Beyond The Sea Tag Team Title with Unagi Sayaka, defeating Mio Shirai and Natsu Sumire’s reign of terror.

Natsuki Taiyo is returning to the ring for another exhibition match on 15th March at Azalea Taisho Hall in Osaka. This time Taiyo will be against Land’s End owner Ryoji Sai. The match will take place in the promotion MoveOn, and the occasion is the 20th anniversary of MoveOn’s President, representative and ring announcer, Naoki. Naoki said that this is his first and last anniversary show.

Lana Hisaki (陽岬来永 is the given kanji, the romanisation is given by her Twitter profile), 24, debuted on 10th February against Ryo Mizunami. She poured her heart into her debut. On the same show, Honori Hana & Unagi Sayaka and Selene Misora & VENY went to war in a match of the year contender match.

Click here if you want show reviews of SEAdLINNNG!

EVO

EVO is a new promotion founded in 2023 by a pair of puro hard-hitters, Shuji Ishikawa and Suwama. It was re-branded in 2025. Despite removing “joshi” from its name, it is still built around its four key joshi talents in Chi Chi, ZONES, Soy and Chika. The shows, which are streamed live on their service for only ¥500 (the cheapest of all services), are held at Shin-Kiba 1st RING once a month, with Shinjuku FACE being an alternative a few times a year. The cards will regularly have matches with Ishikawa, Suwama and other puro freelancers such as Fuminori Abe and Takuya Nomura, so it’s a fun promotion to follow if you prefer mixed shows.

Recommended Matches:

Chi Chi & Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & ZONES – 4th February at Shin-Kiba 1st RING

Chi Chi captured the EVO Strong Women’s Title from MICHIKO on 7th January at Shin-Kiba 1st RING in a great match. This was a smart way to get the title from ZONES to Chi Chi without having them beat each other. ZONES is up 3-2 in the singles series between the two, so it makes sense to save the re-match for a bigger show than their regular monthly outings at Shin-Kiba 1st RING.

Click here if you want show reviews of EVO!

Ice Ribbon

Once the engine room of the entire joshi scene and a promotion as big as STARDOM during the early 2010s, Ice Ribbon are now in a long re-building phase. Despite that, the product remains vibrant and enjoyable, with one of the best joshi of the 2010s in Tsukasa Fujimoto playing a key role in its production, despite her extended break from in-ring activity. Their dojo, based in Saitama, regularly holds classes for children and they are very active in recruiting wrestlers, including through theatre groups they support such as Venus. They also run regular shows at the dojo, uploaded to their YouTube days later for £8.99/month. The bigger shows are held a few times a month and can be bought on their service for around ¥3500, or you can buy a ¥1000/month subscription to watch them all a month later. If you really want a history lesson of Ice Ribbon, there is a book written about it, in English, by Charles Short.

Recommended Matches:

Kaho Matsushita vs. Manami Katsu – 11th January at Kitazawa Town Hall
Kaho Matsushita vs. Kirari Wakana vs. Yuka – 31st December at Korakuen Hall
Kaho Matsushita & Yuuka vs. Manami Katsu & Tsukina Umino – 4th January at Yokohama Sambo Hall
Akane Fujita vs. Tsukina Umino – 31st December at Korakuen Hall
Kaori Yoneyama vs. Makoto vs. Mase Hiiro – 31st December at Korakuen Hall

Manami Katsu caught a fever just before Ice Ribbon’s biggest show of the year, “Ribbonmania”, on 31st December 2025. She had to pull out of the show, where she was scheduled to defend her ICExFinity Title against Kaho Matsushita. Katsu vacated the title and Kaho was moved into the semi-main event, which became the main-event, challenging for the vacant title against Kirari Wakana and Yuka in a classic sumo rules match (a singles match where two pinfalls are needed in a row to win, and when a wrestler gets pinned they are rotated out with the third person). Kaho Matsushita won the match, winning her first ever title. Manami Katsu returned a few days later and made sure to put Kaho over properly, losing clean to her in an ICExFinity Title match on 11th January.

After an incredible showing in her re-debut, Yuuka was out injured again with pneumothorax after her Yokohama match on 4th January. It coincided with Manami Katsu and Yuka hitting the hardest elbow strikes you’ll hear on each other. Pneumothorax is a collapsed lung, although there are different severities. Luckily, Yuka returned to action almost a month later.

Victoria Pinky (Manami Katsu & Misa Kagura) will defend their International Tag Team Title against Makoto and Sumika Yanagawa on 23rd February at Yokohama Radiant Hall.

Diana’s Miran won the Triangle Ribbon title back from Kaori Yoneyama at Gokigen Pro on 1st January.

Hikari Minami, 32, announced her return to the promotion on the 8th February show at TOKYOSQUARE. Minami was part of the Venus theatre group that had a show on 4th January. We have a review of that show. Minami has retired a few times, with the last run in Ice Ribbon from July 2023 to September 2023, and before that, her last appearance in Ice Ribbon was August 2012. She was trained by Emi Sakura under the original Ice Ribbon regime.

The 4th “Kizuna Tournament” (meaning bond) will be held on 12th April at SKIP City. Juniors (who debuted after Kaho Matsushita in 2021 and did not compete in the last tournament) will team up with seniors (anyone who debuted in 2020 and earlier) for the one-day tournament. A senior can only refuse a junior once. If they ask again, they must accept it. A junior can refuse a senior as many times as they want. The matches have 15-minute time limits except for the final, and in the case of a draw, the team with the lower combined career length advances. As of recent events, ICExFinity Champion Kaho Matsushita is pairing up with former ICExFinity Champion Manami Katsu (as Kaho is the cut-off point so she technically counts as a junior), Kirari Wakana has chosen her former rival Yuka, and Tsukina Umino has selected Diana’s Ayako Sato.

Click here if you want show reviews of Ice Ribbon!

Diana

Diana was founded in 2011 by, you guessed it, another All Japan Women’s wrestler in Kyoko Inoue. Diana is based in Kawasaki, so while it’s not in Tokyo, it also isn’t too far away. Their dojo is regularly used by other promotions such as WAVE and has become a real “home arena” for the smaller joshi independents. They are celebrating their 15th anniversary with four big shows, sandwiched by their regular shows at their dojo, Post di Amistad, as well as a separate series focusing on the younger talent in the independent scene. For some reason, it is the least watched major joshi independent promotion despite it having a great roster of young talent and an easy-to-use streaming service. Diana is also a leading light in co-operating with other promotions, regularly lending talent to other promotions in Japan and even holding shows in Hokkaido with Hokuto Pro, Taiwan with New Taiwan Entertainment Wrestling and soon in Singapore with Grapplemax and Hiroshima with Wrestle BINGO. Their shows can be bought on their service for around ¥3500, or you can buy a ¥1000/month subscription to watch them all a month later, just like SEAdLINNNG and Ice Ribbon (you’ll notice the three websites all use a similar template).

Recommended Matches:

Debbie Keitel, Echika Miyavi & Himiko vs. Haruka Umesaki, Misa Kagura & Sumika Yanagawa – 28th January at Post di Amistad

Diana is celebrating their 15th anniversary by hosting four big shows in the calendar. Their first was on 24th January at Culttz Kawasaki. After vacating all their titles at “Vol. 100” on 14th December, on 24th January, Diana found new homes for all their shiny, newly created belts. Debbie Keitel is the new top singles champion in the promotion holding the World Woman Wrestling Diana (WWWD) Title, defeating Nanami Hatano in the main event. Ayako Sato, who only just turned 40 to become eligible for the WWWD Elizabeth Title, immediately gained the title, defeating Kaori Yoneyama and Yumi Ohka. Finally, Chobuki (Haruka Umesaki & Unagi Sayaka) defeated Miran and Olympia to win the WWWD Tag Team Title. We have a full review of that show as well as a reminder of all the units in Diana.

NENE, 11, was due to return from injury on 24th January, but after re-assessment, her return has been delayed. Honoka took NENE’s place to face Anna in the opener.

Outstanding Taiwanese prospect, Syan Syan, 20, was injured at “Vol. 104” on 8th February due to a freak incident in a match against Debbie Keitel where her leg bent awkwardly. She was diagnosed with a suspected medial collateral ligament (MCL) injury.

Diana has launched a new YouTube service, @MOVIEDIANA, which posts recaps and interviews.

Click here if you want show reviews of Diana!

WAVE

If you’re familiar with the violent, hard-hitting WAVE from the 2010s, then forget about that. WAVE is a fun comedy promotion which puts a focus on trying to make shows as fun as possible for the live audience. One of their frequent gimmicks is to not announce cards in advance. Run by former wrestlers GAMI and Yumi Ohka, they have three young wrestlers under contract in Cohaku, Saran and Honoka. They are also probably the least accessible promotion we regularly cover, with all shows sold as PPVs costing at least ¥3500 and no archive available if you miss the one week window that the show is available for purchase in. If you feel like throwing money at a promotion, their shows are sold on the Confetti service. If you do not buy within days of the VOD releasing, it’s gone forever. WAVE don’t make it easy do they?

Recommended Matches:

Itsuki Aoki vs. Kaho Kobayashi – 8th February at Korakuen Hall

Yuki Miyazaki retired on 1st January at Korakuen Hall, finishing off her career in a Weapon Rumble against her close friend Shin Sakura Hirota, with surprise involvement from Aja Kong.

Kaho Kobayashi was the winner of the one day tournament, held across three shows on 25th January at Post di Amistad. Kobayashi would go on to unsuccessfully challenge Itsuki Aoki for the Regina Di WAVE Title on 8th February at Korakuen Hall in a great match. Saran and Yumi Ohka lost the WAVE Tag Team Title to Prominence (Kurumi Hiiragi & Mochi Natsumi). Sareee made her first WAVE appearance since her WWE stint at Korakuen Hall. The show had an attendance of 275, which is perhaps the smallest number I’ve seen out of any promotion in a while. They were running against several other joshi wrestling indies such as OZ Academy, Ice Ribbon, Diana and Actwres girl’Z in the same timeslot. Oh, and it was voting day in the national election. On top of their already difficult drawing houses at the venue, that was a recipe for disaster.

Click here if you want show reviews of WAVE!

Actwres Girl'Z

Actwres girl’Z, founded in 2015, are the most fascinating, underwatched and simultaneously most accessible promotion within our coverage. AWG has an all-inclusive subscription on their ¥1000/month service with a delay of a few days for all shows. All “Step” shows are held at Shin-Kiba 1st RING in Tokyo with full transcriptions of promos available online to follow storylines. In 2022, AWG underwent a significant relaunch under the direction of owner Keiji Sakaguchi. Breaking away from the traditional wrestling model, Sakaguchi declared that AWG was no longer professional wrestling, but rather “performing arts”. His reasoning was that since match outcomes are predetermined, the focus should shift from athletic competition to theatrical performance. As a result, AWG positioned itself outside the usual wrestling ecosystem. In the typically collaborative world of Joshi where inter-promotional matchups are common, AWG remains an outlier. With that being said, they are responsible for most of the prominent joshi in the scene today, a list of names too long to put here, but it includes Tam Nakano, Natsupoi and Saori Anou. If you like hard-hitting, dumb jock wrestling, with a side of rookie hazing, wrestlers sometimes shooting on each other, 3.1 kickouts, nonsensical booking, amazing rookie development and some of the best tag team wrestling in the scene, then AWG is for you.

Recommended Matches:

Marino Nishimura & Rico Fukunaga vs. Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki – 18th January at 176BOX
Kana Yafuku & Sakura Mizushima vs. Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara – 18th January at 176BOX
Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara vs. Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki – 29th December at Korakuen Hall
Ayano Irie & Rio vs. Kana Yafuku & Marino Saihara – 10th January at Kitazawa Town Hall

Natsuki announced that she was retiring on 2nd May. Natsuki said that she had been thinking about it for a while and had already decided as soon as she hit 30 in July 2024 but she kept on enjoying wrestling so much and continuing to delay it. Natsuki confirmed she wants to just become a regular person and retire from all acting, and that it was an amicable departure. She also confirmed explicitly she did not want to become a pro wrestler, which confirmed that it was a real retirement. Natsuki said that she was originally going to retire at Korakuen Hall in March, but instead it’s being held in April. Then she thought she wanted to put on a card with all her favourite matches at Shin-Kiba, so they booked the 2nd May show for her. Natsuki challenged Rico Fukunaga to a match for the AWG Title on 8th February. This is a blow for AWG watchers like myself who considered Natsuki one of the best workers in the promotion.

AWG has been my favourite promotion the watch in the past few weeks, with rookie Kana Yufuku blasting people’s chests off with forearms that she doesn’t know how to work, a new rookie being introduced from the Venus theatre group pipeline, Marino Nishimura, and AWG Tag Team Champion Yukina Uehara improving at a remarkable rate. When you combine that with the rest of Actwres 5 (Marino Saihara, Naru, Rico Fukunaga and Sakura Mizushima) and Midsummer Sea Breeze (Nagisa Shiotsuki & Nagisa) having excellent matches, it is hard not to enjoy AWG right now. We have full reviews of all shows so you can see what we liked and what we didn’t like! Rico Fukunaga is the AWG Champion, Nagisa Shiotsuki is the KING champion and Harahara Red (Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara) are still the AWG Tag Team Champions, so no titles have changed hands since our last issue.

Anri returns from injury on 22nd February.

In the last issue, we spoke about AWG veteran and former STARDOM wrestler Act starting a new group called “ACTRIUM”. It is essentially a theatre troupe with wrestling mixed in, not so different from AWG’s ACTRing brand. She had previously mentioned that she bought a ring and a dojo for the project. Since the last issue, Act has introduced two of her new group’s trainees on the AWG Korakuen Hall show. So it’s Act and three members that belong to the group: her, Ritsuka Hatsue, Ema Mashiro and Sakura Nishio. There was also a picture posted of the entire troupe, and it was largely AWG wrestlers aside from those three. In essence, Act has created a new ACTRing because AWG (and its owner, Sakaguchi) were too infrequent with scheduling ACTRing.

Click here if you want show reviews of AWG!

ChocoPro

ChocoPro is a light-hearted promotion founded by the legendary Emi Sakura in 2012. It is her second promotion, after founding Ice Ribbon in 2006. They are most known for running shows at the small room covered mostly by a chocolate-coloured wrestling mat in Ichigaya, Tokyo, but they also run shows in regular arenas such as TOKYOSQUARE and Shin-Kiba 1st RING at least once a month. All shows are uploaded for free on their YouTube.

Rina Yamashita retained her Super Asia Title as she defeated Emi Sakura at “Purple Chocolate” on 30th December. MiyaSoy (Miya Yotsuba & Soy) lost their Asia Dream Tag Team Title to Chie Koishikawa & Hagane Shinnou.

ChocoPro celebrated the 500th edition of their show. On 18th January there was a one-match show held at Ichigaya Chocolate Square as Baliyan Akki, Chris Brookes, Emi Sakura & Mei Suruga defeated Chie Koishikawa, Hagane Shinnou, Miya Yotsuba & Sayaka. A ring show at Shin-Kiba 1st RING was held on 22nd January to continue celebrations, main evented by Baliyan Akki against Emi Sakura. Rina Yamashita was pinned by Choun Shiryu on the undercard, setting up their future Super Asia Title match. The show was meant to be headlined by a historic second ever match between Baliyan Akki and his tag team partner Mei Suruga, with their last bout taking place on 20th April 2020, but Mei Suruga was injured just before the bout. Finally, on 23rd January, they were back at Ichigaya Chocolate Square where Baliyan Akki brought his best friend for several years, Hayden Zenith.

Hiyori Yawata has graduated from the Tokyo University of Arts. Her graduation project was displayed at the “74th Tokyo University of Arts Graduation & Degree Work Exhibition,” and was based on pro-wrestling.

Click here if you want show reviews of ChocoPro!

PURE-J

PURE-J was created in 2017 by Commander Bolshoi from the ashes of Japanese Women Pro-Wrestling Project (JWP), and so it is a long-lost cousin of Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling-X (LLPW-X). PURE-J are a company that are probably the least reported on in the scene, despite drawing almost double Ice Ribbon’s numbers at Korakuen Hall. The fact it is so off the radar that people don’t bother pirating their shows uploaded to YouTube lands the promotion in an infinite loop of obscurity. There are a few talents on the roster that make it worth following the promotion, with Crea being the standout. PURE-J have a similar distribution model to Ice Ribbon including dojo shows, although PURE-J’s bigger shows get uploaded to YouTube for £8.99/month rather than a PPV on a streaming website.

Recommended Matches:

Crea vs. YuuRI – 16th January at Itabashi Green Hall

The last time we covered PURE-J in the last issue, I was fuming from Crea failing to win the PURE-J Openweight Title from SAKI at Korakuen Hall on 14th December 2025. While I have calmed down, it is quite amusing that PURE-J then put the title on ace Hanako Nakamori on 4th January. She has only won it six times now. It’s not like Crea is an amazing wrestler or anything. Let’s see how long she can stay without winning the big one (it’s now been 7 years). Hanako Nakamori is a double champion, holding the Daily Sports Certified Women’s Tag Team Title with Kaho Kobayashi.

AKARI will be going on an excursion in CMLL. This was after she joined the Invader or Innovator unit in Diana. Diana is a promotion where CMLL wrestlers regularly make appearances such as Dark Sioux, Olympia and Tabata.

Misa Kagura has started to make appearances in PURE-J and is teaming with Chie Ozora as they attempt to go after tag team gold.

Click here if you want show reviews for PURE-J!

LLPW-X

Ladies Legend Pro Wrestling-X (LLPW-X) was set up in 1992 following a split of Japan Women Pro-Wrestling into LLPW and the Japanese Women Pro-Wrestling Project (JWP). JWP later disbanded in 2017, with splinter promotions such as PURE-J being created from the ashes. LLPW-X is still running to this day, but since 2002 it has been under the leadership of Shinobu Kandori, who has been at LLPW since the start. Kandori, a bronze medallist judoka in 1984, is more known for her all-time great matches in All Japan Women’s, such as the 1993 match with Akira Hokuto, rather than her time in LLPW. Today, LLPW-X is one of the few places to see rising star Rina (f.k.a. NØRI), 26. LLPW-X uploads all shows to either Kandori’s or Takako Inoue’s YouTube channel for free.

Recommended Matches:

Miku Kanae & Rin vs. MIRAI & NORI – 7th January at Kanda Myojin Hall

NORI has changed her name to Rina (kanji given as “里奈”). It’s totally different kanji from STARDOM’s Rina (吏南) if that wasn’t confusing enough, along with Rina Yamashita (who uses hiragana rather than kanji for her first name) and Rina Amikura (理奈).

On 7th January, LLPW-X ran what is seemingly their last show of the Kanda Myojin Hall residency for the time being. The main event was Rina teaming up with MIRAI, who has been a tear across the independent scene since her release from Marigold. They took on LLPW-X regular Miku Kanae as well as freelancer Rin, who is on her retirement road, due at Marvelous’ Yokohama BUNTAI show on 5th May. NORI and Miku were honestly excellent together. They have excellent chemistry. I think this match was the best Rina has looked in all the shows, because normally she’s just selling for people as they bring in vets to face her. Here, she looked like a killer and that’s what she should be booked as. It was amazing. NORI has such a high ceiling that you’re praying she reaches and are worried if she ever will due to where she wrestles (or doesn’t wrestle, given how infrequent the shows are). Not only was Miku amazing with Rina, she also had an outstanding final stretch with MIRAI. This match ruled. Totally up my street. If you have to pick an LLPW-X match to watch from the residency, it should be this one. And it’s free on YouTube.

On 24th January LLPW-X ran an event at their dojo which was labelled as the first installment. Their schedule implies that it will be a monthly event. This seemingly replaces the Kanda Myojin Hall residency.

On 6th February, Sareee visited the LLPW-X dojo, invited by Shinobu Kandori to observe training. Sareee requested that both Rina (f.k.a. NORI) and new rookie Amu Fujiwara appear on her 22nd March show at Yokohama Budokan. Sareee is very high on Rina, and while she’s not a protege quite like Miku Kanae, Sareee has clearly made it her mission to make Rina more known and work with her when she can. Rina’s foray into “Sareee-land” continued in the past few weeks as she appeared on a Ito Dojo show at W-BOX on 11th January, teaming with Kaoru Ito against EVO’s Soy and Chika. She also teamed with Sareee herself on a T-HEARTS show on 10th January. LLPW-X clearly also sees a lot in Amu Fujiwara, as opposed to Catherine and Wakana, which makes sense to me. Also, a small tidbit is that Megumi Kudo, known for being with ZERO1 and heading up their new “Rose” group of joshi, also has a hand in taking care of the LLPW-X rookies.

Click here if you want show reviews of LLPW-X!

Miscellaneous News Round-up

Recommended Matches This Issue

These are in order of personal preference rather than chronological.

Sareee vs. YuuRI – Ganbare Pro, 27th December at Korakuen Hall
Tomoya Hirata vs. Violento Jack – FREEDOMS, 12th February at Korakuen Hall
Keisuke Ishii vs. Masaaki Mochizuki – Ganbare Pro, 27th December at Korakuen Hall
Chanyota vs. MIRAI – P.P.P. Tokyo, 2nd January at TOKYOSQUARE
Gajo vs. Takahiro Tababa – H-Production, 18th January at Tokyo Underground Arena
El Lindaman vs. TJP – GLEAT, 30th December at Shinjuku FACE
DASH Chisako & Miku Kanae vs. NORI & Sareee – T-HEARTS, 10th January at Shinjuku FACE
Sareee vs. MIRAI – Tochigi Pro, 1st January at Korakuen Hall
Kazumasa Yoshida vs. So Daimonji – BJW, 31st January at Korakuen Hall
Kohei Sato & Tsugutaka Sato vs. Mizuki Watase & Satsuki Nagao – Tochigi Pro, 1st January at Korakuen Hall
Hitamaru Sasaki & Minoru Tanaka vs. Jet Wei & Kodai Nozaki – Kyushu Pro Wrestling, 12th January at Dazaifu City General Gymnasium
Abdullah Kobayashi & Daiju Wakamatsu vs. Kazumi Kikuta & Toru Sugiura – BJW, 31st January at Korakuen Hall

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

MOTYC+

10 Mar 2025 – Sareee-ISM: Sareee vs. Syuri

MOTYC

10 Nov 2025 – Sareee-ISM: Chihiro Hashimoto & Natsupoi vs. Sareee & Suzu Suzuki

Promotion MOTYC

10 Mar 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: El Desperado vs. Jun Kasai vs. Masashi Takeda
8 Apr 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Satsuki Nagao vs. Shuji Ishikawa
11 Aug 2025 – Big Japan Pro Wrestling: Fuminori Abe vs. Ryuma Sekimo

Excellent

30 Mar 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Chihiro Hashimoto, Miku Kanae & Sareee vs. DASH Chisako, Sayaka Toyota & VENY
8 Apr 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Kosuke Sato vs. Masashi Takeda
31 Jul 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Chinsuke Nakamura & Minoru Suzuki vs. Futotta Kobashi & Jun Akiyama
26 Aug 2025 – Ganbare Pro Wrestling: Jun Kasai vs. Mizuki Watase
7 Nov 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Mochizuki Junior vs. Ryo Inoue
27 Dec 2025 – Ganbare Pro Wrestling: Sareee vs. YuuRI

Highly Recommended

23 Jan 2025 – Sareee-ISM: Meiko Satomura vs. Sareee
10 Mar 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Rina Yamashita vs. Suzu Suzuki
16 Mar 2025 – Ganbare Pro Wrestling: Fuminori Abe vs. Yumehito Imanari
16 Apr 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs. Meiko Satomura & Sareee
20 Apr 2025 – Big Japan Pro Wrestling: Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura vs. Kazumasa Yoshida & Yuya Aoki
27 Apr 2025 – Kyushu Pro Wrestling: Kodai Nozaki vs. Shuji Ishikawa
7 May 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Jun Akiyama & Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Taichi & Tomohiro Ishii
7 May 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Azusa Inaba vs. Tomoka Inaba
11 May 2025 – Kyushu Pro Wrestling: Genkai vs. Mentai Kid
23 May 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Chihiro Hashimoto & Shotaro Ashino vs. Konami & Minoru Suzuki
31 May 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Natsupoi & Saori Anou vs. Chihiro Hashimoto & Mika Iwata
31 May 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Aya Sakura vs. Sareee
1 Jul 2025 – GLEAT: Issei Onitsuka & Takehiro Yamamura vs. So Daimonji & Tetsuya Izuchi
14 Jul 2025 – Sareee-ISM: Natsuko Tora & Saya Kamitani vs. Sareee & Takumi Iroha
11 Aug 2025 – Big Japan Pro Wrestling: Hideyoshi Kamitani vs. Shuji Ishikawa
14 Sep 2025 – Big Japan Pro Wrestling: Daichi Hashimoto vs. Shuji Ishikawa
27 Sep 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Chihiro Hashimoto, Shuji Ishikawa & Yuu vs. Hibiscus Mii, Kyusei Ninja Ranmaru & Shin Sakura Hirota
16 Oct 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe vs. Sareee & Takumi Iroha
23 Oct 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Hikaru Sato vs. Fuminori Abe
9 Nov 2025 – JTO: Aoi vs. Azusa Inaba
10 Nov 2025 – Sareee-ISM: Bozilla & Kaoru Ito vs. Nightshade & VENY
19 Nov 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Cohaku & Saya Iida vs. Honori Hana & Yurika Oka
27 Dec 2025 – Ganbare Pro Wrestling: Keisuke Ishii vs. Masaaki Mochizuki

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

10 Jan 2025 – JTO: Aoi vs. Rina Yamashita
10 Mar 2025 – Sareee-ISM: Miku Kanae vs. Saori Anou
8 Apr 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Hikaru Sato & Manabu Haru vs. Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura
15 Apr 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Chihiro Hashimoto & Manabu Soya vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Minoru Suzuki
23 May 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Rina vs. VENY
23 May 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: DASH Chisako & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase vs. Natsupoi & Sareee
31 May 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: AZM & Starlight Kid vs. Hanan & Saya Iida
31 May 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Natsupoi vs. Saori Anou
22 Jun 2025 – Big Japan Pro Wrestling: Leyton Buzzard vs. So Daimonji
1 Jul 2025 – GLEAT: Kaito Ishida vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
14 Jul 2025 – Sareee-ISM: Miku Kanae vs. Natsupoi
14 Jul 2025 – Sareee-ISM: Chi Chi vs. DASH Chisako
27 Jul 2025 – Big Japan Pro Wrestling: Jacob Crane vs. Kosuke Sato
31 Jul 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Atsuki Aoyagi & Yuki Ueno vs. Chris Brookes & Hiromu Takahashi
9 Aug 2025 – GLEAT: Kentaro Hachisu vs. Soma Watanabe
21 Aug 2025 – GLEAT: Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Tetsuya Izuchi
26 Aug 2025 – Ganbare Pro Wrestling: Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Yumehito Imanari
28 Aug 2025 – JTO: Aoi & Azusa Inaba vs. rhythm & Tomoka Inaba
3 Sep 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Katsuyori Shibata & KENTA vs. Minoru Suzuki & Naomichi Marufuji
12 Sep 2025 – JTO: Aoi & Azusa Inaba vs. rhythm & Tomoka Inaba
27 Sep 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Itsuki Aoki, Miyuki Takase & Ryo Mizunami vs. Rina Yamashita, Utami Hayashishita & VENY
4 Oct 2025 – JTO: Ancham & Crea vs. rhythm & Tomoka Inaba
11 Oct 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Jun Kasai vs. Suzu Suzuki
16 Oct 2025 – Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS: Jun Kasai & Tomoya Hirata vs. Ken Ohka & Mizuki Watase
23 Oct 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Ali Najima vs. Kosuke Sato
7 Nov 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Homare, Shun Skywalker & Yuma Anzai vs. Kento Miyahara, YAMATO & Yuma Aoyagi
10 Nov 2025 – Sareee-ISM: Akira Kurogane & Ranna Yagami vs. Chi Chi & Miku Kanae
10 Nov 2025 – Pro Wrestling ZERO1: Hayabusa vs. Kaito Kiyomiya
25 Nov 2025 – Big Japan Pro Wrestling: Kazumasa Yoshida vs. Yasufumi Nakanoue
28 Dec 2025 – Wrestling In Japan – Freelance Shows: Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Yuu
30 Dec 2025 – GLEAT: El Lindaman vs. TJP

ZERO1

On 17th January at its first Shin-Kiba event of the 2026 calendar, ZERO1 held a one-day tournament to determine who was its strongest wrestler. You would think that it is currently World Heavyweight Champion Masato Tanaka, but it turned out to be their young guy on the rise, Junya Matsunaga. Matsunaga beat Yuki Toki, Tanaka and Chris Vice on his way to the tournament win, having already picked up a win over Hayabusa in the tag tournament in December. Hayabusa was knocked out by Tanaka in the first round in the best match of the tournament.

Konomi Hori debuted against Yumiko Hotta on 7th February at TOKYOSQUARE. Hotta isn’t the easiest veteran to debut against, just ask LLPW-X’s Wakana. But Hori tried to make the most of it and got the crowd behind her several times because she’s confident and expressive. Her athleticism is not there at all yet, as she gassed herself early on into the fight just from dropkicks. Miku Kanae was also on the show and surprisingly beat Yuki Mashiro in a good match. I say surprising because Yuki is a ZERO1 talent and Miku gets beaten by everyone. This could be leading to a rematch down the line.

ZERO1 announced they will be launching a joshi division named “Rose”. The official launch of the division is expected at some point in April. They will run two pre-launch shows on 1st March at TOKYOSQUARE and 20th March at Shin-Kiba 1st RING. The GM will be Megumi Kudo, one of the best joshi wrestlers ever who had already been working with ZERO1. The first members of the division are Konomi Hori, and another joshi trainee in ZERO1 who was announced on the 10th November show, named Mariko Nanase. The third member announced was Yuki Mashiro, who had done some dates in STARDOM but was appearing frequently in ZERO1. She will wrestle twice on the first show. I expect VENY to be a regular appearance on all Rose shows given she was working regularly for ZERO1. Konomi’s match for 1st March is still undecided. Mariko hurt her knee at the end of 2025 and so her debut has been postponed.

1st March TOKYOSQUARE Full Card

1st March 2026
TOKYOSQUARE, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan

Chanyota & Echika Miyavi vs. Makoto & VENY
CoCo vs. Kaho Kobayashi
Kakeru Sekiguchi vs. Yuki Mashiro
Mei Suruga & Ryoko Sakimura vs. Miku Kanae & Yuki Mashiro

Katsuhiko Nakajima visited the ZERO1 dojo on 10th February “as a surprise.” Nakajima was responding to Hayabusa’s request on Twitter to face him at Nakajima’s upcoming produce show. Junya Matsunaga barged in and said he wanted to face Nakajima on 28th February at TOKYOSQUARE. Matsunaga will then face Hayabusa on 6th March at TOKYOSQUARE as they got into a fight over who would fight Nakajima. That means there’s a big week for ZERO1 with a show on 28th February, 1st March and 6th March, all at TOKYOSQUARE.

ZERO1’s 25th anniversary show is at Shinjuku FACE on 3rd April where they will hold a match for the International Light Tag Team Title, reinstated after being vacant since 2020. ZERO1 did also just bring back the Intercontinental Tag Team Title which Junya Matsunaga & Tsugutaka Sato won in a tournament.

BJW

Yuya Aoki has announced that he will leave BJW and become a freelancer on 1st March. President Eiji Tosaka said that he used to be concerned when people left, such as Takuya Nomura, Ryuichi Kawakami and Yuji Okayabashi. Now, he wants to put the wrestler’s individual success first. This is exactly what he said when Daisuke Sekimoto left. Aoki mentioned one of his motivations was that he felt like he was watching pro wrestling as a fan, rather than being the one competing. He saw people of his generation win awards such as OZAWA and Saya Kamitani. He wants to achieve his goal of reaching the cover of Weekly Pro Wrestling magazine (Shupro). At first Aoki’s contract ended in December, but they agreed a short extension to allow Aoki some time to live in the dojo and pass on some tips and training to BJW’s future, Koshiro Asakura and Ryuma Sekimo, in the same way that Okayabashi had done with Aoki.

For a quick recap of “Wrestle Kingdom” Week, BJW ran three shows on the 30th and 31st December, and the 2nd of January. Some highlights were Daichi Hashimoto beating his stablemate Jacob Crane in a No Ropes match on the 30th December, Kazumi Kikuta and Toru Sugiura capturing the BJW Tag Team Title in a Fluorescent Lighttubes Alpha deathmatch, Hideoyoshi Kamitani and Jun Kasai going to war on the 31st December, with MASADA and Rina Yamashita winning the King of Deathmatch Grand Prix tournament on the same show, and finally Abdullah Kobayashi winning the BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Title from Yusaku Ito on the 2nd January.

BJW were back at Korakuen Hall on 31st January with a solid show from top to bottom. In the opener, Tochigi Pro duo Satsuki Nagao and Shoki Kitamura faced BJW Junior World Heavyweight Champion Kosuke Sato and Tatsuhiko Yoshino. Nagao picked up the win on Kosuke Sato after a brutal last few moments where they leathered each other and Nagao dropped Sato onto his neck with a great German suplex. The crowd was hot for this match. After the match, Kitamura decided to German suplex Yoshino for good measure. Rookie Ryuma Sekimo came out after the match to help Sato and Yoshino.

Yosomono, consisting of BJW Strong World Heavyweight Champion So Daimonji, former BJW Strong World Heavyweight Champions Daichi Hashimoto and Hideoyoshi Kamitani, as well as Jacob Crane, faced Ryuma Sekimo and Yasufumi Nakanoue. Yosomono roughly translates as “outsiders”. This match was largely about getting Sekimo over as Yosomono worked him over encouraging the crowd to root for him. Sekimo looked pretty great and has a good future as a junior, and despite me not watching any shows outside of Korakuen Hall in 2025, Sekimo did have my BJW MOTY with Fuminori Abe. Kankuro Hoshino pinned Yuya Aoki in another solid, heated, hard-hitting match.

The leader of Yosomono and current BJW top guy, So Daimonji, had sworn to help BJW fill up the orange seats in Korakuen Hall, which is why he introduced a new stable. He defended his crown against Kazumasa Yoshida. This was obviously a great match. The crowd were on the edge of their seats, Daimonji was aura-maxxing (complimentary) and they had several good nearfalls. One that got me was Daimonji hitting a tombstone driver into a furious lariat. The crowd burst into “Yoshida!” chants after he kicked out, indicating that it got them, too. Yoshida even kicked out of the ensuing Black Rain lariat. After a tense rear-naked choke where the crowd willed Yoshida on, Daimonji choked Yoshida out for the win. Ryuji Ito is the next challenger.

In the main event, Abdullah Kobayashi & Daiju Wakamatsu attempted to win the BJW Tag Team Title from Toru Sugiura & Kazumi Kikuta in a Light Tubes deathmatch. Kobayashi is an utter sicko who at one point, ate some light tubes. Obviously he did not swallow them down, but still, gross (sicko emoji). This match also had a disgusting clonking headbutt exchange between Daiju and Sugiura. This match was wild. These wrestlers are just ‘built different’. I should not have watched this while eating breakfast. Sugiura and Kikuta retained. Kazumi Kikuta will challenge Abdullah for his singles BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Title.

GLEAT

At “Ver. 21” El Lindaman defended his G-REX Title against TJP on 30th December at Shinjuku FACE. I thought that the start and end of the matches were excellent, but I got lost in the story being told during the middle. They dangled the story thread of Lindaman’s left leg being worked on from the initial grappling but the selling was a bit inconsistent. This match was at its best when they were grappling on the mat, and also just throwing each other around with crazy, well-executed suplexes. The finishing stretch had a lot of those which meant it ended on a positive note for me. Lindaman pinned TJP after a sick snap German suplex into his signature Tiger suplex.

El Lindaman went on to defend his G-REX Title against Soma Watanabe at “Ver. 22” in EDION Arena Osaka #2 on 10th January. I accidentally went to the venue in the morning thinking it was where the DDT show was and bumped into several GLEAT wrestlers who exchanged nods with me as I confusingly walked backstage lost. I am surprised no one kicked me out until I realised I was meant to be at Azalea Taisho Hall. Minoru Tanaka repainted his G-RUSH Title against Van Vert Jack.

The top two matches of “G PROWRESTLING v.101” at Shinjuku FACE on 20th January were good. The semi-main event was an all-joshi match pitting Unagi Sayaka’s faction including Ayame Sasamura, Honori Hana and Nanami Hatano, against GLEAT’s representation of Chanyota, Marika Kobashi, MICHIKO and Yuna Manase. Sayaka pinned Marika, and it seemed as if there was more of a story to come. Unagi’s faction are an eclectic collection of joshi all from different promotions, representing 2AW, SEAdLINNNG and Diana. In the main event, Hayato Tamura and T-Hawk attempted to dethrone Black Generation International (Kaito Ishida and KAZMA SAKAMOTO) for the G-INFINITY Title. This was a hard-hitting bout with a hot crowd. Hayato looked like a monster (in a good way). T-Hawk and Ishida love a good slap, and after slapping the crap out of each other, Ishida stole the win with a flash pin to retain.

El Lindaman defended his G-REX Title next against Ryuichi Kawakami on 11th February at Korakuen Hall. The match I enjoyed most on the show was a tag match between Hayato Tamura & T-Hawk against Shigehiro Irie & So Daimonji. It was just four dudes beating each other up. It’s hard to get wrong.

Katsuhiko Nakajima’s First Produce Show

Katsuhiko Nakajima is running his first ever produce show at Azalea Taisho Hall in Osaka on 31st May.

Ganbare Pro Wrestling

On 27th December, GanPro held their Korakuen Hall show. I have been very hard on YuuRI and felt that the best wrestler in the world, Sareee, could give her her best performance yet. She did. YuuRI looked great. She wrestled with more intensity and ferocity than she ever has, with the story being Sareee ghosting and “lil bro’ing” her and GanPro, not contributing to the build at all. The two beat the crap out of each other and it’s the stiffest I’ve seen YuuRI work as she tightened up her strikes and laid in her shots. Even her bumping was great. This is why Sareee is the best wrestler in the world. She is the ultimate floor raiser. I think this match was better than Sareee’s match with MIRAI. There is no doubt in my mind, despite having not watched all of them, that this is YuuRI’s best match of her career.

In the main event, Masaaki Mochizuki successfully defended his Spirit of Ganbare Openweight Title against Keisuke Ishii. This match was also awesome. Mochi has no right to be this good at 57. I do not think there is any argument that there is a wrestler aged over 50 that has been as good as 2025 Mochi. Ever. There were stiff strikes, moonsaults and steep neck bumps, all the ingredients for a great main event.

Elsewhere, Shinchiro Tominaga and Yumehito Imanari captured the Spirit of Ganbare World Tag Team Title from BASARA duo Ryota Nakatsu and Takumi Tsukamoto. Tominaga later challenged Mochizuki on 31st January at Shin-Kiba 1st RING but failed to capture the title.

They had to move their show on 31st January due to the snap elections announced on 19th January, scheduled for voting 8th February. The building originally scheduled was due to be designated for early voting so they moved to Shin-Kiba 1st RING. On the show, Shinichiro Tominaga failed to beat Masaaki Mochizuki for the Spirit of Ganbare Openweight Title.

BASARA

On 31st January at Shinjuku FACE Shuji Ishikawa defended the UNION Max Title that he won from Ryoya Nakatsu on 27th December, against FUMA. SAGAT & Lil Kraken unsuccessfully challenged Takumi Tsukamoto and Daiki Shimomura for the Iron Fist Tag Team Title. Isami Kodaka, who had been on leave for a few months, made his return. Harimao (Ryota Nakatsu & Yuki Ishida) are challenging for the Iron Fist Tag Team Title on 20th February.

FREEDOMS

Reiya Igarashi, known for his kick heavy offence, announced that he has officially joined the FREEDOMS promotion on 3rd January.

Jun Kasai and Mizuki Watase defeated Masashi Takeada & Yusaku Ito for the KING of FREEDOM World Tag Team Title on 23rd January at Shin-Kiba 1st RING and went on to defend against Mammoth Sasaki and Daisuke Masaoka.

Tomoya Hirata failed to beat Violento Jack for the KING of FREEDOM World Title in a Flourescent Light Tubes Deathmatch on 12th February at Korakuen Hall, while Brahman Shu failed to win the KING of FREEDOM World Junior Heavyweight Title from Kengo. Hirata saw the title as his way to leave an impression on the sign, feeling that he hadn’t done so despite a nine-year career. He has recently brought back the German suplex as one of his moves, after stopping using it due to a leg injury. The match was sick. You should watch it. Kota Sekifuda returned on the show in a deathmatch, the day after making an appearance in All Japan.

JTO

MIRAI defeated Azusa Inaba for the Queen of JTO Title on 28th December at TOKYOSQUARE. The match was said to be excellent by those who were there live. As at the time of writing, it has still not aired on YouTube.

On 6th March, JTO will be running Korakuen Hall. MIRAI defend against Big Haruka for the JTO Girls Title, Tomoka Inaba takes on TAKA Michinoku himself and Azusa Inaba faces her STARDOM unitmate in Rina.

Big Haruka had an interview with the always amazing HypeTalkTV where we (I) finally found out why she has “rm-rf you” on her gear. It’s a reference to deleting a file named “you” in Linux, so it’s basically saying she’s deleting her opponent. It turns out she is a fourth year Nuclear Energy student at university and is a freelance app developer in her spare time, developing manga apps. She mentions that she wants to face HANAKO as they were in the same student wrestling club.

Uptown

Kuroshio TOKYO Japan’s promotion, Uptown Wrestling, held a show on 3rd February at Shinjuku FACE. Shiono and Saito, who debuted on 10th September, have started a seven-match trial series. In their third match, they faced Sareee and Chi Chi on the show. I have seen Saito in Ice Ribbon, and to call them green would be an understatement. But everyone has to start somewhere. GLEAT’s Hayato Tamura retained the Uptown Title against Fuminori Abe. DASH Chisako teamed with Uptown’s own Momoka Hanazono, defeating Jun Kasai and Jiro.

Kyushu Pro

On 12th January, Jet Wei & Kodai Nozaki defended their Kyushu Pro Tag Team Title against Hitamaru Sasaki & Minoru Tanaka. Kyushu shows have free admission so they packed almost 1,000 people in for a hot main event. It was pretty hard for this match to not be good. It’s worth checking out on their YouTube.

Yuji Nagata made his first appearance in Kyushu Pro on 14th February in Kurume, Fukuoka. He challenged for, and won, the Kyushu Pro Tag Team Title with TAJIRI (yes, that Tajiri), defeating Jet Wei and Kodai Nozaki. He will also appear on 8th March.

Michinoku Pro Wrestling

Michinoku Pro’s next date at Korakuen Hall is 12th June.

MIRAI will face Dick Togo on 23rd March.

Risa Sera’s Retirement Show

Risa Sera retired on 12th January at Korakuen Hall, with her final match a singles match against long-term friend Suzu Suzuki. Sera’s next steps are her new promotion “Wrestle BINGO!” which is affiliated with Diana. Prominence are still running shows, with the next announced on 22nd April at TOKYOSQUARE. The rest of the Prominence crew, Kurumi Hiiragi and Mochi Natsumi, have joined units in Diana. They also won the WAVE Tag Team Title on 8th February.

T-HEARTS – Yumiko Hotta’s Birthday

T-HEARTS ran Shinjuku FACE on 10th January, hosting a one-day tag team tournament to celebrate Yumiko Hotta’s birthday. The teams looked pretty stacked, but the idea was probably better in my head than in execution. There were some great matches, but I love some of these competitors so much you think it’s going to be MOTYC level stuff, but then remember that one-day tournaments very rarely produce that given they have to work multiple times. I caught the opener and the final. In the opener, NORI & Sareee defeated Chi Chi & VENY to progress to the final. This was the one on paper I was most excited for, but it was an 8-minute opener. A good one, but 8-minutes nevertheless. It was the first time NORI and VENY had ever met in the ring which was special enough for me to enjoy it. More of that, please. Sareee pinned Chi Chi with a single uranage. In the final, NORI & Sareee beat DASH Chisako & Miku Kanae to win the tournament in the best match of the show. It was a great Miku Kanae showcase, who unleashed a rare German suplex after no-selling NORI’s brutal spin kick. Well, NORI finished it off with one of the coolest finishers in wrestling today – her running enzuigiri. NORI and Miku were awesome on the finishing stretch. Oh, and of course it was a T-HEARTS show so the “Miku guy” (a Yumiko Hotta superfan) was in attendance making his presence felt.

Hot Shushu

Hot Shushu is a promotion that is closely affiliated with Ice Ribbon. They run the same buildings as Ice Ribbon, use their dojo, and there are Ice Ribbon regulars that are actually contracted with Hot Shushu such as Arisa Shinose (also dual contracted with her own promotion Asuka Pro), and the Hiiro twins (Mase and Moe). Moe is 14 and Mase’s age is unknown but likely younger than 10. When I was at Ribbonmania on 31st December, I saw several Hot Shushu staff at ringside with “28.03.2026” on the back of their shirt, and the kanji for Korakuen Hall. I knew one of their wrestlers Kiku was retiring in March, but not that it was at Korakuen. I thought to myself that they better have something big planned for that. Well, it was announced that the Hiiro twins would debut on STARDOM’s New Blood show on 3rd February, and that AZM and Starlight Kid would be facing the Hiiro twins on Hot Shushu’s Korakuen Hall show on 28th March. What a “universes collide” moment.

Asuka Pro Wrestling

Hot Shushu and Asuka Pro wrestler Arisa Shinose faced Risa Sera in the main event of her home promotion on 7th January. Asuka Pro is run by Arisa’s dad, Akira Shinose, and is built around Arisa and her connections to other joshi in the scene. This was the last chance for Arisa to face her idol before Sera’s retirement days later. Arisa started wrestling in elementary school and attended Ice Ribbon classes that they hold at the dojo. She would stop by Sera’s merch booth and interact with Sera. After Sera and her friends left Ice Ribbon to start their own promotion, Arisa still joined Ice Ribbon as a trainee and debuted on 25th June 2022. She was injured in her debut and returned almost a year later which is when she started to appear for Asuka Pro. At Asuka’s 10th anniversary at Korakuen Hall on 17th July, Arisa finally got to face Risa Sera. Arisa then left Ice Ribbon to sign with Asuka Pro and Hot Shushu. This was Arisa’s last chance to face her idol. The show has not been uploaded yet.

On 29th March at Shinjuku FACE, Arisa Shinose and Sumika Yanagawa will face Matsuzawa-san and Mio Shirai. They last ran the venue on 11th July.

Gokigen Pro

I normally don’t get around to covering Kaori Yoneyama’s promotion as for most big shows you have to hand over more than 5k yen to watch live (and they partner with COLORS so SAKI works there a lot), but an interesting note is that they ran Culttz Kawasaki on 24th January, the same date Diana are running that venue in the morning. It was quite a bit more empty than Diana’s show as you’d expect. There were some interesting matchups including Diana teammates Haruka Umesaki and Syan Syan against each other, as well as Marvelous’ AAAW Tag Team Champions Magenta (Maria & RIKO) in singles action against each other.

Fortune Dream 11

Kenta Kobashi’s annual produce show, “Fortune Dream”, in its 11th installment, will be main-evented by a three-way match between career rivals, Sareee and Chihiro Hashimoto, as well as the World of STARDOM Champion Saya Kamitani. It takes place on 16th April at Korakuen Hall, meaning that Saya Kamitani will not travel to the US for STARDOM’s “WrestleMania” Weekend shows. Also booked for the show is Shawn Capture (Ikuto Hidaka & Itsuki Aoki) against Minoru Suzuki & Unagi Sayaka, as well as Kotaro Suzuki versus All Japan rookie Shota Kofuji.

Shinjiro Otani Aid Show

Shinjiro Otani’s annual show to fundraise for his recovery from serious injury was held on 1st January at Korakuen Hall. Otani was injured on 10th April at Ryogoku Kokugikan during a ZERO1 match, the promotion he founded. Tochigi Pro’s Baba was at the venue pretty much every single day that I went there to sell tickets and collect donations for this show in the lead up. The slot at Korakuen Hall is for Tochigi Pro, which has close ties with ZERO1 and Otani. On 9th February, NOAH announced that it would begin handling management-related duties for Otani, and Otani appeared at the 11th February Korakuen Hall show for fans. Otani said that even though he’s not in the ring, he is still a wrestler and is currently wrestling a match against cervical spine cord injury, with the match time at three years and ten months.

Sareee versus MIRAI was a very good match and another installment in Sareee’s collection of good bouts. She has probably accumulated more “good or better” bouts than any other wrestler throughout 2025 and began 2026 in similar fashion. While the match did not include anything you haven’t seen in a Sareee match, I felt their dynamic worked well and left a lot on the table for future matches, with only a single (nasty looking) uranage enough to put MIRAI away. The main event was GanPro’s Mizuki Watase and Tochigi Pro’s Bright Future Champion Satsuki Nagao against ZERO1’s new Intercontinental Tag Team Champion Tsugutaka Sato and shoot headbutt machine Kohei Sato. Well, Watase had to shoot headbutt Kohei to break his hold on Nagao. Kohei remembered this and unleashed an unholy headbutt on Watase’s partner, Nagao. It’s not like Kohei ever needs an excuse to shoot headbutt, so he was probably excited that Watase started the match in that manner. After a few more headbutts, body blows and a pile driver, Kohei pinned the Tochigi Champion in the middle of the ring.

Hana Kimura Memorial “HANUR”

Kyoko Kimura announced that Hana Kimura’s annual memorial show will take place on 23rd May 2026 at Korakuen Hall. Hana Kimura sadly took her own life on 23rd May 2020 at the age of 22. All proceeds for the show go towards legal costs which Kyoko believes will restore Hana’s honor, as well as funding the activities of the “Remember Hana” non-profit. Kyoko sued Fuji TV and two other companies in 2022, alleging that they breached their duty of care toward Hana during her appearance on their realtiy TV show Terrace House which is where the cyberbullying campaign against Hana began. She is seeking damages of around ¥142 million. The suit is ongoing. Kyoko said she expected it to last three years, let alone five, and that it still hasn’t progressed much.

The show’s name is a play on the Korean word “hanuru” meaning sky, and Hana’s dad, named “Nur”. Kyoko named her fourth rescue cat “hanuru” as the sky was beautiful on the day she picked her up. Later, she realised it was similar to Hana’s name. The show normally features STARDOM talent that were close to Hana such as Konami and Rina. This year they will co-operate with PURE-J, Sendai Girls, Okinawa Pro, 666 and EVO. STARDOM have a big show in Nagoya on 23rd May. That doesn’t mean there won’t be any STARDOM talent such as Konami and Rina, but it’s noteworthy. So far, freelancers Banana Senga and Tsutomu Oosgui & X will face Kaho Kobayashi, X & XX, and we also have PURE-J ace Hanako Nakamori against Yuko Miyamoto. The full card has not been announced.

Dradition Pro Wrestling

Tatsumi Fujinami’s promotion, Dradition, will hold their first event of 2026 on 22nd May at Korakuen Hall. It will celebrate Fujinami’s 55th anniversary since his debut.

Dove Pro Wrestling

Dove Pro is running again on 18th March and 12th April. The 12th April show is “Road to Budokan S1 EP2”.

Hiroshima Pro-Wrestling Festival

On 18th January, the “Hiroshima Pro-Wrestling Festival” was held at Hiroshima Industrial Hall. Atsushi Onita, 68, who has retired seven times, was in the main event. The match report indicates that there was a botched table spot where the table’s legs bent during a piledriver and Onita fell neck-first and was unable to move for some time. He later got up to finish the rest of the match before reassuring the fans that as long as they keep cheering for him, he will not quit wrestling. After the show he stated that he would go to hospital the day after as the pain in his neck worsened. An update was released on 10th February. Onita stated that he no longer needed a support brace, and said that the pro-wrestling gods protected him. He’s returning to the ring on 23rd February. This is like that movie, The Wrestler, with Mickey Rourke.

Shawn Capture

Itsuki Aoki is being rewarded from her great work in STARDOM by getting AZM and Mei Seira booked against her in her own promotion of Shawn Capture that she runs with Ikuto Hidaka. Aoki will team up with Shawn Capture regular Kakeru Sekiguchi on 21st March in Matsue, Shimane, Aoki’s home prefecture.

666

The comedy promotion best known for its talent such as Konaka and Ram Kaicho, issued a notice asking people to delete AI-generated images which remove masks and/or paint from their wrestlers in an attempt to imagine what the wrestlers look like. 666 said masks and paint were part of their wrestlers’ self-expression and identity and the AI-generated images could constitute an infringement of rights and unintended misunderstandings. 666 said that they will take formal action if said images continued to be shared.

Koju Takeda, on his retirement road, due to compete in his final 666 on 6th February. Takeda will retire on 4th March at Shinjuku Ni-chome Pro-Wrestling, a 666-produced show which an LGBTQ+ friendly show held in a popular LGBTQ+ district.

BURST Pro

Towa Iwasaki left ZERO1 at the end of 2020 at the age of 22 to start his new promotion “BURST Pro” based out of KANZAKI BASE in Saga prefecture. BURST announced that it has been forced to suspend operations temporarily due to a deterioration in the conditions of KANZAKI BASE. Their contracted wrestlers, Daichi Hashimoto and Iwasaki, will continue to wrestle and represent the promotion across the independent scene. BURST confirmed that the annual Saga Arena show would also be postponed and are accepting refunds. They run the large basketball arena once a year for their “Dreamer” events and announce attendances of around 2,000.

HERO

HERO is a Japanese independent promotion built around accessibility, with “barrier-free pro wrestling” being one of their slogans. The idea is to make wrestling enjoyable for deaf, visually impaired or wheelchair users and fans with mobility needs. That includes having things like sign-language interpretation, captioning on venue screens (if available), radio-style live commentary and being able to interact physically with the wrestlers in some circumstances. HERO are running another installment of their show on 21st February, with the last show taking place on 29th November. I am personally interested in an AWG offer match with MARU and Wild Bunny against Midsummer Sea Breeze (Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki), where Wild Bunny is Act’s alter ago. They also have Ayame Sasamura and Misa Kagura against Makoto and Maria (from Marvelous).

Super Japan Pro Wrestling

The next Super Japan Pro Wrestling show is on 24th March at Shinjuku FACE. After that show, Sanshiro Takagi will hold a fan vote asking if the promotion should continue. If they do not get a majority vote, they will dissolve immediately. This references back to 25th March 1997 when DDT held a pre-launch event at Hibiya Radio City titled “Judgement,” and they would cancel the launch if they did not get a majority vote. They received overwhelming support and DDT officially launched. Now, DDT is a thing, so I hope the Shinjuku FACE audience do the right thing. I’ll let you guess which one I mean. Wait, what’s that? Kazunari Murakami will be facing Shinya Aoki on the show, you say? Okay, fine. I’ll watch.

Shinya Aoki’s New Event

The “Aoki Family”, a group founded by Shinya Aoki, has announced a new event named “Eioki Clutch”, the first event of which will be held on 20th April at Shinjuku FACE. Aoki will face Kendo Kashin in the main event.

Capture International

Capture International is making a comeback on 27th February, with its last show held in 2022. It is returning with a bang as it has booked Shuji Ishikawa vs. Naoya Nomura in an open finger gloves match. Nomura returned to wrestling recently, including an extended run in All Japan which was excellent. The promotion ran its first “basement-style” show in 1998. They will be running the usual “Basement Monstar” room in Tokyo.

The “Android Inoki Project” -Wait, what? Oh. Okay.

On 19th February, the day before Antonio Inoki’s birthday, the “Android Inoki Project” held a press conference in Tokyo. I won’t bore you with the details of who or what companies are involved, but essentially, in conjunction with Inoki’s brother, the project is building an AI-powered android in the image of Inoki. They see three main uses, one is public sector, to allow the public to interact with virtual Inoki and hear his words and wisdom, and secondly in the private sector, allowing companies to use his likeness as a sponsor or in advertisements, provided his image and dignity is not damaged. Finally, they want to preserve Inoki in a way that children decades in the future can speak with Inoki and push them to take on challenges. They believe AI is a good fit for the project because of the amount of data available on Inoki’s mannerisms and writings.

The goals of the project are first to stabilise a “virtual Antonio Inoki” so that it can have a range of wide conversations. Then they will build an android robot that gives Antonio Inoki a “physical presence”. They are aiming for a release on 20th February 2027.

Back to Round-up

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

MOTYC

13 Jul 2025 – Kizuna Tanaka & MIRAI vs. Mio Momono & Senka Akatsuki

Marvelous MOTYC

8 Aug 2025 – Ai Houzan, Maria, Mio Momono, Riko Kawahata & Sora Ayame vs. Komomo Minami, Miku Aono, Seri Yamaoka, Utami Hayashishita & Victoria Yuzuki

Excellent

27 Mar 2025 – Makoto & VENY vs. Maria & Riko Kawahata
6 Apr 2025 – Sora Ayame vs. Takumi Iroha
17 Apr 2025 – Aja Kong vs. Senka Akatsuki
5 May 2025 – Ai Houzan & VENY vs. Sareee & Takumi Iroha
21 Jun 2025 – Johnnie Robbie vs. Senka Akatsuki
27 Jun 2025 – Sareee & Takumi Iroha vs. Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame
19 Oct 2025 – Senka Akatsuki vs. Takumi Iroha
21 Dec 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto, Sareee & Takumi Iroha vs. Mio Momono, Rin & Yuu
28 Dec 2025 – Senka Akatsuki vs. Seri Yamaoka

Highly Recommended

27 Mar 2025 – Chanyota & ZONES vs. Itsuki Aoki & Senka Akatsuki
10 Apr 2025 – Ai Houzan & Riko Kawahata vs. Hummingbird & Victoria Yuzuki
5 May 2025 – Maria & Riko Kawahata vs. Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame
5 May 2025 – Ai Houzan & VENY vs. Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame
20 May 2025 – Ai Houzan & Nanae Takahashi vs. Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame
13 Jul 2025 – Johnnie Robbie, Maria & Riko Kawahata vs. Sareee, Sora Ayame & Takumi Iroha
21 Sep 2025 – Chikayo Nagashima & RIKO vs. Itsuki Aoki & Senka Akatsuki
24 Oct 2025 – Sareee & Takumi Iroha vs. Senka Akatsuki & Seri Yamaoka
3 Dec 2025 – Echika Miyavi & Senka Akatsuki vs. Itsuki Aoki & Mio Momono

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

6 Apr 2025 – Ai Houzan & Senka Akatsuki vs. Ayame Sasamura & Itsuki Aoki
10 Apr 2025 – Chikayo Nagashima & Senka Akatsuki vs. Sora Ayame & Unagi Sayaka
20 May 2025 – Ryo Mizunami & Sonoko Kato vs. Sareee & Takumi Iroha
1 Jun 2025 – Johnnie Robbie & VENY vs. Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha
27 Jun 2025 – Titus Alexander vs. Yosuke Santa Maria
30 Jul 2025 – Ai Houzan vs. Sareee
8 Aug 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs. Sareee & Takumi Iroha
31 Aug 2025 – Ai Houzan, Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame vs. Sareee, Takumi Iroha & Valentina Rossi
31 Aug 2025 – Mio Momono vs. Yurika Oka
12 Oct 2025 – Nightshade & Senka Akatsuki vs. Sareee & Takumi Iroha
2 Nov 2025 – Ai Houzan & Sora Ayame vs. Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha

Watch on Wrestle Universe (VOD)

Watch on Zaiko (Live PPV)

Marvelous Year-End Show

28th December 2025
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Senka Akatsuki vs. Seri Yamaoka

When I was thinking about making a trip to Japan, there were a few shows that were the main inspiration for me deciding to travel. One of those was of course STARDOM’s “Dream Queendom” on 29th December, another was Ice Ribbon’s “Ribbonmania” on 31st December, but the other was Marvelous’ Korakuen Hall show. Marvelous is a promotion that is close to my heart because it is the first joshi independent promotion that I truly fell in love with. It was my gateway drug to all the other promotions we cover. There’s a reason I put it first in the independent section, because it’s also first in my heart. On top of that, there is one feud that I love in wrestling more than any other and am admittedly entirely biased about (duh, it’s a hobby that requires emotional investment, bias is part of the game). It is Senka Akatsuki vs. Seri Yamaoka. It is everything I love about pro wrestling. It is raw, real, and most importantly, between two rookies most would describe as some of the best rookies we have seen in joshi in quite a while. It’s such a simple storyline. Which one is better? Who will win more accolades? Who will sell out more arenas? Who will become the best professional wrestler? There’s no other storyline in this. It is pure jealousy, envy and a competitive spirit. When people say “wrestling needs to be simple,” Senka and Seri encapsulate more than any other two wrestlers on the planet, and again, they are 19 year old rookies.

Given my love for this feud, of course, I invited my wife to join me for her first ever live Japanese wrestling show (to be fair, my first was two days prior). When I was deciding which shows I’d like my wife to experience, I wanted two joshi wrestling shows, and two men’s. I wanted her to experience a hard-hitting/action-packed style and then a more light-hearted style, so I selected Marvelous, TJPW, Dragongate and DDT. Of course, the only comedy match on the card with Titus Alexander, El Cucuy and Yosuke Santa Maria was her favourite. In her words it was “technical, but funny”. Titus’ stardom was apparent to even my wife. He was also one of the most over people on the card and regularly delivers excellent performances in Marvelous. All in all, my wife mentioned that in Japanese wrestling “there’s more wrestling, less posing and shorter matches”. She’s not a wrestling fan, so if you were wondering what non-fans may think of Japanese wrestling, there you go.

Meanwhile, I was locked in for the Senka and Seri match. I hadn’t looked up at my friends for the entirety of the match. They knew it was what I had mostly travelled to see and they were checking in on me during the match, and I sat there mostly still, just watching every movement of Senka and Seri, and taking it all in. I thought the match was incredible live. There was so much energy, heat, and wrestlers came out from the back to peek at the show from the corner of Korakuen Hall. It felt like a big match so early in each of their careers. I think it is understated how crazy it is that these two have managed to garner this reputation. They’ve managed to capture lightning-in-a-bottle. Rookies are not supposed to do that. We are so numb to what Senka and Seri are doing that it doesn’t register that a feud of this rawness between rookies like this hasn’t come around in decades. The match they put on was not giving everything away. They laid out the match deliberately to be a first installment. If you know you are writing a series of books, you don’t try to finish it in the first chapter. I feel that is somewhat lost in pro wrestling when we are so eager to judge each match in a vacuum. This match was absolutely perfect for what it was trying to do, which is establish a starting point for these two to reference and build upon. Seri didn’t even use her side suplex or the Aoki clutch. Senka won with her frog splash finisher, when she’s been finishing a lot of her matches with the axe bomber into the Zenjo-style pin combination. This match was the correct result, keeps the feud going and presumably, Seri will get her win back on a Marigold show. There is no rush with these two. If you are a joshi wrestling fan, then one of the reasons is likely because of their ability to build out storyline threads across their entire careers. Joshi wrestling fans are taught to be patient. Play the long game. This was an excellent first chapter.

In the main event, Spark Rush (Sareee & Takumi Iroha) lost their AAAW Tag Team Title to Magenta (Maria & RIKO). This was the expected result. With Marvelous’ big show upcoming on 5th May at Yokohama BUNTAI, Takumi Iroha will obviously defend her AAAW Title in the main event against a big opponent. I have previously written that Spark Rush showed some tension early on in their run, so much so I figured Sareee was being built up for a shot at the title long down the line, so that could come to fruition. The point is, Takumi needed to dump the AAAW Tag Team Title at some point so they could also be defended on the show, and Magenta is the obvious choice considering they were building the feud for months. The match itself was disappointing. It had poorly executed cheating, such as a really bad chair spot which referee Tommy saw and did nothing about. This is not OZ Academy. Magenta then handcuffed Spark Rush together and started beating on them. It took them ages to uncuff Spark Rush, and Sareee had to wrestle with one handcuff dangling from her wrist for the rest of the match. Before that, it was a great match with RIKO and Sareee in particular stealing the show. My wife, without prompting, brought up that it felt “very WWE.” I promise you I have not conditioned her. She did say that it was still entertaining, and I agreed. Cheating can be entertaining when done right. The execution was simply off here.

Ai Houzan lost to Kaoru Ito on the undercard. As we’ll get to later, Ai Houzan has consistently been put in positions where she feels like she is being treated like a rookie. This match was essentially a rookie vs. vet match. The crowd really wanted Ai to win and regularly chanted “Ai-chan!” There were a bunch of great nearfalls, but Ai was finished off with a disgusting diving double foot stomp, squishing her entirely.

Full Results

Echika Miyabi, Rina Amikura & Yuki Miyazaki defeat Amale, Chikayo Nagashima & Sora Ayame (12:39)

Kaoru Ito defeats Ai Houzan (9:24)

Titus Alexander defeats El Cucuy and Yosuke Santa Maria (8:28)

Mio Momono & Rin defeat Itsuki Aoki & Miku Kanae (14:51)

Senka Akatsuki defeats Seri Yamaoka (12:28)

AAAW Tag Team Title:
Magenta (Maria & RIKO) defeat Sareee & Takumi Iroha (c) (20:33)

Mahiro Namatame’s Pro Test

12th January 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Mio Momono & Titus Alexander vs. Mizuki Watase & Yosuke Santa Maria

Before the show began, Mahiro Namatame, who was 18 as of September 2025 but her exact birthdate has not been provided, passed her pro test. For those that do not know, this is a common test for trainees to complete before they become rookies and formally join the roster. Some trainees may never reach their pro test. The Marvelous dojo is known for being quite brutal, alongside the Sendai Girls one, so of course the pro test is not as easy as it looks. Mahiro joined the dojo after leaving her full-time job in construction, because she admired Chigusa Nagayo and had seen her story in the Queen of Villains Netflix documentary. The judges for her pro test were Sareee, Mio Momono and Chikayo Nagashima. The first challenge was what felt like 5 million squats, but it was 300. It is very militaristic, with her counting each squat and the three recent rookies, Senka, Sora and Fuka (13, who passed her pro test on 27th June) all counting with a one second delay behind Mahiro, because it takes around two seconds to complete a squat. The camera switched to, who I presume, is her mother who was in tears. The next challenge was a one-minute tripod headstand. The challenge after was a one-minute bridge. She completed both, first time. Then, Mahiro had to do 10 bridge kick-overs, which is really difficult. You bridge on your neck and then flip your body over. The crowd kept on pushing her forward. Takumi and Mio’s faces looked like they thought she was going to fail. Mahiro really struggled with this but eventually, after an agonising five minutes or two, managed to get it done. Then Mahiro had rotational drills, such as breakfalls and rope running. Finally, the sparring rounds, one against Fuka, then Senka, finally Ai Houzan. There was one bonus round where she had to hold a one-minute bridge while supporting Senka on top of her, which was absolutely insane. Later in the show during the intermission, Chigusa Nagayo announced that Mahiro had passed and that they would aim for the 5th May for her debut.

Mio Momono & Titus Alexander paired up for one of the most fun mixed tag teams on the planet today, taking on GanPro’s Mizuki Watase and Marvelous regular Yosuke Santa Maria. My friends were at this show live while I was in Kobe sightseeing. They described this as one of the best comedy matches. I watch a lot of DDT, so that sets my expectations extremely high. Now that I’ve seen it, I would say that this match does not need the qualifier of “comedy”. This was simply a well executed, excellently worked match, centred around one of the best wrestlers on the planet, Mio Momono. After Santa Maria (I don’t call them Maria because Maria is reserved for Maria, you know, Magenta Maria) went easy on their former lover, Titus, Titus responded with a brutal chop. When Titus tagged Mio in, Santa Maria didn’t care anymore and unleashed on Mio which is where it all began. Santa Maria tagged Watase in, who had also changed his mind and refused to go easy on Mio, chopping her as hard as he could on the back. They both worked as dastardly heels, destroying Mio, who, as one of the best sellers and babyfaces on the planet, made this extremely compelling. Mio’s comeback was great, with Titus even launching Mio over the top rope at the enemy team. She literally went flying. Soon after, Watase was back bullying Mio, but she retaliated with a crazy release German suplex. Later, Mio and Titus try a crazy spot. Titus sits on the turnbuckle and Mio steps on top of Titus’ shoulders, but she slips and almost dies. Watase and Santa Maria improvise and celebrate, kicking Mio out of the ring and then trying the same spot before hilariously failing it, almost mocking what had just happened. It was a genius way to improvise. They then went to the finish, with Santa Maria kissing Watase, receiving a forearm from Watase, a kick in the privates by Mio, and then the Big Ugly by Titus. Great match.

The new AAAW Tag Team Champions Magenta (Maria & RIKO) faced the team that caused them to turn heel on 5th May 2025 in Reiwa Crush Gals (Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame). Reiwa Crush Gals had scored an upset victory over favourites Magenta in the one day tag team tournament, eventually won by Spark Rush (Sareee & Takumi Iroha). Since then, Senka has gone on main event several shows while Magenta were stuck lower down the card in comedy three-ways and singles matches. Finally, they would be meeting the stupid rookies that took their place. It was a big match up, one that could realistically be on the 5th May Yokohama BUNTAI card. However, Marvelous did not see it that way and booked quite a light-hearted, house show vibes main event. Interesting decision to say the least. It did signal to me that the BUNTAI show may just have the most amount of freelancers on a card ever in order to fill it out, if they aren’t going to have homegrown talent go up against each other. Maria tapped out Sora Ayame with an armbar. After the match, Magenta tried to recruit Echika Miyavi, but she declined.

Spark Rush (Sareee & Takumi Iroha) faced Chikayo Nagashima & rising indie standout Echika Miyavi in the second match on the card. Sareee absolutely thumped Miyavi with forearms as payback for Miyavi wrecking havoc on the Marvelous roster with her chops. Well, Echika paid Spark Rush back with crazy chops to both of them. Unfortunately, Echika is still pretty low on the totem pole and got beat by Sareee’s double diving foot stomp. Not even an uranage. Noob.

Full Results

Itsuki Aoki defeats Ai Houzan and Amale (12:15)

Sareee & Takumi Iroha defeat Chikayo Nagashima & Echika Miyabi (11:30)

Mio Momono & Titus Alexander defeat Mizuki Watase & Yosuke Santa Maria (18:08)

Magenta (Maria & RIKO) defeat Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame (13:10)

Magenta start recruiting Echika Miyavi - 17th January 2026

17th January 2026
Azalea Taisho Hall, Osaka, Japan

Marvelous do not usually main event with singles matches, but this show had Maria taking on Senka Akatsuki in a special singles match. This was a really interesting main event, both in its layout and the result. Firstly, it was wrestled like a main event. It felt like Senka was simply gaining experience in how to wrestle that style. She was selling a lot, so much so that when she went to the turnbuckle for her finisher, a frog splash, she was too hurt to do the move and Maria took advantage. That is the type of spot you see in a big match. It is smart to try these things in house shows. Then, Senka actually won with her signature shoot-style pin as she smothered Maria. On the first few attempts, Maria wriggled free so Senka transitioned one of the flash pins into a body slam and repeated it, and miraculously it was a three-count. That means that Senka now, technically, could challenge for the AAAW Tag Team Title when she wants. They could run back the Reiwa Crush Gals, but more seriously this time rather than the house show match in the main event of 12th January, or she could pick a different partner. This was a clever main event to book. Well done, Takumi. Senka closed out the show entirely by herself, a real marker of how her growth up the totem pole in the promotion.

Magenta continued to recruit Echika Miyavi in the semi-main event as Chikayo Nagashima & RIKO beat Takumi Iroha and Echika due to a misfired tornado kick from Takumi. Echika appeared to bribe her way out of being forced to join Magenta as Magenta left the arena happy with the money, but like high school bullies, I’m sure they will be back for more.

Due to her connections with “Monday Magic” booker NOSAWA, Chigusa Nagayo sometimes gets some leftovers. European duo Iker Navarro and Nathan De Wind faced Titus Alexander and Yosuke Santa Maria. This was like every other “match two” you’ve read a review on in the past five or six newsletter issues. Titus is a stud, though.

Amale and Sora Ayame lost to Ai Houzan and Mio Momono after Mio got pissed off at having her shins get kicked by Sora, and proceeded to slap her around the face before tapping her out.

Kaya Nishimura’s Pro Test

28th January 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show

A week after Ai Houzan’s feature in Shupro issue #2396 about how she felt jealousy regarding Senka’s rise, Ai teamed up with Senka in the main event against AAAW Tag Team Champions Magenta (Maria & RIKO). While Ai admitted she was not in a good place following her time-limit draw and subsequent singles match loss to Senka in January 2025, she also put a positive spin on it, essentially explaining how it lit a fire underneath her which she had certainly shown throughout the latter half of 2025. Ai and Senka have a tense relationship, feuding on and off in 2025, but they would team up to deal with the nuisance of Marvelous in Magenta. Senka arrived with her shiny new Sendai Girls Junior Title, the first championship of her career. Ai showed more of her fire as she clonked heads with RIKO while giving her a shoot headbutt. Magenta won the match as Maria got a flash pin on Senka with the Marian Roll (120% schoolboy). This did give her a pin back over Senka from the last show. Backstage, Magenta spoke about wanting to face teams from other promotions in preparation of the 5th May show.

In the semi-main event, Aoki & Kadokura (Itsuki Aoki and Rin), in her fourth match since returning, faced one of the best tag teams in joshi, Spark Rush (Sareee & Takumi Iroha). It was Aoki & Kadokura’s first time back together as a team for about three years. They have also been former AAAW Tag Team Champions.This was a good hard-hitting bout, with Itsuki and Sareee going back and forth on some stiff forearms. Sareee won after pinning Rin with a single standard uranage. After the match, Aoki spoke about how happy she was to team again. Rin then announced that she was retiring at Yokohama BUNTAI on 5th May. Aoki looked stunned, and Takumi said that Aoki actually didn’t know. Backstage, Aoki and Rin said that they want to continue teaming across the independent scene before Rin’s retirement. Rin said she decided to retire after hearing Yuu’s retirement news as it had already been on her mind. The 5th May Yokohama show gave her a good place to retire so she returned for a run up to Yokohama. She wants to face Mayu Iwatani before she retires. Given Marigold and Marvelous’ rivalry in 2025, I can see that happening.

The infiltration of “Monday Magic” continued as Archie Cole, 18, and Iker Navarro took on the Marvelous regular duo of Titus Alexander and Yosuke Santa Maria. At one point, Mio Momono was seconding outside the ring and Santa Maria threw her into the ring so that Titus could use her as a lawndart, throwing her from a gorilla press outside the ring onto the opposing team. This was a callback to the great match against Mizuki Watase and Santa Maria on 12th January. Titus teased kissing Santa Maria after the match. Then, at the top of the ramp, he kissed Santa Maria to a big pop.

Amale & Chikayo Nagashima were defeated by Mio Momono & Sora Ayame after a five-minute period in which Mio was throwing Chikayo across the ring again and again. It almost seemed like a parody of the pro test that had taken place before the show, with the crowd counting on each one. Sora kicked Chikayo’s shin, taking her out of the ring, letting Mio get the win on Amale with the frogsplash. This was Amale’s last match of this tour in Japan.

Kaya Nishimura, 16, was the last of Marvelous trainees (that we know of) to take her pro test ahead of the 5th May Yokohama BUNTAI show. Compared to Mahiro, Kaya seemed to struggle with the squats, needing regular breaks every few squats. Mahiro was just powering through all of them in an incredibly consistent fashion. The next challenges were the one-minute tripod headstand and the one-minute bridge which Kaya passed fine. Then, the dreaded 10 bridge kick-overs that Mahiro struggled with. Well, let me say, Kaya had way fewer issues with this than Mahiro. She made it look easy. As mentioned for Mahiro’s pro test, you bridge on your neck and then flip your body over. Then there’s rotational drills, such as breakfalls and rope running. During the rope running, you could see how tired Kaya was. She was clearly struggling with her stamina, but tried to push through with the support of the crowd. The tiredness crept into the sparring rounds: one against Senka, then Mahiro Namatame, finally Ai Houzan. Takumi asked Kaya how she felt. Kaya responded that she couldn’t do it. Takumi asked her why that was the case. Kaya was fully aware of the situation and responded that she ran out of stamina. Takumi then failed her on the spot, despite Chigusa not being around as she was in the US to discuss “WrestleMania” Week plans with West Coast Pro Wrestling’s Scott. Kaya burst into tears while the crowd tried to cheer her up. Takumi said that she wants Kaya to try once more in February in order to make the timing of debuting in May.

Full Results

Mio Momono & Sora Ayame defeat Amale & Chikayo Nagashima (15:20)

Titus Alexander & Yosuke Santa Maria defeat Archie Cole & Iker Navarro (10:17)

Sareee & Takumi Iroha defeat Itsuki Aoki & Rin (15:01)

Magenta (Maria & RIKO) defeat Ai Houzan & Senka Akatsuki (14:32)

Mio Momono and Ai Houzan put on a masterpiece

5th February 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Ai Houzan vs. Mio Momono (My Current MOTY 2026)

Sometimes, you watch something and it hits you hard. Sometimes, you can explain it and put it into words so that others can understand why it had that impact on you. Other times, you can’t. I’m going to try and explain why I witnessed perfect professional wrestling on this Marvelous show on 5th February. I may fail. If I do, I hope you check this match out before reading this review, and take a look for yourselves.

Ai Houzan debuted in Marvelous in 2021. It is fair to say that Ai has not done much since then and is regularly treated as a rookie. She is booked at lower positions on the card, not given much offence, sometimes booked in squash matches, and generally has had her wheels stuck in the mud for years. Affectionately known as “Ai-chan”, the Marvelous fans have taken a liking to her, but not so much to warrant her elevation up the card. The Marvelous dojo is known for being one of the strictest in the joshi wrestling scene. Ai-chan is desperate to prove to her seniors, Chigusa Nagayo, Takumi Iroha, and her teacher, Mio Momono, that she is worth investing in. That she isn’t useless, that she hasn’t let them down, that she has the ability and talent to succeed in the business. She always says she’s frustrated, but nothing changes. At the end of 2024, Marvelous debuted two new rookies, Senka Akatsuki and Sora Ayame. They were dubbed the “Reiwa Crush Gals”, compared to the Crush Gals duo in the 80s, Chigusa Nagayo and Lioness Asuka. They have the signature red and blue outfits that Chigusa and Asuka wore. Senka, in particular, has taken an affinity to pro wrestling and is a natural. It is not so much that she is an athletic prodigy, but she has such raw charisma that it is impossible not to jump out of your chair and cheer for her when watching her.

Months into Senka Akatsuki’s debut, Senka and Ai-chan went to a time-limit draw. The match was re-booked, and Senka beat Ai-chan. This was when Ai-chan knew she was in trouble. She had been passed by juniors several years younger than her, with several years less experience than her. In Shupro #2395, they released a list of joshi wrestlers to watch, one of which was surprisingly, Ai Houzan. In that article, Ai-chan spoke about how frustrated, depressed and “absent-minded” she was following that defeat. She was climbing up a set of stairs and tripped, grazing her chin. Her mind was blank. She didn’t know what to do. She knew Senka was amazing. Ai-chan has been jealous of Senka, but not in a spiteful way. Ai-chan just wishes she had whatever makes Senka amazing. She let it stew, and decided that she would use it as fuel to improve and get better. Ai-chan, Senka and Sora engaged in a series of on-and-off rivalries throughout 2025, with Ai-chan having several standout performances, such as against Sareee (a match not-coincidentally booked for the show after this on 13th February). Meanwhile, Senka had gone on to become a main eventer in the promotion. She was at the top of the card for months of consecutive shows in the middle of 2025. She was receiving media plaudits for her performances. She was the chosen one to represent Marvelous in the Marvelous-Marigold feud. Despite Ai-chan trying to kick herself up a gear, she was still lacking, and still in the exact same spot that she was when she lost to Senka in early 2025.

Mio Momono is Ai Houzan’s teacher. She is one of the best wrestlers in the world. The reason she is in Marvelous is because, well, that’s where she started, and Marvelous is very much a close-knit family-like promotion. They all look out for each other and want the best for each other. It’s why they are allowed to be so strict in the dojo, because they have each others’ backs. Mio is at the top of her game. She knows what’s what. She has it all figured out. She has seen Ai-chan fail, again and again, to step it up a gear. A match with her student, Ai-chan, was booked on this show.

Mio walked out to the arena all serious, with not a smile in sight. If you know Mio, that is very unlike her. She stared at Ai-chan. She immediately decided to drop Ai-chan on her head with a German suplex. Rather than continue the pin, she deliberately broke the pin at two, and stared at Ai-chan once again. There was total, complete, silence. The crowd did not know how to react. Mio then began to slap Ai-chan around the face multiple times. At the time, you would not be mistaken for thinking Ai-chan had messed up in the dojo and that this was her punishment. These were real slaps. Ai-chan’s mouth was bloody. Ai-chan tried to muster the strength to slap Mio back, several times. Mio even put out her chin to ensure the slaps connected. Mio absorbed everything. Ai-chan tired herself out. There was still silence. There was no encouragement from the crowd, because they were stunned. Mio returned two giant slaps, and then hit two German suplexes back to back to win. That was the match. That was it.

After the match, Mio took the mic. Ai-chan was just sat on the mat, looking down, not even daring to meet her teacher’s gaze.

Mio: “Hey, Houzan. How do you feel right now?”
Houzan collapsed on the mat and kept crying.
Mio: “Say it yourself. Tell me how you feel.”
Houzan: (sobbing) “I was so desperate… I was completely consumed by it, my head went totally blank…”
Mio: “You frustrated?”
Houzan: “I am… frustrated.”
Mio: “How many times have you shown the fans this frustrated version of you? Everyone can probably tell you’re stuck right now, Ai-chan. Ai Houzan is stuck. A junior came in, got the singles belt before you, and it’s frustrating, right? But you’re going to feel that frustration over and over again. I have too. But I never let it end at ‘I’m frustrated.’ You told me, didn’t you? ‘I don’t have confidence.’ I’ve seen you smoldering there, Ai-chan. But I also know all the great things about Ai Houzan. I know you’ve overcome a lot. That’s why I believe in you even more than you believe in yourself. Honestly, I’m more frustrated than you are. Because I’m the one who taught you. They call me a ‘best-bout maker,’ so sure, I can pull my junior up and have a solid good match. But I also believe crushing someone can be love, too. Today, that’s what I told you through this match. Show me what’s beyond regret. I’m sure the fans are expecting it too, right?” (cheers) “You’re a Marvelous kid, and I’m sure people from all over are reaching out their hands to you. If you can notice that, the world you see will change again. For now, I truly expect you to realize it. Please show us an Ai Houzan that shocks even me and shocks the fans. The one who can do that isn’t me. It’s you, Ai-chan. Thank you very much.”

Mio Momono and Ai Houzan

Post-match Promo

While Mio was speaking, tears were flowing from her face. She did not pause in what she was saying. There was barely even a reaction to the tears. They were just falling from her eyes down her cheek, but Mio was undeterred and she was going to say what she wanted to. She was frustrated. She was more frustrated than Ai-chan was at her lack of development, because she knows what Ai-chan is capable of, but Ai-chan has no confidence in herself whatsoever. Ai-chan’s performance during Mio’s promo was outstanding. She looked embarrassed, like she wanted the ground to swallow her up. Like she had let her teacher down for giving up on wrestling and letting Senka and Sora surpass her. Mio iterated further on her feelings in backstage comments.

Mio: “I got so emotional. People say Marvelous is strict, but Ai-chan debuted during the pandemic and really hung in there… I’ve always truly wanted her to keep pushing. When this singles match was set, I didn’t want it to be just another match. Like I said in the ring, they call me a best-bout maker, so I could’ve pulled my junior up and had a decently good match but since it got booked, I had things I wanted to convey, so it became that kind of match. Still, I don’t know, today of all days, how much it actually reached Ai Houzan and stuck with her.
“It sounds a bit much to say ‘I’m looking forward to what comes next for Ai,’ but I do. I’ll keep watching Ai-chan, no matter what.

Interviewer: “How do you see Houzan?”

Mio: She’s been doing this six or seven years, and she can do it, right? And that’s the problem, I think she’s satisfied there. Her bumping isn’t dangerous anymore, she’s added moves, but she’s stopped at ‘decent pro-wrestling.’ Maybe that was fine until now, but the younger ones came in, and Senka already wrapped a belt around her waist. Ai wrote on social media that it’s frustrating, so she can’t let it end at ‘I’m frustrated.’ All you can do is fight like hell with what’s right in front of you. ‘Hang in there, you can do it’ is honestly how I feel.

Marvelous is a place where the heart runs deep, and I’ve eaten from the same pot as Ai-chan, we’ve lived that life together. That’s why I’m the one who’s more frustrated. Ai-chan can do more.”

Interviewer: “Is she not working hard enough? Or working the wrong way?”

Mio: “If I’m being honest, she’s not working hard enough. If you say you’re frustrated, then you’ve got to get even more desperate, like you’re ready to die for it. It might be harsh, but I think she isn’t working hard enough.”

—–

Houzan: (crying) “…I don’t even know where to start, but like Mio-san said, I’m in my sixth year, and somewhere along the way I stopped knowing what the right answer is, what I’m supposed to do. I’ve looked at so many people, and I’ve watched juniors in all kinds of companies break out and thrive, and then I think: what have I done? And I trip up again. I came here thinking maybe wrestling would finally become fun, but then I ran into so many awful things again.

Even though there’s a four-year gap in our careers, Senka Akatsuki and Sora Ayame debuted, and in a good way they’re like same-generation rivals, and it’s become an environment where I can’t just be jealous and call it a day. Senka won a belt. She’s incredible, seriously. And now the trainees we have are trying to debut two more people at 5.5 Yokohama, and that’s given me another thing to worry about… Another wall has appeared. A difficult wall. A wall I can’t easily overcome.

But from everything I’ve experienced, I think pro-wrestling is something where you worry and worry, and only then you finally reach an answer. So I want to find the answer again, even if I have to struggle more than anyone else. Today I just threw my emotions into it, completely desperate, to the point my head went totally blank. But I don’t think this is the right answer. I think I can do more. It made me feel like I need to face myself more. Thank you.”

Mio Momono and Ai Houzan

Backstage Comments

After the show, there was a wholesome moment where Nagayo is wrapping up the show, and she calls out Ai-chan. Ai-chan is wearing a mask and gingerly walking out to the ring. She looks like she’s been through hell. The crowd is cheering for her as she walks out. Nagayo asks all three of Marvelous’ future, Ai-chan, Senka and Sora, to close out the show together for the first time ever. The three who had been at each other’s throats for 2025, jockeying for the top position. They had now all accepted that they were all working towards the same goal of helping Marvelous succeed in its 10th anniversary year. It was an adorable moment. I had shoot goosebumps recalling this.

You will not see a better told story in this on the independent scene, and likely all of wrestling. This wasn’t complicated. This wasn’t some 5D chess where you need to suspend your disbelief to buy into it. This was as real as it fucking gets. Everything in this match, from the entrance, to the match itself, to the promo, to the backstage comments. All of it was real, borne out of true feelings. This is what pro wrestling is about. In a match of just over 5 minutes, and a promo, I went from not caring about Ai Houzan at all, to tearing up and wanting her to succeed with all my willpower. It certainly helps that I watched this live, in real-time, completely unspoiled. Even “watch this match it’s so good” is a spoiler. Your expectations have shifted, they’re different than if you are watching a show live and think you’re getting a standard 8-9 minute undercard match because you’ve seen them do it before hundreds of times, so I understand if this doesn’t quite hit for others. But this is exactly why I watch all the wrestling I watch. I have faith that the joshi wrestlers will reward my investment, and they always, always do. Pro wrestling has an ability to tell these stories with such a rawness that no other media can do. You can watch powerful TV shows and movies, but when it’s accompanied with a wrestler literally fighting for their life against a loved one, for real, there is no comparison. It is perfect professional wrestling. It is the height of the art. There is likely nothing that will top this for me in 2026. I already know it.

Alright…what else happened on this show? Oh right, Magenta (Maria & RIKO) are trying to recruit Echika Miyavi into their faction. Echika accidentally chopped her teammate, Sareee, and then got rolled up by RIKO who used the ropes. Referee Tommy was staring right at her and still counted the pinfall. Magenta offered her an envelope with money, but she rejected. Chigusa Nagayo yelled “super babyface” on commentary. Hey, look. Sometimes you have to take the bad with the good in Marvelous. I’m exaggerating, it’s a fine storyline. I just hope Echika actually ends up leaving P.P.P. Tokyo and joins a promotion like Marvelous or Diana full-time.

Sora Ayame was in for a tough time if her match against ace Takumi Iroha in April 2025 was anything to go by. It seems to be Takumi’s pastime to bully her rookies, and while we didn’t get the vicious violence of the April 2025 match that left Sora’s chest bloodied and bruised, Takumi initially didn’t let up here, either. But then Chigusa Nagayo, from the commentary desk, encouraged the crowd to boo Takumi. She heckled her so much that Takumi ended up taking off her kick pads to give Sora a chance, because Sora’s entire gimmick now is her shin kick. While Takumi took off her pads, Sora kicked the corner pad as practice, ready to unleash fury on Takumi’s shins. Takumi gave Sora a few free kicks and sold them, giving Sora the upper hand briefly before choking her out for the win. Takumi showed her shins which did show legitimate bruises which I wonder if they happened accidentally in training and then booked this match.

Full Results

Takumi Iroha defeats Sora Ayame (8:11)

Itsuki Aoki defeats Chikayo Nagashima and Senka Akatsuki (9:19)

Mio Momono defeats Ai Houzan (5:23)

Titus Alexander defeats Yosuke Santa Maria (8:52)

Magenta (Maria & RIKO) defeat Echika Miyabi & Sareee (14:14)

Sareee serves Ai-chan a brutal reminder of reality - 13th February 2026

(It’s also Mio Momono’s 10th Debut Anniversary)
13th February 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan

Following the emotional match against Mio Momono on the last show, Ai Houzan wasn’t taking it easy as her road to fulfil her potential began with a singles match against Sareee. One of Ai-chan’s best performances in 2025 came against Sareee in a singles match on 30th July, and it actually kickstarted a run of excellent outings for Ai Houzan, but her momentum stalled out leading her back to square one. That was the catalyst for Mio to intervene once again. It was fitting that Sareee was called in to once again be the spark that Ai needed to start another hot run that they hope, this time, could sustain itself going forward. I was actually nervous for this match following the Mio match. I wanted Ai-chan to have a good performance. That’s what connecting with a character is all about. Ai-chan began the match dropkicking Sareee off the bell, which is a regular spot for a lot of Sareee’s matches against young talent. Sareee quickly regained control of the match and began bullying Ai-chan. Outside the ring, Ai-chan and Sareee traded forearm strikes with Ai-chan holding her own against the notoriously hard-hitter in Sareee. Ai-chan has a really good babyface fire-up, including a unique set of headbutts to the chest which she unleashed on Sareee. Sareee replied with an avalanche suplex and middle-rope diving double foot stomp. After a series of La Magistral attempts, Sareee locked in the octopus hold for the win.

Initially, I thought this wasn’t the match I was hoping for. But after Ai-chan helplessly tapped and just lay on the mat, almost in tears, once again, I felt sympathy. I was so desperate for her to break out, and Sareee crushed her relatively easily, that it actually furthered my connection to Ai-chan, despite it not being a “great” match in the traditional sense. This match was booked to basically make you feel: “Did you actually think it would be that easy? Did you think after the Mio match she’d come out and just suddenly put it together? Nope, she’s still at the bottom of the totem pole.” It was like a brutal reminder of reality, in that sense, I ended up liking it. Without a connection to Ai-chan I think this match is totally skippable for people. But, if you felt the way I did after the Mio match, this match is another important chapter in Ai-chan’s journey, which I feel like I’m following. That’s more important than “match quality” for me at this stage. The Mio match has forged a bond that, for me, is quite unique. As Ai-chan was leaving the arena, Chigusa Nagayo yelled “Ganbare Ai-chan!” I look forward to yelling the same in person on 5th May.

Mio Momono celebrated her 10th debut anniversary as she worked two matches on the show. In the opener, she teamed up with her Bob Bob Momo Banana partner, Yurika Oka, to face the comedy duo team of Yosuke Santa Maria and Shin KAORU (Shin Sakura Hirota dressed up as KAORU who was a Marvelous mainstay, not to be confused with Kaoru Ito). This was just a lighthearted match to warm up the crowd. Then, in the main event, Mio, her friend who is retiring, Rin, and the other Marvelous cornerstone alongside her, Takumi Iroha, all teamed together against Chikayo Nagashima, Mika Iwata and Tomoko Watanabe. During the match, Shin KAORU made an appearance, but then the real KAORU came out wearing a Bob Bob Momo Banana hat which got a nice pop. KAORU retired on the 8th August 2022 Marvelous Korakuen Hall show. After that spot, this match was a classic joshi produce show main event. If you’ve seen one, you know what I mean. Chaotic, non-stop action, some mixed-in comedy and fun interactions between pairs with good chemistry. In particular, Mika Iwata and Mio Momono were awesome together. Mika Iwata got the pin, which might build to a future Sendai Girls World Tag Team Title match.

RIKO continued her overtures towards Echika Miyavi in a three-way also involving Senka Akatsuki. Echika was about to baseball chop the hell out of RIKO who was standing in the corner. RIKO unattached the turnbuckle cushion and turned around, meaning Echika just chopped the cushion. There was an absolutely horrifying spot where Senka and Echika were holding RIKO together in a gorilla press, Senka by the legs and Chika by her armpits. For some reason, Echika dropped RIKO early while Senka was still holding on, so RIKO fell to the ground head first and her body contorted. If she didn’t work more in the match I would assume she had a broken neck, but it seems she was lucky and must’ve broken her fall at the last second. Echika chopped the crap out of Senka after, probably as a receipt, but really, I’m not sure who should’ve dropped RIKO first. They were just mistimed but I don’t think it was anyone’s fault. Senka got the win on RIKO with the axebomber and Zenjo-style pin cover. This is now the second time Senka has pinned a Magenta member within the past month. Surely a title challenge is on the horizon. RIKO jumped on Echika’s back after the match, continuing her overtures towards recruiting Echika into Magenta. She was knocked off, and started throwing a tantrum in the ring afterwards. Intermission started and she still wouldn’t leave until Chigusa pulled her out of the ring and carried her to the back. I’m just happy RIKO is alive after that crazy bump.

Maria faced Sora Ayame in a singles match. Sora tried to kick Maria’s shins but Maria had some shin protection in there in the form of a rubber chicken.. I love Sora Ayame’s signature cradle. It is one of the best nearfalls around today and she looks so funny doing it. Well, Maria kicked out and then hit a running kick, pulled Sora’s shoulders off the mat, and then hit a spinning side slam for the win. She whacked Sora with the rubber chicken after the match.

Back to Round-up

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

MOTY

16 Nov 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Sareee (My #3 across all promotions)

MOTYC

19 Mar 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Meiko Satomura

Sendai Girls MOTYC

23 Sep 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Mika Iwata

Excellent

5 Jan 2025 – DASH Chisako & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Mio Momono & Yurika Oka
9 Feb 2025 – Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase vs. Mio Momono & Yurika Oka
29 Apr 2025 – Aja Kong & Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Manami & Meiko Satomura

Highly Recommended

5 Jan 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs. Mika Iwata & Takumi Iroha
1 Mar 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto & Manami vs. Maika & Natsupoi
3 Apr 2025 – Meiko Satomura vs. Minoru Suzuki
26 Apr 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto & Yurika Oka vs. Sareee & Tomoka Inaba
8 Jun 2025 – Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase vs. Unagi Sayaka & Yurika Oka
20 Jun 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs. Senka Akatsuki & Takumi Iroha
24 Aug 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs. Lena Kross & VENY
30 Aug 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs. Mika Iwata & Spike Nishimura
27 Sep 2025 – DASH Chisako & Rayne Leverkusen vs. Lena Kross & VENY
17 Oct 2025 – Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase vs. Mio Momono & Yurika Oka
26 Oct 2025 – DASH Chisako & VENY vs. Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase
23 Nov 2025 – Manami vs. Yurika Oka

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

8 Feb 2025 – Mika Iwata vs. Takumi Iroha
8 Feb 2025 – Chi Chi & DASH Chisako vs. Mio Momono & Yurika Oka
16 Feb 2025 – Chi Chi & Sareee vs. Maria & Yurika Oka
1 Mar 2025 – Chi Chi & Sareee vs. Mika Iwata & YUNA
19 Mar 2025 – DASH Chisako vs. Risa Sera
19 Mar 2025 – HANAKO & Maika vs. Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase
3 Apr 2025 – DASH Chisako, Ryo Mizunami & VENY vs. Mika Iwata, Miyuki Takase & Yura Suzuki
26 Apr 2025 – DASH Chisako & Meiko Satomura vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & Ryo Mizunami
30 Aug 2025 – DASH Chisako & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Manami & Ryo Mizunami
30 Aug 2025 – Lena Kross, Valentina Rossi & VENY vs. Mio Momono, Yura Suzuki & Yurika Oka
27 Sep 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs. Manami & Ryo Mizunami
28 Sep 2025 – Lena Kross & VENY vs. Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase
16 Nov 2025 – Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase vs. Takumi Iroha & VENY
22 Nov 2025 – Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs. Hazuki & Koguma
21 Dec 2025 – Miku Kanae vs. Miyuki Takase

Chihiro Hashimoto and Saya Iida go to war! - 11th January 2026 (*)

Chihiro Hashimoto and Saya Iida go to war!
11st January 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Saya Iida

Sendai Girls had a relatively quiet “Wrestle Kingdom” week, only coming out of hiding on 11th January after all the hubbub had mostly already left Tokyo. Well, Sendai Girls ace and World Champion Chihiro Hashimoto wanted to make sure that people remembered exactly what Sendai Girls is about, as she and Saya Iida went to war in another chapter of the promotion’s signature cross-promotion main events. The crowd were split from the start of the match, which is less surprising than you think since Iida has had a scene-wide uptick in support following her excellent match against Konami at a sold-out Ryogoku Kokugikan on 29th December. The bout was very even, playing on the split crowd by allowing each other to get significant wins taking the other person down. This was a test of not only strength, but also of Saya Iida’s neck muscles as I witnessed one of the most disgusting wheelbarrow German suplexes I have ever seen. The last few minutes of the match had the crowd in an electric frenzy as Hashimoto tried her best to put away Iida in a series of deadly nearfalls, finally ending with the Last Ride. Saya Iida was wide-eyed as she recovered from the beating in the final stretch. This was a great hoss fight.

In the semi-main event, the new Sendai Girls World Tag Team Champion Bob Bob Momo Banana (Mio Momono & Yurika Oka) faced VENY & YUNA. Given this match had two of my favourites, Mio and VENY, I was most at peace with the world when they were going back and forth, ending with Mio launching VENY with a German suplex. Yurika Oka and YUNA had a solid back and forth before Yurika won with a reverse frogsplash. Mio and VENY brawled after the bell, a VENY special.

Red Energy (Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase) did what they do best on the undercard, which is have a good match and then lose, this time to Reiwa Ultimate Powers (DASH Chisako & Hiroyo Matsumoto).

Senka wins her first career title! - 23rd January 2026

Senka wins her first career title!
23rd January 2026
Sendai PIT, Miyagi, Japan

For the first time in almost a month, Sendai Girls returned to Sendai PIT with a card containing a title match that was set up in November. Senka Akatsuki became the new Sendai Girls World Junior Champion, beating YUNA in the semi-main event. I have been tough on YUNA, but following the release of the Sendai Girls documentary and her feature in Shupro, she is someone that is difficult not to root for. She doesn’t want to be a superstar, she simply wants to be a wrestler so she can make some kids happy. She had a tough time growing up but wrestling helped her, so she simply wants to give back. YUNA comes off as a wrestler without an ego, which is honestly very rare. While her title reign was a feel good story for her and her fans, it was clear that her wrestling was lacking slightly, and she may still need some more time to put things together, as she herself has acknowledged. Therefore, it made sense to put the title on the Rookie of the Year Contender in Senka Akatsuki, giving her the first title of her short career. YUNA ripped back Senka’s right arm early, but the selling was inconsistent including Senka unleashing a barrage of elbows with that same arm. That’s normal in a rookie match and more of an observation than a criticism, and an explanation for why the match was simply pretty good, but not great. Senka did sell the arm when it mattered, including when YUNA locked in a chicken-wing submission. The best part of the match was the final stretch with a series of nearfalls, before Senka beat Yuna with the signature axe bomber into her amateur-style pin. After the match Senka challenged Chihiro Hashimoto to a singles match which will take place on 15th February.

In the main event, regular tag team Manami & Ryo Mizunami faced Bob Bob Momo Banana (Mio Momono & Yurika Oka) in the main event. Manami had to work twice on the night, first time in the opener against Miyuki Takase, due to an injury to Mika Iwata. Manami and Mio Momono on the closing stretch were the best part of this match. Mio pinned Manami with the JK Bomb (Code Red).

After their awesome bout on the 11th January show, Chihiro Hashimoto and Saya Iida teamed up to take on fellow hoss wrestlers CMLL’s Olympia and EVO’s ZONES. There was one funny spot where Olympia and ZONES picked up Iida and Hashimoto respectively onto their shoulders in a Firewoman’s Carry position and proceeded to do squats. ZONES was going nice and slowly with her squats of Hashimoto, you know, 100kg and all. Olympia was power squatting Saya Iida as if she was not on her shoulders. After squishing ZONES with an assisted senton, Hashimoto picked up the win with her unique amateur-style wrestling pin on ZONES.

Bob Bob Momo Banana’s main events continue - 1st February 2026 (*)

Bob Bob Momo Banana’s main events continue
1st February 2026
Azalea Taisho Hall, Osaka, Japan
Recommended Match: Chi Chi & Mika Iwata vs. Mio Momono & Yurika Oka

In an Osaka house show, Chi Chi and Mika Iwata faced the Sendai Girls Tag Team Champion Bob Bob Momo Banana (Mio Momono & Yurika Oka). As with every Sendai Girls main event, this was a good match. Chi Chi and Iwata bullied Yurika, and she is a great babyface. It is easy to forget how young Yurika is (22) and how good she is for her level of experience. There is a slight issue, if you can call it that, which is that Yurika is too good at her current character that I am not sure I can see her doing anything different than what she’s doing now. When you’re this young, you do want some room to manoeuvre, but if she’s so good at it, why fix what’s not broken? There were some clonking headbutts in this match with a lot of loud “Iwata!” chants on the finishing stretch as she went toe to toe with Mio Momono. Mio’s selling was excellent and she made Iwata look like a killer. Of course, Iwata lost.

One aspect of Yuu retiring has led to Chihiro Hashimoto having fun lower down the card, leaving room for Bob Bob Momo Banana at the top of the card to have excellent matches. They are back and in the running for best tag team on the planet. Hashimoto and Miku Kanae faced Hiroyo Matsumoto and Miyuki Takase. There were some fun big hoss collisions between Matsumoto and Hashimoto, but the highlight of the match was Miyuki Takase and Miku Kanae. Takase was great at killing Miku with nasty chops and Miku is a great seller.

EVO’s Chika faced YUNA in a slightly bizarre but interesting match. Chika is a rookie who debuted in March 2025. If you watched this match knowing neither Chika nor YUNA, but watched a lot of Japanese wrestling, you would be forgiven for assuming that Chika was a veteran and YUNA was a debuting rookie. Chika no-sold YUNA’s early offence, including her dropkicks which is supposed to be one of her signature moves. As Chika rocked YUNA with forearms, the crowd responded big to each one before clapping for Chika’s massive chop to YUNA’s chest. The crowd also reacted audibly when Chika launched YUNA with her signature judo takedown. It felt like an EVO show rather than a Sendai Girls show. Of course, YUNA still won in the end with a cradle.

Watch on Wrestle Universe

Bob Bob Momo Banana’s first defence

8th February 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Matches: Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Miyuki Takase, DASH Chisako & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. Mio Momono & Yurika Oka

Bob Bob Momo Banana (Mio Momono & Yurika Oka) (BBMB) racked up their first defence of the Sendai Girls Tag Team Title against Reiwa Ultimate Powers (DASH Chisako & Hiroyo Matsumoto) (RUP). This was almost a year to the day that Mio Momono was injured in a match against Red Energy (Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase) where they dropped the titles on 9th February 2025. Yurika had to work almost the entire match by herself in a career-best, unforgettable performance. That was almost a month after BBMB defended against RUP on 5th January 2025 in an excellent match, one of the best Sendai Girls matches of 2025. After losing their titles and then regaining them in December 2025, BBMB were back to defeat Chisako and Matsumoto yet again, during their 20th anniversaries. This was a fun match with BBMB pinging about the arena and causing chaos. BBMB are one of the best teams at weaving in entertaining spots and comedy into their high-paced action. There was a fun spot where Yurika challenged Chisako to a sumo fight, which Chisako won handily without even trying. Mio and Chisako faced off on the finishing stretch as they slapped each other around the face and launched clonking headbutts and German suplexes, before Mio reversed the momentum from Chisako’s Hormone splash into a successful flash pin.

After the match, Yurika called out Chihiro Hashimoto for a first-time ever singles match in Sendai Girls (a match did take place in Niigata Pro Wrestling, a promotion in a nearby prefecture). That will take place on 22nd March. Hashimoto has been scratching an itch that she couldn’t scratch while Yuu was wrestling. Hashimoto is undergoing fun matches on the undercard including singles matches against members of the roster. On this show, she faced Miyuki Takase in a great match. Hashimoto’s grappling at the start of each match is one of the best things to watch in wrestling. It reminds me of Shinya Aoki matches, where each match is different from the last. Hashimoto doesn’t grapple the same way each time, because she doesn’t need to, she’s a legit amateur wrestler. She isn’t performing at the start of each match, she is wrestling. Hashimoto also has some of the best clobbering blows as she clubbed Takase around the head. Hashimoto dropped Takase on her head with a German suplex and then hit the Last Ride for the win. I spoke a lot about Hashimoto, but Takase was also great, but she’s best when she’s allowed to get a lot of hard-hitting offense in, and Hashimoto didn’t give her too much here. It seems clear that they do not see Takase on a world champion level just yet.

VENY beat Manami in a special singles match. VENY has an incredibly high floor and her hit rate is quite high, so it’s impossible for her not to have a good match. This was slightly better than her average as she bumped her ass off for some of Manami’s offence, including jumping meters into the air to sell a codebreaker. VENY even picked up the win with a flash pin rather than her moonsault.

In the opener, Sendai Girls Junior Champion Senka Akatsuki and Miku Kanae beat YUNA and Yura Suzuki. This is essentially the outsiders against Meiko Satomura’s students. Of course, Yura Suzuki is signed to Alma Libre, but she feels part of the Sendai Girls family. Senka won with the axebomber into her signature flash pin.

Full Results

Miku Kanae & Senka Akatsuki defeat YUNA & Yura Suzuki (8:17)

Chi Chi & Mika Iwata defeat Ryo Mizunami & ZONES (12:01)

VENY defeats Manami (9:24)

Chihiro Hashimoto defeats Miyuki Takase (12:45)

Sendai Girls Tag Team Title:
Bob Bob Momo Banana (Mio Momono & Yurika Oka) (c) defeat Reiwa Ultima Powers (DASH Chisako & Hiroyo Matsumoto) (17:50)

Senka Akatsuki takes on Chihiro Hashimoto - 15th February 2026 (*)

Senka Akatsuki takes on Chihiro Hashimoto
15th February 2026
Sendai PIT, Miyagi, Japan
Recommended Match: Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Senka Akatsuki

Senka Akatsuki is one of the rising stars in the Japanese independent scene, having gained a footprint so large that she even placed second in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter Rookie of the Year award, pretty much unheard of for a wrestler from a promotion as small as Marvelous. Yet, she is undeniable (if you think of Cody Rhodes when reading that, then you’re part of the problem! Let that word be used!) Her ascension is not just hype, while of course that is a small part of it. Senka walks the walk and is the real deal. I have watched almost every single one of Senka’s matches (54). I think this singles match against Sendai Girls World Champion Chihiro Hashimoto was Senka’s best ever performance, rivalling maybe her performance in the 30th March 2025 Marigold tag at Korakuen Hall, or the six-woman tag in NOAH on 6th October 2025. In particular, Senka’s selling in this match was the best I have seen from her before and well beyond her years (19, with just over 1 year of wrestling experience). If anyone does not understand what the hype is around Senka, I think this is now the one match I would show them.

The match itself was truly excellent. It felt real. Hashimoto is in a very elite group of technical wrestlers where the start of their matches are so electric, unpredictable and skilled that it already sets the tone for the match. You’re locked in as soon as you see her pull off some crazy shit like utilising cartwheels to maintain headlocks. I didn’t make that up, that’s exactly what she did in this match against Senka. Going back to Senka’s selling, I felt fired up watching the opening minutes of this match. Just two hosses going at it, but Hashimoto was clearly the experienced veteran and Senka had to struggle to find a way through. I loved her struggling to get Hashimoto down on one knee, and when Senka finally caught the headlock, the whole crowd reacted as if she had just scored a touchdown. Hashimoto was on the top of her game in this match because, much like her match with Mika Iwata in September 2025, I felt like she made Senka look like a beast. It was in a different way, but Senka looked awesome walking with Hashimoto on her back in an octopus stretch as she tried to make her way to the ropes. Senka equally looked tough as nails when she slapped Hashimoto around the face and then Hashimoto tried to KO Senka with her signature clubbing forearms around the head. Senka fell to the mat, and basically sandbagged Hashimoto. She sold this so well that I thought she was shoot injured. That was the spot of the match for me, aside from the early mat wrestling. Given that she was up and running a few moments later, it was clearly just a sell. Hashimoto won shortly after with the running lariat. An excellent outing for both. After the match, Manami challenged Hashimoto for the title in a match due to take place on 27th March.

Elsewhere, Red Energy (Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase) challenged Bob Bob Momo Banana (Mio Momono & Yurika Oka) for their Sendai Girls World Tag Team Title which will also take place on 27th March. You’d think they’re running a big arena, but it’s Sendai PIT. Especially because they have a Korakuen Hall show on 12th April. It is quite bizarre, but the promotion isn’t known for its pristine booking. Just great action.

Finally, Spike Nishimura returned on the show teaming with Minami against DASH Chisako and Miku Kanae. Reminder that Spike is signed with Sendai Girls and isn’t just there as foreign talent coming in. This match was quite good, in particular Miku Kanae and Manami ran wild, including Miku Kanae’s 11th German suplex since the beginning of 2025 (and maybe, ever?) Yes, I’m keeping count.

Back to Round-up

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

Excellent

9 Feb 2025 – Mio Momono & Yurika Oka vs. Ryo Mizunami & Sonoko Kato

Highly Recommended

19 Oct 2025 – Kakeru, Mayumi Ozaki, Saori Anou & Yumi Ohka vs. Natsuko Tora, Rina, Ruaka & Saya Kamitani
19 Oct 2025 – AKINO & Misa Kagura vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & ZONES

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

13 Apr 2025 – Ryo Mizunami vs. Saori Anou
17 Aug 2025 – AKINO vs. Hazuki
24 Aug 2025 – Jun Kasai & Rina Yamashita vs. Kazumi Kikuta & Sonoko Kato
9 Nov 2025 – AKINO, Kaho Kobayashi, Kakeru Sekiguchi & Sonoko Kato vs. Cohaku, Misa Kagura, Momoka Hanazono & Ram Kaicho
30 Dec 2025 – Kakeru vs. Sareee
30 Dec 2025 – Hiroyo Matsumoto & ZONES vs. Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase

Watch on GAORA (VPN Needed)

Watch on NicoPro

“Glorious Sanctuary”

30th December 2025
Company Announced Attendance: 1,025
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Kakeru vs. Sareee, Hiroyo Matsumoto & ZONES vs. Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase

Being live at an OZ Academy show is one of the most entertaining experiences in pro wrestling. That is what the promotion is built for. It’s how it makes its money. You expect chaotic brawling and crowd interaction, and that is exactly what I got. While I wouldn’t say this show was the best I had gone to during my trip, it was certainly very enjoyable. The crowd interaction part was ticked off as Maya Yukihi decided to pose for my camera as she was seconding at ringside.

The match that would be typical of OZ Academy more than any other was a “Total Destruction” match between Seiki-gun (Mayumi Ozaki & Saori Anou) and H.A.T.E. (Natsuko Tora & Ruaka). The rules were the same as a Texas Deathmatch, in that the wrestlers need to score a three-count and then the pinned wrestler needs to stay down for a count of ten for the pinfall to count as a win. This match was good, but it was not as good as I was expecting it to be. In my head, I thought it would be brutal, bloody and violent. Instead, this match was seemingly built around Ruaka being an indestructible tank as she kicked out of Saori’s “Potering” move, ate several German suplexes and more but could not be pinned. It was actually entertaining in the sense it was hilarious that Ruaka was booked that way. It finally took a beltshot and five hundred German suplexes to put Ruaka down. On the other hand, Ozaki was down for a seven-count from a standard lariat. It was quite a funny contrast. Saori Anou finally got her belt back from Ruaka, who had stolen the belt and kept it since 17th August. Yes, really. One other thing that dampened this match for me was the fact that they brawled in every section except our front row seats. That was a bit of a blow! Saori Anou’s face was totally red from shoot slaps that she and Saya Kamitani exchanged the night before in STARDOM.

Another match that blew away my expectations was Sareee against Kakeru. The match had no right being as good as it was. That was especially the case when Sareee had had a hard-hitting match against Natsupoi in STARDOM less than 16 hours prior. This match reinforced to me why Sareee was the best wrestler in the world, because she gets the most out of every single match that she is in. It was a wild eight-minute match with a lot of great nearfalls.

In the main event, Gojizones Union (Hiroyo Matsumoto & ZONES) defended their OZ Academy Tag Team Title against Red Energy (Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase). The match was laid out to be an epic main event match, going over twenty-six minutes in what must be the longest match in ZONES’ short career so far. I was not expecting them to go that long, and I’m not sure they had enough content to fill out the time as the first five to ten minutes were quite uninteresting with not much going on. However, the final ten minutes were great and I started to bite on every single nearfall. Takase was the clear standout. It was an ambitious match that was excellent, but perhaps not as good as they were hoping for.

Full Results

AKINO, Cohaku & Unagi Sayaka defeat Itsuki Aoki, Rina Yamashita & Ryo Mizunami (13:55)

Sareee defeats Kakeru (8:11)

Kaori Yoneyama, Momoka Hanazono & Ram Kaicho defeat Jaguar Yokota, Misa Kagura & Tsubasa Kuragaki (12:01)

Ozaki-gun (Mayumi Ozaki & Saori Anou) (w/Maya Yukihi) defeat HATE (Natsuko Tora & Ruaka) (18:48)

OZ Academy Tag Team Title:
Hiroyo Matsumoto & ZONES (c) defeat Red Energy (Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase) (26:32)

OZ 30th & OZAKI 40th ~ “Blooming Pride”

8th February 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show

At the monthly OZ Academy show at Shinjuku FACE, Saori Anou lost her Openweight Title to Hiroyo Matsumoto in the first defence since Ruaka stole it on 17th August. Matsumoto is now a double champion in OZ Academy as she was already the Tag Team Champion, and she is also the SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Champion, meaning it is one of her best years on the independent scene. Saori Anou is in Seiki-gun, Mayumi Ozaki’s faction, so this match was essentially a Bloodline Rules match. This isn’t a complaint, this is just how OZ Academy works, where Ozaki’s faction is able to run roughshod in every match and there’s no disqualification. As an example, Matsumoto had Saori in a Boston crab that looked brutal, so Kakeru, Saori’s Seiki-gun stablemate, simply walked in and started beating Matsumoto up. The promotion is successful at what it does, it isn’t trying to be anything more, the live crowd loves it. There’s nothing to change. But newer viewers should simply be aware that this is how the promotion works. In between all of that kerfuffle, there was some really clean work between Matsumoto and Saori. After a deadly lariat and powerbomb nearfall from Matsumoto, she followed up with the Rock Drop (backdrop suplex) for the win. Mayumi Ozaki and AKINO have challenged Matsumoto for the belt, which should be resolved on the next Shinjuku FACE show on 8th March. Unagi Sayaka has a pending invitation to Seiki-gun. Ozaki asked her if she had accepted yet, but Sayaka said she was still thinking about it. Then Ozaki said that they should team up in the next show against Phantom Limit. Unagi is currently part of AKINO’s Phantom Limit unit, so that will play into the storyline.

Rina Yamashita advanced to the final of the Pioneer Tournament to crown a new Pioneer Champion after defeating Miku Kanae and Jaguar Yokota. This match was a lot of fun, with Jaguar Yokota just being annoying breaking up all these elaborate pins that Rina and Miku were doing on each other. Eventually, they teamed up to do some damage to Jaguar Yokota. Rina picked up the win on Miku Kanae after lariating her out of her boots, with Jaguar unable to make the save in time. Freelancer (formerly Marvelous) Rin came out afterwards to ask to be the last contestant in the Pioneer Title match. Ryo Mizunami advanced on 4th January and was already in the final.

Seiki-gun (Kakeru & Mayumi Ozaki) faced Powergoji Alliance (Ryo Mizunami & ZONES). This was a classic Mayumi Ozaki match. She used chains, weapons and interference to overcome Power-Goji Union and allow Kakeru to score a pin on one half of the Tag Team Champions in ZONES. It was a standard rules match, but in OZ Academy, with Ozaki in the match, that just means no disqualification.

After Misa Kagura had to pull out due to injury, Rin faced SEAdLINNNG’s rookie, Yuki Funa. Normally Misa’s replacement is Sumika Yanagawa, but since Ice Ribbon held a show at the same time as OZ Academy, they had to bring in someone else. Rin is on her retirement road and so facing as much of the independent scene as she can. This was Rin’s OZ Academy debut. Despite a three-year break, Rin is still very good. On the other side of the ring, Yuki Funa has improved a lot in the past few months, although she did not look like she liked an open-hand strike from Rin, so she delivered one right back to her. Rin rallied and won with her missile dropkick from the top rope. This was a great performance from Yuki who slapped Rin around the face after the match.

In the opener, Phantom Limit (AKINO, Tsubasa Kuragaki & Unagi Sayaka) faced Little Goblins (Kaori Yoneyama, Momoka Hanazono & Ram Kaicho) (unofficial name until we get an English translation of “ちびっ子愚連隊” from OZ Academy). This went exactly as you expect. The Little Goblins ran wild and each used all their gimmicks in an attempt to win the match. Phantom Limit were left unimpressed by their childish antics. Kaori Yoneyama won the chaotic match for her team with an O’Connor roll on AKINO.

Full Results

Little Goblins (Kaori Yoneyama, Momoka Hanazono & Ram Kaicho) defeat Phantom Limit (AKINO, Tsubasa Kuragaki & Unagi Sayaka) (14:28)

Rin defeats Yuki Funa (8:36)

Seiki-gun (Kakeru & Mayumi Ozaki) defeat Power-Goji Union (Ryo Mizunami & ZONES) (15:54)

OZ Academy Pioneer Title Qualifying Round:
Rina Yamashita defeats Jaguar Yokota and Miku Kanae (10:33)

OZ Academy Openweight Title:
Hiroyo Matsumoto defeats Saori Anoi (c) (18:37)

Back to Round-up

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

MOTYC

17 Jan 2025 – Sareee vs. VENY
17 Jun 2025 – Makoto vs. VENY

SEAdLINNNG MOTYC

30 May 2025 – Honori Hana vs. VENY

Excellent

19 Sep 2025 – Selene Misora vs. VENY

Highly Recommended

1 May 2025 – Honori Hana, Miku Kanae & Unagi Sayaka vs. Makoto, Nagisa Nozaki & VENY
22 Aug 2025 – Honori Hana & Selene Misora vs. Miria Koga & Yuki Funa

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

15 Apr 2025 – Ayame Sasamura, Kaho Kobayashi, Itsuki Aoki & Mizuki Kato vs. Misa Kagura, Miyuki Takase, Nagisa Nozaki & YuuRI
15 Apr 2025 – Honori Hana & Miku Kanae vs. Makoto & VENY
2 Nov 2025 – Honori Hana vs. Mio Shirai
26 Dec 2025 – Honori Hana & Unagi Sayaka vs. Mio Shirai & Natsu Sumire

“SEED STAGE vol. 2” - 6th December 2025

“SEED STAGE vol. 2”
6th December 2025
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan

After the astonishing, critically-acclaimed (by me) success of the first episode of “SEED STAGE,” SEAd returned with another on 6th December. I honestly have no idea why they do not live stream this as a PPV, as I would buy these over SEAd’s main shows every single day of the week. Well, saying that, I am specifically subscribed to SEAd’s “Movie+” service just for these shows, as they air as exclusives on there. So I guess maybe Arisa Nakajima has it all figured out. In terms of coverage, this show didn’t even make Cagematch, so I do wonder how many Western fans even know this series exists. Well, here you go. The series is great. It focuses on SEAd’s youngsters and even has inserted backstage comments where the wrestlers talk about the match they just had.

The first match pitted SEAd standout Selene Misora against 2AW’s rookie Yuka Satsuki, who has impressed in all appearances I have seen her in, which has been fleeting since 2AW is outside of my coverage range (for now). This match was great. Yuka impressed again, albeit this time with mat wrestling. The match started out with a few minutes of grappling which was a delight to see and one of the reasons I love these shows, as the rookies are given time to actually wrestle rather than get beat up for 10 minutes. Yuka, a big rookie, was in control for much of the match, and she did not look uncomfortable leading. Selene sold so well for Yuka, including scrambling immediately for the ropes as soon as Yuka turned her over for a Boston crab. Selene then hoisted Yuka over for a body slam which got a pop. They went to a 15-minute time-limit.

The second match on the card was Yuki Funa thrown into the deep end against two seriously talented younger wrestlers on the scene, WAVE’s Cohaku and Diana’s Miran. The match was a high-speed match, which is unfortunate but seems to be the gimmick Miran is given on these shows. For those that don’t know, a high-speed match in SEAd is a fast count with special referee Natsuki Taiyo regularly taking part in the match. This match was fine. All three were good, and Yuki did not look out of place, which is a positive for her development with wrestlers like Cohaku and Miran.

In the main event, Honori Hana and Miria Koga, who have had a heated rivalry for a few months, were on opposite sides as Honori and Miku Kanae took on Mirai and Sumika Yanagawa. While Misa Kagura has been all over the independent scene following her departure from JTO, her 1111 tag team partner, Yanagawa, has been a bit slower to make the rounds, but is now starting to take more outside dates instead of just Ice Ribbon. Yanagawa is a solid hand and the scene always needs more of those, so that’s good news. Although, I do wonder if SEAd tell the outsiders what’s going to happen on these shows when they book them, because it seems as though SEAd have told their own wrestlers that they have a blank cheque and can go as hard as they want. Miria was destroying Miku with some open-handed strikes early on in this match and then Miria was dropping Honori with stiff dropkicks. It was as if Miria had done a line of cocaine before coming out to wrestle. There were some hiccups, such as Mirai bumping for a flying nothing from Miku, but this was still a fun main event. Honori gave Miria a nasty receipt later in the match as she slapped her around the face, hard, before delivering a backdrop suplex for the win. If you want the stiffest action between youngsters in the scene today, just watch these shows.

Watch on SEAdLINNNG Live

“Final Battle!”

26th December 2025
Company Announced Attendance: 500
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Honori Hana & Unagi Sayaka vs. Mio Shirai & Natsu Sumire

For my first trip to Japan, my first ever show there was this SEAdLINNNG show at Korakuen Hall, so for that reason, this show will always be special to me. It was quite surreal having Arisa Nakajima search through shirts for me to get the correct size and overall, that actually made it difficult to process. How was one of the best joshi wrestlers of all time just working at the merch stand? Not just one of the best ever, but one of the wrestlers that has had one of my favourite matches of all time, her 2013 bout against Kana (a.k.a. Asuka in WWE). To mark my first ever show in Japan, a friend of mine handed me some ribbons. I referenced them in my feature in the last issue, I may have not ever made it to Japan if it were not for them. They mentioned to me that it was tradition for the first show to throw some ribbons during the wrestler announcements. It was an awesome evening just for those reasons.

In terms of the wrestling itself, I also had a lot of fun. I have been quite outspoken about the top of the SEAdLINNNG card and how it has lacked some juice in the second half of 2025. I feel like the promotion has righted the ship in the past few months, culminating with the end of the show where they announced the beginning of a new singles tournament. It is the exact type of shake up the top of the card needed. Beyond The Sea Champion Hiroyo Matsumoto would defend her title in each match, which was a great idea. But, what I was really into the promotion for were the youngsters, who this card was built entirely around. So much so, that Matsumoto did not even defend her title on the card, not wanting to take the spotlight away from SEAd’s wrestlers.

In the opener, Yuki Funa faced Nagisa Nozaki. Yuki is making constant improvements. While she started off, obviously, very green, she is getting better and better, and more comfortable in her fundamentals. While she lost her spot sometimes in the match with Nagisa, her selling was good and Nagisa’s chest was all red from the elbow strikes that Yuki delivered. Yuki’s bumping was also great as she went flying on a dropkick from Nagisa.

My main event though, was MIRAI taking on Selene Misora in a singles match. Selene is kind of like my “special little guy” to coin a phrase from some friends. I have a few, but she’s my rookie SLG meaning I will always root for her no matter what. I love her attitude and the fact that she has thrown herself into the same group as Manami Katsu, Sareee and VENY, since that’s my exact archetype of wrestler that I love watching. Selene had a great forearm sequence with MIRAI, but this match was more about connecting with her selling. MIRAI worked her arm over leading to the submission finish. I was impressed that Selene is working these types of matches only ten matches into her career. I did expect more Selene offence, but I can’t get everything that I want.

Then, in the actual main event, Honori Hana captured her first ever title as she won the Beyond The Sea Tag Team Title with Unagi Sayaka, dethroning Mio Shirai and Natsu Sumire and ending their reign of terror. This match was driving me crazy. Both in a good way, and a bad way. I already knew Honori was winning, it was just about how. The whole storyline between Honori and Unagi has been that Honori has always needed Unagi’s help, but in this match, she wanted to show Unagi that she was strong enough to pick up the win for the team. She did pick up the win, but there was a sequence in which Unagi got most of the shine. She worked with Mio Shirai for what felt like several minutes, in a crazy, hard-hitting exchange. They were stiffing each other up, delivering shoot headbutts and the whole nine yards. It was probably the hardest that Unagi has worked in years. Why was this not Honori Hana? It would play into the fact that Honori and Mio beat the crap out of each other on “SEED STAGE vol. 1” on 2nd November. The match would have been excellent, and a million times better had they swapped roles for that part of the match. Anyway, they got there in the end and Honori did pick up the important pin herself. I really enjoyed this match live. In fact, I loved it. There were great nearfalls and I did think Honori could possibly lose on Natsu’s hammerlock DDT which she has won with before. All in all, this show was me turning the corner on SEAd’s top of the card, meaning that the promotion is starting to finally click again for me as a whole, and not just being carried by its rookies.

Full Results

Nagisa Nozaki defeats Yuki Fuuna (11:27)

Delayed Entry High Speed Seven Way Elimination:
YuuRI defeats CoCo and Ikuto Hidaka and Ka Kedita and La Pidita and Mei Suruga and SUGI (19:34)
– CoCo, Ka Kedita, La Pidita, Mei Suruga, SUGI & YuuRI eliminate Ikuto Hidaka
– SUGI eliminates CoCo
– SUGI is eliminated
– Mei Suruga & YuuRI eliminate Ka Kedita
– La Pidita eliminates Mei Suruga
– YuuRI eliminates La Pidita

MIRAI defeats Selene Misora (9:46)

Ayame Sasamura, Hiroyo Matsumoto & Miria Koga defeat Las Fresa de Egoistas (Makoto, Mima Shimoda & VENY) (15:41)

SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Tag Team Title:
Honori Hana & Unagi Sayaka defeat Mio Shirai & Natsu Sumire (c) (20:19)

Shin-Kiba Series 2026 “Vol. 1”

13th January 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Hiroyo Matsumoto vs. MIRAI

Despite being on holiday, I did not want to miss this show. That is how much the previous show re-energised my enjoyment of the promotion. After a day in Nara, my wife and I got back to the hotel by 6pm, and the first thing I did was put this stream on. The singles tournament to determine the best of SEAdLINNNG is what I’m talking about. This is what SEAdLINNNG should be. Lean on the very best freelancers to carry the top of the card while the rookies continue improving.

The show opened up with a press conference between Beyond The Sea Champion Hiroyo Matsumoto and MIRAI as they were set for first round action in the tournament, with the title on the line. MIRAI was crying during the conference. MIRAI spoke about being just a fan and going up to Matsumoto and having her photo taken with her. MIRAI said that she told Matsumoto that she wanted to become a pro wrestler and that one day she would stand across from her. She said that today, that goal had finally been realised. Matsumoto responded that she didn’t remember. She wasn’t trying to be an asshole, she was just being honest, and that’s what prompted MIRAI to start legitimately crying. Matsumoto noticed MIRAI crying and reassured her that there was some fate between them, and that they’d make the title match incredible.

That is exactly what they did. Matsumoto and MIRAI threw bombs at each other. Big chops, elbows, lariats. You name it. It was an incredibly stiff and exhilarating brawl that even people that do not usually watch joshi wrestling should seek it out. It is not only the number of the stiff strikes but also the ferocity. There was a nasty, razor-sharp elbow that Matsumoto grazed MIRAI with, before she blasted her out of her boots with an absolutely violent Rainmaker lariat. MIRAI attempted to reverse the momentum with a flash pin but no cigar. Matsumoto was honestly on another level in this match. I already knew she was great, but this match made me think she is even better than I ever thought she was, and she deserves to be in the same conversation as all the other best freelancers in the world such as Sareee and VENY. While she may not hit that level as often, she was absolutely performing at that level in this match. Matsumoto finished the match with a backdrop suplex. In the other match on this side of the bracket, Mio Shirai pinned YuuRI, meaning she would meet Matsumoto and challenge for the title on 10th February.

First of all, I think I’m going to just call Honori Hana a rookie. It is tiring having to write “youngster” instead of rookie to talk about all five of SEAd’s wrestlers. Honori Hana has less than 3 years of in-ring experience. Don’t hate me. It helps get the point across about what type of promotion SEAdLINNNG is. Honori is not a veteran. She’s still learning. Anyway, with that aside. The other storyline thread on this show was which rookie would win the mini-tournament in order to advance into the B Block, the last remaining spot in the tournament. Selene Misora had to pull out of the tournament due to an injury, which meant that the match I wanted to see most (Honori and Selene) was called off, and Honori advanced straight to the final of the rookie tournament.

Miria Koga and Yuki Funa fought for the chance to meet Honori. It was a pretty rough outing for Yuki after looking great at Korakuen Hall, meanwhile Miria looked better than she ever has before. She was bullying the hell out of Yuki, destroying her with kicks, including an awesome missile dropkick for the win. She then proceeded to kick Yuki after the bell, as if Yuki was a piece of trash. This was great. I think Miria had been scared to show that attitude, but not here. She even traded some shittalk with Honori at ringside. Aside from Miria looking fantastic, this was a messy rookie match. In the final, Honori and Miria did not have good chemistry, at all. The match should’ve been a lot better than it was. Miria looked totally gassed, while Honori really shines against other big wrestlers rather than having to carry a match like this. Honori was forced to lead because of Miria’s lack of stamina which just did not work out. Miria could barely even get up in time for Honori’s signature shoulderblock tackles. She then won with the slowest roll-through casadora pin on Honori. The result meant that Miria was officially in the tournament for the title.

On the undercard, Ayame Sasamura and Unagi Sayaka faced Las Fresa de Egoístas (Makoto and VENY). We have been writing about how good Ayame is for months in this newsletter. Seriously, check our first SEAd columns. It finally feels like Ayame is getting a bit of a mini-push as she’s getting highlighted in signature matches. VENY, as it happens sometimes, did not feel like selling for Ayame. Ayame should just hit VENY harder next time. She isn’t a junior anymore. Unagi was pinned which would set up a future Beyond The Sea Tag Team Title match. That would be sick because it means more interactions between the psychopath Honori Hana and VENY. They beat the crap out of each other on the 24th January Diana show, after the match was already over.

Full Results

SEAdLINNNG Saikyo Tournament B Block Qualifying First Round:
Miria Koga defeats Yuki Fuuna (10:49)

SEAdLINNNG Saikyo Tournament A Block:
Mio Shirai defeats YuuRI (9:45)

SEAdLINNNG Saikyo Tournament B Block Qualifying:
Miria Koga defeats Honori Hana (14:28)

Las Fresa de Egoistas (Makoto & VENY) defeat Ayame Sasamura & Unagi Sayaka (17:18)

SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Title / SEAdLINNNG Saikyo Tournament A Block:
Hiroyo Matsumoto (c) defeats MIRAI (18:02)

“Winter Reckoning in SHINJUKU”

10th February 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Honori Hana & Unagi Sayaka vs. Selene Misora & VENY

SEAdLINNNG might just be back and better than ever. These past few shows have been a blast, and they continued the streak at Shinjuku FACE. The Beyond The Sea Tag Team Champions Honori Hana & Unagi Sayaka took on the team of Selene Misora & VENY. Selene has chosen her partners well and requested VENY’s presence in this match. She has also teamed with Sareee and Manami Katsu, so she knows what she’s doing. She has that badass attitude and wants to team up with badass joshi wrestlers. This was also a continued renewal of the awesome Honori and VENY feud that began last Spring which ended up with VENY having a hematoma on her forehead after a brutal shoot headbutt from Honori in their Beyond The Sea Title match. Honori then followed that up by trying to beat up VENY after their tag match in Diana on 24th January, but VENY turned around and whacked Honori over the head with a chair, and then slammed it into her face. I will never stop loving Honori and VENY going after each other.

And well, they did it again. This match was legitimately psycho shit, and Honori Hana definitely scores highly on any psychopath test. She is actually insane. Immediately off the bell, VENY threw Honori outside the ring and then flung a chair right at her head. Even Sumika Yanagawa who was a second at ringside was shocked. Later, Honori is blasting VENY with forearms, so VENY just slaps Honori across the face, tags herself out, drinks some water, tags herself back in, and then spits the water in Honori’s face. They just kept on slapping the crap out of each other. VENY’s work with Honori is her best ongoing work right now. But why I mentioned Honori Hana’s insanity is when Selene and Honori met each other in the ring. Selene started off by following in the footsteps of her idol and began slapping Honori around the face. Honori, the lunatic, decides to shoot headbutt Selene. Selene immediately went to the ground and had to roll to the corner and be checked on by Natsuki Taiyo. She stayed there for a good minute while Honori and Unagi worked with VENY. Then it was clearly time for Selene’s spot so Honori just stood there and waited. Selene got up slowly, blood dripping from her forehead. She just looked at Honori and then slapped her around the face and dropped her ass with a dropkick. VENY tags in and beats the crap out of Honori, which could be a receipt for messing up Selene that badly. But it wasn’t, because then VENY slapped her own partner, Selene, around the face to tell her to get in the ring and do her spot. Remember, Selene is probably shoot concussed at this point. Anyway, VENY pinned Honori. After the match, Selene delivered one of the coolest, badass promos from a rookie, ever. Blood was dripping from her forehead, she had an unimpressed look on her face as she told Honori she wanted a shot at her tag team titles with VENY. This was amazing.

The promotion which has been the most fun for me to follow in terms of tracking rookie progress outside of AWG has been SEAdLINNNG. The quartet of Honori Hana, 26 (as mentioned elsewhere, I cannot be bothered to code-switch so she is now a rookie given she has less than three years experience), Miria Koga, 20, Selene Misora, 20, and Yuki Funa, 28 have livened up a promotion that desperately needed it in 2025. In Shinjuku FACE, the same venue they debuted Selene, SEAd debuted a new rookie by the name of Lana Hisaki, 24, from Aichi, as she faced Ryo Mizunami. As soon as Lana came out, I was shocked, she had a great look. She was clearly nervous as she was taking huge deep breaths, but she had a striking look and did not look like a rookie in terms of her gear and presentation style. She had completely switched up her hair since the last time I had seen her.

The match started off with large “Lana” chants, and again, Lana took some deep breaths. One of the best things about SEAd is that all the fans are desperate for their rookies to work out. They have been waiting for years for homegrown talent, so they fully get behind them when they debut. It is beautiful. The crowd was so hot for this match. I was expecting Mizunami to put on her best serious performance as that is what wrestlers normally do for these debuts. Even Koguma had a serious match for Selene’s debut. Well, we did still get Mizunami machine gun chopping the rookie, so we can’t have it all our way. Lana is quite unique, she reminds me a bit of Honori in how she is built. She is quite big. There were definitely some rough spots when Lana was on offence and had to work offense because she was clearly quite tired. It is also unusual for rookies to get this type of offense when debuting, which shows you what SEAd think of her. So while there were some slip ups, I loved what I saw out of Lana here. It was raw, emotional and she poured her heart into it. What more do you want out of a rookie debut?

The SEAdLINNNG “Strongest” tournament continued with the last first round matchups as Ayame Sasamura defeated Sumika Yanagawa to advance to the semi-finals. This was an expected result as Yanagawa is still building her reputation on the freelance scene and Ayame has been a regular for SEAd for years and also held tag team gold in the promotion. Ayame is probably the most underrated wrestler in the joshi scene, in the sense that absolutely no one knows about her, and she is just consistently great. I was immediately excited when they decided to trade grounded forearms to each other’s chests and beat the hell out of each other. I think it was the most violent and tested that Yanagawa has been, and maybe one of the biggest singles matches of her career in terms of visibility post-freelancing and leaving JTO. I was super happy with this match.

In the other tournament match, Miria Koga took on Nagisa Nozaki for the last spot in the semi-finals and the opportunity to take on Ayame Sasamura. Miria had a great performance in her qualifying match against Yuki Funa and a not so great one against Honori Hana afterwards. Miria was pretty good in this match. She still has some things to clean up, like her German suplex, but she’ll get there. This was a decent match. Nagisa won the match to go through. I’m now fine with Honori losing to Miria if the plan was for Nagisa to go through anyway. Rookies losing to each other is good to build up a rivalry. I don’t need Honori eating pins from Nagisa. Nagisa will face Ayame in the semi-finals. The other semi-final is Hiroyo Matsumoto defending the Beyond The Sea Title against Mio Shirai on 19th March.

In the main event, Chanyota, Makoto and Mio Shirai faced Beyond The Sea Champion Hiroyo Matsumoto, MIRAI and the other rookie Yuki Funa. Matsumoto and MIRAI were coming off their hellish battle on the last show. While it had the champion, it was also the least noteworthy and mostly just a preview match between Matsumoto and Mio. Yuki Funa did great and is showing good progress, no longer looking as lost as she used to in matches. There was a great nearfall cradle she had on Mio. Of course, Mio pinned Yuki.

Full Results

Ryo Mizunami defeats Rana Hisaki (11:47)

SEAdLINNNG Saikyo Tournament B Block First Round:
Ayame Sasamura defeats Sumika Yanagawa (12:49)

SEAdLINNNG Saikyo Tournament B Block First Round:
Nagisa Nozaki defeats Miria Koga (11:26)

Selene Misora & VENY defeat Honori Hana & Unagi Sayaka (13:29)

Chanyota, Makoto & Mio Shirai defeat Hiroyo Matsumoto, MIRAI & Yuki Fuuna (19:33)

Back to Round-up

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

EVO MOTYC

5 Jul 2025 – Chi Chi vs. ZONES

Excellent

6 Aug 2025 – Soy vs. ZONES

Highly Recommended

5 Nov 2025 – Chika & Yuna Manase vs. Soy & ZONES

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

19 Feb 2025 – Suwama vs. Takuya Nomura
28 Apr 2025 – Hiroyo Matsumoto & ZONES vs. Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase
28 Apr 2025 – Shuji Ishikawa vs. Yuki Kanzaki
6 Aug 2025 – Fuminori Abe vs. Shuji Ishikawa
8 Oct 2025 – Miku Kanae vs. ZONES
8 Oct 2025 – Dan Tamura & Towa Iwasaki vs. Shota Kofuji & Shuji Ishikawa

Watch on EVO

Shin-Kiba Tournament #42 - 7th January 2026

Shin-Kiba Tournament #42
7th January 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan

Chi Chi captured the EVO Strong Women’s Title from GLEAT’s MICHIKO on the first EVO show of 2026. You may wonder why they bothered at all with the MICHIKO reign. I think the simplest answer, aside from “why not?” is that they simply didn’t want Chi Chi beating ZONES so soon. ZONES is 3-2 against Chi Chi in singles, with the latest win coming when she won the inaugural title, and it makes sense to save that rematch for a bigger show. The longer EVO can draw out the heat and rivalry between the two, the better for the small promotion, which is essentially built around these two. The match was clearly designed to encourage the crowd to rally behind Chi Chi, as she was beaten up outside the ring, including being hit with a tombstone piledriver. There were several submission holds where Chi Chi sold and sold, eliciting the EVO crowd to clap and cheer for Chi Chi. After a solid striking exchange, Chi Chi caught MICHIKO with another Northern Lights suplex, but MICHIKO did not flip forward enough, or thought Chi Chi was just going to power her over, so MICHIKO landed on the top of her head. The finish had a lot of big move kick outs, including Chi Chi unleashing the Suwama backdrop suplex onto MICHIKO not once, but twice. That last one looked brutal and captured the title for Chi Chi. This was a good match although I must say, the EVO stream quality is starting to affect my enjoyment of the product. It took me over a year, but it’s finally wearing off. Please, it’s Shin-Kiba, there’s like 300 shows there a year. You can put on a better stream. Increase your absurdly cheap subscription price!!

In the opener, ZONES faced Princess Pistachio in the opener. Pistachio is interesting because she is the first Taiwanese woman to debut as a professional wrestler in Taiwan. She debuted in 2022, and since then the Taiwanese women’s scene has been growing, already producing a standout talent in Syan Syan, who debuted in June 2024 and is dual contracted with Diana and New Taiwan Entertainment Wrestling (Pistachio debuted in the other popular Taiwanese promotion, Puzzle Pro). The match itself was nothing to shout about. An easy win for ZONES.

Elsewhere, the other EVO rookie, Chika, teamed with GanPro’s Yuna Manase against Diana’s Mizuki Kato and Rina Yamashita. Early on, Yamashita, who is on a great run right now across the indies and STARDOM, tried to lift Chika up for a German suplex but fell over. Because, you know, Chika is big. Yamashita was quite stiff in this match with Chika. I wasn’t sure if she had been given an extra tip by Ishikawa and Suwama to rough Chika up, but it made this match quite great. Yamashita eventually delivered the German suplex, but Chika, a rookie with less than a year’s experience, powered up to shoulder tackle Yamashita down, but was caught by a cradle.

In the men’s match, it was arguably an all-star tag as Fuminori Abe & EVO GM Shuji Ishikawa faced BJW World Strong Heavyweight Champion So Daimonji and Ishikawa’s EVO business partner, Suwama. The co-owners went back and forth in a heated scramble ignited by Fuminori Abe slapping Suwama around the face and then knocking Daimoji off the apron. My brave, brave Abe. This was a good match but I liked the idea of it way more than the match itself. After a lethal German suplex, Suwama choked Fuminori Abe out. Is there a freelancer that loves eating pins more than Abe? Hell, it gets him the bookings so why does he care?

Shin-Kiba Tournament #43 - 5th February 2026 (*)

Shin-Kiba Tournament #43
5th February 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Chi Chi & Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto & ZONES

Chi Chi Kichi (Chi Chi & Chihiro Hashimoto) took on Gojizones Union (Hiroyo Matsumoto & ZONES). This was a great main event and pretty much exactly what you expect from these four. A match plucked out of the top of the Sendai Girls card, although ZONES would probably be a bit lower on that card. Hashimoto and Matsumoto were awesome together as the two singles champions (Sendai Girls and SEAdLINNNG respectively) traded blows. Chi Chi and ZONES were regularly kept apart, but when they faced each other, they always went hard, so while there were superstar names such as Hashimoto and Matsumoto in this match, my eyes were firmly locked on Chi Chi and ZONES, especially to see how ZONES would react to Chi Chi’s EVO Strong Women’s Title win. Their initial interaction was timid. Their second interaction later in the match was more what I was expecting as they threw bombs at each other. ZONES doesn’t hit anyone harder than she hits Chi Chi. Maybe other wrestlers should have a Chi Chi mask stapled on their face to get more out of ZONES. I will say, this match put into perspective how well these two EVO trainees have improved, that they now don’t seem out of place at all in a 20-minute plus main event against the scene’s best. Matsumoto pinned Chi Chi. It was a 50/50 on whether ZONES or Chi Chi were taking the pin, anyway. Chi Chi asked Hashimoto for a singles match at Shinjuku FACE on the next show, and Hashimoto agreed.

In one of her biggest tests yet, rookie Chika took on Sendai Girls veteran DASH Chisako. Chika finished second in the Weekly Pro Wrestling Magazine fan-voted Rookie of the Year award, behind Seri Yamaoka who had a suspiciously high number of votes. This was a good match but I felt like something was missing. I preferred the MICHIKO match. It felt slightly as if Chisako’s star status on the independent scene meant that Chika could not get as much in as she would against others, considering she’s still a rookie, and her offence is one of the most impressive parts of it. I suppose all rookies have to learn how to sell though.

EVO’s Soy teamed up with Mio Shirai to face freelancer Sumika Yanagawa and YuuRI. This match felt like it was straight out of Summer 2025 SEAdLINNNG.

In the first men’s match, Suwama beat Beast Murayama. Murayama is a former All Japan trainee from 20 years ago who recalls being beaten into a pulp by Suwama. It appeared that he returned to get some training again, but it’s unclear if he will take up wrestling full time. Dan Tamura and BURST Pro’s Towa Iwasaki faced freelancer Shigehiro Irie and Shuji Ishikawa. This was the standard time-limit draw between big puro names on the undercard. It was pretty great.

Back to Round-up

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

Ice Ribbon MOTYC

24 Aug 2025 – Manami Katsu vs. Misa Kagura

Excellent

7 Jun 2025 – Ancham & Banny Oikawa vs. AKARI & Crea
21 Jun 2025 – Ibuki Hoshi & Kaho Matsushita vs. Makoto & VENY
21 Jun 2025 – Akane Fujita vs. Manami Katsu
23 Aug 2025 – Manami Katsu vs. Misa Kagura
28 Sep 2025 – Haruka Umesaki vs. Kirari Wakana
24 Nov 2025 – Kirari Wakana vs. Manami Katsu
7 Dec 2025 – Kaho Matsushita vs. Miku Kanae
31 Dec 2025 – Kaho Matsushita vs. Kirari Wakana vs. Yuuka

Highly Recommended

29 Mar 2025 – Ibuki Hoshi vs. Manami Katsu
28 Jun 2025 – Manami Katsu vs. Riko
31 Dec 2025 – Akane Fujita vs. Tsukina Umino

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

24 Feb 2025 – Manami Katsu vs. Totoro Satsuki
1 Mar 2025 – AKARI & Ancham vs. Crea & Yappy
5 Jul 2025 – Kirari Wakana & Manami Katsu vs. Lil Marz & Misa Kagura
16 Aug 2025 – Ancham vs. Ibuki Hoshi
13 Sep 2025 – Arisa Shinose & Ibuki Hoshi vs. Manami Katsu & Misa Kagura
26 Oct 2025 – Kaho Matsushita vs. Manami Katsu

Watch on Ice Ribbon Live

Watch on YouTube (Dojo only)

“Ribbonmania” 2025

Company Announced Attendance: 699
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Matches: Kaori Yoneyama vs. Makoto vs. Mase Hiiro, Akane Fujita vs. Tsukina Umino, Kaho Matsushita vs. Kirari Wakana vs. Yuka

On the morning of New Year’s Eve, I woke up to terrible news that Manami Katsu had a high fever and had to pull out of the show. On top of that, she had to vacate the ICExFinity Title and the main event was switched to a three-way between Kirari Wakana, Yuka and Kaho Matsushita, who was Manami Katsu’s original opponent. As Katsu is one of my favourites (see the review for 11th January), this was quite an unfortunate series of events and was sad. However, “Ribbonmania” did what it does best and cheered me up. I was incredibly happy after watching this show and it swung my mood around. This was one of the best live shows I went to on the trip, that may not have come off as well on stream. Each match was extremely fun with some matches completely overdelivering.

Kirari Wakana and Yuka were due to have a showdown in the semi-main event before it was elevated to the main event with Kaho. Their feud was based on the fact that Yuka was returning to action for the first time in over 9 years. Yuka had pissed Kirari off by calling her a cheap rip off of Tsukushi, a former Ice Ribbon wrestler that Yuka had worked with. Tsukushi was one of Kirari’s favourites, so Yuka’s comments dug deep and it was the first time we had seen a mean side of Kirari.

The main event was “sumo rules”, meaning that it was a gauntlet of singles matches, with the winner staying on. A wrestler needs to score two pinfalls in a row to win the match. Therefore, it made sense that Kirari and Yuka started off the match since they probably had already planned out much of their singles match with each other. Naturally, that meant the first fall was the most exciting and cohesive pinfall of the match. Kirari was ruthless, targeting Yuka’s arm relentlessly, which is one of the few times I have seen Kirari work a body part. However, this was my introduction to Yuka, my first time ever seeing her, and it was live. I did not know that her gimmick was having a ridiculously loud, stiff forearm and elbow strike. It was love at first sight, and I had found my wrestler. I immediately switched from cheering for Kirari to cheering for Yuka. As soon as I saw her hit a running forearm onto Kirari in the corner, I had seen enough, Yuka needed the top belt. Unfortunately there were some hiccups, with Kirari really struggling to get off her new finisher which was a crucifix bomb variation. She fell multiple times trying to get on top of Yuka to land the finish, so much so that it got a bit awkward because it was clearly the finish of the first fall. That one probably needs some workshopping. The second pinfall between Kaho and Kirari had to have been improvised given they did not know they were facing each other until hours before the show. It was quite good, and Kaho’s buzzsaw kicks in particular have improved dramatically in the last few months. The final fall was between Yuka and Kaho, another improvised fall and it was great. Yuka is an amazing seller and I totally bit on several pinfalls live. The crowd was on the edge of their seats for this fall and Yuka had clearly made a lot of new fans, including myself. Kaho looked like a killer though and finally put Yuka away.

The second best match on the show may have been the Triangle Ribbon match as Makoto lost the title to Kaori Yoneyama. Child wrestler Mase Hiiro was the third person in the bout. This was the first match on the card that truly cheered me up. It was so entertaining that my cheeks were hurting afterwards. Yoneyama worked with Mase for most of the match against the big, mean, hard-hitting Makoto. Yoneyama and Mase are no strangers to each other and have worked together before. On this occasion however, Yoneyama stole the title by rolling Mase up. Yoneyama got nuclear heat for this. She was the biggest heel in Tokyo following this match, and it was a lot of fun booing her.

Tsukina Umino won the FantastICE Title in a match that totally overdelivered. Given that we have seen these two match up before, I knew what to expect, such as shoot headbutts. However, I did not expect how loud those headbutts would sound in person, and I recoiled in disgust (I loved it). Umino was also an excellent babyface, making it very easy to get behind her despite me not caring much about her before the match. I’ve always been lukewarm on her, but this was a great performance with a lot of good nearfalls.

Speaking of overdelivering, Bad Butts (Ancham, Crea & Yappy) had a good outing against Arisa Shinose, Misa Kagura and Sumika Yanagawa. This was the best Bad Butts match so far that they’ve had with all the gimmicks and cheating. It was fun and well executed and also the best Arisa has looked in a while. Her energy shines through a lot brighter when watching her live.

Elsewhere, Lovely Butchers (Hamuko Hoshi & Mochi Natsumi) faced Azure Revolution (Maya Yukihi & Risa Sera). This was Hamuko Hoshi’s last match before going for hip surgery. We wish her the best. After the show, the merch area was completely swamped. It was like a beehive, but with humans, with people pushing through each other. Among them, one of my friends wanted some Maya Yukihi merch. He decided he wanted a sweatshirt. Yukihi informed him that the only available sweatshirt of the size he wanted was the one she was wearing. So, she took it off, forgetting she was not wearing anything underneath. My friend politely turned around to give her privacy. I tried to. So now, he owns Maya Yukihi’s worn sweatshirt.

Full Results

Miran & Moe Hiiro defeat Miku Kanae & Riko (9:49)

Totoro Satsuki & Yuna Manase defeat Big Haruka & Mizuki Kato (9:56)

Triangle Ribbon Title Three Way:
Kaori Yoneyama defeats Makoto (c) and Mase Hiiro (6:28)

Arisa Shinose, Misa Kagura & Sumika Yanagawa defeat Ancham, Crea & Yappy (11:35)

FantastICE Title:
Tsukina Umino defeats Akane Fujita (c) (14:30)

Azure Revolution (Maya Yukihi & Risa Sera) defeat Lovely Butchers (Hamuko Hoshi & Mochi Natsumi) (14:22)

ICExInfinity Title Three Way:
Kaho Matsushita defeats Kirari Wakana and Yuka (25:32)
– Kirari Wakana pins Yuka (11:59)
– Kaho Matsushita pins Kirari Wakana (18:32)
– Kaho Matsushita pins Yuka

Ice Ribbon Dojo #1465 - 3rd January 2026

Ice Ribbon Dojo #1465
3rd January 2026

After her heartbreaking withdrawal from the Korakuen show, Manami Katsu bounced back from her fever in a main event teaming with Yuka against Misa Kagura and Kaho Matsushita. It’s worth remembering that despite losing the ICExFinity Title, Manami Katsu is still the International Ribbon Tag Team Champion with Misa Kagura. The match was super fun and relaxing to watch, as all Ice Ribbon dojo shows are. The stipulation was that a pinfall or submission was only recognised if it was done with a move that starts with the same initial syllable as announced. Even in this environment, Yuka could not just chill and as soon as any syllable was announced, no matter what it was, Yuka was forearming Misa Kagura as hard as she possibly could. When the syllable “e” was announced, she was even more enthusiastic to unleash her elbows. Meanwhile, as soon as “fu” was announced, Katsu kept on destroying Kaho with double footstomps, barely waiting a second after the announcement.

Yokohama Ice Ribbon #1466 - Katsu and Yuka meet for the first time - 4th January 2026 (*)

Yokohama Ice Ribbon #1466 – Katsu and Yuka meet for the first time
4th January 2026
Yokohama Radiant Hall, Yokohama, Japan
Recommended Match: Manami Katsu & Tsukina Umino vs. Kaho Matsushita & Yuka

I only caught a few matches from the Yokohama Ice Ribbon, but one of them was exactly what I wanted to see. Yuka, merely days after re-debuting at Korakuen Hall, went to war with the ace of Ice Ribbon, Manami Katsu in a tag match also including Tsukina Umino and Kaho Matsushita, but this was all about the Katsu and Yuka interaction. This was a first ever meeting between the two, and it was everything I wanted and more. These two absolutely tried to kill each other with some of the most disgusting forearm strikes you will ever hear. I suspect that it was this exchange that injured Yuka, as she was subsequently ruled out with pneumothorax, which is a collapsed lung. Of course there are degrees to that injury and hers wasn’t a serious one, but still. This match made a potential Katsu-Yuka singles match my most desired match of 2026, bar none. After Ribbonmania and this tag match, I am all in on Yuka. What a return.

Pro Wrestling Venus vs. Actwres girl’Z - 4th January 2026

Pro Wrestling Venus vs. Actwres girl’Z
4th January 2026
Yokohama Radiant Hall, Yokohama, Japan

Running against Wrestle Kingdom 20, Pro Wrestling Venus made its debut. I have put it in the Ice Ribbon section simply because I’m not sure how many more shows Venus will do. Venus is a theatre group that started in April 2025. The play they put on during 2025 was about starting a wrestling promotion, with the final play in that series an actual wrestling show against members of the Actwres girl’Z roster. The show was meant to end the storyline of the play, rather than be the launch of an actual wrestling company. It is fully supported by Ice Ribbon, even being advertised on their own website and using the same venue as Ice Ribbon on the same day, providing them with a ring and access to their dojo. Both Ice Ribbon and AWG lend talent to Venus, which also has former AWG talent Hikari Shimizu as one of its advisors, and AWG’s MARU as its scriptwriter. Venus has already produced two new injections into the joshi scene for both promotions. It funnelled Yuka back to Ice Ribbon after a 9 year absence on 31st December 2025, and Marino Nishimura debuted two days later in AWG. Miu Naoe was also due to debut in Ice Ribbon on 31st August but it was delayed as she developed a condition.

This show for me was just an excuse to see Ice Ribbon talent go up against AWG talent, given that AWG has closed its doors to co-operating with pro wrestling organisations, because it doesn’t consider itself as pro wrestling. On top of that, it was a fun peek to see if any of the unknown actors with Venus have any potential to join one of the two promotions and indeed, a few of the talent on the show did go on to work with Ice Ribbon or AWG full-time. If you’re wondering how the joshi scene gets its talent, these two promotions finding ways to source talent is a major part of it, at least it was from Ice Ribbon’s creation in 2006, handing the reins over to AWG in 2015. There’s your entire modern joshi scene right there, with few exceptions. Now, companies like STARDOM source and develop their own talent, as seen with their six new rookies. It will be interesting to see how things change in five to ten years. Now to the show.

In the opener, AWG rookie and one of my favourites, Kana Yufuku, teamed up with Natsuki to face Venus duo Misaki Takahashi and Yuka, with Yuka having already joined Ice Ribbon at this point. This match was exciting just to see Kana and Yuka go at it, given how lethal their forearm strikes are. This is not an exaggeration, outside of Sareee and maybe Hashimoto, these two have the hardest forearms in the scene. In the match, Misaki Takahashi received the customary welcome kicks from Natsuki, one of the best kickers in AWG. One fun moment was when Natsuki traded her signature kicks with Yuka’s signature elbows. One thing to note is following this show, Yuka was out with pneumothorax. It could have been from the Manami Katsu battering from the show earlier in the day. Either way, her getting through this match without any telltales is a credit to her. Natsuki pinned Misaki with her high head kick, which always looks awesome.

Two Venus actors fought in a singles match. It was Hina vs. Hikaru Toma. All I know about Hina is that she sold me my Misa Kagura two-shot photo at the 11th January Ice Ribbon show, so she’s at least training on the Ice Ribbon side rather than the AWG side. I did not know that was Hina until I watched this match back and recognised her (this is not the STARDOM Hina, for anyone confused). This was essentially a trainee or rookie match. It wasn’t great, but what are you expecting? Hina’s music is Tokyo Drift by Teriyaki Boyz, yes the one from the movie. What a banger.

Up and coming rookie who is stealing the show, Yukina Uehara, faced off against Venus actor Nanao Matsuhashi. Nanao appeared in a UWF bout against Rico Fukunaga on a GLEAT show, so she’s probably in the AWG pipeline. Yukina’s kicks are disgustingly good now. She has always been a good kicker, but now she generates a lot of sound on them without needing any sort of thigh slap. I feel bad for the wrestlers taking them. After a fun kicking exchange, Yukina won with her axe kick.

Venus actor Marino, who went on to debut with AWG weeks later and is already showing promise, teamed with Chii Aoba taking on Erisa Nagai & Rio, meaning that aside from Marino, it was an all-Asako Army affair. This was a standard AWG match, which means it was quite good! I’m excited for Marino’s future. She is exactly the type of wrestler that should be coming through the Venus system and may be the one to make it a proper career (ignoring Yuka who was a returning pro wrestler).

In the semi-main event, Venus scriptwriter and AWG’s top heel, one of the most entertaining around, MARU, faced Ice Ribbon’s Tsukina Umino. I believe Umino must have had some role in training the Venus actors given her role in training at the Ice Ribbon dojo, so I think this was MARU representing AWG and Umino representing Venus. This match was fun. In particular, it was cool to see someone give MARU a taste of her own medicine as Umino smashed a bucket over MARU’s head and choked her with a cloth. MARU got her revenge, throwing her chain right in Umino’s face. She then dragged Umino around the ring by a chain wrapped around Umino’s neck. Classic MARU. The crowd was very into this match, as was I! MARU won with the Northern Lights suplex.

In the main event, Venus was represented by Hikari Minami, Ibuki Ida and Ice Ribbon’s rookie Kirari Wakana, who performed in the Venus plays. Hikari Minami was returning to an Ice Ribbon ring (technically, since the ring was Ice Ribbon’s) for the first time since 2023, having initially retired in 2012. She’s an Emi Sakura student as opposed to the new Ice Ribbon. Representing AWG were the stars of the top babyface faction Actwres 5 (Marino Saihara, Rico Fukunaga & Sakura Mizushima). This match was great and the best on the show. A classic AWG multi-person tag, even though they are more used to standard tags than six-person tags, Actwres 5 killed it and was excellent. Hikari also looked good, so clearly Venus was keeping her match fit. Hikari attempted to pin Sakura with a Cutie Special which had a signature arching bridge, almost as good as Sakura’s.

Kitazawa Ice Ribbon #1467 & #1468

10th & 11th January 2026
Kitazawa Town Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Kaho Matsushita vs. Manami Katsu

I had a major issue during my recent trip to Japan. I could not believe that I was in Japan, seeing all the wrestlers that I had spent thousands of hours watching, writing about, and talking about. It was a form of dissociation where everything was so surreal, that my brain did not allow myself to enjoy what I was experiencing. There was one moment that shattered that ilusion and allowed me to have one of the best moments of my entire life, and it was this show. Manami Katsu is one of my favourite wrestlers. It’s one of my goals to ensure that more people learn about her and appreciate her work, because I genuinely do not know how long we will be able to appreciate it for as she’s already retired once before, and she has spoken about the pressures of the low attendance numbers at Ice Ribbon. She has in the past, and perhaps even still, works two jobs in order to stay afloat and support her family. She puts her life on the line and wrestles hard for our entertainment. When I woke up to the news that she would not be at “Ribbonmania” on 31st December, I was devastated. I had bought VIP front row tickets for that show months in advance and it was my most anticipated show. I was crushed even further when I heard that she had also vacated her title, meaning I would no longer be able to see her in high-stakes singles matches for the foreseeable future. A few days later, Ice Ribbon announced that Kaho Matsushita would defend her newly gained ICExFinity Title against Manami Katsu on 11th January at Kitazawa Town Hall.

At first, I did not even consider going to the show. I was on holiday with my wife, and we had pre-agreed what shows I would go to. Plus, we were going to be based out of Osaka for the second half of the trip, starting from 6th January. We had also already bought tickets to Dragongate in Osaka on 11th January. It did not even occur to me as an option, until one of my friends casually mentioned “oh, why don’t you go to that Ice Ribbon show on the 11th?” Wait, I could do that? It was too late, the seed had been planted. I was in denial about the decision. I told my wife that I wasn’t going and I had made my mind up. On the outside though, I was clearly uneasy with that decision and kept bringing it up every few hours “oh what about if I do this? Nah… that wouldn’t work.” My wife told me that I’m not great at enjoying moments. I thought about this. I should allow myself to experience more things, enjoy life more. I booked the bullet train leaving very early in the morning from Osaka, just to see Manami Katsu. It cost over £300 in total including ticket costs. I don’t regret a single thing.

Before the show, I met Manami Katsu and briefly showed her a message I had translated on my phone explaining to her that her work impacts more people than she thinks, and it isn’t just the fans in the venue, there are many international fans that love and appreciate what she does. If you know Manami Katsu, she has a very good poker face, but she looked like she appreciated the sentiment. Fast forward to the main event, and I was the happiest I had been in a very long time. I knew Kaho was winning, but it didn’t matter. This match, while not being Katsu’s best match in the past year, was special to me, because it felt like they had laid it out specifically for my tastes. Katsu let Kaho dropkick her, several times. She wanted Kaho to prove that she deserved the crown, that she could be ruthless enough to destroy Katsu. Katsu wanted to test that Kaho had the killer instinct that she had previously lacked in their prior meetings. Just three minutes into the bout, Kaho launched Katsu with an avalanche German suplex, and the two then traded a series of release German suplexes, my favourite move in wrestling. They requested that each German suplex the other in a test of strength. This match was all about putting Kaho over as a top wrestler in the promotion. Kaho won with the Orange Blossom, one of Katsu’s own moves. Kaho said she was going to pull it out at “Ribbonmania”. It was an awesome match where Katsu bullied Kaho to force her to level up and be the champion that Ice Ribbon needed.

After the match, there was an emotional promo. Being at the venue live, I legitimately thought that Manami Katsu was leaving the promotion or retiring. Tsukasa Fujimoto was in the stands recording the promo and crying. Kaho was crying. Misa Kagura was at ringside crying. I was nervous, but I had to be patient and wait for the post-match promos to be posted. To my delight, it was simply Kaho being a sweetheart, saying that she was happy that Katsu joined Ice Ribbon. Katsu told Kaho to knock it off or she’d start crying. Kaho continued that Katsu protected Ice Ribbon for all of 2025 as the ace, and that’s the reason Ice Ribbon is still going today. She referred to herself as Katsu’s cute little sister. Katsu was clearly emotional from the speech. Katsu then “left Ice Ribbon to Kaho”, indicating that she was the new face of the promotion.

After the show, I managed to meet both Misa Kagura and Manami Katsu. Misa Kagura is probably the friendliest, loveliest wrestler you will ever meet. She is extremely personable and extroverted. I had a separate message translated for her, telling her about travelling on the day from Osaka to see her and Katsu (I didn’t mention Misa Kagura earlier, but I was equally excited to meet her). I also showed her the newsletter and told her that we write English articles about her and the promotion. Kagura wears her heart on her sleeve and was emotional at my message. I bought some signed photos out of courtesy for taking up her time and tried to leave. She pulled me and told me to take a one-shot. I was like “…sure, why not?” I tried to leave again, and then she up-sold me her saucy photo book. Now, you can say I was being worked, but the look on her face, she was so proud of this gravure photo book. Who was I to say no? My wife was not impressed. I tried to leave again, and she wanted a selfie. I obliged. Finally, as I was leaving, she held my arm and told me she’d see me again. It was quite a surreal interaction, but this is why you should support your independent wrestlers. They really do appreciate it. This was without a doubt one of my favourite ever experiences.

Aside from all that, I want to shout out Australian wrestler Lil Marz, who I met at an EVE show in November. She was also on this show and, somehow, remembered my name months later. It was like a two-minute interaction at the EVE show. She had a bit of an unfortunate shiner because Riko, 11, accidentally landed on Marz’s face when trying a jackknife pin. She said she was alright though. Marz has improved each time I’ve seen her and I’m looking forward to following her journey.

10th January Kitazawa Town Hall Full Results

Mase Hiiro & Moe Hiiro defeat Kaori Yoneyama & Riko (6:33)

Yappy defeats Lil Marz (7:03)

Arisa Shinose & Misa Kagura defeat Akane Fujita & Princess Pistachio (10:28)

Makoto defeats Totoro Satsuki (13:23)

Kirari Wakana & Sumika Yanagawa defeat Kaho Matsushita & Tsukina Umino (21:53)

11th January Kitazawa Town Hall Full Results

Mase Hiiro & Miss Mongol defeat Moe Hiiro & Totoro Satsuki (10:32)

Lil Marz defeats Riko (5:11)

Kiku & Tsukina Umino defeat Arisa Shinose & Kirari Wakana (9:02)

Big Haruka defeats Yappy by DQ (7:23)

Makoto & Sumika Yanagawa defeat Akane Fujita & Misa Kagura (12:35)

ICExInfinity Title:
Kaho Matsushita (c) defeats Manami Katsu (12:05)

Ice Ribbon Dojo #1469 - Kaho and Kirari clash again - 17th January 2026

Kaho and Kirari clash again
Ice Ribbon Dojo #1469
17th January 2026

The card for this show was supposed to be decided by random draw. They picked out a fan’s seat from a previous show and then asked them to draw a wrestler to make matchups. As Yuka had to pull out due to injury, the card had a shake up, but the main event between Kirari Wakana and Kaho Matsushita was unaffected. This was a repeat of their #1 contender match for the ICExFinity Title back in November. It was a dojo show, so obviously it was a tiny bit less intense than it otherwise would be, but it was still a very good match, and above a usual dojo match. There were a ton of nearfalls and rollups.

Sumika Yanagawa faced Tsukina Umino in a singles match set up on the 10th January Kitazawa Town Hall show. Umino did not want to give a title match to Yanagawa. Well, Yanagawa pinned her again. Umino basically told Yanagawa that she’s also going after the International Ribbon Tag Team Title on 23rd February, so she should focus on that first. Yanagawa surprisingly agreed. That was easy for Umino.

Ice Ribbon Dojo #1470 - 24th January 2026

“Kaho and Riko’s Birthday Produce Show”
Ice Ribbon Dojo #1470
24th January 2026

ICExFinity Champion Kaho Matsushita, whose birthday is 31st January, and Riko, who turned 12 on 13th January, put together a card that they wanted to see. In the main event, Riko and her teacher, Tsukina Umino, faced Kirari Wakana and Riko’s 2025 classmate rival, Moe Hiiro, 14. After a quite funny sell (or lack thereof), Moe got rolled up by Riko. Riko was in absolute tears, as she normally is when cutting a promo at the end of a dojo show. Kaho started tearing up a bit just by looking at Riko crying. This was cute. Riko and Kaho closed the show together, but Kaho said she wants Hamuko & Ibuki Hoshi, as well as Tsukasa Fujimoto to return to the ring. So there’s another hint that Tsukasa hasn’t just quietly retired and will be making a comeback at some point, even if that’s for a retirement run. Tsukasa’s last two matches were her best friend’s retirement match (Arisa Nakajima) and then an Ice Ribbon Korakuen Hall show the day after in August 2024. She is at every Ice Ribbon show.

Kaho and Riko are good guys. So, naturally, they decided to put the bad guys against each other, as Ancham and Yappy went to a 12-minute time-limit draw in a singles match. There was a twist. After 3 minutes had passed, they could only win with a Riko move. After 6 minutes, weapons were allowed. Ancham and Yappy were so excited, it’s what they do best. The twist was that they were weapons chosen by Riko, so they were toys.

Yuka made her return to the ring in a match where all participants had to wear Kaho’s gear, either current or former. She teamed with Kaho herself against Arisa Shinose & Riku. Yuka couldn’t take it easy, it’s not in her DNA. She blasted Arisa with an elbow so hard that Arisa needed to take a break.

In the opener, Mase Hiiro, Miku Kanae and Totoro Satsuki faced off in a three-way, where the win could only be taken if a move was used that had the same initials as either “ri, ko, ka, ho,” although Mase was allowed a handicap. At one point she hit her spike huricanrana driver and the referee hesitated, letting Miku kick out. Mase, who is younger than 10, looked at the referee as if to say “…bitch, why did you not count?”

Another fun, easy watch.

Ice Ribbon Dojo #1471 - Yuka really wants the white belt - 31st January 2026

Yuka really wants the white belt
Ice Ribbon Dojo #1471
31st January 2026

In the main event, FantastICE Champion Tsukina Umino was locked in Triangle Ribbon action as she faced her next challenger, Sumika Yanagawa, and Yuka. Yuka won the match pinning Umino and immediately said she would be challenging her for the title. She ignored Umino’s comments about Sumika being in line first. Yuka gets what Yuka wants, and that’s the end of it! Yuka then closed out the show, but everyone stayed away from her as they were scared. That was Manami Katsu’s role before Misa Kagura turned her to the light. There must always be a Lich King…

Arisa Shinose is someone that is slowly impressing me the more I watch her. I had no opinion of her for around six months, but after seeing her live and seeing how energetic she is portraying her character. On top of that, she has also had some solid performances recently, and put in another one in a non-title match against ICExFinity Champion Kaho Matsushita. This was an above-average dojo match. Kaho won in under 10 minutes with a cradle.

KONOHA, based out of Kansai, is retiring in May, so she stopped by.

Ice Ribbon Dojo #1472 - 7th February 2026

Ice Ribbon Dojo #1472
7th February 2026

The main event was Kaho Matsushita and Moe Hiiro against Kirari Wakana and Sumika Yanagawa. This was a fun match in which Moe is showing her slow but sure improvement as a 2025 debutant. Kirari has grown into being one of the most reliable performers in the company. After the show, Kirari was explaining the rules of the Kizuna Tournament. I was quite confused why she was teasing her partner when I saw her ask Yuka. Then I realised that it was on the PPV the day after the dojo show, because the dojo show releases after the live PPV.

After Yuka took a rest on the dojo day (to be honest I never expected her to do dojo shows in the first palace), a tag match was changed into a three-way, meaning Bad Butts (Ancham & Yappy) could gang up on FantastICE Champion Tsukina Umino. Umino got her revenge with a nasty overhand chop to Ancham that made me wince. Ancham and Yappy were double pinning Umino, then Yappy pushed Ancham off at the last second to take the win (she definitely let go of Umino so the count should have been restarted, but hey, it’s an Ice Ribbon dojo show, let’s not nitpick). I suspect Yappy will also be going after the FantastICE Title. I have lost count of how many people have pinned Umino. I think it’s now three since she won the title on 31st December.

Mase Hiiro faced her eternal foe, Totoro Satsuki, in a singles match. Mase whipped up the crowd into a frenzy, as she has a magnetic charisma and is able to do that by the click of her fingers. Mase pulled out a new move (I think) which is like a flying octopus hold but instead of keeping the hold, she uses her momentum to keep on swinging into a sit-out cradle. It’s cool.

In the opener, Arisa Shinose faced Riko. I liked this performance from Riko. It’s hard to believe it’s already been a year since her debut, but I do think she has improved. This was a solid showcase for her.

Itabashi Ice Ribbon #1473 - 8th February 2026

Itabashi Ice Ribbon #1473
8th February 2026
TOKYOSQUARE, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan

In the main event, ICExFinity Champion Kaho Matsushita and former ICExFinity Champion Manami Katsu faced Kirari Wakana and Sumika Yanagawa. This was, of course, the best match on the show featuring four great workers. Katsu and Kaho came out with matching costumes. Is… Is Katsu cheating on Misa Kagura? Of course, it would be karma for Misa Kagura considering she has four different named tag teams and is in multiple units across multiple promotions. But still! How will I choose between Vicky (Katsu & Kagura) and whatever Katsu and Kaho are going to call themselves?! Well after the match, Katsu confirmed my fears and sheepishly asked Kaho to form an official team with her.

Anyway, in the match itself Manami Katsu was beating the crap out of Yanagawa, including utterly squishing her with stiff double footed stomps. Yanagawa attempted to fight back with her signature roundhouse kicks, but Katsu dropped her with a beautiful discus lariat. Kirari and Kaho took over, who have faced each other a few times in recent months, building up a good rivalry and perhaps setting the stage for a future ICExFinity Title match. Kirari tried to pin Kaho after a double foot stomp, so Katsu climbed the ropes and hit her with her own diving double foot stomp to a loud crowd reaction. Kaho got the flash pin on Kirari, holding her down for the three-count.

After the match, Tsukina Umino asked Yuka to be her tag partner in the upcoming Kizuna tournament. The pairs need to be one junior and one senior. Yuka, who wants Umino’s belt, blanked Umino and instead accepted Kirari Wakana’s offer. Tsukina is classified as a junior, so she was asking Yuka, who is classified as a senior.

rhythm returned to Ice Ribbon for the first time since 2022 and the first time since announcing she was leaving JTO and going freelance. She teamed up with Mase Hiiro against Moe Hiiro and Yuka. I was interested in this match not only to see rhythm, but also to see whether Yuka would beat up the kids as much as Manami Katsu does. The answer is yes, but not as hard. rhythm made the mistake of trading elbow strikes with Yuka, who hits so hard that it has become a part of her gimmick. It did not go well for rhythm. Moe picked up the win on her sister, Mase.

In the opener, Arisa Shinose and Saito took on Makoto and Riko. Saito is Uptown Wrestling’s new rookie (Kuroshio TOKYO Japan’s promotion). Saito is quite clearly very, very green. So this was a match! They did their best. I learnt after that Saito is apparently an older rookie starting late, as she posted on socials hanging out with Manami Katsu and they spoke about knowing each other right after Katsu’s debut, which was the early 2010s.

UK independent wrestler Blueshe faced Totoro Satsuki in a match that was supposed to happen during Blueshe’s last tour, but was delayed. Satsuki beat Blueshe.

Ice Ribbon Dojo #1474 - Uptown Rookies visit - 14th February 2026

Ice Ribbon Dojo #1474
14th February 2026

Ahead of their International Ribbon Tag Team Title match on 23rd February, Misa Kagura and birthday girl Sumika Yanagawa, who are long-time tag team partners, were on opposite sides of the main event. Misa teamed up with ICExFinity Champion Kaho Matsushita, whereas Sumika had Totoro Satsuki as her partner. After eating several running sentons, Misa pinned Satsuki. Misa is awesome and one of the “hidden gems” of the independent scene.

Tsukina Umino faced Uptown’s rookies, Shiono and Saito, in a 2v1 handicap (only one allowed at a time). I am going to guess she is helping to train them as she has done so for other wrestlers. They’re very green. They got a lot of time. I mean, a LOT. I’m not sure how much Kuroshio TOKYO Japan was paying for this dojo airtime, but this match lasted over 15 minutes in total. For completely green rookies. You know what, if it’s not on a dojo show, where else? I appreciate Ice Ribbon helping train other wrestlers in the scene. This isn’t a match to watch unless you like seeing people at the start of their journeys.

Okay, some more data on “is Yuka as mean as Katsu to the kids?” From the match on this show against Riko, the answer is mostly yes. The difference is, Yuka has the hardest forearms in the scene, so it was obvious she was holding back here with Riko. Whereas Katsu’s forearms aren’t as hard as Yuka’s (even though they’re still ridiculous), but she was clearly putting her all into beating the crap out of Riko last year. So she commits more, with less power. You’re welcome for this analysis. Yuka won in just over two minutes.

In the opener, Yappy was a bad influence on Kirari Wakana, who wore black lipstick and worked heel against Yappy’s tag partner, Ancham, and Kirari’s tag partner, Miku Kanae. Kirari eventually ended up apologising, Miku rubbed the black lipstick off of Kirari’s mouth and they restarted the match with their usual teams. The resulting match was above dojo quality and both teams had their working boots on. Ancham is probably the third most “hidden gem” of the independent scene besides Ayame Sasamura and Misa Kagura. She won the match with a buzzsaw kick.

Back to Round-up

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

Excellent

14 Feb 2025 – Ayako Sato & Hanako Nakamori vs. Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase
20 Jul 2025 – Haruka Umesaki, Miran & Risa Sera vs. Mochi Natsumi, Nanami Hatano & Rina Amikura
27 Jul 2025 – Ayako Sato & Debbie Keitel vs. Nanami Hatano & Rina Amikura
15 Aug 2025 – Mizuki Kato vs. Syan Syan

Highly Recommended

14 Sep 2025 – Miran vs. Mizuki Kato

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

27 Apr 2025 – Ayako Sato & Debbie Keitel vs. Nanami Hatano & Rina Amikura
27 Apr 2025 – Haruka Umesaki vs. Risa Sera
21 Jun 2025 – Nanami Hatano & Rina Amikura vs. Syan Syan & Takako Inoue
21 Jun 2025 – Mizuki Kato vs. NORI
10 Aug 2025 – Ayako Sato, Debbie Keitel, Himiko & Mochi Natsumi vs. Kurumi Hiiragi, Mizuki Kato, Nanami Hatano & Yuko Sakurai
21 Sep 2025 – Kuumu vs. Nanami Hatano
5 Oct 2025 – Hazuki vs. Syan Syan
5 Oct 2025 – Nanami Hatano vs. Yuna Manase
5 Oct 2025 – Maika Ozaki, Miran & Mizuki Kato vs. Risa Sera, Tae Honma & Yuu
9 Nov 2025 – AKARI & Hanako Nakamori vs. Ayako Sato & Debbie Keitel
14 Dec 2025 – Debbie Keitel vs. Haruka Umesaki

Watch on Diana Live

“15th Anniversary NO. 1”

24th January 2025
Company Announced Attendance: 632
Culttz Kawasaki, Kanagawa, Japan
Designation: Key Show

Diana are kicking things up a gear in their big 15th anniversary year as they change the formats of their show away from the usual “vol. X” naming to seasons every three months culminating with a big show. Wait a second. That’s a bit too easy. Instead the seasons are quarterly, so the first big show on 24th January is the 3rd episode of season 1, the second big show on 29th April is the 3rd episode of season 2, and the third big show is lucky as it happens to be the first show in the 3rd quarter, and so gets designated as the kick off episode of season 3. Anyway, one of the reasons they have done this is so that they can announce which wrestlers will be at what shows at the beginning of each season. That is undoubtedly a massive advantage for attending fans. As part of their big year, before which all titles were vacated at the end of vol. 100 in December 2025, all belts were redesigned for the new champions to be crowned on 24th January at Culttz Kawasaki, the first of four major events on the Diana calendar. They’ve also upped their production with a new YouTube channel which has very slick video packages. In preparation for the year, Diana began a faction warfare storyline in July 2025 and had progressed it very slowly, in a captivating way, throughout the rest of the year.

In the final few shows of 2025 Grace of Royalty, the unit headed by the ace of Diana Haruka Umesaki, had added Mochi Natsumi and Maika Ozaki to its mission to dominate Diana with a Royal Road or King’s Road style of wrestling, with long matches building to an intense, dramatic culmination of big moves and nail-biting nearfalls. Already in the unit were freelancer standout Misa Kagura and Diana’s young prodigies in Miran and Syan Syan. Alongside Umesaki, those three names make this my own personal favourite stable.

Nanami Hatano began wrestling when she was 12 and now, at age 19, is one of the top stars in the promotion. While Nanami took some time to get her unit set up, they have now announced themselves as Tradition and Inherited, as they aim to build upon the legacy of Jaguar Yokota and Kyoko Inoue and try to stand atop the Diana mountain while in keeping with decades of joshi tradition, harkening back to the All Japan Women’s days. Kyoko Inoue herself has of course signed up to this philosophy, alongside Mizuki Kato, Nanami’s tag partner Rina Amikura and finally Kurumi Hiiragi. Kurumi’s addition to Nanami’s unit meant that all of Risa Sera’s Prominence roster members had found a new home in Diana, which made sense considering that Sera is starting a new promotion, “Wrestle BINGO!” that is partnered with Diana.

Finally we have Invader or Innovator, headed up by the mastermind behind this whole shakeup, Ayako Sato, joined by second-in-command Debbie Keitel, Himiko, Syan Syan’s Taiwanese rival Kuumu, and PURE-J pair, ace Hanako Nakamori and AKARI. PURE-J’s Crea is keeping herself entertained in Ice Ribbon with the Bad Butts faction instead. This unit exists to liven up Diana with its heelish antics to help Diana gain traction and attempt to catch up to the other joshi promotions. They are not your usual heels, they profess their love for Diana and want it to be stronger, rather than wanting to tear it down. Everything was nicely set up ahead of the first big show.

However, one criticism about the lead-up involved Diana vacating their titles at the end of the year. In the last issue I spoke about how excited I was to see what storyline they’d pull out of it, and then at the end of vol. 101, they simply announced these matches with no buzz or storyline. That was slightly immersion-breaking, and I would have preferred a promo or two and some matches leading up to the match announcements. For example, I am not quite sure why Debbie was facing Nanami for the WWWD Title. Debbie had just lost the title challenge to Umesaki before Umesaki vacated the title. I was also not sure why it was Chobuki (Haruka Umesaki and Unagi Sayaka) that earned the WWWD Tag Team Title shot, and I would have preferred Umesaki to go after the titles with a member of her own unit, since Sayaka isn’t even part of Grace of Royalty. Finally, it was slightly strange that it was Miran & Olympia challenging too, when Umesaki and Miran are unit partners, and Olympia is simply on an excursion. It slightly devalued the hard work the promotion had put in to build these units and storylines.

In the main event of the first big show on the calendar, Debbie Keitel became the first WWWD Champion of the new era in Diana after being Nanami. This was, by far, the best match on the night with the right winner. Debbie had just renewed her Diana contract heading into 2026, providing more commitment to the promotion. While it is not confirmed, it is obvious that she has some involvement with the promotion’s improved English outreach, such as the new Twitter account. Nanami on the other hand, is still only 19, has never won the title, and I preferred her not to win it via a hastily announced match weeks before. It is better for her to achieve the title, seven years in the making, down the line, perhaps even against her Diana rival Haruka Umesaki. Debbie had turned up the heel antics in an entertaining manner, throwing away fan’s hats during her entrance, and then once a fan had retrieved the hat, later in the match Debbie threw the same guy’s hat away while she was sprinting at Nanami. Let’s just say I’m glad WWE doesn’t watch Diana or we would not have any Debbie. Debbie’s faction, INVA, briefly interfered in the match, only to be repelled by Nanami’s unit, Tradition and Inherited. I actually liked this interference because it reinforced the unit war, and it did not take a lot of time at all and served its purpose in establishing that INVA can no longer just get away with all their cheating as they had done so for much of 2025. It was a great spot actually, especially if you’re not one of those fans that instantly rolls their eyes at any interference. Debbie and Nanami then turned up the heat in their match as they traded German suplexes, including one delivered on the outside, which is very non-Diana given they don’t even have space to do that at Post di Amistad, their regular venue. In a great back-and-forth, Debbie pinned Nanami with Midnight Espresso into a bridging Tiger suplex.

Chobuki (Haruka Umesaki and Unagi Sayaka) became the new WWWD Tag Team Champion, defeating Miran & Olympia. Umesaki, of course, needed a title given she is the ace of the promotion, so that was not a surprise. While Miran and Olympia looked great, Unagi Sayaka did not have her best day at the office with a lot of mistimings, clearly on a different page to everyone else. The result made Unagi a double tag team champion, in SEAd and Diana.

The final title to be decided on the day that was also vacated was the WWWD Elizabeth Title, only available for over 40s in a three-way format. The clear favourite was Ayako Sato, given she said she wanted to go after it when she vacated the WWWD Tag Team Title in October (as soon as she turned 40 on 4th January 2026), and she was given a lot of wins heading into this match. Her opponents were Gokigen Pro’s Kaori Yoneyama and WAVE’s Yumi Ohka, two veterans who are not featured in Diana at all, which made the winner all the more obvious. Of course, Sato won in a match that doesn’t require any recap – it was fine.

This really doesn’t matter given it was an undercard match, but my brain couldn’t really comprehend why Chanyota, Jaguar Yokota and Mochi Natsumi took on Kurumi Hiiragi, Kyoko Inoue and Maika Ozaki. Kurumi and Kyoko are in Nanami’s stable, which is all about passing on tradition, you would think that they would instead team with Jaguar, allowing Maika Ozaki to team with her Grace of Royalty stablemate, Mochi Natsumi. It feels like a really simple change to make to really play up the unit rivalries rather than having teammates facing each other aimlessly. But, they are trying something new, maybe it will take some time for them to calibrate the booking.

As noted during our SEAd reviews, Diana and SEAd, the Kawasaki joshi promotion duo, have been working together again since late 2025, lending talent on each other’s shows. SEAd’s Honori Hana and Yuki Funa teamed up to take on Las Fresa de Egoístas (Makoto & VENY) and INVA (Hanako Nakamori & Himiko). This was a good match in which VENY almost broke her ankles on her signature “don’t catch me” moonsault, and Honori and VENY reignited their rivalry since their brutal match for the title in SEAd in May 2025 which left VENY with a massive hematoma on her forehead. After the match, won by INVA, Honori, the sicko, ran after VENY throwing forearms and elbows into her back. VENY turned around laughing before picking up her pink-painted chair and launching it full force at Honori’s head. VENY then picked up the chair and threw it, edge-first, at Honori who was lying on the floor. Story to be continued in SEAd (and that’s why I love the independents).

My most anticipated match on the card, perhaps after the main event, was Misa Kagura and Syan Syan faced Mizuki Kato and Rina Amikura. Syan Syan is a standout rookie (18 months of experience) while Misa Kagura has been setting the independent scene on fire with a spout of great appearances across the board following her departure from JTO in August 2025. As Syan Syan studies full-time in Taiwan, she regularly takes breaks from the promotion. This was her second match back since the 5th October Korakuen Hall show. It was also the first time Mizuki and Syan Syan faced off since their great WWWD Crystal match in August 2025. This match sort of underdelivered. Misa Kagura was not in the match much and since it was an opener, it was definitely wrestled as one. Syan Syan’s selling was still as good as ever but she did not get as much offence as I was expecting. Mizuki tapped Syan Syan out.

In the pre-show match, Anna faced WAVE’s Honoka. This was originally set to be NENE’s (a 12-year-old) return following an injury, but they re-assessed her recovery and pushed back her return. Anna is still quite not sure on how to sell. Her dropkicks look great and even if she didn’t show them off in this match, she typically has a great forearm strike, but an essential of pro wrestling is being able to sell. I hope she gets there.

Full Results

Honoka defeats Anna (4:30)

Mizuki Kato & Rina Amikura defeat Misa Kagura & Syan Syan (11:03)

Hanako Nakamori & Himiko defeat Honori Hana & Yuki Fuuna and Las Fresa de Egoistas (Makoto & VENY) (10:13)

Kurumi Hiiragi, Kyoko Inoue & Maika Ozaki defeat Chanyota, Jaguar Yokota & Mochi Natsumi (15:33)

World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana Queen Elizabeth Title:
Ayako Sato defeats Kaori Yoneyama and Yumi Ohka (6:21)

World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana Tag Team Title:
Haruka Umesaki & Unagi Sayaka defeat Miran & Olympia (15:29)

World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana World Title:
Debbie Keitel defeats Nanami Hatano (15:09)

Future Sight #42 - 28th January 2026 (*)

“Future Sight #42”
28th January 2025
Post di Amistad, Kawasaki, Japan
Recommended Match: Debbie Keitel, Echika Miyavi & Himiko vs. Haruka Umesaki, Misa Kagura & Sumika Yanagawa

Invader or Innovator (Debbie Keitel & Himiko) and Echika Miyavi faced Grace of Royalty (Haruka Umesaki & Misa Kagura) and Misa’s long-term tag team partner in Sumika Yanagawa. First of all, Echika and Sumika need to join INVA and GoR respectively. Echika is legit. Every time I watch her, I am more impressed. She is athletic for her size, in the right place at the right time, and makes her size a credible threat rather than a funny gimmick. Secondly, yes, this is a recommended match for me. This is not a match I’d usually recommend or put as “notebook”, but there is something so quintessentially Diana about it that I feel it’s a good introduction to the Diana house style. This was just a really well worked match. Finally, Himiko deserves her flowers. She has been wrestling for four years while starting at the age of 50, and she is a good worker. More people should know about her, so I’ll continue to write about Diana until they do (and because I really like the promotion, duh).

Olympia had her last match of her first Japan tour against her brief tag team partner in Diana, Miran. This was a fine match. Miran missed her moonsault armdrag that (I think) she debuted at Culttz Kawasaki on the 24th January show. She repeated it without a problem. It just goes to show how impressive it was that she nailed it the first time on the big show. She’s also becoming quite a good kicker and hit some great sounding buzzsaw kicks on Olympia. Olympia won.

Honoka & Syan Syan faced Mizuki Kato & Nanami Hatano in a glimpse into the future. While I was expecting more from this match, it was still quite good, especially the last few minutes. The earlier part of the match stalled a bit due to Mizuki Kato adopting Yuu-isms into her work. If you like Yuu, and you like Mizuki Kato, then this match is probably for you!

Ice Ribbon’s rookie Kirari Wakana faced Anna in the opener. This match was interesting in the sense that Kirari has not ever really worked as a bully, and that is the only type of match that Anna has had so far. I was curious to see how Kirari would approach this match. Well, in the same way she approaches every match: with a smile on her face! Kirari was quite happy to put a beating on someone else for once. Anna had some good dropkicks in this match.

Vol. 104 - 8th February 2026

“Vol. 104”
8th February 2026
Post di Amistad, Kawasaki, Japan

There was unit warfare in the first regular Diana episode since 11th January as Grace of Royalty (Haruka Umesaki, Maika Ozaki & Miran) took on Tradition and Inherited (Kyoko Inoue, Mizuki Kato & Rina Amikura). This was a standard main event with not much to write home about, except Rina Amikura and Miran essentially having a good singles match with each other. After some initial wobbles, including Umesaki needing to help Miran get the octopus stretch on Amikura, they two had good chemistry with each other as Amikura continues to prove why she is clearly the best member of the COLORS promotion (the other two being SAKI, who created the promotion, and Yuko Sakurai).

New WWWD Champion Debbie Keitel took on standout prospect Syan Syan in a non-title singles match. Unfortunately, after some tense grappling early on, the match had to be stopped due to a legitimate injury to Syan Syan. Debbie was working over Syan Syan’s left arm and had arm control. She was attempting to force Syan Syan to the ground by taking a back bump so that she could continue working over the arm. However, Syan Syan’s left leg was underneath Debbie, so Debbie fell on top of Syan Syan’s left leg, bending it in the wrong direction. It looked brutal, but later Syan Syan was bending the leg, so we hope it was a less serious sprain rather than any breakage. It is one of those freak accidents with no one at fault. We hope that Syan Syan, one of the best prospects in the scene, has a speedy recovery.

PURE-J’s Chie Ozora lost to Nanami Hatano in a singles match as Nanami choked her out. Nanami has been trying to establish the sleeper hold as a signature move, before transitioning it into a dragon sleeper which normally gets the job done, as it did so here.

In the opener, rookie Anna paired up with WWWD Elizabeth Champion Ayako Sato against Chiho Urahoho and Himiko. Urahoho is part of Hokkaido-based promotion Hokuto Pro, with whom Diana has a working relationship. She also has a great running senton which completely squishes the opponent. I don’t want to say it too early, but I do think Anna is making small improvements in her offence, which is great.

Future Sight #43 - 11th February 2026

“Future Sight #43”
11th February 2026
Post di Amistad, Kawasaki, Japan

In the main event, Luminous (Haruka Umesaki & Miyuki Takase) faced COLORS (SAKI & Yuko Sakurai. I am not a fan of the COLORS duo, in the sense that I’ve never seen either of them have a great match, either singles or tag, so it always feels like a bit of a slog knowing the output I am going to get. The last time Luminous teamed in Diana, Takase forgot her matching gear and Umesaki was very unhappy about it and took out her frustrations on SPiCEAP (Maika Ozaki & Tae Honma). Well, at least Takase brought the gear this time. The match was fine. It’s SAKI and Sakurai.

The semi-main event was the annual Umesaki costume match, so they all wore previous sets of Umesaki’s gear. At first I thought Anna had debuted new gear but then my spidey senses were tingling when it looked very similar to Umesaki’s. It was supposed to be Anna & Ice Ribbon’s ICExFinity Champion Kaho Matsushita against Grace of Royalty (Miran & Syan Syan), but due to Syan Syan’s injury, it was changed to a handicap match against Miran. I will also say that I was confused for a solid two minutes because I thought it was Umesaki with Anna, because Kaho dressed in Umesaki’s gear and makeup looks exactly like her. This was a solid outing for Anna. Still not fully convincing of course, but no major botches. Miran is just a bonafide talent. I have no doubt she can get to the level where she’s a standout athletic/high-speed talent in the scene. It is whether she can become an ace of a promotion that we’ll need to wait and see on.

Echika Miyavi has been making the rounds in the independent scene the past few months, and let me tell you, she is the real deal. She has a great look, she’s athletic, she’s over, she has a signature move (a nasty overhand baseball chop), she can work stiff, she’s young. She literally has all the tools needed to make it big in the scene. Unfortunately on this show she was against Diana’s 1b ace in Nanami (if you consider Umesaki the 1a, and Debbie the top invading heel), so she couldn’t take the win but she left a great impression.

Hokuto Pro’s Chiho Urahoho teamed with WWWD Champion Debbie Keitel against Himiko and Makoto. Hokuto Pro is one of many promotions that has a working relationship with Diana. It was a solid performance from Chiho. Himiko pinned her with the Ace Crusher.

The mastermind of INVA, Ayako Sato, initially struggled with Mizuki Kato in the opener. Somehow, Sato was able to convince Kato to turn their efforts to beating up Haruka Umesaki, who was a second at ring side. They brought her into the ring and started wailing on her. Sato brought out her trusty dish, but had one extra. Then she handed one to Umesaki and they both started beating up Kato. The mastermind had turned the tables. Mizuki bounced back but Sato took the win with a flash pin. The funniest part was that Sato hadn’t been on a Future Sight show in a year, but Umesaki requested it for her birthday. Clearly Sato wasn’t happy about it.

Back to Round-up

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

Excellent

10 Aug 2025 – Jun Kasai vs. Yuki Miyazaki
23 Sep 2025 – Haruka Umesaki & Honoka vs. Itsuki Aoki & Kakeru Sekiguchi

Highly Recommended

1 Jun 2025 – Hazuki vs. Nanami Hatano
15 Jun 2025 – Hazuki vs. Rina Amikura
15 Jun 2025 – Miyuki Takase vs. Yura Suzuki
21 Jul 2025 – Cohaku vs. Haruka Umesaki vs. Ranna Yagami
2 Nov 2025 – Cohaku vs. Itsuki Aoki
20 Nov 2025 – Ayame Sasamura, Hibiscus Mii & Yuki Miyazaki vs. Honoka, Risa Sera & Suzu Suzuki

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

7 Jun 2025 – Rina Amikura vs. Nanami Hatano
15 Sep 2025 – Cohaku vs. Rina Amikura
28 Sep 2025 – Cohaku vs. Yuki Miyazaki
1 Oct 2025 – Ayame Sasamura vs. Cherry vs. Cohaku vs. Haruka Umesaki vs. Honoka vs. Itsuki Aoki vs. Kakeru Sekiguchi vs. Kaori Yoneyama vs. Misa Kagura vs. Mizuki Kato vs. Momoka Hanazono vs. Natsu Sumire vs. Ranna Yagami vs. Rina Amikura vs. Risa Sera vs. SAKI vs. Saran vs. Sumika Yanagawa vs. Yuki Miyazaki vs. Yuko Sakurai vs. Yumi Ohka vs. YuuRI

One-day Tournament to determine Aoki’s challenger - 25th January 2026

One-day Tournament to determine Aoki’s challenger
25th January 2026
Post di Amistad, Kawasaki, Japan

Sorry if you were looking for reviews on Yuki Miyazaki’s retirement and the subsequent 2nd January show at Shinjuku FACE. Come on, you didn’t really expect me to review a 43 minute match involving Yuki Miyazaki and Shin Sakura Hirota, did you? Instead, have a Post di Amistad show review! In order to determine the next contender for Itsuki Aoki’s Regina Di WAVE Title on 8th February, WAVE decided to hold three shows on the same day. Thankfully, unlike other days where they have had multiple shows, they did only charge this as a single stream rather than separate purchases. I think the last time I had to pay £40 for two shows was the time I started getting burnt on WAVE. That’s just ridiculous in this day and age. But, we’ve had some improvements so I decided to check out these shows. The format was a bunch of singles matches, I couldn’t work out the bracket, like I never am able to with WAVE so I just roll with it. The second round onwards would be decided by lottery. The rules were in the case of a draw, the wrestler with less experience would go through, similar to their Catch The WAVE tournament rules.

On the first show, Chi Chi and Honoka went to a draw. As Chi Chi debuted days before Honoka, Honoka went through. Additionally, YuuRI, Natsu Sumire, SAKI, Cohaku and Kaho Kobayashi knocked out Mochi Natsumi, Yuko Sakurai, Mio Shirai, Saran and Yumi Ohka respectively. As you can imagine, Chi Chi and Honoka was the match I had circled in the first round. It was a fun match as Chi Chi worked as a bully heel, a role she has been playing with increasing frequency. It was natural here as Honoka is a very lite version of Starlight Kid (this is a massive compliment), meaning she is excellent as a babyface, and Chi Chi has some Sareee-ISM injected into her wrestling style. Saran showed her slow but sure improvement in a match against one of her few WAVE colleagues in Cohaku. She looked more like a wrestler than she ever has. The gear change since winning the WAVE Tag Team Title has helped her presentation a lot. Cohaku won with the moonsault before beating up Saran after the bell and drawing boos (in a playful way, WAVE doesn’t really do heels). Kaho Kobayashi and Yumi Ohka had probably the best match of the first round in the main event with some gnarly bumps. Kaho won with her signature 120% schoolboy.

On the second show, Kaho and Natsu drew a bye to the semi-finals via random lottery. I can’t see clearly to see if some of the chains were gimmicked so that Kaho and Natsu knew which one to pick (the ones who drew the longest chains from an opaque box got the bye). I always wonder about that. Anyway, that left SAKI vs. Honoka and Cohaku vs. YuuRI in the second round. Honoka drew with SAKI, allowing her to go through to face Natsu in a finishing stretch marred by SAKI’s lack of athleticism and ability to execute counter nearfalls cleanly. Sareee and Crea have managed to rehabilitate my perception of YuuRI. She’s totally fine. Her match with Cohaku was good. We can all reform and turn the corner on wrestlers we used to not enjoy. Cohaku advanced to the semifinals to face Kaho Kobayashi. In the semifinals, Natsu beat Honoka and Kaho beat Cohaku.

Finally, on the third show just before the final of the tournament, there was a tag for people like me as Honoka & Nanami Hatano faced Chi Chi & Syan Syan. Unfortunately, WAVE decided not to include that match in the stream. I could not believe it. Why? I don’t have the energy to even complain about it. In the final, Natsu Sumire was legitimately injured following a crossbody, the most dangerous move in wrestling (seriously, it causes so many injuries). She had to pull out of several dates following this and the match had to be stopped after just over 8 minutes.

Full Results Amistad #1

Regina Di WAVE Title #1 Contendership Tournament First Round:
Chi Chi vs. Honoka – Time Limit Draw (10:00)

Regina Di WAVE Title #1 Contendership Tournament First Round:
YuuRI defeats Mochi Natsumi (9:49)

Regina Di WAVE Title #1 Contendership Tournament First Round:
Natsu Sumire defeats Yuko Sakurai (7:05)

Regina Di WAVE Title #1 Contendership Tournament First Round:
SAKI defeats Mio Shirai (6:35)

Regina Di WAVE Title #1 Contendership Tournament First Round:
Cohaku defeats Saran (9:39)

Regina Di WAVE Title #1 Contendership Tournament First Round:
Kaho Kobayashi defeats Yumi Ohka (9:27)

Full Results Amistad #2

Regina Di WAVE Title #1 Contendership Tournament Second Round:
Honoka vs. SAKI – Time Limit Draw (11:40)

Regina Di WAVE Title #1 Contendership Tournament Second Round:
Cohaku defeats YuuRI (8:38)

Chi Chi, Mio Shirai & Mochi Natsumi defeat Saran, Yuko Sakurai & Yumi Ohka (15:06)

Regina Di WAVE Title #1 Contendership Tournament Semi Final:
Natsu Sumire defeats Honoka (8:17)

Regina Di WAVE Title #1 Contendership Tournament Semi Final:
Kaho Kobayashi defeats Cohaku (4:55)

Full Results Amistad #3

Honoka & Nanami Hatano defeat Chi Chi & Syan Syan (13:18)

Yuko Sakurai & YuuRI defeat Cohaku & Saran (9:43)

Mio Shirai & Yumi Ohka defeat Mochi Natsumi & SAKI (16:58)

Regina Di WAVE Title #1 Contendership Tournament Final:
Kaho Kobayashi defeats Natsu Sumire by referee’s decision (8:39)

Korakuen Hall Previews - 31st January 2026

Korakuen Hall Previews
31st January 2026
TOKYOSQUARE, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan

Regina Di WAVE Champion Itsuki Aoki teamed up with the equally loud Rina Amikura to take on former Regina Di WAVE Champion Cohaku as well as the next Regina Di WAVE challenger in Kaho Kobayashi. This match was great. I wish WAVE was just more of this. Classic main-event style joshi wrestling with lots of nearfalls, break-up pins, fast-paced action, stiff strikes, brawling after the bell. The whole nine yards. It obviously helps that I enjoy everyone in this match and in particular love Itsuki Aoki. Itsuki and Kaho showed that there was no love lost and they were ready for battle at Korakuen Hall on 8th February.

WAVE’s young prospect Honoka beat Diana’s young prospect, Taiwanese wrestler Syan Syan. There was some hesitation from Syan Syan, but then you remember she is only 18 months into her career and has only had around 50 matches, so it is natural for that to be the case. It is also good to see Syan Syan continue to take more outside dates and gain more experience. This was a well worked match and both will surely play a key part in the independent scene going forward.

Watch on Confetti (within 1 week)

“Valentine Wave”

8th February 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 275
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Itsuki Aoki vs. Kaho Kobayashi

This show made some headlines for the fact it was one of the lowest Korakuen Hall attendances since Ice Ribbon’s 263 on 29th March 2025. I understand why this made news. Saya Kamitani was the Regina Di WAVE Champion earlier in the year and they were doing 600-700, and then it dropped to around 400. So there’s discourse around Saya Kamitani’s drawing power, and Sareee’s, given that she was on this card. In my opinion, most of the discussion takes place among people that do not watch the product. That to me, does the product a disservice in that it is receiving a negative perception for its drawing power and nothing to counterbalance that because no one is reviewing or talking about the product itself, except for columns like this. I think discussing attendance is fine if the legwork is also done to review the promotion’s product and analyse why or how these trends may be occurring. Yes, Saya Kamitani is a draw, but also, this promotion has essentially no homegrown starpower on top of not really having a base of operations unlike other independents.

WAVE is entirely reliant on freelancers. While freelancers like Sareee have their superfans, it pales in comparison to the superfans of promotions and homegrown talent. People get attached to homegrown talent and then the promotion. When you look through Japanese twitter, you’ll see bios that read “I love X wrestler!” and they are attending a lot of that person’s shows. Then there will be others that will say “I love All Japan!” Of all the profiles I have come across, freelancers are rarely mentioned. With there being so many alternatives where these freelancers can be watched (and easily in 2026), it kind of makes it harder to justify becoming a WAVE superfan. Even for me, I watch all the shows but my interest levels in them are so low because not only are they the same freelancers, but they’re also the ones commanding the cheapest rates. Sareee was on this show for the first time since 2021. VENY worked 1 WAVE date in 2025, and then another on New Years 2026. Hiroyo Matsumoto last worked a WAVE show in 2024. MIRAI hasn’t yet appeared in WAVE but has appeared everywhere on the independent scene, except those with their own base of operations, namely Ice Ribbon (Saitama dojo) and Diana (Kawasaki dojo). Those two promotions are mostly self-sustaining and have their own talent pipelines and networks. So when you are a promotion largely based on freelancers and yet don’t bring in the premium freelancers regularly, it makes things quite difficult and you need to stand out in a different way. WAVE was the destination of prime talent in the 2010s. That is no longer the case. That to me is a more interesting discussion than “Saya went bye bye so the line goes down”. (For the record, I think Cohaku and Honoka are excellent, but they are not talents people pay to see. Honoka absolutely could be, but she’s still early in her journey, and Saran has still not developed enough to have those types of super fans.)

Itsuki Aoki is one of my favourite “freelancers” (she’s technically with Shawn Capture), but it’s still the same problem. I would travel the length of Japan to see all the shows Itsuki is on, but I’m not sure domestic fans are, especially when she will probably appear in one of the promotions they watch anyway. It’s the nomadic nature of the independent scene that WAVE is trying to rely on and finding it cannot, unless it puts its title on a superstar like Saya Kamitani. Aoki defended the Regina Di WAVE Title against Kaho Kobayashi in the main event.

Prominence (Hiragi Kurumi & Mochi Natsumi) won the WAVE Tag Team Title against Saran & Yumi Ohka. I’ll be straight up. This match felt like it would never end. I did not think it was good. There were no botches or anything, but nothing happened. The crowd obviously affects this match, but also, these are not wrestlers that can do much. This match went almost 22 minutes. And Mochi won with a flash pin. That is ridiculous. This match is exactly the point I was making regarding the talent that WAVE attracts at the top of the card. It is genuinely whiplash-inducing to see this be a tag team title match in WAVE after watching Honori Hana & Unagi Sayaka vs. Selene Misora & VENY. It is like night and day. Also, SEAdLINNNG drew more people to Shinjuku FACE for that show than WAVE did to Korakuen Hall for this show. See, I can say stuff like that because I’ve laid out the issues the promotion has underneath the surface!

Cohaku teamed with Hazuki to take on SAKI and YuuRI in a singles match that went to a time-limit draw. Cohaku and YuuRI were great.

Honoka was ‘lucky’ as she was the recipient of Sareee’s first WAVE match since 2021. Honoka is an excellent babyface. We have written about that. It was no different here, yet it was still quite a standard Sareee match. You know what you are getting with Sareee on an undercard, and it is what I expected. It was a good match and Honoka sold well.

For some reason, Chi Chi and Mio Shirai entered to Mio’s music and not “Barbie”. Well, I know the reason, because Chi Chi is the junior, but man. They were against Kaoru Ito and Tomoka Watanabe, so Chi Chi is very familiar with them given she trains at the Ito Dojo. I’m not going to lie. Kaoru Ito is my guilty pleasure. There was a spot where Chi Chi was going for a crucifix bomb, but it ended up being a Samoan drop in the way that Ito just squished Chi Chi, and then she just got up and walked away to tag out while Chi Chi sold. This was a relatively fun match for the undercard, especially when Ito was no-selling Mio Shirai. That made me giddy.

In the opener, Yuki Mashiro faced Yuko Sakurai. I did think about skipping this match, but then again, I had paid almost £20 to watch this and I was going to get my money’s worth damnit. It’s nothing personal to the performers, but Sakurai just does not do too much for me. Does she do anything for anyone? Contact us and let us know! (Don’t do that.) The match was below average. Nothing happened. Despite me knowing this coming into the show, I am still surprised at how little happened. I would have preferred a comedy match.

Also, shout out to the gaijin in the front row who I have seen on almost every show I’ve watched in the past month. Lucky bastard.

Full Results

Yuko Sakurai defeats Yuuki Mashiro (9:20)
Kaoru Ito & Tomoko Watanabe defeat Chi Chi & Mio Shirai (15:29)

Sareee defeats Honoka (10:25)

Cohaku & Hazuki vs. SAKI & YuuRI – Time Limit Draw (20:00)

WAVE Tag Team Title:
Hiragi Kurumi & Mochi Natsumi defeat Saran & Yumi Ohka (c) (21:42)

Regina Di WAVE Title:
Itsuki Aoki (c) defeats Kaho Kobayashi (19:39)

Ame-kyun lose to earn a title shot - 15th February 2026

Ame-kyun lose to earn a title shot
15th February 2026
TOKYOSQUARE, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan

I’ll be honest guys. This card was pretty no bueno. It was not my cup of tea, so I was more selective with this show, not due to time constraints, but wanting to spend more time watching the things I want to watch. Just for reference, here was the card:

Yumi Ohka vs. Uta Shima
Cherry & Sumika Yanagawa vs. Kiku & Saran
Saran vs. Kiku
Haruka Umesaki & Honoka vs. Magenta (Maria & RIKO)
Hiragi Kurumi, Maika Ozaki & Mizuki Kato vs. Cohaku, Kaho Kobayashi & YuuRI

There is no universe in which I will be subject to two Kiku matches. Uta Shima being on the card was noticeable as she’s from the Ito Dojo. In recent months we’ve seen Chi Chi, Sareee, Miku Kanae, Tomoka Watanabe and Kaoru Ito herself take dates in WAVE, so that’s continued here. Additionally, without even looking, I know that the main event went at least 20 minutes. I’m not going to look it up. See how close I got. It’s just the WAVE classic, and a match that long with those participants is a doozy for sure.

The match I did tune in for was Ame-kyun (Haruka Umesaki & Honoka) taking on Magenta (Maria & RIKO) from Marvelous. I believe it’s the first Marvelous crossover into the WAVE universe in a long time. It was at least almost three years since the last time Magenta showed up here, and they were against two favourites of mine, so it was a no-brainer. To be honest, the match was quite good but nothing to write home about. The funniest part was that Ame-kyun actually lost this match but then got a tag title match immediately after. Not like it matters. It’s WAVE.

Back to Round-up

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

AWG MOTYC

28 Jun 2025 – Anri vs. Yukina Uehara

Excellent

16 Mar 2025 – Mari vs. Sakura Mizushima
25 May 2025 – Anri & Natsuki vs. Hinata Senya & Mari
13 Aug 2025 – Act & Mari vs. Marino Saihara & Rico Fukunaga
13 Aug 2025 – Nagisa Shiotsuki vs. Sakura Mizushima
29 Dec 2025 – Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara vs. Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki

Highly Recommended

24 Jan 2025 – Anri vs. Natsuki
22 Jun 2025 – Naru & Sakura Mizushima vs. Marino Saihara & Rico Fukunaga
11 Jul 2025 – Anri & Yukina Uehara vs. Marino Saihara & Sakura Mizushima
11 Jul 2025 – Act & Mari vs. Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki
18 Jul 2025 – Act & Mari vs. Anri & Erisa Nagai
18 Sep 2025 – Chii Aoba vs. Rico Fukunaga
1 Oct 2025 – Act & Mari vs. Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

9 Mar 2025 – Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki vs. Marino Saihara & Naru
16 Mar 2025 – Marino Saihara vs. Natsuki
1 Jun 2025 – Rico Fukunaga vs. Sakura Mizushima
28 Jun 2025 – Haruka Ishikawa & Kyoka Iwai vs. Naru & Sakura Mizushima
28 Jun 2025 – Act & Ayano Irie vs. Mari & MARU
31 Aug 2025 – Haruka Ishikawa vs. Nagisa Shiotsuki
7 Sep 2025 – Asako Mia & Yukina Uehara vs. Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki
7 Sep 2025 – Act, Mari & MARU vs. Marino Saihara, Naru & Sakura Mizushima
18 Sep 2025 – Mari & MARU vs. Natsuki & Sakura Mizushima
1 Oct 2025 – Marino Saihara vs. Yui Tensho
31 Oct 2025 – Ayano Irie & Sakura Mizushima vs. Mii & Rina Amikura
24 Nov 2025 – Ayano Irie & MARU vs. Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara

ACTwrestling “Step 67” - 15th December 2025

ACTwrestling “Step 67”
15th December 2025
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan

This particular episode took AWG an incredibly long time to upload, so much so that I could only catch it when I returned from my Japan trip. The main matches from this show I wanted to see were the main event and an undercard tag match. In the main event, Chii Aoba had finally been elevated from the opener and put in a big spot against the KING Champion, the best ‘professional wrestler’ on the roster, MARU. If you are tired of the same, tired, Team 2000X-style heel spots in Japan in 2025, just tune into a MARU match. It may look the same but, at least for me, it is so much more effective. It is not something that needs to be done to establish her character. It adds a chaotic, entertaining nature to all her bouts. It is almost like the Mayumi Ozaki-like interference in OZ Academy. It is a boon, not a detriment. For example, when MARU smashed a water bottle over Chii’s head and then Chii just grabbed it to drink some water, before choking as she drank too much. I mean, come on, that is hilarious. Those things help get wrestlers like Chii even more over. Indeed, that’s exactly what happened as the crowd chanted her name relentlessly after some nearfalls. MARU is amazing. This match was another great MARU defence.

I also caught the Midsummer Sea Breeze (Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki) versus Actwres 5 (Rico Fukunaga & Sakura Mizushima) tag which looked great on paper. Well, it was also great in practice. In particular, I am enjoying Sakura’s return to form as she had looked a little lost in her few appearances since dropping the KING Title to MARU. When Sakura is at the top of her game there’s few wrestlers I enjoy watching more. Nagisa’s 2025 has also seen her step up her game to become one of the most consistently enjoyable wrestlers on the roster, so these two locking horns made for a great end to the match as Nagisa put Sakura away with the Off the Lip suplex. Their singles match for the KING Title in August is still one of my favourites from AWG in 2025.

Watch on AWG Net

ACTwrestling in Osaka

20th December 2025
176BOX, Osaka, Japan
Designation: Key Show

AWG tore up the book one show before their biggest show of the year on 29th December at Korakuen Hall. This was the show where I read the results in order to complete the last issue before going on holiday, and my mind was blown. Two major title changes took place on this show as Rico Fukunaga became the new AWG Champion and Nagisa Shiotsuki captured the KING Title. It just seemed to counter how the promotion was being booked, against the run of play. Nevertheless, it was hard to come to a firm conclusion on how good (or bad) it was until I had actually seen how it was carried out. In the preview that I wrote in the last issue, I was concerned about Marino dropping the title given that she had been the best wrestler in AWG in 2025, and she was one of the most consistent performers. Her Actwres 5 stablemate and long-time tag team partner in MRC, Rico Fukunaga, had not done much in 2025 to grab my attention. Good performances, but not outstanding unlike several others in the promotion. I was personally really hoping they would give Marino the AWG Title defence record, which she would’ve tied Miku Aono with on 6 if she had successfully defended but it was not meant to be. On the other hand, it was Rico’s first ever title in her career. This match was pretty great. In the match, Marino and Rico hit each other hard for the first few minutes with kicks and forearms before transitioning to sick bumps from Rico’s signature Tiger Suplex and Marino’s MRN Smash German Suplex. It wasn’t by any means the best match of Marino’s reign, nor the best 2025 match of Rico (which goes to Chii Aoba), but it was still a good, hard-hitting match. Rico was in tears for her post-match promo.

In the semi-final, after failing to capture the AWG Title against Marino Saihara weeks prior, Nagisa Shiotsuki toppled MARU to become the new KING Champion. All of this only clicked into place when I remembered one thing. The one thing I had tried to ignore: the AWG points system. The system is based on in-ring ability, effort, popularity (via merch sales), and luck (a dice roll). Wrestlers have a certain number of points, and the wrestler with the most points will win any match that is designated a points match (usually certain semi-main and main events, as well as AWG Title and Tag Team Title matches). The KING Title, (as printed in our last issue, but as a refresher) according to podcast Actwres Stage hosted by Velkej Bracha and Sondre Bjorn, is not a points title. Therefore, Nagisa can win the “wrestling” match for the KING Title, because she’s good, but lose the “points” title match, because she’s less popular than Marino, which could be why she lost the AWG Title bout to her. This situation is one of the rare cases where the system becomes a storytelling device, because it is a story in itself that they want to tell where Nagisa is good enough to win wrestling matches, but still does not have enough points to win the big titles. Wrestling alone does not win you the big titles. You may have your view on whether that story works for you, but it is a story nevertheless. The match itself told that same story, which made it all tie up nicely, as MARU consistently used her trusty chain and weapons to try and halt Nagisa’s momentum. It wouldn’t last forever though, and Nagisa won with several Off the Lip suplexes which shocked the crowd. So, now having watched the match and had the context for the KING title not being a points match, I think this title change made sense and followed Nagisa’s consistent elevation in 2025.

In the undercard, Asako Mia and Erisa Nagai, who Asako insists is part of her faction along with the injured Anri, beat Nanami Togi and Rio. I have seen Togi wrestle almost 10 times in the last year and a half and do not remember any of her matches. But she has better forearms than Saya Kamitani. On the other hand, Asako Mia might well be the greatest comedy character in wrestling given that I have no idea if the bad wrestling is part of her bit, and it makes it very endearing. She also throws better forearms than Saya Kamitani. Erisa is progressing nicely and won with a cool wrist-clutch bridging Fisherman suplex. It’s called the “Ají Limo Suplex,” named after a Peruvian pepper, keeping on theme with Erisa naming her moves after extremely spicy food, which she likes.

Rookie Kana Yafuku teamed with Natsuki against Yui Tensho and Yukina Uehara. Yukina is on a fast track to the top, and was competing with Anri to get there before Anri’s unfortunate injury. So now, it’s a clear path for Yukina. You can see she knows it too by the confidence she wrestles with, despite being early in her career. She has clearly been watching a lot of her seniors wrestle and some of it has rubbed off on her, as she bullied the hell out of Kana. Kana and Yui traded forearms harder than any Saya Kamitani has ever thrown. This was a good undercard match.

Finally on the undercard, Actwres 5 members, “Pink” and “Green”, Naru and Sakura Mizushima respectively, faced off against Killer’Z duo Ayano Irie and Mari. It’s no secret Mari is my favourite AWG wrestler, but Sakura has been growing on me slowly. I have not ever seen a spot where a joshi does the “bridge out of a pin,” but is pulled back down by the hair into a pin, repeated three times. I really don’t know how AWG wrestlers keep thinking of new stuff you think I would’ve come across with how much coverage we have. Sakaguchi has somehow stumbled into nurturing the most creative environment in wrestling. This was another fun match, making it three for three on the undercard.

Full Results

Asako Mia & Erisa Nagai defeat Nanami Togi & Rio (9:03)

Yui Tensho & Yukina Uehara defeat Kana Yafuku & Natsuki (10:40)

Ayano Irie & Mari defeat Naru & Sakura Mizushima (12:35)

AWG KING Of Ring Entertainment Title:
Nagisa Shiotsuki defeats MARU (c) (13:09)

AWG Title:
Rico Fukunaga defeats Marino Saihara (c) (10:52)

ACTwrestling in Korakuen Hall

29th December 2025
Company Announced Attendance: 650
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara vs. Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki

Following the Osaka event, AWG held one of their biggest shows of the year at Korakuen Hall, going head-to-head against Stardom who had sold out Ryogoku Kokugikan for their second biggest show of the year. Can someone please send Sakaguchi the link to the Puwota calendar so he can see which promotions are running shows on which days?

Despite both the AWG Title and AWG Tag Team Title being defended on the card, the honours of the main event would go to the Tag Team Title match, and to be honest, I cannot argue against it as it featured the premier tag team in AWG, Midsummer Sea Breeze (Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki) challenging the Interim AWG Tag Team Champions Marino Saihara and Yukina Uehara. Marino was just coming off her AWG Title loss. While you may think that because this match was the main event that it meant that AWG still valued Marino over Rico despite the title switch, then I will just politely remind the reader that Yukina was also in the match and is AWG’s prized rookie, and Nagisa Shiotsuki has been deliberately and slowly pushed up the card throughout 2025. So, there were multiple reasons for this being the main event. Going into the tag title match, after having seen how Nagisa won the KING Title in Osaka, and thinking back to how she lost the AWG Title match to Marino weeks earlier, I was very much interested in the story of Nagisa potentially being only able to topple Marino in a points match when she was combined with her partner Natsuki. It was once again the perfect deployment of the points system as a storytelling device and one of the very few moments since I’ve covered AWG that it all clicked into place as a system.

However, popular duo Marino & Yukina had far too many points and overcame the challenge from Midsummer Sea Breeze to remain champions, but they put on a scorcher of a match on top of that. This was a classic AWG main-event style tag team match, with top workers Natsuki and Marino serving as the glue. While Natsuki and Marino could have just laid back and let Nagisa and Yukina carry the load, they went hard with some stiff strikes traded on the apron. I felt that the actual story of this match was Yukina arriving on the main stage. We know she has raw talent, but I have often been critical of her tag team work because she has looked lost, as any rookie would. Her selling has also left something to be desired. However, Yukina was great in this match. She did not look like the out of place rookie and it was one of her best selling performances, as she actually remembered this time that her leg got worked over. Also, I don’t know if I just haven’t noticed, but her rear view attack looks much better than before, so much so that I no longer hate it. Yukina went toe-to-toe with former AWG Champion Natsuki in a forearm exchange before dropping her with a great roundhouse kick before Marino dropped Nagisa on her head with the MRN Smash. Natsuki managed to hit the Midnight Sun on Yukina but Marino broke up the pin. Marino and Yukina double teamed for a buzzsaw kick and an MRN Smash on Natsuki (which looked awesome, if only Marino was the legal person). Yukina then pinned Natsuki clean with a jackhammer, which was also probably the best looking jackhammer Yukina has hit. A home run performance for the rookie and a big win over AWG’s former ace to retain the Interim AWG Tag Team Title. The points flashed on the screen and the champions had 0.2pts more than the challengers. Maybe that old friend, “luck” was at play, allowing the champions, and more importantly, Yukina, to retain. They announced their new name as “Harahara Red”, a play on Yukina Uehara and Marino Saihara, and they both like red. The crowd were confused at first as they messed up the announcement, but they got it in the end.

In the semi-main event, Rico successfully defended her newly acquired AWG Title against MARU. In classic MARU fashion, in order to take away Rico’s biggest weapon, her kicks, MARU gnawed away at Rico’s leg before launching her into the front row of chairs and throwing her chain at her face. MARU always takes chain wrestling to another level. After a series of nearfalls, Rico rallied back with kicks to MARU’s dome before finishing off with another Tiger Suplex. MARU really jumped on that final Tiger suplex. This was a good first defence for Rico. She said that it felt good to be a champion, just like her brother, MMA fighter Yuya Wakamatsu, who is the ONE Flyweight Champion.

Yui Tensho took part in her final match, reuniting with Actwres 5 member Naru against rookie and her Actwres 5 replacement, Kana Yufuku, who had the returning TJPW star HIMAWARI in her corner. It was HIMAWARI’s first AWG match since she appeared twice in AWG in 2022 before leaving to join TJPW. Naru was there for Yui’s debut so it was a full circle moment for them. I am still not sure if anyone has told Kana how to work her forearms. I am not complaining, they are disgustingly loud. But they are so loud I am wondering if she knows she can chill, just a little bit, before she causes a collapsed lung injury. Actually, this entire match just had some of the hardest hitting forearms in joshi. Even Yui and HIMAWARI had a gross (awesome) back and forth. Just show (parts of) this match to any aspiring joshi wrestler. Yui won her final match and passed on her Actwres 5 yellow mantle onto Kana. Yui referenced Kana’s heavy elbows as an example of her levelling up (although she had these elbows on her debut). This was cute. Yui said the reason for retiring is because she wants to focus on voice-acting work. She will still appear as AWG’s ring announcer where she can.

On the undercard, there was a new debutant, confusingly also called Marino. She’s from the Venus theatre group that have been running shows. They were running a play about starting a pro wrestling organisation, culminating in a pro wrestling event on 4th January, going head to head with Wrestle Kingdom 20. It’s a collaboration between their own talent, AWG and Ice Ribbon. While some Venus talent have debuted in Ice Ribbon, or re-debuted, like Yuuka, Marino was the first to now debut in AWG. Erisa Nagai is actually the one that reached out to Marino and invited her to the August Korakuen Hall show, which convinced Marino to try wrestling. She has a dance and acting background. She also works at a nursery school, which apparently Sakura Mizushima does as well. One important note is that Marino absolutely slayed the opening dance routine during “Love Riddle.” I’m telling you, we need more idol and theatre kids in wrestling, not less. Marino teamed with the improving Erisa Nagai against Ayano Irie and Mari. Marino had some good comedy chops and selling, which again, the theatre kids are going to grasp much quicker, and whether certain people like it or not, it’s a key part of wrestling. Her signature move is Marufuji’s Shiranui, which looked pretty good. Backstage, Mari and Ayano were very complimentary of Marino’s attitude to learning, with Mari saying she has been one of the most thoughtful students she has brought through at AWG, always asking what she should be thinking about next. Note that a lot of the backstage comments are the wrestlers slightly out of character. Still kayfabe, but not necessarily playing their in-ring personas, so they’re not totally selling losses etc.

Sakura Mizushima defeated Nene Arahata to become the next challenger for Rico’s AWG Title, a match that took place on 10th January at Kitazawa Town Hall. This was announced just before the show and both wrestlers in backstage comments spoke about how surprised they were. You and us both. The match was fine.

Haruka Ishikawa and Kyoka Iwai attempted to settle their differences after some miscommunications in tag matches as the team were on opposite sides of the opener alongside rookie Rio and the comedic legend in Asako Mia. The last time Rio was at Korakuen Hall she stole the show with some impressive new moves, so expectations were high. No such luck here but she did still do a cool dropkick. In a storyline I have very little investment in, Haruka and Kyoka wrestled for a couple of minutes before Haruka put Kyoka away. Kyoka did the classic AWG 3.1 second kickout and they brawled after. I didn’t particularly want to see these two go at it for longer and the faster Haruka moves away from Kyoka the better. Asako was very entertaining, as usual.

Act returned on this card, but as her comedy character Wild Bunny, so apparently she can take bumps now. At least she is willing to take pins as Wild Bunny, as Chii destroyed her with a backdrop suplex (on the second attempt).

Full Results

Haruka Ishikawa & Rio defeat Asako Mia & Kyoka Iwai (9:10)

Chii Aoba & Nanami Togi defeat Hinata Senya & Wild Bunny (6:32)

AWG Title #1 Contendership:
Sakura Mizushima defeats Nene Arahata (6:31)

Ayano Irie & Mari defeat Erisa Nagai & Marino (11:46)

Naru & Yui Tensho defeat HIMAWARI & Kana Yafuku (11:14)

AWG Title:
Rico Fukunaga (c) defeats MARU (14:30)

AWG Tag Team Title:
Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara (c) defeat Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki (17:41)

ACTwrestling in Kitazawa

10th January 2026
Kitazawa Town Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Ayano Irie & Rio vs. Kana Yafuku & Marino Saihara

AWG’s first show of the year was another great all-round show, including a match I think I will remember for most of 2026. Immediately after Korakuen Hall, the new champions racked up a few extra defences as Nagisa Shiotsuki defended her KING Title against Erisa Nagai and Rico Fukunaga defended her AWG Title against Actwres 5 teammate Sakura Mizushima. Sakura and Rico have faced each other only twice in singles action, and both have been title matches. First, when Sakura defended her KING Title against her, and now, Rico defending the AWG Title. As well as being part of the same unit, they also debuted on the same day and are classmates. I thought this match was good, but I was left expecting more, which is how I feel about most Rico matches. I was quite affected by the two matches preceding this one and had high expectations that were not met. That being said, this match was obviously fine. Rico had her tooth knocked loose and was bleeding quite a bit on the finish.

After the Killer’Z melodrama on the undercard got so much time, Nagisa Shiotsuki and Erisa Nagai had around 8 minutes for their KING Title showdown, but Erisa looked as good as you could hope for within that time. Erisa has really gone from someone not on my radar at all, to a solid performer for her level of experience (a year and a half, the same as other talent in the scene such as Miria Koga). In that context, compared to talent like Miria Koga, I think Erisa is improving at a solid pace and this match showcased that. She still does not stand out in any meaningful way though. Nagisa told Anri to come and challenge her when she’s back from injury. That will be a banger.

Kyoka Iwai and Haruka Ishikawa continued their feud, unfortunately, although this time they had Killer’Z head honchos Mari and MARU on opposite sides to help mediate. No weapons were allowed, so when MARU immediately tried to use a chain, they rolled her up in the apron. MARU’s character is basically addicted to weapons, in a funny, entertaining, endearing way, unlike Ren Narita and his push-up bar. This is just one of the feuds I do not care for, and this went 18 minutes. Around 43 minutes in, or whatever it was, Kyoka lifted Haruka’s head up from the mat. Now, what saved this match from disaster was how awesome Haruka was. This match grew on me the more I thought about it because of her performance. With blood pouring from her nose she went on one of her signature rampages hitting everyone and anyone. It was like she was an unhinged animal that the boss, MARU, had to put down. They could’ve cut half this match to get the same story told. This match was an utter, chaotic mess, which I disliked so much that I ended up liking it. Don’t ask me how. Actually, do ask me: the answer is Haruka Ishikawa.

We also saw Kana Yufuku’s debut as a full-fledged member of Actwres 5, as she teamed with unit leader Marino Saihara against Ayano Irie and Rio. This match was sick. This match is part of the reason I watch AWG. It was disgustingly stiff. First, Kana just decided to destroy Ayano in a full-mount position, pounding on her chest with stiff forearms, clearly not realising wrestling is fake. Then, Rio and Marino decided to have a forearm battle which made reverberating sounds in the arena. Finally, Marino dropped Ayano on her head with an MRN Smash so gnarly that I screamed, and my wife across the house yelled “are you okay?” This match had no stakes, was out of nowhere, and I feel like I won’t forget it for most of the year, meaning it will probably end up high on my recommended list just because of how much it shocked me. I rarely take clips of matches. I took two clips of this match. It was gross. I loved it.

On the undercard, after the highs of an amazing performance in the main event at Korakuen Hall, Yukina Uehara was back to the opener with her unit leader Asako Mia, going up against star duo Naru and Natsuki. I have lost track of who is in the Asako Army. Off the top of my head, I think it is Asako Mia, Polaris (Anri & Erisa Nagai), Chii Aoba and Yukina Uehara, but sometimes, Polaris act like they don’t know Asako, which I presume is part of the bit. Rio is now hanging out with the Asako Army so I assume she has joined them too. It is a growing unit that will surely dominate AWG in 2026. Yukina absolutely loves wrestling Natsuki. You can tell by how hard they kick each other. Unfortunately Asako took the loss here meaning she’s still only 2 wins in over 400 matches.

Full Results

Naru & Natsuki defeat Asako Mia & Yukina Uehara (9:41)

Kana Yafuku & Marino Saihara defeat Ayano Irie & Rio (12:16)

Kyoka Iwai & MARU defeat Haruka Ishikawa & Mari (18:32)

AWG KING Of Ring Entertainment Title:
Nagisa Shiotsuki (c) defeats Erisa Nagai (7:42)

AWG Title:
Rico Fukunaga (c) defeats Sakura Mizushima (16:14)

ACTwrestling in Osaka - Rookiemania! - 18th January 2026 (*)

ACTwrestling in Osaka
18th January 2026
176BOX, Osaka, Japan
Recommended Match: Marino Nishimura & Rico Fukunaga vs. Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki (if you like rookies), Kana Yafuku & Sakura Mizushima vs. Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara (…if you like rookies)

In the main event, the AWG Tag Team Champions Harahara Red (Marino Saihara & Yukina Uehara) faced Actwres 5 duo, “Yellow”, Kana Yufuku, and “Green”, Sakura Mizushima. As the leader of Actwres 5, “Red”, Marino was looking to teach her subordinates how it was done. I love Kana Yufuku, man. I just love her. She has launched herself up my rookie tier list. What is the first thing Marino and Kana do? Stiff forearm battle, of course! Why not take another month’s subscription, AWG? You had me at “forearm.” Somehow, despite me thinking Kana had the stiffest forearms in the company, Marino’s forearms were even harder in this particular exchange, as if to prove a point to her junior. Yukina Uehara had her own point to prove, wanting to show Kana that she was the best rookie in town. She has a beautiful axe kick that makes you laugh when you see TJPW Yuki Arai’s. And yes, we are calling her Kana instead of Yufuku now because of her performance in the 10th January show where she tried to murder Ayano Irie with forearms. She has now inherited the name from one of the greatest hard-hitting joshis of all time, Kana (a.k.a. Asuka in WWE). Marino’s MRN Smash finisher has somehow gotten more dangerous, as for the second show in a row she dumped her opponent (Sakura, in this case) on top of their head, literally.

Midsummer Sea Breeze (Nagisa Shiotsuki & Natsuki) faced Rico Fukunaga and new rookie Marino Nishimura. Natsuki welcomed the new rookie to AWG as she kicked the hell out of her. This was a really fun match that pretty much put the two in an extended singles match, with the rookie showing that she has the same thing all AWG rookies have: good, stiff forearms, and an ability to absorb disgustingly sharp kicks from Natsuki. Great match. It was a bit long but the new rookie did as well as she could in her 3rd match ever.

Chii Aoba faced Mari in a singles match. Chii really wanted Mari to kick her in the butt. Mari didn’t want to. Eventually, Chii had annoyed Mari enough to get kicked in the ass, which actually led to Chii launching a frenzy of attacks including her signature powerslam and chickenwing submission. Maybe she just… needed something to get going? Then, Asako Mia, who was the ring announcer for the night and is Chii’s stable leader, just kept yelling “bitch” into the microphone. At Mari, I’m assuming. Because it’s an Osaka show, we don’t have transcripts of what is going on. This was one of those AWG matches that was such a chaotic mess that I ended up loving it. Chii hit the “Dessert is Ice – with Chii on top, if you please!” frogsplash, but Mari kicked out. Mari eventually got the win with the Abyss Drop (Narakuotoshi). Mari ran after Asako Mia after the match, who screamed and sprinted for her life. Wow.

Haruka Ishikawa and Kyoka Iwai continued their forever-feud in a tag match also involving Rio and Hinata Senya. Kyoka pinned Rio with the Cutie Special. Rio is one of my favourite rookies to watch (I say that a lot, don’t I?) Her belt came undone during a forearm exchange with Kyoka. She asked Kyoka to wait as she did up her belt again. After she was done, she wallopped Kyoka with a super loud forearm. It cheered me up after I was having a bad day.

Ayano Irie submitted Naru in under 7 minutes. Naru hasn’t really done much since the AWG Tag Team tournament. Maybe this is just her fate.

ACTwrestling “Step 68” - 25th January 2026

ACTwrestling “Step 68”
25th January 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan

Midsummer Sea Breeze (Nagisa Shiotsuki & Nagisa) faced Rico Fukunaga & Yukina Uehara which would end up serving as a preview match for Rico defending her AWG Title against Natsuki on 8th February ahead of her announced retirement on 2nd May (as mentioned in the bitesize round-up). This is my chance to once again mention how good Yukina Uehara is becoming. She must be ambitious and have a strong desire to learn because her development path is unusually steep. She looked awkward, gangly and out of place not 6 months ago, and now looks much more polished, confident and believable in main-event matches. It is quite striking when I think back to how I wrote about her in the first few matches I saw her in. Yukina tapped out Nagisa with YKNT, the “Yukina Triangle”, a new submission, and then challenged her for the KING Title. Yukina is going after all of the titles. After the match, Natsuki announced her retirement.

After Kana Yufuku and Marino Nishimura have provided me with some of my happiest AWG moments in just the last show (in separate matches), the rookies teamed up to take on AWG ace Marino Saihara and her Actwres 5 partner Sakura Mizushima, the two singles champions for most of 2025. One of my favourite things about AWG is that they let their rookies fall flat on their face. It’s sink or swim. Marino Nishimura, in her fourth match, pulled out a submission I do not know how to describe, just know I have never seen it (imagine a variation on a bridging leg lock, like an inverse Muta lock with a leg lock too? I don’t know, man). It wasn’t her first time trying it, as she also did it on the 4th January Venus vs. AWG show onto Erisa Nagai. Then, Nishimura also has a cartwheel legdrop. Well, alright then. Then, Kana is just like a dumb jock wrestler just throwing her lethal elbows around. She’s not the most graceful wrestler when doing moves, but then I don’t want her to be. Her selling is also great for her level of experience.

Asako Mia faced the boss MARU in a special singles match, looking for her 3rd win in over 400 matches. Of course, Asako lost. But after the bell she said that she would wait for MARU to get weaker and swore to beat her. MARU responded “Don’t you mean you’ll get stronger?” Asako basically replied with, paraphrasing, “Did I stutter?” MARU was trying not to crack and then told Asako to get her points up and then they could tag with each other. Clearly MARU has taken a bit of a liking to Asako.

Asako Army (Erisa Nagai & Rio) faced Haruka Ishikawa and Mari of the Killer’Z heel stable. Rio has been flirting with joining Killer’Z for a while, including a brief period of following the boss of Killer’Z, MARU, around for a while. Given that, Mari choked Rio with a black t-shirt before drenching it in bleach, stating it was too close to Killer’Z colours. Ishikawa pinned Rio.

ACTwrestling “Step 69” - 8th February 2026

ACTwrestling “Step 69”
8th February 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan

In the main event, Natsuki was unable to attain the AWG Title from the champion Rico Fukunaga, months before Natsuki’s impending retirement on 2nd May. It was their first ever singles match after four years in the same promotion. I wanted Natsuki to win the match. Badly. I have no interest in Rico, Natsuki has always been a favourite, and she’s retiring. So my enjoyment of the match was predicated on that. The initial portion of the match was great as they jockeyed for control and tried to determine whose kicks were harder. This part of the match was actually the best part. I felt the match lost some steam, or at least my interest, after that. Firstly, there was some action outside the ring, but calling it action is a strong word. It was the typical joshi outside-the-ring bumps that take place in big main events, but didn’t feel especially well executed. Additionally, I was into the idea of a Rico that was dominant and bullying the retiring Natsuki and thought, briefly, that this was where the match was going. But it never went there. The match felt a bit disjointed, in the sense that I had seen both, but especially Natsuki, have several singles matches better than this. It reminded me of a Mercedes Mone match, but instead, the struggle was not intentional and was instead illusion-breaking because of how slow it was and a lack of smoothness. The idea they seemed to go for was that Rico had to prove herself against the former ace of AWG. It just didn’t land for me. To be clear, this wasn’t bad. It was just aggressively fine, and I’ve come to expect higher standards from AWG Title matches. AWG has a ridiculous abundance of talent that does not really stain the card, it just means the top match on the card feels like another okay undercard match. I will be treating the matches underneath as my main events. It happens in wrestling sometimes!

Chii Aoba and KING Champion Nagisa Shiotsuki faced Rio and Yukina Uehara. This match had a few threads. One is that Nagisa and Yukina were building to their KING Title match on the next show. Another is that Rio and Nagisa have some of the best chops in the scene, so going head to head was fun. Chii was… there I suppose. This wasn’t really the match for her to shine in. I think Yukina Uehara is the most improved wrestler in the scene since 6 months ago. You can read my reviews from around June or July where I mentioned she looked a bit lost in tag matches. She looks incredibly comfortable as the AWG Tag Team Champion. It was pointed out to me (if you’re reading this, you probably know who) that the improvement took place when she started getting booked in GLEAT, and that timeline does match up. So, that’s GLEAT’s usefulness in the scene: to improve the AWG roster.

Killer’Z boss MARU and her lieutenant Yukina Uehara faced Actwres 5 “Yellow” and “Red”, Kana Yufuku and Marino Saihara. Look, I’m Kana Yufuku’s number one fan. Just recently, I bought front row tickets to the 30th April Korakuen Hall show and named her to give her some points. That being said, she is obviously still quite green in a few areas. There is a weird looking submission that she tries to do that looks clunky that she could clean up or leave out until she’s more comfortable. But I am all in on her selling and of course her ridiculous forearms which, unfortunately, she did not throw too many of in this match. Ayano didn’t want any of them I guess. Let’s not forget it was Ayano’s chest that Kana destroyed on the 10th January.

Killer’Z (Hinata Senya & Mari) took on eternal enemies Actwres 5 “Pink” and “Green”, Naru and Sakura Mizushima. This match was super fun when Mari was tagged in, and super not fun when Mari was not tagged in. It is really funny to me that Hinata Senya was one of my favourites because she was coincidentally part of a great tag match that had three of my favourites to watch in Anri, Mari and Natsuki. Hinata was made to look way better than she was. No longer! Begone!

In the opener, Nanami Togi and Erisa Nagai, who share the same birthday, faced each other in a singles match on their birthday. Erisa got the crowd to sing happy birthday to kick off the match but Nanami, a heel, started attacking Erisa. Erisa was wearing a birthday sash that was falling off, so Nanami just took it and started strangling her with it. I am sure that was planned but it seemed smooth enough that I could believe she improvised. She later started beating Erisa with an inflated birthday cake balloon. It became deflated. It was sad. The crowd was sad. I was sad. But then Chii Aoba, Erisa’s Asako Army stablemate, brought in another balloon for Erisa to body slam Nanami through. Then I was happy. This match was okay. Erisa won with the Aji Limo suplex. They did a proper happy birthday singalong in English after. It was cute.

ACTwrestling “Step 70” - Yukina challenges for a singles title - 15th February 2026

ACTwrestling “Step 70”
15th February 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan

In the main event, Nagisa Shiotsuki successfully defended her KING Title against AWG standout Yukina Uehara. This was a match I was extremely excited for. This is essentially two of AWG’s rising stars throughout 2025 coming to blows in a main event for a singles title that isn’t determined by points. This match was simply the story of who was the better wrestler. I felt Nagisa winning that match was the right call. She is more experienced and ahead of Yukina and deserves a solid KING Title run before getting into the mix for the AWG Title again following her failed challenge a few months prior. Yukina’s kicks in this match were brutal, especially for her level of experience. There was an axe kick at one point that I thought shoot KO’d Nagisa because it looked so good I thought she hit it flush. I think this wasn’t one of Nagisa’s best performances because she mostly just hit codebreakers for her comeback with a few of her special chops mixed in. It was a very run-of-the-mill performance from Nagisa while Yukina shined bright, despite a weak looking jackhammer. I think Yukina deserved the 3.1 second kickout from Nagisa’s Off the Lip Suplex. AWG wrestlers hate losing, and Yukina was no different here.

KIller’Z (Haruka Ishikawa & Mari) faced Natsuki and Rico Fukunaga, with the latter two coming off the back of their AWG Title bout on “Step 69”. This match was really good. There were pairings in this match where the chemistry was obvious. Natsuki and Ishikawa started the match off with some enjoyable mat wrestling. Later in the fight they hit each other hard, including a running forearm from Haruka which got an audible response from the crowd. Then, the other pair of Rico and Mari had a fun submission based back and forth. There were some cool transitions that Rico pulled off as she grabbed Mari’s limbs mid-strike. For the finish, Natsuki hit a sick running enzuigiri, but Mari broke up the pin. Then MARU wrapped her chain around Natsuki and the Killer’Z destroyed Natsuki. I mean, she is the retiring girl and it is good heat, so I didn’t mind it. It was a rare AWG DQ. Natsuki explained that the match was special to her because it was against Mari, her mentor, Haruka, who she trains with regularly (now the mat grappling made sense), and Rico, who she faced for the title the week before. She wants to beat some Killer’Z up before she retires. As an aside, Mari doesn’t get enough credit for how much talent she has brought through the ranks of AWG.

There was a rare AWG trios match as Asako Army (Asako Mia & Erisa Nagai) teamed up with MARU against Actwres 5 (Kana Yufuku, Marino Saihara & Sakura Mizushima). This was following the previous week where MARU thought it’d be fun trying to turn Asako Mia into a winner. I’m getting into Asako Mia matches the more I watch. I think it has finally clicked with me. She is hilarious. She tried a diving crossbody on Marino and just bounced off Marino who looked at her in disgust. She then tried a combination of forearms, including a rolling forearm, which looked hilarious. This match was all about Asako, so it obviously wasn’t a great athletic display, but it was enjoyable. Asako was pinned by Marino’s MRN Smash. After the match, Asako blamed Erisa for the loss which got a lot of laughs. MARU said she wants to challenge Harahara Red (Marino & Yukina Uehara) for the Interim AWG Tag Team Title. MARU remembered it’s a points match. Asako basically said no problem because she’s the Executive Sales Rep of AWG so they’ll sell 50 tickets on 22nd February and have enough points. So the match will take place on 22nd February.

Long-time teammates Ayano Irie and Nene Arahata faced off in a singles match. It was oddly their first singles match. I suppose it’s not strange because they are always tagging with each other, but normally there are some odd singles matches here and there between teammates, but that had never happened here in the past four years. It was a match. Ayano won with Teardrop Angel. Kyoka Iwai beat Nanami Togi in the opener in what was definitely another match.

Back to Round-up

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

Note: This is ring-shows only. Unfortunately, no Ichigaya shows are covered.

MOTYC

5 Sep 2025 – Mei Suruga vs. Rina Yamashita

Highly Recommended

29 May 2025 – Mei Seira vs. Mei Suruga
30 Oct 2025 – Emi Sakura vs. Aoi Kizuki, Kaori Yoneyama, Mei Suruga, Momoe Nakanishi & Riho
30 Oct 2025 – AZM vs. Mei Suruga

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

29 May 2025 – Makoto & Sayaka vs. Miya Yotsuba & Soy
26 Jun 2025 – Mei Suruga vs. Sayaka Obihiro
18 Jul 2025 – Mei Suruga vs. Miya Yotsuba
5 Oct 2025 – Antonio Honda vs. Rina Yamashita

Watch on YouTube

ChocoPro #496 ~ “Purple Chocolate”

30th December 2025
TOKYOSQUARE, Itabashi, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show

Despite a chaotic, hectic holiday period staying in Japan, there were two matches from ChocoPro I was determined to seek out, both from the “Purple Chocolate” show on 30th December at TOKYOSQUARE. Having used up my allotted “one show per day” compromise (agreed with my partner) on OZ Academy at Korakuen Hall on the same day, I eagerly awaited the upload of this show to ChocoPro’s YouTube. The two matches did not disappoint. In the main event, Rina Yamashita, who is having an inspired 2025, retained her Super Asia Title against ChocoPro founder and joshi wrestling legend Emi Sakura. This was a first ever singles match between the two. This match combined the signature Sakura-comedy style with ChocoPro ring show main event drama. Sakura has a unique way of selling the survival a fight with the skin of her teeth. This match has some intricate, creative nearfalls and is the type of match you will only see in ChocoPro, with the crowd biting on each nearfall on the finishing stretch. After clawing away at Yamashita, panicking and frantically doing everything she could to withstand Yamashita’s power, Yamashita unleashed a deadly superkick and lariat combo into a diving splash. Despite Sakura kicking out, a suspenseful, deadly Splash Mountain from Yamashita would signal the end for Sakura’s title challenge.

After finally defeating Bellflowers and winning the Asia Dream Tag Team Title, MiyaSoy (Miya Yotsuba & Soy) followed up with a great title defense against Chie Koishikawa and Hagane Shinnou. Wrestling in ChocoPro has been one of the best things for Soy’s development over the past year, especially as she goes up against dynamic wrestlers such as Shinnou. Soy has rounded out her game and it has provided her the opportunity to wrestle regularly outside of EVO’s one show a month. Soy looked great in her hard-hitting sequence with Shinnou. Soy later speared Shinnou off of the apron, leaving Miya and Chie to go the finishing stretch alone. Chie caught Miya with a flash cradle, with Miya not being able to believe it after they had worked so hard to take the titles from Bellflowers. Chie and Shinnou are an awesome team, so this worked for me. Soy was enraged and attacked former Tag Team Champion Sayaka who was a second. I love seeing this type of character progression from Soy.

Full Results

Hiyori Yawata, Kaho Hiromi & Sayaka Obihiro defeat Choun Shiryu, Erii Kanae & Shin Suzuki (7:29)

Kaori Yoneyama & Rasputin defeat Antonio Honda & Tokiko Kirihara (6:31)

BestBros (Baliyan Akki & Mei Suruga) defeat Bellflowers (Makoto & Sayaka) (11:20)

Chris Brookes defeats Yasu Urano (12:37)

Asia Dream Tag Team Title:
Chie Koishikawa & Hagane Shinnou defeat Miya Yotsuba & Soy (c) (12:53)

Super Asia Title:
Rina Yamashita (c) defeats Emi Sakura (17:17)

ChocoPro #500 Special - 18th January 2026

“ChocoPro #500 Special”
18th January 2026
Ichigaya Chocolate Square, Tokyo, Japan

ChocoPro celebrated the 500th episode of the promotion with a one-match show at their signature Ichigaya Chocolate Square venue. This was the first of three shows to commemorate the achievement and was an eight-person tag match between Baliyan Akki, Chris Brookes, Emi Sakura & Mei Suruga and Chie Koishikawa, Hagane Shinnou, Miya Yotsuba & Sayaka. Confession time! This was the first Ichigaya show I have ever watched. I only have so much time and *scrolls up and down the page* there’s a lot to cover, so some things fall through the cracks. But I am very happy I checked this show out as it was a very easy 90-minute watch and I highly recommend it to anyone curious. For those unfamiliar, their regular shows in Ichigaya take place in a small room with a chocolate coloured wrestling mat, which makes for some unique and interesting matches. I am sure that the ceiling has been smashed through on more than one occasion. In contrast, around once a month they also host shows with a standard ring, which are the ones we cover in the newsletter.

The Ichigaya shows have a certain charm to them in that there’s a lot of small talk and interacting with the audience leading up to the first match which makes it feel very authentic. All the wrestlers are relaxed and show off more of their personality that you may not see on the bigger shows. The match on the show lasted 43 minutes, although you wouldn’t really think that when watching it live. The roster is very creative at using different parts of the arena to keep things interesting, and the starpower in this match made it difficult for the match to ever lose my interest. After the match, there was a party environment, with Chris Brookes being his usual self and downing a beer (that guy can hold his alcohol, as evidenced by fans, including me, buying him several beers at a meet and greet and him downing them all). They set up Mei Suruga vs. Baliyan Akki for the ring show days later but that fell through due to an injury sustained by Mei.

ChocoPro #500 Day 1- 22nd January 2026

ChocoPro #500 Day 1
22nd January 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan

In what was supposed to be Baliyan Akki and Mei Suruga’s first ever singles match against each other, Emi Sakura stepped in due to an injury to Mei in what must have been a blow to both. It was difficult for them to have a match that would rival what Akki could do with Mei given their long time partnership, but it was still a fun main event. It was exactly the type of match you would imagine when you hear Baliyan Akki and Emi Sakura, which isn’t bad, but neither is it a must-see, unless you want to support the promotion, which I’m always in favour of (and why I write about them). After kicking out of an avalanche Frankensteiner and a Tiger Driver, Akki tried to win with Mei Suruga’s Phoenix Rising pin to no avail. He finally defeated Sakura with the Namaste splash. Baliyan Akki spoke about how Sakura and ChocoPro made his dream to wrestle come true as well as giving him a home. Akki said his ambitions are for ChocoPro to run Korakuen Hall (which they’ve only done as Gatoh Move) and also to run a show in India.

Super Asia Champion Rina Yamashita returned to the promotion teaming with the Asia Dream Tag Team Champions to face off against Kung-Fu Panda (Choun Shiryu & Lee Yoneyamakao, who is Kaori Yoneyama) and Makoto. Shiryu managed to pin the champion Yamashita after a good fast-paced match. The finish got me in particular as Yamashita raised Shiryu high in the sky for the Splash Mountain and I was certain that it was the finish, but Shiryu wriggled out and then caught Yamashita with a flash pin for the win. This sets up a future Super Asia Title match for Choun Shiryu, who was on the debut show of ChocoPro, formerly Gatoh Move, back in 2012. That match will take place on 25th February at TOKYOSQUARE.

Chris Brookes angered freelancer Minoru Fujita enough for him to remove his mask in their singles bout. Despite trying his hardest to withstand Chris’ stiff strikes, Fujita tapped with his body being contorted by Chris.

SAKI beat Miya Yotsuba in their fourth singles match against each other, two at Ichigaya and two in the ring, leaving Miya to have to wait until the next time to beat SAKI. I initially skipped this match as I do with all SAKI matches as she isn’t a personal favourite of mine, but upon seeing some positive reviews I decided to check it out. It still wasn’t for me, but I imagine if you are someone who likes Miya Yotsuba, this is a match worth checking out. There was a fun body slam exchange in the middle of the match which the crowd (and Baliyan Akki on commentary) was quite into.

ChocoPro #500 Day 2 - 23rd January 2026

ChocoPro #500 Day 2
23rd January 2026
Ichigaya Chocolate Square, Tokyo, Japan

On the second day of a back-to-back and the third show celebrating #500 overall, Baliyan Akki and Chris Brookes (who demanded that Aoi Kizuki call them “Best Buds”) faced Shin Suzuki and ChocoPro newcomer Hayden Zenith from Australia, who is Akki’s long-time friend. Hayden uses a fanny pack as one of his props to wrestle with, so you just know he’ll fit in just fine. He also has a plushie toy, so Chris treated it exactly as he normally treats Takeshi Masada’s friend Bunbun – with utter contempt.

Antonio Honda had a rare singles match against Soy (he normally has around four to five a year in ChocoPro). He also rarely loses these singles matches, a different beast to DDT Anton. Anton is one of the reasons I wish I could understand Japanese. The match was a five-count match, meaning as soon as you get a cumulative 5 seconds of pins, you win the match. They can be broken up and they’ll be carried forward. After Soy refused to stay down for a pin, Anton said, according to Akki on commentary “we have five counts, why can’t you just give me one? Why are you working so hard?” Of course, Anton ended up winning.

In the main event, Choun Shiryu and Rina Yamashita continued building towards their title match on 25th February.

Back to Round-up

Recommended Matches of 2025

The categories, in order, are “MOTY”, “MOTYC+”, “MOTYC”, “Promotion MOTYC”, “Excellent”, “Highly Recommended” and “Only if you really like the wrestler(s)/promotion”.

Highly Recommended

5 Apr 2025 – AKARI & Crea vs. Hanako Nakamori & Risa Sera
16 May 2025 – AKARI vs. Crea

Only if you like the wrestler(s)/promotion

1 Mar 2025 – AKARI vs. Crea
2 Mar 2025 – AKARI vs. Crea
11 Aug 2025 – Hanako Nakamori & Kaho Kobayashi vs. Moeka Haruhi & Yuna Manase

Watch on YouTube

PURE-J 2026 “First Battle”

4th January 2026
Itabashi Green Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show

Hanako Nakamori, the ace of PURE-J, re-established herself at the top of the promotion as she regained the PURE-J Openweight Title from SAKI. To be blunt, I am not a fan of the way this promotion is booked. Some of the wrestlers I think are amazing, namely Crea, and others I like a lot, such as AKARI, Hanako Nakamori, Leon and Chie Ozora. But I cannot, for the life of me, understand why Crea had to lose her 3rd Openweight Title match to SAKI in 26 minutes at Korakuen Hall, if all they were going to do was belt up Hanako for the sixth time. When you look at the list of people who have won the title, it really is “Hanako & veterans” only. It’s not like the promotion has a lot of other storyline hooks going on. Why not belt up Crea or AKARI who are clearly ready, and let them go get the belt’s name out there, get them booked in Ice Ribbon, Diana, etc. as a champion, rather than Hanako Nakamori who has quite literally been there, done that, five times before. Yes, I’m still upset from the Crea and SAKI match that I threw a tantrum about in the last issue. God has given me, his strongest warrior, his most difficult challenge in covering PURE-J, out of all the joshi promotions we cover, it is the one I slightly struggle with. But, Crea is too awesome to pass up on and more people need to know about her, so we continue on! To be clear, I do like Hanako Nakamori, she is great. It is her 20th anniversary so I am guessing they felt the need to give her the title to celebrate it and defend it against dream opponents and whatnot. Let’s see. The match itself was a SAKI match. So. Yeah. She couldn’t even lose to a finisher. It was a flash pin.

On the undercard, Crea and YuuRI had a decent 15-minute time-limit draw, including some exchanges where the two pounded forearms into each other. I think I have found a mode of YuuRI that I enjoy. It was the Sareee match on 27th December in GanPro, and in this match with Crea, that made me realise it. I just want her to hit hard. And she does. Good job YuuRI. More of that. Crea bullied YuuRI for most of this match and looked awesome doing so. This was my favourite match on the card. In fact, this might have been my favourite PURE-J match in ages. I think the way to get the most out of Crea is to put her against outsiders where she can go all out. But, can Crea please pick up some wins? How long do I have to keep watching to see her pick up some big wins?! Wait. Is this actually good booking? Is this a way to make me continue my £8.99/month YouTube membership? Okay. Okay. I see you PURE-J. I see you. I will patiently await Crea’s ascension. I did meet her after Ribbonmania and told her that I hope she wins the Openweight Title at some point. She was lovely. She turned me into a Bad Butts fan (a faction in Ice Ribbon I had been writing some mean things about that have mysteriously disappeared from previous issues. Joking. Maybe.)

Leon faced Mio Shirai for the first time in 13 years. Mio was being her annoying self so Leon chopped the crap out of her. The most experienced member on the roster, KAZUKI, faced the least experienced in Jenne. It was a match. Risa Sera made her final PURE-J appearance in a six-person tag.

Full Results

KAZUKI defeats Jenne (8:45)

Leon defeats Mio Shirai (9:34)

Crea vs. YuuRI – Time Limit Draw (15:00)

Chie Ozora, Risa Sera & Rydeen Hagane defeat Cherry, Kaho Kobayashi & Kaori Yoneyama (13:44)

PURE-J Openweight Title:
Hanako Nakamori defeats SAKI (c) (18:14)

PURE-J Dojo #153 - 11th January 2026

PURE-J Dojo #153
11th January 2026
Kame Arena Dojo, Tokyo, Japan

In a Diana spillover, double champion and ace Hanako Nakamori teamed up with her Invader or Innovator leader, Ayako Sato, to reform the “Ayahana” team. As a reminder, Hanako was upset that Ayako had ditched her and became a heel in Diana, so Hanako decided to go fight Ayako in Diana. Then, they had so much fun wrestling that Hanako just decided to join the heel group. They were pretty good matches to be fair so I understand, Hanako. In PURE-J however, they are not heels. They beat Chie Ozora and the other half of Hanako’s Daily Sports Tag Team Title, Kaho Kobayashi. Ayako pinned Chie with the Dragon suplex to celebrate her 40th birthday.

Jenne hit her first ever vertical suplex on Leon. That may sound unbelievable. But then you probably haven’t seen Jenne wrestle.

Rainbow Unicorn Vol. 1 - 16th January 2026

“Rainbow Unicorn Vol. 1”
16th January 2026
Itabashi Green Hall, Tokyo, Japan

PURE-J’s Itabashi Green Hall shows in 2026 will be called “Rainbow Unicorn”. In the first installment, the Kobayashis (Hanako Nakamori and Kaho Kobayashi) defended their Daily Sports Certified Women’s Tag Team Title against Wild Thunder 12’s (Rydeen Hagane and SAKI). This was another pretty long SAKI match. I felt nothing. Not even Kaho Kobayashi could get me into this. After the match, both Cherry & KAZUKI and Chie Ozora & Misa Kagura wanted to challenge. They would decide at the 15th February PURE-J show.

Crea and YuuRI continued their feud following their great time-limit draw on the last Itabashi show, this time in a tag match where PURE-J (Crea & Leon) faced off against GanPro (Yuna Manase & YuuRI). I thought the time-limit draw between Crea and YuuRI was better than this, but I still enjoyed the tag. It felt like a more standard run of the mill match. There were also weird cuts in the match where they had clearly edited some parts out. I’m not sure if it was just moves they thought didn’t look great or what.

Misa Kagura continued her path of glory throughout the independent scene as she made her first PURE-J appearance of 2026 against KAZUKI. Misa was great, as she always is. Unfortunately, she lost in just over 8 minutes.

PURE-J Dojo #154 - 25th January 2026

PURE-J Dojo #154
25th January 2026
Kame Arena Dojo, Tokyo, Japan

Hanako Nakamori pinned Misa Kagura in a singles match. It is quite funny seeing Misa in PURE-J because it highlights how conservative their booking is compared to promotions like Ice Ribbon where Misa Kagura walks in and kills it in a main-event storyline with Manami Katsu, and in OZ Academy she gets a tag team title shot at Yokohama Budokan and kills it, but in PURE-J she doesn’t get given much. They could’ve saved this for a title match at Itabashi or Korakuen. Anyway, this was an above average dojo match because both of these wrestlers are good. Who would’ve thought! Maybe put these matches on the bigger shows so you don’t have to rely on SAKI!

Jenne hit her second ever vertical suplex on Crea. Great job Jenne. This was the match I realised that Jenne wrestles in a one-piece swimsuit. I don’t look at gear often. Actually, that’s not true. Crea’s babyface gear is pretty bad. She looks like Kaori Yoneyama. It’s too colorful with too many strings flinging about. Crea is a bad ass. I would like a more bad ass look.

PURE-J Dojo #155 - 1st February 2026

PURE-J Dojo #155
1st February 2026
Kame Arena Dojo, Tokyo, Japan

In a show produced by Leon and Rydeen Hagane, they faced Crea and Rina Amikura, who was making her first PURE-J appearance in almost a year. Leon won with Clutch de Gao.

Chie Ozora was supposed to have a tune up match against Misa Kagura for their upcoming Daily Sports Certified Women’s Tag Team Title match against the Kobayashis, however, Misa Kagura was out injured and so her long-term tag team partner, Sumika Yanagawa, substituted in and put in a 15-minute time-limit draw, the only possible result when a freelancer comes in for a dojo show.

Jenne hit her third ever vertical suplex on Hanako Nakamori. Where else are you getting suplex counts for a really green rookie from PURE-J?

PURE-J Dojo #156 - 8th February 2026

PURE-J Dojo #156
8th February 2026
Kame Arena Dojo, Tokyo, Japan

Diana’s Himiko made a pit stop on a Valentine’s Day edition of a dojo show. She faced green-as-grass rookie Jenne. To be honest, I had no idea what was happened because there were no transcripts posted for this show several days after, but most of the match was a, I’m guessing, funny dialogue between Jenne and Himiko. It looked like Jenne was trying to romance Himiko.

Chie Ozora and Leon had another instalment in their many singles matches over the year. The promotion is small, you can’t exactly keep people away from each other. This was a solid match.

Finally, in the main event, Bad Butts (Ancham & Crea) faced Hanako Nakamori & Rydeen Hagane. Crea was bringing back her heel persona for the first time since perhaps the SAKI feud in December. Also, I know this is a random place to do it, but let’s be honest, there’s only a few of you here. Please, can anyone tell me how to watch D.I.E.? It’s a small indie promotion that focuses on deathmatches. Ancham and Crea had a singles deathmatch there on 30th January that I desperately want to see. I saw pictures of them both bleeding buckets. I had no idea they both had that in them. Please, I’ll do anything. Anyway, this match was clearly an increase in quality from the rest of the card. It was really good. Heel Crea hit Rydeen over the head with a chair and rolled her up for the win. Hanako and Crea in particular were great. I am kind of desperate for Crea to beat Hanako for the title next.

PURE-J Dojo #157 - 15th February 2026

PURE-J Dojo #157
15th February 2026
Kame Arena Dojo, Tokyo, Japan

Chie Ozora and Misa Kagura faced Wanted Warriors (Cherry & KAZUKI), where the winners would go on to challenge the Daily Sports Certified Women’s Tag Team Champions, The Kobayashis (Hanako Nakamori & Kaho Kobayashi), on 23rd February in Itabashi. Chie was due to have a tune-up singles match with Misa, but Misa was out injured for a short period of time, with this being her return match. Thankfully, Misa and Chie were able to take the win after a good match. It’s a PURE-J dojo match so it’s difficult for it to ever hit that next level, and also it’s with Cherry and KAZUKi, but Chie and Misa did well in those circumstances.

Back to Round-up

Oceania

Watch on YouTube

Main Location: Victoria, Australia

Melbourne City Wrestling (MCW) News

MCW will celebrate their 16th anniversary at “Anniversary 2026” on 21st February in Thornbury, Victoria. All four titles will be on the line. Robbie Thorpe defends his World Heavyweight Title against Jarvis. Thorpe became the top guy in MCW after winning the “Ballroom Brawl”, surviving the “Fight to Survive” match and then winning the title at “End Game” on 7th December. However, Jarvis defeated Thorpe at “High Stakes 2025” so he is back to claim what he believes is his. Erika Reid attempts to retain the Women’s Title against Caity Luxe and Shay Kassidy. Erika Reid attended Bayley’s Lodestone training camp in Florida in late 2025. Adam Brookes is looking to lengthen his lengthy MCW Intercommonwealth Title that he is defended across the country, as well as in New Zealand, against challenger JJ Furno. In the last of the title matches, Water Rapids (Mitch Waterman & Ryan Rapid) try to stave off a Tag Team Title challenge from the heel unit ICON$ (Lucky O’Leary & Tony Villani).

MCW’s next three events after “Anniversary 2026” were previously announced as “New Horizons 2026” on 28th March, “High Stakes 2026” on 23rd May and “Ballroom Brawl 2026” on 4th July.

Watch on YouTube

Main Location: South Australia

Riot City Wrestling (RCW) News

RCW celebrated their 20th anniversary on 1st February with an event called “ReAnimated”. Dean Brady defended his RCW Grand Title in the main event against Mr. Cliff, Redshaw and SMASH.

RCW’s next show is “Big Top Beatdown” on 7th March as they begin the first of three “RCW FringeMania” events, hosted as part of the “Adelaide Fringe” festival from 20th February to 22nd March. Dean Brady will defend his RCW Grand Title against Ben Braxton, the RCW Emerald Crown Champion. Both won their titles at “Battle For Supremacy XIX” on 22nd November 2025. The other two shows during the “Adelaide Fringe” festival are “Megaslam” on 14th March and “Super Clash VIII” on 21st March. All three shows will be held at The Peacock at Gluttony in Adelaide.

Watch on YouTube

Main Location: New South Wales, Australia

Pro Wrestling Australia (PWA) News

Big Fudge defeated Chevs (Charlie Evans) to become the new PWA Heavyweight Champion on 17th January.

Th “Colosseum 2026” tournament kicked off at “Black Label Colosseum 2026” on 13th February in Sydney, Australia. Lachy McIntyre, Scott Green, Ben Braxton and Robbie Thorpe made it to the semi-finals. The semi-finals will take place at PWA’s next show “Black Label: In A Cage” on 6th March in Marrickville, Australia. With AEW in town, former PWA Tag Team Champion Kyle Fletcher was on commentary while Mark Davis was in the main event against Robbie Eagles, Jessica Troy and The Tuckman in a four-way.

Watch on Vimeo

Main Location: Western Australia

Explosive Pro Wrestling (EPW) News

A first-ever double dog collar match took place at “Beware Of The Dog” on 31st January, as Australian Takeover (Julian Ward & Kaz Jordan) won the EPW Tag Team Title from The Purveyors Of Workrate (Chris J. Lazareth & Elijah Henry). Also on the show was Solomun Blackwell and Damian Slater in a 2 out of 3 falls match. Blackwell and Slater were looking to bounce back after each being knocked out of the EPW Invitational semi-finals. EPW’s next match is “Pink Is The New Black” on 14th March where James Hartness will defend his Heavyweight Title against Mikey Broderick, Jay Taylor and Lucas Fantasia, and Australian Takeover defend their new titles against Simply The Best (Adonis Matthews & Matty Riggs).

Main Location: Australia

World Series Wrestling (WSW) News

Matt Cardona had to vacate his WSW World Heavyweight Title due to signing with WWE.

WSW Women’s Champion Ash By Elegance, WSW Tag Team Champions The Parea (Eli Theseus & Gabriel Aeros), Ryan Nemeth, Donovan Dijak have been announced as part of WSW’s Rise Against tour from 15th May to 18th May 2026, which will go from Adelaide to two stops in Melbourne and finish in Sydney. WSW Australian Champion Matt Riddle will also be on the tour. Other talent announced include The Good Brothers, Bishop Dyer, Nic Nemeth, Shotzi Blackheart, Priscilla Kelly, Man Like DeReiss, Killer Kross and Scarlett Bordeaux.

Miscellaneous Oceania News

On the eve of AEW “Grand Slam Australia” on 14th February, a handful of Australia-based talents posted that they received WWE tryouts. Sources indicate that they have long known about these tryouts. WWE encourages them to post about the tryouts. It is hardly a coincidence that the tryouts all posted a day before AEW’s big show in Sydney. Tryouts include Ricky South, The Dropouts (Scott Green & The Tuckman) and Natural Classics (Tome Filip and Stevie Filip).

Rest of Asia

Watch on YouTube

Main Location: Malaysia

Malaysia Pro Wrestling (MYPW) News

MYPW released a statement stating that their Instagram accounts were wrongfully suspended despite having no violations. MYPW said that it appealed multiple times and reached out to Meta but heard no response, so they have started fresh accounts. MYPW has asked its fans to support its new social media account here as they try to rebuild.

MYPW’s next show, “New Breed 4” is on 4th April at KuAsh Theatre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, as the promotion celebrates 12 years. Carlo Cannon heads into the event as the longest reigning champion in the South East Asia region, holding the MYPW World Title since 18th February 2023.

Main Location: Malaysia

APAC Wrestling News

APAC sold out its “WrestleLegion 2” event on 14th February at Esi Grand Hall in the Spacerubix in Puchong, Malaysia. Nor “Phoenix” Diana was in a singles match against Australian wrestler Tarlee. Tarlee is frustrated that she won the #1 contendership in August 2025 but has yet to get her hands on Mercedes Mone, so destroying Diana would have to do for now. “Master of All” Shaukat, who runs APAC having founded MYPW and left the promotion, had his head shaved by Double K, so he was looking for revenge. In the main event, “Dreamkiller” Azroy defended his APAC Wrestling Title against “Alpha” Alfa Nazri. Nazri is considered the future of the Malaysian scene, while Azroy is the dominant champion. Note that Mercedes Mone is still the APAC Women’s Champion.

Watch on SOOP

Main Location: Thailand

SETUP Thailand News

SETUP Thailand kicks off 2026 with “SETUP EP.26: REAL GLOBAL IMPACT” on 21st February at The Circus Studio in Bangkok, Thailand. The show will be main-evented by Shivam defending his IWA Japan SETUP World Heavyweight Title against Chris Brookes. Also representing CyberFight are the IWA Japan SETUP World Tag Team Champions K!SS Kick Slash (Kaya Toribami & Miyu Yamashita), who will be defending their titles against the SETUP Thailand Openweight Champion Monomoth & the SETUP All Asia Women’s Champion Matcha.

SETUP Thailand will be holding tryouts on 1st March.

Watch on YouTube

Main Location: Taiwan

New Taiwan Entertainment Wrestling (NTW) News

Syan Syan was injured on the 8th February at Diana’s “vol. 104” show. During a chain wrestling sequence with WWWD Champion Debbie Keitel, Debbie fell backwards on top of Syan Syan’s leg which bent the wrong way. Syan Syan was diagnosed with an MCL injury.

NTW held their 14th anniversary show at the Zhongli Dojo on 27th December. The show has still not been uploaded to the NTW YouTube. Syan Syan versus Chanyota is a standout match on that card.

Watch on YouTube

Main Location: Taiwan

PUZZLE Pro Wrestling News

Big Japan Wrestling (BJW) will be holding a tour of Taiwan, with shows on 28th February in Kaohsiung and 1st March in Taipei. Ahead of that tour, Abdullah Kobayashi defended the BJW Deathmatch Heavyweight Title against Mari Hana on 17th January in Kaohsiung. The match can be viewed on BJW Core.

BJW, Puzzle Pro and NTW are all collaborating for the 1st March show in Taipei titled “Miracle Fusion”. Alongside the BJW roster, Minoru Suzuki and COLORS duo SAKI and Yuko Sakurai will also be on the show. It is the third year in a row that this event has been held.

Watch on YouTube

Main Location: Vietnam

Vietnam Pro Wrestling (VPW) News

VPW’s next major show, “Spring Bash” is on 14th March at VAIB Studio in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. The Rocky Horror Show (Rocky Huynh & The British Horror) will defend their VPW Tag Team Title against the VPW Vietnam Champion Ares and Hy Draco. If The Rocky Horror Show retains, then Ares will face both of them at “Saigon Slam” at a later date. Juicy Meat (Miles Karu & Da Butcherman) will face The Classic Night to decide the next contenders for the VPW Tag Team Title. There’s a veteran versus rookie match up as “The National Treasure” An D takes on Meteor Kid.

Watch on YouTube

Main Location: The Phillippines

Dexcon Wrestling (DXCN) News

DXCN World Champion Jake De Leon defended his title against Brian Kendrick at “Fast Break” on 15th February 2026. It was Kendrick’s first match in Manila in 20 years. Crystal faced former WWE EVOLVE wrestler Lady Leigh (f.k.a. Jin Tala) in an “International Dream Match”. Leigh, an American-Filipina, was making her Manila debut.

Even though it was a while ago, it’s worth mentioning the DXCN YouTube channel has Zack Sabre Jr. & Jake De Leon vs. El Phantasmo & Fabio Makisig from 18th May 2025 for free.

Watch on YouTube

Main Location: India

Wrestling Xtreme Mania (WXM) News

A promotion based out of Gurugram, India, has begun airing episodes that were taped in early 2025. The episodes included talent such as Baliyan Akki, Emi Sakura, Mei Suruga and Chie Koishikawa from the ChocoPro contingent, but also Donovan Dijak, Samuray del Sol, Raj The Maharaja, Bad Dude Tito, CIMA and Sha Samuels. Raj The Maharaja will face Skyler in the final of the WXM Heavyweight Title Tournament, presumably on the 9th episode of “Ground Zero”, if the release schedule is consistent, then that would be on 21st February.

WXM taped new episodes of “Ground Zero” from 13th February to 17th February which included international talent such as Zack Sabre Jr.

The shows are being reviewed by Rich Kraetsch at the Voices of Wrestling Network behind a paywall.

Main Location: China

Middle Kingdom Wrestling (MKW) News

The MKW All-Star Wrestling Tour takes place over two days on 27th March and 28th March in Chongqing and Chengdu. On 27th March in Chongqing, CK Vin will defend the SPW Singapore Title against Giogio, while NTW pair Syan Syan and Junjie take on Big Sam and SPW’s Alexis Lee. The main event is a champions vs. all-stars match which includes Dragongate duo Ho Ho Lun and Jason Lee on opposite sides of an eight-man tag. On 28th March in Chengdu, Ho Ho Lun will then defend his MKW World Title against Jason Lee.

Watch on Bilibili

Fight VGM Fight News

Sareee faced Miku Kanae on 17th January in Fight VGM Fight, a Chinese promotion. The show was held in Shanghai. It was an interesting crowd, popping big for Sareee’s Muta Lock. There were a lot of foreigners in the crowd who would at times chant “Holy Shit!” Sareee launching Miku with her signature forearms as well as her basement dropkick got a big reaction. It was the most standard Sareee match, she even finished Miku off with just a Fisherman suplex, but it was a good match. I am just left more perplexed by the crowd attending the show. If anyone knows more about this promotion, let us know!

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RETRO

The Road to WrestleMania & more

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AMERICAS

EVE, RevPro & more

We take a look at what is happening in EVE leading up to their biggest show ever on 8th March at the sold-out O2 Indigo in London

EUROPE & AFRICA

Check out these other articles from this week!

Hiroshi Tanahashi’s Retirement

Conor McFall takes a trip through memory lane looking at Hiroshi Tanahashi’s greatest hits, while Trish Speirs writes about her Wrestle Kingdom live experience!

FRONT PAGE

Kids, The Royal Rumble Used To Be Good

Peter Edge reviews what has happened to the Royal Rumble match

RETRO

The Road to WrestleMania & more

David Hayter reviews what has been going on in WWE & CMLL, and we have a round up from the independent scene in the lead up to “WrestleMania Weekend”

AMERICAS

EVE, RevPro & more

We take a look at what is happening in EVE leading up to their biggest show ever on 8th March at the sold-out O2 Indigo in London

EUROPE & AFRICA

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Categories

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Asia & Oceania

Social Suplex Newsletter No.13

February 20th 2026

Asia & Oceania

Social Suplex Newsletter No.13

February 20th 2026

STARDOM

Bitesize Round-up

Recommended Matches This Issue

Recommended Matches of 2025

“Stardom Dream Queendom” 2025

29th December 2025Company Announced Attendance: 6,563 (Sell Out)Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, JapanReview by David Hayter, with live notes by Chris Whitehead

Saori Anou Knocks Saya Kamitani Loopy In A Violent Speed Run Of A World Title Fight

Anything Poi Can Do, Sareee Can Do Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Konami Completes Her Bounce Back Year By Submitting A Valiant Saya Iida

Too Much Of A Good Thing: BMI 2000 vs Sakurara Is One Epic Encounter Too Many

Fuwa-chan Exceeds Expectations in Her Re-Debut

An Embarrassment Of Riches: The Best Wrestlers On The Planet Open The Show

Mi Vida Loca and EXV Are Perfect Dance Partners

The Stardom Rumble Is Messy, Chaotic, Sloppy, But Wildy Enjoyable Glimpse Into Promotion’s Future

Full Results

“STARDOM 15th Anniversary Supreme Fight 2026 In Osaka”

7th February 2026Company Announced Attendance: 2,563EDION Arena Osaka #1, Osaka, JapanWatch On: StageCrowd (PPV) / Stardom World (after PPV window ends)

By Tim Hunter

By Tim Hunter

Full Results

Social Suplex welcomes Joshi'ing Around

New Japan Pro Wrestling

Recommended Matches This Issue

News Round-up

By Trish Speirs

NOAH

Bitesize Round-up

Recommended Matches This Issue

Recommended Matches of 2025

NOAH The New Year 2026

1st January 2026Company Announced Attendance: 6,287Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, JapanDesignation: Key ShowRecommended Match: AMAKUSA vs. Hiromu Takahashi

Full Results

NOAH Reboot - 2nd January 2026

NOAH Reboot2nd January 2026Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

Legacy Rise 2026

11th January 2026Company Announced Attendance: 1,498Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, JapanDesignation: Key ShowRecommended Match: AMAKUSA vs. Daiki Odashima

Full Results

Alpha Wolf retains GHC National Title - 25th January 2026

25th January 2026EDION Arena Osaka #2, Osaka, Japan

Legacy Rise 2026 at Korakuen - 6th February 2026

Legacy Rise 20266th February 2026Company Announced Attendance: 1,522Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Legacy Rise 2026 at Korakuen (not good) - 11th February 2026

NOAH Legacy Rise 202611th February 2026Company Announced Attendance: 1,598Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 - Day 1 - 6th February 2026

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 – Day 16th February 2026Company Announced Attendance: 1,522Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 - Day 2 - 11th February 2026

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 – Day 211th February 2026Company Announced Attendance: 1,598Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 - Day 3 (AM & PM) - 14th February 2026 (*)

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 – Day 3 (AM & PM)14th February 2026Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX, Tokyo, JapanRecommended Match: AMAKUSA & Black Menso-re vs. Eita & Katsumi Inahata

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 - Day 4 - 20th February 2026

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 – Day 420th February 2026Hiroshima Industrial Hall East Exhibition Hall, Hiroshima, Japan

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 Standings - As of 20th February 2026

Monday Magic Rising Sun

Monday Magic Rising Sun Episode 1 - 19th January 2026

Monday Magic Rising Sun Episode 119th January 2026Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

Monday Magic Rising Sun Episode 2 - 26th January 2026

Monday Magic Rising Sun Episode 226th January 2026Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

Monday Magic Rising Sun Episode 3 - 2nd February 2026

Monday Magic Rising Sun Episode 32nd February 2026Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

Monday Magic Rising Sun Finale - 9th February 2026

Monday Magic Rising Sun Episode 49th February 2026Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling

Bitesize Round-up

Recommended Matches This Issue

Recommended Matches of 2025

Ittenyon 2026

4th January 2026Company Announced Attendance: 1,564Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, JapanWatch On: Wrestle UniverseDesignation: Key ShowRecommended Matches: J-Rod & Mifu Ashida vs. Kaya Toribami & Miyu Yamashita, Arisu Endo vs. MIRAI, Miu Watanabe vs. Suzume

Full Results

Yuki Arai is Miu’s next challenger! - 10th January 2026

29th December 2025
Company Announced Attendance: 6,563 (Sell Out)
Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo, Japan
Review by David Hayter, with live notes by Chris Whitehead

7th February 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 2,563
EDION Arena Osaka #1, Osaka, Japan
Watch On: StageCrowd (PPV) / Stardom World (after PPV window ends)

1st January 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 6,287
Nippon Budokan, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: AMAKUSA vs. Hiromu Takahashi

NOAH Reboot
2nd January 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

11th January 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,498
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: AMAKUSA vs. Daiki Odashima

25th January 2026
EDION Arena Osaka #2, Osaka, Japan

Legacy Rise 2026
6th February 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,522
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

NOAH Legacy Rise 2026
11th February 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,598
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 – Day 1
6th February 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,522
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 – Day 2
11th February 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,598
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 – Day 3 (AM & PM)
14th February 2026
Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: AMAKUSA & Black Menso-re vs. Eita & Katsumi Inahata

NOAH Junior Tag League 2026 – Day 4
20th February 2026
Hiroshima Industrial Hall East Exhibition Hall, Hiroshima, Japan

Monday Magic Rising Sun Episode 1
19th January 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

Monday Magic Rising Sun Episode 2
26th January 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

Monday Magic Rising Sun Episode 3
2nd February 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

Monday Magic Rising Sun Episode 4
9th February 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

4th January 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,564
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Watch On: Wrestle Universe
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Matches: J-Rod & Mifu Ashida vs. Kaya Toribami & Miyu Yamashita, Arisu Endo vs. MIRAI, Miu Watanabe vs. Suzume

New Year Party 2026
10th January 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

Shoko Quest IV: Those Guided by the Snow Country
11th February 2026
Duo CEREZO, Niigata, Japan

Max Heart Tournament – Day 1 – First Round
17th January 2026
Yokohama Radiant Hall, Kanagawa, Japan

Max Heart Tournament – Day 2 – Quarter Finals
25th January 2026
Ryogoku KFC Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Arisu Endo & Suzume vs. Kaya Toribami & Miyu Yamashita

Max Heart Tournament – Day 3 – Semi Finals
31st January 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

14th February 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 732
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Matches: Mifu Ashida & Yuki Arai vs. Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi, MIRAI vs. Toga

15th February 2026
Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX, Tokyo, Japan

3rd January 2026
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Kaisei Takechi, To-y & Yuki Ueno vs. KANON, Kazuma Sumi & MAO

Live Report – Daichi steals the show!
5th January 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Matches: Daichi Satoh vs. Yuki Ishida and a lot of things because I liked this show a lot live

Live Report – Chris Brookes Meet & Greet
10th January 2026
Azalea Taisho Hall, Osaka, Japan

12th January 2026
Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Matches: Fuminori Abe vs. Shinya Aoki, Invisible Man To-y & To-y vs. Invisible Man Kazuki Hirata & Kazuki Hirata

D Generations 7
12th January 2026
Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Yuni vs. Yuya Koroku

17th January 2026
Yokohama Radiant Hall, Kanagawa, Japan
Recommended Match: To-y vs. Yuki Ishida, Junta Miyawaki, KANON & MAO vs. Yuki Iino, Yukio Naya & Yuya Koroku

25th January 2026
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Junta Miyawaki vs. Shinya Aoki, HARASHIMA & To-y vs. Jun Akiyama & Konosuke Takeshita

Sumi is the best midcarder in the world
4th February 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Daichi Satoh vs. Kazuma Sumi

Kazuma Sumi wins Block A
7th February 2026
Imaike Gas Hall, Aichi, Japan

Takeshi Masada wins Block B, with a twist!
8th February 2026
Imaike Gas Hall, Aichi, Japan
Recommended Match: Rukiya vs. Takeshi Masada vs. Yuya Koroku

37KAMIINA Produce Show
14th February 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

15th February 2026
Rembrandt Hotel Atsugi, Kanagawa, Japan
Recommended Match: Akito, Junta Miyawaki & Sanshiro Takagi vs. KANON, MAO & Yukio Naya, Antonio Honda & Chris Brookes vs. Jun Akiyama & Yuki Ueno

31st December 2025
Company Announced Attendance: 2,730
Yoyogi National Gymnasium #2, Tokyo, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Kento Miyahara vs. Yuma Anzai

11th January 2026
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan

18th January 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Atsuki Aoyagi, Fuminori Abe & MUSASHI vs. Mochizuki Jr., Ryo Inoue & Seiki Yoshioka

25th January 2026
Company Announced Attendance: 1,057
Makuhari Messe & International Exhibition Hall 4, Chiba, Japan
Designation: Key Show
Recommended Match: Atsuki Aoyagi vs. Seigo Tachibana

1st February 2026
Okinawa Prefectural Budokan, Okinawa, Japan

7th February 2026
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan

11th February 2026
Fuji City General Gymnasium, Shizuoka, Japan

All Japan Junior Tag Festival – Day 1
15th February 2026
Company Announced Attendance:
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Recommended Match: Atsuki Aoyagi & Rising HAYATO vs. Fuminori Abe & Seigo Tachibana