6/1/2025

© Pro Wrestling NOAH

Pro Wrestling NOAH

Star Navigation 2025
18.05.2025
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Company Announced Attendance: 1562
Watch On: Wrestle Universe

Kaito Kiyomiya made for an electric challenger to OZAWA in the main event of “Star Navigation” in Korakuen Hall as 1,562 roared through 23 minutes of action, with their allegiances changing throughout the bout.

NOAH have been running into a bit of an issue as of late when it comes to babyfaces and their very popular heel GHC Heavyweight Champion, with even the returning KENTA struggling at times at Ryogoku for support. Kiyomiya, himself, has had issues in the past with the crowd and was heavily booed when making the challenge of this match back in early May but got plenty of support for this match up, particularly once he dropped any displays of chivalry and just began to beat the hell out of his cocky opponent. OZAWA’s ability to take said beating really helped them get behind the babyface (yes, it sounds backwards but it truly worked), leading to him being tossed up into the orange seats by the challenger before being clubbed with a series of strikes. Kaito Kiyomiya with an edge suddenly had a lot more appeal to those in Korakuen and it is something that looks like it will continue with him toying with the “mad prince” moniker in the aftermath.

When the action found its way back into the ring, it was to the sound of raucous dueling chants as the two exchanged forearms. OZAWA used a series of kicks (some spinning) to regain the upper hand but also had to resort to biting in order to escape the dragon suplex. It was one more kick, though, that put Kaito down long enough for OZAWA to climb the turnbuckle and hit the 450 Phoenix Splash for the pin. His 5th defense of the GHC belt was met with applause upon the finish, with the short program hopefully leading to a more interesting character direction for the failing Kaito Kiyomiya going forward.

© Pro Wrestling NOAH

OZAWA’s next challenger looked to reveal itself as Tetsuya Endo, with the man from DDT having set himself free from the claws of Team 2000X earlier in the night during a 6 man tag between the heel group and Naomichi Marufuji, Takashi Sugiura & Masa Kitamiya. Endo had stuttered previously to use the nightstick on an opponent, after it was offered by Yoshi Tatsu, and had suffered a painful loss at the Ryogoku Sumo Hall show to Jun Akiyama and Takashi Sugiura, after Sugiura had brought in Endo’s mentor in order to help him see the light.

On this occasion, Yoshi Tatsu struck Masa Kitamiya with the nightstick before giving it to Endo and telling him to make a strike of his own. Endo is still for a moment, before chucking the weapon away and suplexing Tatsu, causing a sudden roar of the crowd, who began an “Endo” chant right after. It was a well built moment that got a great response. Owadasan appeared stunned before being hit with an Olympic Qualifying slam by Sugiara for the loss whilst Endo looked on.

Tetsuya Endo denounced Team 2000X after the match and took his change of allegiance and newly formed alliance with Suguira to OZAWA at the show end, whilst now proudly wearing a Team NOAH shirt. OZAWA is never a man without a plan or a scheme though, calling out Takashi Sugiura before challenging them both to a survival 3 way match for the Championship back in Korakuen Hall on June 3rd. It will be the first 3 way match in the history of NOAH’s top belt.

© Pro Wrestling NOAH

Daiki Inaba made his in-ring return as well on this show, teaming with Passionate RATEL’S stablemates Saxon Hurley and Manabu Soya in a 6 man against Kenoh, KENTA and Ulka Sasaki. Inaba was all over this match and full of energy, exchanging shots with KENTA and hitting a splash on the veteran at the third time of asking, after encouragement from the crowd and his teammates. All his energy could not save him, though, as he found himself caught in the Kenoh Special and was forced to tap.

Inaba took the microphone after the match and threw a challenge at the victor for his and Ulka Sasaki’s GHC Tag Team Championships. Kenoh almost seemed amused by the “passion” of his challenger, telling him that his stablemates could challenge for the belts but he would need to get some wins, before departing with the hint of a smile just as the RATEL’s were carrying out a really energised hug.

Full Results

Mohammed Yone & Shuhei Taniguchi defeat Daiki Odashima & Shuji Kondo (6:17)

Atsushi Kotoge & Hajime Ohara defeat All Rebellion (Alejandro & Kai Fujimura) (8:17)

Masa Kitamiya, Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura defeat Team 2000X (Daga, Owadasan & Tetsuya Endo) (10:29)

Alpha Wolf & Dragon Bane defeat Passionate RATEL’S (HAYATA & Yuto Kikuchi) and AMAKUSA & Junta Miyawaki and Eita & Super Crazy (8:28)

Kenoh, KENTA & Ulka Sasaki defeat Passionate RATEL’S (Daiki Inaba, Manabu Soya & Saxon Huxley) (14:09)

GHC Junior Heavyweight Title:
YO-HEY (c) defeats Tadasuke (10:52)

GHC Heavyweight Title:
OZAWA (c) defeats Kaito Kiyomiya (23:31)

NOAH started the build to their 3rd June Korakuen Hall show with a run of house shows. In Fukushima on 23rd May, Team 2000X (Daga, OZAWA & Tadasuke) lost to Masa Kitamiya and #1 Contenders to OZAWA’s championship, Takashi Sugiura and Tetsuya Endo. Endo pinned Tadasuke in 12:00, following a Spanish Fly into a Running Knee. Los Golpeadores teamed with Naomichi Marufuji defeating the All Rebellion line up of Alejandro, Kai Fujimura & Kaito Kiyomiya. Dragon Bane pinned Fujimura after a Shooting Star Press in 14:46. OZAWA was indeed being mischievous announcing the stipulation of Kiyomiya leaving NOAH if he lost their title match.

© Pro Wrestling NOAH

On 24th May in Yokohama, there was an incident where, during his entrance, a woman ran up to KENTA and sprayed water in his face. KENTA was clearly in disbelief and pointed at the woman before continuing on with the show. He spoke about it later in backstage comments, mentioning that it was his 25th debut anniversary and in a way, one he won’t forget. The incident has led to a new guardrail and overseer being placed next to the stage entrance for future events in order to ensure the wrestlers are better protected in future.

Endo teamed with Marufuji against Daga and OZAWA. OZAWA was disqualified in 13:25 when he hit Endo with Yoshi Tatsu’s baton. Team 2000X beat down Endo before leaving. The GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team titles, held by Los Golpeadores, were defended on this show against HAYATA & Yuto Kikuchi. Dragon Bane pinned Kikuchi with a half nelson driver (i.e. Made in Japan) in 21:28. This match was excellent and one of the best NOAH house show matches in years.

Pro Wrestling NOAH
Monday Magic Episode 1
26/05/2025
Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo, Japan
Company Announced Attendance: 412
Watch On Wrestle Universe

On 26th May in Tokyo, NOAH began its 4th installment of the Monday Magic series, which culminates in “Wrestle Magic” on 30th June. Monday Magic is a NOSAWA Produce show, where the idea is that the card is unannounced and that there are a few surprises. NOAH announced that this episode broke the all-time viewership record for the series on Wrestle Universe.

In the first match, Alpha Wolf took on Dragon Bane in a fun 10 minute time limit draw.

The Passionate RATEL’S (HAYATA, Manabu Soya & Saxon Huxley) faced Eita, Mohammed Yone & Shuji Ishikawa. Soya pinned Yone with a lariat. They are building towards Ishikawa versus Soya for the GHC Hardcore Openweight Championship.

18 year old Archie Martin from Portsmouth, England, made his debut against one of the best rookies, Daiki Odashima. Martin, the son of the Labour Party’s Portsmouth North MP Amanda Martin, earned the opportunity to train at the NOAH dojo for two months after performing well at the NOAH UK tryouts. He was introduced as Archie Cole, a name he has used on the UK independents. Almost expected for every UK wrestler of his age, Cole does have an Oscutter move. Cole looked good and beat Odashima with a Swanton Bomb. Odashima is still searching for his first singles win. The crowd is ready for it and ideally it should take place at a Korakuen Hall show.

© Pro Wrestling NOAH

GHC Junior Heavyweight Champion YO-HEY matched up against Alejandro and AMAKUSA in a non-title three-way. AMAKUSA pinned Alejandro with a Spiral Tap.

Unfortunately, Marvelous’ Riko Kawahata is back doing the Great Sakuya gimmick and teamed with Sadie Gibbs to take on the Marigold pair of GHC Women’s Champion Kouki Amarei and Mayu Iwatani. This is Iwatani’s first ever NOAH appearance and Amarei recently returned on the recent Marigold pay-per-view. Gibbs got cut on her forehead doing a 450 splash onto Iwatani on the outside. Iwatani pinned Gibbs with a bridging dragon suplex. This match was really good. Marvelous’ double champion and ace Takumi Iroha came out to challenge Amarei for the GHC Women’s Championship on the next episode of Monday Magic on 2nd June. The rivalry between Marigold and Marvelous continues, this time in NOAH.

Naomichi Marufuji beat prominent freelancer Hikaru Sato. There were a lot of chops.

In the main event, Titus Alexander teamed with Minoru Suzuki against Kaito Kiyomiya and Ryan Clancy. It is Suzuki’s first NOAH match since facing Kenoh at Korakuen Hall on 22nd May last year, and his 4th NOAH appearance since 2016. Kiyomiya and Suzuki’s last match together was a win for Suzuki in October 2016, so the crowd was very hot for this one. There was a great, stiff forearm exchange between the two. Clancy did well building heat for Kiyomiya’s comeback and working his leg. Kiyomiya pinned Clancy with the Skywalker elbow. Suzuki and Kiyomiya sized each other up after the match.

NOSAWA came out and ended the show with a 10-bell salute for Sabu and was very emotional. Sabu’s music played with a spotlight on a chair in the middle of the ring to end the show.

NOAH News

Pro Wrestling NOAH announced the dates and locations for this year’s N-1 Victory Tournament during the “Star Navigation” show at Korakuen Hall on May 18th.

This year’s 9 date tour will begin in Tokyo on September 8th before travelling to Okayama on the 11th, Hiroshima on the 13th, Fukuoka on the 14th, Kumamoto on the 15th, Osaka on the 17th, Hamamatsu on September 20th and Tochigi on September 21st. The finals will be held on September 23rd back in Tokyo, at Korakuen Hall.

This year’s tour is a month later than last year and is pathed much more towards the south of the tour this time around, with no cities outside of Tokyo and Osaka being used for two years running. The presence of Kumamoto will increase hope/speculation around a potential return for Go Shiozaki, as the city is his hometown. Shiozaki has been absent from NOAH since mid January after undergoing surgery on both of his knees.

© New Japan Pro Wrestling

New Japan Pro Wrestling

Hiroshi Tanahashi has announced the main event for “NJPW Tanahashi Jam” on June 29th, as he will team with Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Naomichi Marufuji against Kaito Kiyomiya and Ryohei Oiwa. Marufuji and Tanahashi last teamed together in 2024 for a United Japan event. His first produce show will be the last pro wrestling event at the former Dolphins Arena in Nagoya before it is permanently closed, with a new 7,000 capacity arena now planned to open in late 2027.

Tanahashi is also releasing a book on his time as New Japan President so far, which will also include an interview with Bushiroad CEO Takaaki Kidani. Tanahashi has increased activity on the business side as of late, including visiting AEW at this past weekend’s “Double or Nothing” PPV in Arizona.

Yota Tsuji made a number of comments to Tokyo Sports in regards to New Japan Strong following the latest event for the American wing of the company in California;

“If this situation continues, I won’t be going to New Japan’s US tournaments anymore. The setup isn’t good, and they can’t change the ring that got covered in blood halfway through. I think respect for the IWGP is also respect for New Japan. A place that can’t do that isn’t New Japan Pro-Wrestling. In other words, I have no need to participate.”

Whilst comments in Tokyo Sports are always saddled with kayfabe, the status and format of New Japan Strong is an ongoing talking point in the company, with no upcoming dates announced at current or part of talent schedules for the foreseeable future. It is a brand that lacks its own identity and does not always reflect New Japan’s current identity and has not proved to be much of a pathway to New Japan for anyone who has wrestled for Strong on a regular basis.

The importance of US shows, in terms of creating income from the stronger US dollar, is lessened by shows with weak houses and could benefit from creating more demand by increasing scarcity and being presented closer to the New Japan product rather than fighting the line between 2018 callback and a watered down version of the domestic product. Regardless of the outcome, it is the right time to reassess what they are looking to achieve with the brand and how they can maximise the company’s presence in the US going forward.

Jeff Cobb has confirmed that he was under a handshake agreement for 2 months before leaving New Japan. In an interview with KUAM News, he stated that his WWE deal came into effect on April 21st, with his debut in the US promotion occurring on May 10th. Cobb had agreed to work the Wrestling Dontaku Tour in full but his departure was moved up by his new employers, leading to him finishing up at Korakuen Hall against Hiroshi Tanahashi on April 19th.

A number of heavyweight talent have been given time off during the Best of the Super Juniors Tournament but will return for the final night on Sunday. Gabe Kidd and Tomohiro Ishii have made numerous appearances for AEW during the break.

© NJPW

Best of the Super Juniors

Kosei Fujita meets YOH in the Final of “Best of the Super Juniors 32” on Sunday, June 1st, in a final no one could have predicted at any point during the tournament.

Fujita is only somewhat of a surprise, with the possibility of him appearing in the final increasing in probability after he was given a prime spot in the main event of Night 3 at Korakuen Hall, getting an upset win over Hiromu Takahashi before delivering the closing speech, where he promised to win the tournament. His final appearance was by way of tie-breaker, with a win on the final night over Clark Connors coinciding with a Hiromu Takahashi loss in the main event. This was enough for him to advance.

Parity was very much the story of the block, with 5 men finishing on 10 points with a 5-4 record. It made for an exciting final day but also didn’t really help anyone to stand out in the process.

Hiromu Takahashi’s loss to Robbie X on the last night should be his last action as a Junior for some time, as he is very much required as a babyface underdog in the Heavyweight division that can harness the LIJ audience behind him in bigger name matchups. Takahashi was no slouch in this tournament, attempting to put over as many people as he could and having arguably the best match of the tour with Francisco Akira.

Perhaps the strangest thing to occur in A Block was Clark Connors going from looking completely badass in the hardcore match with El Desperado at Korakuen Hall last month to spending much of this tournament playing with a tire rather than focusing on winning his matches.

© NJPW

It has been somewhat of a strange year for B Block winner YOH as well; the tag team specialist had started the year playing program seller at the Tokyo Dome before Master Wato took (maybe dragged) YOH under his wing, in a journey that led them to the IWGP Junior Tag Titles and now, for YOH, to the final of the Junior singles tournament for the very first time. He defeated Taiji Ishimori in order to progress on the final night within more parity block booking, as El Desperado and Mao also finished with 12 points. It was an impressive points total for Mao, who brought every bit of DDT with him – bicycle and all.

There was good feedback for all the talent from outside companies, with Nick Wayne in particular being consistently praised for his in ring efforts, as well as his way of conducting himself within the locker room.

© STARDOM

Stardom

21.05.2025
Tokyo, Japan
Korakuen Hall
Attendance: 1,176
Watch on: Stardom World

Thoughts by Tim Hunter

The prevailing theme for STARDOM in a post All Star Grand Queendom world continues to be the great rebuild by elevating and introducing new talent. Besides the classic main event between Starlight Kid and HANAKO, the big news coming out of this show are the debuts of two more rookies in Ema Maishima and Kikyo Furasawa. After the successful debuts of Matoi Hamabe, Anne Kanaya, Yuria Hime, Rian and especially Akira Kurogane who has already established a firm spot on the roster and found her place in a unit, these two debuts have to be considered another great success. In Ema’s case, this is maybe one of the best debut performances we have seen in many years. Where Ema persuaded with flashy technical moves and high speed wrestling that is rather unusual to see in a debut performance, Kikyo convinced with great aesthetics, selling and charisma. Her look and entrance music already feel like a complete package and a ticket to stardom.

© STARDOM

Another fun thing about these debut matches was the vigor the older and more seasoned generations in AZM (22) and Hanan (20) showed as they are transitioning into the role of the grizzled old veterans and stretching these rookies hither and yon – especially Hanan, now ascended into the role of a faction leader, seemed to crank the holds in deeply on her designated rookie Kikyo. There were no hard feelings after the match, however, and the two parted ways after a big hug.

© STARDOM

The midcard matches on this show were totally serviceable but “nothing happening” multiman bouts. There’s always fun dynamics going on in these matches – like Tomoka Inaba absolutely beating on the rookies, or Syuri and Aya Sakura going right back at each other after their fabulous match ten days earlier and keeping that connection between each other strong. Ultimately however, these are not must-watch matches.

Natsupoi and Saori Annou had a fun showcase match ten days before their big 10 year anniversary show against the remnants of the ExV stable Waka Tsukiyama and Rian. It first looked like a very one sided affair as Saori beat on both her opponents relatively effortlessly in her classic murder android fashion, but in the end the Cosmic Angels team actually gave a lot of offense to the young Rian and made her look really strong in defeat with some insanely close kickouts by Natsupoi.

Besides the main event, the only other match on the card with real stakes saw H.A.T.E. go up against Mi Vida Loca in a match for the number one contender spot for the Artists of STARDOM titles (aka the trios belts). This was a bit disappointing however, as it ended in a double count out finish after the typical long H.A.T.E. brawling segments on the outside. After the match, 2 of the 3 current Artists champions AZM and Miyu Amasaki showed up, quite confused about the situation at hand. As a fighting champion, AZM asked booker Taro Okada to make it a threeway trios match in Osaka on the weekend, and he obliged.

The main event was an excellent bout between Starlight Kid and HANAKO. With a size difference of 31 centimeters, HANAKO towered over Starlight Kid, as they faced the daunting task to work a David vs Goliath dynamic where the Goliath is in the role of the challenger. They accomplished that with flying colours. Kid would bounce off of HANAKO like a rubber ball while HANAKO would throw Starlight Kid through the air with ease, dropping her with a terrifying suplex on the apron at one point. Any test of strength was clearly going in favor of HANAKO, and Starlight Kid gave her an incredible nearfall towards the end.

© STARDOM

Former kingpin of the highspeed division Starlight Kid however was clearly outpacing and dodging the giant whenever possible, and Kid used every opportunity that presented itself to her to peck away at HANAKO’s legs in an attempt to take away her strong base and prepare HANAKO for her signature Black Tiger Leg Killer submission. Her tactic would pan out perfectly, as HANAKO had to tap out after 21 minutes of excruciating leg-work.

Ultimately the goal of this match was to elevate HANAKO, there was never really a chance of a title switch here. She did her work excellently: she showed that she can be the monster powerhouse, while also showing that she can sell a damaged limb credibly. HANAKO is actually a year older than Kid, but Kid was still clearly the veteran here, with almost 7 years more in-ring experience.

I would call this show another great mission success for the STARDOM promotion, between two formidable rookie debuts and a successful ascension from a former rookie to an upper tier on the card of the promotion.

STARDOM has been known to have some incredible rookie classes, especially in the first couple of years of their existence, but this one might go down as their best in history when all is said and done. Whatever they are doing there in their dojo, it’s working miracles.

Full Results

AZM defeats Ema Maishima (10:49)

Hanan defeats Kikyo Furusawa (8:21)

God’s Eye (Kiyoka Kotatsu, Ranna Yagami, Saki Kashima & Tomoka Inaba) defeat Akira Kurogane, FWC (Hazuki & Koguma) & Yuria Hime (9:07)

H.A.T.E. (Azusa Inaba, Fukigen Death, Natsuko Tora & Saya Kamitani) defeat Neo Genesis (Mei Seira & Miyu Amasaki) & STARS (Momo Kohgo & Saya Iida) (11:30)

God’s Eye (Hina, Lady C & Syuri) defeat Cosmic Angels (Aya Sakura, Sayaka Kurara & Yuna Mizumori) (11:36)

Cosmic Angels (Natsupoi & Saori Anou) defeat Empress Nexus Venus (Rian & Waka Tsukiyama) (13:37)

Artist Of Stardom Title #1 Contendership Match
H.A.T.E. (Konami, Rina & Ruaka) vs. Mi Vida Loca (Itsuki Aoki, Rina Yamashita & Suzu Suzuki) – Double Count Out (15:50)

Wonder Of Stardom Title Match
Starlight Kid (c) defeats HANAKO (21:25)

© STARDOM

Stardom News

Saori Anou and Natsupoi’s 10th Anniversary show on May 31st sees the wrestlers celebrating a decade in the industry, teaming together in the main event of the show against Chihiro Hashimoto and Mika Iwata. Underneath will be AZM and Starlight Kid facing Saya Iida and Hanan, Aya Sakura vs Sareee, Sayaka Kurara taking on Mayumi Ozaki and Yuna Mizumori vs SAKI. Rounding out the card will be a Tenkyu Rumble, and 2 tag matches as Yumiko Hotta and Miku Kanae will stand opposite Kaoru Ito and Rian, while Aina Aiba and Maika Ozaki face Tae Honma & Yuna Manase. The show will be available on PPV via Stagecrowd Live!

The Neo Genesis team of AZM, Starlight Kid and Miyu Amazaki retained their Artist of Stardom Trios Titles in a 3-way elimination match in Osaka on May 24th against the H.A.T.E. trio of Kinami, Rina and Ruaka and Mi Vida Loca’s Suzu Suzuki, Rina Yamashita and Itsuki Aoki. The closing stages of the match saw one member of each team left before Ruaka eliminated Suzu Suzuki, only to fall victim to end victor Miyu Amasaki.

Ema Maishima and Kikyo Furusawa, who both debuted at the Korakuen Hall show on June 21st, have had profiles added to Stardom’s website.

21 year old Ema Maishima from Kashiwara City in Osaka Prefecture first watched Dragongate as a child before becoming inspired by Stardom wrestlers AZM and Rina, leading to her pursuing a career in pro wrestling. In order to build up the funding, Ema spent two years with the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, before moving to Tokyo in order to train. She has spent 14 months in training prior to her debut last week.

Kikyo Furusawa, from Fujinomiya City in Shizuoka Prefecture, had become aware of pro wrestling thanks to her parents watching New Japan Pro Wrestling and decided to pursue it as a potential career after seeing advertisements for a STARDOM Cinderella Audition. The 21 year old officially joined the company in April 2024 after the audition was successful.

© STARDOM

New Japan Pro Wrestling English Commentator Walker Stewart will take up a new role with STARDOM as their new Director of Global PR and Communications. Stewart listed the obligations of the new role on his LinkedIn page as leading the company’s “international branding media strategy and fan engagement efforts.” It will mean he oversees all STARDOM’s English-language social media platforms and manages partnerships and media relations outside of Japan for the promotion.

Stewart has impressed when asked to provide English commentary for events such as “All Star Grand Queendom 2025”, and his addition should mean more shows with commentary as well as more supporting content available in the language in both audio and video formats.

Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling

TJPW have announced the format for this year’s Tokyo Princess Cup that culminates on August 23rd at Korakuen Hall. The field will be composed of 16 wrestlers this year with 12 already determined.

Princess of Princess Champion Mizuki will be joined by Shoko Nakajima, Hyper Misao, Suzume, Yuki Kamifuku, Raku, Miyu Yamashita, Rika Tatsumi, Miu Watanabe, Yuki Aino, Arisu Endo and Yuki Arai in the already confirmed lineup. The other 4 places will be determined by qualifying matches spanning the next 3 months featuring 16 competitors.

Maki Itoh will be missing the Cup in its entirety due to commitments in the US.

The next contender for the Princess of Princess Championship will be decided on June 1st in Aichi, with a 4 v 4 elimination tag match. Miu Watanabe, Yuki Arai, Maki Itoh and Pom Harajuku will face off against Yuki Aino, Jada Stone, Arisu Endo and Yuki Kamifuku in the match, which will continue after the tag portion if there is more than 1 member left on the winning team, after the other side has been defeated. It will then operate as a singles elimination match until there is 1 single wrestler left standing to become the new number 1 contender.

© TJPW

Rookie Konatsu will now be known as Ren Konatsu going forward. The change was made ahead of her debut on June 1st. The 24 year old from Hamamatsu has been speaking in recent interviews about how it was Suzume that inspired her to become a pro wrestler, and it will be the current International Princess Champion who will be her first in-ring opponent in her debut. Suzume will be defending her title before then, when she faces Yoshiko Hasegawa in Nerima on May 31st.

The MLW Women’s Featherweight Title will be defended in TJPW on June 7th, as Shoko Nakajima will face the challenge of Kaya Toribami.

Pom Harajuku has been announced for the TJPW Texas Tour in July. The 3-night tour will have 2 dates in Houston on July 10th and July 11th, followed by a show in Dallas on July 13th. Other talent confirmed for the tour are Miu Watanabe, Suzume, Miyu Yamashita, Maki Itoh, Yuki Arai, Mizuki, Shoko Nakajima, Moka Miyamoto, Arisu Endo, Raku, Hyper Misao, Shino Suzuki and Yuki Kamifuku.

© DDT Pro Wrestling

DDT

DDT Pro Wrestling
Dramatic Dreams
17/05/2025
Sumiyoshi Civic Center, Osaka, Japan
Watch On: Wrestle Universe

DDT held the 12th edition of their annual show in Osaka that was produced by long-time referee Yukinori Matsui. The show started with the opening speeches, although as they were in Takeshita’s hometown of Osaka, his mother came into the ring. She gave a long speech and Matsui tried to cut her off, leading to Takeshita’s mother giving Matsui a Rainmaker. As usual, there were a lot of Osaka Pro Wrestling talent on the show. On the undercard, there was some fun when Nanashi (Hibiscus Mii), a monster straight out of a horror movie, terrorised the match. Kikutaro and Kuishinbo Kamen were taken backstage by Nanashi. After some time, loud screams were heard from backstage. Nanashi came out with both their heads, leading Antonio Honda (who was meant to be teaming with Nanashi and Kikutaro), Ram Kaicho and Shunma Katsumata to fend for themselves.

On a serious note, the last three matches were great. Chris Brookes beat Kohei Kinoshita in 12:19 with a Praying Mantis Bomb. Kinoshita had some great suplexes, including a perfect bridging fallaway slam. Kinoshita recently announced that he is leaving his home promotion Dove Pro in August.

HARASHIMA and Kazusada Higuchi took on freelancers Shigehiro Irie and Shuji Kondo in a hard-hitting tag match. HARASHIMA pinned Irie in 13:52 with Somato (running double knee strike).

© DDT Pro Wrestling

In the main event, Konosuke Takeshita teamed with former 37KAMIINA stablemate Yuki Ueno against Daisuke Sasaki and New Japan’s Dick Togo. Ueno pinned Sasaki in 26:59 with WR (i.e. Ranhei or Kofi Kingston’s S.O.S). This match was excellent. All four worked hard as if it was a Korakuen main event – yes, including Dick Togo, who can still go if he needs to and was in his master heel mode.

Here are the highlights of that match. Sasaki & Togo built up the heat for a great Takeshita hot tag. AEW fans will enjoy that once Takeshita is a babyface again. Togo hit a thunderous lariat on Takeshita, who responded with the world-class elbow. Togo landed a running senton dive to the outside. Togo threw Takeshita back in the ring and tried a springboard DDT but was caught by Takeshita. They then exchanged a series of nearfalls which sent the crowd into a frenzy. Sasaki tagged in and took his shirt off halfway through the match, indicating he wasn’t messing around anymore. Takeshita hit all his greatest hits, including the elbow and the Blue Thunder Bomb on Sasaki, before being interrupted by Togo. Takeshita and Ueno hit a double tope con hilo. There was another great spot where Takeshita deadlifted Sasaki into a German Suplex while Sasaki pinned Ueno. As all the best in their field do, Takeshita usually tries one crazy thing in a match, which may or may not work out. In this match, Togo went to the top rope to do a frog splash on Ueno and Takeshita tried to catch him at full speed, likely for a Blue Thunder Bomb, but they fell over, so we’ll never know. Sasaki hit a Dragon Suplex for a near fall and tried a La Mistica but ultimately failed. Ueno hit a dropkick and another WR for the win.

Full Results

Harimao (Naomi Yoshimura & Ryota Nakatsu) defeat Akito & Yasu Urano (10:21)

Billy Ken Kid, Danshoku Dino & Trans Am Hiroshi defeat Kazuki Hirata, Soma Takao & Toru Owashi (0:08)

Billy Ken Kid, Danshoku Dino & Trans Am Hiroshi defeat Kazuki Hirata, Soma Takao & Toru Owashi (10:24)

DAMNATION T.A (Hideki Okatani & Ilusion) & HUB defeat Kazuma Sumi, Tsubasa & Yuya Koroku (9:44)

Magnitude Kishiwada & Naruki Doi defeat To-y & Yuki Ishida (9:29)

Antonio Honda, Kikutaro & Nanashi vs. Kuishinbo Kamen, Ram Kaicho & Shunma Katsumata – No Contest (12:12)

Daichi Sato, Jun Akiyama & KANON defeat Shuji Ishikawa, Takeshi Masada & Yukio Naya (12:45)

Chris Brookes defeats Kohei Kinoshita (12:19)

HARASHIMA & Kazusada Higuchi defeat Shigehiro Irie & Shuji Kondo (13:52)
Konosuke Takeshita & Yuki Ueno defeat Daisuke Sasaki & Dick Togo (26:59)

© DDT Pro Wrestling

KING OF DDT 2025 FINAL!!
25/05/2025
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Watch On: Wrestle Universe

Kazusada Higuchi is back where he belongs. Higuchi is the King of DDT once again, and boy did he win it in style with two excellent matches, including arguably DDT’s best match of the year so far. You may know DDT for its “fun” approach to professional wrestling, but the King of DDT tournament is their annual event where competitors take it seriously and pull out all stops to win. Even permanent goofball Antonio Honda, who was a last minute replacement for injured Masahiro Takanashi, wrestled an intense match with Yuki Ueno in the first round, without pulling out Gon, the Little Fox.

Higuchi returned from injury at DDT Judgement 2025 on 20th March 2025, after a 9 month absence. After having some tune-up tag matches, including a King of Drunk Hangover Rumble (it turns out he cannot handle his alcohol, as he was eliminated first by vomiting into a bucket), Higuchi has been on a mission back to the top. Higuchi has had great matches leading up to the start of the tournament, notably teaming with Yuya Koroku versus KO-D Openweight Champion Chris Brookes and Kazuma Sumi on 29th March and then teaming with stablemate Yuki Ishida versus Calvin Tankman & Kazuma Sumi on 25th April in DEADLOCK Pro-Wrestling, where he went to war with Tankman in a hard-hitting back and forth. Those matches were the first real glimpse of what was to come and a signal that Higuchi was not going to put his foot on the brakes after his absence.

Higuchi is Mr. Ol’ Reliable in DDT. DDT’s specialty is mixing the silly with the serious and perfectly balancing the two. Higuchi plays that role excellently, but more importantly, is much easier to slot into the serious role as and when DDT needs. He has held the top title, the KO-D Openweight Championship, once for 210 days, during which he had probably the best match of his career (certainly my favourite) against Konosuke Takeshita at Korakuen Hall on 25th September 2022. DDT have once again called on the big man to main event the next Korakuen Hall show on 29th June against Chris Brookes. Let’s recap how we got here.

Kazusada Higuchi defeats Yuki Ueno in 12:10 with a Brain Claw slam

The first semi-final was just a warm up, which sounds crazy when you consider the participants: the perennial ass-kicker versus arguably the ace of DDT (despite not being DDT’s current champion). This match was excellent for the time given. The match starts with Higuchi chopping Ueno, making you think you know where this is going with a beatdown on Ueno, but Ueno quickly reverses momentum and hits Higuchi with a Heat Seeker that looked so good that I had to rewind several times to make sure Higuchi did not actually bump on his head. The story of the match was that every time Ueno had a window of opportunity, he took it, whether that’s a second-rope Frankensteiner, a frog splash or a rear naked choke. There was no wasted movement from Ueno. Each time though, Ueno was (sometimes literally) chopped down. The finishing sequence was the best part. Following Ueno hitting WR, Higuchi grabbed Ueno’s head with the Brain Claw to break the pinfall. Ueno broke free and hit a pitch perfect dropkick on Higuchi’s head. Higuchi responded with two fierce lariats, only getting a 1 count on Ueno. Higuchi finished Ueno with a Brain Claw slam.

KANON defeats Hideki Okatani in 9:41 with LONELY DESIREZ

KANON and Okatani met for the first time in singles action since Okatani turned on KANON in a double turn at Korakuen Hall on 23rd February. KANON subsequently formed a tag team called Strange Love Connection with MAO, who had just left 37KAMIINA and is now competing in New Japan’s Best of the Super Juniors 32 tournament. KANON is very over, which probably explains their decision to turn him babyface. The double turn has seemed to work great so far, judging by the crowd reactions and both wrestlers’ work. There was not much to note about this match, it was good, but had the usual Damnation TA shenanigans. KANON’s finisher is a variation of an inverted powerslam, where the opponent flips horizontally onto their front rather than vertically.

© DDT Pro Wrestling

Kazusada Higuchi defeats KANON in 19:19 with a Brain Claw slam

Higuchi capped off the night with a second excellent match, even managing to put over a rising babyface as KANON took the loss. The match was awesome and is better watched than transcripted. They just relentlessly beat the crap out of each other. At the end of this fight, predictably, KANON’s chest was a hue of deep purple, but surprisingly, so was Higuchi’s. KANON gave just as good as he got, in a performance that will surely serve him well in his babyface run to the top. Higuchi finished KANON off with the perfect sequence, applying the Brain Claw to KANON, who tried to valiantly fight it off to the cheers of the crowd, before having to give up and receiving a Brain Claw slam.

Brookes and Higuchi went face to face at a press conference the next day. Higuchi kept it short and sweet and called Brookes a worthy champion, reiterating that he’s happy to be back and competing and wants the title. Brookes certainly has had many great defenses this year against Shuji Ishikawa and Masahiro Takanashi, the latter being unfortunately injured during the Praying Mantis Bomb finisher. Brookes has had a really underrated story arc since the latter title defense, particularly with DDT’s former ace and veteran HARASHIMA. There is an excellent house show match on 23rd March, 3 days after Takanashi’s injury, where Brookes teamed with stablemate Takeshi Masada to take on HARASHIMA and the KO-D Openweight challenger (at the time) Yuyu Koroku. The story of that match is that Brookes believed he was no longer worthy of being champion, feeling responsible for injuring his best friend. HARASHIMA beat it out of Brookes, with a great moment where Brookes looks defeated and is being encouraged by HARASHIMA to hit him. Brookes wins the match by pooling courage and hitting a Praying Mantis Bomb on HARASHIMA. (HARASHIMA is due a title opportunity soon after beating Brookes in the King of DDT tournament, where this story will surely come up again.) At the press conference, in response to Higuchi, Brookes refused to speak, instead talking through the GM, believing he could not do the words justice himself:

Brookes’ title run so far is great. Expect Brookes to successfully defend, leading to a match down the line with HARASHIMA. Higuchi’s time as a 2-time champion will come, likely just not yet while there’s still juice in the tank with Brookes.

In other notes on the King of DDT Final show, 16-year-old Daichi Sato continued his rapid improvement and teamed with Jun Akiyama and Yukio Naya in a fun six-man losing to Shinya Aoki, Shunma Katsumata and To-y. Sato is already very good, and has been wrestling since 2018 and has 200 matches under his belt, again showing the contrast in the development of Japanese and US rookies.

Danshoku Dino came out in black shooter pants to take on Minoru Suzuki for his DDT Universal Championship. They had been building to this match by Dino preparing to wrestle seriously rather than use his ass-based offense. Around half-way through the match, Dino gave in to his inner urges and pulled his black pants to show his usual attire and then proceeded to repeatedly kiss Suzuki, to no avail. Suzuki won with the Gotch Piledriver in 12:50. Suzuki uncharacteristically accepted that wrestling isn’t all about holds, and there’s different ways to fight, giving Dino some props. Aoki came out to challenge Suzuki for the DDT Universal title at Korakuen Hall on July 13th. Aoki said that he wants to bring the title back to DDT and stop the Suzuki train. That match should be great. You shouldn’t sleep on it as both have been having a good 2025 so far.

Full Results

Schadenfreude International (Antonio Honda, Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada) defeat DAMNATION T.A (Daisuke Sasaki, Ilusion & MJ Paul) (9:59)

Kazusada Higuchi defeats Yuki Ueno (12:10)

King Of DDT 2025 Semi Final:
KANON defeats Hideki Okatani (9:41)

Akito & Yuya Koroku defeat HARASHIMA & Kazuki Hirata and Kazuma Sumi & Yuni and Toru Owashi & Yuki Ishida (9:47)

The 37KAMIINA (Shunma Katsumata & To-y) & Shinya Aoki defeat Daichi Sato, Jun Akiyama & Yukio Naya (8:45)

DDT Universal Title:
Minoru Suzuki (c) defeats Danshoku Dino (12:50)

King Of DDT 2025 Final:
Kazusada Higuchi defeats KANON (19:09)

© DDT Pro Wrestling

DDT News

DDT announced that Akito & Yuya Koroku will take on the Astronauts (Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura) for the KO-D Tag Team Championships at Shinagawa Prince Hotel, Tokyo, on 7th June. The Astronauts are having a Tag Team of the Year run so far in 2025 and look to continue their streak of excellent matches. Also announced for the 7th June show is Antonio Honda versus Daisuke Sasaki, Kazuki Hirata versus Toru Owashi, and KO-D Openweight Champion Chris Brookes partnering with Takeshi Masada against King of DDT winner Kazusada Higuchi and Yuki Ishida to build the June 29th championship match. AEW’s MxM Collection (Mansoor & Mason Madden) will also debut on the June 29th Korakuen Hall show against Danshoku Dino and Kazuki Hirata.

DDT are holding a joint one-match card PPV with New Japan Pro Wrestling on 9th June with Toru Yano taking on Super Sasadango Machine. The show will be distributed via New Japan World but is being promoted by DDT.

“The Monster” Harato Sakuraba is returning to DDT on July 13th and has promised to target Damnation’s KANON. The show will be headlined by Minoru Suzuki defending the DDT Universal Title against Shinya Aoki.

© All Japan Pro Wrestling

All Japan Pro Wrestling

All Japan Pro Wrestling
Champion Carnival 2025 Finals
18/05/25
Ota City Gymnasium, Tokyo, Japan
Company Announced Attendance: 2280
Watch on: AJPW.tv

Rei Seito completed his comeback on the final night of the 2025 “Champion Carnival” in Ota City Gymnasium, as his poor start to the tournament whilst riddled with confidence issues and feeling inferior to brother Jun was eradicated by a run to the Finals and eventual victory. He will now face brother Jun, who was on commentary for the main event, on June 1st in Sendai for the Triple Crown. Jun was very much the proud brother on this night but will return to fierce opponent for the matchup as he looks to protect his Crown.

This night, though, was all about Rei, whose sheer power and brute force saw him overcome a pre-match attack from Hideki Suzuki in the semi final, looking all but out of it when he agreed that the bell could be rung. Suzuki attempted a second sleeper hold once the match was live but was knocked back by a flurry of slaps that continued into the corner and overwhelmed Saito’s more experienced opponent. The seriousness of the strikes saw Suzuki unable to respond. He was counted out after just 1 minute and 49 seconds, with Rei Saito going through to the final.

His final obstacle would be last year’s “Champion Carnival” winner Kento Miyahara, who had overcome Ryuki Honda relatively quickly in the other semi final, putting him away after a series of rolling pins in just under 10 minutes. Going in, I almost expected Miyahara’s experience to be the driving force in the final, but it was very much Rei Saito’s power that was the story and the structure of the match, with Miyahara desperately attempting to find ways to counter and take out the arms of his more powerful opponent but ultimately being unable to do so.

Miyahara worked hard just to get the bigger man down, with most of the crowd in his corner, but was ultimately taken down by a brutal slapdown, almost sumo wrestler-like, from Saito before he put away his high calibre opponent and hit the BBQ bomb for the win. The match took some time to get going and didn’t have a rabid crowd but it did end on its peak perfectly.

© All Japan Pro Wrestling

The in-ring highlight of the card was the Junior Heavyweight Championship match which saw Seiki Yoshioka become the 71st Champion by defeating MUSASHI. The match was a welcome change of pace after a somewhat plodding mid card of the show that felt like it would never end, as their mix of exploding suplexes, superkicks, fast, high impact offense led to a pulsating affair that saw flows in momentum before Yoshioka was able to combine his kicks with a crash driver to get the victory and capture the belt. He was challenged in the aftermath by Dan Tamura, with his first defense also scheduled for June 1st in Sendai.

Elsewhere, Hokuto-Gun captured the AJPW TV 6 man Championships in a comedy-ridden (derogatory) encounter that ended the reign of Yuma Aoyagi, Fuminori Abe and Hikaru Sato on their 4th defense. Hokuto, in his victory speech, then promised to bring an extra large wrestler to the promotion in the near future.

Ashino also propositioned Xyon on forming a team after the Australian had speared his way to a win in their 6 man tag match. Xyon accepted, setting up another title match for June 1st.

Full Results

Taishin Nagao defeats Shota Kofuji (6:01)

Champion Carnival 2025 Semi Final:
Kento Miyahara defeats Ryuki Honda (9:53)

Champion Carnival 2025 Semi Final:
Rei Saito defeats Hideki Suzuki by KO (1:49)

Kengo Mashimo, Madoka Kikuta, Seigo Tachibana & Shuji Kondo defeat Atsuki Aoyagi, Davey Boy Smith Jr., Ren Ayabe & Ryo Inoue (9:30)

AJPW TV Six Man Tag Team Titles:
Hokuto-gun (Hokuto Omori, Kuma Arashi & Takashi Yoshida) defeat Baka No Jidai (Fuminori Abe, Hikaru Sato & Yuma Aoyagi) (c) (15:35)

Dan Tamura, Shotaro Ashino & Xyon defeat Saito Brothers (Jun Saito, Naruki Doi & Senor Saito) (11:03)

All Asia Tag Team Title:
ELPIDA (Rising HAYATO & Yuma Anzai) (c) defeat Aigle Blanc & Mike D Vecchio (16:38)

AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Title:
Seiki Yoshioka defeats MUSASHI (c) (23:46)

Champion Carnival 2025 Final: Rei Saito defeats Kento Miyahara (24:22)

© Dragongate Network

Dragongate

On the road to “Kobe World” on 13th July, the Korakuen Hall show on 4th June is shaping up to be a night of title defences and one of the best Dragongate shows of the year. The Open The Dream Gate Championship will be defended by YAMATO against challenger Masaaki Mochizuki. Mochizuki Jr. will take on U-T for the Open The Brave Gate Championship. That match was set up by Mochizuki Jr. pinning the champion, in what was a Match of the Year contender battle between Natural Vibes and Gold Class on 9th May at Korakuen Hall. Hyo has joined Gold Class as a result of that match. Additionally, Not Hug (Dragon Kid and Naruki Doi) will challenge the Z-Brats pair, Jason Lee and Kota Minoura, for their Open The Twin Gate Championship. Finally, the Open The Triangle Gate Championship will be defended by Natural Vibes (Flamita, Kzy & Strong Machine J) against Z-Brats (Homare, ISHIN & Yoshiko Kato).

Dragongate are also running Korakuen Hall the day after on 5th June, including a highly anticipated match-up with El Desperado & Dragon Kid taking on ISHIN & Shun Skywalker. With “Gate of Miyane 2” at Korakuen Hall and the annual “Kobe World” show on the horizon, this could be setting up an El Desperado & Skywalker singles match for either event. Also on the 5th June show will be an all-Gold Class tag, as Ben-K & Mochizuki Jr. take on one of the best tag teams in the world, Jacky Kamei & Riiita. The newest member of Gold Class, Hyo, will be the special referee. Ultimo Dragon, Luis Mante & Flamita will take on Bendito & NOAH’s Los Golpeadores (Alpha Wolf & Dragon Bane) for Luis Mante’s 20th Anniversary. Other matches for this show will likely be set up as the fallout of the 4th June show.

Takashi Yoshida has announced that he will compete as just “Takashi” going forward. Takashi recently competed in All Japan Pro Wrestling’s Champion Carnival, finishing with a record of 1 win and 7 losses.

The promotion released a statement around the status of Shimizu, stating that he has “formally requested to be allowed to step away from competition for the remainder of 2025.” The wrestler has been with Dragongate since debuting as a rookie in 2013 but was suspended in 2024 for a ‘suspected contract violation’. He is a former 6-time Tag Champion and a 4-time Trios Champion during his career there.

Dragongate announced that the Masaaki Mochizuki Produce show “Buyuden Rei ~ Zero ~ Vol. 7” will take place on 23rd July at Shinjuku FACE, Tokyo.

© Marigold

Dream Star Fighting Marigold

Marigold Shine Forever
24/05/25
Yoyogi National Gymnasium #2
Announced Attendance: 2,450
Watch On: Wrestle Universe PPV

Review by David Hayter.

“Shine Forever”, Marigold’s spectacular celebration of their one-year anniversary, certainly had its ups and downs, but ultimately it will be remembered for one thing and one thing only: Nanae Takahashi’s riotous, violent, heartfelt and undeniably sweet retirement from pro wrestling. On a show that was defined in large part by good matches that underdelivered on lofty expectations, where nothing was quite as great as it could or should have been, Nanae’s fond farewell was simply sublime.

A Carnival of PASSION and Friendship Forged Through Violence

If you have even the slightest inkling of love, respect or interest in Nanae Takahashi and her storied career, then the main event and closing ceremony of “Shine Forever” are an absolute must-see. Any suggestion that Nanae might be moved to tears or emotionally unnerved as she faced her final match with Miku Aono was shaken the second her music hit and she stormed through the entranceway screaming for PASSION~!!! No matter how hot or supportive the crowd, Nanae will always demand more; she has always been her own biggest fan and she will never settle for anything less than 100% commitment. This is exactly what made the graduate of All Japan Women’s class of 1996 (and inaugural longest-reigning World of Stardom champion) an all-time great.

Nanae can forgive botches and she’ll happily work main event matches with subpar talents, but she will never, not for one second, accept laziness or complacency. She will give her all and she expects her opponent to fight with passion. There was no doubt that Miku Aono would be a worthy and fiery final opponent, having already proven herself as a solid upper-card worker with her United National Championship run in 2024, and she duly delivered here. Given the circumstances, we’ll breeze over the criticism of the match: there was some sloppiness and awkwardness, particularly in the first half, but it ultimately didn’t matter. Miku and Nanae put on a good four-star match with five-star levels of emotional investment. It was a great battle, with Nanae absolutely battering the hell out of Aono with stiff strikes before they entered into a wild near-fall sequence.

© Marigold

Despite the result not being in any doubt, no one knew exactly when the match would end and, in a brilliant touch (reminiscent of Tam Nakano’s recent retirement), after improbably surviving some spectacular Styles Clashes, Nanae finally succumbed to the One Second EX, her own finishing move, as Barb Sasaki (who, to Stardom’s credit, Taro Okada had approved to appear) counted the three. It was a beautiful passing-of-the-torch moment. Even if no one really sees Miku Aono as a modern-day Nanae Takahashi, she can keep Nanae’s spirit alive by using the One Second EX as her new uber-finisher.

Then the party started. Nanae wasn’t going to end the show like that — she still had fight left in her and she demanded more challengers and more PASSION. Senka Akatsuki, the stone-faced killer rookie, bundled her way to the ring and began trying to bulldoze her way to a victory over Nanae with a series of shoot pins. Nanae survived to a one-minute time limit draw, but the waves of challengers soon came. In a beautiful moment, Nanae’s understudy Seri Yamaoka came out for a grappling match and, with one second to go, finally beat her mentor via shoot pin (or loving hug, depending on your POV). It wouldn’t be Nanae if we didn’t have some mishaps with green wrestlers trying to show passion, and the returning Kouki Amarei continued her rough return to the ring by dropping Nanae awkwardly and botching most everything she tried in her one-minute match — but to be honest, it kind of added to the carefree spirit of the retirement ceremony. In a truly miraculous sign of respect, veteran Yumiko Hotta not only took a bump for Nanae but actually jobbed to her in 54 seconds! Lastly, and best of all, Nanae’s greatest tag team partner and classmate Momoe Nakanishi stormed to the ring for a wild mini-match. It started great, but promptly fell off a cliff — but that hardly mattered as the old friends were laughing and teary-eyed by the time Nanae bungled her way to the final victory of her long career.

Then Nanae ripped away part of her gear to reveal a “Thank You” message, she put on a floral crown, and a beautiful ceremony ensued which really needs to be watched to be truly appreciated. It began with Nanae exchanging flowers and stiff shoot slaps with Marigold’s rookies and evolved to be a kinder affair as friends, legends, Rossy, and her mother presented her with flowers before Nanae was left to stand alone for a ten-bell salute. A lovely group photo followed and then Nanae was carried around the arena leading the crowd in chants of PASSION. It was barmy, it was beautiful and it created so many tender moments. If I had to select just one to highlight, it would be the sight of Nanae hugging a tearful Seri Yamaoka in the middle of a group photograph.

Between Nanae Takahashi, Meiko Satomura, Tam Nakano and Sumie Sakai, joshi pro wrestling has really shown the world how to perfectly bid farewell to the legends of the sport in ways that are totally distinct and so perfectly evocative of the individuals themselves. This was perfect.

© Marigold

Utami and Mirai are excellent even as they massively fall short of expectations

Utami Hayashishita and Mirai showcased the most incredible chemistry in the thrilling preview tags that built up to “Shine Forever”. They are perfect for each other. Mirai is the ultra-intensity, million-miles-a-minute, impeccably earnest powerhouse and Utami is the cool, hard-bumping, perfect-selling vision of a champion who endures and overcomes. The stage was set for the best match in Marigold’s history and a sure-fire match of the year contender, but sadly this really rather good, but ultimately disappointing championship showdown is unlikely to even rank in the top ten best matches of the weekend, let alone the year.

Let’s start with the positives, because even if this match was on the low end of expectations, it was still a very good match. The lariats were ungodly meaty and satisfying. Utami has so many unique ways of believably selling both the physical impact of Mirai’s offence and the exhaustion of the match that feel both intrinsically real and deliciously dramatic. The final stretch of the match was sensational as the impacts became harder and more sudden; there was a great sense of weight to the suplexes and slams. Both women seemed to bury their bodies into the match with each bump; there was none of the bounciness so common in modern wrestling. The near-falls were absolutely tremendous, particularly for Mirai’s Rainmaker.

So if there was so much absolutely fantastic wrestling to be found in this match, why did it underdeliver?

Well, first and foremost, at 16 minutes it felt oddly short. Utami survived Mirai’s offence and just as it felt the match was going to go from fourth gear to fifth gear, Utami hit the Hijack Bomb and… Mirai didn’t kick out. It was over. The match had been awkwardly paced and strangely built from the early going, but just as the match was blossoming into a classic it was abruptly cut short. There was also a strange lack of cohesion to the early portion. There was a solid feeling-out process, but after five minutes, before any substantial blows had been landed, Mirai and Utami suddenly shifted into epic selling mode. It was as if ten minutes had been cut out of the middle of the match and the pair found themselves in an exhausted lariat standoff and an epic submission battle. It felt as though they were caught between two minds; did they want to do a 15-minute all-action, hard-hitting sprint or did they want to produce an epic slow-burn psychological war? They didn’t seem to have a satisfying answer to this question and instead opted for a weird slow-burn sprint.

Make no mistake, this is the exact type of wrestling I love and I did very much enjoy this match (hence why I started with the positives), but if you simulated a Mirai vs Utami title match 100 times (barring those blighted by freak injuries), this match would sit on the extreme low end of the results. Very good, certainly not great, but next time they clash hopefully they will combine for the best match in Marigold history.

© Marigold

Iwatani Wins Gold in an Intense Sprint

Mayu Iwatani is already on track to achieve her stated goal of becoming the first ever Marigold Grand Slam champion by winning the Superfly title from her former Stars protégé Victoria Yuzuki in a violent sub-10-minute sprint. Mayu seems absolutely overjoyed to be back with Rossy Ogawa in Marigold and is happily beaming as she walks to the ring, but if this was a reunion, Yuzuki had no interest in smiles and hugs. The second the bell rang, she blasted Mayu with violent forearms and would quickly shoot dropkick Mayu in the face before proceeding to nearly kill herself with a dive to the outside, where she was sent sprawling face-first to the hard floor. It was a fantastic, thrilling and reckless start. If Mayu were Brock Lesnar she might have told Yuzuki to calm down and forced her to eat some stiff blows. However, this is Mayu Iwatani, so she continued to wrestle immaculately, doing her best to channel Yuzuki’s enthusiasm into a productive direction.

Given the Superfly title has a strict 15-minute time limit, this match was always going to be a sprint, but given that the World Title match barely went 16 minutes, it would have been nice if this match was given some more time. We got the start of a great match and then cut right to the ending of a good, solid match. There’s no doubt we’ll be seeing a lot of Yuzuki and Mayu together (likely as tag team champions), so we will see a full match in future, but on a card of matches that undershot expectations, we could have used more action from these two.

Honours Even Between Marvelous and Marigold

The matches aren’t always the strongest, but the rivalry between Marvelous and Marigold has breathed new life into the Marigold product. The promotion war has almost single-handedly rescued a worryingly thin midcard situation that was dragging the promotion downward, while giving young workers new opponents to work with in the process. Tonight, Marigold and Marvelous took a match apiece.

Takumi Iroha defeated super rookie Seri Yamaoka in a solid and impactful bout that never quite clicked in the ring. It’s not that the pair had bad chemistry; the match just lacked a spark. Seri is always enthusiastic and intense, even if that tends to lead her to burn out or make mistakes due to her extreme exertion, while Iroha is great, still feeling her way back to top form following injury. The match ended with a bang at least. Seri survived a fabulous powerbomb and spinning heel kick before succumbing to the Z360, but the body of the contest felt flat.

Team Marigold vs Marvelous was a wild five-on-five elimination match that blended excellent flourishes with messy green sequences. It was a frantic mess at times, but that was also part of the match’s charm. The standout, as always, was Senka. The rookie is far from perfect technically, but she is the very embodiment of Japanese pro wrestling with her stony expression, shoot skills and wild, gleeful love of the fight. It’s as if she’s been transported directly out of AJW in 1980. In terms of holding the match together, Magenta and Natsumi Showzuki kept things ticking over. There was always something exciting happening, but unfortunately the experienced workers were protected from doing jobs, as they were all simultaneously eliminated in one over-the-top sequence. That left Rea Seto and Ai Houzan to battle messily over the final elimination. The wrestling wasn’t particularly inspired, but the crowd were super-heated and invested by this point, leading to some great near-falls as the crowd, perhaps surprisingly, rallied behind Houzan before she fell to defeat at the hands of Rea’s bridging double arm suplex.

© Marigold

Where Do They Keep Finding These Super Rookies?

Shinno, second-generation super rookie and daughter of ARISON star Michiko Omukai, made one hell of a splash on her debut the second she absolutely wrecked Mai Sakurai with a glorious uranage. More than just the surprising offence and the blood that spilled from her nose within the first five minutes of the match, it was Shinno’s incredible fire that set her out as a future superstar. Mai was in the veteran role, but Shinno’s rope running and slick submission offence put Mai to shame. There was no need to get carried away and put undue pressure on Shinno, as she is still green; she hesitated, telegraphed her offence at times, and had some messy moments (the knee strikes need some serious work), but she clearly has a very bright future ahead. Mai did well in the veteran role and took the victory with an STF.

Undercard Dross Should Be on the Chopping Block

With the arrival of exciting new rookies and Marvelous talent, the much-maligned mainstays of the Marigold midcard need to shape up or ship out. Darkness Revolution vs Chanyota, Erina Yamanaka, Nigasa Tachibana & Ryoko Sakimura was pretty pitiful and, despite some good offence from Misa Matsui, felt like an embarrassing way to follow up such a great rookie debut. Kizuna Tanaka & Kouki Amarei vs Chika Goto & Minami Yuuki was arguably worse still, with no heat, sloppy slow-motion offence, inaccurate kicks, terribly fake-looking selling and a raft of sloppy bumps. Kouki, who picked up a victory on her return, has an incredible look and should be given some grace as she returns from injury, but she is right back to botching spots. The finish was particularly scary as Kouki failed to fully rotate on her Amethyst Butterfly splash and her knee crashed brutally into Yuuki’s skull.

By David Hayter

Full Results

Mai Sakurai defeats Shinno (12:33)

Darkness Revolution (CHIAKI, Megaton, Misa Matsui & Nagisa Nozaki) defeat Chanyota, Erina Yamanaka, Nagisa Tachibana & Ryoko Sakimura (9:27)

Kizuna Tanaka & Kouki Amarei defeat Chika Goto & Minami Yuuki (8:58)

Team Marigold (Hummingbird, Komomo Minami, Nao Ishikawa, Natsumi Showzuki & Rea Seto) defeat Team Marvelous (Ai Houzan, Maria, Riko Kawahata, Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame) (19:26)

Takumi Iroha defeats Seri Yamaoka (12:14)

Marigold Superfly Title:
Mayu Iwatani defeats Victoria Yuzuki (c) (9:58)

Marigold World Title:
Utami Hayashishita (c) defeats MIRAI (16:12)

Miku Aono defeats Nanae Takahashi (22:04)

Nanae Takahashi Gauntlet Match:
Kouki Amarei, Momoe Nakanishi, Senka Akatsuki, Seri Yamaoka & Yumiko Hotta vs. Nanae Takahashi – Draw [2:2:1] (5:23)

© Marigold

Marigold News

In the wake of the comments made at a recent Korakuen Hall by English commentator Sonny Gutierrez, Rossy Ogawa made some comments of his own that caught attention over the past week, as the Marigold booker compared the structure of his company to STARDOM, which he also founded. Ogawa, would say the following on the differences between the two:

Ogawa also claimed that WWE’s Giulia had shown interest in being Nanae Takahashi’s final opponent, but the clash with this weekend’s NXT and WWE PLE’s put a stop to it; however, it was comments about his own World Champion that brought the most ire, as he stated that Utami Hayashishita was finding it “difficult to bloom [in Marigold] for a second time” and that he wants to “see her show a toned body as a wrestler,” adding

The comments caused immediate condemnation, especially in the West for his undermining of his Champion and his targeting of her body conditioning. Kenny Omega, who has had made previous comments on his gaming Twitch stream in regards of his feelings towards Ogawa and his conduct said the following;

© Marigold

Marigold have announced their big event for the 2nd half of 2025 during their 1st Anniversary show, with “Grand Destiny 2025” scheduled for the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo on October 28th. The show will be available globally on PPV.

Natsumi Showzuki, Nao Ishikawa, and Gigaton are all currently absent with injuries, with no return date available at current.

© Marvelous Pro Wrestling

Japanese Indies

Marvelous Pro Wrestling

Entering the 10th year Marvelous in Shinkiba
20/05/2025
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan
Watch On Zaiko (maybe Wrestle Universe if it gets uploaded there later!)

Marvelous, helmed by former Crush Gal and All Japan Women’s Pro Wrestling legend Chigusa Nagayo, is on an upswing following their Wrestlemania Weekend show in Las Vegas. They’ve gained renewed interest within the community for the quality of their show and in particular their rookies Senka Akatsuki and Sora Ayame. Marvelous suffered from a lack of accessibility, with a couple of shows a month costing around $25 each on Zaiko. Last week, thankfully for my wallet, Wrestle Universe announced that Marvelous would now be streaming on their platform. Wrestle Universe is one of the best-value wrestling subscriptions around right now, with access to major Japanese promotions such as NOAH, DDT, TJPW, Sendai Girls, Marigold and now Marvelous, all for ¥1298/month (around £7 or $9). This recap of the latest show should get you up to speed on the latest storylines if you want to jump into Marvelous on Wrestle Universe.

Marvelous kicked off the road to their annual August Korakuen Hall show, which is held around the date of Nagayo’s debut each year (8th August). The show started off with a promo from Mio Momono, the best wrestler you may have never heard of and the top star of Marvelous (alongside ace Takumi Iroha). Momono picked up a serious injury in February in a tag team bout against Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase (Red Energy) in Sendai Girls and has been rehabbing ever since. Momono was aiming to return on this show and face Nanae Takahashi before retirement but unfortunately did not recover in time, but her return is imminent.

Itsuki Aoki defeats Amira (9:55)

First, we saw US independent wrestler Amira taking on Itsuki Aoki. Amira was picked up by Marvelous after doing tryouts in San Francisco in March. Following the tryouts, Amira travelled to Japan and recently competed to become the AAAW Tag Team Championship #1 Contenders alongside Sendai Girls’ champion Chihiro Hashimoto. The 1 day tournament at Korakuen Hall on 5th May resulted in a loss for Amira & Hashimoto to the star-studded team of Sareee & Takumi Iroha.

Marvelous and OZ Academy regular Aoki has recently found herself teaming up with Suzu Suzuki and freelancer Rina Yamashita to create a new unit within Stardom, “Mi Vida Loca”, which looks set to be a vehicle to push Suzuki to be a main player in Stardom following key departures. This match was all about Aoki introducing Amira to Marvelous’ hard-hitting style, with strong forearms and lariats. Aoki took the win with a rebound German suplex into a lariat. Welcome to Marvelous, Amira!

Titus Alexander defeats Robert Martyr and Ryan Clancy (11:39)

Following the theme of US independent wrestlers competing in Marvelous following their San Francisco tryouts, the next match was a three-way match between tryout winner Ryan Clancy, Robert Martyr and the returning Titus Alexander. All 3 competed in a tag team preview match at the 5th May show alongside Marvelous’ only man on the roster, Leo Isaka. If you’re asking how that works, they just bring in freelancers to give Isaka a match every other show or so. All 3 Americans are aged 26 or younger, so there is room for all 3 to continue to improve. In particular, Alexander is a US independent standout teaming up regularly with Starboy Charlie as the appropriately named “Crush Boys” (inspired by Nagayo’s Crush Gals). Alexander has already wrestled a few times in Marvelous over the past year. Nagayo was not shy to point out her affection for Alexander, as she shouted enthusiastically on commentary that he is her “sweet boy”. You can guess who’s winning just by Nagayo’s reactions on commentary. This match was pretty much exactly what you’d expect if you saw them booked for a West Coast Pro Wrestling show, with some fighting spirit spots mixed in, which is not a bad thing. Alexander picked up the win with his finisher Big Ugly (basically a Chaos Theory, which always looks great).

Magenta (Maria & Riko Kawahata) defeat Johnnie Robbie & Sadie Gibbs (9:55)

Johnnie Robbie, the West Coast Pro Women’s champion, teamed up with UK independent wrestler Sadie Gibbs. You may (or may not) remember Gibbs having a few matches in AEW in 2019 before retiring for a few years. She’s recently staged a comeback and has been working in UK promotion Pro-Wrestling: EVE and had sporadic matches in Japan (including Marvelous) trying to rebuild her career. Gibbs also competed in the aforementioned #1 Contenders tournament teaming up with Johnnie Robbie and lost to the makeshift team of Ai Houzan & VENY (hastily put together due to Chikayo Nagashima’s unfortunate eye-injury).

© Marvelous Pro Wrestling

Maria & Riko Kawahata, who make up the acclaimed team of Magenta, turned heel on the 5th May show and are now sporting a goth, shaved eyebrows look. To my utter dismay, they also have new theme music. Their previous music and pre-match dance being stuck in my head is one of the many reasons I started watching Marvelous (the song is “Mr.” by KARA, you’re welcome). Magenta are great workers, and with Kawahata often being booked on the independents as her other Great Sakuya gimmick, Marvelous was the sanctuary where she could show off what she could really do. We will see where this side of Magenta goes, but during the inter-promotional rivalry between Marvelous and Rossy Ogawa’s Marigold promotion, they have already captured the Twin Star Championships from Nanae Tanahashi & Marigold super rookie Seri Yamaoka (see the Marigold PPV recap for more background on that rivalry).

Johnnie Robbie looked great in her second match in Japan and kept up well with Magenta. Gibbs, as usual, had some good athletic spots, including an amazing dive to the outside, but her striking could use some work as it stands out, especially in a promotion like Marvelous. Maria picked up the win by pinning Gibbs using the ropes. As this was Magenta’s second match as Evil Magenta (not their official name), you can tell they are still figuring things out working as heels. The Shinkiba crowd were polite as always, but never seemed quite fully into it. A slightly underwhelming match compared to what you expect from Magenta.

Ai Houzan & Nanae Takahashi defeat Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame (19:50)

The next tag match was an exciting one for many reasons. It was Nanae Takahashi’s penultimate match before her retirement at the Marigold pay-per-view on 24th May. This match continues the Marigold vs. Marvelous rivalry, but more importantly, it is the second and last time we will see a full PASSION!~ match between Takahashi and super rookie Senka Akatsuki. Akatsuki previously met Takahashi in a tag match at Korakuen Hall in Marigold on 30 March, which was an incredible match with tons of intensity. If you’re someone who needs to see something to understand it, then go and watch that match to understand what Akatsuki is all about. You’ll also get to see the start of what will surely be a long career rivalry between Marigold’s Seri Yamaoka and Akatsuki.

© Marvelous Pro Wrestling

Akatsuki and her fellow rookie Sora Ayame are the same age and debuted in Marvelous at roughly the same time, at the backend of 2024. They have been making waves among joshi fans as they are a throwback to the era of the Crush Gals, sporting the red and blue attire of Nagayo and Lioness Asuka respectively. Akatsuki recently had a match in Las Vegas against Aja Kong that had people raving. It was just under 5 minutes long, but during a spot where Akatsuki was struggling to escape Aja Kong’s shoot pin attempts, the crowd erupted and went absolutely crazy. Akatsuki has an innate ability to connect with the crowd unlike any other rookie you’ve seen in a long time, being one of the most over rookies anywhere in the world. She is known for her fiery attitude. As an example, one of her gimmicks is that she will always be wearing her ring gear underneath her clothes during promos and press conferences, ready to fight at any given moment. Her tweets also read as someone who just wants to be in a ring fighting people all day every day.

Akatsuki has traded singles wins with Ayame, with the most recent singles match between them resulting in a win for Akatsuki at Unagi Sayaka’s produce show at Ryogoku Kokugikan on 26 April. They competed together in a #1 Contender tournament on 5th May, beating Magenta in a huge upset to a giant crowd pop. That moment is now available to watch on Wrestle Universe and is the motivation behind Magenta’s new characters.

They’ve decided to continue to team together to take on the common enemy, Takahashi, together. Ayame has shown a decent ability to sell, but not so much offence so far, which is normal at this stage of a rookie’s development. Ai Houzan hails from the Marvelous rookie class prior to Akatsuki and Ayame. Houzan & VENY lost to Sareee & Takumi Iroha in the finals of the #1 Contenders tournament on 5th May. With all of that pre-amble out of the way, let’s get into the match!

You know what you are getting if you tune into Marvelous, and it’s a lot of the legend Nagayo being excited and yelling at commentary like a superfan for all her wrestlers. You normally don’t want to watch Marvelous shows at 100% volume. During the entrances for the match, Nagayo yelled “PASSION!~” into the microphone at least 200 times before getting out of breath. What more could you want to kick off this tag match?

The rookies were fighting over who would start the match before deciding “screw it” and both ran at Takahashi giving her dropkicks, which perfectly reflects their fiery intensity. Takahashi held on, before chopping both, running the ropes and being pulled out by Mio Momono of all people. It looks like Momono got what she wanted in the end – a showdown with Takahashi before her retirement. The “injured” Momono and Takahashi traded chops at ringside which really got the crowd going. Momono threw 2 chairs in the ring and told Takahashi to sit down opposite her, a mandatory spot in a Takahashi PASSION!~ match. Momono decided she had had enough of the slaps and ran the ropes, booting Takahashi in the face which ended Momono’s involvement. Takahashi proceeded to beat down Ayame and picked up the win by delivering a backdrop suplex and a frog splash on Ayame. This match was excellent. Takahashi’s retirement run has not had much exposure in Western wrestling media, and alongside the 2025 retirements of Meiko Satomura and Tam Nakano, in terms of match quality, Takahashi’s retirement run is one of the better ones in recent years.

Akatsuki, in typical fashion and one of the reasons she is so over, continued the fight after the bell, attempting multiple shoot pin attempts on Takahashi as her music played. Ayame decided to jump in and help Akatsuki pin Takahashi down. While completely in Akatsuki’s character, it was a cute moment as Takahashi laughed, clearly enjoying the two rookies pinning her down after the match. A sign of respect was shown as they shook hands and Takahashi left to prepare for her final match against Miku Aono on 24th May. You can read our recap on Takahashi’s heart-warming retirement match in this edition of the newsletter.

Nagayo announced 2 rookies, who came into the ring and said a few introductory words.

Sareee & Takumi Iroha defeat Ryo Mizunami & Sonoko Kato (c) (20:14) for the AAAW Tag Team Championship

Next up, the main event: Sareee & Takumi Iroha challenged for the AAAW Tag Team Championship against OZ Academy’s Ryo Mizunami and Sonoko Kato (H2D). The wrestlers here should not need much of an introduction. Sareee is currently the best women’s wrestler in the world and came #6 in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter’s overall Outstanding Wrestler 2025 award, competing against the likes of Ospreay, Takeshita and Zack Sabre Jr. Takumi Iroha is the ace of Marvelous and their head trainer, who has held their singles titles since last August. H2D are a tag team consisting of two wrestlers who debuted in GAEA Japan, Nagayo’s previous promotion which closed down in 2005. Kato is due to retire at Korakuen Hall on 23 November.

The story of this match was to tease tension between Sareee and Iroha. During the match there was a spot where Sareee accidentally kicked Iroha in the face. That was the only time it was played up, so it could be nothing, but a seed was planted for the future. Towards the end of the match, Sareee ran in to give Mizunami a Crucifix Bomb before Iroha delivered the Running Three for the win (the move being a Running Thunder Fire Powerbomb inherited from Nagayo). This was a great match, but nothing must-see and about the bare minimum you expect from these four great wrestlers.

© Marvelous Pro Wrestling

That makes the ace Iroha a double champion (there are only two Marvelous titles), and more interestingly: Sareee is now a champion in Marvelous. While we cannot exactly know the internal workings of Japanese promotions, it is clear that a) Stardom and Marigold are not on the same page and b) Marvelous have been collaborating with Marigold recently. Marvelous have also not sent workers to Stardom in quite some time, and vice versa. So, it seems the exception to working relationships between these promotions is that Sareee gets to do what she wants. When Sareee was Marigold World Champion, she tagged with (at the time) Stardom’s IWGP Women’s Champion Mayu Iwatani, and now she is a Marvelous champion while feuding with Stardom’s (new) IWGP Women’s Champion, Syuri. If there’s anyone that should get to do what they want and be above Japanese wrestling politics, it’s Sareee.

After the match, Magenta interrupted Sareee & Iroha’s promo and proposed that they are the next challengers. As they were squaring up, Akatsuki & Ayame ran into the ring, to the crowd’s delight, and Akatsuki took the microphone. Akatsuki spoke confidently while Ayame sheepishly looked Sareee up and down. As Kawahata began talking, Ayame ran up to her and grabbed the mic to seemingly insult Kawahata, making everyone in the ring (and the crowd) burst out laughing and cheer, as they thought that Ayame did not have that in her, as she has been the more reserved rookie of the two. Iroha calmed things down. Magenta left the ring, and Akatsuki removed her top layers to reveal she was wearing her ring gear and ready to fight Sareee & Iroha right now, which got a big pop. Akatsuki took it even further and took off Ayame’s top layers to reveal that Ayame was also in her ring gear! The rookie duo backed out of the ring after their challenge had been made official. If you haven’t already, put Akatsuki on your radar. Professional wrestling is all about connecting with the crowd and Akatsuki knows how to do that already, getting over through her personality and intensity.

That capped off a fun post-Korakuen Hall show at Shin-Kiba 1st RING, on the road to the next Korakuen Hall show in August. It was a weaker show than usual in terms of in-ring for a promotion known for its match quality, but still there was no bad match on the show. They set up some future tag team matches, and after some miscommunications during the match, they have an in-built storyline between Sareee & Iroha if they wanted a singles match for the August Korakuen Hall show. With the super rookies developing, new rookies on the horizon, Sareee’s increased involvement in Marvelous, Mio Momono’s return from injury and Marvelous’ move to Wrestle Universe, it is an amazing time to start watching Marvelous!

The next Marvelous shows are a double header in Sapporo, Hokkaido on the 31st May and 1st June, leading into First Marvelous Impact on 10th June at Shin-Kiba 1st RING. As of writing, none of these shows are on the Wrestle Universe schedule. Wrestle Universe did announce that Marvelous shows would be released as VOD rather than live, but it’s not clear which shows will be uploaded. Shows on May 5th and April 10th have been made available on the service.

Full Results

Singles Match
Itsuki Aoki defeats Amira (9:55)

Three Way Match
Titus Alexander defeats Robert Martyr and Ryan Clancy (11:39)

Tag Team Match
Magenta (Maria & Riko Kawahata) defeat Johnnie Robbie & Sadie Gibbs (9:55)

Tag Team Match
Ai Houzan & Nanae Takahashi defeat Senka Akatsuki & Sora Ayame (19:50)

AAAW Tag Team Title Match
Sareee & Takumi Iroha defeat Ryo Mizunami & Sonoko Kato (c) (20:14) – TITLE CHANGE !!!

© Triller.tv

Hana Kimura Memorial Show “Hanabi” 2025

Date: 23.05.2025
Location: Tokyo, Japan
Arena: Korakuen Hall
Attendance: 545
watch on TrillerTV

It’s been 5 years since the tragic passing of the exceptional talent and star in the making Hana Kimura. The daughter of retired wrestler Kyoko Kimura was not only the top prospect in wrestling, but a beloved member of her community and a brightly shining star in not only the Stardom locker room, but for any company she was able to enrich in her career. She lost the battle to the grueling consequences of toxic fandom and cyberbullying. The annual memorial show has since been striving to raise awareness about some of the most glaring issues in our society, as well as to keep the memory of Hana alive in all our hearts – not the memories of her tragic death that was so unfortunately public (and those who witnessed it may never forget anyway), but the memories of the happy times we were able to share with Hana while she was still with us, and the memories of her beautiful and contagious smile.

The show is booked not for match of the year candidates or star ratings, but to remind us of the person Hana became in her journey through her life that was so infinitely cut short. So we get matches between some of her best friends and tag team partners, and her most infamous opponents. We get matches that shall remind us of some of her favourite activities, like the athletics day in her high school gym. We get to see her different outfits and gimmicks on display as wrestlers dress up in her likeness and we get fun comedy matches between some of the greatest legends of the sport, all accompanied by beautiful little video snippets with footage of Hana and Kyoko relevant to each match.

© Triller.tv

That being said, the wrestling is not at all forgotten, as some of the most talented wrestlers in the world of joshi are measuring up on the business end of the card. We had the teams of Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase, DASH Chisako & Hiroyo Matsumoto and Natsupoi & Sareee go to a time limit draw in a great showcase threeway tag match, Konami & Minoru Suzuki defeated Chihiro Hashimoto & Shotaro Ashino in an expectedly hard hitting match with a lot of intergender action between Ashino and Konami, and in the main event two of Hana’s best friends in VENY and Rina battled it out. Rina is at this point only 18 years old, but surely already stronger than I could ever be. She was only 13 years old and wrestling for one year when Hana chose to draft Rina into her newly found stable “Tokyo Cyber Squad” and less than a year later Rina would lose the person who maybe believed in her the most, forever. Yet she was able to continue on with her dream only to become one of the most glowing prospects in pro wrestling today. And here she was, main eventing the show against the great VENY in an excellent bout over 18 minutes on the anniversary of maybe the darkest day in her life while I, a man twice her age, wasn’t even strong enough to not break down into tears several times while watching the event.

The show, as every year, ended on a beautiful video compilation from a vast variety of wrestlers paying tribute to Hana with just one single word. “Hanabi”.

Full Results

Singles Match
Tae Honma defeats YUNA (6:55)

Battle Royal
Death Yama-san defeats Banana Senga and Cherry and Fuminori Abe and Ippanjin Munenori Sawa and Ram Kaicho and Shuji Ishikawa and Super Delfin and Tsutomu Oosugi and Unagi Sayaka and Yuki Miyazaki and Yuko Miyamoto (17:00)

Singles Match
Aja Kong defeats Seigo Tachibana (1:21)

Singles Match
Aja Kong defeats Seigo Tachibana (0:37)

Singles Match
Aja Kong defeats Seigo Tachibana (1:37)

Three Way Match
Jaguar Yokota defeats Shin Hana Kimura (Sakura Hirota) and Menso-re Oyaji (8:23)

Three Way Tag Team Match
Red Energy (Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase) vs. Reiwa Ultima Powers (DASH Chisako & Hiroyo Matsumoto) vs. Natsupoi & Sareee – Time Limit Draw (15:00)

Tag Team Match
Konami & Minoru Suzuki defeat Chihiro Hashimoto & Shotaro Ashino (18:40)

Singles Match
VENY defeats Rina (17:48)

Pro-Wrestling Evolution

Shinkiba Tournament #34
22/05/2025
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan
Watch On Evolution Official Site

Pro-Wrestling Evolution (previously named Evolution Joshi Pro-Wrestling) is a venture headed up by AJPW legend Suwama alongside his previous tag team partner – the stiff, headbutting menace of the Japanese independent scene, Shuji Ishikawa. The promotion’s shows are short and to the point, with hard-hitting matches, and they contain a variety of both men and women freelancers. Ishikawa and Suwama lend their star power to draw, going up against top men’s freelancers, usually a combination of AJPW regulars such as Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura (the Astronauts) and Dan Tamura.

However, the promotion is built around the concept of training their young women wrestlers: Chi Chi, ZONES, Soy, Chika and Miyuna. Sunny was one of the original four before retiring and now referees the matches. Sunny was replaced by Miyuna, who was injured in a singles match with Soy in December 2024 and has now announced her retirement.

Chika is still very early in her career debuting on 29 January 2025. She has your usual big wrestler repertoire of offense such as running sentons, forearms and lariats, but does combine it with a snappy judo takedown. For a comparison point, think one half of the popular tag Team 200kg, Yuu, but obviously not as good yet.

Soy debuted at the start of 2024 and has racked up almost 100 matches already, working in every promotion she can (compare that with rookie wrestlers in the US). It’s hard to describe her offence as she is often booked to lose in preliminary matches in the promotions she appears in as a freelancer, and has 3 singles wins to her name. She does not have a great look, sporting a mullet, gum shield and dark blue boiler suit.

ZONES has a unique, great look and is a powerhouse wrestler. She has changed her look slightly in order to compete in bodybuilding but still performs the usual power moves. She’s often positioned in the main or semi-main event of this promotion, taking turns with Chi Chi.

Chi Chi is the breakout star of the promotion and is building up a strong match catalogue working with top freelance talent on independent shows as well as Sendai Girls. She was the Sendai Girls’ Junior Champion before losing to Stardom’s Aya Sakura in a series of great matches. She was building a lot of momentum in 2025 before it was derailed by an unfortunate injury at the “T-Hearts 5th Anniversary” show in a match against Ganbare Pro Wrestling’s YuuRI. She is slated to return at Suwama’s 20th Anniversary show on 1st June against another wrestler with rising stock, Miku Kanae. Chi Chi’s character is essentially Tiffany Stratton but done well. She comes out to Aqua’s Barbie Girl, has great presence and goes hard in the ring. She has a great social media game with almost as many followers as the promotion itself, and that will surely grow. Chi Chi is quickly becoming a darling of the joshi scene.

At the 22nd May show, Suwama unveiled the new belt for their first ever Evolution Strong Women’s Champion who will be crowned after a tournament at their Shinkaba #35 show on 19th June. (Spoiler: Chi Chi is going to win.) The tournament contains the aforementioned 4 wrestlers and some freelancers. The brackets are Momoka Hanazono vs. Soy and Chi Chi vs. Sumire Natsu in Bracket A; Chika vs. Chanyota and ZONES vs. Aki Shizuku in Bracket B. It is setting up the obvious Chi Chi vs. ZONES final, which should be great. Chanyota vs. ZONES in the semi-finals could be a standout match.

Chika, as usual, wrestled in the first match on the show in a losing bout with veteran Yuna Manase in 7:37. The match was fine; Chika is starting to throw in some suplexes into her repertoire. Next, there was the familiar pairing of Dan Tamura, Shuji Ishikawa and Takuya Nomura, this time in a fun, hard-hitting three way. Ishikawa picked up the win with a Lou Thesz Press on Tamura in 11:44.

Soy and the freelancing comedy act Momoka Hanazono took on Yuka Satsuki and one half of SEAdLINNNG’s Beyond The Sea Tag Team Champions, Ayame Sasamura, as they both wrestle regularly in small independent promotion 2AW. Sasamura is one of those great, charismatic wrestlers that has a low profile due to where she wrestles. Soy picked up a rare win in 15:13 by tapping out Satsuki, which received a good crowd reaction.

Suwama faced BURST Pro Wrestling’s Tora Iwasaki. Iwasaki used to wrestle in ZERO1 and was on track to be their new ace before deciding to start his own promotion. He’s still only 26. This was a good match. Suwama won with two backdrop suplexes in a row in 11:38.

ZONES went up against Sendai Girls’ Mika Iwata in a good main event. The match started off with louder chants for the outsider “Iwata” which riled ZONES up. There was little heat throughout the middle portion of the match, although some of ZONES’ lariats got a good reaction. Iwata won by transitioning a cross armbreaker into a creative pin in 13:14. This match served us with some good reminders. Firstly, that ZONES is very much still a work in progress, and secondly, that this is Chi Chi’s promotion.

Overall, this was a decent show, although they have had better, in particular the hard hitters Tamura, Ishikawa and Nomura took it easy on this show. Coming up, Pro-Wrestling Evolution has Suwama’s 20th Anniversary in his hometown of Fujisawa, Kanagawa on 1st June with Chi Chi’s big return. Pro-Wrestling Evolution is a fun promotion to follow if you like short once-a-month shows (normally under 2 hours) with hard hitting action and enjoy watching the growth of green talent against top freelancers. It is a cheap service (¥500, $3.50/month) and I believe they have provided full value with the effort the wrestlers give. Also, Chi Chi justifies the subscription cost by herself.

Big Japan Pro-Wrestling

Ikki Tousen ~Strong Climb~ 2025
29/05/2025
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo, Japan
Watch On BJW Core / Youtube

BJW held a show at Korakuen Hall on 29th May during their Ikkitousen tournament. In the first match, the Astronauts (Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura) took on Mari Hana and 23 year old Polish wrestler Jacob Crane. Crane has been performing in BJW since March 2024. In a fun opener with stiff strikes, Nomura tapped out Hana in 8:21 with a Fujiwara armbar.

There was an injury to Daisuke Sekimoto in the 3rd match on the card. Andy Wu went for a tornado DDT off the turnbuckle. The move did not look botched and nothing looked out of the ordinary, until Yuko Miyamoto and Wu tried to get Sekimoto up but he couldn’t get to his feet and collapsed. The referee checked in on Sekimoto and called for the bell to end the match, throwing up the X. Over the next few minutes, wrestlers came from the back to help him onto a stretcher. Five minutes after the move happened, Sekimoto was already stretchered out to receive emergency attention. They continued the show. President Eiji Tosaka gave an update later in the ring that Sekimoto’s limbs were moving and he was conscious. The BJW Official Twitter account released a statement after the show that Sekimoto was examined and the CT and MRI scans showed no abnormalities and no suspicion of damage to the spinal cord. They also announced that he had returned home. Sekimoto is one of BJW’s most popular, successful wrestlers and is a 4-time BJW World Strong Heavyweight champion and 13-time BJW Tag Team champion.

Following that injury, there was a Strong division tag match with BJW World Strong Heavyweight champion Daichi Hashimoto & Hideyoshi Kamitani versus Koshiro Asakura & Yuya Aoki. These four tried their best to get the crowd back into it and succeeded in getting the show back on the road. Asakura was the star of the show here, and had a great sequence hitting back to back spears and putting Hashimoto in an Argentine Backbreaker. Hashimoto escaped and applied an STF to Asakura, tapping him out in 11:13.

In the first Ikkitousen match of the night, British wrestler Leyton Buzzard (1-0) faced Yasufumi Nakanoue (2-0). This match was good with stiff lariats. Buzzard won with the Firebird Splash in 10:39 to move to 2-0, level with Nakanoue. The crowd were into this one and popped for the result.

In the second Ikkitousen match, Kazumasa Yoshida (0-2) took on So Daimonji (1-0). The small but lively crowd were into this match, which started with loud chants for Daimonji. There were a lot of good sequences in this match, including teasing Yoshida passing out to a rear-naked choke. Yoshida fought back and won with a Tombstone Piledriver in 13:30, with another great crowd reaction.

Full Standings of Ikkitousen

Tenryu Project

Live For Today Vol.2
21/05/2025
Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Tokyo, Japan
Watch On Zaiko

On 21st May, Tenryu Project put on their “Live For Today Vol.2” show at Shin-Kiba 1st RING in Tokyo. The hard cam was better placed on this show and you could actually see the wrestlers in the ring.

For those on “Senka Watch”, Sendai Girls veteran and Hardcore Queen DASH Chisako took on Marvelous’ super rookie Senka Akatsuki. The story of this match was Chisako beating up Akatsuki mercilessly. Out of the gate, Chisako was throwing Akatsuki from corner to corner. Akatsuki had a brief comeback attempting her signature shoot pins but to no success. Chisako hit the double foot stomp from the 2nd rope but Akatsuki kicked out. Chisako hit another double foot stomp, this time from the top rope, to get the win. This match was decent, but wasn’t structured to showcase Akatsuki.

Sendai Girls

24/05/2025
Sendai PIT
Watch On Wrestle Universe

Meiko Satomura’s promotion, Sendai Girls, returned to the Sendai PIT for the first time following Meiko Satomura’s retirement show on 29th April at Korakuen Hall. The show featured several of the freelancers that are currently touring with Marvelous.

West Coast Pro Women’s Champion Johnnie Robbie teamed with YUNA in a loss to Yura Suzuki and WAVE’s Honoka. Honoka picked up the win with a bridging O’Connor roll on YUNA in 7:25. Ryo Mizunami beat one half of the Sendai Girls Tag Team Champions, Miyuki Takase, with Hot Limit in 10:29. The other half of the Tag Team Champions, Mika Iwata pinned Manami in 11:01. Amira & Sadie Gibbs, currently on tour with Marvelous, faced Team 200kg (Sendai Girls World Champion Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu). Amira teamed with Hashimoto on Marvelous’ 5th May Korakuen Hall show in their Tag Team Tournament in a losing effort. This was a good match. Hashimoto pinned Amira with a powerbomb in 12:22. In the main event, the colourful team of freelancer Unagi Sayaka and Yurika Oka took on former three-time Tag Team Champions DASH Chisako & Hiroyo Matsumoto. Chisako pinned Oka with one of the best frog splashes currently around in 16:48.

The current Tag Team Champions, Red Energy (Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase) came out after the main event and challenged Sayaka & Oka to prove themselves in a Tag Team Championship match on 8th June.

Sendai Girls’ next shows are at Azalea Taisho Hall in Osaka on 7th June (VOD release on 8th June) and Shinjuku FACE on 8th June (scheduled to be broadcast live). The full card for 7th June has been announced. YUNA versus Evolution’s ZONES, former Sendai Girls Junior Champion, Chi Chi, six days after her upcoming return in Evolution on 1st June, faces Hiroyo Matsumoto, Yurika Oka versus Yura Suzuki, Team 200kg versus Manami & Sadie Gibbs, and in the main event, DASH Chisako and Ryo Mizunami take on Iwata & Takase. The 8th June show will also include: YUNA & Yura Suzuki taking on Manami & Ryo Mizunami, Shin Sakura Hirota, Hiroyo Matsumoto and Zones in a three-way match, Chi Chi going up against Chisako, and Irish wrestler Debbie Keitel teaming up with Sadie Gibbs to face Team 200kg. Keitel is a Pro-Wrestling: EVE regular but has been working in Japan with Diana since January.

Sendai Girls’ next big show will be held at Xebio Arena in Sendai on 24th August.

Oz Academy

The full card for the 25th May show at 176BOX in Osaka has been announced. Freelancer Unagi Sayaka continues her regular OZ Academy appearances wrestling in a three way with Ram Kaichow and Pro Wrestling WAVE’s Honoka. Kaori Yoneyama and Tsubasa Kuragaki team up to take on H2D (Ryu Mizunami and Sonoko Kato), looking to capitalise on a vulnerable H2D losing their AAAW Tag Team Championships on the 20th May Marvelous show to Sareee & Takumi Iroha. Sho faces Itsuki Aoki, fresh off of Aoki’s Korakuen Hall appearance in Stardom. Momoka Hanazono is thrown into the deep end in singles action against OZ Academy’s namesake, Mayumi Ozaki herself. In the main event, Openweight Champion Saori Anou, one half of the Tag Team Champions, Kohaku, and AKINO go face to face with freelancer Rina Yamashita, OZ Academy regular Hiroyo Matsumoto, and Pro-Wrestling Evolution’s rising star ZONES.

SEAdLINNNG

SEAdLINNNG continue their Shin-Kiba Series 2025 with Vol. 3 at Shin-Kiba 1st RING on 30th May. SEAdLINNNG has the same accessibility issue that Marvelous had (until Wrestle Universe’s announcement that Marvelous will be streamed there). The shows, normally around once or twice a month, are ¥4000 (£21 or $28) each. They’ve also had serious production issues recently with desynced video and audio during the live playback. The product is good, and it is the #1 place to see freelance star VENY regularly, but they have some work to do to make their product more accessible.

On the 1st May show at Korakuen Hall, Natsu Sumire teamed up with Rina Yamashita and faced Hiroyo Matsumoto and Mio Shirai and Sumire pinned Shirai. Following that, Sumire will take on Shirai in singles action at Vol. 3.

Fresh off the back of an outstanding trios match at Korakuen Hall between Las Fresa de Egoistas (Makoto, Nagisa Nozaki & VENY) and Unagi Sayaka, Miku Kanae & Honori Hana, VENY will defend her Beyond The Sea Championship against Hana. Hana, 25, recently returned from a three-year break caused by health reasons. During the match, Hana fought fire with fire, giving VENY headbutts and forearms and continued to fire up after VENY beat her down and bullied her. As VENY was leaving, Hana grabbed the mic and challenged VENY for the title. VENY replied that she did not think Hana was worth it, but the headbutts did do a little damage and she saw a glimpse of SEAdLINNNG’s future in Hana, so she accepted the challenge in order to truly test Hana. It will likely be a full-on beatdown to put Hana over as a babyface.

SEAdLINNNG have announced that they will be bringing in Danish wrestler Madison Marley, who has only wrestled matches in Europe so far. Marley debuted in May 2022 and is 17 years old. Marley will team up with VENY’s faction, Las Fresa de Egoistas members, Makoto and Nagisa Nozaki against Hiroyo Matsumoto and the Beyond The Sea Tag Team Champions Ayame Sasamura and Itsuki Aoki.

Other matches announced are rookie Miria Koga versus Stardom’s Konami, SEAdLINNNG’s resident luchadores Ka Kedita (Kakeru Sekiguchi) and La Pidita (Kaho Kobayashi) go up against Miku Kanae and Ganbare Pro’s YuuRI.

ChocoPro

Emi Sakura’s promotion ChocoPro is hosting Mei Suruga’s 7th Anniversary show, “The Apple Film”, at Shinjuku FACE on 29th May. Suruga defends her Super Asia Title against Stardom’s High Speed Champion Mei Seira in a highly anticipated match up. Seira recently found herself defeated in a challenge for the CMLL Japan Women’s Championship, but that has not reduced her thirst for further gold. Miya Yotsuba and Pro-Wrestling Evolution’s Soy have been picking up wins and will challenge Bellflowers (Makoto & Sayaka) for the Asia Dream Tag Team Championship.

The next chapter of Sareee-ISM will take place on July 14th from Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo. Chapter 8 will see Sareee team with Takumi Iroha in the main event against Natsuko Tora and Saya Kamitani. This will be the first time Sareee and the current World of Stardom Champion have wrestled each other.

Former New Japan Wrestler, now freelancer, BUSHI underwent surgery for vocal cord polyps on May 8th. His first appearance outside of his former company will be on June 22nd, when he and Tetsuya Naito hold a talk show event in Ariake, Tokyo, on the day of Naito’s birthday.

© Melbourne City Wrestling

Other News from Asia and Oceania

MELBOURNE CITY WRESTLING
HIGH STAKES
17/05/25
Thornbury Theatre, Melbourne, Australia
Watch On: Youtube

Review by Corey Young

On a chilly evening in the inner-suburbs of Melbourne at the Thornbury Theatre, Melbourne City Wrestling held their annual High Stakes event. MCW runs between 6-8 shows per year, and “High Stakes” is typically somewhat of a set-up show between two tentpole events, taking place between the “Anniversary Show” and “Ballroom Brawl” – MCW’s Royal Rumble equivalent. The theme revolves around a big lottery wheel of stipulations rolled out before the matches, adding last-minute rules or stakes for the combatants moving forward. A time-tested gimmick but one that’s always fun owing to the performers’ over-the-top reactions to sudden Bad News.

MCW is Victoria’s pre-eminent indie going on many years now. Throughout 2017-2020 they enjoyed working relationships with NJPW and Progress which saw the likes of Okada, Naito, Will Ospreay and Toni Storm having featured bouts, with Will appearing several times and declaring his love and hope for the Australian indie scene. It wasn’t a misplaced hope, as there was a genuine buzz at the shows and they were drawing in a diverse crowd who wouldn’t generally watch weekly TV wrestling but adored seeing it live. From my own experience, I enjoyed watching my group of 3 friends attending gradually expand to upwards of 20, as every person who came to a show left giddily exclaiming how they couldn’t wait for the next.

While the days of talent from larger outside promotions are largely gone (save a title reign from Buddy Matthews in 2023/24, returning to the promotion where he cut his teeth), MCW has retained the crowd. Their regular events at the Thornbury Theatre are either sell-outs or close enough to bringing 6-700 through the doors each outing.

The show opened with your traditional hype video and commentators running through the matches. Before we can get started with the in-ring action, however, “The Clydesdale” Clyde Cain came out to engage in some bogan betting humour which is VERY Australian. He declared himself the Official Bookie for the event, complete with a fake app advertisement (DaleBet). He offered a very impressive multi to the audience, tipping all members of heel faction, The Icon$, to lose by various means. He was aghast at some crowd heckling regarding the odds, and he screamed “It’s a sure thing!” He is questioned by the ring announcer, who revealed The Clydesdale has apparently financed this venture with his own money (“leveraged everything”), which seemed like a terrible idea but I’m not a gambler so who knows? It might be fine.

The opening match, semi-finals for No. 1 Contendership to the Tag Team Championships had a late change with one of the teams unavailable due to medical concerns. Thankfully, The Clydesdale had a “bulbous bag” of names for the ring announcer, Lindsay Howarth (who is awesome at his job) to draw from to find new competitors. First up was Anth Cava, which the crowd appreciated. Drawing the next name, the ring announcer remarked that the bag felt less cluttered than it was previously. The Clydesdale feigned confusion and then celebrated as, shockingly, his name was drawn as Cava’s tag team partner. 

© Melbourne City Wrestling

ANTH CAVA & THE CLYDESDALE vs. THE PHYSICALS

Cava was clearly not enamoured with the idea of teaming alongside The Clydesdale. The Physicals (Jimmy Castle and Johnny Jets) looked like they’d skipped school to appear at the event. Young, babyfaced (despite the “I can buy beer now” moustache on one) and weedy, they came out to “Let’s Get Physical” which got both myself and the crowd immediately on-side. Being introduced from “Crossbody Crescent, by way of Bodyslam Boulevard” was a lovely touch.

The match itself was short and did its job. The Physicals used their speed and exuberance to try and gain an advantage, but Anth and “The Clyde” were much larger and more experienced opponents who made short work of it, despite moments of miscommunication. The Physicals did well in their first proper outing in MCW (having only appeared in a pre-show match previously) and the crowd were responsive.

Clydesdale and Anth Cava advanced to the finals of the Tag Team Tournament where they would face former MCW World Champion, Mitch Waterman, and his tag partner (who would wrestle later) Ryan Rapid. The winners would go on to face Parea, a very popular team in MCW who had taken a brief sojourn to Florida to wrestle for Coastal Championship Wrestling.

LUCAS FANTASIA vs. LUCKY O’LEARY

I saw Lucas Fantasia’s debut in MCW last year and he was immediately a fan-favourite. Very small and flamboyant (height listed at “5 foot savage”, declared the “Mayor Of Twink Town”), he is someone the Thornbury crowd would get behind.

© Melbourne City Wrestling

Lucky O’Leary is an up-and-coming heel who is part of the Icon$ faction. When I first saw him, friends commented on his stripper attire – an observation proven largely true as he entered “What Is Love?” wearing an all-denim cowboy outfit. It’s difficult to boo this because it’s a very funny combo.

The High Stakes lottery wheel was brought out and the stipulation for the match was that the loser must become the winner’s Personal Assistant for a year. Harsh.

Lucas started off with a great dive and took a selfie with fans. He continued the initial flurry but was cut off by O’Leary. Lucky, true to his stripper persona, had a bottle of “Lucky Liquid” and I don’t know what was in it but it was apparently not good for Lucas’ phone as Lucky hosed it down in the corner, enraging Fantasia. Fantasia hit an incredibly convoluted tornado DDT for a near-fall. The Thornbury crowd was massively behind Lucas but he succumbed to a very inventive low-blow, diving off the top rope and missing O’Leary who ducked and threw a backwards boot which Fantasia landed on. O’Leary won and Lucas Fantasia is now his Personal Assistant.

Slex, the leader of The Icon$ and mainstay main-eventer of MCW, also returned from a North American trip where he wrestled with NWA and MLP. He seemed guarded while congratulating Lucky who desperately clung to Slex like a koala to a tree-branch. O’Leary retrieved his Lucky Liquid and insisted Lucas’ first job as PA be to spray him down. Lucky was unimpressed with the effort as Lucas looked depressed. First days at new jobs can be tough. Especially when you’ve been recruited by a Lottery Wheel.

EDWARD DUSK vs. ROCKY MENERO

The Wheel declared the loser of the match would not enter the Ballroom Brawl.

Rocky Menero is the General Manager of MCW and, SHOCKINGLY, turned heel to help form The Icon$. The capitalisation is sarcasm on my part due to finding the heel authority figure trope overdone and outdated but Australian wrestling is very much WWE-coded so you get these things.

Edward Dusk wrestled for the MCW World Title in a three-way at the previous show and seemingly had the match won before Rocky Menero came out and hit him with a trash can lid. Dusk emerged in MCW as a vaguely spooky heel but has gradually got the fans on-side through good in-ring showings and charisma.

This match was over before I could pick up a pen to take notes. Menero struck Dusk while wearing brass knuckles and got the pin. The pre-match referee’s check must have been loose and I can only assume that ref is facing some kind of sanction or tedious disciplinary meeting.

© Melbourne City Wrestling

In the days after the show, Rocky Menero made a challenge to Dusk for “Ballroom Brawl” – if Dusk wins, he could choose any match he wanted for a title of his choosing. If Rocky won, Dusk had to start at the bottom and do pre-show matches and face tin-can opponents because he’s clearly not ready for the primetime. This seems like a win-win gamble for Dusk – easy paydays or choose your own adventure? I query Rocky Menero’s ability to leverage power.

Tommy Knight – a former MCW tag team champion and popular power-wrestler – cut a stern promo to video. He was returning and claimed the pecking order started with him at the top. He then said he’s the best wrestler in the world which, while not true, is delivered with such conviction that his confidence must be commended.

RYAN RAPID vs. ADAM BROOKS – MCW INTERCOMMONWEALTH TITLE

The MCW Intercomnonwealth Title is the second most prestigious title in the men’s division. Adam Brooks is probably the best bell-to-bell worker in MCW, regularly putting out great matches. This is the theme of his 5th run with the belt as he aims to raise its prestige and use it to showcase great wrestling.

His opponent, Ryan Rapid, is up-and-coming in MCW but has also excelled at the in-ring aspect making this match quite anticipated for the MCW crowd.

The Wheel determined this was a Beat The Clock Challenge. If the match clock (20 minutes) ran down, the championship would be vacated. My initial response was “this is dumb” but it worked in making both challenger and champion work a frenetic pace.

After an RVD/Lynn-style opening sequence, Brooks relied on his veteran experience to combat the quickness of Rapid. It may have been a poor choice on Ryan’s part to outline his gameplan in his name.

The two have a very good back and forth encounter. With 10 minutes remaining, they hit high-gear and were busting out everything for the win. Rapid hit an awesome cutter, jumping from the ramp, over the top rope and into the ring to flatten Brooks.

The back-and-forth action continued in typical move-for-move, counter-for-counter, very good style and both men were down with three minutes remaining. Rapid went high risk and attempted a Shooting Star Press from the apron to the floor but Brooks rolled out of the way, shifted the injured Rapid into the ring and hit a Swanton for the win. The best match of the night and a promising start for Adam Brooks’ intended reign.

The Clydesdale returned for an update on his multi-bet. It was looking good so far but he revealed a side-bet made just in case – for The Physicals to lose. He was buoyant at his gambling prowess, before the ring announcer asked to see the betting slip. “Oh no, this was made was made with an actual betting agency. And you bet on The Physicals to lose – by submission.” Clyde’s team had won by pinfall and he was perturbed as the ring announcer, Lindsay Howarth, commented on the amount Clyde gambled. True to his name, Clydesdale galloped away from incoming debt collectors.

ROBBIE THORPE vs. JARVIS

Robbie Thorpe is a genuinely promising talent with a size and look that could attract US attention. He’s billed from Brimley, England, which obviously drew jeers from the crowd. He is another member of The Icon$.

Jarvis was, until recently, the most hated heel in MCW. He’s got the Dominic Mysterio/Don Callis ability to be eminently loathed and crowds delight in chanting “Fuck You Jarvis” whenever he arrives. However, after cementing his heel-status with The Icon$, he has recently left the group and is now attempting to cut them down one-by-one. His charisma has done him a great service and he’s now beloved by the Thornbury faithful.

The Lottery Wheel said the loser would enter No. 1 in the Ballroom Brawl.

This was a decent match, elevated by heat for Jarvis whom the crowd were really behind. Thorpe took control early before Jarvis rallied, hitting a very good Frogsplash Elbow. Back-and-forth near-falls drew great heat from the crowd before Jarvis reversed Thorpe’s Powerbomb finisher into a Code Red for the win.

© Melbourne City Wrestling

EUGENIE vs. AYSHA – SPECIAL GUEST REFEREE: ERIKA REID – MCW WOMEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP

Eugenie was brought into MCW by Erika Reid but promptly turned on her, leading to a series of matches. Erika skimmed a win against Eugenie the first time but their rematch later saw the powerful Eugenie dominate and claim the MCW Women’s Championship in 4 minutes.

Aysha is a promising young wrestler who carries herself with great poise and gets the crowd off-side as an antagonist. She has also had battles with Erika, culminating in a hardcore match in which Erika captured the MCW Women’s Championship.

The Women’s Division in MCW has been struggling with a lack of depth. Dominated by DELTA (now NXT’s Zaria) for several years, they have struggled to recover from that loss as DELTA was probably the biggest babyface in the promotion, let alone the division. Jessica Troy and Cherry Stephens, also highlights in the early 2020’s, haven’t been around, leaving the roster quite thin.

The match is another speed vs power contest with the added flavour of each combatant being frustrated with the umpiring. Aysha got an early pinfall attempt and questioned how long Erika took to initiate the count. Eugenie had a similar complaint not long after with commentary remarking Erika was doing some fancy flourishes for the crowd before actually counting.

Aysha and Eugenie took it back-and-forth with Aysha hitting a quick Backstabber before Eugenie returned to serve with slams. The referee tension eventually boiled over when Eugenie, pissed off at what she perceived to be a slow count, pushed Erika in the face. Erika kicked off and as the two argued, a man in a balaclava snuck into the ring and walloped Aysha. Eugenie capitalised on this by picking Aysha up for a running Samoan Drop.

Post-match, Erika reluctantly raised Eugenie’s arm. The mysterious assailant returned and attacked Erika, as Eugenie looked on non-plussed. They exited together as Erika woke up and threw a fit. Rocky Menero, GM, came out to console Erika as she was livid in the ring at what transpired. I guess he’s just a heel to men?

CAVEMAN UGG vs. RICKY SOUTH

Caveman Ugg is the most popular wrestler in MCW. One of my fondest moments in wrestling attendance was taking friends to an MCW show, unsure of how they’d receive it, and then turning at one point to see them vociferously chanting “UGG!” UGG!” “UGG!” His gimmick is he is a Caveman and that’s it and it works. He’s recently done some NJPW dates and given a good account of himself because, aside from the gimmick, he’s a big handsome athletic man with charisma. Another person I’d expect to see break beyond the Australian scene.

He won the MCW Championship at MCW “End Game” in December but…

Ricky South is the current Champion by dubious means. Another member of the Icon$ (yeah, basically every heel is in that stable), he won last year’s Ballroom Brawl and then cashed his title shot in at MCW “End Game” in December to immediately unseat Caveman Ugg. South has wrestled all across Australia winning multiple championships, most notably holding the PWA (Pro Wrestling Australia) title for 953 days.

The Wheel said One Fall Wins All which translates to: championship could change hands on pinfall, submission, DQ or count-out. South was upset as this all but ruled out his cronies from assisting.

South gave Ugg EVERYTHING in this match. Both are big men, South slightly taller but Ugg much broader. Early shoulder tackle battles gave way to Ugg taking control with huge hip-tosses. South got Ugg to the outside but ate massive chops to the chest and an Uranage to the apron.

© Melbourne City Wrestling

Ugg’s dominance was briefly halted by South reversing a powerbomb attempt on the outside to a backdrop. South rolled in and desperately wanted the count-out but the crowd erupted as Ugg got in at 9.

The match was just Ricky barely holding on, throwing a chop or hitting a power move against the grain. Ugg was otherwise pulverising him with chops and slams. Ugg hit an awesome Crucifix Bomb but South bounced up and responded immediately with his finishing Piledriver. Both men were down and couldn’t capitalise.

Big Main Event Face-Off after they rose, and South managed to obscure the ref’s vision and hit a low blow. He hit his Piledriver again but Ugg kicked out at one and the crowd went wild. Genuine excitement.

Bullshit followed as members of the Icon$ came out to cause a distraction, the ref left the ring to chase them off. Slex dove in with the belt and tried to take out Ugg but this wasn’t the Caveman’s first mammoth-hunt and he ducked. Slex KO’d South and abandoned the ring, aghast. Ugg hit his Thunder Driver for the win and the crowd erupted.

A fun showing for MCW with a big final result. Ugg is definitely the man to be champ as he gets the best reactions and everyone I personally know loves him – and anecdotal evidence is the best evidence. The next show is at a slightly larger venue – the Melbourne Pavillion – for “Ballroom Brawl” which is typically their biggest show. Who can prevail to face the Caveman?

Oceania News

NJPW TAMASHII will crown their first set of Tag Team Champions on July 4th in Auckland, New Zealand, at “Cold War”. A 4-team tournament will take place at the Mangere Arts Centre featuring Young Blood, The Ungrateful 1’s, The Pretty Boys and Sean Tohi and Toa.

Former Black and Brave Academy trainee Tarlee will challenge Indi Hartwell for the Renegade Women’s Championship at the Renegades of Wrestling’s “Indestructible” show on June 15th at the Northcott Theatre in Northcott, Victoria. Ambush will also defend their Tag Team Championships against the B*stard Bros on the show.

Edward Dusk became the 20th Australian National Champion after defeating Havok at Wrestling Rampage’s “Mayhem” show on May 24th.

Wrestle Rampage will headline “Mayhem at the Factory” on May 24th in Adelaide, Australia with a dog collar, No DQ match between Havok and Edward Dusk.

BCW Melbourne have announced their full card for the Burwood show on May 23rd with special guest, The Great Muta.

News from the rest of Asia

The build for the Setup Wrestling’s Episode 22 “The Fallen Kingdom” on May 31st is taking place across 3 promotions, as heel group Global Threat have travelled to Malaysia Pro Wrestling and will be part of Singapore Pro Wrestling’s Friday show this week, as they look to recruit a 3rd member for their team against Team Setup in order to avoid a 3 on 2 handicap match. Shivam tried to convince MPW’s Emman Azman, one of the promotion’s top babyfaces, to join the cause, telling him that “the fans were a burden to progress,” but was ultimately unsuccessful, meaning he and the Statement will try their hand again in Singapore on May 30th.

Raku will look to defend the SETUP Women’s Championship she won at Grand Princess 2025 against former Champion Matcha on the same night in Bangkok, Thailand.

The Singapore Pro Wrestling show on May 30th, entitled “Mayhem”, also sees local technical wrestler Aiden Rex take on former IWGP Heavyweight Champion Zack Sabre Jr, whilst Wolf Run Cartel will face Destroyer Dharma on the completely sold out show.

The match with the most stakes on the card will be between SPW Queen of Asia Championship holder Yuki Kamifuku and Alexis Lee. “The Lion City Hit Girl” will either be forced to retire or will capture the belt for a 2nd time. Kamifuku has defended the title in the Philippines, China and Japan but is expected to drop the belt here.

SPW South East Asia Champion Da Butcherman and tag team Jack’n’Cheese wrestled on May 18th in the Philippines whilst representing the promotion at Dexcon Dahlia.

A Wrestler You Should Know About: Chi Chi

Never Judge A Book By Its Cover, even if that book’s entrance music is Barbie Girl by Aqua.

By Chris Whitehead

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