Best Matches I’ve Watched This Week (2023-02-24)
I’m going to try out something new this week. A quick synopsis of the best stuff I’ve watched this week (2023-02-18 to 2023-02-24.) A weekly progress update, if you will.
What am I watching? Current stuff I follow, obviously. Also, each Sunday as a group on the discord we watch Joshi chronologically, this weekend it was action from 1995-03-17. On top of that, I am working on 2001 in my project of doing the top 25 lists for each year to build my overall “Greatest Wrestler Ever” list!
Plus there is a bonus, “Fan Favourite” match which was selected by someone from Discord.
Honourable Mentions
- Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs Momoe Nakanishi & Nanae Takahashi (WWWA Tag Team Championship 2/3 Falls, AJW, 2001-01-04)
- Steve Austin vs The Rock (WWF Championship Cage Match, WWF Raw, 2001-04-02)
#10
Atlantis vs Dr. Wagner, Jr.
(2/3 Falls, CMLL Super Viernes, 2001-01-19)
This started off on fire with Wagner attacking pre-match leading to the first fall. The second fall had Atlantis valiantly and ruthlessly fight back. The third fall was good as well but didn’t hit the heights of the first two. I liked the roll-up finish which probably lead to more of this feud I need to see.
Rating: 7/10
#9
The Bloody & Megumi Yabushita vs Fang Suzuki & Sumie Sakai
(Jd’, 2001-02-11)
Another good match in the feud between The Bloody and Sakai, but this one falls short of their other classics. A might fine tag match though and the chemistry between those two is unreal.
Rating: 7/10
#8
Beth Phonix & Edge vs Finn Balor & Rhea Ripley
(WWE Elimination Chamber, 2023-02-18)
One of the matches I was dreading the most coming into the show, but it turned out to be one of the best. They smartly focussed on Ripley and Phoenix and those two hoses had a battle! I loved the Bull Nakano tribute facepaint by Beth.
Edge and Balor added sparks here and there, but this was all about Phoenix and Ripley!
Rating: 7/10
#7
Aoi & Unagi Sayaka vs Maria & Riko Kawabata
(Marevlous, 2023-02-12)
Going into this Aoi and Unagi are a dream team for me, so there may be some bias, but this rocked. Good work throughout and the tag teamwork was tremendous. Maria and Kawabata put Aoi in an armbar while the partner did a brutal kick to the exposed arm. That worked towards a great and finishing sequence with some awesome nearfalls!
Rating: 7.25/10
#6
Candy Okutsu & Devil Masami vs Cutie Suzuki & Hikari Fukuoka
(JWP Jazz and Soul, 1995-03-17)
Sometimes we come across a match on our weekly Joshi chronological watching that nobody talks about and it’s awesome, this was a great example of it.
Masami was on her game having fun and destroying everyone. The rest all played their parts well making this a really exciting tag match that probably should have been rated higher if I didn’t watch it while so tired.
Rating: 7.75/10
#5
Kumiko Maekawa vs Momoe Nakanishi
(AJW, 2001-05-04)
I usually have more issues with a 30-minute draw, due to the time and the way they are built, but this one was awesome. Nakanishi is such a great babyface, who filled the match with fighting back and hope spots and nearfalls off of roll-ups. Maekawa was a badass throwing some of the most violent kicks I can recall. The interference hurt it a tad, but overall an awesome match.
Rating: 8.25/10
#4
Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki vs Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka
(GAEA Limit Break, 2001-04-08)
The greatest tag team of all time vs the greatest wrestler of all time and another great heel is a tremendous matchup that did not disappoint. They both came out with weapons look all badass, weapons they incorporated into the match. The face in peril segment on Lioness was an all-timer, as they attached a dog collar around her neck and beat her up with chairs and a vicious onslaught. Chigusa eventually made a save and they tied a noose around Ozaki’s neck and put her through a table. Glorious work!
The hot tag to Chigusa was tremendous too as she was out for revenge! Everyone was awesome and out for blood here, blood which we got! What a great brawling tag match!
Rating: 8.5/10
#3
KAIRI vs Mercedes Mone’
(IWGP Women’s Championship, NJPW Battle in the Valley, 2023-02-18)
Sasha Banks is back and she didn’t miss a beat. These are two of my absolute all-time favourites and Mercedes is attempting to do what KAIRI did last year, in returning from leaving the WWE and having a great year.
They worked really well with each other and had an awesome match that was nicely built throughout. I can’t wait to see where both go from here!
Rating: 8.5/10
#2
Roman Reigns vs Sami Zayn
(WWE Unidisputed Championship, WWE Elimination Chamber, 2023-02-18)
From the crowd to the announcers to the camera work to the in-ring work this match was absolutely perfect…. until the last few minutes. The finish was utter dog shit and illogical. The melodrama would have been okay if it didn’t lead to the finish it lead to.
What’s more frustrating is Kevin Owens sat in the back, didn’t save Zayn during the match, but waited till after to save him? They even had the perfect finish after the match, where Owens was between Zayn and Roman and stepped out of the way leading to Zayn hitting his kick. If they did that, this would easily be #1 of the week, year, and who knows how high. Very frustrating.
Rating: 9/10
Fan Favourite
Hotstuff Hernandez vs Low Ki
(ACW/IWA Mid-South Sunday Bloody Sunday, 2007-04-22)
Each week I’ll also watch a match suggested to me by the lovely discord. This week it comes from CheapPop1999, who gave me this.
I don’t like Low Ki. With that being said, I did enjoy this match.
Hernandez is such a huge beast that it added a nice element of monster vs smaller person to the story. Hernandez does a great job beating down Low Ki for the first big segment of the match, although I despised Ki’s hope spots. I’m never sure how to explain my hatred towards shoot style and the hit people so hard to make it look real style. Maybe it’s because Ki really wants you to think he’s a big tough man. Regardless the Hernandez control segment was good.
Ki’s comeback was okay, but mostly really hard kicks leading into the more back-and-forth finishing sequence. Some really good nearfalls and I dug the finish of a roll-up by Ki because Hernandez was actually way too big and tough to defeat.
Rating: Enjoyable
The #1 Best Match I watched all week!
Dynamite Kansai vs Mayumi Ozaki
(Street Fight, JWP Jazz and Soul, 1995-03-17)
This match was a wild street fight that was bloody and violent and out of control. The ring was destroyed and they used a chain like it was a dog collar match, just because they wanted to kill each other, not because of the stipulations.
This escalated so well and never lit up. The finish was kind of a surprise, but I kind of dug it. An excellent match!
Rating: 9.25/10
You can discuss this on Twitter:
Discord
We also have a lovely discord community to discuss the greatest wrestler ever project and anything else under the sun. It’s an open and welcoming group and I am very proud of it. Everyone is welcome:
Join:
We also do weekly watch-along parties with chat!
Trans Rights!
It’s a horrible time to be trans right now, so please donate to the lovely folks here, who save lives!
2020 Joshi Yearbook, Volume 2
My friend has made this amazing 11-volume set covering the 2020 Joshi scene. I will cover this set one volume at a time here.
You can look at the Volume here.
The forward from the set explains the project well:
“The intention of this Yearbook is to curate a selection of matches (and some extra material) that watching in order would recreate the experience of being a hardcore Joshi Puro fan in 2020. The matches were chosen either because of their high quality, significance, or just matches that people felt were personally important to them for any other reason.”
This will not be a full review, but more of my thoughts and reasons why you should watch it!
All photos are courtesy of the Yearbook itself.
1. Arisa Nakajima vs Yoshiko
(Beyond the Sea Title, SEAdLINNNG, January 24)
Yoshiko never connected with me, but I really love Nakajima. So, this was a struggle, but that’s a personal issue on my end. I did enjoy Nakajima watching her own match in the corner of the screen.
Rating: 6.5/10
2. Miyu Yamashita vs Natsumi Maki
(TJPW, January 25)
This two mesh really well and this was awesome. Yamashita was the ace and Natsupoi fought from underneath until she was eventually overwhelmed. Perfect pro-wrestling.
The backstage promo by Yamashita completely buries Natsupoi.
Rating: 7.75/10
3. Kagetsu & Mayu Iwatani vs Jungle Kyona & Momo Watanabe
(Stardom, January 26)
This is the last big match for Kagetsu before his retirement and him teaming with Mayu is a lot of fun with matching outfits, masks, and blended music. This started off as a fun party tribute for Kagetsu but turned into a damn great tag match.
A fun celebration for Kagetsu as he essentially retires.
Rating: 8/10
4. Chigusa Nagayo teaches Mayu Iwatani the “Running Three”
(Stardom, February 6)
This is perfect and adorable. Fully subtitled, like everything on these sets. I loved it!
Rating: 8.5/10
5. Arisa Hoshiki vs Bea Priestley
(Wonder of Stardom, Stardom, February 8)
The way people talk about Magnum TA is the way they need to start talking about Hoshiki. What a wonder!
I’m not as big into Priestley, but she is a good foil for Hoshiki in terms of her power and taking the big kicks. Bea’s knees were on point too.
Rating: 7/10
6. Takuma Iroha vs Mayu Iwatani
(Stardom, February 8)
Chigusa’s student who knows the Running Three well against Mayu who just learned it! Also two of the best in the world! They really delivered! It’s exactly what you wanted in a match between these two and this story.
Rating: 8.5/10
7. Hikari Noa & Natsumi Maki vs. Mirai Maiumi & Mizuki
(TJPW, February 11)
It was kind of wild to see Mirai and Natsupoi in TJPW looking so different. It’s awesome to see how far they’ve come. This was a fun tag though with everyone getting to shine, especially Mizuki who was a lightning rod in there.
Rating: 7/10
8. Kagetsu vs Chihiro Hashimoto
(Sendai Girls, February 16)
A strong match between two hard-hitting badasses. I really bit one some great near falls. Slightly anti-climatic finish.
Rating: 7.25/10
In Conclusion
Such a fun set. The promos being subtitled make this the best way to watch 2020 Joshi. Everything is good and some things are great!
You can discuss this on Twitter:
Discord
We also have a lovely discord community to discuss the greatest wrestler ever project and anything else under the sun. It’s an open and welcoming group and I am very proud of it. Everyone is welcome:
Join:
We also do weekly watch-along parties with chat!
Trans Rights!
It’s a horrible time to be trans right now, so please donate to the lovely folks here, who save lives!
Upcoming
Volume 3!
Pro-Wrestling Super Blog 
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