The Best Matches I’ve Watched This Week (2023-03-31)
Now that 2001 is out of the way I was able to spend this week getting caught up on current wrestling and spending some time focussing on my next year of doing top 25s, 2019.
#12
Wasteland War Party vs 121000000
“Princess Tag Team Championship”
TJPW Grand Princess
March 18, 2023
An entertaining tag match with an amazing cast of characters! Max always tugs at my enby heart, but Maki Itoh was the star here. The War Party was dominant early and it told a great story of the TJPW super team overcoming the pure power of the War Party.
Rating: 7/10
#11
Aja Kong vs Yuki Arai
TJPW Grand Princess
March 18, 2023
This was a blast and hits my favourite type of match, young underdog vs dominant veteran. Arai used axe kicks to try to counteract Kong’s power and it worked, mostly. It was dramatic and another great Kong performance!
Rating: 7/10
#10
KARMA & Starlight Kid vs. MIRAI & Tomoka Inaba
“New Blood Tag Team Title Tournament Finals”
Stardom New Blood Premium
March 25, 2023
This was an excellent tag match that built up the drama and excitement as it reached its climax. SLK was on fire and seemed to be the focus of the match and she brought a lot of the High Speed elements into this match. Exactly what you want from the finals of a tournament.
Rating: 7.25/10
#9
Giulia vs Himeka
“Himeka Retirement Road”
Stardom
March 16, 2023
An emotional stop on the Himeka retirement tour as she faces her stablemate Giulia. It was a strike-heavy match and both were putting in maximum effort for a smaller show. An emotional post-match put this over the top for me.
Rating: 7.5/10
#8
Aja Kong & Kyoko Inoue vs Blizzard Yuki & Manami Toyota
Bridge of Dreams ~ Dome Spring Full Bloom
April 2, 1995
AJW represents at the Tokyo Dome with an excellent showcase match. Each had awesome moments and Kong looked especially brutal with her slams. Toyota and Kong work hard to make up for their disappointing title change a few weeks before this match.
Rating: 7.75/10
#7
Miu Watanabe vs Rika Tatsumi
“TJPW International Princess Championship”
TJPW Grand Princess
March 18, 2023
This match had a lot of elements I loved, but some I rather disliked. Watanabe has some of my favourite offences and I love the way she sells, I think she did a great job carrying this one. Tatsumi I had issues with it, I am not sure if it was the character or the too much comedy of the style, but it was rather distracting. The story of working on Watanabe’s legs to prevent her big offence later made sense. How can you not enjoy a match with a Spinning Dragon Sleeper?
Rating: 7.75/10
#6
Asuka vs Becky Lynch
“WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship”
WWE Royal Rumble
January 29, 2019
I am not sure how I missed putting this match in 2019, but it’s pretty darn good. The crowd is really hot as two top stars are very even trying to put the other away. They had tremendous transitions and both were really going for the submissions. The vicious bump off the apron elevates this, along with the great finishing sequence.
Rating: 8/10
#5
Miyu Amasaki vs Nanae Takahashi
“Passion Injection Match”
Stardom Miyu Amasaki Triumphal Return
March 19, 2023
The one-year anniversary of Miyu Amasaki’s debut and she is facing the legendary Takahashi in her hometown in the gorgeous KBS Hall and it’s a great match. Takahashi beats the passion into Amasaki it looks like it could be a legendary feud brewing. Amasaki has great leg submissions and focuses on offence, she’s rather smooth for someone so young in her career and Takahashi is great as the veteran bully. Great hope spots and a great match.
Post-match, Takahashi says the referee is on the take but she overcame. They set up future matches and I am very excited about that.
Rating: 8/10
#4
Chihiro Hashimto vs Mio Momono
Marvelous
March 15, 2023
A classic power vs speed match-up that started slowly, but built up to get more and more exciting until a great finishing sequence. Momono is such a cool wrestler watching her try to evade as much of Hashimoto’s power offence as possible.
Rating: 8.25/10
#3
Bayley & Sasha Banks vs Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair
WWE Raw
September 9, 2019
The Four Horsewomen collide live in MSG in a tremendous tag team match! They felt like they were on a mission to upstage everyone and the crowd was really hot for it. My favourite moment was when Charlotte had the Figure-8 on Sasha and Bayley broke that up by rolling Becky Lynch up into it! Classic tag wrestling here!
Rating: 8.25/10
#2
KAIRI & Nanae Takahashi vs Tam Nakano & Waka Tsukiyama
Stardom New Blood Premium
March 25, 2023
After years of never getting a win in Stardom, Waka Tsukiyama has one last chance to win or she will be kicked out of Comsic Angels and she’s facing two legends. It’s a perfect story and it had a perfect ending.
Waka had her serious face on, and was overpowered, but fought and fought before she rolled up the legend in the end. The KAIRI and Tam parts ruled as well. It was very dramatic with the story throughout. The post-match was perfect too.
This is pro-wrestling!
Rating: 8.25/10
“Fan Favourite”
The Giant vs Lex Luger
WCW Starrcade
December 29, 1996
This one comes from Elliott on the discord and, weirdly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Starrcade 1996.
You could tell this was going to be a great one from the very hot crowd and with the amazing lock-up start to the match. It played the classic formula of seeing if the powerful man is strong enough to overcome the giant man. The Giant did a great job being the giant man early on and the hope spots by Luger were awesome. We get to a referee bump and Luger has it, but then nWo shenanigans. Thankfully it all ends with much better Sting shenanigans and an excellent finish.
Rating: 7.25/10
“Match of the Week”
Chigusa Nagayo & Dynamite Kansai vs Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki
GAEA Memorial First Gong In Korakuen
April 15, 1995
This is the main event of the very first GAEA show and it’s the perfect way to establish a promotion!
I find it really interesting that Kansai and Nagayo are dressed normally, but Masami is dressed as Super Heel Masami and Ozaki is dressed for a street fight. Ozaki knew what was up because this was one of the most violent wild bloody brawls I have ever seen.
It was so out of control the ring crew started taking apart the ring mid-match and the wrenches they used became a weapon for Ozaki. The sight of a half-destroyed ring with brawling everywhere is a great sight!
The match keeps escalating and many times you think it is over, but it instead, just gets more violent! All of this leads up to an all-time great finish, where Nagayo goes for the Running Three on Ozaki, but Masami on the outside just stabs Nagayo with a sword, allowing Ozaki to counter into a rollup.
This is an all-time classic that will be on my greatest match-ever list!
Rating: 9.5/10
Thoughts
What did you think of these matches? What matches do you want to recommend me to watch? Preferably hit me up with those 2019 suggestions. You can do that with the info below!
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2001 Match of The Year List
2001 is a weird year for me because it was my first year of University so I missed so much. It was also 12 years before I started my spreadsheet, so I had almost no starting point. It’s taken a long time to finish this year off.
It was a fascinating year though, with the Invasion, the death of WCW/ECW, the start of Indies, Joshi still having great stuff, lucha libre being great, NOAH’s rise, and AJPW with a bit of a resurgence.
How does that play out for the top 10 matches of the year? Before the top ten, here are some honourable mentions.
Honourable Mentions
- AKINO vs Ayako Hamada (ARSION, January 27)
- Carlos Amano & Chiyako Nagashima vs Meiko Satomura & Sumie Sakai (Oz Academy, February 18)
- Command Bolshoi
- Dr. Cerebro vs El Hijo del Santo (IWRG, March 3)
- Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki vs Chigusa Nagayo & Lioness Asuka (GAEA, April 8)
- Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki vs Chikayo Nagashima & Sugar Sato (GAEA, April 22)
- Kumiko Maekawa vs Momoe Nakanishi (AJW, May 4)
- Kumiko Maekawa vs Momoe Nakanishi (AJW, August 17)
- Damian 666, Rey Mysterio Jr., & Vamprio vs Halloween, LA Park, & Rey Misterio Sr. (Tijuana, October 26)
- El Hijo del Santo vs LA Par-K (Tijuana, November 16)
#10
Command Bolshoi vs Azumi Hyuga
“JWP Openweight Championship”
JWP
February 18
Differ Ariake
#9
Megumi Yabashita vs Sumie Sakai
“AWF Women’s & Queen of the Ring Championship”
Jd’
March 18, 2001
#8
Kensuke Sasaki vs Toshiaki Kawada
“IWGP Heavyweight Title Tournament Final”
NJPW Wrestling World
January 4
Tokyo Dome
At the Tokyo Dome in the finals of the tournament for NJPW’s main title, it’s the NJPW star vs the former AJPW star in a true dream match that lived up to the hype. To add to the drama, Kawada had one less match in the tournament that night making the hometown NJPW star the underdog. It was a glorious sprint with a tremendous comeback finish by Sasaki.
#7
Command Bolshoi vs Kayoko Haruyama
JWP
December 9
Differ Ariake
#6
Sumie Sakai vs The Bloody
“AWF Women’s & Queen of the Ring Championship”
Jd’ Nameless Endless “5th Anniversary Show“
April 29
Korakeun Hall
The Bloody sets out to kill Sakai early in this match with some insane offence and blood. Bloody even throws her down a flight of stairs. The bumps Suaki takes are unreal, like missing a huge moonsault onto a pile of chairs! Sakai’s relentless fighting-back comeback was such a great performance and this feud is an all-time great feud that needs to be experienced.
#5
Steve Austin vs Kurt Angle
“WWF Championship”
WWF SummerSlam
August 19
Compaq Center
This is peak Kurt Angle and peak Steve Austin heel turn. Angle is the brave WWF loyalist trying to take the title back from the turncoat, giving all of his blood and energy to do so. Austin is a lunatic who is trying to kill Angle and take out anyone who stands in his way including multiple referees. The jealousy Austin has for Angle even shines through in how Austin works, as he is resorting to throwing Angle-like German Suplexes to show that he can do anything Angle do can better! Such a great story and a great match!
#5
Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki vs Chigusa Nagayo & Meiko Satomura
GAEA Edge of the Heart
March 11
Korakeun Hall
This is another violent awesome match with Hokuto and Ozaki being the best heel tag team ever! They literally put dog collars on Chigusa and Meiko to connect them, so they can destroy them with weapons. As you can imagine, Chigusa and Meiko are the valiant babyfaces who try to overcome. It’s a perfect brawling GAEA tag match!
#4
Genichiro Tenryu vs Keiji Mutoh
“AJPW Triple Crown”
AJPW Super Power Series 2001 “Super Power In Budokan”
June 8
Nippon Budokan
A well-known classic that really cemented the resurgence of Keiji Mutoh. The story here is tremendous with Mutoh hitting the Shining Wizard early and Tenryu having to throw everything he has to fight back. The legwork is really good and the finishing sequence is amazing. Not your typical AJPW match of the time, which really makes it stand out.
#3
The Bloody & Fang Suzuki
vs
Sumie Sakai & Hiroyo Muto
“LSD 2001 Match: No Rules Falls Count Anywhere Weapons Death Match for the TWF World Women’s Tag Team Championship”
“Jd’ … and Justice for All!”
July 22
Korakeun Hall
This is one of the most insane matches I have ever seen. They used every weapon imaginable and every part of the arena imaginable to try to kill each other. Heck, they even hung someone. This match has to be seen to be believed and will be making my top 100 matches of all-time list the next time I make one.
#2
El Hijo del Santo vs LA Par-K
“2/3 Falls”
Wrestling In Monterrey
December 23
Arena Coliseo de Monterrey
#1
Akira Hokuto
vs
Meiko Satomura
GAEA Limit Break
April 29
City Gymnasium
This is a top ten all-time match for me and one I keep watching over and over again since I was introduced to it a few years back.
The legendary badass Dangerous Queen tries to put down the new badass Satomura and it feels like a Rocky film, right up to the Rocky II finish. The crowd is amazing. The strikes are beyound vicious and the drama is HIGH! Seeing Hokuto’s second jump into the ring because they felt Hokuto was going to submit is a scene etched into my wrestling mind.
A must-watch all-time classic, watch the link above!
Coming Soon
The 2001 Wrestler of the Year list!
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:
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The Best Matches I’ve Watched This Week (2023-03-24)
I have spent so long on 2001, I was determined to finish my 2001 watching this week! I accomplished that goal! Expect the 2001 Match of the Year and 2001 top 25 wrestlers of the year posts soon!
What that means is there are a lot of matches that I’d recommend from this week’s watching!
#17
Chavo Guerrero, Jr. vs Rey Mysterio, Jr.
“WCW Cruiserweight Championship”
WCW SuperBrawl Revenge
February 18, 2001
It got a little long in the tooth, but a really good title match. Mysterio did a great job of selling and was missing moves due to that. Chavo feels really good in the role of a rudo champion.
Rating: 7/10
#16
Black Warrior vs Negro Casas
“Leyenda de Plata 2001 Final”
CMLL Super Viernes
October 19, 2001
A one-fall contest that didn’t even last 10 minutes, but I really enjoyed it. They both were going for the win but didn’t lose anything in the selling. Warrior has a lot of great offence from his wicked power bombs to a wild tope. Casas held everything together really well.
Rating: 7/10
#15
FMW Scramble Survivor 2001
Etsuko Mita & Mima Shimoda vs Kyoko Inoue & Lioness Asuka
November 23, 2001
A really fun tag that was rough and wild with some weapons, but kept inside the ring. LCO always brings the madness, and Kyoko is a great foil in these matches.
Rating: 7.25/10
#14
Keiji Mutoh vs Toshiaki Kawada
AJPW Champion Carnival One Night Special
April 14, 2001
This was the last match I felt I needed to watch before I finished my 2001 Match of the Year list and… it did not make it.
The first long stretch is pretty boring and paint by the numbers, but the match does pick up and really peaks with an amazing finishing sequence. For a dream match of NJPW vs AJPW, it did not disappoint.
Rating: 7.25/10
#13
Blue Demon, Jr. vs Blue Panther
“2/3 Falls”
IWRG TV
July 26, 2001
I liked how much these two disliked each other and how well it transferred into the match. It started with crowd brawling and didn’t let up until the referee called it off after Blue Panther ripped off Blue Demon’s mask. It was snug and stiff and nothing fancy, but an awesome brawl.
Rating: 7.5/10
#12
Mayumi Ozaki vs Aja Kong
“AAAW Championship”
GAEA God Only Knows
October 28, 2001
A rematch from a match later covered this week and it is a complete role reversal. This time Ozaki is the champion and she works like a good violent Honky Tonk Man. It plays well off the other match, but this time they both bleed. They add a vicious piledriver table spot this time. Kong’s hand gets injured again, but this time due to a weapon shot. When we get to the spot where Ozaki used to win with last time, Kong shrugged it off and takes her out for revenge! A fun brawl and an end to a story.
Rating: 7.5/10
#11
Antifaz del Norte & LA Par-K defeat Dr. Wagner, Jr. & Ultimo Guerrero
“NAWA Tag Team Championship 2/3 Falls”
Wrestling In Monterrey
December 30, 2001
Park and Wagner were a decade away from their classic wild brawls, but they had chemistry big time already. They work a championship primarily technical match, but with these characters that are hard to control bending the rules around the edges. They get lots of time and have lots of moments between Park and Wagner. The finish was something I had never seen before with everyone tied up leading to the pin.
Rating: 7.5/10
#10
Reggie Bennett vs Takako Inoue vs Toshiyo Yamada
“All Pacific Championship Triangle Match”
AJW Wrestling Queendom 1995 Victory
March 26, 1995
This was one-on-one, but once someone gets a win the other person replaces the loser. However, it keeps going until someone wins two straight falls. They used those rules really well and all of the finishes were tremendous. Weirdly the star of the match was Reggie Bennett who was on a path of destruction here!
Rating: 7.75/10
#9
Billy Kidman & Rey Mysterio, Jr. vs Elix Skipper & Kid Romeo
“WCW Cruiserweight Tag Team Titles Tournament Final”
WCW Greed
March 18, 2001
The exciting end of a tournament you want with some great spots and nearfalls. They used the tag format excellently with a really good face-in-peril segment on Kidman and used it to hide the weaknesses of Kidman and the heels. One of the highlights of the end times of WCW.
Rating: 7.75/10
#8
Etsuko Mita vs Mima Shimoda
“Japan Grand Prix”
AJW
June 18, 2001
It was a real joy seeing these two, who have caused so much terror to others, being forced to terrorize each other! For the Japan Grand Prix, these two were up to their usual tactics, but this time against each other. It was such a fun brawl!
Rating: 8/10
#7
Dr. Cerebro vs El Felino
“IWRG Intercontinental Welterweight Championship 2/3 Falls”
IWRG TV
January 18, 2001
I thought this was a tremendous title match. For some reason, I much prefer matches started on the mat in lucha libre over other styles and this starting sequence felt like a real struggle. The match built up to bigger high spots including Cerebro hitting one of the most vicious topes I have ever seen!
Rating: 8/10
#6
Bull Nakano vs Kyoko Inoue
“WWF Women’s Championship”
AJW Wrestling Queendom 1995 Victory
March 26, 1995
Kyoko Inoue seemed to have channelled her inner Warrior to try to do a WWF-style match for the WWF Women’s Title! Nakano is the monster character she was in the WWF too. They did the style filtered through the AJW style and it ended up being a well-built match with an exciting finish. Best WWF Women’s Title match in history at this point.
Rating: 8/10
#5
Black Warrior, El Satanico, & Shocker vs Rey Bucanero, Tarzan Boy, & Ultimo Guerrero
“Rights to Los Infernales Name 2/3 Falls”
CMLL Homenaje A Dos Leyendas 2001 – Juicio Final
March 30, 2001
The two rudo teams battle to keep the name El Satanico made famous in the 80s for their group. These two evil groups don’t like each other, but they both also love to cheat. It’s a great feud and a great moment in that feud. One of the better trios matches I’ve watched in a long while.
Rating: 8/10
#4
Antifaz vs Negro Casas
“2/3 Falls”
Wrestling in Monterrey
June 10, 2001
This rocked hard! The first fall was just murder by Casas and it was so satisfying. Just all over the outside of the ring and using the ring posts! Antifaz made the comeback to send the third fall, that was an awesome brawl with a hot crowd. These are the types of matches that make you love lucha libre!
Rating: 8.25/10
#3
ASUKA & Saori Anou vs Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu
Sendai Girls Step And Go
January 8, 2023
Team 200kg (Hashimoto & Yuu) is such a great brute tag team and ASUKA and Anou are a perfect foil who tried to use flying and speed to overcome. The early dominance by Team 200kg was tremendous, but the match really picked up with the comeback. I LOVED the whole segment on Anou trying to sunset flip Hashimoto out of the ring and the contributions of both of their partners. The outside-the-ring brawling was fun and the finish was wonderfully done. I can’t wait for the rematch!
Rating: 8.25/10
#2
Aja Kong vs Mayumi Ozaki
“AAAW Championship”
GAEA Wild Times
January 14, 2001
This is everything you would want out of these two, a vicious wild bloody brawl. After Ozaki survives the initial onslaught she ducks a spinning back fist which causes Kong to injure her hand. After that, it’s a battle of how can Kong put Ozaki away with that injury? The answer was that Ozaki would put her away with a spinning back first of her own!
Rating: 8.25/10
“Fan Favourite”
Akira Jo & Yusaku Ito vs Hitamaru Sasaki & White Moriyama
“HEAT UP Universal Tag Team Championship”
HEAT UP Last Battle Of 2022 ~ Merry Christmas On Fire
December 25, 2022
This “fan favourite” suggestion comes from Emb on Discord. These are four people I had never heard of before in a promotion I had never heard of before, so this should be something.
This followed the tag format very well and was built around some really good submissions and violent headbutts. We had an exciting face-in-peril and a cool hot tag. The finish was particularly brutal with these shoot headbutts.
If I was connected to these wrestlers or promotion I would probably rate this, but I was really cold going into this. Thanks for the match Emb!
Rating: Very close to going on my spreadsheet.
“Match of the Week”
Megumi Yabashita vs Sumie Sakai
“AWF Women’s & Queen of the Ring Championship”
Jd’
March 18, 2001
I loved this match. It was fast and had some amazing spots, but I wouldn’t go to say it’s a spot fest as they were not no selling or just trying to set up cool stuff, these two were trying to win the title. The German Suplexes were some of the most vicious I’ve seen. The finish was definitive and great. This is a top match of the year!
Rating: 8.75/10
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Command Bolshoi: Send in the Clown, Volume 2 “2001 A Clown Odyssey”
One of my new favourite wrestlers over the last year is Command Bolshoi. She’s one of the all-time great technical wrestlers, a great flyer, a great brawler, and an ace of comedy matches.
On her YouTube channel, she is uploaded most of her JWP career! I thought it would be a great idea to review many of these, which I started on pro wrestling only. Volume 1 is on this very blog.
For the Greatest Wrestler Ever project I am focussed on ranking each year and currently, I am focussing on 2001, so here are all the 2001 Bolshoi matches I can find!
Command Bolshoi vs Azumi Hyuga
“JWP Openweight Championship”
JWP
February 18, 2001
Differ Ariake
Bolshoi came in as the champion and this was a great main event big title change! Bolshoi had the advantage in strikes and submissions, while Hyuga has the speed and flying advantage, so both tried to play to their strengths throughout the match. It was a great dynamic.
It’s amazing how often I find a new cool counter by Bolshoi in a match, this time coming off the ropes and looking to be hit by a powerbomb, but turned it into a triangle choke. Hyuga wasn’t to be out down in counters as later on Bolshoi went for a moonsualt, but ate two boots to the face for her trouble!
The last few minutes of Bolshoi trying to keep Hyuga down with the palm strike only for Hyuga to be in the ropes or to drop from exhaustion causing a miss was tremendous. When Bolshoi finally hit it, you thought it was over! Hyuga just had enough to barely kick out. After some tremendous nearfalls, Hyuga hit the Michonoku Driver to win the title.
Rating: 8.5/10
Command Bolshoi, Azumi Hyuga, Kayoko Haruyama, & Tsubasa Kuragaki
vs
Acute Sae, Kana Mizaki, Kaori Yoneyama, & Ran YuYu
JWP
April 20, 2001
There was a giant swing train and later on an airplane spin, so this match is a win. Lots of awesome spots, but this was pretty much a fun house show match.
Rating: Fun
Command Bolshoi vs Tsubasa Kuragaki
JWP Beauty
August 31, 2001
Itabashi Green Hall
This is an early version of this matchup that a few years later becomes magic. There are glimpses of that magic here, but this isn’t hitting their usual standard yet.
Rating: 6.75/10
Command Bolshoi & GAMI vs Azumi Hyuga & Kayoko Haruyama
“JWP Tag Team Champiosnhip”
JWP Flappers
September 10, 2001
Cinema Club
Weird note, this is shot from above the ring looking down. It’s an interesting perspective to watch a match on TV. Makes you feel like you are live.
Bolshoi and GAMI are a really good team. GAMI clearly makes Bolshoi work more like a heel and she’s great when she’s mean. Hyuga and Haruyama are a great face team to go against and take the titles from. The intensity of Bolshoi and GAMI really make this match.
Rating: 7/10
Command Bolshoi & Ran YuYu vs Azumi Hyuga & Kyoko Inoue
JWP Cannavaro
November 13, 2001
Cinema Club
This was an awesome high-action tag match. Everyone contributed great moments to this. Hyuga had the most time in the match and really shined through as a great talent. I did love Bolshoi’s interactions as she did something she always does, where she fits into the match and doesn’t try to overshadow others.
Rating: 8/10
Command Bolshoi vs Azumi Hyuga
JWP Cannavaro
November 21, 2001
Itabashi Green Hall
A great match that was mostly built around respect and trying to outwork the opponent on the mat and with submissions. That was all good, because both are awesome at that, especially Bolshoi. The match really picked up when then went to the floor and Bolshoi hit a vicious palm strike knocking Hyuga into chairs. Hyuga answered in kind relying on vicious knee strikes leading to a very exciting finish.
Rating: 8/10
Command Bolshoi vs Kayoko Haruyama
JWP
December 9, 2001
Differ Ariake
This was great! Haruyama attacks Bolshoi before the introductions and destroys her on the floor. The bulk of the match is Haruyama trying to put Bolshoi away, but Bolshoi was a tremendous babyface here. Her selling was tremendous and the kick outs were dramatic including bridging out of pins. She would also use kip-ups as hope spots.
When Bolshoi makes her comeback it’s awesome, including great moments on the ramp and brawling on the floor. When it gets back in the ring it’s intense and looks like it could go either way. The finish may have been a little anti-climactic, but I loved this.
Rating: 8.75/10
Command Bolshoi vs Kaori Yoneyama
JWP Beleza
December 18, 2001
Itabashi Green Hall
Yoneyama is less than two years into her career at this point and this is an opener that goes ten minutes, so your expectations can’t be too high. It’s really solid though and Bolshoi makes Yoneyama look like she can hang. The last couple of minutes really heats up.
Rating: solid
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Discord
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Best Matches I’ve Watched This Week (2023-03-17)
#9
El Satanico vs Ultimo Guerrero
“2/3 Falls”
CMLL Super Viernes
May 11, 2001
I like the story of the evil teacher trying to be surpassed by the evil protege and this was a fun match. It was intense with lots of hate. The finish was a schmooze, but it’s definitely a great feud that needs more diving into.
Rating: 7/10
#8
The Rock vs Rob Van Dam
“WCW World Heavyweight Championship”
WWF Raw
October 15, 2001
These two have some oddly good chemistry, which makes sense since they both move oddly. I don’t think anyone sold Rock in such a devastating-looking manner. The crowd was really hot and it’s too bad the finish sucked with schmooze setting up the Jericho-Rock feud.
Rating: 7/10
#7
Aoi & Unagi Sayaka vs Itsuki Aoki & Mio Momono
Marvelous
March 10, 2023
Aoi & Sayaka are quickly becoming my favourite tag team. They have the best energy together and have started to develop some good team moves! This time they are taking on Mio Momono, who I missed dearly, & Itsuki Aoki, who I don’t know but who had some Unagi character parts.
Unagi and Momono had pretty good chemistry for the match, and I want to see more. The match was exciting, and everyone did some good stuff in here. My Marvelous subscription is really paying off.
Rating: 7/10
#6
Blue Panther vs El Felino
“Copa Ovaciones Final Match”
IWRG
February 15, 2001
These two veterans battled hard to win this tournament and it resulted in a tightly contested struggle. They did some gritty work holds segments and tried to tear each other’s masks off. This was intense.
Rating: 7.25/10
#5
American Dragon vs Low-Ki
“Special Referee: Ricky Steamboat”
ECWA
July 21, 2001
I completely see why people were excited by this feud in 2001 and why it ushered in the new era of Indies. These two put on a high-end match at such a young age. They were crisp on the mat, the strikes hit hard, and the high spots were tremendous. I can appreciate all that without these two not being my thing and them not working in a style I enjoy.
Rating: 7.5/10
#4
Jerry Lynn vs Rob Van Dam
ECW Guilty as Charged
January 7, 2001
Rob Van Dam returns to ECW and faces his long-time rival, Jerry Lynn. This was a nice version of their feud, as it wasn’t as long as some of the others. RVD matches in ECW are a fun showcase, as they aren’t always what you expect from a match they are a different thing. The spots were awesome, and the crowd was HYPED. Lynn working more heel also made it have a different feel. A really nice way for the last real ECW match.
Rating: 7.5/10
#3
Orange Cassidy vs Jeff Jarrett
“AEW International Championship”
AEW Dynamite
March 15, 2023
I’ve always enjoyed Cassidy and Jarrett is the perfect person to have this kind of shenanigans match. He goes full old-school cheating Memphis style and it’s perfect. Cassidy is such a perfect underdog. The Sharpshooter spot, because lol we are in Canada, was kind of lame, but that’s a minor distraction point.
Rating: 7.5/10
#2
El Hijo del Santo vs Negro Casas
“2/3 Falls”
Tijuana
June 9, 2001
Another awesome brawl in their long history. They brawl from the start and Santo hits a tope dive while wearing his cape! Such a great visual. It was intense with a great crowd and some awesome rudo work by Casass. He won the second fall by punching the referee “by accident” and then hitting a low blow! He looked to have won the third fall with a low blow too, but the second referee saw it and reversed the call.
Add this match to their classic series and well worth the 15 minutes.
Rating: 7.75/10
Fan Favourite!
Andre the Giant vs Osamu Kido & Haruka Eigen
“Handicap Match”
NJPW 2nd Madison Square Garden Series
May 25, 1979
Thanks to Elliott from the Disord for this suggestion. I love Andre and it’s been a really long time since I watched a handicap match, so this should be interesting.
From the get-go, they try to double-team Andre, but at every pass, he is too big and strong and counters everything. They keep trying until they start running scared and try to surround him with a new approach. This turns out to be futile too, leading to Andre putting on double submissions on them!
They get in a few spots and even try to dogpile a pin attempt, but really they are like flies to Andre. The finishing sequence rules as it looks like Andre separates them and can kill one to get the pin, but then he goes to the outside to bring the other one in so he can beat them both at once.
Rating: A fucking blast!
Match of the Week!
Juventud Guerrera vs Rey Misterio Jr.
Tijuana
April 6, 2001
These two flashback to 1996 and their world tour stopping in the ECW Arena and it’s really at that level. They only get ten minutes, but they make the most of it with an awesome cruiserweight match with some wild offence from Juvi, including an Ocean Cyclone Suplex and a vicious Michonoku Driver. The crowd is wild and really adds to this!
Rating: 7.75/10
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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:
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Best Matches I’ve Watched This Week (2023-03-10)
Here are the best matches I watched the last week! From March 4 to March 10, 2023. It was kind of a light week since I started a new position at work and you know how that is.
#9
Roxanne Perez vs Meiko Satomura
“NXT Women’s Championship”
NXT Roadblock
March 7, 2023
I’ve loved these two in the past, so I had to check this out and it was pretty good. A classic teacher/veteran vs student/youngster match, but with the twist of the youngster as the champion. Well laid out with Meiko being the dominant badass she is. Based on the sudden finish, I’d hope for a bigger rematch where they could put on a truly great match.
Rating: 7/10
#8
Aja Kong & Mariko Yoshida vs Kyoko Inoue vs Takako Inoue
“WWWA Tag Team Title Tournament Semi-Final”
AJW Wrestling Queendom 1995 Success
March 21, 1995
Aja Kong was in full beast mode in this one and Yoshida offered a great contrast to her. Double Inoue was on a mission to regain the titles they forfeited because they were the 99th champions and wanted to be the 100th. That led to an exciting tag match!
Rating: 7/10
#7
Kumiko Maekawa vs Nanae Takahashi
AJW Garage Show
November 11, 2001
These two different heavy hitters had a very fun 15-minute draw. It took place at some festival, where there were tents around the ringside. They took great advantage of the setting and brawled to those areas, plus to the street and used a variety of weapons in fun ways. A draw, that didn’t feel like a draw and a very exciting rush to get the pin at the end.
Rating: 7/10
#6
Chihiro Hashimoto vs Himeka
Stardom Triangle Derby I
March 4, 20223
Not only is this a good hoss battle, but it’s perfect booking. Hashimoto has come to Stardom to destroy Syuri and along the way she is building herself up by taking out the biggest hoss in Stardom, Himeka. They battle and battle hard!
Rating: 7/10
#5
Blizzard Yuki & Manami Toyota vs Kyoko Inoue & Takako Inoue
“WWWA Tag Team Title Tournament Final”
AJW Wrestling Queendom 1995 Success
March 21, 1995
The finals of the tournament to crown the 100th WWWA Tag Team Champions was very nearfall heavy which normally would have brought it down a lot, but it being the finals of a tournament weakened the blow a little. An exciting, all-action tag match!
Rating: 7.25
#4
Ami Sourei, MIRAI, & Syuri vs. Hiragi Kurumi, Risa Sera, & Suzu Suzuki
“Triangle Derby Finals”
Stardom Triangle Derby I
March 4, 20223
This tournament has made one of the most stagnant and boring times in Stardom since I started following it closely, but the final show was amazing including the finals of the tournament. I love how strong Prominence has been booked in Stardom, especially Suzu Suzuki. Suzuki and MIRAI have awesome chemistry and their finishing sequence was tremendous.
Rating: 7.5/10
#3
Giulia vs Maya Yukihi
“World of Stardom Championship”
Stardom Triangle Derby I
March 4, 20223
I haven’t seen Yukihi before, but she is from Giulia’s Ice Ribbon past. Based on this match, they have a lot of beef. This focussed a lot more on brawling on the outside and trying to put the other out than your typical Stardom title match, so this was a nice contrast. I dug the ending as Giulia hit the knockout blow on the outside, which would make Akira Hokuto happy, but is too hurt to enter herself. Looking forward to them continuing this one!
Rating: 8.25/10
#2
AZM vs Starlight Kid
“High Speed Championship”
Stardom Triangle Derby I ~Championship Battle~
March 4, 2023
Watching these two feels like you are watching the future of wrestling. While current people are focussing on huge spots, more flips, and fast action, these two focus on fast action built around going for wins with submissions and roll-ups. It feels so much better and natural! There were some huge spots in this one though, but they felt more impactful and more going for the win.
Although this was great, the match they had last year felt a bit better.
Rating: 8.5/10
“Fan Favourite”
Kazuyuki Fujita & Kendo Kashin vs Manabu Nakanishi & Shinsuke Nakamura
NJPW Toukon Festival
November 13, 2004
RoseGold saw how much I enjoyed the Fujita-Nagata shoot fight last week, so tried to see if I would enjoy it more. If you have a match you want me to watch next week, hit me up on Twitter or the discord.
It is so strange seeing Nakamura be so normal here. It’s also a very nice nostalgia hit when I see Kashin. Back in high school I never watched him but was somehow a big fan. He had a mask and did cool armbars, that’s all I needed!
The highlights of this match were when Fujita was beating the shit out of dudes, especially Nakanishi who was a giant punching bag. Nakanishi is so big he also had a few cool moments. Nakamura was just there, like he was a solid dude, but was not a stand-out in any way. Kashin hit a cool armbar off the top rope, so major bonus points for that.
Altogether, there were some fun moments, but mostly it was an okay tag that didn’t do a whole lot for me. Fujita and Don Frye seem to be my favourite shoot-style dudes, but that’s mostly for the MMA punching and not caring about their opponent’s attitude. It doesn’t always translate to a good match.
Rating: fun in parts/10
“Match of the Week”
Saya Kamitani vs Hazuki
“Wonder of Stardom Championship”
Stardom Triangle Derby I ~Championship Battle~
March 4, 2023
When Saya Kamitani is on, she’s really on. Even better when there is someone in there who keeps her on track and from going too far. Hazuki was just that person and her desperation to win at all costs made was unreal. Every time Kamitani started to drag this down, Hazuki brought it right back on track. It was frantic, and exciting, and had me on the edge of my seat.
Rating: 8.5/10
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:
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Best Matches I’ve Watched This Week (2023-03-03)
Here is the best matches I watched the last week! With a focus on 2001, current stuff, and our weekly Joshi chronological watch. I’m in my favourite stage of watching a year, where if a wrestler has less than 3 recommended matches I decide if I can find more or care enough to find more.
Honourable Mentions
- Dynamite Kansai & Mayumi Ozaki vs Lioness Asuka & Meiko Satomura (GAEA, 2001-01-21)
- Akira Taue vs Jun Akiyama (NOAH, 2001-02-25)
- Genichiro Tenryu vs Taiyo Kea (AJPW, 2001-03-03)
- Matt Hardy vs X-Pac (WWF, 2001-05-21)
- Billy Kidman vs X-Pac (WWF, 2001-07-22)
- Kumiko Maekawa vs Momoe Nakanishi (AJW, 2001-10-24)
- Donna del Mondo vs Prominence (Stardom, 2023-02-17)
- Masha Slamovich vs Mickie James (Impact, 2023-02-24)
#10
Hawk, Animal, & Kensuke Sasaki vs Scott Norton & The Steiner Brothers
NJPW Battle Formation
April 29, 1996
Six big brutes out there just bruting each other at a big Dome Show is always going to be enjoyable. The highlights were Scott Norton, who was the king of the brutes. There was a moment when The Road Warriors took out both Steiners with lariats, but that failed miserably when tried on Norton! Also, Norton gave a devilish power bomb to Sasaki. It lead to a fine finish with a Steiner being isolated and The Road Warriors double-teaming them to victory.
Rating: 7/10
#9
Ayako Hamada vs Azumi Hyuga
“Queen of ARSION Championship”
ARSION 3rd Anniversary
February 12, 2001
Why does every match in 2001 need a five-minute mat segment that goes nowhere?
After that section, the match really took off and was excellent. Hyuga is such a great flying babyface and I did wish Hamada was more of a bully in this. Hamada can also dish out spectacular spots, so this got a little much. That being said, it was a very exciting match.
Rating: 7.5/10
#8
Akira Taue vs Vader
“GHC Heavyweight Title Tournament: First Round”
NOAH Navigation for The Victory
March 25, 2001
Taue had amazing coffee this day as he was feeling it here. He unleashed vicious offence and choke slams even outside the ring and through a table. After some complete destruction by Taue, Vader makes a very well-earned comeback with tremendous selling. Vader does a LOT to keep Taue down in an awesome 10-minute war.
Rating: 7.75/10
#7
Chihiro Hashimoto vs Unagi Sayaka
Sendai Girls Never Winter
December 23, 2022
I loved this match! Unagi is a perfect underdog to the overpowering Hashimoto. Unagi had amazing selling, tremendous nearfalls, perfectly timed kick-outs, and some counters into submissions that were surprising but awesome. Her unorthodox style is a great counter to Hashimoto’s no-bones about it crushing style. I loved Unagi trying to get a win by count-out by wearing Hashimoto down with an Octopus on the floor.
The finish by Hashimoto was tremendously vicious and a perfect capper to this awesome match.
Rating: 8/10
#6
Kazayuki Fujita vs Yuji Nagata
“IWGP Heavyweight Championship”
NJPW Super-Force Group Declaration
June 6, 2001
I usually dislike shoot style, but this is my new favourite shoot style match ever! This felt like an early UFC battle between a wrestler and a ground and pounder. It makes sense because Fujita is basically a mixed martial artist, not a wrestler, but Nagata really works well in this role. Fujita was a hoss and Nagata battled. It’s only ten minutes, and there are a few minutes in the middle that if they cut this would have been even higher.
Rating: 8/10
#5
Genichiro Tenryu vs Kodo Fuyuki
w/ special referee Ashura Hara
FMW Kawasaki Legend
May 5, 2001
This was two tough older men pounding the crap out of each other with an intense crowd and a great special referee apperance. They hit each other hard and Fuyuki beat Tenryu down to a bloody pulp until Tenryu could hit enough lariats to put him down! I had no idea FMW was still good this late.
Rating: 8/10
#4
El Hijo del Santo vs LA Par-K
“Cage”
Tijuana
November 16, 2001
I’m not entirely sure what to say about this, but it was insane. The bulk of the match was a pretty fine brawl between two great brawlers inside a cage with a hot crowd. After that, Santo tried to escape but Park’s rudo buddies came and beat him down. They eventually handcuffed him to the ropes, while Park took exposed wires and shocked him! Santo’s técnico buddies saved him though, and they reversed the shock onto Park and then carried Santo out of the cage. The crowd was amazing.
Rating: 8.25/10
#3
Akira Hokuto & Mayumi Ozaki vs Chikayo Nagashima & Sugar Sato
“AAAW Tag Team Championship”
GAEA Limit Break
April 22, 2001
Every new Akira Hokuto and Mayumi Ozaki tag match I find to watch brings me great joy, and from this match, a different type of joy. This match was two badass veterans taking on two high-flying youngster underdogs and both teams played their roles to perfection. Lots of really cool flying spots by Nagashima and Sato, but just as many more badass spots by Hokuto and Ozaki. Just a tremendous tag team match!
Rating: 8.25/10
#2
Candy Okutsu, Cutie Suzuki, Mayumi Ozaki, & Sumio Toyama
vs
Devil Masami, Dynamite Kansai, Hikari Fukuoka & Hiromi Yagi
“1 Fall Dead Heat Match”
JWP
March 21, 1995
The rules are a bit odd, where falls are a 1 count, not 3. It starts off with a singles match, where if you win in under 5 minutes you continue on against the next person until your 5 minutes are up. The team with the most falls wins, if it’s a tie it’s sudden death tag match.
The first few singles contests were perfectly booked with Kansai hitting a fall in 7 seconds, followed by a massive upset and someone surviving Devil Masami taking her out with a double count-out. The rest of the battle leads to a shocking cover to tie things up going into sudden death.
The tag portion was chaos, in the best way. Think of the desperation to break up pins in a Dragon Gate match, but with only a 1 count fall instead. The finish was great. A beautiful match.
Rating: 8.5/10
Fan Favourite
Ayako Sato vs Ayame Sasamura
Diana
October 1, 2022
Thanks to Kadaveri from discord for giving me this match to watch knowing my love for Ayako Sato, even though I’ve only seen a handful of her matches!
This started off as a solid veteran working with a hard-smashing wrestler, but by the end, it really won me over. All of the offence was really solid, I mean you felt it. It built very well and gradually got more and more intense and exciting as it went along. By the end, all of the nearfalls were awesome. Sato continues to impress me and Sasamura was someone I’d never seen before, but really enjoyed.
Rating: 7.25/10
Match of the Week
El Hijo del Santo vs LA Park-K
“2/3 Falls”
Monterrey
December 23, 2001
This match was the absolute perfect hate-filled violent gritty bloody brawls. You know it’s going to be something special when both wrestler’s costumes are white. By the end, both were wearing pink.
I loved how this naturally felt like a fight. They threw each other into chairs, stomped really hard, punched, etc… This wasn’t about hitting spectacular moves, it was about trying to hurt the other while you are pissed off. That being said, there were plenty of dramatic nearfalls and a few big spots that were spectacular.
Even the rudo and técnico disagreeing referees were done well here, especially in how that came to the finish. A true must-watch classic if you like blood and brawls.
Rating: 9.5/10
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!
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