The Best Matches I’ve Watched This Week (2023-05-12)
I got back on track for watching this week and hammered out a lot of 2019! The Stardom pay-per-view dropped today, so I only got to watch the few biggest matches.
#16
Devil Masami & Mayumi Ozaki vs Hikari Fukuoka & KAORU
JWP
June 16, 1995
This was a really fun tag match with the team of Fukuoaka & KAORU bringing the flying, Devil bringing the power, and Ozaki bringing the violence. A lot of great nearfalls and the moment after Ozaki wins and Devil is just flipping off the losers is awesome!
Rating: 7.25/10
#15
AZM vs Mei Seira
“High Speed Championship”
Stardom Fukuoka Goddess Legend ~Sweet Stardom~
May 4, 2023
The first part of the match felt like a generic defense for AZM, but halfway through she started to focus on Mei’s arm and it got really good.The High Speed counters while someone is entering through the ropes always pop me. The finish worked really well for me and I am excited for the eventual rematch.
Rating: 7.25/10
#14
Shayna Baszler vs Bianca Belair vs Io Shirai vs Kairi Sane
“NXT Women’s Championship”
NXT TakeOver: New York
April 5, 2019
Although it has the usual problems of four-way matches, this was a lot of fun. All of the interactions between Shirai and KAIRI were awesome, from teaming up at the start to trying to win at the end. Belair was not quite the elite worker she is now, but she really showed her potential, and that double KOD she did was ridiculous! Baszler is such a great badass when booked so well! The finishing sequence ruled too.
Rating: 7.25/10
#13
Maya Yukihi vs Tsukasa Fujimoto
“ICExInfinity Championship Match”
Ice Ribbon New Ice Ribbon #974 ~ Osaka Ribbon 2019 III
August 3, 2019
I am generally not a fan of a 30-minute draw and for the first 3/4 this match was a fine solid match, but the last quarter was awesome and more than made up for it. I love Yukihi’s offense and Fujimoto just has a great way of working that I am not sure how to describe. She fits into matches.
Rating: 7.5/10
#12
Ayako Sato vs Haruka Umesaki
“World Woman Pro-Wrestling Diana World Championship”
Diana
April 29, 2019
A tremendous title match that felt like a big changing of the guard. The young underdog Umesaki did a great job fighting from underneath and getting in good hope spots, leading to their eventual comeback. Sato is great at working on top.
Rating: 7.5/10
#11
Command Bolshoi vs Hana Kimura
Command Bolshoi Produce Pure Princess
March 15, 2019
A really good battle with Bolshoi pulling out another new submission hold I had never seen before. Kimura looked like such a star, especially while working on top. Bolshoi is so giving and this was a great match to have a month before her retirement on a show she produced.
Rating: 7.5/10
#10
Miyuki Takase vs Tae Honma
“AWG Title Tournament Semi-Final”
AWG Act In Osaka
November 3, 2019
This is an awesome display of two wrestlers going all out to advance in a tournament for a title. The forearm exchanges were one of the stiffest and best I have ever seen. I like Honma’s strategy of trying to go for the arm since she can’t outstrike Takase. The finish was very well done.
Rating: 7.5/10
#9
Kyoko Inoue vs Unagi Sayaka
Diana
April 29, 2023
I may be biased on this one, but I thought this match was awesome. Unagi was really laying in her kicks, and Inoue fought back with some stiff lariats. They had two awesome segments in the crowd which really ramped up the heat. Down the stretch, there were some great near falls, which I bought on.
Rating: 7.5/10
#8
Sareee vs Tsukasa Fujimoto
Ice Ribbon New Ice Ribbon #992 ~ Yokohama Bunka Gymnasium III
September 14, 2019
This was everything you could want from these two. It was filled with stiff strikes and crushing suplexes. The match kept building up and had a lot of great nearfalls and vicious suplexes and it lead up to a good finish. A perfect undercard Joshi match to steal a show.
Rating: 8/10
#7
Brock Lesnar vs Cody Rhodes
WWE Backlash
May 6, 2023
A fascinating match very laid out. It was a tremendous brawl with a really great finish. Brock was very bloody. 8 minutes is the perfect length of time for a Brock match.
Rating: 8/10
#6
Mio Momono vs Takumi Iroha
Marvelous
November 3, 2019
I loved the story of this match where it seemed like Iroha wasn’t taking Momono seriously, until too late. The crowd was wild and Momono was on fire to prove herself against Iroha who was just killing her with her offense. The powerbomb Iroha hit right before the time expired was so nasty!
Rating: 8.5/10
#5
Candice LeRae vs Io Shirai
NXT TakeOver: Toronto 2019
August 10, 2019
This was tremendous with Shirai as the vicious heel in her more cocky Stardom but more evil form. Candice was a worthy underdog, who took all of Shirai’s vicious offense from her moonsault to an Avalanche Spanish Fly. LeRae brought her own ridiculous offense with a tope DDT and a reverse hurrancanrana. It built to a good finish with everyone playing their roles till the end.
Rating: 8.5/10
#4
Arisa Nakajima vs Nanae Takahashi
“SEAdLINNNG Beyond The Sea Title Hair vs Hair Match”
SEAdLINNNG Dynamic Show Case! ~ Kawasaki Monogatari
November 2, 2019
A great match that weirdly didn’t hit my expectations. I did love Nakajima going after Takahashi’s arm and that limiting Takahashi’s offense throughout the match. The intensity and the violence were there and it was dramatic on the nearfalls with the title and hair on the line. The issue was the kick outs felt like they were going into the epic territory too much, they didn’t fit well into the match. Outside of that, really great and hard to deny.
Raring: 8.75/10
#3
Mina Shirakawa vs Natsupoi
“Wonder of Stardom Championship”
Stardom Fukuoka Goddess Legend ~Sweet Stardom~
May 4, 2023
“Mina is not the White Belt Champion that we wanted, but Mina is the White Belt Champion that we needed.”
What a great change of pace from Kamitani’s title reign, as Mina brings the psychology, emotion, and drama back to the White Belt! Natsupoi upped her game too, bringing pure violence in her strikes and her selling of Mina’s leg attacks was awesome. Mina’s leg attacking legs every big match is great and she does it with such great variety that I love it. Mina mixes in the big moves and nearfalls to put this over the top.
Rating: 8.75/10
#2
Bianca Belair vs IYO SKY
“WWE Raw Women’s Championship”
WWE Backlash
May 6, 2023
These two have had awesome chemistry in the past and that continues here. I loved Shirai’s work on Belair’s arm and Belair’s selling of it throughout especially the one-armed gorilla press of all things. Both played their strengths so well and the crowd was so into it on Shirai’s side! From the finish tease of the finisher to the outside interference is all-time territory. The finish is good and this is an easy MOTY contender. They better do a rematch.
Rating: 8.75/10
“Match of the Week”
Chigusa Nagayo vs Dynamite Kansai
JWP
June 16, 1995
This was a smartly worked war! The first segment was Nagayo and Kasnai trying for a knockout or a submission to really prove who was tougher. When they couldn’t do that, we got a lot of great nearfalls. The teases of the Aavalance Niagra Driver were great, and well thrown into this match. Everything in this was a great struggle to prove who was more badass.
Rating: 8.75/10
Watch Party!
I’ll be back next week with whatever I’m watching. Remember to join the discord for Sunday at 4pm EST for this great Joshi Night lineup:
- Double Inoue vs Rie Tamada & Yumiko Hotta, AJW, 1995-06-27
- Akira Hokuto & LCO vs Kaoru Ito, Mariko Yoshida, & Reggie Bennett, AJW, 1995-06-27
- Aja Kong vs Manami Toyota, WWWA Singles Title, AJW, 1995-06-27
- Dynamite Kansai vs Mayumi Ozaki, Dress Up Wild Fight, JWP, 1995-07-09
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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 (2023-03-03)
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
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2020 Joshi Yearbook, Volume 1
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.
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. Natsumi Maki vs Sareee (TJPW, January 4)
These two are very similar, except Natsupoi is a lot faster and Sareee is a lot stiffer. It built great and had a great finishing run.
Rating: 7/10
2. Hikari Noa vs Maki Itoh (International Princess Title, TJPW, January 4)
This rocked! Fun brawl to start and then settled into a traditional match. Itoh’s charisma jumped off the page and she had some vicious submission nearfalls. Noa countered with a lot of really cool roll-ups.
Rating: 7.25/10
LOVED the post-match angle!
3. Miyu Yamashita vs Yuka Sakazaki (Princess of Princess Title, TJPW, January 4)
I miss pre-pandemic brawling in the crowd and that was a super awesome part of this match including doing a spot I had never seen before. Miyu’s kicks rule, as usual, and Yuka brought some amazing spots. A truly worthwhile big main event.
Rating: 8/10
4. Ayako Sato vs Sareee (Diana World Title, Diana, January 4)
This is pro-wrestling! A traditionally well-built intense struggle-filled battle. Fuck I loved this! There were some points you felt like Sareee was about to do too much, but Sato reigned her in every time. Watch this!
Rating: 8.5/10
Very good emotional post-match speech by Sato.
5. Chihiro Hashimoto vs Syuri (Sendai Girls, January 5)
This felt like a big fight between two bad asses. Not really shoot style, but didn’t feel like a traditional wrestling match either.
Rating: 7.25/10
6. Maria vs Mei Hoshizuki (Marvelous, January 19)
This started out as a solid young wrestler’s match but started to escalate about a ⅓ through. The leg work was good and it picked up steam as it went. After a draw, we got a restart and that section was awesome.
Rating: 6.75/10
7. Arisa Hoshiki vs Utami Hayashishita (Wonder of Stardom Title, Stardom, January 19)
Hoshiki has the most innovative and cool kicks in history. Utami has cool-ass power moves and this was a really damn good performance. Exactly what you’d expect from these two trying to have a good match!
Rating: 7.25/10
8. Mayu Iwatani vs Momo Watanabe (World of Stardom Title, Stardom, January 19)
This is the big title match you want! Amazing arm work by Momo, which isn’t forgotten. Big moves building to an exciting and dramatic finish. You know a match works when there is near falls you buy on, but you don’t feel it’s overkill.
Rating: 8.5/10
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!
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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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Trans Rights!
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Upcoming
Volume 2!
Pro-Wrestling Super Blog 
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