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 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!
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 2!
Pro-Wrestling Super Blog 
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