Puro Ponderings

[The King Of Swing]

Quickly onto Kanazawa, for Stardom. Inaba sisters on this one after missing the previous show, which is good. 

Spoiler

September 14th Stardom in Kanazawa.

Ami Sohrei, Lady C, Saki Kashima & Tomoka Inaba (God's Eye) Vs. Natsupoi, Yuna Mizumori, Aya Sakura & Sayaka Kurara (Cosmic Angels).

God's Eye, go over in an entertaining eight woman tag, to open the show. After Ami puts Aya away, with a Blue Thunder Bomb.

Based on their brief exchange, I wouldn't mind seeing Tomoka go one on one, against Aya. Could be a fun match.

Natsuko Tora (H.A.T.E) Vs. Ema Maishima.

Ema's turn for a singles match, this time.

Though obviously not as competitive as Kikyo's match, on the previous show. Ema does get some offense in and uses her speed to her advantage.

Tora easily puts her away in the end, of course.

Koguma Vs. Azusa Inaba (H.A.T.E) Vs. Yuria Hime (Stars). 

Koguma catches Yuria, with a roll up to win an entertaining if pretty standard three way.

I would like to see Azusa, doing something a bit more meaningful, going forward. She could be a decent High Speed Title contender, imo. 

Waka Tsukiyama, Hanako & Rian (Empress Nexus Venus) Vs. Hina, Ranna Yagami & Kiyoka Kotatsu (God's Eye). 

Better match involving EXV, this show.

God's Eye go over after Hina hits Rian, with a Jack Hammer type move for the win, in a fun match.

Rian actually spent a decent amount of time in the ring, almost catching Hina, a couple of times. .

Ranna literally kicking Waka's ass, was amusing.

Starlight Kid, AZM & Miyu Amasaki (Neo Genesis) Vs. Bozilla, Akira Kurogane (Mi Vida Loca) & Kikyo Furusawa. 

Fans were well into this one. 

Neo Genesis pick up the win, after AZM nailed Akira with a diving double foot stomp from halfway across the ring. 

Bozilla looked impressive as usual. 

Should be noted that once again rookie Kikyo, didn't eat the pin. It's pretty clear now, that Stardom have high hopes for her. 

Good match. 

Main Event. 

Hanan, Saya Iida, Momo Kohgo & Bea Priestley (Stars) Vs. Saya Kamitani, Momo Watanabe, Konami & Rina (H.A.T.E). 

Well it's official, Bea has joined Stars.

I'm perfectly fine with that move, Stars needed a new member and it's a nice change from her usual heel routine, for Bea. She also adds some main event credibility to the group, which they have been lacking. 

Anyway a good eight woman main even. Highlight being Hanan and younger sister Rina, fighting it out for a good chunk of the match. 

Stars get the win after Hanan hits Rina, with her bridging back suplex. 

Enjoyed this a lot more than the previous show. A little more variety and no screwy finishes. 

Fun stuff. 

Edited September 14, 2025 by The King Of Swing

[waters44]

Loving the Stardom reviews @The King Of Swing thank you!

Well I'm now only a month behind! Here's the latest update. Please expect full spoilers and I will try to add in pictures later on

Shows covered from 1st August to 17th August

Big Japan Pro Wrestling

Spoiler

BJW Shopping Street Pro Wrestling Series 2025 - 02.08.2025
A fairly standard show until things get mental in the main event. The Brahman Brothers get a tag team title shot which is going well until one of them gets a cone stuck on their foot. Unfortunately they can't get the momentum back and fail their mission. The main event is a "Brutal Obsession Bloody Item DM". This is a 30 item DM which includes but not limited to barbed wire bats, lighttube towers, cutlery boards, cinder blocks and even the dreaded pencil board. This is a show in a shopping centre with families in the crowd and they are absolutely loving the carnage! At one point Kobayashi wanders off into the market and starts fighting down there, the stall holders must have been so confused. Imagine this happening at your local shopping centre?! Loved it.

BJW Special Ring Series 2025 - 03.08.2025
This is how deep I’m in. I’m watching a two match, one camera show from a garden centre car park in Chiba. Apparently there was a massive Thomas The Tank Engine nearby but he didn’t do a run in. Tag match with Leyton Buzzard and Andy Wu vs Ryuji Ito and Kankuro Hoshino was actually very enjoyable!

BJW Ueno Park Outdoor Stage Night 1 - 05.08.2025
Apparently this was the hottest day of the year in Japan so there was a lot of water work here at the Ueno Park outdoor show! Too much for Kobayashi who had to tap out after having a hose pipe rammed in his gob. Highlight of the show was Kankura Hoshino attempting a clothesline with a run up that took him around the entire arena, only to be countered with a big boot when he finally made it to his opponent

 

BJW Ueno Park Outdoor Stage Night 2 - 06.08.2025
The Brahman Brothers are back in the main event and they're angry! So angry that they are trying to cave their opponents head in with a bowling ball. Unfortunately for them every time they are about to strike they are interrupted. First by Jushin Thunder Liger who seemingly has come out of retirement. Then Rey Mysterio! Then Ultimo Dragon! A packed card here at Ueno, and what's odd is that all three move like Kankuro Hoshino.

BJW Ueno Park Outdoor Stage Night 3 - 07.08.2025
A pretty nothing show although the main event has some sort of competition where they have to hold eggs in their mouths? Hopefully the eggs are ultraviolent at least

BJW - 11.08.2025
What a fantastic show~~~!!! Kobayashi starts the show with his usual comedy stuff which pleases the crowd. We also get a decent six man tag which has Daichi Hashimoto pin future challenger Leyton Buzzard after a brutal looking piledriver. Then we have three very entertaining matches. Hideyoshi Kamitani and Shuji Ishikawa are two big men that have a big match with big moves, big throws and big strikes. BIG!!!! Great stuff. Then Fuminori Abe gets a fantastic match out of rookie Ryuma Sekimo. This was really impressive stuff from Sekimo who has only been wrestling since April. Pretty incredible how he can hang with someone of Abe's skill and not look out of place. Abe picks up the win with a nasty looking stretch. Main event is some good ol fashioned BJW lighttube DM with six men battling it out amongst the spooky dust. There were some lighttube towers which Yasaku Ito got hold of. Rather than hit Kikuta with them he just picked it up and ran into him, which caused a big explosion of glass that im sure hurt both men equally. The finish came when Ito hit Takahashi with a stiff headbutt that would have been heard in the back row of Korakuen followed by a destroyer on to the glass covered mat

BJW Big Japan Pro Wrestling Men's 90 Minutes - 16.08.2025
A very basic show in front of 100 fans in Yokohama. Leyton Buzzard begins rehab with a strong win over BJW favourite Kankuro Hoshino, and rookie Sekimo has another good showing on the mid card. 

 

BJW Ueno Park Outdoor Stage - 17.08.2025
A show that peaked during a noodle eating competition. There was an afternoon show and an evening show with Kazumasa Yoshida and Yuya Aoki getting a chance to win the tag titles on both shows. Unfortunately for them they failed both times, although got close on their second attempt which turned out to be quite a good match. 

New Japan Pro Wrestling

Spoiler

NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 9 - 01.08.2025
Taiji Ishimori shines on the undercard running around like a madman - hard to believe he's 42! He looks half that age. Oleg Boltin vs David Finaly was just two big strong men being big strong men and that’s ok with me. Lots of brawling and power moves and a desperate Finlay, whos bottom of the standings, gets the win with a cheeky rollup after Oleg kicks out of all Finlay's big stuff. Taichi vs Tsuji was a great match full of big movez. Tsuji gives Taichi a running powerbomb and things escalate from there. Like all good New Japan matches the sweat starts to fly and Taichi manages to get the win after hitting the Black Mephisto to continue his decent run. Tanahashi and Uemura round off the show. I was worried about the lack of pace early on but Tanahashi sprinkles his usual magic and by the end I was really enjoying this. Uemura puts The Ace down with an underarm suplex to join the top of Block A with EVIL

NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 10 - 02.08.2025
If you want to see what true happiness is just watch Young Lion Murashima do air guitar with Tanahashi, you wont see a bigger smile anywhere. ELP and Shingo Takagi have a decent match where ELP just would not die. He even kicked out of a very rare Takagi Driver 98. Eventually a brutal looking Made In Japan did put ELP down for the three count. Takeshita continues his amazing run with another banger, this time against Drilla Maloney. A great exchange here where Takeshita goes for Gabe Kidd's clothesline but misses and gets hit with one by Drilla! As usual Drilla is fighting to hit the Drilla Killer, but can't get it and succumbs to a Raging Fire from The Alpha. ZSJ faces GOK in the main event which I have do admit didn't really get my blood pumping. These two styles are quite similar (although GOK is several levels below) so the exchanges were quite good, but it just made *** for me

 

NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 11 - 03.08.2025
Young Lion Shoma Kato takes around 15 shoulder tackles on Takeshita and eventually takes him down which gets a lovely pop from the crowd! Oleg vs Newman was a classic power vs speed match with power coming out on top as Oleg grabs a sprinting Newman and hits him with the kamikaze for the win. Taichi nearly kills Oiwa with a nasty looking side suplex on the top of his head. Oiwa somehow recovers and wins with his big lariat. The semi main has ref bumps, weapons, and Dick and Don. Yep it's House of Torture time! A little extra spice here because its EVIL vs David Finlay which means HOT vs War Dogs in a rematch from Dominion. Finlay gets the win this time with help from the shelaileigh

 

NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 12 - 05.08.2025
I know its part of why the G1 is so revered but does Tanahashi really need to be working these undercard tags, getting thrown into chairs and taking dragon screws on those knackered knees?! Poor guy! Next up to be fed to The Alpha was YOSHI-HASHI who did a pretty good job to get the crowd behind him, and even had them biting on a near fall after a senton from the top rope. Ultimately Takeshita decided enough was enough, hit YOSHI-HASHI with a huge knee and got the win with a Raging Fire. ELP vs Drilla was 5 minutes of ELP just hitting Drilla with everything. Attack is the best form of defence and Drilla was just overwhelmed by the spirit of ELP. In quick succession ELP his two CR2s and then a really nasty looking piledriver (stop, he's already dead) before making sure its over with a big splash. Main event pits Shingo against ZSJ. Or should I say Shing-nooooo as his tournament is now over A real hard hittng afair where Zack had to resort to stealing one with a quick rollup after just surviving a Made In Japan. After the match ZSJ said he felt like all his bones had been pushed out of his arse which sounds pretty painful

 

NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 13 - 07.08.2025
There was a great moment on the undercard where Drilla somehow got Hartley Jackson up for the Drilla Killer but luckily escaped. The Drilla Killer is soooooooo over at the moment and I love how its not overused. Tanahashi and SANADA have a stinker although the good news is The Ace gets the win which ends SANADA's tournament. Yuya Uemura takes on Ryohei Oiwa in a fantastic match that is perhaps a glimpse of the future. There's a really lovely closing stretch of counters and reversals which culminates in Yuya grabbing hold of the underam suplex. He looks straight at Oiwa, who is shaking his head frantically trying to fight back, but he can't escape and is launched over the head of Yuya which gives the mini ace another two points. Main event pits David Finlay against Yota Tsuji. Finlay tries to get the powerbomb but Tsuji uses his Lucha libre experience to escape. All going well for Tsuji until he goes for the Marlowe crash, which Finlay avoids and finally hits the powerbomb! Momentum now with Finlay and the bombs keep landing, including a nasty looking suplex into neck breaker and even hits his own version of the Marlowe crash! Tsuji now desperate so goes for the spear but eats a big knee and then an overkill from Finlay. It’s too much for Tsuji who can’t kick out from the cover, and Finlay’s G1 is still alive

 

NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 14 - 08.08.2025
Nearing the end of the tournament now and Tanahashi is still being dragged out for these undercard tags even though he can barely move bless him. Drilla Maloney and ZSJ had a good match, yet again all built round the Drilla Killer, which Zack manages to avoid. I love the quick tap out finish to remind everyone that Zack can get you from anywhere. Shingo vs Ren Narita has lots more HOT shenanigans but you can't deny the crowd reactions it gets so I can see why they keep going with it. I love how Dakai Nagai gets involved to fight off the HOT which is a big no no for Young Lions. He has to pay a fine every time he messes with a match so the poor guy must be paying to be part of New Japan at this point. Takeshita vs Umino should have been better but I struggle with Shota. He took a nasty brain buster on the outside but I did have to roll my eyes when Shota fell over getting into the ring, proper over the top melodramatic stuff that was not done well. As soon as he did eventually get back to the ring he was smashed into oblivion by a Takeshita lariat that cheered me up. Umino's timing was a bit off and he was in the wrong position occasionally which took me out of things a bit. Takeshita had Shota in a cross face chicken wing and Shota was fading, but The Alpha released the hold and went for the pin which was just a bit odd. Shota gains momentum and hits Takeshita with a lame looking lariat before finishing him off with his Second Chapter brain buster

 

NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 15 - 10.08.2025
For a man who wears comedy boots, has leopard print hair and hits people over the head with guitars SANADA is so boring. He absolutely stinks the place up with a rotten showing against Oiwa. But that was nothing compared to the absolute wet fart that was Hiroshi Tanahashi's LAST MATCH EVER IN A G1 against EVIL. HOT interference from Dick and Don brought the mood right down and Tanahashi had no fight back at all. I don't think we even had a near fall. Head scratchingly bad booking. David Finlay and Yuya Uemura tried to get things back in the main with a pretty good match, but nothing could save this from being the worst show of this years G1

 

NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 16 - 13.08.2025
YOSHI-HASHI finally gets his hands on ZSJ to try and get revenge for his BFF Goto in a pretty good Block B match. I feel bad for not gushing over this match like everyone else but something wasn’t clicking for me. Zack is a gourmet burger from the poshest restaurant in your town, with the best ingredients served up perfectly. But I think tonight I just wanted to go the burger van. Takeshita and Ren Narita battle in the last of the Block B action for this years G1. Narita’s game plan was a solid one, take out the leg of the Alpha. It starts to work when Takeshita can’t get across the ring quick enough for his big knee attack. Narita keeps working the leg when all of a sudden Takeshita hits him with a brutal looking German suplex on the back of his head. Red shoes gets taken out which opens the door for House of Torture to come in and choke the life out of the Alpha with a cable. Luckily for Takeshita he has some backup in the form of Rocky Romero to clear the room of HOT and level the playing field. Narita goes back to the leg but Takeshita fights back to give Narita a huge exploder suplex. The match is won but HOT are back to pull the ref out the ring for a good near fall. The two exchange moves and Narita manages to escape the blue thunder bomb, but worse for him he ends up taking an absolutely HUGE last ride powerbomb. Just as the match was ready to go another level and I was sat up in my chair there was more HOT shithousing, which as usual backfired on them, Takeshita grabs Narita from behind and chokes the little shit out to progress to the playoffs. 

 

NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 17 - 14.08.2025
Finlay must have watched Takeshitas match with Narita as straight away he’s attacking the leg. But he’s much more vicious with and the Alpha is struggling. Finlay's offense is spot on and he dominates most of the match all the while making it look easy. Takeshita's selling is marvelous which takes this match up to a level above your normal fayre. Things escalate further when Finlay powerbombs The Alpha off the apron through two tables ringside, but Takeshita survives and makes it back to the ring just in time. The ending stretch comes when Finlay attempts his Overkill powerbomb but The Alpha slips out and hits his own massive powerbomb, followed by a Raging Fire for the win. The main event is the Quarter Final between Shota Umino & Yota Tsuji which was my prediction for the final. Umino a little out of time and you sense a lack of chemistry between the pair. Umino locks on a cross face type move but it doesn’t look great. Big moonsault to the outside by Tsuji. Huge slaps to the chest of Umino, sweat flies as the noise rebounds around the arena. Tsuji hits a Gene blaster, reverse superplex and another gene blaster for the win.

 

NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 18 - 16.08.2025
It's semi final day! And crikey we had a bit of everything in the last two matches. First up is EVIL vs Yota Tsuji. HOT are in overdrive and we get constant interference and ref bumps. Don Fale managed to miss his timing and be late for his spot despite already being ringside, you would laugh if you weren't crying. The finish comes when Tsuji takes a powerbomb off the top turnbuckle and is knocked out. EVIL then locks in the Darkness Scorpion submission and the ref calls for the bell. Nobody knows if Tsuji was knocked out cold legit or not. I think he was personally. If its a work the finish doesn't really make sense as Tsuji didnt tap physically or verbally, nor did he help EVIL get into position. If you want Tsuji knocked out from the powerbomb just pin him there and then. Tsuji worked the next night so for his health I hope this was all a work, but I think the lights went out for real myself. Then we get the final which may be my favourite match of the whole tournament. It was a story of Zack running rings around Takeshita with various holds and submissions and all The Alpha could do was go for the massive hits. And first up was an absolutely devasting looking DDT off the apron to the floor, which is the first time I thought Zack broke his neck (there are two more to come). We are treated to more awesome looking submissions from Zack and the pace quickens. Takeshita manages to hit a Zack driver and the crowd is going mad. Zack takes a nasty looking German (potential broken neck #2) but Takeshitas knee gave out so he couldn’t get the cover. Then there's a real stiff striking exchange and Zack uppercuts Takeshitas mouthpiece out. Crowd are buzzing. Then we get to the most terrifying moment i've seen in a very long time which takes the match from amazing to unforgettable. Takeshita gets Zack up on the top rope and I think goes for a brain buster on to the top turnbuckle. But he misses and ZSJ lands on the top of his head from all the way up there (#3). The shock causes me to drop my garibaldi but somehow he has survived. As if that wasn't enough to win Takeshita proceeds to the final after a Raging Fire puts Zack down for good. *****

 

NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 19 - 17.08.2025
Massive fatigue kicking in now but here we are, finals day. EVIL vs Konosuke Takeshita and I am pleased to say the match was very good indeed. EVIL goes for the knee straight away which has been the game plan for most of Takeshita's competitors this G1. It works until The Alpha starts fighting back, which is then signal for HOT to get involved. But things for HOT don't go so well as Rocky Romero arrives to fend them off, and is joined by Zack Sabre Jr! Zack grabs Ren Narita by the ankle and drags him out of the arena to great cheers. We are then treated to a joyous ten minutes or so of exchanges, big power moves, momentum changes, submissions, strikes, and of course some EVIL shenanigans. Takeshita survives and shows off his strength with an absolutely huge Last Ride powerbomb on to EVIL, a big elbow and then wins the match, and the tournament, with his trusty Raging Fire. EVIL teased his Everything Is Evil finisher about 5 or 6 times in the match and everytime the crowd got louder and louder with the accompanying "EVIL" shout. Its a good job he didn't hit the move at all, because if he did I think the roof would have come off the building and honestly I'm not overreacting when I say that alone may have forced a face turn there and then. But as for the match itself - lovely stuff. 

Pro Wrestling NOAH

Spoiler

NOAH Star Navigation Premium 2025 - 16.08.2025
NOAH may have the best roster in Japan at the moment. They have the legends like KENTA and Marufuji, charismatic high flyers like Ozawa, absolute units like Soya and Kitamiya and then my favourite the hoss luchas who excel in the tag matches! Every show has variety and is a pleasure to watch. Talking of the two legends they main event this show in a battle that went past the 30 minute mark. The pace was a little slower than we are used to which meant they lost the crowd at points. At one point KENTA spiked Marufuji with a DDT and it got no reaction whatsoever. It was also a little untidy in places which took some of the shine off. But there also some high points with a few quick exchanges and stiff strikes which drew the crowd in. The ending stretch was a bit bizzare to be honest, KENTA kept going for the GTS but would either crumple into a ball or hit it in a very weak fashion. The GTS that put Marufuji down was one of the worst looking ones, it just hit the arms of Marufuji and was a bit of damp ending to the highly anticipated contest. I wasn't as down on it as others but would only go as far as ***. The highlight of the show was an absolutely fantastic eight man tag full of the aforementioned hoss luchas throwing themselves, and eachother, all over the place. At one point someone gets launched into the front row to gasps from the crowd. I loved it ****1/2

Dragon Gate

Spoiler

DG Dangerous Gate 2025 - 17.08.2025
Somebody should have told ISHIN & Homare that they were opening the card, they were battling like their lives depended on it! Great showing! 55 year old Masaaki Mochizuki hit a lovely looking moonsault to the outside in his attempt to win the Brave Gate Championship. He lost to champ Ryoya Tanaka in a nice little match. The hoss luchas, who impressed me so much at last nights NOAH show, are back in a 2/3 falls match for the Open The Triangle Gate Championships. Bendito, Flamita & Luis Mante defend against NOAH’s Alpha Wolf, Dragon Bane and Super Crazy. Team NOAH take the lead after Dragon Bane hits a lovely looking Made In Japan on to Flamita for the first fall. The crowd are stunned to silence - the trios belts are a fall away from being lost to outsiders. Flamita gets revenge on Dragon Bane, pinning him after a 450 splash to level at 1-1. The pace increases and we’re treated to some lovely exchanges with Alpha Wolf and Dragon Bane in particular shining bright. The crowd are relieved when Luis Mante rolls Super Crazy up in a tight pin to retain the belts and cap off a very entertaining match. Main event has Shun Skywalker defending the belt in a fairly average match which was plagued with interference from the Z-Brats. Although unlike HOT in New Japan, the Z-Brats actually helped their man win the title! What finally put Skywalker away was a nasty looking piledriver that folded the Japanese Venom up like an accordian, then a big lariat. Madoka Kikuta is now champ and Shun Skywalker will want revenge on the Z-Brats

Waters44's Must See Matches since 1st July

Spoiler

NJPW - Taichi vs Tomohiro Ishii vs Satoshi Kojima vs Chase Owens - G1 Climax 35 Block A Play-In Gauntlet Match - NJPW New Japan Soul 2025 Night 9 - 06.07.2025

DRAGONGATE - YAMATO vs Shun Skywalker - Open The Dream Gate Championship - Dragongate Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival 2025 - 13.07.2025

FREEDOMS - Toru Sugiura vs Yusaku Ito - King of FREEDOM Championship - Glass Board & Fluorescent Lighttubes Alpha Deathmatch - FREEDOMS / Jun Kasai Produce Tokyo Death Match Carnival 2025 Vol 1 - 19.07.2025

NOAH - Ozawa vs Kenoh - GHC Heavyweight Championship - NOAH 25th Anniversary ~ New Departure Night 1 - 19.07.2025

NJPW - Konosuke Takeshita vs ELP - G1 Climax 35 Block B - NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 2 - 20.07.2025

NOAH - Kenoh vs KENTA - GHC Heavyweight Championship - NOAH 25th Anniversary ~ New Departure Night 2 - 20.07.2025

NJPW - David Finlay vs Taichi - G1 Climax 35 Block A - NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 3 - 21.07.2025

NJPW - Yota Tsuji vs Yuya Uemura - G1 Climax 35 Block A - NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 3 - 21.07.2025

NJPW - Zack Sabre Jr vs ELP - G1 Climax 35 Block B - NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 6 - 26.07.2025

NJPW - Konosuke Takeshita vs Shingo Takagi - G1 Climax 35 Block B - NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 6 - 26.07.2025

NJPW - Konosuke Takeshita vs David Finlay - G1 Climax 35 Block B - NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 17 - 14.08.2025

NOAH - Alpha Wolf, Dragon Bane, Galeno & Super Crazy vs Bendito, Flamita, Luis Mante & Calibus - NOAH Star Navigation Premium 2025 - 16.08.2025

NJPW - Konosuke Takeshita vs Zack Sabre Jr - G1 Climax 35 Semi Final - NJPW G1 Climax 35 Night 18 - 16.08.2025

 

 

Edited September 16, 2025 by waters44

[The King Of Swing]

I really need to get back into NOAH. 

[waters44]

1 hour ago, The King Of Swing said:

I really need to get back into NOAH. 

Now’s a good time as the N1 has just started!

[The King Of Swing]

Had to wait a few days for this one to be uploaded to Stardomworld.

Spoiler

September 15th Stardom in Nagano.

Waka Tsukiyama, Hanako (Empress Nexus Venus) & Hazuki Vs. Hina, Ranna Yagami (God's Eye) & Koguma. 

Tag team partners Hazuki and Koguma, on opposite sides of the ring for this one. 

For the most part a proper house show match, with the usual Kuma comedy spots from Koguma. 

Picks up a little near the end. Hina, eventually catches Hanako with the Gedo Clutch, for the win.

Rian (Empress Nexus Venus) Vs. Ema Maishima Vs. Kikyo Furusawa. 

Rian rolls up Ema, in a passable three way.

Nothing much to say about this one. Pretty standard rookie stuff. 

Bea Priestley & Yuria Hime (Stars) Vs. Bozilla & Akira Kurogane (Mi Vida Loca). 

Bozilla puts Yuria away with a piledriver, in an average tag team match. MVL really suffer without Suzu, Rina and Itsuki, bringing the attitude.

Babyface Bea, is going to take some getting used to.

Bozilla sells a little too much for my taste, in this one. Though at least she got the win. 

Hanan, Saya Iida & Momo Kohgo (Stars) Vs. Rina, Natsuko Tora & Konami (H.A.T.E). 

Things finally pick up with an entertaining trios match. H.A.T.E get the win, after Rina crushes Momo, with the double knees from the top rope. 

Rina and Konami, with the post match trash talk. 

Saori Anou, Natsupoi, Yuna Mizumori, Aya Sakura & Sayaka Kurara (Cosmic Angels) Vs. Ami Sohrei, Lady C, Saki Kashima, Tomoka Inaba & Kiyoka Kokatsu (God's Eye). 

Saki catches Yuna with the dreaded Kishikaisei, to get the win for God's Eye.

Decent ten woman tag.

Add Aya Vs. Kiyoka, to the list of one on one matches, I wouldn't mind seeing. Wouldn't be a classic but I could see it being a fun little scrap.

Main Event.

Starlight Kid, AZM & Miyu Amasaki (Neo Genesis) Vs. Saya Kamitani, Momo Watanabe & Azusa Inaba (H.A.T.E).

Good trios match to close the show. Saya and AZM, give a teaser for their upcoming double title match, with a decent exchange early in the match. 

In the end, AZM puts Azusa away with the diving double foot stomp, to get the win for Neo Genesis. 

Watchable house show, though not as fun as the last couple of shows. 

[waters44]

I’ve noticed that on a few of the recent BJW uploads to YouTube there has been an “Auto dubbed” option. I guess it’s AI that basically translates any Japanese it picks up into English. Quite funny to hear a very calm sounding American voice say “Get off get off get off get off” when Kobayashi is getting choked out by a rope or something

It could be a bit of a game changer for us foreigners who enjoy the misc puro promotions with no English. For example the BJW wrestlers always do mini interviews after the matches which have always been a waste of time for me… until now. 

It’s clearly early days but this could be really cool in the future. A half decent English translation of some Japanese commentary of old puro could be quite interesting! 

[TildeGuy~!]

Iyo Sky is returning to Marigold for a show to wrestle Mayu Iwatani on October 26th.

[The King Of Swing]

Just read on reddit that tomorrow's Stardom Korakuen show, will stream live on YouTube. 

Main event is the big double title matche between Word of Stardom champion Saya Kamitani and NJPW Strong Woman's champion AZM.

Apparently it's sold out. I honestly thought that Stardom would see a drop in business after all the departures and Tam Nakano retired, but if anything it's been the opposite. 

Saya Kamitani in particular has been amazing at the top. 

Very interested in the upcoming title match. At first I predicted a draw but booking under Okada (no not that Okada) has been unpredictable enough that I could see it going either way.

There's a part of me thinking that maybe AZM gets the title and feuds with Momo Watanabe, over it.

On the other hand Saya wins and starts teasing division within H.A.T.E. 

Some fans seem convinced that Saya Vs. Mone, is the plan, but I have no idea where that idea is coming from.

[lanky316]

I get the impression that the Rossy situation lit a spark in Stardom, Okada (not that one) had already been working hard to deal with the issues internal people had before he took and I feel Marigold may have been some time too late judging by the lack of exodus while I think it'd have been a more definitive split even a year earlier. The remaining talent and the general booking since then have been generally fantastic top to bottom. The Nakano retirement match and the final shot of them sitting on the ramp with the feathers falling is one of my favourite images of the year. On the whole Stardom have been firing on all cylinders over the last couple of years and have taken everything in their stride, some great parts of the team have moved on but on the whole it's not really affected them and it's amazing that they actually seem to have reached even higher despite all that.

[waters44]

If anyone has an interest in Big Japan there’s a new series of videos documenting its history which are being released every three months or so. So far it’s some great viewing, and akin to the legendary History of FMW series by BretFMW.

The videos are unlisted to get around copyright issues but hopefully the links below work. 

1995

1996

1997

1998

 

Also this is in my watch list but I haven’t got to it yet. It’s certainly a must watch before 4th January. Long live The Ace!

 

[Dai]

Thanks for those! Will definitely be watching those the next few days now. Not much better things in wrestling than mid 90s Puro for me.

[Merzbow]

Big thanks, Big Japan from that era is a slight blind spot for me as I was more obsessed with FMW, IWA and W*ING so I'll likely try and source some events and matches to go with them vids.

[Kamran]

Wrestle Kingdom 20 is on tomorrow, from a sold-out Tokyo Dome.

You can watch by buying a 1-month membership ($9.99) to NJPW World HERE.

MATCHES

• Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (This is Tanahashi's retirement match)
• IWGP World Heavyweight Championship & IWGP Global Heavyweight Championship - Winner takes all: Konosuke Takeshita (World) vs. Yota Tsuji (Global)    
• IWGP Women's Championship & Strong Women's Championship - Winner takes all: Saya Kamitani (Strong) vs. Syuri (IWGP)
• NEVER Openweight Championship: Evil (c) vs. Aaron Wolf
• El Desperado vs. Kosei Fujita vs. Taiji Ishimori vs. Sho (Four-way match to determine the #1 contender for IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship)
• Bullet Club War Dogs (David Finlay, Gabe Kidd, and Drilla Moloney) and Unaffiliated (Shingo Takagi and Hiromu Takahashi) vs. United Empire (Andrade El Ídolo, Callum Newman, Great-O-Khan, Henare, and TBA) 
• NEVER Openweight 6-Man Tag Team Championship - Ranbo: Toru Yano and Spiritech (Master Wato and Yoh) (c) vs. Tiger Mask, Togi Makabe, and Ryusuke Taguchi vs. Boltin Oleg and Bishamon (Hirooki Goto and Yoshi-Hashi) vs. Team 150 (Tomohiro Ishii, Taichi and Satoshi Kojima) vs. House of Torture (Ren Narita, Sanada, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) vs. TMDK (Zack Sabre Jr., Ryohei Oiwa, and Hartley Jackson) vs. Kaisei Takechi and RoughStorm (Shota Umino and Yuya Uemura) vs. Bullet Club War Dogs (Clark Connors, Oskar, and Yuto-Ice)

Pre-show:

• NJPW World Television Championship: El Phantasmo (c) vs. Chris Brookes
• Shoma Kato and Tatsuya Matsumoto vs. Katsuya Murashima and Masatora Yasuda

 

 

Edited January 4 by Kamran

[JLM]

Please can spoilers for this be tagged! Hoping to watch the big ones spoiler free.
 

Praying that they go for Okada over Tanahashi to set up Yota Tsuji avenging that loss down the line, FINALLY getting behind him properly as the next ace. 

Fascinated to see how Aaron Wolf does. Hell of a lot riding on that one. 

Takeshita/Tsuji will be ridiculous once again. 
 

Justice for Uemura and Oiwa relegated to the Ranbo. 

[JLM]

Only watched Takeshita vs Tsuji so far: 

Spoiler

IWGP World Heavyweight title vs IWGP Global Heavyweight title. Konosuke Takeshita vs Yota Tsuji 

Sooo the whole title situation here…

Tsuji is the Global heavyweight champion. This is the second ranked men’s singles title in New Japan. Takeshita is IWGP World Heavyweight champ, the top title. This match is for both titles and is winner takes all, but it is not to unify them. Both titles will remain separate.
 

However! If Tsuji wins, he intends to revert the IWGP World Heavyweight title back to the IWGP Heavyweight title. The belt Takeshita holds was only created in 2021 when the IWGP Intercontinental and IWGP Heavyweight titles were merged together to create the IWGP World Heavyweight title. As such, it has a short lineage, and Tsuji wants to restore the connection to the original IWGP Heavyweight title, which has a title history dating back to Inoki in 1987. He does not intend to revive the Intercontinental title. Thank god for that. I think this is what Tony Khan would read instead of watching porn. 

Anyway, as convoluted as that is, I do think it’s a great storyline touch and added incentive. The whole point of this rivalry, this match and Tsuji’s (infuriatingly booked!) journey here is that he lives and breathes New Japan. He wants to be IWGP heavyweight champion like Fujinami, Choshu and Inoki. He does not want to be the latest holder of the shiny new belt from the shiny new era held by a shiny newcomer who doesn’t even shiny go to this school. 

This is the third in their series. Takeshita beat Tsuji in their 2024 G1. He tried to go blow for blow with The Alpha and he did not have enough. Tsuji beat Takeshita in the 2025 G1 buuut Takeshita was heavily injured gong into the match and, despite the loss, Takeshita won the whole dang tournament. 

This is the one Tsuji simply has to win. Tokyo dome, 45,000, for the top singles title at an incredibly historically significant show saying goodbye to The Ace. If there was ever a time for one of these poor bastard overlooked next gen musketeers to pick up the god damn torch, this is it. 
 

However, sadistically denying “THIS IS THE MOMENT” moments is what Gedo does instead of watching porn. Tsuji 1000000000% HAS to win this. It should be the most predictable outcome of all time for all of the right reasons, but because that mad man holds the pencil I cannot be sure. Is this the genius of the man? No. He has done so much damage to his young roster of excellent next in line prospects that I won’t give him the credit. It did add SO MUCH drama to this though. 
 

I will firstly say that this did not need to be 29 minutes. These two guys are explosive, they are bomb throwers, they are haymaker enjoyers. The first ten minutes, although they did feature one of the finest slaps I have ever heard from Tsuji and establish the story of Takeshita working the neck and Tsuji the body, could still have been trimmed and the match would be better for it. 
 

That said, once they got down to business this was a thrill ride until the end and I was actually saying things out loud and punching the air in my room on my own. Many many highlights; multiple instances of Tsuji landing devastating body blows when Takeshita looked set to knock him out, Tsuji landing the bastard driver into wheelbarrow, Takeshita responding with a Gene blast, an absolutely astonishing avalanche blue thunder bomb. The nods to each other’s offense, the nods to their previous outings, Tsuji busting out the Ultimo Guerrero special. I was biting on near falls, my jaw was a-dropping etc etc. 

More important though, was that with each passing minute you could hear more of the 45,000 gradually realising that Tsuji’s moment was finally coming to pass. They got louder and louder and louder for him in a way that I have never  heard before. He is popular for sure, he gets reactions every time, but I hadn’t heard the whole crowd willing him to win quite like this before this match. 

Boy did he give them some bad ass shit to cheer as well! The power drive knee from Takeshita hadn’t been able to put him down in this bout on more than one occasion. Late on, Takeshita makes a little acknowledgement of the Shinsuke Nakamura armband he’s wearing, pulls down the knee pad and prepares to deliver a Nakamura Boma Ye-infused knee strike. Tsuji is not losing today though, so he springs up to his feet and meets Takeshita with an utterly glorious headbutt. His hair is over his face after this, allowing him to flick it back and reveal the best Tsuji smile of his career:

The Tsuji snarl of psychotic determination. This moment is when you know he’s winning the match.  
 

Positively thrilling closing stretch after that, culminating in the ultimate cherry on top. Before the match, Tsuji had been scoffing at the stats regarding Takeshita’s in-ring time in the G1. Takeshita has had plenty of matches and plenty of epics, but where was he on night 17 of the world tag league in a tiny venue outside of Tokyo doing the touring grind? He is New Japan’s champion, he is the G1 champion, but he has never done it on a rainy night in Stoke. Tsuji has wrestled every single rainy night because wrestling for New Japan is all he wants to do. 
 

So what does he do to hammer this point home after landing the match winning Gene Blaster spear in the centre of the ring? He locks on the Young Lion Special. The signature finishing move of the black trunked, fresh faced New Japan rookie, the classic Boston Crab. Takeshita fights, he struggles, but the body and back damage is too much and he has to give in. I cannot stress enough how much I loved this finish. Perfection. 
 

Not a perfect match, but a belter nonetheless and a long overdue career defining victory for Tsuji that I was overjoyed to see. 9 stars. 
 

Now Tsuji is going to drag everyone up there with him and we see Oiwa and Uemura in the mix by the end of the year right? RIGHT? 

Edited January 7 by JLM