I had another busy month in July, but unlike the last couple of times that’s happened, this was almost entirely for fun reasons. There was a Japanese exam at the start, but the rest was music festivals and seeing some of my favourite people, so I didn’t have much time to devote to wrestling. Despite that, I think I managed to watch a respectable amount! It’s all fairly on brand, as I didn’t stray too far outside of my usual promotions, but they’re my go-to places for a reason. They’re great.
Mei Suruga vs Sayaka Obihiro, MAKE@IKUSA (26/6/25), ChocoPro
The feeling around a match is often as important as the match itself. Everyone has seen some decent wrestling have its heart ripped out by a crowd that doesn’t care, while mediocre action can be elevated to legendary status by fans committed to its every breath. Sure, you can be convinced to care about something you didn’t expect to enjoy and let down by a match you thought was a sure thing, but a part of your enjoyment is always going to be influenced by what you’re bringing to the table. All of which is my way of setting up that the odds were heavily stacked against me ever disliking this match.
A huge part of which comes down to my affection for Sayaka Obihiro. Obi is the kind of wrestler every company needs. A reliable hand who can be slotted anywhere in the card and trusted to fulfil her role. She’s been at Emi Sakura’s side longer than roster mate Kaho Hiromi has been alive, and while she’s had her injury issues over the years, there has rarely been a time when Obi wasn’t a part of what Sakura was doing. Yet, when I write about her like that, I feel like I’m doing her a disservice. That I’m placing her in the role of an old faithful dog, no longer able to play or run like they once did, but still beloved because of their long companionship. To categorise her as such ignores the fact that Obi is still only in her 30s and, as this match proved, more than capable of crafting an exciting contest when the time comes.
And where Obi shines is her ability to tap into emotion. Like her Popcorn Carnival partner Chie, Obi wears her feelings on her face, and in a big match, when she’s up against it, they shine out across the room. There was no doubt that Obihiro was outmatched here. Mei is younger, quicker, and more aggressive. She had a plan, as she went after Obi’s arm from the start, and there were periods in this match where it looked like the veteran was going to struggle to get a grasp of the action. Mei was always wrestling a step ahead. However, Obi has proven before that she doesn’t give up. I think back to her match with Emi Sakura on Sakura’s 25th anniversary show, when she was exhausted and beaten, but kept dragging herself back up, trying to give her boss the competition she wanted. This outing wasn’t quite as dramatic, but with Obi challenging for the Super Asia title for the time, it clearly meant everything to her. Even as Mei controlled the action, Obi never stopped fighting. The whole thing was captured beautifully by her long struggle to hit a suplex, and the relief when she finally brought Suruga over, only to be unable to follow up on it. Obi’s heart was never lacking, but her body didn’t have enough to get it over the line.
While it feels a bit boring to heap more praise on Mei, especially considering how much time I’ve devoted to her over the years, it does have to be said. This was also a fantastic Suruga performance. She was cruel and aggressive in her assault on Obi’s arm, and when it came time for the veteran to earn her catharsis, Mei made it all look great. Suruga has shown (particularly in Ichigaya) that she’s not afraid to be the bad guy, and while these fans supported Obi rather than turning on Mei, she brought a lot of that into this match. On a day when everyone was celebrating her opponent, Mei was happy to be the one to piss all over their chips.
It wasn’t about Sayaka Obihiro winning, though. I would have loved it, but I’m not even sure Obi would have argued it was the right move. Instead, it was a match about the emotion of her getting that shot. To go back to the start, while I never for a second thought this was bad, it was 100% elevated by how much I care about Obi. I didn’t just want to see her compete on this stage, I wanted to see her thrive on it, to capture the magic of her career and show up this young Apple upstart. To my eyes, she did that. Everything was against her, particularly as her arm was ripped apart, but Obi kept fighting, and towards the end, when she caught Mei with a touch of Obi Magic, there was even a moment where I believed she might do it. She didn’t, but as the tears that overwhelmed her in the aftermath showed, this still meant everything, and that’s all that matters.
Momoka Hanazono vs Chi Chi, Evolution #36 (5/7/25), Evolution
Be honest now, did anyone see the Barbie wrestler becoming this? It’s been clear for a while now, but she’s nothing like I expected. Maybe I should have predicted it, considering who trained her, but the moment when she booted Momoka in the head rather than sanctioning her buffonery was beautifully simple in its violence. Are all Barbie fans like this? Are there secret Barbie fight clubs out there? If so, remind me to stay away from them.
And with the fans in Chi Chi’s corner for this semi-final match in the Evolution Title tournament, things were perfectly positioned for Momoko to show off, not for the first time, that she’s a hell of a protagonist. It’s easy to focus on her nonsense, and I love it, but she’s a violent wee goblin. I’ve seen her lean more heel than she did here, but she was still needling away at Chi Chi and these fans. The same silliness that works in YMZ can be turned nasty very easily. Plus, she knows to lean into those strikes, and her repeatedly booting Chi Chi in the head only riled people up further. They wanted to see that chaos goblin get her comeuppance.
These early show semi-finals are difficult. It’s hard to know how much to give away without exhausting the wrestler who is going to have to come out again later that night. I think they nailed it here, though. Momoka challenged Chi Chi, getting the fans behind her and pushing her to go that little bit harder than she would have hoped. Her success, however, didn’t feel like the final act. She’d overcome a hurdle, but not scrambled over the finishing line, and I came out of this wanting to see her go again. It was yet more proof that this Barbie is so much more than she appeared to be.
Pom Harajuku vs HIMAWARI, Yoshiko Hasegawa Gradutation Commemoration Event: ‘NonfictioN’ (8/7/25), TJPW
Long-term readers will know this kind of match is wrestling catnip for me. The Pom antics alone were enough to make it a winner in my eyes, as she came out sporting two comically large braids to counter HIMAWARI’s usual hair shenanigans. When you throw in HIMAWARI hopping around the ring when she had her legs tied together with one of said braids, we’ve got a doubly good time on our hands.
However, what really impressed me here was the performance of TJPW’s newest (and first full-time) referee, Fumirin. She’s been around for a few months now, but has never really stood out to me before. Not in a negative way. Many would argue that you shouldn’t notice the referee, which has been the case more often than not. However, both TJPW and DDT have proven over the years that sometimes the ref needs to match the energy of the wrestlers in the ring. From her practically taking a bump from Pom’s pre-match noises (I like that every ref has their own reaction to that rather than just mimicking Kiso), to being dragged into the action, to her range of facial expressions at the various bits of nonsense, it felt like the most personality we’ve seen from her so far. While one assumes it’s that she has now been around long enough to feel comfortable, it was also a good sign for her future. We can’t have a ref who doesn’t have at least a little bit of nonsense in their soul.
Miu Watanaba vs Shoko Nakajima, TJPW Live in Dallas (13/7/25), TJPW
Let’s get the boring stuff out of the way – this wasn’t as good as their last match. That’s not an insult. Very few matches are. They were in America, and while the crowd was big, these shows are always somewhat non-canon, and the fans were so excited to be there that they were going to lap up anything they did. It didn’t have to be better than their last match, and I don’t think anyone would hold it against them for not giving it their all. Particularly as what they did give was still a strong tribute to what came before.
The beauty of Shoko Nakajiima and Miu Watanabe as a pairing is that Miu is a puzzle for Shoko to solve. On paper, Nakajima is the better wrestler. She’s more technically adept, quicker and has years of experience on Watanabe. However, Miu is stronger, and while Shoko is ahead in all of those things, she’s close enough that her power is enough to level the playing field. It was shown in the early grappling. Miu doesn’t have to do anything better than Nakajima. She simply has to do the basics with brute force behind them, and that’s enough to keep her in control.
And this is a match-up that makes the basics mean something. There was a moment here where Miu hits that most simple of wrestling moves, a bodyslam, but with such pep and power that it feels devastating. It’s not something they’re throwing out for the sake of it. They’re using it as a genuine cutoff, something that you can imagine causing the air to explode from your lungs. On top of that, it played into Miu’s tactics, as she zeroed in on Nakajima’s back, clubbing away at it whenever she got the chance. I know this is the kind of bollocks that every wrestling intellectual on Twitter spouts at the drop of a hat, but something basic done with purpose will always mean more than any number of fancy moves thrown into the wind.
As for Shoko, what more needs to be said? She’s incredible. It really felt like she was running through her options, getting more inventive as Miu cut off her avenues into the match. She’d take a regular move like the 619 and alter it, finding a new route into it to catch Watanabe off guard. On top of that, when it came time to be thrown around, she made everything Miu did look devastating, bumping and selling her ass off. She’s since gone on to get a win over Miu at Summer Sun Princess (admittedly in a tag environment), and it was made all the more impactful by how hard she worked here to make it feel like Watanabe had her number.
My final observation is that it was nice to see Miu accept being booed. It’s an observation that friend of the site Sebastian at Unmanned Local Train has made before, but when wrestling foreign talent, you can see Watanabe’s desperation to get along with them. She, understandably, wants to make a good impression. So, when these fans started turning on her, rooting Shoko on against her onslaught, I was expecting her to take a step back. Instead, she leaned into it, flashing that slightly devilish grin as she barrelled onward, not necessarily wrestling heelish, but making sure that everything hurt. It suggested a confidence that Miu has perhaps lacked when out of her comfort zone and was one of the many things that made this a must-see.
Magenta (Maria & Riko Kawahata) & Johnnie Robbie vs Spark Rush (Takumi Iroha & Sareee) & Sora Ayame, Marvelous (13/7/25), Marvelous
There’s something quietly magical happening between Sora Ayame and the Marvelous’ fans. The more withdrawn of their two rookies is a babyface from the tips of her boots to the top of her head, and while Senka might be grabbing all the attention outside of the promotion, it’s starting to feel like it’s Ayame who the fans have taken to their heart. With Magenta and Robbie leaning all the way heel in this match, it was Sora who was given the room to shine, taking her beating and setting up a final flurry of flash pins that had this crowd roaring her on. With Magenta’s heel turn having been sparked by a loss to Ayame, there was a belief in that room that she could win and, most importantly, they wanted her to do it.
And while I think it’s easy to point to Sora’s awkward endearing nature as to why she’s been taken into their hearts, I don’t think that’s the only reason. A lot of it has to come from her performances. Outside the ring, on the mic, or even when making her entrance, Ayame still comes across as a touch stiff and self-aware. She hasn’t relaxed yet into being the centre of attention (which is more than understandable). In the ring, though, she comes alive. It’s like her face wakes up, the expressiveness that is lacking elsewhere, shining through as she gets the shit kicked out of her. There were the little yelps of pain, but also the glee with which she repeatedly ran across Kawahata, finally getting some licks in of her own with the help of Sareee and Iroha. Then, during that final flurry, every flash pin was accompanied by kicking feet and desperation. Sora’s personality is never more on show than when she’s wrestling.
Credit also has to go to the heels. Maria and Riko have been throwing a lot of stuff into the ring as they figure out their act, but I came out of this match feeling like the way to polish it is have them face off against Ayame as often as possible. They’re perfect foils for each other, as Sora gets to continue to figure out how to play the underdog babyface she so clearly is, and Magenta get a likeable, popular opponent to bully. It might not always be Sareee and Iroha paired up with the rookie, but it worked brilliantly here. The heels isolated Sora from the cavalry, building up to the payoff of the two scene powerhouses hitting the ring. I also really enjoy that no babyface is safe to run the ropes when they’re around, as there is a pretty good chance they’re going to get their ankles snatched.
It was Sora’s match, though. She was the one who captured my attention, and it was her performance I came out of the other side thinking about. I suspect I’m not alone in that either. I’ve said it before, but all the attention is currently on Senka, and while it’s deserved, the world is missing the spark that is in Ayame. If she can keep figuring this stuff out, relaxing into her role, and bringing the fans with her, there is every chance she’ll be just as exciting as the powerful rookie next to her.
Team Marvelous (Mio Momono & Ai Houzan) vs Team Marigold (Mayu Iwatani & Komomo Minami), Burning Desire (16/7/25), Marigold
Mio vs Mayu is a ticket shifter, ain’t it? They knew it, too. Momono did not approach this match like someone who had spent five months on the sidelines. Whether it was the hot crowd, her excitement at facing Iwatani or simply the thrill of being back in a wrestling ring, the spark flickered to life in Momono’s eyes. She was hitting and bumping hard, including crumpling up in mid-air from Mayu catching her with a kick as she flew towards her with a crossbody. As I discussed in my ramble about her return match, Mio doesn’t know how to take it easy, but even by her standards, this was a driven performance. She could taste that it had the potential to be the start of something special.
Sadly, I do have to admit that this wasn’t just the Mio Momono show. While I’m generally cold towards Marigold and Stardom, you can take it as a given that Mayu is among the wrestlers whom I don’t place fault at the feet of for that. She was happy to match Mio here, their every interaction feeling fierce and aggressive. We only got a fraction of what you’d expect to see them do here, but even with their fairly basic back-and-forths, you could see the potential for it all to bubble over. The best inter-promotional work has always got a touch of hate underneath the surface, and while I wouldn’t go as far as saying they were at that level yet, the kindling was being put in place. Now all we need is something to light the match.
As for the kids, I thought they more than held up their bargain. For all my dislike of it, there is now no denying that the shoot pinfall loss to Senka has been a turning point in Ai’s career. She’s wrestling better and with more confidence as she stomped on toes and flew into dropkicks. Funnily enough, that humiliation seems to have lifted a weight from her shoulders, perhaps because she’s decided that it can’t get any worse. As for Komomo, I either haven’t come across her before or she didn’t make an impact, but I was impressed. She’s quick on her feet, but more importantly, when Mio slapped her across the face, she didn’t hesitate to give it back. A few of the Marigold rookies leave me cold, but she might join Yamaoka in being someone to keep an eye on.
On a show where the two title matches did nothing for me, it was this and the rookie tag that kept the Marigold and Marvelous feud alive. I came out the other end feeling like I would be happy to watch any combo of these wrestlers fight for the pride of their company, but we all know the match that we really want. Erina Yamanaka can get involved all she wants, but it’s Mio vs Mayu where the excitement lies.
Emi Sakura vs Soy, It’s Timeee (18/7/25), ChocoPro
I can’t count the number of times I’ve watched Emi Sakura work a match against a younger wrestler where she comes in cocky, gets caught off guard and almost pays the price. I’ve seen her do it with everyone from a 9-year-old Riho to a current-day Mei Suruga. In many ways, it’s the match I must associate with Sakura. Few people are better at structuring the action around letting a youngster shine, and the reason that she keeps going back to it is that it works.
Here, against a known ChocoPro fan, she came out of the gate aggressively, throwing her cloak in Soy’s face to get the upper hand early on. It’s rare for Emi to be paired up with someone who can match her physically. She’s spent most of her career training tricky little goblins, with the glaring exception being the sadly long departed Yunamon. While she has no tendency to pull back against those smaller, lighter wrestlers, you can tell that’s even more comfortable laying it on Soy, confident that she can take it. On the flipside, Soy is also capable of giving it back. There was a great moment early on when Soy hit a slam and Sakura bounced to her feet, no-selling it, only to walk into a second one. She’s not used to wrestling people who can throw her around, and that gives Soy the opening to match power with power.
Another key point of these matches over the years is Sakura’s desire to show up her younger opponents. She’s not afraid of being the pantomime villain, leaning into the buffonery that comes with that, and when Soy started dishing out some heavy slaps to the body, Emi raised her hands to try to match her. It doesn’t matter that it was a dumb idea – she can’t take being outdone by a lesser wrestler, and she was promptly punished for her attempt. That moment has a lasting effect on the match, too, as Soy’s strikes sapped Sakura’s power, weakening those usually vicious chops to the extent that it felt like we were seeing the return of Emi Pencil.
Importantly, though, this wasn’t just Sakura making Soy look good. Soy can do that by herself. She may be young in her career, but she has a talent for getting a lot out of a little. When she was throwing those already mentioned strikes, she made sure one landed square on Sakura’s famously weak back, ramping up the consequences with a single blow. On top of that, you see how she works her single-leg crab, never content to sit and leave Emi to do the work, or the way she grabbed Sakura around the waist as she moved off to hit the ropes, cutting off her momentum before it could get going. Soy feels like a student of the game, someone who isn’t just focusing on all the moves they can hit, but how they can make them mean something. Dare I say it, but she specifically feels like a student of ChocoPro, a Sakuraist who didn’t come of age in the system, but is so clearly influenced by it.
Of course, she didn’t win, but there was a victory in the finish, as Emi snuck out of there after transitioning from a jackknife into a La Magistral. This was far from definitive, as there was a sense that Sakura felt she needed to get out of town before things went south. Even more interestingly, when Soy’s hero applauded her and offered to shake her hand in the aftermath, she was having none of it, batting Emi away with a forearm. We’ve all got used to quiet, awkward and lovely Soy, but there’s some steel lurking under that outer demeanour, and the more I see it come to the surface, the more I’m convinced there’s something special about her.
DASH Chisako vs Hazuki, Sendai Girls (19/7/25), Sendai Girls
DASH Chisako’s hardcore matches at big Sendai shows have a formula. There are certain beats they’re going to hit, be that the frequent chair use or the always-present tumble from a ladder in the ring to a table on the outside. However, it’s a damn cool formula, and it’s increasingly clear that wrestlers want to be part of it. In the last few years, DASH has wrestled everyone from Veny to Aja Kong to Momo Watanabe in this format. Now, we can add Hazuki to that list.
And no one is going to be surprised to learn that Hazuki was up for this one. Hardcore matches do allow you to work around someone unsure of the environment, as it would be easy for DASH to be the one to take all the big spots, but there was none of that here. Hazuki was flying off ladders, having chairs hoyed at her head and giving as good as she got. She wasn’t the one to take the tumble through the table on the floor, but she did let DASH splash her from one of the orange seats entrance through a table, so she didn’t get out of this with an easy ride.
Of course, these things aren’t perfect. As I’ve mentioned, they’re formulaic, could probably use a bit of blood and do require quite a lot of furniture arranging. However, the good always makes up for the bad. DASH is cool as hell, and throwing her and Hazuki at each other is never going to be a bad thing. I’m not in the loop enough to know exactly what’s going on with her (and Koguma for that matter) and Stardom, but the more shit she’s doing like this, the happier I will be.
Kyoraku Kyomei (Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao) vs Daydream (Miu Watanabe & Rika Tatsumi), Summer Sun Princess (21/7/25), TJPW
I don’t have a huge amount new to say about this, but I did want to talk about it a little bit more. You see, this match made me feel good. It made me laugh, it excited me, and it ultimately made me cry because, well, I cry at everything, but still! My point is that I enjoyed watching these four wrestle, and while I know it’s a bit of a trite observation, I do like to go back to that now and then. This shit is fun, man! Hyper Misao, Rika Tatsumi, Shoko Nakajima and Miu Watanabe. That’s four wrestlers I want to see share a ring again and again. They’re brilliant.
There is no wider point here. I’m not going to tell you that you should enjoy all wrestling because that’s nonsense. Have you seen how shit some of it is? But it’s also nice to have wrestling that you do love. It’s so easy despair about this stuff. It’s an industry full of awful, selfish people, doing awful, selfish things, and I often think few people are as burnt out and as cynical as long-term wrestling fans. There’s still a touch of shame about liking it, as if you still have to pretend you only do it ironically and not because wrestling at its best is one of the greatest things in the world. Loving shit is cool, folks. Let yourself do it.
But yea, this match ruled. With Mio having been out for the last 5 months (although she’s back now and picking up speed), I’m more than happy to allow Shoko a shot at being my official ‘best wrestler in the world’, and her performances in matches like this are a big part of why. She’s not only brilliant individually, but she raises everyone around her, making them brilliant, too. So, when you put her with people who are also brilliant, well, you know where I’m going.
Sareee vs Ai Houzan, Riko Kawahata’s Birthday (30/7/25), Marvelous
Is it acceptable to admit that I’m bored with Big-Match-Sareee? I know conventional joshi fan wisdom is that she’s the best wrestler in the world and we should all genuflect at the altar of her stiff forearms, but she’s not, is she? She can be brilliant, and when paired with the right person, I will always want to watch a Sareee match, but the sheen has been rubbed off that particular style for me. My favourite Sareee showing are almost always up against people who won’t try to meet her on equal ground, but force her to do something a bit different – a Chihiro Hashimoto, Mio Momono or, in this case, Ai Houzan.
Not even I’m suggesting that Ai is the wrestler Big Hash or Mio are, but she’s also not someone who is going to go out and trade bombs with Sareee. She might not be a rookie, but she’s further down the totem pole. That puts Sareee in the position where she can do what she does best – be a bit of a cunt. Sareee is a fantastic bully. She spent long sections of this match laying down challenges for Houzan to try to overcome, locking her in a hold and almost seeming to revel in her attempts to escape, grinning away as Ai slowly dragged herself to the ropes. You got the impression she enjoyed Houzan showing some spirit. When they got themselves in a bit of a muddle and Sareee reverted to simply headbutting the younger wrestler, she quite liked that Ai’s response was to start headbutting her back, showing a bit of attitude alongside her defiance.
It was also, and this was perhaps the most surprising part of it, quite a generous performance. I don’t think anyone bought that Houzan was going to win, but she got her share of the action, alongside a few big kickouts. There’s been a clear switch in Ai’s booking in the last couple of months, as she’s picking up more wins and building some momentum, and that seemed to be taken into account here. She wasn’t fodder for Sareee to smash through without a backwards glance. Houzan put up a fight, and while the result was the same, she was able to walk out with her head held high.
Every year, we get a host of Sareee matches that are named as the best example of the form over the last twelve months, and I can’t imagine this one is going to make many lists. Truthfully, it won’t even make mine. As much as it appeals to me to be the kind of contrarian that holds up a small Marvelous match with Ai Houzan as Sareee’s best in 2025, I probably can’t go that far. However, I do think it’s a hell of a lot more interesting than most of the main events she’s had this year. This isn’t just Sareee going out and having a Sareee match. She’s adapting to her opponent, working with their limitations and strengths to make them look good, and coming out the other side all the better for it. If we saw more of this, I might just be willing to consider that she is the best in the world.
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