Another month, another collection of rambles about whatever nonsense I’ve been watching. A weird side effect of moving to Japan is that while I now attend a shitload more shows, I actually spend less time watching wrestling at home. However, in October there were a few exceptions to that rule, including a couple from ye olde America. Enjoy.
Sareee vs Reina Takano, BIG SHOW In Sendai (10/10/26), Sendai Girls
If Sareee spent her career wrestling people she can bully (and Big Hash), I’d understand why so many others hold her up as one of the greats. Put her across the ring from a rookie she can beat the shit out of, and Sareee makes sense. She’s focused and aggressive, refusing to give an inch in her adherence to the wrestling she believes in. Of course, she’s like that in every match, but when instructing a kid in her art, there is less chance of her indulging her worst instincts. The match will end when it’s supposed to end.
And you could argue Reina’s job was easy here. She’s not getting a whole lot against Sareee. Takano survives for nearly ten minutes, so it’s not a squash, but Sareee’s job description didn’t mention generosity. There will be plenty of chances for Sendai’s youngest member to put up a spirited defence. Here, much like against Aja Kong, it was about learning how high the wall is. However, it’s too simplistic to say all she had to do was take a beating. There is an art to such a thing. Plenty of wrestlers get beat up, and I feel nothing. When Takano is on the receiving end, I feel it all. Part of that, of course, is having watched her journey through Senjo Spirit, but it’s also about how Reina emotes. She’s got that Shino Suzuki face. It’s like she feels more emotions than other people. Every time Reina gets hit, I get a twinge of worry that she won’t get back up. Her face contorts, her body crumples, and all you want is for her to be okay.
Sendai Girls have figured it out, too. With Reina’s popularity, it would have been easy to jump the gun. To start positioning her higher up the card than she’s perhaps ready for. However, Satomura has played it right. I have my issues with her booking, but with Takano, she’s nailing it. There is no rush. She’s young, she adores wrestling, and (presuming there are no major injuries, which you can’t account for), there is plenty of time to watch her grow. Reina can sit in these opening matches, gaining inches rather than miles, and people will go with her. She’s got that magic ability to draw sympathy, and as long as that’s there, she’s going to be great.
Soy vs Chie Koishikawa, ChocoPro #548 (10/10/26), ChocoPro
Wow, this got surprisingly heated. Chie was in pure goblin mode, winding Soy up before the match. There was a time when Soy might have struggled with that, but as I noted last month, she’s figured out how to get mean.
A big part of my enjoyment of this was a live-show quirk. Soy and Chie ended up battling into the alley, vanishing down to the area in front of the elevator, which I can’t see from where I stand in Ichigaya. It meant, for a minute or so, I would get occasional flashes of one of them reappearing in the window (perfectly framed), followed by said wrestler charging back into my blind spot and inevitably making a big bang. Some might see that as a flaw, but it reminded me of the camera tricks they used to deploy during the COVID days. My imagination was more than able to fill in the gaps and, if anything, made it more fun. Live wrestling should, occasionally, be scrappy and chaotic, and Chie and Soy tapped into that perfectly. Please imagine the unseen.
Plus, this match was just really good. Early on, Chie deployed the old lifting a foot and using it to break a hammerlock tactic, and I loved watching Soy try and return the favour with a crafty escape, only to remember she didn’t have to do that and powering her way out instead. It felt like a perfect encapsulation of them both as wrestlers. Chie, the trickster menace, and Soy, the straightforward powerhouse. Somehow, this was their first singles match (they’ve been in countless tags), and it left me wanting more. They set the foundations here, but with the match going to a draw, we still have a lot more to build.
Mei Suruga & Kaho Hiromi vs Obihiro Shyokudo (Minoru Fujita & Sayaka Obihiro), ChocoPro #549 (12/10/26), ChocoPro
This was the second tag-title bout to make me cry in October (see my Wrestle Princess review for the first).
It was for a different reason than the first. Those tears came from the catharsis of seeing Haru get her moment. Here, it was all about wee Kaho’s performance. Although, as I noted on Instagram, she is now noticeably taller than Mei, so perhaps she’s graduated to big Kaho. Either way, she was brilliant. In many ways, she was entering new lands – a 17-minute-plus title challenge on a big show. That’s not the longest she’s ever wrestled, but the bulk of her career has fallen short of ten, and she’s never faced that kind of pressure. This was one of the matches they sold Back to New on.
And yet, you would never believe it was something new to her. Unlike Haru, confidence has never been an issue with Kaho. Since her first exhibition with Emi Sakura, she has proven herself a natural. What was different here was the sense that they’re starting to remove the safety gear. She’s still limited in what she can do – there were no big bumps or thudding blows. However, the brains behind the scenes at ChocoPro are trusting her with more and more, and Kaho is yet to stumble. The final act paired her up with Obi, and it was brilliant. It’s not just about watching this kid give her all, although that is part of it, but the fact that people bought into it. Watching Kaho try desperate roll-up after desperate roll-up, maneuvering her body to overcome the size difference, you started to believe she could do it.
Credit to Obi and Fujita, too. Sayaka Obihiro has been here before. She has spent a good chunk of her career working with younger wrestlers. However, she still deserves all the praise for finding ways to bring it together. It’s even more impressive with Fujita, though. Here’s a guy with years of experience, a respected grappler caked in deathmatch scars, and there wasn’t even a second of hesitation when it came time to make Kaho look good. I don’t know if it speaks to his respect for Emi Sakura, his love for ChocoPro, a soft spot for a kid he presumably knows well or just that he’s a decent guy (probably a mix of all of them), but he gave that lass her moment.
Of course, Mei was also brilliant. This match was a balancing act for her. She still had to be central to everything, but she did it in a way that never stole the spotlight away from her adoring partner. Suruga is an electric wrestler, someone I genuinely feel blessed to get to watch live as often as I do, and yet this was proof that she knows how to keep the rhythm. Everyone’s performance in this match was in aid of giving Kaho the stage, and that’s a really beautiful thing. It’s a group of adults selflessly helping a talented kid show the world what they can do, and if that doesn’t make you a bit teary-eyed, you might be dead inside.
MIRAI vs Momo Sato, Inspiration (14/10/26), TJPW
TJPW’s use of MIRAI this year has been very satisfying. They treat her like a big deal, but not an untouchable. She’s paired up with younger wrestlers and used to put people over, and considering where both Tokyo Joshi and MIRAI stand in 2026, that makes a lot of sense. I don’t think it’s a secret that my ideal MIRAI career would have been entirely based in TJPW, but maybe everything has turned out for the best. Her sticking around might have meant no Daisy Monkey.
And this was the best match of Momo Sato’s career so far. I keep forgetting that she’s 15. Mainly because she’s already taller than most of the roster, but also because of how she holds herself. She doesn’t feel like a kid. That idol past means she’s comfortable in front of a crowd, and she’s already throwing out forearms with some heft behind them. Only one person in this match finished it with a handprint on her thigh from slapping it, and it wasn’t the rookie. She found her satisfying thumps the old-fashioned way.
Perhaps more importantly, she’s taken a big step forward in her selling. In those early matches, she tended to zone out on that aspect of wrestling, but that’s no longer a problem. While I’m not about to claim she’s perfect (we’re not getting ahead of ourselves), she’s starting to show the accumulation of damage. She was moving like someone who had felt every strike and submission. I often think that’s more important than perfectly selling an arm or a knee. I can forgive someone not hyper-focusing on a limb. I can’t forgive someone who doesn’t look like they’ve taken any damage at all.
For all that I took a jab at her thigh-slapping, it was also an impressive MIRAI performance. She gave Sato the right amount. We got to see what she could do, but not too much, and at this stage in her career that’s ideal. Momo’s got a long way to go, and we’ve got plenty of time to see how she handles controlling a match. In the here and now, though, she’s impressing me more with every performance, and that’s a great place to be.
Veny vs Ayako Hamada, Bloom (16/10/26), Veny Produce Show
Veny celebrated her 11th anniversary as a wrestler with a show that felt like a party. It was an earned one, too. She’s been around so long that I think we sometimes forget how important Veny is. Here is an out-and-proud trans woman thriving in an industry that’s not exactly known for its kindness in a country that isn’t always great with that kind of thing. I’ve no idea what goes on behind the scenes, and I’m sure Veny has faced all kinds of bullshit, but from the outside looking in, there’s never seemed to be a question. Of course Veny belongs.
Christ, the very existence of this match serves as proof of Veny’s place in the scene. Ayako Hamada has been persona non grata since 2018. Sure, we all know it’s bullshit – sexual predators are wrestling in Japan every week, but a drug charge is what gets you blackballed. However, Veny managed to bring her mentor back, building bridges that looked like they had long been given up on. You could tell how much it meant to them both, with tears being shed before the bell even rang.
Which probably explains why the match took a bit to get going. The opening was all a bit tentative, as these two found their way back into a rhythm they haven’t played in years. There was a sense that they were just happy to be here. Then, things spilled onto the floor, a few chairs were thrown, and that was forgotten. The rest of the match saw them lobbing bombs at each other, and it was great. Was it the smartest match you’ll ever see? No. Not at all. It was thrilling, though. They were wrestling like they had a point to prove, and prove it they did, with Korakuen coming alive as they threw out everything they had.
It was also a reminder of how important Hamada was to Veny’s career. These two don’t just use the same moves; they move like each other. Both of them float around the ring with an elegance that seems at odds with the violence they’re dishing out. I haven’t followed Hamada in Mexico at all, so I didn’t know if time had caught up with her, but on this evidence, that old bastard and his clock aren’t going to get her anytime soon. She looked like she’d never been away.
And let’s hope she won’t be again. Who knows what the future holds, or what she wants, but Hamada should be wrestling in Japan. In the end, when the fans made it clear she had been welcomed home, there were more tears, and I hope this is only the beginning of the second chapter of her career out here.
Jon Moxley vs Mark Davis, WrestleDream (17/10/26), AEW
I believe in Jon Moxley. When it comes to modern-day American wrestlers, it’s kind of just him, Eddie Kingston, and Mad Dog Connelly. They’re guys I would always want by my side because the other option is them being across from me.
And there’s obviously an element of reality to this match. Although it’s a reality no one really wants to deal with. The death of PAC is still hanging over AEW, and despite what a wrestling angle might tell you, it will take more than a few weeks to banish it. If they ever truly can. However, that doesn’t mean the blending of real-world pain into this match didn’t work. Mox comes into this as a wounded man. I’m sure his body was battered and bruised because all wrestlers are, but that wasn’t the important part. It was his head, his heart, that was bearing the brunt of the trauma. Standing across from a brute like Mark Davis, you can understand why he might falter. Why, for a second, he might start to doubt the world he’s built around him.
Mox was brilliant here. There’s a moment early on when he and Davis crash into each other in the centre of the ring, and he stumbles back to the corner, clearly unsettled by how little his opponent budged. Moxley is not a small guy, so most people he hits move, but Davis didn’t flinch. Honestly, it reminded me of John Cena and his ability to sell the task of battling a monster. Maybe it’s that Moxley soon gets busted open and starts bleeding all over the place, but there is more than a little of Big Match John’s wars with Umaga in this match. Except with Cena, you never get the impression he doubted himself. Here we see Moxley doing exactly that. As he throws idea after idea at Davis, going from trying to out-wrestle him to brawling, you can see Mox begin to question what he can do.
Of course, that works because Davis was also great. It’s been a while since I’ve seen him wrestle, but this feels like who he was meant to be. While Dunkzilla and Aussie Open were a fun act back in the Schaudenfraude days, when I was watching them regularly, he’s a whole different beast here. A bearded, wild monster of a man who looks like he’s wandered out of the Outback to down a bottle of whisky and headbutt the first idiot who dares to comment on the smell. He’s not perfect yet. The difference between him working over a wound and Moxley’s efforts to repay the favour were obvious, but he’s at least moving in the right direction. He just needs to get even meaner with it.
Ultimately, though, this was Moxley’s match. Well, Mox and, in her small cameo, Marina Shafir’s. It’s about him hitting the bottom, coming close to throwing in the towel, but pulling himself up instead. Importantly, it’s also about him not doing it alone. Wrestling so often praises the stoic loner. It puts favour in hard men battling back against insurmountable odds. Mox isn’t that. It’s Shafir who gets him back in the ring. It’s, one has to assume, the memory of a lost friend that keeps him fighting. I think that’s a cool story for a bloody war to tell. Yes, you’re going to have to punch the monster in the face if you want to make it through, but it’s alright to get help from your friends to do so.
That’s a story worth believing in.
Baliyan Akki & Shin Suzuki vs Shinnou Hagane & Shivam, ChocoPro #550 (18/10/26), ChocoPro
When you watch a company for long enough, you pick up on certain booking habits. One of ChocoPro’s recent fallbacks has been these middle-of-the-card Akki showcases. They usually involve an import or two, plus someone from the rotating group of Chon Shiryu, Shin Suzuki, and Shinnou Hagane. They’re not entirely male affairs; the rest of the roster cycles in and out, but they feel like Akki’s matches. A place for him to stretch his limbs and, quite often, chop the shit out of someone.
And I think people who don’t watch ChocoPro would be shocked at how aggressive these are. It’s not just Akki either. Everyone’s chests were lit up, whether from chops, kicks, or Shivam’s impressive uppercuts. I’ve talked about it before, but in the tight, unforgiving world of Ichigaya, you kind of have to lay shit in. Throw a weak strike and the whole room can see. Miss, and everyone knows. Thankfully, there was no worry about that here. For most of this match, these lads beat the shit out of each other.
It’s also just an incredibly impressive thing to be standing a few feet from. Again, I’m covering old ground, but I always think it’s worth reiterating. It’s amazing when Mei and Chie manage not to wipe out rows of the audience. When guys the size of Akki and Shivam do the same, it’s even more so. There were moments during this match that had fans flinching back from blows, momentarily convinced they were about to take some friendly fire. They never do, though. Everyone is in control.
It was a joy to watch. It was a hard-hitting, tight ten minutes of action that ticked all the right boxes. If people from outside the bubble were willing to check these out, I think they’d love what they found, and it’s more proof that Akki is one of the best wrestlers around.
Necro Butcher vs Nino Extremo, A Nightmare on Jensen Drive (24/10/26), LOKO
I haven’t watched any of this modern-day Necro Butcher run. The guy is responsible for some of the most thrilling wrestling ever put on tape, but between him loudly declaring himself a piece of shit and a niggling belief that the old magic could never be recaptured, I haven’t felt the need. That was until I saw some clips of this match. I trust everyone who reads this site is old enough and ugly enough to decide for themselves whether they’re going to entertain a Necro match in 2026. You don’t need me to do your moralising for you.
If you can get past that, though, this match proves there is still a brain somewhere in Necro’s skull – a grimy, bloody brain, but a brain all the same. The opening was a rare example in modern wrestling of people treating a gimmick as more than something to rush into. This was a Taipei Deathmatch, meaning both wrestlers’ fists were coated in glass. So it makes sense that in those early minutes they were ducking and dodging around each other. Nino had no wish to get into a fist fight. Next to the fat, balding Necro, he looked tiny, and his body appeared devoid of the deathmatch scars you’d expect to see crisscrossing someone in this style of match. So, he was smart enough to keeps himself out of range, and when he throws a few fists out there, ducking away because of his superior speed, we get our first taste of blood. The blows were, honestly, unremarkable, the kind of hits to the stomach Necro would typically laugh at, but they were followed by streaks of blood spiderwebbing down his gut. It was the perfect appetiser for what was to come.
For while that opening showed restraint, the rest of the match did not. There is nothing pretty or glamorous about the wrestling you’ll see here. If you read this site because you like my musings on lighter stuff like ChocoPro or TJPW, I doubt it’s for you. It was a bloody, grimy battle in which blood stained every body and surface around. Those initial wounds on Necro were irrelevant by the end, as blood was pumping from his forehead. And yet, he’s the one dishing out the beating. The punches he throws repeatedly at Nino are ridiculous. It got to the point where I would happily believe he was beating the shit out of that kid. Every blow was like a hammer, and I’m not even entirely sure where all the blood was coming from. This was a match made entirely of strikes, but 90% of them looked like they should be knocking someone out, and that was before you add the glass.
It’s also the only deathmatch I’ve ever seen ended by a mum’s interference. In the end, with Nino joining Necro in leaking blood, it’s his dear mother who steps in, throwing in the towel and ending things. It’s part of what has you wondering whether Necro went into business for himself, as one can’t imagine booking your babyface to be protected by his mummy, but maybe it was a booking masterstroke. After all, it feels kind of perfect for this match. This scrawny young kid put himself in a situation he wasn’t ready for, and when push came to shove, the person who cares about him most was forced to make a call. It was too dangerous and too real to go on.
Atsushi Onita vs The Great Sasuke, Hardcore Birthday (25/10/26), FMW-Explosion
Let’s get the obvious out of the way: no one is going to call this a good match. Even with the bells and whistles, Sasuke and Onita are long past the years when they could put on a classic. On top of that, it rained throughout the show (thunderously at points), so everything was wet and slippery. With both men of an age when, if they were normal humans, they’d be described as having had a fall, it’s unsurprising they were somewhat tentative while moving around. If I had watched this at home, on a laptop screen, there is 0 chance I would be writing about it.
However, this was my first time seeing a big, explosive Onita match, and that was enough for me. It was one of the few things left on my Japanese wrestling bucket list, and when that first bang went off, echoing around the park where this show took place, I was delighted. This didn’t have to be good. It was two legends blowing each other up! What more do you need?
And it really can’t be overstated how strong the cult of Onita still runs. When ‘Wild Thing’ hit, half the crowd rose to their feet, rushing to the entrance to surround him as he made his way to the ring. The crowds might be smaller than they were, but to the people who turn up, Onita is still the man. As cool now as he was when he was swaggering into the Tokyo Dome, a lit cigarette in his mouth. They don’t care that he and Sasuke’s brawl through the crowd lacked a modicum of danger or that every bang was followed by the two of them inertly sitting in holds to catch their breath. All that mattered was that their guy was there.
It’s something I respect. I get having a guy. There are people I can imagine still doing this for in twenty to thirty years, and while Onita doesn’t have that hold on me, I can see why he would. If I’d followed him at the height of his powers, I’d probably view him as the coolest man on the planet, too. I love the actual act of wrestling, and it’s rare for me that the razmatazz around it becomes more important than what happens in the ring, but this was one of those days. On this day, I was just happy to have been there.
Mio Momono, Miyuki Takase, Sareee & Yuuka Yamazaki vs Takumi Iroha, Chikayo Nagashima, Chika Goto & Ayame Sora, Friday Night Gacha Season 4 (30/10/16), Marvelous
We’re slowly fleshing out my newly decided-on category: Friday night wrestling. This was a perfect example of the form. It was a chaotic, slightly silly match that threw together some faces we don’t typically see share a ring. At times, it got a bit too frantic, with people getting in each other’s way, but who cares? It’s Friday night wrestling! Have a highball and relax.
It also delivered a pleasant surprise in the form of Chika Goto. I don’t watch Marigold. They have some wrestlers I really like, but I can’t keep up with the companies I am invested in, so I don’t have time to add another. That means, aside from her brief appearances in the Marvelous feud, I haven’t watched GoChika wrestle properly in years. She was really fun here! She’s not a Mio, or even a Sareee, but she’s become the kind of wrestler I would watch on the midcard of every show. Charismatic and funny with a bit of physicality behind her moves. At the end, Chig mentioned she’d specifically requested her, and I can see why. If she was a freelancer, she’s the type of person Nagayo would be booking regularly. Let’s get her in a tall vs small match against Mio sooner rather than later.
Mostly this was just really fun. I don’t know if it will work the same way on your TV on a weeknight, but on a Friday, with a couple of drinks, it was perfect wrestling.
Halloween Royal Rumble, ChocoPro #552 (31/10/26), ChocoPro
I love these matches. Every year, ChocoPro puts on one of these Halloween Rumbles, and they’re always a blast. This time, they went with a costume-change gimmick, which kept the tradition alive.
And there are loads of little details you can pick out here. The ChocoPro roster and their closest pals know each other very well, so their mimicry is on point. The ultimate proof is in how quickly Mei Suruga’s frustration started to boil over when faced with Obi Suruga, a sight that must have kindled a touch of smug happiness in everyone who has ever had to deal with her antics. It was one of those matches that was packed with delights, from Aoi coaching Miya through her moves to Chie and Kaho running around in circles together while dressed in each other’s gear. It was so much fun.
Honestly, there’s not much more to say about it. This wasn’t Friday night wrestling, and I wasn’t cracking open a highball in Ichigaya, but it was spiritually in the same ballpark. The kind of action that perhaps doesn’t lend itself to me rambling on for hundreds of words, but which I love all the same.
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