Category: Deep Dives

All the opinions you didn’t know you needed.

Ramblings About’s Match of the Year 2025: Shoko Nakajima vs Uta Takami, Additional Attack (18/10/25), TJPW

A real contrast in reactions. Credit: TJPW

For a long time, I didn’t have an obvious choice for my match of the year. There was loads of stuff I’d loved, but nothing that instantly cemented itself at the top of the pack. On top of that, I didn’t make a trip to Japan, and the only shows I saw live were AEW and EVE, neither of which I care about enough to place in that strata, even with the elusive in-the-room magic. However, when I sat down to start rewatching my favourites, I quickly realised that the answer had been staring me in the face the whole time. There was a match I loved above the rest, and it was the one that, in a lovely rarity, took place between my two wrestlers of the year.

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Ramblings About’s Wrestlers of the Year 2025

Spoiler. Credit: TJPW

It’s finally happened. The Suruga and Momono dominance of Ramblings About’s Wrestler of the Year that has been in place since Lulu Pencil’s 2020 has come to an end. Sure, you could argue there are some caveats: Mio spent most of the year injured, and Mei is probably number three on the list, but it remains true. We have two new faces in place for me to ramble about excitedly. Who are they? Scroll down and find out (or just look at the image).

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Meiko Satomura & Manami vs Aja Kong & Chihiro Hashimoto, Meiko Satomura THE FINAL (29/4/25), Sendai Girls

There won’t be many more like her. Credit: Screenshot

When I started to put together my end of year list, my initial feeling was that I wouldn’t include this match. It seemed too obvious, too boring. I’m well aware that’s a fault of mine, a need to point towards the unnoticed rather than accept when the thing in front of me is just as special, but I long ago made peace with that. Besides, it was easy to double down on that feeling when friend-of-the-site Unmanned Local Train posted their writing on it, a piece that beautifully captured so much of what made it great.

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Haruna Neko: The Joy of Being a Wee Cat

Surrounded by friends. Credit: TJPW

I don’t trust people whose favourite wrestlers win all the time. Sure, you can appreciate and respect the people at the top of the card, but seeing them as your guy? I find that deeply suspicious behaviour. Does anyone really love Kazuchika Okada? Sareee? Roman Reigns? Even as I ask the question, I know the answer is yes, but I find it hard to imagine what goes on in their heads. I categorise them in the same category as those who support Wrexham despite not being from Wales, or claim to like punk but only listen to pop-punk bands who are statistically likely to have done some noncing. What you’re doing might not be inherently bad, but I don’t particularly want to spend time with you.

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Ramblings About’s Wrestlers of the Year 2024: Mei Suruga & Haru Kazashiro

They’re both great. Credit: TJPW & Here

Wrestler of the Year can be defined in a whole bunch of different ways. The worst people craft metrics based on business and how much money someone supposedly made, but it probably won’t surprise anyone to know that’s not my approach. Nope, it’s a pure vibes thing for me. When I reflect on the last twelve months, what wrestlers come to mind? Well, this year, it was relatively easy. These two people made me smile the most in 2024. So, while multiple other names could sit alongside them, they’re the ones with the dubious distinction of being named Ramblings About’s Wrestler of the Year.

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Ramblings About’s Match of the Year 2024: Miu Watanabe vs Shoko Nakajima

She’s a smiling monster. Credit: TJPW

It’s fitting that as I write this, Mizuki and Miu Watanabe are building to Ittenyon by debating whether Miu is a princess or a monster. While I’m not brave enough to say it to the champ’s face, the truth is I’d argue she graduated to monsterhood with this match. Sure, beating Miyu Yamashita to win the Princess of Princess Title was huge. It’s Miyu in a Tokyo Joshi main event. If you come out in one piece, you’re doing pretty well. However, while Miu vs Miyu was a battle of two different types of power, Shoko Nakajima represented a very different challenge. On the first defence of her new belt, Watanabe had to contend with the best pure wrestler in the company, and as Yamashita knows better than anyone, that’s a banana skin that it’s all too easy to slip on.

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Ramblings About’s Matches of the Year 2024: Best of the Rest

Spoiler. Credit: TJPW

Fuck knows how, but 2024 is drawing to an end, which means it’s time for me to wang on about my favourite things in wrestling from the last twelve months. Up first, the best of the rest. These are the matches that, on a different day, could have easily been my favourite of the year. I’ve seen a few people suggest it’s been a weaker period for wrestling, but I didn’t feel that way as I struggled to whittle this down to ten. A handful of bouts I assumed would be on here were pipped at the post and replaced by something that excited me that little bit more. So, if your favourite is missing, imagine it’s number 11.

As usual, it’s a list that reflects my tastes, which means there are some glaring holes. I intended to make this the year I dived into lucha, but I failed, so it has no representation here, not because it’s shite, but because I don’t watch enough of it. There are only so many hours in the day, and I like to spend a few of them on non-wrestling-related activities.

Anyway, on to the list!

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Mio Momono’s Glorious Failure

She always goes down fighting. Credit: sya_tyo

Yes, I’m going to talk about Mio Momono again. No, I won’t apologise about it. If any other wrestlers ever get that good, I promise to go on about them incessantly, too.

I’m sad to admit it, but Mio is making glorious failure her trademark. Even when she succeeds, it’s inevitably followed by a crushing fall. As a fan of the Scottish football team, it’s all painfully familiar, and as I’ve firmly attached myself to the Momono express, I feel like I’ve cursed myself to spend even more time with my head in my hands dreaming about what could have been. I can’t help it. Mio makes me care, and it doesn’t matter if I try to sit back to watch from a position of detached cool – she always succeeds at drawing me in.

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Mio Momono vs Mayumi Ozaki, Battle Big Bonus (28/4/24), Oz Academy

She did get to kick her in the head a bit. Credit: Here

I can’t remember the last match to leave me as unsure of my feelings as this one. 

On a basic level, I hated it. I hated it because it wasn’t supposed to end like this. Over eight months after Mio Momono lost the AAAW Title to Mayumi Ozaki, she walked into enemy territory, carrying Oz’s belt on her shoulder, aiming to bring it home. I woke up early on Sunday morning with butterflies fluttering in my stomach, excited to watch it live because that was what I wanted to see. My hero, the wrestler I will argue till I’m blue in the face is the best in the world, was going to right the wrong of that night and reclaim what was rightfully hers. 

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Yuna Mizumori: Finding ChocoPro’s Identity

One last Ichigaya photo.

It’s sometimes easy to forget that when ChocoPro began, there was no feeling (at least as a fan) that this would be a long-term thing. At the time, we thought COVID would be over sooner rather than later, and Emi Sakura throwing a live show on YouTube to highlight Baliyan Akki vs Minoru Suzuki felt like a fun way to pass the day. Those first few shows had no unique identity or distinguishing features but came across as Gatoh Move without the fans and with added squats. However, as it became clear COVID wasn’t going anywhere, ChocoPro began to search for what made it unique. And while they went through a few ideas (Mei Suruga’s arts and crafts period was a personal favourite), they eventually settled on the formula that exists to this day. And the key to finding that formula? Yuna Mizumori vs Emi Sakura.

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