Rambles about the wonderful world of wrestling.
The Gatoh Move roster has set their feet on the road to Korakuen Hall, a show that isn’t happening until August but has a lot of tickets to shift. To start that journey, we’ve got Mizuki popping into her old stomping ground to say hello, a new rookie making her debut and a main event in which three teams will try to take Best Bros’ tag titles from them. Will someone succeed? Let’s find out!
Continue reading “Gatoh Move ‘Road to Korakuen – Sakura Days’ (13/3/24) Review”
Aside from the main event, every match on this card had a wrestler who debuted for TJPW after the 1st of January 2023. Tokyo Joshi gets credit for producing wrestlers, but just how many they’ve brought through in the last few years sometimes goes under the radar. With three new rookies joining the fold, it’s an exciting time to watch these smaller events, as you’re getting to watch these kids develop from show to show, putting it all together and figuring out the wrestlers they want to be. Plus, there’s the small matter of a date with Sumo Hall on the horizon, which I’m sure they have at least one eye on.
The build for this show wasn’t exactly ideal. First, Marvelous forgot to include Itsuki Aoki on the card, forcing them to sheepishly add her to one of the already-announced matches. Then, on the day, ZONES and Ai Houzan dropped out with injuries, so they had to cancel the two AAAW Tag League showdowns that were supposed to headline this thing and replace them with an all-star main event. It’s hardly ideal circumstances, but the show must go on, and often, these thrown-together cards are a lot of fun, so let’s see what went down.
Continue reading “Marvelous (8/3/24) Review”
You would have been forgiven for glancing at the schedule and dismissing this as a routine TJPW visit to Shinjuku, but with Sumo Hall drawing closer and a host of new rookies onboard, this show took on a bit more weight than usual. Two of those kids debuted here, the newly named Kira Summer and Uta Takami. Meanwhile, Chika Nanase was wrestling only her second match after starting her career against Moka Miyamoto on the previous show. Throw in some more build for the big one, and TJPW had a lot going on, so let’s see what went down.
Continue reading “TJPW Live Tour Spring 2024 (4/3/24) Review”
I’m pleasantly surprised to report that the diversity of content in my matches of the month has at least made it to February. This roundup has more lucha, a touch of FREEDOMS and even some AEW. Sure, it’s a bit front-heavy, as I’ve been busy enough the last two weeks to put wrestling watching on the back burner, but there should still be more than enough here to satisfy you. However, if you do have a match you think I should have seen, throw it in the comments. I’m always happy to get recommendations.
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for February 2024”
The AAAW Tag League continues, as the second night of the tournament took place in Shinkiba on a show that doubled as a celebration of Tomoko Watanabe’s birthday. Perhaps as a treat to mark the day, Watanabe was spared Tag League duty, instead being set free to piss about in the opener. Although with how that went, it perhaps wasn’t as thoughtful a present as it appeared. More on that below!
Continue reading “Marvelous (27/2/24) Review”
Marvelous’s latest trip to Shinkiba had the potential for much excitement. Not only were they celebrating Mio’s 8th anniversary, but it was time to kick off the AAAW Tag League and find out who Ai’s mysterious partner would be. Did they deliver on that promise? Let’s find out.
Continue reading “Marvelous Mio Momono’s 8th Anniversary (13/2/24) Review”
TJPW returned to Korakuen Hall to decide the winner of the 2024 Max Heart Tournament. On one side of the ring, we had the former champions, Daydream, who, in winning, would have been setting Miu Watanabe up to wrestle twice at Sumo Hall. Attempting to stop that from happening was Daisy Monkey, the young pretenders, who were desperate to break through. Last year, this final produced one of my matches of the year. Would it do so again? Let’s find out.
Continue reading “TJPW Max Heart Tournament Final (10/2/24) Review”It’s been one of those weeks where my rambling about a random Shinkiba show feels utterly pointless. The death of Asahi is unfair and horrible and something that I still don’t think I’ve entirely processed. Hopefully, somewhere down the line, I’ll feel up to writing about her short but brilliant career. That’s not today, though. However, it would have felt weird to publish this (which I wrote before we learnt about it) without at least mentioning it and sending all my love to those who knew her better than me. Considering the impact she had on those who only knew her through a screen or from a quick chat at a show, I can only imagine the one she had on those who knew her well was something special.
After spending January on the road, Marvelous kicked off February with their first trip of 2024 to Shinkiba. There will, of course, be many more in the months ahead, but it’s always good to get things started right. Let’s see what went down.
Continue reading “Marvelous (2/2/24) Review”
January is a good month for wrestling. Not only do you have Ittenyon and companies setting out their stall for the year ahead, but I have a habit of wiping the backlog clean and starting fresh, leaving me motivated to check out as much new wrestling as possible. As a result of that, my matches of the month are significantly more eclectic than usual. There is all the regular stuff, but we’ve also a BJW tag, a lucha brawl and even an AEW rookie match. It’s as far out of the bubble as I am likely to venture, so fingers crossed you all enjoy it. As usual, if you’ve got any cool recommendations, let me know below or on Twitter.
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for January 2024”
Ramblings About Wrestling 