According to some, 2020 has been a lousy year for wrestling, an opinion fuelled by New Japan not doing what people want them to do and an aversion to the dreaded clap crowds. Unfortunately, no-one told my match of the year list, which was quite frankly unwieldy. So yes, this is part one of the best of the rest because when I started writing it very quickly got out of hand. Excessive? Perhaps, but despite its many faults, wrestling is still the best, so a bit of excess isn’t too bad.
I sometimes worry that people think my love of Lulu Pencil is a joke. There is a side of the wrestling fandom which dismisses people like Lulu, declaring them memes or ‘irony’ wrestlers, and it’s always sad to see how many follow along with those opinions blindly. I suspect they would see me name Lulu my wrestler of the year and scoff at someone trying too hard or deliberately going out of their way to be different. So, I want to make it very clear. Lulu Pencil is my wrestler of the year because, in my mind, she was the best wrestler in the world over the last twelve months, and there’s no joke about that.
I never know who to pick for the main picture in these things, so I went with the person most likely to murder me. Credit: Gake No Fuchi
Picking a wrestler of the year is dumb. How can anyone sit down and compare two people who work in different companies doing a different style with any degree of accuracy? A champion that puts on great matches every week is important, but so is the comedy wrestler who opens up the card, working their arse off to earn those giggles. Of course, in the best companies, those can be the same people, but that’s a different topic. And, despite it being dumb, I’m still going to do it because it’s also fun. However, for all that 2020 has sucked, there has still been a shitload of good wrestling, so I couldn’t pick just one. So, here’s my list of ten wrestlers who could have been wrestler of the year, but for whatever reason weren’t. Except, it’s not really because there are another twenty or thirty people that could also be on this list. Let’s stick with it being ten brilliant wrestlers. That work for everyone? Good.
Having had a significant chunk of their roster taken out of commission in early December after the wee COVID scare that hit the joshi scene, Marvelous has had a fair while without a show. Thankfully, that’s all behind them now, and they were back with a line-up that had the potential to be a whole lot of fun.
I know 2020 has been a hell year that went on forever, but I also can’t quite believe it’s nearly over. It’s simultaneously crawled and sprinted past as this is Tokyo Joshi’s final live showing before the January 4th Korakuen as everything else will be going out on a tape delay. That means this will probably be the last time I review them in 2020, so let’s go out on a high.
Episode 15 of AJW Classics is absolutely packed with matches, the vast majority of which are people making their debuts. We’re about to be introduced to a lot of joshi royalty for the first time, but there maybe someone unexpected about to steal the show. Confused? Well, you better read on.
At the end of a long, shitty week, few things cheer me up as much as some Tokyo Joshi. Their latest show had an intriguing main event, as Kamiyu stepped up to defend the International Title for the first time, taking on a somewhat unproven challenger in Mahiro. It was a big moment for the two of them, so let’s find out how they did.
We’re into August of 1986, and a few changes are coming in the world of AJW. It’s not so much a changing of the guard, as a shifting of it, but it leads to some interesting things down the road, so it’s probably worth getting excited about. Anyway, onto episode 14!
The year may be coming to a close, but November has proven a hell of a month for wrestling, giving me a tough time as I tried to trim my favourite matches down to a mere ten. I succeeded, so you can all be proud of me and hopefully enjoy my monthly round-up of all the action that’s been keeping me entertained over the last thirty days.
It’s D-王 time! DDT’s annual tournament may not have blown me away with the line-up (where’s Saki?), but I guess I’m willing to forgive that slight and enjoy it. They certainly packed the opening night, treating Korakuen to a load of big matches.
