Rambles about the wonderful world of wrestling.
My first full month in Japan made for a live show-heavy collection of matches. There are only a couple of things here that I wasn’t in the room for, as I’ve been enjoying the advantages of living in a city that tends to have multiple options a day. I suspect that does alter the way I approach writing about them, but hopefully you still find it interesting!
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for April 2026”
As mentioned elsewhere, I moved to Japan this month! So, hopefully you’ll understand that while I have been going to more live shows, getting time to write about them hasn’t been my main priority. I’ve still managed to have a ramble about a bunch of matches I enjoyed, but there were quite a few that I would have liked to talk about, and simply didn’t have the time. Fingers crossed things will be a bit less frantic next month!
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for March 2026”
There is a lot to be said for wrestling lifers. They are the glue that holds the whole shebang together. The people who start promotions, who train the next generation and pass on their wisdom to those who, hopefully, will one day take their place. However, I also think there is beauty in those who don’t commit. In those who come in, do everything they need to do, and get out. It’s always sad. I still dream of all the Lulu Pencil matches we never got, including with the person I’m talking about today, but not everything needs to last. Apologies for pulling on a quote scrawled by a thousand teenagers, but maybe it is better to burn out than fade away.
Continue reading “Hiyori Yawata and the Beauty of a Short Career”
If you keep an eye on the dates for this month’s matches, it will be fairly obvious at what point I got very busy. Thankfully, it’s all for good reasons, which I’ll probably discuss next month when it’s been sorted out. In the here and now, I still managed to get into a fair few matches before life got hectic, touching on a bit of New Japan, CMLL and even American indie wrestling. Of course, there’s also my usual favourites to go alongside them, so don’t assume I’ve sold out quite yet.
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for February 2026”
It might be a new year, but some things remain the same, as I commit to rambling about whatever wrestling I’ve been watching each month. You can tell it’s January because I always enter a new twelve months motivated to keep up with as much different stuff as possible. Will these lists be slowly whittled down to mainly covering Marvelous, TJPW and ChocoPro by the time April rolls around? Probably, but it’s nice to convince myself 2026 could be the year I stay on top of everything. You never know!
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for January 2026”
It’s that time of year again, and we kick things off with my best of the rest. These are the matches that aren’t quite my favourite of the year, but if you got me on a different day, they could be. As always, they’re listed in chronological order, and there are a bunch of others that could have made this list (including one that I already wrote about). If you’re feeling the burning need to inform me I’m wrong about something on this list, please don’t bother – it’s not worth either of our time. However, if you’ve got some cool recommendations, I’m always intrigued to hear them.
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Matches of the Year 2025: The Best of the Rest”
Another month, another host of matches that I think you should be watching. There are a couple of wildcards included, but the majority of it is me watching my usuals. It’s a lot of TJPW, ChocoPro and GAEA. Meanwhile, we’re entering match of the year territory, as I am, as always, running late in starting to put together my list. It’s a year where I don’t have an obvious front runner, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing, as there is a load of stuff I really love. I’m excited to watch them all again.
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for November 2025”
After a quieter September, I’ve gone all out for October. We’ve got a host of exciting matches to talk about here, including two dives into uncharted territory and a somewhat accidental Meiko Satomura month as I continue my journey through the GAEAISM YouTube channel. It was getting so unruly that there were a couple of things I didn’t have time to write about. If you ever see me in the street, feel free to ask, and I’ll bore you about them.
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for October 2025”
I don’t want to slag off Rina Yamashita. She’s a fantastic wrestler who has been part of some amazing stuff. However, in recent times, she’s been stuck in what I think of as the Hiroyo Matsumoto vortex. She’s old-reliable. A freelancer who pops up in countless promotions and can be trusted to fill a spot anywhere on the card. That’s no bad thing. In fact, it’s a talent in its own right. However, it’s easy to see why someone in that role would slip into a rut. There’s nothing to get your teeth into. You arrive, do your thing, and go home. The matches are rarely bad. They’re just not what you remember.
Continue reading “Rina Yamashita vs Mei Suruga, Game Changer (5/9/25), ChocoPro”
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.
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for July 2025”
Ramblings About Wrestling 