Hiyori Yawata and the Beauty of a Short Career

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.

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25/03/2026 1

Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for January 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!

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02/02/2026 0

Ramblings About’s Matches of the Year 2025: The Best of the Rest

Miu’s swings are a reliable source of good photos. Credit: TJPW

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.

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26/12/2025 0

Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for November 2025

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.

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01/12/2025 0

Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for October 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.

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01/11/2025 0

Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for July 2025

A photo that tells you everything you need to know about Rika Tatsumi. Credit: TJPW

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.

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01/08/2025 0

TJPW Summer Sun Princess (21/7/25) Review

It feels like forever since we’ve had a big Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling show. Sure, there have been trips to America, farewells to beloved ring announcers and Yoppy’s retirement in that time, but we haven’t had a bells and whistles Tokyo Joshi event since March, which might as well be last year. Thankfully, they have come back with a bang. The now former idol has the championship shot, the two best tag teams in the company are facing off and a giant panda has turned up to wreck havoc in the undercard. It had the potential to be special – let’s find out if it was.

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22/07/2025 2

Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for April 2025

April into May is my busiest time of the year, so please excuse this list being a touch less fleshed out than usual. I had to leave a bunch of matches I would have liked to write about on the cutting room floor, and the to-watch list is pretty hefty coming into May (I still haven’t even seen the Satomura retirement show). Still, hopefully, there’s something here you haven’t seen or at least an interesting opinion on something you have. Enjoy!

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01/05/2025 0

Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for March 2025

I thought I hadn’t watched that much wrestling this month, but the length of this list would suggest otherwise. Maybe I was only tuning into the good stuff? It also nips to a few of my less-visited locales, as we stop off in America, Mexico and Germany alongside all the usual Japanese nonsense. Does that sound like a good time? I certainly hope so.

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01/04/2025 0

Ramblings About’s Matches of the Months for January 2025

Arai booting 2025 into life. Credit: TJPW

We’re back for Ramblings Abouts’ first matches of the month for 2025. I apologise for missing a few of these towards the end of last year, but I had some personal shit that took up a lot of my brain space, and I’m sure the two of you who read this didn’t even notice. However, I am back for 2025 and planning to watch far too much of this dumb stuff while also complaining that I didn’t get to see everything I wanted to. Multiple big hitters are missing from this list because I haven’t had a chance to watch them yet, but that doesn’t mean what I have seen loses any value. They’re all great matches, which I recommend going out of your way to see. And if you have any recommendations, stick them in the comments below!

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01/02/2025 0