April and the start of May are the busiest months of the year for me, so I haven’t watched anywhere near as much wrestling this month. However, I consume a stupid amount of the stuff on average, so let’s not pretend I haven’t still spent a lot of time watching people pretending to fight. With that in mind, here are my favourite matches from April of 2023.
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for April 2023”Ramblings About’s Matches of the Year 2022: The Best Of The Rest
Somehow, we’ve made it through another year, and while I think it’s safe to say all is not well in the world, the wrestling has at least been very good. 2022 was a year of change in the world of joshi, a lot of which was quite anxiety-inducing for someone who takes comfort from this nonsense, but I think we’ve come out the other end of it all with the scene in strong and (more importantly) interesting health. There have also been a lot of incredible matches, and this is my list of the ones that aren’t quite my match of the year but which, on a different day, may well be so. Enjoy!
Quick note: I sorta cheated this year and snuck an extra match in by writing about it elsewhere. The brilliant and lovely Flupke (FlupkeDiFlupke on Twitter) invited me to write about the wonderful Ice Ribbon gauntlet of gauntlets as part of his newsletter. You can find my thoughts (alongside his much better ones) on that here. Then, once you’ve read that, you should also read the rest of his end-of-year stuff, which is equally great.
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Matches of the Year 2022: The Best Of The Rest”TJPW Autumn Tour (16/9/22) Review
After a quiet couple of weeks, TJPW were back in Shinkiba to start making moves toward Wrestle Princess. The main event of this show decided who would challenge for the International Title while the semi-main put Shoko and Yuka on opposite sides of the ring. I’ve always got a base level of excitement for big TJPW shows, but let’s see if this manages to push me over the edge.
Continue reading “TJPW Autumn Tour (16/9/22) Review”TJPW Still Incomplete (9/4/22) Review
TJPW’s first trip to Korakuen post-Sumo Hall gave us a fascinating card to play with. Yuki Aino and the pairing of Arisu Endo and Suzume are intriguing names to have at the top of the card, and it feels like we might be taking our first tentative steps into a new era. The question was whether they’d be able to carry their part of the load. Let’s find out.
Continue reading “TJPW Still Incomplete (9/4/22) Review”TJPW Spring Tour (26/3/22) Review
If I pretend this show never happened, then Nodoka won’t have retired, right? She could continue making me smile within the wonders of my imagination. Yea, okay, that’s not going to work. Sadly, all great things must end, and this was Nodoka Tenma’s last TJPW appearance. How many tears were shed? I can tell you right now that it was a lot.
Continue reading “TJPW Spring Tour (26/3/22) Review”TJPW Grand Princess ’22 (19/3/22) Review
From a mat in a bar to Sumo Hall, Tokyo Joshi has been on one hell of a journey over the last nine years. This was the biggest show in their history, and with a card rammed full of exciting match-ups, my hype levels were high. So shall we get on with it? Let’s get on with it.
Continue reading “TJPW Grand Princess ’22 (19/3/22) Review”TJPW Hustle! Wrestle! Nagoya Castle! (18/12/21) Review
TJPW have made popping to Nagoya before Christmas a bit of a tradition in recent years, and with the addition of hometown girl Yuki Arai to the roster, this was a chance for the company to make some new fans. So far, Arai has stepped up to every test they’ve thrown at her, but this was her biggest yet, as she took on the Ace, Miyu Yamashita, in the main event. Would she stumble? I’m writing this before watching the match, but I would put the house I don’t own on no.
Continue reading “TJPW Hustle! Wrestle! Nagoya Castle! (18/12/21) Review”TJPW All Rise (25/11/21) Review
There aren’t many things as consistently brilliant as a TJPW trip to Korakuen, and it feels like it’s been a while since we last had one. They were back with a packed card that didn’t have a Princess of Princess Title match on it but did give us an Up Up Girls’ collision and 121000000 going after MagiRabbit. That sounds like a good time, doesn’t it? Let’s find out if it was.
Continue reading “TJPW All Rise (25/11/21) Review”TJPW Let’s Take Bravely (30/10/21) Review
The TJPW streak of live shows continues as we’re getting perilously close to their next Korakuen. So far, we’ve only got the main event of 121000000 vs MagiRabbi booked, so I came into this expecting to get a couple more announcements and, spoiler, we did. Want to find out what they are? Well, you could probably get them on Twitter pretty quickly, but you could also read my review. C’mon, you know you want to.
Continue reading “TJPW Let’s Take Bravely (30/10/21) Review”TJPW 秋~花鳥月露~ (23/10/21) Review
With the launch of the new look Wrestle Universe, we’re getting a whole month of live TJPW shows, which is one lovely spooky season treat. Not that any of them are designed to make you jump, at least not yet. I’ve watched enough horror films to know that something scary could pop up at any moment, so I’m never going to rule it out. Anyway, I’ll stop blabbering nonsense and get on with the rambles.
Continue reading “TJPW 秋~花鳥月露~ (23/10/21) Review”