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.
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Match Of The Year: Best Of The Rest Part 1”Ramblings About’s Wrestler Of The Year: Best Of The Rest

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.
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Wrestler Of The Year: Best Of The Rest”TJPW Wrestle Princess (7/11/20) Review
After a long old wait, Tokyo Joshi finally got their big show at Tokyo Dome City Hall. They probably weren’t planning on having it be socially distanced, but a bump in the road shouldn’t ruin the mood, and they’d put together a suitably packed card to celebrate the next step in the company’s growth.
Continue reading “TJPW Wrestle Princess (7/11/20) Review”Ramblings About’s Top Ten Matches Of October 2020
Guess what, folks? I was smart this month. Rather than waiting for the 31st to hurriedly throw this together, I wrote it as we went. How fucking sensible is that? You may no3 call me a grown-up. There was plenty to write about too, as we’ve got a bit of deathmatch, a load of nonsense and even some straight-ahead wrestling, what will they think of next?
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Top Ten Matches Of October 2020”Ramblings About’s Top Ten Matches of July 2020

I’m tweaking the match of the month formula a bit for July, ditching the top ten list to do it in chronological order. Partly that comes about because I think ranking matches was always a bit silly and partly because there was a series this month that told a story, so writing about them out of order would be weird. Anyway, it was another strong month for wrestling, so here are ten matches I reckon you should check out.
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Top Ten Matches of July 2020”Wrestler Mixtape: Lulu Pencil

The second person to have the dubious honour of taking a spot in my wrestling mixtape series debuted nearly a year ago. However, it’s safe to say that over the last 11 and a bit months, Lulu Pencil has made a hell of an impression, proving that freelance writers and wrestlers are basically the same thing…
Despite the limited options (Lulu hasn’t had that many matches), I’ve decided not to include the obvious (so, no Honda) and instead pick out a few other Lulu efforts. Enjoy!
Continue reading “Wrestler Mixtape: Lulu Pencil”Wrestler Mixtape: Kaori Yoneyama

I love mixtapes. Unfortunately, they’re not really a thing any more, making it a love I rarely get to explore. So, in an attempt to scratch that itch, I’ve decided to introduce a new feature to Ramblings About, Wrestling Mixtape. Now and then, I’m going to pick a random wrestler, grab three of their matches off YouTube and have a (spoiler free) ramble about them (I appreciate a mixtape with one band on it would be rather limited, but shush).
To kick it off, I’ve gone with one of my low-key favourites, Kaori Yoneyama. It’s a doubly good choice because there happens to be a wealth of material to choose from. Let’s have a look, shall we?
Continue reading “Wrestler Mixtape: Kaori Yoneyama”Ramblings About’s Top Ten Matches of June 2020
If wrestling keeps being so great, I am going to have to ditch the top-ten element of this and make it even more rambling because there are at least another ten matches that I would like to have on this list. That doesn’t even take into account the Ice Ribbon that I need to catch up on! (I still haven’t seen Suzu vs Maya, hence its exclusion, I’m sure it’s great.) Gosh darn it, there is too much wrestling. Oh well, there are worse problems to have.
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Top Ten Matches of June 2020”Thank You, ChocoPro
I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but the world is a bit of a shit show at the moment. As if the global pandemic isn’t enough, we still find ourselves having to fight battles against racism and sexual abuse. It’s a situation that has taken a chunk out of everyone, with those who have only suffered excessive bleeding feeling like the lucky ones. However your last few months have looked, it’s probably safe to say you’re not going to forget them any time soon.
Continue reading “Thank You, ChocoPro”Ramblings About’s Top Ten Matches Of May 2020
Before going any further, I feel it needs to be said that I, and by extension this website, believe that black lives matter. I am fully behind every protester in America or anywhere else in the world who is standing up for their right to live. This might not be the biggest platform, but it is one, so I implore that you provide support in whatever way you can and also to listen, listen to the people affected by this shit and learn from it. Someone like me can never fully understand it, but we can try.
Feels a bit trite to move from that into me spewing my nonsense about some matches I like, but oh well, here we go.
Continue reading “Ramblings About’s Top Ten Matches Of May 2020”



