Maybe it’s just me, but January always feels like a fresh start for my wrestling viewing. My backlog from the previous year goes out of the window, under the assumption that if I haven’t watched it yet, I never will, and it’s a chance to jump back into promotions that I might have fallen away with it. When you throw in Ittenyon and all the excitement around that, it’s usually a good month, something this list makes clear.
It’s been a hell of a month for wrestling, and, if I’m honest, I’ve fallen a bit behind. I’m not even caught up on ChocoPro, which never happens! Still, that doesn’t mean I haven’t seen enough to pack this with lovely treats for you all, so dig in, and if you do think I have missed anything brilliant, let me know below.
I’ve decided to make a couple of tweaks to my matches of the month round-up. The most obvious one is that this hasn’t been a top ten list for a while, so there is no real need to stick to ten entries. Some months it might be more, some months it might be less, and it’s silly to force myself into a corner for no reason. Secondly, I am going to make a tiny change to the kind of things I write about. There are often brilliant wrestling matches where I have nothing to say. That doesn’t take away from how good they are, but not everything requires analysis beyond saying it rules. On top of that, if they come from one of the promotions I write about regularly, I’ve often reviewed them before. So, rather than stretching myself to come up with something new, I’m adding an honourable mentions list to the bottom of each month, where I’ll round up all the stuff you should watch, but where I have nothing new to add to the conversation.
Apart from that, it’s business as usual! Here are a load of matches from the last month that I loved.
In an incredible twist of fate, this round-up isn’t too late! Now, that comes with the caveat that I completely missed December’s, but that was because I had a lot to do. If you don’t know, I went to Japan and watched a lot of wrestling, can’t remember if I mentioned it anywhere. A decent amount of said wrestling makes this list, so let’s get on with it.
Welcome to the debut of Tale Of the Feud. I’ve enjoyed my dive back into old five-star matches (and will be continuing to do them), but I often feel like I’m getting a tiny nibble of a bigger tale. The truth is that while you can tell one-off stories in the world of wrestling, it’s even better when you tell extended ones. For each Tale Of The Feud, I will pick a classic rivalry and follow it from start to finish. A process that I’ve decided to start with KENTA vs Bryan Danielson
I can’t find pictures related to this card so have NOAH’s very green logo instead. Credit: NOAH
When NOAH goes low-budget, they go very low-budget. I don’t necessarily blame them, there were around 250 people in the crowd at this show and they can’t be expected to add all the bells and whistles. However, it can make it harder to watch as the production values really suck. Despite that, it was an interesting card with a handful of singles matches, so here we go. Let’s dish out some stars.
We’re onto my third NOAH show, and if I’m honest, I still don’t have a clue what’s happening in most of the major storylines. A lot of time is taken up Googling names to figure out who is who. However, rather than watching a bunch more and figuring it out, I’m going to continue to give you my opinion while knowing nothing, because that’s the kind of privilege I can get away with. Let’s dish out some stars.
To say this felt like a house show is giving it too much credit. It was in front of a handful of people and didn’t really bother with production values. However, wrestling is wrestling, and I’ll watch it all. On top of that, the more NOAH I consume, the more I learn. Let’s dish out some stars.
I’ve decided to kick off the New Year be checking out Pro-Wrestling NOAH. By all accounts, NOAH has had a tough few years, but they are beginning to come out the other side. That makes me think it’s a good time to jump on board.
I should point out that I am coming in with little to no knowledge about the wrestlers or the storylines. This is what the kids call a ‘noobs’ review of NOAH. If you know what you are talking about, there is a chance it will infuriate you. Please don’t take that out on me, I’m only having fun. Let’s dish out some stars.
Ramblings About Wrestling 