Tag: pro-wrestling

Meiko Satomura & Manami vs Aja Kong & Chihiro Hashimoto, Meiko Satomura THE FINAL (29/4/25), Sendai Girls

There won’t be many more like her. Credit: Screenshot

When I started to put together my end of year list, my initial feeling was that I wouldn’t include this match. It seemed too obvious, too boring. I’m well aware that’s a fault of mine, a need to point towards the unnoticed rather than accept when the thing in front of me is just as special, but I long ago made peace with that. Besides, it was easy to double down on that feeling when friend-of-the-site Unmanned Local Train posted their writing on it, a piece that beautifully captured so much of what made it great.

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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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Baliyan Akki vs Shin Suzuki, ChocoPro #416 Purple Chocolate (30/12/24), ChocoPro

More than just a nice guy. Credit: Screenshot

There is a chance I might have unfairly pigeonholed Shin Suzuki. I don’t want to overplay it – I never disliked him or thought his wrestling was rubbish – but he wasn’t someone I sought out. Part of it might even be that he seems like a lovely bloke, and it’s always a delight when wee Konigiri-chan turns up on ChocoPro shows, which made what he did on the mat feel like it played second fiddle to his perceived decentness. I’d tagged him as a foil for more interesting partners. However, in the last few months, something has started to change.

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Ramblings About’s Matches of the Year 2024: Best of the Rest

Spoiler. Credit: TJPW

Fuck knows how, but 2024 is drawing to an end, which means it’s time for me to wang on about my favourite things in wrestling from the last twelve months. Up first, the best of the rest. These are the matches that, on a different day, could have easily been my favourite of the year. I’ve seen a few people suggest it’s been a weaker period for wrestling, but I didn’t feel that way as I struggled to whittle this down to ten. A handful of bouts I assumed would be on here were pipped at the post and replaced by something that excited me that little bit more. So, if your favourite is missing, imagine it’s number 11.

As usual, it’s a list that reflects my tastes, which means there are some glaring holes. I intended to make this the year I dived into lucha, but I failed, so it has no representation here, not because it’s shite, but because I don’t watch enough of it. There are only so many hours in the day, and I like to spend a few of them on non-wrestling-related activities.

Anyway, on to the list!

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Mei Suruga vs Sayaka, ChocoPro 400 Day 2 (5/10/24) Review

Credit: ChocoPro

Mei’s second title defence was the real test of her reign. Wrestling Miyuki Takase is easy. She rarely dips below a certain level and, with it taking place in a ring, you know what that match will look like. That’s not to suggest it wasn’t good or exciting – it was – but there was a comfort level there. Arguably, wrestling Sayaka in Ichigaya should be similar. It’s their home, and most of the sixty-plus times they’ve faced off before have taken place there. However, with that belt on the line, things change. We’ve never seen Sayaka in a high-profile one-on-one match before, and it’s always intriguing to see how someone adapts to that pressure.

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Mio Momono’s Glorious Failure

She always goes down fighting. Credit: sya_tyo

Yes, I’m going to talk about Mio Momono again. No, I won’t apologise about it. If any other wrestlers ever get that good, I promise to go on about them incessantly, too.

I’m sad to admit it, but Mio is making glorious failure her trademark. Even when she succeeds, it’s inevitably followed by a crushing fall. As a fan of the Scottish football team, it’s all painfully familiar, and as I’ve firmly attached myself to the Momono express, I feel like I’ve cursed myself to spend even more time with my head in my hands dreaming about what could have been. I can’t help it. Mio makes me care, and it doesn’t matter if I try to sit back to watch from a position of detached cool – she always succeeds at drawing me in.

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Nao Kakuta vs Mizuki, Nao Kakuta Graduation Commemorative (25/7/24), TJPW Review

Tokyo Joshi’s treasure. Credit: TJPW

It is sometimes easy to forget during these emotional wrestling goodbyes that the person leaving isn’t dying or even retiring in the traditional sense. Nao Kakuta is 37. She is young enough to live a whole other life – two if she fancies it. By the time actual retirement comes around, wrestling will be something she used to do. A part of her time on this planet that people she talks to in pubs don’t believe happened. Yet, even knowing all of that, the emotion is so real. Solid, dependable Nao, who makes every TJPW undercard match at least 20% better, is vanishing from the world through which we interact with her. Sure, she might pop up now and then, but the (hopefully healthy) parasocial relationship we’ve established with her is dead, and that’s always going to be a sad thing.

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Marvelous Mio Momono’s Birthday (30/5/24) Review

The birthday girl got her cake. Credit: Here

Before jetting off to Hokkaido for the weekend, Marvelous had a birthday party to throw as Mio Momono turned 26. The best wrestler in the world deserves the biggest party possible, but if money is tight, a fun day out at Shinkiba isn’t an awful second choice. Besides, it’s Mio – if you let her wrestle, she’s happy. Let’s see if she got what she wanted.

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Marigold Fields Forever (20/5/24) Review

Sareee found a big pal. Credit: Marigold

We’ve got a new company on our hands. From the ashes of Rossy Ogawa’s Stardom career is born Marigold, a collection of Rossy’s old allies, some Stardom wrestlers who followed him out the door and a few people he pinched from elsewhere. Rossy gonna Rossy! Jokes aside, a sizeable new company will always be worth talking about, and with a roster bursting with potential, I am intrigued to see where this goes.

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