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

TJPW Additional Attack (18/10/25) Review

TJPW returned to Korakuen with an intriguing line-up. The top of the card is dominated by first title defences, where we know the belts aren’t going to shift, but there’s still some excitement to be found in people getting an opportunity in those positions. Further down, you’ve got the joy of the Mahiro Ironman title reign continuing, and even more thrillingly, a trio of interesting showdowns between young wrestlers and veterans. It all had the potential to be great, so let’s see what went down.

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19/10/2025 1

Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for September 2025

It’s a quieter roundup this month, not because of a lack of good wrestling, but because I haven’t had a chance to watch a lot of it. There’s no big, dramatic reason for that, I’ve just been a bit busy. Fingers crossed, I’ll be able to check out a bit more in October. However, I have decided to add a permanent ‘Past Rambles’ section, which gives me a chance to focus on matches that I’ve watched from, well, the past. It makes its debut here with a WCW Women’s Cruiserweight Title match from 1997. So hopefully you enjoy that!

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01/10/2025 0

Haruna Neko: The Joy of Being a Wee Cat

I don’t trust people whose favourite wrestlers win all the time. Sure, you can appreciate and respect the people at the top of the card, but seeing them as your guy? I find that deeply suspicious behaviour. Does anyone really love Kazuchika Okada? Sareee? Roman Reigns? Even as I ask the question, I know the answer is yes, but I find it hard to imagine what goes on in their heads. I categorise them in the same category as those who support Wrexham despite not being from Wales, or claim to like punk but only listen to pop-punk bands who are statistically likely to have done some noncing. What you’re doing might not be inherently bad, but I don’t particularly want to spend time with you.

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30/09/2025 0

Rina Yamashita vs Mei Suruga, Game Changer (5/9/25), ChocoPro

I don’t want to slag off Rina Yamashita. She’s a fantastic wrestler who has been part of some amazing stuff. However, in recent times, she’s been stuck in what I think of as the Hiroyo Matsumoto vortex. She’s old-reliable. A freelancer who pops up in countless promotions and can be trusted to fill a spot anywhere on the card. That’s no bad thing. In fact, it’s a talent in its own right. However, it’s easy to see why someone in that role would slip into a rut. There’s nothing to get your teeth into. You arrive, do your thing, and go home. The matches are rarely bad. They’re just not what you remember.

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16/09/2025 1

Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for August 2025

Endo runs the Miyu gauntlet. Credit: TJPW

Despite heading down to London for a weekend to watch the stuff (don’t expect any writing about that, much beer was drunk), I feel like I didn’t watch as much wrestling as usual in August. There is no grand reason for that. I just never quite got around to a bunch of shows that I’m sure I’ll catch up with eventually. All the same, there were a few matches that I enjoyed. They’re mostly hailing from my usual places, but hey, it’s not like anyone is coming here expecting anything different.

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01/09/2025 0

Shoko Nakajima vs Miu Watanabe, Princess Cup (17/8/25), TJPW

I adore how Shoko has used the 619 recently. Credit: TJPW

The times they are a-changing in TJPW. I can’t quite pinpoint when it started, but there has been a noticeable shift towards working a limb. My completely baseless assumption is that with Yuka Sakazaki gone and Miyu Yamashita spending more time working overseas, it’s a consequence of the growing influence of Shoko Nakajima (and perhaps, to a lesser extent, Rika Tatsumi), which could never be a bad thing. It’s been particularly evident in 2025’s Princess Cup. Both semi-finals saw at least one body part being treated most unkindly, and I don’t think that would have been the case a year ago, never mind even further back. It’s a noticeable shift in the house style that seems to be carving itself into the company’s roots.

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19/08/2025 1

Marvelous (8/8/25) Review

Sareee looks very confused. Credit: Here

The 8th of August is a special day in Marvelous canon, as it’s when Chigusa Nagayo debuted as a wrestler. In recent years, it has been reserved for Korakuen, and with the feud with Marigold only getting hotter, the roster was out to defend their honour on the anniversary of the start of their boss’s career. Let’s see if they did a good job.

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11/08/2025 1

Mei Suruga vs Miya Yotsuba, It’s Timeee (18/7/25), ChocoPro

It’s quite the upgrade. Credit: Screenshot

Conventional wisdom dictates that we all eventually morph into our parents. It doesn’t matter how different a road you might walk down, nature or nurture will lead you back to the door you were born behind. That certainly seems true for Mei Suruga. The deeper into her career Mei gets, the more Emi Sakura creeps into her game. We’ve seen it with her bullying of youngsters in Ichigaya, and now we get the joy of watching her go in as the dominant champion against a wrestler she trained. Miya Yotsuba was Mei’s first student to debut, and while she perhaps doesn’t feel like she’s walking in Mei’s footsteps (more on that in a second), she was desperate to prove herself the equal of her teacher.

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31/07/2025 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