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.

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Ramblings About’s Matches of the Month for May 2022

Don’t let them fool you, they’re menaces. Credit: ChocoPro

I was doing so well on keeping up with wrestling, and then we hit the summer months, which meant I started having to go outside and see other people, and now I’m behind again. Despite all that, there is plenty of action to get your teeth into from the last month with multiple returns, at least one goodbye and a special tribute show. Enjoy!

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Ice Ribbon #1161 ~ Sweet November (28/11/21) Review

Credit: Ice Ribbon

After a very successful trip to Ota City, Ice Ribbon returned to Korakuen for the first of Tsukushi’s title defences. In a nice role reversal, she faced the person she provided the first defence for last year, Suzu Suzuki. That also happened to be one of 2020’s best matches, so there were rather large expectations on their shoulders. Let’s see if they could live up to them.

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Ice Ribbon Spring Is Short, So You Maidens Should Fight! (24/4/21) Review

All the fighting maidens. Credit: Ice Ribbon

How about that for a show name? Joshi has an abundance of incredible show titles, but Ice Ribbon has outdone them all there. It was a fitting moniker for what will probably be the last show we see from a Korakuen with fans in it for a while, as Tokyo heads back into lockdown. I’ve no doubt Ice Ribbon will see it out in style, though. Go forth maidens and fight!

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SEAdLINNNG Grow Together! (17/3/21) Review

Ready for the fight.

From shit, occasionally a flower blooms. Is that a saying? I wrote it thinking it was, but now I’m not so sure. Fuck it. It’s there now. Sadly, Yoshiko has had to drop the SEAd title, her recent injury issues getting the better of her. In response, though, Nanae has booked Rina Yamashita vs ASUKA, and that’s one hell of a flower. Throw in a one-day tag tournament, and this show was can’t miss.

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Ice Ribbon RE:BORN (20/2/21) Review

Challenge defeated. Credit: Ice Ribbon

It is time for Ice Ribbon to be RE:BORN! This time last year, it was RE:BORN that kicked off Suzu Suzuki’s run to the title as she retired chirin chirin and went off to live in the woods for a bit. A year on and Suzu is reinventing herself again, as having lost the belt to Tsukka she is off to the deathmatches. The more things change, the more they kinda stay the same.

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Ramblings About’s Match Of The Year: Best Of The Rest Part 1

A perfect moment. Credit: TJPW

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.

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