Some great matches, good matches and bad matches that I feel like sharing my thoughts on. I’ll update this post chronologically as I watch through everything.
Sendai Girls World Junior Title: Chi Chi (c) vs. Aya Sakura, 1/3/2025
Stardom New Year Dream 2025 @ Tokyo Garden Theater – Tokyo, Japan
Chi Chi hits a fisherman’s suplex off the ring apron to the floor and then STEPS on Sakura as she gets back into the ring. Total badass. This rivalry has been brewing for a while now and they delivered as best they could here. They were intense and energetic and exceeded my expectations by quite a bit for only having been doing this for about a year. Sakuras offense is quite limited but her strikes hit the mark for the most part while Chi Chi has a more varied offense with suplexes and she uses the entire ring well.. They both still do a fair amount of waiting around for the next thing to happen but you can see the progression and the effort here. Also Chi Chi’s entrance is totally OVER. **1/2
IWGP Women’s Title: Mayu Iwatani (c) vs. AZM, 1/4/2025
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 19 @ Tokyo Dome – Tokyo Japan
Mayu and AZM on the grand stage was really great to see though it’s a shame they didn’t even get 9 minutes to do their thing. They kept the energy high and worked a sprint type match going 50/50 and getting most of their stuff in. Hard to expect anything less from these two these days. There wasn’t much downtime here and they made each other look really good. ***1/4
NEVER Openweight Title & AEW International Title:
Shingo Takagi (c) vs. Konosuke Takeshita (c), 1/4/2025
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 19 @ Tokyo Dome – Tokyo Japan
These dudes have so much more in them. This match felt like it didn’t really know what it was trying to be. They start out doing the typical NEVER tough guy strike exchange but then the intensity just… dies. They trade moves and play dead, and then trade moves and play dead some more and it’s just not inspiring at all. A miscue on Takeshita’s knee strike really took me out because Shingo sold that insanity and then kicked out at one when Takeshita finally hit it. They spent more time laying on the mat than doing anything remotely believable and the selling just didn’t match what was being done in the ring. Takeshita/Ishii the following night was much better despite Ishii being way past his prime. *3/4
New Year’s Makenokori Majiten Tournament – First Round: Saori Anou vs. Kohaku
OZ Academy The Wizard of Oz 2025 @ Shinjuku FACE – Tokyo, Japan
Saori nearly always brings the intensity and charisma and just has that aura that makes you want to keep watching her. Kohaku, the 23 year old from WAVE is either extremely underrated or just hasn’t had much mainstream exposure aside from teaming with Mei Sera in the Goddesses tag league. This tournament for the most part is just a fun first show of the year – as its name essentially means “loser remains”. The “winner” of the match is actually the one who loses, and they move on to the next round. This was a fun, hard hitting match that kept moving and had more than an acceptable level of intensity and urgency. Kohaku plays the spirited underdog role extremely well and Saori is her normal badass self. They have good chemistry and even though this is a short 10 minute draw they pack enough in to make it fun. I want more. Solid stuff. **3/4
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hechicero, 1/11/2025
NJPW Battle in the Valley @ San Jose Civic Center – San Jose, California, USA
What I love about these two in the ring together is that they add meaning into every movement and don’t just sit there waiting for the other to stretch them or lock in a hold. This was nearly the epitome of that idea – though not quite at the level of the Sabre/Danielson all-timer from 2/11 last year (***** match). There is constant back and forth, resisting and countering and trying to maneuver themselves into a more favorable position, or attempting to force the other into a mistake that would provide an advantage. There is struggle and realism present throughout the entire match – an awesome moment when Zack had Hechicero tied up and as Hechicero was trying to get to the ropes Zack desperately grabs and clutches at every extended limb wrenching back the hold even more until Hechicero finally gets the rope break. Technical wrestling like this is nearly non-existent anymore. Normally we might see sprints or exchanges that are elevated to this level, but to maintain this consistency throughout an entire match like this is something special and they didn’t have to concede to the “main event” build that we see so often in New Japan. They wrestled their match and shared a very similar match structure and a lot of the same elements and ideas as the 8/24 match but on a greater scale. This is an easy MOTYC level match and one that deserves much praise. ****1/2
Chad Gable vs. Penta, 1/13/2025
WWE Monday Night RAW @ SAP Center – San Jose, California, USA
I had to check and make sure my TV wasn’t set to slow motion. The opening exchanges here were lifeless and didn’t match the hype. They TRIED to do a choreographed opening sequence but were moving so slow either because that’s just what they do or because there’s no way Gable is keeping up with Penta at normal speed. But people seem to be praising Gable here like he’s some incredible worker because he’s good at laying on the mat selling and stalling. Everything here just seemed telegraphed and lazy. Penta slips up on the leg drop off the bottom rope. Gable nearly kills Penta, not catching him on the dive spot. The German suplex on the apron was cool and Gable got his heat in working Penta’s leg which Penta proceeded to take priority to overselling rather than trying to defend himself or even do anything else at times. He moved quicker to grab his own leg and bounce around the ring than he did to do anything to his opponent in the match. The Mexican Destroyer spot was clean and the match did pick up in execution in the second half but overall definitely not a great showcase for a debuting “superstar”. The post match promo definitely put him over but the match structure and execution here left a lot to be desired, even for the WWE style. *1/2
In progress….
X: @ligersama
