The Joshi wrestling scene (Japanese Women’s Wrestling) is a deep scene full of insanely talented performers and every month there are dozens of fantastic matches from promotions from Stardom to Pure-J and everywhere in between. This month more than any before was a difficult choice as we had a four-horse race for the top spot and any one of the four could’ve taken top billing.
Important Note (Due to some matches not airing as of the time of writing some presumably great matches can’t be ranked)
Meiko Satomura vs Ryo Mizunami
This was a fun match with two hard hitters. Meiko and Ryo just beat each other up from start to finish. The post-match interaction (seen below) summed up this one to a tee. Not a MOTY contender by any stretch but a fun, stiff fight.
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Link To Watch Match Starts at roughly 42:00
Takumi Iroha vs Mei Hochizuki
Similar to the Iroha/Shindo match that ranked so highly last month this was heelish Ace Iroha taking pleasure in beating up a rookie who was not willing to back down. Not as good as the Iroha/Shindo match but a great match nonetheless.
Link To Watch (Marvelous Freshlive Channel)
Kay Lee Ray vs Dash Chisako
This one might be affected by live bias as I saw this one live but it was the perfect match for a “hardcore queen” and “hardcore daredevil” to have. It was a brawl involving some sick bumps for both and may not come across as well on video but was thoroughly enjoyable live.
Dash Chisako & Hiroyo Matsumoto vs Sareee & Ayame Sasamura
Clocking in at 9 minutes this was another sprint from DASH and Saree who picked up where they left off just over a week beforehand. Dash and Hiroyo are making a case for tag team of the year with their matches and they worked very well here against Sasamura and Sareee.
Link To Watch (Sendai Girls YouTube Channel)
Takumi Iroha, Nanae Takahashi & Sareee vs Mei Hochizuki, Mikoto Shindo & Maria
The marvelous rookies teamed up to take on three of the best wrestlers in all of Joshi. A comedic start with Iroha power bombing the life out of Shindo leading to a 10-second win saw the match restarted. Once it was restarted we got the match everyone was expecting the three rookies scratching and clawing for every inch as they try to get the win. Iroha and Takahashi did the heavy lifting for their team but were their usual selves, taking pleasure in knocking back the rookies at every available opportunity.
Link To Watch (Marvelous Frshlive Channel)
Link To Watch Clipped Free (Marvelous YouTube Channel)
Jungle Kyona & Konami vs Utami Hayashishita & Momo Watanabe
As a pure match this isn’t going to blow anyone’s mind, what makes this is the emotional climax to Jungle Kyona’s almost year-long fight to get one over on Hayashishita. While the action was good it was helped along by the added tension of the hometown crowd being firmly in the corner of Kyona as she took the fight to two of her biggest rivals.
Sakura Hirota vs Maika Ozaki vs Rina Shingaki
For anyone that thinks Joshi is just badass women trying to murder death kill one another, this will change your mind. Sakura Hirota is one of the best comedy wrestlers in the world and her stuff landed even better here against the super-serious Ozaki. The characters at play in this one helped make it better than the usual Hirota match and one that’ll have you chuckling from start to finish
Link To Watch (Puroresu Dream) Match starts at roughly 12:00
Arisa Hoshiki vs Hazuki
Not on the level of some of Hoshiki’s previous title defenses on account of the slow start but a great match from two of Stardom’s best. Hazuki brought her high-speed excellence to the match and made the most of any of Hoshiki’s slip-ups while Hoshiki was content to take Hazuki’s head off at every available opportunity.
Link To Watch: (Stardom World)
Emi Sakura vs Riho
An emotional moment as Riho waved goodbye to her home promotion of Gatoh Move to set off for AEW. What better match to go out on than to face the woman that trained her and a woman that she has shared a ring with hundreds (possibly thousands) of times. These two know every move in the others arsenal and the temp was kept high right from the start.
Link To Watch (Gatoh Move Youtube Channel)
Saree vs Dash Chisako
From the word go these two went out there to win. There was no fancy grappling, no period of matwork just ferocity right from the off. 13 minutes of intense pro wrestling from two great wrestlers. Dash especially is used to sprints and used that experience here to help keep everything ticking. Not something that we should see every time out but a nice change from the 20+ minute main events we’re used to.
Link To Watch (Puroresu Dream) Match Starts at roughly 1:33:00
Stay tuned to the Last Word on Pro Wrestling for more on this and other stories from around the world of wrestling, as they develop. You can always count on LWOPW to be on top of the major news in the wrestling world, as well as to provide you with analysis, previews, videos, interviews, and editorials on the wrestling world. And check out last month’s edition for more fantastic Joshi matches
