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.
Important Note (Due to some matches not airing as of the time of writing some presumably great matches can’t be ranked)
10. Moeka Haruhi & Crea vs AKARI & Manami Katsu
A really good tag team match that was made by the interactions between Crea and AKARI. They knew each other inside out and delivered a wonderful closing stretch to cap off this tag match and earn it a spot at number 10.
9. Donna Del Mondo (Giulia, Maika, Syuri & Himeka) vs STARS (Tam Nakano, Mayu Iwatani, Starlight Kid & Saya Iida)
Tam and Giulia once again stole the show as they were intent on knocking the others head off. Before those two got in this was a good, if sloppy in parts, six-woman tag but everything after Nakano and Giulia got their hands on each other was brilliant including the finishing stretch with Starlight Kid and Giulia.
8. Rina Yamashita vs Mari Manji
A hard hitting affair between Yamashita and Manji. Yamashita has some of the loudest, most cringe-inducing strikes in all of wrestling and Manji bore the full brunt of those in this match. May not be for everyone but we enjoyed this hard hitting match.
7. Tam Nakano vs Natsuko Tora
A pretty simple heel vs babyface story with Tora jumping Nakano before the bell and even using a chair to weaken Nakano. From there Nakano faced an uphill battle and showed a lot of heart in her comebacks.
6. Pro Wrestling WAVE (Yumi Ohka, Nagisa Nozaki, SakuraHirota, Yuka Miyazaki & HIRO’e) vs Marvelous (Mikoto Shindo, Hibiki, Masha Slamovich, Mei Hoshizuki & Maria)
A good showing from both rosters in a thirty-minute ironwoman tag match that featured timed entry rules, meaning two women started and two women (one from each team) entered every few minutes thereafter, this kept the match fresh for the duration and allowed for some fantastic individual performances like Mikoto Shindo, the first woman in, fighting off Sakura Hirota, the last woman in, as well as Nagisa Nozaki kicking faces and not thinking twice about it. The Marvelous fight back was less dramatic than expected and will definitely make any viewer chuckle. There are two matches in the above video, the second is a ten-woman tag team match.
5. Hanako Nakamori & Raideen Steel vs AKARI & Crea
A fun hard hitting tag match from Pure J. Nakamori was on fine form throwing some stiff kicks around while Crea got a lot of shine and showed once again that she is one of the top prospects in Joshi. This isn’t a match you’ll see on any Match Of The Year ballots but it was incredibly fun all the same.
4. ASUKA vs Ayako Sato
ASUKA continues her good year with another fantastic main event, this time for Diana against their champion Ayako Sato. ASUKA was her usual cocky self and wrestled with the attitude we’ve come to expect from her. When this got going it was big suplexes, near falls and action aplenty as both emptied the chamber looking to get the win before the time limit was up.
3. Saki Akai vs Meiko Satomura
The final match of the Saki Akai trial series saw her face the final boss-esque Meiko Satomura in a great match. From the off, it was just two women throwing their best shots at one another with neither wanting to back down. Sure there are cleaner matches but the ruggedness adds to the fight feel that Akai brings to her matches
2. Yoshiko vs Arisa Nakajima
A war of attrition between two of SEAdLINNNG’s top names. This was the kind of match where they both hit that little bit harder, were that little bit more reckless, and it made for a very enjoyable and hard-hitting contest that had a big fight feel. Nakajima has had one of the best years of any Joshi wrestler and that continued here.
1. Hanako Nakamori vs Leon
Variety in wrestling is something we appreciate here but sometimes we just want to see two performers go to the ring and kill one another for a chance to be champion. That’s exactly what we got here Nakamori and Leon went right to it and were delivering hard shots from the get-go. Down the stretch, the action was insane with big hit after big hit with both trying to get the win. A great match from PURE-J and one that is in the conversation for the best match of the year, be it Joshi or overall.
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. Looking to talk wrestling, pro football, or any number of sports? Head on over to the LWOS Boards to engage in conversation with fellow fans!
