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. In this article, we aim to give readers a list of recommended Joshi matches that took place in the last month, there will be some honorable mentions and then a top 5 featuring our absolute favorites!
Important Note: Due to some matches not airing as of the time of writing some presumably great Joshi matches can’t be ranked. Also due to the recent PPV Model adopted by a number of promotions we are unable to see every event.
Recommended Joshi Matches June 2021
Honorable Mentions
June has been arguably the most loaded month of Joshi wrestling in a long time so we have a lot of matches worth watching
- Ryo Mizunami vs Nanae Takahashi
- Yuki Arai vs Mirai Maiumi
- Yuka Sakazaki vs Miyu Yamashita
- Mio Momono & Rin Kadokura vs Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu
- Rina Yamashita vs Risa Sera
- ASUKA & Makoto vs Rina Yamashita & Yumiko Hotta
- Miyu Yamashita vs Sakisama
5. Hanako Nakamori & Las Fresa de Egoistas (ASUKA, Makoto, Ayame Sasamura & Riko Kaiju) vs Citrus Wind (Nanae Takahashi, Arisa Nakajima, Honori Hana, Riko Kawahata & Yumiko Hotta)
The war between Citrus Wind and Las Egos came to a head in this Captain’s Fall tag match pitting the two sides against one another. The interactions between Arisa Nakajima and Hanako Nakamori, in particular, were a highlight as the two renewed some of the leftover hatred from their feud back in 2018. Clocking in at 35 minutes this isn’t even the longest match on our list but it was an epic that this feud deserved for its climax.
4. Mio Momono vs Miyuki Takase
One of the highlights from the Catch The WAVE tournament was this opening day clash. Mio Momono has been on an absolute tear this year but her high-paced trickery ran into the brick wall that is Miyuki Takase here. Takase was her usual intense hard-hitting self and she didn’t allow Momono to take off, forcing Momono to play her game and deliver some stiff strikes of her own, including a nasty headbutt. The chemistry between Momono and Takase is off the charts!
3. Mio Momono, Mei Hoshizuki & Rin Kadokura vs Chihiro Hashimoto, Mika Iwata & DASH Chisako
The main event of GAEAISM was a rematch of a fantastic match from January 12, that placed second in our January list. This match had the added twist of being an elimination match with all the former AAAW titles on the line. Much like the original match, this was well-paced six-woman tag action that eventually boiled down to team leaders Mio Momono and Chihiro Hashimoto battling it out for victory. The final elimination was the peak of the match as Momono and Hashimoto’s powerhouse vs speedster dynamic provided a riveting closing stretch with both desperate for victory.
2. Mio Momono vs Miyuki Takase vs Sakura Hirota
Due to Tomoka Inaba‘s injuries the Catch The WAVE Potential Block had a three-way tie for first place with Momono, Takase, and Hirota all sitting on 4 points. This meant that to decide the block winner those three women met in unique three-way match that delivered a MOTY contender out of nowhere. The rules of this match are simple, well, kind of. It is contested as a series of singles matches with the lower switching our for the wrestler on standby until someone manages to win two falls in a row.
That’s enough background it’s time to talk about the match itself! This was an insanely paced 41-minute match, at no point will you find yourself looking at the clock to see how long is left, these three wrestlers somehow broke the space time continuum and made their 41-minute match feel like 20. Takase and Momono renewed their intense grudge from their previously mentioned singles match while a motivated Sakura Hirota provided trouble for both as both her mat wrestling and striking were on top form, the match had different phases with Momono and Takase bringing the fast paced impact, Hirota and Momono grounding the match in a bottle of wits, Takase goading Hirota into a striking battle, and of course, we had an epic closing stretch that’d keep anyone on the edge of their seat.
If this isn’t in your conversation for Joshi Match Of The Year come December than we’re not sure what will be.
1. Utami Hayashishita vs Syuri
We’ve been doing this Joshi MOTM series for quite some time now and this is without one of the best matches we’ve featured in some time. Dave Meltzer himself gave this match 5.5 stars and has compared it to the Shinobu Kandori vs Akira Hokuto match as one of the best women’s matches of a generation. Regular Stardom fans have been quick to heap praise on this match with many considering it to be the best in Stardom’s history.
Hayashishita and Syuri delivered a 43-minute war that never lagged in action. The two accomplished grapplers even managed to make the slower portions of the matches exciting with Syuri’s MMA prowess being touted leading to each and every submission she locked in feeling like a potentially match finisher. When Syuri wasn’t punishing Hayashishita on the mat or delivering lethal strikes we got to see Hayashishita use her raw power to her advantage as she tried to cling to her world title.
While the initial stoppage for the match hitting the 30-minute time limit may not sit well with some fans we loved it. Having both women decide to continue the war allowed them to reset the flow of the match as they both came out swinging for the final 13 minutes in search of a win despite the fatigue.
In many ways this was a rare match, Hayashishita and Syuri have excellent chemistry in the ring together and on this show, they made magic together, but, it’s the kind of lightning that you can’t bottle up a second time no matter how hard they may try.
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 of our recommended Joshi matches.
