UFC Fight Night 206 5/21/22: Michel Pereira vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio. This was the most standard and least exciting version of Pereira we have ever seen. He mostly stuck to boxing, using his lateral movement to stay away from the smaller pressure fighter, then coming in with a big right hand behind the left jab. Pereira would use the front kick to create space, and would throw a liver kick on the rare occasion that Ponzinibbio was waiting, which basically forced Ponzinibbio even more into the mindset of constant pursuit than he normally is, if that's even possible. Pereira supposedly only outlanded Ponzinibbio 24-16 in the first round, but it felt like when Pereira was fresh, Ponzinibbio really couldn't touch him beyond low kicks because the speed and reflex advantages were just too much. Ponzinibbio continued to chase with punches throughout the second, not using kicks or doing anything to actually cut Pereira off. In the second half of the round, he hurt Pereira some with a good punch on three occassions, and that really changed Pereira both in terms of making him more aggressive in wanting to get it back, and also in causing fatigue that resulted in him beginning to get caught with his back against the cage. Ponzinibbio also had a flash takedown at the end of the round, which was theoretically only notable for giving Pereira something else to think about, but with Ponzinibbio coming on in the second half of the round, you never know if a judge would have been fooled into thinking he won the round despite all Pereira's good work in the first half. Pereira started the third round strong, finally holding the center of the Octagon, including landing a high kick. He began to look fatigued after about a minute though, and definitely wasn't defending as well as in the early portion of the fight. This wound up being the best and most competitive round of the fight, as things devolved into exchanging big shots, which wasn't an advantage to Ponzinibbio in terms of raw power, but certainly in terms of strategy such as it was, as this gave him the best opportunity to actually beat Pereira up. Ponzinibbio finally got his jab going, and Pereira's stamina was further bothered by his nose getting busted up. There wasn't a ton of technique in the final few minutes, but Ponzinibbio did a better job of finding the stamina to gut it out. This time, partially because he got started earlier and partially because Pereira was no longer following the game plan, Ponzinibbio did enough to make up for Pereira's good work at the beginning of the round. Ponzinibbio needed to do more than finally win a round, but this at least salvaged his night, and helped earn him a Fight of the Night bonus. Pereira won a split decision 29-28. Good match.

UWF-I 5/8/92 Yokohama Arena: Hiromitsu Kanehara vs. Masakazu Maeda 15:08.
DC: In this fast-paced action-packed match, Hiromitsu Kanehara and Masakazu Maeda kept taking it to each other, both showing a desire to win. They kept struggling for position, and tried their best to get the advantage over the other. In general, these two made a really good attempt at making this look very realistic for pro wrestling standards. They alternated between stand-up striking and mat grappling in a natural manner, as they were reacting to each other superbly. Maeda’s kicks and knee strikes looked very good. The first point he scored was after a well-placed palm strike though. Maeda also executed a German suplex really well at one point, and transitioned into an arm bar attempt, but Kanehara countered with a leg lock, which made Maeda grab the ropes. Kanehara scored a point via a knee strike soon after this excellent sequence. During the stand-up striking, it seemed Kanehara’s favorite moves were his low kicks and palm strikes, which looked to be very effectiv. Maeda gave a very strong showing during the first half of the match. During the second half of the match, as Maeda slowed down a bit, it was Kanehara who gave the stronger performance. Unfortunately, this match was Maeda’s final pro wrestling match, so this was the end of a great undercard feud between two underrated workers. Perhaps the most incredible part about this feud is that they were both still rookies. ****¼ 

NOAH 7/15/07 Tokyo Nippon Budokan, Nippon TV Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League: KENTA & Taiji Ishimori vs. Naomichi Marufuji & Kota Ibushi 21:43.
DC: The match started off with KENTA and Naomichi Marufuji working against each other at a fast pace. It is always a joy watching these two in fast-paced action. Taiji Ishimori and Kota Ibushi worked some good junior heavyweight style counters when they wrestled each other. Ibushi tried to go strike for strike with KENTA, but KENTA got the best of him easily, since Ibushi couldn’t match KENTA’s intensity and stiffness. However, things changed when Ibushi kicked KENTA’s hurt left knee, which was taped up and now a target. KENTA was able to bite the pain and kept fighting. Ishimori came to his assistance in the form of some aerial aid. Ibushi was now in a lot of trouble, because KENTA and Ishimori worked together really well. Once Marufuji was in the ring, he was able to cause a lot more disruption to the flow. KENTA had to fight back harder now, because he knew Marufuji’s capabilities very well. Ishimori had to pull off all the stops to try to keep the momentum going against Marufuji. Eventually, Marufuji hit a springboard lariat that bought him enough time to tag in a relatively well-rested Ibushi. Ishimori was not able to be tamed though, and he hit more spectacular moves. Ishimori went for his backflip elbow after bouncing frontwards into the ropes, but Ibushi caught him and immediately hit a German suplex. Ishimori hit an enzuigiri once he was back on his feet, but Ibushi replied with a kick that took Ishimori down. KENTA and Ishimori were double-teaming against Ibushi, but Ibushi was so fast and flexible that he was able to fight off both, at least temporarily. Marufuji knew he’d better give Ibushi a hand, but KENTA and Ishimori were one step ahead and were in control once again, thanks to their superior teamwork. However, this advantage didn’t last long, because Marufuji and Ibushi were super determined, so they were able to get things going their way through sheer willpower. Ibushi went for a moonsault, but KENTA rolled away, so Ibushi had to be fast enough to land on his feet and then hit a standing moonsault if he wanted to still hit KENTA, and that’s exactly what he did. Marufuji followed up the hard work of his tag team partner with a tremendous frog splash on KENTA. If that wasn’t enough, Ibushi hit a standing reversed moonsault on KENTA. Luckily, Ishimori was there to break up Ibushi’s pin attempt, because KENTA was obviously in a lot of trouble after that barrage he had to go through. Ibushi’s phoenix splash couldn’t get the job done either, because Ishimori was once again in time for the save. In an attempt to get rid of Ishimori, Marufuji threw Ishimori into the air, but it actually helped aerial specialist Ishimori, because Ishimori was able to dropkick Ibushi and then hit an elbow on Marufuji all before landing on the mat again. Ishimori hit a swanton bomb on Ibushi. When KENTA started hitting Ibushi with strikes again, Ibushi tried to avoid one of them by falling backwards and then kipping up. Ibushi’s intention was to then hit a kick of his own, but since Ibushi did that earlier in the match, KENTA, who was able to think quickly, realized what was coming. KENTA grabbed Ibushi’s arms and hit a tiger suplex. KENTA hit a falcon arrow on Marufuji. Ishimori followed this up with an amazing front flip into the ropes that allowed him to do a super salto backflip elbow drop on Marufuji. KENTA and Ibushi traded strikes, but KENTA won that trade, and that helped him win the match for his team. This match had non-stop action and great athleticism from start to finish. Both teams showed great determination to succeed and win this bout. It was a great match and arguably the 2007 Match of the Year. ****½ 

Joshi Puroresu Dream Festival 4/15/22 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto vs. Yurika Oka & Ai Hozan 9:34.
DC: This match was part of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the legendary Korakuen Hall venue, and it was the best match of the show. Arisa Nakajima, Tsukasa Fujimoto, Yurika Oka and Ai Hozan represented SEAdLINNNG, Ice Ribbon, SGPW and Marvelous respectively in this match. Arisa & Tsukka, also known as Best Friends, are one of the best tag teams in joshi puroresu history. It’s a shame they got less than 10 minutes, but they made the most of it. Arisa did a particularly good job putting over the opposition, through her great selling and positioning. Both members of Best Friends executed their moves excellently. Yurika Oka & Ai Hozan are both 18 years old and only have 2.5 years and 1 year experience respectively. Even though the underdog team worked hard and clearly tried their best, along with Best Friends trying their best to make their opponents as good as possible, this was one of those matches where you already knew that there was no way the underdog team would win. Hozan was one of the three best joshi puroresu rookies of 2021 (along with TJPW’s Arisu Endo and Kaya Toribami). Hozan’s work is relatively basic, but she has good potential as a worker, since she shows a lot of determination. Oka did a pretty good job doing the right things at the right time. After the younger team had a pretty good run of doing the best they could, their experienced opponents didn’t need too much time to put them away once they were being more firmly in control of things. Even though this wasn’t a very competitive match, it was an enjoyable match, and it was a good one overall. The opportunity to wrestle against two of the best ever was obviously a great and useful learning experience for Oka & Hozan, who hopefully have learned a great deal from this match. ***¼ 

GLEAT 4/16/22 Fukuoka Nishitetsu Hall, UWF Rules: Minoru Tanaka & Takanori Ito vs. Hitamaru Sasaki & Takaku Fuke 13:40.
DC: Minoru Tanaka and Hitamaru Sasaki started this match off. They did some striking and then some matwork, which resulted in Tanaka using the first rope break. Ito and Fuke were next. Ito hit a nice low kick that had an impact on Fuke. When Sasaki was in there with Ito, Sasaki positioned himself sitting on the mat and challenged Ito to some mat action, but Ito told him to get back to his feet. Eventually, the two did battle it out on the mat, which resulted in Ito having to use a rope escape. I thought it was interesting that when Tanaka and Ito didn’t fully hit the more flashy kicks (like a spin kick), Sasaki and Fuke didn’t always sell for them. Tanaka caught one of Sasaki’s kicks, but Tanaka waited too long to take Sasaki down, so Sasaki was able to grab Tanaka’s arm and hit an armbar for a counter. Tanaka had to use another rope break. Tanaka’s team was now down 3 points. Ito used a powerslam, which felt a bit out of place in a shoot style match, but at least he hit it really well with barely any cooperation from Sasaki. Ito then went for a sleeper and that’s when Ito was finally able to get Sasaki to use the first rope break for his team. Fuke applied a seated anklelock on Ito, which made Ito use a rope escape. Things weren’t looking good for Tanaka & Ito, but Ito hit a released German suplex that caused Fuke a point for being down. Ito was ready for the kill and hit a high kick on Fuke. This meant Fuke was down again, but this time he didn’t make it back in time for the 10 count. This was a really good match. Throughout the match, Sasaski was acting quite cocky, and after the match, Sasaki let Tanaka & Ito know that he is interested in having singles matches against them. ***¾      

SEAdLINNNG 4/29/22 Tokyo Korakuen Hall: Arisa Nakajima vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto 22:21.
DC: Not only are Best Friends one of the best tag teams in joshi puroresu history, they have also had several memorable one-on-one battles against each other. It became clear early on in the match, that even though they are semi-regular tag team partners, they are also true professionals who don’t like to take it easy on each other. You’d expect tag team partners to take it easy on each other, but for these two it would have been an insult to each other to not try to challenge each other to take things to the next level. This was one of the best joshi puroresu matches of 2022 so far, because the overall execution is so much more crisp and intense than what we get to see from most joshi puroresu matches these days. They kept taking it to each other, and they didn’t do any melodramatic overselling like a lot of wrestlers do these days. This match came across as a fight that both were trying to win. Arisa hit a dropkick off the apron, and a plancha off the top rope. However, Tsukka rolled out of the way, and Arisa hit a couple of other wrestlers that were standing on the floor. Tsukka took advantage of this situation and hit a top rope plancha off her own. There were some forearm exchanges and there were some pinfall attempts. Tsukka hit a dropkick in the corner. Tsukka hit several of her signature low kicks that looked to have a pretty good impact. The way they were going at each other made it seem like they were going to go on for maybe another five or seven minutes or so, but instead it ended a bit abruptly. The fact that the twenty minutes seemed to fly by says a lot about how enjoyable it is to watch these two against each other. This wasn’t the best singles match they had against each other, but considering that Arisa and Tsukka both have been wrestling for approximately 14 years, it’s inspiring to see them still going strong and taking what they do seriously. These two would actually have yet another singles match against each other the next day at an Ice Ribbon show. Tsukka is going on an indefinite hiatus after getting married. Let’s hope that when she returns one day that we will get another Arisa vs. Tsukka match. ****¼

Ice Ribbon 4/30/22 Tokyo Korakuen Hall, SEAdLINNNG Beyond the Sea Title: Arisa Nakajima vs. Tsukasa Fujimoto 19:45.
DC: We are fortunate enough to get to watch yet another Arisa vs. Tsukka match. Some of Arisa's biggest moves in this match were a vicious-looking DDT on the apron and a couple of top-rope dropkicks. Tsukka’s offense also looked very good. The best part about this match was that they were able to put this over as a fight that had two wrestlers trying to push each other to the limit. They kept taking it to each other with intensity. Also, their selling and execution was on point. Unlike a lot of other wrestlers these days, it was so refreshing to see them not oversell during elbow and slap exchanges. They were not acting melodramatic, instead they showed excellent intensity. Yes, they are Best Friends, but they are arguably better enemies since their singles matches are always so excellent. In these singles matches against each other, they really are not taking it easy on each other. They are pushing each other harder than they would most other opponents, because these two know about each other’s capability of greatness. Arisa’s knee strikes really showed that she was like “we can’t be friends when we wrestle each other.” They both were putting over that they were trying to win this. Even though Tsukka is going on an indefinite hiatus, they realized that having a match where they go all out against each other is the best way to have somewhat of an end of an era for them. This 4/30/22 match was very close in quality to their 4/29/22 match, but this 4/30/22 match arguably had slightly more intensity and more impactful-looking action. The fact that they worked two high-quality matches two days in a row speaks volumes about the greatness of these two workers. This is arguably the best joshi puroresu match of 2022 so far. ****¼ 

STARDOM 4/29/22 Tokyo Ota City General Gymnasium, High Speed Title: AZM vs. Mei Suruga 13:06.
DC: Mei Suruga has shown a lot of potential for a few years now. Fans of less talked about and more obscure joshi puroresu leagues will know her from Gatoh Move’s ChocoPro shows. Mei is super likable and entertaining, and she always showed talent. However, here she finally participated in an excellent singles match. Mei’s unusual approach worked thanks to AZM, who took her challenger seriously. The way AZM reacted to some of Mei’s more playful-appearing actions helped to make it work while still honoring the importance of this title match. Mei deserves credit for putting over the fact that she was trying to win this match, notwithstanding her uncontrollable fun-loving energy. Mei combined kawaii-ness with cool-looking action. What Mei lacks in technical wrestling skills, she makes up for in likability, speed and creativity. Mei certainly aimed high, as she was trying to outspeed AZM, yet still found time to act all confident. Both wrestlers showed great stamina, and this is the type of match the High Speed Title was made for. One of Azumi’s most spectacular moves was a plancha to the floor after using the top rope as a springboard. It wasn’t clear if she was about to lose her balance and improvised or if that was intentional. It looked impressive either way. While Mei’s approach may appear playful at first, she executed everything in a way that made it clear she was out there to be in a competitive puroresu match. Even though Mei was overly hyper and energetic as always, it seemed to work within the context of having an excellent match, showing that behind all that hyper energy was also a clever worker. Chocopro followers knew what Mei was capable of, but here she displayed it in a more impactful manner in a big setting at a major show. It’s an inspiring story of a girl who worked so hard to be as good as she is now, and the most beautiful part is that she always seems to enjoy what she is doing and seems to enjoy the ride. AZM showed why she is arguably the most reliable in-ring performer in STARDOM right now. Her knowledge of how to work a big match combined with great athleticism, passion and high workrate makes her work such a joy to watch. This excellent match is one of the best joshi puroresu matches of 2022 so far. It is probably the best STARDOM match of the year so far, because this was worked in a slightly more urgent manner than the almost equally excellent STARDOM 2/23/22 Starlight Kid vs. AZM match. ****