Part two
I hope you all enjoyed part one – just to be clear the dates are when shows were released followed by what I watched and recommendations – if any! Occasionally there’ll be some extra commentary.
Great Space War 2025
Great Space War 2025 was as bonkers as ever – so much so that an upcoming Deathmatch Royalty will be talking about it (and is probably out by the time you read this!)
January 7th
AEW Dynamite was good – Bandidio giving Sammy his best match in a LONG time, some intrigue regarding the tag division with Mark Davis now teaming up with Jake Doyle fka Something, jon Cruz making a MJF promo segment better as they tapped in to the Mexico run MJF had last year that was ACTUALLY GOOD (even if the unwritten rule of Bandido getting the advantage probably makes it an inevitable loss at Maximum Carnage) and a wonderfully manic Lights Out match between Page/Swerve and Hobbs/Hook.JR returning though just reminded me why it was best for him to be more sporadic in AEW. The man we all loved in the 90s just can’t help but criticise the product in places while on air and given the D-Von stuff… not exactly a great PR move!
January 8
The Russofication of JCW continues… no contests, the bullshit Big Al/Janel Grant parallels carrying on and yet my mind wants people to know how bad it can get when you rely on SHIT NOSTALGIA when even The Outbreak fail me at being good as they hotshot the tag titles.
ROH mostly was standard fare – good to kill an hour (and always has good commentary by Ian and Caprice) but nothing particularly memorable.
January 9th
CMLL had two matches worth checking out – Titan vs Mascara Dorada in a lightning (ten minute) match and Mistico vs Barbaro Cavenario.
Meriken thankfully had no Jojo Otani involvement this time – happy to see Shigehiro Irie still going strong in the main against YASSHI even if his chance of winning the Anchor Openweight title came to an end.
I’m going to give WWE some praise shockingly as Cody finally realised that copying Dad with his title runs was actually stagnating that title and let Drew finally get that WWE title win in front of a big crowd even if the finish was the most flukiest possible. At least there’s some intrigue into who goes to Vegas with the belt this time… and no stupid Dwayne craziness either I hope.
At the same time – got to love that revisionism about Shinsuke’s MMA ‘career’ – let’s be honest the ones in New Japan under Inoki don’t count meaning 1 win at a K-1 and a No Contest. Not exactly Ken Shamrock (who he drew against) really now is it.
January 10th
Shows watched: True Grit Rumble, Memphis Wrestling – Grind City Rumble. STARDOM NEW YEARS STARS in Korauken Day 1, DDT New Years Chaos Festival. NOAH Lethal Odyessy – Tetsuya Endo Homecoming/returns in triumph, Michinoku Pro – 2026 Battle Begins, Dragon Gate Open the New Year Gate Day 3, TWE Everything Has Changed, AEW Collision, CMLL Saturday at Coliseo and TJPW New Year Party 2026.
In an era where Britwres is still trying to climb back up from the knockdown associating with WWE did to it (and where Speaking Out kicked it further down) True Grit wrestling manages to do quite well for itself – the inclusion of a Pride title is great to see, Alexxis Falcon plays the villain very well (especially with the fake injury spot) and Riley Nova clearly had some of his gimmick being watched by Kip Wilson. Give their Rumble show a shot at the very least and see that there’s still some talent to keep an eye on before they head off to the US at some point.
STARDOM New Years Stars in Korauken 2026 Day 1 Recommended matches: Alex Windsor, Olympia & STARS (Kogho and Iida) vs God’s Eye (Kotatsu, Yagami, Kashima and Syuri), God’s Eye (Ami Sourei, Hina, Lady C & Tomoka Inaba) vs. HATE (Azusa Inaba, Fukigen Death, Konami & Rina), Goddesses Of Stardom Title Match: HATE (Natsuko Tora & Ruaka) (c) vs. Neo Genesis (AZM & Miyu Amasaki)
Maki Itoh signing with STARDOM is great and shall be interesting who she picks for the inevitable Itoh Respect Army formation.
DDT recommended: The37KAMIINA vs DAMNATION T.A！ 30-Minute Single Match Yuki Ueno & To-y vs Daisuke Sasaki & Demus
Michinoku Pro recommended: MIRAI – the soul’s voyage: Third voyage – Confronting Genesis:
MIRAI vs The Great Sasuke
TJPW: Princess Of Princess Title #1 Contendership Six Way Elimination Match
Shoko Nakajima vs. Miyu Yamashita vs. Mizuki vs. Rika Tatsumi vs. Max The Impaler vs. Yuki Arai
TWE: Erron Wade vs Derek Neal (Taekwondo Gi/Kendo Stick on a Pole/Steel Cage), Hunter Drake vs CJ Lawler (Unsanctioned), ACTION Wrestling title – Darian Bengston vs Austin Luke, Best Two Out Of Three Falls Gentlemen’s Rules Match -Tommy Davis vs. Kasey Owens and TWE Title Match (Special Referee: Jaden Newman) Jameson Shook (c) vs. Anakin Murphy
AEW Collision: Komander vs El Clon, Mark Briscoe vs Hechicero for the TNT title
January 11th
Shows watched: AJPW New Year Fan Appreciation Day 2026, DG Open The New Year Gate – Day 4, NOAH Legacy Rise 2026, STARDOM NEW YEARS STARS in Korauken – Day 2, Sendai Girls Step and Go 2026
Recommended matches:
AJPW :
Rising HAYATO & Yuma Anzai vs. Xceed (Go Shiozaki & Kento Miyahara)
Dragongate:
10 man tag – PARADOX vs Love + Peace, Don Fujii & Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Gajadokuro (KAI & Yoshiki Kato) and D’courage (Dragon Dia, Ryoya Tanaka & Yuki Yoshioka) vs. Gajadokuro (Jason Lee, Kota Minoura & Madoka Kikuta)
STARDOM:
Eight Man Tag Team Match
Cosmic Angels (Natsupoi & Yuna Mizumori) & Neo Genesis (Miyu Amasaki & Starlight Kid) vs. God’s Eye (Ami Sourei, Kiyoka Kotatsu & Saki Kashima) & Kikyo Furusawa
Tag Team Match
Alex Windsor & Sareee vs. God’s Eye (Ranna Yagami & Syuri)
Tag Team Match
Maki Ito & Saori Anou vs. Cosmic Angels (Aya Sakura & Sayaka Kurara)
CMLL-Japan Women’s Title Match
Hazuki (c) vs. Mei Seira
Artist Of Stardom Title Match
HATE (Fukigen Death, Konami & Rina) (c) vs. God’s Eye (Hina, Lady C & Tomoka Inaba)
NOAH:
Eight Man Tag Team Match
All Rebellion (Alejandro, Harutoki, Kai Fujimura & Kaito Kiyomiya) vs. Team 2000X (Alpha Wolf, Jun Masaoka, Tadasuke & Takashi Sugiura)
Singles Match
Tetsuya Endo vs. OZAWA
GHC Junior Heavyweight Title Match
AMAKUSA (c) vs. Daiki Odashima
GHC Heavyweight Title Match
Yoshiki Inamura (c) vs. Masa Kitamiya
Sendai Girls:
Tag Team Match
VENY & YUNA vs. Bob Bob Momo Banana (Mio Momono & Yurika Oka)
Singles Match
Chihiro Hashimoto vs. Saya Iida
January 12
Shows watched: DDT D-Generations7, DDT New Year Fan Appreciation Day!, NOAH Lethal Odyssey Tour 2026, Prominence – Risa Sera’s Retirement, WWE Raw, Wrestling Open RI Episode 38
Recommended Matches
DDT
D Generations 7
To-y vs. Kazuma Sumi
New Year Fan Appreciation Day!
Singles Match
Fuminori Abe vs. Shinya Aoki
Hard Hit Rules Tag Team Match
Kazusada Higuchi & Yuya Koroku vs. Daichi Satoh & HARASHIMA
Six Man Tag Team Match – UNIT SHUFFLE
Antonio Honda, KANON & Yukio Naya vs. Chris Brookes, MAO & Yuki Iino
NOAH:
Singles Match
Alejandro vs. Kai Fujimura
Eight Man Tag Team Match
All Rebellion (Galeno & Kaito Kiyomiya) & Los Intocables (Daga & Daiki Odashima) vs. Team 20000X (Alpha Wolf, Masa Kitamiya, Tadasuke & Takashi Sugiura)
Prominence:
Risa Sera vs Suzu Suzuki
13th January
Shows watched: Baka Gaijin and Friends vol 27 – The night They Came home and WWE NXT
Recommended matches
Baka Gaijin
Two On One Handicap Hardcore Match
Jun Kasai vs. Daioh Ueki (Takayuki Ueki) & Munek (Munetatsu Nakamura)