The Five Count: May 1 - 15, 2025
1) OZAWA (c) vs. KENTA (NOAH Memorial Voyage 5/2/25) GHC Heavyweight Title Match. Winner: OZAWA. Classic story--young vs old, and when KENTA came out, he looked old. Not feeble. Hardened, Chuck Bronson style. You know–the aged gunslinger who came home after years away only to find it ran roughshod by a bunch of punks.
The head punk is GHC champ, OZAWA--brash, no respect, no reverence, but damn if he isn't pure charisma. Good looking kid with his nice mop of hair and Chalemet wisp of a mustache. Decked out with 70's shades, a feather coat, and a crutch. Should he take Coco Chanel's advice and maybe ditch one accessory? Sure. Also that goofy shuffle into a backspin? Ain't saving the rec center from the evil developers with those moves. Still NOAH got something special with him, and he knows it.
His positioning as a heel creates a weird disconnect. For all his asshole antics taunting his opponent, he had the most vocal support from the crowd. Structure wise, OZAWA also spent most of the match working underneath--as KENTA was in complete control. OZAWA's offense only came in small spurts; mostly after interference from 2000x stablemates. The usual face/heel dynamic has become inverted. It's a tension that is working for the moment (NOAH has seen increased crowd attendance during OZAWA's big push), but it's gonna be highwire act with risk of a big burn out.
To KENTA's credit, he realized the crowd was split, and leaned into it. Something magical happened too--with every stiff strike, with every heavy kick, KENTA started looking younger and younger. He was moving more nimble, his offense had more variety than in recent years. He was working hard, not struggling, but really putting in effort. It did not go unappreciated and when he hit the GTS, the divided crowd was now completely behind him. 2000x removed the ref before he could hit three and robbed KENTA of a victory. Shenanigans ensued and in the end, OZAWA hit a beaut of a reverse twisting splash off the top rope for the win. Rating: Rocks.
2) Ryuki Honda vs. Madoka Kikuta (AJPW Champion Carnival Night 13 5/11/25). Winner: Honda. This year's Carnival was a bit of a shrug. All Japan's small roster meant not a lot of fresh matches. In addition, the predicated outcome was the eventual one; with Rei Saito winning the tournament to face his brother for Triple Crown showdown. The interest in Carnival was mostly to see who got a surprise push and getting a look at some of the outside talent brought in to fill in spots.
The surprise push was Honda--picking up upset wins over both Yuma's(Anzai and Aoyagi). Honda was member of the ELPIDA-a now defunct faction of All Japan's young guns. He's a striking contrast to ELPIDA's other members– Anzai and Hayato are the cool and handsome aces, Ren Ayabe resembles a giant Japanese version of Charlie Watts and has the same detached demeanor of the Stones Drummer. Honda, on the other hand, is stocky maniacal troll doll with a bad haircut and the face of a constantly enraged Jesse Plemons. The other members of ELPIDA have won big matches and tournaments--it appears its Honda's time.
In regards to the outside talent participating in the Carnival, there was some WWE prospects of past (Xyon) and future (Mike D Vecchio). The standout was Dragongate's Kikuta--Kikuta also picked up wins over the Yuma's and the similarities with Honda did not stop there. He may a little taller, his techinical skills a little sharper, his build a touch more athletic, he is still a husky dude who hits hits hard.
So this match where both needed the win to advance, was not a clash of styles, but a celebration of two beefy boys beating the shit out of each other. The two would chop and strike each other until both fell from exhaustion, then rise back up, but heads and start all over again. Evenly matched, Honda came out the victor, hitting Kikuta twice with his finisher--picking his opponent up over his head and just flinging his ass to the ground. Awkward and brutal--a perfect encapsulation of Honda's gifts. Rating: Rocks
3) Skaar (c) vs. Pol Bran (Rixe Hors De Controle 2 5/1/25) Roi De La Bagarre Title Match. Winner: Skaar. Technically, this match is from last year, but it just washed up on YouTube shores in May. To be honest, I'm not even sure which was Skaar and which one was Bran. Neither dude really stood out, but I loved this venue. Korakuen Hall, Arena Mexico, ECW Arena, Hammerstein. It's time to add a new location to sacred wrestling sites, and it is a salvage yard in northwestern France. The image of a ring set up in front of towers of junked cards evokes the backgrounds of 90's arcade fighter games. Damn cool.
The match itself was a fun backyard death match. Tombstone on the hood of a car, handcuffs and roman candles, dude getting a hubcap frisbeed into his face, attempted vehicular manslaughter. There has been crazier and bloodier matches, but just like in real estate, never underestimate the power of location. Rating: Rocks
4) Steve Maclin (c) vs. Eric Young (TNA Impact 5/8/25) TNA International Title Dog Collar Match. Winner: Maclin. Outside of French junkyards, the Dog Collar match is one the best stips in wrestling. Steel Cage matches have become more about circumventing the gimmick than spotlighting it. Lumberjack matches always suck. The standard plunder match usually becomes a buffet of spots-desensitizing the destruction. The Dog Collar Match's simplicity is its strength-two opponents attached to each other by a length of chain. The violence in immediately implicit. The chain itself a constant source of danger-whether used as a weapon or unfamiliar impediment always threatening to trip or wrap a wrestler up by its presence alone. The Dog Collar match's revival over the past few years has become a welcome sight. AEW/ROH has had three classics , Mad Dog Connelly has made it his signature match on the indies, even WWE recently had a sanitized version in the Punk/McIntyre feud.
TNA now brought it out as a final sendoff to blood a s it continues to search for a TV contract. Too bad-cuz if you took away the blood and the steel, this would have just been a solid if forgettable match. Nothing different than what you can see on Monday or Friday nights. Better red than Fed, I say. To his credit, Maclin went all in before the moratorium went into effect. Early on, he hit the razor and was leaking buckets all over the place, face drenched. Maclin is a fine wrestler, good power and speed, but he just has certain generic quality about him. This night he really stood out-gushing and grappling with intensity. Young looked good too, his no-nonsense bulked up old man look came off much more intimidating than he ever did in his "disturbed" Sanity duds.
As noted, the match was fairly basic--once nice spot where Young tucked and rolled over the turnbuckle on a Irish Whip and then jumped to the floor, yanking the chain and Maclin into the top rope. Young's co-horts The Northern Amory (aka Sinner & Saint) did some run ins and took some great bumps for Maclin. For the most part, power moves by Maclin and classic heel grinding by Young. Still the blood and chain just added enough danger or illusion of danger to keep to hold the eyes to the screen. Rating: Rocks
5) Masha Slamovich (c) vs. Miyu Yamashita (GCW We Still Don't Trust You 5/4/25) JCW Title Match. Winner: Slamovich. A kind of nothing match between two intriguing, but somewhat incomplete wrestlers. Both women could be considered stars-Yamshita is 4x champ of the second biggest Joshi promotion, and a semi-regular on the indies and the Tony Kahniverse. Slamovich is the current TNA Knockout Champ and is a goddamn workhorse on the indies (already 68 matches this year alone). Both already have resumes most wrestlers never get. Still both are missing little things.
Take Yamashita--great poise in the ring--gives off Shibata vibes "I'm a fighter, I'm here to fight.", no frills no garters, nothing cutesy just a stare that say "Fuck you and Fuck this". She a striker with pinpoint accuracy and impressive flexibilty. While her kicks are crisp, they do have impact to them. Even in this dimly lit GCW show, one could see her knee strikes never looked snug, her kicks don't have the SMACK to them that makes the audience recoil in sympathy to her opponent.
Slamovich has the opposite problem. Love her offense, especially when she going 100 mph and just BAM BAM BAM--move into move into move. Her issue is all presentation--I don't know if she needs upgrade to her gear, or a haircut but she still comes across as indie worker. No shame in that, but I just want more forsomeone with her talent and work ethic. Time is still on the table for both women as the just entering their primes (Masha is 27, Miyu 30) and they have my curiosity, but I hope they will demand my attention. Rating: Rent.