Owen Watches Kyushu Pro

[OwenEdwards]

Kyushu Pro Wrestling 16/03/2025 and 30/03/2025 – REVIEW



What’s Going On?

I watch a lot of classic wrestling – it’s my main interest in pro-wres – but had come across Kyushu Pro (KPW, not to be confused with KSUWF) a couple of times, I think initially by seeing that’s where TAJIRI now wrestles. It’s a nonprofit federation – possibly the only one of this type in Japan – often running charitable events or events for the community. and it’s regional, touring chiefly on Kyushu (as the name suggests) and being based in a suburb of Fukuoka. This is all appealing. I also read – and this is me just trusting some anon on the Internet – that it got good crowds and was really family-friendly. All of this just really made me think – look, if I’m going to watch some modern wrestling regularly, this kind of homegrown, rooted, charitable product, featuring TAJIRI no less, was the sort of thing I wanted.



What makes it practically appealing, though, is that they just post a bunch of their events – sometimes whole events, sometimes main events – on YouTube. For free! (See https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpoDpVFhUGHPWVYqmJ8TBwA.)



Now About The Show…

I chose to watch the 30/03/2025 show, being the latest on the channel and also a complete one, comparing it to the card on Cagematch. It was held at the Nakama City Sports & Bunka Center – in a suburb of Fukuoka – and had an attendance of 703. It looks like it was filmed in the daytime. 703 is a pretty ordinary attendance, but they also regularly do higher – they’ve held two shows with attendance over 1,000 this year so far, with the highest declared at 1,920. This is pretty good stuff, probably aided by its regional identity and the fact no-one else really tours anymore, especially outside Kanto.



I’m going to treat this as a first impressions report – my actual match reviews at the bottom are “the considered conclusion”, but this is how it struck me as I watched.



Though the venue was hardly packed, it had a healthy crowd and a nice buzz. It’s a very mixed audience, with old, young, and everything in between. It’s an interesting contrast to some 21st century shows I’ve watched. The presentation – everyday venue, daytime, fully lit – all helps this side of the appeal, I suspect. There is some stash on display, most obviously a pink lucha mask a bunch of kids (and a few older!) are wearing.



Asosan & Kodai Nozaki & Naoki Sakurajima vs. SHIHO & TAJIRI & Towa Iwasaki

Yes, *that* TAJIRI. SHIHO – this is important – is from Korea, and is a leanly muscular kinda guy. Iwasaki has this slight post-Chono-ish bad boy look. SHIHO, TAJIRI, and Iwasaki come out first, and obviously Tajiri (we’re dropping the all-caps) is Shiho’s mentor. It’s all a bit K-Pop, from the music to Shiho’s “I am your true Korean idol!” gimmick line.



The other guys, it becomes apparent, are the faces, and include KPW Tag Team champions Asosan (who is billed by mountain height and is, I think, a volcano?) and Naoki Sakurajima.



Worth an interlude here, I think: Tajiri, Asosan, and Sakurajima are all veterans, and all trained or debuted in smaller feds – IWA Japan in 1994, Wrestle Yume Factory in 1995, and Osaka Pro in 2008, respectively. They are all Kyushu Pro guys now. The others are younger: Iwasaki debuted in 2017 with ZERO-One and now mostly works for BURST, Shiho in 2012 (but no debut match listed; he works a lot in South Korea) and is a freelancer these days, and Nozaki debuted in 2016 for Kyushu Pro – he’s home-grown and seems to be moving into being the promotion’s face.



Anyway, this is in large part a comedy undercard match. Lucharesu comedy and AJPW 6-man Old Man Comedy both give useful reference points here for me. The heels blatantly cheat, the faces come back pluckily. Tajiri is about the most over with the crowd, but the crowd react to everyone, and cheer and boo at appropriate times. Nozaki doesn’t do much; it feels like he’s here to make up numbers, because *I think* this is about Shiho and co building to a challenge for the tag belts – there is a whole thing with the True Korean Idol signalling for a belt after the heels win.



This actually, so far as it goes, works pretty well – what I mean is it’s an incredibly competent and well-put together match, with Sakurajima taking a lot of heat from the heels, and each guy getting their character across, whether in comedy moments or just straight. It’s a warmup, really; it’s pro wrestling at its simplest, and you can kinda tell the two oldest guys are somewhat limited. Nozaki, Sakurajima, and Iwasaki have some good exchanges, and Shiho is fine – and a good heat magnet.



Tajiri hits the mist to set up the win, which reminds me to remark on the fact that the reffing is in “Triple H is walking round with a sledgehammer but no-one sees it” territory. There are conventions to learn – countouts don’t get counted if both guys are out and I’m not actually sure they get counted on one guy anyway – but a lot of it is the storytelling dynamic of refs having the wool pulled over their eyes by the heels. I actually never really like this – the Federation should just sack the ref if that’s kayfabe true – but of course it’s tried and tested and heats the audience up.



Afterwards, the crowd join in Shiho’s idol posing.



SHIHO & TAJIRI & Towa Iwasaki win in 14:58.



Genkai & Hitamaru Sasaki vs. Batten Blabla & Shigeno Shima

So Genkai and Sasaki and Shima are all basically ordinary wrestlers, but Batten Blabla is a comedy gimmick and a popular one. He’s a skinny coward who visually fits a particular Japanese trope, though I don’t know what it’s called – he has a costume (pilot’s hat, aviators, jacket), he minces a bit, he has an elaborate entrance where he leads a song and looks like he’s about to fistbump a kid but then makes an X sign. This is all expected and enjoyed by the audience. He’s obviously, in a sense, the point of the match – even though he only figures into the final passage, as he leaves Shima to suffer for the most part as he’s too scared to tag.



This kinda stuff has a certain limit for most of us, and mine is higher than most. Everyone enjoys this and the atmosphere is just great – Batten Blabla is technically on the face team and his cowardice is booed lustily. He’s a compelling if slightly discomforting performer. And everyone in this match, in fairness, works hard, and the long heat segment is good, and Blabla is surprisingly effective with his moves when he ever manages to hit them. (There is a legitimately funny moment as he’s trying to hit a finisher on a prone opponent which involves a swaggering sidle-up which is dodged twice, so the third time he obviously hurries it. Blabla is very practised with his bits, and it works.)



Nonetheless – and whilst this is a respectable match with okay comedy – as soon as you realize that these guys are all getting on(*), and you see how gentle everything is, you can see it’s going to have to be funnier to achieve more than “respectable”. Genkai and Sasaki, for what it’s worth, still look like they can go.



Genkai & Hitamaru Sasaki win in 13:19.



*: Blabla is 45, Shima 51, Genkai 48, and Sasaki 45; they are all now Kyushu Pro core roster.



Mentai Kid vs. Jet Wei

The main event is a purely serious bout, and it includes who is obviously the company star – Mentai Kid, a Toryumon Dojo product trained by Ultimo Dragon and Ryuta Chikuzen, the founder of Kyushu pro. The Kid joined Kyushu Pro pretty much from the off, and the pink lucha masks the kids are wearing are his masks. He’s 48 but he looks incredible – like an even buffer, if shorter, Mil Mascaras at that kind of age.



His entrance legitimately moved me. He comes in and all the kids have little necklaces they put on him, and he fistbumps everyone who wants a fistbump. He is the most over wrestler in the world, for his audience. He is obviously beloved; I saw a comment about him choosing to work in a small pond rather than hit a higher ceiling elsewhere, but to be honest, I just think – this guy went to work with his trainer to do charity events and to spend ages giving the whole crowd their money worth. Isn’t that a pretty high ceiling?



Jet Wei is Taiwanese – I think I’ve seen him described as the first Taiwanese pro-wrestler, but I don’t know if that’s true – and is younger, turning 28 this year. He’s KPW core roster.



They have a fun lucharesu match. There are a few glorious passages of move-counter-counter-move, there are some great moves hit and some nice dodges, and we get to see Mentai Kid win with a beautiful 450 Splash. It’s a bit loose – I don’t know sometimes if there’s a pause because the Kid is quietly gassed or if they’re lucha-ing up the moment – and there are one or two obvious errors. You have the guys moving carefully into position for a move, or not quite knowing what move is up next. It’s odd, because both of these seem very gifted, and Mentai is obviously the real deal.



Nonetheless, this is pretty fun, and there is just this vibe about it all – the crowd engagement, the love, the way the performers are connected to their crowd – which gives it just a little extra buzz.



Hopefully Mentai Kid wrestles forever. Anyway, let’s go back and watch the last event put up on the YouTube channel, get a bit more context…



Mentai Kid wins in 11:23.



Bonus – 16/03/2025 Main Event – Mentai Kid vs Kodai Nozaki

Okawa Civic Gymnasium, attendance 918, very similar kind of event to the 30/03 event. The undercard was Genkai/Hitamaru Sasaki/TAJIRI vs Jet Wei/Naoki Sakurajima/Shigeno Shima (so a reshuffling of the heel and face rosters compared to the later event) and KPW founder Ryota Chikuzen (debuted 1998 in AAA, of all places) vs Batten Blabla.



Main event is the future/present against the past/present of the promotion. Nozaki comes in and goes direct to the ring, all business. Mentai does his long and lovely entrance.



This is good. Not outstanding, but good. Nozaki barley turns up in the 30/03 six-man, but here he shows real main event characteristics: aura, massive moves, a distinctive “big fat sumo man”(*) selling style that works, and he works very snug. This is obviously going to work in to a big man/small man dynamic, but I also know that Nozaki is seen as a budding superstar and Mentai is 48 and Mentai trained him – there’s an old/young dynamic here.



Mentai really works to get Nozaki over here. It’s their first Cagematch-listed singles match, though they have a well-regarded 2023 Triple Threat. Nozaki mostly just gets to beat up Mentai, with the strength dynamic massively emphasized. They also – interestingly, go repeatedly for Mentai Sunset Flips which Nozaki “Aja Kongs”.



I guess there’s a feeling of sunset from all that, but of course Mentai gets some fantastic offence in nonetheless, including a turnbuckle-assist powerbomb(!). Eventually Nozaki hits his own big Powerbomb which has been teased before, and then hits Mentai with a massive spear for the win.



After the match a chest of drawers in a cardboard box is brought to the ring. It has the KPW branding on it. Nozaki poses with it. I have no idea what’s going on. Was this a tourney? (Not as far as I can tell.) What does the chest of drawers symbolize? Then Nozaki and after him Mentai get on the mic, and you can tell something is up. Mentai seems increasingly emotional. He’s obviously praising Nozaki. Then Chikuzen comes out and is also obviously emotional.



Oh no.



So after I go and scratch out what I can from an event-bill in April (Mentai Kid vs Chikuzen) and from a YouTube comment. I still don’t know about the chest of drawers, honestly.



But Mentai Kid is retiring in April or May.



My new favourite wrestler is retiring! WHAT.



Kodai Nokzaki wins in 16:33.



*: He’s actually a judoka, I think, but his look is explicitly pretty sumo-ish.

[Match reviews and links at: https://undercardwonders.substack.com/.]

 

[Sky]

Oh hey this is cool, a rarely seen promotion getting support

 

[OwenEdwards]

This weekend's shows are going up on YouTube from tomorrow so I'll get out the recap for that at the end of the week, probably. Just really reliably entertaining wrestling.

 

[OwenEdwards]

Kyushu Pro Wrestling 12/04/2025 and 13/04/2025 – REVIEW



Since Last Time…

Since my last pair of event reviews (16/03 and 30/03), KPW has held three events. The first consisted of a single six-man tag at the Avispa Pro Wrestling Festival in Fukuoka, which was otherwise dedicated to meet-and-greets and teaching kids wrestling. There are some photos on the official website. Interestingly, these show the six guys in the tag match plus Batten Blabla at ringside; he often turns up at events he’s not wrestling in, I guess because he’s one of the most recognizable gimmicks/workers. KPW seem to run different size events for different dates and in different markets – here they use 7 workers (including Blabla, plus referee and the rest), whereas in the bigger Fukuoka gym shows they might have 12 or more.



As far as I can tell, entry to the shows is basically always free (unsure about at the very biggest) but if you’ve bought a Membership there are certain advantages – KPW is charitable, remember, so I guess this is a way of creating cashflow and building a core set of fans whilst remaining accessible to the community.



The second and third events were over the weekend of the 12th-13th April and were both in and around Miyazaki, a city on the southeastern coast of Kyushu (Fukuoka is on the northwestern side).



(Remember, you can watch all this stuff on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpoDpVFhUGHPWVYqmJ8TBwA)



Kyushu Pro Avispa Pro Wrestling Festival – 06/04/2025

Kodai Nozaki & Mentai Kid & Naoki Sakurajima vs Genkai & Jet Wei & TAJIRI

No footage, alas, but this is the faces beating two heels plus Jet Wei. Notably, for this small event they put out the two biggest names in the company (Mentai and TAJIRI) and they put out both their key homegrown talents (Nozaki and Jet).



Kodai Nozaki & Mentai Kid & Naoki Sakurajima win at 10:11.



Kyushu Pro Miyazaki O Genki Ni Sutcha Ga! – 12/04/2025

Held at Miyazaki Machinaka Square with an announced attendance of 530. This is a covered forecourt space in a mall – it’s a multi-use outdoor performance and display space, basically. This makes this a very distinctive kind of show to watch – KPW usually perform in daytime in well-lit spaces anyway, but here you get nice side effects (there is just a fascinating sort of theatre vibe, especially with people sitting up on balconies), the amusing (buses driving on the main road in the background), and the kinda shonky (the workers entering from the mall’s office as if they’ve just had a team meeting with the Department Head of Facilities and Sewage). Oh, and they have a little girl as guest announcer! She won some kind of contest – there is a video up on the YouTube channel about this but I haven’t watched it as I’ll be even more baffled than usual. It’s nice, though!



Genkai & Super Strong Kishan & TAJIRI vs Asosan & Mentai Kid & Naoki Sakurajima

I haven’t seen SS Kishan before. He’s some kind of masked half-wild insect guy? He has to be guided to the ring, he makes high-pitched noises, he is sometimes confused about the rules, and I love him. Asosan (who is named for and billed as a volcano) enters with his cone-head-mask thing smoking (because he’s a volcano). Mentai obviously goes around so all the kids can put their garlands on him, which is legitimately been a highlight of every match I’ve seen of his.



This is genuinely great fun and just very competent, especially given these guys’ limitations (Asosan is permanently gassed, TAJIRI’s knees looks shot). It’s not a classic, but it combines some good comedy moments with a genuinely solid six-man “heels beat up the small face” layout. There’s one point early on where they use the space to their advantage, too, as the heels brawl between the blocks of chairs to prevent Mentai receiving any relief.



The finish is the one the crowd wants: Asosan hits Kishan with an absolutely thunderous Senton, and then Mentai hits his Splash, and Asosan and Sakurajima hold off the other heels during the pin.



Asosan & Mentai Kid & Naoki Sakurajima win in 10:23.



Shigeno Shima vs Batten Blabla vs Hitamaru Sasaki

No footage, and I don’t think there is any forthcoming, which is a bit surprising. This will have been the two hard-hitting guys, including designated shoot-style vet Sasaki, hurting each other and especially Blabla who will have been running away and hiding.



Shigeno Shima wins in 10:58.



Kodai Nozaki vs Jet Wei

This is a significant match: Mentai is retiring soon, and these are his two trainees, KPW’s homegrown talent. This looks to be their first singles match, too. This is the future of the company on show. Nozaki is a big sumo-ish guy and Jet is a skinny high-flyer.



And it’s good. I’ve had some concerns about Jet’s timing in other matches, but this is a great large-against-little match. Nozaki has great aura and great execution, though I am suspicious of his cardio, but here he gets to smash up Jet for ages at a moderate pace and build lovely heat. The crowd get behind Jet, and Nozaki looks around slightly baffled. (It’s Jumbo vs Misawa! Well, maybe that’s an overstatement…)



Jet gets to break out and they build up a really compelling series of nearfalls both ways before the nascent company ace puts his junior to the sword with a Spear (a decent 7/10 Spear, but Nozaki’s Spear against Mentai on 16/03 was a real 9.5/10).



What strikes me is that – with Mentai retiring, who is both the star of the company and one of its best performers – these two guys need backup. They’re both legit, and KPW can build a lot around them, but you do feel like one or two more younger (read: under 40) performers need to be found.



Kodai Nozaki wins in 11:31.



Kyushu Pro Hyuga O Genki Ni Sutcha Ga! – 13/04/2025

Held at the Hyuga Cultural Exchange Center in a smaller city in Miyazaki Prefecture, announced attendance of 426. The “Cultural Exchange Center” is obviously a multi-use space – the ring is down on the floor, which looks fitted for sports, but the seating is set in a single high rake like a theatre or lecture hall.



Hyottoko Mask & Hyottoko Naoki & Mentai Kid vs Genkai & Hitamaru Sasaki & Super Strong Kishan

Okay, so I had to do some research to understand some of this. Hyottoko is a cheerful old man in Japanese mythology, and there are Hyottoko festivals all over the place, where people put on his distinctive mask and do his dance – but Hyuga, where we are today, is the site of the biggest festival. So we have one guy (not quite sure who) as Hyottoko Mask, and a mysterious “Hyottoko Naoki” who gets a laugh immediately and who is obviously Naoki Sakurajima under a mask. He copies the main Hyottoko’s dance inexpertly for more laughs.



This is nice little show-opening six-man with strong comedy overtones – it has three masked gimmick wrestlers, though of course part of Hyottoko Naoki’s gimmick is that the heels eventually unmask him! This runs long but there isn’t an enormous amount to this, not to slight it; it just does the basics of this format well enough. The faces take heat segments, they brawl up on to the rake amongst the crowd, eventually Mask especially takes a beating, Mentai gets his team back in the fight, and then they set up triple teams for Mentai to pin Sasaki after the 450.



This was fun – the number of guys obviously keeps downtime to a minimum, the actual guys involved are all pretty good, and I laughed at some of the spots. I drew two further things: I’ve never seen Genkai pinned, which seems to me like a way of protecting the future champ during the coming transitional phase, so he can be a credible opponent for Nozaki; and when you look at most of what Mentai has been doing since his retirement announcement, it’s comedy six-mans where he gets the pin. That’s pretty intentional, I guess: Nozaki now does most of the main eventing, and Mentai gets nostalgia wins for all the fans coming to say goodbye to him.



Hyottoko Mask & Hyottoko Naoki & Mentai Kid win in 16:44.



Asosan vs Batten Blabla vs TAJIRI

No footage, and that may be a mercy, because Asosan is absolutely only fitted to be a big guy in a tag team at this point and TAJIRI’s knees are shot. This looks like a way of putting the three biggest remaining names on the roster in a match on the day.



Asosan wins in 5:29.



Kodai Nozaki vs Shigeno Shima

No footage. Nozaki main eventing as Mentai does his retirement tour of nostalgia wins. Shima is (1) the spare guy and (2) a heavyweight to allow Nozaki to continue cementing his rep as the top guy. I’d imagine this was fine but slow – neither guy is high-speed.



Kodai Nozaki wins in 10.26:



BONUS: Kyushu Pro Wrestling 22/02/2025 – REVIEW

I’m watching through the recent backlog of KPW matches on YouTube and this is the first one I finished watching through. It’s held at the Tsuyazaki Sports Center in Fukutsu, a city in Fukuoka Prefecture, with an announced attendance of 515. These gyms are so obviously off the peg – no complaint there, it’s a good model, but there’s a strange merging of the various KPW gyms I’ve now seen into one Ur-Gym.



This is a smaller market than some of the other shows and I think this is why there are fewer wrestlers (they also have a big show on the 24th February so may be keeping powder dry). One of the big appealing things here, though, is that as well as TAJIRI and GENKAi, they have some notable guests: 2AW’s Shioro Asahi is main eventing, and they have popular foreigners Adriano and…Dynamite Kid?!? Well, this is Tommy Billington, nephew of the original. He enters to DK’s music which is a trip. Adriano is very over with the crowd, which is also strange, in its way – not bad, just strange. Some random young Italian wrestler on his second short tour is just getting a massive reception from a regional Japanese audience.



Asosan & Naoki Sakurajima vs Hitamaru Sasaki & Shigeno Shima

Non-title match for the tag champs. This is a decent little matchup. One thing you see on the KPW posters is that each rostered wrestler has an English word overlaid: Mentai has “Jump!”, Genkai has “Fight!!”, for instance. Batten Blabla just has “???”, which I enjoy. The tag champs are “Big!” (Asosan) and “Heat!” (Sakurajima, not so sure what this one means). The opposition team here are “Excite!” (Shima) and “Shoot!” (Sasaki). Sasaki is a shoot-style worker, and Shima actually works like that here.



So basically this match starts them with them kicking and stretching Sakurajima all over the place. My general sense is that Sakurajima and Sasaki are the two key workers amongst the older cohort, aside from Mentai. I don’t mean they’re the best, but you just see them glue matches together and keep stuff moving. They’re both fit, athletic, have decent cardio and can do stuff that entertains.



So anyway, this is a face-in-peril setup, and eventually the champs win out via their big guy getting off some moves. It’s nothing earth-shattering, but it’s fun.



Asosan & Naoki Sakurajima win in 10:23.



Genkai & TAJIRI vs Adriano & Dynamite Kid

This isn’t bad but it’s just okay, and I think that’s because you have an unfortunate confluence of events: the heels are both slightly slowed by age, especially TAJIRI, and whilst their opponents are young and can really go, the layout is kinda a bust for them. Adriano doesn’t really do much, though he’s strong and quick; the heels beat on him in a fairly dull way, and though eventually Young Dynamite gets in and beats people up, but then tags Adriano back in who promptly loses. TAJIRI wins with the Buzzsaw which is absolutely magnificent, it has to be said.



Genkai & TAJIRI win in 8:38.



Mentai Kid vs Shiori Asahi

I don’t know if Asahi is a comedy worker or not: one of his hands is a flamingo or stork beak (I mean, not literally, he just has this little bit where he makes it act like one, and his shirt has the bird on it), but he is also very, very explosive and these guys have a really decent match. This match was at times a little “slow” or “obvious”, but I had this revelation: they take time to teach the “civilian” crowd how this storytelling works, and you can see it works. KPW crowds have about the healthiest and most consistent reactions of any promotion’s crowds ever. Asahi puts heat on Mentai, Mentai breaks out, and he wins with a very beautiful 450. It’s a formula Mentai match, I think, but there is much to be said for formulae.



Mentai Kid wins in 15:40.


Full matchnotes, links, and more at: Undercard Wonders

 

[OwenEdwards]

Kyushu Pro July 2020 Heavy Rain Reconstruction Support Event ~ Hita Ba Genk Ni Suru Bai

KPW run a lot of explicitly charitable events – they’re a non-profit, after all – and this one is a regular feature, obviously raising money and awareness for flooding in Oita in 2020. This was held at SWS West Japan Arena Hita, in Hita within Oita Prefecture, with an attendance of 848. Pretty typical multi-use gymnasium venue.



Asosan & Mentai Kid & Naoki Sakurahima vs Genkai & Jet Wei & TAJIRI

In a way, this must be “good”, because it breezes past. It’s certainly not bad. Really, it’s the formula opening six-man where Mentai gets the pin, but with the requisite small twist – here Jet Wei is on the heel team, so he takes part in some of their heelings but also takes a heat segment as if he were a babyface. He does the job too, obviously, as his partners are too senior for that here. When one thinks about it, the logic checks out: Sasaki is in the main event against the guests, Batten is due a singles match and there is also no natural slot for him in the six-man, and so either Shima or Jet need to be a heel in the six-man and Shima is better matched for the comedy singles. A small roster (10 full-time guys, plus a few part-timers – Chikuzen, Kishan, the old man comedy gimmick) both restricts options but also enforces a little booking creativity.



This is a decent warmup.



Asosan & Mentai Kid & Naoki Sakurajima defeat Genkai & Jet Wei & TAJIRI in 9:45.



Batten Blabla vs Shigeno Shima

I think this probably represents not necessarily THE top exemplar of Batten comedy matches, but at least AN exemplar. It’s not an all-time classic, it’s not 6/3/94, and for my money it’s not as good as the best AJPW comedy matches, but it runs a bunch of good things together and makes it all work over a fairly long run-time.



Shima is one of the oldest guys on an old roster and he fits more or less anywhere on the card as needed. Today, he gets a Batten singles match and he throws himself into it. Both guys are actually strong in comic terms, though Shima naturally generally plays the straight man, disgusting by Batten’s stinkface move and the rest of it. He does run one gag, though – helping the ref get revenge on the pushy and difficult Batten, after the ref reverses an Irish Whip off Batten. Shima encourages the pin and counts it – Batten is, naturally, furious afterwards at the humiliation. It boots him not as Shima eventually murders him for the win.



We also get to see Batten just wrestling more, which he’s pretty good at!



Shigeno Shima defeats Batten Blabla in 11:22.



Kodai Nozaki & Hitamaru Sasaki vs Shuji Ishikawa & Kenichiro Arai

So there are a couple of angles running here plus a regular guest with a borderline comedy gimmick (Arai, billed from Dragon Gate but most often appearing for Tenryu Project in recent years; I wonder if his appearances are underwritten by Dragon Gate). There’s some sort of tension between Sasaki and Nozaki about who’s going to wrestle at various points, and – more importantly – between Nozaki and Ishikawa, because Ishikawa took the Kyushu Pro Singles Title off Nozaki in February (see the bonus review below for more).



Now, here the angles basically help this, where it’s otherwise a little quotidian and overlong. Sasaki wanting to take a shot at the outsider who’s taken the belt, perhaps prove his worth, is a lovely counterplay to the resentful ex-champ and current ace who is out for revenge. They just about work together and never blow up but the tension helps here. Arai is really just “present”, not to diminish his comedy skill; a few good comeuppances come his way.



The big juice here is between Nozaki and Ishikawa, though, especially when they’re just smashing each other around. Ishikawa is an ex-Triple Crown holder, even if he’s old now. He’s a giant, and he’s nimble, and he can hit bombs. Nozaki is much shorter but even heavier, and his Brainbuster on Ishikawa is genuinely awe-inspiring. Hoss fight!



This is probably overlong – the runtime expands through the tension angles and Arai goofing around – but none of the action is bad and it’s helpful for story-setting. Bunch of post-match promos which I haven’t got autotranslated yet but which basically fit the obvious direction.



Hitamaru Sasaki & Kodai Nozaki defeat Kenichiro Arai & Shuji Ishikawa in 21:37.



BONUS – Kyushu Pro Kurume Genki Festival 24/02/2025 Review

Biggest show of the year up to this date, with an announced attendance of 1,920 at the Kurume Sports Center Main Arena in Kurume, Fukuoka Prefecture. Big, buzzing crowd,who were engaged throughout. Still very much a city gymnasium, though! This is why it can be so family-friendly, of course; it’s daytime, it’s all bright and friendly and welcoming. There are bright wrestler banners up on the wall and standees of the stars dotted around. Merch stands to the side. That sort of atmosphere.



This is a really strong card, by the by; most of it was above average to the point of strong.



Adriano & Dynamite Kid & Shigeno Shima vs Hitamaru Sasaki & Jet Wei & TAJIRI

This is basically a sequel to the match two days earlier where the foreign faces had to eat the loss against TAJIRI and Genkai. Naturally TAJIRI is not returning the favour, but has recruited Jet Wei.



I don’t know why Adriano is so over with the crowd. He’s a tall, handsome Italian I guess?



This is a strong match, I think, partly because it has a short-runtime and a lot of stuff that happens – the match two days before is a little longer and much duller. TAJIRI obviously can’t move quickly but his presence is all he needs for a six-man, especially with Sasaki and Jet as his teammates. Shima and Adriano can suffer a bit, Adriano can hit some power moves, and young Dynamite can ABSOLUTELY CLEAR HOUSE. When he goes on his Robert Gibson comeback, it’s like the original DK has turned up to a kids’ gymnastics summer show and started chucking people about. Totally different tonally, and in a great way.



Tommy Billington has had a bunch of “young contender” matches and title shots in AEW and ROH against people like Takeshita and Jericho; from the looks of this, he could really go far in one format or another. If I were Kyushu Pro, I’d book him on as many tours as I could afford.



Adriano & Dynamite Kid & Shigeno Shima defeat Hitamaru Sasaki & Jet Wei & TAJIRI in 7:26.



Batten Blabla vs Mo Jabari

A short but jolly little comedy match. Jabari is a Canadian who looks like he works in the same promotions as Tommy Billington and may have some sort of “senior” role to him, so maybe they’re touring together. This is kept pretty simple – it’s a time-filler between big matches on the biggest card of the first two months of the year – but all of it works just fine. My favourite gag spot is Batten somehow twisting a test of strength fingerlock spot into Mo – a big and intimidating guy – accidentally crossing his arms in Batten’s “NO!” sign.



Yes, Mo eventually murders Batten.



Mo Jabari defeats Batten Blabla in 4:42.



Asosan & Naoki Sakurajima © vs Genkai & Mentai Kid

Kyushu Pro Tag Team Title match. This hits differently given I know Mentai will announce his retirement in a fortnight from here. This is his last title shot; he and fellow ex-top guy Genkai are here to challenge the reigning tag champs.



They work the modified Southern Tag, where Mentai is in peril a lot and Genkai gets to save him, but this is against popular faces, so you get a bit of heat going that way (Genkai beating on Sakurajima) and everyone gets in fun spots.



The ending sequence is very strong and also intelligently put together. Eventually, Asosan neutralized Genkai outside; this puts the slowest guy (Asosan) out of contention, and protects Genkai for the future. Mentai then fights a desperate battle against Sakurajima, who often has to rank lower than most in these matches.



At the very death, Sakurajima has Mentai in a German hold – but Mentai escapes and hits his trademark rope-assisted springing back elbow to try for a breakout. On the return, though, Sakurajima leaps over him, and when Mentai tries a second back elbow Sakurajima catches him for a Bridging German – but Mentai kicks at two!



He’s now looking for Genkai to save him, but Genkai is occupied, and Sakurajima is waiting in the corner…another Bridging German, and Sakurajima gets the pin.



Genkai is protected – I guess so is Asosan, but he’s surely less relevant going forward in general – and Sakurajima is elevated. Mentai is hardly hurt by this, and is retiring anyway. Clever booking on a small roster, and a really engaging and even emotive ending sequence. The Kid’s last gambit fails. Sunset is here.



Asosan & Naoki Sakurajima defeat Genkai & Mentai Kid in 16:48.



Kodai Nozaki © vs Shuji Ishikawa

HOSS FIGHT! Really good match. Ishikawa is a freelancer, an ex-Triple Crown Champion, and is also really tall – 6’5”. His has 10 inches on Nozaki! They’re actually the same billed weight but Nozaki is obviously denser because of that.



Nozaki is a little prone to gassing out – he can run hard and hit big moves but doesn’t have the cardio to string together long sequences. This kind of match works well with that, as they press a lot of contests of strength, some great strike exchanges, second thoughts and scoping out…AND THEN HIT BOMBS. Ishikawa smashes Nozaki with a release German (!), but Nozaki recovers quickly to hand back an absolutely CRUNCHING Backdrop Suplex. The very fact either guy can lift the other for Brainbusters and the like is just amazing.



They don’t run long, they don’t mess around, they just hit each and throw each other hard and generally give us an absolutely serious and pacey match. KPW often runs intentionally slowed, funny matches, to teach and engage the audience – but this is just title match wrestling.



Ishikawa, the invader, gets the win after a Nozaki mistake – he starts messing around on the turnbuckles trying to get height and Ishikawa takes him back, and with him dazed, absolutely rocks him again. Nozaki may be the Ace, but he’s also young, and he’s got to learn.



Shuji Ishikawa defeats Kodai Nozaki in 15:12.

Matchguide and links at Undercard Wonders

 

[OwenEdwards]

27/04 and 29/04 Event Recaps/Reviews, plus Mentai Kid @ NJPW Dontaku 2025

Kyushu Pro Super Genki Festival ~ 17th Anniversary 27/04/2025

The biggest show of the year so far, in Fukuoka City’s Fukuoka West Japan General Exhibition Hall’s New Hall. Declared attendance of 2,576. This is a pretty big show by modern standards. All Japan’s Champion Carnival 2025 opener at the Korakuen (9th April) drew 1,105, and their biggest show of the year so far was their 24th February date in Hachioji, with an attendance of 1,870; KPW has two bigger than that. NOAH had a big Budokan date on New Year’s, with over 5,000 in attendance; they get around 1,500 in the Korakuen, and hit 1,605 at Yokohama. I say this to make the point that KPW, partly due to its business model, can get big, hot crowds in a difficult market for puro.



The hall is dark, and we have a full entrance ramp, some light pyro, and a “big event” feel. I actually secretly prefer the brightly-lit gyms and mall display areas – the personal nature of those crowds adds a lot. But this works in its own way too.



Mentai Kid vs Ryota Chikuzen

This was the match set up when Mentai announced his retirement. Chikuzen is the founder of the company, and he recruited Mentai to come join at the start (and become Mentai Kid, indeed – an avatar of Kyushu’s famous spicy fish roe paste!). This is a match marking the end of the era, even though it’s not Mentai’s retirement match. It’s a pleasant enough match – it’s nice to see Chikuzen wrestle, as I’ve not before, and he works the spots here he needs to well – he bullies Mentai, puts heat on him, hits a bunch of decent-looking moves, and then eats two 450s for Mentai’s win. It’s fluffy and throwaway, and the real juice here is the emotion between these two very old friends, and the enormous Mentai entrance – he goes round collecting every Mentaiko garland (yes, really) that the kids (and adults) are offering him, and bumps fists with everyone who wants to. His entrance takes ten minutes. This is time actually worth spending, unlike most Big Company Long Entrances. He’s beloved; you see it in the teenagers coming over, who I suspect have been watching him their whole lives now.



Mentai Kid defeats Ryota Chikuzen in 9:30.



Genkai & Georges Khoukaz & Jet Wei vs Gabai Ji-chan & Hitamaru Sasaki & Shigeno Shima

This is the ordinary six-man comedy warmup, but with the ordinary sorts of twists: one of the guests is in the match (Georges Khoukaz, originally from Syria, now works Euro indies) and there is one of the occasional guest gimmicks (Gabai Ji-chan, who usually works as PSYCHO). This is a solid iteration at the lower tier of these. The appeal is that Khoukaz is a big guy (6’5”) and Gabai Ji-chan wears an old man mask and walks with a stick but then halfway through goes full Gandalf-at-Meduseld and hits a bunch of flying moves. This all works fine, though I suppose I want Gabai Ji-chan to be literally the best high-flyer ever to really make that sing. He’s solid, and his old man comedy is solid, too. At the end, after the heels win by pinning Shima (who has obviously come here as an old guy at the end of his career to help prop up the roster by eating pins), Sasaki goes to talk to Genkai, and it’s obviously communicated that he wants to team up to go after a belt – presumably the tag belts? It’s a respect moment, and simple solid communication to the crowd who will know the language.



Genkai & Georges Khoukaz & Jet Wei defeat Gabai Ji-chan & Hitamaru Sasaki & Shigeno Shima in 12:31.



Batten Blabla vs Dump Matsumoto

Batten is a really good worker in ways that get ignored. I mean, he’s a good gag worker – the gimmick here is that, well, he’s Chigusa Nagayo circa 1985. He wears a leotard like hers, he changes his Finishing Move Chant to “Nagayo! Asuka! DUMP MATSUMOTO!”, he comes out in a beautiful and oversized robe, etc. The match is functionally a hair match with Dump wanting to cut it (and succeeding). But what is cleverer is a layout which lets the incredibly limited Dump to be fun and have fun and have the audience enjoy the show.



One thing is not much to do with Batten, though he uses it – Dump has a second, Zap, who comes along and stooges for her. This means Batten can hit more moves, basically, which aren’t on a waddling lady in her sixties. Batten, though, manages to work his extreme cowardice and frailty well into making the ladies look threatening – of course the younger one can beat him up, he’s Batten! He bumps around, he invests everything with amazing energy, he hits his own moves with signature crispness. This is fun!



Dump Matsumoto defeats Batten Blabla in 4:33.



Asosan & Naoki Sakurajima © vs TAJIRI & SHIHO (Kyushu Pro Tag Title match)

TAJIRI and SHIHO come out accompanied by Poison Rose, an American who works in Shiho’s Pro Wrestling Society promotion in South Korea (where he’s legitimately reviving wrestling!). Shiho wanted a tag title match with his pseudo-dad Tajiri, and here it is. It’s actually not great – and not because we get long Asosan vs Tajiri sections, which I have the suspicion would be dreadful at this point. Two men with one knee and three quarters of a cardio capacity between them are not best suited for long exchanges.



The problem is actually that we rely on the most obvious heel heat, permitted by Idiot Ref Syndrome, to actually move the match. Shiho can fly around and Sakurajima is a legitimate worker, but the best stuff here are a few comedy spots and, in a mixed sense, the poison mist ending. Sakurajima blocks Tajiri’s spray – it’s how the heels won in the six-man in March – but turns into Poison Rose’s spray instead. Now, actually, the obviousness of the mist should be an auto-DQ – why are their mouths so green?! But it’s at least a nicely executed spot.



This should have been better.



SHIHO & TAJIRI defeat Asosan & Naoki Sakurajima in 11:05.



Shuji Ishikawa © vs Kodai Nozaki (Kyushu Pro Title match)

Nozaki’s rematch after the 24/02 loss of the big title. I don’t think it’s quite as good as that, but it is good. Ishikawa is an older guy and Nozaki is a bigger guy and they work round this through selected static spots, a few brawling exchanges outside, and big exchanges of bombs and strikes. We can see Nozaki has begun to learn his lesson after the loss; there’s a story here, and he’s facing a truly fearsome opponent, a former Triple Crown champion. He got his Spear blocked last time and messed up going up to, but this time he’s a bit savvier at a few key moments.



But what’s bold and clever is that this isn’t enough – he gets a massive Brainbuster on Ishikawa, he counters at key moments including remembering to actually smack Ishikawa around more before going up top for the second-rope Superplex (Midiplex?), and so forth. He’s learning, but in the end Ishikawa is too strong and just too experienced. Nozaki’s advantage is power with a bit of speed, and Ishikawa is just better at that, and though it takes two Running Knees, it’s a retention for the champ. Ishikawa does give Nozaki a respectful speech after, though.



Hitamaru Sasaki comes out, encouraged by Batten Blabla – who politely refuses Ishikawa’s renewed offer of a challenge. Sasaki obviously wanted this at the 20/04 event, and here steps up. He also may want the tag belts, as mentioned before – not clear to me. He’s tiny compared to the giant Ishikawa, but on the other hand he can kick very hard. That’ll be fun if, I think, predictable.



Nozaki needs to go away and learn before coming back to cement his position. I wonder if he’ll do some work in the tag division and go after TAJIRI and SHIHO now – but with who? Jet Wei would maybe be a good match – smaller, faster, flying, and also young. Good balance, and a good way to elevate both homegrown talents.



Shuji Ishikawa defeats Kodai Nozaki in 22:19.



Event Review

This was a big show, and that was quite fun, and it had a few big highlights. It’s a mixed bag, it should be said; Mentai gets a historically resonant singles match which is solid but just playing the hits, the six-man is an adequate iteration but nothing special, Batten has another Batten Banger which a lot of people won’t like but they’re wrong, the tag title match is disappointing, and the main event is strong.



Not all of this was inevitable: the tag title match should have run a better structure round the two better workers, even though it was always likely to be booked to a cheating heel win; the six-man runs long compared to other, stronger iterations. Nonetheless, albeit with a strong apportionment of guests (4) and part-timers (2), this manages to be a mid-length show with a real variety of stuff on display and two legitimately good matches of totally opposite style.



We have some very short-term booking out of this – Mentai vs Genkai for the retirement match – but the mid-term scene is more interesting to consider. Sasaki isn’t the highest-ranked senior in the company – he doesn’t wrestle loads of singles and he’s clearly below Genkai and Asosan in terms of protection – but he’s liked by the crowd, he can work, and if he works two challenges in the near future that’s for the product’s good.



Nozaki has a mountain to climb. He comes closer to beating Ishikawa this time, but there is obviously a journey here – guest spots elsewhere, maybe some interesting freelance hire-in for him to beat in-house. As I say, though, a tag run seems most obvious as the backbone of an ascent of the mountain, combined with, I suppose, beating Genkai and some other outsiders.



Kyushu Pro Nakagawa City Athletics Association 50th Anniversary Project ~ Nakagawa Ba Genki Ni Suru Bai! 29/04/2025

This hasn’t been streamed. This was held at the Nakagawa City Gymnasium in Fukuoka Prefecture for 668 attendees. It’s a “small to mid”-sized show, with ten workers on the night. It looks in most respects like a normal tour date – size of show, location, event title – but it’s also an anniversary show for the City’s Athletics Association, which may have been a funder here.



Hitamaru Sasaki vs Jet Wei

A chance for Sasaki and Jet to work some singles, and for Sasaki to build his singles standing in the company for his planned challenges. Not a surprising result, and a shame it wasn’t streamed – this was probably good.



Hitamaru Sasaki defeats Jet Wei in 13:55.



Asosan vs Batten Blabla

I was worried about a triple threat with these two and Shima, but actually this one probably worked better, despite it looking a bit long given Asosan’s cardio. Basically, Batten can work a lot of time on his own, and he’s the perfect foil for a big slow guy.



Asosan defeats Batten Blabla in 8:40.



Genkai & Georges Khoukaz & TAJIRI vs Kodai Nozaki & Mentai Kid & Naoki Sakurajima

An interesting matchup with five guys who can still work to decent degrees, plus TAJIRI who works well in six-mans. Nozaki will want blood, and this is a chance for smashing face with Genkai and Khoukaz. Sakurajima and TAJIRI have unfinished business. Mentai is on the retirement tour. I don’t know who got the pin here, but surely Khoukaz ate it, and probably in favour of Mentai (but maybe Nozaki).



Kodai Nozaki & Mentai Kid & Naoki Sakurajima defeat Genkai & Georges Khoukaz & TAJIRI in 15:01.



Mentai Kid at Dontaku 2025!

So I only saw rather late in the day, via Kyushu Pro’s social media, that six Kyushu Pro wrestlers were “invading” NJPW’s Dontaku 2025, Day 2 (May 4th, 2025). Dontaku is an massive NJ event held annually in Fukuoka, but until now they hadn’t partnered with KPW as far as I can see. Batten Blabla, Ryota Chikuzen, Jet Wei, Hitamaru Sasaki, TAJIRI, and Mentai starred across two tags and a ten-man. Batten and Mentai teamed up in what I think was the first commentated match of Day 2.



It’s interesting how the English commentators (Thingummy who sounds like Todd Kalas and Chris Charlton in this case) handle them. They get that Batten is a comedy gimmick but go and back and forth on being audibly puzzled against trying to get over his gimmick. The crowd love it, naturally. Mentai is “the local hero”, they mention his retirement – and plug his retirement match a couple of times – and they frame him as a Junior but not, uh, going to appear in BOSJ this year. (Due to retiring.) They’re under instructions to get across the collab with the local charity promotion, but it did seem to me that this wasn’t really something they were here to see, respectful as they were of Mentai.



Batten Blabla & Mentai Kid vs Gedo & Taiji Ishimori

This is short and sweet, and a strong warmup act. Batten is obviously wrestling comedy here, and the crowd love it, and I love it. He’s doing his pathetic judo chops/slaps to keep Gedo down for his fist drop, he fingerlocks Gedo into his patented “NO!” sign, and the rest. It’s glorious, and he’s doing it in front of 5,500 people on a show headlined by the title Inoki invented. Mentai gets to run two segments where he looks great in this, his first and only New Japan match. Imagine turning up at 47 with a week til retirement and hitting a Jumping Double Back Elbow on the War Dogs? 619ing a guy in front of the biggest crowd of your life? (…after Batten stinkfingers him lol) It’s a deserved honour, and though he’s not the seniormost KPW guy on the night – Chikuzen and TAJIRI are further up the card and get to win – he’s the star for six minutes. Of course the regulars get the win with Ishimori getting a Clutch pin on Batten, but that’s not the story here.



Gedo & Taiji Ishimori defeat Batten Blabla & Mentai Kid in 6:01.

Matchguide and links at Undercard Wonders