SWalker's Weekly 5 - Crusher Takahashi, Kenichiro Arai and Hirooki Goto (02/10-02/16)
Sometimes life is very hard. My life is generally pretty good, but some weeks just drain your energy like vampires. Luckily, watching wrestling is one of the things I do in the evenings to relax. I do some research, find some cool matches and just watch them until I get tired. Watching wrestling is basically my escape from the hard life outside and luckily my wife is okay with me spending a lot of my free time doing it.
Maybe this will become a weekly occurrence when I have the time, but here are my top 5 matches I watched this week!
Kenichiro Arai vs. Crusher Takahashi - Mutoha 07/07/24
I recently pulled the trigger and finally bought some Mutoha matches from Hasegawa. After the buzz created by the Arai/GENTARO match in 2023, I knew I was in for a great ride. I am relatively well known to some of the wrestlers in these small feds from Japan, so I have not seen much of Crusher Takahashi's matches. Takahashi has been wrestling mainly on EAGLE & Mutoha cards the last few years. I have probably seen about 10 of his matches in total, but I am already a big fan. He is almost 60 years old, but throws punches like a god and is a really, really big seller. Everyone who watches this kind of match knows how great Arai is. So no surprise that this is an excellent match.
Kenichiro Arai vs. Mikiya Sasaki - MeriPro 07/05/24
Speaking of Kenichiro Arai matches, here is another one from one of the Meriken Friday Night shows in 2024.
His opponent is Mikiya Sasaki, who I have mainly seen on these shows.I recently wrote on Bluesky that I was quickly becoming a big Mikiya Sasaki fan and this match played a big part in that.Sasaki is very versatile - he does comedy really well, but also shines in this technical, mat-based match.
That is basically my idea of an ideal match:60 minutes of Iron Man, mat-based, technical, small ring in a bloody tiny bar in Kobe, Japan. I like the vibe, the length, the lights, the psychology - it is just so relaxing to watch two masters of their craft go at it in a pretty funky environment.I really enjoyed it and it was worth every minute!
Takahiro Tababa & Super Crafter U vs. FUMA & Shodai Nakagawa - Ganko Pro 03/23/23
Researching and watching these little shows from Japan is always fun.One thing that comes up a lot is the name Super Crafter U. The man behind the mask, Yoshihisa Hamano, works many different gimmicks in all these Japanese promotions.One of them is the current Leatherface, who worked for BJW a few years ago.This match is short and fun. It takes place in a shopping centre somewhere in Japan and without a ring.They botched the finish a bit, but there were some really fun spots in it.I really recommend watching it if you have about 10 minutes to spare!On a related note, some of my wrestling-related searches in the near future will be Takahiro Tababa.Quite interested in checking out a few more of his matches.
After watching Arai/Takahashi I quickly found this match between Crusher Takahashi and EAGLE Pro owner Kazunori Yoshida.This match took place when Covid was hitting the world hard, so there is no audience in this match.Takahashi beats Yoshida in about 17 minutes in an old school, hard hitting match with great selling from Takahashi.I will try to keep the EAGLE watch train going in the coming days and weeks and hope to find many more matches like this on their Youtube channel.Unfortunately there do not seem to be many matches of them from the last 2-3 years.
Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Hirooki Goto - NJPW 02/11/25
I don't watch much New Japan these days.The promotion lost me a few years ago.Occasionally I will watch some individual matches and shows.But it is not like back in the day when I basically watched every tour show they did.The matches and storylines are not as compelling as they used to be.This match is an exception. The moment of Goto finally winning the big one is a culmination of all the lost matches he had for the main title in NJPW. I was invested in this match, the crowd was hot. Definitely a MOTYC for me and I am looking forward to Goto/Tanahashi & Goto/Nagata. But despite this great match and the storytelling in it, there are some dark spots. Could NJPW pull the trigger on Goto sooner? Where does that leave ZSJ? I doubt it will bring back long term excitement for me, but it will probably be good while it lasts... Probably...
I am relatively new to blogging myself, so thank you internet stranger for reading this! You are awesome!Have a good week, maybe I'll be back next week!
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