What's new, fiends of fronting fuming?!
I've been on a real hot streak of covering matches from the land of the rinsing sun the past few weeks, eh? I thought the island deathmatch from last week's Watchlist would have killed the momentum, but all it did was spur me on to find some more wacky wrestling.
And friends, this may be one of the wackiest yet.
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| FMW |
📖 - 14 minutes
Here's what I watched for the week;
Kota Ibushi - Future in Question
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| NJPW |
During a routine match against Josh Alexander on the October 11th 2025 episode of AEW Collision, Kota Ibushi suffered a broken femur that forced an abrupt ending to the match. Initially, the timetable for Ibushi's return was set at two years, with the "Golden Star" hopeful he could return to the ring much, much sooner than that.
It's been many month's since we've heard much about Ibushi and his recovery from injury. There was a video making its rounds (I can't find the original) of Ibushi standing mere days following his surgery, so it's clear his timetable for return doesn't match that of his doctors in any way, shape, or form. Regardless, everyone knew his road to recovery would be long and arduous and his chances of making a return and being even half as good as he once was were slim at best, but recent headlines are putting Ibushi's return closer to "none" than :slim."
Reported by Cultaholic, Ibushi himself has said "It seems that a return to pro wrestling is almost impossible."
"It's almost been a year since I suffered a fractured femur in an accident during a match last November but a recent check-up revealed that the bone hasn't healed at all. As a result, I underwent surgery last Thursday to replace the bolt in my leg with a thicker one. Fortunately, the surgery was successful, but I learned a few things from it. It seems that a return to pro wrestling is almost impossible. The plate that was replaced this time will not be removed, from my perspective, in the future, and will remain like this for life. Thanks to the treatment, I can now go about my daily life without any problems but apparently there’s a high chance it will break again if I do professional wrestling. When that happens, even daily life becomes difficult."
via Cultaholic
It's never a good thing to hear that someone with such a bright upside as Ibushi may never return to the ring, and even worse when you find out that his day to day life may be compromised as a result of his injury. It's difficult to say, especially from my perspective as a complete nobody, whether Ibushi's insistence on pushing himself when he should be resting has compromised this injury and made healing even harder on his body. There is a precedent of this happening in wrestling, even if it was a much more extreme situation, so it's not completely out of the question.
Unnecessary speculation aside, I really hope Ibushi is able to heal up well enough to at least live a somewhat normal life. Only 44 years old (he'd be just entering his prime if he were under contract with WWE), Ibushi still has miles to give and matches to be had if he looks after himself and plays his cards right. But, as it currently stands, it seems that future may be relegated to alternate timelines and mere speculation.
Rest up, Ibushi. I hope to see you between the ropes again soon.
PWI 500
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| PWI |
Well, it's that time of year folks! Time for people to get mad about a publications opinions on professional wrestling!
For those not in the loop, the PWI 500 is Pro Wrestling Illustrated list of the top 500 (male) wrestlers of the year. The evaluation period for this is mid-June of the previous year to mid-June of the publishing year, so this year's edition only counts from June 2025 to June of 2026. A bit of a curious time to pick, if you ask me, I'm more partial to year end awards myself, but PWI has been in publication since 1979, with the PWI 500 only starting in 1991, so these guys (probably) know what they are doing.
So, for those that missed the rankings for the year that was, here they are.
1 - MJF
2 - Cody Rhodes
3 - CM Punk
4 - Mistico
5 - Konosuke Takeshita
6 - Adam Page
7 - Yota Tsuji
8 - Trick Williams
9 - Oba Femi
10 - GUNTHER
Something I'd like to point out right from the word go here is this is a kayfabe list, not an "objective" list of who the 10 best wrestlers in the world are. Championships won and their win/loss record matter here, this isn't meant to be a ranking of who the 10 best wrestlers in the world are as far as in-ring is concerned. Even still, this list is rather curious.
Not only that, but the full 500 list is... interesting.
I don't want to spend too much time ranting here, as I really don't care all that much, so I'll just bullet point some of my thoughts here.
- Takeshita being number 5 (he's considered an AEW talent for this list) despite missing months for the G1 and New Japan dates is curious.
- Jon Moxley sitting at 19 below Cruz Montana (13) is insane to me, given that he has been Continental Champion since the end of 2025 and barely missed a week of wrestling in well over a year and a half.
- This list really does not care about in-ring quality, because having Kyle Fletcher (21), El Grande Americano (43) and Tommaso Ciampa (65) all below Dominik Mysterio (18) is baffling to me.
I thought I had more to say, but when you factor in that this is a kayfabe list, it kinda makes sense. Kinda. But even still, I think lists like this don't really have a place in wrestling anymore. It's one thing for a company to publish the rankings of who is the best within their ranks and keep it kayfabe, that's to be expected. But I can't help but feel like we want objectivity from outside publications. Give us a list of who the best wrestlers have been which I know will be difficult when you work so close with WWE at times and nobody in WWE ever wrestles anymore, but still, make it make sense! All due respect to Trick Williams, he's not a top 10 wrestler, not even in the WWE.
For those of you that are really, truly bothered by this listing, fear not, dear reader. In a few short months, my year end awards will be published, so you can get a real good feel for the pulse of the year that was.
| Match | Show | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Atsushi Onita, Katsutoshi Niiyama & Mr. Gannosuke vs. Hideki Hosaka, Mr. Pogo & The Gladiator - No Ropes Barbed Wire Current Sea Mine Explosion Double Hell Death Match | FMW Atsushi Onita Memorial Retirement Tour ~Final Chapter~ September Series - Day 9 | 09/25/1994 |
• • • • •
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Basic Breakdown
I really wish I had more to put here, but I don't in truth.
This match piggybacks off of the FMW trope of having the ring explode in some way. This time, the ring is... floating in a body of water. Yes, folks, your eyes did not deceive you in the photo from earlier, that is, in fact, a ring in a pool. A friend of mine mentioned something about a ring being in a pool when we were visiting a cottage earlier in the summer, and I told him "oh, it's happened, I've seen photos of it." I'm not certain if this was the match I remembered seeing photos of, but it was one that I was able to track down recently. There was a show that took place in France that was in an indoor pool, but I haven't been able to track down footage of that outside a few Instagram reels.
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| The Meiji Jingu Pool via SMTRC.jp |
The Meiji Jingu Swimming Pool, (CAGEMATCH refers to it as the Jingu Pool Stadium) opened in 1930, with sections for both lane swimming as well as diving. Able to fit around 60,000 patrons, the arena was spacious and allowed for people to practice their strength and speed in the water, rather than competing in "upright" competition. The stadium lasted just over 70 years, being demolished in 2002 and converted into Futsal's "Sendagaya Court," but that building was also closed in 2017.
Bell To Bell
Making their entrance to the ring via boat, it's Atsushi Onita's team out first. Flanking him are Katsutoshi Niiyama & Mr. Gannosuke who, sadly, are dressed all too similar. From what I can tell, Niiyama has the shorter hair and isn't wearing kneepads with black boots, with Gannosuke having a bit of a mullet going on and kneepads with white boots. That aside, they're both wearing black tank tops and blue pants.
The opposing team consists of Hideki Hosaka, Mr. Pogo & The Gladiator (Mike Awesome). Awesome can be spotted a mile away, his hulking frame and lack of a shirt makes him stand out, with Hosaka and Pogo being a bit harder to distinguish. It's like these teams decided to make one guy stand out and the other two look almost identical. I mean seriously, they have similar face paint, camo pants, and the same graphic tee. Similar to the other team, it comes to knee pads, Pogo appears to be the one with black knee pads and the lighter camo, with Hosaka not wearing any knee pads and his camo being a darker green.
It will be difficult for me to keep track of everything going on with 6 people on to go, so I'll just be keeping track of whatever the camera decides to show me, only commenting on things outside my tunnel vision if it catches my attention.
The bell rings and everyone splits off into one-on-one brawls. Gladiator goes after Niiyama, Gannosuke tangles with Hosaka, and Onita clashing with Pogo, who has the barbed wire bat (oh yeah, they brought that with them on the boat) and is using it on the body of Onita already. The camera zooms in on the barbed wire bat, with Pogo very gingerly bringing Onita's face to the bat, with the barbed wire looking a lot closer to steel wool turned into a thick twine than dangerous barbed wire. I'm sure it looked dangerous and deadly to the 3,200 in attendance, but it doesn't really translate well on screen.
The camera keeps focused on Pogo and Onita, with Pogo trying to whip Onita out the ring on the the side that has no ropes, but Onita reverses and sends Pogo teetering over the edge to the "rindside" platform. Onita follows and nearly sends Pogo to his watery grave, but he drops to his stomach and saves himself.
Back in the ring, Gannosuke nearly sends Hosaka into the barbed wire "ropes" but he drops to his knees and slides the last foot, coming back with a boot that drops Gannosuke. Niiyama, taking up the foreground, is able to take Gladiator down with a ura-nage, with the camera returning to Pogo and Onita, who lays into Pogo with stiff, short headbutts. He sends Pogo head first into the angular ring post supports that are on the platform, rather slowly I might add, before trying to send him into the pool again. He teeters forever, with the camera suddenly cutting to Niiyama kicking Gladiator in the gut. Gladiator catches a kick and fends Niiyama off, pulling him in for a short, vicious piledriver in the centre of the ring.
With Pogo and Onita back in the ring, Onita nearly hits the barbed wire, but drops at the last second to save himself, a common strategy among these competitors tonight. Onita and Pogo brawl in the ring now, with Pogo sent out of the ring as Gladiator effortlessly bodyslams Niiyama. Backing himself up to the barbed wire, Gladiator goes for a splash, taking extra care to not rebound off the "ropes" for that extra momentum. He covers him, but Gannosuke breaks it up. Looking at the gif below, it looks like Niiyama helps kick Gannosuke over Gladiator? I dunno, you tell me, but it looks like a tricking routine.
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| A lot of moving parts here, some unintentional. FMW |
Again, Onita and Pogo brawl to the corner supports, this one is laced with barbed wire for some reason, and is also barely hanging on. Strange. Back inside the ring, Hosaka is taken over with a back suplex by Gannosuke, who covers for an elimination but Hosaka gets free. Gladiator has the bat now and uses it on Niiyama, pulling him in for the most insane powerbomb I've ever seen. this fucking dude floats at the top of the powerbomb. It's fucking wild. All the while, Gannosuke is pinning one of Gladiator's teammates behind his back. "Sorry, pal, I'm workin' over here."
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| That bomb was, indeed, Awesome. FMW |
Back to "ringside," Onito is fucking charging into Pogo with headbutts, trying to send him into the pool, but he gets rolled back inside the ring the same time a bloodied Niiyama gets shoved to "ringside" by Gladiator. Wasting no time, Gladiator follows him to the floor and bodyslams him into the drink, explosions erupting from just beyond the threshold of the ring when Niiyama hits the drink. It's an insane visual, but that's all it is, really.
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| Oooh! Aaah! FMW |
Back inside the ring, Hosaka lands a northern lights suplex on Gannosuke and holds him in the bridge for a pin, but he manages to escape. Pogo is bloody and vertical near the barbed wire, with Onita using his charging/shuffling headbutts to try and send him into the barbed, booby-trapped strands. Taking a big run up, Onita charges, but Pogo sidesteps and shoves him into the wire, the small explosions popping off around his back. Now, both men are bloody and battle scarred, with Onita falling to the canvas in a heap.
Gladiator has Gannosuke in the ring alone now, able to stuff him with a leaping sit out piledriver, which looked as crazy as it sounds. Hosaka produces... a sickle?! They brought a sickle to the ring?! Insane shit. With Onita laid out, Pogo digs the sickle into the gut of Onita. It's at this point we see a shark leap over the ring. I kid, of course, but you take my meaning. Or maybe you don't, let me elaborate.
Weapons in wrestling are nothing new, with chairs and tables being used for decades to varying success. As wrestling started to get more and more violent, the weapons also got more and more extreme. Barbed wire, thumb tacks, glass, fire, explosions, all of which are commonplace in deathmatch wrestling. The reason these are effective in something like wrestling is they walk the thing line of lethality. Sure, fire can kill, getting sent through barbed wire or glass can kill, but they are far more like to just maim and badly injure than actually kill. The difference with a knife, or in this matches case, a sickle, is it's entire purpose is to kill. Sure, you can cut a guy up badly with a knife, but nobody brings a knife to a fight against someone just hoping they'll scar up their arm a bit. Even in bloodfeud storylines, you rarely see wrestling get to the point of someone going as far as actually attempting to kill someone because death exists outside the realm of wrestling's kayfabe rules and preordained ideas.
Wrestling may try and crib a lot of thoughts and ideas from TV and stage plays, but the biggest difference is how they treat these characters. Hank Schrader can be killed in the final season of Breaking Bad and still appear at a convention alive and well and nobody bats an eye because there's nobody that believed Dean Norris, the actor who played him, was actually killed. Wrestlers, however, exist in a strange fictional limbo, where they are both a character and a real person. Kayfabe rules dictate, if your leg is broken in a match, don't show up at In-N-Out the next week wearing slacks and crocs ordering dinner like nothing happened. You keep the illusion alive. It's pretty hard to keep the illusion of death alive when, y'know, you never actually died. So why, then, would it make any sense for a lethal weapon to be brought into a wrestling match? You can't kill him? Or should I say, won't, you'll maim him at best, but the use of a lethal weapon feels like the ultimate shark jump moment. The genre of fiction that professional wrestling exists in doesn't know how to interpret and interact with death.
Disagree with me? Drop me a line and let's chat about it, I'd love to hear what you have to say. cliffmorganwstl@gmail.com
Back to the match at hand, Onita agonizes as the sickle is dug into his gut, with Gladiator and Hosaka using the bat on Gannosuke. It's 3 on 2 with Pogo's team having the clear advantage here, the weapons working their magic. The camera zooms in on Pogo's twisting and gouging, with Onita writhing as his white shirt turns crimson around his gut. Gladiator covers Gannosuke in the background after dropping the leg (brother, what?), but he survives the pin attempt.Onita is almost totally helpless as Hosaka holds Gannosuke vertical, with Gladiator lining up for a huge lariat. He charges, but Gannosuke slips from the grip, with Gladiator crashing into his partner!
Gannosuke dropkicks Pogo to save Onita, making an attempt to even the odds by dropkicking Gladiator off his feet! Back on his feet now, Onita wrenches the sickle from Pogo's grip, swinging it wildly as Pogo does his best to avoid the vicious blade. A DDT drops Pogo, not able to get his footing after dodging the swipe. A barbed wire bat from Gannosuke and scythe shot to the gut drops Gladiator, with the barbed wire bat/shoulder block combo from Onita and Gannosuke enough to send Gladiator flying from the ring to the water below, a wall of fire erupting from behind him as he lands.
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| The Gladiator leaves the arena! FMW |
Despite evening the playing field, Pogo and Hosaka regain the advantage, digging in the sickle and barbed wire bat into their foes, with Pogo swinging the sickle and digging it into the forehead of Gannosuke. Disgusting. It's not for the faint of heart, truthfully, even if it's not super disgusting, the implication of what that sickle is capable doing may be enough for those with a weak stomach. Adding insult to injury, Pogo shoves Gannosuke into the barbed wire, the explosions popping off around him.
With Onito being beaten and barbed by Hosaka and Gannosuke recovering from the explosion, Pogo finds himself alone in a corner, digging around in his pockets. With a lighter, he ignites a small chunk of fabric, blowing a huge fireball on the back of Gannosuke! He tosses the flame before making the cover, but Gannosuke somehow survives and gets free at two! His focus shifting to Onita, Pogo lays into him with the bat, with Hosaka going after Gannosuke now. The barbed wire bat shots looks pretty weak, honestly, with Pogo giving up on the weapon quickly before digging around in his pockets again.
Again, he produces a small piece of fabric and lights it, taking a swig of, what I can only assume is lighter flud, before turning his attention to Onita. He spits a huge ball of flame, but Onita rolls out of its path, saving his flesh.
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| Like a mighty dragon. FMW |
Acting quickly, Gannosuke charges and tackles Pogo, sending him rolling to the ringside platform. Sacrificing himself, he charges off the ring, crossbodying Pogo and himself into the water, both of them being eliminated as the mines explode around them.
Back inside the ring, Onita reverses a whip attempt by Hosaka and sends him into the barbed wire, pulling him in for a powerbomb and folding him in half for the cover. The referee counts three, and the match ends.
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| From a bomb to a powerbomb. FMW |
Match Time: 13:08
This was a rather interesting match. I think that's about the most fair way to describe it. The spectacle of it all made this match far more enjoyable than the actual action. And I know what's going to be said, I gave Onita/Funk in their exploding ring match the full 5 star treatment. The biggest difference with that spectacle was there was some substance there, some meat on those bones. This is like if you take one of those steaks the size of your fist and cover it in gold leaf. Sure, it looks pretty, it's flashy and will look good on Instagram, but by the time your photo uploads, it's eaten and you've forgotten to enjoy the taste of it. Hardly any meat to enjoy, it's a bit confusing when it hits the tongue, but at least you've got a cool memory of what it looked like. Y'know where I'm coming from? Cool explosions, lame wrestling, over before you know it. The scythe spot also really took me out of the action, it's gotta be said. When you make a blatant step over the line of lethality in wrestling, you force the audience to grapple with a lot more than they are bargaining for at a wrestling show.
• • • • •
Friends! Keep your eyes locked for next week's newest edition of Wrestling Roulette! I have something special in mind for it to cap off my journey in Japan that you aren't going to want to miss!
Until next week. Be well, stay safe, and love one another.
cliffmorganwstl@gmail.com
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