With only a few weeks left in the year (and we can all expect some of us may not be around as much during that time), now seems as good a time as any to reflect on the year and all that we’ve seen so far!

So with that said:

Matches, wrestlers, companies, what really stood out for you during 2023? What was your highest of highs, and lowest of lows. Did any wrestler go above and beyond your expectations? Did any big match you were waiting for end up being a huge let down? What company’s booking did you like and hate the most during the year? Let us know what you think of how everything has gone down below!

  • Neon_Carnivore@kbin.social
    5·
    11 months ago

    DDT:

    • Chris Brooks had a decent title reign that I feel was well deserved, and he dropped the belt to the right wrestler in Yuki Ueno. Also, if you like super wacky mat wrestling, check out his “Baka Gaijin and Friends” shows on YouTube. (English friendly!)
    • MAO is (and has been for a good while now) one to keep an eye on. And I am incredibly jealous of his jawline.
    • I’m honestly more upset about the Pheromones splitting up than I am about Saki Akai graduating, but that is in no way meant as disrespect to Akai.
    • Matt Cardona vs Maki Itoh was good fun.
    • Yoshihiko ❤

    Impact/TNA:

    • I’m not 100% familiar with their roster yet (aside from a few I know that came from other promotions), as I only became a regular viewer a few months ago, but I have yet to watch an episode and feel like my time was wasted.
    • IPWF was great fun.

    More TJPW:

    • MIZUKI winning the Princess of Princess Championship was well deserved and pretty great, especially considering who she had to beat to get it.
    • MIZUKI’s actual title reign, though… ouch.
    • I hope we get another Hyper Misao booked show.
    • Yamashita is now in the same position Yuka was at the beginning of the year in that she’s pretty much done everything there is to do in TJPW. I’m curious what the future holds for her.
    • Maki Itoh wrestled more outside of Japan in '23 than in. She also vaguely hinted that she’s wanting to graduate next year. Might be nothing, though.
    • I want to see Hyper Misao and/or Miu Watanabe get POP title runs in 2024.

    Miscellaneous stuff:

    • Pepsi Phil sucks.
    • Fuck Tyrus
    • Fuck Ronda
    • Billy Pumpkins is dumb.
    • Rest in peace Bray Wyatt, Jay Briscoe, and Terry Funk. That’s not even half of the wrestlers we lost in 2023, though.

    Miscellaneous Good stuff:

    • Wrestling fans are spoiled by choice of what to watch and that’s awesome.
    • Despite it being small, m/SC has been great.
    • You guys are awesome.
    • GeekFTW@kbin.socialOP
      4·
      11 months ago

      DDT/Brooks: I need to watch a lot more DDT (read: any) but I’ve always loved Brooks since seeing him on some random YouTube videos.

      Yamashita/Itoh: Ditto. I haven’t paid anywhere near as much attention to TJPW as I do Stardom so I don’t know how things go but losing Yuka and possibly Yamashita and Itoh would be a pretty huge blow (and legit 3 of the like 6 people I know on the roster lol). Idk how they’re ‘rookie’ process works but I hope they have people who’ll be able to come in to beef up the roster a bit.

      • Neon_Carnivore@kbin.social
        4·
        11 months ago

        Barring injuries and excursions, TJPW tends to have most of, if not the whole roster on the card (thanks primarily to LOTS of tag matches) for every show, so it doesn’t take long to familiarize yourself and find a favorite.
        But they have a very strict hierarchy in their booking, so expect rookies’ only victories to be either against each other, or when tagging with someone further up the food chain. It can take YEARS for someone to truly move up the card, which is the most common complaint among TJPW fans.
        The second most common gripe is most of the girls don’t “lay it in” when striking, drop kicking, etc. Some of this can be blamed on camera angles, and in the case of the rookies, lack of experience. It becomes less of an issue further up the card, though.
        We also got a nice handful of promising rookies in 2023, as well as a new Up Up Girl.
        A new year typically means new rookies, so expect some new roster members to debut soon.

        • GeekFTW@kbin.socialOP
          4·
          11 months ago

          Makes sense.

          I think someone somewhere described it to me once as ‘TJPW is a bunch of friends wanting to see who is the better wrestler, STARDOM is a bunch of women who wanna kill each other but can make friendships’ lol.