Matches of the Month - February 2025
I'm starting to think New Japan might be back.
You know the drill. Here’s my top 10 matches of the shortest month of 2025:
El Desperado Vs Kosei Fujita - NJPW Road to New Beginning
The latest Junior title reign of El Desperado started off with a whimper when he was awarded the title in the Tokyo Dome minutes into his match with then champion DOUKI after a nasty injury. That was beyond his control, but what is in his control is to put that behind him and rack up some quality title defences which is exactly what happened here. Fujita looked the part here, easily one of my favourite showings out of him and with so many of the next generation being heavyweight bound, the company will need him to be a hit in this division. Despy picked up the win with a double Pinche Loco, but this was far more competitive than I was expecting it to be. 4.
Kyle Fletcher Vs Mark Briscoe - AEW Collision (8/2/25)
I think it’s safe to say now that these two men have excellent chemistry with one another. I loved their match in the Continental Classic last year, and in this match with fewer stakes on the line, they went out there again and worked their asses off. I was not expecting blood and froggy bows through the table, but they were in show stealing mood I guess. A great match to keep Fletcher looking strong as the Ospreay feud reaches it’s next chapter. 4.25.
Konosuke Takeshita Vs Oleg Boltin - NJPW New Beginning In Osaka (11/2/25)
I was not expecting this match to be as great as it was. The G1 was a nice introduction to life as a singles wrestler for Oleg and I really enjoyed his opening matches on those shows as the rookie dipping his toes into tournament life in a sub-10 minute match. They were solid 3.5 star affairs that set you up nicely for the big hitters later in the show, but I was still unsure how great he could be in the future. Now obviously he’s helped by being in the ring with one of the best in the world right now, but this was an encouragingly great match as he threw everything he had at the defending NEVER Openweight Champion. This match came in at 11 minutes, not that much longer than his G1 matches were, but there was a significant difference in tone and pace in this match. This was Oleg’s coming out party and he’s someone to take seriously now. 4.25.
Yota Tsuji Vs Gabe Kidd - NJPW New Beginning In Osaka (11/2/25)
My god this show was great - I haven’t even got room to include the Shingo/Drilla match which was perfect for what it was. This seemed an odd match to book as neither man should really be losing a big match at the moment, Tsuji just winning the Global title and Kidd coming off the star-making performance in the Omega match. Smartly they decided to go down the route of the double KO finish to keep both guys strong. As expected with a big Gabe Kidd match, this was very physical. 4.
Zack Sabre Jr Vs Hirooki Goto - NJPW New Beginning In Osaka (11/2/25)
The picture speaks for itself. Wrestling’s ultimate bridesmaid finally had his big day - and at New Beginning no less, the show where so many of his failures have taken place. I’m so glad that Gedo followed through with the seeds that were sown in last year’s G1 where out of nowhere, the fans rallied behind Goto’s story and started believing in him again. Zack’s role should not be forgotten here, he was a valuable champion in getting us out of the husk of Naito on top dark days and he put in a masterclass performance in this match. Zack dominated so much of this match, which in real time might have been a tip off that Goto’s big comeback would be successful. The G in IWGP stands for Goto! 4.75.
Will Ospreay and Kenny Omega Vs Kyle Fletcher and Konosuke Takeshita - AEW Grand Slam Australia (15/2/25)
If you’re like me and don’t have much love for the Toni Storm/Mariah May feud, this was the clear hook to the AEW Australia show. Four of the best wrestlers in the world today in their style going at it with plenty of heat and hate between them. The top rope hidden blade into the One Winged Angel was a fantastic, deathblow finish. 4.
Labron Kazone Vs Luke Jacobs - DPW No Pressure (16/2/25)
Nice to see Deadlock bring in one of the brightest young talents in Europe currently in Manchester’s Luke Jacobs. This one started off a little more mat based than I was expecting, but it wasn’t long before the bombs came out. For the size of both men, Kazone pulling off the gutwrench suplex from the apron back into the ring was really impressive. Kazone picked up the victory and looks to be ones to watch in arguably the hottest US indie promotion this year. 4.
Alexius, Fury Boy, Pendulo, Poseidon and Troyano Vs Abigor, Obek, Prince Drago, Rav and Shezmu - CMLL (21/2/25)
It’s not often I watch a match where I’m seeing 10 wrestlers for the first time ever. That was the unique experience I had checking out CMLL this month with so many of the regular roster touring over in Japan for Fantasticamania. This was a great chance for these young guys to make a name for themselves in the semi-main event in Arena Mexico in a 10 men elimination tag match. In particular Poseidon and his shiny power rangers attire really stood out to me - but really they all did a great job. If anything I think they actually went a bit too long at 33 minutes here, a bit shorter and my rating would have been higher. 4.
Starlight Kid Vs Rina - Stardom Path of Thunder (24/2/25)
I continue to be very impressed by Starlight Kid’s range - she was a great babyface in the last big match I watched of hers Vs Natsupoi, but here in this one she’s smart enough to realise she has to lean heel against Rina in her hometown and with the Hana Kimura stuff, as well as take up the veteran role at 23 year against a teenager. 4.
Konosuke Takeshita Vs Orange Cassidy - AEW Dynamite (26/2/25)
I think we all know the route taken to get to Takeshita/Omega was really dumb whereby the champion had to essentially qualify for the title match, not the challenger, but hey at least we got this match along the way. This was my favourite Cassidy match in forever, at least since he dropped the International title. They worked their asses off and came up with some insane counters for each other such as the slumdog millionaire into the blue thunder bomb. OC took the Raging Fire like a trooper. And I’ll leave the article with this final thought - Takeshita to me is very clearly the front-runner for Wrestler of the Year 2 months into 2025. It’s obviously a helping hand to have two work-ratey titles to defend in two different companies, but he’s still putting in the quality work and in most cases making standard matches like the KUSHIDA and Boltin matches overdeliver. 4.