Introduction to my Puro Blog
Hei mitt navn er Sondre! or Hey my name is Sondre!
I'm Norwegian so I deeply apologize for every grammar or spelling mistake I make.
I'm 23 years old and always wanted to become a pro wrestler when I was young, but I realized when I became an adult that I'm really lazy and way too scared of people. So now I plan on reviewing pro wrestling, actually, that feels just as scary.
I watch pro wrestling, mostly Japanese "Puroresu" or just Puro, but I also watch AEW, some Lucha, and some American/European indies.
On new years eve 2021 I said to a friend (while drunk) that I wanted to become "more active" in my pro wrestling fandom. I'm sure this is not what he thought I meant.
I started by posting more Twitter posts because the puro community on there is really great and that is fun but it's not enough I want to be more informative on my opinions, that is why I have created this blog.
I originally didn't want to post my "star ratings" of matches because I can be a very big over-rater, but I was convinced by two Twitter accounts in the puro community so thanks! (you know who you are <3.)
And now I have built up enough courage to make this blog. We are only 14 days into 2022 and I have already made a spreadsheet and I'm now writing a blog, so it is clear that I already love to share my opinion on pro wrestling.
Anyways the purpose of this blog will be to show reviews, match deep dives that happen now or in the past, would love to do old shows reviews when I have a free day. I don't even know if anyone will care/read but I will post them anyway when I feel like doing it.
I will start with this post and have a rundown of my Top 5 matches of the first 14 days of 2022.
But first a short rundown of how I am as a wrestling reviewer.
- I watch NOAH, NJPW, DDT, Stardom, TJPW, Gatoh Move's ChocoPro, Marvelous and I will try to get more into Sead, Gleat, BJW, AJPW, Ice Ribbon, Sendai Girls, and Dragon gate in 2022.
- I'm very emotional if a match has me emotionally invested the whole match and I, for instance, start: crying, jumping up and down, screaming, shouting, and just shivering nervelessly. I will probably rate that match 5 stars or maybe higher. That just how I rate.
- I love Joshi wrestling and will probably rate their matches higher than anyone else.
- I love silly wrestling like DDT and ChocoPro.
- I love big men slapping meat.
- I love both long matches and short ones.
- Time limit draws are possibly my favorite wrestling result.
Syuri vs. Utami Hayashita
The 1st of 2 matches I rated 6 Stars last year
Kenoh vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
NOAH The Best 2021
In the 2nd match, I rated 6 Stars last year
But that's my stance just wanted to say that. Now the readers if there are any, have an idea of the kind of matches I love.
Now my Top 5 Matches of the first 14 days of 2022
***** on the Sondre rating
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 16 In Tokyo Dome - Tag 1How do I explain why this match was so special to me, I'll have to tell you what Shibata means to me. When I got into NJPW in 2017 there was one guy who I loved every match of that was Katsuyori Shibata. The thing is 4 months after I began watching NJPW, he suffered the subdural hematoma injury in the match he had with Kazuchika Okada. My favorite NJPW wrestler almost died and had to retire within 4 months of me watching. To see his first "normal" wrestling match back was so special, I was distracted for so long after this match because I was still crying. It was amazing that he was booked or booked himself vs Ren Narita a young lion who has been his student in the LA Dojo and has modeled himself after Shibata was even better. "The Wrestler" is back and it was amazing that his first "normal" match back was the match I and many others have nicknamed "Shibata vs. Shibata jr" match.
4. Kongo vs. Los Ingobernables de Japón
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| Katsuhiko waiting for LIJ to finish their hand salute |
***** on the Sondre rating
NJPW/NOAH Wrestle Kingdom 16 in Yokohama Arena
This match was just a really fun dream match.
My two favorite Stables/Factions/Units in each of the two big men's Puro companies going head to head. Anti-heroes vs. Antiheroes.
I loved every bit of this match Kenoh getting pissed off and running in to try and clear house alone was so fun. Katsuhiko Nakajima had great moments with both Shingo and Naito two matches I really want to see in 2022. This was definitively my favorite 5 vs 5 matches of all time.
3. Mizuki vs. Miyu Yamashita
***** on the Sondre rating
TJPW Tokyo Joshi Pro '22
Miyu is so smooth in-ring when it comes to strikes and kicks.
Mizuki's brave attempts to take the Princess championship away from Miyu had me so pumped. I felt bad for the Koraken hall crowd who could only clap because of Covid-19 restrictions because I was jumping up and down on every near fall.
One day Mizuki will win the title and I will love it and most likely dedicate a whole volume just to explain her journey to that moment. This was her 3th try and I believe on her 4th try she will get it.
This match was amazing for me but I know it won't be for those that don't follow TJPW. This Match was a great start to 2022 for Tokyo Joshi Pro.
2. Go Shiozaki vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima
The main event of the best show so far this year was a great match to find out Who is NOAH? I got into modern NOAH in 2021 so when Katsuhiko won the GHC Heavyweight title I didn't know what the significance of him saying "I am NOAH" after he won was. But I soon found out. I went back and watch Go's amazing Main Event run and his history with Katsuhiko. So when I watched this match on the 1st I had caught up with their history and was anticipating a great match. I was not disappointed, this match was so great.
Go coming out with the Misawa tribute gear was just special.
The staredown at the start gave me goosebumps. Just a brutal fight that felt like a sprint for me.
The callback to Misawa/Kobashi brought tears to my eyes.
The chop and kick battle all throughout the match was amazing.
2022 will be amazing for NOAH and I will love every second of it.
1. Kaito Kiyomiya & Keiji Muto vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi & Kazuchika Okada
*****1/2 on the Sondre rating
NJPW/NOAH Wrestle Kingdom 16 in Yokohama Arena
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| Gedo helping a crying Okada backstage after losing to Tanahashi in 2015. Muto helping a crying Kaito backstage after losing to Okada and Tanahashi in 2022. |
Ok, so this match had four generations of Japanese wrestling go against each other. Keiji Muto who will turn 60 this year still doing great matches here maybe not quite as good as if this was 90's NJPW or All Japan but still, the man is ageless.
Hiroshi Tanahashi the last ACE of New Japan and the man the brought them out of the "dark" era and into their recent golden era.
Kazuchika Okada the man who took the ACE spot from Tanahashi in 2016 and the man the helped New Japan get a lot of western fans including me.
Kaito Kiyomiya the 25 years old prodigy and future ACE of Pro Wrestling NOAH.
This match created a star in Kaito and the 3 older wrestlers made the young man look like the future of Puro.
Muto helping Kaito backstage mirrors the closing of WK 9 with Okada.
This is amazing storytelling and the reason why I love this predetermined sport so much.
I originally had this as my second so far this year but after a rewatch I changed my rating from 5 to 5.5, I don't think any match will beat this in 2022 but I will probably be proven wrong later in the year. We'll see.
Summary
I hope you liked my first blog post ever. I don't even know if anyone will get through the whole post but still.
This is the start, don't know how many times I will post here but I will try to do it for at least every big Puro show this year that I watch.
Also if you liked this comment or send me a DM on Twitter with an old show/match in puro I should review it.
I'm writing blog post reviews because I don't have the charisma or editing skills to make a youtube video. Also, Japan is very bad when it comes to copyright as we all know.
Anyways I loved writing this so I will probably do it more.
Feel free to follow me on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/SondreBjorn
Check out my Wrestling spreadsheet of 2022: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1bx3iY2upT3UAYjTD1LLOQEm1vG9M5O1AozcNdjhsDOY/edit?usp=sharing
Let's have an amazing 2022!
Hope you enjoyed this and hope to see you next time.
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