Welcome to RESURA ROUNDUP, our monthly dive into the best joshi action out there. Each month, our crew serves up a curated mix of must-watch matches—barnburners, technical showcases, and everything in between.

We’ll highlight the headline-worthy clashes, but we’re just as excited to spotlight those hidden gems you might have missed. We’ll give you stuff from the major promotions as well as the less-heralded indies. 

Let’s do this!

Chihiro Hashimoto & Yuu vs. HANAKO & Maika, STARDOM– New Year’s Dream (Jan. 3)

Beef on beef. Power on power. Puffed-up chests and adrenaline surging. This was 100 percent my type of match.

Team 200kg kicked off the year with the same kind of hard-hitting, high-energy action that has been their trademark for years. Maika and HANAKO matched that energy, charging right back with lariats, brute force, and grit.

The match felt like it was going to be a sprint with as full-throttle as the two squads were going at it to start. Things morph into more of a longer drama while still maintaining intensity, especially with its many explosions of pure machismo. 

It’s easy to miss stuff with as much great wrestling comes out of Japan in the first few days of January, but this should not be left behind. Go get you some hoss wrestling. 

Recommended by: Ryan

Ryo Mizunami vs. Unagi Sayaka, OZ Academy – The Wizard of OZ (Jan. 5)

Two of the best freelancers on the joshi scene, wielders of two of the best leg drops in wrestling–one on one in a taut, high-energy OZ Academy Openweight Championship match.

Mizunami and Unagi played off well against each other. Unagi’s selling complemented Ryo’s power. The champ’s aggression brough out Unagi’s best. And damn did Mizunami do some damage to The Eel’s chest with her trademark barrage of chops.

This was an appetizing mix of ferocious strikes and dashes of comedy. It was paced well, the momentum steady throughout.  

Fresh off a year where the OZ Academy title scene thrived, Mizunami and Sayaka did their part to keep that party going.

Recommended by: Ryan

Mika Iwata & Miyuki Takase vs Ryo Mizunami & Manami, Sendai Girls (Jan 12)

Red Energy faced the former champions Ryo Mizunami and Manami ahead of their Sendai Girls Tag Team Championship match next month. This is the kind of match where you know exactly what to expect from everyone and still end up surprised by how good they are. Ryo and Miyuki exchanging chops is always a fun watch, plus Mika and Manami (who have also won the tag titles together) showed what two homegrown talents are capable of, at Sendai’s Pit no less.

Iwata and Takase have failed three times to win the titles since 2022, including a loss against Mizunami and Manami, which is why the no. 1 contenders gained a lot of momentum defeating the former champions and will be extra eager to defeat Bob Bob Momo Banana and finally win their first tag belts together.

Recommended by: Fernando

Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara vs Suzume & Arisu Endo, TJPW – Max Heart Tournament 2025 – Night 1 (Jan 18)

TJPW tag team matches just hit differently when the stakes are this high. 

Last year’s winner Daisy Monkey faced the team of Kamiyu and WAKANAAAA!!!, who participated in the tournament for the first time as a team. This match will reward you if you know the lore behind the competitors; Kamiyu opted for changing her Toyo Mates partner Mahiro Kiryu for Wakana Uehara in a move that left some fans scratching their heads. The pairing seemed destined to be short-lived when they were scheduled to face the former champions in the first round. A back-and-forth match that ended up with Wakana and Arisu as the legal women, and it was then that Uehara was able to lock her submission maneuver on Endo, who had no choice but to tap out. 

Kamiyu took a risk and it paid off. Wakana had pulled the upset of the tournament and got one of the biggest wins of her career so far. Their victory meant they advanced in the tournament, but more importantly, the team of Mahiro Kiryu and Maruna Neko were their opponents in the quarterfinals. The plot thickens!

Recommended by: Fernando

Mei Suruga vs SAKI, ChocoPro, Purple Chocolate (Released on Jan 18)

Given the nature of ChocoPro, one of the oddest promotions in the world to say the least, the buildups to title matches tend to be short and to the point, but SAKI, being her peculiar self, spent more than a month posting pictures and videos of herself eating apples in various forms. The COLOR’s member teased the champion Mei Suruga ahead of their Super Asia title match at ChocoPro’s last show of 2024 on December 30th. Mei, who tried to be the sane one for once, tried not to respond to her opponent’s mind games and stayed focused on their encounter.

Shinjuku FACE was the stage and both women were ready. The veteran SAKI countered almost every move the champion hit in the first minutes of the match, and it was just after a big double foot stomp on the turnbuckle that Suruga leveled things up. A frenetic climax, with lots of near-falls, saw the Apple Girl finally putting away SAKI to retain her title and close what was a great year for her.

Recommended by: Fernando

Takumi Iroha vs Chi Chi, Sareee-ISM Chapter VI (Jan 23)

The sixth instalment of Sareee’s self-produced shows, Victoria Yuzuki and Miku Kanae competed at the frenetic opener and Sareee vs Meiko Satomura gave us a main event as part of the farewell tour of the Sendai legend’s career. However, it was the third mach of the card that will be highlighted here.

Takumi won. With that out of the way, can we talk about how good Chi Chi is? The Barbie enthusiast has grown a lot since debuting in 2023, she carries herself with the confidence of a 10-year veteran, sells the hell out of her opponent’s moves and has the resilience of an ultimate babyface. Takumi was the perfect rival as she has such vast moveset that make even rookies look good. It took the dreaded Running Three to finally put away Chi Chi, but it will take a lot more to break the spirit of the Evolution stand out.

Recommended by: Fernando