In the spirit of Thanksgiving, let’s give thanks to all that joshi puroresu has given us. Even when the real world is burning and our personal lives are collapsing like a poorly baked cake, this corner of the wrestling world still generates joy. Pure and enduring joy.
So when going around the Thanksgiving table this holiday, other folks may say they are thankful for family, friends, health, and other such standard answers, but we are the type of folks to say things like Takumi Iroha returning to form. There’s so much to appreciate in this space: a new generation of stars, depth and quality joshi wrestling gets, and more.
Read on as our writers talk up what they are grateful for. Then feel free to share your thoughts online, tagging the RESURA Twitter account (@resuramag) to keep the conversation going.
- Dave
- Trent (@1upCulture)
- Fernando (@Jferimsw)
- Justin (@BioHizzle)
- Ryan (@ryandilbert)
The Young Guns (Ryan)
As always, there’s a long list of fresh faces and green talent with lots of promise in many of the joshi promotions. From Akira Kurogane in STARDOM to 19-year-old Nanami Hatano in Diana. But there are three names in particular that have me the most psyched about the present and future of joshi wrestling: Senka Akatsuki, Seri Yamaota, and Uta Takami.
They are all already so damn good and only promise to get better.
Uta doesn’t get talked up enough when discussions of top rookies and newcomers kick off. She’s easy to dismiss because she’s so small and cute, but don’t make the mistake of judging her on those traits.
She’s legitimately one of TJPW’s most intriguing talents at just 18 years old. Uta is charming, energetic, and has a natural feel for the dramatics of wrestling.
Seri deserves all the hype she’s been getting. She’s a beast in the ring with a unique style. She’s given off big star energy since day one.
As excited as I am to see either Uta or Yamaoka’s name on any card, no one has me more hyped as fan than Senka Akatsuki. The way she moves in the ring, the way she holds down her opponents on the mat, the fire burning off her at times, her simple, throwback gear. It all screams game-changer.
It’s been a blast watching these three wrestlers do their thing in 2025, and they all have me hopeful and hyped about next year.
The Revitalisation of Takumi Iroha (Trent)
2025 has been something of a return to form for the Ace of Marvelous. Takumi Iroha has always had an aura that surrounds her as a modern stalwart of the joshi independent scene, but the last couple of years had felt a bit quiet for her thanks to injuries, a lack of consistent high profile matches, and a tendency to pick her spots.
That’s not been the case this year. It’s felt as though Iroha has been able to remind people why she’s long been a must-see attraction. Whether it’s being part of the hottest new tag team alongside Sareee as Spark Rush or terrorising Marigold as the fearsome final boss of Marvelous during arguably the best feud of 2025, the sight of Takumi peacocking to the ring with four titles is a sight to behold.
To this day, her offense feels utterly unique. There’s no one who can string together combos quite like her, blasting off a flurry of punishing rapid-fire kicks, and then switch it up with a power game normally reserved for lumbering brutes and not someone who can then leap off the top rope with a Swanton Bomb.
It’s just nice to feel like we’re never too far from her popping up in a high-profile match. While in the past it could feel like waiting for the last bus, in 2025 it’s almost been like clockwork that she would pop up with a big grin, ready to decimate another woman for our enjoyment.
Joshi Buffet (Fernando)
Once you discover joshi wrestling, there’s no turning back.
I’ve been following the wonderful world of Japanese women’s wrestling since late 2019, and what a wild ride it has been. In the last six years, I have watched hundreds of matches from lots of promotions, both past and present. I’ve seen rookies grow and develop, fan favorites retire, and established stars become legends.
All of the above was possible thanks to the great variety of promotions to choose from. In-ring excellence in Stardom, captivating characters in TJPW, the work-rate-driven dojos in Sendai Girls and Marvelous and the wackiness of ChocoPro. I’m sure Ice Ribbon, WAVE, OZ Academy, Marigold, and SEAdLINNNG could have something for you, if you give them a chance. Plus, the independent scene thrives with every little show.
Joshi wrestling revived my love for professional wrestling and I will forever be thankful for Kairi Hojo/Sane, Miyu Yamashita, Tam Nakano, Mayu Iwatani, Mika Iwata, Ayano Irie, Yuko Sakurai, Mei Suruga, and all those women who make me love this beautiful art.
I am also thankful for ActWres girl’Z in particular, since I started following the promotion this year. Having watched one or two matches here and there, while also knowing how it’s been where lots of wrestlers who are household names nowadays started their careers, I decided to give it a try and became a fan almost instantly. So, thanks AWG for giving us a big part of the current joshi scene.
Joshi Puroesu Coverage (Justin)
A lot of the other contributors to this article have given thanks to things that I am also thankful for, so instead I decided to think a little bit outside of the box. There is a decent amount of coverage of joshi puroesu for us English speaking audience not only including ourselves, but also many websites, video creators and podcasters who do a great job promoting the best wrestling in the world!
Sure, it’s a niche part of pro wrestling as a whole, and their work may not get the same type of views or listens that they’d get if they were covering the big pro wrestling promotions in America, but they do it for the love of the game, and to support the type of pro wrestling that they enjoy the most. For that, I am very thankful!
Obviously, I mentioned us as one of the outlets that covers this awesome pro wrestling, as we’ve been doing our best this year at RESURA to give you fun things to read, and try to be positive about the joshi pro wrestling scene as a whole. We’re always looking to add even more to our catalogue, and we hope that you’ll continue to enjoy what we have cooked up in the future.
When it comes to other websites or aggregators on social media, there’s a few other places that you should give a look if you’re wanting to read. Monthly Puroesu doesn’t only cover joshi pro wrestling, but the overall Japanese wrestling scene as a whole. They are a good place to go for interviews and write ups that involve some of your favorite joshi pro wrestlers.
There’s also Fightful that has done a great job interviewing joshi pro wrestlers with the help of our very own Scott Edwards. Since that site covers a ton of wrestling from all over the world, the hope is that these interviews with joshi pro wrestlers will end up getting seen by someone who could become a fan in the future. It’s all about growing the game after all.
When we move onto video content creators, one of the biggest names that I personally support via Patreon is Meerkat Ultra on YouTube. They do such a great job to put together videos that are both fun and usually insightful. The artistic abilities of Meerkat will always make their videos stand out, and if you haven’t given their work a try before, you should definitely check out a video or two.
Next up on the video creation side is HypeTalkTV who I didn’t really know until late last year I believe. Alessandro is a charismatic interviewer who gets a ton of great access to a lot of joshi wrestlers from around the scene. While sometimes, the interviews can be a little bit awkward because of the language barrier of Ale being good at Japanese, but not super fluent, the interviews are usually fun and lighthearted nonetheless. The fact that he goes through the hard work of adding English closed captions to his videos so that we can understand what is being said is truly what makes his work special, and I hope that he will continue to interview even more awesome wrestlers in the future because it’s great to get to know them this way.
There is also the aforementioned Scott Edwards who has his own YouTube channel “Scott E Wresting” puts together informational videos about joshi pro wrestling, while also often reviewing many of the great shows on a week-to-week basis.
There’s also another member of our team here Peps Wrestling who also does videos covering the news of Japanese pro wrestling which includes the joshi side of it. Last but not least, there’s String6Splash who often puts up videos covering STARDOM more so in particular. He gives his honest thoughts about the company, and makes sure that what he says is quite well thought out, which is appreciated by someone like myself.
When we turn our attention to podcasts, there’s quite a few to enjoy, and honestly I use them every week while I’m at work to not only help pass the time, but to also hear various creators thoughts on the current joshi pro wrestling landscape. First and foremost, I have to mention the guys from The Stardom Cast who put out quite a bit of content each week, covering STARDOM, Marigold and even other joshi promotions with their Talk Joshi episodes. Rob’s thoughts are always very thought out, and Matt’s experience as a pro wrestler himself gives you interesting insights on the matches themselves.
Another great weekly podcast is the STARDOM Quest Gold podcast with Alex and Dylan, a podcast that covers both STARDOM and Marigold in depth pretty well. They somewhat recently stopped covering a lot of the house shows that STARDOM does, but normally they’ll at least give you the quick results.
If you’re looking for something more tailored to a TJPW fan, there’s the Tokyo Joshi Pod by Andy Zike that is still pretty new but offers a weekly recap of TJPW news and show results in a lighthearted, positive way. You can tell that he loves this promotion with the way he talks about it, and it’s nice to hear such positivity in the pro wrestling content creation space.
Next we have the Cult Of Joshi with the hosts Rajja and John who cover a lot of different joshi promotions along with also talking about some AEW which includes a few of our favorite wrestlers who called Japan their home beforehand. With John being someone within the wrestling business, and Rajja giving a women’s perspective on things, it’s refreshing to listen to their enjoyment of joshi puroesu. Even if there’s something they aren’t too wild about, they try to spin it in a positive way, which is nice to hear!
After that we have two podcasts that cover a lot of wrestling overall in Japan, but key in on joshi pro wrestling because of it. We have The Outlet by PlugPedro along with the Stardust Press Podcast by Xavi and Beth with both podcasts offering an interesting look at the pro wrestling scene in Japan, and giving critiques of it when stuff happens that they don’t enjoy. Pedro often has on a guest or two, which keeps his podcast interesting as well since you never know who will be checking in to give their thoughts.
If you’re a fan of Actwres Girl’z, then you should give the Actwres Stage podcast a listen on YouTube as Sondre and Velkej give you the updates each month about what’s going on in their favorite promotion. Both of them do a great job at not only letting you know the results, but also breaking down each match. It’s nice to hear a podcast talking about a promotion that has a smaller fanbase overall, because the hope is that the fanbase can grow because of their hard work covering it.
Last but not least, there is the podcast Jumping Bomb Audio which I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with. I like the fact that they cover most of the results of the entire joshi pro wrestling scene every two weeks, but at the same time I find that they are often quite negative about the stuff that they watch, which can be a bit of a turn off at times. It’s ok to critique things, but to make it seem like you know better than the people who are actually in the business doesn’t really vibe with me so well. Still though, they do cover a lot, and it gives me something to listen to every other week.
There’s no doubt that there’s podcasts or content creators that I didn’t mention, but honestly I’m doing this off the top of my head, so don’t hate me too much. I do plan to one day go more in depth reviewing each of the different media outlets that cover joshi pro wrestling in an effort to help people find new mediums to get the coverage they’re looking for. Like I said, for me, it’s all about creating awareness, and I think that the people I mentioned above are doing their best to do just that. The fact that they are willing to sit in front of a microphone or keyboard as often as they do to cover this awesome sport is something I am truly thankful for, and I hope that they will continue to keep us informed in the future.
Joshi Puroesu Positivity (Dave)
I found joshi wrestling in 2019 and I was immediately captured by the positive vibe it generates. I started watching Stardom at the time and it seemed like all the girls were having so much fun. When watching the shows, I just felt happy. Which is something that wasn’t a given for me at the time. Which is why I will be forever thankful that I found joshi wrestling when I did.
The people that stood out for me from day one were Hana Kimura and her Tokyo Cyber Squad, a colorful unit that had everything that makes joshi wrestling so much fun. They had the likeable, calm powerhouse in Jungle Kyona, the ultimate technician in Konami, the comedy speedster DEATH Yama-san, the talented rookies Rina and Ruaka, and of course, the charismatic enigma known as Hana Kimura. They created so many memorable moments that always put a smile on my face, no matter how bad my day was. From the draft, to them choosing the name and doing their salute for the first time (with a still reluctant Kyona and Konami and visiting gaijin Rebel trying and failing not to laugh), to Hana winning the Five Star, to her challenging Bea Priestley with TCS coming to the ring in full force, to Hana teaming with Mini Hana and so many more moments that I have revisited so often. I am so grateful to all of them for simply making me smile when I needed it.
I am very thankful for experiencing all the positivity live on three different occasions. I visited Japan for the first time in 2023. I never got to meet Hana or watched her perform live, which I really, really wanted. But at my first ever show, I saw her best friend VENY defeat Sareee and Unagi Sayaka in an amazing match. After the show, I was able to chat with all three of them. And it was so much fun talking to them. VENY especially took the time to talk to me and wanted to know all about my home. I have seen her perform three times and each time she was a joy to talk to.
I have visited Stardom’s All Star Grand Queendom twice in 2024 and 2025 and I am very thankful to visit such historic events. But the shows I visited by Marigold, AWG, and the Ryogoku Kokukigan show booked by Unagi Sayaka really captured that feeling I had when watching Stardom in 2019. Interactions with wrestlers like Nagisa Nozaki, Act Yasukawa, Ayano Irie, Misa Kagura, Miyako Matsumoto, Seri Yamaoka, and so many others are memories I treasure. The same can be said for my visits to Natsu Bar, operated by one of my other favorites from my early years: Natsu Sumire.
To summarize, I guess I’m just thankful that joshi wrestling exists and that I found it when I did. I am thankful for all the amazing matches I saw, whether on my screen or in the arena. And I am thankful for the amazing women that put on these captivating shows and take the time to interact with their fans.
RESURA 