WrestleVerse Vol.1: A First For Everything
Simulcast:
-A simultaneous transmission of the same programme on radio and television, or on two or more channels.
Obviously, we have many different television shows that are live from many broadcasting stations. For example, the sport of football (soccer). If there is a big football game that you are looking forward to like Borussia Dortmund vs Mamelodi Sundowns and you can’t make it back home, you listen to the radio as it is live. That is the benefit of having a simulcast in our lives.
I know you might be thinking, why am I talking about simulcasts in this one? Well, I have been scouring my mind for what kind of weird ideas to use for my wrestling articles. One thing I have learned when writing this article, I realized that this will be very confusing for many other articles moving forward. Because this is basically multiple articles combined into one big article. I know you might be wondering, why is this might be confusing for other articles moving forward?
Well, this simulcast will feature continuations of series that I have already (for example: US Indies & AEW Dark Elevation: Chronicles) and the beginning of a brand new series that I will bring into the fold. So if you read my future articles and you see something like, “UK Indies #4” or something like that, and you don’t #2 & #3, it was more than likely featured in one of the volumes of this simulcast. I know that the simulcast name will not make any sense for this concept, but I digress. Are we clear? Let’s go with it.
ROH On HonorClub Collection #1: Taigastyle Bleeds Pure Rules
Match: Wheeler Yuta © vs Lee Moriarty (19:56)
Prize: ROH Pure Championship
Company: Ring Of Honor
Event: ROH Death Before Dishonor
Year: 2024
https://x.com/archersniped/status/1934299626888188291?s=46
Ring Of Honor is not a perfect promotion to watch. A lot of times it can be baffling to watch as a modern day Ring Of Honor fan. At the time of writing, I have watched all the TV episodes, specials and PPVs. The Pay Per Views haven’t been high all of the time. Somehow ROH Final Battle has been the one show that has always been unlucky which is really strange. Usually I would comment on many positives and negatives about the TV program to keep it to myself and maybe post it on my BlueSky feed for fun. That all got thrown out of the fucking window after Ring Of Honor Women’s Champion Athena was feuding with *check notes* AEW TBS, RevPro Undisputed British Women’s, EWA Women’s, & now (at the time of writing) CMLL World Women’s Champion Mercedes Moné within the Owen Hart Foundation Women’s Tournament. If there is one thing that has infuriated me this year, it’s this specific feud and the amount of baffling takes I’ve seen from people who don’t watch ROH is stupid. I have already made an article about my thoughts on Mercedes Moné and Athena that you can check in the Contributor’s Blog on The Clubhouse.
One thing I will always love about Ring Of Honor is that the core rules are intact along with the fresh coat of paint. One of the best examples of this statement is with the Ring Of Honor Pure Championship. This title has been getting more and more notoriety as a part of HonorClub. Wheeler Yuta and Daniel Garcia were making it feel important before the TV program began. Katsuyori Shibata’s Pure Title is probably the best title run I’ve seen from him. Shibata won the title as a contracted NJPW Wrestler and Trainer at the LA Dojo. He would eventually sign with AEW during his reign and the reign ended in an underwhelming way due to factors outside their control. He would lose it back to Wheeler Yuta.
Prelude To Death Before Dishonor 2024
Imagine this, we are on the road to Ring Of Honor’s Death Before Dishonor event. During this time, Wheeler Yuta has been a champion that nobody has been able to beat when it came to the Pure Rules. There is one person that he has faced in a Pure Rules match, but is not the same competitor as before. And that person’s name is… “Taigastyle” Lee Moriarty of Shane Taylor Promotions. So on the July 4th edition of ROH On HonorClub, these two would face each other in a Ring Of Honor Pure Championship… Proving Ground match.
Info: A Proving Ground match in Ring Of Honor is where you have a match with a champion. You will either have to beat the champion or last the full 10 minutes to earn a title shot.
This would be an intensely fueled bout filled with so many working holds, testing each other within the Pure Rules system. It completely showed how much Lee Moriarty has improved as a wrestler within the faction of Shane Taylor Promotions. These two weren’t able to outsmart one another as the 10 minutes elapsed. For Lee Moriarty, you can consider this a victory. Not too long afterwards, it was announced that Wheeler Yuta will defend the ROH Pure Championship against Shane Taylor Promotions’ Lee Moriarty. Unlike when The Infantry challenged The Kingdom for the ROH World Tag Team Championships, Lee Moriarty had a possible chance of taking the Pure title.
Backgrounds:
I know that this would be unnecessary for some people, but the only time I don’t do these backgrounds are for wrestlers that the majority of crowds know or I already did the backgrounds in previous articles.
Wheeler Yuta:
I know that Wheeler Yuta is known in his own right, but I want to give a refresher of him given what he has done over the past 8 months.
Wheeler Yuta is a professional wrestler that was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Oct 26, 1996. He was born from an American and a Japanese mother, but I think that is all I can say. His wrestling career would begin in 2015 at Premiere Wrestling Xperience (PWX)’s Pure The Return Home event. He would lose his first match against Mason Myles. He would debut for Combat Zone Wrestling (CZW) in late 2015 and would consistently appear for the promotion until late 2016. On October 5, 2017, Wheeler Yuta or Jimmy Yuta would debut for Major League Wrestling (MLW). Who would he debut against? Future AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman (MJF). I wish I was joking.
Also in 2017, Yuta would take his first trip to the pacific to wrestle in Japan.
(Zero Thoughts: I know this is a random thought bubble here, but honestly hearing the term “Wrestling In Japan” is a bit if not very dumb nowadays. I know why this term has been coined. Given that the land of the rising sun is known for having a rigorous & body breaking schedule that has been successful in creating some greatest wrestlers and storytellers in the history of this sport. Wrestlers like Mitsuharu Misawa, Kenta Kobashi, Kenny Omega, Toshiaki Kawada, Stan Hansen, Kazuchika Okada, etc.
The problem with the use of this term is the amount of Japanese promotions that have been acknowledged on US TV over the past few years. I understand the term being used in a sense for a wrestler who hasn’t wrestled for the country or a veteran who has an extensive career for a Japanese promotion. The problem occurs in the partnerships that have been forged over the years like AEW with NJPW & STARDOM, GCW with TJPW and all the others. This is actually more of an AEW criticism and it’s not the usual video package one. The most recent case of this is Nick Wayne, but that would cause me to spiral into a rant, so I won’t do that.)
But whatever. Yuta would make his debut for Michinoku Pro Wrestling. It would happen on the first day of the Boko-Hyoko tour as he teamed with Koji Kawamura in a losing effort against Yasutaka Oosera and Daichi Sasaki. He would later compete in 2 more matches for Michinoku Pro before never appearing again. In 2020, Wheeler Yuta would make his first appearance for Ring Of Honor. In Episode 469 of ROH Wrestling, Wheeler Yuta would face Jonathan Gresham in the first round of the ROH Pure Championship Tournament. He would lose against Gresham.
At that year’s Final Battle on the Hour One preshow, he teamed with Fred Yehi against The Foundation’s Rhett Titus and Tracy Williams. This match is infamous for being the first ever tag team match contested under Pure Rules. I actually watched this match before continuing this background and I’m honestly surprised this match has only been done one time. Sure given it is a Pure Rules style tag team match, this has rules added on to the ones that have already been established. Luckily, Ring Of Honor explained them and made a video package for it, because it can be a doozie. It can get complicated, but it honestly made for a really great way for wrestlers to use their brains. That would mark the last notable thing he did in ROH. He would eventually return a year and a half later, but I’ll get to that.
In 2021, Wheeler Yuta would make his AEW debut on AEW Dark: Elevation in a match against Karl Anderson, who was a contracted wrestler to IMPACT! Wrestling at the time. He would compete in three more matches for both AEW Dark and Dark: Elevation, but it didn’t take long for him to debut on AEW TV. He would face Sammy Guevara on the first night of Fyter Fest. He would be aligned with Orange Cassidy and eventually became part of the Best Friends alongside Orange Cassidy, Chuck Taylor, Trent Beretta, Kris Statlander &... Danhausen. Since I love Danhausen, I don’t mind. The Best Friends would be a sub-group to CHAOS, a New Japan Pro-Wrestling based stable, which would lead to teamups with current NJPW STRONG Openweight Champion Tomohiro Ishii, YOH & Kazuchika Okada.
In 2022, he would enter into a short-term feud with Jon Moxley. This would be a short arc into developing Wheeler Yuta’s killer instinct and was played off their previous two matches. This would culminate in a match on AEW Rampage which would ultimately lead to Wheeler Yuta joining the Blackpool Combat Club.
(Zero Thoughts: Honestly, this background is going a lot longer than I would it would be, but whatever.)
Yuta would return to Ring Of Honor, shortly after the Tony Khan purchase at ROH Supercard Of Honor. He would defeat Josh Woods to capture the Ring Of Honor Pure Championship and would be the only 3-time in the title’s history. In his first reign, he would be in a feud with Daniel Garcia about the recruitment process arc of the feud between the Blackpool Combat Club and the Jericho Appreciation Society. This feud gets overlooked due to the overexposure of Ring Of Honor on AEW TV… which still continues today. Ring Of Honor didn’t do their weekly TV at this time, so this was somewhat a pass, but given what I mentioned at the beginning, it’s very sad.
At AEW All In London 2024, Wheeler Yuta won the AEW World Trios Championships with BCC teammate Claudio Castagnoli and “The Bastard” PAC. At All Out, BCC would betray then AEW World Champion Bryan Danielson without Wheeler Yuta knowing, suffocating Danielson with a PLASTIC BAG MIND YOU. Then the Death Riders would be born. Eventually, Yuta would join after betraying Danielson at WrestleDream and here we are.
(Zero Thoughts: I know that I rushed this part of the background, but I have spent too much time on Yuta and I want to move on to Lee Moriarty. And given that this is a FUCKING simulcast, it saves so much time.)
Lee Moriarty
Lee Moriarty is a professional wrestler born on June 6, 1994 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His real name is actually Lee Moriarty. Even though he is the older of the two, his career is similar to Yuta in a sense that he also started in 2015. I mean they are from the same state after all. He would train under Brandon K and Dean Radford in Pro Wrestling eXpress (PWX). He would make his debut for the promotion on Dec 12th, 2015 at their PWX No Limits event.
He was known as one of the best technical wrestlers on the United States Independent Wrestling scene. One piece of information that I found during my research is that in 2020, he would appear for IMPACT! Wrestling (TNA). I am not joking, because I have no memory of this. He appeared on Episode 840 of Xplosion in a losing effort Suicide. That was his only match for the promotion.
(Zero Thoughts: I have mentioned in my AEW’s Joshi Complex article that I’ve watched IMPACT! Wrestling in 2020 to mid-2021. But I will be the first person to say that I wasn’t paying attention to Xplosion at the time.)
In 2021, Lee Moriarty would make his debut… similarly to how Wheeler Yuta would debut.
(Zero Thoughts: Okay. I know that it would be on AEW’s older brother instead of its younger sister, but it wouldn’t be fun not to troll.)
This would happen on Episode 103 of AEW Dark. He would main event the show, which was rare for a new person, against Dante Martin. After 3 more Dark and Dark: Elevation matches and a match on the infamous AEW Rampage Buy-In against Bobby Fish, Moriarty would debut on AEW TV. It would be on AEW Dynamite against CM Punk and it was a showcase for Moriarty on the flagship even though Punk picked up the win. He would align with Matt Sydal as his mentor during the early months of his AEW run. Moriarty would have a bunch of showcases until he would be involved in a program. Although in a minor one. He had a short feud with the then Ring Of Honor World Champion, Jonathan Gresham.
This would lead to the Ring Of Honor World Championship match on the Fyter Fest edition of Rampage. It would lead to Gresham vs Castagnoli at ROH Death Before Dishonor, but it’s something. It also led to Lee Moriarty having a process of turning to the dark side. This was part of a program in which Stokely Hathaway was recruiting people, which actually had an explanation as to why.
That full turn to the dark side came at AEW All Out. You know, the infamous night of Brawl Out, which I will not mention for obvious reasons and that the website doesn't allow it for good reason. It is a shame, because this was a really good PPV with matches like Swerve In Our Glory vs The Acclaimed, Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks vs Hangman Adam Page & Dark Order’s John Silver & Alex Reynolds in the trios finals, CM Punk vs Jon Moxley, etc. During the Casino Ladder, masked men would take out all the contestants before the Joker entered and one of them grabbed the Poker Chip. It would be revealed to be Stokely Hathaway and all the people he was recruiting including Lee Moriarty. This group would be dubbed, The Firm.
According to wikipedia and how it was presented, this was a retainer team for MJF. A retainer team being a group hired by a client for a set period of time and a fixed monthly fee. The Firm is a faction that deserves its own article due to circumstances it had. The only thing notable Moriarty did in the faction was when he was teaming with Big Bill.
But whatever, in Ring Of Honor, Lee Moriarty would join Shane Taylor in order to form the new version of Shane Taylor Promotions. They would be representing the group as a tag team until adding new members to the group. Anthony Ogogo was the third person in the faction and still is despite not appearing for them since last year. An actual tag team in The Infantry (Shawn Dean & Carlie Bravo) would join the faction alongside their first female member, Trish Adora. I mention on many social media platforms how much I love Shane Taylor Promotions. They all have different personalities which makes each member stand out and honestly is one faction I actually love seeing on ROH TV.
This current version of Lee Moriarty in Shane Taylor Promotions has been the best portrayal of him under the Tony Khan banner. A cool, calm & collected person that shows his actions in the ring, while having a lovely personality. There are moments where he has to be serious, but that’s what makes him better.
(Fun Fact: Lee Moriarty & Wheeler Yuta were in a tag team 5 years ago. Their tag team was known as Rush Hour. And I find this pretty ironic given their ethnicities and the name itself, but I digress.)
Pure Rules:
Before we detail the match between them, I realize one thing when doing this… most people don’t know what a pure rules match is. Let me re-explain the rules Ring Of Honor have mentioned multiple times to you:
Each wrestler has three rope breaks to stop submission holds and pinfall.
After a wrestler exhausts his rope breaks, submission and pin attempts on or under the ropes by the opponent are considered legal.
No closed fist punches to the face are permitted.
Openhanded Slaps / Chops to the face are permitted.
Punches to the rest of the body are allowed, excluding low blows.
The first use of a closed fist to the face receives a warning.
The second use of a closed fist to the face results in a disqualification.
If there is a time limit draw, the judges decide the winner.
Now that we are familiar with the rules…
Match Breakdown
With that being said, in front of 1,157 fans from the Esports Stadium in Arlington, Texas. In the fourth match on the show, it’s Wheeler Yuta defending the ROH Pure Championship against Lee Moriarty. Let’s roll with it.
[Judges: Jerry Lynn, Christopher Daniels & Paul Wight]
Both men started with a collar and elbow tie up. As they were chain wrestling, Yuta manages to take over and hits a knee drop on his arm. Yuta would keep his knee on his arm and acted so confidently. Moriarty noticed a flaw, and flipped through so Yuta can fall down. Moriarty was able to hook the legs, and started to pull his hair. Moriarty was working on the arm with a wristlock. Yuta was able to twist out and try to do an inside trap, but couldn’t fully lock it in. The reason why it didn’t work is that Moriarty had his hand, took him down and wrenched on his arm. Yuta was able to get up and down to grab his calf for a drop toe hold. Yuta used his legs to roll Moriarty on his back and applied side leglock. Moriarty got to the ropes and rolled outside immediately.
{ROH Ring Announcer} Bobby Cruise: “That is rope break number 1 for Lee Moriarty.” [Lee Moriarty has 2 rope breaks remaining.]
Moriarty took his time to get into the ring and Yuta is patiently waiting for him. Given that this is Blackpool Combat Club Wheeler Yuta, it makes sense. Both men restarted with the collar and elbow and Moriarty quickly did a side headlock takedown. Yuta wrapped his legs around Moriarty’s neck to escape the side headlock. Moriarty shuffled his hips in order to gain higher ground. He also placed a knee on Yuta’s legs to get his head out. You know what Moriarty did afterwards. He separated the legs in medical terms. Moriarty tried a side headlock, but Yuta smoothly didn’t allow that to happen. Yuta would trap his arm in a hammerlock. Moriarty used his other arm to free his trapped arm and applied a side headlock. Yuta sends him to the ropes and Moriarty hops over the drop down.
As Yuta goes for a leapdog, Moriarty catches him from that and for a roll up. Moriarty uses that to transition it into Border City Stretch. Yuta uses his leg to reach for the ropes.
Bobby Cruise: “That is rope break number 1 used by Wheeler Yuta.” [Wheeler Yuta has 2 rope breaks remaining.]
Yuta was surprisingly fine with it and even clapped for him, although mockingly. After a test of strength and failed pin attempts, Yuta locks in a Manji-Gatame (Octopus Hold). Moriarty got the leg off of his head, so Yuta tried to do a rollup, but Moriarty did a rollup attempt. After those failed, Moriarty hits a forearm strike and Yuta fires back with a thunderous chop. In the corner, referee Mike Posey tried to make a clean break. Moriarty hit Yuta with a closed fist behind Posey’s back. Yuta was pissed so he fired a closed fist back, but Mike Posey actually saw Yuta’s closed fist.
Bobby Cruise: “Wheeler Yuta (Lee Moriarty hits Wheeler Yuta with another closed fist as Posey’s back was turned to Cruise) has been issued a warning for the use of a closed fist strike to the face.” [If Wheeler Yuta uses another closed fist strike, he will be disqualified.]
Moriarty mounted him with open handed palm strikes. Moriarty puts him in the corner and chops him. Yuta chops him back, but Moriarty places him in the corner… to clobber him with a forearm strike. Moriarty Irish whips him to the opposite corner. Yuta goes up, then Moriarty catches him in an Electric Chair and then Yuta slips around to do a Casadora. He follows up with a dropkick for a two count. Yuta keeps a hold of the arm after the failed pin attempts, but Moriarty got the ropes almost immediately.
Bobby Cruise: “That is rope break number 2 used by Lee Moriarty.” [Lee Moriarty has 1 rope break remaining.]
Moriarty hits Yuta with a back elbow and tries to charge at them. Yuta sends to the ropes and Moriarty manages to place himself on the apron, Lucha Libre style. Yuta goes for a strike, but that was a bad idea because Moriarty grabbed it and slingshots it on the rope. Moriarty hits a massive shoulder tackle for a two count. Moriarty works on the arm with a hammerlock. Yuta uses his free arm to wrap his head to try to escape into headlock, Moriarty does a bridge, swings around to escape and stays with the hammerlock. Yuta eventually snapmares him, and when he tried to snatch Moriarty with a side headlock. Moriarty slid underneath and trapped him in the hammerlock again. Yuta got up to his feet and escaped with a Lucha style snapmare. Moriarty blocks Yuta’s charge with a kick and follows up with a dropkick from the middle rope. After a failed attempt, both men engaged into a strike exchange. Yuta was in a daze during this that he steadied himself in the corner.
Moriarty sends him to the opposite corner and hammers him with a corner lariat. Moriarty Irish whips back, but Yuta jumps over him, goes to the ropes and clotheslines him. Yuta continued the momentum by hitting a Manhattan Drop and an Enzigiri, sending Moriarty to the corner. Yuta hits a Stinger Splash style forearm in the corner. He climbs up the top and hits a flying forearm. Yuta climbs up the top turnbuckle, but Moriarty cuts him off. He started wrenching at Yuta’s fingers and it made me think about what I had for dinner. Yuta escaped with a headbutt to the chest, but Moriarty plants him with Superplex. They were countering each other and Moriarty hits a closed fist strike. Since the referee can see it, Bobby Cruise was informed.
Bobby Cruise: “Lee Moriarty has been issued a warning for the use of a closed fist strike to the face.” [If Lee Moriarty uses another closed fist strike, he will be disqualified.]
Moriarty quickly hits Wayne Wonder (Spin-Out Front Slam) into the Border City Stretch. When they were close to the ropes, Moriarty pushed himself from the ropes to reapply the Border City Stretch in the centre. Yuta eventually made it to the ropes by using his leg.
Bobby Cruise: “That is rope break number 2 used by Wheeler Yuta.” [Wheeler Yuta has 1 rope break remaining.]
Moriarty kept antagonising him with kicks until Yuta smacked across the face. Yuta keeps striking him and gets out of the side headlock by sending him to the ropes. Moriarty comes back with a kick and Yuta rebounds his way back into the ring by using the ropes. He tries a German Suplex, but Moriarty reverses it. Both of them do a standing switch exchange and Yuta rolls him out of the ring. Yuta follows up with a 2024 wrestling dive. Yuta brings Moriarty back into the ring and scales up the top to hit the splash. That was two counts and Yuta wasn't able to hit the Hammer & Anvil Elbows too much with his usual arm (right arm) so he switched. That came back to bite him in the ass, because Moriarty caught him in the European Clutch (Double wrist-clutch flip into a bridging cradle pin) for a two count.
Moriarty gets out of Yuta’s attempted move into a wristlock takedown. He hit the Wu-Thang Forever for the two count. Moriarty quickly applied a submission that got so bad that Yuta desperately got to the ropes.
Bobby Cruise: “That is the third and final rope break for Wheeler Yuta.” [Now, Wheeler Yuta has no rope breaks. He can be pinned or submitted on or between the ropes.]
Moriarty has him in a position and attempts the Crash Thunder Buster (Back Suplex Front Slam), but Yuta goes over and hits a German Suplex for a two count. Yuta immediately syncs in the Cattle Mutilation and Moriarty makes it to the ropes.
Bobby Cruise: “That is the third and final rope break for Lee Moriarty.” [Now, Lee Moriarty has no rope breaks. He can be pinned or submitted on or between the ropes.]
They kept countering each other in their exhausted state. Then Moriarty lifts Yuta up in a Back Suplex position… and Yuta lands back first on the apron. Now that had to feel like shit the next morning. While the replay of it happens, Moriarty does a Lo Pei (Tope Suicida) to Yuta on the outside. Back in the ring, Moriarty hits the Fang (Suplex Flatliner) for a two count.
Both men are clearly exhausted, but Yuta applies a Fujiwara out of nowhere. Moriarty kept rolling, but Yuta kept a hold of the arm until he got the control. Moriarty reached for the ropes, but since he has no rope breaks, the submission can’t be broken up. Instead he uses the ropes to pull off the Most Devastating Move in All Of Sports Entertainment, the Surprise Rollup to the 1,2,3. Meaning that Lee Moriarty is your brand new Ring Of Honor Pure Wrestling Champion.
Conclusion:
I actually love this match, but this was more of a pain in the ass than decrypting a tag team match. When doing my research on this one, I have learned a lot of new things. The Pure Rules Tag Team match that I watched before continuing this was actually good. I’m honestly surprised they have done it once, but then again, the rules are a lot to follow.
I don’t know if my bosses will allow this, but I’m doing a star rating system. I know that this website operates on a Dynamite and Explosive rating system if you look at the unhinged page. But I want to test the waters with these WrestleVerse articles. So let me give my opinionated rates.
ZERO: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
Mix And Match = Supermodel + Idol
Match: Wakana Uehara vs Yuki Kamifuku (7:24)
Company: Major League Wrestling
Event: MLW Summer Of The Beasts
Year: 2025
(Credit: Meerkat Ultra on YouTube)
https://x.com/meerkat_ultra/status/1749611656517128486?s=46
I have come to notice this over the past few articles that I have written that women’s wrestling seems to be the main theme. I promise you that I have not done this on purpose. However, given that my bosses can see my tabs… Let’s just say that I am never escaping the feminist allegations. Or not given you would’ve probably thought I was since I talk about women’s wrestling so much.
Anyway, this specific match does require me to not only explain the backgrounds of the wrestlers involved, the insignificance of why this match is an important for one or both and one noticeable question. Why am I covering a match like this in the first place? Let’s start from the beginning.
The Origins
I remember being on https://bsky.app. And if you know anything about being on the app, interactions with wrestlers are very minimal. So as I was going through feeds, I discovered a wrestler on the platform. Her name is Wakana Uehara. I will explain her background in a second, but it was nice seeing a wrestler post constantly on the app yet alone a joshi wrestler. Since I have never seen a Tokyo Joshi Pro show, I was very excited when they were going to do a live show on YouTube. When I woke up and immediately went to the channel, it turned out I wasn’t able to access the link. Sure I missed it live to sleep for my own sake, but I wouldn’t lie when I say that ruined my plans to watch the show for free. Given that it was live in America, all I have to say is… lucky bastards.
So I decided to cover this match instead. It was on MLW’s YouTube channel and it did feature TJPW wrestlers, so I can take what I can get. I will eventually watch my first TJPW show, but I will be patient until then. And given many issues that I have been having lately in terms of creative structures of my brain cells, I am doing this just to feature a breather after completing the first addition of the ROH On HonorClub series. Now that I have explained the reason why I am doing this, let's get into the background of the wrestlers in the match.
The Backgrounds
The biggest hurdle I faced when trying to cover this match in particular is the backgrounds. Usually this wouldn’t be an issue as I have done for many joshi wrestlers in my past articles. But somehow, finding information on these two wasn't as easy as I thought. Luckily I found many sources from other wrestling wiki sites, non-wrestling sites and Major League Wrestling’s official website, but goddamn, it took a while. So let’s get to it shall we:
Wakana Uehara
Wakana Uehara was born on May 13, 1996 in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. You will be surprised to know that before we saw a Meerkat scream her name, Uehara started her career as a J-Pop Idol. She was in three groups throughout her career, which are Advance Arc Harmony, Tenkou Shoujo and 99999. Obviously with her career like that, she has garnered a fanbase. Her theme song, Keep My Heart Burning was written and sung by herself. I decided to listen to both the Japanese & English version and it is a very fine tune.
In 2022, Wakana Uehara would join the Yume Pro-Wrestling (Dream On The Ring) project in May of 2022. Yume Pro-Wrestling or Dream On The Ring is a project within Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling that focuses on individuals aspiring to become pro wrestlers. She would have an exhibition match against then Princess Of Princess Champion, Shoko Nakajima, who is the current Princess Tag Team Champion and MLW Women’s World Featherweight Champion by the way. Even though that was the first match she had, that wasn’t her official debut.
Her official debut was on January 4th, 2023 in Korakuen Hall. She teamed up with Arisu Endo in a losing effort against Juria Nagano & Moka Miyamoto. Wakana would find success in her debut year as she would go on to that year’s Next Generation Tournament. In a bit of a full circle moment, she won in the same building she debuted in.
The hits kept on coming. After a full year of wrestling, Wakana Uehara would have her toughest test against Aja Kong. Yes. Your eyes aren’t deceiving you. She faced AJA. KONG… and lost. Uehara would enter that year’s Tokyo Princess Cup and was eliminated in the second round. Uehara would make her debut overseas in 2024. She appeared on the DEFY x TJPW x DDT Triangler DTD show and teamed with Mizuki in a losing effort against Miu Watanabe & Suzume. In that year’s Next Generation Tournament, she was eliminated in the semi finals of the tournament.
In 2025, Uehara formed a tag team with her opponent for this article, Yuki Kamifuku. Together, they are known as Ober Eats. They would actually challenge Kyoraki Kyomei (Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao) for the Princess Tag Team Titles at TJPW’s Live Show in Las Vegas. They would lose in their title challenge, but did get a win on the TJPWxDDTxGCW show the following day.
Also, I think she is a Saiyan. The amount of food that she eats and she can still maintain a physique is wild to me. Her metabolism has to be on the level of Saiyans from Dragonball and Luffy from One Piece. If they were eating from the same table, the amount of bowls left over by those three will be days worth of cleaning.
Yuki Kamifuku
I won’t lie… I didn’t even know who Yuki Kamifuku was until I started researching for this article. This was also a hassle to find information about her which highlights why the backgrounds are the biggest hurdles of this article. But luckily, I have so much to look for throughout the wonders of the internet.
Yuki Kamifuku was born Feb 20, 1993 in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. As a teenager, she lived in the United States while her father was working there. She is also very fluent in English. Before her career in the squared circle, Kamiyu was a supermodel. She was a runner-up in the Miss Toyo University contest. She also featured frequently in gravure spreads on weekly magazines, even releasing a photobook titled, Kyakuzai (Leg Crime). Gravure in the context of Japanese Pop Culture, are models who posed in provocative swimsuit and lingerie photographs for photobooks and magazines that are marketed towards men. It’s been a thing for a long time in the world of Joshi. Even your favourite Joshi wrestler has probably done gravure.
Anyway, Kamifuku would debut in 2017 at TJPW’s Brand New Wrestling ~ The Beginning Of A New Era event. She teamed with Yuna Manase in a losing effort against Mizuki & Nonoko. A month later, she would debut for DDT Pro-Wrestling and teamed up with Miyu Yamashita in a losing effort against Rika Tatsumi and Yuu. Ever since Yuki started competing in the Tokyo Princess Cup in 2018, she has a trend of being eliminated in the Semi Finals of the tournament. Her first title win was a funny one. In 2019, Kamiyu captured the DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship in a Gauntlet Battle Royal at their Ultimate Party event. However, during the gauntlet, she would lose it. How is that possible? Simple. DDT.
This wouldn’t be the only title in her achievements as a year later, she became the International Princess Champion after winning a tournament for the vacant title. She went on to have a long reign with 3 defenses. In 2022, Kamifuku debuted overseas in Malaysia for APAC Wrestling. 2023 would be an interesting year as in November, Kamiyu would capture the SPW Queen Of Asia Championship from Alexis Lee at Singapore Pro Wrestling’s Viva La Lucha event. In 2024, Yuki Kamifuku became the VPW Women’s Champion of Vietnam Pro Wrestling as she was holding the SPW Queen Of Asia title. Ironically, she defeated Alexis Lee. She would be dubbed as the Two-Crown Asian Queen as she was a double champion for one year. She would eventually lose them as she lost the VPW Women’s Title to AEW/ROH wrestler Viva Van and the SPW Queen Of Asia Title to… Alexis Lee. It’s kinda funny I’m not gonna lie.
In 2025, she formed a tag team with Wakana Uehara called Ober Eats.
The Match
So with that being said, from the Melrose Ballroom in New York City. In the third match on the show, it’s the Battle Of The Idols as it’s Wakana Uehara vs Yuki Kamifuku. Let’s roll with it.
The match starts off with some chain wrestling. While keeping a hold of the wrist, Yuki decided to take inspiration from Koji Kitao and tried to poke Wakana’s eyes out. Wakana would escape and sync in the hammerlock into a side headlock takedown. The sequence continues until Wakana grabs a hold of Yuuki’s arm. As they both get up, Yuki reverses an Irish Whip and sends her to the ropes. Yuki went for the lariat, but Wakana sidesteps with a cartwheel. Yuuki decides to be a mean girl and cuts her off with a hair whip slam. She kept kicking her in the corner and followed up with a running boot to the face. Wakana kicked out after a dropkick. Yuuki blocked her lariat attempt with a kick and chopped her twice before running to the ropes. As she rebounds back, Wakana catches her with a dropkick and follows up with a Space Rolling Elbow (Handspring Elbow) in the corner.
Wakana applies the sleeper to transition into a bodyslam for a two count. Yuki escapes from the snap suplex position to apply the Manji-Gatame (Octopus Hold). She put all her body weight down, but Wakana was able to get to the ropes. Yuki placed her on the middle rope and booted her in the face. Yuki went to the apron, used the ropes as a platform to boot her in the face. After a failed pin attempt, both women engaged in a strike exchange. Yuuki faked out a strike to poke her in the eye and boot Wakana in the face. Wakana countered a suplex into High-Speed Brainbuster (Snap Brainbuster). Wakana applied the Banana Pillow (Triangle Lancer), but given that Yuki has long legs, she reached the ropes very quickly. I think Yuki did her Yahoo! 83cm (Headscissor DDT), but I’m unsure how it’s done in her other fights.
Yuki Irish whips Wakana from one corner to another and dropkicked in the corner. She tried the Fameasser, but Wakana got out of it. Yuki did a shoulder tackle and Wakana rebounded from the ropes with a sunset flip for a two count. Wakana got a two count off a dropkick. Yuki decided to counter her suplex into a Stalling Suplex. Then Yuki just hits the Fameasser and gets the 1, 2, 3.
The Aftermath of this Match
In the beginning of this piece, I mentioned that this match had some sort of significance. This was mostly because of a tweet that Wakana posted on her X/Twitter account. It says:
“It had been a long time since I had fought against Yuuki Kamifuku, and I realized that I was not strong enough.
She was supposed to be the one fighting closest to me, but she seemed so far away.
I am always relying on her, and she may think she doesn’t need me anymore.
But I want to continue to be next to Kamifuku. There are still things I can do!! I must do it!”
上原 わかな (Wakana Uehara)
My brain immediately started thinking of an anime that had something similar. That would be… Inazuma Eleven. Wakana Uehara in this case is Bobby Shera. No matter how much she kept running, she can’t seem to catch up with her Eric Eagle or in this case, Yuki Kamifuku. Unlike Bobby who was able to find someone to run alongside with, Wakana has no one to share that.
Conclusion
I’ll be honest. This match was very underwhelming at best. I went into this match with excitement and it never felt like it kicked into second. When I write about matches like these, I feel way less motivated to continue this simulcast, but I’ll still do it anyway. I will likely not cover a match of these two for a while. This whole was unfortunately a swing and a miss.
A STARDOM Icon No More
Match: Mayu Iwatani © vs Syuri (21:54)
Prize: IWGP Women’s Championship
Company: World Wonder Ring Stardom
Event: Stardom All-Star Grand Queendom III
Year: 2025
https://x.com/wwr_stardom/status/1914495321780183106=?s=46
(Credits: World Wonder Ring Stardom)
I don’t think I have done this before. I never thought I was going to write an article about two people that I have already written about. Yet alone two people from my first two articles. I’m going to be talking about Mayu Iwatani and Syuri from Stardom’s All-Star Grand Queendom III event. This will likely be a shorter article than I expected, which is very surprising might I add. (Especially since I am doing this in the middle of the night, but I digress.)
This is a historic match in a sense that the IWGP Women’s Championship is on the line. Mayu Iwatani had been reigning high as the 3rd IWGP Women’s Champion for two years. Defeating Mercedes Moné at ASGQ 2023, she has had 9 successful defences.
Her defences in order until this year’s ASGQ:
Utami Hayashishita (21:32) -> Stardom X Stardom 2023 ~Osaka Summer Team~ [Date: 13/08/2023]
Stephanie Vaquer (11:28) -> NJPW STRONG Lonestar Shootout 2023 [Date: 10/11/2023]
Syuri (19:06) -> Stardom Ittenyon Stardom Gate [Date: 04/01/2024]
Mina Shirakawa (12:28) -> NJPW The New Beginning In Sapporo 2024, Day 1 [Date: 23/02/2024]
Sareee (20:26) -> Stardom All-Star Grand Queendom II [Date: 27/04/2024]
Tsukasa Fujimoto (16:08) -> Ice Ribbon: New Ice Ribbon #1354 ~ After The Rain, Ribbon 2024 [Date: 23/06/2024]
“Timeless” Toni Storm (18:37) -> Stardom Nagoya Golden Fight 2024 [Date: 05/10/2024]
Momo Watanabe (24:13) -> NJPW X Stardom Historic X-Over II [Date: 17/11/2024]
AZM (8:46) -> NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 19 [Date: 04/01/2025]
These 9 defences would be a part of a historic title reign that has been great and had many crazy things happen throughout it. Utami Hayashishita left Stardom with Rossy Ogawa as Marigold was forming. She is now the current Marigold World Champion. Stephanie Vaquer is now a part of the WWE, and is part of the RAW roster. Mina Shirakawa signed with AEW during the build to this year’s All-Star. Sareee has been known as one of the best wrestlers in the world.
Mayu Iwatani would break records and she became the longest reigning IWGP Champion ever. She beat the previous holder of that record, Kazuchika Okada by 15 days. As Mayu Iwatani was aiming to have the 10th successful defence or V10, there was one person she had to face. A woman that she faced, but determined to beat her, Syuri.
The Match
So with that being said, from the Yokohama Arena in front of 7,503 fans. In the 9th match on the show, it’s Mayu Iwatani defending the IWGP Women’s Championship against Syuri. Let’s roll with it.
The bell rings and they stare at each other. We all know that in the world of professional wrestling, it’s super duper serious. Both women started doing some of the most aggressive chain wrestling I’ve ever seen. Afterwards, they both begin tugging at each other’s hair like their siblings. Iwatani punted her leg, so Syuri can fall on the lower ropes and she dropkicked her in the throat. Both women engaged in one of many strike exchanges. Syuri ducks under a lariat and dropkicked Iwatani so hard that she flies in the corner. Syuri hits the half hatch suplex for a two count. It didn’t take long for backs to suffer as Syuri started her kicks to the back. She kept whacking Iwatani’s back like a punching machine for a two count. Syuri applied a sleeper and Iwatani quickly got the ropes to break the hold. It didn’t help as Syuri got to the corner and eventually kneed her in the face. She got a two count and casually did a Penalty Kick for another kick out.
Syuri just kept kneeing Iwatani until they both got to the corner. Iwatani dodged Syuri’s charge and did a rollup fake out into a dropkick. Both women kept stopping each other from rebounding the ropes. Iwatani thought on her feet and pulled the ropes down so Syuri could be on the apron. Iwatani knocked her off the apron and followed up with a Tope Suicida on the outside. Iwatani tried to push her back in the ring, but Syuri countered it and followed up by using the apron to do a Satellite DDT. Back in the ring, they both engaged in a strike exchange. As this was happening, referee Daichi Murayama was emoting like Brent Oakley from the VYBE House. I don’t know why it makes me chuckle, but it does. Syuri kicks her in the chest so hard that I thought my chest was caved in. Iwatani blocked her charge with a Superkick for a two count and Syuri blocked her charge with a roundhouse kick for a two. They both high kick each other which resulted in a double down. Since Syuri was in a corner and Iwatani had some distance, Iwatani did a single leg kick in the corner, so hard that Syuri ricocheted away from the corner. I thought Syuri suffered a concussion because Iwatani kicked her right in the head.
When Syuri followed Iwatani up the top turnbuckle, you know what they did? A strike exchange. It’s not annoying, but I found it funny to write down. Iwatani got off the corner, swapped positions and did a Frankensteiner off the top rope. Iwatani got back up and hit a beautiful frog splash for a two count. Iwatani tried to do a Dragon Suplex only for Syuri to reverse it. Iwatani tried again and hit the Dragon Suplex for a two count. As Iwatani scaled up the top turnbuckle, Syuri got up to kick her legs so hard that Iwatani buckled on the top instead. Syuri slapped her and went up to hit an Arm Wrench Superplex into a Kimura Lock. She transitioned the hold into the Scarlett Bird (Modified Scissored Armbar). Iwatani was able to reach the ropes with her legs. Syuri quickly continued with a heightened Draping DDT. The hits keep on coming as Syuri hits the Red Death (Firewoman’s Carry into a Double Knee Gutbuster) for a two count. Syuri tried to go for a Syuri World (Electric Chair Spun out into Sitout Side Powerslam), but Iwatani countered it with a Poisonrana. Iwatani got some distance before running up and planted her with the Dodonpa (Crucifix Pin) for a two count. Iwatani kicked her in the head and kept doing it until she climbed up and hit the Moonsault for a two count.
Iwatani tried the Two Step Dragon Suplex, but Syuri reversed it into a Fujiwara. Iwatani rolled forward to get out of it and went for a lariat. Syuri ducked underneath and rebounded back with a high knee strike. Syuri would then do a spin out version of the Flow Flame (Delayed Sitout Side Powerslam) for another nearfall. Syuri picked her up again to hit a normal Flow Flame for a two count and immediately applied an armbar into a Scarlet Bird. Syuri would have her body tangled up so much that Iwatani’s head was completely red. Syuri just lawn darts Iwatani in the corner. Iwatani blocked her charge with a Thrust Kick and followed with a shaky Fubuki Rana (Springboard Poisonrana from the corner), but given the circumstances before it, I can’t blame her. Iwatani got a failed pin attempt after a moonsault and hit the Two Step Dragon Suplex for a shocking nearfall. As she picked her up, Syuri did a SHOOT headbutt into a German Suplex… and Iwatani kicked out at one. Syuri quickly followed up with a roundhouse and two Buzzsaw Kicks for a two count. She decided to do her prime finisher, the Syuri World for another nearfall. I need to lie down.
Syuri understood that she had to pull a trick from her sleeve, so she had her up again and hit the Syuri World V2 (Electric Chair Spun Out into a Sitout Side Powerslam while locking in the hands). That allowed Syuri to get the three and become the brand new IWGP Women’s Champion.
Post Match:
The brand new champion would have her speech following her win.
We had the opportunity to see Mayu Iwatani have her final words in a STARDOM ring before she left for Dream Star Fighting Marigold.
Sareee would enter the ring after sitting in the crowd, since she was slated to be the next challenger, Well… she ended up being the second, but we might have to save that for a different day.
Conclusion
The oddest thing about these IWGP Women’s title matches is that it feels so quick despite the ring time stating otherwise. Syuri must’ve thought that Mayu Iwatani was The Joker or some shit, because the kicks are on a more painful level than usual. This match is really just kicking the shit out of each other on display and it’s incredible.
ZERO: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
GRAND CONCLUSION
This marks the end of the first ever simulcast. Usually I have so many wacky ideas in my brain and sometimes I act these out. Given how many things that I have been changing, it has been an odd time writing. There have been so many issues in the creation of this. Originally, there were 7 matches individually to cover for this volume of articles. They were problems from the start of this. This was completely my fault for not taking advantage of the free time I had to start 2 weeks in advance. There is no excuse for the lack of quality that I have displayed. They were supposed to be 2 additions of US Indies, but I decided to move them for individual articles when I can.
The only match in this WrestleVerse volume that wasn’t last minute and part of the original plans was Wheeler Yuta vs Lee Moriarty. To make this clear on how last minute this is, Mayu Iwatani vs Syuri was the most last minute I had. Anyway, it was fun to finish this. Writing about matches is something that I never thought that I would do, especially for a website like SickosClub. And the praise I get for these articles always surprises me, but I appreciate it so thank you all.
If you want to read articles from other writers who have as much passion for professional wrestling as I do, you can find it on The Clubhouse and the creators on the Sickos Club Unhinged.