Summer Break

Kyushu Pro took a little break after the Mentai retirement show, was active in June, but then pretty quiet through July and early August. Japanese companies, of course, have often run shorter schedules over the year than their traditional American equivalents – though talent safety concerns now affect the big American companies, too. The recap batch today wraps up the end of June, the only show in July (an untelevised community show), and the first show of August.

 

Kyushu Pro Kamigoto O Genki Ni Suru Bai! 29/06/2025

Held at Shin Uonome General Gymnasium, Shinkamigoto, Nagasaki Prefecture. An attendance of 458, on the smaller side for this type of show. The show has two guests, making it a twelve-man roster, which is usually the set for a larger show, but here the guests are Koreans from PWS who also worked the 22/06 and 23/06 dates, so it might be reasonably guessed that they had trained and worked through the week and this wasn’t a major extra commitment for them. Having two guests does always allow a slightly better mix of matches for what is basically a ten-man permanent roster, so here we get rookie Koyo Ume working singles, the comedy tag giving Jet Wei and STAR LIGHT NARU a chance to get a bit more exposure, and the main event trios involving everyone else.

 

Asosan vs Koyo Ume

In my short experience of watching QPro, there are two distinct eras: before and after Mentai’s retirement. In this period after, with the debut of a new rookie, a lot of opportunity and attention is being given to Koyo Ume, albeit in the context of a classic rookie run of losses. One is struck that, with a New Ring Boy helping out, Kyushu Pro could debut another guy next year and have four workers under 30. The old guard of the promotion (Chikuzen, Mentai, Asosan, Batten, and, joining a little later, Genkai) are aging out, and the retirement tour guys (TAJIRI, Shima) are obviously here to serve the promotion, not drive it froward. Sasaki is 46, and he’s the main title contender. Sakurajima is 40, still very good, and really still counts as the “head” of the younger group…! So I’m all for these rookie matches.

 

This one, though, isn’t very strong. Asosan can still drive himself to bouts of mobility, but he’s very much in the final leg of his career by any normal measure (of course, Great Kojika says different). Ume isn’t really stiff enough or high-flying enough to make up for the limited bumping Asosan is up for. This match isn’t overlong at all, they both work hard enough, but this is functionally just a five minute build to Asosan hitting a finisher.

 

Asosan defeats Koyo Ume in 5:53.

 

Batten Blabla & Jet Wei vs STAR LIGHT NARU & TAJIRI

The comedy matchup for the show, and this is pretty fun. TAJIRI plays a fairly minor role here beating up Batten a bit, and everyone else can work. There are two real sellers here: first, Batten is being Jet’s Senpai, and what that practically means is bullying him and telling him to do strategically stupid stuff, like forego a finisher to tag Batten in; second, NARU and Jet work most of the match, and the means you get a promising PWS rookie against one of the young guns of Kyushu Pro. Jet continues to develop and demonstrate his offence now he is no longer the most junior guy in the organization, and he looks great here. There’s a fun moment where NARU knocks him out of the ring, starts to do a silly influencer dance, only to be knocked over by Jet, who has returned to the ring behind him and briefly looms threateningly ala the Undertaker. We conclude with Batten going too far in his bullying of his trainee, and Jet joins the other team to knock him out and achieve a triple pin. NARU is the technical winner, which means he ends his tour on a win. He was a little loose and soft here, but still fun to watch. Enormous promise.

 

STAR LIGHT NARU & TAJIRI defeat Batten Blabla & Jet Wei in 11:10.

 

Genkai & Ha Da On & Super Strong Kishan vs Hitamaru Sasaki & Kodai Nozaki & Naoki Sakurajima

SS Kishan is Shigeno Shima here. I think it might be a rotating role.

A problem with these six-mans CAN be that you cover up low effort work by being able to maintain a constant visual jamboree by sheer numbers. I think we get that here. This is perfectly passable, an amiable enough way to spend some time, and it’s going to have worked better in-person than on screen because there is a certain frisson to some of the work – otherwise fairly soft brawling through the crowd, for instance – that will always be cooler in-person, as you see the stars up close and personal.

 

Shima does not give an inspired, freaky, weirdo performance as SS Kishan, more’s the pity. He’s just solid as always. Sasaki takes a backseat, having gotten some recent shine for his upcoming title match. Sakurajima naturally works hard, elevating the whole. Nozaki gets the pin on SS Kishan, giving him just a bit of shine. Indifferent stuff.

 

Hitamaru Sasaki & Kodai Nozaki & Naoki Sakurajima defeat Genkai & Ha Da On & Super Strong Kishan in 13:31.

 

Event Summary

An odd show. No booking here towards the larger potential “angles” – that is, the titles – and no rivalries really worked on. We’re pursuing Rookie Ume’s march through the roster, which doesn’t work as well here as in previous shows. It’s nice to see Jet Wei given a chance to shine, and you definitely sense that he should be in the Tag Title picture soon. Not a must-see, on the whole.

 

Kyushu Pro 20/07/2025

The promotion’s only show in July, held at AEON Mall Kagoshima 1F Water Plaza Special Ring. This will have been outdoors, I guess nextdoor to a fountain or pool or splash pad or something. Kyushu Pro do these community shows regularly – sometimes there are decent photos up online afterwards. They’re obviously part of the deal for charitable funding from local government and corporations. Unusually, Batten isn’t in ring here, though he was probably at ringside.

 

Hitamaru Sasaki vs Koyo Ume

A rematch from June, and probably decent fun, with Sasaki kicking and putting on holds, and Ume trying to tough out and get a few dropkicks and a Camel Clutch back in return. I’d guess Sasaki forces Ume to submit.

 

Hitamaru Sasaki defeats Koyo Ume in 9:21.

 

Genkai & Jet Wei vs Naoki Sakurajima & Shigeno Shima

I bet the Naoki/Jet stuff here was fun, and the match was probably built around their exchanges, to give Genkai and Shima reasonably easy days. I presume the pin was Naoki over Jet, as Shima doesn’t get pins and Genkai doesn’t take them.

 

Naoki Sakurajima & Shigeno Shima defeat Genkai & Jet Wei in 10:45.

 

Event Summary

The rookie angle gets more time, and Jet gets a better slot.

 

Kyushu Pro Itoshima Ba Genki Ni Suru Bai 13/08/2025

Held at Itoshima Sports Park Multipurpose Gymnasium Main Arena, in Itoshima in Fukuoka Prefecture, with an attendance of 608. Decent crowd for this type of event, and they use the upper deck seating which makes the crowd look cool. It’s a warm and engaged crowd (as usual).

 

One guest this time: Shuji Ishikawa, former Triple Crown and current Kyushu Pro Champion. He’s setting up a title challenge from Hitamaru Sasaki on the 24^th August. Ishikawa is aging out, as with many of the Kyushu Pro roster, but he’s still mobile and capable and he adds some valuable credibility to the title and promotion by guesting here.

 

Koyo Ume vs Naoki Sakurajima

This was pretty fun within the format. Ume has now wrestled Sasaki twice and Asosan once, but a match with Sakurajima gives the advantage that Sakurajima is a strong bumper and seller. If you want the rookie to be plausible, he has to be sold for.

 

Ume is marvellously expressive, with a rubbery face and strong physical mannerisms. He does well here, and his offence – rookie offence though it is – looks the best I’ve seen it, albeit in a small sample of three matches. Partly I think this is because Sakurajima bothers to sell his strikes, and bumps pretty nicely for his Missile Dropkick. Sakurajima actually has a tonne of offensive options – more than many on the roster – and you do see him roll out a few things here.

 

Sakurajima wins via pinfall. Good opener.

 

Naoki Sakurajima defeats Koyo Ume in 7:36.

 

Batten Blabla vs Genkai vs Kodai Nozaki

Failure. Batten works hard, his Enzuigiri is great as ever, and there are one or two funny moments, but there is a strong sense that Genkai and Nozaki sees this, at best, as a nice day off. Jet threw himself into the comedy format; Shima usually gives it a cheerful go. Genkai and Nozaki, perhaps because they are two of the stronger-booked workers, simply do not engage very much. Batten is close to wrestling a broom here, and he salvages what he can.

 

The best moment: Nozaki helping Batten and letting him have a pin attempt unmolested, knowing it can’t possibly work.

 

Genkai defeats Batten Blabla and Kodai Nozaki in 7:06.

 

Asosan & Hitamaru Sasaki & Jet Wei vs Shigeno Shima & Shuji Ishikawa & TAJIRI

This includes some bad Kyushu Pro habits – the idiot ref keeps being distracted, allowing the heels to bully our hero (Sasaki) in the corner. The actual heat is poor and slow. My best defence of this is that there is a lot of theatre here for the kids present. There is a pantomime element. Perhaps we should grant the motifs as part of the style of theatre – Early Modern English in Shakespeare, religious symbology in the Mystery Plays, masks in kabuki, etc. Nonetheless, it’s hard to enjoy or engage with, because it’s boring.

 

The match as a whole, though, moves past this, because it has too many good workers and too many interesting things it wants to do. Again, Jet – here working, rarely, on the face team in the trios – gets another little breakout, building some shine against Ishikawa. Sasaki is challenging Ishikawa on the 24^th, and they have a few really good exchanges. Sasaki is horrendously outsized, but relies on his kicks and size-negating holds, including the Crucifix/Octopus combination Misawa used. Ishikawa just hosses around everywhere and everyone and it’s great. Gigantic, strong guy, physical charisma through the roof (almost literally). Asosan and TAJIRI are largely along for the ride, and Shima does his usual solid work letting others get their stuff off.

 

Eventually, there is enough cheating to ensure the heels win.

 

This is pretty entertaining without excelling. It helps set up the title challenge just fine, though the whole framing is more Sports Entertainment than I’d like.

 

Event Summary

Booking-wise, we have the current champion winning going into the challenge, which sets up surprising booking expectations. We are left, whatever the title match result, not quite knowing the company’s route forward in the main event. The company’s best workers are Sakurajima, Nozaki, and Jet – Ishikawa has beaten Nozaki twice, Jet is too junior, and Sakurajima isn’t in the picture at all. Sasaki is solid if not very charismatic, and offers something different.

 

The undercard in a small company can cause problems, especially in a company which regularly provides trios for its main event. If you can handle rookie matches, the Koyo Ume stuff is pretty good and a way of building out that card. On the other hand, you need some people in the comedy match who want to be there, not just Batten, and the necessities round booking the main event this time meant they had the wrong two people. Post-Mentai, who could do everything, the company needs more regular guests or full-timers, but of course money is the barrier.

For full matchguide and more essays, click here.