Hello! I figured I should make a pinned post, so here goes.

Call me Thistle. This is my pro-wrestling sideblog. I watch NJPW, DDT, other stuff sometimes, and the Colony wherever they go. Suzuki Gun is still my favorite faction. El Desperado is my favorite wrestler.

I am friendly! You can send me a message, ask me a question, or just talk about wrestling. Even if we aren’t mutuals, or even if you don’t follow me!

日本語を勉強していますけど、僕の日本語能力はまだ弱い。 I am not a professional translator, just a wrestling fan who is studying Japanese. I’m not great at translating, so I only translate stuff if it seems like nobody else is gonna do it.

I tag all gifs with #gifs and #animating gifs, and I tag anything deathmatch-adjacent (blood, weapons, etc) with #deathmatch

I block accounts that frequently repost work stolen from other fans.

So uh… Immediately after Wrestle Kingdom, the big show that brings in both new and lapsed NJPW fans, and Wrestle Dynasty, the AEW crossover show that was intended to bring new overseas fans to NJPW… New Japan management decided to take the only commentary staff member who speaks any Japanese at all off commentary for two months? So the only remaining English language commentator will just not have any clue what anybody is saying during the entire show? Right when a large influx of new English speaking fans is expected? And they’re doing all this just as Kidani, who owns NJPW’s parent company, was complaining to Tokyo Sports about how NJPW isn’t getting enough overseas fans? Have I got that right?

Hiromu:

His name is “Nisao-kun” and he stands at 230 cm tall.
If you see him around, please call out “Nisao-kun!” to him!

If you took any cool photos of Nisao-kun, please put them in the replies, and I will use them as I please.

Despe:

This is like something you’d see in a fever dream when you have the flu or something

I haven’t watched any of Wrestle Dynasty at all, but I woke up to the news that Takeshita has apparently signed a contract with New Japan Pro Wrestling? But the most surprising part is that he is also still under contract with both DDT Pro and with AEW?

This news really shocked me. I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a wrestler simultaneously having contracts with three different companies, let alone three different companies on two different continents.

I personally have mixed feelings about it - Takeshita’s an amazing wrestler, but I’m not a fan of the constant promotional crossover thing, and I’d rather see him build up a story in one place than have him doing short appearances at three different promotions. But he sure wrestled a lot more in NJPW than DDT in 2024, and while I don’t follow AEW I think the same might be true of AEW, so I suppose it makes a certain kind of sense.

I watched Wrestle Kingdom streaming live, but Douki’s injury made it so hard for me to immerse myself back into the show afterwards. Tokyo Sports said that he dislocated his left elbow, which… I’m just glad it wasn’t something worse. I’ll have to go back and watch Naito vs Hiromu again later, because I definitely wasn’t in the right emotional space to immerse myself into the match.

I keep thinking about the time Kasai broke Desperado’s jaw (a match that, within kayfabe, Desperado only got involved in to protect his “little bro” Douki) - Desperado tweeted something that has stuck in my head ever since.

“Pro wrestling without pain” does not exist,

“Pro wrestling without injury” does not exist either.

These things sometimes happen.

I sat down and translated Endo’s Note post about wrestling in Noah this year.

I want to add - towards the end of this post, Endo writes “NOW OR NEVER やるなら今しかねぇ！” NOW OR NEVER is one of Sasaki Daisuke’s moves. It’s named after a quote from Sasaki’s favorite TV drama, translated into English. Endo uses both the move’s English name and the quote from the drama in Japanese, just to make sure it’s obvious that he’s referencing Sasaki here.

Anyway, here’s the Note post.

The Year 2025

Happy New Year, everyone.

My name is Endo Tetsuya, and I’ve been wrestling every day since this year began.

After yesterday’s match at Noah’s Shinjuku Face event, I requested to become a regular there.

Following the 1.5 match at Itabashi, I will be absent from DDT indefinitely.

I’m sorry for shocking everyone with the suddenness of this announcement.

I’m absolutely not transferring to Noah, and I will fight in the Noah ring as “Endo Tetsuya of DDT Pro Wrestling.”

I don’t expect any fans to be so bitter about this that they’d say “I wanted to see Endo Tetsuya in DDT! Give me a refund!” But if there are any such people, I promise to bring results back to DDT that they’ll be satisfied with.

Some people may be thinking,

“Is this why you disbanded BURNING?!”

I want to state clearly that this wasn’t the reason.

Iino has grown rapidly this past year, and Koroku reached maturity at Ryogoku.

The two of them have the potential to continue together even if I were to simply take a leave of absence (putting aside my own irresponsible behavior as a leader if I were to do so.)

If anything, it was breaking up the faction that spurred my interest in participating in other promotions, not the other way around.

In addition, it was my title match with Aoki-san, and seeing Takeshita’s success, that encouraged me to do so.

NOW OR NEVER

If you’re gonna do it, now’s the time!

This 2025, please look forward to new challenges, and to a new DDT scenery without Endo.

Chris:

Looking back on this year
I had cancer
I defeated cancer
I won the KO-D belt
I drank lots of beer
It was a good year ✨

Ah, I got my nose pierced too