Trapped in the Cagematch: Sareee vs. Syuri (March 10, 2025)

With Trapped in the Cagematch, Kim Wong combs through the highest-rated matches according to Cagematch’s voters in preparation for the annual FSM 50 and the year-end Match of the Year extravaganza.

Sareee vs. Syuri
Sareee-ISM Chapter VII
March 10, 2025
Cagematch ranking as of 10/1/25: #11

Sareee is the best wrestler in the world in 2025. 

There are many contenders, and we’ll surely encounter them as we continue our journey through the highest rated matches of 2025. I love Will Ospreay’s fireworks and Golden Retriever-like enthusiasm to please us with his wrestling. I love Zack Sabre Jr.’s ability to find new angles to bend the human body into and his barely suppressed sadism. I love Mistico’s ability to channel the crowd’s energy (because I am too old to use the phrase “aura farming” with any credibility). I love Shun Skywalker’s disturbing grunting and bewildering crowd antics. 

So, I ask you to hear me when I say unequivocally that Sareee is the best wrestler in the world in 2025. I challenge you to bring your “Hangman” Adam Pages, your Bandidos, your Toni Storms, your Misticos, your Konosuke Takeshitas, and even your Saya Kamitanis. Bout for bout, I’d choose a Sareee match first among the crowd. 

This might seem like a bold claim about someone who washed out so ignominiously from a company that purports to be the global market leader in professional wrestling. I’d contend that it’s hard to succeed in a company where the leadership fundamentally misunderstands your competencies, whose vision is so misaligned with your skillset that it would be all but impossible to succeed. This is the first point of comparison between my favorite wrestler, Bryan Danielson, and Sareee: it took a wildly improbable set of events for Danielson, the best wrestler of his generation, to succeed in WWE, and even then, the company squandered the gift that they had in him. Sareee, butting against the mold that WWE has for women wrestlers and against the bias against wrestlers whose first language is not English, would have needed a divine miracle or a diabolical deal to have succeeded in NXT. (To anticipate the pushback, Shinsuke Nakamura and Asuka serve as exceptions that prove the claim.)

When I started my deep dive into Sareee’s post-NXT run, I made sure that I watched the highest-rated match in her NXT tenure. Rated at 7.23 from 73 votes, Sarray’s (née Sareee) match against Dakota Kai on a random episode of NXT can be summarized in this image: 

This 

is a far cry from this.

Upon her return to Japan in 2023, Sareee set off on a tear of excellence that is still running strong. Pop quiz, hotshot. Which of these is Bryan Danielson’s 2021 comeback after leaving WWE, and which is Sareee’s 2023 comeback after leaving NXT? 

In 2021, Danielson had the famous 30-minute time limit draw that was the first AEW match in Arthur Ashe Stadium, his match against Minoru Suzuki, and the 60-minute time limit draw against Adam Page. Surely, his run is the higher-rated of the two, right?

In fact, Wrestler A is Sareee’s resume after she returned to Japan, and Wrestler B is Danielson after joining AEW.

Here’s Sareee’s resume from the past three years after her release from NXT.

For comparison, here is a sampling of Danielson’s famed runs: 

• 2005-2006 represent the lead-up to and Danielson’s run as the ROH World Champion. 
• 2007 includes Danielson’s infamous feud against Takeshi Morishima and his run as the PWG World Champion. 
• 2021 was chosen because it was Danielson’s comeback year after leaving WWE. 
• 2024 was selected because it represents Danielson’s year of dreams fulfilled.

In a direct comparison between Danielson’s and Sareee’s 2024, Danielson and Sareee are fairly close. They’re separated by only three places in the FSM 50, where Sareee is by far the highest rated woman on the list. They have a comparable number of matches in the Voices of Wrestling Match of the Year list, where Danielson benefits from wrestling in companies like NJPW and AEW, which have higher visibility than Sareee’s self-produced Sareee-ISM shows, STARDOM, and Marigold. 

A comparison of Danielson’s peak years in the American independent scene (2005-2007) against Sareee’s resume would filter out the benefits Danielson gets from wrestling with greater visibility. While Danielson’s sample size is much larger than Sareee’s, Sareee’s average match rating is not far from Danielson’s. (Sareee’s average match rating from 2023-2025 is 7.71, while Danielson’s from 2005-2007 is 7.88.) All this is to say that Sareee’s post-Japan run has a comp, and that is Bryan Danielson’s first or second peak. It would be hard to think of higher praise than that.

In the matches themselves, Sareee, like Danielson, exudes an enchanting seriousness and thirst for violence. She will tone that seriousness to the match; she is, for example, willing to be a little goofier in an exhibition tag team match with Natsupoi against AZM and Takumi Iroha on a Sareee-ISM show, much like how Danielson would figuratively let his hair down when he wrestled in Team Uppercut in Chikara’s King of Trios 2009. She will dial the intensity and focus up in grudge matches against Chihiro Hashimoto and championship defenses against Bozilla, Utami Hayashishita, and VENY. (In particular, I’ll point to the ferocity with which Sareee will kick out of Hayashishita’s pin compared to how lackadaisical and perfunctory most kickouts seem.)

Sareee is not the most athletically gifted wrestler; I laughed when she tried to act fancy and failed to kip up in the tag team match against AZM and Iroha. Since I neither speak nor understand Japanese, I cannot attest to whether her promos are compelling monologues that make me want to see the next match. Based on translations, it seems like Sareee is an incredible trash talker who makes professional issues seem personal. Combined with the intensity that she can bring to her matches, Sareee is captivating in the same ways that Danielson was.

On the opposite side of the marquee of this particular exhibition match, we have Syuri, who proves that Inokiism still lives on in my heart because her kickboxing and MMA experience lend her a specific sense of legitimacy and toughness. Syuri has been a fixture of the joshi scene, though I think of Syuri first and foremost as a STARDOM wrestler. Syuri made her debut in HUSTLE, of all places, in October 2008 as Karate Girl. In HUSTLE, she mostly wrestled in multi-person intergender matches. Syuri’s early career was emblematic of the instability of Japanese wrestling in that time. After HUSTLE closed in 2009, she joined SMASH and billed herself as Syuri. While Syuri made SMASH her home base, she wrestled in the other joshi companies that you’d expect: Ice Ribbon, Diana, and WAVE. SMASH closed in 2012, and Syuri joined Wrestling New Classic, which was her home promotion until it closed in 2014. After Wrestling New Classic closed, Syuri became a freelancer in the joshi ecosystem, appearing in an OZ Academy show here, a Sendai Girls show there, and most REINA shows when their schedules aligned. Syuri also wrestled in CMLL in 2014 and 2015, even holding the CMLL World Women’s Title. Syuri made her first appearance in STARDOM in 2013, but she wouldn’t join the roster until 2020; I think of her as STARDOM’s current elder stateswoman.

While this isn’t the first singles match between Sareee and Syuri, their last match was in 2011, practically a lifetime ago for both wrestlers. They’ve both teamed together and faced each other in tag team matches, though they’ve only wrestled each once since Sareee returned to Japan in a three-way trios match in the 2024 Hana Kimura Memorial show. 

Let’s lay this claim at the jump: we can start the count of Sareee’s matches that will end up in the Voices of Wrestling Match of the Year list with this one because it is one of the best of the year.

From the bell, Syuri’s way of moving and speed of movement is noticeable. Syuri’s feet are constantly moving, taking to heart Muhammad Ali’s advice to “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.” We’ve seen Sareee wrestle a variety of opponents and open with grappling in a variety of matches, and I don’t think I’ve seen someone get her to the mat as quickly as Syuri did here. Even against wrestlers who have a size advantage over her, such as Hashimoto or Bozilla, Sareee could rely on her technique to open her offense. Here, Syuri has her on the defensive from the start. The grappling advantage lets Syuri throw a warning roundhouse kick at Sareee’s head, a reminder that Syuri’s strikes are another problem Sareee needs to solve in this match.

In other matches, we’ve seen Sareee create separation to garner momentum for her high powered offense, such as her double stomp. After Syuri’s warning kick, Sareee tries to speed the match up, but Syuri is able to ground her once again with an armdrag into an armbar. Sareee has to get rescued by the rope break again. We’re less than five minutes into the match, and we’re already past the respectful clean breaks.

Syuri, as you would expect, centers her offense around her kicks. Syuri blasts Sareee’s back with a punt that kicks off a bout of one-upmanship; as in most of these early exchanges, Syuri gets the better of Sareee and gets the first pin attempt in the match. With a distinct striking advantage, Syuri is confident to the point of arrogance. Here, Syuri kicks Sareee hard in the back and asks her if she wants to do something about it.

Sareee is finally able to get some offense going when she’s able to run the ropes and get some separation from her opponent. She doesn’t have an expansive set of offensive moves imbued with fancy names. Her core offense consists of dropkicks, double stomps, backdrop drivers, suplexes, and punishing forearm strikes. Much like Danielson, Sareee uses her offensive playbook with power and precision. She staggers Syuri with some forearm strikes to the collarbone and some running dropkicks. She then targets Syuri’s right leg with a double jump dropkick from the middle rope, and she’s so pleased with herself after she hits Syuri’s leg. Pressing on that opening, Sareee catches Syuri’s leg with a figure four leglock, which forces Syuri to reach for the ropes.

Syuri tries to recapture the momentum with some kicks, but they don’t pack the punch they did after Sareee’s attacks on her legs. So, Sareee now has room to work in, such as when she is able to swing around a running Syuri and drop her with a German suplex. Syuri answers with a suplex of her own, but Sareee is able to get up first and seize the momentum with a double stomp from the top rope. With Syuri on the backfoot after that barrage, Sareee lets her confidence fly a little and shows off to the crowd.

Syuri makes her pay for the slight lapse in concentration and has her back on the mat after a running knee in the corner. Syuri turns Sareee’s kick out of a pin into an armbar. Sareee struggles to reach the rope to force the break yet again, and Syuri lets her catch her breath before driving her out of the ring with a running knee. Syuri doesn’t immediately follow up, however, which lets Sareee catch her breath, bring Syuri down, and hit her with a double stomp on the floor. In her familiar surroundings at the Shinjuku FACE, Sareee climbs up the wall and crushes Syuri with another double stomp.

Sareee succumbs to her anger and drags Syuri up the entrance ramp into the crowd, and Syuri makes her pay by hitting a short jumping knee strike to Sareee’s face. Syuri wearily returns to the ring while the referee starts to count. Sareee crawls back to the ring herself, and Syuri greets her with multiple kicks to Sareee’s chest, a pinning attempt, and a hanging headdrop from the top rope.

By this point, Syuri’s had enough, so she leaves her feet for a high-impact move. Unfortunately for Syuri, Sareee catches her and powerbombs her for a two count. Desperation sets in, and Sareee and Syuri can do nothing but exchange forearm strikes. As they say, when you go forth and seek revenge, you should dig two graves; so should Sareee and Syuri, who simultaneously collapse at the end of their strike battle.

Sareee takes the fight to another level by headbutting Syuri and trying to force Syuri to submit with a leglock, which Syuri can only escape by forcing a rope break. Syuri makes the mistake of giving Sareee space again by running to the ropes after a kick to the stomach, and Sareee makes her pay for the mistake by grabbing her for a backdrop driver. After everything so far in the match, Syuri’s kickout on the pin attempt is still very snappy.

The match feels like it’s in its endgame when Syuri rains headbutts on Sareee and finally separates Sareee’s hands to lock in the cross armbreaker. We’ve seen throughout the match that Sareee cannot break Syuri’s submission attempts, and the best that Sareee can do is to survive long enough that she can reach the ropes to force Syuri to break the hold. Syuri repositions her and Sareee in this sequence, prolonging Sareee’s pain and forcing Sareee to reorient herself while in pain and on the mat. Simultaneously, she is also fending off Syuri’s attempts to separate her hands, which would allow Syuri to fully extend Sareee’s arms in the armbreaker hold.

Saved by the ropes once again, Sareee returns to the leg that she had targeted with the dropkick much earlier in the match. This reverses their roles, forcing Syuri to find a way to counter or escape Sareee’s hold. Because Sareee’s locked on to Syuri’s leg, Syuri doesn’t have as much space or leverage to wiggle herself to the ropes to force a break, so she’s stuck on the mat in the hold. Sareee takes advantage by relaxing the hold so she can stomp on Syuri’s damaged leg again and bring her back to the middle of the ring. Surprisingly, this works to Syuri’s favor, since she now has a better sense of where she is in the ring, and Syuri’s able to reach the ropes.

With no other options left and fatigue setting in, Sareee and Syuri go back to trying to bash each other to oblivion, this time from their knees instead of on their feet. A headbutt leads to a couple of backdrop drivers, but Syuri is still able to forcefully kick out of Sareee’s pinning attempt. Sareee makes an unforced error and dashes to the ropes, which gives Syuri time to stand up and kick Sareee in the head. Syuri kicks a dazed and kneeling Sareee in the head for good measure and locks her in another armbreaker when Sareee kicks out of her pin. Sareee is able to quickly reach the ropes this time. (Since we’ve already seen Sareee struggle for a long time to reach the ropes, repeating that fight would lead to diminishing returns.)

The match starts to feel wild and out of control as the match nears its time limit and the pins become much more desperate. Sareee tries one more creative rolling pin, but it’s still not enough.

Sareee hits Syuri with her arm capture backdrop driver as the time expires, and the match ends in a 30 minute draw.

I had hoped that the match would be hard-hitting and gritty, and Sareee and Syuri easily fulfilled that brief. I had hoped that they would push each other to their limits of endurance, pain tolerance, and creativity, and we can check that off. Sareee was as sassy and mean as ever, and she made me believe that there’s an underlying dislike for her opponent. Like Danielson, she makes it feel real, inviting the viewer to get lost in the feeling. Like the best movies or TV shows, I didn’t notice how long the match was. Because the match ended in a draw and because Syuri is a prominent wrestler in STARDOM, one would expect to see them wrestle each other again soon in STARDOM to settle the score. I also expect to see them again here as we work through the best matches of 2025.

The match can be seen on Sareee’s YouTube page.

• Next time: Randy Savage said in an interview with IGN in 2004, “If you’re old, that torch gets too heavy for you and you can’t carry it, so it won’t do you any good.” What happens if the company just isn’t ready to move on yet? What happens if the older wrestler is still very good? How long can the future be denied?