Keepin’ It Strong Style
@kistrongstyle
The Ace of Podcasts! A weekly #NJPW Podcast on the Social Suplex Podcast Network hosted by @jeremyldonovan.bsky.social and the “Young Boy” Joshua Smith.
Announced Today! 🌟 MLW & NJPW Present CMLL FANTASTICA MANIA USA, April 12th in Charleston, South Carolina Tickets go on sale this Friday, 10:00 am ET at MLWgo.com
2025 News Story of the Year: 1. Tetsuya Naito and BUSHI Leave NJPW (385 pts) 2. NJPW Sells Out Tokyo Dome for Wrestle Kingdom 20 (273 pts) 3. Kazuchika Okada Named Hiroshi Tanahashi's Final Opponent (201 pts) That concludes our awards! Biggest thanks to everyone who voted!
2025 Angle of the Year: 1. Yuto-Ice & OSKAR Return From Excursion (247 pts) 2. Kazuchika Okada Returns to NJPW (219 pts) 3. Naito & Bushi say Goodbye to LIJ & Naito passes the torch to Tsuji (184 pts)
2025 Excursion Match of the Year: 1. Bandido vs. Konosuke Takeshita - Supercard of Honor (228 pts) 2. Konosuke Takeshita vs. Will Ospreay - Dynamite (214 pts) 3. Syuri vs. Sareee - The Conversion (135 pts) The ROH World Title defence during All In Weekend wins by 14 points!
2025 Joshi Match of the Year: 1. Syuri vs. Sareee - The Conversion (198 pts) 2. Syuri vs. Mayu Iwatani - All Star Grand Queendom (179 pts) 3. Saya Kamitani vs. AZM - STARDOM in Korakuen (176 pts) A very close race for this award, but Syuri and Sareee from June 21st wins it!
2025 Tag Team Match of the Year: 1. Knockout Brothers vs. Shota Umino & Yuya Uemura - KoPW (301 pts) 2. Dog Pound Cage Match - Dontaku (191 pts) 3. Bishamon vs. ZSJ & Oiwa - World Tag League 2024 Block A (118 pts) Our TTOTY/ NOTY also win TTMOTY with their first title defence!
2025 Junior Match of the Year: 1. Kosei Fujita vs. YOH - BoSJ Finals (257 pts) 2. El Desperado vs. Jun Kasai - Death Pain Invitational (252 pts) 3. El Desperado vs Kosei Fujita - Road to NB (201 pts) The match which saw Fujita become the youngest BOSJ winner is also our JMOTY!
2025 Strong Style Fight of the Year: 1. Omega vs Kidd - Wrestle Dynasty (316 pts) 2. Kidd vs Tsuji - New Beginning in Osaka (180 pts) 3. Yuto-Ice vs Uemura - Road to KoPW (99 pts) The 2nd time MOTY & SSFOTY have shared the same winner, the previous being 2023 Omega/Will (WK17)
2025 Young Lion of the Year: 1. Daiki Nagai (528 pts) 2. Katsuya Murashima (268 pts) 3. Shota Kato (135 pts) Joining Unaffiliated in 2025 and now a member of Unbound Company, Nagai definitively wins YLOTY for the second year in a row
2025 Fighting Spirit Award: 1. Goto: wins the big one (398 pts) 2. Tanahashi: Final Ace Tour (277 pts) 3. ELP: Superkicks Cancer (228 pts) With this, Goto collects his 4th win in our 2025 Year-End Awards!
2025 Newcomer of the Year: 1. Knockout Brothers (510 pts) 2. Konosuke Takeshita (330 pts) 3. Hartley Jackson (161 pts) Yet another award dominantly won by KOB!
2025 Most Improved of the Year: 1. Drilla Moloney (276 pts) 2. Boltin Oleg (241 pts) 3. Ryohei Oiwa (209 pts) This was a very close race between Drilla & Boltin throughout our voting period, but in the end Drilla has secured the win by 35 points
2025 Faction of the Year: 1. TMDK (425 pts) 2. Bullet Club War Dogs (344 pts) 3. LIJ/Unaffiliated (172 pts) Speaking of second year in a row, TMDK also won FOTY in 2024!
2025 Big Van Vader Gaijin of the Year: 1. Zack Sabre Jr. (478 pts) 2. Gabe Kidd (237 pts) 3. David Finlay (191 pts) Making this the second year in a row ZSJ has won this award!
2025 Feud of the Year: 1. Hirooki Goto vs Zack Sabre Jr. (368 pts) 2. Gabe Kidd vs Yota Tsuji (254 pts) 3. El Desperado vs Jun Kasai (154 pts) Winning by 114 points, the rivalry between Goto and ZSJ was clearly the defining FOTY for our listeners!
2025 Joshi of the Year: 1. Saya Kamitani (370 pts) 2. Sareee (231 pts) 3. Syuri (159 pts) The former New Japan Strong Joshi Champion & Tokyo Sports' 2025 MVP also reigns supreme as our JOTY!
2025 Karl Gotch Strong Style Award: 1. Hirooki Goto (226 pts) 2. Gabe Kidd (207 pts) 3. Konosuke Takeshita (147 pts) After 4 years, Shingo Takagi's longstanding winning streak for this award is broken! The 'g' in 'Strong' stands for Goto!
2025 Tag Team of the Year: 1. Knockout Brothers (477 pts) 2. Ichiban Sweet Boys (293 pts) 3. Ryohei Oiwa & Zack Sabre Jr. (198 pts) Despite not arriving until mid-Aug & our grading period ending mid-Nov, it was still a clear, clean sweep of the competition for KOB to win TTOTY
2025 Jushin "Thunder Liger" Junior of the Year: 1. El Desperado (482 pts) 2. Kosei Fujita (442 pts) 3. Robbie Eagles (104 pts) After previously winning the award in 2021 and 2022, Despy reclaims his throne as KiSS' Jr. of the Year!
2025 Show of the Year: 1. New Beginning in Osaka (359 pts) 2. Wrestle Kingdom 19 (196 pts) 3. King of Pro-Wrestling (170 pts) The show that featured both 2nd and 3rd place in MOTY wins SOTY, making this the first time New Beginning has won this award
2025 Match of the Year: 1. Kenny Omega vs Gabe Kidd - Wrestle Dynasty (367 pts) 2. Hirooki Goto vs Zack Sabre Jr. - New Beginning in Osaka (249 pts) 3. Gabe Kidd vs Yota Tsuji - New Beginning in Osaka (128 pts) This is Omega's 3rd KiSS MOTY since our awards began in 2017
2025 KEEPIN' IT STRONG STYLE NJPW YEAR-END AWARD THREAD 🏆 Huge thank you to everyone who voted! Here are the results: Our 2025 Antonio Inoki Wrestler of the Year: 1. Hirooki Goto (309 pts) 2. Zack Sabre Jr. (290 pts) 3. Hiroshi Tanahashi (211 pts)
Voting in our annual year-end awards closes TOMORROW!! bit.ly/kissawards25 Vote NOW for your wrestler of the year & more! GO! GO! GO!
🚨 Voting is now open for the 9th annual Keepin’ it Strong Style Year-End Awards! link: bit.ly/kissawards25 Get your votes in now!
👚 Some very cool merch for the event is also available here for a discounted price: www.teepublic.com/user/shin-ni... Stickers, hats, tanks, 3 types of tees & sweatshirts! Get your orders in now to make sure they arrive in time! (because who doesn’t love some matching merch?)
🚨 Looking to meet up with fellow fans & podcasters right before WrestleKingdom? ⭐️ We’re all coming together to host a fan meet up! 12pm on January 4th at HUB Pub, just a 3 minute walk away from the Dome! (1/2)
A huge thanks to all our listeners this year! Whether new or with us from the start, here’s to growing our amazing community even more in 2026 🥂
Our November Awards!: Wrestler of the Month -> Hiroshi Tanahashi Match of the Month -> Super Jr. Tag League B-Block Final, Ichiban Sweet Boys vs Bullet Club War Dogs (Robbie X & Taiji Ishimori) Thoughts/ Do you agree? Let us know! 👇