Forever Forward Champions #41-50

2021 was an interesting year for Play It Forward on a lot of fronts, but none more than the twists and turns Fridays took us on. Let's take a look at the jumping off point for one of the most fascinating runs me and JJZ ever went on.

41. Kay Lee Ray

42. Meiko Satomura

So I guess this is where the Joshi Journey began. Kay Lee had a really fun match featured VS rival Toni Storm, then an absolute banger from EVE VS Satomura. Seriously one of my favorite matches we've ever featured, go watch it right now!! And from there, all hell broke loose...

43. Azumi Hyuga

44. Hikari Fukuoka

Getting into some wrestlers that might not be household joshi names but probably should be, especially in Hyuga's case. But the next names need no introduction.

45. Cuty Suzuki

46. Mayumi Ozaki

47. Akira Hokuto

48. Devil Masami

Some absolute classics here, although we got into some interesting matches of these joshi giants along the way. Off the beaten path, if you will, but not as much so as the detour we were about to take would put us on. It was also great to bring our good buddy Phil along for the ride on some of these matches.

49. Jumping Bomb Angels

50. Lelani Kai

It started innocently enough, with the classic JBA/Glamour Girls rivalry. But that followed Lelani Kai back to the US for an absolutely show-stealing match in WWF teaming with Despina Montagas (who I just learned is married to Tarzan Goto?!?!) against Velvet McIntyre & Princess Victoria. From there we went down a rabbit hole indeed. Tune in for the next recap to find out more!!

Forever Forward Champions #31-40

I'm way behind on putting these Championship recaps together but it's been a crazy couple of months for me starting a new job and then having everyone in my house get terribly sick because my daughter started daycare. Finally have a week to catch up here so let's get right to it.

31. The Mane Event
I saw these guys had a big match on the most recent AIW show. Heck yeah! They are both loaded with potential and I was really happy to become more familiar with them in the two matches we featured. A cohesive team with a great gimmick and chemistry.

32. Lee Moriarty (x2)
Our first ever 2x FFF Champion, it took 100 Champs on Tuesdays to reach this milestone, but the Apex of Combat did it on Fridays in a third of the time! Legitimately one of the most exciting guys to watch going today, it's no wonder we're chomping at the bit to play more of him.

33. Ophidian
34. Shane Strickland
35. Darius Lockhart
What a series of matches we got to highlight here. Strickland has to go down as one of the most versatile double crown Champs we've had here at PIF as between the four matches we've played of his on Tuesdays and Fridays he did a little bit of everything. It's been a little while since we played these matches since I'm behind on these recaps and man, we were killing it this stretch!

36. Sugar Dunkerton
37. Rickey Shane Page
Two indy veterans who showed off different layers to their talents than you might not think of when their names come up.

38. Heidi Lovelace (x2)
39. Kris Wolf
40. Toni Storm

Heidi Lovelace has now had 6 matches shared here at PIF yet we still have yet to play a Ruby Riott match! I find that really amusing. She's been a master of the intergender matches too and as a result she kick started a transition to women's wrestling that is still going strong every Friday! This stretch of joshi matches were all foreign talent which featured some strong tags. Finished off with a clash between longtime rivals Toni Storm and Kay Lee Ray. And when we recap Champs #41-50 we can talk about that fantastic Kay Lee VS Meiko Satomura match that you need to go back and watch right now if you haven't!

Forever Forward Champions #21-30

The identity of our Friday posts kept evolving through these 10 Champs. It's been fascinating for us to watch this concept start to grow up and explore different areas, regions, styles, and talent than we had imagined. And the great thing is I still don't think we've even scratched the surface of where Forever Forever Fridays will take us in the future!

21. Jonathan Gresham
We had an epic run of 20 Fridays dominated by women before Gresham won the battle of the sexes for the time being. His match with Karen Q to bridge the gap was a wonderful technical display. As a double crown champion here at PIF he's come a long way since we featured his matches with Hidaka and Thatcher back when.

22. Lio Rush
23. Mustafa Ali
24. ACH
I love FFFridays. The goal is above all else to give talent that is less represented more promotion. That said, from Gresham to this power trio, this is definitely as high profile as we get on Fridays. However we stayed focused on the indies throughout, with great matches to boot, and it lead us to...

25. Louis Lyndon
Is there a more underrated indy stalwart than the captain of the ship?

26. Candice LeRae
27. Eddie Kingston
These two had such a great match against each other that wasn't even scheduled for the card it was on. A reminder that the card is always going to change.

28. Chris Dickinson
29. Lee Moriarty
30. PB Smooth

Slowly but surely working our way back to less established talent. The Filthy Father fits the Forever Forward mold in his outlaw indy wrestling spirit, and his tag match in Beyond against Kingston and Homicide is among my favorites we've ever featured. Moriarty and PB have been such a blast to watch and keep us focused on discovering new wrestling. Fridays have become a bit of a Western Pennsylvania deep dive of late and I couldn't be happier about it.

Forever Forward Champions #11-20

Now past the launch phase, Forever Forward Fridays started to find a real groove during this run of featured wrestlers. We've been focused on the ladies so far and have no complaints about it, as John and I have found some revelations and revisited some favorites. Let's take a look at the wrestlers who have graced us with their presence on some fateful Fridays over the course of the past few months.

11. AR Fox
At this point AR Fox has been in more intergender matches here at PIF than any other wrestler. That speaks to his versatility, and he is most worthy as our third double crown champion indeed.

12. Kris Statlander
13. Ashley Vox
Statlander was new to me, Vox was new to John, and we both left with new names to keep an eye out for. The match these two had against each other in particular is among my favorites we've featured this year.

14. Jordan Steelz
Steelz was totally new to both of us, and I got to watch a lot of her work. She has a lot of presence if not a ton of variety in the matches I've seen. She definitely knows how to make the most of an opportunity and if she keeps rounding out her game she has huge potential.

15. LuFisto
A trailblazer, a fantastic wrestler, a woman I'm so glad to see still in the game and still competing at the highest level.

16. Shotzi Blackheart
17. Solo Darling
These two were an interesting pair, both loud colorful personalities, one blowing up in 2020, one still on the rise. I wasn't expecting to feature either lady any time soon but I'm very glad we did.

18. Kelly Klein
19. Deonna Purrazzo
20. Karen Q
There was a nice little story told between these three champs. A bitter feud gave way to a friendship betrayed and some wild high stakes matches went down in the process. For me personally Kelly Klein really made an impression during this run of FFFs. Which is saying something considering the talent that was featured.

Forever Forward Champions #1-10

While I'm not happy with the dumpster fire that is 2020, I am glad it made us take a hard look at our pro wrestling fandom. Forever Forward Fridays are a small step on a long journey. The first stretch has already brought us some great discoveries as well as a few outstanding matches between some familiar faces. Let's take a look at the first 10 Forever Forward Champions!

1. Faye Jackson
Most of the time John and I share matches that are new to both of us. But now and then we get to cross something off our books we've been waiting to play for each other in person. I was so glad to get a chance to play this match from my AIW DVD for John ahead of schedule of my next trip to Philly, and so glad he picked Faye as our inaugural Champion. And thanks to AIW for having it uploaded!

2. Mia Yim
The biggest name we featured the first few weeks and she really showed her versatility as such. Maybe my first overall pick if I was building a women's division in the USA this very moment.

3. Marti Belle
Babyface 101 class was in session during Marti's FF title run and she taught it well!

4. Dani Jordyn
5. Kenzie Paige
Two of the young talents who neither of us were familiar with going into Forever Forward Fridays and we left very impressed with. We'll certainly being keeping an eye out for their names from now on.

6. Jordynne Grace
7. Mercedes Martinez
A few more of the bigger names in our first 10 weeks of Forever Forward Fridays and they coincidentally had one of the best matches we featured against each other. Two bad ass women right here.

8. Athena
9. Heidi Lovelace
And even though they were the biggest stars yet, for both Ember Moon and Ruby Riott we focused on their indy days and found some really terrific matches in the process.

10. Arik Cannon
One of these things is not like the others!