Kota Ibushi Signs With New Japan, Also With DDT

October 7, 2013

ibushi-njpw-ddt

The day many New Japan fans have been waiting for (and I have been somewhat dreading) has finally happened. Kota Ibushi has signed a contract with New Japan! He is now a full time member of the New Japan roster. However in what may be a first for Japanese wrestling, Ibushi will also continue to be under contract with DDT. So Ibushi will be wrestling for both companies. His NJPW contract lasts for one year, as it traditionally is for every New Japan wrestler while his DDT contract lasts for another three years.

It is interesting how this deal came about. New Japan chairman Naoki Sugabayashi has attempted to sign Ibushi in the past but could never convince him to jump ship. In fact he even admits that if this happened decades ago he would have paid a lot of money to steal him from DDT. Fortunately New Japan and DDT have a good relationship and Sugabayashi realises the potential Ibushi has if he wrestles for both promotions. Sugabayashi recently made an official offer to Sanshiro Takagi and even then Takagi had to convince Ibushi to take the deal! Ibushi says he loves DDT and does not want to leave the company but after a deal was made to wrestle for both he finally agreed. For now Ibushi will exclusively wrestle for New Japan and DDT but offers for appearances in other promotions could still be considered.

However, Ibushi did not get everything he wanted from the deal. His request to have Michael Nakazawa continue to be in his corner for the New Japan matches has been repeatedly turned down. Takagi even joked that he will force Ibushi to go out to the ring alone if he has to. But Sugabayashi did offer to send Captain New Japan over to DDT so he would become Captain DDT. Hey it could be worse. They could send over YOSHI-HASHI.

In DDT it will be business as usual for Ibushi and he will still be available for the crazy stuff like the Falls Count Anywhere matches that take place outdoors. He will not change his style for New Japan and wants to focus on the Junior Heavyweight division and win the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title from Prince Devitt. He also wants to face wrestlers he has never fought before. His schedule will increase because he will also appear on New Japan’s tours. Both New Japan and DDT will work together to avoid any double bookings if the companies are hosting events on the same day.

Ibushi’s first match as a New Japan wrestler will be at Sumo Hall on 14/10 for the “KING OF PRO-WRESTLING” iPPV. He teams with Togi Makabe & Tomoaki Honma to face Prince Devitt’s BULLET CLUB faction.

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Posted by JamieOD

Gorgeous Night, Yamamoto In Sapporo, Pachinko Wrestling, DDT48 Card Announced

October 4, 2013

DDT “GREAT EAST JAPAN EARTHQUAKE RECOVERY ~GORGEOUS NIGHT~”, 05/10/2013
Fukushima Gymnasium

1. Hikaru Sato & Yukio Sakaguchi Vs MIKAMI & Tomomitsu Matsunaga
2. Tokyo Women’s Wrestling Offer Match: Miyu Yamashita & Shoko Nakajima Vs KANNA & Chikage Kiba
3. Antonio Honda & Daisuke Sasaki Vs Gota Ihashi & Michael Nakazawa
4. Yasu Urano Vs Soma Takao
5. Kota Ibushi & Masa Takanashi Vs Shigehiro Irie & Keisuke Ishii
6. Gorgeous Matsuno, HARASHIMA & KUDO Vs Danshoku Dino, Makoto Oishi & Akito

Last year Gorgeous Matsuno celebrated his 10th anniversary in wrestling by headlining a DDT show in Fukushima. Eleven months later that show returns and this time includes a charity drive for earthquake recovery in the area.

DDT “SAPPORO WRESTLING FESTA 2013”, 13/10/2013
Sapporo Teisen Hall

1. Sapporo Specialty 6 Way Match: Yasu Urano Vs Keisuke Ishii Vs Michael Nakazawa Vs Tomomitsu Matsunaga Vs Gota Ihashi Vs DJ Nira
2. Masa Takanashi Vs Akito
3. Antonio Honda & Daisuke Sasaki Vs Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata
4. Kota Ibushi Vs Hiroshi Fukuda
5. Kenichi Yamamoto & Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Shigehiro Irie & Soma Takao
6. HARASHIMA & KUDO Vs Danshoku Dino & Makoto Oishi
7. KO-D Tag Team Title Match: Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto (c) Vs MIKAMI & Tomoya

Kenichi Yamamoto returns for his second match in DDT this year, the first happening back in April when Yukio Sakaguchi was one of his opponents. This time Yamamoto and Sakaguchi will team together to take on Drift members Shigehiro Irie & Soma Takao.

DDT “PACHINKO PRO WRESTLING”, 13/10/2013
Saitama Kotobuki Niiza

1. Soma Takao & Kazuki Hirata Vs Danshoku Dino & Michael Nakazawa
2. Kota Ibushi, Kenny Omega & Masa Takanashi Vs HARASHIMA, KUDO & FUMA

DDT’s next odd choice of location for wrestling is a pachinko parlour in Saitama. Expect a lot of old guys who inhabit the place having no idea what’s going on behind them.

DDT “SPECIAL 2013”, 20/10/2013
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
DDT48 General Election Ranking In Parentheses

0. Dark Match – 2 Vs 1 Handicap Match: Yukio Sakaguchi (#23) Vs Michael Nakazawa (#14) & DJ Nira (#25)
1. 3 Way Match: Cherry (#10) Vs KUDO (#14) Vs MIKAMI (#15)
2. Konosuke Takeshita (#13) Vs Hiroshi Fukuda (#16)
3. Masa Takanashi (#12) Vs Daisuke Sasaki (#20)
4. Soma Takao (#7), Keisuke Ishii (#18) & Shigehiro Irie (#20) Vs Isami Kodaka (#2), Cherry (#6) & Yasu Urano (#11)
5. Kota Ibushi (#3) & Kenny Omega (#8) Vs Hikaru Sato (#5) & Akito (#17)
6. DDT Extreme Title: Antonio Honda (c) (#19) Vs Super Sasadango Machine (9th)
7. KO-D Openweight Title: HARASHIMA (c) (#4) Vs Danshoku Dino (#1)

Mio Shirai has pulled out of the show due to her already being booked for another show on the same day. Her spot in the dark match will not be filled and it will become a Handicap match instead. Shirai apologised to the fans that voted for her and said it wouldn’t happen again.

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DDT48 General Election 2013 Results

October 2, 2013

ddt48-2013

DDT “DDT48 GENERAL ELECTION RESULTS ANNOUNCEMENT”, 02/10/2013
Shinjuku FACE
520 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House

1. Isami Kodaka & Hiroshi Fukuda defeated Cherry & FUMA when Kodaka submitted FUMA with an Arm Lock (7:03).
2. Keisuke Ishii, Shigehiro Irie & Soma Takao defeated Masa Takanashi, Akito & Konosuke Takeshita when Irie pinned Akito with the Flying Sausage (9:11).

DDT48 General Election 2013 Final Standings

1. Danshoku Dino (428 votes)
2. Isami Kodaka (419 votes)
3. Kota Ibushi (417 votes)
4. HARASHIMA (344 votes)
5. Hikaru Sato (330 votes)
6. Makoto Oishi (225 votes)
7. Soma Takao (221 votes)
8. Kenny Omega (200 votes)
9. Super Sasadango Machine (185 votes)
10. Cherry (182 votes)
11. Yasu Urano (174 votes)
12. Masa Takanashi (171 votes)
13. Konosuke Takeshita (170 votes)
14. KUDO (158 votes)
15. MIKAMI (156 votes)
16. Hiroshi Fukuda (150 votes)
17. Akito (149 votes)
18. Keisuke Ishii (147 votes)
19. Antonio Honda (146 votes)
20. Shigehiro Irie (144 votes)
– Daisuke Sasaki (144 votes)

22. Mio Shirai (143 votes)
23. Yukio Sakaguchi (131 votes)
24. Michael Nakazawa (92 votes)
25. DJ Nira (90 votes)

26. Yoshihiko (89 votes)
27. Toru Owashi (51 votes)
– Mitomi Masayuki (51 votes)
29. Shuji Ishikawa (45 votes)

Total Votes Cast: 5,728 votes

Danshoku Dino wins the DDT48 General Election and becomes the first two time winner of the competition, his previous victory being the very first election in 2010. This was the closest result yet with Dino winning by just 9 votes. As the winner, Dino receives a KO-D Openweight Title shot against HARASHIMA in Korakuen Hall and also a ¥1,000,000 cash prize, which funnily enough is exactly what he won four years ago.

The top 20 fills up the main card at the 20/10 Korakuen show while spots 21-24 will compete in a dark match. Shigehiro Irie and Daisuke Sasaki tied together in 20th place so they both qualify for the main card. This opened up a dark match spot for the person who finished 25th. That person is DJ Nira, who just beat out Yoshihiko by a single vote! On the other end of the single vote spectrum, Mio Shirai must be feeling a little salty by missing out of the main card by one vote.

Isami Kodaka was this year’s dark horse by finishing in second place and coming so close to Dino. He may wind up like Hikaru Sato and receive good fortune for his performance. Sato benefited from strong showings in the first two elections, winning the second one and eventually winning the KO-D Title because of it. Kodaka is in a similar spot as a long time member of the Union roster who recently became the face of the promotion.

Maybe the biggest surprise is Super Sasadango Machine finishing 9th. The Niigata wrestler has only wrestled twice in DDT this year. Maybe the fans really like sasa dango food. Or maybe he reminds them of Muscle Sakai. Who knows?

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Posted by JamieOD

Ganbare in Shibuya, DDT Goes Hip Hop For Some Reason

October 1, 2013

GANBARE☆WRESTLING “GANPURO HOUSE SHOW 5”, 30/10/2013
Shibuya Entertainment Stage

1. Survival Tobita Vs J-Soul Pandita III
2. Ken Ohka Vs Bad Tension TAMAGAWA

Ken Ohka gets his shot at revenge on Bad Tension TAMAGAWA for betraying him back in July. However, Ohka wants to forgive TAMAGAWA for his actions and bring him back to the good side. He hopes this match will knock some sense back into his friend.

DDT/HIP HOP SQUADRON B-BOYAGER “FRIENDSHIP, EFFORT, VICTORY”, 12/10/2013
Shinjuku FACE

1. Yasu Urano Vs Kazuki Hirata
2. Danshoku Dino & Makoto Oishi Vs Antonio Honda & Daisuke Sasaki
3. HARASHIMA & KUDO Vs Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Akito
4. Keisuke Ishii, Shigehiro Irie & Soma Takao Vs Kota Ibushi, MIKAMI & Masa Takanashi

Hiroshi Fukuda, Michael Nakazawa, Tomomitsu Matsunaga and Sanshiro Takagi are also scheduled to appear.

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GANBARE☆Pro 4 Results

October 1, 2013

GANBARE☆PRO 4, 30/09/2013
Shin-Kiba 1st RING
120 Fans

1. Ricky Fuji defeated Shota with the 9999 (9:49).
2. Three Group Special Method In The Same Ring: Hofuma Yokoshima defeated Akira Hirata, Eririn Takagi defeated Kim Yocchan and Risa Sera defeated Miyako Matsumoto (7:20).
2a. RAW Offer Match: Hofuma Yokoshima defeated Akira Hirata with a Figure 4 Leg Lock (5:58).
2b. Kim Yocchan Offer Match: Eririn Takagi defeated Kim Yocchan with the Hokuto Bomb (6:47).
2c. Ice Ribbon Offer Match: Risa Sera defeated Miyako Matsumoto with the Ayers Rock (7:20).
3. Special Dress Up UNIQLO Match: Hanako Nakamori defeated Gorikiko with the Destiny Hammer (8:55).
4. Special Dream Match: Ultraman Robin Vs J-Soul Pandita III ended in a No Contest after Pandita assualted the referee (5:00).
5. 6-Man Elimination Tag Team Match: Ken Ohka, Yumehito Imanari & Tomohiro Otani defeated Osamu Namiguchi, Kazuhiko Ogasawara & Bad Tension TAMAGAWA (19:16).
5a. Tomohiro Otani eliminated Kazuhiko Ogasawara by Ring Out (8:34).
5b. Bad Tension TAMAGAWA eliminated Tomohiro Otani with a School Boy (9:55).
5c. Ken Ohka and Bad Tension TAMAGAWA were both eliminated by Double Ring Out (15:10).
5d. Yumehito Imanari eliminated Osamu Namiguchi by Ring Out (19:16).

Ganbare☆Pro scored a major victory over its invading enemy in the biggest show of its short existence. Ken Ohka, Yumehito Imanari & Tomohiro Otani defeated the team of Osamu Namiguchi, Kazuhiko Ogasawara & Bad Tension TAMAGAWA in the main event. Otani was added to the team when he successfully passed Ohka’s Spear of Flame training, which consisted of being struck once in the abdomen with a flaming torch without being knocked off your feet. The training probably wasn’t the best idea because Otani was taken away by a stretcher and had to wrestle the match with his abdomen covered in medical tape. Yumehito Imanari was the hero of the day. He was the last man standing, eliminating Osamu Namiguchi to win the match for Ganpuro. After the match Imanari told Namiguchi he is not afraid to face him in a singles match. Ken Ohka also announced he will face Bad Tension TAMAGAWA in Shibuya on 30th October. Ohka wants to rehabilitate the man who betrayed him and he wants no interference involved.

J-Soul Pandita III is a large, uncontrollable ape-like creature. Its match with Ultraman Robin was called off when Pandita attacked the referee until Survival Tobita came to the rescue. Ohka decided that Tobita and Pandita will have a match on 30/10.

Gorikiko and Hanako Nakamori both wrestled while wearing Uniqlo branded clothing.

The Public Offer match was answered by three different groups. Ice Ribbon, wrestler Kim Yocchan and micro indy group RAW all answered the call. Ganpuro’s solution was to hold all three matches in the ring at the same time.

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Posted by JamieOD

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