Double Trouble For HARASHIMA, Mio Shirai Signs Many Contracts

January 22, 2014

DDT “SWEET DREAMS! 2014”, 26/01/2014
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Saki Akai & Makoto Oishi Vs Yoshiko & Toru Owashi
2. Keisuke Ishii & Soma Takao Vs Antonio Honda & Daisuke Sasaki
3. Sanshiro Takagi & Hikaru Sato Vs Yukio Sakaguchi & Akito
4. KUDO Vs Danshoku Dino
5. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – Battle Royal: Masa Takanashi (c) Vs MIKAMI Vs Yasu Urano Vs Michael Nakazawa Vs Tomomitsu Matsunaga Vs Gota Ihashi Vs Kazuki Hirata Vs Guanchulo Vs DJ Nira Vs Hoshitango
6. KO-D Tag Team Titles – 3 Way Match: Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto (c) Vs Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega Vs Konosuke Takeshita & Tetsuya Endo
7. KO-D Openweight Title: HARASHIMA (c) Vs Shigehiro Irie

DDT held a press conference at the TEC Offices in Shinjuku to promote HARASHIMA’s next two title defences. First up is the KO-D Openweight Title match versus Shigehiro Irie. The rematch of last year’s Peter Pan main event is something that has been on Irie’s mind for a while. He felt great frustration over losing the title and wants to get rid of that by winning it back. HARASHIMA told Irie that kind of frustration is a good thing because it encourages him to become a stronger human being.

DDT “GALAXY EXPLOSION IN NAGOYA 2014”, 02/02/2014
Nagoya Telepia Hall

1. DDT Extreme Title – Best 2 Out Of 3 Falls: HARASHIMA (c) Vs Keisuke Ishii
*Fall 1: Feet Only Death Match. Fall 2: Cliff Death Match. Fall 3: To Be Determined by Amon Tsurumi.

The press conference continued with the appearance of Keisuke Ishii, who immediately attacked HARASHIMA. Tempers calmed down and the two were able to continue the conference as if nothing happened. HARASHIMA decided the rules for their upcoming DDT Extreme Title match in Nagoya. After wrestling Antonio Honda in a Blindfold Bra Match where he had to rely on just his hands, HARASHIMA now wanted to see what it was like to wrestle with just his feet. So for the match, both men will have their hands tied together and will have to rely on their legs to wrestle. However, Ishii had an idea of his own. He wanted to have a Cliff Death Match where you have to do a move from the ring apron to the floor in order to win. Ishii is a big fan of apron spots. He even has a Top 3 all time favourite apron spots. His Top 3 apron spots are:

3. Akira Taue giving Kenta Kobashi the Dynamic Bomb from the apron to the floor (21st March, 1995).
2. Kenta Kobashi giving Jun Akiyama a Brainbuster from the apron to the floor (10th July, 2004).
1. Mitsuharu Misawa giving Kenta Kobashi the Tiger Suplex from the stage walk to the floor (1st March, 2003).

Amon Tsurumi decided that both rules will be used in a 2 out of 3 Falls match. Fall 1 will be HARASHIMA’s Feet Only Death Match and Fall 2 will use Ishii’s Cliff Death Match rules. The rules for a possible third fall will be created by Tsurumi the day before the show.

mioshirai-4contracts

Mio Shirai had been spending the last week teasing a very important announcement. Rumours going around the Japanese wrestling scene included Mio announcing her retirement, a marriage engagement or even a pregnancy. Instead the big reveal was Mio had signed a contract and will end to her status as a freelancer. However, it turned out that Mio was signing a contract with not one, not two, not even three but four different wrestling companies. Taking a cue from Kota Ibushi, Shirai signed contracts with Pro Wrestling WAVE, Oz Academy, Ice Ribbon and Union.

After wrestling for seven years, Mio felt it was time to form an afilliation with one of the companies she works for. However she couldn’t decide who to choose. Inspired by Ibushi’s dual contract with DDT and New Japan, Shirai was inspired to do the same and wanted to be with the promotions she enjoyed working for most. Union boss Naomi Susan said she was very surprised to hear about Mio’s idea at first but is happy that she chose Union to be one of the companies. Since the Union roster is mostly filled with men, Susan hopes Mio’s signing will begin an expansion of Joshi in Union. Mayumi Ozaki said she was the only person in Oz Academy who knew about Mio’s plans. Ice Ribbon’s Tsukasa Fujimoto is amazed at the idea and thinks it is a boost that comes just in time for Mio to replace Hikaru Shida, who will be leaving the company in March. WAVE’s Mikiko Futagami (formerly known as GAMI) is expecting more merchandise sales to come from this signing and pointed out she might be actually working for 5 or 6 companies if you include her Osaka Joshi shows.

Mio’s first show with Union under the contract will be at Yokohama on 11th February.