Dramatic DDT

DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2018 IN SHINJUKU”, 05/01/2018
Shinjuku FACE
464 Fans – Super No Vacancy

1. 4 Way Tag Match: Joey Ryan & Veda Scott defeated Antonio Honda & Soma Takao, KUDO & Toru Owashi and Makoto Oishi & Shunma Katsumata when Ryan pinned Honda with the Super Kick (8:44).
2. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Yukio Sakaguchi (2) defeated Kazusada Higuchi (0) with the Right Knee Of God (7:48).
3. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Tetsuya Endo (2) defeated Masahiro Takanashi (0) with the Tetsuya In The Sky (6:01).
4. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Akito (2) defeated Daisuke Sasaki (0) with the Scorpion Lock (12:03).
5. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Keisuke Ishii (2) defeated HARASHIMA (0) with the High Angle Double Arm DDT (12:45).
6. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Shuji Ishikawa (2) defeated Mike Bailey (0) with the Splash Mountain (15:15).
7. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Jiro Kuroshio (2) defeated Konosuke Takeshita (0) with the Casadora (23:23).

A Block

1. Jiro Kuroshio (2)
-. Keisuke Ishii (2)
-. Tetsuya Endo (2)
4. Joey Ryan (0)
-. Konosuke Takeshita (0)
-. HARASHIMA (0)
-. Masahiro Takanashi (0)

B Block

1. Shuji Ishikawa (2)
-. Akito (2)
-. Yukio Sakaguchi (2)
4. Soma Takao (0)
-. Mike Bailey (0)
-. Daisuke Sasaki (0)
-. Kazusada Higuchi (0)

Day one of the D-King Grand Prix kicked off with some big upsets in the opening round of matches. Jiro Kuroshio defeated Konosuke Takeshita in the main event. He took all that Takeshita could throw at him then countered the German Suplex into the Casadora for the surprise three count. A cheerful Kuroshio told Takeshita after the match he would see him again. Takeshita’s response was to raise his KO-D Openweight Title and give Kuroshio the middle finger.

Mike Bailey has only been in Japan for 5 days during his current stay and there’s already two times when he thought he was going to die in the ring. The first was from HARASHIMA’s Somato on the 3rd and the second was from Shuji Ishikawa kicking his head in today. Ishikawa used the Knee Lift to great effect in their match. He thinks that next to Yoshihiro Takayama, he is the best at using the move.

The second big upset on the show was Keisuke Ishii beating HARASHIMA! Ishii’s use of statistics in his preparations paid off when he knew HARASHIMA was setting him up for the Somato after a Buzzsaw Kick. Ishii got up and cut HARASHIMA off with the Kneel Kick. The struggle over to pin him took long enough for HARASHIMA to kick out but Ishii then gave him the Double Arm DDT for the finish. Ishii said that it took him 10 years to finally beat HARASHIMA because Ishii joined DDT in 2007. He will now use today’s result times of his match, Takeshita’s match and Tetsuya Endo’s match to prpare for his upcoming bouts against them.

The history between Akito and Daisuke Sasaki wasn’t forgotten when they squared off. Akito quickly grabbed Sasaki by the hair when the bell rang while Sasaki tried to apply the Cross Facelock as fast as he could. Poor Daisuke Kiso was stuck in the crossfire and was knocked down by a chairshot. Akito’s chance to win seemed to have disappeared when there was no ref to see Sasaki submitting to an Anklelock. Yukinori Matsui finally came down to replace Kiso and he saw Akito countering the Cross Facelock into an Arm Clutch Scorpion Lock. Sasaki had no choice but to tap out with his free hand. Akito said he will use the Grand Prix to get rid of all of the depression he accumulated over the last year. Backstage Sasaki had a mood swing and wanted to abstain from the rest of the tournament. He also threatened to cut off his own hair but he was talked out of it.

Masahiro Takanashi played dirty to try and beat Tetsuya Endo. He used the referee as a shield then kicked Endo below the belt during the confusion. Endo was still in the match though and he avoided the Takatonic to get the ref involved again. When that was sorted out, Endo hit the Tetsuya In The Sky to put Takanashi away. Takanashi was so flustered by the result he asked KUDO backstage to calculate his current standing. 1 loss, zero points. Takanashi thinks he’ll need to win his 6 remaining matches to succeed.

Yukio Sakaguchi wore down Kazusada Higuchi with the Cobra Clutch, only letting go when Higuchi tried to press him into the turnbuckles. Before Higuchi could get his breath back, Sakaguchi hit the Right Knee Of God to knock him down for the pin. It doesn’t matter how busy his match schedule is, Sakaguchi said he can win his block with his eyes closed.