DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2018 THE FINAL!!”, 28/01/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
0. Under Match: Naomi Yoshimura Vs Nobuhiro Shimatani
1. 3 Way Tag Match: Soma Takao & Kouki Iwasaki Vs KUDO & Masahiro Takanashi Vs Kazusada Higuchi & Daiki Shimomura
2. Yukio Sakaguchi & Kota Umeda Vs Mizuki Watase & Yuki Ueno
3. Konosuke Takeshita, Akito & Mike Bailey Vs Daisuke Sasaki, Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie
4. Infomercial Match – Takahashi Tax Accounting Office: Super Sasadango Machine & Saki Akai Vs Antonio Honda & Tanomusaku Toba
5. Danshoku Dino & Keisuke Ishii Vs Jiro Kuroshio & Joey Ryan
6. NωA FINAL CONCERT In Korakuen Hall ~ T2Hide This Is The Real Last Time! Final!! Final Battle!!: Makoto Oishi, Shunma Katsumata & MAO Vs Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata
7. D-King Grand Prix – Final: HARASHIMA Vs Shuji Ishikawa
We’ve had some time to rest but this weekend brings us the finale of the 2018 D-King Grand Prix. I think the tournament has been a success and the match quality has drawn in some new eyes to DDT this month so hopefully this will stick around as an annual tournament. Scheduling it after Wrestle Kingdom is mostly a good idea. The wrestling scene over in Japan calms down a little when that show is over so the space is there to put on a bunch of easy to watch straightforward shows. Maybe just don’t run three to four Korakuen Hall shows in a row beforehand. That was overkill and the attendance numbers showed. Anyway, let’s get to the final.
HARASHIMA and Shuji Ishikawa have known each other for a long time. They represent the same generation of DDT wrestlers and they’ve beaten each other to win the KO-D Openweight Championship. No matter how far they split off and drift apart, their paths will always meet again inside the DDT ring. Ishikawa’s goal for 2018 is to beat his 2017 accomplishments and winning the D-King is exactly what he needs to start that plan. HARASHIMA wants to avenge his losses to the champion Konosuke Takeshita but he is putting all of his attention into beating Ishikawa first. Ishikawa thinks that winning the tournament and then going on to win the championship at Sumo Hall will raise the value of the Grand Prix. He also thinks his extra experience from wrestling in other companies while HARASHIMA has stayed put inside the DDT walls is the difference maker between them. Ishikawa has the better record against HARASHIMA in singles matches. He has won 3 out of their 4 previous singles matches together. HARASHIMA won their last match back in December 2016. Plus he also beat him one time as HERO! way back in 2003, although he broke his foot during the match.
If Ishikawa wins he wants to invest the 1,900,000 yen of the 2,000,000 prize money in bitcoins because it is the fashionable thing to do now. The remaining 100,000 yen will be given to Daisuke Sasaki and Tetsuya Endo. HARASHIMA hasn’t thought about what he would do with the money but the amount on the line does excite him.
BASARA “VAJRA 59 ~ONE MINDLESS BODY~”, 11/02/2018
Tokyo BASEMENT MON☆STAR
1. IRON FIST TAG TOURNAMENT – Round 1: Takumi Tsukamoto & Yasu Urano Vs Ryuichi Sekine & Ryota Nakatsu
2. IRON FIST TAG TOURNAMENT – Round 1: Trans-Am ★ Ryuichi & Yusuke Kubo Vs Manabu Hara & Fuminori Abe
3. IRON FIST TAG TOURNAMENT – Round 1: FUMA & SAGAT Vs Takato Nakano & Akiyori Takizawa
4. IRON FIST TAG TOURNAMENT – Round 1: Isami Kodaka & Yoshihisa Uto Vs Best Stretchman V3 & Tsutomu Oosugi
The playoff bracket is set. The winners of Matches #1 & #2 will face each other in the semi final and the winners of #3 & #4 will do the same. Like last year, the prize is a giant iron trophy in the shape of a fist.
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “LET’S GO! GO! IF YOU GO! WHEN YOU GO! IF YOU GET LOST JUST GO TO NAGOYA!”, 12/02/2018
Nagoya City Robashi Sports Center Kendo Area
1. Yuka Sakazaki Vs Samara
2. Miyu Yamashita & Maki Ito Vs Shoko Nakajima & Yuna Manase
Miyu Yamashita and Yuna Manase face off in a preview of their TOKYO Princess Title Match.
DNA “DNA 41 ~VALENTINE SPECIAL!~”, 14/02/2018
Shinjuku FACE
1. Hot Blood! Muscle Kin! The Rival Story Chapter 2: Yuki Ueno Vs Koju Takeda
2. Young Roar ~ Young And Fresh 6-Man Tag Match: Nobuhiro Shimatani, Joji Tani & Rising HAYATO Vs Daiki Shimomura, Yasutaka Ohsera & Tomoya Hirata
3. We Are The World! ~We Wish For World Peace With Pro-Wrestling~: Rekka & Choun-Shiryu Vs Brian Aki & Konaka = Pale One
4. DNA Vs Junior Stars! Special Tag Match: Shunma Katsumata & Mizuki Watase Vs Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka
5. DNA Corps Vs Naomi Kingdom Full Confrontation Single Third Match: MAO Vs Akira Jo
6. DNA Corps Vs Naomi Kingdom Full Confrontation Single Third Match: Kouki Iwasaki Vs Keisuke Okuda
7. DNA Corps Vs Naomi Kingdom Full Confrontation Single Third Match: Kota Umeda Vs Naomi Yoshimura
Rising HAYATO is from Ehime Pro Wrestling. He is 18 years old and has been wrestling since October 2016. Yasutaka Ohsera is 24 years old, wrestles for Michinoku Pro and debuted back in March 2017. I can’t find any information about who Joji Tani (谷譲二) is.
Dramatic DDT 