DDT “APRIL FOOL 2018”, 01/04/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. Gota Ihashi 5 Match Series – 1st Battle: Gota Ihashi Vs Koji Kanemoto
2. Japan-US Gay Wrestling Summit! 2018: Danshoku Dino, Super Sasadango Machine & Makoto Oishi Vs Colt Cabana, Joey Ryan & Ethan Page
3. Kota Umeda, Yuki Ueno & Koji Takeda Vs Kazusada Higuchi, Kouki Iwasaki & Mizuki Watase
4. Loser Expulsion Match: Sanshiro Takagi & Toru Owashi Vs Tetsuya Endo, Mad Paulie, Keisuke Ishii, Masahiro Takanashi, Saki Akai, Kazuki Hirata, MAO & Antonio Honda
5. 4 Way Tag Match: Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata Vs HARASHIMA & Soma Takao Vs Daisuke Sasaki & Shuji Ishikawa Vs KUDO & Yukio Sakaguchi
6. DDT Extreme Title: Yuko Miyamoto (c) Vs Mike Bailey
7. Special Single Match: Shigehiro Irie Vs Akito
The aftermath of “JUDGEMENT 2018” is all about the controversial return of Shigehiro Irie. He vanished from DDT at the end of 2017 and I assumed at the time he was going on another one of his wrestling trips to America. However there was no sign he was ever in the country during that time and he kept himself mostly quiet on social media save for a “Like” notification here and there. He reappeared at the end of “JUDGEMENT 2018” to challenge Konosuke Takeshita for the KO-D Openweight Title.
Irie has since spoken about his actions. During his time away he considered quitting DDT because it was no longer the same DDT he loved. But he doesn’t want to throw away everything he has worked so hard for. The most important thing in his life is the KO-D Title and he wants to win it again.
The one person who was vocal about Irie’s behaviour when he disappeared is Akito. He lost all respect for Irie when he again ran away from his problems. He hates the idea of Irie getting the shot as if nothing ever happened. Takeshita said he would like to see both of them wrestle each other so Irie Vs Akito will take place at this Sunday’s return to Korakuen Hall. Of course Akito would like to get the title shot but this match isn’t about that. It’s about him dealing with Irie’s childish behaviour.
DDT “MAX BUMP 2018”, 29/04/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) Vs X
DDT is getting back to regular KO-D Title defences after it was put aside in the first quarter of the year for the D-Ou Grand Prix as well as the “JUDGEMENT 2018” build up. Takeshita is confident he can continue his strong title reign. He has held the title for 371 days and recorded 11 successful defences in that time. He wants to rewrite all of the championship’s records so he is happy to be the youngest champion ever, have the most defences ever and the longest reign ever. All that’s left for him is to be the oldest champion ever but Takeshita has to wait at least 20 years to achieve that. He’ll leave it up to the fans to decide if he is the ace but he intends to stay in the main event forever.
Takeshita would like his next challenger to be the winner of the Irie Vs Akito match. That is not the official stipulation of the 1st April bout but it is most likely going to happen. Jiro Kuroshio has also spoke of his desire to face Takeshita again in a rematch of their Grand Prix meeting. However it is currently unknown if DDT is much of a priority for Kuroshio right now.
Dramatic DDT 