Irie Brings In A New Dawn, Will Things Change?

April 30, 2018

DDT “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI #3”, 01/05/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

0. NO TV Match: Mad Paulie Vs Daiki Shimomura
0. NO TV Match: Toru Owashi & Hiratimo Dragon Vs Antonio Honda & Kouki Iwasaki
1. Shigehiro Irie, Mizuki Watase & Jason Kincaid Vs Keisuke Ishii, Makoto Oishi & Yuki Ueno
2. Gota Ihashi 5 Match Series – 2nd Battle: Kendo Kashin Vs Gota Ihashi
3. Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo Vs HARASHIMA & Soma Takao
4. Tradition Of The Soul ~ Loser Gets Ketsu Bat Match: Danshoku Dino Vs Miyu Yamashita
5. Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata Vs KUDO & Masahiro Takanashi
6. KO-D Tag Team Titles: Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi (c) Vs Kota Umeda & MAO

Unless it’s being done to attract the audience early, surely Shigehiro Irie’s match should be placed later in the card now that he is the champion. The match is also meant to push his title defence against Keisuke Ishii.

Smile Squash gets a shot at revenge on DAMNATION after the heel group tried to recruit HARASHIMA then immediately attacked him.

Kendo Kashin is still sending friendly text messages to the DDT offices that are meant for Gota Ihashi.

DDT “ROAD TO RYOGOKU 2018 ~DRAMATIC DREAM TAN~”, 04/05/2018
Miyagi Yume Messe West Wing Hall

1. KUDO Vs Nobuhiro Shimatani
2. Toru Owashi & Hiratimo Dragon Vs Antonio Honda & Masahiro Takanashi
3. Dirty Single Match: Danshoku Dino Vs Mad Paulie
4. HARASHIMA & Soma Takao Vs Makoto Oishi & Yuki Ueno
5. Shigehiro Irie, Mizuki Watase & Jason Kincaid Vs Keisuke Ishii, Kota Umeda & Kouki Iwasaki
6. Osaka City Origin MAO Local Triumph! Miyagi Specialty Special Tag Match: Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata Vs Kazusada Higuchi & MAO
7. Born In Shiroishi Tetsuya Endo Triumph! DAMNATION Vs Shuten-dōji!: Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo Vs Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi

Both Tetsuya Endo and MAO are from Miyagi so they have to share their homecoming show.

DDT “ROAD TO RYOGOKU 2018 ~DRAMATIC DREAM TSUGARU SHAMISEN~”, 05/05/2018
Aomori Hamanasu Hall

1. 3 Way Match: Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Danshoku Dino Vs Hiratimo Dragon
2. Kazusada Higuchi & Toru Owashi Vs MAO & Yuki Ueno
3. Daisuke Sasaki, Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie Vs Shunma Katsumata, Kouki Iwasaki & Nobuhiro Shimatani
4. Smile Squash Vs Shuten-dōji!: HARASHIMA & Soma Takao Vs KUDO & Masahiro Takanashi
5. Shigehiro Irie, Mizuki Watase & Jason Kincaid Vs Keisuke Ishii, Kota Umeda & Antonio Honda
6. Department Of Civil Engineering, Hachinohe Institute Of Technology (Now Disappearing) Makoto Oishi Triumphant Return! Aomori Specialty Special Single Match: Makoto Oishi Vs Konosuke Takeshita

With Kazuki Hirata banished from Japan again, Hiratimo Dragon takes his place in the previously announced 3 Way Match.

DDT “ROAD TO RYOGOKU 2018 ~DRAMATIC DREAM CLOCK TOWER~”, 06/05/2018
Hokkaido Sapporo Susukino Mars Gym

1. Dirty Single Match: Danshoku Dino Vs Antonio Honda
2. Jason Kincaid & Mizuki Watase Vs Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie
3. Konosuke Takeshita & MAO Vs Koji Yoshida & Kouki Iwasaki
4. Smile Squash Vs Shuten-dōji!: HARASHIMA, Soma Takao & Tomoya Vs KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi

Smile Squash are down to two members with Yuko Miyamoto and Yasu Urano both cutting ties from the group. Maybe Tomoya can attach himself to the unit.

DDT “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI #4”, 08/05/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

1. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – Battle Royal: Saki Akai (c) Vs Toru Owashi Vs Antonio Honda Vs Gorgeous Matsuno Vs Nobuhiro Shimatani Vs Makoto
2. Kota Umeda “Mad Dog” 7 Match Series – 2nd Match ~ Hardcore Match: Ryuji Ito Vs Kota Umeda

Kota Umeda’s trial continues with a clash against Big Japan’s own Ryuji Ito.

Joshi wrestler Makoto appears in DDT for the first time in a very long while. She has been in sub-brands like Ganbare☆Wrestling and New Beijing a few years ago but I can’t remember when she was last in DDT proper.

DDT “ROAD TO RYOGOKU 2018 ~DRAMATIC DREAM TONKOTSU~”, 13/05/2018
Hakata Star Lane

1. DDT Extreme Title: HARASHIMA (c) Vs KUDO

HARASHIMA wants to avenge his defeat to KUDO last year. He is willing to put his newly won DDT Extreme Title on the line to do so.

Yuto Aijima and Azul Dragon will be on the show.

DDT “AUDIENCE 2018”, 20/05/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. KO-D Openweight Title: Shigehiro Irie (c) Vs Keisuke Ishii

Irie’s first defence is against an old friend. A former friend too. They held the All Asia Tag Team Titles together but that’s all in the past. Ishii has only beaten Irie twice in singles matches but that was early in their careers. Since then Irie has gotten the upper hand and has won more of their matches against each other. Both are champions now and currently feel they are the best they’ve ever been.

DDT “DRAMATIC DREAMS! VOL. 5 ~MAY I KNOW THE RAIN~”, 27/05/2018
Osaka Edion Arena #2

1. Craftsmen Special Tag Match: HUB & Masahiro Takanashi Vs Yasu Urano & MEN’S Teioh
2. Not Serious Mask Man World’s Biggest Battle ~ Special 3 Way Match: Kikutaro Vs Kuishinbo Kamen Vs Super Sasadango Machine
3. Crash The Super Heavy Special Tag Match: Kazusada Higuchi, Toru Owashi, Naomi Yoshimura, Mad Paulie
4. Special Single Match ~Clouds~: Yuki Ueno Vs Dick Togo
5. Special Single Match ~Heart~: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Antonio Honda

The teams for the Super Heavy Tag match will be determined during the show.

Magnitude Kishiwada and Shoichi Uchida will also be wrestling.


DDT “ROAD TO RYOGOKU 2018 ~DRAMATIC DREAM TEKONE SUSHI~” Results

April 30, 2018

DDT “ROAD TO RYOGOKU 2018 ~DRAMATIC DREAM TEKONE SUSHI~”, 30/04/2018
Mie Messe Wing
333 Fans – Super No Vacancy

1. Makoto Oishi 39 Year Old Trial Single Match: Mad Paulie defeated Makoto Oishi with the Paulie Buster (6:47).
2. Takatimo Dradon, Hiratimo Dragon & Toru Owashi defeated KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi when Sakaguchi was Disqualified for unmasking Hiratimo (7:55).
3. Kota Umeda & MAO defeated Kazusada Higuchi & Nobuhiro Shimatani when MAO pinned Shimatani with the Michinoku Driver I (9:27).
4. P Playful Series: Danshoku Dino Vs Soma Takao ended in a No Contest (7:31).
5. Shigehiro Irie, Jason Kincaid & Mizuki Watase defeated Keisuke Ishii, Antonio Honda & Kouki Iwasaki when Irie pinned Iwasaki with the Beast Bomber (13:08).
6. Keisuke Okuda Local Triumph! Special Tag Match: Keisuke Okuda & Naomi Yoshimura defeated HARASHIMA & Yuki Ueno when Okuda pinned Ueno with the Kobayashi Special (18:11).
7. ALL OUT Vs DAMNATION!: Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo defeated Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata when Endo pinned Katsumata with the Shooting Star Press (17:32).

Daisuke Sasaki got to close out the show with a speech after he won the main event. He pointed out that he doesn’t have a championship right now but next time DAMNATION comes to Mie he will probably have one. He asked Mad Paulie if he agreed. Paulie just tilted his head and groaned. Sasaki then finished his speech. “We do not promise! We do not protect! Because we are DAMNATION! We never conform, we do not kiss ass, I want to see The Avengers soon!”

Maybe there is a little bit more to Keisuke Okuda wrestling today than just the show being in his hometown. He glared over at HARASHIMA and the DDT Extreme Title belt before the match began. Okuda tried to downplay it by repeatedly saying he hates DDT during his post-match interview backstage. He gets along with Naomi Yoshimura but other than the Naomi Kingdom he doesn’t belong to anything else. He only wants to destroy things. Yoshimura thinks the city should build a bronze statue of Okuda to show their appreciation.

Shigehiro Irie and Keisuke Ishii had a stare down after their 6-Man Tag Match. Ishii feels that Irie has definitely become stronger since they last fought each other. There is even more fire in Irie’s elbow strikes than before according to Ishii.

The match between Danshoku Dino and Soma Takao fell apart because Dino could not get his hands off of Takao. Every referee that tried to stop him got knocked out with a Lip Lock. Hisaya Imabayashi had to put on a referee shirt and step in but he also got a Lip Lock.

MAO was disappointed that he didn’t get enough ring time with Kazusada Higuchi before tomorrow’s KO-D Tag Team Titles match. Higuchi admits that Kota Umeda & MAO are strong together but tomorrow will be their real test.

The first appearances of Takatimo Dragon & Hiratimo Dragon began with the two singing “Separados” together as they made their entrance. They asked for the match to be held under Lucha Rules but Toru Owashi threw both of them out of the ring and said he would fight by himself. Clearly Owashi is already sick of them and who they remind him of. Yukio Sakaguchi put Hiratimo in a Sleeper Hold but Hiratimo’s mask accidentally slipped off. Takatimo saw what happened and came up with an idea. He unmasked himself when the referee wasn’t looking, gave the mask to Sakaguchi and acted like Sakaguchi ripped it off his head. As per the rules of pro wrestling, unmasking the opponent is illegal. Shuten-dōji were disqualified and Owashi’s team were declared the winners.