So This Is The Christmas Schedule, Natsumi Maki To TJPW?

December 23, 2018

First of all a very Merry Christmas to everybody! I have an Electric Six Christmas album (yes it exists) playing on loop while I’m trying to finish this post so I can wrap up the blog for the next few days. I keep having to rewrite it with the stories coming out today (there’s now some sort of Ganbare☆Wrestling Vs HEAT-UP thing going on that I’m missing for now). I’m going to enjoy the break before things get busy next week. Last year I felt a general burnout from the DDT family being involved in five Korakuen Hall shows in the space of a week (six in less than two weeks if you include DDT’s Christmas Eve show). There is one less Korakuen event this time around and I’ve already lashed through plenty of busy tours in 2018 so hopefully the energy levels will be good all around.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “THE GOD OF PRO WRESTLING “MY ARMS FELL!” BLURRY CONFESSION”, 27/12/2018
Tokyo Kanda Myojin Hall

Well this has gotten awkward. Rumours are going around that Natsumi Maki will be joining Tokyo Joshi Pro soon but she burned a bridge in the process. She was originally advertised to be in the main event of an Actwres girl’Z show in Amagasaki today but was pulled off the card last night. After the opening match Yumiko Hotta told the audience about Maki’s decision to go work with Tokyo Joshi. Hotta then said Maki made this deal without her permission and she cannot forgive her for it. So far neither Maki or Tokyo Joshi have confirmed the rumour of a deal between them. Maki has apologised to the AgZ fans for missing the show.

If this deal is true then Maki working with Tokyo Joshi was most likely going to be a surprise announcement at this Thursday’s show in the new Tokyo Kanda Myojin Hall. I guess Maki would show up alongside a full card reveal for the 4th January where she can make her debut. Maki did announce in August that she would be leaving Actwres girl’Z at the end of 2018 so the questions I’m left with are when was her move to Tokyo Joshi planned and how exactly was this done against Hotta’s wishes? It’s one thing if contract tampering is involved but from what I gather Maki should be free from that. I also get that having your boss’s blessing to join another promotion is important in these circles even if it is not necessary. We just have to wait and see how this shakes out.

DDT “D-OU GRAND PRIX 2019 THE FINAL!!”, 30/12/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

0. Under Match: Mizuki Watase Vs Yuki Ueno
1. Muscle Offer Match ~ Live Call From The Match Venue! Yearly Fortune Telling Guest Student Booking Competition!!: Super Sasadango Machine Vs Antonio Honda Vs Choun-Shiryu Vs Pedro Takaishi Vs Yasu Urano Vs Makoto Oishi
2. Mike Bailey, MAO, HARASHIMA & Kazusada Higuchi Vs Soma Takao, Tetsuya Endo, Mad Paulie & Nobuhiro Shimatani
3. Yukio Sakaguchi, Masahiro Takanashi & Saki Akai Vs Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Meiko Satomura
4. CIMA, El Lindaman & Seiki Yoshioka Vs Akito, Yuki Iino & Kota Umeda
5. Shinya Aoki & Keisuke Okuda Vs Tanomusaku Toba & Keisuke Ishii
6. Daisuke Sasaki & Puma King Vs Naomi Yoshimura & Sammy Guevara
7. D-Ou Grand Prix 2019 – Final: Go Shiozaki Vs Konosuke Takeshita

Go Shiozaki enjoyed his time in the D-Ou Grand Prix and thinks it was a worthwhile experience. He was hesitant to take part at first, fearing it would be a career mistake to get involved. Instead the matches and opponents he got have gone above his expectations. After making it as far as the final he is now motivated to engrave his name in the tournament’s young history. Konosuke Takeshita is also motivated to raise the prestige of the Grand Prix. He cannot deny the match has an element of DDT Vs NOAH to it but he doesn’t want it to be just about that. Shiozaki Vs Takeshita should also be about two of the best wrestlers in Japan facing off against each other. Takeshita will be fighting not for DDT but for himself. The winner gets himself a spot in February’s Sumo Hall main event.

GANBARE☆WRESTLING “IT IS THE LAST OF THE HEISEI!”, 31/12/2017
Saitama Super Arena – Community Arena

1. Shivering Armlocker Vs Temporary Manager Of DAMNATION: Takeshi Okada Vs Nobuhiro Shimatani
2. GANBARE NEW ATTITUDE: Shuichiro Katsumura & Kouki Iwasaki Vs Kota Umeda & Mizuki Watase
3. “I’m Determined To Do My Best, Do No Forget Your Talent” Special 6-Man Tag Match: Ken Ohka, Keisuke Ishii & Shuhei Washida Vs Yumehito Imanari, Shota & Mitomi Masayuki

Ganpro ends its year at the RIZIN Martial Arts EXPO. The Ghost of DNA past joins in with Kouki Iwasaki, Kota Umeda and Mizuki Watase all involved in the same match.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “UP UP GIRLS (PRO WRESTLING) PRO WRESTLING WOMEN’S FESTIVAL”, 31/12/2018
Tokyo Shibuya GARRET

1. Hinano & Raku Vs X & X
2. Hikari & Miu Vs Miyu Yamashita & Shoko Nakajima

This event is going to reestablish the Up Up Girls (Pro Wrestling) group. Each member will be getting a new ring name with new costumes and new entrance music. The two matches will be held on mats due to the venue’s small size.

DDT “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI SUPER ~ NEW YEAR BALL SPECIAL! ALL SEATS 2,000 YEN BOX OFFICE!! 2019”, 03/01/2019
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Heisei’s Last Back Comparison: El Lindaman Vs Nobuhiro Shimatani
2. 3 Way Tag Match: MAO & Jun Kasai Vs Super Sasadango Machine & Antonio Honda Vs Kazusada Higuchi & Mizuki Watase
3. DISASTER BOX Vs DAMNATION!: HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Yuki Ueno Vs Soma Takao, Tetsuya Endo, Mad Paulie & Puma King
4. Sake & Tears & Men & Women & Foreigners & Former Wrestlers: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi, Masahiro Takanashi & Saki Akai Vs Mike Bailey, Sammy Guevara, Veda Scott & Hoshitango
5. New Year’s Day! Burst Out Laughing! First Laughter Rumble: Kuishinbo Kamen Vs Atsushi Maruyama Vs Gorgeous Matsuno Vs Tiger Mask V (Self-Proclaimed) Vs Hen China (Jury: Sanshiro Takagi & Makoto Oishi)
6. Kota Umeda “Mad Dog” 7 Match Series – 6th Match: Daichi Hashimoto Vs Kota Umeda
7. DDT Extreme Title: Shinya Aoki (c) Vs Tanomusaku Toba
8. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: CIMA, T-Hawk & Duan Yingnan (c) Vs Konosuke Takeshita, Akito & Yuki Iino
9. KO-D Openweight Title: Daisuke Sasaki (c) Vs Naomi Yoshimura

Danshoku Dieno has explained his desire to humiliate Daisuke Sasaki as revenge for what Sasaki did to him at “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2018”. Getting stripped naked (Dieno is convinced Sasaki made him do it) and locked into a casket can do that to a person. Since Dieno is in no shape to enact revenge by himself, he formed an alliance with Naomi Yoshimura when the youngster returned from his overseas excursion. Yoshimura agreed to go along because he senses bad vibes in current DDT and Sasaki is to blame for it. Dieno & Yoshimura have been constantly taunting Sasaki, mostly regarding his failed “relationship” with Candice LeRae. Sasaki admits he is still in love with LeRae and he’s tried to send flowers priced 5,000 yen to her. While the mindgames have been effecting him negatively, Sasaki got a one up on Yoshimura by attacking him with a chair at today’s show in Koyama.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “TOKYO JOSHI PRO ’19”, 04/01/2019
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Special Single Match: Meiko Satomura Vs Reika Saiki
2. TOKYO Princess Tag Team Titles: Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki (c) Vs Shoko Nakajima & Riho
3. TOKYO Princess Of Princess Title: Miyu Yamashita (c) Vs Maki Ito

As mentioned above, I expect the full card for this show to be revealed on Thursday’s show.

BASARA “BASARA 85 ~SHUFFLE~”, 06/01/2019
Kitazawa Town Hall

1. Yasu Urano Vs Masato Kamino
2. Trans-Am ★ Hiroshi & SAGAT Vs Takato Nakano & Tatsuhiko Yoshino
3. FUMA & Yusuke Kubo Vs Takumi Tsukamoto & Jun Masaoka
4. Sento Minzoku Vs Best Stretchmen: Ryuichi Sekine, Daiki Shimomura & Minoru Fujita Vs Best Stretchman V3, Best Stretchman Amazon & Stretchman Man
5. Sparky Vs Aiseki Tag: Ryota Nakatsu & Akiyori Takizara Vs Fuminori Abe & Ikuto Hidaka
6. Isami Kodaka Returns To War: Isami Kodaka Vs Naoki Tanizaki

Ryota Nakatsu and Ikuto Hidaka matches seems to happen whenever BASARA hits a milestone. It was the opening match of the debut show and was held again on its one year anniversary. Now it happens again with BASARA’s visit to the reopened Kitazawa Town Hall. While this next match is only a tag bout, Nakatsu gets to find out if he has come any closer to Hidaka’s level.


DDT “WRESTLE OYAMA HYOTEI 2018” Results

December 23, 2018

DDT “WRESTLE OYAMA HYOTEI 2018”, 23/12/2018
Tochigi Koyama City Cultural Center
145 Fans

1. Soma Takao defeated Mizuki Watase with the Perfect Driver (10:31).
2. 3 Way Match: Masahiro Takanashi defeated Mad Paulie and Gota Ihashi when Takanashi pinned Ihashi with an Oklahoma Roll (7:25).
3. Makoto Oishi & Kazuki Hirata defeated Antonio Honda & Veda Scott when Oishi pinned Honda with the Nekodora (11:12).
4. Mike Bailey & MAO defeated Tetsuya Endo & Nobuhiro Shimatani when Bailey pinned Shimatani after the Michinoku Tornado Driver (13:45).
5. Koyama Specialty! Lucky Town Special Tag Match: Daisuke Sasaki & Puma King defeated Kazusada Higuchi & Kota Umeda when Sasaki submitted Umeda with the Cross Facelock (15:30).
6. DISASTER BOX Vs ALL OUT!: Konosuke Takeshita, Akito & Yuki Iino defeated HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi & Yuki Ueno when Takeshita pinned Ueno with the Fable (21:15).

Konosuke Takeshita promoted both the D-Ou Grand Prix final on 30th December and ALL OUT challenging for the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles on 3rd January. For the Grand Prix, Takeshita wants to be Go Shiozaki on behalf of DDT. For the 6-Man Tag Titles match, it will be a win for ALL OUT no matter if it’s Takeshita, Akito or Yuki Iino that scores the pin.

Danshoku Dieno & Naomi Yoshimura came out to taunt Daisuke Sasaki after Match #5. They brought out dumplings to eat and jokingly asked if Sasaki wanted some. Sasaki then dove out of the ring onto Yoshimura and the two began fighting. Sasaki brought a chair into the ring but Yoshimura hit him with a Lariat. When Yoshimura picked up the chair, Sasaki Dropkicked it into his face. Sasaki then smashed the chair over Yoshimura’s head and left him laying among the remains of dumplings around the ring.

A story between Makoto Oishi, Shiori Asahi and the Moonlight Express was brewing over the weekend. Mike Bailey & MAO approached the other two at a K-DOJO show yesterday asking for a STRONGEST-K TAG Title shot. Oishi & Asahi would only accept the challenge if the KO-D Tag Team Titles were also put on the line to make it a Double Title match! Both teams agreed on the stipulation and it will take place in DDT on 5th January. Today Oishi approached them after their mask to give an answer. He said he was disappointed that they did not bring their own belts to the show that day because today Oishi pulled up his hoodie to show that he was wearing his STRONGEST-K TAG belt underneath. Oishi and MAO were about to shake hands for a fair fight when Oishi spat in his face. He physically manipulated MAO into putting Bailey into a Reverse Indian Deathlock then gave MAO a Russian Leg Sweep, hurting both of the Express. Oishi then posed with his tag belt along with one of the KO-D Tag belts.

Antonio Honda now has a homemade Gongitsune sock puppet. Veda Scott made it for him. He and Makoto Oishi ended up fighting over Scott’s giant cat head.