Brookes Off This Week’s Shows, New Grand Princess Matches, LiLiCo Retirement Match, Genki In DDT

February 13, 2022

DDT “DDT FREE -FEBRUARY- ULTIMATE TAG LEAGUE 2022 IN SHINJUKU!!”, 14/02/2022
Shinjuku FACE

-. Ultimate Tag League 2022 – B Block: Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Paul (2) defeated Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi (2) by Forfeit.
0. Dark Match: Yusuke Okada Vs Yuya Koroku
1. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – 5 Way Match: Toru Owashi (c) Vs Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno Vs Masahiro Takanashi Vs Antonio Honda Vs Shunma Katsumata
2. Daisuke Sasaki, Minoru Fujita & MJ Paul Vs Akito, MAO & Yuki Ishida
3. Special Tag Match: Saki Akai & Toui Kojima Vs Maya Yukihi & Yukio Naya
4. Special 6-Man Tag Match: HARASHIMA, Naomi Yoshimura & Soma Takao Vs Jun Kasai, Yuji Hino & Yukio Sakaguchi
5. DDT Extreme Title – Turkish Wrestling Rules: Shinya Aoki (c) Vs Yuki “Sexy” Iino
6. Ultimate Tag League 2022 – A Block: Tetsuya Endo & Jun Akiyama (4) Vs Shuji Kondo & Kazuki Hirata (0)
7. Ultimate Tag League 2022 – A Block: Konosuke Takeshita & Yuki Ueno (4) Vs Kazusada Higuchi & Hideki Okatani (0)

B Block

1. HARASHIMA & Naomi Yoshimura (4)
-. Yuki “Sexy” Iino & Yumehito “Fantastic” Imanari (4)
3. Shunma Katsumata & MAO (2)
-. Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Paul (2)
-. Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi (2)

What an utter disaster the Ultimate Tag League has become for CDK. First Masahiro Takanashi had to pull out of a match because of covid forcing the team to forfeit against Pheromones and now Chris Brookes has been pulled from tomorrow’s show due to illness (so far not confirmed to be covid related), forcing them to forfeit another match. This time DAMNATION T.A are getting the free two points and their first win in the tournament.

The card is changes several matches as a result of this. DAMNATION T.A are now in a non-tournament match but on the plus side have Minoru Fujita with them again. The trio demolished their opponents yesterday and made it clear they want to dominate DDT. However Sasaki is being targeted by MAO because of his DDT Universal Title challenge, which Sasaki has declined over and over. Takanashi now has to take MAO’s place in the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title 5 Way Match. Another change is Yusuke Okada and Yuya Koroku becoming opponents in a dark match instead of teaming together in the opener.

DDT “HANAYORI NEPPA ~TOTONOU IN THE MIDDLE OF SHINJUKU~”, 15/02/2022
Shinjuku FACE

1. Shinya Aoki Vs Toui Kojima
2. Hardcore Judo: MAO Vs Takayuki Ueki
3. Sea Sauna Shack Presents SSS Cup Special Gauntlet Tag Match ~Beyond Totoi~: Soma Takao & Shota Vs Akito & Kazuki Hirata Vs Naomi Yoshimura & Yukio Naya Vs Kazusada Higuchi & Yuki Ishida Vs Antonio Honda & Yoshihiko Vs Hyper Misao & Mecha Mummy
4. Vihta JP Presents Special 6-Man Tag Match ~Into The Light~: Yuki Ueno, Sanshiro Takagi & HERO! Vs Toru Owashi, Danshoku Dieno & Masahiro Takanashi
5. Hokuo Presents Special Tag Match ~WE GOTTA NeppWER!!~: Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata Vs Yuko Miyamoto & Isami Kodaka

Brookes also has to miss teaming with Yoshihiko in the wacky sauna sponsored Gauntlet Match. Antonio Honda is filling in for him there.

The winners of Match #4 will be rewarded with 365 bags of bath salts from the match sponsors. Sounds relaxing… I hope?

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “GRAND PRINCESS ’22”, 19/03/2022
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. Juria Nagano Debut Match: Juria Nagano Vs X
2. Special Single Match: Hikaru Shida Vs Hikari Noa
3. International Princess Title: Maki Itoh (c) Vs Yuki Arai
4. Princess Tag Team Titles: Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki (c) Vs Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe
5. Princess Of Princess Title: Miyu Yamashita (c) Vs Shoko Nakajima

Fresh off of the Max Heart Tournament we are left with the two strongest teams in Tokyo Joshi Pro fighting over the Princess Tag Team Titles. On one side are the champions, The Magical Sugar Rabbits. Their pride was bruised after an early elimination from the tournament so they feel the need to defend the belts against the Max Heart winners. That team is Daydream. They made one dream come true, now they have an even bigger one. They want to win the Tag Titles at Sumo Hall!

The growing history shared by Maki Itoh and Yuki Arai reaches another chapter. Arai is cashing in on her supernova rookie year by challenging Itoh for the International Princess Title. It wasn’t long ago that Itoh dared Arai to try and beat her with as many attempts as she wants to use. Arai thinks the time is now to strike and she has earned every strength needed to win against her fellow rival idol.

Hikaru Shida Vs Hikari Noa is definitely happening, no mistranslation here (why yes, I am one to talk). Excluding her recent MAKAI work and the AEW tournament she produced last year (empty arena), this will be Shida’s first pro wrestling match in front of a Japanese audience in over two and a half years.

Yuna Manase, Ram Kaichow and NEO Biishiki-gun will all be on the show. Manase is looking for an opponent to step up and face her in the ring. Nao Kakuta has shown interest in doing so given their history from Actwres girl’Z.

DDT “JUDGEMENT 2022 ~DDT 25TH ANNIVERSARY~”, 20/03/2022
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. LiLiCo Retirement Match: LiLiCo, Ryohei Odai & Akito (w/ Junretsu) Vs Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno, Yuki “Sexy” Iino & Yumehito “Fantastic” Imanari
2. KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Titles: Toru Owashi, Antonio Honda, Kazuki Hirata & Yoshihiko (c) Vs Poison Sawada JULIE, Takashi Sasaki, GENTARO, MIKAMI & Tanomusaku Toba (w/ Naomi Susan)
3. DDT 25th Anniversary Special Single Match: Sanshiro Takagi Vs Michael Nakazawa
4. Special Single Match: Saki Akai Vs Maya Yukihi
5. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) Vs Tetsuya Endo

So when LiLiCo asked for her retirement match to be filled with handsome men, it only made sense to include her husband in it. Ryohei Odai is a Kamen Rider actor and former member of the pop band Junretsu (which the DDT unit was also named after). He has little athletic experience but his inclusion in the match will be very important for LiLiCo. Speaking of Junretsu, they will be in the married couple’s corner while Akito takes up the last spot on the team.

It was LiLiCo’s decision to make Pheromones her opponents. She has had many unforgettable experiences with Danshoku Dieno so it is fitting for him to be one of her final opponents. Unfortunately for Odai, he got a, um, taste of Pheromones when they crashed the press conference announcing this match. They attacked Odai and Dieno shoved one of the Junretsu member’s face into Yuki Iino’s crotch while Yumehito Imanari filmed it.

DDT “MAX BUMP 2022 TOUR IN KOBE”, 24/04/2022
Kobe Art Center

Has Open The Forbidden Gate been used by DRAGONGATE yet? I’m sure it’s been used by them before. Let’s use it anyway. Genki Horiguchi is the latest name from the promotion coming over for a DDT appearance. The previous ones all worked on DDT shows booked by Toru Owashi in Nagoya but here it is for a show happening in Kobe. It’s slap bang in the middle DG territory but still progress in a seemingly growing relationship between the two companies. It’s another small step towards Kazuki Hirata jumping over and forcing them to play “Tokyo GO!” again.


GANBARE☆PRO “ICE SMILE 2022” Results

February 13, 2022

GANBARE☆PRO “ICE SMILE 2022”, 13/02/2022
Osaka City Suminoe Maikon Hall
121 Fans

1. Tiger Vs Dragon In Osaka: Mizuki Watase defeated Ryuya Matsufusa with the Back Drop (10:09).
2. Ganjo Special Single Match: Yuna Manase defeated YuuRI with the Suzuki Dynamic (8:10).
3. Koshi Enjo Vs Harukatsu Shoot: Shuichiro Katsumura & Moeka Haruhi defeated Yumehito Imanari & HARUKAZE when Haruhi pinned HARUKAZE with the Ojosama Clutch (13:10).
4. Ganpro Special Tag Match: Keisuke Ishii & Nobuhiro Shimatani defeated Tsuyoshi Okada & Tyson Maeguchi when Ishii pinned Maeguchi with the Double-Armed Driver (13:35).
5. Ganpro Osaka Winter Team: Ken Ohka, Kouki Iwasaki & Katsumi Oribe defeated Shota, Soma Takao & Rapid when Iwasaki pinned Shota with the Vertical Drop Reverse DDT (21:20).

A win in the main event should have cheered up Kouki Iwasaki but he was apologetic to the Osaka crowd after the match instead. He was sorry he doesn’t have the Spirit Of Ganbare World Title belt in his possession to show off for everyone. He made it his goal to win the title from Tatsuhito Takaiwa and wear it all over the country for all the Ganbare☆Pro fans to see.

At the end of the show Katsumi Oribe invited Ken Ohka, Rapid and Ryuya Matsufusa to join his LINE group called Oribe Gundan.

Keisuke Ishii and Tyson Maeguchi both expressed an interest in having a singles match against each other. Maeguchi really likes Ishii’s wrestling style and wants to learn it from him in the ring. Ishii has teamed with him before and welcomes the idea of a one on one match between them.

Today is the 17th Anniversary of Moeka Haruhi’s debut match! She used an earlier move from her career (or at least a move I haven’t seen her use in Ganpro before), the Ojosama Clutch to pin HARUKAZE.

Even though Yuna Manase and YuuRI were opponents today, they are also forming a tag team to enter a tournament in Marvelous later this month. After discussions with Ohka they decided their team name will be Nippon Ganbare Union!