DDT “D-OH GRAND PRIX 2023 OPENING ROUND”, 26/11/2023
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
0. Dark Match: Yuni & Yuya Koroku Vs Kazuma Sumi & Rukiya
1. Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama & Yusuke Okada Vs Daisuke Sasaki, Demus & MJ Paul
2. Danshoku Dieno, Makoto Oishi & Toy Kojima Vs Masahiro Takanashi, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada
3. D-Oh Grand Prix 2023 – B Block: MAO Vs Rei Saito
4. D-Oh Grand Prix 2023 – B Block: KANON Vs Kazuki Hirata
5. D-Oh Grand Prix 2023 – A Block: HARASHIMA Vs Yuki Iino
6. D-Oh Grand Prix 2023 – B Block: Chris Brookes Vs Yukio Naya
7. D-Oh Grand Prix 2023 – A Block: Yuki Ueno Vs Kazusada Higuchi
Tomorrow is the beginning of D-Oh Grand Prix 2023 and some of the wrestlers gave more comments about their plans going into the tournament. Yuki Ueno is aiming to become the first person to win the D-Oh two years in a row. Daisuke Sasaki claims he has given up drinking to prepare for the tournament and feels like a brand new person in good condition. However Ueno then gave him a can of his favorite beer as a birthday present and Sasaki drank it. Ueno then revealed it was a trick to prove Sasaki hasn’t changed at all. Yukio Naya wants to bring in as many fans as he can to see him win the GP. He also thinks if he beats Rei Saito it will attract the attention of more wrestlers from other companies towards DDT. Saito wants to show off his abilities by himself so people won’t just think he’s just a tag team wrestler. He has no intention of representing All Japan, he is here on his own terms to become the DOOM King! Tetsuya Endo said if he can’t win the tournament then it will make him question his position as the leader of BURNING. He may end up thinking he does not belong in DDT at all.
Kazusada Higuchi is keeping his focus tight and show the power of Harimao. Last year’s rule of cutting off wrestlers over the age of 40 meant HARASHIMA could not compete. He wants to win so he can prove it is wrong to divide the roster by age when it comes to determining who is the strongest. He also wants to win for his newborn son. Yuki Iino is going to show off a new side of himself. He is taking his tournament run one match at a time. Chris Brookes wants to win the GP to cap off what’s been a great year for him. MAO is only thinking about getting in everybody’s way. Everything else going on is none of his concern. He also said it doesn’t make sense that Iino turned back into a normal wrestler so easily. KANON brought up winning a few tag team titles since last year’s tournament but admittedly hasn’t done anything as a singles in that time. He wants to eliminate the other contenders one by one. Last but not least, Kazuki Hirata promises to disrupt the tournament atmosphere with his dancing. He isn’t thinking about who else is in his group because it will only make him cry with fear.
The D-Oh GP sees the return of Kenta Kobashi as the tournament chairman for the third year in a row. He had to take a meeting with Endo in order for Endo to tell him about Jun Akiyama’s intention to leave BURNING at the end of the year. Endo admitted to him that BURNING has not been able to get the results they wanted in the two years since Kobashi gave them permission to use the unit name. Kobashi understands the situation and said Akiyama’s absence means Endo will have to take on more responsibility. That is not a bad thing though and Kobashi told Endo he looks forward to seeing him take on the challenge. He also encouraged Endo to win the D-Oh GP. Endo promised he will in order to help rebuild BURNING from scratch.
Kobashi gave other comments about the tournament field. In A Block he predicts Ueno will be the winner based on his growth over the last year. When they stood beside each other at the press conference Kobashi thought that Ueno looked like a champion. He also criticized Endo for not showing more anger in his matches. He needs to learn more ways to show his anger. Kobashi also revealed he recently taught Endo how to use the Rolling Chop but does not know if Endo had enough time to practice it. Higuchi was brought up as someone who struggles to win important matches. He needs to focus on winning. HARASHIMA is a possible winner as long as his isn’t having problems with his physical strength due to his age. Kobashi was disappointed with Iino back in May when Iino’s big title match main event was filled with Pheromones nonsense. He hopes Iino will live up to expectations this time and be the dark horse in his block.
Over in B Block Kobashi said he watched Brookes’ matches as champion and saw how much confidence he has. He thinks it is tremendous whenever a wrestler has the confidence of a champion. MAO is unpredictable. He should have a hard time against heavyweights but Kobashi is aware he recently beat Matt Cardona to win the DDT Universal Title. Kobashi is surprised by how much Naya improved his stamina since last year’s GP. He is also impressed by Saito’s improvements as a tag wrestler. He can grow even more if it turns out he is more suited to singles wrestling. KANON is the one wrestler out of all others that Kobashi is most interested in seeing but it’s not because he’s a potential winner. He wants to see KANON focus on what he does inside the ring no matter if it’s as a heel or face. He should give it his all, one match at a time. Finally, he admits Hirata does what he does because he has a strong sense of who he is.
Dramatic DDT 