Kojima Injured, Sakaguchi’s Final Matches, Who Is Going To USA In April?

January 15, 2024

GANBARE☆JOSHI “GANJO WINNING SHOT ’24”, 16/01/2024
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

1. Alex Lee & Riara Vs Kaho Kobayashi & Itsuki Aoki
2. Ice Ribbon Offer Match: Ibuki Hoshi & Kaho Matsushita Vs Arisa Shinose & Tsukina Umino
3. SAKI Vs Banny Oikawa
4. Sumire Natsu & YuuRI Vs Yuu & Yoshiko Hasegawa

The next Ganbare☆Joshi show takes place tomorrow.

BAKA GAIJIN + FRIENDS “VOL. ELEVEN: STRANGE BUT NOT A STRANGER”, 17/01/2024
Tokyo ARENA Shimokitazawa

1. 2-On-1 Hardcore Match: Shunma Katsumata Vs Mad Dr. Ueki & Mecha Mummy

Only one match announced so far for this month’s Baka Gaijin + Friends show. It was originally supposed to be Shunma Katsumata against Mecha Mummy but Katsumata complained about getting an uninteresting opponent for his first Baka Gaijin show. So plans changed and Katsumata now has to fight both Mummy & Mad Dr. Ueki in a Handicap Hardcore match.

Also scheduled to appear on the show are Chris Brookes, MAO, Masahiro Takanashi, Antonio Honda, Gota Ihashi and Munetatsu Nakamura.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “THE 4TH “FUTARI WA PRINCESS” MAX HEART TOURNAMENT”, 20/01/2024
Tokyo Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX

1. Yuki Aino, Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe Vs Suzume, Arisu Endo & Shino Suzuki
2. “Futari wa Princess” Max Heart Tournament – Round 1A: Kaya Toribami & Haru Kazashiro Vs Yuki Arai & Wakana Uehara
3. “Futari wa Princess” Max Heart Tournament – Round 1B: Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao Vs Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu
4. “Futari wa Princess” Max Heart Tournament – Round 1C: Nao Kakuta & HIMAWARI Vs Raku & Pom Harajuku
5. “Futari wa Princess” Max Heart Tournament – Round 1D: Miyu Yamashita & Toga Vs Moka Miyamoto & Juria Nagano

The Max Heart Tournament begins this weekend!

Mizuki will not be at the show because of a scheduling conflict.

DDT “NEW YEAR FAN APPRECIATION DAY!”, 20/01/2024
Tokyo Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX

1. 4 Way Tag Match: Yuki Ueno & Kazuki Hirata Vs HARASHIMA & Kazusada Higuchi Vs Yoshitatsu & Akito Vs Yuki Iino & Yusuke Okada
2. New Year’s Six Major Single Match: KANON Vs Yuni
3. New Year’s Six Major Single Match: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Ilusion
4. New Year’s Six Major Single Match: Danshoku Dieno Vs Kazuma Sumi
5. New Year’s Six Major Single Match: Yukio Naya Vs Takeshi Masada
6. New Year’s Six Major Single Match: Jun Akiyama Vs Rukiya
7. New Year’s Six Major Single Match: Tetsuya Endo Vs Hideki Okatani
8. Special 6-Man Tag Match: MAO, Shunma Katsumata & Makoto Oishi Vs Bryan Keith, Soma Takao & Shota

Toy Kojima got injured in yesterday’s match and was diagnosed with a fractured rib. He will be out of action for a month and is expected to be back on 14th February. A lot of the DDT cards for the next month have to be changed around due to his absence.

DDT “SWEET DREAMS! 2024 TOUR IN SHINAGAWA”, 21/01/2024
Tokyo Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX

1. Jun Akiyama, Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi Vs HARASHIMA, Hideki Okatani & Kazuma Sumi
2. Tetsuya Endo & Yuki Iino Vs Takeshi Masada & Rukiya
3. Kazuki Hirata & Yuni Vs Akito & Yusuke Okada
4. Special Single Match: Kazusada Higuchi Vs MJ Paul
5. Special Tag Match: Yuki Ueno & Shunma Katsumata Vs Yukio Naya & Yoshitatsu
6. KO-D Tag Team Titles: Soma Takao & Shota (c) Vs Daisuke Sasaki & KANON
7. DDT Universal Title: MAO (c) Vs Bryan Keith

At least both Yuni and Kazuma Sumi will be well again to come back and wrestle this weekend.

DDT “SWEET DREAMS! 2024”, 28/01/2024
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Special 10-Man Tag Match: Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi, Akito, Shinichiro Kawamatsu & Rukiya Vs HARASHIMA, Tomoya, Antonio Honda, Takeshi Masada & Kazuma Sumi
2. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Tetsuya Endo, Yuki Iino & Yusuke Okada Vs Daisuke Sasaki, KANON & Bryan Keith (w/ MJ Paul)
3. MAO Birthday Commemorative Match: MAO & TAKA Michinoku Vs Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi
4. Special Single Match: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA Vs Naruki Doi
5. Yukio Sakaguchi Korakuen Final Match ~ Special Single Match: Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Hideki Okatani
5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles – DEAD OR ALIVE Contra DEAD OR ALIVE: Jun Akiyama, Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi (c) Vs Hikaru Sato, Kazusada Higuchi & Ryo Kawamura
6. DDT Extreme Title: Kazuki Hirata (c) Vs Shunma Katsumata
7. KO-D Openweight Title: Yuki Ueno (c) Vs Yukio Naya

It is on short notice but we are only getting a few more Yukio Sakaguchi matches until he retires next month. One of his requests is to have a singles match against Hideki Okatani. Now that Eruption has ended Sakaguchi wants to see for himself just how much Okatani has progressed as he starts the next chapter of his career.

Kojima’s injury has led to Shinichiro Kawamatsu getting booked for his first wrestling match of the year.

DDT “INTO THE FIGHT 2024 TOUR IN NAGANO”, 04/02/2024
Nagano Act Hall

1. Special Tag Match: Yukio Sakaguchi & Antonio Honda Vs Kazuki Hirata & Kazusada Higuchi
2. Nagano Specialty Special 6-Man Tag Match: Jun Akiyama, Toru Owashi & Yoshihiko Vs Danshoku Dieno, Makoto Oishi & Tetsuya Endo

Another match being specially put together for Sakaguchi is a tag match involving some of his favorite people to wrestle with. He and Kazusada Higuchi always hit hard as tag partners and opponents. Antonio Honda and Kazuki Hirata are at the opposite end of the scale. Their comedy antics always made Sakaguchi laugh.

DDT “INTO THE FIGHT 2024 TOUR IN SHINJUKU”, 07/02/2024
Shinjuku FACE

1. Yukio Sakaguchi Retirement Match: Yukio Sakaguchi Vs HARASHIMA

Sakaguchi chose HARASHIMA to be his opponent for his retirement match.

Ryuki Honda and Yuma Anzai from All Japan will both be on the show.

DDT “DDT GOES PHILADELPHIA!”, 04/04/2024
Penns Landing Caterers Auditorium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Talent announced for the show so far are Yuki Ueno, MAO, Kazuki Hirata, Konosuke Takeshita, Tetsuya Endo, Daisuke Sasaki, Chris Brookes, Shunma Katsumata, KANON, Takeshi Masada and Yoshihiko.

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Yukio Sakaguchi Announces His Retirement

January 15, 2024

DDT “INTO THE FIGHT 2024 TOUR IN SHINJUKU”, 07/02/2024
Shinjuku FACE

1. Yukio Sakaguchi Retirement Match: Yukio Sakaguchi Vs HARASHIMA

An emergency press conference was held by DDT in Shibuya today for the announcement that Yukio Sakaguchi will soon retire from pro wrestling. His final match will take place on 7th February. Sakaguchi said his reason for retiring is a personal matter but it is not because of lost motivation or declining physical ability. He is currently 50 years old and originally thought to keep wrestling until he was 55. However he thinks everybody in the business knows when the day they want to retire will come and for Sakaguchi that day has come to him now. Sanshiro Takagi wanted Sakaguchi to reconsider and tried to pursuade him to stay because he still has a lot to offer as an older brother figure to the rest of the roster. Instead Sakaguchi could not be convinced and is sticking with his decision.

Sakaguchi does not want his road to retirement to last long so he is only wrestling a couple more matches until his retirement bout. Three of them will be in DDT and he also has a booking in Taiwan next week. He remembers when his father Seiji Sakaguchi retired it was in a tag team match with Kengo Kimura. It was a normal match but still very memorable which is why Sakaguchi does not want to do anything drastic for his own retirement match. He has chosen HARASHIMA to be his final opponent because he holds a lot of respect for him and they have been regular opponents in DDT. Sakaguchi has already told his father about his decision to retire.

Sakaguchi was asked about his favorite memories in DDT. He said his family was always involved in pro wrestling. When he was a child his playground was the New Japan dojo. It felt like destiny he would become a pro wrestler. However he grew up resenting the Sakaguchi name due to his strained relationship with his father and brother. He even wanted to change his surname so he could finally escape it. Joining DDT gave him the freedom to be himself and have fun. He got to wrestle wearing pantyhose over his head, get drunk at Beer Garden shows, have hard hitting fights with the likes of HARASHIMA, Shigehiro Irie & Naomi Yoshimura, laughing at the silly jokes Antonio Honda & Kazuki Hirata came up with and forming Eruption with Kazusada Higuchi & Saki Akai. DDT was where this serious and scary looking man covered in tattoos could go do stupid things inside a ring. He has so many memories he could write a book about them.

There was a question asking if Sakaguchi would still be retiring if Eruption did not lost the All Asia Tag Team Titles yesterday. He went into the match treating it like Eruption must split up if they lost. He admits he would still go through with this announcement if Eruption were still the champions and he would have held onto the belts until retirement. He praised his tag partner Hideki Okatani for growing tremendously over the last couple of months. For that reason Sakaguchi also asked for a singles match against Okatani to happen before he retires. That match will take place on 28th January.

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Posted by JamieOD