BIG “G” BANG Collide At The Beer Garden

July 24, 2012

UNION “BEER GARDEN FIGHT 2012 ~ UNION DAY”, 29/07/2012
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

1. Taichi Kazato Vs Goro Jr.
2. Rock ‘N’ Roll Death Match: A. YAZAWA Vs X
3. Isami Kodaka & Big Rude Vs Ken Ohka & Kengo Ohka
4. DDT Extreme Title – Last Man Standing Match: Shuji Ishikawa (c) Vs Shigehiro Irie

Shuji Ishikawa didn’t have to look far for his first DDT Extreme Title challenger. His BIG “G” BANG tag team partner Shigehiro Irie faces him in a Last Man Standing match for the belt to main event Union’s Beer Garden show.

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More Matches Added For Masa Show

June 1, 2012

DDT “MASA TAKANASHI TRIUMPH ANNIVERSARY RETURN”, 15/06/2012
Edogawa Eastern Friend Hall

1. Emi Sakura Vs DJ Nira
2. Sanshiro Takagi & Takao Soma Vs Hoshitango & Tetsuya Endo
3. HARASHIMA & Daisuke Sasaki Vs KUDO & Makoto Oishi
4. Kenny Omega, Hikaru Sato & Michael Nakazawa Vs Shuji Ishikawa, Keisuke Ishii & Shigehiro Irie
5. Kota Ibushi & Danshoku Dino Vs Yasu Urano & Antonio Honda
6. Masa Takanashi Vs Tomomitsu Matsunaga

Shuji Ishikawa pops over to DDT for an enticing six-man tag team match, teaming with his BIG “G” BANG partner Shigehiro Irie and Keisuke Ishii to face Kenny Omega, Hikaru Sato and a reinvigorated Michael Nakazawa.

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BIG “G” BANG Title Shot, Olé Yankee, GENTARO’s Family Grudge

April 19, 2012

UNION “GOLDEN UNION 2012”, 04/05/2012
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

0. Union League Experiment: Madoka, SAGAT
1. Handicap Match Of Love: Hiroshi Fukuda Vs Rion Mizuki & Rumi Kazama
2. Goro Tsurumi, El Hijo del Goro & Goro Jr Vs Big Rude, Black Spider Clutch & GENTARO
3. Age Contra Makeup: Cherry Vs Mio Shirai
4. New Sanshiro Takagi Vs New Keizo Matsuda
5. Hiro Tsumaki Triumph: Hiro Tsumaki & Kengo Ohka Vs Isami Kodaka & El Generico
6. BJW Tag Team Title: Yoshihito Sasaki & Shinobu (c) Vs Shuji Ishikawa & Shigehiro Irie
7. DDT Extreme Title – ??? Match: Yuko Miyamoto (c) Vs Ken Ohka

As DDT Extreme Champion, Yuko Miyamoto gets to decide what match he and Ken Ohka will have for the belt. He will announce it sometime before the show takes place.

Back at the Big Japan/Union joint show, BIG “G” BANG defeated Yoshihito Sasaki & Shinobu in a hotly contested match-up. Since then, Sasaki & Shinobu have become the BJW Tag Team Champions. Due to their victory over the new champions, Shuji Ishikawa & Shigehiro Irie have now been given a title shot that will take place in Union. This match takes place a day before Ishikawa faces Abdullah Kobayashi for the BJW Death Match Title at Big Japan’s biggest show of the year. So Shuji could wind up with two Big Japan titles in two days.

Isami Kodaka is looking forward to teaming with El Generico for the first time. After their battles over the Extreme Title, he now thinks they will have a lot of fun tagging together. However, Isami does not have the same views on Kengo Ohka. He doesn’t exactly hate Kengo, it’s more of a strong dislike of the man. The wild card of the match is Hiro Tsumaki, who has been absent from Union for several months. Turns out he spent his time away from Union by wrestling for Okinawa Pro. Kodaka does not know what Tsumaki has learned during his time in Okinawa or what to expect from his return. Even though the match is titled “Hiro Tsumaki Triumph” Isami also wants the match to be called “Union Next Stage.”

Big Rude abducted GENTARO in an attempt to have him wrestle against the Tsurumi family. During the press conference for the event, Big Rude brought in a blindfolded GENTARO into the room and over to the table before revealing what he wanted from him. GENTARO has a bad history with Goro Tsurumi and his two sons. Their grudge began over an incident involving vegetable oil that took place in Mexico many years ago. GENTARO agreed to help Rude fight the Tsumaki clan and Black Spider Clutch has also been added to their team. GENTARO said he heard a rumour that Clutch once ate a baby. That’s probably not the most reassuring thing to tell someone who will be tagging with the guy.

The Union League Experiment continues with at least Madoka and SAGAT involved in the latest offering. It has not been decided yet if anymore wrestlers will be involved on the night.

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UNION “SPRING UNION DRAGONS!” Results

April 15, 2012

UNION “SPRING UNION DRAGONS!”, 15/04/2012
Nagoya Telepia Hall
224 Fans

1. New Sanshiro Takagi & Big Rude defeated Mio Shirai & Taichi Kazato when Rude submitted Kazato with a Crab Hold (6:50).
2. Hida Kubota & Yasu Kubota defeated El Hijo del Goro & Goro Jr when Yasu Kubota pinned El Hijo del Goro with the Swanton Bomb (5:42).
3. Cao Zhang & Princess Makoto defeated Cherry & Hiroshi Fukuda when Zhang pinned Fukuda with the Otori Rakku (13:05).
4. Hardcore Match: Isami Kodaka defeated Konaka = Pale One with the Zan Isamu Leg (10:14).
5. Iron Man Tag Team Match: Shuji Ishikawa & Shigehiro Irie (2) Vs Ken Ohka & Kengo Ohka (2) ended in a draw (60:00).
5a. Shuji Ishikawa pinned Ken Ohka with the Splash Mountain (20:22).
5b. Shigehiro Irie pinned Ken Ohka with the Fantastic Flip (22:47).
5c. Kengo Ohka submitted Shigehiro Irie with the Mudo (39:15).
5d. Ken Ohka pinned Shigehiro Irie with the Spear Of Fire (45:45).

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School Entrance Ceremony, Iron Man Tag Match

March 31, 2012

UNION “SCHOOL ENTRANCE CEREMONY 2012”, 08/04/2012
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

0. Union League Experiment: Madoka Vs X
1. If Cherry Loses, Her Age Becomes Public – Continued: Cherry Vs GAMI
2. Kengo Ohka & Mio Shirai Vs Choun-Shiryu & Princess Makoto
3. El Hijo del Goro & Goro Jr. Vs New Sanshiro Takagi & Taichi Kazato
4. Hiroshi Fukuda Vs Rion Mizuki (w/ Rumi Kazama)
5. DDT Extreme Title Next Challenger Survival Match: Isami Kodaka Vs Shuji Ishikawa Vs Ken Ohka Vs Big Rude Vs Shigehiro Irie Vs Cao Zhang

Union has come up with a convoluted way to decide their first challenger for the new DDT Extreme Champion, Yuko Miyamoto. Six wrestlers will be randomly split into three teams. The three teams will then face each other in a 3 Way Tag Team match. The winning pair will then have to face each other to decide who will face Yuko Miyamoto for the title on 4th May.

Indie sleaze legend Goro Tsurumi will attend the show. He is also bringing two of his previously unknown sons to compete. Not much is known about them other than the countries they are from. El Hijo del Goro is from Mexico. Goro Jr. is Japanese but has spent the last few years living in Europe. An interesting note for those who don’t know, DDT General Manager Tsurumi Amon is Goro’s nephew. That explains Amon’s hairstyle and single fighting glove for anyone who wanted to know why he looked like that.

Disaster for Hiroshi Fukuda. First he gets dropped by his precious mentor Rumi Kazama for his lack of success in the ring. Now Rumi has sided with pretty boy Rion Mizuki for his upcoming rematch with Fukuda.

Match #2 will be Princess Makoto’s first match in Union as a wrestler. All of her previous appearances were as a valet to Choun-Shiryu & Cao Zhang.

UNION “SPRING UNION DRAGONS!”, 15/04/2012
Nagoya Telepia Hall

1. Hardcore Match: Isami Kodaka Vs Konaka = Pale One
2. Iron Man Tag Team Match: Shuji Ishikawa & Shigehiro Irie Vs Ken Ohka & Kengo Ohka

For the first time in its history, Union will be holding a 60 minute Iron Man Tag Team match. On one side you have BIG “G” BANG, a team that has been unstoppable since its formation. On the other side you have Team Ohka, who have only just recently began teaming together and even scored an upset victory in their first match as a duo. It was Ken Ohka’s idea to have the Iron Man match. Ishikawa doesn’t think it will be a close battle. In fact, Shuji thinks he and Shigehiro Irie can win the match 60-0. He then said they can get in contact with Guinness and set a world record for the highest score ever set in an Iron Man match.

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BJW/UNION “BIG JAPAN X UNION MAY OR MAY NOT BE AT WAR” Results

March 29, 2012

BJW/UNION “BIG JAPAN X UNION MAY OR MAY NOT BE AT WAR”, 29/03/2012
Shinjuku FACE
329 Fans – No Vacancy

1. Cherry & Great Kojika defeated Mio Shirai & Takumi Tsukamoto when Cherry pinned Shirai with the Cherryton Bomb (8:11).
2. Give Courage To Men Suffering From Battle: Jaki Numazawa defeated Big Rude by making him say “Propia” (5:55).
3. Sanshiro Takagi Battle Royal: Big Buddy Sanshiro Takagi (Yuji Okabayashi) defeated Sanshiro Takagi X (Batten Tamagawa) with the Golem Splash (9:16)
Other Participants: Sanshiro Takagi, New Sanshiro Takagi, Secret Sanshiro Takagi (Mototsugu Shimizu) and Love Sanshiro Takagi (Abdullah Kobayashi).
4. Daisuke Sekimoto defeated Hiroshi Fukuda with a Crab Hold (6:57).
5. Hardcore Tag Team Match: Ken Ohka & Kengo Ohka defeated Ryuji Ito & Kankuro Hoshino when Ken Ohka pinned Hoshino with the Spear Of The Flame onto a Ladder (12:22).
6. Shuji Ishikawa & Shigehiro Irie defeated Yoshihito Sasaki & Shinobu when Ishikawa pinned Shinobu with the Splash Mountain (12:17).
7. DDT Extreme Title – Fluorescent Lighttubes Death Match: Yuko Miyamoto defeated Isami Kodaka (c) with the Swivel Fire Thunder (15:12).
*Isami Kodaka fails in V2. Yuko Miyamoto becomes the 18th DDT Extreme Champion!

Union and Big Japan Wrestling may or may not be at war with each other but their relationship has gotten to the point where a DDT championship is now in the hands of Big Japan. Yuko Miyamoto defeated his long time friend Isami Kodaka to win the DDT Extreme Championship in the main event of Union and BJW’s cross-promoted show in Shinjuku FACE. Both men fought in a Fluorescent Lighttubes Death Match, the first time such a match took place in the building. There were no hard feelings after the match, after all Miyamoto & Kodaka currently hold the BJW Tag Team Championship together. In fact, after the match Miyamoto kept on saying how much fun he had at the show and he asked Naomi Susan if Union and Big Japan could hold more joint shows in the future. Susan spoke to Big Japan rep Eiji Tosaka after the show and admitted she was frustrated to see Union lose a championship to Big Japan. However, she also thought the joint show was an interesting experiment.

BIG “G” BANG built some momentum going into their seperate championship bouts next month by defeating a tag team that featured the winner of Big Japan’s recent Ikkitousen tournament. Shuji Ishikawa & Shigehiro Irie continued their winning ways with a victory over Yoshihito Sasaki & Shinobu, a team that lives by the tagline “Good Friends, Better Enemies.” The action did not stop at the end when the bell rang and a brawl broke out between the two sides.

Look at the result for Match #5. Yes, you read that right. Ken Ohka won a Hardcore match against Big Japan death match wrestlers! It all happened when Kankuro Hoshino placed Ohka on top of a ladder and climbed up top for the Diving Senton. Ohka rolled out of the way and after Hoshino landed on top of the ladder, Ohka hit his patented Spear Of The Flame to get the three count. Ken now thinks that he and Kengo Ohka make for a natural tag team together.

If you think that Sanshiro Takagi does not appear in Union enough then the Sanshiro Takagi Battle Royal is just the match for you! There were not enough Sanshiro Takagi taking part in the Sanshiro Takagi Battle Royal, so one more Sanshiro Takagi was added to the line up. Big Buddy Sanshiro Takagi (Yuji Okabayashi) was the last Takagi standing, defeating the original Sanshiro Takagi and four other dopplegangers. The Secret Sanshiro Takagi was Mototsugu Shimizu. The Secret in that name stood for Secret Base, Shimizu’s home promotion.

Big Rude and Jaki Numazawa fought each other in an I Quit Match with a difference. Rather than forcing the opponent to say “I quit”, the aim of the match was for each wrestler to force his opponent to say their own sponsor’s name. Both Big Rude and Numazawa are spokesmen for seperate products and have sponsorships from the companies when they wrestle. Big Rude is sponsored by Svenson, a company that specialises in hair restoration products. Numazawa meanwhile is sponsored by Propia, who make shampoo, make up and, I’m not making this up, fake facial hair. Numazawa won the match when he placed Rude in a Camel Clutch and forced him to shout “Propia!”

The official show report on DDT’s website says the Great Kojika and Cherry “graced the opening match in the wisdom of age”. I bet Cherry will be offended when she reads that line.

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But Did You Know, That When It Snows…

March 2, 2012

UNION “MARCH OF THE UNION 2012”, 18/03/2012
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

1. Hiroshi Fukuda Vs Rion Mizuki
2. If Cherry Loses, Her Real Age Becomes Public: Cherry Vs Mio Shirai
3. New Sanshiro Takagi & Big Rude Vs New Keizo Matsuda & X
4. BEST OF THE SUPER Ohka: Ken Ohka Vs Kengo Ohka
5. 1000 Roses Death Match: Shuji Ishikawa & Shigehiro Irie Vs Isami Kodaka & Ryuichi Sekine

The main event is exactly what it says. Union will provide a more romantic sounding hardcore match where 1000 roses will be brought to the ring in boxes and other displays. They will even stapled to wooden boards and wrapped around ladders.

I’m surprised to find out that the BEST OF THE SUPER Ohka bout will be the first singles match between Ken Ohka and Kengo (Mashimo) Ohka. Kengo was originally brought into Union as the new and improved version of Ken Ohka. At the press conference for this show, Ken let slip that the BEST OF THE SUPER Ohka concept could involve more than just himself and Kengo. “If there is anyone who identifies himself as Ohka, I will recruit him,” said Ken.

Union are also attempting an experiment for the show. They are asking for anyone with previous amateur wrestling experience to participate in a dark match before the show. I’m not sure if they mean amateur wrestling as in the Olympic sport or if they mean people who took part in the Japanese equivalent of backyard wrestling clubs. Probably the latter since many of the wrestlers DDT and Union have recruited in the past came from college wrestling clubs and tiny indie sleaze feds.

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Tonkachi, Ladders & Chairs (Oh My!), BIG “G” BANG

December 21, 2011

UNION “1…2…3…UNION!”, 03/01/2012
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Loser Must Follow Winner On Twitter: Hiroshi Fukuda (w/ Rumi Kazama) Vs RG
2. Cherry Vs Ayumi Kurihara
3. Americas World Mixed Tag Team Titles: NOSAWA Rongai & Io Shirai (c) Vs Ken Ohka & Mio Shirai
4. Sanshiro Takagi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi Vs KENSO & Yoshiaki Yago
5. 3 Way Tag Team: Vladimir Nagai & Ivan Markov (w/ Bonnie) Vs Kengo Mashimo & Madoka Vs Masao Orihara & Big Morohashi
6. Shuji Ishikawa & Shigehiro Irie Vs Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazuki Hashimoto
7. DDT Extreme Title – TLC (Tonkachi, Ladders & Chairs): El Generico (c) Vs Isami Kodaka

Union held its latest press conference in Shinjuku’s Dropkick Bar today to announce more news and matches for their big 3rd January show at Korakuen Hall. The conference began with Naomi Susan being joined by Isami Kodaka. Naomi told everyone she received an e-mail from El Generico about how he just defended the DDT Extreme Championship in Hawaii. Generico also said in the e-mail that he wanted his match against Kodaka to be fought under TLC rules. In this case the T in TLC does not stand for tables, but for Tonkachi which is a giant hammer previously used in Union by Chinese wrestler Cao Zhang. Isami said he wanted to win the belt back at any cost and accepted the TLC match.

After Kodaka’s portion was finished, the conference moved onto the new team of Shuji Ishikawa & Shigehiro Irie, together now known as BIG “G” BANG. The name is taken from a South Korean boy band for some reason.* It was then announced that Shuji & Irie will face Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazuki Hashimoto from Big Japan on 3rd January. Shuji & Daisuke are definitly no strangers to each other. It was Sekimoto who defeated Ishikawa to win the KO-D Openweight Title back in 2010. Irie described Sekimoto as being as strong as a gorilla. He compared his own strength to a dangerous bear that could kill a hippopotamus. Irie then said that hippos kill more people in Africa than any other animal, so that makes him very dangerous.

The Union show will be the second wrestling show taking place in Korakuen Hall on the 3rd. All Japan will have a show taking place earlier in the day with Kenny Omega defending the AJPW Jr. Heavyweight Title against Hiroshi Yamato in the semi-main. The Union show might be the fifth match Daisuke Sekimoto will have in Korakuen Hall in 3 days. He’s wrestling for ZERO-1 on the 1st, Big Japan & All Japan in the 2nd and finally All Japan and Union on the 3rd, all shows taking place in Korakuen. Crazy.

*Anyone else notice DDT’s trend of naming groups after musical acts lately?

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