1. 3 Way Match: Yukio Naya defeated JJ Furno and Yuki Ishida when Naya pinned Ishida with The World’s Best Back Drop (8:48).
2. Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & Ilusion defeated Toru Owashi, Yasu Urano & Yuni when Ilusion pinned Yuni with the Swanton Bomb (12:07).
3. Special Single Match: Jun Akiyama defeated Antonio Honda with the Exploder Suplex (10:22).
4. Special Tag Match: Yuya Koroku & Kazusada Higuchi defeated Chris Brookes & Kazuma Sumi when Koroku pinned Sumi with the Modified Sky Twister Press (11:50).
5. Special Tag Match: Shinya Aoki & Keigo Nakamura defeated Minoru Suzuki & Akito when Nakamura pinned Akito with the Modified Crucifix Pin (15:18).
6. MAO’s Last The 37KAMIINA Match: Yuki Ueno, MAO, Shunma Katsumata & To-y defeated HARASHIMA, Danshoku Dieno, Kazuki Hirata & Takeshi Masada when MAO pinned Hirata after the Oretachi no Mad Max (16:13).
The sauna is going to feel a little bit emptier after today because MAO has now left The 37KAMIINA. He teamed with the other three members for the last time and used his tag team finisher with Shunma Katsumata to win in the main event. He said he is certain there will be times he misses the unit but there is something new that he wants to do and he’ll do his best to pursue it. That may mean he will have to fight against The 37KAMIINA from now on but he wants the fans to look forward to those matches when they happen. Yuki Ueno has mixed emotions over the decision but as long as MAO will put fort 100% effort he will support him. To-y made MAO promise he will always be the same person that To-y loves and looks up to. Katsumata wants to reunite the ShunMao tag team in the future but he cannot leave the sauna with him no matter how hard he tries.
I’d say Shinya Aoki & Keigo Nakamura are now ready to challenge for the KO-D Tag Team Titles after how they fared against Minoru Suzuki & Akito. Suzuki bullied Nakamura around but found himself in a stalemate against Aoki’s submission work. While the two of them grappled their way into a deadlock, Nakamura used a Full Nelson to slip Akito into the Modified Crucifix Pin to get the three count out of nowhere. Backstage Suzuki was asked by reporters about his upcoming DDT Universal Title defence against Yoshihiko. Suzuki rubbished the idea because it’s just a doll and everyone in DDT is stupid for treating it like an actual wrestler. When he was done talking, Yoshihiko was actually laying on the floor behind him and tried to grab Suzuki’s leg. Suzuki ignored it and walked away.
Yuya Koroku has added a new move to his arsenal in his bid to become the KO-D Openweight Champion. He used a Sky Twister Press to win his match today, believing a big aerial attack like that is what he needs to beat Chris Brookes. He understands if the fans thinks Brookes will win but as long as Koroku has even a small chance he will throw everything he has to win the title on 6th April. Brookes finds the move familiar, like it is a Spiral or a Stardust looking thing. It looks strong but it also reminds Brookes of Tetsuya Endo which continues his criticisms of Koroku being Endo-like.
It seems Ilusion has no memory of wrestling Yasu Urano one year ago. When they faced off today Ilusion asked who the old man was? When Urano told him he’s 49 years old Ilusion encouraged the audience to chant “old man” at him. After DAMNATION T.A won their match, KANON unexpectedly ran into the ring armed with a chair. He attacked them like a house on fire until Daisuke Sasaki stopped him with a Low Blow. MJ Paul gave him a Death Valley Bomb and Sasaki then knocked him out with a chairshot. As they were leaving, KANON got back up and chased after them, resulting in a brawl to the back. When Sasaki had the chance to make a comment backstage he encouraged KANON to come attack him anywhere if he has the motivation to do it. But he should do it now because tomorrow Sasaki will have 20 security guards protecting him! He then told Ilusion to go hire 20 security guards for tomorrow. KANON said he came all the way to Nagoya todayso he could wear down Sasaki even just a little bit. He’s ready to send him to hell on 6th April!
DDT “O-HANAMI PRO WRESTLING 2025 – DAY 2”, 27/03/2025 Tokyo Ueno Park Outdoor Stage ??? Fans – Unannounced
1. Kazuma Sumi’s 22nd Birthday Match – Street Fight Scramble Pie Bunkhouse Match: MJ Paul & Ilusion defeated Makoto Oishi & Akito and Kazuma Sumi & Tomomitsu Matsunaga when Ilusion threw a pie at Sumi (5:16).
2. Hanami KING OF DRUNK Hangover 6-Man Tag Match For Losers Of The Preliminary Rumble: Kazusada Higuchi, Yuki Ueno & Shunma Katsumata defeated Soma Takao, Yukio Naya & Yuki Ishida when Katsumata pinned Ishida with the Guruguru VHS (9:35).
3. Maximum Allowance Of 5,000 Yen For Bringing The Weapons Death Match: Takeshi Masada & Keigo Nakamura defeated Yuni & Munetatsu Nakamura when Nakamura pinned Yuni with the Ueno-Style Diving Headbutt onto the Red Book (12:04).
4. Special Single Match: Yuya Koroku defeated JJ Furno with the Modified Triangle Lancer (7:45).
5. Hanami KING OF DRUNK Final: MAO defeated Daisuke Sasaki with the Sasaki Daddy Daddy (16:31).
6. Special Tag Match: Kazuki Hirata & Antonio Honda defeated Chris Brookes & Danshoku Dieno when Honda pinned Dieno with the Diving Fist Drop (20:09).
The main event became quite the free for all given the wrestlers involved. There was brawling throughout the venue with cans of beer being knocked around everywhere. Everyone wore Hirata GO! glasses so the match switched back and forth between fighting and dancing. Danshoku Dieno missed a Moonsault so Antonio Honda took advantage by climbing the top rope. Chris Brookes tried stopping him but Honda put him in a Lip Lock to make him drop off so he can go do the Diving Fist Drop on Dieno for the victory. He joked after the match that he never thought so many thoughts, feelings and ideas could be expressed with just one kiss! He told Kazuki Hirata the next time they’re opponents he’ll tell him how he feels with his lips.
In the final of the Hanami KING OF DRUNK competition Daisuke Sasaki and MAO were both dressed in casual clothing rather than their wrestling costumes. They had to drink tequila at regular intervals during the match. They quickly got drunk and started messing around, like handing drinks to the other wrestlers and slapping each other with flip flops. All of the other wrestlers got drunk and huddled around Sasaki to chant “Sasaki Daddy Daddy” at him. It kept going and going until Sasaki got scared and gave up. The wrestlers all carried him away from the ring while MAO celebrated becoming the KING Of Drunk for the Spring. He asked the fans what is wrong with fighting the past? He will create the future!
The wrestlers in Match #3 were each given a budget of 5,000 yen to go buy items with so they could be used as weapons. Some of the items used include balloons, kaiju figures, stuffed toys, leg stockings, piles of books and a Panda costume head. Munetatsu Nakamura also drived around the venue on a moped and crashed it into Yuni after Takeshi Masada & Keigo Nakamura both got out of the way.
Kazuma Sumi was feeling much better and was allowed to wrestle today, which is good because today is also his birthday! To celebrate turning 22 years old the goal of the match was to make a “birthday cake” out of foam and throw it at an opponent’s face. Everyone tried to do it while carefully not dropping the plate but with other wrestlers interfering it was a very difficult task. Ilusion had the bright idea of using the folder he keeps his college diploma in as a plate to pour the foam on and he successfully pie-faced Sumi with it to win.
The contract signing for the KO-D Openweight Title match on 6th April was held at the beginning of today’s show. Yuya Koroku praised Brookes for leading DDT along with the DNA generation but he believes it is time for D GENERATIONS to step into the company’s main story. Brookes didn’t mince his words. He told Koroku that nobody believes he will win the KO-D Title. Their levels are completely different from each other. Then when it was time for the photo session Brookes told Koroku to put down the D GENERATIONS CUP trophy because it doesn’t matter now. All that is at stake is the KO-D Title.
DDT “O-HANAMI PRO WRESTLING 2025 – DAY 1”, 26/03/2025 Tokyo Ueno Park Outdoor Stage ??? Fans – Unannounced
1. Shishamo Power defeated Yuni with the Shishamo Power Driver (7:31).
2. MJ Paul & Ilusion Vs Takeshi Masada & JJ Furno when Paul pinned Furno with the Reverse Splash (9:19).
3. Falls Count Anywhere Blindfold Scramble Bunkhouse Match: Kazuki Hirata defeated Antonio Honda with a School Boy (35:33). Order Of Elimination: HARASHIMA, Chris Brookes, Danshoku Dieno and Antonio Honda.
4. Special Tag Match: Jun Akiyama & Yuya Koroku defeated Takuya Nomura & Tomomitsu Matsunaga when Koroku submitted Matsunaga with the Modified Triangle Lancer (8:14).
5. Hanami KING OF DRUNK Preliminary Rumble: Daisuke Sasaki and MAO defeated Yuki Ishida by Ring Out (23:42). Order Of Elimination: Kazusada Higuchi, Soma Takao, Yukio Naya, Shunma Katsumata, Yuki Ueno and Yuki Ishida.
6. Special Single Match: Fuminori Abe defeated Keigo Nakamura with a School Boy (12:32).
There were a lot of kicks in the main event as Fuminori Abe and Keigo Nakamura tried to out-do each other. This included Abe doing Soccer Ball Kicks to Nakamura inside the ring. When he tried to do it outside Nakamura cut him off and he got to do the move instead. Nakamura used a Frankensteiner to try and get the flash pin but Abe kicked out. Abe then successfully pulled off a similar plan when Nakamura went for the Somato and Abe countered it into a School Boy for the three count. Nakamura wasn’t phased by the loss and told Abe to polish up his KO-D Tag Team Title belt. Abe responded that he will beat up Nakamura 126 times harder at the title match than he did today! He then tried to let Nakamura close out the show but Nakamura refused to speak and left the ring.
Everyone involved in the Hanami KING OF DRUNK competition had started drinking before the show began were already completely drunk by the time the Battle Royal began. Alongside the usual Battle Royal rules, drinks were served at regular intervals and if a wrestler could not drink their cup they were eliminated. Daisuke Sasaki and MAO ended up being the last two standing so they will face each other in the final tomorrow.
I should have seen this coming when Shishamo Power showed up again. The dreaded Seafood Vs Meat feud is back on the menu! When Shishamo won his match he was joined in the ring by the Yamada Suisan president as well as Unagi Mask and Super Unagi Mask to promote the company’s sponsored DDT show on 13th April. They were interrupted by Shunma “EL TURKEY” Katsumata who made a promise to get revenge when his team lost to the seafood side at last year’s show. He has new allies to team with him. One of them is Yuya “GIBIE” Koroku but more importantly the other is the pro wrestling world’s most amazing carnivore Aja Kong!
Kazuma Sumi was pulled from the show because he was feeling unwell. He is currently questionable if he can wrestle on tomorrow’s show. Some of the matches may get changed if he won’t be appearing.
There has been no further update on Masahiro Takanashi’s condition since yesterday. He is still undergoing medical examinations and DDT will announce the results of his diagnosis on a later date.
GANBARE☆PRO “BOAT RACE G1 TODA PRIMROSE”, 22/03/2026 Saitama Boat Race Toda
0. CWP Offer Match: Daisuke®️ & Dick Zlater Vs Doshipan & Takeshita
1. Sayaka Unagi & Banny Oikawa Vs Yuna Manase & YuuRI
2. El Gambaman Vs London Machine
3. Keisuke Ishii & Kouki Iwasaki Vs Hartley Jackson & Shota Kawakami
4. Shiro Koshinaka, Ken Ohka & Yumehito Imanari Vs Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Shuichiro Katsumura & Choun-Shiryu
The wrestlers taking part in the CWP match have been decided.
DDT “NANIWA FIGHTER 2025”, 23/03/2025 Osaka City Miyakojima Community Center
1. JJ Furno Vs Tomomitsu Matsunaga
2. Danshoku Dieno & Antonio Honda Vs Toru Owashi & Yukio Naya
3. Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & Ilusion Vs Keigo Nakamura, Yuni & Kazuma Sumi
4. Special Single Match: Jun Akiyama Vs Akito
5. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Yuki Ueno, MAO & Shunma Katsumata Vs Kazusada Higuchi, Kazuki Hirata & Yuki Ishida
6. Special Tag Match: Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada Vs Yuya Koroku & HARASHIMA
There was another injury coming out of yesterday’s show. To-y injured the side of his body and is taking this weekend off as a precaution.
KANON has also requested to take a short amount of time off. He isn’t booked again until 6th April.
DDT “O-HANAMI PRO WRESTLING 2025 – DAY 1”, 26/03/2025 Tokyo Ueno Park Outdoor Stage
1. Kazusada Higuchi & Yuni Vs MJ Paul & Ilusion
2. Special Single Match: Shishamo Power Vs Tomomitsu Matsunaga
3. Special Single Match: Takeshi Masada Vs JJ Furno
4. Falls Count Anywhere Blindfold Scramble Bunkhouse Match: Chris Brookes Vs Danshoku Dieno Vs HARASHIMA Vs Antonio Honda Vs Kazuki Hirata
5. Hanami KING OF DRUNK Preliminary Rumble: Yuki Ueno Vs MAO Vs Shunma Katsumata Vs To-y Vs Daisuke Sasaki Vs Soma Takao Vs Yukio Naya Vs Yuki Ishida
6. Special Tag Match: Takuya Nomura & Kazuma Sumi Vs Jun Akiyama & Yuya Koroku
7. Special Single Match: Fuminori Abe Vs Keigo Nakamura
The arrival of Astronauts is adding some freshness to the DDT cards. Fuminori Abe is going to face Keigo Nakamura in a preview of next month’s KO-D Tag Team Titles match. Also I bet a few people out there will be excited by the idea of Takuya Nomura and Jun Akiyama crossing paths even if it’s just in a tag match.
A change of plans for the Hanami KING OF DRUNK tournament. Takanashi’s injury reduces the Battle Royal down to eight wrestlers so it is now going to be the last two men standing who will qualify for the final. Also Chris Brookes is no longer taking part in it, presumably out of respect for Takanashi. Yuki Ueno is swapping places with him on the card instead.
The masked man from the seafood sponsorship is back! Shishamo Power will be in action.
DDT “O-HANAMI PRO WRESTLING 2025 – DAY 2”, 27/03/2025 Tokyo Ueno Park Outdoor Stage
1. 3 Way Tag Match: Kazusada Higuchi & Kazuma Sumi Vs MJ Paul & Ilusion Vs Akito & Tomomitsu Matsunaga
2. Maximum Allowance Of 5,000 Yen For Bringing The Weapons Death Match: Takeshi Masada & Keigo Nakamura Vs Yuni & Munetatsu Nakamura
3. Special Single Match: Yuya Koroku Vs JJ Furno
4. Special Tag Match: Chris Brookes & Danshoku Dieno Vs Kazuki Hirata & Antonio Honda
5. Hanami KING OF DRUNK Hangover 6-Man Tag Match For Losers Of The Preliminary Rumble: X, X & X Vs X, X & X
6. Hanami KING OF DRUNK Final: X Vs X
Here is a big chance for JJ Furno to get some attention if he can beat the current No. 1 Contender Yuya Koroku.
DDT “OWARI WARS 2025”, 29/03/2025 Aichi Chunichi Hall & Conference
1. Special Single Match: Jun Akiyama Vs Antonio Honda
2. Special Tag Match: Minoru Suzuki & Akito Vs Shinya Aoki & Keigo Nakamura
3. MAO’s Last The 37KAMIINA Match: Yuki Ueno, MAO, Shunma Katsumata & To-y Vs X, X, X & X
In a move that could eventually lead to a big shake up in DDT, MAO has decided to leave The 37KAMIINA and his final match with the unit will be at the end of the month. He feels he has done everything he can do with the sauna club and has goals he knows he cannot reach if he stays where he is now. He teased having a crazy looking schedule for the next four months heading into the summer. The first piece of that story is today’s news that he is booked for a New Japan show at Korakuen Hall on 4th April along with Yuya Koroku. It is also notable that MAO is not taking part in this year’s King Of DDT tournament despite winning it last year. Could he finally be Best Of The Super Juniors bound?
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “SPRING FESTIVAL DEBUT IN UENO!”, 02/04/2025 Tokyo Ueno Park Outdoor Stage
1. Arisu Endo Vs Uta Takami
2. Suzume & Haruna Neko Vs Toga & Chika Nanase
3. Maki Itoh & Yuki Kamifuku Vs Kira Summer & Ivy Steele
4. Miyu Yamashita & Moka Miyamoto Vs Wakana Uehara & Mifu Ashida
5. Miu Watanabe Vs Pom Harajuku
6. Special Tag Match: Rika Tatsumi & Mahiro Kiryu Vs Antonio Honda & Trans-Am ★ Hiroshi
7. Spring Sports Day Best 2 Out Of 3 Falls 10-Woman Special Tag Match: Mizuki, Yuki Aino, Raku, Haru Kazashiro & Shino Suzuki Vs Shoko Nakajima, Hyper Misao, Kaya Toribami, Yoshiko Hasegawa & HIMAWARI
There will be more detailed rules explained for the main event soon but so far it is going to be Best 2 out of 3 Falls with no time limit.
Antonio Honda & Trans-Am ★ Hiroshi remain as some of the few men to get booked on a Tokyo Joshi Pro show.
DDT “CHANGE AGE 2025 ~YOUR LIE IN APRIL~”, 06/04/2025 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. Naomi Yoshimura’s Return Match: Kazusada Higuchi, Naomi Yoshimura, Ryota Nakatsu & Yuki Ishida Vs X, X, X & X
2. Special 6-Man Tag Match: MAO, Kazuki Hirata & Kumadori Vs Shunma Katsumata, Yuni & Kazuma Sumi
3. Special Single Match: Jun Akiyama Vs Daichi Sato
4. 2 Vs 1 Special Handicap Match: Daisuke Sasaki & Hideki Okatani Vs KANON
5. KO-D Tag Team Titles: Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura (c) Vs Shinya Aoki & Keigo Nakamura
6. KO-D Openweight Title: Chris Brookes (c) Vs Yuya Koroku
It is now confirmed that Chris Brookes is the defending KO-D Openweight Champion taking on Yuya Koroku. They’re going to have better chances to hype up their match in the coming weeks.
Keigo Nakamura has a very strong tag partner in Shinya Aoki but he is reaching the point where he does not want to hopelessly rely on him. Instead he wants to use his own power to beat Astronauts for the KO-D Tag Team Titles.
KANON will be returning from his brief absence ready to fight DAMNATION T.A all by himself. He has nothing left and doesn’t care if Daisuke Sasaki & Hideki Okatani trample all over him again.
Daichi Sato is officially welcomed into the DDT roster on this show. Jun Akiyama is the welcoming party.
All of Harimao will be reunited when Naomi Yoshimura comes back for his first match since November 2022.
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “QUERI PRESENTS TJPW LIVE IN LAS VEGAS”, 18/04/2025 Pearl Theater At Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
1. Special Single Match: Masha Slamovich Vs Miu Watanabe
2. International Princess Title: Suzume (c) Vs X
3. Princess Tag Team Titles: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh (c) Vs X & X
4. Princess Of Princess Title: Mizuki (c) Vs X
Zara Zakher has been added to the show.
DDT “DRAMATIC DREAMS! VOL. 12 ~GIVE IT TO THE CLOUDS THE MOUNTAIN CUCKOO~”, 17/05/2025 Osaka City Sumiyoshi Civic Center
1. Special 6-Man Tag Match ~Laughter Leads To Hell~: Kuishinbo Kamen, Shunma Katsumata & Ram Kaichow Vs Kikutaro, Antonio Honda & No Name
“Laughter Leads To Hell” is a pretty apt description for the first match added to Yukinori Matsui’s show.
This year’s annual King Of DDT tournament will consist of 16 wrestlers in a straight knockout playoff. Every match will have no time limit and the bracket ends at the semi final stage where a lottery will pair off who in the final four will face each other.
*Masahiro Takanashi will not be taking part due to the injury he suffered at yesterday’s show but since he was announced to enter beforehand I included him here for the sake of record.
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DDT “KING OF DDT 2025 1ST ROUND”, 06/05/2025 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 1A: X Vs X
2. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 1B: X Vs X
3. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 1C: X Vs X
4. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 1D: X Vs X
5. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 1E: X Vs X
6. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 1F: X Vs X
7. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 1G: X Vs X
8. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 1H: X Vs X
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DDT “KING OF DDT 2025 2ND ROUND”, 10/05/2025 Shinjuku FACE
1. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 2: Winner Of Match 1A Vs Winner Of Match 1B
2. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 2: Winner Of Match 1C Vs Winner Of Match 1D
3. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 2: Winner Of Match 1E Vs Winner Of Match 1F
4. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 2: Winner Of Match 1G Vs Winner Of Match 1H
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DDT “KING OF DDT 2025 FINAL!!”, 25/05/2025 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. King Of DDT 2025 – Semi Final: X Vs X
2. King Of DDT 2025 – Semi Final: X Vs X
3. King Of DDT 2025 – Final: X Vs X
DDT “JUDGEMENT 2025 ~28TH ANNIVERSARY 5 HOUR SPECIAL~”, 20/03/2025 Tokyo Korakuen Hall ??? Fans – Unannounced
1. 57th KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Decision Match – Kazusada Higuchi & Shunma Katsumata Double Return Match: Shunma Katsumata, Yuni & Kazuma Sumi defeated Kazusada Higuchi, Ryota Nakatsu & Yuki Ishida when Sumi pinned Ishida with the School Boy (11:29). *NωA Jr. becomes the 57th KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions!
2. 3 Way Match: Toru Owashi defeated Antonio Honda and Kazuki Hirata when Owashi pinned Honda with La Magistral Cradle (8:40).
3. Special Tag Match: MJ Paul & Ilusion defeated JJ Furno & Tomomitsu Matsunaga when Paul pinned Matsunaga with the Reverse Splash (7:23).
4. Yukio Naya, Yuya Koroku & Keigo Nakamura defeated Makoto Oishi, Akito & Soma Takao when Koroku submitted Takao with the Modified Triangle Lancer (11:42).
5. Special Tag Match: HARASHIMA & Takeshi Masada defeated Jun Akiyama & Daichi Sato when HARASHIMA pinned Sato with the Somato (13:39).
6. DDT Extreme Title – Loser Joins Match: Super Sasadango Machine defeated Danshoku Dieno (c) with the Avalanche Vertical Drop Lehman Shock (8:33). *Special Observer: Amon Tsurumi. Danshoku Dieno fails in V3. Super Sasadango Machine becomes the 62nd DDT Extreme Champion! Dieno’s pet dog Haku must now join DDT!
7. Special Single Match: Daisuke Sasaki defeated KANON with La Mistica Crossface Lock (11:34).
8. KO-D Tag Team Titles: Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura defeated MAO & To-y (c) when Abe submitted To-y with the O-Manjigatame (16:17). *The 37KAMIINA fails in V2. Astronauts become the 86th KO-D Tag Team Champions!
9. DDT Universal Title: Minoru Suzuki defeated Yuki Ueno (c) with the Gotch-Style Piledriver (23:32). *Yuki Ueno fails in V1. Minoru Suzuki becomes the 18th DDT Universal Champion!
10. KO-D Openweight Title: Chris Brookes (c) defeated Masahiro Takanashi with the Praying Mantis Bomb (21:17). *V3 for Chris Brookes.
What was supposed to be a big DDT show to celebrate the 28th Anniversary of their debut show turned into a scary ending in the main event. Chris Brookes and Masahiro Takanashi wanted to give it their all for their KO-D Openweight Title match with neither holding back their efforts. A table was set up at ringside and Takanashi tried to put Brookes through it with the Takatonic. However Brookes blocked the move and countered it into an Implant through the table instead, busting Takanashi open in the process. KUDO made a surprise appearance at ringside to psyche up Takanashi and get him to continue the match. That inspired Takanashi to use KUDO’s Diving Double Knee Drop on Brookes but Brookes blocked it with his own knees. The fight went back up to the top turnbuckle where Brookes stopped Takanashi from doing the Avalanche Takatonic. Instead Brookes gave him the Avalanche Praying Mantis Bomb, causing Takanash’s head to hit off the back of the canvas. Brookes followed up with a regular version of the Praying Mantis Bomb for the three count.
Things quickly became concerning once the match was over when Takanashi was unable to move. He was still conscious and could talk to Brookes, Yukinori Matsui and the ring doctor. Brookes held the microphone to Takanashi so he could thank the fans, Brookes and DDT that he loves them all. The ending of the show was paused and everyone remained in their seats so the ambulance could arrive and the medical team could safely take Takanashi away on a stretcher. He was still conscious, was able to speak and he even raised his fist to the crowds as he was being taken away. As the show was officially brought to a close, Sanshiro Takagi told the fans on the microphone he is confident that Takanashi will definitely come back from this injury.
DDT are currently waiting to hear on his diagnosis before they announce any further details. Tokyo Sports were able to get a comment from the ring doctor. Takanashi told him his upper body was feeling numb and he couldn’t move his lower body. While the news article suggests there is a possibility of a cervical spine injury based on that description, the doctor himself cannot say what the extent of the injury is until they get the MRI results.
While Takanashi was being tended to in the ring, DDT tried to keep the show going by having Yuya Koroku approach Brookes at ringside. Brookes was holding the KO-D Title while Koroku carried out the D GENERATIONS CUP trophy. Koroku said he is not the same person he used to be. He is no longer the Koroku from BURNING and he is no longer a “Generic Endo” either. He found his confidence, won the DGC and will be facing Brookes for the KO-D Title on 6th April. Brookes understandably wasn’t in the mood to spend much time on this so he had a brief staredown with Koroku before trying to close out the show with the rest of SCHADENFREUDE International.
Great job, Yuki Ueno. You used the DDT Universal Title as bait to get a match with Minoru Suzuki and he just came over, beat the crap out of you and won the championship. This definitely didn’t go the way he thought it would. The “Pirate King” overwhelmed Ueno with his power and took the fight out to the bleachers. Ueno was able to fight back and even use a chair as a weapon against Suzuki. He seemed to find some joy in the fight and even used Takagi’s finisher the Sit Down Himawari Bomb for a nearfall. But Suzuki kicked out of the BME and eventually got Ueno to crack by putting him in the Sleeper Hold. The Dropkick to the face that usually works out so well for Ueno couldn’t take Suzuki off his feet. Instead Suzuki dropped Ueno with the Gotch-Style Piledriver to win his first ever DDT championship.
Suzuki could see that Ueno was in pain and agony after the match but he couldn’t help but tell him he had fun today. Suzuki will happily “play” with him again anytime. Ueno left the ring in frustration while Suzuki could hear a voice coming from the championship telling him to bring it to the outside world. Suzuki is travelling to Las Vegas next month so if anybody wants to aim for him and the Universal Title, he welcomes them to come forward and challenge him. There are no borders for him and he won’t discriminate against class or gender. Wherever there is pro wrestling Suzuki can defend the championship there as long as he can find an opponent who is undoubtedly strong. Meanwhile Ueno is coming to terms with just how big of a mistake he made by doing this match.
The Astronauts have successfully landed in DDT by beating MAO & To-y to become the new KO-D Tag Team Champions! The Bati-Bati style of the “Fighting Detectives” is just what was needed to match MAO’s fucked up wrestling along with To-y’s fiery attitude. Fuminori Abe was almost beaten when he took the Whirlwind Kick from MAO followed by the Kojima Wonderland but Takuya Nomura broke the pin. MAO attacked Nomura with a Quebrada leaving Abe and To-y left in the ring to fight each other. Abe countered the Kojima Wonderland into the Manjigatame and then forced To-y down onto the mat with a grounded version of the hold to make him give up.
Astronauts were quickly met by one of their first challengers when Keigo Nakamura got into the ring. Nakamura wants to challenge them with Shinya Aoki as his tag partner. Abe said they would be happy to do the match and it was confirmed for the 6th April Korakuen Hall show. Nakamura said backstage he’s been relying on Aoki so much that he wants to win the tag belts under his own power. Astronauts told reporters they want to use the KO-D Tag Titles to help them investigate not just DDT but the wider pro wrestling scene to prove they are the best tag team in the world!
As for the former tag champs, MAO dropped a big announcement by telling reporters he will now leave The 37KAMIINA! He believes he has done everything he can do with the group and has nothing more to teach To-y. In fact now is the time he expects To-y to try and beat him. There are many more things away from The 37KAMIINA that MAO wants to do including things he admits he should have already done by now. He already made his mind up to leave once he lost the KO-D Tag Titles with To-y so that means today is the day. DDT is going to completely change because of this decision and MAO wants to bet on that happening. He said he’s not quitting DDT but his schedule for the next four months is going to make people a bit dizzy when they see it.
KANON Vs Daisuke Sasaki was advertised as a singles match but it may as well have been a Handicap Match given how much DAMNATIONA T.A got involved. KANON took a bamboo stick beating from Hideki Okatani, had Ilusion all over his back and just when he though the coast was clear MJ Paul was there to cause more trouble. In the end another stick strike from Okatani set KANON up for La Mistica Crossface Lock so Sasaki could win. After the match Sasaki called KANON weak but took back the claim he is an unwanted child. He is in fact needed to serve as a sacrifice for Okatani’s return match on 6th April. Sasaki decided the match at that show will be Sasaki & Okatani against KANON in a 2-on-1 Handicap Match! Hell is still to come for KANON and Okatani told him not to run away. KANON was in an emotional mess backstage but accepted the match because he has nothing left to lose.
The DDT Extreme Title match is meant to be Super Sasadango Machine’s last time fighting for the belt so he, Danshoku Dieno and Amon Tsurumi wanted to make it as dramatic as possible. Dieno chose a stipulation that would force Sasadango to join DDT full time if Dieno won the match. But if Sasadango won the match then Dieno’s beloved pet dog Haku would join the DDT roster instead. It became the topic of Sasadango’s pre-match PowerPoint presentation where he talked about labour regulations and the risks of forced labour. Tsurumi argued Sasadango’s point by reminding him he retired from wrestling once before and came back anyway. To make the match even more dramatic it slowed down and paused at points so the audience could listen in to the thoughts and feelings of those at ringside. Yukinori Matsui wondered when to step in and ask if the wrestlers would give up, the cameraman was complaining about how difficult it is to film Dieno without getting into trouble and Dieno wanted to convince Sasadango just how fun pro wrestling can be. The audience even heard the thoughts of the celebrity guest commentator Leyla Ikeda from the comedy duo Kanjuku Fresh. She was completely bored out of her mind by the match and was waiting for the handsome wrestlers to show up. Tsurumi however was thinking the complete opposite and was moved by the match his friends were putting on. Dieno called his shot to finish the match with three Moonsaults in a row but Sasadango caught up to him and hit the Lehman Shock from the top rope to win the match and the Extreme Title!
Tsurumi complained about the finish and told Sasadango he couldn’t do a top rope move in slow motion. Sasadango admitted it didn’t turn out the way he expected. He apologised to everyone including Stardom and their company president Taro Okada for some reason. Haku was brought down to the ring by Makoto Oishi to give a comment about becoming DDT’s newest roster member but all he did was sniff the microphone. Sasadango later said he wanted to do his best for Yuki Iino because Iino’s injury made him miss out on an Extreme Title shot. Sasadango also announced he has an event coming up in Tokyo on 9th June and advised fans to keep their schedule free for that day. Dieno admitted he is a bad owner and bad father for letting Haku join such a barbaric wrestling company. However he knows Haku has guts and they will do their best together side by side. He also needs to negotiate what percentage of Haku’s merchandise they’re going to get from the company once DDT starts selling it.
In just a few weeks time Daichi Sato will become DDT’s newest roster member (getting beaten to the punch by Haku is DDT in a nutshell) so he was given a big tag match teaming with Jun Akiyama to take on HARASHIMA & Takeshi Masada. Sato wasted little time going toe to toe with HARASHIMA and linked together well with Akiyama when it came to fighting against Masada. But HARASHIMA won out in the end by pinning Sato with the Somato. Akiyama was pleased with Sato’s performance and challenged him to a singles match on 6th April as Sato’s first official match as a DDT wrestler. Akiyama encouraged Sato to hunt the old man down!
Part of Koroku’s preparation for his KO-D Title match was to show up in new wrestling gear for his match today. However Akito had new gear too so that spoiled things a little bit. He had Yukio Naya & Keigo Nakamura teaming with him but went at it alone with Soma Takao for the final stretch. Koroku was able to counter Takao’s Gin And Tonic into the Triangle Lancer and held onto the move to make Takao give up.
DAMNATION T.A also ruined JJ Furno’s DDT debut. Ilusion didn’t know who he was and made fun of his hair. He seemed to care more about his brand new college diploma, until he used that to hit Tomomitsu Matsunaga over the head with. MJ Paul then went on to pin Matsunaga with the Reverse Splash.
The 3 Way Match was filled with the nonsense you’d expect from the people involved. Kazuki Hirata was ignored and felt left out. Then he got mad when Antonio Honda and Toru Owashi decided to act like a tag team against him. He powered up with the Hirata GO! glasses but was stopped when Honda tripped over the ropes and summoned Gongitsune. Honda and Owashi fought each other but it slowly turned into something more romantic with Honda forming Owashi’s hands into a heart sign. Just when they were about to kiss, Hirata interrupted the moment so he could get a kiss from Matsui. However Owashi rolled up Hirata in a School Boy so the match continued. Honda hit Hirata with the Shining Gongitsune but Owashi then rolled up Honda with La Magistral Cradle to get the win.
New KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions were guaranteed in the opening match. It was also the return bouts for both Kazusada Higuchi and Shunma Katsumata so one of them was becoming a champion in their first match back from injury. Kazuma Sumi & Yuni did stereo Moonsaults out of the ring while Ryota Nakatsu & Yuki Ishida doubled up with sumo slaps to the opponents. It all came down to Sumi catching Ishida by surprise with a School Boy to make NωA Jr. the new champions at Harimao’s expense. Sumi said it was speed and quickness that defeated power and strength today. Katsumata said no matter how many times he falls he always crawls and gets back up. He wants to show his true colors and show everyone bigger dreams with NωA Jr.
There is more good news for Harimao coming up though. Naomi Yoshimura gave everyone an update on his health since he took time off from wrestling in November 2022 to rehab his neck injury. He will soon return to the ring and have his first match back on 6th April! He promised to repay all of the kindness he received during his absence and will show his wrestling to new fans who haven’t seen him before. He is not going to return to a full time schedule at first but whenever DDT wants to book him he will be available. Yoshimura’s first match back will be an 8-Man Tag featuring all of Harimao teaming together.
The field for King Of DDT 2025 was revealed. The 16 participants announced for this year’s tournament are Chris Brookes, HARASHIMA, Daisuke Sasaki, Kazusada Higuchi, Yuki Ueno, Yukio Naya, KANON, Takeshi Masada, Masahiro Takanashi, Shunma Katsumata, Akito, Hideki Okatani, To-y, Yuya Koroku, Daichi Sato and Shinya Aoki. Obviously with Takanashi’s injury he will no longer be taking part.
Things are going to be different for DDT’s usual biggest show of the year this time round. “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2025” will be held over a two day weekend. Day 1 will be held at Higashin Arena in Sumida on 30th August and Day 2 will be in Korakuen Hall on 31st August.
1. Daisuke Sasaki & Ilusion defeated Yuni & Yuki Ishida when Ilusion pinned Yuni with the Swanton Bomb (8:11).
2. Toru Owashi, Soma Takao & Yukio Naya defeated MAO, Danshoku Dieno & Kazuki Hirata when Naya pinned Hirata with a Slap To The Back (0:28).
2a. Rematch: Toru Owashi, Soma Takao & Yukio Naya defeated MAO, Danshoku Dieno & Kazuki Hirata when Rakao pinned Hirata with a Running Elbow Butt (9:57).
3. Special Single Match: KANON defeated MJ Paul by Disqualification when Hideki Okatani interfered (9:06).
4. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Jun Akiyama, HARASHIMA & Yuya Koroku defeated Shinya Aoki, Keigo Nakamura & Kazuma Sumi when Koroku submitted Sumi with the Modified Triangle Lancer (10:44).
5. Special Tag Match: Yuki Ueno & To-y defeated Minoru Suzuki & Akito when Ueno submitted Akito with the Blackout Sleeper (16:38).
6. Road To Judgement 2025! Special Tag Match: Masahiro Takanashi & Antonio Honda defeated Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada when Takanashi pinned Brookes with the Bracchus (19:55).
Not long to go now until it’s time for “JUDGEMENT 2025”. Today was the last day for preliminary tag matches involving some of the upcoming title bouts happening at DDT’s 28th Anniversary show. SCHADENFREUDE International was split into two for the main event. Chris Brookes teamed with Takeshi Masada while his next challenger Masahiro Takanashi teamed up with Antonio Honda. Takanashi was on the receiving end of CDK style tag team moves this time. Brookes & Masada gave him the Thrust Kick/Piledriver combo that CDK likes to do. However Takanashi kicked out of the pin and all of a sudden trapped Brookes in the Bracchus to score a win over the KO-D Openweight Champion! The message is clear. No matter what Brookes does to Takanashi, Takanashi will take the KO-D Title from him in the end! Takanashi even said after the match that those three seconds are worth more than the six years they’ve been together!
The other prelim match of note is the only time Yuki Ueno and Minoru Suzuki were facing each other before their DDT Universal Title match. At first Suzuki overwhelmed Ueno with submission holds as well as attacks outside of the ring. To-y suffered the same when Suzume brushed off his Chops and knocked To-y down with only one of his own. However To-y rescued Ueno from the Gotch-Style Piledriver, giving Ueno the space to put Akito in the Blackout Sleeper and win by submission. Suzuki told Ueno after the match he isn’t going to give him the usual B-Grade warnings to hype up their title match. Instead he encouraged him to give the fans a more fun and intense match at Korakuen Hall. One that will destroy Korakuen with the combined force of all their might! Ueno admitted today was a painful match but he hasn’t had enough fun yet to give up the belt now.
KANON is now living a life where he has to fight by himself. His match with MJ Paul immediately went sideways because the rest of DAMNATION T.A would attack him at ringside. Part of the attack included Hideki Okatani hitting KANON with a bamboo stick. Ilusion then interfered when KANON put Paul in the Cobra Twist. KANON fought him off and went to finish Paul off when Okatani returned with another bamboo stick attack. He then hit the referee with it causing the match to end in disqualification. Daisuke Sasaki told KANON he is going to teach him a lesson and end him on 20th March. He then broke a chair over his head. Okatani told KANON a powerless guy like him has no choice but to be controlled by DAMNATION T.A. Backstage KANON said he knows better than anyone what they do because he was with the unit for three years. He promised to get revenge on them and kill Sasaki at Korakuen!
Something was off about Hisaya Imabayashi today. When Match #2 ended in seconds like a Kazuki Hirata match usually does, the GM didn’t react to it. Instead he jusy looked depressed. This made the wrestlers all concerned for him so he explained lately he has lost his passion for wrestling. Everyone agreed to have an immediate rematch and make it so exciting that Imabayashi would care enough to get angry again when they eventually ruin it. It took some effort but they eventually helped Imabayashi find his passion again and enter the match to stop their nonsense. He was then quickly incapacitated by Danshoku Dieno’s Hell Gate.
Before NωA Jr. started their musical performance Yuni tried to roll up Shunma Katsumata in a failed attempt to win the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title. Katsumata kicked out and after an awkward moment or two the group sang their song like nothing had happened.
Are you sure that everybody wans Mina Shirakawa? Because this month it sure looked like everybody wanted Konosuke Takeshita! He had a big month in AEW, he has big matches coming up in New Japan soon, he wrestled a bunch of times on a cruise and right when it looked like he would have a break, CMLL came calling out for him. If you’re the type who keeps track of any Wrestler Of The Year contenders, Takeshita’s work in February should put him up near the top as an early frontrunner.
He’ll have more to do over the coming months but March will see the Tokyo Joshi Pro side of things take more of the spotlight. Miyu Yamashita has a packed weekend in Europe coming up and Yuki Kamifuku will continue to gift with Southeast Asia her presence. Then in April it’s the big one. Wrestlemania Week! I’ll need to find the time to write a big piece about what DDT and TJPW will be doing during that period.
I don’t have much to write about for Takeshita’s remaining matches that happened during the Jericho Cruise. But hey some of these sound really good on paper, right? At least this match here gave attendees a taste of what Will Ospreay and Takeshita’s tag match in Australia happening later in the month would be like. Lance Archer probably bounced Komander around like a basketball too.
JERICHO CRUISE “CHRIS JERICHO’S ROCK ‘N’ WRESTLING RAGER – SIX ON THE BEACH – NIGHT 3”, 02/02/2025 Norwegian Pearl Cruise Ship
1. Konosuke Takeshita, Brian Cage & Lance Archer defeated Daniel Garcia, Mark Briscoe & Jay Lethal (?:??).
Like this one for example. It would be great if footage of this shows up somewhere. Takeshita, Archer & Brian Cage all teaming up together against Daniel Garcia, Mark Briscoe & Jay Lethal is the kind of match on paper that would have carried Night 3 of a packed indies weekend we used to get a decade ago.
JERICHO CRUISE “CHRIS JERICHO’S ROCK ‘N’ WRESTLING RAGER – SIX ON THE BEACH – NIGHT 4”, 03/02/2025 Norwegian Pearl Cruise Ship
1. Konosuke Takeshita, Brian Cage & Lance Archer defeated Bandido, Truth Magnum & Turbo Floyd (?:??).
The last day of the Jericho Cruise had The Don Callis Family still together against the weird mix of Bandido & The Outrunners. I don’t know how much Takeshita would be into the retro 80s American vibe that The Outrunners bring with them. That’s more up Antonio Honda’s alley.
AEW “DYNAMITE”, 05/02/2025 Gateway Center Arena, College Park, Georgia, USA
1. International All-Star Tag Match: Konosuke Takeshita & Kyle Fletcher defeated Brody King & Buddy Matthews when Fletcher pinned King after an Assisted Brainbuster (14:15).
There was one last warmup match for Takeshita & Kyle Fletcher before they headed off to Australia. Here they took on the newly renamed Hounds Of Hell. They are the former House Of Black now without Malakai Black involved because he finally made his exit from the company. The challenge in this match was how much it took to put away the immovable force that is Brody King. Takeshita & Fletcher were able to get rid of Buddy Matthews no problem but when it came to King they had to throw everything at him but he wouldn’t stay down. Takeshita had to assist Fletcher with a Vertical Drop Brainbuster to keep the big guy down for the pinfall.
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “AEX32 SANTIAGO 2025”, 09/02/2025 Estación Mapocho Cultural Center, Santiago, Chile ??? Fans
1. Casey defeated Moka Miyamoto with a Loaded Backpack Attack (7:43).
2. Aja Kong defeated Roma with the Uraken (8:55).
3. Princess Tag Team Titles: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh (c) defeated Sara Phoenix & Pandora when Yamashita pinned Phoenix with the Skull Kick (18:19). *V4 for 121000000.
AEW “GRAND SLAM AUSTRALIA”, 15/02/2025 Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane, Australia
1. Will Ospreay & Kenny Omega defeated Konosuke Takeshita & Kyle Fletcher when Omega pinned Takeshita after the Hidden Blade/One-Winged Angel Combination (21:20).
Talk about a match that delivered! The big tag match in Australia went ahead and ended with something we haven’t seen in a while: Takeshita taking a pinfall loss. It took a combination of the Hidden Blade and One-Winged Angel being mashed together like a Doomsday Device for it to happen which should wind up becoming one of the most memorable match finishes of the year. The aftermath confirmed there is more to come. Ospreay and Fletcher have their own feud moving ahead while Kenny Omega announced his intentions to go after Takeshita’s AEW International Title.
AEW “DYNAMITE”, 26/02/2025 Frontwave Arena, Oceanside, California, USA
1. AEW International Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) defeated Orange Cassidy with the Raging Fire (12:30). *V8 for Konosuke Takeshita.
But first AEW had to go the long route to set up the match. Before Takeshita goes to a big title match with Omega he first had to beat Orange Cassidy in a with the belt on the line. Takeshita took a table bump when Cassidy dropped him on top of the announce desk with the Beach Break. He was still in danger after getting hit with the Orange Punch and also a Flying DDT outside the ring. But Cassidy made the big mistake of climbing the top turnbuckle. And whenever Takeshita’s opponent jumps off the top turnbuckle there is an Elbow Strike waiting right for them upon landing. There were still some very close calls to come but Takeshita caught the Orange Punch and countered it into the Raging Fire for the win. Don Callis then rubbed salt on the wound by putting Cassidy’s sunglasses onto Takeshita after the match.
CMLL “VIERNES ESPECTACULAR”, 28/02/2025 Arena Mexico, Mexico City, Distrito Federal, Mexico
1. NEVER Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) defeated Ángel de Oro with the Raging Fire (?:??). *V4 for Konosuke Takeshita.
The month ended with Takeshita’s first time in the hallowed grounds of lucha libre known as Arena Mexico. CMLL made it a big deal that he was coming over to wrestle on their famed Friday night show on short notice and offered up Ángel de Oro as a challenger for the NEVER Openweight Title. So this was put together more through CMLL’s relationship with NJPW rather than AEW. Or maybe it’s both at this point because Rocky Romero is the connection point and his backstage connections run pretty deep nowadays. The match itself unintentionally ended up becoming bloody after de Oro suffered a hand injury of some sort. With only one fall needed to win rather than the traditional two, Takeshita came out on top after the two went back and forth with big moves until the Raging Fire brought things to an end.
Backstage Takeshita was asked by reporters who else in CMLL he would like to wrestle? He told a story about the first wrestling show he ever attended when he was a child. It was an Osaka Pro show and the merchandise he bought at the show was a Blue Panther mask. That is his first ever wrestling memory in general so perhaps one day he will cross paths with Blue Panther or a member of his family in the ring.
1. Yuki Kamifuku & The Statement Vs Alexis Lee & Da Butcherman
An alliance seems to have formed between Yuki Kamifuku and The Statement over in Singapore Pro Wrestling. Maybe the two champions believe it is in their best interests to be on the same side when some familiar rivals are marching forth towards them again. The Statment and Da Butcherman have fought each other plenty of times before. So too have Kamifuku and Alexis Lee. So now the next step is to throw them all in the ring at the same time.
EVE “WOMEN BEHAVING BADLY”, 07/03/2024 The Big Penny Social, London, England
1. Session Moth Martina Vs Miyu Yamashita
A busy weekend in Europe sees Miyu Yamashita wrestling in three countries. First up she is heading back to EVE in England where she will present herself as a big challenge for Session Moth Martina to overcome.
RCW “MARCH MADNESS”, 08/03/2024 Casinet de Hostafrancs, Barcelona, Spain
1. Miyu Yamashita Vs Amale
Then on the Saturday Yamashita returns to Spain for her first appearance in RCW since October 2022. Her opponent will be French wrestler and former NXT UK performer Amale.
Yamashita finishes off the weekend with an appearance at wXw on the last day of the 16 Carat Gold tournament. Unless wXw announces her match beforehand it is a complete roll of the dice who she gets to face at the show.
AEW “REVOLUTION”, 09/03/2025 Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles, California, USA
1. AEW International Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) Vs Kenny Omega
It took 18 months to get here but we’re finally back on track to having another Takeshita Vs Omega match. I’m not going to sugar coat it. I think the title reign ends here and Takeshita’s priorities are about to switch over to New Japan for the spring and summer months.
MLW “BATTLE RIOT VII”, 05/04/2025 The Commerce, California, USA
1. MLW Women’s World Featherweight Title: Delmi Exo (c) Vs Shoko Nakajima
I think we know what to expect here. MLW brings in a Tokyo Joshi Pro wrestler, in this case Shoko Nakajima, and they lose to their women’s champion, in this case Delmi Exo. Although that was done a lot when Janai Kai was the champ so who knows? Maybe Nakajima takes the title from Exo and ends her second reign before it can properly take off.
NJPW “WINDY CITY RIOT”, 11/04/2025 Wintrust Arena, Chicago, Illinois, USA
1. Hiroshi Tanahashi Last Match In The USA Final Road ~Kinship~: Hiroshi Tanahashi Vs KONOSUKE TAKESHITA
I know Hiroshi Tanahashi is getting an IWGP World Heavyweight Title shot at New Japan’s anniversary show in March. And NJPW have announced there will be IWGP Title matches taking place in their next two shows in America. Hmmm…. Alright, alright, that’s just wishful thinking on my part. Although I can see the NEVER Title being on the line when Tanahashi and Takeshita clash in Chicago.
PANDEMONIUM PRO “THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS”, 17/04/2025 Fremont Country Club, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
1. Maya World Vs Miu Watanabe
At the moment it doesn’t seem like there will be any other DDT or TJPW talent appearing on the show. So it’s just going to be Miu Watanabe having a match here by the looks of it.
WEST COAST PRO “VEGAS VACATION”, 17/04/2025 Meet Las Vegas, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
1. MAO Vs Jiah Jewell
Later in the afternoon MAO will be at the West Coast Pro show and the promotion are promising the opponent is just as crazy as he is! Jiah Jewell has made it his goal to “Gator Roll The World” and that sounds like the fucked up wrestling MAO likes to fight for.
GCW “JOSH BARNETT’S BLOODSPORT XIII”, 17/04/2025 Pearl Theater At Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
1. Miyu Yamashita Vs X
2. Shinya Aoki Vs X
No surprise to see Shinya Aoki getting added to the show. The funny thing is the match he’s having on the DDT show would have made much more sense to happen on the Bloodsport show!
Yamashita also returns to Bloodsport for a second go around.
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “QUERI PRESENTS TJPW LIVE IN LAS VEGAS”, 18/04/2025 Pearl Theater At Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
1. International Princess Title: Suzume (c) Vs X
2. Princess Tag Team Titles: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh (c) Vs X & X
3. Princess Of Princess Title: Mizuki (c) Vs X
The card will begin to take shape right after “GRAND PRINCESS ’25” is over and done with. What we do know for now is there will be championship matches for the Princess Of Princess Title, the Princess Tag Team Titles and the International Princess Title.
DDT “DDT GOES LAS VEGAS!”, 18/04/2025 Pearl Theater At Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
1. Special Single Match: Antonio Honda Vs Santana Jackson
2. Special Single Match: Shinya Aoki Vs Timothy Thatcher
Like I said above, doesn’t Shinya Aoki Vs Timothy Thatcher sound more like a Bloodsport match than a DDT match? Now Antonio Honda Vs Santana Jackson, that’s a match you’re absolutely not going to see anywhere else.
DDT/TOKYO JOSHI PRO/GCW “DDT VS TJPW VS GCW”, 19/04/2025 Pearl Theater At Palms Casino Resort, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
I really don’t know what the vibe and turnout for this show will be when it happens right slap bang in between the big NXT show and the first night of WrestleMania.
BLACK LABEL PRO “BLP AT SCX III”, 25/04/2025 The Wyndham, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
1. Miyu Yamashita Vs X
2. Danhausen & Maki Itoh Vs Davey Bang & August Matthews
Very cute, very evil and back teaming up again. Danhausen & Maki Itoh reunite as Makihausen for a tag match against Bang And Matthews over at Black Label Pro.
CMLL/LADYS RING “LUCHA FIESTA ESPECIAL”, 27/04/2025 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
1. Octagon & El Hijo del Octagon Vs Daisuke Sasaki & Pantera Jr.
So this is happening in Japan but since it is a one off lucha libre show that is disconnected from everything else going on I decided to include it in this series. This is the Sumo Hall show that made headlines for announcing the debut of a new Hayabusa. One of the lucha matches originally booked for the show was a 3 Way Match between Octagon, El Hijo del Octagon and Pantera Jr. However Daisuke Sasaki crashed one of the press conferences demanding to be part of the show because of his lucha skills. The promoters decided to let him in so he gets to team with Pantera Jr. against the two (kayfabe?) generations of Octagon.
NJPW “RESURGENCE”, 09/05/2025 Toyota Arena, Ontario, California, USA
1. KONOSUKE TAKESHITA Vs X
Probably another New Japan title defence for Takeshita when he goes to California in May. Hopefully it’s with the IWGP Ti-okay, okay, I’ll give it a break.
Today DDT announced the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles have been vacated by DAMNATION T.A. The status of the championship was up in the air since Sunday after KANON was kicked out of the unit. He was one third of the champions along with Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Paul but the situation between them was “deemed difficult” according to DDT for future title defences to be scheduled. A match to determine the 57th champions will be announced as soon as it is decided on. I swear DAMNATION T.A have the weirdest luck with tag team championships. They either lose them immediately or hold onto them long enough for something within them to fall apart.
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “THE NIGHT BEFORE GRAND PRINCESS ’25”, 01/03/2025 Tokyo Kitazawa Town Hall
1. Pom Harajuku Vs Uta Takami
2. Miu Watanabe Vs Ivy Steele
3. Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara Vs Kira Summer & Chika Nanase
4. Suzume, HIMAWARI & Shino Suzuki Vs Moka Miyamoto, Yoshiko Hasegawa & Mifu Ashida
5. Mizuki & Arisu Endo Vs Haru Kazashiro & Toga
6. Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh Vs Shoko Nakajima & Kaya Toribami
7. Hyper Misao 10th Anniversary Match: Hyper Misao, Rika Tatsumi & Yuki Aino Vs Raku, Mahiro Kiryu & Haruna Neko
While Hyper Misao is celebrating her 10th Anniversary, Shoko Nakajima gets one more prelim match against 121000000 before their Princess Tag Team Titles match takes place. She’ll be teaming with Kaya Toribami but I don’t know how much of a difference the bird is going to make to be honest.
DDT “YACCHAINA FIGHT 2025”, 08/03/2025 Yokohama Radiant Hall
1. MAO, Danshoku Dieno & Kazuki Hirata Vs Toru Owashi, Soma Takao & Yukio Naya
2. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Jun Akiyama, HARASHIMA & Yuya Koroku Vs Shinya Aoki, Keigo Nakamura & Kazuma Sumi
3. Special Tag Match: Yuki Ueno & To-y Vs Minoru Suzuki & Akito
There will be only one prelim match between Yuki Ueno and Minoru Suzuki before the DDT Universal Title bout. Yokohama will host it just under two weeks before the 28th Anniversary show.
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “GARAFES ~KAGAYAKI JAPAN MIDDAY YOUTH SERENADE~”, 09/03/2024 Tokyo Toyosu PIT
1. Maki Itoh Vs Uta Takami
2. Miu Watanabe, Raku & Haru Kazashiro Vs Pom Harajuku, Wakana Uehara & Shino Suzuki
I think this will be the first time Maki Itoh is wrestling at a Garafes mat wrestling event.
DDT “IT’S FINALLY HERE!! KAZUKI HIRATA 15TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATIVE EVENT ~ TALK! 15 YEARS OF HIRATA GO!!”, 12/03/2025 Shinjuku FACE
1. Starting With The Young Communication Generation: Shigehiro Irie, Akito & Shota Vs To-y, Yukio Naya & Keigo Nakamura
2. Staggered Entrance Battle Royal: Chris Brookes Vs Yuya Koroku Vs Yuni Vs Kazuma Sumi Vs Gota Ihashi Vs X
3. Punch-san, I Am Looking Forward To This Tag Match: Danshoku Dieno & Antonio Honda Vs Toru Owashi & Punch Tominaga
4. They’re Back! Zuncha♪Muscle Survivor’s Tearful Reunion!: Shinya Aoki & Naruki Doi Vs Yuki Ueno & Yuki Ishida
5. Crazy Semi-Final!: MAO & Yoshihiko Vs HARASHIMA & Pokotan
6. Talk! 15 Years Of HIRATA GO!! Special 6-Man Tag Match: Kazuki Hirata, Hiromu Takahashi & Keisuke Ishii Vs YO-HEY, Kenshin Chikano & Soma Takao *Special Referee: Katsumi Tamagawa.
What a load of surprises Kazuki Hirata has in store for everyone. He’s bringing in Hiromu Takahashi for the main event, Yoshihiko and Pokotan will clash against each other, there will be a Zuncha♪Muscle Survivor reunion, Punch Tominaga is getting thrown in with the weird people and he’ll even have a prize for the winner of the Battle Royal that he promises will cheer them up.
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “GRAND PRINCESS ’25”, 16/03/2025 Tokyo Ota Ward Gymnasium
1. Yoshiko Hasegawa & Miyu Ashida Vs HIMAWARI & Shino Suzuki
2. Kakeru Sekiguchi, Mahiro Kiryu, Haruna Neko & Ivy Steele Vs Kaya Toribami, Kira Summer, Chika Nanase & Uta Takami
3. Max The Impaler Vs Moka Miyamoto
4. Aja Kong, Yuki Kamifuku & Wakana Uehara Vs Yuki Aino, Haru Kazashiro & Toga
5. SETUP All Asia Women’s Title: Pom Harajuku (c) Vs Raku
6. Special Single Match: Willow Nightingale Vs Miu Watanabe
7. Special Single Match: Meiko Satomura Vs Yuki Arai
8. International Princess Title: Suzume (c) Vs Arisu Endo
9. Princess Tag Team Titles: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh (c) Vs Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao
10. Princess Of Princess Title: Mizuki (c) Vs Rika Tatsumi
This will be the first of three trips to Ota Ward Gymnasium for Tokyo Joshi Pro this year. Meiko Satomura will face Yuki Arai in what may become Satomura’s final appearance in the promotion before her retirement. Raku has challenged Pom Harajuku for the SETUP All Asia Women’s Title and is doing so out of love. Aja Kong is going to cause some destruction again. Moka Miyamoto is going to bounce off of Max The Impaler like a tennis ball being thrown into a wall. Kakeru Sekiguchi returns to TJPW to team with Mahiro Kiryu again and this time she’ll be introduced to Kiryu’s cat Haruna Neko.
DDT “JUDGEMENT 2025 ~28TH ANNIVERSARY 5 HOUR SPECIAL~”, 20/03/2025 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. 3 Way Match: Toru Owashi Vs Antonio Honda Vs Kazuki Hirata
2. Makoto Oishi, Akito & Soma Takao Vs Yukio Naya, Yuya Koroku & Keigo Nakamura
3. Special Tag Match: MJ Paul & Ilusion Vs JJ Furno & Tomomitsu Matsunaga
4. Special Tag Match: Jun Akiyama & Daichi Sato Vs HARASHIMA & Takeshi Masada
5. Special 6-Man Tag Match ~ Kazusada Higuchi & Shunma Katsumata Double Comeback Match: Kazusada Higuchi, Ryota Nakatsu & Yuki Ishida Vs Shunma Katsumata, Yuni & Kazuma Sumi
6. Special Single Match: Daisuke Sasaki Vs KANON
7. KO-D Tag Team Titles: MAO & To-y (c) Vs Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura
8. DDT Extreme Title: Danshoku Dieno (c) Vs Super Sasadango Machine *Special Referee: Amon Tsurumi.
9. DDT Universal Title: Yuki Ueno (c) Vs Minoru Suzuki
10. KO-D Openweight Title: Chris Brookes (c) Vs Masahiro Takanashi
Meanwhile Chris Brookes decided to defend his KO-D Openweight Title against his longtime CDK teammate Masahiro Takanashi. But this is not being done out of love or friendship. The two want to give DDT fans a fight to remember to close out one of the most important shows of the year for the company.
Danshoku Dieno and Super Sasadango Machine are threatening to give everyone the worst match ever for their DDT Extreme Title bout. Hisaya Imabayashi will be turning back into Amon Tsurumi for one night only to officiate the match.
He doesn’t understand why he’s been expelled from DAMNATION T.A but KANON wants to get revenge on Daisuke Sasaki. DDT quickly put together the singles match between them for this show.
It’s planned to be a five hour show but the card still has to be crammed together a little bit. That means Kazusada Higuchi and Shunma Katsumata will make their respective returns from injury in the same match. It’s also a good excuse to have a Harimao Vs NωA Jr. trios match.
DDT “CHANGE AGE 2025 ~YOUR LIE IN APRIL~”, 06/04/2025 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. Hideki Okatani Return Match: Hideki Okatani Vs X
2. KO-D Openweight Title: Chris Brookes (c) Vs Yuya Koroku
Whoever comes out of Korakuen as the KO-D Champion in March will return there in April to defend it against the D GENERATIONS CUP winner Yuya Koroku.
KANON was kicked out of DAMNATION T.A to be replaced by the return of Hideki Okatani! He isn’t ready to wrestle again just yet but once April comes around, the world will see what this new version of Okatani will get up to.
DDT “NEXT GENERATION 2025 ~KISARAGI ROMAN~”, 23/02/2025 Tokyo Korakuen Hall ??? Fans – Unannounced
1. Toru Owashi & Yuki Ishida defeated Yuni & Kazuma Sumi when Ishida pinned Sumi with the Ensho (5:10).
2. Special Single Match: Kazuki Hirata defeated Antonio Honda with the Miracle One Shot Cradle (7:11).
3. Special Tag Match: Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno & Koju “Shining Ball” Takeda Vs Super Sasadango Machine & Yumehito Imanari ended in a No Contest (11:12).
4. Daisuke Sasaki, KANON, MJ Paul & Ilusion defeated To-y, Jun Akiyama, Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Daichi Sato when KANON pinned Matsunaga with the Sleepy Hollow (9:32).
5. Special Tag Match: Chris Brookes & Baliyan Akki defeated Shinya Aoki & Keigo Nakamura when Brookes pinned Nakamura with the Praying Mantis Bomb (9:46).
6. “Brave Bang Bravern!” Collaboration 6-Man Tag Match ~ Bravern Debut Match: Bravern, Yuki Ueno & MAO defeated Yukio Naya, Akito & Soma Takao when Bravern pinned Takao with the Brave Cross Stinger (17:29).
7. D GENERATIONS CUP 2025 – Final: Yuya Koroku defeated Takeshi Masada with the Modified Triangle Lancer (16:40).
DDT really wanted to shine a spotlight on their new generation of wrestlers so they placed this year’s D GENERATIONS CUP final in the main event of today’s Korakuen Hall show. With a future KO-D Openweight Title shot on the line, Takeshi Masada and Yuya Koroku faced off in a rematch of the 2023 DGC final. At first Koroku went for his usual game plan to target the arm until he started pulling out moves from his former BURNING allies. He used the Intercept DDT from Yusuke Okada and the Spinning Torture Rack Bomb from Tetsuya Endo. He also had Masada’s finisher scouted and countered the move into the Chickenwing Arm Lock before switching over to the Triangle Lancer. Masada had no answer to that and gave up, making Koroku the third tournament winner!
Koroku thanked the fans for supporting him and talked about what happened five months ago when he was humiliated in this ring. He thought about quitting but the fan support gave him the strength to get to this point. This is just the beginning because on 6th April he will get his KO-D title match at Korakuen Hall. Backstage he told reporters that he wouldn’t have come this far without BURNING because they taught him so much about everything. He also thinks it is an honour he will get to fight for the KO-D Title exactly four years into his career. He made himself a promise at the start of the year and this April he will fulfill it by winning that title!
There was something familiar surrounding the Brave Bang Bravern collaboration match that I just can’t put my finger on. The giant mecha Bravern was shrunk down to human size for its debut pro wrestling match. It teamed with Yuki Ueno (back from his health scare) & MAO to take on the team of Yukio Naya, Akito & Soma Takao who were representing the show’s bad guys. One of the voice actors for the show (and also the current Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion) Tetsu Inada watched from the commentary booth but became so invested in the match he moved down to ringside. There he saw Bravern, Ueno & MAO give Akito a Triple Razor’s Edge from the corner. Bravern then used the Somato Brave Cross Stinger on Akito to get the pinfall. He thanked Ueno & MAO for helping him save DDT with their fiery spirit and indomitable courage. If DDT is ever in trouble again they can call for his help. In return Ueno & MAO suggested they can show up in Season 2 of the anime if it ever gets made.
In a last minute change to the show Masahiro Takanashi became ill with fever symptoms and was replaced by Baliyan Akki. He and Chris Brookes still meshed together well as a tag team. Perhaps a little too well because when Brookes tried to slap Keigo Nakamura and Nakamura ducked, Akki saw it coming and blocked it before instinctively slapping Brookes back. That minor setback gave Nakamura & Shinya Aoki a chance to get the win but it didn’t work out for them. In the end Brookes got his second wind, dodged Nakamura’s Diving Headbutt and eventually pinned him with the Praying Mantis Bomb.
After the match Hisaya Imabayashi approached Brookes in the ring. He had given him a month to decide who he wants defend the KO-D Title against at DDT’s 28th Anniversary show on 20th March. Brookes knew who to pick and decided to ring the person on his phone right there in the ring. The call was answered and it turned out to be Masahiro Takanashi on the other end! Brookes asked his CDK partner to challenge him for a title match. Takanashi said he knew Brookes would pick him and asked if it was out of kindness for all that he has done for him? Brookes told him it is an important show so he wants to fight a strong Takanashi, not a kind one. He will kill him in the ring if he has to! Takanashi promised he will give it his all and take the belt from Brookes so he will be the one defending it against the DGC winner in April!
A ragtag bunch of babyfaces were not able to beat DAMNATION T.A in an 8-Man Tag Match. To-y tried to take charge by telling Jun Akiyama to grab Ilusion and hold him still. To-y then missed his attack and hit Akiyama instead so Akiyama angrily yelled at him while DAMNATION T.A were beating up To-y. Akiyama had a much better time doing teamwork with Daichi Sato. The youngster even went toe to toe with MJ Paul until the match broke down into a brawl. To-y ended up hitting Akiyama by accident again and nobody was there to save Tomomitsu Matsunaga from being pinned by KANON. Akiyama got a shot in on To-y for revenge after the match.
The day wasn’t over for DAMNATION T.A yet. All of a sudden Hideki Okatani walked down to the ring armed with a bamboo stick. He climbed inside and attacked KANON with it while the rest of DAMNATION T.A… joined in on the attack! After the beatdown Daisuke Sasaki introduced Okatani as DAMANTION T.A’s newest crazy member and then announced KANON has been kicked out of the group! According to Sasaki, KANON has become too smug and no good for the unit so it is time to say goodbye. Okatani then called KANON a brown-nosing wrestler for always pandering to the crowd before hitting him again with the bamboo stick until it broke.
Okatani explained even more backstage, revealing that KANON has actually been cut off from the unit a long time ago. Sasaki called KANON the biggest failure he has ever created but now he has created his new masterpiece in Okatani. He then claimed that Okatani will have his return match in April. He tore his ACL last April so a year will have passed when he wrestles again. KANON was in tears backstage because he doesn’t know what he did to deserve this. He demanded a singles match with Sasaki to settle things and DDT ended up booking it for 20th March. Lost in the middle of this is what will happen with the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles? DAMNATION T.A are the current title holders and KANON was part of the champion team.
Hisaya Imabayashi’s worst nightmare came back to life for one night only. There was supposed to be a full blown Pheromones reunion but it got hampered when Yuki Iino got injured. Super Sasadango Machine filled in for him and Yumehito Imanari appeared as his normal self. But Danshoku Dieno & Koju Takeda both showed up acting like their Pheromones personas. The match eventually became too lewd for any audience and Imabayashi had to call it off by using a towel to cover anything that should not be seen on a live broadcast. He paid the price and Pheromones rendered him unconscious with their salacious attacks.
While this was all happening, Sasadango made his way up to the commentary table and grabbed everyone’s attention with his latest PowerPoint presentation. It was titled “Characteristics And Practical Methods Of People Who Are Good At Schedule Management.” He explained how posters can be used to promote his matches and pointed out he does not have a match yet for the 28th Anniversary show despite being on the poster. So he is challenging Dieno to a DDT Extreme Title match for 20th March! It will be a special day for DDT and Dieno is a special wrestler for the company. Also the Extreme Title is the only proper DDT championship Sasadango has ever held. He even added an extra condition to make the match even more special. It will be the last time Sasadango will challenge for that title! Dieno refused the challenge but only so he can nominate Sasadango as his next challenger. He also told Imabayashi he wants his alter ego Amon Tsurumi to be part of the match as the special referee! Together these three old men promise to put on the worst match ever!
Kazuki Hirata had a lot of down time while he was recovering from his knee injury so he occupied himself by watching a lot of wrestling. By doing so he made the eye opening discovery that nobody else dances during their matches. So for his return match he wanted to take things seriously and wrestle properly. Too bad his opponent Antonio Honda wanted to see him dance instead and kept tempting him to put the Hirata GO glasses back on. Hirata couldn’t take it but just when he was about to put on the glasses, Honda attacked him. Hirata fought back though and pinned Honda with the Miracle One Shot Cradle before getting to dance as his true self again.
Hirata then had an announcement to make about his 15th Anniversary Match on 12th March. He and Keisuke Ishii are going to team up with someone special to take on YO-HEY, Kenshin Chikano & Soma Takao. The third man on his team is Hiromu Takahashi! He said he is putting everything he has into the production of this show so everyone will have a happy time together.
The show began with a song performance by NωA Jr. (no doubt trying to impress Kaisei Takechi over at the commentary booth. When they were done Yuni & Kazuma Sumi then faced Toru Owashi & Yuki Ishida in the opening bout. Owashi did a little bit of lucha before switching over to sumo which fitted in more with Ishida’s Dosukoi spirit. Sumi tried to win with a Lionsault and the School Boy but Ishida threw him over with a Scooping German Suplex and pinned him with the Ensho.
DDT “JUDGEMENT 2025 ~28TH ANNIVERSARY 5 HOUR SPECIAL~”, 20/03/2025 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. 3 Way Match: Toru Owashi Vs Antonio Honda Vs Kazuki Hirata
2. Makoto Oishi, Akito & Soma Takao Vs Yukio Naya, Yuya Koroku & Keigo Nakamura
3. Special Tag Match: MJ Paul & Ilusion Vs JJ Furno & Tomomitsu Matsunaga
4. Special Tag Match: Jun Akiyama & Daichi Sato Vs HARASHIMA & Takeshi Masada
5. Special 6-Man Tag Match ~ Kazusada Higuchi & Shunma Katsumata Double Comeback Match: Kazusada Higuchi, Ryota Nakatsu & Yuki Ishida Vs Shunma Katsumata, Yuni & Kazuma Sumi
6. Special Single Match: Daisuke Sasaki Vs KANON
7. KO-D Tag Team Titles: MAO & To-y (c) Vs Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura
8. DDT Extreme Title: Danshoku Dieno (c) Vs Super Sasadango Machine *Special Referee: Amon Tsurumi.
9. DDT Universal Title: Yuki Ueno (c) Vs Minoru Suzuki
10. KO-D Openweight Title: Chris Brookes (c) Vs Masahiro Takanashi
Posted by JamieOD 
