Catching Up On The News – DDT

April 14, 2018

DDT “DDT MUSIC! 2018”, 15/04/2018
Osaka City Yodogawa Citizen Center

1. Kazusada Higuchi & Keisuke Ishii Vs Soma Takao & Daiki Shimomura
2. Danshoku Dino & Makoto Oishi Vs Tetsuya Endo & Nobuhiro Shimatani
3. Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata, Antonio Honda & Masahiro Takanashi Vs Akito, Shunma Katsumata, Saki Akai & Yuni
4. Naniwa 2 Big Single Match: Naomi Yoshimura Vs Mizuki Watase
5. Naniwa 2 Big Single Match: HARASHIMA Vs Mad Paulie
6. Tomorrow Is Good! Osaka Specialty 4 Way Match: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Shigehiro Irie Vs KUDO Vs Daisuke Sasaki
7. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles – Be Legend Presents: Kota Umeda, Yuki Ueno & Koji Takeda (c) Vs Kouki Iwasaki, Mike Bailey & MAO

Yukio Sakaguchi was originally supposed to be on this show but will miss it due to a scheduling conflict. Saki Akai takes his place.

Mad Paulie is now in a red rage because of the springtime. Daisuke Sasaki’s anger over HARASHIMA getting the next DDT Extreme Title shot might also have something to do with it. Paulie can only be calmed down and controlled in this condition with porno magazines.

Yuni is jealous of Nicholas, the ten year old boy who won the Raw Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania last weekend. It didn’t help when Sanshiro Takagi joked about searching for Nicholas’s booking details for a tour.

DDT “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI #2”, 17/04/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

0. NO TV Match: Toru Owashi Vs Mad Paulie Vs Daiki Shimomura
0. NO TV Match: Kouki Iwasaki Vs Rekka
1. Maji Manji Tournament – Semi-Final: Kota Umeda Vs Maki Ito
2. Maji Manji Tournament – Semi-Final: Yuki Ueno Vs MAO
3. 4 Way Tag Match: KUDO & Masahiro Takanashi Vs Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo Vs Akito & Makoto Oishi Vs Ken Ohka & Lady Beard
4. HARASHIMA, Soma Takao & Mike Bailey Vs Kazusada Higuchi, Keisuke Ishii & Antonio Honda
5. ALL OUT Vs Irie-gun: Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata Vs Shigehiro Irie & Mizuki Watase
6. Tradition Of The Soul: Danshoku Dino Vs Naomi Yoshimura
7. Maji Manji Tournament – Final: X Vs X

The winner of the Maju Manji tournament will get the full backing of AbemaTV. The semi-finals have a 5 minute time limit and the final has a 10 minute time limit.

Mizuki Watase looks to be Shigehiro Irie’s only ally right now. Watase stood in Irie’s corner for his return match at the start of the month.

DDT “SHIN SYU VERY MUCH! 2018”, 22/04/2018
Nagano Art Center Act Park

1. Antonio Honda Vs Nobuhiro Shimatani
2. Daisuke Sasaki, Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie Vs Kouki Iwasaki, Mike Bailey & MAO
3. Kazusada Higuchi & Keisuke Ishii Vs Kota Umeda & Shunma Katsumata
4. HARASHIMA & Soma Takao Vs KUDO & Masahiro Takanashi
5. Konosuke Takeshita & Akito Vs Shigehiro Irie & Mizuki Watase
6. DDT Nagano Sales Manager Toru Owashi Local Triumph! “Owashi And Funny Friends Part 3” Special 6-Man Tag Match: Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Yuki Ueno Vs Danshoku Dino, Makoto Oishi & Super Sasadango Machine

Since the show is in Nagano, DDT’s Nagano resident Toru Owashi is in charge of putting it together.

DDT “VIDEO TEAM BOX OFFICE – BETAMANIA”, 23/04/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

1. DT-YUTA Produce Match ~Rotten Bad And Rotten Edge~: 726 Vs KUDO
2. Goodbye Fukuda…Honorable! Crushing! Explosion! Special Exhibition Match!: Ryuhei Fukuda Vs Keisuke Ishii

Yumehiteo Imanari and DT-YUTA from the video team are also scheduled to wrestle.

DDT “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI #3”, 01/05/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

1. Gota Ihashi 5 Match Series – 2nd Battle: Kendo Kashin Vs Gota Ihashi
2. KO-D Tag Team Titles: Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi (c) Vs X & X

Maji Manji gets its first title match on episode #3.


DDT “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI #1” Results

April 13, 2018

DDT “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI #1”, 10/04/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING
180 Fans – Super No Vacancy
100,000 AbemaTV Viewers

0. No TV Match 1: Mizuki Watase defeated Daiki Shimomura with the Back Drop (6:30).
0. No TV Match 2: Keisuke Ishii defeated Akito and Kouki Iwasaki when Ishii pinned Iwasaki with a Frankensteiner (5:28).
1. Men’s Soul Legend ~ Loser Gets Ketsu Bat Match: Danshoku Dino defeated Nobuhiro Shimatani with the Danshoku Driver (3:59).
2. Smile Squash Vs DAMNATION!: HARASHIMA, Yuko Miyamoto & Soma Takao defeated Daisuke Sasaki, Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie when Miyamoto pinned Paulie with a Gannosuke Clutch (8:10).
3. Alcohol, Foreigners, Men And Women: KUDO, Masahiro Takanashi & Saki Akai defeated Mike Bailey, Antonio Honda & Priscilla Kelly when KUDO pinned Honda with the Diving Double Knee Drop (5:14).
4. Maji Manji Tournament – Round 1: Yuki Ueno defeated Lady Beard with a Backslide Pin (4:34).
5. Maji Manji Tournament – Round 1: MAO (57.6%) defeated Ken Ohka (42.4%) by Audience Decision (5:00).
6. Maji Manji Tournament – Round 1: Maki Itoh (65.4%) defeated Makoto Oishi (34.6%) by Audience Decision (5:00).
7. Maji Manji Tournament – Round 1: Kota Umeda defeated Shunma Katsumata with the Umeda Driver (4:51).
8. DDT LIVE!! Maji Manji Broadcast Commemoration Special Single Match: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Kazusada Higuchi ended in a Time Limit Draw (20:00).

A new project for DDT had its debut today. “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI” is a live weekly show airing on the AbemaTV streaming service during the “golden hours” of the primetime TV schedule. To mark the occasion, DDT headlined the episode with a match between Konosuke Takeshita and Kazusada Higuchi. The match ended in a 20 minute draw with both guys spent. Takeshita said he didn’t want to treat the match like an exhibition. He will always be ready to defend the KO-D Openweight Title. However, he would also like to challenge for the KO-D Tag Team Titles. Higuchi shares the same idea in regards to defending his own title and challenging for the other. They both shook hands. When Higuchi left, Takeshita closed out the show with a speech until Shigehiro Irie interrupted him. He called Takeshita a wonderful champion and it would please Irie greatly to win the title from him on 29th April in Korakuen Hall. Takeshita doesn’t like the disrespect Irie showed by coming out after he and Higuchi just wrestled. He hesitated to shake Irie’s hand but when he did, Irie gave him the thumbs down instead and left.

The first round of the Maji Manji tournament filled up the second half of the show. The matches only had a five minute time limit and tiebreakers were determined by a viewer poll. Yuki Ueno and Kota Umeda were able to win their matches but MAO and Maki Itoh needed the audience to get them through to the next round. The semi-finals on 17th April will be Ueno Vs MAO and Itoh Vs Umeda.

This time Saki Akai was able to avoid getting her face licked by Priscilla Kelly.

Mad Paulie is still in his red rage state due to the springtime. However Yuko Miyamoto escaped from the Paulie Buster and escaped with the win by pinning Paulie with the Gannosuke Clutch. Miyamoto told HARASHIMA after the match that he promises not to go extreme for their DDT Extreme Title match. But when they shook hands, Miyamoto gave HARASHIMA a cheap shot then struck him over the back with a chair! Miyamoto said he will no longer be associated with Smile Squash until after their match ends. They cannot team together when they are meant to be opponents. HARASHIMA understands and there are no hard feelings over the situation. He can only promise to do his best.

Idol Moga Mogami was the special guest commentator for the episode. She had never watched pro wrestling before this show and did not even know the existence of DDT. Naomi Yoshimura and Akira Jo were placed nearby as her bodyguards for the evening. After the first match of the broadcast, Danshoku Dino chased Nobuhiro Shimatani with a baseball bat. When Shimatani escaped, Dino grabbed Mogami and pulled her into the ring. Yoshimura & Jo rescued Mogami and beat up Dino for touching her. They allowed Mogami to strike Dino in the ass with the baseball bat as punishment for his actions.


DDT “SUNDAY KASUKABIAN! 2018” Results

April 13, 2018

DDT “SUNDAY KASUKABIAN! 2018”, 08/04/2018
Saitama Kasukabe Hall
192 Fans – No Vacancy

1. Kota Umeda & Yuki Ueno defeated Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Daiki Shimomura when Ueno pinned Shimomura with a Diving Body Press (12:16).
2. Yukio Sakaguchi, Masahiro Takanashi & Saki Akai defeated Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Priscilla Kelly when Sakaguchi submitted Hirata with a Modified Arm Choke (7:38).
3. KUDO defeated Kouki Iwasaki with the Backspin Kick (7:07).
4. Keisuke Ishii defeated Shunma Katsumata with the Kneel Kick (11:01).
5. Mike Bailey & MAO defeated Danshoku Dino & Antonio Honda when Bailey pinned Honda after the Michinoku Tornado Driver (12:09).
6. Konosuke Takeshita & Akito defeated Kazusada Higuchi & Mizuki Watase when Akito pinned Watase with a European Clutch (19:32).
7. Daisuke Sasaki, Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie defeated HARASHIMA, Soma Takao & Makoto Oishi when Sasaki pinned Oishi with the Vietnam Driver II (11:21).

Mad Paulie appeared wearing red face paint instead of his usual colours. He trampled through the opposition and could only be controlled when Daisuke Sasaki pulled out an erotic magazine. Whenever Sasaki wanted Paulie to go on a rampage again, he took the magazine away. After the match Sasaki explained that Paulie becomes like this during the springtime and he discovered only erotic books can calm him down. Maybe Sasaki’s anger about HARASHIMA getting the next DDT Extreme Title shot transferred over to Paulie and caused this change to happen.

Konosuke Takeshita told Kazusada Higuchi that he will show him serious pro wrestling when they headline the first episode of “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI” on Tuesday. The two faced off with their championship belts.

Today’s match for Danshoku Dino and Antonio Honda was a chance for them to be nostalgic about their past. Dino said it’s been ten years since they lived together. They spent their days sharing the same room and playing on a guitar to pass the time. Honda had no memory of this. He gained some recollection during the match but it was just so he could use it to distract his opponents for an eye poke. Mike Bailey & MAO ended up winning the match with a Michinoku Tornado Driver/Unified Wing Angel. Bailey surprised MAO backstage by revealing he’s been learning Japanese and giving a few post-match comments in that language.

Priscilla Kelly made things a bit awkward by licking a few of the other wrestlers during their match. Kazuki Hirata scared her when he took out his Hirata GO! glasses but she told her that in DDT, dancing is also pro wrestling. They danced together until Yukio Sakaguchi came in and beat up Hirata for the finish.


DDT Uploads English Recap Shows To Youtube

April 12, 2018

I’ll start posting the results I missed last week starting this weekend but until then here’s something to keep you all busy. DDT uploaded several of their English recap shows from DDT Universe to their Youtube channel. These are complete shows with English commentary provided by wrestlers such as Diego, Colt Cabana and Mike Bailey as well as from DDT associates American Baloon and Mr. HAKU. The commentary provides backstory and explanations to what’s going on as well as other little facts of the wrestlers involved.

DDT “DDT SPECIAL 2017”, 22/10/2017
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,433 Fans – Super No Vacancy
DDT Dramatic General Election Ranking In Parentheses

0. Under Match: Super Sasadango Machine (#22) & Yuki Ueno (#24) Vs Kouki Iwasaki (#23) & Yuni (#25)
1. Saki Akai (#9), Antonio Honda (#18) & Abdullah Kobayashi Vs Shunma Katsumata (#12), MAO (#14) & Cherry (#17)
2. Soma Takao (#6), Makoto Oishi (#10) & Ultimo Dragon Vs Toru Owashi (#14), Ken Ohka (#16) & Kazuki Hirata (#20)
3. Akito (#8) & Hideki Suzuki Vs Yukio Sakaguchi (#19) & Kazusada Higuchi (#21)
4. Special Single Match: Keisuke Ishii (#13) Vs Suwama
5. Special Single Match: Tetsuya Endo (#3) Vs Masahiro Takanashi (#5)
6. DDT Extreme Title – TLC Match: Daisuke Sasaki (#4) (c) Vs HARASHIMA (#2)
7. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (#7) (c) Vs Danshoku Dino (#1)

DDT “NEVER MIND 2017”, 24/12/2017
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2,017 Fans – No Vacancy

0. Under Match: Mad Paulie Vs Gota Ihashi
1. Shigehiro Irie & Keisuke Okuda Vs Soma Takao & Daiki Shimomura
2. T2HiJoshi Vs Tokyo Joshi Pro Fight!: Francoise☆Takagi, Margaret★Owashi & Kazuko Hirata Vs Miyu Yamashita, Yuka Sakazaki & Yuna Manase
3. KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi, Masahiro Takanashi & Saki Akai Vs Keisuke Ishii, Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Tomoya & Nobuhiro Shimatani
4. NωA, If You Lose Immediately Withdraw Dissolution Special: Makoto Oishi, Shunma Katsumata & MAO Vs Danshoku Dino, Super Sasadango Machine & Antonio Honda
5. Hasta La Vista, Diego! Special 6-Man Tag Match: Diego, Akito & Kazusada Higuchi Vs Kouki Iwasaki, Mizuki Watase & Rekka
6. KO-D Tag Team Titles: HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji (c) Vs Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo
7. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) Vs Colt Cabana

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “TOKYO JOSHI PRO ’18”, 04/01/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,201 Fans – Super No Vacancy

1. Up Up Girls (Pro Wrestling) Debut Fight Tag Match: Raku & Hikari Vs Hinano & Miu
2. Yuu, Nodoka-oneesan & Marika Kobashi Vs Rika Tatsumi, Hyper Misao & Yuki Kamifuku
3. Maho Kurone Vs Veda Scott
4. Special Single Match: Maki Itoh Vs Danshoku Dino
5. NEO Biishiki-gun Vs Super Milk Combination!: Saki-sama & Azusa Christie Vs Nonoko & Yuna Manase (w/ Haruka Nishimoto)
6. TOKYO Princess Tag Team Titles: Yuka Sakazaki & Shoko Nakajima (c) Vs Mizuki & Riho
7. TOKYO Princess Of Princess Title: Reika Saiki (c) Vs Miyu Yamashita

DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2018 THE FINAL!!”, 28/01/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,214 Fans – No Vacancy

0. Under Match: Naomi Yoshimura Vs Nobuhiro Shimatani
1. Yukio Sakaguchi & Kota Umeda Vs Mizuki Watase & Yuki Ueno
2. Infomercial Match – Takahashi Tax Accounting Office: Super Sasadango Machine & Saki Akai Vs Antonio Honda & Tanomusaku Toba
3. 3 Way Tag Match: Soma Takao & Kouki Iwasaki Vs KUDO & Masahiro Takanashi Vs Kazusada Higuchi & Daiki Shimomura
4. Danshoku Dino & Keisuke Ishii Vs Jiro Kuroshio & Joey Ryan
5. NωA FINAL CONCERT In Korakuen Hall ~ T2Hide This Is The Real Last Time! Final!! Final Battle!!: Makoto Oishi, Shunma Katsumata & MAO Vs Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata
6. Konosuke Takeshita, Akito & Mike Bailey Vs Daisuke Sasaki, Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie
7. D-King Grand Prix – Final: HARASHIMA Vs Shuji Ishikawa

DDT “INTO THE FIGHT 2018”, 25/02/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,220 Fans – No Vacancy

0. Under Match: Mad Paulie Vs Tomomitsu Matsunaga
1. Tag Rumble: Sanshiro Takagi & Super Sasadango Machine Vs Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata Vs Soma Takao & MAO Vs Makoto Oishi & Kota Umeda Vs Yuki Ueno & Koju Takeda
2. Infomercial Match – Net One Systems Co., Ltd.: Danshoku Dino Vs Saki Akai Vs Akito Vs Antonio Honda Vs Kouki Iwasaki Vs Mizuki Watase
3. Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo Vs Keisuke Ishii & Ken Ohka
4. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi (c) Vs Ryuichi Sekine, Ryota Nakatsu & Fuminori Abe
5. DDT Extreme Title – Hardcore +α Match: Yuko Miyamoto (c) Vs Shunma Katsumata
6. Special Single Match: Naomichi Marufuji Vs Kazusada Higuchi
7. Special Tag Match: Konosuke Takeshita & HARASHIMA Vs Shuji Ishikawa & Daisuke Sekimoto


BASARA’s 12.12.12, Maji Manji Debut Card, Takeshita Prepares For Irie

April 3, 2018

I’m going on holiday for a week so there won’t be anymore updates until 13th April at the earliest. That means I’ll be late posting results for the next six shows. If anything major happens and I get word of it there will be tweets but other than that, it’s probably going to be a quiet week or two on this page.

BASARA “VAJRA 64 ~CHERRY BLOSSOMS~”, 07/04/2018
Tokyo BASEMENT MON☆STAR

1. Best Stretchman V3 & Best Stretchman Amazon Vs Hercules Senga & Gouma Ryu
2. BASARA’s 12.12.12: FUMA Vs Takato Nakano
3. BASARA’s 12.12.12: Takumi Tsukamoto Vs Akiyori Takizawa
4. BASARA’s 12.12.12: SAGAT Vs Ryota Nakatsu
5. BASARA’s 12.12.12: Yusuke Kubo Vs Yasu Urano
6. BASARA’s 12.12.12: Ryuichi Sekine Vs Tank Nagai
7. BASARA’s 12.12.12: Isami Kodaka Vs Manabu Hara

For this show BASARA has created the 12.12.12 series. Twelve wrestlers were selected for a series of matches with a 12 minute time limit. The randomly determined card was also revealed at 12pm on BASARA’s Twitter account.

DDT “SUNDAY KASUKABIAN! 2018”, 08/04/2018
Saitama Kasukabe Hall

1. Keisuke Ishii Vs Shunma Katsumata
2. KUDO Vs Kouki Iwasaki
3. Kota Umeda & Yuki Ueno Vs Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Daiki Shimomura
4. Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Priscilla Kelly Vs Yukio Sakaguchi, Masahiro Takanashi & Saki Akai
5. Danshoku Dino & Antonio Honda Vs Mike Bailey & MAO
6. HARASHIMA, Soma Takao & Makoto Oishi Vs Daisuke Sasaki, Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie
7. Konosuke Takeshita & Akito Vs Kazusada Higuchi & Mizuki Watase

One thing left hanging over “APRIL FOOL 2018” was the role of Mizuki Watase. He was Shigehiro Irie’s cornerman for the main event and seems to be taking Irie’s place in the build up to the next KO-D Openweight Title match.

DDT “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI #1”, 10/04/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

0. No TV Match 1: Mizuki Watase Vs Daiki Shimomura
0. No TV Match 2: Keisuke Ishii Vs Akito Vs Kouki Iwasaki
1. Men’s Soul Legend: Danshoku Dino Vs Nobuhiro Shimatani
2. Smile Squash Vs DAMNATION!: HARASHIMA, Yuko Miyamoto & Soma Takao Vs Daisuke Sasaki, Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie
3. Alcohol, Foreigners, Men And Women: KUDO, Masahiro Takanashi & Saki Akai Vs Mike Bailey, Antonio Honda & Priscilla Kelly
4. Maji Manji Tournament – Round 1: Yuki Ueno Vs Lady Beard
5. Maji Manji Tournament – Round 1: MAO Vs Ken Ohka
6. Maji Manji Tournament – Round 1: Makoto Oishi Vs Maki Ito
7. Maji Manji Tournament – Round 1: Shunma Katsumata Vs Kota Umeda
8. DDT LIVE!! Maji Manji Broadcast Commemoration Special Single Match: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Kazusada Higuchi

The show will air on DDT UNIVERSE as well as AbemaTV.

Priscilla Kelly will also be wrestling for DDT while she is in Japan for Tokyo Joshi Pro.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “LET’S GO TO OSAKA IN THE SPRING, TOGETHER WITH YOUR FRIENDS!”, 15/04/2018
Osaka City Yodogawa Citizen Center

1. Hikari Vs Miu
2. Mizuki & Raku Vs Nodoka-oneesan & Hinano
3. Yuka Sakazaki & Shoko Nakajima Vs Hyper Misao & Priscilla Kelly
4. Saki-sama & Azusa Christie Vs Yuu & Yuki Kamifuku
5. Miyu Yamashita, Reika Saiki & Marika Kobashi Vs Rika Tatsumi, Maho Kurone & Maki Ito

The main event mixes together some of the upcoming Korakuen Hall matches. Miyu Yamashita and Rika Tatsumi face off while Reika Saiki & Marika Kobashi team up for the first time.

DDT “MAX BUMP 2018”, 29/04/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Cherry’s Last DDT Match!: Danshoku Dino, KUDO & Masahiro Takanashi Vs Cherry, Francoise☆Takagi & Makoto Oishi
2. DDT Extreme Title: Yuko Miyamoto (c) Vs HARASHIMA
3. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) Vs Shigehiro Irie

Irie is back in DDT and is entirely focused on winning the KO-D Title and destroying what DDT has become. Konosuke Takeshita welcomes the challenge so he can continue his record breaking title reign. Their last singles match together was on the “DDT SPECIAL 2015” pre-show back in October 2015 when both of them scored low in the Dramatic General Election that year. The match ended in a 10 minute draw.

There is no stipulation picked yet for the DDT Extreme Title match.

Cherry is going freelance after this show. She has also taken up fortune telling as a hobby so maybe she will show off some of that before she leaves the company.

BASARA “VAJRA 66 ~IT GOES THROUGH TO HEAVENLY HEAVEN~”, 03/05/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Count Down To Extinction ~ Hardcore Tag Match: FUMA & SAGAT Vs Jun Kasai & Gunso
2. Cavalry Vs Aikata Tag!: Ryuichi Sekine & Ryota Nakatsu Vs Ikuto Hidaka & Minoru Fujita
3. Union MAX Title & DOVE World Title: Isami Kodaka (U/c) Vs Naoki Tanizaki (D/c)

Naoki Tanizaki won the DOVE World Title over at Dove Pro during the weekend. He promised to put the belt on the line when he faces Isami Kodaka so it is now a double championship match!


DDT Universe Getting Overhaul In May

April 3, 2018

On 1st May, DDT will be relaunching their website and online services as part of a new collaboration with C.A.MOBILE, a mobile internet domain owned by CyberAgent. As part of the relaunch, DDT UNIVERSE and the DRAMATIC FAN CLUB will be merged together as a single service with multiple pricing tiers.

Currently I do not know if this has an effect on international subscribers to DDT UNIVERSE. I will try to find out.

Under the new monthly pricing structure the membership categories are as follows:

Bronze: Free. WEB membership card, Limited questionnaire function (one vote per day).

Silver: 500 yen. WEB membership card, Unlimited questionnaire function, priority entry at shows, web newsletter, DDT UNIVERSE access (Archive videos only), fan only events.

Gold: 900 yen. WEB membership card, Unlimited questionnaire function, priority entry at shows, web newsletter, DDT UNIVERSE access (Live, Archive, Offshoot videos), fan only events.

Platinum: 1,200 yen. WEB membership card, Unlimited questionnaire function, priority entry at shows, web newsletter, DDT UNIVERSE access (Live, Archive, Offshoot, Platinum exclusive videos), fan only events.

Current UNIVERSE subscribers can be transferred into Gold membership when the service relaunches but it will not be an automatic process.


Contract Updates: Cherry, Miyatake And Kawamura All Leaving DDT

April 3, 2018

It is the time of the year when several DDT contracts are about to run out. Three wrestlers will not be renewing their contracts this year. They are Cherry for DDT, Suguru Miyatake for DNA and Tomoya Kawamura for BASARA.

Cherry has chosen to leave DDT after spending 14 years associated with the company, both for DDT and Union Pro. At 43 years old she has taken up fortune telling and looked into her future. She came to the conclusion that it was time to move on to new challenges. Her final match as a DDT wrestler will be on 29th April and she will officially become a freelancer the next day. Cherry promises to become the strongest fortune teller in the pro wrestling world!

Suguru Miyatake’s career had been plagued by injuries, the worst of which required shoulder surgery in January 2016 that kept him away from the ring ever since. Miyatake couldn’t train enough to return to his original condition and a return is not possible for him both physically and mentally.

Tomoya Kawamura is another young wrestler who battled through injuries. Originally signed to Union Pro, Kawamura was too hurt to compete at Union’s final show. He reinvented himself as Rainbow Kawamura in DNA then moved on to BASARA only to get his career derailed by more injuries. His contract will end but he does not intend to retire from pro wrestling because he still hopes to recover.


DDT “APRIL FOOL 2018” Results

April 1, 2018

DDT “APRIL FOOL 2018”, 01/04/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
972 Fans

0. Under Match: Tomomitsu Matsunaga defeated Rekka with the Backdrop (6:22).
1. Kota Umeda, Yuki Ueno & Koju Takeda defeated Kazusada Higuchi, Kouki Iwasaki & Mizuki Watase when Umeda pinned Watase with the Umeda Driver (8:37).
2. Gota Ihashi 5 Match Series – 1st Battle: Koji Kanemoto defeated Gota Ihashi with the Anklelock (11:42).
3. Loser Expulsion Match: Tetsuya Endo, Mad Paulie, Keisuke Ishii, Masahiro Takanashi, Saki Akai, MAO and Antonio Honda defeated Kazuki Hirata (8:01).
3a1. Mad Paulie defeated Kazuki Hirata with a Body Press (2:37).
3a2. Tetsuya Endo defeated Kazuki Hirata with a Standing Moonsault Senton (2:50).
3a3. Keisuke Ishii defeated Kazuki Hirata with a Fisherman Buster (3:16).
3a4. MAO defeated Kazuki Hirata with a Hollywood Star Rolling Senton (3:29).
3a5. Antonio Honda defeated Masahiro Takanashi, Kazuki Hirata and Saki Akai with the Gongitsune (5:46).
3a6. Masahiro Takanashi defeated Saki Akai with a School Boy (6:21).
3a7. Saki Akai defeated Kazuki Hirata with a School Boy (6:58).
3b. 2 Vs 1 Handicap Match: Kazuki Hirata defeated Sanshiro Takagi & Toru Owashi when Hirata pinned Takagi with a Backslide Pine (8:01).
*Sanshiro Takagi is banished from DDT.
4. Japan-US Gay Wrestling Summit! 2018: Colt Cabana, Joey Ryan & Ethan Page defeated Danshoku Dino, Super Sasadango Machine & Makoto Oishi when Cabana pinned Oishi with the Superman Dive (12:18).
5. 4 Way Tag Match: KUDO & Yukio Sakaguchi defeated Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata, HARASHIMA & Soma Takao and Daisuke Sasaki & Shuji Ishikawa when Sakaguchi submitted Katsumata with an Arm Triangle Hold (11:06).
6. DDT Extreme Title – Ladder Match: Yuko Miyamoto (c) defeated Mike Bailey when Miyamoto grabbed the title belt (15:11).
*V3 for Yuko Miyamoto.
7. Special Single Match: Shigehiro Irie defeated Akito with the Beast Bomber (14:20).

After disappearing off the face of the earth for a few months, Shigehiro Irie is back in DDT to win the KO-D Openweight Title. Standing in his way was Akito who was determined not to let Irie get what he wants after he abandoned the company. Irie overpowered Akito’s submissions and crushed him with a Diving Cannonball before getting the win with the Beast Bomber.

After the match Irie spotted Konosuke Takeshita sitting at the commentary table and demanded he get in the ring. Irie then challenged Takeshita to a KO-D Title match. Takeshita reminded Irie about the dark match they had in Korakuen Hall together in 2015. Takeshita has never forgotten about it and he will continue to be the champion. Producer Danshoku Dino showed up and gave his opinion about Irie. He does not care if Irie wants to break up DDT. All that matters is if Irie creates something new to take its place if he becomes the champion. Whether it is Takeshita or Irie on top, either future is something that Dino wants to see. The title match will take place on 29th April.

The DDT Extreme Title was hung above the ring for a Ladder match between Yuko Miyamoto and Mike Bailey. The ladder wasn’t the only dangerous object used in the match. A pile of chairs were stacked up as a creative substitute when a ladder wasn’t available but it just collapsed beneath them. When the ladder was brought in Miyamoto and Bailey went to town with crazy bumps. Miyamoto knocked Bailey off the ladder onto another one suspended against the ropes and was free to pull down the title belt. Miyamoto called Bailey a crazy wrestler then nominated his buddy HARASHIMA as the next challenger on 29th April. Their last singles match against each other happened 13 years ago in Triple Six.

Shuten-dōji bounced back from their Sumo Hall defeat by winning the 4 Way Tag Match. It got a bit crazy in the finishing stretch. Takeshita gave KUDO the German Suplex, Daisuke Sasaki gave Takeshita the Hurricanrana, Soma Takao hit Sasaki with a Thrust Kick, Shuji Ishikawa gave Takao the Fire Thunder, Yukio Sakaguchi hit Ishikawa with the Right Knee Of God then Shunma Katsumata caught a High Kick and gave Sakaguchi a Sit Down Power Bomb. Sakaguchi moved out of the way from Katsumata’s Moonsault and locked him into a Triangle Choke with a Kimura also applied to win. Masahiro Takanashi said that everyone in Shuten-dōji are starving for a drink and KUDO called today an exciting start for their next story.

Not sure how much I can write about the North America Vs Japan 6-Man Tag without getting this site blocked by web filters. Colt Cabana & Joey Ryan tricked Ethan Page into starting the match with Dino. Cabana got the crowd to chant “Okama Ichiban!” after they won.

Sanshiro Takagi & Toru Owashi were given the task of banishing a wrestler from DDT to keep the roster from overflowing. For weeks DDT wrestlers were selected based on negative and questionable qualities and today it was up to them to fight for their survival. Takagi & Owashi sat by a desk in the ring while everyone wrestled around them. Anyone who could pin an opponent or impress the judges would be spared and could leave the match. One by one the ring whittled down until Kazuki Hirata was the last wrestler left. The match turned into a 2 Vs 1 Handicap Match between Takagi & Owashi against Hirata. Takagi gave Hirata the Sit Down Himawari Bomb but from out of nowhere all of the other wrestlers rolled Hirata onto him and all piled up on top for the pin! Per the rules of the match, Takagi is now banished from DDT!

Takagi protested and tried to convince everyone it was only an April Fool’s joke. Owashi wouldn’t have any of it. He told Takagi he had to accept the stipulation. Takagi refused to leave and clung on to the bottom turnbuckle. Yuki Iino came out dressed as a sexy policeman and he lifted Takagi over to other wrestlers so they could carry him towards his banishment. DDT then announced that Francoise☆Takagi from T2HiJoshi will return on 29th April.

In the first match of his five match series, Gota Ihashi lost to Koji Kanemoto. Ihashi had the chance to win with the Moonsault but he missed and Kanemoto tapped him out with the Anklelock. Kanemoto motivated Ihashi to stand back up and cheered him up. It turns out Kanemoto also hates Riki Choshu! He encouraged Ihashi to continue the trial and if he needs to get stronger, Kanemoto will be there for him.

The new KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions went up against former champions and all of them came from DNA. The finish to that match came with Yuki Ueno hitting Mizuki Watase with a Missile Dropkick, Koju Takeda did the Hurricane Driver and Kota Umeda got the pin with the Umeda Driver. The champions haven’t decided when to hold their first defence yet.

Rekka focused his gameplan around an Elbow Stike move called the Taiwan Elbow. However it wasn’t enough to beat Tomomitsu Matsunaga.

DDT provided a few April Fool announcements at the start of the show. Their new logo is the inspiration for a brand new mascot, a wrestler who wears the logo as a mask. The second joke is DDT’s video team is busy doing nothing in regards to their “BETAMANIA” show on 23rd April. The final joke was a special Gota Ihashi brochure going on sale that costs 150,000 yen.

DDT is working with C.A.MOBILE to redesign DDT’s official websites and services. The plan is to merge the website, the fan club and DDT UNIVERSE into one service with different pricing tiers.


Ladder Match Tomorrow, DNA Tag Tournament, Kobashi Gets Ready, Riho Vs Ito

March 31, 2018

DDT “APRIL FOOL 2018”, 01/04/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

0. Under Match: Tomomitsu Matsunaga Vs Rekka
1. Gota Ihashi 5 Match Series – 1st Battle: Gota Ihashi Vs Koji Kanemoto
2. Kota Umeda, Yuki Ueno & Koji Takeda Vs Kazusada Higuchi, Kouki Iwasaki & Mizuki Watase
3. 4 Way Tag Match: Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata Vs HARASHIMA & Soma Takao Vs Daisuke Sasaki & Shuji Ishikawa Vs KUDO & Yukio Sakaguchi
4. Japan-US Gay Wrestling Summit! 2018: Danshoku Dino, Super Sasadango Machine & Makoto Oishi Vs Colt Cabana, Joey Ryan & Ethan Page
5. Loser Expulsion Match: Sanshiro Takagi & Toru Owashi Vs Tetsuya Endo, Mad Paulie, Keisuke Ishii, Masahiro Takanashi, Saki Akai, Kazuki Hirata, MAO & Antonio Honda
6. Special Single Match: Shigehiro Irie Vs Akito
7. DDT Extreme Title – Ladder Match: Yuko Miyamoto (c) Vs Mike Bailey

The DDT Extreme Title is going to be suspended above the ring for a Ladder Match main event.

DNA “DNA 43”, 05/04/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

1. I Met Him Here For 100 Years! Grudge Settlement! Chinese Mecancho Ultra Special Single Match: Rekka Vs Choun-Shiryu
2. 1st Sanshiro Takagi DNA SUPER TAG TOURNAMENT – Semi-Final: MAO & Rising HAYATO Vs Naomi Yoshimura & Akiro Jo
3. 1st Sanshiro Takagi DNA SUPER TAG TOURNAMENT – Semi-Final: Yuki Ueno & Koju Takeda Vs Kouki Iwasaki & Ryota Nakatsu
4. Worldwide Match: Mike Bailey Vs Baliyan Akki
5. Minoru Tanaka, Mizuki Watase & Tomoya Hirata Vs Kota Umeda, Daiki Shimomura & Nobuhiro Shimatani
6. DNA Vs Naomi Kingdom: Shunma Katsumata Vs Keisuke Okuda
7. 1st Sanshiro Takagi DNA SUPER TAG TOURNAMENT – Final: X & X Vs X & X

There is still some juice left in the DNA Vs Naomi Kingdom rivalry. Shunma Katsumata has a match with Keisuke Okuda while Naomi Yoshimura & Akiro Jo are still in the tag tournament.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “LET’S GO TO OJI IN THE SPRING, TOGETHER WITH YOUR FRIENDS!”, 07/04/2018
Tokyo BASEMENT MON☆STAR

1. Yuka Sakazaki & Hinano Vs Hikari & Raku
2. 3 Way Match: Shoko Nakajima Vs Nodoka-oneesan Vs Maki Itoh
3. Yuu Vs Miu
4. Rika Tatsumi & Maho Kurone Vs Hyper Misao & Priscilla Kelly
5. Saki-sama & Azusa Christie Vs Mizuki & Yuki Kamifuku
6. Miyu Yamashita Vs Marika Kobashi

Marika Kobashi will debut a new entrance song on this show. She is going to work through two big singles matches against Miyu Yamashita and Reika Saiki to prepare for her next TOKYO Princess Tag Team Title shot.

Priscilla Kelly makes her Tokyo Joshi Pro debut.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “LET’S GO TO KASUKABE IN THE SPRING, TOGETHER WITH YOUR FRIENDS!”, 08/04/2018
Saitama Kasukabe Hall

1. Hikari & Hinano Vs Miu & Raku
2. Shoko Nakajima Vs Priscilla Kelly
3. Maki Itoh & Mizuki Vs Nodoka-oneesan & Yuki Kamifuku
4. Saki-sama & Azusa Christie Vs Yuu & Hyper Misao
5. Reika Saiki Vs Marika Kobashi
6. Miyu Yamashita & Yuka Sakazaki Vs Rika Tatsumi & Maho Kurone

Miyu Yamashita and Rika Tatsumi collide in the lead up to Korakuen Hall.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “YES! WONDERLAND 2018 ~BREAK MYSELF!~”, 03/05/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Maho Kurone & Su Yung Vs X & X
2. Yuki Aino Debut Match: Nodoka-oneesan & Yuki Aino Vs X & X
3. Maki Itoh Vs Riho
4. TOKYO Princess Tag Team Titles: Saki-sama & Azusa Christie (c) Vs Reika Saiki & Marika Kobashi
5. TOKYO Princess Of Princess Title: Miyu Yamashita (c) Vs Rika Tatsumi

Riho is looking forward to wrestling against Maki Itoh one on one for the first time. Riho is always happy to meet new people but Itoh is annoyed that Riho doesn’t know who she is. She even told Mizuki back in December when they were looking for a tag partner to bring in someone who respects her. Riho pointed out that Mizuki never brought up Itoh, she just asked her to team up for a match. She doesn’t know anything about Itoh other than her name. That only made Ito even more annoyed because according to her she’s been a famous idol for almost as long as Riho has been wrestling. Riho excused that by saying she spends so much of her life in wrestling that she never had the time to look up Itoh’s Wikipedia page.

Yuki Aino is from Okayama and is Nodoka-oneesan’s real life sister. She was the Tokyo Joshi ring announcer since January 2017 but she originally joined to become a wrestler. At first she stopped training because she couldn’t balance it with her college studies. However she secretly began training again near the end of last year and is now ready to debut.

The new ring announcer debuting on this show is Sayuri Nanba, an idol from Saitama.

BASARA “VAJRA 66 ~IT GOES THROUGH TO HEAVENLY HEAVEN~”, 03/05/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Union MAX Title: Isami Kodaka (c) Vs Naoki Tanizaki

Naoki Tanizaki attacked Isami Kodaka after Thursday’s main event and challenged him to a Union MAX Title match. He also promised if he wins the main championship in Dove Pro Wrestling at their 1st April show he will put it on the line to make it a double title match.


Irie Returns, Challenges Takeshita, Gets Grudge Match With Akito

March 27, 2018

DDT “APRIL FOOL 2018”, 01/04/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Gota Ihashi 5 Match Series – 1st Battle: Gota Ihashi Vs Koji Kanemoto
2. Japan-US Gay Wrestling Summit! 2018: Danshoku Dino, Super Sasadango Machine & Makoto Oishi Vs Colt Cabana, Joey Ryan & Ethan Page
3. Kota Umeda, Yuki Ueno & Koji Takeda Vs Kazusada Higuchi, Kouki Iwasaki & Mizuki Watase
4. Loser Expulsion Match: Sanshiro Takagi & Toru Owashi Vs Tetsuya Endo, Mad Paulie, Keisuke Ishii, Masahiro Takanashi, Saki Akai, Kazuki Hirata, MAO & Antonio Honda
5. 4 Way Tag Match: Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata Vs HARASHIMA & Soma Takao Vs Daisuke Sasaki & Shuji Ishikawa Vs KUDO & Yukio Sakaguchi
6. DDT Extreme Title: Yuko Miyamoto (c) Vs Mike Bailey
7. Special Single Match: Shigehiro Irie Vs Akito

The aftermath of “JUDGEMENT 2018” is all about the controversial return of Shigehiro Irie. He vanished from DDT at the end of 2017 and I assumed at the time he was going on another one of his wrestling trips to America. However there was no sign he was ever in the country during that time and he kept himself mostly quiet on social media save for a “Like” notification here and there. He reappeared at the end of “JUDGEMENT 2018” to challenge Konosuke Takeshita for the KO-D Openweight Title.

Irie has since spoken about his actions. During his time away he considered quitting DDT because it was no longer the same DDT he loved. But he doesn’t want to throw away everything he has worked so hard for. The most important thing in his life is the KO-D Title and he wants to win it again.

The one person who was vocal about Irie’s behaviour when he disappeared is Akito. He lost all respect for Irie when he again ran away from his problems. He hates the idea of Irie getting the shot as if nothing ever happened. Takeshita said he would like to see both of them wrestle each other so Irie Vs Akito will take place at this Sunday’s return to Korakuen Hall. Of course Akito would like to get the title shot but this match isn’t about that. It’s about him dealing with Irie’s childish behaviour.

DDT “MAX BUMP 2018”, 29/04/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) Vs X

DDT is getting back to regular KO-D Title defences after it was put aside in the first quarter of the year for the D-Ou Grand Prix as well as the “JUDGEMENT 2018” build up. Takeshita is confident he can continue his strong title reign. He has held the title for 371 days and recorded 11 successful defences in that time. He wants to rewrite all of the championship’s records so he is happy to be the youngest champion ever, have the most defences ever and the longest reign ever. All that’s left for him is to be the oldest champion ever but Takeshita has to wait at least 20 years to achieve that. He’ll leave it up to the fans to decide if he is the ace but he intends to stay in the main event forever.

Takeshita would like his next challenger to be the winner of the Irie Vs Akito match. That is not the official stipulation of the 1st April bout but it is most likely going to happen. Jiro Kuroshio has also spoke of his desire to face Takeshita again in a rematch of their Grand Prix meeting. However it is currently unknown if DDT is much of a priority for Kuroshio right now.