DDT In NOAH Limit Break 2 Results

May 29, 2024

NOAH “THE LEAVE PRESENTS LIMIT BREAK. 2”, 29/05/2024
Shinjuku FACE
403 Fans

3. Tetsuya Endo & Yuki Iino defeated Hi69 & Harutoki when Endo pinned Harutoki with the Burning Star Press (12:38).
4. Jun Akiyama defeated Atsushi Kotoge with the Wrist-Clutch Exploder (18:14).
5. Kazuyuki Fujita, Yoshitatsu & Genta Yubari defeated Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Naya & Tomomitsu Matsunaga when Fujita pinned Matsunaga with a Kick To The Face (21:42).

More DDT involvement happened in NOAH this month with the latest “LIMIT BREAK” show. NOAH has developed two separate sub-brands this year. There is “MONDAY MAGIC”, an episodic series of wrestling events that is put together by NOSAWA Rongai. There is also “LIMIT BREAK” which is attached to Go Shiozaki and his Team NOAH unit. The unusual thing is DDT find themselves in the serious and straightforward Limit Break shows rather than the wacky Monday Magic events that are full of surprises. One of the big matches Limit Break has been building up with this turn of events is NOAH’s Kazuyuki Fujita against DDT’s Kazusada Higuchi. They have a singles match taking place next month so today they had a preview 6-Man Tag. Higuchi had Yukio Naya & Tomomitsu Matsunaga on his side and they put up a good fight. But Fujita cut off Matsunaga with a Lariat and taunted Higuchi before kicking Matsunaga in the face for the finish. Yoshitatsu praised Genta Yubari for putting in a passionate effort. Higuchi apologised to Matsunaga for not being able to help him. He knows he won’t get any help himself against Fujita on 19th June so he his fired up to fight him one on one. Naya said he came to this show looking for something that does not exist in DDT. He wants to keep wrestling on these shows.

An important singles match had Jun Akiyama taking on the underdog Atsushi Kotoge based on negative comments Kotoge made about him at the last show. Akiyama kept control for most of the match but when Kotoge got the upper hand he made sure his opponent knew about it. Things went south when Akiyama lured him out of the ring to beat him up in a ringside brawl. Back in the ring Akiyama kept hitting Knee Strikes with his kneepad pulled down. Kotoge countered the Exploder Suplex but ended up taking more Knee Strikes. He kicked out at two so Akiyama gave him the Wrist-Clutch Exploder, finishing him off. Akiyama had a message for Kotoge backstage after the match. There is no one place where a wrestler can develop everything. Instead there are many places to go wrestle in and DDT is one of them. If Kotoge wants to learn what he is lacking, he should come over to DDT and maybe Akiyama can teach him a little of what he is missing. Kotoge must have accepted the invitiation because a few hours later DDT announced he will be on their 5th June show in Shinjuku FACE teaming with Akiyama & Matsunaga.

DDT’s version of BURNING is becoming a regular part of the Limit Break shows. Tetsuya Endo & Yuki Iino were on the card and won their match against Hi69 and Osaka wrestler Harutoki. Iino hit Hi69 with the Spear allowing Endo to give Harutoki the Swivel Torture Rack Bomb and Burning Star Press combo for the victory. Endo bragged about winning three matches in a row at Limit Break now. He is again demanding a singles match against Shiozaki. Iino wants to fight Shiozaki again too.

NOAH “THE LEAVE PRESENTS LIMIT BREAK. 3 GO! ~GO SHIOZAKI 20TH ANNIVERSARY TOURNAMENT~”, 19/06/2024
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

4. Atsushi Kotoge, Black Menso-re & Yuto Kikuchi Vs Tetsuya Endo, Yuki Iino & Yuya Koroku
5. Beast Vs Harimao: Kazuyuki Fujita Vs Kazusada Higuchi
7. Go Shiozaki 20th Anniversary Match -DEPARTURE 2024-: Go Shiozaki & Jun Akiyama Vs Naomichi Marufuji & Takashi Sugiura


DDT In NOAH Limit Break Results

May 1, 2024

NOAH “THE LEAVE PRESENTS LIMIT BREAK EX.”, 27/04/2024
Yokohama Radiant Hall
314 Fans

2. Atsushi Kotoge & Black Menso-re defeated Jun Akiyama & Rukiya when Kotoge pinned Rukiya with the Killswitch (14:32).
3. Tetsuya Endo defeated Hi69 with the Burning Star Press (15:24).
4. Go Shiozaki, Kazuyuki Fujita & Mohammed Yone Vs Shuji Ishikawa, Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya ended in a Time Limit Draw (20:00).
4a. Emergency Decision Match: Go Shiozaki, Kazuyuki Fujita & Mohammed Yone defeated Shuji Ishikawa, Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya when Shiozaki pinned Iino with the Strong Arm Lariat (4:41).

Forgot to write about this last when it happened last week. I have to do a better job keeping track of DDT’s entry into NOAH. The second “LIMIT BREAK” show had more inter-promotional matches between the two companies. Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya found themselves teaming with Shuji Ishikawa for a match against TEAM NOAH that lasted the entire 20 minute time limit. The visiting team still wanted to fight and convinced the NOAH wrestlers to restart the match. The home side won the rematch thanks to Go Shiozaki hitting Iino with the Strong Arm Lariat. Even though the end result wasn’t what the DDT wrestlers wanted, they and Ishikawa took a moral victory by getting a time limit draw and restart in the first place. Iino even blamed NOAH for changing the rules even though his team asked for the restart. The three of them said they want to wrestle the NOAH side even more. In fact, Naya thinks DDT is stronger than NOAH and will prove it to Mohammed Yone if he ever comes over to DDT.

Tetsuya Endo had a singles match against Hi69 and beat him with the Burning Star Press. The two did not shake hands afterwards but according to Endo it was not out of spite. He respects Hi69 and didn’t shake his hand because he thinks there is still more in the fight between them. But Endo also has a bigger reason for showing up in NOAH. He wants to beat Go Shiozaki and demands a singles match between them take place as soon as possible!

DDT lost the other tag match on the show when Jun Akiyama & Rukiya were beaten by Atsushi Kotoge & Black Menso-re. After the match Kotoge called out Akiyama for hiding behind younger wrestlers and challenged him to a singles match. Akiyama took offence to the comments and accepted the challenge for the next “LIMIT BREAK” show. He also took his anger out on Rukiya for taking the fall. He ordered Rukiya not to talk because in NOAH you don’t get to make any comments when you lose. Akiyama would have done the same if Kotoge hadn’t challenged him to a match.


DDT In NOAH Limit Break Results

March 21, 2024

NOAH “LIMIT BREAK EX.”, 20/03/2024
Yokohama Radiant Hall
330 Fans – No Vacancy

1. Yu Owada defeated Rukiya with a Crab Hold (9:17).
3. Kazuyuki Fujita & Atsushi Kotoge defeated Kazusada Higuchi & Black Menso~re when Kotoge pinned Menso~re with the Killswitch (13:29).
4. Jun Akiyama & Akitoshi Saito Vs Shuji Ishikawa & Ren Ayabe ended in a Time Limit Draw (20:00).
5. Tetsuya Endo & Yuki Iino defeated Go Shiozaki & Genta Yubari when Endo pinned Yubari with the Burning Star Press (25:32).

(Note: I would have gotten this written up yesterday until I got an unexpected request from Maki Itoh that kept me busy.)

A criticism of CyberFight I often see and hear online is about the lack of interaction between NOAH and DDT. It is especially weird when the two promotions actively set up working relationships with other companies outside the CyberFight banner. Well we finally got to see it happen here. NOAH has a series of shows called “LIMIT BREAK” and yesterday’s event featured DDT wrestlers up and down the card. The main event had the current day version of BURNING step foot into a NOAH ring for what I think is the first time. Tetsuya Endo & Yuki Iino won the match but were impressed by their opponents. The chops from Go Shiozaki left Iino’s chest so swollen that Endo had to admit you don’t see that kind of damage done to somebody in DDT. He praised JTO wrestler Genta Yubari too and was surprised to find out he’s only 24. Iino was still excited over the match and wants to do more against Shiozaki. You can expect to see BURNING at a “LIMIT BREAK” show again soon.

Jun Akiyama was on the show representing DDT but his match was more of a throw back to his Sternness days with Akitoshi Saito. They went to a 20 minute draw against Shuji Ishikawa & Ren Ayabe. The time ran out just when Akiyama was ready to give Ayabe the Wrist-Clutch Exploder. Saito said he was glad to experience the ice cold and scary atmosphere with Akiyama again. Akiyama joked that’s not true because he is a warm hearted old man now. His message to Ayabe from the match is to always stand back up no matter how much of a beating you take. Ayabe promised to aim for Akiyama whenever they cross paths again.

When DDT’s involvement with the show was announced Kazusada Higuchi made it clear he wanted to fight Kazuyuki Fujita. They got to do it here but Black Menso~re would stick his nose in to do spots involving a bottle of liquid he likes to drink during matches. Atsushi Kotoge ended up beating Menso~re while Fujita and Higuchi were fighting each other outside the ring. Higuchi said Fujita is just as strong as he imagined and he will continue chasing after him. Fujita was more interested in stealing Menso~re’s drink for himself backstage.

NOAH’s rookie Yu Owada defeated DDT’s rookie Rukiya in the opening contest. Owada wasn’t pleased with the result because he wants to advance and beat a higer ranked opponent. Rukiya wants a rematch so he can fight Owada even harder and win next time.


“CYBERFIGHT FESTIVAL 2022” Results

June 12, 2022

“CYBERFIGHT FESTIVAL 2022”, 12/06/2022
Saitama Super Arena
4,891 Fans

0. STARTING BATTLE KICKOFF ~ DDT Provided Tag Match: Muscle Sakai & Yukio Naya defeated Soma Takao & Kazuki Hirata when Naya pinned Hirata with the Back Drop (9:02).
0. STARTING BATTLE 2 ~ TJPW Provided 10-Woman Tag Match: Nao Kakuta, Mahiro Kiryu, Moka Miyamoto, Arisu Endo & Kaya Toribami defeated Hyper Misao, Yuki Aino, Pom Harajuku, Haruna Neko & YuuRI when Kiryu pinned Harajuku with the Spinebuster (9:10).
0. STARTING BATTLE 3 ~ DDT Vs Ganbare☆Pro Battle: Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & Hideki Okatani defeated Ken Ohka, Yuna Manase & Mizuki Watase by TKO when Sakaguchi used the Sleeper Hold on Watase (10:20).
1. NOAH Vs DDT Battle: Kinya Okada & Kai Fujimura defeated Toi Kojima & Yuya Koroku when Okada pinned Kojima with a Crab Hold (11:45).
2. TJPW Provided 6-Woman Tag Match: Miyu Yamashita, Maki Itoh & Juria Nagano defeated Hikari Noa, Suzume & Yuki Arai when Yamashita pinned Suzume with the Skull Kick (10:54).
3. DDT Provided 8-Man Tag Match: Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno, Yuki “Sexy” Iino, Yumehito “Fantastic” Imanari & Akito “Cochin” Nishigaki defeated Sanshiro Takagi, Kendo Kashin, Shinya Aoki & Yumiko Hotta when Nishigaki submitted Takagi with the Chicken Okotta Hold (13:21).
4. Princess Of Princess Title Next Challenger Decision 4 Way Match: Rika Tatsumi defeated Mizuki, Yuki Kamifuku and Miu Watanabe when Tatsumi pinned Watanabe with the Missile Hip (9:37).
5. NOAH Provided 10-Man Tag Match: Michael Elgin, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Rene Dupree, Simon Gotch & Timothy Thatcher defeated Takashi Sugiura, Kazuyuki Fujita, Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Shuhei Taniguchi when Elgin pinned Inaba with the Elgin Bomb (14:01).
6. DDT Provided 8-Man Tag Match: HARASHIMA, Naomi Yoshimura, Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi defeated Yuki Ueno, Shunma Katsumata, MAO & Asuka when HARASHIMA pinned Katsumata with the Somato (14:29).
7. NOAH Provided 6-Man Tag Match: Rob Van Dam, Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA defeated Kaito Kiyomiya, Daisuke Harada & YO-HEY when Van Dam pinned Harada with the Five Star Frog Splash (12:03).
8. NOAH Vs DDT Battle: Katsuhiko Nakajima, Atsushi Kotoge & Yoshiki Inamura defeated Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama & Kazusada Higuchi by TKO when Nakajima knocked out Endo (6:20).
9. NOAH Vs DDT Battle ~ Hardcore Match – No DQ Rules: Kenoh defeated Daisuke Sasaki with the P.F.S. from the Ladder (21:28).
10. Princess Of Princess Title: Shoko Nakajima (c) defeated Yuka Sakazaki with the Diving Senton (14:57).
*V3 for Shoko Nakajima.
11. GHC Heavyweight Title: Satoshi Kojima defeated Go Shiozaki (c) with the Lariat (21:11).
*Go Shiozaki fails in V1. Satoshi Kojima becomes the 39th GHC Heavyweight Champion!

The 2nd annual “CYBERFIGHT FESTIVAL” brought together all of the wrestling promotions owned by CyberAgent for a massive show inside Super Saitama Arena. There was plenty of news coming out of it and you can argue it was a better showing for NOAH and Tokyo Joshi Pro than it was for DDT, especially when it came to the inter-promotional matches.

Or maybe it’s New Japan that came out the winner because one of their guys now holds NOAH’s top championship! Satoshi Kojima defeated Go Shiozaki in the main event to win the GHC Heavyweight Title. He is now the fourth wrestler to achieve the biggest grand slam in Japanese pro wrestling. Only he, Kensuke Sasaki, Yoshihiro Takayama and Keiji Muto are the only wrestlers to win the GHC Title, the IWGP Heavyweight Title and the Triple Crown. Shiozaki threw everything at him including Lariats, the Go Flasher and even the Emerald Flowsion. Kojima survived all of it and put his power into three Lariats to dethrone the champion down in his first defence.

Kojima’s big celebration was cut short when Kenoh walked down to the ring. He told Kojima that NOAH is not the destination for New Japan wrestlers. He’s been of the opinion for the last few years because of Muto and Kazuyuki Fujita too. Kenoh promised to open up the future because right now NOAH and CyberFight has none! He challenged Kojima to a title match and Kojima accepted. He later said he doesn’t want anyone to think NOAH is at a low level because he is now their champion. He assures the fans that Shiozaki and the rest of the NOAH roster are not inferior to New Japan. The big title match will take place at Nippon Budokan on 16th July.

TJPW got their spotlight as the semi-main event match. Shoko Nakajima achieved her third straight Princess Of Princess Title defence by beating her long time friend and rival Yuka Sakazaki. Both were given major entrances fitting for the big occasion. Sakazaki got an army of dancing magical girls while Nakajima led a pack of dinosaurs down to the ring. Sakazaki almost won the match by hitting the Magical Merry-Go-Round but her odds vanished after Nakajima blocked the Magical Girl Niwatori Yaro with her knees. The champion then took over with a DDT and pinned Sakazaki with the Diving Senton. Nakajima is happy to see so many people watch her match against somebody as special to her as Sakazaki. Her opponent feels the same even though she lost.

The night had three DDT Vs NOAH matches and NOAH ended up with a clean sweep of victories. The big one was Kenoh defeating Daisuke Sasaki in a No DQ Match. It was a wild affair featuring interference from both DAMNATION T.A and Kongo, including Masakatsu Funaki cycling down the ramp and crashing into the wrong target. Even Yoshihiko showed up defending DDT’s honour only to get thrown out of the ring by Kenoh. Sasaki used a stun gun to prevent Kenoh from doing his Flame Kick. He then brought out a casket with thumbtacks sprinkled inside only to get slammed into it himself. Sasaki also missed a Diving Elbow Drop from the top of the ladder which cost him dearly. Kenoh had no such trouble and hit the P.F.S. Diving Stomp from the ladder to win. Afterwards backstage Kenoh explained his thoughts over DDT. He’s been calling DDT “School Wrestling” and wonders why they should feel ashamed of it? Why does DDT want to turn into a conservative mainstream wrestling company? They were built on being “Cultural Pro Wrestling” so they should have pride and confidence in being that. DDT was at its brightest when they understood it and that was how they could compete against New Japan, NOAH and All Japan. Kenoh thinks Sanshiro Takagi does not understand that and should be lucky to have a guy like Daisuke Sasaki who gets it. Sasaki blamed his loss on having to carry DDT on his back. If he fought selfishly for himself today’s result would have been very different. He says he will carry this shameful loss for the rest of his life, just like how Tetsuya Endo will carry his…

The second big DDT Vs NOAH match was the 6-Man Tag and it ended up becoming the most controversial story of the show. It was meant to be a big match with flashy entrances for everyone involved. Stories were built up pitting Kazusada Higuchi and Yoshiki Inamura against each other along with Jun Akiyama against Atsushi Kotoge. Then five minutes in we get to Tetsuya Endo against Katsuhiko Nakajima. There was an awkward looking moment when Nakajima held himself back against the ropes when Endo tried to drag him away from there. Endo threw a big kick to make him move then some Elbow Strikes. Nakajima responded with a big slap across the face, knocking Endo out and stopping the match! While Endo was getting medical assistance, Akiyama gave Nakajima a stern talking to with the other wrestlers looking on. Endo was still conscious but was helped carried to the back and diagnosed with a concussion. Akiyama criticised Nakajima in his post-match interview without naming him. He explained it doesn’t matter if you can take a strike to the temple if your opponent cannot. He was once told by Giant Baba that no matter what happens, in the end all wrestlers are friends in the same business. He doesn’t think that was the case here. He finished by saying let’s wrestle properly and do it right. I personally do not think it was Nakajima’s intention to knock out Endo but they were clearly not on the same page in the brief time they were in the ring together. I hope it was just a bad misread by Nakajima by trying to add tension to the match. Akiyama was the right person in the right place at the right time to prevent things from escalating further.

The big international guest for the show was Rob Van Dam. Today was his first time wrestling in Japan since 2014. He was on the winning team with Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA beating Kaito Kiyomiya, Daisuke Harada & YO-HEY in a 6-Man Tag Match. RVD even picked up the win by pinning Harada with the Five Star Frog Splash. Backstage RVD promised to come back next month. NOSAWA Rongai heard that and challenged him to a Hardcore Match with some of his friends at the Budokan show.

The main core of DDT’s tag team division provided an 8-Man Tag Match. DISASTER BOX & CDK joined forces to take on The 37KAMIINA plus Asuka. There was a massive pile on of Yuki Ueno on top of Asuka on top of Masahiro Takanashi on top of MAO on top of Naomi Yoshimura. The entire thing was then broken up by a Somato from HARASHIMA. MAO & Asuka took care of Chris Brookes with their Doomsday Shiranui double team. Shunma Katsumata tried to finish things off but HARASHIMA got him in the end with the Somato. Takanashi found it weird that wrestlers they feuded with not so long ago are here smiling with them today. Just goes to show when situations change so can certain alliances. The 37KAMIINA also agree they had a fun time and hoped the fans did too.

NOAH’s offer match was a 10-Man Tag Team bout pitting Japan against the world. The foreign team won when Michael Elgin pinned Daiki Inaba with the Elgin Bomb. Timothy Thatcher said if the match took place tomorrow the result may have been different. But today NOAH’s international team were blessed with good teamwork. Simon Gotch said NOAH has always had great foreign wrestlers and this team are part of the new history that will continue to bring in even more. Rene Dupree bragged about North America beating Japan today. The NOAH home team did not provide any post-match comments.

Shoko Nakajima’s next challenger for the Princess Title was determined in a 4 Way Match. Any idea of Daydream joining forces to wipe out the competition did not last long and the match quickly turned into every woman for herself. Miu Watanabe gave both Rika Tatsumi and Mizuki the Giant Swing together. Yuki Kamifuku later tried killing two birds with one stone by hitting the Famouser onto both Tatsumi & Mizuki at the same time. Watanabe jumped in and was ready to give Kamifuku the Tear Drop when Tatsumi broke it up with a Hip Attack. The match came down to the two Daydream wrestlers and Tatsumi came out on top with the Missile Hip to her partner. Tatsumi will now face Nakajima for the Princess Title at Ota Ward Gymnasium on 9th July. Kamifuku said she doesn’t need a championship for now. Instead she wants to fight the Cyber Japan Dancers who performed during intermission!

Pheromones are looking unstoppable once more thanks to their newest member Akito “Cochin” Nishigaki. He is all in on the gimmick, proving it is not an attempt to infiltrate the unit and destroy it from the inside. However their opponents had their own tricks to deal with, such as Kendo Kashin using a body double so he could attack from another angle. Yumiko Hotta got more than she bargained for and was sprayed with a fire extinguisher. Takagi gave Akito a Stunner but Akito stripped out of his costume to toughen up. He put Takagi in a Figure 4 Leg Lock and Yuki Iino sat on Takagi’s face for added damage, making him give up. Backstage Kashin asked for a rematch which Hotta & Shinya Aoki both agreed to. Takagi said maybe next year because his shoulder is bothering him. Kashin said it has to be this year. The four of them then crashed the Pheromones post-match interview to attack Yumehito Imanari and pull his pants down in front of the media.

Nivea sponsored the TJPW 6-Woman Tag Match and rewarded the winners with 10 years supply of their products. Hikari Noa, Suzume & Yuki Arai entered to the brand new TJPW theme song “Princess March” by Masayoshi Soken. Then Maki Itoh performed her theme song with 6 members of IQ Project before Miyu Yamashita & Juria Nagano made their entrance together. The experience of 121000000 was the deciding factor. Yamashita & Itoh took out Noa & Arai with a High Kick/Headbutt Sandwich. Yamashita then wiped out Suzume with the Skull Kick to get the three count. It is Nagano’s first win as a wrestler and Itoh joked about her getting rewarded with gifts from Nivea.

The opening match of the main show was the first DDT Vs NOAH bout of the event. It was between two teams of young wrestlers with Kinya Okada & Kai Fujimura from NOAH beating Toi Kojima & Yuya Koroku from DDT. Kojima & Koroku are both frustrated by the loss but still believe their form of training is not inferior to NOAH’s.

The STARTING BATTLE pre-show provided three dark matches involving DDT, TJPW and Ganbare☆Pro. The Ganpro team went to battle against Eruption but quickly got off on the wrong foot when Ken Ohka got rolled up in tape by his enemies once again. Yuna Manase tried to even the score by getting the better of Saki Akai with a Lariat. Mizuki Watase fought with Hideki Okatani but then turned his attention to Yukio Sakaguchi once Ohka got back into the action. Unfortunately for them, Eruption ended up with the numbers advantage and Sakaguchi choked out Watase with the Sleeper Hold to end the match. When Watase recovered he told Eruption he can continue fighting and began cutting his hair to prove it. Backstage Eruption said they will think about having more matches against Ganpro at Ganpro’s big show in Ota Ward on 10th July. Watase confronted them again and continued cutting off his hair to show how determined he is to fight them. Sakaguchi was convinced an agreed for Eruption to have another match against Ganpro at Ota Ward.

Mahiro Kiryu finally got her day in the sun by getting the win for her team in the TJPW 10-Woman Tag Match. It was an important match for some of the other women too. Kaya Toribami is celebrating finishing her first year as a pro wrestler. Raku was absent and missed by everyone, even by the opposing team. Her replacement YuuRI was disappointed to lose but would be happy to fight with the TJPW wrestlers again. Hyper Misao wanted to win before challenging for the Princess Tag Team Titles soon but still enjoyed her team today. She’d like the 5 of them to do something together again, like have a 5 Way Match! Pom Harajuku was just upset her summer is ending already because she took the fall.

DDT provided the very first match of the day inside the venue when Muscle Sakai & Yukio Naya took on Soma Takao & Kazuki Hirata. Sakai took Kenoh’s criticisms of DDT to heart and wanted to wrestle seriously. He declined a dance battle with Hirata until he was given the Hirata GO! glasses. Takao cut the dancing short so he could continue the match with Naya. Hirata almost pinned Naya with an Inside Cradle but Naya kicked out. He then delivered a Back Drop to Hirata and pinned him Yuji Hino style to get the win. Hirata said he didn’t expect Muscle Sakai of all people to come in wanting to do an exciting match.

Perhaps the biggest news of all to come out of the show was Keiji Muto’s announcement. He once called pro wrestling a marathon without a finishing line but the time has finally come for him to finish. He is going to retire next spring and is planning to wrestle only a few more matches before his career is over. His doctor told him the condition of his left hip is becoming bad and he may need to replace it with an artificial joint. Should he need a hip replacement he will no longer be able to wrestle even though he still wants to. Muto is still thinking of where and when his retirement will take place along with exactly how many more matches he will do before then. He also said The Great Muta may reappear once or twice more but when the Demon Gate to his world closes, it will this time close for good.

The entire event was not just about the pro wrestling show. There was a festival set up around the venue for fans to experience everything about the different CyberFight promotions. I could not find many details but apparently Gake no Fuchi Pro had a stall set up where Miyako Matsumoto held a meet and greet but it was taken over by Prominence.


CyberFight Festival 2022 Full Lineup

May 10, 2022

DDT “DDT FREE -MAY-”, 11/05/2022
Shinjuku FACE

1. Saki Akai & Soma Takao Vs Maya Yukihi & Kazuki Hirata
2. Yuki “Sexy” Iino & Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno Vs Toru Owashi & Akito
3. HARASHIMA & Naomi Yoshimura Vs Yuji Hino & Toi Kojima
4. Special Single Match: Yuki Ueno Vs Yukio Naya
5. Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON Vs Kazusada Higuchi, Hideki Okatani & Yuki Ishida
6. Special Tag Match: Tetsuya Endo & Jun Akiyama Vs Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku
7. Road To Audience 2022! Special 6-Man Tag Match: Chris Brookes, Masahiro Takanashi & Antonio Honda Vs MAO, Asuka & Shunma Katsumata

The match order for tomorrow. But enough about that, let’s get into the meaty stuff.

“CYBERFIGHT FESTIVAL 2022”, 12/06/2022
Saitama Super Arena

0. STARTING BATTLE KICKOFF ~ DDT Provided Tag Match: Muscle Sakai & Yukio Naya Vs Soma Takao & Kazuki Hirata
0. STARTING BATTLE 2 ~ TJPW Provided 10-Woman Tag Match: Hyper Misao, Yuki Aino, Raku, Pom Harajuku & Haruna Neko Vs Nao Kakuta, Mahiro Kiryu, Moka Miyamoto, Arisu Endo & Kaya Toribami
0. STARTING BATTLE 3 ~ DDT Vs Ganbare☆Pro Battle: Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & Hideki Okatani Vs Ken Ohka, Yuna Manase & Mizuki Watase
1. NOAH Vs DDT Battle: Kinya Okada & Kai Fujimura Vs Toi Kojima & Yuya Koroku
2. TJPW Provided 6-Woman Tag Match: Miyu Yamashita, Maki Itoh & Juria Nagano Vs Hikari Noa, Suzume & Yuki Arai
3. DDT Provided 8-Man Tag Match: Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno, Yuki “Sexy” Iino, Yumehito “Fantastic” Imanari & Akito Vs Sanshiro Takagi, Kendo Kashin, Shinya Aoki & Yumiko Hotta
4. Princess Of Princess Title Next Challenger Decision 4 Way Match: Rika Tatsumi Vs Mizuki Vs Yuki Kamifuku Vs Miu Watanabe
5. NOAH Provided 10-Man Tag Match: Takashi Sugiura, Kazuyuki Fujita, Masa Kitamiya, Daiki Inaba & Shuhei Taniguchi Vs Michael Elgin, Rene Dupree, El Hijo de Dr. Wagner Jr., Simon Gotch & X
6. DDT Provided 8-Man Tag Match: HARASHIMA, Naomi Yoshimura, Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi Vs Yuki Ueno, Shunma Katsumata, MAO & Asuka
7. NOAH Provided 6-Man Tag Match: Rob Van Dam, Yoshinari Ogawa & HAYATA Vs Kaito Kiyomiya, Daisuke Harada & YO-HEY
8. NOAH Vs DDT Battle: Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama & Kazusada Higuchi Vs Naomichi Marufuji, Atsushi Kotoge & Yoshiki Inamura
9. NOAH Vs DDT Battle ~ Special Single Match: Kenoh Vs Daisuke Sasaki
10. Princess Of Princess Title: Shoko Nakajima (c) Vs Yuka Sakazaki
11. GHC Heavyweight Title: Go Shiozaki (c) Vs Satoshi Kojima

According to Satoshi Kojima “various coincidences” led him to challenging for the GHC Heavyweight Title. He believes it is inevitable he will win the championship. Go Shiozaki is only thinking about defending the title and is not letting the grand occasion get to him.

The Princess Of Princess Title match has been decided. Shoko Nakajima nominates Yuka Sakazaki as her challenger. Her reason is because Sakazaki and Miyu Yamashita are seen as the two top wrestlers in Tokyo Joshi Pro. Nakajima thinks she has to beat both of them in championship matches in order to finally surpass them. Also Sakazaki is currently wrestling in the United States so she is going to come back a much stronger wrestler than before. If that is not enough, Nakajima remembers when she lost to Sakazaki in their previous Princess Title match together in Sumo Hall back in 2019. So there is a little bit of revenge fueling this decision. Nakajima is certain this will be the best match of her career so far and it makes her happy that it will happen at a big venue like Saitama Super Arena.

At the press conference for this show Kenoh went off the handle over NOAH having to share the spotlight with the rest of the CyberFight promotions. The one thing that pissed him off in particular is the back page advert on every issue of Weekly Pro-Wrestling magazine always being reserved for DDT, TJPW and Ganbare☆Pro instead of NOAH. He decided it is now up to him to advertise NOAH and he did so by attacking Daisuke Sasaki. He gave Sasaki a Diving Double Stomp off of a table and then set his boot on fire to deliver a flaming kick to Sasaki’s head!

The idea to put Kazusada Higuchi on the same team as two BURNING wrestlers did not make him happy. He doesn’t understand why he has to team up with Tetsuya Endo & Jun Akiyama so he is going to beat NOAH his own way instead of with them. Akiyama is trying to get him on the same page because they will need to co-exist in order to beat any team with Naomichi Marufuji on it. Endo is ready to fight even though he does not have a KO-D Openweight Title defence on the card. He is excited to use his genius to overthrow Marufuji. However Marufuji is more interested in seeing how Atsushi Kotoge & Yoshiki Inamura will fare against the DDT team. Inamura wants to get revenge for his disappointing performance against Akiyama at Budokan Hall two years ago. Kotoge is carrying the weight of NOAH’s Jr. Heavyweight division by taking part in this match.

Kaito Kiyomiya is thankful for the opportunity to wrestle against a world class athlete like Rob Van Dam. He wants to show fans all over the world the power of this generation of Japanese pro wrestling.

The mystery X wrestler in the NOAH 10-Man Tag Match will be revealed on 7th June.

The winner of the TJPW 4 Way Match will get a Princess Title shot at “SUMMER SUN PRINCESS ’22” in Ota Ward Gymnasium on 9th July.

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So now that is all out of the way, let’s try and figure this out because the full card leaves me scratching my head. Sakazaki getting the Princess Title shot was correctly guessed by some online when nobody came out to challenge Nakajima at the end of TJPW’s last Korakuen Hall show. Those people figured out that Sakazaki probably would have walked down to the ring had she not suddenly got a flight to catch. Also the last time Sakazaki challenge for the Princess Title was at the previous CyberFight Festival one year ago. It’s a good matchup, probably even a great matchup but one that feels too familiar because we’re cycling through the same faces again. The addition of a 4 Way Match to pick the next contender is a fresh idea. Even if the likely result is Rika Tatsumi or Mizuki winning, either of them against Nakajima for a singles title hasn’t been done yet. Mizuki becoming the next Princess Champion would be a long time coming in my opinion and would break the Cycle Of The Three Princesses. However Tatsumi winning and becoming champ would turn it into the Cycle Of The Four Princesses. It doesn’t really solve the problem that the Princess Title will remain focused on the same people as always.

Next, there’s no KO-D Title match? Tetsuya Endo’s position on the show is for an All-Star DDT Vs NOAH trios match, which isn’t bad per se but still leaves the top of the card looking a little lackluster. For the moment his next schedule title defence is not until August. June will be focused on the King Of DDT tournament so unless he finds an opponent for July the KO-D Title is going to be iced for most of the summer. I don’t know if a plan fell through or if the timing of this show just doesn’t give them much material to work with. Was there nobody on the NOAH side they could get for an interpromotional title match who would be happy to put someone else over? Oh wait…… Yeah don’t answer that.

I will say the build for Sasaki Vs Kenoh has been great so far and is an inspired choice for a big DDT Vs NOAH singles match. Watch their angle at the press conference because it’s not just the fire spot that was good about it. Kenoh being the Frank Grimes to DDT’s Homer Simpson can carry the concept of CyberFight Festival by itself for years to come. There’s one problem though. Where on earth is the rest of Kongo? Their only other involvement in the build up to the show is a preview 6-Man Tag match against DAMNATION T.A on the 30th May NOAH event. Something weird is going on if most of the group is not at Saitama Super Arena on 12th June. Imagine if they gatecrash Osaka Jo Hall on behalf of NOAH that day instead?

Kazusada Higuchi Vs Yoshiki Inamura is also happening on the 30th May show to build up their trios match. Might be a sign there is truth to the rumours that the top people in CyberFight weren’t happy about the lack of crossover between NOAH and DDT while NOSAWA Rongai was in charge of NOAH’s match making. Their complaint was why should they spend so much time and resources building bridges with New Japan and DRAGONATE when DDT is right there beside them? I’d be certain of it if more interpromotional matches take place after CyberFight Festival concludes. There’s a whole summer of tournaments coming up for both promotions that need fresh names added to it.

The lack of major crossover between the four promotions is the last problem I have about the lineup. The self-contained matches aren’t that bad on paper, I mean my God look at that Pheromones match. That wouldn’t be out of place on any DDT supershow even with the special guests on Sanshiro Takagi’s team. The TJPW trios match and the DDT Vs NOAH rookies match should both be fun. Eruption Vs Ganpro is a match I think would turn out so much better if it was in Korakuen Hall with one team having the audience on their side (Ganpro as the home team would make the most sense in this situation). I would have loved to see more TJPW Vs Ganbare☆Joshi or even a mixed tag of some sort to get NOAH and TJPW interacting with each other. That CyberFight advert with Kenoh and Mizuki positioned next to each other looking like bratty siblings has been stuck in my head ever since I first saw it.


3rd May Lineups For TJPW & Ganpro, First Announcements For CyberFight Festival 2022

May 2, 2022

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “YES! WONDERLAND 2022 ~SPREAD THE WINGS OF YOUR DREAMS~”, 03/05/2022
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Princess Tag Team Titles: Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki (c) Vs Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta
2. Exhibition Match: Reika Saiki Vs Arisu Endo
3. Yuki Kamifuku & Mahiro Kiryu Vs Haruna Neko & Kaya Toribami
4. Suzume Vs Juria Nagano
5. Rika Tatsumi, Miu Watanabe & Yuki Arai Vs Yuki Aino, Raku & Pom Harajuku
6. Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh Vs Hikaru Shida & Moka Miyamoto
7. Princess Of Princess Title: Shoko Nakajima (c) Vs Hyper Misao

The Princess Tag Team Titles match has been moved to the opening spot of the card. Yuka Sakazaki is pretty much leaving Japan for trip to America as soon as her match is done. As I write this post, AEW has not advertised her for any of their shows yet. Their much maligned habit of only booking one women’s match per TV show suggests she may not be on Dynamite or Rampage this week because both episodes are already advertising a women’s match each. It all depends on how long she will be in America for because flying her over on short notice just for an appearance on Dark or Elevation will be weird. It’s not like Hikaru Shida is going back with her either because she has a full schedule in Japan all week this week.

GANBARE☆PRO “LOVE PHANTOM 2022”, 03/05/2022
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Punch Drunker Vs Nobleman Of The Spirit World: Tyson Maeguchi Vs Onryo
2. Ganpro Specialty Mixed Tag Match: Yuu Yamagata & Shinichiro Tominaga Vs HARUKAZE & Tsuyoshi Okada
3. Nippon Ganbare Union Vs VENYU Full-Scale Battle: Yuna Manase & YuuRI Vs Yuki Kamifuku & Asuka
4. Ganpro’s Famous 3 Way Battle! ROMANCE DAWN Vs ChocoPro Vs BASARA: Shota & Soma Takao Vs Chris Brookes & Antonio Honda Vs Takumi Tsukamoto & Yasu Urano
5. Ganpro Special Single Match ~A Better Tomorrow~: Ken Ohka Vs Muscle Sakai
6. LOVE PHANTOM 2022 ~Special Tag Match~: Keisuke Ishii & Kouki Iwasaki Vs Shuichiro Katsumura & Mizuki Watase
7. Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Title: Tatsuhito Takaiwa (c) Vs Yumehito Imanari

Tomorrow is now or never for Yumehito Imanari.

GANBARE☆PRO “A HOMANSU 2022”, 14/05/2022
Chiba 2AW Square

1. GanJo Super Fight In Chiba: Moeka Haruhi & YuuRI Vs HARUKAZE & Ann Cham
2. Yuna Manase Triumphant Special 6-Man Tag Match: Yumehito Imanari, Kaji Tomato & Yuna Manase Vs Keisuke Ishii, Shota & Ayame Sasamura

The Ganbare☆Joshi division gets another visit from Ann Cham. Also Moeka Haruhi is expected to be back from illness to take part in the match.

“CYBERFIGHT FESTIVAL 2022”, 12/06/2022
Saitama Super Arena

1. NOAH Vs DDT Battle ~ Special Single Match: Kenoh Vs Daisuke Sasaki
2. GHC Heavyweight Title: Go Shiozaki (c) Vs Satoshi Kojima

The NOAH side of CyberFight announced their headline match for “CYBERFIGHT FESTIVAL 2022”. The GHC Heavyweight Title will be on the line when the new champion Go Shiozaki defends against… Satoshi Kojima from New Japan? Kojima’s surprise appearance in NOAH over the weekend had some fans talking about him potentially jumping ship. His presence here is a little bit similar to Jun Akiyama working with DDT while still under contract to All Japan. The two companies made a deal at the time allowing Akiyama to work with DDT but he ended up staying there until his contract with All Japan ended. Then a few weeks later Akiyama was all clear to sign with DDT. Maybe something similar is happening here because at the moment Kojima is reportedly still under contract to New Japan. He is being coy over it. He wore a NOAH shirt for his appearance and made vague comments on social media about why he is doing this now. The other big story driving this match is Kojima’s attempt to achieve a grand slam of wrestling championships with him already being a former IWGP, NWA and Triple Crown Champion.

Kenoh crashed the party at “MEGA MAX BUMP 2022” yesterday, complaining about DDT like he usually does whenever he has to show up here. He wanted another fight with Sanshiro Takagi but instead drew the attention of Daisuke Sasaki. The challenge for this one is if Kenoh is looking to fight the best wrestler in DDT then Sasaki is standing right here. Kenoh is disgusted to see Sasaki of all people stand up for DDT so the match between them is going ahead.

NOAH announced that Rob Van Dam will be on the show. Look I can’t complain here and act like DDT is above this. Remember when they booked Sabu back in 2018?


A Bunch Of D-Ou Grand Prix Videos

November 28, 2019

DDT has uploaded a few matches from the first two D-Ou Grand Prix tournaments. The videos are the decisive matches that determined the block winners and also the two finals. These should get you in the mood for the Grand Prix when it begins tomorrow.

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DDT “D-OU GRAND PRIX 2018 IN SHINKIBA”, 14/01/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING
328 Fans – Super No Vacancy

D-Ou Grand Prix – A Block: Tetsuya Endo Vs HARASHIMA

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DDT “D-OU GRAND PRIX 2018 IN SHINKIBA”, 14/01/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING
328 Fans – Super No Vacancy

D-Ou Grand Prix – B Block: Shuji Ishikawa Vs Kazusada Higuchi

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

D-Ou Grand Prix – Final: HARASHIMA Vs Shuji Ishikawa

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DDT “D-OU GRAND PRIX 2019 IN NAGOYA”, 15/12/2018
Nagoya City Mid-Sports Center
313 Fans – Super No Vacancy

D-Ou Grand Prix 2019 – A Block: HARASHIMA Vs Go Shiozaki

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DDT “D-OU GRAND PRIX 2019 IN NAGOYA”, 15/12/2018
Nagoya City Mid-Sports Center
313 Fans – Super No Vacancy

D-Ou Grand Prix 2019 – B Block: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Sammy Guevara

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DDT “D-OU GRAND PRIX 2019 THE FINAL!!”, 30/12/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2,018 Fans – Super No Vacancy

D-Ou Grand Prix 2019 – Final: Go Shiozaki Vs Konosuke Takeshita


DDT “JUDGEMENT 2019 ~DDT RAISING AN ARMY 22ND ANNIVERSARY~” Results

February 17, 2019

DDT “JUDGEMENT 2019 ~DDT RAISING AN ARMY 22ND ANNIVERSARY~”, 17/02/2019
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
4,177 Fans – No Vacancy

0. Pro Wrestling BASARA Offer Match: Ryuichi Sekine & Daiki Shimomura defeated Takato Nakano & Masato Kamino when Sekine submitted Nakano with the Let’s Combine (6:14).
0. Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match: Yuna Manase, Nodoka Tenma & Yuki Aino defeated Natsumi Maki, Hikari Noa & Miu Watanabe when Tenma pinned Noa with the Killswitch (11:49).
1. Shunma Katsumata Return Match: Shunma Katsumata, Yuki Ueno & Space Monkey defeated Antonio Honda, Jason Kincaid & Naomi Yoshimura when Ueno pinned Yoshimura with a Frankensteiner (12:55).
2. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – Time Difference Battle Royal: Saki Akai defeated Asuka (c), Super Sasadango Machine, Makoto Oishi, Keisuke Okuda, Kazuki Hirata, Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Gorgeous Matsuno, Hoshitango, Gota Ihashi, Yuni, Yasu Urano, El Lindaman, Scorpio X2, Yuka Sakazaki, Mina Shirakawa, Chinsuke Nakamura and Maku Donaruto (20:23).
2a. Makoto Oishi eliminated Yuri with a Hurricanrana Cutback (2:14).
2b. Hoshitango eliminated Gota Ihashi and Tomomitsu Matsunaga with a Body Press (3:28).
2c. Makoto Oishi eliminated Super Sasadango Machine by Ring Out (4:25).
2d. El Lindaman eliminated Hoshitango by Ring Out (5:18).
2e. Everyone eliminated Scorpio X2 by Ring Out (5:25).
2f. Makoto Oishi eliminated Keisuke Okuda by Ring Out (6:40).
2g. Maku Donaruto eliminated Makoto Oishi with the McShake Bomb (10:17).
2h. Yasu Urano eliminated Maku Donaruto and Gorgeous Matsuno by Ring Out (12:00).
2i. Yuka Sakazaki eliminated Mina Shirakawa with the Koromogawa (12:52).
2j. Chinsuke Nakamura eliminated El Lindaman by Ring Out (14:51).
2k. Asuka (c) eliminated Yasu Urano by Ring Out (15:39).
*V? for Asuka.
2l. Asuka (c) eliminated Chinsuke Nakamura with a School Boy (18:82).
*V? for Asuka.
2m. Saki Akai eliminated Yuka Sakazaki by Ring Out (19:03).
2n. Kazuki Hirata eliminated Asuka (c) with the Miracle One Shot Cradle (19:30).
*Kazuki Hirata becomes the 1,349th champion.
2o. Saki Akai eliminated Kazki Hirata (c) with the Quetzalcoatl (20:23).
*Saki Akai becomes the 1,350th champion.
3. Taiho Koki’s Grandson Yukio Naya Ryogoku Kokugikan First Participation!: Go Shiozaki, Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Naya defeated Daisuke Sekimoto, Toru Owashi & Yuki Iino when Higuchi pinned Iino with the Doctor Bomb (13:09).
4. Special Single Match: T-Hawk defeated Akito with the Night Ride (13:50).
5. Danshoku Dieno Produce Yuru-chara “Pokotan” Debut Match: Keisuke Ishii, Kota Umeda & Mizuki Watase defeated Danshoku Dieno, Pokotan & KUDO when Ishii pinned Pokotan with the igh Angle Double Arm DDT (11:28).
6. Special Hardcore 6-Person Tag Match: Soma Takao, Mad Paulie & Takumi Iroha defeated Sanshiro Takagi, Chigusa Nagayo & Ryuji Ito when Takao pinned Takagi with the Diving Foot Stomp from the Ladder (19:54).
7. KO-D Tag Team Titles – 3 Way Match: Mike Bailey & MAO (c) defeated Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi and CIMA & Seiki Yoshioka when MAO pinned Takanashi with the Cannonball 450 (13:06).
*V3 for The Moonlight Express.
8. DDT Extreme Title – Souken Holdings Presents – Each Other’s Pride Rules: HARASHIMA defeated Shinya Aoki (c) with the Somato (12:11).
*Shinya Aoki fails in V2. HARASHIMA becomes the 43rd DDT Extreme Champion!
9. Dramatic Dream Match: Naomichi Marufuji defeated Tetsuya Endo with the Pole Shift Emerald Flowsion (18:08).
10. KO-D Openweight Title – RAGE Presents: Konosuke Takeshita defeated Daisuke Sasaki (c) with the Cross-Arm German Suplex (32:08).
*Daisuke Sasaki fails in V2. Konosuke Takeshita becomes the 69th KO-D Openweight Champion!

Konosuke Takeshita has completed his comeback to the top of DDT! He survived the Super Elbow Drop, a Spear through a table, a Canadian Destroyer and several attempts at chair attacks to beat Daisuke Sasaki and become the new KO-D Openweight Champion. Victory was in Takeshita’s sight when he prevented Sasaki from doing an Avalanche Pedigree. Instead it was turned into the Brainbustaaaaahhhhh!!!!! But the top turnbuckle was removed earlier in the match so instead of landing on that, Sasaki instead fell even further and took the impact on the ring canvas! Takeshita followed it up with the Fable but Sasaki still tried to get back up. Sasaki was finished off with the Cross-Arm German Suplex, ending his title reign.

When DAMNATION took Sasaki back to the locker room, Takeshita rubbed it in by pointing out how fast Sasaki was leaving after being defeated. It was a year ago when Takeshita last headlined Sumo Hall. Since then he’s suffered injuries and had what he considers some of the most disappointing moments in his career. But with the support of ALL OUT he was confident he would become the KO-D Champion again. He received 2,000,000 yen in prize money today and will use some of that to pay off the bill DAMNATION left at his mother’s restaurant. As champion Takeshita now wants to have more defences take place outside Tokyo so the fans who cannot go to Korakuen Hall will get to see such matches in their own towns. He also wants to defend the title against wrestlers from all over the wrestling scene. That is how he will make the KO-D Title become more valuable.

Tetsuya Endo and Naomichi Marufuji took part in a battle of wills and Thrust Kicks. Marufuji was able to get one step ahead when Endo missed a Shooting Star Press. Endo landed on his feet but Marufuji’s dodge put him in perfect position to hit the Ko-oh knee kick. Endo thought he stunned Marufuji with a Thrust Kick but Marufuji responded with his around the back Thrust Kick then hit another Ko-oh this time to the back of Endo’s head. From there Marufuji hit the Pole Shift Emerald Flowsion to win the match. Marufuji applauded Endo after the match. In the backstage interview, Marufuji joked that the results means Endo has to go to NOAH. But seriously, Marufuji doesn’t understand why Endo isn’t a championship contender right now. Endo was a lot harder on himself and he called himself a loser. His entire career from his debut to teaming with Takeshita to joining DAMNATION was all leading up to this match and he lost.

Pride and the DDT Extreme Title were both on the line when Shinya Aoki and HARASHIMA had a rematch of their October meeting. HARASHIMA was in trouble early thanks to Aoki’s ground game. When a rope break was called for Aoki reaching over while in HARASHIMA’s Cross Armbreaker that was when everyone realised the match was held under normal wrestling moves. Aoki never explained it to anyone beforehand. That was when HARASHIMA got into his groove despite being on defence against Aoki’s submission holds. He countered a Front Neck Lock into a Falcon Arrow only for Aoki to apply a Cross Armbreaker. But when Aoki went for a Back Drop, HARASHIMA countered it into a Piledriver and then hit the Somato to win the title! Aoki was in good spirits after the match despite losing. He gave the new champion a fist bump with a smile.

Super Sasadango Machine entered the ring and congratulated HARASHIMA. He asked for a title match but Hisaya Imabayashi refused to grant it. Sasadango’s PowerPoint presentations are usually longer than his matches so he does not deserve a shot. After hearing this, Sasadango took off his mask and said that Muscle Sakai was now asking for a title match! Sakai successfully promoted a Muscle show in Sumo Hall yesterday and he thinks that is more than enough to earn a championship match. Tetsuya Koda pushed Imabayashi away and granted Sakai’s request. HARASHIMA Vs Sakai for the Extreme Title will take place on 21st March at Korakuen.

The 3 Way Match for the KO-D Tag Team Titles saw The Moonlight Express go against teams representing Shuten-dōji and #STRONGHEARTS. A Michinoku Tornado Driver from the champions got rid of CIMA but Shuten-dōji were there to stop the pin. Yukio Sakaguchi took out Seiki Yoshioka with the God’s Right Knee but he too was put to the side. MAO used a Screw Kick to cut off Masahiro Takanashi’s Takatonic to Mike Bailey. From there the Express kept Takanashi down with the Ultima Weapon and then the Cannonball 450. With a third defence completed, the Express now want to defend the KO-D Tag Titles against foreign teams in countries like Germany and England.

DAMNATION’s only high point on the show came from the Hardcore 6-Man Tag. Soma Takao, Mad Paulie & Takumi Iroha spoiled the reunion of Sanshiro Takagi, Chigusa Nagayo & Ryuji Ito in the craziest looking match of the night. Yes even crazier than the Battle Royal. This one had Takagi’s entire body painted to look like a Gundam for instance. Plastic boxes were smashed to pieces, Ito brought out a barbed wire baseball bat, Iroha used a Marvelous flag to defend herself, Nagayo’s team applied a trio of Scorpion Deathlocks, Paulie was put through a table and the Dream Go fell to its demise once again. Takao won the match for DAMNATION when he placed chairs on top of Takagi and hit a Double Foot Stomp from the top of a ladder. Takao isn’t satisfied with the win though.

Nagayo told Takao he should be persistent like she is. She also praised Iroha for how painful her kicks felt. Her wish after today is to see Takao carry DDT and Iroha carry Marvelous. Nagayo then held hands with Mad Paulie which sparked Takao to swear he will take over DDT so he can take Paulie back from Nagayo!

There were concerns that the Pokotan costume would not be finished before the show took place. I don’t know how he did it but Danshoku Dieno’s creation was completed and ready to go on the day. Pokotan has hidden feature where it pulls up part of its costume to reveal Danshoku underwear! That means it is able to do the Danshoku Nightmare. It did pretty well in the ring, doing a Flying Cross Body and a Shining Wizard. But it all went to Hell when Keisuke Ishii knocked Pokotan’s head off with the Kneel Kick, revealing it was Makoto Oishi wearing the costume. Ishii then hit the High Angle Double Arm DDT to win for his team.

Hisaya Imabayashi was beside himself after the match. He wanted to see Pokotan, not some forty year old man beneath the costume! Dieno promised there will be a change and somebody more suitable will be used to make Pokotan come to life. Oishi put Pokotan’s head back on and Pokotan told everyone (through Dieno’s voice) he will try his best next time so please support him.

#STRONGHEARTS finally have their win over Akito and it is all thanks to T-Hawk. His Chops were an effective way to break out of Akito’s Figure 4 Leg Lock. When T-Hawk gained control of the match he had Akito beaten with the BT Bomb followed by the Night Ride. Akito offered a handshake after the match but T-Hawk rejected him.

Yukio Naya’s first match in Sumo Hall was a successful one. He was on the winning side with Go Shiozaki & Kazusada Higuchi against Daisuke Sekimoto, Toru Owashi & Yuki Iino in a bout that was filled with big lads Chopping and Lariating each other. Iino took the brunt of the offence at the end. Naya gave him a Choke Slam and Higuchi followed with a Diving Body Press but Iino kicked out. Higuchi then put him away with the Doctor Bomb.

The Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title looked like it was staying with Asuka during the Battle Royal. She eliminated Yasu Urano and Chinsuke Nakamura from the match then made it to the final three with Kazuki Hirata and Saki Akai. Asuka’s momentum was cut short when Hirata pinned her with the Miracle One Shot Cradle to win the title. Asuka got revenge by Choke Slamming Hirata afterwards. Hirata almost escaped with the win when he used the Miracle One Shot Cradle on Saki Akai. But Akai kicked out and gave Hirata her new finisher the Quetzalcoatl to become Iron Man Champion for the 9th time. Other things of note were Yuka Sakazaki hoping to win so she could bring the belt with her to America, Hirata having not one but two group dance spots, Maku Donaruto being… well, Maku Donaruto and Sasadango Machine using his PowerPoint Presentation to reflect on yesterday’s “MUSCLE MANIA” show. Apparently he did a lot of things without getting permission.

The main show kicked off with the return of Shunma Katsumata. He has a new wild looking appearance that includes facepaint surrounding the part of his orbital area that was injured. He gelled well with his new ALL OUT teammate Space Monkey. He never wrestled with a monkey before. Together they did a Buzzsaw Kick/Tail Whip combo. Antonio Honda & Jason Kincaid fought back with Bionic Elbows while Naomi Yoshimura took care of Yuki Ueno. He couldn’t hit the Throwaway Power Bomb then got rolled up in a Frankensteiner by Ueno for the surprise three count.

Ueno got Yoshimura’s attention again after the match. He wondered why was Yoshimura ignoring his request to team with him? Ueno asked him one more time. Yoshimura smiled and shook Ueno’s hand. He’s in! He might also be joining DISASTER BOX too because of this. Ueno wants to change his costume to something as bright as Yoshimura’s orange hair.

In the Tokyo Joshi Pro pre-show match, Nodoka Tenma continues to build up momentum for her TOKYO Princess Title Match next week. She won the match for her team by pinning Hikari Noa with the Killswitch.

Sento Minzoku were victorious in the BASARA pre-show match. Ryuichi Sekine made Takato Nakano tap out while Daiki Shimomura wiped out Masato Kamino with a Plancha.

A special 6-Man Tag Match was announced for the 21st March show. Riki Choshu, Kazusada Higuchi & Yuki Ueno Vs KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Gota Ihashi is the match. It will be the first time Choshu and Ihashi will be in the same ring since their infamous trios match from January 2018 when Choshu straight up said Ihashi should not be a pro wrestler.


DDT “JUDGEMENT 2019 ~DDT RAISING AN ARMY 22ND ANNIVERSARY~” Preview

February 15, 2019

DDT “JUDGEMENT 2019 ~DDT RAISING AN ARMY 22ND ANNIVERSARY~”, 17/02/2019
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

0. Pro Wrestling BASARA Offer Match: Ryuichi Sekine & Daiki Shimomura Vs Takato Nakano & Masato Kamino
0. Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match: Yuna Manase, Nodoka Tenma & Yuki Aino Vs Natsumi Maki, Hikari Noa & Miu Watanabe
1. Shunma Katsumata Return Match: Shunma Katsumata, Yuki Ueno & Space Monkey Vs Antonio Honda, Jason Kincaid & Naomi Yoshimura
2. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – Time Difference Battle Royal: Asuka (c) Vs Super Sasadango Machine Vs Makoto Oishi Vs Keisuke Okuda Vs Saki Akai Vs Kazuki Hirata Vs Tomomitsu Matsunaga Vs Gorgeous Matsuno Vs Hoshitango Vs Gota Ihashi Vs Yuni Vs Yasu Urano Vs El Lindaman Vs Scorpio X2 Vs Yuka Sakazaki Vs Mina Shirakawa Vs Chinsuke Nakamura Vs Maku Donaruto
3. Taiho Koki’s Grandson Yukio Naya Ryogoku Kokugikan First Participation!: Go Shiozaki, Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Naya Vs Daisuke Sekimoto, Toru Owashi & Yuki Iino
4. Special Single Match: Akito Vs T-Hawk
5. Danshoku Dieno Produce Yuru-chara “Pokotan” Debut Match: Danshoku Dieno, Pokotan & KUDO Vs Keisuke Ishii, Kota Umeda & Mizuki Watase
6. Special Hardcore 6-Person Tag Match: Sanshiro Takagi, Chigusa Nagayo & Ryuji Ito Vs Soma Takao, Mad Paulie & Takumi Iroha
7. KO-D Tag Team Titles – 3 Way Match: Mike Bailey & MAO (c) Vs Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi Vs CIMA & Seiki Yoshioka
8. DDT Extreme Title – Souken Holdings Presents – Each Other’s Pride Rules: Shinya Aoki (c) Vs HARASHIMA
9. Dramatic Dream Match: Naomichi Marufuji Vs Tetsuya Endo
10. KO-D Openweight Title – RAGE Presents: Daisuke Sasaki (c) Vs Konosuke Takeshita

The first pre-show match will begin at around 12:10pm JST/3:10am GMT. The main show begins at 1:00pm JST/4:00am GMT. For America that means the show begins at 11:00pm EST/8:00pm PST on Saturday.

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Hey there. Back again to see what DDT is up to at Sumo Hall this time? Cool. The time between Ryogoku visits has been short for this one. Usually DDT books the venue every six or seven months. “JUDGEMENT 2019” is taking place only four months after “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2018” so it kind of feels like this weekend has snuck up on me. As I’ve written in a previous blog post I see this period of the entire wrestling scene as the final chapter of this current era. You can thank Kenny and his buddies for some of the reasons why. The landscape is changing, DDT is establishing new relationships around the world and there’s bound to be more surprising twists to come in the future.

But let’s not worry any further about that stuff. Ryogoku is set for a double header weekend from the DDT family. On Saturday the Muscle brand is back from the dead. What it has come back to do exactly I have no idea. Then on Sunday DDT is bringing together a packed card of matches that only they can provide.

0. Pro Wrestling BASARA Offer Match: Ryuichi Sekine & Daiki Shimomura Vs Takato Nakano & Masato Kamino

One of the big movements happening in BASARA lately is several wrestlers banding together to form the Sento Minzoku unit. Formed by Isami Kodaka and taking inspiration from Dragon Ball Z, each member has grown a monkey’s tail to represent their power. Ryuichi Sekine & Daiki Shimomura are the two guys from BASARA’s main roster to join Kodaka and Minoru Fujita in the group. Facing them are the two freshest faces on the BASARA roster Takato Nakano & Masato Kamino. Nakano has mostly been improving his skills while staying out of trouble. Kamino joined BASARA in December after DNA closed down. Injuries kept him out of action for almost the entirety of DNA’s run so his jump to BASARA so his career has more or less started all over again.

0. Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match: Yuna Manase, Nodoka Tenma & Yuki Aino Vs Natsumi Maki, Hikari Noa & Miu Watanabe

Some new girls from Tokyo Joshi Pro get to wrestle in Sumo Hall for the first time. Yuna Manase, Nodoka Tenma and Natsumi Maki have wrestled there before. Manase and Tenma were there for a Battle Royal during “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017”. Maki wrestled there for All Japan’s 45th Anniversary show only one week later. Yuki Aino, Hikari Noa and Miu Watanabe however are all wrestling their first Ryogoku match.

Manase has quietly been one of the more protected wrestlers in Tokyo Joshi, regularly winning her matches with the Neck Screw Hold. Nodoka Tenma is weeks away from challenging for the TOKYO Princess Title and has a recent pinfall win over the champion Miyu Yamashita. Aino is there supporting her sister as always. Over on the other side Noa and Watanabe have shown the most progression out of the Up Up Girls (Pro Wrestling) unit. Their recent name and costume changes have allowed them to express their personalities more. Watanabe has added a Laser Beam baseball swing into her chops while Noa has become more enthusiastic in the ring. She took the most out of the opportunity to train with Shinjiro Otani when the Up Up Girls visited the ZERO1 dojo in December. Noa also happens to be wrestling the day before her 21st birthday. Last but certainly not least there is Maki. Her arrival in Tokyo Joshi was surrounded in controversy thanks to a burned bridge with Yumiko Hotta and Actwres girl’Z. But once she started wrestling it became clear that she has moved on. Maki has yet to be pinned or submitted in Tokyo Joshi and she currently finds herself in a feud with Maki Ito over who is cuter. The match hasn’t happened yet but if Hotta is still pissed off with Maki she might spoil the result of that too.

1. Shunma Katsumata Return Match: Shunma Katsumata, Yuki Ueno & Space Monkey Vs Antonio Honda, Jason Kincaid & Naomi Yoshimura

A right orbital and cheek bone fracture has kept Shunma Katsumata out of action for almost three months. When he went under surgery in December his goal was to come back in February and here he is. While he was gone ALL OUT went out of this world to find a new member. They found one with Space Monkey who has been winning everyone in DDT over with his antics, bananas and all. Yuki Ueno has been stepping his game up as a member of DISASTER BOX. He’s also been scouting one of his opponents here in the hopes of forming a new tag team. Antonio Honda & Jason Kincaid are already teaming together as Gon Gift so that leaves Naomi Yoshimura. When he unexpectedly returned to DDT in December he was aiming straight for the top and gunning after the championship. In a scary moment right near the end of 2018, Yoshimura took a Pedigree wrong and was left needing medical attention inside the ring. He ended up getting a cervical sprain and made a full recovery, returning to the ring two months later. With his chance at the main event now far away from his reach he is beginning the climb all over again. Maybe Ueno’s idea for them to team up will get him back on track. Or how about Power Bombing him instead? Yoshimura usually likes to do that given their history together.

2. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – Time Difference Battle Royal: Asuka (c) Vs Super Sasadango Machine Vs Makoto Oishi Vs Keisuke Okuda Vs Saki Akai Vs Kazuki Hirata Vs Tomomitsu Matsunaga Vs Gorgeous Matsuno Vs Hoshitango Vs Gota Ihashi Vs Yuni Vs Yasu Urano Vs El Lindaman Vs Scorpio X2 Vs Yuka Sakazaki Vs Mina Shirakawa Vs Chinsuke Nakamura Vs Maku Donaruto

DDT has spent the last few months searching for fresh blood and obscure talent from across Japan to diversify their roster. Heading the pack is Asuka. No not the one who hasn’t been booked on TV since the Royal Rumble despite being a champion and tapping out the current big star of the company. I mean the one that’s been blazing through the puroresu scene over the last twelve months as “Japan’s First Genderless Wrestler”. When Asuka left WAVE to go freelance, DDT jumped at the chance to bring her back and promote her as a next generation star. Since then Asuka has won the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title and became so attached to it she now calls it her boyfriend. So far the relationship has worked out better than the last one she had in DDT, even though it’s made her a target for jealous eyes down in Roppongi.

(Sidenote: Most English speaking fans write down ASUKA in all caps to differentiate her from the other Asuka. Out of preference I only do this when the wrestler also spells their name in all caps. Asuka’s name in Japanese is written as 朱崇花 so that’s why I prefer writing it in the lower case).

There is a full field of different faces out to take the title from Asuka. Saki Akai has a new finishing move inspired from her current role in the Fate/Grand Order stage play. The move is called Quetzalcoatl and it is a Twisting Crucifix Bomb similar to Kaji Tomato’s Red Eye finisher. Keisuke Okuda has been settling into DDT by fighting at an outdoor sauna and hate-teaming with Makoto Oishi. Who knows what Super Sasadango Machine will be up to the day after his latest Muscle show takes place. OWE is represented by both El Lindaman and Scorpio X2. Tokyo Joshi are sending in Yuka Sakazaki and Mina Shirakawa. Sakazaki in particular will have a lot of eyes on her after it was announced she will be appearing at All Elite Wrestling soon. Chinsuke Nakamura will no doubt be all up to date on whatever his inspiration is currently doing. And then there’s the rest of the usual low card DDT roster. That’s it. Nobody else. I’m not missing anybody…

… Sigh… Okay there’s one more. You know who I’m talking about. Behold the Twitch chat come to life, the one creation that makes Arby “The Meathead” McDonald look pure and wholesome, he’s ruined seven Valentine’s Days but saved two, it’s Maku Donaruto! This walking cease and desist waiting to happen was found in UDON Pro Wrestling and made an impression on DDT management. However his lewd wrestling style and obscene personality is making DDT a little unsure how often they want to continue booking him after Sumo Hall. A lot? A little? A seven match series with Kazuki Hirata? Here’s his biggest chance to leave an impression on everyone.

3. Taiho Koki’s Grandson Yukio Naya Ryogoku Kokugikan First Participation!: Go Shiozaki, Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Naya Vs Daisuke Sekimoto, Toru Owashi & Yuki Iino

Let’s move on to some history, some legacy that is attached to Sumo Hall. Yukio Naya is only around a year into his wrestling career. He is getting attention because his late grandfather was a legendary sumo wrestler named Taiho Koki. Naya’s grandfather was one of the youngest wrestlers to become a yokozuna and he also earned many accomplishments throughout his distinguished career. Naya has said he is proud to wrestle in the same building where his grandfather achieved much of his success. Teaming with him is DDT’s sumo turned pro Kazusada Higuchi as well as D-Ou Grand Prix finalist Go Shiozaki. Facing them are a trio of big beefy boys! Daisuke Sekimoto, Toru Owashi and Yuki Iino are the opposition in a match that I bet will have many, many chops. And probably a Haka dance from Iino too.

4. Special Single Match: Akito Vs T-Hawk

The #STRONGHEARTS love to cause some commotion wherever they go but what do they do when somebody successfully stands up to them? During their feud with ALL OUT, they were able to get pinfall wins over every member except one. The one guy they haven’t been able to beat is Akito. In order to right this wrong T-Hawk is set to face Akito one on one. As the current WRESTLE-1 Champion, T-Hawk feels on top of the world. It would be nice to see Akito pull him down. Akito is confident wrestling on his own and is convinced that T-Hawk hasn’t watched any of his singles matches. Akito has a reason of his own to win other than keeping #STRONGHEARTS at bay again. He is looking into the idea of wrestling in other companies on behalf of DDT. A win over the WRESTLE-1 Champion can open some doors for him.

5. Danshoku Dieno Produce Yuru-chara “Pokotan” Debut Match: Danshoku Dieno, Pokotan & KUDO Vs Keisuke Ishii, Kota Umeda & Mizuki Watase

You know what’s big these days? Mascots. Put somebody in a big wacky costume, make them do stupid shit, put it online and watch those social media numbers shoot up. Most likely inspired by the popularity of such characters like Chiitan, Nyango Star and you can also include Andreza Giant Panda in that list, Danshoku Dieno now wants a piece of the pie. So he has created his own mascot and went through several names before picking something suitable for everyone. Or at least I assume it’s suitable. It’s probably not but whatever. Anyway the mascot is called Pokotan and it looks like a seal. Dieno himself was planning to be under the costume during the build up to the show. Unfortunately the costume has not been finished as of a week ago. Dieno only has the head ready and he is very upset over it. Will Pokotan be complete in time for his grand reveal?

6. Special Hardcore 6-Person Tag Match: Sanshiro Takagi, Chigusa Nagayo & Ryuji Ito Vs Soma Takao, Mad Paulie & Takumi Iroha
Around 14 years ago Sanshiro Takagi, Chigusa Nagayo & Ryuji Ito teamed up for a 1,000m Barbed Wire And 100 Fluorescent Lighttube Death Match in Differ Ariake. They’re back together again to fight DAMNATION! Nagayo’s involvement in the show was already announced when the story of her saving a woman from an assault made the news in November so yay good publicity! What’s even more interesting is Nagayo’s protege Takumi Iroha is against her on the DAMNATION side. Since she is the Ikemen Joshi she might be there to take up the handsome looking role in the trio. Then again Mad Paulie is still on the team so that’s probably not the reason. Iroha is thrilled to face her mentor but is a little nervous that it’s in a Hardcore Match.

On a more serious note, Soma Takao is going into this match holding a grudge. For weeks leading into the show, Takagi has been poking Takao and questioning the current state of his career. Years ago Takao had the potential to become one of DDT’s best and yet he has never really attempted to take the torch. Maybe he’s gotten too comfortable being the mid-level guy in DAMNATION. Takagi wants to light a fire under Takao and see if he has any real ambition. Takao acts like he is angry at the world and everything around it. Now is his time to prove it.

7. KO-D Tag Team Titles – 3 Way Match: Mike Bailey & MAO (c) Vs Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi Vs CIMA & Seiki Yoshioka

#STRONGHEARTS have a reason for sticking around in DDT despite losing their feud to ALL OUT. After they lost the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles, CIMA and his crew admitted defeat and wanted to head home to the OWE headquarters in Shanghai. OWE told them not to come back until they get revenge on DDT. The best way to do that is to win one of the DDT championships again. This time CIMA is setting his sights on the KO-D Tag Team Titles and he is bringing along one of his newer partners Seiki Yoshioka to get them.

They aren’t the only ones who want the belts. Shuten-dōji challenged for the belts before #STRONGHEARTS did. The solution was to give both of them a shot in a 3 Way Match. Yukio Sakaguchi doesn’t care as long as he fights somebody strong (and El Lindaman provoking him with spitting and insults only resulted in Sakaguchi kicking him half to death). Masahiro Takanashi is interested though since he’s been able to cross paths with CIMA again. The two are linked through the Toryumon system but split off into two completely different paths. Takanashi wants to show CIMA that his unpolished way of wrestling is just as effective as CIMA’s state of the art abilities.

The scenario leaves the champions looking like a third wheel. But maybe that gives The Moonlight Express the advantage. MAO & Mike Bailey are currently ruling the tag team divisions in DDT and K-DOJO, holding both the KO-D Tag Titles and STRONGEST-K TAG Titles. MAO is as comfortable as ever in chaotic situations and Bailey always looks happy to go along for the ride, the crazier the better. MAO also feels the need to beat Shuten-dōji because they have beaten him so many times back when he was a part of NωA. He wants to move on from that part of his life but can’t if Shuten-dōji beats him again. The 3 Way stipulation being used is only one fall so a title change can happen without the Express being directly involved.

8. DDT Extreme Title – Souken Holdings Presents – Each Other’s Pride Rules: Shinya Aoki (c) Vs HARASHIMA

The rematch for the DDT Extreme Title sees HARASHIMA trying to win the belt back from Shinya Aoki. During his brief time in DDT, Aoki has defended the title in a Boxing Glove match and also got challenged into a fight at an outdoor sauna. This is what bad financial decisions can do to some people. But at least Aoki still has his pride. HARASHIMA has pride too so the two of them agreed to let their prides bring the best out of both of them. So that’s it. Nothing complicated, just a battle to see who is the best. Unless DDT decides to pipe in the Pride FC music during the match as a joke there isn’t much else that needs explaining. Well there is that one thing where HARASHIMA isn’t entirely sure what the exact ruleset for the match is. Aoki just keeps talking about pride and he hasn’t been the best at understanding the general pro wrestling rules. Is there even a three count?

9. Dramatic Dream Match: Naomichi Marufuji Vs Tetsuya Endo

Here we go! DDT usually has a dream match saved for Sumo Hall and they picked a good one this time round. Naomichi Marufuji returns to DDT and Tetsuya Endo is there waiting for him. You’d think Endo would see this as an opportunity to make a huge statement to the wrestling world but he’s a little distracted by his diet. No matter where he is or what he is doing Endo has been eating his handmade meals and drinking his protein shakes on a very strict timetable. This has interrupted several press conferences that were meant to promote this match. Marufuji doesn’t mind. There’s no bad blood between the two and Marufuji is looking forward to discovering Endo’s current potential. The match is also happening so soon after Marufuji’s return from injury so he gets to figure out what his own condition is like. We should get a nice, clean and competitive match out of this right. I mean it’s Marufuji in a DDT dream match. Nothing has ever gone wrong in a situation like that before. Right, Kenny?

10. KO-D Openweight Title – RAGE Presents: Daisuke Sasaki (c) Vs Konosuke Takeshita

After vanquishing Dieno at “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2018” in October, Daisuke Sasaki is headlining Sumo Hall for the second time in a row. This time he is going in as the KO-D Openweight Champion rather than the challenger. That role goes to Konosuke Takeshita for winning the 2019 D-Ou Grand Prix. In the build up to the match something strange happened. Sasaki started acting friendly, wrestled clean and prohibited the other DAMNATION wrestlers from cheating. He even shook his opponent’s hand after matches. Takeshita wasn’t convinced by this new attitude at first but Sasaki behaved for long enough that Takeshita eventually bought into it. Of course it was at this point when Sasaki could not resist temptation any longer and went back to his usual dirty tactics.

That’s not all. While they wrestled their matches, some of the other DAMNATION members went to the restaurant owned by Takeshita’s mother Keiko. She was happy to serve them until they dined and dashed! That right there was the boiling point that turns Sasaki Vs Takeshita into a blood feud. Over the last few days Sasaki and Takeshita have gotten into fights wherever they find each other. Sasaki attacked Takeshita outside Sumo Hall during an interview and with a Hurricanrana threw Takeshita down a stairway. Takeshita got revenge on another night when he attacked Sasaki at a bar and gave him a Brainbuster onto a sofa. Things escalated even further when Sasaki vandalised Takeshita’s car with anime decals and then gave Takeshita a Pedigree onto the car roof! The match hasn’t even happened yet and both men are already trying to end each other’s careers before they even get to Sunday! Sasaki has said that he will not allow Takeshita win the KO-D title, otherwise DDT will be sent to the dark ages.


Video – D-Oh Grand Prix Final!

January 8, 2019

DDT “D-OU GRAND PRIX 2019 THE FINAL!!”, 30/12/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2,018 Fans – Super No Vacancy

D-Ou Grand Prix 2019 – Final: Go Shiozaki Vs Konosuke Takeshita