DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2018 IN OSAKA 2 DAYS” Results

January 7, 2018

DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2018 IN OSAKA 2 DAYS”, 07/01/2018
Osaka Hirano Community Hall
438 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House

1. Shunma Katsumata, MAO & Veda Scott defeated Danshoku Dino, Kazuki Hirata & Yuki Ueno when Scott pinned Hirata with the Back Drop (8:18).
2. 4 Way Match: Keisuke Ishii defeated Toru Owashi, Kouki Iwasaki and Naomi Yoshimura when Ishii pinned Iwasaki with the Carolina Reaper (7:36).
3. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Kazusada Higuchi (2) defeated Soma Takao (0) with the Doctor Bomb (10:11).
4. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: HARASHIMA (2) defeated Joey Ryan (0) with the Somato (10:49).
5. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Mike Bailey (2) defeated Akito (2) with a Scorpion Lock Roll Up (11:35).
6. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Jiro Kuroshio (4) defeated Masahiro Takanashi (0) with a Takatonic Turnback (12:56).
7. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Yukio Sakaguchi (4) defeated Daisuke Sasaki (0) with the Modified Cobra Clutch (6:56).
8. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Konosuke Takeshita (1) Vs Tetsuya Endo (3) ended in a Time Limit Draw (30:00).

A Block

1. Jiro Kuroshio (4)
2. Tetsuya Endo (3)
3. Keisuke Ishii (2)
-. HARASHIMA (2)
5. Konosuke Takeshita (1)
6. Joey Ryan (0)
-. Masahiro Takanashi (0)

B Block

1. Yukio Sakaguchi (4)
2. Shuji Ishikawa (2)
-. Mike Bailey (2)
-. Akito (2)
-. Kazusada Higuchi (2)
6. Soma Takao (0)
-. Daisuke Sasaki (0)

DDT’s biggest rivalry was back in force for the main event of the D-King Grand Prix Day 2. Konosuke Takeshita and Tetsuya Endo faced off in the rematch to last year’s “RYOGOKU PETER PAN” main event. Takeshita already got off to a bad start after losing his first block match while Endo won his first bout. Neither man got the spoils as the match went to a 30 minute time limit. It is a result both are familiar with when it comes to their singles matches. Endo left the ring after a brief standoff. Takeshita apologised to the fans for failing to beat Endo for them. He then said their battle is not over.

Daisuke Sasaki slumps even further into the depths with his second Grand Prix loss in a row. Yukio Sakaguchi hit him with the Right Knee Of God then put him down with the Cobra Clutch. The win places Sakaguchi on top of Block B for the early going. Sakaguchi’s next goal is to survive against Shuji Ishikawa. Get past him and it will be clear sailing from there. Sasaki is now getting desperate. His current plan for his next opponent Kazusada Higuchi is to hit him with a beer bottle.

The Grand Prix is off to a beautiful start thanks to Jiro Kuroshio. His win over Masahiro Takanashi means he currently sits on top of Block A. Once again his tricky style caught his opponent off guard for an unexpected pinfall. He promises to show HARASHIMA a Handsome World when their match happens next. Takanashi is 0 for 2. He promises to win his 4 remaining matches.

Mike Bailey scraped by with a win against Akito. Speedball’s legs were targeted throughout the match and he was in real danger of losing to the Scorpion Lock. But somehow Bailey fought so hard to block the move he rolled himself on top of Akito to pin him. Bailey said he has to keep winning so he can catch up with Ishikawa. He also thinks the middle portion of the tournament will determine where he finishes. It won’t be easy but he needs to imagine he can win it all. Akito meanwhile is worried that his usual losing pattern is surfacing again. But he can’t focus on that because tomorrow’s opponent is Ishikawa!

What is the best way to take on the Somato? Joey Ryan unsprisingly thought it was with his dong. He tried his own version of the move on HARASHIMA, hitting him crotch first in the face. It didn’t work. HARASHIMA then took control and hit the proper Somato, putting Ryan down for the count. This was HARASHIMA’s first match with Ryan and he was left puzzled by the experience. When Ryan regained his whereabouts during the backstage interview he described HARASHIMA as a “very tough bastard” who survived Ryan’s many traps. Ryan promises to set up more traps for his next opponent Takeshita. He also hopes the fans shower him with paper tape before the match. He likes it when they do that.

Kazusada Higuchi scored his first points with a win over Soma Takao. He countered the Gin And Tonic into a Power Bomb. From there he hit a Lariat and the Doctor Bomb for the three count. This was Soma’s first match in the Grand Prix and a defeat is not a good start. His next opponent is Mike Bailey and Soma is worried about facing him with the momentum he has.

Keisuke Ishii has a new finishing move called the Carolina Reaper. The move is a Modified Facelock where he traps one arm in a Chicken Wing and the other gets hooked behind his leg. He used it to submit Kouki Iwasaki in the 4 Way Match. Elsewhere in the match Toru Owashichallenged Naomi Yoshimura to try and beat him in their exchanges.

To celebrate the new year in Osaka, Danshoku Dino told the audience a dancing star from Tokyo has come over to cheer everyone up with his performance. He was talking about Kazuki Hirata. Normally whenever Hirata tries to dance during his entrance he gets interrupted so Dino ordered Yuki Ueno to help him stop anyone from laying a finger on Hirata while he dances. They succeeded although Dino did take a Plancha from MAO during the performance. However Hirata got angry and yelled at everyone to give the audience an exciting match. As it went on Ueno asked Hirata to tag him in so he could show off cool moves to his hometown crowd. Dino later got too excited and gave Ueno the Lip Lock even though they were on the same team. That allowed NωA and Veda Scott to isolate Hirata and beat him. When the match was over Hirata asked the audience if they enjoyed it. They gave him a positive applause.

Yukinori Matsui announced he will produce a wrestling show inside Osaka Edison Arena #2 on 27th May. He called upon the DDT wrestlers to help him make it a lively show.


DDT “NEW YEAR’S SPECIAL! 2018” Results

January 3, 2018

DDT “NEW YEAR’S SPECIAL! 2018”, 03/01/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,187 Fans

0. Under Match: Hoshitango & Rekka defeated Mizuki Watase & Daiki Shimomura when Rekka pinned Shimomura with a Reverse Power Slam (6:23).
1. Akito defeated Yuki Ueno with the Scorpion Lock (8:19).
2. Infomercial Match – “LADY NINJA: A Blue Shadow” Movie: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai (w/ Mai Hakase) defeated Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Veda Scott when Sakaguchi pinned Hirata with the PK (11:41).
3. New Year Kakizome Rumble (Calligrapher: Nachu): Keisuke Ishii defeated Sanshiro Takagi, Super Sasadango Machine, Nobuhiro Shimatani, Mad Paulie, Hoshitango, Gorgeous Matsuno, Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Gota Ihashi, Joey Ryan and Joey Axl (17:46).
3a. Joey Axl was eliminated by speaking Japanese (4:39).
3b. Nobuhiro Shimatani was eliminated by climbing the corner post (6:04).
3c. Tomomitsu Matsunaga was eliminated by saying his name (6:14).
3d. Joey Ryan was eliminated by speaking English (9:31).
3e. Sanshiro Takagi was eliminated by doing the Stunner (12:37).
3f. Gota Ihashi was eliminated by missing a Moonsault (14:03).
3g. Gorgeous Matsuno was eliminated by doing the Gorgeous Star☆Elbow (14:38).
3h. Mad Paulie was eliminated by laughing (15:55).
3i. Super Sasadango was eliminated by doing a Flying Body Attack (17:46).
4. Road To D-King GP Special Special Single Match: Soma Takao defeated Masahiro Takanashi with the Endless Waltz (9:13).
5. NωA, If You Lose Immediately Withdraw Your Dissolution Special: Makoto Oishi, Shunma Katsumata & MAO defeated Danshoku Dino, Brahman Shu & Brahman Kei when Oishi pinned Dino with the Triple Ecstasy (10:02).
6. Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo defeated Colt Cabana & Antonio Honda when Endo pinned Honda with the Shooting Star Press (16:21).
-. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Super Sasadango Machine defeated Colt Cabana (c) with a Flying Body Attack (8:40 pm).
*Super Sasadango Machine becomes the 1,286th champion.
7. Road To D-King GP Special 6-Man Tag Match: HARASHIMA, Kazusada Higuchi & Jiro Kuroshio defeated Konosuke Takeshita, Mike Bailey & Shuji Ishikawa when HARASHIMA pinned Bailey with the Somato (20:17).

With the D-King Grand Prix just days away from starting, six of the participants took part in the 6-Man Tag Team main event of 2018’s first DDT show. Jiro Kuroshio is already testing the patience of some wrestlers with his long entrance that this time involved the unwilling participation of a small child. Konosuke Takeshita in particular made Kuroshio his target in the match. Elsewhere Shuji Ishikawa and Kazusada Higuchi squared off in a power battle while HARASHIMA had his hands full with Mike Bailey. It all built up to unlikely team moves like Takeshita doing a Codebreaker on HARASHIMA then holding him down for a Body Press from Ishikawa followed by the Standing Double Knee Moonsault from Bailey. However, HARASHIMA avoided the Ultima Weapon from Bailey and pinned him with two Somatos.

HARASHIMA was about to give his victory speech when Kuroshio grabbed the microphone and gave his own speech. He said he was happy to be in the tournament and is looking forward to beating up Takeshita even more. Higuchi threatened to rampage his way through the block to the final. He is happy to see that Ishikawa is even stronger than ever and looks forward to fighting him. Ishikawa asked if Higuchu knows how many championships he has won? Ishikawa guarantees he will win the GP because he is at his best. Bailey said the Somato he took made him understand his wrestling career could end at any moment. But if it does end it will be when Bailey fights HARASHIMA in the final. Takeshita told Kuroshio he will make his handsome face look awkward when they fight again. HARASHIMA said he will win the league and headline Sumo Hall. As usual. He tried to close out the show but Kuroshio stole all the attention again by posing in front of him.

Daisuke Sasaki is sick of Antonio Honda telling his “Gon, The Little Fox” stories. He told Honda his goal for 2018 should be to give up telling them. Colt Cabana backed up Honda by going along with his story and joining in with his antics. They performed the Superman Dive together for a double nearfall. But it all went wrong when a double Bionic Elbow ended with them hitting each other. Tetsuya Endo took advantage with the Springboard Overhead Kick and then won the match with the Shooting Star Press on Honda.

After the match Cabana was attacked by Nobuhiro Shimatani because he wanted to win the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title. Cabana fought him off but then Super Sasadango Machine came in and pinned Cabana with a Cross Body Block. Cabana tried to win the title back at the end of the show but failed.

The NωA had to fight for their lives against Danshoku Dino and the Brahman Brothers. They were told by the brothers before the match that they would fall into Hell! What followed was a brawl between both sides that moved into the audience. The Brahmans took out a mixer and blended together a liquid made out of beer, boiled egg, natto and raw squid. They considered throwing it into the audience but they poured it over Yuki Ueno instead. NωA turned the tables and used the Brahmans’ own tricks against them including throwing the bowling ball and suitcase at them and spitting the black India Ink at their faces. They then attacked Dino with a piece of wood up the backside and pinned him with the Triple Ecstasy. The NωA are now allowed to break up and their final match will take place on 28th January. They asked for T2Hide to be their final opponents. All of T2Hide came down to the ring crying with happiness over being chosen.

In the second D-King GP preview of the night, Soma Takao beat Masahiro Takanashi. He countered the Takatonic into the Endless Waltz series of rolling pin attempts, constantly rolling Takanashi into another pin until he finally got the three count. Takao thinks the move will help him immensely in the tournament. Just using today’s match as an example, the Endless Waltz got Takao a total of 10 pin counts, that’s enough for three wins. Takao hopes the Endless Waltz along with the Gin And Tonic will help him win both the Grand Prix in January and also All Japan’s Junior Heavyweight league in February.

Two years ago a calligrapher named Nachu was invited over to DDT to paint Kakizome new year messages on the backs of the wrestlers. She came back this year so it could be done again. The rule of the Battle Royal was every wrestler had a “Prohibited Skill” painted on their back. If the wrestler performed the skill during the match they would be disqualified. But since it was painted on their backs they did not know what their banned skill was. So the wrestlers all tried to bait each other into doing their prohibited moves. One of the entrants was Joey Axl, a pro wrestler from Australia. He appeared during the show opening ceremony unbeknown to the rest of the roster. It was only when Hisaya Imabayashi noticed him standing next to the other foreign wrestlers that he introduced himself and asked to wrestle in DDT. It was decided he would be added to the Battle Royal.

Sadly for Axl he was the first one eliminated. His prohibited skill was speaking Japanese and he was tricked into saying “Ichiban!” after he overpowered his opponents. Nobuhiro Shimatani was out when he climbed the turnbuckle to do a high flying attack. Tomomitsu Matsunaga was not allowed to say his name in the manner of the RVD/Toru Yano taunt that he likes to do. He teased doing it first but later did it for real to get eliminated. Joey Ryan was tricked into speaking English when Gorgeous Matsuno told him he had a small dick. Sanshiro Takagi was out after he gave Gota Ihashi a Stunner. Matsuno wasn’t allowed to do his Gorgeous Star☆Elbow. It took him several attempts to do the move because he kept getting tangled into the ropes mid-move. He finally did it with Keisuke Ishii’s help but that meant he was now out of the match. Ihashi did his Moonsault but he wasn’t supposed to. He also missed. Super Sasadango Machine eliminated Mad Paulie by making him laugh. Sasadango unmasked himself to show he was wearing similar facepaint as Paulie. It made Paulie so happy that he laughed. Finally Sasadango eliminated himself by doing a Cross Body to Ishii. Ishii was declared the winner because he avoided doing his prohibited skill, performing a combination attack with another wrestler.

The Infomercial Match was supposed to begin with a trailer for the upcoming movie LADY NINJA: A Blue Shadow which features Yukio Sakaguchi and Saki Akai in supporting roles. However Kazuki Hirata stopped the trailer because he wanted to dance with the movie’s lead star Mai Hakase instead. Hakase appeared with Shuten-dōji wearing her movie character’s costume. Sakaguchi got so mad at Hirata for his behaviour that Toru Owashi & Veda Scott bailed from the apron and left Hirata alone in the ring with him to get beaten up. Later in the match Hirata challenged Hakase to a duel. Hakase pulled out her prop sword and looked to have bested Hirata until he knocked her out with a sudden karate chop. Sakaguchi stole the Hirata Go! glasses and danced his way into beating up Hirata again to win the match. With Hirata defeated, the movie trailer was allowed to be shown. Afterwards Hakase, Sakaguchi and Akai spoke about their experiences during the making of the movie. Hakane said that she was afraid of Sakaguchi when they first met and she wanted to run away when it was time for them to film their fight scene. But he was able to work with her shyness and it turned out fine. She also said Akai was really strong when they filmed their scenes together. Next time she’d like to see her get a role as a sexy ninja.

Akito’s tune up match for the GP was against the rookie Yuki Ueno. While it wasn’t a big challenge for Akito, he felt it was a good way to prepare for the tournament. He was also nicely surprised by how well Ueno wrestled in the match. He’s pleased to see the younger wrestlers in DDT growing up in the ring and thinks he can teach them stuff that other wrestlers in the company cannot.

The wrestlers in the pre-show match all yelled “Happy New Year!” mid-move to each other at some point. Rekka & Hoshitango worked well together and did a lot of damage to Daiki Shimomura. Their big move involved Rekka climbing onto Hoshitango’s back then Hoshitango doing a Splash onto Shimomura with Rekka still on top of him. Mizuki Watase stopped the pin but once they got rid of him it was easy pickings for Rekka to finish off Shimomura.

It was announced that The Great Muta will appear at “JUDGEMENT 2018” in Sumo Hall on 25th March!


“NEW YEAR’S EVE WRESTLING 2017” Results

January 1, 2018

“NEW YEAR’S EVE WRESTLING 2017”, 31/12/2017
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,411 Fans

1. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1: Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi defeated Ryota Hama & Soma Takao when Sekimoto pinned Takao after a missed Okido Press from Hama (6:06).
2. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1: Kazuki Hashimoto & Akito defeated Kota Sekifuda & Ryota Nakatsu when Akito submitted Nakatsu with the Perfect Figure 4 Leg Lock (4:32).
3. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1: Brahman Kei & Daisuke Sasaki (w/ Brahman Shu) defeated Antonio Honda & Takuya Nomura (w/ Jaki Numazawa) when Sasaki pinned Honda after the Syachihoko Clutch (7:21).
4. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1: Danshoku Dino & Daichi Hashimoto defeated Keisuke Ishii & Takayuki Ueki when Dino pinned Ueki with the Danshoku Screwdriver (9:53).
5. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1: HARASHIMA & Yuko Miyamoto defeated Yukio Sakaguchi & Yuya Aoki when Miyamoto pinned Aoki with the Fire Thunder (3:28).
6. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1: Isami Kodaka & Yoshihisa Uto defeated Masahiro Takanashi & Tatsuhiko Yoshino when Uto pinned Yoshino with the Axis Fall (6:34).
7. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1: Abdullah Kobayashi & Colt Cabana defeated Minoru Fujita & Shunma Katsumata when Kobayashi submitted Katsumata with a Crab Hold (4:21).
8. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1: Great Kojika & Tetsuya Koda Vs Hideki Suzuki & Konosuke Takeshita ended in a Time Limit Draw (10:00).
8a. Sudden Death – 1 Count Fall: Hideki Suzuki & Konosuke Takeshita defeated Great Kojika & Tetsuya Koda when Takeshita pinned Kojika with a Rope Assisted School Boy (1:38).
9. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 2: Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi defeated Kazuki Hashimoto & Akito when Higuchi pinned Akito with a Japanese Leg Roll Clutch (1:52).
10. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 2: Brahman Shu & Daisuke Sasaki (w/ Brahman Kei) defeated Danshoku Dino & Daichi Hashimoto when Shu pinned Dino with a School Boy (8:09).
11. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 2: HARASHIMA & Yuko Miyamoto defeated Isami Kodaka & Yoshihisa Uto when HARASHIMA pinned Uto with the Somato (9:57).
12. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 2: Hideki The Brody & Jimmy Takeshita Vs Stan Kobayashi & Colt “Boom Boom” Butcher ended in a No Contest after a Referee Assault (2:17).
12a. Sudden Death – 1 Count Fall: Hideki The Brodie & Jimmy Takeshita defeated Stan Kobayashi & Colt “Boom Boom” Butcher by Countout (2:50).
13. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Semi Final: Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi defeated HARASHIMA & Yuko Miyamoto when Sekimoto pinned Miyamoto with the Roll Through German Suplex (9:47).
14. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Semi Final: Hideki The Brody & Jimmy Takeshita defeated Brahman Kei & Daisuke Sasaki (w/ Brahman Shu) when Takeshita pinned Kei with the Superfly Splash (7:02).
15. TAKA Michinoku 25th Anniversary Match: Kotaro Yoshino, Dinosaur Takuma, Kazumi Kikuta & MAO defeated TAKA Michinoku, Dick Togo, Ryuji Ito & Sanshiro Takagi when MAO pinned Michinoku with a School Boy (13:16).
16. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Final: Hideki Suzuki & Konosuke Takeshita defeated Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi when Suzuki pinned Higuchi with the Double Arm Suplex (12:44).

DDT and Big Japan ended 2017 and begun 2018 with what they usually do at this time every year, a big pro wrestling get together at Korakuen Hall! This year’s tag team tournament was themed around one wrestler from each company joining forces. Every pairing also had their own custom team name too.

Round 1

Sekiguchi-gumi Vs Hamamatsu. The show kicked off with Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi entering the ring both wearing sunglasses and carrying samurai swords. They won over Ryota Hama & Soma Takao in a match where Hama made the most impact. First he squashed Higuchi with a Hip Attack in the corner. But then he squashed Takao by accident when he missed the Okido Press. Sekimoto pinned a lifeless Takao to win. Hama tried to apologise to Takao afterwards but Takao was too afraid to approach him.

Team Hitomishiri Vs Team 14. Pretty simple first round win for Kazuki Hashimoto & Akito. Although Kota Sekifuda dove onto Hashimoto, he was nowhere to be found when Akito locked Ryota Nakatsu into the Perfect Figure 4 Leg Lock. Sekifuda & Nakatsu didn’t get much time in the ring together but they would like to team up again someday, maybe in next year’s tournament.

Charming Dolls Vs Charisma Brahman. Throughout the night the Brahman Brothers switched back and forth to team with Daisuke Sasaki in their matches. For the first match, Brahman Kei was the legal participant. Sasaki gleefully joined in with their act of throwing water at the audience during their entrance. Meanwhile Takuya Nomura wore identical wrestling gear to Antonio Honda and they were accompanied by Jaki Numzawa in their corner. The match broke down into a 6 Way at one point when Brahman Shu and Numazawa got involved in the fighting. Kei accidentally blinded Sasaki with the black ink. Nomura grabbed the Brahmans’ bucket of water and threw it at them in the corner. But Sasaki & Kei rallied to pin Honda with the Crucifix And Jackknife pinning combination. As the Brahmans walked off they had an idea. For the next match they should become Charisma like Sasaki!

Hakai Kyodai Vs With Love And Enthrallment And Reassurance. Keisuke Ishii & Takayuki Ueki came out dressed as Ryu and Zangief from Street Fighter. At first they acted like the characters but Ueki then got so frustrated by Danshoku Dino & Daichi Hashimoto that he pulled out his gun. Ueki held Dino hostage and demanded that they switch tights so he could possess Dino’s Danshoku skills. Unfortunately Ueki slipped off the top rope and crotched himself. Dino, now wearing the Zangief tights, gave Ueki a Zangief style Spinning Piledriver to advance his team to the next round.

Smile Yankee Vs Team Yokohama. The match begun quickly when Yukio Sakaguchi & Yuya Aoki attacked HARASHIMA & Yuko Miyamoto. But once Smile Yankee isolated Aoki it didn’t take long for them to put him down. Sakaguchi apologised to Aoki for coming up with the reckless plan but Aoki apologised too for being weak.

Yoshino-ka Vs Jikujion. Masahiro Takanashi joined in with Tatsuhiko Yoshino’s local boy gimmick. Yoshihisa Uto carried Isami Kodaka on his shoulders for their entrance but accidentally whacked Kodaka’s head off of the stage. This would happen for all of their matches tonight. Kodaka trusted Uto to carry both him and his victim of a Superplex but Uto struggled to pull it off. He finally succeeded but Kodaka was hurt in the process as if he was given a German Suplex. The move worked well enough to pin Yoshino though.

Shunma To Minoru Vs KobaCabana. Minoru Fujita wanted to sing along with Shunma Katsumata during their entrance but his microphone was switched off for a lot of it. He also wore a strand of barbwire disguised as a headband around his forehead. Sadly their idol behaviour didn’t work and they both submitted to Abdullah Kobayashi & Colt Cabana.

Great To Mago Vs Most Strongest Combi. In a rare occurrence for this tournament, only one match in the entire show went to a time limit draw. The combined skills of Hideki Suzuki & Konosuke Takeshita were not enough to figure out The Great Kojika in under 10 minutes. Tetsuya Endo tried his best to beat Takeshita for the second time in two days but the time ran out during their skirmish. 1 Count Pinfalls were activated for overtime and Kojika surprisingly came close to pinning Takeshita with the Iron Claw. Shockingly, Suzuki pulled the referee away to stop him from counting. Takeshita then used the distraction to School Boy Kojika and Suzuki held down his feet onto the ropes for leverage. Yes, it took that much cheating to pin The Great Kojika for one second!

Round 2

Sekiguchi-gumi Vs Team Hitomishiri. The first bout of Round 2 ended in quick fashion when Higuchi of all people pinned Akito with a Rolling Leg Clutch. Akito & Hashimoto tried to tap out their opponents with Scorpion Locks and Ankle Locks but it wasn’t enough. Akito promised to keep in touch with Hashumoto through LINE.

Charisma Brahman Vs Hakai Kyodai. This time Brahman Shu was teaming with Sasaki. Also this time the Brahmans dressed like Sasaki and were also armed with plates filled with…well…some sort of foul substance I don’t want to think about. Sasaki accidentally got a face full of it. At one point Dino suddenly started grabbing around his partner and pulled out Ueki’s gun from his pants! Sasaki and the Brahmans stopped him with a traffic sign attack then made him sit onto a chair with the plate of dirt placed on it. Sasaki took out toilet roll to wipe the substance off of Dino’s backside and then rub it into his face. Shu then pinned Dino with a School Boy to end the madness. The Brahmans praised Sasaki for his technique in using the plate.

Smile Yankee Vs Jikujion. Uto again carried Kodaka head first into the entrance stage. Their double team Suplex attempt off the top rope failed when Miyamoto held onto HARASHIMA to keep him on the corner. Uto ended up just giving Kodaka a German Suplex instead. Miyamoto dropped Uto with a Fire Thunder then narrowly rolled out of the way of HARASHIMA’s Somato. That was it for Uto & Kodaka’s run in the tournament.

KobaCabana? Vs Most Strongest Combi?. Due to earlier injuries dealt to everyone involved in this match, both teams had to be replaced. Luckily a bunch of “legends” happened to be in the building and stepped in to fill the gap. Suzuki & Takeshita were replaced by Hideki The Brody & Jimmy Takeshita while Kobayashi & Cabana were replaced by Stan Kobayashi & Colt “Boom Boom” Butcher. The two teams brawled with each other around the ring and then all threatened to attack Yukinori Matsui with their weapons. The match ended in a Double DQ because of the threats and had to be restarted. The four then brawled up towards the crowd and Brodie wrapped his chain around both Kobayashi & Cabana. He held them back while Takeshita crawled back to the ring to win the match by countout. When the match was over they all re-entered the ring and attacked a ringside assistant with their finishing moves.

Japan Indie Grand Prize Awards

Samurai TV and Occupation Of The Indies held their annual Japan Indie Grand Prize awards after Round 2. The MVP Award went to Hideki Suzuki. The Best Bout Award went to the Big Japan match between Masashi Takeda Vs Masaya Takahashi from 17th December. Best Unit went to DAMNATION. Best Show went to Big Japan for their 17th November outdoor event in Ueno Park. Best Newcomer went to Andre The Giant Panda. The Special Achievement Award was given to the late Mr. Pogo.

Semi Finals

Sekiguchi-gumi Vs Smile Yankee. A random drawing put together the semi final matchups. Lariats from Sekimoto & Higuchi were the difference maker. Miyamoto also wasn’t prepared for Sekimoto to roll him into the German Suplex from the ropes.

Charisma Brahman Vs Most Strongest Combi. Remember when I said the madness was over? It came back. Suzuki & Takeshita were still in their legend gimmicks and this time they had Kobayashi & Cabana on their side to combat Sasaki & The Brahmans’ tricks. Kei was isolated from his teammates and was put through the Western Lariat, the King Kong Knee Drop, the Poisoned Elbow Drop and finally the Superfly Splash to lose the match. Sasaki and The Brahmans still threw water at the audience afterwards.

TAKA Michinoku 25th Anniversary Match

The final pro wrestling match of 2017 in Japan was TAKA Michinoku’s 25th Anniversary match. He led a veteran team of K-DOJO, Big Japan and DDT wrestlers to face some of the new generation coming from those companies. MAO became a butt of a joke by being the victim of a never ending Corner Train Attack featuring everyone else in the match, loads of wrestlers who weren’t in the match and even one of the Samurai TV cameramen! Cabana was involved too but he just wanted to take a selfie with MAO. This went on for so long that the countdown to the new year began. In the final seconds Michinoku charged in but MAO rolled him over with a School Boy to pin him right as the clock struck zero! Happy new year!

Final

Sekiguchi-gumi Vs Most Strongest Combi. The tournament final is the first wrestling match in Japan of 2018. Suzuki & Takeshita were now back to normal. Both teams threw all that they had left at each other. It all came down to Higuchi and Suzuki fighting each other. Higuchi hit the Doctor Bomb but it wasn’t enough. Takeshita gave Higuchi a Dragon Suplex and Suzuki followed it up with a Dragon Suplex of his own. Higuchi kicked out! Suzuki then used the Double Arm Suplex and that wasn enough to beat Higuchi. The Most Strongest Combi are the Shuffle Tag Tournament winners! When they were given the rewards Takeshita joked that they only wrestled twice in the tournament this year and still won. Suzuki said he was honoured to fight Sekimoto & Higuchi. He also bragged that he wasn’t feeling tired at all. Sekimoto grabbed the microphone and swore into it.


D-King Grand Prix 2018 Preview

December 27, 2017

More details have emerged for the D-King Grand Prix tournament taking place in January. At the end of “NEVER MIND 2017” on Christmas Eve, Konosuke Takeshita asked what would be the big prize for him because he is already the KO-D Openweight Champion and will most likely be the defending champion in the main event of “JUDGEMENT 2018” next March. The original announcement of the tournament was that the winner will get a main event KO-D Title shot on that show. DDT Producer Danshoku Dino revealed his intentions behind setting up the D-King GP. The winner will be “cast in the leading role” for DDT in 2018 so whoever wins the GP will become a major focal point of the company over the next 12 months. If that isn’t enough, a few days later the Assistant Producer Hisaya Imabayashi revealed that the winner will also receive 2,000,000 yen in prize money!

A press conference was held with all of the Japanese entrants making an appearance to comment on their chances in the tournament. Takeshita said he’s been satisfied by defending the KO-D Title in Korakuen Hall but there are many regions in Japan where the title has never been defended in. Some of those areas are on the tour schedule and while he is not defending the title in the tournament, he wants to wrestle in those towns as if the title is on the line every show. He thinks the strongest wrestler should win the Grand Prix and it doesn’t make sense if the champion is not the strongest.

The rest of Block A gave their opinions. For HARASHIMA it has been years since he last competed in a Round Robin tournament. He knows how much risk there is in suffering an injury because there have been times when he got hurt early in tournaments and could not complete his remaining matches. Keisuke Ishii sees the Grand Prix as an opportunity to end his current depressing run. He is confident he will win because his total singles record against his Block A opponents are 9 wins, 7 losses and 5 draws. Tetsuya Endo claims that he is only interested in fighting Jiro Kuroshio, nobody else. Masahiro Takanashi had spent his recent time wondering why he was put in the tournament because he is more of a 6-Man Tag Team specialist. He found out it was because KUDO is not in good enough condition to compete in a league format and Takanashi was nominated in his place. Now he realises he is the second most experienced wrestler in the tournament after HARASHIMA. When he looked at the poster for “JUDGEMENT 2018” that was when he found his answer. He believes he will face Kazusada Higuchi in the final. Jiro Kuroshio is happy for the opportunity and is excited for his matches. He wants to win the Grand Prix for himself rather than for WRESTLE-1.

Over in Block B the atmosphere is a bit different. Daisuke Sasaki has become depressed after losing the Independent World Jr. Heavyweight Title to Ken Ohka then failing to win the KO-D Tag Team Titles with Endo. He doesn’t think he will win the tournament. He feels so low that he thinks he will only win one match. He said this while looking at Shuji Ishikawa. Yukio Sakaguchi is delighted to take part because he gets to prove he is the clearly the strongest in DDT. Soma Takao is entering his first league competition and is counting on the experience he learned wrestling in All Japan to bring out his full potential. Akito already has his battle plans in place to beat all but one person in his block. The one man he can’t figure out is Ishikawa. If he can beat him then as far as he is concerned, winning the tournament is guaranteed. He desires to face his friend Takeshita on DDT’s biggest stage. Kazusada Higuchi is keeping it simple and will focus on one match at a time. He’ll defeat whoever steps in front of him then the main event spot in Sumo Hall will come naturally to him. Shuji Ishikawa thinks he had a good 2017 and wants to continue that momentum going into 2018.

Some questions were asked to the wrestlers by the wrestling press. Takeshita was asked which wrestler he is most looking forward to fighting. He said Kuroshio because it is a new generation DDT Vs WRESTLE-1 match. Kuroshio said he has a plan to beat Takeshita but he’s keeping it secret. Ishikawa was asked about having to fight his friend Sasaki. Ishikawa said it was a conspiracy by DDT to put them together in the same block. But he will fight Sasaki if he has to. Sasaki joked that Ishikawa only has three seconds to beat him. HARASHIMA was asked about Takeshita throwing around the words “New Generation” in his earlier comments. HARASHIMA has no thoughts in particular about it and he is only focusing on winning his matches. Endo was asked about being separated from DAMNATION and being alone in his block. Endo promised to give the prize money to Sasaki when he wins it.

Ishii was asked to provide more data about his singles record against the rest of Block A. He said he has 6 wins & 1 loss against Endo, 3 wins & 0 losses against Takanashi, 0 wins & 5 losses plus 1 draw against HARASHIMA, 1 loss & 1 draw against Takeshita. He has never wrestled singles matches against Kuroshio and Joey Ryan. Sakaguchi & Takanashi were asked about wrestling in KUDO’s place. Sakaguchi described the tournament as being different from King Of DDT which KUDO usually participates in. They are sorry that KUDO is unable to compete in the GP but he will be there to celebrate with them when they win.

Akito was asked about what Ishikawa’s potential strategy will be against him. Akito repeated that he cannot figure Ishikawa out. He has time to come up with something but right now he can’t see anything at all when he looks at him. Endo was asked about getting to fight Takeshita one on one again for the first time since “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017”. He refused to give an answer. He doesn’t want to think about it until it happens. Finally, Ishikawa was asked if he has a blueprint in place for 2018. He said he has no such thing. He just does his best and the fans appreciate it. He doesn’t know if he will win the tournament but he will make the effort.

Neither of the two foreign entrants were in attendance so there are no comments available for Joey Ryan and Mike Bailey.

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DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2018 IN SHINJUKU”, 05/01/2018
Shinjuku FACE

1. 4 Way Tag Match: Joey Ryan & Veda Scott Vs Antonio Honda & Soma Takao Vs KUDO & Toru Owashi Vs Makoto Oishi & Shunma Katsumata
2. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Jiro Kuroshio
3. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: HARASHIMA Vs Keisuke Ishii
4. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Tetsuya Endo Vs Masahiro Takanashi
5. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Akito
6. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Kazusada Higuchi
7. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Mike Bailey Vs Shuji Ishikawa

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DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2018 IN OSAKA 2 DAYS”, 07/01/2018
Osaka Hirano Community Hall

1. Danshoku Dino, Kazuki Hirata & Yuki Ueno Vs Shunma Katsumata, MAO & Veda Scott
2. 4 Way Match: Keisuke Ishii Vs Toru Owashi Vs Kouki Iwasaki Vs Naomi Yoshimura
3. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Tetsuya Endo
4. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: HARASHIMA Vs Joey Ryan
5. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Masahiro Takanashi Vs Jiro Kuroshio
6. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Yukio Sakaguchi
7. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Soma Takao Vs Kazusada Higuchi
8. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Akito Vs Mike Bailey

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DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2018 IN OSAKA 2 DAYS”, 08/01/2018
Osaka Hirano Community Hall

1. Danshoku Dino Sometimes Throws Away The Heavy Responsibilities Of A Producer To Hit The Desire Of Man New Year’s Special Battle Royal: Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Tetsuya Endo Vs Toru Owashi Vs Toru Owashi Vs Kazuki Hirata Vs Naomi Yoshimura Vs Mizuki Watase Vs Yuki Ueno Vs Veda Scott (Special Referee: Danshoku Dino)
2. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Joey Ryan
3. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: HARASHIMA Vs Jiro Kuroshio
4. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Keisuke Ishii Vs Masahiro Takanashi
5. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Kazusada Higuchi
6. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Soma Takao Vs Mike Bailey
7. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Akito Vs Shuji Ishikawa

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DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2018 IN NERIMA”, 10/01/2018
Tokyo Nerima Coconeri Hall

0. Under Match: KUDO, Masahiro Takanashi, Kouki Iwasaki & Nobuhiro Shimatani Vs Mike Bailey, Makoto Oishi, Shunma Katsumata & MAO
1. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Konosuke Takeshita Vs HARASHIMA
2. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Keisuke Ishii Vs Joey Ryan
3. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Tetsuya Endo Vs Jiro Kuroshio
4. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Soma Takao
5. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Shuji Ishikawa
6. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Akito Vs Kazusada Higuchi

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DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2018 IN YOKOHAMA”, 11/01/2018
Yokohama Radiant Hall

0. Under Match: HARASHIMA, Antonio Honda, Mizuki Watase & Rekka Vs Kazusada Higuchi, MAO, Daiki Shimomura & Nobuhiro Shimatani
1. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Masahiro Takanashi
2. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Keisuke Ishii Vs Jiro Kuroshio
3. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Tetsuya Endo Vs Joey Ryan
4. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Shuji Ishikawa
5. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Mike Bailey
6. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Soma Takao Vs Akito

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DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2018 IN SHIMIZU”, 13/01/2018
Shizuoka Shimizu Marine Bill

1. 3 Way 6-Man Tag Match: Konosuke Takeshita, Antonio Honda & Kouki Iwasaki Vs Daisuke Sasaki, Mad Paulie & Nobuhiro Shimatani Vs Makoto Oishi, Shunma Katsumata & MAO
2. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: HARASHIMA Vs Masahiro Takanashi
3. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Keisuke Ishii Vs Tetsuya Endo
4. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Joey Ryan Vs Jiro Kuroshio
5. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Akito
6. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Kazusada Higuchi Vs Mike Bailey
7. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Soma Takao Vs Shuji Ishikawa

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DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2018 IN SHINKIBA”, 14/01/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

0. Under Match: Makoto Oishi, Shunma Katsumata & MAO Vs Kouki Iwasaki, Mizuki Watase & Yuki Ueno
1. 7 Way Match: Danshoku Dino Vs KUDO Vs Akito Vs Mad Paulie Vs Toru Owashi Vs Kazuki Hirata Vs Antonio Honda
2. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Keisuke Ishii
3. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: HARASHIMA Vs Tetsuya Endo
4. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Masahiro Takanashi Vs Joey Ryan
5. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Mike Bailey
6. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Soma Takao
7. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Kazusada Higuchi Vs Shuji Ishikawa

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DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2018 THE FINAL!!”, 28/01/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. D-King Grand Prix – Final: Winner Of A Block Vs Winner Of B Block


DDT “NEVER MIND 2017” Results

December 24, 2017

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

0. Dark Match: Mad Paulie defeated Gota Ihashi with the Reverse Splash (5:08).
1. Shigehiro Irie & Keisuke Okuda defeated Soma Takao & Daiki Shimomura when Okuda submitted Shimomura with a Grounded Manjigatame (8:58).
2. T2HiJoshi Vs Tokyo Joshi Pro Fight!: Miyu Yamashita, Yuka Sakazaki & Yuna Manase defeated Francoise☆Takagi, Margaret★Owashi & Kazuko Hirata when Yamashita pinned Hirata with the Crash Rabbit Heat (9:07).
2a. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Ichiko Hirata defeated Miyu Yamashita (c) with a Stunner (12:36).
*Ichiko Hirata becomes the 1,277th champion.
3. KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi, Masahiro Takanashi & Saki Akai defeated Keisuke Ishii, Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Tomoya & Nobuhiro Shimatani when Sakaguchi pinned Shimatani with the Purgatory (5:47).
4. NωA, If You Lose Immediately Withdraw Dissolution Special: Makoto Oishi, Shunma Katsumata & MAO defeated Danshoku Dino, Super Sasadango Machine & Antonio Honda when Oishi submitted Honda with a Triangle Choke (10:30).
5. Hasta La Vista, Diego! Special 6-Man Tag Match: Diego, Akito & Kazusada Higuchi defeated Kouki Iwasaki, Mizuki Watase & Rekka when Diego pinned Rekka with the V.H.S (11:59).
5a. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Diego defeated Ichiko Hirata (c) with the V.H.S (1:31 pm).
*Diego becomes the 1,278th champion.
6. KO-D Tag Team Titles: HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji (c) defeated Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo when HARASHIMA pinned Sasaki with the Somato (18:47).
*V5 for HarashiMarufuji.
7. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) defeated Colt Cabana with the Roll Through German Suplex (22:23).
*V10 for Konosuke Takeshita.

On Christmas Eve Konosuke Takeshita was given a tricky challenger for his final KO-D Openweignt Title defence of 2017. Colt Cabana made a brief visit to DDT back in February but impressed the company enough to be granted a championship match for his return. Cabana played mind games early on by loosening up leaving the ring to play around with a photographer, loosening a turnbuckle pad and calling for the audience to be quiet so he could yell in Takeshita’s face. Takeshita kicked out of the Superman Dive clutch that Cabana used to win his other DDT matches. The finish came when Cabana missed a Moonsault from the top rope. Takeshita grabbed Cabana from behind and pushed him into the loose turnbuckle. Cabana tried to hang on to the turnbuckle but it slipped from his hands. Takeshita then rolled him into the German Suplex to get the three count. After the match the two thanked each other. Cabana said he hopes to win the title next time DDT gives him a shot but he knows that won’t happen until he is in his fifties.

Before the show was over Takeshita asked Producer Danshoku Dino a few questions about the D-King Grand Prix next month. The prize is a KO-D Title shot at “JUDGEMENT 2018” in Sumo Hall on 25th March. Since Takeshita will be the champion for the entire tournament he wants to know what he gets if he wins. Does he nominate his challenger? Dino said yes but the grand prize is not just about a title match. Dino’s vision for the Grand Prix is the winner will be cast in DDT’s leading role for all of 2018. That’s why there are so many wrestlers entering the tournament aiming to take Takeshita down.

HarashiMarufuji survived a close call against DAMNATION to keep the KO-D Tag Team Titles. A Thrust Kick from Naomichi Marufuji caught HARASHIMA by mistake. Daisuke Sasaki capitalised with a Hurricanrana but only got a nearfall out of it. Sasaki went for La Mistica Cross Facelock but HARASHIMA did his best to resist it. The struggle lasted long enough for Marufuji to get back in and this time find his target with another Thrust Kick. He then got rid of Tetsuya Endo with the Shiranui. Sasaki still showed signs of life by kicking out of a High Kick/Thrust Kick combo but HARASHIMA put him down for good with the Somato. Backstage Marufuji told HARASHIMA afterwards he will be at Sumo Hall in March for “JUDGEMENT 2018”. He will cheer for HARASHIMA to win the D-King Grand Prix. Sasaki’s post-match comments were that he never believed in God until now. After the match he just had he feels like he was called up to Heaven. He then snapped out of this realisation and shouted at everyone.

For Diego’s last match in DDT for now, he got to pick up the win. The final moments in the 6-Man Tag bout came down to him and Rekka. Diego got the better of Rekka with the V.H.S. Afterwards the entire roster filled the ring to say goodbye to Diego. Akito asked him not to cry because he wanted him to leave DDT with a smile. He said everyone was suspicious of who Diego was when he came to Japan five years ago but since then he has grown into a fine pro wrestler with plenty of cheering fans. Akito wants Diego to wrestle forever no matter where he goes. Then maybe someday Akito will go to Chile to wrestle him. Diego said after five years in Japan he made loads of friends and he thanks all of them for taking care of him.

During the goodbyes the new Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion, Kazuko Hirata approached Diego to get a handshake. Diego instead gave Hirata the V.H.S and pinned him. Diego is now going back to Chile with the Iron Man Title!

Makoto Oishi started celebrating Christmas early by drinking champagne before the NωA’s vital match against Danshoku Dino and his cronies. It didn’t matter to Oishi that the bottle had a skull and bones warning on it. That is until a video of Dino looking for the bottle played on the screen. It turns out the drink was actually a laxative! Whoever drinks it gets cramps for 10 minutes then their stomach explodes. Dino and his team’s entrance took 2 minutes to complete so by the time the match began Oishi had 8 minutes to wrestle and then find a toilet. It didn’t help that Dino’s team all wasted time and targeted Oishi’s stomach throughout the match. Oh and Super Sasadango Machine was dressed as Santa Claus the whole time. When Oishi finally tagged out he fled ringside in search of the nearest restroom. He heroically returned with toilet roll and directed the rest of NωA to fight back. Unfortunately a Double Dropkick from Shunma Katsumata & MAO missed Antonio Honda and hit Oishi in the stomach instead. Time slowed down, the room went dark and “Ave Maria” played over the speakers. The worst had happened. Oishi waved to the audience and tried to leave but no one would let him. However this turned out to be an advantage because the bad smell coming from Oishi repulsed everyone into unconsciousness. Oishi then put Honda in a Triangle Choke (this is still happening in slow motion) to make him tap out from the smell. Dino wouldn’t accept the result and challenged NωA to another high stakes match on 3rd January. If NωA loses then their idol group must stay together. This time Dino has found two high class warriors who hate idols to team with him. It’s the Brahman Brothers!

Shuten-dōji all wore Santa outfits for their match. Tomomitsu Matsunaga didn’t like Saki Akai’s outfit and said she didn’t look cute at all in it.

T2HiJoshi, the “female relatives” of T2Hide were brought in to challenge Tokyo Joshi Pro mainly so they could beat Miyu Yamashita and take the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title. Yuka Sakazaki embarrassed Margaret★Owashi by pulling down her dress. Yuna Manase grabbed Francoise☆Takagi by the hair for a Snapmare but accidentally pulled the wig off. Kazuko Hirata made everyone wear Hirata GO! glasses for a dance but was pinned by Yamashita. After the match Hirata admitted Yamashita was superior and asked for a handshake. It was a ruse and Hirata gave Yamashita a Stunner to win the Iron Man Title. He later lost it to Diego.

At intermission both teams held separate meet and greet for fans next to each other. According to DDT both of them were sold out.

When Keisuke Okuda was done stretching Daiki Shimomura with the Manjigatame to win the opening match, he swiftly kicked him on the ground afterwards and gave him the middle finger. Shigehiro Irie ignored Okuda’s behaviour and bowed to the audience. This is because Irie will be taking another overseas excursion in January and will be gone from DDT for a while.

Gota Ihashi thought he had the size to stand up to Mad Paulie. He didn’t. Paulie hammered him with blows and pinned him with the Reverse Splash.

Earlier in the year, Saki Akai won a match that gave her the power to be DDT General Manager for one day. Since then nothing had come from it but today Akai finally announced her plan. She is using the power to run a self-produce show in Shinjuku FACE on 14th March. Hisaya Imabayashi handed over his old Amon Tsumuri afro which in this situation is the symbol of the old GM role in DDT. Akai begrudgingly wore it to pose for photos then threw it away.

At the end of the show a bunch of wrestlers commented on the year they had in DDT. HARASHIMA only won one championship this year. However he starts 2018 with the KO-D Tag Titles so he is already on track to make his 2018 better than his 2017. Marufuji said his time in DDT was normal and good. He is disappointed that HarashiMarufuji did not win the Tokyo Sports Best Tag Team Award. Winning that award will be his DDT goal in 2018. Cabana wanted to say something but his microphone was cut off. KUDO wants to welcome the new year with a successful KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles defence. Nobuhiro Shimatani interrupted Sanshiro Takagi to say he will win every tournament and championship next year. Kazuki Hirata kicked Shimatani away and called him annoying. Hirata said he wants 2018 to be the year of Hirata. He was then stomped on by everybody else. Takagi finally got to speak and reflected on DDT’s shows in Saitama Super Arena and Sumo Hall. He then brought up their sale to CyberAgent. But there were no major changes in December. He promised DDT will walk with the fans all over the next year. Takeshita gave the final word. DDT won’t change even under new ownership. They will continue to entertain the fans as much as possible and he will be the champion as they do so.


DDT “DRAMATIC IS IT NOT? 2017” Results

December 14, 2017

DDT “DRAMATIC IS IT NOT? 2017”, 14/12/2017
Nagoya City Mid-Sports Center
234 Fans – No Vacancy

1. Shigehiro Irie & Kazusada Higuchi defeated Makoto Oishi & MAO when Irie pinned Oishi after the Tower Of Terror (7:25).
2. Crazy Gold Wolf And Gay And Dancer Slightly Special 3 Way Match: Yukio Sakaguchi defeated Danshoku Dino and Kazuki Hirata when Sakaguchi pinned Hirata with the PK (9:11).
3. The Legendary Man, Jet, Finally His Last Match Of The Year!: Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi & Shogo Takagi defeated KUDO, Masahiro Takanashi & Kouki Iwasaki when Takagi pinned Iwasaki with the Sit Down Himawari Bomb (8:02).
4. Naomi Yoshimura & Keisuke Okuda defeated Shunma Katsumata & Nobuhiro Shimatani when Yoshimura pinned Shimtani with a Lariat (9:34).
5. Adios Diego Tres! Special Single Match: Konosuke Takeshita defeated Diego with the German Suplex (13:39).
6. Road To D-King GP Special Single Match: Akito defeated Keisuke Ishii with the Hanamasa (8:42).
7. Nagoya Specialty! Stir-fried Miso Special 6-Man Tag Match: Daisuke Sasaki, Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie defeated HARASHIMA, Soma Takao & Antonio Honda when Endo pinned Honda with the Shooting Star Press (14:20).

Tetsuya Endo saved Daisuke Sasaki from the Somato by giving HARASHIMA a Shiranui. From there, Endo defeated Antonio Honda with a Springboard Overhead Kick and the Shooting Star Press. After the match Endo & Mad Paulie rushed over to Sasaki fearing the worst. Sasaki weakly said he was feeling cold but before he goes, he has a secret to tell. Sasaki then jumped up and said HARASHIMA isn’t the only wrestler who trains hard. Also Naomichi Marufuji isn’t the only wrestling genius either. DAMNATION will beat them on Christmas Eve to win the KO-D Tag Team Titles and will celebrate with a Christmas party!

Both Akito and Keisuke Ishii are confident of their chances in the upcoming D-King Grand Prix. Akito beat Ishii today but Ishii still thinks he has momentum going into his block and likes his chances of making the final. Akito is looking forward to a variety of opponents. A rematch with Sasaki will trigger bad memories of Akito losing his hair while a match with Shuji Ishikawa will be focused on targeting his legs and feet. Akito also thinks Mike Bailey is not paying much attention to him so that is a first time singles match to look forward to.

Konosuke Takeshita was glad to have a singles match with Diego before Diego left Japan. He hopes Diego becomes a big wrestler in Chile someday and then come back to Japan. It doesn’t matter how long it will take, even if Diego gets old enough to become a grandpa. Grandpa Takeshita will still be the KO-D Openweight Champion by then so he can give Grandpa Diego a title match.


DDT “WRESTLING TONKOTSU 2017” Results

December 10, 2017

DDT “WRESTLING TONKOTSU 2017”, 10/12/2017
Hakata Star Lane
450 Fans – No Vacancy

1. Antonio Honda & Soma Takao defeated Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata when Honda submitted Hirata with an Anaconda Vice (8:51).
2. Yuto Aijima, Makoto Oishi & Shunma Katsumata defeated Keisuke Ishii, Kota Umeda & Kouki Iwasaki when Katsumata pinned Iwasaki with a Foot Stomp (7:51).
3. Shigehiro Irie defeated Yuki Ueno with the Beast Bomber (9:45).
4. Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie defeated Azul Dragon & Mizuki Watase when Endo pinned Watase with the Swivel Torture Rack Bomb (9:03).
5. Hakata Specialty! Wonderful! Beautiful! Unbelievable! Falls Count Anywhere! Scramble Bunkhouse 4 Way Match: Daisuke Sasaki defeated Danshoku Dino, Sanshiro Takagi and MAO when Sasaki submitted MAO with the Barbed Wire Bat Assisted Cross Facelock (13:52).
6. Road To D-King GP Special Single Match: HARASHIMA defeated Kazusada Higuchi with the Somato (11:53).
7. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi defeated Konosuke Takeshita, Akito & Diego (c) when Takanashi pinned Diego with the Takatonic (21:28).
*ALL OUT fail in V2. Shuten-dōji becomes the 32nd KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions!

Diego’s plan to keep defending the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles until he leaves Japan came to an end today. Shuten-dōji isolated him from the rest of ALL OUT, finishing him off with a combination of a Backspin Kick, the Right Knee Of God and the Takatonic. Masahiro Takanashi rubbed the victory in Diego’s face afterwards, telling him if Shuten-dōji fights ALL OUT in a future title match Diego won’t be there for it. Diego tearfully apologised to his partners for letting them down. He was still glad to wrestle in Hakata one more time before he goes home.

In the first preview of the D-King Grand Prix, HARASHIMA toppled Kazusada Higuchi. Although Higuchi lost, he said afterwards that the match made him remember everything about their previous matches together. He had forgotten how intense it is to wrestle HARASHIMA and all this loss did today was wake him up. He will knock down everyone in his group who stands in his way. HARASHIMA noted he has now wrestled and beaten Higuchi in three singles matches. While he was happy with today’s result he realises that his body may not hold up for the entire tournament if he has too many matches like that. He will have to think more about his upcoming match strategies from now on.

The 4 Way Match was changed in the last minute to become a Scramble Bunkhouse match with a barbed wire bat placed inside the ring. Sanshiro Takagi was placed onto a carriage and wheeled into a nearby stairway. MAO would have won the match when he hit the Cannonball 450° on Danshoku Dino but Daisuke Sasaki broke the pin with a chair assisted Diving Elbow Drop. Sasaki then used the barbed wire bat as part of the Cross Facelock to make MAO give up.


D-King Grand Prix 2018 Schedule

December 4, 2017

DDT is trying out a round robin tournament to set up the main event of their next Sumo Hall show in March. The D-King Grand Prix will have two blocks both consisting of seven wrestlers. The winners of each block face each other in the final and the tournament champion gets added to the main event of “JUDGEMENT 2018 ~DDT 21ST ANNIVERSARY~”. This is the first round robin DDT has done since the 2010 Young Drama Cup and I think the first on DDT’s main shows since the 2005 KO-D Tag League. Every block match has a 30 minute time limit, I assume the final will have no time limit. Every show during the group stage will have one or two non-tournament matches as well.

A Block

Konosuke Takeshita
HARASHIMA
Keisuke Ishii
Tetsuya Endo
Masahiro Takanashi
Joey Ryan
Jiro Kuroshio

B Block

Daisuke Sasaki
Yukio Sakaguchi
Soma Takao
Akito
Kazusada Higuchi
Mike Bailey
Shuji Ishikawa

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DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2017 IN SHINJUKU”, 05/01/2018
Shinjuku FACE

1. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Jiro Kuroshio
2. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: HARASHIMA Vs Keisuke Ishii
3. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Tetsuya Endo Vs Masahiro Takanashi
4. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Akito
5. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Kazusada Higuchi
6. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Mike Bailey Vs Shuji Ishikawa

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DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2017 IN OSAKA 2 DAYS”, 07/01/2018
Osaka Hirano Community Hall

1. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Tetsuya Endo
2. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: HARASHIMA Vs Joey Ryan
3. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Masahiro Takanashi Vs Jiro Kuroshio
4. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Yukio Sakaguchi
5. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Soma Takao Vs Kazusada Higuchi
6. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Akito Vs Mike Bailey

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DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2017 IN OSAKA 2 DAYS”, 08/01/2018
Osaka Hirano Community Hall

1. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Joey Ryan
2. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: HARASHIMA Vs Jiro Kuroshio
3. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Keisuke Ishii Vs Masahiro Takanashi
4. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Kazusada Higuchi
5. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Soma Takao Vs Mike Bailey
6. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Akito Vs Shuji Ishikawa

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DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2017 IN NERIMA”, 10/01/2018
Tokyo Nerima Coconeri Hall

1. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Konosuke Takeshita Vs HARASHIMA
2. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Keisuke Ishii Vs Joey Ryan
3. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Tetsuya Endo Vs Jiro Kuroshio
4. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Soma Takao
5. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Shuji Ishikawa
6. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Akito Vs Kazusada Higuchi

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DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2017 IN YOKOHAMA”, 11/01/2018
Yokohama Radiant Hall

1. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Masahiro Takanashi
2. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Keisuke Ishii Vs Jiro Kuroshio
3. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Tetsuya Endo Vs Joey Ryan
4. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Shuji Ishikawa
5. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Mike Bailey
6. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Soma Takao Vs Akito

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DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2017 IN SHIMIZU”, 13/01/2018
Shizuoka Shimizu Marine Bill

1. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: HARASHIMA Vs Masahiro Takanashi
2. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Keisuke Ishii Vs Tetsuya Endo
3. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Joey Ryan Vs Jiro Kuroshio
4. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Akito
5. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Kazusada Higuchi Vs Mike Bailey
6. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Soma Takao Vs Shuji Ishikawa

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DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2017 IN SHINKIBA”, 14/01/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

1. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Keisuke Ishii
2. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: HARASHIMA Vs Tetsuya Endo
3. D-King Grand Prix – A Block: Masahiro Takanashi Vs Joey Ryan
4. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Mike Bailey
5. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Soma Takao
6. D-King Grand Prix – B Block: Kazusada Higuchi Vs Shuji Ishikawa

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DDT “D-KING GRAND PRIX 2017 THE FINAL!!”, 28/01/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. D-King Grand Prix – Final: Winner Of A Block Vs Winner Of B Block


“DIFFER CUP MEMORIAL 2017” Results

November 29, 2017

“DIFFER CUP MEMORIAL 2017”, 28/11/2017
Differ Ariake
712 Fans

1. Differ Cup 2017 – Round 1: Konosuke Takeshita & Yuki Ueno defeated Jun Kasai & Tomoya Hirata when Takeshita submitted Hirata with a Texas Cloverleaf (9:37).
2. Differ Cup 2017 – Round 1: Katsuhiko Nakajima & Hitoshi Kumano defeated Tatsuhito Takaiwa & Sean Guinness when Nakajima pinned Takaiwa with the Vertical Spike (12:35).
3. Differ Cup Memorial Special 6-Man Tag Match: Danshoku Dino, Go Shiozaki & Mitomi Masayuki defeated Ryuichi Kawakami, Masa Kitamiya & KAZMA SAKAMOTO when Shiozaki pinned SAKAMOTO with the Short Range Lariat (15:06).
4. Pro Wrestling NOAH Special Tag Match: Kenou & Hajime Ohara defeated Atsushi Kotoge & Daisuke Harada when Kenou pinned Kotoge with a Diving Foot Stomp (13:33).
5. Impact X Division Title: Taiji Ishimori (c) defeated Mike Bailey with the 450 Splash (9:20).
*V2 for Taiji Ishimori.
6. Differ Cup Memorial Special 6-Man Tag Match: Ryota Hama, Minoru Tanaka & Ikuto Hidaka defeated Naomichi Marufuji, HARASHIMA & Kappa Kozo when Hama pinned Kozo with the Okido Press (14:52).
7. Differ Cup 2017 – Final: Konosuke Takeshita & Yuki Ueno defeated Katsuhiko Nakajima & Hitoshi Kumano when Takeshita pinned Kumano with the German Suplex (16:48).

The power of friendship spurred DDT’s team to go all the way and win the 2017 Differ Cup! Pro wrestling’s farewell to Differ Ariake was represented by the return of the inter-promotional Differ Cup tag team tournament. Konosuke Takeshita said he wants to use this victory to push him towards making DDT the best and strongest wrestling company in Japan. He also took satisfaction from beating Katsuhiko Nakajima’s team in the final, gaining a little revenge from Nakajima beating him four years ago at “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2013”. Takeshita’s tag partner Yuki Ueno was thrilled to win his first tournament and wants to evolve even more as a wrestler. He said Nakajima’s kicks were so painful that he thought he was going to die.

Naomichi Marufuji, HARASHIMA & Kappa Kozo were accompanied by Kozo’s middle aged father. He wore a YOSSHA shirt so the fans chanted “Masao” at him, thinking it was Masao Inoue in a kappa costume. The father got involved to protect Kozo from Ryota Hama but he ended up getting squashed by Hama too.

Mike Bailey failed to win the Impact X Division Title from Taiji Ishimori. He missed the Ultima Weapon and Ishimori capitalised with the 450 Splash to win.

Danshoku Dino convinced Go Shiozaki & Mitomi Masayuki to go along with him and together become The Three Danshoku Brothers for the night.


DDT “UCHIKOMI! PRESENTS GOD BLESS DDT 2017” Results

November 23, 2017

DDT “UCHIKOMI! PRESENTS GOD BLESS DDT 2017”, 23/11/2017
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,271 Fans – No Vacancy

0. Dark Match: Mad Paulie defeated Daiki Shimomura with the Paulie Buster (3:04).
1. DNA Generation Struggle! ~NOW Leader Vs NEW Leader~: Kota Umeda defeated Yuki Ueno with the Umeda Driver (5:06).
2. King’s Game The Animation Infomercial Match – Irregular Battle Royal: Kazuki Hirata defeated Danshoku Dino by Mission Failure (7:35).
2a. Mizuki Watase was eliminated by Mission Failure – Slap Hirata (3:53).
2b. Nobuhiro Shimatani and Saki Akai were eliminated by Mission Failure – Kiss Me (5:02).
2c. Koji Yoshida was eliminated by Mission Failure – Strike With Lariat (6:05).
2d. Danshoku Dino was eliminated by Mission Failure – Do Not Show Your Ass (7:35).
3. 3 Way 6-Man Tag Match: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi defeated Shunma Katsumata, MAO & Diego and Kazusada Higuchi, Kouki Iwasaki & Rekka when Sakaguchi submitted Rekka with the Cobra Clutch (6:01).
4. KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Titles: LiLiCo, Makoto Oishi, Super Sasadango Machine, Ken Ohka & Keisuke Ishii (c) defeated Shiro Koshinaka, Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi, Shigehiro Irie & Antonio Honda when LiLiCo pinned Honda after the Fire Spear from Ohka (8:06).
*V1 for Makoto Oishi, LiLiCo, Lady Beard, Super Sasadango Machine & Ken Ohka.
5. Do You Fly? Are You Flying? Special Single Match!: Tetsuya Endo defeated Mike Bailey with a Green Tea Plunge Switchback (10:02).
6. DDT Extreme Title – No DQ Match: Daisuke Sasaki (c) defeated Soma Takao by Referee Stoppage with the Crossover Facelock (18:24).
*V8 for Daisuke Sasaki.
7. KO-D Tag Team Titles: HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji (c) defeated Konosuke Takeshita & Akito when HARASHIMA pinned Akito with the Somato (24:01).
*V4 for HarashiMarufuji.

There were two stories to keep an eye on in the main event. One was the first meeting between Konosuke Takeshita and Naomichi Marufuji. But the other that led to the match result was HARASHIMA getting a measure of revenge on Akito after losing to him earlier this month. Takeshita and Marufuji took each other out of the match late. Takeshita hit the Knee Strike but Marufuji fired back with the Tiger King. Akito locked HARASHIMA in a European Clutch again but this time HARASHIMA kicked out. Akito kicked him afterwards but all it did was made HARASHIMA angry. In response HARASHIKA kicked Akito until Akito was knocked out. From there HARASHIMA hit the Somato and that was it. Marufuji praised the challengers afterwards for providing them with a highly tense match. He called Akito a wonderful wrestler and told Takeshita he would like to fight him again.

When ALL OUT left the ring, DAMNATION appeared to declare themselves as the next challengers for the KO-D Tag Team Titles. Tetsuya Endo told the champions there are two geniuses in pro wrestling: himself and Daisuke Sasaki! HARASHIMA accepted the challenge and told Marufuji the next DDT show in Korakuen Hall is on Christmas Eve. It took some discussion for Marufuji to accept because he already has plans that day but he agreed to be there.

Chairs, steel basins and plastic boxes were all used in violent fashion during the No DQ Match. Soma Takao broke the plastic box over Sasaki’s head then hit a Diving Double Stomp while Sasaki was buried beneath a pile of chairs. Sasaki brought in handcuffs but he ended up wearing them instead. Tetsuya Endo and Mad Paulie eventually freed him but they took some chair shots from Takao during the process. Sasaki gave Takao the Vietnam Driver II onto the basin for a nearfall. Sasaki then locked in the Crossover Facelock until Takao lost consciousness. The referee called for the bell and rewarded the match to Sasaki. With this result Sasaki has now tied the record for most DDT Extreme Title defences in a single reign.

Dodgy translations aside, Mike Bailey had a clear plan put in place against Tetsuya Endo. Bailey thinks he is the calmer of the two so if he could make Endo mad, he can then use it to his advantage. Bailey intentionally left his guard open at the start by bowing to Endo. Endo didn’t fall for the trap. Instead he bowed back. Endo’s ability to match Bailey’s calmness with his own was the deciding factor. Bailey kicked out of the Tetsuya In The Sky and dodged away from the Shooting Star Press. But when it was his turn to fire back, Endo used Bailey’s momentum from the Green Tea Plunge to roll on top of him for the sudden three count. Whatever tension that existed between the two seems to have vanished after the match because they bowed to each other again. Bailey is taking the loss in his stride. He was hoping to win and go into his upcoming Impact X Division Title match against Taiji Ishimori at the Differ Cup with a lot of momentum. Instead he is going into the match as the clear underdog.

Super Sasadango Machine laid out his plans to beat the YaroZ in the KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Titles match. He singled out Shiro Koshinaka as the biggest threat on the challenger team. In order to beat YaroZ, the champions will have to destroy Koshinaka’s greatest weapon. His ass! So a special rule was put in place. If anybody laughs during the match, they must take a baseball bat swing to the ass. The goal is to make Koshinaka laugh. Kota Umeda, Yuki Ueno and Daiki Shimomura appeared dressed in black bodysuits carrying bats to attack any wrestler who laughed. Some of the others had some surprises in store to make Koshinaka laugh. Sasadango swapped places and costumes with the referee, LiLiCo was very aggressive with her shouting and everyone piled onto Sanshiro Takagi to stop him from doing the Spiccoli Driver. Takagi collapsed with back pain so Antonio Honda called for a doctor. Ultraman Robin appeared wearing a medical coat and he helped bring Takagi back to the locker room. He was interrupted by Yuki Iino dressed as a nurse. Iino decided that Takagi needed mouth to mouth resuscitation. It worked, Takagi regained consciousness and yelled at Iino not to use his tongue. Back in the ring the batsmen continued to attacked those who laughed but everyone noticed there was now a fourth batsman. It was Shinjiro Otani! He even used his bat the same way he does his Facewash Kicks in the corner. Honda stopped the match so he could talk about Gon, The Little Fox but he mixed it up with Fist Of The North Star. This made Koshinaka smirk and that was enough for him to get attacked. However Koshinaka shrugged off the bat shots and attacked the batmen and the others with Hip Attacks. Honda held LiLiCo in place for Koshinaka to hit the Super Hip Attack but LiLiCo moved out of the way. Honda got hit instead and he was then hit by Ken Ohka’s Fire Spear. LiLiCo climbed on top of Honda for the three count and a first successful defence of the 10-Man Titles. In the post-match interview Sasadango opened up a challenge for any fivesome in Japan to come over and face them. Big Japan, K-DOJO, WRESTLE-1, even All Japan or NOAH. Come on over!

A wild mix of teams were put together into a 3 Way Trios match. Diego was put with NωA and he filmed their entrance on his phone. Shunma Katsumata & MAO wiped out most of the field with stereo Suicide Dives but Shuten-dōji got away from them unscathed. That gave Yukio Sakaguchi the chance to pick apart Rekka and win the match for Shuten-dōji.

The King’s Game match featured plenty of surprises and suspense for the wrestlers involved. The match was overlooked by four of the voice actresses from the show. They spoke in-character and announced missions for the wrestlers to complete during the match. If anyone failed a mission they would be eliminated by death! The first twist came when the match was changed from a 5-on-1 Handicap Match into an all against each other Battle Royal. The first mission was to perform a throwing technique within 30 seconds. Everyone passed. Kazuki Hirata was about to dance when he was told dancing was prohibited by one of the other missions. The next mission was to slap Hirata within 30 seconds. Everyone did it except for Mizuki Watase. When the time expired the lights went out for a moment. When they came back on Watase spat blood out of his mouth and collapsed dead. He was out. The next mission was for the wrestlers to kiss each other. Danshoku Dino gladly kissed Koji Yoshida but Saki Akai hesitated to do the same with Nobuhiro Shimatani. They almost went through with it but Akai instead slapped him at the last second. The time expired, both of them spat out blood and they died. The next mission was to hit a Lariat. Yoshida failed and died. Lastly, Dino was instructed not to expose his ass. Hirata pulled down Dino’s tights and that was enough for Dino to fail the mission. He died and Hirata was declared the winner! Hirata danced to celebrate only to discover that his No Dancing mission was still active. Blood burst out of his mouth and he died to end the segment.

In his first singles match back from injury, Kota Umeda was victorious over Yuki Ueno. A Brainbuster, a Penalty Kick and the Umeda Driver scored him the win.

Mad Paulie made easy work of Daiki Shimomura in the dark match. The only time he was threatened with defeat was from a Missile Dropkick and a School Boy. After that Paulie lifted Shimomura up for an Argentine Backbreaker then put him away with the Paulie Buster.

Shuten-dōji are the subjects of the new DDT PREMIUM PHOTO book released at the show. Masahiro Takanashi was embarrassed when one of his sexy photos was shown on the screen and asked for the segment to be clipped out of the broadcast. KUDO’s picture was of him taking a batch and Sakaguchi’s was of him wearing only a fundoshi. He hopes those who buy the book will enjoy it “with a sense of comfort”.

The two block entries for the D-King Grand Prix were released. Block A contains Konosuke Takeshita, HARASHIMA, Tetsuya Endo, Keisuke Ishii, Masahiro Takanashi, Joey Ryan and Jiro Kuroshio. Block B contains Daisuke Sasaki, Yukio Sakaguchi, Soma Takao, Akito, Kazusada Higuchi, Mike Bailey and Shuji Ishikawa.

Shuji Ishikawa & Suwama will team up to face the Brahman Brothers at “DAMNATION ILLEGAL GATHERING VOL. 2” in Korakuen Hall on 30th December.

Diego’s farewell match will be against Dick Togo on 1st December.

“RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2018” is scheduled for 21st October next year.