“NEW YEAR’S WRESTLING 2021 ~TOSHIKOSHI! SHUFFLE 6-MAN TAG TOURNAMENT”, 31/12/2021 Tokyo Korakuen Hall 655 Fans – No Vacancy
1. Shuffle 6-Man Tag Tournament – Round 1: Kazusada Higuchi, Ryuji Ito & Shiro Koshinaka Vs Chris Brookes, Takuya Nomura & Minoru Fujita ended in a Time Limit Draw (10:00).
1a. Overtime – 1 Count Fall Rule: Chris Brookes, Takuya Nomura & Minoru Fujita defeated Kazusada Higuchi, Ryuji Ito & Shiro Koshinaka when Fujita pinned Ito with the Modified Samson Clutch (0:52).
2. Shuffle 6-Man Tag Tournament – Round 1: HARASHIMA, Daichi Hashimoto & Kengo Mashimo defeated Soma Takao, Yuya Aoki & Shuji Ishikawa when Hashimoto submitted Aoki with the STF (9:06).
3. Shuffle 6-Man Tag Tournament – Round 1: Konosuke Takeshita, Yuji Okabayashi & Kuishinbo Kamen defeated Naomi Yoshimura, Kota Sekifuda & Brahman Kei (w/ Brahman Shu) when Takeshita pinned Kei with a Cradle (5:17).
4. Shuffle 6-Man Tag Tournament – Round 1: MAO, Yasufumi Nakanoue & Shigehiro Irie defeated Akito, Daisuke Sekimoto & Jun Kasai when MAO pinned Akito with the Cannonball 450 (8:50).
5. MUSASHI, Daisuke Kanehira, Takafumi & Tatsuya Hanami defeated Takuho Kato, Kosuke Sato, Hideki Okatani & Yuki Ishida when MUSASHI submitted Ishida with the Modified Sasorikatame (13:40).
6. Shuffle 6-Man Tag Tournament – Semi Final: HARASHIMA, Daichi Hashimoto & Kengo Mashimo defeated Chris Brookes, Takuya Nomura & Minoru Fujita when Mashimo pinned Fujita with the Vertical Drop Brainbuster (11:41).
7. Shuffle 6-Man Tag Tournament – Semi Final: Konosuke Takeshita, Yuji Okabayashi & Kuishinbo Kamen Vs MAO, Yasufumi Nakanoue & Shigehiro Irie ended in a Time Limit Draw (15:00).
7a. Overtime – 1 Count Fall Rule: Konosuke Takeshita, Yuji Okabayashi & Kuishinbo Kamen defeated MAO, Yasufumi Nakanoue & Shigehiro Irie when Kamen pinned MAO with a Crushed La Magistral Cradle (0:44).
8. 3 Way Tag Match: Stan Kobayashi & Kazuki Hirata defeated Jaki Numazawa & Antonio Honda Vs Danshoku Dieno & Kankuro Hoshino when Kobayashi pinned Hona with the Bakachinga Anal Elbow (14:21).
9. Shuffle 6-Man Tag Tournament – Final: HARASHIMA, Daichi Hashimoto & Kengo Mashimo defeated Konosuke Takeshita, Yuji Okabayashi & Kuishinbo Kamen when HARASHIMA pinned Kamen with the Somato (16:19).
The annual New Year’s Eve Shuffle Tag Tournament switched over to a trios format for the end of 2021. Each team consisted of a DDT wrestler, a Big Japan wrestler and a “Dream Slot” wrestler from another company or batch of freelancers.
Shuffle 6-Man Tag Tournament – Round 1
I’ll Do It!! Vs Three Brothers Kawaii
Fans didn’t have to wait long for the reveal of Chris Brookes & Takuya Nomura’s mystery partner. It was Minoru Fujita! Their combined cuteness went to a 10 minute stalemate against the rugged trio of Kazusada Higuchi, Ryuji Ito & Shiro Koshinaka. In the final seconds Fujita hit Ito with the SAYONARA but time ran out before the pin. Sudden death overtime meant One Count Fall rules to win. Koshinaka misfired the Hip Attack and hit Ito by accident, allowing Fujita to get the 1 Count to win.
Ikemen’s Vs LEFTOVERS
Next up the team of Soma Takao, Yuya Aoki & Shuji Ishikawa all walked out dressed and posing like Masahiro Chono. They continued the Chono tribute by locking in a Triple STF to HARASHIMA, Daichi Hashimoto & Kengo Mashimo. They got a taste of their own medicine at the end when Hashimoto locked Aoki into his own version of the STF to win. He then encouraged his own team to do Chono’s pose.
Deadlifters Vs I Dream Of Twins, Lizards And Naomi
Things got weirder because next up was The Brahman Brothers entering the ring with Naomi Yoshimura & Kota Sekifuda behind them carrying stuffed toy lizards. Konosuke Takeshita and Yuji Okabayashi brought out chairs looking ready for a fight until they had powder thrown in their faces. Kuishinbo Kamen tried to help but couldn’t do much. Takeshita was given a Low Blow but found a way in his doubled over state to block a Sunset Flip and press down to get the three count.
Ugo Association Vs Team Saiyuki
Before this match began Shigehiro Irie and MAO shook hands to show that their problems are in the past and they can work together. Jun Kasai announced he created a new move and it is punching MAO a lot. MAO took a beating from Akito, Daisuke Sekimoto & Kasai but toughed it out so Yasufumi Nakanoue & Irie could come for the rescue. Akito then got singled out and fell to the trademark moves of his opponents.
Non-Tournament 8-Man Tag Match
The buffer match after Round 1 brought together a mixture of wrestlers from across the indies. DDT & Big Japan were represented by their young generation of Takuho Kato, Kosuke Sato, Hideki Okatani & Yuki Ishida. Their opponents were MUSASHI from Michinoku Pro, Daisuke Kanehira from HEAT-UP, Takafumi from ZERO1 & Tatsuya Hanami from 2AW. In the end MUSASHI picked up the win by making Ishida submit.
Shuffle 6-Man Tag Tournament – Semi Final
Three Brothers Kawaii Vs LEFTOVERS
The semi-finals had a tense start when Hashimoto and HARASHIMA declined to shake the other team’s hands. Fujita and Mashimo had a back and forth that ended with Fujita asking for a handshake only to get attacked. HARAHSIMA and Nomura got into a spirited kick-off and Fujita almost pinned Mashimo with the SAYONARA. The tables were turned when Fujita was hit with a Triple Super Kick and Mashimo pinned him with the Vertical Drop Brainbuster.
Deadlifters Vs Ugo Association
Kamen was targeted as the weak link in this match. While Takeshita & Okabayashi cancelled out Nakanoue & Irie the dying moments of the match fell down to Kamen and MAO. Kamen was caught in the Clothespin submission but held out for the last 30 seconds so the match could end in a draw. When Sudden Death began Kamen was quickly given more big blows but when MAO attempted La Magistral Cradle, Kamen blocked it and stole the win with the 1 Count fall.
3 Way Tag Match
The other non-tournament match brought the show back to weird territory. Danshoku Dieno jumped into the Hell Gate position, Kazuki Hirata started dancing, Kankuro Hoshino vanished to be replaced by Kenshiro Hoshino, then Abdullah Kobayashi disappeared and Stan Kobayashi took his place. To cap it all off, Jaki Numazawa left and returned as RoboCop! Antonio Honda was ready to finish the match but tripped and injured his knee. Kobayashi ended up using Dieno’s backside to charge up his Lariat arm and pin Honda with the Bakachinga Elbow.
Shuffle 6-Man Tag Tournament – Final
LEFTOVERS Vs Deadlifters
Poor old Kuishinbo Kamen has never won a tournament in his career. His run of luck in these things is so bad that back in Osaka Pro it was a known flaw that he would get eliminated early in their annual tournaments. By making it to the final, today could have finally been his day. Sadly it just wasn’t to be. He brought out some fun antics at the beginning but was there to win with his partners as the match heated up. Okabayashi floored HARASHIMA with a Lariat and Takeshita wiped out Hashimoto & Mashimo with a Topé. But HARASHIMA regained control of the match against Kamen and pinned him with the Somato to win the final.
The tournament winners celebrated and HARASHIMA said he felt good fortunes with his team this year. They were all the last people picked in the lottery draft which is why they called themselves LEFTOVERS in the first place. Hashimoto agreed and thinks it is a sign that the new year will be good to them. He’d like LEFTOVERS to team together for next year’s Shuffle Tag show but doesn’t know if that will happen. Mashimo credited all of the wrestlers involved for making today and exciting tournament and he invited all of them out for a group photo to end the show.
1. Takuya Nomura Vs Daisuke Sekimoto (Big Japan, 18th October)
2. The Great Sasuke Vs Jinsei Shinzaki (Michinoku Pro, 4th June)
3. Jun Akiyama Vs Konosuke Takeshita (DDT, 21st August)
4. HARASHIMA Vs Yuji Okabayashi (DDT, 21st November)
5. Tetsu Inada Vs Shota Okamura (Hiragana Muscle, 1st September)
Best Unit
1. Pheromones
2. Astronauts
3. Speed Of Sounds
4. The 37KAMIINA
5. E.R.E
Best Box Office
1. Hiragana Muscle @ Korakuen Hall, 1st September
2. DDT @ Fujitsu Stadium Kawasaki, 21st August
3. CyberFight Festival @ Saitama Super Arena, 6th June
4. Big Japan @ Sapporo Chateraise Gateaux Kingdom, 20th September
5. Masahiro Takanashi Produce @ Shinjuku FACE, 1st August
“NEW YEAR’S WRESTLING 2021 ~TOSHIWASURE! SHUFFLE 6-MAN TAG TOURNAMENT”, 31/12/2021 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. Toshiwasure! Shuffle 6-Man Tag Tournament – Round 1: X, X & X Vs X, X & X
2. Toshiwasure! Shuffle 6-Man Tag Tournament – Round 1: X, X & X Vs X, X & X
3. Toshiwasure! Shuffle 6-Man Tag Tournament – Round 1: X, X & X Vs X, X & X
4. Toshiwasure! Shuffle 6-Man Tag Tournament – Round 1: X, X & X Vs X, X & X
5. Toshiwasure! Shuffle 6-Man Tag Tournament – Semi Final: X, X & X Vs X, X & X
6. Toshiwasure! Shuffle 6-Man Tag Tournament – Semi Final: X, X & X Vs X, X & X
7. Toshiwasure! Shuffle 6-Man Tag Tournament – Final: X, X & X Vs X, X & X
Team Saiyuki – Akito, Daisuke Sekimoto & Jun Kasai
Ikemen’s – Soma Takao, Yuya Aoki & Shuji Ishikawa
I Dream Of Twins, Lizards And Naomi – Naomi Yoshimura, Kota Sekifuda & Brahman Kei (w/ Brahman Shu)
Three Brothers Kawaii – Chris Brookes, Takuya Nomura & X
I’ll Do It!! – Kazusada Higuchi, Ryuji Ito & Shiro Koshinaka
Deadlifters – Konosuke Takeshita, Yuji Okabayashi & Kuishinbo Kamen
Ugo Association – MAO, Yasufumi Nakanoue & Shigehiro Irie
LEFTOVERS – HARASHIMA, Daichi Hashimoto & Kengo Mashimo
A draw was held to determine the eight teams competing in the trios tournament. Each trio also came up with team names for themselves. The most notable team is Konosuke Takeshita, Yuji Okabayashi & Kuishinbo Kamen. They are calling themselves Deadlifters because they claim that is what they all have in common. Takeshita can deadlift 250kg, Okabayashi can lift 300kg and Kamen they guess can probably lift 50kg. Also Takeshita and Okabayashi are currently neck and neck fighting for a spot in the D-Ou Grand Prix final. Kamen is counting on his partners to win the matches without him getting involved.
There are some powerful teams put together. Maybe the strongest was formed entirely out of luck. HARASHIMA, Daichi Hashimoto & Kengo Mashimo were all the last ones left in their pools so they came up with LEFTOVERS as their team name. Mashimo is happy with who he ended up with so he doesn’t care about being picked last.
Akito feels indebted to Daisuke Sekimoto & Jun Kasai because early in his career he worked with Big Japan (he was trained by BJW wrestler Hakaru Imai) and they were his seniors.
The annual NTV new year’s comedy show has been cancelled so Shuji Ishikawa now has time to concentrate on the tournament. Soma Takao is looking forward to teaming with him again. Yuya Aoki thinks all three of them have nothing in common. He believes they can have something in common by becoming tournament winners together.
One team is a reunion of sorts. Naomi Yoshimura and Brahman Kei were on the same team for the 2019 tournament but Brahman Shu was absent with the flu. Now the three of them are together with Kota Sekifuda as the missing piece of the puzzle. They used the song “I Dream Of Naomi” for their entrance in 2019 and Kei wants to reference that again. That is why their team is called I Dream Of Twins, Lizards And Naomi.
Chris Brookes and Takuya Nomura were opponents at the tournament two years ago. There is no heat between them, instead they both think they are cute. The third member of their team is the mystery wrestler and they are sure that wrestler is cute too. Therefore they are Three Brothers Kawaii!
Having the legendary Shiro Koshinaka on their team will encourage Kazusada Higuchi & Ryuji Ito to Hip Attack their way to victory. Higuchi is honoured to team with the two veterans. Ito thinks the team has other specialties but they should win the tournament with the Hip Attack.
There is another team with nothing in common and even worse, none of the members can find anything positive about that. MAO and Shigehiro Irie never got along. MAO describes their relationship as a Cold War that Yasufumi Nakanoue is now in the middle in as a neutral party. He hopes nothing gets bad enough for Nakanoue to press the nuclear button. All Nakanoue can promise is that the team will make things work.
There will be two non-tournament matches also happening on the show.
DDT “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2021”, 21/08/2021 Fujitsu Stadium Kawasaki 1,336 Fans – No Vacancy
0. Under Match: Yukio Naya & Keigo Nakamura defeated Hideki Okatani & Yuya Koroku when Naya pinned Koroku with the Choke Slam (10:38).
0. Electric Current Explosion 8-Man Tag Death Match: Atsushi Onita, Sanshiro Takagi, Akito & Maki Itoh defeated Kuro-chan, Super Sasadango Machine, Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Hikari Noa when Onita pinned Kuro-chan after a Current Blast Bat Attack (9:35).
1. Special 10-Man Tag Match – El Unicorn & Ilusion Debut Match: HARASHIMA, Naomi Yoshimura, Yusuke Okada, Raimu Imai & El Unicorn defeated Yuji Okabayashi, TAMURA, Mizuki Watase, Yuki Iino & Ilusion when Unicorn pinned Ilusion with the Modified Double Knee Stomp (11:44).
2. Double Ring Double Singles Match: Toru Owashi defeated Antonio Honda with a School Boy (0:11).
2. Double Ring Double Singles Match: Danshoku Dieno defeated Kazuki Hirata with a School Boy (0:11).
2a. Rematch: Toru Owashi Vs Antonio Honda ended in a No Contest (1:28).
2a. Rematch: Danshoku Dieno Vs Kazuki Hirata ended in a No Contest (1:28).
2b. Another Rematch: Toru Owashi, Antonio Honda & Daisuke Kiso defeated Danshoku Dieno, Kazuki Hirata & Yukinori Matsui when Kiso pinned Matsui with a Cradle (2:53).
3. Special Hardcore Tag Match: Chris Brookes & Jun Kasai defeated Shunma Katsumata & MAO when Brookes pinned MAO with the Praying Mantis Bomb (14:03).
4. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Tetsuya Endo, Soma Takao & Yuji Hino (c) defeated Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai when Hino pinned Akai with the Fuckin’ BOMB (11:34). *V3 for DAMNATION.
5. DDT Universal Title: Daisuke Sasaki defeated Yuki Ueno (c) with La Mistica Crossover Facelock (17:20). *Yuki Ueno fails in V7. Daisuke Sasaki becomes the 5th DDT Universal Champion!
6. KO-D Openweight Title – BLACKOUT Presents: Konosuke Takeshita defeated Jun Akiyama (c) with the Modified Chickenwing Facelock (24:43). *Jun Akiyama fails in V4. Konosuke Takeshita becomes the 77th KO-D Openweight Champion!
The first outdoor “WRESTLE PETER PAN” saw Konosuke Takeshita finally beat Jun Akiyama and reclaim the KO-D Openweight Title. They fought back and forth with Exploders and German Suplexes one after the other while Kenta Kobashi watched from ringside. Both also tried to win with their submission finishers. Akiyama with the Front Neck Lock and Takeshita with the Modified Chickenwing Facelock. When all else failed they went to their Knee Strikes until one stayed down. Takeshita pulled down his knee pad before hitting more Zahi Knee Strikes but Akiyama wouldn’t stay down. He had to throw Akiyama with the Cross-Arm German Suplex and then apply the Modified Chickenwing Facelock once more. The move Takeshita invented to Akiyama finally achieved its purpose and the champion tapped out!
When Takeshita was given the KO-D Title belt, he said today was not the end. He will defend the title with all of his might, become stronger and have a rematch with Akiyama this time so he can beat him as the champion. Akiyama accepted defeat but said he will get it back, just you wait and see. Chris Brookes then entered the ring and told Takeshita he hasn’t beaten him one on one in over two years. Brookes wants a shot at the title! Takeshita accepted the challenge and it will take place on the 26th September Korakuen Hall show.
Daisuke Sasaki entered Fujitsu Stadium Kawasaki holding the DDT Universal Title and he gets to leave with it. Except now he actually is the Universal Champion. After weeks of theft, cheap shots and violence Yuki Ueno couldn’t get revenge for everything Sasaki had done to him. Sasaki busted him open with a belt shot. Later Mad Paulie pulled the referee away when Ueno had Sasaki pinned after a Shining Wizard. Ueno Dropkicked Paulie and Moonsaulted onto both of them outside the ring. Everything was going so well for Ueno he was even avoiding Sasaki’s cheating. But Sasaki countered the WR into La Mistica Crossover Facelock and forced Ueno to give up. Backstage Ueno admitted that Sasaki has stolen everything from him. Now it is his turn to take away everything that Sasaki cherishes. For now that threat is falling on deaf ears. Sasaki heard the guest commentator Sumire Uesaka praised him a lot during his match. He wants her address so he can mail her a marriage certificate.
Tensions were high when DAMNATION and Eruption fought for the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles. From the start they were ready to fight when Soma Takao threw his belt down at Yukio Sakaguchi. Meanwhile Saki Akai kept posturing at Yuji Hino, demanding he take her seriously and throw his strong Chops at her. Hino overpowered Akai but Sakaguchi & Kazusada Higuchi were there to break the pins. Tetsuya Endo wiped out nearly everyone with a Swan Dive Shooting Star Press out of the ring. That left Akai and Hino alone to fight. Akai kept chopping and kicking Hino until he finally threw the Chop her way. Akai kicked out of the pin so Hino hit her with a Lariat. Akai kicked out of that too and still tried to fight back. Hino had to put her away with the Fuckin’ BOMB to end the match. Afterwards Hino reminded Akai of all the jokes he previously made about her being a woman. Well now he can say she is also a pro wrestler!
Jun Kasai got a taste of hardcore wrestling The 37KAMIINA style. It involves Lego. Lots and lots of Lego. Shunma Katsumata & MAO filled the ring with the toy blocks and smashed a few plastic cases along the way. Katsumata even decided to wrestle barefoot, daring Kasai to follow his lead. Kasai told him he is a man and he would but couldn’t get his wrestling boots off in time before Katsumata attacked him. Katsumata did a Moonsault Double Stomp but Kasai rolled out of the way, making him land bare feet first onto the Lego! Brookes then threw him into a ladder with the Tropical☆Yahoo. The 37KAMIINA fought back by digging skewers into their opponents’ heads. Kasai then turned the danger up a notch by blocking a Katsumata dive with a knife! He then gave Katsumata the Reverse Tiger Driver while Brookes pinned MAO with the Praying Mantis Bomb, all on the Lego for the finish. Afterwards Kasai admitted the “relaxing” hardcore matches The 37KAMIINA put together are actually fun, like a good memory from a summer vacation.
DDT’s first ever Double Ring Double Singles Matches both ended in eleven seconds. Toru Owashi immediately pinned Antonio Honda and Danshoku Dieno immediately pinned Kazuki Hirata with the same moves at the same time. Hisaya Imabayashi wasn’t sure what had happened because he couldn’t see both matches at once. So he called for both matches to restart but this time to keep them in the same ring. The rematches fell apart when the referees Yukinori Matsui and Daisuke Kiso kept getting in each other’s way. They soon started fighting each other and the wrestlers had to keep them apart. Imabayashi then had an idea to turn everything into a 3 Vs 3 match: Owashi, Honda & Kiso Vs Dieno, Hirata & Matsui with Imabayashi as the ref. Matsui’s team put Kiso in the Kaientai pose and Dieno applied the Lip Lock. Kiso then suddenly countered Matsui’s Brainbuster into a Small Package to grab victory from the jaws of defeat.
The opening match was the debuts of El Unicorn and Ilusion from the DDT Teenage Project. They were given a chance to shine and literally wrestle on top of everyone else. While the other 8 participants were locked up in a multi-man suplex struggle, Unicorn and Ilusion climbed on top of them to fight each other. It ended with Ilusion Suplexing Unicorn onto the pile below. Yuji Okabayashi’s team then won out on the multi-man Suplex spot. Ilusion Dropkicked Yusuke Okada and then joined in with Mizuki Watase to dive onto everybody outside the ring. Unicorn came back and hit a Dragonrana to Ilusion then pinned him with a Modified Double Knee Stomp. Backstage Ilusion swore to avenge his loss when he faces Unicorn in a singles match on 29th August. Yuki Iino went around searching for Naomi Yoshimura to continue fighting him. HARASHIMA and TAMURA both praised the young wrestlers for their efforts. Raimu Imai asked if he could wrestle in DDT again.
The pre-show match a a calm affair. Just a Current Blast Death Match, no biggie. Everyone was dressed for battle except for Akito, who wrestled in a suit. Kuro-chan used Hikari Noa as a shield to prevent Atsushi Onita from swinging the blast bat at him. Tetsuhiro Kuroda grabbed the bat and handed it to Kuro-chan so he could blast Onita with it. Onita got revenge by Piledriving Kuroda onto a table. Super Sasadango Machine tried to fight off everyone with a chair. Maki Itoh and Noa had a standoff with each holding blast bats. They swung at each other causing a big explosion. When the dust cleared the match came down to Onita and Kuro-chan. Onita hit his Kuro-chan with the blast bat and got the three count. After the match Onita poured water over him and with Sanshiro Takagi’s help, aided in carrying him out of the ring. Kuro-chan begged for forgiveness until Onita told him he has the qualities of a pro wrestler. It’s time for him to enter Mr. Onita’s office for a talk…
The other pre-show match saw Yukio Naya & Keigo Nakamura beat Hideki Okatani & Yuya Koroku. The least experience wrestler of the four Koroku kicked out of Naya’s Scrapbuster and Running Knee Lift. But he was put down with a Choke Slam, giving Naya’s team the win.
At the end of the show, Takagi revealed one last gift for the DDT fans. The final major DDT event of 2021 will take place at Yoyogi Gymnasium #2 on 26th December. It will be DDT’s first time in the venue.
DDT “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2021”, 21/08/2021 Fujitsu Stadium Kawasaki
0. Under Match: Yukio Naya & Keigo Nakamura Vs Hideki Okatani & Yuya Koroku
0. Electric Current Explosion 8-Man Tag Death Match: Atsushi Onita, Sanshiro Takagi, Akito & Maki Itoh Vs Kuro-chan, Super Sasadango Machine, Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Hikari Noa
1. Special 10-Man Tag Match – El Unicorn & Ilusion Debut Match: HARASHIMA, Naomi Yoshimura, Yusuke Okada, Raimu Imai & El Unicorn Vs Yuji Okabayashi, TAMURA, Mizuki Watase, Yuki Iino & Ilusion
2. Double Ring Double Singles Match: Toru Owashi Vs Antonio Honda
2. Double Ring Double Singles Match: Danshoku Dieno Vs Kazuki Hirata
3. Special Hardcore Tag Match: Shunma Katsumata & MAO Vs Chris Brookes & Jun Kasai
4. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Tetsuya Endo, Soma Takao & Yuji Hino (c) Vs Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai
5. DDT Universal Title: Yuki Ueno (c) Vs Daisuke Sasaki
6. KO-D Openweight Title – BLACKOUT Presents: Jun Akiyama (c) Vs Konosuke Takeshita
As danger and uncertainty over the pandemic remains around the world, the wrestling industry is determined to chug along and to stick to their plans. This weekend more than any other is proof of that. In America, the next couple of days will no doubt become a landmark period for the modern era with massive shows from two companies along with the long awaited return of a certain hockey fan from Chicago. Japan isn’t taking it easy either as some companies begin to head outdoors for major shows held at sports stadiums. That’s what DDT is up to for “WRESTLE PETER PAN” this year. They will be at Fujitsu Stadium Kawasaki, the former home of FMW’s most legendary battles. The actual venue is different because it went through renovations in the 2000s and also a name change in 2014. Hopefully the spirit of those famous shows still remains when DDT takes their crack at it. Pandemic restrictions are in place so the card is shorter than usual. Plus the risk of last minute cancellations can rear its ugly head. At this point we just have to keep our fingers crossed. There is something extra added to the show. Two wrestling rings will be set up in the stadium. The reason why will be explained in the related matches below.
0. Under Match: Yukio Naya & Keigo Nakamura Vs Hideki Okatani & Yuya Koroku
Let’s see how the low tier of DDT’s undercard has been doing lately. Yukio Naya is slotted into the novelty matches. He’s there when DDT needs a heavyweight so he’ll always have a place on the card. His family ties also means he will be a regular for any matches built around product placement. Keigo Nakamura stepped up a level by being part of the new KO-D 8-Man Tag Team Champions in Team Olympian. He has new ring gear too which is usually a sign of a wrestler moving onto the next stage of his career. He is still often the butt of jokes but when he gets the chance to be serious in the ring, he takes it. Hideki Okatani is probably the one out of this lot who advanced the most over the last year. He should have, given who he is learning from in Junretsu. He is still far away from being a polished product but he definitely moved up to No. 3 in his unit in the last few months. Yuya Koroku debuted in DDT back in April and comes from the highly regarded Animal Hamaguchi Gym. His work so far has been promising but he had a slight setback earlier this month that made him miss a few shows. That’s the problem with rookies. They break easily.
0. Electric Current Explosion 8-Man Tag Death Match: Atsushi Onita, Sanshiro Takagi, Akito & Maki Itoh Vs Kuro-chan, Super Sasadango Machine, Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Hikari Noa
Here is how loaded this weekend is. DDT has to blow up a ring at Kawasaki Stadium during the dark match to get any sort of attention! If you’re doing a major wrestling show inside Kawasaki Stadium then you have to have Atsushi Onita in an Exploding Ring Death Match. Those are the rules. That is why DDT is setting up two rings, one for the regular matches and one for Onita to blow up. As soon as Onita found out about the second ring he got in touch with DDT and demanded his match take place on the pre-show! His reasoning is it takes a lot of time and dedication to set up the explosives so he wants it to be over and done with before the main show even begins. It also sneakily moves the match over to the main ring instead of the side ring because DDT now has time to clean up the mess after the pre-show. That Onita really is a sneaky git. He has promised to use three to five times the amount of gun powder for explosions than these matches usually use.
The match itself has a lot to unpack. Onita’s run in DDT over the last year has seen him feud with a pervy comedian named Kuro-chan. Onita gets the win most of the time but their last match in December ended in a massive upset. Kuro-chan pinned Onita one, two, three! He stole Onita’s jacket, called himself the new “Evil Ways” and left thinking that was the end of it. Demands for a rematch were ignored by Kuro-chan until his manager got wind of it and decided “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2021” would be the perfect time and place for it to happen. The two went to put their teams together. Onita has DDT’s crazy president Sanshiro Takagi, the not yet crazy Vice President Akito and the right amount of crazy Maki Itoh. Kuro-chan has to team with Super Sasadango Machine because they both have the same agent. However his also gets Hikari Noa and FMW alumni Tetsuhiro Kuroda, which improves his team’s chances. Sasadango had to lie about Noa thinking Kuro-chan is cute to convince him to finally accept the match. Noa in particular has been wanting to do death matches for ages. Her goal is to either run over Takagi in a truck, blow him up in an explosion or do both. The stage is set and one last factor has been added to the match. Kuro-chan wants sole ownership of Exploding Ring Death Matches if his team wins! He also wants Onita to retire when he loses but we all know what that is worth so just ignore that bit.
1. Special 10-Man Tag Match – El Unicorn & Ilusion Debut Match: HARASHIMA, Naomi Yoshimura, Yusuke Okada, Raimu Imai & El Unicorn Vs Yuji Okabayashi, TAMURA, Mizuki Watase, Yuki Iino & Ilusion
DDT looks to the future with the introduction to the DDT Teenage Project. They have spent the last year training four teenagers in secret to become pro wrestlers. Two of them are ready to have their official debut match. On one team is the 13 year old, El Unicorn. On the other is Ilusion, 18 years old. The project is meant to be for those aged 15-18 but there is a reason El Unicorn is there. Not to spoil the kid’s identity but he was already under DDT contract before this project began. Both rookies are eager to fight the larger wrestlers like Naomi Yoshimura and Yuji Okabayashi. There’s another teenager in the match too. Raimu Imai from HEAT-UP is 16 years old and still in his first year of wrestling. His claim to fame is his mother Eriko Imai is a former pop singer and current member of Japan’s House Of Councillors. Raimu’s master TAMURA is on the opposite team. He marvels over how quickly the new generation of wrestlers get to make it to the ring. HARASHIMA and Okabayashi were last seen together as Smile Pissari but they are opponents here. Yusuke Okada and Yuki Iino get to collide with stronger opponents. Last but not least there is Mizuki Watase, who recently returned from injury and finds himself restarting his wrestling progression from scratch again.
2. Double Ring Double Singles Match: Toru Owashi Vs Antonio Honda
2. Double Ring Double Singles Match: Danshoku Dieno Vs Kazuki Hirata
Look, spots for this show are sparse this time around and DDT isn’t able to produce two dozen matches in one night. This isn’t an AEW taping. With the card filling up, the groups of wrestlers nicknamed the DDT Variety Team all began to squabbling with one another. This resulted in them all challenging each other to singles matches, no doubt earning two of them coveted main event spot. That wasn’t going to happen. Hisaya Imabayashi told the wrestlers there was room left on the show for only one more match. They can do Toru Owashi Vs Antonio Honda or Danshoku Dieno Vs Kazuki Hirata but not both. Hirata then had a brilliant idea. There will be two rings available so why not do both matches at the same time? Imabayashi loved the idea and put forth DDT’s first ever Double Ring Double Singles Match! Just don’t be surprised if the two matches still interact and get mixed up with each other. Oh and I think Dieno is currently the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion. I lost track of that.
3. Special Hardcore Tag Match: Shunma Katsumata & MAO Vs Chris Brookes & Jun Kasai
The main card gets some of the violence left over from the pre-show. Is there anything you can do to Jun Kasai that would hurt him? He’s been through it all, literally if the thing is made out of glass. He sees the hardcore matches DDT have been doing over the last year and they left him feeling lukewarm. The weapons used and the atmosphere surrounding the matches are a bit too relaxed for his tastes. Relaxed is the accurate word to use given these matches have involved Shunma Katsumata & MAO from The 37KAMIINA (The Sauna KAMIINA). Their obsession with saunas rose to new levels ever since the DDT Sauna Club was formed. They aren’t pushovers though. Katsumata is wrestling death matches in Big Japan more often and MAO always has fucked up ideas for things to do in the ring. They want to show Kasai they can dish him the worst pain he has ever felt and they know just what to use. They found out that Kasai doesn’t like the pain you get from stepping on Lego. It’s his biggest weakness! Kasai refuses to confirm if that’s true or not, explaining that he never feels pain from anything when he wrestles in front of his fans. During all of this, Chris Brookes began feeling like the odd man out. He doesn’t even appear in the advert for the match! All the attention is on the other three and he doesn’t like that. He’ll take his anger out on Katsumata to feel better.
4. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Tetsuya Endo, Soma Takao & Yuji Hino (c) Vs Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai
DAMNATION’s most successful ventures over the last half year have been in the trios division. After Tetsuya Endo was finally knocked off the top of the mountain, he rallied together Soma Takao and new member Yuji Hino to win the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles. Endo was then able to defend the belts in his hometown. He has felt invincible ever since and thinks he has the power to banish those he defeated from his hometown. The big challengers coming in are Eruption. They held the titles before and Saki Akai in particular thinks it is time to take them back. The build up has seen Kazusada Higuchi reignite his rivalry with Endo. Yukio Sakaguchi and Takao has come to blows several times too. But the spotlight shines brightest on Akai along with Hino’s reaction to her being in the match. Hino thinks Eruption are fighting with a handicap because a woman is on their team. He also refuses to throw any Chops at Akai because he is convinced they would legit murder her. All this attitude has done is fire Akai up even more to prove her doubters wrong. She’s been wrestling for 8 years now and has shown she is not a one trick pony. It also created an unusual situation where Akai slaps around her partners because they haven’t been as determined as she is to win! Keep in mind this is when Sakaguchi is constantly getting into fights with Takao.
5. DDT Universal Title: Yuki Ueno (c) Vs Daisuke Sasaki
DAMNATION’s second most successful venture over the last half year is Daisuke Sasaki stealing the DDT Universal Title belt from Yuki Ueno. I didn’t say winning the championship, I mean literally stealing the belt. That’s not to say Sasaki hasn’t brought it in the ring. He has won several big matches in the King Of DDT tournament by cheating like hell throughout the whole thing. That includes a quick win over Ueno. Another quick win in a later tag match resulted in Ueno giving Sasaki a title shot in order to win back his pride. Big mistake. That is what caused Sasaki to blindside Ueno, steal the title belt and promise to humiliate him even further. The last month has seen Ueno chasing after Sasaki only to see him get away with the belt time and time again. Their last confrontation inside a ring ended with Sasaki beating Ueno bloody. What has been a breakout year for Ueno has since turned sour and could take a turn for the worse if he can’t get his title back.
6. KO-D Openweight Title – BLACKOUT Presents: Jun Akiyama (c) Vs Konosuke Takeshita
Talk about a deal paying off big time. Jun Akiyama to DDT could not have worked out any better if I do say so myself. He is now six months into his KO-D Openweight Title reign with three defences under his belt. He has also taken to the player/coach role in Junretsu rather well (just remember Makoto Oishi is the official leader). The likes of Endo, Higuchi, Dieno and HARASHIMA have all failed to beat him. And then there is Konosuke Takeshita. What a journey this guy has been on. He went through two singles losses to Akiyama in back to back months at the end of 2020. Those results made him self reflect. For the first time he began to question the DDT style he so proudly represented. Things had to change in 2021.
But does it, really? When this year began, Takeshita’s Sauna Club with his friends turned into The 37KAMIINA. What followed has been a year of hot matches and aurora skies. He took a sabbatical to AEW in April, winning over a new audience of fans abroad by being himself and wrestling how he always does. When he returned, success came his way in the tag team division with his sauna buddies. He and Ueno successfully represented DDT against NOAH at “CYBERFIGHT FESTIVAL 2021”, he and Katsumata won the first Ultimate Tag League and then followed it up by winning the KO-D Tag Team Titles. To cap it all off Takeshita rose even further back to the top by winning the King Of DDT tournament. His redemption is almost complete. All that is left to do is finally beat Akiyama one on one.
Easier said than done, right? There’s also one other thing that makes it that little bit more difficult. Kenta Kobashi will be at the show as a special guest to witness the main event. Everytime Kobashi has played this role for a Jun Akiyama singles match, Akiyama has won. Endo learned that the hard way back in “KAWASAKI STRONG 2021” back in February. Akiyama’s previous two victories over Takeshita have both been by submission as well. It’s all well and good to make it three submissions in a row but Akiyama doesn’t care for that kind of stuff. If he has to win by pinfall then so be it. This is the man who comes from King’s Road. He learned that the Giant Baba style has all the right answers for pro wrestling. That is why he is the champion! Takeshita wants to prove there is no correct answer for pro wrestling that applies to everybody. The DDT style he proudly represents can be just as effective for him as King’s Road is for Akiyama. If this match is the end of his journey, we’ll find out which answer is the right one.
BASARA X DOVE “R.E.S.P.E.C.T”, 18/08/2021 Shinjuku FACE
1. Takumi Tsukamoto, Yusuke Kubo, Daichi Kazato & Kenshin Chikano Vs Ryota Nakatsu, Takato Nakano & Masato Kamino & TORU
2. Fuminori Abe & Shoichi Uchida Vs Trans-Am ★ Hiroshi & Rey Paloma
3. FUMA Vs “brother” YASSHI
4. Hardcore Tag Match: Isami Kodaka & Gunso Vs SAGAT & Naoki Tanizaki
5. Daiki Shimomura Vs Kohei Kinoshita
The first leg of BASARA X Dove Pro 2021 series takes place tomorrow.
DDT “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2021”, 21/08/2021 Fujitsu Stadium Kawasaki
0. Under Match: Yukio Naya & Keigo Nakamura Vs Hideki Okatani & Yuya Koroku
0. Electric Current Explosion 8-Man Tag Death Match: Atsushi Onita, Sanshiro Takagi, Akito & Maki Itoh Vs Kuro-chan, Super Sasadango Machine, Tetsuhiro Kuroda & Hikari Noa
1. Special 10-Man Tag Match – El Unicorn & Ilusion Debut Match: HARASHIMA, Naomi Yoshimura, Yusuke Okada, Reimu Imai & El Unicorn Vs Yuji Okabayashi, TAMURA, Mizuki Watase, Yuki Iino & Ilusion
2. Double Ring Double Single Match: Toru Owashi Vs Antonio Honda
2. Double Ring Double Single Match: Danshoku Dieno Vs Kazuki Hirata
3. Special Hardcore Tag Match: Shunma Katsumata & MAO Vs Chris Brookes & Jun Kasai
4. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Tetsuya Endo, Soma Takao & Yuji Hino (c) Vs Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai
5. DDT Universal Title: Yuki Ueno (c) Vs Daisuke Sasaki
6. KO-D Openweight Title: Jun Akiyama (c) Vs Konosuke Takeshita
I am aiming to have a preview written and posted by Thursday night at the latest.
The main event will have Kenta Kobashi at ringside to witness the KO-D Openweight Title match. Whenever he shows up for big matches involving Jun Akiyama, Akiyama usually wins so he is kind of a good luck charm for him. That isn’t meant to be the intention of his appearances though. Last time he appeared in DDT he was invited by Tetsuya Endo to give advice for fighting against Akiyama.
Yuki Ueno briefly had the DDT Universal Title returned to him during today’s press conference. Hisaya Imabayashi convinced Daisuke Sasaki to send the belt back in order to sign the match contract but Sasaki did not attend the signing. Instead he sent a video message that Ueno watched. That turned out to be a trap and Sasaki was in the room all along! He ambushed Ueno, stole the belt and ran off with it yet again!
Saki Akai is determined to win the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles and silence those who are uncomfortable with her wrestling against men. Like Yuji Hino for example. He thinks having a woman on the team is like taking part in a Handicap match. Akai admits she is afraid of taking Chops from Yuji Hino (and he swears he won’t Chop her because it would result in murder) but she needs to overcome those fears to become a champion again. Yukio Sakaguchi credits Akai for burning a fire within himself and Kazusada Higuchi that they have been missing recently. That has been shown during Sakaguchi’s clashes with Soma Takao. They may have to face a cruel reality though. Endo has warned that he has only gotten better since the title match was put together. DAMNATION’s comments made Akai mad and she slapped the rest of Eruption to fire them up.
There has been an attempt by DDT recently to put together more hardcore matches. Jun Kasai has watched some and feels lukewarm towards them. They’re a bit too relaxed for his tastes. But rumours are going around that Kasai has a low pain threshold for stepping on Lego. Shunma Katsumata brought it up and Kasai avoided the topic by saying he never feels pain when he is in front of an audience. MAO wants to prove there is nothing “relaxed” about DDT’s hardcore style. Chris Brookes thinks he is being ignored because he doesn’t feature in the hype video for the match.
The youngsters from the DDT Teenage Project want to make an impact. Ilusion promises to make that impact and be the standout of the match so he can become the symbol of the project. El Unicorn is the smallest wrestler in the match but wants to be in the ring with the likes of Yuji Okabayashi and Naomi Yoshimura. They’re not the only teenagers in the match. Reimu Imai is 16 years old and looks forward to hitting the larger opponents with all he’s got. TAMURA is fascinated to see how these teenagers will fare. HARASHIMA is excited to see DDT run a big show outdoors and it reminds him of the other outdoor shows DDT has held throughout his time with them.
“MASAHIRO TAKANASHI BOX OFFICE YOPPARAI IS BACK”, 03/09/2021 Shinjuku FACE
1. Dragon Sakurabo, “Old Wise Man” Human-Zee & Tiger Jeet Singh-juku Sumidagawa (w/ Haru Miyako) Vs Gota Ihashi & Antonio Honda (w/ Sayaka Obihiro & KUDO)
2. Saki Akai & Rina Yamashita Vs Yuna Mizumori & Mei Suruga
3. Yukio Sakaguchi, ken45° & Manabu Murakami Vs Isami Kodaka, Daiki Shimomura & Yasu Urano
4. Kenichiro Arai Vs Baliyan Akki
5. Masahiro Takanashi & Chris Brookes Vs Brahman Shu & Brahman Kei (w/ Gorgeous Matsuno)
Unfortunately Masahiro Takanashi’s self-produced show has been postpone again. He decided it is still not safe to run the show under current circumstances. He is currently in discussions with the venue to arrange a new date for the show.
GANBARE☆PRO “GANBARE☆JOSHI PRO WRESTLING ~THE WORLD CALLS IT LOVE 2021~”, 04/09/2021 Tokyo Itabashi Green Hall
1. Gatoh Move Pro Wrestling Offer Match: Yuna Mizumori Vs Tokiko Kirihara
2. Ganbare☆Pro Wrestling Offer Match: Keisuke Ishii Vs Shinichiro Tominaga
3. Texas Tornado Street Fight Special Mixed Tag Match: Miss Mongol & Yumehito Imanari Vs Cherry & Shota
4. 3 Way Match: Choun-Shiryu Vs Makoto Vs Itsuki Aoki
5. Ganjo Special Tag Match: Yuna Manase & Moeka Haruhi Vs Yuu Yamagata & HARUKAZE
Oh the betrayal! HARUKAZE got Yuu Yamagata’s message loud and clear, ditching Yuna Manase after all they did to build up Ganbare☆Joshi together. Now HARUKAZE is siding with Yamagata to learn how to become stronger. Manase still has Moeka Haruhi to rely on and they will fight to bring HARUKAZE back to Ganjo.
Makoto is also sticking around for a while as part of Yamagata’s group. That’s a woman with a lot of different links and connections in the industry so not all of her matches will be attached to the Manase/Yamagata feud.
DDT “TENJIN WARS 2021”, 12/09/2021 Fukuoka Nishitetsu Hall
1. Special Single Match ~ DDT Vs Ganbare☆Joshi Pro Wrestling: Saki Akai Vs Yuna Manase
2. DDT Extreme Title: Shinya Aoki (c) Vs Kazuki Hirata
Kazuki Hirata gets a DDT Extreme Title shot after threatening to quit DDT and leave all of the jobs nobody else wants to do. He also wants Shinya Aoki to come up with a match stipulation that can allow even the weakest wrestler like Hirata an even chance to win. He swears it’s to make the match more exciting before Aoki beats him.
GANBARE☆PRO “HARLEY DAVIDSON & MARLBORO MAN 2021”, 12/09/2021 Tokyo Itabashi Green Hall
1. Ganpro Special Mixed 6-Person Tag Match: Shota, Moeka Haruhi & Miyako Matsumoto Vs Shinichiro Tominaga, Makoto & HARUKAZE
2. Ken Ohka Pre-Debut 20th Anniversary Special Tag Match Part 2: Ken Ohka & Yumehito Imanari Vs Keisuke Ishii & Shigehiro Irie
Ganbare☆Pro continues putting together intergender tag matches, this time doing one under trios rules.
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “WRESTLE PRINCESS II”, 09/10/2021 Tokyo Ota Ward Gymnasium
1. Princess Of Princess Title: Miyu Yamashita (c) Vs Maki Itoh
Doesn’t matter how battered and bruised she is right now because Maki Itoh could not be happier. After winning the Tokyo Princess Cup she will now face Miyu Yamashita for the Princess Of Princess Title at Ota Ward Gymnasium. Yamashita is amazed at how strong Itoh has become and she wants to beat this version of her. They’ve had several singles matches before including two Princess Title bouts and Itoh has never won any of them. They also team together as 121000000 but Itoh thought they should disband. Yamashita talked her out of it because it wouldn’t make a difference to the match. Therefore there’s no need to split the team up.
DDT “BEER GARDEN-LIKE PRO WRESTLING 2021 DAY 3”, 01/08/2021 Shinjuku FACE 223 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House
0. Special Under Match – Ultimate Vs Supreme: Tetsuya Koda defeated Hisaya Imabayashi by TKO with the Sleeper Hold (11:57).
1. Yukio Naya & Yuki Iino defeated Sanshiro Takagi & Yuya Koroku when Iino pinned Koroku with a Lariat (9:35).
2. Playfulness Series Act 3: Danshoku Dieno Vs Hideki Okatani ended in a No Contest (5:19).
3. Yukio Sakaguchi, Akito & Yusuke Okada defeated Soma Takao, Yuji Hino & Nobuhiro Shimatani when Sakaguchi pinned Shimatani with the God’s Right Knee (8:17).
4. Rock & Roll 5 Way Death Match: A.YAZAWA defeated HARASHIMA, Saki Akai, Mad Paulie and Kazuki Hirata when YAZAWA pinned Hirata with a School Boy (14:17).
5. Shunma Katsumata & MAO defeated Chris Brookes & Keigo Nakamura when MAO pinned Nakamura after the MADMAX (14:45).
6. The Annual Tradition! Customer Lottery Match: Jun Akiyama, Konosuke Takeshita & Tetsuya Endo defeated Yuki Ueno, Kazusada Higuchi & Naomi Yoshimura when Endo pinned Yoshimura with the Shooting Star Press (21:26).
Beer Garden 2021 came to a close with the usual end to DDT’s tradition, a Fan Lottery 6-Man Tag Match. Members of the audience randomly picked the spots for each team and we ended up with Jun Akiyama, Konosuke Takeshita & Tetsuya Endo all on the same side. Any visual sign of tension disappeared when Endo came out dressed in his old wrestling gear and encouraged the others to reform Happy Motels for one night. Akiyama had to play the role of Antonio Honda in this case. The opposing team was Yuki Ueno, Kazusada Higuchi & Naomi Yoshimura. All of them came from the DNA generation so they paid tribute to the old brand by wearing DNA shirts and walking out to the DNA theme song. Akiyama played the part of Honda well by tripping onto his knee and doing the Bionic Elbow with his partners. The three of them worked so well they won the match with Endo getting the pin on Yoshimura.
After the match Endo said Beer Garden is all about having fun so he encouraged Akiyama and Takeshita to let go of their rivalry for the day. He also apologised to Takeshita for cheap shotting him at last year’s Beer Garden finale. Takeshita and Akiyama both agreed to get along but things will go back to normal when they fight each other for the KO-D Tag Team Titles on 15th August and the KO-D Openweight Title on the 21st. Endo also promoted his DAMNATION team defending the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles on that day too. They all raised their hands together to end the show… and then Endo Headbutted Takeshita. Endo stormed off backstage and stripped out of his old costume embarrassed that he had to act so nice towards Akiyama & Takeshita today.
Chris Brookes didn’t want to team with Keigo Nakamura so he purposely joined the other team to make it a 3 Vs 1 Handicap match. Brookes entered the ring with The 37KAMIINA but Nakamura begged him to team up as planned. Brookes agreed to do it but still helped Shunma Katsumata & MAO do some triple team spots. Brookes eventually took the match seriously but it wasn’t enough for them to win. Katsumata & MAO hit the Power Bomb/Blockbuster version of MADMAX (apparently any double team move involving Katsumata jumping off the top rope is called the MADMAX) on Nakamura to get the win. Afterwards Katsumata told MAO he found out Jun Kasai’s weakness. He doesn’t like stepping on Lego so they’re going to use them against him at “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2021”!
Daisuke Sasaki was pulled from the show on short notice because he might have been in close contact with somebody who recently tested positive for the Coronavirus. The Drunk Match was cancelled and HARASHIMA was moved over to the Rock & Roll Death Match. There was another replacement as Antonio Honda suffered from love sickness and had to be replaced by A.YAZAWA in a rare appearance. Everyone in the match got drunk and danced whenever music played. YAZAWA and Saki Akai did karaoke. A recording of Shuji Ishikawa singing caused Mad Paulie to dance. Everyone fell asleep until Swan Lake played and they all did ballet together. YAZAWA then rolled over Kazuki Hirata to win the match.
Eruption once again got the better of DAMNATION once again in their latest preview match, this time with Yusuke Okada teaming with them. Yuji Hino was already drinking and decided to wrestle in his normal clothing. When he put Akito in a Sleeper Hold he flipped off the rest of his opponents. Eventually he got drunk and when he went to do the Diving Body Press off the top rope, he landed on Nobuhiro Shimatani instead of Yukio Sakaguchi. Hino needed Soma Takao’s help to get out of the ring and while that happened, Sakaguchi pinned Shimatani with the God’s Right Knee.
An accidental bump of heads between Danshoku Dieno and Hideki Okatani during the opening of the show led to them swapping bodies before their match. Dieno walked out wearing Okatani’s gear while Okatani ran out in Dieno’s costume acting just like him. Another clash of heads seemed to turn them back to normal. Dieno was himself again and he chased after Daisuke Kiso. However Okatani didn’t change and he got his hands on Yukinori Matsui. That officials had to call of the match as things got out of hand.
Sanshiro Takagi paid a lot of cash to repair the Dramatic Dream so he is going to get his money’s worth! He brought it out for the opening match, crashed into the combined centaur form of Yukio Naya & Yuki Iino and then crashed into his own partner Yuya Koroku. Iino then hit a Lariat on Koroku to take the win for his team.
The most important match of the week, nay, the month took place in the pre-show. It was the DDT GM Hisaya Imabayashi against the Tokyo Joshi Pro GM Tetsuya Koda in the latest chapter of their never ending one sided rivalry. Imabayashi was spurned on by phonecalls of his increasingly disgruntled wife while Koda showed a more evil side to his wrestling abilities. Sadly for Imabayashi he fell to the Sleeper Hold and as a result won’t be welcomed back home by his family.
Midway through the show, Dieno & Iino confronted Imabayashi demanding to be made into a full time tag team. They kept coming up with sexual innuendos for team names like Osu Academy, The Wizard Of Osu and Will Osupreay. Imabayashi told them he will agree to their demand once they come up with a better tag team name.
Earlier today on the Ganbare☆Pro show, Yuna Manase made it known that she wants a match against Saki Akai. She crashed the DDT show along with Ken Ohka to challenge Akai directly. It is a match she wanted to have at “CYBERFIGHT FESTIVAL 2021” and when that never happened it’s been bothering her ever since. Akai accepted the challenge and wants the match to happen in Fukuoka on 12th September. Manase said Ganpro already has a show in Itabashi that day but Ohka encouraged her to go do it. Manase offered to shake hands but Akai left her hanging.
Voice actor Tetsu Inada will be making appearances at the Hiragana Muscle shows in September.
BASARA “BASARA 162 ~HOSHIAI NO SORA~”, 07/07/2021 Shinjuku FACE
1. Takato Nakano Vs Kosuke Sato
2. Jacket Match: Ryota Nakatsu & Trans-Am ★ Hiroshi Vs Tsutomu Oosugi & Banana Senga (Special Referee: Gouma)
3. Takumi Tsukamoto, Yasu Urano & Masato Kamino Vs FUMA, Yusuke Kubo & Daichi Kazato
4. IRON FIST Tag Titles: Isami Kodaka & Daiki Shimomura (c) Vs Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura
5. ReOStaff Presents Heaven Summit ~Itadaki~ – Final: SAGAT Vs Minoru Fujita
The Heaven Summit ~Itadaki~ final takes place tomorrow.
DDT “SUMMER VACATION 2021 TOUR IN YOKOHAMA”, 10/07/2021 Yokohama Radiant Hall
1. Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Shunma Katsumata & Yuya Koroku
2. Toru Owashi & Yusuke Okada Vs Danshoku Dieno & Yuki Iino
3. Daisuke Sasaki, Tetsuya Endo, Soma Takao & Yuji Hino Vs HARASHIMA, Chris Brookes, Naomi Yoshimura & Yukio Naya
4. Yokohama Two Major Singles Match: Akito Vs Kazuki Hirata
5. Yokohama Two Major Singles Match: Antonio Honda Vs Mad Paulie
6. Junretsu Vs The 37KAMIINA!: Jun Akiyama, Makoto Oishi & Hideki Okatani Vs Konosuke Takeshita, Yuki Ueno & MAO
The spotlight shines on Akito, Kazuki Hirata, Antonio Honda and Mad Paulie as they get the singles match slots on the show.
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “GO GIRL 2 ~WOMEN ONLY ENTERTAINMENT~”, 11/07/2021 Tokyo Itabashi Green Hall
1. Sakisama & Mei Saint-Michel Vs Marika Kobashi & Pom Harajuku
2. Shoko Nakajima & Kaya Toribami Vs Mirai Maiumi & Suzume
3. Raku, Nodoka Tenma & Yuki Aino Vs Hyper Misao, Mahiro Kiryu & Haruna Neko
4. Hikari Noa & Arisu Endo Vs Yuki Kamifuku & Nao Kakuta
5. Miyu Yamashita, Maki Itoh & Moka Miyamoto Vs Mizuki, Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe
NEO Biishiki-gun shows up for the first time since Sakisama lost to Miyu Yamashita. They still have the Princess Tag Team Titles under their name so it’s time for them to get over the bump in the road.
DDT “SUMMER VACATION 2021 TOUR IN SHINJUKU”, 15/07/2021 Shinjuku FACE
1. DDT Extreme Title & Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – No DQ, No Submission Rules: Chris Brookes (E/c) Vs Shinya Aoki (I/c)
A lot of time was spent by Chris Brookes thinking up the stipulation for the double title match against Shinya Aoki. He decided on No DQs and also No Submission rules. Moves that are normally illegal are allowed but almost all kinds of submission holds will be banned. The only kinds that can be used are holds the referee will deem too dangerous to use in normal matches. Aoki complained about the rules but Brookes explained that he also is at a disadvantage because he cannot use the Octopus Hold. Therefore they will be on equal footing. Aoki thinks the rules will create the worst wrestling match of the century. Brookes disagrees. His felt his title defence against Saki Akai brought new aspects to her wrestling game. So from now on he is using his DDT Extreme Title matches to show new sides of his opponents that no one has ever seen before. Aoki had no choice but to accept the stipulation. He had to be reminded that his Choke Holds won’t be allowed either.
DDT “DAMNATION ILLEGAL ASSEMBLY RETURNS VOL. 4”, 26/07/2021 Shinjuku FACE
1. Hiroshi Yamato Vs Kikutaro
2. Soma Takao & Nobuhiro Shimatani Vs Shigehiro Irie & Daiki Shimomura
3. Tetsuya Endo Vs Leo Isaka
4. Mad Paulie’s Five Years And A Few Months After His Birth Anniversary Match: Shuji Ishikawa, Yuji Hino & Mad Paulie Vs Kengo Mashimo, Masashi Takeda & Keizo Matsuda
5. MONDAY NIGHT WAR: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Minoru Fujita
There will be a special guest on the show in the form of Darkunesu K. This being is a character Keigo Nakamura came up with during the Lords Mobile promotional campaign DDT was a part of recently. Nakamura needs to do a lot of dark activities during the day in order to summon Darkunesu K from within himself.
I’m hoping for a big showing from Leo Isaka against Tetsuya Endo here.
DDT “BEER GARDEN-LIKE PRO WRESTLING 2021 DAY 1”, 30/07/2021 Shinjuku FACE
1. Danshoku Dieno Produce Match – Kaidan Shin Numabukuro Death Match ~Showa, Heisei, Reiwa Are Also A Classic!~: X Vs X
2. Saki Akai Produce Match: Kazusada Higuchi’s Relative, Yukio Sakaguchi’s Relative & Saki Akai’s Relative Vs Kazuki Hirata’s Relative, Yuki Iino’s Relative & Keigo Nakamura’s Relative
3. HARASHIMA Produce Match: X Vs X
It’s all relatives for one of the matches on the first day of Beer Garden. It is Saki Akai’s idea to get some “enchanted blood” wrestling in her segment.
Hisaya Imabayashi gets to tell his annual ghost story. Where does he keep getting them?
DDT “BEER GARDEN-LIKE PRO WRESTLING 2021 DAY 2”, 31/07/2021 Shinjuku FACE
1. Shunma Katsumata Produce – Hardcore 4 Way Match: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Yuki Ueno Vs Shunma Katsumata Vs MAO
2. Tetsuya Endo Produce Match: Tetsuya Endo & Hiroshi Yamato Vs Seiya Morohashi & X
3. Makoto Oishi Produce Match ~ Our Youth: Jun Akiyama, Yusuke Okada & Hideki Okatani Vs MEN’S Teioh, Makoto Oishi & Shiori Asahi
I think this is the first time Jun Akiyama and MEN’S Teioh will be in the same match together. Makoto Oishi has gone all out with this booking with Shiori Asahi included to make it a more complete Men’s Club reunion.
Seiya Morohashi? Boy it’s been years since he was last in DDT. I mean yeah there was an appearance on a Masahiro Takanashi booked show in 2019 but other than that his last DDT match was in 2016.
Of course Shunma Katsumata’s idea for his slot is to put all of The 37KAMIINA into a hardcore match.
DDT “BEER GARDEN-LIKE PRO WRESTLING 2021 DAY 3”, 01/08/2021 Shinjuku FACE
1. Rock & Roll Death Match: Antonio Honda Vs X
2. The Annual Tradition! Customer Lottery Match: X, X & X Vs X, X & X
Can’t leave out Antonio Honda from the Rock & Roll Death Match. Unless he gets hurt, that is.
DDT “SUMMER VACATION 2021”, 15/08/2021 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. Kininashi Wanaru ~The Universe In My Head~ Match: X Vs X
There will be an Infomercial match promoting a new show on WOWOW called Kininashi Wanaru ~The Universe In My Head~. The series explores different forms of creativity and one of the episodes will focus on DDT. The two hosts Noritake Kinsahi and Cunning Takeyama will be special guests at Korakuen Hall to witness what DDT has cooked up for them.
DDT “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2021”, 21/08/2021 Fujitsu Stadium Kawasaki
0. Current Blast Death Match: Atsushi Onita Vs X
1. Special Hardcore Tag Match: Shunma Katsumata & MAO Vs Chris Brookes & Jun Kasai
2. KO-D Openweight Title: Jun Akiyama (c) Vs Konosuke Takeshita
Konosuke Takeshita says everything is in order for him to become the KO-D Openweight Champion again. His King Of DDT victory showed he now has the physical ability, mental attributes, luck and momentum to be the top wrestler in DDT. He has lost two singles matches to Akiyama that both took place last winter. It was up to Takeshita to fix his own problems and it began with his appearances in AEW back in April. As a result of his own actions over the last three months, Takeshita is now confident to fight Akiyama to see who is best. Even though Akiyama is well accepted into the DDT family at this point, Takeshita is still going to treat him as the enemy.
As if having Atsushi Onita isn’t enough to keep the hardcore flavour around, Jun Kasai will be on the show too. Katsumata and Brookes have a little bit of tag history with him. MAO fought him in a Hardcore match a few years ago too.
DDT “KING OF DDT 2021 FINAL!!”, 04/07/2021 Tokyo Korakuen Hall 621 Fans – Super No Vacancy
1. KO-D 8-Man Tag Team Titles: Yoshiaki Yatsu, Akito, Hiroshi Yamato & Keigo Nakamura defeated Sanshiro Takagi, Yukio Naya, Chikara & Nabe Yakan (c) when Yatsu submitted Naya with the Jail Lock (12:06). *Team Thoroughbred fails in V2. Team Olympian becomes the 5th KO-D 8-Man Tag Team Champions!
2. King Of DDT 2021 – Semi Final: Konosuke Takeshita defeated Daisuke Sasaki with the Modified Chickenwing Facelock (16:58).
3. King Of DDT 2021 – Semi Final: Yuji Hino defeated Kazusada Higuchi with the Fuckin’ BOMB (12:36).
4. 4 Way Tag Match: Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai defeated Chris Brookes & Antonio Honda, Danshoku Dieno & Yuki Iino and Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku when Sakaguchi pinned Koroku with the Danshoku Driver (9:24).
5. DAMNATION Vs DISASTER BOX!: HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi, Naomi Yoshimura & Kazuki Hirata defeated Tetsuya Endo, Soma Takao, Mad Paulie & Nobuhiro Shimatani when Hirata pinned Shimatani with the Miracle One Shot Cradle (11:51).
6. Junretsu Vs The 37KAMIINA!: Yuki Ueno, Shunma Katsumata & MAO defeated Jun Akiyama, Makoto Oishi & Hideki Okatani when MAO pinned Okatani with the Cannonball 450 (11:05).
7. King Of DDT 2021 – Final: Konosuke Takeshita defeated Yuji Hino with the Cross-Arm German Suplex (18:09).
Konosuke Takeshita is now a two time King Of DDT winner! He had to go through one of his worst enemies and then one of his largest opponents to make it back to the top. In the final, Yuji Hino stood across the ring and was shocked when the match begun because he was immediately thrown into a Blue Thunder Bomb for a nearfall. Hino took over with heavy Chops and a Sleeper Hold. The match turned into a game of one-upmanship with Elbow Strikes and Lariats thrown everywhere. Takeshita kept himself planted to block the Fuckin’ BOMB but had to become more agile idea to avoid the move by doing a Hurricanrana. Hino was almost pinned with the German Suplex and then found himself in an unusual position when Takeshita caught his arm from a Lariat. Takeshita held onto the arm and then ducked a Short-Range Lariat from Hino’s other arm. That ended up with Takeshita is perfect position to give Hino the Cross-Arm German Suplex to win the match.
Takeshita received his prize money and, more importantly, he will face Jun Akiyama for the KO-D Openweight Title at “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2021” on 21st August! He said he is satisfied with his performances throughout the tournament and has nothing to be afraid of anymore. He’s been away from the KO-D Title for a long time but is confident to go against Akiyama in their big rematch. Backstage he said the last year and a half being away from the KO-D Title scene has not been a waste of time for him. He wants to fight as the ace of DDT and the future of pro wrestling. He won the tournament with this attitude and with the support of The 37KAMIINA behind him. Meanwhile Hino is impressed that Takeshita had a move kept up his sleeve to beat him. He might have found a kindred spirit in Takeshita and wants to fight him in a rematch. When they does happen, maybe Hino will be the one who will use a secret move to win.
All of 37KAMIINA are aiming to be champions at the same time. Yuki Ueno, Shunma Katsumata & MAO have a chance to gain a lot of ground with a KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles shot coming up. But first they had to get past Junretsu. Katsumata kept urging Akiyama to do the NeppoWER!! pose but he refused. Hideki Okatani did it to mock Katsumata. Akiyama finally gave in and did it after he and Makoto Oishi beat Katsumata up. Okatani held his own against the sauna club but Ueno stunned him with the Standing Shining Wizard and MAO got the win with the Cannonball 450. Katsumata popped a cracker at Akiyama while this was going on. After the match Katsumata pointed to the sky and told the others he could see the aurora wishing for Takeshita’s King Of DDT victory.
Kazuki Hirata ambushed DAMNATION with Tegatana chops during their entrance. They had no effect and DAMNATION all ganged up on him. HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi, Naomi Yoshimura kept the hopes alive for DISASTER BOX but whenever Hirata was tagged in, DAMNATION took over and ganged up on him again. Tetsuya Endo, Soma Takao & Mad Paulie attacked him one by one. But when Nobuhiro Shimatani had his turn, Hirata pinned him out of nowhere with the Miracle One Shot Cradle!
Just like last month, there were bottles of a mysterious drink found backstage by the DDT locker room, this time with the letter D on them. Danshoku Dieno & Yuki Iino (wearing Danshoku tights) drank some on their way to the ring and handed bottles out to some of the other teams. It appeared whoever drank it would become Danshoku. Eruption grabbed some bottles backstage but Yukio Sakaguchi walked out not looking any different. Saki Akai though ran out wearing Danshoku tights and fighting the urge to go grab fans in the audience. She snapped out of it but later had the urge to do the Danshoku Nightmare as a counter to Yuya Koroku’s Sunset Flip. The Iyasareru ran in to stop her from doing anything lewd. Sakaguchi later pulled down his trunks to show he was wearing Danshoku tights all along and he pinned Koroku with the Danshoku Driver. An annoyed Yusuke Okada spanked Iino after the match for being partly responsible for what happened.
The King Of DDT semi-finals happened in the early portion of the show. Hino defeated Kazusada Higuchi to advance in a heavyweight showdown. Higuchi’s reliance on the Brain Claw wasn’t as effective on Hino compared to his previous opponents. Hino used his own Claw Hold to fight back. Higuchi tried to finish him off with the Buchikamashi sumo charge but Hino cut him off with the Lariat and pinned him with the Fuckin’ BOMB. Higuchi was left disappointed over the status quo being maintained by that result because once again he gets knocked out in the semi-final.
Takeshita’s grudge with Daisuke Sasaki was on show in the other semi-final. He also had Mad Paulie to worry about outside the ring. Some of the dirty tactics were avoided and Sasaki even gave Paulie a mistaken Low Blow over it. The 37KAMIINA took Paulie to the back so the match could continue one versus one. Sasaki was able to send Takeshita crashing into Yukinori Matsui meaning that no on was around to call the match when Sasaki gave up to the Modified Chickenwing Facelock. Sasaki hit a Low Blow before Matsui recovered. Takeshita turned things around by catching a Topé Suicida and delivering a Brainbuster in return. After a lot of fighting to get the move locked in, Takeshita finally got Sasaki back in the Modified Chickenwing Facelock and got him to submit. Sasaki vowed to get revenge in 2025 or so but until then he talked about disappearing for a while. Whether he is serious or just giving out another of his empty threats remains to be seen.
In the month when the Olympic Games will finally go ahead, a team of “Olympians” have won the KO-D 8-Man Tag Team Titles! The squad led by Yoshiaki Yatsu all had handkerchiefs in their gear because it is a necessary item in amateur wrestling. It was Keigo Nakamura’s return from injury and he wrestled in new gear for the occasion. The match fell apart for Team Thoroughbred when their Triple Saber Chop missed its target and all hit Yukio Naya by accident. Akito & Hiroshi Yamato targeted Naya’s knees and left him for Yatsu to finish off. Yatsu did the Iron Knee/Yatsugoye with his prosthetic leg on Naya. Then all of Team Olympian put Team Thoroughbred in four separate Jail Locks until Naya gave up. Sanshiro Takagi wrapped one of the title belts around Nakamura’s waist while Naya did the same for Yatsu. Backstage Akito explained that the Iron Knee/Yatsugoye is a completely original move that utilizes Yatsu’s greatest weapon. It’s an original move because the angle of the strike is different from the Kamigoye. Yatsu bluntly said it’s because of his prosthetic leg but agrees that the move is legal and there is no foul play intended.
Super Sasadango Machine announced the ticket sales for “HIRAGANA MUSCLE 5” on 1st September are doing so well that two additional show performances will take place on the 5th.
The first complete match for “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2021” was announced during the show. It is Shunma Katsumata & MAO against Jun Kasai & Chris Brookes in a Hardcore Tag Match!
The next D-Ou Grand Prix will begin on 3rd November in Ota Ward Gymnasium. It is being called D-Ou Grand Prix 2021 Part II.
Posted by JamieOD 
Dramatic DDT 