Best Of The Golden Loving Super Jrs, DDT In K-DOJO

April 23, 2011

Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega have been chosen to compete in this year’s Best Of The Super Jr tournament over in New Japan. Ibushi reached the final of last year’s tournament. He lost to Prince Devitt in a dramatic finale that saw Ibushi suffer a dislocated shoulder, an injury that has constantly plagued him ever since. Kenny finished fourth in his group but left a strong impression in his field, holding wins over Koji Kanemoto and Ryusuke Taguchi. Both of the Golden Lovers will be in seperate groups again when the tour begin on 26th May with the final happening on 10th June. Ibushi will be joined in his group by Daisuke Sasaki, who went through the NEVER Road to the Super Jr. 2 Day Tournament to earn his spot here.

There will be some DDT talent involved in K-DOJO’s “Golden Week Special” series at the end of April. Yasu Urano is a regular for the promotion as he trained at K-DOJO. He is currently the UWA Middleweight Champion and has just defended the belt against Venom Ant (The Colony’s non-union, Japanese equivalent?) on today’s show. He will now defend the belt against a mystery opponent on 1st May. DDT presents their version of the Mega Powers as Kota Ibushi & YOSHIHIKO team together to go after the WEW Hardcore Tag Team Title currently held by Kengo Mashimo & Ryuichi Sekine. Hikaru Sato will also appear on the tour with his SEX-MEN teammate Munenori Sawa as they take on HIROKI & Kengo Mashimo for the STRONGEST-K Tag Team Titles. Last but not least, Dick Togo will be in involved in two matches, the most important of them being the final match Kaientai*DX will have together before Togo’s retirement.

K-DOJO “GWSP6”, 29/04/2011
Chiba Blue Field

WEW Hardcore Tag Team Title: Kengo Mashimo & Ryuichi Sekine (c) Vs Kota Ibushi & YOSHIHIKO

K-DOJO “GWSP6”, 01/05/2011
Chiba Blue Field

UWA Middleweight Title: Yasu Urano (c) Vs X

K-DOJO “GWSP6”, 03/05/2011
Chiba Blue Field

STRONGEST-K Tag Team Title: HIROKI & Kengo Mashimo (c) Vs Munenori Sawa & Hikaru Sato

K-DOJO “GWSP6 FINAL CLUB-K SUPER necessary…”, 05/05/2011
Chiba Blue Field

Kaientai*DX Final Countdown 4: TAKA Michinoku & HIROKI Vs Dick Togo & Yasu Urano

K-DOJO “CLUB-K SUPER take”, 18/06/2011
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

Kaientai*DX Final Countdown FINAL: Kaz Hayashi, Dick Togo, TAKA Michinoku, MEN’s Teioh & FUNAKI Vs X, X, X & X

Finally, is love in the air for Kota Ibushi? It is according to a young and brash joshi hopeful named Yoshiko (No, not YOSHIHIKO). The 17 year old STARDOM wrestler apparently let slip that she wants to tie the knot with the shy Independent Genius. Not only that but she already has the date picked out: 24th July. That’s the same date as the DDT Sumo Hall show aswell as STARDOM’s first Korakuen Hall event. Is this just the hyper imagination of a lovesick teenager or will Kota take up the role of Prince Charming and sweep Yoshiko off her feet? I don’t know what Kenny will think of this. Kota & Yoshiko sitting in a tree…


DDT “JUDGEMENT 2011” Full Card

March 26, 2011

DDT “JUDGEMENT 2011 ~DDT 14TH ANNIVERSARY~”, 27/03/2011
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Hikaru Sato, Tanomusaku Toba & Rion Mizuki Vs Tsuneto Naito, Kazuki Hirata & Akito
2. 14th Anniversary Memorial Match: MIKAMI & Rojo Del Sol Vs Snake Corps (w/ Poison Sawada JULIE & Naomi Susan)
3. Special Singles Match: HARASHIMA Vs Antonio Honda
4. Danshoku Dino Vs Bob Sapp’s Assassin
5. KO-D Openweight Title Challenge Right Fight +α Anytime and Anywhere Battle Royal: KUDO Vs Makoto Oishi Vs Daisuke Sasaki Vs Keisuke Ishii Vs Shigehiro Irie Vs Takao Soma Vs Super Shit Machine Vs Tomimitsu Matsunaga Vs Kenny Omega Vs Michael Nakazawa Vs GENTARO Vs Yasu Urano Vs Hoshitango Vs Minoru Fujita Vs Shuji Ishikawa Vs Seiya Morohashi Vs Ken Ohka
6. KO-D Openweight Title: Dick Togo (c) Vs Kota Ibushi

There are plenty of questions to ask about tomorrow’s DDT show. Can Kota Ibushi dethrone Dick Togo? Who will get the “Anytime and Anywhere” Title Shot? What other participants and prizes will be part of the Battle Royal? Who is the assassin sent by Bob Sapp to fight Danshoku Dino? Has Antonio Honda stepped up enough of his game to match HARASHIMA? What does Poison Sawada JULIE have in store for the fans when he brings in the Snake Corps? All this and more will be answered in what will be an important stop on the road to Sumo Hall.

DDT’s next DVD release will be “BEST OF THE SUPER Street Wrestling King – Kota Ibushi”, a collection of DDT’s infamous “Anywhere Pro Wrestling” matches featuring the Golden Star. It was originally supposed to be released in time for tomorrow’s 14th Anniversary show but production was delayed due to the recent disasters in Japan. The new release date for the DVD is 13th April.


DDT “INTO THE FIGHT 2011” Results

February 27, 2011

DDT “INTO THE FIGHT 2011”, 27/02/2011
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,262 Fans

0. Seiya Morohashi defeated Hoshitango with the New Hair Solution (5:14).
1. Keisuke Ishii & Akito defeated MIKAMI & Rion Mizuki when Ishii submitted Mizuki with a Single Leg Crab Hold (5:27).
2. Antonio Honda & Daisuke Sasaki defeated Michael Nakazawa & Tomimitsu Matsunaga by DQ when Takao Soma interfered (10:14).
3. Kota Ibushi defeated Shigehiro Irie with the Phoenix Splash (8:19).
4. Winner Gets to Choose His Ryogoku Match: Danshoku Dino defeated Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Tanomusaku Toba, Kazuki Hirata & DJ Nira when Dino submitted Nira with a crab Hold (13:08).
5. No DQ Hair Vs Hair Match: Takao Soma defeated Hikaru Sato with a Schwein onto a metal barrell (14:13).
6. KO-D Tag Team Title: GENTARO & Yasu Urano (c) defeated KUDO & Makoto Oishi when Urano pinned KUDO with the Tombstone Piledriver (14:09).
*V1 for GENTARO & Yasu Urano.
7. KO-D Openweight Title: Dick Togo (c) defeated HARASHIMA with the Modified Crippler Crossface (20:43).
*V1 for Dick Togo.

After defeating Shigehiro Irie in what was described as “a short but insanely good” match, Kota Ibushi nominated himself as the next challenger for the KO-D Openweight Title. He should be facing Dick Togo at the 27th March Korakuen Hall show.

The 27th March show will also feature what has become one of my favourite annual DDT matches in recent years, the Anytime, Anywhere Contention Battle Royal. The match is usually a combination of a Royal Rumble and a Ladder match. There are a number of prizes hanging above the ring, the most important of which is a Money In The Bank style contract that allows the holder to challenge for the KO-D Openweight Title at any show between then and Sumo Hall. Other prizes normally include dates with a female wrestler, a DDT contract or even the role of company CEO. After all of the prizes are gone, the Rumble part of the match continues with the winner of that match receiving a KO-D Title shot. Previous winners of the Money In The Bank contract are Yoshiaki Yago and Ken Ohka, with Ohka giving the contract to Shuji Ishikawa. Nobody has yet to cash it in with any success.

By winning match #4, Danshoku Dino was rewarded a chance to make his own match for the 24th July Sumo Hall event. It’s the bout that we all wanted to see (Right? Anyone?), Danshoku Dino Vs Bob Sapp! The match was fought under Scramble Bunkhouse (Non) Deathmatch rules. Normally Scramble Bunkhouse matches have each wrestler placed at opposite sides of the arena and when the bell rings they have to rush to the ring. Here in DDT, it was done a little differently. Tsuyoshi Kikuchi started out in the ring, Kazuki Hirata was placed in Dick Togo’s dressing room, Tanomusaku Toba was spotted in the car park, DJ Nira was in the Tokyo Dome (!!!) and Dino was at the Metro Station outside Tokyo Dome City. When the match began, Kikuchi spent his time waiting for the opponents to come by running the ropes and taking bumps.

The Shit Heart ♥ Foundation grew in strength when their leader Takao Soma defeated Hikaru Sato in a No DQ Hair Vs Hair match. Despite Takao’s cronies Michael Nakazawa & Tomimitsu Matsunaga being banned from ringside, young Soma scored his biggest win to date over the former KO-D Champion and also got to shave him bald as a result. Afterwards the SHF introduced their newest member of the group, the Super Shit Machine! However, as soon as Super Shit Machine was introduced to the fans he, Soma & Matsunaga attacked Michael Nakazawa and kicked him out of the SHF. Soma called Nakazawa the weak link of the group and his new “weapon” was Michael’s replacement.

After taking the fall in the KO-D Tag Team Title match, KUDO challenged Yasu Urano to a singles match at DDT Dotonbori Story 9 in Osaka on 13th March.

Seiya Morohashi has become the spokesperson for Svenson Inc., a company that creates haircare and hair restoration products. They seem to be good quality as Seiya came out for his dark match against Hoshitango with a full head of hair instead of the large bald spot he used to have.


Ibushi In NJPW, TKG48 & Honda In FREEDOMS

February 15, 2011

Kota Ibushi isn’t done with New Japan Pro Wrestling yet. He competed on today’s NJPW event at Korakuen Hall, teaming with KUSHIDA to defeat Jado & Gedo.

NJPW “THE NEW BEGINNING”, 2/15/11
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,500 Fans

Kota Ibushi & KUSHIDA defeated Jado & Gedo when KUSHIDA pinned Gedo with the Midnight Express (12:24).

There will be some DDT talent appearing at New Japan’s upcoming NEVER event on 24th February. Shigehiro Irie and Kazuki Hirata will be there along with KO-D Tag Team Champion and freelancer, Daisuke Sasaki. Also there will be Union regular and SS Susan member Madoka.

NJPW “NEVER.5”, 2/24/11
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

1. Hiromu Takahashi Vs Kazuki Hirata
3. Tomoaki Honma Vs Shigehiro Irie
4. Ryusuke Taguchi Vs Daisuke Sasaki
6. Taichi Vs Madoka

It’s only just today that I noticed that FREEDOMS often uses DDT talent for their shows. I shouldn’t be surprised by it as the promotion is run by Takashi Sasaki, who was a DDT wrestler from the company’s very first show until he got the deathmatch bug and joined Big Japan Wrestling somewhere between 2004 and 2005. I often forget when the company holds their shows so I’ll try to keep an eye on them from now on.

Sanshiro Takagi’s stable, the TKG48 entered the promotion in December and started a conflict with the Kojika Army. Last month a match between The Great Kojika & GENTARO against TKG48’s Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Shigehiro Irie had to be constantly restarted because the matches kept on ending in Double DQs. This led to TKG48’s main guns of Takagi & Munenori Sawa coming in to fight Kojika & GENTARO on yesterday’s FREEDOMS show. The stakes were high as a stipulation was added where the wrestler who dropped the fall on the losing team would be banned from ever wrestling in FREEDOMS again. Takagi got the win with a Sanshiro Stunner on the Great Kojika, forcing the veteran out of the company.

Antonio Honda is also a regular participant in FREEDOMS shows and was part of the winning team on yesterday’s show, siding with the devious Brahman Brothers to defeat Ricky Fuji, Keita Yano and a third wrestler who has a name that no one among the puro fansites have been able to figure out yet. I forgot to mention this during the annual contract signings but Antonio Honda let his DDT contract run out a couple of years ago to become a freelancer. As you can see, this didn’t affect his relationship with DDT one bit as he is still a regular name for the company.

Freedoms, 14/02/2011
Shin-Kiba 1st RING
187 Fans – No Vacancy

2. Antonio Honda, Brahman Shu & Brahman Kei defeated Ricky Fuji, Keita Yano & ??? when Honda pinned ??? with a School Boy (12:29).
3. Kojika Army Vs TKG48: Sanshiro Takagi & Munenori Sawa defeated Great Kojika & GENTARO when Takagi pinned Kojika with a Sanshiro Stunner (15:36).


DDT “SWEET DREAMS!” Results, Kota Concussed, It’s Sapp Time!

January 30, 2011

DDT “SWEET DREAMS!”, 30/01/2011
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,428 Fans – Super No Vacancy

1. Akito defeated Kazuki Hirata with a Modified Ankle Hold (8:18).
2. GENTARO & Yasu Urano defeated MIKAMI & Rion Mizuki when GENTARO submitted Mizuki with the Sharpshooter (10:29).
3. Takao Soma & Tomimitsu Matsunaga defeated Hikaru Sato & Daisuke Sasaki when Sato was DQ’ed (12:58).
4. Right to Produce “Someone´s Produce Show” Battle Royal: Keisuke Ishii defeated Yukihiro Abe with the Kneel Kick (12:13).
Order Of Eliminations: Hoshitango (3:16), Minoru Fujita (5:04), Michael Nakazawa (5:51), Tanomusaku Toba (5:57), Danshoku Dino (4:49), Makoto Oishi (7:02), DJ Nira (9:21) and Yukihiro Abe (12:13).
5. DDT Tokyo Beginning of Fight 2011 Special Tag Match: Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega defeated HARASHIMA & KUDO when Omega pinned KUDO with the Croyth’s Wrath (16:55)
6. KO-D Openweight Title Unification Match: Dick Togo (c) defeated Antonio Honda (i/c) with the Diving Senton (26:24).
*Dick Togo becomes the 35th KO-D Openweight Champion.

With the injury setback now behind him, Dick Togo reclaimed his place on top of the DDT landscape by defeating Antonio Honda to unite the KO-D Openweight Championship with its unified version. In a correction to what I wrote a while back, Togo is officially the 35th KO-D Champion and now a 4-time holder of the title.

A Royal Rumble will take place at the 11th February Shin-Kiba 1st Ring show to determine the next challenger for Togo. The confirmed challengers so far are HARASHIMA, KUDO, Kota Ibushi, MIKAMI, Keisuke Ishii and Daisuke Sasaki. Also set to take place on the night is Dick Togo Vs DJ Nira in a non-title match and Kenny Omega Vs Michael Nakazawa.

Kota Ibushi had to go to the hospital for a CAT Scan after he suffered a mild concussion after a High Kick by HARASHIMA. He is likely to recover quickly and not miss any of the upcoming shows.

Keisuke Ishii was victorious in the Battle Royal. He will now get to produce his own show for the DDT Brand tripleshot at Shin-Kiba 1st Ring on 6th March. An extra rule was added to the match. The Suzumiya Haruhi theme song was played for almost the entire match. Whenever the song reached its chorus, everyone in the ring had to do the “Hare Hare Yukai” dance or be eliminated. Yukihiro Abe spent the match dressed as the main character from the series.

The disqualification in match #2 led to Hikaru Sato challenging Takao Soma to a match at the 27th Fabruary Korakuen Hall show. The match was accepted and will be Hair Vs Hair!

Bob Sapp was announced to appear at DDT’s Sumo Hall show on 24th August. Yes, that Bob Sapp. A video was shown of “The Beast” confronting Sanshiro Takagi and Ken Ohka at DDT HQ. Takagi came up with some suggestions on Twitter for Sapp’s opponent. So far he’s thought of Bob Sapp Vs Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Bob Sapp Vs Tsurumi Goro and Bob Sapp Vs Ultraman Robin. A fun little fact that comes out of this is that in the space of a year, three former IWGP Heavyweight Champions have appeared in DDT so far: Genichiro Tenryu, Togi Makabe & Manabu Nakanishi. Bob Sapp will make it four if he does indeed show up and compete on the night.

Speaking of Takagi, he seems to be very pleased to be the “World’s Second Largest Promoter!” after the Wrestling Observer Awards came out.


And The Award Goes To…

January 26, 2011

The 2010 Wrestling Observer Newsletter Awards were revealed today with the Golden Lovers having a few mentions here and there. Kota Ibushi won the “Best Flying Wrestler” award for the second year in a row as well as finishing fifth for “Best Wrestling Maneuver”. Kenny Omega got an honorable mention for the “Most Improved” award. Together, the Golden Lovers ranked 7th for “Tag Team Of The Year”. The Best Of The Super Juniors final between Ibushi and Prince Devitt aswell as the Golden Lovers’ IWGP Jr. Tag Team Championship win over Apollo 55 in October also got honorable mentions for “Worked Match Of The Year”.

DDT got an honorable mention for “Promotion Of The Year”. Sanshiro Takagi himself got a look in too, finishing second place for “Promoter Of The Year” losing to Dana White for the second year in a row. However, if you see the glass as half full that means Takagi is the best pro wrestling promoter for two years in a row. 🙂

Add these accomplishments to the Golden Lovers winning “Best Tag Team” and “Best Match” in the Weekly Pro-Wrestling awards as well as “Match Of The Year” in the Tokyo Sports awards and you have a heck of a year for the Golden Lovers. Here’s looking forward to seeing what else they and DDT can accomplish in 2011.


Golden Lovers Lose IWGP Jr Tag Titles

January 23, 2011

NJPW “NJPW PRESENTS CMLL FANTASTICA MANIA 2011”, 23/01/2011
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2,005 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House

1. Jado & Gedo defeated Máximo & Danshoku Dino when Jado submitted Dino with the Crossface Of Jado (10:39).
6. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega (c) when Taguchi pinned Omega after the Black Sunday (16:32).
*Golden Lovers fail in V3. Apollo 55 become the 28th Champions.

A bad day of results for DDT in New Japan. After a period of dominating their rivals in both promotions, Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega lost the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles to the previous champions Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi in the main event.

Meanwhile, Danshoku Dino found a kindred spirit in the form of CMLL luchador Máximo. Unfortunately they fell to Jado & Gedo in the opener, with Jado getting revenge for his Super J Cup 1st Round loss to Dino back in 2009.


Golden Lovers & Dino Return To NJPW

January 5, 2011

NJPW/CMLL “NJPW PRESENTS CMLL FANTASTICA MANIA 2011”, 1/23/11
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Danshoku Dino & Maximo Vs Jado & Gedo
6. Double Main Event II – IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title: Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega (c) Vs Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi

DDT will have three wrestlers sent over to New Japan for the company’s co-promoted shows with Mexico’s CMLL. Kota Ibushi, Kenny Omega and Danshoku Dino will appear on Night 2 of “FANTASTICA MANIA 2011” in Korakuen Hall.

Can the Golden Lovers make it three for three over Apollo 55? With the IWGP Jr. Tag Title victory taking place in New Japan and victory in the rematch over at DDT, Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega will face Prince Devitt & Ryusuke Taguchi for the belts one more time. Both teams are usually really over with the Korakuen fans, so expect a really hot crowd for this match.

The idea of Danshoku Dino and Maximo teaming together is not that odd now that I think of it. I mean, if Maximo can handle teaming with Mr. Niebla then hanging out with Dino should be no problem for the exotico. Plus Dino will be reunited with Jado, who he had a wonderful time with at the 2009 Super J Cup. Gedo might be pissed off with Dino for using his patented move the Gedo Clutch and renaming it the Gay-do Clutch. But then again Gedo is always pissed off, so never mind that.

DDT and CMLL do have a previous connection. The KO-D Tag Team Championship was originally created in CMLL where Takashi Sasaki & NOSAWA became the first champions. To this day DDT still includes “CMLL” in their title’s name even though they haven’t been defended in the Lucha Libre promotion ever since.


Ibushi Fails To Dethrone The Prince

January 4, 2011

NJPW “WRESTLE KINGDOM V IN TOKYO DOME”, 4/1/11
Tokyo Dome
42,000 Fans – No Vacancy

0. World Wrestling Invitation Match: Koji Kanemoto & Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Kenny Omega & Taichi when Taguchi pinned Taichi (8:04).
6. IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Title: Prince Devitt (c) defeated Kota Ibushi with the Avalanche Bloody Sunday (16:22).
*V4 for Devitt.

Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega both came out in the losing end of New Japan’s biggest show of the year. Early word for Ibushi Vs Prince Devitt has it being a very exciting match with a hot crowd. Both Ibushi & Omega have now failed to win the IWGP Jr. Title from Devitt, but they can be happy with the fact that they are still the IWGP Jr. Tag Team Champions.

In other news, former DDT referee Megumi Grace Asano stepped out of retirement for one night only on New Year’s Eve to officiate the final match in NEO history as the promotion unfortunately closed its doors for good.

I’ve done a little updating to the Rosters page and the Title History. The Union page now includes wrestlers who appear on a regular basis but are not under contract to either DDT or Union. Plus I will include all of the members of the TKG48 as they are revealed, even if it becomes a one time only kind of thing. The Title History for the KO-D Tag Team Championships will be added soon. I just need to figure out how many title defences both the Nuru Nuru Brothers and Sanshiro Takagi & Munenori Sawa had during their respective reigns.

One more thing, a more in depth report on  “NEVER MIND 2010” is now uploaded. It includes a very detailed run through of the Danshoku Dino Vs Makoto Oishi match, which turned out to be one of the crazier matches DDT has had in a while. Seriously, the stuff I typed really did happen.


Omega Out Of HP, Ibushi & Co Join Kana

December 16, 2010

Kenny Omega suffered a dislocated ankle while training during the week. The injury will put him off this weekend’s big Ring Of Honor iPPV event and may also remove him from the last DDT show of the year on 26th December. He and Kota Ibushi are supposed to defend the IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles against Jado & Gedo on that show. The match might have to be delayed until 2011 to allow Omega to properly recover. This means he may also have to miss wrestling at the Tokyo Dome for New Japan on 4th January aswell.

I don’t follow that much of the joshi scene but I do know there is a split of opinion when it comes to the wrestler Kana. Some joshi enthusiasts are fans of her only because they fancy the woman. Others criticise her for wrestling a wreckless Bati style and having little regard for the safety of her opponents in matches, among other things. I’m not ashamed to admit I am part of the former. Hey, I’m a sucker for an Asian girl with short hair and a cute face.

Anyway, the reason I bring this up is because the lovely Kana will be holding her next produce show in January and it will have some DDT and Union alumni involved. Kota Ibushi and Hikaru Sato are no slouches when it comes to the Bati Bati style of fighting which I am sure the show will be built around while Isami Kodaka will take part in another Hardcore match. He’s used to them by now. At least he should be.

Kana Produce “KANA PRO 2”, 10/01/2011
Shinjuku FACE

1. Big Murakami, Kota Ibushi & Keita Yano Vs Tatsuhito Takaiwa, Kengo Mashimo & Shigehiro Irie
2. Hardcore Match: Katsumi Usuda Vs Isami Kodaka
3. Hikaru Sato Vs GAMI
4. TAJIRI & Io Shirai Vs Mineo Fujita & Mio Shirai
5. Submission Only Match: Yuki Ishikawa & Kana Vs Yoshiaki Fujiwara & Carlos Amano