Full Judgement 2018 Card

March 16, 2018

DDT “JUDGEMENT 2018 ~DDT 21ST ANNIVERSARY~”, 25/03/2018
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

0. Under Match: Kouki Iwasaki & Shinichiro Tominaga Vs Kenshin Chikano & Akira Jo
0. Under Match – Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match: Yuka Sakazaki & Shoko Nakajima Va Rika Tatsumi & Maho Kurone
0. Under Match: Mizuki Watase, Rekka, Daiki Shimomura, Nobuhiro Shimatani & Takato Nakano Vs Mad Paulie, Hoshitango, Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Gota Ihashi & Cherry
1. Gauntlet Tag Match: LiLiCo & Makoto Oishi Vs Reika Saiki & Lady Beard Vs Akito & Shunma Katsumata Vs Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata Vs Antonio Honda & Ethan Page Vs Naomi Yoshimura & Keisuke Okuda
2. Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match – Special 6-Woman Tag Match: Miyu Yamashita, Maki Ito & Mizuki Vs Saki-sama, Yoshiko-sama & Azusa Christie
3. Street Wrestling Using The Entire Ryogoku Building ~ Falls Count Anywhere 5 Way Tag Match: Sanshiro Takagi & Ippanjin Munenori Sawa Vs Mike Bailey & MAO Vs Yuko Miyamoto & Soma Takao Vs Isami Kodaka & Fuminori Abe Vs Michael Nakazawa & Chinsuke Nakamura
4. World Crazy Wrestler No. 1 Decision Battle In DDT: Joey Ryan Vs Colt Cabana
5. Special Single Match: Super Sasadango Machine Vs Jiro Kuroshio
6. Dramatic Dream Match: Danshoku Dino, Keisuke Ishii & Ken Ohka Vs Great Muta, Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo
7. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi (c) Vs Kota Umeda, Yuki Ueno & Koji Takeda
8. KO-D Tag Team Titles – Uchikomi! Presents: HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji (c) Vs Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi
9. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) Vs Shuji Ishikawa

There will be a full preview of the show posted in the middle of next week. I’m aiming for Thursday at the latest.


Time For Judgement In March

March 1, 2018

DDT “SHINKIBA, IKIMASU!!”, 02/03/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

1. Ethan Page Vs Kouki Iwasaki
2. Chubby Special Single Match: Danshoku Dino Vs Mad Paulie
3. Makoto Oishi T2Hide Application Assessment Match: Kazuki Hirata Vs Makoto Oishi (Special Referee: Toru Owashi)
4. Falls Count Anywhere 5 Way Match ~ Special Rule: Sanshiro Takagi Vs Soma Takao Vs MAO Vs Fuminori Abe Vs Chinsuke Nakamura
5. KUDO & Masahiro Takanashi Vs Kota Umeda & Yuki Ueno
6. HARASHIMA & Keisuke Ishii Vs Kazusada Higuchi & Mizuki Watase
7. ALL OUT Vs DAMNATION!: Konosuke Takeshita, Akito & Shunma Katsumata Vs Daisuke Sasaki, Shuji Ishikawa & Tetsuya Endo

We’re heading into the final stretch on the road to Sumo Hall. Pretty much all of the card is set and the lead up matches in DDT this month will all be focused on “JUDGEMENT 2018”.

The special rule in the Falls Count Anywhere match involves the Shin-Kiba 1st RING management. All the wrestlers have been asked to behave themselves if the match takes them outside of the venue. If the staff gets angry at any of the wrestlers for what they do outdoors, the wrestlers in question will be disqualified from the match.

Makoto Oishi wants to join T2Hide and become its leader. Most of the group is okay with the first part so he will have to beat Kazuki Hirata to prove his worth.

This show is Ethan Page’s debut in Japan.

DDT “ONE FUJI TWO FALCONS DDT”, 04/03/2018
Shizuoka Fuji-san Messe

1. Ethan Page Vs Mizuki Watase
2. Sanshiro Takagi & Kazuki Hirata Vs Keisuke Ishii & Nobuhiro Shimatani
3. 4 Way Match: Tetsuya Endo Vs Toru Owashi Vs Kazusada Higuchi Vs Antonio Honda
4. KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi Vs Kota Umeda, Kouki Iwasaki & Yuki Ueno
5. ALL OUT Vs DAMNATION!: Konosuke Takeshita, Akito & Shunma Katsumata Vs Daisuke Sasaki, Shuji Ishikawa & Mad Paulie
6. Makoto Oishi 39 Year Old Local Triumph! Fuji Specialty Special Tag Match: HARASHIMA & Soma Takao Vs Danshoku Dino & Makoto Oishi

Makoto Oishi is the star of the show in his hometown.

DDT “YOKOHAMA TWILIGHT 2018 ~YAYOI~”, 10/03/2018
Yokohama Radiant Hall

1. ALL OUT Vs DAMNATION!: Konosuke Takeshita & Akito Vs Shuji Ishikawa & Mad Paulie
2. Yokoyama Specialty Two Big Singles Matches! Shortstop Vs Hama’s Great Devil!: Keisuke Ishii Vs Daisuke Sasaki
3. Yokoyama Specialty Two Big Singles Matches! Battle Match ’18 & DDT Memorial Battle IN Yokohama Radiant Hall!: The Great Homo Vs Tetsuya Endo

For weeks DAMNATION have emulated The Great Muta by spitting coffee and cola at their opponents, particularly Danshoku Dino. This backfired when their attacks caused Dino to turn into The Great Homo! Now Tetsuya Endo has to fight Homo one on one before The Great Muta himself arrives in DDT.

DDT “TAISHO DRAMATIC ROMANTIC 2018”, 11/03/2018
Osaka Azalea Taisho Hall

1. ALL OUT Vs DAMNATION!: Konosuke Takeshita, Akito & Shunma Katsumata Vs Daisuke Sasaki, Shuji Ishikawa & Tetsuya Endo
2. Be Legend Presents Special Single Match: HARASHIMA Vs Kazusada Higuchi

The HARASHIMA Vs Kazusada Higuchi match is sponsored by a protein supplements company.

DDT “SAKI AKAI PRODUCE ~ DDT COLLECTION”, 14/03/2018
Shinjuku FACE

1. Doki ❤ Aja Full Paint Rumble: Aja Kong Vs X
2. NEO Biishiki-gun Vs T2HiJoshi Special Fight: Saki-sama, Azusa Christie & Martha (w/ Yukio Saint Laurent) Vs Margaret★Owashi, Kazuko Hirata & Kazuko Higuchi
3. Outrage 6 Way ~All Bad Guy Members~: Yuko Miyamoto Vs Ryota Nakatsu Vs Naomi Yoshimura Vs Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Nobuhiro Shimatani Vs Yoshiko

Each person in the 6 Way Match is considered the baddest wrestler in their region. Yuko Miyamoto is Hiroshima, Ryota Nakatsu is Kyoto, Naomi Yoshimura is Osaka, Yukio Sakaguchi is Shibuya, Nobuhiro Shimatani is Yamaguchi and Yoshiko is Katsushika.

Everyone in the Aja Kong paint rumble will have their face painted like Aja Kong.

DDT “JUDGEMENT 2018 ~DDT 21ST ANNIVERSARY~”, 25/03/2018
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

0. Under Match: Kouki Iwasaki & Shinichiro Tominaga Vs Kenshin Chikano & Akira Jo
0. Under Match – Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match: Yuka Sakazaki & Shoko Nakajima Va Rika Tatsumi & Maho Kurone
0. Under Match: Mizuki Watase, Rekka, Daiki Shimomura, Nobuhiro Shimatani & Takato Nakano Vs Mad Paulie, Hoshitango, Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Gota Ihashi & Cherry
1. Gauntlet Tag Match: LiLiCo & Makoto Oishi Vs Reika Saiki & Lady Beard Vs Akito & Shunma Katsumata Vs Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata Vs Antonio Honda & Ethan Page Vs Naomi Yoshimura & Keisuke Okuda
2. Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match – Special 6-Woman Tag Match: Miyu Yamashita, Maki Ito & Mizuki Vs Saki-sama, Yoshiko-sama & Azusa Christie
3. World Crazy Wrestler No. 1 Decision Battle In DDT: Joey Ryan Vs Colt Cabana
4. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Super Sasadango Machine (c) Vs Jiro Kuroshio
5. Street Wrestling Using The Entire Ryogoku Building ~ Falls Count Anywhere 5 Way Tag Match: Sanshiro Takagi & Ippanjin Munenori Sawa Vs Mike Bailey & MAO Vs Yuko Miyamoto & Soma Takao Vs Isami Kodaka & Fuminori Abe Vs Michael Nakazawa & Chinsuke Nakamura
6. Dramatic Dream Match: Danshoku Dino, Keisuke Ishii & Ken Ohka Vs Great Muta, Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo
7. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi (c) Vs Kota Umeda, Yuki Ueno & Koji Takeda
8. KO-D Tag Team Titles – Uchikomi! Presents: HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji (c) Vs Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi
9. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) Vs Shuji Ishikawa

I didn’t understand this until recently but Munenori Sawa’s ring name in DDT was changed to Ippanjin Munenori Sawa. The change is because when Sawa retired from pro wrestling he became an “ippanjin” (a normal person). So that’s why whenever he came back to perform on shows he would do so dressed as a salarayman instead of his regular wrestling gear. It will be funny if he stays like this in New Orleans next month.

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

1. Gota Ihashi 5 Match Series – 1st Battle: Gota Ihashi Vs Koji Kanemoto
2. DDT Extreme Title: Yuko Miyamoto (c) Vs X

Miyamoto is already in the Ryogoku Falls Count Anywhere Match at “JUDGEMENT 2018” so he cannot defend the DDT Extreme Title until the next Korakuen Hall show afterwards. Good thing that show is only happening a week later.

Gota Ihashi is going through a five match series to improve himself and show Riki Choshu that he isn’t the worst wrestler ever. I don’t think Choshu cares.


DDT “INTO THE FIGHT 2018” Results

February 25, 2018

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

0. Under Match: Mad Paulie defeated Tomomitsu Matsunaga with the Paulie Buster (6:32).
1. Tag Rumble: Soma Takao & MAO defeated Sanshiro Takagi & Super Sasadango Machine, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata, Makoto Oishi & Kota Umeda and Yuki Ueno & Koju Takeda (6:14).
1a. Makoto Oishi & Kota Umeda eliminated Yuki Ueno & Koju Takeda by Ring Out when Oishi threw Ueno out of the ring (2:06).
1b. Sanshiro Takagi & Super Sasadango Machine eliminated Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata by Ring Out when Sasadango threw Hirata out of the ring (5:00).
1c. Sanshiro Takagi & Super Sasadango Machine eliminated Makoto Oishi & Kota Umeda when Sasadango pinned Oishi after the Golden☆Trigger (5:32).
1d. Soma Takao & MAO eliminated Sanshiro Takagi & Super Sasadango Machine when MAO pinned Takagi with the Cannonball 450 (6:14).
2. Infomercial Match – Net One Systems Co., Ltd.: Danshoku Dino defeated Saki Akai, Akito, Antonio Honda, Kouki Iwasaki and Mizuki Watase when Dino pinned Honda with the Danshoku Driver (6:58).
3. Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo defeated Keisuke Ishii & Ken Ohka when Sasaki submitted Ohka with the Cross Facelock (8:01).
4. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi (c) defeated Ryuichi Sekine, Ryota Nakatsu & Fuminori Abe when Sakaguchi submitted Nakatsu with a Modified Arm Triangle (8:05).
*V2 for Shuten-dōji.
5. DDT Extreme Title – Hardcore +α Match: Yuko Miyamoto (c) defeated Shunma Katsumata with the Moonsault (11:45).
*V2 for Yuko Miyamoto.
6. Special Single Match: Naomichi Marufuji defeated Kazusada Higuchi with the Ko-oh (13:02).
7. Special Tag Match: Shuji Ishikawa & Daisuke Sekimoto defeated Konosuke Takeshita & HARASHIMA when Ishikawa pinned Takeshita with the Splash Mountain (18:04).

With exactly one month to go until “JUDGEMENT 2018” at Sumo Hall, some big preview matches were put together for Korakuen Hall. In the main event the KO-D Openweight Champion fought alongside one of the KO-D Tag Team Champions against some of their challengers. Konosuke Takeshita, HARASHIMA, Shuji Ishikawa and Daisuke Sekimoto fought back and forth until the match went down to just Takeshita and Ishikawa inside the ring. HARASHIMA and Sekimoto still got involved to break the pins but other than that they focused on fighting each other outside. Ishikawa used the Kamigoe to great effect and hit move after move on Takeshita until the Splash Mountain kept him down for the three count.

After the match Ishikawa told Takeshita he was certainly strong but the result of their match at Sumo Hall will be the same as it was today. He then asked Daisuke Sasaki if he could sing today. He knows both he and Mad Paulie are prohibited from karaoke and dancing celebrations until Sumo Hall but he did just pin the KO-D Champion. Surely that is worth a song. Sasaki refused until Sekimoto threatened him. Sekimoto wants to sing too! Together, Ishikawa and Sekimoto sang “Tonbo” in a duet while Paulie played the air guitar while wearing sunglasses.

The other KO-D Tag Team Title preview saw Naomichi Marufuji defeat Kazusada Higuchi. Higuchi was worn down by Marufuji’s chops and different kicks while his own moves weren’t enough to keep Marufuji down for long. Marufuji said Higuchi has grown better since than the last time they fought but it takes more than youth and momentum to succeed. Marufuji is in too deep for Higuchi to beat him! Higuchi says he is learning from these matches and now understands what he is missing. From now until Sumo Hall, Higuchi & Sekimoto will think about what they need to do to win the KO-D Tag Team Titles.

There were plenty of weapons placed around ringside for the DDT Extreme Title match but two items in particular were the most important. The Hardcore +α Match allowed both Yuko Miyamoto and Shunma Katsumata to choose an extra weapon each. Miyamoto chose a barbed wire bat and Katsumata chose a box full of thumbtacks! The two also fought with tables, ladders, chairs and bamboo swords. Katsumata poured out the thumbtacks but he was the first to taste them when he missed a Moonsault and was then given the Fire Thunder. Katsumata kicked out and later slammed Miyamoto onto the thumbtacks with the ¡Hasta La Vista!. Miyamoto kicked out of that. Miyamoto hit another Fire Thunder and this time got the victory with the Moonsault. Backstage Miyamoto said how surprised he was by Katsumata’s performance. He was expecing an idol performance first and he still wasn’t convinced when the thumbtacks came out. It was only when Katsumata started using the weapons that Miyamoto realised he was really bringing it to him. Katsumata thinks the experience opened something new inside him. He is no longer scared of deathmatches and has a new respect for deathmatch fighters. He hopes he can use what he learned here to do more with ALL OUT.

NEO Biishiki-gun were invited out halfway through the show to reveal their third member for the Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match at Sumo Hall. Saki-sama & Azusa Christie came out to introduce their newest member but Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh were also there to see who it was. The mystery person came out and it was a woman in a dress hiding her face behind a teddy bear. Christie introduced her as Saki-sama’s old childhood friend. She shyly greeted the audience while still hiding behind the bear. Itoh had enough and she shouted at the woman about her appearance until the teddy was lowered. The mystery woman is Yoshiko-sama! She attacked Itoh with the bear and dropped on her with a Senton. Yamashita pulled Itoh out of the ring and had to drag her away. The teddy bear is named Charlotte by the way.

The BASARA team were in sync for most of the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles bout. At one point Ryuichi Sekine, Ryota Nakatsu & Fuminori Abe had a Shuten-dōji wrestler all trapped in submissions move at the same time. Nakatsu came close to pinning Yukio Sakaguchi with a German Suplex. But the champions retained when Sakaguchi countered the V Slider into a Triangle Kimura Hold.

Shuten-dōji were grateful in victory but now they faced a problem. They want to fight the best trio in DDT at Sumo Hall but they are the best trio so they have no opponents. Much to their surprise Yuki Ueno and Koju Takeda both entered the ring. Ueno asked if they could get the title shot at Sumo Hall. Masahiro Takanashi couldn’t believe what he was hearing from the rookie and said it was impossible. Then in a bigger surprise, Kota Umeda offered to be on their team! Sakaguchi was fine with the idea but he told Umeda he would have to leave Shuten-dōji for the time being. Umeda was willing to do that. He later explained that by being fourth man in Shuten-dōji, he was always left out of the 6-Man Tag Title matches unless one of the other three were injured. He also created a respectful bond with Ueno from their matches together since coming back from injury. By leaving Shuten-dōji to team with Ueno & Takeda he is now free to challenge for the championships at Sumo Hall.

Daisuke Sasaki blinded Keisuke Ishii with the Mist then made Ken Ohka tap to the Cross Facelock. Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo’s victory was cut short when the room went dark. The Great Homo appeared and spat Milk Mist at both of the DAMNATION wrestlers! He then pressed a metal spike into Endo’s backside and gave him the Danshoku Driver. The Great Homo made his exit by spitting Milk Mist at the audience.

For the Infomercial Match, Danshoku Dino was fitted with health sensors that displayed his hit points on the Korakuen video screen. With this technology we were able to learn what moves were effective against Dino (Antonio Honda’s strikes) and how Dino was able to recover lost hit points (doing Danshoku things to Akito). Dino was eventually brought down to 0 HP but everyone discovered that at 0 HP, Dino goes into a panic state. In this state Dino attacked everyone with Lip Locks. Dino won the match and told the sponsor that there is something about pro wrestling that cannot be measured by numbers. He then kissed the sponsor.

Congratulations to Sanshiro Takagi & Super Sasadango Machine for being the first team to copy the new Golden Lovers moveset. They attempted the Croyt’s Wrath/High Kick combo on Makoto Oishi. It kind of worked. Then they used the Golden☆Trigger, which did work. All of their progress was for nothing as MAO immediately pinned Takagi with the Cannonball 450 afterwards to win the Tag Rumble for himself and Soma Takao.

When the Tag Rumble was over, MAO said he will be entering the Falls Count Anywhere In Ryogoku tag match with Mike Bailey. He said now is the time for Street Wrestling to be taken over by the new generation. Soma Takao also announced he will be part of the match with Yuko Miyamoto as his partner. They will be representing Smile Squash. Takagi accepted the entries but then the room went dark. A video played of Michael Nakazawa announcing his entry into the match! His partner is a friend from “New York” and he is in Korakuen tonight. “Rising Sun” played over the speakers and Chinsuke Nakamura came out! Takagi attacked Nakamura mid-entrance but got the Kinsasha for his troubles. Chinsuke threw Takagi over the top rope and out of the ring, then pointed to the RyogokuMania sign that suddenly appeared on one of the balconies. One last team announced their entry later in the show. Fuminori Abe called Isami Kodaka on the phone while standing in the ring to confirm they will be part of the match.

Mad Paulie’s size and weight was too large for Tomomitsu Matsunaga to handle. Matsunaga couldn’t lift Paulie with the Back Drop or a Power Bomb. Paulie was able to stop Matsunaga with a Lou Thesz Press then pinned him with the Paulie Buster.

Gota Ihashi continues his path of redemption with a new five match series beginning in April. His first opponent is Koji Kanemoto on 1st April. Ken Ohka explained that Ihashi is wrestling to the best of his abilities but that alone is not getting results. Ihashi has to face wrestlers on the level of Kanemoto if he wants to become good enough to appease Riki Choshu.

Saki Akai revealed three new pieces of information about her “DDT COLLECTION” show at Shinjuku FACE on 15th March. First, Aja Kong will be on the card. Second, there will be a 6 Way Match between Yuko Miyamoto, Ryota Nakatsu, Naomi Yoshimura, Yukio Sakaguchi, Nobuhiro Shimatani and Yoshiko. Last but not least, NEO Biishiki-gun will face T2HiJoshi in a special trios match.

DDT is collaborating with Koei Tecmo for the upcoming horse racing video game “Winning Post 8 2018”. The game will feature two race horses named after Danshoku Dino and Konosuke Takeshita.

The DDT Video Team confirmed their own produced event “BETAMANIA” will be held in Shin-Kiba 1st RING on 23rd April. The video team is made up of Yumehito Imanari, DT-YUTA and Ryohei Fukuda. All three will participate in a match on the show.

Below is the updated card for “JUDGEMENT 2018”.

DDT “JUDGEMENT 2018 ~DDT 21ST ANNIVERSARY~”, 25/03/2018
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

0. Under Match: Kouki Iwasaki & Shinichiro Tominaga Vs Kenshin Chikano & Akira Jo
0. Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match: Yuka Sakazaki & Shoko Nakajima Va Rika Tatsumi & Maho Kurone
0. Under Match: Mizuki Watase, Rekka, Daiki Shimomura, Nobuhiro Shimatani & Takato Nakano Vs Mad Paulie, Hoshitango, Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Gota Ihashi & Cherry
1. Gauntlet Tag Match: LiLiCo & Makoto Oishi Vs Reika Saiki & Lady Beard Vs Akito & Shunma Katsumata Vs Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata Vs Antonio Honda & Ethan Page Vs Naomi Yoshimura & Keisuke Okuda
2. Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match – Special 6-Woman Tag Match: Miyu Yamashita, Maki Ito & Mizuki Vs Saki-sama, Yoshiko-sama & Azusa Christie
3. World Crazy Wrestler No. 1 Decision Battle In DDT: Joey Ryan Vs Colt Cabana
4. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Super Sasadango Machine (c) Vs Jiro Kuroshio
5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi (c) Vs Kota Umeda, Yuki Ueno & Koji Takeda
6. Street Wrestling Using The Entire Ryogoku Building ~ Falls Count Anywhere 5 Way Tag Match: Sanshiro Takagi & Normal Person Munenori Sawa Vs Mike Bailey & MAO Vs Yuko Miyamoto & Soma Takao Vs Isami Kodaka & Fuminori Abe Vs Michael Nakazawa & Chinsuke Nakamura
7. Dramatic Dream Match: Danshoku Dino, Keisuke Ishii & Ken Ohka Vs Great Muta, Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo
8. KO-D Tag Team Titles – Uchikomi! Presents: HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji (c) Vs Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi
9. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) Vs Shuji Ishikawa


Barbwire Bat Vs Thumbtacks, Hiroshi Discovers Yoga, DNA Super Tag Tournament

February 22, 2018

DDT “INTO THE FIGHT 2018”, 25/02/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

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

Each participant in the Hardcore +α Match will get to bring a particular weapon with them into the ring to start the match. Yuko Miyamoto picked a barbed wire baseball bat. Shunma Katsumata chose a bag of thumbtacks. The winner of the match will defend the DDT Extreme Title on the 1st April Korakuen Hall show.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “LET’S GO! GO! IF YOU GO! WHEN YOU GO! IF YOU GET LOST JUST GO TO SEIJO!”, 03/03/2018
Tokyo Seijo Hall

1. Yuka Sakazaki & Riku Vs Hinano & Miu
2. Rika Tatsumi Vs Hikari
3. Shoko Nakajima & Rika Tatsumi Vs Maki Ito & Yuki Kamifuku
4. Miyu Yamashita & Mizuki Vs Maho Kurone & Marika Kobashi
5. TOKYO Princess Tag Team Titles: Saki-sama & Azusa Christie (c) Vs Yuu & Nodoka-oneesan

Yuna Manase will have an operation in March to remove a clavicle plate on her collarbone. She originally had the plate inserted to treat a fractured collarbone injury. Her doctor advised her to get it removed as soon as possible after her TOKYO Princess Title match last Sunday. The recovery time is two months so she is scheduled to return to the ring on the 3rd May Tokyo Joshi Pro show at Korakuen Hall.

BASARA “VAJRA 61 ~SEISHUN SUIKODEN~”, 03/03/2018
Tokyo Seijo Hall

1. Daichi Kazato & Hiroshi Kondo Vs Kazuhiro Tamura & Daiki Shimomura
2. Great Reversal Pro Wrestling Trial “Suspect Sanshiro Takagi”: Gouma Ryu Vs Hercules Senga Vs Sanshiro Takagi
3. Ryuichi Sekine & Yuji Hino Vs Takato Nakano & Akiyori Takizawa
4. Doctor! Hardcore Cans 6-Man Tag Match: FUMA, Yusuke Kubo & SAGAT Vs Takumi Tsukamoto, Masashi Takeda & Yasu Urano
5. BASARA Three Major Single Match: Trans-Am ★ Ryuichi Vs Fuminori Abe
6. BASARA Three Major Single Match: Ryota Nakatsu Vs Manabu Hara
7. Union MAX Title – BASARA Three Major Single Match: Isami Kodaka (c) Vs Tsutomu Oosugi

Normally Isami Kodaka wouldn’t be worried to fight against someone like Tsutomu Oosugi. He only lost to Oosugi in the IRON FIST TAG TOURNAMENT because of a missed attack by his partner for the match Yoshihisa Uto. However, ever since then Kodaka’s neck has been feeling stiff and he’s been sleeping rough because of it. It’s ironic that he’s fighting a masseur then, isn’t it? Regardless, Kodaka wants to fight Oosugi the pro wrestler. Not Oosugi the Best Stretch masseur or even the Oosugi from Speed Of Sounds. Kodaka wants Oosugi to be as selfish in the ring as he is for this match. Oosugi is in an odd position because he rarely wrestles in singles matches.

Ryota Nakatsu mentioned that he wanted a match against someone so dangerous that it could result in the end of his career. Manabu Hara answered the challenge and joked that Nakatsu can request a different opponent if he’s too scared. Nakatsu didn’t take the comment well and will be ready to fight Hara.

Trans-Am ★ Ryuichi is threatening to crush Fuminori Abe with the Justice Punch. Abe thinks there are too many Americans in BASARA and too many horizontal letters that comes with them. It is up to Abe to protect Japan for the spirits that have protected people like him.

Trans-Am ★ Hiroshi will travel to India in March to study yoga and acquire certification from the National Yoga Alliance. Hiroshi said last year he turned 30 years old and in that time he was infected with three diseases and suffered from shoulder dislocation, cecum pain and gout. Through yoga he was able to heal himself from those ailments when scientific treatments could not.

DNA “DNA 42”, 07/03/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

1. Ethan Page Vs Tomoya Hirata
2. 1st Sanshiro Takagi DNA SUPER TAG TOURNAMENT – Round 1A: MAO & Rising HAYATO Vs Choun-Shiryu & Rekka
3. 1st Sanshiro Takagi DNA SUPER TAG TOURNAMENT – Round 1B: Daiki Shimomura & Nobuhiro Shimatani Vs Naomi Yoshimura & Akiro Jo
4. 1st Sanshiro Takagi DNA SUPER TAG TOURNAMENT – Round 1C: Keisuke Okuda & Kengo Vs Yuki Ueno & Koju Takeda
5. 1st Sanshiro Takagi DNA SUPER TAG TOURNAMENT – Round 1D: Kouki Iwasaki & X Vs Kota Umeda & Shunma Katsumata
6. Mizuki Watase Vs Minoru Tanaka

Ethan Page makes his DNA debut here.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “LET’S GO! GO! IF YOU GO! WHEN YOU GO! IF YOU GET LOST JUST GO TO YOKOHAMA!”, 10/03/2018
Yokohama Radiant Hall

1. TOKYO Princess Of Princess Title: Miyu Yamashita (c) Vs Maho Kurone

The zombie girl Maho Kurone is next in line for a title shot.

DDT “JUDGEMENT 2018 ~DDT 21ST ANNIVERSARY~”, 25/03/2018
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Special 6-Woman Tag Match: Miyu Yamashita, Maki Ito & Mizuki Vs Saki-sama, Azusa Christie & X
2. Street Wrestling Using The Entire Ryogoku Building ~ Falls Count Anywhere: Sanshiro Takagi & Munenori Sawa Vs X & X
3. World Crazy Wrestler No. 1 Decision Battle In DDT: Joey Ryan Vs Colt Cabana
4. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Super Sasadango Machine (c) Vs Jiro Kuroshio
5. Dramatic Dream Match: Danshoku Dino, Keisuke Ishii & Ken Ohka Vs Great Muta, Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo
6. KO-D Tag Team Titles – Uchikomi! Presents: HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji (c) Vs Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi
7. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) Vs Shuji Ishikawa

For the first time Tokyo Joshi Pro’s Offer Match will be on the main card of a DDT Sumo Hall show. No clues yet on who could the third woman on the NEO Biishiki-gun team will be but there is plenty of time left for that to be revealed.

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

1. 1st Sanshiro Takagi DNA SUPER TAG TOURNAMENT – Semi-Final: Winners Of Match 1A Vs Winners Of Match 1B
2. 1st Sanshiro Takagi DNA SUPER TAG TOURNAMENT – Semi-Final: Winners Of Match 1C Vs Winners Of Match 1D
3. 1st Sanshiro Takagi DNA SUPER TAG TOURNAMENT – Final: X & X Vs X & X

The tag tournament is now named after Sanshiro Takagi. The name suggests it will also be an annual competition.


DDT In February, Sumo Hall Street Wrestling Returns

February 8, 2018

DDT “YOKOHAMA TWILIGHT 2018 ~KISARAGI~”, 10/02/2018
Yokohama Radiant Hall

1. Kota Umeda Vs Yuki Ueno
2. Akito, Rekka & Samara Vs Kikutaro, Antonio Honda & Kazuki Hirata
3. 3 Way Match: KUDO Vs Toru Owashi Vs Daiki Shimomura
4. Danshoku Dino & Keisuke Ishii Vs Daisuke Sasaki & Mad Paulie
5. HARASHIMA, Soma Takao & Makoto Oishi Vs Kazusada Higuchi, Kouki Iwasaki & MAO
6. Shuten-dōji Vs BASARA!: Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi Vs Ryota Nakatsu & Fuminori Abe
7. Road To KO-D! ‘Hama Special Tag Match: Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata Vs Shuji Ishikawa & Tetsuya Endo

Makoto Oishi and MAO are on opposite sides of a trios match again.

After being at each others throats last week, Kota Umeda and Yuki Ueno are getting a singles match together to solve their differences.

DDT “TSUYUHASHI AGAIN IN NAGOYA 2018”, 12/02/2018
Nagoya City Robashi Sports Center

1. Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata Vs Masahiro Takanashi, Antonio Honda & Samara
2. Naomi Yoshimura & Keisuke Okuda Vs Kazusada Higuchi & Yuki Ueno
3. 3 Way Match: Tetsuya Endo Vs Soma Takao Vs MAO
4. KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Kota Umeda Vs Danshoku Dino, Keisuke Ishii & Kouki Iwasaki
5. No. 1 In DDT Men’s Battle: HARASHIMA Vs Mizuki Watase
6. Road To KO-D! Nagoya, Love Specialty 6-Man Tag Match: Konosuke Takeshita, Akito & Shunma Katsumata Vs Daisuke Sasaki, Shuji Ishikawa & Mad Paulie

ALL OUT Vs DAMNATION continues while the Naomi Kingdom finds itself on a DDT show.

DDT “DRAMATIC AGE♂AGE♂AGEO♂”, 18/02/2018
Saitama Ageo Kousya

1. Daiki Shimomura Vs Yuki Ueno
2. 3 Way Match: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Antonio Honda Vs Naomi Yoshimura
3. KUDO, Masahiro Takanashi & Kouki Iwasaki Vs Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Makoto Oishi
4. Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie Vs Danshoku Dino & Mizuki Watase
5. Konosuke Takeshita, Akito & Shunma Katsumata Vs Yukio Sakaguchi, Kota Umeda & Rekka
6. Ageo Specialty! Daikoku Special Tag Match: HARASHIMA & Keisuke Ishii Vs Kazusada Higuchi & MAO

The result of Daiki Shimomura Vs Yuki Ueno will be interesting since both wrestlers have a very poor win-loss record. Can Ueno surpass his senior already?

DDT “INTO THE FIGHT 2018”, 25/02/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

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

There is a lot to take in here for the last major DDT show before “JUDGEMENT 2018”. The two big Sumo Hall matches are blended together for the main event, Kazusada Higuchi gets to fight Naomichi Marufuji one on one and Shunma Katsumata gets a DDT Extreme Title shot. DAMNATION and Danshoku Dino’s buddies face off before The Great Muta arrives. The Tag Rumble might also give some clues to who will take part in the Ryogoku Falls Count Anywhere Match.

Shuten-dōji called for challengers in DDT’s other promotions and BASARA answered the call. Ryuichi Sekine, Ryota Nakatsu & Fuminori Abe were selected by Isami Kodaka and Producer Dino to challenge for for the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles.

The Infomercial Match will this time promote an IT network corporation. It sounds like an excuse for Dino to get somebody to solve his computer problems without paying for it.

DDT “JUDGEMENT 2018 ~DDT 21ST ANNIVERSARY~”, 25/03/2018
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. World Crazy Wrestler No. 1 Decision Battle In DDT: Joey Ryan Vs Colt Cabana
2. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Super Sasadango Machine (c) Vs Jiro Kuroshio
3. Street Wrestling Using The Entire Ryogoku Building ~ Falls Count Anywhere: Sanshiro Takagi & Munenori Sawa Vs X & X
4. Dramatic Dream Match: Danshoku Dino, Keisuke Ishii & Ken Ohka Vs Great Muta, Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo
5. KO-D Tag Team Titles – Uchikomi! Presents: HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji (c) Vs Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi
6. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) Vs Shuji Ishikawa

After the emotional reunion between Sanshiro Takagi & Munenori Sawa that was unlike anything else at all that happened the week before, the two are putting together the traditional Falls Count Anywhere Match that will spread throughout all of Sumo Hall, inside and out. They want the best opponents to answer their challenge. What surprises will be in store for them?


JUDGEMENT 2018 Begins To Shape Up, Sasadango’s Product Placement

January 30, 2018

DDT “DRAMATIC NERIMA THE FIGHTER 2018”, 03/02/2018
Tokyo Nerima Coconeri Hall

1. Ken Ohka Vs Gota Ihashi
2. Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie Vs Kouki Iwasaki & Mizuki Watase
3. Joey Ryan & Samara Vs Antonio Honda & Kazuki Hirata
4. Yukio Sakaguchi, Masahiro Takanashi & Kota Umeda Vs Yuki Ueno, Koju Takeda & Nobuhiro Shimatani
5. HARASHIMA & Soma Takao Vs Kazusada Higuchi & MAO
6. Konosuke Takeshita, Akito & Shunma Katsumata Vs Toru Owashi, Keisuke Ishii & Makoto Oishi
7. Hero Of Nerima! Triumph In Nerima! Nerima Specialty Special Single Match: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Danshoku Dino
8. DDT Extreme Title – Hardcore Match: Yuko Miyamoto (c) Vs KUDO

A public press conference to promote “JUDGEMENT 2018” will be held during the show.

Shunma Katsumata is the newest member of ALL OUT but his first match as part of the group sees him battle his former NωA partner Makoto Oishi.

DDT “DDT STILL DOES NOT KNOW GUNMA 2018”, 04/02/2018
Gunma Yamada Green Dome Maebashi Sub Event Area

1. Shunma Katsumata Vs Daiki Shimomura
2. Danshoku Dino, Keisuke Ishii & Mizuki Watase Vs Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata
3. Gongitsune Vs Former Idol Wrestler!: Antonio Honda Vs Makoto Oishi
4. KUDO & Kota Umeda Vs MAO & Yuki Ueno
5. HARASHIMA & Soma Takao Vs Kazusada Higuchi & Kouki Iwasaki
6. 3 Way Tag Match: Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo Vs Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi Vs Joey Ryan & Samara
7. The Mountain Of Akagi Is Far Tonight! Maebashi Specialty Tag Match: Konosuke Takeshita & Akito Vs Shuji Ishikawa & Mad Paulie

Expect ALL OUT Vs DAMNATION to be the focus for DDT’s main event scene throughout February. Not only because of the upcoming Sumo Hall main event but ALL OUT will want revenge on DAMNATION for the attack at Korakuen Hall this past weekend.

YAROZ “YAROZ PART 6”, 06/02/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

1. We Appeal Sanshiro Takagi!: Sanshiro Takagi & Toru Owashi Vs Yumehito Imanari & DT-YUTA
2. YaroZ Specialty! Kickboxing Match: Nobuhiro Shimatani Vs Kohei Sato
3. YaroZ Specialty! Special 4 Way Match: Danshoku Dino Vs Antonio Honda Vs Ryuichi Sekine Vs Kikutaro
4. Worldwide Greatest Funny YaroZ Diva Tag Match: Samara & Saori Anou Vs Cherry & Nao Kakuta
5. Naomi Kingdom (YaroZ) Vs BOYZ All Out Fight! One: Naomi Yoshimura & Akira Jo Vs Akito & Kazuki Hirata
6. Naomi Kingdom (YaroZ) Vs BOYZ All Out Fight! Two: Kazusada Higuchi, Ken Ohka & X Vs Makoto Oishi, Mizuki Watase & X

The kickboxing match will consist of 45 one minute rounds until there is a winner. Gravure model Shihomi Yoshino will be the ring girl. However what usually happens is the ring girl’s presence motivates everyone except the fighters in the match. Also Kohei Sato looks like the kind of person who would literally get away with murder so good luck Nobuhiro Shimatani!

DDT “JUDGEMENT 2018 ~DDT 21ST ANNIVERSARY~”, 25/03/2018
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. World Crazy Wrestler No. 1 Decision Battle In DDT: Joey Ryan Vs Colt Cabana
2. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Super Sasadango Machine (c) Vs Jiro Kuroshio
3. Dramatic Dream Match: Danshoku Dino, Keisuke Ishii & Ken Ohka Vs Great Muta, Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo
4. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) Vs Shuji Ishikawa

The D-King Grand Prix is done and dusted so now we move on to the next big event, DDT’s 21st Anniversary show. Konosuke Takeshita and Shuji Ishikawa headlines the event in a rematch from “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2016”. The situation now is similar to back then. Takeshita is the defending KO-D Openweight Champion and Ishikawa is the unstoppable giant coming to reclaim the belt.

Daisuke Sasaki claims that The Great Muta agreed to become a DAMNATION pet. Probably not the best idea for Sasaki to put words in his mouth.

Super Sasadango Machine has been ordered to defend the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title at least twice a week every week until “JUDGEMENT 2018” takes place. If he fails to do this then Producer Danshoku Dino will turn his match with Jiro Kuroshio into a non-title match. Sasadango has come up with an idea to rack up his title defences. He has openly invited local celebrities and other personalities to visit his office in Niigata to try and win the Iron Man Title from him. In return he will use his and DDT’s Twitter accounts to promote whatever it is the guests are currently working on. If Sasadango kicks out of their attack and escapes the room then it counts as a successful defence. The plan is off to a good start and he already achieved his minimum two defences for this week earlier today.

The list of booked wrestlers who are yet to have a confirmed match are Naomichi Marufuji, Daisuke Sekimoto, Mike Bailey, Ethan Page, LiLiCo, Yoshiko, Keisuke Okuda, Reika Saiki and Lady Beard.


This Weekend’s Line Ups, Team Dino Vs Team Muta

January 19, 2018

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “LET’S GO! GO! IF YOU GO! WHEN YOU GO! IF YOU GET LOST JUST GO TO THE PRINCE!”, 20/01/2018
Tokyo BASEMENT MON☆STAR

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

Time for the other brands to get some attention while DDT rests after their D-King Grand Prix tour.

GANBARE☆WRESTLING “TRY ME 2018”, 20/01/2018
Tokyo BASEMENT MON☆STAR

1. Shuhei Washida Debut Match: Shuhei Washida Vs X
2. Special Single Match: Yukihiro Abe Vs Space Galaxy Warrior Andros
3. America Vs India! Ganpuro Special International In Ōji: Shota Vs Brian Aki
4. New Spring Special Mixed Tag Match ~ Ganpuro Vs Last Jedi: Shinichiro Tominaga & HARUKAZE Vs Chikara & Kaori Kobayashi
5. Ganbare☆Wrestling Vs Katsumura-gun: Ken Ohka & Yumehito Imanari Vs Shuichiro Katsumura & Takeshi Okada

Space Galaxy Warrior Andros takes Gota Ihashi’s spot on the card after Ihashi pulled himself out.

DNA “DNA 40”, 21/01/2018
Saitama Kawaguchi Industrial Technology Center

1. Mike Bailey Vs Tomoya Hirata
2. Shunma Katsumata Vs Rekka
3. Mizuki Watase Vs Antonio Honda
4. Yuki Ueno & Koju Takeda Vs Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie
5. Daiki Shimomura Local Triumph! Gran MilliMeters Vs Speed Of Sounds: Daiki Shimomura & Nobuhiro Shimatani Vs Hercules Senga & Tsutomu Oosugi
6. DNA-Gun Vs Yoshimura-gun Full Confrontation Elimination 6-Man Tag Match: Kota Umeda, Kouki Iwasaki & MAO Vs Naomi Yoshimura, Keisuke Okuda & Akira Jo

The first DNA show of the year sees the regular guys take on Naomi Yoshimura and his fellow bullies.

BASARA “VAJRA 58 ~THE FOX OF THE PRINCE~”, 21/01/2018
Tokyo BASEMENT MON☆STAR

1. Isami Kodaka Vs Takato Nakano
2. SAGAT Vs Tsutomu Oosugi
3. Reversal Pro Wrestling Trial: Gouma Ryu Vs Hercules Senga Vs Guts Ishijima
4. FUMA, Trans-Am ★ Ryuichi & Yusuke Kubo Vs Takumi Tsukamoto, Yasu Urano & Daichi Kazato
5. Ryuichi Sekine Debut 10th Anniversary Memorial Match – 60 Minute Iron Man Match: Ryuichi Sekine Vs Ryota Nakatsu

Ryuichi Sekine’s 10th Anniversary match is now an Ironman match! He and Ryota Nakatsu will duke it out for 60 minutes, most victories in that time determines who wins.

DDT “JUDGEMENT 2018 ~DDT 21ST ANNIVERSARY~”, 25/03/2018
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. Residents Of Shinjuku Ni-chōme Vs Inhabitants Of The Demon World Special 6-Man Tag Match: Danshoku Dino, X & X Vs Great Muta, X & X

Danshoku Dino promised a big announcement for the show would be found in the latest issue of Weekly Pro-Wrestling magazine. It turned out to be the reveal of Dino Vs Great Muta in a 6-Man Tag Team Match with more participants to be announced. The team names seems to offer some clues. Dino’s team is the Residents Of Shinjuku Ni-chōme. That is the area where DDT’s head office is located so I’m guessing his partners are wrestlers with other behind the scene responsibilities like Sanshiro Takagi and Super Sasadango Machine. The Great Muta’s team are hinted as other demonic gimmicks. Whether or not these are already established characters or just regular wrestlers taking up Muta tributes for the occasion remains to be seen.

The list of non-DDT and foreign wrestlers confirmed for the show so far are Naomichi Marufuji, Daisuke Sekimoto, Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio, Shuji Ishikawa, Mike Bailey, Joey Ryan, Colt Cabana and LiLiCo.


2017 Ends, 2018 Begins!

December 27, 2017

BASARA “ISAMI KODAKA PRO WRESTLING ~ THE THIRD SHINJUKU STRONGEST GROUND BUDOKAI”, 28/12/2017
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Shinjuku Strongest Ground Budokai – Round 1: Naoki Tanizaki Vs Isami Kodaka
2. Shinjuku Strongest Ground Budokai – Round 1: Yuko Miyamoto Vs Colt Cabana
3. Shinjuku Strongest Ground Budokai – Round 1: Akito Vs Fuminori Abe
4. Shinjuku Strongest Ground Budokai – Round 1: Yasu Urano Vs Riho
5. Shinjuku Strongest Ground Budokai – Round 2: Ayako Hamada Vs Winner Of Match #1
6. Shinjuku Strongest Ground Budokai – Round 2: Hideki Suzuki Vs Winner Of Match #2
7. Shinjuku Strongest Ground Budokai – Semi Final: Winner Of Match #3 Vs Winner Of Match #5
8. Shinjuku Strongest Ground Budokai – Semi Final: Winner Of Match #4 Vs Winner Of Match #6
9. BASARA Offer Match: Trans-Am ★ Ryuchi, SAGAT, FUMA, Yusuke Kubo & Hagane Vs Takumi Tsukamoto, Ryuichi Sekine, Ryota Nakatsu, Daichi Kazato & Takato Nakano
10. Shinjuku Strongest Ground Budokai – Final: X Vs X

Only a few days remain for 2017 but the Japanese wrestling scene still has a lot to offer, even during the final countdown.

BASARA runs Korakuen Hall for the latest Shinjuku Strongest Ground Budokai tournament, a concept Isami Kodaka must have came up with after binging on Dragon Ball.

There will be no ring ropes attached for all the matches in Rounds 1 & 2. Pins, submissions and ring outs are the valid ways to win. The ropes come back on for the semi finals and final. The Ring Out rule is still active for that. The final will be a normal match but with no countouts.

DDT “DAMNATION ILLEGAL GATHERING VOL. 2”, 30/12/2017
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Dick Togo & X Vs Colt Cabana & Antonio Honda
2. Costume Change Battle Royal: HARASHIMA Vs Soma Takao Vs Saki Akai Vs Yuki Ueno Vs Ryuichi Sekine Vs Man Man Kai Kind Vs Ken Ohka
3. Special Tag Match: Tetsuya Endo & Masashi Takeda Vs Konosuke Takeshita & Masato Tanaka
4. Runaway Gigantic Combination V Baka Brothers! Special Tag Match: Shuji Ishikawa & Suwama Vs Brahman Shu & Brahman Kei
5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi Vs Paulies
6. DDT Extreme Title ~Something Other Than Current Blast Rules~: Daisuke Sasaki (c) Vs Yuko Miyamoto

DAMNATION made Nobuhiro Shimatani reveal the full card backstage at last week’s Ganbare☆Wrestling show. He couldn’t believe half the matches that were on the list.

Daisuke Sasaki wanted to defend the DDT Extreme Title in some sort of Explosion Death Match. He wants this because the challenger Yuko Miyamoto is the current (pun not intended) Blast King Champion. The demand was declined by Danshoku Dino because the use of fire and explosions in wrestling matches are banned in Korakuen Hall. Sasaki threatened to cancel the entire show over this but he and Dino agreed to come up with another stipulation.

An entire team of Mad Paulies will challenge for the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles.

A DAMNATION Festival event will be held before the show starts. The injured DNA wrestler Suguru Miyatake is only announced guest for the event so far.

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

1. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1A: Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi Vs Ryota Hama & Soma Takao
2. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1B: Kazuki Hashimoto & Akito Vs Kota Sekifuda & Ryota Nakatsu
3. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1C: Antonio Honda & Takuya Nomura Vs Brahman Shu or Brahman Kei & Daisuke Sasaki
4. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1D: Danshoku Dino & Daichi Hashimoto Vs Keisuke Ishii & Takayuki Ueki
5. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1E: HARASHIMA & Yuko Miyamoto Vs Yukio Sakaguchi & Yuya Aoki
6. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1F: Masahiro Takanashi & Tatsuhiko Yoshino Vs Isami Kodaka & Yoshihisa Uto
7. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1G: Minoru Fujita & Shunma Katsumata Vs Abdullah Kobayashi & Colt Cabana
8. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1H: Great Kojika & Tetsuya Koda Vs Hideki Suzuki & Konosuke Takeshita
9. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 2: Winners Of Match 1A Vs Winners Of Match 1B
10. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 2: Winners Of Match 1C Vs Winners Of Match 1D
11. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 2: Winners Of Match 1E Vs Winners Of Match 1F
12. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 2: Winners Of Match 1G Vs Winners Of Match 1H
13. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Semi Final: BJW X & DDT X Vs BJW X & DDT X
14. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Semi Final: BJW X & DDT X Vs BJW X & DDT X
15. TAKA Michinoku 25th Anniversary Match: TAKA Michinoku, Dick Togo, Ryuji Ito & Sanshiro Takagi Vs Kotaro Yoshino, Dinosaur Takuma, Kazumi Kikuta & MAO
16. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Final: BJW X & DDT X Vs BJW X & DDT X

DDT and Big Japan celebrate the new year with the final matches of 2017 and first matches of 2018. The first two rounds have 10 minute time limits and the semi-finals have 15 minute time limits. Matches that ended in a time limit draw go into sudden death overtime where a 1 count pin is all that is needed to win the match. The final has no time limit.

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

0. Dark Match: Kouki Iwasaki & Rekka Vs Mizuki Watase & Daiki Shimomura
1. Akito Vs Yuki Ueno
2. Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo Vs Colt Cabana & Antonio Honda
3. New Year’s Beginning Rumble: Sanshiro Takagi Vs Super Sasadango Machine Vs Keisuke Ishii Vs Nobuhiro Shimatani Vs Mad Paulie Vs Hoshitango Vs Gorgeous Matsuno Vs Tomomitsu Matsunaga Vs Gota Ihashi Vs Joey Ryan
4. Infomercial Match – “LADY NINJA: A Blue Shadow” Movie: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai Vs Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Veda Scott (Special Guset: Mai Hakase)
5. NωA, If You Lose Immediately Withdraw Your Dissolution Special: Danshoku Dino, Brahman Shu & Brahman Kei Vs Makoto Oishi, Shunma Katsumata & MAO
6. Road To D-King GP Special Special Single Match: Soma Takao Vs Masahiro Takanashi
7. Road To D-King GP Special 6-Man Tag Match: Konosuke Takeshita, Mike Bailey & Shuji Ishikawa Vs HARASHIMA, Kazusada Higuchi & Jiro Kuroshio

The last previews for the D-King Grand Prix tournament take place here.

Danshoku Dino is refusing to let NωA split up and leave their idol careers behind. This time he is bringing in the Brahman Brothers to help him do his dirty work. NωA needs to beat them so they can earn Dino’s permission to break up.

Yukio Sakaguchi and Saki Akai have cameos in the new Lady Ninja movie so DDT is promoting the film in their latest Infomercial Match. The star of the movie Mai Hakase will be at ringside for the match.

As part of the new year celebrations, a calligrapher named Nachu will paint different messages on the backs of the wrestlers entering the New Year’s Rumble. What the wrestlers don’t know is the messages will be instructions of what they cannot do during the match. If they get caught doing whatever they are not supposed to do they will be eliminated.

Shigehiro Irie is not on the show because he is leaving for another overseas excursion that day. There is no set time for how long he will be gone for.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “TOKYO JOSHI PRO ’18”, 04/01/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

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

The Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title is no longer held by Miyu Yamashita so the main event’s focus is back on the TOKYO Princess Title.

Musician Hidekazu Tanaka will be the special guest ring announcer for the show. Basically his works appear on a whole bunch of idol video games and anime shows.

BASARA “VAJRA 55 ~FEAST~”, 06/01/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

1. Takato Nakano Vs Akiyori Takizawa
2. Reversal Pro Wrestling Trial: Gouma Ryu Vs Hercules Senga Vs Tsutomu Oosugi
3. Ryota Nakatsu & Daichi Kazato Vs Manabu Hara & Daiki Shimomura
4. Ryuichi Sekine Vs Fuminori Abe
5. New Year Elimination 8-Man Tag Match: Isami Kodaka, Tank Nagai, Takumi Tsukamoto & Yasu Urano Vs Trans-Am ★ Ryuichi, FUMA, Yusuke Kubo & SAGAT

One of the longest running storielines happening in BASARA this year is the relationship between the Speed Of Sounds tag team. When Hercules Senga went out of action with an injury, his partner Tsutomu Oosugi decided to team up with Best Stretchman V3. When Senga came back he thought Oosugi was being forced to team with Stretchman against his will and did whatever he could to beat the team and split them up. It’s now gotten so awkward that the wrestling lawyer Gouma Ryu is getting involved and the situation has to go to court!

BASARA “VAJRA 56 ~OSAKA WINTER TEAM AND PEOPLE~”, 08/01/2018
Osaka Hirano Community Hall

1. Reversal Pro Wrestling Trial: Gouma Ryu Vs Atsushi Maruyama Vs Kuishinbo Kamen

Trans-Am ★ Ryuichi, Yasu Urano, HUB, Naoki Tanizaki, Manabu Hara and Fuminori Abe will all be on the show.

BASARA “VAJRA 57 ~OSHU KAIMICHI~”, 14/01/2018
Sendai City Miyagino Ward Cultural Center

1. Isami Kodaka, Ryuichi Sekine & Ryota Nakatsu Vs FUMA, Yusuke Kubo & SAGAT
2. Special Single Match: Takumi Tsukamoto Vs Yasu Urano

Masamune, Tsutomu Oosugi, Hercules Senga and Fuminori Abe will all be on the show.

GANBARE☆WRESTLING “TRY ME 2018”, 20/01/2018
Tokyo BASEMENT MON☆STAR

1. Shuhei Washida Debut Match: Shuhei Washida Vs X
2. America Vs India! Ganpuro Special International In Ōji: Shota Vs Baliyan Akki
3. New Spring Special Mixed Tag Match ~ Ganpuro Vs Last Jedi: Ken Ohka & HARUKAZE Vs Chikara & Kaori Kobayashi

Baliyan Akki returns to Ganpuro after impressing everyone with his match back in November. This time he isn’t auditioning for Ganbare The Great so he should be free to be more like himself.

DDT “JUDGEMENT 2018 ~DDT 21ST ANNIVERSARY~”, 25/03/2018
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

The latest cast of guests appearing on the show are Naomichi Marufuji, Daisuke Sekimoto, Jiro Kuroshio, Shuji Ishikawa, Mike Bailey, Joey Ryan, Colt Cabana and LiLiCo.


DDT “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017 ~PETER PAN EVEN IF YOU BECOME 20 YEARS OLD PETER PAN~” Results

August 20, 2017

DDT “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017 ~PETER PAN EVEN IF YOU BECOME 20 YEARS OLD PETER PAN~”, 20/08/2017
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
5,900 Fans – Super No Vacancy

0. Street Pro Wrestling Extra Edition! Gota Ihashi Ryogoku 5 Game Series: Gota Ihashi (c) Vs Mad Paulie, Gorgeous Matsuno, Dai Suzuki, Rocky Kawamura & Lingerie Muto ended 2-3.
0a. King Of Dark Title: Gota Ihashi (c) defeated Dai Suzuki with a Body Press (0:36).
*Gota Ihashi passes D3. Dai Suzuki becomes the 20th King Of Dark Champion.
0b. Gota Ihashi defeated Gorgeous Matsuno with a Body Press (3:31).
0c. Mad Paulie defeated Gota Ihashi with a Lou Thesz Press (4:35).
0d. Rocky Kawamura defeated Gota Ihashi with the Balboa Blow (1:23).
0e. Lingerie Muto defeated Gota Ihashi with the Shining Wizard (1:36).
0. Dark Match: Mizuki Watase, Rekka, Diego & Daiki Shimomura defeated Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Hoshitango, Nobuhiro Shimatani & Masato Kamino when Watase pinned Kamino with the Back Drop (6:23).
0. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Battle Royal: Yuu defeated Tetsuya Koda (c), Miyu Yamashita, Shoko Nakajima, Yuka Sakazaki, Nonoko, Rika Tatsumi, Azusa Takigawa, Nodoka-oneesan, Maho Kurone, Marika Kobashi, Yuna Manase, Mizuki and Cherry (16:46).
0a. Nodoka-oneesan and Nonoko eliminated Cherry by Pinfall when Cherry tripped over Tetsuya Koda (3:17).
0b. Nodoka-oneesan eliminated Tetsuya Koda (c) by Pinfall (4:52).
*Nodoka-oneesan becomes the 1,625th champion.
0c. Yuka Sakazaki and eliminated Nonoko and Yuna Manase by Ring Out (5:01).
0d. Mizuki eliminated Nodoka-oneesan (c) with the Cutie Special (6:47).
*Mizuki becomes the 1,626th champion.
0e. Maho Kurone eliminated Marika Kobashi by Ring Out (10:04).
0f. Rika Tatsumi eliminated Maho Kurone by Ring Out (10:43).
0g. Yuka Sakazaki and Shoko Nakajima eliminated Rika Tatsumi with a Sunset Flip & Jackknife Pin Combo (11:40).
0h. Yuu eliminated Miyu Yamashita by Ring Out (13:04).
0i. Mizuki (c) eliminated Yuka Sakazaki and Shoko Nakajima by Ring Out (13:28).
*V1 and V2 for Mizuki.
0j. Yuu eliminated Azusa Takigawa with a Sidewalk Slam (14:53).
0k. Yuu eliminated Mizuki (c) with the Katahajime (16:46).
*Yuu becomes the 1,267th champion.
1. Yuki Ino Debut Match: Naomi Yoshimura & Yuki Ueno defeated Kouki Iwasaki & Yuki Ino when Yoshimura pinned Ino with the Shonenba (10:49).
2. KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Titles: Makoto Oishi, LiLiCo, Lady Beard, Super Sasadango Machine & Ken Ohka defeated Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata, Joey Ryan, Saki Akai & Yoshihiko when Ohka pinned Hirata with the Fire Spear (10:23).
*Makoto Oishi, LiLiCo, Lady Beard, Super Sasadango Machine & Ken Ohka become the 1st KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Champions!
3. Ikemen Vs Idol! Handsome Humanity Battle: Jiro Kuroshio defeated Shunma Katsumata with the Ikemen Clutch (12:00).
4. Special 4 Way Tag Match: Kotaro Suzuki & Soma Takao defeated Kaz Hayashi & Keisuke Ishii, Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto and Mike Bailey & MAO when Takao pinned MAO with the Endless Waltz (10:30).
5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi (c) defeated Dick Togo, Yasu Urano & Antonio Honda when KUDO pinned Honda with the Diving Double Knee Drop (13:52).
*V1 for Shuten-dōji.
6. DDT 20th Anniversary Weapons Rumble – All Rights Contra Marriage: Danshoku Dino defeated Sanshiro Takagi with the Gotch-Style Danshoku Driver (17:16).
-. Weapon Match: Kendo Kashin Vs Mitsuo Momota (w/ Momota Family) ended in a No Contest (2:36).
7. DDT Extreme Title – Cabellera Contra Cabellera: Daisuke Sasaki (c) defeated Akito with the Chair Assisted La Mistica Cross Facelock (21:14).
*V5 for Daisuke Sasaki.
8. KO-D Tag Team Titles – Uchikomi! Presents: HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji defeated Shigehiro Irie & Kazusada Higuchi (c) when HARASHIMA pinned Irie with the Somato (16:14).
*YaroZ fail in V4. HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji become the 62nd KO-D Tag Team Champions!
9. KO-D Openweight Title – Good Com Asset Presents: Konosuke Takeshita (c) defeated Tetsuya Endo with the Cross Arm German Suplex (29:02).
*V7 for Konosuke Takeshita.

Konosuke Takeshita overcame his toughest challenge yet to achieve his 7th defence of the KO-D Openweight Title! The grudge match against Tetsuya Endo was the headline attraction for DDT’s return to Sumo Hall. Last time the two fought to an hour long draw but this time, Takeshita was able to defeat Endo in just under 30 minutes. Endo did hit the Torture Rack Bomb, the Shooting Star Press and both versions of Tetsuya In The Sky but Takeshita kicked out of all of them. Endo also reversed a Tombstone Piledriver on the ramp during an outside attack. In return, Takeshita hit Lariats, Big Boots, Pump Up Knee Strikes, German Suplexes and the Blue Thunder Bomb but Endo kicked out of them. Finally, Takeshita crossed Endo’s arms over for one last German Suplex and that one brought an end to the match. Takeshita wanted to show good sportsmanship to Endo after the match but Endo spat in his face and was carried away from the ring by DAMNATION.

Takeshita thanked the fans for coming to Sumo Hall and supporting him. His victory speech was interrupted by the new DDT Producer, Danshoku Dino. Coming out wearing a peach colored suit jacket over his wrestling gear, Dino congratulated Takeshita and said that part of his new job is to come up with new challenges for the champion. Dino told Takeshita he will defend the KO-D Title on 24th September against another champion. Out came Ken Ohka with his Independent World Jr. Heavyweight Title! Takeshita accepted the challenge and wanted Ohka to put his title on the line too in a unification match, one on one. Dino looked surprised. He never said Takeshita and Ohka would be in a singles match. It’s going to be a 3 Way Match with a third champion involved. Daisuke Sasaki entered the ring with his DDT Extreme Title. He wasn’t happy with the idea but if it means getting revenge on Takeshita for beating Endo, then so be it. With that decided, everyone left Takeshita alone in the ring to finish the show closing speech. Five years ago, 17 year old Takeshita had his debut match in Budokan Hall. Fast forward to today and 22 year old Takeshita is making DDT grow bigger in both mind and body!

It was a new song but the same old story for Shigehiro Irie. He just can’t beat HARASHIMA. Irie and Kazusada Higuchi came out to Irie’s new entrance music “T2” (“Tachimukau Ver.2”) by Kinniku Shojo Tai. He even had the support of the band’s main vocalist Kenji Otsuki sitting at ringside for the match. But HARASHIMA had Naomichi Marufuji on his team and Marufuji kept Higuchi at bay with their Chop Battles. Irie did what he could to put away HARASHIMA but nothing worked. Irie readied himself for one last Beast Bomber but was cut off by Marufuji. Irie was then pinned after the Shiranui from Marufuji followed by the Somato by HARASHIMA. As the new KO-D Tag Team Champions celebrated, Irie went over to Otsuki and cried for forgiveness. Higuchi also apologised to Irie but Irie wouldn’t let him take the blame.

HARASHIMA & Marufuji’s celebration was then cut short by Dino, who introduced himself to Marufuji. Dino said he wants to provide a dream match for the next Tag Title defence and it will involve the two wrestlers who best represent DDT. Himself and Sanshiro Takagi! Dino also wants Marufuji to experience the kind of match only DDT can provide. So on 20th September, HARASHIMA & Marufuji will defend the KO-D Tag Team Titles against Dino & Takagi inside the Miyagi Iron Works for a Factory Pro Wrestling Match! Marufuji was taken aback by the announcement and referred to the NOAH president Masayuki Uchida at ringside for his opinion. “No problem!”, Uchida said. Welcome to DDT, Marufuji.

Daisuke Sasaki and Akito fought in a crazy Hardcore Submission Hair Vs Hair Match for the DDT Extreme Title. Akito came out with new wrestling gear but focused all of his attention to the task at hand. Sasaki meanwhile lived it up by walking to the ring with two blonde haired foreign women for his entrance. The match became dangerous in between the submissions when a table, ladder and chairs were all brought into the ring. Akito used the chairs to attack Sasaki by the legs. Sasaki hit back with a major move, placing Akito sitting on a chair outside the ring then jumping off the ladder from inside the ring for the Super Diving Elbow! Back in the ring Sasaki laid Akito down inside the ladder and hit a chair-assisted Diving Elbow from the top rope. Akito returned fire by putting Sasaki through the table from the ladder. He put Sasaki in the Scorpion Lock but let it go when Mad Paulie jumped onto the apron for a distraction. Sasaki swung a chair at Akito but he ducked and Paulie took the shot instead. Akito tried to give Sasaki the Double Knee Buster but it was countered into a DDT onto the chair. Sasaki then found a guitar and smashed it over Akito’s head. Finally, Sasaki made Akito submit to La Mistica Cross Facelock with a chair wrapped around Akito’s head pulling back for extra damage.

Sasaki took joy from slowly cutting off pieces of Akito’s hair with clippers until Akito grabbed an electric shaver and shaved off the remaining hair himself.

Company power versus romantic freedom were on the line when Sanshiro Takagi and Danshoku Dino fought in a Weapons Rumble. If Dino won he would be given complete control of booking DDT shows. If Takagi won then Dino would have to go find a romantic partner and get married. The early weapons brought into the match included a barbed wire baseball bat, a vibrating massager also wrapped in barbed wire which Dino stuffed behind Takagi’s shorts, a gigantic marriage document which Takagi forced Dino to sign and Takagi’s Rolex watch which Dino smashed to pieces with the baseball bat. The next “weapon” turned out to be Kendo Kashin but he was immediately attacked by Mitsuo Momota with Chikara accompanying him. Their planned match at 6:30am never took place so DDT decided to begin the match here and now. It was called off when Dino and his friends assaulted the referee assigned to the Kashin Vs Momota match. Kashin promoted the next All Japan show in Sumo Hall to be held on 27th August and then left. Dino’s friends were then distracted by the appearance of the Macho 29 dance troupe so that got rid of them. Dino then had an old video of a drunk Takagi stripping naked during a fan event play over the arena screen. Takagi had a mental breakdown until his secret weapon appeared. It was Dino’s mother, Yaeko! She entered the ring and gave Dino the Lip Lock! Takagi then hit Dino with a Lariat and the Sit Down Himawari Bomb but Dino kicked out. Then it was time for Dino’s secret weapon, Takagi’s wife Kayoko Takagi! She hit a Moonsault on Takagi. The end finally came when Dino delivered the Lip Lock and the Danshoku Driver, a Gotch-Style variation for extra insult. Dino is now in charge of DDT!

Dino celebrated winning what must now be the most important match of his career. Takagi tried to convince Dino to go and get married anyway. Marriage can be nice, just look at him and Kayoko. After he said this Kayoko gave him the cold shoulder and left the ring. Takagi then changed his mind and said it’s probably alright for Dino to stay single for a little while longer. He also thanked Yaeko for appearing. She received cheers from the audience as she left the ring. Moving on to other business, Takagi asked Dino if he realises how much power he now holds in DDT. Dino said he was prepared otherwise he would never have asked for it. Takagi accepted the answer and promoted Dino into the DDT Producer. Takagi then announced he was going to retire but quickly admitted he was lying. Amon Tsurumi came in to congratulate Dino for becoming the Producer. With Takagi, Amon and Dino all working together DDT will become a more interesting place. Takagi then fired Tsurumi! DDT only needs two people to captain the ship so Tsurumi’s position as General Manager is no longer needed. Dino agreed and said in English “You are fired!” Tsurumi tried to complain but was pulled out of the ring by a bunch of DDT wrestlers and carried away from ringside.

The combined powers of Dick Togo, Yasu Urano and Antonio Honda telling his bedtime story were not enough to take the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles from Shuten-dōji. Honda was put away with the combo of Yukio Sakaguchi’s Right Knee Of God, Masahiro Takanashi’s Takatonic and KUDO’s Diving Double Knee Drop. The champions declared they will drink until the morning to celebrate. Sakaguchi also sent a message to Togo. If Togo wants a match anytime, Sakaguchi will be there to kill him!

The 4 Way Tag Team match turned into a free for all. Kaz Hayashi & Keisuke Ishii hit stereo Planchas onto Yankee Two Kenju. Then Mike Bailey & MAO jumped off of the same top corner together to hit Moonsaults onto everyone outside the ring. Bailey & MAO then singled out Soma Takao but couldn’t catch the guy. Takao rolled away from Bailey’s Shooting Star Double Knee Drop then avoided MAO’s Cannonball 450. Kotaro Suzuki then grabbed MAO and did Takao’s Endless Waltz for a few nearfalls. Takao then took over the Endless Waltz for some more nearfalls until he finally pinned down MAO long enough to get a three count. Suzuki revealed that he got permission from Takao before the match to use the move so it is now officially part of his moveset. Takao hopes he and Suzuki will tag together more in the future. Bailey & MAO also expressed a desire to team up more often in DDT. On a sidenote, Takao is now 9-0 at “PETER PAN” events.

Shunma Katsumata and Jiro Kuroshiro provided a handsome looking change of pace with their singles match. Katsumata made his entrance on a stage gondola with the rest of NωA throwing autographed balls into the audience. Kuroshio then spent the entirety of his entrance frolicking through the crowd. His big move of the match was a Lionsault out of the ring onto Katsumata standing on the ramp. Katsumata got a nearfall with the Firebird Splash and also used his own version of the Ikemen Clutch for a nearfall. But Kuroshio got the victory by locking in the real Ikemen Clutch for the three count. Katsumata and Kuroshio embraced after the match. Katsumata said he regrets not being able to grasp his big opportunity today but he has no hard feelings over the result. Kuroshio said he felt lucky to get the match today and he thanked DDT for giving him their support.

In order to win the brand new KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Titles, a special battle plan was necessary to succeed. Super Sasadango Machine had such a plan ready for his team. First he held his PowerPoint presentation, “Reasons Why We Cannot Stop Wrestling”. Short answers, it’s because wrestlers feel a sense of accomplishment when they win. But wrestling is mostly an individual competition and when you are not the champion it is not as fun. When Tag Team Titles are introduced it increases the variety of ingredients to make tastier dishes. So he approves of a 10-Man Tag Title being created. for his battle plan, Kazuki Hirata is the target. Sasadango wants the audience to applaud Hirata so much that he will become deliriously happy. Then LiLiCo can sneak in and pin him with a School Boy. The plan didn’t work and Hirata kicked out of the School Boy. Later, Joey Ryan overpowered almost the entire opposition with his dick strength, flipping everybody away except for LiLiCo. She held on, forced Ryan to grab her crotch and used her power to flip him over. Hirata came back in to dance to his cover of “TOKYO GO!” until Ken Ohka hit him with the Fire Spear to win the match. So the first champions are Makoto Oishi, LiLiCo, Lady Beard, Super Sasadango Machine & Ken Ohka! Sasadango said backstage that the team are open to challenges from anybody as long as they come to DDT.

DDT’s new big lad Yuki Ino was the focus in the opening match for the main show. His power overwhelmed Yuki Ueno and he also went toe to toe with Naomi Yoshimura. He had no problem teaming with Kouki Iwasaki while Ueno & Yoshimura had a moment of miscommunication that almost cost them the match. Ueno’s Dropkick hit Yoshimura by mistake and Ino capitalised with a Spear to Ueno and a Back Drop to Yoshimura. Ino went for another Spear but Yoshimura sut him off with a Lariat and pinned the new rookie with the Shonenba. Ueno was impressed by Ino’s strength but Yoshimura wasn’t. He doesn’t see what the big deal with Ino is and why he was given the spotlight.

The Tokyo Joshi Pro GM Tetsuya Koda has the face the wrath of his entire roster because he had to enter their Battle Royal as the defending Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion. He tried to act tough but was easily beaten up by Cherry. When Nodoka-oneesan came out and Cherry fought her, Koda backed off to the corner and tried to stay out of the way. That backfired when Nonoko was thrown into the corner and she squashed him. Nodoka-oneesan then pinned Koda to become the champion. Her reign was ended by Mizuki with the Cutie Special. Mizuki held on to the belt until she was in the final two with Yuu. Fifteen years ago when Yuu was a kid, she tried to win the title as part of a fan contest and failed. But today, Yuu accomplished her goal and tapped out Mizuki to become the Iron Man Champion!

The All DNA team were victorious in the pre-show 8-Man Tag. The veterans Tomomitsu Matsunaga and Hoshitango came close to winning it for their side but their pins kept getting cut off. Rekka, Diego & Daiki Shimomura wiped out the opposition with Planchas then Mizuki Watase pinned Masato Kamino with the Back Drop.

When the doors opened at 2:00pm that afternoon, the first match of the day began. Gota Ihashi was put into a special 5-match Gauntlet series to be held all around the building. Plus he would be defending the King Of Dark Title so there he had many opportunities ahead to pass the cursed title to someone else. In fact he did it immediately outside Sumo Hall to his first opponent Dai Suzuki. Ihashi pinned Suzuki in 36 seconds and Suzuki rolled down the stairway with the title belt. Even though Ihashi is now free from dark match hell, he still had to complete his series so he move into a restroom for match number two against Gorgeous Matsuno. They fought over to a balcony where Matsuno used a tarp rope to attempt the Gorgeous Superstar Elbow. That obviously didn’t work and Ihashi leapt on top of him for the three count. Ihashi had to go down to the lobby and interrupt a DAMNATION autograph session for Match #3 against Mad Paulie. They moved over to the ring where Ihashi ran the length of ringside to do a Lariat. Paulie countered it with a Lou Thesz Press, got the three count and went back to the autograph table. An exhausted Ihashi looked around the halls for his first of two mystery opponents and found Rocky Kawamura. He put on a pair of boxing gloves and sparred with Kawamura until he got knocked out and pinned. Possibly dazed and confused or just by being a pervert, Ihashi found the women’s locker room and entered it. Saki Akai and Cherry ran out screaming but one person walked out of the shower and stayed. It was Lingerie Muto! He attacked Ihashi with shampoo, gave him a Dragon Screw and hit the Shining Wizard to end the match. Ihashi finishes the series with two wins and three losses.

During the ending credits, Akito sadly showed off his new bald head, Takagi was slapped down by Kayoko then their two daughters did standing Moonsaults onto him and Amon Tsurumi was seen pleading for his job back.

Suwama, Ultimo Dragon, Hideki Suzuki and Abdullah Kobayashi will all compete at the 22nd October show in Korakuen Hall. This is the same event where the Top 20 wrestlers in the Dramatic General Election will be booked.

One of the trends DDT is following as part of its 20th Anniversary is to return to venues that housed their events as they grew. One of the venues is Shibuya Club ATOM where DDT will have a special nostalgia show on 13th September. Three matches are announced so far. Takeshita, Akito & Poison Sawada JULIE take on NωA. Takagi, Dino, Muscle Sakai and Ohka will fight in a 4 Way Match. Lastly, Shuten-dōji face HERO!, MIKAMI & Tanomusaku Toba.


DDT “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017 ~PETER PAN EVEN IF YOU BECOME 20 YEARS OLD PETER PAN~” Preview

August 17, 2017

DDT “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017 ~PETER PAN EVEN IF YOU BECOME 20 YEARS OLD PETER PAN~”, 20/08/2017
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

0. King Of Dark Title – Street Pro Wrestling Extra Edition! Gota Ihashi Ryogoku 5 Game Series: Gota Ihashi (c) Vs Mad Paulie, Gorgeous Matsuno, Dai Suzuki, X & X
0. Dark Match: Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Hoshitango, Nobuhiro Shimatani & Masato Kamino Vs Mizuki Watase, Rekka, Diego & Daiki Shimomura
0. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Battle Royal: Tetsuya Koda (c) Vs Miyu Yamashita Vs Shoko Nakajima Vs Yuka Sakazaki Vs Nonoko Vs Rika Tatsumi Vs Azusa Takigawa Vs Yuu Vs Nodoka-oneesan Vs Maho Kurone Vs Marika Kobashi Vs Yuna Manase Vs Mizuki Vs Cherry
1. Yuki Ino Debut Match: Kouki Iwasaki & Yuki Ino Vs Naomi Yoshimura & Yuki Ueno
2. KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Titles: Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata, Joey Ryan, Saki Akai & Yoshihiko Vs Makoto Oishi, LiLiCo, Lady Beard, Super Sasadango Machine & Ken Ohka
3. Ikemen Vs Idol! Handsome Humanity Battle: Jiro Kuroshio Vs Shunma Katsumata
4. Special 4 Way Tag Match: Kaz Hayashi & Keisuke Ishii Vs Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto Vs Mike Bailey & MAO Vs Kotaro Suzuki & Soma Takao
5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi (c) Vs Dick Togo, Yasu Urano & Antonio Honda
6. DDT 20th Anniversary Weapons Rumble – All Rights Contra Marriage: Sanshiro Takagi Vs Danshoku Dino
7. DDT Extreme Title – Cabellera Contra Cabellera: Daisuke Sasaki (c) Vs Akito
8. KO-D Tag Team Titles – Uchikomi! Presents: Shigehiro Irie & Kazusada Higuchi (c) Vs HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji
9. KO-D Openweight Title – Good Com Asset Presents: Konosuke Takeshita (c) Vs Tetsuya Endo

The main show airs live on DDT UNIVERSE on Sunday 20th August at 3:00pm JST, 7:00am GMT, 2:00am ET and Saturday 11:00pm PT.

I was a guest on the Burning Spirits podcast this week to preview the show. The episode can be heard here.

Now that the 20 year celebrations are mostly done with it’s time to return to Neverland for DDT “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017”! A lot has happened since Saitama Super Arena. DDT went viral for their portrayal of Donald Trump (even getting featured on @midnight), for having a Battle Royal on a moving train and for booking the Tokyo Dome for an Empty Arena Match. We’ve had the new generation establishing themselves in the main event and even got one to reveal his entire tragic life story because he believed it was all the champion’s fault.

So what’s in store for Sumo Hall this time? The show is headlined by the definitive rivalry of modern DDT, the previous ace teams with the ace of NOAH for tag team glory, hair will be chopped off, the company is put on the line against a wrestler’s romantic life (or lack thereof), two handsome men face off, multiple championships are on the line including a brand new 10-Man Tag Team Title, a new strong lad debuts and there will be some free for all brawls spread around the building.

?. Maybe A Dark Match: Kendo Kashin Vs Mitsuo Momota or Chikara

We’re going to start off with something weird that has been developing over the last week but has been simmering in the background for months. Kendo Kashin is an ideas guy and he never lets something like common sense or reality limit his plans. For his appearances in DNA and Ganbare☆Wrestling during the year, Kashin often threw out challenges for a 5 Vs 5 Elimination match to be held on this event’s pre-show with Kashin’s team representing IGF NEW. Nobody took the challenges seriously. Then this past week at the Ganbare☆Climax, Kashin got into confrontations with Mitsuo Momota. The tension between them raised so high that Kashin is now claiming he got permission from DDT to fight Momota inside Sumo Hall on the morning of “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017”, at 6:30am to be precise. DDT denies this and also revealed that they do not get access to the building until 7:00am. But DDT is interested in doing some sort of dark match featuring Kashin and Momota. They are, as of this writing, negotiating with both wrestlers to organise a match to take place outside the venue at 6:30am. Momota thinks it is a difficult task for him to commit to but his son Chikara has offered to take his spot. Kashin has also demanded Bomber Saito to be the referee. Momota is against that idea because he knows Kashin and Saito went to the same high school together so there is no guarantee Saito will be neutral. If this match goes ahead does this mean the bout will be a Dawn Match instead of a Dark Match?

0. King Of Dark Title – Street Pro Wrestling Extra Edition! Gota Ihashi Ryogoku 5 Game Series: Gota Ihashi Vs Mad Paulie, Gorgeous Matsuno, Dai Suzuki, X & X

Whenever DDT runs in Sumo Hall they can’t help but take the action out of the ring and even out of the building. Gota Ihashi is still cursed to fight for DDT only on the pre-shows because of his status as the King Of Dark Champion. At least DDT is giving him a bunch of opportunities to get rid of it. The rules for his upcoming challenge have not been explained yet but it looks to be a 5 match Gauntlet series, all of them being Falls Count Anywhwere. Mad Paulie, Gorgeous Matsuno and Dai Suzuki are the only opponents revealed so far but the remaining two entries have been kept secret. I have predictions for who they will be. Maybe one of them can be Jun Kasai because he has a habit of showing up for these kind of matches whenever DDT produces them, either as a participant or by getting in the way while working another job. And what if the other was Kota Ibushi? The DDT Falls Count Anywhere matches are right up his alley. Also Ibushi’s first wrestling match after the G1 Climax being a Falls Count Anywhere dark match for DDT in Sumo Hall is the most Kota Ibushi decision he could ever make. I mean yeah, the drama surrounding his relationship with Kenny Omega is captivating and all but you know his desire to Moonsault off of the Ryogoku balcony again is too strong to resist.

Now watch me be wrong and the two mystery wrestlers turn out to be Kendo Kashin and Mitsuo Momota making another appearance.

0. Dark Match: Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Hoshitango, Nobuhiro Shimatani & Masato Kamino Vs Mizuki Watase, Rekka, Diego & Daiki Shimomura

Not much to go on for this mixture of veteran lowcard and DNA wrestlers. Masato Kamino is the freshest face in the match after only debuting on 5th August. He’s trying to grab attention immediately by wearing a lavish entrance jacket that is allegedly worth 100,000 yen. Tomomitsu Matsunaga reclaimed his Sumo King throne during Beer Garden week. Nobuhiro Shimatani has been the butt of many jokes throughout the year. It remains to be seen if this is just rookie hazing or if this will be his role in DDT from now on. Hoshitango has had a quiet year, sticking to appearances for the more significant shows on the calendar. On the other side Mizuki Watase, Rekka, Diego & Daiki Shimomura have all been hard at work in building up DNA. Diego has the highest profile of all four by being a part of the ALL OUT stable. Watase has shown that when you remove him from last year’s romantic soap opera he has solidly improved in the ring. Rekka sadly missed an opportunity to grab the spotlight when his DDT show in Taiwan had to be cancelled. Shimomura has been able to climb a small step above his generational counterpart Shimatani.

0. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Battle Royal: Tetsuya Koda (c) Vs Miyu Yamashita Vs Shoko Nakajima Vs Yuka Sakazaki Vs Nonoko Vs Rika Tatsumi Vs Azusa Takigawa Vs Yuu Vs Nodoka-oneesan Vs Maho Kurone Vs Marika Kobashi Vs Yuna Manase Vs Mizuki Vs Cherry

The Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title found its way to Tokyo Joshi Pro when the zombie girl Maho Kurone ended Joey Ryan’s international title reigns. Since then the belt did its thing and made its way through the roster until Cherry surprisingly got involved and won the title. Until now Cherry has had little to nothing to do with Tokyo Joshi, at least publicly as far as I know. But her determination to be the Iron Man Champion led her to show up and win the belt. So when it looked like Cherry would be the defending champion going into this Battle Royal she lost the belt to the brand’s general manager Tetsuya Koda at a fan club event. Koda claims that he wanted to guarantee the title would be staying in Tokyo Joshi and he would have passed the belt over to one of the girls. However he thinks all of them are equally cute so he couldn’t decide who deserves it most. His solution is to keep the belt for himself! It later turns out that Koda is going to a handshaking event starring singer Maria Makino later this month and he wants to impress her with a nice, shiny championship belt wrapped around him. Unfortunately for Koda, him being the champion means that he now qualifies as an active wrestler and he must enter the Battle Royal to defend the title! Further more, the joshi are pissed that he looked past all of them for a hopeless attempt at impressing some singer.

1. Yuki Ino Debut Match: Kouki Iwasaki & Yuki Ino Vs Naomi Yoshimura & Yuki Ueno

Yuki Ino is the latest in the growing line of DDT rookies to debut on the big stage. The 22 year old university rugby player had several opportunities from other sports on offer but he chose instead to go with pro wrestling. He is pretty strong with reports that he can bench press 205kg, dead lift 300kg and leg press 560kg. He bragged about smashing past the opposition on the rugby pitch and he will do the same in the ring. The kind of attitude might not mesh with another big ego standing on the other side, like say Naomi Yoshimura. The young brute is throwing bodies aside so he can claim to be the new ace of DNA. Now that somebody else of his size has entered the fray things will get interesting indeed.

2. KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Titles: Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata, Joey Ryan, Saki Akai & Yoshihiko Vs Makoto Oishi, LiLiCo, Lady Beard, Super Sasadango Machine & Ken Ohka

I have one word for this: Overkill. You noticed how many wrestling promotions have established 6-Man Tag Team Titles recently? New Japan, DDT, Big Japan, Ring of Honor and Lucha Underground have all established such championships in the last couple of years. Dragon Gate has always had them so they can get away with it. Then the zombie corpse of FMW decided to come up with an 8-Man Tag Team Championship last year that has since vanished because, well, what do you expect from Atsushi Onita (Not a singles match that’s for sure)? Well, DDT decided to up the ante once more and create the KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Titles! This probably came about after watching too much Super Sentai because the title belts follow a similar colour scheme. Red, blue, yellow, green and pink belts are on the line for the winners. And what a line-up of insanity DDT has decided to bring in for the two teams!

Toru Owashi is the captain of the side featuring Kazuki Hirata, Joey Ryan, Saki Akai & Yoshihiko. Hirata has spent the year in muted limbo because his entrance song could not be used on DDT UNIVERSE. He was also deported from Japan and replaced by his Italian cousin Hirata Collection A.T. The cousin’s entrance song was also muted so he was no improvement. When Hirata returned he was told to record his own version of “TOKYO GO!”. Lo and behold he pulled it off! Joey Ryan is coming off of a heated feud with Daisuke Sasaki over pictures of his wife Laura James. Saki Akai’s been making allies with foreigners, learning English to team with them and serving beer inside an empty Tokyo Dome. She also has the right to be DDT general manager for a day. Yoshihiko has just been laying around doing its own thing.

The other team is being led by Makoto Oishi and mostly have a flair for live performances. LiLiCo returns to DDT after her romantic life within the company last year went haywire. Lady Beard hasn’t wrestled in DDT much this year but is always ready to sing his heart out. Super Sasadango Machine will undoubtedly have a PowerPoint presentation ready. Ken Ohka is coming in fresh off of winning the Ganbare☆Climax in his home promotion Ganbare☆Wrestling. There are so many questions to ask. Who will win? Will either team get along? Does Ken Ohka still have his “FUCK” hat? Can the belts combine to form a Megazord? Will this championship have a longer shelf life than the WWE UK Title? Who knows?

3. Ikemen Vs Idol! Handsome Humanity Battle: Jiro Kuroshio Vs Shunma Katsumata

We have two charmers here. The kind of people who light up any room they enter. Even though Shunma Katsumata got his start in DDT he first trained to wrestle in the dojo ran by the SMASH promotion. He never got to debut for them and he left before the company fell apart. Juro Kuroshio was also in that dojo and he did get his debut match. From their the two youngsters split apart. Kuroshio stayed with SMASH as it transformed into Wrestling New Classic, then when that went bust he jumped to WRESTLE-1 and became the lovable Ikemen he is today. Katsumata went to DDT where he was among the first generation of DNA wrestlers for the brand’s launch. He then became a pop idol as part of NωA. Now fate has brought them back together in a battle of handsome men. Kuroshio’s jacket Vs Katsumata’s singing. It’s possible Kuroshio’s entrance could last longer than the match. He likes to milk the chants by running through the audience and Sumo Hall is a big building.

4. Special 4 Way Tag Match: Kaz Hayashi & Keisuke Ishii Vs Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto Vs Mike Bailey & MAO Vs Kotaro Suzuki & Soma Takao

Four teams are thrown together, maybe we’ll get some No. 1 Contenders out of it. Keisuke Ishii removed a ghost from his past by going back to the All Japan Dojo he left many years ago to train with Kaz Hayashi. He was taught how to properly use Hayashi’s finisher the Final Cut but he has yet to use it in DDT. Isami Kodaka has been busy running Pro Wrestling BASARA but he is stopping by with his usual Yankii Ni Cho Kenji partner Yuko Miyamoto. Miyamoto is here as part of Smile Squash for the upcoming Dramatic General Election so he’ll be looking for fan votes. Mike Bailey became cocky when he won a Right To Challenge Contract but has been a bit aimless when his cash in left him empty handed. He teamed with MAO once in July and are teaming again here. Kotaro Suzuki & Soma Takao seems to be a random pairing. Takao is still undefeated at “PETER PAN” with an 8-0 record. But given the number of teams in this match it is the biggest threat yet to his streak. Like I said earlier, I expect the winners will be chasing after a tag team championship afterwards.

5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi (c) Vs Dick Togo, Yasu Urano & Antonio Honda

Maybe I shouldn’t have trashed the idea of trios championships earlier. Then I look at the title history and see that Shuten-dōji became 6 time champions in the space of 3 years. If it wasn’t for the Iron Man Title, this right here would be the hot potato of DDT. Still, a championship is worth fighting for (King Of Dark excluded) and the challenging team are no slouches. Dick Togo is back for a special appearance with two of his guys. Yasu Urano is no longer affiliated with DDT but still shows up for shows like these. Antonio Honda is here to talk about Gon, The Little Fox. What is Gon’s story anyway? Maybe I can fill out the rest of this preview with the tale and hope that nobody would notice.



You know what, I just looked it up and it’s best that I don’t tell it. Poor Gon, he only wanted to help…

6. DDT 20th Anniversary Weapons Rumble – All Rights Contra Marriage: Sanshiro Takagi Vs Danshoku Dino

Something drastic needed to be done for this special celebration of DDT’s 20 years of existence. Two of DDT’s most important figures will clash and the stakes are as high as they could be for both of them. Sanshiro Takagi has done it all. He created DDT and over two decades built it up to where they now run buildings the size of Sumo Hall on an annual basis. He even got to headline the Tokyo Dome this year… in an empty arena match. Anyway despite his hard work paying off, somebody out there thinks a better job can be done. Danshoku Dino believes Takagi has taken DDT as far as he can and it’s time for a new leader to take over. Dino should be that leader. So his stipulation is simple. If Dino beats Takagi, Dino takes over DDT! In order for this to go ahead, Takagi had to think of something for Dino to do if he lost. Inspiration struck when Takagi had a private conversation with Dino’s mother. Dino turned 40 years old this year he is still single. His mother is worried that he will live the rest of his life alone because there are not that many gay wrestlers available for him to date. A lightbulb went off inside Takagi’s head and he promised to help her. If Takagi beats Dino then Dino must go and get married!

So those are the stakes. One man’s wrestling empire against another man’s bachelorhood. Such an important match needs important rules so DDT is bringing back the Weapon Rumble. Takagi is a veteran of the match facing The Great Sasuke in 2009, Minoru Suzuki in 2012 and Michael Nakazawa in 2014. Every few minutes a weapon is introduced to the match. What it is could be anything. Bicycles, a castle of chairs, boiling hot stew, giant mechanical fists and most importantly of all, famous wrestlers from outside of DDT could appear. Expect a couple of unpredictable cameos in this match.

DDT are already coming up with ideas if Dino loses and has to get married. Top of the pile is “Danshoku Terrace House”, a reality show where Dino is forced to live in a house with a bunch of other people from all around the world until he picks a partner. Another idea is “Danshoku Bachelor” where 25 men and women compete for Dino’s affections. Both DDT UNIVERSE and Samurai TV! are interested in getting the rights to the show.

7. DDT Extreme Title – Cabellera Contra Cabellera: Daisuke Sasaki (c) Vs Akito

Somebody’s going to get a haircut. Daisuke Sasaki has been a scrappy DDT Extreme Champion ever since he won it from Jun Kasai inside Saitama Super Arena. He fought Dick Togo to a 30 minute draw in an Ultimate Submission Match, beat Antonio Honda in a No DQ Match and had two defences against Joey Ryan, one being a Last Man Standing draw and the second being a Ladder Match which Sasaki won. His record as champion hasn’t been 100% but he’ll admit when he’s beaten. Akito has beaten him plenty this year including a singles win during the King Of DDT. Everytime Sasaki lost to Akito he would hand over the DDT Extreme Title to him and walk out of the ring. Akito would be happy to accept the championship if it was an authorised title transfer but a ring attendant would always take the belt away and give it back to Sasaki. It led to a brief period where Akito couldn’t figure out how the concept of championships in wrestling worked.

When the time came for Sasaki to nominate his challenger at Sumo Hall, his usual request for Candice LeRae was declined. Again. Akito came out to challenge him. Sasaki would accept but only if it was Cabellera Contra Cabellera. Hair Vs Hair! Akito agreed because he is willing to sacrifice anything to become a champion again. Sasaki is fine with that. He claims he doesn’t care about his own hair so he’s willing to risk it too. It led to a weird situation during last week’s press conference where both Sasaki and Akito tried to cut off their own hair to prove how much or little it meant to them. Amon Tsurumi had to stop both of them from ruining the stipulation.

The match itself will have No Disqualifications and can only end by either submission, knockout or TKO. Sasaki has more experience in Hardcore Matches but Akito realises he can now use objects to cause even more limb damage for his submission holds.

8. KO-D Tag Team Titles – Uchikomi! Presents: Shigehiro Irie & Kazusada Higuchi (c) Vs HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji

Shigehiro Irie & Kazusada Higuchi will be the first to tell you they are not pretty boy ikemen wrestlers. They are bastards, guys, lads, YaroZ. The two have found success in the tag division since teaming together to represent the unconventional YaroZ sub-brand. Now as the KO-D Tag Team Champions they are challenged by the most powerful ikemen alliance of all. When Naomichi Marufuji was announced to wrestle on this show back in March I knew that he would be doing something with HARASHIMA. I though it was the perfect fit for him as an opponent. But they thought of a different idea and are instead teaming together. When HARASHIMA lost all of his remaining chances to headline Sumo Hall this year he told the wrestling media it was time for him to do something selfish. In previous years he did what was best for DDT but this year he wanted to do something for himself. Turns out it was to join forces with Marufuji and go after the Tag Titles. Plus there looks to be a business relationship being formed between DDT and NOAH. I mean DDT sent two thirds of NωA over for the NOAH Jr. Tag League. That’s kind of like giving your crush a mixtape.

While Marufuji’s appearance in the match would be interesting on its own, the other factor in the match is the rivalry between Irie and HARASHIMA. Poor Irie no matter how hard he tries just cannot beat HARASHIMA. Time after time, HARASHIMA has come out on top. It’s almost a certainty at this point. In their last meeting in June, HARASHIMA pinned Irie in under 3 minutes and Irie’s only reaction was to storm out straight back to the locker room. That has to be stuck in the back of Irie’s mind. Higuchi’s record against HARASHIMA is only a little better with a pinfall tag team victory earned back in April. History is in the challengers’ favour too. Whenever a high level DDT wrestler teams with a famous outside they usually win the KO-D Tag Team Titles. Examples include Shiro Koshinaka & Danshoku Dino, Daisuke Sekimoto & Masa Takanashi, MIKAMI & Tatsumi Fujinami and Yoshihiro Takayama & Danshoku Dino. The odds are against the champions but they wouldn’t be YaroZ if it were easy.

9. KO-D Openweight Title – Good Com Asset Presents: Konosuke Takeshita (c) Vs Tetsuya Endo

This is going to be the definitive match of DDT’s current era. So much history to delve into here. Former friends, former tag team champions together, both have been built up for the last 3 years to be the next generation of stars to lead DDT into the future. Konosuke Takeshita has been described as a supernova ever since his debut match in 2012. You can hardly dream of a better road to the top. When you get a significant debut match held inside Budokan Hall you know there are high aspirations for your career. From there you get special one on one matches with Tatsumi Fujinami, Kenny Omega, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Kota Ibushi, Hiroshi Tanahashi, HARASHIMA, Isami Kodaka and Shuji Ishikawa all before he reaches 21 years of age. Then when he does turn 21 he wins the KO-D Openweight Title on his birthday. Like I said, it’s a dream come true. But while Takeshita has been positioned front and centre, his friend turned rival Tetsuya Endo took a different direction in his rise up to the main event spot.

While Endo and Takeshita were on a successful tag team run as the New Generation Combination, they fought each other several times with the KO-D Title as the reason. Whether it was a No. 1 Contender’s Match or a Championship Bout itself, the two were put in enough situations to find out who was better. And more often than not, Takeshita would win. As it currently stands Takeshita and Endo have had 9 single matches against each other in DDT. Takeshita won 6 of them (1 match was stopped when Endo dislocated his elbow), Endo won 2 and their last match was a draw. To make it even more frustrating for Endo, he couldn’t win the KO-D Title after two attempts while Takeshita achieved the goal with the same amount of opportunities. Endo ended up looking like the bridesmaid to Takeshita. So in July 2016 when Endo lost to Takeshita again, this time in a KO-D Title match, he was immediately approached by Daisuke Sasaki to join DAMNATION. When tempted with the promise that he would no longer be seen as a second class wrestler next to Takeshita, it didn’t take Endo long to make his decision and he willingly abandoned his friends to go down a darker path. Since then Endo has built on success while discarding his emotions. Although he’s been accused of faking his new nihilistic attitude to look cool, Endo can back up his actions with the success he’s earned since joining DAMNATION. The latest achievement was winning the 2017 King Of DDT tournament which leads us to the climactic main event at Sumo Hall.

So much has developed between Takeshita and Endo during the last year. Back in April we learned that 60 minutes was not enough to determine a winner between the two. Takeshita had been using the Cross Arm German Suplex for his most dramatic victories but he also developed a new Wrist Clutch Fisherman Buster called the Surprise Rose to put away his more recent challengers. If that’s not enough, Takeshita has one other big match move in his arsenal. He recently used the top turnbuckle Brainbustaaaaahhhhh!!!!! in tribute to his first opponent and inspiration El Generico. Endo meanwhile has turned the Shooting Star Press and Spanish Fly into killer moves. Endo won the King Of DDT with the Shooting Star Press. The grounded version of the Spanish Fly is called Tetsuya In The Sky and it has given him some unexpected quick victories. Then there is his top rope version the Tetsuya In The Sky With Diamonds to look out for. Is it now Endo’s time to shine or will Takeshita continue to shape the future of DDT? We won’t have to wait long to find out!