Sanshiro Takagi | Dramatic DDT

Ganbare☆Pro Is Going Independent

January 31, 2024

A press conference was held in Tokyo today announcing Ganbare☆Pro will be leaving CyberFight at the end of March 2024 to become its own independent wrestling company. Attending the conference were members of CyberFight staff and GanPro wrestlers to give more information along with other updates related to the news. CyberFight president Sanshiro Takagi said he had spoken with Ken Ohka about GanPro’s future after the promotion celebrated its 10th anniversary last year. The two came to an agreement that the best way for GanPro to grow bigger is to go independent. Ohka said he has been wrestling under Takagi’s management for 20 years now and he has gotten his big breaks because of him. Over the last 10 years Ohka made many new friends through GanPro and he decided going independent will allow the promotion to reach out to even more people. He feels under debt to Takagi and believes the best way to repay him will be to make GanPro successful enough to surpass DDT. Ohka’s goal for GanPro from the very beginning was to turn pro wrestling into a major sport where pro wrestlers can become more famous than other pro atheletes. That goal has not changed.

GanPro currently has shows scheduled up to up until July. Their final event under CyberFight will be on 28th March. Up until now GanPro were able to book important venues like Korakuen Hall and Ota Ward Gymnasium because of CyberFight’s management and resources. Normally Korakuen Hall does not do business with clients unless they are a registered company. GanPro intends to relaunch itself as its own company when they leave CyberFight and their current representative Michiyoshi Mishima will be positioned as the company’s director. Ohka will also become a company board member in the future. They are on track to be fully registered by early March and will update everyone as soon as details are finalized.

According to Takagi the relationship between DDT and GanPro will not change. It will be similar to the current relationship between DDT and BASARA, which is another independent promotion that originally begun as a DDT sub-brand before spinning off into independence. That should mean wrestlers from one side will be able to have matches on the other side when requested. The two companies may also continue sharing venues to run back to back shows on the same day or weekend. Takagi would like GanPro content to remain on Wrestle Universe but we will have to wait on an announcement in the future for more details. Nothing has been confirmed yet about the future of Ganbare☆Joshi but Ohka is thinking of continuing the brand on a irregular basis. The two Spirit Of Ganbare Championships belonging to GanPro will remain as they are.

The champion Shuichiro Katsumura said he was happy and grateful to work under CyberFight. They handled all of the office work so Katsumura could wrestle every month and perform in venues as large as Super Saitama Arena. By going independent Katsumura understands it will be up to GanPro to handle their own behind the scenes work from now on. He has a lot of anxiety over that but hopes all of the wrestlers can work together to get rid of those worries, enjoy the hardships and create a bright kind of pro wrestling. As the current Spirit Of Ganbare World Champion and also a senior figure on the roster, Katsumura thinks he has to be a leader for the locker room from now on.

Several changes to the roster is coming because of this news. Both Shinichiro Tominaga and Yumehito Imanari have signed on to become fully affiliated with GanPro along with their home promotions starting on 1st Feburary. Tominaga has wrestled on GanPro shows all this time as a representative of the amateur indie group Come On Wrestling Party, or CWP for short. He sent in a message saying Ohka approached him a short while ago asking if he would like to join GanPro. Tominaga felt like he would not belong here but agreed to the offer. He now feels a stronger sense of belonging to GanPro than ever before and he promises to do his best to develop the company. Imanari’s new agreement is to remain in GanPro while also representing the Ibushi Pro Wrestling Institute. He left his video staff role with CyberFight last September but remained as a GanPro wrestler ever since. He has close friendships with both Ohka and Kota Ibushi so feels obligated to take care of both of them.

Unfortunately Shota, Yoshiko Hasegawa and Riara have all decided to end their contracts with GanPro and become freelancers at the end of March. Shota feels he is at his best as a wrestler right now and is entering a new period of his life where he gets to be a bit selfish. Hasegawa sent in a message saying she is using her last matches in GanPro to reevaluate the current wrestling enviornment before thinking what to do next. It was not an easy decision for her to make but her time in GanPro is irreplaceable for her. Riara describes her decision to leave as a graduation and she is thankful for her friends im GanPro that she’s been able to train and wrestle often in her daily life. She wants to make the most of what precious time she has left in the promotion. Then she will challenge herself even more in the future. Ohka said the people who come to GanPro do so in order to become who they want to be so he sees this as wrestlers graduating from GanPro instead of quitting. It is possible that GanPro will still book them again in the future but Ohka wants to prioritise taking care of those who stay with the company.

The GanPro roster when it goes independent currently looks like this. The fully affiliated wrestlers are Ken Ohka, Shuichiro Katsumura, Yumehito Imanari (along with the Ibushi Institute), Keisuke Ishii, Shinichiro Tominaga (along with CWP), Mizuki Watase, Munetatsu Nakamura, HARUKAZE, Yuna Manase, YuuRI and Shu Sakurai. The wrestlers from outside GanPro who are confirmed to continue making regular appearances with the group are Takuya Wada, Tyson Maeguchi, Moeka Haruhi and Banny Oikawa.

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I woke up to this bombshell of a news story this morning and I still don’t know what to make of it. There is so much to unravel I don’t know where to start. GanPro is doing what BASARA did in 2019 and that’s leaving CyberFight to go strike it out on their own. I don’t think that was a good move back then and I worry this will not be a good move either. This kind of follows the recent trend of pro wrestlers in Japan leaving their home companies on the indies because being a freelancer is more financially viable for them. Look at the current state of the Japanese wrestling scene and ask yourself is there really room out there for another self-sufficient company right now? What I need to find out is if this is really Ohka and friends having big aspirations that made leaving CyberFight a necessity or if business decisions had to be given by other people higher up the pecking order. If this is a sign of things to come then we could be in for another whopper of a news story by the time we get past March.

As a fan, the concern I have comes from the above BASARA comparison. It is not an easy task finding BASARA coverage compared to most of the other indies. I struggle finding things in BASARA to write about outside of the match results. If GanPro loses that stuff because the website reports were all on DDT’s end then that will annoy me greatly. However if GanPro remains on Wrestle Universe then it will not be much of a problem. They have an audience there and I don’t think it would be worth losing them for another streaming service that could have a smaller reach. Whatever the new website is just keep updating it often so I can have an excuse to keep following it. This has been a really fun little promotion to write about from its very beginning and they provide connections to companies that DDT and Tokyo Joshi Pro do not.

What will happen to the three people leaving seems to be all over the place. Shota’s reasoning makes the most sense because his profile is the highest it’s been for a while and he can find bookings anywhere. What Hasegawa will get up to is much harder to guess. Taking a step back to look at the big picture before deciding where to go sounds like a good idea but it’s also a vague enough excuse to cover up if she already knows where she is going next. I would like to see her in TJPW more but she is appearing in Ice Ribbon a little more often lately. But YuuRI wrestles there all the time and she is still committed to GanPro so Hasegawa would not need to leave if that was her landing point. Riara at first sounds to me like she’s leaving pro wrestling entirely but she says otherwise so I’d like to be wrong on that. Hook her up with Sumire Natsu and let them team up in the 666’s and P.P.P. Tokyo’s of the world.

Comments Off on Ganbare☆Pro Is Going Independent | News | Tagged: Come On Wrestling Party, CWP, CyberAgent, CyberFight, Ganbare☆Joshi, Ganbare☆Pro Wrestling, GanJo, GanPro, Ibushi Wrestling Institute, Ken Ohka, Michiyoshi Mishima, Riara, Sanshiro Takagi, Shinichiro Tominaga, Shota, Shuichiro Katsumura, Yoshiko Hasegawa, Yumehito Imanari | Permalink
Posted by JamieOD

DDT “SWEET DREAMS! 2024” Results

January 28, 2024

DDT “SWEET DREAMS! 2024”, 28/01/2024
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,120 Fans – Super No Vacancy

1. Special 10-Man Tag Match: HARASHIMA, Tomoya, Antonio Honda, Takeshi Masada & Kazuma Sumi defeated Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi, Akito, Shinichiro Kawamatsu & Yuni when Sumi pinned Yuni with a School Boy (7:07).
2. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Daisuke Sasaki, KANON & Bryan Keith (w/ MJ Paul) defeated Tetsuya Endo, Yuki Iino & Rukiya after KANON pinned Rukiya with the Freedom Call (8:39).
3. Yukio Sakaguchi Korakuen Final Match ~ Special Single Match: Yukio Sakaguchi defeated Hideki Okatani with the God’s Right Knee (5:42).
4. MAO Birthday Commemorative Match: MAO & TAKA Michinoku defeated Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi when MAO pinned Takanashi with the Cannonball 450 (8:45).
5. DDT Extreme Title – Who Is The Fated One!? Toy Kojima Challenge Death Match: Shunma Katsumata defeated Kazuki Hirata (c) (8:33).
5a. Kazuki Hirata pinned Shunma Katsumata with the Miracle One Shot Cradle (0:57).
*Toy Kojima fails his challenge.
5b. Shunma Katsumata submitted Kazuki Hirata with a Crab Hold (4:04).
*Toy Kojima fails his challenge.
5c. Kazuki Hirata pinned Shunma Katsumata with the Miracle One Shot Cradle (7:42).
*Toy Kojima fails his challenge.
5d. Shunma Katsumata pinned Kazuki Hirata with a School Boy (8:33).
*Toy Kojima passes his challenge. Kazuki Hirata fails in V6. Shunma Katsumata becomes the 59th DDT Extreme Champion!
6. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles – DEAD OR ALIVE Contra DEAD OR ALIVE: Jun Akiyama, Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi (c) defeated Hikaru Sato, Kazusada Higuchi & Ryo Kawamura when Oishi pinned Kawamura with the Jikiden Tornado Clutch (8:20).
*V3 for D.O.A.
7. Special Single Match: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA defeated Naruki Doi with the Wagamama (10:58).
8. KO-D Openweight Title: Yuki Ueno (c) defeated Yukio Naya with the Twister (23:35).
*V1 for Yuki Ueno.

Yuki Ueno’s run as KO-D Openweight Champion has just begun and in his first defence he put down Yukio Naya, shutting down the D-Oh Grand Prix winner’s momentum. The champion went for big dives from the get go but took high risk damage of his own when Naya gave him an Avalanche Choke Slam. Naya also blocked the BME with his knees and used a Wrist-Clutch Back Drop. Ueno was only able to break the pin thanks to a rope break. He switched to using Dropkicks and got a nearfall with the BME. Naya tried fighting back using Knee Strikes but Ueno grabbed him in a Face Lock and pulled him into a Twister hold, making Naya give up. After the match Ueno said Naya has nothing to be ashamed about. He is a great wrestler not because he crawled from the bottom up to the top but because he uses pro wrestling to stand up for himself. Ueno will take what he learned from Naya today and carry them on his own shoulders.

Ueno was told the next KO-D Title defence is scheduled for 17th March. He expected to hear that and already has an opponent in mind. He wants to defend the KO-D Title against Danshoku Dieno and he is willing to do it before the mandatory March defence. The 37KAMIINA will be holding a produce show in Shinjuku FACE on 14th February and Ueno can defend the title against Dieno there. Sanshiro Takagi entered the ring and told Ueno his request cannot be met. The KO-D Title is DDT’s top championship and its matches need to attract large audiences. Ueno explained he does not want this match for the venue size or as an easy title defence. He chooses Dieno because Dieno is the most amazing guy and interesting wrestler in DDT. Takagi accepted his reasoning and gave permission for the match to go ahead. Dieno told Ueno what he said to Jun Akiyama three years ago. He knows the champ will not let him win and DDT does not want him to become the KO-D Champion but if you flash the belt in front of his face he is going to want it! And if he does win the belt who knows what direction he will take DDT in!

The semi-main event was a first time ever meeting between Konosuke Takeshita and Naruki Doi. Takeshita dealt a big blow by giving Doi a Brainbuster on the floor outside the ring. Back in the ring Doi had to rely on speed to try and keep one step ahead of his opponent’s power. He used the V9 Clutch to counter a Lariat for a nearfall. There was one power spot Doi got the better of. That was for a Brainbuster that led to the Doi 555 and Bakatare Sliding Kick combo for another two count. Takeshita blocked the Muscular Bomb and used Doi’s rolling attempt to throw him over with a German Suplex. He then hit the Wagamama to get the victory. Takeshita called it a fun match that made him feel like Takeshita the young wrestling fan again. He never forgets that feeling wherever he goes. He wants to fight Doi again and next time it should be in America.

The D.O.A branding is safe again for the time being. The name was up for grabs along with the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles for the second time after Hikaru Sato complained about his catchphrase being stolen by them. Akiyama was the first one to stand against Sato and Kazusada Higuchi in the ring. Ryo Kawamura ended up sparring with Dieno and made the mistake of putting him in a Triangle Choke. Makoto Oishi kept trying to bring out wasabi and eventually succeeded in wiping it over Dieno’s backside. Both of them regretted it when Kawamura shoved Oishi face first in there but Oishi recovered and flash pinned Kawamura with the Jikiden Tornado Clutch. He celebrated the successful title defence by saying he is well aware that other people use the phrase “Dead Or Alive” so we are all D.O.A! He hoped Akiyama & Dieno would join in but he was left alone in the ring. Sato questioned if the team really are D.O.A because they show no intentions of staying alive and act like they only want to die.

The fate of the DDT Extreme Title all rested on Toy Kojima’s shoulders. Kazuki Hirata and Shunma Katsumata were wrestling each other under 2-Count Fall rules for the belt but the match result would only stand if Kojima could pass a challenge given to him backstage. He didn’t have to wait long for his first task because Hirata pinned Katsumata with the Miracle One Shot Cradle in under a minute. Kojima had to endure bumps for 30 seconds but he couldn’t so the match restarted. Katsumata then submitted Hirata with a Crab Hold so Kojima’s task was to drink a bottle of cola in one go. He couldn’t do that either. Hirata pinned Katsumata with the Miracle Cradle again so Kojima had to play Pop-Up Pirate for 10 turns without losing. He lost in the first turn. Katsumata used a School Boy to pin Hirata so Kojima had to play with a Kendama toy. He was given three goals to swing the ball onto the cup. He did it on his third and final go, making Katsumata the new Extreme Champion!

Katsumata thanked Hirata for coming up with such a fun ruleset. He also announced that after talking with the other members of the group, Kazuki Hirata has been accepted as the newest member of The 37KAMIINA! Unfortunately Hirata changed his mind and no longer wants to be part of the team. Why? Because he wants to create his own brand new unit instead! He later found Naruki Doi backstage and kept pestering him to join this new stable. Doi is reluctant but may have been talked into joining. Meanwhile Katsumata was asked for who he wants his challenger to be for his first defence on 17th March. He suggested Hideki Okatani so they could renew their rivalry over the title. However MJ Paul then came out to attack Okatani, handed Katsumata a piece of paper saying he wanted to challenge him and then he attacked Katsumata too. Katsumata and Okatani worked together to fend off Paul’s attack. Hisaya Imabayashi came up with a solution. Okatani and Paul will face each other on 7th February and the winner will get the title shot for 17th March.

MAO was having a big birthday bash and invited the likes of TAKA Michinoku and CDK to be at the party. One present he got was to be the headpiece of the Kaientai spot with poor Masahiro Takanashi being the victim. Somehow Chris Brookes got to be on the good side of that present. CDK fought back using their double team moves to wrap their opponents into each other but it couldn’t get them the win. Instead TAKA dropped Takanashi with the Michinoku Driver II and MAO pinned him with the Cannonball 450. MAO is happy to start off being 27 years old with a win. He said no matter where his career goes, TAKA Michinoku’s name will always be around him because he is his hero. TAKA said he is proud to be an influence to people outside of K-DOJO and JTO. He calls MAO one of the few genius young wrestlers he’s seen and that geniuses often don’t see it in themselves. He is sure he can become the KO-D Champion some day. CDK were disappointed to lose but everyone in SCHADENFREUDE International was happy to see Brookes be healthy and wrestle again.

Today was the final time Yukio Sakaguchi would wrestle in Korakuen Hall. He was given a singles match against his former Eruption teammate Hideki Okatani for the occasion. It was a chance for Sakaguchi to test how Okatani could fight by himself. Okatani took all the kicks he could and fought back with the Double Arm Suplex. But Sakaguchi blocked the Quetzalcoatl and put Okatani down with the God’s Right Knee to end the match. His message to Okatani backstage was to ask what is his strength? He needs to find that answer in order to change from what he is now. Okatani thanked Sakaguchi for the lesson and will use the DDT ring to show him what he learned.

The services of Bryan Keith were used by DAMNATION T.A to fight what’s currently left of BURNING along with Rukiya. MJ Paul interfered to take the Spear from Yuki Iino instead of KANON. Keith used the Emerald Tiger Driver on Rukiya then left him for the others to pick at the pieces. Daisuke Sasaki & KANON used a Vietnam Driver & Diving Elbow combination called the Freedom Call to finish Rukiya off. Sasaki called BURNING worthless and thinks the group should disband. KANON made fun of them, telling them to go home and drink their mothers’ protein. Iino complained about KANON needing Paul’s help because he doesn’t want to take the Spear. Tetsuya Endo thinks he needs to improve his accuracy because today’s performance wasn’t up to snuff. But he is confident that if he and Iino hit DAMNATION T.A right, they will win the KO-D Tag Team Titles from them.

The opening match went ahead with No Tag Rules. Takagi quickly gave Kazuma Sumi the Stunner but was then caught in a Train Attack that included the referee getting involved. HARASHIMA and Toru Owashi got to fight each other until Akito came in to target HARASHIMA’s leg. So did Tomoya and Shinichiro Kawamatsu in what turned out to be a battle between pro wrestling politicians. Antonio Honda paused the match for his Gongitsune joke but it backfired. Yuni gave Takeshi Masada a Tornado DDT but then missed a Moonsault aimed for Sumi. That allowed Sumi to roll up the school boy with the School Boy for the win.

The first set of wrestlers to enter this year’s King Of DDT are a mix of previous winners and finalists to mark the 20th Anniversary of the tournament. Poison Sawada JULIE (2004 winner), Sanshiro Takagi (2009 finalist), Danshoku Dieno (2012 finalist), HARASHIMA (2010 & 2013 winner, 2017 finalist) and Shuji Ishikawa (2016 winner) have all been announced to be taking part.

Kaisei Takechi’s debut match on 25th February has him teaming up with Yuki Ueno & Shunma Katsumata. They will be against Tetsuya Endo, Hideki Okatani & Takeshi Masada.

Comments Off on DDT “SWEET DREAMS! 2024” Results | Results | Tagged: Akito, Antonio Honda, Bryan Keith, BURNING, CDK (Calamari Drunken Kings), Chris Brookes, D.O.A (Dead Or Alive), Daisuke Sasaki, DAMNATION T.A, Danshoku Dieno, DDT Extreme Championship, DDT Pro Wrestling, Dramatic Dream Team, HARASHIMA, Hideki Okatani, Hikaru Sato, Hisaya Imabayashi, Jun Akiyama, Kaisei Takechi, KANON, Kazuki Hirata, Kazuma Sumi, Kazusada Higuchi, King Of DDT, KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship, KO-D Openweight Championship, Konosuke Takeshita, Korakuen Hall, Makoto Oishi, MAO, Masahiro Takanashi, MJ Paul, Naruki Doi, Poison Sawada JULIE, Rukiya, Ryo Kawamura, Sanshiro Takagi, SCHADENFREUDE International, Shinichiro Kawamatsu, Shuji Ishikawa, Shunma Katsumata, TAKA Michinoku, Takeshi Masada, Tetsuya Endo, The 37KAMIINA, Tomoya, Toru Owashi, Toy Kojima (Toi Kojima), Yuki Iino, Yuki Ueno, Yukio Naya, Yukio Sakaguchi, Yuni | Permalink
Posted by JamieOD

The 37KAMIINA Choose Their Favorite Opponents, Yoppy’s 1st Title Shot, Executive X Enemy

January 18, 2024

DDT “NEW YEAR FAN APPRECIATION DAY!”, 20/01/2024
Tokyo Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX

1. 4 Way Tag Match: Yuki Ueno & Kazuki Hirata Vs HARASHIMA & Kazusada Higuchi Vs Yoshitatsu & Akito Vs Yuki Iino & Yusuke Okada
2. New Year’s Six Major Single Match: KANON Vs Yuni
3. New Year’s Six Major Single Match: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Ilusion
4. New Year’s Six Major Single Match: Danshoku Dieno Vs Kazuma Sumi
5. New Year’s Six Major Single Match: Yukio Naya Vs Takeshi Masada
6. New Year’s Six Major Single Match: Jun Akiyama Vs Rukiya
7. New Year’s Six Major Single Match: Tetsuya Endo Vs Hideki Okatani
8. Special 6-Man Tag Match: MAO, Shunma Katsumata & Makoto Oishi Vs Bryan Keith, Soma Takao & Shota

This Saturday’s DDT show has sold out.

GANBARE☆PRO “GROUNDSLAM 15TH ANNIVERSARY PARTY”, 04/02/2024
Kanagawa YOKOHAMA COAST GARAGE+

1. Soma Takao Vs Takuya Wada
2. Hartley Jackson & Tyson Maeguchi Vs Mizuki Watase & Munetatsu Nakamura
3. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Shuichiro Katsumura, Ken Ohka & Yuni Vs Keisuke Ishii, Yumehito Imanari & Ilusion

The GROUNDSLAM gym ran by Shuichiro Katsumura is celebrating being in business for 15 years with their own event filled with exhibition fights and a band performance. Ganbare☆Pro will provide a few wrestling matches for the event on the day.

DDT “NEPPA OVER FLOWERS 3 ~TOTONOI TO YOU~”, 14/02/2024
Shinjuku FACE

1. Hideki Okatani, Yuni & Ilusion Vs Takeshi Masada, Kazuma Sumi & Rukiya
2. ~Kazuki Hirata’s Sauna Room?~: Kazuki Hirata Vs Makoto Oishi Vs Kazusada Higuchi Vs Yukio Naya
3. ~Toy Kojima’s Sauna Room~: Toy Kojima Vs Masato Tanaka
4. ~Shunma Katsumata’s Sauna Room~: Shunma Katsumata Vs Kuroshio TOKYO Japan
5. ~Mao Inoue’s Sauna Room~: MAO Vs Chris Brookes
6. ~Yuki Ueno’s Sauna Room~: Yuki Ueno Vs Danshoku Dieno

Every member of The 37KAMIINA has booked their own match for the unit’s next self-produced show. Yuki Ueno is facing Danshoku Dieno in the main event, MAO gets to fight Chris Brookes again, Shunma Katsumata is inviting Kuroshio TOKYO Japan over and Toy Kojima’s return match from injury will be against Masato Tanaka! Even Kazuki Hirata gets a match for himself as he tries to gain membership into the group. Having to fight in a free-for-all against Makoto Oishi, Kazusada Higuchi and Yukio Naya suggests he may not have had a say in what his match would be.

GANBARE☆PRO “GANPRO 2024 DESIRE”, 23/02/2024
Yokohama Radiant Hall

1. EVE International Title: Yuu (c) Vs Yoshiko Hasegawa
2. Yuna Manase Return Match: Yuna Manase Vs X
3. Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Title: Shuichiro Katsumura (c) Vs Takuya Wada

It has not been confirmed yet but Yuna Manase has challenged Sayaka Unagi to a Mixed Tag Match for Manase’s return to the ring. Manase already has already chosen her tag partner and wants to see who Unagi will find. The two women fought each other at the first “WRESTLE SEKIGAHARA” in 2022. Unagi won that match and Manase holds no grudge over it. In fact she made it publicly known that Unagi was often one of the first people to get in touch with her for almost every step of the way in her recovery process. Their friendship is why Unagi was always going to be Manase’s opponent for her first match back.

A big title challenge is coming up for Yoshiko Hasegawa. She has teamed with and fought against Yuu over in Ganbare☆Joshi recently and the EVE International Title that Yuu carries around has caught her eye. This will be her first championship match. Hasegawa had wanted it to happen at the next GanJo show on 12th February but Yuu is already booked for Sendai Girls that day. So the match will take place in GanPro a little later on the 23rd instead.

DDT “INTO THE FIGHT 2024 TOUR IN YOKOHAMA”, 23/02/2024
Yokohama Radiant Hall

1. KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Titles: Chris Brookes, Masahiro Takanashi, Antonio Honda, Takeshi Masada & Mecha Mummy (c) Vs Maya Yukihi, Ram Kaichow, Rina Yamashita, Sanshiro Takagi & Akito

During the week Maya Yukihi discovered the existence of the KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Titles and wanted to fight for the belts with other members of Rebel X Enemy. The group normally consists of four members but Maika Ozaki is unavailable so Yukihi needed to find two more people to team with herself, Ram Kaichow & Rina Yamashita. Luckily for her the DDT management are stepping in to help out. Sanshiro Takagi & Akito have agreed to join the challenger team and since Kaichow is also sometimes nicknamed “Chairman” the alliance has been named Executive X Enemy. Meanwhile the champion team is subbing in Chris Brookes for Takayuki Ueki. As long as at least three members of the champion team are in the match the title shot can go ahead.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “GRAND PRINCESS ’24”, 31/03/2024
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. Princess Of Princess Title: Miyu Yamashita (c) Vs Miu Watanabe

Masha Slamovich has been added to the show.

Comments Off on The 37KAMIINA Choose Their Favorite Opponents, Yoppy’s 1st Title Shot, Executive X Enemy | News | Tagged: Akito, Antonio Honda, Chris Brookes, Danshoku Dieno, DDT Pro Wrestling, Dramatic Dream Team, EVE International Championship, Ganbare☆Pro Wrestling, GanPro, Kazusada Higuchi, KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Championship, Kuroshio TOKYO Japan, Makoto Oishi, MAO, Masahiro Takanashi, Masato Tanaka, Masha Slamovich, Maya Yukihi, Mecha Mummy, Ram Kaichow, Rebel X Enemy, Rina Yamashita, Ryogoku Kokugikan, Sanshiro Takagi, Sayaka Unagi, Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX, Shinjuku FACE, Shuichiro Katsumura, Shunma Katsumata, Sumo Hall, Takayuki Ueki, Takeshi Masada, The 37KAMIINA, TJPW, Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, Toy Kojima (Toi Kojima), YOKOHAMA COAST GARAGE+, Yokohama Radiant Hall, Yoshiko Hasegawa, Yuki Ueno, Yukio Naya, Yuna Manase, Yuu | Permalink
Posted by JamieOD

Yukio Sakaguchi Announces His Retirement

January 15, 2024

DDT “INTO THE FIGHT 2024 TOUR IN SHINJUKU”, 07/02/2024
Shinjuku FACE

1. Yukio Sakaguchi Retirement Match: Yukio Sakaguchi Vs HARASHIMA

An emergency press conference was held by DDT in Shibuya today for the announcement that Yukio Sakaguchi will soon retire from pro wrestling. His final match will take place on 7th February. Sakaguchi said his reason for retiring is a personal matter but it is not because of lost motivation or declining physical ability. He is currently 50 years old and originally thought to keep wrestling until he was 55. However he thinks everybody in the business knows when the day they want to retire will come and for Sakaguchi that day has come to him now. Sanshiro Takagi wanted Sakaguchi to reconsider and tried to pursuade him to stay because he still has a lot to offer as an older brother figure to the rest of the roster. Instead Sakaguchi could not be convinced and is sticking with his decision.

Sakaguchi does not want his road to retirement to last long so he is only wrestling a couple more matches until his retirement bout. Three of them will be in DDT and he also has a booking in Taiwan next week. He remembers when his father Seiji Sakaguchi retired it was in a tag team match with Kengo Kimura. It was a normal match but still very memorable which is why Sakaguchi does not want to do anything drastic for his own retirement match. He has chosen HARASHIMA to be his final opponent because he holds a lot of respect for him and they have been regular opponents in DDT. Sakaguchi has already told his father about his decision to retire.

Sakaguchi was asked about his favorite memories in DDT. He said his family was always involved in pro wrestling. When he was a child his playground was the New Japan dojo. It felt like destiny he would become a pro wrestler. However he grew up resenting the Sakaguchi name due to his strained relationship with his father and brother. He even wanted to change his surname so he could finally escape it. Joining DDT gave him the freedom to be himself and have fun. He got to wrestle wearing pantyhose over his head, get drunk at Beer Garden shows, have hard hitting fights with the likes of HARASHIMA, Shigehiro Irie & Naomi Yoshimura, laughing at the silly jokes Antonio Honda & Kazuki Hirata came up with and forming Eruption with Kazusada Higuchi & Saki Akai. DDT was where this serious and scary looking man covered in tattoos could go do stupid things inside a ring. He has so many memories he could write a book about them.

There was a question asking if Sakaguchi would still be retiring if Eruption did not lost the All Asia Tag Team Titles yesterday. He went into the match treating it like Eruption must split up if they lost. He admits he would still go through with this announcement if Eruption were still the champions and he would have held onto the belts until retirement. He praised his tag partner Hideki Okatani for growing tremendously over the last couple of months. For that reason Sakaguchi also asked for a singles match against Okatani to happen before he retires. That match will take place on 28th January.

Comments Off on Yukio Sakaguchi Announces His Retirement | News | Tagged: DDT Pro Wrestling, Dramatic Dream Team, Eruption, HARASHIMA, Hideki Okatani, Sanshiro Takagi, Shinjuku FACE, Yukio Sakaguchi | Permalink
Posted by JamieOD

DDT “NEW YEAR’S CURRENT BLAST! 2024” Results

January 14, 2024

DDT “NEW YEAR’S CURRENT BLAST! 2024”, 14/01/2024
Kanagawa Tsurumi Fruit & Vegetable Market
220 Fans – Super No Vacancy

1. Wind And Clouds! Takagi Castle Match: Kazuki Hirata & Danshoku Dieno defeated Sanshiro Takagi, HARASHIMA & Masahiro Takanashi when Takagi’s team were unable to build the Castle (10:00).
2. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Tetsuya Endo, Yuki Iino & Yusuke Okada defeated Yoshitatsu, Kazusada Higuchi & Akito when Iino pinned Akito with the Spear (10:56).
3. Special Single Match: Daisuke Sasaki defeated Shota with the Crossface Lock (8:58).
4. Special Single Match: Soma Takao defeated KANON with the Sorarina (8:24).
5. Special 4 Way Match: Demonio Uno defeated MAO, Mecha Mummy and Mecha Pandita when Uno pinned Pandita after Pandita was run over with a car (14:06).
6. Special Tag Match: Yuki Ueno & Shunma Katsumata defeated Yukio Naya & Rukiya when Katsumata pinned Rukiya with the Totonou Splash (15:32).
7. All Asia Tag Team Titles – Current Blast Bat & Board Tag Death Match: Atsushi Onita & Toy Kojima defeated Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani (c) when Kojima pinned Okatani after a Sandwich Current Blast Bat Full Swing with Onita (11:36).
*Eruption fails in V2. DDO becomes the 122nd All Asia Tag Team Champions!

Once again the All Asia Tag Team Titles have been taken by Atsushi Onita. This time around Toy Kojima is his partner in crime, earning the first proper championship of his career. They defeated Eruption in an Exploding Bat & Board Death Match where the items were rigged with three and a half times the amount of explosives than they normally would be. Onita himself took the first explosion when Yukio Sakaguchi hit him with a baseball bat. Kojima grabbed the bat and hit Sakaguchi with an explosion for revenge. Sakaguchi got his own back by Power Bombing Kojima through an exploding board. Onita blinded Hideki Okatani with the Poison Mist. Together with Kojima, they each grabbed an exploding bat and hit Okatani with it at the same time. Kojima then pinned him for the three count.

The team known as Dramatic Dream Onita (or DDO for short) celebrated their prize and left ringside. That left Eruption defeated in the ring. Sakaguchi had said leading up to the match that they were going to fight as if they would disband if they lost. It turns out he was living up to his word and Eruption are splitting up as of today! Okatani said everyone in Eruption helped get him to this point but he cannot rely on Sakaguchi forever. From here on out Okatani is going to tell his own story. The final two members of Eruption then thanked the fans for their support, took off their Eruption shirts and left them behind in the ring.

As for DDO they already have new plans in the works after becoming the All Asia Tag Champions. Onita wants to bring the belts back to All Japan! Kojima will follow him, ready to make an explosion anytime, anywhere. There is also a third member of DDO that should not be forgotten about. Shunma Katsumata is on their side and wants the three of them to challenge for the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles! If they win they will then exclusively defend the titles in exploding death matches! DDO is ready to take over DDT!

Yuki Ueno had some harsh words for Yukio Naya after their tag match. He said it cannot be helped whenever Naya loses a match and he just rushes home. Being strong is not enough to take the KO-D Openweight Title from Ueno. If all Naya has is strength then there is no way he will win at Korakuen Hall on 28th January. Naya brushed off the comments and said he is looking forward to the actual title match. He is strong now and able to beat Ueno.

Kazuki Hirata is trying to gain membership into The 37KAMIINA even if it is just temporary. He tried interviewing Ueno & Katsumata after their match and joined in on the NeppoWER!! pose. However that does not mean he’s been fully accepted into the unit yet.

Fresh back from America, MAO had a lot of crazy ideas he wanted to do so DDT stuck him in a match with Mecha Mummy, Mecha Pandita and Demonio Uno. That way when things went out of control no living creature under contract to DDT would be harmed. MAO brought out a bazooka that shot fireworks at Mummy and then drove a van into Pandita. Demonio took advantage and pinned Pandita to win.

The latest batch of matches between ROMANCE DAWN and DAMNATION T.A has resulted in ROMANCE DAWN declaring war on their enemies! Daisuke Sasaki cheated to beat Shota by using a chair and giving him a Low Blow. Sasaki then immediately tried to interfere in the match between Soma Takao and KANON but Shota was right behind him to get back in his way. In the chaos Sasaki hit KANON with a chair by mistake and Takao used the opportunity to get the win. Shota complained about Sasaki’s attitude and said ROMANCE DAWN will still be the top tag team throughout 2024.

The opening match had to be changed in the last minute because Yuni caught the flu and couldn’t be at the show. So instead the other five wrestlers came up with a new match type. Sanshiro Takagi, HARASHIMA & Masahiro Takanashi were given the task of building a castle of chairs inside the ring within a 10 minute time limit. It was up to Hirata & Danshoku Dieno to stop them and knock over the castle whenever they could. If Takagi’s team couldn’t complete the castle after 10 minutes then Hirata & Dieno were the winners.

Comments Off on DDT “NEW YEAR’S CURRENT BLAST! 2024” Results | Results | Tagged: All Asia Tag Team Championship, Atsushi Onita, Daisuke Sasaki, DAMNATION T.A, Danshoku Dieno, DDT Pro Wrestling, Demonio Uno, Dramatic Dream Onita, Dramatic Dream Team, Eruption, HARASHIMA, Hideki Okatani, KANON, Kazuki Hirata, MAO, Masahiro Takanashi, Mecha Mummy, Mecha Pandita, ROMANCE DAWN, Sanshiro Takagi, Shota, Shunma Katsumata, Soma Takao, The 37KAMIINA, Toy Kojima (Toi Kojima), Tsurumi Fruit And Vegetable Market, Yuki Ueno, Yukio Naya, Yukio Sakaguchi, Yuni | Permalink
Posted by JamieOD

Takagi Replacing Sumi On Sunday

January 12, 2024

DDT “NEW YEAR’S CURRENT BLAST! 2024”, 14/01/2024
Kanagawa Tsurumi Fruit & Vegetable Market

1. Kazuki Hirata, Danshoku Dieno & Yuni Vs Sanshiro Takagi, HARASHIMA, Masahiro Takanashi
2. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Tetsuya Endo, Yuki Iino & Yusuke Okada Vs Yoshitatsu, Kazusada Higuchi & Akito
3. Special Single Match: Shota Vs Daisuke Sasaki
4. Special Single Match: Soma Takao Vs KANON
5. Special 4 Way Match: MAO Vs Mecha Mummy Vs Mecha Pandita Vs Demonio Uno
6. Special Tag Match: Yuki Ueno & Shunma Katsumata Vs Yukio Naya & Rukiya
7. All Asia Tag Team Titles – Current Blast Death Match: Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani (c) Vs Atsushi Onita & Toy Kojima

Now Kazuma Sumi is out with the flu and cannot wrestle on Sunday’s DDT show. Sanshiro Takagi will replace him in the opening match.

Comments Off on Takagi Replacing Sumi On Sunday | News | Tagged: DDT Pro Wrestling, Dramatic Dream Team, Kazuma Sumi, Sanshiro Takagi, Tsurumi Fruit And Vegetable Market | Permalink
Posted by JamieOD

DDT “SWEET DREAMS! 2024 TOUR IN OSAKA DAY 2” Results

January 7, 2024

DDT “SWEET DREAMS! 2024 TOUR IN OSAKA DAY 2”, 07/01/2024
Osaka 176BOX
208 Fans

1. Makoto Oishi defeated Yuni with the Fujiyama Knee Lock (4:41).
2. Special Single Match: Kazuki Hirata defeated Danshoku Dieno with the Miracle One Shot Cradle (10:42).
3. Special Single Match: Yoshitatsu defeated Takeshi Masada with the This Is WWE (8:47).
4. Jun Akiyama, Toru Owashi & Yukio Sakaguchi defeated Mizuki Watase, Yusuke Okada & Ilusion when Sakaguchi pinned Ilusion with the God’s Right Knee (10:46).
5. Special Single Match: Hideki Okatani defeated Akito with the Quetzalcoatl (9:54).
6. Special Tag Match: Sanshiro Takagi & Rukiya defeated HARASHIMA & Kazuma Sumi when Rukiya pinned Sumi with the Proto Bomb (9:56).
7. BURNING Vs DAMNATION T.A!: Tetsuya Endo & Yuki Iino defeated Daisuke Sasaki & KANON when Iino pinned KANON with the Spear (12:19).
8. Special Tag Match: Yukio Naya & Kazusada Higuchi defeated Yuki Ueno, & Shunma Katsumata when Naya pinned Katsumata with The World’s Best Back Drop (15:48).

There were a bunch of giant truck tyres in the venue today so of course the wrestlers in the main event wanted to use them as weapons. There was a reason Yukio Naya went along with this. He remembers yesterday when Yuki Ueno said the KO-D Openweight Title does not belong to the strongest but to the most fun and interesting. Well today Naya ended up winning the match by using Ueno’s own fun pro wrestling against him. Ueno flat out disagreed and told Naya he did not understand his point. He should stick to what he wants to do if he wants to become the KO-D Champion.

So far Yuki Iino joining BURNING is working out for both parties. DAMNATION T.A attacked them with chairs early in the match but once it calmed down into a more regular tag match, BURNING won out in the end. Tetsuya Endo said he is glad Iino has joined his group and if this feud between the units is what Daisuke Sasaki wants, they should fight each other more. KANON went crazy over losing the match and swore to get revenge on Iino for beating him.

The Toyonaka Tag Team of Sanshiro Takagi & Rukiya made the most of their home field advantage. Takagi used the Sling Blade on Kazuma Sumi and set the table for Rukiya to get his first pro wrestling victory. Rukiya used the Proto Bomb twice on Sumi to get the win. He said it took him nine months after debuting to finally win a match and he is happy it happened in his hometown.

Toy Kojima got injured yesterday and could not compete today. Akito replaced him for the match against Hideki Okatani. Also Mizuki Watase from Ganbare☆Pro came in to take Akito’s spot in the 6-Man Tag Match.

Comments Off on DDT “SWEET DREAMS! 2024 TOUR IN OSAKA DAY 2” Results | Results | Tagged: Akito, BURNING, Daisuke Sasaki, DAMNATION T.A, DDT Pro Wrestling, Dramatic Dream Team, Hideki Okatani, KANON, Kazuma Sumi, Mizuki Watase, Osaka 176BOX, Rukiya, Sanshiro Takagi, Tetsuya Endo, Toy Kojima (Toi Kojima), Yuki Iino, Yuki Ueno, Yukio Naya | Permalink
Posted by JamieOD

DDT “D-OH GRAND PRIX 2023 THE FINAL” Results

January 3, 2024

DDT “D-OH GRAND PRIX 2023 THE FINAL”, 03/01/2024
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,194 Fans – Super No Vacancy

1. Daisuke Sasaki, KANON & MJ Paul defeated Soma Takao, Yuki Iino & Yuni when KANON submitted Takao with the Cobra Twist 2.0 (8:15).
2. Jun Akiyama & Makoto Oishi defeated Yusuke Okada & Kazuma Sumi when Oishi submitted Sumi with the Fujiyama Knee Lock (7:42).
3. Special Tag Match ~ Shunma Katsumata Return Match: Shunma Katsumata & Toy Kojima defeated Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani when Kojima pinned Okatani with a Modified Facebuster (9:37).
4. HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata defeated Sanshiro Takagi, Akito & Antonio Honda when Hirata pinned Honda with the Miracle One Shot Cradle (12:05).
5. Special Tag Match ~ DDT Vs AJPW: Jun Saito & Rei Saito defeated Kazusada Higuchi & Rukiya when Rei pinned Rukiya with the Saito Iginari Smash (11:40).
-. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Kuroshio TOKYO Japan defeated Christmas Tree (c) by Pinfall (8:11 pm).
*Kuroshio TOKYO Japan becomes the 1,600th champion.
6. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Kuroshio TOKYO Japan defeated Danshoku Dieno with the Ikemenrana (12:31).
*V1 for Kuroshio TOKYO Japan.
7. The 37KAMIINA Vs SCHADENFREUDE International!: Yuki Ueno & Yuki Iino defeated Masahiro Takanashi & Takeshi Masada when Ueno pinned Masada with the Jul.2 (10:28).
8. D-Oh Grand Prix 2023 – Final: Yukio Naya defeated Tetsuya Endo with The World’s Best Back Drop (26:59).

At the end of 2022 Yukio Naya made it all the way to the D-Ou Grand Prix final but could not win the tournament. He made it his goal to do one better in the 2023 Grand Prix and right here at the start of 2024 he achieved it! Tetsuya Endo was also determined to win today’s final but he couldn’t defeat Naya even with Exploder Suplexes, Spinning Torture Rack Bombs and Burning Star Presses. The last move in particular was blocked by Naya and served him the opening to take over the match. Endo relied on Rolling Chops to try and get back into it but Naya cut him off with Knee Lifts and a Choke Slam for a nearfall. Naya then overpowered Endo with The World’s Best Back Drop to put him away and win the Grand Prix!

Naya burst into tears after the match when Kenta Kobashi presented him with the trophy and posed with him for a photo. Naya thanked everyone for supporting him from his family to everyone in DDT. This means so much to him because a few years ago nobody ever thought he could compete at this level. He still has one dream that hasn’t come true yet and that is to win the KO-D Openweight Title! He called Yuki Ueno down to the ring and challenged him for the championship so everyone will see who really is the strongest in DDT. Ueno accepted but told him the title should be held by the most interesting guy in DDT. The title match will take place at Korakuen Hall on 28th January.

As for Endo, he thought 2024 was going to start out well for him because he was on the winning team of the Shuffle 6-Man Tag Tournament on New Year’s Eve. But after losing to Naya today he now feels like he fell to the bottom of DDT and has to climb out of Hell. Then suddenly backstage Daisuke Sasaki approached Endo after his post-match interview with the media. Sasaki explained the reason why Endo lost today is because he did not have Jun Akiyama next to him. But that also means there is nothing tying down Endo anymore either. Sasaki suggested that Endo does not need BURNING anymore and they should go change the world together. But before Endo could respond, Sasaki told him to relax and think about what he just said because they will see each other again soon.

Ueno was meant to team with MAO in the semi-main event but MAO had fever symptoms and was pulled from the show. Parts of the card were changed around and Ueno got to team with Yuki Iino instead. Masahiro Takanashi & Takeshi Masada jumped them early but Ueno & Iino quickly rallied together. Things went pair shaped when Iino’s Lariat missed Masada and hit Ueno by mistake. Masada tried to capitalise but Ueno held on until he could counter attack and pin Masada with the Jul.2. The result left SCHADENFREUDE International feeling disappointed because Chris Brookes was in attendance for the first time since getting his surgery. Brookes suggested they disband right away but everyone else convinced him not to. Instead they figured out Masada can get revenge on Ueno beating him today by pinning him for the KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Titles in two days time!

After Danshoku Dieno made his entrance to the ring for his match, footage was shown of Kuroshio TOKYO Japan and Seigo Tachibana hanging out backstage. They opened a nearby locker and out fell the Christmas Tree that won the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title on Christmas Eve! Tachibana decided to pin the tree but Kuroshio stopped him and stole the pin to become the champion instead. Kuroshio then forced Tachibana to get into the ring with Dieno while he completed his long and elaborate entrance. Dieno kept Tachibana in the Lip Lock while Kuroshio pranced around the audience until his theme song looped back to the beginning. He finally attacked Dieno to start the match and they brawled through the crowd with the back of their tights all pulled down. The fight went up to the commentary table where Kenta Kobashi was seated. Dieno tried to stumble over for a kiss but Kobashi sent him away with a Chop. The match returned to the ring where Tachibana tried to get involved again. He ended up getting a water bottle shoved up his rear by Dieno that Kuroshio then had to pull out. Makoto Oishi forcibly filled Dieno’s mouth with wasabi but the Lip Lock missed Kuroshio and landed on Tachibana instead. Kuroshio then rubbed the wasabi onto his crotch and pinned Dieno with a Hurricanrana to retain the Iron Man Title. Backstage he admitted he doesn’t even know what this championship is. He likes it but wants to win a proper title as well as compete in DDT more often in 2024.

If DDT thought they were now safe from The Saito Brothers bringing them doom then they are sorely mistaken. Rei Saito had one more appearance left for them and this time he brought along his brother Jun Saito. The two of them fought Kazuasada Higuchi & Rukiya. Higuchi did a good job handling them in the ring but it was a more difficult challenge for Rukiya. In the end they just couldn’t handle so much doom. Jun used a Lariat to take out Higuchi and then The Saito Brothers together threw down Rukiya with a Double Choke Slam for the win. Rei said next time he is going to beat up Rukiya even more! Jun however showed interest in seeing Higuchi show up in All Japan some day. Apparently Higuchi and The Saito Brothers already have a history together going back to their sumo days over a decade ago.

For the final time the three main members of DISASTER BOX all teamed together and they finished the occasion with a win. Toru Owashi brought along the lucha to fight Akito while HARASHIMA suddenly had bad flashbacks when Sanshiro Takagi started using Hiroshi Tanahashi’s moves on him to celebrate the New Japan wrestler’s promotion to company president. Antonio Honda relied on Gongitsune like he always does but Kazuki Hirata’s eyes were protected by his Hirata GO! glasses. The deflected attack allowed Hirata to pin Honda with the Miracle One Shot Cradle.

After the match HARASHIMA told the others DISASTER BOX is going away but it will always feel like the unit is still around whenever they are together. They all left the ring together when Shunma Katsumata suddenly ran out and dragged Hirata back into the ring. Without taking any breaths Katsumata challenged Hirata for the DDT Extreme Title. He was the previous champion who had to vacate the title due to injury but admitted Hirata has become the kind of Extreme Champion he always wanted to be. They agreed to have the title match on 28th January.

Katsumata’s challenge came shorty after his return match from injury. He teamed with Toy Kojima to take on Eruption. He made sure to start off the match against Hideki Okatani and even thanked him for waiting all this time for him to return. But it was Kojima who stole the spotlight by using a new Spinning Flapjack move to pin Okatani for the 3 count. After a brief staredown with Yukio Sakaguchi, Kojima told Eruption this will be the same when they fight in the exploding death match on 14th January! Katsumata said now that he’s back, The 37KAMIINA will make DDT more hotter than ever!

Jun Akiyama & Makoto Oishi gave Kazuma Sumi a tough night in the ring. Yusuke Okada was there to help out until he missed a Diving Headbutt aimed for Akiyama. Sumi found his second wind and used Oishi as a footstep to Dropkick Akiyama off the ring apron. However Oishi dodged the Mickey Boomerang and planed Sumi with the Miracle Ecstasy. That would have been the end but Akiyama pushed Oishi away during the pin and gave Sumi an Exploder Suplex as payback for the Dropkick. Oishi then made Sumi tap out to the Fujiyama Knee Lock.

DAMNATION T.A now find themselves in the midst of a KO-D Tag Team Titles shot after they won the opening match. Sasaki took out Yuni with a Spear and then tricked the referee into distracting Shota because he was holding a chair. While that was going on Sasaki hit Soma Takao with another chair and KANON applied the Cobra Twist 2.0 for the submission win. Afterwards KANON wished ROMANCE DAWN to have a miserable new year and declared himself and Sasaki as their next challengers. The two sides agreed to have the match on 21st January. Sasaki insulted Shota for claiming he is a part of the Young Communication generation. According to Sasaki, Shota was only a supporting role and that name should only be used for the likes of Shigehiro Irie and Keisuke Ishii!

The first DDT show of the year means a lot of big announcements to get through along with other major news stories. First, the DDT Vs All Japan rivalry will continue throughout 2024. Ryuki Honda and Yuma Anzai will be at the 7th February DDT show in Shinjuku. Then on 17th March at DDT’s 27th Anniversary show Konosuke Takeshita will face Yuma Aoyagi one on one! Aoyagi was in attendance to greet the fans after the announcement. He hoped Takeshita would be here too but he has to wait until 17th March to show Takeshita his own Dramatic Dream. Later backstage Aoyagi told reporters he would also like to face Yuki Ueno for the KO-D Title too!

Kaisei Takechi sent in a video to promote his pro wrestling debut on 25th February. The celebrity who is part of THE RAMPAGE from EXILE TRIBE told fans he worked with DDT wrestlers during the filming of Fukumen D and felt indebted to them. He is very happy to repay them by doing this match. This is just his first step into the pro wrestling world and he is honored to do it on such a wonderful stage.

Student pro wrestler Tsubasa Suzuki has applied to DDT as an intern wrestler. He will debut on the 27th Anniversary show on 17th March. Suzuki comes from Hitotsubashi University World Pro Wrestling Alliance and previously appeared on DDT shows a year ago under the ring name “Mother’s Child” Mazakon Kid. The point of an internship is so students can get work experience before starting their careers so he will wrestle on DDT shows for a certain amount of time. At the end DDT will talk with Suzuki and decide if he can join the company. Suzuki told the fans he is the world’s first intern wrestler and promises to do his best to become a beloved member of DDT. He likes high flying wrestling and has a lot of respect for Kota Ibushi and Naomichi Marufuji (bad timing to bring those two names up) so he thinks it will be great if he could become like them (hopefully not in their present forms).

Miu Watanabe appeared in the ring to promote tomorrow’s annual Ittenyon show for Tokyo Joshi Pro. She will be part of the 3 Way Tag Match to determine the new Princess Tag Team Champions.

During the show’s opening ceremony Yoshitatsu appeared and announced he will become a regular part of DDT shows starting on 5th January. The wrestler had just left All Japan over the new year. He said when he fought in DDT a couple of times in 2023 it reminded him of the fun side of pro wrestling that he had forgotten. One match he had with Jun Akiyama in particular stood out for him and he would like to have more tough battles against him. Also DDT working with Chris Jericho and Matt Cardona who he both knew from WWE made it an appealing place for him to look for an opportunity.

Chris Brookes told the fans he would like to come back from his surgery as soon as possible. He feels fine physically but does not know when he can return to wrestling again yet.

The last piece of news came after the show had ended. Sanshiro Takagi announced to reporters he will be taking an indefinite break as a pro wrestler after DDT’s Sumo Hall show on 21st July. He is doing this for several reasons from taking care of his health to concentrating more on managing Cyberfight. He also said he will soon need to begin the process of finding his successor because he believes current management across Japan’s pro wrestling industry is aging out. This is not intended to be him retiring from the ring because he will start wrestling again when his health improves. However he does not know when that will happen which is why he saved this announcement for the media after the show. He may go into more details later this week.

Comments Off on DDT “D-OH GRAND PRIX 2023 THE FINAL” Results | Results, Tournaments | Tagged: AJPW, Akito, All Japan Pro Wrestling, Antonio Honda, BURNING, Chris Brookes, CyberFight, D-Oh Grand Prix, Daisuke Sasaki, DAMNATION T.A, Danshoku Dieno, DDT Extreme Championship, DDT Pro Wrestling, DISASTER BOX, Dramatic Dream Team, Eruption, HARASHIMA, Hideki Okatani, Iron Man Heavymetalweight Championship, Jun Akiyama, Jun Saito, Kaisei Takechi, KANON, Kazuki Hirata, Kazuma Sumi, Kazusada Higuchi, Kenta Kobashi, KO-D Openweight Championship, KO-D Tag Team Championship, Konosuke Takeshita, Korakuen Hall, Kuroshio TOKYO Japan, Makoto Oishi, MAO, Masahiro Takanashi, Miu Watanabe, MJ Paul, Mother’s Child Mazakon Kid, Rei Saito, ROMANCE DAWN, Rukiya, Ryuki Honda, Saito Brothers, Sanshiro Takagi, SCHADENFREUDE International, Seigo Tachibana, Shota, Shunma Katsumata, Soma Takao, Takeshi Masada, Tetsuya Endo, The 37KAMIINA, Toru Owashi, Toy Kojima (Toi Kojima), Tsubasa Suzuki, Yoshitatsu, Yuki Iino, Yuki Ueno, Yukio Naya, Yukio Sakaguchi, Yuma Anzai, Yuma Aoyagi, Yuni, Yusuke Okada | Permalink
Posted by JamieOD

DramaticDDT’s Predictions For 2024

December 24, 2023

Merry Christmas! I’m giving this another go despite how bad my predictions for 2023 went. What do I think is in store for DDT, Tokyo Joshi Pro, Ganbare☆Pro, BASARA and maybe even CyberFight as a whole? It’s a tricky challenge this time because whenever I try guessing how 2024 will turn out, all I see is murkiness. There’s a weird contradiction in my thoughts about where wrestling is right now. On the one hand there is a status quo where all the companies around the world are positioned that I do not see changing anytime soon. But then there are changes within the companies themselves, some that are so unexpected that I have no idea what the entire scene will look like this time next year. Like of course WWE will be the top company on the planet but what does it turn into next as it finally moves away from Vince McMahon’s ideas and has the most fan goodwill it has probably ever had? AEW badly fell apart this year but the Continental Classic tournament is providing a nice set of building blocks to rebuild the company with. The problem is will Tony Khan want to use those blocks? It doesn’t help that the loudest podcasters in the room are constantly telling everyone that AEW should be more like WWE in the storyline department. That is my biggest pet peeve with wrestling at the moment, by the way. Whenever I hear people say every wrestling show should be a three ringed circus with something for everybody they’re really just saying “go be like WWE”. It’s the same voices that reject other companies for doing things differently.

And then there is Japan’s wrestling scene still trying to re-establish themselves post-pandemic. It’s mostly alright with some brief moments of greatness but there’s not a lot that has really caught my imagination this year compared to the 2010s. Show attendances week to week isn’t inspiring much hope in me either. It seems like homecoming shows and retirement matches can bring in crowds but outside of that a lot of companies are getting dwindling crowd numbers which has me worried. New Japan and Stardom will be fine as long as they can manage themselves properly. 2023 definitely gave Stardom a lot of lessons about show scheduling and injuries but they seem to be learning from it. All Japan discovering success again should also be a sign that there is still an audience out there in Japan that pro wrestling can appeal to. Now let’s see if this United Japan Pro Wrestling alliance is actually going to mean anything substantial.

Before I give you my predictions for 2024, here is how my 2023’s predictions went. Not very good it turns out.

DDT

✓. Mike Bailey wrestles a match in DDT again.
X. KANON outperforms Daisuke Sasaki.
X. Yuya Koroku becomes the next wrestler from DDT’s new generation (debuted 2020 onwards) to win a championship.
✓. Tetsuya Endo struggles to reclaim the top position in DDT.
X. Dramatic Dream Gate is revived.

The first one was by far the easiest prediction to make. It is basically the free spot on a bingo card. DDT going to America guaranteed that Mike Bailey would be on one of their shows. Although I do think the New Japan appearances he also made this year means he’s fully done with DDT in Japan. KANON is slowly getting pushed but I wouldn’t put his work above Daisuke Sasaki’s in 2023. Hideki Okatani was the breakout in the new generation, not Yuya Koroku like I expected. Tetsuya Endo is definitely struggling and I’ll get back to that point later. No Dramatic Dream Gate revival because DDT worked with All Japan instead of Dragongate.

Tokyo Joshi Pro

X. At least 3 women who originally came from Actwres girl’Z will appear in TJPW and at least 1 of them becomes a regular roster member.
X. An outsider wins the Princess Of Princess Title.
X. Maki Itoh gets to No. 1 on a iTunes or Spotify chart somewhere in the world.
X. A woman from Sakisama’s past comes back to haunt her.
X. Sasha Banks appears at Grand Princess ’23.

Oh so now Actwres girl’Z gets their act together and stops leaking talent left, right and centre! TJPW’s roster growth all came from training their own rookies and bringing in foreign wrestlers. An outsider did become champion but it was Max The Impaler winning the International Princess Title, not the Princess Of Princess Title. No idea how to look up music chart data but if Maki Itoh got No. 1 somewhere we would have heard about it. My Sakisama fantasy booking was inspired by the rumour of CyberFight wanting to sign Maya Yukihi. If Mercedes Moné does end up going back to WWE then the hype surrounding her for an entire year was an absolute waste of time for everyone else involved.

Ganbare☆Pro Wrestling

✓. Some of the wrestlers Shota worked with in America get booked for Ganpro.
X. Keisuke Ishii wins the Spirit Of Ganbare Title.
1/2✓. Ganpro creates a tag team championship and builds it around mixed tag wrestling.
X. Ganbare☆Joshi runs their own show in Korakuen Hall.
X. Kota Ibushi wrestles a match in Ganpro.

Shota’s American excursion got the likes of Dan The Dad and Kody Lane booked in Japan. Keisuke Ishii did get a Spirit Of Ganbare Title but lost that match to Mizuki Watase in one of Ganpro’s best matches of the year. We did get the Spirit Of Ganbare World Tag Team Titles created and it does allow intergender teams. However it has not been the focal point of the title’s existence yet so I only got it half right. No standalone Ganbare☆Joshi show in Korakuen Hall yet but I think it is only a matter of time before it happens. Who on earth would have guessed Kota Ibushi’s first match back would be in GCW?

Miscellaneous

X. Gake no Fuchi Joshi crosses over with Baka Gaijin + Friends.
X. AEW will host another event in Japan with DDT & TJPW involvement.
X. CyberFight adds another promotion to their portfolio.
X. A brand new puroresu console game gets announced.
✓. BASARA does something new and different.

I’m kind of surprised Miyako Matsumoto hasn’t shown up in Baka Gaijin + Friends yet. It seems like her kind of wrestling but I can’t tell what goes through her mind on most days. AEW seems to have developed less interest in the Japanese scene while they go through something of an identity crisis heading into the fifth year of their existence. No new wrestling brand for CyberFight but there is the United Japan Pro Wrestling brand attaching the big wrestling companies together. No new puroresu game which makes me sad. AEW: Fight Forever is fine and I bet has a good base to create a better sequel. Will that happen though? The last prediction is also the best one for me. BASARA made Banana Senga their champion! That was definitely something new and different.

———————————————————————–

So yeah, let’s ignore all that and get on to next year’s predictions. I came up with 20 predictions for 2024 spread across four categories. Five for DDT, five for Tokyo Joshi Pro, five for Ganbare☆Pro and five guesses that apply to anything attached to BASARA and the CyberFight promotions. I’m also listing them in order from easy to hard, likely to unlikely, mild to spicy, etc. I came up with these predictions using booking patterns, reading tea leaves and coming up with ideas that are just as creative as they are plausible.

DDT

Prediction: Naomi Yoshimura returns from injury and gets a singles push.

It’s been over a year since Naomi Yoshimura last wrestled a match. What’s promising though is his regular appearances seconding the other wrestlers in Harimao. There’s also glimpses on his social media of him training in the DDT dojo again. It at least suggests he will be back in the ring sooner or later. When Yoshimura took time off to recover from a herniated disc he said he wanted to reclaim the KO-D Tag Team Titles for Harimao when he returns. I think too much time has past for that to be his only goal. He should instead focus on catching up with Yuki Ueno. My fingers are crossed he is able to come back, stay healthy and win some accomplishments by himself.

Prediction: Kento Miyahara will be at “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2024”.

At no point this year did I expect DDT and All Japan to be doing inter-promotional matches with each other. What a great thing that turned out to be though. Adding a few DDT Vs AJPW matches on shows here and there spiced up the midcard for both companies. It had history to play off of because of Jun Akiyama’s involvement. It is helping Yukio Naya develop into the heavyweight DDT wants him to be thanks to the feud with The Saito Brothers that will likely continue in AJPW. Eruption got to start their new chapter without Saki Akai by winning the All Asia Tag Team Titles and giving Yukio Sakaguchi an achievement he can now share with his father. Eruption also entered the Real World Tag League which gave Hideki Okatani some valuable experience. I want this working relationship to continue in 2024 and I know the best place where it can reach its climax. DDT will likely have a big guest for their Sumo Hall show in July. Bring on over AJPW’s biggest star Kento Miyahara to liven up the place! He would be a great singles match opponent for somebody like Yuki Ueno or Kazusada Higuchi. He’s definitely someone who Ueno should learn from about how to be a showman in the ring.

Prediction: Sanshiro Takagi fights Hiroshi Tanahashi in a battle of the presidents!

This week New Japan announced Hiroshi Tanahashi has become the new president of the company. Now he has a lot more in common with Sanshiro Takagi. Now Tanahashi has an awkward history with DDT but that was years ago and I’m sure it’s all water under the bridge. But just in case there’s still some bad blood there is always the wrestling ring right there for them to settle their differences. Two presidents of different wrestling companies having a match against each other is the kind of idea Takagi would jump on and I think Tanahashi would be game for it. United Japan Pro Wrestling is going to need something a little bit novel to put on their Budokan Hall card in the summer. Why not this in the midcard?

Prediction: Somebody (or something) from WWE wins the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title.

WWE looking to carve out their place in Japan is a topic that gets brought up a lot online. This year finally saw the company make their move when they signed a broadcasting deal with ABEMA and also got increased presence in Shukan Puroresu magazine. There were also points throughout the year when Shinsuke Nakamura would pop up. He headlined a big show for NOAH as the final opponent for The Great Muta. He also filmed a special message for Saki Akai that was shown to her during her retirement ceremony. If that’s not enough, on the day I am writing this paragraph All Japan are teasing that the mystery challenger for a Triple Crown title match on 3rd January could be coming from NXT. So if WWE in Japan really is happening, we might as well have some fun with it before everything gets ruined again. DDT will be in Philadelphia during Wrestlemania week and that usually means the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title will be going along for the ride. It’s only a matter of time before somebody in the WWE gets to win the championship for even the briefest of moments. Now I’m not expecting Cody Rhodes to win it in front of 50,000 people to finish the story. But somebody involved with the company hanging out at WrestleCon and taking their chance to win a 24/7 title just to amuse themselves? That sounds more likely. This prediction also applies to any item, prop or official piece of merchandise tied to WWE. If a Jey Uso “Yeet” shirt becomes champion then it counts!

Prediction: Tetsuya Endo should go on an overseas excursion.

This is not so much of a prediction but more a piece of advice. After thinking of ways for Tetsuya Endo to get out of the current position he is in, the best idea I can come up with is for him to go wrestle overseas for a while. Whether that is a several month stay in America or going on weekend trips to Europe every couple of months, he badly needs a change of pace in a new surrounding. Get him in there with Gringo Loco in GCW, have Shigehiro Irie show him the (lack of) sights in Oberhausen during a wXw tournament weekend, book him on ROH so he can travel around with the AEW crew, seat him in the front row behind the commentary table at an NXT taping. He should go broaden his horizons because the direction DDT put him in as Kenta Kobashi’s protégé is not working.

Tokyo Joshi Pro

Prediction: Somebody from the 2023 Class scores a pinfall on a TJPW veteran.

We got six rookies in 2023 and they have all been fun to watch as they learn on the job and figure out who they want to be. Wakana Uehara winning the New Generation Tournament shows that TJPW have faith in her becoming an important part of the roster if she sticks with them. HIMAWARI had her character down flat from day one and her match against Uehara in the final is a great example of how to create a dramatic match with limited movesets. Toga is capturing everyone’s hearts one big Elbow Smash at a time (although really you should thank Hikari Noa for selling that move like a champ), Shino Suzuki has the bonus advantage of being in The Up Up Girls and we might end up with a future generational rivalry between Haru Kazashiro & Runa Okubo as they learn different wrestling styles separate from each other. Talent development for TJPW needs to be coming quick and fast if there is a need to replace the likes of Yuka Sakazaki. Young blood needs to be beating veterans eventually and it is more likely to happen than you think. Remember, TJPW holds a couple of one day tournaments throughout the year with matches that end in 2 Count pinfalls. That’s where you can see Uehara suddenly beat Mahiro Kiryu or Toga only needing to roll up Kaya Toribami for two seconds to get her hand raised. I don’t expect it to be on the level of Arisu Endo pinning Shoko Nakajima out of nowhere but somebody from the 2023 class is going to get a moment in the spotlight her senpai’s expense in 2024.

Prediction: Mizuki Vs Rika Tatsumi finally happens… in the Tokyo Princess Cup.

When Mizuki’s reign as the Princess Champion ended there was one thing that left me completely baffled. Why was there never a title defence against Rika Tatsumi? One of the longest running pieces of character lore in TJPW is Tatsumi’s crush on Mizuki going all the way back to 2018 when Tatsumi wanted to banish the Forbidden Three rules the in-house roster had to follow because nobody was sure if “No Boyfriends” also meant “No Girlfriends”. Fast forward to 2023 and we got a very good 2-Vs-1 Handicap Match between Daydream and Mizuki where Tatsumi battled those feelings in order to beat her crush. Nothing ever came out of it and to be fair it never intended to be more than an emergency replacement match due to Sakazaki getting injured. TJPW also has an odd thing where some of their big singles matches only ever happen in the Tokyo Princess Cup, either as a 1st Round match to eliminate a top contender early or as a random drawing in the final stages of the tournament. So I think if we ever do get Mizuki Vs Tatsumi, it will be at the Princess Cup instead of a big singles title bout.

Prediction: Maki Itoh wins the GCW World Heavyweight Championship.

I think odds are really good for Maki Itoh to win one of GCW’s championships next year given she is one of the bigger attractions for the group nowadays. Her winning the tag team titles with Nick Gage is an obvious direction to go. But I want to go all in for this prediction. GCW has Blake Christian as their long term heel world champion and groundwork has been laid down for a Blake Vs Gage title match down the road. But we’ve been there, done that with Gage as the top babyface champion for GCW. This is a company that doesn’t mind doing wacky novelty booking with their titles. So how about Itoh unexpectedly gets a title match with Blake, maybe Money In The Bank style and she shockingly beats him for the GCW Title? It would be the peak of her run with the company, that’s for sure.

Prediction: Aja Kong takes on a regular role in TJPW.

Just like how Jun Akiyama became a coach in DDT, I’d like to see Aja Kong do something similar in TJPW. She has been a guest for so many shows at this point it’s not like she would be a stranger to everyone there. Whether it is coaching the youngsters, becoming a matchmaker or just keeping a stern eye on Tetsuya Koda so he won’t lose focus Kong would have a wealth of knowledge to offer the company. And maybe then we get a payoff for her rivalry with Max The Impaler.

Prediction: Miyu Yamashita and Maki Itoh remain with TJPW for the year.

I’m testing fate with this one, aren’t I? Miyu Yamashita has done almost everything there is to do in TJPW and Maki Itoh spends so much time in America she’s currently divorced from what’s going on in her home promotion. And yet I just don’t believe both of them are ready to graduate from TJPW like Yuka Sakazaki did. At least not in the next 12 months. Yamashita and Itoh will definitely have plenty of American bookings for everyone to look forward to in 2024. But leaving TJPW to focus on that entirely? I don’t think so. They will still have TJPW as their home base.

Ganbare☆Pro

Prediction: Ken Ohka Wins The Spirit Of Ganbare Title From Isami Kodaka

The ways that Ken Ohka and Isami Kodaka have been booked in GanPro this year makes this in my opinion the likeliest prediction to come true. Kodaka is cleaving through the roster with title defence after title defence while Ohka, the main guy behind all of GanPro, has been kept away from the title picture for over a year and a half. Ohka is always fighting from the bottom as the underdog so him never winning the Spirit Of Ganbare Title would fit how he books himself. However that’s not how pro wrestling works and there is bound to be a day when he finally gets his hands on his own promotion’s championship.

Prediction: The Ganbare☆Climax returns.

The last time GanPro held a tournament called the Ganbare☆Climax was in 2021 and that was to crown their first SOG Champion. It would be nice to see it come back to determine a No. 1 Contender during the year. GanPro held tournaments for the Young Ganbare Cup and the Spirit Of Ganbare Tag Team Titles this year but they both felt like one-offs. That clears up the schedule for a single elimination tournament to happen whenever they want.

Prediction: Yuna Manase returns from injury and feuds with YuuRI.

One of the key additions to GanPro this year was the relaunch of the Ganbare☆Joshi division built around YuuRI, Yoshiko Hasegawa and Riara. Sadly Yuna Manase was relegated to a GM role while she recovers from her ACL injury. YuuRI in particular put in the work to become the face of the GanJo division in her absence. So let’s say that Manase is able to wrestle again in 2024. Would she be willing to play second fiddle to YuuRI? Or will history continue to be a circle and Manase now finds herself as the veteran unwilling to let the new generation surpass her? Wouldn’t that be interesting given Manase’s feud with Yuu Yamagata a few years ago was over the same idea? YuuRI still has a lot to prove and the dynamic could make Hasegawa and Riara choose sides until the matter is resolved. Build it up to one big singles match and it could end up being a lot of fun to follow.

Prediction: A mixed gender tag team wins the Spirit Of Ganbare Tag Titles.

I admit this is just a repackaged prediction I made last year about the SOG Tag Titles being built around intergender wrestling. There’s only been one title defence so far featuring a mixed gender team and that was when Lethal Weapon (Hartley Jackson & HARUKAZE) were the challengers. I like seeing them team together but I fear that match in August was their only chance, at least while Ground Absolute hold the belts/trophies. There are always other people in GanPro for HARUKAZE to team with and also Banny Oikawa is now with GanPro mostly to do mixed tags. I bet it is only a matter of time before it happens.

Prediction: A Stardom wrestler appears on a Ganbare☆Joshi show.

Another factor of GanJo’s return this year was seeing that roster interact with wrestlers from TJPW, Ice Ribbon, Marvelous, Diana and more. YuuRI even brought over Ice Ribbon’s main championship for a title defence on a GanJo show. Now let’s add Stardom to the list through the UJNW connection. Stardom and TJPW will probably stay being icy towards each other but Yuna Manase and YuuRI both got to wrestle on a Stardom show in 2022. I see talk online about how cool it would be if all the joshi companies get together in 2024 for a major arena show to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of “BIG EGG UNIVERSE”. Something like that was kind of done in 2022 to celebrate 60 years of Korakuen Hall and even then that had some bruised egos coming out of it when Shukan Puroresu only put Starlight Kid on the front cover at the expense of everyone else involved who were not associated with Stardom. Also TJPW stayed away from the show too which again, some icy relationships are probably going on there. So let’s keep this prediction on a much smaller level and just say a Stardom wrestler shows up at a GanJo event.

Miscellaneous

Prediction: A DDT wrestler makes a full time jump over to BASARA.

Appearances from Kazusada Higuchi during the last quarter of 2023 helped freshen up BASARA a little bit. They’re not a company I expect much change from going forward but they could do with adding another full timer to their roster. Even though they are independent there is history with a DDT wrestler deciding they are better off jumping over to BASARA (or Union Pro before that) so they can play a bigger role at shows. It could be a veteran who already wrestles in BASARA and no longer seeing themselves being relevant in DDT (*cough*Soma Takao*cough*) or maybe one of the younger, less experienced wrestlers are looking for a change of pace. Ilusion for example seems to get along with that group well. Someone from that age group would turn into a rival for Munetatsu Nakamura too if that were to happen.

Prediction: Konosuke Takeshita wrestles in the main event of an AEW PPV.

It is really annoying to see Konosuke Takeshita being wasted in The Don Callis Family storyline. It is also annoying that the next step of the angle is the group using Freebird rules that will obviously set up Sammy Guevara’s return to TV rather than giving more focus to Takeshita or Powerhouse Hobbs for that matter. So what is it that has me thinking Takeshita can be in a PPV main event next year? Just the numbers game, really. AEW are adding more PPVs to their schedule so that should be more opportunities for new title challengers. Also if this storyline continues without Kenny Omega and just becomes the Family feuding with Chris Jericho there is can be something like a new Anarchy In The Arena happening to close out one of the PPVs.

Prediction: Yuka Sakazaki becomes the first ROH Women’s TV Champion.

Sakazaki is getting ready for the next chapter in her pro wrestling life. Given how AEW presents their women’s division, she is probably going to get more time in ROH instead. She already had her shot at Athena and the regular ROH Women’s Title but the group now has something new to fight for. A brand new ROH Women’s TV Title was recently revealed and Sakazaki would make a great choice to be its first champion.

Prediction: Baka Gaijin + Friends runs a show at Shin-Kiba 1st RING.

When I wrote a preview for the “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2023” main event I compared the Baka Gaijin + Friends shows to DDT’s Beer Garden shows. There’s a warm vibe and fun atmosphere to these matches that take place in such a small venue. I think the series has become popular enough that Chris Brookes can go from 50 fans in ARENA Shimokitazawa to a triple digit attendance in Shin-Kiba 1st RING, the place where DDT hosted Beer Garden for many years. See it like Gatoh Move running ChocoPro in Ichigaya on the regular and then every once in a while they move up to a place where a full scale wrestling ring can be set up. As long as the drinks still flow the crowd will be with them all the way.

Prediction: The 2024 New Year’s Eve Shuffle Tag Tournament lasts past midnight again.

It used to be that the final show of the year in Korakuen Hall goes beyond midnight into the early hours of the new year. It hasn’t been that way for a while because of restrictions coming out of the pandemic. Unfortunately I think a reason why this year’s edition still has an early evening start is because the show is not much of a draw anymore. But I want to be proven wrong so Korakuen fans get to count down the new year in the middle of a semi-final tag team match again.

Prediction: Yuka Sakazaki gets arrested for assaulting Mickey Mouse at Disney World.

~~She’s your problem now, Tony!~~

1 Comment | Previews | Tagged: AEW, Aja Kong, AJPW, All Elite Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling, Baka Gaijin + Friends, Banny Oikawa, CyberFight, DDT Pro Wrestling, Dramatic Dream Team, Game Changer Wrestling, Ganbare☆Climax, Ganbare☆Joshi, Ganbare☆Pro Wrestling, GanJo, GanPro, GCW, GCW World Championship, Haru Kazashiro, HARUKAZE, HIMAWARI, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Iron Man Heavymetalweight Championship, Isami Kodaka, Ken Ohka, Kento Miyahara, Konosuke Takeshita, Korakuen Hall, Maki Itoh, Miyu Yamashita, Mizuki, Naomi Yoshimura, New Japan Pro Wrestling, NJPW, Pro Wrestling BASARA, Rika Tatsumi, Ring Of Honor, ROH, Runa Okubo, Sanshiro Takagi, Shin-Kiba 1st RING, Shino Suzuki, Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Championship, Spirit Of Ganbare World Tag Team Championship, TJPW, Toga, Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, Tokyo Princess Cup, UJPW, United Japan Pro Wrestling, Wakana Uehara, World Wonder Ring Stardom, WWE, Yuka Sakazaki, Yuna Manase, YuuRI | Permalink
Posted by JamieOD

DDT “D-OH GRAND PRIX 2023 IN KORAKUEN HALL” Results

December 24, 2023

DDT “D-OH GRAND PRIX 2023 IN KORAKUEN HALL”, 24/12/2023
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
761 Fans – No Vacancy

-. D-Oh Grand Prix 2023 – B Block: Rei Saito (8) defeated Chris Brookes (2) by Forfeit.
1. KANON & MJ Paul defeated Yukio Sakaguchi & Rukiya when KANON submitted Rukiya with the Torture Cobra Twist (4:57).
2. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – Battle Royal ~ Toru Owashi Return Match: Toru Owashi defeated The Great Koji (c), Sanshiro Takagi, Kazuki Hirata, Akito, Kazuma Sumi and Poison Sawada JULIE (10:21).
2a. Sanshiro Takagi eliminated Akito by Over The Top Rope (8:25).
2b. Sanshiro Takagi eliminated Kazuma Sumi by Over The Top Rope (8:25).
2c. Sanshiro Takagi eliminated Kazuki Hirata by Over The Top Rope (8:25).
2d. Poison Sawada JULIE eliminated Sanshiro Takagi by Over The Top Rope (8:25).
2e. Poison Sawada JULIE eliminated The Great Koji (c) with the Cattle Mutilation (10:08).
*Poison Sawada JULIE becomes the 1,597th champion.
2f. Toru Owashi defeated Poison Sawada JULIE (c) with a School Boy (10:21).
*Toru Owashi becomes the 1,598th champion.
3. Special Single Match: Rei Saito defeated Hideki Okatani with the Drill-A-Hole Piledriver (4:43).
4. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Jun Akiyama, Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi (c) defeated Masahiro Takanashi, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada when Oishi pinned Honda with a Rotating Cradle (10:41).
*V1 for D.O.A.
5. D-Oh Grand Prix 2023 – B Block: Yukio Naya (8) defeated MAO (6) with The World’s Best Back Drop (10:58).
6. D-Oh Grand Prix 2023 – A Block: HARASHIMA (4) defeated Daisuke Sasaki (5) with the Somato (6:37).
7. D-Oh Grand Prix 2023 – A Block: Yuki Iino (4) defeated Yuki Ueno (5) with the Spear (8:14).
8. D-Oh Grand Prix 2023 – A Block: Tetsuya Endo (6) defeated Kazusada Higuchi (6) with the Burning Star Press (20:37).
– Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Christmas Tree defeated Toru Owashi (c) with a Body Press (1:39 pm).
*Christmas Tree becomes the 1,599th champion.

A Block

1. Tetsuya Endo (6)
-. Kazusada Higuchi (6)
3. Yuki Ueno (5)
-. Daisuke Sasaki (5)
5. Yuki Iino (4)
-. HARASHIMA (4)

B Block

1. Yukio Naya (8)
-. Rei Saito (8)
3. MAO (6)
4. KANON (4)
5. Kazuki Hirata (2)
-. Chris Brookes (2)

Back from the brink, Tetsuya Endo has won the A Block but only just! The last day of group matches in the D-Ou Grand Prix took place at Korakuen Hall on Christmas Eve. Every remaining A Block match had somebody fighting to finish in first so they will qualify for the grand final. The other potential challengers all fell at the final hurdle leaving it all on the line in the main event between Endo and Kazusada Higuchi. Throughout the tournament Endo has been using the Rolling Chop taught to him by Kenta Kobashi. The move here was not enough to put down Higuchi so Endo came up with an even more dangerous idea from Kobashi’s moveset. He wanted to do the Torture Rack Bomb but Higuchi grabbed him with the Brain Claw. Endo resisted and turned the Torture Rack into a Sitout Burning Hammer! He was then able to do the Spinning Torture Rack Bomb but Higuchi kicked out. Endo then hit the Burning Star Press and this time Higuchi was done for, ending the A Block with Endo heading to the final!

The other two frontrunners in the A Block both collapsed, leading to Endo to overtake them. Yuki Ueno was knocked for a loop thanks to Yuki Iino’s Spear. The first one was blocked with a Dropkick but when Ueno went for the WR, Iino countered it with a short-range Spear and pinned last year’s D-Oh winner in an upset! Iino calls the result a very precious victory and he will use this momentum to keep evolving into the next year. Ueno said whether he won or lost in this tournament, he is still the KO-D Openweight Champion coming out of it. He thinks it is still up to him to carry DDT over his back.

Daisuke Sasaki saw his chances of reaching the final blow up in flames thanks to HARASHIMA. Even with MJ Paul at ringside helping him behind the ref’s back, Sasaki fell to the Somato in short order. HARASHIMA credits his battleplan for the win because you have to be careful fighting against Sasaki. He isn’t pleased with only getting 4 points in the tournament but it will spur him on to train harder for next year. Sasaki meanwhile was so upset over his failure to win the Grand Prix that he decided to retire! Then he got cold feet and convinced a nearby reporter to grant permission for him to delay the retirement for one year.

Meeting Endo in the final is Yukio Naya in the B Block. There was only one match left in that group and Naya needed to win or else Rei Saito would go to the final instead. MAO was out of the running due to circumstances out of his control but he still fought like he had a chance to qualify. But despite using the match to get his frustrations out, MAO was hit with Knee Strike after Knee Strike, including one with his kneepad pulled down. It was all over for MAO when he was given The World’s Best Back Drop. He wasn’t happy about the result and complained about Naya not showing enough spirit when he fight. It has MAO wondering if Naya really wants to win this?

So the D-Oh final comes down to Endo against Naya. The two had a standoff in the ring after Endo’s match. Naya called Endo as amazing wrestler and Naya has to surpass amazing wrestlers to make up for last year’s defeat in the final. He wants to be the best not just in DDT but also all of Japanese pro wrestling so he cannot afford to lose now. Endo said Naya is bigger than him but not as strong. On 3rd January keep your eyes on Endo because he promises to crush Naya!

D.O.A might be getting a little ahead of themselves by accepting more title challengers than they need to but right now they look like they can handle the pressure. Their first KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles defence was a successful one against Schadenfreude International. The match saw Jun Akiyama using his own Gongitsune to combat Antonio Honda’s version. Things were looking bad when Masahiro Takanashi & Takeshi Masada blocked Danshoku Dieno’s Wasabi Lip Lock. But Makoto Oishi maneuvered Honda to run face first into Dieno’s backside and Oishi then rolled him up for the victory. Even though the champions won, Dieno was in agony because he still had the wasabi stuck in his mouth. Their next defence will be against Bodyguard’s Osaka team on 6th January. That match also has the D.O.A name on the line!

Rei Saito went into today’s show with a forfeit win over Chris Brookes. So with no tournament match Saito instead fought Hideki Okatani in a singles match between an AJPW World Tag Team Champion and an All Asia Tag Team Champion. Okatani had some chances to win but Saito was too big to let the Quetzalcoatl be used against him. Saito used his strength to turn things around and beat Okatani with the Drill-A-Hole Piledriver. Saito is still booked for 3rd January and so is his brother Jun Saito. Since the D-Oh final is no longer on the cards for Rei, The Saito Brothers are instead challenging DDT to give them a tag team to fight. Meanwhile Okatani promised to get revenge on Rei no matter if it is in DDT, All Japan or anywhere else!

The return of Toru Owashi from injury has him back in his natural role. He is and always will be the straight man in a comedy Battle Royal. The Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title was on the line as The Great Koji emerged from Parts Unknown against a field of challengers including a mystery opponent. That mystery wrestler turned out to be the championship’s creator Poison Sawada JULIE! He used his Snake Magic on Sanshiro Takagi forcing him to eliminate Akito, Kazuma Sumi and Kazuki Hirata one by one until JULIE eliminated Takagi by himself. Great Koji armed himself with a sickle and resisted JULIE’s magic at first but the spell eventually overpowered him. JULIE then applied his version of the Cattle Mutilation, forcing Koji to give up. JULIE was not the Iron Man champion but Owashi quickly pinned him with a School Boy to win the belt and the match.

Afterwards Takagi attacked JULIE and they fought their way to the back. Owashi stayed in the ring so he could thank the fans for their support during his recovery. Backstage he also made a decision to disband DISASTER BOX! Over the last five months Owashi has seen Hirata grow up and learn to take care of himself. The reason why DISASTER BOX stuck around for so long was so Owashi & HARASHIMA could look after Hirata but now that is no longer needed. Hirata is now walking down a new path, Owashi feels lucky he still has time to be a pro wrestler and HARASHIMA is fighting to remain the ace of DDT so the time is right for DISASTER BOX to end. The unit may come back in the future because it has been revived before. Also the three of them can still team together in some form whenever DDT tells them to so Hirata thinks not much is going to change from this decision.

Both KANON & MJ Paul were interested in fighting Yukio Sakaguchi because he is one half of the All Asia Tag Champions. So KANON felt a bit let down when he had to beat up Rukiya instead. At least DAMNATION T.A are having a year end drinking party at Sasaki’s house to make up for that disappointment.

At the very end of the show everyone came down to the ring dressed in Santa Claus outfits to celebrate Christmas with the fans. Hirata talked about how great DDT is and how he cannot wait for 2024. He then suddenly attacked Owashi with a Christmas Tree and everybody piled on top of them to try and win the Iron Man Title! Yukinori Matsui counted the pin and then seperated the pile of bodies to figure out who won. Everyone was pulled away until the only thing left directly lying on Owashi was the tree. Which means the Christmas Tree is the new Iron Man Champion! Takagi ordered everybody not to attack the tree because it is fitting for it to become a champion on Christmas Eve. Ueno closed out the show telling fans DDT in 2024 will make dreams come true for everyone!

The team challenging for the KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Titles on 5th January have chosen the replacement for Chris Brookes. Taking his place for the title match is Takayuki Ueki. That means the team is not fighting as Schadenfreude International but instead representing Baka Gaijin + Friends!

DDT will be holding two outdoor Beer Garden shows in Tokyo Ueno Park on 21st and 26th March.

Comments Off on DDT “D-OH GRAND PRIX 2023 IN KORAKUEN HALL” Results | Results, Tournaments | Tagged: Akito, Antonio Honda, Baka Gaijin + Friends, D-Oh Grand Prix, D.O.A (Dead Or Alive), Daisuke Sasaki, DAMNATION T.A, Danshoku Dieno, DDT Pro Wrestling, DISASTER BOX, Dramatic Dream Team, Great Koji, HARASHIMA, Hideki Okatani, Iron Man Heavymetalweight Championship, Jun Akiyama, Jun Saito, KANON, Kazuki Hirata, Kazuma Sumi, Kazusada Higuchi, KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Championship, KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship, Korakuen Hall, Makoto Oishi, MAO, Masahiro Takanashi, MJ Paul, Poison Sawada JULIE, Rei Saito, Rukiya, Saito Brothers, Sanshiro Takagi, SCHADENFREUDE International, Takayuki Ueki, Takeshi Masada, Tetsuya Endo, Toru Owashi, Yuki Iino, Yuki Ueno, Yukinori Matsui, Yukio Naya, Yukio Sakaguchi | Permalink
Posted by JamieOD

Dramatic DDT