DDT “SWEET DREAMS! 2023”, 29/01/2023 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
0. Dark Match – Bonno Dai Shacho Presents No Fee Rumble: Sanshiro Takagi Vs Fuminori Abe Vs ASHUKA Vs Ariji Akinori Vs Shosaku Inoue Vs Kaijin Mukuro 696 Vs Kim Yocchan Vs Crusher Inoba Vs Great-CO-Khan Vs Great-GO-Khan Vs Gundan Hitori Vs Shinya Vs Tsutenkakuka Vs Dick Zlater Vs Tezuka awesome Ichiro Vs Dopyu♡McIntyre Vs Tadaki Toronomi Vs “Great Mother” Mazakon Kid Vs Big Bear Vs Fuck Takeda Vs Thick And Hard Kankuro Hoshino Vs BRA-VO Vs Hen China Vs Macho Gallows Vs Mori Haruomi Vs X
0. Dark Match – 4 Way Tag Match: Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata Vs MJ Paul & KANON Vs Antonio Honda & Akito Vs Yuya Koroku & Yuki Ishida
1. D GENERATIONS CUP – A Block: Hideki Okatani Vs Kazuma Sumi
2. D GENERATIONS CUP – B Block: Keigo Nakamura Vs Takeshi Masada
3. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Shinya Aoki, Yuki Ueno & Toi Kojima Vs Thanomsak Toba, Yukio Sakaguchi & Hikaru Machida
4. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Naruki Doi, Jun Akiyama & Soma Takao Vs HARASHIMA, Chris Brookes & Yukio Naya
5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Tetsuya Endo, Kotaro Suzuki & Yusuke Okada (c) Vs Yuki “Sexy” Iino, Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno & Koju “Shining Ball” Takeda
6. KO-D Tag Team Titles: MAO & Shunma Katsumata (c) Vs Makoto Oishi & Shiori Asahi
7. KO-D Openweight Title: Kazusada Higuchi (c) Vs Yuji Hino
The D GENERATIONS CUP begins on Sunday. All eight participants took part in a press conference during the week to give their views on the tournament. Hideki Okatani is confident he will win because he has the most in-ring experience out of everyone involved. Yuya Koroku thinks he has grown both physically and skillfully over the last year. He’s been waiting for a tournament like this to happen so he can show off his growth. Kazuma Sumi says with only three months of pro experience he has nothing to lose. Ilusion wants to leave an impression on fans who only know him from DDTeeeen!! and see what he can do beyond that brand. Keigo Nakamura has spent his preparation drinking raw eggs, eating bugs and breaking roof tiles all for his Twitter account. He also tried drinking an entire bottle of cola without burping but failed. Toi Kojima wants to level up and grab the opportunity to go to Hollywood. Yuki Ishida promised to do his best to take everybody down. Takeshi Masada thinks he let everyone down after he failed to beat Sanshiro Takagi and couldn’t earn his place on the USA shows. He is not concerned with the tournament’s goal of finding the strongest young wrestler in DDT. He is only focused on making it to Hollywood.
My hands feel so grimy writing out all of the names entering the No Fee Rumble. Some might sound familiar if you remember DDT’s past ventures with the wrestling club scene. Some are as recent as the time Sanshiro Takagi defended the DDT Extreme Title against a bunch of amateurs in a field. Others were around for the “ALL DOIN” experiment from 2018. Then there are names like Gundan Hitori who I remember seeing in DDT all the way back in 2010! Then there are the parody names on the list. ASHUKA is an Asuka tribute, there’s one person named after Drew McIntyre and another named after Dick Slater. If that’s not enough there are somehow also two wrestlers named after Great-O-Khan entering the match and I think only one of them is meant to be a parody!
GANBARE☆PRO “GRINDHOUSE 2023”, 23/02/2023 Tokyo Oji BASEMENT MON☆STAR
1. Ken Ohka Vs Munetatsu Nakamura
Time for Munetatsu Nakamura to take on the head honcho Ken Ohka for the first time.
GANBARE☆PRO “MOONRISE KINGDOM 2023”, 23/02/2023 Tokyo Oji BASEMENT MON☆STAR
1. Special Tag Match: Shuichiro Katsumura & Shota Vs Keisuke Ishii & Soma Takao
Shota and Soma Takao are on opposite sides of a tag match once more, continuing the growing rivalry between the two former ROMANCE DAWN partners.
GANBARE☆PRO “GANBARE☆PRO WRESTLING PLAYERS ASSOCIATION PERFORMANCE”, 23/02/2023 Tokyo Oji BASEMENT MON☆STAR
1. The Return Of LariPro 2023: Keisuke Ishii Vs X
We’ve had Lariat Pro, Knee Pro, there was a Chop Pro in there somewhere. Keisuke Ishii is determined to make the latest rendition of his Lariat Pro match the best one yet!
DDT “INTO THE FIGHT 2023”, 26/02/2023 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. D GENERATIONS CUP – Final: Winner Of A Block Vs Winner Of B Block
2. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Tetsuya Endo, Kotaro Suzuki & Yusuke Okada (c) Vs X, X & X
3. KO-D Tag Team Titles: MAO & Shunma Katsumata (c) Vs X & X
Appearing on the show will be Naruki Doi, Shinya Aoki, Kotaro Suzuki, Fuminori Abe and Hikaru Machida.
DDT “DDT GOES HOLLYWOOD”, 30/03/2023 Ukrainian Cultural Center, Los Angeles, California, USA
16 wrestlers representing DDT will be in Los Angeles for the company’s big return to America. They are Kazusada Higuchi, Jun Akiyama, MAO, Shunma Katsumata, Sanshiro Takagi, Konosuke Takeshita, Tetsuya Endo, Yuki Ueno, Chris Brookes, Saki Akai, KANON, Yuki “Sexy” Iino, Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno, Michael Nakazawa, Yoshihiko and the winner of the D GENERATIONS CUP.
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “TJPW LIVE IN LOS ANGELES”, 31/03/2023 Globe Theatre, Los Angeles, California, USA
No talent announcements yet for the Tokyo Joshi Pro show but expect it to be a similar number to DDT.
DDT/GCW “GCW VS DDT”, 31/03/2023 Ukrainian Cultural Center, Los Angeles, California, USA
Takeshita will not be on this show. ROH appearance maybe?
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “THE 3RD “FUTARI WA PRINCESS” MAX HEART TOURNAMENT”, 19/01/2023 Shinjuku FACE
1. Hikari Noa Vs Wakana Uehara
2. Mizuki & Mahiro Kiryu Vs Nao Kakuta & HIMAWARI
3. Miyu Yamashita, Maki Itoh & Yuki Kamifuku Vs Yuki Aino, Raku & Pom Harajuku
4. “Futari wa Princess” Max Heart Tournament – Round 2D: Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao Vs Haruna Neko & Kaya Toribami
5. “Futari wa Princess” Max Heart Tournament – Round 2A: Moka Miyamoto & Juria Nagano Vs Suzume & Arisu Endo
6. “Futari wa Princess” Max Heart Tournament – Round 2C: Saki Akai & Yuki Arai Vs Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe
Round 2 of the Max Heart Tournament has already begun but the majority of the matches will take place here. Kyoraku Kyomei takes on Haruna Neko & Kaya Toribami, Karate Tag faces Daisy Monkey and Reiwa AA Cannon meets Daydream in the main event.
Wakana Uehara gets another big singles match this time against Hikari Noa. Uehara will have new ring gear.
BASARA “BASARA 208 ~HATAAGE ANNIVERSARY~”, 21/01/2023 Tokyo Itabashi Green Hall
1. Daichi Kazato & Lil’ Kraken Vs Tsutomu Oosugi & Banana Senga
2. Takumi Tsukamoto, Takato Nakano & Masato Kamino Vs FUMA, KUBITO & Trans-Am ★ Hiroshi
3. SAGAT 10th Anniversary Match: SAGAT Vs Hideyoshi Kamitani
4. Ryuichi Sekine & Daiki Shimomura Vs Ryota Nakatasu & Fuminori Abe
5. Union MAX Title: Isami Kodaka (c) Vs Yasu Urano
To celebrate his 10th anniversary in wrestling, SAGAT takes on Hideyoshi Kamitani from Big Japan. They’ve only been in the same match together once for an Elimination Tag held on a BJW show last July. SAGAT enjoyed the experience of fighting Kamitani so much he’s been wanting a singles match against him ever since. BASARA was able to put it together for his special occasion.
DDT “SWEET DREAMS! 2023 TOUR IN YOKOHAMA”, 21/01/2023 Yokohama Radiant Hall
1. KANON & MJ Paul Vs Yuya Koroku & Kazuma Sumi
2. Yuki Ueno, Toi Kojima & Shinichiro Kawamatsu Vs Sanshiro Takagi, Akito & Makoto Oishi
3. HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata Vs Soma Takao, Keigo Nakamura & Takeshi Masada
4. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Kazusada Higuchi, Yuki Ishida & Chris Brookes Vs Yuji Hino, Yukio Naya & Hideki Okatani
5. Yokohama Two Major Singles Match I: Yusuke Okada Vs Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno
6. Yokohama Two Major Singles Match II: Tetsuya Endo Vs Yuki “Sexy” Iino
7. DDT Extreme Title – Monoboke Death Match: Jun Akiyama (c) Vs Antonio Honda
The goal of the Monoboke Death Match is for Antonio Honda to make Jun Akiyama laugh. Every time Honda kicks out of a pin or uses a rope break to escape a submission, he gets to make a joke. If he can get Akiyama to laugh three times he will win the match. Akiyama on the other hand needs to beat Honda by pinfall or submission three times in order to successfully defend the DDT Extreme Title.
If Daisuke Sasaki ends his self-imposed exile and shows up he will be booked for a match. The undercard will be changed around as a result.
MAO & Shunma Katsumata will not be at the show because they will be wrestling in California for Prestige that same day.
GANBARE☆PRO “TRANSPORTER 2023”, 28/01/2023 Tokyo Oji BASEMENT MON☆STAR
1. Young Ganbare Cup: Yumehito Imanari (2) Vs Kentaro Hachisu (2)
2. Young Ganbare Cup: Yuki Kanzaki (0) Vs Munetatsu Nakamura (0)
3. Yuna Manase Vs Yoshiko Hasegawa
4. GanPro Specialty! Mixed 6-Man Tag Match: Keisuke Ishii, Shota & YuuRI Vs Soma Takao, Shinichiro Tominaga & HARUKAZE
5. Mizuki Watase & Tyson Maeguchi Vs Ken Ohka & Thanomsak Toba
Soma Takao is feeling a little lost in DDT lately but in Ganbare☆Pro he has Shota on his mind. The former ROMANCE DAWN partners are on opposite sides for another tag match.
GANBARE☆PRO “SHUICHIRO KATSUMURA PRODUCE”, 28/01/2023 Tokyo Oji BASEMENT MON☆STAR
1. GanPro Specialty! Mixed 6-Man Tag Match: Ken Ohka, Maori Kawashima & YuuRI Vs Yumehito Imanari, Shinichiro Tominaga & Moeka Haruhi
2. Special Single Match ~Baptism Of GanPro~: Takuya Wada Vs X
3. 3-Man Grappling Match: Shuichiro Katsumura Vs Munetatsu Nakamura, HARUKAZE & X
4. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Shuichiro Katsumura, Tsuyoshi Okada & Tyson Maeguchi Vs HARASHIMA, Mizuki Watase & Keisuke Ishii
Former Pancrase fighter Takuya Wada makes his Ganpro debut on a show that is being booked by a former Shooto fighter. Speaking of Shuichiro Katsumura, he is bringing in one of his pro wrestling buddies Maori Kawashima for a match too.
GANBARE☆PRO “GANBARE☆PRO WRESTLING PLAYERS ASSOCIATION PERFORMANCE”, 28/01/2023 Tokyo Oji BASEMENT MON☆STAR
1. Young Ganbare Cup: Yumehito Imanari (2) Vs Yuki Kanzaki (0)
2. Young Ganbare Cup: Kentaro Hachisu (2) Vs Munetatsu Nakamura (0)
3. Yuna Manase & YuuRI Vs Moeka Haruhi & Itsuki Aoki
4. Oji Specialty GanPro Style Survival 8-Man Tag Match: Mizuki Watase, Ken Ohka, Shuichiro Katsumura & Soma Takao Vs Keisuke Ishii, Shota, Shinichiro Tominaga & Hartley Jackson
Itsuki Aoki is coming over for a Ganbare☆Joshi tag match.
DDT “SWEET DREAMS! 2023”, 29/01/2023 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. D GENERATIONS CUP – A Block: Hideki Okatani Vs Kazuma Sumi
2. D GENERATIONS CUP – B Block: Keigo Nakamura Vs Takeshi Masada
3. No Fee Rumble: Sanshiro Takagi & Fuminori Abe Vs X & X
4. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Tetsuya Endo, Kotaro Suzuki & Yusuke Okada (c) Vs Yuki “Sexy” Iino, Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno & Koju “Shining Ball” Takeda
5. KO-D Tag Team Titles: MAO & Shunma Katsumata (c) Vs Makoto Oishi & Shiori Asahi
6. KO-D Openweight Title: Kazusada Higuchi (c) Vs Yuji Hino
Bonno Dai Shacho are taking a page out of their predecessor’s playbook. They want to break barriers and fight against opponents from all over the Japanese wrestling scene from the indies right down to the most obscure corners of the industry. In order to do that Sanshiro Takagi & Fuminori Abe are looking for teams to enter the No Fee Rumble. It will not cost teams anything to apply for entry. However they will not get paid for taking part either unless they happen to win.
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “THE 3RD “FUTARI WA PRINCESS” MAX HEART TOURNAMENT”, 29/01/2023 Saitama Kasukabe Fureai Cube
1. “Futari wa Princess” Max Heart Tournament – Semi-Final: Winners Of Match 2A Vs Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh
2. “Futari wa Princess” Max Heart Tournament – Semi-Final: Winners Of Match 2C Vs Winners Of Match 2D
The winners of Karate Tag versus Daisy Monkey will face 121000000 in the semi-final.
DDT “FRIENDSHIP, EFFORT, VICTORY IN NAGOYA 2023”, 18/02/2023 Aichi Nagoya International Conference Center Event Hall
1. D GENERATIONS CUP – A Block: Hideki Okatani Vs Yuya Koroku
2. D GENERATIONS CUP – B Block: Toi Kojima Vs Takeshi Masada
3. DDT Extreme Title: Jun Akiyama (c) Vs X
4. DDT Universal Title: Naruki Doi (c) Vs KANON
Sasaki has gone missing because Naruki Doi won the DDT Universal Title from Yuki Ueno instead of him. KANON stepped forward as the first challenger expecting his leader to be the new champion. He committed to challenge Doi anyway because he now thinks winning the title from him will cheer Sasaki up and bring him out of hiding.
Kotaro Suzuki, Kip Sabian, Penelope Ford and Shinya Ishida will all be on the show.
DDT “HATSUYUME 2023”, 03/01/2023 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. Makoto Oishi & Shiori Asahi Vs Hideki Okatani & Toi Kojima
2. Yuki “Sexy” Iino & Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno Vs Akito & Antonio Honda
3. New Year Special 8-Man Tag Match: Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata, Yuji Hino & Yukio Naya Vs Shinshun Pokotan, Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & Kazuma Sumi
4. Alice Tour Presents Special 10-Man Tag Match: Kazusada Higuchi, HARASHIMA, RSP, Soma Takao & Yuki Ishida Vs Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama, Kotaro Suzuki, Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku
5. Alice Tour Presents Special Tag Match: Yuki Ueno & Cara Noir Vs MJ Paul & KANON
6. Special Single Match: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Takeshi Masada
7. DDT Universal Title Next Challenger Decision Battle: Naruki Doi Vs Daisuke Sasaki
8. KO-D Tag Team Titles: Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi Vs MAO & Shunma Katsumata
Sanshiro Takagi has a mystery tag team partner lined up for his birthday match on 13th January. He will reveal who it is on this show.
Cheers are allowed for the show.
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “TOKYO JOSHI PRO ’23”, 04/01/2023 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. HIMAWARI Debut Match: Yuki Aino Vs HIMAWARI
2. Wakana Uehara Debut Match: Moka Miyamoto & Juria Nagano Vs Arisu Endo & Wakana Uehara
3. Nao Kakuta, Mahiro Kiryu & Kaya Toribami Vs Raku, Pom Harajuku & Haruna Neko
4. New Year Special Match: Shoko Nakajima Vs Hyper Misao
5. Princess Of Princess Title Next Challenger Decision Battle Royal: Rika Tatsumi Vs Mizuki Vs Maki Itoh Vs Yuki Kamifuku Vs Hikari Noa Vs Suzume
6. International Princess Title: Miu Watanabe (c) Vs Trish Adora
7. Princess Tag Team Titles: Saki Akai & Yuki Arai (c) Vs Max The Impaler & Heidi Howitzer
8. Princess Of Princess Title: Yuka Sakazaki (c) Vs Miyu Yamashita
The 10th official year of Tokyo Joshi Pro begins in two days time!
GANBARE☆PRO “ADRENALINE 2023”, 05/01/2023 Tokyo Itabashi Green Hall
1. Riko Kawahata Vs YuuRI
2. Yuna Manase & Yoshiko Hasegawa Vs Moeka Haruhi & HARUKAZE
3. New Year Special 8-Man Elimination Tag Match: Ken Ohka, Shigehiro Irie, Shota & Shinichiro Tominaga Vs Shuichiro Katsumura, Keisuke Ishii, Shota & Hartley Jackson
4. Young Ganbare Cup: Yuki Kanzaki Vs Kentaro Hachisu
5. Young Ganbare Cup: Yumehito Imanari Vs Munetatsu Nakamura
6. Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Title: Mizuki Watase (c) Vs Tyson Maeguchi
Now that Shota is back in Japan his focus for now is on singles wrestling. This means there is not going to be a ROMANCE DAWN reunion with Soma Takao happening anytime soon. To prove it, they are on opposite teams for the Elimination Tag Match happening here.
The Ganbare☆Joshi division is rebooting this year. Details for what it entails are still to come but for now the women will continue doing their best. Like YuuRI here taking on the visiting Riko Kawahata. YuuRI is also going over to Ice Ribbon tomorrow as a last minute replacement for a few Actwres girl’Z wrestlers who pulled out all of a sudden. Don’t know what’s going on there.
DDT “NEW YEAR’S CURRENT EXPLOSION!”, 07/01/2023 Kanagawa Tsurumi Fruit & Vegetable Market
1. Yuki “Sexy” Iino & Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno Vs Hideki Okatani & Kazuma Sumi
2. Yukio Naya Vs Takeshi Masada
3. The 37KAMIINA Vs BURNING!: Yuki Ueno & MAO Vs Tetsuya Endo & Yuya Koroku
4. Harimao Vs DAMNATION T.A!: Kazusada Higuchi & Yuki Ishida Vs Daisuke Sasaki & KANON
5. Special 6-Man Tag Match: HARASHIMA, Saori Anou & Yusuke Okada Vs Kazuki Hirata, Saki Akai & Gota Ihashi
6. Chain Death Match: Chris Brookes Vs Demonio Uno
7. “Current Blast” Trademark Rights & Position Battle ~ Legend Resurrected! New Year Aerial Time Bomb & Current Blast Bat Death Match: Atsushi Onita, Shunma Katsumata & Toi Kojima Vs Sanshiro Takagi, Akito & Soma Takao
The Chris Brookes Vs Demonio Uno bout is now a Chain Death Match.
The show will begin with Atsushi Onita and Shunma Katsumata hosting a explosion themed opening ceremony to bring in the new year.
DDT “SWEET DREAMS! 2023 TOUR IN SHINJUKU ~FIRE!~”, 13/01/2023 Shinjuku FACE
1. Keigo Nakamura Comeback Match: Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama & Yusuke Okada Vs HARASHIMA, Hideki Okatani & Keigo Nakamura
2. Shunma Katsumata Pheromones One Day Experience Match: Yuki “Sexy” Iino, Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno & Shunma Katsumata Vs Akito, Kazuki Hirata & Yuya Koroku
3. Special Tag Match: Sanshiro Takagi & X Vs Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada
4. Special Single Match: Kotaro Suzuki Vs Soma Takao
5. DDT Universal Title: Yuki Ueno (c) Vs Winner Of 3/1 Decision Match
It’s going to be an Endless Waltz battle between Kotaro Suzuki and Soma Takao. Suzuki is the person who came up with the name Endless Waltz for the constant Las Magistral Cradles he likes to do. He got the name from a Gundam movie.
The show is happening on Takagi’s birthday. He will have already announced who his tag partner is going to be by the time the show takes place.
The supposed one day Katsumata has to join Pheromones is taking place on this day. Pheromones claim he is their “pet” for one month though.
Keigo Nakamura’s return match is throwing him right in there against BURNING.
Naruki Doi will be on the show.
DDT “SWEET DREAMS! 2023 TOUR IN YOKOHAMA”, 21/01/2023 Yokohama Radiant Hall
1. Yokohama Two Major Singles Match I: Yusuke Okada Vs Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno
2. Yokohama Two Major Singles Match II: Tetsuya Endo Vs Yuki “Sexy” Iino
3. DDT Extreme Title: Jun Akiyama (c) Vs Antonio Honda
By accident Antonio Honda has found himself challenging Jun Akiyama for the DDT Extreme Title. He was simply trying to get Super Sasadango Machine out of the ring when he stumbled into Akiyama while the champion was waiting for a new challenger to appear.
BURNING and Pheromones have a couple of singles matches happening leading up to their big battle at the end of the month. No way Yuki Iino and Danshoku Dieno will be on their own for these matches.
DDT “SWEET DREAMS! 2023”, 29/01/2023 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Tetsuya Endo, Kotaro Suzuki & Yusuke Okada (c) Vs Yuki “Sexy” Iino, Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno & Koju “Shining Ball” Takeda
2. KO-D Tag Team Titles: X & X (c) Vs X & X
3. KO-D Openweight Title: Kazusada Higuchi (c) Vs Yuji Hino
In a rematch from the D-Ou Grand Prix draw that happened in November, Kazusada Higuchi and Yuji Hino are facing off again this time with the KO-D Openweight Title on the line. The previous match had a total of 182 chops thrown between the two and still ended without a winner. Admittedly, Hino demanded the match more because he wants to fight Higuchi again rather than because of a desire to win the KO-D Title for a second time.
BURNING defends their newly won KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles against Pheromones. Kotaro Suzuki was told when you come to DDT, a confrontation against Pheromones is inevitable. Tetsuya Endo & Yusuke Okada are already trying to get into their opponent’s heads by telling them what they do is not sexy at all. Koju Takeda will be the wild card because he is the third man on the Pheromones side instead of Yumehito Imanari.
Shinya Aoki, Naruki Doi and Hikaru Machida will all be on the show.
DDT “HAMAMATSU TRAIN PRO WRESTLING”, 19/02/2023 Shizuoka Tenryu Hamanako Railway
1. Hiroshi Yamato Vs X
DDT will be wrestling on a moving train again! A train filled with 47 passengers will depart from Mikkabi Station and travel along the Tenryu Hamanako Railway while wrestlers fight each other inside it. Hiroshi Yamato is the first wrestler to put his name into the hat.
It’s all over for Shota’s American adventure. He’s now back in Japan wrestling for Ganbare☆Pro with a fresh pep in his step. For me it’s going to make writing these articles a lot more easier now I’m no longer searching for some of the most obscure wrestling shows on the US indies. Although looking at where the winds are blowing, I’ll have to start learning Asian geography next year.
January has a few eventful things lined up. Getting out worldwide is a priority for DDT this Spring. The yen is weak so any chance to make a lot of American dollars at wrestling shows will be taken. A few DDT wrestlers are going over Stateside. Yuka Sakazaki will be going back too but whether or not it is just for a few AEW matches in unknown right now. Miyu Yamashita has a chance to add more international gold to her collection, Maki Itoh is starting to treat America as a second home and Yuki Kamifuku is beginning to spread her wings more.
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Videos
Video starts at 45:25 for the match PWL “PRO WRESTLING LEGACY”, 02/12/2022 Toma Gallery, El Paso, Texas, USA
1. Cosmo Orion Vs Shota
GRAPPLE MAX “GOLD STANDARD”, 03/12/2022 GymKraft, Tampines Street, Singapore
1. Hotshot Wilson Vs Masahiro Takanashi
Video starts at 47:16 for Match #1. Go to 1:39:01 for the Premier Rumble and 1:57:20 for Shota’s entrance PWF “PREMIER RUMBLE”, 03/12/2022 Houston Premier Arena, Houston, Texas, USA
1. Caine Carter Vs Shota
2. Premier Rumble: Shota enters at #9
Video starts at 55:39 for the match AEW “DARK ELEVATION”, 06/12/2022 Indiana Farmers Coliseum, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
1. Konosuke Takeshita Vs Aaron Solo
Video starts at 1:12:40 for Match #1. Go to 1:50:06 for Match #2 NEW TEXAS PRO “TEXAS CONTENDERS SERIES 9”, 08/12/2022 Houston Premier Arena, Houston, Texas, USA
1. Shota Vs Shawn Hendrix
2. Mysterious Q Vs Shota
AEW “RAMPAGE”, 09/12/2022 H-E-B Center, Cedar Park, Texas, USA
1. Jon Moxley Vs Konosuke Takeshita
Video starts at 8:35 for the match GLORY PRO “DECEMBER 2 RIZZMEMBER”, 18/12/2022 South Broadway Athletic Club, St. Louis, USA
1. Shota Vs Ethan Price
Video starts at 10:27 for the match AEW “DARK ELEVATION”, 19/12/2022 Curtis Cullwell Center, Garland, Texas, USA
1. Ethan Page, Matt Hardy, Isiah Kassidy, Dante Martin, Darius Martin & Konosuke Takeshita Vs Sonny Kiss, Slim J, Jeeves Kay, Peter Avalon, Cezar Bononi & Ryan Nemeth
Video starts at 10:08 for the match AEW “DARK ELEVATION”, 26/12/2022 Freeman Coliseum, San Antonio, Texas, USA
1. Konosuke Takeshita Vs Frankie Kazarian
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Results
PWL “PRO WRESTLING LEGACY”, 02/12/2022 Toma Gallery, El Paso, Texas, USA
1. Shota defeated Cosmo Orion with the Frog Splash (?:??).
Shota had already visited El Paso on his travels but didn’t get to wrestle there until the final weeks of his excursion. It was an emotional match for him. Not only did he win but he did so using his hero Eddie Guerrero’s finisher in Eddie’s hometown. He also gave a speech thanking Eddie after the match for making his dream come true.
GRAPPLE MAX “GOLD STANDARD”, 03/12/2022 GymKraft, Tampines Street, Singapore
1. Masahiro Takanashi defeated Hotshot Wilson with a Cradle (12:27).
The master of roll-ups was at risk of losing to such a move. Hotshot Wilson kept trying to find ways to pin Masahiro Takanashi’s shoulders to the mat, turning to a reliance on using La Magistral Cradle. Takanashi found a way to counter the move, roll on top of Wilson and keep him pinned down to take the victory.
PWF “PREMIER RUMBLE”, 03/12/2022 Houston Premier Arena, Houston, Texas, USA
1. Shota defeated Caine Carter with the Frog Splash (?:??).
2. Premier Rumble: Chris Carter defeated AWOL and Shota by Ring Out (?:??).
The fruits of Shota’s labour was on show with his performance at his last Premier Wrestling Federation event. First he defeated Caine Carter then he entered the 30-Man Premier Rumble at #9. He lasted until the final three and finished in 3rd place (no way am I writing out all 30 entrants for the result).
AEW “RAMPAGE”, 07/12/2022 (Aired 09/12/2022) H-E-B Center, Cedar Park, Texas, USA
1. Jon Moxley defeated Konosuke Takeshita with the Bully Choke (14:30).
Takeshita’s second crack at Jon Moxley ended much like the first. A well fought match that ended in defeat thanks to the Bully Choke. The one difference this time around is Takeshita did not submit, instead he passed out to the hold.
NEW TEXAS PRO “TEXAS CONTENDERS SERIES 9”, 08/12/2022 Houston Premier Arena, Houston, Texas, USA
1. Shota defeated Shawn Hendrix with a Backstabber (?:??).
2. Shota defeated Mysterious Q with the Gannosuke Clutch (?:??).
Shota’s final appearance in the Houston Premier Arena was probably his most eventful. First he was unexpectedly called out by Shawn Hendrix for eliminating him at the Premier Rumble. Shota wasn’t aware of who Hendrix was because Hendrix wears a mask in PWF but wrestles unmasked in New Texas Pro, so he didn’t recognise him. An impromptu match began and Shota won it in seconds, ending the disupute before it ever really got started.
Perhaps the second match was Shota’s biggest win of his entire stay. Mysterious Q is one of the big boys of the Texas scene and he took Shota for a beating. Shota was able to kick out of everything Q could do to him but he hadn’t a hope of winning. That was until Q was distracted by the entrance music of Rudy Garza. Nothing came of it so Q turned his attention back to Shota. His finisher was then countered into the Gannosuke Clutch giving Shota the upset win! Q figured out that Shota was not on Garza’s side (Garza cheated to beat Shota a month earlier) and congratulated Shota on the win.
APAC “RISE – DAY 1”, 10/12/2022 Spacerubix, Puchong, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
1. APAC Women’s Title Tournament – Round 1: Steph De Lander defeated Maki Itoh (?:??).
2. APAC Women’s Title Tournament – Round 1: Nor “Phoenix” Diana defeated Yuki Kamifuku (?:??).
Both Maki Itoh and Yuki Kamifuku lost their 1st Round matches in the APAC Women’s Title Tournament. I can’t find much info on what happened other than that.
DFW ALL PRO “SEASONS BEATINGS”, 10/12/2022 Haltom Theater, Haltom City, Texas, USA
1. Triple Threat Match: Shota Vs Rook Tyler Vs Eddie Martinez
Shota’s penultimate match of his excursion took place in DFW All Pro against some of the promotion’s alumni Rook Tyler and Eddie Martinez.
DPW “1ST ANNIVERSARY”, 10/12/2022 Winston-Salem Fairgrounds, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA
1. Konosuke Takeshita defeated Colby Corino with the Zahi (14:22).
Now we’re cooking! Takeshita came back to Deadlock Pro and had a fight on his hands against Colby Corino. It was a match that got “That shit fucked!” chants after it ended. It was one of Corino’s last matches before news came out that he is WWE bound.
APAC “RISE – DAY 2”, 11/12/2022 Spacerubix, Puchong, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
1. Maki Itoh Vs Yuki Kamifuku
I was able to find out Itoh and Kamifuku had a match against each other on the second day of APAC’s weekend. Other than that I don’t know the result. Nor “Phoenix” Diana beat Steph De Lander in the final to win the championship.
AEW “DARK ELEVATION”, 14/12/2022 (Aired 19/12/2022) Curtis Cullwell Center, Garland, Texas, USA
1. Ethan Page, Matt Hardy, Isiah Kassidy, Dante Martin, Darius Martin & Konosuke Takeshita defeated Sonny Kiss, Slim J, Jeeves Kay, Peter Avalon, Cezar Bononi & Ryan Nemeth when Page pinned Avalon with the Twist Of Fate (7:45).
So Takeshita, The Firm, Top Flight, The Trustbusters and The Wingmen all walk into a bar. Stop me if you heard this one before.
AEW “DARK”, 17/12/2022 (Aired 31/01/2022) Universal Studios, Orlando, Florida, USA
1. Konosuke Takeshita defeated Angelico with the Zahi (7:39).
This match hasn’t aired yet. Did Angelico get any help from the other members of the Spanish Announce Project? Did the SAT crash the match in an angry shoot? Would Angelico even want Luther & Serpentico to help him in this case?
GLORY PRO “DECEMBER 2 RIZZMEMBER”, 18/12/2022 South Broadway Athletic Club, St. Louis, USA
1. Ethan Price defeated Shota with the Package DDT (?:??).
And he we are at Shota’s final match in America. He couldn’t end it with a win unfortunately. Ethan Price rolled out of a Sunset Flip, hooked Shota in the Fisherman Suplex position and dropped him with a Package DDT to win the match.
AEW “DARK ELEVATION”, 21/12/2022 (Aired 26/12/2022) Freeman Coliseum, San Antonio, Texas, USA
1. Konosuke Takeshita defeated Frankie Kazarian with the German Suplex (5:01).
Takeshita’s biggest win in AEW so far happens here. Beating Frankie Kazarian is a small step up the ladder.
GCW “TIL INFINITY 2022”, 31/12/2022 The Showboat, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA
1. Maki Itoh defeated Allie Katch with the I.S.D (11:36).
Hikari Noa is going to be so jealous when she finds out that Itoh got to do death match spots before her. Just like last month Itoh confronted Nick Gage in the middle of the ring to ask him “Where’s my fucking gang at?!?” Then during her match against Allie Katch, Itoh grabbed a pizza slicer and sliced it across Katch’s forehead! If that wasn’t enough, Itoh blased a lighttube over Katch’s head before pinning her with the I.S.D flying DDT.
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Upcoming Appearances
GCW “56 NIGHTS”, 01/01/2023 The Showboat, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA
1. 4 Way Match: Dark Sheik Vs Maki Itoh Vs Billie Starkz Vs Sawyer Wreck
The match will be happening hours after I posted this. Too bad, I’m leaving the result out until next month. Itoh has been in the ring with Dark Sheik and Billie Starkz before. Sawyer Wreck though is a new one and she’s just as bloodthirsty as Itoh if not more.
EVE “EVE 100”, 07/01/2023 229 The Venue, London, England
1. EVE Title: Miyu Yamashita (c) Vs Lizzy Evo
Yamashita’s new year goal is to become an international Triple Crown holder. If she can win the Princess Of Princess Title from Sakazaki in Tokyo on 4th January then the next step is to defend the EVE Title against Lizzy Evo in London. EVE picked Evo as the next contender because she has beaten multiple former EVE champions including the woman Yamashita dethroned, Alex Windsor.
PWG “BATTLE OF LOS ANGELES 2023”, 07/01/2023 Globe Theatre, Los Angeles, California, USA
1. Battle Of Los Angeles 2023 – Round 1: Michael Oku Vs Konosuke Takeshita
One to scratch off the bucket list. The Battle Of Los Angeles is the premier pro wrestling tournament on the American indies. Simply being included in one is often considered to be a career highlight. Takeshita’s appearance in the 2023 edition was expected and there is excitement brewing over his 1st Round opponent Michael Oku. It will be months before the show will be watched by people who didn’t attend so we all need an ungodly amount of patience to see how he fares. Also fingers cross Sakazaki makes a surprise appearance for a non-tournament match.
WARRIOR “WARRIOR WRESTLING 27”, 21/01/2023 Bendix Arena, South Bend, Indiana, USA
1. Konosuke Takeshita Vs Zachary Wentz
Takeshita’s debut for Warrior Wrestling has him facing Zachary Wentz of The Rascalz. Strength versus agility will be happening here for sure.
PRESTIGE “VENDETTA”, 21/01/2023 The Glass House, Pomona, California, USA
1. Anything Goes: Shunma Katsumata Vs Sonico
2. Kevin Blackwood Vs MAO
3. ROH Women’s Title: Athena (c) Vs Miyu Yamashita
The third and final part of Yamashita’s plan is to take the ROH Women’s Title from Athena in California. Prestige was able to get permission from ROH/AEW/Tony Khan to make the already announced match for the championship.
SPW “CHAMPIONS NEVER YIELD”, 27/01/2023 Foochow Building, Singapore
1. Queen Of Asia Title: Alexis Lee (c) Vs Yuki Kamifuku
The Queen Of Asia Title that Alexis Lee currently holds previously belonged to Riho for four years. Lee won it in a 3 Way Match last month and her first defence is against Kamifuku.
SETUP “SETUP EP.11”, 30/01/2023 The Circus Studio, G Village, Bangkok, Thailand
1. International Single Match: Matcha Vs TJPW X
The next day a wrestler from TJPW will be at a SETUP show to face Matcha, Thailand’s first female pro wrestler. She is also known online as the fan artist Tapla. Who TJPW is sending over will be decided on short notice because the show is happening during the Max Heart Tournament. They won’t be able to send someone over if they are still in the tournament. Is Kamifuku’s Singapore booking just a coincidence?
DDT “DDT GOES HOLLYWOOD”, 30/03/2023 Ukrainian Cultural Center, Los Angeles, California, USA
Latest update with this show is the winner of the D GENERATIONS CUP will be booked for it. So Takeshi Masada still has a chance!
DDT/GCW “GCW VS DDT”, 31/03/2023 Ukrainian Cultural Center, Los Angeles, California, USA
GANBARE☆PRO “GIRI GIRI CHOP! 2022”, 27/12/2022 Tokyo Korakuen Hall 422 Fans
1. Munetatsu Nakamura Debut Match: Shinichiro Tominaga defeated Munetatsu Nakamura with a Crab Hold (8:33).
2. GanJo x TJPW Special Tag Match: Yuki Kamifuku & YuuRI defeated Suzume & Yoshiko Hasegawa when Kamifuku pinned Hasegawa with the Famouser (11:15).
3. GanPro Vs Pheromones: Ken Ohka & Yumehito Imanari Vs Yuki “Sexy” Iino & Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno ended in a No Contest (12:14).
4. GanJo Vs Ice Ribbon: Yuna Manase, Moeka Haruhi & HARUKAZE defeated Nao Ishikawa, Yuki Mashiro & Kaho Matsushita when Manase pinned Ishikawa with the Short-Range Lariat (13:45).
5. Shota Triumphant Return Match: Shuichiro Katsumura & Shota defeated Soma Takao & Shigehiro Irie when Shota pinned Takao with the Frog Splash (13:02).
6. Kouki Iwasaki Ganbare☆Pro Wrestling Last Match: Keisuke Ishii defeated Kouki Iwasaki with the Kneel Kick (11:12).
7. Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Title: Mizuki Watase defeated Hartley Jackson (c) with an Elbow Butt (17:20). *Hartley Jackson fails in V3. Mizuki Watase becomes the 4th Spirit Of Ganbare Champion!
There is a new Spirit Of Ganbare Champion and it is Mizuki Watase! The shock result caps off a rollercoaster year for Watase. He had left DDT for Ganbare☆Pro last December and now 12 months later has become their champion, dethroning the seemingly unstoppable Hartley Jackson. The match was hot from the get go with Watase jumping Jackson in the ring and hitting a Topé outside. Jackson fought back using apron moves and Lariats. Watase fired himself up by using Shinjiro Otani style Facewashes in the corner before hitting a Missile Dropkick to the outside of the ring. Jackson’s size advantage came into play when Watase couldn’t use any lifting style moves and things looked to be over when he hit the Jumping Piledriver. However not only did Watase kick out at two but he gathered the strength to give Jackson a Brainbuster. Watase then rained down Elbow Butt after Elbow Butt to the champion. Jackson hit a second Piledriver only for Watase to shake it off and hit even more Elbow Butts, going for the pin after every strike until he finally got the three count.
Jackson handed the title over to Watase after the match and embraced him. In return Watase told him that he is now part of the Ganpro family. Jackson said Watase is now number one. He also said he has a dream he wants to achieve. His days here at Ganpro was fun but now its time to say goodbye. Jackson left the ring only for other Ganpro wrestlers to surround him and get him back into the ring. Jackson then said he was only kidding and he is part of the Ganbare Family forever! Watase told the fans he hopes everyone in Ganpro gave them even a little bit of energy, courage, hopes and dreams today. He thinks people who chase their dreams are wonderful and should never give them up. He got everyone in Korakuen Hall to stand up and together they all said “We are Ganbare☆Pro Wrestling!” to close out the show. He also got a congratulations from Shigehiro Irie while they were leaving ringside. Backstage Watase threw out a few names for potential title defences. He lost to Tyson Maeguchi and Ken Ohka in singles matches earlier this year. He even said he could defend it against a foreigner or a director from some research institute for all he cares.
One person who definitely is saying their goodbyes to Ganpro today is Kouki Iwasaki. His final match as a contracted member of their roster was a defeat to Keisuke Ishii, losing to the Kneel Kick. After the match Iwasaki told everyone that Ganpro isn’t just about crying and screaming. He is going out into the wrestling world to make himself even bigger and he thinks Ganpro will also grow without him. Maybe someday he will return to Ganpro too! He also told Ishii not to be satisfied with his current position in the company. He should be aiming for the Spirit Of Ganbare Title! Backstage Ishii said he was able to win today because of his willpower. His confidence is growing and he wants the Ganpro fans to have higher expectations for him next year.
Shota returned from America and landed with a statement win over his tag team partner. He pinned Soma Takao with the Frog Splash and said afterwards he wants to focus on being a singles wrestler for the time being. It will be a little while before the dawn of adventure comes again for ROMANCE DAWN. Shota is proud of what he achieved over the last four months in America and he is looking forward to everyone’s reactions to his return. He admits to hitting the wall while he was in America and decided he needs to raise his value back in Japan. So now his goal is to wrap a championship around his waist. Shuichiro Katsumura said he had two big matches in Ganpro this year. Lately he’s been feeling frustrated but seeing Shota again made him feel better and look forward to next year. Takao was disappointed with the loss because according to him it’s the first time he lost to Shota since he was 18 years old. He won’t lose to him in a singles match though. However those thoughts will go away and he hopes the ROMANCE DAWN tag team will resume eventually.
The Ganbare☆Joshi division had a good day at Ice Ribbon’s expense (possibly in more ways than one given the news below). In a 6-Woman Tag Match Yuna Manase scored the pinfall for her team after nailing Nao Ishikawa with a Lariat. Moeka Haruhi thought the Ice Ribbon team were the perfect opponents for her today. For example she was able to learn from Yuki Mashiro in the ring even though Mashiro will be retiring from pro wrestling in a few days time. HARUKAZE was happy to win her last Ganpro match of the year and thinks it gives her momentum for 2023. Manase has spent time in Ice Ribbon this year and thinks everybody over their are very Ganpro at heart. Kaho Matsushita said she wants to fight against the three GanJo wrestlers again and would like to see them come over to Ice Ribbon.
The Ganpro Vs Pheromones match went in a very weird direction. Early in the show a video played showing Yumehito Imanari being attacked backstage. The assailant was then revealed to be… Yumehito “Fantastic” Imanari? More confusion was shown when Ken Ohka walked to the ring on his own and Imanari appeared entered with the Pheromones team. Ohka preceeded to fight with a 3-on-1 disadvantage, taking the worst that Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno could throw at them while Imanari cut off any hope Ohka had of turning things around. Ohka finally found a way to snap Imanari back to normal and bring the fight back to even numbers. However the ensuing melee ended up with Shuichi Nishinaga getting caught in the crossfire so many times that the match had to be called off without a winner. Ohka and Iino kept on fighting for a little bit after the bell. When things calmed down, a video was shown of Imanari meeting with his “Fantastic” backstage. They both suggested they should have a singles match together someday (Imanari also described “Fantastic” as somebody “pretending to be Yoshiaki Fujiwara“).
The other women’s match on the show mixed wrestlers from Ganjo with Tokyo Joshi Pro into two teams. YuuRI teamed with Yuki Kamifuku while Yoshiko Hasegawa was partnered with Suzume. While in the build up Kamifuku looked to be annoyed to be paired with YuuRI, in the ring they gelled together as a team just as much as their opponents did. Kamifuku picked up the win by pinning Hasegawa with the Famouser. YuuRI is happy with the result but wanted to win the match by herself to impress Kamifuku and make her unrequitedl love for her come true. Kamifuku admits YuuRI has a cute face, the only thing is she has no real class. That’s why YuuRI wasn’t the one who won the match today. The explanation left YuuRI feeling confused. Kamifuku will think about teaming with her again but only if YuuRI can stop Ken Ohka from posting his creepy morning selfies.
The debut of Munetatsu Nakamura kicked off the show. He was put in the ring against Shinichiro Tominaga and impressed the fans by using a Locomotive Front Chancery Suplex for a nearfall. However Tominaga caught one of his Dropkicks and turned it into a Crab Hold, forcing the rookie to submit. Nakamura has a background in both amateur wrestling and judo. He says he wants to be a pro wrestler who makes the best out of both of those fighting styles. Tominaga liked what he sees and is trying to process why he was chosen to be Nakamura’s first opponent. That role can be a huge gift for a debuting pro wrestler. Tominaga’s first opponent was El Generico for example and that opportunity is something he could never repay even if it takes him the rest of his life. He admits he is nowhere near the global superstar that guy is now but Tominaga hopes Nakamura will grow so both of them can someday carry Ganpro on their backs.
There were some big news announcements at the beginning of the show. The first was the introduction of Michiyoshi Mishima, the newest adviser for Ganpro. Mishima was previously a staff member for Ice Ribbon and had a hand in helping DDT book Budokan Hall back in 2012. He has been a fan of Ganpro going back to the first year of the promotion’s existence, before they were even running full fledged shows. He has a deep knowledge of joshi wrestling so his first call to action involves rebooting Ganbare☆Joshi. He announced that next year Ganjo will hold a show by themselves with no male wrestlers involved in any of the matches.
The next announcement was a new tournament beginning on 5th January called the Young Ganbare Cup. It will be a league format built around encouraging the growth of younger wrestlers. Imanari asked to be one of the first entrants. Ohka was reluctant to agree but Mishima accepted his request. Nakamura will also be taking part with more participants to be revealed soon.
Last but not least, “WRESTLE SEKIGAHARA II” will take place in Ota Ward Gymnasium on 9th July! It will be he second year in a row Ganpro will be running in the venue.
Merry Christmas to you all! There are a lot of things I’m not good at. Making predictions for pro wrestling is one of them. It’s what happens when the crystal ball I look through was bought in Lidl. But I like doing it anyway. The Christmas and New Year period is very busy for covering pro wrestling so I never really have the time to do something like this in previous years. To solve that problem I’ve been jotting down predictions in my free time this month so I could finally put out the article. I came up with 20 predictions for 2023 spread across four categories. Five for DDT, five for Tokyo Joshi Pro, five for Ganbare☆Pro and five guesses for anything even slightly related to DDT or CyberFight. I’m also listing them in order from easy to hard, likely to unlikely, mild to spicy, etc. Some are guesses based on past booking patterns, going with gut feelings, going the opposite of gut feelings and in some places just straight up fantasy booking. None of these are hints or teases of the little inside info I do know about. Will any of them come true? Nah, probably not. But let’s take a stab at it anyway?
DDT
– Brass Monkey, That Funky Monkey Prediction: Mike Bailey wrestles a match in DDT again.
My evidence supporting this prediction is Mike Bailey’s profile on the DDT roster page is still there. They never took him off the website even though he hasn’t wrestled for the company since April 2020. The man has had a well deserved breakout year in America for 2022 splitting his time between Impact and the indies. I bet he’ll be in the area when DDT are doing their Hollywood shows in April. Also if he has the time to come back to Japan, I think it will be for DDT over anywhere else. There’s a whole new class of guys for him to kick the crap out of. Also a Moonlight Express reunion would be sweet.
– Have A Drink And Watch The Die Get Cast Prediction: KANON outperforms Daisuke Sasaki.
The top prospect from JTO jumped to DDT back in April and has been all in with the company ever since. KANON was rewarded pretty quickly by being added to DAMNATION T.A while Minoru Fujita was out with injury. He had a rough go at the tournaments though, getting eliminated in the King Of DDT 1st Round and only winning one match in the D-Ou Grand Prix. But I’ve been impressed with his work and he is often the one who picks up the wins in DAMNATION T.A tag matches. I think he performs way better in 2023 and racks up a few achievements. In fact, I think he will achieve more in the next 12 months than his leader Daisuke Sasaki will! I’m talking the number of title matches he gets, the better performances he puts in tournaments and a higher amount of significant singles victories. KANON is going to claim some scalps this year that will leave Sasaki looking jealous. That’s if Sasaki is sober enough to register what’s going on.
– 365 Degrees, Burning Down The House Prediction: Yuya Koroku becomes the next wrestler from DDT’s new generation (debuted 2020 onwards) to win a championship.
The first draft of this was slightly different. I had Yuya Koroku down as the first new gen wrestler to win any championship. Then I remembered Toi Kojima is currently one of the KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Champions and Hideki Okatani once held the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title a year ago. Oh and Keigo Nakamura held both if he counts (debuted 2019 before the pandemic so eh?). As a result this prediction isn’t turning out as sharp as I thought it would be. But I’m sticking with the general idea. There’s a new wave of fresh blood coming into DDT and the highlight for me so far was Koroku and Kojima’s rivalry found within the BURNING Vs The 37KAMIINA tag matches. Eyes will be on Yuki Ishida for becoming a bigger part of a diminished Harimao out of necessity, Takeshi Masada as the hot prospect and Kazuma Sumi for his athleticism. There’s still three more trainees yet to debut plus the short term future of El Unicorn and Ilusion is currently unknown. With that said Koroku has the advantage of seniority over most of the other rookies to make this prediction come true. Even if it’s just as the third man holding the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles, I think Koroku has the best odds of getting belted up next year.
– Where’s Your Head At, At? Prediction: Tetsuya Endo struggles to reclaim the top position in DDT.
This is a cruel one. Tetsuya Endo had everything in place before the summer to finally be the flag bearer for DDT. Then Katsuhiko Nakajima knocked him out and left him concussed, taking all of that away. I wouldn’t say he is a shadow of his former self since coming back but a bit of shine has disappeared in him becoming the leading man again. He has given himself a new goal of winning all of the singles championships. That’s going to be a long journey if it does work out that way. For 2023 I do not see Endo winning back the KO-D Openweight Title and I don’t think he will win any of the singles tournaments. The DDT Universal Title and DDT Extreme Title can be in his grasp but neither of them will bring him back to the number one main eventer spot in the next 12 months. To take a positive stance for this, think of 2023 as his rebuilding year for 2024. He’s already spent the last few months bulking up to become more a bigger heavyweight. Maybe the key to getting over this will be to confront his demon at “CYBERFIGHT FESTIVAL 2023”…
– Loan Me A Dragon, I Wanna See Space Prediction: Dramatic Dream Gate is revived.
Remember this unholy alliance? There were three occasions when DDT and Dragongate worked together and promoted shows under the name Dramatic Dream Gate. Once in 2007, again in 2008 and the final one taking place in 2012. Then the relationship between the two companies went icy for a long time after that. Things began to defrost a few years ago thanks to Toru Owashi getting DG bookings and in return bringing one of their wrestlers from his generation over whenever DDT goes to Kobe or Nagano. Now that Naruki Doi is bouncing back and forth between the two companies as a freelancer without pissing anybody off I’d like to think everyone’s now cool with each other. What a way to show it by bringing DDG back for another show! It would be worth it just to see Kazuki Hirata do his Magnum Tokyo parody in front of all the DG wrestlers who weren’t even born when the gimmick first existed. I know, I know, DG currently has a working relationship with NOAH. They’re probably all CyberFight’d out at this point. Doesn’t matter, DDT will continue taking their dojo dropouts anyway…
Tokyo Joshi Pro
– It Ain’t My Fault That I’m Out Here Making News Prediction: 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.
It’s kind of a running joke at this point. Actwres girl’Z constantly turn dozens of idols into newly trained joshi at a time then whoever emerges as top of the class ends up leaving them for greener pastures. It’s probably one of the more successful development programs in modern pro wrestling when you think about it. AWG’s lossese end up being another company’s gain and TJPW are usually in that group. Yuna Manase, Natsupoi and Nao Kakuta all came from there. Even just recently we have HIMAWARI pulling off a speed run in how to go from AWG to TJPW in record time. I think it’s only going to increase from here. My prediction is not one, not two but three joshi who were associated with AWG at some point in their lives will appear on TJPW shows throughout 2023. I’m giving myself a little bit of rope here because I am not saying they will all be full time roster additions. Somebody like Saori Anou or Miyuki Takase having one or two guest matches like SAKI did this year would count towards this. But yeah, I can at least guarantee there will definitely be one woman on the active AWG roster who will be showing up at Korakuen Hall wearing a TJPW shirt in the next 12 months.
– Pull Up With A Zelda And A Peach And A Daisy Prediction: An outsider wins the Princess Of Princess Title
In the almost seven years the Princess Of Princess Title has been around its lineage has belonged entirely to the TJPW roster. In Japan it’s rare for a men’s company to have their main championship stay within their walls for this long but in joshi it’s a little more common. However the scene opened up again to the rest of the world this year and there is a wave of new faces we can all look forward to seeing. The risk is they have their eyes on the gold just as much as the regulars do. I think the time has come for somebody outside of TJPW to become the Princess Champion. Whether they are a Japanese freelancer, an invader fans associate with another company or somebody from overseas I bet the top prize will be taken by an outside force sometime in 2023.
– It’s All Around The World, Just La La La La La Prediction: Maki Itoh gets to No. 1 on a iTunes or Spotify chart somewhere in the world.
Hikari Noa unexpectedly showing up in the Canadian iTunes J-Pop chart at the end of November inspired this one. Some domino is going to fall that will kickstart a chain reaction resulting in Maki Itoh’s music going viral and being discovered by a new audience. She ends up getting a song to No. 1 on one of the digital music services. It doesn’t matter how obscure this gets. It could be No. 1 in Zimbabwe’s chart for the Chamber Psych genre due to input error for all I care.
– Once I Ran To You, Now I Run From You Prediction: A woman from Sakisama’s past comes back to haunt her.
It is inevitable that NEO Biishiki-gun will come back to terrorize TJPW again. They always do. Sakisama will return to grace TJPW fans with her glamourous presence while rubbing it in about how perfect she is. She makes it look easy. There has to be a reason for that, right? You don’t become that much of a narcissist without having something, or someone, that’s been out of your reach for your entire life. Like a rival perhaps? That one person who no matter how good you are at something, they are always better. Like what if there was somebody in Sakisama’s life who always stole her thunder whether it was in their private classes, on the badminton court or even at an extravagant gala? What if that woman with a familiar looking face from somewhere else suddenly shows up in TJPW and begins to waltz through the roster, tempting NEO Biishiki-gun away from their leader in the process. What if Sakisama finds herself in a position she has never experienced before, becoming the underdog? It would be a big change of pace for the gimmick that’s for sure.
– Cause A Girl Gonna Push It All Out The Way Prediction: Sasha Banks appears at Grand Princess ’23.
Am I being cheeky with this one? I dunno, something about the Sasha Banks odyssey still sounds kind of murky to me. I don’t think somebody with her leverage is going to settle down with a contract to just one corporation again. I believe she’s aligning with New Japan/Stardom no doubt about that. But why stop there? Something tells me she isn’t going to be exclusive to them in Japan. Not with the people she’s been meeting and spending time with these last few months. TJPW needs something massive if they want to fill up Ariake Colosseum on 18th March. They won’t be doing that by keeping to themselves. Aim big, play big, win big.
Ganbare☆Pro Wrestling
– I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends Prediction: Some of the wrestlers Shota worked with in America get booked for Ganpro.
Shota accomplished a lot during his three month stay in America. Among the most important during his excursion was connections. He made friends, met new people and whether intentional or not scouted talent. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see some of the people he wrestled across the United States get invited over to Ganpro in the coming year. The likes of Ryan Davidson and Phil Shark have been to Japan before but could we see a wrestler like Clay Roberts or Aaron Mercer get the chance to come over thanks to their links with Shota?
– All The Way (Keep Going, You Got This) Prediction: Keisuke Ishii wins the Spirit Of Ganbare Title.
Ganpro has been a good home for Keisuke Ishii ever since he came over from DDT in 2018. Maybe it’s because he’s in a smaller pond but he’s been able to stay more consistent up the top of the card. 2023 will be the right time for Ganpro’s resident “Puwota” to challenge for the Spirit Of Ganbare Title and win it. I’m not confident he will be the man to dethrone Hartley Jackson but if Mizuki Watase or Ken Ohka can’t do it, it may have to come down to him anyway.
– Swing Your Partner ‘Round And ‘Round Prediction: Ganpro creates a tag team championship and builds it around mixed tag wrestling.
This should have been done when they held the Mixed Tag Tournament in 2021! At the moment the Spirit Of Ganbare Title is the only championship being defended in the promotion. Tag Team Titles should be next on the list for Ganpro to grow into a bigger company. They regularly book mixed tag matches anyway and it would be a good way to differentiate the belts from other company’s tag titles. I’m not even calling for it to be a mandatory rule, just have most of the teams competing in title matches be mixed gender.
– Sunshine, Lollipops And Rainbows Prediction: Ganbare☆Joshi runs their own show in Korakuen Hall.
The Ganbare☆Joshi division took a step back in 2022. Gone were the Ganpro doubleheaders with GanJo running the afternoon shows. It would be nice if they came back with a vengeance in 2023. Not only could they promote their own shows again but they should take a shot at the big time by having an event at Korakuen! It would be a challenge. Maybe Yuna Manase calls in some favors from Ice Ribbon and Gatoh Move or picks a fight with Prominence to build up a headline match. Moeka Haruhi has worked hard all year too so she deserves a spotlight like this too.
– Shine On You Crazy Diamond Prediction: Kota Ibushi wrestles a match in Ganpro.
The aftermath of what happens in January could be either a rising flame of a phoenix or an absolute trash fire. There is plenty of gossip online about Kota Ibushi being done completely with New Japan when his contract is allegedly expected to expire during the month. So if he is going to become a free agent you’d think there will be a lot of suitors out there looking for his services. That might not happen if the guy decides to let loose and produce an exposé on his time with NJPW. If he instead behaves and decide against that then there should be nothing to be worried about, right? Hmmm, can’t be too sure on that one. Ibushi made it clear on Twitter he has no interest in ever going back to DDT. He also sounds bullish about doing work with NOAH when rumours of that surfaced online. Money doesn’t sound like it’s a big motivation for his future plans. If that’s true then wouldn’t a place like Ganpro be more his vibe? It’s where you can wrestle with your heart on your sleeve and a fire in your belly. It would be a wild move to see Ibushi do one match in Korakuen for Ganpro while he is sorting out the Ibushi Wrestling Institute or whatever crazy project he’s been thinking about during his time away from the ring.
Miscellaneous
– You Know That I Would Love To See You Next Year, I Hope That I Am Still Alive Next Year Prediction: Gake no Fuchi Joshi crosses over with Baka Gaijin + Friends.
It’s been a while since we last heard from Gake no Fuchi Joshi. Seems like Miyako Matsumoto has moved on to other priorities. The spirit of insanity we see in those shows could easily fit in with the newly formed Baka Gaijin + Friends. Matsumoto’s chaotic energy is not something Chris Brookes & Drew Parker want to be responsible for but what power do they have to stop it if she ever steps foot inside one of their shows?
– Are You Ready To Meet And Defeat The Elite? Prediction: AEW will host another event in Japan with DDT & TJPW involvement.
AEW held half of a women’s tournament in Japan during 2021 and produced exhibition matches at the Tokyo Game Show in 2022. They have it in them to do something in Japan for a third year in the row with DDT/TJPW along for the ride. I’m thinking it will be something on a similar scale as the first two events. A project separate from the TV shows and instead taking place on Youtube. That’s if it is intended for broadcast at all. But hey, if they want to go full blown Dynamite taping in Korakuen Hall with Konosuke Takeshita in a title match I’ll take that any day of the week.
– Back To The Family, I Guarantee Emergency Prediction: CyberFight adds another promotion to their portfolio.
CyberFight’s recent financial losses don’t concern me. In fact I think they’re due for a slight expansion and will add a fifth wrestling promotion to their collection. In past interviews Sanshiro Takagi talked about ideas to launch a new death match group or present another joshi company separate from TJPW. If this happens it can be something brand new or maybe there’s going to be a smaller company that’s finally at the end of their rope and needs to be sold to survive. The recent power shift in WWE kind of winds the clock back to 2019 with their desire to launch spin-offs around the world returning to the surface. The last attempt at that resulted in Stardom selling to Bushiroad and NOAH selling to CyberFight. I could see a repeat happening with another company if WWE wants to go shopping in Japan again. But that’s the cynical prediction. CyberFight might create something brand new to fill in a gap that none of their existing properties can reach. Like what if a certain star who has crazy ideas for his own wrestling company strikes a deal with CyberFight to make it a reality in return for making a few dates with the other promotions? What a golden scenario that would be.
– Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis, When I Was Dead Broke, Man I Couldn’t Picture This Prediction: A brand new puroresu console game gets announced.
Come on, what’s the freaking hold up? I love Fire Pro Wrestling World but I have squeezed every last drop of blood out of that stone. Time for something new. I think this prediction is possible but it all hangs on whether or not AEW: Fight Forever becomes a success. I’m really looking forward to that game and you all know the first thing I’m going to do is pick Yuka Sakazaki but I still have my worries it will turn out to be a bumpy AA title at launch. If it does take off then my hope is for Yuke’s re-using the assets to make a Japan only wrestling game get one step closer to coming true. One where they strike a deal with Bushiroad or CyberFight (or hopefully both). For this prediction Fight Forever releasing “Forbidden Door” DLC doesn’t count, Makoto being added to The Wrestling Code doesn’t count and phone games do not count. I am looking for a full fledged console game here. If it works on the Steam Deck then that would be cool too.
– Same As It Ever Was Prediction: BASARA does something new and different.
Please? Things have been stale with BASARA for a long time. Even the summer series with Dove Pro I always look forward too is the same old stuff. Probably harsh of me to say that because I hear they are more or less happy with the way things are. They have their regular schedule with their regular crowd always showing up. Sometimes that’s all you need to keep a good thing going. I still wish they showed more ambition though.
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “TJPW CITY CIRCUIT AUTUMN ~HAMAMATSU PERFORMANCE~”, 10/12/2022 Shizuoka Entetsu Hall
1. Suzume Vs Kaya Toribami
2. Hyper Misao Vs Mahiro Kiryu
3. Hikari Noa Vs Haruna Neko
4. Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki Vs Raku & Pom Harajuku
5. Shoko Nakajima, Yuki Aino & Arisu Endo Vs Rika Tatsumi, Miu Watanabe & Moka Miyamoto
6. EVE Title: Miyu Yamashita (c) Vs Rhio
Maki Itoh & Yuki Kamifuku are both missing from this Saturday’s show because they will be wrestling in Malaysia. Nao Kakuta is also absent because of her stage work.
“BAKA GAIJIN + FRIENDS”, 13/12/2022 Tokyo ARENA Shimokitazawa
1. Interdimensional Kaiju Vs Fucked Up Warfare: MAO Vs Death Worm
2. Gatoh Move Tag: Mei Suruga & Miya Yostuba Vs Masahiro Takanashi & Chie Koishikawa
3. Double Anniversary Special: Chris Brookes Vs Drew Parker
A mat pro wrestling show is taking place at ARENA Shimokitazawa to celebrate Chris Brookes’ 15th Anniversary as well as Drew Parker’s 10th Anniversary. Guests from Gatoh Move and IWA Japan are involved on the undercard and there is also going to be a solo acoustic performance by Antonio Honda.
DDT “DANSHOKU DIENO 20TH ANNIVERSARY BOOK PUBLICATION COMMEMORATION”, 21/12/2022 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. DDT Tradition 6-Man Tag Match: Kazusada Higuchi, Yuki Ishida & Thanomsak Toba Vs Tesuya Endo, Jun Akiyama & DJ Nira
2. Novelty Single Match: Naruki Doi Vs Shunma Katsumata
3. Selfishly For The 2nd Time In 20 Years, A Single Match That Danshoku Dieno Just Wants To See: Yuki “Sexy” Iino Vs Yumehito “Fantastic” Imanari
4. Selfishly For The 1st Time In 20 Years, Danshoku Dieno’s Self-Satisfaction Match: Danshoku Dieno Vs Muscle Sakai
A first time ever match between Naruki Doi and Shunma Katsumata is one of the matches Danshoku Dieno made for his book launch event. He also put together a standard 6-Man Tag match between Harimao and BURNING with Thanomsak Toba and DJ Nira also sprinkled in.
GANBARE☆PRO “GIRI GIRI CHOP! 2022”, 27/12/2022 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. Munetatsu Nakamura Debut Match: Shinichiro Tominaga Vs Munetatsu Nakamura
2. GanJo x TJPW Special Tag Match: Suzume & Yoshiko Hasegawa Vs Yuki Kamifuku & YuuRI
3. Shota Triumphant Return Match: Shuichiro Katsumura & Shota Vs Soma Takao & Shigehiro Irie
4. Kouki Iwasaki Ganbare☆Pro Wrestling Last Match: Keisuke Ishii Vs Kouki Iwasaki
5. Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Title: Hartley Jackson (c) Vs Mizuki Watase
Shota’s American excursion is coming to and end and he will be back home in Japan before the year is over. His big return match for Ganbare☆Pro sees him teaming with Shuichiro Katsumura against the Team Drift pair of Soma Takao & Shigehiro Irie.
We’re getting a collaboration between Ganbare☆Joshi and Tokyo Joshi Pro. Previous opponents Suzume & Yoshiko Hasegawa are excited to be teaming together. Their opponents Yuki Kamifuku & YuuRI not so much. I mean, YuuRI is thrilled because she looks up to Kamifuku. Shame that Kamifuku thinks little of YuuRI in return.
The Ganpro rookie Munetatsu Nakamura gets Shinichiro Tominaga as his first opponent. As long as he doesn’t take any of Tominaga’s advice on how to spend time with the opposite sex he’ll be fine.
DDT “NEVER MIND 2022”, 29/12/2022 Tokyo Dome City Hall
0. Dark Match: Hideki Okatani & Toi Kojima Vs Yuya Koroku & Kazuma Sumi
0. Dark Match: Minoru Fujita, MJ Paul & KANON Vs Masahiro Takanashi, Soma Takao & Antonio Honda
1. Sanshiro Takagi Vs Takeshi Masada
2. HARASHIMA & Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Yuji Hino & Yuki Ishida
3. Pheromones Vs “Miyako & Ward” Pheromones Subjugation Allied Forces: Yuki “Sexy” Iino, Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno, Yumehito “Fantastic” Imanari & Koju “Shining Ball” Takeda Vs Akito, Osamu Nishimura, Shinichiro Kawamatsu & Shunma Katsumata
4. Special Tag Match: Saki Akai & Yuki Arai Vs Saori Anou & Riko Kawahata
5. Special Tag Match: Konosuke Takeshita & Yukio Naya Vs Daisuke Sekimoto & RSP
6. International 4 Way Match: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Chris Brookes Vs MAO Vs Cara Noir
7. Special Single Match: Shinya Aoki Vs Chihiro Hashimoto
8. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Naruki Doi, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata (c) Vs Tetsuya Endo, Kotaro Suzuki & Yusuke Okada
9. DDT Extreme Title: Jun Akiyama (c) Vs Super Sasadango Machine
10. KO-D Openweight Title: Kazusada Higuchi (c) Vs Yuki Ueno
DDT’s 25th year comes to a close at Tokyo Dome City Hall. The main event is Kazusada Higuchi putting the KO-D Openweight Title on the line against Yuki Ueno, the winner of this year’s D-Ou Grand Prix. Going back to the summer the main event scene in DDT has been built around who is the most capable to carry the company on their back. Higuchi ended up standing head and shoulders above everyone else and getting to fly the flag (in some cases literally) was his reward. Ueno has one of the loudest claims to being the rightful leader of DDT, purposely adding more pressure to himself in order to reach his goal. He just won the Grand Prix and is still the reigning DDT Universal Champion. He is going to get what he wants and stand toe to toe against DDT’s current symbol of strength Higuchi. Ueno’s plan if he becomes the double crown champion is to defend the Universal Title overseas. He also wants to defend both championships on a monthly basis as long as his body can take it.
Jun Akiyama is keeping himself busy going into the new year by coming up with a bunch of suggestions for DDT to work on. He is the new DDT Extreme Champion and already has a challenger lined up for him. Super Sasadango Machine asked for a title shot to make up for how little he wrestled this year. Akiyama agreed to it but thinks Sasadango has become overweight. He strongly advised Sasadango to lose 20kg in time for the match. In order to do this Akiyama suggested DDT should create the DDT Health Club which he can be president of. There used to be a NOAH Health Club so he got his idea from there. As champion Akiyama can also choose the match stipulation but he will consult with Kenta Kobashi before making that decision. He would rather Sasadango come up with the rules if it is allowed because the champion having that power gives him too much of an unfair advantage. In fact, Akiyama wants to form a committee for the Extreme Title and Kobashi to be the chairman. Akiyama also isn’t comfortable with holding a purple championship because he has a bad history with that colour. He asked DDT if they can change the Extreme Title to a white belt in tribute to the retired GHC Hardcore Openweight Title he was originally responsible for creating.
Well, Naruki Doi said he wanted a match with Tetsuya Endo so he’s getting one. Endo made it known during the Grand Prix his goal in DDT is to win all of the championships and right now his target is the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles. The match gives Yusuke Okada some sorely needed spotlight after spending the last few months on the undercard. Kotaro Suzuki adds a lot of firepower to the team as well. Can Doi rely on DISASTER BOX to carry their share of the work? Toru Owashi won’t let him down but Kazuki Hirata can go from completely useless to the luckiest man in the ring on a coin flip.
Time for Yukio Naya to dust himself off and move on to the next challenge. The D-Ou finalist gets to team with Konosuke Takeshita against the unusual pairing of Daisuke Sekimoto & RSP in an all heavyweight tag battle.
GANBARE☆PRO “TOKIMEKI NISHISU 2022”, 03/12/2022 Yokohama Radiant Hall 113 Fans
1. GanPro Specialty Mixed Tag Match: Shinichiro Tominaga & HARUKAZE defeated Yuki Kanzaki & Yoshiko Hasegawa when HARUKAZE pinned Hasegawa with the Flame Spear (11:35).
2. GanJo Special Single Match: Moeka Haruhi defeated YuuRI with the West High East Low Winter Gorkuraku Gatame (9:08).
3. GanPro Vs P.P.P.: Yumehito Imanari & Yuna Manase defeated Kentaro Hachisu & Echika Miyabi when Manase submitted Miyabi with a Half Crab Hold (12:25).
4. GanPro Special 6-Man Tag Match In YOKOHAMA: Ken Ohka, Shuichiro Katsumura & Tsuyoshi Okada defeated Keisuke Ishii, Soma Takao & Tyson Maeguchi when Katsumura submitted Ishii with the Triple Three 3 Lock (14:38).
5. Tokimeki Nishisu 2022 Special Tag Match: Shigehiro Irie & Mizuki Watase defeated Hartley Jackson & Seiya Morohashi when Watase pinned Morohashi with the Elbow Butt (15:58).
The last prelim match before Ganbare☆Pro heads to Korakuen Hall at the end of December had Mizuki Watase score a big victory over Hartley Jackson’s team. The show began with a contract signing between the two and Watase spoke about wrestling in 15 different promotions this year. He’s been told he has no Ganbare☆Spirit but in reality he is burning with it. Jackson told Watase that Ganpro is his home too and no matter what Watase can do, he will not win the Spirit Of Ganbare Title from Jackson. In the main event Watase had Shigehiro Irie by his side and nailed Seiya Morohashi with an Elbow Butt to score the victory. Watase told Jackson that this is Ganbare☆Spirit. It does not matter if it looks uncool or unrefined, the more you win with it the more the spirit will burn! Jackson warned that when the title match takes place on 27th December he won’t be treating Watase like a little kid anymore.
The team from P.P.P. Tokyo provided a new challenge for Yumehito Imanari & Yuna Manase to take on together. Echika Miyabi was on the previous show losing to Manase. Kentaro Hachisu was making his Ganpro debut and has been getting attention lately for the “Chest Hair Niki” gimmick he uses to promote his wrestling matches and MMA fights. Manase won the match for the home team by tapping out Miyabi, but the Ganpro team paid respect to the P.P.P. wrestlers after the match.
Munetatsu Nakamura will have his debut match on 27th December against Shinichiro Tominaga. Nakamura told the fans he wants to have an exciting match that will leave a mark on everybody. Tominaga’s advice to him is to understand that pro wrestling is all about experience. He then gave a personal example involving a sexual act he was once involved in that almost left him blinded but I don’t want to write about those details at all.
An inter-promotional match mixing together Ganpro and Tokyo Joshi Pro is happening on the 27th. Yoshiko Hasegawa is going to team with Suzume, who she recently fought in a TJPW ring. The two of them think they can get along, grow and become stronger together. Their opponents don’t seem to be on the same page. YuuRI is excited to team with Yuki Kamifuku but the feelings don’t seem to be mutual. She always tweets compliments to her but never gets a response. Kamifuku is happy to wrestle in Ganpro again but thinks Ken Ohka has bad taste if he is making her team up with “a cabaret girl who makes about 1,200 yen an hour.”
A video message from Shota was sent in revealing his American excursion will soon be coming to an end. His return to Ganpro will be on 27th December.
Boy oh boy November turned out to be an eventful month for DDT and Tokyo Joshi Pro going international. Between DDT’s dealings with AEW and TJPW leaving their mark on Pro Wrestling EVE there is a lot to keep track of. Konosuke Takeshita signed his deal with AEW, Jun Akiyama made “The Last of a Dying Breed’s” dream come true, Maki Itoh is now gang affiliated and Miyu Yamashita for the second time in her career holds another country’s championship. And let’s not forget about Shota’s travels across America while CDK was out doing their thing in Singapore. Although there are signs that Shota’s excursion may be approaching its end soon he is keeping himself busy on the road and taking the time to stop and smell the roses.
I hope these posts are coming in handy and not just for following what the Japanese wrestlers are up to abroad. If you haven’t noticed yet, some of the names you see in the previous posts have been getting bookings in Japan recently. So you never know who here will show up in DDT, TJPW or Ganbare☆Pro in 2023. I have a feeling it’s only going to get crazier from there. Like maybe WWE brings back the Mae Young Classic and Mahiro Kiryu enters it. Hey, it could happen.
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Videos
Video starts at 0:00 for the match MPW “NIGHT FALL”, 04/11/2022 Nordhoff PL, Chatsworth, California, USA
1. Dustin Daniels Vs Shota
Video starts at 21:28 for the match LEVEL UP “BLINDING LIGHTS”, 05/11/2022 Attitude Brewing Company, San Diego, California, USA
1. Triple Threat Match: Hunter Freeman Vs Fabrizio Vs Shota
Video starts at 1:12:39 for an angle. Go to 1:50:07 for the match NEW TEXAS PRO “TEXAS CONTENDERS SERIES 8”, 17/11/2022 Houston Premier Arena, Houston, Texas, USA
1. Shota Vs Rudy Garza (w/ Dan Miller)
AEW “RAMPAGE”, 18/11/2022 Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA
1. Eddie Kingston & Ortiz Vs Jun Akiyama & Konosuke Takeshita
Video starts at 40:15 for the match JCW “SERIES OF SURVIVALS”, 19/11/2022 Boonton Elks Lodge, Boonton, New Jersey, USA
1. Maki Itoh Vs Janai Kai
Video starts at 35:38 for the match AEW “FULL GEAR ZERO HOUR”, 19/11/2022 Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA
1. Eddie Kingston (w/ Ortiz) Vs Jun Akiyama
WRESTLERAVE “IN YOUR WAREHOUSE”, 19/11/2022 Houston Premier Arena, Houston, Texas, USA
1. WrestleRave Title: Aaron Mercer (c) Vs Shota
Video starts at 2:02:35 for the match SPW “ASTRONOMICAL ANNIVERSARY – DAY 1”, 24/11/2022 Foochow Building, Singapore
1. SPW Tag Team Titles: Da Butcherman & Dr. Gore (c) Vs Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi
Video starts at 1:40 for Match #1. Go to 1:59:10 for Match #2 SPW “ASTRONOMICAL ANNIVERSARY – DAY 2”, 25/11/2022 Foochow Building, Singapore
1. Chris Brookes Vs Ho Ho Lun
2. SPW Southeast Asia Title – 4 Way Match: Aiden Rex (c) Vs Masahiro Takanashi Vs Andruew Tang Vs Tajiri
Video starts at 8:49 for Match #1. Go to 16:47 for Match #2 AEW “DARK ELEVATION”, 28/11/2022 Wintrust Arena, Chicago, Illinois, USA
1. Maki Itoh & Emi Sakura Vs Nyla Rose & Marina Shafir (w/ Vickie Guerrero)
2. Konosuke Takeshita Vs Ari Daivari
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Results
MPW “NIGHT FALL”, 04/11/2022 Nordhoff PL, Chatsworth, California, USA
1. Dustin Daniels defeated Shota with the Torture Rack Slam (?:??).
I’m starting to think Shota is too trusting of a human being. Take his match against Dustin Daniels at Millennium Pro Wrestling for example. Everything was going nice and well until Shota fought off Daniels from the ring apron. Daniels stumbled back into the referee and used the sudden lack of authority to kick the middle rope into Shota’s groin while Shota was stepping back into the ring. The Low Blow made Shota into dead weight but Daniels was eventually able to lift him up into a Torture Rack and then slam him down to get the win.
LEVEL UP “BLINDING LIGHTS”, 05/11/2022 Attitude Brewing Company, San Diego, California, USA
1. Triple Threat Match: Fabrizio defeated Hunter Freeman and Shota when Fabrizio with the I Am Prettier (?:??).
This match became a full circle moment for some of the people involved. Hunter Freeman originally trained to be a pro wrestler in Okinawa 17 years ago and Shota was involved in training him. That is not the only student and mentor relationship in the match because Freeman is the trainer of Fabrizio. The Triple Threat ended in an upset when Fabrizio pushed Freeman into Shota and then gave his trainer the Unprettier to win.
ROW “FALL FURY”, 12/11/2022 Booker T World Gym Arena, Texas City, Texas, USA
1. Shota Suzuki defeated Emilio Tovar (?:??).
2. Shota Suzuki defeated Jonathan Vega (?:??).
Shota returned to Reality Of Wrestling to settle the score with La Familia after they cost him a match the last time he was in the company. Shota had quite the challenge given to him on the day. He had two take part in two matches against La Familia. Against the odds, Shota ended up winning both matches against Emilio Tovar and Jonathan Vega. He won one of the matches with the Frog Splash, which meant a lot to him because a few days before the show he visited El Paso the home of Eddie Guerrero.
EVE “WRESTLE QUEENDOM V – SHOW 1”, 13/11/2022 229 The Venue, London, England
1. EVE Tag Team Titles: Rhia O’Reilly & Skye Smitson (c) defeated Hyper Misao & Session Moth Martina when Smitson pinned Misao (10:16). *V5 for The Uprising.
2. EVE Title No. 1 Contender Match: Miyu Yamashiya defeated Millie McKenzie with the Skull Kick (12:34).
Over to England where TJPW talent was invited over to Pro Wrestling EVE. The British women’s promotion held their fifth annual “WRESTLE QUEENDOM” supershow, split into two events over the course of the day. On the afternoon show Yamashita faced Millie McKenzie in a rematch from their first meeting the month before in Spain. Yamashita had learned from her mistakes in the first match and found a way to counter McKenzie’s Regal Plex. The counter allowed Yamashita to take control from her opponent and create an opening for a High Kick followed by the Skull Kick. The win meant Yamashita was now the No. 1 Contender for the EVE Title and her title shot was happening later that day on the evening show.
Hyper Misao became fast friends with Session Moth Martina from Ireland (home of the Spice Bag) and together they fought against The Uprising for the EVE Tag Team Titles. They came close to winning until Nightshade interfered on behalf of her allies and helped The Uprising retain their titles. Misao wanted revenge on Nightshade for costing her team their chance to win a championship and challenged her to a fight on the evening show.
EVE “WRESTLE QUEENDOM V – SHOW 2”, 13/11/2022 229 The Venue, London, England
1. Hyper Misao defeated Nightshade with the Hypami Returns onto a pile of Chairs (12:16).
2. EVE Title: Miyu Yamashita defeated Alex Windsor (c) with the Crash Rabbit Heat (15:08). *Alex Windsor fails in V1. Miyu Yamashita becomes the 20th EVE Champion!
Later that evening the second show took place and became a highlight for both of TJPW’s women. In the afternoon Alex Windsor won the EVE Title and now had to defend it against Yamashita. Both had already wrestled in hard fought matches so nobody had the advantage going into the match. Yamashita took Windsor’s big moves and made her crumble to the Skull Kick. The Crash Rabbit Heat found its target and Yamashita became the new EVE Champion! McKenzie met her in the ring after the match challenging her for the title. Her reasoning is they are now 1-1 against each other and their rivalry is one that now spans the entire world. Yamashita agreed and invited her back to TJPW to do the match there. Good thing McKenzie already had Japan in her upcoming travel plans, eh? Yamashita Vs McKenzie has since taken place in TJPW with Yamashita successfully defending the belt and going 2-1 against her English rival.
Misao got her justice by beating Nightshade in a crazy match. I don’t think the match was No DQ but it ended up having weapons and brawling involved anyway. Misao brought out her Hyper Cycle and crashed it into a tower of chairs on the stage. She tried the tactic again and successfully crashed into Nightshade at ringside. The finish came when Misao dropped Nightshade with the Hypami Returns onto a pile of chairs in the middle of the ring.
NEW TEXAS PRO “TEXAS CONTENDERS SERIES 8”, 17/11/2022 Houston Premier Arena, Houston, Texas, USA
1. Rudy Garza (w/ Dan Miller) defeated Shota with a Dragon Sleeper Driver (?:??).
Shota had a headline spot for his return to New Texas Pro. In his second appearance of the “TEXAS CONTENDERS SERIES” Shota fought Rudy Garza. Outside interference again reared its ugly head thanks to Garza’s manager Dan Miller. Shota held Garza in a Crossface Lock when Miller grabbed his wrestler’s leg and placed it on the bottom rope to break the hold. Shota got a little measure of revenge when he landed a Topé Suicida on Miller and sent him crashing through a row of ringside seats. However Miller recovered and distracted the ref so Garza could poke Shota in the eye and take his leg out with a Chop Block before hitting his finisher for the three count.
AEW “RAMPAGE”, 18/11/2022 Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA
1. Jun Akiyama & Konosuke Takeshita defeated Eddie Kingston & Ortiz when Akiyama pinned Ortiz with the Exploder Suplex (12:17).
For a long time now Eddie Kingston has spoken highly of Jun Akiyama and named him as a dream opponent. Well working for a place like AEW can spring plenty of surprises. Not only was Takeshita having his first match back from a month long break, he was bringing Akiyama along with him! They fought Kingston along with his buddy Ortiz on the Friday leading into a PPV weekend. Kingston wasn’t able to get much time in the ring with his hero and that very well could have been one of the reasons why the DDT team won the match. There was clearly unfinished business after the match was over and a singles bout between Akiyama and Kingston was quickly put together. The match was also the debut of Takeshita’s new AEW theme song “Face-Off”.
JCW “SERIES OF SURVIVALS”, 19/11/2022 Boonton Elks Lodge, Boonton, New Jersey, USA
1. Maki Itoh defeated Janai Kai with the I.S.D (8:41).
On the week of Thanksgiving America had Maki Itoh to be thankful for when she paid a visit to the country to wrestle on a few shows. JCW was her first stop. She beat Janai Kai thanks to her hard head deflecting one of Kai’s normally dangerous kicks. The match was a little bit more newsworthy by the end when JCW’s commentary team let slip that Kai will be going to wrestle in Japan this January, most likely for TJPW.
AEW “FULL GEAR ZERO HOUR”, 19/11/2022 Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey, USA
1. Eddie Kingston (w/ Ortiz) defeated Jun Akiyama with the Uraken (10:32).
The pre-show for “FULL GEAR” was where the much anticipated Kingston Vs Akiyama singles match took place. Akiyama had a new theme song put together by Osamu Suzuki called “FINAL EXPLODER”. Kingston not only got to fight his hero one on one but he beat him too! The match built to an exchange of Exploder Suplexes. Akiyama wanted to use the Wrist-Clutch variation but Kingston countered it with a DDT. Akiyama kicked out of the Uraken but Kingston kicked out of a Running Knee Strike too. Akiyama then tried to set up the Sternness Dust α but it was countered into the Northern Lights Bomb. Kingston then hit another Uraken to score the pin. The two showed a lot of respect to each other after the match.
WRESTLERAVE “IN YOUR WAREHOUSE”, 19/11/2022 Houston Premier Arena, Houston, Texas, USA
1. WrestleRave Title: Aaron Mercer (c) defeated Shota with the Cradle Piledriver (?:??). *V5 for Aaron Mercer.
Shota has said in a tweet that this match against Aaron Mercer is one of the most memorable not just from his excursion but his entire career. Mercer also tweeted that the match may well become one of his favorites ever too. In fact the match is getting rave reviews by just about everyone who saw it in person and tweeted about it. The Houston Premier Arena is becoming home to many good memories for Shota as time goes by.
GCW “AURA”, 20/11/2022 Fete Music Hall, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
1. Masha Slamovich defeated Maki Itoh with the Half Package Piledriver (11:56).
GCW was next on Itoh’s schedule and she went there wanting to become the centre of attention. How do you do that in GCW? You step in the ring with Nick Gage, look him right in the eyes and tell him “Where is my fucking gang at?!?” Itoh becoming MDK Gang affiliated wasn’t enough for her to beat Masha Slamovich though. She drilled Slamovich with a Top Rope DDT but a rope break stopped her from getting the three count. Instead Slamovich stunned her with a Spin Kick to the head and won with a Half Package Piledriver.
1. Nyla Rose & Marina Shafir (w/ Vickie Guerrero) defeated Maki Itoh & Emi Sakura when Rose pinned Sakura with the Beast Bomb (4:17).
2. Konosuke Takeshita defeated Ari Daivari with the Rollover German Suplex (4:45).
Takeshita’s first AEW match under his new deal was against Ari Daivari of the Trustbusters stable. Takeshita won with the German Suplex but the story coming out of the match was Don Callis walking out to ringside to watch it. The man is most known in AEW to be Kenny Omega’s manager. Could he be interested in offering his services to Takeshita?
Meanwhile Itoh made her return to AEW by teaming with Emi Sakura to take on Nyla Rose & Marina Shafir. Itoh found out the hard way that getting into a strike exchange with Shafir outside the ring is a bad idea. She was taken out by that while Rose pinned Sakura with the Beast Bomb.
SPW “ASTRONOMICAL ANNIVERSARY – DAY 1”, 24/11/2022 Foochow Building, Singapore
1. SPW Tag Team Titles: Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi defeated Da Butcherman & Dr. Gore when Brookes pinned Gore after the Super Kick & Praying Mantis Bomb (21:03). *CDK become the 10th SPW Tag Team Champions!
Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi collected some gold on their trip to Singapore Pro Wrestling. They beat The Horrors of Da Butcherman & Dr. Gore to win the vacant SPW Tag Team Titles in the main event of the first part of the company’s anniversary shows.
SPW “ASTRONOMICAL ANNIVERSARY – DAY 2”, 25/11/2022 Foochow Building, Singapore
1. Chris Brookes defeated Ho Ho Lun (10:33).
2. SPW Southeast Asia Title – 4 Way Match: Aiden Rex (c) defeated Masahiro Takanashi, Andruew Tang and Tajiri (12:11). *V4 for Aiden Rex.
On Day 2 Takanashi had an opportunity to win another championship when he took part in a 4 Way Match with Tajiri and Andruew Tang also among the challengers. Aiden Rex came out on top and remained the SPW Southeast Asia Champion.
Brookes sent out an open challenge for his match and it was answered by Ho Ho Lun!
LLL “POD SIX WAS JERKS!”, 25/11/2022 The Oriental Theater, Denver, Colorado, USA
1. Austin Reddick defeated Shota (?:??).
Denver was the next stop for Shota where he found himself wrestling in a new environment. The Lucha Libre & Laughs show was held inside a theatre and the ring was located right on the stage. Shota and Austin Reddick had their match while comedians cracked jokes on the live commentary.
1. Konosuke Takeshita defeated Aaron Solo with a Wheelbarrow German Suplex (3:15).
Callis was again at ringside to watch Takeshita in action. This time Takeshita beat Aaron Solo from The Factory.
ROW “SHOWCASE”, 30/11/2022 Booker T World Gym Arena, Texas City, Texas, USA
1. Shota Vs Bryan Keith
Shota’s last match of the month was at an untelevised ROW show against one of Booker T’s brightest proteges Bryan Keith.
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Upcoming Appearances
PWL “PRO WRESTLING LEGACY”, 02/12/2022 Toma Gallery, El Paso, Texas, USA
1. Cosmo Orion Vs Shota
As mentioned earlier, Shota got to visit El Paso already during his excursion but it isn’t until December when he will get to wrestle there. His El Paso debut for Pro Wrestling Legacy will be for a match against Cosmo Orion.
GRAPPLE MAX “GOLD STANDARD”, 03/12/2022 GymKraft, Tampines Street, Singapore
1. Hotshot Wilson Vs Masahiro Takanashi
Takanashi last faced his opponent Hotshot Wilson three years ago when Hotshot was just a rookie. He has grown up while Takanashi was away so what kind of trouble can he cause him the next time they meet?
PWF “PREMIER RUMBLE”, 03/12/2022 Houston Premier Arena, Houston, Texas, USA
1. Caine Carter Vs Shota
Perhaps Shota’s final visit to Premier Wrestling Federation sees him against Caine Carter. The show also has a Royal Rumble match taking place. Shota is not advertised to compete in it yet but if there’s a spot open, he’ll be sure to take it.
NEW TEXAS PRO “TEXAS CONTENDERS SERIES 9”, 08/12/2022 Houston Premier Arena, Houston, Texas, USA
1. Mysterious Q Vs Shota
Shota’s match against Mysterious Q is being advertised as his final match in Houston.
APAC “RISE”, 10/12/2022 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
1. APAC Women’s Title Tournament – Round 1: Steph De Lander Vs Maki Itoh
2. APAC Women’s Title Tournament – Round 1: Nor “Phoenix” Diana Vs Yuki Kamifuku
The playoff matches for the APAC Women’s Title Tournament have been made. Itoh and Yuki Kamifuku are on separate sides of the bracket. Itoh meets Steph De Lander in Round 1 while Kamifuku has to get past Nor Diana.
DFW ALL PRO “SEASONS BEATINGS”, 10/12/2022 Trinity Leadership Public School, Cedar Hills, Texas, USA
1. Shota Vs X
Shota has a few more things to do in Texas like this DFW All Pro show.
DPW “1ST ANNIVERSARY”, 10/12/2022 Winston-Salem Fairgrounds, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA
1. Konosuke Takeshita Vs Colby Corino
“Let’s fucking go!” Deadlock Pro Wrestling is bringing Takeshita back for their 1st Anniversary show. They wanted him in a crazy match so here comes Colby Corino as his opponent!
APAC “RISE”, 11/12/2022 Malaysia
1. APAC Women’s Title Tournament – Final: X Vs X
Can Itoh and Kamifuku both make it to the final?
GCW “TIL INFINITY 2022”, 31/12/2022 The Showboat, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA
1. Maki Itoh Vs X
GCW “56 NIGHTS”, 01/01/2023 The Showboat, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA
1. Maki Itoh Vs X
Itoh is spending the last night of 2022 and the first day of 2023 in New Jersey for GCW.
EVE “EVE 100”, 07/01/2023 229 The Venue, London, England
1. EVE Title?: Miyu Yamashita (c?) Vs Rhio (?)
The EVE Title scene suddenly got a bit crowded due to Yamashita winning the belt. After her successful defence against McKenzie in TJPW, EVE announced that Yamashita will return to London on 7th January as part of their 100th show celebration. “The Unbreakable” Rhio already made it clear that she wants the next title shot sooner rather than later. At the time of writing she will be going to Japan in a few weeks time and is getting the title match against Yamashita in Shizuoka on 10th December. Here’s an interesting wrinkle added to the situation. EVE announced that if Rhio becomes the champion there, Yamashita will get a rematch back in London.
PRESTIGE “VENDETTA”, 21/01/2023 The Glass House, Pomona, USA
1. Shunma Katsumata Vs Sonico
2. Kevin Blackwood Vs MAO
3. Miyu Yamashita Vs Athena
Shunma Katsumata & MAO make their debuts for Prestige Wrestling next year. MAO takes on Kevin Blackwood and Katsumata has a match against Sonico.
DDT “DDT GOES HOLLYWOOD”, 30/03/2023 Ukrainian Cultural Center, Los Angeles, California, USA
Right now there is a story developing in DDT where Takeshi Masada wants to wrestle on the shows in Hollywood. He has to beat Sanshiro Takagi in an upcoming match to convince the boss he is already ready to wrestle overseas.
DDT/GCW “GCW VS DDT”, 31/03/2023 Ukrainian Cultural Center, Los Angeles, California, USA
Any chance we can do Gage Vs Itoh here?
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Cancelled Appearances
MAGNUM “BATTLE ROYALE CUP”, 26/11/2022 Stocks n Bonds, Omaha, Nebraska, USA
1. Battle Royale Cup – Round 1: Shota Vs Kit Sackett
Shota was meant to be part of a one night tournament in Magnum Wrestling, taking one of their champions Kit Sackett in the first round. Unfortunately the show was cancelled on a few days notice and the promotion is ceasing operations due to the owner going through health issues. This would have been Shota’s first time wrestling in Omeha, Nebraska.
The international adventures of the extended DDT family is a little bit different this month compared to our previous reports. Konosuke Takeshita was back in Japan all last month, Shota completed the first month of his US excursion, the DDT Extreme Title went over there too in Joey Janela’s luggage and there were no AEW bookings in America for the usual crew. Instead Europe was a bigger focus by the end of the month with CDK and others heading over to England. Things will ramp back up in October with Takeshita heading back to the US for almost the rest of this year while Shota continues to get bookings in the underrated Texas territory of the independents along with other places. By the time November comes along it will probably take me a solid week to get these posts ready.
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Videos
Video starts at 18:59 for the match MPW “ENDANGERED”, 02/09/2022 Nordhoff PL, Chatsworth, California, USA
1. Triple Threat Match: Darwin Finch Vs J2 Mattioli Vs Shota
Video starts at 47:25 for the match PWF “ENDANGERED”, 03/09/2022 Houston Premier Arena, Houston, Texas, USA
1. JJ Blake Vs Shota Suzuki
Video starts at 39:18 for the match JCW “UNCENSORED”, 10/09/2022 Boonton Elks Lodge, Boonton, New Jersey, USA
1. DDT Extreme Title – Bodyslam Challenge Match: Joey Janela (c) Vs Beastman
Video starts at 6:11 for the match ROW “TEXAS GOLD RUSH”, 10/09/2022 Booker T World Gym Arena, Texas City, Texas, USA
1. Shota Vs Ayden Cristiano
NEW “YEAR ONE ANNIVERSARY”, 16/09/2022 Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, Canada
1. Maki Itoh Vs Gisele Shaw
Video starts at 1:54:00 for the match FRONTLINE PRO “A NIGHT FOR TYLER V”, 24/09/2022 Bakerville Bar And Grill, Marshfield, Wisconsin, USA
1. Shota Vs Ragnar The Ruthless
Video starts at 0:21 for Match #1. Go to 1:32:55 for Match #2 MDRN NMD “I SPELL F-L-Y”, 29/09/2022 The Bread Shed, Grosvenor St., Manchester, England
1. Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi Vs LK Mezinger & Splits McPins
2. Shigehiro Irie Vs Dan Moloney
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Results
EVE “THURSDAY NIGHT RIOT”, 01/09/2022 229 The Venue, London, England
1. Rhia O’Reilly & Nightshade defeated Rayne Leverkusen & Harley Hudson when O’Reilly pinned Leverkusen after a Double Elevated DDT (9:40).
2. International Princess Title: Alex Windsor (c) defeated Hikari Noa with the GTF (14:41). *V1 for Alex Windsor.
The month started off with Hikari Noa travelling to Camden Town in London, England. She was there for an EVE show and wanted to take the International Princess Title back to Japan. That did not work out. Instead Alex Windsor was too high a wall for her to climb over and Noa had to leave England empty handed. Windsor will be back in Tokyo Joshi Pro for “WRESTLE PRINCESS III” next month.
The Uprising won their match to get a trip to Japan for TJPW. Rhia O’Reilly & Nightshade promised they are coming to Japan to crush whoever is thrown their way. TJPW took their words as them challenging Reiwa AA Cannon for the Princess Tag Team Titles at “WRESTLE PRINCESS III”.
MPW “ENDANGERED”, 02/09/2022 Nordhoff PL, Chatsworth, California, USA
1. Triple Threat Match: J2 Mattioli defeated Darwin Finch and Shota when Mattioli pinned Shota with an Elbow Strike (?:??).
The American excursion for Shota kicked off in California for Millenium Pro Wrestling and he was so close to starting his stay with a win. Shota had Darwin Finch pinned with the Frog Splash when J2 Mattioli struck him in the back of the head with an Elbow Smash. That was a knockout blow and it was Shota who ended up having his shoulders pinned for the three count.
PWF “LIVEWIRE”, 03/09/2022 Houston Premier Arena, Houston, Texas, USA
1. JJ Blake defeated Shota Suzuki with the Hollywood & Vine (?:??).
The next day Shota travelled over to Houston, Texas where he will be spending a lot of time during his excursion. It was another loss for Shota as his Premier Wrestling Federation with JJ Blake ended with him getting pinned with a Rock Bottom. It was under fairer circumstances because the finish was set up by Blake catching Shota’s Diving Cross Body and rolling him into position for his finisher.
GCW “THE ART OF WAR”, 03/09/2022 Grand Sports Arena, Hoffman Estates, Illinois, USA
1. DDT Extreme Title & 6 Pack Of PBR – 2 Ring Ladder Scramble Match: Joey Janela (c) defeated Mike Bailey, Tony Deppen, Cole Radrick, Drago Kid, Gringo Loco, Dante Leon and Shane Mercer when Janela pinned Deppen with a Diving Elbow from the Ladder (18:26). *V1 for Joey Janela.
Joey Janela has the DDT Extreme Title with him in America and he got DDT to endorse a few title defences while he is over there. The first one was a complete gamble because he put the title on the line in GCW against seven other wrestlers in a two ring ladder match. The one advantage with this is everybody destroys each other by the end so there comes a point where nobody can stop you. Janela found that moment and remained champion among all the chaos.
JCW “UNCENSORED”, 10/09/2022 Boonton Elks Lodge, Boonton, New Jersey, USA
1. DDT Extreme Title – Bodyslam Challenge Match: Joey Janela (c) defeated Beastman with the Body Slam through a Door (13:17). *V2 for Joey Janela.
The following week was a lot more calmer atmosphere for Janela but still a very painful experience. He had to figure out how to Body Slam a big opponent like Beastman in JCW. Janela found his opening when the two found themselves standing on the turnbuckles. Janela struck Beastman with a large bone that Beastman brought with him to the ring. Janela then used the leverage of the turnbuckles to Body Slam his opponent through a door placed over some chairs in the middle of the ring to be declared the winner.
ROW “TEXAS GOLD RUSH”, 10/09/2022 Booker T World Gym Arena, Texas City, Texas, USA
1. Ayden Cristiano defeated Shota with a Modified Stretch (?:??).
The numbers game went against Shota for his return to ROW. Members of La Familia interfered in the match and aided Ayden Cristiano in beating Shota by submission.
NEW “YEAR ONE ANNIVERSARY”, 16/09/2022 Commodore Ballroom, Vancouver, Canada
1. Maki Itoh defeated Gisele Shaw with the I.S.D (13:23).
Canada got the full Maki Itoh experience with her first visit to the country. She got a big win over there too by beating Impact’s own Gisele Shaw.
PRESTIGE “PERSEVERANCE”, 17/09/2022 The Glass House, Pomona, USA
1. Miyu Yamashita defeated Trish Adora with the Skull Kick (14:04).
2. Sandra Moone defeated Maki Itoh with the Moone’s Landing (10:26).
The next day Itoh met up with Miyu Yamashita in America for their latest Prestige appearances. Itoh was given a big spot with a semi-main event match against Sandra Moone. After a heavy back and forth fight, Moone used a Gutwrench Driver to spike Itoh onto the canvas and grab the win.
Earlier in the show Yamashita fought Trish Adora in a highly anticipated match up that’s been receiving high praise from those who have seen it. Seek it out when you can.
MISSION PRO “Welcome To The Jungle”, 17/09/2022 Salvation Army Mission Corps, San Antonio, Texas, USA
1. JP Harlow defeated Shota with the Freedom Bomb (?:??).
Shota still hasn’t gotten a win yet during his American stay. Some of it could be down to bad luck but here in Mission Pro it was because JP Harlow cheated to win.
FRONTLINE PRO “A NIGHT FOR TYLER V”, 24/09/2022 Bakerville Bar And Grill, Marshfield, Wisconsin, USA
1. Ragnar The Ruthless defeated Shota with the TKO (?:??).
I couldn’t find the result for this match. I’ll update the post if I ever do.
PROGRESS “CHAPTER 142: DEADLY VIPER TOUR – CALIFORNIA MOUNTAIN SNAKE”, 25/09/2022 O2 Academy, Birmingham, England
1. Shigehiro Irie defeated Gene Munny with the Beast Bomber (6:18).
2. Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi defeated Kid Lykos & Kid Lykos II (19:15).
Home sweet home for Chris Brookes. His last match in England was over two and a half years ago. So much has happened since then. His CCK teammate Kid Lykos went and got another tag partner, turning Joe Nelson into Kid Lykos II. So PROGRESS went and booked CDK against Lykos Gym for Brookes’ big return to the promotion. Masahiro Takanashi ended up seeing a whole lot of his buddy’s past this week.
Meanwhile Shigehiro Irie is sticking around the same general area as CDK during his stay in Europe. He’s taking pretty much the same bookings as them while they are over in this part of the world. His return to PROGRESS ended with a win over Gene Munny, although I heard the allegedly prestigious Gene Munny Championship was not on the line.
PROGRESS “RETURN OF THE FLY”, 27/09/2022 The Dome, Tufnell Park, London, England
1. Masahiro Takanashi defeated Luke Jacobs (10:11).
2. PROGRESS Atlas Title: Big Damo (c) defeated Shigehiro Irie (8:18). *V1 for Big Damo.
3. No DQ Match: Kid Lykos defeated Chris Brookes (17:44).
Two days later saw PROGRESS host what is being described by their fans as one of the most memorable matches in the promotion’s recent history. Brookes and Lykos faced off in a singles match that became a violent No DQ bout. Lykos ended up fighting the end to the match with his mask ripped apart and barely hanging off him but he didn’t care about fighting with his face fully exposed. It was an emotional scene when Lykos ended up winning and whatever bad blood that developed between the two was all swept away once the match was over.
Irie got a chance to win the PROGRESS Atlas Title, the promotion’s championship that is fought exclusively in the heavyweight division. He took on the new champion from Northern Ireland, Big Damo who just won the belt a few days earlier.
Takanashi had something to do too. He beat the previous Atlas Champion Luke Jacobs early in the card.
MDRN NMD “I SPELL F-L-Y”, 29/09/2022 The Bread Shed, Grosvenor St., Manchester, England
1. Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi defeated LK Mezinger & Splits McPins when Brookes pinned Mezinger after the Praying Mantis Bomb & Super Kick Combo (?:??).
2. Dan Moloney defeated Shigehiro Irie (?:??).
All of the drama and seriousness of the PROGRESS matches called for a needed change of pace for our crew. Modern Nomad Pro Wrestling was just the tonic they were looking for. CDK split apart Bowl-A-Rama but Irie suffered an upset loss against Dan Moloney.
WXW “INNER CIRCLE”, 30/09/2022 wXw Wrestling Academy, Gelsenkirchen, Germany
1. Fuminori Abe defeated Masha Slamovich with the Manjigatame (10:22).
2. Shigehiro Irie defeated Peter Tihanyi with the Beast Bomber (11:57).
This result is coming in hot, right before I finished the complete article and had it ready to post. Shigehiro Irie’s weekend in Germany began with a win against Peter Tihanyi.
According to reports on Twitter, there was a spot in the Masha Slamovich Vs Fuminori Abe match where Abe punched a wall. He has at least three more matches this weekend!
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Upcoming Appearances
WXW “WORLD TAG TEAM FESTIVAL 2022”, 01/10/2022 Turbinenhalle, Oberhausen, Germany
1. World Tag Team Festival 2022 – Group B: Fuminori Abe & Shigehiro Irie Vs Robert Dreissker & Laurance Roman
2. World Tag Team Festival 2022 – Group A: Axel Tischer & Eric Young Vs Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi
The World Tag Team Festival lineup is completed and CDK have three teams all completely different from each other to go against. The opening day sees them against a SAnitY reunion! Eric Young is heading over to Germany to team with Axel Tischer, formerly known in WWE as Alexander Wolfe. Meanwhile Fuminori Abe & Shigehiro Irie takes on longtime wXw wrestlers “Avalanche” Robert Dreissker & Laurance Roman, together known as Amboss. Irie has fought both of them in the past while Abe has been in the ring with just Dreissker.
PWF “LIVEWIRE”, 01/10/2022 Houston Premier Arena, Houston, Texas, USA
1. Shota Suzuki Vs Dante Leon
Houston, Texas is Shota’s home away from home during his American stay. It’s a bit of a CyberFight crossover here because Dante Leon wrestled in NOAH recently.
WXW “WORLD TAG TEAM FESTIVAL 2022”, 02/10/2022 Turbinenhalle, Oberhausen, Germany
1. World Tag Team Festival 2022 – Group A: Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi Vs Senza Volto & Aigle Blanc
2. World Tag Team Festival 2022 – Group B: Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku Vs Fuminori Abe & Shigehiro Irie
Day 2 in wXw sees Abe & Irie meeting Violence Is Forever for the first time. Expect all four wrestlers to beat the hell out of each other in that one. Brookes & Takanashi will have a very different change of pace when they face The Frenchadors. The two masked wrestlers Senza Volto & Aigle Blanc could not be any more different from SAnitY.
WXW “WORLD TAG TEAM FESTIVAL 2022”, 03/10/2022 Turbinenhalle, Oberhausen, Germany
1. World Tag Team Festival 2022 – Group B: Fuminori Abe & Shigehiro Irie Vs Nikita Charisma & Michael Schenkenberg
2. World Tag Team Festival 2022 – Group A: Prince Ahura & Maggot Vs Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi
The final block matches has both teams taking on wXw regulars. CDK’s opponents Pretty Bastards are the previous winners of the WTTF held back in 2019. Prince Ahura & Maggot are accomplished singles wrestlers in their own right too with Maggot currently holding the wXw Shotgun Title. Abe & Irie’s final group match is against Rot Und Flott, the reigning wXw World Tag Team Champions. As the current title holders that makes Nikita Charisma & Michael Schenkenberg early favorites to win the tournament.
JCW “JCW VS THE WORLD”, 09/10/2022 The Showboat, Atlantic City, New Jersey, USA
1. Shota Vs Steve Scott
Shota makes his JCW debut. His opponent “2Hot” Steve Scott is a JCW regular with some GCW appearances scattered around here and there.
RCW “WORLD CUP 3”, 22/10/2022 Casinet d’Hostafrancs, Barcelona, Spain
1. World Cup 3: Maya Yukihi Vs X
2. Miyu Yamashita Vs Millie McKenzie
Over in Spain, RCW are holding a women’s wrestling tournament filled with talent around the world. Maya Yukihi is an entrant representing Japan. Nightshade is taking part as the UK entry. Miyu Yamashita will also be on the show but she is scheduled for a non-tournament match. Now, right before I was about to post this article, I saw RCW’s tweet about Millie McKenzie being on the show as Yamashita’s opponent. If it’s a one-on-one match the timing of that is convenient because…
EVE “WRESTLE QUEENDOM V – SHOW 1”, 13/11/2022 229 The Venue, London, England
1. Hyper Misao Vs X
2. EVE Title No. 1 Contender Match: Millie McKenzie Vs Miyu Yamashita
The return of Millie McKenzie without restrictions to the British wrestling scene after NXT UK’s closure wasted no time in becoming newsworthy. She made an unexpected appearance at the “THURSDAY NIGHT RIOT” show and after her match was finished, it was announced she will take on Miyu Yamashita in November! It was then later revealed the match will determine the No. 1 Contender for the EVE Title. EVE are splitting “WRESTLE QUEENDOM V” into two shows, one in the afternoon and one in the evening. The Millie Vs Miyu match will be on the afternoon show. Hyper Misao’s match has not been announced yet so she could be on either shows, if not both.
WRESTLERAVE “IN YOUR WAREHOUSE”, 19/11/2022 Houston Premier Arena, Houston, Texas, USA
1. WrestleRave Title: Aaron Mercer (c) Vs Shota
WrestleRave is a young promotion that’s been running out of the Houston Premier Arena for just over a year. Shota has a chance to become the promotion’s second ever champion if he can beat Aaron Mercer.
PW REVOLUTION/WEST COAST PRO “KING OF INDIES 2022”, 19/11/2022 United Irish Cultural Center, San Francisco, California, USA
1. King Of Indies 2022: Konosuke Takeshita Vs X
Konosuke Takeshita made have to run through a growing killer lineup if he wants to win the King Of Indies tournament. Katsuhiko Nakajima is the latest Japanese name entering the tournament while luchador Viento won a qualifying match to earn a spot. I’m hearing there’s been a recent groundswell in support for Titus Alexander to win too.
Posted by JamieOD 
