DDT “SWEET DREAMS! 2019”, 27/01/2019
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,040 Fans – No Vacancy
Kota Umeda “Mad Dog” 7 Match Series – Final Match: Shuji Ishikawa Vs Kota Umeda
DDT “SWEET DREAMS! 2019”, 27/01/2019
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,040 Fans – No Vacancy
Kota Umeda “Mad Dog” 7 Match Series – Final Match: Shuji Ishikawa Vs Kota Umeda
DDT “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI KORAKUEN HALL SPECIAL!!”, 28/10/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,106 Fans – Super No Vacancy
Special Tag Match: Daisuke Sasaki & Shuji Ishikawa Vs Naomichi Marufuji & Konosuke Takeshita
DDT “BEST WESTERN LARIAT SERIES 2018 ~REBORN~ BATTLE OF CORAL”, 30/09/2018
Tokyo Best Western Rembrandt Hotel Tokyo Machida
1. Shigehiro Irie, Jason Kincaid & Mizuki Watase Vs Kazusada Higuchi, Tanomusaku Toba & Gota Ihashi
2. Tetsuya Endo & Nobuhiro Takanashi Vs Akito & Keisuke Ishii
3. Yukio Sakaguchi, Masahiro Takanashi & Saki Akai Vs Sanshiro Takagi, Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Maki Ito
4. Please Spend A Wonderful Time With Delicious Meals And Gorgeous Dance: Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi Vs Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata
5. Daisuke Sasaki, Soma Takao & Mad Paulie Vs Mike Bailey, Ethan Page & Antonio Honda
6. DISASTER BOX Vs ALL OUT!: HARASHIMA & Yuki Ueno Vs Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata
MAO’s foot injury keeps him off this Sunday’s hotel show. Antonio Honda takes his place in the semi-main event and Gota Ihashi takes Honda’s place in the opener.
DDT “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI #19”, 02/10/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING
1. Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match: Miyu Yamashita & Shoko Nakajima Vs Mizuki & Azusa Takigawa
2. HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata Vs Mike Bailey, Antonio Honda & Keisuke Okuda
3. Maji Bankai Two Serious Big Match: Jun Kasai Vs Masahiro Takanashi
4. Maji Bankai Two Serious Big Match: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Ethan Page
5. Danshoku Dieno & Kazusada Higuchi Vs Daisuke Sasaki & Mad Paulie
Ethan Page is tweeting a lot about being undefeated during his current tour with DDT. God only knows what he’ll be like if he beats Konosuke Takeshita.
DDT “ROAD TO RYOGOKU 2018 ~DRAMATIC DREAM TARABAGANI~”, 06/10/2018
Hokkaido Nemuro City Youth Center
1. A Man Survived Many Hardships And Reached The Place Of Nemuro! Giant Single Match: Gorgeous Matsuno Vs Adreza Giant Panda
Before the massive bear steps foot inside Sumo Hall, Andreza Giant Panda must go through a DDT veteran. Gorgeous Matsuno has appointed himself the gatekeeper of DDT and he isn’t going to let Andreza waltz into his territory to do whatever he wants. Andreza will have to go through Matsuno in order to reach Super Sasadango Machine. Speaking of Sasadango, he will be in attendance for the show. No doubt Sasadango will be scouting his giant opponent.
Kouki Iwasaki will also be wrestling on the show.
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “HOW DO YOU LIKE KITAZAWA?”, 08/10/2018
Kitazawa Town Hall
1. Azusa Takigawa Vs Yuna Manase (Special Referee: Nonoko)
2. TOKYO Princess Tag Team Titles: Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki (c) Vs Nodoka Tenma & Yuki Aino
Azusa Takigawa’s remaining dates before her graduation are the 8th, 10th, 13th, 14th and finally the 27th October. Her match with Yuna Manase has become a collision between Konkatsu-gun and the Super Milk Combination thanks to the inclusion of Nonoko as the special guest referee. Nonoko has promised to officiate the match strictly and fairly according to good sportsmanship.
Priscilla Kelly will be on the show.
DDT “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI #20”, 10/10/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING
1. Mote Mote Army Vs Not Mote Army All Out Fight!: Makoto Oishi, Yuki Ueno & Mote Mote Super Large X Vs Kazusada Higuchi, Antonio Honda & Not Mote Super Large X
The return of The Bachelor Japan’s Rintaro Oyaizu has caused infighting among The Compliance. Oyaizu has been teaching Makoto Oishi & Yuki Ueno how to be popular with women. Kazusada Higuchi & Antonio Honda are mad that they are being left out. The two sides have been told to go find a partner and settle their problem with a 6-Man Tag Match. Here’s something I learned about Oyaizu and why he’s able to do these appearances for DDT. His day job is being a director for CyberAgent’s video game division! How’s that for company synergy?
Jun Kasai, Super Sasadango Machine and Yumehito Imanari will be on the show.
DDT “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2018 ~FALL WRESTLING CULTURE FESTIVAL~”, 21/10/2018
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
0. Time Difference Battle Royal: Gorgeous Matsuno Vs Hoshitango Vs Gota Ihashi Vs Nobuhiro Shimatani Vs X
0. Mina Shirakawa DDT First Participation War! Tokyo Joshi Pro 6-Woman Tag Match: Miyu Yamashita, Yuki Kamifuku & Mina Shirakawa Vs Yuka Sakazaki, Mizuki & Shoko Nakajima
1. Gauntlet Tag Match: Mike Bailey & Antonio Honda Vs Mizuki Watase & Jason Kincaid Vs Kazusada Higuchi & Kota Umeda Vs KUDO & Masahiro Takanashi Vs Tanomusaku Toba & Keisuke Okuda Vs Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Michael Nakazawa
2. The World’s Crazy Couple Battle: Makoto Oishi & Misaki Ohata Vs Joey Ryan & Laura James
3. The Difference In 27 Years Of Age! Representative Director And President (48 Years Old) And Belonging Wrestler (21 Years Old) Waste Blood Washing Conflict Play – Final Settlement Weapon Rumble!: Sanshiro Takagi Vs MAO
4. Soken Holdings Present – Will You Eat Or Be Eaten!? Giant Special Single Match: Super Sasadango Machine Vs Andreza Giant Panda
5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Soma Takao, Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie (c) Vs Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Yuki Ueno
6. Super Joshi Pro Wars 2018: Saki Akai & Maki Ito Vs Meiko Satomura & Cassandra Miyagi
7. ALL OUT Vs STRONG HEARTS! Special 6-Man Tag Match: Akito, Shunma Katsumata & Yuki Iino Vs T-Hawk, El Lindaman & Tian Yunan
8. Shigehiro Irie’s Grand Fight: HARASHIMA & Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Shigehiro Irie & Keisuke Ishii
9. Dramatic Dream Match: Konosuke Takeshita Vs CIMA
10. KO-D Openweight Title: Danshoku Dieno (c) Vs Daisuke Sasaki
A few spots still needs to be filled in but this is the twelve match card for “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2018”. The new additions are Shigehiro Irie’s farewell match teaming with Keisuke Ishii to face HARASHIMA & Yukio Sakaguchi. The Super Joshi Pro Wars match is back this time with Saki Akai & Maki Ito facing the Sendai Girls team of Meiko Satomura & Cassandra Miyagi. Sasadango Vs Andreza now has a match sponsor. The Tag Gauntlet and Battle Royal has a bunch of new entries too. The Battle Royal is still missing something though. Where’s the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title when you need it?
DDT “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI KORAKUEN HALL SPECIAL!!”, 28/10/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. DDT Extreme Title: HARASHIMA (c) Vs Shinya Aoki
2. Special Tag Match: Naomichi Marufuji & Konosuke Takeshita Vs Daisuke Sasaki & Shuji Ishikawa
A week after Sumo Hall takes place, Maji Manji will broadcast from Korakuen Hall for the first time. DDT is already putting together two big matches as the headliners.
Super Sasadango Machine, Yumehito Imanari and Maki Ito will be on the show.
DDT “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI #14”, 14/08/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING
240 Fans – Super No Vacancy
0. NO TV Match: Soma Takao defeated Mizuki Watase with the Sorarina (7:22).
0. NO TV Match: Ryan Davidson & Facade defeated Toru Owashi & Nobuhiro Shimatani when Davidson pinned Shimatani with the Davidson Driver (8:25).
1. Akito & Gota Ihashi defeated Yuki Ueno & Yuki Iino when Akito submitted Iino with a Modified Leg Lock (7:23).
2. Kazusada Higuchi, Kouki Iwasaki & Meiko Satomura defeated Sanshiro Takagi, Makoto Oishi & Cherry when Satomura pinned Oishi with the Scorpio Rising (7:05).
*Meiko Satomura wins Makoto Oishi’s Right To Challenge Anytime, Anywhere Gauntlet.
3. KUDO & Masahiro Takanashi defeated Danshoku Dieno & Antonio Honda when KUDO pinned Honda with the Diving Double Knee Drop (9:07).
4. Road to King Of DDT 2018 3rd Round 4 Way Tag Match: Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo defeated HARASHIMA & Mike Bailey, Yukio Sakaguchi & MAO and Keisuke Ishii & Kazuki Hirata when Endo pinned Hirata with a Swan Dive 450 Splash (10:20).
5. RENEGADES Vs DAMNATION!: Shigehiro Irie & Jason Kincaid defeated Shuji Ishikawa & Mad Paulie when Irie pinned Paulie with the Beast Bomber (19:20).
6. KO-D Openweight Title: Danshoku Dieno defeated Shigehiro Irie (c) with the Gaydo Clutch (1:37).
*Super Sasadango Machine gives his Right To Challenge Anytime, Anywhere Contract to Danshoku Dieno. Shigehiro Irie fails in V1. Danshoku Dieno cashes in his Right To Challenge Gauntlet. Danshoku Dieno becomes the 65th KO-D Openweight Champion!
Today’s episode sparked plenty of changes in the DDT landscape. There was the planned roster switch-up freshening up some of the units but some added surprises completely changed the course of as we head towards the King Of DDT finale. Things seemed normal during the main event. Shigehiro Irie made his first appearance in DDT since his latest US tour and after the title loss incident in Ohio he had the KO-D Openweight Title with him safe and sound. He and Jason Kincaid were victorious over Shuji Ishikawa & Mad Paulie but it was a close call. Irie kicked out of a Double Choke Slam and the Reverse Splash. It was only when he hit a desperate Beast Bomber to Paulie that he was able to win the match. Ishikawa said he got to have a strong match after spending time away from DDT. He told everyone when he is the Triple Crown Champion he would like to face Irie again.
When DAMNATION left the ring, Meiko Satomura came out with her eyes set on Irie. With the yellow Right To Challenge Gauntlet in her possession, Satomura challenged Irie to a title match on the 28th August episode of “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI”! An exhausted Irie got up and accepted the challenge. But when they were about to shake hands, Danshoku Dieno interrupted them with important news. Producer Dieno will not accept Irie Vs Satomura as the next KO-D Title match because the next title match will happen right now! Dieno then suddenly pulled out the blue Gauntlet belonging to Super Sasadango Machine. A video played on the screen of Sasadango announcing that he is giving his Gauntlet to Dieno as a gift. It now belongs to Dieno and he is cashing it in straight away!
The match began and Dieno immediately gave Irie the Danshoku Driver several times. Irie kicked out of them and fought back. He hit the Beast Bomber but when Irie went for the pin, Dieno caught him in the Gaydo Clutch and pinned him! Danshoku Dieno is the new KO-D Champion! A furious Irie had to be held back by the rest of RENEGADES until they finally got him to leave the ring. He still tossed a chair from the front row at Dieno as he was leaving. Dieno taunted Irie by telling him what he did today was all in the rules. Dieno waited so long and played the good boss all this time so he could pull this off. This plan was why Dieno did not enter King Of DDT this year. He may be the weakest champion of any wrestling company right now but that doesn’t matter. He is going straight to the main event of “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2018” as the champion! Just one problem. Meiko Satomura is still here with the last Right To Challenge Gauntlet (more about that below) and her intention to challenge the champion on 28th August still stands. She told Dieno she will win the KO-D Title, defend it against Irie and then defend it at the main event of Sumo Hall!
The DNA Draft and resulting roster reshuffle took place at the start of the episode. It was already decided that Daiki Shimomura would join BASARA and Kouki Iwasaki would join Ganbare☆Wrestling. Rekka also announced he will be leaving Japan for a while so he will not be transferring to another brand. The remaining DNA wrestlers were given the chance to nominate the group or unit they wished to join and it would be up to those groups to accept them or not. Some of the obvious moves were made first. Mizuki Watase chose RENEGADES (side note: Ryan Davidson has also joined the unit) and Shunma Katsumata picked ALL OUT. No surprises there. MAO wants to continue teaming with Mike Bailey so he picked the default DDT Sekigun group. Yuki Ueno also picked DDT. Naomi Yoshimura didn’t pick anybody. Instead he will go wherever he wants, whenever he wants. Konosuke Takeshita of all people asked him to join ALL OUT instead. Yoshimura declined because he has no motivation to fight with them. He’d rather fight against them. Yuki Iino asked if he could join ALL OUT. Akito wasn’t convinced so he would use their match later as an audition. Kota Umeda chose to stick with DDT. He will be on the same side as his old unit Shuten-dōji and he wants to set a fire under his former older brothers. Nobuhiro Shimatani declared himself the leader of DAMNATION but Daisuke Sasaki said the unit doesn’t need him. Shimatani then nominated Tokyo Joshi Pro but their producer Tetsuya Koda outright refused him. Shimatani went back to DAMNATION and promised to find a beautiful blonde woman for Sasaki, cook delicious meat for Mad Paulie, handcraft a new ring costume for Soma Takao, give Tetsuya Endo a better haircut than the one he currently has and teach new songs to Shuji Ishikawa. Sasaki finally gave in and inducted Shimatani into DAMNATION, but only as a temporary manager. Good enough!
In the middle of the draft, T2Hide announced they are splitting up. Kazuki Hirata is doing well without them although he protested the decision. HARASHIMA approached Toru Owashi and asked him to reform Disaster BOX, their old unit from the 2000s. Owashi liked the idea but they needed a third member to make them a unit. They nominated Yuki Ueno. He has no idea what Disaster BOX is or how important they are in DDT’s history but ok, he’ll join them instead of the default DDT side.
Now all of that craziness has been touched upon, let’s get into the rest of the show. The eight remaining King Of DDT participants met in an 4-Way Tag Match. Some of the pairings were unusual and led to a mix up. MAO & Mike Bailey were on two different teams but in the heat of the action they worked together to wipe out a few of the other wrestlers with a Double Moonsault to the outside. Kazuki Hirata tried to continue his miracle run by going straight at Tetsuya Endo with Cradles but in the end he was pinned by Endo with a Swan Dive 450 Splash. Despite winning the match, Endo says he does not feel any momentum from today’s result. That stuff means nothing when you’re only in the Quarter Finals.
Judging from his earlier performance on the episode you wouldn’t have thought Dieno would end up as champion by the end of it. He got into his usual shenanigans with Antonio Honda against KUDO & Masahiro Takanashi. Honda’s double Gongistune backfired when KUDO & Takanashi grabbed both of his hands and made Honda poke himself in both eyes. They then finised him off with the Takatonic followed by the Diving Double Knee Drop.
It turns out the Right To Challenge Gauntlet rules do apply overseas. Meiko Satomura apologised to the fans for losing the red Gauntlet during her recent visit to America for the Mae Young Classic. I’d go into more detail about the possible consequences for that but it veers into spoiler territory and I’m not in the mood to get into arguments about that right now. To make up for it Satomura made it her goal today to win another Gauntlet so she can challenge for the KO-D Title. Good thing she was in a match against the holder of the yellow Gauntlet Makoto Oishi. Satomura pinned Oishi with the Scorpio Rising and now holds the last remaining Right To Challenge Gauntlet in Japan. Before this match Sanshiro Takagi said if his team won then he would set up the Meiko Young Classic, a tournament for all women wrestlers over the age of 40. Meiko Satomura is 38.
Iino impressed ALL OUT enough in his match to be accepted into their unit. He hit Akito with the Spear but Akito grabbed onto Iino’s leg and pulled him down into a Leg Lock to make him submit.
There was an extra special guest appearing on the show this week. Rintaro Oyaizu from Season 2 of The Bachelor Japan greeted everyone and very quickly attracted attention from several wrestlers. Cherry, Yuna Manase, Yuki Kamifuku and Maki Itoh all entered the ring wanting to woo Oyaizu. They all agreed to fight each other in a 4 Way Match on 28th August with the winner getting a date with The Bachelor.
DDT “FIGHTING BEER GARDEN 2018 ~DAMNATION DAY~”, 30/07/2018
Shinjuku FACE
573 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House
0. Under Match ~ Crocodile Death Match: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Masahiro Takanashi ended in a No Contest (12R).
1. Soma Takao Produce DAMNATION New Member Assessment Match: Soma Takao & Shota defeated PSYCHO & CHANGO when Takao pinned CHANGO with the Official Endless Waltz (11:42).
2. DAMNATION Vs Metal Family!: Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie defeated Trans-Am ★ Hiroshi & SAGAT when Paulie pinned SAGAT with the Reverse Splash (10:56).
3. Shuji Ishikawa & Kohei Sato defeated Kazusada Higuchi & Yuki Iino when Ishikawa pinned Iino with the Fire Thunder (15:08).
4. DAMNATION Vs NOBUNATION! – Scramble Bunkhouse 10-Man Tornado Tag Death Match: Daisuke Sasaki, Shuji Ishikawa, Soma Takao, Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie defeated Nobuhiro Shimatani, Ken Ohka, Masahiro Takanashi, Trans-Am ★ Hiroshi & CHANGO when Endo pinned Shimatani with the Shooting Star Press (14:10).
The entire DAMNATION unit got together for the first time to take part in their Beer Garden show. However they were threatened by the unit’s long time gopher boy Nobuhiro Shimatani who was so sick of the unit’s treatment of him that he formed his own unit to wipe them out. NOBUNATION consisted of Shimatani, Masahiro Takanashi, Trans-Am ★ Hiroshi, CHANGO and their big man, the hoss of the team, Ken Ohka! DAMNATION weren’t that intimidated by the other side as they were all handed cups of beer and tequila so they could have a toast at the start of the match. It didn’t take long for the match to devolve into a brawl around ringside and in the audience. Ohka missed the Fire Spear aimed for Daisuke Sasaki and hit Shimatani by accident instead. Tetsuya Endo wiped out a bunch of wrestlers with a Moonsault while Shimatani was put down by the rest of DAMNATION. Endo came back in to finish it with the Shooting Star Press.
Sasaki told Shimatani after the match that he brought together a good team and NOBUNATION should continue to exist. Sasaki told everyone he’s been drinking since 4 o’clock this morning then welcomed Shuji Ishikawa back for his first match in DDT since April. Ishikawa said he’s spent his time away from DDT practicing his karaoke. He came up with the name DAMNATION48 and sang a song while Endo and Mad Paulie danced beside him. Sasaki stopped the performance and scolded Ishikawa for his bad singing. Soma Takao scored it 7 out of 100. Ishikawa apologised and promised to spend the next four months practicing again.
Ishikawa’s main involvement on this show was to team with his Twin Towers partner Kohei Sato to take on Kazusada Higuchi & Yuki Iino in a heavyweight duos showdown. Although Higuchi was on the losing side, he requested to have another match with the Towers sometime. Ishikawa shared a drink with Sato and joked that they never drink together because Ishikawa can’t keep up with Sato!
Endo was perplexed by Hiroshi’s yoga talents but got his mind back in the game when SAGAT was in the ring. Endo & Paulie’s victory came when they focused on SAGAT.
The DAMNATION audition match was held under “Double Daisuke” rules. That meant there were two referees in the match, Daisuke Kiso and Daisuke Sasaki. Takao wrestled with a notebook in his hand so he could score Shota, PSYCHO and CHANGO on their performances. Takao revealed his comments after the match. CHANGO has goot technique and is clever. PSYCHO has awesome moves and is good as a teammate. Shota has been friends with Takao for around 12 years so they are already on good terms with each other. It was down to Sasaki to decide who gets to be inducted by DAMNATION. Sasaki said everyone fails and is rejected! Actually Sasaki isn’t sure because he’s so drunk right now. Never mind, let’s move on to the next match.
In the dark match Sasaki and Takanashi brought back their match from last year that was just an excuse to drink shots every 30 seconds. The rules this time was after every round (which lasted 30 seconds), they played a game involving a toy crocodile where you take turns pressing down its teeth until the toy bites one of them. If the toy bites a wrestler, they have to drink tequila. If the toy doesn’t bite them, they drink a beer instead. Round after round went by as the match regressed to the point where both Sasaki and Takanashi became too drunk to do anything. Endo had enough and called off the match. He questioned why this was even the dark match in the first place. As mentioned above, it was an excuse for them to get drunk.