DDT “D-OU GRAND PRIX 2019 THE FINAL!!” Results

December 30, 2018

DDT “D-OU GRAND PRIX 2019 THE FINAL!!”, 30/12/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
2,018 Fans – Super No Vacancy

0. Under Match: Mizuki Watase Vs Yuki Ueno ended in a Time Limit Draw (10:00).
1. Mike Bailey, MAO, HARASHIMA & Kazusada Higuchi defeated Soma Takao, Tetsuya Endo, Mad Paulie & Nobuhiro Shimatani when MAO pinned Shimatani with the Cannonball 450° (11:40).
2. Muscle Offer Match ~ M-Ou GRAND PRIX 2018 Total Victory Decision Battle Royal: Antonio Honda defeated Choun-Shiryu with a School Boy (7:10).
Order Of Elimination: Yasu Urano and Makoto Oishi, Pedro Takaishi, Super Sasadango Machine, Choun-Shiryu.
3. Yukio Sakaguchi, Masahiro Takanashi & Saki Akai defeated Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Meiko Satomura when Sakaguchi pinned Hirata with the PK (9:49).
4. Shinya Aoki & Keisuke Okuda (w/ Hideki Suzuki) Vs Keisuke Ishii & Tanomusaku Toba (w/ Hayato Sakurai) ended in a No Contest (5:08).
5. CIMA, El Lindaman & Seiki Yoshioka defeated Akito, Yuki Iino & Kota Umeda when CIMA pinned Iino with the Meteora (13:06).
6. Daisuke Sasaki & Puma King defeated Naomi Yoshimura & Sammy Guevara by TKO when Sasaki knocked out Yoshimura with the Pedigree (13:02).
7. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – D-Ou Grand Prix 2019 – Final: Konosuke Takeshita (c) defeated Go Shiozaki with the German Suplex (23:07).
*V? for Konosuke Takeshita.

Konosuke Takeshita has booked his ticket for Sumo Hall next February because he is the 2019 D-Ou Grand Prix winner! There was an uncomfortable vibe inside Korakuen Hall before the main event because of what happened to Naomi Yoshimura in the previous match (more on that below). Takeshita encouraged everyone to cheer for Yoshimura while he was on his way to the hospital. When they were done he then told Go Shiozaki not to hesitate fighting him at full force because of what happened earlier. Shiozaki didn’t hold back with his Chops and Lariats, leaving their mark on his opponent. Takeshita kicked out of the Go Flasher and did what he could to combat the Strong Arm Lariat. Takeshita successfully used the Fable then followed with a German Suplex to win the match and the Grand Prix. Since he is also the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion that also means a successful defence but that’s kind of a low priority from the list of accomplishments today. Takeshita now gets a KO-D Openweight Title shot at “JUDGEMENT 2019” on 17th February.

After the match Takeshita said he never imagined he would ever wrestle against Shiozaki. But today near the end of Heisei era, Takeshita got to fight a member of the strongest class of pro wrestlers. He has never felt such pain or suffering before but he wants to go through it again. Takeshita’s pecs will always be ready to take Shiozaki’s Chops. The show ended with the people who made the most impact in DDT this year talking about their summaries of 2018. MAO said he did a lot of weird things this year and wants to do more next year. Meiko Satomura talked about winning the KO-D Title. HARASHIMA said 2018 was a good year because he is still smiling at the end of it. Takeshita gave the last word. He promises to bring fun and exciting pro wrestling with all of DDT in 2019!

The semi-main event was stopped after Naomi Yoshimura spiked his head against the canvas from Daisuke Sasaki’s Pedigree. Yoshimura was knocked out from the move and Yukinori Matsui called off the match so he could get stretchered out. Sasaki got on the microphone, called Yoshimura a waste of scrap that should be sent back home and left the ring. Hisaya Imabayashi later gave everyone the update that Yoshimura could move his legs and was regaining his grip strength. Hours after the show was over it was announced that Yoshimura was diagnosed with a cervical sprain. There is no timetable yet for his return. The KO-D Title match scheduled for 3rd January has been cancelled and will be replaced with a DISASTER BOX Vs DAMNATION 10-Man Tag Match. Sasaki is annoyed because he was thought he now had free time to take a vacation to Hawaii.

#STRONGHEARTS have the upper hand over ALL OUT with today’s win. Yuki Iino was cut off by El Lindaman’s German Suplex. That allowed CIMA to hit the Schwein and the Meteora for the three count. Outside the ring Kota Umeda and Seiki Yoshioka had a face off after the match. CIMA noticed this and said that the difference between Umeda and Yoshioka is the same as the difference between Shunjuku and Ikebukuro. CIMA talked about the upcoming KO-D 6-Man Tag Titles defence on 3rd January. He has now beaten Takeshita and Iino. All that’s left for him to beat is Akito! Although he thinks T-Hawk can do that for him. Or maybe Duan Yingnan can leave his mark in DDT history by beating Takeshita?

When #STRONGHEARTS left the ring one by one, El Lindaman was the last to move until he was suddenly attacked by Nobuhiro Shimatani! They faced off then stood back to back in a height measuring contest. Both men declared themselves the winner.

Shinya Aoki & Keisuke Okuda brought along Hideki Suzuki to be their cornerman to even the odds against Keisuke Ishii & Tanomusaku Toba with Hayato “Mach” Sakurai by their side. This led to chaos when Okuda provoked Sakurai leading to a fight with his own partner Aoki! Okuda, Aoki and Suzuki fought each other among the audience until they found their way back into the ring. Things calmed down and Hisaya Imabayashi asked Aoki to pick the stipulation for his DDT Extreme Title match against Toba on 3rd January. Aoki told Okuda to pick for him and another fight broke out. When that brawl ended Aoki told Toba that they will have a Boxing Gloves Match!

It was an exciting day for Kazuki Hirata because he had a brand new pair of Hirata Go! glasses to show off to everyone. Yukio Sakaguchi didn’t care and tried to break the glasses by placing them on a chair and asking the other wrestlers to sit on it. They survived Saki Akai sitting on them but were crushed underneath Gota Ihashi. Hirata was devastated because if the glasses break then so too does his music. Hirata broke down into tears until Toru Owashi & Meiko Satomura put on their own pairs of glasses and sang “TOKYO GO” to him. Hirata danced along to it until Sakaguchi kicked him to oblivion. Sakaguchi then placed a fresh pair of glasses on Hirata’s body and imitated a line from the Hazuki Glasses commercial.

The D-Ou Grand Prix wasn’t the only big event on the show today. The return of Muscle to promote the sub-brand’s Sumo Hall show on 16th February led to a Battle Royal to determine who gets to be in the main event. The goal of the match is for a wrestler to phone the opponent they wish to face while pinning another wrestler. The winner would get that match as well as up to 1,000,000 yen to book that wrestler and 30% of that to be taken in as a booking fee. Antonio Honda wanted to book his father Tetsu Watanabe, Choun-Shiryu wanted to book Jackie Chan “of the Hong Kong International Police Department”, Pedro Takaishi wanted to book Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Yasu Urano wanted to book the comedian Kuro-chan. We didn’t hear who Makoto Oishi wanted because when he said he was going to book someone from K-DOJO he was cut off by the return of Amon Tsurumi! Tsurumi said he’s been gone for so long because he was busy producing movies. While doing this he discovered that ultra low budget movies can make good profits due to word of mouth. That means you don’t need to blow out your budget getting a big name in order to create a big success. He cancelled the Battle Royal and announced the start of the M-Ou Grand Prix round robin tournament! Urano complained that they don’t have time to do that. Everyone agreed on doing a normal Battle Royal after Tsurumi poked everyone in the eyes. Honda ended up winning the match. His prize was a briefcase representing his right to main event the Muscle show in February. Honda noticed it was heavy so he opened it up. Inside was a pile of unsold tickets for the show! Tsurumi said because Honda is main eventing the show it is now his responsibility to sell the remaining tickets. Only 780 tickets have been sold so far!

The Moonlight Express now have the perfect momentum for their Double Titles match on 5th January. They along with HARASHIMA & Kazusada Higuchi were victorious over DAMNATION in the opener. The Express want to be the best tag team of 2019 so they are already planning appearances inside and outside of DDT. They will be at Fight Club: PRO’s Japan debut on 7th January and also K-DOJO’s next Korakuen show on the 13th no matter the result of the Double Titles match.

Ten minutes wasn’t enough to determine a winner between Yuki Ueno and Mizuki Watase in the pre-show bout.

The big summer show in Ota Ward Gymnasium on 15th July will be called “WRESTLE PETER PAN”. DDT is asking fans to choose the Twitter hashtag for the show. The options are either #PeterPanDDT, #DDTPeterPan, #DDTWPP or #WrestlePeterPan.

Shuten-dōji’s self-produced show that they won from the Dramatic Election will be held in Shinjuku FACE on 17th April. They will bring in a lot of wrestlers associated with the unit and promise to deliver a ridiculous show. KUDO wasn’t there for the announcement so Shota took his place dressed just like Masahiro Takanashi. It was enough to make Sakaguchi laugh.

Shunma Katsumata is planning to return from his orbital injury this February. He had successful eye surgery on 11th December.

Jason “The Gift” Kincaid returns to DDT on 13th January. Space Monkey makes his debut on the 27th.


DDT “SOUKEN HOLDINGS PRESENTS DDT SPECIAL 2018” Results

November 25, 2018

DDT “SOUKEN HOLDINGS PRESENTS DDT SPECIAL 2018”, 25/11/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,312 Fans – Super No Vacancy
DDT Dramatic General Election Ranking In Parentheses

0. Under Match: Gota Ihashi (#22) & Makoto Oishi (#23) defeated Mizuki Watase (#21) & Yuki Ueno (#24) when Oishi pinned Watase with a Back Drop Switchover (6:26).
-. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita defeated Tetsuya Koda (c) with a Low Blow (11:26 am).
*Konosuke Takeshita becomes the 1,337th champion.
1. 3 Way Match: Toru Owashi (#19) defeated Antonio Honda (#12) and Saki Akai (#14) when Owashi pinned Honda with La Magistral Cradle (5:29).
2. Tetsuya Endo (#6) & Soma Takao (#8) defeated Keisuke Ishii (#10) & Yumehito Imanari (#11) when Takao pinned Imanari with a Perfect Driver (7:58).
3. Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel defeated KUDO (#15), Shunma Katsumata (#16) & Kazusada Higuchi (#17) when Wentz pinned Katsumata with the Hot Fire Flame (7:00).
4. DDT Special Four Great Singles Match – Hardcore Rules: Jun Kasai (#20) defeated MAO (#9) with the Vertical Drop Reverse Tiger Driver (12:30).
5. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – DDT Special Four Great Singles Match: Konosuke Takeshita (#13) (c) defeated Maki Itoh (#3) by Knockout with a Zahi (11:53).
*V1 Konosuke Takeshita.
6. DDT Special Four Great Singles Match: Akito (#2) Vs Danshoku Dieno (#7) ended in a No Contest (12:04).
7. DISASTER BOX Vs #STRONGHEARTS: CIMA & El Lindaman defeated HARASHIMA (#4) & Kazuki Hirata (#18) when CIMA pinned Hirata with an Egoist Driver (14:17).
8. KO-D Openweight Title & 1,000,000 Yen Prize Money ~ DDT Special Four Great Singles Match: Daisuke Sasaki (#5) (c) defeated Masahiro Takanashi (#1) with the Sasaki Hurricanrana (21:56).
*V1 for Daisuke Sasaki.

Guess who is a million yen richer? Daisuke Sasaki, that’s who! His win over Masahiro Takanashi not only marks his first successful defence of the KO-D Openweight Title but he also wins the cash prize Takanashi originally earned from the Dramatic General Election. Sasaki used the Flash Hurricanrana early for a nearfall but his second attempt twenty minutes later sealed the deal. Inbetween that time, Takanashi used everything from the Takatonic to the Laphroaig to even KUDO’s Diving Double Knee Drop to win. Although Sasaki was the one who had his hand raised, he showed a rare moment of compassion for his opponent by calling him back to the ring. Sasaki asked if the scene around him was what he wanted to see, a packed Korakuen Hall cheering for him. Sasaki said today was an important story and together he and Takanashi can bring in a new era for DDT. He offered out his hand but Takanashi turned around and left the ring.

With that out of the way, Sasaki turned to his future plans. His next scheduled title defence is at Sumo Hall on 17th February against the winner of the D-Ou Grand Prix but he thinks that is a bit too far to wait. He’d rather have a title defence sooner and he also wants nominate his own challenger. The DDT GMs Tetsuya Koda and Hisaya Imabayashi consulted with each other and decided a title match can happen on 3rd January for the first episode of “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI SUPER”. Sasaki said he will pay attention to the entire Grand Prix and choose his opponent from his research. Suddenly Tetsuya Endo pushed Sasaki and told him he’s going to win the Grand Prix. Well, either him or Soma Takao. Takao told Endo to calm down and then asked Sasaki if he can have the prize money because Sasaki used the Gin And Tonic in the main event without his permission. Think of it as a rights fee. Sasaki said no. It was his birthday this week so he’s off to spend the money at a bar to celebrate.

El Lindaman was worried that Kazuki Hirata’s entrance would bring back some horrible memories for CIMA so he made CIMA wear an eye mask and headphones until Hirata finished his dance. Hirata instead Dropkicked CIMA while his guard was down. He would then taunt CIMA by giving Lindaman a Gyrating Frankensteiner. To everyone’s surprise, CIMA did his own Gyrating Frankensteiner to Hirata in response. Lindaman dove out of the ring onto HARASHIMA while CIMA tried to take care of Hirata. There was a moment where Hirata caught CIMA in the Miracle One Shot Cradle but CIMA kicked out of it. CIMA got the win when he pinned Hirata with the Egoist Driver. Turns out CIMA has gotten over that piece of his past. After the match CIMA talked about STRONG HEARTS recently getting a new member from WRESTLE-1. Maybe they should get a member from DDT and it should be Hirata! CIMA offered Hirata a handshake but Hirata turned him down. Hirata looked a bit hesitant over his decision as he walked back to the locker room.

Nobody wanted Danshoku Dieno to get his memory back more than Akito. Today was meant to be a dream match for the lad but Dieno just wasn’t himself. Instead of kissing fans in the audience, he just shook their hands. Every time Akito blatantly put himself in position for one of Dieno’s trademark moves Dieno would do something else instead. Makoto Oishi & Super Sasadango Machine got involved desperately trying to cure their friend’s amnesia. Nothing worked and it drove Oishi mad to the point that he grabbed a chair. Oishi swung the chair at Dieno but he ducked and Akito got hit instead. Dieno grabbed the chair and swung at Oishi but missed. The chair bounced off the ropes and smashed back into Dieno’s face! Suddenly Dieno began to stir and the lights went off. When they came back on Dieno was naked with his lose tights covering his junk! He gave Akito the Lip Lock and a naked Danshoku Driver while everyone else at ringside tried to block it from the audience’s view. The match ended in a no contest while Dieno rampaged through the crowd to the back.

The match between Konosuke Takeshita and Maki Itoh became more interesting when Takeshita won the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title at the beginning of the show. So now Itoh had a chance to win back the title. Itoh gave Takeshita the middle finger but struggled to do much against her opponent. However that only charged Itoh up. Takeshita begun to get worried when Itoh started banging her head off the turnbuckles so he removed one of them. That backfired when Itoh was able to throw Takeshita head first into the exposed turnbuckle. Takeshita grabbed the title belt from ringside to use it as a weapon but Itoh stopped him with a DDT. Itoh was later pushed into the steel but she landed onto Takeshita’s crotch for an unintentional low blow. Itoh tried to give Takeshita another middle finger but he grabbed her hand and smashed her in the face with an elbow strike. Takeshita stomped on Itoh’s hands and then hit the Zahi Knee Strike. Yukinori Matsui started counting Itoh out but she slowly started to get up. At nine she gave Takeshita one last middle finger and collapsed, losing the match by knockout.

As Ito was being helped to the back, Takeshita scolded her for giving him the middle finger so many times. He thought they could be rivals but unfortunately admits it is too much of a mismatch. However he wants Ito to continue on the path she has chosen. That is the pro wrestling way. You can go as far as you like when you do things your way as long as you try your hardest. Ito gave him the middle finger and walked off. Michiaki Nakano from Souken Holdings entered the ring and handed the Iron Man Title to Takeshita. Nobuhiro Shimatani and Gota Ihashi both tried to ambush Takeshita with School Boys but Takeshita kicked out of both of them. Nakano then tried to do one but couldn’t even get Takeshita off his feet. Takeshita, Shimatani and Ihashi all stomped on Nakano until he was pulled out of the ring.

MAO has had a crazy 2018 and considered today’s match with Jun Kasai as his final boss battle. He wasn’t able to win but he thinks having a Hardcore Match with Kasai will open new doors for him. They slammed each other through plastic boxes and skewered each other’s heads with bamboo skewers. MAO kicked out of the Pearl Harbor Splash but was put away with the Vertical Drop Reverse Tiger Driver.

STRONG HEARTS were also victorious earlier in the show when Dezmond Xavier, Zachary Wentz & Trey Miguel beat the mixed DDT team of KUDO, Shunma Katsumata & Kazusada Higuchi. The home side were unprepared for the fast paced moves presented by The Rascalz which included a triple dive to the outside. When Higuchi tagged into the match his team were able to take control but eventually Katsumata was singled out. Wentz got the pin with the Hot Fire Flame, a move where he does Standing Moonsault next to his opponent and Xavier pushes him over to the target in mid-air!

The DAMNATION duo of Endo & Takao were able to beat Ganbare☆Wrestling’s pair of Keisuke Ishii & Yumehito Imanari without much trouble. Endo gave Imanari the Swivel Torture Rack and Takao got the three count with the Perfect Driver. Was that done intentionally because CIMA was on the show?

When Toru Owashi put Saki Akai in a Mexican Stretch it had the unintended effect of making Antonio Honda too hyper actively aroused to wrestle. This happened again when Honda was ready to do a Shining Wizard to Akai only to stall when Akai moved herself into a seductive pose. Owashi used the distraction to pin Honda with La Magistral Cradle.

In the pre-show match Makoto Oishi was able to counter Mizuki Watase’s Back Drop into a Cradle to nab the three count.

Takeshita was able to win the Iron Man Title from Tetsuya Koda at the beginning of the show when the two were in the ring for the opening announcements. Takeshita was there to promote the New Year’s Eve wrestling show. He said that he’s been in the final of the annual tournament for the last three years so he has to make it four in a row. When it was Koda’s turn to talk, Takeshita gave him a Low Blow and pinned him to win the title. After he left the ring, Michiaki Nakano climbed in and jumped on top of Koda. Hisaya Imabayashi had to tell him Koda was no longer the champion so nobody was going to count his pin

Chigusa Nagayo’s match at the 17th Febuary Sumo Hall show will be a 6-Person Tag Match. She will be teaming up with Sanshiro Takagi & Ryuji Ito against a trio to be announced later. Nagayo, Takagi & Ito have teamed together once before way back in March 2005 as part of an event produced by Nagayo in Differ Ariake.


DDT “DRAMATIC TENJINBASHI! 2018” Results

November 4, 2018

DDT “DRAMATIC TENJINBASHI! 2018”, 03/11/2018
Osaka Oyodo Community Center
219 Fans

1. MAO & Rising HAYATO defeated Shunma Katsumata & Mizuki Watase when MAO pinned Watase with the Michinoku Driver I (9:01).
2. Sanshiro Takagi & Yuni defeated Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata when Yuni pinned Hirata after a Triple Dropkick (0:39).
2a. Likely Settled! Complete Settlement! Heisei’s Last Big Battle! Super Death Special Single Match: Kazuki Hirata defeated Yuni with the Miracle One Shot Cradle (4:38).
3. Kota Umeda & Yuki Iino defeated Keisuke Okuda & Makoto Oishi when Umeda pinned Oishi with the Umeda Driver (10:20).
4. God Of Trials! In Oyado: Antonio Honda defeated Yuki Ueno with a Leg Roll Clutch (14:26).
5. Daisuke Sasaki, Mad Paulie & Nobuhiro Shimatani defeated Yukio Sakaguchi, Masahiro Takanashi & Jun Kasai when Sasaki pinned Takanashi with the Sasatonic (14:29).
6. Road To D-Oh GP 2019 Special Single Match: Akito defeated Soma Takao with a Roll Up (9:34).
7. Road To D-Oh GP 2019 Special 4 Way Match: Tetsuya Endo defeated Konosuke Takeshita, HARASHIMA and Kazusada Higuchi when Endo pinned Takeshita with a Roll Up (17:22).

There were constant breakups throughout the 4 Way Main Event. Kazusada Higuchi had HARASHIMA pinned with the Doctor Bomb until Konosuke Takeshita and Tetsuya Endo both broke it up with a Double Dropkick. Endo then broke up Takeshita’s pin on Higuchi with a Lionsault. Takeshita gave Endo a Reverse Implant but that pin was stopped by HARASHIMA’s Somato to Takeshita. Endo rolled up Takeshita from a Handspring to sneak away with the win. After the match DAMNATION gathered together in the ring for the closing speech. Endo said the road to the D-Oh Grand Prix starts here and his goal is to win the tournament so he can face Daisuke Sasaki for the KO-D Openweight Title at Sumo Hall next February.

Akito was able to counter the Gin And Tonic to roll Soma Takao into a Cradle. This was Akito’s first singles match in almost three months so he wanted to win this one before the D-Oh Grand Prix began.

Sasaki used Masahiro Takanashi’s own finisher against him. Except this one is called the Sasatonic instead of the Takatonic.

Antonio Honda says pro wrestling is a painful activity but it is the only way he can communicate with hearty young wrestlers like Yuki Ueno.

Keisuke Okuda and Yuki Iino had to be pulled apart after Match #3. They will be facing each other in a singles match tomorrow.

Sanshiro Takagi attacked Kazuki Hirata during his entrance. Toru Owashi didn’t care that his partner was being attacked so he joined in and did a Triple Dropkick with Takagi and Yuni. All three then piled on top of Hirata for the three count. Yuni then demanded a final match with Hirata to end their feud. He asked Hirata to be the referee so everybody vertically placed white paper tape on Owashi’s body to act as a referee shirt. Owashi counted slow for Hirata and fast for Yuni. He also ignored a Low Blow Yuni gave to Hirata. Yuni hit the 2nd Rope Sky Twister Press but it did no damage and Hirata rolled him over. Takagi and Owashi were too busy posing to the crowd to notice Yukinori Matsui counting the pin and declaring Hirata the winner.


DDT Dramatic Election 2018 Results

October 30, 2018

DDT “DRAMATIC GENERAL ELECTION 2018 VOTING EVENT”, 30/10/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING
231 Fans – No Vacancy

1. Kazusada Higuchi defeated Nobuhiro Shimatani with the Canadian Backbreaker (8:26).
2. MAO, Kota Umeda & Yuki Ueno defeated Shunma Katsumata, Mizuki Watase & Yuki Iino when Umeda pinned Iino with a Right High Kick (9:31).

DDT Dramatic Election 2018 Final Standings

1. Masahiro Takanashi (1,963 Votes)
2. Akito (1,669 Votes)
3. Maki Itoh (1,412 Votes)
4. HARASHIMA (907 Votes)
5. Daisuke Sasaki (853 Votes)
6. Tetsuya Endo (605 Votes)
7. Danshoku Dieno (547 Votes)
8. Soma Takao (438 Votes)
9. MAO (430 Votes)
10. Keisuke Ishii (387 Votes)
11. Yumehito Imanari (377 Votes)
12. Antonio Honda (374 Votes)
13. Konosuke Takeshita (350 Votes)
14. Saki Akai (328 Votes)
15. KUDO (304 Votes)
16. Shunma Katsumata (272 Votes)
17. Kazusada Higuchi (257 Votes)
18. Kazuki Hirata (246 Votes)
19. Toru Owashi (243 Votes)
20. Jun Kasai (239 Votes)

Masahiro Takanashi wins a KO-D Openweight Title shot on the 25th November Korakuen Hall show. He also receives a 1,000,000 yen cash prize. Akito gets 300,000 yen and a shot at any of the other DDT championships. The Top 7 wrestlers are also guaranteed to appear at “COMING TO AMERICA” in New York on 4th April, 2019.

Takanashi promised to give a big speech but only when he win the KO-D Title on 25/11. He admits that the current champion is a great guy, better than all of the previous KO-D Champions he challenged and couldn’t beat.

Akito admitted he’s had an average year. It was his dream to win an election, so much so that he made it his goal this year. He did more election related activities than any other wrestler in the contest. He purposely did not choose which championship to challenge for because he wants the fans to decide for him. As for the prize money, he is saving it up so he can some day start an inter-promotional war with BASARA!

Maki Itoh wanted to finish in 1st but she is still pleased to finish 3rd. She wondered during the election why is she so popular? She realised that the people who like her wrestling are also going through hard times in their lives and they sympathise with her. Itoh wants to give those fans hope and also boost Tokyo Joshi Pro in the process.

HARASHIMA understands the importance of even just one vote so he is thankful for getting 907 votes.

The KO-D Champion Daisuke Sasaki finished in 5th but only prepared a speech for winning the contest. He gave the speech anyway. Sasaki wanted to defend the title against Laura James so they could wrestle in Korakuen Hall and then spend the night having sex in the Tokyo Dome Hotel.

Both Tetsuya Endo and Soma Takao thought they would get prize money for their placements. Endo thought he would get 60,000 yen for finishing 6th and Takao would get 80,000 for finishing 8th. It was pointed out to him that that doesn’t make any sense. They wwanted to spend the money on buying pet beetles. They were told there isn’t any money for them.

Danshoku Dieno still has amnesia and didn’t understand what was going on. All he could figure out is he must be cool and popular if so many people voted for him. Even if he doesn’t recover his memory he will wrestle on 25th November.

MAO has done a lot of strange things this year but even he feels weird to qualify for the Korakuen show on his own. He will carry his 430 votes in his chest.

Keisuke Ishii said he was happy to wrestle in Korakuen Hall again through the Election. He will go back to Ganbare☆Wrestling motivated to aim above DDT with the group.

Yumehito Imanari told everyone that he quit his job at a TV station 8 years ago. Everyone thought he was a loser for doing it but DDT found him and hired him. He didn’t join DDT as a pro wrestler but today he is standing here as a pro wrestler.

Antonio Honda is using his #10 ranking to request a new tag team of himself and Jason Kincaid. It was something he wanted to ask for if he finished in the top ten because they have become great friends during Kincaid’s stay. Hisaya Imabayashi told Honda he would consider it.

Konosuke Takeshita promised to wrestle as hard as he can for DDT and also everyone who voted for him.

Every year Saki Akai gets more nervous and excited for the election results. She said she loves DDT. As more fans vote every year, she wants to be a woman worth voting for.

KUDO wanted to be the highest voted husband in the election. He beat Makoto Oishi so he thinks he achieved that goal.

Shunma Katsumata was worried that his injury earlier this year would have harmed his popularity. He promises to repay the fans who voted for him.

Kazusada Higuchi is pleased to reach the main card for the first time in the election.

Toru Owashi feels awesome about his placement but his happiness was diminished when he found out Kazuki Hirata finished one spot ahead of him.

Jun Kasai promoted his 20th Anniversary feature in the new issue of Shukan Puroresu. He was also embarrassed by finishing so low. He threatened to leave DDT in December then come back next year as somebody worthy of winning the election

21. Mizuki Watase (238 Votes)
22. Gota Ihashi (231 Votes)
23. Makoto Oishi (224 Votes)
24. Yuki Ueno (200 Votes)

The wrestlers who finished between 21st to 24th will compete in the 25/11 pre-show match. They will also act as reserves if anybody qualified for the main card has to pull out before the show takes place. Mizuki Watase misses out on the main card by one vote!

25. Super Sasadango Machine (189 Votes)
26. Yukio Sakaguchi (178 Votes)
27. Tanomusaku Toba (133 Votes)
28. Yuki Iino (83 Votes)

These four were the next closest entries to the pre-show spot but they just didn’t get enough votes. They can also be used as a reserve if any of the above pre-show wrestlers get bumped up to the main card.

Unit Election Final Standings

1. Shuten-dōji (3,663 Votes)
2. DAMNATION (3,119 Votes)
3. ALL OUT (1,756 Votes)
4. The Compliance ( Votes)
5. DISASTER BOX (1,515 Votes)
6. Moonlight Express (863 Votes)
7. Booing 2018 (536 Votes)

Total Number Of Votes: 14,065 Votes

DAMNATION have been denied the three-peat. Shuten-dōji will be the unit to get their own self-produced show at some point in the next couple of months. The 2017 DAMNATION show was held at the end of December but this year’s December date is already being used for the D-Oh Grand Prix final.

KUDO said that there are more people to credit than just Shuten-dōji for today’s victory. He mentioned DJ Nira but wanted to bring out the one person who has fought by their side more than anyone else. Saki Akai! Masahiro Takanashi promised they will all put together the best show possible. Yukio Sakaguchi said that while Shuten-dōji is changing a lot, they will still always be the same at heart. “Sakamori!”

Goodbye Booing 2018. We hardly knew you. They thanked the fans who voted for them because they really appreciated it. They also promoted the “ALL DOIN” show taking place on 9th November.


DDT “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2018 ~FALL WRESTLING CULTURE FESTIVAL~” Preview

October 19, 2018

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 Yumehito Imanari Vs Shota Vs Michael Wolf Vs Tiger Mask V (Self-Proclaimed) Vs Monster Halloween Vs Gundan Hitori
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. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Soma Takao, Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie (c) Vs Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Yuki Ueno
2. 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
3. Super Joshi Pro Wars 2018: Saki Akai & Maki Itoh Vs Meiko Satomura & Cassandra Miyagi
4. ALL OUT Vs STRONG HEARTS! Special 6-Man Tag Match: Akito, Shunma Katsumata & Yuki Iino Vs T-Hawk, El Lindaman & Duan Yingnan
5. The World’s Crazy Couple Battle: Makoto Oishi & Misaki Ohata Vs Joey Ryan & Laura James
6. Soken Holdings Present – Will You Eat Or Be Eaten!? Giant Special Single Match: Super Sasadango Machine Vs Andreza Giant Panda
7. 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
8. Shigehiro Irie’s Grand Fight: Shigehiro Irie & Keisuke Ishii Vs HARASHIMA & Yukio Sakaguchi
9. Dramatic Dream Match: Konosuke Takeshita Vs CIMA
10. KO-D Openweight Title: Danshoku Dieno (c) Vs Daisuke Sasaki

The pre-show matches will begin at 2:00pm JST and the main show begins at 3:00pm JST. That’s 6:00am/7:00am for GMT, 1:00am/2:00am for EST and 10:00pm/11:00pm the night before for PST.

For the first time DDT will be streaming parts of the show live on their Youtube channel. The two pre-show matches and the first three matches of the main card will be aired. The link to the Youtube page is here (https://bit.ly/2q1KIOK).

The entire show will aire live on DDT Universe. Here is the link (https://bit.ly/2yxkxnV).

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The seven months since DDT’s last appearance in Sumo Hall has been a lot to take in. Sometimes hectic, sometimes confusing and for me sometimes exhausting. The number of events grew thanks to the launch of a brand new weekly show called “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI” airing live on AbemaTV. The other brands also increased their schedules with more shows in more locations. DDT’s rookie brand DNA was put to bed when the roster was considered too advanced to be a developmental. The lack of rookies ready to debut was also a reason to end the concept for now. Then there was the chaos in the main event scene. DDT’s longest and most dominant title reign ended when the company’s estranged son returned to defeat their golden boy. The new rebellious champion went on to make some unwise decisions leading to a rash of unexpected title changes, some beyond the control of those in charge of DDT and some coming directly from the people with power. With injuries putting some of DDT’s best and brightest on the shelf it was a time for new blood to step up. One in particular took things too far towards his boss. Or maybe he took it far enough and needs to go further? New invaders entered the company. One group wants to prove they are the better than DDT’s best while another gigantic figure arrived looking to kick ass and chew bamboo, and it’s all out of bamboo. There is plenty to talk about so let’s get started.

0. Time Difference Battle Royal: Gorgeous Matsuno Vs Hoshitango Vs Gota Ihashi Vs Nobuhiro Shimatani Vs Yumehito Imanari Vs Shota Vs Michael Wolf Vs Tiger Mask V (Self-Self-Proclaimed) Vs Monster Halloween Vs Gundan Hitori

Normally the Battle Royal on this kind of show will be for a big prize, like the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title. Not this time. The championship found its way into the pop idol group SKE48 back in July and has been passed around between some of the girls ever since. The current champion Yuki Arai promised to show up with the title at Korakuen Hall a week after this show so nobody is anticipating any shenanigans here. Instead the appeal is going to be from the “ALL DOIN” wrestlers. The self-proclaimed Tiger Mask V, the W*ING gimmick that came 25 years too late Monster Halloween and masked man in a fancy shirt Gundan Hitori are all representing the “ALL DOIN” super indy show that is scheduled for November. Most of the DDT regulars have developed a little since “JUDGEMENT 2018” back in March. Gorgeous Matsuno became the self-appointed gatekeeper of DDT against gigantic animals. That didn’t end well for him. Gota Ihashi has been getting into shape with the ultimate goal of earning Riki Choshu’s respect. He’s making enough progress that Choshu’s eternal rival Tatsumi Fujinami has offered to help out. Nobuhiro Shimatani finally achieved his dream of joining DAMNATION. “Nobu” has been full of confidence ever since even if it hasn’t translated into results. Yumehito Imanari has probably advanced the most out of anyone. He launched the Imanari Revolution in Ganbare☆Wrestling to push himself into Ganpro’s main event scene and he hasn’t looked back. The other Ganpro rep is Shota who joined the brand full time in May. Michael Wolf recently entered DDT all the way from Oklahoma’s Compound Pro Wrestling. The only person here who is the same as always is Hoshitango.

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

The spot dedicated entirely to Tokyo Joshi Pro is focusing on their newest signing. Mina Shirakawa is a gravure idol who is a massive pro wrestling fan, so much so that she began training to wrestle in April as part of a collaborated project between DDT and Best Body Japan. She had her debut match in August teaming with one of her opponents here Shoko Nakajima. In September, Shirakawa jumped at the chance to visit Mexico so she could participate in a lucha libre expo. The first thing she did when she arrived was travel to the ZEUS GYM in Naucalpan to train! So far Shirakawa has only wrestled three matches in her career, twice for Big Body Japan and once in Mexico. She has committed herself to Tokyo Joshi full time beginning this November. She has performed at a Tokyo Joshi show before though. Four years ago she was in a Brazilian themed idol duo called Oh P Samba that performed a song and dance at a Tokyo Joshi show. For now this will be her introduction to everyone in DDT.

But that’s enough about the new girl. Can’t let her overshadow the others this easily. Miyu Yamashita is currently on the most successful TOKYO Princess Title run in the championship’s history, winning the belt on 4th January and defending the title a record six times. She, Yuka Sakazaki and Shoko Nakajima also made their American debut competing in the Chikara King Of Trios tournament, making it all the way to the semi finals. Sakazaki has been most successful in tag team action, forming the Magical Sugar Rabbits with Mizuki and winning the TOKYO Tag Team Titles together. Yuki Kamifuku recently won a match for the first ever time after 14 months of wrestling. Everything will be going up from there for her.

1. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Soma Takao, Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie (c) Vs Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Yuki Ueno

DAMNATION’s numbers increased back in May when Soma Takao betrayed what was left of Smile Squash to join the heel unit. Since then Takao has been low blowing his way to victory while saying little in between the matches. He is still quietly undefeated at “PETER PAN” with a 9-0 record. Can he make it 10 for 10 and go a full decade of (not so much) destruction? Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie have spent the last half year teaming together, briefly holding the KO-D Tag Team Titles. Not much has changed other than that period when Endo wanted to talk about his pet beetle. He is still a top notch wrestler when he wants to be. That was proven when he made it to the King Of DDT final again.

The team challenging for the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles are the newly relaunched DISASTER BOX. The original unit was formed by Toru Owashi as a heel unit way back in 2006. The unit played a major part in establishing HARASHIMA after he dropped the HERO! gimmick. The unit had another run in 2008 but went away at the start of this decade, with the exception of a one show reunion with original member Shogo “Jet” Takagi in 2017. HARASHIMA and Owashi decided to reform DISASTER BOX this year during the DNA draft and allowed the promising youngster Yuki Ueno to join them. Nobody else. Anyone who said otherwise was ignored. Well, at least until he couldn’t be ignored anymore.

Kazuki Hirata wanted to join in so he could continue teaming with Owashi. He was declined but a miracle run in the King Of DDT tournament convinced HARASHIMA to bring Hirata into the group. To prove he is good enough, Hirata has sometimes tried to wrestle without the aid of his musical Hirata GO! glasses. He has since gone back on that plan now he is an accepted member. When Takao, Endo & Paulie won the vacant titles, they tried to nominate the rest of their unit as the challengers. DISASTER BOX instead got the nod and the two sides have been duking it out for months, waiting for this day to come.

2. 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

One half of the KO-D Tag Champions is already occupied on the card so Mike Bailey has to get mixed up in the Gauntlet Tag Match. Antonio Honda is by his side as they face a mixture of DDT talent. Mizuki Watase & Jason Kincaid have formed a well run team during their time in the RENEGADES unit. Kincaid was brought into DDT in mere weeks after “JUDGEMENT 2018” as RENEGADES’s gift to the company. Watase has wrestled in a snazzy suit and never really explained why. The Maji Manji show has been mostly built around Kazusada Higuchi & Kota Umeda. Higuchi made it his goal to put somebody through a table on every episode while Umeda became “Mr. Maji Manji” when he won a tournament early in the show to earn a big push by the company. Unfortunately knee injuries have constantly paused his momentum. KUDO & Masahiro Takanashi have been doing their usual thing in Shuten-dōji. Their usual thing is drinking. Tanomusaku Toba returned to DDT first take part in a few Street Wrestling matches. He then appeared on Maji Manji, wrestling to impress his step-son who refuses to call him Dad. That didn’t end up being his proudest moment but he’s gotten more DDT appearances since then, usually whenever they wanted a strike heavy match-up. Keisuke Okuda became DDT’s newest signing in September. Until then he was causing terror in DNA as part of the Naomi Kingdom. So far his biggest move was picking a fight with HARASHIMA. Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Michael Nakazawa reformed Booing 2018 for the Dramatic General Election but kicked out their longtime ally Gota Ihashi. Normally I’d say the winners of this match will go after the KO-D Tag Titles but that didn’t happen the last time.

3. Super Joshi Pro Wars 2018: Saki Akai & Maki Itoh Vs Meiko Satomura & Cassandra Miyagi

What a year it’s been for Meiko Satomura. The Sendai Girls leader has had accomplished years before but 2018 has been an international breakthrough for her. From Fight Club: PRO in England to the WWE Mae Young Classic in America to wXw in Germany, Satomura has been making waves in Europe and America this year. Back in Japan she made her mark in DDT by becoming the first ever woman to win the KO-D Openweight Title! While her reign was short it was the highlight of a turbulent time in the championship’s history. Cassandra Miyagi made two DDT appearances during this time. One as part of an adventure through a secret martial arts factory (it’s a long story) and the other challenging for the KO-D 6-Man Tag Titles. The two Sendai Girls return to DDT to face without a doubt the two most popular women in the DDT family.

Saki Akai has been motivated by Satomura’s success to become more than just the token woman on the DDT roster. This year Akai became the first woman to enter the King Of DDT tournament. Sadly she didn’t make it past the 1st Round. She also got into a situation where she was stalked by the monsters of the UWA Corps. She also returned to Tokyo Joshi for a few matches after so many fans pointed out that she looks identical to the Sakisama. Speaking of Sakisama, the aristocrat returned home to Paris in August after her personal nun became too rebellious (it’s another long story).

But all of the attention goes to Maki Itoh. All of the attention must go to Itoh! She’s been finding ways to constantly stay in the sights of the Tokyo Joshi fanbase and it’s been paying off big for her. After a big match against Riho in May, Itoh considered splitting up the Itoh Respect Army after her alliance with Mizuki hit a rough patch. Their relationship got even rockier when they ended up in opposite sides of a TOKYO Princess Tag Titles match. Itoh took the loss in both that and a singles match with Mizuki afterwards but in those matches she was able to show her growth as a wrestler. While she hasn’t been able to win big in the ring, outside it Itoh’s getting more and more popular. The big evidence for this is her current lead in the Dramatic General Election. Early on in the competition Ito moved miles past the rest of the field. Others have since gained ground but a strong performance at Sumo Hall might be what she needs to seal the deal.

Except that won’t be enough to satisfy Itoh. In a reverse of last year’s match between Satomura and Miyu Yamashita, Itoh has no respect for Satomura. Not after Satomura lost the KO-D Title after Itoh promised to win the Election and challenge her for the belt. This attitude is causing Akai to distrust Itoh. She really shouldn’t be underestimating Satomura. The rift got even worse when Akai & Itoh got into a little scuffle at the press conference for this show. If they can’t get along, they’re screwed. If they can get along… they’re still screwed.

4. ALL OUT Vs STRONG HEARTS! Special 6-Man Tag Match: Akito, Shunma Katsumata & Yuki Iino Vs T-Hawk, El Lindaman & Duan Yingnan

ALL OUT has gone through a bumpy road since “JUDGEMENT 2018”. Things went went south after April when Konosuke Takeshita lost the KO-D Title and Akito briefly went down with an injury. Shunma Katsumata was then called out for his poor performances and had to go in search of himself to improve. Part of it involved signing up to a Gold’s Gym membership. His efforts rewarded ALL OUT with a KO-D 6-Man Tag Title reign that was sadly cut short when Takeshita suffered an injury. With Takeshita out of action it was up to Akito & Katsumata to continue on without him. Katsumata in particular decided go down the road of hardcore wrestling a little more often. He already had a taste of hardcore back in February when he fought Yuko Miyamoto but since then he had matches with table spots against Kazusada Higuchi and went one on one with Violento Jack in a Fans Bring The Weapons Death Match. Things seemed to be looking up when Takeshita returned and the powerful rugby rookie Yuki Iino joined the unit. That’s when a new conflict emerged to challenge them.

One of the big wrestling stories of the year coming out of Japan is the STRONG HEARTS exodus from Dragon Gate. During the springtime, CIMA spent time away from the company teaching pro wrestling in China for a promotion called Oriental Wrestling Entertainment. In May, CIMA along with some of his Japanese proteges more or less left Dragon Gate. Now, the public reason for this was so this group of wrestlers could focus exclusively on OWE in Shanghai. Obviously, everyone was surprised when instead the newly named STRONG HEARTS showed up in Wrestle-1 looking to cause some trouble. When that conflict ended over the summer, STRONG HEARTS found their next target, ALL OUT and DDT. When Takeshita was shared his disappointment with ALL OUT having no plans for “RYOGOKU PETER PAN” this year, STRONG HEARTS immediately sent them the challenge.

Two matches between the two sides will happen at Sumo Hall. First up is the 6-Man Tag. Akito, Katsumata & Iino are there for ALL OUT. STRONG HEARTS will be represented by T-Hawk, El Lindaman and Chinese newcomer Duan Yingnan. They want to show ALL OUT what real fire and fever in the ring is like!

5. The World’s Crazy Couple Battle: Makoto Oishi & Misaki Ohata Vs Joey Ryan & Laura James

The battle of the married couples! Makoto Oishi surprised everyone during a street wrestling event in May when he suddenly proposed to Misaki Ohata during their match. It was a heartwarming story in the middle of a wacky situation. Honestly, who could get upset by that?

Oh, huh… Alright then.

There isn’t much in wrestling that annoys Joey Ryan. Usually it’s him doing the annoying stuff. But somebody doing a marriage proposal during a wrestling match when he and Laura James already did it? Copycats! Ryan & James have challenged Oishi & Ohata to a match to see which marriage deserves to be called crazier. Oishi & Ohata say that their proposal was original and to be fair it is very different to what Ryan & James did. For one thing it involved Yukio Sakaguchi trying to run Ohata over with a truck and Oishi jumped in front of it to save her. How romantic.

 

6. Soken Holdings Present – Will You Eat Or Be Eaten!? Giant Special Single Match: Super Sasadango Machine Vs Andreza Giant Panda

Behold! The greatest discovery in Japanese wrestling over the last two years isn’t one of the New Japan young lions, nor is it a company ace like Kento Miyahara or Shotaro Ashino. Sure, Masashi Takeda is rad and Hana Kimura has star power written all over her. But nobody has captured attention the same way Andreza Giant Panda has. The “Big Beast Of The North” burst onto the scene from Hokkaido’s New Nemuro Pro Wrestling (N2W) in 2017, a promotion that they themselves admit is filled with out of shape, middle-aged amateur wrestlers with no fighting experience or any physical strengths. But how did Andreza get here? Originally named Shin Shin, he was born in China with a gigantism disease on 1st January 2016. The amount of growth a normal panda goes through in one year, Andreza went through in one month. As a cub he had the appetite of three pandas. Tragically he was abandoned by his parents and was bullied by the other pandas in China. He was found by a Chinese king and was sent to live in his fishing processing company in Nemuro city under the care of New Nemuro’s president Samson Miyamoto. Due to his massive size of 300cm in height and 500kg in weight, Miyamoto knew that this panda was made for pro wrestling. Now renamed Andreza Giant Panda, the animal dominated New Nemuro and quickly became the promotion’s top star. Andreza won the Best Newcomer award in the 2017 Samurai! TV Japan Indie Grand Prize. He also found a mate and became a father. Andreza’s ultimate goal is to appear in WWE after becoming famous. For the moment, a match for DDT in Sumo Hall will be his highest profile wrestling appearance yet. The fate of nature may very well be at stake!

When Super Sasadango Machine was chosen to be Andreza’s opponent he quickly established his motivation for the match. Andreza eats 40kg of bamboo on a daily basis and that is enough to make him a danger to the environment. The problem is Andreza is nigh on unbeatable. Sasadango thought he discovered a weakness. Andreza is supposedly helpless without his master Miyamoto. Sasadango kidnapped Miyamoto and thought it would give him the advantage on Andreza. That was proven wrong when Andreza somehow figured out how to travel from Nemuro to Sapporo by himself to rescue his master. Sasadango has since experienced how powerful Andreza’s Lightspeed Headbutt is and nobody has kicked out of the Andreza Press. A simulated fight with Sanshiro Takagi dressed as a panda gave Sasadango some valuable information. Also DDT is certain this match won’t get them sued for animal mistreatment so Sasadango has the all clear to do whatever he wants to take the air out of the Giant Panda!

7. 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

Enthusiasm is a characteristic that is usually appreciated but some people tend to take things too far. This year MAO reached that point. When DDT returned to focusing to its Falls Count Anywhere matches, MAO felt now was his time to step up and take the mantle of Street Wrestling king. The days of Sanshiro Takagi doing the crazy stuff is over. MAO wants to replace it with fucked up wrestling for a fucked up world! The over-enthusiasm came when MAO drove a van into Takagi during a match then threatened to blow up Shin-Kiba 1st RING with bottle rockets. MAO’s conflict with Takagi continued after “JUDGEMENT 2018” when the two were paired together in the King Of DDT 1st Round. Their match went crazy with bicycle crashes and the destruction of plastic boxes. They took it even further at Campsite Pro Wrestling when MAO and Takagi chased each other around in cars! The situation has gotten so out of control that both men agreed to have the ultimate DDT match to settle their score… The Weapon Rumble! New weapons will be added to the match Royal Rumble style and they can be anything. Weapons, humiliating mind games, wrestler cameos, family members. Anything is fair game. The two cannot be kept apart now. Even at the press conference they fought each other in a 3 minute wrestling match that ended in a time limit draw. At this point it will take divine intervention for a winner to be determined…

Thank God pro wrestling is so convenient.

Just days before the show, MAO went training in the Arakawa river bed with his Moonlight Express partner Mike Bailey. The training was focused on improving MAO’s accuracy with a pico pico hammer. Things turned south when MAO swung so hard that he lost grip of the hammer and threw it far away. When MAO went searching through the grass, he unexpectedly found the God Of Arakawa. Maybe he took the form of Jason Kincaid wearing a Casper jumper so he wouldn’t scare MAO away. Or maybe that’s just a coincidence and the God always looks like that. Anyway, the God Of Arakawa spoke to MAO and held two hammers, one gold, one silver. He asked if either of them belonged to MAO. MAO said neither were his. The God appreciated MAO’s honesty and awarded him a bag of 100 empty cans as a gift. The God then got mixed up and also gave him the Legendary Pico Pico Hammer. Then he gave him the gold and silver hammers anyway because at this point why not? So now MAO has the power of a God by his side!

8. Shigehiro Irie’s Grand Fight: Shigehiro Irie & Keisuke Ishii Vs HARASHIMA & Yukio Sakaguchi

What in the hell happened these last seven months? What in the hell happened this last year? Shigehiro Irie has been the key figure of confusion throughout DDT from March to October. After spending the early part of the year quiet and entirely absent from the company, he made a surprise return at the end of the previous Sumo Hall show as a different person. Gone was the happy go lucky Irie, in his place was a bitter man watching DDT change into something he no longer loved. His solution was to become KO-D Champion again so he could tear down DDT and rebuild it in his image. A month later he defeated Takeshita to win the title. Slowly but surely he found allies for his cause. Mizuki Watase was the only member of the main roster to join him. The rest of Irie’s followers consisted of wrestlers from overseas like Jason Kincaid, Facade, Sammy Guevara, Baliyan Akki and Ryan Davidson. The group was named RENEGADES because Irie wanted to do things his way rather than management’s.

The sticking point for Irie was DDT’s failure to deliver their promises. Irie loves going on his excursions to America wrestling new people and making new friends. DDT’s ideas to do more international work was never followed up on. It reached the point where Irie wanted to defend the KO-D Title in America and he was going to do it whether DDT allowed it or not. The Director of DDT at the time was Danshoku Dieno and he reluctantly gave Irie permission to go ahead. However he warned Irie not to act reckless and lose the championship. It was Irie’s responsibility alone to be the defending champion overseas.

1st August, 2018. The date will live on as the starting point for the most chaotic period in the history of the KO-D Title. Irie gets pinned by Sami Callihan at a Rockstar Pro show in Ohio, losing the championship in his first defence outside of Japan. When news made its way back to DDT, everybody scrambled to save face. The wrestlers were in shock and blamed Irie for damaging DDT’s reputation abroad. Takagi and Dieno went to work trying to figure out how to get the title back on a DDT wrestler. Irie saved face by winning the championship back a week later and he was able to return to Japan with the belt. Crisis averted but Irie’s pride was scarred. Not so much by the title loss but by Dieno being proven right. Irie grew to resent Dieno even more, blaming him for everything he finds wrong with DDT. The feud led to more chaos in the title scene when Dieno used a Right To Challenge Anytime, Anywhere Gauntlet to win the KO-D Title from Irie on an episode of Maji Manji. Another Gauntlet was used two weeks later by Meiko Satomura that led to her winning the title. Irie had one chance left to win back the belt in a 3 Way Elimination Match but Dieno surprised him with the Gaydo Clutch and Irie became the first person eliminated from the match. Beaten and outsmarted, Irie accepted defeat and admitted it was time to move on. He shook Dieno by the left hand because the left hand is closer to your heart.

When the dust was settled, Irie had a new direction and it is one that relies less on DDT. Late in September Irie announced he will not renew his contract and will become a freelancer in October. He will still be accepting bookings with DDT but his priority will be going abroad with dates already confirmed for America and Germany. His last match before he heads away is here in Sumo Hall with his favourite partner and opponents. HARASHIMA, the man Irie could not beat until this past July. Yukio Sakaguchi, the man who he had violent clashes with in the past. Keisuke Ishii, the man he grew up with in wrestling and shared plenty of time with as part of Team Dream Futures. Already gone from his contract, Irie has shown signs of his old self recently. The big goofy smile is returning. Maybe he will show it to everyone in DDT one more time at Sumo Hall.

I swear if Irie shows up at New Japan in a few months time calling himself “Dramatic” there is going to be Hell to pay.

9. Dramatic Dream Match: Konosuke Takeshita Vs CIMA

The other ALL OUT Vs STRONG HEARTS match is focused on the two big names of the groups. Takeshita Vs CIMA! Sumo Hall has been home to some of Takeshita’s biggest matches in his career. Kenny Omega, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Hiroshi Tanahashi and his battles with both Tetsuya Endo and Shuji Ishikawa all took place in the building for DDT’s biggest events in recent years. CIMA on the other hand? The 2000 Super J Cup and two Dragon Gate shows from almost a decade ago were the only Sumo Hall appearances I can find for him. If home field advantages and venue familiarity count in this situation, Takeshita has it by the bucket load.

Of course the worst thing someone can do in this match is underestimate CIMA. This dude has been wrestling almost as long as Takeshita has been alive. Takeshita wasn’t even three years old when CIMA made his WCW debut. CIMA can be very sly in the ring when he wants to be. Any chance Takeshita has of making this a spot heavy blow for blow banger can be stopped in its tracks when CIMA decides to twist his body a dozen different painful ways instead. The result of this paints an interesting future for DDT’s immediate future. The STRONG HEARTS are already confirmed to appear on the next Korakuen Hall show a week after this show. If CIMA beats Takeshita, what next will be on his mind for DDT? I mean obviously we know what he’ll want. The Iron Man Title of course! STRONG HEARTS Vs SKE48 will be the next big invasion feud, mark my words!!!

10. KO-D Openweight Title: Danshoku Dieno (c) Vs Daisuke Sasaki

And so we finally make it to the finale. Two major figures in DDT that plotted and scrapped their way into the Sumo Hall main event. This is the first “PETER PAN” main event appearance for both Danshoku Dieno and Daisuke Sasaki. Dieno has main evented Sumo Hall for DDT once before back in 2013 but that was the first half of a weekend double header in the building and the lesser of the two shows. This year is what counts for Dieno and he did everything he could do to make it here.

Dieno was the DDT Director for most of the year. When it came to the KO-D Title, he publicly showed no desire for it and was the neutral party when deciding challengers and title defences. He avoided any tournaments or matches to determine the No. 1 contenders and played no part in the annual scramble for the Right To Challenge Gauntlets. But in the background, Dieno had a goal he needed to accomplish. The one thing that’s alluded him in his long DDT career is the main event match at “PETER PAN”. The best way to do that is be the champion and the title holder Shigehiro Irie just happened to be a thorn in his side during this period. Calling in a favour from Super Sasadango Machine, Dieno was gifted a Right To Challenge Gauntlet and he cashed it in on an exhausted Irie, easily beating him to become the new champion. He then immediately quit as the Director so he wouldn’t have to grant Irie a rematch. The one grave mistake he made was forgetting that there was one more Gauntlet in play and it was being held by a disgruntled Meiko Satomura. Dieno loses the title to Satomura in his first defence and his dreams start falling apart. The only saving grace was hearing that Irie wanted revenge. Dieno was able to wiggle his way into a 3 Way Elimination Match for the title and he ended up pinning both opponents to become champion once again. In the end, everything worked out perfectly for Dieno. His dream is finally coming true!

Daisuke Sasaki lived the dream once. He found something too good to be true. He found love. Big Love. A fling with “Japan’s First Genderless Wrestler” Asuka over the summer turned into something more, at least in Sasaki’s mind. They teamed together on Maji Manji shows until they were booked into a singles match against each other at July’s Korakuen show. Sasaki didn’t worry about it until Asuka broke the news to him in the ring. She was never really interested in him. He’s too old for her and also wasn’t her type. This was the point where Sasaki’s 2018 changed. Gone was Big Love and in its place was a hatred for everything. Sasaki defeated Asuka then went on to win the King Of DDT in August. With a broken heart and no desire to fix it, Sasaki’s focus was now on becoming the KO-D Champion at Sumo Hall. Also the 2,000,000 yen cash prize from the main event sponsor.

Dieno talking about his dreams only pisses Sasaki off even more. Sasaki called Dieno the symbol of DDT and a relic of the past. Mind games developed in the last couple of weeks as Sasaki tried to withstand Dieno’s lewd moveset. He now believes he is invincible against Dieno’s erotic wrestling style. Dieno warns that he will go beyond Sasaki’s imagination to win and if that means pulling out the ultimate versions of his signature moves, so be it. This Sunday, the symbol of DDT will be decided!


Video – Dieno, Owashi And Hirata Vs DAMNATION

October 12, 2018

DDT “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI #20”, 10/10/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING
220 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House

Danshoku Dieno, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata Vs Daisuke Sasaki, Soma Takao & Tetsuya Endo


Video – DISASTER BOX Vs ALL OUT

October 11, 2018

DDT “ROAD TO RYOGOKU 2018 ~DRAMATIC DREAM TORUHOKAKE~”, 08/10/2018
Hokkaido Hakodate General Wholesale Center Distribution Hall
198 Fans – No Vacancy

DISASTER BOX Vs ALL OUT!: Konosuke Takeshita, Akito & Shunma Katsumata Vs HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi & Yuki Ueno


More Youtube Uploads From September

October 11, 2018

BASARA “BASARA 78 ~LUYANG NO HOKO~”, 21/09/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
860 Fans

Hardcore Cage Match: Masashi Takeda Vs Isami Kodaka

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “HOW DO YOU LIKE ITABASHI?”, 29/09/2018
Tokyo Itabashi Green Hall
240 Fans – Super No Vacancy

Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao Vs Reika Saiki & Azusa Takigawa

GANBARE☆WRESTLING “CAN YOU CELEBRATE? 2018”, 29/09/2018
Tokyo Itabashi Green Hall
148 Fans

Independent World Jr. Heavyweight Title: Keisuke Ishii (c) Vs Yumehito Imanari

DDT “BEST WESTERN LARIAT SERIES 2018 ~REBORN~ BATTLE OF CORAL”, 30/09/2018
Tokyo Best Western Rembrandt Hotel Tokyo Machida
280 Fans – No Vacancy

Daisuke Sasaki, Soma Takao & Mad Paulie Vs Mike Bailey, Ethan Page & Antonio Honda

DDT “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI #19”, 02/10/2018
Shin-Kiba 1st RING
129 Fans

HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata Vs Mike Bailey, Antonio Honda & Keisuke Okuda

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “THANK YOU SHIBUYA DESEO ~5 YEARS LATER I TREMBLE IN A MIRACLE I SET UP IN THIS PLACE~”, 03/10/2018
Shibuya DESEO
130 Fans – Super No Vacancy

Nodoka Tenma & Yuki Aino Vs Yuka Sakazaki & Yuki Kamifuku


DDT “BEST WESTERN LARIAT SERIES 2018 ~REBORN~ BATTLE OF CORAL” Results

September 30, 2018

DDT “BEST WESTERN LARIAT SERIES 2018 ~REBORN~ BATTLE OF CORAL”, 30/09/2018
Tokyo Best Western Rembrandt Hotel Tokyo Machida
280 Fans – No Vacancy

1. Shigehiro Irie, Jason Kincaid & Mizuki Watase defeated Kazusada Higuchi, Tanomusaku Toba & Gota Ihashi when Irie pinned Ihashi with the Beast Bomber (9:35).
2. Akito & Keisuke Ishii defeated Tetsuya Endo & Nobuhiro Takanashi when Ishii submitted Takanashi with a Body Strangle Reverse Full Nelson (9:05).
3. Yukio Sakaguchi, Masahiro Takanashi & Saki Akai defeated Sanshiro Takagi, Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Maki Ito when Takanashi pinned Matsunaga with a School Boy (8:10).
4. Please Spend A Wonderful Time With Delicious Meals And Gorgeous Dance: Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata defeated Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi when Owashi pinned Oishi with La Magistral Cradle (11:51).
5. Daisuke Sasaki, Soma Takao & Mad Paulie defeated Mike Bailey, Ethan Page & Antonio Honda when Sasaki submitted Honda with La Mistica Cross Facelock (14:34).
6. DISASTER BOX Vs ALL OUT!: HARASHIMA & Yuki Ueno defeated Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata when HARASHIMA pinned Katsumata with the Somato (14:46).

After the main event Nobuhiro Shimatani entered the ring when HARASHIMA finished his show closing speech. Shimatani started dancing while singing the words “Machida Go” until Kazuki Hirata gave him an Ace Crusher. Hirata then called for “TOKYO GO!” to be played and he danced to that.

The show began with Hisaya Imabayashi and the hotel’s Director General of the Sales Division Miku Tagawa welcoming the audience to the show. Danshoku Dieno got into the ring and he gave Tagawa a Lip Lock, knocking him out. Imabayashi was upset that Dieno would do that to their host. Dieno then made a bet. If his team wins then he and Tagawa will spend the night together in the hotel suite. When the match happened, Dieno’s team lost when Makoto Oishi was pinned by Toru Owashi. What Owashi didn’t realise was that he was now going to spend the night with Tagawa in his suite! Tagawa entered the ring, shared a kiss with Owashi and they happily left the ring together.

Sanshiro Takagi wanted to finish his match as quickly as possible because the local train service was closing at 8pm due to the typhoon weather. He also introduced a new move called the Best Western Lariat where Takagi sprinted down from the entrance, climbed into the ring and continued sprinting until he could hit the Lariat. Unfortunately Tomomitsu Matsunaga took the Lariat when Masahiro Takanashi moved out of the way. Takagi did the Texas Longhorn pose after the move anyway.

Yesterday Keisuke Ishii announced that he will be transferring over to Ganbare☆Wrestling as a loan from DDT. He explained that he is right now in the best physical condition of his life and he doesn’t know how long it will last. Because of this, Ishii wants to wrestle in other groups so he can make the most of this time in his life. He will still be appearing for DDT but will do so as a Ganpro wrestler.

Shigehiro Irie wins his final match as a DDT contracted wrestler. Starting tomorrow he now becomes a freelancer. Irie is happy to end his run with Jason Kincaid and Mizuki Watase teaming with him. Watase promised Irie to become stronger while he is gone. Kincaid appreciates getting to meet Japanese wrestling fans thanks to Irie.


DDT “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI #18 ~SHIBUYA STREAM HALL OPENING MEMORIAL KOKERAOTOSHI SPECIAL~” Results

September 25, 2018

DDT “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI #18 ~SHIBUYA STREAM HALL OPENING MEMORIAL KOKERAOTOSHI SPECIAL~”, 25/09/2018
Shibuya Stream Hall
267 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House

0. NO TV Match I: Masahiro Takanashi defeated Mizuki Watase with the Hangover!! (8:20).
0. NO TV Match II: Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata defeated Mad Paulie & Nobuhiro Shimatani when Owashi pinned Shimatani with La Magistral Cradle (7:43).
1. Sanshiro Takagi & Tomomitsu Matsunaga defeated Mike Bailey & Gota Ihashi when Takagi pinned Ihashi with the Sit Down Himawari Bomb (5:31).
2. Keisuke Ishii & Ethan Page defeated Shigehiro Irie & Jason Kincaid when Page pinned Kincaid with the Avalanche Hold (7:19).
3. Yuna Manase defeated Maki Itoh with a Neck Screw Hold (5:53).
4. HARASHIMA, Daichi Hashimoto & Yuki Ueno defeated Kazusada Higuchi, Antonio Honda & Keisuke Okuda when HARASHIMA pinned Honda with the Somato (10:05).
5. Opening War! ALL OUT Vs STRONG HEARTS!!: CIMA, T-Hawk, El Lindaman & Duan Yingnan defeated Konosuke Takeshita, Akito, Shunma Katsumata & Yuki Iino when T-Hawk pinned Katsumata with the Night Ride (15:26).
6. Shibuya Stream Hall Opening Memorial! Special 6-Man Tag Match: Daisuke Sasaki, Soma Takao & Tetsuya Endo defeated Danshoku Dieno, Jun Kasai & Makoto Oishi when Sasaki submitted Oishi with the Cross Facelock (13:53).

The first preview battle between Danshoku Dieno and Daisuke Sasaki saw DAMNATION go on top when Sasaki submitted Dieno’s buddy Makoto Oishi. Due to the earlier appearance of STRONG HEARTS on the show, Oishi wanted his team to show everybody what real “STRONG HEARTS” look like. It involved Dieno & Oishi positioning themselves against the turnbuckles with the back of their shorts pulled down. Jun Kasai was supposed to throw his opponents into them but he got thrown headfirst instead. Another key moment of the match saw Sasaki resisting Dieno’s Crotch Grab. However Dieno’s Lip Lock was still effective. Tetsuya Endo wiped out Dieno & Kasai with the Sasuke Special. Sasaki then won the match by trapping Oishi in the Cross Facelock. Sasaki called Dieno a relic of the past and the reason Sasaki was succesful today is because Dieno couldn’t make him erect with his moves. Dieno couldn’t believe it and swore he will get Sasaki erect the next time they fight. Dieno will gradually get Sasaki to a 10 degree angle, then a 20 degree angle and finally a 30 degree angle just like Oishi! According to Dieno, Oishi is always at 30 degrees.

The first meeting between ALL OUT and STRONG HEARTS was a full fledged 4 Vs 4 Tag Match that ended in defeat for the home team. T-Hawk got the win by pinning Shunma Katsumata with the Night Ride. Konosuke Takeshita admitted that STRONG HEARTS brought the heat today and he will use the loss as motivation when he faces CIMA at Sumo Hall. Meanwhile Yuki Iino took offence at El Lindaman sneaking in a low blow by kicking the rope while Iino was climbing into the ring. Lindaman denied any foul play and blamed Iino for getting in the way of the rope like an idiot. T-Hawk asked ALL OUT to bring more heat for their matches in October. Akito marked T-Hawk as his target for the Sumo Hall 6-Man Tag. Maybe under other circumstances they could have gotten along because they have similar hairstyles. Too bad, Akito’s going to hunt him down instead.

HARASHIMA said he had a good time teaming with Daichi Hashimoto today. He thinks it was a waste that they were only teaming for one match. They also enjoyed laughing at Antonio Honda’s jokes during the match so they got to enjoy themselves while they stood on the apron waiting to tag in. Win or lose, Honda will continue to tell vulgar jokes whenever he can.

Maki Itoh is still leading the Dramatic General Election by a wide margin but inside the ring she still can’t get a win. This week she lost to Yuna Manase when she missed the Flying Big Head and got pinned with a Neck Screw Hold. Itoh is feeling no pressure with leading the votes. If she can’t become the Atsuko Maeda of the idol world she can become the Atsuko Maeda of the wrestling world instead.


Nobody is more disappointed in MAO’s injury than Sanshiro Takagi. With his Sumo Hall opponent nowhere to be seen today, Takagi has nobody to take his frustrations out of. Gota Ihashi did his best to fill in for MAO. He wore MAO’s wrestling gear and tried to replicate his moveset to mixed results. Mike Bailey was left confused by the turn of events and tried to convince everyone that Ihashi wasn’t MAO. Even Bailey couldn’t resist stomping on Ihashi after Ihashi lost them the match. Takagi doesn’t care how hurt MAO is, he is only thinking about destroying him at Sumo Hall!

Kazuki Hirata and Nobuhiro Shimatani got into a Hirata GO! dance battle. Hirata got the better of Shimatani and climbed the turnbuckles to finish him off. That was when Toru Owashi tagged himself in and pinned Shimatani with La Magistral Cradle, leaving Hirata standing on the turnbuckles.

Mizuki Watase did well to avoid the Takatonic but Masahiro Takanashi was able to pin him with the Hangover!! with two minutes left on the match clock. The question that needs to be asked now is what should Watase do after the RENEGADES split up?

DDT was treated to a return appearance of Rintaro Oyaizu from The Bachelor Japan. One month ago Oyaizu was on Maji Manji and had his heart captured by Aja Kong. He was invited back by Makoto Oishi to solve a problem within The Compliance. Oishi wants Oyaizu to hold a dinner party where they teach Antonio Honda and Kazusada Higuchi how to be “mote mote”. In other words, how to become popular with the opposite sex. Oyaizu is mote mote. According to Oishi he is also mote mote and his recent marriage is proof of that. Oyaizu revealed he is already helping out a young DDT wrestler with this, Yuki Ueno! Honda & Higuchi were furious and things got heated until Hisaya Imabayashi stepped in. The solution is a 6-Man Tag between the Mote Mote Army and the Not Mote Army on 2nd October. Oishi, Ueno & a Mote Mystery Partner against Higuchi, Honda and a Not Mote Mystery Partner!