Dramatic Fantasia: Now With More Union!

February 22, 2011

Starting this Thursday on Samurai! TV, DDT’s weekly television show Dramatic Fantasia will start dedicating one episode a month to the Union sub-brand. With Union growing as a promotion in its own right and planning to hold more shows than ever this year there was still the problem of how fans would get to see footage of the recent events. Dramatic Fantasia has dedicated episodes to Union in the past but they were few and far between and were mainly done so we could see Shuji Ishikawa’s run as the KO-D Openweight Champion. Now the problem has been solved with the upcoming episode showing matches from the 3rd February Shinjuku FACE event main evented by the match between Ishikawa and Tsuyoshi Kikuchi. The Union episodes of Dramatic Fantasia will feature a special guest for commentary ever episode with the current queen of boing boing, Yuzuki Aikawa being the first guest.


Union Updates, Inokuma Contract Expires

February 17, 2011

UNION, 06/03/2011
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

1. Hiro Tsumaki & Gaylon Summers Vs Sanshiro Takagi & Shigehiro Irie
2. Shinichiro Tominaga Vs Hikaru Sato
3. Shuji Ishikawa, Seiya Morohashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi Vs Yoshiaki Yago, Kengo Ohka & Madoka
4. DDT Extreme Title – TLC Match: Isami Kodaka (c) Vs Cao Zhang (w/ Princess Makoto)

The DDT Extreme Title match will be a TLC match. In this case TLC stands for Tonkachi (Cao Zhang’s giant hammer), Ladders & Chairs.

Gaylon Summers is a wrestler from Tennessee who was trained by Matt Morgan and made his debut in October 2007. He is also a sergeant for the United States Marine Corps and was stationed in the Yamaguchi Prefecture. His finisher is the Running Pump-Kick Big Boot but he also has the Choke Slam, Jackhammer and Sharpshooter in his arsenal.

Yusuke Inokuma has decided not to renew his contact with DDT. He was originaly given a month long extension after he missed the deadline for resigning his contract. However Yusuke has instead turned down the offer in order to spend more time in the restaurant business. Outside of wrestling, Yusuke is one of the head chefs for DDT’s restaurants. He commented on DDT’s website that it will take some convincing for him to wrestle again.


More Shows Coming Up

February 12, 2011

The next couple of weeks is going to be very busy for DDT. Let’s have a look at what is in store for us, shall we?

DDT “MONTHLY YOUNG COMMUNICATIONS FEBRUARY EDITION”, 16/02/2011
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

1. Kazuki Hirata Vs Hiro Tsumaki
2. Rion Mizuki Vs Hiro Tonai
3. Shigehiro Irie Vs Daichi Kazato
4. Akito Vs Kotaro Nasu
5. Keisuke Ishii & Ryuichi Sekine Vs Hiromu Takahashi & Shota

Hiromu Takahashi is one of the latest rookies produced by New Japan Pro Wrestling. Both Ryuichi Sekine and Hiro Tonai are from K-DOJO and Kotaro Nasu comes from Style-E.

DDT “FUNABASHI LEGEND AGAIN 2011”, 20/02/2011
Mitsui Garden Hotel Funabashi Lala Port

1. DJ Nira Vs Kikutaro
2. MIKAMI & KAORU Vs Minoru Fujita & Toshie Uematsu
3. Hikaru Sato, Tanomusaku Toba & Hoshitango Vs Takao Soma, Michael Nakazawa & Tomimitsu Matsunaga
4. Dick Togo & Kazuki Hirata Vs HARASHIMA & KUDO
5. Danshoku Dino & Makoto Oishi Vs Kota Ibushi & Keisuke Ishii
6. KO-D Tag Team Title: Antonio Honda & Daisuke Sasaki (c) Vs GENTARO & Yasu Urano

GENTARO & Yasu Urano have been on a four match winning streak as a Tag Team since their last KO-D Tag Team Title shot against FROM THE NORTHERN COUNTRY. Meanwhile, Antonio Honda lost the KO-D Title Unification match while Daisuke Sasaki has been on the losing end of Tag matches against the GRANMA group. Does the team of GENTARO and Urano have enough momentum to unseat the champions and become the top duo in DDT?

DDT “INTO THE FIGHT 2011”, 27/02/2011
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Keisuke Ishii & Akito Vs MIKAMI & Rion Mizuki
2. Antonio Honda & Daisuke Sasaki Vs Michael Nakazawa & Tomimitsu Matsunaga
3. Kota Ibushi Vs Shigehiro Irie
4. KUDO & Makoto Oishi Vs GENTARO & Yasu Urano
5. ??? Battle Royal: DJ Nira, Tanomusaku Toba, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Danshoku Dino and Kazuki Hirata included so far.
6. No DQ Hair Vs Hair Match: Hikaru Sato Vs Takao Soma
7. KO-D Openweight Title: Dick Togo (c) Vs HARASHIMA

Four months until Dick Togo calls time on his wrestling career. There are three KO-D Openweight Title defences planned between now and then with Togo retiring a month before the Sumo Hall show. Togo’s next defence is against HARASHIMA, who is gets his first chance at the title since losing it back in November.

No interference is allowed for the Hair Vs Hair match between Hikaru Sato and Takao Soma. We’ll see how Soma fares without having the rest of the Shit Heart ♥ Foundation there to help him.

I may be wrong on the translation, but I think the winner of the Battle Royal will get to make his own match for this year’s Sumo Hall event. More entries will be announced eventually.

I have high hopes for Kota Ibushi Vs Shigehiro Irie, this could be a really fun match. Irie has been honing his skills while fighting for TKG48 in their feud with the Union Sekigun and a win against Ibushi would do wonders for his career.

CRUISER’S GAME, 06/03/2011
Shin-Kiba 1st Ring

1. Dick Togo & TAKA Michinoku Vs The Great Sasuke & MIKAMI

UNION, 06/03/2011
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

1. Shinichiro Tominaga Vs Hikaru Sato
2. Shuji Ishikawa, Seiya Morohashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi Vs Yoshiaki Yago, Kengo Mashimo & Madoka
3. DDT Extreme Title: Isami Kodaka (c) Vs Cao Zhang (w/ Princess Makoto)

DDT “KESIUKE ISHII’S PRODUCE SHOW”, 06/03/2011
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

1. Keisuke Ishii Vs Takao Soma


Union Card For March

February 6, 2011

UNION, 06/03/2011
Shin-Kiba 1st RING

1. Shinichiro Tominaga Vs Hikaru Sato
2. Shuji Ishikawa, Seiya Morohashi & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi Vs Yoshiaki Yago, Kengo Mashimo & Madoka
3. DDT Extreme Title: Isami Kodaka (c) Vs Cao Zhang (w/ Princess Makoto)

Tensions are building up in Union coming out of their recent show. The Union Sekigun now have to contend with two opposing groups, the TKG48 and the newly named SS Susan, who can also be referred to as the Susan Guard. The new threat consists of Yoshiaki Yago, Kengo Mashimo and Madoka who all claim that they were hired to be Naomi Susan’s bodyguards. Union and TKG48 seem to be willing to put aside their differences for the moment so they can take on a common enemy. Sanshiro Takagi has allowed Shuji Ishikawa and Seiya Morohashi to rent Tsuyoshi Kikuchi as their partner for the upcoming 6-Man Tag match against the SS Susan.

The biggest match coming out of Union’s next show will be Isami Kodaka’s first defence of the DDT Extreme Title. His opponent is Cao Zhang from New Beijing Pro Wrestling, who has been on a roll in Union ever since Choun-Shiryu brought him over to Japan. Part of their success comes in the seductive form of Princess Makoto who has distracted referees during their matches. Another part of their success is a giant mallet they use to whack their opponents with once the ref’s back in turned. What kind of match the title will be contested under is unknown right now but expect Makoto and the giant mallet to come into play whether they will be allowed to or not.

So far Shinichiro Tominaga has spent his time in Union taking on accomplished wrestlers such as El Generico, El Samurai and Tigers Mask. The trend continues when Tominaga will take on Hikaru Sato in what will be Sato’s first match in Union. The former KO-D Openweight Champion has been spending time in IGF and ZERO1 lately, the latter being where he and Munenori Sawa have formed a team called the SEX-MEN. Not sure if they come out to the 1990’s X-Men cartoon theme song but it would be another reason to like them if they did.


UNION “FORTUNE DEMONS” Results

February 3, 2011

UNION “FORTUNE DEMONS”, 03/02/2011
Shinjuku FACE
531 Fans

0. Takao Omori 3 Seater Dark Match: Takao Omori defeated Mitsuhiro Yoshida with a Boston Crab (1:57).
0. Takao Omori 3 Seater Dark Match: Takao Omori defeated Satoshi Hiroshi Kazato with a Piledriver (1:35).
0. Takao Omori 3 Seater Dark Match: Takao Omori defeated Batten Tamagawa with a Cobra Twist (1:34).
1. Seiya Morohashi & Hiro Tsumaki defeated Cherry & Syuri when Morohashi pinned Cherry with a Cradle Cutback (10:44).
2. Tigers Mask defeated Shinichiro Tominaga with an Inside Cradle (11:29).
3. Aja Kong defeated Ken Ohka with the Diving Elbow Drop (8:12).
4. TKG48 Vs Revolutionary Armed Forces: Yoshiaki Yago, Kengo Mashimo & Madoka defeated Sanshiro Takagi, Atsushi Aoki & Shigehiro Irie when Yago submitted Irie with the Cobra Twist Murder (18:15).
5. Choun-Shiryu & Cao Zhang defeated Isami Kodaka & Yano K Data when Zhang pinned Kodaka with the Sitdown Power Bomb (13:32).
6. Shuji Ishikawa defeated Tsuyoshi Kikuchi with the Splash Mountain (13:40).

Shuji Ishikawa got the big win for himself and for Union as he defeated Tsuyoshi Kikuchi in the main event. The match had none other than Kyohei Wada of All Japan fame as the referee. It was a very physical match as Kikuchi was left bleeding from under his eye after all the damage he took.

Yoshiyaki Yago came in to Union with the prospect of facing his old nemesis Sanshiro Takagi. Seeing that Takagi formed his own supergroup called the TKG48, Yago went and formed his own unit temporarily called the Revolutionary Armed Forces and the two forces were set to collide in Shinjuku FACE. Yago recruited Madoka and Kengo Mashimo, who got rid of the Kengo Ohka name he had previously been using in Union. Takagi had his protege Shigehiro Irie and also brought in Atsushi Aoki from Pro Wrestling NOAH as his partners for the 6-Man Tag. Yago’s team won in the end with Yago himself earning the win with the aways deadly Cobra Twist Murder. The TKG48 had to cope with its first loss in Union. Not good, especially since Jun Akiyama was in attendance. When Takagi found out he approached Akiyama and offered him a spot in TKG48 aswell as a Kojima Haruna calendar as a gift. Akiyama said nothing and left the arena instead.

The situation did not end there as Yago and his group interrupted the post-show speeches to finally announce their official name. Yago claimed that he, Maashimo & Madoka were hired as bodyguards for Naomi Susan, the woman in charge of Union. So they now call themselves the SS Susan. Ishikawa wasn’t happy with this turn of events and challenged the SS Susan to a 6-Man Tag on 6th March at Shin-Kiba 1st RING. The match was made with Shuji picking Seiya Morohashi as one of his partners. Kikuchi asked Takagi if it would be ok if he could team with Shuji and Seiya. Takagi thought about it and decided to rent out Kikuchi to the Union side for a month so he could compete in the match.

After pinning the champion in the semi-main, Cao Zhang challenged Isami Kodaka to a DDT Extreme Title match. Isami accepted and their bout will take place on 6th March. Ever since his first appearance, Cao Zhang has been using a giant mallet to help win his matches. This could come into play when the stipulation of the title match is decided.

Looks like my guess for LuFisto’s replacement in the match with Ken Ohka was wrong. Very wrong. Ken Ohka had to fight Aja Kong. Needless to say the poor guy got killed out there.

The series of high profile matches for Shinichiro Tominaga continued with a defeat to Tigers Mask. Tominaga almost had the match won but his attempt at the Nagata Lock (Figure 4 Version) left him vulnerable to a roll up from Tigers. His next opponent will be Hikaru Sato.

Takao Omori came into Union to take part in a three match exhibition against a few micro indy wrestlers. He defeated Mitsuhiro Yoshida, Satoshi Hiroshi Kazato and Batten Tamagawa pretty easily.


Union Card For Tomorrow, LuFisto Unable To Compete

February 2, 2011

Unfortunate news ahead of tomorrow’s Union event in Shinjuku FACE as LuFisto had to pull out of the show. She was supposed to take on Ken Ohka in a battle of the sexes but that has now been cancelled. Ohka will still have a match but his opponent has not been revealed yet. A possible choice is joshi wrestler Yuzuki Aikawa (boing boing!) as the two had a confrontation during the week which resulted in Aikawa giving Ohka her signature move, the Yuzupon Kick. With Aikawa now part of the TKG48, she may end up having her first match in Union sooner rather than later.

UNION “FORTUNE DEMONS”, 03/02/2011
Shinjuku FACE

1. Cherry & Syuri Vs Seiya Morohashi & Hiro Tsumaki
2. Shinichiro Tominaga Vs Tigers Mask
3. Ken Ohka Vs X
4. TKG48 Vs Revolutionary Armed Forces: Sanshiro Takagi, Atsushi Aoki & Shigehiro Irie Vs Yoshiaki Yago, Kengo Mashimo & Madoka
5. Isami Kodaka & Yano K Data Vs Choun-Shiryu & Cao Zhang
6. Shuji Ishikawa Vs Tsuyoshi Kikuchi


Contract Renewal Time, SWEET DREAMS! Card

January 28, 2011

This part of the year in puroresu always brings bout the annual contract signing period where the promotions renegotiate the contracts of their signed wrestlers. DDT is no different when it comes to keeping tabs on its talent. January 28th was the final day of negotiations and the results have since been announced.

The DDT wrestlers who have signed new contracts are:

MIKAMI, HARASHIMA, Kota Ibushi, Danshoku Dino, KUDO, Yasu Urano, Masa Takanashi, Michael Nakazawa, Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Keisuke Ishii, Hoshitango, Gota Ihashi, Takao Soma, Rion Mizuki, Kazuki Hirata, Posion Sawada JULIE, Gorgeous Matsuno and Dick Togo.

The Union wrestlers who have signed new contracts are:

Shuji Ishikawa, Isami Kodaka, Ken Ohka, Seiya Morohashi, Cherry, Hiro Tsumaki and Shinichiro Tominaga.

Four wrestlers have declined offers to extend their contracts. They are Tanomusaku Toba, Futoshi Miwa and Yukihiro Abe for DDT aswell as 726 for Union. It’s likely that Toba and Abe will still wrestle part-time for DDT. Those two are still scheduled to compete in the Right To Produce Battle Royal at “SWEET DREAMS!” on Sunday. Miwa rarely wrestles nowadays and 726 had a light schedule with Union anyway so no big losses there. Again it’s possible that they could make some future appearances here and there.

Yusuke Inokuma also did not sign a new contract but in this case it was because he needed to return home to find his driver’s license. He has until February to find his license and sign the new contract.

Three of the wrestlers who signed new contracts are currently out of action with injuries. Masa Takanashi is recovering from his knee injury and is aiming to return in the summer. Poison Sawada JULIE is nursing his right elbow back to full health. Gota Ihashi was last seen in March but hasn’t wrestled since because of ligament damage in both knees.

Dick Togo is sticking with DDT up to his announced retirement. Can he end his career as the KO-D Champion?

Also notice that Michael Nakazawa signed his contract on time this year. The last time he delayed his contract renewal it led to Danshoku Dino assaulting him in his house and his car exploding with him inside it when trying to escape. He finally made it to the arena covered in burn marks while carrying the remains of his contract, only to inadvertently distract Sanshiro Takagi and cause him to lose the DDT Extreme Title to Hoshitango.

DDT “SWEET DREAMS!”, 30/01/2011
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Kazuki Hirata Vs Akito
2. GENTARO & Yasu Urano Vs MIKAMI & Rion Mizuki
3. Right to Produce “Someone’s Produce Show” Battle Royal: Danshoku Dino, Tanomusaku Toba, Michael Nakazawa, DJ Nira, Keisuke Ishii, Hoshitango, Yukihiro Abe, Makoto Oishi
4. Hikaru Sato & Daisuke Sasaki Vs Takao Soma & Tomimitsu Matsunaga
5. DDT Tokyo Beginning of Fight 2011 Special Tag Match: Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega Vs HARASHIMA & KUDO
6. KO-D Openweight Title Unification Match: Dick Togo (c) Vs Antonio Honda (i/c)


Kenny In Ice Ribbon, Syuri You Can’t Be Serious

January 21, 2011

Normally I would start with the Kenny Omega news but this time the top post priority goes towards another cute Joshi girl I fancy (there’s not a lot of them, I swear!*).

UNION “FORTUNE DEMONS”, 03/02/2011
Shinjuku FACE

1. Ken Ohka Vs LuFisto
2. Shinichiro Tominaga Vs Tigers Mask
3. Cherry & Syuri Vs Seiya Morohashi & Hiro Tsumaki
4. Isami Kodaka & Yano K Data Vs Choun-Shiryu & Cao Zhang
5. TKG48 Vs Revolutionary Armed Forces: Sanshiro Takagi, Atsushi Aoki & Shigehiro Irie Vs Yoshiaki Yago, Kengo Mashimo & Madoka
6. Shuji Ishikawa Vs Tsuyoshi Kikuchi

The relationship between Union and SMASH continues with Tajiri’s promotion sending over their brightest prospect from their women’s division. Syuri began her wrestling career in 2008 as KG the Karate Girl in HUSTLE. When the promotion folded, Syuri had a few Shoot Boxing bouts for the Jewels MMA company before being one of the first names announced to join SMASH. Since its first show Syuri has been the focus for SMASH’s Joshi division. On Union’s 3rd February show, Syuri will be teaming with Union’s queen bee Cherry to take on Seiya Morohashi and Hiro Tsumaki. A little worried about this one to be honest. Seiya’s mental state has been a bit iffy ever since that time he suffered a decapitation during a Muscle House show…

Also announced was a Union Vs New Beijing Tag Team bout between Isami Kodaka & Yano K Data against Choun-Shiryu & Cao Zhang. With Princess Makoto yet to have a match in Union, maybe she will stick her nose in Cherry and Shuri’s business on the night. Meanwhile Isami has mentioned he would like to defend the DDT Extreme Championship against Sanshiro Takagi in a deathmatch sometime in the future.

Ice Ribbon, 19/01/2011
Ice Ribbon School, Saitama

Kenny Omega & Hikari Minami beat Kazuhiro Tamura & Chii Tomiya when Minami submitted Tomiya with a Half Crab (13:21).

Omega sent some comments about his latest appearance in Ice Ribbon over to the Ice Ribbon Europe Facebook page. They can be read by following the link here.

*Alright, alright, alright. Kana, Syuri, Makoto and Ayumi Kurihara. There, are you happy?


UNION “NEW YEAR DRAGONS” Results

January 16, 2011

UNION “NEW YEAR DRAGONS”, 16/01/2011
Kanayama Asunal Hall
315 Fans

1. Choun-Shiryu & Cao Zhang defeated Seiya Morohashi & Hiro Tsumaki when Zhang pinned Tsumaki with the Tornado Bomb (13:55).
2. Sanshiro Takagi defeated Nori da Funky Shibire-sasu with a Texas Cloverleaf (9:07).
3. Tag Team Lottery: Cherry & Kana defeated Ken Ohka & Tsuyoshi Kikuchi when Cherry pinned Ohka with a German Suplex (11:15).
4. El Samurai defeated Shinichiro Tominaga with a Chickenwing Armlock (6:21).
5. Isami Kodaka & Yano K Data defeated Yasu Kubota & Hide Kubota when Kodaka pinned Hide with the Diving Double Knee Drop (16:36).
6. Shuji Ishikawa defeated Shigehiro Irie with the Splash Mountain (14:29).

After the main event, Shuji Ishikawa mentioned his upcoming match against Tsuyoshi Kikuchi in February. Shuji mentioned that he grew up watching Kikuchi wrestle with Jumbo Tsuruta and he hopes that that Kikuchi will be the one he faces at Shinjuku FACE. Kikuchi silently nodded in agreement.

Nori da Funky Shibire-sasu was accepted into the TKG48 after his match with Sanshiro Takagi. Nori is now member #25 of the group.


DDT And Union Cards For Tomorrow

January 15, 2011

It will be a busy day tomorrow as both DDT and Union will be holding shows at the Kanayama Asunal Hall in Nagoya. DDT will hold their show first in the afternoon while Union will go on in the evening.

DDT “NEW YEAR SUPER DODON WAVE! IN NAGOYA 2011”, 16/01/2011
Kanayama Asunal Hall

1. GENTARO & Yasu Urano Vs Yukihiro Abe & Kazuki Hirata
2. BOYZ Nagoya Travel Guide: KUDO & Makoto Oishi Vs Madoka & Keisuke Ishii
3. World’s Most Powerful Rocket Punch Championship – R-1 World Grand Prix 2011 Finals: Tanomusaku Toba Vs DJ Nira
4. Kota Ibushi, HARASHIMA & Mr. #6 Vs Takao Soma, Michael Nakazawa & Tomimitsu Matsunaga
5. Umemura Personal Computer School Offer Match: Kenny Omega Vs Danshoku Dino
6. KO-D Tag Team Title: Antonio Honda & Daisuke Sasaki (c) Vs MIKAMI & Onryo

DDT is headlined with the KO-D Tag Team Title match. With the Interim KO-D Openweight Title around his waist, Antonio Honda now has to focus on keeping his Tag Team Championship with Daisuke Sasaki against the duo of MIKAMI & Onryo. The Umemura Personal Computer School Offer Match returns with Danshoku Dino facing Kenny Omega. Dino defeated Omega’s BFF Kota Ibushi back in December. Can he make it two for two against the Golden Lovers? Speaking of Ibushi, he will be teaming with HARASHIMA and the junior Jr. Heavyweight Mr. #6 to take on the rotten Shit Heart ♥ Foundation.

UNION “NEW YEAR DRAGONS”, 16/01/2011
Kanayama Asunal Hall

1. Seiya Morohashi & Hiro Tsumaki Vs Choun-Shiryu & Cao Zhang
2. Shinichiro Tominaga Vs El Samurai
3. Tag Team Lottery: Cherry, Ken Ohka, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Kana
4. Sanshiro Takagi Vs Nori da Funky Shibire-sasu
5. Isami Kodaka & Yano K Data Vs Yasu Kubota & Hide Kubota
6. Shuji Ishikawa Vs Shigehiro Irie

When DDT is finished, Union will step in for their show with Shuji Ishikawa and Shigehiro Irie squaring off in the main event. Irie pinned Ishikawa in the main event of Union’s 3rd December show and is confident he will do it again. Matches #3 and #4 features talent from the Spotiva Entertainment promotion. Yasu Kubota & Hide Kubota have wrestled in DDT in the past. Nori da Funky Shibire-sasu meanwhile is a part time wrestler who is also member of the Hip Hop group nobodyknows+. The two teams for match #3 will be decided by a lottery on the day of the show. It may even lead to the men teaming up to fight the women. Looks like Shinichiro Tominaga is going to be facing a lot of well known names in the near future. Before he goes to wrestle Tigers Mask next month he’ll have to face El Samurai in Nagoya. The opener will be Union Vs New Beijing and yes, the lovely Princess Makoto will be in the corner of the Beijing boys.