The Numbers Mizuki, What Do They Mean?

Let’s not even pretend where the inspiration for this idea came from. The brand new Marigold joshi promotion is using a jersey number system for their roster (not a new idea from Rossy Ogawa, he used a similar gimmick for Arsion). All of a sudden Tokyo Joshi Pro has come up with new merchandise that is also based on jersey numbers. Fancy that! Almost everyone in TJPW were asked to pick a number for themselves. People noticed Yuki Arai and none of The Up Up Girls were included. I guess that might be them being careful not to step into another idol group’s gimmick. Some of the numbers have deep meanings behind them, others are based on basic trivia about the women and some are just wordplay on their names.

Credit goes to @dweebyllo, @cmvenus_, @deesforta and @nampei1983 on Twitter for all taking the time to gather the names, numbers and explanations. I’m writing this post using all of the info they collected along with what the wrestlers tweeted out themselves.

1. Miyu Yamashita – She is the ace.
3. HIMAWARI – 3 means Sun, as in Sunflower.
04. Mahiro Kiryu – She is a FC Schalke 04 fan.
08. Suzume – 08 means Bee (8 = Hachi)
15. Rika Tatsumi – She changed her ring name to Rika Tatsumi in 2015.
25. Yuki Aino – Her birthday is 25th October.
39. Chika Nanase – Her birthday is 9th March.
46. Pom Harajuku – 46 means Pom (4 = Po, 6 = Mu)
70. Nao Kakuta – 70 means Nao (7 = Na, 0 = O)
82. Kira Summer – She hasn’t revealed her reason yet.
83. Yuki Kamifuku (Kamiyu) – Her inseam length is 83cm.
98. Arisu Endo – She was born in 1998.
110. Maki Itoh – 110 means Itoh (1 = I, 10 = To)
147. Shoko Nakajima – Her height is 147cm.
222. Haruna Neko – Nyan, Nyan, Nyan (2 = Nyan)
227. Toga – Her birthday is 27th February.
316. Mizuki – Her birthday is 16th March.
318. Moka Miyamoto – Her birthday is 18th March.
328. Haru Kazashiro – Her birthday is 28th March.
513. Wakana Uehara – Her birthday is 13th May.
615. Runa Okubo – Her birthday is 15th June.
708. Sayuri Namba – 708 means Namba (7 = Na, 0 = M, 8 = Ba)
810. Kaya Toribami – 810 means Bird (8 = Bir, 10 = Do)
1201. TJPW – The date of TJPW’s launch event was 1st December.
8183. Hyper Misao – 8183 means Hypami (8 = Ha, 1 = I, 8 = Pa, 3 = Mi)

King Of DDT 2024 Press Conference

DDT “KING OF DDT ~20TH ANNIVERSARY~ 1ST ROUND”, 05/05/2024
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

0. Dark Match: Yuni, Keigo Nakamura & Yuya Koroku Vs Ilusion, Kazuma Sumi & Rukiya
0. Dark Match: Shunma Katsumata, Akito & Kazuki Hirata Vs Jun Akiyama, Makoto Oishi & Tomomitsu Matsunaga
1. King Of DDT 20th Anniversary – Round 1A: MAO Vs Poison Sawada JULIE
2. King Of DDT 20th Anniversary – Round 1B: KANON Vs To-y
3. King Of DDT 20th Anniversary – Round 1C: Yuki Ueno Vs Sanshiro Takagi
4. King Of DDT 20th Anniversary – Round 1D: Yuki Iino Vs Daisuke Sasaki
5. King Of DDT 20th Anniversary – Round 1E: Kazusada Higuchi Vs Yukio Naya
6. King Of DDT 20th Anniversary – Round 1F: HARASHIMA Vs Shuji Ishikawa
7. King Of DDT 20th Anniversary – Round 1G: Tetsuya Endo Vs Danshoku Dieno
8. King Of DDT 20th Anniversary – Round 1H: Chris Brookes Vs Takeshi Masada

A press conference was held at yesterday’s DDT fanfest featuring 14 of the 16 entrants in this year’s King Of DDT tournament. Takeshi Masada could not be there due to university commitments but sent in a message. The message said Masada does not want to get knocked out in the first round like he did last year. He will be in the main event against his stablemate Chris Brookes. Masada has learned a lot from being in SCHADENFREUDE International and sees this match as a challenge to surpass his friend. Brookes is last year’s winner and he brought the trophy with him. He is motivated to win the tournament again and go all the way to winning back the KO-D Openweight Title. However he admits he felt a little aimless after he lost the KO-D Title last year. He’s still motivated but felt something was missing.

Elsewhere Tetsuya Endo’s match against Danshoku Dieno has more meaning to it than you would think. Endo’s recent luck in King Of DDT hasn’t been good but he feels he has gotten into shape after winning the New Year’s Eve trios tournament and raching the final of the D-Oh Grand Prix. However Dieno means so much to DDT that Endo admits he is not as good of a pro wrestler as Dieno is. He thinks Dieno does not realize that though and for that reason Endo is confident he will win. Dieno said he is only concentrating on this match and has done a lot of studying for it. His entire game plan is going to be based around Endo using the Burning Star Press. He knows how to avoid it and also how to counter it. The percentage of him succeeding is low but if Dieno can nail the timing of the Burning Star Press being used against him, he can find a way to exploit it and beat Endo.

It’s been a while since a HARASHIMA Vs Shuji Ishikawa match has happened. HARASHIMA is well aware of his big and strong Ishikawa is. He is also a believer that tomorrow is when a person will reach their peak so he will be stronger too. Both of them are evolving so he does not expect the match to be identical to their previous fights against each other. Ishikawa understands it takes a lot of training at his age to keep fit and HARASHIMA is older than he is. He had seen Yuki Ueno wrestle at Korkauen Hall last month and it made him realise all of DDT’s champions right now are young. He intends to last forever though. He also feels emotional about the tournament because he missed so many of them due to his affiliation with Union Pro at the time. When he finally got to have a proper go it was as an independant wrestler in 2016 and he won it that year. His hope is he will face Poison Sawada JULIE in the final.

An illness prevented Kazusada Higuchi from being at the event but he had a message written out for everyone. His thought process is the same, he will take it one match at a time. His 1st Round opponent is Yukio Naya so he will be focused the most on beating him. Naya is trying to repeat his success from the D-Oh Grand Prix so he can get another shot at the KO-D Title. He believes his momentum began when he beat Higuchi at the 2022 D-Oh GP. He wants to beat him again to take his place as the center of DDT’s heavyweight division.

There is a lot going on is Daisuke Sasaki’s mind. He knows if Yuki Iino hits him with the Spear in Round 1 it will be all over for him. However Sasaki realized some of the best wrestlers in the world right now like Jon Moxley, Cody Rhodes and Roman Reigns are all 38 years old. He is 38 years old so that means he is going to win! Iino has never beaten Sasaki in a singles match but is confident he can do it because of the Spear. He doesn’t know what direction it will come from but he will hit it. Also if age is a factor then Iino at 29 is the same as Shohei Ohtani and Yuzuru Hanyu. That means he is going to win, not Sasaki!

Sanshiro Takagi’s entry into the tournament has caught the attention of the wrestling press because of his age and also who he is facing in Round 1. The 54 year old is taking on the KO-D Champion Yuki Ueno! He told Ueno that when he was his age it was a year into DDT’s existence and he worked as hard as he could to keep the company from collapsing. He wants to fight Ueno like he is 28 again. In order to do that he is thinking about visiting beauty salons and saunas to build up his stamina for a possible 60 minute long match. He also wants to keep his promise to Konosuke Takeshita. The promise is Takagi wins the KO-D Title one more time, Takeshita wins a singles title in AEW and the two of them will have a champion versus champion match together. Takeshita recently showing intentions to challenge for the IWGP World Heavyweight Title has only made Takagi’s wish become stronger. Ueno’s entire reign as champion has been about him proving he is the ace of DDT. Fighting the company president continues that story and will provide a look into DDT’s future. He will be in the main event of next week’s “ALL TOGETHER” show and wants to convey the fun that DDT brings to wrestling at that event.

It is To-y’s dream to win the KO-D Title so he is all revved up to be in the King Of DDT. KANON was unusually serious when he talked about looking forward to the match. He offered a handshake but To-y didn’t trust him. That caused KANON to burst into tears and claim he was told by Hideki Okatani to win the tournament. He then flipped out and attacked To-y putting him in the Cobra Twist. To-y promised to get revenge afterward.

There is a lot of nostalgia surrounding this year’s tournament because it is the 20th anniversary of the first one. The very first winner Poison Sawada JULIE is not feeling that nostalgia. He knows just how clever and tricky MAO is to fight. He is going to be careful but is confident he will win because of his magic spells. MAO said this year’s tournament is the turning point of DDT and he is that turning point. He has a counter for Sawada’s spells and that is to point somewhere so Sawada loses attention and then punch him in the face. Sawada sees the funny side of MAO’s idea and suggested the entire match just be them casting spells at each other.

Guide To TJPW In Philadelphia

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “TJPW LIVE IN PHILLY”, 05/04/2024
Penn’s Landing Caterers Auditorium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

1. Hyper Misao Vs Billie Starkz
2. Shoko Nakajima Vs “The Unbreakable” Rhio
3. Yuki Aino & Raku Vs Yuki Kamifuku & Viva Van
4. Suzume & Arisu Endo Vs Nao Kakuta & Zara Zakher
5. Mizuki & VertVixen Vs Max The Impaler & Pom Harajuku
6. Special Tag Match: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh Vs Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe

Back once again on American soil, Tokyo Joshi Pro is entering this year’s Wrestlemania Week as part of The Collective series of indie shows. This time around TJPW will be involved across two days: one show will be held on their own and the next day they have an inter-promotional event with GCW. It just goes to show how much DDT’s little sister has taken the international spotlight away from them in recent years. Looking at the Mania schedule this year, you can say that about the offerings of Japanese wrestling in general with the joshi shows getting more hype than what the other puroresu companies are sending over. These two shows will be happening only a few days after TJPW holds “GRAND PRINCESS ’24” at Sumo Hall so fans around the world will get to see the promotion take their next step coming out of such an important show. Have you seen the gifs of the Skull Kicks and Giant Swings? Are you curious to know curious to know why a foul mouthed ex-idol has so many simps or why that crazy woman in white likes to choke people so much? Would you like to see a superhero crash her bicycle? Do you write for a wrestling website and mistook this for a Stardom show? Are you wondering what ever happened to Hikari Noa? Well you won’t get an answer to that last question but for everything else, this guide is for you!

Where and when are the shows taking place?

Both shows will be held at Penn’s Landing Caterers Auditorium in Philadelphia. “TJPW LIVE IN PHILLY” is taking place on Friday, 5th April at 11:00am Eastern time. “GCW VS TJPW” will happen on Saturday, 6th April at 2:30pm Eastern time.

Where can I watch it online?

Both shows will air live on Triller TV (or FITE as it used to be called) with English commentary through the TrillerTV+ subscription service. The on-demand versions of both shows will be available to watch on Wrestle Universe a few weeks after the live broadcast.

Is this a proper TJPW show?

Yes. On paper I would put it on the level of their B shows when it comes to the card layout just without the matches built around the younger wrestlers and rookies. This is not like last year when they put together a lineup fitting for a Korakuen Hall show. What we have here fits in more for an event at Shinjuku FACE or Ryogoku KFC Hall. That’s not to say the show quality will be low or uninteresting. It’s more that you are getting to see TJPW at its status quo. The guest wrestlers booked have all appeared in TJPW over the past few years, some on a regular basis so none of the names stick out like a sore thumb. I assure you this will be as close to a genuine TJPW experience you can get without going over to Japan.

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1. Hyper Misao Vs Billie Starkz

It’s a super hero against a Minion In Training! Hyper Misao often delights the fans with her endless crazy ideas to protect love and peace in TJPW. But the chaos she creates is the same kind of environment Billie Starkz feels most at home in. The hero and villain in this match may be more alike then they both realize.

Hyper Misao – When love and peace is under threat in TJPW, you can always rely on Hyper Misao to come to the rescue. Just don’t be surprised if her plan to save the world turns out not to be as heroic as she looks. Sometimes she will get on the microphone, greet the audience with “Hello big children!” and reveal her plans to save the day. Other times she arrives to the ring riding on the Hypami Dramatic Dream combat bike. She has the talent to win fair fights but prefers using underhanded tactics like blinding her opponents with cold spray or crashing the Hypami DD into them. Hey, the Madame Web movie showed that vehicular manslaughter is a heroic trait so it’s acceptable for Misao to do it too!
Moves To Watch Out For: Hypami Returns (Final Cut), I Am A Hero (Diving Cross Body), Crossface Chickenwing, Vanitas (Double Arm Facebuster), Cold Spray Attack

Billie Starkz – Since the last time we saw her in TJPW, “Space Jesus” has gone from indie darling to a Minion In Training that you can rely on. Ring Of Honor is where you will find Starkz on most days but she still finds the time to pop up in GCW plus a few other indies every now and then. In fact this match kind of serves as a warm up for her because hours after this show is finished she will be competing in a tournament final to crown the first ever ROH Women’s World TV Champion.
Moves To Watch Out For: Swanton Bomb, Sugoi Driver (Double Legged One-Winged Angel sometimes on the ring apron), Starkz Driver (Tombstone Piledriver), Star 10 (CRII)

2. Shoko Nakajima Vs “The Unbreakable” Rhio

No, that’s not a typo for those seeing the second name and thinking of somebody else. This match is Japan versus England when one of TJPW’s most decorated wrestlers Shoko Nakajima takes on “The Unbreakable” Rhio, a rising female star from the British scene. Because when a kaiju is on the loose you need to put something unbreakable in the way to keep the rampage under control.

Shoko Nakajima – Meet the Big Kaiju, all 147cm of her! Nakajima has pretty much done it all in TJPW as one of the promotion’s longest serving wrestlers. Usually quick and speedy, she also has the strength to put away opponents with the Northern Lights Suplex. The Diving Senton she uses is nothing to sneeze at either. When put in Hardcore Match situations her favourite weapon is a pile of kaiju toys that she slams her opponents onto. She’s a Swiss Army Knife that can adapt to any kind of situation wrestling can throw at her.
Moves To Watch Out For: Northern Lights Suplex, Diving Senton, Unmanned Local Train Hold (Yurikamome submission hold), 619, Rider Kick (One-Legged Dropkick)

“The Unbreakable” Rhio – A working relationship between TJPW and British women’s promotion EVE opened the doors for Rhio to tour in Japan. She impressed with her power built on her background in Karate and Taekwondo. Since then she has been all over the European scene and has won the Women’s Championship in companies such as Progress and ICW (the Scottish one, not the chains one). She hasn’t been back to Japan since that tour but whenever a TJPW wrestler travels over to England you can count on her to be a likely opponent for them.
Moves To Watch Out For: Dreaded End (Neck Screw Hold), Package Piledriver, Pumphandle Bomb

3. Yuki Aino & Raku Vs Yuki Kamifuku & Viva Van

Here is a battle between sweetness versus seduction, love versus desire and naps versus partying. Among the many friendships that have formed within the promotion, Yuki Aino & Raku is one that has captured a lot of the fanbase’s attention. There’s just something about a sleepy trainspotting pop singer that people just can’t deny. The team facing them have quickly become friends too. Yuki Kamifuku & Viva Van were meant to be put together as opponents but admired each other’s beauty so much they got immediately got along. When Van wanted to come up with a team name for this match, Kamifuku came up with The Casual Vixens. Let’s see if that sticks.

Yuki Aino – It happened so long ago that it’s hard to remember Aino originally debuted in TJPW as a ring announcer before turning pro so she could team with her sister. Tag team wrestling remains her forte and she is one of few wrestlers in TJPW to have held tag title gold with different partners. Love and the fiery power it can bring is what drives her as you can see from the names she gives her moves below. She also adores the woman she gets to team with on the show.
Moves To Watch Out For: Venus DDT (Inverted DDT), UBV/Unlimited Burning Venus (Double Arm Side Buster), Full Nelson Of Love And Fire (Full Nelson Camel Clutch), Side Suplex

Raku – The first of two members from The Up Up Girls you will see on the show. The Up Up Girls are a pop idol group that created a pro wrestling spin off unit in TJPW. The members often perform songs at the start of the show before wrestling in matches later in the card. Raku’s entire personality can be summed down to naps and trains. She knows so much railway trivia she often has a Train Of The Day to tell the audience on every show. Will SEPTA be up to her standards? Her moveset is built around sending her opponents to sleep so she can run over them with the Oyasumi Express. Somehow this entire package has made her absolutely adored to the point where she may as well be God to some people.
Moves To Watch Out For: Doctor Yellow (Jumping Neckbreaker), Hurricane Turn (Cross-Arm Backslide Pin), Oyasumi Express (running on top of the opponent over and over), Good Night Sleeper, Poppo Chop! (Brain Chop)

Yuki Kamifuku – Also known by her nickname Kamiyu, she is “The Casual Beauty” of TJPW. She knows how to get under her opponent’s skin with harsh and catty opinions. But there is another side to her where she is loyal and sympathetic to her friends. She is also proud of her modelling background because her accomplishments in the ring is proof you do not need to be a die hard pro wrestling fan to succeed in the business. Grew up in Ohio during her junior high school years so she knows the most English out of the bunch. Also really loves Zac Efron and after watching “The Iron Claw” it is now her dream to wrestle a match with him. She is currently the Queen Of Asia Champion after winning the belt in Singapore last November.
Moves To Watch Out For: Famouser (Jumping Leg Drop), Big Boot, Yahoo 83cm (Headscissors DDT), Manjigatame, Thumb To The Eye

Viva Van – One of the more recent foreign guests in TJPW is nicknamed “The Hellbent Vixen”. This Vietnamese-American wrestler has gathered together a large amount of championships in recent times but her attempt to dethrone Kamifuku as the Queen Of Asia ended in failure. However even before that match took place the two of them got along anyway because of how good looking they both are. It’s no surprise the two of them are definitely happy they get to reunite in America. Kamifuku even suggested one time they go on the lookout for a third attractive Asian wrestler to join them so they can be a trio Charlie’s Angels style. But don’t let that kind of attitude fool you, Van has been climbing up the ranks high enough to get matches in AEW and AAA as well as New Japan’s USA shows.
Moves To Watch Out For: Hellevator (Electric Chair spun into a Power Bomb), Ocean Cyclone Suplex, Code Red, Meteora, Butterfly Suplex

4. Suzume & Arisu Endo Vs Nao Kakuta & Zara Zakher

When it comes to tag teams in TJPW you can expect a lot of creative team names. Some of the names have elaborate reasons behind them, others not so much. Daisy Monkey is so called because Suzume is like a flower and Arisu Endo is like a monkey. That’s it. Simple enough. Out of all of the pairings in TJPW currently Daisy Monkey have perhaps the closest bond together. The two of them are pretty much inseparable. It’s that kind of friendship that led to them finally winning the Princess Tag Team Titles recently. Facing them is the first time pairing of Nao Kakuta & Zara Zakher. This match will likely be Kakuta’s last time wrestling in America while Zakher’s wrestling career is really only just beginning.

Suzume – As sharp as a wasp, Suzume is the Daisy half of Daisy Monkey. She begun her career as a fast learner, only spending seven months in training before making her pro debut. Just on the looks of her aesthetic alone it is of no surprise that speed is the name of her game. As part of the Daisy Monkey team she has held a desire over the last two years (if not longer) to win the Princess Tag Titles so the two of them could reach the same level as the previous champions they fought and admired.
Moves To Watch Out For: Ring A Bell (RKO), Mikazuki Meteor Shower (Diving Cross Body), Twinkle (Twisting School Boy), Flying Facecrusher

Arisu Endo – The Monkey half of Daisy Monkey, please welcome Aizuwakamatsu City’s most cheerful tourism ambassador. She’s always ready to give fans the thumbs up with a smile. Endo also has a habit of constantly dying her hair in new ways, using every colour in the world you can think of. She has so much pride in where she comes from that she named many of her moves after local destinations and traditions. Together with Suzume, Daisy Monkey have established themselves as TJPW’s top tag team of the new generation.
Moves To Watch Out For: Ju no Okite (Hercules Cutter), Camel Clutch, Mt. Bandai (2nd Rope Springboard Dropkick), Tsuruga Castle (Guillotine Knee Drop)

Nao Kakuta – Soon to retire from pro wrestling, Kakuta gets a chance to say goodbye to her American fans. She was previously a kindergarten teacher, a social welfare director and a camp instructor before becoming a stage actress and pro wrestler. Her wrestling career begun in the original class of Actwres girl’Z before she jumped over to TJPW, where she will stay until this July when she graduates from the industry. There are not a lot of heels in TJPW but Kakuta’s wrestling style is closer to that line than pretty much the rest of the regular roster.
Moves To Watch Out For: Shiden Kai (Fireman’s Carry into a Stunner), Kamitaka (Cross-Legged Front Neck Lock), Tarantula Headscissors, Kenka Kick

Zara Zakher – This past February a new young wrestler from California was given a week long tour of Japan to compete in TJPW. With only a year of experience under her belt at that point, Zakher was thrown straight into the fire with both matches being against former champions. Short in frame but deceptively strong, Zakher had an impressive showing despite coming out on the losing end in both matches. She left enough of a good impression that TJPW fans get to see her again here in Philly.
Moves To Watch Out For: Control Z (Screw Bomb), Lariat, Standing Moonsault

5. Mizuki & VertVixen Vs Max The Impaler & Pom Harajuku

Another international tag but this one with a far wilder selection of wrestlers involved. Mizuki joins forces with VertVixen for the first time ever. The two were opponents in America once before now everyone gets to see how well they fare as a team. Going against them is one of the most unlikely but heartwarming friendships you will ever find. What happens when you put a wasteland warrior like Max The Impaler with the childlike innocence of Pom Harajuku? You get a buddy-buddy tag team the likes of which would leave Pixar producers seething with jealousy because they hadn’t thought of it first.

Mizuki – The Popping Sugar Rabbit did not start her wrestling career in TJPW but she has established herself as one of the company’s all time best with multiple championship reigns and big show main events to her name. Don’t trust that smiling face of hers, she is vicious when she wants to be which is often. Constantly goes viral for using the Whirling Candy as well as Diving Double Stomps that leave those who see the moves locked in a state of inspiration and amazement. She doesn’t understand what U3+4 means but she is the closest pro wrestling can get to ever creating a real life Lili from Tekken. Just watch out for the biting. She can take the rabbit stuff a bit too literally sometimes.
Moves To Watch Out For: Cutie Special (Bridging Fall Away Slam), Whirling Candy (Spinning Cross Body Block), Diving Foot Stomp, Face Lock

VertVixen – Going from what I see online you can spell the name as either VertVixen or Vert Vixen. At last year’s American shows she made her DDT debut and took her first steps into the CyberFight universe. From there she did a month long tour in Japan with TJPW and returned in the summertime to defend the DEFY Women’s Championship, a title she still holds to this day. Obsessed with video games, her ring gear is often inspired by something gaming related. She is nicknamed Player One because Player One always wins!
Moves To Watch Out For: Game Over (Ki Crusher), Blue Thunder Bomb, Rolling Stunner, Sharpshooter

Max The Impaler – Puroresu has a history of bringing over wild rampaging warriors from the western world to cause chaos in their rings. Who could have guess TJPW of all companies would join in the tradition? Whenever “The Non-Binary Nightmare” comes over to TJPW you can expect a path of chaos being left in their wake. And yet Max has ended up becoming really well liked by the roster. Sure the times they rip the building apart gets management a little worried about future bookings with those venues but Max has become a part of the family at this point. And there is one wrestler more than anyone else who Max has established a strong attachment with.
Moves To Watch Out For: Welcome To The Wasteland (Canadian Backbreaker Drop), Short-Range Lariat, Body Block

Pom Harajuku – Bright and colourful costumes, loud screaming and plenty of kicks aimed at shins. Pom Harajuku’s fighting style can be most compared to that of a three year old throwing a temper tantrum. In recent years she has become the centre of Max The Impaler’s attention. Originally opponents in matches that more resembled a monster chasing down their prey, Max & Pom gradually developed respect for each other leading to them joining forces as a team called Pompaler. That is what happens when Max takes a liking to cute things and discovers just how effective it is to throw those cute things at other people. Even without Max, Harajuku can be a lot to handle by herself. And that’s just from the screaming.
Moves To Watch Out For: Pom de Justice (Step-Up Guillotine Leg Drop), Laforet Harajuku (Satellite Headscissors), Shin Kick, Denden Taiko (beating the opponent’s chest like a drum)

6. Special Tag Match: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh Vs Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe

Similar to last year’s show the main event pits two of TJPW’s strongest ever tag teams against each other. 121000000 (pronounced “One To Million” because together their power increases from one to a million) consists of Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh. Both of them are feature players in the company yet in the last year they seem to spend more and more time wrestling overseas. Facing them is a team that can go by two names. Their Japanese name is Hakuchumu but I prefer using the English name Daydream. Together Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe are just as accomplished as their opponents and also have the edge of being the more established tag team. The match is also happening in the aftermath of “GRAND PRINCESS ’24” that just took place in Sumo Hall. Watanabe defeated Yamashita to become the new Princess Of Princess Champion in the main event and here they are fighting each other again. The result of this match may have the consequence of setting up the next Princess Title match back in Japan.

Miyu Yamashita – The Pink Striker has been part of TJPW since they first ran events and is never far away from the Princess Title. She is such a major part of the company that her dominance has long become a big fish in a small pond scenario. The Skull Kick she uses is one of the most deadliest looking finishers around. In recent years she has taken time away from TJPW to wrestle in America and Europe just like her tag team partner. That trend continues because after this show takes place Yamashita will begin a fresh stay in America that will last from April until June.
Moves To Watch Out For: Skull Kick (Backspin High Kick to the head), Crash Rabbit Heat (Running Knee Kick), Attitude Adjustment, Return Crash (Triangle Kick off the turnbuckles)

Maki Itoh – A failed idol who won her way into the hearts of wrestling fans after she transformed into a foul mouthed psychopath with an endless appetite for fame. When she’s about to punch her opponent in the corner she always shouts “Who is the cutest in the world?” and the audience respond with “Itoh-chan!” She struggled for years to become a success in Japan only to start making it big in America wrestling for AEW and GCW. In fact, nowadays you’re more likely to see Itoh carving up opponents with a pizza cutter in GCW than you will trying to be a popstar in TJPW! She recently became the new GCW Extreme Champion. It’s only a matter of time before she takes over the whole place!
Moves To Watch Out For: Itoh Special/Deluxe/Punish (Variations of the Texas Cloverleaf), Flying Big Head (Diving Headbutt), I.S.D/Itoh Suicide DDT (Flying DDT from the top rope), The Cutest Knuckle Punch In The World

Rika Tatsumi – The White Dragon originally took her name and some of her moveset from Tatsumi Fujinami and she also developed hips as hard of diamonds thanks to some special training with Shiro Koshinaka. She is one of only two grand slam champions in TJPW, having won the Princess Title, the Princess Tag Titles and the International Princess Title. But turning into such a powerful creature eventually comes at a cost and she has gradually become a little bit crazy. When you step into the ring with Tatsumi she will find a way to strangle you. She claims it is just her way of making friends. She would also happily run her opponents over with the company tour bus if she knew how to drive it.
Moves To Watch Out For: White Dragon Sleeper, Twist Of Fate, Hip Attack, “Let’s Go!” Elbow Drop, Choking Opponents

Miu Watanabe – The second Up Up Girl appearing on the show and also the strongest. She has found the most success outside of the group by becoming the second ever grand slam champion along with headlining “GRAND PRINCESS ’24” in Sumo Hall just a few days ago. It is the first step towards an Up Up Girl’s ultimate goal of performing in the Nippon Budokan. Always full of energy, she uses big hand gestures to spell out L-O-V-E along with her theme song during her entrances. You need to see her doing the Giant Swing because she knows several ways to put opponents into the move. She’s no one hit wonder though. There are a variety of ways Watanabe gets to show off her strength in the ring. Everyone could see for years that she is TJPW’s next breakout star. It’s only just recently that the booking finally caught up to that opinion.
Moves To Watch Out For: Tear Drop (Modified Flapjack), Laserbeam (Overhand Chop to the chest), Giant Swing, Canadian Backbreaker, Swinging Backbreaker

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GCW/TOKYO JOSHI PRO “GCW VS TJPW”, 06/04/2024
Penns Landing Caterers Auditorium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

1. Suzume & Pom Harajuku Vs SAKI & Nao Kakuta
2. Session Moth Martina Vs Raku
3. Dark Sheik Vs Yuki Kamifuku
4. Steph De Lander Vs Hyper Misao
5. Shazza McKenzie Vs Arisu Endo
6. Allie Katch Vs Mizuki
7. Billie Starkz & Janai Kai Vs Rika Tatsumi & Miu Watanabe
8. Special 6-Woman Tag Match: Rina Yamashita, Masha Slamovich & Maki Itoh Vs Miyu Yamashita, Shoko Nakajima & Yuki Aino

The next afternoon TJPW goes head to head against GCW with a show dedicated almost entirely to inter-promotion matches between the two companies. I’ve written about GCW before when DDT worked with them last year so if you don’t mind I’ll repeat my opinions of them here. GCW is a promotion I like but don’t love. I’ve gotten to attend a variety of their events before, most of them during WrestleMania week. They’re really fun to attend in person and I enjoy watching live on Triller whenever I get to chance to do so. Watching the shows on-demand a day or two later though isn’t the same because the energy never carries through the screen. It’s a promotion that does not give its viewers a lot of time to let things soak in because as soon as one show ends they go right into promoting their next events. It can make following them online a bit of a blur at times.

The “GCW Vs X” shows often come off feeling like the lesser event of their doubleshot weekends and I fear the same has happened here despite the admirable effort on GCW’s end to provide an all women’s lineup. It doesn’t help that this show will be on Saturday afternoon and ends only a couple of hours before the first night of WrestleMania opens its doors. I’ve been to other wrestling shows held the same day as WrestleMania in the past and the atmosphere was always poor because the majority of the crowd spends the show keeping an eye on the exits for the entire time. I’m trying to be polite here because the undercard has the potential to be atrocious. Matches #3 up to #6 could be an absolute slog to sit through if some of those style clashes don’t work out. The card was changed a little bit because Sawyer Wreck was originally part of it. A broken hand put her out of action and caused a small reshuffle which includes SAKI getting a last minute booking so she can team with Kakuta. I don’t know what how Allie Katch Vs Mizuki will turn out. That feels like a coin flip as to whether or not the match will be good.

There is something I like about the lineup and that’s the main event. Itoh being on the GCW side makes sense given how she’s been booked in both companies over the last two years. The GCW team consisting of three of their hardest pushed wrestlers against three of TJPW’s longest serving mainstays is a really good idea. And I don’t just mean GCW’s hardest pushed women. Itoh, Rina Yamashita and Masha Slamovich have been among the hardest pushed wrestlers out of the GCW roster in general. That trio is the GCW Ultraviolent Champion, the GCW Extreme Champion and the JCW Champion all joining forces together. Miyu and Masha are great in the ring together while Nakajima and Rina had some fun interactions teaming together during Saki Akai’s retirement road last year. The wild card of the match is Yuki Aino. She might just be there to eat the pin but stranger things have happened.

The penultimate tag match looks fine. I don’t have any complaints about it. I’m a little concerned that Billie Starkz & Janai Kai might be a little tired because of their busy schedules in Philadelphia that week. They both have a bunch of matches already booked and by the time this show happens Starkz will have had a crazy No Rules match with MAO on the DDT show, a possibly crazy match with Misao in TJPW and a championship match in ROH. That kind of schedule is sure to leave some bruises. But other than that they should do good against Daydream.

Last thing to note is the GCW side ran out of women so the opener is all TJPW, even before the card change was made to include SAKI. That is unless Suzume and Pom Harajuku were on the GCW side all along. Has Suzume been the third member of Los Macizos and Pom Harajuku part of the Second Gear Crew this entire time?!?

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There’s at least one other chance to see Maki Itoh during the week. Here is another show at The Collective she will be wrestling on.

GCW “JOEY JANELA’S SPRING BREAK 8”, 05/04/2024
Penns Landing Caterers Auditorium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

1. Nick Gage & Maki Itoh Vs Danhausen & Ram Kaichow

While Itoh went back to Japan to wrestle for TJPW again, Gage went and teamed with Danhausen to challenge for the GCW Tag Team Titles. They lost and Danhausen blamed the result on Gage. That caused Gage to come up with a challenge. He and Itoh will fight Danhausen and a partner of his choice at some point during The Collective. All signs pointed towards the annual Spring Break show as the destination for the match. Then Joey Janela broke the news that Danhausen chose Ram Kaichow to be his teammate! Itoh and Kaichow have never crossed paths in the ring before because Kaichow’s TJPW appearances are often contained within the Rakuverse

GCW “JJSB: CLUSTERF*CK FOREVER!”, 06/04/2024
Penns Landing Caterers Auditorium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

1. Clusterfuck Match: X Vs X

I’m including this because there are apparently going to be 88 contestants entering this year’s annual Clusterfuck Match so maybe a few TJPW entries could show up in it? Perhaps Itoh will have an Extreme Title defence on the card too.

Guide To DDT In Philadelphia

DDT “DDT GOES PHILADELPHIA!”, 04/04/2024
Penns Landing Caterers Auditorium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

1. Special Tag Match: Daisuke Sasaki & KANON Vs Nick Wayne & Takeshi Masada
2. Special Tag Match: Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos Vs Bryan Keith & Shota
3. Special Single Match: Kazuki Hirata Vs Yoshihiko
4. Special Single Match: Tetsuya Endo Vs Andrew “The Giant” Everett
5. Special Single Match: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA Vs Shunma Katsumata
6. Special Single Match: Yuki Ueno Vs Mike Bailey
7. DDT Universal Title – No Rules Match: MAO (c) Vs Billie Starkz

So you have tickets for DDT’s show in Philadelphia this week but you’re out of the loop on the current product. Maybe you only have surface level knowledge of DDT or just know it as that wacky wrestling company from Japan. Need a hand in knowing what to expect? Then here you go! It is the craziest week on the pro wrestling calander and DDT wouldn’t miss it for the world. They have a show going on in conjunction with The Collective mixing together their own talent with a few international guests who have worked with them before. Tiny bits and pieces of DDT can be found in Philadelphia’s history of independent wrestling. They have played parts in Chikara’s massive tag tournaments back when they were a yearly highlight of the East Coast indies. Things are a very, very different nowadays and DDT find themselves among a loaded week of shows going on. They even face competition from their own sister promotion Tokyo Joshi Pro. So what do they have to offer this time around? Let’s have a look.

When and where is the show taking place?

This week “DDT GOES PHILADELPHIA!” will be held at Penn’s Landing Caterers Auditorium in Philadelphia on 4th April. The show is scheduled to begin at 8:00pm Eastern time.

Where can I watch it online?

The show will air live on Triller TV (you know, FITE) with English commentary through the TrillerTV+ subscription service. The on-demand version of the show will be available to watch on Wrestle Universe sometime after the live broadcast.

Is this a proper DDT show?

It’s missing some of the big veteran players in order to highlight wrestlers from the modern generation but I think it’s a decent lineup. Sort of similar to what was offered last year where half the card focuses on DDT Vs The World. The mistake made last year was all of the wacky stuff being frontloaded to the first third of the show. The rest of the show wasn’t bad but doing so many regular matches in a row did not stand out the way people expect a DDT show would. So assuming this is the confirmed match order they made the right move to make sure the craziest match on paper is happening near the end. Two of the straight forward singles matches have the potential to be highlights of the week and also be suitable for those with a distaste for comedy wrestling.

Will The Steiner Brothers be at the show?

No.

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1. Special Tag Match: Daisuke Sasaki & KANON Vs Nick Wayne & Takeshi Masada

DDT’s resident heel group opens up the show by getting into a fight with some young wrestlers who have high expectations to live up to based on their future potential. Daisuke Sasaki has been DDT’s main heel wrestler for years now but it’s been a while since he was put in main event level programs. His tag partner KANON has been getting more focus lately and might find himself getting placed into bigger spots on the card in the years to come. Nick Wayne is currently a heel in AEW but still gets to show off on the indies. Takeshi Masada fought Wayne on last year’s DDT USA show but they have gotten along since then and get to team with each other here.

Daisuke Sasaki – Is there any other heel out there as dirty and depressed as this guy? Sasaki is the leader of DAMNATION T.A and can never be counted out of the running no matter what he himself will tell people. He has the talent and success to reach bigger heights but every time there is a setback it sends him tumbling back down into despair. Maybe he will be in a better mood by the time this show takes place. He will be spending a week in Mexico beforehand looking for lucha libre shows to wrestle in. That’s one of the few experiences he has left nowadays that cheers him up.
Moves To Watch Out For: Crossface Lock (includes La Mistica and Crossover variations), Sasaki Hurricanrana, Diving Elbow Drop

KANON – Another heel wrestler with a habit of getting into some wild mood swings. KANON has been learning the DAMNATION ways under Sasaki’s wing for almost two years now. He started out in JTO and was trained by TAKA Michinoku. What could have been a promising young wrestler with a volleyball background has turned into a sadistic little creep. His main talent in the ring is how he uses the Cobra Twist to win his matches. He knows several ways to apply that hold and can adapt it to pin opponents as well as submit them.
Moves To Watch Out For: Sleepy Hollow (Twisting Brainbuster), Just Cobra Twist, Vietnam Driver II (Inverted Michinoku Driver)

Nick Wayne – At 18 years old he is one of the youngest wrestlers on the AEW roster but don’t worry, he has a father figure and family support behind him over there. The son of the late Buddy Wayne toured with DDT last year to get himself ready for his move to AEW. It just so happens that DDT has a bunch of young wrestlers too so Wayne has plenty of people from his generation to work with. There will come the day when Wayne is treated by the scene like a grizzled veteran with hundreds of matches under his belt while still being in his mid twenties. It’s a bright future that will only shine brighter once he flicks the switch and puts all the pieces together to become his own wrestler.
Moves To Watch Out For: Wayne’s World (Sprinboard Flying Cutter), Inverted Hurricanrana, Snap Dragon Suplex, Fisherman Suplex

Takeshi Masada – The 22 year old made his pro debut only three months into his training, making him the fastest debut in DDT’s history. Has a background in Shorinji Kempo and he uses those skills to develop a kick heavy offence. Motivated to a fault, Masada likes to take on challenges that go beyond his current standing in the company. Even if he’s not ready to for that kind of stuff, his kind of outside the box attitude made him a natural fit for SCHADENFREUDE International when that group was formed last November. Rookies have a bad habit of breaking easily but if Masada continues at the rate he’s going, DDT has themselves a diamond in the rough.
Moves To Watch Out For: Masada no Chikara KOBU Mukimuki (Cross-legged Falcon Arrow), Triangle Kick (Running Enzuigiri off the turnbuckles)

2. Special Tag Match: Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos Vs Bryan Keith & Shota

Fans of CCK will be delighted to hear the team is back together for one night only. Chris Brookes has been embracing his SCHADENFREUDE attitude again by putting together a DDT version of the group so teaming with Kid Lykos again must be like putting on an old comfy pair of slippers. Facing them is a mishmash team of two well travelled indie wrestlers from opposite corners of the world. Bryan Keith did well in his DDT appearances earlier this year. The match will also be Shota’s first bout since becoming a freelancer again. He’ll be looking to make a good impression to get his name out there. Too bad he’s going against a team that likes to take the piss out of their opponents.

Chris Brookes – An English wrestler who has carved out his own niche over in Japan by sticking his finger in a whole lot of pies. When not wrestling in DDT you can find Brookes causing trouble in ChocoPro, teaming with Masahiro Takanashi across southeast Asia or running his own group of crazy shows called Baka Gaijin + Friends that is held in a small Tokyo bar once a month. His love for a certain brand of Japanese wrestling gradually turned him into an essential figure in DDT, at one point even standing at the very top of the mountain. All of that takes a lot of work and effort though so lately he is taking a different direction and doing whatever he wants with his pro wrestling friends in SCHADENFREUDE International. But long before all of that happened, Brookes was once best known for being in a tag team with a shitty little wolf.
Moves To Watch Out For: Praying Mantis Bomb (Double Arm Piledriver), Octopus Stretch, Death By Roll-Up

Kid Lykos – That shitty little wolf has grown up a little bit. The British wrestling scene was in a dire state coming out of the pandemic but one key figure who stuck with it through thick and thin was Kid Lykos. Along the way he found another Kid Lykos to team with, got to fight Brookes in a dramatic match between friends and lose his mask on the way to finally obtaining singles glory by becoming the Progress World Champion. He got a brief tour with DDT in Japan during 2022 and that was the last time CCK teamed together. Until now that is.
Moves To Watch Out For: Captain Midnight’s Revenge (Swanton Bomb), Brainbuster, Casanova (Somato), Triple Back Drop

Bryan Keith – This bounty hunter has been making some waves lately. It’s an intimidating sight seeing the man wearing the Black Halo come to town looking to collect. That kind of mercenary life has taken Keith from Texas to all points of America before sending him over to Japan. A stay in DDT at the start of the year allowed him to sharpen his skills further before moving on to AEW where he currently resides. The bounty hunter aesthetic hides a clear love for Japanese pro wrestling. His moveset along with where in the ring he likes to attack are dead giveaways to what his in-ring influences are.
Moves To Watch Out For: Emerald Tiger Driver, Exploder Suplex (sometimes into the turnbuckles), Power Bomb, Knee Strike

Shota – He is a long time journeyman of the Japanese indies and for many years wrestled for Ganbare☆Pro, a spin-off promotion from DDT that until now was also under the CyberFight banner. But big changes have come for him this year. GanPro has gone independent from CyberFight and Shota decided he too will live the independent life once more. One of his first big moves as a freelancer is take some American dates starting with this one. In his previous American excursions he wrestlers for some of the most obscure indies I’ve ever heard of. “Mr. Showtime” is a savvy veteran who thinks one step ahead to outsmart his opponents.
Moves To Watch Out For: Gannosuke Clutch, Frog Splash, Sharpshooter

3. Special Single Match: Kazuki Hirata Vs Yoshihiko

You’re getting classic DDT right here! Kazuki Hirata is a cult favourite for both his comedy act as well as his underdog performances against much stronger opponents. In a way they don’t come much stronger than Yoshihiko. The battle doll is one of DDT’s most infamous gimmicks known worldwide. You ever hear in interviews when a pro wrestler is described as being so good they can have a four star match against a paper bag? Yoshihiko is that theory put into practice. And trust me, Hirata understands how to wrestle against Yoshihiko more than almost anyone else.

Kazuki Hirata – You know when a parody outlives the source material and probably becomes more well known to modern audiences than the original? I think that applies to Hirata. Puro fans might remember one of Dragongate’s early stars was Magnum TOKYO. A key part of Magnum’s presentation was him dancing to his entrance song “Tokyo GO!”. His career in the Toryumon system lasted around a decade. Long after Magnum disappeared from the wrestling industry the DG dojo dropout Hirata took over the gimmick as a spoof in DDT. He’s been doing it since 2014 and I think he has now danced to “Tokyo GO!” for longer than Magnum has! Hirata has been around almost 15 years but remains one of the weakest fighters in DDT. But what he lacks in physical talent he makes up for with a crafty and creative mind. Also he carries around a pair of Hirata GO! glasses that when worn automatically plays “Tokyo GO!” in the room and drives the wearer to dance along to it. It rarely helps Hirata win a match but it’s always a crowd pleaser. What often does work for Hirata is the Miracle One Shot Cradle, a Small Package with a strong success rate especially when Hirata is at his most desperate.
Moves To Watch Out For: Miracle One Shot Cradle (Small Package), Egoist Driver (Pumphandle Michinoku Driver), Sliding Kick, Tegatana (a deadly martial arts chop to the neck)

Yoshihiko – The Grave Digger Doll From Hell has been a mysterious force in DDT for almost two decades now. It first showed up as the brother of Muscle Sakai and kept on replacing him in matches because Sakai was constantly getting injured from gun violence backstage (it’s a long story). Yoshihiko vanished after that storyline ended and would reappear years later as Danshoku Dieno’s surprise tag team partner. Over time the doll’s powers have only gotten stronger and it has the ability to transform into powerful wrestlers like The Great Muta, The Undertaker and Hulk Hogan. You can rip it limb from limb and it will survive. You can drive over it in a car and it will survive. You can throw it off a building and it will survive. To fight Yoshihiko is almost like fighting yourself. Only then can you discover your true talent as a pro wrestler.
Moves To Watch Out For: Reincarnation (multiple rotations into a Hurricanrana), Canadian Destroyer, Yoshihiko Destroyer (multiple Canadian Destroyers in a row)

4. Special Single Match: Tetsuya Endo Vs Andrew “The Giant” Everett

A battle of the high flyers that has the potential to turn into a game of one-upmanship. Tetsuya Endo is far away from being the top guy in DDT like he was a few years ago. Instead he is finding success in the tag team division at the moment. He is somebody who has needed a change of scenery for a while now so hopefully a match like this in America can be a fresh breath of air. His opponent Andrew Everett hasn’t gotten to wrestle in Japan again since his DDT tour in 2022 when they discovered he might not actually be a giant. That’s what you get for lying about your height! But if he really is a giant then he will assert his dominance over Endo no problem. If not then we get to see Endo turn into a giant slayer instead.

Tetsuya Endo – Once the top wrestler in DDT, a disastrous concussion caused by a shoot slap from Katsuhiko Nakajima resulted in a major setback for Endo’s career. While he has yet to become the No. 1 guy in the company again he has regained some success by winning the KO-D Tag Team Titles with Yuki Iino. Endo is currently the leader of BURNING, which is DDT’s attempt at making a current day version of the unit that has roots going back to NOAH and All Japan. He often has Kenta Kobashi’s blessing to represent that legacy and often meets with him to discuss ways to progress his career. With a greay physique and a lot of athleticism, Endo on paper has all of the tools to be a big star. It just never worked out for him that way, especially when you see where his rival is now. But that is not who he has to worry about here.
Moves To Watch Out For: Burning Star Press (Shooting Star Press), Tetsuya In The Sky (One Man Spanish Fly), Spinning Torture Rack Bomb

Andrew “The Giant” Everett – Can you believe there are rumours out there that Everett is not a giant? I know, right! He climbs into the ring by stepping over the top rope like giants do. He does Choke Slams his opponents like giants do. He wears a singlet like giants do. He does Moonsaults like Paul White allegedly did. That means Everett is a giant! Deadlock Pro is where you can find him nowadays. He’s wrestled in DDT before but perhaps his biggest accomplishment in Japan is from NewLegacyInc when his abuse of the Loser Leaves Town rule accidentally resulted in multiple clones of himself and Jun Akiyama being created.
Moves To Watch Out For: 630 Senton, Shooting Star Press, Moonsault, Choke Slam, Pelé Kick

5. Special Single Match: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA Vs Shunma Katsumata

The top babyface group in DDT right now is The 37KAMIINA (“The Sauna Kamiina” because 37 in Japanese sounds similar to sauna and Kamiina is what the stoves are called) and Konosuke Takeshita was originally a member until he turned heel in AEW. Over time he has fought against his friends in separate singles matches and now the time has come for Shunma Katsumata to fight him. Is he up to the task against someone who is approaching best in the world territory?

Konosuke Takeshita – No matter where his career in AEW will take him, Takeshita will always have a home in DDT. He’s kind of living a double life because in AEW he is a heel under the increasingly questionable management of Don Callis. That is why DDT now writes his name in English with all upper case letters. Whenever he comes back to Japan he gets to be more like himself, a good boy who can German Suplex anything. He was part of The 37KAMIINA for a long time but left the group to follow his new career path in America. That means he gets to fight against his buddies but it is ultimately being done with good intentions. Matches like these are done so he can push his friends into improving themselves. If is takes smashing them in the face with his knees and elbows to get that message across then so be it.
Moves To Watch Out For: Spinning Falcon Arrow, Powerdrive Knee/Wagamama (V-Trigger style Knee Strike), German Suplex, Blue Thunder Bomb, Takeshita Line (Leaping Clothesline from the ropes)

Shunma Katsumata – Nobody in DDT loves saunas as much as this guy. Don’t let his hobby or his eternally youthful looks fool you though. Katsumata can get crazy violent whenever he wants. He is currently the DDT Extreme Champion, a belt that allows the holder to come up with whatever stipulation they want for their title defences. Just to give an example his most recent defence was called the Painful Jungle Death Match and it was DDT’s bloodiest bout in a long, long time. Yet there are also times when his weapons of choice are Lego and party poppers. The odd strain in Takeshita’s relationship with The 37KAMIINA has ended up with Katsumata being next to fight him. The situation is probably not violent enough for Super Hardcore Katsumata to appear. How he handles this match will depend on how much he will want to take it seriously.
Moves To Watch Out For: ¡Hasta la vista! (Lightning Spiral), Totonou Splash (straight Diving Body Press), Aufguss (Diving Foot Stomp to a standing opponent)

6. Special Single Match: Yuki Ueno Vs Mike Bailey

At the time of writing this match is a non-title bout yet I’m sure these two are going to have a match like it is one. We don’t get to see much of Mike Bailey in DDT anymore. Speedball has one of the more demanding looking schedules going in wrestling right now. He was around while Yuki Ueno was still in the early years of his career and Ueno is a far more developed wrestler now. When it comes to personality I don’t have much to say about Ueno unfortunately. As a wrestler though he is walking the walk as the current KO-D Openweight Champion. These two against each other can tear the house down if they don’t hold back.

Yuki Ueno – The current KO-D Champion which makes him the man to beat in DDT. Ueno has known Takeshita since they were high school classmates together. It was Takeshita’s journey into pro wrestling that convinced Ueno to follow him and give it a go. For most of his career that meant Ueno was stuck standing in his friend’s shadow. However Takeshita leaving DDT for AEW could not have been any more of a benefit for Ueno. Driven to become the ace of DDT, Ueno climbed the ladder and won the KO-D Title at Sumo Hall last November. Since then he has purposely defended the championship against wrestlers who are closely connected to DDT whether they are past aces, beloved personalities or even important management behind the scenes. He does this in order to prove that he is the best person to carry the company forward.
Moves To Watch Out For: BME (Best Moonsault Ever), WR (Rolling Wrist-Clutch Blockbuster), Jul.2 (Rolling Guillotine Ace Crusher), Half Nelson Suplex, Dropkick to the Face

Mike Bailey – There’s been a couple of talented Canadian wrestlers who became big deals in DDT. You can count Speedball among that elite group. Nowadays he is signed to TNA but you never have to look far throughout the North American indies to find him wrestling on the card. Go look up his schedule for the weekend, he has like half a dozen bookings and four of them are on the same day! Bailey has been in the ring with Ueno a bunch of times but never in a singles match together. How this guy hasn’t destroyed his knees yet from the apron bumps in every match I will never know.
Moves To Watch Out For: Ultima Weapon (Shooting Star Double Knee Drop), Flamingo Driver (Cross-Legged One-Winged Angel), Green Tea Plunge (Standing Moonsault Fall Away Slam), Machine Gun Kicks

7. DDT Universal Title – No Rules Match: MAO (c) Vs Billie Starkz

The only title match on the show is going to be off the wall. The DDT Universal Title is a secondary championships that was intentionally created to be defended overseas in order to promote the company abroad. The current holder MAO is eager to go that direction at a time when he as a performer has never been better. When he set his sights on having a title match in Philadelphia, DDT thought outside the box and picked Billie Starkz as his challenger. If her tempo matches with MAO’s then the whole building is going to be left in a mess by the time the show is over.

MAO – Lives by the motto “Fucked up wrestling for a fucked up world!” The high flier feels at his most alive when he is in Falls Count Anywhere situations. He is still immature but in the past year has figured out his own vision for pro wrestling. With that also comes a newly found confidence in his abilities. The result is him becoming a multiple time Universal Champion with a desire to spread DDT and defend the belt around the world. Putting him in the city where extreme wrestling flourished is just asking for trouble. This is a guy who likes wrestling in Circle 6 shows for God’s sake!
Moves To Watch Out For: Cannonball 450 (450 Splash), Michinoku Driver, Marines Tornado Splash (Swan Dive Phoenix Splash), Tornado Kick

Billie Starkz – A busy WrestleMania Week scheduled? Why not add a championship match held under no rules to the diary? From what I’ve seen of Billie Starkz over the years a match like this is a chance for her to blow off some steam and just go out there doing some nutty stuff for fun. Just don’t let Athena know what she’s getting up to while she’s on her own. You can’t replace Minions In Training that easily. Starkz has wrestled for TJPW before but this will be her first time stepping into a DDT ring. I’m sure she’ll feel right at home.
Moves To Watch Out For: Swanton Bomb, Sugoi Driver (Double Legged One-Winged Angel sometimes on the ring apron), Starkz Driver (Tombstone Piledriver), Star 10 (CRII)

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There will be other chances to see a few DDT wrestlers in action across Philadelphia that week. Mainly MAO. You are going to get a lot of MAO.

CIRCLE 6 “NEW FEAR CITY”, 03/04/2024
The Fire, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

1. Chris Brookes Vs X
2. MAO Vs X

Let’s get started with Wrestlemania Week! Out of all the DDT wrestlers heading to Philadelphia it will be MAO who has the lion’s share of bookings. On the Wednesday night he and Chris Brookes are both going to a No Ring show held at a nightclub by Circle 6. It’s a dangerous way to begin one of the most schedule intense weeks of the wrestling calander.

DEFY “CAN’T DENY IT”, 04/04/2024
Penns Landing Caterers Auditorium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

1. Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos Vs MAO & Mike Bailey

Thursday is even nuttier. MAO has four bookings in one day! It begins with a DEFY show where MAO and Mike Bailey reunite as Moonlight Express to face CCK.

SHP/LOL “EUPHORIA”, 04/04/2024
Attic Brewing Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

1. Matt Makowski Vs MAO

When the DEFY match is done with MAO then goes over to another venue where he will wrestle Matt Makowski. On paper that sounds like a straight forward match but some really wacky things have happened at Sean Henderson Presents shows in the past. Don’t let your guard down, MAO.

GCW/JCW “GCW/JCW VS THE WORLD”, 04/04/2024
Penns Landing Caterers Auditorium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

1. Shota Vs X
2. 4 Way Tag Match: Ciclope & Miedo Extremo Vs Robert Dreissker & Laurance Roman Vs Man Like DeReiss & Leon Slater Vs MAO & Yoshihiko

The final show of the day if you go by the starting time being in the very last minute (yeah right like it won’t be delayed). GCW and its sister promotion JCW have invited the world to take them on. MAO & Yoshihiko will be joining forces to enter a 4 Way Tag Match against GCW’s top team from Mexico Los Macizos, the wXw duo from Germany Amboss and Britain’s own Boisterous Behaviour from NORTH Wrestling.

Also on the show is Shota taking his first independent booking since going freelance from GanPro. His match has not been announced yet. Since this is a GCW show it will probably be a Scramble Match since there are a bunch of other wrestlers also advertised with no match yet.

GCW “JJSB: CLUSTERF*CK FOREVER!”, 06/04/2024
Penns Landing Caterers Auditorium, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

1. Clusterfuck Match: X Vs X

I’m including this because there are apparently going to be 88 contestants entering this year’s annual Clusterfuck Match. Surely that means the odds are good for a few DDT wrestlers showing up somewhere on the show?

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “GRAND PRINCESS ’24” Preview

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

1. Shino Suzuki, Chika Nanase & Kira Summer Vs Haru Kazashiro, Runa Okubo & Uta Takami
2. Nao Kakuta & Ami Yumoto Vs Mahiro Kiryu & HIMAWARI
3. Andreza Giant Panda & Kaya Toribami (w/ Haruna Neko) Vs Raku & Pom Harajuku
4. Moka Miyamoto & Juria Nagano Vs Wakana Uehara & Toga
5. Rika Tatsumi Vs Masha Slamovich
6. Aja Kong & Max The Impaler Vs Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao
7. Special Single Match: Minoru Suzuki Vs Maki Itoh
8. Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki Vs Emi Sakura & Chris Brookes
9. International Princess Title: Yuki Arai (c) Vs Yuki Kamifuku
10. Princess Tag Team Titles: Ryo Mizunami & Yuki Aino (c) Vs Suzume & Arisu Endo
11. Princess Of Princess Title: Miyu Yamashita (c) Vs Miu Watanabe

The third annual “GRAND PRINCESS” supershow is taking place this Sunday. It is where Tokyo Joshi Pro will return to Sumo Hall after last year’s attempt at running Ariake Coliseum. The promotion’s three championships are all represented in the late side of the card but you will find some of the matches making the most headlines are right there underneath them. We have new faces that weren’t here a year ago, a few women who will soon be saying goodbye to wrestling, somebody who already said goodbye not that long ago but came back anyway and a few guests coming over to check things out as well. The three title matches will also end up answering a question that always follows TJPW’s biggest shows. Are they finally going to push the next generation? Let’s look through the matches one by one and see what’s on offer.

1. Shino Suzuki, Chika Nanase & Kira Summer Vs Haru Kazashiro, Runa Okubo & Uta Takami

It is up to the six lowest wrestlers on the tier list to open up the show. Three of the wrestlers only have a year of experience each. The other three have only debuted in the last month and only have around five matches under their belt! Shino Suzuki was the first of the six to make her debut and has been making strides in the ring lately. “She Know” might know how to lead her rookie partners Chika Nanase & Kira Summer to victory. Nanase has a pretty strong Shoulder Block she uses as her first move to build matches around. Summer was already no stranger to wrestling before she joined TJPW because her siblings back in Australia are wrestlers too. Facing them are the three youngest wrestlers on the roster. Haru Kazashiro & Runa Okubo debuted together at last year’s “GRAND PRINCESS” show. As the year progressed Kazashiro ended up getting more matches because Okubo needed to improve her school work. Kazashiro only just recently won her first singles match too by beating Suzuki. The newcomer on their side is Uta Takami, the newest member of The Up Up Girls. The best way I’ve seen her described so far is she has “bratty little sister energy”. So if you’re the kind of fan who gets drawn in by Mei Suruga’s personality then Takami is going to grab your attention. In terms of wondering which side has the advantage, it might actually go to the team of teenagers because they have more ring time combined than the adults!

2. Nao Kakuta & Ami Yumoto Vs Mahiro Kiryu & HIMAWARI

A match that was about a new beginning for someone when it was announced and has since added the story of the end approaching for someone else. Let’s start with the new beginning. Ami Yumoto is a former idol who was a member of the famous AKB48 troupe. She was part of group from 2013 until her graduation last year. You may have seen her before in that viral clip of the most highly produced Rock Paper Scissors tournament anyone outside of Japan has ever seen. In that time Yumoto participated in the Tofu Pro Wrestling series under the gimmick name Komanechi Yumoto so she has some familiarity with wrestling already. Since leaving AKB48 Yumoto became a stage actress and worked on a play with Nao Kakuta. The two of them became friends and Kakuta encouraged Yumoto to come see TJPW for herself. The reason is when Kakuta discovered TJPW she fell in love with the place and she thinks Yumoto will do the same. The two will be teaming together for the idol’s debut match. It may be a one off but if Kakuta’s plan is correct, Yumoto might end up sticking around afterwards.

That brings us to the point I made about the end approaching. Two weeks after Yumoto’s debut was announced, Kakuta dropped the news she will be graduating from TJPW and retiring from pro wrestling in July. It sounds like she’s ready to move on from being a performer in general because she said her next career step is going to be something that will not put her in front of an audience again. It’s a shame to see her leaving soon because I was hopeful there would be a chance for her to move up a spot this year. The success she finally earned last year got wiped out due to matters outside of her power. However given how roster advancement goes in this company that same success was probably the most she was going to get and she realised that herself. No shame in calling it a career when you’ve done everything you can do and know there is nothing else possible within your means.

Those stories above mean the match will be all about those two and not their opponents. Mahiro Kiryu got her day in the sun last year when she unexpectedly became the main character of the highly praised “HYPE!” show. HIMAWARI has fitted into the TJPW undercard so perfectly you’d think she was part of the company for years already. Either of them could very likely pick up the win just by targeting Yumoto but it is also a believable result if Kakuta just clears house and wins in her final Sumo Hall appearance instead without Yumoto having to do much for the finish.

3. Andreza Giant Panda & Kaya Toribami (w/ Haruna Neko) Vs Raku & Pom Harajuku

If last year’s match was “Andreza Minus-One” then you can call this year’s match “Andreza x Kaya”. Last year Andreza Giant Panda teamed with Haruna Neko but it’s a little different this time around. The catgirl has been out of action with an injury for a long while now. She will still be at the panda’s side but won’t be able to wrestle in the match itself. That’s not a problem because you can just swap out the cat for a bird. Kaya Toribami will be Andreza’s partner here in what could be the second ever recorded interaction between a panda and a cassowary (TikTok beat them to the punch because of course TikTok would).

TJPW’s resident kaiju and superhero are busy dealing with a more demanding challenge later in the show so who gets the responsibility of containing Andreza within Ryogoku this time? It’s RakuPom that has to deal with it now. Raku makes sense the more I think of it because trains have been used to take down giant monsters before and the power of sleep can turn Andreza into a Snorlax. Pom Harajuku’s chances will depend on what happens when you kick a large inflatable thing over and over. Maybe she can kick Andreza at the right angle and cause it to burst from the shins. If none of that works Raku & Harajuku can always use the power of friendship to prevail. Or just focus on beating Toribami, that would be a lot easier.

4. Moka Miyamoto & Juria Nagano Vs Wakana Uehara & Toga

Another match where one of the participants will be wrestling in Sumo Hall for the final time. Juria Nagano has her finger in a lot of pies and sadly it’s reached the point where she no longer has the focus and energy to continue her pro wrestling career. This match is happening two weeks before her final bout and graduation from TJPW takes place. She said she wants to keep fighting as hard as she can until she burns out. That hard work paid off when she finally won her first singles match in February. She won’t have any championships or tournament wins under her name when she graduates but to her it was still all worth it. Teaming with Nagano is Moka Miyamoto, one of the current gen wrestlers who’s been climbing up the card and finding more opportunities along the way. As long as she keeps going the way she’s going now, I can see her getting eventually rewarded with some success in the future. It’s sad to see Shinken Kusho become such a short lived tag team because two karate girls working together like that was fun to watch.

Their opponents are two wrestlers who debuted TJPW almost a year after Nagano did and I’d say just about count as the next generation after her. Wakana Uehara has become noticeably more popular over 2023. She won the Next Generation Tournament to become the top prospect in her class, her social media numbers are going up and she has that one fan that constantly shouts “WAKANAAAAAA!” during her matches. Everything’s going up for the girl with the big appetite. Toga is getting more comfortable with herself in the ring and starting to show she has more to offer than just throwing a big Elbow Strike. Her finisher is one of the weirdest ways I’ve ever seen anyone do the Rock Bottom but it still looks like it hurts when she drives her opponent onto the mat.

5. Rika Tatsumi Vs Masha Slamovich

The antics of a certain “White Dragon” has been gradually getting more unhinged as time goes by. It’s one thing for Rika Tatsumi to always choke people during a wrestling match but when she’s scary enough to make Demonio Uno or Demonio Dos nervous then it’s probably time to put her in check. If only there was somebody out there with the pain tolerance to handle Tatsumi at her worst as well as being powerful enough to challenge Tatsumi at her best. Oh! Good to see you again Masha Slamovich, boy does TJPW have an opponent for you! Earlier this year Slamovich had a great performance in the main event of the annual 4th January show in Korakuen Hall. Meanwhile she is racking up Tatsumi has spent most of 2024 wrestling in the tag team division as part of Daydream. This is a good matchup for both women and I can see the result setting up a No. 1 Contender for either of the singles championships in the aftermath.

6. Aja Kong & Max The Impaler Vs Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao

Damn it, I should have saved the Godzilla x Kong joke for this match. Kyoraku Kyomei did such a great job handling a giant kaiju at last year’s “GRAND PRINCESS”. So much so they are now being counted on to fight the two meanest monsters TJPW can find! In a throwback to the days of Stan Hansen & Bruiser Brody teaming up as the Miracle Power Combination, TJPW have decided to put Aja Kong & Max The Impaler together on the same side. The previous times the two of them have been in the ring were as opponents. The wrestlers they teamed with were more concerned about protecting the venue from getting ripped apart than they were with winning the match. What hope does Sumo Hall have now that Kong & Max are going to team together? That’s when you call on the services of Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao to save the day.

Kyoraku Kyomei are well aware of the younger wrestlers in TJPW doing their best to catch up with the veteran generation. That kind of threat was what kept them motivated until this match was announced. Nakajima is looking forward to it because it is her chance to prove the Big Kaiju is also the strongest kaiju. Misao is not as enthusiastic. She only just recently built the second generation Hypami Dramatic Dream bike thanks to a successful crowd funding campaign. The original was destroyed by Aja Kong so there is no way Misao will let her or Max lay even a finger on the new one. Misao also warns the new bike has a secret weapon that was specially built in to deal with those two monsters. Maybe even three if Nakajima accidentally gets in the way.

7. Special Single Match: Minoru Suzuki Vs Maki Itoh

The cutest in the world is going to fight the meanest king of pro wrestling! A recurring story for a long time now is Maki Itoh becoming more and more disconnected from the rest of TJPW. She wrestles in America for GCW more often and whenever she does come back to Japan her matches in TJPW are in the middle of the card and she feels aimless despite still winning matches. Her wrestling career is still going great, it’s just that more and more of her highlights are happening away from TJPW. The big one that happened recently was Itoh winning the GCW Extreme Title. She’ll have the title belt with her coming down to the ring on the night but her match will have nothing to do with it. It is about something even more important.

In February Itoh went to the Piledriver clothing shop in Harajuku in search of its Minoru Suzuki. When she found him she pitched an idea for the two of them to team up at Sumo Hall. They have teamed up once before in DDT and Itoh thinks the cutest wrestler in the world teaming with the meanest person on the planet would draw fans to the show. Suzuki flipped the idea on its head and told Itoh it would be even more buzzworthy if the two of them fought each other in a singles match! Itoh was left speechless by the suggestion but pulled up the courage not just to accept the match but promise she will end Suzuki’s career too! Suzuki saw the funny side of the threat and isn’t intimidated. Itoh’s wrestling career is only the size of Suzuki’s little finger in comparison to his own legendary career.

In the leadup to the match Itoh had time to think over it. She wanted to send a message to Suzuki that she has no fear so she choked out Shino Suzuki with a Sleeper Hold backstage during a show. Then she went to Twitter and posted a long message about her wrestling life from the start up until now. She is now the best she has ever been but misses the desperation her younger self had back when she started out. She needs to feel true despair again and can only find it by fighting someone who can bring it out of her. The match against Suzuki is going to be exactly that. She knows he is going to beat her to a pulp but she cannot wait to feel that desperate energy again in order to take herself to the next level. For Suzuki this will just be another match. For Itoh it is going to be the only match in the world that matters.

8. Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki Vs Emi Sakura & Chris Brookes

Okay tell me if I got this correct. Yuka Sakazaki graduated from TJPW in December, said her 2024 plans were to relocate to America and continue her wrestling career there. The graduation happened and since then Sakazaki hasn’t wrestled anywhere, might have stayed in Japan the entire time and her first match back in almost five months is going to be in… Tokyo Joshi Pro. I’m just as confused about this as you might be. Was she prevented from re-entering America to protect all the mascots at Disney World or something? In reality it’s either just a visa situation that is delaying her plans or she isn’t travelling overseas unless she has something ready to do.

Sakazaki coming back to TJPW is good news for Mizuki. Nobody is happier to be in the ring with her again than the other half of The Magical Sugar Rabbits. When Sakazaki’s return was first announced, Mizuki was nervous there would not be a reunion because the match wasn’t revealed at the time. Imagine the relief she must have felt when she found out followed by the surprise over who they are fighting against. MagiRabi are taking on a queen they both had battles with in the past along with a very tall new opponent for them.

Here’s the funny thing. Emi Sakura and Chris Brookes will both be wrestling in TJPW for the first time ever yet their appearances are not as random as they sound. Sakura was a mentor figure for Mizuki in the early parts of her career and they’ve been in plenty of matches together. She also fought Sakazaki a bunch in AEW on their Youtube shows. Brookes meanwhile is often at the announce desk doing English commentary for TJPW’s most important shows of the year. They are a suitable pairing to take on The Magical Sugar Rabbits. All they need now is a name. You can count on Sakura to come up with one because she is calling the team TeaDK!

9. International Princess Title: Yuki Arai (c) Vs Yuki Kamifuku

The eventual takeover by the idol is moving along at a slow pace as planned. Yuki Arai won her second championship in January when she defeated the seemingly unbeatable Max The Impaler for the International Princess Title. It is only a matter of time before she moves on to chase after the biggest prize but we’ll cross that bridge whenever we get to it. Let’s stick to the present where Arai is the IP Champ and already has one successful title defence in her reign. A glamourous girl like her needs a glamourous opponent for such a big show. Luckily there is someone right here who fits the description.

Yuki Kamifuku has shown a lot more determination to win recently. Last year in the Tokyo Princess Cup she became fed up with her own excuses about never taking tournaments seriously because the younger wrestlers were using it against her whenever she lost. She proved all of them wrong by reaching the final round. While she did not win the tournament, her run of success getting there was the spark needed to figure out what she wanted to do next. She began searching for ways she could make TJPW more exciting. One of them was wrestling around Southeast Asia and winning the Queen Of Asia Title. Next on her list is challenging Arai for the IP Title because it is a match that can attract fans from their hometowns (Nagoya for Arai and Fujisawa for Kamifuku). She also thinks two beautiful women fighting over a championship sounds like an exciting way to draw in a crowd.

10. Princess Tag Team Titles: Ryo Mizunami & Yuki Aino (c) Vs Suzume & Arisu Endo

There have been many great super subs in sport throughout the years. Ole Gunnar Solskjear for Manchester United, Manu Ginobili for the San Antonio Spurs, Tadashi Yamaguchi for Karasuno High School and perhaps the most greatest of them all… Ryo Mizunami for Tokyo Joshi Pro! Whenever TJPW was in need of a last minute replacement, Aniki was there to step up for them. That kind of reliability was rewarded with a Princess Tag Team Titles run with Yuki Aino as her partner. It’s been a successful pairing that is taking them all the way to an important championship match at Sumo Hall.

The championship win was also a big boost for Aino. Tag Team wrestling has always been where her better performances come from but she keeps trying to break out into singles wrestling. This new team she formed with Mizunami was built upon their individual strengths rather than their teamwork so in a way it is kind of giving Aino the best of both worlds. The vacant titles went to Yukiniki when they won a 3 Way Match at the expense of Daisy Monkey. And wouldn’t you know it, Daisy Monkey are back looking to take those titles as revenge!

That 3 Way Match in January put Daisy Monkey in a disadvantage from the get-go. The original match was Suzume & Arisu Endo challenging the champions Free WiFi. That plan was thrown out the window because of Hikari Noa suddenly going on hiatus, causing WiFi to be stripped of the belts. While that match ended up being a big setback for Daisy Monkey, they were ready to start climbing from the bottom once again. In February they fought tooth and nail to win the annual Max Heart Tournament and become recognised as TJPW’s strongest tag team. They immediately called their shot and challenged Yukiniki for the titles. It is the one thing Suzume & Endo want more than anything else because becoming the champions will put them on the same level as all of the tag teams from TJPW’s history that they admire.

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

Memories of the 2022 Tokyo Princess Cup remain fresh in my mind. That was the year Miu Watanabe scored the upset semi-final win against Miyu Yamashita that planted the seeds to this weekend’s main event. The story today is similar to what it was back then. Watanabe believes she is ready to beat the veteran generation and surpass them to become the best wrestler in TJPW. The person who stands in her way though is the ace who has been on top of the company since day one. It’s Yamashita. It is always Yamashita. Watanabe got a reminder of that when she was pinned with the Skull Kick for the finish of the 10th Anniversary main event last December.

Yamashita’s 4th Princess Of Princess Title reign has so far been built around defences against foreign wrestlers. Regina, Delmi Exo (happened in MLW) and Masha Slamovich have all failed to dethrone her. She is also going on another tour of America this year that will last from April to June. If Yamashita wins at Sumo Hall she intends to bring the belt with her for more title defences overseas. It’s a situation all too familiar for TJPW fans. Yamashita has done it all on top and has become an even bigger fish in the small pond.

Watanabe’s talents make her the natural choice for a brand new champion yet TJPW always relies on the original generation to carry the top belt. The Princess Title lineage has been running through the same cycle of Yamashita, Sakazaki, Nakajima, Tatsumi and Mizuki since 2018. While it might be prestigious to book a championship lineage around an exclusive club, TJPW is long past the point of giving the ball to somebody new so they can run with it. The concern is they might miss the window and wait too long to crown the next ace. Do we really need another wrestling company that delays their coronation of a new star for a year again?

Tetsuya Koda’s management philosophy follows that of the idol industry. Over there the senior generation of idols graduate and open up new spots for the junior idols to take their place. That is how the business evolves. TJPW’s roster progression feels similar but moves at a much more glacial pace, perhaps surprisingly so. Not to jynx anything but it always amazes me the amount of wrestlers TJPW produced in its history that have stuck around for the long haul. Does it take losing main eventers like Sakazaki for the younger wrestlers to finally move up the ladder? Does that mean there is a permanent bottleneck on top for as long as Yamashita remains in TJPW competing at the level she always does? If she ever does leave would TJPW just resort to relying on the remaining former Princess Champions to carry the title scene again? Those are the questions on my mind if Yamashita beats Watanabe this Sunday. If Watanabe wins and becomes the champion instead then buckle up because TJPW will be stepping into fresh territory for the first time in a long time.

DramaticDDT’s Predictions For 2024

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

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

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

DDT

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

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

Tokyo Joshi Pro

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

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

Ganbare☆Pro Wrestling

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

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

Miscellaneous

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

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

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

DDT

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Prediction: Tetsuya Endo should go on an overseas excursion.

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

Tokyo Joshi Pro

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

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

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

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

Prediction: Maki Itoh wins the GCW World Heavyweight Championship.

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

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

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

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

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

Ganbare☆Pro

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

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

Prediction: The Ganbare☆Climax returns.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Miscellaneous

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She’s your problem now, Tony!

DDT “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2023” Preview

DDT “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2023”, 23/07/2023
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. Takeshi Masada Vs Kazuma Sumi
2. Sanshiro Takagi, Shinichiro Kawamatsu & Yuni Vs Masahiro Takanashi, Toy Kojima & Rukiya
3. 3 Way 6-Man Tag Match: Naruki Doi, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata Vs Minoru Fujita, MJ Paul & KANON Vs Kotaro Suzuki, Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku
4. Yuki “Sexy” Iino, Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno & Yumehito “Fantastic” Imanari (w/ Kachikire Hisaya) Vs Akito, Soma Takao & Yoshitomo Shimohigashi (w/ Buchigire Ujihara)
5. Special Tag Match: Chiitan☆ & Pokotan Vs Andreza Giant Panda & Super Sasadango Machine
6. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Kazusada Higuchi, Ryota Nakatsu & Yuki Ishida (c) Vs Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & Hideki Okatani
7. Special Single Match: TAKA Michinoku Vs MAO
8. Special Tag Match ~ Yukio Naya Return Match: HARASHIMA & Yukio Naya Vs Jun Akiyama & Shigehiro Irie
9. Special Single Match: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA Vs Yuki Ueno
10. DDT Universal Title: Tetsuya Endo (c) Vs Matt Cardona (w/ Steph De Lander)
11. Mexico Kanko Presents Dramatic Dream Match: Daisuke Sasaki Vs El Desperado
12. KO-D Openweight Title – Good Com Asset Presents: Yuji Hino (c) Vs Chris Brookes

Welcome to the 15th annual “WRESTLE PETER PAN”! This year DDT is bringing their flagpole supercard back to Sumo Hall for the first time sine 2018. There is a lot to go through. It’s a twelve match card and all of it is included on the main card. No dark matches, pre-show exhibitions or whatever you want to call them. DDT needs to put their best foot forward on Sunday as they struggle to regain the ground they lost over the pandemic years. A few matches on the card looks like they’re throwing different ideas to the wall and seeing what sticks. It hasn’t reached the depths of desperation yet but they could really do with this show becoming a hit.

I’ll go through each topic in more detail below when it applies to the match but DDT has been hampered by a few things this year. There is a little bit of an identity crisis in there, perhaps the wrong people were chosen to hold a few of the championships and an injury bug keeps getting in the way of every attempt to elevate people. There is also a staleness to the humour and the fresh blood are not being given enough opportunities to come up with their own jokes. I will listen to any arguments that CyberFight should stop being scared of mixing DDT and NOAH together for more inter-promotional matches. Keiji Muto’s retirement show was a great demonstration what DDT and Tokyo Joshi Pro wrestlers would look like under NOAH’s top notch presentation. The problem there is the people in charge are determined not to make any of the same mistakes SWS did in the early 90s when it comes to to managing multiple companies in a “room-by-room” manner. It’s a delicate task having to juggle several different rosters with their own differing views on what kind of wrestling show to put on.

1. Takeshi Masada Vs Kazuma Sumi

The day kicks off with a match between two wrestlers from the current crop of rookies that have been at times referred to as D GENERATIONS. The name came from the D GENERATIONS CUP tournament that was held in the Spring to give DDT’s fresh blood the chance to earn the last spot on the company’s trip to Los Angeles for their DDT USA shows. The winner of the tournament was Takeshi Masada who was already being marketed as the highest prospect to come out of DDT’s dojo in years. Getting to debut after only three months of training will give you that kind of hype. He was the first from a group of five to debut. The second is his opponent here Kazuma Sumi. Officially it took him half a year of training before debut but in reality Sumi was previously attached to Dragongate’s dojo and dropped out. If there is more to the story about how, when and why he jumped to DDT, it hasn’t been told to anyone publicly so I doubt there is anything unusual or controversial behind it. So much of DDT’s talent development throughout its history is built around taking in dropouts from other dojos anyway. They’re not a picky company and if they are I can’t imagine what kind of trainees they’ve turned down for reasons involving quality.

The current state of DDT’s training system is sort of displayed with this matchup. The rookies they’ve been debuting over the last twelve to eighteen months are all functionally good. Masada’s been the best of the bunch and has clearly been positioned as such. Sumi gets to display his athleticism but not much else in the form of character. While I enjoy seeing fresh faces coming in and have fun following the careers that last, the underlying problem so far is the lack of creativity given to their roles. I can tell they get to have fun doing what they do and are willing to join in whatever silliness is thrown their way. It’s just that so far none of it is by their own creation. DDT needs to come up with new jokes and gimmicks. Keigo Nakamura is an example of somebody who is standing out as his own character and personality but unfortunately he’s become injury prone and I fear his wrestling career has been shortened for that reason. It’s fine that the company is able to attract new trainees on a regular basis but I would like to see them become more than just extra bodies to drop falls to the veterans.

2. Sanshiro Takagi, Shinichiro Kawamatsu & Yuni Vs Masahiro Takanashi, Toy Kojima & Rukiya

A battle between generations young and old with a few returns from injury added too. Sanshiro Takagi has been rehabbing a torn calf in his left leg in order to make this show. He is also the current Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion at the time of writing. You’d think he’d be tempting fate by telling the other wrestlers not to take advantage of his weakened state but everyone followed the order and left him be. The politician Shinichiro Kawamatsu had a failed attempt at becoming the new O-40 Champion back in March but made up for it a month later by directly winning a match for the first time. Yuni has been the most active out of anyone from the team. The youngster unmasked himself to end his El Unicorn gimmick and graduated from child pro wrestler to teenage pro wrestler. The other team has Masahiro Takanashi as the veteran captaining two young prospects. Toy Kojima is finding his place in the world as part of The 37KAMIINA. He recently lost a feud to DAMNATION T.A but showed a lot of fire standing up for himself and his friends. Rukiya is at the time of writing still recovering from a cracked sternum. He only debuted in April so hopefully it’s just a minor setback. Still though, I always say rookies break easily. DDT is only just coming out of an injury bug too.

3. 3 Way 6-Man Tag Match: Naruki Doi, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata Vs Minoru Fujita, MJ Paul & KANON Vs Kotaro Suzuki, Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku

Long story short this is three wrestlers who all carry the Toryumon gene in some form taking on both DAMNATION T.A and the lower ranked wrestlers in BURNING. Ever since he went freelance Naruki Doi has been on a tear by winning championships in both DDT and All Japan. His brightest moment in DDT was short lived but he still shows up from time to time where he is stuck with Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata due to their shared wrestling heritage. Yes, even including Hirata. DAMNATION T.A have sort of been inconsistent this year. KANON got injured with a dislocated shoulder and just came back to the ring recently. Minoru Fujita was busy wrestling elsewhere so DDT was not a priority for him. MJ Paul is the same as always but at least he gets a KO-D Tag Team Title reign out of it. BURNING’s two youngest wrestlers have spent a lot of time on the undercard. That’s fair for Yuya Koroku given how young his career is but Yusuke Okada never progresses anywhere and I’m not sure why. Kotaro Suzuki leads the team into the match and remains involved with BURNING as an extra guiding hand whenever they need it.

4. Yuki “Sexy” Iino, Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno & Yumehito “Fantastic” Imanari (w/ Kachikire Hisaya) Vs Akito, Soma Takao & Yoshitomo Shimohigashi (w/ Buchigire Ujihara)

DDT was spared from having the main event scene successfully taken over by Pheromones after “MEGA MAX BUMP 2023” back in May. Yuki Iino has brushed aside his short lived “Strong” persona to become “Sexy” again and is back to pushing the envelope with Danshoku Dieno & Yumehito Imanari. The boss Takagi has long since passed the responsibility of suppressing Pheromones down to his Vice President Akito. It’s a thankless task but Akito keeps agreeing to the job in the hopes it will take him right to the top of CyberFight management whenever Takagi calls it a day. Soma Takao is dragged into the mission as the man in charge of the Dropkick Bar. That makes him a vital employee in the eyes of Akito so he must take part whether he wants to or not. Filling out the team is Akito’s secret weapon. One with a origin that goes back to Kota Ibushi. It’s not Ibushi himself though. He was busy this week.

Remember the Ibushi Wrestling Institute? It’s that project Ibushi put together after he ended his double contract with DDT and New Japan. It turned out there actually was somebody who debuted as a pro wrestler under that banner in 2018. Meet Yoshitomo Shimohigashi, aka “Golden Stardust” the first man to carry on Ibushi’s pro wrestling legacy. His background is in pro bowling, his wife is a competitive eater and he’s barely wrestled much in the 5 years since. Boy, Ibushi sure knows how to pick them. Shimohigashi’s most high profile matches have been with Tokyo Gurentai and I haven’t been able to find anywhere else he’s been. He is a figure more known inside the pro wrestling business than out and Akito is attached to him through having an advisory role in the Institute.

One last addition to the match is the involvement of Buchigire Ujihara, a comedian on Youtube who was just a bystander at a restaurant where Pheromones and Akito’s team got into a fight. He got caught in the crossfire along with the DDT GM Hisaya Imabayashi. When Imabayashi found out who Ujihara is, he flipped his lid. Ujihara gets to make a living off of playing pranks and acting a fool on Youtube while Imabayashi has to work several different part time jobs along with his subcontracted DDT role in order to get a decent salary. The jealousy caused Imabayashi to unexpectedly side with Pheromones because he no longer sees the point of defending DDT against them when he is not a full time employee. Now going by the name Kachikire Hisaya, this time he’ll get to join in with the Pheromones abuse after years of having to take it.

5. Special Tag Match: Chiitan☆ & Pokotan Vs Andreza Giant Panda & Super Sasadango Machine

What can I say? Mascots are big in Japan. Chiitan’s crazy debut in May lured DDT’s own mascot Pokotan back to the ring out of jealousy. They settled their differences in a tag match and discovered they can work quite well together as a team. They also already came up with their own tag team finisher called the Chi☆Poco Trigger. All that was left needed is a tag team name. DDT fans did the job for them, coming up with ChiiPoko☆Ultra Cute Alliance as the name. Everything’s ready so let’s see what their opponents get up to. Andreza Giant Panda & Super Sasadango Machine have prior history with each other. In 2018 Sasadango made it his mission to put a stop to Andreza because the panda’s gigantic appitite was a danger to the local environment. He failed but ended up on Andreza’s good side afterward. Almost four years later and they are back in the ring together going against two violent mascots. Andreza defeated Pokotan in a preview singles match that saw Andreza take off Pokotan’s head with an uppercut! Will Chiitan be given the same fate? Normally Sasadango would come up with a big plan and happily tell the audience what he means to achieve, slide by slide. He won’t have to do that with something as powerful as Andreza by his side Headbutting mascots left, right and centre.

6. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Kazusada Higuchi, Ryota Nakatsu & Yuki Ishida (c) Vs Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & Hideki Okatani

Aw man, we’re getting closer towards saying goodbye to Saki Akai. I don’t want to do that yet. She is set to retire from pro wrestling on 12th November, ending a decade long career on her own terms without injury and away from life changing circumstances (she has since called out the double standard in the industry where men always assume a female wrestler’s decision to retire is because of marriage or pregnancy). Until that day comes, Akai has one goal in mind and that is to win the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles with Eruption one more time. It is a belt she has held just once before with the original Eruption trio. That is what makes this match a little more spicy because this time Akai & Yukio Sakaguchi are teaming with Hideki Okatani while Kazusada Higuchi is now on the other side defending the championship against them!

We are well past Higuchi’s reign at the top of the mountain sadly enough. Harimao wanted to blow a new wind across DDT but that plan hit a massive wall when Naomi Yoshimura took time off to deal with a herniated disc. Higuchi did his best to rebuild the unit to make up for Yoshimura’s absence. He called in his DNA generation rival Ryota Nakatsu from BASARA not to replace Yoshimura but to add more firepower for when he returns. The decision worked out as Harimao went on to win the KO-D 6-Man Tag Titles, giving the third man Yuki Ishida plenty of experience to gain. Ishida himself is gradually levelling up by relying heavily on having Dosukoi spirit. It inspired a new pinning hold he uses that has scored the three count on both Sakaguchi and Akai. Those results have left Sakaguchi in a bad mood. So not only does Eruption want to win the titles one more time, Sakaguchi wants Ishida’s head on a plate too!

7. Special Single Match: TAKA Michinoku Vs MAO

MAO has spent the month in America and is coming back ready for an important match against one of his inspirations. Growing up in the Tohoku region as a wrestling fan means it is obvious that MAO would look up to somebody like TAKA Michinoku. The Spaceman Plancha and use of the Michinoku Driver are as clear nods as you can get. This is not the first time MAO and TAKA have fought each other though. Back in 2017 TAKA defeated MAO on a DNA event. TAKA was complimentary towards him then. A few months later MAO avenged the loss a little bit by pinning TAKA at the annual New Year’s Eve Korakuen Hall show. What’s noteworthy about that is it happened right when the countdown reached zero so it was both the last pro wrestling result in Japan of 2017 as well as the first pro wrestling result of 2018! The two have not fought each other since then and a lot has changed. TAKA is a key part of Just 5 Guys in New Japan while 2023 became the year MAO started getting noticed on the American indies for his nutty antics inside and out of the ring.

This singles match will be a good test to see where MAO fits in from this point forward. His strongest work in DDT is as a tag team wrestler. His run with the KO-D Tag Titles as part of ShunMao is a highlight of DDT’s 2023 that sadly had to end when Shunma Katsumata fractured his ankle. That point I made for the first match about DDT giving the younger wrestlers more chances to be creative? MAO is a good example of letting that happen, especially when he used the recent USA excursion to spread his wings. Who ever thought we would see him cosplay as Don Callis for example? His feud with Yoshihiko and Kazuki Hirata over the vacant DDT Extreme Title was a fun way to shine a bigger spotlight over that part of the roster too. I hope to see that sort of energy going into the match with TAKA. Would his opponent be up for it though?

8. Special Tag Match ~ Yukio Naya Return Match: HARASHIMA & Yukio Naya Vs Jun Akiyama & Shigehiro Irie

The injury bug has been a regular problem for DDT this year. Several times they try to build up wrestlers and then bam! They go down with an injury. Yukio Naya is probably the biggest example of that given his main event push. After years of trying, the big lug finally started to click things together and had a strong run in the D-Ou Grand Prix, beating Higuchi in an upset to reach the final. He didn’t win the tournament but the push continued into Spring where he main evented DDT’s Korakuen shows two more times, including the 26th Anniversary show. Then his ankle went kaput and he’s been out of action ever since. Four months later and he finally gets to return and start climbing the ranks again. The question now is if the injury was disruptive enough to wipe away the progress he made since the winter? Before he got hurt he had improved a bunch but boy did it take a long time for that to happen. DDT wants to build their main events around heavyweights which is why they are determined to get a guy like Naya over. Him being part of a famous sumo family is a reason too.

So if Naya is back to being able to give and take a lot of big impact moves, DDT have found the right people to put him in the ring with. HARASHIMA was one of the wrestlers who lost to Naya as part of Naya’s rise up to the main event spot in the first half of the year. So it makes sense to have those two teaming up. Jun Akiyama is always there for Naya’s generation to chase after. There will be a day where Naya scores a fall on Akiyama but it won’t be here. Shigehiro Irie running into people at full speed is always as fun as it is dangerous. I’ll be sweating bullets thought if Irie does the Running Cannonball spot against the ropes to Naya. A guy Naya’s size will take the move better than Yumehito Imanari ever could but that injury bug is still hanging around.

9. Special Single Match: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA Vs Yuki Ueno

I don’t know how many more times I’ll get to write about Konosuke Takeshita in these kind of show previews so enjoy them while we can. A heel turn in AEW has him firmly placed in a storyline with The Elite over on the Dynamite half of the company. With that heel turn comes questions about how Takeshita will behave when he is back in DDT wrestling against his longtime friend Yuki Ueno. The hint is in how his name is now spelt. He has ditched the hiragana writing to go completely romanized in the upper case, becoming KONOSUKE TAKESHITA! Shout it as loud as that one Wakana Uehara fan for full effect. So how will Takeshita treat Ueno? Is he still a sauna loving member of The 37KAMIINA? Did Don Callis tell him to ditch the Cinnabon takeouts and go on a diet? Will he become Chris Jericho’s next clout victim? So many questions to answer and only some will be given at this match.

Takeshita and Ueno have had two previous singles matches this year. The first was only a ten minute long draw that was done as a new year bonus for the fans. The second took place in Los Angeles as the main event for DDT’s USA show with Takeshita coming out on top. While he’s been sorting out things in AEW, Ueno’s been advancing up the ranks in DDT by winning the D-Ou Grand Prix and working towards becoming the guy to carry the company on his back. The results so far have not matched his ambition. As much as I think the guy is talented in the ring, a bland personality continues to hold him back. I don’t know if the solution is to make him find a rotten side by turning heel or take some comedy classes to develop a wackier character but what he is right now does not connect. Something he has been up to recently is getting an acting role for a children’s TV show on NHK. So maybe the next step is booking him into becoming a hero to children? Ueno has always been in Takeshita’s shadow though. If the Takeshita that turns up is nothing like the one Ueno knows then there could be a harsh lesson to learn there.

10. DDT Universal Title: Tetsuya Endo (c) Vs Matt Cardona (w/ Steph De Lander)

2022 turned into a year to forget for Tetsuya Endo and not by choice either. There is no denying the diamond’s shine has been diminished ever since Katsuhiko Nakajima knocked him out and he hasn’t come close to reclaiming it. 2023 has been better. He has bounced back somewhat by holding the KO-D 6-Man Tag Titles with BURNING and then went on to win the DDT Universal Title. He is now being positioned in an important match of the card against a big international name. Not bad but given the high hopes I’ve always held for they guy I’m always going to think he should be doing better. How much that should be blamed on him is a bitter pill for me to swallow. That slap is going to keep haunting him for quite a while yet and it doesn’t look like he’ll a chance to exorcise that ghost anytime soon.

Next question to ask, is Endo’s opponent a good fit for DDT? Matt Cardona was the success story of the American indies in 2021 with his heel run in GCW reinventing himself into something way more newsworthy than just another ex-WWE superstar. He’s gone on to win championships across America and now sets his sights on winning the DDT Universal Title with a big pay day to go along with it. That last piece of info touched a nerve with the champion. He was told to expect a former WWE wrestler to come challenge him. But he didn’t know DDT was allegedly paying the challenger 30 million yen to do the match! That Cardona is the person chosen to fight him after so much hype does not impress Endo one bit. He doesn’t think of him as a strong opponent if it’s being based on how many social media followers he has. If that much money is being spent then Endo thinks it should have been given to himself instead! One thing to watch out for is Cardona’s partner in crime Steph De Lander. The former NXT wrestler has benefited greatly from working with Cardona as his Sensational Sherri equivalent. She won’t be afraid to do some nasty things to Endo in the ring if the opportunity presents itself. She said it herself in the hype video “When the Indy God and the Baddest Bitch come to DDT, you’re all fucked!”

11. Mexico Kanko Presents Dramatic Dream Match: Daisuke Sasaki Vs El Desperado

It’s not often that Daisuke Sasaki springs up a surprise for DDT fans that everyone approves of. So everyone was thrilled when he pulled some strings and got this as the first match announcement for the show. For somebody who always threatens to quit and go home every time he suffers a setback, the match has been keeping Sasaki focused for the last few months. That it’s being sponsored by a tourism company willing to reward the winner with a year’s worth of tequila probably helps. The company has already been warned that one year’s worth for Sasaki is equal to five year’s worth for anyone else. Sasaki is already promising to drink through three bottles a day if he wins. Can you blame the guy when he’s had to spend the last couple of weeks feuding with somebody as persistent as Toy Kojima? All that chair swinging is thirsty work you know.

Who right now is living a happier wrestling life than El Desperado? The masked man has been ticking off a bucket list of goals this year while somehow championing the independents as a New Japan wrestler. He’s been repping Junior Heavyweight wrestling, getting into death matches with Jon Moxley, fighting in the GCW Tournament Of Survival, popping through the Forbidden Door, getting a tour with CMLL that includes a visit to Arena Mexico and even found a way to get Jun Kasai inside the NJPW ring for the first time ever. The man loves the indies so much he wrestled Evil Uno on a Mystery Wrestling show for God’s sake! So when he got challenged by Sasaki, who is he to say no? In a wrestling world where it feels like every important match needs something on the line, both Sasaki and Desperado are happy to just have it be for the tequila. They don’t see the need for a championship to be on the line or for masks and hair to be wagered. Just the two of them as they are will be enough to promise an intense fight in the ring.

12. KO-D Openweight Title – Good Com Asset Presents: Yuji Hino (c) Vs Chris Brookes

The running storyline that carried DDT’s main event scene across 2022 was whoever was KO-D Openweight Champion became the man to carry DDT on their back from that point forward. In Higuchi’s case he was literally turned into the company’s flag bearer. The rest of the year was spent having Higuchi defend the title against the likes of Endo, Takeshita, Shinya Aoki, Sakaguchi and Ueno. Unfortunately he didn’t become much of a difference maker for DDT. As much as the foreign fanbase approves of Higuchi, he doesn’t have the same hold on the home audience. That’s why in 2023 the value of the KO-D Title has felt a little off. Yuji Hino defeated Higuchi to take the title in January and has held onto it ever since. What has felt off the entire time is Hino himself. He hasn’t been the big nasty heel that longtime fans remember from K-DOJO. In fact he’s been pretty supportive of DDT as their champion. He does his part to promote the company as the place to be, it just hasn’t been working out that way despite his efforts. DDT also really wants to get more heavyweights going in the main event position, as shown by having Hino’s defences so far be against Naya and Iino. It’s been a criticism towards DDT for quite a while now. Why fight to compete against the heavyweight divisions of the bigger companies when your appeal was always supposed to be something entirely different?

So if they story for DDT is the search for the right person to carry the company, they may have had him in the background the entire time. Chris Brookes from the moment he stepped foot in the company got what DDT is. Not just from a fanboy level by getting to relive everything he ever downloaded from Megaupload but also understanding a company spirit that is all parts open minded, anarchic and most of all daft. The dedication was also there when he chose to stay in Japan during the pandemic. Ever since then he’s been an integral part of DDT as well as Gatoh Move and a few other indies. He also went ahead and crafted his own little hub in the Japanese wrestling scene with the Baka Gaijin + Friends shows. At a time when DDT is trying to develop something that’s as prestigious as whatever NOAH or All Japan are doing, Brookes is busy digging up Mecha Mummy and putting together events that capture the warm vibes of DDT’s Beer Garden shows. The company always has a high ambition of where they want to go but perhaps how they get there is all wrong. It’s time to switch things up and Brookes looks like the guy to lead the pack.

That’s all easier said then done though. Brookes dislocated his shoulder two months ago and was out of action for a lot of the build up to this main event. He even admits he might have come back to wrestle too soon with his shoulder being anywhere from 70% to 90% recovered. His injury time has left Hino feeling annoyed for several reasons. Hino goes into his matches hurt too but he never takes time off. He argued why does Brookes get to stay home and rest while he has to keep wrestling on shows? Then Hino’s attitude towards Brookes changed into something more mocking. He started cracking jokes and treating Brookes like a rookie making his debut instead of an established wrestler coming back from injury. It was up to the challenger’s friends to step up and fight Hino on his behalf. Even when Brookes started wrestling again and won a tag match, Hino would still make fun of him for only beating Makoto Oishi. Brookes will have to work real hard to prove Hino wrong. He has taken big guys down with the Octopus Stretch in the past but Hino has been winning matches with the King Kong Sleeper. The champion also has the Fuckin’ BOMB, one of the most devastating moves in DDT. Does Brookes have the strength to lift up Hino with the Praying Mantis Bomb to combat this? The result of this match can lead to a different looking DDT for the rest of the year.

Guide To TJPW In Los Angeles

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “TJPW LIVE IN LOS ANGELES”, 31/03/2023
Globe Theatre, Los Angeles, California, USA

1. Yuki Kamifuku Vs Janai Kai
2. Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta Vs Suzume & Arisu Endo
3. Hyper Misao & Trish Adora Vs Yuki Aino & Raku
4. Shoko Nakajima & Miu Watanabe Vs Max The Impaler & Heidi Howitzer
5. International Princess Title: Rika Tatsumi (c) Vs Billie Starkz
6. Princess Tag Team Titles: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh (c) Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki

It took three years of waiting but Tokyo Joshi Pro is finally landing in the USA! Originally they were supposed to make their American debut during the WrestleMania Weekend of 2020 but the global pandemic scrapped those plans. This year everything has fallen into place for the trip to go ahead with a new audience coming over to see what all the fuss is about. Maybe you know about TJPW from Yuka Sakazaki and Maki Itoh’s appearances in AEW or from the gifs of Miyu Yamashita kicking the heads off of other girls. Or maybe you just want to find out what is Raku’s Train Of The Day live in person. Whether you are a long time fan, a casual follower or an online reporter who thinks all joshi wrestling is Stardom there is something for everybody on this show.

Where can I watch it online?

The “TJPW LIVE IN LOS ANGELES” show will be streaming live on FITE as a PPV costing $19.99. It is NOT included in the FITE+ subscription. The on-demand version of the show will be available to watch on Wrestle Universe two weeks after the live broadcast.

When and where are the shows taking place?

“TJPW LIVE IN LOS ANGELES” is taking place at the Globe Theatre, Los Angeles on Friday 31st March at 12pm pacific time.

Is this a proper TJPW show?

Yes, I’d say so. You’re not getting the entire roster over but the card to me looks like 3/4 of a lineup you would get for one of their Korakuen Hall shows held away from 4th January or Golden Week. Two title matches on one show is a big deal for them. All that’s missing are the low card and rookie wrestlers. The American wrestlers booked have all toured with TJPW this year so none of them are out of place. Plus Sayuri Namba will be there to do her ring announcing duties.

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1. Yuki Kamifuku Vs Janai Kai

Glamour meets martial arts in the opening bout. Yuki Kamifuku is a model who entered TJPW as a party girl then over the years matured into a big sister role for many of the other women. Janai Kai has been making a name for herself across the indies as the “Kick Demon” and stepped into TJPW for the first time this past February.

Yuki Kamifuku: Sometimes called by her nickname Kamiyu, she is the tallest member of TJPW’s core roster. As much as she knows how to get under her opponent’s skin with harsh comments, she is loyal and sympathetic to her friends. Is proud of her modelling background because she has always been herself while proving you do not need to be a die hard pro wrestling fan to succeed in the business. Grew up in Ohio during her junior high school years so she knows the most English out of the bunch.
Moves To Watch Out For: Famouser (Jumping Leg Drop), Dropkick, Yahoo 83cm (Headscissors DDT), Manjigatame, Thumb To The Eye

Janai Kai: Looking straight out of a martial arts movie about a lethal fighting tournament, “Kick Demon” is a pretty accurate way to describe Janai Kai. She made her TJPW debut in February, achieving her goal of wrestling in Japan that took her 5 years to reach. She couldn’t bring any gold back home from that tour but will be even more determined to get another chance.
Moves To Watch Out For: Tornado Kick, Chaos Kicks (Speedball Kick Combo), Karate Kick to the back, Half Nelson Slam

2. Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta Vs Suzume & Arisu Endo

How are these for tag team names? Hikari Noa & Nao Kakuta are Free WiFi because they think putting that name on the show poster will attract more customers. They also recently came up with a big tag team finisher called the 5G. Suzume & Arisu Endo are called Daisy Monkey because Suzume looks like a flower and Endo pulls her own face like a monkey. The two teams fill out the midcard in TJPW’s tag division although Kakuta does have a big championship match coming up in Japan pretty soon.

Hikari Noa: The first member of The Up Up Girls to have a match on the show. The Up Up Girls are an idol pop group that established a pro wrestling spin-off unit with TJPW. Noa is the member who loves death matches way more than idol music! The only reason she joined the project in the first place was to back door her way into a wrestling career. Her history with tag teams are a little bit cursed because her previous tag partners wound up either leaving the company or leaving pro wrestling entirely. Free WiFi is the first team of hers to last for a year.
Moves To Watch Out For: Blizzard Suplex, Thrust Kick, Blue Racer (Modified Cobra Twist)

Nao Kakuta: A member of the original class of Actwres girl’Z, Noa went freelance and jumped over to TJPW transforming herself from a rat chasing catgirl to a roll calling leader. She was previously a kindergarten teacher, a social welfare director and a camp instructor before becoming a stage actress and pro wrestler. She also got really into horse racing during the pandemic. Kakuta is currently gearing up for a big championship match next month so she’s looking to build her momentum here.
Moves To Watch Out For: Shiden Kai (Fireman’s Carry into a Stunner), Tarantula Headscissors, Kenka Kick

Suzume: Strong as a wasp, Suzume is the Daisy half of Daisy Monkey. She joined TJPW when a friend invited her to go see a show and went through 7 months of training before making her debut. Has been gradually climbing up the singles ladder and may only be a matter of time before she earns her first championship somehwere. Every time she’s entered the Tokyo Princess Cup tournament she’s reached one round further than the year before.
Moves To Watch Out For: Ring A Bell (RKO), Mikazuki Meteor Shower (Diving Cross Body), Twinkle (Twisting School Boy)

Arisu Endo: There was once a cheerleading idol unit called Cheer♡1 and their standout member Reika Saiki became a successful pro wrestler in TJPW. When she left Cheer♡1, her replacement in the group was Arisu Endo. She too wanted to follow in Saiki’s footsteps and eventually took the same path. It’s the reason why she uses the Camel Clutch as one of her signature moves because Saiki used it too. Endo also has a habit of regularly dying her hair into any colour on the spectrum you can think of. Away from wrestling she is a tourism ambassador for her hometown of Aizuwakamatsu City.
Moves To Watch Out For: Camel Clutch, Mt. Bandai (2nd Rope Missile Dropkick), Tsuruga Castle (Guillotine Knee Drop)

3. Hyper Misao & Trish Adora Vs Yuki Aino & Raku

A match that will send everyone who watches to dreamland and intentionally so. It’s a dream that could go off the rails though. You have Trish Adora teaming with Hyper Misao, a superhero who fights more like a super villain. The other team is TJPW’s spirit of burning love Yuki Aino fighting alongside Raku, The Up Up Girl who built her entire personality around trains and sleeping.

Hyper Misao: When love and peace is under threat in TJPW, you can always rely on Hyper Misao to come to the rescue. Just don’t be surprised if her battleplan turns out to be not as heroic as she looks. Before her matches begin she will get on the microphone and reveal to everyone what she is intends to achieve in the ring that day. She always greets the audience during these introductions with “Hello big children!” While she has the talent to win fair fights, she usually prefers underhanded tactics like blinding her opponents with cold spray, wrapping them up in tape and crashing the Hyper Mobile bicycle into them. You know, typical hero stuff.
Moves To Watch Out For: Hypami Returns (Final Cut), I Am A Hero (Diving Cross Body), Crossface Chickenwing, Vanitas (Double Arm Facebuster), Cold Spray Attack

Trish Adora: The current Pan-Afrikan World Diaspora Wrestling World Champion at the time of writing. Became a pro wrestler after serving for the US Army and has been all over the American indies ever since. The “Afro Punk” got to tour with TJPW in January and is often chosen as an opponent for one of their wrestlers or title matches whenever they come over to America. Away from TJPW she is currently building herself up in the rebooted ROH.
Moves To Watch Out For: Lariat Tubman (Short Range Lariat), Cattle Mutilation, Kneeling German Suplex

Yuki Aino: TJPW’s former ring announcer turned pro wrestler. Ever since her sister Nodoka Tenma graduated from wrestling, Aino found herself getting more attached to Raku & Pom Harajuku. The three of them are almost inseparable but sadly Harajuku is not coming over for the show. Aino also recently debuted a brand new look so she is currently trying to figure out where she stands on the roster. As much as she considered going singles, she seems to be most comfortable wrestling in tag matches.
Moves To Watch Out For: Venus DDT (Inverted DDT), UBV/Unlimited Burning Venus (Double Arm Side Buster), Full Nelson Of Love And Fire (Full Nelson Camel Clutch)

Raku: The second Up Up Girl you will see on the show. Raku’s entire personality can be summed down to naps and trains. Knows so much railway trivia she often tells fans her Train Of The Day on every show. Will the metro rail in LA meet her standards? Her moveset is built around sending her opponents to sleep with a lullaby so she can run over them with the Oyasumi Express. She also sometimes brings a pillow to her matches to use as a weapon and a shield. Somehow this entire package has made the fans and a good chunk of the roster absolutely adore her.
Moves To Watch Out For: Doctor Yellow (Jumping Neckbreaker), Hurricane Turn (Cross-Arm Backslide Pin), Oyasumi Express (running on top of the opponent over and over), Good Night Sleeper

4. Shoko Nakajima & Miu Watanabe Vs Max The Impaler & Heidi Howitzer

A pair of rampaging warriors called The Wasteland War Party invaded TJPW over the last year, causing havoc in a promotion that would never be associated with that word. Max The Impaler & Heidi Howitzer are on home turf this time ready for battle against a Big Kaiju and one of the more powerful pop idols you will ever see. Shoko Nakajima is one of the longest serving and most decorated wrestlers on the TJPW roster. Miu Watanabe always catches people’s eyes with her power spots.

Shoko Nakajima: Meet the Big Kaiju, all 147cm of her! Nakajima has almost done it all in the company. Usually a quick and speedy wrestler, she has the strength to put away opponents with the Northern Lights Suplex and her size does not make the Diving Senton any less effective. When put in Hardcore Match situations her favourite weapon is a pile of kaiju toys that she slams her opponents onto. Last time she was on American TV she pulled a gun on some detective in an episode of S.W.A.T. and got arrested. You can see why she gets along with Hyper Misao.
Moves To Watch Out For: Northern Lights Suplex, Diving Senton, Unmanned Local Train Hold, 619

Miu Watanabe: The third and last Up Up Girl on the show, also the most powerful. You need to see her doing the Giant Swing because she knows several ways to get opponents into the move. Unlike Noa, she adores idols and can’t keep her cool when she’s around them. Maybe the most improved wrestler on the roster last year, she picked up a ton of steam with her performances in the Tokyo Princess Cup. Uses big hand gestures to spell out L-O-V-E along with her music during her entrances. When she isn’t wrestling she likes to draw art. She has a knack of making every single thing she draws look like the Babadook.
Moves To Watch Out For: Tear Drop (Modified Flapjack), Laserbeam (Overhand Chop to the chest), Giant Swing, Canadian Backbreaker

Max The Impaler: When TJPW boss Tetsuya Koda struck a deal to bring the next great foreign wrestler into Japan, he didn’t quite understand who was coming over. Max The Impaler lived up to their name as “The Non-Binary Nightmare” by causing havoc in TJPW. They kidnapped members of the media and levelled anybody brave enough (willingly or otherwise) to stand against them. Oddly enough, some of the wrestlers quickly took a liking to Max and it didn’t take long for them to be welcomed into the family. Except for Pom Harajuku because Max continues to terrorize her at every opportunity. Maybe Max’s time in TJPW has softened them up a little. We found out that Max can get distracted by collecting any cute little objects they happen to come across. That’s where having a tag team partner comes in handy.
Moves To Watch Out For: Welcome To The Wasteland (Canadian Backbreaker Drop), Body Block, Short-Range Lariat

Heidi Howitzer: Whenever Max does lose concentration during their matches, Howitzer is there to snap the focus back into them. Brash and confident, she  is full of trash talk whether she’s in the ring or standing on the apron. We haven’t seen what Howitzer is capable of by herself in TJPW yet but she may not ever need to go in that direction. It looks like she’s having too much fun wrecking the place with Max!
Moves To Watch Out For: Master Blaster (Max carries Howitzer in an Electric Chair position and throws her onto the opponent lying on the mat), Stunner, Back Drop, Lifting Full Nelson Stretch

5. International Princess Title: Rika Tatsumi (c) Vs Billie Starkz

The International Princess Title is TJPW’s secondary singles championship. It was originally created to be defended around the world against international talent but the pandemic held that idea back for a couple of years. It finally got to be used as intended last year when a title match was held in England and America is going to be the second foreign country to host a defence (the physical belt also briefly visited Mexico while Thunder Rosa was champion). Right now Rika Tatsumi is the champion gearing up for her first defence. Her challenger is America’s own Billie Starkz, a young prodigy with a growing influence on the indies.

Rika Tatsumi: The White Dragon takes her name and some of her moveset from Tatsumi Fujinami. Also has hips as hard of diamonds thanks to her training with Shiro Koshinaka. In recent years she has developed a psycho side which results in her trying to choke opponents. She claims its just her way of making friends. She recently won the IP Title, currently making her the only Grand Slam winner in TJPW history. She decided to behave more America-like in order to become an international champion. Her idea of “AmeRika” so far is wearing sunglasses and drinking cola.
Moves To Watch Out For: White Dragon Sleeper, Twist Of Fate, Hip Attack, “Let’s Go!” Elbow Drop

Billie Starkz: A lot of fresh faced wrestlers have come out of the US indies while the entire scene is crawling out of the pandemic. Perhaps none has won over so many fans in as little time as Billie Starkz. Her work has impressed TJPW as seen by her getting a main event title match on her very first tour! She just came back from another tour and wanted to be Tatsumi’s first challenger for the IP Title. Their singles match was already booked for this show so it was an easy decision to make it a title match. “Space Jesus” might just a level of crazy too high for Tatsumi. She’s definitely willing to put her body on the line to win.
Moves To Watch Out For: Swanton Bomb, Sugoi Driver (Double Legged One-Winged Angel sometimes on the ring apron), Tombstone Piledriver, German Suplex

6. Princess Tag Team Titles: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh (c) Vs Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki

The main event pits two of the strongest tag teams in TJPW’s history against each other. 121000000 (pronounced “One To Million” because together their power increases from one to a million) consists of Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh. They recently won the Princess Tag Team Titles and are putting them on the line against The Magical Sugar Rabbits in their first defence. MagiRabi are Yuka Sakazaki & Mizuki. Together they recently headlined TJPW’s biggest event ever against each other. Mizuki is currently the top wrestler in TJPW as the new reigning Princess Of Princess Champion.

Miyu Yamashita: The Pink Striker has officially been part of TJPW since Day 1 and has had the company built around her more often than not. Her Skull Kick is one of the most vicious looking finishers around. This week is the beginning of a three month expedition across North America with a few detours to England planned in between. She could find herself becoming the in-demand breakout wrestler on the indies with the schedule she has planned.
Moves To Watch Out For: Skull Kick (Backspin High Kick to the head), Crash Rabbit Heat (Running Knee Kick), Attitude Adjustment, Return Crash (Triangle Kick off the turnbuckles)

Maki Itoh: A disgraced idol who wasn’t considered good enough for the job reinvented into a foul mouthed psycho pro wrestler with an endless appetite for fame. For years Itoh struggled to progress in the ring because her skills could not match her ambition. Her fortunes changed by going to America to wrestle for AEW and GCW, gaining a brand new fanbase of simps cheering her on to succeed. Since then Itoh has racked up the wins and achievements in TJPW. When she’s about to punch her opponent in the corner she always shouts “Who is the cutest in the world?” and the audience respond with “Itoh-chan!”
Moves To Watch Out For: Itoh Special/Deluxe/Punish (Variations of the Texas Cloverleaf), Flying Big Head (Diving Headbutt), I.S.D/Itoh Suicide DDT (Flying DDT from the top rope), The Cutest Knuckle Punch In The World

Yuka Sakazaki: It can be argued that The Magical Girl is TJPW’s true ace instead of Yamashita. Always lights up the room with her entrance music that includes the lyrics “AYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY”. As much as her cheerful personality wins over new fans wherever she goes, do not take her lightly. She’s at the point in her career where she can be absolutely vicious against unsuspecting opponents. Almost unbeatable in TJPW, her regular excursions to AEW only make her come back even stronger.
Moves To Watch Out For: Magical Girl Splash (Swan Dive Diving Body Press, sometimes done with a rotation), Magical Merry-Go-Round (Spinning Fireman’s Carry into a Facebuster), Tea Time (Northern Lights Bomb), Toy Story 1-4 (Variations of Double Dives with Mizuki)

Mizuki: Right now Mizuki is top of the mountain as the Princess Champion. Her bond with Sakazaki is one of the strongest out there in wrestling, the two have stayed together through thick and thin even when they have to wrestle each other. Only wrestled in America once before and that only happened last year. Has gone viral for using the Whirling Candy in matches, a move that leaves those who see it in amazement. The Popping Sugar Rabbit might sound like a silly nickname but we’ll see who’s laughing once she starts Double Stomping people to oblivion. Here’s the answer, it’s going to be her.
Moves To Watch Out For: Cutie Special (Bridging Fall Away Slam), Whirling Candy (Spinning Cross Body Block), Diving Foot Stomp, Toy Story 1-4 (Variations of Double Dives with Sakazaki)

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But wait there’s more! Several TJPW wrestlers will have busy schedules throughout the week. Not only will members of the roster be at WrestleCon doing meet and greets but a few of them will be wrestling matches at other shows. Below is a list of events where you will see TJPW wrestlers in action.

PANDEMONIUM PRO “BEST DAMN THING”, 29/03/2023
Don Quixote, Los Angeles, California, USA

1. Maki Itoh & Kidd Bandit Vs Steph De Lander & Heather Monroe

It all kicks off tonight with Maki Itoh heading over to Pandemonium Pro. She will be teaming with Kidd Bandit, who caught Itoh’s attention online a few years ago by showing off her own Maki Itoh cosplay. Heather Monroe was originally supposed to team with Taya Valkyrie but Valkyrie had to pull out due to new booking priorities. Instead Monroe will be teaming with Steph De Lander, a former NXT wrestler who is reinventing her career on the indies. Itoh previously fought and lost to De Lander at a show in Malaysia last December.

WRESTLECON “THE MARK HITCHCOCK MEMORIAL SUPERSHOW”, 30/03/2023
Globe Theatre, Los Angeles, California, USA, Los Angeles, California, USA

1. TJPW 10-Woman Tag Showcase: X, X, X, X & X Vs X, X, X, X & X

Ten TJPW wrestlers will get to do their thing in front of WrestleCon’s premier event of the week. Who they are will not be revealed until the match takes place.

IMPACT/NJPW “MULTIVERSE UNITED”, 30/03/2023
Globe Theatre, Los Angeles, California, USA

1. 4 Way Match: Masha Slamovich Vs Deonna Purrazzo Vs Gisele Shaw Vs Miyu Yamashita

Yamashita’s North American excursion is going to take her everywhere. It was surprising enough to see her in Impact but by going there she is now technically showing up in New Japan too! The winner of the 4 Way will qualify for a Knockouts World Title match taking place on next month’s Impact PPV in Toronto. Masha Slamovich is a familiar opponent and there will be more matches between them in the future. Gisele Shaw also has history with Yamashita. Deonna Purrazzo will be a brand new experience for her. Will this be the only time we see Yamashita enter through the Forbidden Door or is there something even bigger on the horizon for her?

ROH “SUPERCARD OF HONOR 2023”, 31/03/2023
Galen Center, Los Angeles, California, USA

1. ROH Women’s World Title: Athena (c) Vs Yuka Sakazaki

Not everyone feels joy and happiness when Sakazaki enters the room. Athena has grown to really dislike her ever since Sakazaki ran in to stop Athena from bullying her beaten opponents. It’s led to a couple of fights between the two during AEW shows. Athena thought she finally got rid of Sakazaki when she injured her leg in a post-match assault. Instead she found out Sakazaki fully recovered in Japan and went back to wrestling like nothing had happened. At the time of writing Athena is about to defend the ROH Women’s Title against Emi Sakura on ROH’s weekly show. If she wins then Athena will put the title on the line against Sakazaki at the PPV just so she can get her hands on her again.

PRESTIGE “NERVOUS BREAKDOWN”, 31/03/2023
Globe Theatre, Los Angeles, California, USA

1. Taya Valkyrie Vs Miyu Yamashita

Yamashita’s match with Valkyrie on Friday is not effected by the AEW wrestler’s new commitments.

GCW “JOEY JANELA’S SPRING BREAK 7”, 31/03/2023
Ukrainian Cultural Center, Los Angeles, California, USA

1. Nick Gage & Maki Itoh Vs Effy & Allie Katch

Last but not least we finally get to see Maki Death Kill team up together! The alliance between Itoh and Nick Gage is a GCW storyline that caught fire with Itoh adopting a lot of Gage’s attitude and violent tendancies. For one night only they put out an open challenge for any two wrestlers to face them. Effy & Allie Katch, the team affectionally known as Bussy made it to the front of the queue and will get the match. When Itoh found out who her opponents were her message to them was loud and clear: “WE WILL DESTROY YOUR BUSSY.”

Guide To DDT In Los Angeles

DDT “DDT GOES HOLLYWOOD”, 30/03/2023
Ukrainian Cultural Center, Los Angeles, California, USA

1. Saki Akai Vs Vert Vixen
2. Pheromones Vs Takagi Army All Out Battle In HOLLYWOOD: Yuki “Sexy” Iino & Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno Vs Sanshiro Takagi & Michael Nakazawa
3. Special Tag Match: MAO & Shunma Katsumata Vs Chris Brookes & Yoshihiko
4. Special Tag Match: Kazusada Higuchi & Takeshi Masada Vs Andrew “The Giant” Everett & Nick Wayne
5. Special Single Match: Tetsuya Endo Vs Joey Janela
6. Dramatic Dream Tag Match: Jun Akiyama & Eddie Kingston Vs Daisuke Sasaki & KANON
7. Special Single Match: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Yuki Ueno

So you got a ticket for DDT’s big return to America for the first time since 2019 but you’re looking for some guidance over what to expect. Maybe you’ve only seen the gifs or read about the crazy moments online. Or maybe you got a ticket to this because you couldn’t get a ticket for Tokyo Joshi Pro the next day. Whatever the reason, DDT is coming to Hollywood to put on the craziest wrestling show of the month and make some dollars out of it while the yen is still weak. Things are a little bit different from the card they produced in New York four years ago. Last time they put together a show that resembled a “Best Of” collection of gimmicks and rematches. This time around the show will highlight the relationships DDT has been building with certain parts of the American wrestling scene over the last while. Some of the guests showing up here have toured with DDT in Japan before or will be doing so in the near future.

Where can I watch it online?

Both “DDT GOES HOLLYWOOD” and “GCW VS DDT” will be streaming live and on-demand as part of the FITE+ subscription. A month long subscription costs $7.99 and a 7-day free trial is available.

When and where are the shows taking place?

“DDT GOES HOLLYWOOD” is taking place at the Ukrainian Cultural Center, Los Angeles on Thursday 30th March at 8pm pacific time.

“GCW VS DDT” is taking place at the Ukrainian Cultural Center, Los Angeles on Friday 31st March at 3pm pacific time.

Will The Steiner Brothers be on either show?

No.

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1. Saki Akai Vs Vert Vixen

DDT’s top female wrestler Saki Akai is the sole member of Eruption on this show. She takes on Vert Vixen, a rising name from Texas who is about to join Tokyo Joshi Pro for a tour in Japan next month.

Saki Akai: The supermodel is celebrating 10 years as a pro wrestler this year and her focus lately has been to keep Eruption focused as a unit. She developed her Quetzalcoatl finisher after playing the role of a character with the same name on a Fate/Grand Order stage show. She can be serious in the ring with the best of them or join in with whatever goofiness that takes place in front of her. She grew up in Kyoto, they take their comedy seriously over there.
Moves To Watch Out For: Quetzalcoatl (Cobra Twist flipped into a La Magistral pinning slam), Rookie Award (Double Step Face Kick), Diving Cross Body, Triangle Choke

Vert Vixen: This wrestler is currently the first and only DEFY Women’s Champion in the promotion’s history. She has also made appearances in AEW, Impact and Women Of Wrestling. Obsessed with video games, her ring gear is often inspired by something video game related. She is nicknamed Player One because Player One always wins!
Moves To Watch Out For: Ki Crusher, Blue Thunder Bomb, Complete Shot

2. Pheromones Vs Takagi Army All Out Battle In HOLLYWOOD: Yuki “Sexy” Iino & Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno Vs Sanshiro Takagi & Michael Nakazawa

If there is any risk of the show getting suddenly called off midway through it will be during this match. Pheromones are DDT’s most extreme gimmick with plenty of nudity and perverted moves up their arsenal just waiting to be unleashed on the world. The gimmick has always been Danshoku Dieno’s bread and butter but he became extra “Dandy” when he formed the unit. Yuki Iino joined in and upgraded into becoming “Sexy”. Together they became a PR nightmare for DDT president and active wrestler Sanshiro Takagi. He’s been at war with them for a while now, determined to destroy Pheromones once and all. When Takagi asked AEW to send him help to fight Pheromones the last person he needed was Michael Nakazawa due to their own long lasting feud that’s taken place in the past.

Yuki “Sexy” Iino: He is going to get naked at some point. An ex-rugby player who was a bit of a goofy heavyweight for his first few years in the ring. He is going to get naked at some point. Recently discovered his Pheromones side, turned “Sexy” and drove the goofiness levels up past its maximum limit. He is going to get naked at some point. I cannot stress this enough, he is going to get naked at some point! It is inevitable and trying to stop him will be like trying to stop the tide from coming in.
Moves To Watch Out For: Ketsugoye (Imagine the Kamigoye but Iino hits with his butt instead of his knee), Badonkadonk (Banzai Drop from the middle ropes), Sexy Elbow, Bubba Bomb

Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno: The heart and soul of DDT’s most perverse humour. Dieno has been around for twenty years now and he’s gone through character development that makes him more than just the extreme shock factor of kissing and groping his male opponents. It’s just that he always goes back to that sort of stuff. Last time he wrestled in America he got permission to kiss fans as long as they raised their hand to show consent. The entire crowd joined in by the end of the night.
Moves To Watch Out For: Danshoku Driver (Piledriver with the victim’s head stuffed into Dieno’s tights), Lip Lock (a paralysing kiss) Danshoku Nightmare (Dieno pulls down his tights and teabags his opponent), Hell Gate (Dieno positions himself over the top turnbuckle with his rear end exposed, victims get thrown face first into it)

Sanshiro Takagi: The president of DDT and its owner CyberFight. The company’s attempts to expand internationally along with its talent growing their own reputations worldwide keeps him motivated to continue wrestling. It makes him want to show the younger wrestlers he is still crazy in the ring. His entrance song gets the crowd chanting along to “1…2…3…Fire!”
Moves To Watch Out For: Sitdown Sunflower/Himawari Bomb (Electric Chair spun into a Sitdown Power Bomb), Stone Cold Stunner, Spicolli Driver (Power Slam lift into a Death Valley Driver)

Michael Nakazawa: Was with DDT until he joined Kenny Omega to work for AEW. Despite his poor win-loss record, he is considered by DDT veterans to be one of the toughest wrestlers around because he never gets injured no matter what his opponents do to him. He is also kind of a pervert due to his habit of using lotion oil as a weapon and finding ways to take off his underwear without removing his wrestling gear. Doesn’t get along with Takagi because he considers him to be a terrible boss.
Moves To Watch Out For: Ultimate Venom Arm (removes his tights, wraps them around his hand and applies an Iron Claw), Tombstone Slam, Hentai Slide (drags opponent crotch first along the top rope), Lotion Oil usage

3. Special Tag Match: MAO & Shunma Katsumata Vs Chris Brookes & Yoshihiko

The current KO-D Tag Team Champions take on an Englishman and a Dutch Wife. Believe it or not it won’t be as not as lewd as it sounds. Whenever Shunma Katsumata & MAO team up they are called ShunMao. They are also both part of DDT’s biggest babyface group at the moment, The 37KAMIINA (pronounced The Sauna Kamiina because 37 in Japanese (“san-na”) kind of sounds like “sauna”). Chris Brookes has called Japan his home for around four years now and earned a following for his devotion towards the entire puro scene. Yoshihiko is the wrestling doll that answers every question ever asked about who is good enough to get a four star match against an inanimate object.

MAO: Lives by the motto “Fucked up wrestling for a fucked up world!” The high flier is at his most liveliest when he is in Falls Count Anywhere situations. Also gets his most success in tag team matches and often finds himself across the ring from Brookes in that division. As shown by his recent appearance on a Prestige show, he should be a breakout talent for the US indies just waiting to happen.
Moves To Watch Out For: Cannonball 450 (450 Splash), Michinoku Driver, Marines Tornado Splash (Swan Dive Phoenix Splash), Tornado Kick

Shunma Katsumata: Nobody in DDT loves saunas as much as this guy. So much so he runs his own sauna on the side. Despite his cute appearance he also has a death match side to him. He’ll do the violent matches no problem but his favorite weapon to use in those situations is Lego. For example he often arms himself with a Lego covered baseball bat. Drive him too far over the edge and he becomes Super Hardcore Katsumata!
Moves To Watch Out For: ¡Hasta la vista! (Lightning Spiral), Totonou Splash (straight Diving Body Press), Aufguss (Diving Foot Stomp to a standing opponent)

Chris Brookes: A wrestler who has so many fingers stuck into so many pies. When not wrestling in DDT you can find Brookes causing trouble in ChocoPro, teaming with Masahiro Takanashi across Japan or running his own group of shows called Baka Gaijin + Friends. Recently got into a fight with the mascot Chiitan. Always has some extra tricks up his sleeves if you’re not careful around him.
Moves To Watch Out For: Praying Mantis Bomb (Double Arm Piledriver), Octopus Stretch, Death By Roll-Up

Yoshihiko: The Grave Digger Doll From Hell has been a mysterious force in DDT for many years now. It shows up whenever people least expect it and suddenly holding grudges with wrestlers from out of nowhere. This match here is an example of it because Yoshihiko has promised to destroy The 37KAMIINA in LA! It is also the current Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion and is bringing the belt over to Hollywood so don’t be surprised if we get a few title changes throughout not just the show but the entire weekend.
Moves To Watch Out For: Reincarnation (multiple rotation into a Hurricanrana), Choke Slam, Canadian Destroyer

4. Special Tag Match: Kazusada Higuchi & Takeshi Masada Vs Andrew “The Giant” Everett & Nick Wayne

A giant and a supernova rookie takes on… a “giant” and another supernova rookie. Kazusada Higuchi was the man to carry the flag for DDT last year when a crisis injury left the company without a champion. Higuchi took the ball after years of not meeting his potential and did a pretty darn good job with being the KO-D Openweight Title until he dropped it to Yuji Hino this past January. Takeshi Masada is the standout of DDT’s current rookie class. He got here by having to fight tooth and nail to earn a spot on this show. Andrew Everett came to DDT last year falsely advertising himself as being 223cm tall and weighing in at 190.5kg. Despite being nothing of the sort, his in-ring skills were impressive enough for DDT management to get past the lies and keep him onboard. Nick Wayne will be soon be going to Japan to wrestle on more DDT shows so this match gives him a taste of what to expect over there.

Kazusada Higuchi: The previous KO-D Champion and leader of Harimao, Higuchi is a former sumo wrestler with a strong foundation and an iron head. Do not throw him head first into the ring post because he absorb the hit and shake it off entirely. Often a highlight of DDT shows that make fans of NOAH wish he was in their promotion instead. Doesn’t mind showing off his goofy side every now and then but wherever he shows up he is going to be a tough opponent for anybody.
Moves To Watch Out For: Brain Claw Slam, Doctor Bomb, Buchikamashi (charging sumo tackle)

Takeshi Masada: The 21 year old made his pro debut only three months into his training, making him the fastest debut in DDT’s history. Has a background in Shorinji Kempo and he uses those skills to develop a kick heavy offence. He’s still only in his first year as a wrestler but showed a strong desire to get on this show. He eventually earned a spot on the card by winning the D GENERATIONS CUP, a tournament that pitted DDT’s current generation of young wrestlers against each other. Rookies have a bad habit of breaking easily but if Masada continues at the rate he’s going, DDT has a future star in their hands.
Moves To Watch Out For: Samurai Driver ’01 (Cross-legged Falcon Arrow), Triangle Kick (Running Enzuigiri off the turnbuckles)

Andrew “The Giant” Everett: I don’t know if I can believe the claims that Everett is not in fact a giant. He climbs over the top rope to get in to the ring like giants do. He wears a singlet like giants do. He does Choke Slams like giants do. He does Moonsaults like… well allegedly Paul White could do that move at one point in his life so that counts. That means Everett is a giant for sure! Deadlock Pro is where you can find him nowadays.
Moves To Watch Out For: 630, Shooting Star Press, Moonsault, Choke Slam

Nick Wayne: The world is this kid’s oyster and he’s not even 18 yet. A lot of excitement is following Wayne around especially after he was offered a deal with AEW last year. A dream match with Will Ospreay also bumped up his stock. The son of the late Buddy Wayne has wrestled in Japan before, not that long ago in fact. But DDT is where he’ll be going next starting with this match right here.
Moves To Watch Out For: Flying Cutter, Inverted Hurricanrana, Snap Dragon Suplex, Fisherman Suplex

5. Special Single Match: Tetsuya Endo Vs Joey Janela

A rematch from the 2022 D-Ou Grand Prix tournament. Joey Janela scored an upset win over Tetsuya Endo in their A Block match that took place in November. Endo’s big main event run last summer was tragically cut short when Katsuhiko Nakajima gave him a concussion. He has bounced back from that by bulking up towards becoming a heavyweight. It paid off with him recently winning the DDT Universal Title, which is DDT’s secondary singles championship. Janela’s antics and reputation made him highly sought after by DDT and he’s becoming one of their regular guest wrestlers back in Japan.

Tetsuya Endo: The man who was supposed to take the reigns as DDT’s top wrestler suffered a major setback when he got concussed last summer. Endo recovered and has been climbing back up the mountain since. He’s not back at the top spot yet but the leader of BURNING is still doing pretty well with where he is at the moment. You’d think by gaining weight and muscle he would dial back from high flying moves but you will still see him doing Springboards, the Spanish Fly and Shooting Star Presses. If it was up to me, this is the next DDT guy AEW should be looking at.
Moves To Watch Out For: Burning Star Press (Shooting Star Press), Tetsuya In The Sky (One Man Spanish Fly), Spinning Torture Rack Bomb

Joey Janela: The nutjob partly responsible for WrestleMania Week turning into what it’s become. So many of the shows that get added to the schedule are chasing the dragon that is “Joey Janela’s Spring Break”. Janela’s viral moments over the pandemic caught DDT’s attention and he quickly became a must have for them to bring over. He already has one singles win over Endo on Japanese soil. The rematch is still in DDT but maybe the American environment will provide Janela more chances to do some crazy things.
Moves To Watch Out For: Package Piledriver, Avalanche Brainbuster, Super Kick

6. Dramatic Dream Tag Match: Jun Akiyama & Eddie Kingston Vs Daisuke Sasaki & KANON

One man’s dream came true last year when Eddie Kingston got to wrestle Jun Akiyama at AEW. The two earned each other’s respect that day and get to meet in the ring again, this time as tag team partners. Facing them are the two strongest fighters from DAMNATION T.A, DDT’s main heel faction. Daisuke Sasaki went through a whirlpool of emotions to make it to this show because of a recent eye injury. KANON is an upstart originally from JUST TAP OUT but he came to DDT and eventually joined the dark side with Sasaki.

Jun Akiyama: A long standing veteran who spent most of his 30+ year career with All Japan and NOAH. He was bound for a guest coaching gig at WWE’s Performance Center when the global pandemic cancelled those plans. So he found himself jumping to DDT instead where he keeps an eye over the young talent being developed. Currently holds the DDT Extreme Title that puts him in unusual gimmick matches but so far he has stood tall for every defence.
Moves To Watch Out For: Exploder Suplex, Front Neck Lock, Running Knee Strike

Eddie Kingston: What a week this guy has ahead of him. First he gets to team team with his hero Akiyama and a few days later will be headlining a ROH PPV. Often outspoken and always fighting with his heart in his sleeves, this match can be a rare chance for Kingston to step back and soak in the moment before things get heavy.
Moves To Watch Out For: Spinning Backfist, Stretch Plum, Exploder Suplex

Daisuke Sasaki: You’re not going to find anybody in LA as drunk or depressed as Sasaki this weekend. The wrestler has the talent and success to reach bigger heights but every setback sends him tumbling down into despair. A recent eye injury had Sasaki considering retirement from pro wrestling so he could run away to Hollywood and do whatever he wants. He does not have the most creative imagination though so his idea of doing whatever he wants in Hollywood was to go work at McDonalds. But the pull of pro wrestling is never far away and once he got cleared to compete, Sasaki came back and began to build up hype towards a singles match with El Desperado later this summer.
Moves To Watch Out For: Crossface Lock (includes La Mistica and Crossover variations), Sasaki Hurricanrana

KANON: When Sasaki suddenly vanished to take care of his injuries and other woes, KANON stepped up to lead DAMNATION T.A in his place. He is approaching the completion of his first year with DDT. Originally from JTO, KANON had an athletic moveset taken from his days playing volleyball but he’s grown slightly more sleazy and unhinged since joining DAMNATION T.A.
Moves To Watch Out For: Sleepy Hollow (Twisting Brainbuster), Just Cobra Twist

7. Special Single Match: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Yuki Ueno

This match was meant to take place in America back in 2019 as the bonus DDT match for Tokyo Joshi Pro’s USA show. Konosuke Takeshita and Yuki Ueno have been friends since high school. Takeshita was the wrestling fan and his work in DDT inspired Ueno to become a wrestler too. The two are part of The 37KAMIINA and always seem to get along. But Ueno has his hopes that one day he will surpass his classmate. The two unexpectedly had a singles match against each other at the start of the year before Takeshita left for AEW. It ended in a brief 10 minute draw but gave fans a taste of what to expect when they finally face off again in Hollywood.

Konosuke Takeshita: It takes ten years to become an overnight success. Takeshita has done it all in DDT but given the company’s place in the landscape not a lot of people outside of Japan knew about him. Then he shows up in AEW and wins over a wide new audience of fans with his performances. A fan of pro wrestling since childhood, he grew up following Osaka Pro and still shows that influence in his moveset to this day. The list of names he’s been in the ring over the years to get to this point would fill this article by itself. Watch this show and I promise you will see him going All Out.
Moves To Watch Out For: German Suplex, Zahi (V-Trigger style Knee Strike), Jumping Knee, Takeshita Line (Leaping Clothesline from the ropes)

Yuki Ueno: The talent Ueno has is clear to see but a bland personality is currently holding him back. Plus his friendship with Takeshita means he risks standing permanently in his buddy’s shadow. If you ignore those problems though, you’re going to see somebody who is really, really good in the ring. Maybe experiencing America will act as a spark and be that thing to send Ueno to his next level.
Moves To Watch Out For: WR (a Wrist-Clutch version of Kofi Kingston’s SOS), Best Moonsault Ever, Half Nelson Suplex, Konosaki Crunch (One Handed Bulldog)

———————————————————————–

That’s not all DDT is up to this week. They have a second show the next day cross-promoting with GCW as part of The Collective. These two shows seem to be where all of the DDT action is happening in LA. Maybe a few names will pop up somewhere else. We’ll just have to wait and see if they surprise us.

DDT/GCW “GCW VS DDT”, 31/03/2023
Ukrainian Cultural Center, Los Angeles, California, USA

1. Ciclope, Miedo Extremo, Gringo Loco & Alec Price Vs Sanshiro Takagi, Daisuke Sasaki, KANON & Takeshi Masada
2. Matthew Justice, Mance Warner & 1 Called Manders Vs Chris Brookes, Shunma Katsumata & Mizuki Watase
3. Effy & Allie Katch Vs Yuki “Sexy” Iino & Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno
4. Dark Sheik Vs Saki Akai
5. Cole Radrick Vs Yoshihiko
6. Homicide & Tony Deppen Vs Jun Akiyama & Tetsuya Endo
7. Blake Christian Vs Kazusada Higuchi
8. Jordan Oliver & Nick Wayne Vs MAO & Mike Bailey
9. Joey Janela Vs Yuki Ueno

GCW is a promotion I like but don’t love. I’ve gotten to attend a variety of their events before from two of the WrestleMania weeks pre-pandemic as well as their Las Vegas show the day before AEW Double Or Nothing last year. They’re really fun to attend no matter where they go and I enjoy watching the iPPVs when they are live. Watching them on-demand a day or two later though and it becomes a different story. The energy doesn’t carry through on screen when I watch on delay. It’s a promotion that does not give its viewers a lot of time to let things soak in because as soon as one show ends they go full speed straight into promoting their next events. It can make following them online a bit of a blur at times and their booking can seem random even though they do come up with storylines and give people pushes.

That leads us to the GCW Vs DDT show. Whenever GCW do doubleshot weekends outside of their regular markets they usually co-promote one of those shows with another indy and label it as a Vs show. They also often come off as the lesser show of the weekend and it feels the same way here. Obviously both companies have their own more important shows from the previous day to worry about. The lineup they came up with here is shaky but I don’t know if I could come up with something better given who is available. The people I like most in GCW are not the core members of the roster and they would be saved for when GCW are running a show by themselves.

Here’s what I like. The East West Express versus The Moonlight Express is going to hit hard. I’m not as high on Jordan Oliver as I am with Nick Wayne but his faults do not come from a lack of effort. The agility and pain threshold everybody in that match has is going to create something impressive. Cole Radrick Vs Yoshihiko will entirely depend on what kind of sense of humour Radrick has. The two multi-man tag matches have the potential to both get crazy if everybody involved are given the go ahead to do whatever they want. Everything else I’m not as confident about.

Joey Janela Vs Yuki Ueno as the main event could get bogged down by the amount of big crazy spots Janela wants to do. Homicide & Tony Deppen Vs Jun Akiyama & Tetsuya Endo sounds like a Fire Pro match on paper but I don’t think BURNING’s opponents have been up to snuff recently. Kazusada Higuchi should not be losing to Blake Christian but Christian is one of the few heels who gets heavily booed by the GCW fanbase. He is likely getting pushed for a title run sooner rather than later for that reason (barring any conflicts with his AEW/ROH deal). Dark Sheik I prefer watching in Hoodslam because over there she does spotfest tag matches in front of a crowd of people that are feeling the effects of “blueberry pancakes”. That atmosphere somehow comes off better on screen than her matches in GCW do. Bussy Vs Pheromones will be going for the shock factor but was their thunder stolen by Sexxxy Eddy earlier this month? I do not want to predict if it will reach the point where somebody somewhere will need to write out a public apology when all is said and done.

WPW “RUSSELL CROWE WRESTLING: RUSSEL MANIA III”, 31/03/2023
Burbank Moose Lodge, Burbank, California, USA

1. Mizuki Watase Vs Gregory Sharpe Vs Eli Everfly

There’s a little bit of Ganbare☆Pro sprinkled in the weekend too. After Mizuki Watase is done with the GCW Vs DDT show he will be making his way over to Wrestling Pro Wrestling for his only other booking for the week. This is one of the more normal looking matches happening on the card.

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “GRAND PRINCESS ’23” Preview

TOKYO JOSHI PRO “GRAND PRINCESS ’23”, 18/03/2023
Ariake Coliseum

1. Suzume Vs Arisu Endo
2. Haru Kazashiro & Runa Okubo Debut Match: Mahiro Kiryu, Wakana Uehara, HIMAWARI & Shino Suzuki Vs Kaya Toribami, Toga, Haru Kazashiro & Runa Okubo
3. Hikari Noa, Nao Kakuta & Ram Kaichow Vs Yuki Aino, Raku & Pom Harajuku
4. Ryo Mizunami Vs Moka Miyamoto
5. Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao Vs Andreza Giant Panda & Haruna Neko
6. Sakisama & Mei Saint-Michel Vs Yuki Kamifuku & Billie Starkz
7. Special Single Match: Aja Kong Vs Yuki Arai
8. International Princess Title: Miu Watanabe (c) Vs Rika Tatsumi
9. Princess Tag Team Titles: Max The Impaler & Heidi Howitzer (c) Vs Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh
10. Princess Of Princess Title: Yuka Sakazaki (c) Vs Mizuki

It’s been almost seven years since pro wrestling last took place in Ariake Coliseum. That event was the last Super J Cup to be held in Japan. For women’s wrestling it’s been even longer. Almost two decades! It’s a venue that served as a regular base for RINGS in the 1990s and NOAH in the 2010s, holding many wrestling related memories of all kinds. Tatsumi Fujinami won his first IWGP Title against Big Van Vader there in New Japan, Atsushi Onita fought Leon Spinks there in FMW, Kenta Kobashi dropped his fifth Burning Hammer there in NOAH, Dragon Kid unmasked Darkness Dragon there in Toryumon and an alternate universe Nobuhiko Takada was dragged down into the demon world by The Great Muta there in HUSTLE. Even WWE booked the Coliseum during their 2008 tour of Japan.

In the joshi scene Ariake Coliseum was often used by companies attempting to establish themselves away from AJW. From JWP to Jd’ to GAEA to ARSION until the alphabet soup of promotion names fittingly ended with AtoZ. This weekend Tokyo Joshi Pro gets to enter the arena with “GRAND PRINCESS ’23”. It is the second annual “GRAND PRINCESS” supershow, a name they are going to use for their biggest matches inside the biggest venues. A running theme going through the card is teams and friendships being put to the test. Three of the five singles matches are built around tag team partners fighting each other to prove who is the best between them. There’s a lot more in store besides that so let’s see what’s on offer.

1. Suzume Vs Arisu Endo

We kick off with Daisy Monkey revisiting 4th January, 2021. That was the date of Arisu Endo’s debut match and Suzume was her opponent. 26 months later and it’s time for the rematch. Suzume is one of the rare TJPW talent to wrestle elsewhere in Japan over the last 12 months, appearing in Gatoh Move and Ganbare☆Pro. Endo was there with Suzume for a Gatoh Move match too but other than that she’s been chasing behind her ever since her debut. It was only just recently that Endo won a singles match for the first time, using the Camel Clutch she inherited from Reika Saiki to get her hand raised in victory. The win-loss records between the two say otherwise but Endo’s recent progression has led Suzume to ask herself if her tag partner has already surpassed her. If that did happen then it’s up to Suzume to kick up the pace and overtake Endo until they keep doing it back and forth over and over! But there’s no fear of their tag team suddenly fracturing over what happens in the match. Suzume has made it known many times she wants to team with Endo forever!

2. Haru Kazashiro & Runa Okubo Debut Match: Mahiro Kiryu, Wakana Uehara, HIMAWARI & Shino Suzuki Vs Kaya Toribami, Toga, Haru Kazashiro & Runa Okubo

A match to introduce the class of 2023 to a larger audience. If I did the match correctly the combined in-ring experience of everyone in this match is close 7 years. Four of those years belong to Mahiro Kiryu and almost two belongs to Kaya Toribami. Everyone else are either brand new or barely a few months into their pro careers. So it will be up to Kiryu and Toribami to be the guiding hands for an 8-Woman Tag Match, which, um… yeah that’s going to be a challenge. Okay, I admit I’m being ridiculous thinking about this. It’s not like they will go out there and attempt to recreate the Michinoku Pro 10-Man tag… But what if they did! Just imagine it. An 8 person Kaientai DX Tower spot with Kiryu kneeling on top of the pile to give out her apology. That alone would bring the show up to the same level of “THESE DAYS” easily.

Kiryu’s side has what little experience advantage there is. Wakana Uehara is the sole survivor of TJPW’s Youtube series Yume Pro Wrestling -dream on the ring-. She was the only idol from that show who decided to go ahead and continue giving pro wrestling a shot. Her performances so far are can be added to the growing pile of evidence that Sanshiro Takagi’s dream of creating the Idol Wrestle Grand Prix sometime in the future isn’t such a bad idea. HIMAWARI originally caught the eyes of some fans with her distinct look during her very brief time in Actwres girl’Z. Since debuting in TJPW she’s been more focused on being entertaining rather than winning matches. Shino Suzuki only just debuted in the ring as the newest member of The Up Up Girls (who are debuting a brand new song at the show by the way), adding bus tourism knowledge that goes hand and hand with another member’s love for trains.

Over on the other team Toribami has kind of been given the short end of the stick. She’s been starting to win matches by herself because of the new blood coming in if nothing else. Toga only just debuted at the start of the month on the same day Suzuki did. What we have seen of Toga is she can throw a pretty mean Elbow Strike if given the chance. Haru Kazashiro (blue) & Runa Okubo (pink) are both having their first ever matches. Both girls are 14 year old junior high school students. Kazashiro in particular is wrestling this match one day before her school’s graduation ceremony. She was inspired to join TJPW after seeing Nodoka Tenma’s final match while Okubo became a wrestling fan because both of her parents are wrestling fans. Other than that info it’s hard to tell what kind of athletic background they have and how it is going to form their wrestling style. Maybe they’ll surprise us and start whipping out some Dick Togo & MEN’S Teioh style double team moves. Alright, alright, I’ll stop it with the Michinoku Pro jokes.

3. Hikari Noa, Nao Kakuta & Ram Kaichow Vs Yuki Aino, Raku & Pom Harajuku

The mascot of Triple Six returns to TJPW for the first time in a year. Last year’s “GRAND PRINCESS” in fact. Whether she is fighting on behalf of 666 or the Rebel X Enemy faction, Ram Kaichow’s match schedule is as full as ever. She even found time to win the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title with a blink and you’ll miss it reign last November. Plus she’s one of the few wrestlers who will get to have matches in both Stardom and TJPW within the same week of each other. Look at her playing both sides. That’s 18 years in the business shining through right there! Fighting by her side in the Coliseum is Free WiFi, which I think the arena already has. Hikari Noa’s progress in the last year has slowed down compared to her 2021 singles run. Perhaps the biggest positive is she finally found a regular tag team partner who did not leave her within 12 months. Nao Kakuta has been fitted firmly in the midcard being the useful hand in tag matches. As much as she enjoys starting roll calls on social media, she hasn’t been getting that many chances to lead the charge this year. Free WiFi suffered an early 1st Round exit in the Max Heart Tournament but it was by losing to the eventual winners. Maybe Kaichow’s ghostly presence can boost their coverage somehow.

Their opponents are possibly the most tight knit trio around in TJPW right now. Yuki Aino, Raku & Pom Harajuku have been hanging around and teaming with each other so much lately I still don’t understand why they haven’t been given an official team or unit name yet. The bond between them reached its strongest point last November when Raku fell sick right before she could team with Aino for a Princess Tag Team Titles match. Harajuku stepped in as her substitute and teamed with Aino to fight Reiwa AA Cannon who were on top form as champions. Their challenge ended in failure but it was a heartwarming story of friendship between the three that was on show for everyone to witness. Will there be jealousy from a certain white-faced opponent? Kaichow did team with Aino & Raku on last year’s show. Her and Raku looked like such a happy couple together too. No, seriously go back and watch the entrance if you don’t remember them literally dressed like a newly married couple walking down the aisle.

4. Ryo Mizunami Vs Moka Miyamoto

It’s becoming a staple now on TJPW’s major shows for the company to put one of their young prospects against a veteran figure like Ryo Mizunami. This is the third time now that Mizunami is putting somebody here to the test. So step onto the stage, Moka Miyamoto. The Max Heart Tournament gave the karate girl some big boost in experience, advancing to the final four as part of an underdog team with Juria Nagano (who does not have a match at this show due to a finger injury but will be there to provide commentary). Even before that she developed a new Neckbreaker finisher called the Korokan that brought her all the way to and International Princess Title shot. At this point she is comfortably out of her rookie phase but an opponent like Mizunami is still a high wall to climb. Mizunami has split her 2023 between Sendai Girls, OZ Academy and SEAdLINNNG so far but does not have a lot of wins in any of those places. Could an upset be on the cards if the stars are alligned the right way on the night? Probably not because there will likely still be daylight outside by the time this match starts.

5. Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao Vs Andreza Giant Panda & Haruna Neko

It’s been a while since we’ve seen good ol’ Andreza Giant Panda around these parts. The reason is a sad one. Its handler Samson Miyamoto passed away in 2020 and their home promotion New Nemuro Pro Wrestling had already gone on hiatus for a few years. People attached to N2W decided to relaunch the brand last October to hold an anniversary event for Miyamoto and continue on his motto: “Do not overdo it, do not get injured, work tomorrow!” Andreza then began to tour again, directly beating Onita not once but twice in a weekend of FMWE shows due to its overwhelming size and power. So how did we end up with Andreza getting involved with TJPW? Would you believe me if I said it’s because of an Idolmaster marketing campaign? TJPW has been collaborating merchandise with The Idolmaster Cinderella Girls, giving characters from the game the costumes worn by TJPW’s wrestlers. The recent batch unexpectedly included Andreza and the N2W brand so it was only a matter of time until the “Big Beast Of The North” made its way over here. Joining the panda’s side is Haruna Neko, the resident catgirl. And just like my friend’s pet cats you never see her do anything until you stop paying attention. Then all of a sudden there she claws out and ready to scratch something while perched on the shoulders of a giant. All together now. “Andreza is really neat! It is filled with panda meat! We all love you, Andreza!”

A danger of that magnitude needs an unbeatable defence force to keep the whole building standing. What could be better than the alliance between a Big Kaiju and a Superhero who has sworn to defend love and peace? Kyoraku Kyomei were so close to winning this year’s Max Heart Tournament, falling just short in the final. Despite that setback Shoko Nakajima & Hyper Misao are as tight a partnership as they have ever been. What other team could fight each other in a Ladder match and both come out of it as the official winners? Nakajima has a movie library’s worth of knowledge in how to defend a site from a kaiju attack. Misao has the most experience in actually turning those kinds of ideas into reality. If Andreza is not careful it could end up getting all of the wind knocked out of it by Kyoraku Kyomei! You ever see a panda deflate? It’s a sad sight to be honest. Like watching a snowman melt in fast forward.

6. Sakisama & Mei Saint-Michel Vs Yuki Kamifuku & Billie Starkz

It will be one day short of a year when NEO Biishiki-gun returns once again to TJPW. Sakisama & Mei Saint-Michel have kept to themselves since their last public appearance. Who knows if anything has changed with the two since then. They have a unique combination of opponents waiting for them connected together via the Midwest region of the USA. Yuki Kamifuku (remember, she grew up in Ohio) has a history with the group, being one of the few women on the roster to be considered beautiful by Sakisama. In 2018 Kamifuku convinced Sakisama to make her an apprentice only to go back on the idea two weeks later because she quickly figured out it wasn’t a good fit for her. Then in 2019 Sakisama beat Kamifuku in a singles match. Afterwards Kamifuku asked for Sakisama to keep a watch over her as she continues to work harder to become a more beautiful fighter. In a rare show of public empathy Sakisama agreed. They’ve been opponents many times since then but there is a measure of respect between the two.

I don’t think there’s going to be any of the same respect shown for Kamifuku’s tag partner. What will a lady like Sakisama think of Billie Starkz when she sees her in person for the first time? How does a well kept maid like Saint-Michel behave in front of someone that’s been nicknamed “Space Jesus”? Starkz only had one match in TJPW so far but it won over the roster as well as the audience over there. While there’s been a lot of hype for her online as one of the new faces coming out of the independent scene since the pandemic, getting more opportunities to wrestle overseas is what’s going to make her a better wrestler. It’s cool that she has a tight knit group of people supporting her everywhere she goes in America but you don’t want to risk turning that into her being coddled. But hey if having a chance to dump Saint-Michel headfirst onto the ring apron is what gets her over then more power to her.

7. Special Single Match: Aja Kong Vs Yuki Arai

The “Genius Girl” experiment continues at full pace with another big challenge thrown Yuki Arai’s way. Over the last 12 months Arai bonded with the other wrestlers her age by teaming together. The goal of the 1998 class was to help each other become stronger so they could all beat their senpais. Then came the return of her Reiwa AA Cannon team with Saki Akai, leading towards Arai’s first ever championship win. The two of them became the team to finally take the Princess Tag Team Titles from The Magical Sugar Rabbits during the summer. Then the rest of the year was spent defending those titles with a respectful 6 month long reign. When that came to an end at the start of this year, Arai quickly found out what path she was taking next. A singles match with Aja Kong! Their first meeting was in a tag match that took place only 5 months after Arai turned pro. A second tag match took place in February. Arai got the win for her team but did not take the fall from Kong, which made what should be an important victory taste bittersweet. She thinks she has developed so much as a wrestler since their first match that she can now stand face to face against the legend.

It’s fitting that this match is taking place in Ariake Coliseum because it’s kind of like the boss level for Kong. You know that list of joshi promotions I included in the intro that ran the Coliseum? Kong wrestled on three of those shows (JWP, Jd’ and GAEA), winning her match in all three. It is where she defeated Dynamite Kansai with a non-stop whirlwind of Uraken Backfists and then six years later defended the AAAW Title against a young Meiko Satomura. Kong has already paid respect to Akai by disregarding any kind of freakshow advertising a match between a pop singer and a monster heel will attract. When you stand in the ring with Aja Kong you are a pro wrestler in her eyes so she will treat you as one. Which leads to an interesting direction the match could take. Obviously Arai will be figuring out how to counter Kong’s moves but does this attitude mean that Kong will do the same against Arai’s moveset? Those tin cans she uses as weapons look like good shields that can block the Finally Axe Kick for example.

8. International Princess Title: Miu Watanabe (c) Vs Rika Tatsumi

The second of three matches where close tag team partners have to fight each other. A breakout performance in last year’s Tokyo Princess Cup launched Miu Watanabe towards a well deserved International Princess Title reign. After taking the belt from Alex Windsor at “WRESTLE PRINCESS III”, Watanabe set up goals to make sure the title lived up to its international name. She won it from a foreign wrestler and got to defend it against more foreign wrestlers (Trish Adora and Janai Kai). It’s all so she can reach her destination of being the champion when TJPW goes to Los Angeles this April. The reason for this plan? To finally surpass her seniors who have dominated the main event scene for so long. That just so happens to include her Daydream tag partner.

Watanabe’s journey to become the pro wrestler she is today was an inspiration for Rika Tatsumi. Her tag partner has grown into somebody she would love to fight some day. So after Watanabe’s last defence, Tatsumi told her just that and challenged her to a title match! There is an ulterior motive to Tatsumi’s request though. She later revealed that if she becomes the IP Champion then she will become the only grand slam champion in the history of TJPW! Once she realised it this match gave her the desire of a dragon to win the belt. Problem is she found out in the prelim tag matches that Watanabe has become as strong as a demon! Sometimes Tatsumi’s acts of violence are really a show of affection, like whenever she chokes somebody in the ring it’s just her way of making friends with that person. Those are her words and I’m not one to question them. She might have to find “friendlier” ways of dealing with her tag partner in order to win here.

9. Princess Tag Team Titles: Max The Impaler & Heidi Howitzer (c) Vs Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh

Maybe the most fun I’ve had writing about TJPW since the last “GRAND PRINCESS” is the invasion of Max The Impaler. How would someone like Max adapt to the sugar and sweet environment TJPW typically provides? From the moment Max raided the Tokyo Sports office and kidnapped a reporter in the promotion’s misguided attempt to get media attention I knew it was going to be a good time. Following that up by attaching Max to a feud with Pom Harajuku turned out to be inspired booking as their interactions became a highlight of shows. It was also a relief for the rest of the roster because Harajuku does such a “good job” being a distraction for Max to target anybody else. Although with that being said, Max did develop friendly affections towards wrestlers like Yuki Aino during her time here. If focus was becoming a problem for Max then it was time for a buddy of theirs to join in the fun. Heidi Howitzer regularly teams with Max in America as The Wasteland War Party and at the start of this year they sent a threat that nobody in TJPW wanted to hear. They were coming to Japan for the Princess Tag Titles! They did just that on 4th January by defeating the champions Reiwa AA Cannon before quickly returning to America with their new prize. Since then Max & Heidi have defended the titles three times on the US indies, marking the first time those championships have been defended outside of TJPW and Japan.

Their absence coincidentally timed with the annual Max Heart Tournament. As is tradition in Japan, the purpose for tournaments like these is to determine the strongest wrestlers in the company. It’s not necessarily always about winning a title shot but one always leads to the other. So with the Tag Titles currently out of play this was the stage now to decided who was the best tag team TJPW has on their roster. In the end the winners were 121000000 in a milestone achievement for the two wrestlers on the team. For Maki Itoh she became the first person to win both the Max Heart Tournament and the Tokyo Princess Cup. For Miyu Yamashita it was the first ever tournament she has won in her decade long career that’s lasted alongside the entire existence of TJPW! Even without the guarantee of The Wasteland War Party still holding the titles by the time March came around, 121000000 demanded to fight them at Ariake Coliseum with or without the belts. Once Max & Heidi swept aside their remaining challengers in America the promotion finally acknowledged the championships will be on the line. Whatever the result is, the titles are going to go on another crazy adventure anyway.

For Yamashita & Itoh their schedules over the next few months will be big. Itoh’s fandom in America has recently seen her switch from fighting in AEW over to appearing in GCW where she became an unlikely ally of Nick Gage*, turning his MDK catchphrase into Maki Death Kill. She’s taken to it like a duck to water, hitting opponents with lighttubes and using pizza slicers as a weapon as well as a makeshift compact mirror (I mean, she’s still an idol at heart). Meanwhile Yamashita is about to embark on a 3 month tour of America that will include continuing appearances for EVE in England as their current champion. Both have promised TJPW that if they win the Princess Tag Titles they will find the time to defend them in Japan whenever they are told to. They also really like the idea of defending the belts in America whenever their paths will cross over during their excursions. It’s a lofty goal for two women who are going to have a lot on their plates going into the summer. That’s if they can even beat The Wasteland War Party in the first place. If they can’t then it’s probably back to Plan Pom for the forseeable future.

*Holy crap I just imagined what Itoh & Gage Vs Max & Pom would be like as a dream match.

10. Princess Of Princess Title: Yuka Sakazaki (c) Vs Mizuki

What else was the main event going to be in this, the Year Of The Rabbit? Whether together as a team or on their own as singles The Magical Sugar Rabbits are often the strongest two wrestlers in the TJPW roster. It’s a position that’s sometimes felt daunting for Yuka Sakazaki because as the Princess Of Princess Champion she has to fight the strongest challengers even when she doesn’t want to. Sure, there are opponents she has fun fighting against like Billie Starkz but she never looks forward to defending the belt against, say Miyu Yamashita. The one match she dreads the most is also the one she knows must happen next. Sakazaki has to fight Mizuki.

It’s been almost five years since MagiRabi were randomly assigned together in a one-day tag team tournament. They won that tournament and came up with the team name straight afterwards, kicking off this wonderful bond that’s only gotten stronger and stronger as time went by. Despite their numerous success, recently Mizuki started feeling like she was lagging behind her friend. Sakazaki won the Princess Cup, became a 3-time Princess Champion and went to AEW to get even stronger. Mizuki got over her crisis in confidence and even though this challenge has her feeling emotional, there is nothing she wants more than to be the one who beats Sakazaki for the title!

There was one previous time when this match happened for the Princess Title. Sakazaki successfully defended the belt against Mizuki at the first “WRESTLE PRINCESS” in 2020. The few times the two have wrestled each other one on one, Mizuki has never gotten her hand raised in victory. The best result she has is a short time limit draw that happened all the way back in 2017. Her preparations for this upcoming match was to wrestle a lot of the roster in singles matches, building up her winning streak while Sakazaki was away in America. If she wins here she’ll be only the second woman who started her career outside of TJPW to become the Princess Champion. The “Four Princesses” that have been around TJPW the longest hold a tight grip on the belt. Will the Year Of The Rabbit mean it is finally Mizuki’s time to take that treasure for herself?