DDT “JUDGEMENT 2018 ~DDT 21ST ANNIVERSARY~” Results

DDT “JUDGEMENT 2018 ~DDT 21ST ANNIVERSARY~”, 25/03/2018
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
5,796 Fans – Super No Vacancy

0. Under Match: Mad Paulie, Hoshitango, Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Gota Ihashi & Cherry defeated Mizuki Watase, Rekka, Daiki Shimomura, Nobuhiro Shimatani & Takato Nakano when Paulie pinned Shimatani with the Paulie Buster (7:26).
0. Under Match: Kenshin Chikano & Akira Jo defeated Kouki Iwasaki & Shinichiro Tominaga when Chikano pinned Tominaga with the Leg Lariat (8:10).
0. Under Match – Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match: Yuka Sakazaki & Syoko Nakajima defeated Rika Tatsumi & Maho Kurone when Sakazaki pinned Kurone with the Magical Girl Splash (8:45).
1. Gauntlet Tag Match: Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata defeated LiLiCo & Makoto Oishi, Reika Saiki & Lady Beard, Akito & Shunma Katsumata, Antonio Honda & Ethan Page and Naomi Yoshimura & Keisuke Okuda.
1a. Antonio Honda & Ethan Page eliminated Reika Saiki & Lady Beard by Ring Out when Beard was knocked out by a Missed Saiki Attack (3:26).
1b. Antonio Honda & Ethan Page eliminated Naomi Yoshimura & Keisuke Okuda by Ring Out when Page knocked Yoshimura out of the ring with a Big Boot (5:01).
1c. Akito & Shunma Katsumata eliminated Antonio Honda & Ethan Page when Katsumata pinned Honda with the Katsumata Guillotine (1:00).
1d. Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata eliminated Akito & Shunma Katsumata when Hirata pinned Katsumata with the One Shot Miracle Cradle (2:04).
1e. Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata eliminated LiLiCo & Makoto Oishi when Hirata pinned LiLiCo with the One Shot Miracle Cradle (3:20).
2. World Crazy Wrestler No. 1 Decision Battle In DDT: Colt Cabana defeated Joey Ryan with the Billy Goat’s Curse (10:11).
3. Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match – Special 6-Woman Tag Match: Saki-sama, Yoshiko-sama & Azusa Christie defeated Miyu Yamashita, Maki Ito & Mizuki when Saki-sama pinned Mizuki with the Academy Award (11:55).
4. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Super Sasadango Machine (c) defeated Jiro Kuroshio with a School Boy (9:12).
*V? for Super Sasadango Machine.
5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Kota Umeda, Yuki Ueno & Koji Takeda defeated KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi (c) when Umeda pinned Sakaguchi with the Umeda Driver (12:28).
*Shuten-dōji fails in V3. Kota Umeda, Yuki Ueno & Koji Takeda become the 33rd KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions!
6. Weapon Rumble 5 Way Tag Loser Gets Anal Blast Match: Mike Bailey & MAO defeated Sanshiro Takagi & Ippanjin Munenori Sawa, Yuko Miyamoto & Soma Takao, Isami Kodaka & Fuminori Abe and Michael Nakazawa & Chinsuke Nakamura when MAO pinned Nakazawa with the Cannonball 450 (17:43).
7. Dramatic Dream Match: Great Muta, Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo defeated Danshoku Dino, Keisuke Ishii & Ken Ohka when Muta pinned Ishii with the Moonsault (20:09).
8. KO-D Tag Team Titles – Uchikomi! Presents: Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi defeated HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji (c) when Higuchi pinned HARASHIMA with the Goten (17:49).
*HarashiMarufuji fails in V6. Sekiguchi becomes the 63rd KO-D Tag Team Champions!
9. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) defeated Shuji Ishikawa with the German Suplex (23:31).
*V11 for Konosuke Takeshita.

In the main event Konosuke Takeshita defeated Shuji Ishikawa once and for all to continue his dominant KO-D Openweight Title reign. Takeshita took everything that Ishikawa threw at him from the Knee Lifts to the Fire Thunders to the Splash Mountain and survived. He was even put through a table outside the ring with the Fire Thunder from the apron. In return Takeshita fired back with Lariats and German Suplexes until his big rival couldn’t take any more. Takeshita gave him the Cross Arm German Suplex but couldn’t keep his grip for the pin. He was able to reposition himself to give Ishikawa another German Suplex and this time pin him to win.

Takeshita thanked the fans for coming to Sumo Hall. A year and a half ago he defended his title against Ishikawa in this building and lost. Since then the support from the fans kept him going while he grew as a wrestler and a person. Time passes by so quickly but day after day he is still the champion. He loves that DDT is growing while he is becoming stronger. Takeshita then went to climb the turnbuckle and celebrate but he slipped and fell. Everyone laughed including him and the show was over…

…except that wasn’t the ending. When the ring was emptied and the ending music was playing, Shigehiro Irie appeared and climbed into the ring! Irie had disappeared from DDT right at the end of 2017 and was allegedly on another one of his overseas expeditions. This was his first appearance in a DDT ring for 2018. He called for Takeshita to come back out and face him. He congratulated him for the victory then challenged him to a title match. Takeshita said he always knew Irie would come back but is he ready for such a match? Takeshita carried DDT while Irie was gone. Akito entered the stand off and was full of criticism towards Irie. Everyone in DDT has responsibilities and Irie runs away whenever he doesn’t get what he wants. Akito does not accept Irie just coming back and demanding a title match. Irie threatened to shut up Akito and left the ring. Takeshita apologised for letting the argument happen. However his final words were about how he would like to see Akito and Irie settle their differences in the ring.

At last Kazusada Higuchi has taken down HARASHIMA! The KO-D Tag Team Titles changed hands after a back and forth match. Naomichi Marufuji used his strike combos to cut down the opposition as much as he could. HARASHIMA kept Higuchi & Daisuke Sekimoto on edge with the Somato. The final moments of the match were down to HARASHIMA and Higuchi. HARASHIMA hit a Buzzsaw Kick but Higuchi woke up out of it and Headbutted his rival. Higuchi had the win in his sights when he hit the Doctor Bomb but Marufuji broke the pin. Sekimoto German Suplexed Marufuji away and Higuchi finished off HARASHIMA with the Goten to win the titles. Higuchi thanked Sekimoto backstage and said he felt amazing after he finally defeated HARASHIMA. On the other side, Marufuji took the blame for his team’s loss. HARASHIMA said he enjoyed teaming with Marufuji for the last several months. They don’t need the titles to team again but they will stick to messaging each other on LINE for the time being.

The Great Muta entered DDT in an alien looking form to take part in his most bizarre wrestling match since the first time he was in HUSTLE. You know the one I’m talking about. Daisuke Sasaki, Tetsuya Endo, Ken Ohka and Keisuke Ishii were all there to play second fiddle to Muta and Danshoku Dino locking horns. Dino’s typical moves didn’t work on Muta at first. It wasn’t until Muta accidentally struck his partners with a chair when Dino grabbed him by the crotch again and the action slowly took its effect on the demon. Seeing his chance, Dino set himself up for the Hell Gate on the turnbuckle. Muta was thrown into Dino’s ass but Muta stopped himself and sprayed the Poison Mist into Dino’s ass! However much to everyone’s shock, Dino’s ass sprayed the Mist back into Muta’s face! Ohka hit the Fire Spear on Muta but it wasn’t enough to win. Ohka hit Sasaki & Endo with the Double Fire Spear but Muta was back up giving everyone Dragon Screws. Dino gave Muta and DAMNATION the Lip Lock but Muta stopped him and gave him the Lip Lock right back. Then all three of them spat red Poison Mist at Dino. Endo hit Dino with the Handspring Leg Lariat, Sasaki followed up with a Pedigree and Muta ended the match with the Moonsault. Quite possibly the final Moonsault Muta will ever do. The match was over but Dino had the last word. Dino wants Muta to tell Keiji Muto that this isn’t the end. Dino wants a singles match against either The Great Muta or Keiji Muto!

After intermission Sanshiro Takagi and Hisaya Imabayashi came out for a few big announcements. First, DDT will return to Sumo Hall later this year on 21st October for “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2018”. Second, there will be two Sumo Hall shows during the same weekend next February. The shows, nicknamed “2 DAYS Of Hell”, will be held on the 16th and 17th February, 2019. However, only the second show is a DDT show. The first show will be a MUSCLE show hosted by Super Sasadango Machine! The show is called “MUSCLE MANIA 2018 ~I CANNOT WAIT UNTIL 2030 SP~” referencing the humorous return date in the year 2030 for the MUSCLE spin off brand. Sasadango wants the official return show in 2030 to be held in the Tokyo Dome.

The Weapons Rumble was the crazy spectacle it promised to be. Chinsuke Nakamura was accompanied by a violin player for his entrance. He and Michael Nakazawa were attacked while they finished their ring entrance. The first weapon to enter was Soma Takao’s steel basin. He whacked Takagi over the head with it. Next was Nakamura’s surfboard. He swung it down at Takao. Takao tried to block it with his basin but it only made the impact worse. Takagi & Munenori Sawa wanted to do the Golden Shower but they were cut off. The dreaded locker was brought into the match by MAO & Mike Bailey. They trapped Takagi inside and kicked the sides of the locker. The next weapon were the T2HiJoshi girls: Margaret★Owashi, Kazuko Hirata & Gorgeous Matsuko. MAO got rid of them by snapping the back of Matsuko’s bra, knocking her out of the ring. Fuminori Abe knocked out Sawa with a Rabbit Punch which brought out the next weapon, three monks. Abe and the monks prayed for Sawa to wake up and it worked. The next weapon was a special rule. No laughing allowed. Takagi then came out with his Combat Bicycle and cycled over to his opponents to Lariat them. MAO & Bailey countered the bicycle by bringing in a Dramatic Road Roller. MAO and Takagi crashed into each other, wrecking the Roller. A massive barbed wire board was thrown into the ring by Takao & Yuko Miyamoto, taking out everyone else. Isami Kodaka’s weapon was next, the Giga Ladder. Isami struck Miyamoto with the ladder and sent him crashing through the barbed wire board outside the ring. The final weapon was Shinjiro Otani dressed in a black bodysuit! Every laughed, breaking the No Laughing rule from earlier. The punishment was Otani hitting everyone in the ass with a baseball bat. When Otani was finished, he did the Fire Festival Sword pose with the bat. The match reached its end when Bailey gave Nakazawa the Ultima Weapon and MAO got the pin with the Cannonball 450.

As part of the match stipulation, Nakazawa must now take an Anal Explosion. However Nakazawa couldn’t take another explosion after taking so many over the years. He shouted about going back to Thailand and ran away from ringside. This left the others with a problem. An explosion was promised and DDT cannot continue the show without doing it. One by one, different wrestlers volunteered to sacrifice themselves until Takagi offered to do it. Everyone else immediately accepted his request. “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” by Aerosmith played over the speakers as Takagi walked up to the stage, stripped down to his underwear and prepared to take the explosion which was 100 times more powerful than he thought when it was prepared. Takagi hesitated to push the button next to him. The tension was so unbearable that Sawa couldn’t take it any more. He approached Takagi and told him that they will take the explosion together. Sawa leapt on top of Takagi, they joined hands and they both pressed the button, causing a tremendous explosion inside Sumo Hall and also their backsides.

Youth beat liquor in the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles match. But it almost didn’t end that way. Yukio Sakaguchi hit Kota Umeda with the Right Knee Of God and tried to choke him out with a Sleeper Hold. Umeda was only saved by Yuki Ueno & Koji Takeda hitting double Missile Dropkicks to Sakaguchi. The DNA team kept KUDO & Masahiro Takanashi away while Umeda and Sakaguchi slugged it out with a kickfest. Umeda got the upper hand and dropped Sakaguchi with the Umeda Driver for the victory. Sakaguchi handed the titles over to Umeda and told him “Well done”. The new champions bowed when Shuten-dōji left the ring.

Super Sasadango Machine got his wish and successfully defended the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title against Jiro Kuroshio. Sasadango began with his PowerPoint presentation and promised it wouldn’t take longer than 20 minutes, the same amount of time as Kuroshio’s entrance. Sasadango’s plan was to make Makoto Oishi lay a bear trap around Sumo Hall for Kuroshio to fall into during his long entrance. The first trap was placed on the ring apron. The second trap was planted near a group of women in the audience. They were given custom Kuroshio signs to lure Kuroshio over to the trap. The signs were hand made by Kazusada Higuchi. The third and final trap was placed beneath the balcony next to Kuroshio’s father where two other Sasadango Machines would hold him hostage. This trap was delayed because Oishi and the Machines were looking for him on the wrong side of the arena.

Kuroshio came out and nonchalantly avoided most of the traps. He vaulted over the first one, cartwheeled over the second and easily stepped over the third. The plan looked to be ruined until Sasadango grabbed the trap and placed it into the ring at the right moment. Kuroshio somersaulted over the ropes and landed head first into the trap! Sasadango hit the Vertical Drop Lehmann Shock for the quick finish but Kuroshio barely kicked out! Kuroshio retreated outside to get his bearings then sent Sasadango flying outside with a Hurricanrana. He then followed up with a big Moonsault off the top rope to Sasadango and Oishi outside. Sasadango tried to defend himself with the trap but Kuroshio kicked it away. He applied the Ikemen Clutch for the pin but time slowed down to a halt and a video of both wrestlers’ inner monologues played while they fought in slow motion. Ikemen grabbed the trap and threw it out of the ring (still in slow motion). He knocked down Sasadango and was ready to finish him off when another video played. This time it was his father’s inner monologue. It turns out his father is actually an omnipatent god here to offer his son a choice. He can choose either a Gold Trap or a Silver Trap. Kuroshio chose the Gold Trap. Oishi came out and placed the Gold Trap on top of Sasadango. Kuroshio didn’t noticed and Moonsaulted onto the trap! Sasadango got back up and pinned Kuroshio with a School Boy to win the match. Backstage Kuroshio was shocked to learn he is a son of a god. He then snapped back into reality and talked about wanting to challenge Konosuke Takeshita for the KO-D Title if Takeshita wins in the main event.

Maki Ito made the grave mistake of throwing down Yoshiko-sama’s teddy bear in the Tokyo Joshi Pro match. This made Yoshiko-sama so angry that she beat up Ito with the bear. Miyu Yamashita went toe to toe with Yoshiko-sama and Azusa Christie until she and Ito were taken out with a Double Lariat. An outnumbered Mizuki was then picked apart by NEO Biishiki-gun with Saki-sama winning with her finisher. The Two Step Face Kick she uses is now called the Academy Award.

In the battle of the crazy gaijin, Colt Cabana outwitted Joey Ryan. Cabana blocked Ryan’s attempt to stick a lollipop into his mouth by redirecting it into Yukinori Matsui’s mouth. Ryan pulled out more lollipops and every time the lollipop ended up in Matsui’s mouth. Ryan’s plan finally worked when he pulled the lollipop out of Matsui’s mouth and into Cabana’s. Colt grabbed one of the lollipops from Matsui and shoved it into Ryan’s mouth. Cabana then forced Ryan to grab his own crotch and make him flip himself over. Ryan was helpless and tapped out to the Billy Goat’s Curse afterwards. Cabana tried to give a celebratory speech but the microphone cut out from him. When it finally worked he called himself the craziest gaijin in DDT.

An over the top rope rule was added to the Tag Gauntlet at the last minute. It was this addition that led to the eliminations of DEADLIFT LOLITA and Naomi Kingdom. The pace of the match changed when ALL OUT eliminated Antonio Honda & Ethan Page. The last two eliminations were caused by Kazuki Hirata. First he pinned Shunma Katsumata with the Miracle Cradle. LiLiCo & Makoto Oishi caused him some problems but Hirata caught LiLiCo in another Miracle Cradle to win the match. Toru Owashi handed him a pair of Hirata GO! glasses and he got to do his full dance celebration.

The Miraclians beat the Dragon Bombers in the Tokyo Joshi pre-show match. Rika Tatsumi did her best with her Hip Attacks and Maho Kurone tried to eat Syoko Nakajima’s tail. The Apricots hit Kurone with a Double 619 and Yuka Sakazaki landed the Magical Girl Splash for the three count.

Kenshin Chikano & Akira Jo were victorious over Kouki Iwasaki & Shinichiro Tominaga in the second pre-show match. Yep.

The very first match of the day saw the DDT Veteran team defeat Team DNA. Poor little Nobuhiro Shimatani was given the Cherryton Bomb from Cherry, the Midnight Buenos Aires from Hoshitango and the Reverse Splash from Mad Paulie all in a row. The pin was cut off but Paulie just gave Shimatani the Paulie Buster to end it.

DDT unveiled a brand new logo designed by NIGO, the creator of the A Bathing Ape fashion line. The logo resembles a wrestling ring on top of a cube. The intention was to create something that was not your typical pro wrestling logo but still has an element of pro wrestling associated with it.

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DDT “JUDGEMENT 2018 ~DDT 21ST ANNIVERSARY~” Preview

DDT “JUDGEMENT 2018 ~DDT 21ST ANNIVERSARY~”, 25/03/2018
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

0. Under Match: Mizuki Watase, Rekka, Daiki Shimomura, Nobuhiro Shimatani & Takato Nakano Vs Mad Paulie, Hoshitango, Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Gota Ihashi & Cherry
0. Under Match: Kouki Iwasaki & Shinichiro Tominaga Vs Kenshin Chikano & Akira Jo
0. Under Match – Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match: Yuka Sakazaki & Syoko Nakajima Va Rika Tatsumi & Maho Kurone
1. Gauntlet Tag Match: LiLiCo & Makoto Oishi Vs Reika Saiki & Lady Beard Vs Akito & Shunma Katsumata Vs Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata Vs Antonio Honda & Ethan Page Vs Naomi Yoshimura & Keisuke Okuda
2. World Crazy Wrestler No. 1 Decision Battle In DDT: Joey Ryan Vs Colt Cabana
3. Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match – Special 6-Woman Tag Match: Miyu Yamashita, Maki Ito & Mizuki Vs Saki-sama, Yoshiko-sama & Azusa Christie
4. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Super Sasadango Machine (c) Vs Jiro Kuroshio
5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi (c) Vs Kota Umeda, Yuki Ueno & Koji Takeda
6. Weapon Rumble 5 Way Tag Loser Gets Anal Blast Match: Sanshiro Takagi & Ippanjin Munenori Sawa Vs Mike Bailey & MAO Vs Yuko Miyamoto & Soma Takao Vs Isami Kodaka & Fuminori Abe Vs Michael Nakazawa & Chinsuke Nakamura
7. Dramatic Dream Match: Danshoku Dino, Keisuke Ishii & Ken Ohka Vs Great Muta, Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo
8. KO-D Tag Team Titles – Uchikomi! Presents: HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji (c) Vs Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi
9. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) Vs Shuji Ishikawa

For an audio preview I appeared on an episode of the Wrestling Omakase podcast to talk about the show. We also review the “SAKI AKAI PRODUCE ~ DDT COLLECTION” show on the same episode. You can listen to it here.

The DDT UNIVERSE live broadcast begins on 1:30pm JST with the first pre-show match beginning at 2:00pm JST and the main show beginning at 3:00pm JST. So for other time zones the main show begins at 7:00am GMT (remember the clocks will have gone forward one hour in this time zone), 2:00am ET and (Saturday) 11:00pm PT. For those with access to AbemaTV the event will also air live for free on the DDT channel (VPN needed for those outside Japan). There will be either muted audio or replacement music for the entrances and video packages because of this.

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DDT is back in Sumo Hall once again for its biggest event of the year. “JUDGEMENT 2018” is being held to mark DDT’s 21st anniversary and is providing a stacked card to celebrate. The headline match is a rematch of a 2016 Sumo Hall main event but there is plenty to talk about from top to bottom. We have grudge matches, we have generational battles, we have wrestling demons, we have anal explosions, we have title matches, we have joshi, we have crazy foreign wrestlers and we have the other sub-brands jumping in to get involved. The only way this show gets any more insane is if DDT goes the Pop Team Epic route and holds an identical 5 hour show immediately after this 5 hour show ends but with different a commentary team.

0. Under Match: Mizuki Watase, Rekka, Daiki Shimomura, Nobuhiro Shimatani & Takato Nakano Vs Mad Paulie, Hoshitango, Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Gota Ihashi & Cherry

The first match of the day is between rookies and veterans. The rookie team consists of DNA and BASARA wrestlers. Mizuki Watase’s big matches in DNA for the last few months have been against wrestlers like Koji Kanemoto & Minoru Tanaka. Taiwanese wrestler Rekka recently formed a short lived team with Chinese wrestler Choun-Shiryu that fell apart over their national differences. Daiki Shimomura has been bottom of the pile and taking loss after loss on most shows. His Gran MilliMeters partner Nobuhiro Shimatani has been the same except he has spent his time trying to win over DAMNATION so he can join their group. BASARA’s Takato Nakano is approaching the first anniversary of his debut match in April.

On the veteran team Mad Paulie has become a little bit calmer ever since he discovered dancing. He loves to dance along to Shuji Ishikawa’s karaoke. Because of this he acts a little bit nicer to his opponents but he is still dangerous to wrestle. Gota Ihashi embarrassed himself on the big stage when he got to team with Kota Ibushi and Riki Choshu on a show produced by Choshu. They won their match but Choshu ripped apart Ihashi with criticism during a post show interview. Ever since then Ihashi has been trying to regain his confidence and even wants to discover if the power of Choshu is inside of him. It isn’t. The real power is the friends you make along the way and Choshu has been friends with Ibushi for years so the entire journey is a waste of time in the first place. Hoshitango, Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Cherry have been filling up the DDT pre-show matches throughout the year.

0. Under Match: Kouki Iwasaki & Shinichiro Tominaga Vs Kenshin Chikano & Akira Jo

The focus of this match is between Kouki Iwasaki and Akira Jo. The two are feuding against each other in DNA where the homegrown wrestlers are defending themselves against the Naomi Kingdom, which Jo is a part of. Shinichiro Tominaga comes over from Ganbare☆Wrestling as a proud “amateur” pro wrestling card carrier. Kenshin Chikano has a DDT appearance here and there. He had a little more of a presence in BASARA last year when BASARA had a summer long rivalry with Dove Pro Wrestling.

0. Under Match – Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match: Yuka Sakazaki & Syoko Nakajima Va Rika Tatsumi & Maho Kurone

Tokyo Joshi Pro gets fully represented with two matches this time around. The pre-show match is between two of their long standing tag teams the Miraclians and the Dragon Bombers. The Apricots have been teaming together for as long as Yuka Sakazaki & Syoko Nakajima have been around. They have a few achievements between them but the one they share together is becoming the first ever TOKYO Princess Tag Team Champions. On the surface the Dragon Bombers look like an odd pairing but Rika Tatsumi and Maho Kurone have won over fans with their personalities. Kurone’s entire zombie character is immediately eye catching and her behaviour at shows is often fun to follow. Tatsumi got some media attention when she admitted to fancying another Tokyo Joshi wrestler Mizuki and openly questioned the No Relationships rule used by the promotion because it only refers to having boyfriends and not girlfriends. She is currently preparing for the biggest match of her life in May when she main events Korakuen Hall. She recently pinned Nakajima to build up her momentum. Either repeating it or pinning Sakazaki would only increase it further.

1. Gauntlet Tag Match: LiLiCo & Makoto Oishi Vs Reika Saiki & Lady Beard Vs Akito & Shunma Katsumata Vs Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata Vs Antonio Honda & Ethan Page Vs Naomi Yoshimura & Keisuke Okuda

The show kicks off proper with a wacky Gauntlet Match for Tag Teams. When LiLiCo was last in DDT she was defending the now forgotten KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Titles with Makoto Oishi and three others. That was in November. Now she’s back in training with Oishi to enter the gauntlet. Oishi has planning his next steps ever since NωA split up. He demanded to join T2Hide so he could take over the group and even won the right to be a member. But he instead turned it down so he could go do literally anything else. Reika Saiki & Lady Beard are connected together outside of wrestling as the idol duo DEADLIFT LOLITA. This is their first time teaming together for a wrestling match. Shunma Katsumata became the breakout wrestler from NωA when he joined ALL OUT and went through a crazy Hardcore Match where he used thumbtacks. Akito has been by Katsumata’s side during this encouraging him to come out of his shell. Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata are still the same except for the times when Hirata gets deported and replaced by a suspiciously similar looking foreign substitute. They might still be feeling burned by Oishi rejecting them. Ethan Page has been loving his stay in Japan which probably explains why he acts different here compared to how he normally elsewhere. DDT brought him in with big hopes that he will be their next big Canadian star. Antonio Honda is with him to make sure that happens. Finally, Naomi Yoshimura & Keisuke Okuda have been terrorising DNA with their Naomi Kingdom unit. Their troublemaking is now spreading to DDT and they are very interested to be in the same ring as LiLiCo and Saiki.

2. World Crazy Wrestler No. 1 Decision Battle In DDT: Joey Ryan Vs Colt Cabana

Everything about this match is a little funny. Two of America’s most known and successful comedy wrestlers will face off one on one inside one of Japan’s most prestigious wrestling arenas… and there’s been zero build up for it. That’s not to say either of them have done nothing in DDT at all. In January Joey Ryan competed at the D-Oh Grand Prix. He seemed to be more concerned about convincing the audience to throw paper tape at him for his entrances than he was with winning matches. Colt “Boom Boom” Cabana challenged for the KO-D Openweight Title on Christmas Day but failed to win it. He then spent New Year’s Eve pretending to be Abdullah The Butcher. Both are fighting for the right to be called the DDT’s craziest gaijin wrestler.

3. Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match – Special 6-Woman Tag Match: Miyu Yamashita, Maki Ito & Mizuki Vs Saki-sama, Yoshiko-sama & Azusa Christie

For the first time Tokyo Joshi gets a main card spot on a Sumo Hall show. Miyu Yamashita has regained her position as the ace of the promotion when she won back the TOKYO Princess Of Princess Title on 4th January. Since then she has been fighting off challengers like Veda Scott, Yuna Manase and Maho Kurone. Teaming with her is one of the scariest egos ever to grace a DDT ring. Pop idol turned pro wrestler Maki Ito often becomes intense when she wrestles. Her petite figure doesn’t stop her from throwing headbutts and giving her opponents the middle finger. She also formed her own team/fan club called the Ito Respect Army and brought in Mizuki as Member #001. Mizuki doesn’t mind and is happy to make a friend. They even recorded a music video together. It’s just that this friend can act like a psychopath when she doesn’t get her way.

Their opponents are NEO Biishiki-gun, the snooty aristocratic unit led by the snootier and even more aristocratic Saki-sama. Her biggest move over the last year was abducting one of the weakest wrestlers in Tokyo Joshi, Azusa Takigawa and brainwashing her into becoming Azusa Christie. Azusa is now a devoted nun who worships Saki-sama as if she was God. This change has seen her gain more success than she ever had previously and she along with Saki now holds the TOKYO Princess Tag Team Championships. Ever since her inclusion, NEO Biishiki-gun have been the dominant force in Tokyo Joshi and now they have a new girl joining them for this show. In February Saki-sama brought out a shy woman who was hiding her face behind a teddy bear and introduced her as an old friend from her childhood. Maki Ito confronted this girl and threatened her until the bear was lowered and the face was revealed. The girl is Yoshiko-sama and she isn’t afraid to fight back! Her teddy bear is named Charlotte by the way.

4. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Super Sasadango Machine (c) Vs Jiro Kuroshio

I’ve had trouble trying to keep up with the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title this year. Super Sasadango Machine won it the first week of January and asked to defend the belt against Jiro Kuroshio at Sumo Hall. His wish was granted but on one condition. Sasadango would need to defend the title at least twice a week every week up until the show takes place. Sasadango quickly found a solution to this problem. He set up an office in Nagoya and invited celebrities, spokesmen and other various business people to try and win the belt from him. In return they would get to promote their projects on DDT’s social media. It worked for the most part but there were some title changes I missed from people I don’t know and from there I lost track. As of writing I think he is still the champion and his title match with Kuroshio is all set.

But things are never just normal with this championship. There are always people hunting after the belt and I’ll be shocked if this match just stays between Sasadango and Kuroshio. Heck I’ll be shocked if a title change does not happen right before the match takes place! Also I don’t think Kuroshio would be just satisfied with doing just this match. Remember, he has a pinfall victory over Konosuke Takeshita from the D-Oh Grand Prix. There has to be some sort of follow up to that.

5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi (c) Vs Kota Umeda, Yuki Ueno & Koji Takeda

On the one hand Shuten-dōji finds themselves in the familiar position of the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles match on DDT’s big supercard. On the other hand their opponents this time includes what used to be one of their own! Kota Umeda returned from a long injury absence last November and is making up for lost time in both DDT and DNA. He built up a quick but intense rivalry with another rookie Yuki Ueno. He also joined the rest of DNA in their feud with the Naomi Kingdom. It was during this time that Umeda started to figure something out. As the fourth member of Shuten-dōji he was often left out of their 6-Man Tag Title matches. The only times he got to step in was to cover for one of the other wrestlers if they were hurt. This had to change.

Shuten-dōji reached the point where they were disappointed by their current position. They wanted to face the best trios DDT could throw at them but in the end it is they who are the best trio. That was when Umeda stepped up to them. He wanted to challenge his brothers for the titles and to do so he is teaming with his rival Ueno as well as another rookie Koji Takeda. The response from Shuten-dōji was mixed. Masahiro Takanashi found it funny. He thought Umeda’s new unit looks so bad that they should be called Pigging 2018 after the consistently worst unit to compete in the DDT General Elections year after year. But KUDO & Yukio Sakaguchi took this seriously. They would allow Umeda to challenge them but he would no longer be a part of Shuten-dōji if he does so. Umeda was willing to pay that price. Now Umeda is leading his generation team against his former family and in the process became a fierce enemy to Sakaguchi in particular. It might get worse when the title match takes place.

6. Weapon Rumble 5 Way Tag Loser Gets Anal Blast Match: Sanshiro Takagi & Ippanjin Munenori Sawa Vs Mike Bailey & MAO Vs Yuko Miyamoto & Soma Takao Vs Isami Kodaka & Fuminori Abe Vs Michael Nakazawa & Chinsuke Nakamura

Well this has been crazy. Originally DDT was going to hold its Falls Count Anywhere specialty match but Sumo Hall management and the Japan Sumo Association finally put their foot down and told them no. The potential risk of audience injuries and building damage is too high for them to accept. Unfortunately for them they weren’t prepared for DDT’s Plan B. Sure DDT will keep it in the ring but now there are explosives involved. At least it’s still safer than Sami Callihan playing with a pinata.

It all begun when Sanshiro Takagi was reunited with an old friend. In a moment that they absolutely swear was not like anything else that happened that same week involving former DDT talent, Munenori Sawa returned to DDT to save Takagi from a beatdown. They embraced, tears were shed and one of DDT’s wackiest tag teams from the last decade were back in business. Although Sawa had retired from pro wrestling to become a salaryman, he would still show up near a wrestling ring every now and then. Takagi threw out a challenge. He and Sawa would face anyone in a Falls Count Anywhere Match at Sumo Hall. They attracted a lot of offers. Yuko Miyamoto wanted to get involved and as the current DDT Extreme Champion he surely qualifies. Soma Takao joins Miyamoto as part of Smile Squash. The call was also answered by Isami Kodaka & Fuminori Abe from BASARA. Kodaka is a hardcore wrestler and Abe is pretty much Munenori Sawa Jr. so the stipulation suits them fine.

The challenge led to an old enemy of Takagi’s resurfacing. Michael Nakazawa sent a video saying he would enter with a friend from “New York”. That friend is Chinsuke Nakamura! The Pauper Of Strong Style made his presence felt when he threw Takagi over the top rope and out of the ring. He celebrated this accomplishment by pointing to the RyogokuMania sign held above Korakuen Hall. The loudest response of all was from MAO fresh off of his split from NωA. MAO thinks now is the time DDT gets a new face for Street Wrestling and it should be him. He’s bringing Speedball Mike Bailey back to team with him. However MAO may be too crazy judging by that time he ran over Takagi with a van to win a Falls Count Anywhere match. He then threatened to blow up Shin-Kiba 1st RING with fireworks.

So the match was set and tensions grew to a dangerous level between Takagi and MAO. Takagi’s response to getting hit by a vehicle was to start shoving fireworks into other wrestlers’ butts to give them an Anal Explosion. MAO responded in kind until it was the major focus by everyone involved in the upcoming match. That was when the ban came and the match had to be cancelled. During that announcement all of the teams came together and threw together a replacement match. The BASARA team wanted to use weapons. MAO demanded that someone should get an Anal Blast. Everyone agreed to a Weapons Rumble match. As the match progresses, new weapons would be brought out Royal Rumble style. Plus whoever loses the match must subject themselves to an Anal Explosion! This means everybody is happy except for the Japan Sumo Association. Serves them right.

7. Dramatic Dream Match: Danshoku Dino, Keisuke Ishii & Ken Ohka Vs Great Muta, Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo

One of the first announcements for this show made back in January was the involvement of The Great Muta. DDT eventually announced that he would be teaming with DAMNATION to take on Danshoku Dino and his friends. Daisuke Sasaki would use the news to announce that he is in charge and Muta would be fighting under his leadership. There was no response from Muta about this. Sasaki then started taunting Dino by spitting cola and coffee at him Poison Mist style. Again there was no response from Muta. But Sasaki’s actions did bring Dino to his breaking point. The attacks made Dino transform into The Great Homo! Under his own Muta-style personality, Dino would constantly attack Sasaki and Tetsuya Endo. Endo moreso than Sasaki. He would spit Poison Milk Mist at them and attack their backsides with a spike. The only way he could be stopped was when Sasaki transformed into Nerima Sting to combat him. This finally made Muta stir. The demon was not pleased by this nonsense especially from Dino.

A threatening message was sent to DDT HQ. Dino has been given the Poison Curse! No matter where Dino goes, Muta would possess everyone around him and make them spit the Poison Mist in Dino’s face. Nowhere was Dino safe. Employees, trainees, referees, wrestlers, fans, models, TV hosts. All of them spat the Mist at Dino under Muta’s power. Dino would get attacked again and again and again and again and again! Has Muta’s plan brought Dino back to the brink enough to summon The Great Homo? Keisuke Ishii and Ken Ohka are there to help Dino but the three of them are clearly outmatched. The only thing they don’t have to worry about is Muta doing a Moonsault but that’s what Endo is there for.

8. KO-D Tag Team Titles – Uchikomi! Presents: HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji (c) Vs Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi

For many in DDT there is one task that seems impossible and that is beating HARASHIMA. The backbone of DDT is often the biggest mountain to climb and some wrestlers have become obsessed with doing it. The latest wrestler in this position is Kazusada Higuchi. HARASHIMA has been a thorn in his side ever since Higuchi’s first year in DDT. HARASHIMA gave Higuchi his first loss, beat him twice in KO-D Title matches and also won the KO-D Tag Team Titles from him with Naomichi Marufuji. The team known as HarashiMarufuji have held the titles ever since. They even survived a title defence held inside a factory! If they were ever to be beaten, Higuchi would have to find somebody really strong to team with him.

Oh crap. Daisuke Sekimoto wants to get involved.

Sekimoto & Higuchi joined forces for the annual New Year’s Eve cross promotion Tag Team Tournament and made it all the way to the final. They made such a good impression together that they are reuniting to go after HARASHIMA & Marufuji. Sekimoto and HARASHIMA have a history together but there is respect between them. HARASHIMA and Higuchi however do not like each other ever since HARASHIMA knocked out Higuchi during a singles match earlier this month. When Higuchi came to he went on a rampage chasing after HARASHIMA. A defeat to Marufuji too in the run-up to this match hasn’t helped. Higuchi will have to keep his emotions in check against these two.

9. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) Vs Shuji Ishikawa

This is the rematch 19 months in the making. Konosuke Takeshita and Shuji Ishikawa main evented “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2016” with the KO-D Openweight Title on the line. Ishikawa came out on top that night and held onto the belt for almost the rest of 2016. HARASHIMA won the title from him in December that year but the championship made its way back to Takeshita at “JUDGEMENT 2017” just over one year ago. Since then Takeshita has firmly kept the belt in his grasp and fought all-comers, breaking the DDT record for most title defences in a single reign with 10 successful defences at this time. Freshly graduated from college, Takeshita has been having a great year as the champion. It’s getting tough though. A lower back injury has plagued Takeshita throughout February and gave him a big target that can be exploited. So it’s been a tough year but a great year none the less.

However you can argue Shuji Ishikawa’s last 12 months have been just as good if not better. He goes on a tear in All Japan and wins the Champion Carnival, then the Triple Crown, then the Real World Tag League with Suwama and then AJPW World Tag Team Titles also with Suwama. When he refocused his efforts in DDT at the beginning of 2018, Ishikawa ends up winning the first ever D-Oh Grand Prix tournament almost unbeaten. His only loss in the competition was against his DAMNATION leader Daisuke Sasaki. The goal of the Grand Prix was to establish DDT’s leading star for the rest of the year and Ishikawa proved there is no one more deserving of it than him.

Ishikawa has gone out to prove he has a range of other talents too. Ever since he won the Grand Prix, Ishikawa has performed karaoke in the ring to celebrate his big victories in DDT. Mad Paulie has joined in the fun by dancing along to his songs. Sasaki & Endo aren’t as eager to join in so they just grin and bare it while he sings. With the big title match on the horizon, Sasaki gave Ishikawa a serious order. Ishikawa cannot sing karaoke and Paulie cannot dance again until Ishikawa beats Takeshita at Sumo Hall to become the KO-D Champion. This gave Ishikawa an idea. Takeshita is injured. If he gets so injured that he cannot defend the title at Sumo Hall then Ishikawa will become the champion by default. Then for the main event Ishikawa can sing karaoke inside the ring all night long! So for the last month Ishikawa has intentionally tried to injure Takeshita in their preview matches. It briefly worked when Takeshita had to miss a show to recover but he came back and in their most recent match together pinned Ishikawa.

So there you have it. The strongest champion in DDT’s history is hurt but still capable of beating whatever is being thrown at him. DDT’s strongest challenger is almost unstoppable and is powered by the desire to show off his vocal talents. Their 2016 match is well worth the watch in preparation for this.

DDT “SAKI AKAI PRODUCE ~ DDT COLLECTION” Results

DDT “SAKI AKAI PRODUCE ~ DDT COLLECTION”, 14/03/2018
Shinjuku FACE
352 Fans – No Vacancy

0. Under Match: Mizuki Watase defeated Daiki Shimomura with the Back Drop (5:46).
1. Outrage 6 Way ~All Bad Guy Members~: Yoshiko defeated Yuko Miyamoto, Ryota Nakatsu, Naomi Yoshimura, Yukio Sakaguchi and Nobuhiro Shimatani when Yoshiko pinned Shimatani with the Diving Senton (8:41).
2. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – Doki ❤ Aja Full Paint Rumble: Aja Kong defeated Makoto Oishi (c) with the Can Assisted Uraken (13:39).
Order Of Elimination: Gorgeous Matsuno, Ethan Page, HARASHIMA, Super Sasadango Machine, Antonio Honda, Sanshiro Takagi, Maki Ito and Makoto Oishi.
*Aja Kong becomes the 1,297th champion.
3. Shu Shu Match ♡ Kabukicho Yutaro March: Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo Vs Jun Kasai & DJ Nira ended in a No Contest (15:00?).
4. NEO Biishiki-gun Vs T2HiJoshi Special Fight: Saki-sama, Azusa Christie & Martha (w/ Yukio Saint Laurent) defeated Margaret★Owashi, Kazuko Hirata & Kazuko Higuchi when Saki-sama pinned Hirata with the Two Stage Face Kick (12:53).
5. Miracle Change! DDT collection: KUDO, Akito & MAO defeated Konosuke Takeshita, Soma Takao & Shunma Katsumata when KUDO pinned Katsumata with the Diving Double Knee Drop (12:53).
6. Bonus Track One Day GM Competition: Kazuko Hirata defeated Saki Akai, Danshoku Dino, Konosuke Takeshita, KUDO, Akito, MAO, Azusa Christie, Martha, Yukio Saint Laurent, Margaret★Owashi, HARASHIMA, Sanshiro Takagi, Super Sasadango Machine, Makoto Oishi, Antonio Honda, Gorgeous Matsuno, Maki Ito, Yuko Miyamoto, Ryota Nakatsu, Nobuhiro Shimatani, Yoshiko, Mizuki Watase, Daiki Shimomura, Yuki Ueno and Hisaya Imabayashi when Hirata wore the Afro for 3 seconds (11:13).

Last July, Saki Akai won a Battle Royal and was rewarded the role of DDT General Manager for one day. She spent months thinking up ideas until she was finally ready to put a show together in Shinjuku FACE. She thought she would be on her own but everyone in DDT was happy to help and were willing to use all of her ideas. With their support, Akai described the preparations for the show were like playing with a toy box. It wasn’t a perfect show by her own admission. Akai rated it “60 Points” (I assume out of 100) and wished she could have given herself more talk time. But she wanted the show to be like a festival and she is glad that everybody had fun.

The amount of attention Akai was getting today created some jealousy amongst the DDT roster. During the opening introductions, Akai had to wear the Amon Tsurumi afro wig that represents the GM role. While she was speaking to the audience, Danshoku Dino tried to grab the afro. Akai stopped him and said that the afro will be up for grabs at the end of the show. Whoever wears the afro will be allowed to become the GM for one day but it must be used within one year. However when the main event ended Akai never brought up the match. Dino stepped in and reminded her about it. Fearing that everyone was about to gang up on her, Akai threw down the afro and said the next person to pick it up and wear it will win the GM rights. Everyone who was involved in the show fought over the afro. Even Hisaya Imabayashi snuck in to try and get his old role back. Akai and Makoto Oishi were the last two left standing but they knocked each other out. The afro ended up on Kazuki Hirata’s head and the referee counted to three. Hirata was declared the winner!

For the main event, each wrestler was given a fashion makeover to wear for their entrances. MAO wore a pink parka, Akito wore a poncho, KUDO wore rider gear, Shunma Katsumata was in a cap and T-shirt, Soma Takao wore a kimono while carrying and umbrella and Konosuke Takeshita was covered in a fur coat. Their regular wrestling gear were all on underneath so when the match started it was business as usual. The winning team were rewarded with a hair care set from the show’s sponsor.

Although Akai didn’t have an official match on the show, her close friend Saki-sama was there with the rest of NEO Biishiki-gun to make up for it. Their opponents T2HiJoshi introduced their secret weapon Kazuko Higuchi who came out wearing bunny ears and a pink dress. Higuchi gave a rose to Yukio Saint Laurent and confessed her love to him. He hit her and threatened to stab her with an injection. Higuchi powered out of his grip and tore her dress off in anger. Higuchi went on a rampage, clearing the ring until Yukio stopped her by sticking the injection in her forehead. Saki-sama hit Kazuko Hirata with the Two Stage Face Kick to win the match. She called her opponents truly ugly, especially the one that turned into a monster halfway through the match.

Everybody in Match #3 was given glasses of champagne to drink while they wrestled. A table was set up next to the ring so they could get their drinks refilled. They all drank glasses after every kickout then argued with each other about being drunk. Jun Kasai asked Daisuke Sasaki why he didn’t bring the DDT Extreme Title with him to the ring. DJ Nira then convinced everyone to form a human tower so Kasai could hit the Pearl Harbour Splash but the tower collapsed. Tetsuya Endo tried to do a Moonsault but overshot his target and missed. Sasaki then decided to put Daisuke Kiso in the Crossface Lock while Nira did Elbow Drops to Inoue Mic. The match got so out of control that Yukinori Matsui stepped in and declared a no contest. There was no accurate match time because Mic was distracted by Nira’s attack so DDT just assumes it lasted around 15 minutes.

Aja Kong was not impressed by all of the wrestlers impersonating her in the tribute Battle Royal. She refused to participate and spent the match doing commentary at the broadcast table. She buried the match by complaining about the colour of Makoto Oishi’s face paint being wrong and the match quality dropping when Gorgeous Matsuno entered the ring. She then watched on in disbelief at Antonio Honda and Super Sasadango Machine reenacting the time when Kong cut off Bison Kimura’s hair. Maki Ito got into the spirit of things by scaring HARASHIMA with a loud scream. When Ito took out a banana to make fun Kong’s name, Aja had enough and entered the match with a steel can in hand! Kong cleaned out the ring but Ito stood up to her and even gave her a Headbutt! Kong shrugged it off and pinned Ito with the Vertical Drop Brainbuster. Oishi tried to sneak attack Kong but he got the can placed over his head and he was knocked out with the Uraken for his troubles. Dino congratulated Kong for winning and asked if he could become Aja Kong II. She called him rude and knocked him out with the Uraken.

Everybody in the opening 6 Way Match was dressed as some sort of delinquent. They all tried to intimidate each other and fought dirty when it was time to wrestle. But it wasn’t all nasty. Nobuhiro Shimatani took a time out to tell Yoshiko how much he likes her. Yukio Sakaguchi interrupted the moment by attacking Yoshino. Shimatani then got singled out and was attacked by all the others until Yoshiko pinned him with the Diving Senton.

Mizuki Watase was so jealous of everybody in their main event getting their hair and make-up done that he went and got a makeover too. All it led to was Daiki Shimomura playing with Watase’s hair while they wrestled.

DDT “INTO THE FIGHT 2018” Results

DDT “INTO THE FIGHT 2018”, 25/02/2018
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,220 Fans – No Vacancy

0. Under Match: Mad Paulie defeated Tomomitsu Matsunaga with the Paulie Buster (6:32).
1. Tag Rumble: Soma Takao & MAO defeated Sanshiro Takagi & Super Sasadango Machine, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata, Makoto Oishi & Kota Umeda and Yuki Ueno & Koju Takeda (6:14).
1a. Makoto Oishi & Kota Umeda eliminated Yuki Ueno & Koju Takeda by Ring Out when Oishi threw Ueno out of the ring (2:06).
1b. Sanshiro Takagi & Super Sasadango Machine eliminated Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata by Ring Out when Sasadango threw Hirata out of the ring (5:00).
1c. Sanshiro Takagi & Super Sasadango Machine eliminated Makoto Oishi & Kota Umeda when Sasadango pinned Oishi after the Golden☆Trigger (5:32).
1d. Soma Takao & MAO eliminated Sanshiro Takagi & Super Sasadango Machine when MAO pinned Takagi with the Cannonball 450 (6:14).
2. Infomercial Match – Net One Systems Co., Ltd.: Danshoku Dino defeated Saki Akai, Akito, Antonio Honda, Kouki Iwasaki and Mizuki Watase when Dino pinned Honda with the Danshoku Driver (6:58).
3. Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo defeated Keisuke Ishii & Ken Ohka when Sasaki submitted Ohka with the Cross Facelock (8:01).
4. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi (c) defeated Ryuichi Sekine, Ryota Nakatsu & Fuminori Abe when Sakaguchi submitted Nakatsu with a Modified Arm Triangle (8:05).
*V2 for Shuten-dōji.
5. DDT Extreme Title – Hardcore ＋α Match: Yuko Miyamoto (c) defeated Shunma Katsumata with the Moonsault (11:45).
*V2 for Yuko Miyamoto.
6. Special Single Match: Naomichi Marufuji defeated Kazusada Higuchi with the Ko-oh (13:02).
7. Special Tag Match: Shuji Ishikawa & Daisuke Sekimoto defeated Konosuke Takeshita & HARASHIMA when Ishikawa pinned Takeshita with the Splash Mountain (18:04).

With exactly one month to go until “JUDGEMENT 2018” at Sumo Hall, some big preview matches were put together for Korakuen Hall. In the main event the KO-D Openweight Champion fought alongside one of the KO-D Tag Team Champions against some of their challengers. Konosuke Takeshita, HARASHIMA, Shuji Ishikawa and Daisuke Sekimoto fought back and forth until the match went down to just Takeshita and Ishikawa inside the ring. HARASHIMA and Sekimoto still got involved to break the pins but other than that they focused on fighting each other outside. Ishikawa used the Kamigoe to great effect and hit move after move on Takeshita until the Splash Mountain kept him down for the three count.

After the match Ishikawa told Takeshita he was certainly strong but the result of their match at Sumo Hall will be the same as it was today. He then asked Daisuke Sasaki if he could sing today. He knows both he and Mad Paulie are prohibited from karaoke and dancing celebrations until Sumo Hall but he did just pin the KO-D Champion. Surely that is worth a song. Sasaki refused until Sekimoto threatened him. Sekimoto wants to sing too! Together, Ishikawa and Sekimoto sang “Tonbo” in a duet while Paulie played the air guitar while wearing sunglasses.

The other KO-D Tag Team Title preview saw Naomichi Marufuji defeat Kazusada Higuchi. Higuchi was worn down by Marufuji’s chops and different kicks while his own moves weren’t enough to keep Marufuji down for long. Marufuji said Higuchi has grown better since than the last time they fought but it takes more than youth and momentum to succeed. Marufuji is in too deep for Higuchi to beat him! Higuchi says he is learning from these matches and now understands what he is missing. From now until Sumo Hall, Higuchi & Sekimoto will think about what they need to do to win the KO-D Tag Team Titles.

There were plenty of weapons placed around ringside for the DDT Extreme Title match but two items in particular were the most important. The Hardcore ＋α Match allowed both Yuko Miyamoto and Shunma Katsumata to choose an extra weapon each. Miyamoto chose a barbed wire bat and Katsumata chose a box full of thumbtacks! The two also fought with tables, ladders, chairs and bamboo swords. Katsumata poured out the thumbtacks but he was the first to taste them when he missed a Moonsault and was then given the Fire Thunder. Katsumata kicked out and later slammed Miyamoto onto the thumbtacks with the ¡Hasta La Vista!. Miyamoto kicked out of that. Miyamoto hit another Fire Thunder and this time got the victory with the Moonsault. Backstage Miyamoto said how surprised he was by Katsumata’s performance. He was expecing an idol performance first and he still wasn’t convinced when the thumbtacks came out. It was only when Katsumata started using the weapons that Miyamoto realised he was really bringing it to him. Katsumata thinks the experience opened something new inside him. He is no longer scared of deathmatches and has a new respect for deathmatch fighters. He hopes he can use what he learned here to do more with ALL OUT.

NEO Biishiki-gun were invited out halfway through the show to reveal their third member for the Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match at Sumo Hall. Saki-sama & Azusa Christie came out to introduce their newest member but Miyu Yamashita & Maki Ito were also there to see who it was. The mystery person came out and it was a woman in a dress hiding her face behind a teddy bear. Christie introduced her as Saki-sama’s old childhood friend. She shyly greeted the audience while still hiding behind the bear. Ito had enough and she shouted at the woman about her appearance until the teddy was lowered. The mystery woman is Yoshiko-sama! She attacked Ito with the bear and dropped on her with a Senton. Yamashita pulled Ito out of the ring and had to drag her away. The teddy bear is named Charlotte by the way.

The BASARA team were in sync for most of the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles bout. At one point Ryuichi Sekine, Ryota Nakatsu & Fuminori Abe had a Shuten-dōji wrestler all trapped in submissions move at the same time. Nakatsu came close to pinning Yukio Sakaguchi with a German Suplex. But the champions retained when Sakaguchi countered the V Slider into a Triangle Kimura Hold.

Shuten-dōji were grateful in victory but now they faced a problem. They want to fight the best trio in DDT at Sumo Hall but they are the best trio so they have no opponents. Much to their surprise Yuki Ueno and Koju Takeda both entered the ring. Ueno asked if they could get the title shot at Sumo Hall. Masahiro Takanashi couldn’t believe what he was hearing from the rookie and said it was impossible. Then in a bigger surprise, Kota Umeda offered to be on their team! Sakaguchi was fine with the idea but he told Umeda he would have to leave Shuten-dōji for the time being. Umeda was willing to do that. He later explained that by being fourth man in Shuten-dōji, he was always left out of the 6-Man Tag Title matches unless one of the other three were injured. He also created a respectful bond with Ueno from their matches together since coming back from injury. By leaving Shuten-dōji to team with Ueno & Takeda he is now free to challenge for the championships at Sumo Hall.

Daisuke Sasaki blinded Keisuke Ishii with the Mist then made Ken Ohka tap to the Cross Facelock. Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo’s victory was cut short when the room went dark. The Great Homo appeared and spat Milk Mist at both of the DAMNATION wrestlers! He then pressed a metal spike into Endo’s backside and gave him the Danshoku Driver. The Great Homo made his exit by spitting Milk Mist at the audience.

For the Infomercial Match, Danshoku Dino was fitted with health sensors that displayed his hit points on the Korakuen video screen. With this technology we were able to learn what moves were effective against Dino (Antonio Honda’s strikes) and how Dino was able to recover lost hit points (doing Danshoku things to Akito). Dino was eventually brought down to 0 HP but everyone discovered that at 0 HP, Dino goes into a panic state. In this state Dino attacked everyone with Lip Locks. Dino won the match and told the sponsor that there is something about pro wrestling that cannot be measured by numbers. He then kissed the sponsor.

Congratulations to Sanshiro Takagi & Super Sasadango Machine for being the first team to copy the new Golden Lovers moveset. They attempted the Croyt’s Wrath/High Kick combo on Makoto Oishi. It kind of worked. Then they used the Golden☆Trigger, which did work. All of their progress was for nothing as MAO immediately pinned Takagi with the Cannonball 450 afterwards to win the Tag Rumble for himself and Soma Takao.

When the Tag Rumble was over, MAO said he will be entering the Falls Count Anywhere In Ryogoku tag match with Mike Bailey. He said now is the time for Street Wrestling to be taken over by the new generation. Soma Takao also announced he will be part of the match with Yuko Miyamoto as his partner. They will be representing Smile Squash. Takagi accepted the entries but then the room went dark. A video played of Michael Nakazawa announcing his entry into the match! His partner is a friend from “New York” and he is in Korakuen tonight. “Rising Sun” played over the speakers and Chinsuke Nakamura came out! Takagi attacked Nakamura mid-entrance but got the Kinsasha for his troubles. Chinsuke threw Takagi over the top rope and out of the ring, then pointed to the RyogokuMania sign that suddenly appeared on one of the balconies. One last team announced their entry later in the show. Fuminori Abe called Isami Kodaka on the phone while standing in the ring to confirm they will be part of the match.

Mad Paulie’s size and weight was too large for Tomomitsu Matsunaga to handle. Matsunaga couldn’t lift Paulie with the Back Drop or a Power Bomb. Paulie was able to stop Matsunaga with a Lou Thesz Press then pinned him with the Paulie Buster.

Gota Ihashi continues his path of redemption with a new five match series beginning in April. His first opponent is Koji Kanemoto on 1st April. Ken Ohka explained that Ihashi is wrestling to the best of his abilities but that alone is not getting results. Ihashi has to face wrestlers on the level of Kanemoto if he wants to become good enough to appease Riki Choshu.

Saki Akai revealed three new pieces of information about her “DDT COLLECTION” show at Shinjuku FACE on 15th March. First, Aja Kong will be on the card. Second, there will be a 6 Way Match between Yuko Miyamoto, Ryota Nakatsu, Naomi Yoshimura, Yukio Sakaguchi, Nobuhiro Shimatani and Yoshiko. Last but not least, NEO Biishiki-gun will face T2HiJoshi in a special trios match.

DDT is collaborating with Koei Tecmo for the upcoming horse racing video game “Winning Post 8 2018”. The game will feature two race horses named after Danshoku Dino and Konosuke Takeshita.

The DDT Video Team confirmed their own produced event “BETAMANIA” will be held in Shin-Kiba 1st RING on 23rd April. The video team is made up of Yumehito Imanari, DT-YUTA and Ryohei Fukuda. All three will participate in a match on the show.

Below is the updated card for “JUDGEMENT 2018”.

DDT “JUDGEMENT 2018 ~DDT 21ST ANNIVERSARY~”, 25/03/2018
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

0. Under Match: Kouki Iwasaki & Shinichiro Tominaga Vs Kenshin Chikano & Akira Jo
0. Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match: Yuka Sakazaki & Syoko Nakajima Va Rika Tatsumi & Maho Kurone
0. Under Match: Mizuki Watase, Rekka, Daiki Shimomura, Nobuhiro Shimatani & Takato Nakano Vs Mad Paulie, Hoshitango, Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Gota Ihashi & Cherry
1. Gauntlet Tag Match: LiLiCo & Makoto Oishi Vs Reika Saiki & Lady Beard Vs Akito & Shunma Katsumata Vs Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata Vs Antonio Honda & Ethan Page Vs Naomi Yoshimura & Keisuke Okuda
2. Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Match – Special 6-Woman Tag Match: Miyu Yamashita, Maki Ito & Mizuki Vs Saki-sama, Yoshiko-sama & Azusa Christie
3. World Crazy Wrestler No. 1 Decision Battle In DDT: Joey Ryan Vs Colt Cabana
4. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Super Sasadango Machine (c) Vs Jiro Kuroshio
5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi (c) Vs Kota Umeda, Yuki Ueno & Koji Takeda
6. Street Wrestling Using The Entire Ryogoku Building ~ Falls Count Anywhere 5 Way Tag Match: Sanshiro Takagi & Normal Person Munenori Sawa Vs Mike Bailey & MAO Vs Yuko Miyamoto & Soma Takao Vs Isami Kodaka & Fuminori Abe Vs Michael Nakazawa & Chinsuke Nakamura
7. Dramatic Dream Match: Danshoku Dino, Keisuke Ishii & Ken Ohka Vs Great Muta, Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo
8. KO-D Tag Team Titles – Uchikomi! Presents: HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji (c) Vs Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi
9. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) Vs Shuji Ishikawa

DDT “UCHIKOMI! PRESENTS ROAD TO RYOGOKU 2017” Results

DDT “UCHIKOMI! PRESENTS ROAD TO RYOGOKU 2017”, 23/07/2017
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,253 Fans – No Vacancy

0. Dark Match: Kouki Iwasaki defeated Daiki Shimomura with a Vertical Drop Brainbuster (4:03).
1. Hirata Collection A.T. & Gorgeous Matsuno Expulsion Italian Falls Count Anywhere Match Scramble Bunkhouse Street Fight Tornado 6-Man Tag Match: Danshoku Dino, Antonio Honda & Ken Ohka defeated Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi & Hirata Collection A.T. when Dino pinned Hirata with a Hirata Lock Cutback (4:43).
2. Special Tag Match: Masahiro Takanashi & Saki Akai defeated Makoto Oishi & Yoshiko when Takanashi pinned Oishi with the Don Marco (6:35).
3. Tetsuya Endo defeated Shunma Katsumata with the Tetsuya In The Sky (2:34).
4. Road To Ryogoku 4 Way Tag Match: HARASHIMA & Soma Takao defeated KUDO & Yukio Sakaguchi, Akito & Diego and Mike Bailey & MAO when HARASHIMA pinned MAO with the Somato (7:53).
5. KO-D Tag Team Titles: Shigehiro Irie & Kazusada Higuchi (c) defeated Shuji Ishikawa & Mad Paulie when Higuchi pinned Paulie with the Goten (11:32).
*V3 for YaroZ.
6. DDT Extreme Title – Ladder Match: Daisuke Sasaki (c) defeated Joey Ryan when Sasaki grabbed the title belt (16:08).
*V4 for Daisuke Sasaki.
7. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) defeated Keisuke Ishii with the Surprise Rose (17:51).
*V5 for Konosuke Takeshita. Keisuke Ishii cashed in his Right To Challenge Anytime, Anywhere Contract.
-. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) defeated Naomi Yoshimura with a Lariat (11:00).
*V6 for Konosuke Takeshita. Naomi Yoshimura cashed in his Right To Challenge Anytime, Anywhere Contract.

With less than a month away before “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017”, the journey to Sumo Hall went through a lot of bumps and turns in Korakuen Hall today. Konosuke Takeshita had not just one but two KO-D Openweight Title defences, clearing through the last of the Right To Challenge holders. First up was the scheduled main event against Keisuke Ishii. For weeks Ishii had been preparing the Final Cut learned from Kaz Hayashi as his secret weapon. Unfortunately for him, when it was finally time to use it Takeshita countered the move into an Emerald Frosion. Kind of ironic given Ishii’s adoration for classic All Japan that such a move would be used against him. With his battleplan in tatters, Ishii still had it in him to kick out of the German Suplex and some Big Boots. But the Surprise Rose finally put him down for the count.

After the match Takeshita wanted to create peace between his generation and Ishii’s. It isn’t about which generation is better, it’s about doing your best for DDT. He even invited Shigehiro Irie to come out as part of the peace offering. What he got instead was an ambush Lariat from Naomi Yoshimura! Today was the day Yoshimura would give Takeshita his greatest humiliation. He’s cashing in the last Right To Challenge contract for his title shot right now! What followed was Takeshita’s fight for survival as Yoshimura tried to beat him with big move after big move. A high angle choke Slam couldn’t beat Takeshita. A Power Bomb from the apron through a table couldn’t beat him. More Lariats couldn’t beat him. Takeshita finally turned the tables when he escaped the Throwaway Power Bomb and hit back with Lariats and Shoulder Blocks. He was now besting Yoshimura in these sumo-like collisions just like when they were kids. Yoshimura couldn’t handle it and his quest for revenge ended in failure after one Lariat too many. Takeshita won and now has a clear road ahead to Sumo Hall where Tetsuya Endo is waiting for him.

Endo entered the ring to show his disappointment over the result. He thought fighting Yoshimura would be the more interesting match. He reminded Takeshita that it was just over one year ago when Endo joined DAMNATION. A lot has changed since then but one thing remained the same. Endo wants the KO-D Title and he’ll have to beat Takeshita to get it! Takeshita didn’t hold back over what he wanted to say to his former friend. If Takeshita beats Endo in another title match and at Sumo Hall this time then Endo shouldn’t get another shot as long as Takeshita is champion. Endo agreed to the condition. Takeshita then reminded Endo about their 60 minute draw and said everyone at Sumo Hall better be prepared to see another one. He offered a handshake but Endo spat in his face instead. Takeshita remained calm but then grabbed Endo’s hair and pulled him in for a Short Range Lariat. Endo ducked, bounced off the ropes and hit a Handspring Leg Lariat to the champion. He followed it up with the Shooting Star Press. Endo grabbed the title belt and had the final word. Fair and square? Endo isn’t here to kid around. Wrestling isn’t a sport, it’s a fight. Takeshita told him that one year ago. Now Endo will return that message to him!

High risk, high reward was needed to determine a winner between Daisuke Sasaki and Joey Ryan so a Ladder Match was held with the DDT Extreme Title hanging above the ring. Ryan wasted no time when he dove out of the ring onto Sasaki during the champion’s entrance. Ryan later gave Sasaki a Brainbuster onto the ladder outside the ring. He looked all clear to climb the ladder inside the ring and grab the title but Sasaki caught his attention by pulling out a picture of Laura James and kissing it. Ryan got off the ladder but that allowed Sasaki to come back in and take control of the match. Sasaki brought out a trash can to beat Joey up with. He then wrapped a steel chain around his arm and jumped for a Diving Elbow but Joey rolled out of the way. Ryan took out a lollipop covered in thumbtacks and shoved it into Sasaki’s mouth! Sasaki hit back with a Chain Lariat then used the chain to wrap a Cross Facelock on Joey. Sasaki then brought out a barbed wire bat but Joey Super Kicked him with the lollipop still in his mouth! Then Ryan brought out the most dangerous weapon yet… a box of Lego! Ever step on one of those things without shoes on? Then you know how much they hurt. Ryan spilled the Lego onto the canvas and gave Sasaki the Balls Plex onto the Lego. He climbed the ladder but somehow Sasaki recovered, grabbed the second ladder and hit him with it to slow him down. Sasaki then position the second ladder between the first ladder and the top rope. Joey reached for the title belt but Sasaki threw him off with a Back Body Drop onto the second ladder! That left Sasaki free to pull down the belt and stay as the Extreme Champion.

Sasaki celebrated with the title belt and the picture of Laura James. He was approached by Amon Tsurumi and asked who he would like to defend the title against at Sumo Hall. Sasaki said he wants to go to America and defend against Candice LeRae. Tsurumi told him to forget about it because that request is impossible. Akito came out and asked for the title shot. Tsurumi liked the idea. After all, Akito eliminated Sasaki in the King Of DDT tournament and also has wins over him in 3 Way Matches. Sasaki said he would agree to it on one condition. Their match will also be “Cabellera Contra Cabellera”, a Hair Vs Hair Match! Akito accepted because he made up his mind long ago how much he is willing to risk to become a champion again. He’ll bet all of the hair on his head if he has to!

Irie appeared in the ring with his head heavily bandaged for his KO-D Tag Team Titles defence with Kazusada Higuchi. They were in for a fight against the DAMNATION pair of Shuji Ishikawa & Mad Paulie. The four brawled around the ring and it looked like the challengers were coming out on top. Ishikawa gave Irie the Fire Thunder while Paulie hit Higuchi with the Reverse Splash. However Higuchi recovered and sent Paulie into the corner. Irie ran in with a Cannonball Splash to Paulie which stunned him. Higuchi then put the big guy away with the Goten for the three count. The YaroZ were presented with their title belts by Ayumi Goto who herself was wearing the OPBF Oriental Pacific Women’s Super Bantamweight Title.

Afterwards Tsurumi invited HARASHIMA to the ring for an announcement concerning the Tag Titles. HARASHIMA will be challenging for the belts at Sumo Hall with someone who will certainly make DDT more exciting. Out came Naomichi Marufuji! HARASHIMA said he was exciting to put this together. Marufuji wanted everyone to know he isn’t doing this match as a guest wrestler. He is here because he wants to win the Tag Titles with somebody as skillful as HARASHIMA. Irie is pleased. He respects Marufuji and cannot wait to crush him!

Soma Takao must be feeling left out. He returns from illness to win a 4 Way Tag with HARASHIMA then HARASHIMA goes and makes friends with Marufuji for a big championship match. Now what is Takao going to do at Sumo Hall?

Shunma Katsumata Vs Tetsuya Endo didn’t last three minutes. Katsumata attacked Endo during his entrance and tried to get a quick win but it backfired when Endo pinned him with Tetsuya In The Sky. Backstage Katsumata excused the loss by saying he was feeling tired from wrestling in the NOAH Jr. Tag League.

Saki Akai wanted to see how much she has grown since her last meeting with Yoshiko. The result was inconclusive because Masahiro Takanashi pinned Makoto Oishi instead, leaving the two women to glare at each other after the match.

Japanese livelihoods were on the line in the opener. If T2Hide lost then both Hirata Collection A.T. and Gorgeous Matsuno would be deported from the country. But if they won then nobody could ever accuse Hira-Colle of being Kazuki Hirata in disguise ever again. A draw meant only Hira-Colle would be deported and Matsuno would be safe. To make things even more tense the match was held under (deep breath) Italian Falls Count Anywhere Match Scramble Bunkhouse Street Fight Tornado 6-Man Tag rules. Antonio Honda tried to calm the situation by telling the good old summer story “Pirates Of The Caribbean” but he replaced the name Caribbean with Parisian. Danshoku Dino won the match for his team by countering the Hirata Lock into a Cradle for the pin. Everyone celebrated by grabbing Hirata and carrying him out of the building. A message was then produced on the screen advertising Kazuki Hirata’s return to DDT on 30th August.

In the dark match, Daiki Shimomura tried to beat Kouki Iwasaki with Standing Moonsaults. Iwasaki fought back with Knee Lifts and won the match with a Vertical Drop Brainbuster. That is quickly becoming is go to move for beating opponents from the generation below him.

The brand new KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Titles were shown off for the first time. Each belt is a different colour. The belts are red, blue, pink, yellow and green. The first champions will be decided at Sumo Hall with Toru Owashi and Makoto Oishi captaining the two teams. They will announce their team choices at the first Beer Garden show on 30th July.

Katsumata was told he would be getting a special singles match at Sumo Hall. He will face Jiro “Ikemen” Kuroshio! The WRESTLE-1 pretty boy ran around Korakuen Hall greeting the audience while Tsurumi tried to get his attention to keep the show on schedule. The match means something to both wrestlers because they are both the same age and were also trainees together in an old promotion called SMASH.

Miyu Yamashita appeared to promote her match against Meiko Satomura in Tokyo Joshi Pro on 26th August. She admitted she had a bad performance at the press conference announcing the match. Satomura’s comments about Yamashita drove her to tears. Yamashita said when she woke up the next day she threw away all of her admiration for Satomura and replaced them with a desire to kill her in the ring!

DDT “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017 ~PETER PAN 20 YEARS OLD PETER PAN~”, 20/08/2017
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

0. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – Tokyo Joshi Pro Offer Battle Royal: Maho Kurone (c) Vs Miyu Yamashita Vs Syoko Nakajima Vs Yuka Sakazaki Vs Nonoko Vs Rika Tatsumi Vs Azusa Takigawa Vs Yuu Vs Nodoka-oneesan Vs Marika Kobashi Vs Yuna Manase Vs Mizuki
1. Yuki Ino Debut Match: Yuki Ino Vs X
2. KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Titles: Toru Owashi, X, X, X & X Vs Makoto Oishi, X, X, X & X
3. Special 3 Way Tag Match: Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto Vs Mike Bailey & MAO Vs Kotaro Suzuki & Soma Takao
4. Ikemen Vs Idol! Handsome Humanity Battle: Jiro Kuroshio Vs Shunma Katsumata
5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi (c) Vs Dick Togo, Yasu Urano & Antonio Honda
6. DDT Extreme Title – Cabellera Contra Cabellera: Daisuke Sasaki (c) Vs Akito
7. DDT 20th Anniversary Special Single Match: Sanshiro Takagi Vs Danshoku Dino
8. KO-D Tag Team Titles – Uchikomi! Presents: Shigehiro Irie & Kazusada Higuchi (c) Vs HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji
9. KO-D Openweight Title – Good Com Asset Presents: Konosuke Takeshita (c) Vs Tetsuya Endo

DDT “HELLO FROM SHINJUKU VILLAGE 2017” Results

DDT “HELLO FROM SHINJUKU VILLAGE 2017”, 02/07/2017
Shinjuku Village Studio C 106
360 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House

1. Sanshiro Takagi & Saki Akai defeated Makoto Oishi & Shunma Katsumata when Takagi pinned Oishi with the Sit Down Himawari Bomb (6:36).
2. Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo defeated Antonio Honda & Danny Duggan when Endo pinned Honda with the Swivel Torture Rack Bomb (14:18).
3. Everyone Is In Shinjuku Village! What Will Happen? Special Single Match: Danshoku Dino defeated Mad Paulie with the Danshoku Driver (6:58).
4. HARASHIMA & Soma Takao defeated Toru Owashi & Hirata Collection A.T. when HARASHIMA pinned Hirata with the Somato (10:41).
5. Keisuke Ishii & MAO defeated Akito & Diego when Ishii pinned Diego with the Tiger Suplex (9:40).
6. KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi defeated Shigehiro Irie, Kazusada Higuchi & Kouki Iwasaki when KUDO pinned Iwasaki with the Backspin Kick (10:18).
7. KO-D Openweight Title: Konosuke Takeshita (c) defeated Mike Bailey with the Brainbustaaaaahhhhh!!!!! (27:35).
*V4 for Konosuke Takeshita. Mike Bailey cashes in his Right To Challenge Anytime, Anywhere Contract.

All of the applauding in the world couldn’t get Mike Bailey the KO-D Openweight Championship. He’s been doing it non-stop in the lead up to this match with Konosuke Takeshita and continued when the match began. He stopped when Takeshita dropped his guard so he could attempt a roll up. From there he took the match seriously. How seriously? Serious enough to do a Moonsault from the top of the stairway where the wrestlers entered! However Takeshita wouldn’t be beaten. He kicked out of the Ultima Weapon while Bailey kicked out of the German Suplex. Takeshita had to dig deep into his history and got the win with the Brainbustaaaaahhhhh!!!!! After the match Takeshita told Bailey “You are forever my rival. We are No. 1!” Bailey said that yesterday was Canada Day and he got to celebrate it in Japan. He called Takashita a wonderful wrestler. Bailey then joked by calling himself the worst wrestler in Canada. Keisuke Ishii entered the ring to confirm he will get the next title match on 23rd July thanks to his Right to Challenge contract. He said he saw a great match and he is glad that Takeshita is still the champion. Ishii wants to be the one to stop Takeshita. Also he doesn’t want Takeshita Vs Tetsuya Endo to main event Sumo Hall in August.

At the end of the show when Takeshita climbed up the stairs to the locker room, Naomi Yoshimura was standing at the top waiting for him. He reminded Takeshita that he will take everything important to him one by one. First was the show opening call at Korakuen Hall. Today it is Takeshita’s Gold Gym membership card! However Yoshimura’s evil plan failed when he accidentally dropped the card over the stairs. Akito simply went over, picked it up and gave it back to Takeshita. Yoshimura tried to play it off that he let Takeshita have his card back. He then warned him about his Right To Challenge contract then left. A perplexed Takeshita thanked Akito for getting him his card back.

Shigehiro Irie, Kazusada Higuchi & Kouki Iwasaki all entered the ring wearing panda masks.

Hirata Collection A.T. and HARASHIMA did the model walk together after they trapped Soma Takao and Toru Owashi in separate Paradise Locks. When they were finished, HARASHIMA kicked Hirata in the head and then pinned him with the Somato while still wearing the 2017 glasses. After the match HARASHIMA had a eureka moment. Hirata Collection A.T. is really Kazuki Hirata! Takao agrees and has proof. Hirata sat behind him on the tour bus and greeted him in Japanese so he can’t be Italian. Sanshiro Takagi sent Smile Squash off so he could speak to Hirata. He wanted to know if Hirata was Italian then why does he speak in English? Takagi decided to settle this with a Handicap Match on 15th July: Takagi & Owashi Vs Hirata. Owashi asked to be removed but he was ignored. Hirata swore he will prove that he is a real Italian and he will have an Italian revolution!

Saki Akai announced a special tag match for 23rd July. She and Masahiro Takanashi will take on Makoto Oishi and a mystery wrestler. That mystery wrestler was revealed to be Yoshiko from SEAdLINNNG! Akai said Yoshiko was one of her first rivals in wrestling and she wants to test out all the skills she has learned since they last fought each other. Yoshiko told Akai she will give her pain that she will never forget. Akai threatened to kick Yoshiko’s face in response.