DDT - Uchikomi! Presents Road to Ryogoku 2017 (7/23/2017)

2. Makoto Oishi & Yoshiko vs. Masahiro Takanashi & Saki Akai

Good match, Saki looked great and I was into everything Yoshiko did.

**1/2

5. KO-D Tag Team Championship: YaroZ (Kazusada Higuchi & Shigehiro Irie) (c) vs. DAMNATION (Shuji Ishikawa & Mad Paulie)

This was packed with action, really great big boys clash.

***3/4

6. DDT Extreme Championship - Ladder Match: Daisuke Sasaki (c) vs. Joey Ryan

The dick spots were well played and I liked how they built around them, and the spike lollipop and LEGOs were a lot of fun. Joey's an underrated brawler, dude was throwing nice punches.

***1/4

7. KO-D Openweight Championship: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Keisuke Ishii

Takeshita was holding his own, but this was Ishii's story, he was giving it all he had, zeroing in on the neck and answering almost everything Takeshita threw at him. The escalation in this match was amazing, it gets really heated and emotional towards the end. Terrific match.

****1/2

8. KO-D Openweight Championship: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Naomi Yoshimura

After defending the belt, Takeshita has to deal with an orange steamroller named Naomi Yoshimura who has cashed in his Right-to-Challenge contract. This was good, they were throwing bombs and Takeshita gets powerbombed through a table. Really put Yoshimura over as a beast.

***1/4

DDT - Ryogoku Peter Pan 2017 (8/20/2017)

3. Jiro Kuroshio vs. Shunma Katsumata

This was supposed to be a special showcase for Shunma, but I'm afraid he got completely overshadowed by Jiro.

***1/4

7. DDT Extreme Championship - Cabellera Contra Cabellera: Daisuke Sasaki (c) vs. Akito

Not a fan of Akito's attire choices lately. This was fairly similar to Sasaki/Kasai earlier in the year, except with limb/neck work and a focus on submission holds. It was interesting to see Akito fight in Sasaki's garbage wrestling environment, and the guitar shot that he takes to the head looked fucking wicked.

****

8. KO-D Tag Team Championship: YaroZ (Kazusada Higuchi & Shigehiro Irie) (c) vs. HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji

This was a good match. Not as good as I would have hoped, but good enough. You can always count on Marufuji to do fun, thigh-slappy shit.

***1/2

9. KO-D Openweight Championship: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Tetsuya Endo

Neither of these guys are interesting characters, but they were working very hard to captivate the Sumo Hall crowd, trading stiff offense and taking hard bumps. It's like watching two Hirooki Goto's go at it. The match was based around mutual neck work, and I thought they did a swell job of selling the damage. The middle finger spot would have worked better for Endo, given his role in the match (working underneath). But that is only a minor complaint. Good match!

****

DDT - KING OF DDT 2017 1st ROUND (6/2/2017)

2. KING OF DDT 2017 1st ROUND: Daisuke Sasaki vs. Akito

An opener based around mutual limbwork, with Sasaki throwing in some scumbaggery. He hands the DDT Extreme belt to Akito after he's made to tap out, which means this isn't over just yet.

**3/4

3. KING OF DDT 2017 1st ROUND: Masahiro Takanashi vs. Hirata Collection A.T.

DJ Nira makes a cameo.

*1/2

4. KING OF DDT 2017 1st ROUND: KUDO vs. Soma Takao

This escalated into a rather heated climax. The Gin and Tonic counter sequence was sweet. I'm not sure if Soma's new angle where he's taking himself seriously is the way to go. No one is buying him as this tough guy. He still feels like an 'incomplete' performer. Give him a khaki suit and have him portray a Battler Ushiromiya gimmick.

**3/4

5. KING OF DDT 2017 1st ROUND: Tetsuya Endo vs. Mike Bailey

Something about this match wasn't clicking with me, and it didn't help that it goes for 16 minutes. Bailey's offense looked and sounded good, but Endo's performance wasn't engaging me. He needs to work on his character more, he looks way cooler than he actually is.

**1/4

6. ALL OUT (Diego & Konosuke Takeshita) vs. Kouki Iwasaki & MAO

**

7. KING OF DDT 2017 1st ROUND: Shunma Katsumata vs. Yukio Sakaguchi

Yukio is cold and almost dismissive of Shunma, but Shunma keeps on fighting back with clever counters, and shows a fire towards the finish with open hand slaps. Shunma is one hell of a bumper too, and Yukio beats the shit out of him. Lots of hard smacks in this. Nice chemistry developed between these two.

***1/2

8. KING OF DDT 2017 1st ROUND: Kazusada Higuchi vs. HARASHIMA

HARASHIMA works underneath here and it's one of the best singles performances I've seen from him in a while. The waist-lock/powerbomb reversal sequence was nuts, and I liked the urgency and pacing of the finish.

***3/4

9. KING OF DDT 2017 1st ROUND: Danshoku Dino vs. Keisuke Ishii

Ishii does one of those Samoa Joe-Necro Butcher style exploder suplexes and drops Dino flat on his face. Dino is unmoving when Ishii tries to pick him up, so Ishii knees him as he's kneeling over; such an awesome moment. This was match a nice change of pace and the finish was brutal.

***3/4

10. KING OF DDT 2017 1st ROUND: Shigehiro Irie vs. Mad Paulie

No idea why this was the main event... Paulie is such a pathetic monster heel.

**

DDT - Road to Ryogoku 2017 ~ Dramatic Dream Clock Tower ~ (5/21/2017)

1. Danshoku Dino & Royce Isaacs vs. T2Hide (Hirata Collection A.T. & Sanshiro Takagi)

This Royce Isaacs guy can break things with his ass and he's over. He'll be main eventing Wrestle Kingdom in 8 years.

*

2. NωA (Makoto Oishi & Shunma Katsumata) & Soma Takao vs. KUDO, Tomoya & Toru Owashi

Toru has had the same look for decades. How has he been allowed to get away with this? This was a fun match. The literal who indie hack was impressive.

***

3. Keisuke Ishii vs. Koji Yoshida

Who the hell is Koji Yoshida? Ishii was fucking this guy up with rough kicks to the face and submission holds, but the indie hack wouldn't stay down. He hits an Emerald Fusion that fails to get the job done, and Ishii pins him with a Tiger suplex. Fun little match, I loved the way they bumped.

***1/2

4. DAMNATION (Mad Paulie & Tetsuya Endo) vs. Shuten-doji (Masahiro Takanashi & Yukio Sakaguchi)

Sakaguchi was on fire in this match. He leaps off the back of Paulie to kick the hell out of Endo in an awesome sequence. Endo lands his shooting star weird and almost fucks himself up. This ruled!

***

5. Kouki Iwasaki & MAO vs. Smile Squash (HARASHIMA & Yasu Urano)

Another fast-paced tag, but this one was a bit more methodical, with HARASHIMA destroying MAO's limbs with surgical legdrops, and Urano following up on it by working the leg. MAO hardly sold it, but I'll forgive him! This moved at an exciting pace; no time for nonsense like long-term selling. Urano gets a bloody lip scuffling with the DNA youngins. Good stuff.

***3/4

6. DDT Extreme Championship - No Disqualification: Daisuke Sasaki (c) vs. Antonio Honda

Sasaki takes a spike piledriver through a table, which looked dangerous and idiotic, but... it also looked really awesome! Honda applies an Octopus Hold on the damage neck of Sasaki, but the DAMNATION leader has his cohorts to break the hold. Honda clears the scumbags off the apron, and tries for a diving fist drop, but Sasaki lifts up the ring bell to counter! Antonio's arm is beyond fucked and he's selling it brilliantly, attempting to make the one-armed comeback before Sasaki shuts him down. Awesome match, the punches were great, and I just enjoy the sound of bodies crushing into piles of chairs!

****

7. KO-D Tag Team Championship (vacant): ALL OUT (Akito & Konosuke Takeshita) vs. Kazusada Higuchi & Shigehiro Irie

Sweat sparks fly during the Takeshita/Higuchi exchange; these two will obviously clash in singles soon. Akito comes in with his geeky technical wizardry, targeting the hurting arm of Higuchi, but Higuchi overpowers him with a chokeslam. He was so adamant about working that arm and kept getting overpowered. Poor Akito. Very awesome match, with plenty of movez and hard hits throughout.

****

DDT - Choshi Electric Railway x DDT Train Pro-Wrestling (4/16/2017)

Falls Count Anywhere Gauntlet Battle Royal: Danshoku Dino vs. Guanchulo vs. HARASHIMA vs. Kazusada Higuchi vs. Keisuke Ishii vs. Ladybeard vs. Mad Paulie vs. Makoto Oishi vs. MAO vs. Nobuhiro Shimatani vs. Rekka vs. Royce Isaacs vs. Saki Akai vs. Sanshiro Takagi vs. Shunma Katsumata vs. Yasu Urano

***