DDT - Who's Gonna Top? DDT Dramatic General Election 2017 ~ Last Request Special! (9/24/2017)

6. HARASHIMA vs. KUDO

Thank God Yasu Urano was booked on this show. He's the best HARASHIMA cheerleader. This was a 'Greatest Hits' kind of match where they were hitting their signature sequences and spots. I didn't feel there was a strong narrative hook to make this stand out from their most recent matches, but the physicality was there -- they were beating the shit out of each other. Cute match.

***3/4

7. KO-D Openweight Championship / DDT Extreme Championship / Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship: Daisuke Sasaki (c) [DDT] vs. Ken Ohka (c) [Independent] vs. Konosuke Takeshita (c) [KO-D]

This is a bizarre match-up, I didn't know what to expect from it, but it turned out to be a wild fucking ride. Takeshita looked like a fucking wrecking machine in this match, his offense had a ton of velocity behind it. Sasaki is a maestro, and Ohka looked great whenever he got his time to shine. Fun all around.

***3/4

HERO! & HERO! vs. Kenny Ohka & Kenny Omega (DDT, 8/4/2008)

DDT - HARASHIMA Produce: Beer Garden Pro Wrestling (8/4/2008)

HERO! & HERO! vs. Kenny Ohka & Kenny Omega

This crowd was very impressed with Kenny's technical wrestling 101 routine, heh. He got in his signature spots, and got over quickly in just his debut match! The HERO team wrestled like sloths. One of them is Minoru Fujita so I shouldn't be surprised. A solid introduction for Omega in DDT.

**

GANBARE☆PRO-WRESTLING - BAD COMMUNICATION 2016 (10/04/2016)

1. Ai Shimizu & Aoi Ishibashi vs. Emi Sakura &「Kotori」

Four of the smartest workers in modern joshi putting together a solid match.

***

2. Keisuke Ishii vs. Yukihiro Abe

***

3. Shuichiro Katsumura vs. Takafumi Ito

Two shooters going at it. Sleek, smooth and hard-hitting. I have no idea who these guys are.

**3/4

4. Shiori Asahi vs. Shinichiro Tominaga

No earthly idea who Shinichiro Tominaga is, which goes for a couple of guys on this card. This match told me everything I need to know about him via a wonderfully-crafted story. Asahi tortured Tominaga in the neat ways that only a student of K-DOJO could, goading him to give it his all and prove himself worthy. Tominaga was once a K-DOJO guy as well and Asahi is obviously the more accomplished of the two so there's a backstory based in reality that they played into. It all culminates into a great finish.

****

5. Madoka & Saki Fujita vs. Bambi & Minoru Fujita

Saki and Minoru were once a married couple, but now they're not. Story of the match. Minoru does a wonderful job as Saki's asshole ex husband, garnering boos from the crowd. This was mostly a comedy match, feel good ending, etc. I need to get more familiar with Bambi.

**3/4

6. No Rope Barbed Wire Street Fight: Atsushi Onita, GENTARO, Hideki Hosaka & Osamu Namiguchi vs. Ken Ohka, Masayuki Mitomi, Shota & Yumehito Imanari

The crowd reaction made this match for me, it's a train-wreck, but a very fun one. Korakuen booed everything Onita did and were super supportive of Ohka and his band of indie trash.

***