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!

****

Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi) vs. Keisuke Ishii & Shigehiro Irie (DDT, 1/20/2011)

DDT - Dotonbori Story 8 (1/20/2011)

Golden☆Lovers (Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi) vs. Keisuke Ishii & Shigehiro Irie

Back when Irie and Ishii were still young boys, and Irie had a buzzcut! Omega and Irie had a great segment, and Ibushi did magical stuff in the final sequence, and I dug the combos Ishii and Irie were doing. Solid little tag match.

***

DDT - BLACK OUT presents KING OF DDT 2017 FINAL ROUND (6/25/2017)

2. KING OF DDT 2017 - Semi-Final: HARASHIMA vs. Shigehiro Irie

If only I had caught this live! It was worked in such a way that the match ending in just 2 minutes would have been totally unexpected. Irie immediately storms to the back, really selling the defeat. 

***3/4

3. KING OF DDT 2017 - Semi-Final: Akito vs. Tetsuya Endo

Akito picks apart the leg like only he can, with clever offense and counterwork. I don't recall Endo doing much of anything.

***

4. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship: vs. NωA (Makoto Oishi, Shunma Katsumata & MAO) (c) vs. Shuten-doji (KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi) 

Very fun trios spotfest. Makoto takes this crazy spot where he gets diving double knees from KUDO into a powerbomb from Masahiro.

***

6. DAMNATION (Daisuke Sasaki & Mad Paulie) vs. Kaz Hayashi & Keisuke Ishii

***

7. ALL OUT (Konosuke Takeshita & Diego) vs. Mike Bailey & Kazusada Higuchi

Bailey was a massive dickhead here. He KOs Diego at the start and taunts Takeshita with his partner's limp body. This was heated and did its job in getting me excited for the upcoming Takeshita/Bailey match.

****

8. KING OF DDT 2017 - Final: HARASHIMA vs. Tetsuya Endo

HARASHIMA gives Endo an aggressive workover, targeting the taped legs with kicks and flashing his sinister smile when he gets the upperhand. Endo has been working underneath the entire tournament, and he's selling good and makes a hard-fought and intense comeback. The Spanish Fly that won Endo his previous matches gets kicked out of in a nice bit of continuity. Simple, but great match.

****

DDT - KING OF DDT 2017 2nd ROUND (6/4/2017)

4. KING OF DDT 2017 2nd ROUND: Akito vs. Masahiro Takanashi

Masahiro ambushes Akito dressed up as a fan, and a bunch of fun ensues, with meticulous counterwork and move applications. Akito using a shoe to anchor himself as Masahiro's tried to hit his finisher was neat.

**3/4

5. KING OF DDT 2017 2nd ROUND: KUDO vs. Tetsuya Endo

These guys were beating the shit out of each other; KUDO has bruises and Endo has a bloodied lip that suited his gimmick well. Endo wins with another Spanish Fly so that'll be the move to look out for in the final portion of the tournament.

***1/4

6. KING OF DDT 2017 2nd ROUND: HARASHIMA vs. Yukio Sakaguchi

Sakaguchi has that rugged bumping style that MMA guys have and it made HARASHIMA's moves look killer, and HARASHIMA winning with a sleeper hold is interesting. Great hard-hitting match.

***1/4

7. KING OF DDT 2017 2nd ROUND: Keisuke Ishii vs. Shigehiro Irie

Two former stablemates going all out with fast pacing and high-impact offense. The raw emotion in the finish was moving stuff.

***3/4

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 - Judgement 2017 ~ DDT 20th Anniversary Box Office (3/20/2017)

3. Shigehiro Irie vs. Mike Bailey

Two of the nicest wrestlers in the world beating the shit out of each other.

***3/4

4. Saki Akai, Meiko Satomura & Shoko Nakajima vs. Aja Kong, Cherry & Miyu Yamashita

There's a lot personality in this match. Of course Meiko and Miyu facing off was awesome and post-match between the two was heated.

***1/2

5. Yoshihiro Takayama & Dick Togo vs. KUDO & Shungo Oyama

This was some kind of old man nostalgia fest, I guess. I have no idea who Oyama is, but perusing his wiki I learned he's married to an 80s idol. KUDO is always cool.

**1/2

6. Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship - Anal Explosion Death Match: Danshoku Dino vs. Joey Ryan

Donald Trump informs the crowd that this match will take place under 'anal explosion death match' rules as per DDT's new deal with Bakky Visual Planning. Standard Dino singles match with exposed asses. It's only after that match that an anus actually explodes.

*

7. KO-D Tag Team Championship: Masakatsu Funaki & Yukio Sakaguchi (c) vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Tetsuya Endo

This was fast-paced and hard-hitting and Endo did his great flippy stuff.

***1/2

8. Kou Shibusawa 35th Anniversary “Nobunaga’s Ambition ~Our Warring States~” Sengoku Warlords Match: Toyotomi Hideyoshi (Sanshiro Takagi), Shingen Takeda (Keiji Muto) & Yukimura Sanada (Isami Kodaka) (w/ Matsu-hime (Kimika Tokuta)) vs. Katsuie Shibata (Daisuke Sekimoto), Kenshin Uesugi (Jun Akiyama) & Nobunaga Oda (Kota Ibushi) (w/ Oichi (Mai Iriya))

This sounds like the craziest cluster-fucking shit ever on paper, but they mostly wrestled a straight match, only they were wearing samurai wearing armor.

***1/2

9. DDT Extreme Championship - Sekichu Presents Hardcore Match: Jun Kasai (c) vs. Daisuke Sasaki

Kasai crushes his nose in one spot so when he does his signature nose blowing taunt, there's a cloud of red. That was a cool visual. This was good fun, spot after spot of violent and dangerous stunts.

****

10. KO-D Openweight Championship: HARASHIMA (c) vs. Konosuke Takeshita

Takeshita makes one hell of a comeback, using signature moves from past opponents, showcasing his growth while overcoming HARASHIMA. This built up well to a strong finale.

***3/4

DDT - Road To Super Arena ~ Dramatic Dream Tonkotsu ~ (12/11/2016)

3. Maki Ito vs. Miyu Yamashita

This was the in-ring debut of idol group LinQ's Maki Ito. She's charismatic and has an expressive face. She could have a decent little career if she keeps at it. Yamashita knocks her down time and time again with punishing kicks, but Maki shows a lot of strength.

**1/2

4. Shuji Ishikawa vs. Yasu Urano

Yasu Urano takes a nasty bump when Ishikawa just slams him over the top rope to the outside. I thought this started out strong, but it kind of fizzled out during the final act. Oh well.

**1/2

5. Shigehiro Irie & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Smile Squash (Akito & HARASHIMA)

This match built heat for HARASHIMA's title defense against Shigehiro Irie, with Taka-fucking-yama thrown in for the hell of it. Irie had just returned from his US excursion a month earlier and he's motivated, with a couple of new moves added to his destructive repertoire.

***3/4

6. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship: DAMNATION (Daisuke Sasaki, Mad Paulie & Tetsuya Endo) (c) vs. Shuten-doji (KUDO, Masahiro Takanashi & Yukio Sakaguchi)

A decent trios matches; cute spots here and there. Nothing to write home about.

**1/2

7. KO-D Tag Team Championship: Konosuke Takeshita & Mike Bailey (c) vs. Danshoku Dino & Keisuke Ishii

Shit, this was amazing. Dino's grinding and humping and trying to get a piece of Mike Bailey, and Ishii is picking away at Takeshita's arm. They have an interesting team dynamic. Bailey does everything he can to avoid Dino's signature spots, but that only makes the degenerate hungrier. I loved every second of this.

****1/2