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

Manabu Nakanishi vs. Shuji Ishikawa (Union Pro, 1/3/2011)

Union Pro - 1...2...3...Union! (1/3/2011)

Manabu Nakanishi vs. Shuji Ishikawa

Nakanishi moves like a robot, but he was hitting hard and his matches always have the charm of the crowd popping when he does something athletic in his semi-immobile state. Ishikawa does these headbutts that sounded fucking hideous, and he did a good job bumping for Nakanishi.

***1/2

Koo vs. HARASHIMA (DDT, 10/21/2007)

DDT - Day Dream Believer (10/21/2007)

KO-D Openweight Championship: Koo (c) vs. HARASHIMA

During this time Shuji Ishikawa was wrestling under a mask as Koo. I have no idea. HARASHIMA overwhelms Koo from the onset, and when Koo makes his comebacks, he makes them big. I felt HARASHIMA looked dominant. Koo's the bigger wrestler, he should be the one dominating, but a lot of the time he came off looking like an oaf. This was a match that I enjoyed for the movez.

***

Shuji Ishikawa & Isami Kodaka vs. Kyosuke Sasaki & Masashi Takeda (Union Pro, 11/6/2009)

Union Pro (11/6/2009)

1000 Roses Death Match: Shuji Ishikawa & Isami Kodaka vs. Kyosuke Sasaki & Masashi Takeda

Highly entertaining. They find all sorts of neat ways to use the roses. They've got chairs wrapped in roses, rose-covered ladders, Kyosuke wraps his leg with roses and kicks with it. Kodaka was the FIP; he's always willing to take punishment and bump like a mad man. He was bleeding everywhere just moments in. There's a Gotch piledriver from Kyosuke on Shuji that looked disgusting. Shuji's head was too low. Anyway, great match.

****

Shuji Ishikawa vs. Suwama (AJPW, 4/16/2017)

AJPW - Champion Carnival 2017 (4/16/2017)

Champion Carnival 2017 Block B: Shuji Ishikawa vs. Suwama

Suwama is bloodied after taking a stiff headbutt, and it added a lot to his comeback sequence, where he ends up taking a second headbutt! The timing, the explosiveness -- it's an amazing heroic second wind and the crowds explodes for it. This stuff is the height of pro grappling.

****1/4

AJPW - Super Power! 2017 Super Power Series (5/21/2017)

4. GAORA TV Championship: Jun Akiyama (c) vs. Mitsuya Nagai

Nagai beats up Akiyama with a camera, a steel chain and chairs. He's the orc of Dark Nightmare, and he manhandles Nikkan Lee! What an asshole! The old man fighting spirit sequence was gold.

**

5. World Junior Heavyweight Championship: Hikaru Sato (c) vs. Black Tiger VII

Sato's entrance theme fucking rules! Dragon screw followed by a Shining Wizard from Black Tiger right out the gate, so NOSAWA is still wrestling like NOSAWA in this gimmick. I guess putting him in a mask and a full body suit makes him more aesthetically-pleasing for All Japan viewers.

**1/2

6. AJPW World Tag Team Championship: The Big Guns (The Bodyguard & Zeus) (c) vs. KAI & Kengo Mashimo

Sprint semi-main with Big Guns tossing motherfuckers left and right. KAI & Mashimo are an odd couple tag team who can't get on the same page. KAI did the heavy lifting. Mashimo looked like a doofus, but at least he gets the fall!

***

7. Triple Crown Championship: Kento Miyahara (c) vs. Shuji Ishikawa

This was a great match, worked at a 'brisk' pace. Miyahara took every chance he could to strike with the blackout, and every single one of them looked awesome. Shuji was Shuji. Miyahara's selling of the backwork was practically nonexistent, but he had some great emotes and bumps, especially for the finish.

****

DDT - Audience 2017 (5/28/2017)

1. Shuten-doji (KUDO, Masahiro Takanashi & Yukio Sakaguchi) vs. T2Hide (Hirata Collection A.T. & Toru Owashi) & Hiranito Collection A.T.

*1/2

2. Antonio Honda & Nobuhiro Shimatani vs. Heidi Katrina & Saki Akai

Heidi Katrina has beaten legends such as Sonoko Kato and Jazz, held the NWA Women's Championship, and now she's training with Meiko Satomura and wrestling in Senjo and DDT! What a wild run she's on!

**

3. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship: NωA (Makoto Oishi, MAO & Shunma Katsumata) (c) vs. Danshoku Dino, Keisuke Ishii & Royce Isaacs

A fun trios match that ended before Isaacs' gimmick wore out its welcome. I don't think Ishii even did anything here other than hold down whomever Isaac was going to snap the arm of with his unbreakable ass. What a shame.

**

4. ALL OUT (Akito & Diego) vs. Smile Squash (HARASHIMA & Soma Takao)

Formerly known as Guanchulo, Diego is revealed as the mystery third member of ALL OUT. Watching this live, I was pretty disappointed. Guanchulo has been around for YEARS and is the definition of vanilla, but every unit needs a fallman, I suppose. Nice match.

***

5. Minoru Suzuki & Rocky Kawamura vs. Sanshiro Takagi & Super Sasadango Machine

I feel like Minoru Suzuki meme booking has lost its appeal over the years, but I enjoyed his performance in this match; the finish where he fucks up Sasadango and turns over his mask looked great. Rocky Kawamura rules!

**1/2

6. DAMNATION (Daisuke Sasaki, Shuji Ishikawa & Tetsuya Endo) vs. Kazusada Higuchi, Kouki Iwasaki & Shigehiro Irie

Fun, mindless trios match where DAMNATION controlled the ring. Iwasaki looked good in his session against Ishikawa.

***

7. KO-D Openweight Championship: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs. Yasu Urano

This devolves into the 'stop, start' pacing that's becoming all too common in DDT main events lately, with back and forth big movez, and it didn't engage me. Still, it was nice to see Urano go out with a bang in his final DDT match.

**3/4

DAMNATION - Unlawful Assembly (4/14/2017)

1. Falls Count Anywhere Match: Antonio Honda, Gota Ihashi & Masahiro Takanashi vs. Brahman Brothers (Brahman Kei & Brahman Shu) & HARASHIMA

A Brahman Brothers match.

**

2. X vs. Nobuhiro Shimatani

Heidi Katrina was revealed as the X, and instantly gets over with this crowd who can't stop wooing her. Her movements felt mechanic at times, but she was hitting hard and the little no-neck bastard bumped good. 

**1/4

3. Ryuichi Sekine vs. Tetsuya Endo vs. Yusuke Kodama

Tetsuya Endo being cool as fuck.

***

4. Daisuke Sekimoto & Masato Tanaka vs. DAMNATION (Mad Paulie & Shuji Ishikawa)

Masato Tanaka is one of my favorite spot wrestler ever. He just goes non-stop. This was a fun clash between badass hard-hitting dudes and Daisuke Sekimoto.

***1/2

5. DDT Extreme Championship - Ultimate Submission Match: Daisuke Sasaki (c) vs. Dick Togo

Big Dick Togo gains the early lead with 2 points, and Sasaki has to pick his spots to even the score. The moments where Sasaki stalks before striking the worked-over leg were great, and gave the match that 'human chess game' vibe. Both competitors have measured/urgent movements, and the submission hold struggles and limb selling were very compelling. Also dug the punches they connected with in this. Great match!

****

DDT - Dramatic 2017 March Special ~ Road To SUPER ARENA ~ (3/5/2017)

3. KUDO vs. MAO

The ridiculously good-looking MAO did his flippy stuff, and KUDO punished him with strike combinations and kicks to the face. Brutal!

***3/4

7. Happy Motel (Antonio Honda & Konosuke Takeshita) vs. Smile Squash (HARASHIMA & Soma Takao)

Soma and Takeshita are two sides of the same coin. They both have the charisma of a washing board, but make up for it with their intensity. Both of them were awesome here, especially during the final act.

***3/4