NOAH - The Great Voyage 2017 In Yokohama Vol. 2 (10/1/2017)

5. Hitoshi Kumano vs. Minoru Tanaka

***

7. Katsuhiko Nakajima & Masa Kitamiya vs. Moose & Yuji Okabayashi

***1/4

9. GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship: Taiji Ishimori (c) vs. Daisuke Harada

Ishimori is an amazing wrestler, but man, this guy consistently has the weirdest looks. This was a very good match, action-packed, easy pacing; Harada was fucking up Ishimori with those knees and Germans.

****

10. GHC Tag Team Championship: Atsushi Kotoge & Go Shiozaki (c) vs. 50 Funky Powers (Mohammed Yone & Quiet Storm)

Going to go out on a limb and say that this was Quiet Storm's peak. Both he and Yone put on a fantastic underdog performance; their final comeback was spectacular. Shiozaki is such an underrated seller, I liked the way he crumbled after taking Yone's high kick. Another really great GHC tag team clash; stellar work from everyone involved.

****1/2

11. GHC Heavyweight Championship: Eddie Edwards (c) vs. Naomichi Marufuji

I have no idea why Eddie Edwards was chosen to be in this position or where they are going with this, but here he is. The crowd seems to like him. This didn't have any type of heat, but the action was fast-paced and engaging. It was worked in a junior heavy-style rather than the slower-paced main events NOAH is known for and that made for a refreshing watch.

****

DNA - FIGHTING GIG 34 ~ Starting Over ~ (7/4/2017)

1. Diego & Rekka vs. Cody Hall & Mike Bailey

***3/4

2. Gran MilliMeters (Daiki Shimomura & Nobuhiro Shimatani) vs. Kotaro Suzuki & Shiro Koshinaka

***1/4

4. MAO vs. Tetsuya Endo

ＭＡＯ

***1/2

7. Shunma Katsumata vs. Yuki Ueno

Shunma with his new and improved look has potential to be a future top guy. He's a maniac bumper as well. Showcasing Yuki was the story of the match.

***1/2

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 Tokasan ~ (6/17/2017)

1. Shunma Katsumata vs. Yukio Sakaguchi

***1/4

2. Kenshin Chikano, Lowther & Makoto Oishi vs. T2Hide (Hirata Collection A.T., Sanshiro Takagi & Toru Owashi)

*

3. Mad Paulie vs. Soma Takao

**3/4

4. Antonio Honda & Saki Akai vs. Danshoku Dino & Rey Paloma

**1/4

5. DAMNATION (Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo) vs. HARASHIMA & MAO

**1/2

6. YaroZ (Kazusada Higuchi & Shigehiro Irie) vs. Shuten-doji (KUDO & Masahiro Takanashi)

**

7. ALL OUT (Akito, Diego & Konosuke Takeshita) vs. Keisuke Ishii, Kouki Iwasaki & Mike Bailey

**1/4