Isami Kodaka vs. HARASHIMA (DDT, 3/21/2016)

DDT - Judgement 2016 ~ DDT 19th Anniversary Show (3/21/2016)

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

I remember being disappointed in this match when I first saw it, and it does have its flaws (HARASHIMA's spotty leg selling, Kodaka's awkwardness), but it's also a lot of fun. They were trading stiff strikes, there were clever counterattacks -- it felt like a match where two guys just went out there and experimented. The ending sequence with the sweep into the Somato was fucking wicked.

***1/4

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 - 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

Ice Ribbon - #832 ~ ICE in WONDERLAND 2017 (8/27/2017)

2. Asahi vs. Manami Toyota

This was Asahi's debut and she's against Manami Toyota! Asahi's peers were surrounding the ring, cheering her on, the crowd was super into it.

***1/2

5. Best Friends (Arisa Nakajima & Tsukasa Fujimoto) vs. Avid Rival (Misaki Ohata & Ryo Mizunami)

****3/4

6. Elimination: Maruko Nagasaki, Matsuya Uno, Satsuki Totoro & Tequila Saya vs. Team DATE (Hana DATE, Karen DATE, Nao DATE & Nori DATE)

There was a lot of action here and it didn't spiral out of control like the match in Yokohama. Hana DATE was injured so everyone swarmed her. The Maruko-Nori ending was had believable near-falls and proper escalation. Great match. 

****1/4

7. ICE×∞ Championship: Risa Sera (c) vs. Maya Yukihi

This caught me by surprise -- I didn't know Maya-obachan had it in her. Her leg work was great and she had all of these clever counters to Sera's offense. Sera's comebacks were kind of selling-free, but her offense looked strong and much better than it has looked in past defenses.

****1/2

Aasa Maika vs. Emi Sakura (Gatoh Move, 4/9/2017)

Gatoh Move - Japan Tour・283 (4/9/2017)

Aasa Maika vs. Emi Sakura

Always thrilled to watch an Aasa singles. This was another good one. The way Emi was punishing Aasa, oh man, just excellent work. Great match.

***1/4

Queen's Quest (HZK & Io Shirai) vs. Bambi & ERINA (K-DOJO, 9/4/2017)

K-DOJO - TAKA Michinoku 25th Anniversary ~ Simple Is Best (9/4/2017)

Queen's Quest (HZK & Io Shirai) vs. Bambi & ERINA

Once Bami & ERINA started to make their comebacks things got interesting. Bambi's offense was strong -- she knocks Io out of the ring with a hip attack, and fucking plants HZK with an STO. QQ did their thing with cut-offs and a workover..

***1/4

Gatoh Move - Japan Tour・294 ~ Riho 20th Birthday Produce: I Am 20 Years Old! (6/5/2017)

3. Cho-un Shiryu, Emi Sakura & Masahiro Takanashi vs. Sayaka Obihiro, Rocky Kawamura & Hikaru Shida

This was an M-Pro style roller coaster ride; it had comedy and great wrestling. Wow, Shida looked too cute in this.

***3/4

4. Aasa Maika vs. Ryo Mizunami

Mizunami's a wrecking ball of an aggressor; Aasa's all fighting spirit, and her counterwork and rallies were top notch. These two are both charismatic and know how to put on a compelling performance. Crowd reaction said it all.

****