Daisuke Sekimoto vs. HARASHIMA (DDT, 7/25/2010)

DDT - Ryogoku Peter Pan 2010 ~ Summer Vacation (7/25/2010)

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

Great match. It was an intense and competitive championship bout, where HARASHIMA shows off a wide range of facial expressions. The finishing run probably went overkill with headbutt trading and HARASHIMA kicking out of a CROSS-ARM GERMAN SUPLEX, but I was totally into it.

****

DDT - DDT Special 2017 (10/22/2017)

*Dramatic General Election Ranking in Parentheses

4. Keisuke Ishii (#13) vs. Suwama

Fucking awesome extended squash. Ishii tried, he did, but he got fucking decimated. Suwama's such a master class pro grappler.

***1/2

5. Tetsuya Endo (#3) vs. Masahiro Takanashi (#5)

**

6. DDT Extreme Championship - TLC Match: Daisuke Sasaki (#4) (c) vs. HARASHIMA (#2)

Great match, though not as good as I hoped it would be. HARASHIMA's workover on Sasaki was fucking killer, the stomps into the pile of chairs, kicking the ladder into the ribs; it was brutal. Sasaki's comeback was awful. After he botched a Pepsi Plunge, he hits an elbow drop from a ladder, and of course the table does not break. The post match angle with Soma was fucking awesome, hoping this leads to the change he needs.

***

7. KO-D Openweight Championship: Konosuke Takeshita (#7) (c) vs. Danshoku Dino (#1)

Dino's stuff can be so hit-or-miss, but he knows when to step it up and deliver classic performances when he has to (the match with Shuji). He came across as Takeshita's biggest threat so far, those fucking near-falls had me on the edge of my seat. Takeshita did good, he displayed fighting spirit, he hit hard, hit bit a dick for his championship. Also dug how he managed to fit a bodybuilding spot into this. The finish was fantastic, Dino was on spaghetti legs, putting Takeshita over like a fucking pro. Excellent main event.

****1/4

DDT - Ready Pro Wrestling! Feeling Seijo 2017 (10/4/2017)

1. Mizuki Watase vs. Yukio Sakaguchi

What an awesome slugfest.

***3/4

4. NωA (Makoto Oishi, MAO & Shunma Katsumata) (w/ Kayako Takagi) vs. T2Hide (Kazuki Hirata, Sanshiro Takagi & Toru Owashi)

Super fun trios; good energy. The Hirata-Kayako spot was gold.

***

6. ALL OUT (Akito & Konosuke Takeshita) vs. Danshoku Dino & Keisuke Ishii

This was another solid prelude to Takeshita-Dino. Ishii's my favorite part about these matches, I must say. He's always working hard.

***

DDT - Third Numazu Tournament! In Numazu 2017 (9/30/2017)

5. DAMNATION (Daisuke Sasaki & Mad Paulie) vs. Smile Squash (HARASHIMA & Soma Takao)

Now this was a solid match, the heat building between HARASHIMA and Sasaki was good, and I liked the segment Paulie had with HARASHIMA. I don't know what you do with Soma. He desperately needs a change in character.

**3/4

6. ALL OUT (Diego & Konosuke Takeshita) vs. Danshoku Dino & Keisuke Ishii

I thought everyone looked great here. Ishii's obviously a fucking pro and whenever he's involved shit gets intense. Dino's shtick and Takeshita's high-impact offense woke up this Numazu crowd. Good main event.

***1/4

HARASHIMA vs. Daisuke Sasaki (DDT, 8/29/2010)

DDT - Memories of Summer Vacation 2010 (8/29/2010)

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

This was Sasaki first ever KO-D Openweight Title shot so he was fighting hard, but I didn't find his underdog performance compelling -- there was no emotional depth here. Just a solid match between two wrestlers.

***

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

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

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.

***

HARASHIMA & Toru Owashi vs. Golden☆Lovers (Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi) (DDT, 1/24/2009)

DDT - Dramatic 2009 Special (1/24/2009)

KO-D Tag Team Championship: HARASHIMA & Toru Owashi (c) vs. Golden☆Lovers (Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi)

This turned into a great match once they got a good flow going. HARASHIMA & Toru had clever tag maneuvers in their arsenal to rival Golden Lover's chemistry, and the HARASHIMA-Ibushi kick battle was excellent. Nice bloodshed from Omega who gushes from the nose after taking a stiff kick.

****

HARASHIMA vs. KUDO (DDT, 5/31/2015)

DDT - Audience 2015 (5/31/2015)

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

Oh man, these guys work so well together. They start off tenderising each other's midsections with kicks, knees and punches, and the match only gets more and more intense as it continues. HARASHIMA was the perfect asshole here, using punches to the face and smiling when he had the advantage. KUDO had to make well-timed counters to gain the win, having learned from previous encounters. This was incredible.

*****

Smile Yankees (HARASHIMA & Yuko Miyamoto) vs. DAMNATION (Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo) (DDT, 10/9/2016)

DDT - Sapporo Wrestling Festa ~ DDT Sea Urchin ~ (10/9/2016)

KO-D Tag Team Championship: Smile Yankees (HARASHIMA & Yuko Miyamoto) (c) vs. DAMNATION (Daisuke Sasaki & Tetsuya Endo)

The sequel to their match at Korakuen... this one wasn't quite as good, but it was still enjoyable; Smile Yankees make for a very fun and interesting team. The groin attack spot with Yuko and Sasaki was neat.

***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!

****

HARASHIMA vs. Kenny Omega (1/29/2012)

DDT - Sweet Dreams! 2012 (1/29/2012)

HARASHIMA vs. Kenny Omega

Big HARASHIMA matches tend to have a slow build into a heated climax, and the third act was very well done, but the build just didn't grab me, and they didn't seem to have a good flow going early on. They've had better matches.

**1/2

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 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

HARASHIMA vs. Hikaru Sato (DDT, 11/14/2010)

DDT - Osaka Bay Blues Special (11/14/2010)

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

The dueling limbwork with HARASHIMA working the leg and Sato targeting the arm was sold brilliantly, and the slap exchanges were some of the best I have ever seen. HARASHIMA gives Sato a horrible beating, and Sato more than earns his comeback. There were also cruel shoot-style moments that gave the match a sense of danger. What an epic battle!

*****

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 - Choshi Electric Railway x DDT Train Pro-Wrestling (4/16/2017)

Falls Count Anywhere Gauntlet Battle Royal: Danshoku Dino vs. Guanchulo vs. HARASHIMA vs. Kazusada Higuchi vs. Keisuke Ishii vs. Ladybeard vs. Mad Paulie vs. Makoto Oishi vs. MAO vs. Nobuhiro Shimatani vs. Rekka vs. Royce Isaacs vs. Saki Akai vs. Sanshiro Takagi vs. Shunma Katsumata vs. Yasu Urano

***