Masa Takanashi vs. Yuji Hino (DDT, 5/4/2012)

DDT - Max Bump 2012 (5/4/2012)

KO-D Openweight Championship: Masa Takanashi (c) vs. Yuji Hino

Masa cheats his way to a victory by pretending that he was attacked by Hino with the belt, but the GM restarts the match. Now Hino is ultra pissed, his groans and facial expressions putting him over as this no-nonsense monster. Masa finds sneaky little ways to mount offense and targets the leg, and Hino punishes him with sheer brute strength. Great clash of power and technique.

**** 

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

Aasa Maika & Mitsuru Konno vs. Emi Sakura & Masahiro Takanashi (Gatoh Move, 5/15/2017)

Gatoh Move - Japan Tour・291 (5/15/2017)

Aasa Maika & Mitsuru Konno vs. Emi Sakura & Masahiro Takanashi

This was grueling rookie punishment from the veterans, with Konno being the FIP for much of her time in the match. Masa is always an amazing prick in these types of matches, and him being able to effortlessly toss these girls around helps. Aasa's charisma was on full display here, she brought the match to the next level.

***1/2

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

Emi Sakura & Masahiro Takanashi vs. Aasa Maika & Kuishinbo Kamen (Gatoh Move, 12/29/2016)

Gatoh Move - Japan Tour · 265 (12/29/2016)

Emi Sakura & Masahiro Takanashi vs. Aasa Maika & Kuishinbo Kamen

Aasa's bumping and selling is super compelling, and Sakura heeling it up is always great. I felt like Kamen's role in this match could have been bigger.

**1/2

Gatoh Move - High School Graduation (3/28/2017)

1. Aoi Kizuki vs. Mitsuru Konno

This was a decent showing for Konno. She's new, so errors are to be expected. Aoi Kizuki is obviously a joshi puroresu artisan so there is a lot to be learned from grappling with her.

**1/4

2. Emi Sakura W vs. Yako Fujigasaki

***

3. Hikaru Shida vs. SAKI

This was a match built up on who has the better brainbuster between these two via social media, so they're going back and forth with them.

***1/4

4. Cho-un Shiryu & Antonio Honda vs. Rocky Kawamura & Sayaka Obihiro

***1/2

5. Aasa Maika vs. Hiroyo Matsumoto

***

6. Asia Dream Tag Team Championship:「Kotori」& Riho (c) vs. Masahiro Takanashi & Emi Sakura

This is Chinese variety art in the form of a wrestling match, such a mesmerizing display of balance and timing, coupled with great storytelling.

****3/4

「Kotori」& Aasa Maika vs. Cho-un Shiryu & Masahiro Takanashi (Gatoh Move, 8/21/2016)

Gatoh Move - Japan Tour・243 (8/21/2016)

「Kotori」& Aasa Maika vs. Cho-un Shiryu & Masahiro Takanashi

This felt like one of those fast and furious lucha libre matches where the action is just going and going. The finish is glorious violence, Shiryu squashes Aasa against the wall with a Gory special and then drops her face-first into the canvas.

****3/4

Gatoh Move - Japan Tour・210 (1/31/2016)

2. DJ Nira vs. MIZUKI

There's clever limbwork and submissions with comedy bits spliced in. Nira employing the use of an electric fan to work over MIZUKI's hand was great.

***3/4

3. Antonio Honda, Riho & Sayaka Obihiro vs. Emi Sakura, 「Kotori」& Masa Takanashi

Another really fun GM trios. Not much to say about this one except that it was thoroughly enjoyable.

****

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