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 - 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

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