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

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

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.

****

WAVE - Weekday WAVE Vol. 105 (1/18/2017)

1. Hiroe Nagahama vs. ASUKA

***1/2

2. Avid Rival (Misaki Ohata & Ryo Mizunami) vs. Sumire Natsu & Yako Fujigasaki

***3/4

3. WAVE Tag Team Championship #1 Contendership: Over Sun (Yuki Miyazaki & Yumi Ohka) vs. Kaori Yoneyama & Mika Iida

There's a lot of crazy stuff happening here. Loved Iida's matwork and those European uppercuts, and I liked the NEO nostalgia with the closer against Miyazaki.

****1/2

4. Five on One Gauntlet: Kyoko Kimura vs. Kagetsu, Moeka Haruhi, Rina Yamashita, Rin Kadokura & Yukio Sakaguchi

A 40+ minute Kyoko match probably doesn't sound attractive to many people, but I thought this was a great gauntlet where each opponent brought something fresh.

****1/4

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

DDT - Road To Super Arena ~ Dramatic Dream Tonkotsu ~ (12/11/2016)

3. Maki Ito vs. Miyu Yamashita

This was the in-ring debut of idol group LinQ's Maki Ito. She's charismatic and has an expressive face. She could have a decent little career if she keeps at it. Yamashita knocks her down time and time again with punishing kicks, but Maki shows a lot of strength.

**1/2

4. Shuji Ishikawa vs. Yasu Urano

Yasu Urano takes a nasty bump when Ishikawa just slams him over the top rope to the outside. I thought this started out strong, but it kind of fizzled out during the final act. Oh well.

**1/2

5. Shigehiro Irie & Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Smile Squash (Akito & HARASHIMA)

This match built heat for HARASHIMA's title defense against Shigehiro Irie, with Taka-fucking-yama thrown in for the hell of it. Irie had just returned from his US excursion a month earlier and he's motivated, with a couple of new moves added to his destructive repertoire.

***3/4

6. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship: DAMNATION (Daisuke Sasaki, Mad Paulie & Tetsuya Endo) (c) vs. Shuten-doji (KUDO, Masahiro Takanashi & Yukio Sakaguchi)

A decent trios matches; cute spots here and there. Nothing to write home about.

**1/2

7. KO-D Tag Team Championship: Konosuke Takeshita & Mike Bailey (c) vs. Danshoku Dino & Keisuke Ishii

Shit, this was amazing. Dino's grinding and humping and trying to get a piece of Mike Bailey, and Ishii is picking away at Takeshita's arm. They have an interesting team dynamic. Bailey does everything he can to avoid Dino's signature spots, but that only makes the degenerate hungrier. I loved every second of this.

****1/2