God Bless DDT

Never Mind 2015

(2015/12/23)

All Japan 08/29

Summer Explosion 2015

(2015/08/29)

KUDO/HARASHIMA

DDT Audience 2015

 (2015/05/31)

KO-D Openweight Championship: KUDO vs. HARASHIMA ©

This championship constantly produces some of the best title matches in the entire world of pro-scraps. I see some people being confused thinking it all started with HARASHIMA. Well, it didn’t, because if you find title matches even from 2008/09 onwards, even the random ones out of order, you’ll never be disappointed. Sanshiro Takagi showed everyone very clearly that matches for the top strap in DDT are taken very seriously, and really, when you watch them they feel like they’re from some other universe, and not from the DDT lowcard & midcard one. That’s what I love about DDT, when you watch their shows they’ll make you laugh countless times with light-hearted approach and hilarious gags, but when time comes to wrestle for tag team and singles titles – shit gets real, very real. They even produce best damn pre-match video packages that feel very sportslike.

Apparently this is the 14^th time these two face off in a singles match. I’ve only seen the two matches from last year and they were both great. This one was even better, as they added so much variety to make it feel fresh and different. Both guys played dirty by using closed fist punches, despite both being “good guys”. I loved it. HARASHIMA was the particular asshole as he punched KUDO’s stomach and head almost a dozen times. His signature midsection attacks were excellent once again. The match was getting more and more brutal as they were approaching towards the end, and both sold everything so well. Some new tweaks to the combos and moves were used I’ve never seen before from these two. Drama was super high in front of the amazing Korakuen people. Such a great match.

****1/2

Satomura/Hojo II

Stardom 2015/07/26

World of Stardom Championship: Meiko Satomura vs. Kairi Hojo ©

By golly, what a rematch! It’s absolutely stunning they worked a match so different, and yet so similar to the first one. The layout was clearly different, but the shadow of the first encounter was still there, lurking and reminding us of what’s the story out there. You barely get that with Nakamura, Goto, Makabe and other New Japan top guys. These ladies are less formulaic and way more organic, raw and natural. What a vicious smackfest this was, shit man, they really beat bajesus out of each other, it was gnarly and highly punishing. Just a good old joshi brawl, everything was purposeful and rough. And then the selling, fuuuck me, they sold everything down to a T, I’m not going to bother you with all the details and technicalities, you need to see it, plain and simple. There were so many careful and thoughtful selling components that put Nakamura to shame. For example, Hojo does a flying elbow-drop which Satomura brilliantly counters into a fancy armlock. Now, almost everywhere else it would lead to a highly dramatic nearfall with Hojo trying to reach the ropes, but here it only served as pure counter attack for Satomura to buy some time, she couldn’t hold the champ in the hold too long because she had all the previous beatdowns to sell. That’s just pure brilliance, that’s genius, that’s what happens when your pro-graps IQ is enormous.

What a goddamn match!

****3/4

G1 Climax 25 - Day 14 (from Korakuen, aka the REAAAAL G1 Begins!)

G1 Climax 25

(2015/08/09)

Takayama/Suzuki

NOAH 2015/07/18

GHC Heavyweight Championship: Yoshihiro Takayama vs. Minoru Suzuki ©

Even in 2015, even with Big Tak being one DDT away from dropping dead, you can still classify this meeting as “dream match”, or something like that. The screenshots for this were insanely attractive as they showed Takayama’s face soaked in blood. Also the story basically wrote itself, Takayama challenging for the GHC strap one last (?) time, etc. And yes, most of the match was really fucking good, they brawled very well and Takayama bled like a slaughtered pig, but unfortunately, many endless interferences really brought the whole thing down. I could live with Taichi being a colossal dickbag with his constant ringside antics, but the entire SZKG going after Takayama in the finishing stretch, with the ref getting bumped and stupidly distracted like ten times in a row… Wow, it was just too much. Makes you appreciate Bullet Club. Really, huge props to Takayama for his heroic performance, he looked like a fucking warrior, gladiator out there, also props to MiSu as well for playing the invader cards so well, but Jado’s booking prevented this from being a classic.

***

Araya and Tenryu Going HAM at Each Other

WAR 1998/01/14

Nobutaka Araya vs. Genichiro Tenryu

Hands down the greatest puroresu brawl of all time, this goddamn helter-skelter was 13 minutes of sheer violent perfection. I can guarantee you’ll never again see a kendo stick usage like in this match, because the way Araya was annihilating Tenryu with it was breathtaking. First, one would not expect that Tenryu of all people would take a BEATING like that. Second, WAR is his goddamn promotion and yet he got manhandled like that. And third, that scene was nasty and ugly to the point where it felt like a medieval torture of the heretics. Never before or after I’ve seen the Greatest of All Time in such a precarious position, as he was receiving rough shots all across the hands, arms, neck and head, his arm was bleeding due to Araya’s fury. But all that punishment he took was just a trigger for things to come, as Tenryu turned the malicious mode and unleashed all hell on Araya in a brutal, merciless and blood-soaked comeback. Definitely one of the best comeback punishment sequences ever, with Tenryu going ECW at Araya by doing all kinds of crazy shit all over the ringside, and then the punches – oh my fucking god, the punches were absolutely devastating as Tenryu was going full contact at Araya’s nose, shit got bloodied very fast. Straight outta Irish bar! When Araya managed to regain some control later in the match, we got an amazing and highly dramatic closing stretch where every move could mean a death blow due to all the previous violence we just witnessed. Holy fuck, this match is insanely wonderful!

*****

Stardom Goodies

Stardom 2015/5/17

Wonder of Stardom Championship (vacant): Nikki Storm vs. Io Shirai

First time watching Nikki Storm and I’m impressed. Imagine if Fit Finlay was a female from Scotland. Yep, that! This match was so simple in its structure and everything was executed down to a T, and Nikki was a major part of it, she was controlling the pace throughout the match, she was kicking Io’s ass all over the ring and ringside. There were two big, prolonged beatdowns on Io, both very brutal and punishing as Nikki was like a relentless honey badger going after a snake, everything she did felt “real” and painful, all the neckbreakers, slams, nasty holds, etc. She was cutting her off like a badass bitch, plus all the trash talk was neat. Io’s first comeback was kind of selling-free, but fortunately it didn’t last too long, because Nikki regained control very soon and this time she was even more vicious on offense. Naturally, it made Io’s second comeback way more ferocious, deserved and fighting spirit-heavy, it was finally her time to dish out some smackdown. And of course, it was great, it also led directly to the finish, which is not something I was expecting, and I love it. Totally great match right here!

****1/2

Dramatic in Korakuen

King of DDT 2015

(2015/6/28)

All Japan 3/27

Dream Power Series 2015

(2015/3/27)

BJW 2014/10/31

Saikyo Tag League 2014

 (2014/10/31)

BJW 2014/9/23

Saikyo Tag League 2014

(2014/9/23)

2.      Isamu Oshita & Toshiyuki Sakuta vs. MEN’S Teioh & Tatsuhiko Yoshino

The centerpiece was Oshita/Yoshino and it was awesome. Teioh works so well with young guns.

***1/4

3.      Ryuichi Kawakami & Kota Sekifuda vs. Shuji Ishikawa & Masaya Takahashi

I love it when puro companies get the very most out of obvious tag matches where you’re 100% sure who’s a fallman. And it doesn’t get much better than this, poor tiny Sekifuda against the surly duo of big bad animals, especially Shuji Ishikawa who’s toying with him until the moment he’s not. Korakuen adores good underdog stories, and so do I.

***3/4

4.      Saikyo Tag League 2014 (Death Block) – BARBED WIRE BOARD STREET FIGHT DEATHMATCH: Heisei Gokudo Combi (Kankuro Hoshino & Masato Inaba) vs. Jaki Numazawa & Masashi Takeda

Wow, this one totally caught me off guard, great fucking match and definitely the best HGC effort ever, by a large margin. This was just a whacky rollercoaster of fun.

****

5.      Saikyo Tag League 2014 (Strong Block): Shiori Asahi & Shinobu vs. Koji Kanemoto & Kazuki Hashimoto

And here is ANOTHER super fun match. Kanemoto and K-Hash are teaming together after the grueling rivalry and obviously they’re stupendously awesome in kicking asses.

***3/4

6.      Saikyo Tag League 2014 (Strong Block): Speed of Sounds (Hercules Senga & Tsutomu Oosugi) vs. Daisuke Sekimoto & Hideyoshi Kamitani

Great power vs. speed clash, with a strong subplot of Kamitani digging in VERY fucking deep to justify the privilege of teaming with Sekimoto, this was a captivating story.

****

7.      Saikyo Tag League 2014 (Death Block) – IRON CAGE & LIGHTTUBE DEATHMATCH: Ryuji Ito & Abdullah Kobayashi vs. Yankee Nichokenju (Yuko Miyamoto & Isami Kodaka)

Such a neat and proper match to cap off this highly entertaining show. The match wasn’t anything particularly new, but the story of Abby getting some of his mojo back after the return was enough for me and Korakuen to care and enjoy. Pretty damn good deathmatch.

***3/4