D-Ou Grand Prix 2020 In Yokohama Day 1 - 29/11/2019
D-Ou Grand Prix 2020 – A Block: Keisuke Ishii Vs Yuki Ueno
Ishii was awesome in this. Most people don’t realise how old he is and he was an awesome old vet against the young guy here. Throwing Ueno hard into the arpon ruled. Ishii threw some mad kicks as well. Ueno had some great flash pins. Short but fun match. ***
D-Ou Grand Prix 2020 – B Block: Naomi Yoshimura Vs Bull James
A decent match. Yoshinmura and James exchanging arm strikes in the corner was the highlight of the match. Nothing special overall though. **1/4
D-Ou Grand Prix 2020 – A Block: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Yuki Iino
ALL OUT vs ALL OUT. Iino put in a strong performance against HARASHIMA in their KO-D Openweight title match but could be match that against the Ace of DDT, Konosuke Takeshita? Takeshita worked on the leg of Iino, taking his base away from him but he mostly sold for Iino, who was all action on offence. His selling wasn’t good though, as his inexperience comes into play, but he was fun on offence. ***
D-Ou Grand Prix 2020 – A Block: Chris Brookes Vs Chihiro Hashimoto
Intergender wrestling is alive and well in the world of DDT. A fun showcase of Chihiro Hashimoto. If you like both people, watch it, I guess. You don’t need to though. **1/2
D-Ou Grand Prix 2020 – B Block: Soma Takao Vs Masato Tanaka
A fun match with tons of hard strikes, some nice brawling on the outside as well. Tanaka egging Soma on was awesome. Soma looked good in there, getting some decent nearfalls on Tanaka. His counter to the Sliding D was awesome. Tanaka looked good despite the old age. ***1/4
D-Ou Grand Prix 2020 – B Block: HARASHIMA Vs Yukio Sakaguchi
The current DDT Extreme Champion and KO-D Openweight champion against another former KO-D Openweight champion. A big main event for the first night of the D-OU GP. Loved the mat wrestling in the match. Both are great at it, it’s hard to even say who is the better. Sakaguchi would hold HARASHIMA’s hand, preventing him from tightening his grip further while in a knee bar. HARASHIMA would wriggle around whenever Sakaugchi had the advantage. Just smart defensive work displayed by both wrestlers. HARASHIMA would try come crafty moves, like trying to scissor the legs, only for Sakaguchi to counter. The struggle was excellent. It took near enough most of the match for someone to throw a strike, and when they began throwing more strikes, they put a ton of force behind them. Sakaugcuhi had some brutally sounding kicks that caught HARASHIMA on the nipples. Sakaguchi taking HARASHIMA back to the mat when HARASHIMA was gaining momentum on their feet was excellent storytelling since it’s his bread and butter. The finish was sudden, but HARASHIMA dropping Sakaguchi with a killer Somato was a good enough finish for me. A pretty awesome main event. ***3/4
A fine start to the D-Ou Grand Prix. A very good main event. Some fun undercard matches with Takao and Tanaka having a good match with elbow strikes being the focus. Takeshita and Iino had a fun match. No real bad matches. Best To Worst: HARASHIMA Vs Yukio Sakaguchi - [***3/4]. Soma Takao Vs Masato Tanaka - [***1/4]. Konosuke Takeshita Vs Yuki Iino - [***]. Keisuke Ishii Vs Yuki Ueno - [***]. Chris Brookes Vs Chihiro Hashimoto - [**1/2]. Naomi Yoshimura Vs Bull James - [**1/4].
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D-Ou Grand Prix 2020 In Yokohama Day 2 - 30/11/2019
D-Ou Grand Prix 2020 – B Block: Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Naomi Yoshimura
A fun opener with Yoshimura attempting to get the head start on Sakaguchi with it ultimately failing. ***
D-Ou Grand Prix 2020 – B Block: Soma Takao Vs Bull James
Soma Takao tryin to avoid being close to Bull James was a good way to establish him as a threat while getting some solid character work out of Soma. Bull really spent most of the match absorbing Soma’s strikes before Soma rolled him up. So it wasn’t much to watch. *1/2
D-Ou Grand Prix 2020 – A Block: Yuki Ueno Vs Chihiro Hashimoto
I dug the mat work in the match. Ueno went back to basics while Hashimoto used her big frame to keep up and overpower the skinny Ueno. Loved Ueno going for the hip, of all things. It didn’t lead to much but the intent was awesome. There was a nice struggle between the two as well. The finishing stretch was a ton of fun also. ***1/2
D-Ou Grand Prix 2020 – A Block: Tetsuya Endo Vs Chris Brookes
Both are two people who I’d describe as flashy, and they have a very flashy match. They do the wristlock - kip-up spot which looked good. There is a certain flair in their submission holds and the way they exchange with each other. Chris Brookes is an okay wrestler - I’ve honestly never given it much thought despite watching a ton of his matches - but I think this is a step-up. His tope was awesome, using his speed well. His work on the leg was decent. Although Endo brushed it off quickly enough. The match peaked a bit too early or me though. The crowd was at its hottest and you can feel the crowd slowly lose its excitement for the moment, despite still being engaged. It’s clear both guys didn’t have enough ideas for a 30 minute time limit match. Good match overall though. ***1/2
D-Ou Grand Prix 2020 – A Block: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Keisuke Ishii
A high tempo match with Takeshita dominating and Ishii fighting from beneath. It was pretty awesome to see. I just wish we saw more of it. ***1/4
D-Ou Grand Prix 2020 – B Block: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Masato Tanaka
Loved the brawling aspects of the match. Sasaki channels his inner Dick Togo with the use of the chairs and they way he does it while Tanaka is more than happy upping the tempo. Sasaki had some awesome all or nothing moves like the dive into the crowd. He took some mad bumps as always for Tanaka’s offence. He even took a nasty chair shot like a champ. ***1/2
A better second show with a better card overall, although this show actually had a bad match and not as good main event. Sasaki vs Tanaka had an awesome brawl. Ishii vs Takeshita was a fun high tempo match. Endo vs Brookes was a good 30 minute match. Ueno vs Hashimoto had some good mat work. Sakaguchi killing Yoshimura was awesome. Bull James existed. Best To Worst: Daisuke Sasaki Vs Masato Tanaka - [***1/2]. Tetsuya Endo Vs Chris Brookes - [***1/2]. Yuki Ueno Vs Chihiro Hashimoto - [***1/2]. Konosuke Takeshita Vs Keisuke Ishii - [***1/4]. Yukio Sakaguchi Vs Naomi Yoshimura - [***]. Soma Takao Vs Bull James - [*1/2].
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