DDT In July - King Of DDT Finals, TJPW Summer Sun Princess '22 & Ganbare Pro Wrestle Sekigahara 2022

DDT King Of DDT 2022 Final Round - 03/07/2022

King Of DDT 2022 Semi Final Match: Naomi Yoshimura vs. Yuki Ueno

Good semi finals. A tad better than their D-Ou GP match but the pacing was stronger and the stakes are more urgent, also reflected well in their performances. Ueno nailed some good dropkicks and Yoshimura showcased his biggest moves for the finals. ***1/4

King Of DDT 2022 Semi Final Match: Jun Akiyama vs. Kazusada Higuchi

Unlike the prior semi final match where the momentum was even, Higuchi had to dig deep to beat Akiyama who looked to be in firm control for a large points in the match. Akiyama blasted Higuchi with his knee strikes and constantly looked a threat with the guillotine choke. Higuchi sold the beat down really well, garnering much needed sympathy against Akiyama which will serve him going into the Finals which is now for the Vacant KO-D Openweight Title. ***1/2

KO-D Openweight Title King Of DDT 2022 Final Match (vacant): Kazusada Higuchi vs. Naomi Yoshimura

Admittedly, I knew the result of the match as I didn’t watch it live. I do, however, raise my hands in victory upon hearing the news. Why? I don’t know. I’m a big dork, I guess. So the appeal of the match wasn;t who was going to win but how Higuchi would do it. Higuchi came into the match worse for wear with Akiyama aggravating a neck injury which gave Yoshimura licence to attack early on. Mostly the match seemed to be inevitably Higuchi’s with all his signature moves being the focus point that the match is built around. Yoshimura had his moments like that tremendous feat of strength of the superplex and him blocking the Claw Hold on its first attempt was a terrific spot too. They had a cool chop exchange that had a great sense of tension behind each strike, and the way they elevated it to lariat strikes and then Higuchi blocking the Judo Throw was some amazing pieces of wrestling. The crowd broke the rules to gasp for it because it was executed so well. And the closing stretch was nothing short of a hoot. Yoshimura was able to survive on Claw Hold Chokeslam, which is a big way to put him over in defeat and Higuchi had to block another Judo Throw attempt - a last gasp effort to win by Yoshimura - before executing one more to win the title belt. And Sakaugchi and the rest of Eruption storming the ring was a tremendous touch. It felt genuine and heartfelt. I've been watching DDT for several years now and outside of HARASHIMA, Higuchi was the first guy I really connected to and wanted to see acheive and seeing him win the title is just that. That's what wrestling is all about. ****1/4

TJPW Summer Sun Princess '22 - 07/07/2022

International Princess Title Match: Maki Itoh (c) vs. Alex Windsor

Clearly, Windsor had impressed someone when she faced the TJPW women during their mini tours to Europe earlier in the year, because she not only got a spot on the show but won a title against Maki Itoh. She was decent in the match but not extraordinary. Not that Itoh was either. Windsor’s character work could do with some fine tuning as she’s a little too preoccupied by projecting it than being a real person. The work was fine. This was a Maki Itoh match so it was heavy with Itoh-chan spots Windsor fed her well though and did enough to pick up the convincing win. *** 

Miyu Yamashita vs. Thunder Rosa

This was somewhat disappointing. Perhaps it was me not liking that Yamashita came off as the lesser of the two, no I’m not talking about the roll-up finish, but throughout the match, it didn’t seem like Miyu was in her home promotion but the fans got behind her nonetheless. Miyu didn’t exactly gel with Thunder Rosa perfectly either. There were some sloppy moments, but not too many, and the match didn’t flow like Miyu matches do even against the low midcarders. It was enjoyable but that's about as far as I’m willing to praise it. Perhaps the rematch will actually deliver but given how AEW treats outsiders that aren’t making them money or staying there for periods of time, I don’t expect much. ***

Princess Tag Team Title Match: Magical Sugar Rabbits (Mizuki & Yuka Sakazaki) (c) vs. Saki Akai & Yuki Arai

Arai and Yuka work the mat to start, ending in a stalemate, before tagging in their respective partners. Mizuki put her hand up, Saki Akai did as well but seeing the height different, Mizuki stomped her feet which was a cool character moment for Mizuki who is the more blander of her team. The match quickly gets into the comfort zone of MSR working over Yuki Arai, then Saki Akai. Yuki Arai was the main focus of the match with being the main FIP, thus working most of the key spots. Mizuki and Arai worked well together as much as Arai and Yuka did, I thought. Yuka worked aggressively, forcing Arai into a defensive position whereas Mizuki and Arai flowed more with their even footed story. The highlight of the match was MSR showing off their team work which was impressive and creative as it always is. But the challengers had their moments too. Like Yuki Arai slamming  Mizuki down and Saki Akai suplexes Yuka, who was on the ropes, onto her. And some of the most compelling aspects of the match was MSR’s attempts to thwart Saki Akai’s Quetzalcoatl, which eventually came followed by a double kick to get the three count, crowning new champions. It was a really good match. I suppose the result shouldn’t have come to a surprise considering it’s Yuka Arai but it was a good effort. Obviously Mizuki and Yuka carried the nuts and bolts of everything but Saki Akai and Yuki Arai held up their worth. And it was obviously an emotional moment for them, especially Arai, who cried.  ***1/2

Princess Of Princess Title Match: Shoko Nakajima (c) vs. Rika Tatsumi

I see Shoko as the ultimate player who has the key to winning each time. I love that she has a finishing combo that seemingly works every time, because for what she lacks of true, engrossing energy, like Rika Tatsumi displayed in the match, she has in strong booking that consistently reinforces the notion that she is a force. And champions really need that one key thing and she has it. That’s a rare trait to have. Now Tatstmi was amazing in the match. While it’s unfortunate that she did the Goto under the waterfall gimmick and lost just the same, she came out like a star in defeat. She picked Shoko apart, using the dragon suplex, then hip attacks (some from the top rope to the outside of all things) before transitioning to the dragon sleeper which may have been the best use of a submission in the closing stretch of the entire year. The crowd and I were hooked into thinking that was the moment but that killer combo of the DDT & top rope senton was inevitable. ****

DDT Ganbare Pro Wrestle Sekigahara 2022 - 10/07/2022

Isami Kodaka & Shuji Ishikawa vs. Keisuke Ishii & Shigehiro Irie

Stacked opening bout with three former KO-D Openweight Champions. Ishii is no slouch either, being a tremendous wrestler when on form. A true wrestler’s wrestler. Ishii and Irie are a super fun tag team. One of the most underrated of the 2010s era of tag teams for me. They aren’t DoiYoshi or YAMADoi or even the Young Bucks but they were a very good team. Ishii and Ishikawa have this awesome little exchange where Ishii is blasting Ishikawa with kicks and Ishikawa is staggering but staying on his feet like a wounded giant, which just eggs Ishii to do more. Irie and Ishikawa do more of the Big Japan strong division style which I’m less fond of but it’s decent enough. There is a cool bit where they are exchanging headbutts but Irie is winning and hits several more than necessary while Ishikawa was on his knees. The wounded giant story comes into play later when Irie and Ishii are working together to knock him out of the ring. Kodaka takes a smaller role within the match because, as stated on the english commentary, he is working a BASARA show later in the night, also explaining why this is the opener. But he doesn’t shy away from taking some of the bigger bumps of the match like when Ishii dropped him on his head. Plus his closing stretch with Ishii is splendid. ***1/2

Minoru Suzuki vs. Shuichiro Katsumura

I can imagine Suzuki thinking about how nice this match-up is as Katsumura loves to work that submission heavy style and Suzuki being a student of Fujiwara, it’s an interesting match. And they do exactly as expected. Katsumura is on the skinny side but he’s really crafty and suprirses Suzuki with his armbars. Suzuki then attacks the leg underhandedly, first using the ropes and then gets a chair involved. The match does fall into the trap of Suzuki-isms with the elbow strikes though. And there are some dreadful elbows mixed in with some decent ones. The only bright sparks of that portion of the match were the crowd rallying behind Katsumura who was falling behind and Katsumura countering a corner one with a cross armbreaker. The match gives Katsumura a decent amount of false finishes like the Gogoplata submission but Suzuki was able to put him away eventually with a Gotch Piledriver. That concluded what was a good match. It was a little different from the usual Suzuki match but that dreaded spot reared its ugly forehead. ***1/2

Calamari Drunken Kings (Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi) vs. Romance Dawn (Shota & Soma Takao)

While this was on the long side of things, I thought this was a super piece of work. CDK was doing some solid work this year, sneakily ranking up there as one of the best tag teams of 2022. They work together very well to work over Shota with double team spots to isolate Shota and add tension to the match. Brookes was excellent in the match with his technical work which is normally Takanashi’s strong point. He also did some great heel spots, such as attacking HARUKAZE, who was accompanying Romance Dawn to ringside, ripping at her mask and then later launching her to the outside onto the other accompanying GanPro wrestlers. But the MVP of the match was Shota, who was sublime as the selling babyface. And he had to be as Shota did pretty much nothing all match. He went missing so Shota took on all of the responsibility, working for sympathy as well as working for the upset win over the KO-D Tag Team Champions. And the Gannosuke Clutch finish was magnificent. I’ll never get tired of seeing it used. ***3/4

Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Title Match: Yumehito Imanari (c) vs. Ken Ohka

Worthy main event. In the classic Ganbare spirit, this was all heart when it mattered. Ohka did what's right and put over the hardest working man in the DDT Universe, Imanari. The commentary reinforces the point that this is two friends putting it all on the line and they deliver on that. The match doesn’t go crazy trying to top Okada vs Omega. It’s done simply and builds to a satisfying finish. ***