#shinya aoki

[frentique]

[schadentekkers]

[sasakidaisuke]

KING OF DDT 2025 participants

via ref Matsui's twitter

[ag32-tm0]

God Bless DDT 2024

Shinya Aokii vs HARASHIMA

[scarskelly]

This reboot of The Brady Bunch looks interesting.

[romisdiary]

Chris Brookes (c) vs. Shuji Ishikawa (DDT New Year, New Hero 2025)

I thought I "knew" how this match was going to go.

The more I consume wrestling, the more I find myself stuck in this idea of "knowing" the outcome of a match. It's like one of the most special things about the sport, because in the supposed predictability a match could get, you find somewhat of an unexpected outcome. To me, saying wrestling is scripted takes from the dramatic nature of a match in which you actually don't know what's going to happen.

Yes, you can argue wrestling is indeed scripted, but you don't know said script at all, you just try to understand it and see where does it go from point A to point B. You can predict the outcome of a story and see if you can connect all the dots, but you'll never "know" how a match will develop.

As there are examples of matches falling down piece by piece like a house of cards, there are examples of matches that understand you're taking them for granted and show you how wrong you can be, succeeding in their mission, as you watch your screen thinking "Well, that was awesome."

That's the appeal of a "match" to me in terms of telling a story. Yes, I know this is scripted, but predicting the outcome of a match to me is a great way to see how a match treats suspension of disbelief and how does it make you feel a part of it.

If you read this blog, it's no secret DDT is one of my favorite promotions. I made various reviews of DDT matches that gave its flowers to a company that to me stands out as the best example of what "modern" pro wrestling should be in all of its glory, and this match I bring you today is a great example of this I'm preaching.

Chris Brookes vs. Shuji Ishikawa is built around the idea of Ishikawa being this big, mean monster that will surely take Brookes by storm.

A similar idea was the backbone of that fantastic King of DDT final between Kazusada Higuchi & the current KO-D Openweight Champion. While this is enough to catch my eye, the implications of this match for Brookes were big, if not immense.

If you don't know what happened with Ishikawa these last months, I can give you a quick recap.

Ishikawa left All Japan Pro Wrestling and entered a DDT built around junior-heavyweights. A DDT that had just lost Yusuke Okada, Yukio Sakaguchi and Yuji Hino but had both Brookes and Yuki Ueno as flag bearers of a new era in the company, seconded by the oh so charming and charismatic stable of 37KAMIINA.

Ueno, as former KO-D Openweight Champion, had his reality check when he faced Shinya Aoki, a legit shooter that made him understand the flaws around his game and humiliated him in both a technical sense and a psychological sense. Ueno's defeat was something unexpected to me, but the more Aoki continued his title reign, I understood the purpose of it.

Therefore, when taking into consideration that both Ueno and Brookes were the flag bearers of the company, and both had careers certainly connected to one or each other, the idea of the same scenario happening was at least intriguing. DDT tends to work like that. When a champion faces every talent in the company or at least every single potential threat to his title reign, a new contender emerges and dethrones him.

For me, Ishikawa was that guy. It was not only his in-ring prowess that made me contemplate the idea of a KO-D reign from him, but other things like another match with HARASHIMA on the horizon, or Ueno's redemption being beating this big bad monster in Judgement or something like that.

I never considered Brookes as a legit threat to Ishikawa.

And this is what I meant when I brought out the idea of "knowing" the outcome of a match. When a match shuts you up and makes you doubt if you know anything about wrestling is when said match hits a higher level, and when you can actually believe what you're looking at. Brookes is no stranger to these kinds of showings.

As I said before, the King of DDT final in 2023 is a great example of this type of matches where he just gets destroyed but continues fighting, while bloody and battered. A type of match where you just don't see the miracle of Brookes actually winning, and you just simply accept what will come.

I think Brookes has been fantastic for a while, and some people will still refuse to give him his flowers because of some things he does that don't align with people's tastes in wrestling, but to me, it's all about the heart and the emotions he evokes. He's definitely one of the best foreign wrestlers in Japan right now, but the work he's been putting on DDT has been nothing but outstanding to me.

If you didn't realize by now, I love this match. Ishikawa is great as always, but Brookes pushes all the right buttons to make you believe he's actually going to defeat this monster standing in front of him. In the first minutes of this match, Brookes' offense is useless against Ishikawa, who using his brutal headbutts puts him in a hurry over and over. The size difference also tells a story of Brookes' natural and evident limitations against his opponent.

He may be tall, but he's not as powerful as Ishikawa, so he has to pull every trick out of his book and stand against everything that gets thrown at him. This match is violent and aggressive, but I don't think it's necessary to clarify this when you consider the hardcore aspect surrounding it too, because yes, this is also a hardcore match, and a great example of the stories you can tell when bringing weapons into the equation. It seems like this match hits all the strides, and maybe it does because if not, I wouldn't write this. Brookes' victory feels satisfying in a way few matches make me feel.

Because it's not just about the idea of him winning, but him overcoming the odds and the presumed idea he's going to fail, welcoming a new year, and standing tall as DDT's new hero.

[axel-mania]

Hmm.

[mackdaddyofthecravate]

Sir please. He does deserve it but still.

[cagesidepress]

Shinya Aoki vs. Eduard Folayang IV Announced for ONE 172

Read the full story on cagesidepress.com

[identifying-wrestling-moves]

Wakigatame

DDT 25th Anniversary 2022.01.03

[frentique]

[schadentekkers]

[sasakidaisuke]

MAO Sacrificing KANON to help his tag team partner Dieno

DDT- Let's go! Beer Garden Pro wrestling 2025

[ag32-tm0]

God Bless DDT 2024

Shinya Aokii vs HARASHIMA

[scarskelly]

From the DDT archives: I like to play this game called "will my post get flagged for sexually explicit material?", today's episode? Hideki pantsed Shinya to stop him from locking in a submission.

[sai-birthdays]

Character birthdays in July!

7.07 - Kanata Aoki (Kanata Seven Change) 7.07 - Ruchi Shizuru (Kanata Seven Change) 7.07 - Holy Lance Academy Headmaster (Our Hero Studies) 12.07 - Cafe Mami Manager (Saiki Kusuo No Ψ Nan) 29.07 - Nakanishi Shinya (Saiki Kusuo No Ψ Nan)