#making towns

December 28, 2019

DDT

“D-Ou Grand Prix 2020: The Final!”

Korakuen Hall

Taped for Abema TV 

Attendance: 2,019 

Chihiro Hashimoto and Yuki Ino defeat Keigo Nakamura and Keisuke Ishii

One Count Rule Gauntlet Match: Antonio Honda, Danshoku Dino, Hiroshi Yamato, Kazuki Hirata, Mad Paulie, Masahiro Takanashi, Mizuki Watase, Toru Owashi, Yoshihiko, vs. Makoto Oishi (Makoto Oishi wins)

Saki Akai defeats Sakura Hirota

Three-Way Tag Match: Nautilus (Naomi Yoshimura and Yuki Ueno) defeat ALL OUT (Akito and Shunma Katsumata) and DAMNATION (Nobuhiro Shimatani and Soma Takao)

Shinya Aoki defeats Super Sasadango Machine

Tag Match: Kazusada Higuchi and Yukio Sakaguchi defeat Bull James and Yukio Naya

Four Way Match: Konosuke Takeshita defeats Chris Brookes, Daisuke Sasaki, and HARASHIMA

D-Ou Grand Prix Final Match: Masato Tanaka defeats Tetsuya Endo 

December 30, 2019

Gatoh Move

“GTMV #26″

Ichigaya Chocolate Square

Attendance: 77

Hagane Shinnou defeats Lulu Pencil

Chris Brookes defeats Mitsuru Konno

Six Man Tag Match: Antonio Honda, Baliyan Akki, and Mei Suruga defeat Masahiro Takanashi, Rin Rin, and TAMURA

December 30, 2019

Big Japan Wrestling: The World Is Not Enough Round 2

Korakuen Hall

Taped for Samurai TV

Attendance: 1,150

Six Man Tag Match: Kazuki Hashimoto, Shinobu, and Yuya Aoki defeat Koju Takeda, Kota Sekifuda, and Tatsuhiko Yoshino

Tag Team Match: Kazumi Kikuta and Ryuichi Kawakami defeat Kankuro Hoshino and Masaya Takahashi

Daisuke Sekimoto defeats Kosuke Sato

Six Man Tag Match: Daichi Hashimoto, Hideyoshi Kamitani, and Takuya Nomura defeat Freddie Krueger, Leatherface, and Raijin Yaguchi

Six Man Tag Match: Masashi Takeda, Takumi Tsukamoto, and Toshiyuki Sakuda defeat Koji Kanemoto, Shinjiro Otani, and Tatsuhito Takaiwa

Six Man Tag Match: Akira Hyodo, Yuji Hino, and Yuji Okabayashi defeat Hideki Suzuki, Takuho Kato, and Yasufumi Nakanoue

Six Man Tag Match: Strong Hearts (El Lindaman, Shigehiro Irie, and T-Hawk) defeat Abdullah Kobayashi, Yuko Miyamoto, and Masato Tanaka 

January 1, 2020

YMZ Pro Wrestling

“The 7th Sunrise”

Basement Mon Star

Attendance: 120

Tag Team Match: Manami Katsu and Mari Manji defeat Eito and Kaji Tomato

Tag Team Match: ASUKA and Hagane Shinnou vs. Daiki Shimomura and Tsubasa Kuragaki (Time Limit Draw)

No English Allowed Match: Cherry defeats Kakeru Sekiguchi 

Six Man Tag Match: Kuishinbo Kamen, Syuri, and Yuko Miyamoto defeat Daiki Shimomura, Hikaru Sato, and Kaori Yoneyama (w/Matsuzawa-san)

January 2, 2020

All Japan Pro Wrestling

“New Year Wars 2020, Day 1″

Korakuen Hall

Streamed live on AJPW.tv

Attendance: 1,445

Six Man Tag Match: Akira Francesco, Danny Jones, and Rising HAYATO defeat Atsuki Aoyagi, Dan Tamura, and Yusuke Okada

Six Man Tag Match: Fuminori Abe, Jake Lee, and Naoya Namura defeat Black Menso-re, Jun Akiyama, and Takao Omori

Six Man Tag Match: Masanobu Fuchi, TAJIRI, and The Great Sasuke defeat Abdullah Kobayashi, Frank Atsushi, and the Great Kojika 

New Year Battle Royal: Danny Jones defeats Akira Francesco, Atsuki Aoyagi, Black Menso-re, Chikara, Dan Tamura, Fuminori Abe, Jake Lee, Naoya Nomura, Osamu Nishimura, Rising HAYATO, Takao Omori, and Yusuke Okada

Eight Man Tag Match: Izanagi, Lucas Steel, Shigehiro Irie, and UTAMARO defeat Hokuto Omori, Kento Miyahara, Yoshitatsu, and Yuma Aoyagi

AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Tournament Semifinal Match: Hikaru Sato defeats Kagetora

AJPW World Junior Heavyweight Tournament Semifinal Match: Susumu Yokosuka defeats Koji Iwamoto

AJPW World Tag Team Title Match: Violent Giants (Shuji Ishikawa and Suwama) defeat Ryouji Sai and Zeus by KO - Title Change! 

January 2, 2020

World Wonder Ring Stardom

“New Year’s Stars, Night 1″

Shin-kiba 1st Ring

Attendance: 408

Tag Team Match: Queen’s Quest (Hina and Leo Onozaki) defeat Rina and Ruaka

Three Way Match: Leyla Hirsch (debut) defeats Itsuki Hoshino and Saya Iida

Six Man Tag Match: Queen’s Quest (Bea Priestly, Momo Watanabe, and Utami Hayashishita) defeat Oedo Tai (Natsuko Tora and Natsu Sumire) and Zoey Skye

Tag Team Match: Andras Miyagi and Giulia defeat Oedo Tai (Jamie Hayter and Martina)

Tag Team Match: Kagetsu and AZM defeat STARS (Starlight Kid and Mayu Iwatani)

Eight Man Tag Match: Tokyo Cyber Squad (Death Yama-san, Konami, Jungle Kyona, and Hana Kimura) defeat Saya Kamiani and STARS (Arisa Hoshiki, Saki Kashima, and Tam Nakano)

January 3, 2020

Pro Wrestling FREEDOMS

“Happy New Freedom 2020″

Shin-kiba 1st Ring

Attendance: 215

King of FREEDOM World Title #1 Contender One-Day Tournament Match: Kenji Fukimoto defeats Masashi Takeda

King of FREEDOM World Title #1 Contender One-Day Tournament Match: Takashi Sasaki defeats Rina Yamashita

King of FREEDOM World Title #1 Contender One-Day Tournament Match: Yuko Miyamoto defeats Kamui

King of FREEDOM World Title #1 Contender One-Day Tournament Match: Chikara defeats Takumi Tsukamoto

Two On One Handicap Elimination Match: Naoki Kamata and Tomoya Hirata defeat GENTARO

King of FREEDOM World Title #1 Contender One-Day Tournament Semifinal Match: Takashi Sasaki defeats Kenji Fukimoto

King of FREEDOM World Title #1 Contender One-Day Tournament Semifinal Match: Yuko Miyamoto defeats Chikara

Tag Team Match: Mammoth Sasaki and Violento Jack defeat Toru Sugiura and Yuya Susumu

King of FREEDOM World Title #1 Contender One-Day Tournament Final Match: Yuko Miyamoto defeats Takashi Sasaki 

January 3, 2020

World Wonder Ring Stardom

“New Year’s Stars, Night 2″

Shin-kiba 1st Ring

Attendance: 453

Three Way Match: Starlight Kid defeats Natsu Sumire and Ruaka

Three Way Tag Match: Itsuki Hoshino and Saya Kamitani defeat Leyla Hirsch and Rina and Queen’s Quest (Hina and Leo Onozaki)

Tag Team Match: Andras Miyagi and Giulia defeat Natsuko Tora and Zoey Skye

Six Man Tag Match: Tokyo Cyber Squad (Death Yama-san, Konami, and Jungle Kyona) defeat Bea Priestley and Oedo Tai (Jamie Hayter and Martina)

Six Man Tag Match: Queen’s Quest (AZM, Momo Watanabe, and Utami Hayashishita) defeat STARS (Arisa Hoshiki, Saya Iida, and Tam Nakano)

Oedo Tai Reunion (Hana Kimura and Kagetsu) defeat STARS (Mayu Iwatani and Saki Kashima) - Saki Kashima betrays Mayu and joins Oedo Tai

January 5, 2020

Tokyo Joshi Pro

“New Year Dish”

Itabashi Green Hall

Streamed live on DDT Universe

Attendance: 223

Tag Team Match: BAKURETSU Sisters (Nodoka Tenma and Yuki Aino) defeat Mizuki and Sena Shori

Akemi Daredasore defeats Pom Harajuku 

Three Way Match: Shoko Nakajima defeats Mahiro Kiryu and Yuki Kamifuku

Six Man Tag Match: Miyu Yamashita, Raku, and Suzume defeat Haruna Neko, Hikari Noa, and Natsumi Maki

Six Man Tag Match: Miu Watanabe, Rika Tatsumi, and Yuka Sakazaki defeat Mina Shirakawa, Mirai Miumi, and Yuna Manase

International Princess Title Match: Thunder Rosa defeats Maki Itoh - Title Change!  

January 5, 2020

New Japan Pro Wrestling: 

“Wrestle Kingdom 14, Night 2″

Tokyo Dome

Streamed live on NJPW World

Attendance: 30,063

Dark Match: NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Title Gauntlet Match: Los Ingobernables de Japon (BUSHI, EVIL, and Singo Takagi) defeat Bullet Club (Bad Luck Fale, Chase Owens, and Yujiro Takahashi), CHAOS (Robbie Eagles, Tomohiro Ishii, and YOSHI-HASHI), Suzuki-gun (El Desperado, Taichi, and Yoshinobu Kanemaru) and Ryusuke Taguchi, Togi Makabe, and Toru Yano - Title Change!

Tag Team Match: Hiromu Takahashi and Ryu Lee defeat Jushin Thunder Liger and Naoki Sano (w/Yoshiaki Fujiwara) - Liger’s final match

IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match - Roppongi 3K (Sho and Yoh) w/Rocky Romero defeat Bullet Club (El Phantasmo and Taiji Ishimori) - Title Change!

RevPro Undisputed British Heavyweight Title Match - Zack Sabre Jr. defeats SANADA

IWGP US Heavyweight Title Match: Jon Moxley defeats Juice Robinson (w/David Finlay)

NEVER Openweight Title Match: Hirooki Goto defeats KENTA - Title Change!

Jay White (w/Gedo) defeats Kota Ibushi

Chris Jericho defeats Hiroshi Tanahashi

Let’s just get this out of the way: I’m not reviewing the matches from Game Changer Wrestling’s Tournament of Survival 3. I haven’t watched enough death matches to qualify even as a mildly informed observer, and you know what? They kind of run together. It’s hard to distinguish one from the other, when you’re seeing one after the other.

When the first light tube spot happened on Saturday night, with a loud POP that could be heard everywhere in the building, the crowd erupted. By the time the hundredth light tube spot happened (not an exaggeration!), late into the show, no one in the crowd reacted at all. At some point, you just become numb.

I will say that, for sheer “Oh my God” spectacle, it’s hard to beat this kind of wrestling. I posted a bunch of short clips to my Instagram story, and friends who care not a whit about wrestling were messaging me all night about them. “What is that?” “Where are you?” “That looks insane,” etc. And when you’re standing a few feet away, the brutality is mesmerizing and almost artistic, like Artaud’s idea of the theater of cruelty, but for real.

On the other hand, all the criticisms I’ve heard of death match wrestling were on display: the comparison to the numbing effect of pornography seemed apt, as did the common complaint about guys who are theoretically trying to kill each other calmly waiting while their opponent sets up the next ridiculous spot. During one match (Ciclope vs. Alex Colon? I don’t know. They genuinely run together, especially in a tournament), one guy was setting up panes of glass on two chairs, but they kept slipping off, so THE REF started helping him out, while his opponent just waited on the turnbuckle for the suplex. Tell me that’s somehow less of an “exposing the business” scenario than an intergender match.

So, the matches were fine if you like death matches. Ciclope won, and good for him. What follows are my disjointed recollections of my first - and presumably last - experience at a death match tournament, lazily organized by chronology.

Saturday, June 2, 5:15 p.m.

I arrive at “the historic Starland Ballroom,” which turns out to be a grim loading dock of a building in an industrial park. The parking lot is practically full, and I am arriving 15 minutes after the scheduled bell time, thanks to traffic jams in Meriden, Fairfield County, and New York City. Let me say this: if I never drive across the George Washington Bridge again, it will be too soon.

Luckily, I have not missed anything. Doors were supposed to open at 4 p.m., but there is still a line of people snaking around the side of the building. We’re not just on Indie Time, we’re on Death Match Indie Time.

The crowd is about what you’d expect, with a uniform of black T-shirts and baggy shorts and a general commitment to ill health, although there are more women here than at most wrestling shows I’ve been to. I may be the only person here who has a favorite book. I see three different TSOL t-shirts, which somehow makes sense. I am surprised at the number of WWE shirts I see. I briefly thought about wearing a Kevin Owens shirt, but feared I’d be mocked and derided; within minutes of arriving, I see a huge guy with sleeve tattoos wearing the same shirt. There are more WWE shirts here than CZW shirts, in fact, which I guess is not surprising, given the enmity that exists between the established New Jersey promotion and the GCW upstarts. There are, in fact, more T-shirts here that say “CZW is Pussy” [sic] than CZW shirts.

There are people tailgating in the parking lot, and fragrant drafts of marijuana smoke drift by. A burly guy in an orange T-shirt that says SECURITY waddles up to me and tells me I can’t bring my shoulder bag inside the venue.

“I understand, safety first at the death match tournament,” I say. He nods, either not getting the joke or deciding whether I need to be restrained in a chokehold.

5:35 p.m.

I’m through the doors. There are metal detectors and bored-looking bouncers in orange shirts, because this is a crummy rock club. A guy in front of me with neck tattoos is told he has to take his bottle of prescription medication back to his car. A woman is arguing about a bag search.

There’s a small table set up just behind the metal detectors. It’s hard to know who might be part of the GCW staff. A guy in a black T-shirt and baseball cap is yelling at a woman, possibly about people getting in with bogus tickets.

“I know every name on every ticket sold,” he tells her. Then, to me, he says, “What’s your name?” as I hold out my crumpled printout.

I tell him, and he says “You’re good.” I don’t feel good, but I go in anyway.

The venue is absolutely packed. There’s a ring set up in the middle, and a VIP seating section on what must be the stage for all the shitty bands that play here. There are rows of chairs on all four sides of the ring, and all of them are occupied. Behind the chairs, in standing room areas, crowds of people jostle for position.

My ticket theoretically entitles me to a seat in the third row. Pathetically, I hold my ticket up to a person working at the GCW t-shirt table and inquire about getting a seat.

“Sorry, bro, first come, first served,” I am told. I could have saved $15 and bought a general admission pass, I ruefully reflect.

It’s standing in the back, near the t-shirts and the barbecue vendor, that I notice the long bar is empty. This is a shame, as I am extremely thirsty and would pay at least $10 for a bottle of water. It turns out the venue decided not to serve alcohol tonight, which is the first good decision anyone has made all day.

I wander around, noticing merch tables and the Nick Gage-mocked treats for sale. No one has any water. The treat woman, God bless her, points me to a small bar in the back of the room where the venue is selling pizza, Red Bull, and bottles of water. I buy two and want to sob in gratitude.

“Yo, we’re starting soon!” a voice announces over the PA. It is now 40 minutes after the announced bell time.

5:45 p.m.

A man in black shorts and a baseball cap bounds into the ring. The crowd erupts in cheers. It is the same guy who knew every ticket buyer’s name. This must be a GCW owner.

“Yo, look at all these mothafuckin’ shot callers in this place!” he yells, and the crowd roars its approval. Are GCW fans shot callers? Am I now, by extension, a shot caller? I feel briefly stirred, until I reflect that a genuine shot caller would be allowed to bring his shoulder bag into the venue.

The guy tells us that regular ring announcer is sick tonight. “He’s in the bathroom, shitting and puking,” the guy says, and the crowd cheers, as if excited by any bodily function. Instead, there’s another ring announcer, who is dressed like a frat guy at a golf course and sounds like the world’s most convincing Joel Gertner impersonator. I mean, he really, really sounds like Gertner. It was uncanny, and throughout the night, it was weird to hear that voice and see it coming out of a guy who incels would characterize as a “Chad,” instead of a tubby, hairy Long Islander with a leopard-print neck brace.

We’re ready to go. The music starts. It’s Nick Gage’s music. The crowd goes insane. I am watching from the small bar at the back of the room. I have two bottles of water and a cupcake. I wanted the “MDK” variety (red velvet with cream cheese frosting), but the woman told me they all melted, so I get the “Ultraviolent,” which is just a vanilla cupcake with buttercream frosting. It’s a little soggier than I’d like, but it hits the spot. I am eating a cupcake and watching men rake pizza cutters across each other’s faces. This is Roman decadence. Our society is doomed.

The matches come and go. Shlak is here; people on Woke Wrestling Twitter hate Shlak and regard him as a Nazi, but I don’t know exactly what the source of that grievance is. He was recently shot in the leg, as he posted on Twitter, along with the motto, “I welcome death.” He gets a big welcome here. In his match, Markus Crane - who is introduced by Not Joel Gertner as “The Devil’s Big Red Dick” - repeatedly does horrible things to the leg where Shlak was recently shot. Eventually the referee stops the match and awards the win to Crane, which results in bloodthirsty disapproval from the crowd.

As this is going on, I notice a man watching the show at the bar, with his 8 or 9 year old son. I briefly think about calling the police, but instead I pay $3 for a slice of pizza that I saw delivered in a box and have another water. Between matches, members of the ring crew use huge industrial brooms to sweep all the broken glass out of the ring, because, safety first at the death match tournament.

7:30 p.m.

It’s intermission now. I don’t know who’s winning. I go over to Takayuki Ueki, the Big Japan wrestler who lost to Nick Gage in the first round. He seems nice. I buy a Big Japan yearbook from him and get him to sign it. Some other guys are selling loads of wrestling magazines from Japan. I buy one with a Minoru Suzuki cover and one with a Naito cover. I am a gormless tourist. “Got any joshi magazines?” I ask. The guy looks at me like I just asked him to make me a casserole. He does not have any joshi magazines.

I buy a Tournament of Survival shirt with all the participants, because I want to remember one of my most questionable decisions as an adult. Now I have a shirt with someone who may or may not be a Nazi. I will not wear this on first dates.

The show starts up again. I’m standing closer to the ring now. During one of the matches, I get hit with broken glass from one of the light tubes, a spot happening about 15 feet away. I decide to go back to my spot in the bar at the back of the room. I have another water.

Nick Gage comes out to wrestle Ciclope. A guy tries to start a “U-S-A!” chant and is immediately drowned in a sea of booing. I’m oddly relieved that the death match crowd in 2018 has no time for jingoism. After 10 minutes of brutalizing each other with glass, pizza cutters, light tubes, a fishing pole (don’t ask), and whatever else, Ciclope beats Gage with a schoolboy, which is hilarious. To me, anyway. The crowd is infuriated. Nick Gage was infuriated, and suplexed the ref through a pane of glass. Well, Nicholas, perhaps you shouldn’t lose matches to routine roll-up pins, hmm?

Joey Janela comes out. He’s wrestling the resurgent PCO in a non-tournament match. This is my first glimpse of the new look PCO, who I have vague memories of from childhood, during his goofy Not-the-Mounties stint in the WWF as one of the Quebecers. Pierre Carl Ouellet, Indie Darling, is one of the weirder and better wrestling stories of 2018. It would be like the Ding Dongs coming out of retirement to win the PWG tag team championships with a dizzying routine of high spots.

Janela and PCO start with a lockup and go into chain wrestling, and it’s like listening to jazz after hours of black metal. It’s so different and refreshing. Eventually they start breaking out the Home Depot supplies, of course, and since part of Indie PCO’s gimmick is that he has a gross, welt-covered chest, there are lots of chop spots involving that. But this is a good match overall. A solid 3.5/5 and my favorite of the night.

9:00 p.m.