[2022-06-19-DDT-King of DDT 2nd Round] HARASHIMA vs Naomi Yoshimura

[corwo]

One of the biggest stories in DDT recently has been the elevation of Naomi Yoshimura and his new tag team partner in Harimao, Kazusada Higuchi. Yoshimura has started to put it together after last year's King of DDT run, where I was slightly underwhelmed by his singles efforts. Here he is taking on the perennial ace of DDT as well as his former DISASTER BOX teammate, HARASHIMA.

HARASHIMA tried to ground Yoshimura early on, but Naomi's superior strength meant he couldn't string together much offense. HARASHIMA is one of the pettiest psycopaths I've ever seen in wrestling, smirking as he stomps on and dissects Yoshimura's ribs. His offense was mean and laser-focused. To offset that, Yoshimura targeted the back with body slams and suplexes. Yoshimura countered a springboard attempt from HARASHIMA and sent him flying into the guardrails.

Yoshimura took control with a stalling superplex. Yoshimura matched HARASHIMA's meanness, stomping on his back and delivering crunchy forearms when a hockey fight broke out. One thing I love about HARASHIMA is his selling. He fundamentally understands when to show pain and executes those moments expertly. The match gradually built to bigger and bigger bombs being thrown, with HARASHIMA busting out a running Somato and Yoshimura nailing him with a lariat.

HARASHIMA's kicks reverberated throughout Korakuen Hall, but Yoshimura absorbed them and delivered thunderous chops. Matches can live or die by wrestlers fighting through the pain, but HARASHIMA and Yoshimura made it believable by not lingering on those sequences for too long. HARASHIMA went for a springboard, but Yoshimura caught him with a Harai Goshi in mid-air that looked awesome. Yoshimura landed the Osaka Pride shortly thereafter to pick up the win. A very good, slow-building match that displayed the growth of Yoshimura.