Daisuke Sekimoto continues to progress in his recovery after suffering a scary in-ring injury last week.
Sekimoto, one of the hardest-hitting wrestlers in Japan, was competing in a six-man tag match for Big Japan Pro Wrestling in Tokyo on May 29 when the injury happened. He went down after taking a swinging DDT, and the match had to be stopped and Sekimoto was stretchered out. Thankfully, Sekimoto was able to return home from the hospital that day while only experiencing some temporary numbness in his arms and neck.
Big Japan shared a new update with fans today after Sekimoto underwent a follow-up evaluation on June 2. It was determined that Sekimoto suffered a low-grade cervical spine injury, but he is not experiencing any paralysis or muscle weakness. A decision on when Sekimoto will be able to return to the ring will be made in two weeks after another evaluation.
“On the day of the match, he suffered damage to his neck bones from the front, causing cervical vertebrae to be injured. He was diagnosed with a traumatic cervical spine injury. Current status: No paralysis. No muscle weakness,” Big Japan wrote.
“The grade of the cervical spine injury is low and is considered to be similar to a concussion, but after discussion between the doctor, the wrestler himself, and [Big Japan] President Eiji Tosaka, it has been decided that an additional examination will be conducted in two weeks to check the degree of recovery of the cervical spine and a decision will be made at that time.”
There are no restrictions on Sekimoto’s daily life, and he is able to train as long as it does not put strain on his neck. Sekimoto said that, for now, the only training he will be doing is to stay in shape and relieve stress.
Sekimoto, 44, made his wrestling debut in 1999. In addition to competing for Big Japan, he’s made international appearances during his career for promotions like wXw, PWG, Evolve, and Chikara.
A scary moment took place at a Big Japan Pro Wrestling show on Thursday with Daisuke Sekimoto having to be taken to the hospital after suffering an injury during a match.
Sekimoto was teaming with Ryuji Ito & Abdullah Kobayashi against Yuuki Miyamoto, Ryota Hama & Andy Wu at Korakuen Hall when the injury happened. Tokyo Sports writes that, after Sekimoto was given a swinging DDT, he went down and the referee had to call off the match. Sekimoto was then stretchered out.
The company announced during the show that Sekimoto had been rushed to the hospital but was conscious and able to move his limbs.
"Sekimoto was rushed to the hospital. His limbs are moving and his consciousness is clear. This is what we know now. Thank you“
Big Japan later shared an update on social media informing fans that Sekimoto will return home today and continue to be evaluated. He is experiencing numbness in his arms and neck that is believed to be temporary. Scans showed no abnormalities, and Big Japan says there is no suspicion of a spinal cord injury.
“As a result of a medical examination at a hospital in Tokyo, there were no abnormalities in the CT or MRI, and there is no suspicion of spinal cord injury,” the update said. “He currently feels numbness in his arms and neck, but all muscles are strong and the numbness seems to be temporary. He will return home today and future treatment will be done after consultation at a hospital in Yokohama.”
The 44-year-old Sekimoto is a standout wrestler and one of Japan’s hardest hitters in the ring. While based in Big Japan, he’s made some global appearances over the years for promotions like wXw, PWG, Evolve, and Chikara.
The effects of the rapidly spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19 led to a number of major changes and precautions in WWE.
Among the names advertised who didn’t appear on shows this week were Roman Reigns, Big E, Becky Lynch, Seth Rollins, Bianca Belair, Bobby Lashley, Queen Zelina, Shinsuke Nakamura and King Woods.
ORDERING INFO: Order the print Wrestling Observer right now and get it delivered via mail, by sending your name, address, Visa or Master Card number and an expiration date to [email protected] or by going to www.paypal.com directing funds to [email protected].
Rates in the United States are $14.50 for 4 issues, $35.50 for 12, $70 for 24, $116 for 40 and $149.50 for 52.
In Canada and Mexico, the rates are $16 for 4, $27 for 8, $38.50 for 12, $76 for 24, $126 for 40 and $162.50 for 52.
For the rest of the world, rates are $18 for 4, $48.50 for 12, $93 for 24, $155 for 40 and $201.50 for 52.
If you order by mail with a check, cash or money order to P.O. Box 1228, Campbell, CA 95009-1228, you can get $1 off in every price range.
SUNDAY NEWS UPDATE
Bryan and I did our weekend show last night covering Day 1 and all of the news of the past few days.
Drew McIntyre’s injury was legit in the sense he really does have a neck injury, and the angle done where Happy Corbin & Madcap Moss took him out was a cover story for his taking time away to recuperate. He has been having neck pain for some time. The hope is that his taking off now will heal him and he won’t need major surgery. They are checking out what the neck issues are very soon so it is too soon to know if or how long he’ll be out of action.
For Google searches for this week there wasn’t much with no big boxing or MMA fights. The Jake Paul vs. Dana White grandstand challenge is No. 16 today at 50,000 searches. Day 1 yesterday did a big number, 500,000, probably due to the situation with Roman Reigns. The only other thing this week was Conor McGregor at No. 17 on Monday with the Charles Oliveira call out.
We’re looking for your thoughts on WWE Day 1, NOAH at Budokan Hall on 1/1, and Stardom at Sumo Hall on 12/29. You can leave a thumbs up, down or middle for each show along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
We’re also looking for reports from tonight’s WWE show in Fayetteville, NC to [email protected].
GCW iPPV from last night in Atlantic City, NJ: Mark & Jay Briscoe b Alex Zayne & Blake Christian to keep the GCW tag titles (best match), Calvin Tankman b Yoya, Joey Janela b Scotty 2 Hotty (really good), Homicide won 20 man Rumble to become top contender for Jon Moxley’s GCW title, Alex Colon b John Wayne Murdoch via ref stoppage in a deathmatch to keep the Ultraviolent title. (thanks to Ross Blair)
Yuji Okabayashi won the Big Japan Strong title earlier today from Takuya Nomura.
Regarding Wednesday’s AEW move to TBS, here is a look at recent station moves for wrestling shows and how they have done:
9/25/00 Raw moves from USA (last show 6,940,000 viewers0 to TNN (first show 7,110,000 viewers)
10/3/05 Raw moves from Spike (last show 4,020,000 viewers) to USA (first show 5,569,000 viewers)
10/3/08 Smackdown moves from CW (4,411,000 viewers) to My Network (3,160,000)
10/1/10 Smackdown moves from My Network (2,770,000) to Syfy (2,520,000)
1/7/15 Impact moves from Spike (980,000) to Destination America (359,000)
1/5/16 Impact moves from Destination America (155,000) to Pop TV (255,000)
1/7/16 Smackdown moves from Syfy (2,284,000) to USA (2,757,000)
10/4/19 Smackdown moves from USA (2,099,000) to FOX (3,888,000)
The C.M. Punk segment on the NHL outdoor classic game yesterday only aired on Bleacher Report, not on the TNT broadcast. There was also no mention of AEW in promotions or commercials during the show, most notably nothing on the Saturday night Battle of the Belts special that one would think would be promoted on what was expected to be a high rated sports event. There was a promotion of Go Big Show on the post-game show.
UFC
The latest in the Jake Paul/Dana White war of words and grandstand challenges for today.
Sportbetting.ag has odds for who will be UFC champion on December 31, 2022. We list the top five in each division:
Flyweight
Brandon Moreno +190
Askar Askarov+350
Deiveson Figueiredo +350
Henry Cejudo +700
Alex Perez +800
Alexandre Pantoja +800
Bantamweight
Petr Yan -170
Aljamain Sterling +450
TJ Dillashaw +700
Henry Cejudo +1000
Jose Aldo +1000
Featherweight
Alexander Volkanovski -180
Max Holloway +350
Chan Sung Jung +675
Giga Chikadze +1100
Calvin Kattar +1600
Josh Emmett +1600
Lightweight
Charles Oliveira +200
Islam Makhachev +200
Beneil Dariush +400
Justin Gaethje +600
Conor McGregor +900
Dustin Poirier +900
Welterweight
Kamaru Usman -250
Khamzat Chimaev +300
Leon Edwards +900
Vicente Luque +900
Belal Muhammed +1000
Middleweight
Israel Adesanya -165
Robert Whittaker +425
Marvin Vettori +700
Jared Cannonier +800
Derek Brunson +1100
Light heavyweight
Jiro Prochazka +275
Alexander Rakic +300
Magomed Ankalaev +300
Glover Teixeira +400
Jan Blachowicz +575
Heavyweight
Francis Ngannou +225
Cyril Gane +275
Curtis Blaydes +600
Jon Jones +650
Stipe Miocic +650
Women’s Featherweight
Amanda Nuns -600
Kayla Harrison +325
Norman Dumont +1100
Aspen Ladd +1200
OTHER NOTES
Emersyn Jayne defends the Eve title against Charli Evans in the main event for Eve on 1/7 at The Venue on Great Portland Street in London, UK. Charlie Morgan vs. Laura Di Matteo face off for the top contender spot.
The main event for the Giant Baba Memorial show has been set.
IWGP Heavyweight champion Hiroshi Tanahashi will team with Yoshitatsu (who has been regularly wrestling for All Japan) to take on the team of Triple Crown champion Kento Miyahara and Big Japan’s Daisuke Sekimoto. It will be the first time that Tanahashi and Miyahara will be in the same ring.
The event marks the 20th anniversary of Giant Baba’s death, as he passed away from liver failure on January 31, 1999. It will also have the official retirement ceremony for Abdullah the Butcher, who wrestled regularly for All Japan for a number of decades.
Here is the full, likely final card for the memorial show which will take place on February 19 at Sumo Hall. Broadcasting information is currently unknown:
Hiroshi Tanahashi and Yoshitatsu vs. Kento Miyahara and Daisuke Sekimoto
Mil Mascaras and Dos Caras vs. NOSAWA Rongai and Kaz Hayashi
Naomichi Marufuji and Jinsei Shinzaki vs. Masaaki Mochizuki and Shun Skywalker
Satoshi Kojima, Yuji Nagata and Omasu Nishimura vs. Jun Akiyama, Takao Omori and Taiyo Kea
Atsushi Onita, Kendo Kashin, Hideki Suzuki and Hideki Hosaka vs. Great Kojika, Mitsuya Nagai, Shuji Ishikawa and Hikaru Sato in a street fight tornado bunkhouse deathmatch
SANADA and BUSHI vs. Jake Lee & Koji Iwamoto vs. Ayato Yoshida & Shota Umino in a three way match
Taichi, Yoshinobu Kanemaru and Taka Michinoku vs. Masanobu Fuchi, Yoshiaki Fujiwara and Yuma Aoyagi
Kazushi Miyamoto, Tomohiko Hashimoto, Daichi Hashimoto and Takuya Nomura vs. Tomoaki Honma, Yuji Okabayashi, Naoya Nomura and Ren Narita
Giant Baba Memorial battle royal featuring Mitsuo Momota, Kim Duk, Joel Deaton, MEN’s Teioh, TARU, Ryuji Hijikata, Yuto Aijima, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi, Masahito Kakihara, Masao Inoue, Tamon Honda and Yasu Urano
Editor’s note: The following originally appeared in this week’s edition of Figure Four Weekly.
**********
At Big Japan’s “Death Vegas” show in Yokohama this past weekend, Daichi Hashimoto had the crowning moment of his career — becoming Big Japan’s new Strong Heavyweight Champion.
In 2011, when he had his much-hyped debut against Masahiro Chono in Sumo Hall, this achievement six years later would have been seen as a shocking disappointment for the son of the great Shinya Hashimoto. However, just a few years ago, it would have seemed to be an achievement that would be way out of reach.
The reality is that Sunday’s win was indeed a great triumph for the young 25 year old. It marked the fact that he has well and truly stepped out of his father’s shadow and is carving his own path where he’s comfortable and has been accepted.
Daichi is not Shinya. He does not have his father’s size and does not have his father’s presence. The expectations that were placed on him in his formative years were too much. He had great veterans like Chono, Keiji Mutoh, and Shinjiro Ohtani (all friends of Shinya) looking out for him, but they were trying to hold him up as something he wasn’t. And media and fan expectations didn’t help. It was a severe amount of pressure for someone just entering his 20s.
Daichi ended up trying to strike out on his own when things just weren’t working for him. He got into the fold with Antonio Inoki’s IGF, which is not exactly the healthiest and most nurturing environment for a young wrestler. That didn’t last, and it really looked like Hashimoto’s career might be a wash-out.
He was given a lifeline, though. Over the years, Daichi had sporadically popped up in Big Japan, regularly opposing or teaming with his namesake Kazuki Hashimoto. It always seemed like the smaller-scale (and somewhat grimier) environment allowed him to perform with more relaxation and confidence. He also appeared to strike up an obvious bond with Kazuki.
At the beginning of 2016, BJW announced it would be taking Daichi in as a full-time member of their roster. Under the tutelage of Daisuke Sekimoto and with a real brotherhood surrounding him (as opposed to his father’s legendary friends), Daichi started to really flourish. His personality was coming out more in the way he carried himself and in his appearance, with more of a punk look mixed into the pure martial artist ensemble he had previously.
A sign that BJW were committed to him and saw him as a potential big-time player for them came on March 31st, 2016 at Korakuen Hall when Hashimoto pinned Sekimoto clean in the main event with the Rising DDT. It was easily his best career performance to that point and a huge victory.
Daichi has for the most part pushed on from that point and had more very strong performances. He’s flourished whenever he’s had the opportunity to face any of the younger BJW dojo prospects as he’s been able to act as the aggressor and more of his cocky charisma has been able to come through.
In Yokohama, he went one-on-one with Hideki Suzuki — champion since March and one of the most commanding in-ring presences in the sport. It’s hard for even the biggest and most dynamic guys to look credible against Suzuki as his legit shooting skills just make him seem at such a higher level of ability. It was going to be hard for Daichi to come across like a worthy conquerer of the Billy Robinson protege.
But when it was all said and done, he absolutely did. He took a beating but kept pushing forward and didn’t ever look overawed (this sounds like I’m talking about a UFC fight, but Suzuki’s matches are oftentimes more akin to that than pro wrestling). Hashimoto needed big offense to make it look realistic that he could beat Suzuki — and big offense he delivered. Thunderous kicks and a brutal sheer drop brainbuster, which drilled the champion through the mat, gave Daichi the win.
It was the culmination of a really unique seven-year story, and the beginning of the next chapter of the Hashimoto legacy.
