DPW Spirit Rising Night 2 (April 25) Results & Review

DEADLOCK Pro Wrestling
Spirit Rising – Night 2
April 25, 2025
Shin-Kiba 1st Ring
Tokyo, Japan

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BestBros (Baliyan Akki & Mei Suruga), Chris Brookes & Emi Sakura def. Violence Is Forever (Dominic Garrini & Kevin Ku), Miyuki Takase & Ryo Mizunami

This was a really fun start to the show. Sakura, Akki, and Suruga were very good in their trios match on night one so it was good to see them get another run at it on night two with some very talented people on the other side. I was interested to see Violence Is Forever in the comedy match environment, and while they were good playing the serious counterbalance to the comedy spots, they also took a backseat for most of the match. ***¼

Calvin Tankman & Kazuma Sumi def. Kazusada Higuchi & Yuki Ishida

Tankman and Higuchi was one of the most exciting pairings on the Japan shows and they built the match around it in a smart way. Higuchi and Tankman started out the match and after a couple minutes without either getting the upper hand, both of their partners entered the match with blind tags. Once Higuchi and Tankman were back in the ring together, they traded chops until a double clothesline took down both, forcing a Higuchi tag. After some double team attacks with Sumi, Tankman put Ishida down with the Tankman Driver. Despite not having a singles match, Tankman came off great on the two shows and they did a great job of teasing a singles match against Higuchi. ***¼

DPW World Title Match
Adam Priest (c) def. Fuminori Abe

After an underwhelming match on night one, Priest bounces back. Usually Priest is trying to slow the pace and work a limb, but he was thrown off his game early with Abe getting the better of the grappling exchanges. No one is better at showing ass during a match than Priest, and you could see the frustration build as he kept trying to find a weakness on Abe. This match had a similar tone to the Night 1 match, but Abe was much better than Irie at conveying that he was trying to get in Priest’s head to win the match rather than just to make the crowd laugh. Priest wins with a rope-assisted roll up. ***½

DPW Women’s World Title Match
Dani Luna (c) def. Rina Yamashita

Coming off a successful defense against Rika Tatsumi on Night 1, Luna is faced with a larger challenger in Rina Yamashita. Unlike Tatsumi, Yamashita didn’t bother with trying to cut down Luna’s base, she elected to beat the hell out of Luna. Unfortunately, this plays right into Luna’s strengths as a bruiser. This one was hard-hitting and didn’t overstay its welcome. Luna locks up defense number four with the Luna Landing. ***½

DPW National Title Match
LaBron Kozone (c) def. Takuya Nomura

Kozone may not hold the world title, but he does hold the title of DPW MVP this year. This was clearly the best match of the double shot. When he’s paired with a more athletic opponent, Kozone can get caught up in trying to match athletic spots, but he’s at his best when he sticks to being the strongest in the locker room who will knock your head off your shoulders if he catches you with a clothesline. That’s the Kozone we got here. Nomura kept the intensity high and gave Kozone as good as he got. Kozone wins with the Ballgame Lariat and extends the best title reign going in DPW. ****¼