in the hype up to this in about two weeks and two days time as of this match being announced, im handing you a very short but important match list of their (mostly) hardcore (and related) history, enjoy 💜
hideki okatani & shunma katsumata vs naomi yoshimura vs keigo nakamura (judgement 2020)
start time around 27:40. this is the only match on the list where they are not opponents, but i think its an important addition to this cause its okatanis debut match, just so you know they have been tied together since the very beginning of okatanis career
shunma katsumata & to-y vs hideki okatani and yuya koroku (d-oh grand prix 2021 2)
start time around 11:25. match described as "shunma katsumata supervised hardcore match for beginners". literally babys first hardcore match. shunma showing him (and two others) the ropes to the hardcore style. okatani is really the only one who took interest in this beyond this match, and man does it really show, altho all rookies have been recorded saying that "it was fun"
hideki okatani & suzu suzuki vs shunma katsumata & akane fujita (ddteeeen!!)
admittedly this one is more about shunma and suzu and their rivalry, but it also features okatani after freshly being accepted into eruption (like literally a couple of days earlier) already getting into his second hardcore match in less than two months since the first one
shunma katsumata vs hideki okatani (king of ddt 2023, round 1)
not hardcore but important for the context, as this is what happens after round 2 and it'll lead us to the first real extreme match between the two of them
shunma katsumata vs hideki okatani (king of ddt 2023 final)
content warning for injury. its not graphic but its near the end of the match where shunma gets dropped from the ropes through the barbed wire board outside the ring. just so you know
piercing deathmatch for the ddt extreme championship. you can win by normal means or by piercing your opponents ear three times. okatanis first challenge for the title and also the reason he wears that single earring to this day
shunma katsumata & to-y vs hideki okatani & yukio sakaguchi (d-oh grand prix 2023 final)
shunmas return match after injury. important addition for the context of their relationship with okatani
shunma katsumata vs hirata kazuki (sweet dreams! 2024)
extreme title match under the "to-y challenge" rules (full explanation in the match card)
this is more about the aftermath and shunma nominating okatani as his first challenger, which will lead us up to our next match on this list
hideki okatani vs mj paul (into the fight 2024 tour in shinjuku)
number one contenders match for the extreme title
im just gonna leave this here (courtesy of dramatic ddt on wordpress)
shunma katsumata, yuki ueno & mao vs hideki okatani, takeshi masada & harashima (judgement 2024 tour in shinjuku)
also includes the contract signing and match rules reveal for their upcoming title match at the beginning of the show
shunma katsumata & yuki ueno vs hideki okatani & harashima (judgement 2024 tour in osaka)
the final showdown before the title match. skewers, screwdrivers and staple guns at least are present 💜
hideki okatani vs shunma katsumata (judgement 2024)
painful jungle deathmatch for the extreme title
this is currently where the extreme part of their story together ends, altho they did have a lot more nasty fights after okatanis return from injury and aligning himself with damnation ta., as well as now more recently after shunmas return from his more frequent injury
theres a lot more than this honestly and their recorded match history is only 46 pieces long (and 8 of those are after the jungle deathmatch) if you wanna take a gander at all of it. but i thought i'd sum up most of the hardcore and adjacent stuff at least
admittedly i have only been going through all of this myself for only like the past year or so, so i might be missing something as i have not seen all their matches or the shows in between important parts or full lead ups to the hardcore stuff. i have tried but im sure something has fallen through the cracks as there is like five years worth of shows to watch lmao
but really the important thing to know imo is that they are fated together in this extreme route and have been since the beginning, with shunma introducing him to the concept and them having been tied together with it since then. they keep seeking each other out in this context no matter what it seems, despite the bad luck with injuries and years between matches and story beats; but they never fail to get back together for one more fun bloody beat down 💜
