Danshoku Dino

[6.0] "Danshoku Dieno, what a character. As long as I've been a fan of DDT the implications of a character like Dieno have weighed heavy on my mind. I first started watching around the time Pheremones was a driving force of DDT's booking, and I wasn't always favorable to him. When he was with Yuki Iino it was usually goofy fun, but his prominence and the extent of some of the depravity was just way too much for me. As Pheromones fell by the wayside and the years have gone by, however, I've found myself a bit more receptive to Dieno and how he fits into the wider scope of DDT. Knowing Dieno is actually gay certainly recontextualizes his antics as more of a creative expression rather than just outright homophobia, even if I don't fully buy the idea of him being a subversive genius. Moreover, despite the abrasive nature of his moveset, he genuinely has an effective mind for wrestling and is a tremendous promo when given the chance, such as his title match with Yuki Ueno back in 2024. His matches with Tanahashi, Takagi, and EFFY over the last couple of years demonstrate the genuine respect and admiration he has gained over 20 years from his peers, both straight and gay. Unfortunately, the treacherous attitude towards gay people in Japan has led to Dieno being involved in some absolutely indefensible angles involving a 16 year old Yuni and possibly costing DDT a TV deal by legitimately stripping naked in the middle of a match(fortunately, those were two separate incidents). It's this double edged nature of his career that has led some online to both laugh at his antics(some of those voices queer) while others believe him to be one of the worst of all time(some of those voices also queer). It's quite clear Dieno has come far from the origin of his gimmick as a mockery of MENs Teioh(though the fact those two have teamed together makes me wonder how much hatred was really there), but the shadow of that era will always loom high over anything he does. Ultimately, the world has changed far too much to ever have room for someone like Dieno in wrestling again, but it's really in the eye of the beholder to determine if that's a good or a bad thing."

[8.0] "How to rate Dino? I think as a polemicist and a skewering of the way heterosexual people/fans have leveraged their homophobia towards gay men in the art form over the years, he was (and clearly, sometimes still is) incredibly effective. He's one of Japan's most beloved talents for his mic work and comedy, the former of which he's still arguably among Japan's best oraters, and the latter... well, some things have aged better than others, you can say. Dino's career is long enough that you can divide it into eras and have wildly different opinions on how you feel about his work based on that. I think early Dino was rough in the ring but always hungry to try new things, COVID era/PHEREMOANS is easily his most controversial and, for me, my favorite era of his, as it absolutely did wonders for people like Takeda, Iino, etc. to be in his orbit. (It also just helped DDT to stay afloat during what was understandably turbulent times.) Modern Dino is mostly just comedy nostalgia and a lot of his matches rarely leave a formula these days, which is a bit of a shame when he does randomly try something new and then you remember how creative and magnetic he is and can be. As a wrestling fan, I fear his best days are probably behind him. As a queer person, I have nothing but admiration and love for the way that he's challenged this medium, and I think that is also reflected in the way his peers are eager to work with him, too."

[8.0] "Dino is one of the most well known wrestlers from DDT and he's easily one of my favorite comedy wrestlers. Sure his style of comedy is definitely not for everyone given the fact that he uses his bare ass in some of his moves, he easily gets some of the loudest reactions in the whole show too. His antics to me are laugh out loud funny even with the obvious language barrier but sometimes he can be a serious worker time to time"

"I've known about DDT for two or three years now, but I don't know much about it, just that they have very talented wrestlers and a lot of comedy. I also know that Danshoku Dino has been there since the beginning; that's all I know about him. And I just read Sad Smeargle's comment, and I realized I need to see some Dino footage. He sounds like a totally awesome wrestler, from my perspective as a bisexual person."

[0.0] "A truly embarassing and horrible wrestler, it makes me happy I don't watch DDT much. His stuff is out right disgusting, like TJPW has a lot of bad comedy, but at least it is not offensive and in good fun, rather than crass and disgusting, it would not be ideal to be seen watching either's comedy by a non wrestling fan, but if I was watching him (God forbid), I would be embarassed to been seen watching his wrestling matches by another wrestling fan. I do not have much else to say, but I do have to so that sucks, but yeah, I have never enjoyed a professional wrestling match of his, and yeah thats it"

[0.0] "Sometimes i ask myself why people love this guy. Before November 2024 i was relatively fine with this guy. I never really had interest in watching his matches but I didnt hate him like I do now. This old ass man had a match with 17 year old Yuni where he groped, kisses and humps this kid. After this day I felt morally obligated to not watch this absolute freak. He disgusts me everyday i see a match card get announced. And it pains me that out of all the wonderful wrestlers in DDT, this pedophile seems to attract some of the most attention and fanfare more than anyone else on the roster. It makes me feel ashamed to be a DDT fan, and it makes me ashamed to wrestling fan."

[0.0] "One of the worst wrestling gimmicks ever created, considering that it mocks MENs Teioh. Any time he's on a show, I turn away from it until he's off the screen; that's how much he displeases me. And just genuinely, I can't even fathom how much this guy makes me feel so much rage inside of me. He has some segments that involve some certain wrestlers on the roster that just make me feel uncomfortable when he's grabbing on them or just doing anything that's sexual. Him kissing someone without consent can damage a person just like punching someone in the face would do. I don't get how DDT or just anyone can really enjoy anything that this guy does; he's just disgusting. At this point my blood is boiling, i having nothing nice to say about him, so I'm done with this comment."

[10.0] "Before talking about his wrestling: I'm a queer hate-crime survivor. I have been brutally beaten and abused for my sexuality: and for me, Dino is a hero. I'd much rather be laughed at than brutalized, and no one will EVER convince me otherwise. So there's that. Not to his wrestling, and I think its obvious he has ridiculous talent. His moves are executed perfectly when he actually does them. And as a gay guy, he's very funny. I DEFINITELY see why some queer people dislike it, but I find it extremely funny, and a genuine parody of the "heel harasses and assaults the women wrestlers and that's okay" that has been abound in wrestling for decades and still persists. I have no guilt over this rating."

[0.0] "a gimmick created out of homophobia to mock openly queer wrestler MENs Teioh , that is disgusting and completely unnecessary and ruins every DDT show he's ever been a part of , recently he's done very dodgy segments with actual underage workers where he humped them. absolutely disgusting deplorable gimmick"

[5.0] "This is a difficult evaluation to make. Dino has his schtick and hes been doing it for a long time. There is a certain comfort in watching a DDT show and seeing Dino is on the card because hes such a cornerstone for the company. Hes a constant. I probably only watch a couple DDT shows each year; if I watched more than that, Id probably be tired of him. Since I dont run into him often, I guess there is some mild amusement to be had, but overall I feel rather ambivalent about him. Regardless of how I feel about him, hes still very over with the DDT crowds, so he justifies his continued presence. Overall, its not really my thing, but the handwringing that happens over the gimmick is overblown."

[2.0] "Is he a good wrestler? I genuinely don't know, his entire schtick is queer panic bullshit that aged out years if not decades ago. His presence weighs down the entire company and the sooner he retires, the better off DDT will be. Many more wrestlers in the company capable of being funnier than him without resorting to what is essentially straight up homophobia. It sucks that he had to weigh down legitimate talents like Yuki Iino with the Pheromones shite for a couple of years, and his "brand" of "comedy wrestling" became completely inavoidable on DDT shows. It completely killed any interest I had in DDT even though I really like DDT guys like Chris Brookes and MAO. I want to say he's too talented to be doing the gimmick he does but at this point I'm really not certain of that."

[4.0] "I'm going to be blunt getting into DDT as late as I did (Early 2022), I always HATED the Pheromones faction because of how disgusting I found the gimmick and even when the faction disbanded last October, Dino STILL does the gimmick. I get it its part of the joke, but there are kids in the audience damnit have him just flat out stop please! It's bad enough that I've had to deal with Taguchi over In New Japan, but Dino is Taguchi 3 years older and in terms of bad comedy on steroids. Its for that reason alone Dino gets a 4 from me"

"When I first started to watch DDT roughly a month ago (which also happens to be my first experience watching any kind of prowrestling at all) I was uncomfortable with watching or bringing up Dieno at all, as my instinct was to receive his performance as disgusting and homophobic. Now as I am just starting to understand what prowrestling is about, Dieno came back into my heart to speak to me in volumes. One could argue that prowrestling is the art of deconstructing and reenacting violence. Because violence is a taboo, prowrestling isn't a very well-received genre in many cultures around the world. On top of that, Dieno brings in another subject of taboo to the ring: Dieno's theme is sexual violence. Dieno, by "making jokes" about sexual violence, expresses the understanding that sexual harassment is just as violently powerful as (any other type of) physical attack. And he's been sending this message since back when sexual harassment was culturally treated as something much less serious than physical assault. Kissing someone without consent can damage a person just like punching someone in the face would do so; the DDT-style comedy recreates this fact on the ring in a literal fashion. I think this dark humor/sharp criticism is something that Danshoku Dieno uniquely conveys, strengthened with his technical foundation shaped by more than 20 years of in-ring experience; his long, dark lashes and pale skin that matches his signature pink perfectly; his calm and intelligent style of speech perhaps akin of that of a noblewoman. While there are definitely other queer and LGBTQ+ wrestlers in DDT and Dieno "is not the representative of gay people, " (he says in his interview with VICE; where Takagi Sanshiro also states plainly that "he [Dieno] is gay.") but he definitely does represent the lonely and traumatized yet horny, marginalized and ashamed side of gayness that most queer people would relate to. He also held the KO-D Openweight Championthe belt that is also called the "nondiscriminatory" champion belt. Some say that Dieno's gimmick is outdated, but I say that our time has yet to catch up to Dieno."

[2.0] "He is really the only part I don't enjoy about DDT and is not the he is not a good wrestler or that I don't like comedic wrestling cause there is other comedy on DDT is just the he is to cringy."

[4.0] "I don't really like the Pheromones & Danshoku DIno. I like comedy wrestling but this is not the kind of comedy I like and I found it repetitive and often too much."

[6.0] "A cornerstone of DDT. Like most wrestlers, there are tropes he repeats, IMO to a fault - but he has a gimmick that's worked for him for a long time, at least for DDT's target audience. His 'gay predator' gimmick never felt malicious in its presentation, more so impish, with the other wrestlers always very game to play along. Now he has his Pheromones faction, and indy guys like Effy pair up with Dino for a lot of fun. If you enjoy the wackiness of DDT, with dicks grabbed, dry humping, and bare asses in the air, then Dino is for you."

[6.0] "I understand why people who love the DDT brand of comedy love him and rate him higher, but his antics just are not my cup of tea. That said, he is capable of having good matches when he wants to."

[6.0] "While I totally get that he's a cornerstone of DDT, he's one of my least favorite wrestlers on the roster. He has had matches where he's shown to be a talented worker, but his comedy is really cringey to me."

[10.0] "Together with HARASHIMA and Sanshiro, Danshoku Dino is heart and soul of DDT. Being an extraordinary comic character, he often wrestles without his 'tricks', showing 'real Dino', which is incredible for his physics and age. He is also a very creative worker - watch some of DDT shows, where he participates, to understand that."

[5.0] "Danshoku Dino is a good wrestler. But, it is not a good comedic wrestler. Instead of being funny to watch. It is very cringe to watch. The only thing I don't like about ddt"

[5.0] "Of all the comments about Dino 1 of them is a complete lie and the rest seem ironic. Dino is a played out comedy wrestler and all of his matches are usually the same. Get beat up, come back, rape opponent or ref then do the crotch piledriver. Besides that I? ve seen him have maybe 9 serious matches in his whole career and he was only ever carried in every single match to maybe decent territory. Dont find him funny and he doesnt entertain me in the slightest i just get uncomfortable watching him"

[10.0] "Amazing comedy wrestler as well as a legitimately great serious wrestler. He mixes the two styles really well and can make me enjoy his matches, comedy or serious. No matter what, if you are watching Dino, you are having a great time. Very few can deliver that these days."

[10.0] "Dino is a legitimately fantastic wrestler that incorporates an outlandish gimmick into his work perfectly and can tone it down or dial it up to 11 depending on the match flawlessly. He's managed to go for over a decade with this one gimmick and keep it fresh and entertaining that entire time, being able to work anywhere from comedy opening tags to 1v1 main events and stay totally consistent. One of the best workers in Japan, despite on the surface seeming like a one-note gay joke. Dino is one of those guys that makes DDT, well, DDT, and unlike guys like Ibushi and Omega that have come and gone, Dino is entrenched squarely in the wonderful & wacky world of wrestling that DDT creates."

[9.0] "A true legend and innovator of butt and crotch based offense. Every match I have seen of his always elicits at least a chuckle out of me. I have never seen this guy not go 100% in with his character, and that's something I can't really say about a lot of people"

[10.0] "HE basically Molest His Opponents In the Ring and one time he brought Rich Swann In A Rumble ish Match.. And It was horrifying But Entertaining and Disturbing"

[8.0] "Danshoku Dino is someone who can have both amazing matches and befunny at the same time, and bar Joe Hendry I can not think of anyone else who can do that."

[9.0] "Danshoku Dino is very much, really fun to watch wrestle. He really works towards his gimmick with his kiss and butt based offense and defense maneuvers."