DDT 2015/12/13

Super Star Lanes 2015

(2015/12/13)

God Bless DDT

Never Mind 2015

(2015/12/23)

Drama in Saitama

Saitama Super DDT 2015

(2015/2/15)

1.       Yoshihiko, Antonio Honda, Great Kojika vs. Akebono, Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata

The HIRATA GO! magical glasses fad goes on, this time with Bono in the mix. Dancemania is on! Yoshihiko is scarier than ever! Akebono doubts himself!

GOLD

2.       12-PERSON BATTLE ROYAL for Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship: Kubo Yukamoto © vs. Yasu Urano vs. Shunma Katsumata © vs. Yuto Aijima vs. Soma Takao © vs. Hikaru Sato © vs. Bernard Ackah vs. Tomomitsu Matsunaga © vs. Zeus © vs. Saki Akai vs. Makoto Oishi © vs. Aja Kong ©

Ridiculous(ly fun), which is always the case with these looney Ironman Title matches, this time we had the cameraman jumping Aja Kong backstage to win the title, among many other things that happened. Pure camp.

**1/2

3.       RULE RUMBLE for DDT Extreme Championship: Shiori Asahi vs. Akito ©

The Rule Rumble gimmick means the match rules change every 90 seconds, which led to one of the most creative matches I’ve seen lately, this was top notch entertainment.

***3/4

4.       KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship: Shuten-doji (KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi, Masa Takanashi) vs. Gorgeous Matsuno, Brahman Shu, Brahman Kei ©

Whacky Brahmans style match, first there was some really funny brawling through the crowd before calling it a day inside the ring, starring Sakaguchi and Matsuno, they had a surprisingly competitive round. Fun stuff.

***1/4

5.       4-WAY SUPER TLC MATCH: Daisuke Sasaki & Suguru Miyatake vs. MIKAMI & Shuji Ishikawa vs. Shigehiro Irie & Keisuke Ishii vs. Sanshiro Takagi & Jun Kasai

So basically the point of the match was to promote DDT’s next outdoor show, and the prize Takagi and Kasai won is the right to compete in a Street Wrestling Match there. Hehe. The match wasn’t super spectacular and they didn’t exactly break any new ground here, but damn it if it wasn’t tons of fun and charm. Cute little match worth of your time.

***1/2

6.       Michael Nakazawa vs. Danshoku Dino

I understand the stories they were telling, but I’ve never been a Nakazawa fan (probably my least favorite puro guy ever) and Dino’s act can be very amusing, but more than often it’s not. Again, though, I get it why they did what they did here, but they bored the shit out of me because I don’t care for the participants.

bad

7.       Super Sasadango Machine vs. Kazushi Sakuraba

PowerPoint presentation, hilarious slides, banana peels, three Lehman shocks, narrated video packages… Vintage SSM!

wat

8.       KO-D Tag Team Championship: Daisuke Sekimoto & Yuji Okabayashi vs. Konosuke Takeshita & Tetsuya Endo ©

Marvelous match with interesting booking where the Strong BJ duo proved to be a more complete and experienced tag team, as they dominated majority of the match, basically they slowed the pace down and were systematically wearing down the Happy Motel duo in all the slow paced workovers. The only way for the young champions to gain some advantage was through heroic comebacks and rapid fire shots, which led to great tag team wrestling. Seriously, the entire thing was beautifully booked in this clear cut piece of storytelling, and I hope we get all the one-on-one match variations possible, matter fact they already booked Endo/Okabayashi for February 21^st to play off the finish from this match. Fuck yes, DDT!

****1/2

9.       KO-D Openweight Championship: Kota Ibushi vs. HARASHIMA ©

Excellent main event between DDT’s biggest stars, HARASHIMA’s long reign is in real danger here against his biggest rival. This was a three act match: careful/defensive grappling and SHIMA working on Kota’s mid-section in the beginning, the second act was fighting on the entrance stage and the third one was calling it a day slowly but surely, Kota didn’t give the champ another opportunity to damage his mid-section and that’s what prevailed. They threw some very rough smacks at each other and the finish was amazing.

****1/2

Awesome show with loads of hot shot entertainment, DDT delivered again.

DDT Sweet Dreams 2015 (Greatness)

Sweet Dreams 2015

(2015/1/25)

4.       Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata vs. Antonio Honda & Great Kojika

Poor Dancing K got himself a nice brand new GO! glasses, but somehow it always ends up being stolen by someone else, which means the absolute highlight of everything I’ve ever seen in my life was Great Kojika jammin’ to Go Tokyo and laying some smackdown on everyone in the ring. Good times.

GOLD

5.       Super Sasadango Machine vs. Sanshiro Takagi

Naturally, Sasadango’s pre-match PowerPoint presentation lasted longer than the actual match, hehe. He talks about having zero percent chances of beating Kazushi Sakuraba in Saitama, but after he defeats Takagi, it’s gonna boost his confidence and chances to 25%. He also said many, many other things, lol, I have no idea what exactly, something about previous big battles he lost, something about the future, whatever the fuck, lol, there were stats, graphics and shit. Vintage Sasadango. Korakuen adored it. The match itself was a giant weird WAT that I enjoyed immensely.

wat

6.       NO ROPE ESCAPE for DDT Extreme Championship: Makoto Oishi vs. Akito ©

You can always count on Akito in singles competition, and his current Extreme Title reign is all kinds of awesome, the guy loves his old school strategic and ground based wrestling and his title reign gimmick is based on it. The Honda defense was absolutely sensational, and while this one didn’t quite reach those levels of awesomeness, it was still pretty damn nifty on its own way. They built things beautifully and focused mostly on each other’s legs. The only thing that slightly bothered me was two cases of too obvious overcooperation early in the match, but no biggie there really, I might even be nitpicking, lol. The match was built very well, the climax was awesome and they used the ropes effectively, reminded me a lot of the classic ROH Pure Championship bouts. Yet another great Akito match, dude’s fantastic and severely underrated, he’s just so fucking awesome.

****1/4

7.       Kota Ibushi, Daisuke Sekimoto, Yuji Okabayashi vs. HARASHIMA, Konosuke Takeshita, Tetsuya Endo

Here we go, two big upcoming title matches combined into one awesome Korakuen 6-man tag, shades of New Japan and classic All Japan right there, this felt big and the guys delivered on every front. The most important thing is – they built their drama, they took time and made sure everything mattered, there were at least two superb face-in-peril sequences on Endo and Takeshita, there were some intriguing subplots such as Takeshita trying to German Suplex Sekimoto, all those things were built properly and added so much to the match, hence the finishing stretch being truly brilliant. Fantastic match loaded with detailed storytelling, must-see 6-man tag.

****1/2

DDT 9/21

Wrestle Koyama Hyotei 2014

(2014/9/21)

2.       Nuru Nuru Brothers (Michael Nakazawa & Tomomitsu Matsunaga) vs. Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai

**

3.       DJ Nira vs. Super Sasadango Machine vs. Antonio Honda

bad

4.       Akito & MIKAMI vs. Danshoku Dino & Makoto Oishi

bad

*** Two bad comedy matches in a row? Even DDT flops from time to time, I guess. I mean, this is a small C-show, but still, kind of strange to see. ***

6.       KUDO & Masa Takanashi vs. HARASHIMA & Yasu Urano

Quality tag team wrestling that reminded me to re-watch the two KUDO/HARASHIMA title matches from the first half of the year.

***1/2

7.       Konosuke Takeshita & Tetsuya Endo vs. Kenny Omega & Daisuke Sasaki

Fucking excellent, this was a prelude to the tag title match that’s highly praised, here we got the 3/4s of that match and it was so good. Omega is pissed at the young guns and is there to kick some ass, Takeshita and Endo think it’s a good day to die, while Sasaki is a more than suitable replacement for Ibushi.

****1/4

DDT Special 2014: Greatness Everywhere

DDT Special 2014

(2014/10/26)

1.       Cherry & Yasu Urano vs. Makoto Oishi & Saki Akai

Mediocre semi-comedy opener, nothing to write home about. Urano deserves a push.

**

2.       KUDO & Masa Takanashi vs. Keisuke Ishii & Soma Takao

Damn fine tag, the structure was typically by-the-numbers, but shit, these guys are so good, everything gets executed to a T. Well, Soma Takao is not good, I don’t think much of him but he’s not useless in tags. Seeing Masa score a win over him made me a happy camper. Ishii/KUDO chemistry is great.

***1/2

3.       Tetsuya Endo vs. Kazuki Hirata

Short but good. Endo is usually an underdog young gun in DDT, but he’s been on one helluva roll recently, which positions him a clear cut favorite against the happy-go-lucky dancer Hirata. BUT, Hirata scored a big upset win in a 6-man tag recently, so everything is possible here.

***

4.       Super Sasadango Machine vs. Yukio Sakaguchi

Well, here we go again! It’s time for another legendary Sasadango PowerPoint presentation. I don’t understand too much of Japanese, but apparently he introduced a new submission finisher that’s supposed to eat opponents’ health points like a motherfucker. Good luck, Sasadango!

****

5.       FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE - Kenny Omega Last DDT Match: Danshoku Dino & Konosuke Takeshita vs. Golden Lovers (Kenny Omega & Kota Ibushi)

This was a fitting farewell match for Omega, a full throttle epic done in wacky, Dramatic style. Trust me when I say you’ll enjoy this one whether you’re familiar with Omega and DDT or not.

GOLD

6.       GIVE UP ONLY for DDT Extreme Championship: Antonio Honda vs. Akito ©

I can’t describe you my excitement when I heard they booked this match, and when I found out about the stipulation… my penis exploded! Probably my favorite two DDT wrestlers meeting in what could be an instant cult classic, fuck yes, it’s the early Christmas. Akito won the title from Dino and is looking for a more serious and competitive reign instead of Dino’s gay stuff with bare asses. That’s quite a change in approach and DDT is the right place to do it. Everything around the match has a very sportslike feel, and again, it’s the 180° from what Dino was doing. This is a “Give Up Only” match, which means you only win by submission; right off the bat we got Akito targeting and working on Honda’s left leg, I’ve said this many times before and I’m saying it again – no one in the world of pro-graps works their opponent’s legs better than Akito. One or two luchadors and Tanahashi come to mind, but that’s about it. Akito is just so goddamn persistent and relentless, systematically dismantling your legs until you’re amatz. Like I said, that was the case here as well, and of course Honda sold it down to a T, he’s so damn great in it. Honda’s attacking strategy was targeted at Akito’s right hand/arm, so in terms of structure and tactics this was a very simple and by-the-numbers match, but as Bruce Lee once said “simplicity is the key to brilliance”, and believe me, it’s so fucking true. When you’re selling your pro-wrestling, you’re doing it right, and these two are aware of it. The very primal instinct of pro-wrestling is selling, Honda and Akito are doing it extraordinary. What a match!

****3/4

7.       KO-D Openweight Championship: Isami Kodaka vs. HARASHIMA ©

Kodaka finally gets his one-on-one title shot at HARASHIMA, so it’s time to justify his campaign by dethroning the dominant champ. Kodaka’s also motivated to prove himself, once again, he’s more than a deathmatch guy, and what better opportunity than winning the top indie championship. However, HARASHIMA is a merciless machine who can fuck you up on 100 different ways, and Kodaka’s chest learn it very early in the match. Nifty workovers, fighting spirit, drama. Who will prevail?

****

*** After the main event, we got a rock-paper-scissors tournament to determine the new challenger for HARASHIMA. I love you DDT, please never change. Thank you.

Oh, who won? Unfortunately, Soma Takao, the guy I don’t like, but I’m very curious to see how he does in a big match like this one. I have faith in SHIMA to carry him. ***