DDT’s monthly signature Tokyo event today underwent late changes to be centered around the retirement of Kazusada Higuchi, who announced recently he had to retire due to injury.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. Tetsu Inada & Saki Akai were guests on commentary.
The paid attendance was not announced.
Pre-show match: Rukiya beat Yuni.
Match 1: Takeshi Masada, Yuya Kotoku & Daichi Sato beat Kazuma Sumi, Masami Inahata & Hinata Kasai. Masada pinned Kasai after a lariat.
Match 2: in a Variety King match, GM Imabayashi beat Toru Owashi, Akito, Danshoku Dieno, Kazuki Hirata, Super Sasadango Machine & Antonio Honda in a 7-way by beating Hirata. Comedy match where the first time a wrestler went for a pinfall or submission they had to rush out of the ring to do their entrance.
Match 3: Yukio Naya & Viente Maligno beat Hideki Okatani & Illusion. Naya pinned Illusion after The World’s Largest Backdrop.
Match 4: Yuki Iino, Jun Akiyama & Junta Miyawaki beat Yuki Ueno, Shinya Aoki & To-y. Iino pinned Ueno after a spear.
Match 5: Kaisei Takechi beat Makoto Oishi (Independent/Freelancer).
Match 6: Chris Brookes & HARASHIMA beat KO-D Tag Team Champions MAO & KANON to win the titles. Brookes & HARASHIMA become the 89th KO-D Tag Team Champions. HARASHIMA pinned KANON after a swan dive type Blue Sword. Next up: Possibly Illusion & Daisuke Sasaki. Or at least a poster of Sasaki because he is on international excursions all month.
Main Event: Naomi Yoshimura, Ryota Nakaysu & Yuki Ishida beat Shunma Katsumata, Kota Umeda & Koki Iwasaki. Ishida pinned Katsumata after Flame Palm. Due to Higuchi’s retirement, Harimao disbanded after the match.
After the main event, a retirement ceremony was held for Higuchi.
The next event is Thursday at Ueno Park Outdoor Stage. There will be no live broadcast. On demand on 4/12.
UPDATE: After the event, the full bracket for this year’s KING OF DDT Tournament was revealed. It’s a single-elimination bracket format event with 16 participants. All Round 1 matches will be on 5/4 and are as follows: Danshoku Dieno vs. Kaisei Takechi, To-y vs. Takeshi Masada, Minoru Suzuki vs. Yukio Naya, Chris Brookes vs. Junta Miyawaki, HARASHIMA vs. Daichi Sato, Shinya Aoki vs. KANON, Hideki Okatani vs. Yuya Koroku, MAO vs. Kazuma Sumi. The Quartrrfinals will be on 5/9 at Shinjuku Face. After that, there will be a random drawing for the Semifinals. The Semifinals & Finals will be on 5/31.