DDT runs their tour-ending monthly major Tokyo event today, with the focus remaining on Saki Akai and the final chapter of her 10-year career. Today may be the biggest match of her career as she gets her first real chance, and likely only chance, at the KO-D Openweight Championship after Chris Brookes named her the next challenger after his first successful defense. She already has a couple of 6-man tag team championships to her name recently but this no doubt would top them if she can somehow win it, and I hope she does even though her reign would be short with retirement only 2 months away. There’s also a DDT Universal Championship match as new champion Matt Cardona has an odd challenger himself tonight, as he defends against Tokyo Joshi Pro’s Maki Itoh. Konosuke Takeshita is also back from AEW for a singles match…and no, The Callous Hand Of Don will not be with him.
Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English. Toru Owashi is scheduled to be a guest on Japanese commentary. You can also watch the first 3 matches (pre-show dark match and 2 main card matches) FOR FREE on YouTube. There is a pre-show match scheduled 15 minutes before event time, which will be streamed live. Additionally, a public signing ceremony for the 10/4 KO-D Tag Team Championship match will be held 30 minutes before the event and probably will stream as well. With all the pre-show happenings factored in, the event will probably have a total running time of at least 3 hours, close to 3 1/2 hours.
Today’s lineup:
Pre-show:
10/4 KO-D Tag Team Championship Public Signing Ceremony
Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku vs. Kazuma Sumi & Rukiya
Main Show:
Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON vs. Hideki Okatani, Yuni & Takeshi Masada
Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno vs. Akito & Antonio Honda and Naruki Doi & Kazuki Hirata in a 3-way
Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama, Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Naya vs. Yuji Hino, Makoto Oishi, HARASHIMA & Yukio Sakaguchi
Yuki Ueno & Toi Kojima vs. Atsuki Aoyagi & Dan Tamura
DDT Universal Champion Matt Cardona vs. Maki Itoh for the title
Konosuke Takeshita vs. MAO
KO-D Openweight Champion Chris Brookes vs. Saki Akai for the title
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 6:45 PM PT/9:45 PM ET.
6:45 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has begun. The event will begin in 15 minutes.
7 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Commentary will start soon.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. They’re using the smaller opposite hard-camera layout so reduced capacity, but advance ticket sales were strong. The crowd is still filing in and will be for about 30 more minutes. The smaller apacity layout will probably keep the attendance down around 800. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 917, a super full house/very near sellout)
Pre-show:
A public signing ceremony for the 10/4 KO-D Tag Team Championship match is first. Champions Minoru Fujita & KANON and challengers Takao Soma & Shota are present.J
apanese commentary begins at 7:15 PM PT. Your hosts are Haruo Murata & Kagehiro Osano.
Pre-show match: Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku vs. Kazuma Sumi & Rukiya. 15 minute time limit
Result: Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku beat Kazuma Sumi & Rukiya. Koroku beat Rukiya with an armbar.
Main Show:
Coming up shortly.
The matches begin at 7:34 PM PT.
Match 1: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON vs. Hideki Okatani, Yuni & Takeshi Masada. 30 minute time limit
Result: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON beat Hideki Okatani, Yuni & Takeshi Masada. Sasaki pinned Yuni.
Your new host is Ken Kato.
Match 2: Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno vs. Akito & Antonio Honda and Naruki Doi & Kazuki Hirata in a 3-way. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno beat Akito & Antonio Honda and Naruki Doi & Kazuki Hirata in a 3-way when Iino beat Akito. Assist from Hirata & Honda. Lots of Pheromones comedy afterwards.
The YouTube broadcast (thankfully?) ends here. Toru Owashi joins commentary as a special guest.
Match 3: Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama, Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Naya vs. Yuji Hino, Makoto Oishi, HARASHIMA & Yukio Sakaguchi. 30 minute time limit
Result: Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama, Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Naya beat Yuji Hino, Makoto Oishi, HARASHIMA & Yukio Sakaguchi. Naya pinned Oishi after a backdrop. This was Hino’s final match as a regular in DDT, but he may appear again in the future. He did give us one last hearty helping of BEEF with Higuchi. Afterwards, Hino with microphone. He acknowledged fans holding Thank You signs as he addressed the crowd.
Match 4: Yuki Ueno & Toi Kojima vs. Atsuki Aoyagi & Dan Tamura (All-Japan Pro Wrestling). 30 minute time limit
Result: Yuki Ueno & Toi Kojima beat Atsuki Aoyagi & Dan Tamura. Ueno pinned Tamura after BME.
Your new host is Haruo Murata.
Match 5: DDT Universal Champion Matt Cardona vs. Maki Itoh (Tokyo Joshi Pro) for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: DDT Universal Champion Matt Cardona beat Maki Itoh to retain the title. V1 for Cardona. Steph De Lander interference played a big part. Afterwards, Cardona with microphone. In English he dedicated his win to his half-wife Chelsea Green and the greatest Japanese wrestler in history, John Laurinaitis then proclaimed he was unbeatable. The Japanese crowd HATED Cardona.
Match 6: Konosuke Takeshita vs. MAO. 20 minute time limit
Result: Konosuke Takeshita beat MAO. And guess who showed up here? None other than The Callous Hand Of Don (Don Callis). Afterwards, MAO grabbed a cameraman from ringside and dragged him backstage to where Cardona & De Lander were sitting and issued a DDT Universal Championship challenge in English. Accepted then Cardona laid out MAO. MAO cursed out Cardona in English afterwards. This interrupted a post-match promo in Japanese by Takeshita before he handed the microphone to Callis, who continued in English and put Takeshita over, including some of what has been going on in All Elite Wrestling. As they finished, the lights went out and a video played for the crowd…it’s Chris Jericho! It must have been recorded backstage Wednesday because I heard crowd noise. Jericho challenged Takeshita in English Takeshita accepted and they left to Callis’ droning single-tone ambient theme to a match at the last Ryogoku event of the year on 11/12. Accepted then they left to Callis’ droning ambient single-tone noise theme.
Main Event: KO-D Openweight Champion Chris Brookes vs. Saki Akai for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: KO-D Openweight Champion Chris Brookes beat Saki Akai by submission to retain the title. V2 for Brookes. Heartbroken is putting it mildly. 5 star effort from Akai who put up a valiant fight and nearly won on more than one occasion before it ended. Afterwards, Brookes issued a challenge first for the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship held by Akai, Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani. That match will happen at the next event as Brookes teams with Masa Takanashi & Mei Suruga for the challenge. Next up: At Ryogoku Brookes chooses…or gets challenged by actually…Yuki Ueno. Now we await the official announcement. (UPDATE: It’s now official. That match will happen on 11/12 at Ryogoku Kokugikan)
The next event is “Saki Akai 10th Anniversary & FINAL COUNTDOWN IN KYOTO!” on 9/30 at Kyoto KBS Hall in Kyoto. There will be no live broadcast.
