DDT wrapped up their year-opening tour today with the final event before their first major event of the year next weekend, offering us one last preview of a potential hoss fight between Kazusada Higuchi & Yuji Hino for the KO-D Openweight Championship.
Today’s event was held at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 175, a full house/near sellout.
The opening segment and announcements included Tetsuya Endo apparently stealing Yuki Iino’s if-it-can-be-called-a-thong.
Match 1: MJ Pawl & KANON beat Yuya Koroku & Kazuma Sumi. KANON pinned Sumi after Sleepy Hollow.
Match 2: Danshoku Dieno beat Yusuke Okada. After the match, which Dieno won due to Iino interference, Endo appeared again and, because apparently Iino has two of those it-it-can-be-called-thongs, stole the second one. Hilarious photographical evidence on DDT’s website.
Match 3: Sanshiro Takagi, Makoto Oishi & Akito beat Yuki Ueno, Toui Kojima & Shinichiro Kawamatsu. Akito beat Kojima with a stepover toe hold.
A public signing ceremony for Higuchi-Hino was held here.
Match 4: Yuki Iino beat Tetsuya Endo by DQ. Endo stripped Iino naked yet again.
Match 5: HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata beat Takao Soma, Keigo Nakamura & Takeshi Masada. HARASHIMA pinned Nakamura after Blue Sword.
Matvh 6: In a Monoboke Death Match, where if the challenger made the champion laugh 3 times after a pinfall kickout or rope break he would win, and the champion would win with 3 successful pinfalls/submissions, DDT Extreme Champion Jun Akiyama beat Antonio Honda to retain the title. V2 for Akiyama. Next up: Akito. That match will happen on 2/18.
Main Event: Kazusada Higuchi, Chris Brookes & Yuki Ishida beat Yuji Hino, Yukio Naya & Makoto Oishi. Higuchi pinned Hino after Brain Claw Slam.
The next event is “Sweet Dreams!” 2023″ on 1/29 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin on 1/28 at 9 PM ET/6 PM PT.
