DDT’s 27th Anniversary event, for the second straight year an advertised 5 hour marathon of an event, is now in the books.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. You can also watch the first 3 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.
The announced paid attendance was 1491, a super full house/very near sellout. Not quite 100% full as I saw a few empty seats from a photo that Saki Akai posted on her Twitter.
Match 1: “Intern Wrestler” Tsubasa Suzuki Debut Match: Takao Soma beat Tsubasa Suzuki. As an intern, Suzuki is not necessarily guaranteed a spot on the roster going forward.
Match 2: Yuya Koroku Return Match: To-y, Illusion & Rukiya beat Yuni, Yuya Koroku & Kazuma Sumi. To-y pinned Koroku after Kojima Impact.
Match 3: Keisuke Ishii & Shinichiro Kawamatsu beat Toru Owashi & Gorgeous Matsuno. Ishii pinned Matsumo after a double armed driver.
Match 4: Super Sasadango Machine vs. Akito went to a Double Fall. Both asleep.
Match 5: Daisuke Sasaki, KANON & MJ Paul beat Chris Brookes, Masa Takanashi & Antonio Honda. KANON beat Honda with Just cobra twist.
Intermission 1.
Match 6: Ken Ohka (Ganbare Pro) beat Sanshiro Takagi.
Match 7: Shuji Ishikawa & Yoshitatsu beat Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Naya. Ishikawa pinned Higuchi after Splash Mountain.
Match 8: KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Jun Akiyama, Danshoku DIeno & Makoto Oishi beat Kazuki Hirata, Naruki Doi & Shinya Aoki to retain the titles. Oishi pinned Doi. V4 for the champs. As a result, the losers must disband.
Match 9: In a Painful Jungle Death Match, DDT Extreme Champion Shunma Katsumata beat Hideki Okatani to retain the title.V1 for Katsumata.
Intermission 2.
Match 10: KO-D Tag Team Champions Tetsuya Endo & Yuki Iino beat Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai (All-Japan) to retain the titles.Endo pinned Honda after Burning Star Press. V1 for the champs.
Match 11: DDT Universal Champion MAO beat Takeshi Masada by KO to retain the title. V6 for MAO.
Match 12: Konosuke Takeshita beat Yuma Aoyagi (All-Japan).
Main Event: KO-D Openweight Champion Yuki Ueno beat HARASHIMA to retain the title. V3 for Ueno.
The next event is Thursday at Ueno Park Outdoor Stage in Tokyo. There will be no live broadcast.
Lots of news/fallout from the event:
Apparently there was a communication error at the venue that led to a pre-match video package not being played before the Ohka-Takagi match. The video was produced by former DDT wrestler/employee Yumehito Imanari and delivered ahead of time, but it didn’t get to the person in charge of video output due to miscommunication by in-house personnel. This was not Imanari’s fault. DDT has apologized to all and will release the entire match with the video included for free on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in the near future.
Next up for MAO: Billie Starkz in a No Rules match. That match will happen on 4/4 in Philadelphia, PA as part of The Collective. That event will stream live only on TrillerTV fka FITE as part of their Triller+ subscription service ($7.99/month or $79.99/year). It will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date.
Next up for Katsumata: Hi69 (HIROKI) from Pro Wrestling NOAH in a Hardcore Match. That match will happen on 4/7.
Next up for Ueno: His next choice for challenger is Akito. That match will happen on 4/26 at Sumida City Gym in Tokyo.
Also set for 4/26: Akiyama/Dieno/Oishi vs. Sasaki/KANON/Paul for the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship and Keigo Nakamura returns from injury.
The first match is set for WRESTLE PETER PAN, DDT’s annual biggest event of the year, on 7/21 at Ryogoku Kokugikan: Whoever is the KO-D Openweight Champion at the time vs. TBA for the title. El Desperado (New Japan) participation has also been announced as well as Konosuke Takeshita participation.
The promotion has announced a special Japan Disabled Wrestling Federation event for 7/7 at Odawa Arena Sub Arena in Kanagawa which will be a charity fundraiser event. Announced participation so far includes Aja Kong, Yoshiaki Yatsu, Kuroshio TOKYO Japan and Naohiro Hoshikawa, who was injured in a 2004 match and is undergoing rehabilitation. Persons with disabilities will be able to attend this event for free.
Finally, the entire field for this year’s KING OF DDT Tournament was announced: Poison Sawada JULIE, Sanshiro Takagi, Danshoku Dieno, HARASHIMA, Shuji Ishikawa, Tetsuya Endo, Daisuke Sasaki, Kazusada Higuchi, Chris Brookes, Yuki Ueno, MAO, Yuki Iino, Yukio Naya, KANON, Daisuke Sasaki, Takeshi Masada, TBA (the D GENERATIONS CUP 202r winner, which gets underway at the next event). This is a single-elimination tournament, no time limit for all matches. Round 1 will be 5/5 at Korakuen, the Quarterfinals will be 5/11 at Yokohama Radiant Hall, after which a drawing will be held to determine the Semifinals pairings. The Semifinals & Finals will be 5/26 at Korakuen.
