DDT celebrated their 26th Anniversary today with what was billed as “The Longest 5 Hour Special In Korakuen History”. Because DDT of course.
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. Guests on commentary were Kenta Kobashi and SKE48 member Marika Tani.
The announced paid attendance was 1138, a full house/near sellout. Despite recent lifting of capacity limits and pandemic restrictions by the Japanese government, it seems Korakuen will have a self-imposed cap of about 2/3 capacity for the immediate future (it’s up to the venues and event organizers). That would mean roughly 1350-1400 (the venue’s normal full capacity is 2100 but can be as high as 2350).
Pre-show match: DDTeeen!! Graduation Match: Illusion & Sotatsu Nakamura beat El Unicorn & Reimu Imai. Illusion pinned Unicorn after REVISION1. Both Illusion & Unicorn have moved up and will now be regular DDT roster members going forward. Unicorn also has voluntarily unmasked while Illusion will remain a masked wrestler until he “produces results”.
Match 1: Yuya Koroku & Yuki Ishida beat Toui Kojima & Kazuma Sumi. Koroku pinned Sumi after a deformed triangle lancer.
Match 2: Kazuki Hirata 13th Anniversary Match: Keisuke Ishii & Takao Soma beat Kazuki Hirata & Yoshihiko. Ishii pinned Hirata after a running double arm driver.
A special announcement video played: Rayne Leverkusen, the niece of Iron Maiden member Clive Barr, is headed to Japan and will face Saki Akai on 5/3 at Yokohama Budokan.
Match 3: Makoto Oishi beat Goegeous Matsuno & Shinichiro Kawamatsu in a 3-way by pinning Matsuno to win the 0-40 Championship. Oishi becomes the 4th Champion.
Match 4: in a match where Pheromones would lose immediately if they left the ring area, Danshoku Dieno, Yuki Iino, Yunehito Imanari & Koju Takeda vs. Akito, Toru Owashi, Hiroshi Yanato & Yusuke Okada went to a no contest. They couldn’t sort it out. That actually happened. And yes, once again GM Imabayashi found himself on the wrong end of those deplorable Pheromons when it was all over.
Match 5: Max The Impaler & Heidi Howitzer beat Super Sasadango Machine & Antonio Honda. Howitzer pinned Machine after Master Blaster.
Match 6: Saki Akai 10th Anniversary Match: Saki Akai beat Masa Takanashi.
Match 7: HARASHIMA & Keigo Nakamura beat Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani. HARASHIMA pinned Okatani after Blue Sword. Afterwards, Nakamura may have made a KO-D Tag Team Championship challenge, which surprisingly didn’t seem to go over well with HARASHIMA.
Match 8: Takeshi Masada beat Hikaru Machida.
Match 9: Daisuke Sasaki Return Match: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paw & KANON beat Chris Brookes, Drew Parker & Shinnoha. Sasaki heat Shinnoha with a mystic crossface. Then another shocking announcement was made: On 7/23 at Ryogoku Kokugikan, which will be WRESTLE PETER PAN 2023, DDT’s biggest event of the year, Sasaki will face New Japan Pro Wrestling star El Desperado!
Match 10: In a normal match, DDT Extreme Champion Jun Akiyama beat Kotaro Suzuki to retain the title. V4 for Akiyama. Next up: Shunma Katsumata. That match will happen on 5/3.
Match 11: DDT 26th Anniversary Match: Konosuke Takeshita beat Sanshiro Takagi by KO.
Chittan(star), an otter fairy that has 5 million-plus followers, will debut on 5/3. If what then happened is any indication, it may be against Chris Brookes, who sneak attacked it.
Match 12: Yuki Ueno beat Samurai Del Sol.
Match 13: Tetsuya Endo beat DDT Universal Champion Naruki Doi to win the title. Endo becomes the 10th DDT Universal Champion. Next up: MAO. That match will happen on 5/3.
Match 14: In a Falls Count Anywhere Match, Ko-D Tag Team Champions MAO & Shunma Katsumata beat Kazusada Higuchi & Ryota Nakatsu to retain the titles. MAO pinned Nakatsu after Our Madokasu. V4 for the champs. Next up: Despite the earlier admonishment about it, HARASHIMA & Nakamura. That match will happen on 4/9 at Korakuen.
Main Event: KO-D Openweight Champion Yuji Hino beat Yukio Naya to retain the title. V1 for Hino. Next up: Possibly…oh no…Iino. Those deplorable Pheromons want next. TBD.
The next event is Friday at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 3 AM PT/6 AM ET.
UPDATE: Unicorn will now be known as “Yuni” going forward.
