DDT held MEGA MAX BUMP 2023, their annual Golden Week blowout event, today in Yokohama and it was, well, DDT.
Today’s event was held at Yokohama Budokan in Yokohama and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. You can also watch up to the second main show match FOR FREE on YouTube.
The announced paid attendance was 1160. Although it only has a capacity of 3000, and was probably smaller with the setup, same-day ticket sales ads made it sound like the gate/attendance was not that good.
Pre-Show:
Match 1: Yumehito Imanari beat Rukiya.
Match 2: Illusion beat Danshoku Dieno.
Match 3: Koju Takeda beat Yuki Ishida.
Main Show:
Match 1: Yuya Koroku & Sotatsu Nakamura beat Toui Kojima & Kazuma Sumi. Koroku pinned Sumi after a deformed Triangle Lancer.
Match 2: Saki Akai beat Rayne Leverkusen.
Match 3: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & Minoru Fujita beat Takao Soma, Yusuke Okada & Diego. Sasaki beat Diego with a crossface. Diego was a late replacement for Keigo Nakamura, who is out due to injury.
Match 4: In a Dance vs. Kickboxing Match scheduled for 15 2-minute rounds, Hikaru Machida beat Kazuki Hirata by TKO in 7 seconds. Which led to…
Match 4 (again): In a Dance vs. Kickboxing Match scheduled for 15 2-minute rounds, Kazuki Hirata beat Hikaru Machida. Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling ring announcer Sayuri Namba was the special ring card girl (which she also is part-time for MMA and boxing events in Japan).
Match 5: Chiitan⭐️ Debut Match: Chiitan⭐️, Toru Owashi & Akito beat Chris Brookes, Masa Takanashi & Antonio Honda. Chiitan⭐️ pinned Honda after Shining Wizard. Post-match happenings involving Pocotan led to Akito making a giant costume mascot match for 5/13.
Match 6: Yuki Ueno & Yuni beat Van Vert Jacques & Takeshi Masada. Ueno pinned Masada after a rolling guillotine Ace Crusher. Jacques was a replacement for Nick Wayne, who missed the event due to visa issues (announced well in advance).
Match 7: In a TLC (Toys, Ladders, Chairs) Match, Shunma Katsumata beat DDT Extreme Champion Jun Akiyama to win the title. Katsumata becomes the 57th DDT Extreme Champion. Toui Kojima interference helped set it up. Apparently Akiyama had been referring to Kojima as “Toy”, intentionally misspelling his first name. This all led to Akiyama-Kojima being made for 5/28 at Yokohama Budokan.
Match 8: Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Sakaguchi, Naruki Doi & KANON beat Sanshiro Takagi, HARASHIMA, Kotaro Suzuki & Hideki Okatani. Sakaguchi pinned Okatani after God’s Right Knee.
Match 9: DDT Universal Champion Tetsuya Endo beat MAO to retain the title. V1 for Endo.
Main Event: KO-D Openweight Champion Yuji Hino beat Yuki Iino to retain the title. V2 for Hino.
Big announcements made for the future included an unnamed former WWE superstar appearing at WRESTLE PETER PAN on 7/23, to be revealed at Korakuen Hall later this month, and a Ryogoku Kokugikan return date for a big event on 11/12.
The next event is the KING OF DDT 2023 Tournament Round 1 Saturday at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Friday at 11 PM ET/8 PM PT. Live results here are scheduled for the event.
