WRESTLE PETER PAN 2023, DDT’s biggest annual event of the year, is now in the books.
Today’s event was held at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English. You can also watch the first 3 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.
The announced paid attendance was 3465, a full house/near sellout. Between the setup and only using the lower level mass/box seats at half capacity, the venue’s capacity was significantly reduced (normally it’s maybe 15,000 for sumo, but this suggests it probably was closer to 4000).
Match 1: Takeshi Masada beat Kazuma Sumi.
Match 2: Sanshiro Takagi, Shinichiro Kawamatsu & Yuni beat Masa Takanashi, Toi Kojima & Rukiya. Kawamatsu pinned Rukiya after Shitamachi Rocket (spear).
Match 3: Minoru Fujita, MJ Paul & KANON beat Kazuki Hirata, Toru Owashi & Naruki Doi and Kotaro Suzuki, Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku in a 3-way when KANON pinned Koroku.
Match 4: Yuki Iino, Danshoku Dieno & Yumehito Imanari (with GM Imabayashi) beat Akito, Takao Soma & Yoshitomo Shimohigashi (with a Japanese YouTuber). Iino pinned Akito after Sexy Cannon.
Match 5: Chiitan* & Pokotan beat Andreza Giant Panda & Super Sasadango Machine. Chiitan* pinned Machine after Chii*Poco Trigger.
Match 6: Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & Hideki Okatani beat KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Kazusada Higuchi, Ryota Nakatsu & Yuki Ishida to win the titles. Sakaguchi, Akai & Okatani become the 52nd KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Okatani pinned Ishida with a double arm suplex. Emotional victory for the new champs and Akai has won the title she indicated she wanted to before her retirement later this year.
Match 7: MAO beat TAKA Michinoku (New Japan).
Match 8: Yukio Naya Return Match: Jun Akiyama & Shigehiro Irie beat HARASHIMA & Yukio Naya. Irie pinned Naya after Beast Bomber.
Match 9: Konosuke Takeshita beat Yuki Ueno. Takeshita’s name was stylized in all caps, in part to reflect his apparent heel turn in All Elite Wrestling.
Match 10: Matt Cardona beat DDT Universal Champion Tetsuya Endo to win the title. Cardona becomes the 11th DDT Universal Champion. OH SNAP. Steph De Lander interference helped though. First up. as challenger..OH DOUBLE SNAP. Maki Itoh from Tokyo Joshi Pro. That match will happen on 9/24 at Korakuen Hall.
Match 11: El Desperado (New Japan) beat Daisuke Sasaki. For being the winner, Desperado won a year’s worth of tequila from the match sponsor, Mexico Kanko (I believe they are the makes of Jose Cuervo).
Main Event: Chris Brookes beat KO-D Openweight Champion Yuji Hino to win the title. Brookes becomes the 81st KO-D Openweight Champion. UPSET ALERT! Quite a comeback from a shoulder injury after winning KING OF DDT as he returned just a couple weeks ago. He named his first challenger as well…Irie. That match will happen on 9/9 at Ota City General Gym. In the post-event happenings, they cut backstage to show Takeshita & Sasaki sharing a handshake. Could Takeshita be defecting from The37Kamiina to Damnation T.A.? To be continued…?
The next event is “Summer Vacation 2023” on 7/30 at Korakuen Hall. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Saturday at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET. Live results are scheduled.
