30 years ago, a babyfaced TAKA Michinoku-lookalike named Jun Akiyama debuted in Japan. A lot of potential and high expectations were quickly placed upon the young prospect, and for a while it seemed he would live up to them in All-Japan Pro Wrestling. He would be part of the mass exodus at the end of the 1990s that left to form Pro Wrestling NOAH with the late Mitsuharu Misawa. Then injuries and inconsistency struck and it looked like those expectations wouldn’t be met, but over time he got healthy, turned things around and did reach those lofty peaks. He shocked the Japanese wrestling landscape in 2020 by jumping to DDT after his contract expired, and today DDT celebrates the 30th Anniversary of Akiyama’s debut with a special event that will feature partners and rivals from his days in New Japan Pro Wrestling, All-Japan Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling NOAH as well as the best of DDT. And of course among the special guests will be the opponent in Akiyama’s 1992 debut match-none other than THE GOD himself, Kenta Kobashi. And with vocal cheering by fans allowed, it promises to be a very special celebration for the founder of STERNNESS.
Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. Kenta Kobashi will be a special guest on commentary along with Japanese voice actor Mayu Iizuka. I anticipate the event’s total running time being about 3 hours.
Today’s lineup (in order):
Yusuke Okada vs. Yuya Koroku
Yuki Iino, Danshoku Dieno, Yumehito Imanari & Koju Takeda vs. Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi, Antonio Honda & Kazuki Hirata
HARASHIMA, Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani vs. Akito, Takao Soma & Yukio Naya
Kazusada Higuchi, Yuki Ishida, Yuji Hino & Makoto Oishi vs. Daisuke Sasaki, Minoru Fujita, MJ Pawl & KANON
Yuki Ueno, MAO & Toui Kojima vs. Cara Noir, Chris Brookes & Masa Takanashi
Naomi Yoshimura vs. Takeshi Masada
Jun Akiyama 30th Anniversary Match: Jun Akiyama, Yoshinobu Kanemaru (New Japan Pro Wrestling) & Tetsuya Endo vs. Yuji Nagata (New Japan Pro Wrestling), Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata
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Updates below will begin at 10:30 PM ET/7:30 PM PT. The stream on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will go live at 10 PM ET/7 PM PT.
10:15 PM ET UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are :LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Your hosts are Haruo Murata, Kagehiro Osano & Mayu Iizuka.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. The crowd is still filing in. Due to vocal support being allowed, maximum capacity will be further reduced below what it normally has been since the pandemic began and fans were allowed to attend again. That means if it’s a legit sellout, the max attendance would probably be 700. Between weather, sumo and other events my guess will be they’ll finish right around 500.
The matches should begin in about 20-25 minutes.During GM Imabayashi’s greeting and opening announcements, upcoming title matches are announced, of note being added is DDT Universal Champion Yuki Ueno vs. Cara Noir for the title on 9/25. There also will be a Street Wrestling match on 10/10 with Toui Kojima & Shunma Katsumata vs. Yukio Naya & Yuya Koroku. On 10/12, Kazusada HIguchi & Naomi Yoshimura defend the KO-D Tag Team Championship against Daisuke Sasaki & KANON.
The final event of 2022 will be 12/29 at Tokyo Dome City Hall. A second Akiyama 30th Anniversary event will be held on 12/10 in Osaka.
The Burning faction sans Akiyama comes out for the opening shout to start the event, leading into the opening video and match lineup. Right on time (10:30 PM ET). During the opening video we see footage from last week’s Muscle events, which are now available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. This is more theater than wrestling although each had a marathon match.
Match 1: Yusuke Okada vs. Yuya Koroku. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yusuke Okada beat Yuya Koroku
Match 2: Yuki Iino, Danshoku Dieno, Yumehito Imanari & Koju Takeda vs. Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi, Antonio Honda & Kazuki Hirata. 30 minute time limit
Result: No Contest. GM Imabayashi stoppage as Iino was about to fully remove this thong and go completely naked in the dark. Obviously this was a ridiculous comedy match. Oh, and Imanari’s shaved off his mustache since losing the Spirit Of Ganbare World Openweight Championship a few weeks ago.
Match 3: HARASHIMA, Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani vs. Akito, Takao Soma & Yukio Naya. 30 minute time limit
Result: Akito, Takao Soma & Yukio Naya beat HARASHIMA, Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani. Naya beat Okatani.
Match 4: Kazusada Higuchi, Yuki Ishida, Yuji Hino & Makoto Oishi vs. Daisuke Sasaki, Minoru Fujita, MJ Pawl & KANON. 30 minute time limit
Result: Daisuke Sasaki, Minoru Fujita, MJ Pawl & KANON beat Kazusada Higuchi, Yuki Ishida, Yuji Hino & Makoto Oishi. KANON pinned Ishida after Sleepy Hollow.
Match 5: Yuki Ueno, MAO & Toui Kojima vs. Cara Noir, Chris Brookes & Masa Takanashi. 30 minute time limit
Result: Cara Noir, Chris Brookes & Masa Takanashi beat Yuki Ueno, MAO & Youi Kojima. Noir beat Kojima with a rear naked choke. Afterwards, Ueno with microphone addressing Noir in English. Noir provided dramatic comedy as they promoted their DDT Universal Championship match next weekend.
Quick break for ring cleaning.
Match 5: Naomi Yoshimura vs. Takeshi Masada. 30 minute time limit
Result: Naomi Yoshimura beat Takeshi Masada
Main Event: Jun Akiyama 30th Anniversary Match: Jun Akiyama, Yoshinobu Kanemaru (New Japan Pro Wrestling) & Tetsuya Endo vs. Yuji Nagata (New Japan Pro Wrestling), Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata. 30 minute time limit
Result: Jun Akiyama, Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Tetsuya Endo beat Yuji Nagata, Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata. Akiyama pinned Katsumata after Exploder. Akiyama addressed the crowd afterwards to end the show.
The next event is WHO’S GONNA TOP? 2022 on 9/25 at Korakuen Hall. In addition to 2 title matches (Ueno-Noir for the DDT Universal Championship and Higuchi-Takeshita for the KO-D Openweight Championship), the “Money In The Bank” title shot rights held by Shinya Aoki will be challenged for by Katsumata & Iino. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Saturday at 10:30 PM ET/7:30 PM PT but there is a dark match scheduled so it may begin a few minutes earlier.
UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 715, a super full house/very near sellout.
