DDT “MEGA MAX BUMP 2023 IN YOKOHAMA”, 03/05/2023
Yokohama Budokan
1,160 Fans
0. Dark Match – Pheromones Vs D GENERATIONS Army Best Of 3 Singles Matches: Yumehito “Fantastic” Imanari defeated Rukiya with the Tiger Driver (4:07).
0. Dark Match – Pheromones Vs D GENERATIONS Army Best Of 3 Singles Matches: Ilusion defeated Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno with a Japanese Leg Roll Clutch Hold (5:21).
0. Dark Match – Pheromones Vs D GENERATIONS Army Best Of 3 Singles Matches: Koju “Shining Ball” Takeda defeated Yuki Ishida with the Shining Katame (4:54).
1. Yuya Koroku & Munetatsu Nakamura defeated Toy Kojima & Kazuma Sumi when Koroku submitted Sumi with the Modified Triangle Lancer (8:36).
2. International Special Single Match: Saki Akai defeated Rayne Leverkusen with the Quetzalcoatl (5:51).
3. Daisuke Sasaki, Minoru Fujita & MJ Paul defeated Soma Takao, Yusuke Okada & Diego when Sasaki submitted Diego with the Crossface Lock (11:09).
4. Dance Vs Kickboxing Mixed Martial Arts Challenge: Hikaru Machida defeated Kazuki Hirata by TKO with a Right Straight (R1 0:07). (Round Girl: Sayuri Namba)
4a. Rematch: Kazuki Hirata defeated Hikaru Machida with the Miracle One Shot Cradle (R4 3:32). (Round Girl: Sayuri Namba)
5. Chiitan☆ Debut Match ~ Special 6-Man Tag Match: Chiitan☆, Toru Owashi & Akito defeated Chris Brookes, Masahito Takanashi & Antonio Honda when Chiitan☆ pinned Honda with the Shining Wizard (10:26).
6. Special Tag Match: Yuki Ueno & Yuni defeated Vent Vert Jack & Takeshi Masada when Ueno pinned Masada with the Rolling Guillotine Ace Crusher (12:03).
7. DDT Extreme Title – TLC (Toys, Ladders & Chairs) Match: Shunma Katsumata defeated Jun Akiyama (c) with a School Boy (17:03).
*Jun Akiyama fails in V5. Shunma Katsumata becomes the 57th DDT Extreme Champion!
8. Road To King Of DDT 2023 Special 8-Man Tag Match: Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Sakaguchi, Naruki Doi & KANON defeated Sanshiro Takagi, HARASHIMA, Kotaro Suzuki & Hideki Okatani when Sakaguchi pinned Okatani with the God’s Right Knee (10:40).
9. DDT Universal Title: Tetsuya Endo (c) defeated MAO with the Tetsuya In The Sky (19:17).
*V1 for Tetsuya Endo.
10. KO-D Openweight Title: Yuji Hino (c) defeated Yuki “Super Sexy” Iino with the Fuckin’ BOMB (22:28).
*V2 for Yuji Hino.
All throughout the build up for the Yokohama Budokan Golden Week show, Yuki Iino had promised to seal away his “Sexy” persona in order to get a KO-D Openweight Title shot. It led to him evolving a “Strong” persona that pleased Yuji Hino and left the champion thinking they would deliver a strong style match for the ages. Oh boy was he wrong. A referee bump led to Pheromones interfering and Makoto Oishi jumping in to try and stop them. Hino wanted nothing to do with the nonsense and ran off backstage with everyone chasing after him. Danshoku Dieno took the microphone, said he held Iino back for too long and it was time to give fans a title match only DDT can deliver! Pheromones returned with Hino all gagged up and behind them was the first appearance of Yuki “Super Sexy” Iino! Pheromones did their spots but Oishi was there once again to get in their way and revive Yukinori Matsui. From there the match went back to normal. Iino hit his new Strong Splash finisher but only got a two count. Hino came back throwing Lariats to combat Iino’s Spear. The momentum flipped all the way to the champion and he got the three count with the Fuckin’ BOMB.
Hino was presented with the KO-D Title by Kenta Kobashi after the match (apparently Kobashi did not sound the least bit amused by the main event on commentary). Hino told Iino that he is a strong wrestler when they fight each other and he should be choosing his friends more carefully. Dieno defended Iino by telling Hino he dares to be “Sexy” and chose to be that way. When times are tough everyone should look to Pheromones for inspiration. Dieno also warned that the Pheromones way of life will lead him to meet Hino in the ring again some day. Hino gave Iino credit for showing off his real ability today and reminded fans that DDT is the place where amazing wrestlers gather together to have amazing matches.
The war of words between Tetsuya Endo and MAO has come to an end for now after Endo was put down his arch rival. For weeks the two have sent harsh words to each other over who suits the DDT Universal Title more. When it came down to the match itself both tried to outdo each other with big moves. Endo kicked out of the Avalanche Michinoku Driver II and the Cannonball 450 but when Endo hit the Tetsuya In The Sky it was all over. MAO was left beaten but he said afterwards the result did not change his mind. He still intends to win the Universal Title he just has to start from scratch all over again. As long as he behaves how he thinks the Universal Champion should behave then the belt will eventually gravitate towards him by itself. Meanwhile Endo said MAO was just all talk and no better than Daisuke Sasaki’s snot! If MAO wants to get revenge and beat him, he should go home and become his town’s toursim ambassador first!
With MAO now out of the way, Endo has a new mystery challenger on the horizon. As he walked up the ramp to leave ringside, a video played with the message “I have won many titles. Next target is DDT Universal Title. On July 23, Ryogoku. I will go to steal the belt.” The video also mentioned the message was sent from a former WWE wrestler and their identity will be revealed on 21st May. Who could it be? Well maybe it’s the guy who tweeted out a similar vague message a few hours later and then posted the video itself? Endo said a WWE wrestler is the best choice for his next defence. However Endo is about to take part in the King Of DDT tournament and the winner of that will most likely get a KO-D Title match at “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2023” on 23rd July. Endo wants to win the tournament and then win the KO-D Title while still holding the Universal Title. If he gets that opportunity then he won’t be able to do two title matches at the Sumo Hall show. It would just be too difficult for him!
A preview for the King Of DDT was on display in an 8-Man Tag Match. Given the amount of people in the match chomping at the bit to wrestle, the match went ahead with No Tag Rules. It led to some of the 1st Round pairings squaring up to each other. Sanshiro Takagi and Yukio Sakaguchi fought each other while Kotaro Suzuki and KANON went back and forth. Hideki Okatani tried cutting off his Eruption stablemate but was pinned with the God’s Right Knee for his troubles. Sakaguchi helped Okatani to the back after the match, showing there was no ill intention over the result. Everyone also gave out comments about King Of DDT. Takagi is now trying to figure out how to prepare for his 1st Round match in three days. Sakaguchi wants Takagi to put his phone away and be ready for him. Suzuki wants to win King Of DDT at all costs. Naruki Doi sees everyone as his enemy because he knows it only takes one loss to get eliminated from the bracket. HARASHIMA wanted his side to win as a team today but their teamwork wasn’t good enough. Kazusada Higuchi was reminded of how tough the competition is going to be so he will tighten his resolve for the early rounds. KANON promised to give Suzuki a nightmare he deserves. Okatani was excited by the match and wants to win no matter what it takes.
The TLC Match was all about Toys, Ladders and Chairs! The idea was put together by Shunma Katsumata to ensure Jun Akiyama would experience a true DDT Extreme Title defence. However the in the build up to the match the plan seemed to have backfired when Akiyama got the bright idea to get Toy Kojima involved because he counts as a “Toy”! The match went ahead with chaos being caused around the ring. Akiyama crashed into a castle of chairs but he also used Kojima as a weapon against Katsumata. One Exploder Suplex was not enough to get the win so Akiyama set up another. However Kojima suddenly showed he had enough of being treated like a toy and he hit Akiyama with a Leg Lariat. That caused Katsumata to roll up Akiyama from behind and get the pin to win the Extreme Title! After the match Kojima yelled at Akiyama, telling him to stop treating people like toys and how Katsumata has always treated him as a friend. His comments got Akiyama to go to management and demand a singles match with him somewhere down the line. Meanwhile Katsumata wants to take the Extreme Title and KO-D Tag Team Titles with MAO worldwide. He also wants to turn the belt strap back from white to purple but that might take some time.
DDT’s young portion of their roster was put on display for Match #6. Yuki Ueno teamed up with Yuni originally expecting to face some international competition. However visa issues prevented Nick Wayne from being able to travel to Japan so Takeshi Masada instead had to team with Vent Vert Jack from Yokohama’s MY WAY promotion. It was the first time Yuni and Jack were in the ring together since the end of the DDTeeeen!! project. Yuni pulled out a Firebird Splash on Masada to give Ueno a nearfall. Jack tried to keep breaking the pins but Ueno scored the win in the end by giving Masada the Rolling Guillotine Ace Crusher. Ueno said everyone in the match was amazing and makes him wonder how good he himself will be when Wayne does finally come to DDT? His upcoming singles match with HUB is giving him an explosion of motivation and he wants to also face Wayne in a singles match. Yuni also threw his name into the hat to have a match with Wayne. Jack said he would like to come back to DDT for more matches with Yuni and Ilusion. Masada said he was able to see the difference in his career to those of Yuni and Jack. He’s older than both of them but they have far more experience than he does. He sees he has to catch up to them first before he can catch up to Ueno.
The pro wrestling debut of Chiitan saw the mascot get outclassed by its opponents at first. But Toru Owashi & Akito were there to provide backup against CDK & Antonio Honda. Chiitan got into a punch exchange with Chris Brookes until Honda paused the match to give his latest Gongitsune joke. When the match resumed Brookes set Chiitan up for the Praying Mantis Bomb when music suddenly began to play. DDT’s own oversized mascot Pokotan ran down to the ring to the rescue! It instead got attacked and had its head stomped in by Brookes. But unknown to him, Chiitan had climbed the top rope and went on to hit a Diving Cross Body onto Brookes, Honda & Masahiro Takanashi. With the ring cleared, Chiitan then hit the Shining Wizard on Honda to win the match.
The two mascots gathered together afterwards and seemed to be on the same page. Until suddenly Chiitan attacked Pokotan with a baseball bat! The two got into a brawl that Akito tried to break up. Things briefly calmed down long enough for Akito to announce Chiitan and Pokotan will have a match against each other on 13th May but that just caused the mascots to get into another fight. Backstage Akito tried to explain what was going on to the reporters. Pokotan thinks he is DDT’s No. 1 mascot while Chiitan thinks it is Japan’s No. 1 mascot. The two are now determined to end each other!
The long awaited MMA fight between Dance and Kickboxing only lasted 7 seconds when Hikaru Machida immediately knocked out Kazuki Hirata. One person in particular took more offence to the result than anyone else in the building. The round girl Sayuri Namba was furious! She didn’t put all this effort into becoming a round girl again only to see she wasn’t needed. She even handmade her own costume for the match! She took her anger out on Hirata, Machida and the ref Matsui by slapping them all to the canvas. Everyone agreed to restart the match to further avoid her wrath. Namba became a lot more cheerful now she was able to do her job.
In the 3rd Round, Hirata feared he was about to get knocked out again so he got on the microphone and read a letter he wrote about wanting to put smiles on children’s faces. He thinks Machida’s own child would have the biggest smile if Hirata and Machida danced together. In the 4th Round Machida held back his Iai Punch and tearfully told Hirata he will always be a father before a fighter. The two danced to Hirata’s music but Hirata then cradled Machida for a nearfall. Machida hit the Iai Punch but that also got a two count. Hirata then locked in the Miracle One Shot Cradle from out of nowhere to take the win. Namba raised both of their hands and the three of them all danced to close out the match. Backstage Machida said this was the first time he ever lost a fight because his opponent exploited his love for his son. He also never danced in front of so many people before. His cornerman Thanomsak Toba told him that this is pro wrestling and everything is a learning experience. Namba said she would love to do more round girl work but only if the fighters are stronger so the audience can enjoy the fight more.
Diego’s first match with DDT in six years came about when Keigo Nakamura got injured. Diego was already in Japan and had attended a DDT show as Katsumata’s guest so when a spot on this show opened up it was only natural to bring him in. Unfortunately DAMNATION T.A spoiled his return and left him with a loss on his record. Daisuke Sasaki gave him a Low Blow, Minoru Fujita followed up with the Sayonara Tombstone and Sasaki landed a Diving Elbow. Diego kicked out of the pin but was put into the Crossface Lock for the submission ending. Soma Takao & Yusuke Okada still thanked Diego for joining their team on short notice. Sasaki complained about Diego coming back and demanded to fight him one on one in Diego’s home country of Chile. The flights are expensive though so he wants Diego to pay for it.
Rayne Leverkusen’s goal to “Make It Rayne” in Japan was taken down a notch after she lost to Saki Akai. She tried using a Rolling Elbow, German Suplex and Spinebuster to win. Akai fired back with a High Kick, the Rookie Award and then the Quetzalcoatl to get her hand raised in the end. For Akai she didn’t take it for granted that she got a singles match on one of DDT’s big shows of the year. She could tell that Rayne only has a year and a half of experience. She also doesn’t know anything about Iron Maiden so she was able to treat Leverkusen as an opponent and nothing else. Leverkusen said she respects Akai and she also won’t run away whenever her opponents brings up her family’s fame. She will continue to wrestle for her family and is proud to get a big singles match in Japan today. She wants to come back and if she is still a champion when she does, she thinks she will have to give Akai a title match.
The opening match ended with Yuya Koroku cutting off Kazuma Sumi’s Lionsault and then submitting him with the Triangle Lancer. However Koroku is not satisfied with that after failing to win the D GENERATIONS CUP and failing to qualify for King Of DDT. He wants to get even stronger so he can move out of the opening match spot as soon as possible. Munetatsu Nakamura from Ganbare☆Pro was happy to be on the winning team and hopes the next time he comes to DDT he will get to team with Keigo Nakamura as was originally planned. This was the fourth time Kojima & Sumi teamed up together. Kojima figures he has to protect Sumi even more after today’s loss. Sumi meanwhile is getting frustrated because he cannot figure out how to break out of Koroku’s Triangle Lancer.
Most of Pheromones were banished to the pre-show to take part in three dark matches. They pulled out a 2-1 score against a trio of rookies in singles matches. First, Yumehito Imanari beat Rukiya by using the Lariat and then the Tiger Driver. Then there was an upset when Ilusion defeated Danshoku Dieno! Ilusion got unmasked by Dieno during the match but the other rookies had the bright idea to place Dieno’s discarded tights over his head as a replacement. Ilusion then caught Dieno with a Japanese Leg Roll Clutch Hold to get the surprise three count and even the score. The third match was the decider with Yuki Ishida facing Koju Takeda. Ishida using an Emerald Flowsion for a nearfall and went for the Flame Palm. But Takeda countered it with his Shining Katame submission to make Pheromones win the series. Dieno used the result to declare today was going to be Pheromones Day!
A few guest names were announced for “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2023” on 23rd July. First, Andreza Giant Panda will be coming back to DDT. The other was a person that nobody would have predicted, a wrestler by the name of Yoshitomo Shimohigashi. He is considered the first graduate of the Ibushi Wrestling Institute, having debuted in wrestling back in 2018. He also has an athletic background in bowling. Given his connection to Kota Ibushi, Shimohigashi is nicknamed “Golden Stardust” and he now carries on Kota Ibushi’s lineage in pro wrestling. Akito explained he has a hand in the Institute as an advisor and that even though Shimohigashi is unknown to the vast majority of wrestling fans, he is well known within the wrestling industry. Shimohigashi told the fans he wants to make an explosion inside the very ring that Ibushi created.
DDT will go to Sumo Hall for a second time this year on 12th November for “ULTIMATE PARTY 2023”.
Dramatic DDT 