Dramatic DDT

DDT “DDT BIG BANG 2023”, 09/09/2023
Tokyo Ota Ward Gymnasium
1,363 Fans

1. Masahiro Takanashi, Antonio Honda & Ilusion defeated Yuni, Kazuma Sumi & Rukiya when Takanashi pinned Yuni with a Rotating Crucifix Pin (8:21).
2. Pheromones Vs Subjugation Final Match! Special Single Match ~ Dissolution Contra Vice President: Akito defeated Yuki “Sexy” Iino (w/ Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno) with a Yoropean Clutch (12:09).
3. HARASHIMA, Kazusada Higuchi & Soma Takao defeated Yukio Naya, Yuya Koroku & Takeshi Masada when Higuchi pinned Koroku with the Doctor Bomb (10:45).
4. DDT Extreme Title & Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – All Humans Are Equal! Kazuki Hirata Death Match: Kazuki Hirata (E/c) defeated Naruki Doi (I/c) with the Miracle One Shot Cradle (9:28).
*V3 for Kazuki Hirata. Kazuki Hirata becomes the 1,576th Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion.
5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles & AJPW TV 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & Hideki Okatani (c/c) defeated Yuko Miyamoto, Isami Kodaka & Ram Kaichow when Sakaguchi pinned Miyamoto with the God’s Right Knee (12:04).
*V3 for Eruption with the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles. V2 for Eruption with the AJPW TV 6-Man Tag Team Titles.
6. First Time In History! Time Difference Scramble Bunkhouse Current Blast 6-Man Tag Death Match: Atsushi Onita, Yoshitatsu & Toy Kojima defeated Sanshiro Takagi, Jun Akiyama & Yusuke Okada when Yoshitatsu pinned Takagi after a Sandwich Current Blast Bat Attack with Onita (9:12).
7. KO-D Tag Team Titles: Minoru Fujita & KANON defeated Yuji Hino & Makoto Oishi when KANON submitted Oishi with the Just Cobra Twist (12:54).
*Ω fails in V1. DAMNATION T.A becomes the 79th KO-D Tag Team Champions!
8. Special Tag Match: Yuki Ueno & MAO defeated KONOSUKE TAKESHITA & Daisuke Sasaki when Ueno pinned Sasaki with the BME (23:09).
9. KO-D Openweight Title: Chris Brookes (c) defeated Shigehiro Irie with two Praying Mantis Bombs (27:36).
*V1 for Chris Brookes.

The international rivalry between Chris Brookes and Shigehiro Irie begun in England, made its way to Germany and had its rubber match in Japan. The match started off quiet but notched up a level when the two took the fight outside the ring where Irie threw chairs but was then put through a table with a Piledriver. Back in the ring Irie brought out his heavy attacks like the Cannonball and Beast Bomber. He also almost knocked Brookes out with the 16 Carat Gold Elbows. However Brookes started using High Kicks to stun his opponent, following up with slaps and more kicks to the head. Irie fought back with a Headbutt and never expected Brookes to Headbutt him back. At this point Irie had already kicked out of the Praying Mantis Bomb so Brookes had to use the move again twice in a row to finish him off.

Brookes called Irie strong after the match and told him to please come over to DDT again anytime, anywhere. He also already decided who he wants the next challenger for the KO-D Openweight Title to be. Brookes then called Saki Akai to come down to the ring. He reminded her of the double title match they had in May 2021 that had to take place in an empty arena because of the pandemic. Since Akai will be retiring in two months time Brookes thought it would be a shame if they didn’t have a rematch. He also brought up that Akai had never challenged for the KO-D Title before. Akai told Brookes she doesn’t want to do the match just for the sake of making memories. She accepted the challenge and slapped Brookes across the face before shaking his hand. There is nothing more scarier than a person who has nothing left to fight for so she is fighting Brookes at Korakuen Hall on 24th September to become the KO-D Champion!

The last time Konosuke Takeshita was in DDT he gave Yuki Ueno an offer to follow his leadership and move on from The 37KAMIINA. His new attitude that formed in AEW won over his former enemy Daisuke Sasaki, so much so that Sasaki tried to help out with recruiting Ueno. Today Ueno gave his answer and it was to stay with his friends! Sasaki did his best to convince Ueno by manipulating moments of the match so Ueno and MAO would accidentally hit each other. But when the time came for Sasaki to hand a chair over to his opponents, Ueno refused to attack MAO with it. Together Ueno & MAO got rid of Takeshita with dives and Ueno went on to pin Sasaki with the BME.

After the match Ueno made his answer more clear. He knows he is going to fight Takeshita again some day and when it happens he will be the champion and Takeshita the challenger! He believes if he had taken Takeshita’s offer it would make him stronger but he already has friends in The 37KAMIINA who lend him their strength. MAO then called out Takeshita and demanded they have a singles match against each other. Later backstage MAO confronted Takeshita again to make the challenge. Takeshita said he is travelling back to America tomorrow but will return to DDT on 24th September. They will have their match on that date in Korakuen.

KANON promised he was going to get the last laugh on Ω and was proven right when DAMNATION T.A became the new KO-D Tag Team Champions! He had his chest beaten in by Yuji Hino’s chops but Minoru Fujita was there to rescue his tag partner. So was MJ Paul. It took both Fujita and Paul to hold Hino back at ringside from entering the ring while KANON submitted Makoto Oishi with the Just Cobra Twist for the title change. Backstage DAMANTION T.A’s celebration was interrupte by ROMANCE DAWN. Although they are usually a Ganbare☆Pro tag team, Shota & Soma Takao want to challenge for the KO-D Tag Titles. They will get their shot on the 4th October Shinjuku FACE show.

For the first time ever Jun Akiyama took part in an exploding death match! The match had unusual Bunkhouse Stampede rules added to it. Akiyama and Atsushi Onita would start out wrestling each other and then after three minutes the other wrestlers of both teams would all join in the match at once. Onita quickly blinded Akiyama with Poison Mist but was caught in the Front Neck Lock by the time everyone else entered. Yusuke Okada held Onita back on a chair for Sanshiro Takagi to hit him with an exploding baseball bat. Toy Kojima placed another exploding bat on top of a barbed wire board but Okada Superplexed him onto it causing a big bang. Onita used the Poison Mist again, this time on Takagi. He and Yoshitatsu then hit Takagi with the two remaining exploding bats to win the match.

Onita took the time afterwards to thank Takagi for putting this match with Akiyama together. But Onita thinks his matter with Akiyama has not been settled yet. There is another exploding death match happening on 18th September with Onita & Yoshitatsu taking on Akiyama & Kotaro Suzuki. Akiyama previously challenged Onita to put the All Asia Tag Team Titles on the line. After what happened today, Onita wants to go through with the idea and agreed to make it a title match. He then paid tribute to the late Terry Funk. Both Onita and Akiyama have All Japan blood running through their veins so Onita hopes Funk is doing his best up in Heaven. He also revealed he got to speak with Funk’s daughters recently and he’d like to visit Amarillo, Texas again some day.

There were two double title matches on the show. Eruption retained both the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles & AJPW TV 6-Man Tag Team Titles against a team straight out of Triple Six. Akai hit Ram Kaichow with the Rookie Award but then took a Rock Punch from Isami Kodaka. Meanwhile Yuko Miyamoto dropped Hideki Okatani with the Fire Thunder. However Yukio Sakaguchi held things together for the champions and pinned Miyamoto with the God’s Right Knee for another successful defence. Okatani said he wants to defend the titles 10 times in 2 months before Akai’s retirement. Sakaguchi doesn’t mind who the opponents will be to achieve this. Akai promised to continue refining her skills until her last match on 12th November.

The other title match had both the DDT Extreme Title and Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title on the line. Kazuki Hirata made it an All Humans Are Equal Death Match where Naruki Doi was limited to only do what Hirata is capable of doing. Toru Owashi and Inoue Mic sat as judges near ringside holding up signs to tell Doi when he was and was not wrestling just like Hirata does. Not only that but Hirata convinced Doi to wear the same ring gear, setting up a curatined-off area inside the ring so he could change costumes. If this was a normal match, Doi would have won easily but the constant pausing by the judges threw him off. Doi thought he finally had the match figured out when he realised the Bakatare Sliding Kick was acceptable but when he got the three count the judges immediately invalidated it because Doi had to dance before the match could end. Doi did so in full Hirata costume (he later admitted to taking secret dance lessions to learn the routine) until Hirata suddenly pinned him with the Miracle One Shot Cradle.

Hirata is now a double champion but had other business he wanted to bring up before any new challengers appeared. He took out a letter he wrote for Hiromu Takahashi and began reading it to everyone. In the letter he talked about “ALL STAR JR FESTIVAL 2023” from earlier this year and how much it meant to him to be on the show. He also brought up Takahashi’s first ever pro wrestling win was against him but it is never acknowledged anywhere, like on their Wikipedia pages for example. Takahashi will be wrestling at DDT’s Sumo Hall show on 12th November and it would be a dream come true if he chooses Hirata as his opponent. All of a sudden, Takahashi ran into the ring and tried to pin Hirata for the Iron Man Title! Hirata kicked out and was in shock to see Takahashi standing right in front of him. Takahashi thanked him for the letter and agreed to do the match because Hirata is his favorite DDT wrestler. He then tried to pin Hirata again.

A 6-Man Tag Match had Yukio Naya, Yuya Koroku & Takeshi Masada all trying to break down Kazusada Higuchi. Koroku was able to put Higuchi in the Triangle Lancer but Takao broke it up by wrapping his Dropkick Bar shirt over Koroku’s head and pulling him back. Higuchi & HARASHIMA both hit Swan Dive moves to Koroku before Higuchi pinned him with the Doctor Bomb.

Is this finally the end of Pheromones? This was the so-called final battle in their feud with Akito with big stakes on the line. If Yuki Iino won then Akito would give up his Vice President role in CyberFight but if Akito won then Pheromones would disband. A match this dramatic needed to finish with a winner too so the usual Pheromones antics had to be tolerated by Yukinori Matsui and the Wrestle Universe broadcast was censored. Akito used that to his advantage by stripping himself down to an O-back to fight Iino on his level. He leapfrogged over him, causing Iino to Spear Danshoku Dieno by accident. Akito then pinned Iino with the Yoropean Clutch to get the climactic victory he has waited so long for.

Except this maybe is not the end for Pheromones after all. Akito admitted that the unit has become an integral part of DDT with its own supporters. So rather than break up Pheromones, Akito wants to see if they can be purified first. Over the next month Pheromones will be put on a trial period where they have to behave themselves and make up for their past transgressions. Then on 4th October Akito will decide their fate.

Antonio Honda showed up wearing Trans-Am ★ Hiroshi’s old American flag costume for the opening match. He tried his best to avoid hurting himself but as usual but it had to happen so Gongitsune could appear. It backfired slightly but he still hit Yuni with the Bionic Elbow, giving Masahiro Takanashi the opening to roll up the teenager with a Crucifix Pin.