Dramatic DDT

DDT “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2014 ~MAYBE SUMMER WILL CHANGE MY LIFE~”, 17/08/2014
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

0. Dark Match – DDT Vs Union: Daichi Kazato, SAGAT, Mitomi Masayuki & Tomoya Kawamura Vs Hoshitango, Rion Mizuki, Gota Ihashi & Shunma Katsumata
0. Dark Match – Tokyo Women’s Wrestling Offer Match: Miyu Yamashita, Chikage Kiba & KANNA Vs Shoko Nakajima, Yuka Sakazaki & Erin
1. Yasu Urano & Akito Vs MIKAMI & GENTARO
2. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – Battle Royal: Akihiro (c) Vs Daisuke Sasaki Vs Tomomitsu Matsunaga Vs Kazuki Hirata Vs Tetsuya Endo Vs Gorgeous Matsuno Vs Toru Owashi Vs DJ Nira Vs Shiro Koshinaka Vs Nonoko Vs Ai Shimizu Vs FUMA Vs Kizaemon Saiga Vs Yoshihiko
3. Saki Akai, Makoto Oishi & Ladybeard Vs Aja Kong, Antonio Honda & Hiroshi Fukuda
4. Street Wrestling Match: Sanshiro Takagi & Jun Kasai Vs Minoru Suzuki & Michael Nakazawa
5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masa Takanashi (c) Vs Keisuke Ishii, Shigehiro Irie & Soma Takao
6. DDT Extreme Title – Important Something Timed Blast Death Match: Danshoku Dino (c) Vs Muscle Sakai
7. Special Single Match: Kota Ibushi Vs Shuji Kondo
8. Special Single Match: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Hiroshi Tanahashi
9. KO-D Openweight Title – 3 Way Match: HARASHIMA (c) Vs Kenny Omega Vs Isami Kodaka

Here we are again back at Sumo Hall for another “RYOGOKU PETER PAN”. Last year DDT ran two shows in the building over two days. This year they are back to doing just one but they also now have a date inside a modified Saitama Super Arena to look forward to in February. This Sunday’s show is already reported to be sold out and no walk up tickets will be available on the day. The show will air on Samurai TV! at 10pm local time that night. Highlights this year include a 3 Way main event, puroresu’s biggest active superstar facing a rookie phenom, the return of the Golden Star and the possibility of seeing the most serious wrestler this side of Lance Storm fighting inside a Ryogoku restroom.

0. Dark Match – DDT Vs Union: Daichi Kazato, SAGAT, Mitomi Masayuki & Tomoya Kawamura Vs Hoshitango, Rion Mizuki, Gota Ihashi & Shunma Katsumata

The first dark match is a DDT Vs Union affair with a mixture of low carders, part timers and rookies involved.

0. Dark Match – Tokyo Women’s Wrestling Offer Match: Miyu Yamashita, Chikage Kiba & KANNA Vs Shoko Nakajima, Yuka Sakazaki & Erin

After a stalled beginning in 2012 and some baby steps taken in 2013, Tokyo Women’s Wrestling became a lot more active in 2014. With a roster of nine women all in training they now regularly hold shows in small idol stages around Tokyo. Six of the girls get to perform inside Sumo Hall for a dark match. Out of the six, Miyu Yamashita and Chikage Kiba are the standouts. The queen bee of the promotion Nonoko will be part of the Battle Royal on the main card.

1. Yasu Urano & Akito Vs MIKAMI & GENTARO

The show opens properly with two members of Smile Squash facing against two DDT veterans. Akito levelled up a lot this year by getting a KO-D Openweight Title shot in April and establishing the Triangle Scorpion has his submission finisher of choice. Yasu Urano also had a KO-D Title match (the same day as Akito thanks to a Right To Challenge Contract) and held the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title a bunch of times. MIKAMI had a bad year and seems to be in the twilight years of his career. His recent poor form brought in GENTARO to slap some enthusiasm into him. GENTARO returned to the ring this year after health problems took him out of action for 21 months. Depsite being a shell of his former self, GENTARO still wrestles for the love of it and wants MIKAMI to have the same attitude.

2. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – Battle Royal: Akihiro (c) Vs Daisuke Sasaki Vs Tomomitsu Matsunaga Vs Kazuki Hirata Vs Tetsuya Endo Vs Gorgeous Matsuno Vs Toru Owashi Vs DJ Nira Vs Shiro Koshinaka Vs Nonoko Vs Ai Shimizu Vs FUMA Vs Kizaemon Saiga Vs Yoshihiko

The Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title was almost put out to pasture this year when it approached a major milestone. Sanshiro Takagi became the 999th champion but out of greed wanted to retire the championship before it could crown a 1,000th champion. The creator of the championship Poison Sawada returned to DDT and did everything he could to keep the belt active and prevent Takagi from sealing it away. Everything from convincing him that the belt was actually a map for secret Aztec treasure to controlling other wrestlers with S-Cells to fight on his behalf. The conflict finally ended when the actual title belt pinned Takagi and became the 1,000th champion. Since then it went around Jun Akiyama’s waist and enjoyed a brief trip to All Japan before winding up in possession of Akihiro, another blow up doll. Now the belt will be up for grabs in a Battle Royal with Shiro Koshinaka and Kizaemon Saiga among the guest entries. What will happen if Akihiro and Yoshihiko are the only two left in the ring? Reality might glitch out the same way a Nintendo 64 wrestling game does when you play an AKI Man Vs THQ Man match.

3. Saki Akai, Makoto Oishi & Ladybeard Vs Aja Kong, Antonio Honda & Hiroshi Fukuda

This is an odd mix of personalities. Saki Akai made her pro wrestling debut at last year’s “RYOGOKU PETER PAN” and has made several appearances for DDT since then, wearing as much red as Eva Marie. Makoto Oishi took part in a bunch of Idol Lumberjack Death Matches just so he could hang out with his favourite popstars. Ladybeard is a cross dressing gaijin heavy metal singer and part time wrestler who is currently dominating Union’s women’s division. Those three have bonded over how cute they are and they’re calling themselves the Cute Connection. Then on the other team you have joshi monster Aja Kong, Happy Motel founder Antonio Honda and the most patriotic American in Japan Hiroshi Fukuda.

4. Street Wrestling Match: Sanshiro Takagi & Jun Kasai Vs Minoru Suzuki & Michael Nakazawa

So some of you may have been watching the G1 Climax this year and thought “Gee, that Minoru Suzuki fella is pretty great. I wonder what he will be up to after this?” Well he’s going to be brawling around Sumo Hall with Sanshiro Takagi, Jun Kasai and Michael Nakazawa, that’s what he is up to next. In a parody of John Cena Vs The Rock, DDT booked Takagi Vs Suzuki as their Once In A Lifetime match two years ago. The rivalry came back to life at the beginning of this year when Nakazawa used Suzuki as his secret weapon to beat Takagi in a Weapons Rumble match. Sensing the advantages of staying with Suzuki and being more desperate for attention than an indie wrestler with a Twitter account, Nakazawa asked to be coached by him so he could become a hybrid fighter. It took a couple of months but Suzuki finally agreed and put Nakazawa through a hellish training program. Nakazawa came out of it learning the Hybrid Venom Arm Sleeper and has been winning matches with the move left, right and centre since then. Takagi needed to find someone to team with and found just the man crazy enough to fight Suzuki, Jun Kasai! Not only that but they constructed a special combat bicycle to use against the hybrid fighters. With the teams set, DDT decided to bump up the annual Street Wrestling dark match into the main card for such a heated rivalry.

5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masa Takanashi (c) Vs Keisuke Ishii, Shigehiro Irie & Soma Takao

If it wasn’t for the existence of the Iron Man Title, then the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles would be known as the hot potato of DDT. Ever since its creation in 2013 no team has been able to defend the belt more than twice. Shuten-dōji are the current holders, they are a trio who formed over their shared love of alcohol. Their leader KUDO had mixed fortunes during the Spring, winning the KO-D Title in March only to lose it one month later. Yukio Sakaguchi is one of the most dangerous fighters in the roster due to his MMA background. His presence is always a little jarring in DDT but he seems to fit in with the nonsense that goes on around him. Rounding out the team is Masa Takanashi, the little guy with a high tolerance for liquor. Challenging them for the belts is Team Dream Futures. Formed as a united attempt to take over DDT’s main event scene Keisuke Ishii, Shigehiro Irie & Soma Takao are the most tightly knit unit in the company. Irie in particular has seen a lot of success, being a former KO-D Champion and one half of last year’s Ryogoku main event. Also Irie and Ishii held the All Asia Tag Team Titles in All Japan, only losing them today as I type this (bloody wonderful timing there). Meanwhile Soma Takao is doing… I don’t know. He takes a back seat to Ishii & Irie’s plans. With that being said, Takao is currently undefeated at “PETER PAN” shows. Ever since his debut match at the very first “PETER PAN” show in 2009, Takao has had a 5-0 record at DDT’s biggest show of the year (6-0 if you include both of last year’s Sumo Hall shows, Day 1 was not a “PETER PAN” show). While this isn’t on the level of the the most important streak in wrestling today (*cough*R.D. Evans*cough*), it is still a pretty impressive record. He’s probably going to get pinned now that I said it.

6. DDT Extreme Title – Important Something Timed Blast Death Match: Danshoku Dino (c) Vs Muscle Sakai

The DDT Extreme Title has been associated with Danshoku Dino for a lot of its 8 year existence. Dino is a seven time champion and has come up with plenty of bizarre match stipulations in the past. Dino was given the opportunity to choose his challenger for DDT’s biggest show of the year. He wanted a match with a close friend and one of DDT’s more memorable wrestlers, Muscle Sakai. Despite being retired, Sakai reappeared on the scene last year under the Super Sasadango Machine gimmick. Even when his cover was blown he kept wrestling under the mask. This year he became an expert in using Powerpoint presentations and used his knowledge to create the Lehman Shock, a Wrist Clutch Impaler DDT that depletes 35% of a wrestler’s health points. If used three times in a match it guarantees victory (unless it’s used against HARASHIMA who always wrestles with 110% HP). Now back as himself, Sakai has a powerful move in his arsenal. He also had sex with a cross dresser to prepare for Dino’s hyper homosexual offence. Dino decided that he and Sakai will fight in an Important Something Blast Death Match. A blast of some sort will happen at ringside after the 10 minute mark. Dino admits he was lazy with coming up with the idea. However he and Sakai demand that every person who criticises their idea should apologise to Atsushi Onita and Terry Funk for showing disrespect.

7. Special Single Match: Kota Ibushi Vs Shuji Kondo

A poorly timed concussion prevented Kota Ibushi from being involved in both this year’s G1 Climax and from celebrating his tenth year in pro wrestling. With Sumo Hall confirmed as the location for his return match, Ibushi picked Shuji Kondo from Wrestle-1 to be his opponent. The two competed together years ago in El Dorado and dragondoor. Ibushi looks up to Kondo and could not be happier to get the match against him. Ibushi confirms that he was given the all clear and isn’t anxious at all to return to the ring.

8. Special Single Match: Konosuke Takeshita Vs Hiroshi Tanahashi

The Present versus the Future. This is DDT’s big crossover match for the year as their rookie phenomenon Konosuke Takeshita takes on New Japan’s biggest star Hiroshi Tanahashi. Takeshita’s year saw him form a team with Tetsuya Endo and wrestle the Golden Lovers to a 30 minute draw. They also became allies with Antonio Honda and formed a unit called Happy Motel. When this match was announced Takeshita said he wasn’t impressed with Tanahashi’s moniker of being a once in a century talent. Why? Because Takeshita is a one in 200 million million years (including Jurassic era) talent! Oddly enough, Takeshita did not watch any of Tanahashi’s matches during the G1. He did not dare watch a second so he could experience his matches for himself when they both get in the ring.

9. KO-D Openweight Title – 3 Way Match: HARASHIMA (c) Vs Kenny Omega Vs Isami Kodaka

For the first time a 3 Way match main events DDT’s biggest show of the year. HARASHIMA has been DDT’s John Cena this year, holding the KO-D Openweight Title for most of the last twelve months. He’s been happy to wrestle any challenger and in the end overcame every obstacle in his way with the Somato. When the Right To Challenge Anytime, Anywhere contracts came into play HARASHIMA defended the belt against all comers. He even had two successful defences back to back on the same day. When Union’s Isami Kodaka was the dark horse winner of the King Of DDT tournament, everyone expected him and HARASHIMA to be the Sumo Hall main event. Then Kenny Omega came in with the final Right To Challenge Contract and fought HARASHIMA to a Double KO stalemate. With two viable contenders available DDT decided to have both of them face the champion at Sumo Hall. Will HARASHIMA win again? Will Kenny climb back to the top of the DDT mountain? Or will Isami bring DDT’s biggest prize back to Union?