Dramatic DDT

DDT “NEW YEAR’S DAY GIFT SPECIAL! ALL SEATS 3,000 YEN SPECIAL BOX OFFICE!! 2021”, 03/01/2021
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
713 Fans – Super No Vacancy Full House

1. Keigo Nakamura defeated Hideki Okatani with a Cradle (7:42).
2. Antonio Honda 43rd Birthday & 16th Anniversary Debut Match: Antonio Honda defeated Choun-Shiryu with the Diving Fist Drop (9:14).
3. Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & Gota Ihashi defeated Toru Owashi, Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Toui Kojima when Sakaguchi pinned Kojima with the PK (9:37).
4. Mad Paulie, Nobuhiro Shimatani & Hiroshi Yamato defeated Makoto Oishi, Mizuki Watase & Yukio Naya when Paulie pinned Watase with the Reverse Splash (12:19).
5. 1 Vs 3 Handicap Match: Shinya Aoki, Danshoku Dieno & Super Sasadango Machine defeated Sanshiro Takagi when Aoki pinned Takagi with a Jackknife Pin (10:00).
6. Konosuke Takeshita, Shunma Katsumata, MAO & Yuki Ueno defeated Akito, Kazuki Hirata, Shota & Keisuke Ishii when Ueno pinned Shota with the BME (14:34).
7. Tetsuya Endo, Soma Takao & Yuji Hino (w/ Daisuke Sasaki) defeated HARASHIMA, Kazusada Higuchi & Chris Brookes when Endo pinned Brookes with the Shooting Star Press (17:18).

The first DDT show of 2021 was almost entirely a surprise card. The audience only knew what the matches were once they were ready to begin. For the main event HARASHIMA, Kazusada Higuchi & Chris Brookes joined forces to fight DAMNATION. While all of DAMNATION were at ringside, Daisuke Sasaki got directly involved by grabbing Brookes by the leg. Yuji Hino brought it to both HARASHIMA & Higuchi. Soma Takao overheard Higuchi insult CIMA which spurred him on to fight through the Brain Claw. Tetsuya Endo got the win in the end by hitting Brookes with Tetsuya In The Sky, the Swivel Torture Rack Bomb and finally the Shooting Star Press. Endo looked over to Jun Akiyama at the commentary table while the pin was counted.

Shouting was heard over by the entrance after the match. It was Yuki Iino calling for Hino’s attention while the rest of ALL OUT tried to hold him back. Iino pushed his teammates back, entered the ring and demanded to face Hino in an arm wrestling contest on the canvas. Hino was confused but he accepted the challenge and won. Iino got mad over losing and had to be held back again while Konosuke Takeshita introduced him to Hino. He then explained that Iino’s return match from injury will be at “KAWASAKI STRONG 2021” on 14th February when ALL OUT takes on DAMNATION. He then suggested that Iino and Hino have a singles match at the next big event after that. Hisaya Imabayashi agreed to book Iino Vs Hino in Nagoya on 23rd February. ALL OUT dragged Iino away while Endo took the microphone and warned Akiyama that he is always ready. Endo closed out the show by saying this year he is aiming for more than just the Tokyo Sports MVP Award. He wants to make scandalous news stories with glamourous women in the tabloids too!

Another 8-Man Tag pitted the two new units that have unexpectedly taken over DDT in the last few months. All four members of the DDT Sauna Club came out first, followed by the Young Communication Generation. The latter team then surprised everyone by bringing out Keisuke Ishii! Akito warned him about the Sauna Club’s “Heat Wave WER!!” pose but he didn’t understand it. Kazuki Hirata did a Plancha to the outside while Ishii did his work. The Sauna Club isolated Shota and piled on the top rope moves to him. Shunma Katsumata, MAO & Yuki Ueno hit Diving Body Presses one after the other but Ueno’s pin was broken up. Shota caught Ueno in the Gannosuke Clutch but MAO was there to break that pin up. Ueno got to recover and beat Shota with the BME. Backstage Ishii said it was the first time in a long while he wrestled in DDT (not counting BOYZ) and he would like to appear more in 2021 to be with his friends in Young Communication again. Shota wants to make it a year where Ganbare☆Pro doesn’t lose to DDT. Meanwhile Katsumata wants to make 2021 the year of the Sauna Club!

One of the matches was supposed to be Sanshiro Takagi & Danshoku Dieno Vs Shinya Aoki & Super Sasadango Machine. But backstage before the match Dieno, Aoki & Sasadango were all complaining about Takagi’s tweets including one that where Takagi was showing off his calves. The three of them instead decided to gang up on Takagi in a Handicap Match and purposely target his calf. Aoki put him in a Jail Hold while Dieno & Sasadango brought out a bag containing some of Takagi’s personal belongings. Sasadango found Takagi’s wallet, pulled out 29,000 yen in cash and raffled it off to three fans in the audience. Dieno eventually thought things went overboard and he felt sorry for Takagi. It is thanks to Takagi that they get to wrestle this year so the best New Year’s gift is to give Takagi his first win of 2021. Sasadango agreed and with Dieno they both attacked Aoki. Dieno is still recovering from the fire extinguisher attack to his rear but Takagi forced to go into the Hell Gate position. That lost him Sasadango’s support and Takagi was thrown face first into the Hell Gate. Aoki kicked Takagi in the calf, Sasadango did the Vertical Drop Lehmann Shock and Aoki pinned him with a Jackknife. Backstage Sasadango offered to be on Aoki’s team at “KAWASAKI STRONG 2021” because they should be fighting for a better goal than satisfying Takagi’s desires. They like Takagi but will not be used by him anymore!

As Takagi was leaving the ring after his match, he was suddenly approached at ringside by Yusuke Okada! The former All Japan wrestler introduced himself to the audience and told them he wants to experience a new world of pro wrestling now that he became freelance. He asked Takagi if he could have a match in DDT. Takagi questioned his interest in DDT after seeing the match that just happened. He then passed the request over to Imabayashi, who wasn’t expecting that. Imabayashi told Okada he will book him on next week’s Korakuen Hall show on 9th January.

DAMNATION’s good run begun earlier in the show when Mad Paulie, Nobuhiro Shimatani & Hiroshi Yamato beat Makoto Oishi, Mizuki Watase & Yukio Naya. Paulie threw Yamato onto Watase with an X-Style Iconoclasm. Shimatani then hopped onto Paulie’s back and they jumped on top of Watase for a nearfall when Oishi & Naya broke it up. Paulie then hit Watase with a Lariat and won with the Reverse Splash.

Gota Ihashi didn’t get to wrestle in Korakuen Hall last year so he wanted to make up for lost time. This year he wants to join a unit and rampage all over DDT. There is only one unit he wants to join and that’s Eruption! He came out with his own custom entrance video wearing an Eruption coat made out of posters. He even drew his own version of the Eruption logo calling it Ihaption. Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai were bemused over this but it kind of worked out in the end. Akai gave Toru Owashi a Brainbuster and Ihashi went toe to toe with Tomomitsu Matsunaga. Eruption(?) then focused their attacks on Toui Kojima. Ihashi almost lost the match when he missed the Moonsault. Akai kicked Ihashi out of frustration and Sakaguchi tagged himself in to finish Kojima off. Sakaguchi & Akai had enough of Ihashi and walked off on him backstage. However he believes he can continue teaming with Eruption and together they can all go after the KO-D 8-Man Tag Team Titles.

Antonio Honda’s big day was almost ruined when he tripped on the ropes and hurt his knee. Choun-Shiryu knew what was coming and attacked Honda before he could tell his latest Gongitsune joke. Honda lived up to the big occasion though and hit a Topé Suicida and the Tenzan Tombstone Driver on route to victory.

The first DDT match of 2021 was Keigo Nakamura’s first ever singles victory! He defeated his generation rival Hideki Okatani by cradling his way out of the Double Arm Suplex. Nakamura currently has a 1-3 record against Okatani so he wants to reverse the numbers this year.

Some more matches were booked for “KAWASAKI STRONG 2021”. Akai will be teaming with Maya Yukihi from Ice Ribbon to take on Saori Anou & Miyako Matsumoto. Yukihi said she discovered DDT more than 10 years ago so she is deeply moved to be wrestling a match for them. She thought she was going to fight against Akai but Imabayashi corrected her. Akai always wanted to team with her because she is beautiful and strong. She is also excited to face Anou again. When Imabayashi asked Akai & Yukihi about Matsumoto, they both declined to answer. They were asked again backstage and Yukihi finally had something to say. “In terms of strength, beauty and glamour, Miyako-san will never the best.”

The New Year’s Shuffle Tag Tournament winners Smile Pissari will team again at the Culttz Kawasaki show. HARASHIMA & Yuji Okabayashi will face a team yet to be determined.

Takagi will return to the battlefield for his next DDT Extreme Title defence. He takes on Nabe Yakan from Best Body Pro Wrestling on 10th January. The match was made when earlier in the day Yakan led a bunch of soldiers armed with air guns into the locker room to steal the Extreme Title belt.