Dramatic DDT

“NEW YEAR’S EVE WRESTLING 2017”, 31/12/2017
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,411 Fans

1. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1: Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi defeated Ryota Hama & Soma Takao when Sekimoto pinned Takao after a missed Okido Press from Hama (6:06).
2. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1: Kazuki Hashimoto & Akito defeated Kota Sekifuda & Ryota Nakatsu when Akito submitted Nakatsu with the Perfect Figure 4 Leg Lock (4:32).
3. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1: Brahman Kei & Daisuke Sasaki (w/ Brahman Shu) defeated Antonio Honda & Takuya Nomura (w/ Jaki Numazawa) when Sasaki pinned Honda after the Syachihoko Clutch (7:21).
4. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1: Danshoku Dino & Daichi Hashimoto defeated Keisuke Ishii & Takayuki Ueki when Dino pinned Ueki with the Danshoku Screwdriver (9:53).
5. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1: HARASHIMA & Yuko Miyamoto defeated Yukio Sakaguchi & Yuya Aoki when Miyamoto pinned Aoki with the Fire Thunder (3:28).
6. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1: Isami Kodaka & Yoshihisa Uto defeated Masahiro Takanashi & Tatsuhiko Yoshino when Uto pinned Yoshino with the Axis Fall (6:34).
7. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1: Abdullah Kobayashi & Colt Cabana defeated Minoru Fujita & Shunma Katsumata when Kobayashi submitted Katsumata with a Crab Hold (4:21).
8. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 1: Great Kojika & Tetsuya Koda Vs Hideki Suzuki & Konosuke Takeshita ended in a Time Limit Draw (10:00).
8a. Sudden Death – 1 Count Fall: Hideki Suzuki & Konosuke Takeshita defeated Great Kojika & Tetsuya Koda when Takeshita pinned Kojika with a Rope Assisted School Boy (1:38).
9. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 2: Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi defeated Kazuki Hashimoto & Akito when Higuchi pinned Akito with a Japanese Leg Roll Clutch (1:52).
10. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 2: Brahman Shu & Daisuke Sasaki (w/ Brahman Kei) defeated Danshoku Dino & Daichi Hashimoto when Shu pinned Dino with a School Boy (8:09).
11. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 2: HARASHIMA & Yuko Miyamoto defeated Isami Kodaka & Yoshihisa Uto when HARASHIMA pinned Uto with the Somato (9:57).
12. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Round 2: Hideki The Brody & Jimmy Takeshita Vs Stan Kobayashi & Colt “Boom Boom” Butcher ended in a No Contest after a Referee Assault (2:17).
12a. Sudden Death – 1 Count Fall: Hideki The Brodie & Jimmy Takeshita defeated Stan Kobayashi & Colt “Boom Boom” Butcher by Countout (2:50).
13. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Semi Final: Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi defeated HARASHIMA & Yuko Miyamoto when Sekimoto pinned Miyamoto with the Roll Through German Suplex (9:47).
14. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Semi Final: Hideki The Brody & Jimmy Takeshita defeated Brahman Kei & Daisuke Sasaki (w/ Brahman Shu) when Takeshita pinned Kei with the Superfly Splash (7:02).
15. TAKA Michinoku 25th Anniversary Match: Kotaro Yoshino, Dinosaur Takuma, Kazumi Kikuta & MAO defeated TAKA Michinoku, Dick Togo, Ryuji Ito & Sanshiro Takagi when MAO pinned Michinoku with a School Boy (13:16).
16. Shuffle Tag Tournament – Final: Hideki Suzuki & Konosuke Takeshita defeated Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi when Suzuki pinned Higuchi with the Double Arm Suplex (12:44).

DDT and Big Japan ended 2017 and begun 2018 with what they usually do at this time every year, a big pro wrestling get together at Korakuen Hall! This year’s tag team tournament was themed around one wrestler from each company joining forces. Every pairing also had their own custom team name too.

Round 1

Sekiguchi-gumi Vs Hamamatsu. The show kicked off with Daisuke Sekimoto & Kazusada Higuchi entering the ring both wearing sunglasses and carrying samurai swords. They won over Ryota Hama & Soma Takao in a match where Hama made the most impact. First he squashed Higuchi with a Hip Attack in the corner. But then he squashed Takao by accident when he missed the Okido Press. Sekimoto pinned a lifeless Takao to win. Hama tried to apologise to Takao afterwards but Takao was too afraid to approach him.

Team Hitomishiri Vs Team 14. Pretty simple first round win for Kazuki Hashimoto & Akito. Although Kota Sekifuda dove onto Hashimoto, he was nowhere to be found when Akito locked Ryota Nakatsu into the Perfect Figure 4 Leg Lock. Sekifuda & Nakatsu didn’t get much time in the ring together but they would like to team up again someday, maybe in next year’s tournament.

Charming Dolls Vs Charisma Brahman. Throughout the night the Brahman Brothers switched back and forth to team with Daisuke Sasaki in their matches. For the first match, Brahman Kei was the legal participant. Sasaki gleefully joined in with their act of throwing water at the audience during their entrance. Meanwhile Takuya Nomura wore identical wrestling gear to Antonio Honda and they were accompanied by Jaki Numzawa in their corner. The match broke down into a 6 Way at one point when Brahman Shu and Numazawa got involved in the fighting. Kei accidentally blinded Sasaki with the black ink. Nomura grabbed the Brahmans’ bucket of water and threw it at them in the corner. But Sasaki & Kei rallied to pin Honda with the Crucifix And Jackknife pinning combination. As the Brahmans walked off they had an idea. For the next match they should become Charisma like Sasaki!

Hakai Kyodai Vs With Love And Enthrallment And Reassurance. Keisuke Ishii & Takayuki Ueki came out dressed as Ryu and Zangief from Street Fighter. At first they acted like the characters but Ueki then got so frustrated by Danshoku Dino & Daichi Hashimoto that he pulled out his gun. Ueki held Dino hostage and demanded that they switch tights so he could possess Dino’s Danshoku skills. Unfortunately Ueki slipped off the top rope and crotched himself. Dino, now wearing the Zangief tights, gave Ueki a Zangief style Spinning Piledriver to advance his team to the next round.

Smile Yankee Vs Team Yokohama. The match begun quickly when Yukio Sakaguchi & Yuya Aoki attacked HARASHIMA & Yuko Miyamoto. But once Smile Yankee isolated Aoki it didn’t take long for them to put him down. Sakaguchi apologised to Aoki for coming up with the reckless plan but Aoki apologised too for being weak.

Yoshino-ka Vs Jikujion. Masahiro Takanashi joined in with Tatsuhiko Yoshino’s local boy gimmick. Yoshihisa Uto carried Isami Kodaka on his shoulders for their entrance but accidentally whacked Kodaka’s head off of the stage. This would happen for all of their matches tonight. Kodaka trusted Uto to carry both him and his victim of a Superplex but Uto struggled to pull it off. He finally succeeded but Kodaka was hurt in the process as if he was given a German Suplex. The move worked well enough to pin Yoshino though.

Shunma To Minoru Vs KobaCabana. Minoru Fujita wanted to sing along with Shunma Katsumata during their entrance but his microphone was switched off for a lot of it. He also wore a strand of barbwire disguised as a headband around his forehead. Sadly their idol behaviour didn’t work and they both submitted to Abdullah Kobayashi & Colt Cabana.

Great To Mago Vs Most Strongest Combi. In a rare occurrence for this tournament, only one match in the entire show went to a time limit draw. The combined skills of Hideki Suzuki & Konosuke Takeshita were not enough to figure out The Great Kojika in under 10 minutes. Tetsuya Endo tried his best to beat Takeshita for the second time in two days but the time ran out during their skirmish. 1 Count Pinfalls were activated for overtime and Kojika surprisingly came close to pinning Takeshita with the Iron Claw. Shockingly, Suzuki pulled the referee away to stop him from counting. Takeshita then used the distraction to School Boy Kojika and Suzuki held down his feet onto the ropes for leverage. Yes, it took that much cheating to pin The Great Kojika for one second!

Round 2

Sekiguchi-gumi Vs Team Hitomishiri. The first bout of Round 2 ended in quick fashion when Higuchi of all people pinned Akito with a Rolling Leg Clutch. Akito & Hashimoto tried to tap out their opponents with Scorpion Locks and Ankle Locks but it wasn’t enough. Akito promised to keep in touch with Hashumoto through LINE.

Charisma Brahman Vs Hakai Kyodai. This time Brahman Shu was teaming with Sasaki. Also this time the Brahmans dressed like Sasaki and were also armed with plates filled with…well…some sort of foul substance I don’t want to think about. Sasaki accidentally got a face full of it. At one point Dino suddenly started grabbing around his partner and pulled out Ueki’s gun from his pants! Sasaki and the Brahmans stopped him with a traffic sign attack then made him sit onto a chair with the plate of dirt placed on it. Sasaki took out toilet roll to wipe the substance off of Dino’s backside and then rub it into his face. Shu then pinned Dino with a School Boy to end the madness. The Brahmans praised Sasaki for his technique in using the plate.

Smile Yankee Vs Jikujion. Uto again carried Kodaka head first into the entrance stage. Their double team Suplex attempt off the top rope failed when Miyamoto held onto HARASHIMA to keep him on the corner. Uto ended up just giving Kodaka a German Suplex instead. Miyamoto dropped Uto with a Fire Thunder then narrowly rolled out of the way of HARASHIMA’s Somato. That was it for Uto & Kodaka’s run in the tournament.

KobaCabana? Vs Most Strongest Combi?. Due to earlier injuries dealt to everyone involved in this match, both teams had to be replaced. Luckily a bunch of “legends” happened to be in the building and stepped in to fill the gap. Suzuki & Takeshita were replaced by Hideki The Brody & Jimmy Takeshita while Kobayashi & Cabana were replaced by Stan Kobayashi & Colt “Boom Boom” Butcher. The two teams brawled with each other around the ring and then all threatened to attack Yukinori Matsui with their weapons. The match ended in a Double DQ because of the threats and had to be restarted. The four then brawled up towards the crowd and Brodie wrapped his chain around both Kobayashi & Cabana. He held them back while Takeshita crawled back to the ring to win the match by countout. When the match was over they all re-entered the ring and attacked a ringside assistant with their finishing moves.

Japan Indie Grand Prize Awards

Samurai TV and Occupation Of The Indies held their annual Japan Indie Grand Prize awards after Round 2. The MVP Award went to Hideki Suzuki. The Best Bout Award went to the Big Japan match between Masashi Takeda Vs Masaya Takahashi from 17th December. Best Unit went to DAMNATION. Best Show went to Big Japan for their 17th November outdoor event in Ueno Park. Best Newcomer went to Andre The Giant Panda. The Special Achievement Award was given to the late Mr. Pogo.

Semi Finals

Sekiguchi-gumi Vs Smile Yankee. A random drawing put together the semi final matchups. Lariats from Sekimoto & Higuchi were the difference maker. Miyamoto also wasn’t prepared for Sekimoto to roll him into the German Suplex from the ropes.

Charisma Brahman Vs Most Strongest Combi. Remember when I said the madness was over? It came back. Suzuki & Takeshita were still in their legend gimmicks and this time they had Kobayashi & Cabana on their side to combat Sasaki & The Brahmans’ tricks. Kei was isolated from his teammates and was put through the Western Lariat, the King Kong Knee Drop, the Poisoned Elbow Drop and finally the Superfly Splash to lose the match. Sasaki and The Brahmans still threw water at the audience afterwards.

TAKA Michinoku 25th Anniversary Match

The final pro wrestling match of 2017 in Japan was TAKA Michinoku’s 25th Anniversary match. He led a veteran team of K-DOJO, Big Japan and DDT wrestlers to face some of the new generation coming from those companies. MAO became a butt of a joke by being the victim of a never ending Corner Train Attack featuring everyone else in the match, loads of wrestlers who weren’t in the match and even one of the Samurai TV cameramen! Cabana was involved too but he just wanted to take a selfie with MAO. This went on for so long that the countdown to the new year began. In the final seconds Michinoku charged in but MAO rolled him over with a School Boy to pin him right as the clock struck zero! Happy new year!

Final

Sekiguchi-gumi Vs Most Strongest Combi. The tournament final is the first wrestling match in Japan of 2018. Suzuki & Takeshita were now back to normal. Both teams threw all that they had left at each other. It all came down to Higuchi and Suzuki fighting each other. Higuchi hit the Doctor Bomb but it wasn’t enough. Takeshita gave Higuchi a Dragon Suplex and Suzuki followed it up with a Dragon Suplex of his own. Higuchi kicked out! Suzuki then used the Double Arm Suplex and that wasn enough to beat Higuchi. The Most Strongest Combi are the Shuffle Tag Tournament winners! When they were given the rewards Takeshita joked that they only wrestled twice in the tournament this year and still won. Suzuki said he was honoured to fight Sekimoto & Higuchi. He also bragged that he wasn’t feeling tired at all. Sekimoto grabbed the microphone and swore into it.