Dramatic DDT

DDT “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2013”, 18/08/2013
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

0. Dark Match: Akito & Guanchulo Vs FUMA & Daichi Kazato
0. Dark Match – KO-D 6-Man Tag Title Next Challenger Decision – Falls Count Anywhere: Antonio Honda, Hoshitango & Jun Kasai Vs Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi & Akebono
1. Next KO-D Tag Team Title Challenger Finals: KUDO & Yasu Urano Vs Daisuke Sasaki & Yuji Hino Vs Keisuke Ishii & Takao Soma Vs Kenny Omega & Gota Ihashi
2. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – “Research Group” Presents Battle Royal: Komyo (c) Vs Yoshihiko Vs MIKAMI Vs Michael Nakazawa Vs Tomomitsu Matsunaga Vs Kazuki Hirata Vs Gorgeous Matsuno Vs DJ Nira Vs Rion Mizuki Vs Yuto Aijima Vs Mitomi Masayuki Vs Shuji Ishikawa Vs Seiya Morohashi
3. Saki Akai Debut Match: Masa Takanashi, Cherry & Saki Akai Vs Hiroshi Fukuda, Yoshiko & Hikaru Shida
4. Special Single Match: Katsuhiko Nakajima Vs Konosuke Takeshita
5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Kensuke Sasaki, Danshoku Dino & Makoto Oishi (c) Vs Winners Of Dark Match
6. KO-D Tag Team Titles: Hikaru Sato & Yukio Sakaguchi (c) Vs Yuko Miyamoto & Isami Kodaka
7. Dramatic Dream Match: Kota Ibushi Vs Kazuchika Okada
8. KO-D Openweight Title: Shigehiro Irie (c) Vs HARASHIMA

After having a go inside Budokan Hall last year for an event that luckily did not end with a satellite filled with dynamite falling from the sky and crashing into the building, DDT brings its annual Peter Pan supershow back to Sumo Hall. This time around Sanshiro Takagi’s crazy idea is to hold two shows inside Sumo Hall in the same weekend. While the first show focuses more on the entertainment side of DDT, this show right here is the culmination of everything DDT has done for the last 12 months. We have two generations of DDT aces fighting over the KO-D Championship, we have a dream match I never thought would happen between the Golden Star and the Rainmaker, we have the company’s most promising young wrestler going against one of modern wrestling’s best prodigies, we have a painting defending a championship against a bunch of people including a blow up doll and we have Akebono in a dark match. What more could you want from DDT?

0. Dark Match: Akito & Guanchulo Vs FUMA & Daichi Kazato

The afternoon begins with a dark match featuring the young lions of DDT and Union. Out of the four Akito has made the most progress this year regularly teaming with Masa Takanashi and Yukio Sakaguchi. The highlight of which was when he and Sakaguchi fought New Japan invaders Jushin Liger and Hiromu Takahashi back in February. Guanchulo arrived from Chile along with Aggressor for a learning excursion throughout the year. Aggressor returned home in June but Guanchulo extended his stay and is a last minute replacement for the injured Tetsuya Endo. FUMA was very active when he adopted his new name and tried to usurp KUDO’s spot in Ura-Shima-Kudo. Daichi Kazato is slowly but surely emerging from the dark match level in Union.

0. Dark Match – KO-D 6-Man Tag Title Next Challenger Decision – Falls Count Anywhere: Antonio Honda, Hoshitango & Jun Kasai Vs Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi & Akebono

The traditional Falls Count Anywhere Tag Team dark match makes its return. Sure it wouldn’t be a Peter Pan show without it. This time around there is a prize at stake. The winners will move onto the main card where they will receive a KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Title shot. The Monster Army gain a violent ally in the form of Jun Kasai. Sanshiro Takagi and Toru Owashi fired back with a big pick, Ribera’s favourite son Akebono!

1. Next KO-D Tag Team Title Challenger Finals: KUDO & Yasu Urano Vs Daisuke Sasaki & Yuji Hino Vs Keisuke Ishii & Takao Soma Vs Kenny Omega & Gota Ihashi

A lot of guys I like are in this match. It’s a shame that many of them have been put here instead of somewhere more important on the card. Still, you can expect a fast paced sprint and maybe a great KO-D Tag Team Title match to look forward to in the future.

2. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – “Research Group” Presents Battle Royal: Komyo (c) Vs Yoshihiko Vs MIKAMI Vs Michael Nakazawa Vs Tomomitsu Matsunaga Vs Kazuki Hirata Vs Gorgeous Matsuno Vs DJ Nira Vs Rion Mizuki Vs Yuto Aijima Vs Mitomi Masayuki Vs Shuji Ishikawa Vs Seiya Morohashi

The illustrious history of the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title added another fascinating entry to its hall of champions back in June. Komyo  (Guangming is another translation but I don’t think it’s the ring one) is a portrait painted by Akihiro Miwa who among other things is an actor, an author, an artist and a drag queen. Komyo was presented to DJ Nira as a bonus prize when he won the Iron Man Title. However the painting was too large and heavy for Nira to carry. The painting fell on top of Nira and ended up pinning him to win the championship. Since then Komyo has been kept under wraps by the “Research Group” and this match will be the first appearance by the champion since it won the belt. Furthermore, the “Research Group” has hired Shuji Ishikawa and Seiya Morohashi to be Komyo’s bodyguards for the match against the usual mix of DDT’s finest and oddest. Contrary to rumours, the ghost of Andre The Giant will not be competing in the Battle Royal. However I cannot rule out the ghost of Naoshi Sano’s career showing up.

3. Saki Akai Debut Match: Masa Takanashi, Cherry & Saki Akai Vs Hiroshi Fukuda, Yoshiko & Hikaru Shida

With Yuzuki Aikawa’s days of bouncing around the ring now over, it’s now time for another model to become a pro wrestler. Enter Saki Akai, the daughter of actor and retired boxer Hidekazu Akai. Masa Takanashi and Cherry have been busy training her and will be teaming with her on the show. Their opponents Yoshiko and Hikaru Shida offered some advice to Akai at a recent press conference. Yoshiko warned that she could break Akai’s bones while Shida, who knows Akai from their time working together on the TV show Muscle Girl said that friendships do not matter inside the ring. Shida also thinks it sucks that she has to team with Hiroshi Fukuda.

4. Special Single Match: Katsuhiko Nakajima Vs Konosuke Takeshita

What a year it has been for Konosuke Takeshita. The 18 year old rookie debuted at Budokan Hall against the hero to Mexican orphans everywhere El Generico (and by that point he was already a former Iron Man Champion). Since then he has been a ball of energy with some impressive performances for a teenager in his first year of wrestling. He took some crazy bumps from the Golden Lovers in separate matches, stepped in the ring with Tatsumi Fujinami and was also pinned Poison Sawada JULIE in his retirement match. His most impressive achievement yet was defeating Masa Takanashi and Yasu Urano to reach the semi final of the King of DDT tournament. Oh, and he recently had an hour long Ironman dark match. Now exactly one year after his debut Takeshita is pitted against another wrestling prodigy, Katsuhiko Nakajima!

5. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Kensuke Sasaki, Danshoku Dino & Makoto Oishi (c) Vs Winners Of Dark Match

The KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles were introduced in December and crowned its first champions a month later. In its brief history the title has had few successful defences. In fact, the Monster Army are the only champions to have made at least one successful defence. The current champions are of Kensuke Sasaki, Danshoku Dino and Makoto Oishi. As odd as it is for Sasaki to team with Dino and Oishi, it’s still not as weird as the time he thought he was American.

6. KO-D Tag Team Titles: Hikaru Sato & Yukio Sakaguchi (c) Vs Yuko Miyamoto & Isami Kodaka

My dark horse pick for match of the show. Hikaru Sato & Yukio Sakaguchi defend the KO-D Tag Team Titles against Yankii Ni Cho Kenju (or Yankee Two Kenju or Yankee Trillion Pistols, I couldn’t figure out the correct translation). Isami Kodaka stepped up his game this year, taking Shuji Ishikawa’s role as the ace of Union and battling with Kenny Omega over the DDT Extreme Title. He recently brought Yuko Miyamoto into DDT to form their successful Big Japan team and they quickly climbed the ranks to get this title shot. Meanwhile Sakaguchi began to make sense of DDT and even found himself defending the promotion from Jushin Liger at one point. He and fellow shoot fighter Hikaru Sato have held the titles since May and defended against a mixture of veterans and promising rookies.

7. Dramatic Dream Match: Kota Ibushi Vs Kazuchika Okada

The match everyone is looking forward to from the moment it was announced. Unless you have been living under a rock, you would know that Kota Ibushi recently moved up to heavyweight status and competed in the G1 Climax for New Japan. As part of the deal between New Japan and DDT, the IWGP Champion Kazuchika Okada (and hopefully Gedo too) comes over for a dream match against Ibushi. So we are getting the Golden Star against The Rainmaker and I for one am quite excited for it.

8. KO-D Openweight Title: Shigehiro Irie (c) Vs HARASHIMA

The actual main event has been overshadowed by Ibushi Vs Okada but it is a pretty important match for DDT. Shigehiro Irie won the KO-D Openweight Championship in March and since then has created the most dominant title reign in DDT history. This was helped by the creation of four Right To Challenge Anytime, Anywhere Contracts that allowed its holders to get a KO-D Title shot at whenever they wanted during DDT’s events. Makoto Oishi, Keisuke Ishii, Daisuke Sasaki and Big Japan’s Yuji Okabayashi all cashed in and left with nothing. Add to that some victories over Yukio Sakaguchi, Kota Ibushi, Hikaru Sato and Sanshiro Takagi and you have yourself a very impressive title reign. But there is someone Irie hasn’t faced yet and that man is one of DDT’s best. HARASHIMA is never far away from the No. 1 Contender position and he earned his main event spot by winning this year’s King of DDT tournament. Irie has never beaten HARASHIMA in a singles match. While he has come close with a time limit draw here and there, it’s been mostly HARASHIMA left standing on top. Will we get the same result or will Irie finally beat the one man he never could?