Dramatic DDT

DDT “BLACK OUT PRESENTS KING OF DDT 2017 FINAL ROUND”, 25/06/2017
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,333 Fans – No Vacancy

0. Dark Match: Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Kouki Iwasaki defeated Danny Duggan & Daiki Shimomura when Iwasaki pinned Shimomura with a Vertical Drop Brainbuster (7:10).
1. Rocky’s Departure! Special 6-Man Tag Match “Friendship Of The Fire”: Rocky Kawamura, Saki Akai & Antonio Honda defeated Toru Owashi, Hirata Collection A.T. & Soma Takao when Kawamura pinned Hirata with an Uppercut (7:00).
2. King Of DDT 2017 – Semi Final: HARASHIMA defeated Shigehiro Irie with a Crucifix Pin (2:47).
3. King Of DDT 2017 – Semi Final: Tetsuya Endo defeated Akito with a Roll Up (11:30).
4. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: KUDO, Yukio Sakaguchi & Masahiro Takanashi defeated Makoto Oishi, Shunma Katsumata & MAO (c) when Takanashi pinned Oishi with the Takatonic (7:12).
*NωA fails in V4. Shuten-dōji becomes the 30th KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions!
5. Pro Wrestling Version Of “Honnō-ji Incident” 1 Vs 3 Handicap Match: Sanshiro Takagi defeated Danshoku Dino, Super Sasadango Machine & Ken Ohka when Takagi pinned Machine with the Sit Down Himawari Bomb (7:50).
6. Kaz Hayashi & Keisuke Ishii defeated Daisuke Sasaki & Mad Paulie when Ishii pinned Paulie with the Kneel Kick (11:10).
*Keisuke Ishii wins Mad Paulie’s Right To Challenge Anytime, Anywhere Contract.
7. Mike Bailey & Kazusada Higuchi defeated Konosuke Takeshita & Diego when Bailey pinned Diego after the Ultima Weapon and Canadian Backbreaker Combo (12:02).
8. King Of DDT 2017 – Final: Tetsuya Endo defeated HARASHIMA with the Shooting Star Press (22:08).

Tetsuya Endo is the 2017 King Of DDT winner! His knees are probably killing him after today’s show but it was worth it. Endo defeated HARASHIMA in the final, overcoming the odds against a fresher and more experienced opponent after the semi-finals. Endo’s knees were not in 100% condition when the main event began so they were the target of HARASHIMA’s offence. Despite the disadvantage, Endo still pulled out his big moves. He prevented HARASHIMA from hitting the Firebird Splash so he could do Tetsuya In The Sky With Diamonds instead. He later put all his might into the Torture Rack Bomb. That placed HARASHIMA in the perfect position for the match winning Shooting Star Press.

Endo was rewarded with a 1,000,000 yen prize as well as the main event spot for “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017” in August. Daisuke Sasaki puts his faith in Endo to win the KO-D Openweight Title at that show. Sasaki said he lives his life thinking he could die at anytime but he swears he won’t die until Endo wins the title at Sumo Hall! The crowd chanted Endo’s name and he tried to shrug them off. He claims he is not interested in main eventing Sumo Hall and winning the KO-D Title there. But he then reconsidered his opinion. He’s been through a lot this year so he realises that he can’t complain about the opportunity. He’ll main event Sumo Hall after all!

The reason Endo went into the final with bad knees is all because of Akito. They fought in the semi-final where Akito used his arsenal of submissions to wear down Endo’s legs. Things looked bad for Endo when he missed a Swan Dive Kneel Kick and fell into an Anklelock. Akito then turned it into a Figure 4 Leg Lock with the intent of turning it into his Perfect version of the move. Endo fought his way on top of Akito and suddenly pinned him for the surprise three count. Akito said in his post match interview that he never expected the match to end that way. He realises that only focusing on Akito’s legs could have been a mistake. On the other hand, Akito also wonders that maybe Endo is just the better wrestler and is good enough to become the ace of DDT.

The other semi-final was a highly anticipated match between HARASHIMA and Shigehiro Irie. The two are no strangers to each other, having had five singles matches previously. HARASHIMA had won every single bout so Irie went in determined to finally beat his rival. Shockingly, HARASHIMA pinned Irie in under three minutes with a Crucifix Pin! In a flashback to their match from Christmas Day last year, Irie tried to Power Bomb HARASHIMA onto the apron. HARASHIMA avoided that and brought the match back into the ring where they rushed into a wild series of missed Enzuigiris and Beast Bombers. After that HARASHIMA hooked Irie into the Crucifix Pin and to the surprise of everyone that was enough. Irie knew what had happened and immediately left the ring in anger.

Mike Bailey is becoming ever more smug in his attempts to show sportsmanship to Konosuke Takeshita. He enthusiastically applauded Takeshita during their tag match. Then after he knocked out Diego, Bailey taunted Takeshita by dragging Diego over and pretending he was trying to tag out. Takeshita was left fighting a 2-on-1 disadvantage until Diego recovered. Unfortunately Diego was put away with a painful combination of the Canadian Backbreaker from Kazusada Higuchi followed by the Ultima Weapon by Bailey while Diego was still held in the air.

A happy Bailey told Takeshita after the match that he wants to fight him every week, even if he was the eternal challenger and Takeshita was the eternal champion. But Bailey then said he will win their KO-D Title match in Shinjuku so maybe that means he will be the eternal champion and Takeshita the eternal challenger instead. Takeshita saw the funny side and joked with Bailey until Keisuke Ishii stepped into the ring with his newly won Right To Challenge Contract. Ishii said he will cash in his title shot on 23rd July, a show that takes place weeks after Takeshita Vs Bailey. Ishii stared at Takeshita until Bailey stepped right up to his face. Takeshita got both of their attention by saying today’s main event will determine one half of the Sumo Hall main event. He will be standing on the other side of the ring as the champion and neither Bailey, Ishii or Naomi Yoshimura will stop him!

Keisuke Ishii is back on track and he has Kaz Hayashi to thank for that. The two defeated DAMNATION with Ishii pinning Mad Paulie. As a bonus, Ishii now has a Right To Challenge contract and as mentioned above, he was quick to decide when to use it. Hayashi noticed that Ishii used the Final Cut during the match. He’s alright with Ishii borrowing the move but he should practice it with him first so it can be done better.

The trio of Danshoku Dino, Super Sasadango Machine and Ken Ohka sent a threatening video to Sanshiro Takagi before their 3 Vs 1 match. Dino warned Takagi that Ohka isn’t the only person in the company who holds a grudge against him, there are more who will betray him tonight! Ohka wants to tell Takagi what he thinks of him but instead he will let the hat on his head say it. He then showed off a baseball cap on his head with the word “FUCK” written on it. When the match began Takagi had little trouble fighting off his three opponents. But when he ran to the ropes the first betrayal happened. Hirata Collection A.T. tripped Takagi, gave him the middle fingers then began stomping on him. Ohka missed a Spear which allowed Takagi to fight back and give Hirata the Stunner. Takagi pinned Sasadango after the Spicolli Driver but Yukinori Matsui stopped counting after two. Matsui was the next betrayer! Takagi gave him a Stunner then tried to pin Dino. Daisuke Kiso ran down and counted but he also stopped at two. He is also betraying Takagi! So Takagi gave him a Stunner too. Amon Tsurumi ran down to the ring and put on a referee shirt after Takagi gave Sasadango an Avalanche Brainbuster. But he too betrayed Takagi! He survived a Stunner when his afro slipped off but Takagi then gave him a Death Valley Bomb onto Sasadango. More trouble came when Toru Owashi ran in wearing a referee shirt that was too small for him. He briefly paused the pin count but it turned out he was on Takagi’s side and he counted to three.

Takagi won the match to put an end to Ohka’s attempted coup d’etat but he has a coup d’etat of his own to do. He wants a singles match with Dino and he wants it in Korakuen Hall next month. Dino objected. This year is DDT’s 20th year in existence. If a coup of this size is going to happen it should happen on the big stage. Dino Vs Takagi should happen at Sumo Hall! Takagi hesitated to accept the challenge. He said he tries to avoid putting himself in the major singles matches at DDT’s big events. Dino said that he’s been preparing for this match for a long time. Takagi said he’s been prepared for the last 20 years. He accepts the match. Takagi Vs Dino at Sumo Hall to celebrate 20 years of DDT!

The CD release of NωA’s new single is coming out at a bad time because they just lost the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles to Shuten-dōji. KUDO knocked down Makoto Oishi with a Backspin Kick, Yukio Sakaguchi hit an Apron PK to the other NωA members and Masahiro Takanashi gave Oishi the Takatonic to win the belts. NωA are trying to stay positive and hope success at the NOAH Jr. Tag League will see an increase in autographs and CD sales. Meanwhile Shuten-dōji already found out what their plans for Sumo Hall is. They will defend the titles against Dick Togo, Yasu Urano & Antonio Honda!

The opening match was The Rockies Vs The Italians, except Soma Takao wanted nothing to do with Hirata Collection A.T.’s shenanigans. Toru Owashi however came out wearing Collection gear and carrying a toy pig on a leash. He looked just as surprised as everyone else. The Rockies all came out wearing boxing gloves and humming along to the Rocky song. Antonio Honda said he spent all night drinking raw eggs then tried to eye poke his opponents. It didn’t work because of the gloves. Honda later intercepted Hirata’s glasses. The Rocky theme played proper when he put them on. The music boost was powerful enough for The Rockies to win the match. Rocky Kawamura yelled “Adrian!” to celebrate.

Both Tomomitsu Matsunaga and Danny Duggan had the back of their wrestling tights pulled down during the dark match. Both of them continued to wrestle with their backsides exposed.

Takaeshita was supposed to start off the show’s opening call but he was interrupted by Naomi Yoshimura. Of course he ran down all of his life problems which he blames Takeshita for then began the next chapter of his story. After his grandmother was arrested and his favourite restaurant had closed down, Yoshimura was alone in the world with absolutely nothing in his possession. Life was so bad he had to resort to thievery everyday. This continued until one day Yoshimura walked past a muscular man carrying a bag of money. He grabbed the bag off of him and ran as fast as he could. He thought he would escape until he saw someone standing ahead of him at the intersection. It was Konosuke Takeshita! Yoshimura was so surprised and enraged at the sight of Takeshita that he stopped in his tracks. The police chasing after him then caught him. Yoshimura thought his life was over until a voice from behind told the police to let him go if he gave back the bag. Yoshimura looked over and saw that the muscular man showing him mercy was Zeus! From that day onwards, Yoshimura trained hard at KING GYM so he could follow Zeus’s path and become a pro wrestler. Zeus, this god-like being, gave Yoshimura’s life meaning while all Takeshita had done was take everything away from him. Not only will he use his Right To Challenge contract to take the KO-D Title away from Takeshita, he will also take everything Takeshita values one by one. First up, the show opening call! Yoshimura smugly yelled “DDT Korakuen Tournament Start!” into the microphone. Takeshita tried asking Yoshimura when he was going to cash in his title shot but his microphone cut off so the intro video could be played.

Two new DNA trainees were introduced. Masato Kamino is 23 years old and from the Nara Prefecture. He is 175cm high, weighs 82kg and trained as a swimmer for 15 years. He will debut in Shinjuku on 5th August. He originally began training at the same time as MAO but an injury held him back. Kamino had considered transitioning into a ring announcing job instead but was determined to debut as a wrestler. Yuki Ino is 22 years old and from Tokyo. He is 178cm high, weighs 120kg and played rugby in Kokushikan University. He had several offers from other sports teams but DDT became interested when they heard he could bench press 205kg, dead lift 300kg and leg press 560kg. Ino said when he played rugby he blew past every opponent that was in front of his eyes. He would like to do the same to all of the best wrestlers. His goal is to win the KO-D Title. He will debut at Sumo Hall.

The show began with a 10 bell tribute to Mr. Pogo who passed away on 23rd June. Pogo once appeared at a DDT Street Wrestling show held in an iron factory back in 2014. He had also made appearances for Union Pro in 2006.

LiLiCo will return to DDT at “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2017”.

DDT will return to the Delicious Sacas Festival in July for a week long series of free shows. This year’s festival takes place from 24th to 30th July

Dave Crist from Rockstar Pro Wrestling in Ohio, USA will be a part of the Beer Garden shows in August. Irie became good friends with Crist during his American excursions. Irie’s “Space Panda” aesthetic is a shoutout to Crist and his other Ohio buddies.

Rekka Vs MAO will be the main event of DDT’s return to Taiwan on 29th July.