Dramatic DDT

DDT “DDT SPECIAL 2016”, 23/10/2016
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,563 Fans – No Vacancy
DDT Dramatic General Election Ranking In Parentheses

0. Dark Match: Yuko Miyamoto (#24) & Mad Paulie (#25) defeated Mizuki Watase (#26) & Rekka (#27) when Paulie pinned Watase with the Paulie Buster (6:34).
1. Makoto Oishi (#17) & MAO (#21) defeated Kazuki Hirata (#14) & Toru Owashi (#21) when Oishi pinned Hirata with a School Boy (7:13).
2. DDT Special Great Single Match: Cherry (#20) defeated Saki Akai (#9) with the Cherryton Bomb (7:29).
3. Soma Takao (#8) & Akito (#11) defeated Keisuke Ishii (#13) & Yasu Urano (#19) when Takao pinned Urano with the Gin And Tonic (8:47).
4. KUDO (#8) & Yukio Sakaguchi (#15) defeated Antonio Honda (#12) & Kazusada Higuchi (#23) when KUDO pinned Honda with the Diving Double Knee Drop (10:30).
5. DDT Special Great Single Match: Konosuke Takeshita (#6) defeated Ken Ohka (#16) with the German Suplex (8:43).
6. DDT Special Great Single Match: Daisuke Sasaki (#3) defeated Masahiro Takanashi (#4) with the Vietnam Driver II (12:22).
7. DDT Special Great Single Match: HARASHIMA (#1) defeated Tetsuya Endo (#5) with the Somato (16:33).
8. KO-D Openweight Title: Shuji Ishikawa (c) defeated Danshoku Dino (#2) with the Giant Slam (21:27).
*V2 for Shuji Ishikawa.

Dramatic Dream Rock-Paper-Scissors 2016

1. Qualifying Round: Cherry defeated Yasu Urano with Rock.
2. Round 1: Cherry defeated Makoto Oishi with Rock.
3. Round 1: Yukio Sakaguchi defeated Ken Ohka with Scissors.
4. Round 1: Keisuke Ishii defeated Kazuki Hirata with Paper.
5. Round 1: Shunma Katsumata defeated Antonio Honda with Scissors.
6. Round 1: Saki Akai defeated Akito with Scissors
7. Round 1: Soma Takao defeated KUDO with Scissors.
8. Round 1: Konosuke Takeshita defeated Tetsuya Endo with Paper.
9. Round 1: Daisuke Sasaki defeated Masahiro Takanashi with Scissors.
10. Round 2: Cherry defeated Yukio Sakaguchi with Scissors.
11. Round 2: Shunma Katsumata defeated Keisuke Ishii with Rock.
12. Round 2: Saki Akai defeated Soma Takao with Paper.
13. Round 2: Daisuke Sasaki defeated Konosuke Takeshita with Paper.
14. Semi Final: Shunma Katsumata defeated Cherry with Scissors.
15. Semi Final: Saki Akai defeated Daisuke Sasaki with Paper.
16. Final: Saki Akai defeated Shunma Katsumata with Paper.

As the runner-up of this year’s DDT Dramatic General Election, Danshoku Dino received a KO-D Openweight Title shot against Shuji Ishikawa. It’s a situation Dino has been in before, earning KO-D Title matches through popularity contests. However each time Dino came up short and today was no different. Dino targeted Ishikawa’s legs by applying Crab Holds and an STF. Ishikawa fired back with Knee Lifts and even added insult to injury by attempting a Danshoku Nightmare to Dino. The champion of course hit his Headbutts but Dino responded with a middle finger and a Headbutt of his own! Dino wore down Ishikawa with the Sliding Lip Lock, hit the Danshoku Driver and rolled him over with the Gay-do Clutch but Ishikawa kicked out! A Rainmaker Lip Lock was countered with an Elbow Strike. The Danshoku Driver was countered into the Fire Thunder. All seemed lost for Dino but he wouldn’t give up and continued to flip off Ishikawa. Sadly a Running Knee Strike and Rainmaker Headbutt took away the last of Dino’s energy and Ishikawa won with the Giant Driver. Ishikawa stood proud of himself for beating DDT’s icon. Dino gave him one more middle finger before collapsing. Ishikawa moved forward to shake Dino’s hand but Daisuke Sasaki kicked him away so he could rub the victory in Dino’s face. HARASHIMA then showed up to congratulate the champion. He said he will face Ishikawa for the title at Osaka Edion Arena #1 in December and he will beat him fair and square! Ishikawa said he will beat HARASHIMA because he is the strongest in pro wrestling. Sasaki interrupted him again to close out the show.

The annual Rock Paper Scissors tournament took place with a DDT Extreme Title shot on the line. Saki Akai was the last woman standing beating out Shunma Katsumata in the final. Akai will face Dino for the belt at the 23rd November Korakuen Hall show. Akai said after that night she will be walking down the runway with the championship belt wrapped around her!

HARASHIMA Vs Tetsuya Endo began with HARASHIMA Dropkicking his opponent out of the ring. However Endo took the opportunity to hide away from HARASHIMA and lure him outside. Endo snuck back into the ring behind HARASHIMA’s back and then dove onto him with a No Touch Topé. Endo stomped on HARASHIMA back in the ring, mockingly calling him “Ace” as he did so. The match went back and forth with Endo cutting off HARASHIMA through Dragon Screws. Endo got a nearfall with the Torture Rack Bomb then went for the Sky Twister Press. HARASHIMA rolled out of the way and countered with the Somato. He was too tired to go for the pin but a second Somato later was enough to put Endo away.

Due to their opportunistic personalities, both Daisuke Sasaki and Masahiro Takanashi were careful not to make any mistakes while wrestling each other. Sasaki forced Takanashi to sit on a chair at ringside so he could go for his Super Diving Elbow but Takanashi cut him off by throwing the chair at him as he climbed the turnbuckles. Sasaki later countered the Takatonic into the Cross Facelock but that itself was countered into a Cradle for a two count. Sasaki pushed Takanashi into the referee and used the distraction to hit the Vietnam Driver II for the three count.

Part of the card had to be reshuffled when Super Sasadango Machine was unable to wrestle due to poor physical condition. Ken Ohka now had to wrestle Konosuke Takeshita. Ohka brought out a barbed wire baseball bat and used it to choke Takeshita. However Ohka was given a taste of his own medicine when Takeshita gave him the Blue Thunder Bomb onto the bat! Ohka kicked out of that but he couldn’t kick out of the German Suplex afterwards. Takeshita thanked Ohka for the match because they both have the same goals. Ohka disagreed and thinks they are on different paths, Ohka only does things the Ganbare way!

With Takeshita moved over to fave Ohka, Antonio Honda now had to team with Kazusada Higuchi for his match against Shuten-dōji. Honda stopped the match so he could show off his new ballet skills. He went to see The Nutcracker the night before and has been practicing ever since. As he tried to dance he hit KUDO and Yukio Sakaguchi with Brain Chops. Shuten-dōji got their payback by kicking the hell out of him. They’re now looking forward to winning the KO-D Tag Team Titles in Nagano on 3rd November.

The rivalry between former teammates Soma Takao and Keisuke Ishii is heating up now that the AJPW Jr. Title is involved. Ishii recently became the No. 1 Contender for the championship and he will get his shot in All Japan on 27th November. Ishii thinks their title match is the culmination of their time spent in All Japan over the last three years. Soma got the better of him here with a Thrust Kick. Then he pinned Yasu Urano with the Gin And Tonic while Akito kept Ishii at bay.

I don’t know if you noticed but Saki Akai and Cherry don’t like each other. Cherry refused to shake Akai’s hand before their match and instead attacked her. After some stomping and hair pulling the match properly begun. Cherry won the match but Akai got a little bit of revenge by Dropkicking Cherry out of the ring afterwards.

Toru Owashi took time out of the opening bout to complain that T2Hide weren’t being invited to perform as idols at “DDT FES 2016”. While he complained, NωA took advantage and pinned Kazuki Hirata. When the match was over Makoto Oishi called Sanshiro Takagi into the ring. If NωA wasn’t going to be added to “DDT FES 2016” then he will quit the group! Takagi told him the group was originally set up so they could be a part of the festival. Oishi’s threat showed just how serious he took his role so Takagi agreed to add them to the festival! NωA then performed “Never Give Up☆I LOVE YOU”. They also have a second song in the works.

The last change to the card involved adding Rekka to the dark match. Rekka took Higuchi’s place in the match, teaming with Mizuki Watase against Yuko Miyamoto & Mad Paulie. Miyamoto patted Paulie like a pet when they won the match.

Shigehiro Irie made his first appearance in DDT since his excursion to America back in July. Irie spoke about how he gained experience in USA that he could not have gotten in Japan. He got to wrestle against people who are more his size like Colt Cabana, Chris Hero and Tommy Dreamer. While Irie’s first match back in Japan is set for 6th November at “DDT FES 2016” he won’t go back to regular competition in DDT until the 4th December Osaka show. Also he is looking forward more to seeing his favourite idol group perform at “DDT FES 2016” than he is wrestling. Irie then showed off the English he learned in America. “Nice to meet you. My name is SHIGEHIRO IRIE. From Japan. ……I Love You. I Miss You. I Need You.”

More details to come later but DDT will launch its own video on-demand service next year! DDT Universe will launch on January 2017 and for 900 yen a month subscribers will get access to watch DDT, DNA, BASARA, Tokyo Joshi Pro, Ganbare☆Wrestling and Street Wrestling shows. All Korakuen Hall shows and major events in big buildings will air live on the service. There will also be other content like reality shows featuring the DDT roster.

Yukio Sakaguchi & Masakatsu Funaki Vs Yoshihiro Takayama & Kazusada Higuchi was announced for “OSAKA OCTOPUS 2016” on 4th December.

A secret series of Spring wrestling shows were made public starting with an event in Best Western Rembrandt Hotel Tokyo Machida on 22nd January. The tour will be called the Best Western Lariat Series. Also the YaroZ brand will be brought back for a St. Valentine’s Day show in Shin-Kiba 1st RING.

DDT’s branch of restaurants and bars including the Drop Kick Bar, Ebisuko Tavern and SWANDIVE will now belong to a new parent company called DDT Foods. KUDO was chosen to be the new president of the company.