Dramatic DDT

DDT “RYOGOKU PETER PAN 2018 ~FALL WRESTLING CULTURE FESTIVAL~”, 21/10/2018
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

0. Time Difference Battle Royal: Gorgeous Matsuno Vs Hoshitango Vs Gota Ihashi Vs Nobuhiro Shimatani Vs Yumehito Imanari Vs Shota Vs Michael Wolf Vs Tiger Mask V (Self-Proclaimed) Vs Monster Halloween Vs Gundan Hitori
0. Mina Shirakawa DDT First Participation War! Tokyo Joshi Pro 6-Woman Tag Match: Miyu Yamashita, Yuki Kamifuku & Mina Shirakawa Vs Yuka Sakazaki, Mizuki & Shoko Nakajima
1. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Soma Takao, Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie (c) Vs Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Yuki Ueno
2. Gauntlet Tag Match: Mike Bailey & Antonio Honda Vs Mizuki Watase & Jason Kincaid Vs Kazusada Higuchi & Kota Umeda Vs KUDO & Masahiro Takanashi Vs Tanomusaku Toba & Keisuke Okuda Vs Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Michael Nakazawa
3. Super Joshi Pro Wars 2018: Saki Akai & Maki Itoh Vs Meiko Satomura & Cassandra Miyagi
4. ALL OUT Vs STRONG HEARTS! Special 6-Man Tag Match: Akito, Shunma Katsumata & Yuki Iino Vs T-Hawk, El Lindaman & Duan Yingnan
5. The World’s Crazy Couple Battle: Makoto Oishi & Misaki Ohata Vs Joey Ryan & Laura James
6. Soken Holdings Present – Will You Eat Or Be Eaten!? Giant Special Single Match: Super Sasadango Machine Vs Andreza Giant Panda
7. The Difference In 27 Years Of Age! Representative Director And President (48 Years Old) And Belonging Wrestler (21 Years Old) Waste Blood Washing Conflict Play – Final Settlement Weapon Rumble!: Sanshiro Takagi Vs MAO
8. Shigehiro Irie’s Grand Fight: Shigehiro Irie & Keisuke Ishii Vs HARASHIMA & Yukio Sakaguchi
9. Dramatic Dream Match: Konosuke Takeshita Vs CIMA
10. KO-D Openweight Title: Danshoku Dieno (c) Vs Daisuke Sasaki

The pre-show matches will begin at 2:00pm JST and the main show begins at 3:00pm JST. That’s 6:00am/7:00am for GMT, 1:00am/2:00am for EST and 10:00pm/11:00pm the night before for PST.

For the first time DDT will be streaming parts of the show live on their Youtube channel. The two pre-show matches and the first three matches of the main card will be aired. The link to the Youtube page is here (https://bit.ly/2q1KIOK).

The entire show will aire live on DDT Universe. Here is the link (https://bit.ly/2yxkxnV).

———————————————————————–

The seven months since DDT’s last appearance in Sumo Hall has been a lot to take in. Sometimes hectic, sometimes confusing and for me sometimes exhausting. The number of events grew thanks to the launch of a brand new weekly show called “DDT LIVE! MAJI MANJI” airing live on AbemaTV. The other brands also increased their schedules with more shows in more locations. DDT’s rookie brand DNA was put to bed when the roster was considered too advanced to be a developmental. The lack of rookies ready to debut was also a reason to end the concept for now. Then there was the chaos in the main event scene. DDT’s longest and most dominant title reign ended when the company’s estranged son returned to defeat their golden boy. The new rebellious champion went on to make some unwise decisions leading to a rash of unexpected title changes, some beyond the control of those in charge of DDT and some coming directly from the people with power. With injuries putting some of DDT’s best and brightest on the shelf it was a time for new blood to step up. One in particular took things too far towards his boss. Or maybe he took it far enough and needs to go further? New invaders entered the company. One group wants to prove they are the better than DDT’s best while another gigantic figure arrived looking to kick ass and chew bamboo, and it’s all out of bamboo. There is plenty to talk about so let’s get started.

0. Time Difference Battle Royal: Gorgeous Matsuno Vs Hoshitango Vs Gota Ihashi Vs Nobuhiro Shimatani Vs Yumehito Imanari Vs Shota Vs Michael Wolf Vs Tiger Mask V (Self-Self-Proclaimed) Vs Monster Halloween Vs Gundan Hitori

Normally the Battle Royal on this kind of show will be for a big prize, like the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title. Not this time. The championship found its way into the pop idol group SKE48 back in July and has been passed around between some of the girls ever since. The current champion Yuki Arai promised to show up with the title at Korakuen Hall a week after this show so nobody is anticipating any shenanigans here. Instead the appeal is going to be from the “ALL DOIN” wrestlers. The self-proclaimed Tiger Mask V, the W*ING gimmick that came 25 years too late Monster Halloween and masked man in a fancy shirt Gundan Hitori are all representing the “ALL DOIN” super indy show that is scheduled for November. Most of the DDT regulars have developed a little since “JUDGEMENT 2018” back in March. Gorgeous Matsuno became the self-appointed gatekeeper of DDT against gigantic animals. That didn’t end well for him. Gota Ihashi has been getting into shape with the ultimate goal of earning Riki Choshu’s respect. He’s making enough progress that Choshu’s eternal rival Tatsumi Fujinami has offered to help out. Nobuhiro Shimatani finally achieved his dream of joining DAMNATION. “Nobu” has been full of confidence ever since even if it hasn’t translated into results. Yumehito Imanari has probably advanced the most out of anyone. He launched the Imanari Revolution in Ganbare☆Wrestling to push himself into Ganpro’s main event scene and he hasn’t looked back. The other Ganpro rep is Shota who joined the brand full time in May. Michael Wolf recently entered DDT all the way from Oklahoma’s Compound Pro Wrestling. The only person here who is the same as always is Hoshitango.

0. Mina Shirakawa DDT First Participation War! Tokyo Joshi Pro 6-Woman Tag Match: Miyu Yamashita, Yuki Kamifuku & Mina Shirakawa Vs Yuka Sakazaki, Mizuki & Shoko Nakajima

The spot dedicated entirely to Tokyo Joshi Pro is focusing on their newest signing. Mina Shirakawa is a gravure idol who is a massive pro wrestling fan, so much so that she began training to wrestle in April as part of a collaborated project between DDT and Best Body Japan. She had her debut match in August teaming with one of her opponents here Shoko Nakajima. In September, Shirakawa jumped at the chance to visit Mexico so she could participate in a lucha libre expo. The first thing she did when she arrived was travel to the ZEUS GYM in Naucalpan to train! So far Shirakawa has only wrestled three matches in her career, twice for Big Body Japan and once in Mexico. She has committed herself to Tokyo Joshi full time beginning this November. She has performed at a Tokyo Joshi show before though. Four years ago she was in a Brazilian themed idol duo called Oh P Samba that performed a song and dance at a Tokyo Joshi show. For now this will be her introduction to everyone in DDT.

But that’s enough about the new girl. Can’t let her overshadow the others this easily. Miyu Yamashita is currently on the most successful TOKYO Princess Title run in the championship’s history, winning the belt on 4th January and defending the title a record six times. She, Yuka Sakazaki and Shoko Nakajima also made their American debut competing in the Chikara King Of Trios tournament, making it all the way to the semi finals. Sakazaki has been most successful in tag team action, forming the Magical Sugar Rabbits with Mizuki and winning the TOKYO Tag Team Titles together. Yuki Kamifuku recently won a match for the first ever time after 14 months of wrestling. Everything will be going up from there for her.

1. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Soma Takao, Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie (c) Vs Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Yuki Ueno

DAMNATION’s numbers increased back in May when Soma Takao betrayed what was left of Smile Squash to join the heel unit. Since then Takao has been low blowing his way to victory while saying little in between the matches. He is still quietly undefeated at “PETER PAN” with a 9-0 record. Can he make it 10 for 10 and go a full decade of (not so much) destruction? Tetsuya Endo & Mad Paulie have spent the last half year teaming together, briefly holding the KO-D Tag Team Titles. Not much has changed other than that period when Endo wanted to talk about his pet beetle. He is still a top notch wrestler when he wants to be. That was proven when he made it to the King Of DDT final again.

The team challenging for the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles are the newly relaunched DISASTER BOX. The original unit was formed by Toru Owashi as a heel unit way back in 2006. The unit played a major part in establishing HARASHIMA after he dropped the HERO! gimmick. The unit had another run in 2008 but went away at the start of this decade, with the exception of a one show reunion with original member Shogo “Jet” Takagi in 2017. HARASHIMA and Owashi decided to reform DISASTER BOX this year during the DNA draft and allowed the promising youngster Yuki Ueno to join them. Nobody else. Anyone who said otherwise was ignored. Well, at least until he couldn’t be ignored anymore.

Kazuki Hirata wanted to join in so he could continue teaming with Owashi. He was declined but a miracle run in the King Of DDT tournament convinced HARASHIMA to bring Hirata into the group. To prove he is good enough, Hirata has sometimes tried to wrestle without the aid of his musical Hirata GO! glasses. He has since gone back on that plan now he is an accepted member. When Takao, Endo & Paulie won the vacant titles, they tried to nominate the rest of their unit as the challengers. DISASTER BOX instead got the nod and the two sides have been duking it out for months, waiting for this day to come.

2. Gauntlet Tag Match: Mike Bailey & Antonio Honda Vs Mizuki Watase & Jason Kincaid Vs Kazusada Higuchi & Kota Umeda Vs KUDO & Masahiro Takanashi Vs Tanomusaku Toba & Keisuke Okuda Vs Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Michael Nakazawa

One half of the KO-D Tag Champions is already occupied on the card so Mike Bailey has to get mixed up in the Gauntlet Tag Match. Antonio Honda is by his side as they face a mixture of DDT talent. Mizuki Watase & Jason Kincaid have formed a well run team during their time in the RENEGADES unit. Kincaid was brought into DDT in mere weeks after “JUDGEMENT 2018” as RENEGADES’s gift to the company. Watase has wrestled in a snazzy suit and never really explained why. The Maji Manji show has been mostly built around Kazusada Higuchi & Kota Umeda. Higuchi made it his goal to put somebody through a table on every episode while Umeda became “Mr. Maji Manji” when he won a tournament early in the show to earn a big push by the company. Unfortunately knee injuries have constantly paused his momentum. KUDO & Masahiro Takanashi have been doing their usual thing in Shuten-dōji. Their usual thing is drinking. Tanomusaku Toba returned to DDT first take part in a few Street Wrestling matches. He then appeared on Maji Manji, wrestling to impress his step-son who refuses to call him Dad. That didn’t end up being his proudest moment but he’s gotten more DDT appearances since then, usually whenever they wanted a strike heavy match-up. Keisuke Okuda became DDT’s newest signing in September. Until then he was causing terror in DNA as part of the Naomi Kingdom. So far his biggest move was picking a fight with HARASHIMA. Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Michael Nakazawa reformed Booing 2018 for the Dramatic General Election but kicked out their longtime ally Gota Ihashi. Normally I’d say the winners of this match will go after the KO-D Tag Titles but that didn’t happen the last time.

3. Super Joshi Pro Wars 2018: Saki Akai & Maki Itoh Vs Meiko Satomura & Cassandra Miyagi

What a year it’s been for Meiko Satomura. The Sendai Girls leader has had accomplished years before but 2018 has been an international breakthrough for her. From Fight Club: PRO in England to the WWE Mae Young Classic in America to wXw in Germany, Satomura has been making waves in Europe and America this year. Back in Japan she made her mark in DDT by becoming the first ever woman to win the KO-D Openweight Title! While her reign was short it was the highlight of a turbulent time in the championship’s history. Cassandra Miyagi made two DDT appearances during this time. One as part of an adventure through a secret martial arts factory (it’s a long story) and the other challenging for the KO-D 6-Man Tag Titles. The two Sendai Girls return to DDT to face without a doubt the two most popular women in the DDT family.

Saki Akai has been motivated by Satomura’s success to become more than just the token woman on the DDT roster. This year Akai became the first woman to enter the King Of DDT tournament. Sadly she didn’t make it past the 1st Round. She also got into a situation where she was stalked by the monsters of the UWA Corps. She also returned to Tokyo Joshi for a few matches after so many fans pointed out that she looks identical to the Sakisama. Speaking of Sakisama, the aristocrat returned home to Paris in August after her personal nun became too rebellious (it’s another long story).

But all of the attention goes to Maki Itoh. All of the attention must go to Itoh! She’s been finding ways to constantly stay in the sights of the Tokyo Joshi fanbase and it’s been paying off big for her. After a big match against Riho in May, Itoh considered splitting up the Itoh Respect Army after her alliance with Mizuki hit a rough patch. Their relationship got even rockier when they ended up in opposite sides of a TOKYO Princess Tag Titles match. Itoh took the loss in both that and a singles match with Mizuki afterwards but in those matches she was able to show her growth as a wrestler. While she hasn’t been able to win big in the ring, outside it Itoh’s getting more and more popular. The big evidence for this is her current lead in the Dramatic General Election. Early on in the competition Ito moved miles past the rest of the field. Others have since gained ground but a strong performance at Sumo Hall might be what she needs to seal the deal.

Except that won’t be enough to satisfy Itoh. In a reverse of last year’s match between Satomura and Miyu Yamashita, Itoh has no respect for Satomura. Not after Satomura lost the KO-D Title after Itoh promised to win the Election and challenge her for the belt. This attitude is causing Akai to distrust Itoh. She really shouldn’t be underestimating Satomura. The rift got even worse when Akai & Itoh got into a little scuffle at the press conference for this show. If they can’t get along, they’re screwed. If they can get along… they’re still screwed.

4. ALL OUT Vs STRONG HEARTS! Special 6-Man Tag Match: Akito, Shunma Katsumata & Yuki Iino Vs T-Hawk, El Lindaman & Duan Yingnan

ALL OUT has gone through a bumpy road since “JUDGEMENT 2018”. Things went went south after April when Konosuke Takeshita lost the KO-D Title and Akito briefly went down with an injury. Shunma Katsumata was then called out for his poor performances and had to go in search of himself to improve. Part of it involved signing up to a Gold’s Gym membership. His efforts rewarded ALL OUT with a KO-D 6-Man Tag Title reign that was sadly cut short when Takeshita suffered an injury. With Takeshita out of action it was up to Akito & Katsumata to continue on without him. Katsumata in particular decided go down the road of hardcore wrestling a little more often. He already had a taste of hardcore back in February when he fought Yuko Miyamoto but since then he had matches with table spots against Kazusada Higuchi and went one on one with Violento Jack in a Fans Bring The Weapons Death Match. Things seemed to be looking up when Takeshita returned and the powerful rugby rookie Yuki Iino joined the unit. That’s when a new conflict emerged to challenge them.

One of the big wrestling stories of the year coming out of Japan is the STRONG HEARTS exodus from Dragon Gate. During the springtime, CIMA spent time away from the company teaching pro wrestling in China for a promotion called Oriental Wrestling Entertainment. In May, CIMA along with some of his Japanese proteges more or less left Dragon Gate. Now, the public reason for this was so this group of wrestlers could focus exclusively on OWE in Shanghai. Obviously, everyone was surprised when instead the newly named STRONG HEARTS showed up in Wrestle-1 looking to cause some trouble. When that conflict ended over the summer, STRONG HEARTS found their next target, ALL OUT and DDT. When Takeshita was shared his disappointment with ALL OUT having no plans for “RYOGOKU PETER PAN” this year, STRONG HEARTS immediately sent them the challenge.

Two matches between the two sides will happen at Sumo Hall. First up is the 6-Man Tag. Akito, Katsumata & Iino are there for ALL OUT. STRONG HEARTS will be represented by T-Hawk, El Lindaman and Chinese newcomer Duan Yingnan. They want to show ALL OUT what real fire and fever in the ring is like!

5. The World’s Crazy Couple Battle: Makoto Oishi & Misaki Ohata Vs Joey Ryan & Laura James

The battle of the married couples! Makoto Oishi surprised everyone during a street wrestling event in May when he suddenly proposed to Misaki Ohata during their match. It was a heartwarming story in the middle of a wacky situation. Honestly, who could get upset by that?

Oh, huh… Alright then.

There isn’t much in wrestling that annoys Joey Ryan. Usually it’s him doing the annoying stuff. But somebody doing a marriage proposal during a wrestling match when he and Laura James already did it? Copycats! Ryan & James have challenged Oishi & Ohata to a match to see which marriage deserves to be called crazier. Oishi & Ohata say that their proposal was original and to be fair it is very different to what Ryan & James did. For one thing it involved Yukio Sakaguchi trying to run Ohata over with a truck and Oishi jumped in front of it to save her. How romantic.

6. Soken Holdings Present – Will You Eat Or Be Eaten!? Giant Special Single Match: Super Sasadango Machine Vs Andreza Giant Panda

Behold! The greatest discovery in Japanese wrestling over the last two years isn’t one of the New Japan young lions, nor is it a company ace like Kento Miyahara or Shotaro Ashino. Sure, Masashi Takeda is rad and Hana Kimura has star power written all over her. But nobody has captured attention the same way Andreza Giant Panda has. The “Big Beast Of The North” burst onto the scene from Hokkaido’s New Nemuro Pro Wrestling (N2W) in 2017, a promotion that they themselves admit is filled with out of shape, middle-aged amateur wrestlers with no fighting experience or any physical strengths. But how did Andreza get here? Originally named Shin Shin, he was born in China with a gigantism disease on 1st January 2016. The amount of growth a normal panda goes through in one year, Andreza went through in one month. As a cub he had the appetite of three pandas. Tragically he was abandoned by his parents and was bullied by the other pandas in China. He was found by a Chinese king and was sent to live in his fishing processing company in Nemuro city under the care of New Nemuro’s president Samson Miyamoto. Due to his massive size of 300cm in height and 500kg in weight, Miyamoto knew that this panda was made for pro wrestling. Now renamed Andreza Giant Panda, the animal dominated New Nemuro and quickly became the promotion’s top star. Andreza won the Best Newcomer award in the 2017 Samurai! TV Japan Indie Grand Prize. He also found a mate and became a father. Andreza’s ultimate goal is to appear in WWE after becoming famous. For the moment, a match for DDT in Sumo Hall will be his highest profile wrestling appearance yet. The fate of nature may very well be at stake!

When Super Sasadango Machine was chosen to be Andreza’s opponent he quickly established his motivation for the match. Andreza eats 40kg of bamboo on a daily basis and that is enough to make him a danger to the environment. The problem is Andreza is nigh on unbeatable. Sasadango thought he discovered a weakness. Andreza is supposedly helpless without his master Miyamoto. Sasadango kidnapped Miyamoto and thought it would give him the advantage on Andreza. That was proven wrong when Andreza somehow figured out how to travel from Nemuro to Sapporo by himself to rescue his master. Sasadango has since experienced how powerful Andreza’s Lightspeed Headbutt is and nobody has kicked out of the Andreza Press. A simulated fight with Sanshiro Takagi dressed as a panda gave Sasadango some valuable information. Also DDT is certain this match won’t get them sued for animal mistreatment so Sasadango has the all clear to do whatever he wants to take the air out of the Giant Panda!

7. The Difference In 27 Years Of Age! Representative Director And President (48 Years Old) And Belonging Wrestler (21 Years Old) Waste Blood Washing Conflict Play – Final Settlement Weapon Rumble!: Sanshiro Takagi Vs MAO

Enthusiasm is a characteristic that is usually appreciated but some people tend to take things too far. This year MAO reached that point. When DDT returned to focusing to its Falls Count Anywhere matches, MAO felt now was his time to step up and take the mantle of Street Wrestling king. The days of Sanshiro Takagi doing the crazy stuff is over. MAO wants to replace it with fucked up wrestling for a fucked up world! The over-enthusiasm came when MAO drove a van into Takagi during a match then threatened to blow up Shin-Kiba 1st RING with bottle rockets. MAO’s conflict with Takagi continued after “JUDGEMENT 2018” when the two were paired together in the King Of DDT 1st Round. Their match went crazy with bicycle crashes and the destruction of plastic boxes. They took it even further at Campsite Pro Wrestling when MAO and Takagi chased each other around in cars! The situation has gotten so out of control that both men agreed to have the ultimate DDT match to settle their score… The Weapon Rumble! New weapons will be added to the match Royal Rumble style and they can be anything. Weapons, humiliating mind games, wrestler cameos, family members. Anything is fair game. The two cannot be kept apart now. Even at the press conference they fought each other in a 3 minute wrestling match that ended in a time limit draw. At this point it will take divine intervention for a winner to be determined…

Thank God pro wrestling is so convenient.

Just days before the show, MAO went training in the Arakawa river bed with his Moonlight Express partner Mike Bailey. The training was focused on improving MAO’s accuracy with a pico pico hammer. Things turned south when MAO swung so hard that he lost grip of the hammer and threw it far away. When MAO went searching through the grass, he unexpectedly found the God Of Arakawa. Maybe he took the form of Jason Kincaid wearing a Casper jumper so he wouldn’t scare MAO away. Or maybe that’s just a coincidence and the God always looks like that. Anyway, the God Of Arakawa spoke to MAO and held two hammers, one gold, one silver. He asked if either of them belonged to MAO. MAO said neither were his. The God appreciated MAO’s honesty and awarded him a bag of 100 empty cans as a gift. The God then got mixed up and also gave him the Legendary Pico Pico Hammer. Then he gave him the gold and silver hammers anyway because at this point why not? So now MAO has the power of a God by his side!

8. Shigehiro Irie’s Grand Fight: Shigehiro Irie & Keisuke Ishii Vs HARASHIMA & Yukio Sakaguchi

What in the hell happened these last seven months? What in the hell happened this last year? Shigehiro Irie has been the key figure of confusion throughout DDT from March to October. After spending the early part of the year quiet and entirely absent from the company, he made a surprise return at the end of the previous Sumo Hall show as a different person. Gone was the happy go lucky Irie, in his place was a bitter man watching DDT change into something he no longer loved. His solution was to become KO-D Champion again so he could tear down DDT and rebuild it in his image. A month later he defeated Takeshita to win the title. Slowly but surely he found allies for his cause. Mizuki Watase was the only member of the main roster to join him. The rest of Irie’s followers consisted of wrestlers from overseas like Jason Kincaid, Facade, Sammy Guevara, Baliyan Akki and Ryan Davidson. The group was named RENEGADES because Irie wanted to do things his way rather than management’s.

The sticking point for Irie was DDT’s failure to deliver their promises. Irie loves going on his excursions to America wrestling new people and making new friends. DDT’s ideas to do more international work was never followed up on. It reached the point where Irie wanted to defend the KO-D Title in America and he was going to do it whether DDT allowed it or not. The Director of DDT at the time was Danshoku Dieno and he reluctantly gave Irie permission to go ahead. However he warned Irie not to act reckless and lose the championship. It was Irie’s responsibility alone to be the defending champion overseas.

1st August, 2018. The date will live on as the starting point for the most chaotic period in the history of the KO-D Title. Irie gets pinned by Sami Callihan at a Rockstar Pro show in Ohio, losing the championship in his first defence outside of Japan. When news made its way back to DDT, everybody scrambled to save face. The wrestlers were in shock and blamed Irie for damaging DDT’s reputation abroad. Takagi and Dieno went to work trying to figure out how to get the title back on a DDT wrestler. Irie saved face by winning the championship back a week later and he was able to return to Japan with the belt. Crisis averted but Irie’s pride was scarred. Not so much by the title loss but by Dieno being proven right. Irie grew to resent Dieno even more, blaming him for everything he finds wrong with DDT. The feud led to more chaos in the title scene when Dieno used a Right To Challenge Anytime, Anywhere Gauntlet to win the KO-D Title from Irie on an episode of Maji Manji. Another Gauntlet was used two weeks later by Meiko Satomura that led to her winning the title. Irie had one chance left to win back the belt in a 3 Way Elimination Match but Dieno surprised him with the Gaydo Clutch and Irie became the first person eliminated from the match. Beaten and outsmarted, Irie accepted defeat and admitted it was time to move on. He shook Dieno by the left hand because the left hand is closer to your heart.

When the dust was settled, Irie had a new direction and it is one that relies less on DDT. Late in September Irie announced he will not renew his contract and will become a freelancer in October. He will still be accepting bookings with DDT but his priority will be going abroad with dates already confirmed for America and Germany. His last match before he heads away is here in Sumo Hall with his favourite partner and opponents. HARASHIMA, the man Irie could not beat until this past July. Yukio Sakaguchi, the man who he had violent clashes with in the past. Keisuke Ishii, the man he grew up with in wrestling and shared plenty of time with as part of Team Dream Futures. Already gone from his contract, Irie has shown signs of his old self recently. The big goofy smile is returning. Maybe he will show it to everyone in DDT one more time at Sumo Hall.

I swear if Irie shows up at New Japan in a few months time calling himself “Dramatic” there is going to be Hell to pay.

9. Dramatic Dream Match: Konosuke Takeshita Vs CIMA

The other ALL OUT Vs STRONG HEARTS match is focused on the two big names of the groups. Takeshita Vs CIMA! Sumo Hall has been home to some of Takeshita’s biggest matches in his career. Kenny Omega, Katsuhiko Nakajima, Hiroshi Tanahashi and his battles with both Tetsuya Endo and Shuji Ishikawa all took place in the building for DDT’s biggest events in recent years. CIMA on the other hand? The 2000 Super J Cup and two Dragon Gate shows from almost a decade ago were the only Sumo Hall appearances I can find for him. If home field advantages and venue familiarity count in this situation, Takeshita has it by the bucket load.

Of course the worst thing someone can do in this match is underestimate CIMA. This dude has been wrestling almost as long as Takeshita has been alive. Takeshita wasn’t even three years old when CIMA made his WCW debut. CIMA can be very sly in the ring when he wants to be. Any chance Takeshita has of making this a spot heavy blow for blow banger can be stopped in its tracks when CIMA decides to twist his body a dozen different painful ways instead. The result of this paints an interesting future for DDT’s immediate future. The STRONG HEARTS are already confirmed to appear on the next Korakuen Hall show a week after this show. If CIMA beats Takeshita, what next will be on his mind for DDT? I mean obviously we know what he’ll want. The Iron Man Title of course! STRONG HEARTS Vs SKE48 will be the next big invasion feud, mark my words!!!

10. KO-D Openweight Title: Danshoku Dieno (c) Vs Daisuke Sasaki

And so we finally make it to the finale. Two major figures in DDT that plotted and scrapped their way into the Sumo Hall main event. This is the first “PETER PAN” main event appearance for both Danshoku Dieno and Daisuke Sasaki. Dieno has main evented Sumo Hall for DDT once before back in 2013 but that was the first half of a weekend double header in the building and the lesser of the two shows. This year is what counts for Dieno and he did everything he could do to make it here.

Dieno was the DDT Director for most of the year. When it came to the KO-D Title, he publicly showed no desire for it and was the neutral party when deciding challengers and title defences. He avoided any tournaments or matches to determine the No. 1 contenders and played no part in the annual scramble for the Right To Challenge Gauntlets. But in the background, Dieno had a goal he needed to accomplish. The one thing that’s alluded him in his long DDT career is the main event match at “PETER PAN”. The best way to do that is be the champion and the title holder Shigehiro Irie just happened to be a thorn in his side during this period. Calling in a favour from Super Sasadango Machine, Dieno was gifted a Right To Challenge Gauntlet and he cashed it in on an exhausted Irie, easily beating him to become the new champion. He then immediately quit as the Director so he wouldn’t have to grant Irie a rematch. The one grave mistake he made was forgetting that there was one more Gauntlet in play and it was being held by a disgruntled Meiko Satomura. Dieno loses the title to Satomura in his first defence and his dreams start falling apart. The only saving grace was hearing that Irie wanted revenge. Dieno was able to wiggle his way into a 3 Way Elimination Match for the title and he ended up pinning both opponents to become champion once again. In the end, everything worked out perfectly for Dieno. His dream is finally coming true!

Daisuke Sasaki lived the dream once. He found something too good to be true. He found love. Big Love. A fling with “Japan’s First Genderless Wrestler” Asuka over the summer turned into something more, at least in Sasaki’s mind. They teamed together on Maji Manji shows until they were booked into a singles match against each other at July’s Korakuen show. Sasaki didn’t worry about it until Asuka broke the news to him in the ring. She was never really interested in him. He’s too old for her and also wasn’t her type. This was the point where Sasaki’s 2018 changed. Gone was Big Love and in its place was a hatred for everything. Sasaki defeated Asuka then went on to win the King Of DDT in August. With a broken heart and no desire to fix it, Sasaki’s focus was now on becoming the KO-D Champion at Sumo Hall. Also the 2,000,000 yen cash prize from the main event sponsor.

Dieno talking about his dreams only pisses Sasaki off even more. Sasaki called Dieno the symbol of DDT and a relic of the past. Mind games developed in the last couple of weeks as Sasaki tried to withstand Dieno’s lewd moveset. He now believes he is invincible against Dieno’s erotic wrestling style. Dieno warns that he will go beyond Sasaki’s imagination to win and if that means pulling out the ultimate versions of his signature moves, so be it. This Sunday, the symbol of DDT will be decided!