By Mark Worrall@hoohoowozza
25/11/2018
PRE-SHOW MATCH
MAKOTO OISHI & GOTA IHASHI defeat MIZUKI WATASE & YUKI UENO
Nice little pre show match that went just over six minutes with my first viewing of Mizuki Watase not sporting a suit but just in trunks now that Shigehiro Irie has gone freelance and the Renegade faction are seemingly no more. The young duo of Ueno & Watase controlled a good portion of the match with Watase exhausting Ihashi who seemed to enjoy running the ropes as Watase leapfrogged and rolled under his bigger opponent until Ihashi could run no more. Ueno’s attempt to lift Ihashi paid dividends at the third attempt as he slammed him to the canvas and one could be forgiven if this was the way the match was going. Oishi however put any ideas of the youngsters picking up the win as he countered Watase’s attempt to suplex him and rolled him up for the three count. Good opener has stated as the Korakuen crowd found their seats.
TORU OWASHI defeats SAKI AKIA & ANTONIA HONDA
Leaning more to the comedy side, this, the official opening match saw all three geeing up the crowd with a short, fun match that aimed to warm up the Korakeun audience for what was to come. Honda seemed to have a problem laying any offence on the attractive Akai who fell victim to an Owashi surfboard and relied on the assistance of Honda to break up the submission move, however Honda seemed to be more concerned about getting an erection if he touched his female opponent and had to restrain himself and Akai herself had to break free from the move. Akai and Owashi had some nice exchanges with Akai, who usually can look pretty weak in her offensive moves countered an Owashi suplex delivering one of her own which was impressive when you consider the size of Owashi. Honda’s resistance to being near Akai enabled Owashi to roll up the nervous Honda to take the win in a decent fun opener.
TETSUYA ENDO & SOMA TAKAO defeats KEISUKE ISHII & YUMEHITO IMANARI
The Damnation pairing of Endo and Takao felt the force of the Ganbare pairing of Ishii & Imanari as they were attacked ringside from the start until Imanari was able to find Takao in the ring and unleashed on the red haired Damnation wrestler until his partner Endo grabbed the feet of the Ganbare roster star as once again this match spilled to the ringside floor where Ishii and Imanari became outnumbered by the Damnation faction who were also ringside. The match, eventually finding its way back into the ring was fast and hard hitting with the former DDT roster member Ishii who now plies his trade in the DDT spin-off Ganbare looking impressive countering anything the Damnation pairing threw at him enabling himself to tag in Imanari after Takao did find a double stomp off the top that saw a two count. Imanari, (who always reminds me of ‘Sex Machine’ from the movie from Dusk til’ Dawn!!!!!) was vocal throughout as he used this as part of his offence as he enjoyed a series of roll ups with Takao who got the better of him and Ishii had to come to the aid of his partner on the third roll up. Imanari’s attempt to throw Endo out of the ring backfired as Endo flipped over the top rope onto Ishii who had left the ring and this virtually wiped Ishii from the contest as Endo sent Imanari on a round the world slam with Takao rather sloppily planted the ‘Perfect Driver’ on Imanari to win. Good, fast paced tag match from four really good wrestlers.
STRONG HEARTS (DESMOND XAVIER/ZACHARY WENTZ/TREY MIGUEL) defeats KUDO/SHUNMA KATSUMATA & KAZUSADA HIGUCHI)
From the off this match felt more like a Dragongate match than a usual DDT performance, it took the ‘Gaijin’ part of the Strong Hearts faction a triple flip to the outside onto their opponents to get the crowd somewhat invested as I guess some of the diehard DDT fans may not have known who the Strong Heart contingent may have been. I have seen Wentz and Xavier live and know just how good they are as a duo and thrived in this match as they worked the much bigger man Higuchi, who himself looked completely out of place in this match amongst mostly Junior Heavyweights and his talents were somewhat wasted here. Xavier and Kudo exchanging moves and kicks became the highlight of the match with Kudo coming out stronger. However the feeling of control from a Strong Hearts dominated match culminated in a great finish where following an incredible looking top rope cutter from Wentz, the aforementioned planted a standing moonsault, with some assistance from Xavier to pin the unfortunate Katsumata. A Great Strong Hearts showing.
JUN KASAI defeats MAO (HARDCORE RULES MATCH)
Jun Kasai is a veteran in the Japanese Death Match scene and his body has the scars to show it! However these days he can be forgiven for wrestling a slightly different style as he continues to make his career stretch into his mid forties. This was a hardcore match that saw the 21 year old future ace of DDT take a majority of the punishment with Kasai seemingly avoiding any contact with any foreign objects other than the selection of plastic containers that surrounded the ring. This match was very good, the veteran proving that experience in the hardcore division paying off has he controlled a large majority of the match without taking a lot of punishment himself and that story was told here as Mao took ladders, chairs to his head and anything Jun could send his way. Mao is excellent and really sold for Kasai and took the opportunities to shine himself springing from the top rope, faultlessly to smash a plastic container through the back of his opponent ringside. Kasai did show colour, which is not difficult for him and he did have a head full of sticks planted to the top of his head which looked a little sick with Kasai returning the favour! The veteran Kasai did finally put his younger counterpart of twenty three years away after Mao kicked out of the veteran’s famous goggle wearing top rope splash only to succumb to a superbly executed piledriver from Kasai who put this youngster to sleep. Loved the match, Kasai showing a lot of respect for the twenty-one year star Mao who will be someone to watch going forward.
DDT IRONMAN HEAVYMETALWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
KONSUKE TAKESHITA(C) defeats MAKI ITO
Ok, so when this match was announced, Maki Ito was the champion, she lost it on a Tokyo Joshi pro show and since then the title has changed hands several times as is usual with this 24/7 title can change anywhere rule. Before the show starts Takeshita, during an interview rolls up current champion Tetsuya Koda and wins the title and so now the role is reversed and the title is on the line again with Takeshita defending now and Ito challenging! The size difference between the two of them is visible from the start and you have to wonder if this should be just a squash match. If, however you have seen and know the capabilities of Maki Ito, and the popularity that follows her as evident from the chants that begin the match, then this is not a foregone conclusion. Of course the difference is evident, Takeshita pushes away the iconic middle finger of Ito that she portrays to all her opponents instead of a customary handshake, and the former KO-D openweight champion plays along with Ito’s pathetic offence as he sweeps away three attempted drop kicks and follows up with three back breakers of his own downing Ito right away. You cannot count out Ito in any match as the cocky, and now seemingly arrogant Takeshita finds out. Ok he plays with her, throws her into some chairs and even contemplates a German suplex from the top rope into the ringside chairs! He receives a low blow for this and Maki has a chance to get into the match. The arrogant Takeshita removes the turnbuckle pad and methodically picks away at Ito, however sending the former Idol into the opposing padded turnbuckles head first does not help as she screams away back into the match as she feels no pain on her hard head and Takeshita would feel much pain in his groin as Ito falls head first into the place nobody likes to get hurt. Ito finally puts her opponent into a Boston Crab, a move she frequently uses but struggles with Takeshita’s long legs and this is poorly executed. Ito’s customary middle finger comes into play again as Takeshita stamps both hands of Ito in his attempt to stop Ito showing the finger and then knocks Ito out with a big knee that receives a nine count as Ito looks up at Takeshita and finally shows him the finger before collapsing for the ten. Takeshita wins by KO. This was excellently performed by both wrestlers, good story in a match that Takeshita should have destroyed the valiant Ito whose only goal it seemed was to give her opponent the middle finger.
AKITO V DANSHOKU DINO –NO CONTEST
Dino lost his memory after losing his KO-D title match back at peter Pan and now faces Akito who for him, is wrestling his dream match! Unfortunately for Akito, Dino is not himself as he is led to the ring by Supersasadango Machine and Makoto Oishi who try in vain to lead Dino around the Korakeun crowd and help him to restore some memory of his former self by offering various members of the crowd for Dino to thrust himself upon, however, completely lost Dino avoids kissing the male members and offers a solitary handshake. This match was performed so well by Dino whose usual gimmick does not really appeal to me but here he was great. Akito tried to set himself up for customary Dino moves, even placing the former champions hand upon his genitals for which Dino took exception. Oishi tried hard to help Dino who had also seemingly forgot to wrestle and it was left to half the locker room to make a human pyramid, pants down to help the bewildered Dino gain some memory! Oishi, almost giving up attempted to hit Dino with a chair but struck Akito as Dino took the chair, attempted to use it but nailed himself. The lights went out and a dark Korakuen were treated to the now restored Danshoku as the lights returned as this ended up a No Contest as Dino was lead away, now enjoying the taste of various male audience members!!
STRONGHEARTS (Cima/El Lindaman) defeats DISASTER BOX (Harashima/Kazuka Hirata)
This was awesome, and there seemed to be history between Cima and Hirata as El Lindaman covered the ears of Cima with headphones and an eye mask as Hirata made his entrance to the ring. The rivalry seemed to spur this match on, Hirata receiving the tag early in the match after El Lindaman and Harashima had mixed it up saw Hirata dismissing Lindaman and inviting Cima into the match which saw some excellent chemistry between the rivals. It has to be said that the new, more serious wrestling push that Hirata has been receiving is most welcome from the comedic persona that he always carried, although elements of that persona still creep in which adds, I guess to who the character has become. Stronghearts took an element of control with Hirata being the main focus of the Stronghearts offence with Harashima being almost an afterthought! Not to dismiss Harashima who was also really good, with some great kicks to Cima during the match. However an exchange in top turnbuckle Frankensteiners between Cima and Hirata, both proceeded with a wiggle set up the closing stretch with El Lindaman flying over the top rope to keep Harashima at bay whilst Cima focused on Hirata, nailing a backstabber that had Hirata barely kicking out but leaving enough gas to roll up Cima for a near fall. Cima finished off the contest with an Egoist driver to see Hirata hearing the three count. Once again, excellent, and credit has to be given to El Lindaman who was excellent and the MVP of the match.
KO-D OPENWEIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH
DAISUKE SASAKI (c) defeats MASAHIRO TAKANASHI
Takanashi won the General Election (fan voting system to find most popular wrestler in DDT!) and receives a title match for his win along with one million yen (nearly £7000). This was not only a title match, but Takanashi’s one million Yen was also on the line. As with most title matches this started relatively slow, possibly to make the time last longer as both picked body parts of their opponent and worked those body parts in attempt to weaken their opposing foe. Takanashi’s attempt to work the arm of the champion were soon thwarted as Sasaki turned to working the left leg of his challenger after originally nailing him with a dragon screw and ruthlessly took to destroying the left leg until Takanashi found a way to returning to work the left arm of Sasaki, attempting many submission attempts to put Sasaki away. This match moved at a methodical pace, and for me, as Takanashi tried many times to hit his ‘Taka Tonic’ finisher, Sasaki found a way to counter, frustrating his opponent who I never really felt was going to take the title on Sasaki’s first defence and this blighted the match slightly. It took some time, but when Takanashi finally hit his finisher, Sasaki powered out but the crowd suddenly got behind the challenger with his name echoing around Korakuen. It was little too late as Sasaki’s dominant defence had him hurricanrana his opponent rolling him up for the win and a successful title defence and one million richer!
Excellent show from top to bottom and I cannot recommend this promotion enough. The show from being light hearted to the serious semi-main tag match that was awesome and a successful first title defence for Daisuke Sasaki. DDT Universe usually offers one free month to new subscribers so take advantage and check out the promotion.
