By Mark Worrall@hoohoowozza
Itabashi Green Hall, Tokyo, 29.04.2019
This year’s King of DDT opened at a small venue in Tokyo and for me does not seem to be getting much of a spotlight. Fourteen men took part in the opening round with the winners advancing and the loser’s going on to fight in a battle royal during the second round show for re-entry into the tournament. There were two undercard matches during this show; however I am only looking at the tournament matches.
KAZUYA HIGUCHI def. KOTA UMEDA
Very physical contest this, Umeda knew he was no match for Higuchi’s strength so he used his feet as his offence as he kicked Higuchi at every opportunity and, was able to gain a modicum of control early on as Higuchi looked like he could be for the taking as Umeda attempted to wear down his bigger opponent with kicks and a very strong head lock. Higuchi went back to his best offence, his power as he thwarted the many kicks Umeda threw at him, even rocking him at times and retaliated with strong moves finishing off Umeda with a pop up power bomb that saw Higuchi advance. Good match.
SOMA TAKAO def. MIKE BAILEY
This went back and forth throughout the match; neither wrestler really gained any control as they both went full on in a match that was fast paced throughout. Takao’s style did creep in as he attempted to slow things down a touch in an attempt to keep the Canadian Bailey off his feet. Futile some may say and I felt Takao gave up with that approach and was more of a match producing similar offence with plenty of high flying moves, numerous roll ups and to be fair this was the best I have seen of Takao who could be a dark horse for this tournament after the current one half of the tag champs as been scoring all the pin falls in his tag team matches along Sasaki. Takao took the win by nailing Bailey with the Reverse Gory Special Bomb and advances to Round two with Bailey, postmatch seemingly a little disappointed as he felt he could have won this tournament.
NAOMI YOSHIMURA def. KAZUKI HIRATA
Hirata’s persona has the DDT clown can sometimes have him misunderstood as a wrestler. Hirata can wrestle, and very well at times if given an opportunity in singles as he was in this King of DDT first round match against a younger and less experienced wrestler in Yoshimura who, to me resembles a school bully and actually seem to perform this way as he used his size to merely bully the more experienced Hirata around the ring. Looking at times a little disrespectful to Hirata, Yoshimura methodically powered his way through the match with Hirata’s only strategy to keep the youngster mat based with mere roll ups that Yoshimura simply powered his way out of. In fact Yoshimura’s persistence against crowd favourite Hirata paid off after some tremendous Lariat’s that Hirata sold really well, Yoshimura hit his finisher ‘Shonenba’ to advance with what may be looked as an upset!
DAISUKE SASAKI def. YUKIO SAKAGUCHI
Sasaki is the current holder of the King of DDT title and I’m pretty sure he would like to add another title to his maiden victory last year. 2015 winner Sakaguchi is clearly in his element using his feet, gaining momentum striking with his sharp kicks as they tussled on the mat in what was a scrappy affair between two of the more experienced DDT roster members. Sasaki surrounded by his Damnation counterparts used the numbers game to his advantage as his allies assisted in giving the former KO-D champion the advantage in certain spots and it would be Sasaki’s slightly cowardly tactics that would have him pull at the ref so he himself could hit a low blow on Sakaguchi, rolling him up for the pin whilst putting his legs on the rope to gain leverage! Sasaki still on course to possibly retain.
MASAHIRO TAKANASHI def. MAO
Bizarre match that went just over two minutes as Mao, with his entrance music still playing spitting in the face of Takanashi and drop kicking him out of the ring which saw Takanashi pick up a chair as Mao was attacked by Baliyan Akki dressed as Takanashi as they double teamed Mao in what was quite a sight until Mao’s tag partner Mike Bailey came to the aid of his buddy and escorted Ali from the ring. Mao would be on the receiving end of a disguised fan who would let off a party popper in the face of poor Mao as Takanashi used a backslide to get the pin. Ironic as Takanashi needed the aid of two others to gain a berth into the next round.
AKITO def. HARASHIMA
Harashima the previous day lost his Extreme title to Antonio Honda at Max Bump 2019 so a victory here would see some redemption for that, possibly! After wrestling the mat for a fair while, Akito would dragon screw the left leg of Harashima opening up an attack of that very leg. This match would be an exchange of leg working for both with Harashima also working the left leg of Akito and this would garner what looked to be some genuine heat between the two wrestlers. Harashima would continue his slump however, even after fighting a lengthy figure four leg lock hold, and resisting some strong kicks from a more determined Akito, the former Extreme champion would fall to a cradle roll up as Akito advances and Harashima has a bad weekend!
KONSUKE TAKESHITA def. YUKI UENO
Final first round match that went just north of twenty minutes, and at one point of the contest one felt that this was going to be a match that may go to long. Personally I could not be more wrong as Ueno put in a terrific and gutsy performance against the more established Main Eventer in Takeshita, who ironically is the same age as his counterpart! Ueno used his pace to perfection against his bigger opponent who I felt at times was not taking the challenge of Ueno seriously. Ueno athletic style worked for him with some super aerial ability, quick roll ups and fast counters that mad a Ueno victory seem believable. However, Takeshita did finally put Ueno’s shoulders down for the three count after hitting ‘Zahi’ (A running knee to the head) and he advances, showing little respect for his friend by throwing out of the ring and following with an offer of a handshake that Ueno kicked away.
Draw for the King of DDT Quarter Finals:
1. Kazusada Higuchi v Masahiro Takanashi
2. Soma Takao v Akito
3. Naomi Yoshimura v Konsuke Takeshita
4. Daisuke Sasaki v Winner of Loser’s Battle Royal
There was no commentary for this show as the tournament seems a little low key for the opening rounds with the second round being held in Sapporo! However the finals will be at Korakuen. This was a good show with some really good match-ups, unusually having only fourteen enter the tournament seems somewhat strange, however do not pass up on these matches, worth your time
