MAO Return Battle: MAO vs Shunma Katsumata
This is MAO’s return after an MCL tear in June. He was getting along as one of the best of the year but that got cut short. Thankfully he’s back. He and Shunma are great together and they have history together as they were both a part of the NωA together. And in classic Shunma form, this involved lego. Although the match is in normal rules format, the ref allowed it. These two went out there and had a fun match with some cool spots. Shunma took most of the lego landings but MAO didn’t escape that fate either. That springboard phoenix splash was gorgeous. What a return for him. ***
Danshoku Dino vs Akito
Like all Dino matches, this is for a niche audience like myself. Although the implications that Dino soiled his tights is a little gross and a bit much for me. But I didn’t have a laugh at Akito cracking up constantly throughout the match, clearly having the time of his life. **1/2
Elimanation Rules Match: Eruption (Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai) vs DISASTAR BOX (Toru Owashi, Naomi Yoshimura & Kazuki Hirata) vs DAMNHEARTS (Mad Paulie, El Lindaman & Nobuhiro Shimatani) vs Super Sasadango Machine, Makoto Oishi & Antonio Honda
This was a really fun match. A good mix of comedy with Honda’s story, making Sakaguchi burst out laughing in the process, Sasadango’s imitation of Mad Paulie and serious tag wrestling. Hirata was great as he usually is, being the life of the match, rolling everyone up, eliminating two of the teams before Sakaguchi rolled him up. Hirata complaining that it’s a cheap way to win was just the tip of the iceberg. Super fun match. ***1/2
DDT Extreme Title/Yanekabe Presents Weapon Rumble Match: Shinya Aoki (c) vs Sanshiro Takagi
I love these Weapon Rumbles. They are always a treat to watch for any big time DDT show such as this one. And it delivered. It maybe wasn’t as good as the MAO match Takagi had as it was more comedically driven than usual but the jokes were hilarious. Secrets were exposed, bad sex form was mentioned, DMs were shown and Aoki died of embarrassment. Brilliant. ***1/2
DISASTER BOX (HARASHIMA & Naomichi Marufuji) vs DAMNHEARTS (CIMA & Soma Takao)
This was a good match to liven the crowd up after intermission. You had the star power of HARASHIMA, CIMA and Marufuji with Soma bringing that DDT spirit. Soma Takao got a big focus being with CIMA and getting the win and I think he came out looking good as a result. He pinned HARASHIMA of all people, that’s a big win. Nothing great but it served its purpose. ***
DDT UNIVERSAL Title Match: Chris Brookes (c) vs Yuki Ueno
Finally, Ueno comes away from a big show with the win. Yuki Ueno got a big push this year with a long KO-D Tag Team Title reign and a few KO-D Openweight title matches so it was only a matter of time before he won a singles title and this was it. He was brilliant in this match, pulling off any move he could think of, desperately trying to score the win. Brookes was a great base for Ueno’s athletic moves and submissions as well. A good selfless performance from him to put over Ueno in a big way. Ueno quit Disaster Box after the match which suggests that he’s moving on to bigger things. Another piece of the puzzle for Ueno. ***1/2
Jun Akiyama vs Konosuke Takeshita
Shocking results with this one. Konosuke Takeshita surely had the win in the bag I thought but nope, an intense uptake in aggression from Akiyama at the end with his vicious knee strikes and a deep Front Neck Lock won Akiyama the match. The match was really good though. It was quite slow and deliberate but you got the feeling that they were physically putting so much toll on each other with their movements and control of each other, from both sides. Takeshita put in a hell of an effort to make up for Akiyama’s endurance not quite being as good as it once was. He took a big beating with some dangerou moves on the apron and inside the ropes. There was a few “dumb” moments where Akiyama was hitting Exploders and Takeshita was getting to his feet - some bad reminders of what the Kings Road style can offer - but they were limited thankfully. This rocked for the most part. ***3/4
KO-D Openweight Title Match: Tetsuya Endo (c) vs Daisuke Sasaki
This was the match to do for the main event. And that was before Endo and DAMNATION turned on Sasaki (Well Sasaki turned on Endo first and they sided with Endo but nevermind that) but now it’s personal. Sasaki is pissed and determined. Endo is egging him on and feeding into that. The match felt off the cuff at times. Sasaki in particular was very erratic in his approach. At several points, he’d fling himself at Endo with no regard for his or anyone’s safety. Sasaki is like that anyway but there was a certain malice behind it this time. Endo stuck to his game plan and waited until Sasaki couldn’t go at the pace he went anymore. It wasn’t the cleanest of matches. There were a lot of rough sequences, particularly when it was counter heavy but there was a lot of heart and drama to this. I loved the conclusion to the DAMNATION turn as well. Mad Paulie helping Sasaki in the match was a small hint that this was a plan by Endo and not a revolt but Endo inviting Sasaki back into DAMNATION after revealing that it was a plan to get the best out of Sasaki was a great ending and perfect for these group of characters. Big Shuji serenading the two was the exact thing this match needed. ****
While DDT Ultimate Party wasn’t as spectacular as last year’s event, or the previous shows of this calibre, this was a very good show. The big matches delivered up-to their standards. The undercard matches all added something to the show in terms of comedic value or otherwise. It set up other matches further down the line, concluded feuds nicely. A good snapshot at DDT as a whole. A feel good show with high stakes.
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