DDT DDT New Year! 2010 - 03/01/2010
In Tokyo, Japan (Korakuen Hall) - Drew 1, 266 Fans
13 Man New Year Kakushigei Battle Royal: Kikutaro vs. Munenori Sawa vs. Kazuhiko Ogasawara vs. Tanomusaku Toba vs. Tomomitsu Matsunaga vs. Yukihiro Abe vs. Poison Sawada JULIE vs. Rion Mizuki vs. Tomokazu Taniguchi vs. Soma Takao vs. Keisuke Ishii vs. Gota Ihashi vs. Hiroki
A fun battle royal to start the new decade for DDT. As most Battle Royals in DDT are, this is more like a Royal Rumble with entrances after a time period. There is one twist though, as there usually is in DDT, each wrestler heads to the stage set up and performs a talent before heading to the ring. Young wrestlers Keisuke Ishii, a favourite of mine, and Tomomitsu Matsunaga perform a comedy segment as the first two wrestlers in the ring. I don't speak Japanese but I didn't need to in order to laugh as their outfits are ridiculous. Plus the commentary team struggles to stifle laughter was amusing. Laughter is infectious after all. Tanomusku Toba performs on a trumpet poorly and Kazuhiko Ogasawara, of Zero-1 fame, failed to break a bat in half on first attempt. All while Michael Nakazawa stood behind them, still as a statue, caked in mud that would be used in a street performance. I can talk about the skits all day. I loved them all. Battle Royals are something that DDT excels at. Any major show that has them benefits unlike most promotions. The match is irrelevant honestly. The camera is hardly on the ring for 24 minutes this match went on for. And when the action finally gets caught on camera, in almost parody-like fashion, the eliminations come lightning quick while everyone kneels down to watch two wrestlers face each other. Eventually Poison Sawada JULIE wins after the other wrestlers pin each other while tangled together. Surreal finish. I had a blast watching it. The match was secondary. ***
Baba (Hikaru Sato), Cinderella (Danshoku Dino) & King Pokoda (Masa Takanashi) vs. Duke Togo (Francesco Togo), Momotaro (Sasaki and Gabbana) & Supervisor (Antonio Honda)
Keeping with the light theme of the show, we have the big names such as Danshoku Dino, Antonio Honda, Dick Togo (who is under the Francesco name currently as he's a member of the Italian Four Horseman) and Hikaru Sato all under gag names. Some references I get such as Dino being Cinderella because he's a huge kisser and Duke Togo as a play on Dick Togo. Sasaki and Gabbana is more commonly known as Daisuke Sasaki, so I'll just call him that. There was a little play before the match officially began. Antonio Honda would explain what was happening while the wrestlers in the ring would act out what Honda was describing silently. Either it was fight scenes or, um, sexual jokes. Yeah. This is not work friendly.
The match is slightly more serious. There was some crowd brawling and strike exchanges between Sato and Honda but it still has a few gag jokes such as Togo breaking up a pin attempt with a Gun, Mafia style and Dino coming back out wearing a cinderella dress. Dino is the deciding factor in his team winning after a kiss and a Danshoku Driver on Sasaki for the three count. Soon Tokyo Gurentai come out and challenge the UWA World Trio champions (Dino, Sato and Takanashi) to a title match which will be set for the 24th Shin-Kiba event. Let's move on.
Hoshitango vs. Ken Ohka
Ken Ohka is more known for his loveable loser gimmick as well as running Ganbare Pro - a DDT subsidiary. But here he has blonde hair and it seemed to be the focus of a documentary. Ohka meets fans, goes to a strip club with Yasu Urano and pays for extra. All while a farting noise is recurring throughout the video. Not the most clever of humor, I must admit. Somehow this leads to a 2 minute match with Hoshitango. And it's bizarre. Hoshitango hits a neat shoulder block and a corner splash but Ohka gains the advantage with a kick to the back of the head and hits an elbow drop off the top rope while the lights dim into darkness. Ohka presumably wins.
Elimination Eight Man Tag Team Match: Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, KUDO & Yasu Urano vs. Futoshi Miwa, MIKAMI, Mitsuya Nagai & Sanshiro Takagi
Okay, how the fuck do I explain this? I can't really. They are all dressed up like stereotypes of the nuclear family. Futoshi Miwa is the family cat, Sanshiro Takagi is dressed as the Mum, Mitsuya Nagai is dressed like an old man. The rest are children. It's quite bizarre. The match isn't really a match. Like most things tonight, it's a skit involving wrestling. Eventually the last two men are Omega and Takagi with Omega beating Takagi.
30 Man Tag Team Match: Antonio Honda, Chon Shiryu, Francesco Togo, Futoshi Miwa, Gota Ihashi, Hoshitango, MIKAMI, Mitsuya Nagai, Poison Sawada JULIE, Rion Mizuki, Sanshiro Takagi, Sasaki and Gabbana, Soma Takao, Tanomusaku Toba & Tomokazu Taniguchi vs. Danshoku Dino, Hikaru Sato, Keisuke Ishii, Kenny Omega, Ken Ohka, Kikutaro, Kota Ibushi, KUDO, Masa Takanashi, Michael Nakazawa, Munenori Sawa, Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Touru Owashi, Yasu Urano & Yukihiro Abe
The culmination of all the gimmicks tonight. Everyone is involved, even Nakazawa who has been still as a statue all show. It's hard to really describe something like this. So much is happening all over Korakuen Hall. Sawa and Owashi are teaming together to take on Futoshi Miwa. There is a headscisssors spot involving everyone in the stairs (no joke). The funny thing about that spot was when Kikutaro turned Sasaki around for the Boston Crab, causing everyone else to turn to their stomachs as well. Eventually a win was made among the chaos with Nakazawa scoring the roll up win on someone who I don't recognise. Wild match.
Happy New Years, I guess.
DDT Union Pro New Year Union 2010 - 24/01/2010
In Tokyo, Japan (Shin-Kiba 1st RING)
KO-D Openweight Title Match: Shuji Ishikawa (c) vs. Yoshihito Sasaki
Yoshihito Sasaki is a cult favourite for a lot of people around this time but judging from this match, I'm not sure why. I instantly compare him to Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Okabayashi because he's a BJW guy but those two are way more impressive offensively and have more charisma to them. Sasaki wasn't terrible, mind you. He just came off as bland. Ishikawa, who isn't Mr Charisma himself, stood out way more. The match was as solid as you can get. Ishikawa uses his size to control the match. He'd grab Sasaki and throw him around. There was a neat spot where he trapped Sasaki’s arms and kept on headbutting him before throwing him overhead. Ishikawa had a cool double arm trapped choke as well. I've seen a lot of Shuji Ishikawa and I've never seen him do that before. But other than that, this was basic wrestling. ***
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