The King of DDT Tournament is a 16 man single Elimination tournament that takes place once a year. Unlike most promotions, this is the more important tournament in the DDT Callender than the D-Ou which is a Round Robin tournament. When it gets down to the final two, there is a random draw to determine the Semi Final matches.
King Of DDT 2021 – Round 1A Match: HARASHIMA Vs Makoto Oishi
Makoto Oishi looks like one of your average d-list Indie Junior Heavyweights but he's sneakily good in these smaller settings. He showed that here as well. There was one point in the match where he grapevine HARASHIMA’s leg while he was stuck in the Scorpion Hold position and made it extremely difficult for HARASHIMA to lock on the hold. Oishi is also pretty much the modern day Finlay as well. Before anyone gets excited, I mean his contributions to making Tokyo Joshi Pro’s idol wrestlers, who could barely run the ropes at the start into competent wrestlers with a loyal fanbase. The match continued to be worked around the leg, with both HARASHIMA and Oishi finding different ways to roll into submission holds and other pinning predicaments. HARASHIMA won out in the end but it was a solid showcase for Oishi’s strengths above just giving HARASHIMA a small win into the second round. ***
King Of DDT 2021 – Round 1B Match: Yuji Hino Vs Yukio Sakaguchi
I've found Yuji Hino’s run in DDT to be quite boring. Hino is a pudgy man with a big powerbomb and in a promotion with loads of Juniors, it makes sense that he plays the immovable big man but it's played out in a one note way as Hino’s charisma is totally downplayed in that role. But this is different as Sakaguchi is a bit more powerful than, let's say, Yuki Ueno, and has legit fighting skills that can cause Hino trouble, so Hino reverted back to his usual work. Hino messes with Sakaguchi, mocking his fighting stance and slapping the side of his leg but Sakaguchi wasn't having that and decided that choking and kneeing Hino in the face was the way to go. Sakaguchi has the Double Wrist Lock on several times but Hino shrugs him off with ease, showing his strength. We get a strike exchange, this time it being: Kicks vs Chops. And it's alright. Both sell each strike appropriately and they move on to the closing where they go back and forth before Hino wins with the Fucking Bomb. Solid match. ***
King Of DDT 2021 – Round 1C Match: MAO Vs Soma Takao
MAO comes out wearing a Duck Ring around his waist, like you'd wear in a Swimming Pool. Ha. MAO has an interesting history. Apparently he was scouted by the company founder, Sanshiro Takagi, on a video of him doing wrestling moves on his trampoline. We have a backyarder in DDT and he's wild. Raw, but a lot of fun to watch. . Soma Takao is a little more boring in his past though. Soma is an odd wrestler himself though. Awesome entrance song, occasionally has a great performance but 8/10 times he's the most average wrestler. Perfectly mechanical. And the match doesn't fit into the minority. MAO teases hitting an Asai Moonsault before realising that he's in Shinjuku Face and there is no room. The action is quick and smooth but nothing special until Mao hits the crazy brainbuster off the top rope. **1/4
King Of DDT 2021 – Round 1D Match: Akito Vs Konosuke Takeshita
The VP vs The Company Ace! This is the most exciting match in the first round as it's two of the better wrestlers in the promotion but it's also stablemate against stablemate. The match was super good. It allowed Takeshita to show his grappling skill opposed to sticking with the bomb fest formula. Akito had some neat WOS-esc counters out of the wheelbarrow position and some, plus Akito had some neat small details in his submission work, like digging his elbow and fists into the spine of Takeshita while Akito had him locked in a front head-scissors. Takeshita adapted fairly well to the tricky style of Akito, using his strength to deadlift Akito off his pressure points. The finish was sudden with Takeshita quickly finding a weakness of Akito’s (his arm) and began wrenching on it until he won the match. Great finish. ***1/4
King Of DDT 2021 – Round 1E Match: Yuki Ueno Vs Daisuke Sasaki
Coming off Yuki Uneo pinning NOAH’s former GHC Heavyweight Champion, Kaito Kiyomiya, I'm certain that Ueno losing was not the correct choice. Even if Daisuke Sasaki cheated to win. Head scratching booking choice. The match was short with the tide turning constantly. Each move looked like it could get the win for either guy which I suppose is a good thing but the result throws me off. And I say that as a Daisuke Sasaki fan. **
King Of DDT 2021 – Round 1F Match: Shunma Katsumata Vs Jun Akiyama
If you want to see Jun Akiyama beating some deathmatch wannabe punk while wearing his pink beanie, this is for you. Shunma pinballs himself about for Akiyama, while adopting a never stop moving approach in the brief spells he gets on offence. Soon the legos come out but Akiyama is able to move when Shunma attempts a flying splash and rolls him up. Fun match. ***
King Of DDT 2021 – Round 1G Match: Kazusada Higuchi Vs Naomi Yoshimura
This is a bit of a waste of Higuchi. A large part of the match was mostly just chop exchanges. And while they chop hard, any time they actually wrestled, the match was exceptionally better. Higuchi had a great claw hold that looked painful, which is rare and that led to Yoshimura attempting to lift him up in order to hit an exploder only to be forced back down. And that led into a chokeslam (but not a choke as Higuchi is holding the face) for the win. That was the first great finish and only a small hint of what they could do against each other. The tag matches between Eruption and Yoshimura/Ueno are other examples of that as well. **
King Of DDT 2021 – Round 1H Match: Tetsuya Endo Vs Chris Brookes
This was an interesting match. It was mostly built around the Octopus Hold and both attempted to get the wins. Brookes can be inconsistent but he does have moments of quality, like adapting the hold to wrap Endo’s arm in a hammer lock position around the ropes. These two really put in a ton of effort with it being a main event and it resulted in an exciting competitive match with some cool moments, such as the aforementioned Octopus Hold battle and Endo bringing out an updated version of a Canadian Destroyer. Everything's better when you hook the arms. And that led to the Shooting Star Press finish to end the night out strong. ***1/2
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