KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Title Match: Toru Owashi, Antonio Honda, Kazuki Hirata & Yoshihiko (c) vs Poison Sawada JULIE, Takashi Sasaki, GENTARO, MIKAMI & Tanomusaku Toba (w/ Naomi Susan)
It's hard to say this is the generational match with veterans such as Honda and Owashi in one of the teams but it's sort of the first wave of DDT wrestlers against the next wave. Team D²T is an appropriate name to call back to that history. And this was the first great start to the show. They packed some of the bigger gimmicks in DDT in this match such as Hirata, Yoshihiko, Honda, etc and they did well to include their spots among the, tad more, serious Legends side. Although it was just as hilarious seeing GENTARO react to Yoshihiko than anything else. I'm not really into Poison Sawada as a gimmick but he's not a detraction whatsoever. All in all, this was a fun opener. ***
Special Single Match: Saki Akai vs Maya Yukihi
These two had no chemistry in the build-up to this but they were somewhat handicapped by being forced into doing teaser spots which, unless you're Genichiro Tenryu and Riki Choshu, aren't always great to watch. But they put in a great effort when allowed to have sustained momentum and actually work each other. Akai got a good win, throwing some good kicks and holding her own through Yukihi's submission sequences. The transition from the Octopus Hold to the Quetzalcoat was sweet as hell. The best moments of the match came from Yukihi though, who does have something to prove after leaving the comfort zone of Ice Ribbon. She had some great head kicks that would rock anyone and her Swanton bomb looked terrific. ***1/4
DDT 25th Anniversary Special Single Match No DQ “I’m Sorry” Match: Sanshiro Takagi vs Michael Nakazawa
Despite being 52 years old, Takagi still does what he does best, and that is fuse the Attitude Era brawl, plunder and all, and the DDT gag style together to make a compelling match. It didn't reach the heights of MAO vs Takagi but it had its memorable moments, such as Takagi hitting a piledriver on Nakazawa over a toilet and Takagi crashing the DDT Mobile in the pyramid of chairs as Hyper Misao did at Grand Princess the night prior. This was worked in a similar way to an I Quit match so thee rest of the match was the two doing things to each other until Takagi threatened to power bomb Nakazawa through stacked boxes and Nakazawa quit. And then Takagi put him through it anyway, because he's the president and what is anyone going to do about it. Nakazawa humbled himself and offered a present in the form of Christopher Daniels announcing that DDT wrestlers will go to the United States. Big news indeed. ***
Special Tag Match: Isami Kodaka & Yukio Sakaguchi vs 37 KAMIINA (Yuki Ueno & Shunma Katsumata)
This opened up with Sakaguchi going on his back and challenging Ueno to pass his guard which Ueno was able to do after some persistence before Sakaguchi changed position and regained control. Which was a call back to last years' singles match. Shunma and Kodaka paired off naturally with Kodaka consistently beating Shunma, despite his best efforts. Kodaka didn't hold back in nailing Shunma with kicks either. The better parts of the match happened when Ueno and Sakaguchi were in the ring. But this had some solid tag team wrestling to offer with Kodaka and Sakaguchi throwing double kick combos out there. Ueno got the win over Sakaguchi in an emphatic way, after hitting three of his biggest moves. ***1/2
LiLiCo Retirement Match: LiLiCo, Ryohei Odai & Akito (w/ Junretsu) vs Pheromones (Danshoku “Dandy” Dino, Yuki “Sexy” Iino & Yumehito “Fantastic” Imanari)
Easily the most gimmicked and outrageous match of the nights. Pheromones played all the hits, no matter how perverse it was. But it was rather amusing and entertaining. LiLiCo got a good send off, with most of the match revolving around her and Odai, her husband. All good fun, albeit far too long. Plenty of things happened in the match but they aren't best described in words. It's all visual. The best part of the match was Junrestu serenading LiLiCo after the match. **1/2
Jun Akiyama 30th Anniversary Match: Burning Wild (Jun Akiyama & Takao Omori) vs Eruption (Kazusada Higuchi & Hideki Okatani)
Burning Wild returns for the 30th Anniversary! But this is also a massive test for Okatani to face these two at a stage like Ryogoku. One of the main story threads was Okatani trying to prove himself against his old mentor, Akiyama. He's still in the development stages but he was very good in the underdog who never backs down role. It didn't quite mirror Akiyama v Kawada but it didn't need to either. Okatani came out looking good, even if Akiyama is above him by a wide margin. The other story was Higuchi showing his strength against people who are the same size as him. Higuchi was certainly able to beat Omori towards the end, as he should've but I can't say that I didn't find those exchanges a bit disappointing. There is more to heavyweight wrestling than chops and lariats. ***1/2
DDT Universal Title Hardcore 3 Way Match: Daisuke Sasaki (c) vs Jun Kasai vs MAO
I knew that this would be a great match. These are three of the craziest wrestlers in Japanese wrestling today and when you put them together, that chaos was only going to grow. The weapons being used were very on brand - MAO brought in a steel beam and Kasai brought in skewers (that went right into everyone's skulls) and used a broken piece of word to stick into Sasaki's forehead. Naturally everyone was bloody and battered. Sasaki, in particular, got cut open badly. He had half of his face painted white but once the blood started to pour, the white turned into dark red. The finish was nuts as well. MAO hit an emerald flying flowsion of the beam, that was then placed between two ladders, on Sasaki through a table to win the Universal Title. MAO was the third wheel in the Sasaki and Kasai feud and he seemed determined to be considered as a threat and came out the victor. ***3/4
KO-D Tag Team Title Match: DISASTER BOX (HARASHIMA & Naomi Yoshimura) (c) vs CDK (Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi)
Like the other tag team matches of the night, this was pure quality without ever turning into anything special. HARASHIMA is clearly taking a step back to allow Yoshimura to be the star of the time, but without that extra spark, they never get past that ceiling. Yoshimura is steadily improving as the workhorse of the team, however. He came off looking strong, forcing CDK to have to double team him consistently to get anything on him. Brookes winning by practically ripping Yoshimura apart in a manner classic British wrestlers would be proud of made for a great finish. ***1/2
KO-D Openweight Title Match: Konosuke Takeshita (c) vs Tetsuya Endo
It's appropriate that this was the main event for such a landmark show. Long time rivals going against each other one more time. Endo has never beaten Takeshita for the KO-D Openweight Title before and this seemed to be his time. The storytelling in the match with Endo changing his approach, adopting a more technical and methodical approach to the match, to good success. Takeshita, in turn, went to the sky more than he has done in a while. This slowly built up until the 25 minute mark where the high impact signature moves came out. Takeshita hit some nasty brain busters and hit all his signature moves but Endo couldn't be denied. For a 46 minute match, this was paced well. If anything the match felt too long at the end rather than the start feeling stretched out. But this was a quality main event. ****1/4
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