DDT Summer Vacation 2020
HARASHIMA Announcement - After Imabayashi ran down the rest of the announcements, Disaster Box came out to announce a HARASHIMA produced show where all DB members will face each other in a 5-way. Ima proposed that the stipulation is that the winners get to leave the match early and the loser stays until the end, so kinda like a AAA Jaula de la Muerte match. Ima also said that he is likely to lose and asked for a 1 or 2-count advante, or a over the top rope advantage, to which Owashi accepted, but if Ima loses, he'll have a penalty (the last one being walking from Tokyo to Hiroshima), so Ima wasn't happy about that part.
We also got the calendar for King of DDT, starting 8.8. Lastly, Akito and Dango came out to make some announcements for other future shows.
Ok opener, nothing to it, it was a lot of Nakamura having hope spots and working from underneath until Takao pinned him. Naya was a non-entity this whole thing.
Dieno/Dango/Seigo Backstage - Dieno and Dango are trying to figure out what's new with Seigo (who shaved his head), so he just tells them to follow his lead tonight.
For his entrance, announcer had to let the crowd know that Seigo is a social delinquent. Harmless, but he still felt they needed to know. Hirata and Owashi in the same team is a torture for me, how to choose from one entrance to the other. Obviously Hirata took over the entrance and Owashi was disgusted. Naomi was just confused over it all.
Story of the match was that Hirata kept getting in Owashi's way, from the entrance, to intercepting tags between Naomi and Owashi, to pulling the opponent out of Owashi's attack so he could attack instead. Eventually it all led to a small Rock n Roll dance and everyone getting pink eye from Dango before Seigo pinned Hirata with a Deadeye.
DDT Extreme Title Special Rules Match
Donaruto came out wearing a Karategi. Rules of the match according to the champion are normal wrestling rules, but competitors have 100% freedom to undress if they choose to. Referee had to confirm several times.
This started off as a grapplefuck match, Donaruto did great, but then the match devolved into Donaruto's perv moves, into male nudity, fake blowjobs, Aoki's penis had to be edited out, and in the end, Aoki won with an European Clutch.
I was scared that they would use this match to build to another Sasaki vs Brookes match, but it ended up doing more for Shimatani and Parker since they had the better showing of the four, Shimatani especially. Brookes was babyface in peril a lot more than I like tho, he's still the champion at the end and it felt like he wasn't leading the offense.
Post-match - Drew Parker took the mic, said he knew a little bit of Japanese, which he actually sounded really good. He said the wanted a shot at Brookes' Universal title. Brookes has also been learning Japanese and accepted. They spoke Japanese to each other, but English to Imabayashi. The match is signed for 9.7 Korakuen Hall show.
KO-D Six Man Tag Team Title Match
Never in my life I expect to get excited of a Honda vs Sakaguchi rivalry, and while I have been expecting a Riho vs Sakai feud after Sakai's series, I fell in love with Riho vs Higushi, the size difference led to some cool spots.
The match was kinda built around Honga vs Sakaguchi, a sandwich of comedy with a lot of great wrestling in between. Harashima and Higuchi had an awesome chop and kick exchange. Riho vs Sakai and Higuchi was also great, but at the end, it was Honda vs Sakaguchi in a battle of Gon the Fox until Sakaguchi locked in a Sleeper to submit Honda. This was my favorite thing of the show so far.
Sakaguchi couldn't stop corpsing at Honda all match and it made everything better.
Post-match - Dieno and Seigo came out and challenged ERUPTION for the KO-D 6-Man titles. Sakaguchi told them they were missing a third person, but the office had chosen someone for them -- YOSHIKO. ERUPTION accepted the challenge and made fun of Seigo.
Junretsu Video Package - They explained everyone in the team, Oishi is the DDT dad, Okatani is a rookie, Watase is in a do or die situation, and Akiyama is the King of Road style veteran. Akiyama said that he admits Takeshita's growth, but that he didn't believe Takeshita's heart was in the right place for DDT.
Overall this was a great match, Takeshita and Akiyama did their thing perfectly, bell to bell. Okatani was the babyface in peril since he was the rookie. Watase was the young guy with tons of energy, and Oishi as the one who could play a veteran role, but at the speed that Akiyama couldn't, complementing him. My one complain about this match was that, while I THINK we are to think that Junretsu are the babyfaces, they were also the ones getting in the ring to cut Ino's Haka for instance, so that kinda broke my concentration at times. Even their post match celebration came off as cocky.
Oishi vs Akito was my favorite part of the match, but big props to Akiyama and Takeshita going at it, the last few seconds before Akiyama pinned Takeshita were fantastic, Takeshita kept kicking out of Akiyama's moves.
Endo vs Ueno Video Package - Good. Endo said that after Tanaka, everything feels easier. Ueno said that he feels no pressure, he has pinned Endo before.
KO-D Openweight Title Match
This was pretty good, I've heard a lot of people who apparently had higher expectations to this match, but I personally wasn't expecting more out of Ueno, dude is 24 years old and can only get better, but he's just not there yet.
The match was back and forward, they kept trading the upper hand throughout the match, slowly wearing each other down more and more. Ueno had some beautiful moves, you can really see why people are eyeing him as a new Kota Ibushi; whereas Endo's work was more brutal. Towards the end, Ueno kept kicking out of everything Endo threw at him, including his new (NOT) One-Winged Angel move that he had been teasing, but once followed with a SSP, Endo retained.
Post-match - Endo told Ueno that it will take more to defeat him and that he can have a rematch one day, but for now, he should go home. Endo asked who his next challenger was and was told that if he wins KODDT, he gets to pick his next challenger. All his options were celebrities, but said that tied for 1st place is Kenny Omega.
Good show, really light on comedy. Nothing particular groundbreaking, but the Ueno vs Endo match had a lot of build up to it and it was worth watching. It really felt like they didn't want to break out any big thing before heading into King of DDT. Nonetheless, this was a fun show to watch.
We also got the calendar for King of DDT, starting 8.8. Lastly, Akito and Dango came out to make some announcements for other future shows.
Keigo Nakamura & Yukio Naya vs. DAMNATION (Mad Paulie & Soma Takao) - 4.5/10
Ok opener, nothing to it, it was a lot of Nakamura having hope spots and working from underneath until Takao pinned him. Naya was a non-entity this whole thing.
Dieno/Dango/Seigo Backstage - Dieno and Dango are trying to figure out what's new with Seigo (who shaved his head), so he just tells them to follow his lead tonight.
Danshoku Dino, Seigo Tachibana & Super Sasadango Machine vs. DISASTER BOX (Kazuki Hirata, Naomi Yoshimura & Toru Owashi) - 5/10
For his entrance, announcer had to let the crowd know that Seigo is a social delinquent. Harmless, but he still felt they needed to know. Hirata and Owashi in the same team is a torture for me, how to choose from one entrance to the other. Obviously Hirata took over the entrance and Owashi was disgusted. Naomi was just confused over it all.
Story of the match was that Hirata kept getting in Owashi's way, from the entrance, to intercepting tags between Naomi and Owashi, to pulling the opponent out of Owashi's attack so he could attack instead. Eventually it all led to a small Rock n Roll dance and everyone getting pink eye from Dango before Seigo pinned Hirata with a Deadeye.
DDT Extreme Title Special Rules Match
Shinya Aoki (c) vs. Maku Donaruto - 7/10
Donaruto came out wearing a Karategi. Rules of the match according to the champion are normal wrestling rules, but competitors have 100% freedom to undress if they choose to. Referee had to confirm several times.
This started off as a grapplefuck match, Donaruto did great, but then the match devolved into Donaruto's perv moves, into male nudity, fake blowjobs, Aoki's penis had to be edited out, and in the end, Aoki won with an European Clutch.
Chris Brookes & Drew Parker vs. DAMNATION (Daisuke Sasaki & Nobuhiro Shimatani) w/Mad Paulie - 7.5/10
I was scared that they would use this match to build to another Sasaki vs Brookes match, but it ended up doing more for Shimatani and Parker since they had the better showing of the four, Shimatani especially. Brookes was babyface in peril a lot more than I like tho, he's still the champion at the end and it felt like he wasn't leading the offense.
Post-match - Drew Parker took the mic, said he knew a little bit of Japanese, which he actually sounded really good. He said the wanted a shot at Brookes' Universal title. Brookes has also been learning Japanese and accepted. They spoke Japanese to each other, but English to Imabayashi. The match is signed for 9.7 Korakuen Hall show.
KO-D Six Man Tag Team Title Match
Eruption (Kazusada Higuchi, Saki Akai & Yukio Sakaguchi) (c) vs. Antonio Honda, HARASHIMA & Riho - 7.5/10
Never in my life I expect to get excited of a Honda vs Sakaguchi rivalry, and while I have been expecting a Riho vs Sakai feud after Sakai's series, I fell in love with Riho vs Higushi, the size difference led to some cool spots.
The match was kinda built around Honga vs Sakaguchi, a sandwich of comedy with a lot of great wrestling in between. Harashima and Higuchi had an awesome chop and kick exchange. Riho vs Sakai and Higuchi was also great, but at the end, it was Honda vs Sakaguchi in a battle of Gon the Fox until Sakaguchi locked in a Sleeper to submit Honda. This was my favorite thing of the show so far.
Sakaguchi couldn't stop corpsing at Honda all match and it made everything better.
Post-match - Dieno and Seigo came out and challenged ERUPTION for the KO-D 6-Man titles. Sakaguchi told them they were missing a third person, but the office had chosen someone for them -- YOSHIKO. ERUPTION accepted the challenge and made fun of Seigo.
Junretsu Video Package - They explained everyone in the team, Oishi is the DDT dad, Okatani is a rookie, Watase is in a do or die situation, and Akiyama is the King of Road style veteran. Akiyama said that he admits Takeshita's growth, but that he didn't believe Takeshita's heart was in the right place for DDT.
ALL OUT (Akito, Konosuke Takeshita, Shunma Katsumata & Yuki Ino) vs. Junretsu (Hideki Okatani, Jun Akiyama, Makoto Oishi & Mizuki Watase) - 8/10
Overall this was a great match, Takeshita and Akiyama did their thing perfectly, bell to bell. Okatani was the babyface in peril since he was the rookie. Watase was the young guy with tons of energy, and Oishi as the one who could play a veteran role, but at the speed that Akiyama couldn't, complementing him. My one complain about this match was that, while I THINK we are to think that Junretsu are the babyfaces, they were also the ones getting in the ring to cut Ino's Haka for instance, so that kinda broke my concentration at times. Even their post match celebration came off as cocky.
Oishi vs Akito was my favorite part of the match, but big props to Akiyama and Takeshita going at it, the last few seconds before Akiyama pinned Takeshita were fantastic, Takeshita kept kicking out of Akiyama's moves.
Endo vs Ueno Video Package - Good. Endo said that after Tanaka, everything feels easier. Ueno said that he feels no pressure, he has pinned Endo before.
KO-D Openweight Title Match
Tetsuya Endo (c) w/DAMNATION vs. Yuki Ueno w/Naomi Yoshimura - 8.5/10
This was pretty good, I've heard a lot of people who apparently had higher expectations to this match, but I personally wasn't expecting more out of Ueno, dude is 24 years old and can only get better, but he's just not there yet.
The match was back and forward, they kept trading the upper hand throughout the match, slowly wearing each other down more and more. Ueno had some beautiful moves, you can really see why people are eyeing him as a new Kota Ibushi; whereas Endo's work was more brutal. Towards the end, Ueno kept kicking out of everything Endo threw at him, including his new (NOT) One-Winged Angel move that he had been teasing, but once followed with a SSP, Endo retained.
Post-match - Endo told Ueno that it will take more to defeat him and that he can have a rematch one day, but for now, he should go home. Endo asked who his next challenger was and was told that if he wins KODDT, he gets to pick his next challenger. All his options were celebrities, but said that tied for 1st place is Kenny Omega.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Good show, really light on comedy. Nothing particular groundbreaking, but the Ueno vs Endo match had a lot of build up to it and it was worth watching. It really felt like they didn't want to break out any big thing before heading into King of DDT. Nonetheless, this was a fun show to watch.