DDT Dramatic 2021 January Special!
Announcements - Old man Matsuno came out and said that his birthday show in Fukushima had to be cancelled because the venue will be used as a vaccination center for COVID, since it's the big 6-0, he wants to find another date for the show and not just cancel it altogether.
We also got a replay of the Young Buck's book defeating Britt Baker for the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship. The book will be defending the title on the 2.28 show.
MAO is celebrating his birthday and came out to start the show. DDT STATOOO.
I shouldn't doubt Akito and Brookes, but this was surprisingly good given that Kojima is brand new and Watase, while pretty good for his experience, is still somewhat green. However, Kojima ended up having a decent showing against Brookes, mainly because they kept it to striking. Watase vs Akito was solid too. Brookes submitted Kojima with the Calamary Stretch.
This was the usual 2nd in the card comedy match of the night. It was built around Matsuno being out from the start and people trying to get the pin on him, plus Hirata using Dieno to his advantage, so Dieno would take out Akai and Paulie, and Hirata could get the quick pin on Matsuno. Instead Dieno realized what was happening and had some back and forward at the end with Matsuno and Hirata, who stole the win with a Gedo Clutch on Dieno.
Not much wrestling in this match unfortunately, but it's not a match you should expect wrestling from.
Nakamura is apparently being tested in this match to become a member of the Sauna Club.
This was super fun. First third of the match saw the Sauna Club and Nakamura all gang up on Owashi for a babyface in peril sequence, Owashi looked great when he made the comeback on all three and tagged out. HARASHIMA got the hot tag and had a fun exchange with MAO, wishing him a happy birthday and asking about his and his parent's age while going back and forward with strikes. Finally, Honda and Nakamura came in for the finish when Honda hit a top rope falling fist for the win.
Hirata vs Young Bucks' Killing the Business book - Hirata happened to find the Heavymetalweight title in a shipping box, along with the book. He tried to pin the book and win the title, but Dieno attacked him, broke the pin, and they brawled away. Imabayashi recovered the book and title, hopefully safe until the 28th.
This was a big lad's fight. Naya has dropped a lot of weight, but still towered over Hino. Unfortunately for Naya, they're getting Hino over and so he outpowered him in most spots of the match.
Post-match - Hino was disrespectful at Naya and Iino took it personally, speared Hino and called him out as the rest of his team stablemates tried to pull him away. Iino vs Hino is happening in Nagoya. Hino cut a promo afterwards asking why all the beefy boys from DDT keep coming after him.
I don't believe that Okada is officially part of Junretsu, but it really feels like he's going to be joining any day soon, maybe he'll be involved in Akiyama winning the title from Endo.
The power balance of this match was a bit unfair, Junretsu has Okatani, and Okada who is also arguably newish; meanwhile, the DAMNATION team was the champion, former Universal champion, and Takao that is quite good. It really ended up being Oishi that had the best action from their team, Okatani was there for the start and finish, but even against Endo, the action was just ok due to Okatani's lack of experience. Okada I felt was not given much to do in this match, he kinda came in and out and didn't really do much. For that matter, Sasaki also kinda felt irrelevant in the match. Endo won at the end via submission.
Post-match - Endo cut a promo saying that Akiyama returns on the 31st and seriously asked Junretsu if they thought they stood a chance without Akiyama.
Higuchi and Sakaguchi are still the tag team champions, but the titles are not on the line at this point. Takeshita and MAO are going to be challenging ERUPTION for the tag titles at the late February Nagoya show, but also, Ueno chose Sakaguchi as his next challenger for the Universal title, and so we have a couple of things going on here.
Higuchi is usually portrayed as a destructive machine of a man, but in this match, he even single handedly dominated both Takeshita and Ueno, who are not weak guys at all. There was some aid from Sakaguchi, but Higuchi was pretty much the one dominating during Take's babyface in peril run, and somewhat withstood Ueno's hot tag. When Sakaguchi finally came in, he only paired up with Ueno, and oh boy, he beat the shit out of Ueno until he locked in a sleeper and got the ref stoppage win.
Strong win for ERUPTION, a good build up teasing that Sakaguchi will take the title off Ueno, and also showing that Higuchi can dominate Takeshita, leaving out the question on whether MAO can be the backup that Takeshita needs to get the upper hand on ERUPTION.
Post-match - Sakaguchi told Ueno that making him the next challenger was his biggest mistake.
Ok show by DDT, it was fun and it went by fast, but not of the matches were particularly memorable or amazing. They're building towards a couple of big shows in February, so this was just that, a spot on the road.
We also got a replay of the Young Buck's book defeating Britt Baker for the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship. The book will be defending the title on the 2.28 show.
MAO is celebrating his birthday and came out to start the show. DDT STATOOO.
Akito & Chris Brookes vs. Mizuki Watase & Toi Kojima - 5.5/10
I shouldn't doubt Akito and Brookes, but this was surprisingly good given that Kojima is brand new and Watase, while pretty good for his experience, is still somewhat green. However, Kojima ended up having a decent showing against Brookes, mainly because they kept it to striking. Watase vs Akito was solid too. Brookes submitted Kojima with the Calamary Stretch.
Gorgeous Matsuno vs. Danshoku Dieno vs. Mad Paulie vs. Kazuki Hirata vs. Saki Akai - 4.5/10
This was the usual 2nd in the card comedy match of the night. It was built around Matsuno being out from the start and people trying to get the pin on him, plus Hirata using Dieno to his advantage, so Dieno would take out Akai and Paulie, and Hirata could get the quick pin on Matsuno. Instead Dieno realized what was happening and had some back and forward at the end with Matsuno and Hirata, who stole the win with a Gedo Clutch on Dieno.
Not much wrestling in this match unfortunately, but it's not a match you should expect wrestling from.
Keigo Nakamura, MAO & Shunma Katsumata vs. DISASTER BOX (HARASHIMA & Toru Owashi) & Antonio Honda - 7/10
Nakamura is apparently being tested in this match to become a member of the Sauna Club.
This was super fun. First third of the match saw the Sauna Club and Nakamura all gang up on Owashi for a babyface in peril sequence, Owashi looked great when he made the comeback on all three and tagged out. HARASHIMA got the hot tag and had a fun exchange with MAO, wishing him a happy birthday and asking about his and his parent's age while going back and forward with strikes. Finally, Honda and Nakamura came in for the finish when Honda hit a top rope falling fist for the win.
Hirata vs Young Bucks' Killing the Business book - Hirata happened to find the Heavymetalweight title in a shipping box, along with the book. He tried to pin the book and win the title, but Dieno attacked him, broke the pin, and they brawled away. Imabayashi recovered the book and title, hopefully safe until the 28th.
Yuji Hino (w/Mad Paulie) vs. Yukio Naya - 6.5/10
This was a big lad's fight. Naya has dropped a lot of weight, but still towered over Hino. Unfortunately for Naya, they're getting Hino over and so he outpowered him in most spots of the match.
Post-match - Hino was disrespectful at Naya and Iino took it personally, speared Hino and called him out as the rest of his team stablemates tried to pull him away. Iino vs Hino is happening in Nagoya. Hino cut a promo afterwards asking why all the beefy boys from DDT keep coming after him.
DAMNATION (Daisuke Sasaki, Soma Takao & Tetsuya Endo) vs. Junretsu (Hideki Okatani & Makoto Oishi) & Yusuke Okada - 7/10
I don't believe that Okada is officially part of Junretsu, but it really feels like he's going to be joining any day soon, maybe he'll be involved in Akiyama winning the title from Endo.
The power balance of this match was a bit unfair, Junretsu has Okatani, and Okada who is also arguably newish; meanwhile, the DAMNATION team was the champion, former Universal champion, and Takao that is quite good. It really ended up being Oishi that had the best action from their team, Okatani was there for the start and finish, but even against Endo, the action was just ok due to Okatani's lack of experience. Okada I felt was not given much to do in this match, he kinda came in and out and didn't really do much. For that matter, Sasaki also kinda felt irrelevant in the match. Endo won at the end via submission.
Post-match - Endo cut a promo saying that Akiyama returns on the 31st and seriously asked Junretsu if they thought they stood a chance without Akiyama.
Konosuke Takeshita & Yuki Ueno vs. ERUPTION (Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Sakaguchi) - 8.5/10
Higuchi and Sakaguchi are still the tag team champions, but the titles are not on the line at this point. Takeshita and MAO are going to be challenging ERUPTION for the tag titles at the late February Nagoya show, but also, Ueno chose Sakaguchi as his next challenger for the Universal title, and so we have a couple of things going on here.
Higuchi is usually portrayed as a destructive machine of a man, but in this match, he even single handedly dominated both Takeshita and Ueno, who are not weak guys at all. There was some aid from Sakaguchi, but Higuchi was pretty much the one dominating during Take's babyface in peril run, and somewhat withstood Ueno's hot tag. When Sakaguchi finally came in, he only paired up with Ueno, and oh boy, he beat the shit out of Ueno until he locked in a sleeper and got the ref stoppage win.
Strong win for ERUPTION, a good build up teasing that Sakaguchi will take the title off Ueno, and also showing that Higuchi can dominate Takeshita, leaving out the question on whether MAO can be the backup that Takeshita needs to get the upper hand on ERUPTION.
Post-match - Sakaguchi told Ueno that making him the next challenger was his biggest mistake.
OVERALL THOUGTS
Ok show by DDT, it was fun and it went by fast, but not of the matches were particularly memorable or amazing. They're building towards a couple of big shows in February, so this was just that, a spot on the road.