DDT Ultimate Tag League 2021 In Sendai!!
Announcements - Endo came out to promote some shows and Brookes and Honda did the introductions. Brooke's Japanese has improved a lot
Good rookies match. I expected this was for Akito to build up a bit, but he wasn't much in the match other than a short pair up with Nakamura, and he also ended up losing when Nakamura pinned Kojima with the Michinoku Attack. Nakamura actually wrestled most of the match and looked good.
This was the usual second match of the show where Dieno won't allow Hirata to dance by dry humping him. Since this is a new venue, Dieno and the fans wanted to debut it with some ass (probably more Dieno than the fans), and he called for the SENDAI PIT, which was his ass on the third buckle like usually. Eventually it came down to Dieno going for the Dieno Driver, but Hirata reversed into a Miracle small package for the win.
This was good. You have a solid combination of four hosses and two technical wrestlers, some of the young guys are as great as the veterans, so like even in cases like Naya, HARASHIMA was there to carry him. The only thing that did hurt the match was when they tried having all men in the ring for spots of pin breaks, it was just a lot of people in there and not enough space for all of them. HARASHIMA won with a Somata on Naya.
Post-match - Iino attacked Yoshimura and they got into a small pull apart. Iino is mad that Yoshimura was added to the King of DDT tournament right after returning from injury, while he is not in the tournament at all, so he wants to fight him and take his spot. It's something for both guys to do right now
This match had some story about both Endo and MAO being from towns that are in the same Miyagi Prefecture, and so they were fighting for Prefecture Pride.
The match itself had a good amount of time and a lot of action, every possible combination between the two teams, with some good weight on Soma vs Ueno, Endo vs MAO, and Take doing powerhouse stuff against Mad Paulie. At the end, MAO pinned Paulie with a Cannonball 450.
Post-match - MAO had some words for the fans, saying that given the circumstances, he didn't feel right about inviting people to the show, but was grateful for those that did.
Ultimate Tag League 2021 Match
Well, for a Honda match in a round robin tournament, they actually had some little twists to Honda's schtick, which was what I was arguing the most last show. It was Sakaguchi who initially faked an injury and teased giving up, and either Honda wasn't fooled, or he is a terrible person, since he attacked Sakaguchi, while people usually allow him to say his thing.
The match went on with Brookes and Honda trying to work over Sakaguchi, with Honda, in his more Honda way, actually having a bit of a serious match against Higuchi. Finish of the match saw Honda get a Figure 4 on Sakaguchi and come close to submitting as, as Brookes kept Haguchi both at bay, but also kept pulling Honda back to the center of the ring. Higuchi broke it off, Sakaguchi recovered, got a Triangle Lock on Honda and submitted him.
This was Brookes and Honda's 3rd match, they only have Take and Katsu, so with two loses, they're almost eliminated, they'd need for Eruption to stop getting points altogether.
Ultimate Tag League 2021 Match
This wasn't exactly bad, but I just wasn't into it. It felt like it was all about getting Akiyama and Hino in the ring together, so the rest ended up being Sasaki in one of his off nights and Oishi being a babyface in peril. Hino vs Akiyama wasn't even that great either, it was weird seeing a lot of the stuff that Hino does with certain wrestlers, but with Akiyama, who is not only the champion, but more of a legendary guy, but I am glad that Akiyama sold it as much as possible.
Finish was also kinda weird, because it almost felt like Akiyama set it up for Oishi to submit Sasaki with the Fujiwara Knee Lock. Oishi was under a submission until Akiyama jumped in, took out Sasaki, and left it open for Oishi to go for the finish.
Ok show from DDT, it was better than a two match show, but I wouldn't say is a must watch by any means. Just for those following the Ultimate Tag League.
Akito & Toi Kojima vs. Hideki Okatani & Keigo Nakamura - 5.5/10
Good rookies match. I expected this was for Akito to build up a bit, but he wasn't much in the match other than a short pair up with Nakamura, and he also ended up losing when Nakamura pinned Kojima with the Michinoku Attack. Nakamura actually wrestled most of the match and looked good.
Danshoku Dieno & Shunma Katsumata vs. Kazuki Hirata & Saki Akai - 4/10
This was the usual second match of the show where Dieno won't allow Hirata to dance by dry humping him. Since this is a new venue, Dieno and the fans wanted to debut it with some ass (probably more Dieno than the fans), and he called for the SENDAI PIT, which was his ass on the third buckle like usually. Eventually it came down to Dieno going for the Dieno Driver, but Hirata reversed into a Miracle small package for the win.
Yuki Iino, Yukio Naya & Yusuke Okada vs. DISASTER BOX (HARASHIMA, Naomi Yoshimura & Toru Owashi) - 6/10
This was good. You have a solid combination of four hosses and two technical wrestlers, some of the young guys are as great as the veterans, so like even in cases like Naya, HARASHIMA was there to carry him. The only thing that did hurt the match was when they tried having all men in the ring for spots of pin breaks, it was just a lot of people in there and not enough space for all of them. HARASHIMA won with a Somata on Naya.
Post-match - Iino attacked Yoshimura and they got into a small pull apart. Iino is mad that Yoshimura was added to the King of DDT tournament right after returning from injury, while he is not in the tournament at all, so he wants to fight him and take his spot. It's something for both guys to do right now
DAMNATION (Mad Paulie, Soma Takao & Tetsuya Endo) vs. The 37KAMIINA(Konosuke Takeshita, MAO & Yuki Ueno) - 7.5/10
This match had some story about both Endo and MAO being from towns that are in the same Miyagi Prefecture, and so they were fighting for Prefecture Pride.
The match itself had a good amount of time and a lot of action, every possible combination between the two teams, with some good weight on Soma vs Ueno, Endo vs MAO, and Take doing powerhouse stuff against Mad Paulie. At the end, MAO pinned Paulie with a Cannonball 450.
Post-match - MAO had some words for the fans, saying that given the circumstances, he didn't feel right about inviting people to the show, but was grateful for those that did.
Ultimate Tag League 2021 Match
Antonio Honda & Chris Brookes [2] vs. Eruption (Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Sakaguchi) [2] (w/Saki Akai) - 6.5/10
Well, for a Honda match in a round robin tournament, they actually had some little twists to Honda's schtick, which was what I was arguing the most last show. It was Sakaguchi who initially faked an injury and teased giving up, and either Honda wasn't fooled, or he is a terrible person, since he attacked Sakaguchi, while people usually allow him to say his thing.
The match went on with Brookes and Honda trying to work over Sakaguchi, with Honda, in his more Honda way, actually having a bit of a serious match against Higuchi. Finish of the match saw Honda get a Figure 4 on Sakaguchi and come close to submitting as, as Brookes kept Haguchi both at bay, but also kept pulling Honda back to the center of the ring. Higuchi broke it off, Sakaguchi recovered, got a Triangle Lock on Honda and submitted him.
This was Brookes and Honda's 3rd match, they only have Take and Katsu, so with two loses, they're almost eliminated, they'd need for Eruption to stop getting points altogether.
Ultimate Tag League 2021 Match
DAMNATION (Daisuke Sasaki & Yuji Hino) [3] vs. Junretsu (Jun Akiyama & Makoto Oishi) [0] - 7/10
This wasn't exactly bad, but I just wasn't into it. It felt like it was all about getting Akiyama and Hino in the ring together, so the rest ended up being Sasaki in one of his off nights and Oishi being a babyface in peril. Hino vs Akiyama wasn't even that great either, it was weird seeing a lot of the stuff that Hino does with certain wrestlers, but with Akiyama, who is not only the champion, but more of a legendary guy, but I am glad that Akiyama sold it as much as possible.
Finish was also kinda weird, because it almost felt like Akiyama set it up for Oishi to submit Sasaki with the Fujiwara Knee Lock. Oishi was under a submission until Akiyama jumped in, took out Sasaki, and left it open for Oishi to go for the finish.
OVERALL THOUGHTS
Ok show from DDT, it was better than a two match show, but I wouldn't say is a must watch by any means. Just for those following the Ultimate Tag League.