Mizuki Watase & Hideki Okatani vs. Yukio Naya & Keigo Nakamura
This might’ve been the best I’ve seen these four look on their own, without the aid of Uncle Jun or other veterans. The Akiyama cram school sessions are clearly paying off, because everyone’s much angrier, assertive and ready to start some shit. Watase had leftover bloodthirst from his tournament slug-fest with Higuchi and decided to take it out on Naya, which might not have been the smartest idea as Big Yukio responded by beating the living hell out of him. If Naya can learn to channel this type of brutality on a consistent basis, he’s going to turn into an unstoppable monster. Keigo’s flippy-do young boy offense looked sharper than ever and you gotta wonder what kind of wacky high spots he’ll try in the future if he’s already nailing these picture-perfect springboard Moonsaults. **3/4
Shunma Katsumata & Yuki Iino vs. Danshoku Dino & Seigo Tachibana vs. Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai vs. Makoto Oishi & Kazuki Hirata – 4-Way Tag Match
100% dumb bullshit, but pretty entertaining dumb bullshit. Sakaguchi beating up people to the tune of Tokyo Go and Saki having a Yakuza crouch-off with Tachibana legit cracked me up. Felt bad for Shunma going from stealing the show with Minoru Tanaka to getting raped by Dino though. The life of a DDT wrestler. *3/4
Chris Brookes & Antonio Honda vs. El Lindaman & Nobuhiro Shimatani
Giant Killer El Lindaman is on a quest to take out the tallest dudes in DDT. Takeshita’s been taken care of, basketball legend Chris Brookes is next. STOP THE LINDA. The match was mostly size-based comedy and Linda trying to trick Honda with his own match-stopping routine. Again, mostly bullshit, but the fans were laughing their asses off and sometimes that’s what you need in these trying times. *3/4
HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi & Naomi Yoshimura vs. Daisuke Sasaki, Mad Paulie & Soma Takao – Lucha Libre Rules
Where does Owashi’s obsession with Lucha even come from? Is it a Toryumon joke? I feel like I must track down the origin of this running gag in order to become a better human being. As you might’ve guessed from my existential questions, this started off in the same comedic mood as the previous matches but quickly turned into a straight-forward sprint with everyone chipping in a bit of effort. Owashi pulling off the Ultimo Dragon headscissors/headlock takedown combo was marvelous. **1/4
Yuki Ueno vs. T-Hawk – King of DDT (Round 3)
I had ridiculous expectations for these two and while they didn’t get the time or the card placement to put together a classic, they certainly made each of those 13 minutes count. You know the drill by now: T-Hawk is the spiritual successor to Shingo in the Dragon Gate lineage and he will beat the shit out of you. Ueno is a courageous babyface that can take a punch to the face and make a sparkly comeback to save the day. Match made in heaven. T-Hawk went after the lower back and laid in those clubbing forearms like a motherfucker while Ueno sold big time and worked towards his sweet dropkicks. My only whiny complaint is that Ueno had the perfect out to protect his double-jump Moonsault (the lower back damage), but instead of selling he just weirdly waited too long to cover? Other than that: all good. One full star for T-Hawk’s Black Tiger Bomb from hell. ***1/2
Shinya Aoki vs. Akito – King of DDT (Round 3)
Completely different from all the Akito tournament matches so far as it almost exclusively took place on the mat. There weren’t multiple layers of subplots like in Akito/Endo, but everything felt real and watching both guys try to one-up each other with their technical skills alone was pretty engrossing. I was really into the final struggle for the Goliath Bird Eater, with Akito having to re-position Aoki multiple times before finally tapping him out. Again, it speaks to DDT’s willingness to embrace variety that we get this type of match smack dab in the middle of the card. Cool beans. ***
Tetsuya Endo vs. Minoru Tanaka – King of DDT (Round 3)
Loved this match to pieces. THE SPECIAL ONE Minoru Tanaka working King of DDT is one of the coolest things to have happened in this god awful year. A 47 year old dude casually reminding everyone of his greatness by working circles around the youngsters and pulling quality matches out of everyone. For this one, they followed the Minoru legwork trend established in his previous tournament matches but escalated the drama and athleticism to much higher levels. Endo found himself on the defensive for most of the match, smartly picking his comebacks and hobbling around between his wild high spots.
Tanaka often feels like the smartest guy in the room, so him staying one step ahead of Endo for the entire match felt pretty natural. You just can’t mess with the guy’s offense. The surprise legbar out of every possible angle, the explosive high kicks cutoffs. Dude even brought out the avalanche wrist-clutch Fisherman’s Buster, so you know it was a party. They also worked some high speed Kota Ibushi-esque standing Moonsault dodge sequences that convinced me Tanaka somehow stumbled on the Fountain of Youth. Just the right dosage of high-speed flash and clever technicality. A certified banger. ****
Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kazusada Higuchi – King of DDT (Round 3)
A rock solid match that could’ve used a better layout to really put over Higuchi as a serious threat. In his matches with Mizuki and HARASHIMA, The Guch came across as a sheer force of destruction. Here it kinda felt like he got lucky and got the best out of Takeshita, which is not ideal if you want to turn this guy into a real killer. Takeshita had a weird approach to putting him over, as he would oversell whatever Higuchi would throw at him while still clearly staying in control of the majority of the action.
I get that he’s the Ace and all, but I kept fantasy booking the match differently in my head. Nerdy nitpicking aside, there was plenty of stuff to like. Takeshita’s offense looked like a million bucks, as it usually does (Holy shit at that Last Ride!) and I dug how he had the Shoot Headbutt of Doom scouted. The ending was also ballsy as hell, Higuchi basically POUNCING Takeshita straight into oblivion for the shock finish. If they do it right, Higuchi/Endo could bring out the best possible structure for Higuchi. ***1/4
