Kikutaro vs. Antonio Honda vs. Danshoku Dino – 3-Way Match
Real sadness hours. The Kikutaro/Ref Matsui relationship has a special place in my heart, but this was a bleak reunion. No crowd to even politely clap for the non-sense and no Osaka Pro callbacks whatsoever. Mostly just Depressed Kikutaro playing off his recent American jail trauma. The Prison Lock finish was a powerful dad joke but that’s about it.
Akito vs. Mad Paulie
Not a bad way to turn Akito into a title contender after months of aimlessness. Very 80’s TV wrestling enhancement match vibe – your favorite Cyberfight exec toppling the Damnation monster via persistent leg attacks. I mean, Akito almost looked too strong here. What with him effortlessly picking up Paulie for the gutwrench suplex and Yokosuka kneebreaker. I’m the only person on the Internet who cares about protecting Mad Paulie’s monster aura though, so it’s all good. **1/2
Sanshiro Takagi, Yukio Naya, Chikara & Yakan Nabe © vs. Keigo Nakamura, Hideki Okatani, Toi Kojima & Yuya Koroku – KO-D 8-Man Tag Team Titles
Better than it had any right to be! The DDT kids all made the most of the opportunity, even if they were up against Takagi’s random-ass squad of disappointing sons. Big time energy from everyone involved – including workrate master Chikara who meshed well with Toi. Naya lived up to his potential as a Destroyer of Small Men, the tall teenage terror stiffing the holy hell out any youngster who dared stepping up to him. Absolutely loved the ending stretch between Keigo and Takagi. From the springboard dropkick BIKE CUTOFF to the big money kickouts – Nakamura looked like a star. ***1/4
Kenoh has defeated COVID and he is now ready for an even bigger challenge: SANSHIRO TAKAGI!
Konosuke Takeshita, Shunma Katsumata & MAO vs. Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Sakaguchi & Yuki Iino vs. Daisuke Sasaki, Tetsuya Endo & Yuji Hino – 3-Way Tag Match
Fresh off a successful stint on the award-winning TV drama DARK: ELEVATION, Takeshita came back home with one goal. Proving that DDT can do high-complexity videogame wrestling just as well as their AEW overlords. The result was this match: a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it multiman banger of the highest order – up there with the best Sauna Club tags of the last few months. Even without a crowd! Whoever is laying out these matches has the same heightened sense of creativity as CIMA and company during Dragon Gate’s golden era. Just an endless stream of Fun Shit, with the 3-way tropes enhancing the action in the wildest ways imaginable (6-man stacked Superplex/Powerbomb!?). Blessed wrestling. ***3/4
Chris Brookes © vs. Saki Akai © – DDT Extreme Title + Ironman Heavy Metal Title
Parts of this tried a bit too hard to be epic. Other parts were as epic as empty arena wrestling gets. Faults and all, it was an ambitious match and I had a great time for most of it. Brookes’ mission statement through all of this was to babyface the living hell out of Saki. His heelishness felt a bit flimsy at times, but Akai rose so hard to the challenge that the gamble paid off. Truly wonderful performance from Saki – her best DDT showing since the Meiko Satomura from last year.
She put it all together here: from the emoting to the selling and fiery comebacks. They lifted the Don’t Piss Off Ibushi spot wholesale from all of your favorite NJPW matches and somehow improved upon it with Saki firing off the nastiest guh punch of the year. The ending stretch could’ve used some tightening, but I still came out of it a born-again Saki Akai Stan. Mission accomplished. ***3/4
Jun Akiyama, Makoto Oishi & Yusuke Okada vs. HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata
Very pleasant clash between Junretsu’s grumpy traditional pro-wrestlers and Disaster Box’s goofballs. Hirata was game enough to play 2018 Black Menso-re and allowed Uncle Jun to rediscover his passion for body slamming people on the Korakuen Hall floor. A lot of actually pretty good wrasslin’ soon came out of the serious/not serious dichotomy – everyone chipping in a solid amount of effort. The HARASHIMA/Akiyama Cyber Festival preview bits landed right on the money, as did the ending stretch between Oishi and Hirata. ***
Yuki Ueno © vs. Soma Takao – DDT Universal Title
A 25-minute attempt at spreadsheet-breaking that was occasionally great, but could’ve used a crowd to reach its full potential. Ueno’s natural babyface energy brought out the assholery from Soma and it made for a combustible dynamic. All the best parts of the match came from those character-based interactions. The hate-filled shit-kicking of the second half and Ueno’s Strong Zero-soaked Moonsault off the entrance setup were both tremendous.
They lost me a few times during the ending stretch, probably because the lack of reaction made the movez filler and artificial near-fall drama a bit more obvious. Ueno can’t seem to be able to pull off that Pump-handle Bomb out of crazy New Japan Reversal Dance sequence. It flopped with Sakaguchi and it flopped here. Thankfully, the god damn shoot dropkick to the face and exclamation mark WR finish worked a lot better. ***1/2
