DDT “JUDGEMENT 2020 ~DDT 23RD ANNIVERSARY~”, 20/03/2020
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
916 Fans
0. Exhibition Match: Kazusada Higuchi defeated Jordan Heatley with the Canadian Backbreaker (3:50).
1. Hideki Okatani Debut Match: Naomi Yoshimura & Keigo Nakamura defeated Shunma Katsumata & Hideki Okatani when Yoshimura pinned Okatani with a Lariat (6:01).
-. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Masahiro Takanashi defeated Toru Owashi (c) with a School Boy (11:51 am).
*Masahiro Takanashi becomes the 1,474th champion.
2. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – Battle Royal: Kazuki Hirata defeated Masahiro Takanashi (c), Toru Owashi, Danshoku Dieno, Antonio Honda, Mizuki Watase, Yukio Naya and Hiroshi Yamato (7:42).
2a. Toru Owashi & Hiroshi Yamato eliminated Masahiro Takanashi (c) with a Double Lateral Cradle (2:06).
*Toru Owashi & Hiroshi Yamato both become the 1,745th co-champions.
2b. Danshoku Dieno, Yukio Naya, Antonio Honda & Mizuki Watase eliminated Toru Owashi (1/2 c) & Hiroshi Yamato (1/2 c) with Simultaneous Pinfalls (2:40).
*Danshoku Dieno, Yukio Naya, Antonio Honda & Mizuki Watase all become the 1,746th co-champions.
2c. Kazuki Hirata eliminated Mizuki Watase (1/4 c) with a School Boy (5:13).
*Kazuki Hirata becomes 1/4 of the 1,476th champions.
2d. Kazuki Hirata (1/4 c) eliminated Yukio Naya (1/4 c) with a School Boy (5:54).
*Kazuki Hirata becomes 2/4 of the 1,476th champions.
2e. Kazuki Hirata (2/4 c) eliminated Antonio Honda (1/4 c) by Pinfall (6:54).
*Kazuki Hirata becomes 3/4 of the 1,476th champions.
2f. Kazuki Hirata (3/4 c) eliminated Danshoku Dieno (1/4 c) with the Miracle One Shot Cradle (7:42).
*Kazuki Hirata becomes the unified 1,477th champion.
-. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Toru Owashi defeated Kazuki Hirata (c) with a School Boy (12:01 pm).
*Toru Owashi becomes the 1,478th champion.
3. CIMA, Soma Takao, Mad Paulie & El Lindaman defeated Shinya Aoki, MAO, Mike Bailey & Makoto Oishi when Takao pinned Oishi with the Mad Splash (9:24).
4. HARASHIMA, Naomichi Marufuji & Yuki Ueno defeated Akito, Yuki Iino & Royce Chambers when HARASHIMA pinned Akito with the Somato (10:33).
5. Business Alliance Vs Eruption!: Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai defeated Tetsuya Endo, T-Hawk & Nobuhiro Shimatani when Sakaguchi pinned Shimatani with the God’s Right Knee (9:15).
5a. Emergency Decision: Tetsuya Endo defeated Royce Chambers with the Shooting Star Press (4:42).
*Royce Chambers cashed in his Right To Challenge Anytime, Anywhere Gauntlet.
6. DDT UNIVERSAL Title: Daisuke Sasaki defeated Chris Brookes (c) with the Crossover Facelock (20:35).
*Chris Brookes fails in V1. Daisuke Sasaki becomes the 2nd DDT UNIVERSAL Champion!
7. KO-D Openweight Title: Masato Tanaka (c) defeated Konosuke Takeshita with the Rolling Elbow (22:56).
*V2 for Masato Tanaka.
Heck if I know if it was a good idea to do this but DDT’s monthly Korakuen Hall show went ahead today in front of an audience. The main event to celebrate DDT’s 23rd anniversary saw the face of the company attempt to regain the KO-D Openweight Title. The champion Masato Tanaka used chairs to great effect, using them to attack Konosuke Takeshita’s knees as well as hit a direct chairshot to the head. A Splash from the top rope through a table outside also caused great damage to Takeshita. However Takeshita used the chair against Tanaka by Corner To Corner Dropkicking it into his face. Takeshita hit an Avalanche Air Raid Crash but Tanaka kicked out of the pin. The Fable was countered into a Power Bomb. Tanaka kept using Elbow Strikes to cut off Takeshita’a offence. He would hit short range Sliding D’s but Takeshita would find a way to prevent Tanaka from hitting the move at full force. Takeshita threw his own Elbow Strikes but Tanaka stood tall at the end when he pulled off his elbow pad and struck Takeshita raw with an unprotected Rolling Elbow. There was no kicking out after that.
Tanaka said he was so happy to fight Takeshita today because of the struggle he gave him. When Takeshita left ringside, Yuki Iino approached the ring threatening to cash in his Right To Challenge Gauntlet. However it was only a threat and he left without doing anything. Tanaka had an opportunity to choose his next challenger again but he wasn’t sure who to pick. Suddenly, Yukio Sakaguchi sprung into the ring! He wants the next title shot in April. The match was accepted with Tanaka standing on the middle rope so he could look down on Sakaguchi. The final words went to Sakaguchi. In April will win the KO-D Title and Kazusada Higuchi will win the Saitama Super Arena Sword. That will mean when June comes around, the main event of Saitama Super Arena will be occupied entirely by Eruption! Sakaguchi then thanked the fans for coming out today. He works a regular job along with his pro wrestling career so he is grateful that the fans continue to support DDT. In return everybody in DDT is encouraged to do their best.
Easy come, easy go. The first DDT UNIVERSAL Champion loses the belt in his first defence. An out of ring brawl made up the early part of the match with Chris Brookes attempting to put Daisuke Sasaki through some chairs with the Praying Mantis Bomb. Instead Sasaki dropped both Brookes and himself into the row of chairs with a Russian Leg Sweep. Sasaki also hit a Diving Elbow Drop from the ring corner to a seated Brookes outside the ring. DAMNATION interfered once Brookes regained some ground. Sasaki intentionally used Brookes to take out Daisuke Kiso. Tetsuya Endo’s Overhead Kick hit Sasaki by mistake and Brookes hit the Praying Mantis Bomb. Kiso counted the pin until Mad Paulie pulled him out of the ring. Brookes wiped out DAMNATION with a dive then made Sasaki submit to the Octopus Hold but there was no referee to call the match. Nobuhiro Shimatani came in to attack Brookes with the DAMNATION signboard but Masahiro Takanashi came out to get rid of him. Kiso got back up to count some nearfalls like Sasaki’s Diving Elbow and Brookes’ Tombstone Piledriver. Brookes went for the Praying Mantis Bomb once more but Sasaki countered it into the Cross Facelock. He then switched it into the Crossover Facelock to make Brookes submit.
Sasaki’s first words as the new champion was “Old dog never die!” He said all beer from the UK is soft with no carbonation so he will not take on any challengers from Britain anymore. Antonio Honda entered the ring to challenge Sasaki but he tripped over the ropes. He got back up and said Sasaki has a filthy heart. Sasaki began to meditate to fix that problem but Honda told him to get back up. Honda challenged Sasaki to a title match but he was turned down.
As briefly mentioned earlier, Eruption has the main event of “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2020” in their sights. Sakaguchi is going straight after the KO-D Title while Higuchi is now targeting Endo for the SSA Sword. Higuchi threw Endo for a loop by using a Package Power Bomb but it was Sakaguchi who won the match by pinning Shimatani. T-Hawk was earlier taken out with a Higuchi Lariat so it was a rough match for the Business Alliance.
When the match ended, El Lindaman promoted the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles match he, Endo & T-Hawk will be a part of in two days time. ALL OUT interrupted the Business Alliance because Royce Chambers had something to say. He will be going back to Australia tomorrow so he is using his Right To Challenge Gauntlet to win the SSA Sword right now! Chambers went for the kill by using his own high flying moves to counter Endo’s. They both used Canadian Destroyers on each other but Endo took it one step further by doing a Double Arm Canadian Destroyer. Chambers kicked out of the pin after that but was down and out when Endo hit the Shooting Star Press. Endo got on the mic and said as long as he is in the ring, nobody else will get the chance to be at the top! He told Chambers to study more Japanese if he ever comes back. He then joked about wrestling in saunas before warning ALL OUT that the Business Alliance will win the KO-D 6-Man Tag Titles! Whoever comes out as the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions after 22nd March will defend the belts against DISASTER BOX on 4th April.
Naomichi Marufuji was back to team with DISASTER BOX and his partnership with HARASHIMA in particular had not lost a step. When Yuki Ueno dove out of the ring onto Iino & Chambers, it left HARASHIMA & Marufuji alone with Akito. Together they hit a Double Thrust Kick, Marufuji did the Shiranui and HARASHIMA won with the Somato.
After the match, HARASHIMA thanked Marufuji for reforming HarashiMarufuji after a long time apart. They brought up the idea of tagging together at “WRESTLE PETER PAN”. That caused CIMA & Soma Takao to come out. CIMA made fun of the HarashiMarufuji team name. It isn’t an easy name to say. CimaSoma is easy to say which means it is a better name. CIMA could have confronted Marufuji back on the 3rd January DDT show but he was occupied with Business Alliance stuff. In the end CimaSoma challenged HarashiMarufuji to a match at “WRESTLE PETER PAN”. Marufuji isn’t interested in fighting Takao but he can’t turn down the chance to wrestle CIMA for the first time since their Budokan tag match in NOAH way back in 2007!
A Mad Splash from CIMA followed by a Mad Splash from Takao gave the Business Alliance the victory in the 8-Man Tag Match. The bout was Shinya Aoki’s first 8-Man Tag Match and also the return of Mike Bailey to DDT. Aoki found out after the match that his next DDT Extreme Title defence is on 5th April. An opponent has not been decided yet but he would like to face Makoto Oishi in a matchup between Sambo and Judo. Meanwhile The Moonlight Express want to win the KO-D Tag Team Titles so they can claim the shiny new championship belts.
The Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title lineage was fractured into multiple co-champions during the Battle Royal. Before the match even begun, Takanashi pinned Toru Owashi during his entrance to win the belt. Everyone chased Takanashi into the ring so the Rumble style entries were thrown out and a regular Battle Royal began. Owashi & Hiroshi Yamato pinned Takanashi at the same time to they became co-champions. The two of them were then all pinned by Danshoku Dieno, Yukio Naya, Antonio Honda & Mizuki Watase at the same time creating 4 co-champions! Kazuki Hirata had to eliminated each of the 4 co-champions to unify the title back into one whole piece. All of that hard work was taken away when Owashi pinned Hirata after the match to become the champion again.
The debuting Hideki Okatani was pinned in his first match as expected. He was mostly on the defensive against Naomi Yoshimura and also Keigo Nakamura. He was able to do a Northern Lights Suplex after Shunma Katsumata softened Yoshimura up. But a Lariat put Okatani down for the three count. Just like Nakamura, Okatani’s goal is to beat a senior wrestler as soon as possible.
The trainee Jordan Heatley faced Higuchi in the pre-show exhibition match. Heatley tried to put on a Tazzmission but Higuchi instead submitted him with the Canadian Backbreaker. Heatley will make his official debut against Honda on 2nd April.
Yoshiaki Yatsu appeared to introduce the show and also promote his return match at “WRESTLE PETER PAN”.
The 5th opponent in Saki Akai’s “Okibariyasu” trial is Syuri. Akai knows Syuri is a powerful kicker so she is looking forward to comparing them with her own kicks. Their match is on 2nd April.
DDT is holding a Falls Count Anywhere Match inside the Saitama Anzukai Clinic to protect the elderly from the COVID-19. The match on 30th March will be Konosuke Takeshita, Shunma Katsumata & Gorgeous Matsuno Vs Shinya Aoki, Makoto Oishi & Gabai Ji-chan.
Dramatic DDT 