DDT “KING OF DDT ~20TH ANNIVERSARY~ 1ST ROUND”, 05/05/2024
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,025 Fans – No Vacancy
0. Dark Match: Soma Takao, Keigo Nakamura & Yuya Koroku defeated Yuni, Ilusion & Kazuma Sumi when Nakamura pinned Sumi with the Diving Headbutt (9:25).
0. Dark Match: Jun Akiyama, Makoto Oishi & Tomomitsu Matsunaga defeated Shunma Katsumata, Akito & Kazuki Hirata when Oishi pinned Hirata with the Jikiden Tornado Clutch (0:09).
0a. Rematch: Jun Akiyama, Makoto Oishi & Tomomitsu Matsunaga defeated Shunma Katsumata, Akito & Kazuki Hirata when Oishi pinned Hirata with the Jikiden Tornado Clutch (4:43).
1. King Of DDT 20th Anniversary – Round 1: MAO defeated Poison Sawada JULIE with the Iai Kick (9:16).
2. King Of DDT 20th Anniversary – Round 1: To-y defeated KANON with a Frankensteiner (11:09).
3. King Of DDT 20th Anniversary – Round 1: Sanshiro Takagi defeated Yuki Ueno with the Stone Cold Stunner (11:09).
4. King Of DDT 20th Anniversary – Round 1: Daisuke Sasaki defeated Yuki Iino with the Standing Crossover Face Lock (11:15).
5. King Of DDT 20th Anniversary – Round 1: Kazusada Higuchi defeated Yukio Naya with the Buchikamashi (14:12).
6. King Of DDT 20th Anniversary – Round 1: Shuji Ishikawa defeated HARASHIMA with the Giant Slam (13:58).
7. King Of DDT 20th Anniversary – Round 1: Tetsuya Endo defeated Danshoku Dieno with the Burning Tanetsuke Press (18:26).
8. King Of DDT 20th Anniversary – Round 1: Chris Brookes defeated Takeshi Masada with the Praying Mantis Bomb (15:53).
2004 was the year when DDT held its first King Of DDT tournament. It was not held on an annual basis until 2009 but the history of the tournament is filled with winners who have gone on to accomplish many things in DDT and pro wrestling as a whole. This year is the 20th anniversary of the first King Of DDT and the 18th edition of the event. The main show began with all of the 16 participants lining up in the ring for the opening ceremony.
The main event was all about SCHADENFREUDE International as two of its members faced off in the last of the Round 1 matches. Brookes had a special guest with him because Zack Sabre Jr. was there to be in his corner. Takeshi Masada wanted to win badly and tried using the Takatonic and the KOBU Mukimuki. He even tried to withstand the pain from taking an Avalanche Tiger Suplex but at that point Brookes just had to keep up the attack until he won. Masada had one last chance left when he countered the Praying Mantis Bomb but Brookes countered the Mukimuki, hit two Somatos and pinned Masada with the Praying Mantis Bomb. After the match Brookes told Masada that any bad things he said about him at the press conference was lies and he really wanted him to do his best today. Backstage Brookes and Sabre talked up the tag match they are having at “ALL TOGETHER” tomorrow.
Meeting Brookes in the next round is Tetsuya Endo. He had to dig in deep to beat Danshoku Dieno because Dieno was ready to avoid the Burning Star Press at any opportunity. One of the counters Dieno pulled off was a top rope Frankensteiner! He also had Makoto Oishi interfering when the two of them gave Endo the 3D after the referee was knocked out with a Lip Lock. Dieno went into the Hell Gate position over the turnbuckles but it was Oishi who got a face full of the Gate. Endo then grabbed Dieno by the crotch and Headbutted his butt! When Endo climbed the top rope to finally hit the Burning Star Press, Dieno had one last idea to defend himself. He rolled over and stuck his butt into the air daring Endo to jump in. Endo did exactly what Dieno wanted except first he pulled off Dieno’s tights and then hit the Burning Star Press! He was able to turn Dieno over and pin him without exposing anything further to the crowd.
After the match El Desperado unexpectedly entered the ring while Oishi was getting Dieno’s trunks back on him. He has a lot to look forward to this summer but he isn’t here to talk about the Best Of The Super Juniors or his next DDT appearance at “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2024”. Instead he pulled out two invitations for the “DESPE-INVITACIONAL” event he is holding at Korakuen Hall on 10th June. The two invitations are for Dieno and a wrestler of his choice. If it was up entirely to Desperado he would have wanted his main event to be Pheromones Vs House Of Torture just so he could see Dieno chase EVIL around the ring. Dieno confirmed to him that Pheromones have disbanded and cannot be brought back. Desperado will give him the invitations anyway and trusts Dieno to find a suitable partner so they can do something similar to Pheromones at the show. Dieno asked if that means his partner does not have to be anybody from DDT? Desperado said yes, the choice is all up to Dieno and no one else.
One of the former King Of DDT winners Shuji Ishikawa returned with a bang by eliminating HARASHIMA in Round 1. HARASHIMA was able to kick out of the Splash Mountain, Running Knee Lift, Fire Thunder and also the Kamigoye. But he was a beaten man at that point and was finally put away with the Giant Slam. He will be facing Kazusada Higuchi in the next round and Higuchi met him in the ring after the match to give him a Headbutt! Backstage Ishikawa admitted he needs to improve his own conditioning. When he fights Higuchi he will either strike out or hit a home run. If the latter happens then nothing will stop Ishikawa from winning the tournament and then the KO-D Openweight Title!
Higuchi already got rid of one big boy to advance into Round 2. He beat Yukio Naya by wearing him down with the Brain Claw inbetween the moments of high impact moves between them. Naya finally went down to a series of Headbutts and struggled to get back to his feet to beat the 10 count. When he did stand back up, Higuchi was already in position to run him over with the Buchikamashi for the victory. As mentioned above, Higuchi is eager to face Ishikawa next.
Yuki Iino was almost unstoppable against Daisuke Sasaki but “Charisma” found a way to beat him eventually. Chair shots over the head and interference from MJ Paul didn’t work. Even trying to Spear Iino just had Sasaki bounce off of him. What did work was countering the Spear into a Pedigree in midair. It wasn’t enough to pin Iino but Sasaki was able to give him La Mistica Crossover Face Lock from there. Iino used his power to stand back up but Sasaki would not let go of the hold, keeping it on tight so Iino had no choice but to give up from the pain he was feeling in his shoulder. Sasaki bragged about showing off his power as the strongest wrestler in DDT.
There were a couple of upsets in Round 1. The biggest of perhaps the entire tournament is the KO-D Champion Yuki Ueno losing to Sanshiro Takagi! This year’s King Of DDT looks to be Takagi’s last stand before he takes a break from being a wrestler and he could not have sent out a louder message for everyone to hear. They fought in the crowd so Takagi could knock Ueno down the stairs. Ueno fought back with a Moonsault out of the ring and also a Frog Splash in the ring. But he missed the BME, landing on his feet right there for Takagi to give him the Stunner for the shock three count! Takagi later said if he wins the tournament then he will challenge Ueno for the KO-D Title. Ueno does not want to end this with a loss and thinks Takagi must come challenge him for the title eventually.
The other big upset in the opening round is To-y advancing past KANON. He kept on getting hit with K-Spikes but fought back using the Kojima Wonderland. KANON avoided the Kojima Impace but got caught with a Frankensteiner for the upset loss. He heard KANON’s comments about Hideki Okatani during the week and is sure Okatani was supporting him rather than KANON. All he needs is a 1% chance of winning to turn it into a 100% chance! Meanwhile KANON can’t believe he lost in the first round again. After three years of trying he has never gotten past Round 1 in the King Of DDT.
It was a battle of magic and danger when MAO took on the very first King Of DDT winner Poison Sawada JULIE. The dreaded Snake Magic is Sawada’s main weapon. Using it causes the victim to raise their rattling hand in the air to show that Sawada can then make them do whatever he wants. However it turns out MAO has been learning the same dark magic and used his own version to fight back. The spells ended up knocking out Yukinori Matsui after they were deflected into his direction. MAO then summoned invisible baseball bats rigged with explosives that had its own warning siren to go with it. He and Sawada both hit each other with the bats, causing an invisible explosion every time. Sawada then blinded MAO with Poison Mist but couldn’t get the three count with the Choke Slam or the Maoi Of Easter. MAO had to defend himself from the magic and did so by spitting his own Mist in Sawada’s face. Sawada was then powerless to block the Iai Kick, ending the match and eliminating him from the tournament.
The King Of DDT Round 2 matches on 11th May will be MAO Vs To-y, Sanshiro Takagi Vs Daisuke Sasaki, Kazusada Higuchi Vs Shuji Ishikawa and Tetsuya Endo Vs Chris Brookes.
One of the dark matches ended before Jun Akiyama could even enter the ring so they had to restart it on his orders. His team did their entrance again and the same thing almost happened a second time. However Akiyama was there to stop Oishi from quickly pinning Kazuki Hirata again so everyone could get a chance to wrestle. Later in the match everyone began to fight over the Hirata GO! Glasses. When Akiyama was the last man standing he decided to put them on. Right when he was about to dance Oishi pinned Hirata to cut the music and end the match.
The other dark match had Keigo Nakamura winning the bout for his team. Yuni & Ilusion both did dives onto Soma Takao & Yuya Koroku outside the ring. But Kazuma Sumi couldn’t follow up for his side and got pinned by Nakamura’s Diving Headbutt.
There were a few announcements for some of DDT’s upcoming shows. Minoru Suzuki will be at “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2024” on 21st July. There will be a Street Pro Wrestling match held inside a sauna on 21st June with Sayaka Unagi as one of the participants. Unagi will also be at the 20th July Beer Garden show.
Dramatic DDT 