DDT King of DDT 2019 Round 1 - 4/29/2019

DDT King of DDT 2019 Round 1 - 4/29/2019

I'm doing selected matches here. 

Soma Takao vs Mike Bailey

The finish

Takao has a pretty cool look. Bailey tries to kick Soma near the post and kicks the post. Not a good idea. Bailey then does an inside to outside moonsault, taking out his opponent and a ring attendant. Soma drops a leg on Mike and tries to pin him like 4 times in a row for 2. Soma does a double footstomp off the middle rope for 2. He slaps on a single leg crab but Mike hits the ropes. He then tries for a double but gets batted away. Mike does a flying brogue kick at 5 minutes in. Mike hits some kicks but Soma stops the flurry. Mike does a superplex then a moonsault double knee and at this camera angle, it looks brutal. He hits a frogsplash for 2. Soma trips Mike off the top rope then hits like a diving footstomp to his lower back that looked like it sucked. They do the counter of the crossbody where you flip into a slam. Mike kicks Soma some more and does this wind up kick that I gif'd. He then lands an SSP right on his knees which had to hurt. They kick each other in the face and Soma hits a Kudo Driver(in front of like 250 fans tops), then wins it. They did a lot. I didn't have a lot of issues with the match, but they really did go all out for the fans.

Naomi Yoshimura vs Kazuki Hirata

Naomi Yoshimura

Kazuki Hirata - Magnum Tokyo Fan

The finish

Hirata is a Magnum Tokyo impersonator. Yoshimura has a very odd look. He's like what if Aja Kong was a Japanese male indy wrestler. He has one of the worst haircuts I've ever seen. Magnum...I mean, Hirata, goes down early with a shoulderblock. Yoshi slaps him, and Hirata slaps him back, the he tells him to do it more. Yoshi works the chinlock and chops him. Hirata does a tilt-a-whirl headscissors. Yoshi hits a suplex that I don't even have a name for then takes a top rope hurricanrana. Yoshi hits some corner lariats and then Zeus' captured suplex. He hits a backdrop for 2. He then hits a few lariats for another 2 and wins with a brutal Ura Shouten. This just didn't really click and wasn't much of anything.

Daisuke Sasaki vs Yukio Sakaguchi

Daisuke Sasaki

Yukio Sakaguchi

Sasaki wants to strike with Saka early and uh that's not a good idea man. Saka does two good grounded knees then misses on the next two. Sasaki's shirt says "King of Lasers" on it. Nice. Sasaki goes down with a knee. One of Sasaki's lackeys trips Saka and he gets pedigreed on the apron. Sasaki grabs chairs and the ref tells him to put them down, so he drops it right on Saka lol Sasaki takes over for a bit. Sasaki hits a neckbreaker for 2 and tries a chinlock, but Saka kicks him over head. Saka gets thrown in the corner and does a running kick and lights him up with more shots. Saka hits some great forearms/punches in a slow exchange. They kind of botch a spot where Saka is supposed to kick a diving Sasaki to the outside. Saka re-enters the ring and Sasaki kicks the rope under him for the low blow style move. He then drops a top rope elbow on him for 2 and switches it to a crossface at 10 minutes in. Saka hits a nice brogue knee then Sasaki lowblows him after he grabs the ref for 3. I liked the matchup and the match was totally fine. Sakaguchi is a shoot style tough guy and I'm definitely a fan.

Masa Takanashi vs MAO
MAO rushes him from behind during his entrance. He does a huge springboard to the outside where he jumps to the top rope. He then does an outside to in split-legged moonsault. MAO almost hits the ref then Masa accidentally hits the ref. His buddy tries to help him out and Mike Bailey comes in and makes the save. MAO gets shot with a confetti popper and it leads to him getting backslided for the loss in a very quick one that was under 4 minutes.

Akito vs HARASHIMA

Akito

HARASHIMA

The finish

They work on the ground to start. Akito does this neat rolling leg bar I've never seen before (see gif). Harashima gets his leg worked over, then works over Akito's leg. Akito gets superplexed, then turns it into an ankle lock. Akito flips him off and does a double dragon screwm which I haven't seen before. They exchange some forearms and Akito gets reverse hurracanrana'd. Harash misses a charge in the corner and goes in face first, then Akito hits double knees on him and just bounces. Akito throws Harash on both knees then works the figure four. Harash slaps Akito's knees and they rope break. They exchange some leg shots and Harash dares him to hit it harder. He knocks him down and then dropkicks him/lands on him. Harash goes for a springboard, then gets caught and put in a weird muscle buster variation. Akito then won it after. This was probably about as good of a technical "work a body part" match you can get nowadays with the poor amount of workers. This had some hiccups but was a very smart match for the most part and I really enjoyed this, despite having little expectation going in. This was good stuff for the most part and I'd say check this one out.

Konsuke Takeshita vs Yuki Ueno

Konosuke Takeshita

Yuki Ueno

The finish

Battle of the pretty young hairless boys here. They do some armdrags to start and Takeshita blocks one, which was cool. Ueno does a cool headscissors with his legs, then does it outside. Takeshita stretches him out a bit and they test strength over it. He then takes a cattle mutilation through it before hitting the ropes to break it. Ueno takes a DDT after an interesting sequence. Ueno does like a standing bronco buster on him, without the motions after(which I gif'd). Ueno invents a new hold for a second as he does a single arm choke on him where Takeshita chokes himself with his arm, then he puts the foot on the back of his head. Ueno takes an AWFUL pop-up powerbomb where his head bangs hard on the mat, then a brainvuster. Harashima paintbrushes him hard. Ueno tries a superplex, but just gets thrown down on his face. They trade single leg dropkicks to the face. Takeshita takes an exploder on his head, then Yakuza kick's Ueno while he's on top. Ueno does an outside to in springboard hurricanrana for 2, then splashes on his back from the top. Takeshita hits a great blue thunder. Ueno reverses a wheelbarrow position into a bulldog, then does it again into a pin for 2. Take then reverses him for 2. We get a backslide nearfall and a beautiful Ueno dropkick. He then does a springboard hurricanrana and takes a high release german. Ueno then takes a drop down german from the electric chair position. Ueno takes a hard punch/slap then a nasty german and knee for the win. This was a strong match and Ueno seriously got the crap kicked out of him. While I did enjoy the match, for his sake, I hope he doesn't do this stuff every night, or else his brains will be jello. This had some super hard hits and big moves and the camera angle really brought you into the action. Good stuff.

Overall thoughts: DDT puts out a good show that no one saw. This had a lot of good stuff on it and I enjoyed it a hundred times more than I expected. Don't let the stupid stuff fool you - DDT has some guys who can go.