Dramatic Dream Team 11/22/2020 - DDT D-Ou Grand Prix in 2021 in Korakuen Hall

 Dramatic Dream Team 11/22/2020 - DDT D-Ou Grand Prix in 2021 in Korakuen Hall

D王 GRAND PRIX 2021 in KORAKUEN HALL！

 

 Keigo Nakamura & Yukio Naya vs. Junretsu (Hideki Okatani & Mizuki Watase) 

Okatani is repping the rare green and brown combo. Nakamura is really really small, while Naya is actually rather large. Naya catches Mizuki with a deadlift slam early while Mizuki was in the air. If Watase can get in better shape, he'd probably have a really good look. Naya hits a nice and simple elbow drop. Naya then hits a stiff knee but Watase suplexes him after. Naya shouldn't be so easily thrown like that.  Okatani runs the ropes with force and blasts Naya with a few elbows which take him down. Naya hits another nasty forearm strike and truly shakes Okatani with it. Naya does the worst hot tag ever though and the image of him tagging in someone so much smaller looks silly. Keigo does a nice outside to in asai moonsault and also does a nice missile dropkick. Keigo does a hurricanrana into a pin and gets it reversed for the Watase win.

This was pretty good for an opener. Not much story or anything but Yuiko Naya is a bad bad dude and is going to be a star someday.

I'm skipping the comedy intergender match. We don't review those things here.

Akito vs MAO

彰人 vs MAO

They do your usual basic stuff to start and fight over double armlocks. They start trying to escape each other's holds and do a neat thing where Mao gets out of an anklelock, then gets put into something like a surfboard and thne reverses it. Mao gets put into the tree of woe but grabs the ref and it stops Akito. They push the ref out and it really should have been a DQ. Mao turns a Gory special against Akito here, making it into a double armnbar. Akito gets out of an abdominal stretch and turns it into a pin attempt, only to have it reversed on him into a pin attempt. Mao COUNTERS a dragon screw by spinning and landing on his foot. They both start reversing each others pin attempts and Akito finally pins Mao. They could have been a little more tigher with the technical stuff and ditched the ref bit, but this was really good stuff. Both guys looked like something out of old World of Sport here and this was a really good watch. I really liked this and DDT keeps on impressing me. Give Jun a raise, because these dudes are doing wrestling better than anyone else right now.

HARASHIMA vs. Chris Brookes

HARASHIMA vs クリス・ブルックス

Brookes jumps Harashima at the start and takes some kicks for it. Harash then kicks him on the outside. They get on the apron and Brookes put him in a keylock then drops the shoulder on the apron. Brookes puts him in a shoulder hold for a bit more, but Harashima gains control. He puts him sitting on the apron and does a legdrop top him over the top rope. One of them thuds the floor pretty hard and it seems like it was Harashima. Brookes gets on the top rope and Harashima step kicks him to the gut. Harashima superplexes him but Brookes hangs on and suplexes him back. They start exchanging forearms and Brookes takes a poisonrana. Harashima missed a double knee and Brookes put another armlock on him. They traded some moves back and forth and Harashima won with a double knee. This wasn't anything special, just moves and didn't really have any story to it.

Daisuke Sasaki vs Konosuke Takeshita

竹下幸之介 vs 佐々木大輔

The finish

Sasaki gets injured in this somewhere and this ends up being his only tournament match. Sasaki gets his crossface on early but Takeshita hits the ropes. Sasaki slows it down for a bit and Takeshita throws him up into the air and knees him after he lands. Takeshita does his flipping lariat, then puts him in a texas cloverleaf and starts swinging him around. Mad Paulie pulls down Takeshita off the apron, but he gets back in and lariats Sasaki, who lands on the apron hard. Sasaki almost gets german'd but grabs the ref and picks him up, then kicks Takeshita in the crotch during it. Didn't we see that spot earlier?

Sasaki pedigree's Takeshita then elbows him from the top for 2. Sasaki superkicks him for 2 and gets blocked on a la mistica attempt before getting lariated hard. Takeshita lifts his leg up on a low blow attempt, so Sasaki misses it, then he release german's Sasaki, which he doesn't sell. He takes an even nastier release german for it. Sasaki then locks him in a rings of saturn like move in the standing position, then he goes to the ground and wins it with that.

It was alright, but I didn't like the ref spot or the no sell on the german. 

Makoto Oishi vs Shunma Katsumata

大石真翔 vs 勝俣瞬馬

 

Shunma has an N.W.A. - New World Aidol shirt on ripping off the NWA logo which is cool. Oishi armdrags Shunma to start. Oishi poses on the apron and Shunma sweeps his legs. Shunma chokes Oishi with his shirt on the outside and Watase objects, so he throws his shirt in Watase's face. Shunma does a top rope M.Bison stomp/curbstomp and then stomps on him more. Shunma misses hard on a moonsault and then Oishi rolls him up into a deathlock. Shunma takes a double backhand/sledgehammer shot and gets rocked. Shunma hits him with a chokeslam and a kick in the head for two and misses a diving headbutt just to get put into a  deathlock, which ends up in a pin attempt. Oishi gets a close 2 with a crucifix bomb and gets deathlocked again for the Oishi win. It was alright, but went a little shirt and there wasn't any big story during the match.

Kazusada Higuchi vs Yuki Ueno

上野勇希 vs 樋口和貞

Ueno hurricanrana's him early then tries to plancha him but gets caught and draped on the rail. He then gets dropped on the apron too. Ueno drops double knees on his abdomen and gets him outside, where he hurricanrana's him into the rail. Ueno tries to elbow Higuchi but just gets launched off of him. Ueno hits a nice dropkick which gets no sold. Higuchi chops him and Ueno tries to fight back with real bad slaps and then takes a flurry of chops back. Ueno finally gets him down with a dropkick. Ueno goes up top and Higuchi and slams him down by his throat. Ueno gets hit with a running lariat and does a big sell for it. They do a cool set-up near the apron for a half-nelson suplex but it doesn't get sold and then Higuchi runs into an exploder suplex. Ueno hits a high frogsplash for 2 and wins with a moonsault into a head-clutch STO. This had some good points but the logic wasn't there. One minute Higuchi is untouchable, then the next he is coming down easy.

Jun Akiyama vs Tetsuya Endo

遠藤哲哉 vs 秋山準

 

They go to the outside early and Jun takes over there. Jun hits his piledriver early for 2 and takes puts him in rest holds for a bit. Jun gets a piledriver reversed but doesn't really sell it. Jun goes up top and gets knocked down to the outside where he is hit with the flying space tiger drop. They get back in and Jun takes control again with a running knee and the king crab choke. Akiyama hits a german and a running knee for 2. 

Endo slips out of an exploder and gets a shining wizard and a brainbuster for 2. They trade forearms and Jun hits a big running knee. Jun hits another running knee and an exploder for 2. Endo hits a backflip kick then a handspring into the ropes flip kick. He then hits a torture rack bomb for 2. Endo then wins with the shooting star press. Again, it was alright, just didn't have a ton of story to it aside from Jun controlling early then Endo hitting a bunch of stuff to win.

Overall thoughts: Nothing was bad here but I only really liked the Mao match and the opener. I wouldn't recommend going out of your way to see this and these guys put out better efforts later in the tournament.