Dramatic Dream Team 2/25/2024 Into The Fight 2024

Dramatic Dream Team 2/25/2024 Into The Fight 2024

They have a sold out house here for the debut of Kaisei Takechi. It's easily the best looking wrestling crowd I've seen. Not a lot of black shirts here.

Ilusion, Yuki Ino & Yuni vs. Schadenfreude International (Antonio Honda, Chris Brookes & Masahiro Takanashi)

MT and Yuni start us off. They hammerlock each other and MT grabs him by the hair. Yuni cartwhels and backflips out of a throw then they stand off. Il and CB go at it. Il is too small for the test of strength and stomps his foot instead. CB shoulders him over then Il crossbodies him. MT trips Il outside then CB low dropkicks Il off of it.

Honda's team poses on Il. CB sentons Il and Honda trips himself on the 2nd rope. Il tkes a double punch to the gut then Honda foot rakes him. Il bulldogs MT out of the casadora. Ino shoulders over all 3 opponents then suplexes MT. Ino is tripped and takes a 2nd rope CB double stomp.

Ino back body drops CB then they trade chops. CB jumping knees and step up enzugiri's him. Ino drops CB backwards out of a flying octopus. Honda trips coming in again then grabs a mic. Honda screws around, trying to poke his opponents in the eyes and succeeding.

Yuni takes punches form all 3 opponents at the same time then him and Il dropkick them over. Ino corner splashes Honda then Yuni ddt's Honda. Yuni misses a top rope moonsault then takes an axe bomber from Honda. The heels double wristlock Yuni, but Yuni ends up on Il's shoulders. Masa and CB then roll the two and somehow press them down to get a pin.

The finish was odd and I'm not real sure how that works since Illusion would have been pinning his own partner here which doesn't count. They didn't have a ton of time here and everyone got a segment in before this ended. Without Honda's comedy segment, it might have been an okay opener. 

Chris Brookes does a promo after. He does some of the English words in the way people in Japan would say them and it's odd. Zack Sabre Jr comes out. They talk in Japanese, which is again unusual and Zack seems to want a match with Yoshihiko. They set up Mao and Ueno vs Brookes and Zack for 4/7/2024

Akito & Soma Takao vs. DAMNATION T.A (Daisuke Sasaki & KANON)

The heels ask for handshakes then pound on the faces. DS shoulders Soma over. Soma kips back up then hits a dropkick. Kanon trips Soma and pulls him out then Soma is thrown into the post. DS bangs Akito's head off a chair. Kanon slams Soma then jumping fist drops him for 2.

DS lariats Soma off the buckles. Soma hits forearms on DS then 2nd rope dropkicks him. Akito dragon screws DS then dragon screws Kanon. Akito dropkicks DS in the knee then hits karelin's lift for 2.

Akito ankle locks DS then DS rolls into a crossface on him. DS flying headscissors him for 2 then spears him. Kanon abdominal stretches Akito then slams him. Akito backdrops him. Soma low dropkicks Kanon then Kanon hits a neat uranage on him. Soma takes corner lariats then a uranage backbreaker for 2. Kanon and Soma trade forearms then Kanon takes a double pop-up knee. Soma superkicks Kanon for 2.

Soma top rope double stomps Kanon. DS pushes the ref away when he tries to stop him from using the chair then Akito is thrown into the ref. DS low blows Soma then chairs both opponents. Kanon lariats Soma then Soma takes a top rope elbow drop + dominator. Kanon pins Soma.

It felt rushed here. There's no way the ref couldn't have seen the chair shots either. They just didn't have enough time and had to hurry through everything on this one.

MJ Paul vs. To-y

Paul no sells Toy's dropkicks then bolo punches him. Toy flying dropkicks him. Paul shoulders him over and elbow drops him. Daisuke Sasaki gets cheap shots in on Toy outside. Paul chairs Toy outside. Paul ddt's him inside then slams him. Paul hits a splash then Toy hits a chop flurry on him. Paul bolo punches him then Toy flying kicks him.

Toy flying dropkicks Paul in the corner then Toy top rope splashes him. Paul samoan drops him then STF's him. Paul hits a nasty release german then lariats him over. Paul misses a vader bomb then Sasaki and Kanon interfere. Toy dropkicks Sasaki, who falls into the ref. Toy is thrown off the top by Paul.

Paul and Kanon end up getting hit with chairs then Shunma helps out then Toy rolls up Paul to win it.

It could have been done better, but Paul was a decent heel as always and Toy was a decent face against him. It was your usual big vs small match for the most part with some heel and face stuff mixed in as well.

Kazusada Higuchi & Yoshitatsu vs. Rukiya & Yukio Naya

KH hasn't been tanning and got a haircut, so he looks different. KH and Naya shoulder battle to start. Naya knocks him over and KH chops him. Yoshi and Ruki go at it. Ruki knes him in the gut and they shoulder battle. Ruki hits forearms then dropkicks him.

Yoshi trips him and pulls him out. Yoshi then slams him on the floor. Naya and KH trade out there then KH chops Ruki down on the inside. Ruki is atomic dropped and lariated by Yoshi for 2. Ruki suplexes Yoshi then Naya splashes Yoshi. Naya shoulders Yoshi over then elbow drops him.

Yoshi reverses a backdrop then step up enzugiri's him and backcrackers him. KH hits chops on Naya then hits a big powerslam for 2. They trade forearms for chops then Naya knees him in the gut. KH lariats him over then Naya face kicks him. Ruki gets offense in on KH and bulldogs him. KH claws him then KH takes corner attacks. Ruki hits a nice blue thunder on KH for 2.

Ruki takes a big chest slap from KH then KH doctor bombs him for 2. KH hits a stiff lariat on Ruki then claw slams him for the win.

There was a lot going on here with Yoshi being limited, Ruki being undersized and then the two big guys. I didn't think it was as good as it could have been and I don't know if they had the time they needed.

DDT Universal Title Match - MAO vs. Hikaru Machida

Machida's a kickboxing guy who appears a few times a year for DDT. Something's wrong with his right eye as it's not aligned with his left eye. He also has some very unusual ears. They trade and half-block shots. Mao hits shots on him and throws him down. Mao then does a nasty john woo dropkick, banging Machida's head off the bottom of the buckle. Mao palm strike flurries him then takes a punch and a punch flurry back. Mao then slap/palm strike flurries him.

Mao rakes his face with his boot, gets stuck and is hit in the gut. Machida hits punches and knocks him out of the ring. They trade chest kicks outside then fight in the stands. Machida knocks him down with a hard punch then Mao hits spin kicks on him. Both then end up rolling down the stairs at Korakuen into the lobby.  

They get back in the ring and trade shots. Mao takes hard shots to the face then they hit each other on a combo. Mao takes punches and palm strikes him back. Machida does a cartwheel kick then takes a corkscrew kick. Mao runs the ropes into a straight punch. Machinda hits knees to the body and an uppercut. They trade palm strikes for punches here and Mao high kicks him. Mao superkicks him for a 1 count.

Machida hits a nice backdrop then big haymaker for 2. Machida punches Mao then spin kicks him in the gut. Mao stunners him. They pound fists and trade kicks to the body. They high kick each other at the same time and Mao high kicks him again. Machida hits punches then Mao michinoku drivers him to win it.

My feeling is that when you are doing matches like this, they should be shorter. The real fighter can obviously knock Mao's head off his shoulders so they shouldn't have him do too many shots here as it will make him look bad. This one went 14:27 and felt a lot longer. Mao just took a million good looking shots and didn't go down, and at one point even no sold them.

I liked the idea of Mao surviving some shots and making his comeback, but he was going even with this dude when he's not known as a striker or real tough guy. It's a shame because I would normally love this type of match as they really beat the crap out of each other, but it dragged on too long and Mao survived too much. Mao also ended up with all kinds of cuts and bumps on him from this. Machida did a good job here.

Mao and Takeshi Masada seem to set up a match after.

Hideki Okatani, Takeshi Masada & Tetsuya Endo vs. The 37KAMIINA (Shunma Katsumata & Yuki Ueno) & Kaisei Takechi

Oka kicks Kaisei's hand away on a handshake. The girls are going nuts for Kaisei, who is debuting here and was a popular music singer. Ueno and Endo shoulder battle and Endo knocks him over. Endo headlock takeovers him, take a headscissors and they stand off.

Masada and Kaisei go at it. Masada backs him up and plays with his hair. Kaisei hits a forearm and hits a dropkick to a huge pop. Masada takes elbow drops then Kaisei holds Masada for a double basement dropkick. Kaisei's team then poses.

Shun flying headscissors and dropkicks TM. Ueno slams Masada then Masada slams Kaisei. Endo slams Kaisei and hits chops on him. Kaisei takes foot chokes in the corner then Oka slams and elbow drops him for 2. Oka then pushes Kaisei out of the ring with his feet.

Oka knocks him off the apron every time he tries to get in. Kaisei forearms him on his next attempt and they trade heavy forearm shots. Kaisei running forearms him. Ueno and Shunma hit stereo hurricanrana's then stereo tope con hilos. Ueno flying hip attacks Oka in the corner then Oka takes shots on the middle rope. Shunma to prope dropkicks Oka.

Shunma springboard dropkicks Oka then bites his hand. Shunma meteoras him off the top. Shunam enzugiri's him then takes a flapjack. Oka flying lariats Shunma. Endo gets in and slams Shunma and 619's Ueno. Endo then handspring double pele kicks Shunma and Ueno. Endo springboard forearms Shunma.

Shunma hits kicks to the head. Kaisei hits forearms on Endo then Endo headbutts him in the mouth. Kaisei 2nd rope hurricanrana's him then top rope crossbodies him for 2. Endo suplexes Kaisei then Masada kicks Kaisei. Kaisei hits a full-nelson slam on him for 2 then Masada face kicks him over. 

Endo hits his flying space tiger drop over the top rope then Masada crabs Kaisei. Kaisei and Masada trade forearms then Kaisei hits a nice dropkick. Ueno flying knees Oka then top rope frogsplashes him for 2. Ueno exploders him for 2 then Endo does a dragon suplex into a german on Ueno. Shunmaa runs up the buckles and dives outside.

Ueno and Oka trade forearms then Ueno hits a nice dropkick on him for 2 at 20 minutes. Ueno double jump moonsaults him and picks up the win.

I thought it went too long here. They had a crowd full of non-fans and I think something simpler like Kaisei getting beaten up and making his comeback in under 15 minutes would have worked fine. The match didn't flow as well as it should have and just didn't follow the usual formula.

Kaisei had a great debut here. He's a good looking dude and was a good face with some fire. He did a couple of flying moves and had a nice dropkick. The crowd was absolutely nuts for him.

Overall thoughts: I saw all but one match here. Kaisei Takechi drew a big house here and had a good debut. He's a good looking dude who can hit his stuff clean and has some fire. He will go as far as he wants to in DDT. The semi main went too long and would have been really good if it only went half the time. Mao took quite a whooping in it. I thought there was too much going on in the Kazusada Higuchi tag and I did like MJ Paul vs Toy. The Akito tag was rushed and the the opener had comedy. I wouldn't recommend this though I got through it pretty quickly.