Welcome back to the wonderful world of DDT. The company has once again given Chris Brookes the booking power to produce another all-English commentary show. This time he has presented three matches presenting the best of all facets of the company. We’ll see the booking man himself team up with Miyu Yamashita against the DDT Sauna Club, Hyper Misao looks to banish the resurrected evil that is Mecha Mummy and Baliyan Akki gets a big DDT main event match against one of the aces, Konosuke Takeshita. Plus, we had commentary from Mr. Haku and Shota Things were going to get wild so let’s jump into the action!

Chris Brookes & Miyu Yamashita defeated DDT Sauna Club (Yuki Ueno & Shunma Katsumata) via Skull Kick/Praying Mantis Bomb combo on Katsumata

First up was Chris Brookes teaming up with his opponent from the first show. After feeling first-hand what she was capable of, he wasn’t going through that again and decided to team with her instead. He’d already dispatched of Shota pretending to be Masahiro Takanashi with the help of the real Takanashi and now he was going to the same with Yamashita to get rid of the DDT Sauna Club, the super-team of Yuki Ueno and Shunma Katsumata, two guys who’d screwed over Brookes in the past. Ueno and Yamashita started the action with Ueno instantly feeling a Yamashita kick. After being backed into the ropes so Katsumata got into a technical exchange on the mat and had Ueno prying at her chin. Yamashita made him pay by giving him another swift kick to the leg. Ueno kneed her in the gut and dragged her chin across the ropes, then both tagged out. Katsumata and Brookes took over with Katsumata trying to start things by apologising for getting him banned on Twitter. Brookes fell for this ploy and Katsumata took control of his wrist. Brookes easily found the ropes using his long legs and Katsumata realised he wouldn’t be able to keep Brookes in a rest-hold. Brookes applied a headlock and Katsumata tried to escape the same way but came up short. Ueno fired him up and he finally dragged himself over to the ropes as Brookes was nice enough to transition to a wrist-lock. Brookes played along with the Sauna Club salute, then kick a rope into Katsumata’s balls. He tagged Yamashita back in but couldn’t get her to play along with his ploy to continue the assault on Katsumata’s balls. She did however kick out his soul with a cavalcade of chest kicks. Brookes continued the chain with a knee drop and scored a two-count. He ground Katsumata against the ropes and tanked some forearms to lock on a grounded Octopus hold. Ueno rushed to make the save but the ref shoved him away and Yamashita tagged in to help Brookes make a wish. She continued to punish Katsumata with knees and kicks, then quickly tagged out again. Brookes further worked the back with elbows and after some mocking kicks, delivered a vicious chop.

Katsumata finally got his chance at escape with a top rope Hurricanrana into a dropkick and got the much-needed tag to Ueno. He scared Yamashita off the apron and flipped Brookes into a knee drop, then let Yamashita splash Brookes trying to break up a pin and dropped a knee across both. He choked and kicked Brookes out in the corn and tagged in Katsumata for a double-clothesline. He stomped Brookes’ back and locked in a side-headlock, slowly cutting out his oxygen. Brookes fought up so Katsumata made another tag and watched Ueno deliver a diving axe handle from the top. Ueno then held Brookes in place and Katsumata delivered a second with a sauna towel. He went back to rule-breaking with a towel choke and kept using distractions to prolong the choke. Katsumata got too cocky with taunts so Brookes caved his chest in with chops and got caught with the back senton combo. He tagged Yamashita in and she rushed Ueno to avenge the chin attacks but Ueno caught her again and Katsumata hit a diving chin attack. This didn’t phase her though as she swept out Katsumata’s legs and hit a screw kick combo. A slugfest broke out and Katsumata made the mistake of grabbing her chin again and ate another nightmarish chest kick. She tried to deadlift him but he countered with a chin-breaker into a DDT. Ueno came in and another slugfest broke out as Ueno ate a chest kick but tripped her into the ropes for a body attack. He hit a flying knee drop and worked her back with a Full-Nelson Backbreaker. He locked Yamashita in a Boston Crab as Katsumata kicked the rope into Brookes’ balls. Payback is a bitch. Ueno mockingly fired-up Yamashita and she started firing back with more powerful kicks and rocked him with a high knee.

Ueno followed her out of the corner for a running forearm and threw her into the ropes for a beautiful dropkick. Brookes broke up the pin but Katsumata threw him out and launched onto him with a slingshot crossbody. Ueno slammed Yamashita into the mat and the Sauna Club hit her with a diving splash/frog splash combo but Brookes broke up their pin with a diving double stomp out of nowhere. Katsumata threw him out again and tanked a Yamashita combo to catch her last kick into a powerbomb. She kicked Katsumata into the corner with a spin kick into a combo of leg kicks but Katsumata caught her high kick again and held her in place for a double-team corner crush. She dodged and Ueno crashed into Katsumata. Brookes launched him into Katsumata a second time with a John Woo and directed Yamashita into a springboard Enzuigiri before scoring a two-count with a rope hung neckbreaker. Brookes tried for the Praying Mantis Bomb but Katsumata wiggled free and stunned him with a forearm. The pair slugged it out, then Brookes put a stop to it with a nose-breaker but Katsumata wasn’t fully rocked and KO’ed Brookes with a superkick. Everyone turned on everyone until Yamashita and Brookes played kick/knee ping pong with Katsumata and Yamashita dumped him on his head with a bridging deadlift German. Brookes made it a jackknife combo but Katsumata managed to kick out. He tried to come back but Yamashita kicked him and dodged a counterattack so Brookes could hit the Shoop Cutter. She hit Crash Rabbit Heat but Ueno broke up the pin. Brookes killed him off with an apron flying knee as Katsumata launched one final flurry that saw Brookes catch Yamashita. They shook this off and ended the match with a Skull Kick into the Praying Mantis Bomb for the win. Bloody hell this match was stacked. 21 minutes of well-paced tag excellence. It’s rare for me to root against Katsumata but the Sauna Club was on top dickhead mode. What a fun way to open a show. Plus, Yamashita still scares the hell out of me with her kicks.

Falls Count Anywhere: Hyper Misao vs Mecha Mummy ended in a double short-circuit

Next was the battle of Hero vs Robot. Hyper Misao, the TJPW superhero and Protector of Love and Peace was about to do her best to banish the resurrected evil that was Mecha Mummy. You heard that right Mecha Mummy was back in all his robotic mummified horror. The problem was Mecha Mummy had a giant drill and even bigger fist to counteract the hyperactivity of Misao. She took to the mic to open proceedings but Mecha Mummy grew bored of her talk and hit her with a rocket punch. He continued to bring his fist down on Misao and put the fist on the mat to slam Misao onto. He attacked Misao with the mecha drill and drilled it into her guts, then her ear. Misao ducked another rocket punch and made a tactical retreat to the outside. She searched under the ring for plunder and sprayed hairspray into Mecha Mummy’s eyes. His systems were frozen, giving Misao a chance to set something up as he reset. She returned as Mecha Pami and now had more than enough power to tackle Mecha Mummy. She hit him with a series of mechanical slaps and grabbed two of her own drills to hit a Hyper Mechanical Rocket Punch. He retreated to the outside but Mecha Pami followed to the outside and ran him over with the Hyper Misao Mobile. He kicked out and she frantically searched for another weapon. Her eyes met the legendary sword of heroes and it had proved she was a true hero by being strong enough to wield it. She couldn’t hit him with it though as he threw powder in her face. Mecha Mummy equipped his jet wings and knocked her down with a diving clothesline for a two-count. He beat down Mecha Pami with the jet wings and threw it at her when she retreated outside. He threw the rocket punch at her again as she tried to get out from under the wings. She found the sword and the pair duelled, fist vs blade until Pami brought the sword down on Mummy’s head and threw him into a castle of chairs. She returned with two bottles of water and both poured one over the other. Both mechas short-circuited and the venue was evacuated as the pair threatened to explode. What can I say about this? It will make a lot of people cringe but I loved it. This was silly fun with a whole lot of tongue in cheek media references. We saw both good and evil take each other out in a highly dramatic fashion.

Konosuke Takeshita defeated Baliyan Akki via Bridging German

Last up was ChocoPro’s ace, Baliyan Akki getting a shot at one of the aces of DDT, Konosuke Takeshita. There is one day’s difference between these two in age and both felt they were destined to fight. Who would stand tall in this battle of aces, if either of them could actually stand at the end of it at all? They started with a strong lock-up and fought over wrist control. Takeshita took the fight to the mat and the pair worked leg holds before returning to the arms. Neither could find an advantage as Takeshita locked in a Hammerlock and Akki threw him over into a grounded side headlock. They went into the ropes and Takeshita dropped Akki to the mat with a shoulder tackle. They picked up the pace with some rope running and Akki avenged the knockdown with a dropkick. He kept Takeshita grounded with a chin-lock and trapped his arms trying to get him to give up early. He rolled it into a Crucifix and went back into a grounded headlock as Takeshita kicked out. He quickly transitioned to a Camel Clutch and locked on the Namaste Stretch when Takeshita made the ropes. Takeshita broke free and stunned Akki with a single leg dropkick, then kicked Akki off the top turnbuckle to the floor. He followed Akki outside and delivered a Vertical Drop Brainbuster on the stage. Akki crawled across the concrete to beat a count-out and was hit with a back elbow into a pin when he re-entered. He quickly started ragging Akki around with a sleeper and continued to destroy his neck with a swinging neckbreaker. Akki tried to fight back but his strikes were having little effect and Takeshita just stomped him back to the mat. Takeshita scored another near-fall with a DDT but Akki had enough energy to kick out. He wasted no time and locked on a Camel Clutch on Akki and threw Akki into the corner but Akki caught him into a sunset flip. He launched Takeshita into the ropes but Takeshita took the momentum and dropped Akki with a flying forearm. Akki forearmed his way back into the match and finally staggered Takeshita with his signature head kick combo.

He dropped a knee on Takeshita and splashed him in the corner. He tried for the backbreaker but Takeshita powered out so Akki dropped him through the ropes with a Frankensteiner. Akki followed him out with a Tope Con Giro and threw Takeshita back inside after taking a breather. He booted Takeshita into the corner and went coast to coast. He couldn’t keep Takeshita down so he tried for a 450 but missed and ate a massive flipping clothesline that also took out a camera person. The pair traded boots and Akki showed off his superior kicking ability with a face kick into a spinebuster. He went for the Namaste Splash but Takeshita got his knees up and drove them into Akki a second time with a double knee gutbuster. He climbed to the top and went for a “Namaste” Frog Splash but Akki got the knees up. Akki wrapped up Takeshita’s legs in a deathlock and pulled back on his neck but Takeshita made the ropes. Another slugfest broke out that went on and one until Akki scored the knockdown with a dropkick. Akki landed the 450 on a second attempt but it was still only a two-count. He went for a Fisherman Buster but Takeshita reversed into a second Brainbuster. Akki flipped out of the German and trapped him in another Sunset Flip but Takeshita broke out of that and the follow-up confusion La Magistral to deliver a kick to the face and the Blue Thunder Bomb. Akki tried to fire up but Takeshita blasted him in the head with a knee and finished him off with the Bridging German. Akki had put up one of a fight and taken Takeshita to the limit. That Bridging German is only used on worthy opponents, something Akki showed himself to be today. It’s always nice to see that Baliyan Akki is the ace of ChocoPro for a reason and he will prove himself in a ring or the Chocolate Square. Both showed mutual respect and both want another match, wherever and whenever it can happen. Please tell me that means Takeshita to ChocoPro…

With that, the show was over. There was a talk show with most of the stars talking about the show (except Akki who needed to run and do his second match of the day, Ueno, Takeshita, and Mecha Mummy who doesn’t speak) but that doesn’t need me to explain it. The in-ring action rocked as once again, Chris Brookes showed he wasn’t just a wrestling genius, he’s a matchmaking genius too. All three matches offered something great and all showcased a different element of DDT. Match one, excellent tag team action, match two, the comedic silliness, and match three, high dramatic singles action. Yet again, it was received well and DDT big boss Sanshiro Takagi is thinking of making this a more common thing and I honestly hope that happens. These shows are so damn fun to watch and write about so I will always want to see more. Now I’m going to end the review the same way Katsumata ended the talk show, meow.

All images courtesy of DDT Pro, Wrestle Universe Twitter, 

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