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Date: February 19th, 2014
Location: Shinjuku FACE at Tokyo, Japan
Announced Attendance: 512 (Super No Vacancy Full House)
This is an interesting event as it is a combination wrestling event and musical concert. In fact it was mostly a concert, as on a two hour event there were only three matches. And they weren’t even all shown in full. The girls in UP UP GIRLS are quite adorable but they are…. not very good at singing. There is some kind of theme here, with the Up Up Girls sending ‘their’ wrestlers to take on the DDT wrestlers. Anyway here are the matches on the event:
– Akito vs. KUDO
– Kota Ibushi vs. Up Up Machine
– Danshoku Dino and Hiroshi Fukuda vs. Isami Kodaka and Makoto Oishi
I won’t be reviewing the concert, just the matches. Sorry.
Akito vs. KUDO
Join in Progress, as Akito hits a lariat onto KUDO in the corner. Akito goes off the ropes and he dropkicks KUDO in the knee. Gutwrench suplex by Akito, cover, but it gets a two count. Akito chops KUDO into the corner, Irish whip, reversed, and KUDO hits a lariat in the corner. KUDO goes up to the top turnbuckle but Akito moves when he dives off. Wheelbarrow suplex by Akito, cover, but KUDO kicks out at two. Akito picks up KUDO, elbow by KUDO but Akito elbows him back. Headbutt by Akito, he goes off the ropes but KUDO knees him in the stomach. Knee to the midsection by Akito, he applies a waistlock but KUDO elbows out of it. Kick combination by KUDO and he hits a high kick. Buzzsaw Kick by KUDO, cover, but Akito gets a shoulder up. KUDO positions Akito in front of the corner, he goes up to the top turnbuckle and hit the Diving Double Kneedrop. Cover, and he picks up the three count. Your winner: KUDO
Match Thought: Clipped, but not as bad as it looks since it was only a five minute match anyway. Both of these wrestlers are good, I enjoy them, but they didn’t get a lot of a chance to show what they can do here. But the crowd wanted a fast paced match and they delivered that anyway so I can’t diss it too much. Although why the entire five minute match couldn’t be shown I have no idea. Score: 5.0
Kota Ibushi vs. Up Up Machine
They circle each other to start, Machine offers a handshake but kicks Ibushi in the stomach. Irish whip by Ibushi but Machine hits a shoulderblock followed by two hiptosses. Dropkick by Machine, he picks up Ibushi and throws him out of the ring. The Up Up Girls attack Ibushi with fans on the ramp, Machine grabs Ibushi and he goes for a vertical suplex, but Ibushi blocks it. Machine picks up Ibushi and drops him stomach-first onto the top rope, and Ibushi falls out of the ring. Ibushi keeps getting hit with the fans until he rolls into the ring, and Machine returns to the ring as well. Machine has one of the fans and he hits Ibushi in the stomach with it. He hits Ibushi a second time in the stomach and then repeatedly in the back. Machine pretends to throw the fan out of the ring but instead tries to hit Ibushi with it, but Ibushi blocks it and takes away the fan. Ibushi hits Machine repeatedly with the fan until he beats him down in the corner, and then applies a single leg crab hold. Machine crawls to the ropes and gets a fan from one of the Up Up Girls so that he can hit Ibushi with it. Irish whip by Ibushi but Machine hits a tilt-a-whirl headscissors. Machine picks up Ibushi, elbows by Machine and he hits a face crusher. Machine goes up to the second turnbuckle and hit a missile dropkick. Cover, but it gets a two count. Machine picks up Ibushi and goes for the Devil Windmill Suplex but Ibushi gets out of it. Waistlock by Machine, Ibushi elbows out of it but Machine hits a high kick. Kick to the midsection but Ibushi and he hit a standing moonsault, but Machine returns with a dropkick. Cover by Machine but it gets a two count. Machine picks up Ibushi and hits the Devil Windmill Suplex, but Ibushi kicks out at two. Machine picks up Ibushi, elbows by Machine but Ibushi delivers a high kick. Ibushi picks up Machine and goes for the Last Ride but Machine rolls him up for a two count. Machine goes off the ropes but Ibushi hits a lariat, he then picks up Machine and nails the Sit-Down Last Ride. Cover, and he picks up the three count. Your winner: Kota Ibushi
Match Thoughts: Up Up Machine was played by Kazuki Hirata if you were ultra curious. I’m not really sure why I am watching this, besides that I said I would review everything from 2014. This was clearly a comedy match, but it is fun to see the musical guests get involved in the matches. Up Up Machine is much more mobile than the real Strong Machine, so that’s a plus. It was goofy but certainly not offensive, Ibushi deserves to get a break sometimes and not always trying to kill himself. Score: 5.5
Danshoku Dino and Hiroshi Fukuda vs. Isami Kodaka and Makoto Oishi
Dino and Fukuda attack their opponents before the match officially starts, and they single out Oishi as Kodaka is knocked out of the ring. Double Irish whip to Oishi and they hit a double back elbow. Dino stomps Oishi in the back and grabs his balls before rolling him over and humping him. I can see the direction this match is going in. Oishi crawls to the ropes to force a break, Dino picks up Oishi and tags in Fukuda. Oil Check by Fukuda to Oishi and Fukuda stomps Oishi in the chest. Oishi punches Fukuda back but Fukuda returns fire, sending Oishi to the mat. Fukuda picks up Oishi and throws Oishi into the corner. Punches by Fukuda and he tags in Dino, snapmare by Dino and he hugs Oishi from behind, but Oishi gets to the ropes. Dino picks up Oishi and hit a snap suplex followed by a kneedrop. Cover by Dino, but it gets a two count. Dino takes off his pants and tries to sit on Oishi’s face, but Oishi blocks it. Kodaka hits Dino which sends him down onto Oishi for a two count. Dino stomps Oishi and the two trade punches, Irish whip by Oishi and he hits a lariat. Oishi tags in Kodaka, Kodaka goes up top and hits a diving crossbody. Back elbow by Kodaka to Dino but Fukuda is in the ring, double Irish whip to the corner but Kodaka avoids both of them and knocks both down into the corner. High kick by Kodaka to Fukuda and then Dino, cover, but it gets a two count. Kodaka picks up Dino and hits a vertical suplex. Back up they trade chops and elbows, Dino goes for the Lip Lock which Kodaka temporarily blocks but Dino gets it applied. Kodaka pushes Dino off and hits a superkick, giving him time to tag in Oishi. Fukuda is also tagged in, Oishi punches Fukuda repeatedly but Fukuda pokes hi in the eyes. Fukuda goes up to the top turnbuckle but Oishi punches him in the stomach when Fukuda jumps off. Kodaka comes in the ring, Oishi holds Fukuda for Kodaka but Fukuda moves and Kodaka elbows Oishi by accident. Dino then kicks Kodaka low and hits the Homo Ye onto Kodaka. Dino thumps Oishi into the corner and hits the Danshoku Driver. Cover by Fukuda, but Oishi gets a shoulder up. Dino and Fukuda have a disagreement and Dino hits Fukuda against the ropes, but Fukuda pushes him back. Dino takes off his pants and puts on his thong like a double singlet, as he got up in the corner. Fukuda tries to throw Oishi into Dino, but Kodaka comes into the ring. Fukuda throws Kodaka head-first into Dino’s ass, Fukuda tries to do the same to Oishi but Oishi slams on the breaks. Atomic Drop by Fukuda to Oishi and he hits a Fisherman Suplex Hold for a two count. Fukuda picks up Oishi and again tries to throw him into Dino but Oishi blocks it and monkey flips Fukuda into Dino. Chokeslam by Oishi, and Kodaka kicks Dino before nailing Fukuda with the Isamuashi. Cover by Oishi and he picks up the three count. Your winners: Isami Kodaka and Makoto Oishi
Match Thoughts: This is what I could consider a typical Dino match. Lots of homosexual gags, not a whole lot of actual wrestling. Kodaka being there at least added a different element, but his interaction with Dino was more limited than Oishi’s, I guess rank does have some privileges. So I would say if you enjoy Dino’s antics you will probably enjoy this match but it isn’t my personal favorite type of comedy so there wasn’t much here interesting for me. Score: 4.0
Final Thoughts:
Best Match: Kota Ibushi vs. Up Up Machine. This was a more laid back match for Ibushi. This wasn’t really a good match but it was a perfectly acceptable match which on a three match card was enough to make it the best on the card… but it probably wouldn’t rank in the Top 100 matches of Ibushi for 2014.
MVP: Isami Kodaka. At least Kodaka added a slightly different element to the main event. He didn’t really do much with Dino and kept the majority of his time in the ring more serious than slap-stick. Which a few exceptions of course. So just by being in a different style of match than usual, Kodaka was the most memorable wrestler on the card.
Overall: I think I am going to take a break from DDT for a bit, as these smaller shows just aren’t very good. This one was different as it was more concert than wrestling event, so if you like the Up Up Girls (which I doubt you do), then this DVD would be worth purchasing. But for the average fan you can very safely avoid this one and never look back.
