DDT DRAMATIC KAIYUKAN! 2015
a casual review by Kevin Wilson

Date:  January 11th, 2015
Location:  Osaka Minato Ward Citizen Center in Osaka, Japan
Announced Attendance:  375

Once again I am not being lazy, this is all that DDT released from this event.  These matches along with the four I reviewed for 1/11/15 were put on the same telecast, as far as I know the other matches will never be released.  In theory they pick the best matches I think, but they chose to show a dark match between two rookies so I have no idea what their criteria is.  Here are the matches that aired:

- Kazusada Higuchi vs. Ryota Nakatsu
- Makoto Oishi and Shunma Katsumata vs. MIKAMI and Akito
- Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kuishinbo Kamen
- HARASHIMA and Yasu Urano vs. Kota Ibushi and Daisuke Sasaki

Really hope these matches are better than the ones they showed on the other half of the airing.

Kazusada Higuchi vs. Ryota Nakatsu
We join this one in progress, jumping knee by Nakatsu and he hits a running knee.  Dropkick by Higuchi, he goes for a powerbomb but Nakatsu blocks it.  Kimura by Nakatsu but Higuchi gets to the ropes.  Nakatsu goes for a cross armbreaker, Higuchi tries to powerbomb out of it but Nakatsu blocks it.  Dropkick to the arm by Nakatsu and he hits a lariat.  Higuchi hits a shoulderblock, kicks by Nakatsu and he hits a cross armbreaker takedown, but the bell rings while he has the hold applied, and the match is a Draw.  Clipped, but both of these guys show a lot of promise which is why it made air.  Higuchi sold the arm well and it was very fluid, no complaints except that only half was shown.  Score:  5.0

Makoto Oishi and Shunma Katsumata vs. MIKAMI and Akito
Oishi and Akito start off and trade submission holds.  They reach a stalemate so they tag out, armdrags by Katsumata and he dropkicks MIKAMI.  Oishi is tagged in but MIKAMI also tags out, and Akito hits a neckbreaker on Oishi.  Scoop slam by Akito and he tags in MIKAMI.  MIKAMI sits down on Oishi in the corner and he tags in Akito.  Fist drop by Akito and he trades elbows with Oishi.  Akito applies an ankle hold but Oishi gets out of it.  Oishi tags in Katsumata while MIKAMI is also tagged in, and Katsumata dropkicks MIKAMI.  Springboard kick by Katsumata, he goes up top and hits a diving crossbody and he tagged in Oishi.  Katsumata runs up MIKAMI in the corner and hits a lariat.  Doublestomp by Katsumata and Oishi hits a body press for two.  Double Irish whip to MIKAMI but MIKAMI kicks both of them.  MIKAMI hits a double tiger feint kick and tags in Akito.  Akito shoves off Oishi but Oishi hits a tornado DDT.  Akito slaps on an ankle hold but Oishi gets out of it and dropkicks Oishi in the knee.  Scoop slam by Akito but Oishi applies a cross kneelock.  German suplex by Akito and Oishi crawls to his corner to tag in Katsumata.  Oishi kicks Akito from the apron, elbows by Katsumata but MIKAMI runs in and Katsumata is double teamed.  Muscle Buster by Akito, and he gets the three count.  This was a pretty good fast paced match.  Akito generally impresses me when I see him, he does this style of match very well, as does Oishi.  I don’t love matches having so many simultaneous tag outs as it makes it more obvious two wrestlers worked out spots, but besides that it was solid.  Score:  6.0

Konosuke Takeshita vs. Kuishinbo Kamen
Takeshita immediately kicks Kamen to start the match and covers him, but the referee kicks him off.  They all do rolls and poses, basically they do the Kamen/Ebessan routine from yesteryear.  Kamen bops Takeshita in the head but Takeshita hits a jumping kick.  Armdrag by Kamen and they do the Osaka Hop.  Kamen dropkicks Takeshita out of the ring, he goes up top but he jumps down the wrong way and crashes to the floor.  Back in the ring, Takeshita hits a vertical suplex and gets a two count cover.  Elbows by Kamen but Takeshita dropkicks him out of the ring.  Takeshita goes up top but he also dives the wrong way and falls right to the floor.  For a silly comedy spot, they could really hurt themselves doing that.  Both wrestlers struggle to get back in the ring and they trade chops.  Kamen bops Takeshita in the head, he puts him up top and hits a Frankensteiner.  Kamen goes for a suplex, reversed by Takeshita but Kamen lands on his feet and rolls him up for two.  Takeshita returns the favor, Kamen rolls up the referee and Takeshita counts to two.  The referee hits a suplex on Kamen, then Takeshita hits a German suplex hold and gets the three count.  Kamen matches are amusing, there is no doubting that, but Takeshita didn’t really fit in.  Which was kinda the point.  I think the referee was the same one that used to do Kamen’s shtick back in the day, which is cool if true.  Funny, but not classically funny.  Score:  5.5

HARASHIMA and Yasu Urano vs. Kota Ibushi and Daisuke Sasaki
Ibushi and Urano start off.  Sad that Yasu “Coasts Through Matches” Urano is ruining my main event.  After the standard opening sequence, Ibushi gets Urano’s arm and tags in Sasaki.  Sasaki keeps working on Urano’s arm but Urano knocks Sasaki out of the ring.  Sasaki gets back in and Urano tags in HARASHIMA.  HARASHIMA beats down Sasaki and tags in Urano, and Sasaki plays face in peril for several minutes.  He finally hits a jawbreaker on Urano and makes the tag to Ibushi.  Dropkick by Ibushi and he applies a headscissors to Urano.  Sasaki is tagged back in and he dropkicks Urano while he is hanging over the top rope.  They trade punches and elbows and Urano hits a headscissors.  Dropkick by Sasaki and both wrestlers tag out.  Ibushi and HARASHIMA face off and Ibushi points outside the ring.  He then goes up on top the camera stand, inviting HARASHIMA to join him.  He does and they trade elbows, Ibushi goes for a powerbomb but HARASHIMA punches out of it.  Ibushi finally kicks HARASHIMA off the stand so I guess he won, then he hits a moonsault down onto Urano and HARASHIMA.  Back in the ring Ibushi and HARASHIMA trade kicks and Ibushi hits a standing corkscrew moonsault.  Ibushi tags in Sasaki and Sasaki hits a diving lariat.  Dragon screw by Sasaki to HARASHIMA and he applies the figure four.  Ibushi comes in the ring and they ram HARASHIMA into the turnbuckle.  Arm trap crossface by Sasaki to HARASHIMA, he goes up top but HARASHIMA gets his knees up.  Swandive dropkick by Ibushi to HARASHIMA and he hits a high kick.  German suplex by Sasaki to HARASHIMA but it gets two.  Sasaki picks up HARASHIMA but Urano comes in and kicks Sasaki.  HARASHIMA knees Sasaki in the corner and Urano hits a tombstone.  HARASHIMA follows quickly with the Somato, and he gets the three count.  Another good match, this DDT show was 150% better than the last one I reviewed, probably because it focused on wrestling and not stupid shit.  Urano was wisely kept out of most of the match, and Ibushi and HARASHIMA are both quality wrestlers.  Not a five star classic but definitely a fun and entertaining match.  Score:  7.5

Final Thoughts:

This event was so much better than the one on 1/11 it isn’t even funny.  The only match designed to be a comedy match wasn’t bad, and the rest of the matches all delivered on some level.  The rookies look promising and both tag matches were fun fast paced Jr. Heavyweight type action.  Obviously I’d have preferred to see more than just four matches (the semi-main on the event looked like it had potential to be good), but for what they showed I don’t really have any complaints.  A solid DDT event, unfortunately it is just paired on the television airing with a really bad one.

Grade: C

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review completed on 2/13/15