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Into the Indies 06.22.10: DDT’s Triple Header

June 22, 2010 | Posted by Ryan Byers

Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to Into the Indies, the column with some gender issues to work out.

This week, we’re returning to the merry old land of the Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) and taking a look at Episode 275 of their regular television series Dramatica Fantastica, which features matches taped on May 5, 2010 in Nagoya, Japan. Normally in this column I try to focus on companies’ major events as opposed to weekly television shows, but I had to make an exception in this case because, unlike most hour long wrestling television shows, this one featured three matches that I was very interested in seeing.

The first was billed as the retirement match of American Balloon. As many of you who have regularly read this column will probably remember, I was a big follower of Japanese wrestling during the mid and late 1990’s and fell out of the scene around 2000 until returning to it just recently. In that “off period” I knew very little about what was going on in the country aside from key events in its big three promotions. Perhaps the only independent level wrestler to come across my radar during this time was the American Balloon, who in large part grabbed my attention because of his unique story. The man is rather rotund, and, in addition to that, he has a severe case of gynecomastia, a condition which, as some of you may be aware, results in the development of high levels of female-like breast tissue in males. Despite his very unconventional look, he managed to enroll in and successfully train at the Los Angeles-based dojo that New Japan Pro Wrestling maintained for several years before he moved on gained further experience in the Mexican version of Toryumon and receiving an opportunity to tour with DDT. Here’s an example of his work created by YouTube user dman1982dq which gives you the general idea of his schtick, even though the video quality isn’t that great:

This all resulted in Balloon gaining a bit of a cult following among English-speaking fans on the internet around 2006, and I understand that ultimately he relocated on a semi-permanent basis to the Land of the Rising Sun. For whatever reason, he decided to call it quits in the ring this year, and his last match was booked against DDT veteran KUDO.

The second bout on this card which drew my attention is what I believe to be the first singles encounter between two of the most popular acts in all of DDT. The first man is Kenny Omega, a wrestler who had been competing on low level Canadian independents for years but didn’t get any mainstream attention until only a year or two ago when he started receiving bookings for DDT and later Ring of Honor. His opponent? YOSHIHIKO, a former DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion who had an epic singles match with Kota Ibushi which we reviewed in one of the best-received editions of I2I to date. Omega and Ibushi are regular tag team partners and have very similar approaches to both professional wrestling and comedy, so if anybody can put on a match against YOSHIHIKO that equals or at least rivals the match that Ibushi had with him, it’s probably Kenny Omega.

The final match of the trio that drew me to this show is a unique battle between GENTARO and Danshoku Dino. We have seen both men several times in this column, with Dino being the DDT regular who does an over the top gay gimmick and GENTARO being a fifteen year veteran of independent wrestling in Japan. Coming into this show, GENTARO was the holder of the DDT Extreme Title and Dino was in the middle of building up a battle with none other than Razor Ramon Hard Gay for Ryogoku Peter Pan, DDT’s biggest show of the year which will be held at the massive Sumo Hall in just a few months. However, the Dino and GENTARO weren’t just going to have a normal match for the Extreme Title. They were instead going to meet in wrestling’s first ever “GAY or STRAIGHT Match,” which is essentially an I Quit Match except that, in order to submit, GENTRAO must say “I am gay,” while Dino must declare that he is straight.

It’s a triple header of interesting matches from DDT, topped off with a little bit of filler. Let’s see if the company can ensure that the bouts are as entertaining in execution as they are on paper.



Match Numero Uno: Keisuke Ishii & Masa Takanashi vs. DJ Nira & Yago Aznable

Ishii and Takanashi, a pair of younger wrestlers, are basically thrown out into the ring here to play job squad to the comedy act of Nira and Yago. Nira is a wrestler originally trained by Kaientai Dojo who is now in semi-retirment but pops up in DDT from time to time, while Yago Aznable is (I think) the former Yoshiaki Yago, a kickboxer who was also turned into a pro wrestler by Kaientai Dojo. He was an extreme badass in his early matches, but, as of late, he’s been doing a series of comedy gimmicks in DDT, and now he appears to be some sort of astronaut and/or cyborg.

Yago and Nira attack before the bell, but, when we clip ahead, Ishii actually has the advantage and is stomping away on the DJ. Eventually Nira catches his opponent with some RIDICULOUS looking offense, including a double thrust to the gut, a sloppy, sloppy kick, and a running shove. Somehow that sets up a tag to Yago, who takes out both of his opponents with clotheslines before hitting a uranagi on Ishii. A kick to the gut by the big man sets up a swinging fisherman’s suplex, which gets two as Takanashi saves. Nira runs into the ring to dispatch Takanashi, at which point Yago grabs some odd cybernetic arm implant and runs the ropes several times, hoping to hit Ishii with it. However, he misses and nails Nira, which gives the Ishii/Takanashi team the advantage for a bit. They hit a series of corner attacks on Yago and Ishii connects with a basement dropkick. The double teaming looks to continue when the boys charge off of the ropes simultaneously, but Yago ducks and pulls down the top strand, sending them out to the apron. Yago pulls his opponents into a double version of Randy Orton’s draping DDT and gets two on Takanashi with a Virginia necktie. In another Orton reference, Yago starts slapping the mat as if he is setting up for an RKO (or attempting to dislocate his shoulder) but instead he gets up out of the position and traps Takanashi in an octopus hold. That causes Masa to tap out, and the match has come to a close.

Match Thoughts: Eh. There wasn’t much to write home about here. Obviously I enjoy wacky, comedic professional wrestling if it’s done correctly (otherwise I wouldn’t be watching DDT), but I admit that it has a tendency to get really old really quickly if it consists mainly of spots or of gimmicks that I’ve seen many times before. That’s how I felt about Yago here. His character was really only doing things that several other indy comedy characters have done before, and the serious ring work around him wasn’t particularly impressive either. The match is entirel skippable, though at least it was onl the opener.


Match Numero Dos: American Balloon vs. Kudo

We are joined in progress with Balloon hitting a tiger suplex for a nearfall. A backbreaker from the big man connects, and he goes up to the top rope for his patented Balloonsault . . . but it only gets two! AmBall can’t believe it, so he sets KUDO up on the top rope, going for some kind of wacky superplex variant. KUDO blocks and KILLS Balloon with a version of the old Warrior’s Way, but, since it’s his retirement match, Balloon kicks out at two. Angered, KUDO begins unleashing a series of brutal kicks to the torso, but AmBall is able to no sell them . . . presumably because he’s just too fat. A kick to the head does get the oddly proportioned wrestler off of his feet, after which KUDO goes to the top rope and gives his opponent a flying kneedrop to the back of the head to end the match and the career of American Balloon.

After the bell, Balloon gives a farewell speech to the fans in near-perfect Japanese. Dammit, even when they’ve got one of my countrymen on this show I can’t understand him. There is then a ten bell tribute to Balloon and his career, which is played completely straight. It’s odd to watch such a ceremony given that, even though he was pretty damn dedicated to professional wrestling and did more in his career than virtually anybody expected out of him, the guy’s entire time in the industry was essentially based on a joke about the shape of his body.

Match Thoughts: We didn’t get to see that much of this match, and what we did see was competently worked albeit not particularly spectacular. However, this segment wasn’t really about watching an all-time classic match. This was about giving American Balloon his sendoff from professional wrestling, and, in terms of accomplishing that goal, it was a success. Balloon got to hit more big moves and kick out of more big moves than he probably ever did at any other point in his career, and, based on both the reaction and the ceremony that they gave, both the audience and the promotion seemed genuinely appreciative of what he has done for them. His story is a very inspiring one, as it’s the tale of a guy who had the talent to get somewhere in this sport and then actually did accomplish several of his dreamers despite the fact that there were several factors working against him. Kudos, American Balloon. You may have gotten where you did based on a joke, but you still got much farther than most and proved that you had some talent in addition to the gag that you were primarily marketed on.


Match Numero Tres: Kenny Omega vs. YOSHIHIKO

The match is joined in progress once more, as Omega hits a pair of brutal snap suplexes, which have more snap than just about any other version of the move I’ve ever seen. Unfortunately for Kenny, YOSHI is able to punch him in the gut and reverse the third suplex into one of his own. The Canadian fires back with some boots to the head and tries for a Boston crab. YOSHIHIKO won’t go over, so Omega kicks him in the back . . . AND HE KICKS YOSHIHKO’S FACE OFF! LITERALLY! YOSHI makes the ropes, where his corner is fortunately able to put his face back on. Omega tries to reapply the Boston crab, but YOSHI reverses it into a victory roll for a near fall. A massive running powerbomb from Omega connects, but the PVC wrestler kicks out at two. Omega connects with an insane running, flipping version of the blockbuster suplex, though it also won’t put YOSHIHIKO away. A massive punt to YOSHI’s head apparently does some damage to him, but the underdog starts firing back with headbutts in response to some Omega forearms. We then have a surprising REF BUMP, as Omega goes for an enzuguiri on YOSHIHIKO but misses. With the official out, YOSHI hits numerous low blows on Omega and calls for help from Masa Takanashi and Kesuke Ishii, who are in his corner. Ishii and Takanashi hit a German suplex/superkick combo that dumps Kenny flat on the top of his head, and YOSHIHIKO follows it up with a satellite rana that has much the same result.

YOSHI tries to finish his man with a Canadian Destroyer, but Omega blocks the move and turns it into a violent giant swing that shoots YOSHIHIKO out of the ring and into the front row. Omega follows his opponent out of the ring with the no hands tope con hilo and hits a sick looking k-driller back on the inside. YOSHIHIKO still has the inflatable intestinal fortitude to kick out, and the same is true when Omega gives him a high elevation German suplex. Some punches from Omega connect, but YOSHIHIKO starts to Hulk Up (a process in which he may have gotten some assistance from Takanashi) complete with the blocked punches, the “YOU!”, the three fists, the big boot, and the leg drop. Kenny gets out of that, so YOSHIHIKO busts out the big guns with his ROLLING CANADIAN DESTROYRS~! Four connect in all, but Omega somehow gets his foot on the bottom rope before the referee can finish his three count. YOSHI places Omega on the top rope for a superplex. The ROH standout tries to fight him off and ultimately succeeds, eventually positioning YOSHI and pulling him off the ropes with an avalanche style muscle buster. Two brutal high elevation Germans and a jumping k-driller later, and Kenny Omega has finally vanquished his most dangerous opponent.

Match Thoughts: This had its moments, but it wasn’t nearly as impressive as Kota Ibushi versus YOSHIHIKO from several months ago. Part of that is because Omega doesn’t appear to be quite the natural athlete that Ibushi is, meaning that the Japanese wrestler was able to physically do more with YOSHI even if he and Omega may have been able to think of the same amount of things to do. However, the other problem with the match was that it wasn’t nearly as innovative as the match with Ibushi or many other YOSHIHIKO matches that I’ve seen. It just seemed to be a “best of” compilation of spots that Omega and others have already done with the dummy, breaking no real new ground. As I mentioned earlier, comedy wrestling gets pretty dull pretty quick when its repetitive, and, though this wasn’t as bad as some other comedy matches I have seen over the years, it did seem like the bloom was starting to come off the rose with YOSHIHIKO’s schtick.



Match Numero Cuatro: Kota Ibushi & HARASHIMA vs. Sanshiro Takagi & Dick Togo

This is, as near as I can tell, just a garden variety tag team match between four of DDT’s main event level guys, no different or any more special than seeing John Cena and Randy Orton going up against Edge and Sheamus on a regular edition of Monday Night Raw. Togo is picking apart HARASHIMA in the ring when we join the match, but he runs into an enzuguiri that sets up a tag to Kota Ibushi. Ibushi gets hit with a Togo spinebuster, though, and that gives us a tag to Takagi. Sanshiro hits a short-arm clothesline and a death valley driver for a nearfall, but Kota avoids a lariat and snaps off a German suplex for a two count of his own. In an innovative spot, Takagi uses a lariat to the leg to block one of Kota’s kicks and afterwards connects with a more conventional lariat and a powerbomb. Togo is up to the top rope to senton Ibushi, but HARASHIMA runs in to cut it off. Rather than get nailed by HARA, Togo just jumps off the top rope and over both of his opponents, though he is hit with a HARASHIMA superkick. HARASHIMA is laid out with Takagi’s stunner, and, once everybody has an opportunity to recover, we’ve got a four man brawl in the ring. Everybody spills out to the floor after a bit, where Ibushi hits Togo with a glorious moonsault off of the second rope before feeding him back into the ring. Once there, HARASHIMA and Ibushi hit dual kicks and then a springboard splash/legdrop combination. Togo kicks HARASHIMA to prevent any further double teaming, but he doesn’t prevent Ibushi from kicking him repeatedly in the head. It looks like the former Kaientai member is out cold, but Takagi saves on a pin attempt at two. Sanshiro is easily dispatched by HARASHIMA, leaving Ibushi an opening to land a big frog splash . . . but Togo is out of the lateral press at two. HARASHIMA continues to hold Takagi at bay while Ibushi looks for a suplex. However, before he can hit it, Togo reverses into a victory roll and gets the flash three count.

Match Thoughts: As noted above, I don’t think that the match was particularly important in terms of DDT’s current direction, but it was a very solid, competently worked little match between four guys who are highly talented and, at this point, are very comfortable working with one another. The segment in the middle of what was aired with everybody hitting their finishers on one another was pretty damn fun, as was Ibushi’s moonsault, but otherwise everything here was very good but didn’t do that much to stand out. It’s not bad if you’re watching it in between the other matches on this show, but it’s definitely not something that you should go out of your way to see if you don’t have interest in the other matches on this show.


Match Numero Cinco: GENTARO (c) vs. Danshoku Dino for the DDT Extreme Title

Dino’s low elevation Rock Bottom hits as we join the action, and he pulls his pants down to teabag GENTARO. The FMW alum avoids it, though, doing a shoulderblock into his opponnet’s rear end and then hitting an atomic drop. An ankle lock of sorts is applied by the champion, and he follows it up with a dropkick to the butt. Dino rolls to the outside to recover, and some fans actually delight in copping a feel of his backside. GENTARO may not delight in it, but he does whip Dino with his championship belt before hitting an Asai moonsault that looked like it did not end well for one of the young boys at ringside who got a bit too close to the action. GENTARO grabs the microphone from the referee and says “You are . . .” to which Dino replies “GAY!” to the delight of the fans. Danshoku climbs on to the apron and signals that he will try for an Asai moonsault, but GENTARO cuts him off with another belt shot to the ass, causing Dino to do a flip bump into the ring. Another atomic drop variant from GENTARO hits, but Dino still persists in saying that he is gay. Dino slowly gets to his feet, but, as he does so, GENTARO rams his index fingers into his opponent’s behind. Somehow this gets reversed, as the pressure from Dino clenching puts pressure on his opponent’s digits, making it into a submission hold. However, it’s not enough to get GENTRAO to give up. Dino kisses GENTARO several times, but, each time he comes up for air, the champion tells the referee that he’s straight. A testicular claw suplex by Dino connects, after which the challenger climbs up to the top rope. GENATRO shakes the strands, causing Dino to crotch himself to set up a big superplex from the champion. Dino is still gay, though. A superkick to the rump from GENTARO connects, to which Dino says “I . . . am . . . gayyyyy.” Multiple kicks to the behind lead into GENATRO’s attempt at locking in the sharpshooter, but Dino kicks him off and connects with a DDT. “Straight!” says GENATRO. Danshoku signals that things are over and begins his odd teabagging move once more. GENATRO fires back with his old fingers in the anus submission, though Dino refuses to say that he’s gay. Eventually the champion turns that unorthodox submission in to the good old sharpshooter, but Dino still won’t quit and makes the ropes. Seconds later, GENTARO misses a top rope elbow drop, giving Dino an opportunity to hit a Tomikaze and the Danshoku Driver prior to more teabagging. That is what gets GENTARO to finally state that he is gay, giving the victory in the match and the DDT Extreme Title to Danshoku Dino.

Match Thoughts: See, this is what I meant by adding some innovative comedy spots to wrestling matches in order to keep gimmicks fresh when they’ve been going on for an extended period of time. Dino’s been doing his schtick forever, but it’s never once felt tired because he’s always put a new twist on it. Here there were two of them. First of all, GENTARO is the first person who I’ve seen take Dino to task with his own style of offense, as everything that the FMW alumnus did was just as over the top and, um, gay as everything that Dino would be doing in one of his regular matches. The “GAY or STRAIGHT” submission stip worked out well too, as it seems at first blush like something that wouldn’t be particularly entertaining but turned out to be pretty damn funny just for the surreal visual of wrestlers making statements about their sexual orientation during the course of an otherwise heated professional wrestling match. I can only imagine what Dino will come up for his imminent battle with HG, and this was a good reminder of his creativity headed into that match.

Overall

By and large, this show doesn’t disappoint if you set your expectations appropriately. I knew that I wanted to see the three matches that I described in detail below, but I also came into it knowing that they would all probably be clipped down significantly as a result of the one hour block of TV time that DDT receives for Dramatica Fantastica. Though I think it would be great if I could somehow get my hands on unedited versions, chances are good that will never happen . . . plus the edited versions gave a very good impression of what occurred. Balloon/KUDO wasn’t an all-time classic match but was a great moment where you could legitimately feel great for Balloon’s accomplishments, Omega/YOSHIHIKO wasn’t the best match either wrestler has had in DDT but had enough entertaining athletic and comedic spots, and I actually quite liked what GENTARO and Dino were able to put together. If you’re a complete stranger to Japanese indy wrestling I would probably suggest starting with a major show over this episode of DDT’s TV series, and, if you’re a hardcore DDT viewer, chances are good you’ve already seen this. However, if you’re somewhere in between and only watch one or two episodes of Dramatica Fantastica every couple of months like I do, you should definitely make this one of the episodes that you catch.


Looking forward to the next instalment of Into the Indies? Keep an eye on 411’s Twitter accounts, and you just might see it pop up!

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See you all next week!

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Ryan Byers

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