DDT Saitama Super DDT 2015

Dramatic Dream Team
Saitama Super DDT 2015
15th February 2015
Super Arena Community Hub, Saitama

Dramatic Dream Team, to many the fools-at-errand of contemporary professional wrestling, are daring to dream big once again. Their successful show in August 2014 drew a sold-out house to Tokyo's Sumo Hall for what many take to be their annual excursion beyond the confines of the Korakuen and several countryside campsites. It's tempting to be patronising toward the largely independent company trying to present in-jokes and dick jokes and sex jokes on a grander scale but here they are with another show of allegedly 6500 butts on 6500 seats (caveat: the venue is scalable). Can many companies say that over the last 5 years?

DDT God Bless DDT

Dramatic Dream Team (DDT)
God Bless DDT
30th November 2014
Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

As we slope toward the end of 2014 we can begin to reflect on the kind of year that individual promotions have had in terms of business, art, the flow of talent, the health of talent and prospect for the future (amongst other criteria, I suppose). DDT, who often resist comparison to traditional promotions in a lot of respects, can't escape this particular microscope.

Business seems pretty healthy in DDT. Their Sumo Hall show did well and they're having a gallant crack at selling the Saitama Super Arena out in February when New Japan are out of town with a headline match of Kota Ibushi vs. whoever the KO-D Champion is, presumably HARASHIMA. They're not catching NJPW any time soon and their junior guys are still working in restaurants to pay the bills, but morale appears to be pretty much up.

DDT Special 2014

Dramatic Dream Team (DDT)
DDT Special 2014
26th October 2014, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

Today DDT says goodbye to Kenny Omega.

Let's jump straight in.

DDT Dramatic General Election 2014

Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) 
Dramatic General Election 2014: Final Voting Day Last Hope Special
28th September 2014, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

A lot has happened in DDT since I last took a look into them and the lack of reporting on this blog at least is possibly my fault. You see, I had every intention of reviewing the big Sumo Hall show (Ryōgoku Peter Pan ~ Maybe Summer Will Change My Life), not least because it featured a couple of New Japan regulars. I'd prepared (stolen) some images and done some research on characters and factions. For example:

credit: Dramatic DDT

fujiwara armbar investigates: Dramatic Dream Team (DDT)

An occasional series in which, in a bid to further my spotty knowledge of Japanese wrestling promotions, I watch a recent event and assess whether or not I'd watch regularly given the time, money and ability to access.

Promotion: DRAMATIC DREAM TEAM (DDT)

Event watched: DDT Max Bump 2014, 29th April 2014, Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

What did I know about the promotion going in?: I knew a little bit. I knew that Kota Ibushi was one of the main players alongside his tag-team partner Kenny Omega. I knew that it was considered a 'comedy' promotion, or at least one with a stronger element of comedy as part of its regular presentation. I was passingly familiar with YOSHIHIKO, a puppet/sex doll treated with absolute reverence that wrestles in multi-person tag team matches.

I also knew a little about the DDT Ironman Heavy Metal Title, defended 24/7, similar enough to the WWE Hardcore Championship, but has been won by inanimate objects such as rice (which was 'pinned' by the roux ladled over it), ladders and posters, as well as by a trio of elementary school girls. Read this. Even if you never bother with the promotion, this is funny.