DDT Goes Philadelphia (4.4.24) review 

 

April 4, 2024 

 

WRESTLEMANIA WEEK REVIEW #12  

 

Source: Triller TV+ (£7.99 per month) 

 

We’re in Philly at Penns Landing Caterers, the Collective venue. It’s a good-sized building and has had good crowds so far. Personally, I like the scum tier H20 building better but that’s because I’m a complete degenerate. Give me that or the tent at the brewery.  

 

Bryan Keith & Shota vs. CCK (Chris Brookes & Kid Lykos) 

Brookes has held a bunch of tag belts with different people, like a modern day Arn Anderson. CCK are very capable of ‘playing the hits’ but because they’ve not teamed in ages, it feels more like nostalgia.  

Bryan Keith has improved since last year, although he needs to hide those thigh slaps a little better. Yes, I am obsessed with thigh slaps, sorry. Brookes’ immaculate planning makes Keith & Shota look like a top team. Brainbuster puts Shota away after the Praying Mantis Bomb. This was decent.  

 

Tetsuya Endo vs. Andrew Everett 

Endo is one of DDT’s smoothest wrestlers. Everett, despite his ability, is more gimmick in DDT. He does a ‘giant’ gimmick. Endo does him a favour by spiking his bump on the chokeslam. He made it look like a full-on sick spot. Endo is the kind of guy who would rather cripple himself than take a mediocre bump. Everett misses a middle rope, NOT SPRINGBOARD HE JUST WALKED THERE, 630 Splash. Endo shows him how’s done with a ridiculous gambolling moonsault to the floor over the ropes. Some people are just effortlessly good at pro wrestling.  

 

Sure, this match is just a bunch of high spots but it’s a singles match. I’ve seen so many ‘bunch of spots’ scrambles that it’s almost refreshing to get a singles version. That is until they hit both a poison rana and the Canadian Destroyer inside the same minute. Let’s leave some movez for someone else, lads. Endo eventually wins with the SSP, by which point I’ve stopped caring. Hella spotty but fun. *** 

 

Dan The Dad vs. ? 

Dan is here to challenge the “biggest star in all of Japan” to a match.  

Of course!  

 

Dan the Dad vs. Chiitan 

If you’re unfamiliar with Chiitan, let me quote Wikipedia. Chiitan is “a 0-year-old fairy baby otter with no gender that wears a turtle for a hat”. Just so we have that cleared up. Chiitan swatting Dan the Dad’s coffee mug out of the ring is definitely a WRESTLING~!!! Moment. Chiitan is one hell of a worker.  

Chiitan’s fighting spirit is the greatest. Chiitan finishes with a superplex through a board set up on two chairs, because of course that happened. My urge to rate this 5 stars is high.  

 

Post Match: Chris Brookes comes out and attacks Chiitan but YOSHIHIKO makes the save.  

 

YOSHIHIKO vs. Kazuki Hirata 

Kazuki Hirata is dancing proof that dancing gimmicks always work in pro-wrestling but the more you invest into it, the better it gets. YOSHIHIKO matches are about how creative one guy can get against himself. It’s an ideal situation though, because you don’t have to rely on someone else with your safety. It’s all on you. Hirata tells a clever story where YOSHIHIKO keeps catching him in armbars. Plus, he gets all his shit in, both huge high spots and big bumps. Hirata takes the L and gets a standing ovation for his efforts.  

 

DDT Universal Championship 

MAO (c) vs. Billie Starkz  

Billie is still a teenager and has 450 matches in her catalogue. MAO, taking the piss, does the Japanese Orange Cassidy gimmick. MAO’s way too wholesome to do the whole “fuck you” gimmick, which he’s persisting with. He has that sense of childlike glee that endeared Kota Ibushi to the entire world. They bring chairs into play and the match goes absolutely into the toilet. It’s just a string of awkward spots involving broken pieces of furniture. Eventually, MAO just says “screw it” and launches Billie head first into a broken board. Billie kicks out at one, because 2024. After all the bullshit, they do a double pin, IYH Beware of Dog style.  

 

Billie was on top, so she should have won the belt here. The ref calls for rock, papers, scissors to determine the champion. Imagine if you fucked that up and accidentally lost the belt?  

Anyway, MAO wins with scissors, as Billie fails to land the most aggressive gambit in rock, paper, scissors; the avalanche. ROCK, ROCK, ROCK as an opening gambit. Would have won the belt, mate.  

 

Nick Wayne & Takeshi Masada vs. Daisuke Sasaki & KANON 

Apologies for the lack of commentary on this one but I am rapidly approaching BURNOUT and I needed to stretch and do some yoga. From the cobra position, halfway across the room, Nick Wayne looks a lot like Will Ospreay. The match breaks down and I struggle with a lot of modern tag teaming. At least Sasaki is out here doing ball shots to mix it up a bit. Damnnation take it via double teaming etc.  

 

Shunma Katsumata vs. Konosuke Takeshita 

Takeshita was always a great constant of excellence in DDT and I’m happy he’s been ‘discovered’ by the world since joining AEW. Not sure Shunma, a plucky underdog guy, is the ideal opponent but DDT book lots of weird shit. The idea is that Shunma catches Takeshita by surprise by attacking aggressively right from the bell. Takeshita does a grand job of completely ignoring him after absorbing some early abuse. Takeshita’s switch of gears, from being somewhat irked to totally pissed off and refusing to take anything anymore, is marvellous. Good man.  

 

My main problem with the match is that instead of Takeshita just switching gears and killing Shunma, they go to some holds for some reason? Shunma gets all his underdog fire going and Takeshita just crumples him with one forearm. The rolling version of it is perfect. I know I hate thigh slaps, but Takeshita is so much better at hiding his. If you can hide it, go for it. Liontamer finishes. This could have been great, with the contrasts and everything but it was inconsisent. I’ll go ***¼ though. I enjoyed more than anything else on the show. Bar Chiitan obviously. Chiitan defies the snowflake scale. 

 

Mike Bailey vs. Yuki Ueno 

Can someone just sign Mike Bailey, so he doesn’t have to work 12 matches every Mania weekend? This is, not joking, #7 that I’ve personally seen this weekend. He’ll be up to #9 by the end of the day. Bailey, with his work schedule, could do with a story in the match to stop him just hitting a bunch of high spots. It’s there too. He kicks the ring post, bare foot, and that is a potential storyline right there.  

 

Of course, he doesn’t sell it at all. Why would he? Instead, he goes after Ueno and takes his legs and back. He doesn’t sell either. I don’t know why they bother paying lip service to limb work. Anyway, Ueno is much better when he’s just hitting shit. Same with Bailey. Let’s just go nuts.  

 

Bailey starts to win me over by stiffing the kicks and and Ueno pops me by refusing to sell for anything. The match is a bit silly, for my tastes, but they do start to fatigue sell and make the big kick outs feel important.  

Bailey also does a good job here of using the rope instead of kicking out. I see a lot of vanity kick outs when the rope save makes more sense. So, he gets points for that. Bailey fires up but gets dropkicked IN THE FACE and Ueno hits his finish, the “WR”, to win. This was good. Crowd appreciated it. ***¾  

 

The 411: 

A solid show from DDT. A few good comedy matches along with a few overblown spot-heavy singles matches. You know what you’re getting with DDT and while this wasn’t them at their best, almost all the show landed, and they sent fans home happy. Or to another show, who knows? This is probably my second favourite show of the weekend (behind DEAN~!!!) but also, I was struggling mentally during this, so it might have been even better or I’m just way off. Who knows? Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. I’ll be back tomorrow.