Dramatic Dream Team is known more commonly as DDT Pro Wrestling has its annual Anniversary big show Judgement coming up in one week’s time, on the 21st of March, to celebrate the 26th Anniversary of the company. I thought I would write a small preview of each match on this stacked card and give some insight into the history and buildups for this big show that DDT has promised will be the “LONGEST 5-HOUR SPECIAL IN KORAKUEN HISTORY~”.
Venue and History
First, as the tagline of the show already has told you, DDT, in a choice that might have shocked some fans, are having the show many consider their second biggest show of the year in Korakuen Hall, instead of a bigger venue like the Ryōgoku Kokugikan Sumo Hall like last year and most years between 2015 and the pandemic.
Before 2016, Korakuen Hall was the home for DDT’s Anniversary Show from the 10th Anniversary show in 2008 until 2015, and it’s the venue they used for two “Judgement” shows during the pandemic, but this time they will be able to go back to a no restriction, cheering allowed Korakuen Hall and I for one can’t wait and hope for Korakuen to be as loud as possible.
Thankfully, DDT has announced ahead of the show that this show will go 5 hours and maybe even longer, as well as openly admitting that they are trying to have one of the biggest Korakuen Hall shows of all time in terms of card size. 16 matches have been announced so far and I will now try my best to preview each one.
All 3 of the Dramatic Dream Dragons will also give their predicted winners after each preview.
Keep in mind some matches might get demoted to dark matches, that matches can get changed before next week and that some of the match order may be switched up, but this is the card as it stands at the time of writing.
Before I get on with the card breakdown, thank you to @DramaticDDT (dramaticddt.wordpress.com) for the full card and translation work.
DDT Judgement 2023 Card Breakdown
Ilusion & Munetatsu Nakamura vs. El Unicorn & Raimu Imai
This will be Ilusion & El Unicorn’s graduation match from the DDTeeeen!! project. After this match, they will become full-time members of the DDT roster and thus will appear more on shows. They have both gotten rookies from other companies to join them in this graduation match, Ilusion teaming with GanbarePro’s Munetatsu Nakamura and El Unicorn teaming with Pro Wrestling HEAT UP’s Raimu Imai. Expect this to be a fun rookie opener.
Dramatic Dream Dragons’ Predicted winner of this match:
Yannik: Ilusion & Munetatsu Nakamura
Dylan Fox: El Unicorn & Raimu Imai
Sondre Bjørn: Ilusion & Munetatsu Nakamura
Yuya Koroku & Yuki Ishida vs. Toi Kojima & Kazuma Sumi
Dramatic Dream Future on full display. These four are all great rookies and coming off good showings in the D Generations Cup. Yuya Koroku especially was a finalist in the tournament. This match should continue the good vibes from the first match.
Dramatic Dream Dragons’ Predicted winner of this match:
Yannik: Yuya Koroku & Yuki Ishida
Dylan Fox: Yuya Koroku & Yuki Ishida
Sondre Bjørn: Yuya Koroku & Yuki Ishida
HARASHIMA & Keigo Nakamura vs. Eruption (Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani)
HARASHIMA teaming with Keigo is very interesting and might be a sign of Keigo Nakamura joining Disaster BOX, something I and some others have been wanting since he came back in January. HARASHIMA could very well take Keigo under his wing as he did with Naomi Yoshimura and like Yukio Sakaguchi has been doing with Hideki Okatani since last year. I can see this being a good match that could lead to some changes for Keigo and I hope I’m right. Do I wish HARASHIMA was in the main event instead of this match, however? Yes. Yes, I do.
Dramatic Dream Dragons’ Predicted winner of this match:
Yannik: Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani
Dylan Fox: Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani
Sondre Bjørn: HARASHIMA & Keigo Nakamura
Pheromones vs. Anti-Pheromones Subjugation Army All-Out Battle Eight-Man Tag Team Match
Yuki “Sexy” Iino, Danshoku “Dandy” Dieno, Yumehito “Fantastic” Imanari & Koju “Shining Ball” Takeda vs. Akito, Toru Owashi, Hiroshi Yamato & Yusuke Okada
Sigh… Why is Yusuke Okada in this? I think the rule of this match is that if the Pheromones lose they have to disband, so naturally Pheromones will win since they are so over with the DDT native fanbase. Not so much for me and most of the rest of the international fanbase. But hey, at least Hiroshi Yamato is back in DDT!
Dramatic Dream Dragons’ Predicted winner of this match:
Yannik: Pheromones
Dylan Fox: Pheromones
Sondre Bjørn: Pheromones
Kazuki Hirata 13th Anniversary Tag Team Match
Kazuki Hirata & Yoshihiko vs. Keisuke Ishii & Soma Takao
The 13th year Anniversary of DDT’s resident Magnum TOKYO impersonator Kazuki Hirata. He is actually facing the wrestler who beat him in his debut match in Keisuke Ishii and who else to team with but DDT’s most recognizable wrestler Yoshihiko? This should be a great way to celebrate Hirata’s anniversary, which I personally think will be one of the most Dramatic Dream Team matches on this whole card.
Dramatic Dream Dragons’ Predicted winner of this match:
Yannik: Kazuki Hirata & Yoshihiko
Dylan Fox: Kazuki Hirata & Yoshihiko
Sondre Bjørn: Keisuke Ishii & Soma Takao
Saki Akai Debut 10th Anniversary Match Vol 1.
Masahiro Takanashi vs. Saki Akai
Kazuki Hirata is not the only one having an anniversary special match on this show! Saki Akai will start her anniversary series with a match against the DDT veteran Masahiro Takanashi. The result of this match should be telling about how her anniversary series will go.
Dramatic Dream Dragons’ Predicted winner of this match:
Yannik: Masahiro Takanashi
Dylan Fox: Masahiro Takanashi
Sondre Bjørn: Saki Akai
O-40 Championship: Makoto Oishi vs. Gorgeous Matsuno vs. Shinichiro Kawamatsu
The vacant “Over 40 title” is making a comeback! The rules of the title are as always you have to be over 40 years old to compete for it. The real question of this match is if the new champion will defend more than one time because the last champion Toru Owashi held it for 600+ days without ever defending it.
Dramatic Dream Dragons’ Predicted winner of this match:
Yannik: Shinichiro Kawamatsu
Dylan Fox: Makoto Oishi
Sondre Bjørn: Makoto Oishi
Hikaru Machida vs. Takeshi Masada
D Generations Cup winner and super rookie Takeshi Masada faces the kickboxer that has become a part-time roster member, Hikaru Machida! This should be a great way to see how Masada matches up with the kickboxing shoot style of Machida.
Dramatic Dream Dragons’ Predicted winner of this match:
Yannik: Hikaru Machida
Dylan Fox: Hikaru Machida
Sondre Bjørn: Hikaru Machida
Special Six-Man Tag Match ~ CHARISMA RETURNS!
Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON vs. Chris Brookes, Drew Parker & Hagane Shinno
Daisuke Sasaki is back! He has been taking a break since he lost in the DDT Universal Title three-way in January. He also has said that this might be one of his last matches in DDT before he moves on to go to the U.S. or Mexico. This might just be talk but who knows? This is Drew Parker’s return match to DDT also! Drew Parker is retiring from deathmatches soon and with that, I would very much like for DDT to be his home in Japan going forward, he would be a very fun addition to the roster.
Dramatic Dream Dragons’ Predicted winner of this match:
Yannik: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON
Dylan Fox: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON
Sondre Bjørn: Chris Brookes, Drew Parker & Hagane Shinno
Super Sasadango Machine & Antonio Honda vs. Super Powerhouse Tag Team
Who is the Super Powerhouse Tag Team?! We won’t find out until this match starts. But somehow Honda and Super Sasadango Machine have incurred the wrath of a Super Powerhouse Tag Team. Now we just have to wait to see who they are.
Dramatic Dream Dragons’ Predicted winner of this match:
Yannik: Super Powerhouse Tag Team
Dylan Fox: Super Powerhouse Tag Team
Sondre Bjørn: Super Powerhouse Tag Team
Samuray Del Sol vs. Yuki Ueno
Samuray Del Sol, FKA Kalisto in WWE, makes his DDT and Japan debut! A special singles match with Yuki Ueno is exactly what will sell the DDT fanbase on Samuray Del Sol. I expect them to have Korakuen Hall in awe with their spots and heart-filled action, and it will serve as a great debut match for Samuray Del Sol.
Dramatic Dream Dragons’ Predicted winner of this match:
Yannik: Yuki Ueno
Dylan Fox: Samuray Del Sol
Sondre Bjørn: Samuray Del Sol
DDT 26th Anniversary Special Singles Match
Sanshiro Takagi vs. Konosuke Takeshita
Konosuke Takeshita is back home in DDT and facing the owner of the company no less! This is a very fitting anniversary singles match because this match will encapsulate all that DDT stands for. And this is shockingly the first time Takeshita has faced Sanshiro Takagi in a singles match environment.
Dramatic Dream Dragons’ Predicted winner of this match:
Yannik: Konosuke Takeshita
Dylan Fox: Konosuke Takeshita
Sondre Bjørn: Konosuke Takeshita
KO-D Tag Team Championship: ShunMAO (MAO & Shunma Katsumata) (c) vs. Harimao (Kazusada Higuchi & Ryota Nakatsu)
Higuchi is coming for the tag titles he never lost! Late last year, Harimao’s original duo of Kazusada Higuchi & Naomi Yoshimura had to relinquish the Tag Titles because of Naomi Yoshimura’s injury, which led to the titles being won by ShunMAO at the first show of 2023 in the vacant title match of ShunMAO vs CDK. Now ShunMAO have been champions for three months, made 3 successful defenses, and become an early contender for the tag team of the year in doing so. However, Higuchi aligns with the new member of Harimao, Ryota Nakatsu of Pro Wrestling Basara, to get back the titles he never lost with Yoshimura. This match has show-stealer written all over it, and I personally am looking the most forward to this match on the whole card.
Dramatic Dream Dragons’ Predicted winner of this match:
Yannik: ShunMAO
Dylan Fox: Harimao
Sondre Bjørn: ShunMAO
DDT Extreme Championship: Jun Akiyama (c) vs. Kotaro Suzuki in a Regular Pro Wrestling Rules Match
Jun Akiyama having already mastered match rules like TLC, Toys, Monoboke Death, and the Master Of Environment, he now prepares to master a ruleset he might not be as familiar with: “regular pro wrestling rules”. Akiyama prepares to make his 4th defense of the Extreme Title against someone he has a lot of history with, Kotaro Suzuki! When the fellow Burning faction member challenged Jun Akiyama, he specifically stated that he did not want to do any gimmick matches, as would be customary for the Extreme Title, but instead a regular match. Should be interesting to see if Kotaro and Jun stick to that ruleset.
Dramatic Dream Dragons’ Predicted winner of this match:
Yannik: Jun Akiyama
Dylan Fox: Jun Akiyama
Sondre Bjørn: Jun Akiyama
DDT Universal Championship: Naruki Doi (c) vs. Tetsuya Endo
Tetsuya Endo makes his first attempt to win the Universal Title against the freelancing DRAGONGATE veteran Naruki Doi. Having already won the AJPW Junior Heavyweight Title along with the Universal Title this year, Doi is on quite a great freelancing run and will try to make it continue with his 2nd defense of the Universal Title. Endo has never won or challenged for the Universal Championship. It’s a title that would make him a grand slam DDT champion. Doi has even gone as far as to say that he wants to defend the title in the US, on the DDT goes Hollywood show, and has completely overlooked the chances that Endo can beat him. However, the DDT Universal title has never been successfully defended on Judgement, so a title change could very well happen.
Dramatic Dream Dragons’ Predicted winner of this match:
Yannik: Tetsuya Endo
Dylan Fox: Tetsuya Endo
Sondre Bjørn: Tetsuya Endo
KO-D Openweight Championship: Yuji Hino (c) vs. Yukio Naya
Last year, Yukio Naya was taken under the wing and partnered with the veteran hoss of DDT, Yuji Hino, to help improve and gain some direction. This partnership would end up helping Yukio Naya a lot because he became more comfortable as a wrestler and gained much more upward momentum that would lead him to win the B Block and get into the final of the D-Oh Grand Prix vs Yuki Ueno. Of course, he would lose to Yuki, but the great performance he had in defeat would make some of the DDT fanbase start seeing him more as a wrestler that could win the KO-D Openweight title in the future. I doubt people would feel that way and that Yukio would have had that performance, if not for the Yuji Hino partnership.
That leads us to this year and Yuji Hino’s shocking defeat of Kazusada Higuchi in January for the KO-D Openweight title, where Hino systematically proved that he is the one guy Higuchi can not defeat, and destroyed him after a chop war that would leave Korakuen in shock. Yuji Hino had long been someone that deserved another title reign, after his last one in 2012 only being one defense and going pretty short overall.
After Hino won the title, two wrestlers both came out to challenge him for Judgement. The former Ace HARASHIMA and the young upstart Yukio Naya. This led to a lot of discussion about who should main event the Anniversary show vs Hino. HARASHIMA, the wrestler that led DDT and stayed loyal to DDT through the 2010s, or Yukio Naya a young wrestler that has been on the DDT roster for a few years and most don’t see as quite ready for that big of a spot. Naya, however, would beat HARASHIMA in the #1 contendership match on Into The Fight 2023 in February, and thus, our Judgement Main Event was set.
The big question of this Main Event will be “will DDT bet on the yet unproven but promising prospect of Yukio Naya or will they choose Yuji Hino, a wrestler that has been on their roster for a long time and deserves a much more special reign than his first in 2012?”
Dramatic Dream Dragons’ Predicted winner of this match:
Yannik: Yuji Hino
Dylan Fox: Yuji Hino
Sondre Bjørn: Yuji Hino
Final Thoughts Ahead of DDT Judgement 2023
I personally think this is one of the most honest DDT cards on paper. Every match on this card has the “Dramatic Dream Team” charm. It’s a long card, yes, but they are honest about that going into it. They are preparing you for it in advance by saying it will be the “Longest 5-hour Special in Korakuen History”.
If you are curious to hear more about my thoughts and me and my co-host’s reasonings about our predictions, be sure to listen to the Dramatic Dream Dragon podcast Judgement preview and the review some days after the show!
WHERE TO WATCH DDT Judgement 2023 on March 21: https://www.wrestle-universe.com/
Check out the latest episode of Dramatic Dream Dragons NOW: Episode 10
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