[2017-03-20-DDT-Judgement 2017] Dick Togo & Yoshihiro Takayama vs KUDO & Shungo Oyama

[Maciej]

First time posting here so why not about a match with all-time fav Dick Togo.

 

I finally signed up for DDT and am running through some fun-looking stuff for this year, and I hadn't heard all that much about this match, which was handily my second favorite on the card. Oyama is an MMA guy in his first, as far as I can tell, wrestling match, and he's the story here. I thought he was quite impressive, more so even in his head/neck selling than his grappling. Togo is his usual masterful self and KUDO is a fine change of pace for Oyama. There's a Takayama/Oyama rapid punch exchange at the end because of course there is, and maybe Oyama's worked punches aren't great at this point, but this is still overall a terrifically fun match. ****

[soup23]

This was a fun match mainly built around Oyama and Takayama and their exchanges. I have no idea whether we will see more in the future given Taka's injuries and Oyama kind of going away but for a standalone it was fun. Togo and KUDO also played their complimentary role well. Togo returning in 2016 provided for some fun stuff but between this match and stuff like the Miyamoto and Daisuke Sasaki matches, he seems to have returned to his excellent form in 2017. Overall this was a strong undercard match that helps fill out a card for a big show like Judgement. ***

[aaeo_]

Wonderful match. Oyama is a former PRIDE jobber crossing over to wrestling. He goes insanely hard on this, he bumps for everything, sells really well, and he takes a missile dropkick from Togo breaking up a pin which was a bit excessive on top of the rest of it, but it's not unappreciated. The match is very one-sided. Oyama and KUDO are both underdogs, they get brief comebacks but eventually they both either get overpowered or outnumbered. However, Oyama briefly doing judo things to Takayama was really great.