Ryōgoku Peter Pan (2016)

Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2016
Promotional poster for the event, featuring various wrestlers
Tagline(s)	"The Hottest Summer In The World" (Japanese: 世界でいちばん熱い夏, Hepburn: Sekai de ichiban atsui natsu)
Information
Promotion	DDT Pro-Wrestling
Date	August 28, 2016
Attendance	5,394
Venue	Ryōgoku Kokugikan
City	Tokyo, Japan
Event chronology
Previous King of DDT
Next Who's Gonna Top? (2016)
Peter Pan chronology
Previous 2015
Next 2017

Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2016 was a professional wrestling event promoted by DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT). The event took place on August 28, 2016, in Tokyo at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan. The event was the eighth event under the Peter Pan name and the seventh promoted under the Ryōgoku Peter Pan name, which is DDT's biggest annual event and has been called "the largest wrestling show in the Japanese independent circuit".

The event was headlined by Konosuke Takeshita defending the KO-D Openweight Championship against the winner of the 2016 King of DDT Shuji Ishikawa. As part of a working relationship between DDT and All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW), Hikaru Sato defended the World Junior Heavyweight Championship against Soma Takao. The event aired live on Fighting TV Samurai as a pay-per-view (PPV).

The event also featured four other title matches with LiLiCo defending the DDT Extreme Division Championship against Danshoku Dino, in which if LiLiCo lost, she would never meet with Mizuki Watase in the future, Bad Comis (Ken Ohka and KAI) defending the KO-D Tag Team Championship against Smile Yankees (HARASHIMA and Yuko Miyamoto) and Chikara defending the King of Dark Championship in a six-man tag team match.

Production

Background

Since 2009, DDT began annually producing shows in the Ryōgoku Kokugikan held in the summer under the name Peter Pan, becoming DDT's premier annual event and the biggest event in the independent circuit of Japanese wrestling. Following the financial success of the first and following shows, DDT held a show at the Nippon Budokan, which also ended being a success with DDT selling out 10,124 tickets. Since 2013, the event returned to be held at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan in August. On August 19, 2016, DDT announced that 2016 Dramatic Sousenkyo votation would start at the event and would end on September 25, 2016. Terry Funk was originally scheduled to appear at the event but was forced to cancel due to an abdominal hernia.

Storylines

The Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2016 event featured twelve professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

The Ryōgoku Peter Pan was main evented by Konosuke Takeshita defending the KO-D Openweight Championship against the winner of the 2016 King of DDT Shuji Ishikawa. On May 29, 2016, on his 21st birthday, Takeshita defeated Daisuke Sasaki to win the KO-D Openweight Championship for the first time, becoming the youngest KO-D Openweight Champion in history. Meanwhile, on June 26, Ishikawa defeated Tetsuya Endo in the finals to win the 2016 King of DDT, earning his spot the main event for Peter Pan. Afterwards, Takeshita began defending the KO-D Openweight Championship against the holders of the Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere contract such Yuko Miyamoto on July 3. During the show, Ishikawa formed the DAMNATION stable with Daisuke Sasaki and Mad Paulie. On July 17, Takeshita successfully defended the KO-D Openweight Championship against his tag team partner Tetsuya Endo. After the match, Daisuke Sasaki made his way to the ring, carrying a DAMNATION T-shirt and offering Endo a spot in the group. At the same time, Takeshita offered a handshake as a sign of respect for his longtime friend. Endo pushed Takeshita away, taking the DAMNATION T-shirt instead, attacking Takeshita, joining DAMNATION. On August 8, Takeshima made his last successful title of the KO-D Openweight Championship before the event, defeating Toru Owashi, failing to cash in his Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere Contract. Afterwards, Ishikawa congratulated Takeshita for the victory and vowed revenge for his 4-minute loss to Takeshita on May 8.

On July 3, Dick Togo made his return from retirement teaming with Antonio Honda in a winning effort against Guanchulo and Yasu Urano. On July 17, Togo was confronted by his former disciple Daisuke Sasaki initially to hug him but ended up turning on him, to prove that he was better than him. On July 23, Sasaki attacked Team DNA (Kazusada Higuchi, Kouki Iwasaki, and Mizuki Watase) after their match, leading Togo to make the save. Sasaki's DAMNATION stablemate Tetsuya Endo attacked him from behind, but Togo managed to overpower both, leading him to challenge Endo and Sasaki to a match at Peter Pan. Afterwards, DDT General Manager Amon Tsurumi asked who was going to be Togo's partner, leading him to admit that he didn't have one. This led to Tsurumi deciding that he would team with Mike Bailey to face Endo and Sasaki at Peter Pan. On July 31, Togo faced Makoto Oishi in a losing effort, after Sasaki cost Togo the match. This led to Togo joining the NωA stable, as part of the stipulation of the match, that if he lost he would have to join the stable. Later that night, Togo returned the favor costing Sasaki and Endo's match against Keisuke Ishii and Kouki Iwasaki. Afterwards, Togo turned on NωA, leaving the stable. On August 13, Togo and Bailey made their first match together defeating Endo and his DAMNATION stablemate Mad Paulie, despite Sasaki interference.

On June 19, HARASHIMA and Yuko Miyamoto formed a team named "Smile Yankees". On July 3, Bad Comis (KAI and Ken Ohka) defeated DAMNATION (Daisuke Sasaki and Shuji Ishikawa) to win the KO-D Tag Team Championship. Afterwards, DDT General Manager Amon Tsurumi reminded them that they would defend their titles at Peter Pan. On July 17, it was announced that Bad Comis would defend the KO-D Tag Team Championship against Smile Yankees at the event.

On May 29, LiLiCo defeated Super Sasadango Machine to win the DDT Extreme Division Championship with the help of her boyfriend Mizuki Watase. Afterwards, LiLiCo began defending the title with the help of Watase, leading on July 3, LiLiCo making her first title defense against Makoto Oishi in a Stockholm Style Kiss Kiss Bang Bang Deathmatch. After the match, DDT General Manager Amon Tsurumi announced that her next opponent for the title would be Danshoku Dino. Dino came out and called LiLiCo's relationship with Watase a publicity stunt, leading him to ask a match in which the winner would win the DDT Extreme Division Championship and Mizuki Watase, with the loser being prohibited from meeting Watase in the future. Dino also allowed Watase to get involved in the match. On July 18, Dino asked Kazusada Higuchi to help him prepare for his match against LiLiCo, by putting on black eyeliner and black lipstick to look like LiLiCo.

On September 14, 2015, Kudo suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury while taking part in Pro Wrestling Noah's 2015 NTV G+ Cup Junior Heavyweight Tag League. On September 17, he announced that the injury required surgery, which would sideline him for about a year. After eleven months, DDT announced that Kudo would make his return at Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2016.

Event

The dark match was a King of Dark Championship six-man tag team match. Chikara was the reigning champion going into the match. Per its special rules, this title is awarded to the loser of the match. In the case of a tag match, whoever gets pinned by the champion becomes the new champion.

The next match was a Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling exhibition match featuring six TJPW wrestlers.

On the main card, the next match, dubbed "DNA Fights: Battle of Last Summer", was an exhibition match from DDT New Attitude (DNA), DDT's developmental brand.

At 2:23 pm, between the third and fourth matches, a yakitori pinned Toru Owashi to become the 1,163rd Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion.

Next was a Rumble rules match for the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship. Amongst the participants was Jun Kasai from the hardcore promotion Pro-Wrestling Freedoms. The champion yakitori entered first but was eaten by Cherry (the third entrant) who was then declared the 1,164th champion. Keisuke Ishii (the seventh entrant) forced Cherry to submit with a single leg crab to eliminate her from the match and become the 1,165th champion. A few minutes later, Yoshihiko (an inflatable love doll which was the last entrant) eliminated Ishii with a rear naked choke, forcing him to submit and becoming the 1,166th champion. Seconds later, Toru Owashi pinned Kazuki Hirata and Yoshihiko at the same time with La Magistral to win the match and become the 1,167th champion.

After the match, Joey Ryan pinned Owashi by surprise to become the 1,168th champion.

Next was a tag team match, dubbed "Yellow Dragon Comes Back!!" which saw the return of Kudo after being absent for almost a year due to an injury.

The next match, an eight-man tag team match, was dubbed "The NωA's Road To Participating In The 2016 DDT Festival" and featured Super Sasadango Machine acting as the NωA General Manager and giving a Powerpoint presentation entitled "Sasadango Teaches The Way To Survive In The Show Business Industry".

Next, Soma Takao challenged Hikaru Sato for the World Junior Heavyweight Championship, All Japan Pro Wrestling's top junior heavyweight championship.

Next, Danshoku Dino challenged LiLiCo for the DDT Extreme Division Championship in a "Watase Contra Watase" match where Mizuki Watase was free to intervene in the match and where the loser would be forbidden to meet with Watase ever again.

Then, at 4:56 pm, Joey Ryan lost the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship to a yakitori by choking on it when a referee counted this as a submission and declared the yakitori the 1,169th champion.

Next was a six-man tag team match that saw the participation of Nosawa, Shiro Koshinaka and The Great Kabuki.

Next was a tag team match that saw the participation of Dick Togo.

Next, HARASHIMA and Yuko Miyamoto challenged KAI from Wrestle-1 and Ken Ohka for the KO-D Tag Team Championship in a match sponsored by Uchicomi!.

In the main event, Shuji Ishikawa challenged Konosuke Takeshita for the KO-D Openweight Championship. Ishikawa won the bout and was granted a 2,000,000 yen prize by Good Com Asset, the sponsor of the match.

After the match, Ryota Yamasato ate the champion yakitori to become the 1,170th champion.

Results

#	Results	Stipulations	Times
1D	Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Hoshitango and Rekka defeated Chikara (c), Mitsuo Momota and Nobuhiro Shimatani	Six-man tag team match for the King of Dark Championship Had any opponent got pinned by Chikara, they would have become the new champion.	7:05
2P	Miyu Yamashita, Yuka Sakazaki and Akane Miura defeated Shoko Nakajima, Hyper Misao and Yuu	Six-woman tag team match	8:56
3	Kazusada Higuchi and Daiki Shimomura defeated Kouki Iwasaki and Mizuki Watase	Tag team match	6:56
4	Toru Owashi won by last eliminating Yoshihiko	Rumble rules match for the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship	17:32
5	Shuten-dōji (Kudo and Masahiro Takanashi) defeated Smile Squash (Akito and Yasu Urano)	Tag team match	10:51
6	Makoto Oishi, Shunma Katsumata and MAO and Super Sasadango Machine defeated Happy Motel (Antonio Honda and Trans-Am★Hiroshi), Ladybeard and Gorgeous Matsuno	Eight-man tag team match	13:09
7	Soma Takao defeated Hikaru Sato (c)	Singles match for the World Junior Heavyweight Championship	17:07
8	Danshoku Dino defeated LiLiCo (c)	Singles match for the DDT Extreme Division Championship with Mizuki Watase being able to freely intervene in the match Since LiLiCo lost, she would never meet with Mizuki Watase in the future.	10:07
9	Sanshiro Takagi, Shiro Koshinaka and Nosawa defeated The Great Kabuki, Yukio Sakaguchi and Kota Umeda	Six-man tag team match	11:23
10	DAMNATION (Daisuke Sasaki and Tetsuya Endo) defeated Dick Togo and Mike Bailey	Tag team match	21:53
11	Smile Yankees (HARASHIMA and Yuko Miyamoto) defeated Bad Comis (Ken Ohka and KAI) (c)	Tag team match for the KO-D Tag Team Championship	13:37
12	Shuji Ishikawa defeated Konosuke Takeshita (c)	Singles match for the KO-D Openweight Championship	20:05
(c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match – refers to the video of that match D – indicates the match was a dark match P – indicates the match took place on the pre-show

Rumble rules match

Order	Wrestler	Order eliminated	By	Time
01 1	Yakitori, Yakitori (c)	01 1	Cherry	4:03
02 2	Kazuki Hirata	12 12	Toru Owashi	17:32
03 3	Cherry	02 2	Keisuke Ishii	6:13
04 4	Joey Ryan	04 4	Mad Paulie	9:29
05 5	Guanchulo	08 8	Kazuki Hirata	16:27
06 6	Saiki, ReikaReika Saiki	03 3	Gota Ihashi	7:50
07 7	Ishii, KeisukeKeisuke Ishii	07 7	Yoshihiko	14:43
08 8	Saki Akai	09 9	Jun Kasai	16:29
09 9	Gota Ihashi	05 5	Mad Paulie	9:57
10 10	Mad Paulie, Mad Paulie	10 10	Kazuki Hirata	16:32
11 11	Owashi, ToruToru Owashi	14 —	—	Winner
12 12	KENSO, KENSO	06 6	Yoshihiko	14:06
13 13	Kasai, JunJun Kasai	11 11	Yoshihiko	17:10
14 14	Yoshihiko Yoshihiko	13 13	Toru Owashi	17:32