Ryōgoku Peter Pan (2013)

Promotional poster for the event, featuring various wrestlers

### Tagline(s)

"Pro-Wrestling Orientation And Measures" (Japanese: プロレスの傾向と対策〜, Hepburn: *Keikō to taisaku*)

## Information

### City

Tokyo, Japan

**Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2013** was a professional wrestling event promoted by DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT). The event took place on August 18, 2013, in Tokyo at the Ryōgoku Kokugikan. The event was the fifth event under the Peter Pan name and the fourth 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 Shigehiro Irie defending the KO-D Openweight Championship against the winner of the 2013 King of DDT HARASHIMA. Another high-profile match scheduled for the show featured Kota Ibushi facing NJPW's Kazuchika Okada as part of a working relationship between DDT and NJPW. The event aired live on Fighting TV Samurai as a pay-per-view (PPV).

The event also featured three other title matches with Hikaru Sato and Yukio Sakaguchi defending the KO-D Tag Team Championship against Yankii Nicho Kenju (Isami Kodaka and Yuko Miyamoto), Danshoku Dino, Makoto Oishi, and Kensuke Sasaki defending the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship against Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi and Akebono, who won a Falls Count Anywhere six-man tag team match early on the show to earn the title match and Kōmyō defending the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship in a Rumble rules 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 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.

On August 18, 2012, DDT's President Sanshiro Takagi announced that the promotion would return to held two shows in the *Ryōgoku Kokugikan*, with an event before 2013 Peter Pan, returning to its original name before the 2012 event.

### Storylines

The Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2013 event featured ten 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 Shigehiro Irie making his ninth title defense of the KO-D Openweight Championship against the winner of the 2013 King of DDT HARASHIMA. On March 20, 2013, Irie defeated Kenny Omega to win the KO-D Openweight Championship. Afterwards, Irie began defending the title against various holders of the Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere contract such as Makoto Oishi, Keisuke Ishii, and Daisuke Sasaki, setting the record for the most successful title defenses, with seven title defenses, breaking Kudo and Sanshiro Takagi's record of five title defenses. Meanwhile, on July 7, HARASHIMA defeated Kenny Omega to win the 2013 King of DDT and earn a shot at Shigehiro Irie's KO-D Openweight Championship. On July 26, Irie defeated Big Japan Pro Wrestling's Yuji Okabayashi to make his eight successful title defense, setting up the double main event for the Peter Pan. Leading to the event, Irie had never defeated HARASHIMA in a singles match, in their three previous matches, with this match marking the fourth match that Irie and HARASHIMA faced each other.

Also on July 7, as part of a working relationship between DDT and NJPW, it was announced that IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada would face Kota Ibushi at the event, with the match being part of the show's double main event. The match was speculated to be a potential title match but instead, it was announced that the match would be a non-title "special singles match". Leading to the match, Ibushi announced that he was moving to the heavyweight division, taking part in the 2013 G1 Climax. On July 14, Ibushi taunted Okada, by winning a three-way match between DJ Nira and Michael Nakazawa, after using Okada's finishing move the *Rainmaker*. Afterwards, Ibushi performed the *Rainmaker* on DJ Nira and referee Daisuke Kiso for practice for their match at Peter Pan.

On June 23, DJ Nira won an eight-man battle royal to win the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship. Afterwards, Nira was presented with "Kōmyō", a portrait painted by Akihiro Miwa as a bonus prize for winning the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship. However, the painting was too large and heavy for Nira to carry, falling on top of him, leading Kōmyō to become the new champion. Afterwards, Nira tried to retrieve the painting, but Kōmyō was kept on the Research Institute Group, leading them to hire Shuji Ishikawa andSeiya Morohashi as bodyguards, to prevent Nira from stealing it, and to make an appearance at Peter Pan.

The event also featured a title defense for the KO-D Tag Team Championship after Yankii Nicho Kenju (Isami Kodaka and Yuko Miyamoto) challenged Hikaru Sato and Yukio Sakaguchi to a match for the KO-D Tag Team Championship at Peter Pan. The KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship was also defended at the show, with Danshoku Dino, Makoto Oishi, and Kensuke Sasaki defending the titles against the winners of a Falls Count Anywhere six-man tag team match earlier on the show.

## Event

The second dark match saw the team of Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi and Akebono take on the team of Jun Kasai from Pro-Wrestling Freedoms, Antonio Honda and Hoshitango for a spot in the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship match taking place later on the main card.

Similarly, the first match of the main card was a four-way tag team match to determine the next challengers to the KO-D Tag Team title who would go on to face the champions at the Who's Gonna Top? 2013 event on September 29. This match saw the participation of Yuji Hino from Kaientai Dojo who teamed up with Daisuke Sasaki.

The next match was the "Souken Group Presents Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship Battle Royale", a Rumble rules match for the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship. Kōmyō, a painting by Akihiro Miwa, was the 972nd champion heading into the match. It was accompanied by Shuji Ishikawa and Seiya Morohashi who served as its bodyguards. During the match, DJ Nira pinned Kōmyō to eliminate it from the match and become the 973rd champion. Last entrant Akihiro, an inflatable love doll, then eliminated DJ Nira thus winning the match and becoming the 974th champion.

The next match saw the debut of Saki Akai teaming with Masa Takanashi and Cherry against the team of Yoshiko from World Wonder Ring Stardom, Hikaru Shida from Ice Ribbon and Hiroshi Fukuda.

The next match was a special singles match between Katsuhiko Nakajima from Diamond Ring and Konosuke Takeshita.

In the next match, Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi and Akebono, having won first contendership earlier, challenged the team of Kensuke Sasaki, the founder and owner of Diamond Ring, Danshoku Dino and Makoto Oishi for their KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship title.

The next match was a KO-D Tag Team Championship match between challengers Yuko Miyamoto and Isami Kodaka together known as *Yankii Nichokenju* (ヤンキー二丁拳銃, "Yankee Pistols Akimbo"), and champions Hikaru Sato and Yukio Sakaguchi.

The first match of the double main event saw the then IWGP Heavyweight Champion Kazuchika Okada from New Japan Pro-Wrestling take on Kota Ibushi in a singles match.

## Footnotes

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Kōmyō entered accompanied by its bodyguards Ishikawa and Morohashi.
2. ↑ DJ Nira becomes the 973rd Ironman Heavymetalweight Champion.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `PeterPan2013CM`
2. ↑ Grabianowski, Ed. How Pro Wrestling Works . *HowStuffWorks, Inc.*. Discovery Communications. Retrieved on 2014-09-13.
3. ↑ Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `DDT2013PL`
4. ↑ *ja:DDT “両国ピーターパン2013～プロレスの傾向と対策～” 8/18 両国国技館大会その５* (in Japanese). *Extreme Party*. Retrieved on 2020-01-27.