DDT Pro Wrestling’s Ultimate Tag League 2021 has come to a close, with Konosuke Takeshita and Shunma Katsumata of The37KAMINA walking away with the trophies.
The tournament, which ran from May 9th through to the 27th, featured five teams, including former tag team champions Eruption, as well as representatives from the DAMNATION (Daisuke Sasaki and Yuji Hino) and Junretsu (Jun Akiyama and Makoto Oishi) stables.
Tag team specialist Chris Brookes’ pairing with DDT funnyman Antonio Honda rounded out the field of five.
Typically, the five teams compete in a single block, with the team who score the most points declared the winners.
However, due to a tie, the two highest-scoring teams of The37KAMINA and DAMNATION squared off in a tie-breaker finale.
Takeshita, having taken himself on excursion to AEW earlier in the year in a bid to recapture his form of old, scored the decisive pinfall over Sasaki following the duo’s MADMAX combination finisher.
Takeshita:
"Any double-team move where Shunma comes raining down with an X-Factor shall be called the MADMAX"#ddtpropic.twitter.com/yXlVCowLwG— DDT/TJPW English Update (D/TEU) (@ddtpro_eng) May 27, 2021
Following the win, Shunma, who had scored a remarkable upset victory over current KO-D Openweight Champion Akiyama earlier in the tournament, issued a challenge to current KO-D Tag Team Champions HARASHIMA and Yuji Okabayashi, collectively known as Smile Pissari.
The final standings for the tournament are as follows:
1. Konosuke Takeshita & Shunma Katsumata (5)
-. Daisuke Sasaki & Yuji Hino (5)
3. Jun Akiyama & Makoto Oishi (4)
-. Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Sakaguchi (4)
5. Chris Brookes & Antonio Honda (2)
With thanks to DDT/TJPW English Update (D/TEU) for translations and Dramatic DDT for the points totals.