10 Ways DDT Did WWE Better Than WWE At WrestleMania 35 Weekend
DDT Is Coming To America was a Sports Entertainment masterclass.
Tired, hungry, and bleary-eyed, your writer walked into Queens, New York's La Boom nightclub (accompanied by WhatCulture's Adam Nicholas and Ben-Roy Turner) for cult Japanese promotion DDT's first ever United States show, Coming To America, three nights before WrestleMania 35, fresh off an 8-hour transatlantic flight, a 90-minute JFK immigration line, and a horrendous taxi ride through NYC traffic.
What followed was a show as charming as it was captivating. DDT Is Coming To America was an action-packed tonic that blew away the fatigue, had enraptured throughout, and, most importantly, brought an authentic DDT experience to US soil.
All that aside, this show was a much-needed reminder that a Sports Entertainment style presentation need not be as rote as much of WWE's mainline product is these days. That's not to say it was better than every WWE show, but Coming To America smashed most main roster pay-per-views and Monday Night Raw episodes by delivering not only DDT's trademark comedy, but great variety, an awesome atmosphere, and a world-class Daisuke Sasaki vs. Konosuke Takeshita main event.
Any WWE fan frustrated with the company's tropes and formulae owes it to themselves to give DDT a try. Hit NEXT to find out why...
10. Genuine Variety
That WWE fail their hardcore audience by serving too many masters at once is a common complaint, and one with merit. In trying to create a product that appeals to men, women, and children of all ages, they created a storytelling vehicle that rarely slips out of third gear. Raw and SmackDown are never outright terrible, but they hardly ever hit higher than a 6 or 7 out of 10 either, because they try to be a pantomime, soap opera, comedy show, and pseudo sport simultaneously, but excel at none.
Here's the thing, though: so does DDT, and Coming To America hit much greater highs than the average WWE variety show.
Coming To America had over-the-top comedy, gimmick matches, bold characters, women's wrestling, hardcore spots, hot action for the workrate fans, badass heels, babyfaces you can root for, and so much more. It succeeded where WWE regularly fails by going all in on everything. While Vince McMahon's writing always gives the impression he's reluctant to stray too far from his product's line of best fit, DDT leave nothing in the tank. Nothing is superficial: everything is honest, whether it hits the mark or not, and the result is a compelling variety show with nothing that feels out of place.