Japanese wrestling promotion DDT has responded creatively to the obstacles COVID-19 has placed in the way of pro wrestling, holding unique no-audience events and putting up several shows for free on its streaming service. Their next move is to put on a show in a hospital.
Before several of its upcoming events were canceled or turned into no-fans events, DDT held one regular wrestling show with an audience, Judgement, on March 19, and there announced their next creative response to the coronavirus pandemic, a falls-count-anywhere match in a medical clinic.
Medical Clinic Rojo Pro Wrestling will take place in (or around? I’m not sure about the logistics of this) Kyou Clinic in Saitama, Japan, which specializes in medical treatment for the elderly, and will stream for free on DDT’s YouTube channel on March 30 starting at 3 PM Japan Standard Time, which is 2 AM Eastern on March 30, or 11 PM Pacific on March 29.
The show consists of one four-way, falls-out-anywhere tag team match, and since it’s supposed to “help promote coronavirus awareness to the elderly,” the match will include one team of elderly wrestlers. It’s Shinya Aoki and Makoto Oishi vs. Konosuke Takeshita and Shunma Katsumata vs. Chris Brookes and Mike Bailey vs. the 58-year-old comedy wrestler Gorgeous Matsuno and Gabai Jichan, a masked “100-year-old” wrester.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zBfgLQS-q-4
I have a lot of questions about how DDT is able to use a medical facility for a wrestling show during a pandemic (it looks like they set this up earlier this month) and how wise that is, but will I tune in later this week rooting for the team of old people? Probably!
