Cyberfight Festival 2021: The best super event you never heard of

What is Cyberfight?

When AEW proudly touted that wrestlers from AAA, Impact, and NJPW would be part of their franchise, the wrestling world went nuts. Nothing in America had ever incorporated such a powerful combination of promotions.

But…for those who live in the land of the rising sun, one company has been doing it for years. Cyberfight, the entertainment company behind DDT Pro, Tokyo Joshi, Pro Wrestling NOAH, and Ganbare Wrestling, hosted their mega event on June 6th at the Super Saitama Arena. It was the most ambitious wrestling cross-over event the world has not heard of. If I were to liken it to comic book lore, Cyberfight Festival is like Avengers: Infinity War. Every major player was in this 6-hour, 15 match, event.

Most wrestling fans have not heard of Cyberfight or it’s properties, but it actually has some very impressive stats. AEW has invited several female fighters from Tokyo Joshi into their women’s division (Saki Ito). The Great Muta is the world champion of Pro Wrestling NOAH. DDT is a more comedic and experimental promotion, but they have hosted American tours. Cyberfight is a very lucrative company with lots of fame and fortune to give to their promotions.

If you get a month of DDT Universe for $10, you can see this event (plus tons of other content). Unfortunately, I could not get the English commentary link to work. As stated in my last DDT article, the wrestlers and their names are very difficult to track without English text. Here’s what I learned from watching the 6 hour event.

Here is everything you need to know to get into Cyberfight Festival 2021

Tokyo Joshi

One of the strongest promotions in Cyberfight is Tokyo Joshi. Saki Itoh and Yuka Sakazaki have both graced AEW’s women’s division. Joshi wrestling is all about using wrestling as a vehicle to increase a starlet’s idol career.  Their smiles are bright and their wrestling attire is colorful, dressing up as wolves, superheroes, schoolgirls, cheerleaders, and cats. The wrestlers are lighthearted, expressive, and charming, but never evil. There are no heels in Joshi as all the wrestlers want to be seen as likable. That doesn’t stop them from cheating and getting weapons in the ring, but those spots are usually very cute.

The one thing that has put Joshi on the front pages of entertainment news is the signing of Yuki Arai of idol band SKE48. I think this equates to if one of the Spice Girls went into WWE as a Diva. Yuki Arai is currently in a feud with Saki Itoh. She will team up with Mizuki and Hikari Noa  in a match against Maki Itoh, Yuki Kamifuku, and Marika Kobashi. Other notable wrestlers are the Princess of Princess Champion Yamashita who will put her title on the line against Yuka Sakazaki.

These women are not pushovers by any means. They perform high-risk moves like neck-breaking kicks, head-bashing suplexes, giant swings,  whiplash lariats, and top rope crossbody dives. The major difference is that they have a ton of fun doing it and the ring oozes with charm.

Notable Matches at Cyberfight Festival:
Yamashita (c) vs. Sakazaki: Princess of Princess Champions

Rika Tatsumi/Miu Watanabe vs. Shoko Nakajami/Hyper Misao vs Yuki Aino/Nodoka Tenma.

Mizuki, Hikari Noa, Yuki Arai vs. Yuki Kamifuku, Maki Itoh, Marika Kobashi

DDT Pro

As explained in my last article about DDT Pro, DDT is probably the strangest wrestling pill to swallow. Their emphasis is on comedy with a healthy spattering of serious matches. Cyberfight had a delayed entry battle royale and the DDT wrestlers brought their weird quirks. Antonio Honda will stop the match and announce that he will test every wrestler against his finger poke. Kizuki Hirata will dance through most of his matches. There is a very ummm…hypersexual wrestler named Danshoku Dieno who does not keep his pants on during the match. His very flamboyant spots would not fly in America. In one of the DDT vs. NOAH matches Dieno and Super Sadanago Machine start a spinning bat exhibition to see who can get dizzier. They then proceed to use lady stockings as a weapon. Don’t discount DDT for its love of silliness. Jun Akiyama is the Openweight Champion and will face off against Harashima. Wrestlers like Chris Brooks, Tetsuya Endoh, Saki Akai, and Yuji Hino show off their competitive spirits in real matches.

Notable Matches at Cyberfight Festival:

The 15-wrestler Battle Royale

Yuki Iino/Toui Kojima vs. Junta Miyawaki/Kinya Okada (DDT vs. NOAH)

Tetsuya Endoh/Daisuke Sasaki/Soma Takao vs. Mao, Katsumata, Brookes

Jun Akiyama (c) vs. Harashima: Openweight Championship

NOAH

NOAH is all business, being the best pound-for-pound comparison to NJPW. It is also one of the few programs on DDT Universe with English commentators. The wrestling is fierce and brutal. It’s a traditional Japanese strong style at its best. Many of the wrestling personas are less colorful and story-driven, focusing more on making their wrestlers look like UFC or kickboxing fighters. Keiji Muto, The Great Muta, has the GHC heavyweight championship and faces off against Naomichi Marufuji in the main event. I really wish I had a better understanding of the NOAH roster, but it’s hard to tell who owns what title, and who is worth cheering for without English text and speakers.

Notable Matches at Cyberfight Festival: 

Keiji Muto vs. Naomichi Marufuji: GHC Heavyweight Championship

Atsushi Kotoge/Hajime Ohara/Daisuke Harada vs. Yoshinari Ogawa/Seiki Yoshioka/ HAYATA

Konsuke Takeshita/Yuki Ueno vs. Kaito Kiyomiya/Yoshiki Inamura (DDT vs. NOAH)

The other promotion is Ganbare Wrestling. They had one 6-man tag match and it had some very nice lucha spots in it.

Recap:

If you like more NJPW style matches…

If you want to see some very talented Joshi wrestlers on the same card as very talented strong wrestlers…

If you want to see some of the silliest nonsense in the ring…

If you are a fan of SKE48 or The Great Muta…

Cyberfight Festival 2021 is definitely worth a month of DDT Universe