DDT kicks off the annual D KING GP today, the second of their 2 yearly singles tournaments, but unlike KING OF DDT this is a traditional round-robin format rather than a single-elimination bracket. This year there are 12 wrestlers in 2 blocks, with the winner of each block advancing to the Finals at DDT’s first event of 2024 on January 3. The most notable participant here is All-Japan Pro Wrestling’s Rei Saito, half of the Saito Brothers with brother Jun Saito, who are the current All-Japan World Tag Team Champions and GLEAT G INFINITY Champions. This continues a crossover between the promotions as DDT has Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani competing in All-Japan’s Real World Tag League. All of Block B including Saito and 2/3 of Block A will be in tournament action today. The legendary Kenta Kobashi will once again be executive chairman of the tournament committee and will be in attendance-in predictions of who will win he is putting a lot of pressure on defending tournament winner Yuki Ueno, the NEW KO-D Openweight Champion, to go back-to-back. We’ll see if Ueno can ride the WER! to victory again beginning today.
Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. Kobashi will be a special guest on commentary. There is a pre-show match scheduled for about 15 minutes before event time. All matches except the pre-show have 30 minute time limits so this won’t be a marathon event, I’m predicting it will probably go just under 3 hours total.
Today’s lineup (in order):
Pre-show: Yuni & Yuya Koroku vs. Kazuma Sumi & Rukiya
Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama & Yusuke Okada vs. Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & Demus
Danshoku Dieno, Makoto Oishi & Toi Kojima vs. Masa Takanashi, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada
D KING GP:
Block B: MAO vs. Rei Saito
Block B: KANON vs. Kazuki Hirata
Block A: HARASHIMA vs. Yuki Iino
Block B: Chris Brookes vs. Yukio Naya
Block A: Yuki Ueno vs. Kazusada Higuchi
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 6 PM PT/9 PM ET. The pre-show match is scheduled to begin at 6:15 PM PT/9:15 PM ET.
6 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has started. We should be going to the venue in about 15 minutes.
6:15 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Your hosts are Ken Kato & Kagehiro Osano.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. It’s still pre-show and the crowd is still coming in, but as usual they have the smaller opposite-hard-camera bleacher setup. Early ticket availability today suggests maybe it’ll be in the 600s. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 678)
Pre-show Match: Yuni & Yuya Koroku vs. Kazuma Sumi & Rukiya. 15 minute time limit
Result: Yuni & Yuya Koroku beat Kazuma Sumi & Rukiya. Koroku beat Rukiya with an armbar.
The main show will begin in a few minutes (as of 6:27 PM PT).
Main show:
The matches begin at 6:35 PM PT. Your hosts are Haruo Murata & Kagehiro Osano.
Match 1: Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama & Yusuke Okada vs. Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & Demus. 30 minute timit
Result: Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama & Yusuke Okada beat Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & Demus. Endo pinned Demus after Burning Star Press.
Match 2: Danshoku Dieno, Makoto Oishi & Toi Kojima vs. Masa Takanashi, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada. 30 minute time limit
Result: Masa Takanashi, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada beat Danshoku Dieno, Makoto Oishi & Toi Kojima. Masada pinned Oishi after a sitout powerslam.
Afterwards, Masada with microphone to issue a KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship challenge. The next such match was already set for 1/6 but Oishi accepted and now there may be a title match on 12/24. (UPDATE 2: It’s now official)
D KINP GP promo video. When we return the trophy is in the ring and…that means…GRAND SWORD!!! KENTA KOBASHI!!! The Executive Chairman of the tournament committee is in the ring as the entrants are introduced. Kobashi gives the opening start shout to begin the tournament.
Kobashi joins commentary as a special guest along with Ken Kato as your new host for now.
Match 3: D KING GP 2023 Block B: MAO vs. Rei Saito (All-Japan Pro Wrestling). 30 minute time limit
Result: Rei Saito beat MAO
Match 4: D KING GP 2023 Block B: KANON vs. Kazuki Hirata. 30 minute time limit
Result: KANON beat Kazuki Hirata by submission. Mostly comedy match.
Quick break for announcements. Toru Owashi joins GM Imabayashi in the ring, then during this The Great Koji suddenly appears. He sprayed red mist in Imabayashi’s face as Owashi watched with a funny look on his face before running away.
Match 5: D KING GP 2023 Block A: HARASHIMA vs. Yuki Iino. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yuki Iino beat HARASHIMA
Your host is Haruo Murata again the rest of the way.
Match 6: D KING GP 2023 Block B: Chris Brookes vs. Yukio Naya. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yukio Naya beat Chris Brookes
Main Event: D KING GP 2023 Block A: Yuki Ueno vs. Kazusada Higuchi. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yuki Ueno beat Kazusada Higuchi
This was a shorter event than I expected, including pre-show it only went 2 1/2 hours.
The next event is 12/2 at Shinjuku Face. This will be a doubleheader on US time as the events are 12/2 & 12/3 in Japan but the 12/3 event is a matinee. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 1:15 AM PT/4:15 AM ET for the first event and 6:45 PM PT/9:45 PM ET for the second event. Live results are scheduled for the second event.
UPDATE: After the event, it was announced that Shunma Katsumata will return on 1/3. He has been out since late spring due to injury.
Also, the promotion will return to the US on 4/4/24 with an event in Philadelphia, PA as part of The Collective 2024, a series of independent events held during and around WWE WrestleMania weekend.
