Dramatic Dream Team, also known as DDT, is an independent promotion in Japan known for presenting a more WWE style of wrestling than other promotions. While they have serious/more traditional wrestling, they are best known for ridiculous comedy matches with over-the-top personalities, gimmicks and stipulations. The promotion was created by wrestler Shintaro Muto in 1997 and changed hands a couple times until 2005, when it was purchased by Sanshiro Takagi. Since 2017 it has been owned by CyberFight Corporation, a Japanese company specializing in IT & cybersecurity software, and celebrated its 25th Anniversary in 2022. Some notable names began their rise to superstardom in DDT, particularly Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega. Since 2021 the promotion has maintained an originally unofficial, but now official as of spring 2022, working agreement with US promotion All Elite Wrestling, largely thanks to Omega, now a wrestler and executive vice president of AEW.
Although it has an impressive roster of homegrown talent, the promotion sent shockwaves throughout the industry in 2021 when it signed current generation legend Jun Akiyama to a contract as a wrestler & coach after his previous deal with Pro Wrestling NOAH expired.
The promotion also has created several sub-brands and spin-offs in its history. Currently 3 of those sub-brands are still active: Ganbare Pro, Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, and Muscle (revived occasionally as a special series). Ganbare Pro separated from DDT in March 2024 and is now independent.
DDT currently has 8 titles: KO-D (King Of DDT) Openweight, DDT Extreme, DDT Universal, KO-D Tag Team, KO-D 6-Man Tag, KO-D 8/10-Man Tag, DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight (a comedy title with 24/7 rules that can be contested for any time, anywhere as long as a referee is present), O-40.
Ganbare Pro has two titles: Spirit Of Ganbare Openweight World Championship and Spirit Of Ganbare World Tag Team Championship.
Tokyo Joshi Pro has 3 titles: Princess Of Princess Championship, Princess Tag Team Championship, International Princess Championship.
Current roster:
Shinya Aoki
Saki Akai (Retired, now in a behind-the-scenes position)
Akito
Jun Akiyama
Antonio Honda
Yuki Iino
Yuki Ishida
Gota Ihashi
Illusion
Yuki Ueno
MJ Paul
Tetsuya Endo
Toru Owashi
Hideki Okatani (Inactive-injured)
Yusuke Okada (Retired)
Shunma Katsumata (Inactive-injured)
KANON
Shinichiro Kawamatsu (actual Japanese politician, appears occasionally)
KUDO (appears occasionally)
Chris Brookes
Yuya Koroku
To-y (Toi Kojima)
Gorgeous Matsuno (appears occasionally)
Daisuke Sasaki
Kasuma Sumi
Super Sasadango Machine
Takao Soma
Sanshiro Takagi
Danshoku Dieno
Konosuke Takeshita (appears occasionally, also competes in All Elite Wrestling)
Masa Takanashi
Keigo Nakamura
Michael Nakazawa (appears occasionally, also competes in All Elite Wrestling)
Yukio Naya
HARASHIMA
Kazusada Higuchi
Minoru Fujita
Kazuki Hirata
Hoshitango
Pokotan
MAO
Takeshi Masada
Tomomitsu Matsunaga
Yuni
Rukiya
Yoshihiko (a life-size blow-up doll)
Naomi Yoshimura (inactive-injured)
Titles & History:
KO-D Openweight Championship
DDT Extreme Championship
DDT Universal Championship
KO-D Tag Team Championship
KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship
KO-D 8/10-Man Tag Team Championship
DDT O-40 Championship
DDT Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship (comedy title with 24/7 rules) (unable to provide history due to lack of reliable data and length of records-there have been over 1700 title reigns to date)
How to watch:
WRESTLE UNIVERSE-part of the official DDT fan club, this service provides live coverage of select DDT, Tokyo Joshi Pro & Pro Wrestling NOAH events and on demand video of all events along with other special events, variety/talk shows and select content from other promotions. In Spring 2022 they began adding more content from US promotion Game Changer Wrestling and will broadcast all All Elite Wrestling matches featuring DDT wrestler Konosuke Takeshita, who as of April 2022 is on a long-term excursion to AEW. The service is available worldwide for the equivalent of 900 Japanese yen per month (currently around $8.30 US as of April 2024 when they added on demand coverage of Sendai Girls, Michinoku Pro, REAL ZERO1 and, as of May 2024, Marigold) and is available on PC, mobile devices and on a smartphone app. There is also some free content available on the service. Portions of some events as well as occasionally full events can be watched FOR FREE for a limited time on DDT’s official YouTube channel. Some events also air on Samurai! TV in Japan.
Official website:
https://www.ddtpro.com/
