Tag: DDT

DDT and its sub-promotions just can’t seem to shake the injury bug recently, and now word comes of ANOTHER wrestler down temporarily-this time it’s Sanshiro Takagi. Keratoconjunctivis. In simpler terms, dry eye or possibly pinkeye. Out at least this weekend. This comes just after word that Chris Brookes will be out 2 weeks with a shoulder injury that won’t affect his wrestlinf.

A potentially major DDT injury item is coming out of this past weekend today, potentially major because it’s KO-D Openweight Champion Chris Brookes. Right shoulder. Out at least 1 week and possibly longer, we may know more Friday after a medical exam. This would suggest it happened Sunday when he beat Saki Akai by submission to retain the title.

More as it becomes available.

9/28 UPDATE: DDT announced the exam results-some shoulder damage but won’t interfere with wrestling. Out 2 weeks and will return on 10/14. He was to have challenged for the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship this weekend. HARASHIMA is the replacement.

DDT runs their tour-ending monthly major Tokyo event today, with the focus remaining on Saki Akai and the final chapter of her 10-year career. Today may be the biggest match of her career as she gets her first real chance, and likely only chance, at the KO-D Openweight Championship after Chris Brookes named her the next challenger after his first successful defense. She already has a couple of 6-man tag team championships to her name recently but this no doubt would top them if she can somehow win it, and I hope she does even though her reign would be short with retirement only 2 months away. There’s also a DDT Universal Championship match as new champion Matt Cardona has an odd challenger himself tonight, as he defends against Tokyo Joshi Pro’s Maki Itoh. Konosuke Takeshita is also back from AEW for a singles match…and no, The Callous Hand Of Don will not be with him.

Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English. Toru Owashi is scheduled to be a guest on Japanese commentary. You can also watch the first 3 matches (pre-show dark match and 2 main card matches) FOR FREE on YouTube. There is a pre-show match scheduled 15 minutes before event time, which will be streamed live. Additionally, a public signing ceremony for the 10/4 KO-D Tag Team Championship match will be held 30 minutes before the event and probably will stream as well. With all the pre-show happenings factored in, the event will probably have a total running time of at least 3 hours, close to 3 1/2 hours.

Today’s lineup:
Pre-show:
10/4 KO-D Tag Team Championship Public Signing Ceremony
Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku vs. Kazuma Sumi & Rukiya

Main Show:
Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON vs. Hideki Okatani, Yuni & Takeshi Masada
Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno vs. Akito & Antonio Honda and Naruki Doi & Kazuki Hirata in a 3-way
Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama, Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Naya vs. Yuji Hino, Makoto Oishi, HARASHIMA & Yukio Sakaguchi
Yuki Ueno & Toi Kojima vs. Atsuki Aoyagi & Dan Tamura
DDT Universal Champion Matt Cardona vs. Maki Itoh for the title
Konosuke Takeshita vs. MAO
KO-D Openweight Champion Chris Brookes vs. Saki Akai for the title

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 6:45 PM PT/9:45 PM ET.

6:45 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has begun. The event will begin in 15 minutes.

7 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Commentary will start soon.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. They’re using the smaller opposite hard-camera layout so reduced capacity, but advance ticket sales were strong. The crowd is still filing in and will be for about 30 more minutes. The smaller apacity layout will probably keep the attendance down around 800. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 917, a super full house/very near sellout)

Pre-show:
A public signing ceremony for the 10/4 KO-D Tag Team Championship match is first. Champions Minoru Fujita & KANON and challengers Takao Soma & Shota are present.J
apanese commentary begins at 7:15 PM PT. Your hosts are Haruo Murata & Kagehiro Osano.
Pre-show match: Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku vs. Kazuma Sumi & Rukiya. 15 minute time limit
Result: Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku beat Kazuma Sumi & Rukiya. Koroku beat Rukiya with an armbar.

Main Show:
Coming up shortly.

The matches begin at 7:34 PM PT.

Match 1: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON vs. Hideki Okatani, Yuni & Takeshi Masada. 30 minute time limit
Result: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON beat Hideki Okatani, Yuni & Takeshi Masada. Sasaki pinned Yuni.

Your new host is Ken Kato.

Match 2: Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno vs. Akito & Antonio Honda and Naruki Doi & Kazuki Hirata in a 3-way. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno beat Akito & Antonio Honda and Naruki Doi & Kazuki Hirata in a 3-way when Iino beat Akito. Assist from Hirata & Honda. Lots of Pheromones comedy afterwards.

The YouTube broadcast (thankfully?) ends here. Toru Owashi joins commentary as a special guest.

Match 3: Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama, Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Naya vs. Yuji Hino, Makoto Oishi, HARASHIMA & Yukio Sakaguchi. 30 minute time limit
Result: Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama, Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Naya beat Yuji Hino, Makoto Oishi, HARASHIMA & Yukio Sakaguchi. Naya pinned Oishi after a backdrop. This was Hino’s final match as a regular in DDT, but he may appear again in the future. He did give us one last hearty helping of BEEF with Higuchi. Afterwards, Hino with microphone. He acknowledged fans holding Thank You signs as he addressed the crowd.

Match 4: Yuki Ueno & Toi Kojima vs. Atsuki Aoyagi & Dan Tamura (All-Japan Pro Wrestling). 30 minute time limit
Result: Yuki Ueno & Toi Kojima beat Atsuki Aoyagi & Dan Tamura. Ueno pinned Tamura after BME.

Your new host is Haruo Murata.

Match 5: DDT Universal Champion Matt Cardona vs. Maki Itoh (Tokyo Joshi Pro) for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: DDT Universal Champion Matt Cardona beat Maki Itoh to retain the title. V1 for Cardona. Steph De Lander interference played a big part. Afterwards, Cardona with microphone. In English he dedicated his win to his half-wife Chelsea Green and the greatest Japanese wrestler in history, John Laurinaitis then proclaimed he was unbeatable. The Japanese crowd HATED Cardona.

Match 6: Konosuke Takeshita vs. MAO. 20 minute time limit
Result: Konosuke Takeshita beat MAO. And guess who showed up here? None other than The Callous Hand Of Don (Don Callis). Afterwards, MAO grabbed a cameraman from ringside and dragged him backstage to where Cardona & De Lander were sitting and issued a DDT Universal Championship challenge in English. Accepted then Cardona laid out MAO. MAO cursed out Cardona in English afterwards. This interrupted a post-match promo in Japanese by Takeshita before he handed the microphone to Callis, who continued in English and put Takeshita over, including some of what has been going on in All Elite Wrestling. As they finished, the lights went out and a video played for the crowd…it’s Chris Jericho! It must have been recorded backstage Wednesday because I heard crowd noise. Jericho challenged Takeshita in English Takeshita accepted and they left to Callis’ droning single-tone ambient theme to a match at the last Ryogoku event of the year on 11/12. Accepted then they left to Callis’ droning ambient single-tone noise theme.

Main Event: KO-D Openweight Champion Chris Brookes vs. Saki Akai for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: KO-D Openweight Champion Chris Brookes beat Saki Akai by submission to retain the title. V2 for Brookes. Heartbroken is putting it mildly. 5 star effort from Akai who put up a valiant fight and nearly won on more than one occasion before it ended. Afterwards, Brookes issued a challenge first for the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship held by Akai, Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani. That match will happen at the next event as Brookes teams with Masa Takanashi & Mei Suruga for the challenge. Next up: At Ryogoku Brookes chooses…or gets challenged by actually…Yuki Ueno. Now we await the official announcement. (UPDATE: It’s now official. That match will happen on 11/12 at Ryogoku Kokugikan)

The next event is “Saki Akai 10th Anniversary & FINAL COUNTDOWN IN KYOTO!” on 9/30 at Kyoto KBS Hall in Kyoto. There will be no live broadcast.

DDT held 2 separate events yesterday-a mid-major event in Nagoya then a special one-match event held on an actual running bullet train. Yep, only in DDT.

The first event was held at Nagoya International Conference Center Event Hall and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The announced paid attendance was 531, a full house/near sellout.

A public signing ceremony for next week’s KO-D Openweight Championship match between Chris Brookes & Saki Akai was held before the event began.

Match 1: Kazuma Sumi beat Rukiya.

Match 2: Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno beat Sanshiro Takagi & Takeshi Masada and Kazuki Hirata & Akito in a 3-way by ref stoppage (TKO) when Iino beat Masada.

Match 3: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON beat Hideki Okatani, Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku. KANON beat Koroku with a cobra twist.

Match 4: Shigehiro Irie, Kazusada Higuchi & Yuki Ishida beat Yuji Hino, Makoto Oishi & Tetsuya Endo. Irie pinned Oishi after Beast Bomber. Afterwards, Hino announced his regular DDT participation will end after this week.

Match 5: In an Exploding Bat & Board Death Match, Jun Akiyama & Kotaro Suzuki beat All-Asia Tag Team Champions Atsushi Onita & Yoshitatsu (All-Japan) to win the titles. Akiyama & Suzuki become the 120th All-Asia Tag Team Champions. Akiyama pinned Yoshitatsu after a sandwich style exploding bat full swing. Next up: TBA but under normal rules-no more death matches.

Match 6: HARASHIMA & Yukio Naya beat Yuki Ueno & Toi Kojima. Naya pinned Kojima after The World’s Largest Backdrop.

Main Event: Minoru Suzuki, Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai beat Chris Brookes, MAO & Antonio Honda. Akai pinned Honda after Quetzalcoatl.

The second event was held on a bullet train from Tokyo to Nagoya and will be available as a PPV via Ticket Pia beginning Saturday. It should be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date.

The announced paid attendance was 75, a super full house/very near sellout.

Result: In a Falls Count Anywhere match, Minoru Suzuki beat Sanshiro Takagi in 37:29. Takeshi Masada, Danshoku Dieno, Hikaru Sato, Jun Akiyama & Kazunori Mutakami all somehow got involved. Afterwards, Takagi suddenly retired but it was a false retirement as he attacked Suzuki halfway through the ceremonial 10 count.

The next event is Who’s Gonna TOP? 2023 Sunday at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Live streaming on WRESTE UNIVERSE will begin Saturday at 7 PM PT/10 PM ET. Live results are scheduled.

DDT’s latest major event, BIG BANG 2023, was held earlier today.

Today’s event was held at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The announced paid attendance was 1363.

Match 1: Masa Takanashi, Antonio Honda & Illusion beat Yuni, Kazuma Sumi & Rukiya. Takanashi pinned Yuni.

Match 2: In a Disband Contra Vice President Match, Akito beat Yuki Iino. As a result, Pheromones must disband. That will (thankfully?) happen on 10/4 at Shinjuku Face.

Match 3: HARASHIMA, Kazusada Higuchi & Takao Soma beat Yukio Naya, Yuya Koroku & Takeshi Masada. Higuchi pinned Koroku after Doctor Bomb.

Match 4: In a Kazuki Hirata Death Match, DDT Extreme Champion Kazuki Hirata beat DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion Naruki Doi to retain the Extreme title and win the Iron Man title. Hirata becomes the 1576th DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion. V2 for Hirata. Next up: Hiromu Takahashi (New Japan), who unsuccessfully then tried to win the Ironman title. That match will happen on 11/12 at Ryogoku Kokugikan.

Match 5: KO-D 6-Man and All-Japan 6-Man Tag Team Champions Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & Hideki Okatani beat Yuko Miyamoto, Isami Kodaka & Ram Kaichow to retain the titles. Sakaguchi pinned Miyamoto after God’s Right Knee. DDT V3 & All-Japan V2 for the champs.

Match 6: In a Time Difference Scramble Bunkhouse Current Explosion Deathmatch, Atsushi Onita, Yoshitatsu (All-Japan) & Toi Kojima beat Jun Akiyama, Sanshiro Takagi & Yusuke Okada. Yoshitatsu pinned Takagi after a snadwich-type exploding bat full swing. This seems to have cost Akiyama an All-Asia Tag Team Championship match, but Onita declared it will still happen. That match will happen on 9/18 in an Electric Blast Death Match.

Match 7: Minoru Fujita & KANON beat KO-D Tag Team Champions Yuji Hino & Makoto Oishi to win the titles. Fujita & KANON become the 79th KO-D Tag Team Champions. KANON beat Oishi with a cobra twist.

Match 8: Yuki Ueno & MAO beat Konosuke Takeshita & Daisuke Sasaki. Ueno pinned Sasaki after BME. Afterwards, Ueno pledged his allegiance to The37Kamiina and MAO challenged Takeshita to a match. That match will happen on 9/24 at Korakuen Hall.

Main Event: KO-D Openweight Champion Chris Brookes beat Shigehiro Irie to retain the title. V1 for Brookes. Next up: He chose…Saki Akai! Her first chance at the title! And almost certainly her last due to her upcoming retirement. That match will happen on 9/24.

The next event is tomorrow at Global Ring Theater, Ikebukuro West Exit Park Outdoor Theater in Tokyo. This is a free event and is an outdoor event and is weather permitting, if weather is bad it will be cancelled. There will be no live broadcast.

Not even a week removed from WRESTLE PETER PAN, their biggest annual event, DDT has their monthly Tokyo big event on tap today, Summer Vacation 2023. With it being just that in Japan, the promotion is offering free admission to elementary & middle school students accompanied by paying adults today for what looks like another loaded card. In the main event, Konosuke Takeshita will continue his recent heel turn in All Elite Wrestling by now aligning himself with the Damnation T.A. faction, teaming with Daisuke Sasaki & KANON to face The37Kamiina trio of Yuki Ueno, MAO & Toi Kojima. As usual there is also a title match today as DDT Extreme Champion Kazuki Hirata looks to pull out all the stops-literally and figuratively-for a comedy handicap/Captains Fall/2 Count Falls defense against HARASHIMA. Ever seen Grilled Yakitori Chicken in a wrestling match as a participant? You will today! Only in DDT.

Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. Kentaro Kumagi, a Japanese voice actor who also is a lifelong wrestling fan, will be a special guest on commentary. There is a pre-show match scheduled before the event so it will start around 15 minutes earlier than the listed start time. Including the pre-show match the event’s total running time should be between 2 1/2-3 hours.

Today’s lineup:
Pre-show: Yuni vs. Kazuma Sumi

Main show:
Minoru Fujita & MJ Paul vs. Takao Soma & Rukiya
Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno vs. Akito & Naruki Doi
Yuji Hino, Makoto Oishi & Yukio Naya vs. Jun Akiyama, Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku
Yukio Sakaguchi 50th Birthday Match: Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & Hideki Okatani vs. Shuji Ishikawa, Tanomusaku Toba & Masa Takanashi
Chris Brookes, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada vs. Kazusada Higuchi, Kotaro Suzuki & Yuki Ishida
DDT Extreme Champion Kazuki Hirata, Broom, Kokeshi Door, Chair, Grilled Yakitori Chicken & Hirata’s Merry Fighters vs. HARASHIMA in a Handicap Captains Fall 2 Count Falls match for the title
Konosuke Takeshita, Daisuke Sasaki & KANON vs. Yuki Ueno, MAO & Toi Kojima

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 7 PM PT/10 PM ET. The pre-show match is scheduled to begin at 7:15 PM PT/10:15 PM ET.

7 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has started. We should be going to the venue in about 15 minutes for the pre-show match.

7:15 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now…
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Your hosts are Haruo Murata, Kagehiro Osano & special guest Kentaro Kumagi.

The paid attendance will be announced after the event. The crowd is still filing in but they’re using the same reduced hard-camera-view bleacher setup as Tokyo Joshi Pro did yesterday so it’ll be less than full capacity.Too early to predict potential attendance as the crowd is still coming in. (Main show update: I’m thinking it’s gonna be around 550 but by the end of the event I changed my thoughts to be closer to 800) (Update: The announced paid attendance was 761)

Pre-show match: Yuni vs. Kazuma Sumi. 15 minute time limit
Result: Yuni beat Kazuma Sumi

Updates will resume when the main show matches begin.

No opening announcements today, we go right to opening video. Your hosts are Ken Kato, Kagehiro Osano & Kentaro Kumagi.

The matches begin at 7:36 PM PT.

Match 1: Minoru Fujita & MJ Paul vs. Takao Soma & Rukiya. 30 minute time limit
Result: Minoru Fujita & MJ Paul beat Takao Soma & Rukiya. Paul pinned Rukiya.

Akito & Naruki Doi promo.

Match 2: Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno vs. Akito & Naruki Doi. 30 minute time limit
Result: Danshoku Dieno & Yuki Iino beat Akito & Naruki Doi. Dieno pinned Akito after Danshoku Driver. Comedy match of course. Afterwards, Saki Akai came out. She asked for a match against Dieno. Dieno accepted. GM Imabayashi made it official for the next Korakuen event Dieno then brought Iino back in the ring and spread his butt for Akai to see, sending her running back to the backstage area. The match would probably be on 8/27 as the next Korakuen before that on 8/12 is Saki’s 10th Anniversary event and that match is already set.

Match 3: Yuji Hino, Makoto Oishi & Yukio Naya vs. Jun Akiyama, Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yuji Hino, Makoto Oishi & Yukio Naya beat Jun Akiyama, Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku. Hino pinned Koroku after Fuckin’ BOMB.

GM Imabayashi heads to the ring for what are normally his show-opening announcements. First, for the upcoming Saki Akai 10th Anniversary match, the TBA in the 6-woman tag match is revealed as Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling’s Shoko Nakajima. The earlier-made Dieno-Akai match is also made official for 8/27.

Your host from here on out is Haruo Murata. There must have been a YouTube simulcast up to this point that wasn’t advertsided.

Match 4: Yukio Sakaguchi 50th Birthday Match: Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & Hideki Okatani vs. Shuji Ishikawa, Tanomusaku Toba & Masa Takanashi. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & Hideki Okatani beat Shuji Ishikawa, Tanomusaku Toba & Masa Takanashi. Sakaguchi pinned Toba after God’s Right Knee. Sakaguchi addressed the fans afterwards as well as receiving 50th birthday gifts. I missed some of this due to internet issues and some streaming issues once these were resolved. Back up and running as intros for the next match began.

Match 5: Chris Brookes, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada vs. Kazusada Higuchi, Kotaro Suzuki & Yuki Ishida. 30 minute time limit
Result: Chris Brookes, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada beat Kazusada Higuchi, Kotaro Suzuki & Yuki Ishida. Brookes pinned Ishida after Praying Mantis Bomb.

Match 6: DDT Extreme Champion Kazuki Hirata, Broom, Kokeshi Door, Chair, Grilled Yakitori Chicken & Hirata’s Merry Fighters vs. HARASHIMA in a Handicap Captains Fall 2 Count Falls match for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: DDT Extreme Champion Kazuki Hirata beat HARASHIMA to retain the title. V1 for Hirata. This was so many levels of indescribably hilarious. Next up: Possibly Sakaguchi, who made the challenge from the timekeeper/announcer & GM Imabayashi’s table. It’s made official for next month. (Update: That match will happen on 8/13)

Quick break for ring cleaning.

Main Event: Konosuke Takeshita, Daisuke Sasaki & KANON vs. Yuki Ueno, MAO & Toi Kojima. 30 minute time limit
Result: Konosuke Takeshita, Daisuke Sasaki & KANON beat Yuki Ueno, MAO & Toi Kojima. Sasaki beat Ueno with a crossface. During the post-match promo, Shunma Katsumata came out still on crutches, leading to Sasaki attacking him but Damnation T.A. bailed afterwards and Takeshita ducked a crutch shot from MAO before rolling out of the ring. Afterwards, Ueno & The37Kamiina reinforced their alliance and did their signature call to end the show.

The next event is 8/6 at Yamagata Big Wing in Yamagata. There will be no live broadcast.

Post-show note: If Sakaguchi/Akai/Okatani retain the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship in their upcoming defense in All-Japan on 8/27, which is also for the All-Japan 6-Man Tag Team Championship, they will defend on 9/9 at Ota City General Gym vs. Yankee 2 Pistols & Ram Kaichow. Also set for 9/9 is Takeshita & Sasaki vs. Ueno & MAO.

DDT’s WRESTLE PETER PAN 2023 event was full of surprises, but unfortunately there also were some injuries coming out, including a big one-Tetsuya Endo is back on the sidelines again. Hand (metacarpal fracture). Also heading to the sidelines with injury is Toru Owashi. Cervical spine. Both out indefinitely but “a while” per translation of DDT’s website, which means months.

More as it becomes available.

WRESTLE PETER PAN 2023, DDT’s biggest annual event of the year, is now in the books.

Today’s event was held at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese and English. You can also watch the first 3 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.

The announced paid attendance was 3465, a full house/near sellout. Between the setup and only using the lower level mass/box seats at half capacity, the venue’s capacity was significantly reduced (normally it’s maybe 15,000 for sumo, but this suggests it probably was closer to 4000).

Match 1: Takeshi Masada beat Kazuma Sumi.

Match 2: Sanshiro Takagi, Shinichiro Kawamatsu & Yuni beat Masa Takanashi, Toi Kojima & Rukiya. Kawamatsu pinned Rukiya after Shitamachi Rocket (spear).

Match 3: Minoru Fujita, MJ Paul & KANON beat Kazuki Hirata, Toru Owashi & Naruki Doi and Kotaro Suzuki, Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku in a 3-way when KANON pinned Koroku.

Match 4: Yuki Iino, Danshoku Dieno & Yumehito Imanari (with GM Imabayashi) beat Akito, Takao Soma & Yoshitomo Shimohigashi (with a Japanese YouTuber). Iino pinned Akito after Sexy Cannon.

Match 5: Chiitan* & Pokotan beat Andreza Giant Panda & Super Sasadango Machine. Chiitan* pinned Machine after Chii*Poco Trigger.

Match 6: Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai & Hideki Okatani beat KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Kazusada Higuchi, Ryota Nakatsu & Yuki Ishida to win the titles. Sakaguchi, Akai & Okatani become the 52nd KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Okatani pinned Ishida with a double arm suplex. Emotional victory for the new champs and Akai has won the title she indicated she wanted to before her retirement later this year.

Match 7: MAO beat TAKA Michinoku (New Japan).

Match 8: Yukio Naya Return Match: Jun Akiyama & Shigehiro Irie beat HARASHIMA & Yukio Naya. Irie pinned Naya after Beast Bomber.

Match 9: Konosuke Takeshita beat Yuki Ueno. Takeshita’s name was stylized in all caps, in part to reflect his apparent heel turn in All Elite Wrestling.

Match 10: Matt Cardona beat DDT Universal Champion Tetsuya Endo to win the title. Cardona becomes the 11th DDT Universal Champion. OH SNAP. Steph De Lander interference helped though. First up. as challenger..OH DOUBLE SNAP. Maki Itoh from Tokyo Joshi Pro. That match will happen on 9/24 at Korakuen Hall.

Match 11: El Desperado (New Japan) beat Daisuke Sasaki. For being the winner, Desperado won a year’s worth of tequila from the match sponsor, Mexico Kanko (I believe they are the makes of Jose Cuervo).

Main Event: Chris Brookes beat KO-D Openweight Champion Yuji Hino to win the title. Brookes becomes the 81st KO-D Openweight Champion. UPSET ALERT! Quite a comeback from a shoulder injury after winning KING OF DDT as he returned just a couple weeks ago. He named his first challenger as well…Irie. That match will happen on 9/9 at Ota City General Gym. In the post-event happenings, they cut backstage to show Takeshita & Sasaki sharing a handshake. Could Takeshita be defecting from The37Kamiina to Damnation T.A.? To be continued…?

The next event is “Summer Vacation 2023” on 7/30 at Korakuen Hall. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Saturday at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET. Live results are scheduled.

DDT held a special standalone single match event today as part of the 10th Anniversary of the HandMade in Japan Festival in Tokyo.

Today’s event was held at Tokyo Big Sight West Hall 1, 2 “HandMade In Japan Fes 2023” music & play area in Tokyo and may be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.

Because this was part of another event, the attendance was not announced.

Match result: HARASHIMA beat Kazuma Sumi, MAO & Hideki Okatani in a 4-way Falls Count Anywhere match by pinning Sumi. The match went almost 27 minutes and was held with no ring and was equal parts crazy hardcore and DDT comedy.

The next event is WRESTLE PETER PAN 2023, DDT’s biggest annual event, tomorrow at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin TONIGHT at 9:30 PM PT/12:30 AM ET and you can also watch the first 3 matches FOR FREE on YouTube. Kenta Kobashi will be a special guest on commentary.

DDT had a special outdoor mini-event planned in Tokyo today, because the weather was excellent it was able to go on as scheduled.

Today’s event was held at Sumida Park Breeze Plaza in Tokyo and may be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.

Because this was a free event with no paid admissions, the attendance was not announced.

Match 1: Tetsuya Endo, Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku beat Hideki Okatani, Toi Kojima & Kazuma Sumi. Koroku pinned Sumi after a moonsault press.

The mayor of Sumida Ward appeared with Sanshiro Takagi & Shinichiro Kawamatsu and greeted the crowd.

A talk show with Yukio Naya was held. Naya will return from injury this weekend.

Match 2: HARASHIMA & Kazuki Hirata vs. Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno went to a no contest. Pheromones Being Pheromones.

Match 3: Chris Brookes, Shinichiro Kawamatsu & Yuni beat Kazusada Higuchi, Yuki Ishida & Makoto Oishi. Brookes pinned Oishi after a Kawamatsu sky tree bomb.

Next up is participation in a special match Saturday at Handmade In JapanFes2023 in Tokyo, which will be HARASHIMA vs. MAO, Hideki Okatani & Kazuma Sumi in a 4-way. There will be no live broadcast.

The next event is WRESTLE PETER PAN 2023, the promotion’s biggest annual event, Sunday at Ota City General Gym in Tokyo. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Saturday at 10 PM PT/1 AM ET.