News, results & more from Japanese Pro Wrestling & Sumo
Injuries have been hitting tournament winners and especially DDT hard recently. The latest one to go down is recent KING OF DDT winner Chris Brookes. Dislocated right shoulder suffered this past weekend. Out at least 3 weeks but no return date set. Changes for this weekend’s events have been made.
More as it becomes available.
DDT continued the WHAT ARE YOU DOING 2023 Tour today with a house show in Kumamoto.
Today’s event was held at Kumamoto Castle Hall Civic Hall in Kumamoto and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a alter date. There was no live broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 283, a super full house/very near sellout.
Match 1: Yuya Koroku beat Rukiya by submission.
Match 2: In a Handicap Match, Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno beat HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata. Iino beat Hirata with Pheromon Airport. That’s just one of their VERY NSFW finishes.
Match 3: In a Hardcore Match, Chris Brookes & Sanshiro Takagi beat Hideki Okatani & Kazuma Sumi. Brookes beat Sumi with a ground octopus stretch.
Match 4: Yuki Ueno & MAO beat Tetsuya Endo & Yusuke Okada. Ueno pinned Okada after BME.
Match 5; Jun Akiyama beat Toui Kojima by ref stoppage (TKO).
Match 6: Kazusada Higuchi & Yuki Ishida beat Kota Umeda & Takeshi Masada. Ishida pinned Masada after Flame Palm.
Main Event: Yuji Hino, Makoto Oishi & Dark Side HERO! beat Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & Shogun Okamoto. Hino pinned Paul after Fuckin’ BOMB. I can’t confirm this year but pictures I saw and past history leads me to believe HERO! actually was a masked HARASHIMA.
The next event is Yokohama Unlimited Vol. 3 Saturday at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET.
DDT continued the WHAT ARE YOU DOING 2023 Tour today with a visit to Hiroshima.
Today’s event was held at JMS Aster Plaza Multipurpose Studio in Hiroshima and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date (probably Tuesday). There was no live broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 190, a legit sellout.
Match 1: Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno beat Kazuma Sumi & Rukiya. Iino beat Rukiya.
Match 2: Kazusada Higuchi & Yuki Ishida beat Sanshiro Takagi & Yusuke Okada. Higuchi pinned Okada after Brain Claw Slam.
Match 3: In a No DQ Match, MAO beat Hideki Okatani.
Match 4: Konno Kenshin (?) beat Kazuki Hirata.
Match 5: In a Lucha Libre Rules match, Tetsuya Endo, Jun Akiyama & Yuya Koroku beat HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi & Rey Paloma by giving up. Paloma gave up because he was scared of Akiyama’s Exploder.
Match 6: Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Paul beat Yuki Ueno & Toui Kojima. Paul pinned Kojima after Death Valley Bomb.
Main Event: Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada beat Yuji Hino & Makoto Oishi. Brookes beat Oishi with a ground octopus stretch.
The next event is tomorrow at Kumamoto Castle Hall Civic Hall in Kumamoto. There will be no live broadcast.
As they promised to do a few minutes ago at Noon JST, DDT just announced the determination match for the next DDT Extteme Champion after Shunma Katsumata had to vacate the title due to injury after his successful defense last weekend. Perhaps not surprisingly one of the participants will be MAO, Katsumata’s The37Kamiina factionmate. Surprisingly is the other-Kazuki Hirata. Match type TBA and it will be on 6/25 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. There also will be a KO-D Tag Team Championship match to determine new champions after MAO & Katsumata had to vacate the titles.
More as it becomes available.
Continuing a theme across promotions recently, DDT has announced the DDT Extreme Championship and KO-D Tag Team Championships are now VACANT. Both are because Shunma Katsumata suffered an ankle injury yesterday. This means MAO loses the Tag Team Title. Determination matches to crown new champions will be held on 6/25.
DDT wrapped up the KING OF DDT 2023 Tournament today with the Semifinals and Finals.
Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. You can also watch the first 4 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.
The announced paid attendance was 677.
Pre-show:
Match 1: Yuki Iino, Danshoku Dieno & Yumehito Imanari beat Akito, Yusuke Okada & Rukiya by ref stoppage (TKO). Iino beat Rukiya.
Match 2: Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai, Takao Soma, Yuni & Yuki Ishida beat Toru Owashi, Makoto Oishi, Antonio Honda, Kazuki Hirata & Kazuma Sumi. Akai pinned Hirata after Quetzalcoatl.
Main show:
The promised announcement of a former WWE wrestler/champion appearing at WRESTLE PETER PAN was made to reveal the wrestler’s identity…Matt Cardona (Zack Ryder). He will face DDT Universal Champion Tetsuya Endo for the title on 7/23 with Steph De Lander in Cardon’a corner (not Chelsea Green, Cardona’s real-life wife. She’s back in WWE).
Match 1: KING OF DDT Semifinals: Kazusada Higuchi beat Yuki Ueno.
Match 2: KING OF DDT Semifinals: Chris Brookes beat Jun Akiyama.
Match 3: Tetsuya Endo & Kotaro Suzuki beat Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Paul. Endo pinned Paul after Burning Star Press. This was to have been a 6-man tag match but was changed to a tag match due to a KANON injury.
Match 4: Yuji Hino, Sanshiro Takagi, HARASHIMA & Naruki Doi beat MAO, Touki Kojima, Yuya Koroku & Takeshi Masada. Hino beat Koroku with King Kong sleeper.
Match 5: In a Piercing Deathmatch where win was by pinfall, submission or piercing your opponent’s ear 3 times, DDT Extreme Champion Shunma Katsumata beat Hideki Okatani to retain the title. V1 for Katsumata. Next up: TBA, but Katsumata hinted at wanting Atsushi Onita.
Main Event: KING OF DDT Finals: Chris Brookes beat Kazusada Higuchi by submission to win the tournament. As a result, Brookes will next face KO-D Openweight Champion Yuji Hino for the title at a date TBA.
Daisuke Sasaki summoned media backstage and tried to wait for El Desperado, who was part of the New Japan event later in the day at the venue. However, Korakuen Hall staff forced him to leave. Sasaki will face Desperado at WRESTLE PETER PAN.
The next event is Saturday at JMS Alter Plaza Multipurpose Studio in Hiroshima. There will be no live broadcast.
DDT announced two wrestlers are out of action for the time being today:
First, Rika Tatsumi is off tomorrow’s Tokyo Joshi Pro event. Still dealing with the ever-vague poor physical condition. She was to have been in a 6-woman tag match. Ryo Mizunami is the replacement.
DDT also announced changes for Sunday’s event because KANON is now off. Dislocated left shoulder suffered in practice. Out indefinitely but will be “for a while”. He was to have been in a 6-man tag match, which is now just a tag match.
More as it becomes available.
DDT returned to Chiba for another ONLY WE event today, this one a special Yuji Hino 20th Anniversary event.
Today’s event was held at TKP Garden City Chiba in Chiba and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 241, a super full house/very near sellout.
Before the event, a public signing ceremony for the next DDT Extreme Championship match between Shunma Katsumata & Hideki Okatani was held. It was announced the match would be a Piercing/Stabbing Weapons Death Match and in addition to normal methods, winning can also be by piercing the opponent’s ears with weapons 3 times.
Nick Wayne, a 17-year-old wrestler who was supposed to come to Japan earlier this year but was unable to due to visa issues, will try again to come to DDT in June & July. Wayne has already signed with All Elite Wrestling but can’t join them until he turns 18.
Match 1: Hideki Okatani beat Rukiya.
Match 2: Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno beat Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata. Iino pinned Hirata.
Match 3: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON beat Shunma Katsumata, Yusuke Okada & Kazuma Sumi. KANON beat Sumi with a cobra twist.
Match 4: Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada beat Hiroshi Yamato & Yuya Koroku. Brookes beat Koroku with a ground octopus stretch.
Match 5: Kazusada Higuchi, Ryota Nakatsu & Yuki Ishida beat KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Shinya Aoki, Yuki Ueno & Super Sasadango Machine to win the titles. Higuchi, Nakatsu & Ishida become the 51st KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Ishida pinned Machine after Flame Palm.
Match 6: Makoto Oishi & Shiori Asahi beat MAO & Toui Kojima. Oishi pinned Kojima.
Main Event: Yuji Hino 20th Anniversary Match: Yuji Hino, Jun Akiyama & Yukio Sakaguchi beat Tetsuya Endo, HARASHIMA & Yuji Okabayashi. Hino pinned HARASHIMA after Fuckin’ BOMB.
The next event is KING OF DDT 2023 FINAL!! on 5/21 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Saturday at 7 PM PT/10 PM ET. The start time may be moved up further due to 2 pre-show matches scheduled.
DDT held a special event today outside the JR Takashimaya train station in the Shinjuku area of Tokyo, the first time a wrestling event was held there. The event also featured a press conference and a talk show event with Sanshiro Takagi & Saki Akai.
Today’s event was held at JR Takashimaya 1st Floor JR Exit Special Venue in Tokyo and may be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.
The attendance was not announced because this was a free event.
Match 1: Kazusada Higuchi, Saki Akai & Yuki Ishida beat Sanshiro Takagi, Yuya Koroku & Kazuma Sumi. Higuchi beat Sumi with a torture rack Canadian backbreaker.
The public press conference held after the first match featured the KING OF DDT Semifinalists (Higuchi, Yuki Ueno, Chris Brookes, Jun Akiyama).
Sanshiro Takagi & Saki Akai held a talk show event and talked glowingly about the Takashimaya venue and area.
Match 2: Chiitan* & Akito beat Pocotan & Kazuki Hirata. Chiitan* pinned Hirata after Chii*Poco Trigger. Afterwards, actions by Hirata led Akito to make Chiitan* & Pocotan a team and they will be in a tag match at WRESTLE PETER PAN 2023 on 7/23 at Ryogoku Kokugikan.
Match 3: Tetsuya Endo, Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada beat MAO, Yuki Ueno & Toui Kojima. Brookes pinned Kojima after Praying Mantis Bomb.
The next event is tomorrow at TKP Garden City Chiba in Chiba for an ONLY WE/Yuji Hino 20th Anniversary event. There will be no live broadcast.
DDT continues the KING OF DDT 2023 Tournament today with the Quarterfinals. 24 hours after narrowing the field from 16 down to 8, including some major upsets (Hideki Okatani pulled off a shocker against double champion Shunma Katsumata), it will be narrowed down to 4 after today. The Quarterfinals make up the second half of today’s event, with Okatani vs. Kazusada Higuchi as the main event. The Semifinals will be determined by random draw after the event, so it’s not necessarily going to be what the brackets online suggest. There will be 4 non-tournament matches first including a pre-show dark match.
Today’s event will be held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. There will likely be no commentary. It may also be a hard camera-only view due to venue size limitations. I was way over on my running time prediction yesterday as I guessed it would go 2 1/2 hours and it only went about 1 hour 45 minutes. Not counting the pre-show match I anticipate another 2 hour event today, so if you need a Saturday Night Live replacement due to the writers’ strike this should suffice. Note the pre-show match is scheduled to start 22 minutes before event time. Odd, I know, but it’s DDT after all.
Today’s lineup (in order):
Pre-Show Match: Yuni & Yuki Ishida vs. Yuya Koroku & Kazuma Sumi
Main Show:
Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno vs. Akito & Antonio Honda
Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON vs. Shunma Katsumata, Toui Kojima & Takeshi Masada
Yuji Hino, Tetsuya Endo, Yukio Sakaguchi & Yusuke Okada vs. HARASHIMA, Naruki Doi, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata
KING OF DDT Quarterfinals:
Kotaro Suzuki vs. Yuki Ueno
Jun Akiyama vs. MAO
Sanshiro Takagi vs. Chris Brookes
Kazusada Higuchi vs. Hideki Okatani
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET. The Pre-Show Match is scheduled to begin at 7:38 PM PT/10:38 PM ET.
7:20 PM PT UPDATE: Stream start time has been moved up 5 minutes to 7:25 PM PT/10:25 PM PT. Updates will begin shortly.
7:25 PM PT UPDATE: Stream has launched. We should be going to the venue in about 10 minutes.
7:38 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates start now…
We are LIVE from Shinjuku Face in Tokyo, Japan. There is no commentary. Hard camera view only again.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. The crowd is still filing in as there’s 20 minutes until scheduled start time. Yesterday did roughly 235 so that suggests another crowd in the 225-250 range. (At start time it looks similar to yesterday so probably around 225 again)
The pre-show match starts a couple minutes later than planned at 7:40 PM PT.
Pre-show Match: Yuni & Yuki Ishida vs. Yuya Koroku & Kazuma Sumi. 15 minute time limit
Result :Yuni & Yuki Ishida beat Yuya Koroku & Kazuma Sumi. Ishida pinned Sumi after a palm strike.
Updates will resume at 8 PM PT or when main show matches begin.
The main show matches begin at 8 PM PT/11 PM ET.
Match 1: Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno vs. Akito & Antonio Honda. 30 minute time limit A ton of pre-match comedy stuff with Iino trying to be “Sexy” again but apparently he still has to be “NOT SEXY!”
Reslut: Yuki Iino & Danshoku Dieno beat Akito & Antonio Honda. Iino beat Honda with a sleeper hold. Nonstop ridiculous Pheromones comedy match. Kept everyone laughing the whole way through.
Match 2: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON vs. Shunma Katsumata, Toui Kojima & Takeshi Masada. 30 minute time limit
Result: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON beat Shunma Katsumata, Toui Kojima & Takeshi Masada. KANON pinned Kojima after Sleepy Hollow.
Match 3: Yuji Hino, Tetsuya Endo, Yukio Sakaguchi & Yusuke Okada vs. HARASHIMA, Naruki Doi, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata. 30 minute time limit
Result: Yuji Hino, Tetsuya Endo, Yukio Sakaguchi & Yusuke Okada beat HARASHIMA, Naruki Doi, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata. Sakaguchi pinned Hirata after PK following an Endo Torture Rack Bomb during Hirata’s comedy dancing with HARASHIMA. Hilarious ending.
Match 4: KING OF DDT Quarterfinals: Kotaro Suzuki vs. Yuki Ueno. No time limit
Result: Yuki Ueno beat Kotaro Suzuki. As a result, Ueno advances to the Semifinals.
Match 5: KING OF DDT Quarterfinals: Jun Akiyama vs. MAO. No time limit
Result: Jun Akiyama beat MAO. As a result, Akiyama advances to the Semifinals.
Match 6: KING OF DDT Quarterfinals: Sanshiro Takagi vs. Chris Brookes. No time limit
Result: Chris Brookes beat Sanshiro Takagi. As a result, Brookes advances to the Semifinals. Largely hardcore comedy outside the ring.
Quick break for ring cleaning.
Main Event: KING OF DDT Quarterfinals: Kazusada Higuchi vs. Hideki Okatani. No time limit
Result: Kazusada Higuchi beat Hideki Okatani. As a result, Higuchi advances to the Semifinals.
GM Imabayashi returns tot he ring to announce the Semifinal pairings, which are by a random draw once all 4 participants return to the ring. Colored balls will determine the matches. Higuchi draws first…red. Akiyama second…blue. Brookes third…blue. That means Ueno, who was last, got red. So the Semifinals are Higuchi vs. Ueno and Akiyama vs. Brookes. The Semifinals and Finals will be on 5/21 at Korakuen Hall.
The next event is 5/14 at TKP Garden City Chiba in Chiba for an ONLY WE/Yuji Hino 20th Anniversary Event. There will be no live broadcast.
Post-show note: The announced paid attendance was 206.