Tag: ddtpro

DDT kicked off the 2026 KING OF DDT Tournament today in Tokyo with their Golden Week major event. The first of 2 major single tournament each year in the promotion, this is a single-elimination bracket format event.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The paid attendance was not announced.

Pre-show:
Match 1: Jun Akiyama, Yuni, Yuki Ishida & Rikiya beat Naomi Yoshinura, Viente Maligno, Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Masami Inabata. Rukiya pinned Maligno with a fishermans buster.
Match 2: Yuki Ueno & Shunma Katsumata beat Daisuke Sadaki & MJ Paul and Antonio Honda & Hinata Kasai in a 3-way when Ueno pinned Kasai. Rather unusual to have the promotion’s top wrestler and champion on a pre-show, don’t you think? Until you realize…

Main show:

All matches were KING OF DDT Round 1 matches. No time limits.

Match 1: Hideki Okatani beat Yuya Koroku.

Match 2: Takeshi Masada beat To-y.

Match 3: Chris Brookes beat Junta Miyawaki.

Match 4: HARASHIMA beat Daichi Sato.

Match 5: Shinya Aoki beat KANON.

Match 6: Minoru Suzuki beat Yukio Naya.

Match 7: Danshoku Dieno beat Kazuki Hirata.

Main Event: MAO beat Kazuma Sumi.

After the main event, it was announced that Sumi will defend the DDT Universal Championship in France on 5/23. That match will be against Gringo Loco & Leedz Lewis in a 3-way. MAO & Yoshihiko will also be there for a BZW Tag Team Championship defense.

As a result of today, the Quarterfinals are as follows: Dieno vs. Masada, Suzuki vs. Brookes, HARASHIMA vs. Aoki, Okatani vs. MAO.

The Quarterfinals are Saturday at Shinjuku Face. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 3 AM PT/6 AM ET

DDT began their May schedule with an event today in Homkaido.

Today’s event was held at Sapporo Sun Plaza in Hokkaido and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Monday. There was no live broadcast.

The paid attendance was not announced.

Match 1: Hideki Okatani beat Viente Maligno.

Match 2: Danshoku Dieno & Yukio Naya beat Kazuma Sumi & Yuki Ishida. Naya pinned Ishida with La Magistral.

Match 3: Takeya Dou (?), Kaoshi (?) Yoshida, Kazuki Hirata & Tomomitsu Matsunaga beat Akito, Antonio Honda, Junta Miyawaki & Hinata Kasai. Yoshida pinned Kasai.

Match 4: Yuki Ueno, Shunma Katsumata & To-y beat Takeshi Masada, Yuya Koroku & O-MENZ Kumadori. Katsumata pinned Kunadori after Totoe Splash.

Match 5: MAO & KANON beat Jun Akiyama & Masami Inahata. KANON pinned Inahata after Guru-Guru Driver.

Main Event: KO-D Tag Team Champions Chris Brookes & HARASHIMA beat Daisuke Sasaki & MJ Paul to retain the titles. HARASHIMA pinned Paul after a swan dive Blue Sword. V1 for the champs.

The next event is tomorrow with a KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship match. There will be no live broadcast. On demand Wednesday.

DDT continued their current tour today with a house show in Yokohama.

Today’s event was held at Yokohama Radiant Hall in YOkohama and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The paid attendance was not announced.

The event started with some bad news, especially for the ladies, and some last-minute changes because of Kaisei Takechi being ruled out of action, and the upcoming King Of DDT Tournament. Acute appendicitis. It was later announced that Kazuki Hirata will be the replacement in the tournament.

Match 1: Shinya Aoki beat Rukiya.

Match 2: Kazuki Hirata & Naomi Yoshimura beat Danshoku DIeno & ANtonio Honda in 2 seconds. Yoshimura beat Honda with a side headlock. Which led to…
Match 2 (again): In a handicap match, Naomi Yoshimura beat Kazuki Hirata, Danshoku Dieno & Antonio Honda by beating Hirata.

Match 3: MAO, KANON, Yuki Iino, Yukio Naya & Viente Maligno beat Kazuma Sumi, Junta Miyawaki, Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Yuni & Yuki Ishida. MAO pinned Yinu after Assault Love Heart.

Match 4: Yuki Ueno & Akito beat Daichi Sato & Masami Inahata. Ueno pinned Inahata after a sitout powetbomb.

Match 5: Hideki Okatani, MJ Paul & Minoru Fujita beat Chris Brookes, HARASHIMA & Hinata Kasai. Olatani pinned Kasai after a koshi-swivel-type Claymore.

Main Event: Shunma Katsumata & To-y beat Takeshi Masada & Yuya Koroku. To-y pinned Masada after a Frankensteiner.

The next event is Wednesday at Higashi-ku Plaza in Niigata. The event is a legit advance sellout. There will be no live broadcast. On demand Friday.

Kaisei Takechi has helped bring a lot of female fans into DDT in the 2 years he’s been active as a pro wrestler, or more specifically a “hybrid performer” much like fellow wrestler/stage performer O-MENZ Kumadori. So when injuries hit that really puts a damper on things, and unfortunately for Takechi-and the ladies-it’s happened again at a very bad time. Acute appendicitis. Out at least a month and that means, as a result, Takechi is out of the 2026 KING OF DDT Tournament. Replacement TBA.

More as it becomes available.

UPDATE: Kazuki Hirata is the replacement.

In addition to press conferences today, DDT continued the build to the KING OF DDT 2026 Tournament today with an event in Tokyo.

Today’s event was held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The paid attendance was not announced.

Match 1: Hideki Okatani & MJ Paul beat Naomi Yoshimura & Akito and Danshoku Dieno & Kazuki Hirata in a 3-way when Okatani pinned Hirata.

Match 2: Junta Miyawaki beat Antonio Honda.

Match 3: MAO, KANON, Yuki Iino & Viente Maligno beat Kazuma Sumi, O-MENZ Kumadori, Rukiya & Hinata Kasai. Iino pinned Kasai after a lariat.

Match 4: Minoru Suzuki & HARASHIMA beat Yukio Naya & Yuki Ishida. Suzuki pinned Ishida after a Gotch-style piledriver.

Match 5: Yuki Ueno, Shinya Aoki, Shunma Katsumata & To-y beat Takeshi Masada, Yoya Koroku, Daichi Sato & Masami Inahata. Aoki pinned Inahata with European Clutch

Main Event: Chris Brookes beat Illusion.

The next event is Saturday at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET.

UPDATE: Injury Report-Illusion was injured during the main event. Concussion-like symptoms. Out indefinitely but at least 2 weeks. A decision on returning will be made around or shortly after the 5/6 event. Updates to follow.

In addition to event postponements, DDT also announced an injury absence today. No FIRE! for now as Sanshiro Takagi was injured at the event this weekend. Orbital bones (eye) and nose. Out indefinitely. The promotion said “a short period of time” but event changes resulting from this indicate at least 1-2 weeks. But exactly how long isn’t yet known.

More as it becomes available.

DDT’s monthly signature Tokyo event today underwent late changes to be centered around the retirement of Kazusada Higuchi, who announced recently he had to retire due to injury.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. Tetsu Inada & Saki Akai were guests on commentary.

The paid attendance was not announced.

Pre-show match: Rukiya beat Yuni.

Match 1: Takeshi Masada, Yuya Kotoku & Daichi Sato beat Kazuma Sumi, Masami Inahata & Hinata Kasai. Masada pinned Kasai after a lariat.

Match 2: in a Variety King match, GM Imabayashi beat Toru Owashi, Akito, Danshoku Dieno, Kazuki Hirata, Super Sasadango Machine & Antonio Honda in a 7-way by beating Hirata. Comedy match where the first time a wrestler went for a pinfall or submission they had to rush out of the ring to do their entrance.

Match 3: Yukio Naya & Viente Maligno beat Hideki Okatani & Illusion. Naya pinned Illusion after The World’s Largest Backdrop.

Match 4: Yuki Iino, Jun Akiyama & Junta Miyawaki beat Yuki Ueno, Shinya Aoki & To-y. Iino pinned Ueno after a spear.

Match 5: Kaisei Takechi beat Makoto Oishi (Independent/Freelancer).

Match 6: Chris Brookes & HARASHIMA beat KO-D Tag Team Champions MAO & KANON to win the titles. Brookes & HARASHIMA become the 89th KO-D Tag Team Champions. HARASHIMA pinned KANON after a swan dive type Blue Sword. Next up: Possibly Illusion & Daisuke Sasaki. Or at least a poster of Sasaki because he is on international excursions all month.

Main Event: Naomi Yoshimura, Ryota Nakaysu & Yuki Ishida beat Shunma Katsumata, Kota Umeda & Koki Iwasaki. Ishida pinned Katsumata after Flame Palm. Due to Higuchi’s retirement, Harimao disbanded after the match.

After the main event, a retirement ceremony was held for Higuchi.

The next event is Thursday at Ueno Park Outdoor Stage. There will be no live broadcast. On demand on 4/12.

UPDATE: After the event, the full bracket for this year’s KING OF DDT Tournament was revealed. It’s a single-elimination bracket format event with 16 participants. All Round 1 matches will be on 5/4 and are as follows: Danshoku Dieno vs. Kaisei Takechi, To-y vs. Takeshi Masada, Minoru Suzuki vs. Yukio Naya, Chris Brookes vs. Junta Miyawaki, HARASHIMA vs. Daichi Sato, Shinya Aoki vs. KANON, Hideki Okatani vs. Yuya Koroku, MAO vs. Kazuma Sumi. The Quartrrfinals will be on 5/9 at Shinjuku Face. After that, there will be a random drawing for the Semifinals. The Semifinals & Finals will be on 5/31.

DDT held one of their wackier special events today in Tokyo, the first time they’ve held an event in a certain outdoor shopping mall there. The event was weather permitting but it turned out perfect.

Today’s event was held at Mitsui Outlet Park Tama Minami Osawa in Tokyo and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Tuesday. There was no live broadcast.

The attendance was not announced as usual but this was a free event.

Match 1: Hideki Okatani, MJ Paul & Illusion beat Takeshi Masada, Daichi Sato & Hinata Kasai. Illusion pinned Kasai after a swanton bomb.

Match 2: Jun Akiyama & Yuya Koroku beat Kazuma Sumi & Kazuki Hirata. Akiyama pinned Hirata after Exploder.

Match 3: Naomi Yoshimura & Yuki Ishida beat MAO & Masami Inahata. Ishida pinned Inahata after Flame Palm.

Match 4: Chris Brookes, HARASHIMA & Antonio Honda beat Shunma Katsumata, To-y & Yuni. Honda pinned Yuni with a Japanese leg roll clutch hold. Honda retained the DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Championship.

Yuki Ueno appeared and apologized for being out of action. Eye surgery. Expected to be out about a week.

Main Event: KANON & Viente Maligno beat Junta MiyawakI & Rukiya to become the inaugural MOP Tag Team Champions. KANON pinned Rukiya after a lariat.

This event was considered very successful and there will be more going forward. In fact, they’ll be back on 4/11.

The next event is “SPOILER FREE Performance Vol. 4” Wednesday at Ueno Park Outdoor Stage. All social media and website posts with results, photos/videos from the event, etc. are banned until midnight Japan time after the event. There will be-of course-no live broadcast. On demand on 4/4.

DDT ran another Sanshiro Takagi Produced Super Japan Pro Wrestling event today, which based on a fan vote afterwards could be the last. As usual there was no DDT participation outside of Takagi himself.

Today’s event was held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Friday. There was no live broadcast.

The paid attendance was not announced, but based on post-event planned audience polling it appears to have been 315.

There were last-minute changes to the card due to MIKAMI being pulled off the event. The always-vague poor health. I believe he was to have been part of the opening segment.

Match 1: Evil Uno & Ram Kaichow beat Shota & Marika Kobashi. Uno pinned Shota after Something Evil.

Match 2: Hiroshi Yamato vs. Munenori Sawa & Gym Trainer Kotoka in a 3-way went to a draw. Apparent triple KO.

Match 3: Brahmans Shu & Kei & Mac Panasonic beat Takashi Sasaki, Nao Sano & Demonio Uno. Kei pinned Uno.

Match 4: Sanshiro Takagi beat Poison Sawada JULIE.

Match 5: Kuroshio TOKYO Japan beat Kumatori.

Match 6: Kazunari Murakami vs. Shinya Aoki went to a no contest. Out of control.

Main Event: Yuji Nagata (New Japan) beat Fuminori Abe.

After all matches ended, the vote on the project’s future was held for fans in attendance…258 Yes, 6 No, 51 Neutral/No Answer. Super Japan Pro Wrestling continues! The next one will be on 5/24 at Ueno Park Outdoor Stage. They also announced former All-Japan President Masayuki Uchida has been appointed as an advisor to the project.

The next event is Saturday at Mitsui Outlet Park Tama Minami-Osawa in Tokyo for a free event. There will be no live broadcast. On demand on 3/31.