DDT wraps up June with their monthly Tokyo major event today, KING OF KINGS. The title comes from the big main event as Chris Brookes defends the KO-D Openweight Championship against Kazusada Higuchi, who earned the shot by winning this year’s KING OF DDT Tournament. It’s the second time Higuchi has won the annual spring tournament-the first time he followed it up by winning his first KO-D Openweight Championship so history is on the challenger’s side. That match will be preceded by a KO-D Tag Team Championship match as well as O-MENZ Kumadori participation, which promises intrigue & excitement (as well as helping to pack the venue with more female fans). Additionally, Poison Sawada JULIE will also appear to unveil a new DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Championship title belt…but whether he leaves with it is another story as he is currently champion, but you never know with that true 24/7 title, the best in all pro wrestling. Today definitely will be more of DDT at its best.
Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. Actor Yuzuki Hashimoto will be a special guest on commentary. There will be a pre-show match before the event followed by a signing ceremony for the DDT Universal Championship match to be held on 7/13. The pre-show means this will run longer than normal Korakuen events, probably going closer to 3 1/4 hours.
Today’s lineup:
Pre-show:
Naomi Yoshimura & Yuki Ishida vs. Akito & Kazuma Sumi
DDT Universal Championship 7/13 Contract Signing
Main show:
Jun Akiyama, Daichi Sato & Takao Soma vs. Toru Owashi, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada
Danshoku Dieno & Kazuki Hirata vs. Mansoor & Mason Madden
MJ Paul & Illusion vs. HARASHIMA & O-MENZ Kumadori
Daisuke Sasaki & Hideki Okatani vs. MAO & KANON and Shunma Katsumata & To-y in a 3-way
Minoru Suzuki & Yuki Ueno vs. Shinya Aoki & Yuya Koroku
KO-D Tag Team Champions Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura vs. Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya for the titles
KO-D Openweight Champion Chris Brookes vs. Kazusada Higuchi for the title
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 7 PM PT/10 PM ET. The pre-show is scheduled to begin at 7:10 PM PT/10:10 PM ET. The main show will begin at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET.
7 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has begun. We should be going to the venue in 10 minutes.
7:10 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Your hosts are Satoshi Dairaku, Kagehiro Osano & Yuzuki Hoshimoto.
The paid attendance will not be announced after the event as they stopped doing that at the start of the year. Advance ticket sales were stronger than usual for today, no doubt in part due to O-MENZ Kumadori.
The pre-show match starts as soon as we go live.
Pre-show match: Naomi Yoshimura & Yuki Ishida vs. Akito & Kazuma Sumi. 15 minute time limit
Result: Naomi Yoshimura & Yuki Ishida beat Akito & Kazuma Sumi. Ishida pinned Sumi after Flame Palm.
Quick break to set the ring up for the DDT Universal Championship public signing ceremony for the 7/13 title match.
Main show:
The matches begin at 7:35 PM PT/10:35 PM ET.
Match 1: Jun Akiyama, Daichi Sato & Takao Soma vs. Toru Owashi, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada. 30 minute time limit
Result: Jun Akiyama, Daichi Sato & Takao Soma beat Toru Owashi, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada. Sato pinned Masada.
Your new host is Haruo Murata.
Match 2: Danshoku Dieno & Kazuki Hirata vs. Mansoor & Mason Madden. 30 minute time limit
Result: Mansoor & Mason Madden beat Danshoku Dieno & Kazuki Hirata. Madden pinned Hirata.
GM Imabayashi brings out current DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion Poison Sawada JULIE to unveil the new title belt design for the title. Afterwards, JULIE makes the mistake of taunting Sanshiro Takagi and he comes out. Which led to…
Sanshiro Takagi beat DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion Poison Sawada JULIE to win the title. Takagi becomes the 1749th Champion.
Match 3: MJ Paul & Illusion vs. HARASHIMA & O-MENZ Kumadori. 30 minute time limit
Result: MJ Paul & Illusion beat HARASHIMA & O-MENZ Kumadori. Illusion pinned Kumadori after a low blow. UPSET ALERT!!! And a rather unpopular one at that. Both with microphone post-match. We probably haven’t seen the end of this. UPDATE: Single match between Kumadori & Illusion is set. That match will happen on 7/16 at Shinjuku Face.
Host tag in/out as Satoshi Dairaku is your host once again for the next match.
Match 4: Daisuke Sasaki & Hideki Okatani vs. MAO & KANON and Shunma Katsumata & To-y in a 3-way. 30 minute time limit
Result: Daisuke Sasaki & Hideki Okatani beat MAO & KANON and Shunma Katsumata & To-y in a 3-way when Sasaki beat Katsumata.
Match 5: Minoru Suzuki & Yuki Ueno vs. Shinya Aoki & Yuya Koroku. 30 minute time limit
Result: Minoru Suzuki & Yuki Ueno beat Shinya Aoki & Yuya Koroku. Ueno pinned Koroku. The on-screen graphic incorrectly said Aoki/Koroku won. Maybe because Aoki had Suzuki all but out in a sleeper hold when Ueno won and that’s what the ref counted-Ueno rolling up Koroku. Suzuki was seemingly out cold until he then did the Deadman Undertaker springing back to life and cleaning house post-match.
Host tag-your host is Haruo Murata once again.
Match 6: KO-D Tag Team Champions Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura vs. Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya for the titles. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya beat KO-D Tag Team Champions Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura to win the titles. Iino & Naya become the 87th KO-D Tag Team Champions. Naya pinned Abe after The World’s Largest Backdrop. Afterwards, Iino with microphone. HE IS BURNING no more…they are now GMX. But as he finished…next up: Sato & Akiyama out to issue challenge. And just like that, GM Imabayashi with microphone. It’s now official. Sounds like next month. Will update later with confirmed date (I think it’ll be 7/12). UPDATE: That match will happen on 7/27 at at Sumitomo Metal Mining Arena Ome Sports Hall 1 in Tokyo.
Main Event: KO-D Openweight Champion Chris Brookes vs. Kazusada Higuchi for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: Kazusada Higuchi beat KO-D Openweight Champion Chris Brookes to win the title. Higuchi becomes the 85th KO-D Openweight Champion. Higuchi led a post-match toast with Brookes and impressively took it to a big can of Sapporo (beer) afterwards. Then…next up…HARASHIMA out for the challenge. He wants an 11th reign and first since 2020. Accepted. And it’s made official by GM Imabayashi. Also sounds like 7/12. UPDATE: That match will happen on 7/13 at Korakuen. That event will also be broadcast live on ABEMA in Japan because it will be the next Kaisei Takechi event. It will also be live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. That event is already a legit advance sellout.
The next event is Wednesday at Shinjuku Face. There will be no live broadcast.