Tag: ddtpro

DDT just can’t maintain a full healthy roster right now. The body count relentlessly keeps rising as something bad is going around Japan and the latest addition to the count today is Takeshi Masada. Flu. Out indefinitely and off Sunday’s event in Kanagawa. He was to have teamed with Yoshitatsu & Masa Takanashi to face Tetsuya Endo, Yuki Iino & Yusuke Okada. That match is now Endo/Iino/Okada vs. Yoshitatsu, Kazusada Higuchi & Akito. As a result, what had been Higuchi, Kazuki Hirata & Danshoku Dieno vs. HARASHIMA, Akito & Kazuma Sumi that same event is now Hirata/Dieno/Yuni vs. HARASHIMA/Sumi/Takanashi.

It’s not known if Masada will miss any additional events, the next ones after this are 1/20 & 1/21.

UPDATE: it never ends, it seems…now Kazuma Sumi is off the event. Flu. Sanshiro Takagi is the replacement.

UPDATE 2 (1/13): Someone keeps passing it around DDT as now Yuni has it and is off 1/14. Fever.

DDT ran the second half of their first Osaka doubleheader of the year today.

Today’s event was held at 176BOX in Osaka and should be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Wednesday. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 208.

There were last-minute changes because of the latest of countless injury absences in the promotion, this time it was Toi Kojima. Right side injury suffered yesterday. Status uncertain. Mizuki Watase was the replacement.

Match 1: Makoto Oishi beat Yuni.

Match 2: Kazuki Hirata beat Danshoku Dieno.

Match 3: Yoshitatsu beat Takeshi Masada

Match 4: Jun Akiyama, Toru Owashi & Yukio Sakaguchi beat Mizuki Watase, Yusuke Okada & Illusion. Sakaguchi pinned Illusion after God’s Right Knee.

Match 5: Hideki Okatani beat Akito.

Match 6: Sanshiro Takagi & Rukiya beat HARASHIMA & Kazuma Sumi. Rukiya pinned Sumi after Proto Bomb.

Match 7: Danshoku Dieno & Yuki Iino beat Daisuke Sadaki & KANON. Iino pinned KANON after a spear.

Main Event: Yukio Naya & Kazusada Higuchi beat Yuki Ueno & Shunma Katsumata. Naya pinned Katsumata after The World’s Largest Backdrop.

The next event is 1/14 at Tsurumi Fruit & Vegetable Market in Kanagawa with an All-Asia Tag Team Championship Exploding Blast Death Match scheduled, but it may depend on Kojima’s condition as he is scheduled to be a challenger with Atsushi Onita. There will be no live broadcast.

DDT continued the SWEET DREAMS! 2024 Tour today with their first Osaka event and first doubleheader there of the year.

Today’s event was held at 176BOX in Osaka and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 236, a full house/near sellout.

Before the event, referee Matsui announced he will hold a 30th Anniversary Event on 5/19 at Sumiyoshi Civic Center in Osaka.

Match 1; Sanshiro Takagi & Kazuki Hirata beat Toru Owashi & Illusion. Hirata pinned Illusion.

Match 2: Daisuke Sasaki & KANON beat Yuki Iino & Yuni. Sasaki beat Yuni with a crossface.

Match 3: Yoshitatsu & Yusuke Okada beat HARASHIMA & Kazuma Sumi. Yoshitatsu pinned Sumi.

Match 4: Kazusada Higuchi beat Rukiya.

Match 5: KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Jun Akiyama, Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi beat Naruki Doi, The Bodyguard & Tsutentakka to retain the titles. Oishi pinned Tsutentakka. V2 for the champs. Next up: Higuchi, Hikaru Sato & Ryo Kawamura. That match will happen on 1/28 at Korakuen Hall. If the champs lose, they can’t call themselves D.O.A. (Dead Or Alive) anymore.

Match 7: Tetsuya Endo beat Takeshi Masada

Main Event: Yuki Ueno, Shunma Katsumata & Toi Kojima beat Yukio Naya, Yukio Sakacguchi & Hideki Okatani. Ueno pinned Okatani after Jul 2.

The next event is tomorrow (tonight US time). There will be no live broadcast.

DDT began their January 2024 tour, SWEET DREAMS! 2024, today with a house show in Tokyo.

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

The announced paid attendance was 255.

Match 1: Takao Soma & Kazuma Sumi beat Kazusada Higuchi & Illusion. Soma pinned Illusion after Perfect Driver.

Match 2: Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani beat Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi. Okatani beat Oishi with a transformed dragon sleeper.

Match 3: Jun Akiyama, Yoshitatsu & Yukio Naya beat Akito. Yuki Iino & Rukiya. Naya pinned Rukiya.

Match 4: HARASHIMA beat Kazuki Hirata & Toru Owashi in a 3-way by pinning Hirata. Afterwards, Disaster Box officially disbanded.

Match 5: Daisuke Sasaki & KANON beat Tetsuya Endo & Yusuke Okada. Sasaki beat Okada with a crossface. Afterwards, Sasaki continues his efforts in recruiting Endo to join DAMNATION TA, but Endo refused. That led to a heel beatdown until Yuki Iino made the save and then joined Burning.

Main Event: Masa Takanashi, Antonio Honda, Takayuki Ueki, Mecha Mummy & Takeshi Masada beat KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Champions Yoshihiko, Shunma Katsumata, Toi Kojima, Yuni & Yuki Ueno to win the titles. Takanashi, Honda, Ueki, Mummy & Masada become the 9th KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Champions. Honda pinned Katsumata. Yuni was a late replacement as interim champion for the absent MAO (flu).

The next event is tomorrow at 176BOX in Osaka. There will be no live broadcast.

Following up on MAO being absent from DDT’s 1/3 event with a possible fever, it has now been revealed he will be out through the rest of this week’s events. Flu. That means MAO is also off a scheduled KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Championship defense tomorrow. The match will go on, however, with Yuni as an interim replacement for the champs. He will also miss events on 1/6 & 1/7. That means the earliest he could return is 1/14 at Tsurumi Fruit & Vegetable Market in Kanagawa, but he should be good to go for a DDT Universal Championship defense on 1/21.

More as it becomes available.

DDT wrapped up the D KING GP 2023 and kicked off their 2024 today with a big year-opening event.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. Kenta Kobashi & SKE48 member Marika Tani were guests on commentary.

The announced paid attendance was 1194, a super full house/very near sellout. Also their best Korakuen number in a long time as they normally use a smaller configuration.

During the opening wrestler entrance ceremony, Yoshitatsu, who just left All-Japan Sunday, appeared and announced he will be participating full time in DDT starting Friday.

Match 1: Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & KANON beat Takao Soma, Shota & Yuni. KANON beat Soma with Cobra Twist 2.0. Shota was a last-minute replacement for Yuki Iino, who was removed from the match as a last-minute replacement in another match for the absent MAO (fever). Afterwards, Sasaki & KANON issued a KO-D Tag Team Championship challenge to Soma & Shota. That match will happen on 1/21 at Club Shinagawa eX in Tokyo.

Match 2: Makoto Oishi & Jun Akiyama beat Yusuke Okada & Kazuma Sumi. Oishi beat Sumi with a Fujiyama knee lock.

Miu Watanabe (Tokyo Joshi Pro) appeared to promote tomorrow’s (tonight US time) TJPW event .They then introduced Tsubasa Suzuki, aka Mother Con Kid, who will debut om 3/17. However, he is an intern and will continue as such so there is no guarantee he will become a full-time member, that decision will come in a few months.

Match 3: Shunma Katsumata Return Match: Shunma Katsumata & Toi Kojima beat Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani. Kojima pinned Okatani after a deformed face buster.

Match 4: HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi & Kazuki Hirata beat Sanshiro Takagi, Akito & Antonio Honda. Hirata pinned Honda. After this, it appears Disaster Box officially disbanded, then Katsumata reappeared to issue a DDT Extreme Championship challenge to Hirata. That match will happen on 1/28.

Match 5: Jun & Rei Saito (All-Japan) beat Kazusada Higuchi & Rukiya. Rei Saito pinned Rukiya.

Impromptu Match: Kuroshio TOKYO Japan beat DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion The Christmas Tree to win the title. Kuroshio becomes the 1600th Champion.

Which led to…

Match 6: DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion Kuroshio TOKYO Japan beat Danshoku Dieno to retain the title.

In addition to what All-Japan announced earlier in the day, more crossover matches to be held in DDT were announced: Ryuki Honda & Yuma Anzai will appear on 2/7 and Konosuke Takeshita vs. Yuma Aoyagi will happen on 3/17.

Match 7: Yuki Ueno & Yuki Iino beat Masa Takanashi & Takeshi Masada. Ueno pinned Masada after Jul 2. Iino was a last-minute replacement for MAO.

Main Event: D KING GP 2023 Finals: Yukio Naya beat Tetsuya Endo to win the tournament. First victory for Naya. As a result, Naya will face KO-D Openweight Champion Yuki Ueno for the title on 1/28.

The next event is Friday at Shinjuku Face. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 2 AM PT/5 AM ET.

UPDATE: In post-match backstage comments, Sanshiro Takagi announced he will take a break from wrestling after the 7/21 event for health reasons. He will continue in his current managerial role for owner CyberFight Corporation.

DDT has just announced a last-minute change for their year-opening event in a few hours…the body count keeps unfortunately rising and the latest casualty is MAO. Fever. He just returned from the US where he defended the DDT Universal Championship Sunday. He was to have teamed with Yuki Ueno to face Masa Takanashi & Takeshi Masada. Yuki Iino is the replacement, but he was to have been in a 6-man tag that was the first match with Takao Soma & Yuno vs. Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Payl & KANON. Shota is the replacement there. MAO should mot miss any more time and hos next totle defense is scheduled for 1/21.

DDT wrapped up 2023 in Japan with their final event of the year, a 1 day 6-man tag team tournament.

Today’s event was held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. Surprisingly, given it was at Korakuen, there was no live broadcast.

The announced paid attendance was 778.

6-Man NYE Tag Tournament Round 1:
Match 1: HARASHIMA, Koji Sekifuda & Yuji Hino beat Takeshi Masada, Akira & Koji Iwamoto. HARASHIMA pinned Masada after Blue Magic Sword.
Match 2: Kazusada Higuchi, Yasufumi Nakanoue & Kyohei Kinoshita beat Takao Soma, Kazumasa Yoshida & Trans-Am*Hiroshi. Kinoshita pinned Hiroshi with a blockbuster hold.
Match 3: Yukio Naya, Hideyoshi Kamiya & Minoru Suzuki vs. Danshoku Dieno, Daichi Hashimoto & Ikuto Hidaka went to a 10 minute time limit draw. Which led to…
Continuation (no time limit, 1 count fall): Yukio Naya, Hideyoshi Kamiya & Minoru Suzuki beat Danshoku Dieno, Daichi Hashimoto & Ikuto Hidaka. Suzuki beat Dieno with a sleeper hold.
Match 4: Tetsuya Endo, Daisuke Sekimoto & Fuminori Abe beat Hideki Okatani, Yuki Ishikawa & Brahman Shu. Abe pinned Shu.

Match 5: Daimonji Sou (?), Ender Kara (?), Leighton Buzzard & Tempesta beat Kazumi Kikuta, Kazuki Hashimoto, Kazuma Sumi & Rukiya. Buzzard pinned Rukiya after a firebird splash. (Completely guessing the winners names based on translations)

6-Man NYE Tag Tournament Semifinals:
Match 6: HARASHIMA, Koji Sekifuda & Yuji Hino beat Kazusada Higuchi, Yasufumi Nakanoue & Kyohei Kinoshita. Sekifuda pinned Kinoshita after Ironman.
Match 7: Yukio Naya, Hideyoshi Kamiya & Minoru Suzuki vs. Tetsuya Endo, Daisuke Sekimoto & Fuminori Abe went to a 15 minute time limit draw. Which led to…
Continuation (same as above): Tetsuya Endo, Daisuke Sekimoto & Fuminori Abe beat Yukio Naya, Hideyoshi Kamiya & Minoru Suzuki. Sekimoto pinned Kamiya after a lariat.

Match 8: Takuya Nomura, Abdullah Kobayashi & Kankuro Hoshino beat Yuki Ueno, Kazuki Hirata & Antonio Honda. Kobayashi pinned Honda.

Main Event: 6-Man NYE Tag Tournament Finals: Tetsuya Endo, Daisuke Sekimoto & Fuminori Abe beat HARASHIMA, Koji Sekifuda & Yuji Hino to win the tournament. Endo pinned Sekifuda after Burning Star Press.

The promotion’s 2024 schedule begins Wednesday with the D KING GP 2023 Finals. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese will begin at 1:30 AM PT/4:30 AM ET. D KING GP Chairman Kenta Kobashi and SKE48 member Marika Tani will be guests on commentary. The first 3 matches will also be broadcast FOR FREE on YouTube.

DDT is surely glad to see 2023 end when it comes to injuries and absences, and they had one more last-minute loss today-Yuya Aoki is now off tomorrow’s year-end event. Fever. He was to have been in a one-day 6-man tag team tournament with Takeshi Masada & Koji Iwamoto. Akira, who is not the former longtime wrestler AKIRA or New Japan’s Francesco Akira, is the replacement.

(Note that although the event is at Korakuen Hall, there will be no live broadcast on WRESTLE UNIVERSE)