DDT held their 28th Anniversary event today, another 5 hour extravaganza that ended on a very bad note, more on that later.
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 but looks like close to a sellout based on a photo Saki Akai posted on social media.
Match 1: Shunma Katsumata, Yuni & Kazuma Sumi beat Kazusada Higuchi, Ryota Nakatsu & Yuki Ishida to win the vacant KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship. Katsumata, Yuni & Sumi become the 57th KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Sumi pinned Ishida.
Match 2: Toru Owashi beat Antonio Honda & Kazuki Hirata in a 3-way by pinning Honda.
Match 3: MJ Paul & Illusion beat J.J. Furno & Tomomitsu Matsunaga. Paul pinned Matsunaga after a reverse splash.
Match 4: Yukio Naya, Yuya Koroku & Keigo Nakamura beat Makoto Oisho, Akito & Takao Soma. Koroku pinned Soma after Transformed Triangle Lancer.
Match 5: HARASHIMA & Takeshi Masada beat Jun Akiyama & Daichi Sato. HARASHIMA pinned Sato after Blue Sword.
Match 6: In a Loser Entry Match, Super Sasadango Machine beat DDT Extreme Champion Danshoku Doeno to win the title. Machine becomes the 62nd DDT Extreme Champion. As a result, Haku-Dieno’s real-life pet dog-must join DDT.
Naomi Yoshinura appeared and announced he will return on 4/6. He has been out since late 2023 due to injuries.
Match 7: Daisuke Sasaki beat KANON. Afterwards, Sasaki announced the Hideki Okatani return match on 4/6 will be Sasaki & Okatani vs. KANON in a handicap match.
Match 8: Funinori Abe & Takuya Nomura beat KO-D Tag Team Champions MAO & To-y to win the titles. Abe & Nomura become the 86th KO-D Tag Team Champions. Abe pinned To-y with a Manji hold. Next up: Nakamura & Shinya Aoki. That match will happen on 4/6.
Match 9: Minoru Suzuki beat DDT Universal Champion Yuki Ueno to win the title. Suzuki becomes the 14th DDT Universal Champion.
Main Event: KO-D Openweight Champion Chris Brookes beat Masa Takanashi to retain the title. V3 for Brookes. But Takanashi was seriously injured during the match and was unable to move afterwards, and was hospitalized immediately. In post-event comments translated to English, Akito (who also is interim GM of DDT) reported Takanashi is conscious, can speak and move his hands. No further details as to what happened have been provided. More as it becomes available. Next up: As expected per winning the D GENERATIONS CUP, Koroku. That match will happen on 4/6.
The 16-man field for this year’s KING OF DDT Tournament was also announced. Takanashi is in but subject to change.
It was also announced that WRESTLE PETER PAN, the promotion’s biggest annual event in August, will be 2 events this year-8/30 at Higashin Arena in Tokyo and 8/31 at Korakuen.
The next event is Sunday at Moyakojima Community Center in Osaka. There will be no live broadcast.
UPDATE: Tokyo Sports reports Takanashi may have suffered a cervical spine injury. He complained of being unable to move his lower body after the ending of the match, which was an avalanche-style Praying Mantis Bomb (a piledriver variation). Awaiting further updates.
UPDATE 2: DDT has now provided an update-neck injury but still undergoing examination. The results will be announced at a later date.
UPDATE 3: Latest update-2 cervical vertebrae fractures and cervical spine cord injury. Remains in intensive care following successful surgery. Post-operative recovery is progressing well. Further updates to come but assume he will be out several months at the very least. Although announced for KING OF DDT 2025, I assume he’ll be out.