DDT continued the Into The Fight 2024 Tour today with a house show in Osaka.
Today’s event was held at Osaka Azalea Taisho in Osaka and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date (probably Wednesday). There was no live broadcast. (2/12 UPDATE: On demand will be available Wednesday)
The announced paid attendance was 180.
Match 1; MJ Paul beat Kazuma Sumi.
Match 2: Chris Brookes & Hideki Okatani beat Kazuki Hirata & Tsutenkakku. Okatani pinned Hirata after Quetzalcoatl.
Match 3: Yoshitatsu beat Makoto Oishi.
Match 4: Sanshiro Takagi, Jun Akiyama & Toru Owashi beat Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Naya & Rukiya. Akiyama pinned Rukiya after a running knee strike.
Match 5: MAO beat Akito.
Match 6: Tetsuya Endo & Yuki Iino beat HARASHIMA & Takeshi Masada. Endo pinned Masada after a swiveling torture rack bomb.
DDT held a retirement event for Yukio Sakaguchi today as the promotion mainstay and the son of famous wrestler Seiji Sakaguchi called it a career.
Today’s event was held at Shinjuku Face in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTE UNIVERSE. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE on YouTube.
The paid attendance has not yet been announced but it was a legit advance sellout. (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 500, a legit full capacity sellout)
Match 1: Chris Brookes & Masa Takanashi beat Danshoku Dieno & Kazuki Hirata. Brookes pinned Hirata after Praying Mantis Bomb.
Match 2: Jun Akiyama, Yoshitatsu & Takao Soma beat Toru Owashi, Akito & Kazuma Sumi. Soma pinned Sumi after Perfect Driver.
The normally opening announcements were here after the YouTube broadcast ended. On 4/21 there will be a “Spoiler-Free Vol. 1” event at Tsurumi Fruit & Vegetable Matket in Kanagawa. From 4/25-4/27 there will be a collaboration event with a pro handball team at Sumida City Gym in Tokyo. And in an impromptu decision, Ken Ohka appeared and was granted a match with Sanshiro Takagi on 3/17.
Match 3: In a hardcore match, Hideki Okatani beat MJ Paul. As a result, Okatani gets the next shot at the DDT Extreme Championship against Shunma Katsumata. That match will happen on 3/17 at Korakuen Hall.
Match 4: Ryuki Honda & Yuka Anzai (All-Japan) beat Takeshi Masada & Rukiya. Anzai pinned Rukiya with a German suplex hold.
Match 5: Yuki Ueno, MAO & Shunma Katsumata beat Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Naya & Makoto Oishi. Ueno beat Oishi with a sleeper hold.
Match 6: Tetsuya Endo & Yuki Iino beat KO-D Tag Team Champions Daisuke Sasaki & KANON to win the titles. Endo & Iino become the 82nd KO-D Tag Team Champions. Endo pinned Sasaki after Burning Star Press.
Main Event: Yukio Sakaguchi Retirement Match: HARASHIMA beat Yukio Sakaguchi.
The next event is Sunday at Osaka Azalea Taisho in Osaka. There will be no live broadcast.
UPDATE: The first challengers for Endo/Iino are set-Honda & Anzai. That match will also happen on 3/17.
DDT has been forced to make another change to an already-scheduled card, this time for 2/4, but it’s not injury-related this time, it’s more an “only in DDT” thing…Yoshihiko was scheduled for the 2/4 event in Nagano but is now off. Double booked that date and will be overseas instead. He was to have teamed with Jun Akiyama & Toru Owashi to face Danshoku Dieno, Makoto Oishi & Tetsuya Endo. Akihiro, who could pass as a relative of Yoshihiko, is the replacement. Yoshihiko has been given a “strict warning” about this. Based on the new match graphic, it makes it very clear this is all about “only in DDT” and the blame probably should be directed to some extent towards MAO (if you get it):
DDT runs their monthly Tokyo major event today, Sweet Dreams! 2024, and it’s their first really major event of the year. There are 3 title matches scheduled but the big one is the main event for the KO-D Openweight Championship. Previously on the verge of the title but his hopes derailed by injury that kept him out long-term, Yukio Naya made his comeback late last year and won the D KING GP 2023 to earn a shot at current champion Yuki Ueno today. The time may be now for the big man who clearly is a big part of DDT’s future. Before that, there will be a KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship match, which is also a DOA Contra DOA Match, where the losing team can no longer call themselves “Dead Or Alive/DOA”. The DDT Extreme Championship is also up for grabs as Kazuki Hirata defends against Shunma Katsumata in a comedy match where Toi Kojima ultimately will decide the victor through various challenges he will undertake. The event will also see Yukio Sakaguchi’s final match in Korakuen Hall before his retirement next month, and he’ll face young Eruption stablemate & protege Hideki Okatani, who will have a lot of weight on his shoulders from carrying on the legacy of both retired factionmate Saki Akai and soon Sakaguchi.
Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. Japanese voice actor Tetsu Inada will be a special guest on commentary. You can also watch the first 2 matches FOR FREE live on YouTube. This could be a long-running event with 3 title matches, if like me you’re watching opposite other wrestling tonight (like the WWE Royal Rumble) you’ll be split-screening for a little while before it’s just this event, which I’m estimating will run for around 3 hours.
Today’s lineup: Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi, Akito, Shnichiro Kawamatsu & Yuni vs. HARASHIMA, Tomoya, Antonio Honda, Takeshi Masada & Kazuma Sumi Tetsuya Endo, Yuki Iino & Rukiya vs. Daisuke Sasaki, KANON & Bryan Keith Yukio Sakaguchi vs. Hideki Okatani MAO & TAKA Michinoku (New Japan) vs. Chris Brookes & Masa Takanashi DDT Extreme Champion Kazuki Hirata vs. Shunma Katsumata for the title. 2 Count pinfalls. After a pinfall, KO, TKO, submission or countout, Toi Kojima may enter the ring for a Kojima Challenge. If he does and completes the challenge, whoever got that last fall wins. If Kojima fails the challenge, the match continues KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Jun Akiyama, Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi vs. Hikaru Sato, Kazusada Higuchi & Ryo Kawamura in a DOA Contra DOA Match for the titles. The losing team can no longer call themselves DOA (Dead Or Alive) Konosuke Takeshita vs. Naruki Doi (Independent/Freelancer) KO-D Openweight Champion Yuki Ueno vs. Yukio Naya for the title The opponent for Kaaisei Takechi’s Debut Match on 2/25 will be announced
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
The YouTube broadcast is scheduled to begin 10 minutes before the event and can be watched below (video courtesy of the DDT Official YouTube channel), scroll down further for results/updates:
Updates below will begin at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET.
6:20 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.
We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Your hsots are Haruo Murata, Kagehiro Osano & special guest Tetsu Inada.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. Looks like they’re using more capacity on the bleacher side than usual but it’s too early to estimate the crowd. They are going up opposite the final day of sumo in Tokyo but it’s hopefully going to be a good number. I’ll hope for at least 1000 right now. (It looks like a close-to-full-capacity setup today. Gonna stick with around 1000 for my prediction) (UPDATE: The announced paid attendance was 1120, a super full house/very near sellout)
The matches should begin in 15-20 minutes.
The matches begin at 6:32 PM PT/9:32 PM ET.
Match 1: Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi, Akito, Shnichiro Kawamatsu & Yuni vs. HARASHIMA, Tomoya, Antonio Honda, Takeshi Masada & Kazuma Sumi. 30 minute time limit Result: HARASHIMA, Tomoya, Antonio Honda, Takeshi Masada & Kazuma Sumi beat Sanshiro Takagi, Toru Owashi, Akito, Shnichiro Kawamatsu & Yuni. Sumi pinned Yuni.
The debut opponent on 2/25 for Kaisei Takechi is announced. It actually will be a 6-man tag: Takechi, Yuki Ueno & Shunma Katsumata vs. Tetsuya Endo, Hideki Okatani & Takeshi Masada. Pre-recorded comments from Takechi follow.
Match 2: Tetsuya Endo, Yuki Iino & Rukiya vs. Daisuke Sasaki, KANON & Bryan Keith. 30 minute time limit Result: Daisuke Sasaki, KANON & Bryan Keith beat Tetsuya Endo, Yuki Iino & Rukiya. KANON pinned Rukiya.
The YouTube broadcast ends here.
Match 3: Yukio Sakaguchi vs. Hideki Okatani. 30 minute time limit Result: Yukio Sakaguchi beat Hideki Okatani
Your new host is Ken Kato for the next match or two.
Match 4: MAO & TAKA Michinoku (New Japan) vs. Chris Brookes & Masa Takanashi. 30 minute time limit Result: MAO & TAKA Michinoku beat Chris Brookes & Masa Takanashi. MAO pinned Takanashi after Cannonball 450.
The 20th Anniversary KING OF DDT Tournament is announced along with the first 5 entrants, all former winners: Poison Sawada JULIE, Sanshiro Takagi, Danshoku Dieno, HARASHIMA and…Shuji Ishikawa! (Formerly of All-Japan Pro Wrestling but he is leaving the promotion). The schedule is set too: 5/5 at Korakuen for Round 1, 5/11 at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama for Round 2, and 5/26 at Korakuen for the Finals (this is a single-elimination tournament).
Quick break for the delayed-to-now opening announcements from GM Imabayashi.
Match 5: DDT Extreme Champion Kazuki Hirata vs. Shunma Katsumata for the title. 2 Count pinfalls. After a pinfall, KO, TKO, submission or countout, Toi Kojima may enter the ring for a Kojima Challenge. If he does and completes the challenge, whoever got that last fall wins. If Kojima fails the challenge, the match continues. 1 Hour time limit Result: By virtue of a Kojima challenge being completed after a 2 count fall, Shunma Katsumata beat DDT Extreme Champion Kazuki Hirata to win the title. Katsumata becomes the 59th DDT Extreme Champion. Afterwards, Katsumata invited Hirata to join The37Kamiina. My Japanese is not good enough to know whether Hirata accepted. (Update: He refused) Katsumata stood frozen holding them microphone in a comedy spot as GM Imabayashi entered the ring. Announcement eventually made…next up: MJ Paul. He handed Imabayashi a note before trying to ambush Katsumata but Hideki Okatani made the save. If Katsumata wins, then maybe Okatani. More on this as it becomes available. (UPDATE: Next up will be the winner of a match TBA on 2/7 with the title match on 3/17)
Match 6: KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Jun Akiyama, Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi vs. Hikaru Sato, Kazusada Higuchi & Ryo Kawamura in a DOA Contra DOA Match for the titles. The losing team can no longer call themselves DOA (Dead Or Alive). 1 Hour time limit Result: KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Jun Akiyama, Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi beat Hikaru Sato, Kazusada Higuchi & Ryo Kawamura to retain the titles. Oishi pinned Kawamura. V3 for the champs. As a result, the losers can no longer call themselves DOA.
Match 7: Konosuke Takeshita (entrance starting with the AEW Don Callis ambient droning tone before his normal music) vs. Naruki Doi (Independent/Freelancer). 30 minute time limit Result: Konosuke Takeshita beat Naruki Doi
Main Event: KO-D Openweight Champion Yuki Ueno vs. Yukio Naya for the title. 1 Hour time limit Result: KO-D Oprnweight Champion Yuki Ueno beat Yukio Naya by submission to retain the title. V1 for Ueno. Wow. What a finish. Naya slowly if not reluctantly tapped out to a sleeper hold after BME. GM Imabayashi interviewed Ueno afterwards and, according to Ueno, if he gets his wish…next up: Danshoku Dieno (!?!). Afterwards, Ueno brought The37Kamiina back in all together, and now with 3 titles they once again are where they were just under a year ago. They’re the faces that run the places in DDT. WER!!
The next event is 2/4 at Nagano Arcs in Nagano. There will be no live broadcast.
Match 3: Tetsuya Endo & Yuki Iino beat Takeshi Masada & Rukiya. Iino pinned Rukiya after a lariat.
Match 4: Jun Akiyama, Danshoku Dieno & Makoto Oishi beat HARASHIMA, Hideki Okatani & Kazuma Sumi. Oishi beat Sumi with a Fujiyama knee lock.
Match 5: Yukio Naya & Yoshitatsu beat Yuki Ueno & Shunma Katsumata. Naya pinned Katsumata after The World’s Largest Backdrop.
Match 6: Daisuke Sasaki & KANON beat KO-D Tag Team Champions Takao Soma & Shota to win the titles. Sasaki & KANON become the 81st KO-D Tag Team Champions. KANON beat Shota with Cobra Twist 2.0. Next up: Endo & Iino. Chosen by Sasaki, no doubt as part of his ongoing efforts to recruit Endo back into his heel faction. That match will happen on 2/7.
Main Event: DDT Universal Champion MAO beat Bryan Keith to retain the title. V4 for MAO. Next up: Hikaru Machida. That match will happen on 2/25.
The next event is Sweet Dreams! 2024 on 1/28 at Korakuen Hall with 3 title matches including Ueno-Naya for the KO-D Openweight Championship. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin Saturday at 6:30 PM PT/9:30 PM ET with live results scheduled.
Stop me anytime because unfortunately the broken record that is the DDT injury body count has repeated itself again today, this time the loss is Yusuke Okada. Lower abdomen tumor. Out indefinitely and will need surgery. Based on Chris Brookes currently dealing with a similar issue it probably will mean he is out a few months.
Toi Kojima competed in a death match in DDT yesterday alongside Atsushi Onita, and while it may be worth it as he now is All-Asia Tag Team Champion, he worked through injury and those exploding bat shots among other bings aggravated and worsened it, so add his name to the ever growing sidelined roster. Rib cartilage fracture. Out a month. Expected to return on 2/14. It’s now known is this will affect the titles, that is partly up to All-Japan.
DDT held an emergency press conference earlier today, which was for a surprise announcement: Yukio Sakaguchi will retire on 2/7. A translation of a news item on DDT’s website indicates it is for personal reasons. Sakaguchi, 50, is the son of legendary wrestler Seiji Sakaguchi and has been active since 2007. No retirement tour or anything like that and a retirement match is TBA but based on what he requested, it could be a match against HARASHIMA or Hideki Okatani. (Edit: It will be HARASHIMA)
DDT is running their first deathmatch-centered event of 2024 as it is to be headlined by an Atsushi Onita death match.
Today’s event was held at Tsurumi Fruit & Vegetable Market in Kanagawa and will be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE Wednesday. There is no live broadcast.
The announced paid attendance was 220, a full house/near sellout.
There were last-second changes due to Yuni being off the event. Fever.
Match 1: In a Fuun Takagi Castle Match, a 10 minute match where one team had to build a castle by then or they would lose, Kazuki Hirata & Danshoku Dieno (attacking team) beat Sanshiro Takagi, HARASHIMA & Masa Takanashi (castle building team)..
Match 2: Tetsuya Endo, Yuki Iino & Yusuke Okada beat Yoshitatsu, Kazusada Higuchi & Akito. Iino pinned Akito after a spear.
Match 3; Daisuke Sasaki beat Shota by submission.
Match 4: Takao Soma beat KANON.
Match 5: Demonio Uno beat MAO, Mecha Mummy & Mecha Pandita in a 4-way by pinning Pendita.
Match 6: Yuki Ueno & Shunma Katsumata beat Yukio Naya & Rukiya. Katsumata pinned Rukiya after totonoe Splash.
Intermission.
Main Event: In a Current Explosive Bat & Board Death Match, Atsushi Onita & Toi Kojima beat All-Asia Tag Team Champions Yukio Sakaguchi & Hideki Okatani to win the titles. Onita & Kojima become the 122nd All-Asia Tag Team Champions. Kojima pinned Okatani. Back to title death matches all the time.
The next event is “DDT New Year Fan Appreciation Day” on 1/20 at Club eX in Shinagawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 12:30 AM PT/3:30 AM ET.
