Tag: ddtpro

DDT ran the second half of today’s doubleheader with Tokyo Joshi Pro in Tokyo.

Today’s event was held at Club eX in Shinagawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo and can be watched on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE.

The paid attendance was not announced.

Match 1: Hideki Okatani, MJ Paul & Illusion beat Shunma Katsumata, Yukio Naya & Kazuma Sumi. Okatani pinned Sumi after a vertical drop brainbuster.

Match 2: HARASHIMA & Shinya Aoki beat Takao Soma & Daichi Sato. Aoki pinned Sato with a European clutch.

Match 3: Toru Owashi beat Kazuki Hirata in 38 seconds. Which led to…
Match 3 (again): Toru Owashi beat Hiratimo Dragon (Kazuki Hirata) in 33 seconds. Which led to…
Match 3 (yet again): Kazuki Hirata beat Toru Owashi in 72 seconds. But of course!

Match 4: Yuki Ueno & To-y beat Jun Akiyama & Danshoku Dieno and MAO & KANON in a 3-way when To-y pinned Dieno.

Match 5: Kazusada Higuchi & Yuki Ishida beat Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada. Higuchi pinned Brookes after Brain Claw Slam.

Match 6: Antonio Honda 20th Anniversary Match: Daisuke Sasaki beat Antonio Honda by submission.

Main Event: KO-D Tag Team Champions Fuminori Abe & Takuya Nomura beat Akito & Yuya Koroku to retain the titles. Abe pinned Koroku after countering a chicken wing. V5 for the champs.

The next event is “DDT x New Japan One-Sided Competition – Super Sasadango Machine vs. Toru Yano” Monday at Korakuen Hall, which currently has just one match, the aforementioned Machine vs. Yano. Live streaming as a PPV on WRESTLE UNIVERSE and New Japan World will begin 3 AM PT/6 AM ET. The PPV will be 2500 Japanese yen (about $17.25 US) on WRESTLE UNIVERSE worldwide and on New Japan World in Japan and $18.99 on New Japan World outside Japan. The PPV will be available on WRESTLE UNIVERSE until 6/30.

DDT has provided a new update on the status of Masa Takanashi, who was severely injured at an event earlier this year: He had successful regenerative medicine surgery to restore/repair a damaged cervical spine cord and he will soon be transferred to another hospital to focus on rehabilitation. DDT is also launching a special online store in cooperation with Chocolate Pro Wrestling (ChocoPro, an independent promotion started/owned by current All Elite Wrestling wrestler Emi Sakura where Takanashi frequently appeared) but operated by DDT owner CyberFIght Corporation that will sell Takanashi-themed goods. Products offered will change monthly and orders will be accepted from the first Friday to the second Friday of each month. I don’t know if they ship outside Japan and the site is still a work-in-progress but you can check it out at takanashi-online.shop.

UPDATE: For those outside Japan, ProWrestlingTees, an online store used by independent wrestlers and All Elite Wrestling to sell officially licensed apparel, has opened a store to sell Takanashi t-shirts. This from DDT wrestler and factionmate Chris Brookes. There are two shirts currently available for $24.99 each and they ship domestically (US) and worldwide with a few exceptions. They also have a physical store in Chicago, IL that is open during special events. Proceeds will go to help Takanashi. The link is below (in English):

https://www.prowrestlingtees.com/wrestler-t-shirts/masatakanashi.html

In what definitely os a “Best For Business” move, “The Rampage” Kaisei Takechi announced a short time ago he has signed an agency contract and will join DDT as a full-time wrestler. He has made 2 appearances over the past year and both packed Korakuen Hall with female fans eager to see him wrestle. He will remain a member of LDH JAPAN, where he performs as a stage athlete/musician.

His first “official” match as a roster member will be on 7/13 at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, teaming with Shunma Katsumata & Yuki Ueno to face Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & Hideki Okatani. The event will be streamed live on WRESTLE UNIVERSE worldwide and also on ABEMA in Japan. But if hints dropped were any indication of things to come, a match against Ueno tops Takechi’s wishlist.

The replay of the presser can be watched FOR FREE on YouTube.

DDT ran their latest event in Nagoya today as part of a doubleheader with Tokyo Joshi Pro.

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

The paid attendance was not announced.

Match 1: HARASHIMA & Yasu Urano beat Naomi Yoshimura & Yuki Ishida. HARASHIMA pinned Ishida after Blue Sword.

Match 2: Antonio Honda beat Toru Owashi, Kazuki Hirata & Danshoku Dieno in a 4-way by beating Hirata.

Match 3: Akito beat Yuya Koroku.

Match 4: Jun Akiyama & Yuni beat Daichi Sato & Kazuma Sumi. Yuni pinned Sumi after Messiah DDT.

Match 5: KANON beat Takeshi Masada by submission.

Match 6: Chris Brookes & Minoru Suzuki beat Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Naya. Brookes pinned Higuchi after Praying Mantis Bomb.

Main Event: KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Daisuke Sasaki, Hideki Okatani & Illusion beat Yuki Ueno, Shunma Katsumata & To-y to retain the titles. Okatani pinned Katsumata after a vertical drop brainbuster. V2 for the champs. Next up: Brookes, Masada & Honda. That match will happen on 7/5 at Yokohama Radiant Hall in Yokohama.

The next event is Tuesday at Ueno Park Outdoor Stage in Tokyo. There will be no live broadcast.

UPDATE: On the heels of DDT announcing the third career match for O-MENZ Kumadori after the event, now comes word that a press conference regarding upcoming wrestling activities for “The Rampage” Kaisei Takechi, who has packed Korakuen Hall with female fans for his first two matches, will be held Thursday. This will be streamed LIVE FOR FEEE on DDT’s official YouTube channel beginning Wednesday at 8 PM PT/11 PM ET

DDT held a special mini-event today in Tokyo, setting up inside a train station exit in Shinjuku for the third straight year.

Today’s event was held at Shinjuku Takashimaya 1st Floor JR Exit Special Venue in Tokyo and may be available on demand on WRESTLE UNIVERSE at a later date. There was no live broadcast.

The paid attendance was not announced but there also were free activities.

Match 1: KANON won a 7 man battle royal, last eliminating Poision Sawada JULIE. As a result, KANON but to be publicity ambassador for the day. After this…
Poison Sawada JULIE beat DDT Iron Man Heavymetalweight Champion Pocotan’s Head to win the title. JULIE becomes the 1748th Champion. Yes, a costumed wrestler’s head. Afterwards, JULIE announced a new belt for the title will be revealed on 6/29 at Korakuen Hall, which ironically is the 25th anniversary of the title.

Match 2: Kazusada Higuchi, Yuya Koroku & Daichi Sato beat Daisuke Sasaki, Hideki Okatani & MJ Paul. Higuchi pinned Paul after a lariat.

A talk show event was held with Yuki Iino, who is currently out due to injury, and former wrestler Saki Akai making a special appearance.

Main Event: Yuki Ueno, Shunma Katsumata & To-y beat Chris Brookes, HARASHIMA & Takeshi Masada. Ueno pinned Masada after Everyone’s Madmax. Naturally this event finished like these events usually do-with a Heatwave WER!!

The next event is tomorrow at Chunichi Hall in Nagoya with a KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship match. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET.

And an interesting one at that-according to social media posts in Japanese & English by DDT, and subsequent reactions from fellow wrestlers, wrestling’s newest married couple is a really interesting pairing-Yuka Sakazaki & Konosuke Takeshita have tied the knot. Neither has posted about it but both shared posts from DDT’s Japanese account and Takeshita replied to comments by fellow DDT wrestler Jun Akiyama sending congratulations to the new couple. Both currently are in All Elite Wrestling but Takeshita also continues to compete in New Japan and occasionally DDT. It’s not yet known how long they were together before tying the knot.

Congratulations and best wishes to the new couple for a long and happy life together, both inside and outside the ring. Now to think of cleverly bad tag team names for them…and hope the Magical Girl stays out of the clutches of The Callous Hand Of Don too…

UPDATE: Japanese wrestling news site Puroresu Today has posted an article that includes Instagram posts from both Takeshita and Sakazaki announcing their marriage. Each posted a different photo of them together with Takeshita’s (I think) pet dog and the same photo of them making handprints in wet sand on the beach. Check out the article below (in Japanese):

KONOSUKE TAKESHITAが坂崎ユカとの結婚を報告

DDT wraps up the annual KING OF DDT Tournament today with the Semifinals and Finals. The first of DDT’s 2 annual single tournaments, this one is single-elimination and is down to the Final 4, which this year are Kazusada Higuchi, Yuki Ueno, KANON & Hideki Okatani. They’ll face off early today in the Semifinals then the winners will meet in the main event for a KO-D Openweight Championship shot. The undercard is highlighted by a DDT Universal Championship match as Minoru Suzuki defends against Danshoku Dieno.

Today’s event will be held at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE in Japanese. Comedian Layla Ikeda will be a guest on commentary. Since the tournament matches are no time limit and with the title match this will probably run a little longer than a normal Korakuen event so I’ll predict the running time will be about 3 hours.

Today’s lineup:
Chris Brookes, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada vs. Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & Illusion
KING OF DDT Semifinals:
Kazusada Higuchi vs. Yuki Ueno
Hideki Okatani vs. KANON
HARASHIMA & Kazuki Hirata vs. Akito & Yuya Koroku, Toru Owashi & Yuki Ishida and Yuni & Kazuma Sumi in a 4-way
Jun Akiyama, Yukio Naya & Daichi Sato vs. Shinya Aoki, Shunma Katsumata & To-y
DDT Universal Champion Minoru Suzuki vs. Danshoku Dieno for the title
KING OF DDT Finals (Higuchi/Ueno vs. Okatani/KANON)

Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.

Updates below will begin at 7:30 PM PT/10:30 PM ET. The live stream is scheduled to begin 25 minutes before the event (the broadcast from the venue will probably begin 10 minutes before the event).

7:05 PM PT UPDATE: The live stream has begun. We should be going to the venue in about 15 minutes.

7:15 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.

We are LIVE from Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. Your hosts are Satoshi Dairaku, Kagehiro Osano & Layla Ikeda. We should be joined later by Haruo Murata.

The paid attendance will not be announced after the event as DDT stopped doing that at the beginning of the year. Late-arriving crowd and it didn’t seem too affected by sumo (the final day of the May Tournament is in progress) so my guess is the attendance would’ve been around 1000).

The matches should begin in about 25 minutes.

NwA Jr. comes out 5 minutes before start time for their opening performance.

The matches begin at 7:37 PM PT/10:37 PM ET.

Match 1: Chris Brookes, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada vs. Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & Illusion. 30 minute time limit
Match 1: Chris Brookes, Antonio Honda & Takeshi Masada beat Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul & Illusion. Honda pinned Illusion with a Japanese leg roll clutch hold.

Match 2: KING OF DDT Semifinals: Kazusada Higuchi vs. Yuki Ueno. No time limit
Result: Kazusada Higuchi beat Yuki Ueno. As a result, Higuchi advances to the Finals.

Match 3: KING OF DDT Semifinals: Hideki Okatani vs. KANON. No time limit
Result: KANON beat Hideki Okatani. As a result, KANON advances to the Finals.

This means the Finals (main event) will be Higuchi vs. KANON.

Your new host is Haruo Murata, taking over for Satoshi Dairaku.

Match 4: HARASHIMA & Kazuki Hirata vs. Akito & Yuya Koroku, Toru Owashi & Yuki Ishida and Yuni & Kazuma Sumi in a 4-way. 30 minute time limit
Result: Akito & Yuya Koroku beat HARASHIMA & Kazuki Hirata, Toru Owashi & Yuki Ishida and Yuni & Kazuma Sumi in a 4-way when Koroku beat Sumi.

Haruto Sakuraba promo (pre-recorded video). He next competes on 7/13 and it sounds like he wants KANON.

Match 5: Jun Akiyama, Yukio Naya & Daichi Sato vs. Shinya Aoki, Shunma Katsumata & To-y. 30 minute time limit
Result: Shinya Aoki, Shunma Katsumata & To-y beat Jun Akiyama, Yukio Naya & Daichi Sato. Aoki pinned Sato.

Match 6: DDT Universal Champion Minoru Suzuki vs. Danshoku Dieno for the title. 1 Hour time limit
Result: DDT Universal Champion Minoru Suzuki beat Danshoku Dieno to retain the title. V2 for Suzuki. Next up: Pass the throat lozenges…Aoki. Cauliflower ear and all which I noticed his left ear is when the camera got close up. GM Imabayashi makes it official. That match will happen on 6/28 at the next Korakuen (not counting the New Japan-DDT Toru Yano vs. Super Sasadango Machine crossover PPV on 6/8.

Main Event: KING OF DDT Finals: Kazusada Higuchi vs. KANON. No time limit
Result: Kazusada Higuchi beat KANON to win the tournament. As a result, Higuchi will get a KO-D Openweight Championship shot in the future. But no hints dropped as to when as it wasn’t mentioned and no Brookes appearance during the Higuchi promo.

The next event is a BBQ Street Pro Wrestling mini-event Wednesday at Kirana Garden Toyosu in Tokyo. This event is weather permitting due to being outdoors. There will be no live broadcast. That will be followed by a special free mini-event/variety event on 5/31 at a JR Train Station stop in Tokyo including a special talk show event with Saki Akai.

The next “actual” event is 6/1 at Chunichi Hall in Nagoya with a KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship match. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNIVERSE will begin at 1 AM PT/4 AM ET.

UPDATE: Correction to Suzuki-Aoki note above: That match will actually happen on 7/13, not 6/28. 7/13 is also at Korakuen.
After their win in the 4-way, Koroku issues a KO-D Tag Team Championship challenge on behalf of himself & Akito. They got it. That match will happen on 6/7 at Club eX in Shinagawa Prince Hotel when they face champions Takuya Nomura & Fuminori Abe for the titles.

UPDATE 2: Brookes-Higuchi for the title is now official. That match will happen on 6/29.

DDT has finally provided an update on Masa Takanashi after he suffered what appeared to be a serious injury in his last match against Chris Brookes-he remains hospitalized but is now out of intensive care and is starting rehab. DDT posted this statement from Takanashi, translated into English:

“I’m sorry to have made you all worry due to my situation.

I have now been moved to the general ward and I just started on rehabilitation. Right now I am at the stage where I am just moving the tips of my toes, but I hope that I will be able to meet you all again one day as I continue to work on my recovery.

As someone of this industry, I take all critical comments and encouragements as I face up to my current situation.

And to Chris and the fans everywhere, I hope you can all carry on with your lives without worry.”

DDT and Chocolate Pro Wrestling, a small independent promotion started by longtime women’s wrestler Emi Sakura (who also competes in All Elite Wrestling) are preparing new merchandise and online stores which presumably will serve as fundraisers for his medical treatment. Further details on this TBA.

More as it becomes available.

With everyone who went the US for The Collective now back in Japan, DDT headed to Hokkaido for a weekend doubleheader starting today.

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

The paid attendance was not announced.

Match 1: Daisuke Sasaki, Hideki Okatani & Illusion beat KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions Shunma Katsumata, Kazuma Sumi & Yuni to win the titles. Sasaki, Okatani & Illusion become the 58th KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Champions. Illusion pinned Yuni.

Match 2: In the first half of a Sapporo Marathon Style Death Match, Akito vs. Kazuki Hirata went to a 4-4 draw after 10 minutes. Scoring was 1 point for pinfalls, submissions or countouts, 1 point for putting on Hirata’s signature sunglasses, 5 points for doing the whole dance wearing said glasses and -2 points for a DQ. The second half of the match is tomorrow. Most points after that wins.

Match 3: Jun Akiyama, Koji Yoshida & Daichi Sato beat Kazusada Higuchi, Koji Doi & Yuki Ishida. Akiyama pinned Ishida after Exploder.

Match 4: MAO & KANON beat Yukio Naya & Yuya Koroku. KANON pinned Koroku after a deformed face buster.

Match 5: Danshoku Dieno beat HARASHIMA.

Main Event: Chris Brookes & Takeshi Masada beat Yuki Ueno & To-y. Brookes pinned To-y after Praying Mantis Bomb.

The next event is tomorrow (tonight US time). Daisuke Sasaki is off this event due to participation in an event at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo There will be no live broadcast.