DDT kicks off the annual KONG OF DDT 2023 Tournament today, a single-elimination bracket-style singles tournament to determine the strongest wrestler in DDT. This year’s tournament has 16 participants (not everyone who wanted in got in, at least according to Saki Akai on her Twitter-she wanted in but got left out) and all will be in action today as the entire Round 1 makes up today’s event. Yuki Ueno vs. Naruki Doi will be the main event but on paper the highlight match seems to be Match 5, which is Jun Akiyama vs. Tetsuya Endo in an all-Burning affair, and all winners move on to tomorrow’s Quarterfinals. Kazusada Higuchi is the defensing tournament winner.
Today’s event will be held at Shinjuku Face on Tokyo and can be watched LIVE on WRESTLE UNIVERSE. It’s not known if there will be any commentary. All the matches have no time limit so it’s hard to predict how long the event will run, my guess will be about 2 1/2 hours.
Today’s lineup (in order, all matches are KING OF DDT Round 1 matches):
Yusuke Okada vs. Kazusada Higuchi
Shunma Katsumata vs. Hideki Okatani
Sanshiro Takagi vs. Yukio Sakaguchi
HARASHIMA vs. Chris Brookes
Jun Akiyama vs. Tetsuya Endo
MAO vs. Takeshi Masada
Kotaro Suzuki vs. KANON
Yuki Ueno vs. Naruki Doi
Refresh this page occasionally for the latest results.
Updates below will begin at 8 PM PT/11 PM ET.
7:55 PM PT UPDATE: Live updates begin now.
We are LIVE from Shinjuku Face in Tokyo, Japan. There is no commentary.
The paid attendance will be announced after the event. Not a sellout although the super seats and counter seats sold out, I’m guessing based on opening shots and crowd noise it’ll be in the 250-300 range.
The matches will begin shortly.
The matches begin at 8 PM PT. All matches are KING OF DDT Round 1 matches. No time limit. Looks like hard camera views only today.
Match 1: Yusuke Okada vs. Kazusada Higuchi
Result: Kazusada Higuchi beat Yusuke Okada by ref stoppage (KO-headbutt). As a result, Higuchi advances to the Quarterfinals and will face the Shunma Katsumata-Hideki Okatani winner.
Match 2: Shunma Katsumata vs. Hideki Okatani
Result: Hideki Okatani beat Shunma Katsumata. As a result, Okatani advances to the Quarterfinals and will face Kazusada HIguchi. This was mostly an outside the ring brawl scattering the crowd all over the place.
Match 3: Sanshiro Takagi vs. Yukio Sakaguchi
Result: Sanshiro Takagi beat Yukio Sakaguchi. Very short match (under 4 minutes). As a result, Takagi advances to the Quarterfinals and will face the HARASHIMA-Chris Brookes winner.
Match 4: HARASHIMA vs. Chris Brookes
Result: Chris Brookes beat HARASHIMA. As a result, Brookes advances to the Quarterfinals and will face Sanshiro Takagi.
Match 5: Jun Akiyama vs. Tetsuya Endo
Result: Jun Akiyama beat Tetsuya Endo. As a result, Akiyama advances to the Quarterfinals and will face the MAO-Takeshi Masada winner.
Match 6: MAO vs. Takeshi Masada
Result: MAO beat Takeshi Masada. As a result, MAO advances to the Quarterfinals and will face Jun Akiyama.
Match 7: Kotaro Suzuki vs. KANON
Result: Kotaro Suzuki beat KANON. As a result, Suzuki advances to the Quarterfinals and will face the Yuki Ueno-Naruki Doi winner.
Main Event: Yuki Ueno vs. Naruki Doi
Result: Yuki Ueno beat Naruki Doi. As a result, Ueno advances to teh Quarterfinals and will face Kotaro Suzuki.
Much faster event than I expected, the matches went just 1 hour 45 minutes total.
The Quarterfinals are tomorrow. Live streaming on WRESTLE UNVIERSE will begin at 8 PM PT/11 PM ET with live results posted here.
