Dramatic DDT

DDT “SWEET DREAMS! 2014”, 26/01/2014
Tokyo Korakuen Hall

1. Saki Akai & Makoto Oishi Vs Yoshiko & Toru Owashi
2. Keisuke Ishii & Soma Takao Vs Antonio Honda & Daisuke Sasaki
3. Sanshiro Takagi & Hikaru Sato Vs Yukio Sakaguchi & Akito
4. KUDO Vs Danshoku Dino
5. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – Battle Royal: Masa Takanashi (c) Vs MIKAMI Vs Yasu Urano Vs Michael Nakazawa Vs Tomomitsu Matsunaga Vs Gota Ihashi Vs Kazuki Hirata Vs Guanchulo Vs DJ Nira
6. KO-D Tag Team Titles – 3 Way Match: Isami Kodaka & Yuko Miyamoto (c) Vs Kota Ibushi & Kenny Omega Vs Konosuke Takeshita & Tetsuya Endo
7. KO-D Openweight Title: HARASHIMA (c) Vs Shigehiro Irie

The annual contract renewals for the entire DDT roster took place this week. The sad news is Hikaru Sato did not renew his contract and will leave the company at the end of the month. Sato posted his comments on DDT’s site thanking them for his growth as a wrestler. He describes his transformation over the years as being able to survive the world of professional wrestling because he learned there is no single ideology needed to succeed. In DDT he was able to “rampage freely” with his ideas and Hikaru Sato would not exist without them. However he will not get many new opportunities if his career stays sterile. In Pancrase he was taught “The right of freedom is given only to those who played a duty of responsibility” and in order to fulfil his dream he needs to go out and do more.

He gained strength and jealousy from wrestling with Kota Ibushi, became friends with HARASHIMA as his equal and got to learn from Yukio Sakaguchi. Sato also had a lot of good things to say about Michael Nakazawa, who he had formed a very perverted team with over the years. Sato will continue to run Hard Hit but will no longer be involved with DDT’s day to day activities. He is unsure of where his journey will take him next and he may return to DDT in the future (he joked he could be back in three days time). But for now his final match will be himself and Sanshiro Takagi versus Yukio Sakaguchi & Akito on 26th January. Sato ended his message asking his fans to attend the show wearing the Pancrase Dead Or Alive t-shirt.

The other main change in contracts is Daisuke Sasaki becoming a full time member of the roster. He was previously wrestling for DDT as a freelancer. Konosuke Takeshita is in his final year of high school and his contract will be sorted out after his college entrance exam. Hoshitango is currently back home in Argentina but an agreement is in place for a contract when he returns.