DDT “ULTIMATE PARTY 2019! DDT GROUP BIG SET!”, 03/11/2019
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan
1. Special Single Match: Sanshiro Takagi Vs Isami Kodaka
A press conference was held today between Sanshiro Takagi and Isami Kodaka to announce that BASARA will be going completely independent from DDT at the end of the year. The final BASARA show under the DDT umbrella will be their winter Korakuen Hall show on 28th December. A new office for BASARA will be established this October to run the promotion in 2020 along with a new website and service for live ticket sales.
The full list of people joining this new office for BASARA are Isami Kodaka, FUMA, Trans-Am ★ Hiroshi, Gouma Ryu, Daichi Kazato/Best Stretchman V3, SAGAT, Yusuke Kubo, Ryota Nakatsu, Takumi Tsukamoto, Ryuichi Sekine, Daiki Shimomura, Takato Nakano, Fuminori Abe, Masato Kamino, ring announcer Rikiya Shindo and referee Yuya Okada.
This was something Kodaka had wanted to do with BASARA since the beginning, to build something from scratch and do his best to run it on his own. At 38 years old Kodaka thinks that now is the time in his life to take that challenge. He has faith in his roster to take this big step forward. The shows themselves will not be that different. What Kodaka has now with BASARA is what he wants to continue, just as an independent entity.
To mark this decision, a match has been booked between Kodaka and Takagi for November’s Sumo Hall show which is featuring all of the DDT promotions. The two have only had one singles match before back in 2013. Kodaka won that match. Takagi believes he will be the KO-D Openweight Champion thanks to his Right To Challenge Gauntlet and promises to defend the title against Kodaka at their November match. Kodaka was asked if he would also put the BJW Death Match Title on the line if he is still the champion by then. Kodaka smiled and said that is looking too far into the future.
Takagi later mentioned that DDT will be keeping the existing footage of BASARA shows on DDT UNIVERSE and will continue to have the remaining shows for 2019. Nothing has been decided yet for 2020 onwards.
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As for continuing BASARA coverage on this blog, I’m following the same path for now. Sticking with them throughout 2019 and seeing what happens in 2020. I would like to continue following BASARA and if their online presence is still easy to find once they go independent, I should be fine with them. But if they go the Hard Hit route where info for shows are sparse then I may have to drop it.
Dramatic DDT 