Dramatic DDT

Yesterday two of DDT’s biggest exports were both involved in title matches for different companies. Let’s see how they got on.

NOAH “STAR NAVIGATION PREMIUM ~NOAH JR. TAG LEAGUE 2025~”, 11/02/2025
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1,560 Fans – Super No Vacancy

5. GHC National Title: Manabu Soya defeated Tetsuya Endo (c) with the Dando (12:20).
*Tetsuya Endo fails in V1. Manabu Soya becomes the 15th GHC National Champion!

Well that puts a dampener of Tetsuya Endo’s heel turn. Not long after he won the GHC National Title and joined TEAM 2000X he loses it back to Manabu Soya in the rematch. In the preview matches coming up to this bout, Endo taunted Soya by telling him the result would be the same and his family would get so fed up by Soya’s failure they would abandon him! However Soya was determined to reclaim his championship even if he had to overcome a damaged elbow to do so. He also got help from the RATEL’S unit to fend off interference from TEAM 2000X. With the fight now evened out, Soya went on to beat Endo and win back the National Title.

Endo blamed the loss on the referee’s pin count but will not dwell on it for long. He is already missing the sweet voice of a NOAH championship and does not intend to return to DDT empty handed. He has long stay in NOAH ahead of him and when the time comes for him to go back home, he will bring a souvenir for DDT back with him.

NJPW “THE NEW BEGINNING IN OSAKA”, 11/02/2025
Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium (Osaka Edion Arena)
5,502 Fans – Super No Vacancy

6. NEVER Openweight Title: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA (c) defeated Oleg Boltin with the Raging Fire (11:33).
*V3 for KONOSUKE TAKESHITA.

Fortunes fared better for Konosuke Takeshita over in New Japan. He put the NEVER Openweight Title on the line against Oleg Boltin in a rematch from last year’s G1 Climax. This time Takeshita was able to survive the Kamikaze Drop and use a Front Neck Lock to sap the life out of his opponent. Boltin was unable to kick out of the Raging Fire after that. Backstage Takeshita said he was thankful to Boltin ever since the G1 match because losing to him only made Takeshita stronger. He looks forward to a third and final showdown to happen some day.

Takeshita quickly found out who is next to face him for the title. Ryohei Oiwa approached him after the match. He said it would be interesting to see Takeshita’s worldwide wrestling style line up against Oiwa’s Japanese only style (Oiwa famously never went on the traditional overseas excursion every young lion goes through). Takeshita warned him that a world class wrestler like himself is very strong.