Dramatic DDT

A press conference was held by DDT in Tokyo today to announce that Kazusada Higuchi will be retiring from pro wrestling on 5th April. Higuchi had been taking time off since from wrestling since the start of the year to deal with a neck injury. This comes after he previously had to take eight months off during 2024 into 2025 to recover from other injuries including a cervical hernia. This decision came about when at some point between December and January, Higuchi went through a health checkup that is regularly given out to everyone in the DDT roster. The doctor found Higuchi had subluxation of the first and second cervical vertebrae and told him that continuing to wrestle (or take part in any kind of contact sport) would be dangerous for his health. Higuchi and his doctor had discussions with DDT over him having any possibility of continuing his wrestling career but they reached the decision that it would be best for him to retire.

Unfortunately due to the current state of Higuchi’s neck, he has already wrestled his last match and his retirement at DDT’s Korakuen Hall show on 5th April will just be a ceremony without a final match preceding it. Higuchi said he is currently not feeling any symptoms over his condition but understands that his neck has reached it physical limit. He regrets not being able to wrestle again but is glad to have detected this problem early so he could exit the business on his own two feet. Although he will no longer live in the ring, he believes his life will continue for a long time.

The press conference also had comments from Sanshiro Takagi and Akito both speaking as representatives of CyberFight. Akito explained the above routine health checkups that the DDT roster goes through over the new year period. He also noted that the cervical condition Higuchi has usually gives the person symptoms of numbness or even paralysis in the limbs. Higuchi does not have those symptoms but the doctor determined that no amount of treatment would solve the problem. Surgery could be an option but it comes with the setback of restricting Higuchi’s neck movement and he wouldn’t be able to wrestle in that condition either.

Takagi told the story of the first time he was introduced to Higuchi by a friend, leading to the former sumo from Hokkaido to join DDT. He claims there were times when Higuchi’s powerful style helped DDT and he became a symbol of the company’s strength from 2022 onwards. He is surprised by the sudden news and thinks the best thing DDT can do is to give him the warmest send-off possible. By Higuchi’s request, his unit Harimao will have its final match on 5th April taking on a team of wrestlers who are also all close to him. It will be Naomi Yoshimura, Ryota Nakatsu & Yuki Ishida against Shunma Katsumata, Kota Umeda & Kouki Iwasaki. Once that match is finished, Harimao will disband. He has a message to tell the other members of the group but will say what he wants to say after the match.

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This is bumming me out. It’s the news I was worried would eventually come to light when Higuchi took another injury break in January. Writing this blog for 16 years means I see a lot of wrestling careers of various sizes come and go. This is one of the most significant ones. A fascinating moment in wrestling happened in October 2014 when DDT introduced the DNA generation, a new class of seven (later eight) rookies about to turn pro at a time when many wrestling companies in Japan were struggling to find new blood. Higuchi very quickly stood out as top of the pack with his powerful stature coming from his sumo background and he was given the rookie superpush that spread into DDT itself. While he was a serious no nonsense wrestler at first, spots would come here and there that allowed Higuchi to show his silly side, allowing him to fit in more with DDT’s comedy while still being positioned as someone who is difficult for anyone to beat. An early highlight of his to seek out is the week long DNA Grand Prix tournament that was held in October 2016 where he went on an undefeated run all the was to the final in order to face Mike Bailey.

The presentation of Higuchi being so unique in DDT included something that I’ve seen follow his entire career among the foreign fanbase. I have long lost count of the amount of times I’ve heard people online say they wish Higuchi was with NOAH instead of DDT because he looked like a better fit there. It’s easy to see why on the surface. Hard strikes, mean looks and an iron head to go with it is catnip for those who like their wrestling to not pull back its punches. Yet I just could never imagine him shining brighter anywhere else than with DDT. The formation of Eruption with Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai in 2020 was a major step forward for him. Then with DDT emerging from the pandemic the seeds were planted for his ascension to the top when he feuded with Jun Akiyama over the KO-D Openweight Title in an act of rebellion towards the legend joining the company. He lost that match but had the ultimate redemption in 2022 when he was the one chosen to rebuild DDT’s reputation over the Tetsuya Endo/Katsuhiko Nakajima incident.

The visual that should follow Higuchi’s career came when he won the 2022 King Of DDT tournament. By winning it he finally claimed the KO-D Title after eight years of trying. He had now become DDT’s literal symbol of strength, waving a giant flag of the company logo in victory and having Akiyama wrap the belt around his waist as a show of his respect. Higuchi would then spend the year being a central figure of DDT’s title scene as they tried to push a bigger focus towards heavyweights. Eruption would go away along with the careers of Sakaguchi & Akai. Higuchi would then move on to forming Harimao, building the unit more around sumo like themes. He got to hold the KO-D Title again last year but this time it was a short lived run. It’s hard to believe that only a few months later his career would end like this.

I can’t quite put my finger on why his runs on top went the ways they did. As much as Higuchi’s style appealed to the likes of us, it wasn’t really the same with DDT’s fans in Japan and business hardly picked up with him as champion. You can point to the social distancing rules at the time which resulted in low attendances for everybody but there’s just some factor missing that meant his title reign didn’t connect like I thought it would. I just look at the hot streak DDT is having with Korakuen now and wish Higuchi would have a role to play in it. Perhaps Takagi has a bigger point to make when he talks about how much Higuchi helped DDT. Maybe history will treat him as the person who patched up DDT at a time when the company needed it rather than the rising star who carried the company to greater heights.

There’s so much of Higuchi’s career I’m leaving out. He was a perfect opponent for HARASHIMA. Their matches together going back to the earliest years of Higuchi’s career were like they were made for each other. His singles matches with Konosuke Takeshita, Shuji Ishikawa and Yuji Hino are all barnburners. Those were the kind of matches that fueled the constant wishes he would move over to NOAH where he could get more attention. There are all the times he would be driven head first into the ring post just to no sell it (probably not a good idea in hindsight). When DDT had their “MAJI MANJI” weekly series, Higuchi insisted on putting somebody through a table on almost every episode he was in. When a Falls Count Anywhere match would happen outdoors, Higuchi would usually show up wearing just a mawashi. I’m pretty sure he sumo pushed a van away one time too. I’m going to miss seeing this guy wrestle.