A press conference was held at AbemaTowers in Shibuya today regarding the future wrestling career of Yuki Iino. It was announced that his contract with DDT is expiring on 3rd November and he will be transferring over to NOAH on a full time basis after that date. Iino has been wrestling for both promotions since May when he was revealed to be Manabu Soya’s mystery tag partner at a NOAH show. Since then the two have been teaming together as Jonetsu MAX and they have won both the Neo Global Tag League as well as the GHC Tag Team Titles. He has a handful of dates with DDT remaining throughout September and October that will take place in between the N1 Victory tournament that he is also entering over in NOAH that month. His final match as a DDT wrestler will be at “ULTIMATE PARTY 2026” in Sumo Hall on 3rd November. If he gets the chance to pick his opponent for that show his choice would be Yukio Naya, his tag partner from The Apex.
Iino was joined by Sanshiro Takagi and Naomichi Marufuji for the press conference. He said he’s been teaming with Soya with maximum passion these last few months and now wants to take a big leap forward towards doing more powerful pro wrestling as a heavyweight in NOAH. He is grateful towards Takagi for agreeing to his request and asks for the fans to continue giving their support. Takagi said that while DDT does have heavyweight wrestlers on their roster, he saw how hard Iino has been working to do something new in NOAH and wants to respect his wish to transfer between promotions. The process was easy to set up because DDT and NOAH are both under CyberFight ownership and Takagi thinks it is exciting news. He also opened up the door for Iino to someday wrestle in DDT again, but this time as a NOAH representative. Marufuji said he saw no reason to decline Iino’s request after talking to both him and Takagi. He has high expectations for Iino after seeing firsthand how serious he takes wrestling inside the ring and training outside of it. He hopes Iino will showcase what makes him different from the other NOAH wrestlers. Marufuji also joked that Iino has a body that is worth Chopping.
Iino has already told everyone in Strange Love Connection about his plan to leave DDT and join NOAH. Everyone there was happy for him and are encouraging him to do his best, especially Yukio Naya. Iino said he wants Naya to win the KO-D Openweight Title while he goes to win the GHC Heavyweight Title so both of them can be the top champions at the same time. He also said his most memorable time in DDT was teaming with Danshoku Dieno as part of Pheromones because it was his breakthrough gimmick. He never imagined he would do the things he did back then but it showed a lot of different sides to him (he can say that again). His one regret is never getting to win the KO-D Title so if he achieves the results he wants in NOAH, he may consider coming back to DDT and challenge for the championship again some day. Iino is also looking forward to locking up with Tetsuya Endo again in a NOAH ring.
Dramatic DDT 