Dramatic DDT

DDT “KING OF DDT 2025 1ST ROUND”, 06/05/2025
Tokyo Korakuen Hall
??? Fans – Unannounced

0. Dark Match – 3 Way Tag Match: MJ Paul & Ilusion defeated Toru Owashi & Tomomitsu Matsunaga and Yuni & Kazuma Sumi when Ilusion pinned Sumi with a Rope-Assisted School Boy (5:31).
0. Dark Match: Jun Akiyama & Danshoku Dieno defeated MAO & Kazuki Hirata (w/ KIMIHIRO) when Dieno submitted Hirata with a Strong Chicken Wing Sleeper Hold (8:25).
1. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 1: Yuki Ueno defeated Antonio Honda with the Blackout Sleeper (15:05).
2. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 1: Daisuke Sasaki defeated Akito with the Crossover Face Lock (4:44).
3. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 1: KANON defeated Shunma Katsumata with the Cobra Twist 2.0 (9:16).
4. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 1: Yukio Naya defeated Daichi Sato with The World’s Best Back Drop (12:33).
5. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 1: Hideki Okatani defeated To-y with the Vertical Drop Brainbuster (11:58).
6. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 1: HARASHIMA defeated Chris Brookes with the Somato (0:22).
7. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 1: Takeshi Masada defeated Yuya Koroku with the Masada No Chikara KOBU Mukimuki (12:10).
8. King Of DDT 2025 – Round 1: Kazusada Higuchi defeated Shinya Aoki with the Claw (15:34).

Kazusada Higuchi sent a message loud and clear in the opening round of this year’s King Of DDT tournament. He has reached a complete recovery! The final match of the 1st Round pitted Higuchi against Shinya Aoki over two and a half years after their KO-D Openweight Title bout against each other. The rematch featured grappling from Aoki, Higuchi no selling his head hitting off the corner post, the Aoki Clutch being kicked out of and a costly mistake from Aoki after that. He gave Higuchi a Headbutt that only hurt himself, giving Higuchi the opening to clamp on the Claw and make Aoki tap out! Higuchi said he only focused on fighting Aoki and hasn’t thought about anything beyond that. He described Aoki as being frighteningly strong. Aoki admitted he felt relieved after the match because Higuchi is refreshingly strong. It is the strength of somebody regaining the ground he lost. A reporter pointed out this is the first time in a while Aoki has lost to the same fighter twice in a row. Aoki knew who the reporter is talking about and compared Higuchi to Hayato Sakurai. Aoki is also now looking to the future as an unemployed man because he is no longer under contract to ONE FC. He might follow Sayaka Unagi’s example and put together his own independent event.

Meeting Higuchi in the next round will be Takeshi Masada. He avenged the D GENERATIONS CUP final loss to Yuya Koroku thanks to his perfect calculations of how it would go this time. Koroku targeted the arm so Masada focused on leg based attacks including Dropkicking a chair into his opponent at ringside. He was also able to break out of the Modified Triangle Lancer and caught Koroku with the Masada No Chikara KOBU Mukimuki to get the win. Masada said it is one of the new formulas he came up with since the DGC so he has Koroku to thank for that. He said Higuchi has a great Japanese spirit but so does he and he will bring it out to show everyone in DDT for the next round. Koroku is really disappointed his tournament is over already but he knows he’s been through lower lows than this. He will go on as he is now.

A record was broken on today’s show. HARASHIMA defeated Chris Brookes in just 22 seconds, the fastest time ever in King Of DDT history! Brookes got the jump on HARASHIMA with a Dropkick during the entrances and quickly went for the Praying Mantis Bomb. But HARASHIMA popped out of the move and fired a short range Somato at Brookes before hitting the full on version for the shock three count! HARASHIMA said he responded calmly to the ambush and just went with his gut resulting in a perfect victory against the KO-D Champion. He hasn’t given up on winning the title again and every fan who came to the show today all know it is possible.

To-y’s hopes of finally getting to face Brookes one on one were already extinguished at this point because he was already eliminated by Hideki Okatani. There was a little bit of help from MJ Paul and Ilusion but To-y fought against the odds and almost won with the Kojima In Wonderland. Okatani hit back with the Vertical Drop Brainbuster and that was enough for him to advance to Round 2. Afterwards he said To-y is as hot headed and annoying as ever. Okatani will next face HARASHIMA. He said HARASHIMA is not an ace but a corpse fighting against the times.

There are not a lot of heavyweights in the tournament this year and now even less so when one knocked out another in the 1st Round. Yukio Naya put Daichi Sato through his paces, beating him down while withstanding the young wrestler’s return strikes. Sato kept it up though and soon Naya was breaking down. A High Kick followed by a Rolling Elbow and a Brainbuster gave Sato a nearfall. Naya turned things around with Knee Butts and Elbow Strikes before putting his opponent away with The World’s Best Back Drop. Naya said Sato will grow in DDT just like he did and the next time they fight, Sato should try to surprise him even more. Sato was thankful to compete in the tournament so soon after joining the company. His goal is to become the face of DDT’s heavyweight division but he’ll need to surpass Naya first.

One of the first round matches was a little bit awkward because it pitted MAO’s current tag partner against his ex-tag partner. KANON looked to have gotten the better of Shunma Katsumata when he put him in the Cobra Twist 2.0. Katsumata wouldn’t submit though despite having no way to escape. It led to a situation on the ring apron where Kazuma Sumi wanted to throw in the towel but Yuni wouldn’t let him. They had a tug of war over the towel until they lost their grips and accidentally threw it into the ring. This happened right when Katsumata tapped out anyway so it was still a valid win for KANON. Katsumata gave his approval to KANON afterwards because he thinks he is now on the right path. KANON said he has a lot of respect for ShunMao which is why Strange Love Connection will do things differently from MAO’s other team. He also called himself the “Yukio Naya Killer” because he has never lost to Naya in singles matches. They just so happen to be facing each other in the next round.

Akito wanted to make quick work of Daisuke Sasaki and grabbed him by the leg as he entered the ring. That advantage was ruined when Ilusion got into the ring to distract Akito by flipping him off. Akito turned back and continued going for Sasaki’s legs but a counter attack led to Sasaki trapping him in the Crossover Face Lock for the submission victory. Akito admitted he was arrogant when he said this year’s tournament might be his last chance to win King Of DDT and the KO-D Title. He has a lot to think about but he wants to be involved in the main storyline of DDT within the next year. Sasaki originally said he wanted this to be a Hair Vs Hair match but in honor of Akito’s effort he decided not to go through with the stipulation. His Round 2 match though? He wants is to be Hair Vs Hair because he gets joy in life by making his next opponent miserable.

That next opponent is Yuki Ueno. He was taking on a sentimental favorite in this year’s competition because Antonio Honda was competing on behalf of the injured Masahiro Takanashi. While Honda did pull out the Shining Gongitsune, he also used his serious techniques to try and win including the Octopus Hold, the Tenzan Tombstone Driver and the Diving Fist Drop. Unfortunately Honda ran out of steam after Ueno hit him with a Dropkick followed by the WR. He was almost counted out for a KO but got back to his feet at nine. Ueno ended up putting him in the Blackout Sleeper to choke him out for the win. Ueno promised to carry Honda’s feelings with him for the rest of the tournament as he begins his path to win back the KO-D Title and make DDT even more fun and interesting. He noticed that even though DAMNATION T.A is usually a gloomy group, Sasaki has been having more fun lately…

There were two non-tournament dark matches in the pre-show. One of them was to continue showing how Danshoku Dieno is taking pro wrestling seriously for his upcoming match with Minoru Suzuki. He proved this by trying to stop Kazuki Hirata from dancing. MAO tried to get Jun Akiyama to dance by offering him the Hirata GO! glasses but Akiyama gave him the Exploder Suplex instead. He then heard the fans chanting for him to put the glasses on so he did so. But just when he started to dance, Dieno made Hirata tap out to a Crossface Chicken Wing and the match ended.

The other dark match was meant to include Soma Takao but he was feeling unwell and was replaced by Tomomitsu Matsunaga. He and Toru Owashi worked together as best as they could in the 3 Way Tag Match but in the end DAMNATION T.A got the win over NωA Jr when Ilusion used the ropes for a leveraged pin on Sumi after Low Blowing him.

Yet again NωA Jr.’s show opening performance was hijacked by KIMIHIRO and the Strange Love Connection. This time Sumi tried to fight back by challenging KIMIHIRO to a rap battle but he quickly lost his flow and ran out of the ring feeling really embarrassed.