Dramatic DDT

DDT “ULTIMATE PARTY 2024”, 28/12/2024
Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan

1. Demus & Ilusion Vs Yuni & Kazuma Sumi
2. Shuji Ishikawa, Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Shinichiro Kawamatsu Vs Masahiro Takanashi, Daichi Sato & Yuki Ishida
3. Special Tag Match ~ O-MENZ Kumadori Debut Match: Kazuki Hirata & Kumadori Vs Makoto Oishi & Akito
4. TJPW Vs DDT Full-Scale 6-Man Tag Match: Rika Tatsumi, Hyper Misao & Pom Harajuku Vs Toru Owashi, Super Sasadango Machine & Antonio Honda
5. Special 6-Man Tag Match ~ Haruto Sakuraba Debut Match: KANON, MJ Paul & Haruto Sakuraba Vs HARASHIMA, Yuki Iino & Soma Takao
6. Special Single Match: Jun Akiyama Vs Yukio Naya
7. Special Tag Match: Shinya Aoki & Keigo Nakamura Vs Kenoh & Yu Owada
8. Special Single Match: Danshoku Dieno (w/ Tetsu Inada) Vs Invisible Man (w/ Kentaro Kumagai)
9. Special Single Match: Yuki Ueno Vs Takeshi Masada
10. KO-D Tag Team Titles: MAO & To-y Vs Tetsuya Endo & Yuya Koroku
11. KO-D Openweight Title: Chris Brookes (c) Vs Daisuke Sasaki

The final DDT show of 2024 is winding up somewhere bigger than usual. In past years DDT ends their calendar in Korakuen Hall but this time they are heading straight over to Sumo Hall. The “ULTIMATE PARTY” name is used when DDT brings in a little bit of everything in CyberFight’s orbit. We have guests from New Japan (edit: not anymore!), NOAH and Tokyo Joshi Pro coming over but none of their matches against DDT wrestlers can be described as friendly. If that doesn’t catch your attention then maybe the debut matches of two celebrities will tickle your fancy. Celebrity usage has been a success story for DDT this year. The one they caught lightning in a bottle with isn’t here though so let’s see if the formula can be repeated with other performers.

The upper end of the card has two official championship matches and would have had a third title taking place without DDT’s authorization. I’ll explain that one when we get to it. The main event is not something I saw coming when this show was announced back in July. However it’s also between two wrestlers who DDT can always rely on. The penultimate match of the evening also shines the spotlight on two of DDT’s fresh faces who have been locking horns with each other for weeks leading up to this. It’s a well balanced card the company was able to put together.

Before we begin here’s a little piece of trivia. Did you know the announcement for this show was almost spoiled by Rossy Ogawa? During an interview he did back in July he talked about having a plan to book Marigold’s second Sumo Hall show on 28th December to compete against a Stardom show he knew would be happening in the same venue the very next day (Stardom’s show also had not been announced yet at the time). However another company, which we now know is DDT, beat him to the punch and already had the date booked. So DDT unintentionally prevented a Ryogoku joshi war from happening this weekend! I know some of you out there would have preferred the joshi war but you’re stuck with us until 3rd January.

1. Demus & Ilusion Vs Yuni & Kazuma Sumi

The spotlight is shining on the youngsters for more than just a wrestling match here. Yuni & Kazuma Sumi are also going to make their idol singing debuts as part of NωA Jr. with Shunma Katsumata. The original NωA (New Wrestling Aidoru/Idol) was an idol unit that Katsumata was a part of from 2016 to 2018. The time has come for him to lead a new generation and the two young wrestlers were handpicked to join him. Yuni has that kind of performance in his blood because his mother was a dancer for Osaka Performance Doll in the 1990s*. Sumi however does not have much of a musical bone in his body. He did recently get an acting gig for the TV adaptation of the MMA manga Red Blue though.

The debut performance could be ruined by DAMNATION T.A if the heels get their way. Demus is a challenge that Yuni and Sumi both have trouble trying to beat. Sumi in particular has been beaten by Demus and his finishing move La Valagueza a lot. I’d almost call it an exclusive finish between the two if it wasn’t for Yuni recently getting pinned with the move too. Ilusion has also elevated himself after a nasty heel turn where he tricked SCHADENFREUDE International into accepting him as their newest member only for him to stab them all in the back and defect to DAMNATION T.A. He has a grudge with SCHADENFREUDE that’s only going to get worse. But when he’s away from that he just wants to go ruin other people’s plans.

*Yeah so long story short, the reason why DDT got away with signing Yuni to a pro wrestling contract at eight years old is because of nepotism. The story of him and his mom approaching Sanshiro Takagi asking for a tryout makes a lot more sense when you find out the mom has been in showbiz before.

2. Shuji Ishikawa, Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Shinichiro Kawamatsu Vs Masahiro Takanashi, Daichi Sato & Yuki Ishida

It’s an undercard trios match with nothing going into it but perhaps something it will light a match for somebody’s 2025. Shuji Ishikawa had an eventful 2024. At the start of the year he ended his deal with All Japan to wrestle as a freelancer and also take on a general manager role within Evolution Joshi. That group will soon upgrade into a bigger company called Pro Wrestling Evolution in the new year so the timing of Ishikawa working with DDT again sure is interesting. Tomomitsu Matsunaga unexpectedly got a day in the sun when Jun Akiyama asked him to be his tag partner for a KO-D Tag Team Titles shot in April as a show of appreciation for his work ethic over the years. That opened up the doors for him to get some NOAH bookings at their “LIMIT BREAK” shows too. The politician Shinichiro Kawamatsu continues to wrestle every once in a while for DDT. He told everyone that Hulk Hogan passed down the Axe Bomber to him and proved it was true with a video of them hanging out together! Does that mean he’s to blame for Hogan getting into the US political scene with Donald Trump? Kawamatsu also played a part in getting Yuriko Koike, the governor of Tokyo to appear at DDT’s “TODEN PRO WRESTLING” match during her election campaign. Her appearance turned the match into controversy because it came off like DDT was being used to endorse a political figure (Sanshiro Takagi denies the claim and remains defensive over the matter).

The other team also seemed to be thrown together just for the sake of it. Masahiro Takanashi has been splitting his time between SCHADENFREUDE International and ChocoPro. It’s probably good he doesn’t have a heavy load to worry about on this day if he’s needed to be at ringside for the main event. Daichi Sato is a kid to keep an eye on. The 16 year old from HEAT-UP has appeared in DDT in the past under the short lived DDTeeeen!! sub-brand. He’s a big boy with a billed weight of 120kg and DDT recently started booking him again. Since young heavyweight wrestlers are few and far between in Japan nowadays he’ll be getting chances as long as he keeps up his end of the deal. A good showing here will raise his stock. Yuki Ishida took a different career route this year. He reduced his pro wrestling schedule so he could move to Osaka to  work for a sumo entertainment company. Whatever happened over there did not work out so he returned to DDT and is back wrestling full time with them again.

3. Special Tag Match ~ O-MENZ Kumadori Debut Match: Kazuki Hirata & Kumadori Vs Makoto Oishi & Akito

Brining in a celebrity heartthrob worked wonders for DDT’s business this year so they are going to try the idea a few more times. Two performers in the world of entertainment will be making their pro wrestling debuts at this show. The first one is Kumadori, a member of the flashy masked dance group called O-MENZ. They are described as a “Dance Terrorist Group” and Kumadori is considered to be their most muscular member. He met Sanshiro Takagi through an acquaintance and told him he wanted to give pro wrestling a go by using his breakdancing skills. Not long after the deal was made, Kumadori confronted Kazuki Hirata at a DDT show and demanded a dance battle between them. Hirata easily lost but offered to become Kumadori’s tag partner, knowing he’s probably not going to beat him in a wrestling match either. The rest of O-MENZ will also be in their corner because the group will provide a dance performance as part of Kumadori’s ring entrance.

Two of DDT’s most reliable hands will be on the opposing team. Makoto Oishi finished up his contract with DDT in October because his family relocated to Miyagi and he also wants to spend more time with them. He continues to take DDT bookings as a freelancer but everyone in the company briefly acted like he was retiring. Oishi also found the time to get a taxi driver license so he’s trying to become the personal driver for The Saito Brothers over in All Japan. Oishi is quite the wrestling trainer behind the scenes and played a big part in getting Kaisei Takechi ready for his matches. So he is the perfect kind of first opponent for Kumadori. Akito is no slouch either but he is trying to balance his matches along with his growing responsibilities as Sanshiro Takagi’s eventual successor in DDT management. While Takagi has moved further behind the scenes while he rehabs his injuries, Akito has taken his place this year as the person taking any post-show interviews about the state of the company.

4. TJPW Vs DDT Full-Scale 6-Man Tag Match: Rika Tatsumi, Hyper Misao & Pom Harajuku Vs Toru Owashi, Super Sasadango Machine & Antonio Honda

The first inter-promotional match of the show pits DDT against its sister Tokyo Joshi Pro. There wasn’t anything to the match when it was first put together other than a few connecting threads to the past. Antonio Honda and Rika Tatsumi were once part of a band called DPG. That was how Tatsumi got into wrestling and started training with TJPW. Super Sasadango Machine helped set up Hyper Misao’s memorable “retirement match” that turned out to be the surprise announcement of her engagement and marriage. Tatsumi was part of that match too. As far as I know, Toru Owashi and Pom Harajuku have absolutely nothing in common. Although if this was a sitcom Owashi is the kind of guy who gets forced to babysit a three year old for an episode.

That changed when Sasadango visited a recent TJPW show with gifts for his upcoming opponents. As a proud citizen of Niigata, he supported local business by buying some luxury chocolate for Misao. They were all hers if she would agree to call off the match because Sasadango believes nobody in Sumo Hall wants to watch the DDT team violently destroy the TJPW team. While Misao was being tempted by the bribe, Tatsumi got into the ring and started strangling Sasadango, which in this case is her way of saying no. Misao joined in once she realized that bribery in public is a violation of the company rules (they kept the chocolate anyway). Sasadango got a measure of revenge by attacking TJPW GM Tetsuya Koda for not taking responsibility of his locker room’s actions. That turned this match from a friendly little intergender tag match to a company versus company battle!

Before we move on let’s quickly put the spotlight on Harajuku for a big weekend she’s going to have. She recently won the SETUP All Asia Women’s Title in Thailand (in a No DQ Match to boot) and will be having her first title defence in TJPW the day after this show. As much as it’s joked about her acting like an eternal three year old she has levelled up as a wrestler this year. The title reign is made even more special because she considers Thailand her second home because her parents used to work there and she often visited the country to see them. In fact the first time she watched wrestling was in Thailand when Michinoku Pro held some matches at an expo held over there. When she went back to Japan she started following DDT and TJPW, eventually signing up with them to become a wrestler herself. What a lovely story. One that Honda will definitely ruin once he starts telling a dirty joke via Gongitsune.

5. Special 6-Man Tag Match ~ Haruto Sakuraba Debut Match: KANON, MJ Paul & Haruto Sakuraba Vs HARASHIMA, Yuki Iino & Soma Takao

Here is hot celebrity making his debut #2 and he’s even bigger than the first guy! Haruto Sakuraba has been called “The Muscular Actor” for being cast in stage adaptations for Haikyu!!, Tokyo Revengers, Grappler Baki, Final Fantasy Brave and more. The Final Fantasy show in particular is how he got here because Saki Akai was also part of the cast and she introduced him to Sanshiro Takagi. As I said earlier, new heavyweights are in short supply so when Takagi saw that Sakuraba is a 187cm tall weightlifter it was love at first sight. Sakuraba is giving wrestling a go because he is a big fan of The Rock and wants to become his Japanese equivalent. To do that he’s done his homework because what worked for The Rock is a heel turn so he too will turn heel for his debut match!

Sakuraba was given an offer by DAMNATION T.A to join their side because they see he has potential to be a villain. Sakuraba knew what they were putting down and accepted the offer. He doesn’t just want to be the Japanese version of The Rock, he wants to surpass his role model! Now nicknamed “MONSTER”, Sakuraba will be teaming with KANON & MJ Paul to take on a team of DDT faces. I don’t need to write much about HARASHIMA to tell you how important he’s been for DDT throughout most of the company’s history. Soma Takao on the other hand… well he’s more known for managing the Dropkick Bar whenever he isn’t wrestling on the DDT undercard. He doesn’t really have anything else going for himself nowadays. Not even ROMANCE DAWN is a thing anymore.

Yuki Iino is the man for Sakuraba to watch out for most of all. Iino has now fully moved on from his Pheromones gimmick, instead embracing everything that makes him a member of BURNING. He held the KO-D Tag Team Titles for around six months and also won the DDT Universal Title this year too. Sakuraba isn’t impressed though. Not when Iino is smaller in person than he thought. The two had a brief fight where Sakuraba claimed Iino is so weak it makes his own muscles cry! Iino recently fought Tomohiro Ishii and even though he lost, it should be enough preparation for Iino to fight a “MONSTER” like Sakuraba.

6. Special Single Match: Jun Akiyama Vs Yukio Naya

2024 could have been the year Yukio Naya finally showed his potential to become a big player for DDT. He won the D-Ou Grand Prix in January, got a KO-D Openweight Title shot less than a month later and that was kind of it for him getting any new career defining highlights. He got knocked out in the first round of the King Of DDT and then had the kind of feud with Ryuichi “Fire” Kawakami where he kept getting the short end of the stick until he won in the end. Not sure what went wrong for him this year other than DDT deciding to move their main event scene away from the heavyweights.

If there is a way for him to make up for any progress he lost in the last year then beating Jun Akiyama in a singles match should do it. Akiyama’s main event years in DDT are now behind him but he is still accomplishing a lot in the ring. He won the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles as part of D.O.A, made appearances in NOAH, New Japan and AEW again and joins in with DDT’s sillier matches whenever he is in the mood to do so. Maybe fighting Naya one on one will light a fire beneath him to climb back up the mountain again one more time. Naya left a mark on him after one match by Choke Slamming him through a table. All Akiyama wants from him is to fight as strong as he can when they meet inside Sumo Hall.

7. Special Tag Match: Shinya Aoki & Keigo Nakamura Vs Kenoh & Yu Owada

Thanks to the “LIMIT BREAK” shows we finally got some DDT Vs NOAH interactions this year. However this match has absolutely nothing to do with that. Instead it is about an unlikely MMA fighter who made DDT his pro wrestling home. DDT has been good to Shinya Aoki whenever he wrestles for them and it was not made any clearer this year than when he won the KO-D Title! His title reign saw him transform the humble Full Nelson Hold into a nigh on unbreakable pinning maneuver. He has since been rewarded for his skill by winning the Best Technique category in this year’s Tokyo Sports Awards. It’s a prize he compares to receiving a black belt because he now feels he has been accepted into the pro wrestling world. Except somebody in NOAH isn’t willing to do that yet. Okay Kenoh what’s your problem this time? He likes Aoki as an MMA fighter, but as a pro wrestler? No way! Not when he’s alligned with DDT.

I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again. If Kenoh is Frank Grimes then DDT is his Homer Simpson. He never liked that NOAH became associated with DDT because of the CyberFight takeover and only fights DDT wrestlers when there is a grudge involved. He would have been happy to never step foot inside a DDT ring again if it wasn’t for Aoki consantly trying to get his attention. You see, Aoki has this bad habit of telling media his upcoming plans in wrestling. The problem is he reveals these plans before any other party supposedly involved is aware of them. For example he keeps trying to challenge Katsuhiko Nakajima to a UWF Rules fight in GLEAT. After repeatedly getting no response over there, Aoki changed his plan and decided he will fight Kenoh at NOAH’s Budokan Hall show on New Year’s Day. Again, nobody in NOAH let alone Kenoh has any expectation of Aoki being booked for the show (Kenoh will be fighting KENTA on that show instead).

Kenoh had to take matters in his own hands by crashing a DDT show along with NOAH rookie Yu Owada. He told Aoki to his face there will not be a match happening between them at Budokan Hall. Unfazed, Aoki then suggested they have a match at Sumo Hall for DDT instead. Kenoh ordered Owada to fight Aoki in a match then and there but Aoki pinned him in seconds with the Full Nelson Hold. Then one of DDT’s bright and baldest youngsters Keigo Nakamura stood up to defend his company in front of the NOAH pair. The four of them got into a fight and once they were kept apart, the match was made! Aoki & Nakamura are defending home turf, Kenoh is pissed he has to show up in DDT again and Owada is mad at being treated like a third wheel in this situation.

8. “Unofficial” DDT Extreme Title ~ A Dramatic Fight Where People Fight With Their Hearts: Danshoku Dieno (c) (w/ Tetsu Inada) Vs Great-O-Khan (w/ Kentaro Kumagai)
*No title change or successful defence will be recognized.

You want pro wrestling for sickos? You’re getting pro wrestling for sickos. No take backsies. In one corner we have Danshoku Dieno. He is currently the DDT Extreme Champion and he is also the reason 90% of the time I see people who try out DDT decide to never come back. In the other corner is Great-O-Khan. He is New Japan’s King Of Pro Wrestling for 2024 and also a waifu loving pervert with a heart of gold (let me quote Sayaka Unagi who once asked him “Could you truly love a three-dimensional woman?”). Both men in their own bizarre ways have become pro wrestling savants who are able to come up with outside the box ideas for the industry they love so much. Whoever came up with this idea might be trying to get DDT banned from Sumo Hall. Both Dieno and O-Khan are aiming to have a match that will guarantee it.

At first it looked like the match will only have pride on the line. Dieno does not want this to be seen as a DDT Vs New Japan affair. It is about far more than that. Instead he decided to defend his Extreme Title against the man who won the New Japan equivalent this year. Unfortunately this match is enough of a political nightmare to begin with that DDT refuses to authorize it as a title match. Dieno does not care though and will still put the belt on the line in an unofficial manner. Whether that means he will vacate the title if he loses or O-Khan wins possession of the physical belt remains to be seen.

An extra factor coming into the match are the two special guests who will be at ringside. Two voice actors have found themselves becoming important parts of the story. When preparing for the match O-Khan discovered that the voice actor Kentaro Kumagai was once given the Lip Lock by Dieno and has wanted payback ever since. O-Khan made Kumagai pledge loyalty to the United Empire and in return will bring him to Sumo Hall to get his revenge. Luckily for Dieno there is another voice actor who is looking out for him. Tetsu Inada is a die hard DDT fan who has provided voice work for the company many times over the years from narrating videos to providing match commentary. He thinks the lewd pranks he suffered at the hands of Pheromones were way worse than what Kumagai went through. That means he isn’t going to stand by and let Dieno fight this battle by himself! Both Inada and Kumagai will be at ringside for the match. Knowing what the wrestlers involved are both capable of, the most disgusting things that take place in the ring will probably happen to the voice actors!

8. Special Single Match: Danshoku Dieno (w/ Tetsu Inada) Vs Invisible Man (w/ Kentaro Kumagai)

So pretty much everything I wrote in the last three paragraphs can be thrown away. Except for the last part. The voice actors are still going to get violated somehow. O-Khan suffered a lower back injury during his most recent NJPW match so he’s been pulled from the show. He has an important IWGP Tag Team Titles match going on at the Tokyo Dome soon so New Japan wants to make sure he’ll have enough recovery time to do it. DDT scrambled for a replacement and came up with an old foe of Dieno’s… The Invisible Man! As far as I can tell the Extreme Title aspect of the match has been binned. It will be up to Dieno and the voice actors to craft a story worthy to be told at Sumo Hall.

9. Special Single Match: Yuki Ueno Vs Takeshi Masada

The year that Yukio Naya could have had instead went to Yuki Ueno. He spent the first half of 2024 as DDT’s ace champion, even getting in a successful KO-D Title defence inside Sumo Hall. The second half of his year slowed down after he lost the title to Shinya Aoki but it seems that DDT finally found a place for him as the company’s prince. His final match of the year is against the supposed star of the new generation who is still finding his feet while dealing with the high expectations. It’s a match that kind of came out of nowhere and there might have been a reason for that. Did plans fall through when Kota Ibushi took offence to the “Golden Star Syndrome” promos The 37KAMIINA cut about him and he decided to stop working with DDT?

Ueno is not taking his opponent lightly. As a recent former champion he knows how much of a big deal it will be if he loses to Takeshi Masada. He sees how well Masada fits into SCHADENFREUDE International but maybe that could be a bad thing. Masada is so comfortable with his current lot in life that he might have abandoned his goals as a result. Masada telling him that his goal is to make the fans go home happy kind of proves his point. That kind of attitude might be why Masada only held the KO-D Tag Titles for a month earlier this year and lost them in his first defence. There also won’t be any rematch or follow up for Masada if Ueno beats him here. Just like with Akiyama versus Naya, Ueno wants to know if Masada is going to take his best shot at him.

10. KO-D Tag Team Titles: MAO & To-y Vs Tetsuya Endo & Yuya Koroku

This should have been the next title defence for ShunMao’s second run as champions. But sadly just like their first run it was cut off thanks to an injury suffered by Shunma Katsumata. There is a bright side we can look at though and that is what DDT went with for Plan B. The original match was meant to ShunMao against Tetsuya Endo & Yuya Koroku from BURNING. MAO, Endo and Koroku are still part of the match, this time to crown new champions. Replacing Katsumata is To-y, the pluckiest member of The 37KAMIINA. And boy is he fired up for this opportunity!

Once To-y entered the picture he immediately made a statement by pinning Koroku clean with his Kojima Impact finisher. He then added insult to injury by claiming he has more of a reason to fight for the KO-D Tag Titles than Koroku does. Even Endo agreed with him, pointing out that To-y was able to clearly explain he wants this match for himself just as much as as he does for Katsumata while Koroku struggles to get his own points across on the microphone. Since then To-y was able to rack up several pinfall wins over Koroku, leaving the latter scratching his head trying to figure out what he’s doing wrong. It was only just recently he figured out he hasn’t been acting selfish enough. He reached that breakthrough by beating To-y via referee stoppage through the use of the Chickenwing Arm Lock. Now that he knows what to do, he is willing to break To-y’s arm for the championships if he has to!

Let’s not forget MAO and Endo in this match. MAO found his calling for most of the year as the DDT Universal Champion and also the King Of DDT winner. It provided a lot of fresh matches with different finishes that showed how much MAO has matured as a wrestler in his own way. Endo seems to have fitted into this roster best by changing his focus to tag team wrestling. It paid off with him and Yuki Iino getting a KO-D Tag Titles reign that rehabilitated both of their positions in the company. He also got probably the most closure he is ever going to get from the Nakajima slap incident with the KO-D Title match he had with Shinya Aoki in September. The story is focused on To-y Vs Koroku but watch out if MAO or Endo decide they want to steal the show.

11. KO-D Openweight Title: Chris Brookes (c) Vs Daisuke Sasaki

It’s a story that goes from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs. This time last year Chris Brookes had gone through surgery to remove a tumor from his abdomen. Thankfully the tumor was not malignant and he recovered to wrestle in top shape again. Once year later and he finds himself as the two time KO-D Champion back on top of DDT. Who can hate a feel good story like that? Oh right, Daisuke Sasaki can. Brookes had only just gotten the title back when Sasaki came out to complain about love, romance and dreams. Wrestling doesn’t need any of that stuff! DDT should always be a dirty mess and Sasaki is the only person who can make that happen on the biggest stage DDT can get.

With the Sumo Hall main event set, DDT spent the winter indulging in several different stipulation tag matches between SCHADENFREUDE International and DAMNATION T.A. There was already bad blood between the two groups when Ilusion went undercover for DAMNATION T.A by joining SCHADENFREUDE and betraying them during a heated KO-D 6-Man Tag Titles match in October (it was an illusion!). The two sides went to battle in many multi-man matches including a Best Of 5 Singles Series, a 10-Man Elimination Tag and a Best 2 Out Of 3 Falls Match. Sasaki got Brookes to submit to the Crossover Face Lock but a few weeks later Brookes was able to pin Sasaki with the Praying Mantis Bomb. With no clear lead coming up to what could be the end of the feud the only thing to be sure of is the match on a stage as big as this is sure to become violent.

There’s even a risk this match might end up becoming loser leaves town one way or the other. Sasaki keeps saying he is going to beat Brookes so bad he’ll pack his bags and go home to England. Sasaki can feel how much the KO-D Title wants to come back to him. If he wins the championship then he will turn every DDT show at Korakuen Hall next year into a “CHARISMANIA” show! Brookes knows how much Sasaki likes punk music so he says he’ll get a one way plane ticket back to England but it will be under Sasaki’s name! That way he can go visit all of the famous punk music spots England is known for. Then once Sasaki has been dealt with, Brookes promises to defend the KO-D Title regularly at his monthly Baka Gaijin + Friends shows, even if DDT won’t give him their permission.