Dramatic DDT

So instead of doing predictions for 2025 I am instead going to ask a few questions about the year ahead. What should we as fans of DDT, Tokyo Joshi Pro, Ganbare☆Pro or BASARA be paying attention to? How is the wrestling scene in Japan going to change in the next twelve months, if there is change at all? There are even stories happening elsewhere that could eventually relate to the CyberFight bubble in big or small ways. I have eleven questions to talk about and I want you to read them!

What will a new year of Akito’s DDT look like?

DDT is always going to be Sanshiro Takagi’s baby but a search for his successor is already under way. Akito is that guy and he has stepped up to the plate this year so Takagi could take a step back for health reasons. It looks like this will continue for a while next year and there are already signs of change in the air. A lot of the events on the 2025 schedule so far are using new naming conventions. Gone are the “SWEET DREAMS!” and “INTO THE FIGHT” tour names that have been used for over a decade. There is also no sign yet of the D-Oh Grand Prix returning after it skipped this year.

If there are new event concepts happening alongside the name changes then I wonder how many ideas are coming from Akito instead of Takagi? If Takagi’s 2025 is focused on management behind the scenes then how much of Akito’s influence will get to rise to the surface? Maybe it’s already happening and it’s not much of a difference. The winter feud between SCHADENFREUDE International and DAMNATION T.A being built around different multi-man stipulation matches was a nice change of pace to buildup a Sumo Hall main event. Definitely different from the last couple of big match programs DDT have booked.

Who is coming back from injury next year?

I’ve lost track of who is currently out of action so let’s remind ourselves. Shunma Katsumata got a torn ACL in November. Kazusada Higuchi took time off back in June to recover from a cervical hernia among other injuries. Naomi Yoshimura hasn’t wrestled since November 2022 because of a herniated disc. Sanshiro Takagi stopped wrestling in July to deal with general health problems. Hideki Okatani tore his ACL in April. Rukiya has been out of action since May because of a cervical sprain.

TJPW and BASARA are currently injury free. Runa Okubo is on an indefinite absence from TJPW to focus on her education and it kind of sounds like she has another career in mind for her future so who knows if she will ever come back. Over in GanPro, Mizuki Watase ruptured his Achilles tendon earlier this month. Shinichiro Tominaga also ruptured an Achilles tendon in May but he recently announced his return to the ring will happen on 13th January.

How much further is the ice wall surrounding TJPW going to melt?

TJPW has isolated themselves from other joshi promotions for the vast majority of its history. There was the time during the pre-launch days when NOZOMI flew the flag on Stardom and Ice Ribbon shows. Also Mizuki and Shoko Nakajima would make rare appearances in ChocoPro once in a blue moon. But actual inter-promotional programs between TJPW and another joshi company? Barely anywhere to be seen. They’ll work with companies overseas like EVE, GCW and DEFY but domestically Tetsuya Koda does not see much value or reward from interacting with other promotions.

But this year saw a little bit of change going on. Ryo Mizunami was a super sub for the company and reaped the benefits by winning the Princess Tag Team Titles along with the Tokyo Princess Cup. Also in that tournament Zara Zakher went on a strong run after coming in as a virtual unknown beforehand. Raku and Pom Harajuku paid a visit to 666 (although that’s because of a marriage thing Raku has going on with Ram Kaichow). And of course there was the big one during the summer. Nao Kakuta produced a show that included some Stardom talent, one of whom I thought would never want to step foot into a TJPW ring ever again.

Now there were clever decisions being made behind the scenes for that show in particular. For Stardom it was a positive attention grabbing news story happening at a time when they were reorganizing themselves from the Marigold split. Their president told media he is open for more cooperation between Stardom and TJPW if there’s a big enough demand for it. Koda is way more sheepish on the idea but at least admitted it wouldn’t be impossible. It lasted for a brief moment but this year was the first sign of the ice wall surrounding TJPW beginning to melt. It’s not much so far but that it even happened at all is noteworthy.

Oh yeah and there’s that whole UJPW thing. TJPW is a part of that along with Stardom and I think DIANA. The two UJPW shows bombed bad enough that I doubt we’re going to hear about them running a third one. I think it still exists as a behind the scenes alliance to have a unified voice whenever they want to communicate with government groups. Just don’t expect it to be the thing that will ever get TJPW and Stardom working together properly.

Have we hit the peak of Konosuke Takeshita’s AEW run?

Hang on, let me check if I can make some blue tick money off of this take. *click* Okay, let’s go. What a frustrating year it’s been to follow AEW. While Konosuke Takeshita’s matches for the company have been great, there’s been too much time in between where he’s either stuck standing next to Don Callis or not on TV at all. He beat Kenny Omega which on paper should result in a rocket-strapped push up the card but it felt like there’s been no follow up to it. Then he won his first championship in the company by winning the AEW International Title from Will Ospreay but the finish of that match was all about Kyle Fletcher’s heel turn. Since then Takeshita has taken on the travelling champion role defending the belt in other companies. It’s not a bad role for watching good matches but it’s also not a good sign that he currently doesn’t really matter as a major TV character. That the International Title is booked as one of several interchangeable midcard championships in AEW doesn’t help matters either. If anything the title reign is making Takeshita look more appealing as a New Japan wrestler than an AEW one.

Now maybe I should hold my horses and think this over. Of course someone like me wants Takeshita to be part of the AEW World Title picture more than anything else on the show. It’s been two years since Takeshita got the “All Elite” graphic and he’s been associated with the company for around three. He’s been in the ring with everybody who is currently considered a main eventer in AEW. And yet when I watch how the booking plays out over time I just worry we’re going to end up with wasted potential when all is said and done. Unless that potential gets picked up by another place if the time has come to move on… But that all depends on how long he’s going to be here for.

Will Wrestle Universe add even more promotions to their service?

This was the year that Wrestle Universe cemented itself as one of the best value streaming services in pro wrestling thanks to several different groups being added to the deal. Joining the service was Michinoku Pro, Sendai Girls, the REAL ZERO1 splinter group (which I think is now turning into ZERO1 HARD CORE), Marigold in its debut year and even Deadlock Pro on a delayed schedule. There were also sporadic uploads related to AEW, Osaka Pro, TAKAYAMANIA, Kakuto Tanteidan (the “Fighting Detectives” pair) and the CMLL shows in Japan promoted by LADY’S RING. It’s a lot of stuff with some variety among them if you’re ever looking for something outside of the CyberFight promotions.

As someone with an insatiable appetite for wrestling I would love the convenience of Wrestle Universe expanding its archive by adding even more promotions. However it seems like all of the main players in Japan are currently accounted for with their own services or third party dealings. I don’t think Big Japan wants to ditch their platform anytime soon for example. This is also where I have to admit I have no idea what the deals are like and how much they financially benefit the companies. Would it be worth it for BASARA or any of the other indies on the NicoNico Pro Wrestling Channel to jump over to Wrestle Universe? It would for me!

Are celebrities the answer for DDT to draw bigger crowds?

If there is an idol out there who wants to find a new path in life, Sanshiro Takagi wants to meet them. DDT stuck box office gold this year with the pro wrestling debut of Kaisei Takechi and their Korakuen Hall attendances since then have been pretty good. Plus we just had the debuts of the muscle actor Haruto Sakuraba and dancer Kumadori too. Sakuraba’s debut in particular is going down a treat on social media with women going gaga over his looks. And don’t get me started with TJPW. Throw a dart in that locker room and odds are good you will hit somebody who already had a taste of showbiz before they stepped foot into the wrestling ring. Whether it’s for DDT or TJPW, Takagi is one heck of a talent scout when it comes to celebrities becoming pro wrestlers in Japan.

There are a few ways this plan has worked out in the past. The famous people coming in stick around and become beloved members of the workforce like Saki Akai did. They do great business for DDT in the short term like Takechi (if he doesn’t ever come back). There’s also the likes of LiLiCo who was part of a few fun storylines during her time here and Shinichiro Kawamatsu whose current political position has definitely aided DDT recently in putting some of their more ambitious events together. And at worst it’s still a neat one time thing to see, like with Ami Yumoto when she teamed with Nao Kakuta for a match. If DDT it looking for more draws from outside the wrestling sphere, then training celebrities seems to be the answer. They better hope Makoto Oishi isn’t busy if that’s the case then.

(If anyone remembers the tweet where someone posted Kurt Angle’s entrance video from TNA to explain how good DDT & TJPW are at training idols, that’s what inspired this question. I can’t find it anymore.)

Is Yuki Arai ready to take over TJPW?

We are going to find out in 2025 if Yuki Arai’s commitment to SKE48 held her back from achieving even more in TJPW. When March comes to an end she will have graduated from the idol unit after spending over a decade of her life with them. From that point on pro wrestling will be her main priority. If you thought she was pushed before, get ready to see what they’ll do now she’s going to be on almost every show! She is in the midst of a record breaking International Princess Title reign. If it ends in a few days time then she would have lasted as champ for exactly one year. So if the reign finally comes to a close, what is next for her? Whether it’s in singles or tags TJPW will be ready to make her even more of a centerpiece than she was before. But is she going to be ready for it at her current level?

She already had a big tag team run with Saki Akai in 2022. She also usually performs well with other partners in the Max Heart Tournament. The 2025 tournament is happening before her graduation though so I don’t think the timing works out for her big push to happen there. The Tokyo Princess Cup however sounds like the perfect time for her to go on a big singles run, perhaps even all the way to the Princess Of Princess Title itself. She will have to step up for this scenario to work out. A lot of her matches especially those in her title reign feel samey to me. It’s fine with the IP Title but the Princess Title is held to a higher standard. With her star power (should it not vanish after she leaves SKE48) I can easily see her become the next first time Princess Champion, even within the next 12 months. It will be up to her to evolve into a better wrestler along the way.

What is going on with NOAH’s soft brand split?

We had some changes with CyberFight behind the scenes this year. In May there was a new company structure put in place that relegated Takagi from the President managing all of CyberFight to a Vice President in charge of just DDT and TJPW. Those two promotions remained the same but NOAH in particular went in some unexpected directions. The big one is establishing a working relationship with WWE. So far the pay offs have been Shinsuke Nakamura and AJ Styles wrestling on NOAH’s biggest shows with Omos about to get involved too. There was also a talent swap that saw the likes of Yoshiki Inamura, Josh Briggs and Tavion Heights crossing companies. Oh and it’s probably no coincidence that The Great Muta benefitted from this as well. It’s not a coincidence his WWE Hall Of Fame induction took place this year. So for the big picture, things are going well for them.

However even before the management change took place, NOAH has had something of an identity crisis this year that I think has gone under the radar a little bit. The “MONDAY MAGIC” spin off series presented by NOSAWA Rongai ran for another two seasons and provided a lot of the company’s long term storylines. Meanwhile Go Shiozaki and the old guard called TEAM NOAH ran their own series called “LIMIT BREAK” that seems to exist as far away as it can from NOSAWA’s antics. That also became the place where NOAH and DDT finally crossed over on a semi-regular basis. I thought MONDAY MAGIC would have made more sense because NOSAWA booked the 2nd season like it was DDT’s ABEMA show “MAJI MANJI” anyway but nope! Limit Break wanted Jun Akiyama and saw that DDT has other heavyweights to butt heads with so the DDT guys went over there.

The whole thing comes off like there’s been a soft brand split in NOAH whenever these shows are on the schedule. MONDAY MAGIC carries on with NOAH’s main story continuity while showcasing a variety of different wrestlers from around the world, women included. Limit Break shows have been no nonsense affairs that is closer to traditional NOAH while also interacting with DDT heavyweights and the remains of ZERO1 that Tochigi Pro does not have control over. Is everyone over in NOAH happy with the roster being divided like this or are we going to be in for a shock when contract season rolls around?

Will TJPW dive into this year’s joshi free agency?

As a football fan the January and summer transfer windows are always something to follow even when they are not all its hyped up to be. Same goes for college football whenever I look over there and wonder what the Transfer Portal is all about. Even right now WWE sees how much of a useful tool the concept is to promote interest for their brand split. For wrestling in Japan these kind of dealings get noticed in January and then calms down for the rest of the year, save for one or two names. Joshi however is way more unstable, especially coming into 2025. A couple of renowned veterans are getting ready to retire, one company in particular has hit an iceberg and the landscape is as tumultuous as ever which means some women are off looking for greener pastures.

Stardom usually gets the pick of the litter when it comes to star power. TJPW will find a few freelancers to work with but prefers to rely on their homegrown talent. Marigold hasn’t lived up to expectations of becoming the joshi version of the original NOAH exodus but they did take a big chunk out of Actwres girl’Z on its very first day of existence. As the calendar turns over though the crosshairs are this time aimed squarely at Ice Ribbon. The company is in turmoil over ownership issues leaving talent with little pay for their hard work. Several wrestlers have already announced their intentions to leave when their contracts end while the company’s top champion Yuuki Mashiro is now hanging around there as a freelancer. But how long will that last for? Marigold management is not even pretending to hide their intention to hire a few of them alongside other potential signings throughout 2025. Pro Wrestling Evolution is suddenly popping up as another new place for women to wrestle in too.

Let’s get back to TJPW. As already mentioned they’ve become a regular stop for the likes of Aja Kong, Mizunami, SAKI and Kaichow (who is now married into the family of course). With Nao Kakuta leaving wrestling, Yoshiko Hasegawa was brought in to take her place in the midcard. TJPW also opened their doors for Kakeru Sekiguchi this year too (although it may be because everybody keeps mistaking her for Mahiro Kiryu). They’re not hurting for numbers in the locker room at the minute and there’s at least one debut on the horizon with Kana from The Up Up Girls still undergoing training. Still, I can’t help but get excited at the thought of seeing who will jump where and if TJPW will benefit from it. I should include Ganbare☆Joshi a lot more into this conversation too because of how much Yuna Manase and YuuRI have been booked by Ice Ribbon over the last three years. Hopefully Ice Ribbon won’t fall apart completely so that working relationship can continue.

Are visa problems going to rear their ugly head again when it comes to American bookings?

Oh dear, America voted Donald Trump to be their president again. If his second term is going to be as much of a shit show as his first then it’s going to effect everything, pro wrestling included. If you remember the US government shutdown back in 2019, New Japan was one of the companies affected by it because their Japanese roster was unable to get visas to wrestle in America. Dragongate also had visa disputes for some of their roster that year which cancelled a big planned appearance at WrestleCon. What’s also largely forgotten about was when OWE’s alliance with the newly launched AEW didn’t turn out the way they envisioned because the Chinese wrestlers couldn’t get their visas approved either. That’s why OWE’s only presence in AEW was from #STRONGHEARTS going over in their place.

DDT and TJPW have been doing well with holding international shows in America two or three times a year. Their plans for WrestleCon in Las Vegas in April are going to be their biggest shows yet if all things work out for them. Since their rosters have already been travelling to America on the regular they should be ok but who knows what is going to happen once Trump takes office again. Maki Itoh and Miyu Yamashita in particular better have everything already in place to continue travelling safely because those US excursions are regular money makers they won’t want to lose out on.

Does Hikari Noa come back to wrestling?

By the time this is posted it will be over a full year since Hikari Noa wrestled her last match in TJPW and vacated the Princess Tag Titles over “poor health”. Her absence at the time continued under “personal reasons” until she graduated from TJPW and The Up Up Girls in May. Those “personal reasons” were allegedly Noa becoming friends with a superfan and letting her in on private information as well as industry secrets. The two then had a falling out which resulted in the fan airing their dirty laundry on social media. Since then there’s been no sign of Noa in the wrestling world. Whether or not she will ever return is a question I’m wondering about because of how her situation went down.

The announcement of her graduation happened around the 6 month mark of her absence. With a full year now gone by could there have been a no-compete clause of some sort that’s ready to run out? It’s wishful thinking to hope at some point in 2025 the woman formerly known as Hikari Noa returns to wrestle again. Doesn’t matter for who. If not though then this is probably the last time I’m ever going to write about her as a topical person on this blog.

———————————————————————–

Questions Submitted From Twitter

I wanted to write more than the ten topics above but ran out of ideas. So I went to Twitter asking if anyone out there had questions of their own. I only meant for questions to be about the CyberFight groups I cover but this article is already an excuse for me to ramble about AEW, NOAH and the joshi scene at large. So let’s take the chance to spread out the topics further. I also wrote most of these answers before Christmas so the first answer is not just me jumping on a bandwagon after it already left the station.

With the surge of younger stars in recent years, who do you think has the most upside coming into 2025?
– meepmeepmooper

It’s a two horse race between Keigo Nakamura and To-y. I’m giving To-y the lead only because of Nakamura’s injury history. Nakamura is more skillful than To-y in the ring but I worry that him getting two serious knee injuries within four years has reduced how long his career is actually going to be. To-y is just as likeable, benefits from being part of DDT’s top babyface unit, is coming off of a high profile Sumo Hall match and has the extra local hometown hero factor. Now if Hideki Okatani comes back from injury soon and still has an Eruption sized chip on his shoulder I’m going to change my pick.

Related to above, given a more active presence in South East Asia, which SEA stars do you think have a good chance of making an impression on DDT / Cyberfight?
– meepmeepmooper

We’re already seeing Alexis Lee and Matcha fitting in with TJPW during their brief tours in Japan even if it’s just going to be for a handful of appearances a year. Monomoth and Dr. Gore got a few bookings in Japan this year but haven’t surfaced above the level of Baka Gaijin + Friends and ChocoPro yet. Monomoth in particular was getting hyped up in the first half of the year but I haven’t heard the name as much in the second half. Andruew Tang is someone I’d like to see coming in as a DDT Universal Title challenger. If he doesn’t have the status for that then getting a shot in a place like GanPro or BASARA would be good enough. Might depend on if Masahiro Takanashi would be guiding him with the bookings. If I can include Taiwanese wrestlers in the answer then Gaia Hox’s stock on the indies is going to rise the longer he wrestles in Japan. That is somebody who would fit in with NOAH but probably not with the rest of F-SWAG.

Was Takeshita a loss for DDT in terms of business, and will he bring any value with his infrequent returns to DDT?
– Monkey_Buckles

You know I’m actually not sure because DDT’s Korakuen numbers rebounded pretty well this year without him. If anything, ever since the G1 happened Takeshita became more valuable to New Japan than to AEW or DDT. He will always be a good addition to any Korakuen or big arena show DDT puts on but what can DDT do with him at this point? His status means they won’t make him put over one of their own so he’s kind of in his own bubble whenever he shows up. But the special one-off matches he got against outsiders in 2024 were all really good so I won’t complain if DDT continues to book him that way. Unless this is the year his DDT contract finally ends and he decides to leave for good. That’ll make me sad.

Do DDT ever pull the trigger on MAO, or is his a permanent midcarder?
– Monkey_Buckles

He’s never getting the Yuki Ueno push, that’s for sure. A short lived KO-D Openweight Title run is always going to be on the table because DDT usually gives every main player in a generation their turn with the belt. I think he got his big chance with the “WRESTLE PETER PAN 2024” main event and his performance wasn’t good enough to convince DDT he is the answer to their problems. The Universal Title scene was perfect for him. His long title run helped mature him as a performer and he had the most confidence I’ve ever seen from him as a result. Problem now is he’s been there and done that. The thing with MAO as a singles act is he’s probably just best off being a small room wrestler rather than a company’s main eventer. You can always rely on him as a tag team wrestler though.

Who will be the future of njpw, and will Zack Sabre Jr and David Finlay carry the company until they create more stars?
– Cleop4tr4hla

Here’s the problem that I think is currently haunting the “Reiwa Musketeers” era of NJPW. This generation has not gotten enough big wins over veteran stars yet. Shota Umino is about to main event the Tokyo Dome but what are the tentpole victories that got him here? Zack Sabre Jr. at the G1 before Sabre became the champ and a lukewarm SANADA after that? Yota Tsuji at least got to win the New Japan Cup and he beat Hirooki Goto to do it. But that was before Goto caught on fire as the sentimental favourite of the fans for being a family guy. The timing of that meant David Finlay got more out of beating Goto than Tsuji did. Ren Narita to me still feels out of place as a House Of Torture heel. At least he has something that makes him more of an individual than being a Katsuyori Shibata clone but I enjoyed watching him more when he was the Shibata clone.

Sabre is in a good position and I’d like to see him stay there for a while. His wrestling style stands out in New Japan and that makes the times he shows up in other companies more appealing. Finlay is winning people over but as long as the Gedo heel finish follows him around it’s going to handicap him. I’m sorry but that stuff continues to come off like New Japan just copy and pasted the Jay White playbook into him. Gabe Kidd I think is a year or two away from jumping to one of the big American companies. The injury to Jake Lee happened at a bad time because his Mad Bastards team with Kidd was going to get over in the World Tag League. I like Ryohei Oiwa but don’t see him leap frogging over the “Musketeers” anytime soon. Young Blood might be fun for the tag division once they return but that part of New Japan relies too much on hot potato booking to get anyone ready for a singles push.

There is a wild card in the form of Oleg Boltin. He had a good G1 debut and he’s been booked strong in the Tag League with Toru Yano of all people as his tag partner. He is a unique homegrown wrestler that I think will stay under the radar from WWE or AEW for another while. But until he’s ready I can’t confidently pick who the next ace is. Hiroshi Tanahashi going on a year long journey to retirement might be what carries the company throughout 2025.