DDT “NEW YEAR☆DRAMATIC PARADE 2025 ~ANSWERS WILL BE REVEALED ONE YEAR LATER~”, 03/01/2025 Tokyo Korakuen Hall ??? Fans
1. To-y, Akito & Soma Takao defeated Toru Owashi, Super Sasadango Machine & Tomomitsu Matsunaga when To-y pinned Matsunaga with the Kojima Impact (6:45).
2. Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul, Demus & Ilusion defeated Yuni, Kazuma Sumi, Daichi Sato & Yuki Ishida when Ilusion pinned Ishida with the Swanton Bomb (9:21).
3. BZW Tag Team Titles: MAO & Yoshihiko (c) defeated Kazuki Hirata & Antonio Honda when Yoshihiko submitted Hirata with the Arc de Triomphe Hold (11:54). *V1 for MAO & Yoshihiko.
4. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Chris Brookes, Masahiro Takanashi & Hikaru Sato defeated Shinya Aoki, Yuki Ueno & Keigo Nakamura when Brookes submitted Nakamura with the Ground Octopus Stretch (13:39).
5. Special Single Match: Tetsuya Endo defeated Yuya Koroku with an Exploder Suplex (13:50).
6. Special Tag Match: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA & Jun Akiyama defeated Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya when TAKESHITA pinned Iino with the Raging Fire (18:46).
7. KO-D Openweight Title Next Challenger 4 Way Match: Shuji Ishikawa defeated Danshoku Dieno, HARASHIMA and KANON when Ishikawa pinned KANON with the Splash Mountain (13:20).
A new year brings new challenges. The main event for DDT’s first show of 2025 was a 4 Way Match to determine the No. 1 Contender for the KO-D Openweight Title. The four competitors all have never faced Chris Brookes for the title before so whoever wins would be a brand new challenger for the champion. Danshoku Dieno was extra grabby than usual given the amount of people in the match and Shuji Ishikawa became everyone’s target for being the biggest threat. HARASHIMA almost beat him with the Somato and same went for Dieno using the Gaydo Clutch on him. KANON attacked Dieno in the corner and left him knocked over in the Hell Gate position. That came back to haunt KANON because Ishikawa lifted him up and drove him head first into Dieno’s backside. KANON got revenge by giving Ishikawa the Sleepy Hollow but he only got a two count out of it. Ishikawa returned the attack by giving KANON the Fire Thunder on top of Dieno’s butt. Ishikawa later cut off Dieno with a Knee Lift and pinned KANON with the Splash Mountain to win the match.
Ishikawa told Brookes after the match that he’s wanted a real singles match with him after they wrestled each other in Osaka last May. He knows Brookes is at his strongest whenever he fights for the KO-D Title. So Ishikawa will face him head to head and beat him at his strongest to become the new champion! Brookes told Ishikawa this will be the most interesting title defence. Ishikawa is a little scary but he will be looking forward to fighting him. Ishikawa then promised when he beats Brookes to a pulp on 26th January he will take the belt and sing karaoke in the ring once more to celebrate!
Konosuke Takeshita started a busy weekend by returning to DDT once more with Don Callis joining him. Waiting for him were two heavyweights each hungry to surpass him. Takeshita teamed with Jun Akiyama for the match but it felt more like a 2-Vs-1 Handicap match because Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya were both determined to beat Takeshita directly. They worked together to try and break down Takeshita. Iino hit the Burning Elbow but Takeshita hit him back with the Knee Strike. Naya Choke Slammed Takeshita but Akiyama got in and threw him with the Exploder Suplex. That left Iino to fight Takeshita by himself. He hit two Spears but Takeshita blocked a third one and used the Raging Fire to pin him straight away. Takeshita’s message to his opponents is to never forget how they feel today. The big wrestlers need to train and work 100 times harder than the smaller wrestlers. It’s up to them to make that their weakness or their weapon. Takeshita also gave his support to Tetsuya Endo for his excursion to NOAH. His message to him is putting your life on the line is life changing and he looks forward to seeing him rise up from here. Iino said he is having a great time fighting tough heavyweights like Takeshita and Tomohiro Ishii. Naya promised to avenge this loss to Takeshita when DDT goes back to America in April!
This week is the last we will see Tetsuya Endo in DDT for a while. He made the decision to go wrestle in NOAH for the foreseeable future (he will still be DDT affiliated when he does). His last DDT match will be on 5th January but before that happened he fought Yuya Koroku today. Iino was at ringside for the match so the three final members of BURNING were together. Koroku targeted Endo’s arm and even went high flying with a Moonsault. But Endo had him done for with the Torture Rack Bomb and Burning Star Press. Rather than pin him with that move, Endo got Koroku back up, told him to do his best while he’s gone and then gave him an Exploder Suplex to win the match.
After the match Endo told Koroku he will be find after the breakup of BURNING. He was able to stand with spirit at the end of the match and if he can keep that up he can do it alone from now on. BURNING is gone but Endo will never forget the three years he spent with Iino & Koroku. Endo will now be wrestling in NOAH but that doesn’t mean he is leaving DDT. Once he takes the top spot in NOAH he will come back to take the top sport in DDT! He told Iino and Koroku to get stronger because the next time they fight it will be when the KO-D title on the line!
Match #4 had a pair of unusual appearances in it. First Hikaru Sato came in on short notice to replace Takeshi Masada who was out with a suspected fever. Also Bryce Remsburg from AEW served as the referee for the bout. Sato got involved with CDK’s prank team work while Remsburg was tricked by the other team into taking part in the reversal. Shinya Aoki got to tussle with Sato and also hit a Topé Suicida to everyone outside. Keigo Nakamura missed a Diving Headbutt aimed for Brookes but kicked out of a Piledriver. Brookes then put him in the Octopus Stretch and increased the pressure until Nakamura gave up.
Some French flavour was added to the proceedings with a BZW Tag Team Titles defence. MAO & Yoshihiko came into the match as champions ready to fight the just as wacky pairing of Kazuki Hirata & Antonio Honda. Yoshihiko interrupted Honda’s Gongitsune spot by using AI to come up with its own folk tale to tell everybody. Yoshihiko also grabbed the legs of both opponents and held them in a Double Achilles Tendon Hold called the Arc de Triomphe Hold. The challengers couldn’t withstand the pain and gave up. MAO wants to defend the titles even more and called out teams from any country to come challenge them.
DAMNATION T.A took out a team of youngsters early in the card. Daichi Sato wanted to go toe-to-toe against the similarly sized MJ Paul. The two ended up fighting towards the commentary table where voice actress Hana Hishikawa was sitting as a special guest. She is a notable fan of Paul so he was happy to take a quick time out to go shake her hand before continuing his fight with Sato. Kazuma Sumi and Demus continued their little rivalry with quick exchanges in the ring. Daisuke Sasaki led a train attack on Yuki Ishida and despite a small comeback from Ishida, Ilusion ended up pinning him with the Swanton Bomb.
For the opening match Akito asked Sanshiro Takagi to come down to the ring and come up with a theme for the match. Takagi decided the winner would receive a New Year’s Gift from him taken from his own pocket. The promise of a rich prize was just the encouragement everyone needed to do their best. Toru Owashi and To-y got into a Chop Battle, Super Sasadango Machine and Soma Takao did whatever they could to win and Tomomitsu Matsunaga threw Lariats at whoever was near him friend of foe. In the end To-y pinned Matsunaga with the Kojima Impact and received 10,000 yen from Takagi as his prize. Everyone then tried to attack Takagi for the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title until he ran off.
DDT “NEW YEAR☆DRAMATIC PARADE 2025 ~ANSWERS WILL BE REVEALED ONE YEAR LATER~”, 03/01/2025 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. To-y, Akito & Soma Takao Vs Toru Owashi, Super Sasadango Machine & Tomomitsu Matsunaga
2. Daisuke Sasaki, MJ Paul, Demus & Ilusion Vs Yuni, Kazuma Sumi, Daichi Sato & Yuki Ishida
3. BZW Tag Team Titles: MAO & Yoshihiko (c) Vs Kazuki Hirata & Antonio Honda
4. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Chris Brookes, Masahiro Takanashi & Takeshi Masada Vs Shinya Aoki, Yuki Ueno & Keigo Nakamura
5. Special Single Match: Tetsuya Endo Vs Yuya Koroku
6. Special Tag Match: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA & Jun Akiyama Vs Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya
7. KO-D Openweight Title Next Challenger 4 Way Match: Danshoku Dieno Vs Shuji Ishikawa Vs HARASHIMA Vs KANON
We’re kicking off 2025 with a pair of visits to Korakuen Hall this weekend. Chris Brookes will find out who his next challenger for the KO-D Openweight Title will be. Konosuke Takeshita will be wrestling in DDT again right before he goes wrestle in the Tokyo Dome. We’re also getting a singles match between Tetsuya Endo and Yuya Koroku straight away after BURNING was disbanded.
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “TOKYO JOSHI PRO ’25”, 04/01/2025 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. Aja Kong, Mahiro Kiryu & Haruna Neko Vs Yuki Aino, Raku & Pom Harajuku
2. Ryo Mizunami, Kaya Toribami & Yoshiko Hasegawa Vs Matcha, Ivy Steele & Kira Summer
3. Yuki Kamifuku & Lei Ying Lee Vs Rika Tatsumi & Wakana Uehara
4. Yuka Sakazaki & Moka Miyamoto Vs Arisu Endo & Haru Kazashiro
5. Shoko Nakajima Vs Hyper Misao
6. International Princess Title: Yuki Arai (c) Vs Suzume
7. Princess Tag Team Titles: Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh (c) Vs Masha Slamovich & Zara Zakher
8. Princess Of Princess Title: Miu Watanabe (c) Vs Mizuki
After a hard fought Asian Double Titles match, Yuki Kamifuku took a liking to Lei Ying Lee and decided she wants to team up with her.
We have an international trio of Matcha, Ivy Steele & Kira Summer teaming together.
During the Princess Rumble Raku accidentally eliminated Aja Kong from the match by hugging her and then having everyone else pile on top of them. Kong will now be facing Raku in a 6-Woman Tag Match but Raku has the rest of Love Triangle looking out for her. Or they should be as long as they’re not scared of fighting Kong.
This is not the full card for the Ittenyon show. Tokyo Joshi Pro want to have either 9 or 10 matches in total so expect one more update to announce the remaining bouts.
BASARA “BASARA 266 ~SOUEN~”, 10/01/2025 Shin-Kiba 1st RING
At the last BASARA show of the year Ryuichi Sekine made FUMA tap out to the Let’s Combine. That was in a 6-Man Tag Match so now they’re going to face off in a singles bout.
DDT “THE FORTUNE BATTLE 2025”, 18/01/2025 Tokyo Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX
1. KO-D Tag Team Titles: MAO & To-y (c) Vs Yuni & Kazuma Sumi
Even though Shunma Katsumata vacated the KO-D Tag Team Titles a while back he now finds himself stuck in the middle of the next title match! He is a part of NωA Jr. with Yuni & Kazuma Sumi and that pair want to challenge the new champions. The champions just so happen to be MAO & To-y from Katsumata’s main unit The 37KAMIINA. To-y is excited to fight them but the last thing MAO wants to do is get involved with idol wrestlers again.
“SANSHIRO TAKAGI 30TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMERATION EVENT ~ NEVER SAY NEVER”, 03/02/2025 Shinjuku FACE
1. Special Single Match: Muscle Sakai Vs Hyper Misao
2. Special Tag Match: Dump Matsumoto & Toru Owashi Vs Brahman Shu & Brahman Kei
3. Special Single Match: Yuji Nagata Vs Kuroshio TOKYO Japan
TJPW won the battle against DDT at Sumo Hall but another fight is coming out of it. Super Sasadango Machine is all of a sudden feeling defensive over how much Hyper Misao gets over for her crazy ideas. That’s meant to be his strength as a wrestler! He challenged her to a match at Sanshiro Takagi’s 30th Anniversary Match and also decided to go back to his roots. He will be unmasked and wrestling as Muscle Sakai once more!
DDT “ULTIMATE PARTY 2024”, 28/12/2024 Tokyo Ryogoku Kokugikan 3,579 Fans – No Vacancy
1. Yuni & Kazuma Sumi defeated Demus & Ilusion when Sumi pinned Demus with the School Boy (9:05).
2. Shuji Ishikawa, Tomomitsu Matsunaga & Shinichiro Kawamatsu defeated Masahiro Takanashi, Daichi Sato & Yuki Ishida when Ishikawa pinned Ishida with the Fire Thunder (8:59).
3. Special Tag Match ~ O-MENZ Kumadori Debut Match: Makoto Oishi & Akito defeated Kazuki Hirata & Kumadori when Oishi pinned Hirata with a Northern Lights Bomb (0:06).
3a. Rematch: Kazuki Hirata & Kumadori defeated Makoto Oishi & Akito when Hirata pinned Oishi after the Air Double Helio from Kumadori (10:44).
4. TJPW Vs DDT Full-Scale 6-Man Tag Match: Rika Tatsumi, Hyper Misao & Pom Harajuku defeated Toru Owashi, Super Sasadango Machine & Antonio Honda when Tatsumi pinned Honda with the Missile Hip (12:17).
5. Special 6-Man Tag Match ~ Haruto Sakuraba Debut Match: KANON, MJ Paul & Haruto Sakuraba defeated HARASHIMA, Yuki Iino & Soma Takao when KANON pinned Takao with the Vietnam Driver II (12:52).
6. Special Single Match: Jun Akiyama defeated Yukio Naya with the Front Neck Lock (13:24).
7. Special Tag Match: Kenoh & Yu Owada defeated Shinya Aoki & Keigo Nakamura when Kenoh submitted Nakamura with the Kenoh Special (11:41).
8. Special Single Match: Invisible Man defeated Danshoku Dieno (w/ Tetsu Inada) with a Danshoku Driver Counter (11:13).
9. Special Single Match: Yuki Ueno defeated Takeshi Masada with the WR (16:23).
10. 85th KO-D Tag Team Titles Decision Match: MAO & To-y defeated Tetsuya Endo & Yuya Koroku when To-y pinned Koroku with the Kojima Impact (24:17) *The 37KAMIINA becomes the 85th KO-D Tag Team Champions!
11. KO-D Openweight Title: Chris Brookes (c) defeated Daisuke Sasaki with the Praying Mantis Bomb II (36:55). *V1 for Chris Brookes.
-. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Kazuki Hirata defeated HARASHIMA (c) by TKO with the Tegatana (6:35 pm). *Kazuki Hirata becomes the 1,703rd champion.
-. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title: Sanshiro Takagi defeated HARASHIMA with the Stone Cold Stunner (6:36 pm). *Sanshiro Takagi becomes the 1,704th champion.
There’s still a few days left before the new year but DDT’s 2024 came to a close at Sumo Hall today. Daisuke Sasaki came over here looking to end Chris Brookes’s reign as the KO-D Openweight Title and bring DDT back to a more grimy atmosphere. However the feud between SCHADENFREUDE International and DAMNATION T.A coming up to this match showed Brookes is just as capable of fighting that way as he is with having a fair fight. So too was Yukinori Matsui of all people. The referee reached his breaking point from the constant interference from both sides that he grabbed a chair at ringside and was willing to attack any of them with it! Both units took his warning to heart and left ringside so the match could continue one on one. The violence still escalated with Brookes Piledriving Sasaki through a table at ringside. Sasaki fought back by seating Brookes onto a chair in the first row and hitting the Super Diving Elbow. DAMNATION T.A returned to pull Matsui out of the ring right when Brookes had Sasaki beaten with the Praying Mantis Bomb. SCHADENFREUDE also came back to cause another all out fight between the two sides. Brookes and Sasaki then attacked each other with staplers until Sasaki threw Brookes into the ref so he could Low Blow him and then hit a chair shot. But nothing he did could put Brookes away, not even El Es Culero which he took from El Desperado. Instead Brookes was able to slap Sasaki down, give him a Penalty Kick and pin him with an elevated version of the Praying Mantis Bomb.
With the battle finally over, Brookes offered to shake Sasaki’s hand after the match and Sasaki actually went through with it. Brookes told Sumo Hall he was able to win with love but he knows pro wrestling needs bad people like Sasaki to fight the good people like himself. Brookes then invited the DDT roster down to the ring to close out the show and comment on how the year went for them. Brookes told the fans he thought last year would be the final time he headlined Sumo Hall so he is happy to have done it again today. In 2025 he wants to achieve more dreams as the KO-D Champion. Backstage Sasaki told reporters he is going to take an extended break from wrestling for a while. He was asked when he plans to return and he said he’ll definitely be back on… 3rd January 2025.
The vacant KO-D Tag Team Titles were on the line in a match pitting two members of The 37KAMIINA against two wrestlers from BURNING. Due to Shunma Katsumata’s injury, the story turned into the growing rivalry between To-y and Yuya Koroku. The rivalry continued to be the focus here with Tetsuya Endo kept trying to fire Koroku up. Endo and MAO took each other out late in the match so it came down to the young pair. To-y avoided Koroku’s gameplan to target the arm and used a misdirection from running the ropes to catch Koroku off guard. His plan worked and after he pinned Koroku with the Kojima Impact, MAO & To-y became the new champions!
To-y said he is never going to forget the day he won this title. MAO also praised him because just when MAO thought he has done it all with The 37KAMIINA, along comes To-y to give him new things to do. MAO has experienced big victories in Sumo Hall before and he wanted To-y to experience the same to show how you get rewarded for your hard work. They were then approached backstage by Yuni & Kazuma Sumi. The two of them want a title shot on behalf of NωA Jr. To-y accepted the challenge but MAO had to be convinced because he doesn’t want to be associated with idols again. The title match will happen on 18th January.
A big change came from the losing side as a result of this match. BURNING is now splitting up! Endo made the decision but not for any negative reasons. While he was standing in the ring after the match he realized how much Koroku has grown as a wrestler and came to the conclusion that he does not need BURNING anymore. Koroku has fully become a pro wrestler and Yuki Iino has also reestablished himself as a strong fighter. Endo wants to keep growing to reach his own potential so the time is now for them to take their own separate paths. Koroku said the unit helped him grow a lot and he will no longer look down on himself anymore. Endo’s last piece of advice to him was it is ok to feel frustration.
Yuki Ueno took it upon himself to teach Takeshi Masada a lesson in wrestling. Masada always has high expectations to reach and pulled out a top rope version of his finisher to try and win. But Ueno couldn’t be beat and found an opening to twist Masada into the Body Choke Sleeper to wear him down. Masada started to crumble from there and Ueno kept up the attack until he could pin him with the WR. Ueno wants Masada to know he is here for him in DDT. He shouldn’t be listening to the people who give him high expectations about his future. Instead Masada should believe in himself in the present. He should get be more selfish, get even weirder and gradually he will round out his game more and more. In 2025 Yuki Ueno will enjoy being himself because only those who can express themselves will have a future.
Okay we didn’t realize just how cursed of an idea Danshoku Dieno Vs Great-O-Khan was going to be. First O-Khan gets pulled from the show by New Japan due to injury, then the only opponent DDT could find on short notice was The Invisible Man and now on the day of the show one of the special guests for the match Kentaro Kumagai could no longer make it due to illness. So it was all up to Dieno and Tetsu Inada to carry the match by themselves (with The Invisible Man of course). The referee and the commentary team all wore special glasses that would let them see The Invisible Man while Dieno wore special contact lenses that did the same thing. The match turned into a brawl up the entrance ramp that ended with The Invisible Man doing a dive off of the stage. Back in the ring he hit a Triple Moonsault and was shocked when Dieno kicked out of it. He tried hitting Dieno with multiple Axe Bombers but Dieno fired himself up by stripping off his costume piece by piece. But when he made his comeback, five other Invisible Men interfered! Then an Invisible Woman named See-Through came to Dieno’s rescue and fought them off for him. Dieno went back to give The Invisible Man the Danshoku Driver but it was countered into a sudden cradle for the three count.
After the match The Invisible Man gave Dieno credit for pushing him this far. He told Dieno that someday the ruler of the human world who should have fought him in the first place will reappear along with his loyal follower. He told Dieno to call their names out loud enough for them to hear. Inada apologized for not being to help Dieno more because he got caught up fighting the other Invisible Men. He promised to be by his side again whenever the match with O-Khan takes place. Dieno assured him they haven’t lost the battle because O-Khan and Kumagai are not here. The four of them will have their fated fight one day. Until then everyone should continue to go out and live their lives to the fullest.
It was a battle of pride between DDT and NOAH. The home team of Shinya Aoki & Keigo Nakamura certainly felt it when they fought Kenoh & Yu Owada. They fought around ringside and beat lumps out of each other. Nakamura tried to do his own attempt at Aoki’s Full Nelson Hold to pin Kenoh but the NOAH wrestler kicked out of it and made him tap out to the Kenoh Special. Aoki and Kenoh then kept fighting after the bell until they were kept apart. Aoki’s in a good mood about it though. He thinks DDT got the moral victory today because of Nakamura’s performance. He also thinks Kenoh secretly had a lot of fun out there. Aoki would love to have a rematch or even a singles match with Kenoh. He says it is up to the fans to decide if it will happen. Kenoh spent his post-match interview backstage promoting NOAH’s Budokan Hall show on 1st January.
Over on the heavyweight side of the roster Jun Akiyama showed everyone that Yukio Naya still hasn’t met his potential yet. Naya Choke Slammed him onto the ring apron and hit other big moves like the Diving Elbow and The World’s Best Back Drop. But Akiyama kept kicking out and fought back with Knee Strikes and Exploder Suplexes. He went to finish him off with the Wrist-Clutch Exploder but Naya blocked it. So Akiyama switched over to the Front Neck Lock and made him give up. Akiyama admits that Naya is better than him at everything now but the difference is 33 years of determination. He will wait for Naya to come fight him again. Naya is now worried about a comment Konosuke Takeshita recently made. If this generation carries on like they are now then they will become the generation that left nothing behind. Naya swears he will get a rematch with Akiyama in 2025 and finally beat him.
The debut of “THE MONSTER” Haruto Sakuraba gave DAMNATION T.A their only victory of the show. His size and power left Yuki Iino shaken when they charged each other in the ring. With that taken care of, KANON & MJ Paul were able to pick off the rest of the other team ending with KANON using the Vietnam Driver II to pin Soma Takao. He praised Sakuraba’a overwhelming size and power while Sakuraba called out for more people to fight him. While HARASHIMA agrees with Sakuraba’a strengths, he pointed out that as a rookie he still has a long way to go. He hopes to see Sakuraba work even harder from now on and will be happy to fight him more anytime.
DDT lost their other inter-promotional match, this time to Tokyo Joshi Pro. Good thing they are all under the same CyberFight umbrella. The TJPW team actually met with the DDT team before the match offering a box of treats. But when Toru Owashi was about to accept it, Pom Harajuku hit all of the DDT wrestler over the head with the box. The match itself got so heated up that management even got involved! Hisaya Imabayashi and Tetsuya Koda fought each other in the ring at different points in the match. Super Sasadango Machine tried to give Hyper Misao the Vertical Drop Lehman Shock but Misao fought him off with her spray can. Antonio Honda tried telling a dirty Gongitsune joked but Koda stopped him for the sake of the TJPW wrestlers. Imabayashi ran in and hit Koda with the Uraken but fell over in the process, giving Koda the chance to hit him with the Finally kick before he collapsed. Misao brought in the Hyper Mobile and crashed it into Honda. The match slowed down and even included a flashback from Honda. The Hyper Mobile returned but Owashi & Sasadango accidentally crashed it into Honda. Rika Tatsumi then hit the Missile Hip to Honda for the victory.
Later backstage Imabayashi told the DDT team that as a result of this match, TJPW will get all of the profits made from today’s show. The wrestlers came up with the excuse that they are all freelancers so none of them are really effected by that. Honda promised to get revenge by winning the Princess Rumble tomorrow. Sasadango then confronted the TJPW team wanting to talk to Misao. He challenged her to a singles match but this time Sasadango will ditch the mask and wrestle as Muscle Sakai! Not only that but he wants the match to happen at Sanshiro Takagi’s 30th Anniversary show on 3rd February. Misao accepted so we are going to get a battle of who has the better sense of humour!
The other celebrity debut was over before it could even begin. Kumadori got to do his entrance with the rest of O-MENZ but seconds into the match Akito attacked him while he was posing while Makoto Oishi immediately pinned Kazuki Hirata. Kumadori complained by telling Akito he shouldn’t be ambushing him like that and Hirata should have practiced more. He didn’t have anything to say about Oishi because he doesn’t care about him. The teams agreed to an instant rematch and this time Kumadori got to put in a performance he was happy with. He landed a Cancun Torndao on Oishi and Hirata jumped on top to get the pinfall. Hirata and O-MENZ then celebrated all together with a victory dance. Kumadori thanked Hirata because the Hirata GO! glasses really were helpful when he needed them.
Shuji Ishikawa got his preparation in for the upcoming 4 Way No. 1 Contender match. He went toe to toe with Daichi Sato while Tomomitsu Matsunaga and Yuki Ishida were trying to sumo wrestle each other. Masahiro Takanashi and Shinichiro Kawamatsu got some ring time against each other too but the match was won by Ishikawa beating Ishida with the Fire Thunder.
The show opened with NωA Jr. performing their debut single “New! Wrestling! Idol!” before two of them went on to wrestle in the first match. Yuni & Sumi’s big day was close to being ruined because DAMNATION T.A almost beat them. But after Ilusion hit the Swanton Bomb on Yuni, Sumi finally found a way to counter Demus’s finisher. He turned La Valagueza into a School Boy to get the three count from out of nowhere. Sumi was so happy with the win he promised to work hard as an idol while also doing his best as a pro wrestler. He also wants to have another singles match with Demus in Mexico or DDT because he knows today’s win was just a fluke.
There were a couple of Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title changes that happened throughout the day. Before the show began Yuki Ishida attacked the champion Yoshihiko in a hallway. Yoshihiko fended him off but Makoto Oishi jumped in and pinned the doll to become the new champion. HARASHIMA saw it happen in the distance so he joined in the fight. Oishi did not want to take the Somato before his match so he gave up and forfeited the belt to HARASHIMA. There was no further title changes until the very end when after the credits, Hirata ambushed HARASHIMA and knocked him out with the Tegatana chop to the neck. Matsui couldn’t revive HARASHIMA so he declared Hirata the new champion.
Hirata then fled with the title but found himself in a dead end inside the shower room. There he found Sanshiro Takagi taking a bath by himself. The two started arguing over Takagi taking a bath while the show was still going on and it turned into a fight. Takagi gave Hirata the Stunner and pinned him in the bath water to end the show as the new Iron Man Champion!
There will be a merchandise collaboration between DDT and the anime “Brave Bang Bravern!” coming soon. DDT will announce more details on the 26th January Korakuen Hall show.
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. “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.
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
Expect a preview for the show to be posted tomorrow. Maybe Friday at the latest.
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “TJPW YEAR-END PARTY 2024”, 29/12/2024 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. Ivy Steele Vs Chika Nanase
2. Dot Money Presents TJPW RUSH! Year End Special Red And White Team 5 Vs 5 Knockout Match: Shoko Nakajima, Arisu Endo, Moka Miyamoto, Haru Kazashiro & Toga Vs Mizuki, Suzume, Yoshiko Hasegawa, Shino Suzuki & Uta Takami
3. SETUP All Asia Women’s Title: Pom Harajuku (c) Vs Matcha
4. Queen Of Asia Title & VPW Women’s Title: Yuki Kamifuku (c/c) Vs Lei Ying Lee
5. WINTICKET Presents I Hope There Will Be Lots Of Fun And Exciting Things Next Year! New Year’s Japanese Pro Wrestling! 20 Wrestler PRINCESS RUMBLE 2024: Miu Watanabe Vs Miyu Yamashita Vs Maki Itoh Vs Yuki Arai Vs Rika Tatsumi Vs Hyper Misao Vs Yuki Aino Vs Raku Vs Mahiro Kiryu Vs Haruna Neko Vs Kaya Toribami Vs Wakana Uehara Vs HIMAWARI Vs Kira Summer Vs Yuna Manase Vs Antonio Honda Vs Pokotan Vs Poison Sawada JULIE X Vs XX
One more name to add to the Princess Rumble. Poison Sawada JULIE returns to Tokyo Joshi Pro! Remember back in 2016 when he brainwashed a couple of the girls into becoming his soldiers and tried to take over the company? Well bygones will be bygones and it is Christmas after all so TJPW is letting him back in as long as he behaves.
“SANSHIRO TAKAGI 30TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMERATION EVENT ~ NEVER SAY NEVER”, 03/02/2025 Shinjuku FACE
1. Special Tag Match: Dump Matsumoto & Toru Owashi Vs Brahman Shu & Brahman Kei
2. Special Single Match: Yuji Nagata Vs Kuroshio TOKYO Japan
If Yuji Nagata Vs Kuroshio TOKYO Japan is Sanshiro Takagi’s Christmas present for his fans I hope he kept the receipt.
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. DDT Vs TJPW Full-Scale 6-Man Tag Match: Toru Owashi, Super Sasadango Machine & Antonio Honda Vs Rika Tatsumi, Hyper Misao & Pom Harajuku
4. Special Tag Match ~ O-MENZ Kumadori Debut Match: Kazuki Hirata & Kumadori Vs Makoto Oishi & Akito
5. Special 6-Man Tag Match ~ Haruto Sakuraba Debut Match: KANON, MJ Paul & Haruto Sakuraba Vs HARASHIMA, Yuki Iino & Soma Takao.
6. Special Tag Match: Shinya Aoki & Keigo Nakamura Vs Kenoh & Yu Owada
7. Special Single Match: Yuki Ueno Vs Takeshi Masada
8. Special Single Match: Jun Akiyama Vs Yukio Naya
9. Special Single Match: Great-O-Khan Vs Danshoku Dieno
10. KO-D Tag Team Titles: MAO & To-y Vs Tetsuya Endo & Yuya Koroku
11. KO-D Openweight Title: Chris Brookes Vs Daisuke Sasaki
The rest of O-MENZ will be joining Kumadori for a special dance performance as part of his ring entrance.
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “TJPW YEAR-END PARTY 2024”, 29/12/2024 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. Ivy Steele Vs Chika Nanase
2. Dot Money Presents TJPW RUSH! Year End Special Red And White Team 5 Vs 5 Knockout Match: Shoko Nakajima, Arisu Endo, Moka Miyamoto, Haru Kazashiro & Toga Vs Mizuki, Suzume, Yoshiko Hasegawa, Shino Suzuki & Uta Takami
3. SETUP All Asia Women’s Title: Pom Harajuku (c) Vs Matcha
4. Queen Of Asia Title & VPW Women’s Title: Yuki Kamifuku (c/c) Vs Lei Ying Lee
5. WINTICKET Presents I Hope There Will Be Lots Of Fun And Exciting Things Next Year! New Year’s Japanese Pro Wrestling! 20 Wrestler PRINCESS RUMBLE 2024: Miu Watanabe Vs Miyu Yamashita Vs Maki Itoh Vs Yuki Arai Vs Rika Tatsumi Vs Hyper Misao Vs Yuki Aino Vs Raku Vs Mahiro Kiryu Vs Haruna Neko Vs Kaya Toribami Vs Wakana Uehara Vs HIMAWARI Vs Kira Summer Vs Yuna Manase Vs Antonio Honda Vs X Vs XX Vs XXX Vs XXXX
The Red and White teams have been decided for the TJPW RUSH match. Now it is up to the captains Shoko Nakajima and Mizuki to come up with their team orders based on how Kendo handles team competitions. From start to end the positions are Senpo, Jiho, Chuken, Fukusho and Taisho. Since this is a Gauntlet match there is a chance that it can end with some wrestlers on the winning team not even getting to take part. If that happens then the wrestlers who did not get to enter will be added into the Princess Rumble. Tokyo Joshi Pro wants to ensure that everybody booked on the show will get to wrestle on it.
Antonio Honda is the latest unexpected entry into the Princess Rumble. There are four spots remaining but they may be kept open for whoever gets potentially left out of the TJPW RUSH match. You never know if the match ends up with only one wrestler going on a clean sweep leaving the other four on the team waiting on the sidelines for nothing.
DDT “NEW YEAR☆DRAMATIC PARADE 2025 ~ANSWERS WILL BE REVEALED ONE YEAR LATER~”, 03/01/2025 Tokyo Korakuen Hall
1. BZW Tag Team Titles: MAO & Yoshihiko (c) Vs Kazuki Hirata & Antonio Honda
2. Special Tag Match: KONOSUKE TAKESHITA & Jun Akiyama Vs Yuki Iino & Yukio Naya
3. KO-D Openweight Title Next Challenger 4 Way Match: Danshoku Dieno Vs Shuji Ishikawa Vs HARASHIMA Vs KANON
A few days ago I mentioned Shuji Ishikawa’s appearance here could be a hint towards big things on the horizon for the Evolution Joshi group that he helps manages with Suwama. Yesterday it was announced that the group will soon become a fully fledged pro wrestling company called Pro Wrestling Evolution. They will mainly focus on their home grown roster of joshi wrestlers but Ishikawa and Suwama will also be providing men’s matches on their shows. Could Ishikawa be on a path to win the KO-D Openweight Title to bring some prestige into his new venture? He did that before with Union Pro so history might get a chance to repeat itself.
Last month in France MAO & Yoshihiko turned Banger Zone Wrestling upside down by winning the BZW Tag Team Titles. They don’t have a return date set in stone yet so for the time being they are going to defend the titles at DDT shows in Japan. Kazuki Hirata & Antonio Honda are joining forces to be their first challengers.
“SANSHIRO TAKAGI 30TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMERATION EVENT ~ NEVER SAY NEVER”, 03/02/2025 Shinjuku FACE
1. Special Tag Match: Dump Matsumoto & Toru Owashi Vs Brahman Shu & Brahman Kei
The next guest appearing at Sanshiro Takagi’s anniversary show is Fumihito Kihara. He was originally a ring announcer for All Japan goin back to the 1980s and ended up becoming a pro wrestler himself decades later. He wrestled in Ganbare☆Pro several times during the promotion’s early years. Here he will be pulling double duty because Takagi is booking him both as a wrestler and as the ring announcer!
TOKYO JOSHI PRO “AEX32 SANTIAGO 2025”, 09/02/2025 Estación Mapocho Cultural Center, Santiago, Chile
1. Moka Miyamoto Vs Pandora
2. Aja Kong Vs Roma
3. Miyu Yamashita & Maki Itoh Vs Zatara & Sara Phoenix
Three matches have been announced for TJPW’s convention show in Chile for AEX Santiago. They are sending over Miyu Yamashita, Maki Itoh, Moka Miyamoto and also Aja Kong as a bonus. Their opponents are all local luchadoras from the Chile wrestling scene. Zatara & Sara Phoenix are familiar with each other both as opponents and teammates. Roma has been in wrestling for just as long as those two. Pandora is the same age as Miyamoto and has a similar level of experience as her so on paper they should be on an equal footing.
DDT “GET ALIVE 2024”, 23/11/2024 Tokyo Korakuen Hall 984 Fans – No Vacancy
1. Demus & Ilusion defeated Munetatsu Nakamura & Kazuma Sumi when Demus pinned Sumi with La Valagueza (5:50).
2. Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title – Kazuki Hirata 37th Birthday Special 1 Vs 6 Handicap No DQ Match: Toru Owashi, Antonio Honda, Soma Takao, Diego, Yuki Ishida & Yoshihiko defeated Kazuki Hirata (c) when Yoshihiko pinned Hirata with the Reincarnation (7:41). *Yoshihiko becomes the 1,700th champion.
3. Special 6-Man Tag Match: Jun Akiyama, Shinya Aoki & Keigo Nakamura defeated HARASHIMA, Yukio Naya & Tomomitsu Matsunaga when Aoki pinned Matsunaga with the Full Nelson Hold (8:14).
-. Emergency Match: Shinya Aoki defeated Yu Owada with the Full Nelson Hold (0:11).
4. Akito 15th Anniversary Debut Special Single Match: Isami Kodaka defeated Akito with a Cradle (9:12).
5. The 37KAMIINA Vs BURNING!: Yuki Ueno, MAO & To-y defeated Tetsuya Endo, Yuki Iino & Yuya Koroku when To-y pinned Koroku with the Kojima Impact (11:50).
6. DDT Extreme Title – You’re Still A Cinderella As You Climb The Ladder To Adulthood Rules: Danshoku Dieno (c) defeated Yuni with the Cinderella Sleeper (9:18). *V1 for Danshoku Dieno.
7. KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles: Daisuke Sasaki, KANON & MJ Paul (c) defeated Chris Brookes, Masahiro Takanashi & Takeshi Masada when Sasaki submitted Takanashi with the Crossover Face Lock (13:57). *V4 for DAMNATION T.A.
With Sumo Hall coming up at the end of the year, Chris Brookes and Daisuke Sasaki have a long war ahead of them that’s bringing in almost everybody with attachment to either SCHADENFREUDE International or DAMNATION T.A. Today’s battle was over the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Titles and quickly turned into a brawl around ringside. Sasaki and Brookes attacked each other with chairs while MJ Paul fell victim to a balcony length rubber band attack. KANON bested Takeshi Masada in their face off and left the match to the two unit leaders. Brookes had Sasaki beaten with the Praying Mantis Bomb but the pin was interrupted by DAMNATION T.A pulling the ref out of the ring. Ilusion then interfered but Munetatsu Nakamura came after him to even the odds. More chaos broke out with Demus and Antonio Honda getting in on the action. When things finally calmed down, DAMNATION T.A isolated Masahiro Takanashi and picked him apart. Sasaki countered the Takatonic with the Implant and then he gave Brookes a Low Blow. Sasaki & KANON then did the Freedom Call to Takanashi and he was then choked out by Sasaki’s Crossover Face Lock to give the champions the win.
After the match Sasaki told Brookes he and SCHADENFREUDE are nothing special. Love, romance and dreams are powerless before Sasaki! He only works for championships and the KO-D Openweight Title will definitely be his. Sasaki will be the last man standing in Sumo Hall on 28th December. He then said backstage there is a reason why he hasn’t challenged for the KO-D Title in four years but he won’t reveal it today. Instead he wants everyone to know he will be the one to bring the KO-D Title to Las Vegas next April. Brookes said there are plenty more matches to come in the next month and he will defend the title at Sumo Hall.
The DDT Extreme Title was on the line in a “Forbidden Battle” between Danshoku Dieno and Yuni. For five minutes of the match Yuni benefitted from “Cinderella Time” that meant Dieno would be immediately disqualified if he used any of his lewd moveset against him. However once that time ran out, the ban was lifted and the match would continue with no DQs whatsoever. Yuni wanted to win quickly so he went for high risk moves from the get-go while Dieno kept stopping himself from using his typical attacks. Time ran out though and Dieno instantly took over the match. Yuni eventually fought fire with fire by giving Dieno the Lip Lock and then hit two Moonsaults followed by the Fireball Splash. Dieno was still in the match so Yuni went for a Phoenix Splash. Dieno rolled out of the way, applied the Lip Lock, did the Danshoku Driver and then used a Triangle Choke to win.
Yuni refused to shake Dieno’s hand after the match. Backstage Dieno called him a rival and warned him not to get tripped up by everyone who just treats him as a high school student. That’s not just in pro wrestling but in life too. Yuni is only going to get stronger from here so Dieno doesn’t want to see him get spoiled and pampered just because he is in high school. Yuni understands that and appreciates that Dieno treated him like a pro wrestler. He thinks today was a rite of passage for him on the way to winning the Extreme Title and also the KO-D Title while he is still in high school. Next up for Dieno is an unexpected opponent for 28th December. It was announced after the show he will face Great-O-Khan at Sumo Hall!
Thanks to Shunma Katsumata’s ACL injury the KO-D Tag Team Titles were vacated earlier this week and today’s title match was cancelled. The replacement match was still The 37KAMIINA Vs BURNING but as a 6-Man Tag Match instead. Yuya Koroku was frustrated to have his title shot taken away from him so he wanted to make an example out of To-y. That ended up being a mistake. Thanks to some teamwork from Yuki Ueno & MAO, To-y ended up pinning Koroku with the Kojima Impact! Koroku couldn’t believe it but still said after the match he will not give up on chasing after the KO-D Tag Titles. To-y said he has just as many frustrations as Koroku because he was fighting for Katsumata when he really wants to win the KO-D Tag Title himself. The two argued about having a rematch until Hisaya Imabayashi came up with an idea. Tetsuya Endo & Koroku will face MAO & To-y at Sumo Hall with the vacant KO-D Tag Titles on the line! Endo talked down to Koroku backstage because he thought every point To-y made was right and he outperformed Koroku on the microphone. Of course wrestlers perform for the fans but they still need to have an ego because a pro wrestler in an embodiment of their ego. Meanwhile Yuki Iino talked about his upcoming match with Tomohiro Ishii on the 22nd December Korakuen show. He thinks Sumo Hall is where all of BURNING can regain their momentum going into the new year.
Akito wanted to have a match with Isami Kodaka for his 15th Anniversary because Kodaka was one of his seniors who helped him so much throughout his career. The two had a back and forth match that included a little trick from Akito where he used the ref as a shield. However Kodaka got the better of him by doing a Brainbuster and then pinning him down legs over shoulders to get the three count. Akito thanked him for the match and suggested they wrestle again for his 20th Anniversary. Kodaka said he would be on his 27th Anniversary by then so they should make the match the main event instead of putting it in the middle of the card.
There was a 6-Man Tag Match that was there to put the focus on Jun Akiyama Vs Yukio Naya but its attention was stolen away by the end of it. HARASHIMA & Tomomitsu Matsunaga did well to control Shinya Aoki until Aoki trapped Matsunaga in the Full Nelson Hold to get the three count. When the dust was settling, Akiyama and Naya had a staredown outside the ring, getting themselves ready for Sumo Hall. However Aoki then got on the microphone to talk about something completely different…
One of the many matches Aoki has been trying make happen this year is a bout against Kenoh from NOAH. Aoki told the fans in Korakuen Hall that on 1st January he will go to NOAH’s Budokan Hall show to have a match with Kenoh! That claim brought the actual Kenoh down to ringside where he angrily denied the match is going to happen. Aoki then asked him if they should have a match at DDT’s Sumo Hall show instead? Kenoh told him he would never climb back into DDT’s cheap and dirty ring. He respects the MMA version of Aoki but not the DDT version. He then ordered the NOAH rookie Yu Owada to have a match with Aoki right now! Aoki pinned Owada in seconds with the Full Nelson Hold. Then Keigo Nakamura got on the microphone asking to fight Kenoh for insulting the DDT fans. A brawl broke out between the four wrestlers and ended with Kenoh agreeing to a match at Sumo Hall. It will be Aoki & Nakamura against Kenoh & Owada!
Earlier in the day before the show began, Kazuki Hirata assaulted Yuki Ueno with a ring bell hammer to win back the Iron Man Heavymetalweight Title. He then brought the hammer with him to fight off his six opponents in the Handicap match put together to celebrate his 37th birthday. Since it was his birthday he said the match was No DQ so he was allowed to bash everyone over the head with the hammer. Ueno then returned and pleaded Hirata to stop because this isn’t how is usually behaves. To try and win Hirata back, Ueno put on the Hirata GO! glasses and got the other wrestlers to dance with him. Hirata saw the light and joined in… until Ueno put him in a Sleeper Hold and Yoshihiko pinned him with the Reincarnation to become the champion.
Hirata was still in the ring when the O-MENZ dancer Kumadori entered the ring to talk to him. He thinks Hirata is a good dancer so they should have a dance battle. But when it began Kumadori pushed Hirata down and showed off his breakdance moves. Hirata praised his skill and admitted he cannot beat him in either dancing or wrestling. He then offered to team up with Kumadori for the dancer’s debut at Sumo Hall. The two agreed and their match will be against Makoto Oishi & Akito.
DAMNATION T.A had a good day at Korakuen. There was the title defence in the main event and also a tag victory in the opener. Demus & Ilusion didn’t take long to beat Nakamura & Kazuma Sumi. It fell apart for the losing team when Nakamura aimed a Super Kick for Ilusion that was ducked and hit Sumi instead. Demus took the opportunity to pin Sumi with La Valagueza after that.
DDT usually makes their news announcements at the start of the show but today they waited until two matches were completed first. Sanshiro Takagi gave an update that he is not ready to return to the ring yet. However he still has a special idea to celebrate his 30th Anniversary in wrestling next year. He will be producing his own show at Shinjuku FACE called “NEVER SAY NEVER” but the catch is nobody under DDT contract will be booked for it. Instead he will rely on his connections with freelancers and wrestlers from other companies to fill up the card. The first match announced for the show is Toru Owashi & Dump Matsumoto Vs The Brahman Brothers! Takagi’s goal is to come up with an unbelievable card of matches.
The NωA idol project is back with Oishi’s handpicked members deciding on their new group name. Katsumata, Yuni & Sumi will now be called NωA Jr. whenever they perform together as idols. Their debut song and CD will be unveiled at Sumo Hall. Sumi admitted he hasn’t practiced the song yet but he’s still all set for the debut.
Yesterday came the sad news that Yusuke Okada was going to retire from pro wrestling. He is still recovering from his cancer and is unable to get back to the condition needed to start wrestling again. Today is officially the date of his retirement and he got to give a speech to the fans during the show. He told the fans his treatment is going well and he is feeling fine but he thought about this decision a lot. He wrestled for 8 years and 4 of them were with DDT. He has met the best teammates and fans and will support DDT as a fan himself from now on. Takagi and Akiyama presented him with bouquets of flowers and Okada met with many wrestlers outside the ring for his exit. Included among them were Yukio Sakaguchi, Saki Akai, Kazusada Higuchi and Naomi Yoshimura. Backstage Okada said he would like to still be involved with DDT in some way.
DDT announced they will be part of two shows at Las Vegas next April for The Collective during Wrestlemania Week. “DDT GOES LAS VEGAS!” will be held on 18th April (same day as the Tokyo Joshi Pro show) and “DDT VS TJPW VS GCW” will be on the 19th.
DDT “STREET WRESTLING IN IZU OCEANIC PARK”, 02/07/2015 Shizuoka Izu Oceanic Park 300 Fans
1. 4 Way Tag Team Match: Sanshiro Takagi & Kazuki Hirata Vs HARASHIMA & Yasu Urano Vs Shigehiro Irie & Soma Takao Vs Konosuke Takeshita & Hiroshi Fukuda
Yesterday there was a discovery on Twitter over Kota Ibushi’s recent return to DDT that suddenly came to an abrupt end. The discovery was his two DDT matches from 25th August and 8th September have both been scrubbed off Wrestle Universe and can no longer be watched on the service.* When you go to watch the 25th August show on Wrestle Universe his match is still talked about on the pre-show and the match graphic still appears in the opening video. The match itself though has been edited off the stream and it goes straight from the end of Match #5 to the video package of the main event. The card lineups on each video both have “Some matches have been cut due to circumstances” written on the bottom of the page. That’s not all, DDT also pulled some of their recent Youtube videos of Ibushi’s past matches that they originally uploaded to promote his return. This follows the news at the start of the month of Ibushi’s two October dates with DDT being cancelled with no explanation given by anyone.
*Update: A day after this post was written, Wrestle Universe also removed the Weapon Rumble match from 21st July which featured Ibushi’s actual return to DDT.
I thought that news sounded weird when it happened. Ibushi wasn’t injured and even had a match in GLEAT the next day. There was some guessing online that maybe he was being called upon by AEW and couldn’t be available for the DDT dates anymore. I didn’t want to rule it out because those kind of short notice bookings have happened with DDT and Tokyo Joshi Pro talent in the past. But looking at the AEW schedule at the time it didn’t make much sense to me. He’d miss one booking but had plenty of time to make it back to Japan for the second booking. So when those dates came and went without Ibushi showing up anywhere, I didn’t think about it again until the Wrestle Universe thing was discovered.
So if Ibushi’s absence was not because of injury and was not because of other obligations getting in the way, then that suggests there could have been a falling out between Ibushi and DDT. That’s when I remembered what happened at the very end of the 25th August show. As the crowd was making their way to the exit MAO & Shunma Katsumata announced their intentions to challenge for DDT’s tag team championships. Nothing unusual about that. They continued talking about theirs goals backstage during their post-show interview until MAO changed the subject and brought up “Golden Star Syndrome”. That was the phrase he used to describe Ibushi’s fanbase and the lapsed DDT fans who came to the show just to see him chase old glories again. MAO’s point was the fans should not take the current generation for granted because they are the ones who kept DDT going after Ibushi left and the company went downhill from their peak of popularity.
They were not the only wrestlers who made comments about Ibushi’s return to DDT. Yuki Ueno also spoke about it backstage after his defeat in the main event. Ueno said DDT became what it is today thanks to Ibushi and everyone should be grateful for that. Sanshiro Takagi loves him like family which means Ueno also treats him like family. However, Ueno also questioned Ibushi’s motive for returning to DDT and revealed there are other people in the company who are not happy he came back. Ueno wants to make DDT better but he couldn’t tell if Ibushi’s intentions are the same.
When Ibushi found out about those comments he tweeted out his response. He wonders if the wrestlers were criticizing him out of jealousy? He isn’t interested enough to get involved any further and decided to ignore them. He also asked if those wrestlers are DDT’s current aces and suggested if this deal isn’t working out he still has AEW to go to. At the time of writing those comments are still the most recent tweets on his X account.
A few days later Michael Nakazawa posted a blog to give his thoughts on the matter. He wrote them to be as neutral as possible but admits they will likely come off as defending his close friend Ibushi anyway. He understands there are people who support DDT’s current era that are annoyed to see all of the fan and media attention go to Ibushi for his sudden return to the company. He points out that cutting a promo built around real emotions can sometimes go in an unexpected direction. That happened here when Ibushi did not react the way Ueno, MAO & Katsumata supposedly wanted him to. Nakazawa said if there is anyone who didn’t like the company’s decision to book Ibushi then they should have spoken to someone in the company instead of making the matter public. He also thinks it would not have done Ibushi any good if he picked up on the promo because Ibushi just wants to have fun matches. Nakazawa also compared Ibushi to Kaisei Takechi when it comes to drawing in fans from outside of DDT’s current audience to their shows. However Nakazawa admits Ibushi could have handled the situation in a more mature manner.
The next part of the story takes a surprising turn. While our attention was on the Wrestle Universe story, Marvelous played a video at their show of Ibushi standing around in their dojo. It was a teaser to promote that Ibushi will be in attendance for the promotion’s next Korakuen Hall event on 1st December. Even though Marvelous is a joshi promotion first and foremost, there is often a men’s match booked on the undercard of their shows. Ibushi went to his Instagram to talk about it and wondered if this video will be on their Youtube channel (I can’t tell if this was meant to be a joke about his DDT videos being pulled down).
Ibushi then turned his attention to his situation with DDT. I tried translating it and the comments come out sounding negative. It sounds like Ibushi is accusing DDT of caring more about money than their 20 years of working together. His post also includes hashtags referring to Sanshiro Takagi, DDT collapsing as a company and decisions being made to make up for a deficit. Whatever it is that Ibushi has a problem with, he would like to get an apology over it. Now his focus is going to be on the upcoming Marvelous show.
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So that’s what I’ve been able to gather together so far. Kota Ibushi and DDT have had a falling out and it seems to stem from the comments made by Yuki Ueno & MAO. Whether that was just meant to be a promo to build up a future match and it blew up in everyone’s face isn’t fully clear to me. The few matches Ibushi had in DDT this year had nothing to do with The 37KAMIINA. There was a trios match where Ibushi got to fight Tetsuya Endo again, a nostalgia match where Ibushi reunited with other DDT figures from his generation and the cancelled bout was a freak show kickboxing comedy match where he would have treated his best friend Gota Ihashi as a human crash test dummy like he always does. Maybe something would have been set up for the end of year Sumo Hall show but I guess we will never know now.
It sounds like it was DDT’s decision to remove the videos. I remember early in NJPW World’s existence when Naoya Ogawa successfully requested to have videos of his matches removed but Ibushi’s behavior doesn’t come off like he made any demands like that. But his decision to talk up rumours of DDT’s business decline isn’t going to help things one bit. It’s a bridge burner if I ever heard one and kind of not that far off from how he talked about New Japan when that relationship went sour. At least he hasn’t said anything as extreme as who he suggested some pro wrestling companies were in bed with back then.
I hope what I’ve written helps clear up even a little bit of what’s going on. I wanted to shine a light on the situation after the videos go scrubbed from Wrestle Universe. It makes what happened above way more notable in hindsight than I thought they were at the time. There is still so much we don’t know about behind the scenes but at least this is something to work with if people out there want to talk about it. If there are any mistakes, contradictions or other comments about what I wrote please tell me because the last thing I want to happen is this post causing trouble because of wrong information (causing trouble because of correct information is A-OK though).
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UPDATE: The 4th November issue of the Wrestling Observer newsletter had a write up on the situation based on this post. Dave Meltzer also had additional information from a source close to the matter. The new info was written like this:
“Another person with knowledge of the situation wrote to us saying, “There were comments backstage from the younger guys towards Ibushi that he felt were disrespectful and I guess when the president (Takagi) asked them to apologize and squash the beef, most of the talent didn’t really want to, so Ibushi chose not to work for DDT anymore.” The person also said he felt that this was blown out of proportion”
Posted by JamieOD 
Dramatic DDT 