 DDT logo since April 2018 | |
| Acronym | DDT |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1997 |
| Style | |
| Headquarters | Shinjuku, Tokyo,Japan |
| Founder(s) | Shintaro Mutoh |
| Parent | CyberFight (CyberAgent) |
| Sister | |
| Formerly | Dramatic Dream Team (1997–2004) |
| Website | ddtpro |
DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDTプロレスリング,DDT Puroresuringu) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based inShinjuku,Tokyo. Its name is an initialism ofDramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's original name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, the promotion was eventually bought and managed byShoichi Ichimiya until December 2005, whenSanshiro Takagi took over as the new president. In 2017, DDT was sold toCyberAgent. Takagi retained his position, while Takahiro Yamauchi took over as the new DDT director.
DDT became one of the top promotions in Japaneseindependent wrestling by creating a unique sports entertainment style, often parodyingWWE, with a Japanesepuroresu flair to the matches. DDT's biggest event isPeter Pan, held each year since 2009.
The cards' matches tend to be a mixture of Japanese lucharesu (a mix of lucha libre and traditional puroresu), worked shoot-style, hardcore brawling and comedy matches. DDT is in many ways a parody of American pro wrestling, particularly WWE, using over-the-top gimmicks (most notablyDanshoku Dino) as well as unique match types includinghardcore matches in a campsite (which featured use of bottle rockets as weapons), an "Office Deathmatch" (where the ring was set up to resemble a section of an office building, complete with cubicle walls and computers), and a "Silence Match" (where wrestlers were forbidden to make loud noises, resulting in slow-motion chops and punches and featuring the commentary team speaking in a faux-whisper).
In January 2020, DDT's parent company CyberAgent purchasedPro Wrestling Noah, with DDT's executives taking over Noah's operations and Noah's content appearing on DDT's streaming serviceWrestle Universe.[1]
The promotion was founded by Shintaro Muto,Sanshiro Takagi,Kyohei Mikami andKazushige Nosawa, after they left Pro Wrestling Crusaders.[2] The promotion was namedDramatic Dream Team, its first event took place on January 31, 1997, in Tokyo. In 1999, DDT started producing pay-per-view digests of its product on DirectTV.[citation needed]
The promotion then established their own governing body in 2000, the King of DDT, shortened as KO-D, creating theKO-D Openweight Championship,Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship and theKO-D Tag Team Championship. DDT also created their own tag team tournament theDDT Tag League. Later in 2003,Shoichi Ichimiya became the new president of DDT.[3]
On 2004, DDT rebranded to DDT Pro-Wrestlingyūgen gaisha renaming the promotion toDDT Pro-Wrestling. In October, DDT got a timeslot onFighting TV Samurai, creating their regular broadcast programDDT Dramatic Fantasia.[4] In 2005, indie promotion Union Pro Wrestling was revived by DDT.[5]
On December 28, 2005 Ichimiya retired from professional wrestling and announced his departure from DDT.[6] This led to Sanshiro Takagi taking over the promotion as the new president. Then the company focused on the feud between the face stable Italian Four Horsemen and the heel stable Disaster Box. In November 2006, DDT announced the creation of their fourth active title theDDT Extreme Championship. Later in 2007 DDT announced a working relationship withDragon Gate. DDT and Dragon Gate held their first co-promoted show, Dramatic Dream Gate on April 18, 2007 in Shinjuku Face in Tokyo, Japan. DDT would later become a member of theGlobal Professional Wrestling Alliance. The group was established as a means to aid the many competing wrestling promotions in Japan. In 2009, DDT announced that they were going to become a stock company, turning their company from private to public.[citation needed] In March 2010, DDT announced a working relationship withBig Japan Pro Wrestling.[7] Later in March, Takagi announced the DDT48 (later renamed Dramatic Sōsenkyo), which was a fan vote where the winner received a shot at the KO-D Openweight Championship. Later that month, in storyline,Michael Nakazawa stepped down as the CEO of DDT and Amon Tsurumi became theGeneral Manager of the promotion.[citation needed] In 2011, DDT received theFighting TV SamuraiIndie no Oshigoto prize for having the best show the year, winning theBest Show Award forJudgement 2011.
In March 2012, the Dramatic Fantasia weekly program was briefly cancelled by Samurai TV. This led to the launch of the programDDT Wrestling Hour onNiconico, starting April 2.[8] On June 4, DDT launched another sub-brand namedTokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling (TJPW), which was exclusive to women's wrestlers.[9] DDT celebrated its15th anniversary on August 18, 2012, by holding its first ever event inNippon Budokan.[10] On December 23, 2012, DDT announced the creation of their fifth active title, theKO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship.[11] On January 17, 2013, DDT announced thatDaisuke Sasaki had signed a contract to officially make DDT his home promotion, ending his days as a freelancer.[12][13] On April 17 DDT formed another sub-brandGanbare☆Pro-Wrestling (GanPro). On May 3, DDT's Max Bump event was broadcast live bySamurai TV. After that DDT launched a weekly programDDT's Pro-Wrestling Banzai \(^o^)/, which was also broadcast by Samurai TV.[14] On November 28, DDT announced a new project named DDT New Attitude (DNA) which would be another sub-brand of DDT, functioning as adevelopmental brand for DDT.
On January 14, 2015, DDT opened a women's wrestling school withMakoto Oishi andCherry as instructors.[citation needed] Later DDT announced the creation of their sixth active title, theKing of Dark Championship, which would be "won" by the loser of adark match. On June 23, DDT opened the Dropkick Bar which is a professional wrestling, boxing and mixed martial arts-themed sports bar. Professional wrestling personalities regularly make appearances at the bar. On August 17 it was announced that Union Pro would be folding after its 10th anniversary event on October 4.[15] Three days after its folding, Union was replaced by a new promotion namedPro-Wrestling Basara, which launched in January 2016.[16] In October 2016, DDT announced "DDT Universe", a new streaming service for events held by DDT, DNA, Basara, TJPW and GanPro.[17] The service launched on January 23, 2017.[18] On April 30, 2017, announced the creation of their seventh active title, theKO-D 10-Man Tag Team Championship, meant for teams of five wrestlers, the title is believed to be the first of its kind in professional wrestling.[19][20] with the inaugural champions crowned on August 20, 2017.[21]
On July 5, 2017, it was announced that DDT had entered into a partnership with Canada's Canadian Wrestling's Elite promotion.[22] On August 20Danshoku Dino defeated Sanshiro Takagi in a match, where if Dino won he would become the Producer of DDT. After Dino won he fired the DDT's General Manager Amon Tsurumi and Turumi returned to a backstage role as assistant producer and reverted to his real name Hisaya Imabayashi. Dino also announced the creation of a new tournament called "D-Oh Grand Prix".
On September 1, 2017, 100% of DDT's shares were sold to theCyberAgent company. Sanshiro Takagi remained as the DDT president, while CyberAgent director Takahiro Yamauchi took over as the new DDT director.
On June 11, 2019, DDT announced Basara would be splitting up from DDT and become an independent company starting January 1, 2020.[23][24] In October, the third edition of the annual "Iron Fist Tag Tournament" led to the creation of Basara's firsttag team championship, theIron Fist Tag Team Championship.[25]
On January 28, 2020, DDT's parent company CyberAgent purchasedPro Wrestling Noah. DDT's President Sanshiro Takagi was named the President of Pro Wrestling Noah and Naomichi Marufuji the Vice President. Noah's events began airing on DDT's streaming service DDT Universe starting with Noah's Global Jr. League 2020 on January 30.[26] On July 27, 2020, it was announced Noah and DDT would merge in a new company,CyberFight.[27]
On March 20, 2022, atJudgement, it was announced thatAll Elite Wrestling (AEW) had formed a working relationship with DDT and TJPW that would see wrestlers from both brands appear on AEW programming.[28][29]
On December 15, 2023, DDT was announced as one of the founding members of theUnited Japan Pro-Wrestling alliance, a joint effort to further develop professional wrestling in Japan through promotion and organization, withSeiji Sakaguchi being named as the chairman of the project.[30]
| Championship | Current champion(s) | Reign | Date won | Days held | Successful defenses | Location | Notes | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KO-D Openweight Championship | .jpg) | Chris Brookes | 2 | November 4, 2024 | 134+ | 0 | Tokyo, Japan | DefeatedShinya Aoki at Sumida Dramatic Dream!. | [31] |
| DDT Universal Championship |  | Yuki Ueno | 3 | January 26, 2025 | 51+ | 0 | Tokyo, Japan | DefeatedGringo Loco at DDT New Year, New Hero. 2025 ~ A New Story Begins ~. | [32] |
| DDT Extreme Championship |  | Danshoku Dino | 9 | October 20, 2024 | 149+ | 2 | Tokyo, Japan | DefeatedAkito in anobodyknows+ rules match atGod Bless DDT 2024. | [33][34] |
| O-40 Championship |  | Toru Owashi | 2 | October 13, 2024 | 156+ | 0 | Fukuoka, Japan | Defeated previous champion Azul Dragon andDanshoku Dino in athree-way match at God Bless DDT 2024 Tour in Fukuoka. | [35] |
| World Ōmori Championship |  | Masahiro Takanashi | 1 | November 10, 2024 | 128+ | 0 | Tokyo, Japan | DefeatedSoma Takao at UTAN Festa 2024. | [36] |
| Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship |  | Tetsu Inada | 3 | February 2, 2025 | 31+ | — | Tokyo, Japan | Defeated Mecha Fist to win the title. | [37] |
| Championship | Current champion(s) | Reign | Date won | Days held | Successful defenses | Location | Notes | Ref. | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KO-D Tag Team Championship | %2c_February_3%2c_2024_(cropped).jpg)  | The37Kamiina (Mao andTo-y) | 1 (5, 1) | December 28, 2024 | 80+ | 0 | Tokyo, Japan | DefeatedBurning (Tetsuya Endo and Yuya Koroku) for the vacant titles atUltimate Party | [38] |
| KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship | .jpg)   | Damnation T.A (Daisuke Sasaki,Kanon andMJ Paul) | 3 (7, 3, 6) | July 21, 2024 | 240+ | 0 | Tokyo, Japan | Defeated Smile Squash (Akito,Harashima andYasu Urano) atWrestle Peter Pan 2024. | [39][40] |
| KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Championship | .jpg)    | Keigo Nakamura,To-y, Yuya Koroku,Yuki Ishida and Kazuma Sumi | 1 (2, 2, 1, 1, 1) | October 19, 2024 | 150+ | 0 | Tokyo, Japan | Defeated Schadenfreude International (Masahiro Takanashi,Chris Brookes,Takeshi Masada, and Mecha Mummy) and Munetatsu Nakamura at DDT Pro-Wrestling in Ikebukuro Full Moon Festival 2024. | [41] |
DDT has had a lot of different championships, some of which were very short-lived.[42]
| Accomplishment | Last winner(s) | Date won | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| King of DDT | Mao | May 26, 2024 | Tokyo, Japan | DefeatedDaisuke Sasaki in the tournament final. |
| D-Oh Grand Prix | Yukio Naya | January 3, 2024 | Tokyo, Japan | DefeatedTetsuya Endo in the tournament final. |
| D Generations Cup | Yuya Koroku | February 23, 2025 | Tokyo, Japan | DefeatedTakeshi Masada in the tournament final. |
| Accomplishment | Last winner(s) | Last held | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ultimate Tag League | Disaster Box (Harashima andNaomi Yoshimura) | 2022 | A tag team round-robin tournament. |
| King of Street Wrestling | Chris Brookes | 2022 | A single elimination street fight tournament. |
| Young Drama Cup | Soma Takao | 2010 | A round-robin tournament for the younger talent of DDT, held in 2009 and 2010. |
| Accomplishment | Last winner(s) | Date won | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| DDT Dramatic General Election | Masahiro Takanashi(singles) | October 30, 2018 | Tokyo, Japan | DDT Doramatikku Sōsenkyo (DDTドラマティック総選挙). Won by fan votation. Formerly known as DDT48. |
| Shuten-dōji(units) | ||||
| Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere | Shinya Aoki | August 14, 2022 | Tokyo, Japan | Contracts for a championship match, which can be "cashed in" by the holder at any point in the year following their victory (similar to WWE'sMoney in the Bank contract). Unlike Money in the Bank, contract holders have to defend their contracts in every official match in which they participate. |
Drop Kick Bar, Swan Dive & Ebisuko Tavern is a professional wrestling,boxing andmixed martial arts-themedsports bars owned and operated by DDT inShinjuku. Professional wrestling personalities make appearances at the bar.[43][44]
Domestic:
Worldwide:
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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