DDT Pro-Wrestling

DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDTプロレスリング, DDT Puroresuringu) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Its name stands for Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's official name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, but the promotion was eventually bought and managed by Shoichi Ichimiya until December 2005, when Sanshiro Takagi took over as the new president. In 2017, DDT was sold to CyberAgent. Takagi retained his position, while Takahiro Yamauchi took over as the new DDT director.

DDT Pro-Wrestling Co., Ltd.
Dramatic Dream Team (1997–2004)
DDT Pro-Wrestling (2004–present)
Native name
株式会社DDTプロレスリング
Kabushiki-kaisha DDT Puroresuringu
IndustryProfessional wrestling
Comedy
Sports entertainment
Founded1997
FounderShintaro Muto
HeadquartersShinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
Key people
Sanshiro Takagi
(President)
Danshoku Dino
(Producer)
Takahiro Yamauchi (Director)
¥85 million[1] (2019)
Total assets ¥133 million[1] (2019)
ParentCyberFight
(CyberAgent)
Websitewww.ddtpro.com

DDT became one of the top promotions in Japanese indie wrestling by creating a unique sports entertainment style, often parodying WWE, with a Japanese puroresu flair to the matches. DDT has had agreements with various MMA and professional wrestling promotions around the world. DDT's biggest event is Peter Pan, held each year since 2009.

In January 2020, DDT's parent company CyberAgent purchased Pro Wrestling Noah, with DDT's executives taking over Noah's operations and Noah's content appearing on DDT's streaming service.[2]

History

The promotion was founded by Shintaro Muto, Sanshiro Takagi, Kyohei Mikami and Kazushige Nosawa, after these four left Pro Wrestling Crusaders.[3] The promotion was named Dramatic 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.

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 notably Danshoku Dino) as well as unique match types including a hardcore match 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).

The promotion then established their own governing body in 2000, the King of DDT, shortened as KO-D, creating the KO-D Openweight Championship, Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship and the KO-D Tag Team Championship. DDT also created their own tag team tournament the DDT Tag League. Later in 2003, Shoichi Ichimiya became the new president of DDT. On 2004, DDT rebranded to DDT Pro Wrestling kabushiki gaisha renaming the promotion to DDT Pro Wrestling. In October, DDT got a timeslot on Fighting TV Samurai, creating their regular broadcast program DDT Dramatic Fantasia. In 2005, indie promotion Union Pro Wrestling was revived by DDT.[4]

On December 28, 2005 Ichimiya retired from professional wrestling and announced his departure from DDT. 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 the DDT Extreme Division Championship. Later in 2007 DDT announced a working relationship with Dragon 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 the Global 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. In March 2010, DDT announced a working relationship with Big Japan Pro Wrestling.[5] Later in March, Takagi announced the DDT48 (later renamed Dramatic Sousenkyo), which is a fan vote where the winner receives a shot for the KO-D Openweight Championship. Later that month Michael Nakazawa stepped down as the CEO of DDT and Amon Tsurumi became the general manager of the promotion. In 2011 DDT received the Fighting TV Samurai Indie's Job prize for having the best show the year, winning the Best Box Office Award.

In March 2012, DDT ended their DDT Dramatic Fantasia program. Later on April 2, DDT started to broadcasting to NicoNico creating the program DDT Wrestling Hour. On June 4, DDT launched another sub-brand named Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling, which was exclusive to women's wrestlers.[6] DDT celebrated its 15th anniversary on August 18, 2012, by holding its first ever event in Nippon Budokan.[7] On December 23, 2012, DDT announced the creation of their fifth active title, the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship.[8] On January 17, 2013, DDT announced that Daisuke Sasaki had signed a contract to officially make DDT his home promotion, ending his days as a freelancer.[9][10] On April 17 DDT formed another sub-brand Ganbare☆Puroresu. On May 3, DDT's Max Bump event was broadcast live by Samurai TV. After that DDT launched a weekly program DDT Pro Wrestling Banzai, which was also broadcast by Samurai TV. On November 28, DDT announced a new project named DDT New Attitude which would be another sub-brand of DDT, functioning as a farm league for DDT.

On January 14, 2015, DDT opened a women's wrestling school with Makoto Oishi and Cherry as instructors. Later DDT announced the creation of their sixth active title, the King of Dark Championship, which would be "won" by the loser of a dark 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.[11] Three days after its folding, Union was replaced by a new promotion named Pro-Wrestling Basara, which launched in January 2016.[12] In October 2016, DDT announced "DDT Universe", a new streaming service for events held by DDT, DNA, Basara, Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling and Ganbare☆Puroresu.[13] The service launched on January 23, 2017.[14] On April 30, 2017, announced the creation of their seventh active title, the KO-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.[15][16] with the inaugural champions crowned on August 20, 2017.[17]

On July 5, 2017, it was announced that DDT had entered into a partnership with Canada's Canadian Wrestling's Elite promotion.[18] On August 20 Danshoku 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 the CyberAgent company. Sanshiro Takagi remained as the DDT president, while CyberAgent director Takahiro Yamauchi took over as the new DDT director.

On January 28, 2020, DDT's parent company CyberAgent purchased Pro 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 Global Jr. League 2020 on January 30.[19][20] On July 27, 2020, it was announced Noah and DDT would merge in a new company, CyberFight.[21]

Pro-Wrestling Basara

Pro-Wrestling Basara (プロレスリングBASARA, Puroresuringu Basara) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.[22] Its name reads either as "eccentricity" (婆娑羅, basara) or "Vajra" (伐折羅, basara) and, according to the company founder Isami Kodaka, relates back to the kabukimono which were gangs of samurai who dressed in flamboyant clothing and donned uncommon hairstyles. Kodaka said he wanted to "do something rebellious against the new, flashy style of wrestling".[23]

Basara was founded three days after DDT Pro Wrestling's affiliate promotion Union Pro Wrestling folded on October 4, 2015. The promotion was a sub-brand of DDT and its roster consisted of former Union Pro wrestlers such as Isami Kodaka, Daichi Kazato and Trans-Am★Hiroshi. The Union Max Championship, formerly the top prize in Union Pro,[24] was kept to be contested as the only singles championship in Basara.

On June 11, 2019, DDT announced Basara would be splitting up from DDT and become an independent company starting January 1, 2020.[23][25] In October, the third edition of the annual "Iron Fist Tag Tournament" led to the creation of Basara's first tag team championship, the Iron Fist Tag Team Championship.[26]

Through the years, Basara has had partnerships with other Japanese promotions such as Big Japan Pro Wrestling or Dove Pro Wrestling, and has used the UWA World Trios Championship as its trios title.

Personnel
Main article: List of DDT Pro-Wrestling personnel

Championships

Active

DDT recognizes Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, Pro-Wrestling Basara and Ganbare☆Puroresu's championships.

DDT Pro-Wrestling

As of February 7, 2021, DDT currently has eight recognized championships,[27] the top titles being the KO-D (King of DDT) championships.

ChampionshipCurrent champion(s)ReignDate wonDays heldLocationNotes
KO-D Openweight Championship Tetsuya Endo 2 June 7, 2020 245+ Tokyo, Japan Defeated Masato Tanaka at Wrestle Peter Pan 2020.
DDT Universal Championship Yuki Ueno 1 November 3, 2020 96+ Tokyo, Japan Defeated Chris Brookes at Ultimate Party 2020.
DDT Extreme Division Championship Shunma Katsumata 0 February 7, 2021 0+ Kumamoto, Japan Defeated previous champion Sanshiro Takagi and Batten×Burabura at Kumamoto Castle Natural Onsen Shironoyu Presents Steam Natural Onsen Pro-Wrestling.
KO-D Tag Team Championship Eruption
(Kazusada Higuchi and Yukio Sakaguchi)		 1
(3, 3)		 October 25, 2020 105+ Tokyo, Japan Defeated Nautilus (Yuki Ueno and Naomi Yoshimura) at Road to Ultimate Party 2020.
KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship Young Communication Generation
(Akito, Kazuki Hirata and Shota)		 1
(4, 4, 1)		 November 14, 2020 85+ Tokyo, Japan Defeated Eruption (Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Sakaguchi and Saki Akai) at DDT TV Show! #12.
KO-D 8-Man Tag Team Championship Vacant - December 21, 2020 - - Vacated due to a lack of defenses.[28]
O-40 Championship Toru Owashi 1 November 8, 2020 91+ Tokyo, Japan Defeated Gorgeous Matsuno at DDT TV Show! #11.
Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship[lower-alpha 1] Killing the Business
Book; autobiography of The Young Bucks		 1 December 16, 2020 53+ Jacksonville, Florida Britt Baker fell asleep, and the book fell on top of her. This was also for the REW Pakistan 24/7 Championship.

Tokyo Joshi Pro
Main article: Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling § Championships

Ganbare☆Puroresu
ChampionshipCurrent champion(s)ReignDate wonDays heldLocationNotes
Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship Arata 1 January 15, 2021 23+ Tokyo, Japan Defeated Shota at JTO Hatsu.
GWC 6-Man Tag Team Championship Dreams Haru True
(Keisuke Ishii, Kouki Iwasaki and Harukaze)		 1
(1, 1, 1)		 February 7, 2021 + Tokyo, Japan Defeated The Halfee (Katsuzaki Shunosuke, Moehiko Harumisawa and Washi Sakurai) at Over The Top 2021.
Kōkū-kōen Park Town Championship Keisuke Ishii 1 August 24, 2019 533+ Tokorozawa, Japan Was awarded the title after pinning Shuhei Washida in a tag team match at Ganbare☆Kōkū-kōen.

Pro-Wrestling Basara
ChampionshipCurrent champion(s)ReignDate wonDays heldLocationNotes
Union Max Championship Takumi Tsukamoto 1 November 10, 2020 89+ Tokyo, Japan Defeated Fuminori Abe at Basara 139.
Iron Fist Tag Team Championship Sento Minzoku
(Isami Kodaka and Daiki Shimomura)		 1
(1, 1)		 January 20, 2021 18+ Tokyo, Japan Defeated Speed Of Sounds (Banana Senga and Tsutomu Oosugi) at Basara 146.
UWA World Trios Championship
(also recognized by Big Japan Pro Wrestling)		 Viva México Cabrones
(Billy Ken Kid, Masamune, and Tsubasa)		 1
(1, 1, 1)		 February 24, 2020 349+ Osaka, Japan Defeated Sparky (Ryota Nakatsu, Naoki Tanizaki and Akiyori Takizawa) at BJW Osaka Surprise 48.

Inactive

DDT has had a lot of different championships, some of which were very short-lived.[29]

ChampionshipLast champion(s)ReignDate wonLocationNotes
Tōno Openweight Championship 726 1 August 20, 2005 Tōno, Japan Defeated Cherry and Tomohiko Hashimoto at Tōno Jingisukan 2005 to become the inaugural champion.
Greater China Unified Sichuan Openweight Championship Danshoku Dino 1 July 19, 2009 Tokyo, Japan Defeated Chōun Shiryu at What Are You Doing? 2009.
Umemura PC Juku Copy & Paste Championship Danshoku Dino 1 July 26, 2009 Nagoya, Japan Defeated Konaka = Pehlwan at Kyōra Daiyon Kyōsatsu! in Nagoya 2009 to become the inaugural champion.
GAY World Anal Championship Danshoku Dino 2 August 23, 2009 Tokyo, Japan Defeated Masa Takanashi at Ryōgoku Peter Pan.
JET World Jet Championship Danshoku Dino 1 August 23, 2009 Tokyo, Japan Defeated Masa Takanashi at Ryōgoku Peter Pan.
World Midbreath Championship Danshoku Dino 1 August 23, 2009 Tokyo, Japan Defeated Masa Takanashi at Ryōgoku Peter Pan.
Jiyugaoka 6-Person Tag Team Championship Shit Heart♥Foundation
(Hikaru Sato, Michael Nakazawa and Tomomitsu Matsunaga)		 1
(1, 1, 1)		 November 3, 2010 Tokyo, Japan Defeated Great Kojika, Riho and Mr. #6 at Shin-Kiba 5th Anniversary Special.
Sea Of Japan 6-Person Tag Team Championship Shit Heart♥Foundation
(Hikaru Sato, Michael Nakazawa and Tomomitsu Matsunaga)		 1
(1, 1, 1)		 November 3, 2010 Tokyo, Japan Defeated Great Kojika, Riho and Mr. #6 at Shin-Kiba 5th Anniversary Special.
Greater China Unified Zhongyuan Tag Team Championship TKG48
(Munenori Sawa and Sanshiro Takagi)		 2
(2, 2)		 July 24, 2011 Tokyo, Japan Defeated The Great Sasuke and Ricky Fuji at Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2011.
IMGP World Heavyweight Championship Atsushi Maruyama 2 July 12, 2015 Osaka, Japan Defeated Super Sasadango Machine at Dramatic Dreams! Vol. 2: No Subtitle to win the vacant title.
Fly To Everywhere World Championship Cherry 3 September 15, 2015 Tokyo, Japan Defeated Aoi Kizuki at Union Harvest Festival 2015. Inactive following Union Pro folding on October 4, 2015.
World Ōmori Championship Chikara 1 October 15, 2017 Tokyo, Japan Defeated Makoto Oishi at UTAN Festa 2017.
King of Dark Championship Dai Suzuki 2 December 13, 2017 Tokyo, Japan Lost to Gota Ihashi at Ryōgoku Peter Pan 2017 to win the title. Inactive following Dai Suzuki's retirement.
Uchicomi! Openweight Ultimate Championship Ken Ohka 1 July 22, 2018 Tokyo, Japan Won a Scramble Tag Team Rumble Match by last eliminating Gota Ihashi at Summer Vacation 2018 to become the inaugural champion.

Events

Marquee events

Active
Accomplishment Last winner(s) Date won Location Notes
King of DDT Tetsuya Endo August 23, 2020 Tokyo, Japan Defeated T-Hawk in the tournament final.
D-Oh Grand Prix Jun Akiyama December 27, 2020 Tokyo, Japan Defeated Konosuke Takeshita in the tournament final.
Shuffle Tag Tournament Smile Pissari
(Yuji Okabayashi and Harashima)		 December 31, 2020 Tokyo, Japan Defeated NakanoUeno (Yasufumi Nakanoue and Yuki Ueno) in the tournament final.
Heaven Summit Ryota Nakatsu July 26, 2020 Tokyo, Japan Defeated Naoki Tanizaki in the tournament final.
Iron Fist Tag Tournament Sento Minzoku
(Isami Kodaka and Daiki Shimomura)		 December 22, 2020 Tokyo, Japan Defeated Sparky (Sagat and Ryota Nakatsu) in the tournament final.
Benmaru Tournament 0 Daiki Shimomura September 5, 2019 Tokyo, Japan Defeated Jun Masaoka in the tournament final.
Ganbare☆Climax Yumehito Imanari August 12, 2018 Tokyo, Japan Defeated Shinichiro Tominaga in the tournament final.

Inactive
Accomplishment Last winner(s) Last held Notes
KO-D Tag League Suicide Boyz
(Mikami & Tanomusaku Toba)		 2008 A round-robin tag team tournament, originally known as the DDT Tag League, held from 2000 to 2005 and in 2008.
Young Drama Cup Soma Takao 2010 A round-robin tournament for the younger talent of DDT, held in 2009 and 2010.

Accomplishments
Accomplishment Last winner(s) Date won Location Notes
DDT Dramatic General Election (singles) Masahiro Takanashi 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.
DDT Dramatic General Election (units) Shuten-dōji
Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere Yasu Urano, Daisuke Sasaki and Shinya Aoki January 26, 2020 Tokyo, Japan Contracts for a championship match, which can be "cashed in" by the holder at any point in the year following their victory. The holders have to defend their contracts in every official match in which they participate.

Dropkick Bar

Dropkick Bar is a professional wrestling, boxing and mixed martial arts-themed sports bar owned and operated by DDT in Shinjuku. Professional wrestling personalities make appearances at the bar.[30][31]

See also

Notes
  1. DDT's Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship is currently defended simultaneously with the REW Pakistan 24/7 Championship, a championship from Pakistan's Revolution Eastern Wrestling promotion.

References
  1. 株式会社DDTプロレスリング 第16期決算公告. 官報決算データベース (in Japanese). Retrieved March 12, 2020.
  2. "ノアがＤＤＴに続きサイバーエージェント傘下に！ 業界勢力図に大きな影響 – 東京スポーツ新聞社". 東スポＷeb – 東京スポーツ新聞社.
  3. says, Burning Spirits #20: DDT JUDGEMENT 2017 ~ DDT 20TH ANNIVERSARY BOX OFFICE-Voices of Wrestling (March 17, 2017). "DDT "JUDGEMENT 2017 ~ DDT 20TH ANNIVERSARY BOX OFFICE" Preview".
  4. "Union Pro Wrestling Timeline". October 2, 2015.
  5. "New Year's Indy Party Announced, UNION In Big Japan, Cherry Picking". October 2, 2010.
  6. 2012年06月04日（月）　DDT新規事業として『東京女子プロレス』を設立、代表は甲田哲也氏. DDT Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). June 4, 2012. Archived from the original on January 21, 2013. Retrieved June 5, 2012.
  7. 武道館ピーターパン～DDTの15周年、ドーンと見せます超豪華4時間SP～. DDT Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). Archived from the original on October 3, 2013. Retrieved August 18, 2012.
  8. 【12・23リポート①】天コジ警察MA軍逮捕。6人タッグ王座新設. DDT Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). December 23, 2012. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  9. 2014年契約更改終了のお知らせ. DDT Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). January 17, 2014. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  10. DDTが2014年の契約更改を終了。佐々木大輔が所属へ！佐藤光留はレギュラー参戦継続せず！. Battle News (in Japanese). January 17, 2014. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  11. 【記者会見】10・4後楽園の10周年記念興行で解散、石川はフリーに。「最後にどデカい花火を打ち上げましょう」（イサミ）「『ユニオンプロレス、ここにあり』という記憶に残る大会にしたい」（石川）「完全燃焼したい」（スーザン）. DDT Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). August 17, 2015. Retrieved August 17, 2015.
  12. 【記者会見】イサミが新団体旗揚げ！　団体名は「プロレスリングBasara」、旗揚げ戦は1・21新宿！　所属選手も発表／諸橋、イサミ、ビアードはDDT所属、石川＆三富はフリー、久保はTEC所属に. DDT Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). October 7, 2015. Retrieved October 7, 2015.
  13. DDT独自の動画配信サービス「DDT Universe」開設！　2017年1月スタート！. DDT Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). October 24, 2016. Retrieved October 25, 2016.
  14. 動画配信サービス「DDT Universe」サイトオープンまであと10日！. DDT Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). January 13, 2017. Retrieved January 13, 2017.
  15. Meltzer, Dave (May 8, 2017). "May 8, 2017 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: WWE Payback review, WWE financials, plus tons of news". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Campbell, California. p. 63. ISSN 1083-9593.
  16. KO-D10人タッグ王座新設のお知らせ／8月20日両国国技館大会で初代王者決定戦. DDT Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). April 30, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  17. ＬｉＬｉＣｏが初代ＫＯ―Ｄ１０人タッグ王座奪取　股間握らせ投げ技発射. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). August 20, 2017. Retrieved August 20, 2017.
  18. "United: Canadian Wrestling's Elite Announces Partnership With DDT". Alliance-Wrestling.com. July 5, 2017. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  19. "411MANIA". DDT Pro Parent Company CyberAgent Purchases Pro-Wrestling NOAH.
  20. "DDT ProWrestling". DDT ProWrestling.
  21. "411MANIA". Pro Wrestling NOAH and DDT to Merge Into New Company CyberFight.
  22. プロレスリングBASARA. Nico Nico Pedia (in Japanese). Retrieved August 25, 2020.
  23. cweaver1025 (November 6, 2019). "A Beginners Guide to Pro Wrestling BASARA". Pro Wrestling BASARA English Update. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  24. "DDTタイトル史". extremeparty.heteml.jp.
  25. 【ＤＤＴ】「ＢＡＳＡＲＡ」が独立発表　高木社長は木高にエール. Tokyo Sports (in Japanese). June 6, 2019. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  26. 【BASARA】10.23新木場 IFTT2019 決勝戦！イサミ&下村 vs FUMA&久保＜動画あり＞. Proresu-Today.com (in Japanese). October 26, 2019. Retrieved September 24, 2020.
  27. "Dramatic Dream Team (Japan)". Wrestling-Titles.com.
  28. KO-D10人タッグ王座が暫定的にKO-D8人タッグ王座に！　2月14日川崎大会で高木三四郎組と青木真也組が第3代王座を争う！. DDT Pro-Wrestling (in Japanese). December 21, 2020. Retrieved December 21, 2020.
  29. "DDTタイトル史". extremeparty.heteml.jp.
  30. "10 of the best bars in Tokyo for karaoke and other weird stuff". The Guardian. February 1, 2012. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  31. ドロップキック. Gurunavi (in Japanese). Retrieved June 10, 2015.
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