DDT Pro-Wrestling

DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDTプロレスリング) or DDT, also written as D2T, stands for Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's official name from 1997 to 2004 is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, but the promotion was bought by Shoichi Ichimiya until December 2005, when Sanshiro Takagi took over as the new president, who later sold it to CyberAgent, but still retained his position, while Takahiro Yamauchi took over as the new DDT director.

DDT became one of the top names in Japanese indie wrestling by creating a unique Sports Entertainment style with a Japanese puroresu flair to the matches. DDT has had agreements with various MMA and professional wrestling promotions around the world, including Pancrase sub-brand Pancrase MISSION, New Japan Pro Wrestling, Pro Wrestling NOAH, All Japan Pro Wrestling, AAA, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, Dragon Gate, Wrestle-1 and Big Japan Pro Wrestling. DDT runs several sub-brands and offshoots, regularly experimenting the different ways wrestling can be done and presented. DDT biggest event is the Ryogoku Peter Pan, held each year since 2009.

History
The promotion was founded by Shintaro Muto, after Muto, Sanshiro Takagi, Kyohei Mikami and Kazushige Nosawa left Pro Wrestling Crusaders. 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.

DDT became one of the top names in Japanese indie wrestling by creating a unique Sports Entertainment style with a Japanese puroresu flair to the matches.

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. Later in 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, Japan's premier combat sports channel which shows professional wrestling from both Japan and the United States, creating their regular broadcast program "DDT Dramatic Fantasia".

On December 28, 2005, Ichimiya retired from professional wrestling, in the process, he announced his departure from DDT. This led in January 2006, 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. Then in November 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 in Shinjuku FACE in Tokyo, Japan. Then DDT became 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 industry private to public. In March 2010, DDT announced a working relationship with Big Japan Pro Wrestling. Later in March, it was announced the creation of DDT48 (later renamed Dramatic Sousenkyo), which is a fan votation 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 the program of Fighting TV Samurai Indie's Job elected DDT 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 formed another sub-brand Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling, which was exclusive to women's wrestlers. DDT celebrated its 15th anniversary on August 18, 2012, by holding its first ever event in Nippon Budokan. On December 23, 2012, DDT announced the creation of their fifth active title, the KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship. 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. On April 17 DDT formed another sub-brand Ganbare☆Puroresu. On May 3 DDT's pay-per-view, Max Bump was broadcasted live by Samurai TV. After that DDT launched an every week program "DDT Pro Wrestling Banzai", which was also broadcasted by Fighting TV Samurai. On November 28 DDT announced a new project named DDT New Attitude which would be another sub-brand of DDT.

On January 14, 2015, DDT opened a women wrestling school with Makoto Oishi and Cherry as instructors. Later DDT announced the creation of their sixth active title, the King of Dark Championship. On June 23 DDT opened the Dropkick Bar which is a professional wrestling, boxing and mixed martial arts-themed sports bar. Professional wrestling personalities 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. Three days after its folding, Union was replaced by a new promotion named Pro Wrestling BASARA, which launched in January 2016.

In October 2016, DDT announced "DDT Universe", a new streaming service for events held by DDT, DNA, BASARA, Tokyo Joshi Pro and Ganbare☆Puroresu. The service launched on January 23, 2017. 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.

On July 5, 2017, it was announced that DDT had entered into a partnership with Canada's Canadian Wrestling’s Elite promotion. On August 20, it was announced the creation of a new tournament called "D-Oh Grand Prix". On September 1, 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 February 17, 2018, DDT announced “DDT LIVE! Maji Manji”, that is a broadcast consisting of six shows between April and May, with the goal of attracting a younger audience by airing live pro wrestling during the prime time schedule. On June 11, it was announced that DNA sub-brand would be suspended on August 10, only to DDT focus more on the LIVE! Maji Manji shows, most of the talent in DNA was transferred to the DDT main roster. On September 25, it was announced that DDT would run a show in the United States during WrestleMania weekend as part of the WWNLive Experience.

Marquee events

 * Ryogoku Peter Pan
 * Judgement
 * Max Bump
 * Saitama Super DDT
 * Osaka Octopus
 * Non-Fix
 * God Bless DDT
 * Never Mind
 * Who's Gonna Top?
 * Into The Fight
 * Sweet Dreams

Collaborated events

 * Dramatic Dream Gate (with Dragon Gate)
 * New Year’s Eve Shuffle Tag Tournament (with Big Japan Pro Wrestling and Kaientai Dojo)

Sub-Brands
DDT runs several sub-brands and offshoots, regularly experimenting with the different ways wrestling can be done and presented.