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DDT Pro-Wrestling Co., Ltd.
DDT Puroresu Kabushiki-kaisha
株式会社DDTプロレスリング
DDTwrestling logo
The logo of DDT Pro-Wrestling
Acronym DDT
Trading name Dramatic Dream Team (1997-2004)
DDT Pro Wrestling (2004-Present)
Native name DDTプロレスリング
Romanized name DDT Puroresu
Type Public
Industry Professional wrestling
Puroresu
Corporate number 6011101052361
Founded March 25, 1997
Founder(s) Shintaro Muto
Owner(s) CyberAgent
Style Sports entertainment
Puroresu
Comedy wrestling
Headquarters Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
Area served Worldwide
Key people Sanshiro Takagi
(President)
Danshoku Dino
(Producer)
Takahiro Yamauchi (Director)
Akira Takahashi (Operating Executive)
Products
Television
Publishing
Merchandise
Streaming network service
Services Licensing
Net income Increase ¥85 million (2019)
Total assets Increase ¥133 million (2019)
Parent CyberAgent
Sister Pro Wrestling NOAH
Number of employees approximately 81
Divisions DDT Shop
Subsidiaries
Website Official Japanese Website

DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDTプロレスリング, DDT Puroresuringu) 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, Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre, Dragon Gate, Fight Club: Pro, 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 Peter Pan, held each year since 2009.

Since January 2020, DDT became a sister promotion Pro Wrestling Noah (Noah), following CyberAgent's acquisition of the promotion.

Overview

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 Japanese Internet advertising company CyberAgent. 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.

On January 3, 2019, DDT announced a working relationship with British promotion Fight Club: Pro. On June 11, it was announced Pro Wrestling BASARA would be splitting up from DDT and start its own promotion on January 1, 2020. Five days later, DDT announced they would run Peter Pan at Saitama Super Arena for the first time in the event's history and the third event to be held at that venue for the third time. On December 28, 2019, during the finals of the 2020 D-Oh Grand Prix, DDT Assistant Producer Hisaya Imabayashi announced the creation of the DDT Universal Championship. The title is part of an international expansion plan, which DDT had made public in the months prior to the announcement. Plans had been made in 2019, to expand DDT's international attention in 2020.

In January 2020, following CyberAgent's acquisition of Pro Wrestling Noah, it was announced Noah would become a subsidiary of CyberAgent and Takagi would become DDT and Noah's President and Representative Director, with Takagi focusing on Noah's business side, while the in-ring product would be run by the previous Noah's staff. It was also announced that all Noah's shows would be streamed on DDT's internet streaming service DDT Universe, starting with the finals of the 2020 Global Junior League and both Noah and DDT's television deal would remain the same with Noah being with NTV G+ and DDT at Fighting TV Samurai.

On April 23, it was announced that 2020 Wrestle Peter Pan would be postponed, due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, following Japan's declaration of State of Emergency. Afterwards, DDT and their sister promotion, NOAH started to promote shows at an empty TV studio being broadcast on DDT Universe under DDT TV Show! name. On May 12, it was announced that DDT Universe would be renamed Wrestle Universe following the inclusion of Pro Wrestling NOAH and other DDT sub-brands including BOYZ. On May 15, DDT announced that they would start to hold shows on videotelephony and online chat platform Zoom, starting with a session with 100 fans on May 15, being the first promotion in the world to promote shows on Zoom. The following day, DDT announced that the Wrestle Peter Pan would be rescheduled to take place on June 6 and June 7, with the event being moved to the DDT TV Show Studio in Tokyo, without an audience and the event would be broadcasted live on AmebaTV and CyberAgent's streaming service Wrestle Universe. On June 21, DDT held their first show with fans in attendence since the Coronavirus pandemic. On July 26, during a press conference, it was announced that Noah and DDT alongside DDT's sub-brands Ganbare☆Wrestling and Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling would be merging into a new company, CyberFight, which would go into effect on September 1. Despite the merging, it was announced that both would continue to operate as separate brands within CyberFight, while the management of both promotions also remained unchanged. DDT and Noah's president Sanshiro Takagi revealed that the merging of both promotions was a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to streamline costs. Takagi also established a plan to overtake New Japan Pro-Wrestling as the la largest promotion in Japan, which would include holding a show at the Tokyo Dome.

Roster

AO
Damnation
Disaster Box
 Naomi Yoshimura
     
Naomi Yoshimura
Eruption
DDTwrestling logo
 [[{{{articlename}}}|Yoshihiko]]
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 [[{{{articlename}}}|Yuni]]
[[{{{articlename}}}|     ]]
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 Yukio Naya
     
Yukio Naya

Broadcasters

Domestic:

  • Fighting TV Samurai (2004–present, currently broadcasting live specials, retrospective shows and magazine show DDT Pro Wrestling Banzai)
  • AbemaTV (2017–present, online linear television service, live-streaming episodes of DDT Pro Wrestling Banzai)
  • Nico Nico Douga (2012-present, currently broadcasting live specials, DDT Wrestling Hour streaming untelevised spot-shows and interviews)

Worldwide:

Championships

Current

DDT Pro Wrestling

Championship Current champion(s) Date won Days held Location
KO-D Openweight Championship Masato Tanaka January 26, 2020 1523+ Tokyo
KO-D Tag Team Championship Nautilus
(Naomi Yoshimura and Yuki Ueno)
January 3, 2020 1546+
KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship Eruption
(Kazusada Higuchi, Yukio Sakaguchi and Saki Akai)
June 20, 2020 1377+ Tokyo
KO-D 10-Man Tag Team Championship Asuka, Danshoku Dino, Mizuki, Trans-Am★Hiroshi and Yuki Iino November 3, 2019 1607+ Tokyo
DDT Extreme Division Championship Shinya Aoki March 11, 2020 1478+ Saitama
DDT Universal Championship Chris Brookes June 27, 2020 1370+ Tokyo
Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship Danshoku Dino June 20, 2020 1377+
O-40 Championship Gorgeous Matsuno September 29, 2019 1642+
Omori Dream Fair Championship Chikara October 16, 2017 2,355+

Tokyo Joshi Pro

Championship Current champion(s) Date won Days held Location
Tokyo Princess of Princess Championship Yuka Sakazaki November 3, 2019 1607+ Tokyo, Japan
International Princess Championship Thunder Rosa January 5, 2019 1544+
Tokyo Princess Tag Team Championship Dragon Bombers
(Rika Tatsumi and Miu Watanabe)
November 3, 2019 1607+

Ganbare☆Wrestling

Championship Current champion(s) Date won Days held Location
Independent World Junior Heavyweight Championship Hagane Shinno July 26, 2020 1341+ Tokyo, Japan
Kokuen Park Town Championship Keisuke Ishii August 24, 2019 1678+ Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan
GWC Six-Man Tag Team Championship Ken OhkaMiss Mongol and Yumehito Imnari December 22, 2019 1558+ Tokyo, Japan

Defunct

Championship Last champion(s) Date won Location
Big China Unified Sichuan Championship Danshoku Dino July 19, 2009 Tokyo, Japan
Big China Unified Nakahara Tag Team Championship Sanshiro Takagi and Munenori Sawa July 3, 2011
Gay World Anal Championship Danshoku Dino August 23, 2009
IMGP World Heavyweight Championship Atsushi Maruyama July 12, 2015 Unknown
Jet World Jet Championship Danshoku Dino August 23, 2009 Tokyo, Japan
Jiyugaoka Six-Person Tag Team Championship Shit Heart♥Foundation
(Hikaru Sato, Michael Nakazawa and Tomomitsu Matsunaga)
November 3, 2010
King of Dark Championship Dai Suzuki August 20, 2017
Mid-Breath World Championship Danshoku Dino August 23, 2009
Nihonkai Six Man Tag Team Championship Shit Heart♥Foundation
(Hikaru Sato, Michael Nakazawa and Tomomitsu Matsunaga)
November 3, 2010
Tono Openweight Championship 726 August 20, 2005
Umemura Personal Computer Copy and Paste Championship Danshoku Dino July 26, 2009 Nagoya, Japan
Union Fly To Everywhere World Championship Cherry September 15, 2015 Tokyo, Japan
Union Non-Certified US Heavyweight Championship Hiroshi Fukuda August 12, 2012
UWA World Tag Team Championship The Brahman Brothers
Brahman Shu and Brahman Kei
June 17, 2015
UWA World Trios Championship Disaster-Box
(HARASHIMA, Toru Owashi and Yukihiro Abe)
December 26, 2010
Shin-kiba Famous Golden Love Lotion Championship Jaki Numazawa August 28, 2015
World Aipoke Championship Super Sasadango Machine May 18, 2014

Events

Marquee events

  • 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
  • Ultimate Party

Collaborated events

Other accomplishments

Accomplishment Latest winner(s) Date won Location Notes
King of DDT Konosuke Takeshita May 19, 2019 Tokyo, Japan Defeated Soma Takao to win the tournament.
Dramatic Sousenkyo Masahiro Takanashi October 30, 2018 Won by Fan votation.

In the past Dramatic Sousenkyo was known by DDT48.

D-Oh Grand Prix Masato Tanaka December 28, 2019 Defeated Tetsuya Endo to win the tournament.
Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere Tetsuya Endo, Makoto Oishi, Yukio Naya, Antonio Honda, Danshoku Dino, Yuki Iino, Naomi Yoshimura, Akito and Daisuke Sasaki, Shinya Aoki and Yasu Urano January 26, 2020
February 1, 2020
KO-D Tag League Suicide Boyz
(MIKAMI and Tanomusaku Toba)
April 11, 2008 Defeated Kudo and Yasu Urano to win the tournament.
The tournament has been inactive since 2008.
In the past it was known as the DDT Tag League.
Young Drama Cup Soma Takao November 28, 2010 Tournament that is not held every year and his held for DDT younger wrestlers.

Sub-Brands

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

Active

Brand name Years Notes
Ganbare☆Wrestling 2013-Present
MUSCLE 2004-Present MUSCLE rarely produces events.
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling 2012-Present

Defunct

Brand name Joined Defunct Notes
DDT New Attitude 2014 2018 Declared suspended on June 11 and officially ended its activities on August 10.
Hard Hit 2012 2015 Hard Hit became independent of DDT in 2015.
New Beijing Pro Wrestling 2009 2013
Union Pro Wrestling 2014 2015 Replaced by Pro Wrestling BASARA.
Pro Wrestling BASARA 2015 2020 Continuation of Union Pro Wrestling and became independent of DDT in 2020.
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