What the heck is Dramatic Dream Team?
Japan and pro wrestling go together like America and baseball. It’s amazing that a country smaller than Texas could pump out so many great promotions. The world recognizes NJPW as the supreme choice for five-star wrestling, but beneath its shadow, another wrestling universe is producing stellar matches, colorful characters, and promising new champions. Dramatic Dream Team (DDT).
What is Dramatic Dream Team (DDT)?
DDT is a universe that incorporates a few different promotions, but the main roster is the DDT. If you subscribe to the monthly DDT Pro universe you get Pro Wrestling NOAH and Tokyo Joshi Pro events as a bonus. Since it was founded by Shintaro Muto in 1997, DDT has been operating under the radar of much more prominent promotions. In recent years it was sold to CyberAgent, which helped establish its streaming platform. Within the squared circle they are governed by KO-D (King of DDT) which books matches and establishes rules.
Dramatic Dream Team Roster
As a Japanese wrestling noob, I had no idea who the significant wrestlers were in DDT. I could not read a lick of Japanese to save my life and I found myself having to distinguish wrestlers by their hair and pants color. After several viewings, I figured out who to cheer for and who to boo. DDT is broken up into different stables: Damnation, Disaster Box, Eruption, and the main roster. Think of Damnation as a cross between Bullet Club and the Ministry of Darkness.
You got your big guys Yuji Hino, Mad Paulie, and Toru Owashi. You have your A-list athletes Masahiro Takanashi, Chris Brookes, and Jun Akiyama. My favorite tag team is the Sauna Club (Yuki Ueno & Shunma Katsumata) where the duo uses a heated sauna towel as a weapon. The female wrestlers, Saki Aki, are not afraid to suplex the boys. But DDT will forever be known for its weirdos, Danshoku Dino and Antonio Honda. The weird antics of DDT is what makes them stand out. Other notable wrestlers make guest appearances from NOAH and Tokyo Joshi like Yuka Sakazaki and Maki Itoh (of AEW fame).
DDT Wrestling
About 75% of a DDT show is your signature Japanese strong wrestling. Matches average about ten minutes and include tie-ups, submissions, and strong grapples. Single competition is rare in a show as DDT will dominate the card with 4, 6, and 8-man tag matches. Every wrestler is working his way up to the DDT Universal Championship, KO-D Openweight Championship, DDT Extreme Division Championship, or the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship. Tag-team titles include Tag, 6-man, and 8-man titles.
DDT has an incredibly silly side to them. In the last Heavymetalweight championship match, the book, Killing the Business (written by the Young Bucks) was the current champion. During a 4-way match for the title, another wrestler ran into the ring and placed a Japanese swimsuit magazine on the book to declare it the new champion. In other DDT matches, Antonio Honda will stop the match and have all the competitors line up so he can face them in his finger poke of death. In another match, Chris Brookes and Maki Itoh convinced the official that their opponent was injured leading the officials to carry off the confused opponent so they could double team Saki Aki. Danshoku Dino cannot get through a match without pulling his pants down and slamming his rear end into the faces of his opponents. He has a piledriver where he puts the head of his very unlucky competitor down his pants to plant it. I skip his matches, tbh.
This is just a taste of the cartoony antics. My favorite match in the DDT universe was on a special show where superhero Hyper Misao had to fight a Mecha Mummy. Hyper Misao had to transform into Mecha Hyper Misao just to fight the mummy. The whacky antics of the absurd matches can be corny and outright silly, but it is DDT’s signature brand. The other 8 matches in a typical show are intense showdowns and speedy chain wrestling. The main event will usually be a singles competition where one of the hardworking A-listers gets to vie for the title.
DDT Universe
For ten dollars a month, fans can see every event DDT holds. All their events can be seen on a browser. The subscription-style is very similar to NJPW World, but you also get Tokyo Joshi, NOAH, and some sub-brands. Each promotion holds a two-hour plus show once or twice a week making a sizable chunk of content. Unfortunately, if you don’t know any Japanese then you won’t understand the commentary or be able to read the text titles (only a handful of shows a year have English commentators). I had to do heavy research to learn who was who. It helps to have a Wiki page open.
The learning curve is high for American audiences and most will shy away from the whacky matches, but for those who have a puroresu itch Dramatic Dream Team will not disappoint. DDT Universe has a plan to overtake NJPW as the top Japanese wrestling promotion, but they still have a ways to go if they want to get to Madison Square Garden.