DDT - Hot Take
"The craziest wrestling on the planet." - ViceTV.
There is a moment in the Keanu Reeves classic The Matrix, where Morpheus offers Neo a choice that will shock him to his core forever. Neo can take the blue pill and life continues as he knows it. Or, he can take the red pill and experience the truth; what he never believed could be true. After much thought, he accepts the red pill and is taken into a surrealistic journey that pushes the boundaries of all he holds true.
The same can be said of every fan that chooses to experience Japan's Dramatic Dream Team aka DDT Pro-Wrestling, one of the most insane, fourth-wall breaking, sublime and ridiculous promotions ever seen on Planet Earth. Once you step into the world of DDT, you may never look at combat sports the same way, ever again.
DDT Pro Wrestling is the epitome of DIY professional wrestling, slowly building itself from the fringes of Japanese professional wrestling over the last 20 years, emerging an underground promotional powerhouse. For the last 20 years, DDT has been subverting all expectations to represent all walks of life, twisting all long standing traditions into what might be best thought of as the wrestling world's equivalent of Marvel Studios' Deadpool.
Led by Sanshiro Takagi, DDT is without peer in terms of insanity and creativity. While professional wrestling is certainly a subjective art form, DDT is perhaps the most avant garde of any wrestling promotion that has existed.
A visit to DDT could see invisible men battle, brawls that could exist anywhere from stadiums to subways and a comedic side that could make purists spontaneously combust and an innate injection of fun into the world of professional wrestling. After all, only in DDT could one of its most feared competitors be Yoshihiko, a blow up sex doll who has had classics with Kota Ibushi that have blown up virally across the globe. Only DDT could host the Ironman Heavymetalweight Championship, a title that can be held by male and female competitors as well as children, animals and even inanimate objects!
There have been amazing professional wrestlers past and present who have waged their wars in DDT, including Kenny Omega and Kota Ibushi and the promotion was recently endowed with the addition of AJPW and NOAH legend Jun Akiyama, but DDT's true primary asset remains its ability to push the boundaries in all directions - sexuality, creativity, violence, comedy, becoming a true nexus for all that is fresh and all that is fun in and around the squared circle.
With all that said, DDT Pro Wrestling needs to be experienced for itself. Like a grand festival concert experience, it cannot be explained; it must be witnessed to be truly understood and now, for the first time ever FITE viewers across the globe can tap into that electricity LIVE as it happens!
DDT Pro Wrestling: Summer Vacation 2020 will broadcast live from Japan on July 23rd, featuring both Japanese and English language commentary. For FITE viewers seeking English language commentary, FITE has assembled the dream team of former WCW star Sonny Onno and Rob Hochman, who's career has taken him from the Southern independent wrestling scene to working with The Rock in WWE and beyond! Our experts will help you dive right into DDT, bringing you directly into the madness first-hand.
Now, the choice is yours. Do you take the red pill and allow the insanity of DDT to cascade into your world? FITE has opened the door for you to take part in a whole new pro wrestling world.
DDT Pro Wrestling: Summer Vacation will feature:
*KO-D Openingweight Champion Tetsuya Endo vs. Yuki Ueno.
*KO-D 6-Man Tag Champion Kazusada Higuchi & Yukio Sakaguchi & Saki Akai vs. HARASHIMA & Antonio Honda & Riho.
*Akiyama Army: Jun Akiyama & Makoto Oishi & Mizuki Watase & Hideki Okatani vs. ALLOUT Full-on Warfare: Konosuke Takeshita & Akito & Shunma Katsumata & Yuki Iino.
*Chris Brokers & Drew Parker vs Daisuke Sasaki & Nobuhiro Shimatani.
*Toru Owashi & Naomi Yoshimura & Kazuki Hirata vs Danshoku Dieno & Super Sasadango Machine & Seigo Tachibana.
*Soma Takao & Mad Paulie vs Yukio Naya & Keigo Nakamura.
*DDT EXTREME Champion Shinya Aoki vs Maku Donaruto.
Mike Johnson is the lead reporter for PWInsider.com and has been writing about professional wrestling since 1996. He can be found on Twitter @MikePWInsider and MikeJohnsonWrites.com.