King of DDT

The **King of DDT** (Kingu Obu DDT) is an annual single-elimination tournament held in DDT Pro-Wrestling. It's designed to determine the strongest wrestler of the year. From 2006 to 2008, the tournament was suspended and it was changed into a regular pay-per-view event. King of DDT was originally used in May but it was changed from 2009 to June following its return as a tournament. Usually, the winners of the tournament receive a shot for the KO-D Openweight Championship at DDT's biggest event the Ryogoku Peter Pan. All KO-D Openweight Champions and also since 2018 Right to Challenge Anytime, Anywhere contract holders at the time of each tournament don't take part in the tournament.

The King of DDT was held under a system where all King of DDT's editions as 16 participants until 2018 were it was changed to 32 participants and all matches had 30-minute time-limit until it was changed in 2018 to no time limit and a disqualification it's a draw. All final matches don't have a time limit.

The King of DDT has often been used as a platform for DDT to push their rising stars. Wins by young up-and-comers over veterans in DDT would usually take their respective careers to new heights. The first tournaments were specifically created to make stars out of Daisuke Sasaki, Kudo, Kota Ibushi and HARASHIMA.

## Events

### 2004

The 2004 King of DDT took place from May 29 to May 30. This was a two-day tournament.

### 2005

The 2005 King of DDT was held from May 22 until May 29, 2005, covering three shows. On the first day of the tournament, Yusuke Inokuma defeated Jun Inomata and Yoshihiko in a qualifiyng match to earn a spot in the tournament.

### 2006

The 2006 King of DDT was chenged into PPV event and took place on June 25, 2006. The show drew 509 spectators. The event featured eight title matches for five DDT championship titles and one title defended on the janapese independent circuit. The event featured three title changes.

## Information

### 2007

The 2007 King of DDT was a PPV event and took place on June 3, 2007. All of the matches was the same as the last in every match of the card were for the DDT championships. The event had five title changes. The show drew 1,482 spectators.

## Information

### 2008

The 2008 King of DDT was PPV event and took place on July 6, 2008. All matches of the card where for DDT's championships. The event had three title changes. The show drew 1,517 spectators.

## Information

### 2009

The 2009 King of DDT took place from May 29 to May 30. In this year the King of DDT returned to be a tournament. In this year it was a two day tournament.

### 2010

The 2010 King of DDT took place from May 23 to May 30, covering two shows.

### 2011

The 2011 King of DDT took place from May 21 to May 29, covering two shows.

### 2012

The 2012 King of DDT took place from June 30 to July 8.

### 2013

The 2013 King of DDT took place from June 28 to July 7, covering two shows. On the first show Daisuke Sasaki won the right to enter in the King of DDT.

### 2014

The 2014 King of DDT took place from June 14 to June 29, covering three shows.

### 2015

The 2015 King of DDT took place from June 6 to June 28, covering three shows.

### 2016

The 2016 King of DDT took place from June 5 to June 26, covering three shows. On June 4, Shunma Katsumata defeated Kouki Iwasaki to earn the right to enter in the King of DDT.

### 2017

The 2017 King of DDT took place from June 4 to June 25, covering three shows.

### 2018

The 2018 King of DDT was announced to take place from June 4 to August 26, covering four shows. Instead of the usual 16 participants, DDT announced that the 2018 edition would feature 32 participants. On July 23, it was announced all tournament matches would have no time limit, and also until the quarter-finals, a lottery would shuffle the final eight into new matches. Three days later, it was announced that Daiki Shimomura would be pulled out of the tournament after injuring his left MCL, he was replaced by Saki Akai. Six days later, it was announced that Konosuke Takeshita would be pulled out of the tournament after suffering a shoulder injury. Naomi Yoshimura who was scheduled to face Takeshita was going to pass to the next round, but Kazuki Hirata would take Takeshita's place.

### 2020

The 2020 King of DDT took place from August 8 to August 23, covering four shows.

1. ↑ Defeated Chris Brookes, Tomomitsu Matsunaga, Mizuki Watase, Yukio Sakaguchi, Yukio Naya, Mad Paulie, Naomi Yoshimura, Yuki Iino, Seigo Tachibana, Soma Takao, Antonio Honda, Nobuhiro Shimatani, Kazuki Hirata in a *Dramatic Challenge* to have the chance to return.

### 2021

The 2021 King of DDT took place from June 10 to July 4, covering three shows.

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Higuchi and Takeshita got their shuffled spots after both were drawned with different opponents with Higuchi facing Yuji Hino and Konosuke Takeshita facing Daisuke Sasaki.

### 2022

The 2022 King of DDT took place from June 16 to July 3, covering three shows. On June 14, 2022, Tetsuya Endo announced that he had to forfeit the tournament and vacate the KO-D Openweight Championship after having suffered a concussion at CyberFight Festival 2022 on June 12 with the winner of the tournament being crowned the new champion.

## Gallery

* Winners

KudoIsami KodakaYukio SakaguchiShuji IshikawaTetsuya EndoDaisuke SasakiKonosuke TakeshitaKazusada Higuchi