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53-482: DDT became one of the top promotions in Japanese independent wrestling by creating a unique sports entertainment style, often parodying WWE , with a Japanese puroresu flair to the matches. DDT's biggest event is Peter Pan , held each year since 2009. 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

106-475: A sambo exhibition between trainee Chikage Kiba and DDT referee and former sambo competitor Daisuke Kiso, and a singles match between trainees Miyu Yamashita and Kanna. The show did not use a wrestling ring, and instead all matches took place on training mats, similar to the Ice Ribbon promotion in its early years. Along with wrestling matches, the debut show featured live music from idol units . As TJP's roster

159-410: A champion there. Independent Mexican wrestlers may use a lot of gimmicks, including some that may be based on copyrighted characters from American television shows, such as Thundercats and X-Men . (These gimmicks are often changed if the wrestler playing them makes it into AAA or CMLL; the most prominent example of non-compliance with this method is midget wrestler Chucky from AAA, whose gimmick

212-517: A five-year extension on its TV wrestling monopoly from January 1982 to December 1986. However, by the mid-1980s Dixon had won over many wrestlers and fans from Joint who were tired of the Big Daddy -orientated direction of Joint. Eventually this culminated in All Star gaining a TV show on satellite channel Screensport and later, a slice of ITV's coverage from 1987 until the end of ITV wrestling in 1988. By

265-520: A good impression may be offered a developmental or even a full-professional contract. The advent of the Internet has allowed independent wrestlers and promotions to reach a wider audience, and it is possible for wrestlers regularly working the indie circuit to gain some measure of fame among wrestling fans online. Additionally, some of the more successful indies have video distribution deals, giving them an additional source of income and allowing them to reach

318-581: A large enough crowd to fill such a venue were they able to do so. Instead, they make use of any almost open space (such as fields, ballrooms, or gymnasiums) to put on their performances. Some independent promotions are attached to professional wrestling schools , serving as a venue for students to gain experience in front of an audience. As independent matches are seldom televised, indie wrestlers who have not already gained recognition in other promotions tend to remain in obscurity. However, scouts from major promotions attend indie shows, and an indie wrestler who makes

371-534: A larger audience outside of their local areas. Unlike the North American or Japanese products which have large, globally renowned organisations such as WWE and New Japan Pro-Wrestling with several hundred smaller promotions , Australia only has approximately 30 smaller independent circuit promotions which exist in all but one of the states and territories, that being the Northern Territory . Tours from

424-526: A lot of different championships, some of which were very short-lived. Dropkick Bar is a professional wrestling, boxing and mixed martial arts -themed sports bar owned and operated by DDT in Shinjuku . Professional wrestling personalities make appearances at the bar. Domestic: Worldwide : [REDACTED] DDT Into The Fight [REDACTED] DDT Judgement [REDACTED] DDT Ultimate Party Independent wrestling In professional wrestling ,

477-525: A major promoter with shows featuring himself as headline heel. In 1958, when Bert Assirati was stripped of the British Heavyweight Championship , Lincoln formed the BWF alliance of promoters to support Assirati's claim, later recognising Shirley Crabtree as champion. Lincoln's BWF was eventually bought out into Joint in 1970. Welsh promoter Orig Williams also used the BWF name, promoting from

530-660: 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 company from private to public. In March 2010, DDT announced a working relationship with Big Japan Pro Wrestling . Later in March, Takagi announced the DDT48 (later renamed Dramatic Sōsenkyo), which

583-518: A region and maintain a consistent schedule. After Vince McMahon , seeking regulatory relief, gave in 1989 testimony in front of the New Jersey State Athletic Commission where he publicly admitted pro wrestling was in fact a sports-based entertainment, rather than a true athletic competition, many state athletic commissions stopped regulating wrestling. This obviated the need for complying with many expensive requirements, such as

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636-482: A week or once a month in local towns. Independent promotions are usually local in focus and, lacking national TV contracts, are much more dependent on revenue from house show attendance. Due to their lower budgets, most independent promotions offer low salaries (it is not unusual for a wrestler to work for free due to the fact most promoters can only afford to pay well-known talent). Most cannot afford to regularly rent large venues, and would not be able to attract

689-428: A weekly program DDT's Pro-Wrestling Banzai \(^o^)/ , which was also broadcast by Samurai TV. On November 28, DDT announced a new project named DDT New Attitude (DNA) which would be another sub-brand of DDT, functioning as a developmental brand for DDT. On January 14, 2015, DDT opened a women's wrestling school with Makoto Oishi and Cherry as instructors. Later DDT announced the creation of their sixth active title,

742-479: A working relationship with DDT and TJPW that would see wrestlers from both brands appear on AEW programming. On December 15, 2023, DDT was announced as one of the founding members of the United Japan Pro-Wrestling alliance, a joint effort to further develop professional wrestling in Japan through promotion and organization, with Seiji Sakaguchi being named as the chairman of the project. DDT has had

795-476: A wrestling/idol group to be known as the "Up-Up Girls". On July 20, four women were picked and began training to wrestle shortly after. On December 4, the Up-Up Girls debuted with an idol performance, but didn't appear in ring until January 4, 2018. On January 4, 2018, TJP's third annual Korakuen show proved to be a success, drawing over 1000 fans for the first time ever. The show was also broadcast on AbemaTV for

848-504: Is also not uncommon for veteran wrestlers who have had past tenures with major promotions to appear on independent shows, either as special attractions or as a way to prolong their careers. The "indie" scene in the United States dates back to the days of regional territories. When a promoter ran opposition in even one town controlled by a National Wrestling Alliance sanctioned territory, they were often called an "outlaw" territory. This

901-569: Is based on the Child's Play movies.) Until 1984, no independent puroresu promotion per se existed in Japan; potential talent went directly into the training dojos of either New Japan Pro-Wrestling or All Japan Pro Wrestling . ( International Wrestling Enterprise also was a third-party promotion until 1981.) The advent of the Japanese Universal Wrestling Federation offered a long-sought third alternative. From 1986 to 1988

954-573: Is considered by some to be a forerunner to indies since some stars of the past got their start in these low quality local rivals to the big regional territories. The modern definition of the independent circuit came about in the middle to late 1980s and fully formed and flourished after 1990. These promotions initially sought to revive the feel of old school territorial wrestling after former territories either went national, such as WWF , went out of business, or eventually did both, such as WCW . Several indies did in fact manage to tour different towns within

1007-523: 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 hardcore matches 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

1060-471: Is promoted under the CyberFight banner as a sister promotion to both DDT Pro-Wrestling and Pro Wrestling Noah . On June 4, 2012, Tokyo Joshi Pro was announced by DDT Pro-Wrestling . Set to be run by former Ice Ribbon and NEO Japan Ladies Pro-Wrestling promoter and booker Tetsuya Koda and wrestler Nozomi, the promotion was established in late 2012 and thus a recruitment process began for wrestlers. Four of

1113-586: The DDT Tag League . Later in 2003, Shoichi Ichimiya became the new president of DDT. On 2004, DDT rebranded to DDT Pro-Wrestling yūgen gaisha renaming the promotion to DDT Pro-Wrestling . In October, DDT got a timeslot on Fighting TV Samurai , creating their regular broadcast program DDT Dramatic Fantasia . In 2005, indie promotion Union Pro Wrestling was revived by DDT. On December 28, 2005 Ichimiya retired from professional wrestling and announced his departure from DDT. This led to Sanshiro Takagi taking over

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1166-531: The King of Dark Championship , which would be "won" by the loser of a dark match . On June 23, DDT opened the Dropkick Bar which is a professional wrestling, boxing and mixed martial arts-themed sports bar. Professional wrestling personalities regularly 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

1219-707: The Tokyo Princess Tag Team Championship would be dropping "Tokyo" from their names. On March 31, 2023, TJPW held their first event in the United States in Los Angeles , California at the Globe Theater. On December 15, TJPW was announced as one of the founding members of the United Japan Pro-Wrestling alliance, a joint effort to further develop professional wrestling in Japan through promotion and organization, with Seiji Sakaguchi being named as

1272-477: The independent circuit (often shortened to the indie circuit or the indies ) is the collective name of independently owned promotions which are deemed to be smaller and more regionalized than major national promotions. Independent promotions are essentially viewed as a minor league or farm system for the larger national promotions, as wrestlers in "indie" companies (especially young wrestlers just starting their careers) are usually honing their craft with

1325-576: The 1990s there have also been numerous American-style "New School" promotions. Note: Minimum attendance of 5,000. General Specific Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling ( 東京女子プロレス , Tōkyō Joshi Puroresu , TJPW ) is a Japanese joshi puroresu or women's professional wrestling promotion founded in 2012 as a sister promotion of DDT Pro-Wrestling . Initially running alongside other shows such as live music and other idol performances , it became its own standalone promotion starting on February 28, 2015. As of 2024, TJPW

1378-516: The DDT's General Manager Amon Tsurumi and Turumi returned to a backstage role as assistant producer and reverted to his real name Hisaya Imabayashi. Dino also announced the creation of a new tournament called " D-Oh Grand Prix ". On September 1, 2017, 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

1431-554: The Dramatic Fantasia weekly program was briefly cancelled by Samurai TV. This led to the launch of the program DDT Wrestling Hour on Niconico , starting April 2. On June 4, DDT launched another sub-brand named Tokyo Joshi Pro-Wrestling (TJPW), 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

1484-664: The Japanese system went back to the two-promotion system, but then the UWF was reformed and another promotion, Pioneer Senshi, was started. Because of Japanese societal mores which implied that a wrestler was a lifelong employee of a company and thus identified with it wherever he went, neither AJPW nor NJPW made an effort to acquire wrestlers trained in other promotions; wrestlers from the major promotions who left, such as Genichiro Tenryu , Gran Hamada , Yoshiaki Fujiwara , Akira Maeda , Atsushi Onita , and Nobuhiko Takada had to start their own independent promotions in order to keep themselves in

1537-583: The North American product are regularly sold out in capital cities such as Melbourne , Sydney , Perth and Brisbane . Lucha libre has many more independent wrestlers in proportion to the rest of North America, because of the weight classes prevalent in the Mexican league system as well as its emphasis on multiple person tag matches; just about anyone with ability can emerge from an independent promotion into either AAA or Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre and be

1590-419: The commentary team speaking in a faux-whisper). In January 2020, DDT's parent company CyberAgent purchased Pro Wrestling Noah , with DDT's executives taking over Noah's operations and Noah's content appearing on DDT's streaming service Wrestle Universe . The promotion was founded by Shintaro Muto, Sanshiro Takagi , Kyohei Mikami and Kazushige Nosawa , after they left Pro Wrestling Crusaders. The promotion

1643-448: 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☆Pro-Wrestling (GanPro). On May 3, DDT's Max Bump event was broadcast live by Samurai TV . After that DDT launched

DDT Pro-Wrestling - Misplaced Pages Continue

1696-461: The death of Giant Baba and retirement of Antonio Inoki , which effectively broke their control over the promotions they founded, the major promotions began looking to the smaller promotions for talent. In 2000, the first major signing from an independent, Minoru Tanaka by NJPW from BattlARTS , took place; soon after NJPW stocked the junior heavyweight division with independent talent such as Masayuki Naruse , Tiger Mask , Gedo , and Jado . On

1749-550: The end of this period, All Star had effectively replaced Joint (by now owned by Max Crabtree , brother of Shirley) as the dominant promotion in the UK. Joint, renamed Ring Wrestling Stars in 1991, dwindled down before closing with Crabtree's retirement in 1995, All Star has continued to be the dominant non-import live promotion in the UK up to the present day. Its principal competitors since that time have been Scott Conway's TWA, John Freemantle's Premier Promotions, RBW and LDN Wrestling. Since

1802-548: The first time, as well as DDT's streaming service DDT Universe . The show was main evented by TJPW ace Miyu Yamashita defeating Reika Saiki to win back the Tokyo Princess of Princess Championship. On February 28, the TJPW show from Shinjuku Face was once again broadcast on AbemaTV, and it was announced Abema had picked up TJPW to broadcast it regularly. This also marked the end of TJPW being broadcast on Pigoo. On November 1, 2018,

1855-616: The first wrestlers recruited were Miyu Yamashita , Shoko Nakajima , Kanna and Chikage Kiba. The training of the wrestlers was mostly handled by Nozomi herself, with help from DDT wrestler Kyohei Mikami . Nozomi left DDT on November 30, 2012, but on the same day the trainees were introduced to the public in a press conference and it was announced they would debut in 2013. Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling's debut show took place on January 30, 2013, at Akihabara Twin Box in Tokyo. The show featured just two matches,

1908-475: The goal of being noticed and signed by a major national promotion such as WWE , All Elite Wrestling (AEW) (which also owns Ring of Honor (ROH)), or Total Nonstop Action Wrestling in the United States, Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide or Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre in Mexico, or New Japan Pro-Wrestling , Dragongate , All Japan Pro Wrestling , World Wonder Ring Stardom or the CyberFight promotions in Japan. It

1961-518: The independents that were signed included Akitoshi Saito , Takahiro Suwa , and Taiji Ishimori ). Although AJPW, NJPW, and Noah remain committed to their dojos, the reliance on independents is growing as obscure talent is recognized for its ability. For most of the years of ITV 's coverage of British Wrestling, the dominant promoter in the United Kingdom was the Joint Promotions cartel, which

2014-416: The late 1960s up until the early 2000s and then sporadically until his death in 2009. From 1982 to 1995, Williams had a Welsh language TV wrestling show "Reslo" on S4C. Brian Dixon, a referee for Williams, set up his own company Wrestling Enterprises of Birkenhead later renamed All Star Wrestling c.  1984 . An alliance with promoter and former top star Jackie Pallo failed to prevent Joint gaining

2067-405: The limelight ( Wrestling Association "R" , Universal Lucha Libre , Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi , Fighting Network Rings , Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling , and Hustle respectively) . As the 1990s ended, though, things began to change. Independent promotions began gaining more prominence as they were featured in major specialized media such as Shukan Puroresu and Shukan Gong magazines. With

2120-426: The need for an on-site ambulance and trained emergency medical personnel at each bout. After the business was thus exposed and deregulated, just about anyone could be a promoter or a wrestler since no licensing beyond a business license was then required. Many thought they could save money by holding shows in lesser towns and smaller arenas with little to no televised exposure, leading to many shows being held only once

2173-518: The new DDT director. On June 11, 2019, DDT announced Basara would be splitting up from DDT and become an independent company starting January 1, 2020. In October, the third edition of the annual "Iron Fist Tag Tournament" led to the creation of Basara's first tag team championship, the Iron Fist Tag Team Championship . On January 28, 2020, DDT's parent company CyberAgent purchased Pro Wrestling Noah . DDT's President Sanshiro Takagi

DDT Pro-Wrestling - Misplaced Pages Continue

2226-601: 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. In November 2006, DDT announced the creation of their fourth active title the DDT Extreme 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, 2007 in Shinjuku Face in Tokyo, Japan. DDT would later become

2279-526: The same year, following the Pro Wrestling Noah split, AJPW was forced to fill its ranks with independent talent; Nobutaka Araya , Shigeo Okumura and Mitsuya Nagai signed up (Araya is the only one who remains, but other signings since then have been Kaz Hayashi , Tomoaki Honma , Hideki Hosaka , and Ryuji Hijikata .) Noah admitted one wrestler from the independents, Daisuke Ikeda , to its ranks as well (Ikeda has since left, but other wrestlers from

2332-524: The show, Ai Shimizu and Saki Akai confirmed they would be competing with the promotion regularly, and more trainees debuted at the show. On January 4, 2016, TJPW held its first ever show in Korakuen Hall , a famed wrestling venue in puroresu . Main evented by Miyu Yamashita defeating Shoko Nakajima to become the first ever Tokyo Princess of Princess Champion , it also featured the debut of Yuu and an appearance from American wrestler Candice LeRae . In

2385-437: The spring of 2016, Ai Shimizu and Erin announced their departure from the promotion, however, the summer was a success for the promotion, and TJPW earned a broadcasting deal to be shown on idol-centric channel Pigoo. On January 4, 2017, TJPW held its second annual Korakuen show, main evented by Yuu retaining the Tokyo Princess of Princess title over Shoko Nakajima. On May 29, an audition was held for four young wrestlers to form

2438-503: The three trainee rules were officially bought to an end, allowing wrestlers to drink, smoke and have relationships on their own accord. The 2019 January 4 show was once again a success, drawing 1,300 fans to Korakuen Hall. On July 16, 2019, TJPW announced, via their Twitter account, a new title called the International Princess Championship . They also announced that the Tokyo Princess of Princess Championship and

2491-457: The title is believed to be the first of its kind in professional wrestling. with the inaugural champions crowned on August 20, 2017. 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 Danshoku Dino defeated Sanshiro Takagi in a match, where if Dino won he would become the Producer of DDT. After Dino won he fired

2544-706: Was a fan vote where the winner received a shot at the KO-D Openweight Championship. Later that month, in storyline, Michael Nakazawa stepped down as the CEO of DDT and Amon Tsurumi became the General Manager of the promotion. In 2011, DDT received the Fighting TV Samurai Indie no Oshigoto prize for having the best show the year, winning the Best Show Award for Judgement 2011 . In March 2012,

2597-628: 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. 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

2650-512: Was named the President of Pro Wrestling Noah and Naomichi Marufuji the Vice President. Noah's events began airing on DDT's streaming service DDT Universe starting with Noah's Global Jr. League 2020 on January 30. On July 27, 2020, it was announced Noah and DDT would merge in a new company, CyberFight . On March 20, 2022, at Judgement , it was announced that All Elite Wrestling (AEW) had formed

2703-461: Was originally modelled on the NWA and later amalgamated into a single company. Nonetheless, throughout this period, untelevised alternative promotions flourished with at least one significant competitor to Joint for live shows. Initially the main rival was the former dominant promotion in the territory, Atholl Oakley 's BWA. By the time of its demise, wrestler/promoter Paul Lincoln had established himself as

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2756-461: 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, TJPW and GanPro. 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,

2809-634: Was very small at the start, most of their early shows followed this same formula and only ran small venues. Entry to their first few shows was free as a way of introducing themselves to a bigger audience, and their first paid show was held on April 26. As their roster of trainees expanded in 2014, TJPW began including more matches on their cards, and began using a ring. They also ran a show with an appearance from voice actress /wrestler Ai Shimizu in November 2014. TJPW held its first full show without an idol performance on February 28, 2015 at Shinjuku Face . At

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