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>Sanshiro Takagi’s 2025 DDT Year in Review: A year that resonated both inside and outside of pro wrestling — and what’s needed to make the 30th-anniversary Dome show a reality the year after next…
>Only one month remains in the year. It’s time to look back, and for DDT, 2025 was a year in which the promotion fully showcased its unique character to both the wrestling world and the broader public. From the arrival of Kaisei Takechi and appearances by athletes from other fields, to high-profile exchanges with New Japan Pro-Wrestling, the year was full of movement. Even so, the company and its wrestlers never lost their individuality. We spoke with company president Sanshiro Takagi about his reflections on the year and the challenges that lie ahead.
>DDT wrapped up its final big match of the year—a highly attended event at Ryogoku Kokugikan—and followed it about a month later with a Korakuen Hall show on January 30. At Ryogoku, Yuki Ueno captured both the KO-D Openweight and DDT Universal championships, placing himself firmly at the top of the promotion. At Korakuen, he successfully defended both belts against Super Sasadango Machine. In the semi-main, IWGP World Heavyweight Champion Konosuke Takeshita—who competes across three promotions: New Japan, AEW, and DDT—defeated Shinya Aoki. Before that, MAO & Kanon retained the tag titles. Altogether, it was a show that demonstrated how fully the younger generation now leads the promotion.
>This past year—really, these past several years—DDT has undergone an exceptionally smooth generational shift. The fact that Takeshita, now the IWGP champion and one of the faces of the entire professional wrestling world, was KO-D champion nine years ago at just 22 speaks for itself. “Ueno, MAO, and Chris are our front-line stars now. At the same time, the next generation—people like Takeshi Masada, Yuya Koroku, and TO-Y—are all rising together. It’s been a really good generational transition.
