Trapped in the Cagematch: Two DDTs, a GLEAT, and a Dragongate

When I reflected on the highlights of 2025, I mentioned that I had really wanted to investigate DDT Pro-Wrestling more. I took my first step by checking out Junta Miyawaki vs. Shinya Aoki from January, which wasn’t especially impressive. Nonetheless, I committed to learning more about DDT in 2026 because the company’s work continued to feel unnoticed.

As a smaller wrestling organization, DDT had to prioritize wrestler recruitment and development to sustain its pipeline. Even though CyberFight brought DDT under its umbrella in 2017, DDT had to continue identifying potential wrestlers and training them so it could absorb the losses that come when bigger money called. (Kenny Omega, Kota Ibushi, and Konosuke Takeshita are the most notable, but also wrestlers like Shigehiro Irie and Mike Bailey were also key parts of DDT. All of them have moved on from DDT.)

First and foremost among DDT’s younger set of wrestlers were Yuki Ueno (30 years old), MAO (29), KANON (29), and To-y (26). The most notable wrestler in DDT’s next class was arguably Kaisei Takechi, a member of the J-Pop group The Rampage from Exile Tribe and Krump crew Rag Pound. Luckily for Marge Simpson, this meant that Takechi could also Krump with her if needed.

All in all, DDT had a decent bumper crop of young wrestlers who could be the company’s next set of upstarts.

(The pattern-seeking brain grouped Takechi, Aaron Wolf, and Fuwa-chan as three recent examples of Japanese performers who became professional wrestlers. In each case, they brought their renown and fans from outside wrestling to a wrestling company. What made wrestling a viable and desirable option for each of them?)

Yuki Ueno vs. Kaisei Takechi
DDT Hybrid Performer 2026 ~ Kaisei Takechi 2nd Anniversary Show ~
February 22, 2026
Cagematch ranking as of 3/1/26: 47

Admittedly, I would have been shocked if Yuki Ueno had offered to Krump with Kaisei Takechi. However, I wouldn’t have considered it completely outside the realm of possibility. After all, the match took place in DDT, where wackiness and workrate meet. Instead, Ueno and Takechi delivered a solid wrestling match, which was more impressive than it sounded when one took Takechi’s level of experience into account.

This show commemorated Kaisei Takechi’s 2nd anniversary as a professional wrestler. As of this writing, he’s had 13 total matches, and this was his first and only singles match. DDT has positioned Takechi about as prominently as they could have given his schedule outside wrestling. In September, Takechi, Ueno, and To-y won the KO-D Six Man Tag Team Championship. During their reign, they defended the title against HARASHIMA, Minoru Suzuki & Yuya Koroku and Kazuma Sumi, KANON & MAO before losing it to Daichi Satoh, Takeshi Masada & Yuya Koroku. (It was likely not a coincidence that so many of the young wrestlers listed in the table above were involved in the KO-D Six Man Tag Team Championship matches as they can be a lower stress way for them to get at-bats in wrestling in matches with stakes.)

Elsewhere, in November, DDT sent Takechi (and Ueno) to participate in NJPW’s  House of Torture special, Purge Night of Torture. Also, Takechi teamed with Konosuke Takeshita, DDT’s most famous and currently active wrestler. Finally, Takechi also participated in NJPW’s NEVER Openweight Six Man Tag Team Rambo at Wrestle Kingdom 20.

Last year, Ueno dropped to a mere honorable mention in the 30 Under 30 rankings after placing at 22nd in 2024. In 2024, Gerard Di Trolio wrote, “He’s good looking, charismatic, and always has great matches. It’s a no-brainer that he’s one of the best wrestlers in the world under the age of 30.” By this point, he’s probably done all that there was to do in DDT. Only the DDT Extreme Championship, the World Omori Championship, and the O-40 Championship have eluded him, and he won’t qualify for the O-40 Championship for another decade. DDT consistently positioned him in the main event; when he wasn’t in the main event, his match wasn’t far from that slot. Suffice it to say that Ueno was a standard bearer for DDT.

Per JamieOD, Takechi challenged Ueno to this singles match, so he brought on whatever pain he was about to receive onto himself. Though he was DDT’s standard bearer and Takechi’s tag team partner, Ueno could easily have fallen into a trap where he underestimated Takechi. On the other hand, Ueno kicked away Takechi’s offered hand before the bell, which I appreciated. When you challenge another person to a fight, you don’t start with a handshake. You might end with one, preferably after you’d beaten them. So, it was a good sign when Takechi refused to give Ueno a clean break and took the fight to Ueno.

When Ueno planted Takechi with a DDT on the apron and threw Takechi first into the ringside seats and then one of the walls at Korakuen Hall, all I could think of was this.

I was glad to see Ueno and Takechi actually fight while Ueno dragged him around Korakuen Hall. During walking brawls, wrestlers generally allow other wrestlers to lead them around the crowd too easily. As Ueno walked Takechi from one section to another, Ueno hit him in the face with a forearm shot to keep him stunned. Takechi also resisted and retaliated with a dangerous crossbody dive over a Korakuen Hall stairwell. The decision to take that risk convinced me that Takechi’s not messing around.

After putting up an impressive fight, Takechi could barely stand. Nonetheless, he went down swinging and fell to Ueno’s WR.

This exceeded all my expectations of a first singles match from a rookie who had less than 20 total matches in his career.

Ueno went unranked in the FSM 50 in 2025, but he placed at 26th in 2024 and 45th in 2023. Judging by the way that he made a struggle with Takechi over a simple standing suplex work in this match, I think Ueno will deserve more consideration for the 2026 FSM 50. It would be unfair to Takechi’s performance to say that Ueno carried him, but Ueno did guide him through and worked hard to help Takechi shine.

If I hadn’t known that this was Takechi’s first singles match, I would never have guessed it. He understood the timing to maximize drama; the sequence where he and Ueno traded forearm strikes late in the match worked really well. Additionally, he showed impressive athleticism with his Swan Dive Forearm and the crossbody dive. Finally, he clearly had a strong connection with DDT’s fans at Korakuen Hall; they were chanting for him, not Ueno, during the forearm strike battle. He was also clearly getting coached by To-y, who was at ringside, and Ueno during the match. Again, since this was his first singles match, that wasn’t surprising. He looked very slight, but he can improve that thanks to modern science and training. Though he is an old rookie at 28, he showed a lot of potential.

You can watch this match and the show on Wrestle Universe. For more about the show, please read JamieOD’s Dramatic DDT blog.

Kazuma Sumi vs. Takeshi Masada
DDT Hybrid Performer 2026 ~ Kaisei Takechi 2nd Anniversary Show ~
February 22, 2026
Cagematch ranking as of 3/1/26: 80

A seminal moment in my wrestling fandom was traveling to Hellertown, Pennsylvania for Chikara’s Young Lions Cup VI in 2008. It was one thing to take day trips to Philadelphia, PA, Edison, NJ, or Deer Park, NY for Ring of Honor shows or Wallingford, CT for Chikara’s AniversarioCT. It was another thing altogether to figure out travel, meals, and accommodations for professional wrestling because that entailed a higher level of commitment. I had a great time at Young Lions Cup VI and ate at Waffle House more often than was probably wise. Moreover, it imprinted upon me that companies need dedicated time to showcase their young wrestlers on the roster.

(The most notable participants in Young Lions Cup VI were Ethan Page, Sami Callihan, Stupefied aka Stu Grayson, Drake Younger, Christian Faith aka Rickey Shane Page, Lince Dorado, Marshe Rockett, Johnny Gargano, and Fire Ant aka Orange Cassidy. All found their way to a national wrestling or sports entertainment entity at some point.)

NJPW tried various approaches (Lion’s Den and the Lion’s Gate project) over the years to showcase their own developing wrestlers and to platform wrestlers from other companies that they could then evaluate (and potentially poach). Similarly, Stardom has held its New Blood shows since 2022 for talent development and evaluation. DDT established D Generation as its own sub-brand for young wrestlers, and it’s held the D Generations Cup since 2023 to crown its best young wrestler.

Takeshi Masada won the D Generations Cup in 2023, and he faced the athletic Kazuma Sumi in the finals of the 2026 tournament. At 22 and 24 years old respectively, Sumi and Masada are two of the brightest prospects on DDT’s roster. Sumi was the spitting image of Konosuke Takeshita, from the hair to the height to the overall build. He towered over Masada; there was a seven-inch height difference between them. And like Takeshita, Masada could play the base for Sumi’s acrobatics and be the powerful contrast to Sumi’s high-flying.

Furthermore, Masada had some of the impishness that made Kevin Owens née Steen such an entertaining wrestler.

That said, I wish both Masada and Sumi showed more intensity in their pins. Masada gave up on his two-count pin on Sumi too easily. Masada almost made up for it with his pretty dropkick.

Furthermore, Masada got credit for helping to save the moment when Sumi slipped off the middle ropes, which could have derailed the match.

Given the size difference, Masada and Sumi could have slipped easily into the “big man, little man” format, but they mostly stayed away from those tropes. For instance, Masada could have laughed off Sumi’s strikes. Yet, they traded kicks as if they were equally strong. Sumi relied on his agility for defense (landing on his feet from Masada’s monkey flip and German suplex) and offense (missile dropkick, Lionsault, and this wild Destroyer).

Unfortunately, later in the match, Sumi wasn’t in complete control of his body on his inside out reverse 360 splash, so he landed on Masada’s knee with his knee, which was compressed under his body. (Sumi persevered and tried to pin Masada after that splash. The camera operator on that pinfall deserved some kudos for focusing on Sumi’s desperate pin and then panning to the right to reveal that Masada had gotten the rope break with his off camera foot.)

Conversely, Masada’s offense was more basic (kicks to the chest, a brainbuster), but he could also show us that he could get fancy.

Later, he showed his allegiance to Smashmouth by taunting Sumi with an L on his forehead and nailing him with a Busaiku Knee. Unfortunately, Masada would end up with the L after Sumi slipped out of Samurai Driver ’01 and pinned him.

This was a solid bout of professional wrestling, though I came away with the impression that both Masada and Sumi had room to grow. Sumi’s grows were getting a little tighter on his dives and timing his one count kick-out a little better. Coming from a karate background, it made sense that Masada leaned on his good kicks, but honing his punches would give him more striking flexibility. They both could increase the intensity and feeling of struggle in their pins.

You can watch this match and the show on Wrestle Universe.

Hayato Tamura & T-Hawk vs. So Daimonji & Shigehiro Irie
GLEAT Ver. 23
February 11, 2026
Cagematch ranking as of 3/1/26: 244

Generally, it was understood that Tsar Nicholas I of Russia referred to the Ottoman Empire as the “sick man [of Europe]” in meetings with key leaders and statesmen in the 1830s and 1850s. (The phrase “sick man of Europe” first appeared in a New York Times article published on May 12, 1860.) (Apparently, it’s such a memorable phrase that it appeared in the headline of an article in the Guardian about sumo wrestling’s crisis from September 30, 2007.) The phrase was commentary on the Ottoman Empire’s perceived economic and military weakness. After looking around the Japanese wrestling scene, I was inspired to consider whether GLEAT was “the sick man of puroresu?”

A review of GLEAT’s last six months of shows indicated weak attendance. I’ve highlighted eight shows with fewer than 200 attendees in red. We should also count the two shows without reported attendances. Also, I’ve marked shows that showed lower attendance than the previous show at the venue with a minus (-). In total, GLEAT held eight shows that had fewer than 200 attendees and two shows with no reported attendance. They’ve also had six shows that saw a decline in attendance.

Putting live attendance aside, the move in December away from a paid membership service on GLEAT’s YouTube page was another worrying sign for the company’s future. Finally, GLEAT’s most worrisome announcement came in December: CIMA, Ryo Aitaka, Kiyoshi Tamura, and Masato Yoshino all left the company. That meant that one of the founders (Tamura), one of the commissioners (Yoshino), the Chief Strategy Officer (CIMA), and one of the former kickboxers who were in the Lidet UWF sub-brand (Aitaka) all left when their contracts expired. Talent movement wasn’t a bad sign in and of itself, but losing multiple organizational leaders at once would be worrisome even for a dominant and successful company.

GLEAT’s actual roster was neither completely devoid of potential nor is it stuffed with past-their-prime wrestlers. There were wrestlers 30 years old and younger who could contribute elsewhere. (Though El Lindaman was older than 30, I I included him because he was the G-REX Champion.)

Much like how Tsar Nicholas I pondered what to do about the Ottoman Empire, so could other wrestling companies wonder how to respond if LIDET Entertainment closed GLEAT down. Companies like ZERO1, AJPW, BJW and even Osaka Pro could consider which wrestlers to pluck from GLEAT’s wreckage. For example, Osaka Pro might consider ties that former Dragon Gate wrestlers like El Lindaman might have to the area and prioritize picking them up, while BJW or ZERO1 might want to add a bruiser. (For his part, CIMA just announced that he will wrestle at Osaka Pro’s show on April 25.)

Therefore, it felt right to check in on Hayato Tamura’s highest rated match of February 2026. First, let’s acknowledge that it was very cute that Tamura and T-Hawk, who came from baseball backgrounds, posed as batter and catcher for their press photo. To Tamura’s credit, he looked fantastic. He was muscle-bound and well tanned, and he had a very neat and tidy haircut. On the whole, it was the look befitting a champion, even if it’s just the Up Town Championship. Irie, on the other hand, looked like a walking Mountain Dew can.

This might have been the darkest that I’ve ever seen Korakuen Hall lit for a wrestling show. Nonetheless, the sparse crowd voiced their pleasure when Tamura and Daimonji tagged in to the match. Given that they immediately stared each other down, backed into their respective corners, and then charged at each other, I understood the crowd’s excitement.

Then, they cracked me up with their extended collar and elbow lock up.

They capped off this display of 100% meat-headed mentality with more shoulder charges on the floor, which Tamura finally won. Finally, T-Hawk came around to celebrate with Tamura, so they slapped each other in the face a bunch of times and then raised each other’s arm. As if that weren’t enough, T-Hawk then challenged Tamura to pop his pecs for the crowd.

This was the dumbest, comically stereotypically jockiest behavior I’ve seen in a long time. Needless to say that it was terrific.

Irie got disappointingly sparse applause for his decision to piledrive T-Hawk into a prone Tamura. However, the crowd reacted appropriately to this display of strength from Daimonji:

While the match had its clunky moments (for instance, why did T-Hawk decide to get into a shoulder block contest with Daimonji after taking such a beating from Irie and Daimonji that he could only weakly hit them, and some of Tamura’s transitions were awkward), it made up for them with the excitement of seeing wrestlers throw bombs at each other. Tamura, in particular, could fill a niche in the wrestling ecosystem: the muscled badass that liked to hit their opponent hard. In the past, Daisuke Sekimoto and Yuji Hino had filled that niche, but they’re in their forties and desperately need a successor.

Daimonji could also help fill that need. He was very proud of hitting this double Samoan drop.

Conversely, I hated that he cocked his fist like a Roman Reigns cosplayer before hitting the Superman punch on T-Hawk.

Ultimately, it was a bit of an empty calorie match, but like delicious and fruity Skittles, it was fun for what it was. Who are you to deny a match of muscular wrestlers throwing lariats, shoulder charges, and slaps at each other with no pretension?

You can watch this match and the show on GLEAT’s YouTube page.

Love And Peace (JACKY KAMEI & Riiita) (c) vs. Marcus Mathers & Dragon Dia
DG Uno! Dos! Tres!
February 23, 2026
Cagematch ranking as of 3/1/26: 78

For transparency, I wrestled with including this match in this column. Because I felt that JACKY KAMEI and Riiita’s work as Love and Peace had gone underappreciated, I had really wanted to revisit Dragongate here. However, I have excluded and will continue to omit WWE and WWE ID wrestlers from consideration from anything I write. Their employer explicitly stated that they were a “sports entertainment” company, and their production was a parody of professional wrestling. Therefore, they are sports entertainers and out of this column’s scope. They might become wrestlers again if they ever leave that company’s confines; until they do, they are persona non grata to me. (If anything, I’ve considered expanding the exclusion zone to include AAA and TNA wrestlers.)

Marcus Mathers, once the shiniest jewel in the diminished North American independent wrestling scene, held a WWE ID contract and has appeared on WWE Evolve. Though I give him credit for actually going abroad for a three-months-long tour with Dragongate, he was still by definition a sports entertainer, not a wrestler. Hence, to be consistent to my principles, I could not make an exception even for Dragon Dia, JACKY KAMEI, and Riiita, three bright spots in Dragongate’s firmament that has been diminished by the cloud named Gajadokuro.

Also, Mathers should improve his striking so the cameras don’t capture such an embarrassing whiff. Not even Lee Fitting’s team would be able to save this.

Watch the match for Riiita’s, KAMEI’s, and Dias incredible offense and the way KAMEI held the match together after Riiita was knocked out as planned by Mathers’s piledriver on the floor. For more information, read Case Lowe’s review of the match and the show.

You can watch this match and the show on Dragongate Network with English and Japanese commentary.

Let’s update our list of wrestlers under the age of 30.

ineligible: Marcus Mathers (sports entertainer), Sareee (will be 30 by June 1)
1. Miu Watanabe
2. Daiki Odashima
3. MIRAI
4. Saya Kamitani
5. Starlight Kid
6. JACKY KAMEI
7. Riiita
8. Dragon Dia
9. VENY
10. Miku Kanae
11. Hazuki
12. Konami
13. Saya Iida
14. Arisu Endo
15. Suzume
16. Kazuma Sumi
17. Mei Seira
18. Takeshi Masada
19. Rina
20. Chanyota
21. Jet Wei
22. Kodai Nozaki
23. Kaisei Takechi
24. Kohei Kinoshita
25. Kuro
26. NORI
27. Honori Hana
28. Junta Miyawaki

Next time: We’ll take a trip around the world to check out some wrestling highlights in France, Mexico, Germany, and Australia from February.