• Source: KO-D Openweight Championship

The KO-D (King of DDT) Openweight Championship (Japanese: KO-D無差別級王座, Hepburn: KO-D Musabetsu-kyū Ōza) is a professional wrestling championship and the highest singles achievement in the DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT) brand division of the Japanese promotion CyberFight. It is one of CyberFight's major titles, alongside the GHC Heavyweight Championship in Pro Wrestling Noah. The title was established in 2000, and Masao Orihara was the inaugural champion.




History


DDT Pro-Wrestling, formerly known as Dramatic Dream Team, was established in 1997. In 2000, the DDT commissioner, Exciting Yoshida, created the promotion's first championship, which was briefly called the DDT Openweight Championship. Later, the King of DDT (KO-D) was established as DDT's governing body and the title was officially named KO-D Openweight Championship. The inaugural championship match took place at the Kitazawa Town Hall, on April 19, where Masao Orihara defeated DDT founder Sanshiro Takagi in the final bout to become the first-ever champion.
On November 22, 2001, Nosawa was stripped of the championship by Exciting Yoshida for "not being appropriate as a champion", which led to the first vacancy of the title.
In December 2005, DDT announced the unveiling of a new belt to replace the worn-out original design. The new belt was put up for grabs on December 28, at Never Mind, in a five-way ladder match. Danshoku Dino successfully defended his title against Sanshiro Takagi, Super Uchuu Power, Francesco Togo and Toru Owashi, ultimately winning the match and the new belt.
On December 22, 2010, the title was vacated for the second time due to an injury sustained by the reigning champion Dick Togo. Antonio Honda was originally scheduled to face Togo for the championship at Never Mind on December 26. Instead, Honda faced Gentaro to determine an interim champion. Honda emerged victorious and held the interim championship until the January 30 event, Sweet Dreams!, where he faced Togo in a unification match. Togo ultimately won the match and became the unified champion.
At CyberFight Festival 2022, on June 12, reigning champion Tetsuya Endo suffered a legitimate concussion after being struck by Katsuhiko Nakajima. Two days later, DDT held a press conference to discuss the upcoming King of DDT tournament, which was scheduled to begin on June 16. It was announced that the tournament would crown a new champion as Endo relinquished the title and forfeited his first-round match due to the injury. The vacant title was won by Kazusada Higuchi after defeating Naomi Yoshimura in the final on July 3.




Belt design



The original KO-D Openweight Championship belt had five plates on a black leather strap. The center plate was rounded and featured a globe centered on the Greenwich meridian. Three banners above the globe read, from top to bottom, 'Professional Wrestling', 'D²T' and 'Dramatic Dream Team'. The lower banner at the bottom of the globe read 'Wrestling Champion'. Each side plate featured the name and flag of a country with a rich tradition in professional wrestling. From left to right, the countries were Mexico, the United States, Japan and Canada. This belt was of low quality and deteriorated quickly, leading to the introduction of a new belt in December 2005.
The second belt featured a central plate with a globe centered on the International Date Line and the second 'D²T' logo on top in red enamel. The banner above the globe read 'Professional Wrestling', and two wrestlers were depicted grappling above the banner. The two banners below the globe read 'Dramatic Dream Team' and 'KOD Open-Weight Champion'. The belt had four side plates, similar to the previous version, but with Canada and Mexico having swapped places. On March 27, 2022, at Day Dream Believer, this belt was retired and a third belt was unveiled. The new belt was given to the then champion, Tetsuya Endo.
The current belt has a central plate that features the current DDT logo. A banner above the logo reads 'Dramatic-Dream Team'. The central plate displays the words 'KO-D Open-Weight Champion' along its bottom edge. The two inner side plates depict globes, with the left plate centered on America and the right plate centered on Japan. The two outer side plates bear the DDT logo. Each plate is adorned with red gems in its corners, while the central plate also features white gems along its vertical edges.




Reigns



As of November 26, 2024, there have been a total of 84 recognized reigns and three vacancies shared between 39 recognized champions and one interim champion. Masao Orihara was the first champion. Harashima holds the record for the most reigns with 10, the most combined defenses with 27, and the most combined days as champion at 1,314. Konosuke Takeshita's second reign is the longest at 405 days, while the reigns of Daisuke Sasaki, Ken Ohka and Sanshiro Takagi are the shortest at less than a day. Jun Akiyama, who won the championship at 51 years old, is the oldest champion, while Konosuke Takeshita, who won it at 21 years old, is the youngest.
The current title holder is Chris Brookes who is in his second reign. He defeated Shinya Aoki at Sumida Dramatic Dream! on November 4, 2024 in Tokyo, Japan.




Combined reigns


As of November 26, 2024.




See also



Professional wrestling in Japan




References






External links


KO-D Openweight Championship on Wrestling-Titles.com
KO-D無差別級選手権 (in Japanese)

Kata Kunci Pencarian:

• Sami Zayn
• Sami Callihan
• KO-D Openweight Championship
• Konosuke Takeshita
• Openweight
• Harashima
• Chris Brookes
• GHC Heavyweight Championship
• Toru Owashi
• Yuki Ueno
• Kota Ibushi
• Masa Takanashi