If you’ve been a fan of wrestling you may have come across a viral clip or match from the company Dramatic Dream Team (DDT). The comedic wrestling company is well known for throwing the rules of wrestling out of the window creating some of the most surreal moments in wrestling history. To say they are controversial is putting it lightly and DDT has been written off as parody, but their impact on the wrestling industry as a whole can’t be ignored. After all, this is the company that produced megastars such as Kota Ibushi and Kenny Omega. And during the COVID period of wrestling, they seemed to flourish where others stumbled. So how did a company that started on such comedic concepts grow?
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The owner of the company Sanshiro Takagi enters to the sound of glass breaking and a leather vest. Dishing out stunners left and right, this had been his gimmick for a while and is a loving parody of Stone Cold Steve Austin. It’s not the only wrestler that has made their entire persona a parody, Super Sasadango Machine is to Strong Machine as Kazuki Hirata is to Magnum Tokyo. The bunch of characters isn’t always parody, but they’ll lean into a recent or well-known joke of the wrestling world even with concepts that they’ll bring into their product.
Most notable of that is the Ironman Heavymetalweight title. Probably DDT’s most well-known asset, this title has been in the United States before the company even had a show there. And the history of this 20-year title begun as a parody of the Hardcore title’s 24/7 rule taken far beyond its logical extreme. It wouldn’t be the first time they took something from the WWE and made it their own thing. For example, the Any Time Anywhere Gauntlets began as a small parody of the Money in the Bank concept with great prizes and not so great prizes included. However, it began to take on a life of its own. And in recent years. A switch has been flipped causing what used to be laughed at to be looked at with a second opinion.
But what was once parody has now become a pioneer due to their outside the box thinking. Beginning in 2006 the Extreme title was formed, a title in which the champion was allowed to decide the stipulations of their defense. Something that we have begun to see the echoes of in the Proteus title in Progress and King of Pro Wrestling Tournament in NJPW. But nothing would compare to how they took steps during the COVID Pandemic that DDT’s marks began to shine. Early on into the shutdown, they held an Audience Participation experiment using the Zoom technology, a far cry from the Thunderdome of today but the experimentation being there was interesting. To replace Meet and Greets they began to hold youtube streams of the talents in question who would interact with the chat while signing and sending out products. WWE has recently resumed meet and greets via video chat in a similar vein.
But it goes further than their use of technology, during the shutdown they couldn’t have big battle royals for the ironman heavymetalweight matches. So they went heavy into the cinematic wrestling route delving deep into comedy. And it all seemed to come to a head in May when AEW held the Stadium Stampede Match and WWE held Money in the Bank. Both seemed to take heavy inspiration from the Rojo Wrestling matches that had become DDT staples especially Money in the Bank taking some cues from the Abema towers show.
In response, DDT scheduled Money in the Bag, an Abema towers rojo wrestling show about people chasing down a briefcase full of money soon after. As well as having English commentary put over their original Abema Towers show. Thus showing that even during a trailblazing time you can’t get a tiger to change its stripes.
Given the current social situation, teams are extra careful in disinfecting not only their hands, but also their chests, pits, crotch, etc.#ddtprohttps://t.co/pffUd7DmW0
— DDT/TJPW English Update (D/TEU) (@ddtpro_eng) June 22, 2020
With Wrestling circles slowly returning to normal, 2020 will be looked back upon as a strange year wrestling wise. If that’s the case then it’s appropriate that DDT took charge, but with AEW announcing hopes that the Stadium Stampede will be a signature match type. The impact of the company that could’ve easily fallen off as a parody, will continue to be felt as they march to the beat of their own drum.
