The is a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

world openweight

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

and the top singles accomplishment in the Japanese

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

CyberFight , operating simply as CyberFight (CF), is a Japanese professional wrestling parent company based in Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of the CyberAgent internet advertising company. CyberFight serves as an umbrella brand for two existing promotions: Pro Wr ...

currently defended in the

DDT Pro-Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Its name stands for Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's official name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, the promotion was eventually bo ...

(DDT) brand division. It is one of CyberFight's top major world titles, alongside the GHC Heavyweight Championship in

Pro Wrestling Noah (stylised as Pro Wrestling NOAH) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion, founded in 2000 by former All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) ace Mitsuharu Misawa after he had led a mass exodus in which 24 of AJPW's 26 contracted wrestlers left the ...

. The title was established in 2000 and the inaugural champion was Masao Orihara. , there have been a total of seventy-nine recognized reigns and three vacancies shared between thirty-six recognized champions and one

interim champion An interim championship is an alternate title that is awarded by the sanctioning bodies of professional boxing, and in other combat sports such as kickboxing, professional wrestling, and mixed martial arts. Occasionally, the champion of a particul ...

. The current title holder is

Kazusada Higuchi is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for the Japanese professional wrestling promotion DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT). Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (2014–present) Higuchi made his professional wrestling ...

who is in his first reign.

History

Dramatic Dream Team is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. Its name stands for Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's official name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, the promotion was eventually bo ...

(now DDT Pro-Wrestling) was founded in 1997. In 2000, DDT commissioner

Exciting Yoshida better known by his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler currently working as a freelancer and is best known for his time in the Japanese promotion DDT Pro-Wrestling. Professional wrestling career Early career Yoshida made his profes ...

created the promotion's first championship, briefly called DDT Openweight Championship, before 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 was scheduled for a live event held at the Kitazawa Town Hall, on April 19. At the event, Masao Orihara defeated DDT founder

Sanshiro Takagi , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler. Takagi's gimmick is that he is Stone Cold Steve Austin. He is known in Dramatic Dream Team (DDT) and around the micro-indy scene for his hilarious promos and natural charism ...

in the final bout to become the inaugural champion. On November 22, 2001,

Nosawa , better known by his ring names Nosawa and , (born December 17, 1976) is a Japanese freelance professional wrestler, best known for his appearances in All Japan Pro Wrestling and various independent promotions. Career Early career (19952004) Nos ...

was stripped of the title by Exciting Yoshida for "not being appropriate as a champion", which led to the first vacancy of the title. In December 2005, DDT announced a new belt would be unveiled to replace the worn out original design. The new belt was put up for grab on December 28, at Never Mind, in a five-way ladder match in which

Danshoku Dino , better known by his ring name , also written Danshoku Dieno, is a Japanese professional wrestler. Dino has spent most of his career competing for DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT), where he plays an overly exaggerated homosexual character. His ring name ...

defended the title against Sanshiro Takagi,

Super Uchuu Power was a Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler, also known under the ring name . Kimura was known for his work in promotions like Dramatic Dream Team, W*ING, Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling and All Japan Pro Wrestling, amo ...

, Franceso Togo and

Toru Owashi is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by his ring name . He is best known for his work in DDT Pro-Wrestling, where he is a former KO-D Openweight Champion and two time KO-D Tag Team Champion. Professional wrestling career Initial ...

. Dino won the match and the new belt. On December 22, 2010, the title was vacated for the second time when champion

Dick Togo , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler. Togo is currently signed to New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW), where he is a member of the Bullet Club stable, and its sub-group House of Torture. Togo has spent the majority of ...

suffered an injury.

Antonio Honda is a Japanese professional wrestler, better known by his ring name . He is currently working for the Japanese professional wrestling promotion DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT). He is the son of actor Tetsu Watanabe. Professional wrestling career Indepe ...

was scheduled to have a championship match against Togo at Never Mind, on December 26; he instead faced Gentaro to determine an

. Honda defeated Gentaro and served as interim champion until the January 30 event Sweet Dreams!, where Togo faced Honda in a unification match, which Togo won. On June 12, 2022, at CyberFight Festival 2022, champion Tetsuya Endo suffered a legitimate concussion when he was struck by

Katsuhiko Nakajima is a Japanese professional wrestler, signed to Pro Wrestling Noah. He started his career in Riki Choshu's Fighting World of Japan Pro Wrestling (WJ) promotion before heading to Kensuke Sasaki's Kensuke Office/Diamond Ring dojo and promotion. He ...

. Two days later, DDT held a press conference ahead of the 2022 edition of the King of DDT tournament scheduled to start on June 16. It was announced that due to the injury, Endo would relinquish the title and forfeit his first round match, while the tournament would crown a new champion. On July 3, 2022,

defeated

Naomi Yoshimura is a Japanese professional wrestler, currently working for the Japanese professional wrestling promotion Dramatic Dream Team (DDT). Professional wrestling career Independent circuit (2016-present) Yoshimura is known for his matches from the jap ...

in the final and consequently won the vacant title.

Belt design

The first KO-D Openweight Championship belt had five plates on a black leather strap. The rounded center plate 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, those countries were

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

, Japan and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. This inexpensive belt deteriorated quickly and a new belt was introduced in December 2005. The second belt had a central plate that featured a globe centered on the International Date Line with the second "D²T" logo on top in red enamel. The banner above the globe read "Professional Wrestling" and above the banner were two wrestlers grappling. 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. This belt was retired on March 27, 2022, at Day Dream Believer where a third belt was unveiled and given to then champion Tetsuya Endo. The third and current belt has a central plate that features the current DDT logo. A banner above the logo reads "Dramatic-Dream Team". The words "KO-D Open-Weight Champion" are written along the bottom edge of the central plate. The two inner side plates both feature a globe; the one on the left plate is centered on America, while the one on the right is centered on Japan. The two outer side plates both feature the DDT logo. All plates have red gems in their corners and the central plate also has white gems along its vertical edges.

Reigns

Combined reigns

As of , . Endo220327

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References

External links