Into The Fight 2020 was a

professional wrestling Professional wrestling, often shortened to either pro wrestling or wrestling,The term "wrestling" is most often widely used to specifically refer to modern scripted professional wrestling, though it is also used to refer to Real life, real- ...

event promoted by

DDT Pro-Wrestling is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion based in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Shinjuku, Tokyo. Its name is an initialism of Dramatic Dream Team, which was the promotion's original name from 1997 to 2004. Founded in March 1997 by Shintaro Muto, the p ...

(DDT). It took place on February 23, 2020, in

Tokyo, Japan Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, at the

Korakuen Hall is a sports arena in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan, which has hosted boxing, professional wrestling, kickboxing, mixed martial arts and Lethwei matches. History On April 16, 1962, the Korakuen Hall was officially opened with a capacity of approximat ...

. The event aired domestically on

Fighting TV Samurai Combat ( French for ''fight'') is a purposeful violent conflict between multiple combatants with the intent to harm the opposition. Combat may be armed (using weapons) or unarmed ( not using weapons). Combat is resorted to either as a method of ...

and

AbemaTV is a Japanese streaming service that launched on April 11, 2016, under the name It is majority-owned by CyberAgent, with a 55.2% stake, and TV Asahi, with a 36.8% stake, while the remaining ownership belongs to various other companies, mostly ...

, and globally on DDT Universe, DDT's

video-on-demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typical static broadcasting ...

service. Seven matches were contested at the event. The main event saw

Masato Tanaka is a Japanese Professional wrestling, professional wrestler, best known for his appearances with Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling (FMW) in Japan where he was a FMW Brass Knuckles Heavyweight Championship#Title History, one-time FMW Brass Knuckle ...

defeat Mao to retain the

KO-D Openweight Championship The is a professional wrestling championship (professional wrestling), championship and the highest singles achievement in the DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT) brand division of the Japanese professional wrestling promotion, promotion CyberFight. It is on ...

. In another prominent match,

Chris Brookes Chris Brookes (born 24 August 1991) is an English professional wrestler signed to DDT Pro-Wrestling, where he is the current KO-D Openweight Champion, in his second reign. He has also been a two-time DDT Universal Champion. Career Progres ...

defeated

Konosuke Takeshita is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is signed to American Wrestling promotion, promotion All Elite Wrestling (AEW), where he is a member of the Don Callis Family and one-half of the tag team Protoshita with Kyle Fletcher. He is a former AEW ...

to become the inaugural DDT Universal Champion.

Storylines

Into The Fight 2020 featured seven

professional wrestling matches Many types of wrestling matches, sometimes called "Glossary of professional wrestling terms#Gimmick, gimmick matches" in the Glossary of professional wrestling terms, jargon of the business, are performed in professional wrestling. Some gimmick m ...

involving wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed

villains A villain (also known as a " black hat", "bad guy" or "baddy"; The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.126 "baddy (also baddie) noun (pl. -ies) ''informal'' a villain or criminal in a book, film, etc.". the feminine form is villai ...

heroes Heroes or Héroes may refer to: * Hero, one who displays courage and self-sacrifice for the greater good Film * ''Heroes'' (1977 film), an American drama * ''Heroes'' (2008 film), an Indian Hindi film Gaming * ''Heroes of Might and Magic'' ...

, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

Event

The third match on the card was dubbed "We Are A Family Six-Man Tag Team Match" and featured

Danshoku Dino , better known by his ring name , also spelled 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 ...

, Super Sasadango Machine, Yasu Urano,

Shinya Aoki is a Japanese mixed martial artist, professional wrestler and grappler competing in ONE Championship's Welterweight division. He also competes in DDT Pro-Wrestling where he is a former three-time DDT Extreme Champion. A professional competit ...

Hiroshi Yamato , better known by his ring name , is a Japanese professional wrestler who works as a freelancer. Trained by the All Japan Pro Wrestling promotion, he started his career in February 2007 working in Mexico for the International Wrestling Revolution ...

, Kazuki Hirata and referee Yukinori Matsui all wearing Sasadango masks in order to prevent Dino from kissing his opponents amidst the recent

coronavirus pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. During the matches, the identical masks quickly caused confusion as some participants started tagging in their opponents instead of their partners. After a brawl took all six participants in the hallway surrounding the hall, they re-entered the ring only to realize they were now seven. Everyone started to unmask to confirm their identities. A few seconds after the seventh man, "Someone", unmasked, the lights went out, the wrestlers disappeared and the match was declared invalid. During the eight-person elimination tag team match, Akito eliminated

Daisuke Sasaki is a Japanese professional wrestler. He is signed to DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT), where is a former two-time DDT Universal Champion. In addition to that, in DDT, he is also a former three-time KO-D Openweight Champion, one-time DDT Extreme Champi ...

with a ''Schoolboy''. Sasaki was the holder of the Right to Challenge at Saitama Super Arena Sword which he had won at Sweet Dreams! 2020, on January 26. The sword granted its holder the right to challenge the KO-D Openweight Champion at

Wrestle Peter Pan 2020 Wrestle Peter Pan 2020 was a two-night professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by DDT Pro-Wrestling (DDT). The event took place on June 6 and 7, 2020, at the DDT TV Show Studio, in Tokyo, Japan. It was the 12th DDT Peter Pan sho ...

, at the

Saitama Super Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Chūō-ku, Saitama, Chūō-ku, Saitama (city), Saitama, Saitama Prefecture, Japan. It opened preliminarily on May 5, 2000, and then was officially opened on September 1 of the same year. Its maximum capa ...

, on June 7, but it could change hands anytime its holder was defeated in an official match. As a result of that elimination, Akito was declared the new holder of the sword. However, seconds after, Tetsuya Endo submitted Akito to eliminate him, winning both the match and the sword. Next,

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

wrestler

won the inaugural DDT Universal Championship by defeating

. This title was created as part of DDT's plans to expand internationally and reach a larger audience. After the match, as Brookes was addressing the fans, Daisuke Sasaki attacked him from behind with a chair and stole the belt. In the main event,

successfully defended the

against Mao before challenging Konosuke Takeshita at a future event.

Results

Eight-person elimination tag team match

Footnotes

References

External links

The official DDT Pro-Wrestling website
{{List of major DDT Pro-Wrestling events

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

2020 in professional wrestling Professional wrestling in Tokyo Professional wrestling shows in Tokyo