MAO is DDT Pro-Wrestling’s new KO-D Openweight Champion, ending Yuki Ueno’s reign in the main event of Wrestle Peter Pan at Tokyo’s Ryogoku Kokugikan on August 11.
MAO put Ueno away with a Cannonball 450 splash at 33:47 to win DDT’s top singles title for the first time. Ueno had held the championship since September 2025 and came in off eight successful defenses.
The celebration didn’t last. Sanshiro Takagi walked out and cashed in his Right To Challenge Anytime, Anywhere gauntlet on the spot, forcing an immediate second defense. MAO cradled the DDT founder for the pin at 4:29 to retain.
Speaking afterward, MAO said winning DDT’s top title and defending it the same night was the goal he had worked toward, and that seeing his name sit alongside Ueno’s left him feeling capable of anything.
The finish reverses their 2024 Wrestle Peter Pan main event in the same building, where Ueno beat his then-The37Kamiina stablemate. Ueno had personally selected MAO as his challenger back in June, framing the match as proof DDT could sell out Sumo Hall on the road to an eventual Tokyo Dome show. MAO, who now leads Strange Love Connection, openly questioned whether that ambition was realistic when he accepted.
Every other major championship on the card also changed hands:
- KO-D Tag Team Championship: Shinya Aoki and Junta Miyawaki defeated Chris Brookes and HARASHIMA
- DDT Universal Championship: Ryusuke Taguchi defeated Kazuma Sumi, taking the belt back to New Japan Pro-Wrestling
- DDT Extreme Championship: Shunma Katsumata defeated Hideki Okatani in a barbed wire death match
- KO-D 6-Man Tag Team Championship: Strange Love Connection’s KANON, Yukio Naya and Viento Levante defeated paleyouth
- Iron Man Heavymetalweight Championship: changed hands several times across the show
The event streamed live on Wrestle Universe.
