Endo’s first-round opponent will get a bye into the next round.
This past Sunday at the CyberFight Festival show, Tetsuya Endo teamed with Jun Akiyama and Kazusada Higuchi to take on Katsuhiko Nakajima, Atsushi Kotoge and Yoshiki Inamura. The match was thrown out after Endo dropped to the mat during a striking exchange with Katsuhiko Nakajima.
It was later revealed that Endo suffered a concussion and as a result, he has been removed from the King of DDT tournament field. His first-round opponent, Masahiro Takanashi will receive a bye.
Endo was the reigning KO-D Openweight Champion but at the DDT press conference on 6/13, it was announced that the title is now vacant and the winner is going to become the new KO-D Openweight Champion.
DDT noted on their official website that Endo is going to miss shows from June 16th onforward.
The winner of the tournament WILL be crowned 79th KO-D Openweight Champion!https://t.co/yfTd7NUrUW#ddtpro #KINGofDDT
— DDT Pro-Wrestling (English) (@ddtproENG) June 14, 2022
Below is the updated lineup for the June 16th DDT card:
- Dark Match: Masahiro Takanshi & Toui Kojima vs. Yusuke Okada & Yuya Koroku
- 2022 King of DDT Tournament Match: Hideki Okatani vs. HARASHIMA
- 2022 King of DDT Tournament Match: Chris Brookes vs. Naomi Yoshimura
- 2022 King of DDT Tournament Match: Yuki Ueno vs. KANON
- 2022 King of DDT Tournament Match: Yuji Hino vs. Daisuke Sasaki
- 2022 King of DDT Tournament Match: Yuki ‘Sexy’ Iino vs. MAO
- 2022 King of DDT Tournament Match: Jun Akiyama vs. Yukio Sakaguchi
- 2022 King of DDT Tournament Match: Yukio Naya vs. Kazusada Higuchi