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Q&A w/ Sanshiro Takagi on DDT, Iron Man Title, Takeshita, Malaysia, Life + More!

2 days ago Vertical Bison | MP

Vertical Bison | MP

Q&A w/ Sanshiro Takagi on DDT, Iron Man Title, Takeshita, Malaysia, Life + More!

By: Pep S. Caro

DDT Pro Wrestling has been running its autumm programming in Japan and will host a new edition of BE AMBITIOUS in November. The 2025 edition of the event includes many title matches on November 30 at Korakuen Hall. One of the matches confirmed is a a title match between To-y (c) and Sanshiro Takagi for the DDT Extreme Championship.

I had the opportunity to interview Sanshiro Takagi, Vice President of Cyberfight and challenger for the DDT Extreme Championship, before his next title match. The topics covered include his 30th Anniversary as a Pro Wrestler, DDT, Hiroshi Tanahashi, Konosuke Takeshita, facing the new generation of DDT, show in Malaysia, international plans, his personal life, and much more.

Monthly Puroresu: This year you celebrated your 30th anniversary as a professional wrestler. What does reaching such a significant milestone mean to you, both personally and professionally?

Sanshiro: When I first joined the industry, the company was very, very small. It was a very small organization when I debuted. It was like maybe no more than 150 people and I wasn’t really expecting to be a wrestler for 30 years. Also, when DDT was first built up, I also didn’t really expect DDT to last more than one year. But, after all these years, it’s almost 30 years now and I’m just very glad, that I’ve been able to reach this amazing accomplishment.

Monthly Puroresu: What does DDT Pro Wrestling means to you?

Sanshiro: For me pro wrestling has a lot of potential. There’s this unlimited potential to be anything. So, I wanted to make an organizationn that was basically a place where there was so much freedom. A place where you can do anything. So, for me, DDT is freedom.

Monthly Puroresu: This year we saw you briefly at the start of TJPW’s Shinkansen Pro Wrestling match. It’s a match you participated in back in 2023 against Minoru Suzuki. What was the experience of competing there like? Are there any other Shinkansen routes you’d like to experience? For example, Mizuki told me she’d like to repeat it and go all the way to Shin-Kobe.

Sanshiro: The Tokaido Shinkansen is a world famous way of transport. One of the very first high-speed railway. It’s practically, when you talk about Shinkansen, the whole world knows about it. It was a very unbelievable experience to wrestle inside the Shinkansen. And it was a really great opportunity to make a very interesting wrestling show of it.

So, ideally, I would like to wrestle in other high-speed railways around the world. For example, the New York subway, or the Trans-Siberian railway, the very, very long one that goes for one whole week.

Monthly Puroresu: Either a Shinkansen or other vehicle, will we see any matches like this again with DDT wrestlers? Are there any in particular you’d like to see participate?

Sanshiro: I cannot really say if there’s any plans right now because stuff is still in the works but, obviously, I would like to get revenge on Minoru Suzuki if we get to compete in the Shinkansen again. Maybe going until Nagoya it’s not enough to beat Suzuki. So, if I went all the way until Shin Osaka, or maybe even like to Hakata five hours away, maybe I will have the chance to beat him next time.

Monthly Puroresu: You returned to action at the special event between Super Sasadango Machine and Toru Yano. There, you participated in a 12-Man Tag Team match that also included Hiroshi Tanahashi. What were your impressions of this match? What did it mean to you to participate in Tanahashi’s retirement tour?

Sanshiro: 10 years ago, there was a comment that Tanahashi made and that really decelerated the relationship between DDT and New Japan Pro Wrestling with each other. So, 10 years later, I had the opportunity to face again, and obviously, time doesn’t really heal all wounds. But I’m very thankful to Super Sasadango Machine for creating this opportunity to face Tanahashi. Because that provided an opportunity to even the score with him at least one time before he retires.

So, during the match, Tanahashi did the Sling Blade on me. In a sense, I kind of inherited the move from him. And even after Tanahashi is retired, I’m gonna carry Tanahashi’s spirit by using the Sling Blade during my matches.

Monthly Puroresu: Weeks later, you defeated Poison Sawada Julie to win the Ironman Championship, but lost the belt a month later to Kazuma Sumi. What were your feelings about your reign?

Sanshiro: It’s the 25th anniversary of the IronMan Belt being created. And right now, Mahiro Kiryu of TJPW it’s the Champion. And it’s been 25 years. So, ideally, I would like to see more defenses around the world.

For me, personally, it’s a very selfish idea, but I want to carry the belt next year into the WrestleMania weekend in Las Vegas. And defend it in as many promotions as I can.

Monthly Puroresu: You participated in Super Japan Pro Wrestling, but lost to Ippanjin Munenori Sawa. What were your feelings about these short matches? If you had to answer a fan’s question, how would you describe the differences between Super Japan and a regular DDT show?

Sanshiro: To have this exhibition match against Sawa was a match I really wanted to have. Because he’s a man with whom I have a very deep history. I was really happy and finally got to do those matches there.

The difference between DDT and SJPW is that in SJPW there’s things that you normally cannot do in DDT. So, I’m glad it exists because there’s many things I want to do to challenge in the industry, but some of them just cannot be done within DDT’s boundary. So that’s where it’s being done.

Also, Yuji Nagata is basically one year older than me. And I feel like we are basically the same age as well in the same cohort. I want Nagata to be the ace of Super Japan Pro Wrestling. I feel that if Nagata shines in the industry, the wrestling industry will get better, will also continue to be better as a result. I want Nagata to show that he can still keep going in the wrestling industry too.

Monthly Puroresu: At Ultimate Party 2025, you faced Hinata Kasai, son of Jun Kasai. What were your feelings about this match? What do you think of Hinata after competing against him?

Sanshiro: I really couldn’t afford to lose in the match against Hinata because obviously it was my return match and I’m the veteran. It was a fight of 30 years of experience vs some months. I really couldn’t afford to lose that match. Obviously, there was a bit of difficulty but I managed to get the win in the end.

Hinata Kasai has the genes of Jun Kasai and obviously he’s his son. He has a potential in him and like he doesn’t really make me feel that danger expect that his father has. I think that if Hinata can pull out that same aura of dangerousness that Jun Kasai has, ideally maybe he’ll get better as a wrestler. And at the same time, he’s currently kind of an ideal student in DDT. So, he needs maybe to learn from his dad a bit. And at the same time, he really likes American indie pro wrestling. He’s been watching a lot of American indie pro wrestling and if he can bring the stuff he learned from the videos into the ring, he’ll definitely get better from there.

Monthly Puroresu: Days later, alongside Jun Akiyama and Super Sasadango Machine, you defeated The 37KAMIINA (To-y & Yuki Ueno) and Kazuma Sumi. What were your feelings about this match? After this match, which pitted the present, past, and future of DDT against each other, what are your impressions of them as competitors?

Sanshiro: I’ve been busy with the Malaysia show so I cannot remember much to be honest haha. But regardless of that, I’ve been watching them for about one year, four months. And they have grown a lot in that period of time, all three of them. Sumi is as you can see. And, Ueno, as expected, he’s the strongest champion, he’s the KO-D Openweight champion, DDT Universal champion.

And To-y in particular, he’s really been growing into a wrestler throughout this past one year. He has very great ring work and he really knows how to control the pace in the ring. And of course, I’m going to face him just in some days in Korakuen Hall. If it wasn’t this To-y, it would have been an easy match for me. But against this current To-y, it might be a challenge to really take him down.

Monthly Puroresu: Shortly before Ultimate Party, Konosuke Takeshita won the IWGP World Heavyweight Championship at King of Pro Wrestling in Ryogoku Kokugikan. Several members of DDT, especially those close to Takeshita, were in attendance. What did Takeshita’s victory mean to you?

Sanshiro: I was very happy that Takeshita became the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion. Back then, many, many years ago when he was still in junior high, he sent me a message on social media. He was like, “I have the ability to reach the top of the wrestling industry”. I remembered this very fondly, although I’ve never seen Takeshita in person at that point. I’ve never met him, but, the strength in his words, in his text was very, very moving. Obviously, he did his best, he joined DDT, whatever happened happened. So, I’m very happy for him. And in similar style, Kenny Omega also became an IWGP and a G1 winner. Ibushi also did the same thing as well. It’s about the same kind of happiness, perhaps even more than when those two became champions.

Monthly Puroresu: DDT fans were very excited about the result. How important was it to bring the NJPW top title to DDT?

Sanshiro: The Takeshita I see in DDT and the Takeshita I see in New Japan is basically a different person, right? So, I don’t really expect that Takeshita will do an IWGP title match in DDT. And I actually don’t want it to happen either. So, the goal in the future right now is to show what kind of Takeshita can we see in DDT going forward.

Monthly Puroresu: You, along with Harashima and Takeshita, also defeated Daichi Sato, To-y, and Yuki Ishida. What are your impressions of them as competitors?

Sanshiro: This tag team with Harashima and Takeshita it’s basically like three different eras of the top of DDT teaming together. It was a very special moment for me.

I already talked about To-y so about Daichi he was his first time facing Daichi, and he was very surprised and, you know, excited about the potential he has at that age, because he’s only 16. He’s going to graduate high school next year. And that’s crazy. So he has this very great mind for wrestling. What can we expect from him when he turns 20? What can we expect when he turns 30? His potential to become a great wrestler is scary in a good way. And he has this desire to only wrestle for a living, and he definitely can do it with that skill of his.

As well for Ishida, as it was his hometown match, he really did his best. He really did a bit more than usual. And also, Takeshita was very fond of him after the match, he really kept in mind how good he is. So, it’s a lot of potential for Ishida to get better as the years go by too.

Monthly Puroresu: You recently competed at the Love and Peace show in Malaysia. How did this show come about? What were your impressions of the show?

Sanshiro: The story began from talking with Shin’ichirō Kawamatsu, who is a politician that also works as a wrestler in DDT, as well as the owner of KLP48 in Malaysia. At the same time, we also had a training event for Malaysia Pro Wrestling at the point of time. So, I went to watch Malaysia Pro Wrestling as well. The owner of KLP48 felt like he wants to raise the level of entertainment in Malaysia. So, what better way than to support the idols there as well as the wrestlers? So, a lot of things happened. It took a bit of time to actually happen, maybe about two or three years for it to finally happen. So there was a lot of difficulties to get through for the event to actually come to place. And then we went to JioSpace and it was a full house show. I don’t know the exact numbers, but the house was full, you couldn’t get any more people inside the arena and there were a lot of people who went to watch pro wrestling for the first time. So, they were also very surprised at how exciting pro wrestling can be. From start to finish, the crowd was all excited. They were having a great time and it was a really good show.

Ideally, going forward, I would like to do maybe one or two Malaysia shows per year. And about TJPW wrestlers, it was all mostly requested by the KLP side and especially they wanted the Up Up Girls wrestlers. So, obviously Miu, Raku, Shino, Uta, right? Miu and Raku, they have a lot of experience overseas, so they had no problems. I was very surprised by Shino Suzuki’s in ring performance. She was very good in the ring. She showed really good potential. She got the victory and my image of her changed. I saw her potential grow very well. My previous image was like maybe “kind of silly Bus girl”, but she really got better at the ring. And Uta, she won the next generation tournament. She really showed her best as well at the ring. So, in the end, all my doubts were unfounded, no issues. So, it was a really great show at the end.

Monthly Puroresu: TJPW will be holding a show in Thailand in December. Is there a possibility of seeing DDT or TJPW again in Malaysia or another country in the region?

Sanshiro: The Bangkok show next month it’s all mostly organized by TJPW. But I actually want to do more in Malaysia. And it’s funny because actually Kawamatsu posted on his Instagram stories that he was doing the show again, he confirmed that he was doing it next year. He didn’t, they (the people from Malaysia or Kawamatsu) didn’t say anything. Like they’re going to do it. But, I’m all in for that. Let’s do it. Since Kawamatsu and the KLP girls want to do it and I also want to it, I guess next year is confirmed.

Monthly Puroresu: We’ve seen DDT quite a bit in the United States, especially around WrestleMania Week. Seeing the success of TJPW during ALL IN week this year, is there a possibility of bringing a DDT tour to the US or England during the summer, where ALL IN will be held in 2026?

Sanshiro: I was glad that it was a success in WrestleMania week, as well as the shows in Texas. But, I think, going forward I would like to have maybe a show of TJPW somewhere in America aside from WrestleMania week. Maybe a show on its own.

Monthly Puroresu: You are currently also part of United Japan Pro Wrestling. How has it been working with the different organizations involved? What difficulties have you encountered in this process?

Sanshiro: UJPW it’s mostly more for administrative stuff between the different pro wrestling organizations and the government. Its less related to the in-ring stuff. Working with all the different organizations, just getting this set up was already a process. It was quite difficult to make it happen by itself. So, the fact that it’s already set up, it’s already one of the biggest hurdles that we’ve achieved. Right now, I’m just trying to help the multiple organizations working together towards what their ideal is for to maintain and grow pro wrestling in Japan. That’s my current goal going forward.

Monthly Puroresu: Whether it’s ALL TOGETHER or another event, is there any intention or interest in putting on another joint show in 2026?

Sanshiro: Maybe now is not the time to run another ALL TOGETHER because it’s a lot of inter-promotional coordination and working with other organizations as well. It’s a lot of people to get to move, to run this one show together. So, perhaps once each organization is really settled down and really able to afford this leeway to make this event happen, it might happen in the future. But right now, I don’t see anything happening soon.

Monthly Puroresu: We’d like to learn a little about Takagi. Could you tell us about your hobbies?

Sanshiro: Eating lots of delicious food.

Monthly Puroresu: Could you please tell us some examples?

Sanshiro: Yakiniku (KBBQ). The food in Malaysia was very tasty too.

Monthly Puroresu: I think now I know why you want to go back.

Sanshiro: Yes, I would love to go back.

Monthly Puroresu: When you don’t have a match or show to participate in, what is a typical day like for you?

Sanshiro: Because of my job, I don’t really have much time. I’m kind of a very busy man. From morning to evening, I have work, work, work, work, work. So normally I wake up around like 6 a.m. I go to the gym until like 8 a.m., prepare all my stuff. I get to the office at 10 a.m. And it’s just meetings after meetings after meetings and planning for the future as well as like having dinner with all the staff and like a lot of business meetings during the day. And that happens every day.

Monthly Puroresu: We’re nearing the end of 2025. What are your goals for 2026, both personally and for DDT as a whole?

Sanshiro: 2027 is DDT’s 30th anniversary year. I want to really go out that year. Next year I want to really get the preparations rolling in for 2027.

Monthly Puroresu: Thank you for participating in this interview. To wrap up, do you have a message for your fans and DDT fans?

Sanshiro: Thank you so much for giving me your time today. In 2027, it’s going to be DDT’s 30th anniversary. It’s only a point in time, and I want DDT to continue for 50 years, 100 more years. I want the whole world to know more about DDT and tell the world about DDT. Ideally, I want to be able to bring DDT to America, England, Southeast Asia, Mexico, around the world. So please continue to support DDT Pro wrestling and let’s make it happen!

Monthly Puroresu: Earlier this year, TJPW did a show in Chile and Diego (former DDT wreslter) is also from there. That’s an interesting possibility.

Sanshiro: Yes! I would love to work more with Diego in the future.

DDT Pro Wrestling presents BE AMBITIOUS 2025 this November 30 at Korakuen Hall. You can watch the stream of the show live on Wrestle UNIVERSE.

We would like to thank Vertical Bison for the Art Direction, Ash Mann for the live interpretation and the DDT Pro Wrestling team for all the facilities provided to conduct this interview.

Date:

November 28, 2025

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