DDT Holds Emotional Retirement Ceremony for Kazusada Higuchi in Korakuen Hall

By Noah Leatherland

It was an emotional event in Korakuen Hall as DDT held a retirement ceremony for Kazusada Higuchi. Fans and wrestlers alike were left in tears as Higuchi closed the book on his storied career, as well as the final match for his stable, Harimao.

Along with the announcement of Higuchi’s retirement, it was also confirmed that Harimao would cease as a faction as well. While Higuchi was not in the match, he was on hand at ringside, delivering a few final blows, before giving Yuki Ishida the will to deliver a finishing Flame Palm.

With Harimao winning their final match, Higuchi’s retirement ceremony officially began. Faces from DDT’s past and present came to the ring, presenting Higuchi with their well-wishes and bouquets of flowers. The DDT roster filled the ring for photos, before leaving Higuchi to address the DDT fans.

Thank you all for coming to DDT’s Korakuen show today. The doctor stopped me and I spoke with the members of Harimau. I really wanted to wrestle just a little bit longer. But after pondering, I decided on this. And I know its not a mistake.

 

DDT helped me lots. Thank you for all the flowers. I have history with all of them. So many memories. I have nothing but thanks.

 

I saw many flowers at the lobby too. I wasn’t expecting to be that kind of person. I’m just very thankful.

 

All I have to say is: To all the wrestlers continue wrestling, please support them. The support brought me here. Please continue to support DDT and all the wrestlers who continue to fight.

(Quote translated via ddtproENG on X)

With that, Higuchi gave the DDT crowd one last bow before heading back through the curtain.

Here are the full results for DDT Change Age 2026, courtesy of purolove.com:

• Rukiya def. Yuni (6:12)
• Takeshi Masada, Yuya Koroku & Daichi Sato def. Kazuma Sumi, Masami Inahata & Hinata Kasai (8:25)
• Variety Title: Hisaya Imabayashi def. Toru Owashi, Danshoku Dieno, Super Sasadango Machine, Antonio Honda, Akito & Kazuki Hirata (13:41)
• Yukio Naya & Viento Maligno def. Hideki Okatani & Ilusion (8:27)
• Yuki Iino, Jun Akiyama & Junta Miyawaki def. Yuki Ueno, Shinya Aoki & To-y (11:59)
• Kaisei Takechi def. Makoto Oishi (9:46)
• KO-D Tag Team Title: Chris Brookes & HARASHIMA def. MAO & KANON (c) (12:26)
• Naomi Yoshimura, Ryota Nakatsu & Yuki Ishida def. Shunma Katsumata, Kota Umeda & Kouki Iwasaki (19:56)