In April 1997, following the success of the first Judgement event held on March 25, Sanshiro Takagi, Mikami and Nosawa Rongai left the Pro Wrestling Crusaderspromotion to start their own promotion called Dramatic Dream Team with Takagi and Shoichi Ichimiya as owners. In June 2000, the promotion was incorporated as Dramatic Dream Team, Co., Ltd. (有限会社ドラマチック・ドリーム・チーム, Yūgen gaisha Doramachikku Dorīmu Chīmu) and Koichiro Kimura was appointed director. In 2003, Ichimiya was appointed representative director. In April 2004, the company changed its name to DDT Pro-Wrestling, Co., Ltd. (有限会社DDTプロレスリング, Yūgen gaisha Dī Dī Tī Puroresuringu). On December 28, 2005, Ichimiya announced his retirement from professional wrestling and stepped down from his position in the company, leaving Takagi as the sole owner and new president. In 2009, DDT changed its legal form of incorporation to a kabushiki gaisha.
Pro Wrestling Noah
On January 31, 1999, All Japan Pro Wrestling (AJPW) founder Giant Baba died and left the company to his widow Motoko Baba as owner and Mitsuharu Misawa as president. Disagreements over the proposed direction for the company led Misawa to leave AJPW on May 28, 2000, to form a new promotion called Pro Wrestling Noah. He was followed in this venture by almost the entire AJPW roster. The promotion quickly rose in popularity and was even named best promotion in 2004 and 2005, as well as having the best weekly television show in 2003 by the Wrestling Observer.
On June 13, 2009, after taking a belly to back suplex from Akitoshi Saito, Misawa lost consciousness in the ring and was taken to a hospital. He was pronounced dead in the hospital later that day due to spinal damage.[4] Two weeks later, Akira Taue was named as Misawa's successor, taking over as president of Noah.
In March 2012, a scandal revealed that some of the Noah management had had ties to a Yakuza syndicate between 2003 and 2010. As part of the fallout, Noah lost its TV show. In the years that followed, many major stars such as Kenta Kobashi, Kenta and Jun Akiyama left the company.
On October 1, 2016, it was announced that Noah had been purchased by IT company Estbee, Co., Ltd. As a result, former AJPW president Masayuki Uchida replaced Taue as president.[5] On November 7, Estbee changed its legal name to Noah Global Entertainment, Inc. (ノア・グローバルエンタテインメント株式会社, Noa Gurōbaru Entateinmento Kabushiki gaisha). At the end of 2016, relations between Noah and New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW) reportedly turned "extremely sour" and NJPW pulled all of its wrestlers from Noah. In the months following the end of the relationship, Noah's attendance numbers went down by 29%.[6] On January 29, 2019, Uchida announced that Lidet Entertainment had acquired 75% of Noah's shares.[7]
CyberAgent and the creation of CyberFight
On September 1, 2017, 100% of DDT's shares were sold to the CyberAgent company. Sanshiro Takagi remained as the DDT president. On January 28, 2020, it was announced that CyberAgent had purchased Pro Wrestling Noah from Lidet Entertainment.[8] On July 27, 2020, it was announced that Noah, DDT Pro-Wrestling and the DDT Foods company would merge in a new company that would eventually be called CyberFight.[9][3] The decision came after financial troubles faced by Noah and DDT due in part to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sanshiro Takagi was named as president of the promotion and he established a plan of running events at the Tokyo Dome and overtaking NJPW in popularity.[10] It was also revealed that the Noah and DDT brands would not be retired and would maintain their unique and current brand names, logos, etc. and would act as two separate brands within CyberFight.[11]
On December 15, 2023, the four brands of CyberFight were announced as founding members of the United Japan Pro-wrestling alliance, a joint effort to further develop professional wrestling in Japan through promotion and organization, with Seiji Sakaguchi being named as the chairman of the project.[13]
On January 31, 2024, a press conference was held to announce Ganbare Pro-Wrestling would become independent from CyberFight at the end of March, with the final GanPro event under the CyberFight umbrella to be held on March 28.[14]
On May 16, 2024, it was announced that Takagi would be stepping down as president of CyberFight to assume the position of executive vice president on June 1, and the new president become Yasuo Okamoto.[15]
Defeated Schadenfreude International (Masahiro Takanashi, Chris Brookes, Takeshi Masada, and Mecha Mummy) and Munetatsu Nakamura at DDT Pro-Wrestling in Ikebukuro Full Moon Festival 2024.
^Meltzer, Dave (May 22, 2017). "May 22, 2017 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: NJPW business up, ROH War of the Worlds review, tons more". Wrestling Observer Newsletter. Campbell, California: 8. ISSN1083-9593. The only company down is Noah, which is down 29 percent after losing its affiliation with New Japan and losing Suzuki-gun as the regular top heels. For as much as the Noah fans hated Suzuki-gun and blamed them for the bad business, and they didn't pick business up the way hoped for, Noah has fallen significantly without them.
^新日、全日、ノアら9団体が「日本プロレスリング連盟」設立 来年5月には設立記念興行も [Nine organizations, including NJPW, AJPW, and Noah, establish "United Japan Pro-wrestling"; launching event to be held next May]. Nikkan Sports (in Japanese). December 15, 2023. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
^ガンプロが3月いっぱいで株式会社CyberFightからの独立を発表 / 翔太、長谷川美子、リアラが3月末で退団 [GanPro announces independence from CyberFight Inc. at the end of March / Shota, Yoshiko Hasegawa, and Riara will leave at the end of March.]. proresu-today.com (in Japanese). January 31, 2024.
^【会見全文】CyberFightが新体制となり大改革!髙木三四郎が社長から副社長に。武藤敬司が新人発掘を担当。NOAHに佐々木憂流迦&Eitaが入団。WWEとの関係強化を明言 [[Press Conference] CyberFight underwent a major restructuring with a new organization! Sanshiro Takagi is now the vice president instead of the president. Keiji Mutoh is in charge of scouting new talents, Ulka Sasaki & Eita join Noah, and the company clearly states that it will strengthen its relationship with WWE.]. Battle News (in Japanese). Collabo Soken Inc. May 16, 2024. Archived from the original on May 16, 2024.