Why Danshoku Dino's singles matches are interesting from the moment they are announced

June 28, Korakuen Hall. YAMATO of Dragon Gate, whose participation in the August 11 Ryogoku event has been announced, is in the ring waiting for his opponent. Danshoku Dino appears. Dino grabs YAMATO's crotch. YAMATO does not flinch. It makes me look forward to the August 11 event at Ryogoku Kokugikan.

A singles match against Danshoku Dino is interesting from the moment the card is decided, no matter who the opponent is. Over the past few years, this has become one of the biggest reasons why watching DDT is so much fun. Looking back at his one-on-one matches with big names over the last few years, I will try to think about why I feel this way.

Who has Dino faced over the last five years?

April 11, 2021, Korakuen Hall. Dino challenged Jun Akiyama, who was the KO-D Openweight Champion at the time. Akiyama, who upholds the 'orthodox' style of professional wrestling, versus Dino, who represents the 'mainstream' of DDT. Watching this match made me like Danshoku Dino, and it made me like DDT.

On February 14, 2024, he challenged Yuki Ueno for the KO-D Openweight Championship at Shinjuku FACE. This match, which was originally scheduled as a non-title match, was upgraded to a title match at Ueno's strong request. The fact that the champion himself wanted to put the title on the line speaks volumes about the significance of this card. The match turned into a fierce battle lasting over 30 minutes. Watching the match on Wrestle Universe along with the song 'Donna Toki mo' that played in the hype video was intense.

For the December 28, 2024, event at Ryogoku Kokugikan, a first-time matchup against Great-O-Khan of New Japan Pro-Wrestling was scheduled. Although the match did not happen due to O-Khan's injury, the impact of the moment it was announced was huge. The singles match against the substitute opponent, the Invisible Man, was a hit with the live crowd.

May 25, 2025, Korakuen Hall. A challenge against DDT UNIVERSAL Champion Minoru Suzuki. Dino declared he would seal away his Danshoku techniques and entered the ring in black short tights. Then, during the match, he stripped off those tights, unleashed his Danshoku techniques, and shouted, 'I am Danshoku Dino!' as he challenged Minoru Suzuki.

And then, August 31, 2025, Korakuen Hall. A singles match against Hiroshi Tanahashi, who was set to retire on January 4 of the following year. Dino was from Osaka Gakuin University, and Tanahashi was from Ritsumeikan University. It was a long-awaited encounter between two men who were in Kansai student wrestling during the same era. Tanahashi revealed a thong he had hidden under his long tights and even pulled off a rule-breaking lip-lock to win. This match received one vote in the selection for the 2025 Pro-Wrestling Awards Best Bout.

The 'answers' of each individual are interesting

Why is it interesting from the moment it is decided?

I believe it is because the Danshoku techniques are a device that forces the opponent to make a 'choice'.

A wrestler facing the Danshoku techniques must choose. Will they accept it, reject it, overcome it, or return it with a rule-breaking move of their own?

Jun Akiyama accepted Dino's entire world before sinking him with the strength of the orthodox style. Minoru Suzuki pushed back against the lip-lock head-on and countered with a headbutt to the mouth. After showing he could fight on his opponent's turf, he won in the end with his own style. Tanahashi chose to step into Dino's world himself with a thong and a lip-lock. Faced with the same Danshoku techniques, everyone gives a different answer.

It is in that choice that the wrestler's personality, philosophy, and ability shine through. The parts of a person that are not usually visible in the ring—what they have held dear—are revealed when they clash with Dino. When you watch a singles match against Dino, the color of the opposing professional wrestler becomes more vivid. It is a strange phenomenon where, when they fight the colorful and intense Danshoku Dino, the opponent somehow becomes more intense themselves. This can happen with other wrestlers too, but in Dino's case, it stands out vividly.

The bigger the name of the opponent, and the greater the career they have built, the more there is to see. It is not that it gets exciting no matter who he fights; the structure here is that it gets more exciting the bigger the opponent is.

Because of this structure, the imagination begins the moment the card is decided. Will that wrestler accept the Danshoku techniques, reject them, or return them with a surprising rule-breaking move? What kind of exchanges will there be? Just imagining the ring is already fun. Even though the match hasn't even started yet.

Dieno is a wrestler who 'writes' his opponents

One more thing. Dieno is a wrestler who writes about his thoughts on his opponents in his own words.

Before his match against Minoru Suzuki, he published a note titled 'The reason why I want to fight Minoru Suzuki,' and after his match against Yuki Ueno, he wrote 'Why I think Yuki Ueno might be the greatest KO-D champion in history.' Moreover, he doesn't always stop at one article per match card; he sometimes writes multiple articles in succession. While only a portion of fans may be reading them, reading them makes the matches even more enjoyable. Perhaps he is a mysterious genre of wrestler who incorporates elements of 'reading pro-wrestling'.

That is why the story begins the moment the card is decided. The reason the O-Khan match left such an impact even though it didn't happen is because it had already begun the moment it was decided.

On August 11th, at Ryogoku Kokugikan, Dieno said this in the ring when his match against YAMATO was decided: 'I am very interested in how you carry and protect Dragon Gate. So, let's intersect here.' In response, YAMATO declared, 'Danshoku-style wrestling won't work on me.' Faced with the Danshoku-style wrestling that YAMATO, who has continued to carry Dragon Gate on his back, declared would not work, what choice will he actually make? What will Danshoku Dieno find in YAMATO, and what will he write before they fight? Beyond such a battle, the color of YAMATO as a wrestler should become even deeper.

Let me also suggest how to spend your time until the day of the event. If you read Dieno's notes and look back at the past singles matches listed here on Wrestle Universe, the way you see the 8.11 event should change as well. And on the day, please be sure to watch it live at Ryogoku Kokugikan. I also plan to witness it at the venue.