Prominent video game designer Hideo Kojima was among the 1,400 in attendance for a special “Death Pain Invitational” hosted at Korakuen Hall on Tuesday night.
Kojima, who is known for numerous critically acclaimed video games including Metal Gear and Death Stranding, posted photos from his view of the action in Tokyo.
— HIDEO_KOJIMA (@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN) June 24, 2025
Tuesday’s card was headlined by a 30-minute encounter between IWGP Junior Heavyweight Champion El Desperado and deathmatch legend Jun Kasai.
After a bloody battle that involved light tubes, barbed wire, and glass, Desperado retained his title. The match has received strongly positive reviews online thus far.
Earlier this year, Kojima posted a review of “KYO-EN,” a documentary on Kasai. He described the deathmatch wrestler as “an entertainment artist who uses his body as his medium.”
He later went on to explain how wrestling was a part of his childhood.
“As a child, I grew up watching wrestling broadcasts with my father rather than baseball,” Kojima said in April. “I’m part of the second generation of the professional wrestling era. Last night, it brought back so many memories that I revisited the debut match of the original Tiger Mask (vs. Dynamite Kid) and his tag team match with Tatsumi Fujinami on Blu-ray.”
