Dragon Gate UK : Shingo v Yokosuka 2 DVD Released!

[Mark Sloan]

I would love to see a bigger event run. By that I mean bigger venue (600-700 seater?) and maybe more Dragon Gate stars coming over than the 10 you bring over now. With the team you guys have now I recon you could pull it off amazingly!

 

More than 10 stars is unlikely to be honest the cost was absolutely astounding to get them here this time. I don't think I could make it work to bring more.

[Elanoisgod]

I too would like to express my thanks to Mark and his team for another fantastic weekend of wrestling, everything was absolutely top notch - hopefully now you can back to some PS3 action.

 

 

Chris Roberts, the referee, may have had some stick on the Saturday, but he was my MVP over the weekend.

I think Chris is a great referee, but I love to heckle him - I'm certain none of the stick he recieved was malicious, or was based on his competence or lack thereof. I think he just generally looks like he struggles to assert his authority onto the wrestlers and as such that perception passes onto the fans.

 

AUTHORITY ROBERTS, AUTHORITY.

[Mark Sloan]

But with regards the chanting i admit myself to doing a couple of chants during the lion kid vs haskins match to the extent of 'break his paws' and to which to mr haskins he obliged,

 

Please chant away, it's good to have an atmosphere, break his paws is funny and if Haskins worked with it then ideal. Although a chant needs to be done with quite a few people in my opinion, a random comment shouted out can be funny now and again, I think on the Friday there was too many people trying to be the vocal point of the show.

 

I will admit to being critical of Lion Kid. I think one of the problems he had is that he works a similar style to a lot of the DG guys, who have been doing it longer, so he did not stand out as well as he does on IPW:UK shows. I have really enjoyed quite a few of his matches, including the match vs. Spud at IPW:UK this year, the LK vs. Haskins Cruiserweight title match in IPW:UK and the very fun opening tag match at NOAH vs. the World back in 2008.

 

What I will say is that he always shows a lot of heart and guts. That he kept going through the heat he got makes me respect him and his desire to improve. In hindsight I was a bit harsh on his performance on night 2. On night 1 I think nerves and heckling got to him a bit.

 

In hindsight, I think I may not have explained myself properly, I am not anti anybody disliking the Lion Kid, not at all, that is your choice and isn't something I personally want to change, what I do hate is this misconception that he got lots of heat. I have the untouched footage here, it just didn't happen. It had 2 or 3 people louding booing randomly and shouting stupid needless stuff at him, which they did to various people all night. They tried it with the allstars and got back as good as they gave in my opinion. But reading comments like the above just makes me shake my head.

 

Also "On night 1 I think nerves and heckling got to him a bit." No they didn't, not one bit, they just didn't click. I know why but that is not something for public consumption, Had those two done the same match and been on the same page and with the few heckler types, the majority of people wouldn't be viewing the match dimmly in my opinion.

 

- Agree with what most people said about the heckling, especially towards Lion Kid. I don't like the gimmick myself and for me the match was the weakest of the night but you go to the bar or just shut up (although I did join in with some Awimaway).

 

I think the odd bit is funny, you see it at many shows, I found some of it funny too, i just think a few people just went on and they were loud when the crowd was quiet, not a good combination

 

I guess the point I was trying to make here was that when doing the matchmaking, it could perhaps have been obvious that a match such as Lion Kid vs Haskins would perhaps attract the type of crowd reactions it did, given the type of crowd the show would be attracting. Haskins probably is starting to be seen as a Dragon Gate star, but not to the same degree as Pac by a long way, and as Lion Of The Midlands pointed out the page after my post, it's probably Lion Kid that will always be seen as a detriment to a show like this, no matter how hard he works and how solid his performance is.

 

I really wish it wasn't that way, because as I said, I've seen Haskins and Lion Kid develop so much over the years, and I actually thought their match was the best on the Broxbourne show to that point, but should Dragon Gate be back next year, any UK talent used needs to be used a bit more carefully. One of the reasons I brought up Jonny Storm & Marty Scurll vs Real Hazard from last year was because the dynamics of that match were spot on, as even though Real Hazard were the stars, their uberheel act got Jonny and Marty over. This year, the simple story of Cyber Kong being a monster got Joey Hayes over even in defeat. With Haskins vs Lion Kid, the dynamic was never right, and perhaps that should have been obvious.

 

The Lion Kid v Haskins match was met with approval when announced, I was surprised the Yoshino v Lion Kid match didn't get more stick. I don't think the Lion Kid is seem as a detriment to any show, he is a great addition to any card, you know this better than anybody, the person who said they remember him from Noah? That to me is a crazy statement, if anybody sat there and said I don't like this guy because he was in a japanese comedy opening match two years ago then really I don't know what else I can say. I think people will see the DVD and that the "lion kid getting boo'd out the building and chased by an angry mob" atmosphere just wasn't there, we be able to better discuss it.

[Mark Sloan]

I too would like to express my thanks to Mark and his team for another fantastic weekend of wrestling, everything was absolutely top notch - hopefully now you can back to some PS3 action.

 

 

Chris Roberts, the referee, may have had some stick on the Saturday, but he was my MVP over the weekend.

I think Chris is a great referee, but I love to heckle him - I'm certain none of the stick he recieved was malicious, or was based on his competence or lack thereof. I think he just generally looks like he struggles to assert his authority onto the wrestlers and as such that perception passes onto the fans.

 

AUTHORITY ROBERTS, AUTHORITY.

 

He loves the heckling too, I think the wrestlers try to have fun with his lack of asseriveness as you put it.

 

Also , while embarrassing, a really funny story, after the incredible blooper of getting his cues wrong, Larry La Rue was in a constant state of being ribbed when a certain wrestler was anywhere near him.

 

"Hi, Nice to meet you, I am Yamato" after the tenth time you think it would lose it's appeal, it didn't :-D haha, meet and greet. Hi Nice to meet you, in the ring, after the show, at the hotel, at the service station, maybe he emailed him too. It was priceless.

[Mark Sloan]

I echo the idea of one BIG show next time.

 

Maybe it's not viable, but if it were, it would be awesome to see them fill the York Hall or something. Perhaps a two hour afternoon card with (DragonGate-style) UK talent involved and the main evening show featuring only Dragongate regulars (which would still include Pac, Haskins and hopefully a couple more by then).

 

Shit, as long as they come back I'm happy!!

 

York Hall is just too expensive, More costly that venues 5 times the size.

[Mark Sloan]

Now if you could just bring Big Japan over....

 

I was talked about seriously for January of this year. I wasn't the sole organiser so It didn't happen for one reason or another.

[Dirty Eddie]

I echo the idea of one BIG show next time.

 

Maybe it's not viable, but if it were, it would be awesome to see them fill the York Hall or something. Perhaps a two hour afternoon card with (DragonGate-style) UK talent involved and the main evening show featuring only Dragongate regulars (which would still include Pac, Haskins and hopefully a couple more by then).

 

Shit, as long as they come back I'm happy!!

 

York Hall is just too expensive, More costly that venues 5 times the size.

I'm sure you've told me this before. I really need to pay attention.

 

Still I like the idea of a bigger venue. I'm sure there were a fair few people who went to both shows (you'd know for certain), but the combined turnout of individual fans must have still been pretty good.

 

I'm glad to hear you are thinking about getting more merch sent over beforehand, if/when they return. Have it all sitting, ready to go a few weeks before the show, I'm sure they'd make a killing.

[Mark Sloan]

Hahaha - going through the points made in reverse order, there is certainly no ploy! As I actually ended up discussing with some of the usual crowd on Friday, I did make a somewhat frivolous comment on something Alex Shane said on his facebook that I thought was fairly ridiculous, and got one of Alex's trademark epic responses in reply, and he went sufficiently in-depth and made enough points I kinda felt obligated to reply back, even though getting sucked into one of those super-in-depth discussions he seems to specialise in was far from what I really wanted when I started out.

 

Much like I probably should have realised what may happen when i commented on Alex Shane's facebook, I guess the point I was trying to make here was that when doing the matchmaking, it could perhaps have been obvious that a match such as Lion Kid vs Haskins would perhaps attract the type of crowd reactions it did, given the type of crowd the show would be attracting. Haskins probably is starting to be seen as a Dragon Gate star, but not to the same degree as Pac by a long way, and as Lion Of The Midlands pointed out the page after my post, it's probably Lion Kid that will always be seen as a detriment to a show like this, no matter how hard he works and how solid his performance is.

 

I really wish it wasn't that way, because as I said, I've seen Haskins and Lion Kid develop so much over the years, and I actually thought their match was the best on the Broxbourne show to that point, but should Dragon Gate be back next year, any UK talent used needs to be used a bit more carefully. One of the reasons I brought up Jonny Storm & Marty Scurll vs Real Hazard from last year was because the dynamics of that match were spot on, as even though Real Hazard were the stars, their uberheel act got Jonny and Marty over. This year, the simple story of Cyber Kong being a monster got Joey Hayes over even in defeat. With Haskins vs Lion Kid, the dynamic was never right, and perhaps that should have been obvious.

 

"I'd be a little less excited about future DG shows in the UK if presented in quite the same fashion" doesn't mean I wouldn't still be ridiculously excited, by the way! Sorry if the end paragraph of the review took the whole review onto a negative tone, as I didn't mean it.

 

Finally, when it comes to St Ives, train stations make a huge difference to me when it comes to travelling to shows by public transport. When I looked into St Ives, the fact that there wasn't a train station meant to me it was effectively the middle of nowhere in a similar vein to Faringdon in Oxfordshire for NOAH night 2. The Regal was in Oxford, which is a city accessible by train. Sure, the venue wasn't that close to the train station, but a group of us were able to make our way on foot to the venue across the city during the day, and after the show the bus services to the train station were electronically advertised on the bus stop outside the venue. This is the kind of thing you get in a city that helps to inspire confidence to make connections.. having to rely on buses from a town too small to have it's own train station doesn't inspire the same confidence. As it was, I should have been at work on the day of the St Ives show anyway, but even if I had the date available when the tickets went on sale, the location of the venue had immediately made me question my ability to go. I appreciate that finding these venues to host these shows isn't easy - that doesn't mean I can't wish for something easy to get to!

 

I am always cool to chat about points made well and can do it publically or privately, I can't stand ignorance or stupid comments and don't always reply to things that I think are just there to wind up but as always you bring a few good points. I understand and see your points on how you view the UK guys, I just don't agree with them and how they are viewed. I don't think that the UK guys have to have a reason to be there, as I pointed out earlier, if you think the match was a bit random, of 3 cards it is far to say one random great match shouldn't be into question has been simply excellent booking in my opinion. The matches are there for a reason and so is their place on the card. It is by design. The only thing that can happen is that it just doesn't turn out the way you thought it would. The bottom line is neither Haskins or Lion Kid performed and that made for a match which some people really liked and some people really didn'. Same can be said for all 3 of the non-DG v DG matches, if that is the draw, then it is always going to have that vibe as a possibility and I just think that Haskins/Kid got it wrong on that night.

 

You really don't need to tell me about the travelling fans thoughts when going to one of these shows. I took a gamble on St Ives, I miss judged the trip from the train station, it was down at 4 miles on a map, it turns out to be a fair bit further and alot more time consuming that originally thought. Trust me, nobody cares more than me about people travelling to one of these events than me, aside from the traveller of couse. It was a gamble, Brilliant venue, just beautiful on camera, great atmosphere and nearly sold out. It is something we would be unlikely to do with a traveling audience again. Tried to get Broxbourne on both nights, they moved something for us to have the Friday but couldn't do it for Saturday and because of work/travel we jumped at the chance to use Broxbourne for the more akward day, and St Ives slotted in on the prime day.

[mackie]

According to his twitter it seems marty scurll is going to dragon gate next week

 

Good for him he deserves it

[Philo_Vance]

Who is this Marty Scrull everyone keeps talking about?

[Sixteen Degrees]

But with regards the chanting i admit myself to doing a couple of chants during the lion kid vs haskins match to the extent of 'break his paws' and to which to mr haskins he obliged,

 

Please chant away, it's good to have an atmosphere, break his paws is funny and if Haskins worked with it then ideal. Although a chant needs to be done with quite a few people in my opinion, a random comment shouted out can be funny now and again, I think on the Friday there was too many people trying to be the vocal point of the show.

 

I will admit to being critical of Lion Kid. I think one of the problems he had is that he works a similar style to a lot of the DG guys, who have been doing it longer, so he did not stand out as well as he does on IPW:UK shows. I have really enjoyed quite a few of his matches, including the match vs. Spud at IPW:UK this year, the LK vs. Haskins Cruiserweight title match in IPW:UK and the very fun opening tag match at NOAH vs. the World back in 2008.

 

What I will say is that he always shows a lot of heart and guts. That he kept going through the heat he got makes me respect him and his desire to improve. In hindsight I was a bit harsh on his performance on night 2. On night 1 I think nerves and heckling got to him a bit.

 

In hindsight, I think I may not have explained myself properly, I am not anti anybody disliking the Lion Kid, not at all, that is your choice and isn't something I personally want to change, what I do hate is this misconception that he got lots of heat. I have the untouched footage here, it just didn't happen. It had 2 or 3 people louding booing randomly and shouting stupid needless stuff at him, which they did to various people all night. They tried it with the allstars and got back as good as they gave in my opinion. But reading comments like the above just makes me shake my head.

 

Also "On night 1 I think nerves and heckling got to him a bit." No they didn't, not one bit, they just didn't click. I know why but that is not something for public consumption, Had those two done the same match and been on the same page and with the few heckler types, the majority of people wouldn't be viewing the match dimmly in my opinion.

 

- Agree with what most people said about the heckling, especially towards Lion Kid. I don't like the gimmick myself and for me the match was the weakest of the night but you go to the bar or just shut up (although I did join in with some Awimaway).

 

I think the odd bit is funny, you see it at many shows, I found some of it funny too, i just think a few people just went on and they were loud when the crowd was quiet, not a good combination

 

I guess the point I was trying to make here was that when doing the matchmaking, it could perhaps have been obvious that a match such as Lion Kid vs Haskins would perhaps attract the type of crowd reactions it did, given the type of crowd the show would be attracting. Haskins probably is starting to be seen as a Dragon Gate star, but not to the same degree as Pac by a long way, and as Lion Of The Midlands pointed out the page after my post, it's probably Lion Kid that will always be seen as a detriment to a show like this, no matter how hard he works and how solid his performance is.

 

I really wish it wasn't that way, because as I said, I've seen Haskins and Lion Kid develop so much over the years, and I actually thought their match was the best on the Broxbourne show to that point, but should Dragon Gate be back next year, any UK talent used needs to be used a bit more carefully. One of the reasons I brought up Jonny Storm & Marty Scurll vs Real Hazard from last year was because the dynamics of that match were spot on, as even though Real Hazard were the stars, their uberheel act got Jonny and Marty over. This year, the simple story of Cyber Kong being a monster got Joey Hayes over even in defeat. With Haskins vs Lion Kid, the dynamic was never right, and perhaps that should have been obvious.

 

The Lion Kid v Haskins match was met with approval when announced, I was surprised the Yoshino v Lion Kid match didn't get more stick. I don't think the Lion Kid is seem as a detriment to any show, he is a great addition to any card, you know this better than anybody, the person who said they remember him from Noah? That to me is a crazy statement, if anybody sat there and said I don't like this guy because he was in a japanese comedy opening match two years ago then really I don't know what else I can say. I think people will see the DVD and that the "lion kid getting boo'd out the building and chased by an angry mob" atmosphere just wasn't there, we be able to better discuss it.

 

Ah, I see your perspective now. Seeing this I have to agree. I was sat amongst a few hecklers and where you sit in a crowd can determine how you think a crowd is reacting. As for not clicking, it makes sense since I did think it was a lot less fluid then their encounter over the Cruiser title in IPW:UK.

[BitCrusherr]

I personally really liked the St Ives venue. We didn't find it too hard to get to, but obviously people have different means of getting there. I would go to see a show (DG or other promotion that I liked) there again.

 

-Additional to my comment about the Yoshino/Lion Kid match a few pages back; I don't have a problem with LK, in fact it was the first time I'd seen him wrestle live or on tape. I didn't think he clicked with his opponent as well as someone else could. Maybe I'm judging the match unfairly because I like to see Yoshino use his speed, which I felt lacked in this particular bout. Its not intended to be a detrimental comment toward LK, because I felt he coped really well with the shit he got from some sections of the crowd.

 

Just wanted to clear that up.

 

And as has been said a lot throughout this thread - Thanks to Mark and his crew for putting the events on. Really well run!

[air_raid]

I loved the venue, I was worried it might be claustrophobic (I didnt actually take the seats we paid for in Oxford, we stood because the mrs felt a bit squashed) but it was perfect. Getting there was ok, taxi to Travelodge from Huntington train station and taxi to Burgess Hall, but then it probably cost me more than most would be willing to pay. I budgeted to spend shit loads just in case.

[Tommy!]

To pre order the DVD's do I just the money via paypal or what? It feels like I'm missing a stage there some how.

 

Also any hope of having another Noah show? Having had the one(?) and then three DG shows over two trips I just wondered if there was a cost issue or a thing with demand or just personal preference or so on and so forth. I loved the Noah show.

 

I preferred broxbourne as a venue personally, but St Ives was nice too. Thats just me mind.

[steamroller]

The UK shirts are awesome, the German ones sucked. I was hoping the UK shirts would also be sold in Germany, but unfortunately they weren't

 

They had the chance to get them but they declined, I didnt know they did their own.

They were fucking awful looking. Almost no effort. I had a fantastic time on Friday. At first i was unsure of a six match card but it was perfect. I have to say every show Sloan and crew have done has been a great time and done right, it doesnt hurt that Ive loved the seats Ive had each time. Also went to Germany, was a good show but not at the same level, weird mixing of regulars and DG guys that didnt always work, Sabre Jr. did a great job though, took a beating for sure, or made it look like it.