The Dragon Gate thread

[Spatular]

We start with some backstory regarding the formation of a new stable out of the ashes of Crazy Max.

[$tew]

Super Shisa seems to be there, as does Stalker, Don Fuji and some other fella.

 

Shingo Takagi - former weightlifter, trained by Animal Hamaguchi. Debuted in October. The REAL best rookie of 2004. Seriously, he puts Nakajima to shame.

We'll see. I heart Nakajima, as you probably know.

 

Magu looks hit and miss, as ever, but I still like the guy, even if no-one else does.  He's been a bit of a prick to his stablemates this year, ostensibly to whip them into shape, but mainly just for kicks.

 

Wow. He's going to get his ass handed to him when Do Fixer decide they've had enough of him , isn't he?

 

I thought the Doi turn ruled.

 

It did - I totally wasn't expecting it.

 

Florida Brothers vs Kenichiro Arai

I'd been hearing about the FloBros, so I was expecting this to be fun (although I've always hated Arai)... so I'm rather surprised to report that this sucked BALLS.

 

Not their best match by any means - but by this time they were doing so much in-jokey stuff that it wouldn't surprise me if most of the trademark spots made no sense to someone seeing them for the first time. The ref is TAFKA Bakery Yagi, AKA Johnson Florida (occasional third member). He's useless, biased and a show-off, and will generally get involved if he can.

 

Give them another chance some day, eh? You of all people need to see the November and December PPV matches (with added TOKYO and Kensuke Sasaki!).

 

Ooh, I didn't recognise Yagi. Well, he pissed me off in this match, that's for sure.

 

Regarding the November & December PPVs... I don't really want to go backwards, to be honest. If I'm to keep going with Dragon Gate, it'll have to be forwards. I don't know if it's necessarily the Florida Brothers that I hated as much as the impact of what they do... especially when they "won" their match by causing Arai to faint. The weird thing is that Arai is part of the main event of the February show...!

 

Where is Venezia these days?

 

Mexico

 

As Venezia?? Does he feud with the blue monkey?? I'd seriously buy a lucha tape for that...

 

He apparently won a key.  Is that like a #1 contendership or something?

 

Yep. It unlocks the little gate on the front of the ODG belt. Behind the gate is the champ's nameplate. They make a new key for each challenger and clip them to the rail on the front of the belt if the champ defends successfully.

 

That's kind of cool

 

No surfboard action from Genki

 

Dude, that is so 2002.

 

 

Well - that's to be expected, I guess. I've come out of a timewarp from 02/03.

 

Seriously though... no surfboard action any more at all??

 

I guess next on the shopping list is the February PPV, right?

 

I dunno... I guess you have a look back over this thread and see what takes your fancy? The Feb PPV wasn't as good as the March one, and neither was as good as November and December. The June PPV (which I saw last night - note the spoiler warnings in recent posts) is probably the pick of the year up until then. None of this year's TV's been all that great.

 

Just had a look at the March PPV. An eight man tourney, I see. Plus a couple of non tournament matches. Might be worth investing in that.

 

I fear for Daniel Mishima vs Ryo Saito though... why would they not capitalise on Ryo's magnificent performance in the January show?

 

You mean by having him challenge Mochi for the ODG belt on the Feb TV, you mean?

 

Was it good?

 

Anyway, Ryo's been one of their top guys this year and is currently the Do FIXER leader (unless something happened at World to change that).  Magu's still around, but more in an 'overseer' role.

 

This is related to the thing you were talking about on RIM with the Pos Hearts, Dino, gayness and Tenryu, right?

[Spatular]

Magu looks hit and miss

Wow. He's going to get his ass handed to him when Do Fixer decide they've had enough of him , isn't he?

Here's hoping

Regarding the November & December PPVs... I don't really want to go backwards, to be honest

Shame... The second half of last year was an awesome period for them, IMO (but opinion does vary). At least get JFFC's comp? I think it has most of the Kenskee stuff.

Where is Venezia these days?

Mexico

As Venezia?? Does he feud with the blue monkey?? I'd seriously buy a lucha tape for that...

As Tsuki, according to rumour. I dunno whether he's wrestled Que Monito - does Monito even wrestle? I thought he was just a mascot...

Seriously though... no surfboard action any more at all??

He busts out the surfboard move every now and again, but the actual wooden surfboard is no more, apart from the odd comedy appearance.

Just had a look at the March PPV.  An eight man tourney, I see.  Plus a couple of non tournament matches.  Might be worth investing in that.

Yup, it's very good. And so was Mochi vs Ryo.

This is related to the thing you were talking about on RIM with the Pos Hearts, Dino, gayness and Tenryu, right?

Kind of... There were a few unaligned babyfaces kicking about - Anthony W Mori, Super Shiisa, and BxB Hulk (another rookie) - and Magu formed them into a new stable called Possible Hearts (Pos. Hearts for short, bleh). Mori's the leader, but Magu oversees them, too. The Dieno match was Pos. Hearts vs Magu, Dieno and Naoki Tanisaki (sole Toryumon X survivor, styles himself somewhat after Genki - I think he was injured in January). Afterwards, Ryo and Anthony agreed that Magu was taking the piss, and brought Tenryu in to teach him a lesson. All of DF and PH were lumberjacks for the match.

[Spatular]

I've posted my thoughts on the 6/22 show here. People who're avoiding TAKA vs Susumu spoilers, do not click that link.

[JLM]

dragondoor results courtesy of KrisZ:Dragondoor 7/19

[$tew]

Was there not meant to be a big surprise name on the show in the main event?Also - Venezia~! I bet the RIMmers at the show got a picture with him!!

[Spatular]

Dragondoor 7/19

[Gwailofilms]

FUCKING YES!!!!

 

Guess who showed up at dragondoor?

 

KINYA~~!

[Spatular]

Never mind Kinya. I have gots to get me one of these.

 

[Carbomb]

While it all sounds good, I think I'll stick wih DragonGate, as that's the promotion that I fell in love with, despite the loss of Milano and Aagan Iisou.I mentioned it once before, but I'll say it again, just for clarification: it seems to me that, when Ultimo's involved in the running of the promotion, everything HAS to take on a Mexican-style flavour, which I'm not all that enamoured of - it's not that I don't like Mexican style, I just don't want to see it in a Japanese promotion, especially as DG has adopted a particularly Japanese flavour, and given the promotion a whole new, refreshing atmosphere. I don't want event names in Spanish, I don't want to have the whole "nodding to Mexican heritage" rammed down my throat, I want to see the Japanese pop-culture influence because that's one of the things that gives the promotion the edge.BLT, is Takagi Shogo related to Shingo? Or is it just co-incidence?

[Adam Young]

BLT, is Takagi Shogo related to Shingo? Or is it just co-incidence?

Just co-incidence.Before Aagan were fired, it seemed like DG were going to do a Takagi name feud as Shogo attacked Shingo a few times. I wonder how that would've panned out?

[Carbomb]

BLT, is Takagi Shogo related to Shingo? Or is it just co-incidence?

Just co-incidence.Before Aagan were fired, it seemed like DG were going to do a Takagi name feud as Shogo attacked Shingo a few times. I wonder how that would've panned out?

It would have been too good to let go - maybe do a whole angle about them being half-brothers, or perhaps have Shogo going after Shingo claiming that he's trying to steal his identity.BLT, what was the translation that DG gave for "Aagan Iisou"? I've not been able to find the expression in any resource I have (and that includes the Four Character Compound dictionary). So far, I can only get a basic translation, which I got as "Evil Crown, One Colour".

[Adam Young]

I think it's along the lines of "Villans wear the same colours", or something like that.

[Spatular]

I did find a definition for 一色 (issou) a while back, but can't find it now. It's slightly deeper than just 'one colour'. Apparently it's an old feudal system of indicating social status by means of the colour you wear, almost like a uniform.Apparently 冠 (second kanji in aagan) can also mean 'naming' or 'designating', so I'd be tempted to translate the whole thing as 'caste of bad guys identifiable by the colour they wear'. So more or less what Adam said.I suspect the use of a feudal term was a worked rebellion against the foreign influences on Ultimo's promotion, because they said when they were formed that they were fed up of everyone having English or Italian or Spanish names and just wanted to be Japanese.

[Spatular]

It would have been too good to let go - maybe do a whole angle about them being half-brothers, or perhaps have Shogo going after Shingo claiming that he's trying to steal his identity.

It's a cool idea, but I don't know if they'd have gone with it, at least not immediately. They tend not to book their rookies in matches over ten minutes, especially against each other. Also, with Shogo as the heel, and at the time not showing much of a knack for carrying the offence in a match... Well, you get the idea. :(Bit of history (sorry if you knew already) - Susumu Yokosuka was originally Susumu Mochizuki (hence TAKA's promo after the May PPV were he got his surname wrong). M2K was the stable of Mochizuki, Mochizuki and Kanda. After they split, Susumu lost his name to Mochi in a feud like you're proposing for the Takagis - so maybe they'd have been reluctant to use the same idea twice.