The Dragon Gate thread

[CracktonMoj]

I've watched half of the July show. So I don't spoil it for anyone, I'm going to use the invisible box thingy.

 

SPOILER

The FloBros/FlorExpress match is MATCH OF THE YEAR. I watched it at three am this morning and was in actual tears of laughter. I assume Spatular has seen this, so tell me something - is Sign Guy/Jackson Florida somebody really obvious that I'm missing, or what?   Anyway, things that made me laugh a whole lot:   FloBros as El Hijo Del Iwasa and MishiMascaras. Complete with REALLY BADLY SUNG version of Sky High. They went to the back and Sky High hit - and I love that song *anyway*, so I was happy. FloBros came out with masks on, and their version of Sky High... well, they didn't hit the high note at all :(   Irish whip spots with people on each other's shoulders are the wave of the future.   Mask swappage~~   BEST FINISH EVER - they arrange various baguettes on the stacked FloBros, like they're light tubes. They then ascend opposite corners, count to three, and leap... crashing and burning HORRIBLY. FloBros wake up, crawl over, and win. This is the point where I realised that this match is better than any other match I've ever seen.   There's serious wrestling on the show, including Shingo Takagi being all awesome with a move that should be called the Effortless Suplex but probably isn't, MAGMA killing Naoki Tanasaki (who I dig a whole lot because he's basically Spike Dudley in ECW), and Tenryu being a prick to Magnum TOKYO and refusing to let him tag out when he's getting murdered by Kensuke Sasaki.   TOKYO: Genichiro, help me! Tenryu: NO. You must learn to FIGHT. Get back in there! TOKYO: But he's murdering me. Look. >walks into lariat< Tenryu: Fucking kids.

[CracktonMoj]

Question - what does everyone think of Naoki Tanisaki and Shingo Takagi? I ask this because (June spoilers ahead)

 

SPOILER

they fight each other in June's PPV show, and it's absolutely excellent. Takagi is a great power guy, with power moves being pulled off like they're NOTHING, and Tanasaki sells like a champ, and then catches the big man in a front neck lock and makes him tap. It's wonderful. He then continues on and brings the HATRED to MAGMA, which leads to a match in July which is basically Spike Dudley/Mike Awesome from ECW, but done in Toryumon style. And that rules too.

 

Anyway, I think they're both great. I'd like to get the internet opinion on them, please.

[alexander]

Question - what does everyone think of Naoki Tanisaki and Shingo Takagi? I ask this because (June spoilers ahead)

SPOILER

they fight each other in June's PPV show, and it's absolutely excellent.  Takagi is a great power guy, with power moves being pulled off like they're NOTHING, and Tanasaki sells like a champ, and then catches the big man in a front neck lock and makes him tap.  It's wonderful.  He then continues on and brings the HATRED to MAGMA, which leads to a match in July which is basically Spike Dudley/Mike Awesome from ECW, but done in Toryumon style. And that rules too.

Anyway, I think they're both great.  I'd like to get the internet opinion on them, please.

Tanisaki is one of the most underrated guys in DG right now IMO opinion, that's why

SPOILER

It hurt me so bad to watch him (and his push) get killed by MAGMA

I hope he goes on to do awesome things.I'm not really sold on Takagi though. I don't know what it is...but he's missing something for me.

[JLM]

I *heart* both of them.Naoki is 'plucky' personified and is indeed very underrated. Shingo is a phenomenal natural talent. He's done the heroic babyface being destroyed by Aagan Iisou and the heel powerhouse, both to great effect despite being very much a rookie. The best thing I can say about him is that he's making me miss Kondo(~~~~) a lot less than I thought I would.

[Carbomb]

Hi people, back from a week on a wrestling tour, and another week in Blackpool.Just one question:Is it just me, or is the Doi555 a bit of a superficial-looking move? I mean, is there really any need for him to sit-out, as he's completely released his clutch on the opponent?

[Spatular]

SPOILER

The FloBros/FlorExpress match is MATCH OF THE YEAR. I watched it at three am this morning and was in actual tears of laughter. I assume Spatular has seen this, so tell me something - is Sign Guy/Jackson Florida somebody really obvious that I'm missing, or what?

SPOILER

Heh. No, I don't think we're supposed to know who he is. I don't have a firm idea myself... Likely suspects are the Shachihoko Machine guy, or one of the dojo guys (possibly even Tozawa, who debuted in Feb/Mar).I didn't think that was one of the FloBros better outings myself but the baguette finish was AWESOME. Loved Tenryu & Magu vs Kensuke Office too. Post what you think of the trios title match from that show when you watch it - that's currently my DG MOTY.

Re Takagi and Tanisaki - I love Shingo Takagi. For someone that's been wrestling for as little time as he has he's astonishingly convincing and versatile. Right now, everything he does just screams underrated bad-ass, don't fuck with me, I'll throw you an enormous distance - but when he debuted he was the pluckiest, fieriest little thing you ever saw, much more so than Tanisaki is. I like Tanisaki too, but not nearly so much. To be honest I still find him a bit unconvincing and forced. The concensus seems to be that he's under-pushed but my own opinion is that his current spot is just about right.

Is it just me, or is the Doi555 a bit of a superficial-looking move? I mean, is there really any need for him to sit-out, as he's completely released his clutch on the opponent?

Maybe he just finds it easier to do that than move to the side F5-style? Can't say I'd really thought about it...

[CracktonMoj]

These spoilers are to do with the July PPV. Think about that when you're deciding whether to highlight or not.

SPOILER

I didn't think that was one of the FloBros better outings myself but the baguette finish was AWESOME. Loved Tenryu & Magu vs Kensuke Office too.

SPOILER

No no no. You don't understand. They sang Sky High really badly. That gave it five stars. The match itself was about a star, the irish whip stack spots puts it up to three, but that finish, which made me WEEP SALTY TEARS OF JOY, brings it right up to *****. And a half. In short, you're wrong, and I'm not discussing it any more.

SPOILER

Post what you think of the trios title match from that show when you watch it - that's currently my DG MOTY.

SPOILER

Oh christ, they hate each other and I love it. Genki went for a backslide and I thought he'd win. Small problem for me is that Genki still acts like a dick, and I find it hard to cheer him when he's getting BEATEN. When watching it, my overriding thought was 'This is how lucha should be, instead of insipid non-impactful tripe', interspersed with PIN HIM PIN HIM FOR FUCK'S SAKE and TAG OUT GENKI, STOP DOING THINGS. Yeah, they got to me in the end. I also love Ryo Saito, for reasons I can't quite explain. Great bout, anyway.

Hooray, I can talk in non spoilery fashion.Let me see if I've got this DG thing straight now.Pos. Hearts are effeminate babyfaces. Who, by the way, aren't that over except for Magnum TOKYO, who is Jesus.Blood Generation are DICKS, and I hate them.Do Fixer are faces.And M2K are tweeners, cheered if they face Blood Generation but otherwise booed, yes?

[Spatular]

Pos. Hearts are effeminate babyfaces. Who, by the way, aren't that over except for Magnum TOKYO, who is Jesus.

Yup. I'd like to argue... but I can't.

Blood Generation are DICKS, and I hate them.

Yes.

Do Fixer are faces.

Usually - more so this year than in the past. If they're against another face team they'll usually work heel.

And M2K are tweeners, cheered if they face Blood Generation but otherwise booed, yes?

I would have said that they're pretty much pure face this year, with the possible exception of Mochizuki himself, who still has the odd heelish tendency. Such as kicking people in the head, really hard. But otherwise he's a face, although I'd say his attitude has more in common with the top faces in NOAH than it does with the other DG faces - he's all stern and unforgiving and stuff. Otherwise, Susumu and K-ness haven't done anything heelish in ages, Araken hasn't done anything at all in ages and the sun shines out of Katsuhiko Nakajima's catamitic arse. Apparently.

[CracktonMoj]

Am I allowed to say that TOZAWA is rubbish and bland?

[Guest JPaCyN]

Am I allowed to say that TOZAWA is rubbish and bland?

Yes. I really wanted to like Tozawa, but there's literally nothing standout about him look or ringwork wise. He's about as "basic rookie" as humanly possible, and he wasn't even gimmicked by DG to be anything but that. He really doesn't seem like he has potential to be anything special though, unlike Shingo and Hulk, who I think for sure are future main eventers. Hulk is improving almost as rapidly as Shingo has, as he's really grown into his Genki-type role of plucky babyface who gets beat up a lot. And while Shingo hasn't made me forget Kondo, as is the popular opinion, he'll be at that level very shortly. Tozawa though, doesn't seem to be destined for anything other than a Stalker-type role in the company...and IMO there's already too many guys filling that slot.

[CracktonMoj]

Tozawa though, doesn't seem to be destined for anything other than a Stalker-type role in the company...and IMO there's already too many guys filling that slot.

I can see Daniel Mishima dropping the comedy and being all awesome at some point - based on his match against Genki whenever it was.Michael Iwasa though

[Guest JPaCyN]

Despite what a lot of people say, for the 2 or 3 month period that the Floridas were "serious" they were the most over guys in the company by far, based on the crowd reactions. They got jobbed out and returned to comedy way too fast - a big shame

[Spatular]

Here's what I think about Tozawa and the rookies in general.The promotion currently consists of 21 regular active wrestlers (two of whom are comedy), plus Stalker, Shachihoko Machine, Yagi / Johnson, that other mystery man who Moj and I were discussing above, and semi-regular guest Nakajima. They have a pecking order in place for the regular guys but the problem I see with it is that underneath the top guys there's no room for movement. Guys like Yoshino, Horiguchi, Araken and Fujii are all fine wrestlers but they're stuck in a rut because they can't be seen to lose too many matches but there's nobody to put them over either. So at some point you either need to move some of them down the ladder a bit (which they've done with Araken and the wonderful Genki ) or bring somebody onto the ladder underneath them. Hence why I think they're jobbing all of the rookies except Takagi - there's just no room for them to move upwards without moving someone else downwards.Long term, I think it makes sense. The original UDG guys aren't going to be around forever. CIMA has apparently said he wants to retire at 30, a few of them have lingering injuries and I daresay a couple of them will want a more lucrative job elsewhere sooner or later. When they leave, they'll want someone established that they can push upwards to fill the gap, and people they can move up into the gap that those guys in turn have left.Back to Tozawa. Yes, he's bland, but it's almost certainly intentional. I think they don't wanted to give him a memorable gimmick or a push at this stage, either because they weren't sure whether they wanted him moved out of the dojo permanently or because they thought he'd be around for years but weren't sure when he debuted what direction his career would take him in. I do think the guy has some serious talent as a babyface, though (check out the matches with Fujii and Nakajima!) - it's just a shame that he has nothing recognisable about him at this stage to help build a match around. Not necessarily a gimmick, either - just a finisher and a couple of signature spots would do it. They'll pop big when he wins one, I'm sure.

[Spatular]

It's comforting for me to know that even though Dragon Gate can occasionally be a bit, well, gay, there will always be one promotion in the world that is gayer.

 

Why ROH is gayer than Dragon Gate.

 

So yeah, CIMA and Shingo Takagi did an ROH show at the weekend. He signed autographs

[JLM]

Jesus, AJ's shorts are getting smaller, that is obscene. I can accept the autograph thing as long as Shingo heeled it up against Daniels. Still, I think I'll be ordering that show. CIMA beating AJ and Shingo vs Curryman sound good to me.