The Dragon Gate thread

[Guest JPaCyN]

I don't think this has been brought up yet, but Milano Collection AT is now also doing touring indy dates in the US, rather than staying only at the Texas Wrestling Academy this time around. Here are his confirmed dates in the US so far:9/2: AWC in Greenville, SC vs. Krazy K 9/3: NWA Anarchy in Cornelia, GA opponent TBA9/16: CHIKARA in Reading PA opponent TBA9/17: CHIKARA in Pittston, PA opponent TBAI'm HOPEFULLY going to the September 16th show, depending on how certain things work out. I'm REALLY psyched.

[JFFC]

I'm all up to date now, hip hip. JLMs not. Though he shall be when his big parcel of Dragon Gateige arrives in the post early next week.

 

Thoughts on July

 

SPOILER

The ODG tag match is quite easiy a MOTYC for me, loved the whole match and some of the double and triple teaming was marvelous and done so smoothly at a frantic pace. Loved the hurricanrana on Doi off the shoulders in the corner by Kid.   Genki being all spirited was great, (seeing as I was watching this spoiler free) and I was waiting to burst when he finally got the backslide on CIMA. (The DG smark in me knew Genki "couldnt" pin CIMA but I still believed in him)   I had my first "liking" for Nakajima during the tag match, the fact that he went toe to toe with Tenryu, kicking him HARD got my attention, Tenryu looked mighty peeved when he started taking a few kicks.   I've not seen much of MA-G-MA and damn can he go. He reminds me of Super Porky in that he shouldnt be able to do half the stuff he does due to his size but does it so effortlessly. Standing moonsaults by big men~!   Main Event was a bit hit and miss, I had such high hopes it couldnt really live up to them, but a great story told with the arm and leg working and some well built up finishes playing on the Susu/Taka match as well.

 

Hopefully I can stay up to date with my DG now barring supplier fuck ups.

[JPC]

Will you be doing another Best of Comp at the end of the year?

[JFFC]

Volume 1 will be out by the end of the month.

[JFFC]

http://rapidshare.de/files/4663126/susutaka.wmv.html

 

CIMA VS. SUSUMU MUSIC VIDEO FROM THE 22/6 PPV

 

Not a great MV buy my standards but its still good

[JLM]

Hooray, another MV I can't watch yet!

 

*Isn't bitter, honest*.

 

Anyway, hows about people pitch their nominated matches to be a part of a best of 2005 volume 1 (which I believe covers January-July).

 

A few possibles that spring to mind for me:

 

January:

 

Ryo Saito vs Milano Collection AT (Jan 14th PPV)

 

CIMA & Shingo Takagi & Don Fujii & Naruki Doi vs. Magnum TOKYO & Genki Horiguchi & Dragon Kid & Super Shisa (2/3 falls) (Jan 14th PPV)

 

Open the Triangle Gate Titles: Milano Collection AT/Anthony W. Mori/YOSSINO vs. Naruki Doi/K-NESS/Susumu Yokosuka (Infinity #11)

 

 

February:

 

ODG Title match: Masaaki Mochizuki vs Ryo Saito (Infinity #13)

 

CIMA, Naruki Doi, Shingo Takagi, Don Fujii vs. Milano Collection AT, YOSSINO, Anthony W. Mori, Super Shisa (Infinity #13)

 

K-Ness (replaced by Araken)/Masaaki Mochizuki/Susumu Yokosuka vs CIMA/Naruki Doi/Shingo Takagi (Feb PPV)

 

March:

 

Open the Brave Gate Tournament - Quarterfinals:

YOSSINO vs. K-NESS (March PPV)

 

Open the Brave Gate Tournament - Quarterfinals:

Daniel Mishima vs. Genki Horiguchi (March PPV)

 

6. Open the Brave Gate Tournament - Semifinals:

YOSSINO vs. PSYCHO (March PPV)

 

I was quite liking the six man before I suffered disc skippage issues and I'm sure the final is tremendous as well.

 

Aside from that I'm waiting on the big parcel of Dragon Gateage, so it's more my spring recommendations.

[$tew]

So, after discussing the awesomeness of Dragon Gate with MOJ last night, I felt compelled to watch the February PPV.Some thoughts...I'm not a big fan of either Don Fujii or Kenichiro Arai, so their PPV opener was fairly mediocre stuff. Best bit was some guy avoiding a Blood Generation beatdown and hitting Fujii with a dropkick. I had no idea who he was - though I take it from JLM's post a couple of pages back that he's the next DG rookie to debut.The Tanisaki/Stalker/Iwasa thing was a bit disappointing. Tanisaki won immediately. I don't know this Tanisaki fellow at all. Where did he spring from and how did he end up in Do Fixer?? The re-started Iwasa vs Stalker bit was alright - nothing more. I laughed once. That's probably a record low for a Stalker match, sadly. Next up was Magnum TOKYO, Genki Horiguchi & Dragon Kid vs YOSSINO, Anthony W Mori & Super Shisa. This is one of those matches where I like all six wrestlers, so short of sucking very badly, I'm almost certainly going to be entertained. I was. I liked the Genki spot where he was encouraging the H-A-G-E chants and everybody else in the match got sick of it and left... so Genki had to ask the crowd to be quiet while he encouraged everyone back to the ring. What was with Magnum TOKYO's entrance dance this time? He lost it near the end in the ring and was either having a coughing fit or was struggling for breath, as far as I could see. Strange. Anyway, I liked this loads. All action, all the time. Genki is wonderful, and Shisa pulled out his headstand spots... so big thumbs up from me.Ryo Saito was wasted in his match with Danny Mishima. Mishima had no comedy, and frankly little in the way of offence, as this was an elongated squash.Main event was CIMA, Shingo Takagi & Naruki Doi vs Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Yokosuka & K-ness (who was replaced early by Kenichiro Arai). Bloody hell, two Arai matches on one show?? Who did I piss off to get rewarded with this? He wasn't in much though. Blood Generation do their job well because I really don't like them... and it's not because they're rubbish wrestlers - so they must be the best heels in the business, because I really want to see them get beat. I'll say this though... Shingo Takagi looks like he's been wrestling these guys every night for years, he's so confident and smooth in the ring. I wasn't really enjoying this too much until the elongated closing sequence which saw a million near falls. Masaaki Mochizuki kicked Doi (I think) in the face at one point SO HARD, I'm shocked that Mochizuki's foot didn't come out the back of Doi's skull. I didn't know for certain that Blood Generation were winning, but the fact that Mochizuki was the singles champ kind of gave it away to me that M2K weren't getting the trios belts too.Fairly average show, I thought. My personal favourite was probably the Do Fixer trios match, but then I'm a hopeless mark for Do Fixer. So, the next show (which I also have) is a tourney right? I don't want to check the matchlisting again or look at DGUSA because I've forgotten who gets to the finals of the tournament and I don't want to spoil it. What's the tournament for? Mochi is the ODG champ. Is this for a secondary belt?I saw the draw at the start of this show but remind me of the first round matches, please. I know YOSSINO fights K-ness. Shisa's in it, I think. I obviously didn't pay enough attention.Also, any non tourney matches on the show?

[JLM]

Hurrah, it's great that you're up to February/March time because so am I, and it means I can comment. Your March PPV queries. Firstly, let me assure you that it smokes the February PPV in every way. As I said in my ramble about it, a fairly weak card that didn't surprise much in practise. That said, I really liked the main event and the DF six man you mention was kinda fun. Anyway, the March show: The tournament is to crown the innaugural Open the Brave Gate champion, which will indeed be the promotion's secondary singles title. Your spoiler-free (and rather impressively stacked) card:Open the Brave Gate Tournament - Quarterfinals:Yossino vs. K-nessThis just had to happen. Long term rivals get another chance to got at it in a high stakes match.2. Open the Brave Gate Tournament - Quarterfinals:PSYCHO vs. Naoki TanisakiPSYCHO got into the tourney by winning a special three way match in his home promotion (K-Dojo). I don't know if you're going to watch the TV leading into this PPV or not, but suffice to say he made his presence felt in DG shortly before this PPV. 3. Open the Brave Gate Tournament - Quarterfinals:Naruki Doi vs. Super ShisaShisa vs BloodGen, Doi looking to prove that 2005 is indeed his break out year. 4. Open the Brave Gate Tournament - Quarterfinals:Daniel Mishima vs. Genki HoriguchiGenki had been abusing Daniel in various ways before this. Daniel is in serious mode going into the tournament, which is why he didn't bring any comedy at the Feb show as you mentioned. This is much better than his match with Ryo, which I thought was pretty poor too. 5. Kenichiro Arai/Masaaki Mochizuki/Susumu Yokosuka vs. Dragon Kid/Ryo Saito/Syachihoko MachineSilly comedy six man~! 6. Open the Brave Gate Tournament - Semifinals7. Open the Brave Gate Tournament - Semifinals8. Mystery "X" opponent vs. Stalker IchikawaI liked the X, Moj liked the X, a lot of people didn't like the X. 9. CIMA/Don Fujii/Shingo Takagi vs. BXB Hulk/Magnum TOKYO/Anthony W. MoriAgain, in case you don't watch the TV, BxB Hulk is the second DG dojo trueborn to debut. He's Magnum's protege (as Shingo was CIMA's), with Magu choosing his name and gimmick and supporting him in his early matches. He made his debut on the TV show before this PPV and is still fairly green here. 10. Open the Brave Gate Tournament - FinalsNaoki Tanisaki...The best product of the failed Toryumon X class. He was associated with Genki following his debut because he was doing Genki's old surfer gimmick. They had a really really good Veteran vs rookie match in which Naoki earned Genki's respect and was taken under his wing. He then became a fringe member of Do-Fixer. Magu didn't have any confidence him and put him through many humiliations, a trial series of matches, an embarrassing homo-erotic swimmer gimmick etc etc. Over time he developed quite an attitude as he grew sick of his poor fortunes, though he was officially inducted into Do-Fixer. He wasn't happy about being in the silly comedy match in Feb from what I can gather, which is why he got all shouty and stormed off. I guess with everyone else preparing for the Brave Gate tournament in some way he thought he could do better than a three way comedy match. Hope that helps.

[$tew]

Hope that helps. 

It does, cheers. I think I'll try and watch this show at some point over the next couple of days.

Open the Brave Gate Tournament - Quarterfinals:Yossino vs. K-nessThis just had to happen. Long term rivals get another chance to got at it in a high stakes match.

Yes, there was a big ooooh when they pulled out the same colour ball from that drawing on the Feb PPV. Was that drawing legit?? I ask because how do you work an apparently random draw like that to ensure that the right people pull out the right colour ball?

I don't know if you're going to watch the TV leading into this PPV or not

No chance, even if I wanted to. My "to watch" pile is stacked to the ceiling as it is!

5. Kenichiro Arai/Masaaki Mochizuki/Susumu Yokosuka vs. Dragon Kid/Ryo Saito/Syachihoko MachineSilly comedy six man~!

Woah - a Syachihoko Machine still lives??

8. Mystery "X" opponent vs. Stalker IchikawaI liked the X, Moj liked the X, a lot of people didn't like the X.

Oooh - I'm sure I've read this whole card and I can't remember who the X is right now. I'm intrigued now.

9. CIMA/Don Fujii/Shingo Takagi vs. BXB Hulk/Magnum TOKYO/Anthony W. MoriAgain, in case you don't watch the TV, BxB Hulk is the second DG dojo trueborn to debut. He's Magnum's protege (as Shingo was CIMA's), with Magu choosing his name and gimmick and supporting him in his early matches. He made his debut on the TV show before this PPV and is still fairly green here.

I've seen a pic of BxB Hulk - and the word "Hulk" is not really the first word that came to mind. With Hulk and Mori teaming up (with TOKYO), is this the start of the Pos. Hearts?

Naoki Tanisaki...The best product of the failed Toryumon X class.He was associated with Genki following his debut because he was doing Genki's old surfer gimmick. They had a really really good Veteran vs rookie match in which Naoki earned Genki's respect and was taken under his wing. He then became a fringe member of Do-Fixer. Magu didn't have any confidence him and put him through many humiliations, a trial series of matches, an embarrassing homo-erotic swimmer gimmick etc etc. Over time he developed quite an attitude as he grew sick of his poor fortunes, though he was officially inducted into Do-Fixer. He wasn't happy about being in the silly comedy match in Feb from what I can gather, which is why he got all shouty and stormed off. I guess with everyone else preparing for the Brave Gate tournament in some way he thought he could do better than a three way comedy match.

Ahhh, well that adds up some backstory.Y'know, I love him - but Magnum's a real DICK, isn't he??

[Spatular]

Yes, there was a big ooooh when they pulled out the same colour ball from that drawing on the Feb PPV. Was that drawing legit?? I ask because how do you work an apparently random draw like that to ensure that the right people pull out the right colour ball?

Lightly fix one ball to the inside of each vertex of the cube, and tell people which vertex to take the ball from? Or put a 3x3 grid in the bottom of the box and tell people which square to go for.I'd say it must have been worked. They'd have used a transparent box or a bag otherwise. I think they wanted to make sure they had at least one compelling first-round match, because although the show turned out really well, on paper the lineup wasn't all that strong.

Y'know, I love him - but Magnum's a real DICK, isn't he??

You know NOTHING. Wait till you see the April show!

[Spatular]

Anyway,  hows about people pitch their nominated matches to be a part of a best of 2005 volume 1 (which I believe covers January-July).

Righto. Bits that various people don't want spoilers for are in non-spoiler language in double quotes. I've marked the 'must-haves' with an asterisk.

• [*]Masaaki Mochizuki & Naruki Doi vs Magnum TOKYO & Dragon Kid (Doi turn, Jan PPV)[*]Ryo Saito vs Milano Collection AT (Jan PPV) *[*]Masaaki Mochizuki vs Ryo Saito (ODG, Feb TV) *[*]CIMA, Naruki Doi, Shingo Takagi vs Ryo Saito, Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi (OTG, Mar TV)[*]Yossino vs K-ness (OBG 1st round, Mar PPV) *[*]"? vs ?" (OBG final, Mar PPV)

I didn't think that much of Genki vs Danny Mishima myself. Mishima's just notup to much as a serious wrestler. Sorry Moj

• [*]Don Fujii vs Tozawa (Apr TV)

Mainly for the folks who're complaining that Tozawa's too vanilla. I thought this was a hell of a spirited performance and I was right behind him.

• [*]CIMA & Naruki Doi vs Takamichi Iwasa & Raimu Mishima (Apr PPV)

Because Iwasa does all the work while Mishima lies in the stands unconscious.

• [*]Magnum TOKYO, Naoki Tanisaki & "X" vs Anthony W. Mori, BxB Hulk & Super Shiisa (Apr PPV) *

MOLESTATION~!

• [*]Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi vs Makoto Oishi & Shiori Asahi (May PPV)[*]Masaaki Mochizuki vs Don Fujii (ODG, May PPV) *[*]Ryo Saito vs CIMA (Jun TV)

I actually don't remember that match very well, but it must've been good... right?

• [*]Naoki Tanisaki vs Shingo Takagi (Jun PPV)[*]CIMA vs Big Boss MA-G-MA "and everything after that on the show as well" (Jun PPV)[*]"Florida Brothers match" (Jul World PPV) *[*]Genichiro Tenryu & Magnum TOKYO vs. Kensuke Sasaki & Katsuhiko Nakajima (Jul World PPV) *[*]Ryo Saito, Dragon Kid & Genki Horiguchi vs "challengers" (OTG, Jul World PPV) *

[alexander]

I'll definately get a best of comp. Can you still get a decent one for last year?

[Spatular]

JFFC's the man to talk to. I daresay he won't have thrown his discs out.

[$tew]

March 2005 PPV

 

I've watched up to the interval so far, so given that I've had to leave the DVD player for a few minutes, I'll check in with a few thoughts so far because this is a... strange show so far.

 

YOSSINO vs K-ness was surprisingly slow and ground-based considering I was expecting it to be a 120mph sprint. I liked it though, but it wasn't as good as I thought it could have been.

 

Next up was PSYCHO vs Naoki Tanasaki. Man, PSYCHO is a weird looking fellow, isn't he? He's got Heidenreich's walk, Bull Nakano's hair, Tenzan's mullet, the pastiest body I've ever seen and some AWFUL cheap-ass ring gear. To add to that, he's got offence which is 50% "Wow!" and 50% "WTF??". Anyway, this was going along... and... er... what?? PSYCHO won? Eh?? I was all set to give Tanasaki a look - he's Do Fixer, so I want to like him - and he jobbed to Mr Indy?? Right. I didn't see that coming at all.

 

Super Shisa vs Naruki Doi was next... and let me tell you... apart from being a master of the headstand~!, he's got some cool-ass music. Oh yes. Shiiiiisaaa! Anyway, I like Shisa - but I don't think he's got a prayer here. Bizarrely enough, although I thought he had no chance in hell, he worked so hard that I actually BELIEVED for a while... which is awesome. In fact, Shisa had him beat with that same sunset flip dealie that he used last show, if not for THAT DICK Shingo Takagi. BASTARD. Unfortunately for poor Shisa, Doi came back and won.

 

Daniel Mishima vs Genki Horiguchi was next. Genki is great... Daniel was... ummm... not particularly. Ah well, Danny doesn't stand a chance anyway.

 

Whaaa?

 

Mishima won. This is the worst thing in the history of the world.

 

Next up was Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito & Syachihoko Machine vs Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Yokosuka & Kenichiro Arai... and this RULED. Seriously. There was a really cool story going on here with the Syachihoko Machine being the weak link of the Ryo/DK team, but they did some really good stuff with him. Dragon Kid was absolutely fantastic in this one, hitting everything so crisply. Syachihoko was so good. Who is he? I loved the bit where he hit his "pose" in the corner and Susumu just stopped... and looked... and thought "What the fuck?"... then fought Dragon Kid for a minute, then turned back round and Syachihoko was STILL THERE... and Susumu STILL was confused. I loved that. Match of the night so far by mile.

[JFFC]

I'll definately get a best of comp. Can you still get a decent one for last year?

2004 saw a big change in the lucharesu scene, as Ultimo Dragon went seperate ways from his students and Dragon Gate emerged.

 

If you have ever thought of checking out some Dragon Gate action, but dont have a clue where to start, then this is the extensive guide to the first 4 months of their existance. Including 2 MOTYC matches for the ODG Title.

 

Disc 1:

1. CIMA & SUWA vs. Daniel and Michael (The Florida Brothers)

2. Genki Horiguchi & Naoki Tanisaki vs. Daniel and Michael (The Florida Brothers)

3. A special look at "Jet Fever"

4. Glove Match: Shogo "Jet" Takagi vs. TARU

5. Dragon Scramble Battle Royal

6. Milano Collection A.T & YOSSINO vs. Magnum TOKYO & Dragon Kid

7. Anthony W.Mori, Milano Collection A.T, YOSSINO, Magnum Tokyo & Dragon Kid vs. Takuya Sugawara, Kondo Shuji, Brother YASSHI, Owashi & Shogo Takagi

8. ODG Title: Susumu Yokuzuka vs. CIMA

Disc 2:

9. Rey de Perajas Tiebreaker: Milano Collection A.T, YOSSINO & Anthony W. Mori vs. Genki Horiguchi, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, K-Ness & Susumu Yokuzuka

10. Rey de Perajas Final - UWA Trios Titles: Milano Collection A.T, Anthony W. Mori & YOSSINO vs. Kondo Shuji, Takyua Sugawara & Brother Yasshi

11. Brother YASSHI, Shuji Kondo & Takuya Sugawara vs. CIMA, Shingo Takagi & TARU

11. Magnum Tokyo vs. Florida Express (Michael, Daniel & Johnson)

12. Hair vs. Hair: Takuya Sugawara vs. Anthony W. Mori

13. Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi, Ryo Saito vs. Kenichiro Arai, K-NESS & Susumu Yokosuka

14. Losing team loses their hair or mask: Michael, Daniel, Johnson and Kenskee vs. Magnum Tokyo, Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito

15. ODG Title: Masaaki Mochizuki vs. CIMA