The Dragon Gate thread

[Spatular]

Woohoo - more converts!

I recently got hold of the two "Best Of" DVD's (partly down to the previous tapes I'd seen but mainly down to this thread) and had a couple of questions.1 - Although I always enjoy the Antony W. Mori and Ryo Saito segments can anyone fill me in on the back story ?

JLM will have more info than I, since he's been following them longer, but I think they were good pals in T2P and just went their separate ways when T2P merged into Toryumon. Ryo came to Anthony's aid during his feud with Takuya Sugawara in mid-2004, and their friendship was renewed. They're still pals, although they've gone their separate ways again. (In as much as you can go your separate ways in a promotion consisting of 17 guys. )

2 - As a lot the guys I like to watch most have left the promotion whats the current product like ?  Has it suffered from the loss of the Aagan Lisou boys etc ?

I've only seen one show this year so far - the January PPV. Must hassle Niall...But it was pretty good. They've obviously had to shuffle things around a lot. CIMA, Don Fujii, Naruki 'Second' Doi and Shingo Takagi are now known as Blood Generation and are the new top heels. They rule, lots. They ran a tournament at the last PPV to introduce a new midcard belt, and the show was reportedly a big success. There are people avoiding spoilers from that show, so although more things have happened since then, that's all I'll say.

[JLM]

JLM will have more info than I, since he's been following them longer, but I think they were good pals in T2P and just went their separate ways when T2P merged into Toryumon. Ryo came to Anthony's aid during his feud with Takuya Sugawara in mid-2004, and their friendship was renewed. They're still pals, although they've gone their separate ways again. (In as much as you can go your separate ways in a promotion consisting of 17 guys. )

That's about all there is to it. Ryo was the guy from the main Toryumon japan roster who was most closely involved with T2P and Antony seemed to warm to him. Ryo still has a bit of a burning ambition to get one over on Milano when he can too, as he suffered some really embarrassing squash defeats during Milano's initial mosnter push. Other than that most of the links from T2P have faded away. Mishima and Iwasa have been totally re-invented as the Florida Brothers, all the Aagan guys are gone, JUN retired, Yagi has become a referee... the remains of the Italian Connection and the odd Syachihoko machine appearance are the only real T2P branding left in the promotion. One of the oddest things about following Toryumon/T2P/DG is the way you can follow a wrestler's entire career, from his professional debut onwards, with relative ease as its all televised in one way or another. It's for this reason I'll be getting AJ shows to keep up with YASSHI and Kondo. I've followed them since the former was a rather iffy Scottie II Hottie clone with some nice submissions and the latter was a bland Goldberg impersonator, up to the present day where they're two of my favourite cocky bastard heels. Bah, trailed off there. Ah well, memories..Oh, and masstransit, get more shows in and talk about them and stuff. You know it makes sense.

[Spatular]

Incidentally,

30 Mar 2005 Differ Cup A Toryumon entrant has officially been confirmed for the Differ Cup. Exactly who wasn't mentioned. Easy to assume The Tiger would be one of the 2.

The Tiger being Ultimo, obviously. Still no word on whether a DG team will participate.Also, JET~! has a new job in DDT. Some small good news.

[JFFC]

I have Infinity #11 in now btw Doug. Screw the 10 man tag tournament. It features the best damn DQ finish by the FloBro yet. Comedy Gold.I cant praise the Dragon Scramble enough either. its completly whacky and all about the comedy yet mixed in with it they continue every single feud in one way or another very seriously. I dont believe theres any other promotion in the world that can even come close to doing that.So thats just Owashi and Sugawara left to find employment after their firing then?

[Spatular]

I have Infinity #11 in now btw Doug.

You're too late! I ordered it from Si about 45 minutes ago.

It features the best damn DQ finish by the FloBro yet. Comedy Gold.

Have you seen the match against Araken from the Jan PPV? The finish to that is hilarious.

So thats just Owashi and Sugawara left to find employment after their firing then?

I'm a little worried that for some of them it may only be 'employment' in the loosest sense. Meltzer said the other week that AJPW weren't always paying some of their undercard guys, and DDT are hardly rolling in cash either. That said, Kondo seems to be being pushed as one of the top juniors, and he's the only junior entered in the Champion Carnival, so I may turn out to be completely wrong!Further edit: I'm getting all excited about that tournament now. Kondo vs Kenskee and Kondo vs A-Train~!

[Spatular]

This thread MUST NOT DIE~!So I did watch the Dragon Scramble again last night, along with most of the rest of the show. I remembered the reason for Naoki's losing streak - this was a trial series of matches with the stip being that if he won any one of them he'd be admitted into Do FIXER (like the Iwasa Gundam trial series). Makes it doubly dastardly that Magu was sabotaging him. The match against the FloBros on that show was the last one, so he failed to gain entry. He would change tack soon...Funniest thing on the whole show was Michael Iwasa dressed as an American ninja and trying to disappear in a puff of smoke. Really hilarious the way he tried to hide his face when - to the surprise of no one but himself - it didn't work. :laugh:Stalker's 'spinning enema' (the Enema 2?) also deserves a mention. :sly:But that Dragon Scramble... when WWE do comedy, I either find it pretty funny once or don't find it funny at all. But when I watched this match for the third time, having just read JLM write about everything that happened in it, and was still laughing my tits off for the entire thirty minutes. It doesn't get any better than that.

[JLM]

I can't believe I forgot about the ninja Florida Brothers! Classic stuff, I think there were just too many highlights in that show, which can't be a bad thing. I noticed a good few teams have been announced for the Differ Cup now, with Super Shisa being the DG representative. Think it's possible that he's going because he was a trainer in the original Toryumon gym and has most likely known Ultimo for as long/longer than anyone else on the DG roster and is thus least likely to cause any tension? Oh, and also because it won't make all that much difference who he loses to or when he does. Either way, him and Suzuki will be a fun team to watch, they'd better come up with some swanky tandem offence. As for t'other teams, Hidaka/Fujita is the one I'm most pleased to see, them vs TAKA/X, Marufuji/KENTA and the fun looking Hayashi/Spanky team are all appealing matches. Yeah, the teams listed so far...All Japan Hustle: Kaz Hayashi, Leonardo SpankyDDT: KUDO, Iifushi KotaNOAH & DragonGate: Tiger Emperor, Super ShisaNOAH: KENTA, Naomichi MarufujiApache Army: Takashi Sasaki, GENTAROK-DOJO: TAKA Michinoku, XZ-1 MAX: Ikuto Hidaka, Minoru Fujita

[Florida Brother]

Sorry, but I have not heard of a Differ Cup, maybe cos I don't undersyand Japanese. When and where is this happening??

[Spatular]

Sorry, but I have not heard of a Differ Cup, maybe cos I don't undersyand Japanese. When and where is this happening??

It's a junior tag tournament being run jointly by NOAH and Zero-ONE MAX. One was run in 2003 as well, so this is the second. It takes its name from the Differ Ariake arena that will host it (but how that got its name, I don't know). This year it's the 7th and 8th of May.We're not much for understanding Japanese either (although I'm getting there slowly!). Dragon Gate USA is your hook-up.

[Florida Brother]

We're not much for understanding Japanese either (although I'm getting there slowly!). Dragon Gate USA is your hook-up.

Fuck Jesus, you are my saviour!

[Spatular]

 

Other useful links:

 

Puroresufan.com Dragon Gate Board (the mods don't tolerate lurkers )

Official site (Japanese)

Timeline

Results (Japanese, but with pictures - useful if you're curious about attendances)

[Carbomb]

Was finally able to watch the second DVD I ordered from JFFC yesterday (been on holiday, see), "Blood Generation", and I can quite categorically state:I'm watching DragonGate from now on.The sheer quality of the whole event, workers, production, fans (believe me, I don't think anyone on the board has a bigger weakness for Japanese girls than myself), etc., it's all great.Plus - DragonGate has STYLE. Halfway through the programme, they ran a recorded segment where the Italian Connection plugged the new DragonGate merchandise shop in Shibuya, DragonGate Prestige - and let me tell you, it's awesome. I can see why DG have so many female fans - they appeal directly to their sense of style. The stuff they sell there, you would never think it was a pro-wrestling shop; the clothes are incredibly stylish and fashionable - even non-wrestling fans would buy an ultra-stylish jacket with the words "Dragon Gate" and the logo on it.That is definitely at least one unique thing that DG has going for it. I don't mind admitting that, whilst I'm a rocker, I do get rather bored and fed-up with the metal/goth/rocker orientation of so many Western feds, and the "pure sports" feel of the major Japanese feds. I would like to be able to get merchandise that I could wear and still feel like I could pull any girl who wasn't a rock or wrestling fan. So, next visit to Japan I get, I'm going to DG Prestige!Anyway, back to the more important stuff (I'm not going to go through the whole lot, and I won't give away results):The wrestling on this show was top-notch.Saito Ryo vs. Milano Collection AT for the Open The Dream Gate title was top-notch, with psychology galore - using the fact that Milano had beaten Saito both times they'd fought four years ago, using the Paradise Lock and the AT Lock, Milano really went to work on Saito here, working the arm. Milano is ace - I don't think I've seen a more submission-orientated worker since William Regal (which wasn't that long ago, but still). Saito puts on a great match, you can really feel the "face fighting to overcome all odds" atmosphere, and the crowd is very much behind him.Rating: 84%CIMA's unveiling of "Blood Generation" was inadvertently funny - they all came out with Don Fujii holding a covered placard, and CIMA went into a spiel about the new faction and the name they'd thought up for it - and he let it slip halfway, realised he'd boobed and looked rather sheepish before calling himself an idiot for giving it away. Don Fujii then unveiled the name. CIMA then went on to talk about the three basic keywords of Blood Generation:1. "Thoroughbred/Pure Blood" - i.e. they only choose the best workers, etc.2. "Healthy" - they only choose people who are in peak physical condition, and they'll only promote healthy activity to their fans.3. "Bare faces" - i.e. they are going to face their opponents with their true nature, and that means no masks or make-up - WAIT.Super Caesar realises that this applies to him, and CIMA tells him to take off the mask. Caesar tries to talk them out of it, but CIMA gets annoyed with him, saying that he's a ponce if he insists on wearing the mask - Caesar angrily replies that without the mask, he's not Caesar, so he won't take it off. This leads to CIMA saying he can't join BG with it on - at which point, Tanisaki Naoki interrupts, comes to the ring and, for some inexplicable reason, harangues Takagi Shingo. CIMA tells him to sod off, they're dealing with Caesar, at which Tanisaki says that he, Caesar and Horiguchi Genki will take them all on. Caesar, rather confusedly, leaves with Tanisaki.Anyway, like I said, that's all I'll do for the moment. I don't know who's watch what yet, so I'm not going to ruin the rest for you.BLT, if anyone has any questions about what people are saying during a segment, just let me know, and I'll type it all up.

[JLM]

Ooh, promo translations and percentage ratings, its the DG ramblings of the future! Couldn't agree more about the DG prestige range, seriously the best range of wrestling merchandise I've ever seen. Some incredibly stylish stuff on there, I'll have to hassle Katsumi to get some of it in or find myself another contact to get hold of it. Oh, I also like the fact that, despite this being the coolest batch of tees/apparell the promotion has produced, Dragon Kid's shirt is still utterly crap. Poor guy. Can't comment on the BloodGen show, but as soon as I've finished the two coursework assignments I'm working on my catch up viewing will speed up and I'll be up to January/February pretty soon.

[JFFC]

The prestige range is just pure clothing brilliance, the one thing that I hate about wrestling clothes is that they are blatently wrestling shirts. The DG range are so subtle and brilliantly designed that I can see myself wearing the whole range (or owning). Shame theres no international shipping though :(I agree that the Ryo/Milano match was awesome. Not quite on the emotion level as Susu/CIMA but still rather brilliant.

[Spatular]

I just watched the January TV (the episode immediately before this show) this morning. Shame, but it was one of their poorest in a while. The 1-day 10-man tournament was clipped to hell apart from the final, which was OK if spotty. Some top FloBros tomfoolery, though, this time with mobile phones - Michael called Yagi up as he was making a three-count, causing him to stop and answer it!The bulk of the show was built around the reemergence of Naruki Doi, and his emerging feud with YOSSINO. They wrestled three times in various matches, including a disappointing singles bout. They're still not happy with each other, and I'm guessing that it'll stay that way in the lead-up to the Brave Gate show. The highlight was Do FIXER's challenge for the Triangle Gate belts, but even that was a slight let-down. I wouldn't bother getting a hold of this show until you've seen all the TV from the end of 2004, and even then you won't miss much if you skip it. :(Okamura's public address about the Aagan Iisou firing aired after the credits had rolled - presumably it happened to late to be edited into the show, and there were no subtitles either, so I'd no hope of following it. Carbomb, if you're volunteering for translation duties, I'm sure we'd all like to hear what he had to say about it?

1. "Thoroughbred/Pure Blood" - i.e. they only choose the best workers, etc.

I'm fairly sure you've got that slightly wrong... The 'pure blood' citerion was reported to refer to them being made up entirely of Ultimo Dragon Gym / Dragon Gate Dojo graduates. If it had been down to who the strongest wrestlers were, I don't think either Shiisa (or Stalker!) would even have got a look in. Shiisa's record isn't that great, and Stalker's is the worst in recorded history. :)Anyway, the main event on that show's quite the statement of intent for the new group. It was my Match of the Week a while back.

I don't think anyone on the board has a bigger weakness for Japanese girls than myself

Them's fighting words. Watashi wa nihon no onna ga daisuki desu yo!

The prestige range is just pure clothing brilliance, the one thing that I hate about wrestling clothes is that they are blatently wrestling shirts. The DG range are so subtle and brilliantly designed that I can see myself wearing the whole range (or owning). Shame theres no international shipping though

I nearly mailed them the other week (in kanji - that's how fucking clever I am, see ) to ask whether they would. I think I'm a bit beyond the normal range of Japanese sizes, though, so it'd just be socks for me.