The Dragon Gate thread

[jae]

King Shisa has been outed as Pentagon Black, of all people. We all hoped it was Super Boy ;/

[JLM]

I really really was. The fact that he does that head flip introduction pose just like Super Boy, and wore black, and had almost the same build and did the flying fat guy thing. I was so convinced, but maybe it was indeed wishful thinking. Damn.

 

EDIT: http://www.geocities.com/blueturnbuckle/images5/pentagon.jpg < NSFSuperboy fans.

 

Anyway, on with the catching up:

 

Infinity 35 - January 2006!!!

 

 

Magnum TOKYO/Genki Horiguchi vs Susumu Yokosuka/Masaaki Mochizuki

 

Bleh. This is a nothing match really. The pbp guy is different, but more notably still for this match, the sound mixing means that you can barely hear strikes connecting, slams hitting the mat or the wrestlers/crowd shouting. I hope it's just a one off for this venue.

 

Survival Gate battle Royal

 

Hurrah for new year's battle royals. Of course Susumu and Ryo had to start off together. What were the odds eh?

 

Booo for clipping this to shreds. A lot of it looks like a re-run of the December one, though were were some fun new bits. Mochi kicking out the Florida safety chair, Hulk screwing Shisa over royally and the whole ending bit were fun.

 

Super Shisa/King Shisa/Antony W Mori/BxB Hulk vs CIMA/Don Fuji/Magnitude Kishiwada/Shingo Takagi

 

Quite a good match this. All about Antony's mini-war with BloodGen, which is reflected by his pinning Fujii at the end. Everyone's pretty good, the double Shisa funky submission was cool, the sound mixing thing annoys me as I presume Antony's win got a good reaction.

 

Open the triangle gate: Dragon Kid/Ryo Saito/Naoki Tanisaki vs CIMA/Masato Yoshino/Magnitude Kishiwada

 

Good to see Naoki on the DF team for a change. I continue to wish for good things for Naoki, he's awesome.

 

Yay, shitloads of streamers.

I remember reading that they'd asked fans to not bother with them, especially on PPVs. I'm a big fan of them personally, at Kanda's retirement you couldn't see him through the streamers and it made the whole thing twice as good.

 

Naoki is the star for most of this, it looks like they're trying to elevate him here. The match is actually very good, but again the sound mixing does it's best to spoil it. Throughout the match there are sustained chants for Naoki, Ryo and Kid at various points but you can barely make them out.

 

I like the new pbp guy though, he gets the moves right and sounds clear and sharp. All through the Autumn and winter they were calling Yossino's blue thunder driver as the lightning spiral, when it's actually the "another space". This guy knows the score. As it happens, Yossino does both of those moves to put Kid away, presumably to build towards a Brave Gate challenge as other than that this match was purely about Naoki's heroic struggle. Oh, and CIMA randomly busted out a lionsault. I can't remember the last time he did that.

 

A good Triangle gate match, not close to the great ones, but worth watching even though it would be better if you could heard the crowd. . I won't mention it again, but for that match it really did annoy.

 

Magnum TOKYO/Dragon Kid vs Masato Yoshino/Naruki Doi

 

Decent tag match, Yoshino with another lighning spiral win to build up his Brave gate challenge. Little more to say about it.

 

Magnum TOKYO vs FloBro

 

Yagi tapping was good. Another new venue, it's absolutely tiny. ASUTA LIVE FACTORY (aka SITE KOBE~!) apparently.

 

Masaaki Mochizuki/Susumu Yokosuka vs Super Shisa/King Shisa

 

Why on earth did they show this? Clipped down to nothing and an insignificant match on paper anyway.

 

Naruki Doi vs Genki Horiguchi

 

This had a bit of Naoki not helping Bloodgen, which is relevant to their attempts at recruiting him. Genki doesn't win, the world is stuned.

 

Tozawa/Vangelis vs Araken/Katsuo

 

OK fine, Vangelis is kinda fun. What's more fun is Tozawa going OFF THE RAILS as Vangelis-cito and Araken's disapproval at it. Very amusing stuff, and Tozawa looks more and more comfortable in the ring too. Good old Pena is responsible for Vangelis' gimmick, he was a member of Los Warriors, who were a sort of twisted Village People stable who danced to the YMCA as their entrance.

 

Antony W Mori/BxB Hulk vs Shingo Takagi/Magnitude Kishiwada

 

They're building this Magnitude/Antony grudge based on the king of gate upset, but the two barely meet in this match. I know they don't want to give everything away before the big singles match, but there was barely anything bar a couple of cradle attempts. Hulk looked good though, and Magnitude was suitably strong with a hint of vulnerability to flash pins.

 

 

Ryo Saito/Naoki Tanisaki/Dragon Kid vs Don Fujii/CIMA/Masato Yoshino

 

Probably the best match on the show. Kid and Yoshino have some good exchanges, Naoki is heavily involved again, both as the underdog and as a potential BloodGen recruit. He turns them down, but he has some issues with Ryo during the match and it's clear that all is not well in DF. He also picks up a fairly big win by pinning Don Fujii. Good stuff.

 

Show ends with K-Ness announcing another long recovery lay-off, this one came after he came very close to retirement following the King of Gate tournament and had made plans for the match with Susumu there to be his last. He then did a 180 and posted on the M2K blog that he'd revive hismelf as many times as needed, "Even if it's just one fan that wants to see me". What a guy.

 

So, not an amazing start to the new year, quite the missable episode of TV. The Naoki and Yoshisno/Kid angles are fairly interesting and were built reasonably well but the episode lacks a must see match.

[Spatular]

One question, that BloodGen wheelbarrow rib breaker thing, Super .... What do they say? It's bugging me!

I thought 'Superdrop'? C'mon Jae, make with a new renkei section!

[JLM]

January 2006 Battle Junction PPVYes, the new pbp guy does look a lot less officious. I'd even venture as far as to say that he's down with da kidz. Note the "z". If he lived here he'd most likely shop at Next or Topman and wear t shirts with slogans. Anywhooo.. King Shisa and Super Shisa vs Araken and Susumu YokosukaAh, finally the pay off to this war that has repercussions far more significant than just the win/loss records of the wrestlers involved.I've been wanting to see these four go at it for weeks, nay months. Let's recap:King Shisa slept with Susumu's sister and got her pregnant, then went swanning off back to Mexico for some AAA ringrat action. Super Shisa helped to conceal this fact even when Susumu's oldest and dearest friend (Araken) asked him from the heart whether or not he knew anything of his whereabouts. Now, after 6 months of unpaid child support, King Shisa and Susumu Yokosuka will finally meet in the ring, only on pay per view! Or maybe they just threw four guys together for an opener. King Shisa sucks. He doesn't really, he's still as fun as last time I saw him, but he's a big fat phoney! You may argue that he never actually claimed to be Superboy, but he did in my eyes when he took his tubby frame to the skies with such style. Fraud!The match is quite fun, standard opening fare, watch and forget. The Shisa back slapping is amusing. Shisa's back begins to turn purple as the match goes on. He and NOTSUPERBOY have fairly good team chemistry and a nice line in elaborate double teams. As Susumu hits the aikata, you can see this one is not just for him and K-Ness, but Reiko Yokusuka (Susumu made his whole family honour the name changing stipulation when he lost to Mochi) and little Kiba-kun. A potent message to all mythical city guardian deadbeat dads. Florida Brothers vs Genki HoriguchiFunny thing is that this match has more story than the last one and two thirds of it are a comedy act. Genki and Naoki's war on FloBro has had little success thus far but they keep plugging away bless'em. I used to think Michael was the funny one, but Danny is clearly the comedy genius, with his absurd hairstyles and classic expressions. Genki's rocking a classy hat here. He's a great man. Fairly funny stuff, largely focused on massively overselling low blows. You'd think you couldn't really oversell a shot to the groin, but it seems you can. Must give some praise to Genki for the genius that is the tope morimoto. Having a move in your arsenal that's designed specifically to fail hundreds of times simply to get a few laughs when you finally start connecting with it. That's dedication to the craft. FloBro win with... a schoolboy roll up. I did not see that coming. :shocked:BxB Hulk/Katsuo vs Tozawa/VangelisThe BxB dance followed immediately by the erotic dance stylings of Vangelis and no Tenryu match in sight. This is only a Danshoku Dino short of being the gayest PPV of all time. Tozawa though, Tozawa is golden. He's even Vangelised his hair up a notch. I love how he still just has his generic rookie outfit on at the end of it. :DI liked the amtch. Everyone was fairly slick, Katsuo got to show a bit more of what he can do and Tozawa was hilarious, not just for his Vangelis impressions but the fact that he seems to be getting quite arrogant despite his appalling win/loss record. Vangelis is a grower, I guess a FloBro match where he didn't seem to see the point of it all wasn't the best way to make a first impression. You have to wonder if they brought him in specifically for this Tozawa thing or if they just did it for kicks after booking him. Either way, Tozawa got the biggest intro pop of the four because of his sexy dancing and we can be grateful to Vangelis for that. Meh, this interval sucks. The woman has a supremely irritating voice and the matches are just the January TV ones because DF/BloodGen is coming up in the second half. I miss my bonus Michinoku Pro tags. Shingo Takagi/Don Fujii vs Masaaki Mochizuki vs Magnum TOKYO

This is only a Danshoku Dino short of being the gayest PPV of all time.

I take it all back! This match is non stop vicious clubbering! A fantastic match, all four are awesome, though Don Fujii is the star. The Don is in his element in this kind of match, and he brings the bitch slapping and FIRE~! Watching him sit and take Mochi's soccer kicks and just get more and more angry is a beautiful thing, "what else you got?? Kicking me with your kick pads?? I should slap you in the mouth. In fact, I will." It's great to see him motivated again because the BG/DF feud has pushed him way too far into the background. He's still been good in the multiman tags but you can tell that his heart is in this kind of pseudo-heavyweight affair. The best thing Fujii has done since his dream gate challenge, which was similarly hard hitting and totally engrossing. A gem of a match that's a welcome change of pace and also provides the first thing on the card to make it worthy of recommendation. Oh, and Shingo's deadlift tuweestaaah is marvelous. Naoki Tanisaki/Antony W Mori/Ryo Saito/Dragon Kid vs CIMA/Magnitude Kishiwada/Naruki Doi/Masato YoshinoYes! Supoib main event with a heated crowd and some intriguing twists and turns. Several stories in one match here. Naoki/CIMA/Ryo: Which side is Naoki really on? Will we find out here? Is bleached blond hair with blood in it the best wrestling visual ever? Steve Corino would say yes. Then there's Yoshino vs Kido, will Kid be able to avoid a third lightning spiral pinfall loss, or will Yoshino get one over on him and further boost his Brave Gate hopes? Antony vs Magnitude: Was Antony's win a total fluke? Can he take the big man down again to make his dream gate challenge seem more credible? The crowd cares a lot about all of these things, which means that every little exchange in the match is really heated and the whole thing is absoribing TV. The Naoki stuff is played out beautifully, with CIMA recruiting him, then Ryo accidentally hitting him and then Naoki storming out after a brawl with his leader. Then later he comes back and pins Doi with a backslide and reconciles with DF. Aww. You suspect that it isn't quite over though, and through the rest of the match I'm slightly unsure of what Naoki's going to do next. Ultimately it's CIMA who puts him away, contiuing their strange relationship. Yoshino and Kid have some fun high speed exchanges again, which bodes well for the Brave Gate match. Kido falls victim to the lightning spiral AGAIN. Guy needs to learn how to deal with that move pretty soon. Then there's Antony vs. The 'tude, and it's awesome. Their one on one battle at the end is outstanding, when all the flash cradles fail you're just waiting for the big man to put him away, but when it doesn't happen everyone starts to wonder. Then Antony applies the submission hold, and doesn't let go. And Magnitude counters, but he still won't let go. So Magnitude tries to keep powerbombing him til he let's go, but Antony is not letting go unless Magnitude kills him. And BloodGen start to panic at ringside, and Magnitude's final escape attempt is the weak effort of a defeated man. I loved it. Really surprising finish but executed to perfection. Granted they're just grooming Antony to be a quick defence for Magnitude before he goes onto someone who might actually take the ittle off him, but the heroic Antony performances certainly aren't doing his prospects any harm.You know how these PPVs are often split onto two discs and you pay for them as such? It's tempting to suggest ordering the second disc only here. whatever the case, the last two matches deserve to be seen and provide the first contenders for the best of 2006 comp early on.

[jae]

"Superdraw"Name came from some sort of protein supplement CIMA picked up during his first US trip last year.

[edgecrusher]

What exactly is a 'Lightning Spiral'?

[Spatular]

It's similar to Christopher Nowinski's old Honour Roll finisher. I think Carlito used a variation of it, too. Bend down and grab the guy as if for an Angle Slam, but instead of lifting him up, spin around so that you land on your back and he ends up on his shoulders and head.

[JLM]

Can't stop, won't stop, rockin' to the rhythm...Infinity #371. CIMA, Shingo Takagi, Jack Evans vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Yokosuka, Keni'chiro AraiBleh, the Jack Evans flippity showcase. Susumu is fun, the crowd are quite into Evans' stuff but it's about as missable as most of Evans' offence appears to be. Ba-zing. 2. Don Fujii, Masato Yoshino vs. Magnum TOKYO, BxB HulkNothing much to say here either, this is mainly done to build up the Fujii vs Kanda feud, which is all good. 3. Open the Brave GateDragon Kid vs. Masato YoshinoHurrah, I've been waiting for this. A good match, Yossino's best in months and a solid performance from Kid. It starts with little flurries of action broken up with some stalling, then gradually builds to a suitably climactic closing stretch. Surprisingly vocal support for Yoshino early on, though this is quickly drowned out by Kid's supporters. A popular Brave Gate champion and a good guy to have the belt on at this time. Very sympathetic, works well with the BloodGen guys of similar status and puts on an exciting show. I was disappointed that 8 minutes or so were clipped from this though.Aside from the title, there's also the added factor in this match of Kanda coming down hard on pesky interfering seconds. This has a direct impact on the result, as the repeated Blood interference prompts Naoki to interject on Kid's behalf. At first it seems that all is well as Naoki's help leads to an Ultra hurracanrana victory and everyone is happy. But wait! Kanda has had all he can take and he can takes no more! Angry at their disrespectful mockery of a title match, Kanda declares the match a no contest and more importantly declares the title vacant! Kid is none too pleased, and everything is Naoki's fault again. The DF/Naoki rift just seems fated doesn't it? Fairly smart booking there I thought, a perfectly plausible reason for Naoki to fall out with the one DF member you'd think he'd never manage to piss off. 4. Ryo Saito, Magnum TOKYO vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu YokosukaYet another step forward for Ryo as he secures a convincing pinfall victory over the previous Dream Gate champion at the end of a good match. Mochi and Magu seem to have really taken to beating the crap out of each other. 5. Magnum TOKYO vs. Geni'chiro Tenryu

After the previous match TOKYO gets on the mic to address Genichiro Tenryu and they end up doing a surprise singles match. Judging by the clips aired before this match the two have faced each other 3 times before and naturally the living legend himself, Tenryu, have won all of them.

Tenryu has been cropping up in DG for quite a while now, including a memorable match in summer 2003 with Genki Horiguchi at the height of HAGE-mania.The Magu/Tenryu thing goes back to the run up to theJuly 2004 kobe World hall show, where Magu appealed to Tenryu to partner him in Magu's return to the ring. Tenryu declined. From March 2005 onwards Tenryu has been involved on and off with Magu, beating him in singles matches and wrestling with him in tags. The three matches they showed clips from were the first three in Magu's "Ryuukon ten match trial series". Magu winning the fourth was quite a shocker, given that traditionally DG/Toryumon trial series = 10 losses. In this case most people thought Magu would win somewhere along the line, but probably more like the tenth one.At the 2005 world show, Tenryu did agree to team with Magu. It's all part of Magu's revival and ultimately the "revolution" he keeps going on about. They'll be teaming again at the 2006 World show too, Magu/Tenryu vs Minoru Suzuki Magu has largely drifted away from the unit wars in DG, naming Ryo as DoFixer leader and Antony as Pos.Hearts leader, and has focused almost entirely on his Tenryu-based learning experience. The experience has paid off in other matches for Magu, as his new heavyweight style has proved to be quite effective.

It looks like Tenryu knows his career is over soon, so he's doing favours to his friends I guess.

I *think* Tenryu is actually a regular member of the DG staff now as well as a part time wrestler. I may have imagined that though. I do know that Tenryu has been on about a WAR revival and a desire to use DG wrestlers as part of it, and there was even talk of him bringing some of the old WAR titles to DG.

Magnum only just got his neck around on the that move which could have been extremely dangerous if he hadn't.

Since Magu got totally out of shape that's probably the sweetest AV star press he's hit, which tells you something about his previous efforts. I was nervous as hell when he went up for it against Tenryu, but it had to be done as it is his super big match finisher and the wins don't get any bigger than a pinfall over Tenryu. 6. Open the Dream GateMagnitude Kishiwada vs. Anthony W. MoriA strong showing from Antony in a match he was never going to win. They tease re-runs of his previous two falls over Magnitude and thus when both of them fail you know he's in some trouble. On the whole though Antony stepped up well in his biggest singles match to date and made for a decent defense before the inevitable Magnitude/Ryo showdown.7. Ryo Saito, Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi vs. CIMA, Masato Yoshino, Naruki DoiThe people in Osaka got lucky, Antony/Magnitude immediately followed by this bonus six man main event. 8 minutes of high octane madness, a sprint in every sense of the word and a very entertaining one at that. The finish was spectacular as CIMA gets hit with a barrage of offense before Ryo gets to pin him again. Ryo has beaten Mochi and CIMA so many times now it's unbelievable, they've gone balls to the wall with this push and you have to say that up to this point it's really working. Ryo has seized it with both hands, the people want to see him topple Kishiwada. Bring on the February PPV. About time a PPV got the dream gate match! The show closes with Tozawa being formally invited into Final M2K, which is presumably Araken's last ditch attempt to lure him away from the deviant Mexican stripper Nazi lifestyle that we all fear our children will one day fall into. A strong episode of TV this one, makes up for January's fairly pedestrian effort by providing two fine title matches and a blistering mini-match to end the show. Then as a bonus you've got Magu's historic first win over grumpy ol' Tenryu. Recommended. :)In other news, here's a magnificent shot of Brother YASSHI courtesy of owashitoru.com:http://www.owashitoru.com/img/brother.jpg

[JLM]

February PPV

 

Your announce team is a bunch of lunatics accompanied by a slightly troubled K-Ness wearing a forced smile. That said, his "nyaaargh" is the funniest of the lot. I will hate the special guest by the end.

 

Pre-show Brave Gate league highlights look decent. Tozawa with some spirited efforts and the return of the sol naciente for Yoshino as he secures a couple of wins with his old favourite finishing hold.

 

1. Kenichiro Arai/Jack Evans/Magnum TOKYO vs. BxB Hulk/Genki Horiguchi/Anthony W. Mori

 

Guess what happens here. Go on. In fairness it's all light hearted entertaining faire, with lots of silliness from Genki and Magu.

 

2. Shingo Takagi vs. Katsuo

 

Oh man, this was good. I mean it was just a squash, but it was goooood. From the moment Shingo's music hits you know that this doesn't end well for Katsuo. Best bit of the match? Katsuo spitting in Shingo's face before giving him an almighty bitch slap. Best "Oh no you didn't!" since Magu obliterated Tenryu's nose with the Zetsuen. As you'd expect, Katsuo pays a hefty price for that little stunt. I watched this twice, from Shingo's entrance to the end, a supremely satisfying watch.

 

3. Super Shisa vs Tozawa (Brave Gate league match)

 

Tozawa rules, but what's even better is the chance to see Shisa in a singles match where he's the clear favourite. Shisa likes to take rookies to school in a different way to Shingo. He's more about the sublime technical skill and creative arm ruining. It's a shame Shisa doesn't get more singles matches than he does, in tags he tends to just his his signature stuff when he gets the chance, which belies the fact that he's a man of many, many holds. Fun, something different, Tozawa with more new stuff and ever-growing charisma, Shisa giving us a little arm-work masterclass.

 

4. Open the Brave Gate Tourney: Naoki Tanisaki vs. Dragon Kid

 

Naoki's hair is absolutely amazing. What I wouldn't give to be able to pull off a hairstyle like that without being assaulted in the street.

 

So, this match has the added story of the ongoing Naoki/DK tension, which is emphasised further by footage of Naoki costing Kid another match in addition to costing him the Brave Gate title. As they're good old clean cut DF buddies I'm sure they'll just get the aggression out in a good old fashioned wrestling match and then shake hands at the end.

 

Of course, this is Naoki we're talking about, so instead of an apology we get an angry brawl of death which ends with Kid being carried out on a stretcher because Naoki doesn't care about nothin' or nobody. Good stuff and a nasty finish.

 

5. Open the Brave Gate Tourney: Naruki Doi vs. Masato Yoshino

 

All T2P, all BloodGen, a rarity indeed. These two put on quite a show, an epic struggle that sees Doi determined to be the heel even against a fellow heel. It sort of works, in that when the crowd are vocal they're pro-Yoshino, but on the whole the heel vs heel thing is always going to generate a slightly odd atmosphere. Still, an enjoyable match.

 

I liked the half hearted cradle attempts at the end, where they're doing flash pins at half speed with a "oh just please stop kicking out, I'm so very tired " look on their faces. I didn't get the TNA 'dancing' feel from it, it almost seemed as if the cradles were intentionally a bit laboured because they were just last ditch efforts to get it done before the time limit beat them.

 

The Sol Naciente appears again, I guess it makes more sense for Yoshino to favour it in singles matches where it can't be broken up. The Bloodgen guys show more togetherness than DF with a post match handshake.

 

6. CIMA & Don Fujii vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Susumu Yokosuka

 

This is all about the ending and post-match for me, so much so that I don't remember the match as well as I normally would. That said, the finish was fairly big as Don Fuji bagged a big pinfall over Mochi. It's good to see him do well every so often. Oh, and Susumu trying to untangle the skipping rope was physically painful.

 

But the end... Kanda! In a Yokosuka jumper! With a blue box! In wrestling gear! With his giant hair~! Oh man, now I really can't wait to see the March PPV. Original M2K, oh yes indeed.

 

I expect old school attire, Susumu Mochizuki, scooters and lots and lots of streamers. And at a push, Darkness Dragon.

 

 

7. Open the Dream Gate: Ryo Saito vs. Magnitude Kishiwada

 

Christ, they should have got rid of that moron of a special guest commentator for the main event. "Nyarr" as Ryo wins the biggest match of his life. I hope you die.

 

Other than that it was a grand main event in which Ryo takes everything the big man can offer and refuses to die. Seriously though, everything. More than one last ride, lariats, germans, dragon suplex, a picture perfect diving body press to the outside through a table, diving body press in the ring. I'd imagine a shotgun wouldn't have got it done in this match, but then a star making main event affair should probably put that accross. The PREMIUM BRIDGE is quite the deadly finisher now, anyone who's anyone has gone down to that move. Fear it.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed this show. Two good title matches, a Shingo murderization that felt like it was booked purely for my personal enjoyment, Shisa taking suckaz to school and Yasushi motherfuggin Kanda. Tilde.

[alexander]

Why is Shisa really crap in tag matches and really great in singles bouts? Doesn’t that normally work the other way around?The love for Tozawa is growing I see. At this point in time, he’s one of my favourite parts of the roster. Who’d of thunk it? let’s hope Katsuo goes on to be great one they decide what weird gimmick to give him.

[JLM]

You have to wonder what the next gimmick will be."Dr Muscle" sounds insane. I have no idea re: build etc. of the guy, but what's happened to Mishima recently? I need to see Tozawa-juku urgently. Iwasa looks awesome in his cram-school gear too. The two dojo boys that have been involved here and there since Katsuo and Tozawa are both ikemen types again, hopefully they'll resist the urge to just make them Hulk types and do something more interesting. For Hulk I accept that there was only option as he looks like some kind of female RPG elf, but Pos.Hearts as a unit have the cleaner than clean cut angles covered.

[alexander]

You have to wonder what the next gimmick will be."Dr Muscle" sounds insane. I have no idea re: build etc. of the guy, but what's happened to Mishima recently?

Hmmm, I’d thought about that as well. Although it’s hard to imagine him as an evil heel, I’d be gutted if he didn’t come back. And hey, at least it means some one other than Naoki can drop the falls in tag matches.If I had any kind of graphic design skills at all, I would’ve already made myself a Tozawa-juku signature of some kind.

[BurningHammer]

For fucks sake, I stopped dead for three months on the DG catch-up AGAIN So, I only started back on the shows a few days ago and ordered some mid to late 2005 PPV's, so I should be able to get into September 05 before September 06 hits, providing I don't stop again...So, my DG world is back in March 2005 ( ) and the Brave Gate tournament. I also saw BxB Hulk debut on that months TV. Not too convinced thus far, though I've got plenty of time to change my opinion. So, the tournament...YOSSINO advancing to the finals meant having to watch the bloody Sol Naciente over and over. Words cannot describe how much I have grown to despise that move. It's about two rungs below the Canadian Destroyer on my hate list. The opener against K-ness was a massive step down on the 2003 battles between the two, though the fast-paced end got people going. I'm loving angry Tanisaki and they decide to job him to PSYCHO in the first round. Bugger.Shisa vs Doi got pretty good when I wasn't expecting too much, and CIMA has put the Yoshi Tonic over to such an extent that people buy it as a finisher when Shisa hits it on less established wrestlers, and hence the booing when the ref got hauled out. Danny vs Genki was great with both of them in fully serious mode. Like I said in an earlier post, they were on to something with turning Frolida serious (more on that later), so why did they stop it? Loved the Danny Yell backdrop too.Question, was the Syachi actually Tozawa getting some ring-time in prior to debut? The match itself was pretty good, with DF and M2K doing the comedy with Syachi whilst simultaneously keeping their rivalry over the Triangle Gate simmering.PSYCHO vs YOSSINO at least convinced me a bit more regarding the K-Dojo guy, but the K-ness/YOSSINO submission exchanges from 2003 should never be replicated unless you are really sure you can pull it off. Danny vs Doi is memorable purely for that utterly HORRIFIC landing Danny took when Doi hurled the chair at his shoulder. The BG guys were trying to keep in character whilst shitting themselves at the same time over what happened to Danny. Kanda just shat himself. Ironically the accident added more fuel to the serious Frolida, and gave them a natural mini-feud with BG.The six man was OK, notable mainly for giving Hulk more ring time as he got beaten down by BloodGen, the continuing Don Fujii vs Tozawa feud (and from looking on the DG USA site, I cannot wait to catch up to Tozawa-juku). Also Michael Iwasa clocked CIMA with an axe bomber to stop a post-match destruction of Hulk and I ask the question again - WHY DIDN'T THEY GO ALL THE WAY WITH SERIOUS FROLIDA?And so it came to Doi vs YOSSINO in a good final, although nothing special. Doi made sure not to be hitting any more chair shots at his opponent in mid-tope this time. And that is about all I can remember that was worthwhile.More soon, or in bloody September otherwise...BH - still getting used to Ultimo Dragon students wrestling on a white canvas.

[edgecrusher]

the K-ness/YOSSINO submission exchanges from 2003 should never be replicated unless you are really sure you can pull it off. Danny vs Doi is memorable purely for that utterly HORRIFIC landing Danny took when Doi hurled the chair at his shoulder

What was so special about the K-Ness/Yossino exchanges? And what happened to Danny?Finally, what is a Sol Naciente that makes it so annoying?

[BurningHammer]

the K-ness/YOSSINO submission exchanges from 2003 should never be replicated unless you are really sure you can pull it off. Danny vs Doi is memorable purely for that utterly HORRIFIC landing Danny took when Doi hurled the chair at his shoulder

What was so special about the K-Ness/Yossino exchanges? And what happened to Danny?Finally, what is a Sol Naciente that makes it so annoying?

One by one...K-ness and YOSSINO developed a chain of counters to each others moves during a feud in 2003, and did it with such speed and fluidity it was pretty darn special. It has to be seen, K-ness used a move called Sol Noches El that was similiar to Sol Naciente, YOSSINO topped it, and so on. Obtain the 29/6/03 Toryumon Anniversary show for the K-ness vs YOSSINO match it contains. It also made YOSSINO use more effective submission moves than the Sol Naciente, which I wish he would have kept.Danny went for a tope suicida. Doi responded by thumping Danny with a chair as he came through the ropes and made contact with Danny's shoulder. This somehow caused Danny to fall in such a way that he landed straight on the back of his head and neck when he hit the floor (which did not have protective mats). He was lucky only to cut the back of his head open. The co-operation required to make the submission become effective is infuriating. Imagine the person using the move doing the first part of a sharpshooter on the victims arms, but rolling forward himself instead of turning the victim over. The victim now appears trapped, but seemingly he has to stand himself upright in order for the move to take effect. If it could be applied in a grounded way (ie, the recipient doesn't stand himself up to suddenly get trapped in it after YOSSINO has rolled thorugh) it would be a lot less infuriating and annoying. The fact he used similiar and move effective submission holds in the aforementioned K-ness feud makes it worse IMO.