The Dragon Gate thread

[Spatular]

I still don't buy that SUWA and TARU left out of loyalty to Ultimo. This is just pure gaijin speculation from several oceans away, obviously, but I think it's more likely that they just either had itchy feet or weren't too happy with Okamura, put feelers out, and got better offers. SUWA is (or was? I don't follow NOAH closely) a freelancer, but he's never wrestled for dragondoor, El Dorado or UD06. What gives? If he's that loyal, surely he'll show up and pin a Sato twin occasionally? I don't know why Mutoh would choose TARU in particular to push as a top heel, but I think it's more likely that that's what happened than TARU left Dragon Gate out of disgust and serendipitously walked into a top heel spot in All Japan.Both SUWA and TARU had amicable televised send-offs with much huggery. Compare that to the way Milano and the Aagan guys left. In the absence of evidence to the contrary, my theory is that they just decided it was time to move onwards and upwards.

[alexander]

I always thought the deal with SUWA was that he was getting on a bit and wanted to branch out before he retired. Also, he was slowing down loads and could only have great matches with Dragon Kid anymore. Plus, he hated metrosexuals.He

[Big Rob]

Plus, he hated metrosexuals.

I'm getting a vision of SUWA stealing KENTA's lunch money backstage.

[JLM]

I think with SUWA it was actually that he wanted to spread his wings a bit. As I said earlier, he had been talking of being a freelancer for a year, and he also said that that year would be the last of his career. His success in NOAH probably means that won't be the case, but yeah, I think he was always going to leave DG. His speech about his hatred of ikemen wrestlers was taken by some to be a specific dig at Magnum TOKYO though, so an objection to the Okamura/TOKYO influence might have been a factor as opposed to loyalty to Ultimo. It's a real shame he couldn't have stuck around to murderise Pos.Hearts for a while.

[BurningHammer]

His talk of hating ikemen gave him good reason to come in knock fuck out of KENTA and Marufuji I suppose. In any case I think he hates Joe Higuchi more.Milano's leaving was handled pretty well I thought. End of Infinity press call with Okamura and everything.

[Spatular]

Yeah, but when he did his leaving speech in the ring at the PPV, it looked to me like he was pretty damn unhappy, and he was immediately followed by one of the Florida Brothers lampooning him mercilessly. I suppose it could all have been amicable, but Jae's dropped enough hints that he wasn't happy about the level of push he was getting. I can't see it myself - just before he left the Italian Connection had the headline feud, the trios belts and a tour named after them. Not much to be unhappy with there.Is he still languishing in that Texas indy? Poor guy.

[alexander]

Yeah, but when he did his leaving speech in the ring at the PPV, it looked to me like he was pretty damn unhappy, and he was immediately followed by one of the Florida Brothers lampooning him mercilessly. I suppose it could all have been amicable, but Jae's dropped enough hints that he wasn't happy about the level of push he was getting. I can't see it myself - just before he left the Italian Connection had the headline feud, the trios belts and a tour named after them. Not much to be unhappy with there.Is he still languishing in that Texas indy? Poor guy.

He wrestles all over the states in Indies. He worked an All Japan show and he has a New Japan appearance coming up. He's not doing great, but he's hardly languishing.

[BurningHammer]

Yeah, but when he did his leaving speech in the ring at the PPV, it looked to me like he was pretty damn unhappy, and he was immediately followed by one of the Florida Brothers lampooning him mercilessly. I suppose it could all have been amicable, but Jae's dropped enough hints that he wasn't happy about the level of push he was getting. I can't see it myself - just before he left the Italian Connection had the headline feud, the trios belts and a tour named after them. Not much to be unhappy with there.Is he still languishing in that Texas indy? Poor guy.

Milano Collection M.I seemed like a kick in the nuts to me as well, but I think he did his actual leaving speech around April sometime.

[edgecrusher]

Hmm. All very interesting. Thanks.

[alexander]

Weekly Pro iMode has reported that Naoki Tanisaki and Raimu Mishima have had their contracts terminated. They will both now become freelance. In the case of Mishima, he hasn't been around since April. He had been healing up various injuries, but the decision for him to not return was made then. The way the report is worded, they could continue participating as freelancers, but that is unknown.

If they're gone for good from the company, I will cry salty tears of pain.In much better news -

After the main, Muscle continued the assault on PSH. Tozawa and Iwasa came to make the save! Iwasa threw Kishiwada from the ring. Iwas took the micorphone and suddenly announced he was challenging Kishiwada! King and Kishiwada already were going to have their rematch in Kyoto, Iwasa appealed to Yagi to add him to the match. He did, and it is now a Key Hunting 3 Way match for the next Dream Gate shot! Iwasa said Tozawa-juku was not only for comedy, and this would be one step forward for them

Iwasa for Dream!

[JLM]

Oh for god's sake. If Naoki is gone for good that is horrible. As for Mishima, I did wonder what they were going to do with him but I didn't see that coming given the already tiny roster.I'm hoping for some DVDs to arrive on Monday so I can continue with the catch-up. I have Infinity 45 ready to watch but I'm missing a few shows before it. Iwasa in a number one contender's match, never thought I'd see the day. I still haven't seen any Tozawa-Juku as I'm still in February/March but it seems like they've taken off big time. Is the "King" mentioned there King Shisa?

[alexander]

Is the "King" mentioned there King Shisa?

Yeah, he and Magnitude had a few run ins on the Wrestle JAM shows. King Shisa getting a Dream Gate shot is probably as bizarre as Iwasa.I can't believe that Dragon gate would rather book Jack Evans, Matt Sydal and The fricking Turboman than Naoki and Mishima. Bastard fuck bollocks.

[JLM]

Is the "King" mentioned there King Shisa?

Yeah, he and Magnitude had a few run ins on the Wrestle JAM shows. King Shisa getting a Dream Gate shot is probably as bizarre as Iwasa.

That's what I thought. Agreed about the booking of sub-par and sub-sub-par indy "talent" if they can't find a role for Naoki, it makes very little sense. If he has to leave he needs to join the All Japan junior division purely for my benefit, though Michinoku pro or El dorado might make more sense with all his X buddies. Failing that, Big Japan do a fine line in awesome juniors matches separate from the bloody deathmatches. For example, a show I have on the way has:MEN's Teioh & Onryo vs. Yuko Miyamoto & Shinobu vs Shiori Asahi & Makoto Oishi Though that really would be slumming it for the lad. For now I'll cling onto the hope that he'll be doing some kind of part time deal, but it's unlikely.

[Spatular]

Well, shit.In all honesty I'm not going to miss Mishima all that much. He was the least-good member of the Florida Express and he couldn't wrestle seriously worth a damn. (Pre-emptive reply to forthcoming Moj fury: Oh come on. You KNOW it's true.) Sucks to be let go while injured, though.But Tanisaki... They need guys like him. He's native, he's over, he's talented, he presumably works for peanuts and there's some chance that he could have been a player someday. Dammit.

[JLM]

Hey, Toryumon fans, listen to me!

 

I am DG'ed all the way up to Infinity 45 now, so expect lengthy ramblings.

 

March 2006 PPV

 

Turbo/Antony W. mori vs King Shisa/Araken

 

Brace yourselves folks, it's a Turbo match.

 

King Shisa has new white attire and now looks like Super Shisa after many, many pies. He's still lots of fun though. Him and Araken seem to have a good understanding and hit some lovely double team stuff including a nice assisted top rope headbutt from Araken. Move of the match is Shisa's absolutely beautiful airplane spin into face crusher on Turbo.

 

Turbo really fucking sucks. I know I've seen *that* clip from the April show and have preconceptions, but he is absolutely awful. Him and Arai have an exchange on the outside and the communication problems are painfully evident. Turbo does a big exaggerated duck under a non-swing from Araken, then half-sells one of those telegraphed swings that he's meant to duck, then FINALLY ducks at the right time on the third attempt and everyone lets out a sigh of relief.

 

Then Turbo does this fancy arm drag thing up and around the ring post, but Araken clearly doesn't know what the hell he's doing until it's too late. Turbo finishes the move and pulls down onto his back. Araken then realises it was meant to be an arm drag and throws himself into a forward roll after Turbo has let go. It's one of the worst things I've ever seen on a DG show. Arai might be partly responsible, but then you don't see the language barrier ballsing up all of King Shisa's matches do you? He also does this awful shout before his big moves that gets no crowd response. He's not good.

 

Naoki Tanisaki vs Super Shisa (Brave Gate league)

 

Hooray, Shisa gets to do some more schooling. There's some nice slick wrestling on display here, with the highlight being Shisa catching a Naoki flying kick and reversing into a cross legged pinning cradle that I haven't seen before. Naoki, after being out-wrestled in the early going, fights back with his array of knee kicks and other impact offense (including a uraken~!), which makes a lot of sense. Nothing special, but a solid and watchable match.

 

Tozawa vs Naruki Doi (Brave Gate league)

 

~

 

That is for this match, the finish and the amazing bit of commentary at the end. "BIIIIIIG SAAHPURIIIIIIIIIISE!" Tozawa is fired up and determined, Doi and Shingo are cocky and cheaty, the audience loves Tozawa, and rightly so. Doi plays the complacent heel to perfection, from his smirk and swagger on the way to the ring to the gradually building frustration as he fails to put the upstart away.

 

Tozawa is such an amazing underdog, I don't see how anyone wouldn't get behind him when he performs like this, it feels like every match is the biggest of his life and that winning it would mean the world to him.

 

As a semi-interesting aside, I noticed a blonde white lady on the front row cheering on Tozawa, I think that's the first westerner I've ever seen in a Toryumon/DG audience. Post-match, Tozawa respectfully declines a Yokosuka jumper and M2K membership. Nobody knows quite what to make of this; Araken in particular cannot believe it and sells that to perfection.

 

Dragon Kid vs Masato Yoshino (Brave Gate league)

 

A decent back and forth match but nothing spectacular. Yoshino tries the Sol naciente again as this league has seen it become a favourite once again. It doesn't work, so he tries to trusty DK-beating lightning spiral. However, in a pleasing touch, Kido has a counter ready for it this time.

 

Not an inspiring first half on the whole. Tozawa's match was fun but also very short, Naoki/Shisa was solid but far from essential and Yoshino/Kid was fairly standard too. The opener... well that had Turbo in it. Still, I'm excited about this show for the main event, so if that delivers I'll be happy.

 

Interval - Classic M2K goodness

 

We start with highlights of a CMAX/M2K match from 2000 with a typical M2K unsatisfying finish and a singles squash as CIMA beats Chocoflake K-Ichi in short order. On both occasions here M2K are the heels and CIMA is face by default.

 

Then you've got his debut, and his young dragons cup win over Ryo Saito followed by his awesome winning ceremony where he lamped everyone with the trophy and ran off with Susumu.

 

Finally, the absolute awesomeness of Kanda's retirement. The absolute barrage of streamers when his name is introduced is absolutely phenomena. Then we have emotional nostalgia-fest as M2K murder Stalker with all their classic double and triple teams, decked out in their old school attire. Kanda wins with his Gekokujoh elbow drop, though these highlights don't show the teary aftermath unfortunately.

 

What this does is reinforce my requirements for the main event. It must feature classic attire, the proper M2K logo, Thee Michelle Gun Elephant music, scooters, Susumu Mochizuki and ideally a Kanda victory via Gekokujoh elbow drop. Oh, and many streamers.

 

K-Ness comes out and talks about the upcoming show that will commemorate his tenth year in wrestling, and also sets up the Stalker/X vs FloBro "Loser changes character" match. The best part of this segment for me was the look on the little K-Ness kid's face when his hero came out to the ring. They need to let him be K-Ness' mascot for a Korakuen show one of these days.

 

Ryo Saito/Genki Horiguchi vs BxB Hulk/Magnum TOKYO

 

Maraha/Issapa in a two on two match, a rare treat. Unfortunately this is a total filler match, though it does provide another star-making oppurtunity for Hulk which he grasps with both hands. Magu gets beaten down for almost the entire match, and it's down to Hulk to carry the team and ultimately secure the win. A big performance from him and an impressively humble showing from Magu assuming that this was the purpose of the match.

 

Original M2K (Susumu Mochizuki, Masaaki Mochizuki, Yasushi Kanda) w/Darkness Dragon and Chocoflake K-Ichi vs CIMA/Shingo Takagi/Don Fujii

 

M2K

 

This was a beautiful thing. From the entrances through to the finish everyone wanted, this delivered everything it promised. They entered to GWD on scooters, the match was an M2K vs CMAX style wild brawl with plenty of intrusions and BloodGen heeled it up as much as possible, singling out Kanda for prolonged beatdowns. Speaking of which, for a guy forced into early retirement by a neck injury, he certainly took a whole lot of fairly nasty bumps in the match. The closing stretch was worked to perfection, as they teased the nightmare finish (Kanda being pinned) and then gradually began to tease the dream finish (Kanda over via Gekokujoh elbow).

 

You can really see just how much M2K means to long term fans of the promotion, as many of the regulars you see at the shows were sporting Yokosuka jumpers and others were joyfully jumping up and down as Kanda scored the three count.

 

A small sour note was that Chocoflake's iron claw got no response at all, he probably should have just brought some kicks, but the fact that they made the extra effort to track him down and get him to show up deserves a lot of praise because it made the experience all the more authentic.

 

One small quibble aside then, this was nostalgia at it's finest and a fine face vs heel tag team match regardless.

 

A bit of a one match show in truth, though it was always going to be as the build up the show made it that way. The Brave Gate league matches were all perfectly watchable, and Tozawa's in particular was a lot of fun, but even these weren't of great importance as the forthcoming non-PPV matches would decide the final league standings. Still, the main event was one of my favourite matches of the year, and that's all I wanted out of this show.