wrestling / Video Reviews
Furious Flashbacks: Dragon Gate Champion Gate in Osaka (Day 1)
Image Credit: Dragon Gate
Loading...Dragon Gate Champion Gate in Osaka
28th February 2015.
Aired live on niconico.jp. This took place in the Bodymaker Colosseum #2. A building Dragon Gate has taken to running in quite often. It’s roughly the same size as Korakuen Hall and Dragon Gate light it in such a way that it doesn’t look like a gym, until you hit the low angles from ringside. This is the first show in a two night stand in Osaka. The second one featuring the farewell to Dragon Gate of WWE bound Uhaa Nation. This one boasts Akira Tozawa chasing his first Dragon Gate title.
Jimmyz (Jimmy Kanda & Jimmy Kagetora) vs. Super Shisa & Shachihoko BOY)
In case you were curious, as I was, Shachihoko is a fictional legendary animal in Japanese culture. It has the body of a carp and the head of a tiger, which explains the odd swimming gimmick. Meanwhile Shisa are a figure used to ward off evil and are a cross between lions and dogs. That’s your cultural lesson of the day. The cultural meaning of a group of guys all changing their name to Jimmy and dancing together? Not sure. This being Dragon Gate, the opener is fast-paced, back and forth, with dives and such. In other companies the opener gets the crowd going. In Dragon Gate it merely establishes the break-neck pace of the rest of the show. Shisa & Kanda have the best sequences, which is not really what I was expecting. Also Kagetora deliberately out-flips BOY, which I also wasn’t expecting. BOY surprises Kanda with a cradle for the duke. I wasn’t expecting that either! Fair opener with plenty of action but nothing that will stick in the memory.
Final Rating: **1/2
BxB Hulk vs. Mr Quu Quu Naoki Tanizaki Toyonaka Dolphin
This is a tune-up match for BxB Hulk as he’s wrestling his important match of the weekend tomorrow. He’s still the Dream Gate champion but the belt is not on the line here because it’s only Tanizaki. Hulk decides to let Tanizaki run his shtick and takes it really easy. I’m of the opinion that recent BxB Hulk matches have suffered from his weak structuring of longer matches, getting 30 minutes as champion, and psychology and selling. Here he has 7 minutes and it’s better suited to his skill set. Or it would be if he felt the need to do anything. Indeed he seems happy to let Tanizaki do all the work. Tanizaki relishes the opportunity, showing off his diverse moves. When Hulk eventually mounts a comeback with his kicks it’s the first time he’s looked awake since the match started. It’s as if BxB Hulk thought he could win without doing anything and it takes Tanizaki’s offence to wake his lazy ass up. As soon as Hulk is awake it’s only a matter of seconds before he finishes with First Flash. I was wrong about a shorter match suiting BxB Hulk as he just took his long match and condensed it down into a bad short match.
Final Rating: *1/2
Millenials (Yosuke Santa Maria & Kodoka) vs. MAD BLANKEY (Gamma & Mondai Ryu)
I’m glad Kodoka has found a home but here he’s playing second fiddle to Millenials weakest member against MAD BLANKEY’s comedy jobber Mondai and old man Gamma. He’s not really been moved up the card. As is proved by the first high spot; Gamma punting Kodoka full-on in the fork. Gamma & Santa Maria have a history where the latter tried to ‘convert’ Gamma, with sexy results. Santa Maria must have changed his mind about how attractive Gamma is because he’s positively repulsed by Gamma’s ‘long pour’ water spit. A spot he begged to take last year. Kodoka has made one major change as he’s now sporting a Junior T-Hawk hairstyle. As the Millenials are taking over YAMATO and Don Fuji run in with the Yellow Box of Doom and the match is thrown out.
Final Rating: *
With that match thrown out and everyone in the ring already we switch to this contest…
Millenials (T-Hawk, U-T, Yosuke Santa Maria & Kodoka) vs. MAD BLANKEY (YAMATO, Don Fuji, Gamma & Mondai Ryu)
YAMATO vs. T-Hawk has the makings of something very special. They’re both a level above everyone else here. The chopping alone is great. Especially when YAMATO instigates a chop duel and then runs away after the first one. YAMATO is a rarity in Japanese wrestling, a genuine top level chickenshit heel who’s still competitive. Don Fuji is in rare form too, smacking U-T around with a hidden object before tagging Ryu in by slapping him across the face. U-T brings the lucha style by flipping around and kicking people from unusual angles. He has his role in Millenials but I still miss Eita & Flamita. It’s not easy to have a stable with those guys in and suddenly not have either of them. Millenials increasingly feels like T-Hawk and his mates with those two absent. The match flies along at the typical pace with everyone looking game to put on a show. One of the great things about Dragon Gate is the sense of unity and despite the differences in ability and card position everyone is on the same page. Mondai Ryu, lacking in competence, manages to botch the hold on a YAMATO powder throw. Night Rider from T-Hawk sets the hapless Ryu up and Kodoka puts him away. This was 12 minutes of non-stop action and Kodoka got his chance to shine.
Final Rating: ***1/4
Jimmyz (Ryo Saito, Jimmy Susumu & Genki Horiguchi) vs. Monster Express (Masato Yoshino, Shingo Takagi & Uhaa Nation)
Lots of talent in this one and Uhaa working his second to last match before joining WWE. We kick off with duelling chants with the Jimmyz trying to get an “H.A.Gee Mee” chant going and the fans chanting “Yoshino”. So the Jimmyz switch to chanting “Yoshino” in an attempt at reverse psychology and that makes matters worse. Supreme crowd interaction from the men named Jimmy. Naturally the action is frantic, despite the 15 minute run time and everyone works balls to the wall. The Jimmyz spend most of the match as fodder for the quicker, stronger and more creative Monster Express. They have fun spots lined up like Yoshino using the buckle pad, the back of which is Velcro, to remove Genki’s remaining hair and Saito running in to not break a submission but rather shout support and leave. Then Uhaa takes over the elastic stretch gimmick by threatening Susumu. Uhaa is having a wonderful time in the match. Clearly enjoying his chance to do whatever he likes on his last weekend in the promotion. Saito, who’s spent the whole match on the apron shouting encouragement, finally gets tagged in to face Uhaa. After every strike he bows ands apologises. It’s funny stuff. The Dragon Gate style is a little hard to get used to when you’re seeing match after match of it but everyone in this bout is clinical and talented. I’m particularly fond of Susumu, Shingo and Yoshino. When you’ve got genuinely good talents working the Dragon Gate style it elevates it and the presence of a happy Uhaa destroying everyone makes it more joyous. Uhaa will be an interesting addition to the WWE’s roster, on NXT no doubt, as he’s got the WWE physique (he looks like a slightly smaller Bobby Lashley) but can do strongstyle and standing SSP’s. Maybe he’s going there a little too soon (he’s 27 years old, a 5 year pro) but he has all the tools to succeed. A lot will depend on how he’s packaged by the WWE but if he gets the Lashley treatment he should be fine because he’s got a good connection to the fans. I hope they don’t stick him in the New Day because he does have that positive outlook but it would be a waste.
Final Rating: ***3/4
Open the Brave Gate Championship:
Kzy (c) vs. Akira Tozawa
Kzy’s recent Dragon Gate history is so mind-numbing it could have come from the pen of Vince Russo himself. Firstly he lost his hair in the match where BxB Hulk left MAD BLANKEY and was instrumental in MAD BLANKEY’s aggression toward Hulk in the weeks that followed. Meanwhile Flamita got a bit miffed with another MAD BLANKEY guy, Punch Tominaga, pulling his mask off during a routine Brave Gate title defence and basically walked out of the promotion. The title was up for grabs in a tournament won by mysterious masked man Dr Muscle, who happened to be aligned with MAD BLANKEY. From his moveset, size and movement it was obvious that Dr Muscle was, in fact, Kzy. But this wasn’t revealed until Kzy turned on his MAD BLANKEY team-mates and jumped ship to join Dia.Hearts, the new group formed by BxB Hulk. Which rather begs the following questions; when did Kzy forgive Hulk for the hair thing? Was it a crazy rouse all along? What did Kzy gain by leaving MAD BLANKEY, a group he’d won a major title with? To me the booking was head-ache inducing. There is another strand here though and that’s Akira Tozawa. He’s never won a major singles title in Dragon Gate and recently came exceptionally close to ending BxB Hulk’s run with the Dream Gate title. This is despite Tozawa having been a big deal (ish) in Dragon Gate for the past 10 years. Is this Tozawa’s moment or yet another ‘nearly’ for the nearly-man of Dragon Gate?
Nice to see Kzy has grown enough hair to get some fake dreadlocks added. Also pleasing to see he’s not wrestling in a boiler suit anymore. Two aesthetic changes that make Kzy look better. As per usual Tozawa is keen to make an impression and work hard at busting Kzy’s ass. Kzy takes over on Tozawa’s arm and starts working it over like Akira owes him money. It’s such a vicious assault that it feels like a finish. That Tozawa’s chance has gone and he can’t possibly survive this. Akira also brings the loudest selling I’ve heard since Iron Mike Sharpe was in the WWE. Tozawa’s comeback is inevitable but he focuses on kicks and dives. Sensibly steering clear of using that bad arm. They use the arm as the basis for Tozawa not being able to hit stuff too, like a German suplex where the waistlock is easily broken by Kzy. They’re not consistent with it but it’s very effective. For the second time in the match Tozawa looks finished as he’s unable to get moves away and Kzy flattens him with strikes. It’s the second really smartly worked match I’ve seen in Dragon Gate recently. It makes me hopeful they can do more of this as something to break up their crazy 6-man tags and spotfests. They’re great at those but you need variety on any show. As the match builds they start duelling on strikes and the timing on the spots is superb. To the point where I start to wonder if that’s really Kzy. Insane near falls sequence as they head down the stretch with both guys looking like they’ve got the match won only for a ridiculously late kick-out to stop the count. The crowd are seriously into everything they do, apart from the subtle stuff where Tozawa can’t use his injured arm. That’s the part I’m into. Tozawa ends up grabbing his own arm to complete a German suplex and Kzy stays down. This got seriously hot down the stretch but it was a smartly worked contest and an emotional moment for the injured Tozawa, finally winning the big one and doing it the hard way, almost ten years to the day since his Dragon Gate debut.
Final Rating: ****1/4
Post Match: Everyone is hanging out having a good time, celebrating the whole Tozawa title win until…Flamita walks out here. Not only is he back, he’s back in Millenials and he wants his title back, the one he never lost. The one Akira Tozawa has around his waist. Mondai Ryu disputes this, runs in and Flamita hits him with the Spanish Fly. 1-2-3! Impromptu match, impromptu victory. Tozawa vs. Flamita should be good.
Open the Triangle Gate:
Dia.Hearts (Masaaki Mochizuki, Dragon Kid & Big R Shimizu) (c) vs. MAD BLANKEY (Naruki Doi, CIMA & Cyber Kong)
After the energy-sapping conclusion of Tozawa-Kzy I’m not sure I’m ready for another big title match. Trios matches need a good balance and Dia.Hearts have it perfectly here. Their team is a striker, a flier and a powerhouse. Plus Mochizuki is no slouch on the mat. As a unit, they’re lacking nothing. MAD BLANKEY’s counterpoint to the perfect trio is that they’re all assholes and they’re going to cheat. Big R vs. Cyber Kong has a touch of the Big Japan about it, with two slabs of meat running into each other. I don’t know how long either would last working for Big Japan but that’s the style they go for. It’s Doi who kicks off the MAD BLANKEY cheating element with a low blow mule kick to Mochizuki. I get quite bored with heel groups because there are so, so many of them in Japan (from Desperado in Wrestle-1 to Bullet Club to Cho Kibou-gun in NOAH to Suzuki-gun). There are way too many gangs and MAD BLANKEY feels like yet another one of them. Everyone else in Dragon Gate is with a group but the cheating is limited. MAD BLANKEY are just dicks and that act is fairly stale as it’s being done everywhere at the moment. To be fair to MAD BLANKEY they’re easily the most entertaining heel group in Japan but their shtick is still getting a bit old.
The match gets old in a hurry too with MAD BLANKEY working heat on Mochizuki for a while, with no real sense of direction and then Dragon Kid for more of the same. A marked contrast to Kzy’s focus in trying to break Tozawa’s arm in the last match. It is nice watching CIMA make up new submission holds, on the fly by the looks of it, to torture poor little Dragon Kid but that’s about the height of the entertainment stakes. Naturally it’s Big R who gets the hot tag as his whole routine is cleaning house. With powerful forearms rather than a vacuum cleaner and a brillo pad. The great thing about Big R is he knows his limitations as a worker and what makes him special. This is ably demonstrated with him being beckoned to hit a dive, something he doesn’t do, and as a result he falls off the top and crotches himself. It’s great storytelling because everyone in Dragon Gate does dives. Big R made a point of making himself different. Also, when he does hit a dive the reaction is going to be huge if they keep teasing it. The stretch is predictably frantic with a bunch of moves coming thick and fast. It’s the kind of thing you only see in Dragon Gate and they always make it look so effortless. Like a series of kicks in the corner by Dia.Hearts before Mochizuki casually throws Doi onto the ropes and there’s Dragon Kid with the 619. Effortless and it leads right into another sequence. Everything does in the last 5 minutes. One sequence leads into another, all clean as a whistle. The stretches in Dragon Gate matches are so wildly entertaining they’re enough to make me forget about any imperfections earlier in the match. Here Big R bosses matters once again, hitting a swank sitout powerbomb, that Cyber Kong mistimed the jump on making it all the more impressive and the Shot-Put Slam on CIMA, which finishes! Big R Shimizu is having one hell of a year and it’s only March!
Final Rating: ***3/4
Post Match: the MAD BLANKEY self destruction kicks in as Doi shoves CIMA over for losing the fall. Could this be the end? Or is this what happens when a bunch of jerks team up and lose?
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