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Best of the Month – February 2016 Part One
Loading...Best of February 2016 – Part One
Losing Unit Must Disband Elimination Match- Monster Express (Akira Tozawa, Masato Yoshino, T-Hawk, and Shachihoko BOY) vs. Dia.Hearts (Masaaki Mochizuki, Dragon Kid, Kzy, and Big R. Shimizu) vs. Verserk (Shingo Takagi, Naruki Doi, YAMATO, and Kotoka) – Dragon Gate: Open the Truth Gate 2-4
Everyone brawls to start and YAMATO officially starts with Kid. YAMATO chokes Kid with his boot in the corner and Doi goes for a chop but misses and nails his partner. Springboard hurricanrana by Kid and Big R tags in. Big R overpowers members of Verserk and he hits a double Samoan Drop!!! Shingo overpowers members of the Monster Express but Tozawa hits a big boot knocking him to the floor. Suicide dive to the floor by Tozawa. Spin kick by Mochizuki to Kotoka and he hits a high kick for 3. Kotoka is eliminated.
Brainbuster to Boy by Mochizuki gets 2 as a bunch of people break it up!!! Rapid chops by Tozawa to Mochizuki and he throws punches at everyone!!!! A chain of chin locks begins but Kzy makes the ropes to break everything up. Tag to T-Hawk and he hits a delayed suplex for 2. Tag to YAMATO and he slams Kzy. Springboard stomp into a back senton by Doi and YAMATO gets 2. Shingo goes for a power bomb but Kzy backdrops out for 2. YAMATO and Doi wish bone Tozawa and he begins to trade blows with Shino. DVD by Shingo and Doi hits an assisted summersault senton for 2. Tozawa catches Shingo with a Saito suplex and he hits a big boot on YAMATO. Tag to Yoshino and he hits Sling Blade on Doi. Suplex on Shingo and he and T-Haw hit stereo suicide dives onto Verserk. Bermuda Triangle by Kid!!! It’s a parade of dives!!! SUMMERSAULT PLANCHA BY MOCHIZUKI!!!! Back in, Big R hits an avalanche on T-Hawk in the corner and Shingo fires away in the corner. Big R trucks Shingo and T-Hawk catches him with a sit-out spine buster for 2 as Kzy breaks. Splash Mountain to Kzy gets 2. Yoshino hits the shot gun dropkick on YAMATO and hits the Blue Thunder Bomb on Big R. Missile dropkick/back senton combo by Yoshino do Shingo and Big R. Mochizuki hits the springboard kick to the back of T-Hawk and Big R hits a chokeslam for 3!!! T-Hawk is eliminated.
Tozawa catches Big R with a German suplex into the corner!!! Springboard dropkick by Mochizuki to Tozawa but Tozawa catches him with a German suplex for 3!!! Masaaki Mochizuki is eliminated.
Verserk charge at Boy in the corner and YAMATO catches him with an enzuigiri. Brainbuster by YAMATO gets 2 as Monster Express save. Lariat by Shingo gets 2. Wheelbarrow roll-up by Boy gets 2!!! M9 BY BOY GETS 3!!!! Shingo Takagi is eliminated!!!!
Boy goes for M9 on Doi but Doi rolls through for 3!!! Shachihoko Boy is eliminated.
Dia.Hearts charge at YAMATO in the corner and Kid hits a tilt-a-whirl DDT for 2. Sky High by Big R gets 2 as Doi saves. Reverse DDT to Kzy gets 2. Doi goes up but Dia.Hearts stops him and Kzy follows up. He holds Doi up as Kid attempts the super Frankensteiner but Doi counters with a power bomb!!! Doi 55 followed by the Bakatare Sliding Kick gets 2 as Big R saves. Yoshino catches Big R with a DDT and Kzy catches him with the standing Blockbuster. Shining Wizard by Tozawa to Kzy. Release German suplex to YAMATO and Kid hits the Ultra Hurricanrana for 2 as Doi kicks him, allowing YAMATO to roll through for 3!!! Dragon Kid is eliminated.
Double suplex by Big R to Verserk. Running uppercut by Kzy to Tozawa but Yoshino catches him with a release back suplex. Yoshino counters a choke slam attempt into an arm drag and he counters a second one into a hurricanerana on Big R for 3!!! Big R. Shimizu is eliminated.
Kzy goes up but Tozawa follows up. Superplex by Tozawa and he trades blows with Kzy. Upepr cut by Kzy and he hits the Canadian Destroyer. Fireman’s carry roll-up by Kzy gets 3!!! Akira Tozawa is eliminated.
Yoshino and YAMATO trade chops and Yoshino catches him with a lariat. From Jungle by Yoshino and he grabs Sol Naciente. Doi breaks it up and he hits a basement dropkick. YAMATO and Kzy trade blows and YAMATO catches him with Gallarea for 2!!! Sleeper by YAMATO and he hits the Sleeper Suplex. Bakatare Sliding Kick by Doi and YAMATO hits Gallrea for 3!!! Dia.Hearts must disband!!!
Winners- Verserk and Monster Express ****1/ 2 ( This is as well executed an elimination match as you will ever see. Once the first elimination occurred, this match was absolutely nuts. The little stories of the match were incredible, the upset elimination of Shingo, the dominance of Doi and YAMATO, and the beautiful underdog story of Kzy at the finish were just a joy to watch. My only pet peeve here was that at the finish Masato Yoshino was also left alone so there should have been some drama on his survival as well but the idea of going with the safe bet and finish off Kzy worked well enough. This is a representation of how great Dragon Gate is in their biggest moments and this is probably the best match of all of February. )
Drew Galloway vs. Kurt Angle from Impact Wrestling 2-9
Feeling out process and Galloway begins to work the arm of Angle. Angle breaks with a back suplex and he goes to the chin lock. Galloway fights out and Angle catches him with a back elbow before going back to the chin lock. Galloway fights out again and they clothesline each other as we go to break.
Back and Galloway leaps off the top but Angle catches him in the Ankle Lock. Galloway rolls out of it and catches Angle with the Future Shock for 2. Galloway clotheslines Angle to the floor and he throws some chops on the floor. Galloway drops Angle on the railings and Angle catches Galloway with an Angle Slam onto the steps!!!! Angle hits the Angle Slam for 2!!! Jaw breaker by Galloway and he hits an inverted Alabama Slam for 2. Galloway puts Angle on top and catches him with an Air Raid Crash off the top for 2!!! Release German suplex by Angle and he goes for the Angle Slam but Galloway arm drags out. Clayborne by Galloway and he hits a second one for 2!!! Second rope Clayborne misses and Angle hits the rolling German suplexes. Angle Slam by Angle and he goes up. Flying Splash by Angle gets 2. Ankle Lock by Angle but Galloway kicks him away to break. He sends Angle shoulder first into the post and he hits the Clayborne again for 2!!! Crossface by Galloway but Angle rolls out into the Ankle Lock!!! Galloway escapes and goes back to the Crossface. Angle taps!!!
Winner- Drew Galloway ***3/4 ( Everything after the commercial break was top notch stuff. It’s amazing that Angle is a still a machine after all these years, just going blow for blow with Galloway and not losing a step. It was a condensed version of a typical Angle epic match where if it was more spaced out it could have been a classic. Still as good a match as you will see on Impact and a huge win for Galloway as he continues to impress with just how good he has gotten since leaving WWE. )
AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho from Smackdown 2-11
Jericho controls Styles in the early going and Styles catches him with a dropkick. Snap suplex by Styles and he catches Jericho with a hurricanrana off his back. Jericho catches Styles with a chop and he sling shots Styles in the ropes. Suplex by Jericho and he throws some chops. Springboard dropkick knocks Styles off the apron as we go to break.
Back and Jericho has Styles in a chin lock. Styles fights out and Jericho catches Styles with a back elbow. Styles blocks a bulldog, sending Jericho crashing into the turnbuckle. Styles fires away and he hits a basement forearm for 2. Knee drop misses and Jericho hits a basement dropkick for 2. Corner clothesline by Jericho and he goes up. Styles stops him and he catches Jericho with a Pele, bringing him down to the mat for 2. Butterfly back breaker by Jericho gets 2. Styles blocks the Walls of Jericho and he throws some strikes. Jericho cuts him off with an enzuigiri for 2. Jericho goes up and leaps but Styles catches him with a dropkick on the way down. Styles misses a dropkick and Jericho hits the Lionsault for 2!!! DVD back breaker by Styles gets 2. Jericho blocks the Styles Clash and he grabs the Walls of Jericho. Styles is able to fight out and he catches Jericho in the Calf Crusher. Jericho makes the ropes to break!!! Baseball slide by Styles knocks Jericho to the floor. Slingshot pescado to the floor by Styles. Back in, Styles goes to springboard but Jericho cuts him off, sending Styles crashing to the mat. Codebreaker by Jericho gets 3!!!
Winner- Chris Jericho ***1/2 ( Very good match as you had the big fight atmosphere and they seemed more comfortable with one another in their second meeting. This was a well paced, back and forth match and it set the stage for their finale at Fast Lane. )
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship- Young Bucks (Matt and Nick Jackson) w/Cody Hall © vs. reDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly and Bobby Fish) vs. Ricochet and Matt Sydal from NJPW New Beginnings in Osaka
Matt and Ricochet start. Dropkick by Ricochet knocks Matt to the floor. Hall trips up Ricochet and O’Reilly tags in. O’Reilly throws some strikes and he sweeps the legs of Ricochet for 1. Tag to Fish and he hits a Hilo for 2. Tag to O’Reilly and Ricochet catches him with a spinning enzuigiri. Tag to Sydal and they hit stereo basement dropkicks for 1. O’Reilly backdrops Ricochet onto the Bucks on the floor. Summersault plancha from the apron by Fish!!! Nick dropkicks Sydal off the apron and Matt slingshot dropkicks Ricochet. Back in, the Bucks work over Sydal in the corner and they hit the gut buster/swinging neck breaker combo on Sydal. Kicks to the leg by Sydal and he catches Nick with a high kick. Flatliner/standing leg drop combo by Sydal on the Bucks. Hall takes Ricochet off the apron to prevent a tag and Nick goes for a super kick but misses and nails Matt!!! Tag to Fish and he catches Nick with an exploder suplex into the corner. reDRagon charge at Matt in the corner and they hit a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker/knee dromp combo. Super kick by Nick to Fish but Ricochet catches him with a springboard clotheslines. Dropkick to Matt by Ricochet and he hits a neck breaker on Fish that causes him to DDT O’Reilly. Standing SSP/moonsault by Sydal and Ricochet gets 2 as Matt saves. Rolling elbow into a Saito suplex to Sydal by reDRagon and O’Reilly hits the rolling butterfly suplexes on Ricochet. Mule kick/wheelbarrow suplex combo by reDRagon gets 2!!! reDRagon go up and miss diving head butts. The Bucks go up for 450 splashes but they eat knees!!! Sydal and Ricochet go up and miss Shooting Star Presses off the top!!!! Fish and Nick go up but Sydal and Ricochet catch them for the TOWER OF DOOM~!!!! Standing SSP to Nick by Ricochet gets 2. Sydal and Matt go up and Sydal misses the Frankensteiner, crashing on the top turnbuckle!!!! They catch Ricochet with a springboard super kick and they power bomb Ricochet into Sydal in the corner!!! Nick goes up and hits a double Swanton Bomb onto Sydla and Ricochet for 2 as O’Reilly saves!!! O’Reilly throws strikes at the Bucks and Hall prevents O’Reilly from hitting the Jawbreaker Lariat and HE CARRIES O’REILLY ALL THE WAY TO THE BACK!!!! Double hurricanrana by Sydal to the Bucks but they come back with a double super kick. Indytaker to Sydal gets 2 as Ricochet saves!!! Ricochet prevents More Bang For Your Buck and he hits the Benedryller onto Nick. Sydal and Ricochet go up and they hit stereo Shooting Star Presses for 3!!!
Winners and NEW IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions- Ricochet and Matt Sydal ***3/4 (The multi-team junior matches have finally run their course. The matches are incredibly fun but it’s hard to get behind and get yourself emotionally invested in each of these teams when their no central story being told. These are tremendous highlight reel matches and the stuff they did in this match was amazing but the matches are starting to run together and it’s time to freshen things up with standard tag matches again. )
NEVER Openweight Championship- Katsuyori Shibata © vs. Tomohiro Ishii from NJPW New Beginnings in Osaka
Hard forearms by Shibata and Ishii overpowers him to come back. Big boot by Shibata and we reach a stalemate. They trade blows for AWHILE and Shibata throws a kick to the back to finish that exchange. Suplex by Ishii and he allows Shibata to hit one of his own. They continue to trade suplexes and Ishii wins that fights. He fires away at Shibata in the corner and he hits a corner lariat. Ishii throws some chops and he throws some face washes in the corner. Forearms by Ishii but only fires up Shibata. Hard forearm and a chop by Shibata IN THE THROAT!!!! Yakuza kick by Shibata and he throws some face washes at Ishii. Basement dropkick in the corner by Shibata and he connects with a second one. Butterfly suplex by Shibata gets 2. He throws some boots at Ishii and Ishii fires back with some lariats. Ishii DRILLS Shibata with the lariat to win that exchange. Ishii puts Shibata on top and follows up. Superplex by Ishii gets 2. Powerbomb by Ishii gets 2 and Shibata catches Ishii in the Triangle Choke. Ishii gets his foot on the ropes to break. Shibata throws more forearms and he hits a DVD. Release German suplex by Shibata and he hits the Sick Kick for 2!!! Sleeper by Shibata but Ishii makes the ropes to break. He catches Shibata with an enzuigiri and both men are down. They trade blows and Ishii drills Shibata for another exchange victory. Lariat by Ishii but Shibata pops back up!!! Release German suplex by Ishii and he hits another lariat for 2!!! Battery ram head butts by Ishii and he hits the Sliding D for 2!!! Shibata goes for a cross arm breaker but Ishii attempts to block. Shibata fully locks it in but Ishii makes the ropes to break!!! Back elbow by Ishii and Shibata CREAMS Ishii with a back fist!!! Ishii blocks the PK Kick and throws a head butt. Dropkick by Shibata and both men are down again!!! Ishii peppers Shibata with forearms and they trade SICK slaps. Sleeper by Shibata and he releases in order to hit the PK Kick for 3!!!!
Winner and Still NEVER Openweight Champion- Katsuyori Shibata ****1/2 ( This is becoming one of the most underrated feuds in all of wrestling. I’ve never seen these two have anything less than incredible matches and they are always different. Here, Tomohiro Ishii made it his mission to prove he was the better strike and he won almost all of their striking exchanges. However, Shibata won the match on stamina, withstanding the onslaught of Ishii and when Ishii didn’t have much left in the tank, Shibata went all in and took care of business. )
IWGP Heavyweight Championship- Kazuchika Okada © vs. Hirooki Goto from NJPW New Beginnings in Osaka
Goto catches Okada in a chin lock but Okada backs him to the ropes to force a break. Goto punds away and Okada bails. Back in, Okada knocks Goto off the apron with a springboard dropkick and back in, Okada slams Goto. Hilo by Okada gets 2. Goto catches Okada with a lariat and he hits a corner lariat, forcing Okada to bail again. Goto sends Okada into the railings and back in, Goto goes up. Flying elbow drop by Goto and he throws some forearms at Okada in the corner. Goto overpowers Okada and he grabs a chin lock. Okada fights out and Goto catches him with a kick to the chest for 2. Delayed suplex by Goto gets 2. Okada misses a charge in the corner and he catches Goto with a flapjack to come back. Okada knocks Goto down with a big boot and he hits a DDT. Basement uppercut by Okada gets 2. Slam by Okada and he goes up. Goto moves out of the way of a leaping Okada and he hits a corner lariat. Kicks to the chest by Goto and he hits a spinning heel kick. Saito suplex by Goto gets 2. Goto pulls Okada’s hair, driving him into the knee of Goto for 2. Air Raid back breaker by Okada and both men are down. They trade blows and Okada catches him with an uppercut. DVD by Okada gets 2. Basement dropkicks by Okada get 2. Okada goes up and hits a missile dropkick for 2. Okada goes up and hits the flying elbow drop. Goto blocks the Rainmaker and he catches Okada in the Shoryu Kekkai. Okada catches him in a cradle for 2 to break. DVD back breaker by Goto and he goes back to the Shoryu Kekkai. Okada makes the ropes to break. Goto throws some kicks at Okada and he hits Ura Shouten for 2. Northern lariat in the corner by Goto and he puts Okada on top. He follows up and HITS A SUPER DVD BACK BREAKER FOR 2!!!! Okada tries to roll through Shouten Kai but Goto holds on and connects with the move for 2 as Okada grabs the rope to break!!! Okada catches Goto with the Rainmaker and both men are down!!! They trade blows and Okada throws some uppercuts. Discus lariat misses and Okada catches Goto with the German suplex. Dropkick by Okada and he goes for the Rainmaker but Goto blocks with a head butt. A second one by Goto and they trade counters until Okada hits the Rainmaker. A second one by Okada!!! He hits a third for 3!!!
Winner and Still IWGP Heavyweight Champion- Kazuchika Okada **** ( This match has gotten mixed reviews but I’m part of the camp that loves it. Yeah, Goto didn’t take this to another level like most do in New Japan main events but I still thought he did a good job and by the tail end of the match was finally getting the crowd to believe he might pull this off. The little details here were incredible like Okada needing to grab the rope to save himself after the Shouten Kai and the fact that he still needed to hit three Rainmakers to put Goto away. It puts Goto over a strong contender and it’s something they can play off of in a rematch, so I really dug this match. )
