The Independent Mid-Card 03.25.08: Doi & Yoshino vs. Shingo & Hulk

Hello everyone. Welcome back to another week of The Independent Mid-Card. This week, with Ring of Honor’s annual Wrestlemania weekend shows looming, it seems high time that the IMC delve into the incredible world of the Japanese Independent scene. Since beginning the tradition in 2006, ROH has brought talent from Japan’s Dragon Gate promotion over for what has become an annual series of show-stealing affairs. 2006’s Six-Man Tag Team Match between the Blood Generation and Do FIXER factions finished high on essentially every Match of the Year list and 2007’s shows featured a highly-regarded match pitting four of Dragon Gate’s best against a team representing Ring of Honor. This year, Dragon Gate will send eight representatives to Ring of Honor’s events in Orlando, with both new and familiar faces taking part in some potentially legendary matchups. This week, we’ll take our first look at Dragon Gate, more specifically looking at a match that currently ranks as my Match of the Year for 2008. Join me as we head to the Land of the Rising Sun in this week’s IMC.

Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino © vs. Shingo Takagi & BxB Hulk
GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Title Match
Dragon Gate – Infinity #77 – Tokyo, Japan – January 15, 2008

The Wrestlers:
Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino – Former members of the Blood Generation faction, Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino are currently two of the key members of the Muscle Outlaw’z (often abbreviated as MO’z) group in Dragon Gate. The duo, known collectively as Speed Muscle, is one of the top teams in the company, having held a variety of titles together, including having upset Pro Wrestling NOAH’s Ricky Marvin & Kotaro Suzuki to win that company’s GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles. Having brought NOAH’s belts back to Dragon Gate, the titles became another bone of contention in the ongoing and vast three-way war between the MO’z and rival factions Typhoon and New Hazard. Heading into this defense, Speed Muscle had already made one successful defense of the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles, defeating Yoshinobu Kanemaru & Atsushi Aoki to hold on to the straps in late-December of 2007.

Shingo Takagi & BxB Hulk – Though Shingo Takagi is probably best known to American fans for his extended tour with Ring of Honor in 2006-07 (then wrestling simply as ‘Shingo’), he has found even more success since returning to his home promotion. The first graduate of Dragon Gate’s own dojo, Shingo was joined by BxB Hulk, Cyber Kong and YAMATO when he stuck out on his own to form the New Hazard faction. The group immediately became the third element in Dragon Gate’s three-way faction war, with Hulk having left Typhoon to join the group and Kong having turned on the MO’z. Given the massive amount of friction between the two groups, Shingo & Hulk were logical early challengers to any belts held by Doi & Yoshino. As an aside, BxB Hulk’s name is pronounced ‘B. B. Hulk’, with the ‘x’ serving as a placeholder.

The Match:
A quick note before we start: Dragon Gate footage, other than what is shown on the company’s Pay-Per-Views, is almost always clipped down. I will include both the full and clipped match times at the end of the play-by-play.

We begin with a video package highlighting Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino defeating Ricky Marvin & Kotaro Suzuki to win the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles. Speed Muscle then cuts a backstage promo where they are interrupted by New Hazard’s Shingo Takagi & BxB Hulk, who presumably ask for a title shot. I say presumably because this is all happening in Japanese. We then get a quick introduction of the four men set to Duel of the Fates, the theme music from “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace”. The footage then cuts right to the opening bell.

Yoshino and Hulk start. The two slowly circle and then tentatively grab a knucklelock. Yoshino jockeys for position and grabs a waistlock before tripping Hulk to the mat and segueing into a front facelock. Hulk reverses to a facelock of his own, but Yoshino works back to his feet. Yoshino counters to a wristlock, so Hulk cartwheels out of it and takes Yoshino over with an armdrag. Yoshino gets tripped down to the mat when he comes running, but Hulk rolls him back to his feet only to get tripped up himself. Hulk pushes Yoshino off of him and the two men stare each other down at a stalemate.

Yoshino fakes out hitting Shingo on the apron, but eventually both he and Hulk retreat to their corners and tag in Doi and Shingo respectively. Both men charge, only to have Shingo duck Doi’s clothesline attempt. Shingo gets a knee to the gut, but Doi reverses an Irish whip and they go into a leapfrog sequence. Shingo catches Doi in a fireman’s carry and drops him with a TKO (fireman’s carry into an Ace Crusher) much to the delight of the crowd. Shingo makes the cover for two and then grabs a front facelock after the kickout. Shingo works the hold into a wristlock and moves over to tag in Hulk.

Hulk kicks Doi in the arm and then strikes him into the corner. Hulk hits a flipping dropkick and then stomps Doi in the corner before choking him with his boot. Hulk then stupidly turns his back on Doi, who pops out of the corner and hits him with a kick to the back of the knee and a clubbing forearm. The two men exchange strikes until Doi rakes the eyes to get the advantage. Doi gets in a kick to the head before locking Hulk in the ropes and slapping away at his chest. Doi then comes off the ropes with a running dropkick to the chest. Doi locks in a wristlock and tags out to Yoshino.

Yoshino climbs right to the top and comes in with a double axehandle to Hulk’s arm. He follows up with a clubbing forearm to the back and a standing double axehandle. Doi comes back in and Speed Muscle whips Hulk off the ropes. Doi catches him with a spinebuster and then Yoshino springboards into a legdrop, with Doi immediately turning Hulk over into a Boston Crab. Yoshino then comes running off the ropes and dropkicks Hulk in the groin. Yoshino mocks the injury while looking at Shingo but then helpfully notes for the referee that he actually kicked Hulk in the inner thigh. Riiiiiight. Yoshino continues to stomp away at Hulk on the mat before picking him up and setting up for a suplex. Hulk goes deadweight to block and forces Yoshino to the corner where Shingo tags himself in.

Shingo strikes away in the corner before snapmaring Yoshino to the mat and rubbing a forearm in his face. Shingo follows up with a jumping kneedrop to the throat that gets two when Doi breaks things up. Shingo locks in a crossface, but after a bit of struggling Yoshino is able to make it to the ropes. Shingo then uses the ropes to assist him in standing on Yoshino’s head, stopping only when prompted to do so by the referee. Shingo gets in a stomp and a couple of straight right hands before Yoshino is able to respond with a chop. He loses that battle, however, as Shingo retaliates by chopping him so hard that it sends him flying backwards into the corner. Shingo calls for Hulk’s help on a double team and they whip Yoshino cross-corner. Yoshino is able to slingshot Hulk over the top to the apron on the blind charge, and is even able to avoid Shingo’s charge by ducking a clothesline and grabbing a waistlock, but Shingo reverses to one of his own and sends Yoshino into the corner where he is met by a spin kick from Hulk. Hulk tries to follow up by springboarding in, but Yoshino pushes him off the top rope and he splats on the outside in a nasty bump. Shingo takes back the advantage by hitting a clubbing blow to the back, but Yoshino is able to reverse a whip off the ropes. Shingo catches Yoshino in a bearhug on a leapfrog attempt and goes to suplex him from that position, but Yoshino shifts his weight and eventually takes Shingo over the other way with a vertical suplex. Yoshino then makes his way to his corner and tags in Doi.

Doi runs right over to the New Hazard corner and knocks Hulk down to ringside, but then Shingo ducks his clothesline attempt and catches him with a series of left jabs and a Mongolian chop. Doi gets whipped off the ropes, but rebounds with a flying cross chop. Shingo reverses a cross-corner whip, then he runs into a boot on the blind charge. Doi comes off the ropes but a shoulderblock ends in a stalemate. Shingo comes running, but Doi hotshots him onto the top rope and hits a DDT for two. Doi then comes running cross-corner with a back elbow, but Shingo catches him and hits an overhead uranage suplex for two. Doi then reverses a whip into the New Hazard corner, but runs into a boot on the blind charge and Hulk gets tagged in.

Hulk flies right in with a beautiful springboard leg lariat. Hulk then follows up with a series of knee strikes, but can’t get Doi up for a suplex. Doi strikes his way out and comes off the ropes only to have Hulk try to roll him up for a backslide. The two men trade standing switches for a bit until Doi goes for a German suplex, only to have Hulk flip out of it and land on his feet. Hulk then immediately hits a standing shooting star press for two. Hulk goes for the E.V.O. (pumphandle into a sitout side powerslam), but Doi elbows out of it. Doi goes off the ropes, so Hulk tries to flip forward to close the gap, but Doi catches him on a hurricanrana attempt and plants him with a powerbomb. Doi then rolls right over to his corner and tags in Yoshino.

Yoshino forces Hulk to the corner, but Hulk is able to reverse a cross-corner whip. Yoshino hops over him on the blind charge, however, and comes off the ropes right into the Sling Blade (twisting inverted bulldog) for two. Yoshino then goes for an Irish whip, but Hulk cartwheels out of it and hits him with a spinning back kick. Yoshino is able to return the favor from moments earlier and reverse a cross-corner whip, but Hulk slips out to the apron and Yoshino runs into the turnbuckle on the charge. Hulk then hits him with a forearm shot from the apron and slingshots over the top into a springboard dropkick attempt, only to have Yoshino sidestep him, sending him crashing to the mat. Doi then comes running in to knock Shingo off the apron so that the MO’z can execute some double team maneuvers on Hulk.

They whip Hulk cross-corner and Doi follows him in with a running back elbow. Yoshino immediately follows by springing off Doi’s back into another running elbow strike. Doi then slams Hulk to the mat and catches Shingo coming in, holding him in position so that Yoshino can come off the top with a dropkick to Shingo before landing on Hulk with a senton. Very nice spot there. Yoshino covers Hulk, but only gets two. Yoshino begins a striking combination on Hulk, but Hulk cartwheels away to avoid a slap. Yoshino catches a kick attempt, but when he swings Hulk’s leg away, Hulk goes with the momentum and pastes him in the face with a dragon whip kick. Hulk then goes for the E.V.O., but Yoshino is able to slip out of it. Hulk is able to apply a waistlock, but when Shingo comes running, Yoshino ducks out of the way and Shingo ends up accidentally hitting Hulk with a clothesline.

Yoshino then quickly pushes Shingo out of the ring, allowing Doi to hit Hulk with the Doi 555 (fireman’s carry into a facebuster). Doi comes running with the Bakatare Sliding Kick (high speed running dropkick to the face on a kneeling opponent), but Hulk rolls out of the way to avoid it, only to have Yoshino run in and plant him with a Torbellino (flying headscissors into a high speed face and arm buster). Yoshino then quickly locks in the Sol Naciente (cross-arm triangle choke) and Hulk looks to be in trouble. Shingo comes in, but a strike to Yoshino doesn’t break the hold and Doi quickly pushes him out to the apron. Shingo recovers, however, by hoisting Doi up into a fireman’s carry and hitting him with a Death Valley Driver on the apron. Shingo rolls back in and just starts peppering Yoshino in the face with forearm strikes until he finally releases the hold.

Doi is pretty out of it at ringside, but in the ring Yoshino takes advantage of the situation by coming off the ropes and locking in From Jungle (headscissors into an octopus hold) on Shingo. Shingo works his way out of it and goes to hoist Yoshino up for a powerbomb, but the Muscle Outlaw rolls through and takes Shingo over with a sunset flip for two. Yoshino comes off the ropes again, but this time Shingo catches him in a fireman’s carry before planting him with a spinebuster. Hulk then comes in and finally hits the E.V.O. successfully, leading right into Shingo lifting Yoshino into another fireman’s carry. Somehow, Yoshino is able to shift his weight and take Shingo over into a crucifix cradle for two. When Shingo comes off the ropes, Yoshino is able to avoid a lariat by chopping the big man in the arm, but Shingo just shrugs it off and absolutely destroys Yoshino with a short-arm lariat. Shingo then hits the Original Falconry (wrist-clutch Angle Slam) for a close two-count.

Hulk comes in and slams Yoshino to the mat before climbing to the top, but Doi comes running in from the outside and cuts Hulk off on the top rope before taking him over with a crazy second-rope German suplex that sends Hulk rolling all the way to the floor. Doi runs back to his corner and waits for the tag from Yoshino. Yoshino struggles towards Doi, but Shingo runs over and knocks Doi down before attending to Yoshino. Yoshino is able to work his way into a waistlock on Shingo and then hits him with Another Space (hammerlock into a side Blue Thunder Driver). Yoshino then slowly makes his way over to Doi and makes the tag.

Doi comes running in with the Dai Bosou! (running somersault senton to an opponent sitting in the corner) and then goes to hoist Shingo up for the Doi 555. Shingo isn’t having it, so Doi hits him with a hard slap to the face and then gets him up into the fireman’s carry. He walks over towards the corner allowing Yoshino to come off the top with a dropkick to Shingo’s head before dropping him to the mat with the Doi 555. Yoshino then drapes Shingo’s legs over the middle rope and holds him aloft so that Doi can come off the top rope with a somersault senton that drives the New Hazard leader into the canvas. Yoshino then sets up for the Lightning Spiral (head and leg hook swinging neckbreaker drop), but Shingo counters out of it, only to have Yoshino counter back and hit the move for real. Doi immediately comes running with the Bakatare Sliding Kick, but Hulk breaks up the pinfall at the last second.

Yoshino climbs to the top, but Hulk cuts him off. Shingo climbs up after Yoshino and seems to be setting up for a gutwrench superplex, but Doi knocks Hulk to ringside and begins to go to work on Shingo. Doi gets Shingo up in powerbomb position and Yoshino springboards in for a Doomsday Sling Blade that gets another close two count for Doi. Hulk is back in and he and Doi begin a long slap exchange until Doi hits a kick to the midsection and comes off the ropes. Hulk hits the Mouse (counter backflip kick to a running opponent), but Doi ducks the subsequent clothesline attempt and catches Hulk coming off the ropes with a back elbow. Unfortunately for Doi, he then turns around right into a running lariat from Shingo. Shingo then hoists Doi onto his shoulders and Hulk springboards in from the apron with a Doomsday Leg Lariat that gets Shingo a two count. Hulk then immediately hits Doi with a kicking combination and the E.V.O.P. (vertical suplex into a sitout side powerslam) which leads right into Shingo hitting Doi with the Blood Fall (inverted fireman’s carry into a sitout facebuster) that gets two when Yoshino dives in to break up the pin at the last possible moment.

Shingo puts Yoshino on the top turnbuckle and looks to set up for a crucifix powerbomb out of the corner, but Yoshino strikes his way out of it. Yoshino then comes down with a levitation dropkick to the chest that ends up working a lot like a double stomp. Doi gets Shingo up for the Doi 555 again and climbs up to the second rope while Yoshino slingshots Hulk over the top rope to ringside. Yoshino takes out Hulk with a suicide dive while Doi hits Shingo with the Avalanche Doi 555, and then Doi follows up with another Bakatare Sliding Kick for an absurdly close two count. Doi sets up for the Muscular Bomb (wheelbarrow suplex into a high-angle belly-to-belly piledriver), but Shingo counters it into the Last Falconry (wrist clutch fireman’s carry into a Michinoku Driver II) for a two count of his own that Yoshino is forced to break up at the last second.

Yoshino hits Shingo with a strike combination but Shingo avoids the Torbellino and plants Yoshino with a backdrop driver. Hulk then comes in and hits Yoshino with a spinning back kick before hitting him with the FTX (wrist clutch sitout side powerslam), sending him rolling out to ringside. Shingo then hits Doi with a running clothesline in the corner and then heads up to the second rope with Doi in tow. Shingo hits an Avalanche Original Falconry, but it still only gets two. Shingo absolutely murders Doi with a running lariat, but Doi no-sells and pops right back to his feet. Shingo tries to go off the ropes for another lariat, but Doi counters right into the V9 Clutch (modified leg hook backslide cradle) for another close two count. Shingo ducks a clothesline and comes off the ropes with the Pumping Bomber (high-impact pumping lariat) for yet another nearfall and then finally gets the pinfall with the Last Falconry at 23:45 (clipped to 18:46 shown). Shingo & Hulk are announced as the winners and are handed their titles by the Pro Wrestling NOAH representative on hand. Shingo then cuts a promo that I don’t understand because I don’t speak Japanese, but presumably it’s your standard ‘we’re awesome for winning and promise to be fighting champions’ speech that is the norm for such situations the world over. New Hazard celebrates, with Cyber Kong and YAMATO backing the new champions.

The Analysis:
This match represents the very best of the Dragon Gate style, as it was wall-to-wall action with a great build and a glut of high-impact offense. One of the interesting things about Japanese wrestling is how the talent tends to hold off on their biggest and most dangerous maneuvers for big time matches. In this match, which had some of the highest stakes possible, the men involved were forced to use their entire arsenals, with Doi and Shingo pulling out Avalanche versions of the Doi 555 and Original Falconry respectively. Also, Hulk used three different variations of the E.V.O. while Yoshino emptied nearly his entire bag of tricks along the way. By utilizing not only their finishing moves, but series of them during the course of the match, both the MO’z and New Hazard got over how grueling a match this was, and how hard it would be to put the opposition down for a three count.

Though some might dislike the lack of offensive focus, the fact is that the goal of all four men here seemed to be simply hitting their opponents with everything they had, rather than focus on an arm or a leg. In the end, while Shingo’s victory seemed more than reasonable given the punishment he had absorbed (and the inherent power of the Last Falconry specifically), Doi & Yoshino still ended up looking good in the loss, having survived a mountain of damage leading up to the finish.

One other item worth noting is the lax tag rules here that would have seen legal man issues arrive had the match happened in the United States. However, my understanding of Dragon Gate rules is that tags are not specifically necessary, as all one need do to enter the ring is to have one’s team be reasonable in control on offense. That said, in other instances where Pro Wrestling NOAH titles have been defended in other promotions, GHC rules have been enforced. I’m not exactly sure how that was reconciled here (again, I don’t speak Japanese), but in my mind it is at most a minor issue. Oh, and for those keeping track of such things, I believe that Doi and Hulk were technically the legal men when the finish occurred.

The Aftermath:
Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino, who had been dealing with some tension even before this loss, continued to feel the strain in the wake of losing their belts. Mere weeks later, they lost Dragon Gate’s Open the Twin Gate Titles (the company’s tag team belts) to Keni’chiro Arai & Taku Iwasa, failing to make their third successful defense of those belts. Though the Muscle Outlaw’z were finding much success in the faction wars, the rift between Doi and Yoshino was widening. However, when Yoshino, who was also the Open the Brave Gate Champion (the company’s secondary singles title), began to find singles success against members of Typhoon, he boldly challenged their leader CIMA to a pair of matches, one with Yoshino’s own belt on the line and one with CIMA’s Open the Dream Gate Title (Dragon Gate’s top singles championship) at stake. Yoshino was successful in retaining his own strap in the first match, but was unable to wrest the Open the Dream Gate belt away from CIMA in the second bout. However at the conclusion of that match, which main evented Dragon Gate’s Gate of Generation Pay-Per-View, Doi and Yoshino reconciled their differences, even going so far as to shake the hand of CIMA, their long hated rival, and former leader from their time in Blood Generation.

Shingo Takagi & BxB Hulk’s time as GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Champions would not last long, as after their title win Pro Wrestling NOAH came calling, intent on retrieving their belts, which had been in the hands of Dragon Gate talent for the better part of two months at that point. A match for Gate of Generation was signed, as former champion KENTA would team with up-and-coming talent Taiji Ishimori to challenge New Hazard for the straps. While on their way to that impending match, Shingo, Hulk and stablemate Cyber Kong found time to win the Open the Triangle Gate Championships (six-man tag team titles) from Don Fujii, K-ness & Masaaki Mochizuki, their second run with those belts. Unfortunately for New Hazard, their Pay-Per-View defense of the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles would be not only their first, but their last, as KENTA & Ishimori walked out the victors, with KENTA pinning Shingo to win the championships. Notably, that match, much like Shingo & Hulk’s title win, is high on many Match of the Year lists.

Also, another interesting bit of fallout from Gate of Generation has seen Naruki Doi express an interest in wrestling KENTA in a singles contest at a Dragon Gate show in mid-May. As of this writing, that match has not officially been signed.

The Final Word:
As I said in the opening, this week’s match is my current pick for Match of the Year, a list that has thus far been dominated by happenings in Japan. I’ve really been enjoying keeping track of Dragon Gate, Pro Wrestling NOAH and New Japan Pro Wrestling lately, and hope that at least a few of you out there take this opportunity to expand your horizons and check out some great Japanese action.

To see this week’s match, Infinity #77 is available from dgusa.puroresufan.com. Infinity is Dragon Gate’s television show which features clips of a variety of matches from recent shows. This edition specifically features matches like Masaaki Mochizuki, K-ness & Don Fujii defending the Open the Triangle Gate Titles against Dick Togo, Ikuto Hidaka & Munenori Sawa as well as Typhoon of CIMA & Dragon Kid taking on the MO’z of Gamma & Genki Horiguchi. It also has an appearance by former ROH World Champion Austin Aries, so ROH fans will see more than one familiar face on the show. A very good show that is well worth your time to check out. If you’d like to read a full review of the show, Brad’s got one up right here over at The Cool Kids’ Table Dot Net.

411 this week features a bunch of columns and reviews you should check out. Ari has Column of Honor (and an appearance on The Cool Kids’ Table Dot Net), Bayani’s got Truth B Told, and Short’s got The Navigation Log. The most recent Buy or Sell has Magnus & Mattis covering a variety of topics, while Alex also has his Best of the Rest. You should also check out Furious’ review of IWA Mid-South’s Sweet Science Sixteen 2000, as much so that I can’t be accused of only plugging good Independent stuff as anything. Oh, and if SHIMMER’s your thing, then J.D.’s got Volume 2, but you should really check out Brad’s review of the measurably more recent Volume 12. That puts us at one for Brad, by the way, and I think it comes out today, actually. We’ll check on it next week for sure.

Buy or Sell this week will feature Bayani & Cook in a preview of the ROHmania weekend shows. Obviously that will mean a ROH Roundtable as well.

iTunes as follows:

1. “Some Might Say” by Oasis – from MTV Live & Unplugged
2. “Riders on the Storm” by Creed – from Stoned Immaculate – The Music of The Doors
3. “Family Business” by Kanye West – from The College Dropout
4. “KRS-One” by Sublime – from 40 Oz. To Freedom
5. “Fool in the Rain” by O.A.R. – from Fool in the Rain – Single

We’ve got great new stuff up at The Cool Kids’ Table Dot Net as well, including a brand new edition of The Up & Under from me and Brad & Jake’s review of ROH’s Man Up. As noted above, our most recent podcast features an appearance by 411’s own Ari Berenstein and is a must-listen. A preview of this weekend’s ROH shows as well as Wrestlemania itself will be up later this week, so be sure to check back for that. That’s The Cool Kids’ Table Dot Net. Viva la renegade website!

And now that I’ve exhausted this week’s allotment of plugs, I figure it’s high time to check out. Please note that all of my Final Four picks (again, they are Tennessee, Wisconsin, UCLA & Texas) are still alive. Yes, that’s right, I am awesome.

224 to 6. Get Started. The Cool Kids’ Table Dot Net. Ole!

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