Dragon Gate
“Champion Gate in Osaka”
February 28, 2015
Osaka BODYMAKER COLOSSEUM #2

Super Shisa, Shachihoko BOY vs. Jimmy Kanda & Jimmy Kagetora: Great chain wrestling between Shisa and Kagetora to start us off. The two eventually decide they are so even that they should their partners give it a try. Shachihoko Boy uses his speed to gain the advantage before eventually both partners get in the ring and slow things down. About mid way through the match it became the Shachihoko BOY show as he flew all over the ring including a beautiful Asai moonsault to take out both Jimmyz. Shachihoko BOY eventually got the win with a rolling cradle. I’ll admit I’m a little guilty of underrating Shachihoko BOY as he routinely puts in great performances but this may have been the best I’ve seen him in quite some time. Good opener. ***

Post-match Shachihoko grabs the mic and I’ll assume discusses his upcoming tag title match (him vs. Yoshino vs. Cyber Kong/Yamato), which will happen in a few days at Champion Gate Night 2.

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BxB Hulk vs. Mr. Quu Quu Tanizaki Naoki Toyonaka Dolphin: Open the Dream Gate champion BxB Hulk takes on Mr. Quu Quu here, this is a non-title match (Dolphin Man ain’t winning the title, folks). This is the battle of Dia Hearts vs. Jimmyz with a surprising amount of crowd support for Mr. Quu Quu. Hulk controlled most of the match utilizing a slower pace with a fair amount of rest-holds, kicks and chops. Mr. Quu Quu was able to get a small run towards the middle of the match but this was all BxB Hulk who won easily with the First Flash. The closing stretch was a lot of fun and made up for a lot of dullness at the beginning. Mr. Quu Quu had some chances but Hulk was just the better man, cutting him off every time Dolphin was able to get a small run. This was a real solid 7-8 minute match. ***1/4

https://twitter.com/SenorLARIATO/status/571603989676077056

Kotoka, Yosuke♡Santa Maria vs. Gamma, Mondai Ryu: Millenial members Kotoka and Yosuke Santa Maria tag here against Mad Blankey representatives Gamma and Mondai Ryu. My favorite spot of the match was Kotoka going for a leapfrog that’s counted by a HUGE kick to, well, the nads by Gamma. That looked painful. This match broke down and got real weird real quick as Ryu held Santa Maria down as Gamma spit water on his/her face. I don’t even want to know. YAMATO and Fuji ran in with the Mad Blankey yellow box, then the match completely broke down as the rest of The Millenials ran in for the save. The ref threw it out as this went to a no contest. This wasn’t a dud but was a definite stinker by Dragon Gate standards, it was simply a backdrop to the post-match angle. *1/2

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Post-match Kotoka grabbed the mic and (per iheartdg.com) said since the next match was going to be another MB vs. Millenials tag, they may as well make it into an 8-man tag match and…here we go!

T-Hawk, U-T, Kotoka, Yosuke♡Santa Maria vs. YAMATO, Don Fujii, Gamma, Mondai Ryu: Mad Blankey vs. Jimmyz 8-man. U-T came out like a mad man until grumpy ass Don Fuji threw a water bottle at him. No, seriously, Fuji was pissed young little U-T had so much energy. Best yet, Fuji wasn’t even the guy getting worked on, he was on the apron. I love you Don Fuji.  Conspicuous by his absence was Eita, I’ve heard reports of a shoulder injury as well as disciplinary, so who knows. Don Fuji finally tags in and uses some type of international object against U-T. He then “tags” Ryu in by slapping him across the face. Did I mention how much I love Don Fuji? I did? Oh, well, I do. In another amazing spot, all the Millenials members ran over to Fuji on the apron and chopped him at the same time. Eventually after about 100 chops, he fell to the floor.

When people criticize matches for going 100 MPH the entire match, they talk about matches like this. I can’t even begin to describe the action that happened throughout. I don’t mind it, I’m used to it and that’s apart of the appeal of DG. This was quick-paced with a ton of action, different interactions between the two factions, the usual tropes of Don Fuji being a dickhead, the yellow box, salt/powder, the whole nine yards. Kotoka eventually gets the win with the Caldera. ***

As if Fuji needed more to make him the best person in the history of the world, he stole Santa Maria’s boa, put it on and shook his ass on the way out of the ring.

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Post-match, The Millenials bring out the returning Flamit. T-Hawk says its time for the new Millenials to go on the attack. This stable is going to be something to behold in 2015. Let’s hope Eita gets his issues cleared up.

Masato Yoshino, Shingo Takagi, Uhaa Nation vs. Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!, Jimmy Susumu, Ryo “Jimmy” Saito: The story of this match was the returning Uhaa Nation. The Jimmyz team was REAL scared of him so much so Saito immediately tagged out when Uhaa came in. Susumu tried to work some offense on Uhaa but it was no use, too big too strong too fast too good (h/t Stacey King).

Horiguchi set up Yoshino for the elastic band to the face spot but Uhaa cut Susumu off and casually demanded he give up the band. Susumu without much of a fight handed the band to Uhaa. Yoshino turned the tables, Uhaa went to the entry way and Horiguchi took a band shot to the face.

I focused on Uhaa here but Yoshino held his own as he usually does with his beautiful quick-paced offense including the best damn Abdominal Stretch and maybe huricanrana in the business. Uhaa finished Horiguchi off with the Uhaa Comibination (which is a sight to be seen). Uhaa then motioned for the belt around his waist as he’ll have a shot at the Open the Dream Gate strap on Night 2. ***1/2

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Open the Brave Gate – Kzy (c) vs. Akira Tozawa: Title wins haven’t come easy to the  charismatic Tozawa. He’s been unsuccessful in four previous tries for the Open the Dream Gate title and has yet to put a singles title to his name. It’s definitely a different Tozawa tonight as he’s all business and hits his corner top-rope balancing act on the first try. Very deliberate pace to begin, Tozawa gets Kzy to the outside and tries for an spinning elbow strike but ends up smacking it on the ring post. Kzy immediately takes advantage and starts working over the arm of Tozawa. Moves including straight up stepping on the elbow, bending it against the ropes and the classic elbow drop to the elbow. Tozawa even goes for a elbow strike but gets no power on it and immediately winces.

Tozawa finally gains some steam and hits repeat suicide dives before falling to the ground again holding his elbow. The closing stretch of this match was absolute insanity as Tozawa finally said fuck it and started putting full power into his elbow strikes. An insane pinning sequence saw a handful of 2.9999 counts as the crowd started getting into it. Kzy fights with every last ounce of energy but Tozawa hits the package German suplex and we have ourselves a new champ! ****1/4

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Tozawa immediately breaks out into tears and I almost did too. If you don’t know anything about the Tozawa story, I suggest you seek out the pre-match promo between BxB Hulk and him Gate of Destiny 2014. He’s one of the genuine nicest guys in the business, he’s taken a ton of shit to get to where he’s at now and he’s truly a special talent. This was a great moment. Here are the cliffnotes of his post-match promo (h/t iheartdg.com):

He talked about how things haven’t gone the best for for him since World 2013 ended. However, he would never lose this title. He would be permanent champion. Anyone who thought they were brave enough to challenge him was welcome to try.

The returning Flamita came out to accept Tozawa’s title challenge with the match happening 3/24 at Sambo Hall.

Open the Triangle Gate Championship – Dia Hearts (Masaaki Mochizuki, Dragon Kid, Big R Shimizu) vs. Mad Blankey (Naruki Doi, CIMA, Cyber Kong): On our latest podcast, Joe and I said anytime an Open the Triangle Gate match main events an event, expect insanity. When given time, these Triangle Gate matches can be epics and this one was guaranteed to be a lot of fun given the wealth of talent in the ring.

Maybe the crowd was burnt out from the last match but it took forever for them to get into this one. It wasn’t without merit, not a whole lot happened in the first half. Mad Blankey drove Dragon Kid’s head into one of the Triangle Gate championships and started working him over as Big R and Mochizuki say on the outside.

Finally, Dragon Kid got to his feet and the action began to pick up. Mochizuki hit a crossbody to the outside to take out all of Mad Blankey. Big R teased a dive to the outside but ended up crotching himself on the top rope. This match ended up having FAR too much Cyber Kong as he was seemingly the featured Mad Blankey member. I don’t need to tell you that his partners CIMA and Naruki Doi are FAR better workers.

The ending was all about Big R who took out Cyber Kong with a HUGE lariat and sit-out powerbomb. Dragon Kid followed with a beautiful West Coast Pop/Springboard Huricanrana on CIMA. CIMA got some momentum of his own but he ate a Shot Put Slam as Big R picks up the 1-2-3. I wasn’t in love with the first 3/4ths of the match but the closing made up for it. Nowhere near as good as Kzy vs. Tozawa but a fine way to end a solid overall show. ***1/4

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After the match, Doi and CIMA exchanged words as Mad Blankey continues to have issues. Dia Hearts cut a final promo which put over Big R huge.

Final Thoughts: 

This was your standard easy-to-watch Dragon Gate show where most everything was above-average to good. The exception being Kzy vs. Akira Tozawa which was great and a sure-fire Match of the Month contender.