Hot off the heels of a Show of the Year Contender in Osaka, Dragon Gate is back in action at Korakuen Hall. For one night only, The Jimmyz are transforming into The Sumoz with Punch Tominaga joining the crew as Sumo Hagetora. If that doesn’t make you excited, this is probably not the hobby for you. With that in mind, we are now on the road to the two December Korakuen shows, one of which will be featuring Doi Darts, and of course, Final Gate.
Dragon Gate All Out War
November 6, 2015
Korakuen Hall
Translations: IHeartDG.com
Dragon Kid, Kzy vs. Yosuke♡Santa Maria, U-T
U-T’s glorious mohawk is no more and therefore he is now half as cute as he once was. Yosuke, obviously looking to become an international sex symbol, has adopted a wonderful red, white, and blue color combination. You go, girl.
A perfectly inoffensive opener to kick things off in Korakuen. I can’t believe how after two years with this gimmick, Yosuke is still madly entertaining. This match was built around her and her ridiculous comedy and I greatly enjoyed it. **1/4
Akira Tozawa vs. Kaito Ishida
The outcome here was never in doubt. There was no way Ishida, who has been wrestling with the big boys for just over two months, was going to take down the most recent Open the Brave Gate Champion. That being said, Ishida put up one hell of a fight here. He’s great for his experience level and he’s very, very good in general. Tozawa gave him just enough offense in the match. Ishida might not have been a threat to Tozawa, but in the ring with someone like Kzy or Shachihoko BOY, Ishida’s skills could’ve led him to a victory. This match was all sorts of fun. ***1/4
Masaaki Mochizuki, Big R Shimizu vs. Gamma, Takehiro Yamamura
Mochizuki is back on the undercard after delivering one of the best performances I’ve ever seen less than a week ago. Instead of taking the Open the Dream Gate Champion to his limit, this time Mochizuki spent his time bullying the youngster, Yamamura.
I am completely in love with Yamamura and Ishida after watching them on this show. They are both so young and so, so talented. Yamamura even had somewhat of an off-night tonight. I’m not one to typically complain about strikes, but Yamamura had some pretty terrible looking forearms in this match. When he hasn’t striking, however, he was so much fun to watch. Him narrowly avoiding power moves from Shimizu or sharp kicks from Mochizuki was a pleasure to watch. I can’t wait to so these two evolve as professional wrestlers. ***1/2
Masato Yoshino, T-Hawk, Shachihoko BOY vs. CIMA, Eita, El Lindaman
This is a perfect example of a Dragon Gate match that will get lost in the shuffle. If any other promotion put on a match like this, it would be highly touted as one of the better matches this year, but Dragon Gate churns out matches like this so often that they all sort of start to blend together. The longer this match went, however, the better it got. Things really hit another gear when Yoshino and Eita started interacting with one another. Both men are so quick and so good at what they do and once they hit their spots, the other four men followed suit. El Lindaman continues to look like a star. He picked up with victory here with his Locomotive German Suplexes on Shachihoko BOY. This starts off a little slow, but it turns into one heck of a match by the end. ***3/4
Sumoz vs. VERZERK All Out War #1: Sumo Hagetora vs. Mondai Ryu
Hagetora and Ryu duked it out for less than two minutes and it was incredibly entertaining. The crowd was invested in every move, and while the action might not have been anything special, this was a really fun way to start All Out War. **
Sumoz vs. VERZERK All Out War #2: Sumo Susumu, Sumo Kness S.K.S. vs. YAMATO, Kotoka
Sumo chops from Susumu and Kness to start! The Sumoz are something else! That being said, I have yet to love any of the matches in the YAMATO/Susumu/Kness saga. Every time they seem to fall a little short of being great. This is in the same boat. This was by no means a great match, but it established the fact that while The Sumoz were dressed like goofballs, they were an actual threat to VerzerK. If Kotoka hadn’t used that dreaded red box, The Sumoz might have gone up 2-0 on the new heel unit. However, Kotoka and his “BLEHHH-ness” prevailed and VerzerK picked up the pinfall. ***1/2
Sumoz vs. VERZERK All Out War #3: Genki Horiguchi S.U.M.Ooo, Sumo Kanda, Ryo “Sumo” Saito, Sumo Fujii vs. Naruki Doi, Shingo Takagi, Naoki Tanizaki, Cyber Kong
There are matches like Shingo vs. Mochizuki that transcend the Dragon Gate style. Even people who don’t live, breathe, and sleep Dragon Gate can find enjoyment in a match like that. This was not one of those matches. This is a match completely meant for Dragon Gate fans. From the opening bell there was non-stop action, comedy, and hot fighting, all wrapped up into one wild match in Korakuen Hall.
VerzerK is such an interesting unit. Mad Blankey and Blood Warriors, prior units similar to VerzerK, were evil and their motives seemed impure. With VerzerK, they are violent. They don’t seem to feed off of other’s failure as much as they do their pain. It’s a very interesting dynamic in Dragon Gate and one that I’m not entirely used to. That being said, I absolutely love it. Everyone is perfect in their roles within the unit.
This match was wild and completely out of control. If you find yourself eye rolling at Dragon Gate often, skip this. It’s not worth your time. But if you appreciate the style and the way stories can be woven into matches, the way comedy can seep into Korakuen main events, and the way Shingo and his friends can bring a real sense of intensity to these matches, this is for you. ****1/4
“Takagi called shenanigans on the end of the final match since all the Sumoz got involved. Where was the DQ? This was all bullshit. What kind of match was this, anyway? Who did Fujii think he was? Takagi beat him and sent him off on his retirement road already. Mochizuki, too. Why won’t they get the hint that they are no longer needed in DRAGON GATE? Speaking of unnecessary, that new group of old bastards and punk kids was the worst of all. In particular, Gamma. With his spitting and cross-dressing and other comedy nonsense. He was filth. FILTH! This brought Gamma to the ring, cane swinging.
Did Takagi have a problem with the way he wrestled? Maybe it was time for him to get filthy himself. Asfter some arguing, they set up Takagi vs. Gamma for the Dream Gate at the 12/03 Korakuen.
Doi spoke next. DoiYAMA had their 6th title defense in Osaka. That ties them for the record. It only made sense for them to fight the other team to reach 6 defenses. MochiFujii. He called them out. No one even remembers that they had the defense record. Mochizuki admitted that a good number of those defenses involved wins over Mondai Ryu. But still, a record is a record. They agreed to fight for the Twin Gate at some point in the near future. However, Mochizuki had another match in mind right now. He called CIMA into the ring. After more talk, they agreed to an 8 man tag match for next month. CIMA, Mochizuki, Fujii, and PT vs. YAMATO, Doi, Tanizaki, & Kotoka.” –iheartdg.com
Final Thoughts: All Out War wasn’t slam dunk show like Gate of Destiny was, but any Dragon Gate fan can appreciate the work that was put in here. The young guys on this show – Ishida, Yamamura, and El Lindaman, all put on tremendous performances. I am so excited to see how they develop.
