DRAGON GATE
MEMORIAL GATE IN SENDAI
NOVEMBER 26, 2017
SENDAI SUN FESTA – SENDAI, JAPAN

Translations: IHeartDG.com

Watch: NicoNico (Guide on Ordering via NicoNico)

KAGETORA, YOSUKE SANTA MARIA, & U-T DEF. GENKI HORIGUCHI, KAITO ISHIDA, & K-NESS

This match was lifeless. 10 minutes that felt like at least 20, as it was spearheaded by Yosuke Santa Maria, whose act has turned ice cold. I don’t blame her. She has nothing to do, but her act is so overbearing that it clouds every match she’s in. Luckily, U-T had a chance to shine in this one. I am very excited to see if he can stay healthy, because right now, I am loving him. Kaito Ishida ate the pin from Kagetora and his Ikkitousen. **1/4

“Metal Warrior once again attacked Kagetora. This time he gave him Susumu’s Mugen.” IHeartDG.com

RYO SAITO DEF. STALKER ICHIKAWA

Ryo Saito is more than likely challenging Masaaki Mochizuki for the Dream Gate championship at Final Gate. With that in mind, I don’t know if comedy with Stalker was the best possible use of Saito on this show. It was fine, but it didn’t make me think, “Wow, this guy should be a champion!”. I laughed a few times, but this was tame for Stalker standards. NR

“Verserk attacked Saito afterwards. Takagi wondered why he was slacking off in a match like this when he has such an important fight coming up in Korakuen Hall on 12/5. The first event like this in Tohoku and he chooses to do some bullshit comedy match? What a joke. If this was all he could bring himself to do then they should just cancel their match and Saito can be forced to join Verserk without any beatings. Saito defended doing comedy matches. Putting smiles on faces and making the fans laugh was also an important part of the Dragon Gate style. Things would be different in Korakuen. There would be no laughing when he puts Takagi down on the mat for the 1-2-3.” IHeartDG.com

SUSUMU YOKOSUKA DEF. BEN-K

This took far too long to get going. I was hoping they’d go for a sprint and go bombs away from the opening bell, but this went 15 minutes and the first 12 did nothing for me. Ben-K held his own in this bout, I simply just did not find it interesting. Shame, as I know these two are capable of doing much more. Susumu won with a Jumbo no Kachi. ***

MASAAKI MOCHIZUKI & DON FUJII DEF. T-HAWK & EL LINDAMAN

I could be all alone in feeling this way, but to me, this was far and away the best thing on the show to this point. Dream Gate Champion Mochizuki and longtime bff Don Fujii brought their stiffest chops to VerserK’s young punks. This was a middle of the card bout that could’ve had guys going through the motions, but this felt heated. T-Hawk and Lindaman kept chipping away at the veterans. Mochi showed his annoyance through his kicks, while Fujii mirrored Genichiro Tenryu by becoming the ultimate apron grump.  

A lot of this match was Mochizuki chasing around El Lindman and kicking the life out of him. It’s a simple formula, one that will always be entertaining, and one that on this night, made El Lindaman look like a beast. He endured a ton of punishment, before finally falling to a knockout kick from the champion. ***3/4

ELIMINATION MATCH
NARUKI DOI, MASATO YOSHINO, BIG R SHIMIZU, & JASON LEE DEF. CIMA, DRAGON KID, GAMMA, & PROBLEM DRAGON

I wasn’t expecting to like this as much as I did, but I loved it.

I was hooked from the opening bell as CIMA and Jason Lee traded holds. There was a lot of CIMA interaction with Jason Lee in this contest, which couldn’t have been a mistake. Lee has fit like a glove since debuting in Dragon Gate in early September. This was only Lee’s fifth match with CIMA in some form or fashion, and the first of which was televised, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Dragon Gate’s master test the new kid on the block.

I enjoy the occasional elimination match. The element of over the top rope eliminations being in play add a really interesting dynamic that Dragon Gate utilizes better than any other company. I really liked seeing Yoshino get eliminated. It felt like a giant deal, not only because it was Yoshino technically taking a fall, but because he fought for as long as he could but the two-on-one attack of Gamma and Dragon Kid was too much for him to withstand.

Big R Shimizu might be my favorite wrestler in the world right now. He is firing on all cylinders with me. He played a pivotal role down the stretch for MaxiMuM as he eliminated Gamma with a Shot-Put Slam, and nearly eliminated CIMA and Dragon Kid with the same maneuver shortly after. CIMA was able to escape, but was quickly eliminated by Naruki Doi via over the top rope elimination (CIMA took a stage dive bump, which looked great), while Dragon Kid was able to reverse the Shot Put with his signature Bible to pin the big man. This, of course, all led to Kid eating a Bakatare Sliding Kick from Naruki Doi, as ended up being the sole survivor for MaxiMuM. ****1/4

OPEN THE TRIANGLE GATE CHAMPIONSHIP
YAMATO, BXB HULK, & KZY DEF. SHINGO TAKAGI, EITA, & YASUSHI KANDA

This was a fitting comedown after the prior two matches and a fine way to close a small-scale PPV. Eita looked great in his return to VerserK. I still have a hard time picturing Eita at the top of the card in Dragon Gate, but perhaps that is because I have not been imagining him in the red and yellow colors of VerserK.

YAMATO and Shingo took a nasty bump through a table in this match, which was the real highpoint. I felt like it happened far too early in the match, though. I liked that the early match brawling felt more intense and out of control than it normally does in Triangle Gate matches, but the intensity peaked too early with the table bump. The match felt kind of flatter during the later stages because of it. In just under 30 minutes, Tribe Vanguard was able to defend the gold as YAMATO planted Kanda with a Galleria. Fine, certainly not bad, but not going out of your way to see. ***1/2

“YAMATO closed the show with a speech. Today wasn’t the goal. Today was just the first step off of the starting line. Sadly, he lost the Dream Gate title back in September and was unable to main event today as champion. The venue today was also a bit lacking. Fans in the back probably had a hard time seeing the ring. That won’t happen next year. On September 9th 2018, Dragon Gate will; for real this time; hold their first ever show in Sendai Sun Plaza. It is a large hall with 3 floors of seats. Everyone will be able to clearly see the ring. There was no Dream Gate match today. Next year, there will be. If he has to take the title back himself to fulfill this promise he will do so. Maybe. Tribe Vanguard shared some banter. YAMATO thanked the fans for coming out and making today a huge success.” IHeartDG.com

Final Thoughts:

A dreadfully slow start was made drastically better by the middle portion of this card that massively over delivered. For what was technically a PPV for DG, this was a quick show. Some are going to like Ben-K vs. Susumu much more than I did, and others aren’t going to be as high on the tag with MochiFujii. The last half of this show was so strong that I feel a thumbs up is necessary. Skip the openers and dive right into the good stuff.