DRAGON GATE
GATE OF VICTORY
OCTOBER 2, 2018
KORAKUEN HALL
TOKYO, JAPAN

Translations: IHeartDG.com / Watch: Dragon Gate Network

KZY, “BROTHER YASSHI”, & SUSUMU YOKOSUKA DEF. HIROSHI YAMATO, PROBLEM DRAGON, & KOTA MINOURA

This match went nearly 13 minutes, which is shockingly long for a Korakuen opener. It seemed like there was a clear effort to get Kota Minoura more over with the Korakuen crowd. He hardly spent any time in traditional young boy attire, quickly adopting an orange and black color scheme. Dragon Gate seems to have put some faith in him, and here, he battled long and hard against the Natural Vibes trio, most notably Kzy. Minoura was never in contention to win, but he put up a respectable fight against the veterans. Minoura ate a running elbow from Kzy and took the pinfall. **1/2

RYO SAITO & DON FUJII DEF. GENKI HORIGUCHI & GAMMA

Ryo Saito cosplayed as his partner, Don Fujii, in this match. For that alone, I have to recommend it.

This was a good little comedy match at the bottom of the card. Saito did his best to replicate signature Don Fujii spots, and Fujii battled whether or not he was annoyed by this. Gamma’s pants were pulled down towards the end of this match and Saito was able to roll him up for the victory soon after. I have seen too much of Gamma’s ass in my lifetime. **

KAI DEF. PUNCH TOMINAGA

This was, in every sense, a KAI vs. Punch Tominaga match. There have been thousands of matches worse than this, but no match has ever been this average. Tominaga didn’t embarrass himself, and KAI held his own. KAI won with the Impact. This was A Match. **1/2

U-T, YAMATO, YOSUKE SANTA MARIA, & KAGETORA DEF. MASAAKI MOCHIZUKI, HYO WATANABE, SHUN SKYWALKER, & YUKI YOSHIOKA

U-T continues his winning ways as he submits Hyo Watanabe with his Bienllave. Ever since adopting a llave-based offense, U-T has found more success in his career than ever before. His rise to the midcard (from match 0s and openers) has been awesome to watch, as he continues to mow down anyone who dare try to escape his submission.

The Mochizuki Dojo youngsters are starting to step up to the plate. I like the way Watanabe is progressing, and for the first time ever, he is starting to find a purpose. Yoshioka is still the weak link, but it is unfair to call him weak. He’s just not as good as Skywalker or as flashy as Watanabe.

This is the first match that felt like it left first gear. This match, after all, represents the future of the company. Hopefully, we see more between U-T and the Mochizuki Dojo kids, because I like what they bring to the table. ***1/2

“U-T called this a bit of payback to Shun, since he has lost three straight to him in recent months. Shun wondered when exactly he was talking about. He’s been so busy making a name for himself he completely overlooked getting 3 straight wins over someone like U-T. Mochizuki was happy to see his kids get fired up. U-T asked him what the point of Mochizuki Dojo was. There are a lot of units in Dragon Gate, one like Mochizuki Dojo isn’t necessary. Mochizuki pushed Shun to make him eat his words. He told his disciples that if U-T keeps up his momentum and finally makes it to regular status, that will only reduce their ring time. They shouldn’t sit back and let him take a spot that could be theirs.” iheardg.com

TAKASHI YOSHIDA, KAZMA SAKAMOTO, & YASUSHI KANDA DEF. JASON LEE, DRAGON KID, & KAITO ISHIDA

Kazma Sakamoto is not bad. He was surely a bad surprise and a name like his should never be given the privilege of being an “X”, but as a wrestler, Sakamoto is fine and through two matches, he’s shown that he can work decently within the Dragon Gate house style. I don’t expect him to ever challenge for the Dream Gate, and if he’s ever in any sort of title hunt it will probably be the Triangle Gate, which is okay by me. Sakamoto was a lame surprise, but so far, I have no complaints about him in the ring.

This was another tame match on what, to this point, has been a pretty tame show. I would’ve flipped this match in the running order with the prior bout, as U-T submitting yet another man packed more of a punch than a Yoshida bomb to Ishida for the victory. This match was nowhere near bad, but I can’t recommend it. It was, after all, Just A Match. ***1/4

“Dragon Kid introduced a new masked trainee named Dragon Dia. Dia is Japanese shorthand for diamond, of which he has prominently featured in his mask. He joined about 18 months ago and is now ready to make his debut. He will do so in a tag team match with DK at Korakuen Hall next month.” iheardg.com

NARUKI DOI & MASATO & YOSHINO DEF. BIG R SHIMIZU & BEN-K

This felt much more like a fight than the average Dragon Gate match does. SpeedMuscle jumped Big Ben at the bell and took control early. I don’t believe this match ever eased into being a traditional tag match with two men in and two men on the apron, and if it did it only happened once or twice in the opening minutes.  The lack of a flow to this match helped it stand out aesthetically, but it might have hurt it from a “match quality” perspective.

This was the match these two teams needed to have, though. Both Ben-K and Shimizu turned their back on Yoshino and Doi, and I would’ve been bummed had this match been worked like an exhibition-style tag match. On paper, this is a snowflake match. I wanted these two teams to go out there and have a MOTYC. Instead, they told the story that they should have told. Everything they did made sense. This added to the Ben-K vs. Yoshino title defense that we will see in early November.

Doi landed a Bakatare Sliding Kick on Shimizu just before the 12th minute, leading to the victory. I really enjoyed this for what it was, even if I can’t call it “great”. ***1/2

PAC & EITA DEF. SHINGO TAKAGI & BXB HULK

PAC is back.

Dragon Gate has taken some major hits in the past two years. Yoshino was badly injured, Yamamura was badly injured, then CIMA split and took T-Hawk, Lindaman, and Yamamura with him, and now Shingo Takagi is preparing for his exit. Dragon Gate finally has some momentum on their side, though, and that is all thanks to PAC. His last match was 366 days before this one (October 1, 2017) when he defeated Enzo Amore by DQ.

Flash forward a year. After tons of speculation about where he’d go, if he ever went anywhere at all, PAC is back home in Dragon Gate and appears to be here for at least a short while. He’s officially a member of R.E.D., marking the first time in his DG career that he’s been a heel.

Lost in all of the PAC hype is the fact that this was Shingo’s last Korakuen match as a member of the Dragon Gate roster. He sacrificed his moments of glory to get PAC over. This whole match was based around PAC getting over as a killer. He left Dragon Gate as a boy, but he’s come back as a man that is looking to take out every member of the roster. He got off to a good start by pinning Shingo in the middle of the ring.

Much like the rest of the matches on this show, this wasn’t a great match, but this was absolutely worth checking out. The reaction when PAC was revealed was electric, the antics between Shingo and his former unit mates rocked, and it’s PAC: he’s one of the best wrestlers of this century. He was perfect here, as he always is. Huge thumbs up to this match. ***3/4

“November 6, 2018
Tokyo, Korakuen Hall

Natural Vibes – Kzy, Susumu Yokosuka, Genki Horiguchi vs. MaxiMuM – Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, Jason Lee vs. R・E・D – Big R Shimizu, Ben-K, PAC vs. Tribe Vanguard – YAMATO, BxB Hulk, Flamita” iheardg.com

Final Thoughts:

In terms of match quality, this is one of the weaker Korakuen cards that Dragon Gate has put on all year. Nothing on this show was “great”, but I’m more than okay with that because it felt like nearly every match on this show had a purpose. I can see where certain things are headed for the first time in ages. Dragon Gate is slowly finding its groove once again. This show was one great match away from feeling like the Dragon Gate of old.

Skip the undercard. Watch U-T submit some fools in the midcard, watch SpeedMuscle tear it up, and watch PAC be PAC. Gate of Victory was a victory for Dragon Gate. A fresh beginning could be on the horizon.