Tribe Vanguard (KAI & Kagetora) vs. Yuki Yoshioka & Keisuke Okuda
This is match better than you usually openers which are usually 10 man tags with tons of fun spots but more of a preview than an actual match which is fine but this is refreshing. This was a big Yuki Yoshuika showcase with him being in with TV for mostly the entire match either selling or going toe to toe with Kagetora.KAI absolutely destroyed Yuki Yoshioka in the match. He at one point threw a mean german suplex and caused Yoshioka to land on his neck. He clearly forgot that he isn’t in All Japan, this is Dragon Gate. Kagetora vs Yoshioka was a more of a struggle for Tribe Vanguard with the two exchanging some awesome looking moves. Kagatora leveled Yoshioka with slaps and kicks before hitting a Genkonitteki (fisherman driver) for a great nearfall. Okuda got in a few times, mostly to break up the action. It’s an off night for him though. Yuki Yoshioka had some good nearfalls late in the match before he finally got the win. A real fun opener. ***1/4
10 Man Battle Royal: Super Shisa vs K-ness vs Shachihoko Boy vs Punch Tominaga vs “brother” YASSHI vs Kota Minoura vs Problem Dragon vs Oji Shiiba vs Jimmy
They didn’t waste any time with the eliminations. Pins galore getting people out. Some fun spots here and there but nothing that stands out too much to right now except Jimmy eliminating himself via a tope suicida to the outside. Kota Minoura winning is another young boy getting a big win moment. Interesting developments in Dragon Gate right now. **3/4
Kazma Sakamoto vs. Dragon Dia
There is a big size difference as the pre match face off highlighted. Dragon Dia tries a ton of high flying moves against Sakamoto, some pay off but Sakamoto is strong and dominates for a short while before Dragon Dia caught Sakamoto with a roll-up for the three. Short but sweet and gave us another shocking win. The Young Lads are running wild. **1/2
Dragon Gate 20th Anniversary Celebration Series Extra Volume: “Hollywood” Stalker Ichikawa vs. Naomichi Marufuji
Big pre-match promo about Stalker wanting to shave Marufuji’s awful haircut. That’s about as much as I got. Apparently there was new rules added to the match - it’s mask vs hair now!!!! Big Stalker antics whenever he’s on offence. He goes big on a splash on the outside, Marufuji casually walks away, Stalker breaks hurts his ankle. Him grabbing the referee while in a figure four leg lock. And rope walks. Marufuji no selling the chops Stalker was throwing to fix his hair was a great spot and then baiting Stalker to pose only to hit a hook kick was great. The match ended soon after but it was a fun Stalker match. Stalking getting rid of the mask and having his real name announced brought the tears down for most people. ***1/4
Ultimo Dragon, Ryo Saito & Yasushi Kanda vs. MaxiMuM (Masato Yoshino & Dragon Kid) & Masaaki Mochizuki
Ultimo and Dragon Kid’s involvement in the match is of keen interest for me because they’ve been a bit tense since Ultimo’s return. Ultimo has shown mass disrespect to Dragon Kid and Dragon Kid has been rather hesitant to act on it but he is annoyed by the response. He does lash out when Ultimo hits a short headbutt and turns his back. Dragon Kid decides to act very heelish towards him for the rest of the match, even denying him the Asai Moonsault(!), which was a great edge to give these tired old matches. MaxiMuM & Mochizui working over Saito was great. Good triple team moves and the cut offs for Saito’s offence was good. There was some great tag work by Team Ultimo, such as the synchronized submissions and Kanda hitting a John Woo to Dragon Kid into a Ryo Saito german suplex. Dragon Kid and Yoshino taking turns hitting their signature moves on Kanda for the finish was good. One of the better Ultimo Dragon tags. There was tons of story elements to this past “we respect Ultimo Dragon. Dragon Kid showing off with flips rather posing with the rest on the stage is telling ***1/2
Open the Brave Gate Championship Match: Kaito Ishida (c) vs. Jason Lee
One of my personally anticipated matches of the night. Kaito Ishida turned on MaxiMuM, revealing himself to be one of the demons for R.E.D during an impromptu match between R.E.D and Speed Muscle and Ultimo at the last Korakuen Hall show. Jason Lee came out attacking Ishida personally. So there is a ton of hate and frustration behind this match. Ishida’s entrance is great. He comes out in the green demon mask and gets in Jason Lee’s face who goes it right back. Ishida had some great heel mannerisms from his walk and general body language. Jason Lee showed tons of aggression as well. This wasn’t even your standard Brave Gate title match either with the two doing some brief crowd brawling and more willing to lay in strikes rather than the standard Dragon Gate offence. Ishida’s kicks are usually pretty hard but they were more so here. Jason Lee was really good at fighting from beneath in this match. His selling was good, he had some crafty counters to Ishida’s offence and he provided a great clean cut contrast to Ishida and all his shithousery. R.E.D inference was limited but it was effective with one attack from R.E.D leading to a long portion of control for Ishida and the red demon throwing salt into the eyes of Jason Lee for the finish. ***3/4
Open the Triangle Gate 3 Way Elimination Championship Match: Strong Machines (Strong Machine J, Strong Machine F & Strong Machine G) (c) vs. R.E.D (H・Y・O, Takashi Yoshida & Diamanté) vs. Natural Vibes (Kzy, Susumu Yokosuka & Genki Horiguchi)
It’s been nearly a year since the Strong Machines showed up. I think it’s time to lose the titles but will they? This is a naturally chaotic match with so much happening at once. Three guys are in the match at all times, sometimes more come in now and again. HYO and one of the Machines (I think F) went to the balcony and brawled a bit. Natural Vibes brought out the rubber band to hit HYO. Once Natural Vibes got eliminated, the match got a bit more easy to follow. The Machines then began to get into a groove and strung together some great looking triple team moves. A fine 3-way trios match. Not one of their better iterations though. ***
Open the Twin Gate Championship Match: R.E.D (Eita & Big R Shimizu) (c) vs. Tribe Vanguard (YAMATO & BxB Hulk)
The best tag team of 2019 vs the best tag team of 2018. The sleaze vs the pomp and circumstance. This looks to be an excellent match. BxB Hulk has persisting injury problems but when with YAMATO, he usually delivers and has looked healthy recently. R.E.D are them usual selves. Methodical and viscous on offence. They use the rest of the unit to attacking YAMATO and inflict damage on him further while the rest of Tribe Vanguard try and come in to help but distracts the ref inadvertently. BxB Hulk had some great, flashy offence to counteract Big R and Eita’s double team moves. At one point, he did a beautiful flick with his leg to kick Big R in the face and hit Eita with his heel in the face in one motion. It looked great. YAMAHulk have great chemistry as a duo and everything they do just flows together. They blend 1 v1 action with tag wrestling excellently well, as do Big R and Eita. YAMATO and Big R had an awesome (but short) finishing stretch with Big R looking for the shot putter before YAMATO nailed a brutal frankensteiner that spiked Big R on his head. Another great match for both team’s resumes. A great way to end Eita and Big R’s title reign. ****1/4
Open the Dream Gate Championship Match: Ben-K (c) vs. Naruki Doi
Tons of elements for this match. Doi rarely has singles matches, so when they happen, especially in Dream Gate title matches, there is always a special vibe around them. Doi particularly upset by Ben-K turning on MaxiMum in 2018 so there is still big resentment for that. Ben-K is the crowned ace of Dragon Gate and is running through all the former aces and champions of the last generation. So there is a ton of depth to this past another title defence for him. Doi focused on the neck of Ben-K for the most part. Putting all of his offence directly against the neck in preparation for his Muscular Bomb. Ben-K has explosive power as an answer though. Love how he’d just grab Doi and throw him around occasionally. Ben-K at one great moment in the match, ran full speed into Doi against a guard rail. It looked great with the one of guardrails flying away. There was a great trope in the match where Doi would wear Ben-K down with a barrage of moves leading to Ben-K get more and more slow to regain offence. The nearfalls were excellent as well. At first I was slightly doubting that Doi’d get the win but as he built up more and more steam, the more intense and dramatic they got. A great shock win for Doi and an excellent pay off for all the work Doi did on Ben-K’s neck. Doi winning the Dream Gate title years after his last title reign was a special moment. Fantastic match. ****1/4
This was a really good show. The last two matches were both excellent matches with two great shocking wins and moments. Doi wins his first Dream Gate title in nine years, in a rare singles match for him too (****1/4). YamaHulk regain the titles after injuries caused their last title run to end (****1/4). Ishida vs Lee was awesome with the two having a very close and personal battle (***3/4). The Ultimo tag had some good story progression (***1/2). The opening three matches were all significant for the younger generation of wrestler’s careers. The only down points was the Triangle Gate title match and that was solid if not unspectacular (***).
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