Open the Brave Gate Championship Match: Kaito Ishida (c) vs. Yosuke Santa Maria
Awesome opener. Ishida is a great aggressive champion and Yosuke Santa Maria, when the comedy is toned down, can be a very convincing title challenger. Ishida brought all the great aspects to the match he usually does. The little yet brutal kicks he throws to the stomach, or to Santa Maria’s knee in this case. Santa Maria’s selling was really good in parts. Her comebacks were pretty good as well and seemed like a real danger to Ishida. ***1/2
Toryumon (Yasushi Kanda & Kagetora), Gamma & Ho Ho Lun vs. DRAGONGATE (Keisuke Okuda, Mondai Ryu, Punch Tominaga & U-T)
These kinds of multi-man matches are really only used to get the low-card wrestlers onto the show while showcasing a bigger star. Which was the case with Okuda. **
Toryumon (Ultimo Dragon & Shuji Kondo) & Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Toryumon (Don Fujii, Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito)
If anyone is going to make up for no crowd, it's Ryo Saito and his booming voice. There was a really cool mix of comedy wrestling mixed in with the usual Dragon Gate spots. Ryo Saito’s shouting and Ultimo’s burmusment at him and Genki Horiguchi was just class. Kondo looked like a beast like he usually does. Mochizuki added his excellent as well. Good veterans tag team match. ***1/4
Naruki Doi vs. Kzy
This was a great match for the middle of the show. They went at a really fast pace with a ton of quick counters and nifty submissions. It was designed to make Kzy look sympathetic and get the crowd behind him with Doi dominating most of the match before Kzy made a comeback. And it was a success at doing just that. Kzy looks ready for another push at the top of the show after this. Loved the submission where he basically twisted every limb the other way around. Doi sold the heck out of it with his groans too. ***1/2
Open the Triangle Gate Championship Match: DRAGONGATE (Ben-K, Strong Machine J & Dragon Dia) (c) vs. R.E.D (Takashi Yoshida, KAZMA SAKAMOTO & Diamante)
I thought that this was a really, really good Triangle Gate Title match. It went a little too long but it all worked really well overall. Yoshida, Kazma and Diamante yet again proved to be a very strong trio together. Just a great one whole machine. Likewise for the Dragon Gate side although Ben-K stood out a little more over his peers. Ben-K’s deadlift of Yoshida was a total “woah” moment. He looked so great. ***1/2
Open the Twin Gate Championship: DRAGONGATE (Kota Minoura & Jason Lee) (c) vs. Toryumon (Susumu Yokosuka & Dragon Kid)
Minoura and Jason Lee do it again! Jason Lee has long been an excellent part of the roster so it’s no surprise that he was able to level up with ease. Minoura continued showing great promise in his young career. They took their push with great stride earlier in the year and made the best of it (Add in their great tag match at Memorial Gate against BxB Hulk & Kazma as further evidence of that). This was another fantastic, high-level performance from those two. So much of the flash and drama in the match emanate from these two. They weren’t alone in that regard either. Susumu and Dragon Kid were great as the glue that held some of the more intricate sequences together towards the end. Both at the end and the middle of the match where they dominated the match with well oiled tag team wrestling. Just as aggressive as deft in execution. Like the pros they were, they contrasted their style and roles to Lee and Minorua. And that added to the whole generational story of the match and the promotion as a whole. The match did a super job at building up the match in tempo and intensity starting with a slow but solid foundation and ending it with a spectacular closing stretch.This crescendoed with Jason Lee and the DG generation getting the win. As they should’ve ****1/4
Steel Cage 6 Way Match: YAMATO vs. KAI vs. Masato Yoshino vs. Eita vs. BxB Hulk vs. Big R Shimizu
The 2020 Risk cage match is more riskier than ever. Some stipulations are more comedic than others such as YAMATO’s risk of being put in a bathrobe but for guys like KAI, Yoshino and Hulk, it’s everything. KAI can be kicked out of the company, Yoshino could be embarrassed and forced into an early retirement and BxB Hulk could lose the identity that he’s had for his entire career. And one thing this match does perfectly is making the weight of those stipulations apparent. I dug how there was the added caveat of there being numbered entrances, making guys like Eita who came in last struggle that much more. Just little things like that added to the grand storytelling on display. Everything felt just perfectly executed. Whether it was KAI giving up hope that he can escape on his own, turning on YAMATO or joining R.E.D or Big R Shimizu attempting to climb the cage rather than help Eita (and vice versa), it was smoothly done in the flow of the match. There were a ton of elements to this and it all was very clear and obvious when it could’ve easily been too convoluted and messy. The final stretch with Big R and Yoshino fighting for the last flag was a great ending with R.E.D coming in and attacking Yoshino, adding a dramatic punch to it only for the Ultimo Dragon to make the save after they left. An awesome moment where the teacher saves his student’s dignity. ****1/2
A lot of people’s ‘Show Of The Year’ and I’ll join that group of people. Not only does the wrestling peak incredibly high as far as the last few matches go but in how each other shows it’s own quality and progresses nicely. The Risk Cage Match is excellent in many ways in terms of drama, wrestling and storytelling. The Twin Gate Title match is just that as well, bridging the company wide storyline together nicely. You can’t go wrong with this show regardless of your tastes in wrestling, if you ask me.
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