DG The Gate Of Destiny 2022 - 06/11/2022
Eita vs. Takuma Fujiwara
This is the third time I’ve seen Fujiwara. Apparently he’s a prodigy but all Dragongate rookies are prodigies these days, so it’s hard to take that claim seriously. But I did enjoy his Brave Gate title match against Dragon Dia before he went on his excursion to Mexico. And who better to face in your return than the Mexicophile Eita. The match was pretty much a midcard showcase match. Eita didn’t show Fujiwara that much respect - he was taking his time, turning his back to Fujiwara, etc - and seemed content with not trying as hard until Fujiwara did something to challenge him. Fujiwara showed the difference between him and Mochizuki Jr. Not to disparage Jr but Fujiwara seems more comfortable in his movements and energetic. The match was more of a showcase than something competitive and the result was decent enough. **1/2
Open The Twin Gate Title Match: D'courage (Dragon Dia & Madoka Kikuta) (c) vs. Natural Vibes (BIG BOSS Shimizu & Strong Machine J)
The match had a weird start with the wrestlers being more focused on the crowd being able to cheer than on the match but it quickly got its footing with Natural Vibes fitting into a semi-heel role, not only attacking Dia’s arm and isolating him from Kikuta, but also taunting the crowd with glares and very aggressive body language. Kikuta doesn’t do much outside of making saves and hitting hip attacks but he’s really gotten a lot of mileage out of that move and I enjoyed his contribution in the match. Him and Strong Machine J had really good chemistry with each other for the closing stretch. Enough that you could put these two in a singles match and have been excited to see it. Dragon Dia was really good as the FIP and if they decided to drag out that portion of the match for longer than they did, this could’ve been really, really good. But I’ll settle on this. ***1/4
Open The Brave Gate Title Match: H.Y.O (c) vs. Dragon Kid
I feel like the world stops when HYO wrestles. I may be the biggest Dragon Kid fanboy but I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy this. HYO was just too boring to watch for this amount of time. For whatever trickery he brings, he overshadows it with his lack of competent pacing. The match gets interesting, somewhat, for the finish and that’s really it. Just a chore to sit through **
Open The Triangle Gate Title Match: M3K (Masaaki Mochizuki, Mochizuki Jr. & Susumu Mochizuki) (c) vs. Z-Brats (Ishin Iihashi, KAI & Shun Skywalker)
While not a great match, this had the hook of Ishin turning heel to join Z-Brats and his feud with Mochizuki Jr reaching a new level. The rest of the wrestlers were just side pieces for that story and I was fine with it. Ishin and Jr had some strong exchanges in the match and seemed to bring out the best of each other. Good match. ***
Open The Dream Gate Title Match: Yuki Yoshioka (c) vs. YAMATO
Yoshioka is in a tricky stage because he is the champion but he’s not the ace of the promotion (YAMATO is) and that spot won’t be his for a while (if at all). At this stage, Yoshioka just had to show that he is worthy of being considered that guy. And they opted for the story where Yoshioka was able to take everything that YAMATO was able to dish out and still win. YAMATO even put the title around Yoshioka’s waist for the finish, thus crowning him. Now we’ll have to see if it sticks. The match itself was really good. It was not entirely move-heavy, as the YAMATO had worked the leg in the early parts of the match to establish control and Yoshioka didn’t do much selling but the strongest parts of the match were definitely that. YAMATO came off as really motivated to make Yoshioka that guy and Yoshioka is a killer offensive wrestler so it worked to an extent. While not entirely great, it was thoroughly enjoyable. ***3/4
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