Rare Disappointing Dragongate Main Events - Unit Disbands & Shun vs Yoshioka

DG Open The New Year Gate 2023 - Day 4 - 11/01/2023

Unit Disbands Ten Man Tag Team Elimination Match: HIGH-END (Dragon Kid, Kagetora & YAMATO), Mondai Ryu & Takashi Yoshida vs. Z-Brats (BxB Hulk, H.Y.O, ISHIN, KAI & Shun Skywalker)

One of the units has three members. The winners of this were obvious. And the two add-ins were disposed of quickly enough, giving us the 3 (well 2) v 5 advantage that probably would’ve been preferable. Z-Brats dominate until Kagetora comes out and gives HIGH-END some momentum, which is used to eliminate two members of Z-Brats. The match whittles down until it’s just Shun Skywalker and YAMATO. And those are the most compelling parts. The other wrestlers came in for a spot but the focus quickly went back to the former Dream Gate champions. They sow a little doubt with YAMATO thwarting a powderspot and YAMATO hitting Galleria on Shun but with Shun being set up for the next night, the result was inevitable. Disappointing main event for the most part with the parts that weren’t disposable or forgettable was at the ending. Plus Hulk’s fast turn makes no-sense. Him as a heel sucks though and I’d just prefer him to be finally cycled down by this point. **1/2

DG Open The New Year Gate 2023 - Day 5 - 12/01/2023

Open The Dream Gate Title Match: Yuki Yoshioka (c) vs. Shun Skywalker

Fuck I wish this hit more than it did. There was tons of quality wrestling to be seen from this match. Both guys are very good in the ring and can have a great match with each other but this never really felt like a world title match. It just felt fine. Good wrestling but the intangibles didn’t seem to be there. The time was an issue for me as well; this felt way too long and endless which made it feel worse than it was. The match had some solid character work from Shun Skywalker but it wasn’t his best. The strengths of the match was it playing into the usual finishes of Yoshioka matches, only with Shun Skywalker being the one to really be that unstoppable force. Decent but not one of the better Dream Gate title matches. ***1/4