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 Dragon Gate is currently the second largest wrestling company in Japan, with some of the best in-ring action, most amusing comedy & it's a crime we've not got a dedicated thread. And the Kobe World Wrestling Festival live thread last month was fun so lets do more of that. What do I need to know? The first thing is that Dragon Gate can be watched on the Dragon Gate Network, which is ¥1,500 a month, so a bit more expensive than New Japan World & All Japan TV & DDT Universe. But they do usually show the openers from shows on Youtube if you want a taster. And of course great matches from previous shows get posted in the Best and Worst Matches Thread so you can probably check out some of the standout matches from this year if you're still not sold. You didn't answer the first question Okay, but you do need to know where to watch this stuff. The brass tacks is that Dragon Gate is a spinoff from Toryumon, a promotion and school started by Ultimo Dragon and most of the wrestlers involved were either trained by him or trained by someone who is from that lineage (which is known as the Dragon System). It's mostly a junior focused promotion which is heavily influenced by Ultimo Dragon and lucha libre, so expect high flying as well as some technical and flashy submission grappling. You get a lot of tag matches & trios matches & other multiman matches, often (always?) with lucha tag rules which mean that if you go out of the ring you count as having tagged out. Most wrestlers are in one of the 6 factions, with a handful of unattached wrestlers and the occasional foreigner. Like most Japanese wrestling groups they use a touring schedule, with a tour often leading to one of the bigger marquee events near or at the end of it. So for example the current tour is The Gate of Adventure started on the 3rd August and is leading up to Dangerous Gate which is this Saturday, 24th August, with another couple of Gate of Adventure shows before The Gate of Origin from Sendai on 1st September. The big shows to look for during the year are Champions Gate, which is back to back nights in Osaka in early March, Memorial Gate, which is at the end of March, Dead or Alive in early May, King of Gate which is Dragon Gate's G1 equivalent and goes throughout May & into June, Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival is the biggest show of the year & happens around the 3rd weekend of July in the promotions hometown, Dangerous Gate which has moved around from late August to late September, Gate of Destiny is in early November from Osaka and the year is rounded out with Final Gate from Fukuoka around Christmas time. Tell me about those factions Traditionally in Dragon Gate (& Toryumon Japan before that) there's a number of groups but only one of those is solidly heel. The heel faction has a box which they often use to cheat, it's one of those recurring themes, it's usually in their colours, don't worry about it. As for who the current groups are: Tribe Vanguard  The oldest group currently in the promotion, Tribe Vanguard was formed at Dead or Alive 2016 when YAMATO was turned on by his VerserK team mates and Kzy, Yosuke♥Santa Maria & BxB Hulk saved him. YAMATO is the leader and he's joined by originals Yosuke♥Santa Maria & BxB Hulk, luchadore Flamita, young grappler U-T, Kagetora and Animal Hamaguchi graduate KAI. YAMATO is a Dragon Gate Trueborn, which just means he came through DG's Dojo, debuting in 2006. Since then he's gone on to be one of the promotions most successful wrestlers, with 4 Dream Gate reigns, 9 Twin Gate reigns & 5 Triangle Gate reigns, plus a run with the DGUSA Open the Freedom Gate belt in 2011. Hulk was a real standout in his prime, but he's been slowed down by injuries, including recurring neck problems. Santa Maria is an exotico, she tends to be a fairly amusing comedy worker playing off her exotico status, though I'm not sure if exoticos exactly qualify as woke in TYOOL 2019. U-T is an exciting 25 year old who had a tremendous fun match with Susumu Yokosuka at Dead or Alive this year. Flamita you may have seen in places like AAA, The Crash, MLW or PWG, often teaming with or facing Bandido. He's very entertaining. Kagetora began his career as SUWAcito (which doesn't even make sense to me, original SUWA was an inch taller). KAI is a freelancer who you have seen in All Japan or Wrestle-1 as well as DG. MaxiMuM  Next we have MaxiMuM with the co-leaders of Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino, who've been on & off again partners since 2005 as DoiYoshi as part of Blood Generation, and was formed after Doi was kicked out of VerserK by T-Hawk. They were initially joined by Big R Shimizu & Ben-K but they turned in 2018. Hong Kong native Jason Lee joined in late 2017 & then in October 2018 their numbers were bolstered by the veteran Dragon Kid and the younger Kaito Ishida. In the start of 2019 there were tensions between Doi & Kid over leadership but that all resolved peacefully. Natural Vibes  After Kzy left Tribe Vanguard he was invited to join ANTIAS, the heel group at the time. He refused and was beaten down until being saved by the former Jimmyz Susumu Yokosuka & Genki Horiguchi. They have a great theme song, they have an entertaining dance routine they do, Kzy raps, it's great. The group consists of Kzy as leader, current Open the Brave Gate champ Susumu Yokosuka (who has had a great run so far), Genki Horiguchi, "brother" YASSHI and Punch Tominaga and they might be my favourite group. Susumu is like an awkward dad in the back of the dance routine, doing it but out of sync with the others and it's great. Mochizuki Dojo  Masaaki Mochizuki is old. 49 and having wrestled for 25 years, including 20 of them in the Dragon system, going back to Toryumon Japan and then to Dragon Gate where he's won it all, capped off with 3 Dream Gate reigns. And he's still excellent. So a bunch of the younger guys who were maybe floundering compared to classmate Ben-K and thus was born Mochizuki Dojo. Masaaki Mochizuki is the head, and he's joined by Hyou Watanabe, Yuki Yoshioka, Kota Minoura & as of July this year Keisuke Okuda. Shun Skywalker was a member until Dead or Alive this year when he decided to leave the group as he felt he'd learned enough. R.E.D.  It stands for Real Extreme Diffusion which is obviously nonsense but it sounds cool. R.E.D. is essentially a continuation of ANTIAS but without Shingo Takagi, and ANTIAS was basically a continuation of VerserK, so it could be argued they date back to 2015, but let's go with September 24th 2018 as the start of R.E.D., when Eita revealed the name and their newest member, Kazma Sakamoto. The intitial lineup was Eita, Sakamoto, Big R Shimizu, Ben-K, Takashi Yoshida & Yasushi Kanda but they were quickly joined on October 2nd by the returning PAC, back after 6 years in the wilderness, as he teamed with Eita to beat BxB Hulk & Shingo Takagi. They were joined by Daga from AAA (though he's not appeared at all in DG in 2019). Ben-K challenged Yoshino for the Dream Gate but came up short & it instead it was PAC who took the belt on December 4th, becoming the first ever British Dream Gate champion. PAC's reign was full of excellent matches against people like Kzy, Shun Skywalker & Dragon Kid and he helped raise the profile of Dragon Gate in the west a little. There was tension between Eita & Big R during 2019 which all turned out to be a ruse as they all turned on Ben-K and kicked him out of the group. In hindsight this seems to have been a mistake. At Kobe World this summer Eita & Big R captured the Twin Gate straps as part of one of the very best tag matches of the year, winning a match with YAMATO & KAI and Doi & Ishida but it wasn't all good news: they lost the Triangle Gate titles to Machine Army & then in the main event PAC was defeated by Ben-K. At the start of the Gate of Adventure tour they added Diamante to their team, an indy lucha guy who came through CMLL. Machine Army  It's 3 robots who do nothing but win. Strong Machine F, Strong Machine G & Strong Machine J. Strong Machine F & G definitely aren't just DG veterans in masks, but J is the actual son of New Japan wrestler Super Strong Machine. They are the reigning Triangle Gate champs. Only been together for a few months & J is very green at this stage, but looks good for his experience level, though their matches do tend towards a formula. Unattached The big name in this "group" is Ben-K, current Dream Gate champion, though he has the beginnings of an alliance with Shun Skywalker now since Shun left Mochizuki Dojo. They've been tagging a lot this tour and it's a pretty promising team as far as the future of Dragon Gate goes. You have the Weakest Wrestler In The World "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa, Ryo Saito, Mondai Ryu, K-Ness, Gamma, Don Fujii, Shachihoko BOY & a couple of younger guys in the shape Oji Shiiba & Dragon Dia (who as the name suggests has been placed in the position of Dragon Kid's protege). And then you have some random foreigners on a tour, like currently we've got Jimmy from Mexico and Martin Kirby from England on the tour and both have been good value in the openers. The Titles Open The Dream Gate The big singles title. Currently held by Ben-K after he beat PAC at Kobe World, this is his first reign. The first champion was CIMA by virtue of him being the last Ultimo Dragon Gym champion; Masato Yoshino & YAMATO are tied at 4 reigns each. The longest reign so far belongs to CIMA who held the title for 574 days from December 2011 until July 2013, losing to Shingo Takagi. Other notable names to have won the belt include Jushin Thunder Liger & Ricochet. Open The Brave Gate A belt for wrestlers 83kg or under, a weight limit which Dragon Gate take seriously. Currently held by Susumu Yokosuka, Naruki Doi was the first champion, winning an 8 man tournament in March 2005. Matt Sydal was the first foreign holder (in '07), the longest reigning champion was PAC between August 2010 & November 2011 and Masato Yoshino has had the most individual reigns with 6. Open The Twin Gate The tag titles were introduced in 2007, superseding the old WAR International Junior tag titles which had been used before that. DoiYoshi or Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino were the original winners, the longest reign belongs to the Over Generation team of CIMA & Dragon Kid, who held the belts for 397 days between November 2016 & December 2017 when they were vacated after an injury to Dragon Kid. The combo of Eita & T-Hawk have the most team reigns with 4 while YAMATO has been champ 9 times with a variety of partners (Cyber Kong x2, Shingo Takagi x3, Naruki Doi x2, BxB Hulk & KAI). Open The Triangle Gate Trios titles, currently held by Machine Army since Kobe World. First champions were the Italian Connection team (Milano Collect AT, Anthony W Mori & YOSSINO), winning the roundrobin Rey De Parejas tournament, held over October & November 2004. The longest reign belongs to the Blood Generation group of CIMA, Magnitude Kishiwada and Masato Yoshino, holding it for 319 days back in 2005. Two trios have held the belts on 3 separate occasions: Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito and Genki Horiguchi, Ryo Saito & Yasushi Kanda. But it's Naruki Doi who has held one of the belts the most, 14 times. Useful resources The Dragon Gate Network The Dragon Gate Website, though it's all in Japanese Dragon Gate English Facebook page, kept up dated with upcoming tours and results and news. Dragon Gate Network Youtube Channel, where you can find the opening couple of matches from shows for free as a teaser. Voices of Wrestling, usually have previews and reviews for the big shows and often the Korakuen shows too. Also hosts Open The Voice Gate, a very good podcast on DG There might be some obvious poo poo I've forgotten so feel free to point it out.
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Aug 23, 2019 23:03
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 18:32 |
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Upcoming DG Network Schedule Dangerous Gate 2019 - Saturday 24th August, Tokyo Ota Ward General Gymnasium, 16:00 JST/08:00 BST/03:00 EST/00:00 PST The Gate of Origin 2019 - Sunday 1st September, Miyagi Sendai Sun Plaza, 14:00 JST/06:00 BST/01:00 EST/22:00 PST Wednesday 11th September, Tokyo Korakuen Hall, 18:30 JST/10:30 BST/5:30 EST/2:30 PST Saturday 14th September, Osaka Eidion Arena #2, 18:00 JST/10:00 BST/5:00 EST/2:00 PST Tuesday 17th September, Kobe Sambo Hall, 18:30 JST/10:30 BST/5:30 EST/2:30 PST Sunday 29th September, Fukuoka Across, 13:00 JST/05:00 BST/00:00 EST/21:00 PST Sunday 29th September, Fukuoka Across, 17:00 JST/09:00 BST/04:00 EST/1:00 PST  1. “brother” YASSHI, Punch Tominaga, Problem Dragon, Martin Kirby, Hiroshi Yamato vs. Kagetora, Yosuke♥Santa Maria, Shachihoko Boy, Dragon Dia, Jimmy 2. Ryo Saito, Super Shisa, K-ness., Kenichiro Arai vs. R.E.D. (Yasushi Kanda, Takashi Yoshida, Kazma Sakamoto, Diamante) 3. Open the Triangle Gate Championship Match Strong Machine Army (Strong Machine F, Strong Machine G, Strong Machine J) (c) vs. Mochizuki Dojo (Yuki Yoshioka, Hyo Watanabe, Kota Minoura) 4. Naruki Doi, Kaito Ishida vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Keisuke Okuda 5. 20th Anniversary Celebration Series Match Ultimo Dragon, BxB Hulk, KAI vs. MaxiMuM (Masato Yoshino, Dragon Kid, Jason Lee) 6. Susumu Yokosuka vs. Shun Skywalker 7. Open the Twin Gate Championship No Disqualification Match R.E.D. (Eita, Big R Shimizu) (c) vs. Natural Vibes (Kzy, Genki Horiguchi) 8. Open the Dream Gate Championship Match Ben-K (c) vs. YAMATO I was initially going to go do a proper preview for this myself but the OP took far too long to write and I need to go to bed. VoW have a really good preview that explains what's happening & why. So I recommend that, they have far more educated things to say than I would have anyway. But the gist is that the 4th, 6th, 7th & 8th matches there are the ones to really watch for. It's well worth catching live, should be a great show. forkboy84 fucked around with this message at 08:55 on Aug 24, 2019 |
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Aug 23, 2019 23:04
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Dragon gate has legit been great this year after the massive transition year that was last year and everyone they lost. Every big show has been really worth watching. I feel though the stables could have one more shakeup though.
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Aug 24, 2019 00:34
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how does yammy move? i really liked him during his reign ten years ago
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Aug 24, 2019 00:36
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Your standard real fun opening match, Santa Maria getting the pin over Punch Tominaga with a Crucifix Bomb. Martin Kirby & Jimmy have developed some real solid chemistry over this tour. R.E.D.s theme is still a banger.
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Aug 24, 2019 08:21
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R.E.D. surprisingly lose. But only because Yoshida ripped off Super Shisa's mask and then misted him in front of the ref. And now he's being very mean towards the losing team and calling them trash and saying Saito is just a dumb comedy wrestler. Shocking stuff. Got to say that apart from the finish that was forgettable. I have absolutely less than zero recollection of seeing KAZMA SAKAMOTO in WWE or NXT and I definitely was at least watching NXT in the 4 or 5 months he was there. forkboy84 fucked around with this message at 08:36 on Aug 24, 2019 |
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Aug 24, 2019 08:32
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Kaito Ishida has copied Doi's look and gone and dyed his hair silver! A real great match between all the boys kicking each other really hard. Great finish too, Okuda does the top rope triangle which is always dope, Ishida fights out, Mochizuki kicks him in the head, Okuda puts the triangle choke back on and Ishida passes out. Real enjoyable.
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Aug 24, 2019 09:15
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https://twitter.com/futureofdg/status/1165182476785999872?s=20 Yikes. Kinda amazed that KAI was able to walk after that, looked nasty. And he's having to hang around ringside while Yoshino talks to Ultimo in the ring. Anyway, Yoshino asked Dragon to be a full-time roster member & Ultimo has said he'll give an answer at Korakuen on 11th September.
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Aug 24, 2019 09:51
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