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Toryumon is probably my favorite Japanese wrestling federation/style of all time, so I'm partial to Dragon Gate (incidentally, I think "Dragon Gate" is just the English language translation of "Toryumon") even more than I am New Japan. There's a slight change in the style, but maybe the main thing I'm noticing is the fact that the top-level guys have largely been the same people for the last like, decade plus. There's just so much wrestling each year and so much stuff in the past to go through, which is why it's such an achievement that Toryumon and now Dragon Gate's routinely able to do things where I can honestly say "that's a new one." I appreciate ring psychology, but in a world of FIGHTING SPIRIT it's not the be-all end-all. The high flying in Dragon Gate is crisp and for all that goes on and all that can go catastrophically wrong, you don't often see blown spots. Pure CMLL-type lucha often looks overly contrived because they wrestle so "light" and bump very rarely, but the Dragon Gate style alleviates those issues. Comedy in wrestling is hard to since most of the time it's really dumb and unfunny, but Dragon Gate's stuff more often than not gets a laugh because it's so well-timed relative to everything else in the match. Bonus points for most of the more comedic guys also being able to wrestle quite well such that the silliness isn't a crutch. It's really too bad about the acrimonious split with Ultimo Dragon. I rarely watch those Mexican Toryumon shows he does since the cards are typically filled with people I've never heard of elsewhere, and when he wrestles in other Japanese feds it's usually against stiffs. Guy can't even get a break in New Japan to declare Okada his greatest recent student or anything.  oatgan posted:look at that beautiful card Seriously. Of everything on the Kobe show, I'm looking forward to Flamita vs Dragon Kid the most.
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Jul 17, 2014 04:01
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Dragon Kid vs Flamita was all right, but nothing I'd tell people to go out of their way to see. It never really kicked into high gear, and Kid's offense was flashier than Flamita's was. I was expecting that to be match of the night, but it's almost certain that everyone else's pick for that--the Twin Gate match--will outshine it without question.
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Jul 20, 2014 08:06
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I notice that the last several shows and the next month's worth of shows don't even feature my beloved Open the Triangle Gate matchups, but I guess it's because September is when Dragon Gate holds their Summer Adventure Tag League tournament. 10 teams divided into two blocks, with a scoring system that's basically identical to the G1 Climax. Unlike the G-1 though, they're not streaming the shows since this tournament basically takes up most of September. Still, 14 shows in 30 days seems pretty hectic. I'm guessing they'll show the good stuff on the Infinity show, but the first night of the tournament is days away and I haven't heard a peep from a soul so much as acknowledging it's even happening. The final 3 matches of Dangerous Gate were good stuff, as expected, and the lunacy of the Captain's Fall Loser Revives match was apparently received well enough that they're doing it again for their next Korakuen Hall iPPV on Tuesday. Here's the card for that: -- K-ness & Super Shisa vs Yosuke♡Santa Maria & Yuga Hayashi -- Uhaa Nation & Shachihoko BOY vs Jimmy Kagetora & "Mr. High Tension" Kotoka -- Punch Tominaga vs Don Fujii -- Summer Adventure Tag League B Block: T-Hawk & Eita vs CIMA & Gamma -- Open the Brave Gate Championship Match: Flamita vs. Kzy -- BxB Hulk, Masaaki Mochizuki & Dragon Kid vs. Akira Tozawa, Masato Yoshino & Shingo Takagi -- Jimmyz vs. Mad Blankey, Loser Revives Survival Instant Comeback Captain's Fall Elimination Match (they'll decide on captains at bell time, but I'm thinking Jimmy Susumu and YAMATO): Jimmy Susumu, Jimmy Kanda, Mr. Quu Quu Tanizaki Naoki Toyonaka Dolphin, Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!! vs. YAMATO, Naruki Doi, Cyber Kong, Mondai Ryu
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Sep 4, 2014 06:37
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