Eight teams fight for the right to challenge for the Open the Twin Gate Championships.
January 15 & 16, 2010 – Kobe & Kyoto, Japan
Championship rundown:
Open the Dream Gate Champion: Naruki Doi
Interim Open the Twin Gate Champions: CIMA & Gamma
Open the Triangle Gate Champions: Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii & Akebono
Open the Brave Gate Champion: K-ness
Open the Freedom Gate Champion: BxB Hulk
The show starts with CIMA and Gamma throwing down the Twin Gate belts immediately after winning them. They want strong challengers to face them for the titles before they’ll call themselves true champions. Tonight a tournament to find those challengers begins. We’re introduced to each team with a video to the tune of “Never Been So Sick” by Takeover UK. Tokyo Gurentai, World-1, Kamikaze, the Zetsurins, the Shisas and Real Hazard (times three). Speaking of Real Hazard…
The Doctor Muscle that helped Takuya Sugawara at Final Gate 2009 is revealed to be KAGETORA. Nobody is surprised. Sugawara and KAGETORA will be the third Real Hazard team, along with Kanda/Arai and Yokosuka/K-ness. An instrumental version of Led Zeppelin’s “Kashmire” plays over a clip of the tournament brackets. I wish American wrestling companies could have such badass soundtracks.
The first two matches are from Live Gate, a very small show in Kobe.
K-ness {RH} & Susumu Yokosuka {RH} vs. NOSAWA Rongai {TG} & MAZADA {TG} [Quarterfinal Match]
Everyone brawls to start. They fight around the building. In the ring K-ness and Yokosuka double-team Rongai. MAZADA regains control and everyone just stands around for a while. Rongai hits a head kick for 2. MAZADA puts on a chinlock. He and Rongai double-team K-ness for 2. Rongai puts on a crossface. K-ness gets to the ropes. MAZADA chokes K-ness. You’re babyfaces now Gurentai! They crotch K-ness on the post. MAZADA pulls a trick out of the Florida Brothers’ bag, forcing K-ness’s leg between his own and telling the referee he’s the victim of a low blow. Yagi isn’t buying it. MAZADA no-sells K-ness’s chops. He puts on a Boston crab. K-ness gets to the ropes. He comes back with an enziguiri. MAZADA hits Yokosuka with a Manhattan drop. Yokosuka hits a low blow. He hits an exploder. Rongai hits a low blow. Yokosuka hits another low blow. The crowd isn’t into any of this. MAZADA tries to low blow Yokosuka but hits Rongai by mistake. Yokosuka hits another low blow and K-ness hits the ssss. They double-team MAZADA for 2. K-ness hits the Michinoku Driver for 2. MAZADA hits a DDT. He and Rongai hit a dropkick sandwich. They hit a double flapjack and a double wheelbarrow suplex for 2. Rongai hits a superkick and MAZADA hits a German suplex. Rongai hits the Shining Wizard for 2. Yokosuka hits a lariat. Rongai hits a back suplex. Yokosuka hits the super exploder. K-ness hits a superplex for 2. Yokosuka hits K-ness with a lariat by mistake. He hits MAZADA with the Jumbo no Kachi for 2. He and K-ness hit the Genkai for 2. K-ness puts on the Aoki Hikari for the win at 13:53. Did we really need to see this one in full? And why the hell was Gurentai fighting heel? I understand why this particular Real Hazard duo would fight clean (they’re in Genki Horiguchi’s clean-fight Real Hazard camp), but Gurentai is aligned with Masaaki Mochizuki and CIMA. Sigh.
Rating: **½
Don Fujii {Z} & Magnitude Kishiwada {Z} vs. YAMATO {K} & Akira Tozawa {K} [Quarterfinal Match]
Tozawa and YAMATO attack before the bell. They hit Fujii with a double dropkick. Tozawa hits a suicide dive on both opponents. Fujii hits a bodyslam on the floor. Kishiwada rams Tozawa into a table. Fujii hits a chokeslam on the table. He chokeslams Tozawa into the ring. He and Kishiwada hit a double chokeslam for 2. Kishiwada hits the Superfly Splash and Fujii puts on a Boston crab. YAMATO makes the save with the sleeper hold. Kishiwada hits a backdrop driver. YAMATO blocks the Last Ride with a guillotine choke. Kishiwada gets to the ropes. Tozawa hits the Ganki for 2. He hits the German suplex for 2. He hits Fujii with an enziguiri. YAMATO spears him by mistake. Fujii hits a lariat. He puts on the Boston crab for the win at 4:40 shown of 17:43. Is there a particular reason this didn’t get more of the time allotted to the previous match? I know this is heavily clipped, but it was rocking out while it was on so I’m rating it.
Rating: ***
Super Shisa {Z} & Shisa BOY vs. Takuya Sugawara {RH} & KAGETORA {RH} [Quarterfinal Match]
We’re joined in progress with Super putting KAGETORA in a Mexican surfboard. BOY hits a dropkick. Super hits a dropkick for 2. KAGETORA and Sugawara double-team Super for 2. The Shisas get the Shachihoko Clutch on Sugawara for 2. Super hits a splash. BOY hits a moonsault for 2. Sugawara hits an enziguiri and KAGETORA hits a brainbuster for 2. Sugawara hits the TCO and KAGETORA hits the flying elbowdrop for 2. Super rolls them both up for 2. BOY dropkicks Super by mistake. KAGETORA hits an enziguiri, a punt and the Ikkitousen for 2. He hits it again for the win at 3:02 shown of 13:44. Fun stuff while it lasted.
Naruki Doi {W1} & Masato Yoshino {W1} vs. Yasushi Kanda {RH} & Kenichiro Arai {RH} [Quarterfinal Match]
Arai and Kanda attack before the bell. Everyone brawls around the building. In the ring Kanda puts Doi in a chinlock. Arai exposes a turnbuckle. He and Doi fight over a vertical suplex in an exchange that Doi wins. Yoshino hits Kanda with a head scissors takedown. He hits a back elbow for 2. Doi tags in and chokes Kanda. Yoshino hits a double stomp on the arm. He dropkicks Kanda’s face for 2. Arai hits a headbutt to the groin. I don’t know if any Jews fluent in Hebrew other than myself have seen shows from this building before, but the stain glass window (which takes up an entire wall) has Hebrew writing about Israel on it. Yoshino and Kanda trade chops until Kanda hits a low blow. Arai falls asleep up top, but wakes up after hitting a diving headbutt and gets 2. Sugawara and Kzy run in to help their boys throw Yoshino into the air for 2. Arai whips Yoshino into the exposed turnbuckle, twice. He puts on a half crab. Yoshino gets to the ropes. He whips Arai into the exposed steel. He hits Kanda with the Sling Blade. Doi tags in and cleans house. He hits a crossbody for 2. Arai hits a JYD-style headbutt. He gets a roll up for 2. He hits Sugawara with the Bakatare Sliding Kick. He hits Arai with a back suplex. Kanda hits Yoshino with a side slam for 2. Yoshino puts on the From Jungle. He hits an elevated facebuster for 2. Arai hits a springboard dropkick. He spits water in Doi’s face. Kanda hits a dropkick. He pulls the referee in the way of Yoshino’s dropkick. Real Hazard gangs up on Doi in the corner. Kzy and Arai hit a double elevated facebuster. Arai hits a diving headbutt and Kanda hits a flying elbowdrop for 2. Doi throws Kanda into the ropes, crotching Arai. Yoshino hits the Sling Blade. He hits the shotgun dropkick for 2. Kanda hits a blue box attack and Arai gets a roll up for 2. Sugawara goes for a red box attack but BxB Hulk grabs it and hits Arai. Yoshino hits the Torbellino. Doi hits the Bakatare Sliding Kick. Yoshino hits the Lightning Spiral for the win at 18:05. I can’t imagine Arai and Kanda having a better match as a heel team. It didn’t hurt that they were in there against SpeedMuscle and had KAGETORA and Sugawara around to pick things up when needed, but they still managed to entertain the hell out of me for the better part of twenty minutes.
Rating: ***½
Hey look at that! Tubakurou the Swallow and Doi have made amends. I’m still waiting for someone to buy me that t-shirt.
Next week we get the semis and the finals of the tournament, as well as Masaaki Mochizuki’s FIP World Heavyweight Championship defense against Shingo Takagi.
