Takagi vs. Mochizuki! Real Hazard vs. SpeedMuscle!
January 17, 2010 – Osaka, 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
Ok so the Pixy Chix aren’t actually dead, but their song is no longer the Infinity theme song! That’s incredibly exciting. It’s been replaced by an equally crappy video but a much catchier song.
The show starts with a digest of the Twin Gate contender tournament semifinal round. Susumu Yokosuka and K-ness defeated Don Fujii and Magnitude Kishiwada when K-ness gave Yokosuka leverage on a roll up. Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino defeated Takuya Sugawara and KAGETORA when Doi caught KAGETORA with a crucifix pin.
Back in November Masaaki Mochizuki and Shingo Takagi knocked each other out, causing the Twin Gate title match on that night to go to a draw. Takagi offered the Zetsurin another shot at the belts, but Mochizuki gave it to CIMA and Gamma, setting off a series of events that necessitated the tournament that’s ending on this show. Mochizuki spent the next two months disassembling Kamikaze instead. In the process of doing so he won Kamikaze-ally Davey Richards’ FIP World Championship belt. During that time Takagi got stuck in a slump, losing to Sugawara and dropping the tag belts to CIMA and Gamma. Tonight he has to a chance to win the FIP belt back for Kamikaze and get back to his winning ways.
Masaaki Mochizuki © {Z} vs. Shingo Takagi {K} [Full Impact Pro World Championship Match]
Mochizuki is wearing new, shorter trunks. Takagi smacks Mochizuki to start. They trade a few shots and avoid each other’s big strikes. Mochizuki takes control with kicks. He sweeps the leg and hits the apron kick. Takagi pops up and goes for the DVD on the apron, but Mochizuki blocks and hits an armbreaker. Back in the ring he stays on the arm. Takagi slugs him. He puts on a guillotine choke. He hits the dead lift suplex. Without letting go he places Mochizuki up top and hits a superplex. Talking about carrying a match (har har har). He hits a kneedrop. Mochizuki slugs him. Takagi hits a lariat. Mochizuki hits the Sick Kick. He hits an avalanche armbreaker and puts on a cross armbreaker. Takagi hits a powerbomb to escape. Mochizuki hits the Sankakugeri but Takagi responds with the Pumping Bomber. Mochizuki blocks the Blood Fall and hits a knee kick. Takagi hits a lariat. Mochizuki hits a dragon suplex, but Takagi is way too fired up. He drops Mochizuki on his head with the MADE IN JAPAN. It only gets 2. Mochizuki hits the Saikyou High Kick for 2. He hits chest kicks and back heel kicks. He puts on a cross armbreaker. Takagi tries to slug out but can’t so he sets Mochizuki up top. He slugs Mochizuki again. He hits the STAY DREAM but his arm is too hurt to cover. He goes for lariats but they don’t have much behind them. Mochizuki hits an ax kick. Takagi hits the Pumping Bomber for 2. Mochizuki gets a victory roll for 2. He hits the Saikyou High Kick and a dragon suplex for 2. He puts on an armbar for the win at 13:03. This could have used another five to ten minutes, but it was great while it lasted. Mochizuki looks like a killer, and Takagi falls further down in the pecking order. Like in the Sugawara match, Takagi’s selling was much improved here. I can’t wait until he gets to show it off in a match that he actually wins.
Rating: ***½
Mochizuki will defend the FIP title against former champion Davey Richards on the Dragon Gate USA show on January 23rd in Philadelphia.
Naruki Doi {W1} & Masato Yoshino {W1} vs. Susumu Yokosuka {RH} & K-ness {RH} [Tournament Finals]
Yokosuka hits Yoshino with an exploder to start. Yoshino puts on the Coumori and Doi hits a dropkick. Yoshino dropkicks Yokosuka’s face. He and Doi hit K-ness with a double gutbuster and a dropkick sandwich. That’s quite the start to a match! Doi works the leg. Yoshino follows suit. K-ness and Yokosuka hit Yoshino with a double back elbow for 2. Yokosuka works the leg but Doi makes the save. K-ness puts on a chinlock. Yokosuka wraps the leg around the post. K-ness hits a dragon screw. He puts on a figure 4 leglock. Yoshino gets to the ropes. Yokosuka dropkicks the leg. He hits the Ashi Yokosuka for 2. He puts on a figure 4 leglock. Yoshino gets to the ropes. He hits a swinging DDT. He hits the Ude Yoshino. Doi tags in and hits a crossbody for 2. Yokosuka rams him into the turnbuckle. Doi hits the Dai Bosou. He hits the big senton for 2. K-ness hits Yoshino with an enziguiri for 2. He puts on the Judah. Doi makes the save. K-ness and Yokosuka control with their signature double-team stuff. Doi hits a backdrop on Yokosuka. They fight up top until K-ness runs up and hits an enziguiri. He hits a superplex for 2. Yoshino hits an elevated Sling Blade. He hits the shotgun dropkick and a senton for 2. He dropkicks Doi by mistake. Yokosuka hits a huge backbreaker. He hits a superplex. K-ness hits the Darkness Driver. Yokosuka hits the Bubba Bomb and K-ness hits the Kaishaku for 2. Yokosuka avoids the Muscular Bomb and hits the Jumbo no Kachi. K-ness hits the Darkness Buster for 2. Yoshino blocks the Last Ride and gets a sunset flip for 2. He hits the lariat/ssss combo. The bad guys hit the Genkai for 2. K-ness kicks Yokosuka by mistake. Doi hits the Doi 555 and the Bakatare Sliding Kick for 2. Yokosuka rolls through the Muscular Bomb for 2. Doi hits an elbow and a suicide dive. Yokosuka hits Yoshino with a lariat. He hits another but Yoshino pops up and hits the Torbellino. Yokosuka hits another lariat but Yoshino hits another Torbellino. Yokosuka gets a roll up for 2. Yoshino hits the Lightning Spiral and Doi hits the Bakatare Sliding Kick for 2. Yoshino puts on the Sol Naciente and hooks Yokosuka’s leg so he can’t walk to the ropes (AWESOME!!!) for the win at 19:13 shown of 21:12. Delicious, spotty entertainment that makes you feel the warm and fuzzies. This was the match people were hoping would be the finals, and it absolutely delivered. That finish was absolutely brilliant, as Yoshino knew he’d have to add something extra to the Sol Naciente to make sure Yokosuka, who he’d faced many times before, would be unable to get to the ropes. I loved this.
Rating: ****
Doi and Yoshino will now get a shot at CIMA and Gamma for the Twin Gate titles on February 10th. Speaking of CIMA and Gamma, they and Dragon Kid took on Genki Horiguchi, Yasushi Kanda and Kenichiro Arai in a six-man tag earlier in the show. The match ended in a no contest when Osaka Pro’s Black Buffalo and Tigers Mask attack CIMA with barbed wire baseball bats. They complain about what CIMA said about Osaka in a wrestling magazine, and challenge him and Gamma to come to Osaka Pro. The show ends with CIMA telling WARRIORS-5 lackey Super Shenlong to get rid of the Osaka Pro invaders.
Dragon Gate is off to a fantastic start this year, with the previous two weeks being quite good and this week really blowing my mind. Next week has a big Three Way Dance between Doi, Takagi and Sugawara, as well as the long-anticipated CIMA vs. YAMATO singles match, so the potential is there for things to get even better. I’m excited!
