November 1, 2009 – Oxford, England
Championship Rundown:
Open the Dream Gate Champion: Naruki Doi
Open the Twin Gate Champions: Shingo Takagi & YAMATO
Open the Triangle Gate Champions: Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii & Akebono
Open the Brave Gate Champion: Naoki Tanisaki
Stixx vs. Lion Kid
This is Lion Kid’s debut. This match isn’t on the Open the Global Gate DVD, as it’s a “dark match” on the A-Merchandise released disc. I put dark match in quotes because it gets full production treatment and commentary. Stixx attacks before the bell. Kid comes back with one of the worst handspring elbows I’ve ever seen. He hits a head scissors takedown. He hurricanranas Stixx to the floor. He hits a quebrada. Back in the ring Kid eats an elbow. Stixx hits a German suplex. He hits a backbreaker for 2. He hits a delayed vertical throw. He hits a full nelson gutbuster. He keeps the hold on until Kid gets a roll up to escape. It gets 2. Kid hits a dropkick. Stixx puts Kid on the apron and knocks him off with a shoulder tackle. He hits a senton for 2. He hits a diving legdrop for 2. Kid hits a springboard dropkick. He goes for a reverse 619 but barely makes contact. He hits a springboard crossbody for 2. He misses a shooting star press and Stixx nails the Black Hole Slam for 2. Stixx puts on the Rings of Saturn. Kid gets to the ropes. He hits a pair of buzzsaw kicks and a roundhouse kick. He misses a moonsault and Stixx hits a vertical suplex for 2. Kid blocks a powerbomb and hits a hurricanrana for 2. He blocks the Black Hole Slam and gets a sunset flip for the win at 11:12. Kid looked every bit as green as you’d expect for a guy making his debut. Imagine Dragon Kid vs. Magnitude Kishiwada if Kid had no experience and Kishiwada had no charisma.
Rating: *½
Genki Horiguchi {RH} & Ryo Saito {RH} vs. Jonny Storm & Marty Scurll
The crowd gets under Horiguchi’s skin with an H-A-G-E chant. He and Scurll start. They trade holds for a bit. Scurll pays close attention to Horiguchi’s fingers. He goes after Horiguchi’s hair, making Horiguchi freak out. He hits a kneedrop on the hair for 2. Saito hits Storm with a shoulder tackle. Storm hits a hurricanrana. He hits Horiguchi with a dropkick. He hits a twisting plancha. He hits a dropkick in the corner. Scurll slaps Horiguchi across the face for 2. He does his best Ric Flair and Jim Duggan impressions before putting on a figure 4 armbar. Storm hits a dropkick for 2. He hits the Michinoku Driver. Saito hits a back elbow on Scurll for 2. Horiguchi puts on a half crab. Saito hits a double stomp off the top for 2. He hits an elbowdrop for 2. Horiguchi dropkicks the leg. He hits a splash on the leg. He dropkicks the leg and puts on a leglock. Saito chokes him with his whip. Horiguchi hits a snap suplex on the floor, getting 2 back in the ring. Scurll comes back with a kick to Saito and a back suplex to Horiguchi. Storm tags in and hits a hurricanrana on Saito. Scurll hits a suicide dive. Storm hits Horiguchi with a DDT for 2. Horiguchi hits a swinging DDT and a brainbuster for 2. Scurll hits the Graduation for 2. He misses a diving legdrop. Saito German suplexes Storm into Scurll in the corner. He hits the Superfly Splash for 2. Storm hits an armdrag both opponents for 2. Scurll hits a neckbreaker for 2. Storm hits Horiguchi with the Rewind Hurricanrana. Scurll hits a dropkick. Storm hits a suicide dive. Saito pokes Scurll’s eyes. Scurll hits a lariat for 2. Saito hits two low blows and gets a roll up for the win at 16:02. Decent enough stuff, with an appropriate and hilarious finish. The crowd ate up Real Hazard as heels, which is good because there won’t be any more Dragon Gate bad guys for the rest of the show.
Rating: ***
KAGETORA {W5} vs. Mark Haskins
Haskins stalls to start. He hits a cheap shot in the corner. The crowd calls him a hobbit. He hits a shoulder tackle. KAGETORA hits armdrags and a dropkick. Haskins hits an ugly crossbody. His valet gets a cheap shot in. He hits a back elbow. He hits another ugly springboard maneuver for 2. Haskins definitely hadn’t yet figured out that it’s not good to try things you can’t do. He hits a dropkick. KAGETORA starts to come back so Haskins hits a back elbow. He puts on a chinlock. He goes to the eyes. He hits a bodyslam and climbs the ropes. He misses a shooting star press. KAGETORA hits a vertical suplex. He hits a dropkick. He hits the leaping lariat. He hits a leg clap for 2. Haskins comes back with a neckbreaker for 2. He ducks a clothesline and hits a superkick. KAGETORA hits an enziguiri for 2. Haskins hits the Ace Crusher for 2. KAGETORA hits the Ikkitousen but Haskins’ valet distracts the referee. KAGETORA goes for another Ikkitousen but Haskins blocks it and hits a cradle tombstone piledriver for the win at 11:18. KAGETORA got dominated here. It was completely unexpected and pretty frustrating, but given how little KAGETORA would do in the months that follows (really until the end of February) it shouldn’t have surprised me so much. Haskins got more confident as the match went on and stopped pulling out crap he couldn’t do. Hopefully his recent run in Dragon Gate in Japan has taught him there are guys other than PAC to emulate.
Rating: **
Masato Yoshino {W1} vs. Dragon Kid {K}
DG loves exporting this match. They fight over a headlock to start. Kid hits an armdrag. Yoshino works the arm. Kid hits a head scissors takedown. He hits a pair of kneedrops. He puts on a chinlock. Yoshino gets to the ropes. Kid hits a pair of dropkicks in the corner. He puts on a half crab. Yoshino gets to the ropes. He shoves Kid to the floor. Back in the ring he hits a back elbow for 2. He hits overhand chops. He hits a vertical suplex for 2. He hits a facebuster for 2. He puts on a leglock. Kid gets to the ropes. He hits a back heel kick. He hits the Déjà Vu. He hits the Bermuda Triangle. He hits a springboard dropkick for 2. Yoshino ducks the 619 and hits the Sling Blade for 2. Kid puts on the Christo. He hits a stunner for 2. He hits a hurricanrana and the 619. Yoshino hits a powerbomb to stop Kid’s momentum. Kid hits another stunner. Yoshino blocks a hurricanrana and hits the shotgun dropkick for 2. Kid hits a hurricanrana for 2. He misses the Dragon Rana. Yoshino hits the Lightning Spiral for 2. He hits the Torbellino for 2. Kid hits the Bible for 2. Yoshino smacks him across the face and rolls him up for 2. Kid counters to a roll up of his own for the win at 18:32. This just a step below the stuff they did in DGUSA, but it was enough to get the British crowd out of their seats.
Rating: ***¼
Susumu Yokosuka {W5} vs. Shingo {K}
Even in England Shingo loses his surname. They lock up and Yokosuka gives Shingo a clean break against the ropes. They trade chops until Shingo puts on a headlock. The commentators tell a hilarious story about getting stuck on 8 Mile Road in Detroit back when ROH ran a WrestleMania weekend show there, and how they had to be rescued by a Dragon Gate agent. Having grown up just a couple miles from there it’s always entertaining to hear out-of-towners talk about their fear of the famous road. Yokosuka hits a dropkick. Shingo hits a shoulder tackle. Yokosuka hits the Ashi Yokosuka. He stays on Shingo’s leg. Shingo gets to the ropes. He dropkicks the leg. He shoves the leg against the post. He hits a shinbreaker. He hits a dragon screw and puts on a figure 4 leglock. Shingo gets to the ropes. They both go for an exploder. Yokosuka grabs the leg to regain control, but it only takes Shingo a moment to get away and then rush in with the exploder. He hits a Mongolian chop. He hits a gutbuster and a DDT. He misses a senton. He hits a powerslam for 2. He dusts off the Manriki. Yokosuka gets to the ropes. He kicks Shingo’s leg and hits a dead lift suplex. Great exchange there. Yokosuka hits a lariat in the corner. He hits the super exploder for 2. Shingo blocks the Mugen. They start the inevitable lariat battle. Yokosuka dropkicks the leg. Shingo hits the DVD. Yokosuka hits a lariat. They block each other’s finishers. They trade elbows until Yokosuka goes down. Yokosuka comes back with clotheslines. Shingo hits the MADE IN JAPAN for 2. Yokosuka blocks the Last Falconry and gets a victory roll for 2. He hits a lariat and the Jumbo no Kachi. He hits the Mugen for 2. He hits lariats from every angle but Shingo comes back with one of his own. Yokosuka ducks the Pumping Bomber and hits the Jumbo no Kachigatame for the win at 18:31. Yokosuka was starting to peak here, so this was significantly better than their disappointing PPV match from the year before. He was proving around this time that in a big match situation he knew how to bring the drama down the stretch.
Rating: ***½
CIMA {W5}, Nick Jackson {W5} & Matt Jackson {W5} vs. Naruki Doi {W1}, BxB Hulk {W1} & PAC {W1}
Matt and Doi start. They fight over a wristlock for a while. Doi hits a shoulder tackle. Nick hits Hulk with a shoulder tackle. Hulk hits an armdrag. Nick hits a leg lariat. CIMA asks for the crowd’s attention so he can do fancy pushups. He challenges PAC to do better. PAC starts doing them, so CIMA stomps on his head. Well played CIMA. CIMA avoids an armdrag. PAC disorients him with flips and hits a standing SSP. He and Doi hit a double back elbow for 2. CIMA suplexes Hulk while holding Doi in a leglock. The Jacksons hit a double dropkick. CIMA hits a dropkick for 2. The Bucks work over Doi’s arm. Nick puts on a surfboard. PAC hits a dropkick to the back for 2. He hits a legdrop for 2. Matt hits a running kick to the face for 2. Doi and PAC hit a double suplex. Hulk nearly falls on his head doing his back flip dropkick in the corner. He and Doi hit a double hiptoss. He hits a senton. PAC jumps off Hulk’s back to hit a corkscrew moonsault for 2. He puts on the Mark Nulty Special. Matt gets to the ropes. He hits Hulk with a very cool neckbreaker. CIMA hits the Superdrol for 2. He spanks Hulk, mock-sodomizes him and then dropkicks his bum. He hits a senton. The WARRIORS hit a triple dropkick for 2. Nick hits a big dropkick and CIMA hits the big double stomp. CIMA puts on a modified surfboard and rolls Hulk up for 2. Hulk comes back with a dropkick to Matt. Doi tags in and cleans house with elbows. He forces Matt to dropkick Nick. He hits Matt with the Dai Bosou. PAC does some pointless flips before driving Nick into Matt. He hits an insane topé on CIMA. Doi hits Nick with a dropkick. He hits a hanging DDT. CIMA hits an enziguiri. Doi hits the Rydeen Bomb for 2. They fight over a Tombstone piledriver (awkwardly) until CIMA hits an inverted Pedigree for 2. He hits a dropkick. Matt hits a stunner for 2. He blocks Hulk’s standing moonsault and hits a spear. CIMA hits a double stomp. The Jacksons hit a double dive for 2. Hulk hits an enziguiri on CIMA. Doi hits the big senton. PAC hits the standing British Airways for 2. Matt hits a sick facebuster for 2. CIMA hits a Superdrol and Nick hits the X Factor for 2. CIMA and Nick hit a double superkick. The Jacksons hit More Bang for Your Buck for 2. CIMA and Nick hit Matt with a double superkick by accident. World-1 hits a triple kick. PAC hits the shooting star knee kick (with PAC holding Matt to make the move less insulting). Doi hits the Doi 555 and the Bakatare Sliding kick for 2. Matt gets a roll up on Hulk for 2. Hulk hits the Mouse and the EVO. PAC hits the British Airways for the win at 22:06. This bodes very well for the WrestleMania weekend six-man tag in DGUSA, where I’m sure the crowd will be at least as hype and the wrestlers will have at least as much reason to bust their asses. A couple awkward moments aside, this was all you could ask for in the main event.
Rating: ****
After the match PAC gets on the microphone and thanks everyone for coming out on behalf of Dragon Gate. He promises Dragon Gate will be back. Sadly, CIMA gets no mic time. Kamikaze joins the WARRIORS and World-1 in the ring to soak up the cheers.
The DVD also features two bonus matches: Mark Haskins © vs. Lion Kid [IPW:UK – November 22, 2009 – British Cruiserweight Championship Match], which saw Kid beat Haskins with a shooting star press for the title in 15:39, as well as Mark Haskins, Zack Sabre Jr. & Dave Moralex vs. El Ligero, Bubblegum & Luke Phoenix [NOAH European Navigation – June 21, 2008], which was a dark match from NOAH’s show in England. It saw Bubblegum pin Haskins with a shooting star press at 15:36. The moral of the bonus matches is that Haskins is allergic to the shooting star press.