February 10, 2011 – Tokyo, Japan
Open the Dream Gate Champion: Masato Yoshino
Open the Triangle Gate Champions: CIMA, Dragon Kid & Ricochet
Open the Brave Gate Champion: PAC
Open the Twin Gate Champions: Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi
Open the Freedom Gate Champion: YAMATO
Open the United Gate Champions: Masato Yoshino & PAC
Ryo Saito {BW}, Genki Horiguchi {BW} & Naoki Tanisaki {BW} vs. Super Shenlong, Takuya Tomakomai & Kotoka {W1}
The underdogs attack during their introductions. Shenlong hits Saito with a dropkick but it has no affect. Tanisaki bullies Kotoka. Horiguchi hits Tomakomai with a dropkick. Tomakomai hits a shoulder tackle. Saito hits an overhead suplex. Tanisaki kicks Kotoka relentlessly. Saito hits a double stomp. MARAHA! ISAPPA! Saito hits a legdrop for 2. Horiguchi and Tanisaki hit a double back suplex for 2. Tanisaki hits the DH. Saito hits a Superfly Splash for 2. Kotoka hits Tanisaki with an enziguiri. He hits a dropkick. Saito swats away Tomakomai. Tomakomai hits a deadlift suplex. He hits Horiguchi with a powerslam. Shenlong hits a missile dropkick. He hits another. Tomakomai hits a butterfly suplex. Kotoka hits a double stomp for 2. Tanisaki hits Tomakomai with the DH. He hits it on Shenlong as well. Horiguchi helps Saito hit Kotoka with a German suplex. Tanisaki hits the Casanova for 2. Kotoka rolls Saito up for 2. Saito hits a German suplex. He hits another for 2. He hits the Double Cross for the win at 8:47 shown of 10:41. This was a very cool match if for no other reason than it let us see some new blood in action. They looked quite solid against the Blood Warriors to boot.
Rating: **¾
Cyber Kong {K} vs. Yasushi Kanda {BW}
It’s really strange to see CIMA supporting Kanda. I’m pretty sure they’ve never been in the same stable before. Kong wins a knuckle lock with one hand to start. Kanda goes to the eyes to gain control. Kong hits a massive shoulder tackle. Kanda avoids an elbowdrop and dropkicks the arm. He stays on the arm. Kong takes a break on the floor to recuperate. Kanda hits a low blow. He puts on a cross armbreaker. Kong gets to the ropes. Kanda dropkicks the arm. Kong hits a vertical suplex. He hits a lariat in the corner. He hits a splash for 2. Kanda hits a flapjack. Kong sweeps the leg with a lariat. He clubs Kanda. He hits a German suplex. He hits the Pineapple Bomber but cant cover because his arm hurts. Eventually he gets 2. Kanda hits a Manhattan drop. He hits a blue box attack. He comes off the second rope with the Jon Woo. He hits a pair of diving elbowdrops for 2. He goes for the Ryus but Kong blocks it. Kanda hits a German suplex. He hits an exploder. He hits another German suplex for the win at 9:12 shown of 12:33. Plain and simple, Kanda had Kong’s number here. He slowed him down with the arm work, avoided his big moves and hit all of his own signature stuff in quick succession to get the win. He made Kong look like a bit of a punk too, without help from his teammates. I can’t say I’m happy with how this was booked, but it sure as hell made Kanda look strong.
Rating: ***
Dragon Kid {BW} & Ricochet {BW} vs. Super Shisa {Z} & PAC {W1}
Kid and Shisa start. They do some cool stuff on the mat that makes me want a singles match between them. PAC and Ricochet get into an equally impressive exchange, albeit geared more toward high-flying, that ends when Ricochet hits the Sasuke Special. Kid hits Shisa with a pair of kneedrops. Ricochet misses a running SSP. PAC hits a standing corkscrew moonsault off of Kid’s back. Shisa puts Ricochet in a seated abdominal stretch. Kid makes the save with a dropkick. Ricochet hits a splash for 2. Kid hits a dropkick for 2. Ricochet hits an enziguiri. Shisa hits a dropkick. PAC hits Kid with a dropkick. He hits Ricochet with his huge quebrada. Kid puts PAC in the Christo. PAC hits a side slam to escape. He hits a sit-out powerbomb for 2. Shisa avoids Ricochet’s Ace Crusher. Ricochet hits the back flip senton for 2. PAC hits Ricochet with a facebuster. Shisa hits a head scissor takedown. PAC hits a German suplex for 2. Kid hits Shisa with the stack hurricanrana. Ricochet hits the Regalplex. Kid hits the 619. He hits PAC with a head scissor takedown on the floor. Ricochet hits Shisa with the 630 senton for 2. Kid hits PAC with the Mysterio Rana for 2. Ricochet misses a Phoenix Splash. He avoids PAC’s German suplex but PAC rolls him up for the win at 11:45. Excellent tag team match here, lacking only in really solid transitions down the stretch. PAC and Ricochet have really good chemistry, which is fortunate because Dragon Gate seems hell-bent on keeping this rivalry going for a while.
Rating: ***½
Kenichiro Arai {Z} & Don Fujii {Z} vs. YAMATO {K} & KAGETORA {K}
Blood Warriors get a break here. Arai and KAGETORA start. Arai hits a shoulder tackle. He hits a headbutt and a vertical suplex. Fujii kicks YAMATO to the floor but misses a follow-up dive. YAMATO hits Arai with a big boot. Fujii trips him. YAMATO dropkicks Fujii off the apron and goes for a dive but Fujii gets out of the way. Those two brawl around the building as KAGETORA puts Arai in a rest hold in the ring, just to have something there while the real focus is on the brawl. Fujii goes back to the ring and works KAGETORA’s neck. KAGETORA fights off both opponents. He hits Arai with the leaping lariat. YAMATO tags in and hits Arai with an exploder. He boots Fujii. Arai hits a Tombstone Piledriver for 2. YAMATO hits Fujii with a low blow. He hits a running elbow. Fujii blocks a Frankensteiner and hits a diving kneedrop. Arai hits a diving headbutt for 2. KAGETORA hits an enziguiri on Arai. Arai hits the Alabamaslam for 2. Fujii hits the chokeslam. Arai hits a double stomp off of Fujii’s shoudlers for 2. YAMATO hits Fujii with a spear. KAGETORA misses the elbowdrop. Fujii hits a lariat and gets the Gedo Clutch for 2. YAMATO hits Arai with an enziguiri. Arai hits a hiptoss to the floor. He dropkicks KAGETORA. KAGETORA rolls him up a couple of times but only gets 2. Arai hits the Hanshin Tiger Suplex for the win at 10:00 shown of 11:27. The action wasn’t as good as the last match, but the story was rich and it benefitted from a strong history amongst the competitors.
Rating: ***
After the match the Twin Gate Champions and Yasushi Kanda attack Kamikaze. Horiguchi teases YAMATO for not having enough members in Kamikaze to fight at full strength against the Blood Warriors in their upcoming elimination match. YAMATO says that even with three wrestlers Kamikaze will be able to defeat the Blood Warriors. As such the match is confirmed to be a handicap match. Saito reminds YAMATO that all three members of Kamikaze lost tonight.
Masaaki Mochizuki {Z} vs. Brodie Lee {BW} [Dream Key Match]
Lee is fighting as a proxy for Gamma. Mochizuki is fighting for himself. He hits a dropkick to start but Lee doesn’t go down. Mochizuki puts on a headlock but Lee easily hits a back suplex to escape. Lee boots Mochizuki off the apron. In the ring Lee walks over Mochizuki. He hits a chop in the corner. He gouges Mochizuki’s eyes. He hits another boot for 2. He hits a butterfly suplex. He hits a lariat for 2. Mochizuki comes back with leg kicks. He shoves the leg against the post repeatedly. He puts on the anklelock. Lee shoves his way out of the hold. He misses a big boot and Mochizuki kicks his leg. Mochizuki reapplies the anklelock. Lee gets to the ropes. Mochizuki hits an axe kick. Lee hits a superkick. He hits a big boot. He hits a sloppy Truck Stop for 2. Mochizuki kicks his head off for 2. He hits a miracle suplex for 2 when Gamma distracts the referee. Gamma canes Mochizuki. Mochizuki fights through the pain and hits Gamma with the Topé Masaaki. Back in the ring Lee dropkicks Mochizuki. He hits a sit-out powerbomb for 2. He boots Gamma by mistake. Mochizuki hits the Shin Saikyou High Kick for the win at 10:22. Lee has no grace whatsoever. The way he executes his strikes looks sloppy as hell. Also, his baggy clothes make him look like a wrestling fan, not a wrestler. I don’t care if he’s supposed to be a truck driver, when he’s in Japan I know he gets around on the Dragon Gate tour bus. The gear didn’t affect his performance in this match much, I just wanted to complain. I liked the story here, with Mochizuki pinpointing Lee’s weak point, Gamma getting nervous and interfering, and that interference costing Lee the match and Gamma his key.
Rating: ***¼
After the match Mochizuki rubs his upcoming title match in Gamma’s face. He asks Referee Yagi for the Dream Key. Gamma canes the key out of Yagi’s hand. He tells Mochizuki that he’ll get the key only after he faces Gamma for it in Korakuen Hall the following month.
Masato Yoshino {W1}, BxB Hulk {W1} & Susumu Yokosuka {W1} vs. CIMA {BW}, Naruki Doi {BW} & Gamma {BW}
Winner of the match gets PAC on their team. CIMA and Hulk start. CIMA controls on the mat. He hits a shoulder tackle and a chest kick. He misses an elbowdrop. Gamma hits Yokosuka with a shoulder tackle. Yokosuka returns the favor. Yoshino attacks Doi while he’s working the crowd. He hits a dropkick. Doi blocks a supercharged head scissor takedown and hits a suplex. He puts on a chinlock. Hulk hits a dropkick for 2. He hits Gamma with a spin kick. CIMA hits Yokosuka with a senton. He puts on a surfboard stretch but Yokosuka reverses the hold. Yoshino hits a double stomp to the arm. He puts on From Jungle. Hulk works the arm. CIMA gives Hulk the Sweet Angel’s Kiss. Doi hits a neckbreaker and a seonton over Gamma’s knees for 2. He hits a dropkick. He and CIMA hit a trio of double Curb Stomps.. CIMA puts on an abdominal stretch. Hulk hits a hiptoss to escape. Gamma hits a dropkick. CIMA hits a hanging double stomp for 2. Hulk hits Gamma with a missile dropkick. Yoshino avoids the Venus but not a dropkick. He hits a suicide dive. Yokosuka hits CIMA with the Jumbo no Kachi. CIMA hits the Superdrol. He hits the Venus and Iconoclasm. Yokosuka pops up and hits a super exploder. Hulk hits the BxB Star Press. He hits Doi with an axe kick for 2. Doi avoids the EVO and hits a crossbody to the back. Gamma boots Hulk. Hulk hits the Mouse. Gamma hits a lariat. Hulk and Yokosuka hit a dropkick bomb. Yoshino hits the shotgun senton for 2. Gamma spits in his face. Hulk saves Yoshino from the cane. PAC keeps Hulk from using the cane, essentially saying he doesn’t want World-1 cheating. CIMA hits the Superdrol on Yoshino. He hits it again for 2. Yoshino blocks the Blitzen and hits a dropkick. Gamma hits a double stomp assisted Blitzen. Doi hits the Bakatare Sliding Kick for 2. Yokosuka saves Yoshino from the Muscular Bomb with the Jumbo no Kachi. He hits it again. Hulk hits the First Flash. Yokosuka hits the Jumbo no Kachi again for 2. Doi blocks the Lightning Spiral but not the Torbellino. He counters the Sol Naciente to a Muscular Bomb attempt. Yoshino reverses it back to the Sol Naciente. Doi starts to fade but CIMA makes the save. Doi blocks the Mugen from Yokosaka. Yokosuka clubs him. CIMA hits the Perfect Driver for 2. He and Gamma hit a double superkick. Doi hits the Dai Bosou. CIMA and Gamma hit the double Tokarev. CIMA hits the Schwein and the Meteora for the win at 24:37. I didn’t get into this until about fifteen minutes into the match. That being said, given that this was each stables’ top trio I expected more from this match. Ten minutes of main event-worthy action is nothing to complain about, but I thought this was going to be really outstanding.
Rating: ***½
After the match CIMA brags about the Blood Warriors’ new acquisition. He welcomes PAC into the group and gives him a Blood Warriors contract. PAC looks upset about signing. Before he signs Ricochet attacks him and they brawl. CIMA asks Ricochet why he attacked PAC. Ricochet speaks in broken English, “I don’t like him. I’m the number one flyer in the world. Why is he Brave Gate Champion?” Taking this into consideration, CIMA asks PAC if he wants to join the Warriors. PAC says he doesn’t want to join. See, PAC knew to just speak normally; why is Ricochet so a moron? CIMA will only let PAC stay World-1 if he gives Ricochet a shot at the Brave Gate Championship. PAC is happy to oblige for next month in Korakuen Hall on the condition that he can stay in World-1.
The show ends with clips of the tail end of the show. Doi attacks Arai as he’s walking to the back. Arai pretty much no-sells the attack and Doi has to explain himself to CIMA.