Dragon Gate The Gate of Destiny 2011

If you enjoy my Dragon Gate reviews then you'll LOVE the commentary Kevin Ford and I did for Dragon Gate's Dead or Alive PPV. Click this link to buy it super cheap! Check out the video at the end of this review to get a free taste of the DVD.

October 16, 2011 – Osaka, Japan

Open the Dream Gate Champion: Masaaki Mochizuki
Open the Triangle Gate Champions: Naruki Doi, Naoki Tanisaki & Kzy
Open the Brave Gate Champion: PAC
Open the Twin Gate Champions: CIMA & Ricochet
Open the Freedom Gate Champion: YAMATO
Open the United Gate Champions: CIMA & Ricochet

K-ness, Kenichiro Arai & Taku Iwasa vs. Super Shisa {J3}, Super Shenlong & Kotoka
Shisa and Iwasa start. They do their thing on the mat. Kotoka gets all spunky and goes after K-ness. That doesn’t go so well for him. You know you’re future is in trouble when K-ness makes you look small. Arai hits Kotoka with an elbowdrop. AraIwaness triple-team Kotoka. I guess they’re going to be a real for deal trio. They take turns slamming the little dude. Arai hits a back elbow. Kotoka hits a shotgun dropkick. Shisa locks Arai and Iwasa in an abdominal stretch. He puts on the Romero Special. Shenlong hits a crossbody and a dropkick on Iwasa. He hits K-ness with a vertical suplex for 2. He hits another for 2. K-ness hits a brainbuster for 2. Shisa hits a head scissor takedown on Arai. Shenlong hits a dropkick. Shisa hits a butterfly suplex and Shenlong hits a Lionsault for 2. Shisa gets caught in the wrong corner. Iwasa hits a splash and Arai hits a double stomp. Arai hits another off of K-ness’s shoulders for 2. He hits a kneedrop on Kotoka. K-ness hits the Darkness Driver for 2. Kotoka gets a roll up for 2. Iwasa hits the Gouwan. Kotoka rolls him up for 2. K-ness hits the Shouryuukyaku. Iwasa hits the Noshigami for the win at 8:15. The crowd got into none of this. It was mostly a squash for the veteran trio, but Kotoka got to show a little fire too.
Rating: **

The participants in the main event cage match come out on the ramp, which has a green half and a blue half because Dragon Gate is awesome. They each cut a promo. Tozawa’s goatee is gone! Maybe he shaved it out of shame because of losing to Masaaki Mochizuki. I never noticed KAGETORA’s lisp before this promo.

Brodie Lee {BW}, Yasushi Kanda {J3} & Metal Warrior {BW} vs. Don Fujii, Yoshihiro Takayama & Stalker Ichikawa
Fujii and Lee start. Lee looks passed Fujii at Takayama. He shoves Fujii and insists the big man face him. Fujii tags Ichikawa instead. Lee hits a big boot and Ichikawa quickly tags Takayama. The big guys lock up and Takayama gets Lee to the ropes. They do it again and Lee hits a cheap shot. They trade elbows. Lee hits a dropkick. Fujii hits Kanda with a shoulder tackle. He shoves him into the post. They fight around the building. Takayama boots Lee to the floor. Ichikawa hits Warrior with a dropkick. Warriors avoids Ichikawa’s dive. He tries to slam Takayama but that goes badly for him. Takayama helps Ichikawa hit a crossbody for 2. Lee hits a bodyslam and an elbowdrop for 2. Warrior hits a head kick for 2. Lee hits a senton for 2. Kanda hits an elbowdrop and a dropkick to the face for 2. Fujii hits a bodyslam. Ichikawa pokes Kanda’s eyes. Kanda returns the favor. Ichikawa hits the head scissor takedown. Fujii hits a back suplex. Lee blocks a bodyslam for 2. He boots Takayama to the floor. He hits a suicide dive. Ichikawa tries to ropewalk with Warrior but Kanda shakes the rope. Kanda and Warrior hit a double flapjack for 2. Warrior hits the Michinoku Driver and Kanda hits the flying elbowdrop for 2. Lee hits the Truck Stop for 2 when Ichikawa’s partners make the save. Takayama cleans house. He and Lee trade big boots. Our heroes hit the Nice Everest Ina Bauer German suplex for the win at 10:58. At this point they should probably give Fujii, Takayama and Ichikawa a Triangle Gate match. Lee seemed like he was having a ball fighting Takayama, breaking out stuff I haven’t seen him do with an energy I haven’t seen from him before. Aside from that this was nothing. Fujii chokeslams Ichikawa for fun after the match.
Rating: *½

Ryo Saito {BW} vs. Rich Swann {J3}
Swann is acting as Mochizuki’s roadblock here, as even though Saito doesn’t have a title shot coming up, he does have a very important singles match with the champion on the horizon. He attacks Swann before the bell. Swann comes back with a dropkick. He hits a topé con hilo. Saito knocks him off the top rope. He hits an overhead suplex. He stands on Swann’s crotch in the Tree of Woe and then spits in his face. Real Hazard Saito coming back. Swann wretches, like anyone would in real life. Saito goes to the eyes. He walks over Swann’s face and hits a legdrop for 2. He hits a double stomp. He hits another off the top for 2. Swann flips around and hits a high kick. He hits the Rocker Dropper for 2. Saito blocks a standing Frog Splash. He hits a fisherman buster for 2. Swann hits a Frankensteiner. He hits a Frog Splash from across the damn ring for 2. He hits the FIREBIRD but Kanda has the referee distracted and it only gets 2. He hits a superkick. He gets a roll up for 2. Saito hits a German suplex for 2. He hit the Double Cross for the win at 7:05. This was an awesome little sprint and deserved at least five more minutes. It was just hitting its stride when it ended!
Rating: ***

Naruki Doi © {BW}, Naoki Tanisaki © {BW} & Kzy © {BW} vs. Masaaki Mochizuki {J3}, Susumu Yokosuka {J3} & Gamma {J3} [Open the Triangle Gate Championship Match]
The champions only need a 2-count to win. That will not bode well for this kid of a match, I’m sure of that much. Tanisaki and Kzy are wearing matching creepy masks. If Doi had one too I’d probably geek out completely. The Doi Darts attack before the bell. Gamma’s gear is going to give me a migraine I think. He hits Doi with a dropkick. Tanisaki rolls him up for 1. Gamma rolls him up for 2. They repeat that a few times in a call back to their singles match. Mochizuki hits the apron kick. M2G gangs up on Kzy in the corner. Mochizuki hits a lariat. Kzy gets a roll up for 1 when Gamma and Yokosuka make the save. So now we’ve established how easily our heroes can lose. Mochizuki hits Kzy with a chest kick for 2. Gamma gives Kzy the best Osuikougeki ever for 2. Kzy hits a low blow. He and Tanisaki hit low blows on Mochizuki and Yokosuka too. Doi hits the hanging senton for 1. Kzy goes for quick pins but only gets 1. I just noticed he’s taken off his jumpsuit and has real gear on. Gamma boots him to the floor. Mochizuki hits a missile dropkick on Tanisaki. Yokosuka hits an exploder. He cleans house with lariats. Tanisaki hits the DH. Yokosuka hits a hurricanrana. He hits the super exploder for 2. Our heroes get sunset flips for 2 but the Darts roll forward and get 1. Gamma hits a lariat for 2 on Tanisaki. Mochizuki hits the Ikkakugeri. He and Yokosuka hit a Sankakugeri Bomb for 2. That was AWESOME! Gamma hits a powerbomb. He misses the Sky Twister Press. Doi hits the Dai Bosou. Tanisaki hits the Casanova

for 1. Gamma blocks KZ Time. Doi absorbs a pair of lariats and gets the V9 Clutch for 1 when Mochizuki makes the save. Gamma hits the lariat. Tanisaki hits a kneelift. Yokosuka hits a lariat. Tanisaki hits the Implant for 1 when Mochizuki makes the save. Mochizuki hits a big boot on Kzy. Kzy confounds him and hits the B-Boy. Mochizuki hits the Shin Saikyou High Kick. Gamma hits a superkick and the Gamma Special. Yokosuka hits the Mugen. Mochizuki hits the Twister for 2 when Tanisaki makes the save. Gamma hits an enziguiri. Tanisaki gets a roll up with a bagged Gamma for 2 when Yokosuka makes the save. Gamma canes Doi and Yokosuka hits the Jumbo no Kachi for 2. He hits the Jumno no Kachigatame for 2. Doi rolls him over for 1. Kzy powders him and Tanisaki hits the Libido. Doi hits the Bakatare Silding Kick for the win at 13:12. Well, I am willing to admit when I’m wrong, and I was wrong about this match. They worked the gimmick better here than in either of the two Tanisaki singles matches. M2G was incredibly cautious and broke up every serious attack that could have gone beyond a 1-count. The Doi Darts didn’t hit a ton of nasty finishers that got devalued. In fact the first time they were able to string more than one finisher together they actually won the match. I’m very, very impressed. Gamma walks out on his partners after the match.
Rating: ***¾

PAC © {J3} vs. Genki Horiguchi {BW} [Open the Brave Gate Championship Match]
They fight over a waistlock to start. They dance around each other until Horiguchi hits a dropkick. PAC hits a chinbreaker and an elbow. He puts on the Mark Nulty Special. He hits a few kneedrops for 2. He hits a basement dropkick for 2. Horiguchi hits a dropkick. He hits the topé con hilo. Back in the ring Horiguchi hits a neckbreaker. The Blood Warriors expose a turnbuckle and Horiguchi whips PAC into it. Horiguchi hits a hiptoss for 2. PAC comes back with a snap suplex. Horiguchi blocks the standing SSP and puts on the GH Lock. Dude means business, but it’s been so long since he’s used it that the crowd doesn’t react at all. He hits a facebuster. PAC blocks the swinging DDT and hits a dropkick. He hits a Shooting Star Press to the floor, banging his leg on the apron. In the ring PAC hits a high kick and a crossbody for 2. Horiguchi exposes another turnbuckle in time to trick PAC into running chest-first into it. He hits the swinging DDT for 2. He hits a brainbuster for 2. Horiguchi hits a hurricanrana. PAC hits an enziguiri. He hits a German suplex but can’t cover because his neck is messed up. Eventually he gets 2. Horiguchi shoves the referee into the ropes to crotch PAC. He hits a hanging DDT for 2. PAC counters the Beach Break to a backslide for 2. Kanda hits a blue box attack and Horiguchi hits the Beach Break for 2. PAC hits a sunset bomb and a springboard 450 Splash for 2. He misses the floating 450 Splash. Horiguchi gets the Backslide from Heaven for 2. PAC superkicks the blue box into his face. He hits the 360 Shooting Star Press for the win at 15:32. This was good, but never had those butt clenching moments that the best Horiguchi matches have. Essentially, this needed more backslides. Also, at this point PAC is pretty much unbeatable and needs to be getting a shot at the Dream Gate title.
Rating: ***¼

CIMA © {BW} & Ricochet © {BW} vs. Masato Yoshino {J3} & Dragon Kid {J3} [Open the Twin Gate Championship Match]
Kid and CIMA start. CIMA hits a cheap shot. He goes to the eyes. He swings Kid around by his mask. Kid hits Ricochet with the Déjà Vu. CIMA hits a dropkick. He hits one on Yoshino. Ricochet hits Kid with a missile dropkick. They hit stereo dives. Is there a better tag team in the world right now than the Spiked Mohicans? CIMA puts Kid in a half crab. Yoshino works CIMA’s arm. He and Ricochet hit stereo suplexes but miss stereo standing moonsaults. Kid and Yoshino hit stereo basement dropkicks. Yoshino hits a double stomp to the arm. He and Kid double-team Ricochet. Kid hits the double kneedrop for 2. Yoshino helps Kid splash Ricochet for 2. CIMA douses Kid with cold spray. That’s a great visual. He tries to take off Kid’s mask. He puts Yoshino in a leglock. Ricochet hits an elbowdrop for 2. CIMA hits a dropkick. He puts on the Romero Special and falls back for 2. He and Ricochet hit sentons for 2. Ricochet works the shoulder. He hits a dropkick. CIMA expose a turnbuckle and whips Kid against it. He slams Kid on a title belt for 2. He hits the elevated double stomp for 2. Kid hits a head scissor takedown on Ricochet. Yoshino hits the Sling Blade. He puts CIMA in the Coumori. Kid hits a dropkick. He and Yoshino hit stereo Bermuda Triangles. Yoshino hits Ricochet with his DDT. That move needs a name. Ricochet hits the leaping legsweep, which also needs a name. Yoshino blocks the standing SSP. He puts on From Jungle. Kid catches CIMA in the Christo. I don’t think I’ve ever seen them do that on the same team. CIMA escapes and saves Ricochet. Kid avoids a double stomp but not an elbowdrop. Kid hits an ugly Diamond Dust. He counters the Perfect Driver to a stunner. He hits the Messiah for 2. He and Yoshino hit a double dropkick on Ricochet. Yoshino hits the shotgun senton while Kid hits CIMA with the Bible for 2. I love both of these teams. CIMA hits Kid with the Perfect Driver for 2. Kid hits the Stack Frankensteiner on Ricochet. Ricochet hits an enziguiri. He and Yoshino hit a double 619. Kid hits the Ultra Hurricanrana when CIMA uses the Meteora to make the save. Yoshino saves Kid from Ricochet’s pin. CIMA hits Yoshino with the Tokarev. He hits a Tree of Woe dropkick. He misses a second Tokarev. Yoshino misses the shotgun dropkick and CIMA hits the Schwein for 2. Yoshino counters the Crossfire to a sunset flip for 2. He hits the Ude Yoshino and the Torbellino. He puts on the Sol Naciente. Ricochet makes the save with the 630 senton. Yoshino catches Ricochet up top and goes for the avalanche Lightning Spiral but CIMA hits him with the Venus. CIMA and Ricochet hit a double Schweinsteiner for 2. Ricochet dives onto Kid. CIMA hits the Nakayubi and Meteora on Yoshino for the win at 26:04. They broke up the formula here, and in doing so made this long match entertaining throughout. Both of these teams do so much creative stuff that they’ve essentially turned the Twin Gate division of today into the Triangle Gate division of 2005 and 2007. I don’t want the Spiked Mohicans to lose the titles for a long, long time.
Rating: ****¼

At intermission they show the Hair vs. Mask Survival Cage matches from Dead or Alive 2008 (good match) and Final Gate 2009 (really good match). More of these matches happened before Dragon Gate changed over from Toryumon, but this is actually only the third one since late 2004.

And now for something completely different, Kevin Ford are bringing my review of the main event to YouTube. Let me know what you think of it.

Shingo Takagi {J3} vs. BxB Hulk {BW} vs. YAMATO {J3} vs. Akira Tozawa {BW} vs. KAGETORA {J3} vs. Cyber Kong {BW} [Mask vs. Hair Survival Cage Match]

And if you liked that you'll definitely be into the commentary Kevin Ford and I recorded over Dragon Gate's Dead or Alive 2011 PPV. Super duper cheap.