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November 19, 2011 – Osaka, Japan
Open the Dream Gate Champion: Masaaki Mochizuki
Open the Triangle Gate Champions: Naruki Doi, Kzy & Naoki Tanisaki
Open the Brave Gate Champion: PAC
Open the Twin Gate Champions: CIMA & Ricochet
Open the Freedom Gate Champion: Johnny Gargano
Open the United Gate Champions: CIMA & Ricochet
Naruki Doi © {BW}, Kzy © {BW} & Naoki Tanisaki © {BW} vs. Gamma {J3}, Shachihoko Machine & Chihiro Tominaga [Open the Triangle Gate Championship Match]
Gamma got saddled with these jokers because of the Doi Darts Second game. Tominaga is over like CRAZY as the underdog of all underdogs. Our heroes attack before the bell. Everyone brawls around the building. Kzy and Machine slug it out. Machine hits a head scissor takedown. The commentators make note of Machine’s uncharacteristically serious behavior. Tominaga misses a dropkick on Tanisaki. Gamma saves Tominaga and gives Tanisaki the Osuikougeki. Doi hits Machine with a back elbow for 2. Doi hits a senton for 2. Tanisaki hits an elevated kneedrop. Kzy wants Machine’s mask and rips it clean off of his face. Super Shelong covers Machine’s face with a towel and takes him to the back. The Junction Three leadership wants Yagi to disqualify the Doi Darts, but Yagi didn’t see the unmasking. Doi hits Tominaga with an elbowdrop. Kzy hits a dropkick. Tominaga hits a dropkick. Gamma hits a dropkick off the top. He spits in everyone’s faces. Shisa BOY’s music plays and Machine runs down wearing his BOY mask to clean house. Our heroes hit a triple quebrada. The crowd is eating this up. BOY Machine hits Tanisaki with a crossbody. He hits a missile dropkick for 2. He hits a facebuster and a roundhouse kick for 2. He misses a moonsault and eats the DH. Doi hits the Dai Bosou. Tanisaki hits the cross-legged suplex and Kzy hits KZ Time for 2. Gamma cleans house with clotheslines. He hits Kzy with the Gamma Special. BOY Machine hits the moonsault for 2. Tominaga misses a triple jump moonsault. He locks in a cross armbreaker and the crowd flips out. He keeps it on for a good long time before Doi makes the save. Tanisaki hits the FH. Doi hits the Doi 555 and the Bakatare Sliding Kick for 2. Tanisaki hits a kneelift and the reverse Implant for 2. He goes for the real Implant but Gamma blocks it with a cane shot and Tominaga and BOY Machine get the Shachihoko Clutch for 2. Tanisaki comes back with the Implant out of nowhere for the win at 14:00 shown of 15:59. The finish was appropriate because Tominaga was only nine real matches into his career, so he would be caught unprepared by a guy like Tanisaki. The rest of the match was a mix of good action and brilliant meta-wrestling. I loved it and I hope this isn’t the end of the angle.
Rating: ***¾
Shingo Takagi {J3} & YAMATO {J3} vs. Ryo Saito {BW} & Genki Horiguchi {BW} ended when YAMATO sent Saito back to the midcard with the Galleria. BattleHawk is looking strong again.
CIMA {BW}, BxB Hulk {BW} & Akira Tozawa {BW} vs. Masaaki Mochizuki {J3}, KAGETORA {J3} & Masato Yoshino {J3} ended after CIMA stole a bunch of Mochizuki ‘s moves and then pinned KAGETORA with the Shin Saikyou High Kick and a Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex. One has to assume CIMA is baiting Mochizuki into a title match.
PAC © {J3} vs. Ricochet {BW} [Open the Brave Gate Championship Match]
For those of you good enough to be surfing the archives and wondering where PAC vs. Ricochet III & IV are, they took place on DGUSA shows. I’m fresh off of watching the most recent match from six days before this, in which Ricochet got his first win over PAC after taking three losses in the series. PAC gets a takedown and Ricochet bails. Ricochet works the arm. He stomps on PAC’s hand. PAC returns the favor. PAC hits a shoulder tackle. Ricochet hits a dropkick. So far this is move-for-move the same match they had in New York. PAC hits a springboard dropkick. Ricochet baits PAC to the floor and hits him with a suicide DDT there. That gets 2. Ricochet dangles his trunk tassels in PAC’s face. He hits a crossbody and a Lionsault for 2. PAC hits the Ace Crusher. He clotheslines Ricochet to the floor and dives out after him. He hits an enziguiri and a northern lights suplex for 2. Ricochet hits the Zig Zag and a running SSP for 2. He hits a hurricanrana to the floor. PAC hits a reverse hurricanrana on the floor. Ricochet beats the count at 19. PAC hits the German suplex immediately, but only gets 2. He hits a high kick. He misses the Phoenix Splash but Ricochet hits it for 2. PAC blocks a crossbody with his knees. He blocks the Spanish Fly and goes for the Shooting Star Press but it hits Ricochet’s knees. Ricochet hits the Backslide Driver for 2. He misses a corkscrew senton. PAC blocks a low blow and flips Ricochet onto his back. He hits the sit-out powerbomb for 2. He misses the 360 Shooting Star Press. Ricochet hits a pair of enziguiris and a pair of reverse hurricanranas. He hits the Regalplex into the corner for 2. He hits the 630 senton for 2. He hits a high kick and the double moonsault for the win and the title at 19:10 shown of 22:40. It’s pretty insane that two non-Japanese wrestler’s just headlined a Dragon Gate show for a Dragon Gate title. I don’t think that’s ever happened before. This was almost exactly the same as the match they had six days earlier, which took me out of things a bit. On the other hand this was more crisply executed than the New York match and the finish was better, so I’ll give this the edge by a little bit. PAC has nothing to be ashamed of, as his Brave Gate run was unbelievable.
Rating: ****
After the match Ricochet asks PAC for a handshake. PAC obliges him, but Ricochet predictably attacks. Dragon Kid and Yoshino make the save. They both challenge Ricochet for his newly won title. Ricochet tells them to fight it out between themselves to decide who will face him for the belt. They agree to renew their rivalry for one night to figure out who would be best to take the belt back from Ricochet. CIMA points out that the Blood Warriors hold all the titles except for one, the Dream Gate Championship. He wraps things up by saying he’s going to replace the Dragon Gate logo with the Blood Warrior logo.
PAC says it’s time for him to move on to the next level. He invites Prince Devitt to Dragon Gate to form a dream team with him. They’ll fight Maraha Isappa in a few weeks.
In a rundown of upcoming matches, Mochizuki vs. CIMA for the Dream Gate title at Final Gate is announced. That’s pretty damn huge. And don’t forget about the live show on December 20th!