Dragon Gate Blood Warriors 1st Produce

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November 30, 2011 – Tokyo, Japan

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

The production for this show is significantly less polished than a typical episode of Infinity. That, combined with the show taking place in Shin-Kiba First Ring, the random black ring and the fact that it’s being broadcast on Infinity really makes it feel like Blood Warriors is a separate brand altogether. It reminds me a lot of the Muscle Outlaw’z produce show from a few years back.

The Blood Warriors come to the ring and introduce themselves one by one. Ricochet, who is very over, cuts his promo in Japanese. The crowd and the rest of the Warriors mark out when TT starts cutting a promo, as he hadn’t spoken since turning heel. CIMA calls out Ricky Fuji so he can sing a song for them, but Metal Warrior attacks him and they have a match.

Metal Warrior {BW} vs. Ricky Fuji
I think Randy the Ram was really inspired by Fuji. Warrior attacks for a while before the match officially begins. Warrior puts on the Iron Claw and gets 2. Fuji hits a chop. He hits a Finlay Roll. He hits the 999 for the win in 59 seconds. Nothing doing here, and not really sure what the point of this was.
Rating: ¼*

Tokyo Gurentai comes out and they tell Naruki Doi that they want their match tonight to be for the Open the Triangle Gate Championships. Kikutaro looks so weird to me without a mask in his Gurentai gimmick. Doi brings out the Doi Darts Second to decide whether or not to grant the match. Most of the board says no, and a small sliver says yes. A boy from the crowd throws the dart, and though it’s close the dart lands on non-title. Fuji grabs the microphone and tells the Doi Darts that they’re not being very rock n’ role, so he debuts the fancy (relatively) Ricky Darts. Most of this board calls for a title match, with a small sliver calling for a non-title match (and another small sliver calling for something else). The kid throws the dart at the title match section and the match is granted. Naoki Tanisaki makes sure his two-count rules are in effect.

El Samurai © vs. Tomahawk TT {BW} [X-LAW International Championship
Match]
TT works the arm to start. Samurai returns the favor. TT hits a shoulder tackle, sending Samurai to the floor. Samurai whips TT into the post. Back in the ring Samurai puts on a chinlock. Holy crap this match is already so boring. TT bites Samurai’s hand to escape. Samurai bites him back. TT hits a deadlift suplex. He hits a powerslam for 2. Samurai hits a crappy reverse DDT. He hits a diving headbutt for 2. He puts on the chickenwing armbar but TT escapes. TT hits a chop but Samurai reapplies the armbar for the win at 7:09. This was boring and sloppy. If this is an indication of how TT is developing as a heel he’s in for a long wait before he gets a real push.
Rating: ¾*

Uhaa Nation {BW} vs. Kotoka
Kotoka challenged Nation to this match, sight unseen, when he heard another American was coming to Dragon Gate. He looks horrified before the bell. He tries chops and elbows but they don’t work. Shoulder tackles are failures as well. Nation tackles Kotoka into the ropes. He hits a back elbow. He hits a delayed vertical suplex. Kotoka dropkicks the leg. He hits a second rope dropkick for 1. Nation hits a lariat. He hits a press slam and the Uhaa Combination for the win at 1:39. That’s about as good a debut for Nation in Dragon Gate as they could book.
Rating: *½

Genki Horiguchi {BW} & Ryo Saito {BW} vs. Yasushi Kanda {BW} & Takuya Sugawara
The most evil thing the Blood Warriors have done to date is bringing Sugawara back to my screen. Kanda and Saito start. Saito is very over. Horiguchi is equally over while fighting Sugawara. They play with the H-A-G-E gimmick a bit. MARAHA! ISAPPA! Kanda and Sugawara isolate Saito with boring offense. Horiguchi dropkicks Sugawara. Sugawara and Kanda target the hair. Horiguchi almost cries. A double back elbow leads to more near-tears for Horiguchi. Kanda puts on an abdominal stretch. Saito gets in the ring and tries to get Horiguchi motivated. H-A-G-E frees Horiguchi and helps him hit a head scissor takedown. He and Saito are totally playing babyface here. Saito hits Sugawara with the Fisherman Express. Sugawara hits an enziguiri and a DDT for 2. Kanda hits Horiguchi with a powerslam for 2. The Jon Woo gets blocked three times before Saito hits Kanda with a German suplex. He hits the Superfly Splash for 2. Kanda and Sugawara hit a double flapjack. Sugawara hits TCO and Kanda hits the flying elbowdrop on Horiguchi for 2. Kanda hits the side slam for 2. Horiguchi counters the Ryus to the Backslide from Heaven for the win at 12:35. Maraha Isappa playing babyface (and the announcers focusing on Horiguchi using the Backslide from Heaven instead of the Backslide from Hell) had me feeling good, but the match was nothing outside of that. After the match Horiguchi says that he and Saito will give PAC and Prince Devitt hell tomorrow night.
Rating: **¼

Naruki Doi © {BW}, Kzy © {BW} & Naoki Tanisaki © {BW} vs. NOSAWA Rongai {TG}, KIKUZAWA {TG} & FUJITA {TG} [Open the Triangle Gate Championship Match]
The Gurentai team is so shlubby they make Kzy look like CIMA by comparison. Gurentai attacks before the bell. Everyone brawls around ringside. In the ring Doi goes after KIKUZAWA’s heavily protected knee. Kzy, who has been wearing short tights lately and is a t-shirt away from looking like a real Dragon Gate wrestler, keeps pressure on the knee. Tanisaki goes after the leg with a cane. KIKUZAWA hits Doi with a dropkick. Kzy hits FUJITA with a leg lariat. FUJITA hits a baby DDT for 2. Rongai hits a head kick for 2. The referee inadvertently helps Rongai work Kzy’s hair. KIKUZAWA hits a vertical suplex for 2. He hits an elbowdrop. He and Rongai hit a double flapjack for 2. FUJITA hits a basement dropkick for 2. He pulls on Kzy’s goatee and hits another dropkick for 2. Rongai goes to the eyes for 1, screwing with the referee. Kzy finally hits KIKUZAWA with the B-Boy. Doi cleans house and forces FUJITA and Rongai dropkick KIKUZAWA’s knee. He hits a dragon screw. Tanisaki hits the DH. KIKUZAWA blocks the Casanova so Tanisaki attacks the knee. KIKUZAWA hits a powerslam. Tanisaki hits FUJITA with an elevated kneedrop. Kzy puts on the Testicular Claw. FUJITA hits an exploder for 2. Kzy hits the Beat Bomb for 2. KIKUZAWA hits a Superbomb. FUJITA hits a Tombstone Piledriver. Rongai and KIKUZAWA hit a Shining Wizard sandwich for 2. Rongai hits a low blow and gets a small package. Tanisaki hits the DH. Kzy hits KZ TIME for 1. Kzy powders Rongai and Doi gets a roll up for 1. Tanisaki hits the Casanova for 1. Doi and Rongai trade quick roll ups. Doi hits the Doi 555 and the Bakatare Sliding Kick for the win at 16:07. The heat on Kzy went on longer than I’d have liked. Also the 2-count rule never really came into play, which made the Doi Darts just look lazy. The only bright spot was the work on KIKUZAWA’s knee, and that was not a significant enough portion of the match.
Rating: *¾

CIMA © {BW} & Ricochet © {BW} vs. BxB Hulk {BW} & Akira Tozawa {BW} [Open the Twin Gate Championship Match]
Finally, months after they had the momentum, Hulk and Tozawa cash in their Summer Adventure Tag Tournament title shot. If the Spiked Mohicans lose they’re going to vacate the titles to focus on their upcoming singles aspirations. CIMA and Tozawa start. Here’s a singles match I’d like to see happen NOW. They trade holds for a bit. Hulk and Ricochet speed things up a bit, with some kicking and some flipping. CIMA works Tozawa’s arm. Ricochet hits a senton for 2. Hulk hits a dropkick to the face for 2. CIMA works Hulk’s leg. He hits Tozawa with a snap suplex. Tozawa blocks Ricochet’s crossbody with his knees. He and Hulk hit a dropkick sandwich for 2. Tozawa hits a senton for 2. He and Hulk pepper Ricochet with kicks for 2. Hulk hits an axe kick. Ricochet hits a head scissor takedown out of nowhere. He hits Tozawa with a springboard elbow. CIMA cleans house. He suplexes Tozawa while holding Hulk in a leglock. Ricochet hits a beautiful dive on Tozawa. He hits a double stomp extra hard to punish Hulk for goofing the preceding spot. Hulk hits a senton for 2. He hits the Complete Shot for 2. Ricochet hits Tozawa with the Ace Crusher. He and CIMA destroy Tozawa with one of the coolest sequences I’ve seen in a while. Tozawa hits CIMA with the running knee. He hits the back suplex after Hulk’s dropkick for 2. CIMA blocks the EVO. Tozawa hits the Ganki, which CIMA sells like poop. Hulk hits Ricochet with the Mouse and an EVOplex for 2. Tozawa hits a bicycle kick and a superplex for 2. Hulk hits the axe kick and Tozawa hits the deadlift German suplex for 2. Ricochet knows the High Tension Suplex is coming and is able to block it long enough for CIMA to hit a superkick. CIMA hits his tribute to the Ikkakugeri. He hits Hulk with the Schwein. Ricochet hits the 630 senton. CIMA hits Tozawa with the Schwein for 2. Tozawa hits the bicycle kick. CIMA hits the superkick, the Nakayubi and the Meteora for the win at 19:40. The crowd didn’t get into any of this but it was pretty solid without them. There were a couple of awkward spots, but it didn’t change the fact that this was leagues beyond everything else on the show. The reason this match doesn’t get higher marks than it has is because the Mohicans left Hulk and Tozawa looking like they weren’t in their league, which wouldn’t be such a big deal if they weren’t getting ANOTHER title shot at the now vacant Twin Gate belts the next night. If they win them the whole division looks inferior.
Rating: ***½

CIMA announces that he and Ricochet are making good on their promise to vacate the titles. KAGETORA and Susumu Yokosuka come out of the crowd and jump on the ramp. Yokosuka says they want a match for the belts. CIMA starts to respond, and Tozawa uses the distraction to hit Yokosuka with the bicycle kick. He says that he and Hulk will face them for the vacant belts tomorrow night. He calls them jimi again. KAGETORA takes offense. He and Yokosuka leave. Tozawa wraps the show up by singing for the crowd. For a guy who screams all the time he has an amazing voice.