Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
4th of July 2013
Lee here with a review of Dragon Gate Infinity 302, the company’s first ever live IPPV broadcast! Well, their US branch has been doing them for years, but this is the first one from Japan. I was away and missed the initial broadcast, but caught up with the VOD last night (which is available at ustream.tv/dragongate until July 12th). This being a live Korakuen (only a couple a year are broadcast live, the others delayed), we kick things off with what usually would have been the dark match (well, after Katsuya Ichikawa and Shingo talked us through recent events, showing footage of YAMATO’s heel turn on Takagi and CIMA’s title defence against Ricochet):
1) Super Shisa & Kenichiro Arai of Windows defeated Chihiro Tominaga & Super Shenlong of -akatsuki- (6:39, Yoshitonic)
Unspectacular and forgettable, but naturally I loved it since I’m a mark for the Windows unit and Dragon Gate’s biggest disappointment Tominaga.
Next, the participants for the 10 man tag main event came out, and a lottery was drawn by children from the crowd to determine the teams. The legitimate draw worked out brilliantly, with Team Veteran members CIMA, Mochizuki and Don Fujii somehow ending up on the same side, with Uhaa Nation who would be opposite his heel Mad Blankey stablemates YAMATO and BxB Hulk! Jimmys Saito and Susumu ended up on opposite sides, with Speed Muscle ending up with Blankey and Susumu, making it an original World-1 reunion feat YAMATO. So, the match was set; CIMA, Mochizuki, Fujii, Uhaa and Saito versus YAMATO, Hulk, Doi, Yoshino and Susumu.
2) Ricochet, Rich Swann & Shachihoko BOY of World-1 International defeated Jimmy Kanda, Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee & Mr Quu Quu Tanizaki Naoki Toyonaka Dolphin (11:29, Swan Dive Shooting Star Press)
Excellent high octane opening bout (since the first was morally a dark match this was the real opener) that pretty much showed off everything that’s great about Dragon Gate, with the comedy (most notably coming from Shachi’s gravelly tones as he took the mic when attempting to get folks to chant for him) and action that just didn’t let up. These World-1/Jimmyz six man tags are such a blast, especially when you’ve got Ricochet and Swann in there obviously enjoying working with each other a lot. Those two put together a spectacular springboard 450 > springboard shooting star press finishing sequence. Great match, and a great taste of Dragon Gate for the newcomers watching via Ustream.
3) Cyber Kong defeated Jimmy Kagetora of the Jimmyz (7:32, Cyber Bomb)
“Oh shit, we’ve put everyone in the main event, we’re gonna have to book Cyber Kong vs Kagetora!” – probable conversation from the Dragon Gate offices. Match wasn’t bad, but it definitely wasn’t great. I know Kong’s monster credibility is non existent at this point, but I still found the story of him fighting from behind as Kage worked his legs tough to swallow. The finish was kind of important though as it played into the aftermath of the show, which we’ll get to later…
4) Gamma & Dragon Kid of Team Veteran Returns defeated Mondai Ryu & Kzy of Mad Blankey (12:09, Bible)
The garbage you’d expect, but I can never complain at them keeping the two draggers-down-of-match-quality (Gamma and Mondai Ryu) occupied with each other. Afterwards, Monchan was pissed that Gamma had seemingly superseded his Kobe World Triangle Gate challenge and continued to rant all the way the match 5 intro music and HUB’s entrance, not budging until he was tail whipped. Funny stuff.
5) K-ness of Windows defeated HUB of Team Veteran Returns (11:04, Hikari No Wa)
Standard victory to big K-ness up for his Brave Gate challenge at World, but it was fairly underwhelming, especially since he’s been in excellent matches at every other Korakuen show this year. HUB is just there, dude is yet to really find a purpose in Dragon Gate.
Since the main event participants were chosen for being former Dream Gate champions (aside from Hulk and Uhaa), we were shown a highlight reel of each of them winning the dream in the interval. It was cool, though I admit I was hoping we were going to get the recent unaired CIMA/Ricochet Dream Gate match.
6) Shingo Takagi of -akatsuki- defeated Akira Tozawa of Mad Blankey (06:54, Made In Japan)
Loved this. Tozawa attacked before the bell and the action just didn’t let up from there, with his onslaught giving way to Takagi’s onslaught then they they were trading then BOOM, Takagi had won. Just awesome. In a world where every upper card match is apparently obliged to go at least fifteen minutes, it was so refreshing seeing these guys go all out in just seven, reminiscent of the YAMATO/Susumu match from Infinity 289. Shingo, who spent the beginning of 2013 putting over Araken and K-ness, looks like an absolute beast going into his Dream Gate challenge at World, having beat Hulk, Uhaa and then crushing Tozawa here*. I don’t even remember the last time a single Made In Japan ended a big singles match. For any Tozawa fans worrying about the implications for him, fear not, he’s a made man at this point and lost nothing in defeat. More matches should be as quick and exciting as this one.
*Shingo also beat YAMATO in King Of Gate, but that wasn’t at Korakuen and was overshadowed by his loss to Ricochet on the same night.
Yagi came out and announced he couldn’t referee the main event due to an injury he’d sustained in match 4 (which I apparently didn’t notice), but he’d found a replacement…Kanda! This received a huge pop since Kanda was a referee for a few years (a neck injury in 2001 caused his temporary retirement).
7) GAORA Dragon Gate Mugendai Infinity 300th Broadcast Commemoration Special – Open Lottery 10 Man Tag Match: CIMA (TVR), Masaaki Mochizuki (TVR), Don Fujii (TVR), Uhaa Nation (MB) & Ryo “Jimmy” Saito (J) defeated YAMATO (MB), BxB Hulk (MB), Naruki Doi (W1i), Masato Yoshino (W1i) & Jimmy Susumu (J) (29:16, Meteora)
There was no way this wasn’t going to be awesome. Half an hour of Dragon Gate at its best, like an amplified version of the World-1/Jimmyz match with the perfect blend of comedy and action. The dynamic between Uhaa and Team Veteran was fantastic, with the Mad Blankey member initially reluctant to lock up with his heel stablemates but then caving in and becoming a full blown babyface team player (albeit temporarily; he reaffirmed his Blankey allegiance after the match), the first time we’ve glimpsed him in such a role over in Japan. Honestly, so much went on that it’s hard to go in depth, but if you’re a fan of Dragon Gate, you’ll know what to expect, and if you’re not currently a fan, this would be great first match to check out. Crazy, epic and just all round awesome.
Afterwards, CIMA cut a promo on number one contender Shingo, in which he asked the people of Tokyo who they thought would win the Dream Gate match….to which they responded with a resounding “CIMA!” both times. CIMA left then before Takagi had a chance to make his case, he was attacked by Mad Blankey! They argued for a long time, ultimately setting up an Akatsuki/Mad Blankey losing unit disbands match for Korakuen next month, with Cyber Kong turning up and earning the right to join up with Akatsuki by beating Uhaa in an arm wrestling match (with some help from Tominaga).
Closing thoughts: Yet another great Korakuen Hall show. Yeah, it got a bit thin in the middle, but that’s bound to happen when you’ve got such a loaded main event. Opener was great, Takagi vs Tozawa was great, main was awesome. Hopefully Dragon Gate on Ustream will become a regular thing, at least for PPVs and the live Korakuens (which would only add up to six shows this year ((four PPVs and I assume Fan Appreciation Day in December will be the only other live Korakuen)), but still). VOD is recommended for sure, but it’s only available until the 12th of July so get it quick!
Match of the night: Main event, no question.
Ustream was not included in the PPV announcement for Kobe World so unfortunately it doesn’t look like we’ll be getting it live, but I imagine they’ll put it up there as a VOD shortly after (like with Dead Or Alive). EDIT: THE SHOW WILL BE LIVE ON USTREAM! Jae mentioned it on IheartDG in a post I even linked to in the next sentence but apparently didn’t read properly. Awesome! July 21st.
Thanks as always to IheartDG for the match times and stuff, be sure to stop by there to check out the full card for the biggest Dragon Gate show of the year!
Want to talk about Kanda’s new haircut, ponder predictions for World or join me in rage at Kotoka not being booked for this show? I’m on Twitter @HellionLee