May 13th, 2018
Opening Match: Eita vs. Oji Shiiba
They begin with some chain wrestling and find themselves at a stalemate. Shiiba lays in a series of kicks but Eita shrugs them off. Eita crotches him on the ringpost and attacks him with a chair at ringside. Eita takes control back in the ring until Shiiba hits a suplex. Shiiba follows with a missile dropkick. They exchange chops. Eita hits a spinebuster followed by a brainbuster. Shiiba tries a quick rollup to no avail and snaps off a hurricanrana. Eita catches him with a superkick for a nearfall. Eita connects with two more superkicks for the win at 7:55. Basically an extended squash for Eita since he spent most of the match just toying with Shiiba. The action felt lifeless but that may have been what they were going for given Eita’s dominance of Shiiba. Still, this wouldn’t have been my first choice for the opener. **
Match #2: King of Gate Block C: Punch Tominaga (0-1) vs. Yosuke Santa Maria (0-0)
Tominaga has lost to Naruki Doi so far in the tournament. Santa Maria monkey flips Tominaga and connects with a dropkick. Tominaga blocks a charge and applies a headscissors in the ropes. He starts working over the right arm. Tominaga connects with a slingshot headbutt to the right arm at one point. Santa Maria comes back with a springboard dropkick and lands a step-up dive to the floor. Back in, she hits a leg lariat and a falcon arrow. Tominaga just kicks her in the face and hits a TKO for a nearfall. They trade quick pin attempts to no avail. Tominaga yanks Santa Maria off the middle rope into a cross armbreaker for the victory at 11:20. Tominaga’s limb work really elevated this contest into something worth watching. Santa Maria unsurprisingly did a great job of fighting from behind and Tominaga’s relentlessness in targeting the arm made for a compact, exciting story to follow. ***
Match #3: Don Fujii and Gamma vs. Tribe Vanguard (YAMATO and BxB Hulk)
YAMATO and Fujii trade chops for quite some time. Gamma spits water onto YAMATO and whips him with a belt. Hulk eventually gets the tag but Gamma low blows him behind the referee’s back. Fujii and Gama have been on offense for almost the entire match at this point. Hulk finds an opening to connect with a series of kicks. Tribe Vanguard show off some double team offense before Fujii clotheslines them. YAMATO and Gamma do an exchange where they pull down each other’s tights. YAMATO rolls up Gamma for the win at 13:06. This was extremely pedestrian given the participants. I don’t expect a ton from Fujii or Gamma, but the action was glacially slow when they were on offense. The pace didn’t truly pick up down the stretch and they instead resorted to comedy. This was not good. *¼
Match #4: King of Gate Block A: Ben-K (0-0) vs. Shun Skywalker (0-0)
Skywalker kicks Ben-K to the floor and teases a dive. Ben-K rushes back into the ring and hits a shoulder tackle. He takes control until Skywalker connects with a dropkick and lands a plancha. Skywalker almost travels the length of the ring with a springboard splash. Ben-K hits an overhead suplex and comes off the middle rope with a missile dropkick. He follows with a spinning side slam. Skywalker hurricanranas out of a dead-lift powerbomb. They stare each other down and trade strikes. Skywalker wins the exchange with a bicycle kick and hits a tiger driver for a nearfall. Ben-K hits a spear but almost gets rolled up. Ben-K avoids another bicycle kick and hits a second spear for the victory at 9:15. This contest had its moments but you couldn’t help but feel as though they have a better match in them. Skywalker seemed off in his striking game and some sequences just didn’t come together as a result. Luckily they’ll have plenty of chances throughout the tournament to stand out. **½
Match #5: King of Gate Block D: Kagetora (0-0) vs. Ryo Saito (0-0)
Saito has a completely different look and seems adamant on bringing fun to professional wrestling. They trade control of a wristlock and find themselves at a stalemate. Saito grounds Kagetora and lays in some stomps. Kagetora fires back with a hard right hand and takes control, working over the left leg. Saito wins a suplex battle but Kagetora slows him down with more strikes. Saito hits an overhead suplex followed by a fisherman buster. He connects with a flying double stomp but misses a splash. Kagetora connects with a shining wizard for a nearfall. Saito tries a small package to no avail and hits a german suplex for a two count. Kagetora low bridges him to the apron. They trade strikes on the apron and battle at ringside. Both men get counted out at 11:40. Saito seems happy with the result, even though no points are awarded for a double countout. This was used as a brief exploration into Saito’s new attitude since losing at Dead or Alive. The action was starting to develop when the finish happened, so this ended up being the first two-thirds of a decent match. **½
Match #6: MaxiMuM (Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, Big R Shimizu, and Jason Lee) vs. Natural Vibes (Kzy, Genki Horiguchi, and Susumu Yokosuka) and LEONA
Kzy and Lee have a fun exchange that ends in a standoff. Yoshino snaps off a few armdrags on Yokosuka followed by a headscissors. LEONA wins a shoulder block battle against Shimizu but quickly gets suplexed. Kzy hits a slingshot senton on Shimizu. Both teams trade control. MaxiMuM do their slingshot elastic band spot on LEONA. Shimizu catches Kzy in midair with a delayed vertical suplex. MaxiMuM work over Kzy until he lariats Doi and makes the tag. Yokosuka catches Lee and Yoshino with exploders. Kzy lands a kick-flip dive to the floor. In the ring, Lee hits an ace crusher on Horiguchi, who responds with a tornado DDT. LEONA takes down Shimizu with a dragon screw leg whip and applies a figure four. Doi breaks up the hold. Yokosuka wins a strike exchange against Doi with a Jumbo no Kachi. LEONA hits a double underhook suplex on Shimizu for a nearfall. Doi hits Doi 555s on Horiguchi and Lee adds some quick strikes for a two count. Horiguchi evades a superkick and catches Lee with the Backslide from Heaven for the win at 14:11. Certainly toned down from what we saw from these two stables at Dead or Alive, but still an enjoyable showcase of what they can do together. Importantly, this match had a certain energy and urgency that the rest of the card was missing. ***
Match #7: Shingo Takagi, Takashi Yoshida, and Yuko Miyamoto vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Dragon Kid, and Tatsumi Fujinami
Mochizuki dumps Yoshida onto the apron and punts him in the back. Dragon Kid snaps off a headscissors on Miyamoto. Fujinami wins a fun exchange against Shingo. Mochizuki starts unloading with kicks. Shingo gets isolated until he’s able to power Dragon Kid up into a suplex. Yoshida chokes Dragon Kid with his wrist tape and the ANTIAS team work him over. He snaps off a springboard hurricanrana on Shingo and makes the tag. Fujinami hits a series of dragon screw leg whips. Miyamoto low blows Mochizuki, allowing Yoshida to take him down with a lariat. Miyamoto missile dropkicks Mochizuki into a back suplex from Shingo for a nearfall. Mochizuki fires back with kicks. Dragon Kid plants Shingo with a tornado DDT. Shingo blocks a hurricanrana and hits a death valley driver. Yoshida connects with a flying elbow drop on Dragon Kid and Miyamoto adds a moonsault for a nearfall. Miyamoto connects with a beautiful handspring pele kick on Mochizuki. Dragon Kid hits Bible on Shingo for a two count. Shingo responds with Made in Japan and a Pumping Bomber for the victory at 16:28. The appearances by Miyamoto and Fujinami were novel and the usual suspects like Shingo, Mochizuki, and Dragon Kid delivered as always. You’ll certainly see much better multi-man main events from Dragon Gate, but in the context of Shingo’s homecoming show, this main event checked all of the requisite boxes. ***¼
-Show Grade: C
–You Need to See:
–You’d Enjoy Watching: main event, Natural Vibes/MaxiMuM, Tominaga/Santa Maria
–You Should Avoid: