June 10th, 2018
Opening Match: Natural Vibes (Kzy, Susumu Yokosuka, and “brother” YASSHI) vs. Don Fujii, K-ness, and Shun Skywalker
Kzy does some early comedy with Skywalker, focusing on his dance moves. K-ness snaps off a hurricanrana on Yokosuka. Skywalker lands a nice slingshot senton onto YASSHI. Natural Vibes find an opening to work over Skywalker until he lands a springboard crossbody onto Kzy and makes the tag. Fujii cleans house with lariats and enters into a chop battle with Yokosuka. Yokosuka catches Fujii with an exploder. Fujii avoids a Jumbo no Kachi and hits a spinebuster. YASSHI hits a bronco buster on K-ness but gets caught by an enzuigiri. Skywalker follows with a springboard splash onto YASSHI for a nearfall. Yokosuka takes Skywalker off the top rope with an exploder. Kzy adds a diving elbow drop and YASSHI adds a diving headbutt. Yokosuka connects with a Jumbo no Kachi on Skywalker for a two count. Kzy almost gets caught by a rollup. Kzy connects with a diving uppercut on Skywalker for the win at 13:07. The action was pretty pedestrian for the first ten minutes or so before really picking up down the stretch. A lot of the early comedy only partly worked and this felt like a missed opportunity at a solid opener. **½
Match #2: Genki Horiguchi vs. Yuki Yoshioka
They trade control of a wristlock. Yoshioka connects with a dropkick and hits a blockbuster. Horiguchi blocks a charge and hits a tornado DDT. He takes control until Yoshioka comes back with a suplex. Yoshioka follows with a missile dropkick and a gourdbuster. Horiguchi blocks a frog splash with knees and hits a brainbuster for a nearfall. Yoshioka tries a quick backslide to no avail. He rolls through the Backslide From Heaven. Horiguchi catches him with the Beach Break for the victory at 7:01. This was a highly entertaining sprint and really showed what Yoshioka could do in the ring. I’m looking forward to seeing how he fares against the rest of the roster. **¾
Match #3: Ryo Saito vs. Punch Tominaga
Saito hangs onto a side headlock and connects with a dropkick. He avoids a slingshot spear from Tominaga to the crowd’s delight. Tominaga connects with a slingshot headbutt and takes control. Saito comes back with an overhead suplex. He mistakenly lands a plancha onto Kzy at ringside. In the ring, Don Fujii accidentally slaps Saito, allowing Tominaga to connect with a mafia kick. Tominaga follows with a diving headbutt for a nearfall. Saito avoids a moonsault and tries a small package to no avail. Saito connects with a flying double stomp and lands a splash for the win at 10:09. While the comedy worked much better here, the action never picked up like the opener. The crowd loves Saito, however, and he’s able to balance funny and serious well enough to make his character work. In other words. Tominaga did not look stupid for losing this match. **½
Match #4: MaxiMuM (Naruki Doi and Jason Lee) vs. Tribe Vanguard (YAMATO and BxB Hulk)
Lee wins an opening exchange against YAMATO with a dropkick. Hulk catches Doi with a spin kick and hits a bulldog. Doi recovers with a slingshot elbow drop onto YAMATO. MaxiMuM isolate YAMATO until he catches Lee with a dropkick and makes the tag. Hulk connects with a missile dropkick on Doi and a back heel kick on Lee. He follows with a springboard spin kick on Lee. YAMATO plants Doi with a brainbuster for a nearfall. Doi answers with a desperation back suplex. Lee superkicks YAMATO and hits a flatliner for a two count. Doi adds a Bakatare Sliding Kick but Hulk breaks up the pin attempt. Doi hits Doi 555 on Hulk. Everyone trades strikes and Lee almost pins YAMATO with a rollup. Hulk superkicks Lee into Galleria from YAMATO for the victory at 12:14. Unsurprisingly, this was the first match on the show that felt cohesive and meaningful from bell to bell. Hulk and Doi work so well together and any exchange between them is going to be visually impressive at the very least. I wouldn’t be opposed to seeing YAMATO and Hulk challenge Big Ben. ***
Match #5: ANTIAS (Shingo Takagi, Eita, Takashi Yoshida, and Yasushi Kanda) vs. Over Generation (Dragon Kid, Gamma, Kaito Ishida, and Problem Dragon)
ANTIAS attacks before the opening bell and everyone brawls into the crowd. Eita is specifically targeting Dragon Kid. Back in the ring, Ishida catches Yoshida with a missile dropkick. Shingo withstands some brutal kicks from Ishida and hits a dragon screw leg whip. ANTIAS work over Ishida until Problem Dragon sacrifices himself to get beaten down. Shingo slams Dragon Kid’s bad leg against the ringpost with a chair shot. Eita almost rips off Problem Dragon’s mask at one point. This is a vicious ANTIAS beating. Dragon Kid fights back with a springboard hurricanrana on Eita. Gamma outsmarts Yoshida and Kanda and causes some miscommunication. Shingo powerbombs Problem Dragon into a splash from Yoshida for a nearfall. Shingo blocks a super rana from Dragon Kid but gets sent to the floor. Ishida superkicks Eita for a close two count. Gamma adds a lariat. Ishida lands a huge dive onto Yoshida. Shingo connects with a lariat on Dragon Kid but he reverses a Pumping Bomber into Bible. Eita superkicks Dragon Kid for the win at 14:50. ANTIAS is hell-bent on making sure that Eita takes the Brave Gate away from Dragon Kid. Most of this match was a vicious beatdown by ANTIAS, which is something I wouldn’t necessarily want to rewatch but does put over the fact that the faction just doesn’t take anyone else seriously. At the end of the day, this was excellent build for the upcoming match between Dragon Kid and Eita. **¾
Match #6: Open the Twin Gate Titles: Big Ben (Big R Shimizu and Ben-K) © vs. Tribe Vanguard (Kagetora and Yosuke Santa Maria)
Ben-K and Kagetora wrestle to a stalemate. Shimizu tries to assert his power advantage over Santa Maria but eats a dropkick. Kagetora begins to target Ben-K’s left arm. Shimizu saves his partner by laying in some chops to Kagetora. They exchange loud chops. Santa Maria hits a bronco buster on Shimizu and connects with a basement dropkick. Shimizu backs Santa Maria into his corner and the champions isolate her. She lands a springboard crossbody onto Shimizu and rolls out of the ring to make the tag. Kagetora connects with a gamengiri on Shimizu followed by a shining wizard. Santa Maria catches Ben-K with a dropkick and hits a falcon arrow. Ben-K spears both of his opponents. Shimizu hits a rydeen bomb on Kagetora and. Santa Maria hurricanranas Ben-K off the top rope for a nearfall. Kagetora connects with a flying elbow drop on Shimizu and hits an abdominal stretch driver for a two count. Ben-K spears Santa Maria and hits a spinning back suplex. Shimizu adds a wheelbarrow german suplex but she won’t stay down. Ben-K connects with a missile dropkick on Santa Maria but she almost catches him with a rollup. Kagetora almost cradles Shimizu but gets planted with a spinebuster. Shimizu lariats Santa Maria but she counters a Shot Put Slam into a crucifix bomb. Big Ben hit the Shot Put Spear on Santa Maria for a nearfall. Ben-K follows with the Ben-K Bomb and Big Ben retain their titles at 21:24.
Naruki Doi seems disappointed with Shimizu after the match and they argue for a bit. Big Ben may quietly be one of the best teams in professional wrestling right now. This match took quite some time to get going and arguably could have shaved five minutes off its duration. However, the finishing stretch was fantastic and allowed everyone to truly show their familiarity with each other. No one bought the challengers actually winning the titles, but in terms of an early title defense this was well-executed. ***¼
Match #7: Open the Dream Gate Title: Masaaki Mochizuki © vs. Masato Yoshino
Yoshino won King of Gate last night, defeating YAMATO in the finals. Yoshino sends Mochizuki to the floor with a dropkick but a dive attempt is blocked. Mochizuki kicks away at his challenger and targets the left leg. Yoshino battles back with some striking of his own. Mochizuki kicks him off the apron. The champion takes control back in the ring until Yoshino wins a chop battle. He tries a Torbellino but Mochizuki counters into an ankle lock. Yoshino fires back with a Sling Blade and both men are down. They pick up the intensity of their strike exchanges. Mochizuki lays in a knockout kick for a nearfall. He follows with a dragon suplex after shrugging off two Torbellinos. Yoshino wins a strike exchange and falls to the canvas. Mochizuki blasts him with a knockout kick for a two count. Yoshino hits a powerbomb out of the corner and applies Sol Naciente. Mochizuki powers out of the hold but almost gets rolled up. They trade quick pin attempts and Yoshino is able to pin Mochizuki to become the new Open the Dream Gate Champion at 22:11. This main event largely felt incomplete and the title change came off as less of a big deal as a result. Mochizuki’s early leg work hardly went anywhere. Although I was surprised by how much I enjoyed their strike exchanges as the match progressed, the finish itself left a ton to be desired. It took a few seconds for the crowd to even believe the match was over. I’m unsure if these two have a history of high quality matches together, but this one was not among them. **¾
After the match, Shingo Takagi challenges Yoshino to a title match at Kobe World Festival next month. Shingo defeated Yoshino in King of Gate.
-Show Grade: C+
–You Need to See:
–You’d Enjoy Watching: Big Ben/Tribe Vanguard, MaxiMuM/Tribe Vanguard
–You Should Avoid: