July 22nd, 2018
Opening Match: Gamma, K-ness, “brother” YASSHI, Problem Dragon, and Shachihoko Boy vs U-T, Kaito Ishida, Shun Skywalker, Hyo Watanabe, and Yuki Yoshioka
Everyone knew that this match was designed to be a harmless opener that got more talent onto the card and there’s nothing wrong with that given the short duration. Skywalker manages to consistently shine in these settings despite the ring being so crowded. I wouldn’t be surprised if Skywalker is in an important match at next year’s Kobe World. There’s not a ton to say about this opener except that it was exactly what you would expect. Skywalker landed a moonsault onto Shachihoko Boy to win the match for his team at 6:35. *½
Match #2: Ryo Saito vs. Stalker Ichikawa
Speaking of matches progressing exactly how you would expect, this was simply an extended showcase for Saito’s newfound demeanor on the biggest show of the year. The crowd played along admirably, although ten minutes felt like overkill. For better or worse, the first two matches of Kobe World have generally followed this basic pattern of multi-man tag/comedy. Interestingly enough, there was a giant man in the crowd who got involved in the match when Ichikawa was thrown into him. I am not entirely sure who he is and I would have to find a translation to fully understand what was happening. Saito won with a schoolboy rollup at 10:17. *
Match #3: Open the Triangle Gate Titles: Natural Vibes (Genki Horiguchi, Kzy, and Susumu Yokosuka) © vs. ANTIAS (Masato Tanaka, Takashi Yoshida, and Yasushi Kanda)
ANTIAS attacked before the opening bell and essentially controlled the pacing of the match before the action broke down during the finishing stretch. Tanaka is tremendous, of course, but Yoshida and Kanda are two of the blandest partners you could have given him. As a result, Tanaka’s interactions with the champions were the highlight of this match by far. A slow start was somewhat remedied once things broke down, but Yoshida breaking out the mist leading to a quick rollup finish put a damper back on the proceedings. This will not be going down in the history books as a compelling showcase for the Triangle Gate on the promotion’s biggest stage. Natural Vibes retained their titles at 15:09 when Kzy rolled up Kanda. **½
Match #4: Open the Brave Gate Title: Dragon Kid © vs Eita
I’ve been a bigger fan of this feud than many others, but I also haven’t been rigorously following Dragon Gate as of late to fully understand why 2018 has been part of a down period for the promotion. Given the extent to which ANTIAS has attempted to completely demoralize Dragon Kid, there wasn’t much intensity when the match began. In fact, the crowd didn’t fully become engaged until Eita started working over Dragon Kid’s arm, a strategy that could have been employed even if they weren’t feuding for months. Eita had to go to great lengths to defeat Dragon Kid here and even if the match was missing something in terms of emotion, they still had a quality wrestling match. This wasn’t everything that it could have been and I’m curious to see if Eita will be able to do anything new or interesting with his reign. Eita became the new Open the Brave Gate Champion at 17:36 after hitting Salamander. ***
Match #5: Naruki Doi, Jason Lee, and Bandido vs. Flamita, Kagetora, and Yosuke Santa Maria
This was the example of a traditional Dragon Gate trios match on this show. Although the teams seemed a bit random, everyone worked well together and delivered the type of action you would expect. The action never got crazy enough to the point where I’ll be talking about this contest months from now, but on a show that has largely under-delivered, this was a fun spotfest to just enjoy. I also appreciated that Bandido and Flamita received a chance to have an extended exchange to end the match. Everyone sensed that these six would deliver and they did so despite not having any semblance of a story to work with. Flamita won the match for his team after landing a phoenix splash onto Bandido at 15:56. ***½
Match #6: Masaaki Mochizuki, Hiro Saito, and Tatsumi Fujinami vs. Don Fujii, Punch Tominaga, and Yoshiaki Fujiwara
Given the ages of the non-Dragon Gate talent, this was pretty much a back and forth punchy-kicky affair that wasn’t trying to do anything too interesting. The real value to this match would be the nostalgia value of watching someone like Fujiwara wrestle again. Fifteen minutes was a lot of time to fill and the match felt longer than that. I certainly do not want to knock any of the performances, since everyone was working hard to deliver, but there was always going to be a ceiling on this contest. Again, this is largely skippable unless you have interest in watching any of the legends wrestle. It was nice that Fujinami won with the dragon sleeper, a move that he’s credited for inventing. Fujinami won the match for his team with a dragon sleeper on Tominaga at 14:35. *½
Match #7: Open the Twin Gate Titles: Big Ben (Big R Shimizu and Ben-K) © vs. Tribe Vanguard (YAMATO and BxB Hulk)
This match began in a fairly pedestrian way with both teams going back and forth without much of note happening. It was the “calm before the storm” that you usually just have to tolerate with Dragon Gate tag team matches that are seemingly going to go long. Things picked up after Ben-K slammed Hulk onto the entrance ramp and the champions took control. From that point, the action became very engaging due to how much energy YAMATO and Hulk brought to the match. They did an excellent job of fighting from behind and both teams were on fire down the finishing stretch.
Shimizu losing this match settles his current tensions with Naruki Doi inside MaxiMuM and the result makes sense. I just don’t think it should go unnoticed how good of a tag team Big Ben has been. Insofar as Dragon Gate doesn’t receive a lot of attention in the United States these days, you just wouldn’t know about the team if you aren’t making it a point to watch Dragon Gate. This was the first match on the show that felt like a standout attraction on the biggest show of the year. It was a celebration of Big Ben as a team and a return to form for YAMATO. Tribe Vanguard became the new Open the Twin Gate Champions at 28:15 when YAMATO hit Ragnarok on Shimizu. ****
Match #8: Open the Dream Gate Title: Masato Yoshino © vs. Shingo Takagi
Much like the last match, the first turning point in this main event came on the entrance ramp, when Shingo countered a Torbellino attempt into a death valley driver. Shingo then settled into his comfort zone, piledriving Yoshino through a table at ringside. Yoshino fought back, and the second half of this main event featured the hard-fought, bomb-throwing sequences that you would expect in a Dream Gate title match. Everything was well-executed, but I was left feeling as though the match didn’t have enough substance to justify twenty-seven minutes. The contest was long because it’s the main event of Kobe World, but it’s unclear why it needed so much time.
I think they were in a weird position with this being Yoshino’s first defense. Shingo winning here would have been a (needed?) change in the direction of Dragon Gate as a whole, but Yoshino retaining was the safe bet. They undoubtedly delivered a strong match. However, this show needed a blow-away main event to avoid the feeling that something was just off on this night. I don’t think they accomplished that. Yoshino retained his title at 27:04 with Sol Naciente Kai. ***½
-Show Grade: B
–You Need to See: Big Ben/Tribe Vanguard
–You’d Enjoy Watching: Yoshino/Shingo, international tag, Dragon Kid/Eita
–You Should Avoid: