RAW is SB KENTO. This really doesn’t feel right.
BxB Hulk & Takashi Yoshida vs. Taketo Kamei & Madoka Kikuta
Tough times for the young boyz of Dragon Gate. Only a few days after losing their best bud to the Dark Side of the Force, they now get beat up by his new crew of trucker cap-wearing bros. Life’s a bitch. That being said, the trials and tribulations of Kamei and Kikuta made for some mighty fine undercard wrestling. Yoshida threw little Kamei all over the place, causing Big Boi Kikuta to tag himself in and answer the Beef Challenge. I’m telling you, Kikuta is going to be the guy. He’s already credibly asserting himself against the roster’s nastiest bruisers and looks great doing it. **1/2
Susumu Yokosuka, Genki Horiguchi & Yasushi Kanda vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Gamma & Mondai Ryu
This took ages to get going, but I had a pleasant time when it finally kicked into high gear. There seemed to be a bit of a running gag going on between Susumu and Mondai Ryu. However, I’m not advanced enough in my Duolingo Japanese lessons to explain it to you so you’ll just have to imagine something hilarious. **1/2
Keisuke Okuda & Jason Lee vs. Kaito Ishida & KAZMA SAKAMOTO
New Brave Gate champ Okuda and Kickboy Ishida continuing their BattlARTS blood feud made this instantly more compelling than any of the previous matches. These kids go at it like they’re in the NEVER title match slot at the Tokyo Dome and I can’t get enough of it. Their bloodlust had a positive effect on the whole match, as everything came off more tense and violent. The heels worked over Jason’s adorable ribs like a bunch of assholes and Okuda saved the day with Hirooki Goto spots. What more do you NEED!? The Kobe World rematch seems inevitable at this point. God bless. ***
Ultimo Dragon, Masato Yoshino, Don Fujii & Kennichiro Arai vs. Naruki Doi, Ryo Saito, Boku R Shimizu & Punch Tominaga
Swerve of the Year. It seems like despite losing the right to the Ryotsu Shimizu comedy gimmick, Shimizu will just keep doing the same thing under the Boku R Shimizu name. Wild stuff. Team Boku’s comedy tropes remained strong throughout this match, but so did the wrestling. Araken took offense to Punch’s headbutt master gimmick and kindly let him know by shoot headbutting him to pieces. Yoshino/Doi gave us a taste of their insane Speed Muscle chemistry, Fujii/Shimizu beat the shit out of each other and Ultimo did a LA MAGISTRAL, as he does. All of this ran through the usual DG fast pace and structural ingenuity = fun times. ***
Dragon Kid, Shuji Kondo & Kagetora vs. Ben-K, U-T & Yosuke Santa Maria
Oh, buddy. This was so, so good. The big story here was little U-T relentlessly going after Kondo and fueling the whole match with all kinds of tasty tension and hatred. The BALLS on this kid for targeting actual Mountain of a Man Shuji Kondo with this kind of intensity. My god. Everyone else seemed in an equally foul mood and there were all sorts of fun quarrelling happening all over the place. The ending stretch was laid out masterfully – an impossibly-tight chain reaction that led to the perfectly setup U-T shocker upset. Awesome. ***1/2
YAMATO, Kzy, Kota Minoura & Dragon Dia vs. Eita, KAI, SB Kento & Dia Inferno
A bit heavy on the heel beatdowns early on, but quite enjoyable once it got cooking. This R.E.D. lineup feels very fresh and the match did a lot more to sell me on SB Kento than any promo or in-ring performance up to this point. The kid is embracing his inner douche and I can’t deny the comedic potential of his SBK hat spots and fratboy chant routine. The other highlight here was the chemistry between the two Dias, which keeps getting better and better every time they get in the ring together. Popped big time for the tricked out lucha high spots these fined masked gentlemen put together. Also, big shoutout to Dragon Dia and Minoura’s bridging double-arm suplex/running SSP combo. A thing of beauty. ***1/4
Shun Skywalker is the king of the lights out ambush, baby. WHEN WILL HE STRIKE NEXT!?
