Don Fujii, Shuji Kondo & Gamma vs. Yasushi Kanda, Kennichiro Arai & Kagetora
Nothing life-changing, but much more engaging than yesterday’s opener. They kept a brisk pace and everyone got some time in the spotlight. Anything involving Kondo and Kage was a highlight – pretty stellar chemistry between these two. **1/4
Masaaki Mochizuki & Keisuke Okuda vs. Eita & H.Y.O.
There was some fun stuff here before the abrupt low blow finish. Wonder if all of these cheap shot H.Y.O wins will actually amount to anything? Anyway, Mochi and Okuda worked well as a team and R.E.D. targeting Okuda’s mid-section by IMPALING HIM WITH A WOODEN STICK brought a fair amount of amusement. Midcard keeps on midcarding. **1/4
Keisuke Okuda vs. Punch Tominaga
Hungry for revenge after yesterday’s 3-minute ass kicking, Punch came out to confront the Brave Gate champ, which led to an 11 second choke sleeper insta-tap. To quote my good friend Ron Burgundy: ‘’Great story. Compelling and rich.’’
Ultimo Dragon & Bokutimo Dragon vs. Ryo Saito & Punch Tominaga
Ultimo and Bokutimo: TOGETHER AT LAST. A real Wrestlemania Moment. Fuck it, this was the best use of old man Ultimo in ages. I really wish there had been a non-muted crowd to react to this comedy gold. All of the mirroring sequences between the two masked legends were brilliant and I lost it for Bokutimo blowing the lucha submission. Quality midcard entertainment. **1/2
Shun Skywalker, Kota Minoura, Jason Lee & La Estrella vs. BxB Hulk, KAI, Kaito Ishida & Hip Hop Kikuta
Masquerade is the coolest shit ever. Pure Kubrickian greatness. You heard it here last. The match was in the same vein as the Masquerade 6-man from yesterday, aka. It was very, very good. Blindingly fast pace with R.E.D. barely taking a break to get in some heel shenanigans. Razor sharp execution from the whole crew and plenty of clever spots including a rewarding counter of Jason’s Tornado DDT for long time viewers. Estrella keeps impressing with his smooth as silk high spots. Shoutout to the effortless tope con hilo and springboard back headbutt. Easy match of the night so far. ***1/4
YAMATO vs. Dragon Kid
Pretty darn solid match until the unfortunate R.E.D. run-in finish. Two old pros working a solid limb work story with a clear-cut heel/face structure. The comedy spots undercut a bit of the drama, but the layout made sense and YAMATO put in one of his more inspired performances in a while. Lots of hurty dragon scews from the hair swooping legend, including a crafty double-legged variation to counter DK’s 619. To the shock of no one, Kitto played a great underdog and struck a nice balance between leg selling and acrobatic comebacks. Would’ve loved a proper ending stretch to close the match. ***1/4
Takashi Yoshida, KAZMA SAKAMOTO & SB Kento © vs. Kzy, Susumu Yokosuka & Genki Horiguchi – Open The Triangle Gate
The Triangle Gate matches never fail to bring the excitement. Like the Masquerade tag from earlier, this kept the heelishness to a minimum and focused on the kind of high-octane action that made these belts famous. The beatdown on Kzy was used effectively to play up the Yoshida/SBK tension and everything else was balls to the wall fun times.
This is Dragon Gate, so it goes without saying that the level of high-speed triple-team orchestration was of the finest quality. SBK took some disgusting neck bumps to make up for his tropey shtick and Yoshida made the most of his (SPOILER ALERT) final R.E.D. performance. Monster flying elbowdrop, double Back suplex, Mongolian chop rush. Yes, these are the Takashi Yoshida spots that you crave and they were all on deck. Enjoyed this a lot! ***1/2
The post-match R.E.D. banishment of Yoshida angle was just tremendous. SBK’s still in the process of finding himself but he already has A1 facial expressions and his acting was right on the money through the whole thing. As the Internet’s #1 Takashi Yoshida stan, I’m very excited about this new chapter of his career. The awkward alliance with Mochi should bring the midcard laughs.
