We are in big show single camera mode because God hates us.
Shun Skywalker, Jason Lee & La Estrella vs. Eita, Kaito Ishida & KAZMA SAKAMOTO
If you’ve watched any Dragon Gate before, then you don’t need me to tell you that this has had a painfully-flat heel beatdown that eventually gave way to faster-paced sprinty goodness. This is the life you chose when you decided to Open the Gate. There is no escaping the heel beatdown. The Masquerade 6-man tags tend to be good enough to turn the rudo time-fill into a distant memory, but this one didn’t quite get there. Despite the usual effort from Estrella and Jason, I expected a bit more from a Dream Gate preview match. **1/2
Ultimo Dragon & Gamma vs. Shuji Kondo & Punch Tominaga
The PUNCH PUSH continues and thus all is well. A true source of inspiration for all hairline-challenged working men out there. Similar to what we’ve seen in last month’s trios tournament, Tominaga was bullied for most of this until his underrated rollup knowledge helped him score an upset. The rest of the match featured all the classic Dragon Gate old men content. By that I mean testicular comedy and Ultimo milking the shit out of a dragon screw. **
Bokutimo Dragon & Kota Minoura vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Takashi Yoshida vs. Don Fujii & U-T – 3-Way Tag Match
Well, here’s something completely random. Did this advance storylines or make any kind of sense in terms of basic faction alignment? I guess not. Did I have a good time? I guess I did! Look. This was mostly very dumb but the Osaka fans laughing their asses off was a good remedy for post-work COVID depression. The big boyz of the match earned themselves an Oscar nomination with that 3-way Ultimo STANCE-OFF and the finish was legitimately dope (leap frog/Cyberbomb into MOCHI SUICIDA). Take these god damn stars. **1/2
YAMATO, Dragon Kid & Ben-K vs. BxB Hulk, KAI & SB Kento
HIGH-END (YAMATO, Kitto, Ben-K, Okuda) were officially born on the last Korakuen show, which I haven’t had time to watch but might cherry-pick via Filling The Gaps. I’m digging the new gear on everyone and I also dug this wrestling match. In a world where every 6-man has a mandatory rudo control section, SBK already figured out that you need more than just the casual stompin’ and chokin’ shtick to stand out.
Here he was trolling Dragon Kid with a wrestling magazine, getting into forearm battles and bumping like a maniac for everyone. After initially getting a ‘’too much too soon’’ vibe from the kid, I’ve fully turned the corner. He rules. The rest of the crew was in snappy form as well and everything flew nicely into the always-satisfying YAMATO Frankensteiner finish. ***
Keisuke Okuda © vs. H.Y.O. – Open The Brave Gate
BIG MATCH H.Y.O. The man’s been off the radar for months, overshadowed by the 38 new recruits who joined R.E.D. at some point in the last year. This was his chance to remind the world of his existence and he nailed it. Super tight structure with douche mastermind H.Y.O making the Brave Gate champ work from underneath while exuding peak asshole energy.
The leg work subplot added some meat to the story and was used wisely to feed H.Y.O’s cut-offs. As always, Okuda played a great babyface and struck the right balance between selling and high impact comebacks. All of the R.E.D. interference spots were integrated seamlessly and never slowed down the action. Shoutout to H.Y.O selling his own flying senton into the pile of chairs, Okuda’s crunchy knee strikes and that wild Tornado clutch into RKO sequence. Fun! ***1/2
Kzy, Susumu Yokosuka & Genki Horiguchi © vs. Diamante, Hiphop Kikuta & Dia Inferno – Open The Triangle Gate
Do you appreciate good cardio, inventive movez and wrestlers dressing up as evil rubber monsters? If you answered yes to all of the above, this match is for you. Extremely enjoyable Triangle Gate content featuring all of the DG-6 man tropes that YOU crave. Just to name a few: babyface in peril Genki Horiguchi, Susumu guiding Kikuta through grown man heavyweight shit and Kzy once again stealing the show with an Ace-worthy performance.
We’ve seen a lot of wild lucha action between Diamante and La Estrella in the past months, but the Diamante/Kzy exchanges here somehow managed to blow that away. Someone needs to GIF that rana out of the sustained press slam spot right now. Unreal. Your favorite lagoon creature Dia Inferno also looked better than ever and tried a bunch of cool new offense. Respect all lagoon creatures and respect this Natural Vibes Triangle Gate run. ***1/2
