Tournaments, am I right?
SB KENTo vs. Dragon Kid – King of Gate
There was a bit of a lull in the middle here, but otherwise this was pretty solid. Funnily enough, SBK always does better in fancy big match situations. Throw him in a straight-forward singles match and his shortcomings become a little more apparent. Not that he has major issues or anything, but he’s still learning on the job and his heel shtick could use some fleshing out. On the other side of the ring, Kitto’s babyfacing was typically on point: great-looking offense and well-timed comebacks are his bread and butter. The more Kento works with Kid, the better he’ll get. ***
Kaito Ishida vs. H.Y.O – King of Gate
We go from the classic heel/face match to a leg work special – a real good one at that! Both guys bypassed all of the bullshit that often comes with heel vs. heel and had themselves a high-energy 7 minute burner that showcased Ishida’s sharp mind and H.Y.O’s very competent selling. Stone Cold Stunner enthusiast H.Y.O. is not a guy who stands out a lot in tags, but when you give him a shot on a bigger (medium-sized?) stage, he always delivers (see: his Brave Gate match with Okuda). His explosive comebacks were a great fit for Ishida’s relentless leg assault. Dude went full Dr. Death Steve Williams on that Backdrop and Ishida embraced his own death with arms wide open. Who needs a neck!? ***1/2
Jason Lee vs. Eita – King of Gate
Well-structured piece of wrasslin’ that saw both guys falling into their natural roles. Jason, the pretty boy babyface fighting from underneath. Eita, the eye-gouging scoundrel dictating the pace. They didn’t go too deep into the heel shenanigans and made sure to keep you hooked with just enough sparkly retaliation from the purple-haired kung fu boi. Not much wheel reinvention, other than Eita’s pump handle KNEE to the god damn face, which honestly ruled. Eita is a guy who will keep his offense to the bare minimum 75% of the time and then throw out the coolest shit when you least expect it. ***
Naruki Doi vs. Ben-K – King of Gate
A very weird match that seemed to be working its way towards Long Epic but ended out of nowhere on a banana peel finish just when things started to cook. If you set everything up for a long-form story (drawn out headlocks, limb work, etc.) but then barely deliver any kind of ‘’epic match’’ thrills: what’s the point? As much as I dig Ben’s shoulder-separating cornerpost bump, Doi’s resulting arm work was as bland as it gets and didn’t amount to much. The fast-paced Doi Fives in the last few minutes were too little too late. **3/4
Keisuke Okuda vs. U-T – King of Gate
As seen recently, these two are clearly capable of having a great match, but this wasn’t the point! Having some curveball upsets in your wrestling tournament is always beneficial and this was a very cool curveball upset. It shook up the flow of the card and added some juice to the Okuda/U-T feud. Sign me up for a Brave Gate rematch any day. **1/4
BxB Hulk vs. Takashi Yoshida – King of Gate
Yoshida’s English jaw jacking early on was incredible. This man is Dragon Gate’s true international ambassador. Sadly, the rest of the match wasn’t anything special. Yoshida’s babyface act tends to work better in tag settings and Hulk didn’t exactly light the world on fire with his heeling. Dug the legsweep sequence, but that’s about it. **1/4
Kzy vs. Susumu Yokosuka – King of Gate
Look. If you go up against Big Match Susumu, you better be ready for some dueling limb work psychological warfare. Don’t even think about targeting this man’s arm, because he will return the favor by breaking your neck. An eye for an eye, baby. Luckily for us, your good pal Kzy can adapt to anything and make the most out of any layout option. Whether it’s high-flying trios matches, comedy or technical chess matches – the man can do it all.
THUS, this was probably the best Susumu-style limb ripper since the height of his AJPW junior title run. Both guys brought a ton of focus and attention to detail – Kzy showing his range with the assorted arm-based techniques and Susumu just unleashing the pain with neck-breaking suplexes and full-force lariats. They sold enough to please the god damn nerds and made sure to beat the shit out each other for the normal people who don’t care about the pseudo-scientific non-sense.
The Kobashi-style Half-nelson suplex ruled. Kzy wrenching on the bad arm to escape the Yokosuka Cutter ruled. The action-packed finish that blended high-speed roll ups and big movez drama ruled. It all ruled. Go ahead and open this gate right now. ****
Kota Minoura vs. Diamante – King of Gate
Not much to say about this one other that it never fully came together. The lack of focus and slight execution issues were especially glaring after the last match. Not a whole lot of drama in the ending stretch – just movez. That being said, I’m into Minoura getting that crossface over as a new finish. **1/2
Shun Skywalker vs. YAMATO – King of Gate
If you jumped into Dragon Gate in the past year, you probably don’t have the highest opinion of the hair-swooping legend known as YAMATO. An endless feud with KAI and lots of ass-based midcard comedy. This was a timely reminder that the guy can really, really go. Him and the champ followed the Kzy/Susumu template and had themselves a limb-centric banger that smartly built into a rocking empty arena main event.
Leg vs. neck was the theme of the day and YAMATO really went for it. Super clever cut-offs all over the place, from the Muto-style dragon screws to the more intricate spots like the kneelock out of Moonsault counter. Shun didn’t put on the leg selling clinic of the Dream Gate match with Ishida, but YAMATO’s work was so tenacious and fluid that it didn’t really matter.
While some of the over-the-top facials and Marvel-esque power-ups tested my patience, there was enough intensity and hard work to put me in a very forgiving mood. YAMATO using the leg work to leverage Skywalker in position for his sleeper onslaught was great stuff and kept me on the edge of my seat for the whole ending stretch. Good shit! ****
