YAMATO vs. Kota Minoura – King of Gate (Semi-Finals)
Hard-hitting and hard-fought match that did a great job elevating young Minoura. The kid had a hell of a tag run with Jason Lee last year, but the booking in this tournament went above and beyond to make him feel relevant as a singles wrestler. Here, YAMATO guided him through what felt like a very traditional Japanese heavyweight match – all angry forearms, chops and fighting spirit. Stylistically, it wasn’t vintage Dragon Gate, but it was a smart way to put Kota over. Super well laid out ending stretch with a lot of carefully-constructed counters – YAMATO working for the Galleria and sleeper, Minoura trying to secure the new crossface and Package Bomb thing. Enjoyed all of it. ***1/2
Kzy vs. SB KENTo – King of Gate (Semi-Finals)
Pretty much perfect for what it was – both guys trying to end it ASAP in order to get maximal rest time for the finals later on. Lots of cool shit in 4 minutes only: including the Kzy tope during SBK’s entrance, the SB Shooter being treated as such big deal and the fun shoutout to Hip Hop Kikuta. By the time Kento has regrown his beautiful hair, these two should get a shot at longer match. The chemistry seemed quite on point. ***
Ryo Saito & Kennichiro Arai vs. Gamma & Funky Jacky Kamei
This was my first look at young Taketo Kamei in his new Natural Vibes gimmick and the kid is on to something. Just oozing personality in a way that we had not seen from him during his rookie days. The match wasn’t much and the botchy rollup finish was unfortunate, but the whole thing still worked as a Funky Jacky Kamei Korakuen Hall showcase. **
Shun Skywalker, Jason Lee & Dragon Dia vs. BxB Hulk, Kaito Ishida & Dia Inferno
In terms of pure athletic fun, this wasn’t on the level of the recent string of Masquerade tags, but it did a fine job in setting up the Triangle Gate defense for Kobe World. Dragon Dia ate the mother of all ass whoopings, Inferno Dia came off as a (literal) monster and the DQ finish was effective in adding fuel to the fire. Also, pretty sweet triple tope con hilo during the babyface comeback. **3/4
Masato Yoshino, Ultimo Dragon, Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii & Naruki Doi vs. Eita, KAI, KAZMA SAKAMOTO, Diamante & H.Y.O
We’re getting closer and closer to the Masato Yoshino retirement. How do I know this? He’s added an emotional piano intro to his theme song. These DG clap crowds are well aware that they’re seeing the last of the Speedstar and are always adding a lot of juice to his matches. Coupled with spirited performances from everyone involved, this turned into a pretty darn entertaining 10-man romp. My biological father Donald Fujii handily stole the show with his SEXY INDIAN DEATHLOCK, but I also popped for the R.E.D human-chain-abdominal-stretch and the legit impressive bits of lucha between Ultimo and Diamante. ***
Susumu Yokosuka, Genki Horiguchi, U-T & King Shimizu vs. Dragon Kid, Ben-K, Keisuke Okuda & Kagetora
King Shimizu as Natural Vibes’ new member is the most inspired piece of booking I’ve seen in a long time. Sure, Kagetora hooking up with High End is pretty cool too… but Shimizu doing a Rikishi gimmick in Kzy’s rap boyband is just peak Dragon Gate content. The match lived up to the good vibes set by the ridiculous unit shakeup – everyone leaning into the fast-paced fun and putting on solid performances. Bald Ben-K taking the fall to put over Shimizu’s newest wacky gimmick might indicate that the office are officially done with him as an Ace-level guy. Or it could mean nothing. Anyway, wrestlers should be honored to put over a man of King Shimizu’s stature. ***1/4
Kzy vs. Kota Minoura – King of Gate (Finals)
IT’S KZY TIME! Everyone’s favorite underdog looks just about ready to claim his rightful spot as Dragon Ace and this match was a beautiful snapshot of his upwards trajectory. Japanese tournament finals come with a certain set of expectations and these guys checked nearly all of the boxes. I’m saying nearly, because Minoura is still developing as a wrestler and doesn’t quite feel like a fully fleshed out character yet. That being said, this was clearly a career peak for him and a hugely encouraging look at the future.
They brought the intensity, the big match structure and the attention to detail. Kzy can do this shit in his sleep and has been doing it through the entire King of Gate. Yet, this was clearly his best match of the tournament and the one that most fully came together as an ‘’epic’’. I loved how they weaved together multiple subplots (Minoura’s new crossface, Kzy’s neck assault, callbacks to earlier matches) and milked all the drama from them at all the right moments.
The drawn-out forearm exchanges and apron spots almost gave this an AJPW vibe, except with a much faster pace and heightened creativity. Shoutout to the neckbreaking ASS DROPKICKS from the Weed Warrior Kzy and the completely bonkers rollup reversals near the end of the match. Kzy relied on the neck work bit all tournament long, but the submission finish here was the first time it got a truly satisfying payoff. Tremendous wrestling match. I couldn’t be more hyped for Kzy/Shun. ****1/4
