DEAD OR ALIVE 2013
Aichi Prefectural Gym, 5/5/2013
Order on demand at www.ustream.tv/DragonGate (available until June 23rd)
Edit: I’ve retroactively added star ratings to this since writing my Kobe World review.
Dragon Gate have just made their Dead Or Alive pay per view (from May) available on demand via Ustream! This is pretty huge, as it’s not only the first time they’ve distributed anything other than Prime Zone via IPPV, but also the first time they’ve made a PPV available to folks outside of Japan at all. There’s already a live Korakuen set to air on Ustream on the fourth of July, so hopefully this will become a regular thing.
Y’know, before this show happened, the card didn’t really jump out at me as anything particularly special. However, I’ve since heard a lot of very high praise for it, with IheartDG’s Jae citing it as the best non Kobe PPV since at least 2007, so my expectations are very high.
1) Ryo “Jimmy” Saito, Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee & Jimmy Kanda of the Jimmyz defeated Super Shisa of Windows, Super Shenlong of -akatsuki- & Cyber Kong (9:18, Double Cross)
As light hearted and action packed as you’d expect from these teams, this was a perfect opener. The crowd were hot right away.
★★★1/4
2) K-ness & Kotoka of Windows defeated Jimmy Kagetora and Mr Quu Quu Naoki Tanizaki Toyonaka Dolphin of the Jimmyz (7:12, Hikari No Wa)
Everything about K-ness and Kotoka teaming in a victorious effort on PPV is awesome. Great way to maintain the momentum of both guys, since this show happened just after their feud with Akatsuki and K-ness’s dream gate challenge. The standing of both of these guys since the last PPV has changed so much, with the previously off-the-radar K-ness having what I imagine is one last ride as a main eventer, while Kotoka is finally becoming established as something more than a rookie jobber. Deservedly so too, since they’ve been two of the most exciting guys in Dragon Gate this year. The match was good, by the way.
★★★
3) Jimmy Susumu of the Jimmyz defeated Ricochet of World-1 International (13:47, Jumbo No Kachigatame)
This was the most surprising result of the night for me, no way did I think Ricochet was going to lose. Of course, Susumu was en route to the Korakuen main event that would see him reunite with K-ness (which ultimately led to the M2K reunion) so it was a great time for him to pick up a victory…and it also set up the rematch in King Of Gate (which Ricochet won). But I digress (again). Match was great, with “flip straight out of an exploder superplex” being added to the list of downright insane things I’ve seen Ricochet do in the past few months. This was his first big singles match this year (not counting the Mochizuki bout since that was on a house show), and it really showed how far he’s come on since even his Brave Gate reign. Dude always had the movez, but he’s developed his swagger, mannerisms, the way he carries himself, everything about him now is just perfect. If WWE don’t sign him after World I’ll be shocked. This was also an example of how damn good Susumu can be. He had a killer match with YAMATO in Osaka at the last Champion Gate, and I heard his DGUK match with him was also quite spectacular. Great year for him too so far.
★★★3/4
Afterwards, Ricochet offered Susumu a handshake, only to low blow him. It looked like a heel turn, but nothing ended up coming of it. Maybe it was just to add heat to their rematch in King Of Gate? I dunno.
4) Open The Triangle Gate Championship: Naruki Doi, Rich Swann & Shachihoko BOY of World-1 International retained against Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii & HUB of Team Veteran Returns (20:45, V9 Clutch)
This ruled. On paper, the Veteran team are definitely the stronger of the two, which they used to great effect as the story of the match. The scene of Doi sacrificing himself to save Shachi (after Shachi had been flayed alive courtesy of Mochizuki’s kicks) by diving in the way of a Fujii lariat was probably my favourite thing I’ve seen in wrestling this year. The finish was fantastic too, with Doi’s desperate pin of Fujii again putting over how narrowly World-1 were clinging on to their titles in the face of more powerful adversaries. I was curious as to how HUB would fit in as the third man with MochiFujii, so I was pleased to see it worked really well. Probably the most exciting trio combination of Team Veteran at this point (though that will be irrelevant in the likely event that the new M2K becomes full time). Awesome match.
★★★★
Again, we had a lack of sportsmanship afterwards as Team Veteran attacked World-1 when it looked like they were willing to make peace. This didn’t throw me as much as the Ricochet one did though, as the veterans quite often act like dicks when feuding with other babyfaces (see the “Mochizuki angrily kicks Ryo Saito in the head many times” saga of late 2012).
5) Open The Brave Gate Championship: Masato Yoshino of World-1 International defeated Dragon Kid of Team Veteran Returns to win the title (19:05, Avalanche Lightning Spiral)
If you’d told me a couple of months back that Yoshino and Dragon Kid were about to have a great PPV match that people would rave about, I would have been surprised. Neither guy was exactly on fire as 2013 commenced, with DK in the midst of a Brave Gate reign that was epic seemingly only because there was no one to drop the belt to, while Yoshino had been stale since he lost the Dream Gate back in 2011. I guess the prospect of taking the Brave motivated Yoshino, as this was easily his best singles outing since the night he dropped the Dream to Mocchy.The Avalanche Lightning Spiral is such an awesome finish.
I’ve already heard this being cited as the match of the night, but while I did enjoy it a lot, it comes in at about fourth for me. I guess that’s a testament to how strong this card was.
★★★1/2
6) Open The Twin Gate Championship: Shingo Takagi & YAMATO of -akatsuki- defeated BxB Hulk & Uhaa Nation of Mad Blankey to win the titles (23:38, Gallaria)
Well this blew away every other 2013 Twin Gate match. Uhaa being in the mix added some freshness to the seemingly never ending Akatsuki/Blankey feud, and he worked really well against his natural rival in powerhouse-ery, Shingo. YAMATO is my pick for MVP of the year at this point (yes, my whole year revolves around making picks for the IheartDG awards), he unsurprisingly put in another flawless performance here. Since he pretty much heeled it up throughout the Windows feud (and in the Infinities that aired after this show was filmed), it was cool seeing him in heroic-comeback-making-and-battle-cry-before-finisher babyface mode. Perhaps for one of the last times since a full blown heel turn has seemingly been looming for him for a while*…but yeah, this was another awesome match.
★★★★1/4
* YAMATO turned heel literally a matter of hours after I wrote that sentence. I’m psychic, evidently.
7) Open The Dream Gate Championship: CIMA of Team Veteran Returns retained against Akira Tozawa of Mad Blankey (30:28, Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex Hold)
A….solid main event. That may sound slightly underwhelming after such a blowaway card, and I suppose it is in a way, but the rest of the show ruled enough for me to not complain. There was a lot to like here anyway. In preparation for the match, CIMA had learned a new leg submission (while training in Mexico) which he planned to use to take down Tozawa, since his leg work in their first Dream Gate match (Kobe World 2012) had paid off (Tozawa had it won with a package german suplex but his legs gave out so he couldn’t sustain the bridge). This allowed them to use the Metal Gear Solid 2 plot device of utilising the same story as the original but in a way which made sense so the viewers didn’t feel like they just watching a repeat. Nicely done, CIMA. The finish played well off of last year’s as well, with Tozawa’s legs holding out even closer to the three count before failing him. The Japanese Ocean Cyclone Suplex being a legit finisher now is a good thing too, since it spares us from getting to the point where CIMA has to do seventy three Meteoras to end title matches (I think it was getting to at least five until he used this move against Saito back in January).
I loved Blood Warriors unrelenting badass heel Tozawa, but have been less fond of the casually dominant with-bizarre-chair-spots heel Tozawa that we’ve been seeing since mid 2012, so the stretches of his fiery comebacks worked more for me than when he was working CIMA over. Dude was pretty much playing straight babyface in those sections, making me anxious for his surely-in-the-near-future face turn. The prospect of a top flight babyface Tozawa in Dragon Gate is very exciting, and I’ve no doubt it’ll rejuvenate my interest in the man I considered the hottest thing in wrestling throughout 2011/early 2012.
Also, I really need to add to add how much I love CIMA’s big match entrance with the intro music to his entrance music. Dude came off like a megastar.
★★★1/4 or ★★★1/2, I can’t decide. ★★★1/3, I guess.
Closing thoughts: Excellent show. Yeah, the main event didn’t change my life, but with killer Twin/Triangle matches, two other great singles bouts and a pair of really fun openers, this was a fantastic card and an easy recommendation. Is it the show of the year so far? I’ve no doubt that most will say yes, but as regular readers will know I mark out pretty hard for the Korakuens, so at this point it’s probably between this and Infinity 295. Got Infinity 300 airing tomorrow with the M2K reunion, so that could end up in the running too.
Match of the night: This is between the Twin and Triangle Gate matches for me. Though Doi’s self sacrifice was the best thing ever, I think the edge goes to what we’ve now learned was the last big victory for Dragon Gate’s seemingly closest buddies, YAMATO and Shingo. TakaYAMA, I’ll miss your bromance, but I’ll enjoy watching you beat each other up for the next couple of years so it’s ok.
The show is available for $20 on demand until June 23rd. Order it over at www.ustream.tv/DragonGate
Thanks as always to IheartDG for the match times.
Want to talk about the greatness of CIMA’s entrance, argue about the match of the night or reminisce about the good times YAMATO and Shingo had? You can find me on Twitter @HellionLee