Recorded on August 23rd 2013 at Korakuen Hall, Tokyo
The second Korakuen of August is upon us, as the new Open The Dream Gate champion Shingo Takagi is set to make his first title defence against none other than his best friend-turned worst enemy; YAMATO. Surely the new ace can’t lose it so soon, right? Right?
Match 1) Team Veteran (K-ness & Gamma) feat. Ryotsu Shimizu defeated Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee, Jimmy Kanda & Mr Quu Quu Tanizaki Naoki Toyonaka Dolphin of the Jimmyz [6:13, Hikari No Wa]
Typical good times Korakuen opener, with way more action than comedy. I dig, I dig, I dig. Ryotsu continues to impress, he was as over as anyone else in this match if not more, while Gamma continues to annoy me less than usual.
★★★1/4
Match 2) Jimmy Kagetora of the Jimmyz defeated The Former Super Shenlong III Yosuke Watanabe [4:00, Ikkitousen]
Yosuke “Least inspiring attire in Dragon Gate” Watanabe really needs his mask back. Not only are his blue shorts utterly drab, but without his Shenlong gear he looks too tall to work the little guy style he was getting pretty good at. That said, watching him in front of the always-appreciative Korakuen faithful was a better time than his outing in the not-so-vocal Nagoya. Decent match.
Rating: ★★3/4
Mad Blankey hit the ring afterwards and caused a ruckus.
Match 3) Jimmy Susumu & Ryo “Jimmy” Saito of the Jimmyz defeated Dragon Kid of Team Veteran & CIBA [11:03, Mugen]
As suspected, it turned out the bag given to Kotoka Shiiba by Mochizuki at the last Korakuen was…a CIMA costume, transforming him into CIBA! CIBA adopted CIMA’s mannerisms and combined the Dragon Gate icon’s classic offence with his own, most remarkably in the awesome footstomp variation of the Meteora. RyoSuka winning kind of seems like a waste, but it’s hard to pick fault with such an entertaining match. I don’t know how long this gimmick will last, but I’m all for it til it runs its course. It was a hit with the crowd so they should at least get a couple of months out of it.
Rating: ★★★1/2
Match 4) Masaaki Mochizuki of Team Veteran & Akira Tozawa defeated Kenichiro Arai & Don Fujii of Team Veteran [12:49, Package German Suplex Hold]
Babyface Tozawa is so, so, so, so, SO over. CIMA could retire tomorrow and the company would be left in good hands with this dude. Everything he did here was absolute gold. We got Mochi/Tozawa double team moves (synchronised sankakugeri’s?!), rare MochiFujii in-fighting, Araken-has-a-hard-head part 2, and someone finally anticipating Tozawa’s punch-after-the-chops-in-the corner! Super good times were had. This episode rules.
Rating: ★★★1/2
Intermission featured backstage interviews with the champion and the challenger, complete with Katsuya Ichikawa presenting YAMATO with a mirror to admire himself with.
5 – Naniwa Elimination Match) BxB Hulk, Uhaa Nation, Kzy & Mondai Ryu of Mad Blankey defeated Naruki Doi, Ricochet, Masato Yoshino & Shachihoko BOY of World-1 International
Order of elimination: Shachi (via Uhaa Combination), Kzy (via Ricochet/Doi Die Fly), Mondai Ryu (Doi Bakatare Sliding Kick), Doi (over the top tope), Ricochet (over the top rope), Uhaa (over the top rope), Yoshino (via Hulk’s First Flash at 29:28)
– BxB Hulk was the sole survivor
This match was nuts. The Naniwa rules are that participants enter individually, pinfalls count throughout, then over-the-top-rope also counts as elimination once everyone is in. It was the all out action you’d expect, highlighted by Ricochet’s insane back body drop to-the-apron elimination, and one of Yoshino’s most fiery performances in recent memory (that dude really seems to have got his mojo back this year) as he fought valiantly as the last World-1 member against BxB Nation down the stretch. Like the match of the year contender that headlined the first Korakuen of August, this is a good one to watch if you’re a passer by who’s interested in checking out Dragon Gate. Awesome stuff.
Rating: ★★★★
Main event – Open The Dream Gate Championship: YAMATO of Mad Blankey defeated Shingo Takagi [27:27, Frankensteiner]
– Shingo fails in his first defence, YAMATO becomes the sixteenth champion
Shocker of the year. Maybe the most shocking thing to ever happen in Dragon Gate. With a Kzy box attack and a YAMATO frankensteiner, Shingo’s Dream Gate reign came to an abrupt end. Before we get to the implications of that, let’s talk about the match itself. The heat was off the charts as the former best friends brawled, wrestled (YAMATO went after the arm for a while, the same strategy he beat Shingo with back in their 2010 Dream Gate match) and…flipped?
Topé Con Takagi is a rare spectacle indeed. The whole thing was awesome, perhaps the best Dream Gate match since the belt was on Mochizuki (well, aside from CIMA vs K-ness), and the best finish to any match…ever.
Rating: ★★★★1/2
Shingo ace push v2 wasn’t looking great for a number of reasons (Tozawa COMPLETELY outshining him at every turn, lack of interesting matchups ((mainly since he already mowed through Mad Blankey)), unspectacular promos etc), I think ending it here and keeping him looking strong (since YAMATO cheated) was potentially better for him than another failed ace push. On the flip side, Dragon Gate finally rolling with a heel champion, in no less than the man who is arguably their finest wrestler, is absolutely fantastic, you can put pretty much anyone on the roster opposite him and it’ll turn out well. I assume this builds to Tozawa taking it at World.
The show wasn’t over there though, as a bunch of stuff followed, the highlights being…
* The Milennials showed up! The first time Eita, T-hawk and U-T have been in Japan since forming their trio on their Mexican excursion. First time U-T has appeared at all.
*CIMA returned! The pop he received was so big you’d think he been gone for a year rather than a month.
* Ryo Saito, the only other 0 defence Dream Gate champion in history, took exception to YAMATO’s mocking of Shingo and challenged for the belt! The match will take place at the next Korakuen (September 12th).
* The summer adventure tag league was finally announced! I guess it’s the Autumn Adventure Tag League now.
You can read a detailed report of the aftermath over at IheartDG
Closing thoughts: Episode of the year? Probably. Dragon Gate has been on fire this summer, and looks set to get even better in the YAMATO era. I’ll be back next week with thoughts in Infinity 307, featuring the in-ring debut of the Milennials!
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