Hyogo, Kobe Sambo Hall, September 28th & 29th 2013
Lee here with reviews of the Sambo Hall double shot from the end of september, feat. the tournament for the Open The Brave Gate championship! Yoshino vacated the belt here last month so the new generation could have it…which inspired youngsters like Genki Horiguchi, Super Shisa and TSUBASA to join the tournament. Oh Dragon Gate, you make no sense.
DAY ONE (Infinity 310)
Match 1) Ryo “Jimmy” Saito & Jimmy Kagetora of the Jimmyz defeated Masato Yoshino & Ryotsu Shimizu [10:35, Kagenui]
Decent opener in which Shimizu entertained the most. You’d never know that Saito was coming into this fresh from one of the greatest Dragon Gate matches ever just last episode.
Rating: ★★
Match 2) Open The Brave Gate tournament 1st round: Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee of the Jimmyz defeated Shachihoko BOY [6:45, Beach Break]
As much as I enjoy Horiguchi and Shachi in other situations, a singles match between the two wouldn’t usually be the most exciting prospect. However, the tournament setting seemed to encourage more heat than one would expect from the second match on the card at Sambo Hall, and it ended with a freaking Beach Break? Beach Break?! For the uninformed, that’s Horiguchi’s super killer rarely seen carry-you-on-my-back-then drop-you-on-your-head reverse sit out piledriver that infamously may-or-may-not-have broken Kanda’s neck back in the day, replacing his usual, infinitely less dangerous, backslide. Wow.
Rating: BEACH BREAK
Match 3) Open The Brave Gate tournament 1st round: TSUBASA defeated Super Shisa of Team Veteran [8:08, Modified Cradle]
I wouldn’t have even known who TSUBASA was were it not for Jae’s Twitter feed. Half of this tournament being filled with old dudes wasn’t what I expected when Yoshino vacated the Brave for the benefit of the younger generation. The match was fine, but immediately forgettable.
Rating: ★★
Match 4) Open The Brave Gate tournament 1st round: Kzy of Mad Blankey defeated the former Super Shenlong III Yosuke Watanabe [6:07, Impact]
Watanabe broke his own record for how quickly one can dive out of the ring in a match, nailing poor Kzy during his entrance. Next he’ll be hitting it backstage, or during matches that precede his own. Another match that was equal parts acceptable and forgettable, aside from a rare decisive victory for Kzy.
Rating: ★★1/4
Match 5) Open The Brave Gate tournament 1st round: CIBA defeated U-T of the Milennials [10:13, Caldera]
Kotoka’s new gimmick seems to have made the natural progression from full blown CIMA tribute to a hybrid of the ace’s style and his own, as signalled by his new gear (still a CIMA costume, but in Kotoka’s colours). Unfortunately this match didn’t make it to the west in full, so I can’t offer any further thoughts on it.
Next up we have an unadvertised bonus match, with surprise participants…
Match 6) Masaaki Mochizuki of Team Veteran defeated CIMA of Team Veteran [4:33, Ankle Hold]
Hey, remember that time Rock and Austin had an unannounced four minute match with a clean finish in the middle of Smackdown? Me neither. Putting on a match between the company aces in such a manner is pretty crazy, and it sort of paid off, as Sambo Hall popped huge for the entrances, but CIMA tapping to the ankle lock four minutes elicited a bit more of a “Wtf?” reaction. I loved the finish, but I guess people expect more when the two biggest stars lock up for the first time in nearly two years, which is fair enough.
Rating: Did that really just happen?
Match 7) Akira Tozawa, Shingo Takagi & Uhaa Nation defeated Naruki Doi, Mondai Ryu & Cyber Kong of Mad Blankey [17:23, Package German Suplex Hold]
The first tv match since Doi’s turn, featuring a nice heelish shotgun-dropkick-tease-into-a-slap, but as you can imagine, this was all about Akira Tozawa. Much like his evil counterpart YAMATO, everything this dude touches has turned to gold since August 1st. Good times were had.
Rating: ★★★1/4
Main event) Summer Adventure Tag League Final: Eita & T-hawk of the Milennials defeated Open The Dream Gate champion YAMATO & BxB Hulk of Mad Blankey [19:26, Numero Uno Original]
– The Milennials become the interim Open The Twin Gate champions
Young Eita pinning the Dream Gate champion is quite something. Good story down the stretch with him trying to hang in there and avoid the Gallaria, using a new technique to trap YAMATO (it was a roll up win, he didn’t straight knock him out or anything). Not my favourite match of the tag league (that would still be Speed Muscle vs Tozawa/Takagi from Korakuen), but a pretty good final.
Rating: ★★★1/4
Eita and T-hawk will face K-ness and Dragon Kid upon the return of the latter for the undisputed Twin Gate championship.
DAY TWO (Infinity 311)
Match 0) Mondai Ryu & Cyber Kong of Mad Blankey defeated Ryotsu Shimizu & Chihiro Tominaga [5:16, Cyber Bomb]
Monchan came out in Cyber Kong getup and copied some of his offence. It was every bit as mildly amusing as it sounds. The match was such a non-event that I can’t even come up with a rating for it, but I enjoyed due to my Tominaga/Ryotsu fandom.
Match 1) CIMA, Masaaki Mochizuki & Gamma of Team Veteran defeated Uhaa Nation, Shachihoko BOY & the former Super Shenlong III Yosuke Watanabe [12:38, Twister]
This opened with the revival of the spring “Mochizuki kicks Shachi into oblivion” saga. I approve. Pretty good opener, I just wish Mocchy and Watanabe had went a little further with that hot closing sequence, crowd were just getting fired up when the Twister ended it.
Rating: ★★★
Afterwards, Watanabe slaps Gamma but shakes hands with the other vets.
Match 2) Open The Brave Gate tournament semi final: Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee of the Jimmyz defeated TSUBASA [7:39, Backslide From Heaven]
Tsubasa heeled it up a bit and dominated with submissions until the backslide finish. As pedestrian as the rest of the tournament so far.
Rating: ★★
Match 3) Open The Brave Gate tournament semi final: Kzy of Mad Blankey defeated CIBA [9:15, Kzy Time]
A match mainly remarkable due to it being the first time I’ve ever seen Kotoka’s finish protected (after he landed the Caldera, referee distraction was the only reason he didn’t get the three count). Decent.
Rating: ★★1/2
Match 4) Eita, T-hawk & U-T of the Milennials defeated Ryo “Jimmy” Saito, Jimmy Susumu & Jimmy Kagetora of the Jimmyz [17:29, Numero Uno]
The finishing stretch (with Kage and Eita exchanging roll ups until the armbar) was pretty hot. I’m kind of sold on the armbar now by the way, wasn’t into at all to begin with but I guess it’s ok. Good match, hopefully this feud goes somewhere interesting since the “Who are these guys and what are they going to do?!” thing with the Milennials is starting to wear off.
Rating: ★★★
Match 5) Open The Dream Gate champion YAMATO, BxB Hulk & Naruki Doi of Mad Blankey defeated Akira Tozawa, Shingo Takagi & Masato Yoshino [18:33, Gallaria]
This was great, pretty easily the match of the weekend so far. The near three year YAMATO/Tozawa rivalry has been freshened and improved by the return to their more natural face/heel alignments (for those not keeping score, Tozawa recently turned face, YAMATO heel). The exchanges between the two here give me high hopes for their next singles encounter, which could well reach the heights of the 2011 DGUSA title bout that they’ve never quite matched in Japan. Speaking of 2011 DGUSA, seeing Tozawa duel with his best-bud-until-recently BxB Hulk has given me fond memories of that time they blew the roof off the Ace Arena in New Jersey; perhaps that’s another quality singles match waiting to be imported.
It’s great how YAMATO has taken to choking folks out (or at least choking them a bit) before going for the Gallaria, makes so much sense and is a clever way around finisher spam (that finish isn’t one of the more protected ones in Dragon Gate, so crowds often wouldn’t buy the fall of one Gallaria alone). What was even better was YAMATO attempting to coax Shingo into a handshake, gloating when he fell for it only to be immediately punched in the face. Super serious Shingo partaking in a comedy spot is a pretty rare spectacle, though I suppose punching a dude in the face isn’t the most classical definition of comedy. I guess we should talk about Doi and number one contender Yoshino too, since they also happened to be in this match. Their exchanges were as slick as ever, they always seem to look better opposite each other in tags than in singles. Maybe they’ll disprove that theory in the Gate Of Destiny main event. Oh, erm, spoiler alert.
Rating: ★★★1/2
Main event) Open The Brave Gate tournament final: Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee of the Jimmyz defeated Kzy of Mad Blankey [15:45, Backslide From Heaven]
– Horiguchi becomes the 24th Open The Brave Gate champion
While not quite the star making performance I’d unreasonably expected from Kzy, the final minutes were really dramatic, he certainly rose to the occasion and kept the crowd invested. It’s a shame he didn’t win, the belt going to Horiguchi after Yoshino vacated it for the sake of the new generation is confusing to say the least. An entertaining conclusion to a forgettable tournament.
Rating: ★★★1/4
Closing thoughts: Well, final aside, the Brave Gate tournament was as lacklustre in practice as it was on paper, but the top halves of both episodes were good. Nothing you need to go out of your way to see, but the Mad Blankey/stable-that-went-on-to-become-known-as Monster Express six man from night two was a really good time, and followers of the Millennials and Kzy are going to want to check out their matches.
I’ll be back next week with a review of the latest Korakuen Hall show aka YAMATO vs Yoshino, and I also plan on covering the Gate Of Destiny IPPV live right here at PWP! In the meantime, go watch my band’s new music video and follow me on Twitter @HellionLee