December 4th, 2018
Opening Match: Tribe Vanguard (BxB Hulk, YAMATO, and Kagetora) and Dragon Dia vs. Gamma, Don Fujii, Ryo Saito, and Super Shisa
The booking of this match was incredibly interesting, making this a uniquely entertaining Dragon Gate opener. Gamma and company focused on purely bullying Dragon Dia, leading to a very frustrated Tribe Vanguard. The hot tag had great energy and Gamma’s team picked up a somewhat surprising win. Everything made sense and perhaps the best part was that Saito was forced into a more serious role. It ended up being a nice change of pace for his character. Five more minutes would have allowed the story to be fleshed out, but as it stands this was a particularly engaging opener. Saito won the match for his team at 8:10 with the SaiRyo Rocket on Dia. **¾
Match #2: Masaaki Mochizuki, Yuki Yoshioka, Hyo Watanabe, and Kota Minoura vs. MaxiMuM (Naruki Doi, Jason Lee, and Kaito Ishida) and Hiroshi Yamato
Much like the opener, this was a pleasant surprise. Everyone was clearly motivated and the fluidity of the exchanges benefitted greatly as a result. There were also a few small highlights sprinkled throughout such as Mochizuki copying Lee’s mannerisms. The finishing stretch featured MaxiMuM throwing everything that they had at Yoshioka but him sneaking in a rollup for the quick victory. It felt like the same strategy that Gamma’s team had in the opener but with the opposite outcome. Yoshioka’s improbable win came off as a huge deal and this contest worked well on a variety of levels. Yoshioka won the match for his team at 12:19 with a rollup on Ishida. ***
Match #3: Shun Skywalker vs. U-T
The punchline is that this match ended in a twenty-minute draw. In hindsight, there were segments of this contest that foreshadowed such a result. For instance, there were an abnormal amount of submissions given little to no limb work. But there were also segments where both competitors were trying their hardest to actually win. Skywalker in particular is skilled at making what should be considered reckless offense look incredibly controlled. He elevated his intensity as the time limit drew near and that was enough to completely capture the crowd’s interest. At the end of the day, these two made the match work through sheer tyranny of will and this is the type of performance that will stick in fans’ minds. The match ended in a time limit draw at 20:00. ***¼
Match #4: Eita, Ben-K, and Daga vs. Dragon Kid, Bandido, and Flamita
This was a perfectly fine trios match, but I have to admit that I’m completely burnt out on watching R.E.D. and Eita bully Dragon Kid. This feud has just kept going, but fortunately there is an end date in sight. Bandido and Flamita brought great energy as expected, but the staleness of the Dragon Kid/Eita feud permeated the match. The fact that the finish involved those two at least gave the contest some gravitas but I would have ultimately enjoyed this one more with fresher pairings. Dragon Kid won the match for his team at 12:12 with Bible on Eita. **½
Match #5: R.E.D. (Big R Shimizu, Yasushi Kanda, Takashi Yoshida, and Kazma Sakamoto) vs. Natural Vibes (Kzy, Susumu Yokosuka, Genki Horiguchi, and “brother” YASSHI)
This contest was clearly just used to setup R.E.D. as the next challengers for the Triangle Gate and as such no one was particularly concerned with delivering something special. R.E.D. attacked before the bell, there was brawling through the crowd, and the action generally felt rushed at eight minutes. That’s not exactly the recipe for an engaging match. The Sakamoto-led R.E.D. trio doesn’t excite me in the slightest, so I’m not optimistic that they will be able to vastly improve upon this effort at The Final Gate. Sakamoto won the match for R.E.D. at 8:39 with a piledriver on Horiguchi. **
Match #6: Open the Dream Gate Title: Masato Yoshino © vs. PAC
I’m thrilled that this match turned out so well. After watching PAC’s match against Flamita a few weeks ago, I was dreading that he would fall into the traps that can make Dream Gate matches underwhelming, namely an overly long middle portion that has no bearing on what comes after it. At a modest twenty minutes, this match avoided all of the pitfalls. PAC acted like a strong heel without ever being boring. He was not holding back, respecting Yoshino’s legacy. Yoshino had the Black Arrow scouted, successfully avoiding the first two attempts. PAC switched gears and hit a super falcon arrow which ended up being a great nearfall. A third Black Arrow attempt was successful and that won PAC the Dream Gate. That play by play might be uninteresting, but it’s notable how well this match flowed.
It’ll be interesting to see how much press this title change generates. I will say that PAC making his return in Dragon Gate stands out in 2018. It wasn’t going to make the biggest splash, but Dragon Gate is obviously a promotion that took a chance on PAC many years ago. PAC in Dragon Gate just gives off a good vibe and I’m optimistic about where the promotion goes from here. PAC became the 28th Open The Dream Gate Champion at 20:33 via Black Arrow. ****