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Dragon Gate


ajsmith_7

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I had a quick search and couldn't find any other threads about the Dragon Gate promotion. It's a promotion I'd quite like to watch a bit more of but having real trouble finding any lists of their best matches.

 

I've managed to compile a small list of the most pimped matches I could find but theres not a lot of info out there, so here's my starting list and please add to it...

 

2004-09-17 Do FIXER (Genki Horiguchi, Magnum TOKYO & Dragon Kid) vs Kensuke Sasaki & The Florida Brothers

2005-07-03 Do FIXER (Genki Horiguchi, Ryo Saito & Dragon Kid) vs Blood Generation (CIMA, Don Fuji & Naruki Doi) (Open The Triangle Gate Titles)

2005-09-07 Blood Generation (CIMA, Magnitude Kishiwada & Shingo Takagi) vs Final M2K (TAKA Michinoku, Masaaki Mochizuki & Susumu Yokosuka)

2006-04-26 Masato Yoshino vs Jack Evans (Open The Brave Gate Title)

2006-11-23 BxB Hulk, Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger, Jack Evans & Matt Sydal vs Muscle Outlaw’z (Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, Magnitude Kishiwada & Kevin Steen)

2007-06-05 Muscle Outlaw’z (Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino & Magnitude Kishiwada) vs Typhoon (Susumu Yokosuka, Ryo Saito & Dragon Kid) vs New Hazard (SHINGO, BxB Hulk & Cyber Kong)

2007-07-01 Jushin ‘Thunder’ Liger vs CIMA (Open The Dream Gate Title)

2008-03-20 New Hazard (SHINGO & BxB Hulk) vs KENTA & Taiji Ishimori (GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Titles)

2008-03-20 CIMA vs Masato Yoshino (Open The Dream Gate Title)

2008-05-05 Naruki Doi vs KENTA

2008-07-27 SHINGO vs BxB Hulk (Vacant Open The Dream Gate Title)

2008-08-28 SHINGO & Dragon Kid vs WORLD-1 (Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino) (Summer Adventure Tag League Final)

2009-07-19 Naruki Doi vs CIMA (Open The Dream Gate Title / Open The Brave Gate Title)

 

and some Toryumon too:

 

1999-02-07 The Great Sasuke vs Magnum TOKYO (NWA Middleweight Title Tournament Final)

2000-08-24 Dragon Kid vs SUWA (Mask vs Hair)

2003-06-29 Shin M2K (Masaaki Mochizuki, Keni’chiro Arai & Dragon Kid) vs Do FIXER (Genki Horiguchi, Ryo Saito & Susumu Yokosuka) (UWA World Trios Titles)

2003-08-30 Shin M2K (Masaaki Mochizuki, Keni’chiro Arai & Dragon Kid) vs Crazy Max (CIMA, SUWA & Don Fuji) vs Do FIXER (Genki Horiguchi, Magnum TOKYO & Susumu Yokosuka) vs Italian Connection (Milano Collection AT, Condotti Shuji & YOSSINO) (UWA World Trios Titles - 4 Team Elimination Match)

2004-07-04 Shuji Kondo vs Dragon Kid

 

There you have it, not much but it's a start...

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There are a few people here - myself included - who were really into Toryumon back in the day. I haven't revisited that stuff in quite a while. Given how I feel about Dragon Gate now, I'm almost afraid to. Leave the memories alone and all that.

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I'm sure I've heard Chad mention he was into Dragongate.

 

You take that back!!!!

 

 

In all seriousness, when Dragon Gate does a good full broke spotfest type match leaving the interference at the door, it can be very entertaining. I struggle to get into their singles matches due to the inconsistency their style dictates in regards to selling but there is definitely a lot of wrestling moves and fast paced offense if that is your thing.

 

If you like the style, I would recommend seeking out Alan4L or our very own Dave Musgrave for any recommendations and also you can search the death valley driver board using the key word Dragon Gate and a mysterious poster named Col. Da Bears and get some recommendations to.

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So what is it that people don't like about Dragon Gate? I'm going to go out on a limb and guess the extreme no-selling of huge moves would be the main thing?

 

Just to clarify aswell, I'm not a huge DG fan, it's far from my favourite style, just something that I'm looking to find out more about...

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That is the biggest detriment for me is the no selling and the interference that you reference above. I think the style is very condusive to burnout for my wrestling watching because there seems to be a lack of variety in the type of matches you are seeing. They do have some power guys and speed guys but they all seem to wrestle the fast break-neck speed. I look at something like how Duggan vs. Vader and Avalanche vs. Sting from Starrcade 94 was structured and find it unlikely that a Dragon Gate card would ever duplicate this premise. I don't know if their latest anniversary show is available yet but I do know big Dragon Gate fans were gushing over it so I say that could be a good litmus test for you to see if the style is your thing.

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I wrote something somewhere a while back about my issues with Dragon Gate in comparison to mid-90's Michinoku Pro....ah, here it is:

 

I think I have the exact same Jack Epstein tape that Tim has. After Scott Keith's "Netcop Busts", that was actually the first thing I ever bought when I got into tape trading. It's been a while, but the last time I watched the "These Days" 10-man, it was '05/'06, and I remember writing on the late, lamented Happy Wrestling Land board how surprised I was at how few dives were in it. Seriously, for a match that often gets thought of as the pinnacle of spot-fu, I remember counting a whopping two or three dives in the whole match. Which isn't to say it wasn't still chock full of spectacular looking offense, I just tended to remember it as being a lot of in-ring action in the first half building up to the out-of-control dives in the second half, and there really weren't that many dives.

 

Even when I first saw it as a largely puro-illiterate kid, I was able to pick up on the significance of that first half ("Oh, they're keeping the match in the ring and just teasing dives right now to build anticipation, so when they actually start diving, I will be extra psyched for it. Cool!"), but when I rewatched it that last time, it really struck me how important that was. It may have only been two or three dives, but I remembered it like it was 30. They knew how to build a match, how to create a sense of scale, how to make things seem important...stuff I don't get from the Dragon Gate guys.

 

This year, I've been trying to stay more on top of the current wrestling scene than I have been the last few years. To that end, I do check out Dragon Gate matches every now and then, which is something I hadn't really been doing since it was Toryumon. At best, what I've seen has been clean, inoffensive, aesthetically pleasing, but also emotionally empty. At worst, it's...well it's pretty much the same as it is at it's best, it's just more structurally flawed. I basically agree with Curt McGirt and Mike Dikk. I can see why people like it, but when I watch it, I just don't feel anything.

 

It's been an even longer time than since I last watched old M-Pro, but I do remember liking Toryumon in it's original form. That might not age so well if I watched it now, but I wonder if there's an issue with the later generations of wrestlers from the company. I mean, the one DG match I saw this year that almost had me was CIMA/Yoshino. When CIMA had control early on, I was really digging it...and then Yoshino took over, and I wasn't digging it any more. So maybe there's something going on on that front that's keeping me from getting into it.

 

Sometime after that, I'd watch a CIMA match where he was clearly just as bad as the younger guys. But I'd also watch a Sumo Fuji match that I almost liked thanks to his valiant attempts to hold it together, so who knows?

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I tossed some musings up on my blog earlier today actually on a DG (well, technically DGUSA) match I'd recommend:

 

Recently watched DGUSA Uprising from 2010 couldn't get the BxB Hulk vs. Masato Yoshino main event out of my head. When you get past that this is a collaboration and not a competition (in terms of mode of story not the narrative therein) I found it strangely haunting. Hulk's ability at demonstrating the determination he has at retaining his championship is crystalline and for his part Yoshino's speed and pluck make him an excellent challenger. Masato hit what easily now ranks in my top three missile dropkicks of all-time. Such height, so compact. By the time BxB did the "H Thunder" scoop side piledriver (his homage to Hayabusa) off the top rope and Yoshino kicked out I was officially enthralled and raptured like I was during the hotel scene in Before Midnight. The crowd at the Mississauga International Centre that night were in for a special treat.

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1999-02-07 Dragon Kid vs SUWA (NWA Welterweight Title)

1999-09-14 Genki Horiguchi vs Susumu Yokosuka

2000-11-30 Crazy Max (CIMA, SUWA & Don Fuji) vs Magnum TOKYO, Dragon Kid & Genki Horiguchi

2001-08-14 Crazy Max (CIMA, SUWA & Don Fuji) vs M2K (Masaaki Mochizuki, Yasushi Kanda & Darkness Dragon) vs Magnum TOKYO, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito (UWA Trios Title)

2001-10-28 M2K (Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Yokosuka & Darkness Dragon) vs Magnum TOKYO, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito (UWA Trios Title)

2001-11-13 TARU vs Kinya Oyanagei

2001-11-13 Masato Yoshino & Stevie "brother" Tsujimoto vs Kentaro Mori & Takamichi Iwasa

2002-07-07 CIMA, Don Fuji & TARU vs Masaaki Mochizuki, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito vs Magnum TOKYO, Genki Horiguchi & Darkness Dragon (UWA Trios Title)

2002-07-14 CIMA, Don Fuji & TARU vs Masaaki Mochizuki, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito vs Magnum TOKYO, Genki Horiguchi & Darkness Dragon (UWA Trios Title)

2002-09-08 Dragon Kid vs Darkness Dragon (Mask vs Mask)

2005-01-14 Ryo Saito vs Milano Collection A.T. (Open the Dream Gate Title Contendership)

2005-04-08 Do Fixer (Magnum TOKYO, Naoki Tanizaki & X) vs PoS Hearts (Anthony W. Mori, Super Shisa & BxB Hulk)

2007-05-10 New Hazard (Shingo Takagi, BxB Hulk & Cyber Kong) vs Typhoon (CIMA, Susumu Yokosuka & Ryo Saito) (Open the Triangle Gate Title)

2008-08-09 Susumu Yokosuka & Ryo Saito vs Kenichiro Arai & Taku Iwasa (Summer Adventure Tag League II)

2009-01-18 BxB Hulk, Naoki Tanizaki & m.c.KZ. vs Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fuji & Magnitude Kishiwada (Open the Triangle Gate Title)

2011-07-17 Akira Tozawa vs Shingo Takagi (Special Match)

2011-10-13 Akira Tozawa vs Masaaki Mochizuki (Open the Dream Gate title)

 

Hope this helps.

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1999-02-07 Dragon Kid vs SUWA (NWA Welterweight Title)

1999-09-14 Genki Horiguchi vs Susumu Yokosuka

2000-11-30 Crazy Max (CIMA, SUWA & Don Fuji) vs Magnum TOKYO, Dragon Kid & Genki Horiguchi

2001-08-14 Crazy Max (CIMA, SUWA & Don Fuji) vs M2K (Masaaki Mochizuki, Yasushi Kanda & Darkness Dragon) vs Magnum TOKYO, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito (UWA Trios Title)

2001-10-28 M2K (Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Yokosuka & Darkness Dragon) vs Magnum TOKYO, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito (UWA Trios Title)

2001-11-13 TARU vs Kinya Oyanagei

2001-11-13 Masato Yoshino & Stevie "brother" Tsujimoto vs Kentaro Mori & Takamichi Iwasa

2002-07-07 CIMA, Don Fuji & TARU vs Masaaki Mochizuki, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito vs Magnum TOKYO, Genki Horiguchi & Darkness Dragon (UWA Trios Title)

2002-07-14 CIMA, Don Fuji & TARU vs Masaaki Mochizuki, Dragon Kid & Ryo Saito vs Magnum TOKYO, Genki Horiguchi & Darkness Dragon (UWA Trios Title)

2002-09-08 Dragon Kid vs Darkness Dragon (Mask vs Mask)

2005-01-14 Ryo Saito vs Milano Collection A.T. (Open the Dream Gate Title Contendership)

2005-04-08 Do Fixer (Magnum TOKYO, Naoki Tanizaki & X) vs PoS Hearts (Anthony W. Mori, Super Shisa & BxB Hulk)

2007-05-10 New Hazard (Shingo Takagi, BxB Hulk & Cyber Kong) vs Typhoon (CIMA, Susumu Yokosuka & Ryo Saito) (Open the Triangle Gate Title)

2008-08-09 Susumu Yokosuka & Ryo Saito vs Kenichiro Arai & Taku Iwasa (Summer Adventure Tag League II)

2009-01-18 BxB Hulk, Naoki Tanizaki & m.c.KZ. vs Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fuji & Magnitude Kishiwada (Open the Triangle Gate Title)

2011-07-17 Akira Tozawa vs Shingo Takagi (Special Match)

2011-10-13 Akira Tozawa vs Masaaki Mochizuki (Open the Dream Gate title)

 

Hope this helps.

That's awesome thanks mate, look forward to checking these out!!

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