[2000-01-16-Toryumon] CIMA & MAKOTO & Sumo Fuji vs Dragon Kid & Magnum Tokyo & Masaaki Mochizuki

[Loss]

I'm already in love with Toryumon. I really respect what they're aiming for so much. Yes, there are moments where their inexperience shows, but they have made a real commitment to building their fundamentals, keeping a strong face-heel structure and cultivating strong personalities. They haven't downplayed their great high-flying moves at all, but they've found ways to incorporate them in a way that's most effective instead of just rolling them out mindlessly. Michinoku Pro did this too, but Toryumon has borrowed far more from the American approach to pro wrestling than Michinoku Pro did, and this style is very much distinct from Pro. In fact, I'd say that if this match is any indication, Toryumon was probably the best-booked Southern style fed in the world at this time, and that includes OVW and Memphis Power Pro. The match itself starts with a wild brawl that spills all over the ringside area with an overzealous manager running around everywhere before finally settling back in the ring (Who do they think they are, the Midnight Express and Fantastics?) and working a great trios. You see potential from those involved in different ways, with CIMA looking like the most complete wrestler of the six and Dragon Kid as the best high flyer. Mochizuki looks like he's almost there, but not quite yet. The post-match angle was awesome too, with the manager immediately hitting the ring to help unmask Dragon Kid and commence a chaotic heel beatdown before a tuxedo-clad Ultimo Dragon makes the save, hitting everything in sight with a variation of kicks to clear the ring. Bring on the Toryumon! ****

[soup23]

What a difference a week makes. Dragon Kid looked awful on the 1/8/00 tag and looked great here hitting everything almost flawlessly. There were some rough patches here with execution mainly from Tokyo which may be a reoccurring theme as we watch these matches. That being said, the hate was palpable and the action never let up leading this to be a fantastic six man tag with everyone getting moments to shine. CIMA still looks like a star on the rise and holds things together. I love watching Mochizuki and Fujii interact now and it was no different 17 years ago. Dragon Kid gets the win again showing his push continuing. Ultimo running out at the end was the most bad ass he has looked since he had the J Crown. I can't wait to see what happens next. ****

[Matt D]

I'm only going to be able to dip my toes into this project due to time constraints, but one thing that i'd like to do is expand my horizons a bit. This was a direction I was pointed in so here I am.

 

There were things I really liked:

-The heels felt like Kaientai with more rudo leanings. They had all of the cocky tandem offense but also swarmed in for that initial beatdown as the ribbons were flying down, which was a cool visual. They just oozed personality and kept things moving with the rapid fire offense.

-Parts of the structure. This is a one fall match and the back half of it was for big spots/final exchanges/pin attempts/dives. I liked in the first half how they shifted from that initial beatdown to a more shine-based set of pairings and then a sort of staggering heat where the heels would take over due to shenanigans only to get outwrestled with the process repeating. It took a while for me to see the picture, but I do think that for the most part there was a picture.

-Sumo Fuji. Sumo Fuji was my favorite guy in the match. This was my first look at 2/3rds of these wrestlers. Everything Fuji did popped me. Maybe it's because it was the first time I saw him and the act would get old. I was kind of annoyed we didn't get an earlier shtick based Tokyo Magnum vs Sumo Fuji exchange. The first time he did the hundred hand slap I went nuts.

-Everything was cutting edge and exciting. Loss and I aren't always on the same page when it comes to his temporal way of looking at wrestling. With this though, I think it fits. It's really interesting to look at this and the moves being done and the spots being executed and the attitude presented and compare it to the Nuevo Infernales stuff, for instance, or some of the early super indy rustlings.

-Ultimo Dragon seeming like the biggest most awesome gold-masked star in the world at the end.

 

There were things I didn't like so much:

-Consistency. So the heel goon managers interfere early on and then stay out of the way for most of the rest of the match? That's weird. I also didn't like the kickouts towards the end. One of the real advantages of a six man is that you can break pins up. To me, I want to see kick outs happen earlier in a match and break-ups by partners happen more and more later, when guys are more worn down and it can be a bigger dramatic moment. Some of the late exchanges had way too much of the way of complex utterly killer offense which was just kicked out of without a lot of consequence, selling-wise.

-Dragon Kid hit two or three amazing amazing spots. That corner Santo dive with the flip is nuts. For a lot of the rest of the match, he was the least impressive guy in there for me. His stuff felt a bit more collaborative (in a match that, in general, felt too collaborative for me quite often), sloppy, a bit contrived, and without some of the personality everyone else was showing. Yes, Magnum Tokyo had problems hitting stuff but it all came off as weirdly believable. The struggle actually added to the match and was bolstered by his personality.

-Lack of a central narrative. I obviously need to see more, but this didn't have, to the same degree, the sort of storytelling I'm used to in lucha, even lucha spotfests. The pairings were less defined. There was nothing built to towards the end of the match that I could figure out. In lucha, those final dives in trios aren't an end in and of themselves; they're a means to clear the ring and create a single eventuality, a last pairing that will lead to a finish. I can't even remember who it was that Dragon Kid hit the dragonrana on to pin (Was it CIMA? No idea; also the dragonrana is way more impressive on paper than in reality). I'd rather things have been a little less haphazard in that regard.

 

This was a lot of fun with a lot of attitude and exciting spots. For now, I'll put the onus on me to see more so I can be familiar with the narrative trends, but from what I am used to, it was a bit lacking in that regard.

[Laney]

This was a fun match with these guys going all out to try to impress. What impresses me the most is that 4 of the 6 guys in this match are still very much active. I don't think you can say the same for most of the WWF guys who were at the same experience level at this time. People talk about this kind of wrestling shortening careers, but these guys have been going at it for a while working this style.

 

This match had a few hiccups, but overall it was an impressive and well built match.

 

***3/4

[cramerjason87]

CIMA has such a presence. He has it all and is especially good at feeding for the face's offense. Watching him develop is going to be fun.

 

The match was an easy watch despite having a few segments where it lost steam. They are shooting for the moon with these matches, which is a good thing. Doing so many difficult spots back to back is bound to lead to some mistakes. It will be interesting to see if the formula starts to become repetitive.

[Moonsault Marvin]

This was a fun match, but it verged on overkill at times. I think a 2 out of 3 falls format would have worked better here, so after a guy gets those triple team beatdowns, he could have been pinned instead of just getting back up and immediately going on offense. I liked their adoption of the American mannerisms and CIMA has that natural swagger that makes it easy to pull off. Sumo Fuji was really funny as he hammed it up. Dragon Kid's high flying continued to be impressive.

[Tim Evans]

I enjoyed this as it was a tale of two matches. Dragon Kid and Magnum were doing the flying and comedy while Crazy Max was doing a great hybrid of 1997 Kaientai and heel PG-13 era Nation of Domination. Really liked Sumo Fuji using his sumo as heel taunts. Dragon Kid's santo dive was insane looking. However, my favorite part was the end with Ultimo Dragon in a suit kicking ass Kung Fu style. Is he still retired around this time?

[Kronos]

In a match filled with great personalities, cool highspots, some intense matchups, and brawling before and outside of the match, the coolest part is Ultimo coming in and kicking ass afterwards.

 

Because Memphis, baby!

 

Dragon Kid took a serious beating, too.

[ohtani's jacket]

I thought this was quite good. Possibly the best Toryumon match I've seen thus far. It had all the classic elements of a Lucha trios but with the pace of a Japanese Juniors match. It suffered from excess at times as many Japanese matches do but on the whole they hit the right rhythm. I thought Dragon Kid made a difference to the babyface side simply because of the highspots he was able to bring and the stylistic difference from his peers. Contrasting styles are important in trios matches and he added a high flying element that has been missing from most of these Toryumon tags. You can forgive any technical shortcomings he may have if he's having a positive impact in the flyer role.

[Seabs]

Thought this was brilliant. What seperates this from a bad spotfest is that the character work is really strong and thus you get a really fun match that keeps your interest the whole way. Dragon Kid is such an underrated guy that always looks really good whenever I do see him. It's kinda weird how under the radar so many of the great Toryumon/Dragon Gate guys have gone for nearly two decades now despite how good like every single one of them are. The Fuji/Mochizuki parts were electric and also really cool to watch knowing them more as grizzly vet partners than young opponents. Fuji was the MVP of this. It's pretty rare that sumo shtick gets incorporated into a wrestling match in an entertaining way but it was very much that here with Fuji. The overhand slaps spots was great and I loved all his eye pokes. MAKOTA's top rope hurracanrana looked awesome. TOKYO fluffed a couple of spots but nothing that ruined the flow. CIMA's spamming of the palm punch was a bit grating. I'm more sold on early CIMA as a fun character worker than an interesting match worker between this and the Minoru match. Kid looked like he genuinely hurt his arm at the end which actually made the awesome post match even. The attack looked savage and the Dragon run in was so awesome. Looked like a mega time action star in a blockbuster movie getting dragged back into his old ways by the evil new kids on the block. Brilliant match and even better post match.

[WingedEagle]

May have to check this out again as I didn't follow the post-match action so clearly, but was a big fan of the match itself, possibly the best yet from this crew. Loved the energetic, all out start and especially the commitment from everyone involved to establish and work within their roles. It makes for a much more engaging match that rises above the action itself, even if that was more than solid here. Really looking forward to tracking this crew throughout the decade.

 

***3/4

[aethelred]

I thought Dragon Kid was super impressive here, putting in a really exciting performance. Sumo Fuij was brilliant as well, with he and CIMA playing great absurd heels. Top effort all round.

[Stiva]

Toryumon rules! I thought the heels in this were flat-out awesome. The hundred hand slaps and sumo heat from Fuji, CIMAs out-of-this-world selling, posing and facial reactions, all three of them attacking before the bell, not to mention the incredible post-match beatdown. I agree that Dragon Kid's style and pace really helped him stand out here as his high-spots really were impressive, especially the speed in which he went flying with the Santo dive and when the match escalated in pace with guys diving in from everywhere, he still managed to stand out by doing shit one magnitude nuttier than anyone else.

 

The post-match was super heated with a GREAT mask ripping and just chaos until Ultimo Dragon, looking resplendent in a tux and gold mask comes in like he's a mild-mannered, retired ex-cop who was just trying to enjoy a night out before being accosted by some thugs. If Toryumon can cut this kind of pace throughout the year, I'm really looking forward to watching it all.

[Edwin]

I was huge on Toryumon back in the day, but I didn't like when they rebranded to Dragon Gate for some reason it just felt different. These early Toryumon shows had these crazy multi man matches and it's fun revisiting them. The diverse roster they had really made these matches. However the Toryumon style is not for everyone.

 

I'm not sure, but I believe MAKOTO was later Darkness Dragon. If so, then he was far better in that character than he is here as MAKOTO. Really dug Dragon Kid's 619 before hitting the beautiful triangle moonsault dive. Fuji teasing the dive after was good stuff too. Mochi's kicks are a thing of beauty and are proof that you can land effective strikes with sound effects without having to rely on the endless thigh slapping. CIMA pulling Dragon Kid over to his corner and teasing a tag before taking back over to his corner to continue the beatdown was awesome. That post match chaos was fantastic.

 

Despite being relatively green, these guys put on a heck of a match together.

 

****

 

That's 2 good matches Mochi and CIMA have been involved in in the same week.

[Matt Franklin]

Yeah this was a ton of fun. CIMA and Fuji had great chemistry as a team (wasnt overly sold on MAKOTOs performance), and their charisma and presence really help this be more than a meaningless spotfest. I thought the babyface team all looked great, Mochizuki was on fire with his kicks early and Dragon Kid nailed pretty much everything he went for. The match progressed nicely and there was a good sense of escalation towards the end, rather than just my-turn, your-turn. I love DKs moonsaukt rana and probably wiuld have preferred that as the finish rather than his dragonrana.

 

Post match was cool as well, with Tuxedo Dragon clearing house. All in all, really good showing from the Toryumon crew and Im looking forward to seeing how the style progresses over the year.

 

***3/4

[tbrett]

I enjoyed this one a lot, I always love seeing what Dragon Kid comes up with in these matches. Plus I love the Toryumon heels they always do a good job. Didn't think this was anything out of this world but I liked it.

 

***1/4