I'm going into my second Dragon Gate card without trying too hard to use a system for being able to tell who is who because I'm hoping to remember enough from the first time around. We open in the ring where there are two men talking who I believe are running down the card. This seems like it will be similar talent as the last card only the matches will be different. There are some names thrown into the mix though that are not from the previous card but that's okay. I am also following along with the help of Cage Match dot net, which I always try to do when watching wrestling without English commentary. The man in the ring just said "Jimmy" a few times in a row. Now he said "BxB Hulk" and I understood that one. I'm going to give this one a little less play by play maybe and just more thoughts on the matches but we'll see. He just said "Monster Express". The arena eventually goes dark as we transition into our first match.
Music and lights flashing to start the show for the live crowd and those watching at home. Am I the only one who thinks they're watching anime when songs like this are playing? Really, it does sound like the opening to some awesome anime, does it not?
They have the entrance way that reminds me of old ROH.
Match One: Super Shisa / Syachihoko BOY vs. Jimmyz (Jimmy Kagetora / Jimmy Kanda)
Super Shisa is new but otherwise I've seen these three other wrestlers on the last card. Jimmyz has one of the best theme songs in all of professional wrestling right now. Shisa is masked but he has more of the furry looking mask ala Tiger Mask, as BOY has that Shark Boy style lucha mask. Kagetora and Shisa start things off. If DGUSA was still active I'd love to see Jimmyz hold tag team gold in it. Kagetora accepts a feats of strength only to overpower Shisa anyway so it doesn't make Shisa look too smart. A sequence of great chain wrestling moves. Both men make fair tags. Kanda and BOY spend time running the ropes. These two look to be the faster paced action as the first pairing was more grounded. Kagetora and Shisa end up back in the ring together and Shisa is slowing working over the back of Kagetora. It would be funny if Jimmyz came to America and were managed by Jimmy Hart. Kanda is back in and gets a near fall on Shisa. Kagetora hits a big over the top rope elbow onto the fallen Shisa. This has somewhat broken down into a traditional tag team match where Shisa is playing the wounded who needs to make the hot tag. Kanda hits Shisa in the middle of the ring but Shisa is powering back up. Kagetora comes back in and stops any momentum Shisa might be gaining. Kagetora and Shisa trade blows in the middle of the ring. Shisa gets the better of the exchange and manages to make the (hot) tag. BOY comes in with a missile dropkick. Both Jimmyz end up on the outside of the ring and BOY hits a huge move to the outside on them. Kagetora is mounting a comeback in the ring now. BOY and Shisa tried for a double pin on Kanda but Kagetora came in to break it up. I'm kind of wanting the Jimmyz to win here. Kagetora hits a brainbuster that should have been all but the pin was broken up. A quick roll up and pin by BOY ends the match which Jimmyz were obviously robbed of here.
Match Two: Mr. Kyu Kyu Naoki Tanizaki Toyonaka Dolphin vs. BxB Hulk
Can someone explain to me why the Dolphin guy has so many names? Serious answers only please. When he's ring announced, before he comes out, the guy in the ring makes his name seem so short somehow though. Dolphin gets some streamers. Is BxB Hulk a heel? Are the only wrestlers I know in Dragon Gate heels? Hmm. Dolphin gets the crowd chanting something. Some fast paced actions, but Dolphin is too concerned with getting the crowd to chant he needs to pay attention to his opponent. Slower, submission based holds now allow BxB Hulk to gain control. BxB Hulk stops for what could have been a running knee and just straight up kicks the seated Dolphin instead. BxB Hulk is a pro, people. BxB Hulk locks on a sharpshooter type of submission hold but Dolphin can get to the ropes to break it up. They trade blows in the middle of the ring and after a hard double chop by Dolphin, BxB Hulk wins the exchange with a spinning heel kick. BxB Hulk later on ends up hitting a series of moves that ends in a standing moonsault but can only get two. BxB Hulk then hits a kick straight down onto the head of a seated Dolphin but it was only two. I thought Dolphin was knocked out on that one. Another super kick to a seated Dolphin and this time it is good for the three count and win for BxB Hulk. BxB Hulk has a championship belt and it has keys hanging off of it. Apparently it is the Open The Dream Gate Championship. Fair enough.
Match Three: Millenials (Kotoka / Yosuke Santa Maria) vs. MAD BLANKEY (Gamma / Mondai Ryu)
Yosuke I remember from the previous Dragon Gate show I watched because he dresses like a female wrestler. Kotaka may or may not be familiar, as the Millenials might blend together for me, but consider me a MAD BLANKEY fan after their last show. Plus I remember Gamma from when I used to watch DGUSA and the masked Mondai Ryu is growing on me. MAD BLANKEY just seems like the stable you want to be part of in Dragon Gate. Yosuke and Ryu start the match. Ryu does a cool snake slide across the ring and I'm not sure if he should be in Chikara or AAA. Tags by both men. Gamma knocks down Kotoka. While running the ropes Kotoka went for a leap frog but Gamma kicked him square between the legs. Gamma hits a huge powerbomb on Yosuke. Gamma now spits water onto Yosuke. Ryu tags in and works over Yosuke as well. Does Yosuke even have an offense? Yosuke answers my question by lighting Ryu up with chops. Kotoka finally gets tagged in but misses a huge dropkick as he jumps into the ring. Kotoka eventually does hit a suicide dive to the outside on both members of MAD BLANKEY. As they fight outside, in the crowd, Don Fujii and YAMATO come out and attack Yosuke and Kotoka. This match has been thrown out, but I think they're making it into another MAD BLANKEY vs. Millenials joint.
Match Four: MAD BLANKEY (Don Fujii / Mondai Ryu / YAMATO / Gamma) vs. Millenials (T-Hawk / U-T / Kotoka / Yosuke Santa Maria)
U-T and T-Hawk eventually did come out to make this match. Kotoka starts in the ring with Don Fujii. U-T comes in with YAMATO and I'm pretty sure that U-T is the guy with the big red mohawk, based on commentary. These two factions need to just be locked inside a cage, War Games style, because there is so much going on with them and so many moving pieces it's hard to keep it all contained in a ring when someone else can just come in and make the save or there can be double teaming if not more. YAMATO is worked over for most of the match and even takes a Razor's Edge into sitdown powerbomb by T-Hawk for a near fall before the rest of MAD BLANKEY breaks it up. Kotoka ends up ducking at one point and Don Fujii hits Ryu with a suitcase. In another missed spot, Ryu gets the powder in the face as well and this is just broken down into chaos with MAD BLANKEY missing all their trick spots. The misses allow Kotoka to score the pinfall over Ryu to win the match for Millenials. T-Hawk (I believe) is on the mic after the match and he says something big that gets everyone clapping. Flamita, who is a luchadore, comes out and is apparently the newest member of Millenials. Sounds good.
Match Five: Jimmyz (Genki Horiguchi HAGeeMee / Jimmy Susumu / Ryo Jimmy Saito) vs. Monster Express (Masato Yoshino / Shingo Takagi / Uhaa Nation)
Genki is introduced as "H-A-Gee-Mee" if you're wondering how to pronounce that. His shirt also says "Blackslide from Forever". I like it. Genki starts the match with Yoshino. As much as I like Jimmyz I still like MAD BLANKEY best in Dragon Gate. Shingo and Saito are in the match together next, as the first two men didn't do a whole lot other than try and rally the crowd to chant. Saito sends Shingo outside the ring and Uhaa comes into the ring. Saito quickly tags out to avoid Uhaa and Susumu is in the match for the first time. Uhaa Nation is a big dude and rumored to be heading to WWE for the past few months. He's not Japanese though, he's black so knowing WWE they'll just lose him in the pool of racial profiling being occupied currently by Titus O'Neil and Big E Langston. Shingo and Saito are back at it again. Yoshino is in and he pulls the hair of Saito. Genki comes in and also has his hair pulled by Yoshino. Susumu has the shortest hair of the Jimmyz so why not send him in? Yoshino is working Genki over with what I believe are staples but this match isn't really going anywhere and it's not getting there slowly. Genki comes back as Susumu clears the ring aprons of the other Monsters. Uhaa Nation is doing something with a yellow streamer now. Oh, it's elastic so he pulled it as far as it would go and then it snapped back at Genki. Shingo is using it as a rubber band type weapon now on Genki and I cannot believe that this is a wrestling match. I can see why WWE would be interested in the antics of Uhaa Nation though. All of the Monsters drop elbows on Genki and Uhaa gets some height to it that's nice-- there is no denying his athleticism. The Monsters do push ups and pose. Yoshino is alone with Genki now and Genki comes back off the ropes with a head scissors. Susumu is in but so is Shingo. Susumu works over Shingo so Uhaa comes in. Susumu tags in Saito, who seems reluctant to face Uhaa still. If booked properly, Uhaa Nation could be the first person who is black to hold the WWE Championship, but you know WWE will screw it up in record time. Huge spinebuster by Uhaa and the other Jimmyz are there to stop the three count. Yoshino kicks out at two following a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker by Susumu. Everyone except Genki and Uhaa are in the ring now. Big spots by the Jimmyz. Susumu hits a huge superplex onto Shingo followed by a frog splash via Saito but the pin is no good. Uhaa Nation is still going strong in the match. He flies across the ring with the greatest of ease for a Stinger Splash on Genki. Uhaa has some great kip ups. Genki almost gets the three count on Uhaa with a backslide, but Uhaa comes back to hit him then drop him over his head Warrior Press style. Uhaa stands with his back over the fallen Genki and hits a standing moonsault. As if that wasn't impressive enough he follows up by standing over Genki and facing him and hitting a similar 360 type splash. These are Matt Sydal type moves in an Ezekial Jackson type of body here, people. That's obviously enough for the pin and win and wow, just wow, am I impressed with my first time seeing Uhaa Nation. Monster Express indeed.
CIMA, Cyber Kong and Naruki Doi cut a promo to hype their main event match. A promo from Dia.HEARTS, who are the Open The Triangle Gate Champions (Think of it as being like the Trios Champions) and if I remember correctly BxB Hulk is also a member of this faction which means that Dia.HEARTS holds a lot of the gold in Dragon Gate.
Match Six: Kzy (Champion) vs. Akira Tozawa *Open The Brave Gate Title Match*
I like the voice that comes on before the match to tell us this is a title match. WWE could somehow sign it to their roster and stop paying Lillian Garcia crazy money. Akira Tozawa is out first, as the challenger should be, and not to give away when I'm watching this compared with when it posts and all that but he is the Wrestler of the Day today on Cage Match dot net. Kzy is such a character I'm surprised he's not better represented in the United States. Tozawa dominated the beginning of the match for quite a while and even hit a tombstone piledriver on Kzy. As the action spilled outside the ring, Kzy rammed Tozawa's arm into the ring post and this put Kzy in control for a while as he worked over that injured arm. There hasn't been a lot of back and forth in this match, just one sided from each competitor to start. Tozawa hits a huge running kick out of the corner to start his come back. Two suicide dives onto Kzy now but that arm is still hurting him. A brainbuster by Tozawa is good for two. Both men roll through pin attempts and Tozawa hits a huge running knee that looked like it knocked Kzy out but only got the two count. Kzy goes from ropes to ropes in a unique fashion and seems to be back in control of the match. After a swanton bomb, Kzy hits a frog splash but only gets two in what I felt should have been three. When both men are on the top rope Tozawa plays to the crowd. He hits a superplex, huge running kick and another move that still aren't enough to put away Kzy. Tozawa tries for a combination but is stopped by Kzy and rammed shoulder first into the corner. Kzy hits a move on Tozawa that looks to me like the Canadian Destroyer. That was Petey Williams' finisher, right? The two trade blows in the middle of the ring and Kzy has already won this match in my mind. Lots of fast paced action, near falls and reversals. Tozawa nearly gets the three with a bridge suplex. These two are somehow leaving it all in the ring here. Tozawa finally locks on a short bear hug type of hold and then with a belly to back suplex into bridging pin gets the win over Kzy. I'm not sure how that was the move to get three but that was just an incredible match that needs to be seen by everyone. You know how someone like Hideo Itami or Finn Balor can have a great match in NXT and the crowd chants "This Is Wrestling"? It was that level of greatness times ten. What I'm saying is if you think NXT is great then this match right here will blow your mind. Wow. Just wow. Tozawa takes the mic post match and since he just became champion it only makes sense. I'm pretty sure he just told Uhaa Nation he can have the first shot, as Uhaa Nation is in the ring with him (He was watching towards the end there at ringside, maybe he was at ringside the whole time I don't know my mind was on the two men fighting this battle). And for whatever reason now, Millenials are coming out to the ring. Flamita addresses Tozawa but I'm pretty sure he's speaking Spanish. Now there are two languages in this show I don't speak. Mondai Ryu comes out to fight Flamita but is taken down by him and U-T makes the unofficial three count. #notamatch Tozawa is addressing Flamita now and I wonder if Flamita speaks Japanese. I'm kind of wondering how this all works because it seems like we have three guys here, one who has the title now and the other two who want it, and none of them speak the same language as I assume Uhaa Nation speaks English but I'm not sure how up to date he is on his Japanese. For whatever reason, Tozawa and Flamita go head to head and it appears as if that match is set with Uhaa Nation taking the backseat here. Didn't Flamita just debut in Dragon Gate earlier in the show? Makes sense he'd be in line for an immediate title shot then, right? I've never heard of him before but apparently he's a pretty big deal and we still have another title match as the main event of this show. Tozawa and Uhaa Nation leave together as if they are friends. I still think Dragon Gate has some old ROH entrance set up gear.
Match Seven: Dia.HEARTS (Big R Shimizu / Dragon Kid / Masaaki Mochizuki) (Champions) vs. MAD BLANKEY (CIMA / Cyber Kong / Naruki Doi) *Open The Triangle Gate Title Match*
The voice over is there for this title match as well and I love it. MAD BLANKEY is out first, obviously. The ring announcer though says their name and then they come out which is quite possibly how all professional wrestling introductions should be handled. I believe they do still get individual introductions once everyone is in the ring if all heck doesn't break loose. The champs are out next and the lights are flashing in a way that might give children seizures. I just noticed my battery icon on my laptop was hidden so I had to take care of that. They're taking a group photo now before the match and all of MAD BLANKEY is coming into the ring for it. And now we have individual in ring intros. As Mochizuki is being introduced (he is the last one) MAD BLANKEY starts the fight. A lot of two on one and three on one advantages by both teams. Near falls broken up as well. Dragon Kid hit a top rope dive onto everyone on the outside and when Big R tried it he got roped. CIMA had a believable near fall near the end of the match and I was really pulling for a MAD BLANKEY win but Big R turned it around into a chokeslam for the pin and win. I feel like often times these matches can become messy because there are six men involved and the other MAD BLANKEY members were at ringside so at one point when each member of Dia.HEARTS had a submission hold locked onto a member of MAD BLANKEY, Mondai Ryu came in to break them all up while other MAD BLANKEY members had the referee distracted. This wasn't a bad match per se, it just had the misfortune of following the most awesome match that came before it. Post match, Naruki Doi shoved down CIMA and now there is some tension there even though it got stopped by the rest of MAD BLANKEY before anything else could happen. Photos in the ring after the match with the champs show you how this is different from other promotions where sometimes the champions can retain their titles and then want to get the hell out of dodge as quickly as possible. Mochizuki and Dragon Kid talk about something as Big R does his best impression of Dragon Kid dancing.
It would be easy enough for me to say that you should watch the Tozawa-Kzy match if you're unable to watch this entire event (Don't have the access to it, lazy, etc.) but with my introduction to Uhaa Nation, the BxB Hulk match and just the rest of the card made this solid enough that this is a show you should watch from start to finish highlighted by what could quite possibly be the match of the year so far in Tozawa-Kzy. I should be writing these match of the year contenders down somewhere, shouldn't I? I'll put that list together later today I suppose. Until then, watch this one for yourself and see what's been missing in your life, in the world of professional wrestling, for so very long.
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