The show opened with the usual in ring talking, which I can only relate to the card for the night being run down. There is also an in ring segment with BxB Hulk and Uhaa Nation that appears to be some sort of contract signing for their Open The Dream Gate Title Match later on in the show. (Well, really later on because it's the main event)
Match One: Dia.HEARTS (Big R Shimizu / Dragon Kid / Kzy / Masaaki Mochizuki) vs. Jimmyz (Genki Horiguchi HAGeeMee / Jimmy Kagetora / Jimmy Kanda / Mr. Kyu Kyu Naoki Tanizaki Toyonaka Dolphin)
A big eight man tag to open the show would have had me worried at one point in time, but as I'm watching more of Dragon Gate I'm learning more of who each of these men are and as such I'm doing this pretty well now. Though it is worth noting that I always think of the Dia.HEARTS side as follows: Big R = singlet, Dragon Kid = masked, Kzy = his hair, Mochizuki = by default. So everyone kind of has their own thing that makes me say "That's him" when I see them coming out for the match... except for Masaaki Mochizuki. He's just himself by default because he's the fourth (or sometimes third) member of the team and isn't one of the ones I already picked out by some sort of recognition. Telling apart the Jimmyz is a whole other story. This was chaotic as you might expect because it had eight men involved in it. It was a good showcase though of talent in Dragon Gate while reassuring me that everyone in Dragon Gate is part of a faction. The Jimmyz ended up with the win and oddly enough this was also the first appearance of Kzy since losing his title but it also happens to be the next night so that must be kind of weird, right? "Hey, I realize you lost your title in a hard fought match last night but now tonight we need you to be part of this eight man tag".
Match Two: Millenials (El Rindaman / Yosuke Santa Maria) vs. Monster Express (Akira Tozawa / Shingo Takagi)
So here we have a tag team match featuring two of the other factions in Dragon Gate, but still proving my faction theory. I'm not sure why, but I'm unable to take Yosuke Santa Maria seriously in the ring so I feel badly for anyone partnered with him. I've been a fan of Shingo since he came over to ROH for a bit and back in the original Dragon Gate watching days of mine (and even the DGUSA days) and in some ways I feel like he should be part of MAD BLANKEY, but none the less you have him teaming up with the guy who just became a champion the night before and you know there is no stopping Akira Tozawa and SHINGO here. Good match, but really just felt more like a break/reward for Tozawa after his victory the night before. Do I really think someone said whoever won the match before would be in this sort of only semi-serious tag match and the loser would be part of a much more serious eight man match? Probably.
Match Three: Jimmyz (Jimmy Susumu / Jimmy Saito) vs. MAD BLANKEY (Mondai Ryu / Naruki Doi)
Obviously I am a fan of MAD BLANKEY but they could not stop the Jimmyz here as the tension between the rest of the faction and Naruki Doi continues to come to a head. I feel like MAD BLANKEY needs to just kick Naruki Doi out so they can stop losing, but if they did would Doi either a) be picked up by another faction or b) would he be the only person in Dragon Gate without a faction to call home? It's worth looking into because I'm not sure whether there is an official Dragon Gate rule about having to be in a faction.
Match Four: MAD BLANKEY (CIMA / Don Fujii / Gamma / Punch Tominaga) vs. Millenials (Kotoka / T-Hawk / U-T / Flamita)
It is worth noting, since I like to use Cage Match dot net for reference, that Cage Match and other websites have this listed as a six man tag and don't seem to recognize that Punch Tominaga and Flamita are in this match even though they so obviously are. The opening match was an eight man tag between two of the other factions in Dragon Gate. Everyone is in an eight man tag match except for Monster Express on this show. Is this like their Survivor Series or something? (Well, they're not being eliminated though...) MAD BLANKEY does win this one in the showcase of all which is going on in Dragon Gate as we have that "everyone is on the card" feel that would be a good way to first be introduced to the promotion and its wrestlers.
Match Five: MAD BLANKEY (Cyber Kong / YAMATO) (Champions) vs. Monster Express (Masato Yoshino / Syachihoko BOY) *Open The Twin Gate Title Match*
This match was most upsetting to me because MAD BLANKEY lost and also lost their titles at the same time. It furthered the drama between MAD BLANKEY and Naruki Doi for sure, but this match had a lot of behind the ref's back shenanigans. At one point, with the ref's back turned of course, nearly every member of MAD BLANKEY slid a chair into the ring. YAMATO set up the chairs for his own personal use but ended up taking the majority of the blow on them, in true weapon-using fashion in professional wrestling. I'm not completely won over by this Monster Express tag team here, but they're slowly growing on me. Maybe if they had won the titles by defeating a different team, but I don't know. I feel like there are five factions in Dragon Gate and this is my ranking of them (based upon how much I like them, not how good or bad they are):
1) MAD BLANKEY
2) Dia.HEARTS
3) Monster Express
4) Jimmyz (if only for their theme song)
5) Millenials
Match Six: BxB Hulk (Champion) vs. Uhaa Nation *Open The Dream Gate Title Match*
The first thing that you probably should know about this match is that this is not for the same title that was defended the night before by Kzy and won by Akira Tozawa. So you might be asking yourself, if both of these matches are treated as proper main events, which title is the bigger of the two? The answer is: neither. I like how they are treated seemingly as equals here and both get a night to headline. Imagine if WWE had a pay-per-view one month where the WWE Champion was involved in a tag team match or something else and the Intercontinental Title was the main event of the show. Just goes to show you how seriously they take these things in Dragon Gate. This was by far the best match I have seen in Dragon Gate thus far and it had mixed emotions with me choosing who would win as I enjoy both men involved. Now I knew that some time back somewhere it was reported that Uhaa Nation had signed with WWE and so I didn't know when that was happening but could see a scenario where he won the title here and then lost it before he left. But then at the end of the match, Uhaa Nation gave a heartfelt speech and announced that this was his last Dragon Gate match so that theory was thrown out the window and BxB Hulk was right to retain. Uhaa Nation has a spot where he does two consecutive standing moonsaults- one backwards facing and one forward facing and he actually missed the second one, which I feel if he hit it could have been the end of the match. This has to be up there for match of the year candidates with anyone who watches professional wrestling and goes out of their way to see it. The ring filled with the entire Dragon Gate roster, all filled with tearful goodbyes for Uhaa Nation, who is truly a unique talent I only wish the best for in WWE.
So I didn't know going into this that it would be Uhaa Nation's last Dragon Gate match but I feel like it might have felt sadder (and spoiled the match) had I known, so this is one time where the language barrier worked in my favor. I could dedicate an entire column to why WWE should push Uhaa Nation to the moon and have their first ever African-American WWE Champion but it's probably a lot of what others have already said. In a few years, if Finn Balor vs. Uhaa Nation is a main event of a Wrestlemania for the WWE Championship then WWE could really start bringing the best professional wrestling back to their company. Imagine someone that WWE loves in terms of their look (size) like Batista or Sheamus or, yes, Titus O'Neil. Now take that guy and give him the moveset of Matt Sydal or Rey Mysterio. You would probably think that it'd be impossible to do outside of a video game. But that is exactly what Uhaa Nation is. He looks the part that WWE wants but boy-oh-boy can he also go in the ring. With him as a future member of WWE then the future is once again most bright.
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