February 24, 2006 – Tokyo, Japan

Championship Rundown:
Open the Dream Gate Champion: Magnitude Kishiwada
Open the Triangle Gate Champions: CIMA, Magnitude Kishiwada & Masato Yoshino
Open the Brave Gate Champion: Vacant

The preshow contains a video package of clips from the first few days of round robin matches in the Open the Brave Gate tournament. On February 18th Masato Yoshino beat Tozawa with the Sol Naciente, Super Shisa beat Dragon Kid with a roll up after botched interference from Naoki Tanisaki, and Naruki Doi beat Tanisaki with the Bakatare Sliding Kick. The next night Kid beat Tozawa with the Christo, Doi beat Shisa with the Bakatare Sliding Kick and Yoshino beat Tanisaki with the Sol Naciente. So at the end of two days Doi & Yoshino have four points each, Kid & Shisa have two points and Tanisaki & Tozawa have zero.

Blood Generation starts the show with their typical gloating promo. After Don Fujii gets his turn on the microphone Yasushi Kanda comes out to the ring flanked by Final M2K. Masaaki Mochizuki says that Kanda will be the referee in the Blood Generation vs. Final M2K tag match later in the show.

Magnum TOKYO, Kenichiro Arai {FM} & Jack Evans {ROH} vs. Anthony W. Mori {PH}, BxB Hulk {PH} & Genki Horiguchi {DF}
Horiguchi starts an H-A-G-E chant. Arai and Mori trade holds. TOKYO hits Horiguchi with a shoulder tackle. Horiguchi hits a head scissors takedown. Hulk hits Evans with the Mouse and a back heel kick. He hits a dropkick. Arai puts on a chinlock. TOKYO puts on an abdominal stretch. He steps on Hulk’s face repeatedly for 2. He hits a cocky head kick for 2. Arai hits Horiguchi with a low blow. What kind of crap is that? Evans hits a snap suplex for 2. Arai carries Horiguchi around the ring by his hair. TOKYO drags him around the ring with his hairline pressed against the mat. Evans slams him by his hair for 2. Arai suplexes him onto Horiguchi for 2. Horiguchi hits Arai with a snap suplex. Mori and Hulk get distracted starting an H-A-G-E chant and miss the chance to tag in for him. Horiguchi hits a head scissors takedown and then smacks Mori to tag him in. Mori hits TOKYO with the X-Factor. Hulk dropkicks Evans. He hits the Ace Crusher. Mori hits a northern lights suplex for 2. Evans hits the springboard back elbow, which is caught from a more flattering angle than it was on Infinity. He hits a huge plancha. Arai hits Horiguchi with an avalanche chinbreaker. Evans hits Skipping a Generation for 2. Hulk hits a lariat. He hits a dropkick and the BxB Smash for 2. Mori hits the Eleganton for 2. TOKYO and Evans kick the crap out of Horiguchi. Horiguchi catches TOKYO with the Backslide from Heaven for 2. TOKYO hits a lariat for 2. Arai hits the diving headbutt for 2. TOKYO hits the Erect Smash and Evans hits the 630 senton for the win at 12:13. This dragged and dragged, and the crowd gave it the reaction it deserved. It probably didn’t help that the teams were almost entirely random.
Rating: **

Shingo Takagi {BG} vs. Katsuo
Katsuo comes out to the theme from Rocky. He foolishly tries to trade elbows with Takagi. Takagi gets a takedown and smacks Katsuo around. He hits a sick elbow in the corner. He shoves Katsuo into the crowd and hits a chair shot. Back in the ring he hits a chair-assisted kneedrop. Katsuo hits a suplex. Takagi hits the Yo Throw. He hits a lariat in the corner. He hits the Gallon Throw. He hits an exploder for 2. Katsuo drops him on his head with a back suplex. Takagi hits a lariat for 2. He hits the Pumping Bomber, nearly taking Katsuo’s head off, for the win at 4:47. That back suplex was probably the highlight of Katsuo’s career.
Rating: *½

Super Shisa {PH} vs. Tozawa [Round Robin Tournament Match]
Tozawa attacks during introductions. He dropkicks Shisa to the floor and hits a suicide dive. Back in the ring he hits a dropkick. Shisa works the arm. That goes on for most of the match. Shisa hits a back bodydrop and puts on a Mexican surfboard. Tozawa hits a dropkick. He hits another dropkick and the Apron Kara Tozawa for 2. He hits a cool moonsault for 2. Shisa confounds Tozawa and gets a roll up for 2. Tozawa returns the favor for 2. Shisa gets a few more roll ups until one sticks and he gets the win at 5:39. Nothing to see here. Why bother with this on PPV? Shisa is now tied with Doi and Yoshino in first place.
Rating: *

Naoki Tanisaki {DF} vs. Dragon Kid {DF} [Round Robin Tournament Match]
It was Tanisaki’s fault that Kid was stripped of the belt in the first place, so this is an interesting matchup. Tanisaki attacks Kid during his entrance. He shoves Kid into the crowd, and then boots a chair into his face. In the ring Tanisaki puts a garbage can on Kid’s head and hits it with the Casanova for 2. Kid comes back with slaps and headbutts. Tanisaki hits the DH for 2. He misses a shot with the garbage can. Kid puts Tanisaki in the garbage can and hits a dropkick. He hits thyoe Messiah for 2. He hits a stun gun and the Jesus for 2. Tanisaki hits the FH. Kid blocks the Implant by putting on the Christo. Tanisaki gets to the ropes. The fight spills to the floor. Tanisaki makes a chair pile. He hits a couple of chair shots. Kid hits a dropkick. Tanisaki hits the Implant on the chair pile and runs back into the ring. Kid gets counted out at 8:34. Even discounting the anticlimactic finish this was a poorly paced match. Tanisaki gets his first points, tying Kid in the overall standings at 2nd place. Kid gets taken out of the arena on a stretcher.
Rating: **

Masato Yoshino {BG} vs. Naruki Doi {BG} [Round Robin Tournament Match]
Doi hits a shoulder tackle to start. They slap each other in a much stiffer fashion than you’d expect from teammates. Yoshino hits a head scissors takedown. Doi blocks the Coumori but Yoshino catches him with a crucifix pin for 2. Yoshino works the arm. He hits it with a legdrop and a dropkick. Doi comes back with a leaping elbow. He hits the Dai Bosou. He puts on the Stretch Muffler. Yoshino gets to the ropes. The fight spills to the floor and Doi whips Yoshino into the crowd. Back in the ring he hits a vertical suplex for 2. They trade elbows in an exchange that Doi wins for 2. Doi hits a back suplex for 2. Yoshino hits the Sling Blade. He hits a swinging DDT and puts on From Jungle. Doi escapes and hits a basement dropkick. Yoshino hits a low blow. Some friend. Doi crotches Yoshino on the top rope. He puts on the pendulum and slams Yoshino on his face. He hits a flying elbowdrop for 2. He exposes a turnbuckle, but ends up eating it when Yoshino regains control. Yoshino hits a floating shotgun dropkick. Doi hits a turnbuckle powerbomb. Yoshino hits an avalanche DDT. He hits Doi with the Bakatare Sliding Kick for 2. Doi hits a straight jackets suplex for 2. He hits the Bakatare Sliding Kick for 2. Yoshino blocks the Doi 555 with another DDT. Doi hits the Rydeen Bomb for 2. He hits the Doi 555. He gets a roll up for 2. Yoshino gets a roll up for 2. The crowd thought that was it. Doi gets the V9 Clutch for 2. Yoshino hits the Lightning Spiral. He puts on the Sol Naciente but the 20:00 time limit expires before Doi can quit. This match ruled. The time flew by and I was dying for more. This was even better than their match from a year before. The thing I find most amazing is they had an even better match in 2009 that was completely different from this one. Everyone makes nice after the match.
Rating: ****

At intermission they show a couple of matches from Infinity 37. You can read my reviews of all of Infinity 37 here.

CIMA {BG} & Don Fujii {BG} vs. Masaaki Mochizuki {FM} & Susumu Yokosuka {FM}
Fujii and Referee Kanda have a heated confrontation before the match, leading to Fujii and CIMA beating the crap out of Kanda and hitting him with a spike piledriver on a chair pile. Yokosuka and Mochizuki run out to stop the beating and Yagi takes Kanda’s place as referee. Everyone brawls around the building. In the ring CIMA whips and chokes Yokosuka with a jump rope. He trips over the jump rope, which allows Yokosuka to use it as a weapon against him. Then he jumps rope in the ring to the crowd’s delight. Fujii hits Mochizuki with an elbowdrop. He hits a dropkick. Yokosuka hits a kneedrop. CIMA hits a senton. He hits three double stomps and another senton for 2. He puts on an abdominal stretch but Yokosuka hits a hiptoss to escape. Mochizuki hits a back kick. He puts on a heel hook. Fujii makes the save. Mochizuki kicks the crap out of Fujii. Yokosuka hits an armbreaker and puts on an armbar. CIMA makes the save with a bulldog. He dropkicks Yokosuka into the turnbuckle. He hits the hanging double stomp for 2. He hits the Superdrol and the Ace Crusher for 2. Yokosuka crotches him up top and Mochizuki hits the Sankakugeri. Fujii hits a powerslam for 2. Mochizuki hits an ax kick. Fujii hits a lariat. CIMA hits a capture suplex. He hits Yokosuka with the Nakayubi for 2. Mochizuki hits a chest kick for 2. Yokosuka hits a crucifix bomb for 2. CIMA hits the Perfect Driver for 2. Takagi and Yoshino powder Yokosuka and Mochizuki. Arai brilliantly spits water in Yokosuka’s face to wash it out of his eyes. Yokosuka hits Fujii with a lariat. CIMA superkicks Fujii by mistake. Mochizuki hits the Sankakugeri. Yokosuka hits the Jumbo no Kachi for 2. Mochizuki hits the Twister. Yokosuka hits the Yokosuka Cutter for 2. Fujii and CIMA hit a chokebomb for 2. Fujii hits a lariat. Mochizuki gets a roll up for 2. Fujii hits the Nice German for 2. He hits it again for the win at 16:01. It’s so weird to see Mochizuki dropping falls, after being used to him as Dream Gate champ. The match was solid, but didn’t really pick up until the final few minutes. Those minutes were insane though.
Rating: ***½

After the match Blood Generation continues to beat up Mochizuki and Fujii. Kanda runs back out, mohawk done up and in full M2K gear and wielding the blue box to make the save and clean house. Fujii looks shocked, but Kanda says he’s ready to return to the ring. Original M2K is back! The crowd goes absolutely insane for it. President Okamura comes out and makes a match between the Original M2K trio and Blood Generation for next month’s PPV.

Magnitude Kishiwada © {BG} vs. Ryo Saito {DF} [Open the Dream Gate Championship Match]
They lock up to start. Saito hits a shoulder tackle. They go to the floor where Kishiwada suplexes Saito onto a few rows of chairs. He goes for a chair shot but hits the post. Saito hits an armbreaker. He hits Kishiwada’s shoulder with a chair. In the ring he hits an elbowdrop to the shoulder. He puts on an armbar. He hits another armbreaker. Kishiwada comes back with a dropkick. He drags Saito into the crowd and hits a snap suplex. He hits a clothesline. He breaks a chair over Saito’s head at ringside. Saito beats the count at 8. Kishiwada hits an avalanche with the help of a chair. He breaks another chair over Saito’s head. Saito is too messed up to even run the ropes. Kishiwada puts on a chinlock. He hits a clothesline for 2. He goes back to the chinlock. Saito gets to the ropes. Kishiwada hits a bodyslam but a moonsault hits knees. Saito struggles for and eventually hits a bodyslam. After a rough start he hits the Fisherman Express for 2. He goes back to work on the shoulder. Kishiwada hits three backdrop drivers for 2. He whips Saito into a table at ringside. He puts Saito on the table and puts him through it with a splash off the top. Saito beats the count at 19. Kishiwada hits a powerbomb after botching one. It gets 2. Saito counters the Last Ride to a sunset flip for 2. He gets a roll up for 2. Kishiwada hits a lariat. Saito hits a dragon suplex for 2. He puts on a cross armbreaker. Kishiwada escapes by slamming Saito into the corner. He hits a clothesline and a German suplex. He hits another German suplex for 2. He hits a bodyslam and a big splash for 2. He hits the Last Ride for 2. Saito hits a backdrop. He hits a fisherman superplex for 2. Kishiwada hits a clothesline but Saito doesn’t feel it. He hits another, which only serves to improve Saito’s confidence. Saito hits an armbreaker and a German suplex. Kishiwada gets fired up and hits a dragon suplex for 2. Saito counters the Last Ride to a hurricanrana. He powers through a clothesline and hits a dragon suplex for 2. He hits the Premium Bridge for the win and the title at 27:32. Sure Saito had a good target to work with, but Kishiwada never sold the shoulder. The match was far longer than it needed to be, going almost thirty minutes with a significant amount of inaction.
Rating: ***

This was an amazing show, with a great midcard match, a shocking return and a title change in the main event. You can’t ask for much more than that.