The Gate of Anniversary

March 22, 2009 – Tokyo, Japan

Man I haven’t done a Dragon Gate PPV review in a while. Here are the champions as we head into the show:
Open the Dream Gate Champion: Naruki Doi
Open the Twin Gate Champions: Gamma & Susumu Yokosuka
Open the Triangle Gate Champions: Shingo Takagi, Dragon Kid & Taku Iwasa
Open the Brave Gate Champion: Masato Yoshino

The show starts with a video package highlighting all of the feuds heading into the show, narrated by the commentators. Thirty minutes of it before the first match starts. I’d go crazy if I wasn’t able to fast forward this stuff.

KAGETORA {W5} & RYOMA {W5} vs. Akira Tozawa {K} & Kenshin Chikano {K}

KAGETORA and Chikano start, with KAGETORA predictably getting the upper hand. RYOMA and Tozawa tag in, with the more seasoned of the two again gaining control. RYOMA takes a kick sandwich, giving Tozawa 2. Tozawa hits a senton for 2. The rookies trade strikes in an exchange that Chikano wins. Tozawa tags in just in time to eat a dropkick from RYOMA. KAGETORA tags in and keeps his team in control with a flying clothesline. Chikano tags in and slaps on an armbar but KAGETORA gets to the ropes. KAGETORA comes back with a knee kick for 2. Tozawa pushes Chikano out of the way and hits a butt butt. He hits a diving headbutt for 2, avoiding CIMA along the way. He hits asick German suplex for 2 when KAGETORA makes the save. RYOMA hits Tozawa with the Space Flying Tiger Drop. KAGETORA and Chikano botch a spot. That’s sad, but KAGETORA quickly wraps things up with the Ikkitousen for the win at 6:31. Aside from Chikano’s nasty strikes and Tozawa’s fun shtick there wasn’t much to see here. RYOMA’s high flying felt tacked on and the finish was pretty rough too, which makes for a troublesome opener.
Rating: *¾

Masaaki Mochizuki {Z}, Don Fujii {Z} & Magnitude Kishiwada {Z}vs. Katsuhiko Nakajima {KO}, Kento Miyahara {KO}, & Takashi Okita {KO} 
Mochizuki starts by kicking Nakajima’s face off. They dance around looking for kicks but finding nothing. Fujii tags in and kicks Okita’s knee out. He catches him on the floor with a shoulder tackle. Miyahara misses a dropkick, allowing Kishiwada to dump him into Fujii’s violent arms on the floor. Mochizuki kicks Miyahara’s back on the apron. He hits a vertical suplex for 2. He kicks Fujii by mistake, allowing Miyahara to hit a superkick and tag out. Nakajima starts to clean house but eats Kishiwada’s lariat. Okita runs in and spears everyone. He hits Kishiwada with the Jackhammer for 2. Kishiwada comes back with an abdominal stretch. Mochizuki does the same to Nakajima. Fujii tries on Miyahara but ends up caught in the hold himself. He comes back with chops and a Russian legsweep for 2. Mochizuki kills Miyahara with kicks for 2. Fujii clotheslines Mochizuki by mistake. How bad is the communication between the Zetsurins? Nakajima and his boys nail Mochizuki with all their signature moves but only get 2. Mochizuki flips through a German suplex from Nakajima but Miyahara immediately catches him with another for 2. Nakajima hits him with his own Twister. Fujii rushes in for the save and sumo slaps Okita around the ring. Miyahara dropkicks Okita by mistake and Fujii hits a lariat. Kishiwada follows with a top rope splash and a double chokeslam with Fujii for 2. Mochizuki kicks Okita to the mat for 2. A few more kicks are too much for Okita and he’s down for the count at 10:23. The miscommunication spots felt really, really telegraphed, but that’s my only gripe with the match. Aside from that there were plenty of creative spots, and good work from the vets and the Kensuke Office guys I’d never seen before.
Rating: **¾

Before anyone can clear the ring Stalker Ichikawa’s music plays and the crazy freak comes out to the ring. He calls out the next challenger in his PPV series and, somewhat predictably given who’s already in the ring, Kensuke Sasaki answers the call.

Kensuke Sasaki {KO} vs. Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa
Ichikawa avoids Sasaki to start. He tries to chop the big man in the corner but does no damage. Sasaki floors him with one chop. He lifts Ichikawa up by his tights but can’t hit the Northern Lights Driver. Ichikawa goes for the Kancho but Sasaki’s butt muscles are too strong. Sasaki hits a bodyslam for 2. He hits the Northern Lights Driver for the win at 1:30. That was fun for what it was. After the match Sasaki poses with his team and the Zetsurins.
Rating: *

Susumu Yokosuka © {W5} & Gamma © {W5} vs. Ryo Saito {RH} & Genki Horiguchi {RH} [Open the Twin Gate Championship Match]
Saito spits in Yokosuka’s face before the bell, setting the tone for the match. Yokosuka hits a lariat out of nowhere. Gamma nails Horiguchi with the cane. He does all his gross spitting moves to Horiguchi before Saito trips him and pulls him to the floor. Back in the ring Saito and Horiguchi double-team Gamma for 2. With Real Hazard in control the match slows way down. I thought that wouldn’t happen as much with Saito on the team. Saito chokes Gamma with a whip. He and Horiguchi spit on Gamma, a lot. Gamma spits back and kicks both opponents down. Yokosuka tags in and takes Horiguchi out with an exploder. The crowd gets loud now that Saito has to face his comeuppance. Kenichiro Arai distracts Yokosuka and Saito starts to take control. Yokosuka counters a hurricanrana to a powerbomb. Saito comes back with a German suplex for 2. Yokosuka and Gamma hit stereo low blows, and Gamma helps Yokosuka do the double-team German suplex spot he used to do with Saito. Yokosuka hits Gamma by mistake (enough!) and gets blue mist in his eyes. Saito hits a dragon suplex for 2. Gamma and Yokosuka come back with multiple cane shots on Horiguchi. Horiguchi catches Gamma with the Backslide from Hell for 2. Gamma returns the favor for 2. Yokosuka beats the snot out of Saito, but Saito no-sells it and this a lariat. Yokosuka no-sells that and hits a dragon suplex and the Jumbo no Kachi but Horiguchi trips the referee. The referee hits Horiguchi with a back suplex. Yokosuka dives onto Real hazard on the floor. Gamma hits Horiguchi with the Gamma Special and the Sky Twister Press for 2 when Saito hits the referee with the blue box. That’s enough to get disqualified at 12:37. The match was more frustrating than anything, both in productive and unproductive ways. It was productive in that Yokosuka and Gamma were not yet able to get a satisfying measure of revenge on Real Hazard for the harm done to them. It was unsatisfying in that it featured more wrestling clichés than any one match really needs.
Rating: **

Masato Yoshino © {W1} vs. CIMA {W5} [Open the Brave Gate Championship Match]
I have been so excited to watch this match! It’s a rematch of my 2008 Dragon Gate Match of the Year, for those of you not paying attention. CIMA controls to start. CIMA misses a knee and falls to the floor, but retains control when he blocks a suicide dive with the Venus. He puts on a seated abdominal stretch. He gets a Gory slide for 2. He works over Yoshino’s leg. Yoshino comes back with an enziguiri. He picks up the pace to disorient CIMA and hits an armbreaker. He stays on the arm for a while, twisting, armbreaking it, and hitting it with a dropkick. He puts on a hammerlock. He dodges the Venus and puts on the Coumori. He gets a big running start from the floor and dropkicks CIMA’s head on the apron. CIMA hits a roundhouse kick and a suicide dive. Back in the ring CIMA hits the Superdrol for 2. He hits a chasing dropkick. Yoshino hits the Swing Blade for 2. He puts on an octopus stretch but CIMA gets to the ropes. CIMA hits a Tree of Woe dropkick but misses the Tokarev. Yoshino pops up and this the shotgun dropkick. CIMA uses the momentum to roll back and up and hits a double stomp. He drops Yoshino’s face on the turnbuckle and hits another double stomp for 2. They fight up top until Yoshino hits an avalanche Sling Blade. CIMA’s neck seems reinjured so Yoshino takes a breather. That turns out to be a mistake as CIMA hits a superkick. Yoshino comes back with a crucifix pin for 2. He hits the Ude Yoshino and the Lightning Spiral for 2. CIMA blocks a second Lightning Spiral and kicks Yoshino’s head. His neck is too hurt to quickly capitalize and he gets caught with the Torbellino. Yoshino puts on the Sol Naciente but CIMA quickly counters to the Schwein for 2. He hits it again for 2. Since that’s not getting it done he climbs the ropes for the Meteora. Yoshino runs up to block it and hit an avalanche Lightning Spiral, but CIMA blocks that and hits the Neji to Hashi. He hits an implant DDT and the Meteora for the win and the title at 18:08. This wasn’t the technical masterpiece that their Dream Gate match was, but it was still a good time. Sure, they completely forgot about the arm, leg and neck damage they’d inflicted upon each other and chose an arbitrary point to start hitting their finishers, but with a post-injury CIMA I don’t expect much more.
Rating: ***½

Shingo Takagi © {K}, Taku Iwasa © {K} & Dragon Kid © {K} vs. BxB Hulk {W1} PAC{W1} & Naoki Tanisaki {W1} vs. YAMATO {RH}, Yasushi Kanda {RH} & Kenichiro Arai {RH} [Open the Triangle Gate Championship Elimination Match]
Kamikaze lost a bunch of non-title matches to the other two teams to set this up. Kanda isn’t interested in the three-way lock up to start that Iwasa and Tanisaki want. As such they team up to try to eliminate Kanda, but have no luck. Everyone tags out, but the dynamic amongst PAC, Kid and Arai is the same. Arai uses the referee to help him attack both opponents. Takagi, Hulk and YAMATO tag in for a New Hazard explosion. The crowd gets hot for it. It easily exceeds all the action to this point and Takagi comes out on top. Iwasa and Kid tie Hulk and Kanda together in a submission. Everyone else gets involved in submission action except Tanisaki, who breaks up the whole mess. Takagi and YAMATO brawl around the building. Hulk cleans house on Real Hazard. Takagi knocks Hulk from the ring with a lariat. World-1 and Kamikaze team up to hit a massive suplex on all of Real Hazard (including an interfering Saito). Takagi catches PAC with a DVD, interrupting a sequence that saw everyone dive to the floor. PAC gets fancy diving off of Takagi’s shoulders, only to get slapped in the face. He comes back with a swinging DDT for 2. Iwasa and Arai do one of their AraIwa double-teams on PAC. That was awesome! Arai wants a handshake but Iwasa has none of it and beats the crap out of him. World-1 kicks them both in the corner. PAC hits the shooting star knee drop, Hulk hits the EVO and PAC hits the fall-away firebird splash for 2. He hits a corkscrew shooting star press to Real Hazard on the floor. Kanda goes for a blue box attack, but ends up eating the box himself. Arai smacks Hulk with his beer bottle to eliminate World-1.

YAMATO takes Takagi down with a chair shot. Real Hazard gangs up on Kid. Kid blocks the Galleria but gets nailed with a brainbuster. That gets 2 for YAMATO. Arai spits booze in Takagi’s face, but the rest of Kamikaze catches him in the corner and Kid hits a super hurricanrana. Iwasa hits the Gouwan for 2. He hits the Noshigami for 2. Takagi gets the crowd fired up and hits MADE IN JAPAN for 2. Takagi should have learned he can’t put YAMATO away with that move. YAMATO counters the Last Falconry to the sleeper hold but Iwasa makes the save. Kanda hits Takagi with a black box, but ends up eating it when YAMATO misses a swing at Takagi. Kid catches Kanda with the Ultra Hurricanrana for 2. Takagi kills Kanda with the Pumping Bomber. He hits the Avalanche Falconry for 2. He hits another Pumping Bomber for the win at 18:25. The match was full of great nods to the past, like Iwasa and Arai’s interactions, the New Hazard exchange early on and specific spots between Takagi and YAMATO. I’m a little disappointed that the finish was so straight, with the strongest player in the match simply destroying the weakest, but it makes sense from a logical standpoint. Also the friendly fire attacks were kept confined to Real Hazard, and didn’t occur multiple times throughout the match as I’d feared, so points for that.
Rating: ***¾

Cyber Kong {RH} vs. Anthony W. Mori [Mask vs. Hair Match]
I have high hopes for this match, as previous matches in the feud have been filled with psychological brilliance. Kong has Real Hazard in his corner, and Mori is accompanied by the Shisas. Mori hits a dropkick at the bell but can’t put Kong down. He hits a hurricanrana and follows Kong to the floor with the Eleganton. Back in the ring he goes after Kong’s arm. Kong pushes Mori around the ring and then clubs him on the apron. He hits a side suplex. Saito distracts the referee while the rest of Real Hazard puts a pile of chairs in the ring. Kong hits a press slam on the pile. He batters Mori’s leg with a chair. He hits a splash for 2. He hits an avalanche, making Mori dead weight. The crowd gets fired up as Mori blocks the Cyber Bomb. He hits a dragon screw and goes for the miracle bodyslam. Twice he fails, the second time with Kong falling on top of him. He wisely changes his game plan, opting to dropkick Kong’s knee. He goes for a Boston crab but Kong easily powers out. Kong goes for a chair but Mori snatches it away. Kong tries to slug it out of Mori’s hands, eventually shoving into the little guy’s face. He sits Mori in the chair and delivers a German suplex. I love that spot, but it’s so crazy dangerous. Kong pulls out a pair of scissors and starts cutting Mori’s hair! Mori realizes what’s going on and delivers a powerbomb out of the corner. He breaks a chair over Kong’s head, but Kong powers through. Kong avalanches the referee and Real Hazard gangs up on Mori. The Shisas intervene on his behalf but end up eating the Pineapple Bomber. Kong hits Mori with the Cyber Driver and Real Hazard counts 3. Things break down as Real Hazard and the Shisas get involved again. The Shisas masks get ripped off, causing the referee to throw the match out at 9:03.

Kong is having none of it. He tries to cut Mori’s hair despite not winning the match. Mochizuki and Fujii run out and make the save. Mochizuki tells Kong if he wants Mori’s hair he’s going to have to get a 3 count from the referee. He asks Mori if he’s up for it. Mori nods and the match gets restarted. Kong attacks right off the bat. Mori tries to fight back, powering through Kong’s lariat and hitting a vertical suplex. Kong hits the Pineapple Bomber for 2. Mori gets a roll up for 2. Kong hits a wheelbarrow suplex. He motions that he’s going to go for the Eleganton and climbs the ropes. Mori cuts him off and hits a superplex for 2. He puts on a cross armbreaker and keeps Kong from countering to the Cyber Bomb. Kong gets to his feet and Horiguchi throws powder in Mori’s face, but that only fires Mori up to reapply the hold tighter. Kong starts to fade and the crowd goes crazy. Kong gets to his feet but Mori is still fighting. Saito spoils everyone’s day when he hits Mori with the blue box and Kong hits the Cyber Bomb for the win at 3:59. The placement of the match was brilliant, adding so much drama because Kong could quite logically lose his mask in a match second from the top. I could have done without the restart, as I’m not really sure what it did for anyone. The rest of the match was the top notch drama I’ve come to expect from these two, as Kong needed a ton of help to put the little man down but still looks strong because he’s a monster. Would have been perfect had it not been for the pointless restart. Mori lets Kong shave his head after the match.
Rating: ***¾

Naruki Doi © {W1} vs. Koji Kanemoto {Z} [Open the Dream Gate Championship Match]
Kanemoto goes after the leg to start. Doi tries to slug it out but gets dazed by Kanemoto’s kicks. Kanemoto landing these strikes hard. Doi puts Kanemoto on the floro with a forearm. Kanemoto comes back with a kick to the head from the apron. In the ring Doi’s dropkick is met with a knee kick. The feel of these first few minutes is that Doi is completely, hopelessly outclassed, and that Kanemoto can answer anything with a stiff kick or knee. Kanemoto starts focusing his kicks on Doi’s leg, but takes time out to please the crowd by washing Doi’s face. Doi tries to return the favor, but Kanemoto blocks that too. Kanemoto hits the scariest superplex I’ve ever seen, flipping Doi onto the apron! He hits a Falcon Arrow on the floor. Doi barely beats the count at 19, and for his trouble he eats a hard kick to the face. Doi gets his first real advantage when he blocks a moonsault with his knees, but even then his own knee is so damaged from Kanemoto’s kicks that he’s slow to capitalize. He hits the Dai Bosou. He suplexes Kanemoto to the floor and follows him out with a suicide dive. He ties Kanemoto in the ropes and beats him up some before hitting the top rope senton. He hits a back suplex for 2. Kanemoto swats away a dropkick and kicks Doi’s head. Doi hits the Doi 555 and the Bakatare Sliding Kick for 2. He calls for the Muscular Bomb but Kanemoto rolls through. Doi plops down for 2 but Kanemoto immediately puts on the anklelock. He grapevines the leg but Doi gets to the ropes. Kanemoto stays on the leg with a figure 4. Doi gets to the ropes but Kanemoto relentlessly attacks the leg. Kanemoto hits the moonsault for 2. He reapplies the anklelock but Doi counters to a roll up for 2. Kanemoto cuts off his momentum with a jumping knee. Doi comes back with the Bakatare Sliding Kick. He hits a tiger suplex for 2 when Kanemoto gets in the ropes. Kanemoto slips on the anklelock again. Doi pounds Kanemoto’s leg until he releases the hold. He unremittingly punches and bites Kanemoto’s knee. He climbs the ropes but his own knee gives out and Kanemoto catches him with a tiger superplex for 2. Doi’s chest is bleeding from the kicks earlier in the match. He ducks a kick and gets a roll up for 2. Kanemoto counters the V9 Clutch to a modified anklelock. Doi gets to the ropes. Kanemoto hits a senton for 2. Doi goes for the Avalanche Doi 555 but Kanemoto pulls him down and reapplies the anklelock. Every time Doi gets close to the ropes or close to escaping Kanemoto changes the angle of the hold. Eventually Doi scrambles to the ropes and the crowd collectively breathes a sigh of relief. Kanemoto hits an overhead superplex for 2. He hits a tiger suplex for 2. Doi roles through an anklelock and hits Bakatare Sliding Kicks to Kanemoto’s back and front. He hits a tiger suplex for 2. He hits three more Bakatare Sliding Kicks for 2 and the Muscular Bomb for the win at 27:41.

Reports from the show said that Doi’s injury (apparently one of Kanemoto’s kicks concussed him) hurt the match, but I think they pulled through with an excellent story. The issue going into the match was that Doi was afraid of the anklelock anyway, so the match being so consumed with that move made sense. Watching Doi struggle with Kanemoto, who might as well have been Undertaker on Hard Mode in WrestleMania 2000 for N64, was such a treat because both men played their roles so well. Yes, I stole that N64 comparison, but it’s fitting. In fact, I think this might be the best Dream Gate match I’ve seen from Dragon Gate (I’d have to watch CIMA vs. Yoshino again), and blows a lot of 2008 out of the water. Like most things on this show, the only thing I didn’t love was the finish, which saw Doi pretty much come back from nowhere to hit a few finishers and take the match. Though even that I suppose I could reconcile by saying that Kanemoto got too greedy going for the same submission over and over, giving Doi his opening to wear him down with his signature kick before hitting the Muscular Bomb.
Rating: ****

Overall
Some of the booking decisions on this show were weird, like restarting the hair vs. mask match and most of the finishes in general. That said that action in three out of four of the title matches and said hair vs. mask match were all quite good. I’d say track down the show if for no other reason than to watch Kanemoto dominate for 30 minutes with some of the most disgusting strikes you’ll see this side of a Japanese women’s wrestling training video.