April 19, 2009 – Kyoto, Japan
So in my last Infinity review I mistakenly said that this week featured the beginning of the Twin Gate number one contender tournament, when in fact it features the entire tournament. The first and second rounds in clip form and the finals mostly in tact (by Infinity standards). So that said, my apologies and here’s the championship rundown:
Open the Dream Gate Champion: Naruki Doi
Open the Twin Gate Champions: Gamma & Susumu Yokosuka
Open the Triangle Gate Champions: CIMA, Gamma & KAGETORA
Open the Brave Gate Champion: CIMA
The show starts with clips from the first round. The Young Bucks defeated Anthony W. Mori (taking the injured Taku Iwasa’s place) & Kenshin Chikano. Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk defeated Akira Tozawa & Shingo Takagi. Masaaki Mochizuki & Super Shenlong defeated KAGETORA & RYOMA. Kenichiro Arai & Yasushi Kanda laid down for their teammates Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito, which becomes important later on.
We get about a minute of the semi-final match between World-1 and the Young Bucks. Yoshino & Hulk win when Yoshino hits Nick Jackson with the Lightning Spiral.
They show about the same amount of the match between Mochizuki & Shenlong and Horiguchi & Saito. Saito spends the match abusing Mochizuki’s knee with a wrench. However, it’s Shenlong that loses the match for his team. Mochizuki seemingly has the match won after hitting Saito with the Ikkakugeri, but Shenlong shoves him out of the way, seeking glory for himself. Sadly he misses a shooting star press and Horiguchi rolls him up for the win. What a tool.
Shingo Takagi {K} Dragon Kid {K} & Akira Tozawa {K} vs. YAMATO {RH}, Cyber Kong {RH} & Yasushi Kanda {RH}
The story here is that Kong walked in front of the camera during one of Takagi’s backstage interviews and the two got into a brawl. Yoshino and KAGETORA got caught up in the fight, leading to their four way at the PPV. But tonight only Kong and Takagi get to fight, and it is part of this six-man tag. Real Hazard attacks before the bell and everyone brawls at ringside. In the ring Kong puts Takagi down with a shoulder tackle. Tozawa screams to throw YAMATO off and hits him with a dropkick. He hits Kanda with a dropkick. Takagi hits a vertical suplex and puts on the Sharpshooter. Kanda gets to the ropes. He gouges Tozawa’s eyes to regain control for his team. Kong brings chairs into the ring and hits everything in sight. He blasts Tozawa’s leg with the chair. YAMATO tapes Tozawa’s mouth shut in a rather brilliant move. Sadly for Real Hazard, Tozawa’s voice is so powerful that he literally screams the tape off. He hits a butt butt and tags to Takagi. Takagi cleans house. Kid hits a swinging DDT on YAMATO for 2. Takagi hits Kong with a Death Valley driver. He hits a powerbomb for 2. Kanda hits Kid with the side slam for 2. Tozawa hits the Apron Kara Tozawa for 2. Kid puts on the Christo. Kong pulls him off and hits a Germans suplex. YAMATO hits a brainbuster for 2. Kid hits YAMATO with a super hurricanrana. He hits another hurricanrana (the commentators call it a Mysterio hurricanrana) for 2. Takagi hits a lariat. He hits another knocking YAMATO to the floor and Kid follows him out with the moonsault. Takagi hits Kanda with the Blood Fall and Tozawa hits a German suplex for 2. YAMATO hits Tozawa with the blue box and Kong finishes him off with the Pineapple Bomber and a splash at 14:49 shown of 19:08. Aside from the novelty of the tape spot this was all over the place. The action was consistent down the stretch, but for a good chunk of the match everyone, especially YAMATO and Tozawa, looked lost.
Rating: **½
Kong and Takagi brawl after the match. KAGETORA sneaks in to get a cheap shot on both of them. They make a 3 way match amongst them for the PPV. All of us watching the last few episodes know the match won’t stand like that.
BxB Hulk {W1} & Masato Yoshino {W1} vs. Ryo Saito {RH} & Genki Horiguchi {RH} [Tournament Finals/Number One Contenders Match]
Hulk and Saito start. I guess this is going to have to be the blow off for the feud between them. Hulk hits a dropkick sending Saito to the floor. Yoshino uses his speed to get the best of Horiguchi. He dropkicks Horiguchi’s face for 2. Saito rushes into the ring and the match breaks down. He throws Yoshino into Kong’s waiting arms in the crowd and beats on Hulk himself. In the ring Saito steps on Yoshino’s crotch. Yoshino comes back with the Sling Blade. Hulk tags in and cleans house with kicks. Horiguchi catches him with a DDT for 2. Hulk hits a senton for 2. Saito hits Yoshino with a German suplex for 2. Yoshino hits a powerbomb. Hulk hits a springboard spinning kick and Yoshino puts on From Jungle. Horiguchi counters Hulk’s EVO to an inverted DDT and Saito hits a splash off the top for 2. Saito hits Horiguchi by mistake and Yoshino follows with the shotgun dropkick for 2. He hits an avalanche Sling Blade for 2. He spots Kong on the floor and hits a suicide dive. Hulk hits Horiguchi with an avalanche EVO when Arai breaks up the pin. The referee keeps Arai from interfering further by hitting him with a back suplex. He tries to attack Saito but Horiguchi takes him out with the blue box. All of Real Hazard gangs up on Yoshino in the corner. Yoshino hits Kong with Another Space. He hits Horiguchi with the Torbellino and Doi runs in to hit the Bakatare Sliding Kick. Hulk hits the FTX for 2. Kong catches Yoshino with the Pineapple Bomber. YAMATO throws powder in Hulk’s face. Saito hits a dragon suplex and a German suplex for 2. Why is the referee counting for a team that attacked him? Saito hits the Double Cross for the win at 10:19 shown of 16:41. There was just too much outside interference and nonsense going on here. Yes it makes sense for Kong to go after Yoshino, but not every match has to have them interacting with each other.
Rating: **
After the match Yoshino gets on the microphone and shouts at Kong. He inserts himself into Kong’s PPV 3 way to make it a four corner match. Then Saito and Horiguchi call out the tag team champions and convince them to allow Kanda and Arai into the Twin Gate match on PPV to make that a 3 way. Looks like lying down paid off for Kanda and Arai. Gamma is a dummy for agreeing to that match.
The show ends with hype for various PPV matches. First up they show a video package of what led to Kong vs. Yoshino vs. Takagi vs. KAGETORA. Next up is a package for the Saito vs. Hulk feud that led to the YAMATO vs. Hulk match on PPV. Gamma’s bonehead decision to let four members of Real Hazard challenge for the Twin Gate belts is up next, reminding me of the RAW replays of stuff that happened before the commercial break.
We also see CIMA defeating Yoshino for the Brave Gate title and Dragon Kid challenging him for the belt backstage the same night. The two have taken cheap shots at each other since then, both in and out of matches.
Naruki Doi squeaked out a miracle victory over Koji Kanemoto on the last PPV. Akebono then challenged him for the belt after squashing both Don Fujii and Masaaki Mochizuki. The two Zetsurins accompanied Akebono to the ring, so he, like Kanemoto before him, is an honorary Zetsurin going into his PPV Dream Gate shot.
To wrap up the show we see a scene from earlier in the day when CIMA, wearing pantyhose on his head and a diaper for clothes attacked Dragon Kid backstage with a broom. He drags Kid outside and chokes him out. How odd.
