June 7, 2009 – Nagoya, Japan
championship rundown:
Open the Dream Gate Champion: Naruki Doi
Open the Twin Gate Champions: Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi
Open the Triangle Gate Champions: CIMA, Gamma & KAGETORA
Open the Brave Gate Champion: CIMA
CIMA © {W5}, KAGETORA © {W5} & Gamma © {W5} vs. Masato Yoshino {W1}, BxB Hulk {W1} & PAC {W1} [Open the Triangle Gate Championship Match]
Gamma cheated to retain the belts last time these teams met. Yoshino made him pay for that in their Dream Key match, but he still wants the belts. CIMA and Hulk start. I wonder if people are still upset that this matchup didn’t main event the Kobe show back in 2008. KAGETORA tags in, allowing World-1 to take control. Yoshino and Gamme tag in and wake up the crowd. Gamma spits in Yoshino’s face. Hulk tags in and kicks Gamma around. He starts working the arm. Yoshino double stomps the arm. Hulk hits a senton for 2. Gamma spits in his eye to come back. CIMA cleans house. He hits a double stomp for 2. Gamma gives him the Osuikougeki. Hulk comes back with kicks on everyone. Yoshino dropkicks Gamma’s head on the apron. PAC hits a big dive on the floor. CIMA hits Yoshino with a double stomp for 2. Yoshino hits the Sling Blade for 2. He puts on From Jungle. Gamma spits in PAC’s face. PAC kicks his face. He hits a standing corkscrew shooting star press for 2. He hits a slingshot Ace Crusher for 2. Gamma blocks a shooting star press with his knees. CIMA hits the Iconoclasm and KAGETORA hits the flying elbowdrop for 2. Hulk hits KAGETORA with an enziguiri. World-1 kills KAGETORA with missile, springboard and shotgun dropkicks. Yoshino hits the Ude Yoshino and puts on the Sol Naciente. Gamma makes the save. He and CIMA hit the double superkick and the double Tokarev. They hit the Schwein Special while KAGETORA hits the Ikkitousen. It only gets 2. Gamma nails Yoshino with the cane. CIMA tries too but hits KAGETORA. Hulk hits the Mouse. Yoshino hits the Torbellino and gets the Speed Star for 2. PAC hits the shooting star knee. Hulk hits a superkick for 2. He hits the EVO and PAC hits the corkscrew shooting star press for the win and the titles at 17:35 shown of 23:00. I like that WARRIORS-5 are legitimate tweeners now. This was worlds better than their match from 2 weeks ago. The beginning didn’t drag and the action never felt telegraphed. Even the friendly fire shot didn’t come in its usual form, and served to dish out some karma to the WARRIORS, who’d been cheating too much to win their matches.
Rating: ***
Ryo Saito © {RH} & Genki Horiguchi © {RH} vs. Shingo Takagi {K} & Dragon Kid {K} [Open the Twin Gate Championship Match]
Kid asked for this shot after Takagi defeated Real Hazard leader YAMATO. Dragon Hawk were the runners up in last year’s Summer Adventure Tag League, so they’ve got a good shot here. Kid and Horiguchi start. They trade holds until Horiguchi goes after the mask. Saito tags in and pulls on the mask. Takagi tags in and presses through Saito’s cheap shots to hit a bodyslam. He hits Horiguchi with a vertical suplex for 2. He swings Kid into Horiguchi. Saito ducks the maneuver. The champs force Kid to help them hit a triple dropkick on Takagi. Everyone fights to the floor, where Saito suplexes Takagi onto a pile of chairs. In the ring Horiguchi hits Kid with a DDT. Yasushi Kanda and Kenichiro Arai rush in for a quadruple team attack on Kid for 2. Saito chokes him with his whip. Kid comes back with kicks but Saito grabs his ankle to keep him from leaving the ring. Kid baits Saito into nailing Horiguchi and tags to Takagi. Takagi cleans house. He hits Horiguchi with a powerslam for 2. He blocks a moonsault with his knees. Horiguchi gets the Backslide from Hell for 2. Kid hits Saito with a hurricanrana. Saito hits the Fisherman Express but Kid stops his momentum with a stunner. Kid hits a double stomp. He hits the 619 and Takagi hits the Blood Fall for 2. Saito hits a German suplex. Horiguchi hits a powerbomb for 2. Saito hits a frog splash for 2. Kid hits the super hurricanrana. Real Hazard gangs up on Takagi in the corner. Takagi comes back with a double DDT. He hits the DVD on Horiguchi. He hits the Pumping Bomber and Kid hits the Ultra Hurricanrana for 2 when Saito takes out the referee. Saito goes after the mask again. Takagi works over Saito while Kid dives onto Horiguchi on the floor. Takagi hits the Avalanche Falconry for 2. Horiguchi mists Takagi. Saito hits a German suplex and a dragon suplex for 2. Horiguchi hits the blue box shot. Real Hazard tapes Takagi to the ropes as Horiguchi hits Kid with the Beach Break for 2. Saito hits the Double Cross for the win at 19:19 shown of 23:16. Full disclosure: I see Horiguchi in a match and it’s hard for me to focus. Also, I’m just not in love with these Twin Gate champs. Back when Kong and YAMATO were champs they made Real Hazard look tough by having force and skill. The cheating gave them an advantage but it wasn’t their whole game. I don’t know if I can say the same for Saito and Horiguchi. The crowd was about as into this as I was, so at least I feel validated that I didn’t find this all that interesting with all its overbooking.
Rating: **
After the match they advertise Taku Iwasa’s return, as Kamikaze goes after World-1 and the Triangle Gate belts.
The show wraps up with a B-team World-1 vs. Kamikaze six-man tag. It ended with Akira Tozawa pinning m.c.KZ. After the match in the back Naruki Doi tore into KZ. KZ, whose voice is surprisingly deep. KZ doesn’t seem as apologetic as usual. We also see clips of a match between Arai and Susumu Yokosuka. Arai cheats like crazy with Saito’s help en route to defeating Yokosuka and getting closer to CIMA and the Brave Gate title.
Next week Masato Yoshino tries to Open the Dream Gate and CIMA & Gamma begin their quest for the Twin Gate belts.
