Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival 2009

July 19, 2009 – Kobe, Japan

Every tile is on the line tonight! So here’s the championship rundown:
Open the Dream Gate Champion: Naruki Doi
Open the Twin Gate Champions: Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi
Open the Triangle Gate Champions: Masato Yoshino, BxB Hulk & PAC
Open the Brave Gate Champion: CIMA

Cyber Kong {RH}, Yasushi Kanda {RH} & Kenichiro Arai {RH} vs. K-ness {Z}, Super Shisa & Shisa Boy 
Super and Kanda start. Super hits a dropkick. K-ness and Kong tag in. K-ness stomps on Kong’s foot to keep his team in control. He and Super hold Arai in a Mexican surfboard and Boy hits a dropkick. Super and K-ness hit a dropkick sandwich. Kong press slams Boy onto his partners. He squishes his pineapple in Boy’s face. Arai hits a double stomp off of Kanda’s shoulders for 2. Boy puts Kanda in a surfboard stretch but Kong makes the save. Kanda and Arai hit a double flapjack for 2. Boy comes back with a dropkick. The Shisas hit Kong with a double dropkick. They both dive onto Kong on the floor. K-ness blocks a low blow with a kick. He hits an enziguiri to avoid being hit with Arai’s sake bottle. All three masked men pin Kanda for 2. Kong hits Boy with an avalanche, the Pineapple Bomber and a splash for 2. Boy gets a sunset flip for 2. Kong hits a lariat for 2. He hits a powerbomb for the win at 9:16. The retarded comedian on commentary was very distracting. That aside, this was decent fun, as everyone was game to get the crowd into the show and Real Hazard didn’t rely on their played-out tricks.
Rating: **¼

Abdullah the Butcher vs. Stalker Ichikawa
Before the match we get a video that helpfully replays everyone else Ichikawa has fought during his challenge series. They are: Jun Akiyama, Yuji Nagata, Shinobu Kandori, The Great Sasuke, Necro Butcher, Shiro Koshinaka, Akebono, Kensuke Sasaki and Ultraman Robin. This is his tenth and final match in the series. Ichikawa attacks Abdullah during his entrance. Abdullah smacks him down. He jabs a microphone into Ichikawa’s throat. Not surprisingly, it’s very difficult for Abdullah to get into the ring, as he’s still fat as hell and is almost 70 years old now. In the ring he hits Ichikawa with a headbutt. He jabs Ichikawa’s throat and does his pose, getting the crowd all excited. He hits an elbowdrop for the win at 2:34, I assume because nobody was confident he’d be able to stand up after delivering the move. To add credence to my theory, Abdullah takes a nap on top of Ichikawa before struggling to his feet with the help of the ropes. Then he hits another elbowdrop to please the crowd.
Rating: DUD

NOSAWA Rongai {TG} & MAZADA {TG} vs. Anthony W. Mori & Super Shenlong
From what I can gather, the only reason this match is happening is because TOKYO Gurentai are associated with Real Hazard, and Mori hates Real Hazard. Shenlong is wearing his see-through mask and fatigues, seemingly under the false impression that he’s in the WARRIORS-5. MAZADA pairs up with Mori and Rongai with Shenlong to start. Mori hits a hurricanrana and a dropkick. Shenlong positions his opponents on the floor so Mori can hit them with the Eleganton. Mori tries to return the favor but gets nailed with a suicide dive. Shenlong does the WARRIORS-5 pose, which is weird because they hate him. MAZADA tries to rip off his mask. He hits a backbreaker for 2. Rongai tags in, hits a bodyslam and rips off Shenlong’s mask. Shenlong gets it back on. Rongai and MAZADA hit a double flapjack and a double suplex for 2. Mori tags in and cleans house. He goes for the Eleganton but Shenlong picks MAZADA up because he wants to hit the winning move. He can’t suplex MAZADA so he asks for Mori’s help. That doesn’t work either. They hit a double shoulder tackle instead. They hit a double suplex on Rongai. Shenlong hits a backflip kneedrop and Mori hits the Eleganton. Shenlong hits a shooting star press for 2. MAZADA cleans house with clotheslines. Shenlong rips off his own mask and throws it in Rongai’s hands, hoping for a disqualification. The referee does nothing, but Rongai puts the mask on, gets charged up and hits the Shining Wizard for the win at 7:44. They gimmicked this up enough to make up for TOKYO Gurentai’s limitations. They played it for comedy, which was definitely the right way to go.
Rating: **

Kzy {RH} vs. Naoki Tanisaki {W1}
Kzy quit World-1 and teamed up with Real Hazard shortly after, costing CIMA and Gamma their shot at the Twin Gate titles. Tanisaki took offense because he teamed with Kzy regularly, and issues between the two of them were what led to Kzy leaving World-1 in the first place. They attacked each other on the Rainbow Gate special a week before this, Tanisaki threw Kzy into a lake and Kzy attacked Tanisaki in the shower, so now both guys are pretty bitter. Tanisaki attacks Kzy with a chair during his entrance. Kzy grabs it and goes for a chair shot but Tanisaki punches through it! Tanisaki goes for a suplex off the ramp but Kzy blocks it with a low blow and hits a piledriver. He throws Tanisaki off the ramp. Tanisaki rushes the ring and beats the count at 19. They trade shots until Tanisaki takes over with a knee kick and a headbutt. Arai distracts the referee while Kzy breaks three chairs over Tanisaki’s head and then knocks them all away with a fourth chair shot. That was an awesome visual, but it only gets 2. Tanisaki blocks the KZ Time with a boot. He hits the Casanova for 2. Kzy blocks the Implant so Tanisaki hits another Casanova and a series of nasty kicks for 2 when Arai pulls the referee to the floor. Kanda hits Tanisaki with the blue box and Kong hits the Pineapple Bomber. Kzy hits KZ Time for 2. Tanisaki blocks the CDJ and hits the Implant 2 when Kanda lays him out with the blue box. He hits the Ryus on the blue box. Kzy hit an avalanche CDJ for the win at the win at 7:54. As with previous matches on this show, this played to the strengths of both guys, as the brawl covered their limitations very well. The finish was super lame, but Real Hazard had to piss me off at some point on this show I guess.
Rating: **½

Akebono {Z}, Masaaki Mochizuki {Z} & Don Fujii {Z} vs. Susumu Yokosuka {W5}, Gamma {W5} & KAGETORA {W5} [Number One Contenders Match]
This match was built entirely around Akebono being next to unstoppable. 100 Little Curses by the Street Sweeper Social Club plays over the video package hyping the match! That is so awesome!!! The WARRIORS lay out Mochizuki and Fujii to start, but Gamma fails to do the same to Akebono. He lays all three opponents out with one charge. Gamma spits in his eye as everyone else brawls around the building. Akebono smacks water out of Gamma’s mouth and then gives him the Osuikougeki. Akebono levels Gamma with a chop. Fujii puts on a half crab. He and Akebono hit a double back elbow. Akebono stands on Gamma’s gut for 2. Gamma canes Mochizuki’s legs. KAGETORA hits an elbowdrop for 2. Everyone dropkicks Mochizuki’s knee. Yokosuka hits a knee stunner and puts on the figure 4 leglock. Gamma gives him the Osuikougeki. Mochizuki comes back with a roundhouse kick. Fujii hits a double DDT. He nails KAGETORA with a lariat. He stacks the WARRIORS in the corner and Akebono hits them with an avalanche. Mochizuki blocks a lariat and hits Yokosuka with a dropkick. Yokosuka hits an avalanche exploder and KAGETORA hits a flying elbowdrop for 2. Mochizuki hits a knee kick. He kicks KAGETORA’s chest incredibly hard for 2. Akebono misses an elbowdrop. Yokosuka hits him with the Jumbo no Kachi but it doesn’t move him. He hits it a couple more times, but then makes the mistake of going for a German suplex. Gamma canes Akebono, and with Yokosuka hits a double back suplex on Akebono for 2. Yokosuka hits an effective Jumbo no Kachi for 2. Gamma hits the Sky Twister Press for 2. He hits a superkick right to the nose. Mochizuki hits Yokosuka with the Sankakugeri. Fujii hits Gamma with a chokeslam and Akebono hits an elbowdrop for 2. Mochizuki hits the Ikkakugeri. Akebono hits a chokeslam and a splash for the win at 13:02. The theme of this show seems to be putting people in roles in which they excel. Akebono didn’t have to carry anything, and the other six used him as a prop very well. I still hope World-1 defends successfully against them, though.
Rating: ***

Next up we get a bonus match; CIMA defending the Open the Dream Gate Championship against Naruki Doi from September 22nd, 2007. I’m so happy this is here, because I was really upset that I hadn’t seen this before watching this show’s main event. Now I have it, though surely clipped up significantly.

CIMA {T} © vs. Naruki Doi {MO} [Open the Dream Gate Championship Match – Storm Gate 2007]
They fight over a wristlock to start. Doi takes control by working the leg. A hard clip takes us to CIMA hitting the Neji to Hashi. He goes for the Mad Splash but Doi puts up his knees. Doi hits a spinebuster for 2. He hits a back suplex for 2. He goes for a sunset bomb but CIMA blocks it. Doi settles for a German superplex. He hits the Doi 555 and the Bakatare Sliding Kick for 2 when CIMA’s leg falls against the ropes. Doi hits the Avalanche 555. CIMA hits a headbutt like a bullet for 2. He hits a DDT for 2. He hits the Tokarev and the Iconoclasm. He hits the Mad Splash for 2. Doi comes back with the Schwein and the Bakatare Sliding Kick for 2. Yes, he hit CIMA with the Schwein, taking a page out of Gamma’s book I guess. He hits the Muscular Bomb for 2. Boooooooooo. Nobody should ever kick out of that move… ever. It should be like the Pedigree, difficult to execute but deadly when successful. CIMA hits a superkick from behind. He hits the Bakatare Sliding Kick and the Schwein for 2. He hits two more Schweins for 2. He hits the Schwein Redline for the win at 9:37 shown of 25:49. Without three fifths of the match I feel uncomfortable putting a rating on this, but what was here was fun. Very much like an early 2000s WWE match with the amount of finishers used and stolen. I’m sure I’ll get to the full match at some point.

Next up they show a video of CIMA and Doi’s finishers. Doi has been successful with the Muscular Bomb and Bakatare Sliding Kick as champion, and CIMA has added the Meteora to his repertoire since returning from injury. We also get a video of YAMATO and Shingo Takagi’s road to reconciliation. Man, this is a long intermission.

Masato Yoshino © {W1}, BxB Hulk © {W1} & PAC © {W1} vs. Dragon Kid {K}, Taku Iwasa {K} & Akira Tozawa {K} [Open the Triangle Gate Championship Match]
Iwasa returned from injury (I still think he owes KAGETORA a beating) and helped Kamikaze escape obscurity and get a shot at the belts here. Yoshino’s gone bleach blonde! Hulk and Tozawa start. Tozawa hits a butt butt. They both miss dropkicks and throw Kamehamehas at each other. Kid and Yoshino tag in and the crowd erupts. At this point they were already slated to fight each other in Philadelphia for Dragon Gate USA’s debut show. Kid hits a hurricanrana. PAC takes out Kamikaze on the floor with a shooting star press. In the ring Iwasa and Tozawa double-team PAC for 2. Iwasa and Kid tie PAC and Yoshino up in a complicated submission. Tozawa tries to grab Hulk but Hulk gets the better of him. Hulk hits Tozawa with a dropkick for 2. Yoshino picks up crazy speed before dropkicking Tozawa. Tozawa sells it like a champion. Tozawa starts to get fired up as Hulk kicks him around. PAC blocks a butt butt with a dropkick. Tozawa hits a dropkick and tags Iwasa. Iwasa cleans house. He suplexes Hulk while falling back on PAC. Kid hits Yoshino with the Déjà Vu. He hurricanranas Yoshino from the apron to the floor. Iwasa hits Hulk with Kegon. Kid and Iwasa do the old AraIwa double stomp for 2. PAC hits a backbreaker on Kid. Iwasa hits PAC with the Noshigami on the apron. That was crazy. Yoshino hits Tozawa with the Sling Blade for 2. Kid hits Yoshino with a stunner and Tozawa hits the Apron Kara Tozawa for 2. Kid hits Hulk with a DDT. World-1 hits a triple kick on Kid. They all hit missile dropkicks for 2. Iwasa punts Hulk’s head and holds him for Kid’s super hurricanrana. Iwasa hits the Gouwan for 2. He hits it on PAC. PAC comes back with a sunset flip for 2. Iwasa puts his head and hits the Noshigami. Kid hits the Ultra Hurricanrana for 2. PAC blocks Tozawa’s German suplex. Hulk hits the Mouse and Yoshino hits the Torbellino. Tozawa comes back with the German suplex for 2. Iwasa hits the Gouwan on Tozawa by mistake. PAC hits the shooting star knee and Yoshino hits the Speed Star for 2. Tozawa hits Hulk with a hurricanrana for 2. Hulk hits an enziguiri and the EVO. PAC hits the corkscrew shooting star press for the win at 17:13. World-1 is just on fire as the champs. This was excellent, as the action moved insanely fast and nothing was botched. I’d love to see a rematch.
Rating: ***¾

After the match the Zetsurins come out and stare World-1 down.

Ryo Saito © {RH} & Genki Horiguchi © {RH} vs. Shingo Takagi {K} & YAMATO {K} [Open the Twin Gate Championship Match]
YAMATO started showing respect for Takagi after Takagi pinned him in a singles match. He went to New Japan to compete in the Best of the Super Junior Tournament, and when he returned to Dragon Gate he turned on Real Hazard to align with Takagi. Real Hazard hasn’t made it easy on him since, so he officially joined Kamikaze and decided to come after Real Hazard’s Twin Gate titles. YAMATO and Takagi attack before the bell. Saito spits in Takagi’s face. Takagi hits a back suplex. He and YAMATO hit Horiguchi with a double chop. YAMATO asks Takagi to hit him with a German suplex, so as to put more power on YAMATO’s exploder. Takagi hits a much delayed vertical suplex. He blocks a hurricanrana and hits a powerbomb for 2. Saito goes to town on both opponents with a chair. He hits YAMATO with a German suplex on the chair. Horiguchi blows mist in Takagi’s face and smacks him with a chair. Arai tapes Takagi to the turnbuckle. Horiguchi hits YAMATO with a DDT. He and Saito hit a double back elbow. Horiguchi dropkicks Takagi. The match is moving very, very slowly at this point. Saito hits a double stomp on YAMATO. He chokes YAMATO with his whip. Real Hazard blocks Kamikaze’s attempts to free Takagi, but the cameras never focus on that so if you’re not looking carefully you won’t see it. Horiguchi hits Takagi’s leg with a chair. He hits YAMATO with a brainbuster for 2. YAMATO finally hits Horiguchi with a spear and Saito with an exploder. He tries to help Takagi get free but the champions regain their composure and stop him.

Takagi eventually bites through the tape and clotheslines Horiguchi to the floor. He hits Saito with a superplex. He gets tagged in legally and cleans house. Horiguchi cuts off his momentum with an inverted DDT. Takagi comes back with an exploder. He hits a DDT and a kneedrop. He hits a powerslam and puts on the Manriki. YAMATO puts Saito in an anklelock and then the crossface. Arai distracts the referee while Kzy breaks up the submission holds. YAMATO hits Saito with a powerbomb. He kicks the arm and puts on a cross armbreaker. Saito gets to the ropes. He chokes YAMATO with the whip again. YAMATO spears the referee by mistake. Real Hazard gangs up on Takagi in the corner. Why is Kamikaze just waching this. Kzy hits Takagi with the CDJ. Saito, Kanda and Arai hit a three post massacre for 2. Kamikaze finally interferes to take out Real Hazard. Takagi and YAMATO hit a spear/clothesline combo on Saito. Takagi hits Horiguchi with the Avalanche Falconry for 2. He clotheslines YAMATO by mistake. Horiguchi gets a backslide for 2. Takagi hits a DVD and the Pumping Bomber for 2. He hits MADE IN JAPAN for 2. YAMATO hits Saito with a roaring forearm but gets dumped on his head with a German and dragon suplex. YAMATO hits a brainbuster for 2. Takagi hits the Pumping Bomber. YAMATO hits the Galleria for 2. Takagi hits a DVD on the apron. Horiguchi mists YAMATO, but that doesn’t stop him from putting on the sleeper hold. Arai powders YAMATO and Horiguchi gets the Backslide from Hell for the win at 22:04. So much of the match was spent at half speed while Takagi was tied to the turnbuckle. The last couple minutes were solid, but overall this was just more of the usual weak crap from Real Hazard.
Rating: **½

Naruki Doi © {W1} vs. CIMA © {W5} [Open the Dream Gate Championship vs. Open the Brave Gate Championship Match]
They lock up and Doi gives CIMA a clean break against the ropes. They jockey for position until Doi get a crucifix pin for 1. CIMA starts working Doi’s thigh. Doi comes back with a dropkick to the knee. He stays on the leg until CIMA goes to the ropes. Doi dropkicks the leg. CIMA tries to jump away but buckles and Doi dropkicks the leg again. CIMA rolls him up for 2. Doi hits a shinbreaker and puts on a leglock. CIMA gets to the ropes. Doi drags him to the apron and works the leg there. He hits a dragon screw on the ramp and puts on a figure 4 leglock there. The referee starts counting them out so Doi rushes the ring. CIMA rolls down the ramp and gets back in at 19. That was a smart way to get back fast without putting weight on the leg. CIMA hits a backbreaker and the Superdrol, but both moves damage his leg. He kicks Doi’s back with his good leg. He does it with his bad leg, hurting it. He drags Doi to the floor and hits a bodyslam. Back in the ring he puts on a camel clutch. He continues to work on Doi’s back. He hits a straight jacket Superdrol for 2. He hits a huge double stomp to the back. Doi avoids a double stomp and hits a DDT. CIMA counters the Bakatare Sliding Kick to a Samoan crab. Doi gets to the ropes. He dumps CIMA on the apron, kicks his knee and then hits a dropkick. He misses the senton and CIMA hits a double stomp to the back. Doi throws CIMA to the floor and hits a suicide dive. He hits the senton as CIMA crawls back into the ring. He hits a back suplex for 2. CIMA blocks the Doi 555 and hits an enziguiri. He hits a double stomp and clutches his leg. Doi hits a spinebuster for 2. CIMA counters a Muscular Bomb attempt to a roll up for 2. He hits the Perfect Driver for 2. Doi comes back with a German superplex. CIMA starts screaming about his knee. Doi pulls off his kneepad and goes back to work on the knee. CIMA gets a roll up for 2. He hits a superkick and the Schwein for 2. He hits the Tokarev. He hits the Venus and the Iconoclasm. He goes for the Mad Splash but Doi gets his knees up and hits the Doi 555. Doi hits the Bakatare Sliding Kick for 2. He hits the Dai Bosou and the Avalanche 555 for 2. Doi blocks the Crossfire and hits the Schwein. He hits a tiger suplex for 2. CIMA gets a roll up for 2. He hits the Schwein. He hits the Mona Lisa Overdrive. He hits a DDT and the Meteora for 2. He goes for it again but Doi avoids it and hits the Bakatare Sliding Kick for 2. He hits it four more, with CIMA egging him on the whole way, and then unifies the titles after hitting the Muscular Bomb at 29:49. What I don’t understand is if CIMA has no intention of selling, why do they devote such a large a portion of the match to working his leg? Sure he grabbed it a lot but it didn’t impede him from doing any of his offense, most of which included kicks and backbreakers. That aside, the match was never boring, and in a thirty minute match that’s important, but it was never special either. They never went balls to the wall, and the match was honestly pretty disappointing for a World main event.
Rating: ***½

First, I don’t know what the hell Dragon Gate was thinking having the high-pitched dude on commentary. He made so many potentially dramatic moments into jokes. It took over 2 hours for me to tune him out.

But in the big scheme of things that doesn’t really matter. So overall the Triangle Gate match stole the show. The main event was good but ultimately not good enough for its position on the card. I still think Doi vs. Yoshino should have headlined. At any rate nothing on the card was out and out bad (save for Stalker’s match, but that was short), so it’s certainly not a bad show. I just wouldn’t recommend you go out of your way for it unless you want to watch a fun six-man tag.