Dead or Alive 2010

May 5, 2010 – Nagoya, Japan

Championship Rundown:
Open the Dream Gate Champion: YAMATO
Open the Triangle Gate Champions: Akebono, Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii
Open the Brave Gate Champion: Tigers Mask
Open the Twin Gate Champions: Shingo Takagi & Cyber Kong
Open the Freedom Gate Champion: BxB Hulk

World-1 and the WARRIORS come out to the ring to start the show with a lottery to decide who will get the advantage in the elimination match. Ryo Saito is acting very goofy, but it might just be excitement at being back. CIMA gets on the microphone and runs down World-1, paying particular attention to Masato Yoshino. Yoshino fires back on the microphone. Saito asks for the honor of selecting the position for his team, but Yoshino gets a better draw. World-1 will get the advantage.

Super Shisa {Z} vs. Takuya Tomakomai
This is Tomakomai’s on-screen debut. He powers Shisa to the ropes to start. Shisa puts on a cravat. He holds on through a bodyslam. Tomakomai gets a headlock takeover but Shisa quickly regains control. Shisa holds Tomakomai on the mat for 2. Tomakomai puts on the body scissors. Shisa puts on a half crab. He hits European uppercuts. Tomakomai comes back with chops. He hits a bodyslam for 2. Shisa puts on an armbar but Tomakomai gets to the ropes. Shisa hits a butterfly suplex for 2. Tomakomai hits a vertical suplex for 2. He hits an atomic drop and a leaping shoulder tackle for 2. Shisa hits a dropkick. He hits a piledriver for 2. He puts on a camel clutch for the win at 6:31. After the match Shisa makes sure Tomakomai is alright and they show each other respect. Tomakomai looked solid, and was allowed to get in a decent amount of offense against the currently hot Shisa. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him set up with one of the bigger units soon. Maybe a Drunker who feuds with Cyber Kong due to his size.
Rating: **

K-ness & Susumu Yokosuka vs. NOSAWA Rongai {TG} & MAZADA {TG}
After finally winning their feud against the Deep Drunkers, K-neSuka asked Kong and Shingo Takagi for a shot at the Twin Gate belts. This is seemingly their last obstacle before getting that match. Rongai and MAZADA attack before the bell. Rongai pokes Yokosuka’s eyes. He hits a shoulder tackle. Yokosuka hits a lariat. MAZADA hits K-ness with a shoulder tackle. He hits a Manhattan drop. K-ness hits a leg lariat. Rongai hits a head kick for 2. He gets a crucifix pin for 2. MAZADA hits a legdrop and a dropkick for 2. He chops K-ness to the mat. The crowd is totally silent, as Gurentai is not over at all. They put on a Boston crab/chinlock combo. K-ness hits a vertical suplex. He hits an enziguiri. Yokosuka cleans house. Rongai hits a backdrop driver. He hits a super exploder for 2. K-ness hits a DDT on MAZADA for 2. He puts on the Aoki Hikari. They hit stereo clotheslines and the SukaDora Knee for 2. Rongai hits K-ness with a superkick and Yokosuka with a DDT. He and MAZADA hit a double flapjack on K-ness. They hit Yokosuka with a double vertical suplex. Rongai hits the Shining Wizard and MAZADA hits a German suplex for 2. MAZADA hits a lariat and a Michinoku Driver for 2. He goes for another lariat, but Yokosuka opens him up for the Shouryuukyaku. He hits the Mugen for 2. He hits the Jumbo no Kachi. He hits another for the win at 10:17. Hopefully that’s the end of Gurentai on Dragon Gate PPV for a while, but given that they’ve been booked on both 2010 PPVs so far without any build at all I doubt my hope will materialize. The crowd was heavily invested in K-neSuka, but never expected them to lose. As such they were silent for Gurentai. Sadly, Gurentai was almost always in control, making this crazy boring.
Rating: **

On February 7th Cyber Kong returned after a battle with a bad neck and possibly some mental demons. He and Shingo Takagi quickly won the Open the Twin Gate Championships. Akira Tozawa was upset that neither he nor KAGETORA were chosen to be Takagi’s partner. Tozawa pestered Takagi and Kong for months, pointing out that Kong wasn’t a member of Kamikaze and shouldn’t be Takagi’s partner. Tonight’s match between Tozawa and Kong has a lot on the line, as the loser will be relegated to wrestling dark matches for a while.

Akira Tozawa {K} vs. Cyber Kong
Kong absorbs Tozawa’s offense to start. He hits a huge shoulder tackle. Tozawa goes for a headlock so Kong drops him on a turnbuckle. That tweaks Tozawa’s knee. Kong drops Tozawa knee-first on the apron. He hits a shinbreaker. He clotheslines the knee. He hits an elbowdrop on the knee. He hits a press slam. He hits an avalanche. He puts on the Stretch Muffler, lifting Tozawa off the mat. Tozawa gets to the ropes. His leg is too messed up to make it across the ring, but he manages a drop toehold into the corner. He hits a back suplex. Kong bails so Tozawa hits a suicide dive. He hits the Apron Kara Tozawa and a senton. He dropkicks Kong’s knee but the big man won’t leave his feet. Tozawa hits a miracle bodyslam. Kong hits another avalanche. He hits a lariat in the corner. He hits a splash for 2. He hits a stun gun. He misses a flying elbowdrop. Tozawa hits a German suplex for 2. He screams over his knee, which didn’t seem to be hurting him for the last couple of minutes. He hits a hurricanrana for 2. Kong hits a lariat for 2. He hits a powerbomb for the win at 9:08. I’m not wild about Tozawa’s knee injury disappearing, but Kong was on offense for basically the entire match, which I’m hard pressed to complain about. This existed to make Kong look like a killer.
Rating: **½

Tigers Mask © {OP} vs. Dragon Kid {W5} [Open the Brave Gate Championship Match]
Shisa lost to Tiger Mask on an Osaka Pro Show, and in the subsequent Brave Gate match Mask won the belt. Kid is flanked by the WARRIORS, Mask by LOV. Mask is over as a heel with the Dragon Gate crowd. Kid hits a crossbody to start. He misses a dropkick and Mask hits one. Kid hits a head scissors takedown. He hits a pair of kneedrops for 2. Mask drags him to the floor and rams him into the post. He hits a snap suplex on the floor. He works Kid’s leg over with a couple of chairs. Back in the ring Kid puts on the Christo. Mask counters to the Stretch Muffler. You really shouldn’t see that hold twice on one show. Mask must have realized that, because he changes it up to a leglock. Kid gets to the ropes. Mask stays on the leg. Kid hits a head scissors takedown. He hits the 619 and the Bermuda Triangle. Back in the ring Kid hits a springboard dropkick for 2. Mask hits a jumping high kick. Kid hits the Diamond Dust. Mask hits a lariat. He hits a dropkick for 2. Kid blocks the buzzsaw kick so Mask kicks the leg. He put son an anklelock. He grapevines the leg but Kid gets to the ropes. Kid hits a dropkick. He goes for the Jesus but slips on the top rope. He covers up well by clutching his knee. Mask puts on a leglock. He hits a head kick, but that does as much damage as him as it does to Mask. He hits the Jesus, but screws it up again, landing back-first on the top rope. Dude’s having some trouble tonight. Mask dodges the 619 and hits a superkick. Referee Kinta keeps him from using a nightstick. He hits two buzzsaw kicks for 2. Kid hits an avalanche Ace Crusher for 2 when Black Buffalo distracts the referee. Mask throws Kid into the referee and hits a brainbuster. He loads his kick pad with the nightstick. Kid ducks a buzzsaw kick and gets a roll up for 2. Buffalo trips Kid and Mask hits a loaded buzzsaw kick for the win at 14:03. Kid actually worked the botched Jesuses into the story of the match, and Mask played heel as well as anyone has in a Dragon Gate ring in a long time.
Rating: ***½

Masaaki Mochizuki © {Z}, Don Fujii © {Z} & Akebono © {Z} vs. Takuya Sugawara {DD}, Kzy {DD} & Yasushi Kanda {DD} [Open the Triangle Gate Championship No DQ Match]
The Drunkers come out with a ton of plunder. The Zetsurins don’t come out empty handed either. The Drunkers attack before the bell. They get Fujii and Mochizuki to the floor and gang up on Akebono. That doesn’t go well for them. Everyone brawls around the building. In the ring Mochizuki hits Sugawara with an ax kick. He hits a chest kick. He hits the Twister. He puts on a boxing glove and hits a haymaker for 2. He beats Kanda with the glove. Kanda hits a dropkick. Kzy gets the glove and beats up Mochizuki with it. Kanda hits a back elbow for 2. Mochizuki hits the Sankakugeri. He kicks Kzy’s face off. Fujii hits a shoulder tackle. Akebono smacks Kzy and Fujii hits a back suplex for 2. They hit a double shoulder tackle. Fujii hits a chokeslam. Akebono follows suit. He hits an elbowdrop for 2 when Kanda dropkicks Referee Yagi. Kanda hits Yagi with the John Woo. Akebono hits Fujii and Mochizuki with an avalanche by mistake. He splashes Fujii by mistake. Sugawara spits beer in Akebono’s face. Mochizuki hits a red box attack. Akebono knocks him off the apron by mistake. He tries to redeem himself by clotheslining Sugawara and Kzy. Sugawara baits him into the post. He and Kzy chain Akebono to the post. Sugawara force feeds Akebono beer. Akebono looks like the Bandersnatch. Fujii clotheslines the blue box into Kanda. Kzy misses a powder shot. Fujii hits a low blow and powders Kzy. He hits a lariat and a chokeslam for 2. Sugawara hits a red box attack. He hits a vertical suplex. Kanda hits the flying elbowdrop for 2. Akebono mists Kzy with beer and Fujii gets a roll up for 2. Kzy comes back with KZ Time to Fujii. Kanda hits a chain-assisted flying elbowdrop for the win and the titles at 10:40. The match sputtered along at an odd pace, and the weapon shots never seemed more devastating than the Zetsurins strikes. Internal logic problems aside, this was less painful to watch than I’d anticipated, so points for that. After the match Kzy wears all three belts as though he were Keiji Mutoh with the Triple Crows while Kanda decks himself out in Akebono’s belt extensions. Akebono beats Kzy up for the hell of it.
Rating: **¾

Intermission time means a match from Dragon Gate’s past, and this time they actually dug into the archives a bit and didn’t just throw on a match from the week before this show.

Shingo Takagi vs. YAMATO [No Rope Match – January 23, 2009]
I watched this match when it aired on Infinity and slapped a star rating on it, but I never did a proper review of it so here you go. Kong, who was YAMATO’s tag team partner in Real Hazard, helps YAMATO get the upper hand early on. Later, YAMATO charges Takagi but ends up flying into the crowd. Takagi hits a clothesline. YAMATO hits a brainbuster. Takagi powerslams YAMATO through a table. He smacks YAMATO around with a piece of the table. He hits MADE IN JAPAN for 2. YAMATO hits the Galleria for 2. Takagi hits the Last Falconry for 2. Kanda hits him with the blue box. YAMATO puts on the sleeper hold but Takagi hits MADE IN JAPAN again for 2. He hits a lariat. YAMATO reapplies the sleeper hold for the win at 9:02 shown of 25:19. More of the match was shown on Infinity, and my rating reflects what was shown there. However, if I were to go back and watch this again I’d likely give it a higher score given how much bigger a YAMATO mark I am now than I was then. After the match Real Hazard fights off Kamikaze and continues to beat on Takagi. YAMATO covers the unconscious Takagi with a Japanese flag.
Rating: ***½

Naruki Doi {W1}, Masato Yoshino {W1}, BxB Hulk {W1} & Naoki Tanisaki {W1} vs. CIMA {W5}, Gamma {W5}, Genki Horiguchi {W5} & Ryo Saito {W5} [Elimination Match]
It just occurred to me that if Gamma and Hulk switched teams it would make World-1 the original Muscle Outlaw’z. There was no real build for this, but neither faction had much going on for this show so we get a full confrontation match. CIMA and Doi start. CIMA hits a shoulder tackle and a chest kick. Tanisaki is out next. He helps Doi hit the hanging senton. Ryo Saito tries to come out early but gets dragged to the back by dojo boys and Horiguchi. That was cute. Tanisaki and Doi hit a double back elbow on CIMA. Horiguchi is out next. He hits Tanisaki with a swinging DDT. He hits Doi with a head scissors takedown. He hits a moonsault. Yoshino is out next. He hits Horiguchi with a supercharged dropkick. He hits a double stomp to Horiguchi’s hair. Gamma is out next, wrapped up like a salmon roll because he’s afraid of the stairs on the ramp. He spits in Yoshino’s face. Hulk is out next. He hits Horiguchi with an armdrag. He hits a roundhouse kick. Saito comes out last, but takes his time getting to the ring because apparently he’s Eugene now. Maraha! Isappa! Speed Muscle double-teams Horiguchi. Doi hits the Bakatare Sliding Kick. Horiguchi gets a backslide and Saito adds some leverage to eliminate Doi at 10:51. Hulk and Tanisaki hit Horiguchi with an elevated double stomp. Horiguchi ducks the Casanova and gets a roll up for 2. Tanisaki hits a facebuster and the Casanova for 2. Horiguchi gets the Backslide from Heaven for 2. Tanisaki hits the Implant to eliminate Horiguchi at 12:12. World-1 hits a triple kick on Saito. Hulk hits a leg lariat for 2. CIMA and Gamma hit Tanisaki with a double superkick. They hit the double Tokarev. Saito hits a back suplex and CIMA hits the Meteora to eliminate Tanisaki at 13:08. Hulk dropkicks Gamma. He hits Saito with the Mouse. Saito hits a dragon suplex. Hulk hits the First Flash and the EVO to eliminate Saito at 13:59.

Down to Hulk, CIMA, Yoshino & Gamma. CIMA hits Yoshino with the Superdrol. Gamma blocks a standing moonsault from Hulk with his knees. Everyone fights near the ropes. Yoshino accidentally sends Hulk over the top with a dropkick and Gamma baseball slides him to the floor at 15:20. The crowd is behind Yoshino. CIMA and Gamma hit an awesome double stomp/Blitzen combo for 2. Yoshino blocks another Blitzen and hits a dropkick. Gamma canes CIMA by mistake. He dropkicks CIMA by mistake. He gets his stuff together by hitting Yoshino with a lariat. Yoshino rolls Gamma up with a handful of tights to eliminate him at 18:23. CIMA is busted open from Gamma’s cane. He misses a knee kick in the corner and Yoshino tries to shoves him to the floor. That fails. CIMA hits a back kick. He hits a Tree of Woe dropkick. He misses the Tokarev. Yoshino misses the shotgun dropkick and CIMA hits the Superdrol. Yoshino hits the floating dropkick. CIMA hits the Perfect Driver for 2. They fight up top until CIMA hits the Neji to Hashi for 2. Yoshino counters the Crossfire to a sunset flip for 2. He counters the Schwein to a crucifix pin for 2. He hits the Lightning Spiral for 2. He hits the Torbellino. CIMA escapes the Sol Naciente and hits the Schwein for 2 after a beautiful sequence. They go back up top from where Yoshino hits the Lightning Spiral for the win at 27:09. I think we can safely pencil in Yoshino as the Dream Gate challenger for World in July. The elimination portion of this match was a lot of fun, but it was CIMA and Yoshino putting on their typical mind blowing sequences that made this a reason you need to go out of your way to see this show.
Rating: ****¼

YAMATO © {K} vs. Shingo Takagi {K} [Open the Dream Gate Championship Match]
YAMATO has his hair up, so you know he’s serious. It worked at for him at Compilation Gate. They lock up and trade a couple strikes. YAMATO misses a dropkick and Takagi hits a shoulder tackle. He hits a bodyslam. YAMATO takes a breather. Back in the ring YAMATO gets caught in a leglock. He gets to the ropes. He hits a leg kick. They trade chops in an exchange that goes Takagi’s way. They slug it out and Takagi clotheslines YAMATO over the top rope. He hits a crazy topé. Back in the ring he hits a back suplex. He hits another for 2. YAMATO catches him with a cross armbreaker, cranking the arm hard enough that Takagi bails. YAMATO hits him with a chair. Back in the ring YAMATO stays on the arm. Takagi frequently tries to force his way back into control but YAMATO picks at the arm to stop that. He puts on a kimura but Takagi gets to the ropes. Takagi dumps YAMATO on the top rope. He hits a gutbuster and a senton for 2. He puts on the body scissors. YAMATO gets to the ropes. Takagi hits a slingshot double stomp. He puts on a bow and arrow. YAMATO puts on the sleeper hold. Takagi quickly escapes but YAMATO nails him with a dropkick. YAMATO kicks the arm. He hits a running elbow and an exploder. He gets a crucifix pin for 2. He punts Takagi’s face. He hits a brainbuster for 2. He hits a back suplex. Takagi hits an exploder. He hits a powerbomb. YAMATO holds on to put on a cross armbreaker. Takagi hits another powerbomb to escape. YAMATO gets another armbar. Takagi hits a spear. He hits the Blood Fall for 2. After a brief exchange YAMATO goes back to the arm. Takagi powers out and hits the STAY DREAM. They slug it out until YAMATO falls to the mat. YAMATO hits a big boot. Takagi hits a Samoan drop. He hits a lariat. He hits MADE IN JAPAN for 2. He hits lariats, but he doesn’t have enough arm strength to take YAMATO off his feet. YAMATO attacks the arm. Takagi uses his other arm to hit a lariat. YAMATO puts on the sleeper hold. Takagi gets to the ropes. YAMATO hits the Galleria for 2. He puts on the sleeper hold but Takagi climbs the ropes and falls back to escape. Takagi hits a flurry of elbows. Takagi hits the Last Falconry for 2 because he dazed Kinta swinging YAMATO around before hitting the move. He hits a lariat. He hits the Pumping Bomber for 2. YAMATO puts on a guillotine choke, and when Takagi tries to escape YAMATO switches to the sleeper hold. When Takagi tries to escape that YAMATO puts on the cross armbreaker and that’s enough to make Takagi tap out at 31:35. This was much slower paced than you might expect it to be. The match was quite literally YAMATO trying to avoid Takagi’s big moves, make him lose his breath and pick apart his arm until the big man couldn’t hold on anymore. It took him thirty minutes and it was a hell of a thing to watch, but make no mistake this match won’t be for everyone. Takagi uses his singlet as a sling after the match and throughout the rest of the show, so points for that too.
Rating: ***¾

Takagi brings Kong into the ring and says that after talking so much trash and then losing it’s only right for him and Kong to do their thing apart from Kamikaze. KAGETORA gets on the microphone and tells Takagi he thinks that’s a bad idea. He knows he doesn’t have much sway in Kamikaze, being the last person to join, but he has a friend who might have more influence in the group. Taku Iwasa comes out to a big ovation. His rat tails are gone and he looks to have put on some weight during his semi-retirement. He tells YAMATO and Takagi that they had a great match, but they need to stay together to be influential in Dragon Gate. Takagi asks what that means for Kong. Iwasa says Kong should be accepted into Kamikaze. Kong thanks Iwasa and praises YAMATO, Takagi and KAGETORA. Tozawa is pouting, but Kong tells him they should try to get along. They shake hands. YAMATO says he looks forward to Iwasa’s return, and then promises to do well in Canada a few days later and to defeat Mochizuki in Korakuen Hall on May 13th.