Gate of Destiny 2010

November 23, 2010 – Osaka, Japan

Open the Dream Gate Champion: Masato Yoshino
Open the Triangle Gate Champions: Naoki Tanisaki, Yasushi Kanda & Takuya Sugawara
Open the Brave Gate Champion: PAC
Open the Twin Gate Champions: Susumu Yokosuka & K-ness
Open the Freedom Gate Champion: BxB Hulk

Anthony W. Mori {PH}, BxB Hulk {PH} & Super Shisa {PH} vs. Ryo Saito {W5}, Genki Horiguchi {W5} & NOSAWA Rongai {TG}
Mori is retiring, so he put the Pos.HEARTS back together for his final PPV. Hulk gets to sidestep his no-dancing stipulation because the HEARTS do their pre-match dance instead. Saito and Mori start. They do their lucha-inspired exchange. Horiguchi hits Hulk with a dropkick. Hulk returns the favor. Rongai hits Shisa with a dragon screw. Shisa hits a rebound dropkick. He puts Horiguchi in the Romero Special. Hulk and Mori hit a double dropkick for 2. Horiguchi hits a back elbow. Saito and Rongai hit a double flapjack for 2. MARAHA! ISAPPA! Mori hits Horiguchi with a vertical suplex. Hulk cleans house with kicks. Shisa hits Rongai with a missile dropkick. Mori hits a plancha. Hulk and Shisa hit stereo dives. Hulk sweeps Rongai’s leg and hits a senton for 2. Rongai misses a knee kick and falls to the floor. Mori hits Horiguchi with the X-Factor. Shisa hits a splash out of the corner for 2. Hulk hits a leg lariat. He hits the EVO and Mori hits the Eleganton for 2. Shisa goes for the Yoshi Tonic but Rongai makes the save with the Shining Wizard. Horiguchi gets the Backslide from Heaven for 2. He hits Hulk with a swinging DDT. He hits the topé con hilo. Saito hits Mori with a German suplex. Rongai hits the Shining Wizard. Mori rolls Saito up for 2. He gets the Elegant Magic for 2. Saito hits a German suplex for 2. He hits a dragon suplex for the win at 7:53. The last bit between boyfriends Saito and Mori was good fun, and the rest of the match was good enough to get the crowd warmed up. Mori gets a nice little ovation after the match.
Rating: **¾

Stalker Ichikawa vs. Riki Choshu
Ichikawa hits a lariat to start. His strikes don’t chake Choshu off of his feet. Choshu hits a vertical suplex. He hits the Riki Lariat for the win 42 seconds into the match. The crowd liked it, but I’d rather not waste my time.
Rating: DUD

KAGETORA {K} vs. Kzy
This was originally supposed to be Kzy and Naruki Doi vs. KAGETORA and Shisa but Doi got recruited into Gamma’s issue with K-neSuka, leaving Kzy in the lurch. These two still have beef going all the way back to KAGETORA’s bouncing in and out of Real Hazard, and now because of his befriending of Arai after Kzy and company booted him out of their group. Kzy attacks before the bell. His new gear is even more amazing than his Drunkers gear. He hits the B-Boy. Ryo Saito is on commentary for this match for whatever reason. Kzy hits a low blow. He hits a back elbow for 2. He chokes KAGETORA with one of his bandanas. He hits a dropkick to the crotch for 2. KAGETORA hits the leaping lariat. He hits an enziguiri. He hits a flying elbowdrop for 2. Kzy hits the Ace Crusher. He hits the Beat Bomb for 2. He hits a piledriver and KZ Time for 2. KAGETORA blocks the Impact by hitting a hurricanrana. He hits a spinning piledriver. He hits an enziguiri. He hits a brainbuster for 2. He hits the Hangetsu and the Genkonitteki for 2. He hits the Ikkitousen for the win at 8:08. They kept in incredibly basic. Kzy hit his stuff, then KAGETORA hit his stuff and then it was over. Safe but not memorable at all.
Rating: **

KAGETORA offers Kzy a rematch on the condition that he doesn’t cheat (all the low blows I guess). Kzy shoves Tanisaki away and shows KAGETORA respect by bowing. Naoki Tanisaki powders KAGETORA from behind Kzy’s back, and the two Nameless Nudniks shove KAGETORA around. Kamikaze just sort of lets all this happen.

PAC © {W1} vs. Dragon Kid {W5} [Open the Brave Gate Championship Match]
Kid is rocking Union Jack colors, perhaps to screw with PAC? They do some mirror wrestling to start. PAC hits a shoulder tackle. He rolls through a head scissor takedown and hits a backbreaker. Kid hits the Ultra Hurricanrana for 2. He hits a dropkick. He hits a basement dropkick. He hits a pair of kneedrops for 2. He puts on a Mutalock. PAC gets to the ropes. Kid sends PAC to the floor with the 619 but misses the Bermuda Triangle. PAC hits a Tombstone Piledriver on the floor. Kid beats the count at 19. PAC hits a northern lights suplex for 2. He hits a backbreaker for 2. He hits a standing SSP to the back. He puts on a chinlock. He hits a back elbow. Kid hits a head scissor takedown. He hits another, more beautiful one on the floor. Seriously, that was one of the smoothest spots I’ve ever seen. Back in the ring Kid hits the Diamond Dust for 2. PAC ducks the 619 and hits a slingshot Ace Crusher for 2. He hits rolling snap suplexes. Kid hits a stunner. He puts on the Christo. PAC hits a side slam to escape. Kid crotches him up top and brings him down with a super hurricanrana for 2. PAC hits a powerbomb. He hits a German suplex for 2. Kid won’t let him climb. He dropkicks PAC up top and goes for a super reverse hurricanrana. PAC lands on his feet so Kid hits a regular reverse hurricanrana. He hits the Messiah for 2. He hits the Ultra Hurricanrana for 2. All that’s left in his arsenal is the Dragon Rana. He goes for it, but PAC is wise to that game. PAC hits an enziguiri and a German suplex for 2. Kid hits the Bible for 2. PAC blocks the Dragon Rana again. He hits a blizzard superlex for 2. He hits the 360 shooting star press for the win at 17:45. The last five minutes were great, and most of the match was serviceable, but the crowd wasn’t hot enough to really light a fire under these guys’ asses.
Rating: ***¼

They hype up the Triangle Gate match during intermission, even going as far as to play clips from the Kamikaze vs. Nudnik six-man tag from Infinity 197. As the Pixy Chix sing in the ring they announce the huge Gaora Superfight show. Dragon Gate will work with All Japan Pro Wrestling, and to a lesser extent other companies that have wrestling shows on Gaora TV, to promote a Gaora 20th Anniversary celebration. In the main event of the show CIMA will team with Keiji Mutoh and the new Tiger Mask to take on Masato Yoshino, Suwama and the Great Sasuke. The show will happen on January 24th.

K-ness © & Susumu Yokosuka © vs. Naruki Doi & Gamma [Open the Twin Gate Championship Match]
BxB Hulk is on commentary for this. I could be wrong, but I think this is the first time the duo of Gamma and Doi have appeared on PPV since April of 2006. The champions attack before the bell. Doi and Gamma hit stereo dropkicks and suicide dives. In the ring K-ness hits Gamma with a leg lariat. Doi hits Yokosuka with a back elbow. Yokosuka hits the Apron Kara Jumbo no Kachi. K-ness hits a dropkick to the face. Gamma hits a low blow. Doi hits an elbowdrop. He tries to rip off K-ness’s mask. Gamma hits another low blow. He puts on a Sharpshooter. K-ness gets to the ropes. Gamma hits a dropkick. He hits a facebuster for 2. He hits a cane shot to the crotch. He puts on a leglock. K-ness gets to the ropes. Gamma gives him the Osuikougeki. K-ness hits a high kick. He hits an enziguiri. Yokosuka cleans house with lariats. He clotheslines the cane out of Gamma’s hand. He clotheslines Gamma’s legs when he goes for a dropkick. Gamma hits a low blow and an enziguiri. He hits a superkick. Yokosuka gets a small package for 2. Gamma dropkicks the leg. Doi hits a crossbody to the back. Yokosuka hits an exploder. He hits Gamma with a suicide dive. K-ness hits Doi with the Kaishaku for 2. He ducks the Bakatare Sliding Kick and gets a roll up for 2. Gamma canes him. K-ness hits an enziguiri. He canes Gamma. He and Yokosuka hit the SukaDora Knee for 2. Yokosuka hits a lariat.

Gamma drops Yokosuka on his head with a back suplex. Doi hits a Blue Thunder Driver for 2. Gamma canes Yokosuka and hits a powerbomb. Doi hits the Bosou Elbow for 2. Yokosuka hits the Jumbo no Kachi. K-ness was trying to do something there too and just looked silly. He comes back with the Shouryuukyaku. He misses the Shouryuukyaku on Gamma. Yokosuka hits Gamma with a superplex. K-ness hits Doi with another Shouryuukyaku for 2. Yokosuka and Doi trade strikes until Yokosuka hits the Jumbo no Kachi for 2. He and K-ness hit the Genkai for 2. Gamma canes K-ness again. Doi hits the Dai Bosou on Yokosuka. Gamma hits K-ness with the Flashback. Doi hits the hanging senton for 2. K-ness catches Gamma with the rolling cradle for 2. He hits an enziguiri. Gamma hits the Gamma Special for 2. K-ness hits the Kaishaku for 2. Doi hits a reverse DDT. He hits the Doi 555 and the Bakatare Sliding Kick for 2. Yokosuka hits the Jumbo no Kachi to Gamma’s back. He hits it on K-ness by mistake. Doi dumps him to the floor with the Doi 555. He hits the Bakatare Sliding Kick through the ropes. Gamma hits K-ness with the Blitzen for 2. He hits the avalanche Tombstone Piledriver and the Sky Twister Press for the win and the titles at 23:14. There were large portions of the match that blew me away, but this never captured the pace or intensity of many of K-neSuka’s amazing title defenses. The finish, while appropriate, was rather anticlimactic.
Rating: ***½

Naoki Tanisaki ©, Takuya Sugawara © & Yasushi Kanda © vs. Shingo Takagi {K}, YAMATO {K} & Cyber Kong {K} vs. Masaaki Mochizuki {Z}, Don Fujii {Z} & Kenichiro Arai {Z} [Open the Triangle Gate Championship Match]
Kong’s new Mad Max mask is awesome. Arai is still wearing his Drunkers gear, so his fellow Zetsurins join him in a pre-match siesta. Takagi, Kanda and Mochizuki start. Takagi overpowers both opponents. He and Mochizuki attack Kanda with strikes. Takagi hits Mochizuki with a shoulder tackle. Things break down and everyone brawls around the building. Fujii and YAMATO focus on each other, while Arai and Kanda do the same. In the ring Tanisaki hits Takagi with a neckbreaker. Takagi slugs him across the face. He hits a lariat in the corner. Tanisaki hits a DDT. Takagi holds onto him and hits the dead lift suplex. Arai hits a big boot. He spits in Sugawara’s face and hits a shoulder tackle. He spits in YAMATO’s face. YAMATO gets a sunset flip on Sugawara for 2. Arai rolls YAMATO up for 2. YAMATO spits in Arai’s face. Arai suplexes YAMATO onto Sugawara. Kong hits a shoulder tackle on Arai. Everyone tries to do the same to Kong, but they all fail. Takagi bulldozes everyone. Mochizuki and Sugawara hit a double dropkick. Takagi lays them out with lariats. He dives onto everyone. Mochizuki dares YAMATO to do the same, then kicks him in the face. He puts on the Mark Nulty Special. A chain breaks out. Fujii puts YAMATO in a Boston crab, reversing the pressure on everyone including his partners. Mochizuki kicks YAMATO around the ring. YAMATO stands strong and hits a brainbuster. He spears Kanda. He dropkicks Sugawara to the floor. He hits Tanisaki with an enziguiri. Takagi cleans house on the champions. Kong hits an elevated elbowdrop on Sugawara for 2. He hits a lariat for 2. The referee gets knocked down, so everyone hits low blows on everyone else. YAMATO hits a German suplex on Kanda for 2. A strike chain breaks out, but everyone is still pretty weak from the low blows. YAMATO hits Kanda with an exploder for 2. Kzy comes in to help the Nameless Nudniks hit a huge suplex on Kamikaze. Arai and KAGETORA help Kamikaze hit the giant maneuver.

The Nudniks go for a massive Jon Woo but all six opponents block it. Kzy runs in and gets ganged up on by the Zetsurins and Kamikaze. Kong hits Mochizuki with a German suplex. Arai and Fujii hit a double vertical suplex. Arai hits a double stomp off of Fujii’s shoulders up top. Fujii hits a diving kneedrop. He clotheslines Arai by mistake. YAMATO hits a hurricanrana. Kanda and Sugawara hit a double flapjack. Takagi hits the Complete DDT. Tanisaki hits the Casanova. Takagi hits the DVD. That segment was insane. Remember the old matches in which Fujii would absorb everyone’s chops? He dusts that off for this match. He hits YAMATO and Kong with DDTs. He hits Takagi with a German suplex and a lariat for 2. Arai hits a diving headbutt for 2. He hits a superplex. Takagi pops up so Arai hits the Hanshin Tiger Suplex for 2. Takagi avoids the Ikkakugeri and Kong hits Mochizuki with an avalanche. Takagi hits the Pumping Bomber for 2. He and Kong hit a Doomsday Device for 2. The champs hang out on the ramp as Mochizuki counters the Cyber Bomb to a hurricanrana. Fujii tackles Kong. Arai dropkicks YAMATO. Kong clotheslines YAMATO by mistake. Arai hits a double stomp. Mochizuki hits the Twisting Ikkakugeri. He hits the Twister for 2. YAMATO hits the Galleria for 2. He puts on the sleeper but Mochizuki fights out. YAMATO hits a big boot. Mochizuki hits a high kick. YAMATO hits an elbow to the back. He goes for another Galleria but Mochizuki counters to the Twister III to eliminate Kamikaze at 23:32. Not sure how the rest of the match is going to top that.

Arai tries to fight off all three Nudniks on his own. Tanisaki hits him with the DH. Kanda hits an exploder. Tanisaki hits the Casanova. Sugawara hits a brainbuster. Arai avoids the Shiisanpuuta. He hits a chinbreaker. Mochizuki hits a chest kick. He kicks Sugawara’s head off for 2. He hits a dragon suplex. Arai hits the Hanshin Tiger Suplex. Fujii hits the Nice German for 2. Kanda hits Arai with the blue box. He accidentally hits Sugawara with the blue box. Fujii hits a chokeslam. Arai hits a 450 splash for 2. Tanisaki and Kanda hit red and blue box attacks. Tanisaki hits a reverse Implant for 2. Sugawara hits TCO and Kanda hits a diving elbowdrop for 2. He hits the Jon Woo. He hits the Ryus on the blue box for the win at 27:06. Sadly, they couldn’t keep up the pace after Kamikaze was eliminated, and it was just a big bully beat-down on Arai. It’s a shame, because they were having an outstanding match before the last segment dragged it down.
Rating: ***¾

Masato Yoshino © {W1} vs. CIMA {W5} [Open the Dream Gate Championship Match]
CIMA is in full Crazy Max mode for this match, with face paint and frosted hair. He’s also wearing a Greek flag, presumably in honor of his Greek wife. Yoshino’s color scheme matches K-neSuka’s from earlier in the night. CIMA hits an armdrag to start. Yoshino ducks a cheap kick. CIMA gets a quick roll up for 2. Yoshino hits a supercharged head scissor takedown but CIMA rolls through. Yoshino hits a supercharged dropkick. He splashes CIMA’s arm. He dropkicks the arm. He hits an armbreaker. He stretches the arm and gets a roll up for 2. CIMA hits the X-Factor for 2. He hits a legdrop. He hits a senton. He puts on the Gory Special. He hits a double stomp. He sandwiches Yoshino with kicks and hits a senton. He hits another X-Factor for 2. Yoshino avoids the Venus and puts on the Coumori. CIMA avoids the dropkick from the floor so Yoshino nails him with a suicide dive. He hits the Sling Blade for 2. He hits a nutty DDT. CIMA avoids the shotgun dropkick and hits the Superdrol. He hits the Perfect Driver for 2. He hits an enziguiri. He hits a Tree of Woe dropkick. He misses the Tokarev. Yoshino hits the shogun dropkick. CIMA pops up and hits a double stomp. Yoshino puts on From Jungle. He gets a roll up for 2. He hits a double stomp to the arm. He hits the Ude Yoshino. CIMA counters the Sol Naciente to the Schwein for 2. Yoshino hits the avalanche Sling Blade. CIMA avoids the Lightning Spiral and hits a dropkick. Yoshino hits the Torbellino. CIMA counters the Sol Naciente to a roll up for 2. He hits a superkick. He hits the Tokarev. He hits the Venus and Goriconoclasm. Yoshino blocks the Mad Splash and locks in the Sol Naciente. CIMA gets to the ropes. He blocks Another Space and hits a high kick. Yoshino hits another Ude Yoshino. He hits the Lightning Spiral for 2. CIMA returns the favor. He hits the Nakayubi. He hits the Mona Lisa Overdrive. He hits the Crossfire for 2. The crowd bought that one. CIMA hits the Neji to Hashi. He goes for the Meteora but Yoshino meets him up top and goes for the avalanche Lightning Spiral. CIMA blocks that and hits the Schwein Steiner. He hits the Meteora but can’t cover. Yoshino counters the Crossfire to a sunset flip for 2. He hits the Lightning Spiral for 2. He hits the Torbellino twice. He hits the avalanche Lightning Spiral and locks in the Sol Naciente. CIMA won’t let him put on the Kai. He tries to kick Yoshino to escape, but that puts him off balance and Yoshino locks in the Kai for the win at 30:38. This was another amazing installment in the series between these two. They wrestle each year, and this was just as good as their match from 2008 (the 2009 version was slightly less phenomenal). Yoshino had to struggle through just about every single move that CIMA had in his arsenal, and pulled out his own killer finishers to finally beat CIMA on PPV. I dug all of this.
Rating: ****¼

After the match the goons in the 300 Immortals masks come out and follow CIMA into the locker room. Yoshino cuts the obligatory end-of-show promo. Doi and the Nudniks interrupt him. Doi has a sledgehammer. He demands to be Yoshino’s next challenger. Yoshino says Doi will have to hope he gets picked from the lottery box. Doi destroys the box and pulls his own lottery ball from it. Yoshino, angry at the destruction of his box, accepts this as a lottery pick. The two will fight at Final Gate next month on PPV. World-1 and K-neSuka end the show by celebrating with the retained title.