September 14, 2012 – Tokyo, Japan

Open the Dream Gate Champion: CIMA
Open the Triangle Gate Champions: Akira Tozawa, BxB Hulk & “Naoki Tanisaki”
Open the Brave Gate Champion: Dragon Kid
Open the Twin Gate Champions: Shingo Takagi & YAMATO
Open the Freedom Gate Champion: Johnny Gargano
Open the United Gate Champions: CIMA & AR Fox

The show starts with the Jimmyz, the Windows, Akatsuke, the Veterans and Mad Blankey drawing lots for the tag tournament and a small spat between the Naokis breaks out. All the teams cut promos about their chances in the tournament.

Gamma {Z}, Stalker Ichikawa {Z} & Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee. {J} vs. Mondai Ryu {MB}, Akira Tozawa {MB} & Cyber Kong {MB}
The good guys start out in control. Gamma hits Tozawa with the Kakato Otoshi? Ichikawa gives him the Osuikougeki. Kong stops him from hitting the Kegon. He hits a press slam. He and Ryu double-team Ichikawa for 2. Toawa hits a senton and a chair assisted senton. Ichikawa hits a crappy head scissor takedown, hurting his own neck. Horiguchi and Gamma hit a double dropkick. Ichikawa joins for a triple suicide dive. Tozawa blocks the swinging DDT. Gamma hits a super kick and a clothesline. Ichikawa botches his handspring elbow. He recovers to give la magistral to Tozawa. He eats some powder and Tozawa hits the side suplex for 2. Tozawa hits a suicide dive on Gamma and Horiguchi. Kong hits the flying elbowdrop on Ichikawa for 2. Ichikawa gets a sunset flip for 2. Ryu ducks the 619 but ends up eating the Pinepple Bomber. Ichikawa hits the Ina Bauer German for the win at 7:24. The crowd loved Ichikawa here, and the match was a TON of fun, with not a single moment wasted.
Rating: ***

After the match, Tozawa boots Ichikawa and hits him with a German suplex. Jimmy Kanda makes the save with a cat o’ nine tails. He gives one to Gamma and they go to town on Mad Blankey. Kanda asks Gamma to let him be the mystery partner on his six-man team against Mad Blankey, but Gamma tells him the position has been filled. Kanda responds by wiping him out with the Jon Woo.

Super Shenlong {A} & Chihiro Tominaga {A} vs. Super Shisa {MG} & Kenichiro Arai {MG} [Seminfinal Match]
The rookies attack before the bell. Can I still call them rookies? Shenlong hits Shisa with a dropkick and Tominaga hits a suplex. Shenlong hits a suicide dive on Arai. Tominaga works Shisa’s arm in the ropes. Arai makes the save. He hits a Giant Swing. He hits another one but misses the subsequent headbutt. That’s his thing, you know. Shisa hits an arm drag and puts on a Pendulum. Tominaga makes a heatless save. Shisa puts both opponents in an Octopus Stretch. He hits a dropkick on Shenlong for 2. Shenlong hits a leg lariat. Tominaga hits Arai with the STO. He hits a dropkick on Arai. Shenlong hits the reverse Rocker Dropper for 2. Tominaga hits the triple jump moonsault for 2. Arai avoids a double dropkick and suplexes Shenlong. He hits the Alabamaslam on Tominaga. He hits the Skyscraper Double Stomp on Shenlong for 2. He hits the Tombstone Piledriver on Tominaga for 2. He hits the Hanshin Tiger Suplex for the win at 6:22 This was technically fine, but almost completely heatless when Akatsuke was in control. Sadly, that was almost the entire match.
Rating: **

Naoki Tanizaki {J} & Jimmy Kanda {J} vs. BxB Hulk {MB} & “Naoki Tanisaki” {MB} [Semifinal Match]
The Jimmyz attack before the bell. Tanizaki hits “Tanisaki” with the FH. He rubs off the fake shoulder tattoo again. “Tanisaki” sends him into the post. He tries rubbing off the real tattoo. He hits a facebuster. Tanizaki acts as if he’s going to return the favor, but then hits a side Russian legsweep. Kanda hits Hulk with a shoulder tackle. Hulk kicks his face. Kanda hits a leaping elbow. He hits a back elbow for 2. Hulk hits Tanizaki with an enziguiri. “Tanisaki” hits a chop in the corner. Tanizaki hits a DDT. He blocks the DH and and hits one of his own. Kanda hits Hulk with the Flapjack. He hits a butterfly suplex for 2. Hulk hits ht eMouse and the axe kick for 2. Tanizaki hits the DH and a diving knee drop. He hits the DH on “Tanisaki” and the Casanova on Hulk. Kanda hits the flying elbowdrop for 2. Tanizaki avoids chops and hits the Casanova on “Tanisaki.” He hits it again for 2. “Tanisaki” blocks the Implant and Casanova to hit a flurry of double chops for 2. Tanizaki blocks the Night Rade and hits a kneelift. “Tanisaki” hits the Implant out of nowhere for the win at 9:09. The Naokis have a tremendous amount of chemistry against each other, which isn’t actually surprising at all. The finish to this match was delightfully fun and frustrating for this Tanizaki fan.
Rating: ***1/4

Naruki Doi {W1} & Masato Yoshino {W1} vs. CIMA {Z} & Dragon Kid {Z} [Semifinal Match]
Doi and CIMA start. CIMA kicks Doi to his corner. He hits a shoulder tackle. Doi goes for an early Muscular Bomb. Yoshino and Kid show how well they know each other until Kid hits a head scissor takedown. Kid hits Doi with a DDT. CIMA catapults Doi into the bottom rope. He hits a big boot. Kid hits a pair of kneedrops. He goes for a a pair of dropkicks in the corner but only hits one, and Yoshino tags him with a dropkick. Doi hits a facebuster. Yoshino hits a delayed vertical suplex for 2. Doi hits the capture dropkick for 2. CIMA dropkicks Yoshino in midair. Kid hits the Bermuda Triangle and CIMA hits a suicide dive. Doi avoids a senton and hit CIMA with a neckbraeker and senton. He hits the Dai Bosou. Kid hits Yoshino with the stunner for 2. Yoshino avoids the 619 and hits a power bomb. Doi knocks CIMA off the apron. Yoshino hits the elevated facebuster for 2. Kid hits the Skyscraper Frankensteiner. CIMA hits a pair of double knee kicks. He and Kid hit a double Tokarev that Doi is nice enough to get into position for. CIMA hits a super kick and Kid hits the Bible for 2. CIMA misses the Meteora. He blocks the Muscular Bomb but Doi catches him with the V9 Clutch for the win at 13:08. This was all to hype Doi’s Dream Gate title match, and it did a great job at that; making the mid carder look like a credible threat to the belt again, without even hyping up the Muscular Bomb as his only way to the belt. A few slow and awkward moments keep this from being as good as the previous match, but it was just as effective in moving the issue forward.
Rating: ***

Kotoka {MG}, K-ness {MG} & Masamune {OP} vs. Jimmy Kagetora {J}, Ryo “Jimmy” Saito {J} & Jimmy Susumu {J}
That they had Masamune in this match and not something against the Veterans to hype the PPVs Brave Gate match confuses me. Kotoka and Saito start. Kotoka avoids the Cycling Yahoo. Kagetora hits Masamune with a baseball slide. K-ness dropkicks Susumu. Saito fakes a Cycling Yahoo on Kotoka and then stomps him. He hits an elbowdrop and a double stomp. Kotoka hits a miracle suplex. Masamune hits an elbow on Kagetora. Kotoka hits a suicide dive. K-ness hits a DDT on Susumu for 2. Susumu hits an exploder for 2. K-ness hits the Kaishaku for 2. Saito hits Masamune with an overhead suplex. Masamune counters the Cycling Yahoo to an anklelock. He hits chinbreakers on SaiRyo. He hits the Complete DDT for 2. Kagetora hits a missile dropkick on Kotoka. He hits an enziguiri for 2. K-ness hits the ssssss. Masamune hits a neckbreaker for 2. Susumu waits for Kotoka up top and hits a super exploder in an awesome spot. Saito hits the Superly Splash for 2. Kotoka gets a couple of roll ups but the Jimmyz finish him with the Jumbo no Kachi and Ikkitousen at 12:55. This was a damn fun time, and I guess the point (made clear by the post-match hostlitiy, was to show that Kagetora is miffed that he’s not the Brave Gate challenger.
Rating: ***¼

Don Fujii {Z} vs. YAMATO {A} [Falls Count Anywhere Match]
Referee Yagi pulls a wrench away from Fujii before the match, but Fujii hides in the crowd and attacks YAMATO during his entrance. After getting bashed into a few metal objects, YAMATO regains control and stands on Fujii’s neck. They fight into the stands where Fujii chokes YAMATO with a cord. YAMATO works the arm. They fight up to the balcony but, as usual, nobody gets thrown off. Fujii shoves YAMATO into a wall for 2. Dragon Kid comes out of nowhere to hit a head scissor takedown, getting 2 for Fujii. YAMATO falls down some stairs, getting 2 for Fujii. They finally get into the ring. YAMATO hits an elbow in the corner. He dropkicks Fujii off the apron while he’s taking a drink of water. Fujii avoids a plancha. He drags YAMATO back into the crowd and hits a chokeslam for 2. YAMATO blocks a Gemran suplex off of a platform and gets a roll up for 2. He puts on the anklelock but Fujii crawls down some stairs to escape. In the ring YAMATO puts on a Boston Crab. Fujii gets to the ropes. I hate rope breaks in a falls count anywhere match. Fujii hits a lariat. YAMATO hits a big boot. Fujii hits the Air Scissors Drop for 2. He clotheslines YAMATO to the floor but misses a plancha. They both go for Gallerias on the floor, but Fujii wins when he catches YAMATO with the Gedo Clutch at 18:20. The falls count anywhere stip made the typical boring brawling a lot more fun and dramatic. My only beef with the match was the rope break. Other than that this was the best YAMATO vs. Fujii match I’ve seen.
Rating: ***½

Shingo Takagi {A} vs. Masaaki Mochizuki {Z}
They lock up to start and Takagi powers Mochizuki to the ropes before smacking him. He trades chops for Mochizuki’s kicks, which goes poorly for him. They trade shoulder tackles, kicks and lariats, which ends Mochizuki hitting the Shin Saikyou High Kick. He knocks Takagi to the floor where he hits a back kick. Takagi beats the count at 17. Mochizuki washes Takagi’s face. He hits chest kicks. Takagi hits a back suplex. Mochizuki hits a missile dropkick. Takagi hits a desperation Pumping Bomber. He hits a swinging neckbreaker when he can’t get Mochizuki up for a suplex. That worked once, so Takagi hits it again. He exposes the floor and hits a DDT there. Back in the ring he hits a double chop. He hits a lariat in the corner. He hits five more lariats. He hits a double chop to the back. He hits a lariat to the back. Mochizuki blocks a German suplex and kicks Takagi’s head off. He counters the DVD to a DDT. Takagi blocks the Ikkakugeri with a pair of lariats. Mochizuki hits a dragon suplex. He hits a SICK big boot. Takagi puts himself in position for the Sankakugeri, then no-sells it and hits the Pumping Bomber. Okay, that was lame. Mochizuki blocks the Last Falconry and hits a head kick, but Takagi pops up and hits a lariat before collapsing. They trade shots, Mochizuki just being cruel. Takagi gets the last shot in with another lariat. Mochizuki smacks the taste out of his mouth. Takagi hits another lariat and a powerbomb. He hits the Sliding Bomber for 2. Mochizuki hits a kick to the arm but that’s not enough to stop MADE IN JAPAN. It only gets 2. Takagi looks for the STAY DREAM but Mochizuki counters to a roll up for 2. He hits another dangerous head kick for 2. Takagi blocks the Sankakugeri and clotheslines Mochizuki to the floor. Mochizuki comes back with chest kicks. Takagi hits the DVD on the apron. Both guys topple to the floor, but Takagi gets back in the ring and Mochizuki gets counted out at 15:00. I loved this. Takagi acted like a punk to start so Mochizuki treated him like one with brutal kicks. Takagi had to scramble to regain control and then had to break out some new offense so as to not get squashed. Every time something worked Takagi stuck with it. This match probably took a couple of years off of Takagi’s life, but he finally got a win over Mochizuki and did so in an awesome match. Mochizuki gets carried out on the stretcher during the post-match promos.
Rating: ****¼

Naruki Doi {W1} & Masato Yoshino {W1} vs. BxB Hulk {MB} & “Naoki Tanisaki” {MB} vs. Super Shisa {MG} & Kenichiro Arai {MG} [Tournamen Finals/Elimination Match]
Mad Blankey attacks before the bell. Everyone comes back with dropkicks. Yoshino and Arai hit stereo suicide dives. Shisa puts Doi in the Romero Special. Hulk hits axe kicks on both of them. He and “Tanisaki” hit elbowdrops on Arai. Yoshino and Doi hit Hulk with a double suplex. “Tanisaki” suplexes them both. He chops Arai’s chest to bits and hits a bodyslam for 2. He hits a dropkick for 2. He puts on an abdominal stretch. “Tanisaki” hits a dropkick. Arai comes back with a big boot. Shisa hits a crossbody. He hits a dropkick. Yoshino hits Hulk with a dropkick. He puts on the Coumori. Shisa hits a Frankensteiner and gets a roll up for 2. He gets another roll up for 2. Yoshino hits a dropkick. “Tanisaki’ hits a shoulder tackle. Yoshino hits a vertical suplex. Arai hits the Skyscraper Double Stomp. He hits a diving headbutt for 2. Doi hits a dropkick. Arai hits a DDT. Yoshino hits the Sling Blade. “Tanisaki” hits a powerslam. Shisa hits the Yoshi Tonic for 2. Hulk hits Doi with an axe kick. Shisa hits the Yoshi Tonic on Doi for 2. Yoshino blocks the Yoshi Tonic but Arai hits him with a Tombstone Piledriver. He misses the Firebird Splash and Yoshino hits the Torbellino and the Lightning Spiral to eliminate the Windows at 9:55. Hulk takes out Yoshino off-camera. He hits a senton for 2. Yoshino hits a DDT and Doi follows suit. Yoshino hits the shotgun senton for 2. Mad Blankey attacks Doi en masse. “Tanisaki” eats salt and Yoshino hits the Torbellino. Doi hits the Bakatare Sliding Kick for 2. Hulk hits a leg lariat and axe kick on Yoshino. He hits the AEVO for 2. He hits the First Flash for 2. Yoshino blocks “Tanisaki’s” Implant and gets a roll up for 2. “Tanisaki” catches Yoshino with the Razor’s Edge for 2. He hits the Night Ride for the win at 14:34. That finish was anticlimactic, but it did make “Tanisaki” look like a killer. I realized half way through this match that the tournament wasn’t for a shot at the Twin Gate titles, which is pretty silly. The match felt less important after that, though the action was top notch.
Rating: ***½

Tanizaki attacks the winner after the match, telling him he’s going to take his Triangle Gate title at the PPV and force “Tanisaki” to start his career over as Takuya Tomakomai. Kanda gets aggressive on the microphone, saying he wants revenge on Gamma for not allowing him to fight Mad Blankey at the PPV. The rest of the Jimmyz lighten the mood and send the crowd home happy.