kog2013May 10, 2013 – Tokyo, Japan

Open the Dream Gate Champion: CIMA
Open the Triangle Gate Champions: Naruki Doi, Rich Swann & Shachihoko BOY
Open the Brave Gate Champion: Masato Yoshino
Open the Twin Gate Champions: YAMATO & Shingo Takagi
Open the Freedom Gate Champion: Johnny Gargano
Open the United Gate Champions: Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson

Naruki Doi {W1}, Masato Yoshino {W1} & Ricochet {W1} vs. Ryo “Jimmy” Saito {J}, Jimmy Kanda {J} & Mr. Quu Quu Naoki Tanizaki Toyonaka Dolphin {J}
World-1 resents the Saito love from the crowd. Saito and Doi start. Saito hits a shoulder tackle. Yoshino dropkicks Dolphin. He hits the Sling Blade. Ricochet hits Kanda with a head scissor takedown and a dropkick. Yoshino hits an awesome suicide dive. Ricochet and Dolphin trade chops. The World-1 A-team brings their A-game. Dolphin hits Ricochet with a kneelift. He hits facebusters on everyone. Ricochet hits the Rickrack for 2. He hits the Turnbuckle Face Slam^2. Doi hits the hanging senton. Ricochet hits a Lionsault for 2. Dolphin fights back and cleans house. Saito hits Doi with an overhead suplex. Kanda elbows Ricochet and hits a suicide dive. Yoshino hits Saito with a dropkick. He negotiates with World-1 to put Yoshino in the Cycling Yahoo. Yoshino gets a schoolboy for 2 in response. Doi dropkicks Kanda. Kanda hits a side slam for 2. Dolphin hits the DH. Kanda and Saito hit the Johann Woo for 2. Dolphin hits the Casanova and Kanda hits a flying elbowdrop for 2. Yoshino hits Saito with the Ude Yoshino for 2. Ricochet dropkicks Dolphin. He and Doi hit the Die Fly for 2. Ricochet hits a crazy dive on Kanda. Yoshino hits Saito with the Torbellino and Lightning Spiral for the win at 13:05. This was a stacked opener, but they kept things light and didn’t attempt to overshadow the tournament. Ricochet seemingly can’t help himself though, and was awesome as always.
Rating: ***

Jimmy Kagetora {J} & Cyber Kong vs. Dragon Kid {Z} & Kenichiro Arai {MG}
Kagetora and Arai start. Kagetora hits an armdrag. He hits a hurricanrana. Kong shoulder tackles Kid. Kid hits a head scissor takedown. Arai slugs Kagetora for 2. Kong hits a splash for 2. Kid hits a pair of kneedrops. Kong hits an elbowdrop for 2. Arai hits the Alabamaslam on Kagetora. He puts on a Sharpshooter. Kagetora gets to the ropes. Kagetora hits an enziguiri. Kong hits Kid with an Ace Crusher. He hits Arai with a slam for 2. Arai hits headbutts. Kong hits a lariat for 2. Arai hits a miracle backdrop. Kid helps him hit a crucifix bomb for 2. Kagetora hits Kid with an enziguiri. Kagetora hits the 619. Kong hits a lariat for 2. He hits the flying elbowdrop for 2. Arai hits Kagetora with a headbutt. Kid hits the Skyscraper Frankensteiner and Arai hits the diving headbutt for 2. Kid hits Kong with the 619 and Bermuda Triangle. Kagetora catches Arai with the Kagenui for the win at 10:36. Average is as average does, and nothing here was all that interesting aside from Kagetora’s 619 on Kid.
Rating: **¼

Don Fujii {Z} vs. Kotoka {MG} [Opening Round Match]
Kotoka won a jobber tournament to get into the King of Gate tournament. Kotoka attacks Fujii during his entrance. He hits chest kicks and a baseball slide. He hits a suicide dive but Fujii holds up a chair. Fujii beats on Kotoka on the floor. He hits a chokeslam in the stands. Kotoka beats the count at 19. Fujii hits chops in the ring. Kotoka chops back, but that doesn’t go well for him. He does make Fujii’s chest red, but Fujii is just too powerful. Kotoka blocks a chokeslam and a crossbody and gets 2. He dazes Fujii with elbows. Fujii comes back with a lariat for 2. He hits a chokeslam but Kotoka gets a roll up for 2. They trade slaps. Fujii hits a lariat. He hits another chokeslam for good measure. Kotoka gets another roll up for 2. Fujii slugs him and puts on the Boston Crab for the win at 6:23. I dig Fujii, but Kotoka has been on such fire lately that I really would have liked to see him get past the first round in the tournament. Fujii isn’t getting past the winner of YAMATO vs. Mochizuki anyway. That said, and as always, Kotoka brought the fire, and made this a fun and dramatic little sprint. After the match, Fujii finally shows Kotoka some respect, as does CIMA.
Rating: **¾

YAMATO {A} vs. Masaaki Mochizuki {Z} [Opening Round Match]
They shake hands to start. YAMATO gets the early advantage. Mochizuki goes after the leg. They shake hands again. YAMATO goes after the arm. Mochizuki gets to the ropes. YAMATO hits a cheap shot. Mochizuki isn’t interested in playing nice anymore. He hits a big boot. He hits a chest kick. YAMATO puts on the anklelock. Mochizuki gets to the ropes. He hits a back heel kick to the gut. YAMATO punts the leg. He puts on a Figure 4 leglock. Mochizuki gets to the ropes. He takes control with strikes. He washes YAMATO’s face. He hits the Ikkakugeri. YAMATO puts on the sleeper hold. Mochizuki counters the hold. He hits a sick kick to the head and a chest kick for 2. YAMATO gets a roll up for 2. He puts on the anklelock. Mochizuki gets to the ropes. He kicks YAMATO’s face to stop him reapplying the hold. He hits a big boot. YAMATO hits the running dropkick. Mochizuki hits the Galleria for 2. He hits a chest kick. YAMATO hits a dragon screw. He hits a brainbuster for 2. He hits the running dropkick to the back fo the head and the Galleria for 2. Mochizuki blocks the sleeper hold and hits a buzzsaw kick for 2. YAMATO counters the Sankakugeri to the anklelock. He goes for the punt but Mochizuki sweeps his leg. YAMATO blocks the Shin Saikyou High Kick and hits an enziguiri. He absorbs an axe kick and hits a hurricanrana for the win at 15:48. I’m not wild about that being YAMATO’s new end-all finisher in the slightest, but aside from that this match rocked it just about as hard as any television bout from this rivalry. That is to say, it lacked the depth of their longer, PPV matches, but they hit each other very hard and performed fun counters to fill fifteen minutes. After the match YAMATO attacks Mochizuki and Chihiro Tominaga until Mochizuki puts him in his place.
Rating: ***¾

Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee. {J} vs. Rich Swann {W1} [Opening Round Match]
Swann attacks before the bell. He hits a dropkick. He hits an elbow on the floor. Horiguchi baits him into the post. He hits a brainbuster on the exposed floor. Horiguchi breaks the count to get Swann back in the ring. Dummy. He hits a neckbreaker. He puts on a chinlock and gets a roll up for 2. He hits a hiptoss for 2. He hits a swinging DDT for 2. Swann comes back with an Ace Crusher. He hits an enziguiri for 2. Horiguchi blocks the Rolling Thunder and hits a half nelson suplex for 2. He hits a brainbuster for 2. That probably should have been the finish. Swann gets a backslide for 2. He hits a Frankensteiner and a running SSP for 2. He hits the Frog Splash for 2. He hits a superkick but misses his finisher. Horiguchi gets the Backslide from Heaven for 2. A second attempt gets him the win at 7:29. Swann’s selling was lame, as he basically just made a face and touched his neck. Though given how badly he got squashed here, I probably shouldn’t give him too much guff.
Rating: *¾

Shingo Takagi {A} vs. BxB Hulk {MB} [Opening Round Match]
Hulk attacks Takagi before the bell, because it wouldn’t be King of Gate if any of the opening round matches were totally sportsmanlike. Takagi whips Hulk into the post. He hits a shoulder tackle. Hulk kicks his face. Takagi hits a dragon screw. He hits another out of the corner. He stays on the leg. Hulk hits the Mouse and punts the arm, because who needs selling? He puts on an armbar on the floor. He hits a chair shot to the arm. Takagi hits a dropkick, the only psychological moment we’re likely to see in this match. Hulk puts on an armbar but Takagi gets to the ropes. Hulk puts on a Triangle Choke. Takagi hits a powerbomb to escape. He throws Hulk across the ring. Hulk hits an axe kick. Takagi blocks the senton. He hits a pair of side suplexes for 2. Hulk blocks the Pumping Bomber and hits a roundhouse kick. He hits a missile dropkick. He hits a senton for 2. Takagi blocks a yellow box attack from Mondai Ryu. He hits the Blood Fall and the Sliding Bomber. He hits a powerbomb for 2. Hulk hits an axe kick. He hits the AEVO for 2. Takagi gets a roll up for 2. Hulk hits the axe kick. He hits an enziguiri. Takagi hits the Pumping Bomber. Hulk hits the First Flash. That segment was directly lifted from their PPV tag match. They go kick for lariat. Ryu and YAMATO both interfere, resulting in Hulk and Takagi getting salted. Hulk gets it worse and eats MADE IN JAPAN. It only gets 2, but moments later YAMATO runs in to dropkick Hulk and Takagi hits the Pumping Bomber for the win at 24:23. The match could have been ten minutes long given how much the first half of the match ended up mattering. The whole thing was much more about setting up a Hulk vs. YAMATO match (which is booked after the fact) than it was about the Takagi/Hulk rivalry. I’m actually fine with that, because I’m sick to death of Hulk vs. Takagi, but what I’m not fine with is wasting my time pretending this was something that it wasn’t. I’m also not really fine with another YAMATO vs. Hulk match, since they don’t have amazing chemistry against each other, but that’s more of a complaint for another day. Rating reflects my frustration.
Rating: **½

CIMA {Z}, K-ness {MG} & Jimmy Susumu {J} vs. Akira Tozawa {MB}, Kzy {MB} & Uhaa Nation {MB}
Mad Blankey attacks before the bell. Everyone brawls around the building. Tozawa and Kzy hit CIMA with a double back elbow in the ring. Tozawa hits a shoulder tackle and a senton. CIMA ties Tozawa in a knot until Nation makes the save. Nation hits Susumu with a dropkick. CIMA hits Kzy with a senton. Nation hits an elbow for 1. The heroes triple-team Tozawa in their funky custom t-shirts. Kzy hits K-ness with a legdrop. Nation hits a slam for 2. He hits two backbreakers and a fall away slam for 2. Tozawa hits a senton. He hits a chair shot and a chair-assisted diving senton for 2. K-neSuka do their thing and the crowd really digs it. CIMA sends Kzy to the floor and dives goofily onto Mad Blankey, showing how much fun he’s having. Susumu hits Tozawa with an exploder for 2. Tozawa hits a brainbuster for 2. He hits the running knee for 2. Susumu hits the super exploder for 2. Nation hits a double lariat on Susumu and CIMA. CIMA puts on a leglock. Nation gets to the ropes. He hits an elbowdrop and the Superfly Splash for 2. Susumu hits the Jumbo no Kachi. Kzy hits K-ness with the Beat Bomb. K-ness hits a swinging DDT for 2. Our heroes hit the SukaDora Knee and a SukaDora Double Stomp for 2. The Veterans, Windows, and Jimmyz gang up on Nation in the corner. Nation hits Susumu with a powerslam. Kzy hits the B-Boy and Tozawa hits the running knee for 2. He hits a German suplex and Nation hits a double powerbomb for 2. Our heroes hit the Shoryuuyaku, superkick, and Jumbo no Kachi on Nation for 2. CIMA hits the Schwein for 2. K-ness hits an enziguiri. Kzy gets a roll up for 2. K-ness hits the Shoryuuyaku for 2. He hits the Darkness Buster for 2. He gets the Hikari no Wa for the win at 21:20. This was just a barrel of fun. The K-neSuka/CIMA team brought the fast-paced entertainment, and the Mad Blankey team actually held up their end better than I thought they could. Kudos to all involved.
Rating: ****

Nation attacks K-ness after the match but CIMA makes the save. Nation, in English, challenges CIMA for his title. He earns a million points with me for not speaking Engrish. CIMA tells him to win King of Gate if he wants a shot. He’ll give him a non-title match in June, however. Takagi rushes out and says he wants the June match against Nation. Nation says it would be too easy. Takagi insists and Yagi makes it so. Doi comes out next and challenges K-ness to a singles match so that he can get his win back from his singles loss a few episodes back. K-ness challenges him for the Triangle Gate Championships instead. The overeager Doi accepts. K-ness asks CIMA to team with him and Susumu for the match. CIMA says no, but Mochizuki offers to take his place and make the thing an M2K reunion!