Dragon Gate 1/22/2022 Open The New Year Gate Day 9
I skipped the Yosuke Santa Maria match here. It was just going to be him doing the usual gay shtick and I have no interest in that.
Don Fuji vs Masaaki Mochizuki
Fuji gets rushed with kicks to start and gets a dragon screw through the ropes. They go outside and Fuji gets lined up in front of the post but Mocchy ends up kicking the post on accident. They both start hitting each other in the knee and go down. Fuji gets put in the figure four then reverses it.
Mocchy gets out of a chokeslam then gets a lariat. Mocchy kick combos him then gets hit with a chokeslam for 2. Fuji takes some kicks then hits another lariat for 2. They trade more strikes and both charge into each other at the same time and go down and the 10 minute time limit expires.
They had maybe something going there with the knee story but they abandoned it and it wasn't anything too special.
Riki Iihashi and Ishin Iihashi vs. Keisuke Okuda and Ryu Fuda
Mocchy gets out of a chokeslam then gets a lariat. Mocchy kick combos him then gets hit with a chokeslam for 2. Fuji takes some kicks then hits another lariat for 2. They trade more strikes and both charge into each other at the same time and go down and the 10 minute time limit expires.
They had maybe something going there with the knee story but they abandoned it and it wasn't anything too special.
Riki Iihashi and Ishin Iihashi vs. Keisuke Okuda and Ryu Fuda
Riki and Ryu trade simple stuff to start. Ishin slaps Okuda and gets some kicks to the front and back for it. Ishin and Fuda have a nice forearm exchange then Riki and Fuda exchange chops for kicks. Fuda hits a nice dropkick from the top on Riki and Riki takes a double kick spot from his opponents.
Ishin gets a corner dropkick and a swinging neckbreaker from Okuda for 2 and comes back with a dropkick and a slow octopus stretch. Riki gets one on Fuda too. Fuda gets held up by Ishin for a Riki bulldog then Okuda stops a 1v2 with kicks on both opponents. Riki gets a pumping knee then double kicks. Okuda penalty kicks Riki for 2 and gets rolled up, but triangles him for the win.
The match would have been helped a lot if the crowd could cheer. It wasn't bad but they probably needed more time here.
Ishin gets a corner dropkick and a swinging neckbreaker from Okuda for 2 and comes back with a dropkick and a slow octopus stretch. Riki gets one on Fuda too. Fuda gets held up by Ishin for a Riki bulldog then Okuda stops a 1v2 with kicks on both opponents. Riki gets a pumping knee then double kicks. Okuda penalty kicks Riki for 2 and gets rolled up, but triangles him for the win.
The match would have been helped a lot if the crowd could cheer. It wasn't bad but they probably needed more time here.
Natural Vibes (BIG BOSS Shimizu, Genki Horiguchi & Jacky Funky Kamei) vs Jason Lee, La Estrella & Ultimo Dragon
Lee hits a cool slap counter on Kamei to start and Kamei botches a flip out of the corner. Kamei goes to run the ropes and Lee sits down and prays, then gets lifted up and armdrags him. Estrella tries to back elbow Shimizu but he gets lifted up like a kid, then Estrella does a big spin sell off a shoulderblock.
Ultimo and Genki screw around then Lee twists Genki's hair and throws him at 5 minutes. Lee gets stomped on by Genki and Shimizu and Genki tries to fire up Kamei. Shimizu airplane spins Estrella but gets dizzy and falls out of the ring.
Ultimo sends Shimizu into Kamei then sells his back while back body dropping him. Estrella does a nice reverse tope on Genki then plancha's him. Lee goes against Shimizu and takes a crossbody block then a pop-up samoan drop. Shimizu then wins it with a top rope splash on Lee.
This was mostly all comedy and a shame since it would have been good if it wasn't.
Ultimo and Genki screw around then Lee twists Genki's hair and throws him at 5 minutes. Lee gets stomped on by Genki and Shimizu and Genki tries to fire up Kamei. Shimizu airplane spins Estrella but gets dizzy and falls out of the ring.
Ultimo sends Shimizu into Kamei then sells his back while back body dropping him. Estrella does a nice reverse tope on Genki then plancha's him. Lee goes against Shimizu and takes a crossbody block then a pop-up samoan drop. Shimizu then wins it with a top rope splash on Lee.
This was mostly all comedy and a shame since it would have been good if it wasn't.
Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka vs Kagetora & Takuma Fujiwara
Dia does a nice tilt-a-whirl on TF then backflips off a single leg dropkick. TF eats a double baseball slide. TF and Yuki trade some hard chops. Dia gets a double hiptoss then TF cartwheels into a dropkick. Kagetora puts Dia in a hanging nudo then Dia puts TF in a rocking chair. TF takes his usual big back body drop bump for Yuki.
TF hits a nice chop combo on Dia but Dia comes back with a double forearm then standing moonsaults him. TF hits a nice dropkick on Dia and Kage gets in and gets some serious flight on a flying forearm on TF. Kage hits a nice 619, then carthweels off the top rope. He takes a big dropkick by Yuki .
TF does his outside to inside double stomp on Dia then Kage outside to inside dropkicks Dia, before a standing TF moonsault. Dia headscissors his partner into a senton atomico on TF. Dia hits a handspring back elbow on TF and then does a cool Toyota roll into a crucifix bomb to win it.
As far as action goes, this was the best effort and most interesting match on the show so far. I wouldn't call it great or anything but it was fast paced and everyone got some good moves in. I'd like to see Takuma try some other moves as I'm getting a little bored with the dropkicks.
TF hits a nice chop combo on Dia but Dia comes back with a double forearm then standing moonsaults him. TF hits a nice dropkick on Dia and Kage gets in and gets some serious flight on a flying forearm on TF. Kage hits a nice 619, then carthweels off the top rope. He takes a big dropkick by Yuki .
TF does his outside to inside double stomp on Dia then Kage outside to inside dropkicks Dia, before a standing TF moonsault. Dia headscissors his partner into a senton atomico on TF. Dia hits a handspring back elbow on TF and then does a cool Toyota roll into a crucifix bomb to win it.
As far as action goes, this was the best effort and most interesting match on the show so far. I wouldn't call it great or anything but it was fast paced and everyone got some good moves in. I'd like to see Takuma try some other moves as I'm getting a little bored with the dropkicks.
Elimination Match - Kota Minoura & Takashi Yoshida vs R.E.D. (KAI & Shun Skywalker)
This is an elimination match where both members of the other team have to be defeated to win. This is an odd gimmick for a normal tag match.
Shun is only wearing one mask today and is still in the purple gear. He and his partner jump their opponents at the bell and choke them. Kota and Yoshida get beat on for a while and Kota takes a pump kick/super kick combo. Shun starts teeing off on Kota's chest with kicks. Kai tries for a suplex but Kota reverses it and suplexes him. Kota then catches Shun in the air and waterwheel drops him.
Yoshida 1v2's his opponents with chops then Yoshida and Kai clothesline each other at the same time and go down. Dia and Kota trade forearms then Kota exploder suplexes him. Shun accidentally pump kicks Kai and Yoshida rolls him up to eliminate him.
Shun gets beat up 1v2 and takes a Yoshida senton. Yoshida charges at Shun, but Shun drops down and Yoshida almost nails the ref. Shun pulls off his own mask and this gets Yoshida DQ'd, making this now a 1v1 with Kota vs Shun. Kota hits a nice butterfly suplex into a seated double underhook lock. He switches over to a crossface and Shun's mask falls off, which the ref helps put back on.
Kota hits some weird vertical suplex lift then just drops Shun down on his stomach. Shun the ncomes back and blasts him with a running pump kick. They both go down after a backdrop for a good 2 minutes, and the ref doesn't start counting until way late. Shun hits a spinning sit out uranage then a standing moonsault for 2. Shun then gets a spinning backdrop reversed for the Kota pin at around 18 minutes.
This was not good. They had some screw ups here with the mask coming off and both guys being down for too long near the end with the ref not counting. The general idea of a 2v2 elimination didn't make much sense and this all happening in front of a crowd that couldn't cheer was just not a good idea.
This is an elimination match where both members of the other team have to be defeated to win. This is an odd gimmick for a normal tag match.
Shun is only wearing one mask today and is still in the purple gear. He and his partner jump their opponents at the bell and choke them. Kota and Yoshida get beat on for a while and Kota takes a pump kick/super kick combo. Shun starts teeing off on Kota's chest with kicks. Kai tries for a suplex but Kota reverses it and suplexes him. Kota then catches Shun in the air and waterwheel drops him.
Yoshida 1v2's his opponents with chops then Yoshida and Kai clothesline each other at the same time and go down. Dia and Kota trade forearms then Kota exploder suplexes him. Shun accidentally pump kicks Kai and Yoshida rolls him up to eliminate him.
Shun gets beat up 1v2 and takes a Yoshida senton. Yoshida charges at Shun, but Shun drops down and Yoshida almost nails the ref. Shun pulls off his own mask and this gets Yoshida DQ'd, making this now a 1v1 with Kota vs Shun. Kota hits a nice butterfly suplex into a seated double underhook lock. He switches over to a crossface and Shun's mask falls off, which the ref helps put back on.
Kota hits some weird vertical suplex lift then just drops Shun down on his stomach. Shun the ncomes back and blasts him with a running pump kick. They both go down after a backdrop for a good 2 minutes, and the ref doesn't start counting until way late. Shun hits a spinning sit out uranage then a standing moonsault for 2. Shun then gets a spinning backdrop reversed for the Kota pin at around 18 minutes.
This was not good. They had some screw ups here with the mask coming off and both guys being down for too long near the end with the ref not counting. The general idea of a 2v2 elimination didn't make much sense and this all happening in front of a crowd that couldn't cheer was just not a good idea.
Overall thoughts: A house show in front of a crowd that can't cheer. It doesn't sound like a good idea and it wasn't. The two tag matches with Dragon Dia and Okuda were the best things on the show.
No comments:
Post a Comment