Dragon Gate 2/4/2022 Open The New Year Gate Day 13
Dragon Dia & Yuki Yoshioka vs. Natural Vibes (Jacky Funky Kamei & U-T)
Funky Boy Kamei does a prayer pose then forces Dia into one and gets armdragged and dropkicked for it. Vibes does a double team sequence on Dia that ends in him getting dropkicked in the face. Dia and Yuki come back with their own double team sequence that ends in Kamei getting standing SSP'd. Yuki hits a nice spinning slam on Jacky.
Dia puts Jacky in the rocking horse then Jacky gets popped up by Yuki but reverses it into a dropkick. UT pushes Dia into the ropes and rebounds him into a zigzag. Jacky hits his kicking rush attack and Yuki hits a nicedropkick on Jacky. Dia handspring elbows UT then Yuki does a wristclutch uranage. Dia then moonsaults off of a Yuki who is on all fours onto UT.
Jacky tries some pinning combinations on Yuki and gets a brainbuster. Dia then hits his 2nd rope DDT on him and tope con hilo's 2 members of Vibes. Yuki hits a brainbuster variation on Jacky then frogsplashes him for the in.
This wasn't that great or anything though it wasn't bad. Yuki really is missing some fire but Yuki has some nice moves.
Don Fuji vs Shoya Sato
They argue before Fuji gets in the ring. Sato rushes Fuji during intros and pays for it. Heh hits a nice hip throw on Fuji for 2 then hits a bunch of headbutts on him. Fuji throws off Sato and throws him outside. He then rams him into the post and slams him on the mats on the floor. Sato barely beats the count to get in and gets beat up more.
Fuji slaps and slams him. He drops some elbows then gets rolled up with an armbar. Fuji then germans him for the win.
This was short and nothing special.
Gurukun Mask & YAMATO vs Ishin Iihashi & Riki Iihashi
Ishin and Yamato have a section that isn't anything special then Riki dropkicks Gurukun. Gurukun spin kicks Riki and kicks him in the chest. Riki throws some bad chops at Guru then is slapped for it. Yamato and Riki trade chops and Yamato gets suplexed by him. Ishin runs the ropes fast and shoulders down Guru. He then springboard dropkicks him.
Riki puts Yamato in the octopus stretch then Ishin does the same to Guru a little later. Guru facebusters one of the bros onto the other then Guru flip sentons on Ishin. Ishin gets a close roll-up for 2 on Guru then takes a stiff clothesline. Guru then high kicks him and brainbusters him for the win.
This was really nothing special at all with the result never in question.
Ishin and Yamato have a section that isn't anything special then Riki dropkicks Gurukun. Gurukun spin kicks Riki and kicks him in the chest. Riki throws some bad chops at Guru then is slapped for it. Yamato and Riki trade chops and Yamato gets suplexed by him. Ishin runs the ropes fast and shoulders down Guru. He then springboard dropkicks him.
Riki puts Yamato in the octopus stretch then Ishin does the same to Guru a little later. Guru facebusters one of the bros onto the other then Guru flip sentons on Ishin. Ishin gets a close roll-up for 2 on Guru then takes a stiff clothesline. Guru then high kicks him and brainbusters him for the win.
This was really nothing special at all with the result never in question.
Gamma, Punch Tominaga & Yosuke Santa Maria vs Z-Brats (Diamante, H.Y.O & SB KENTo)
Z-Brats is the new unit after R.E.D broke up last month. They were yellow and black and seemingly formed on a show that wasn't aired.
Everyone fights in the ring to start. Punch takes some sentons and splashes then is held up into a nice ligerbomb from Diamante. SB hits Maria in the back with the box lid then Hyo hits Maria in the nuts. Someone then nails Hyo with the box lid and Maria gets the cheap win in 2 minutes. A hot start for a new unit here in an odd match.
Z-Brats is the new unit after R.E.D broke up last month. They were yellow and black and seemingly formed on a show that wasn't aired.
Everyone fights in the ring to start. Punch takes some sentons and splashes then is held up into a nice ligerbomb from Diamante. SB hits Maria in the back with the box lid then Hyo hits Maria in the nuts. Someone then nails Hyo with the box lid and Maria gets the cheap win in 2 minutes. A hot start for a new unit here in an odd match.
HIGH-END (Ben-K, Dragon Kid, Keisuke Okuda) & Takumi Hayakawa vs Ryu Fuda, Shuji Kondo, Strong Machine J & Ultimo Dragon
Ben-K and SMJ trade forearms to start. Fuda and Okuda trade kicks then Fuda gets pump kicked. Fuda and Hayakawa trade forearms then Fuda kicks him hard in the body.
Hayakawa chops Kondo then gets back elbowed. Kid almost nails Ultimo but stops himself and walks away. Fuda penalty kicks Hayakawa. They then trade chops and Hawakawa dropkicks him, then tornado ddt's him.
Ben-K gets in and spears Kondo and SMJ at the same time, then helps whip Kid into Fuda. Kondo overhead throws Kid. UD kick combos Ben and Kid hits UD when he isn't looking and keeps regretting it.
Hayakawa gets the big Kondo spear. Ben spears Fuda and wins it soon after.
I had no expectations for this going in but it was actually fun with Kid trying to respect Ultimo, everyone hitting their spots and the younger guys getting time.
Ben-K and SMJ trade forearms to start. Fuda and Okuda trade kicks then Fuda gets pump kicked. Fuda and Hayakawa trade forearms then Fuda kicks him hard in the body.
Hayakawa chops Kondo then gets back elbowed. Kid almost nails Ultimo but stops himself and walks away. Fuda penalty kicks Hayakawa. They then trade chops and Hawakawa dropkicks him, then tornado ddt's him.
Ben-K gets in and spears Kondo and SMJ at the same time, then helps whip Kid into Fuda. Kondo overhead throws Kid. UD kick combos Ben and Kid hits UD when he isn't looking and keeps regretting it.
Hayakawa gets the big Kondo spear. Ben spears Fuda and wins it soon after.
I had no expectations for this going in but it was actually fun with Kid trying to respect Ultimo, everyone hitting their spots and the younger guys getting time.
M2K (Masaaki Mochizuki, Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda) (w/Darkness Dragon) vs Natural Vibes (BIG BOSS Shimizu, Genki Horiguchi & Kzy)
Vibes does their usual entrance dance and Shimizu dancing along was quite funny.
We get the old M2K entrance on scooters but sadly the audio was muted for copyright and we don't get to enjoy it. Kanda has the full mohawk again!
Of course they brawl outside early. M2K ties up Shimizu then face kicks him. They then double suplex Genki. UT tries to fight them off but gets double reverse death valley drivered. Susumu throws Genki by his hair and headbutts him in the crotch. Genki then gets his crotch rammed into the post outside.
Genki gets stood up on his head then Mocchy axe kicks him in the nuts as M2K holds his legs apart. Genki criss crosses Kanda with a hurricanrana and gets out. Susumu and UT trade forearms and K-Ness trips UT. K-Ness gets some offense in and drops a knee on UT. Yagi, the ref, just like purposely turned his back to ignore all this.
MSK hits a knee/lariat combo on Genki then Kanda does the big elbow from the top. Mocchy and Shimizu trade but Shimizu gets hit in the back with the blue box. Susumu ties up Genki on the bleachers by hugging him and K-Ness nails Shimizu with a box to ensure the double countout. For those who don't know, M2K purposely tried to make every match end in a double countout during a tournament once and the finish was based off that.
Look, I could point out some of the logic errors here and point out the bad stuff here, but it was fun to see M2K back and I appreciate it for what it was.
Vibes does their usual entrance dance and Shimizu dancing along was quite funny.
We get the old M2K entrance on scooters but sadly the audio was muted for copyright and we don't get to enjoy it. Kanda has the full mohawk again!
Of course they brawl outside early. M2K ties up Shimizu then face kicks him. They then double suplex Genki. UT tries to fight them off but gets double reverse death valley drivered. Susumu throws Genki by his hair and headbutts him in the crotch. Genki then gets his crotch rammed into the post outside.
Genki gets stood up on his head then Mocchy axe kicks him in the nuts as M2K holds his legs apart. Genki criss crosses Kanda with a hurricanrana and gets out. Susumu and UT trade forearms and K-Ness trips UT. K-Ness gets some offense in and drops a knee on UT. Yagi, the ref, just like purposely turned his back to ignore all this.
MSK hits a knee/lariat combo on Genki then Kanda does the big elbow from the top. Mocchy and Shimizu trade but Shimizu gets hit in the back with the blue box. Susumu ties up Genki on the bleachers by hugging him and K-Ness nails Shimizu with a box to ensure the double countout. For those who don't know, M2K purposely tried to make every match end in a double countout during a tournament once and the finish was based off that.
Look, I could point out some of the logic errors here and point out the bad stuff here, but it was fun to see M2K back and I appreciate it for what it was.
Jason Lee & Kota Minoura vs Z-Brats (BxB Hulk & Shun Skywalker) and Naruki Doi & Takuma Fujiwara
Takuma has some lite brite neon tights on. Shun gets double armlocked early then Takuma gets it. Takuma flips out of it then runs up the ropes, flips off them and armdrags both down.
Takuma took a double team combo from Kota and Lee. Takuma and Kota trade forearms. Hulk axe kicks Takuma in the back of the neck. Shun hits some hard strikes on Takuma then Takuma takes a big double hiptoss. Hulk then helps out Shun to spin him into a facebuster.
Doi ends up making Lee dropkick his own partner and he and Hulk botch something. Hulk hits a standing twisting moonsault on him. Everyone hits corner moves on Shun and Takuma does his slignshot double footstomp on him. Hulk hits nice spin kicks on the ex-Masquerade guys. Shun standing moonsault knees Takuma.
Lee tornado ddt's Hulk off of Shun, Doi hits Doi Fives on Hulk. Kota then hits a double wrist clutch ligerbomb and wins it.
I didn't like this. There were too many people and it was real herky jerky with people having to rush to get stuff in and then not be able to follow up on it. Doi was shaking his head at Takuma after and wasn't pleased. Kota was excited about his win and called out Doi. They then shook hands.
Takuma has some lite brite neon tights on. Shun gets double armlocked early then Takuma gets it. Takuma flips out of it then runs up the ropes, flips off them and armdrags both down.
Takuma took a double team combo from Kota and Lee. Takuma and Kota trade forearms. Hulk axe kicks Takuma in the back of the neck. Shun hits some hard strikes on Takuma then Takuma takes a big double hiptoss. Hulk then helps out Shun to spin him into a facebuster.
Doi ends up making Lee dropkick his own partner and he and Hulk botch something. Hulk hits a standing twisting moonsault on him. Everyone hits corner moves on Shun and Takuma does his slignshot double footstomp on him. Hulk hits nice spin kicks on the ex-Masquerade guys. Shun standing moonsault knees Takuma.
Lee tornado ddt's Hulk off of Shun, Doi hits Doi Fives on Hulk. Kota then hits a double wrist clutch ligerbomb and wins it.
I didn't like this. There were too many people and it was real herky jerky with people having to rush to get stuff in and then not be able to follow up on it. Doi was shaking his head at Takuma after and wasn't pleased. Kota was excited about his win and called out Doi. They then shook hands.
Open The Dream Gate Title Match - KAI (c) vs Takashi Yoshida
Yoshida is wearing pants again...YESSS! He also has a shiny silver cape. They worked the leg early then forgot about it. They had a nice double lariat spot and Yoshida hit a nice top rope elbow later in the match. Kai ended up winning this with a roll-up where he kind of ddt'd himself. I'm really not a fan of either guy in DG and it was a slower match until the last 3rd of it or so when they started doing more lariats and enzugiri's. It was pretty much just as I expected and I don't know why this was booked in the main or why it was booked to go 18 minutes when anything else minus Santa Maria would have been more interesting.
Overall thoughts: It wasn't a great one but the M2K reunion was fun, the opener was good and I liked the 8-man tag.
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