This was a Losing Stable Must Disband elimination match.
Dragon Gate’s babyface leaning groups for the last two years have been about the past (Jimmyz), present (Monster Express), and the future (Millenials). With the present in the process of imploding as a result of Shingo Takagi’s recent change in attitude about the toughness of Monster Express, MAD BLANKEY has spent the last month trying to take over by destroying the past and the future. Ten days before this, MAD BLANKEY was in a similar match with our heroes the Millennials, and the bad guys won, forcing a promising young group to go their separate ways when YAMATO got the crushing win over T-Hawk. Given that that was a group that should have lasted for years and that the Jimmyz have lasted for the last three and a half years, it’s now completely believable that in order to bolster a do-nothing heel unit, the Jimmyz will also die. YAMATO pinning T-Hawk to destroy Dragon Gate’s future was a whole lot too on the nose, but this match presents a very interesting conflict. Dragon Gate’s aims for so long now have been to protect the past at all costs, but also that everything must somehow benefit YAMATO. It was never clear which was #1 and which was #2, but everything for the last half decade plus has seemed to come back to one of these two goals.
In this match, one will finally win out over the other, and it makes for an extra fascinating version of a match that’s already a guaranteed hit with the way this company is set up to work.
It’s one of two major pieces of DRAGON GATE MAGIC on this show.
Once things settle down from the always disappointing prerequisite arena walk and brawl, Dragon Gate once knocks it out of the park with a big multi-man once again. There are significant talent weaknesses here with guys like Kong, Ryu, and Kanda, but as usual, the action is fast enough and free flowing enough that no one man ever gets stuck in there for too long. Naoki Tanizaki, Mondai Ryu, and Jimmy Kanda find themselves eliminated first in short order, with Cyber Kong following via a miracle Backslide from Heaven, and the match comes down to its heaviest hitters and those with the ability to pack the greatest emotional punch. Susumu is able to grab his former old friend and partner K-Ness into a cradle to dispatch with him after a slight hesitation on the part of old K-Ness, and YAMATO ends Genki’s miracle run with the Galleria in similarly short order. It’s all very fun. Fast and wild, with great little short term payoffs sprinkled in throughout.
It’s when the match comes down to just YAMADoi vs. RyoSuka that it steps up to another level.
With four of the better Dragon Gate wrestlers in a match like this, it gets to that perfect space for said match like this, in which everything looks great, sounds great, and feels great. Saito is out first as the older one, as YAMATO and Doi have the regular experience that Susumu and Saito haven’t had together in years. Susumu Yokosuka then puts one one of his better performances in recent memory (save the all-time great tag in April) as the only one left. Doi goes out to the Jumbo no Kaichi and then Susumu and YAMATO absolutely kill it. KILL IT. It’s a match up that — like many match ups with both men — can be incredibly grating in longer title match settings. Susumu especially is maybe the all time offender for Bad DG Brain and Dream Gate Style, but in a setting like this that’s all action, he can really shine and do the things he does especially well. For his part, as unbelievably annoying as his push can be and as outright infuriating as it will be in the future, YAMATO rarely fails to rise to the occasion in a big match environment either. It’s all big and dumb bomb trading before a major emotional moment, and it completely rocks.
That old emotional punch comes in the end, and for once in Dragon Gate as it pertains to a big YAMATO match, it doesn’t land in your gut, but lands in that of the opposition. K-Ness avoids a misfire of the heel powder, but then comes right inside and throws it in YAMATO’s face on purpose to turn and save his friend. K-NesSuka run through a few old things, and Susumu puts MAD BLANKEY down with the Jumbo no Kaichi to win.
It’s far from a perfect match. It’s really rushed at points in the middle and I think the Jimmyz line up really missed out on Kagetora in a match like this while he was injured, as the other founding member alongside Susumu. The first section was also not great, and in general, some things should have been stretched longer and other things should have been tightened up. As someone who never cared for the Jimmyz in the way I’ve cared for other DG stables in the past (New Hazard, Monster Express, Millennial) or future (Masquerade) also, I was more satisfied to see a big K-Ness angle than I was to see the continuation of this group. For people of a different opinion, this match likely packs a far greater spiritual punch than it ever could to me.
In spite of all of that, it’s yet another major Dragon Gate match where everything comes together pretty wonderfully to create a big sensational moment. If not the best Dragon Gate can do or even the best version of this sort of a match in the 2010s, it serves as a stellar representation of everything about the company, and how well the positives of Dragon Gate can overcome the negatives.
***1/4
HANDWERK 
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