This was a B Block match in the 2016 King of Gate tournament.
I’m not going to lie to you.
This is not a perfect match.
Dragon Gate Brain Sickness is on full display early on as CIMA fills a few minutes with some pretty solid work on Tozawa’s knee, only for him to immediately ignore it once he gets on offense, without so much as a nod in the direction of that part of the match or a mere shake of the leg. It’s frustrating, even when one considers reports of tensions there. The booking’s also suspect, as CIMA once again goes over Tozawa long past a point where that’s necessary. At large, this entire tournament is kind of infuriating, between boredom brought on by YAMATO’s turn at Dead or Alive making the whole thing a foregone conclusion and also, once again, the infuriating nature of the gigantic missed opportunity with such a lay-up of a Takagi/Tozawa title match forever left unfulfilled.
However, there’s also a lot of cool stuff, and an exchange of all that cool stuff takes up the back 70-80% of the match, and so I’m not all that offended.
I mean, I am. Constantly. I am constantly aggrieved that Dragon Gate blew something that should have been this easy, obvious, and automatic. I am livid that they blew it, and after years of blowing it, Akira Tozawa’s prime ended prematurely when he eventually decided to leave. I really think it sucks that a wrestler this great for the previous five or six years never got the chance he so obviously deserved, and instead made a fair decision that if he was going to spin his wheels forever, he might as well go spin them with some of his best friends and probably for more money, with more time off, and with far less of a physical toll taken. That all sucks shit, as a viewer.
As for this match individually though, you know, whatever.
These are two guys with remarkable offensive arsenals and who shine in matches like this. Even if they build a crummy foundation for themselves and impede the match’s ability to be more than just this, it is real entertaining to see them unload those arsenals upon each other.
Sometimes it is just fun to watch the bright lights.
HANDWERK 