Incredibly dumb, but just short enough to still be the sort of charming dumb guy match elevated by a hot crowd and a ton of energy.
An eleven and a half minute gif.
This was a Loser Revival Captains Fall elimination match.
The first part of that if either Takagi or YAMATO (as denoted by the (c) by the name) is pinned, the match would be over. Doesn’t matter if one of them is eliminated first or if it comes down to just the captains one on one at the end. When one of them is beat, the thing’s over. There’s a few different strategies that can be employed and a lot that can be done with this. It’s one of the more interesting versions of the big elimination match that Dragon Gate regularly employs. The second part of that means that when someone wins a fall, they can revive one eliminated member of their team per fall. It makes it a little harder to win, as a team has to really go on a streak. The psychology of it is all about stacking eliminations so that there will always be a man disadvantage no matter what. It’s goofy but like anything else, it’s just a gimmick and it can be made to work with the right booking and talent. It’s the sort of match like a Torneo Cibernetico that has its own sort of rhythm and way of storytelling to it, all about line ups and rotations.
You’d think that combining the two is some real hat-on-a-hat nonsense, that the use of each means that each is less effective and that it’s all sort of a mess.
You would be wrong.
It’s a little long to be a HOOT outright, but it’s an epic with hoot-like tendencies, to be sure.
Instead of creating a mess or folding to the pressures of one less than ideal line up, they utilize all the shortcuts and concepts available, using every tool in the toolbox create one of the most fun matches of the year, even if the Captain’s Fall part of this really only matters in the end.
Beyond just the exceptional pacing and layout of this, they use the rules so unbelievably well. The revival rules are used to create some exceptional long running bits, both comedic and serious. The highlight is Mondai Ryu repeatedly running back in when he’s revived and then getting immediately owned again. It leads to MAD BLANKEY forcing a brawl the third time so that there’s nobody in the ring to immediately destroy him, not that it stops Ryu from being clowned again later on. There’s also the habit of Cyber Kong easily throwing dudes out over the top for easy eliminations (it is Japan, after all), creating a lot more drama later on when those eliminations are teased and countered. The returns from elimination by Yoshino and Tozawa at a few points also double as these big hot tag runs. It’s just a very interesting and different sort of a match, which still hits on all these great hallmarks, but in a super unique sort of a way. They also go long enough going back and forth with it that it both feels like someone’s accomplished something when they finally begin to stack those eliminations and then breaks your heart when it’s MAD BLANKEY that does it. They get Uhaa out over the top, Tozawa with a Cyber Bomb, and then finally Yoshino with Kzy’s Tornado Clutch.
Shingo Takagi is forced to deliver another heroic against all odds babyface performance in an elimination match. He’s been doing it since becoming a good guy in 2008/2009, he’s better than anyone in the company in a match like this because of that, and he’s incredible here too. His rally gets Uhaa and Tozawa back in, they manage to get rid of Mondai and Kzy, but the order of re-entry rules fuck over Monster Express here and where the Captains Fall rules really take over and matter in a big and interesting way. They’re both offensive dynamos, but lack the special sort of thing Yoshino has. They both take Cyber Kong out of there, but it leads a still hurt and tired Shingo in there with a much fresher YAMATO. He’s been able to hang back for the last five minutes or so while everyone rained down on Shingo, leaving Shingo with a break of maybe a minute tops Shingo eventually can’t do it anymore, the toll of having to be a hero and do it all for this team down the stretch is just too much. YAMATO wins with the Galleria.
A heroic Shingo performance ends with a loss, but there’s a reason he had to be a hero in the first place. In a STUNNING turn of events, Monster Express has let down Shingo Takagi. You just hope losses like these don’t pile up and he doesn’t take it to heart. MAD BLANKEY isn’t better, but they were much better prepared for a match like this. YAMATO was never forced into heroism, and like in most sports, a well rested superstar tends to get the best of one who has to do everything for his team, even if the former isn’t always outright better than the latter individually.
One of the most fun matches of the year, and a not insignificant piece of DG storytelling. It’s online, Russian facebook. You’re all smart enough to figure out how to watch it.
Sadly, we haven’t gotten to cover a lot of 2014 Dragon Gate. Even had my source for all that fun 2013 DG not dried up, there was never a great deal of stuff from 2014 in the first place. It’s no great loss, as far as the first half of the year goes. I don’t think anyone was clamoring for the minutae of the BxB Hulk face turn and push towards the main event of Kobe World, you know?
Thankfully, some parts of the best thing Dragon Gate did in 2014 remain, which is the continued push of the Millennials.
This is all a lead up to T-Hawk and Eita’s challenge of Shingo and Tozawa for the Twin Gate titles in the semi-main event of Kobe World, and it’s wonderful. As usual for a Dragon Gate non-major show build up tag, it’s not especially serious or deep, but it is just enormously fun. Shingo Takagi can’t help but see the parallel with the T-Hawk/Eita team to his team as a young man with BxB Hulk, and constantly bullies both of them in different ways. T-Hawk gets the cheap shots and Eita gets outright mauled every time he’s in the ring. Tozawa and Uhaa are joys to watch, but as usual. the meat of the story comes from our man Takagi.
Mechanically, it’s once again delightful. Six of the most physically talented wrestlers alive riffing it out for a while. All of the more limited guys in the match (Uhaa, Eita, Flamita) can hit their shit and get out without overextending themselves. They all have really sensational stuff. The Flamita and Uhaa stuff especially means that the two big two man teams can show enough to get everyone ALL riled up for Kobe World, but without ever giving the big stuff away. Shingo’s barely in this for the final run, T-Hawk rarely matches up with Shingo or Tozawa, and the Tozawa vs. Eita run is perfect, giving the two less important guys of the four the chance to go relatively wild, but without blowing a single thing.
Eita gets the El Numero Uno on Tozawa until Shachihoko BOY throws the towel in and the Millennials get kind of an upset.
Both a great piece of simple booking heading into a big match, and one more brick in the foundation for something that won’t happen yet for another thirteen months. When Dragon Gate hits right, it is the absolute coolest.
I wrote about the Shingo Takagi & YAMATO vs. RyoSuka tag earlier in the night that it was close to being the platonic ideal for a smaller show Dragon Gate midcard tag. Forget the word “close” or the phrase “close to” here. This is the platonic ideal for a Dragon Gate six man main event on a less important show.
Is this match a big deal? No.
Does this have any importance whatsoever? No. It’s not really even a build up tag at all. It simply is.
It’s just a blast. Tight and fun and perfect for what it is. The heels are mean and basic in the control segment, but without ever leaning on bullshit or blatantly filling space like so many DG heel teams in recent years have felt like they’re doing. There’s always something around the corner to liven it up or keep interest steady. A tag in that’s cut off, a hope spot that’s cut off, some big move, etc. They’re hardly the perfect DG heel unit (Blood Generation or if you’re a fucking nerd, the Millennials), but it all works out real real well. Final half is then a fireworks show.
They don’t unload the arsenal here in front of only Sapporo Teisen Hall, but once again, there’s enough that this is always very exciting. Mochizuki vs. Tozawa is a near perfect match up when it’s just the hits. Uhaa Nation once again looks incredible because they’re so smart about how he’s used. BxB Hulk is nobody sane’s favorite heel but he’s great in the little pieces here (especially against Dragon Kid), while Tozawa shoulds most of the load. They got the crowd hotter than any other match so far, especially for the Dragon Kid section against BxB and then Tozawa at the end, and while that doesn’t make or break the match, it’s a nice little boost and an impressive thing on its own. The cycle ends up with Dragon Kid stuck alone with Tozawa, and Our Hero is on a roll. Dragon Kid gets beaten with the Package German Suplex.
Much like anything on a mid tour show like this, it’s hardly essential, but it’s just an absolute fucking blast. At its best, Dragon Gate is some of the most fun professional wrestling that anyone can ever watch.
This was for Hulk and Nation’s Open the Twin Gate Titles.
Incredible stuff. The sort of match you watch to remember why formula is formula. It’s too easy (sorry). Uhaa is still pretty new and BxB is no great babyface. And yet, it works. It works so well that I’m not sure it isn’t the best match in the career of Uhaa (later Apollo Crews). I’m not sure it isn’t the best match BxB ever had in the unnatural heel role that he’s played for far too much of his career.
It’s all very simple stuff. BxB is a little shit stirrer but always hides behind the big fella. There’s history between BxB and both challengers, both as part of Dragon Gate’s BIG SIX and in specific ways. BxB and YAMATO have been at odds for most of their careers without much in the way of big blow-ups. Then, the other half of that is perhaps the best answer for Dragon Gate’s all time greatest feud. If it isn’t that, personally, it’s the most I’ve ever been engaged by a Dragon Gate feud. Takagi was at one point a tough big brother figure for the entertainment-first Hulk, before getting briefly frustrated at him in 2008 and turning on him. BxB wasn’t ever the same and after a year or two of spiraling, the poor kid turned heel. A reconciliation never happens, because some things are too much to ever really get over. My Dragon Gate fandom largely began with New Hazard, it’s ebbed and flowed with this feud, and any time they’re in the ring together, you have the attention of my heart and brain both.
Luckily, this treats them both with the caution and respect that they’re due.
Uhaa helps a lot too. He’s not a great traditional monster but this is Dragon Gate and that was never really what they wanted from a big athletic freak like him. What he does is perfectly managing to blend the two. He can do this sensational stuff, but smartly saves it for the perfect moments to provide late match nearfall worthy offense or to be totally demoralizing against these two smaller workhorses. Everyone kind of knows Shingo can lift him for everything, but he fights enough to still make it thrilling. The more surprising moment is when he goes up for a big YAMATO slam at the end of the control segment, because it’s far more unexpected.
Your fireworks heavy finishing run delivers once again. Shingo primarily handles Uhaa, and they’re fantastic against each other. The match leans more on YAMATO against BxB Hulk for the last three to five minutes, which is disappointing both because it’s less exciting than Shingo overcoming a powerful and super athletic foreigner and also because I don’t care about YAMATO like I care about Shingo. There are certainly moments when I’ve hated YAMATO. This isn’t one of them. He’s fantastic in this match. This final segment more than delivers. It simply isn’t the best thing this match is capable of, although it’s the most logical way to end it, given Uhaa’s still new and YAMATO/BxB is a newer pairing in big settings. It’s also a great payoff to the story of the match. Big badass Shingo takes out big Uhaa, and BxB Hulk is left with nothing and nobody to hide behind. YAMATO owns him with the swiftness, and our heroes (or our hero and his shitty weird friend) regain the titles following the Galleria on Hulk.
Perfect DG formula stuff, and something modern DG could learn from. The talent obviously isn’t the same, but one might take note of the total lack of bullshit here as well. Everyone got put in the best possible position not only to have a great match, but to succeed on all the different character levels as well. Like Yoshino vs. Dragon Kid before it, it’s another example of the company near its best, and putting its most impressive foot forward on the second or third biggest show of the year.
Someone could argue that 2013 Dragon Gate is actually the best promotion of the year and actually their peak as a company and I wouldn’t even bother arguing.
HANDWERK 