{"id":17690,"date":"2015-03-08T14:58:43","date_gmt":"2015-03-08T18:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/crazymax.org\/newsite\/?p=17690"},"modified":"2015-03-08T15:02:43","modified_gmt":"2015-03-08T19:02:43","slug":"fighting-spirit-review-dragon-gate-open-the-new-year-gate-on-11615","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crazymax.org\/newsite\/reviews\/fighting-spirit-review-dragon-gate-open-the-new-year-gate-on-11615\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting Spirit Review: Dragon Gate “Open the New Year Gate” on 1\/16\/15"},"content":{"rendered":"

Date:\u00a0 January 16th, 2015
\nLocation:\u00a0 Tokyo Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan
\nAnnounced Attendance:\u00a0 1,850<\/strong><\/p>\n

I can never really keep up with Dragon Gate storylines.\u00a0 They have lots of factions and wrestlers change factions on a regular basis, so unless you really pay attention it is hard to keep track of.\u00a0 Because of this I tend to just enjoy DG for what it is but I don\u2019t hurt my brain too much trying to figure out who is feuding with whom.\u00a0 This event has a tournament to find the next contender for the Open the Dragon Gate Championship.\u00a0 Here is the full card:<\/p>\n

– Ryo “Jimmy” Saito, Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!, and Jimmy Kagetora vs. Super Shisa, Mr. High Tension Kotoka, and Yuga Hayashi
\n– Jimmy Kanda and Mr. Que Que Naoki Tanizaki Toyonaka Dolphin vs. Mondai Ryu and Tominaga
\n– Open the Dream Gate Contendership Tournament: Big R Shimizu vs. Don Fujii
\n– Open the Dream Gate Contendership Tournament : Kenichiro Arai vs. Jimmy Susumu
\n– BxB Hulk, Masaaki Mochizuki, and Dragon Kid vs. Shingo Takagi, Akira Tozawa, and Shachihoko BOY
\n– CIMA, YAMATO, Gamma, Cyber Kong, and K-ness vs. T-Hawk, Eita, U-T, and Yosuke Santa Maria
\n– CIMA, YAMATO, Gamma, Cyber Kong, Dr. Muscle, and K-ness vs. T-Hawk, Eita, U-T, Yosuke Santa Maria, Mr. High Tension Kotoka, and Yuga Hayashi
\n– Open the Dream Gate Contendership Tournament: Big R Shimizu vs. Jimmy Susumu<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get started!<\/p>\n

Ryo “Jimmy” Saito, Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!, and Jimmy Kagetora vs. Super Shisa, Mr. High Tension Kotoka, and Yuga Hayashi<\/strong>
\nHoriguchi and Shisa start off and Shisa slaps him in the Mexican Surfboard.\u00a0 Kotoka and Kagetora run in but Kotoka dropkicks Kagetora back out.\u00a0 Hayashi and Saito are next, boot by Hayashi and he hits an elbow, but Kagetora comes off the top with a missile dropkick.\u00a0 Horiguchi comes in and pounds on Hayashi, then Saito hits a double stomp.\u00a0 Horiguchi snapmares Hayashi and Kagetora hits a slingshot elbow drop.\u00a0 Hayashi is assaulted in the corner, Hayashi chops Horiguchi but Kagetora kicks him from the apron.\u00a0 Kotoka comes in to help but he is tossed out of the ring.\u00a0 Kagetora goes off the ropes but Hayashi dropkicks him and tags in Shisa.\u00a0 Horiguchi elbows Shisa but Shisa dropkicks him out of the ring.\u00a0 Saito comes in but Shisa sails out of the ring with a tope suicida.\u00a0 Kotoka and Saito square off and Kotoka hits a vertical suplex.\u00a0 German suplex by Saito, kick by Kagetora and Horiguchi hits a tornado DDT. Brainbuster by Kagetora and he gets a two.\u00a0 Judo throw by Hayashi and he applies a cross armbreaker to Kagetora, then Saito comes off the top with a diving body press.\u00a0 Kotoka hits a swandive missile dropkick on him followed by a tope suicida.\u00a0 Shisa comes in and he trades pin attempts with Kagetora.\u00a0 Kagenui by Kagetora and he picks up the three count, winning the match for his team.\u00a0\u00a0 Fast paced, the ending was just sudden though as Shisa wasn\u2019t really hurt, he just got \u2018caught\u2019.\u00a0 But a flash pin in six man tag matches is logical, too long a setup and someone is going to break it up.\u00a0 Decent opener for the event.\u00a0 Score:\u00a0 5.5<\/span><\/p>\n

Jimmy Kanda and Mr. Que Que Naoki Tanizaki Toyonaka Dolphin vs. Mondai Ryu and Tominaga<\/strong>
\nThey brawl to start things off and Tominaga is double teamed in the ring.\u00a0 Ryu comes in to help and he throws Tanizaki to the mat.\u00a0 Sliding dropkick by Ryu and he tags in Tominaga. \u00a0Tanizaki is double teamed in the corner, lariat by Ryu and Kanda hits a lariat.\u00a0 Tanizaki gets away and tags in Kanda, flapjack by Kanda to Ryu, he goes to Tominaga but Ryu hits a Tiger Feint Kick.\u00a0 Tanizaki hits a jumping knee on Tominaga, German suplex by Kanda but it gets a two.\u00a0 Tombstone by Tanizaki to Tominaga and a cover, but Ryu breaks it up.\u00a0 Low blow by Tominaga, he goes to hit Kanda with a box but Kanda dropkicks him.\u00a0 Ryu\u2019s by Kanda and he gets the three count.\u00a0 A standard quick fast paced match from Dragon Gate, but I love wrestlers in masks (that\u2019s my thing, don\u2019t judge me) so a bonus point for Mondai Ryu.\u00a0 Score:\u00a0 6.0<\/span><\/p>\n

Big R Shimizu vs. Don Fujii<\/strong>
\nThis match is part of the Open the Dream Gate Contendership Tournament.\u00a0 Fujii throws powder in Shimizu\u2019s face and hits a powerbomb for a two count.\u00a0 Outside the ring Fujii slams Shimizu on the mat but Shimizu throws him into the post.\u00a0 Fujii regains the advantage and hits Shimizu with a chair.\u00a0 Back in the ring, bearhug by Shimizu and he hits a vertical suplex.\u00a0 Fujii rolls up Shimizu for a quick two count, low blow by Fujii and he gets another one.\u00a0 Chokeslam by Shimizu, and he picks up the three count.\u00a0 Quick match, but Shimizu has another match coming up so probably for the best.\u00a0 They stayed hard at it though which is a plus and both showed a lot of urgency in trying to win.\u00a0 Score:\u00a0 6.5<\/span><\/p>\n

Kenichiro Arai vs. Jimmy Susumu<\/strong>
\nThis match is part of the Open the Dream Gate Contendership Tournament.\u00a0 Susumu beats Arai to start the match but Arai rakes his back and kicks him in the corner.\u00a0 Arai works over Susumu\u2019s arm for a bit, he hits an Alabama Slam and drops a knee on Susumu\u2019s arm.\u00a0 He does it again, but Susumu hits a back breaker.\u00a0 Lariat by Susumu but Arai gets away and hits a piledriver.\u00a0 Diving headbutt by Arai but it gets a two count.\u00a0 Arai goes for the 450 Splash but Susumu moves, he goes for a lariat but Arai applies a crucifix pin for a two.\u00a0 Arai goes off the ropes but Susumu catches him with the Jumbo Kachi!gatame and he gets the three count to continue on to the final.\u00a0 The arm work was solid but I didn\u2019t see what the end game was there, and then Susumu won with his quick finisher.\u00a0 Again, a shorter match since the final is on the same event and not that great.\u00a0 Score:\u00a0 4.0<\/span><\/p>\n

BxB Hulk, Masaaki Mochizuki, and Dragon Kid vs. Shingo Takagi, Akira Tozawa, and Shachihoko BOY<\/strong>
\nShachihoko BOY and Mochizuki are the first two in the ring, which doesn\u2019t really matter since any moment wrestlers will just randomly start running in and out.\u00a0 Strike battle and Takagi hits a swinging headscissors but Mochizuki pulls him out of the ring.\u00a0 Dragon Kid and Takagi are up next and Dragon Kid hits a swandive hurricanrana.\u00a0 Hulk and Tozawa are the last pair and Tozawa kicks him out of the ring, Mochizuki comes in and eats a double shoulderblock.\u00a0 Dragon Kid and Shachihoko BOY are in the ring but Tozawa comes in to help and he stays in the ring to battle Dragon Kid.\u00a0 Hulk stomps down Tozawa and kicks him in the head.\u00a0 Mochizuki chops Tozawa in the corner but Tozawa chops him back.\u00a0 Kick by Mochizuki and he kicks Tozawa in the back before tagging in Dragon Kid.\u00a0 Handstand kneedrop by Dragon Kid and he tags in Hulk.\u00a0 Jumping kick by Hulk and he applies a chinlock.\u00a0 Mochizuki comes back in and assaults Tozawa some more.\u00a0 Tozawa catches Mochizuki with a big boot and he tags in Takagi, Hulk runs in but Takagi hiptosses him and clotheslines him out of the ring.\u00a0 Tozawa has recovered, he comes in and dives out onto all his opponents.\u00a0 He then runs in and does it a second time, then Shachihoko BOY hits an Asai Moonsault.\u00a0 The beatdown segment means nothing if 15 seconds later Tozawa is running around doing topes .\u00a0 Back in the ring Hulk kicks Takagi and hits a scissors kick followed by a legsweep, but Takagi gets his knees up for the moonsault.\u00a0 Swandive missile dropkick by Hulk but Takagi elbows him but Hulk hits a dropkick.\u00a0 Lariat to the back of the head by Takagi and both Dragon Kid and Shachihoko BOY are tagged in.\u00a0 High kick by Shachihoko BOY but it gets a two.\u00a0 Shachihoko BOY goes up top but Dragon Kid avoids the moonsault.\u00a0 Tozawa comes back and hits a superplex onto Dragon Kid.\u00a0 Lariat by Takagi to Dragon Kid and Dragon Kid is triple teamed.\u00a0 Shachihoko BOY goes up top, so does Hulk, Hulk puts Shachihoko BOY on his shoulders and Dragon Kid hits a Frankensteiner off the top of the tower.\u00a0 Kicks by Mochizuki to Shachihoko BOY, cover, but it\u2019s broken up.\u00a0 Brainbuster by Mochizuki but it gets two, Hulk comes in and they both kick Shachihoko BOY.\u00a0 Shachihoko BOY fights back and Takagi runs in to help and everyone takes turns hitting their signature moves.\u00a0 Shiranui by Shachihoko BOY to Mochizuki but Mochizuki nails him with the Shin Saikyou High Kick for the three count.\u00a0 They should have just cut the first five minutes, the beat down of Tozawa meant absolutely nothing right after it happened.\u00a0 Make this a 12 minute exciting people flying around match, I am there, but with that tacked on it was just solid overall even though I loved the last few minutes.\u00a0 Score:\u00a0 6.5<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

CIMA, YAMATO, Gamma, Cyber Kong, and K-ness vs. T-Hawk, Eita, U-T, and Yosuke Santa Maria<\/strong>
\nThere are lots of people in this match and I\u2019m not going to kill myself with the play by play like I usually do.\u00a0 Lots of brawling!\u00a0 In the stands, on the floor, with weapons, CIMA and company just being eeeevil.\u00a0 In the ring T-Hawk is assaulted by all five, then it is U-T\u2019s turn.\u00a0 We finally become a normal tag match with Gamma assaulting U-T in the ring.\u00a0 K-ness and CIMA continue wearing down U-T and Gamma spits water on him.\u00a0 U-T is dumped out of the ring and YAMATO works him over before CIMA rolls U-T back in.\u00a0 I most feel sorry for U-T, as Kong hits an elbow drop for a two count.\u00a0 U-T\u2019s teammates aren\u2019t overly helpful.\u00a0 U-T is blinded and kicked by CIMA, Gamma, and Kong.\u00a0 They continue on U-T until finally he kicks back K-ness and CIMA and tags in T-Hawk.\u00a0 T-Hawk hits a double vertical suplex on K-ness and CIMA, Kong comes in with YAMATO but T-Hawk chops them both.\u00a0 T-Hawk gets leveled by Kong so Eita comes in, YAMATO throws him in the corner, Eita goes for a springboard move but he slips, so YAMATO kicks him.\u00a0 Eita dropkicks YAMATO and they trade pin attempts.\u00a0 Gamma runs in and lariats T-Hawk, but Gamma gets isolated in the ring.\u00a0 T-Hawk chops and elbows Gamma but Kong comes in with a lariat on both of them.\u00a0 He then lariats Yosuke and U-T as well, then all of MAD BLANKEY stomps on Eita.\u00a0 K-ness runs in and kicks Eita, then YAMATO hits a brainbuster for two.\u00a0 Galleria by YAMATO, and he gets the three count.\u00a0 This was intentionally an unfair match, as it was 5 vs. 4 and the five were better anyway.\u00a0 It was more just a storyline beatdown, leading up to\u2026..<\/p>\n

After the match MAD BLANKEY keeps beating on people, leading to Hayashi and Kotoka running down for the save.\u00a0 After some chatting they decide to have a new unannounced match, with Hayashi and Kotoka joining the Millenials in their fight.\u00a0 To make the teams even, Dr. Muscle came down to help MAD BLANKEY, making it six vs. six.<\/p>\n

CIMA, YAMATO, Gamma, Cyber Kong, Dr. Muscle, and K-ness vs. T-Hawk, Eita, U-T, Yosuke Santa Maria, Mr. High Tension Kotoka, and Yuga Hayashi<\/strong>
\nNeedless to say this was even more of a brawl then the last match, with 12 wrestlers being in the ring.\u00a0 Poor Yosuke is abused up in the crowd and has water spit on him.\u00a0 CIMA and Hayashi get in the ring and CIMA taunts him on the microphone.\u00a0 Jumping stomp by CIMA and he hits an armdrag.\u00a0 YAMATO comes in and applies an ankle hold but Hayashi gets to the ropes.\u00a0 Kotoka comes in with T-Hawk, and both kick YAMATO.\u00a0 A trio dive comes up next but Kong gets things back in order.\u00a0 T-Hawk gets Kong on his shoulders and Eita comes off the top with a Code Breaker.\u00a0 Cover but Dr. Muscle breaks it up.\u00a0 Eita kicks back Dr. Muscle but Dr. Muscle gets his knees up on the moonsault attempt.\u00a0 Dr. Muscle goes for a handspring move but his leg gets caught on the ropes which I don\u2019t think was intentional but was hilarious.\u00a0 Eita drops Dr. Muscle but K-ness runs in to help.\u00a0 Leg lariat by Yosuke but things break down again. Gamma is triple teamed until T-Hawk hits a powerbomb but CIMA breaks it up.\u00a0 Kotoka runs around with Gamma but Kong and YAMATO run in and suddenly it is 6 vs. 1.\u00a0 Lariat by Kong and he hits a diving elbow drop for a two count as Kotoka gets a shoulder up.\u00a0 Kong picks up Kotoka and slams him, cover, but it is broken up by everyone.\u00a0 Kotoka is again attacked by everyone in the corner, but the tides turn and suddenly it is CIMA getting attacked over and over and over by his opponents in the corner.\u00a0 CIMA goes off the ropes but Dr. Muscle hits him from the apron and then throws powder in his face!\u00a0 Traitor!\u00a0 Kotoka rolls up CIMA and he gets a three count!\u00a0 WTF Dr. Muscle.\u00a0 But double swerve, as Dr. Muscle unmasks and it\u2019s Kzy!\u00a0 Both teams jaw in the ring but there is no further physical violence.\u00a0\u00a0 I am scoring these together as it was a long match, an impromptu rematch with no wrestlers inserted, a swerve, then another swerve.\u00a0 Overall it was a lot fun, loved the quickness and insanity.\u00a0 These types of matches should be like these, forget tag rules, just chaos, and the swerves were done well.\u00a0 I mean I don\u2019t like when a wrestler is attacking people one minute then joining them the next as Dr. Muscle did, but what can ya do.\u00a0 Fun stuff from Dragon Gate all the way around.\u00a0 Score:\u00a0 8.0<\/span><\/p>\n

Big R Shimizu vs. Jimmy Susumu<\/strong>
\nThis match is the Final in the Open the Dream Gate Contendership Tournament.\u00a0\u00a0 Shimizu stomps on Susumu until Susumu bails out of the ring.\u00a0 Shimizu goes out after him but Susumu rams him into the post.\u00a0 They get back in the ring and Susumu works on Shimizu\u2019s arm.\u00a0 Fallaway slam by Shimizu and he applies a camel clutch.\u00a0 Back up they trade chops and Shimizu hits an Oklahoma Slam for two.\u00a0 Susumu elbows Shimizu off but Shimizu gets Susumu on his shoulders, Susumu gets away and suplexes Shimizu.\u00a0 Lariat by Susumu but Shimizu hits a Samoan Drop.\u00a0 Body avalanche by Shimizu and he hits a shoulderblock for two.\u00a0 DDT by Susumu but Shimizu hits a chokebomb.\u00a0 Elevated crab hold by Shimizu and he hits a powerbomb.\u00a0 Lariat by Susumu and he hits another one.\u00a0 Avalanche throw by Susumu, Shimizu goes for a chokeslam but Susumu lariats him in the back of the head.\u00a0 Monster chokeslam by Shimizu and they trade elbows.\u00a0 Waistlock by Shimizu and he hits a German suplex.\u00a0 Susumu goes off the ropes and hits a lariat followed by another one but Shimizu is still up.\u00a0 Finally Susumu knocks Shimizu down and he gets a two count cover.\u00a0 Jumbo Kachi!gatame by Susumu, and he gets the three count!\u00a0 Shimizu just seemed like the better wrestler here, Susumu didn\u2019t do a lot of damage before he picked up the win and he had the tougher previous match as well.\u00a0 Just seemed like Shimizu should have been worn down more.\u00a0 The action itself was fine, Shimizu has some really good power moves, the structure just felt off and took me a bit out of it.\u00a0 Score:\u00a0 6.0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n

Final Thoughts:<\/span>
\nThere was definitely some good stuff here.\u00a0 The nine man match into the twelve man match was great, not just from an in-ring perspective but from a storyline perspective as well (even for someone that doesn’t follow the promotion).\u00a0 Most of the other matches were at least solid, with only a couple matches that were skippable.\u00a0 Overall an entertaining show.<\/p>\n

Grade:\u00a0 B-<\/h3>\n

Kevin Wilson – PuroresuCentral.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CIMA, YAMATO, Gamma, CyberKong, Dr. Muscle, and K-ness vs. T-Hawk, Eita, U-T, Santa Maria, High Tension Kotoka, & Hayashi, Shimizu vs. Jimmy Susumu<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":81,"featured_media":5110,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[399,40],"tags":[403,233],"class_list":["post-17690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fsreview","category-reviews","tag-dragon-gate","tag-puroresu"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crazymax.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crazymax.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crazymax.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crazymax.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/81"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crazymax.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17690"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/crazymax.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17709,"href":"https:\/\/crazymax.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17690\/revisions\/17709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crazymax.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crazymax.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crazymax.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crazymax.org\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}