Compilation Gate 2010

March 22, 2010 – Tokyo, Japan

Championship rundown:
Open the Dream Gate Champion: Naruki Doi
Open the Twin Gate Champions: CIMA & Gamma
Open the Triangle Gate Champions: Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii & Akebono
Open the Brave Gate Champion: Super Shisa
Open the Freedom Gate Champion: BxB Hulk

Akira Tozawa {K}, KAGETORA {K} & Mark Haskins vs. PAC {W1}, Naoki Tanisaki {W1} & Makoto Hashi
Tozawa and Tanisaki start on the mat. PAC and Haskins telegraph an over-choreographed exchange. Haskins brings things back to reality with a dropkick. KAGETORA hits a dropkick for 2. PAC hits Tozawa with a back flip kick. Hashi trades strikes with Tozawa. He hits a clothesline. He hits an inverted DDT on the apron. He slams Tozawa on the floor and hits a diving headbutt off the apron. He hits another off the top. That’s just incredibly dangerous for an opening match. It gets 2 for Tanisaki. Tozawa hits a butt butt. KAGETORA hits a leaping lariat. He hits PAC with an enziguiri. Haskins hits Hashi with a missile dropkick. He gets a small package for 2. He hits the Complete Shot for 2. Hashi hits a lariat. He hits a capture suplex for 2. KAGETORA and Tanisaki trade elbows. Tanisaki hits the DH. He hits a sick kneelift. KAVEGTORA ducks the Casanova and hits an enziguiri. He hits a leg lariat. He hits a snap suplex for 2. Tozawa misses the Apron Kara Tozawa three times. Hashi hits a lariat. Tanisaki hits the Casanova. PAC hits a standing British Airways for 2. Tozawa trips him on the top rope. Kamikaze and Haskins triple-team PAC. Tozawa hits the Ganki for 2. Tanisaki and PAC hit a double kick on Haskins. Tanisaki hits a vertical suplex and Hashi hits a diving headbutt. PAC dives onto Tozawa on the floor. Hashi hits another diving headbutt on Haskins for 2. PAC hits the British Airways for the win at 9:28. Though I didn’t get nearly enough KAGETORA vs. Tanisaki in this match, I wouldn’t look passed the fast-paced action that did its best to set a fun tone for the evening.
Rating: ***

Takuya Sugawara {DD}, Kenichiro Arai {DD}, Yasushi Kanda {DD} & Kzy {DD} vs. Susumu Yokosuka & K-ness [Handicap Match]
The Drunkers are all wearing new, non-Real Hazard gear. Kzy actually looks like someone the love-child of Arai and Kanda, which is probably what they were going for. Yokosuka and K-ness have post-RH gear also, and the pre-match graphic credits K-neSuka as a stable. The Drunkers beat them down to start. Sugawara whips Yokosuka into the post. Arai shoves K-ness into the side of a staircase. Kanda hits a back elbow on Yokosuka in the ring for 2. Sugawara hits a fistdrop. Yokosuka wins an elbow exchange with Kzy. Arai exposes a turnbuckle and baits Yokosuka into it. Kzy works the arm. Kanda spits water in Yokosuka’s face. Sugawara and Arai hit a double hiptoss for 2. Kanda hits a Manhattan drop. Yokosuka comes back with a lariat. Kanda hits another Manhattan drop so Yokosuka hits another lariat. Kanda hits the John Woo on Arai by mistake. K-ness and Yokosuka do-si-do their way into control. Yokosuka powerbombs Kzy onto Kanda. Kzy hits K-ness with a stunner and the B-Boy. K-ness hits an enziguiri and a brainbuster for 2. Arai double stomps Kzy by mistake. Kanda and Arai hit a double flapjack for 2. Referee Yagi stops Arai from hitting a bottle attack, but misses a low blow. The Drunkers gang up on Yokosuka in the corner. Sugawara throws Yagi into Yokosuka. Arai hits the diving headbutt for 2. Kzy misses KZ Time. K-neSuka double-team him for 2. Yokosuka dives onto almost everyone on the floor. K-ness hits Kzy with a superplex for 2. He hits the Shouryuukyaku. Kanda hits Sugawara with the blue box. He hits Sugawara with it by mistake. Yokosuka hits Sugawara with a hurricanrana for 2. Yagi clotheslines Kanda out of frustration. He hits Arai with a back suplex. K-neSuka hit Arai with the Genkai for 2. Sugawara and Kanda hit a barrage of red and blue box attacks on K-ness. Yokosuka clotheslines everything in sight. Sugawara hits the TCO. Kanda hits the flying elbowdrop for 2. Kzy hits two chair shots. Sugawara hits a brainbuster. He hits the Shiisanpuuta for the win at 12:54. This never developed into anything interesting, but on the plus side Sugawara’s ring time was kept to a minimum. It never felt like K-neSuka had a prayer, so while the Drunkers going over isn’t necessarily a bad move, it is bad to make the hot tag team look like jobbers.
Rating: **¼

Super Shisa © {Z} vs. Munenori Sawa {BA} vs. Genki Horiguchi {W5} [Open the Brave Gate Championship Match]
Sawa hits Horiguchi with a leg lariat. Horiguchi and Shisa hit a double dropkick. Shisa puts both opponents in an abdominal stretch. He puts Horiguchi in a Mexican surfboard. Sawa kicks them both. Shisa puts Sawa in an abdominal stretch in the ropes. Horiguchi hits a dropkick on both of them. He hits the topé con hilo. He misses a moonsault on Sawa. Sawa beats him up in the corner. He hits the Muta elbowdrop. He hits dragon screws on both opponents. Sawa puts Horiguchi in a chinlock. Horiguchi dropkicks his knee. He hits a head scissors takedown. He hits a springboard dropkick. He hits Shisa with a DDT. Shisa hits a hurricanrana. He rolls up both opponents for 2. He gets a sunset flip on Horiguchi for 2. Horiguchi hits Sawa with a brainbuster. He gets a sunset flip for 2. Horiguchi comes back with the Beach Break for 2. Sawa hits the Shining Wizard. Horiguchi gets the Backslide from Heaven for 2. He hits Sawa with the Shining Wizard. Shisa counters a Beach Break attempt to the Yoshi Tonic to eliminate Horiguchi at 7:20. Sawa kicks Shisa’s back. He hits a German suplex. Shisa avoids a charge and gets a roll up for 2. Sawa hits a high kick. He hits the Shining Wizard for 2. He puts on an octopus stretch. Horiguchi is still at ringside, giving his brother in arms in the Veteran Army support. Shisa gets to the ropes. Sawa hits the haymaker. Shisa hits a palm strike. He hits the Yoshi Tonic for the win at 11:03. The three-way portion saw Sawa and Shisa more interested in being cute than putting together something coherent. Once Horiguchi was gone things slowed way down. Sawa controlled the entire time and just ran through his standard offense. All in all this was completely average.
Rating: **½

BxB Hulk {W1} & Masato Yoshino {W1} vs. Dragon Kid {W5} & Juventud Guerrera {W5}
Hulk’s got a new entrance song. It’s not so catchy, but it’s good to see him wearing the Freedom Gate belt to the ring. Kid and Yoshino trade holds to start. Yoshino hits a head scissors takedown. Kid returns the favor. He hits another head scissors takedown on the floor. Hulk and Guerrera trade armdrags. Guerrera hits a dropkick. He hits a rolling cutter and puts on a dragon sleeper. Kid hits a dropkick. He hits a pair of kneedrops. Hulk comes back with a bodyslam. Yoshino hits a backbreaker. Hulk hits an elbow for 2. He hits a spin kick for 2. Yoshino hits a delayed vertical suplex for 2. Yoshino jumps off Hulk’s back to hit an elbow. Hulk boots Kid to the floor. Yoshino hits an elevated shotgun double stomp for 2. Kid comes back with a head scissors takedown. Guerrera hits a crossbody on Hulk. He hits a buzzsaw kick. Kid hits Yoshino with the Déjà Vu. He hits the Bermuda Triangle on Hulk. Guerrera hits Yoshino with a punt to the face and a leg lariat. He hits a blue thunder Bomb for 2. Yoshino puts on From Jungle. Kid puts Hulk in the Christo. Yoshino releases his hold and saves Hulk. Hulk hits a dropkick. He hits a springboard dropkick for 2. He sweeps the leg but Kid blocks a standing moonsault with his knees. Kid hits the Messiah for 2. Yoshino dropkicks Hulk by mistake. He hits Kid with a powerbomb. He hits the shotgun dropkick for 2. Kid hits the stack hurricanrana and Guerrera hits a diving legdrop for 2. He hits the Juvi Driver for 2. Yoshino avoids the Ultra Hurricanrana but Kid lands the 619. He hits the Ultra Hurricanrana for 2. Yoshino dodges the Dragon Rana. Hulk hits the Mouse and a lariat. He kicks Guerrera’s head off for 2. He hits a high kick. Yoshino hits the Torbellino. He puts on the Sol Naciente for the win at 14:57. The finish came absolutely out of nowhere, and Guerrera was hardly featured at all (probably a good thing), so the match never really amounted to much.
Rating: **¾

The main event is Doi vs. YAMATO, so the intermission match features a six-man tag between the two from Korakuen Hall a three weeks before. You can read my review of it here.

Masaaki Mochizuki © {Z}, Don Fujii © {Z} & Akebono © {Z} vs. NOSAWA Rongai [TG], MAZADA {TG} & Abdullah the Butcher [Open the Triangle Gate Championship Match]
Rongai and Akebono start. Akebono hits a shoulder tackle. He hits a bodyslam. MAZADA hits a dropkick, but that just knocks Akebono onto Rongai for 2. Akebono hits a splash on Rongai and MAZADA. He tells the Butcher to bring it. Abdullah flips off Akebono, which draws in Mochizuki and Fujii. Fujii his Abdullah with a wrench and then busts him open with it. Shocker. Abdullah takes out all three opponents with throat thrusts. He hits the elbowdrop on Akebono for 2. Mochizuki rips at his wound. Abdullah busts him open with a fork. He does that for a long time. Rongai works the wound. Akebono cleans house. He hits Rongai with an avalanche. MAZADA goes to the eyes. Akebono hits a lariat. Fujii hits a lariat. Mochizuki hits a chest kick for 2. Fujii clotheslines Mochizuki by mistake. Rongai fails three times to knock Akebono off the apron, but then dropkicks his knee and succeeds. He hits Mochizuki with a flapjack for 2. Abdullah blocks the Sankakugeri. Rongai hits the Shining Wizard for 2. He forks Abdullah by mistake. Akebono slugs Abdullah down and hits an elbowdrop for 2. Abdullah gets back to his feet (after a couple minutes of struggling with the ring ropes) and headbutts Fujii. Mochizuki kicks the crap out of Abdullah for the win at 13:03. In my review of the match that saw the Zetsurins win the belts I complained that Akebono’s size meant he couldn’t leave the ring so easily and thus the already lenient legal man rules in Dragon Gate couldn’t be followed. Abdullah is a much worse offender, not leaving the ring at all after entering it because doing so required too much time and the help of his tag partners. He made Akebono look like Masato Yoshino in terms of speed. He spent most of the match watching the action and doing nothing from inside the ring. Obviously everyone expects this, but the Triangle Gate Championship matches used to be the best on the show, not an excuse for the Butcher to get a payday. All that said about Abdullah, if the Zetsurins (specifically Akebono) don’t drop the belts at Dead or Alive I’m going to be pissed.
Rating: DUD

After the match Abdullah gets on the microphone and tells Akebono that he had to hit him from behind to beat him, and that he’s coming after him. He tells Rongai to translate but Rongai doesn’t want to start a fight. I’m thinking the Butcher went off-script to get a return date with the company, but nobody else was playing along. He keeps repeating “I’m coming back,” but I’m fairly confident he didn’t discuss that with anyone in the Dragon Gate office before this. To wash the memory of this travesty out of our minds I suggest we all take a look at what Akebono is really good at… playing with kids.

CIMA © {W5} & Gamma © {W5} vs. Shingo Takagi {K} & Cyber Kong [Open the Twin Gate Championship Match]
The Black Eyed Peas’ I’ve Gotta Feelin’ plays over the pre-match video. It focuses almost entirely on Cyber Kong’s return. It also shows the WARRIORS training outside in their underwear. CIMA and Gamma are calling their team Osaka ’06. Kong is not billed as a member of Kamikaze. Gamma and Takagi start. Takagi wants CIMA so Gamma attacks him from behind. He dropkicks the knee. He blocks a shoulder tackle with a dropkick. CIMA tries to kick out Kong’s leg. Kong won’t budge. He puts on a headlock. He hits a huge shoulder tackle. He and Takagi hit a double shoulder tackle. Kong misses an elbowdrop. Gamma cuts off Kong’s long hair, which just pisses me right the hell off. CIMA goes to work on Takagi’s leg. Gamma follows suit. He and CIMA make a wish. Takagi comes back with a lariat. He hits a gutbuster and a DDT but misses a senton. He suplexes both opponents at once. Kong press slams Gamma. He hits an elbowdrop for 2. CIMA hits Kong with a dropkick. Takagi hits Gamma with a vertical suplex. He and Kong hit a double slam. CIMA hits Kong with the Venus. Gamma hits a back suplex. CIMA dropkicks Takagi off the apron. He hits Kong with a bodyslam. He and Gamma suplex Kong while holding Takagi in a deathlock. CIMA hits Kong with a suicide dive. Gamma hits a dropkick on Takagi. Takagi goes for the dead lift suplex but Gamma blocks and hits a suplex of his own. Takagi hits the DVD. He and Kong put on stereo torture racks. CIMA dropkicks Kong’s leg. He hits the Perfect Driver for 2. Kong hits an avalanche. He hits a lariat and the Pineapple Bomber. He hits a splash for 2. He hits an elevated elbowdrop for 2. He misses a flying elbowdrop. CIMA hits a double stomp. He and Gamma hit a double dropkick. They hit Takagi with a double Tokarev. They hit the stereo Schwein Special for 2. Gamma hits a piledriver. CIMA hits a superkick and Gamma hits a reverse hurricanrana on Takagi. CIMA hits the Neji to Hashi for 2. He and Gamma hit a double enziguiri. They hit a double superkick. CIMA hits the Crossfire and Gamma hits the Sky Twister Press for 2. Kong cleans house with lariats. He clubs CIMA around the ring. CIMA hits a high kick and a powerbomb. He goes for the Meteora but Takagi cuts him off with a stack superplex (while being powerbombed by Kong) for 2. Gamma attacks Kong with the cane. That does nothing. Kong hits an avalanche and the Pineapple Bomber for 2. He hits the Cyber Bomb for 2. He and Takagi take turns elbowing CIMA. CIMA hits Takagi with the Superdrol. He hits Kong with a backdrop. Kong hits a German suplex. Takagi hits a lariat and MADE IN JAPAN for 2. He and Kong hit a Doomsday Device. Kong clotheslines Gamma off the apron. He blocks the Schwein and hits CIMA with a powerbomb. Takagi and CIMA slug it out. CIMA hits a superkick but Takagi responds with a lariat and the Pumping Bomber for 2. Takagi hits the Last Falconry for the win and the titles at 25:42. This wasn’t what I thought it would be. It was much more deliberate than the match with YAMATO at Final Gate, and the flow was off. They picked it up a bit down the stretch, and were able to put together a few engaging minutes without going a million miles per minute, but the fact that it took fifteen minutes for these guys to get synchronized hurt what I was hoping to be an amazing match.
Rating: ***½

Naruki Doi © {W1} vs. YAMATO {K} [Open the Dream Gate Championship Match]
They chronicle YAMATO’s entire career in the pre-match video, rounding things out with his singles victories in 2010 juxtaposed against Doi’s unprecedented title reign and the fact that Doi pinned YAMATO three ago. They lock up to start. They trade holds until YAMATO hits a dropkick. YAMATO focuses on the leg. He dropkicks the knee and puts on a figure 4 leglock. Doi gets to the ropes. YAMATO goes for another but Doi gets a small package for 2. YAMATO dropkicks the knee. He hits a shinbreaker and a dragon screw. He puts on a Boston crab. Doi gets to the ropes. He sends YAMATO to the floor and hits a suicide dive. Back in the ring he works YAMATO’s arm. YAMATO tries to regain control but Doi just keeps putting him back on the mat in different arm holds. He hits the dropkick in the ropes. He hits a vertical suplex for 2. YAMATO comes back with elbows. He hits an exploder for 2. He puts on an anklelock. Doi rolls out and hits the Dai Bosou. He hits the Rydeen Bomb for 2. YAMATO hits an enziguiri. Doi hits a stun gun and a back suplex for 2. YAMATO blocks the Doi 555 and puts on an anklelock. Doi gets to the ropes. YAMATO dropkicks the knee. He puts on the sleeper hold. Doi avoids the Galleria and puts on a sleeper hold. He hits the inverted DDT. YAMATO avoids the Bakatare Sliding Kick and reapplies the sleeper hold. Doi climbs the ropes and drops to his back to escape. He hits the flying elbowdrop for 2. He hits the Avalanche 555 and the Bakatare Sliding Kick for 2. He goes for the Muscular Bomb but his leg gives out. They trade elbows until YAMATO collapses. Doi goes for the Doi 555 but YAMATO reapplies the sleeper hold. He hits the Galleria for 2. He goes for another but Doi blocks it and hits the Muscular Bomb. He takes too long to cover and only gets 2. YAMATO can’t get to his feet, so Doi tells the referee to count him down. At 8 Doi gets impatient and hits the Doi 555 and the Bakatare Sliding Kick. It only gets 2. YAMATO gets a roll up for 2. He puts on the CBV. Doi gets to the ropes. YAMATO puts on the sleeper hold. Doi tries to roll out but YAMATO holds on. Doi hits a back suplex but YAMATO holds on. YAMATO hits the sleeper suplex. He punts Doi’s face and hits a brainbuster for 2. He hits the Galleria for 2. He hits another for the win and the title at 31:56. The unbeatable Doi screwed himself here, as YAMATO might have gotten counted out after the Muscular Bomb but his impatience kept the match going. From there YAMATO was able to control everything, because Doi had exhausted his arsenal and knew YAMATO wasn’t going down. The more I reflect upon this match the more I like it. It was truly the culmination of the last 15 months of Doi’s career as well as everything YAMATO had done since turning babyface. Doi had gone from the proverbial underdog to the unbeatable champion fans never thought he could be, and as such his overconfidence cost him against the YAMATO, the fastest rising Dragon Gate star ever. Outstanding work fellas.
Rating: ****¼

Fun fact: YAMATO just barely edges out Takagi as the wrestler with the least experience to win the Dream Gate title. Takagi’s career between his debut and title win was about a month and a half longer. After the match YAMATO unlocks the belt and replaces Doi’s tarnished nameplate with a shiny new one of his own. He puts Doi over big and then promises to win the King of Gate tournament in April. I think a small homage to Doi’s extraordinary title reign is in order.