Infinity 188 or Summer Adventure Tag League IV, Part 4

August 24, 2010 – Tokyo, Japan

Open the Dream Gate Champion: Masato Yoshino
Open the Triangle Gate Champions: CIMA, Gamma & Genki Horiguchi
Open the Brave Gate Champion: Vacant
Open the Twin Gate Champions: Susumu Yokosuka & K-ness
Open the Freedom Gate Champion: BxB Hulk

The fourth Summer Adventure Tag League must come to an end. In the A Block K-neSuka and Speed Muscle finished with 7 and 6 points, respectively, so they advance to the semifinals. In the B Block Maraha Isappa finished with 7 points while BattleHawk finished with 5, so they advance to the semifinals. A drawing process the night of the finals determined that the A Block teams would face each other in the semifinals, and the B Block teams would do the same.

K-ness & Susumu Yokosuka vs. Naruki Doi {W1} & Masato Yoshino {W1} [Semifinal Match]
Doi and Yoshino attack before the bell. They hit K-ness with a double gutbuster and a dropkick sandwich. Yoshino hits Yokosuka with an elevated Sling Blade. Doi hits a vertical suplex for 2. Yoshino double stomps K-ness’ arm. Doi works Yokosuka’s leg. He hits a back elbow. He hits a Blue Thunder Bomb for 2. Yokosuka comes back with the Jumbo no Kachi out of nowhere. He and K-ness hit the SukaDora Knee. He hits Yoshino with a topé con hilo. Doi ducks the Kaishaku and gets a roll up for 2. K-ness blocks the Doi 555 and hits the Kaishaku for 2. Doi counters the Aoki Hikari to an armbSaar. Yokosuka makes the save. Doi reapplies the hold but K-ness gets to the ropes. Yokosuka hits Yoshino with a weird backbreaker. Yoshino comes back with the Coumori. K-ness hits an enziguiri. He hits the Darkness Driver and Yokosuka hits a Bubba Bomb. K-ness hits the Kaishaku for 2. Doi hits a dropkick and the hanging senton. Yoshino hits the shotgun senton for 2. He and Doi hit the Sling Blade Bomb for 2. Yokosuka hits the Jumbo no Kachi. He hits another. He hits the Jumbo no Kachigatame but Doi cuts back for 2. K-ness hits the Shouryuukyaku. Yokosuka hits the Jumbo no Kachi for 2. He and K-ness hit the Genkai for 2. Yoshino hits the Torbellino and Doi hits the Bakatare Sliding Kick. K-ness counters the Doi 555 to a sunset flip for 2. He gets the rolling cradle but Doi rolls through for the win at 9:04 shown of 10:38. This didn’t get out of first gear until the final minute, which is really disappointing given how great the last two matches these four have had were. The finish was pretty great, however.
Rating: **¾

Ryo Saito {W5} & Genki Horiguchi {W5} vs. Shingo Takagi {K} & YAMATO {K} [Semifinal Match]
Saito and YAMATO start. YAMATO puts on a headlock. Horiguchi hits Takagi with a dropkick. He helps Saito hit a German suplex. He hits the topé con hilo. Saito hits YAMATO with the pop-up German suplex. MARAHA! ISAPPA! Horiguchi puts on a half crab. Saito hits a legdrop for 2. Horiguchi dropkicks the leg. He hits Takagi with a DDT on the floor. Saito stands on YAMATO’s face. YAMATO hits Horiguchi with a spear. He hits Saito with a dragon screw. Takagi and Saito test each other’s strength until Saito falls. Takagi powerbombs Horiguchi. He slams Saito onto Horiguchi. Saito hits a hurricanrana. Takagi hits a backbreaker. He hits a vertical suplex. He slugs Saito but then gets caught with a German suplex. Saito hits a second German suplex but Takagi pops up. Saito hits a dragon suplex. Takagi gets up and hits a lariat. Saito pops up and hits another dragon suplex for 2. Takagi hits a backdrop driver. YAMATO hits a superplex but hurts his neck and is slow to cover. Horiguchi blocks the Galleria and hits a reverse swinging DDT. YAMATO blocks the Beach Break. Takagi hits the DVD. Takagi and Horiguchi block each other’s finishers. Horiguchi hits a hurricanrana. YAMATO hits the punt and Takagi hits a turnbuckle powerbomb. Takagi hits the STAY DREAM for 2. He hits Saito with the DVD on the floor. Horiguchi blocks the Galleria and goes for the Backslide from Heaven. YAMATO rolls through and punts him. Horiguchi gets another Backslide from Heaven for 2. He hits a dropkick. YAMATO puts on the sleeper hold. Horiguchi blocks the Galleria again and gets another Backslide from Heaven for the win at 12:05 shown of 14:18. Horiguchi’s reaction to winning is amazing. This started off very slowly but the second half of the match was entertaining as hell. You have to love underdog Horiguchi tearing through a tournament.
Rating: ***¼

As a result of this match they booked Horiguchi vs. YAMATO in a singles bout. I wouldn’t mind seeing Saito vs. Takagi after this too.

Naruki Doi {W1} & Masato Yoshino {W1} vs. Ryo Saito {W5} & Genki Horiguchi {W5} [Tournament Finals]
Saito and Doi start. They run through a quick sequence. Yoshino hits Horiguchi with a dropkick. Horiguchi hits a head scissor takedown. Saito hits a back elbow on Doi. Horiguchi splashes the leg and puts on a leglock. Doi gets to the ropes. Horiguchi hits a vertical suplex. He puts on a half crab. Doi gets to the ropes. MARAHA! ISA… Doi and Yoshino break up the double-team sequence in what might be the first time I’ve ever seen that happen. Yoshino hits Horiguchi with a backbreaker. Doi puts on the Bosou Stretch. Yoshino hits the elevated facebuster for 2. He blocks Horiguchi’s elbow with a dropkick. Doi hits the hanging senton for 2. Saito saves Horiguchi from the Dai Bosou. Horiguchi hits a head scissor takedown. Saito hits Yoshino with an overhead suplex. Yoshino hits a powerbomb. He puts on From Jungle. Horiguchi makes the save. Yoshino goes back to work on Horiguchi’s ribs. Horiguchi comes back with a dropkick. Doi hits the Rydeen Bomb for 2. Horiguchi hits a hurricanrana. Saito avoids the shotgun dropkick. Horiguchi throws Yoshino into Saito’s German suplex. That was cool. Yoshino hits the shotgun dropkick and Saito hits the Doi 555. Saito hits a dragon suplex. He hits another for 2. Now this is more like it. Horiguchi dropkicks Saito by mistake. Doi accidentally hits Yoshino with the Bakatare Sliding Kick. Horiguchi hits the Beach Break for 2. He hits a back heel kick on Doi. Doi hits a reverse DDT. He hits the Doi 555 and the Bakatare Sliding Kick. Horiguchi blocks the Muscular Bomb and gets the Backslide from Heaven, with a bridge thrown in from Saito, but only get 2 when Yoshino makes the save. Doi blocks the Premium Bridge and hits the slap flurry. He hits the Bakatare Sliding Kick for 2. Saito avoids a Muscular Bomb and hits the Premium Bridge for 2. Doi backslides Horiguchi for 2. He hits Saito with the Dai Bosou. Yoshino hits the shotgun dropkick to Horiguchi’s back. He hits the Ude Yoshino for 2. Horiguchi counters the Torbellino to the Backslide from Heaven for 2. Yoshino hits the Torbellino. Horiguchi counters the Lightning Spiral to another Backslide from Heaven, hooking Yoshino’s singlet, but only gets 2. When did this match get amazing?! Yoshino comes back with the Lightning Spiral for 2. He hits another for the win at 17:01 shown of 19:16. That makes Speed Muscle three for three winning Summer Adventure Tag League tournaments in which they compete together (last year they teamed with other World-1 members instead of each other). I want a rematch NOW! This started out a bit slow, but once Maraha Isappa and Speed Muscle started countering each other’s awesomeness to more awesomeness the match skyrocketed to an incredible place. Tag team wrestling is alive and well in Dragon Gate!
Rating: ****

Twin Gate Champions K-neSuka come out to arrange the inevitable title match with Speed Muscle. The mutual admiration society is broken up by an angry YAMATO. He attacks Horiguchi and steals the microphone. He says the only reason he and Takagi weren’t beating Speed Muscle in the finals was because of Horiguchi’s sneaky Backslide from Heaven. He challenges Horiguchi to a singles match. Horiguchi is happy to oblige, and the two will meet when Dragon Gate returns to Korakuen Hall on September 17th. That’s also when the Twin Gate match will happen. I never thought I’d say this, but I actually want Horiguchi to beat YAMATO because babyface Genki is on FIRE right now.

The show ends with clips of CIMA {W5}, Gamma {W5} & Masaaki Mochizuki {Z} vs. Makoto Hashi, Tsuyoshi Kikuchi & Jun Izumida. Mochizuki hits Hashi with chest kicks. He, CIMA and Gamma hit a triple kick. Gamma goes for the Gamma Special but Hashi counters to a roll up for the win. After the match Super Shenlong and Kotoka run out and attack the NOAH rejects. Shenlong gets mic time on Infinity!!! He challenges Kikuchi and Izumida to a tag match against himself and Kotoka. Mochizuki and Kikuchi joke about how long it will take the veteran outsider team to beat the jobbers. That conversation leads to the match (which will be at the 9/17 Korakuen show) getting a 5-minute time limit slapped on it. Here’s hoping our youngboys outlast the old bastards. Hashi vs. Ryo Saito is also booked, though Saito isn’t around so I’m not exactly sure how that happened.