And so we begin. Inspired by Bryan Rose's Depths of Wrestlemania for voicesofwrestling.com, I've decided to take a deep look at Dragon Gate's biggest annual show of the year, Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival. The Dragon System has been running Kobe World Hall every July since 1999 with the first show featuring the likes of Great Sasuke, TAKA Michinoku, Gran Hamada, and of course, Stalker Ichikawa~! I'm starting this project with what wound up being the final Toryumon show, Kobe World 2004. By this point, the wackiness of Toryumon, which I love, was no more and this felt like a Dragon Gate show. So without further ado, great prepared for some HOT FIGHTING~!
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Toryumon Presents:
Vo Aniversario, July 4, 2004
Genki Horiguchi, Ryo Saito, & Naoki Tanizaki vs. Anthony W. Mori, Milano Collection A.T, & Super Shisa
Anything with Horiguchi, Milano, or Super Shisa can automatically be marked as "FUN". Genki Horiguchi has been in the Dragon System forever and he's my ultimate guilty pleasure. He's wacky, he's solid, and he uses a Backslide as his finisher. That's really all I want in a wrestler. This is a really fun opener that is a textbook example of the "Dragon Gate style". Milano looked the best here as he really stood out down the stretch. His offense is so flashy and so unique. It's a shame there's no more Milano in this project as he would leave the company in February of 2005.
Rating: ***1/2
CIMA vs. YOSSINO
CIMA and the now Masato Yoshino kicked off the four-man tournament to decide the new UDG (Ultimo Dargon Gym) Championship. SUWA was forced to vacate the title after a disgusting arm injury that was shown way too many times in a video package kicking off the show. This was another really fun match which was worked at a breakneck speed. YOSSINO was 22 at the time and was able to hit everything at such precision. YOSSINO's great looking offense was matched by CIMA's quick, high-impact offense. This was a really nice back-and-forth match which I think is needed in a tournament setting. I don't really want to see a long, drawn out heat segment in the semi-finals of a tournament. Prove you belong in the title picture by hanging with your opponent. This great little match saw a super great finish with CIMA rolling through YOSSINO's Sol Naciente submission and into the Schwein for the win. CIMA advances to the main event for a shot at the gold!
Rating: ***3/4
Dragon Kid vs. Shuji Kondo
This is the second semi-final match in the UDG Tournament and it features two of my DUDES! Dragon Kid is one of the best high-flyers in wrestling history. By this point he was an established figure in the promotion. Kondo is such a beast. He felt like King Kong, or better yet, seeing as how his opponent is the small flyer, a literal Goliath. Kondo throws Kid around in ways that I've never seen before in a wrestling ring. Kid's flippy offense is great, but Kondo doesn't have time for that shit. He doesn't find Kid's Springboard Dropkicks amusing...NO! He's here for the gold and he's here to make his unit, Aagan Iisou proud. A scary moment towards the end of the match as Kondo, in the literal sense of the meaning, throws Kid on his head. Kid battles back one last time, but Kondo puts him down for the count, finally. Amazing match. Kondo looks like an absolute beast going into the finals against CIMA.
Rating: ****1/2
Here's the thing...I don't GET the Florida Brothers. At all. I like comedy wrestling, and tend to "get" these sorts of things, I don't GET the Florida Brothers. I, however, love the fact that Sasaki went from working a comedy match here in the midcard of a Toryumon show and then a month later gave Yoshihiro Takayama a stroke from the STIFF SHOTS in their G1 Climax classic.
Rating: NR // NO GIFS!
Stalker Ichikawa vs. Akira Hokuto
I was so thrown off by the Florida Brothers, ummm, performance, that I initially missed Stalker Ichikawa's entrance. The mascot of Dragon Gate takes on the Joshi legend in more comedy. This was fine, I guess. I can always deal with a Stalker comedy match.
Rating: FUN // NO GIFS!
Katsuhiko Nakajima vs. Ultimo Dragon
Nakajima was 16 years old at the time and was on his way to taking over the Puro world. Obviously, 11 years later, that hasn't happened. Nakajima is fumbling around the upper midcard of Pro Wrestling NOAH at the moment. This would end up being Dragon's last match in Japan for Dragon Gate/Toryumon and it was a disappointing one. Dragon has never done much for me and this is one of those rare times that Baby Nakajima didn't fulfill my needs. Nakajima, during this point in his career, was showing such tremendous fire in his matches. His babyface comebacks were the absolute best. This lacked the fire it needed and the end result was an Ultimo Dragon victory and a disappointing match. Good riddance, Mr. Dragon.
Rating: **3/4
Shogo Takagi, Takuya Sugawara, Touru Owashi, & YASSHI vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Second Doi, Susumu Yokosuka, & Kenichiro Arai
For whatever reason, this wasn't on the version of the show I purchased from Jae. Logged onto the Ditch Files and he had a clipped version so HERE WE GO~! Takagi, Sugawara, Owashi, & YASSHI are all apart of Aagon Iisou, which is a dirty, sleazy heel unit led by Shuji Kondo. The opposing side, Final M2K, consists of a bunch of lads that hit HARD. A nice contrast and a really enjoyable match. I can't give a rating on this because it's clipped but I highly recommend giving this a download and giving it a look. There's not much you can say on it other than the fact that it's a blueprint for the standard clear-cut heel vs. clear-cut babyface multi-man match for Dragon Gate, as it features BOX ATTACKS. Better yet, it features Kenichiro Arai ATTACKING THE BOX ATTACK!
Rating: FUN, but clipped!
Don Fujii & TARU vs. Magnum TOKYO & Jinsei Shinzaki
I originally started off this review by typing up a big thing about how this is Magnum TOKYO's last Kobe World and I won't miss him at all, unlike Milano Collection A.T. Decided to check one last time and sure enough, he's wrestling at the next Kobe World...Damn it! Here's the thing, Magnum TOKYO stinks. He's horrible. He might be the worst wrestler to come out of the Dragon System. I can comfortably say that Punch Tominaga, who is another dojo graduate, is a better wrestler than TOKYO. This match goes on forever. I like Don Fujii, TARU is fine, but the combo of TOKYO and old-man Shinzaki sucks. This match is not good. It seems to go on for an eternity and it's not good. TOKYO sucks. Move on.
Rating: ** // NO GIFS!
CIMA vs. Shuji Kondo: UDG Championship Match
Kondo had established himself as a beast earlier in the evening by destroying Dragon Kid. CIMA put his wrestling skills to the test in a great battle with YOSSINO. This had a big-match feel going in because Kondo looked so dominant earlier in the night. They slowed things down here as they had some time to work, unlike the two semi-final matches that were enjoyable sprints. I liked this a lot. It was a clear story of CIMA overcoming the odds in a way that didn't annoy me. Kondo had been established as someone that should be feared so seeing CIMA find small spots of hope was actually exciting. A great match, one that put CIMA firmly atop the promotion. This was nothing more than a simple story and it totally delivered. This wasn't a five star classic, or even the best match on the show, but I found it extremely enjoyable. Post-match, the entire locker room comes out to congratulate CIMA. Tears are shed and dudes hug. Unfortunately I don't know enough about the end of Toryumon and the start of Dragon Gate to explain why this was such a big deal, but it was really cool to watch. CIMA came out of this looking like the biggest star in the world.
Rating: ****
Closing the Gate: Overall, this was a very enjoyable show. The undercard saw two matches that nearly touched four stars and one that was four and a half. It's hard to beat a start like that. The two comedy matches dragged, as did that damn Magnum TOKYO match, but a really fun main event made up for that. Two thumbs up for the last Toryumon show ever. If you're interested in this show or any other important Dragon Gate show, hit up Jae of IHeartDG.com (email Jae@IHeartDG.com) and there's a very strong chance he has it available. Up next, it's Kobe World 2005 featuring maybe the best match in Dragon Gate history and more MAGNUM TOKYO...YIPPEE!
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