Sunday, July 12, 2015

Countdown to Kobe: Kobe World Pro-Wrestling Festival 2009


Dragon Gate's 2009 installment of Kobe World looked to be the weakest of the bunch on paper. After letting things play out, I think it's safe to say that this is the weakest Kobe World of all-time. The glaring problem here is that Naruki Doi was positioned to be the ace of the company and honestly, I don't know if anyone wanted to see that. Doi is good and can be great at times, but he's no ace. Even on this show, Doi gets nowhere near the reactions of Shingo Takagi, YAMATO (more on him later), or even his tag team partner, Masato Yoshino. With all their might Dragon Gate tried to make Doi into something special and because the main event fell flat, I put the blame on him. Everyone here worked hard but these matches just weren't up to the quality that they normally were. Part of that was because the Real Hazard interference shtick was so overdone and obnoxious at this point, the other part of that being that the matches simply weren't good. Kobe World 2009 is a show - a show like none other. 
_________________________________________________________________________________
Dragon Gate Presents:
Kobe World Pro-Wrestling Festival - July 19, 2009


K-Ness, Super Shisa, & Shisa BOY vs. Cyber Kong, Yasushi Kanda, & Kenichiro Arai
The combination of K-Ness and the two Shisa's had me all excited, but this was the first of many matches that let me down. Dragon Gate is a promotion that, in-ring wise, almost never seems to fail. I mean that in terms of quality and execution. Here, both things failed. The Shisa team was sloppy with their usual combinations and that completely took me out of the match. Kong's side, representing Real Hazard, had to interfere, of course. I have been a sucker for these Kobe World opening matches but this falls short of the mark. Kong puts Shisa BOY away with a nasty looking Powerbomb to end things. 

Rating: **3/4


Stalker Ichikawa vs. Abdullah the Butcher 
Stalker is back to being a comedy figure that no one is supposed to take seriously. Sadly, that means ICHIKAWA, the vicious rudo who PINNED The Great Sasuke is no more. I applaud these two for only going two minutes. This didn't need to be any longer and it was totally fine for what it was. Ichikawa puts in another thrilling performance in Kobe. 

Rating: NR


Anthony W. Mori & Super Shenlong vs. NOSAWA Rongai & MAZADA
Oh boy, this was something (bad). Shenlong is Mondai Ryu (sorry, UPROXX) and it's safe to say that I prefer 2015 Ryu to 2009 Shenlong. He's still bad now, don't get me wrong, but he's learned how to be bad. He's uncomfortably awkward in this match. Mori, who now has a sweet haircut, is almost a non-factor here. NOSAWA and MAZADA are a little too sleazy for me still, so this was another match that I just wasn't feeling. 

Rating: **


Kzy vs. Naoki Tanizaki
Another match hindered by Real Hazard being a REAL ANNOYANCE. These two hate each other so they waste no time going after one another. This was at points, a really good Dragon Gate brawl. Then, once again, guys had to interfere and the referee was out of position a couple of times. I don't box attacks of clothesline trains or any other Dragon Gate gimmick when it's done right. This show, however, was an example of how to not do it. Everyone was out of position and it was just too much. This was fine. 

Rating: ***



Akebono, Masaaki Mochizuki, & Don Fujii vs. Gamma, Susumu Yokosuka, & KAGETORA
Akebono in Dragon Gate sounds weird, but everything I've seen of him in this company (haven't watched the Doi match - never will) has actually been really good. This match is no different as he plays his part very well. He's a wall (at one point he represented a wall) and the smaller wrestlers representing WARRIORS-5 just don't know what to do with him. Yokosuka's lariats, which seem to take everyone down, couldn't even take this big man down (Side note - I could watch Yokosuka hit Akebono all day long). My only real complaint with this match is that when WARRIORS-5 finally got the big man off of his feet, it looked pretty lame. KAGETORA practically missed with an Enziguri and then Gamma and Yokosuka hit him with a Back Suplex. Disappointing, as I think Yokosuka finally chopping Akebono down would've worked much better. Mochizuki and Fujii worked really hard in this one to keep up the pace. Very fun match. 

Rating: ***1/2



PAC, BxB Hulk, & Masato Yoshino vs. Dragon Kid, Akira Tozawa, & Taku Iwasa
Yoshino is golden here. Literally. Bleached hair, gold gear, and a tan that would make Hulk Hogan jealous. While we're on appearances here, the BxB Dance was at an all-time high and watching this reminded me that I really love that entire act, including the great theme song. Hulk is a geek, but a likable geek. This is the MOTN. Yoshino and Dragon Kid are two of the most over acts on the show and the crowd really gets into what they did together. PAC put on an impressive performance here, as did Tozawa. Iwasa, who I didn't realize was still with the company at this point, was actually a nice feature in this match. This was worked much slower than most Triangle Gate matches and part of that was because of Iwasa, who, for whatever reason, got real sick of PAC's flippy shit real fast. A hot finishing stretch makes me give this a double thumbs up. Props to both teams involved. 

Rating: ****



YAMATO & Shingo Takagi vs. Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito
A video package aired before the match showing YAMATO's exit from Real Hazard and him joining forces with Shingo Takagi in Kamikaze. The video package was great. The music mixed with the editing had me totally on board with this team. Then, Shingo and YAMATO make their entrance and Kobe is 100% behind them. Their entrance was an absolute spectacle. I was on the edge of my seat waiting for this match to kick some serious ass and then Real Hazard happened again. Referee Yagi was so out of position for most of the interference spot that it killed any investment I had in this match. Takagi gets brutalized with chairs at one point and then taped to the turnbuckles. He finally gets free and reveals a bunch of blood on his forehead and I still didn't care. This match was so disappointing. I was sitting here, ready to throw out some serious snowflakes, and then this debacle happened. The action down the stretch appeared to be very good but I just didn't care. Clearly, Real Hazard needs to go. 

Rating: **1/2


CIMA vs. Naruki Doi
CIMA is coming into this as Brave Gate Champion, Doi as Dream Gate Champion. By all means, this was a match to make Naruki Doi "the guy" - the next CIMA, if you will. CIMA actually came out after Doi with this grand entrance and looked much more important than Doi ever did, even with his fluffy jackets. This match was horribly boring. I've mentioned on here numerous times that Dragon Gate main events are cumbersome. The big ones start slow and have a big finish. The problem is, anything before the big finish is dreadful. It's limb work that is just "there". I never expect Doi to make anyone submit so I hated seeing him work CIMA's leg over for an eternity. CIMA's comeback wasn't even special, it was just sort of there. And yes, CIMA was the one that made the big comeback, not Doi, who was being groomed for the top spot. This was a match filled with a whole bunch of stuff that didn't mean anything and didn't even satisfy my needs of a hot finish. Doi goes over to continue his lackluster reign which was eventually ended by YAMATO in a match that I really enjoy. Meh. 

Rating: ***1/4



Closing the Gate: Not every show can be a homerun. This was like getting thrown out at third when the game is on the line. Dragon Gate made a risky move and it backfired. Doi was never the ace they wanted him to be and it's showing as now he's much better off as a midcard heel for Mad Blankey. Watching this show felt like watching a WWE PPV in 2015 and I really don't like that. There was nothing on the undercard, a bright spot about halfway through, and then a lame main event. This was not the show for me. Luckily, things look much better for 2010 as YAMATO and Yoshino duke it out for the Dream Gate Championship, Knesuka battles Fujii & Mochizuki, and BxB Hulk and Shingo Takagi put it all on the line as they battle in an epic Hair vs. Hair match! 

No comments:

Post a Comment