Dragon Gate came firing back after a lackluster 2009 Kobe World. Doi's reign was over and he had been delegated back to the midcard, BxB Hulk and Shingo Takagi were set to end their feud with an explosive hair vs. hair match, and the young YAMATO found himself atop the promotion defending his Open the Dream Gate Championship against the veteran, Masato Yoshino. Hulk and Takagi are the real stars of this show as their match is one of the best matches in Dragon Gate history, but I would like to touch on YAMATO here in the opening. When I first got invested in Dragon Gate, YAMATO was not a guy I kept my eye on. He wasn't what grabbed my attention towards the promotion. He didn't kick hard like Mochizuki or flip like Dragon Kid, he was just a solid professional wrestler. As my Dragon Gate fandom has grown, I've learned to appreciate YAMATO for what he really is - an EXCELLENT professional wrestler. He isn't the most technically sound guy, but he makes up for that with incredible wit. He's smart in the ring, both from a kayfabe sense and in a shoot sense. YAMATO hit a home run with his performance on this show.
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Dragon Gate Presents:
Kobe World Pro-Wrestling Festival - July 11, 2010
Kzy, Kenichiro Arai, & Yasushi Kanda vs. Kotoka, Naoki Tanizaki, & Mark Haskins
This was rather dull. Deep Drunkers was a Kzy-led stable that never got over and had a very short run. Kotoka never clicked with me until this year, actually, and Haskins has never wowed me. That left Tanizaki to do a lot of heavy lifting in this match and, well, he was fine. A nothing, yet inoffensive opener.
Rating: **1/2
Akebono & Abdullah the Butcher vs. Jackson Florida & Johnson Florida vs. Stalker Ichikawa & Syachihoko Machine
There are only so many hours in a day. I felt 0 motivation to watch this one, so I skipped it. If I missed some sort of gem here then please let me know and I'll watch it, but I'm 99.9% sure I made the right choice here.
Rating: NR // NO GIFS
Cyber Kong & KAGETORA vs. Naruki Doi & PAC vs. Ryo Saito & Dragon Kid vs. NOSAWA Rongai & TOZAWA Kengai
Akira Tozawa, who would headline this show in 2012, is doing a NOSAWA tribue act here. Incredible. This was an excellent showing for PAC. He got his big dives in and stood out more than anyone else in the match. KAGETORA also showed signs of being really good here. The pairing of he and Kong, who is certainly less athletic and nimble, actually made for a really fun pairing. TOZAWA took what seemed like a majority of the offense in this match. He would leave for U.S. excursion after this match and two months later would have his brains beat in by Chris Hero. 2010 was not his year. This was more action than wackiness and it resulted in a really solid undercard match.
Rating: ***1/2
CIMA, Gamma, & Genki Horiguchi vs. Black Buffalo, The Bodyguard, & Tigers Mask
This was so much better than it had any right to be. I hadn't seen Buffalo or The Bodyguard going into this and I had seen enough of Tigers Mask to know I didn't want to see him again. This ended up being a fun Triangle Gate match with the WARRIORS crew dominating most of the match. This lacked any sort of heat because the crowd absolutely did not care about the Osaka Pro trio, but other than that, I had no issues with this. It's also great to see Genki Horiguchi back as a babyface and not anywhere near Real Hazard, which luckily, wasn't a thing by this time. Ugh, Real Hazard...
Rating: ***1/4
K-Ness & Susumu Yokosuka vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii
None of these four are high-flyers and this resulted in an interesting match for a Dragon Gate show. Mochizuki and Fujii dominated Yokosuka for most of this match in ways that only Mochi and Fujii could do. Yokosuka was treated as if he were a young boy, which I love about Mochizuki. He's an excellent babyface, but when he gets in control of a match and starts belittling people, that's when he's at his absolute best. K-Ness is no spring chicken by this point and has been dealing with a shoulder injury for years. He's not as crisp as he once was but that doesn't mean he still isn't super fun to watch. He gives Mochizuki all sorts of trouble and because of that, he and Susumu are able to pick up the win. This is good stuff.
Rating: ****
BxB Hulk vs. Shingo Takagi
Lads - this is the good stuff. Two Kobe Worlds prior these two met in a match that was more of a coming out party for Shingo. In that match, he looked dominant. He bullied Hulk and was able to put him down with less trouble than he did here. Hulk, coming into this match, had matured. He lost the dancers (he should've kept them), he lost his goofy smile, and he came into this match with something to prove. He and Takagi just beat the crap out of each other. This wasn't a strike-heavy match, this was more two dudes suplexing each other around for 30 minutes. This never dragged or got stale. Hulk put up the best fight he possibly could but still came up short in the end. The rivalry between these two is so incredible. Separate, they're great wrestlers. Hulk, while sometimes very annoying, has been able to produce a number of high-caliber matches, while Takagi, who almost never annoys me, is rapidly climbing up my GWE list. When these two come together they bring the best out of each other. Hulk was an excellent babyface in this match and Takagi was an animal. I'm not going with the full 5* here, but don't think I didn't consider it. This is quality, quality stuff.
Rating: ****3/4
YAMATO vs. Masato Yoshino
As I said in the intro, YAMATO was a star here. His entrance was electric. He came across as a superstar. Yoshino was great here as well. Once again, this match fell into the trap of having 15 minutes of wrestling in 30 minutes of wrestling. Unlike the previous main event (CIMA vs. Doi), however, the finishing stretch was fantastic. YAMATO has been able to get the Sleeper Hold over as a legitimate finisher and that adds to the HOT FIGHTING down the stretch. Yoshino is so incredible here. He's so crisp. Yoshino is able to submit YAMATO here in an excellent closing stretch.
Rating: ***3/4
Closing the Gate: This is an easy show to watch. Everything is solid with the Hulk/Shingo match being tremendous. This is a much better show than the prior Kobe World. Next up is Kobe World 2011 with Mochizuki/Hulk, Tozawa/Shingo and Ricochet & CIMA vs. PAC & Dragon Kid. I am SUPER excited to watch this show (again).
link please
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