After what I would consider a successful Countdown to Kobe series, the Review Gate is back, this time focusing on Pro Wrestling Only's "Greatest Wrestler Ever" project. While part of the fun of the GWE project is discovering the talent's of wrestlers that you've never watched, or in some cases even heard of before, it's also nice to reflect on acts that you have seen and enjoyed at one point or another. The focus of this blog going forward is to "pimp", if you will, some of Dragon Gate's finest. There are plenty of current roster members who will be cracking my Top 100 so I feel like it's important to examine them closely here.
Starting off, however, I'm looking at a tag team, arguably the most dominant team in Dragon System history - SpeedMuscle. The speed is brought by Masato Yoshino, the muscle by Naruki Doi. It's a very simple concept, one that created many, many amazing matches. They have not been nominated yet on the PWO board so this post will be serving the purpose of doing just that.
Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi vs. Jack Evans & YAMATO: 5/10/2007
You can watch this match here.
This is probably the best primer for SpeedMuscle out there. It's short, but it gives you a great idea of what the duo is all about. Of course, if you didn't like what you saw here, it's probably not going to get better. Jack Evans is the super babyface here (Korakuen loves those dance moves) and Doi, especially, doesn't take too kindly to that. The precision shown by SpeedMuscle during their double team moves is simply incredible. Their combinations look great and helps them stand out as a tag team. Nothing special, not a MOTYC or even close to it, but it was a strong chapter with a great hook that made me want more.
Rating: ***1/4
Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi vs. Ricky Marvin & Kotaro Suzuki: 5/12/2007
The first of many "junior epics" I will come across. This also takes place at the first Muscle Outlawz produced show, which creates an interesting dynamic. SpeedMuscle represents MO'z, so unlike most of their matches from this time period, the crowd cheers for these lads. The SpeedMuscle name is perfected here. I probably sound like an idiot repeating this, but that's exactly what the act was. Doi has power and uses it to beat down his opponents and Yoshino has speed, which really comes into play later on in the match as he's able to break up some close nearfalls. I loved this match. It's long, even with slight clipping, but two teams this good are able to pull it off and keep me entertained throughout.
Rating: ****1/4
Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi vs. Taku Iwasa & Kenichiro Arai: 10/12/2007
More good stuff, this time coming in front of a hot Korakuen crowd that loves a good title match. Doi and Yoshino are clearly positioned as heels here, which is funny to me and only me because that means that people cheered Taku Iwasa. Those people paid money for their ticket so I guess they're free to do what they'd like. Yoshino had some remarkably great facial expressions here, some from selling and some while he was on offense. Doi seemed to be doing most of the heavy lifting (see...there's the muscle connection again) in the first two matches, but Yoshino stepped up to the plate here and delivered an awesome performance.
Rating: ***3/4
Closing the Gate: So far, so good. I know SpeedMuscle will finish in my Top 25 for tag teams, it's just a matter of where. Three completely different kinds of matches here help their cause. They had a sprint with Evans & YAMATO, a great battle with the NOAH duo where they played babyface, and then a fun match in Korakuen where they are not liked. Great stuff, so far.
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