DRAGON GATE - Infinity 103!

OLA!

So this'll be the first of a series of reviews I hope to have up here on my favourite promotion in Japan - Dragon Gate.

First and foremost I'd like to give anyone unfamiliar with DG an idea of how it's schedule works. Every week there is a new episode of their TV show on the GAORA channel. It's called Mugendai: Infinity, and it usually features at least two big matches more or less unclipped, along with several other segments and video montages that progress the storylines along. In addition to the weekly show there is also a big PPV every three months or so.

So onto Infinity #103, which I watched today.

1. Open the Triangle Gate Title:
Gamma, Yasushi Kanda & YAMATO (c) vs.
Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii & Magnitude Kishiwada

I really enjoyed this match. Dragon Gate trios matches are known mainly for fast paced, super athletic stuff, but these 6 guys tend not to specialise as much in that type of style. With the REAL HAZARD trio being total scumbag heels, they worked a match which mainly focused on a long heat segment that got the crowd riled up against the heels due to their saliva based antics and what not. When Mochizuki's team made the big comeback, it was really good. They did a hell of a little dive sequence and then worked in some hot nearfalls. The finish was cool as Mochi kicked Kanda's head of his shoulders to give us new champs.

2. Open the Dream Gate Title:
TAKA Michinoku vs. Shingo Takagi (c)

Really smart, simple match. TAKA may be lazy as fuck, but he can piece together a nice little match when he wants to. Shingo needs some strong defenses to get his reign off on the right foot and so far that's happening. This match was mainly based on TAKA exploiting Shingo's knee injury that he caused in a 6 man the week before this. One of my fave spots in ages happened in this and it was so simple yet so great. TAKA was kicking at Shingo's leg and Shingo fired back with jab-jab-jab-mongolian, and TAKA falls to his ass. What does he do immediately when he hits the ground? Why he kicks Shingo right in the knee. AWESOME! Shingo wins in the end with a big Pumping Bomber (lariat).

Post match, a four way was set up between Susumu Yokosuka, GAMMA, Naruki Doi and Masaaki Mochizuki to determine Shingo's next challenger.

To close the show we go highlights of what looked to be a mindblowingly incredible tag title match between Doi & Yoshino and Saito & Yokosuka. The crowd were losing their minds for all the nearfalls.

So that wraps up this column up. I guess if I'm gonna be reviewing every Infinity, I should use a ranking system of sorts. We'll go with 1-10, because well, I don't know why.

INFINITY #103 - 8.5/10