Dragon Gate Infinity 146!!!

146

Sandwiched between the best pro wrestling TV show of the year the week prior and a Korakuen show the next week, Infinity 146 looked to be a pretty low key show. However it turned out to be one of the most solid episodes of the year from start to finish. The show featured the two main matches from the tour show at the always lively Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium #2.

Shingo & YAMATO vs. Naruki Doi & Naoki Tanisaki

This match pitted the company’s current singles champs (who did a lovely double belt pose pre-match) against the #1 contenders to the tag titles. If you didn’t get enough Tani last week, there was plenty more for you here. The KAMIKAZE team isolated him early and he did what he does best – create sympathy. Doi eventually got his usual hot tag and we got a very fun finishing stretch which came down to Shingo and Naoki. They laid it in hard, including some sick headbutts which Naoki busted himself open with. The finish was awesome as Shingo turned him inside out, and I mean INSIDE OUT with an insane lariatoooo and then put him down with the Made In Japan. Good match.

RealHaz attacked post-match to build to the Twin Gate match at Korakuen and also Tani’s first Brave Gate defence against “Mr. Brave Gate” Genki Horiguchi.

Non-title Match: Masato Yoshino, BxB Hulk & PAC vs. CIMA, Gamma & Susumu Yokosuka

Crowd was H.O.T. for this from the get go. Lots of things going on here. Yoshino and PAC were having a personal game of one-upmanship for the title of GREATEST WRESTLER ON PLANET EARTH AT THIS VERY MOMENT, Gamma appeared to have taken the last protein bar at lunch and BxB was NOT happy about it so he was all uppity at him, CIMA was working his ass off as he usually does in multi-mans and Susumu was just being Susumu – keeping everything flowing as it should, catching flying dudes and throwin’ some choice lariats.

The match was quality, your typical really good DG 6 man. Not quite the level they get to when in front of a crazy US crowd or at a big DG PPV, but still better than 95% of the wrestling than you saw this month. Like I said, PAC and Yoshi were just outstanding. These guys are just the most mindblowing athletes in the world. We got the big finishing stretch that you’d expect and it was Susumu (who’s getting a push) who got the deciding pin over PAC with the Mugen.

Over the credits we got footage of Ryo Saito tying up Yoshino in a rope while Araken posed. I love Real Hazard.

I should mention that the new Infinity theme by THE PIXY CHICKS is without doubt the grandest wrestling TV show music going. You just have to hear it.

Infinity 145 – 8/10

DRAGON GATE - Infinity 145!

145

Yup, we haven’t had too many of these in recent weeks, due to pesky real life issues clogging up my time, but I have been INSPIRED to write a new review this week. That inspiration has come from one man named Naoki Friggin Tanizaki, my absolute favourite wrestler in the history of the world (this week). Infinity 145, eminating from Hakata Star Lanes, was the Naoki show. Well actually it was the Naoki & His Daughter Show. The show centered around the Open The Brave Gate tournament to crown a new champ. We had two semi final three ways with the winners meeting in the final.

Naoki Tanizaki vs. Kzy vs. Super Shiisa

I’m not the hugest fan of three ways and triple threats anymore, but this was fun and kept nice and short. Kzy heeled it up with the help of his Real Hazard buddies at ringside (he’s really fitting into the rudo role nicely) and I think most of the crowd expected him to advance past veteran lower carder Shiisa, and the man who Kzy beat at World, Tanizaki. They were right as far as Shiisa went, as he was pinned after a mask-jacking by Kzy. However they were very wrong as far as Naoki went. He battled past the RH interference to snatch a win and move to the final. Post match he was beatdown bigtime by chair shots and a Kzy-Time (Canadian Destroyer from the corner).

KAGETORA vs. Tozawa vs. Super Shenlong

Again, same kinda deal. Short snappy three way. Shelong did some funny stuff before being booted and it came down to the two more senior members. Both KAGE and Tozawa have been kept pretty strong this year so it was anyone’s guess who’d advance. Lots of cool stuff exchanged down the stretch with Tozawa’s Germans being particularly choice. KAGE hooked him out of nowhere in his high speed cradle of doom that he’s been beating people with, and Tozawa was done.

Final – KAGETORA vs. Naoki Tanizaki

Tani is of course banged up coming in after the RH attack, and KAGE doesn’t waste any time getting control by working over the injured neck. Basically the first 7 or 8 minutes are all just KAGETORA picking him apart with innovative holds and other hurty stuff. With certain guys this could be boring, but when you have Naoki selling like he’s being water-boarded by Jack Bauer, it’s all good. Add in the bonus of young Yuki Tanizaki (who couldn’t have been more than 3 years old) in the crowd with Mom, looking completely worried for Daddy and the scene just gets that bit more dramatic. They started teasing comebacks throughout the middle of the match and then by the time they got down to the last 5/6 minutes the Lanes fans were starting to rock. Down the stretch it was just all big moves and 2.999999999 cradles. Naoki kept looking for his knee strikes out of desperation and KAGE just kept looking to deliver that one big final blow that would keep the pesky Tanizaki down. A DDT on the apron didn’t do it, an Ikkitousen didn’t do it and even Naoki’s own Beach Break being used on him didn’t do it.

Poor Yuki was in floods of tears at this point and a more humane individual than myself may feel that was not good. I thought it was pretty great. PRO WRES EMOTION~!!~!! Little kiddies SHOULD be crying. God knows I cried when Earthquake cut a promo saying he was coming to MY town. She even mouthed “Papa” at one point during her distress. Awesome. Naoki was meanwhile selling his guts off in the ring and just looking for any opening to give him even a small chance of winning. A HYOOOGE Beach Break of his own got him back in the game but he was too tired to hold the cover. Damage was done though, as KAGE was looking pretty out of it. The next big nearfall came, ingeniously, with the high speed cradle of doom and every man, woman and child in the building bought it. Such a huge pop for Naoki kicking out. A series of running knees nearly put KAGE away, but more was needed. A killer rolling sole butt to face got a 2.999, but Tanizaki FEELING THE MOMENTUM, hoisted KAGE up for a second Beach Break, this time holding the pin for the 1-2-3. The crowd erupted, Naoki collapsed with joy, Doi, Yoshino and Hulk (who were going batshit insane at ringside) hit the ring and then in maybe the wrestling moment of the year, the camera cut to Yuki looking overjoyed, raising her arm in the air, and then later cooly making a peace sign towards the camera. Naoki brought her into the ring for the post match speech and it was one of the happiest scenes I’ve ever seen in wrestling.

Gotta give credit to the man who was kind of overshadowed following the match – KAGETORA. He wrestled a hell of a match, guiding the thing from start to finish and really putting Tani over huge.

Not just the best Infinity this year, but one of my favourite ever.

Infinity 145 – 9.5/10

DRAGON GATE - Infinity 142

First a quick look at the Warriors-5 Produce Infinity 140. I haven't watched the Mochi Produce 141 yet, but there's no real rush on that.

The W-5 show was bags of fun.

-Rocker/Wrassler Ricky Fuji did an awesome concert with all the wrestlers at ringside and Great Sasuke doing awesome air guitar and air drums.

-Pretty solid tag with KAGE and Susumu taking on some of the M-Pro guys.

-Main event was one of the funniest matches of the year. I had a smile on my face the whole time. Good action too! I really like OMEGA.

142

Susumu Yokosuka & KAGETORA vs. CIMA & Gamma

Teammates collide in wonderful wonderful gear!!!! Seriously CIMA and Gamma's get-up needs to be seen to be believed. Fun brawling, and plenty of W-5 antics which have really grown on me. "OOOOOO!". Nice action down the stretch, CIMA was going for the kill on KAGE and he got caught with an AWESOME cradle that I've never seen before. Good match.

Highlights

Naruki Doi, Naoki Tanisaki{W} (6:52 Implant) Akira Tozawa{L}, Dragon Kid

Yasushi Kanda, Kenichiro Arai{W} (10:03 Low Blow->Samson Clutch) Masato Yoshino{L}, BxB Hulk

Two fun looking matches here. Would have like to see non-clipped versions. Points of note include Naoki de-pantsing himself for the finish (his unique way of debuting new gear) and Araken attacking a BxB dancer (which is a first to my knowledge).

YAMATO & Shingo Takagi vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Katsuhiko Nakajima

This is like as saliva inducing a match as I could have fathomed. And it lived up to the hype. Awesome, hard hitting match. Really great chemistry between the teams and they busted out lots of cool stuff like the TOPÉ MASAAKI (which I adore). Came down to Shingo and Kats with the time limit ticking down. Great finishing stretch, with brutal forearms from Takagi and kicks from Nakajima. Big pull apart after the time limit expired.

Funny skit with Speed Muscle in Philadelphia trying to rent a car closed the show.

Overall a really fun episode. One of the best of the year.

Infinity 142 - 8.5/10

DRAGON GATE - Infinity 138!

138

Dragon Kid, Taku Iwasa & Akira Tozawa vs. Masato Yoshino, BxB Hulk & Naoki Tanizaki

Short and sweet trios action designed to get Taku over on his big return. It did just that as he looked like a beast finishing Tani with a series of lariats and a Noshigami. The interaction between Kid and Yoshino in this was as friggin awesome as ever, and made my pants just a tad moist in anticipation of the DGUSA show in Philadelphia. Post match saw Iwasa challenge Yoshino for the Triangle at World. He accepted. Tozawa screamed.... alot.

Akebono vs. Gamma

Well this ruled, but honestly would you expect anything different. Highlights include Akebono getting the Evian Treatment with an assist from KAGE, Gamma beating Bono over the head with the water bottle, Gamma attempting a big scoop slam on Bono, Bono returning the Evian Treatment in kind, a kendo stick tug of war (which Gamma lost), many squishings, sarcastic clapping by Bono and many more squishings.

Phenomenal match. I demand a Best Of 51 Series between the two.

Open the Brave Gate Title, No Ropes Match: CIMA © vs. Kenichiro Arai

Araken looked asleep as per usual and he started the match by just standing in front of CIMA and letting him kick the shit out of him, like me when I play my 6 year old cousin in PS2 wrestling games. Then out of nowhere Arai dodged a kick and CIMA nailed the post, PSYCH! Fine way to get the heat. The heat consisted of throwing CIMA outside the ring, holding him while a pantsless Cyber Kong poured whiskey down his throat, then duct taping him to the ring post. Pantsless man, forced alcohol consumption, duct tape..... sounds like your average date.

Anywho, CIMA was counted out and Arai was the new champ. Fans weren't down with this. As Real Hazard tried to exit stage left, Big Baby Bono cut them off at the pass and demanded a restart. So a restart we got. We got more RH and W5 interference than you can shake a stick at, and many many props came into play. First we had this little trolly thing that both men took things flying out of the ring on (this looked to fuck CIMA up), we had a spanner which Arai put in his wrist tape, we had a ladder which Arai used to channel Terry Funk and then Kanda used for an awesome John Woo and of course we had much shenanigans surrounding Araken's beer bottle.

Finish was pretty amazing to be honest. About 6 men held together a structure of tables and ladders that I'm not going to even attempt to describe, and then CIMA jumped off another ladder onto the structure which was on top of Araken. So cool. One Schwein and one Meteora (off a post) later and CIMA retained the Brave Gate.

Post match Doi challenged CIMA for a double title match at the main event of World.

Overall I enjoyed this show. It was very much on the gimmicky side of things, but I don’t mind that every once in a while. Especially when it’s entertaining, and this was.

Infinity 138 - 7.5/10

DRAGON GATE - Infinity 137!

This weeks Infinity featured action from the 6/11 show eminating from Korakuen Hall. The main event was the much anticipated Open The Dream Gate match between partners Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino.

137

1. Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi vs. CIMA & Gamma

Real Hazard's Twin Gate wasn't on the line here, but the story was that if the boys from W-5 won then they'd be getting a title shot soon. Match was pretty decent. Lots of interference as one would expect. I feel like I haven't seen CIMA and Genki wrestle in ages, and I had forgotten how well they mesh. The action down the stretch was alot of fun as DR. MUSCLE of all people hit the ring seemingly to attack CIMA, but suddenly he laid out RH with lariats and unmasked to reveal Susumu Yokosuka. Gamma rolled up Ryo for the pin. Post match Saito and Susumu set up a single match for the next Korakuen.

2. Naruki Doi (c) vs. Masato Yoshino - Open The Dream Gate

Easily the biggest match on Infinity this year, as SPEED MUSCLE EXPLODES. Let's hope they're not calling each other out in raps 20 years from now.

The early stages were tentative, telling the story that both wrestlers knew how dangerous the other was. Doi was the first one to raise the pace by hitting a huge topé to the rail. Yoshino hurt his leg in the process and Doi went to work for the next several minutes. Yoshino was looking in trouble until he saw an opening to attack Doi's arm. So we had both guys selling injuries and taking turns of having control. It was good stuff so far.

Things got more heated as it started to come down to strike exchanges. The crowd sensing the difference in the action started to get more and more into it and popped big for some close nearfalls. They were both attempting signature moves, but being partners, each guy knew what was coming and had a counter. Doi was the first one to bust out something new, countering a Lightning Spiral by hitting a BIG running turnbuckle Powerbomb. As he looked to finish Yoshi off with his Muscular Bomb, the Speed Star regrouped and finally hit his Lightning Spiral for a big nearfall.

They were at a stalemate when they met on the top turnbuckle to duke it out. Yoshino surprisingly outstruck the more heavy hitting Doi and went for his spring board Sling Blade but Doi caught him and hit a huge Avalanche Doi555. Yoshino, fueled by adrenaline, jumped right back to his feet saying "COME ON PARTNER, IT'LL TAKE MORE THAN THAT". They traded more nearfalls with Yoshino coming scary close with various Torbellino cradles. He then locked in the Sol Naciente submission but Doi fought out and hit an awesome Release Tiger Suplex. He followed it up with a Bakatare Sliding Kick, a series of slaps and another Bakatare for the pin.

Phenomenal match. Really smartly worked in the early stages and out of this world action down the stretch. ****1/2 if I'm to put a rating on it.

As the show went off the air we got brief clips of mcKZ and Naoki Tanizaki miscommunicating and then making up, and then we had our weekly visit with the Open The Handsome Gate champions plugging various happy fun things to us.

Infinity 137 - 9/10 (Best of the year, pretty much all due to the main)

DRAGON GATE - Infinity 127, 128, 129!!

A boat load of Infinitys surfaced recently so I'm gonna blast through all of them now so as to not get behind.

127

1. Dragon Kid & Akira Tozawa vs. Gamma & Susumu Yokosuka

This match concerned me. Warriors-5 were waaaaaay too schticky for my liking here. I have no problem with Gamma being a part of the group but I don't want the group to become a "Gamma Group" per se. They need to tone down that stuff, it really took from this match alot.

2. Akebono vs. Masaaki Mochizuki

Fun squash to get BIG BABY 'BONO over. Mochi won't be hurt by this whatsoever. No problemo.

3. YAMATO, Yasushi Kanda & Ryo Saito vs.
Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk

Your average good DG 6 Man with the focus on building Hulk vs. Yamato. Kanda took the fall after some Speed Muscle double team offence. Post match Doi called for a Dream Gate challenger that has never fought for the belt before. Much to his surprise, out walked Akebono. OH SHIT SON! Doi initially looked petrified but then manned up and got all up in the giants face.

What a weird title match we have on our hands.

Weaker than usual Infinity but still perfectly acceptable pro wrestling.

Infinity 127 - 6.5/10

128

YAMATO & Ryo Saito vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii

Really fun tag. YAMATO/Mochi interaction is always awesome and this was no exception. Ryo continues to settle nicely into his rudo role and the Big Don was his usual charismatic self. Ryo got the duke over Fuji but his celebration was cut short when Killer Hulk hit the ring and laid him out, but then YAMATO took the opportunity to attack Killer and challenge him for Aichi.

Open the Triangle Gate Title: Shingo Takagi, Dragon Kid & Taku Iwasa (c) vs. CIMA, Gamma & KAGETORA

This was great great stuff. Towards the end we started to get some bigtime Korakuen heat and KAGETORA was wrestling like a man possessed. It was tremendous. He was eating big moves like he was starving but 'KAZE couldn't put him down. Eventually CIMA and Gamma came to his rescue and KAG started to turn things around leading to getting a big pinfall win with a SICK Sheer Drop Kekonitteki on Taku. New champs! Little to no Warriors-5 schtick, which is a GOOD thing.

Infinity 128 - 8/10

129

Shingo Takagi, Dragon Kid & Akira Tozawa vs. YAMATO, Yasushi Kanda, Cyber Kong

OMG Tozawa vs. YAMMY~!~! This was seriously the greatest thing ever - crazy shrieking, butt butts, random laughter, YAMATO's smirk, duct tape ... I could go on. Surrounding the craziness there was one heck of a TV tag match. Cyber pinned Tozawa with a God damn Ultimae Warrior splash. Unbelievable.

Open the Twin Gate Unified Tag Title Contendership Tournament
- Final: Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk vs. Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito

Doinkloads of interference but for the most part it worked. Crowd was really into the big nearfalls and such down the stretch. They played up Cyber laying out Yoshino multiple times to further their feud nicely. World-1 became overwhelmed by interference so Doi tried to help his buddies and nailed Ryo with a Bakakare but it only got a nearfall. It came down to BxB and Ryo and eventually BxB was put down by a Double-Cross. Good match.

Infinity 129 - 8/10

DRAGON GATE - Infinity 126!

And now we're into post-Gate Of Anniversary stuff, and on the road to the "DEAD OR ALIVE" PPV.

126

Fukui City Gymnasium
1,250 Fans

Cyber Kong & Yasushi Kanda vs. Naruki Doi & Naoki Tanizaki

First time I've ever seen DG in this building. Pretty cool looking and the crowd rules. So anyway, yeah A NAOKI TANIZAKI MATCH~!, let the greatness roll. Kong looked good being all powerhousy and Kanda was good in the general type roll for his team. Naoki sold his ass off and brought the charisma and energy. The hot tag to Doi was awesome as he's up there with Roderick Strong when it comes to great houses of fire. Real Hazard won after a PINEAPPLE BOMBER, and a newly bald Anthony Dubyah Mori hit the ring to get him some but he was overwhelmed. The save was made by Masato Yoshino of all people, and the crowd went nutrageous.

YAMATO & Ryo Saito vs. Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk

Yoshino got a ridiculous pop for his entrance. It's not his hometown so I dunno what the deal is. For some reason watching Hulk wrestle seemed very fresh. Maybe he hasn't been on alot of episodes recently, I dunno. YAMMY and Ryo make a heck of a sleaze ball team. Hulk had some new offence such as a Flipping Capture Suplex which was rad. Ryo pinned BxB with a new finisher called THE DOUBLECROSS (picture armed crossed Razors Edge). Post match promo's building to YAMATO and Hulk down the line.

Shingo Takagi, Dragon Kid & Akira Tozawa vs. CIMA, Gamma & KAGETORA

Main event time and this was awesome. W-5 are so entertaining and KAGE is a beast of a worker. The KAMIKAZE side, of course as we all know is beyond awesome. Lots of heat between Shingo and KAGE here, God how much would that singles match rule. CIMA continued to look good since his latest comeback, which is a good sign since he doesn't appear to be getting a reduced role or anything. Anyway finish came down to KAGE and Tozawa and the former Juku leader put up his usual good fight until KAGE put him down with the Ikkitousen.

Afterwards we got a big brawl breaking out between about 12 guys on the roster and it was great because it solidified that all the factions are at war with each other.

Really good episode. Loved all the matches, and the crowd was hot.

Infinity 126 - 8/10

DRAGON GATE - Infinity 125!

So yeah, this Infinity came along, and I guess due to timing there was really nothing major to show so instead we got a bunch of crap that we'd NEVER normally see and it ruled the earth!!

125

Open the Owarai Gate Title: Jackson Florida © vs. "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa

For those unfamiliar, Jackson's gimmick is that he's the broken down, crippled remains of the 2004/2005 Florida Brothers faction. And he's so crippled that he falls all over the place in dramatic fashion. He wrestles with a crutch that he never lets go of and does many crutch related spots. Perfect for a comedy match such as this. If you don't know Stalker then get the hell out of my column, I don't wanna associate with your kind.

Anyway, the match was hilarious and Jackson took his usual TERRIFYING bumps (eg Undertaker rope walk -> slip -> bounce off ropes -> land head first on apron). A crutch assisted backslide got the duke and Mr. Florida takes home da gold!

Masato Yoshino, PAC & m.c.KZ. vs. Dragon Kid, Taku Iwasa & Kenshin Chikano

Kenshin, of course is one of the two rookies that have debuted in recent weeks. He makes a hell of a babyface on look alone. One of the most glaring things about this match was how much KZ has improved. He's wrestling with a bit of a swagger now which is great to see. The four established guys were as good as you'd expect (i.e. friggin GREAT)..... Yoshino is on a different plane to literally 99.999% of wrestlers, it's getting ridiculous to be honest. And PAC ain't that far off either. He's becoming one of the smoothest flyers ever. The end was based around KZ trying to finish off Kenshin. He looked great doing so, and Kenshin showed some awesome spirit. Unfortunately KZ couldn't get the job done, so Yoshino said "fuck it, watch this" and shotgun dropkicked a hole through Kenshin's chest for the win. Awesome TV six man.

Akira Tozawa vs. Youhei Fujita

Youhei is the other rookie that debuted, and I'm starting to think he's a bit further ahead in the technical department. He looked really damn great here. However he was in there with Tozawa who's WRESTLING WITH A VENGEANCE right now. Crowd got really into this and I don't blame them. Tozawa was breaking out sick Saito Suplexes, and Germans, while Youhei debuted a pretty standing moonsault. Everything was stringed together so well. They built to the token young lion gets stuck in a crab spot, and Youhei fought and fought. I was honestly expecting him to tap, but he survived and the crowd went banana. Unfortunately a Bridging German later and it was all she wrote. Really fun match.

The (Youhei) show ended with a segment from a later show where Warriors-5 came out and introduced Fujita as their new member. They renamed him RYOMA.

Loved this episode. Like it said at the outset, there wasn't much major stuff on it, but we got three REALLY enjoyable matches and the two rookies were established perfectly.

Infinity 125 - 8/10

DRAGON GATE - Infinity 121

We're days away from the biggest Dragon Gate show ever. So I figured it's time to bust out a TV review. This show was taped at Korakuen Hall so good stuff was to be expected.

121

YAMATO, Cyber Kong & Genki Horiguchi vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii & Anthony W. Mori

Mainly a match to further the Mori/Kong feud. Lots of fun stuff here, especially YAMATO getting to showcase more of his offence than usual (he's a hell of a wrestler if you haven't noticed!). Genki was super smooth as always and ate a string of the babyfaces big moves for the finish. The last of which was Anthony busting out a Cyber Bomb to ZING Kong. Those two had to be separated post match and they ended up challenging each other for a Mascara vs. Caballera match at Sumo Hall.

Open the Brave Gate Title: Masato Yoshino © vs. KAGETORA

One of my all time favourite wrestlers taking on one of the dudes I'm digging alot currently. Bound to be a good match and of course it was. They meshed really well for two guys who I don't think have been in the ring together before (unless Yoshi had a hand in KAGE's training). We had some RH interference spots which did kind of get in the way a bit, but it didn't harm the match too much. Some big nearfalls that the crowd really got into. KAGE was put down by a pair of Lightning Spirals (the second of which was a sick bump). Post match YAMATO voiced his displeasure at KAGE not winning the belt.

Special Singles Match: BxB Hulk vs. Koji Kanemoto

A rematch of their bout in New Japan in 2007 when BxB was just a pup and Koji beat the tar out of him. Hulk wasn't about to take that shit this time and got allllll up in the vets face. Match was filled with some awesome striking exchanges. They didn't go as all out as you might expect towards the finish but it was still effective. Kanemoto picked up the win, which seemed surprising initially until it became clear that he wasn't done in DG just yet.

The reason being Open The Dream Gate champion Naruki Doi hitting the ring and challenging Kanemoto to a title match at Sumo Hall. He threw the key gimmick at him and Koji was all like "WTF is this bullshit" and kicked the key out of the ring. YOU DON'T DISRESPECT THE KEYS KOJI! A mortal sin in Dragon Gate land.

Solid show this week. Two matches were set up nicely for the PPV and we got three very enjoyable matches with Yoshino/KAGE probably being the best.

Infinity 121 - 7.5

DRAGON GATE - Infinity 117!

117

01-18-09
1.SHINGO & Akira Tozawa vs. Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino

Just like last week, Infinity kicks off with KAMIKAZE vs. World-1 action. Only this week's version had one key extra - the return of on of the world's best wrestlers, Masato Yoshino! And boy did things get turned up a notch with the Speed Star back in the mix. This was as slick an 11 minute TV match as you will EVER see, in any style of wrestling. Every was clicking 100%..... Tozawa was great in the underdog role, trying to hang with the higher status guys; Yoshino was great bringing the speed and sheer athleticism; and Doi and Shingo were awesome resuming their hard hitting strike battles from last week. We saw a bunch of the double teams that made DoiYoshi the best tag team in wrestling in 2008 and the crowd were eating it ALLLLL up. It came down to Tozawa and Yoshino, with the former taking everything the latter could dish out until he was put down by the MUTHA of all Lightning Spirals. This was the hot stuff right here.

2.Loser banishment "Real Hazard" match
Gamma vs. Yasushi Kanda

So as mentioned last time, RH have had some in-fighting problems mainly involving Kanda and Gamma. It was decided by YAMATO that shit needed settlin! So we get this banishment match. It was clipped down somewhat and mainly seemed to be alot of brawling with Gamma, for probably the first time ever, working like the good guy. Kanda tried a bunch of cheating but it didn't pay off as Gamma hit a spear into a jacknife cradle for the flash pin.

Then came a sweet sweet angle. Gamma called RH into the ring to celebrate his win and help show Kanda the door. They were set to put the boots to him but who should hit the ring but Kenichiro Arai to make the save for his former friend Kanda. Gamma, as he is wont to do, took the mic and went to town, talking smack like a man possessed. He called for RH to attack once again, and they did, but they didn't attack Kanda and Arai..... no no... THEY ATTACKED GAMMA!!! And out of nowhere, Kanda and Arai joined in the beat down! Gamma was out of RH despite winning and Arai, to everyone's surprise, was in!

YAMATO took the mic and introduced everyone to the new Real Hazard, with him as the one true leader. The boys cracked open a cooler of beers and proceeded to drench the crowd, apart from one lady who had the sense to PUT UP HER UMBRELLA!!! Awwwwwesome.

3.Open the Triangle Gate Championships
BxB Hulk, Naoki Tanisaki & m.c.KZ. vs. Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fuji & Magnitude Kishiwada ©

Ohhhhhhh this match. This match was absolutely great!!! My favourite Triangle Gate match in months and for sure my favourite match from the old dudes combo. On paper, this seemed like a whacky matchup with World-1's two "weaker" guys involved, but in hindsight it was actually a PERFECT matchup. Tanisaki was as spunky and uppity as ever, and KZ was more than willing to die for us all. Luckily for him AND US, Mochi was happy to unleash said death and Killer Kish was in extra killer mode. The interaction between those four made this match, and BxB and Fujii were there to add in their skills to the mix. Fast paced the whole way, and no clipping meant we got a real feel for the match. The finishing stretch was KA-RAZAY and the finish was amongst the sickest you'll see for a looooong time. You know Sara Del Rey's axe kick? Picture that bad boy ON DA FACE! That's what Mochi did to young KZ after he had the gall to stay alive after some of Mochi's best shots. The nose removal axe kick was not to be kicked out of however.

****1/4 match

Best episode since the legendary Summer Tag League Finals in August. Two great matches and one awesome angle. Can't ask for more from a 50 minute TV show.

Infinity #117 - 9/10

DRAGON GATE - Infinity 116!

Into a new year with Dragon Gate, and there are many stories at play.

-Naruki Doi is the new Open The Dream Gate Champion, ending the near 6 month reign of Shingo.

-CIMA was choked into retirement by the man quickly becoming the hottest Dragon Gate heel in several years, YAMATO.

-Long standing, all star babyface faction, Typhoon were forced to dispand. Where will the members end up?

-A new unit has formed, led by Shingo. Akira Tozawa and Taku Iwasa are the other members.

-Top heel unit Real Hazard have been having problems, with GAMMA and Kanda at the centre of things.

-The Twin Gate and Triangle Gate titles have gained much needed stability with the team of YAMAKong and the trio of Mochizuki, Fujii and Kishiwada both in the midst of dominant reigns.

With that we move onto the first Infinity of the year.

116

01-11-09
1. SHINGO, Taku Iwasa & Akira Tozawa vs. Naruki Doi, BxB Hulk & m.c.KZ.

Real good showcase match for the new, unamed unit. Shingo and Doi resumed where they left on in 2008, by beating the daylights out of each other. Tozawa continued to show that he's got GAME now and really kept up at everyone elses level. He's definitely one of the best things in DG right now. Iwasa got the win over KZ and called out Doi to give him a title shot. Doi was all like BRING IT BIOTCH! so we're set with our first title match of the 09.

Post match, it was banner time! Tozawa pulled out a nice big scroll to reveal the name and colours of the new unit..... drumroll please....... KAMIKAZE! I like it.



Proceedings are then interupted by the music of one Dragon Kid, formerly of Typhoon. Kid says "Yo Shingo, we were awesome in the Tag League, I want in baby!" or something to that effect and just like that the unit is now a foursome. Good times.

01-12-09
2.Genki Horiguchi, Cyber Kong & YAMATO vs. SHINGO & Dragon Kid & Anthony W. Mori

Anthony W. Mori, out on his own after the Typhoon split was assigned to team with two of the KAMIKAZE boys here in this outing against Real Hazard. A pre match video showed how on a recent show Anthony came to the aid of Super Shisa and Shisa Boy when Cyber Kong was about to eat them, demasking Kong and legging it away as fast as his Michael Jackson lookin ass could move. So Kong was out for blood in this trios match. Pretty good stuff here too, Shingo and Kid looked great and YAMATO was his usual awesome slimy prick self. Finish was a big surprise as Anthony avoided death by Kong, and managed to roll him up with the Elegant Magic for the flash win. Post match Kong was going to kill him until this time it was the Shisa's saving Mori. They vowed to have each others back.

3.Ryo Saito vs. BxB Hulk

The final match of the BxB/Ryo series was just as hard hitting as prior encounters. Saito finally managed to get the victory, using his MESSENGER manouvre. Post match BxB offered Ryo a spot in World-1. He said he'd think about it.

Overall, a solid show to start the new year. Three fun matches that all set up current and future storylines nicely.

INFINITY #116 - 7.5/10

DRAGON GATE - Infinity 113 + 114!

CATCHIN' UP TIME~!

Two more Infinity's to look at in order to wrap up King Of Gate, and we'll start with 113 which sees the 4 second round matchups.

113

King of Gate - Round 2: Magnitude Kishiwada vs. Madoka

Madoka tried and tried but when you're up against the BEHEMOTH that is Killer Kish that's not gonna get the job done maaan. So yeah, fun big man vs. little man match (odd choice of words since Kish is significantly shorter) with a killer finish that makes Magnitude look strong heading into the semis.

King of Gate - Round 1: Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Taku Iwasa

The series of Mochi beating lessons into young Taku continues. Iwasa was all uppity and getting in the vets face, challenging him to a war.... and a war was what he got. Match was filled with heavy duty strikes from both guys, real intense stuff. Iwasa came close a few times to getting a HUGE win, but he just wasn't quite able to break that threshold and eventually he was overwhelmed and found himself hanging onto life support as Mochi started mounting the pressure. The finish was a sick sick SICK series of high kicks that made one Mirko Cro Cop squirm. Very enjoyable match.

King of Gate - Round 1: Don Fujii vs. Naoki Tanisaki

Oh poor Naoki, poor young naive Naoki..... The big Don was too smart for him here. One of the funniest finishes I've seen in a while, as during a brawl on the outside, Don took Tanisaki outside the arena, gave him a slam, and shut the door, running back to the ring. Naoki couldn't make it back and Fujii makes it through to the semis in EPIC fashion.

King of Gate - Round 1: BxB Hulk vs. Naruki Doi

This all World-1 battle was definitely the showcase match of the tournament up to this point, and boy did it live up to it. A really awesome match in which BxB seemed to have a death wish. He took some completely insane bumps in this and it's a miracle he was walking afterwards. This was definitely the most near-fall laden match of the KOG so far, as both guys dropped bigtime bombs down the stretch getting the old 2.999999!!! on numerous occasions. The sickest of BxB's bumps came for the finish as he was KILLED deader than dead by a neck crunching Muscular Bomb (a move that needs to stop being done to anyone over 5'6), sending Doi into the semi finals to meet Don Fujii.

Another better than average show this time out. Two very good competitive matches, and two matches that were entertaining for other reasons.

INFINITY #112 - 8/10

114

And we move to the semi finals. Naruki Doi takes on Don Fujii and Masaaki Mochizuki takes on KILLER KISH. The winners meet in the final in the main event.

King Of Gate - Semi Final: Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Magnitude Kishiwada

Short, all action match here. Kish had some BAAAAA RUTAL offence in this including his awesome Superfly splash which squished Mochi, a face destroying lariat on a chair holding Mochizuki and legit one of the coolest brainbuster I've ever seen. It wasn't enough though, as Mochi's technique won out in the end, catching an arm submission out of nowhere for the win.I enjoyed the heck out of this match. Great way to start the show.

King Of Gate - Semi Final: Don Fujii vs. Naruki Doi

The story of this was Don trying all his cheap tactics to win without getting any damage. He tried the countout move he did to Tanisaki, by placing Doi in an ABDOMINAL STRETCH up in the cheap seats and then running down to the ring. Didn't work as Doi made it back at 19 and a half. Other tactics came up short too and eventually he realised Doi would have to be fully beaten if he wanted to go through. Unfortunately for Fujii, he wasn't able to do that as in a very surprising finish which mirrored the opener, Naruki Doi caught a KIMURA from the guard to advance. Fun match.

King Of Gate - Final: Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Naruki Doi

The two men who have been the most dominant in the tournament, rightfully meet in the final. They put together a heck of a match, which probably only trailed Doi's match with Hulk for match of the tournament honours. Real awesome back and forth action, especially down the stretch. They teased a couple of submission finishes, playing off the semi finals nicely. The crowd were really buying one of Mochi's ankle lock attempts in particular. Eventually though, it was the move which won Doi his 1st and 2nd round matches - the Muscular Bomb - which got the duke. Awesome match to finish a kick ass tournament.

After Doi's post match celebration we get highlights of Tozawa asking Shingo and Iwasa to form a unit. They seem to accept.

Excellent show to finish KOG.

INFINITY #114 - 8/10

DRAGON GATE - Infinity 111 + 112!

So you're probably wondering what happened to episodes 108, 109 and 110.

109 was a highlights show so I skipped that. 108 and 110 were Buyudens which I'm not gonna bother reviewing because they are seperate from regular Dragon Gate storylines and I tend to not watch every match on the Buyuden episodes.

So we move onwards and upwards to episodes 111 and 112, where we are firmly entrenched in King Of Gate season. These two episodes featured the first round matches.

111
King of Gate - Round 1: Cyber Kong vs. Madoka

Fun little big man vs. flyer match. Cyber was a beast just mauling Madoka, who picked his spots nicely to fire back with kicks and athletic flying moves. The match provided the backdrop for the simmering Kong vs. Naoki feud, as the latter ran out and de-masked Cyber allowing Madoka to grab the pin.

King of Gate - Round 1: Magnitude Kishiwada vs. Susumu Yokosuka

If you don't like kickouts, stay faaaar away from this. They had like a billion nearfalls. I enjoyed it but others may hate it. The early part of the match centered around Susumu's injured ribs being further destroyed by Magnitude. Being one of the most sympathetic sellers around, Yokosuka makes you really feel for him during this. The crowd was totally behind him too. Following the aformentioned billion false finishes, Magnitude finally won with a Last Ride.

King of Gate - Round 1: Taku Iwasa vs. Anthony W. Mori

Pretty much a showcase match for the newly single Iwasa. Mori did what Mori does and made him look like a million bucks. Taku debuted this new kick move to lead to the finish which was slick. Fun stuff.

King of Gate - Round 1: Gamma vs. Masaaki Mochizuki

The 2006 winner vs. the 2007 winner. Mochi vowed to avenge the disgrace of GAMMA's win last year, and that he did. This was what you'd expect from GAMMA, lots of brawling and RealHaz interference with the inevitable protein powder spots. Mochi had to work to put him away but he eventually did after around 7 minutes with his "Twister" brainbuster.

We're seemingly on a streak of solid but unspectacular episodes and this was no exception. Everything was decent enough and the storyline of Kong and Tanisaki was advanced nicely. They'll be meeting Hair vs. Mask style in the coming weeks.

INFINITY #111 - 7.5/10

112

King of Gate - Round 1: Genki Horiguchi vs. Naoki Tanisaki

Pretty heavily clipped. Hard to get a read on it, but it's Genki and Naoki so I'm guessing it was pretty slick. Naoki advanced.

King of Gate - Round 1: Don Fujii vs. YAMATO

These two have been having quite the feud in recent months. They've battled in tags, wild Korkuen brawls and even empty arena matches. Much blood, sweat, tears and protein powder has been spilled. They brawled into the crowd early where YAMATO punked out CIMA who was in attendance. The bulk of the match was just fun brawl based stuff with both guy's personalities shining through. Finish came with CIMA hitting the ring to counter RH interference, allowing Don to get a roll up on a protein covered Yammy for the pin.

King of Gate - Round 1: BxB Hulk vs. Ryo Saito

At this time last year, Hulk and Ryo were involved in a hate filled babyface rivalry due to Ryo busting up Hulk's face in a match. They met in the KOG last year and following that match the feud was seemingly done. But no, KOG rolled around again and by the luck of the draw they were paired together once more. They played alot of video packages of last years feud and the two guys didn't waste any time tearing into each other. This match was BattlARTS stiff! They did a cool little angle to finish the match, where Ryo's arm was just DONE FOR and the doctors were looking at him and everything, but he wanted to fight on. Hulk said "fuck that" and put him in a straight armbar for the win. Then things got wild as he snapped, Kenny Shamrock style, and just kept working over Saito's arm. His own stable mates had to control him. Good stuff.

King of Gate - Round 1: Naruki Doi vs. Dragon Kid

Good solid match. What you'd expect from these two. The closing stretch was pretty nuts. Kid busted out a bunch of the sick rana's that put Doi's tag team partner Masato Yoshino on the sideline at the 11.16 PPV. Doi of course came back with his Bakatare Sliding Kicks and Doi555. They had the usual nearfalls that I eat up, before Doi finally put him away.

Best show now in a couple of weeks. The Hulk/Ryo and Doi/Kid matches were real good and Fuji/Yammy was highly entertaining.

2nd Round KOG Brackets:

Doi vs. Hulk
Fuji vs. Naoki
Mochi vs. Iwasa
Magnitude vs. Madoka


INFINITY #112 - 8/10