Puroresu Show Reviews

Show kicks off with Final M2K coming out short one member. Aagan Iisou then come out and they start arguing for awhile before everyone leaves. Second Doi forgets his prized baseball bat and goes back to the ring to get it and is attacked by a “mysterious assailant” dressed as a catcher! He choke slams Doi and gives him a big splash before making off with his bat. This was doomed from the start when the guy couldn’t keep his mask on and everyone knew who he was.

Anthony W. Mori, YOSSINO & Milano Collection AT (Italian Connection) VS Genki Horiguchi, Dragon Kid & Magnum TOKYO (DO-FIXER)
This was a great match to kick off the night. Genki Horiguchi is THE MAN! He’s just friggin’ awesome to watch! He’s definitely one of the more entertaining wrestlers I’ve ever seen and can work both seriously and comically. This match also shows why Magnum is referred to as Mr. Egoist, as at times you can’t tell if he’s a face or a heel due to his antics of using some dirty tricks to even abusing his team mates (Genki). I like Mori and I definitely want to see more of Milano. YOSSINO didn’t do much save for taunting Genki at the start of the match, and Dragon Kid wasn’t given much ring time either. But I didn’t really mind since more air-time was given to Genki! But this really was an overall great match!
Match Rating: ****

Magnum and team DO-FIXER stick around to check out young prospect Tanisaki, who’s match is up next.

Naoki Tanisaki “Surfing the way of DO-FIXER” Trial Series Finals
Naoki Tanisaki VS Shogo “Jet” Takagi
Takagi SUCKS. Can someone PLEASE teach him some wrestling moves?!? Is he REALLY a graduate of the Ultimo Dragon Gym cause you could have fooled me since every match I’ve seen of him, he CAN’T WORK!!! His whole freakin’ arsenal are just punches and shoulder blocks. Anything else he did that resembles a wrestling move was purely coincidental. Did Ultimo seriously pass this guy from class just for doing the crappy moves he does now?!?
I wasn’t too big on the finish of this match either when Mr. Egoist got involved. Tanisaki is definitely someone to keep your eye on in the future as he did the best he could to pull a wrestling match out of useless Takagi.
Match Rating **

Ryo Saito VS Don Fuji
Saito is a really good worker and has a big following on the internet. He’s definitely more than just Horiguchi’s HAGE cheerleader. Fuji is a veteran and a power worker, but sometimes I feel he should be doing comedy matches due to his persona. Pretty good back and forth match, though I’m not big on flash finishes, especially the one done here after a big move sequence near the end. Still OK match though.
Match Rating: **1/2

Intermission time and they show clips from various Florida Brothers matches to hype their upcoming match against the CRAZY MAX aces as their biggest match to date.

Florida Brothers (Michael Iwase & Daniel Mishima) VS CIMA & SUWA
This was just off the charts hysterical! You KNOW the Florida Brothers are destined for greatness when their antics even crack up the usually stern SUWA! Osaka Pro referee Matsui has NOTHING on the Dragon Gate referee here either! The only reason SUWA is in this match is because his shoulder still isn’t 100% healed yet. He did manage to outsmart them a bit though. Every time it looked like CIMA & SUWA had a wrestling match going, the Bros would do something comical to break up the pace! Again, if you show this to anyone, they’ll instantly believe pro-wrestling is fake, but no one can resist laughing at their antics here!
Match Rating: ***
Entertainment Rating: DROP DEAD HILARIOUS!!!

Aagan Iisou VS Final M2K 8-Man Elimination Match
Shuji Kondo, Touru Owashi, “brother” YASSHI & Takuya Sugawara VS Masaaki Mochizuki, Second Doi, Susumu Yokosuka & Kenichiro Arai
Can you believe they actually played an angle where Aagan Iisou sent Araken to the wrong arena, then Araken had to run on foot all the way across town to the Differ Ariake arena? The crowd popped big time for when he made it to the arena and finally got into the match though. Corny angle aside, this was a great match!
I really liked the way they made Final M2K the underdog team against the ever cheating Aagan Iisou team, and it seems as annoying as he is, “brother” YASSHI will always get beat up in some embarrassing way in his matches, like what Susumu did here to counter his bronco buster. Owashi is still an unstoppable monster, Sugawara is the good all-rounder, and Kondo was the bad-ass heel leader who like bullying smaller guys with his power moves.
Mochizuki is still one of the best, though he’s the only guy on his team that can match size and power with the enemy faction. He still moves quite well too. Second Doi is definitely going to be a rising star for the company, and his variation of the F5 finisher is awesome to say the least. Susumu again is an awesome well rounded grappler, and I can’t wait to see his ODG title match with CIMA. I used to think Araken was just another old veteran, but the man can still work and the fans are into him.
The overall match was a great back and forth scramble. Great main event for the PPV and of course, the FM2K VS Aagan Iisou war is far from over.
Match Rating: ****

Post match, Second Doi calls out Don Fuji and demands his bat back. Fuji plays dumb but eventually agrees to give it back if Doi can beat him at Dragon Gate’s next PPV at Korakuen Hall. Doi reluctantly accepts to end the show.

Overall: This was a really good show! Their first big gig under the Dragon Gate name and they met all expectations. The name may have changed, but the style hasn’t. Definitely a show worth checking out.

Labels: Dragon Gate