Cero Reviews Dragongate The Final Gate 2020

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Cero Reviews Dragongate The Final Gate 2020

Post by cero2k » Dec 21st, '20, 21:37

Dragongate The Final Gate 2020
December 20, 2020
Fukuoka, Japan

Gamma, Ho Ho Lun & Super Shisa vs. Team Dragon Gate (Mondai Ryu & Yosuke Santa Maria) & Taketo Kamei - 5.5/10
Ok opener, but nothing special, Kamei aside, the teams themselves are not that exciting to begin with. We got some Kamei vs Shisa and then Kamei got the win over Gamma, so all good.

Takashi Yoshida vs. Jason Lee - 5/10
This was the weakest match of the night for me, I haven't been a fan of Yoshida ever since he unmasked and then disappointed me in the Champion Carnival, and in the same vein, I've never found Jason Lee to be that interesting either. Match saw Yoshida dominate for a while, Lee make a comeback, go back and forward for a bit until Lee got the upset win over Yoshida.

Bokutimo Dragon, Punch Tominaga & Ryo Saito vs. Team Toryumon (K-ness, Kono Mama Ichikawa & Shachihoko BOY) - 6/10
Ryo Saito's 7hr speech at the start aside, I thought this was fun and some decent action here and there. Even with comedy, most of the wrestlers shined, it was really just Punch that seemed sloppy. Bokutimo Dragon got the win over Shachihoko BOY after Ichikawa failed to save him.

Worth noting that Bokutimo Dragon is not THE Ultimo Dragon, but the cover band.

R.E.D. (Dia Inferno, Diamante & KAZMA SAKAMOTO) vs. Team Toryumon (Shuji Kondo, Ultimo Dragon & Yasushi Kanda) vs. Team Dragon Gate (Kzy, U-T & YAMATO) vs. MASQUERADE (Dragon Dia, Kota Minoura & La Estrella) - 6.5/10
This had a lot of great action, but it had waay to many people in the ring to properly showcase someone and enjoy it. There was definitely spots for all, but they were all quite short and would quickly move into the next pair up or double team spot, making it the type of match that would make me want many matches out of these teams, but just not all together.

Even Masquerade and Estrella, the rookie everyone talks about, had trouble getting showcased as much as I would had imagined, but 12 minutes for 12 wrestlers is just not enough.

Open The Brave Gate Title Match
Keisuke Okuda (c) vs. Kagetora - 7/10
Arguably the match with the better story of the night, Kagetora worked over Okuda's leg, Okuda made a comeback, and the took it home with some great wrestling for the last couple of minutes. Okuda's selling kinda came and went during his comeback, but not blatant, and the intensity between the two helped hide it. Okuda won with a chokehold to retain the title.

Intermission - They showed a previous match between Ben-K and Shun Skywalker. In terms of using intermission and cleaning time, this is not as good as promoting other shows and merch, but it's miles away from bad musical performances. DDT card analysis is still the best use IMO.

Open The Twin Gate Title Match
R.E.D. (BxB Hulk & KAI) (c) vs. Don Fujii & Masaaki Mochizuki - 8.5/10
This was my favorite match of the show, which is telling because it's all wrestles that have been with DG for ever, but given that the rest of the card featured a lot of clusterfuck multi-men matches, it's understandable that the younger guys didn't get to showcase as much. MochiFujii had a great run getting here, and this match was no different, they looked great, but they were just not good enough to beat BxB and KAI (realistically, I don't think anyone thought they'd lose the titles in their second defense).

Beyond this match, It's hard to see this team of MochiFujii going further into anything, maybe add someone else and chase the Triangle Gate, but I think this fun ride is over.

No DQ 10-Man Elimination Tag Team Match, Losing Stable Must Disband
R.E.D. (Eita, H.Y.O, HipHop Kikuta, Kaito Ishida & SB KENTo) vs. Team Toryumon (Dragon Kid, Genki Horiguchi, Masato Yoshino, Naruki Doi & Susumu Yokosuka) - 7.5/10
I have mixed feelings for this match, I thought the action was great, I thought the storyline going in and out was great, but the match planning itself left me baffled and with a unsatisfied feeling in my heart.

The things that I liked of the match plan was seeing Eita, Yoshino, and Doi get taken out early on in the match, it gave a chance for guys like Ishida, Kikuta, KENTo, and Yokosuka to shine more, but that is as far the only thing that I liked about the match layout.

My issues with this match start from it being a No DQs match, simply because it opens the door (no pun intended), for everyone from either stable to interfere, and they did, and when R.E.D. would, no one from Toryumon would just stand there watching and do nothing about it, or waited and watched along until it was their turn to do something. The other thing that bothered was the way that the match ended, it was good for things to come down to KENTo and Dragon Kid, who has all the story with Toryumon, but Dragon Kid losing the match to a submission made me feel like he didn't fight with everything he had to protect Toryumon. There are certain stipulations that call for a submission to be taken to the extreme, to be held on until you pass out, and fighting to protect your stable surely comes off as one where you just don't tap out to a Sharpshooter in less than a minute.

My other big issue with this match came after R.E.D. completely tore up Dragon Kid's mask and he had to continue, pretty much, with no mask on. Hey! You loved Desperado vs Hiromu from BOSJ 27, but now you hate it with Dragongate!? Well, let me explain my personal difference. Desperado is someone that I've always know who is inside the mask, how he looks, I've seen him have to wrestle without a mask and seen him willingly put it aside even when he could have easily continued. When it comes to Dragon Kid, not only was he legit trained in Ultimo Dragon's Mexican school and been wrestling in Mexico since 1998, but aside from his short time in FMW as a referee, he's always been a masked guy, he is no different from any other masked luchador from Mexico, and that makes all the difference to me. Dragon Kid's face is not something that I'm supposed to see, and so it really bothered me here. For the sake of respect of your opponent, wrestlers need to either learn how to tear up a mask properly, or not try it at all.

Post-match - Toryumon had a sad moment with each other.

Open The Dream Gate Title Match
Shun Skywalker (c) vs. Ben-K - No Rating
No point beating around the bush, this match ended with Ben-K taking a Shotai straight to the jaw and get knocked out, he suffered a concussion, and while some of that are just hazards of the job, the things that aren't, or shouldn't, are the way that both Shun and the referee reacted and followed through with it. Skywalker delivered, two really bad moonsault knees and top rope moonsaults to a chest that is completely unprotected. He moved Ben-K around irresponsibly, and the worst of it all, the referee, having already checked on Ben-K, he allowed it to go on for the sake of protecting the match, at one point he even stopped his own pin because he knew that it wasn't the finish, CHECKED on Ben-K, and still allowed Skywalker to finish off Ben-K for the win. Completely irresponsible. I can understand Shun being taken by the moment and wanting to finish things off, but there is no excuse for the referee allowing things to go, and Shun did NOT need to hit a moonsault of all things to end the match, just go for a second pin and take it home.

And no, don't try to defend this with 'Dragon Gate is about perfection". Something went wrong and they made it worse.

The match up to that point had been good, big spots and energy, but I'd be lying to you if I said that I remember everything that happened.

OVERALL THOUGHTS
It was a ok, fun show through and through, even the openers that where there to get the roster in the match were fun, but the truth is, even beyond the bad match planning of the Loser Disbands match, the whole show just left a bad taste in my mouth after the Ben-K accident.
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NWK2000
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Re: Cero Reviews Dragongate The Final Gate 2020

Post by NWK2000 » Dec 31st, '20, 00:20

cero2k wrote: Dec 21st, '20, 21:37

Open The Dream Gate Title Match
Shun Skywalker (c) vs. Ben-K - No Rating

That's a little too nice to go no rating. In situations of sheer negligence a dud would be appropriate.
NWK Reviews is closed for business for now.

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cero2k
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Re: Cero Reviews Dragongate The Final Gate 2020

Post by cero2k » Dec 31st, '20, 11:16

NWK2000 wrote: Dec 31st, '20, 00:20
That's a little too nice to go no rating. In situations of sheer negligence a dud would be appropriate.
I only give the DUD when i don't feel I got the match advertised, here I did feel like we got most of the match. Also, you have to be careful when talking ill of Dragon Gate, their fanbase is as toxic as the Sasha Banks stans
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