Coming off a quiet September wrought with injuries and misfortune, DRAGONGATE has heated back up in time for Gate of Destiny season. The company heads to Osaka on November 5th, where hometown hero Big Boss Shimizu hopes to win the Open the Dream Gate championship for the first time in his career. Elsewhere on the card, Susumu Mochizuki and Yasushi Kanda aim to continue their Twin Gate championship run, Ryoya Tanaka has the first singles title opportunity of his young career and fellow rookies Mochizuki Junior and Yoshiki Kato continue their fledgling tag team run.
Without further ado, let’s preview Gate of Destiny 2023!
Kota Minoura, Ben-K & BxB Hulk vs Genki Horiguchi, Kagetora & Problem Dragon
Not really much to say about this one!
After Minorita’s ACL injury forced them to vacate the Triangle Gate championships, not much has gone on with Gold Class. This should be a nice opening match showcase for them to lead to whatever they may fancy doing next. Gold Class have done a bit of everything this year – leader Minoura has challenged for the Dream Gate, Ben and Hulk for the Twin Gate, and they’ve spent the majority of the year as Triangle Gate champions. Personally speaking, I would love them to run back the Minoura and Hulk team from the Rey de Parejas tournament. The pair actually worked rather well together and could make interesting future Twin Gate challengers.
Either way, an easy win for Gold Class here!
PREDICTION: Kota Minoura, Ben-K & BxB Hulk
Open the Brave Gate Championship: ISHIN (c) vs Ryoya Tanaka
ISHIN’s Brave Gate championship run (well, both of them, as we’ll go into in a second) has been successful in one area – he’s becoming an entertaining character.
The young wrestler, barely 2 years into his career, has grown exponentially on the mic during his reign. He has made a funny running gag out of challenging wrestlers far outside the weight limit of the championship (such as Big Boss Shimizu and Masaaki Mochizuki). Amusingly, he looks outside the 82kg limit himself at times, leading to him posting photos running the stairs to cut weight for his matches. With a new cheekier attitude, he’s quite different from the brooding man he was at the beginning of the year.
Initially, ISHIN was supposed to wrestle fellow 2021 dojo class member Ryu Fuda at Gate of Origin in October. However, Fuda broke three of his fingers and was forced to opt out of the match. Natural Vibes’ leader Kzy filled in for him, making his first Brave Gate division appearance since 2017. Kzy won the championship, with ISHIN protesting the decision due to Kzy having Fuda ringside. ISHIN claimed his championship back in a rematch the following week and set about finding a new contender for his belt.
A Royal Sambo battle royale was held on October 15th, which was won by DRAGONGATE’s follicly challenged veteran, Genki Horiguchi. ISHIN was out to evaluate the field and proclaimed the winner would not necessarily be his opponent. Horiguchi offered the choice between himself or Ryoya Tanaka, the last contender to be eliminated. ISHIN chose the rookie Tanaka, who had only 5 months in his career to his name.
This is pretty similar to another Brave Gate championship match that DRAGONGATE held last year: Dragon Dia vs Takuma Fujiwara. At the time, Fujiwara was only 4-5 months into his career. It was clear that the company had big plans in mind for him. Like Fujiwara, Tanaka won’t win this match, but this could be a huge moment for him to impress.
PREDICTION: ISHIN
Masaaki Mochizuki, Mochizuki Junior & Yoshiki Kato vs Z-Brats
The injury to rising rookie starlet T.N.Revolucion nearly entirely scrambled DRAGONGATE’s September. Formerly known as Takuma Nishikawa, he made his Japan debut with a win in the main event at Korakuen Hall and proclaimed a revolution was coming to DRAGONGATE. He would, for lack of a better term, Statlander himself a couple of weeks later and a soon-to-be heavily pushed act was taken out of the scene.
One man took advantage of this – Yoshiki Kato.
Kato debuted in December 2022 with the goal of becoming DRAGONGATE’s next big power fighter. Unfortunately, he was side-lined with an eye injury soon after, which English commentator Jae described as “he woke up one day and lost six months of his career”. Upon his return, Kato stated that T.N’s revolution was false and requested a singles match series to prove himself the worthier man. His opponents consisted of #1 contender Big Boss Shimizu and former Dream Gate champions YAMATO, Shun Skywalker, Ben-K and Masaaki Mochizuki. He would lose all five matches.
Kato then asked Masaaki Mochizuki for permission to team with his son, rookie prodigy Mochizuki Junior. Kato believed that, by teaming with his dojo classmate Junior, they could bring out the best in each other. The doting stage father allowed this and Kato and Junior have since been busy with a packed house show schedule.
The trio will be up against the Z-Brats team of Shun Skywalker, KAI and H.Y.O. Kato will be looking to avenge his loss to Skywalker in the singles match series. Skywalker, a former student of Masaaki’s, has previously taken issue with how Junior has been coddled by his father. He will likely go after the younger Mochizuki, as he has in several tag matches before.
With Z-Brats set to face Luis Mante in a four-on-one handicap match at Korakuen Hall after this show, I expect them to win here to have momentum going into that match.
Side note: Junior and Kato will be competing alongside Strong Machine J for NJPW at Power Struggle on November 4th. If you’ve never seen these three compete, consider checking them out at that show!
PREDICTION: Shun Skywalker, KAI & H.Y.O
Natural Vibes vs Ultimo Dragon, Luis Mante, Naruki Doi, Eita & Shuji Kondo
The return of Luis Mante, formerly known as Diamante, filled a huge void in DRAGONGATE at October’s Korakuen Hall show. After losing his mask in the main event of Kobe World, Luis took three months off to return to his native Mexico. After YAMATO, Dragon Kid and Punch Tominaga won the Triangle Gate championships in the Korakuen Hall main event, Z-Brats, headed by Shun Skywalker, came to make a challenge for the belts. Suddenly, Mante’s theme song hit and Korakuen erupted into cheers as the luchador made his return. He immediately took out the heels and came face to face with his former friend once again. Luis requested a singles match with Skywalker, which the latter shrewdly accepted as a four-on-one handicap match. This match will happen at the Korakuen show after Gate of Destiny.
In the meantime, between a few clashes with his former unit, Luis has been easing back into the ring on the house show circuit. He has predominantly wrestled members of Natural Vibes, who Z-Brats have always been in some kind of conflict with. In contrast to how he was in the heel unit, he has shown respect to Vibes’ members after their matches. He has also been teaming with a variety of unaffiliated wrestlers, most notably veterans YAMATO and Dragon Kid. At Gate of Destiny, he will reunite with mentor Ultimo Dragon for the first time since he returned from his hiatus.
The remaining members of Natural Vibes (Kzy, Jason Lee, Jacky ‘Funky’ Kamei, Strong Machine J & U-T) will be their opponents. The particular matchup to be on the lookout for here is Luis Mante and Jacky ‘Funky’ Kamei, who I personally believe are one of the best base-flier pairings in wrestling. If you’ve never seen what they can do in the ring together, the Twin Gate title match from Kobe World 2022 is must-watch. Otherwise, keep on the lookout for Mante’s affiliates in the coming weeks and months. He will need friends to contend with Z-Brats and it seems more likely that he will create a new unit than join an existing one.
I fully believe that Luis Mante will be Dream Gate champion by the end of 2024. What I don’t know yet is the road that will get him there.
PREDICTION: Ultimo Dragon, Luis Mante, Naruki Doi, Eita & Shuji Kondo
Open the Triangle Gate Championship: YAMATO, Dragon Kid & Punch Tominaga (c) vs Don Fujii, Takashi Yoshida & The Bodyguard
Dragongate has hosted a few star-studded guests lately. NJPW’s Hiromu Takahashi and Tomohiro Ishii, NOAH’s Kenoh and Michinoku Pro’s Fujita ‘Jr’ Hayato have all competed in the promotion this year. However, these guests were merely an appetiser for the main course, which will be hitting Edion Arena Osaka on November 5th.
Osaka Pro legend The Bodyguard is back in a Dragongate ring.
Jokes aside, the Triangle Gate scene has also been heavily impacted by injury. Previous champions Gold Class were forced to vacate the Triangle Gate championships after Minorita injured his ACL. Dragongate booked a mini tournament to determine the competitors for a three-way championship match at Korakuen Hall. Gold Class defeated Natural Vibes and D’Courage defeated the rookie contingent of Kaito Nagano, Yoshiki Kato and Ryoya Tanaka to qualify. Z-Brats and M3K ended in a double countout (a trademark of the M3K stable), so Kung Fu Masters vs YAMATO, Punch Tominaga and Dragon Kid was made as a new qualifier. YAMATO’s team won and later won the titles in the championship three-way. I would highly recommend watching that title match.
No lengthy build to this one. At the October 14th show, known masked thief Don Fujii (who hilariously wore a jacket with his name on the back during the act) stole the Triangle Gate championships from Punch. He would appear with another masked man the following night to return the belts and demand a title challenge. The second masked man was snazzy legwarmers aficionado Takashi Yoshida, who also wore easily identifiable clothing. The duo announced The Bodyguard would be their third and General Manager Ryo Saito made the match official.
This won’t be a five star classic. It may not even be a three star classic. What it should deliver, however, is silly comedy in spades to get the crowd ready for the remaining two matches.
PREDICTION: YAMATO, Dragon Kid & Punch Tominaga
Open the Twin Gate Championship: Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda (c) vs Yuki Yoshioka & Dragon Dia
This is a Twin Gate championship match that I’ve wanted to see for some time, but didn’t think would actually happen.
Back in the Rey de Parejas tag tournament finals, Susumu and Kanda faced another D’Courage team in Yuki Yoshioka and Madoka Kikuta. This was before the M3K members won the belts from Kenoh and Shuji Kondo later in the year. Yoshioka and Kikuta won that tournament, before falling to then-champions Kzy and Big Boss Shimizu in their title challenge. The Rey de Parejas finals were great, a match I believe to be the best of Yasushi Kanda’s career and the biggest contributor to his case for Most Improved Wrestler this year. However, I couldn’t quite shake the feeling that their matchup could have been even better with the original D’Courage team. Now we will get to see if that’s the case!
This match came about on the October 14th show in Kobe, where Yoshioka pinned Susumu in a trios match between D’Courage and M3K. Susumu and Kanda also teamed with Dream Gate #1 contender Big Boss Shimizu to gain a win over the D’Courage trio in Fukuoka. Dragon Dia has not been as prominent this year compared to last year, so it’s lovely to see him back in a title match!
Yoshioka and Dia have the strongest case of any challenger yet to come away with the belts. Still, I think the Mochizukis are the natural endgame for this title run.
PREDICTION: Susumu Mochizuki & Yasushi Kanda
Open the Dream Gate Championship: Madoka Kikuta (c) vs Big Boss Shimizu
Beef is back on the menu!
After winning the Open the Dream Gate championship from Shun Skywalker in May, Madoka Kikuta proclaimed himself, Skywalker, Minoura, Yoshioka, Strong Machine J and Ben-K as the “Reiwa Generation Leaders”. These were the wrestlers he deemed the future of the company, the ones to carry it forward through the next decade.
One man took offence to this statement, however, and that was Natural Vibes’ Big Boss Shimizu.
Shimizu debuted in 2013 and finds himself in between the previous Big 6 (Yoshino, Doi, Hulk, Takagi, Tozawa & YAMATO) and the current Reiwa Generation Leaders. Feeling snubbed from this group, he set out to prove himself by wrestling each member of the Reiwa Six. He defeated Skywalker and champion Kikuta during the King of Gate Tournament, before losing in the finals to Minoura. He then beat Ben, Strong Machine J and Yoshioka before returning to Minoura, finally overcoming him at the end of September. After defeating all members of the group, Shimizu used his win over Kikuta to lay claim to the championship. Their King of Gate singles match can be found here, for anyone interested!
One thing Kikuta’s reign has suffered slightly from are face vs face title programs. However, Kikuta has adopted a more arrogant personality this time. The champion lauded himself above Shimizu for the fact that it only took him three years (one of those missed to injury) to win a world championship, while the challenger is ten years into his career without any singles championship wins. With a home crowd in Osaka ready to cheer Shimizu to victory, the champion having more heel traits is a good move.
There would be substantial upsides to Shimizu finally winning a world championship and a potential Kikuta heel turn in response. However, with how dominant Shimizu’s has been over the Reiwa Six in the buildup, I don’t see Kikuta losing to him again.
PREDICTION: Madoka Kikuta
WHERE TO WATCH: DRAGONGATE Network
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