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Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins

Post-Kobe World is always the best time for a new thread, and I'm probably at least somewhat qualified because I used to be the resident TM/DG guy at a wrestling column website like a million years ago. :corsair:

Dragongate Japan Pro Wrestling was started by Ultimo Dragon as Toryumon - first as Toryumon Mexico in 1997 as a way to bring the Japanese junior heavyweight style to Mexico, then Toryumon Japan in 1999 to bring lucha libre back to Japan. It was renamed Dragon Gate in 2014 when Ultimo left and was replaced by CIMA, then rebranded to Dragongate in 2018 after CIMA left for OWE/GLEAT. Ultimo then returned in 2019. It features smaller wrestlers, fast-paced action, and a hybrid of many wrestling styles. Since it's inspired by lucha, masks are extremely important. They also use lucha tag rules, which means they really excel at multi-man matches. There's a heavy emphasis on generations (specifically which dojo class each wrestler debuted in), and nearly the entire roster is separated into units - usually one big heel stable, a couple babyface stables, and some tweeners.

HOW TO WATCH

Paid:
Dragongate Network is their subscription streaming service (1650¥/month). The 8 annual PPVs & monthly Korakuen Hall shows have English commentary by Jae Church & Ho Ho Lun. For touring shows without commentary, Jae usually tweets summaries of promos & segments.

Free:
DGN Youtube (1st match of every Network show free)
GAORA Sports (free major matches & feud video packages)
Dragongate Youtube (free house show footage)

If you don't know where to start, I make DG-related content on my Youtube channel, and my 10-minute Dragongate primer has been endorsed by DG staff. I have a whole playlist which includes a multi-part series of short episodes about the roster and current units, and my documentary series on Shun Skywalker's Masquerade unit, which was the biggest story of 2021. I'll be adding other related topics as I make more.

ROSTER/UNITS/CHAMPIONS
Official GAORA site (more detail in English here)

LINKS
DG English Twitter (cards & updates)
Open the Voice Gate podcast on Voices of Wrestling
Official Merch (you can contact Ho Ho Lun to set up shipping)

Come talk about who is the prettiest lucharesu boy. It's Yuki

Bonk fucked around with this message at 16:49 on Dec 29, 2022

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Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins
Free matches from recent tours: (bold = DGN free 1st match, otherwise house shows)

11.11.22 NOAHxDG Global Dream (full show free on DGN)

Fantastic Gate tour: 12.02 Sapporo | 12.03 Sapporo | 12.04 Sapporo | 12.06 Korakuen | 12.09 | 12.10 KBS | 12.11 Nagoya | 12.16 Korakuen | 12.17 | 12.18 Gate of Origin | 12.19 | 12.25 Final Gate | 12.27 Sambo Hall

If you want to see what the DG boys on excursion are up to, someone has put together a spreadsheet of dates, plus an accompanying playlist, which they keep adding to as more matches air (this doesn't include US indies that require Fite/IWTV subscriptions, it's mostly the Mexico indies).

Bonk fucked around with this message at 06:43 on Dec 27, 2022

Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins
https://twitter.com/DragonGateEN/status/1557915750375260161
It's a unit scramble/mystery vortex card, so it's weird that this is the one time they've announced it ahead of time, but still looks pretty fun.

edit: Free match:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMoF4cRHEDw

Fun, light show. About the only thing that happened plotwise was Ben-K being offered to join Z-Brats but not giving an answer yet, if I interpreted that segment correctly.

Bonk fucked around with this message at 09:26 on Aug 14, 2022

Dimebags Brain
Feb 18, 2013





Oh here's the new thread! I'll have to give the Edion show a watch when I'm doing laundry tomorrow.

forkboy84
Jun 13, 2012

Corgis love bread. And Puro


Bonk posted:

Come talk about who is the prettiest lucharesu boy. It's Yuki

It's Dia. His smile brightens the day.

Dimebags Brain
Feb 18, 2013





https://twitter.com/MLW/status/1559347443967352833

Oh no is Shun going to make me watch MLW? What a loving heel.

Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins
It's at least national exposure, so that's good. But I saw someone describe MLW matches as "always at least a quarter-star less than they should be with the talent they have" and I can't really explain WHY it's so true, but it totally is.

I think my 2nd post is going to be the default tour dates post, and I'll add excursion dates to it too, so just keep an eye on that.


edit: Fujiwara seems to be leaning into the masked gimmick in Mexico, so when he comes back we might see him as "Hannya":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g0PNRX5zsQ

Bonk fucked around with this message at 22:27 on Aug 16, 2022

Alaois
Feb 7, 2012

forkboy84 posted:

It's Dia. His smile brightens the day.

it's actually Jacky

Dimebags Brain
Feb 18, 2013





Alaois posted:

it's actually Jacky

Close, it's Dark Side Jacky.

https://twitter.com/dragongatentwk/status/1538485633991450625

What a dream boat.

Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins
That may be about to happen again. Jacky's in Okinawa tagging with Hibiscus.

Ho Ho is in Singapore for SPW, and then both are headed to Thailand for SETUP.

Thauros
Jan 29, 2003

Bonk posted:


Come talk about who is the prettiest lucharesu boy. It's Yuki

dragongate is overall the best booked promotion in wrestling and i'm hyped for the next korakuen and dangerous gate but the answer to this is hiromu and thus should be taken to the new japan thread sorry

Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins
It's great dipping into the archives sometimes. If you have DGN or can find the January 2020 Toryumon Reunion show somewhere, this show starts with an exhibition match between a baby SBK and a pre-masked La Estrella (if he is who pretty much everyone assumes). Jae mentions on commentary that SBK and Kamei are the first ever wrestlers in DG to be younger than the promotion itself.

Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins
8/20:
Kagoshima house show

8/21:
Acros matinee card
Free opening match
Acros evening card
Free opening match

8/22:
Kokura house show

Nagano's looking good so far! Some interesting choices by only putting him up against heavy-hitters right away, so maybe they're trying to give him an underdog run. I *think* he's a Kzy trainee, but I'm not 100% on that.

I didn't catch why Saito put him against Ben-K right after Ben's other match, but the description bills it as an "emergency decision match". I like the story they're telling with Ben-K. It's more about Ben trying to prove he can lead rather than a simple rift in the group. Most interesting HxE has ever been.

Bonk fucked around with this message at 03:08 on Aug 23, 2022

Dimebags Brain
Feb 18, 2013





Watched the Fukuoka night show. Hulk loving murdered Genki with the First Flash. He's been hitting that stiff this year. Wonder what's up?

Breezy wrestling, big angle was the Ben-K/HxE stuff. Feels like the first time Ben-Ks been getting some real shine since he dropped the Dream Gate.

Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins
Oh hey, they actually announced a partial card for the Saturday show. Second time in a month!

▼6 Man Tag Team Match
Yuki Yoshioka / Dragon Dia / Madoka Kikuta
vs.
Jason Lee / Jacky “Funky” Kamei / Super Shenlong III

▼Tag Team Match
Dragon Kid / Ben-K
vs.
Kota Minoura / Minorita

▼Singles Match
Eita
vs.
H・Y・O

All of those sound fun.

I mentioned this in the previous thread, but for the last few months I've been putting together a Youtube documentary series focusing on Shun Skywalker and the story of Masquerade. I have 3 out of 4 parts complete, but I'm probably going to wait to upload them all at once when I finish, so I'll post about it when I'm done. I sourced all the clips, wrote, edited, and voiced it all myself, so it's taken forever but I'm pretty happy with the results so far. I just hope I don't get a GAORA takedown; I'm not monetizing it but I will be linking a tip site.

8/23:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vADbFjGj1tA

Bonk fucked around with this message at 10:12 on Aug 25, 2022

Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins
8/27 Sambo Hall card
On DGN with free opening match

Segments:
-Shun calls Kzy worthless scum, and says he's just using Vibes for his own goals and needs to disappear.
-Minorita invited YAMATO to join Gold Class, but he declined.
-Kung Fu Masters will take a "business trip" to Tokyo for Dangerous Gate, so they will be defending outside of Kobe after all.
-Dia/Kikuta want to go after the Twin Gate. Jae is calling them "D'rear end" lmao
-Ben-K names himself as his own tag partner, but then realizes he can't do that so he settles on YAMATO. HxE will fight D'rear end on 9/4, winners face KFM at Dangerous Gate.


I'm liking Weird Ben so far. Not sure where the Shun/Kzy thing goes since Shun heads to the US right before Dangerous Gate. Hopefully we'll get something before then because every match between those two whips.

Jacky & Jason making D'courage corpse while talking about Kikuta's rear end was fantastic.

Bonk fucked around with this message at 09:51 on Aug 28, 2022

Dimebags Brain
Feb 18, 2013





Mochizuki Jr. and Ishin's stuff in their trios match was real good. Excited for the wrestledad/wrestleson showdown.

Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins
https://twitter.com/DragonGateEN/status/1563786526244212736

Tonight's card, which also has links to the free Youtube match and the DGN show.

Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins
Oh my god, Takashi Yoshida announcing the September dates with Jae & Ho Ho is absolutely precious :allears:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Qfk5yi_pTk


I have completed my short documentary series about Masquerade, which I worked on all summer and added more content to as the story kept going. Feel free to show this to anyone who needs more exposure to Dragongate.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHX36rkFHZQve0KSQQD5SQpgNvvgSD7hW

edit: GAORA gave me a copyright takedown, but you can just click through to the links in the placeholder video to see it in other places.

Bonk fucked around with this message at 15:15 on Aug 30, 2022

Dimebags Brain
Feb 18, 2013





Bonk posted:

I have completed my short documentary series about Masquerade, which I worked on all summer and added more content to as the story kept going. Feel free to show this to anyone who needs more exposure to Dragongate.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLHX36rkFHZQve0KSQQD5SQpgNvvgSD7hW

edit: GAORA gave me a copyright takedown, but you can just click through to the links in the placeholder video to see it in other places.

GAORA is some bullshit, it'd be nice of them to enter the 21st Century. That was really good stuff.

Apparently some of the American excursion stuff in the fall is going to be airing on the Network.
https://twitter.com/ChicagolandWres/status/1564617024264966144?t=RbMjBtQRzYyNwitGgrDM4g

Thauros
Jan 29, 2003

yeah great video from the best english commentary desk in wrestling and i'm glad they realize yoshida's an asset there

Dimebags Brain
Feb 18, 2013





Final Gate is on Christmas this year. Upset at Dragongate not taking MY schedule into account here when scheduling their shows.

forkboy84
Jun 13, 2012

Corgis love bread. And Puro


Dimebags Brain posted:

Final Gate is on Christmas this year. Upset at Dragongate not taking MY schedule into account here when scheduling their shows.

Honestly, forcing everyone to watch flippy little Japanese guys on Xmas morning is an improvement on whatever mince film my dad will have on. I'm in favour

Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins
Next few shows have some matches announced:

9/4 Osaka: D'rear end vs YAMABen, Twin Gate #1 contender for Dangerous Gate
9/8 Korakuen: Take Your Son to Work tag match, Mocchy family vs Iihashi family
9/19 Dangerous Gate: Yoshioka vs Eita & KFM vs winner of 9/4

forkboy84 posted:

Honestly, forcing everyone to watch flippy little Japanese guys on Xmas morning is an improvement on whatever mince film my dad will have on. I'm in favour
El Hijo del Santa Claus won't bring you luchador masks if you stay up late on Christmas Eve. :ohdear:

Dimebags Brain
Feb 18, 2013





Shun's so cool, he did an interview with PWI and then forced them to make it free: https://pwi-online.com/shun-skywalker-dragon-gate-crazy-beautiful/

Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins
Some new free poo poo:

9/3 house show matches from Jacky's homecoming show in Tottori.
GAORA also made the Brave Gate #1 contender Dragon Scramble match from Kobe World free.

9/4 Osaka show card and free match from the Network.

Dimebags Brain posted:

Shun's so cool, he did an interview with PWI and then forced them to make it free: https://pwi-online.com/shun-skywalker-dragon-gate-crazy-beautiful/
“I respect the hardcore and deathmatch wrestlers,” he said. “However, my body is the strongest and deadliest weapon. I do not require the use of outside articles. I am enough.”

GCW in the mud. :gibs:

Bonk fucked around with this message at 18:06 on Sep 4, 2022

Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins
https://twitter.com/DragonGateEN/status/1566447580309262336
CHEERING IS BACK!!!


9/4 show thoughts:

•Rookies look solid as hell lately. Minorita/Nagano play really well off each other, and two small scrappy guys could make for a killer Brave Gate feud someday. Junior/Ishin has been vicious so far, and I think that could be a big generational feud. Fuda's looking great too but he needs a unit.
•Not sure what promos ZBs keep cutting that provoke NVs to attack them, but I assume it's about Shun/Kzy. My guess is it's leading to a Unit Disbands match at Final Gate. And was Shun just... screaming throughout the multi-man tags? :stare:
•Eita/Genki have a fun dynamic and they should tag more. Also wouldn't hate Yoshida aligning more regularly with D'courage. Haven't seen Eita cut a heated promo in a while, his Dream shot should be a good one.
•Biggest news is that we're getting a DG/NOAH Jrs crossover show at some point. They're really trying to push fans outside their bubbles. Seiki wants to face YAMATO, Alejandro wants DK, YO-HEY challenged Kzy. Not sure about Kotoge.
•We now know 2 title matches for Dangerous Gate. Should be a solid card.


9/8 edit: Korakuen tonight, but I have to get up early tomorrow, so here's the free match link:
English: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lghUmXrEBUU
Japanese: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cw_yXpmJHwU
Card

Bonk fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Sep 9, 2022

Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins
The big news from last night is that Ben-K joined Gold Class instead of YAMATO. Honestly didn't see that coming.

We've also got a full card for Dangerous Gate announced!

Singles Match
Kaito Nagano vs. Yasushi Kanda

Tag Team Match
Ho Ho Lun & Super Shenglong III vs. Shuji Kondo & Toru Owashi

8 Man Tag Team Match
Ultimo/Genki/AraKen/Ichikawa vs Shachihoko/Yoshida/Punch/Fuda

8 Man Tag Team Match
Kzy/Shimizu/U-T/SMJ vs. KAI/BxB/HYO/Diamante

6 Man Tag Team Match
YAMATO/DKid/Kagetora vs. (same spoiler)Minoura/Doi/Ben-K

Open the Triangle Gate Championship Match
M3K(c) vs Ishinriki/Ishin/Fujii

Open the Twin Gate Championship Match
KFM(c) vs D'rear end

Open the Dream Gate Championship Match
Yuki Yoshioka(c) vs Eita

Dimebags Brain
Feb 18, 2013





Hulk switching to submission wins because he’s been murdering people with the first flash lol.

Dimebags Brain
Feb 18, 2013





We should have seen Ben-K joining the himbo faction coming

drat, Ishinriki’s a buff dad.

Oh my god this loving post match reveal.

Dimebags Brain fucked around with this message at 04:56 on Sep 9, 2022

Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins

Dimebags Brain posted:

Oh my god this loving post match reveal.
I may have woken up my upstairs neighbors laughing at "Fujiiko".

This angle reminds me so much of old Toryumon. Big Don's post-50 career has been amazing.

Jae had some great quips too.
"This is looking like the AEW locker room!"
Then during the post-show: "I should've saved my AEW joke for this."

[edit]
9/10 Yokosuka (Susumu's homecoming)
9/11 Fukui
9/17 Saitama
9/18 Saitama

Bonk fucked around with this message at 23:23 on Sep 18, 2022

Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins
Dangerous Gate is upon us! Tonight @ 11PM PST / 2AM EST / 6AM GMT / 3PM JST

Free opener: English / Japanese

Diamante may be the next challenger for Yuki. He mentioned in an interview that he put his own mask on the line to protect Inferno's identity, but then Yuki unmasked voluntarily and left them, so Diamante's still upset with him. I love the idea that a Mexican luchador would take that way more personally and hold a bigger grudge than others about it. I could see that being a Gate of Origin match, assuming Yuki retains tonight.

In content news, my Masquerade series has been restored because GAORA didn't follow up on me challenging their takedown. Part 1 was still pending, but I edited and replaced it, so you can watch it on Youtube now. If anything else happens, the Bilibili and Drive links will still be active. I'm also working on a follow-up about how to get into DG for casual viewers.

Dimebags Brain
Feb 18, 2013





Still clap only crowd right? Hope motivated Eita shows up because the dream gate match up is really good on paper. Twin Gate obviously looking like the show stealing match though.

forkboy84
Jun 13, 2012

Corgis love bread. And Puro


Could have done with a slightly later start on this, even half an hour would've been nice. 7am is pushing it considering I like to shower & get the washing machine going first thing.

Oh well, not fussed if I miss the first 3 matches

Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins

Dimebags Brain posted:

Still clap only crowd right? Hope motivated Eita shows up because the dream gate match up is really good on paper. Twin Gate obviously looking like the show stealing match though.
Clap-only until November at Gate of Destiny. I hope that draws bigger attendance numbers.

Eita's looked really good lately in the house show build over the last week, just being a total shithead to Yuki. Teaming with Jacky is a little odd, but they've done weirder random teams on house shows.

Dimebags Brain
Feb 18, 2013





Oh poo poo opening with the Twin Gate.

forkboy84
Jun 13, 2012

Corgis love bread. And Puro


Dimebags Brain posted:

Oh poo poo opening with the Twin Gate.

Oh ffs

Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins
It's the free match at least, so you can replay anytime.

Next two are Kanda/Nagano and then the unaffiliated 8-man.

Shimizu's on English comms. Sounds like he understands more than he speaks, but he's doing alright so far.

Dimebags Brain
Feb 18, 2013





drat Kikuta's rear end is devastating.

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Bonk
Aug 4, 2002

Douche Baggins
This match fucks

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