Dragon Gate "Open the New Year Gate" 01/18/17 @ Korakuen Hall, Tokyo

This show was based around a one day six-man tournament. To make it interesting all matches bar the final end on a two-count. 

- YAMATO, BxB Hulk & Kzy vs. Don Fuji, Hyou Watanabe & Yuki Yoshioka

The first match was OK, but as it was pretty short it felt like they couldn't achieve as much as they wanted to. At this point I started to wonder if this whole show was going to feel this rushed. Kzy wins the match after hitting the Impact on Wantanabe [OK]

- Eita, Takehiro Yamamura & Punch Tominaga vs. Masato Yoshino, Ben-K & Kotoka

Ben-K straight away just reminds me of Raiden from Mortal Kombat. He wears a white outfit and walks to the ring with his hood up. Kotoka on the other hand, just looks like he's got bird shit in his eyes.

Eita hits a massive dive into the front row which is just awesome and although Punch is pretty bad, he does his thing with his hands in his pockets, which does raise a smile. 

Ben-K catches Tominaga with the Ben-K Bomb for his team to advance to the next round. I'm not quite sure what the point of Punch is as he's honestly, a bit crap. Like the first, this match didn't have enough time to get going or make any sort of memorable impression.

After the match Eita spoke out and then stormed off to the back. I can't speak Japanese but I'm guessing that he's complaining about how bad Punch is. [OK]

- Brother YASSHI, Cyber Kong & Mondai Ryu vs. Jimmy Susumu, Ryo ‘Jimmy’ Saito & Jimmy Kanda

This felt more like a regular DG match. Even though it had about the same time as the first two, there was a lot more going on. Ryo Saito won the match for the Jimmyz with one of my new favourite moves, called the SaiRyo Rocket on Ryu. He sets his opponent up by laying them by a turnbuckle, he then goes to the opposite side of the ring and climbs to the top rope. He then jumps off the top rope, lands feet first in the middle of the ring (miles away from his opponent) and then just does a jumping splash on them, holding his hands by his side (like a rocket). The whole set up is completely pointless as its just a normal splash but my God, It's hilarious.

- Naruki Doi, Masaaki Mochizuki & Big R Shimizu vs. Shingo Takagi, T-Hawk & El Lindaman

This followed on from the last match and kept up the same relentless pace. There was some ridiculously stiff kicks by Masaaki to T-Hawk. Lindaman pins Shimizu after hitting the Ipponzeoi, after Shimizu is hit with a red box. Again though, It wasn't long enough to get going and become a really good match. And it had a screwy finish. Bah. [OK]

- YAMATO, BxB Hulk & Kzy vs. Masato Yoshino, Ben-K & Kotoka

Now in to the second round and we've still got the two count for the win rule. Kzy took a nasty ddt in this match, he appeared to land it wrong and instead of the usual spike, he landed more to the side of his neck/face and then just flopped to the mat.

Kotoka gets the win with the Momo Latch on Hulk. Definitely an upset with who got the pin and who took it was. Quite a few shocked faces in the crowd but it plays into the story that Hulk has been eating pins all over the place and letting his team down. YAMATO tries to get him to focus and gives him a title shot for the next show so that he can use that as a goal to refocus. [OK]

~ It was stated how Kzy and Yosuke are challenging for the Open The Twin Gate Championships, YAMATO is the Dream Gate Champion and Flamita is doing well in Mexico but Hulk has suffered yet another loss
~ YAMATO did however offer Hulk the right to challenge for the Open The Dream Gate Championship

- Shingo Takagi, T-Hawk & El Lindaman vs. Jimmy Susumu, Ryo ‘Jimmy’ Saito & Jimmy Kanda

Again, another OK match, the pace was quick throughout but it ends with another screwy finish for Verserk. T-Hawk gets the pin with the Night Ride on Susumu which would have been enough in its own right because of the two count rule. At this point the constant interference by Verserk is giving them heel heat, its just serving to annoy. [OK]

- CIMA, Dragon Kid, Gamma & ‘Hollywood’ Stalker Ichikawa vs. Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!, Jimmy Kagetora, Yosuke ♡ Santa Maria & Shachihoko BOY

Ichikawas gimmick is that he's an alien thingy with removable ears. He's the weakest guy on the roster and is usually involved in squash matches. He went through a stage of fighting mystery opponents and it would always be a puro legend (Aja Kong, etc) and they would beat the crap out of him. 

Before the match, CIMA does this thing called 'gong kid' where they get a random kid out of the audience to go into the ring, ask them a few questions and then they ring the bell for the match. For this show they chose the smallest kid in the audience who looked absolutely petrified of being interviewed by a strange guy in an alien outfit who has a hole in his outfit where his belly should be.

Before the match starts proper Ichikawa tells his team that he can start as he can handle the other team. Bell ring and Kagetora pins Ichikawa after hitting a Harite (slap) after 13 seconds. 

They restart the match after asking gong kid to hit the bell again. Before Ichikawa can pull the same stunt CIMA slaps him down and tells him to get out of the ring. 

This match is what you'd expect from a DG comedy match. Amazingly though it was the first time that I've ever seen Ichikawa get any offensive moves in. The match ends when Ichikawa is trying to get the ref to do a quick count, as he is harassing him Yosuke then rolls Ichikawa up with a school girl and the ref does the quick count against Ichikawa for Yosuke to get the win. [OK] 

- One Day 6 Man Tag Team Tournament Final Match: Shingo Takagi, T-Hawk & El Lindaman vs. Kotoka, Masato Yoshino & Ben-K

They drop the two count for this match, but after all the mini matches I was kind of burnt out on this show. Anti-climatic finish as Takagi gets the win for Veserk with the MADE IN JAPAN on Kotoka after yet another screwy finish. Urgh. That's three on the same show, for the same team. That's not heel booking, that's lazy. Especially unrealistic when the team doing the shenanigans could beat the other team in its own right. [OK]

~ VESERK win the One Day 6 Man Tag Team Tournament
~ VESERK attacked Yoshino after the match, but Naruki Doi made the save in a Dr. Muscle costume