Dead or Alive 2010 thoughts
I’m not going to be doing a super detailed run down of each match this time, but just so I don’t go too long without doing a recap I wanted to get this out while it was still fresh in my mind.
1. Super Shisa vs. Takuya Tomakomai
A decent opener. Tomakomai is the new rookie that we’ve been hearing about and he was pretty impressive I’d say. It always helps to wrestle your first big match against your trainer and Shisa did a good job of making him look good. Those chops were beastly to say the least. This match won’t be remembered for long, but a fair showing nonetheless.
2. K-ness and Susumu Yokosuka vs. NOSAWA Rongai and MAZADA
Unfortunately NOSAWA and Mazada have gone back to being extremely dull to watch (as opposed to the end of last year when I actually started to come round to them). This match was overall fairly disappointing and was pretty confusing as to why it was on the card. Clearly it was just to show the dominance of KneSuka, which is fine in itself, but I still feel like the Deep Drunkers feud isn’t resolved properly. Oh well, guess we’ll have to wait until they are Twin champs come Korakuen.
3. Loser Returns to Dark Matches: Akira Tozawa vs. Cyber Kong
Another mind boggler. Two rising stars who both need spotlight and one gets sent to dark matches if they lose? Hmmm… Well I can’t say this match lit my world on fire as really I can’t remember much of what happened. Sorry I can’t say more but really, I cannot remember this match at all. Kong wins. Tozawa to dark matches. Great.
4. Open the Brave Gate Title Match: Dragon Kid vs. Tigers Mask (c)
I have to say I do kind of like Tigers Mask. Dragon Kid was a bit too over-eager in this match and it showed when he messed up the same spot twice. Really he shouldn’t even have gone for it again anyway. I’ve never seen something like that before and it will be interesting to see if that affects Kid’s confidence in the future. For the most part though Tigers Mask made the match what it was and I dug his nightstick in the boot, kick to the head finish. Great heel move and even though he isn’t a Dragon Gate competitor, I think he’s a great Brave Gate champion. Still doesn’t make sense that he IS the champion, but whatyagonnado?
5. Open the Triangle Gate Titles Match: Akebono, Masaaki Mochizuki and Don Fujii (c) vs. Takuya Sugawara, Yasushi Kanda and Kzy
I was looking forward to this match for one reason and that was because there could be only one outcome – no more Akebono. Of course we did have to sit through him and Suga in the ring and I’m not convinced that having Sugawara as a Triangle Champ is much better, but at least the Triangle matches going forward can be more than one dimensional. Suga being in this match as opposed to Arai is one more head scratcher, but for some reason Dragon Gate wants to get across that he is the DD leader. Kanda and Kzy kept this match from being boring although Mochi coming out with a boxing glove to a no DQ match didn’t make any sense. As if punching someone with a boxing glove would hurt more than your kicks? What? Kanda’s elbow with the chain for the finish was nice to see though.
6. WORLD-1 vs. WARRIORS Full Confrontation Naniwa-Style Elimination Match: Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, BxB Hulk and Naoki Tanisaki vs. CIMA, Gamma, Genki Horiguchi and Ryo Saito
OK now things are starting to pick up. Up to this point the show had been pretty boring and uneventful. Doi really is starting to take a backseat right now and I think this is a mistake. He should be doing what CIMA is doing and still being the man in the spotlight, just not holding any titles. Nevertheless, him getting pinned early was a shock but really made this match feel like anything can happen.
I’ve got to say the whole Ryo being slightly retarded, at first made me wonder what they were doing, but as soon as he tried coming out before his time I knew it was going to be awesome. He looked to be in shape and ready to go which was a bit surprising, but he went out much earlier than I would have liked. I guess it makes sense though since this is his first match back and shouldn’t be pushing himself too hard.
Everyone performed at their best and with the exception of when it came to CIMA and Gamma against Yoshino, kept a phenomenal pace. It was great to see CIMA and Gamma take on the heel roles at this point though. The crowd at first was so hot for Yoshino but when it came down to he and CIMA left I was left a little unsure who they were cheering for. No question the match of the night and one has to wonder how long they will be keeping Yoshino Mr Number 2 for. He’s been that guy his whole career but has always been so good and so over that really, his time is now. Well it would be were it not for…
7. Open the Dream Gate Title Match: Shingo Takagi vs. YAMATO (c)
The match I was looking forward to the most and for the most part it did it’s job. YAMATO working the arm the whole match was really nice to see and Shingo actually selling it was awesome (I shouldn’t have to say that, but this is Shingo after all). The match was mostly Shingo controlled but there was some good pacing and I really loved the Fujiwara arm bar > ref stop finish. It made so much sense in the context and it made me totally mark out. Someone else said this elsewhere but I want to reiterate: YAMATO is THIS good after only 3 years. The future is very bright for Dragon Gate if he stays on top of his game and injury free. A seriously true shining star.
The extended ending to the show with KAMIKAZE coming back together as a unified unit was actually really good. WORLD-1 have been the dominating unit for so long but really, it’s all KAMIKAZE now. They are really so strong and if the reappearance of Iwasa (another huge mark out from me here) is anything to go by, their future is looking really bright. I was originally hoping for a Shingo heel turn, but I have changed my mind as I want to see a full on domination of KAMIKAZE for a while. They are one of the stronger units from the past few years now that Dragon Kid has left (sorry Kido, but it’s true) and as soon as Tozawa comes out of dark matches and Iwasa makes his long anticipated comeback, things will be superb for them.
Overall not a very memorable PPV, but the last two matches really redeemed it. I wouldn’t be recommending this show as a great example of what DG is capable of (except the Naniwa elimination match I guess) but certainly there have been worse.
Buffalo now removes his mask when he wrestles Tigers demasked him at Hurricane 08 and he removes his mask from then on.
Tigers vs Shisa will not air on TV if it did purolove will say (Sky+A) after the results if it was. Osaka Hurricane is the only show that airs on Samurai TV. Osaka & Okinawa are the only wrestling shows that air on Sky+A which I think is like the nickelodeon of japan.
Billy Ken Kid is the main guy of Osaka now but before him it was Super Delfin. Tigers Mask started out as a comedy parody of Tiger Mask. Based of the Hashin Tigers baseball team (which is also Arai’s favorite team) he was a baseball player/tiger mascot. He had a lot of baseball type moves that never would hit. In 07 they turned him serious and he wore a white and blue version of the costume he wears now also his eyes were visable. Because he had ties to Buffalo and the rudo unit at the time Badforce had left for Okinawa, they turned Tigers heel and Buffalo followed. Much like Billy Ken Kid his heel turn has gained him much notoriety and he’s beginning to appear all over the place. It’s only a matter of time before he becomes the supreme ace of Osaka especially since BKK can’t seem to stay off the injured list
Michinoku Pro’s roster may not be as good as it once was but it’s still more important than Osaka. Osaka was sort of spawned from the early days of M-Pro. M-Pro means more than Osaka Pro to answer your question though. They’re both local indy’s but M-Pro has a better tv deal and gets more exposure plus they have the super popular Fujita Jr Hayato under their control so take that for what it is.
osaka pro airs in a kids channel?.wow,that s why i see on their roster they have plenty of masked guys.
m-pro better tv deal?.yeah i know it s on samurai but this year it s still not maked tv….. i wonder when they ll be broadcasted….
at least we see fujita everywhere i do wonder if he ll stay in m-pro because njpw,zero-1 or dragon gate might offer him big paycheck soon.njpw need him to spice up their old jr division and zero 1 i do not follow it but they probably want him too….
it s true he has tozawa s gimmick Kenta Kakinuma?.I ve read it somewhere…
he s a sort of parody of the manga “hokuto no ken” m-pro s own kenou?.
first time i saw him it maked me think like that.
btw,you that obviously know more than me on puro,how gentaro managed to be noticed?.
i mean the guy he s in freedoms which not make tv and he managed to go in njpw and then we see him in joshi,big japan,dragon gate….
oh and yeah i remember yoshitsune in m-pro.
too bad he went in the shitty aaa promotion.
i m glad for him he wins more money but it s not cool he went in that crappy fed….
kenta kakinuma and tozawa do act awfully similar but stealing ones gimmick and both of them just being a crazy person are 2 different things
fujita is fine where he is, if anything he’ll leave mpro for MMA
i can’t answer your kenou question as i honestly don’t know
the first time i heard of GENTARO was during the 06 BOSJ that he and BxB Hulk were in but i think he’s popular because of his early involvement in DDT
i don’t know how he ended up in apache/freedoms but he was only in 1 death match that i remember, and he wore full body armor and avoided any deathmatch bump comically on purpose. that was a match that made me seek more of his work.
a question on noah:he s sign under a contract jason jones or is he in a excursion like ricky steamboat jr before?.
if he s under contract he s the first young lion since genba and akihiko ito i believe…..
they do not have dojos for young lions in noah or what?.
what the heel is their problems with young guys….it s the only big fed which never have young lions since years….
I don’t know what Jason Jones’ deal is, all I know is he sucks. He must be from WLW which is where most NOAH Gaijins come from.
The last crop of young lions in NOAH where Atsushi Aoki, Akihito Ito, Shuhei Taniguchi, Ippei Ota, and they brought Taiji Ishimori in from Dragondoor as treated him as one of their young guys. Go Shiozaki was the only guy from the year before. Ippei & Akihito retired and well the rest are still around. They haven’t had anyone new from their dojo in a while.
his name is akihiko to be exact.To bad he retired i was a fan :-(
i prefer jason jones than kentaro shiga or kikuchi……just saw jones vs shiga from last week can’t believe that skinny guy won easily….
he has not finish his own serie taniguchi?.He s more than 30 year old guy but he has still his serie of matches to complete….
btw, seth seemed to be busy so i found infinity 175 . Hopefully,it ll be used by someone.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5IIOJI2S