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DIR Return to: Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week
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Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week; There be Dragons
By: SheriffLonestar Date: April 26, 2014, 1:01 am
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Sheriff Lonestar's PPV of the Week; There be Dragons
So then, and now for something completely different. My PPV of
the Week this week is from last November and it is Dragon Gate's
“The Gate of Destiny” card from Japan. For those of you who
don't know Dragon Gate or its origins, today is a quick history
lesson.
Último Dragón has done a lot in pro wrestling as you know, the
current All Japan Junior Heavyweight Champion has pretty much
wrestled for every major promotion, and a whole bunch of minor
ones, everywhere in the world. His style is what has come to be
defined as Jap-Lucha. Jap-Lucha really began in the early 80's
with Tiger Mask; Saturo Sayama. Having travelled the world on
his seasoning tour he had picked up a lot of moves and wrestling
knowledge from his time in Mexico. Tiger Mask became perhaps the
most influential light heavyweight wrestler in Japan. Japanese
guys always had an affinity to learn and develop their craft,
and the more places they could learn from the better they felt
they were.
Último Dragón was one of those guys who would feel the influence
of Tiger Mask and leave an indelible mark on pro wrestling
history. Initially trained by the New Japan Dojo, he left to
join the UWF in 1990. Doesn't seem very Lucha does it? Japanese
guy joins a shoot promotion. However he was struggling to find a
foot hold in NJPW, and sensibly decided to move on. He also
worked for the UWA in Mexico the super promotion that had been
the home of travelling Japanese and US stars since the 70's in
Mexico. Mixing these two styles into a hybrid, Strong Style and
Lucha, would become a signature of Dragón, but while he was
working back in Japan, he also wrestled for one of his tutor's
new promotion Universal Lucha Libre. Gran Hamada, who ran this
promotion, was a former NJPW wrestler and had wanted to give a
platform to smaller Mexican style wrestlers, without having to
worry about comparisons further up the card. It gave a blue
print to Último Dragón and several others. When you look at the
alumni list of that promotion as well you realise what an effect
it had on Japanese wrestling, and the wrestling world at large.
Universal Lucha Libre had Jinsei Shinzaki, Dick Togo, The Great
Sasuke, Taka Michinoku and Men's Teioh who went on to form
Michinoku Pro. They also had Kaz Hayashi, later a WCW
Cruiserweight and now a Wrestle-1 veteran, they also had a very
young Sean Waltman before his run in the WWF as the 1-2-3 Kid
and later X-Pac and of course Jado and Gedo, now lead bookers of
New Japan Pro Wrestling. All of who were supremely talented,
none of whom would stand out because of their size.
After an arena filling run in both NJPW and WCW, Último Dragón
went back to Mexico. He opened up a wrestling school in
Naucalpan as a sort of university of pro wrestling in the Lucha
style. The school became Toryumon, (meaning Dragon Gate) and co
promoted its first show in Mexico in 1997. Working with local
promoters International Wrestling Revolution Group, the
fledgling company would develop using an even mix of Dragón's
influences; Shoot style from the UWF with lots of submissions,
Lucha Libre high flying and complicated submissions, traditional
Japanese Strong style from NJPW, and finally a heavy dose of
entertainment style wrestling learned from his time in WCW. Each
class started its own promotional company. The second class
started Toryumon 2000 Project, they featured more submission
wrestlers than other Toryumon based grapplers but came up with
some interesting concepts. For instance they were the first to
use a six sided ring, which TNA and AAA later borrowed.
Eventually there were enough wrestlers to go on the road full
time in not just in Mexico, but Japan as well. Taking the
company home they found an audience because they had a
completely new attitude to pro wrestling. They recruited solely
in the Junior Heavyweight division, so no one was too big for
their style. They also had this interesting mix of storytelling,
with straight matches, but intriguing angles and of course they
could ALL go. Matches you would not believe.
Eventually Último Dragón left the company in 2004, taking the
Torymun name with him which necessitated the name change to the
anglicised version Dragon Gate. They chose to keep the tradition
and philosophy of Toryumon in place, acknowledging Último
Dragón's legacy within the company. They have expanded too
creating offices in the US run by original ROH booker Gabe
Spalosky and in the UK where they are booked by Mark Sloan.
This card is exceptional and I can not possibly hope to explain
everything that is happening in this one show. I can give you a
rough overview though. Like most Japanese promotions, the
company is based on stables. Some heel, some face and some
tweeners. They are put together in feuds over a period of time
then rotated around, offering more match ups, especially in
their signature 6 man and 8 man tags. Matches are one fall
affairs with a time limit as in traditional Puroresu. If you
like high flying this is the place for you, these guys are the
very, very best at it in the world. Their standards are very
high and its well worth investing an afternoon in this card.
Enjoy the show.
HTML http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKb0Mqbj_Gk
~Match 1~ Jimmy Susumu, Ryo "Jimmy" Saito, Jimmy Kanda [Jimmyz]
vs. Super Shisa [We Are Team Veteran], Shachihoko Boy [Monster
Express], Ryotsu Shimizu
~Match 2~ Don Fujii, Gamma [We Are Team Veteran] vs. Mr. Kyu Kyu
Naoki Tanizaki Toyonaka Dolphin, Jimmy Kagetora [Jimmyz] vs.
Kzy, Mondai Ryu [MAD BLANKEY]
~Match 3~ CIMA, Masaaki Mochizuki [We Are Team Veteran], Kotoka,
TSUBASA vs. U-T, Yosuke Santa Maria, Flamita, Rocky Lobo
[Millenials]
~Match 4~ Open The Brave Gate Championship Match: Genki
Horiguchi HAGeeMee [Jimmyz] (C) vs. Anthony Nese [Monster
Express]
~Match 5~ Open The Twin Gate Championship Match: Dragon Kidd,
K-ness [DK-ness/We Are Team Veteran] (C) vs. T-Hawk, Eita
[Millenials]
~Match 6~ Open The Triangle Gate Championship Match: YAMATO, BxB
Hulk, Cyber Kong [MAD BLANKEY] (C) vs. Shingo Takagi, Akira
Tozawa, Uhaa Nation [Monster Express]
~Match 7~ Open The Dream Gate Championship Match: Masato Yoshino
[Monster Express] (C) vs. Naruki Doi [MAD BLANKEY]
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