What a great show. A great way to end a great 2016 for Dragon Gate. There's two matches that I felt underwhelmed by, and one of which I was bored by. JKS, Santa Maria and Ichikawa vs. Gamma, BOY and Tominaga was so boring. And I was very underwhelmed by Kagetora v. Eita. I'm just gonna run down some basic things. Not gonna review every bit, since I don't really have the patience/time/will-power to.
JKS, Santa Maria and Hollywood Stalker Ichikawa vs. Gamma, Saya (w/e the rest is) BOY & Punch Tominaga - This was a failed opener, as far as I'm concerned. The competitor involved didn't make sense. It's almost as if they forgot they had these guys on the roster and mashed them together. You have guys from Jimmyz, Tribe Vanguard and just random lower midcarders taking part in a boring opener. There wasn't much anything here. Gamma deserved better than this.
Yamamura and Ishida vs. Don Fuji & Mochizuki - This was a shocking good exhibition. Dragon Gate's newest crop of talent brought up from the Dojo is extremely impressive. They aren't exactly the biggest, but they know how to tell a story both with the moves and their mannerisms. Yamamura or Ishida (the smaller one - all asians look the same) took a beating from both Fuji and Mochizuki and made it look as hard hitting as possible. This match made me a fan of both Yamamura and Ishida.
The match of the night comes down to either of these three:
Over Generation (c) vs. VerserK for the Twin Gate titles - The match was brutal, fast-paced and hard-hitting. Cima was busted open, almost everyone took sick looking bumps onto a pile of chairs, and the ref "bump" (more like a ref murder) was a good way to hit the climax. Everyone looked strong, and it really got the crowd pumped up.
Jimmy'z vs. VerserK vs. Yoshino, Ben-K & Kotoka for the vacant Triangle gate titles - This was crazy. Not a dull moment. The crowd got hyped. They showcased their new prospect, Ben-K, without giving him an overbearing presence. He looked strong, protected and talented while also giving the floor to guys like Cyber Kong and Jimmy Susumu to have a good match. It was great overall. Susumu pulling double duty in two good tag teams (the other against Tribe Vanguard: BxB Hulk & Kzy) was a testament to his talents. Shame he still isn't in the Dream Gate scene.
Yamato (c) vs. Naruki Doi for the Dream Gate title - I knew this was going to happen, when Doi broke up Yamadoi and turned on Yamato. It was a great scenario, I didn't watch Dragon Gate at the time but Yamato won his first Dream Gate title from Doi in 2010, and competed against him for the Twin Gate titles before ultimately winning them with him. The story was great. It was a good blow off, a slowly built, technically sound match. The crowd was into it, and the match made sense. It was easy to follow but flowed so well. It was amazing, as well, and I recommend people check this shit out.
As for MVPs, I felt that Ben-K and BxB Hulk came out looking really good. Ben-K has only been competing for a year and is already putting on great showings. He's definitely going to be a champion. And BxB Hulk has a great showing as well. He's so slick and crisp in the ring.
I'd rate Final Gate a 7/10.
