When I received this DVD in the mail I was unsure what to expect, as all I’d seen of Dragon Gate is the lightweights’ appearances in ROH. I kind of expected everything to be like that, and while those matches are awesome in moderation, but two discs and five hours of it would’ve killed me and taken me about three months to watch.

Luckily, it’s not like that at all, it’s an entertaining company with several different styles of matches, from lightweight spotfests, to matches working a body part, to heavyweight epics, to matches working over a guy’s injury to build sympathy, to use of the heel referee in a way that actually builds heat and isn’t groan inducing, to foreign guest stars being booked and protected as legends such as legendary Japanese star Jushin Thunder Liger.

The only real failure was a four-team elimination tag team match that went the comedy route and it just didn’t get over with me doing these 8-person headscissor and Russian legsweep spots.

And it’s not just the variety of matches that make this a great DVD and a great presentation either. First off, they use ROH’s commentary team of Dave Prazak and Lenny Leonard, and they do an excellent job of getting over the backgrounds of each individual. But more than that, and I know this is a borderline racist thing to say, but foreign commentary is such a turn-off that if they just did Japanese commentary here it would significantly lessen my enjoyment as without knowing backstories it’s just guys doing moves and that’s boring to me without the emotional connection.

They do great entrances, and after the match there’s no cutting away to the back, or to postmatch angles, they show the winners and losers leaving the ring and don’t cut away until both guys have gone backstage, which really sells the big moments well and the importance of the matches. It hammers home that the matches and the results actually matter, which is something US wrestling really misses right now, aside from the occasional world title change.

Overall it’s an excellent presentation and a great snapshot of the Dragon Gate promotion, with a wide variety of matches in several different styles. Masato Yoshino still stands out as an incredible worker, and at this point in time by far the best worker in the promotion and one of the best in the world. Even in the fast-paced spotfests his speed is amazing to see. It’s also interesting to see Matt Sydal on here, who most of you probably know as Evan Bourne from WWE, earlier in his career.

There is a really cool moment at the end of an 8-man tag team match, as Jushin Liger hit a brainbuster allowing Sydal to get the win with his beautiful shooting star press, and for those that know their wrestling history, seeing the guy who invented the SSP setting up the new star with the best-looking version of that move ever to get the win was really great to see.

The matches on this DVD are:

1. Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi vs. Shingo & Cyber Kong

2. BxB Hulk, Jushin Liger, Jack Evans & Matt Sydal vs. Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, Magnitude Kishiwada & Kevin Steen

3. CIMA vs. Gamma (Hair vs. Hair)

4. Susumu Yokosuka vs. Don Fujii (Open The Dream Gate Title Match)

5. Gamma vs. Ryo Saito (King of the Gate Semi-Finals)

6. Masaaki Mochizuki vs. Dick Togo (King of the Gate Semi-Finals)

7. Don Fujii & Yasushi Kanda vs. BxB Hulk & Jack Evans vs. Susumu Yokosuka & K-ness vs. Genki Horiguchi & Super Shenron (Four Way Tag Team Elimination)

8. Ryo Saito vs. Masaaki Mochizuki (King of the Gate Finals)

9. Matt Sydal vs. Genki Horiguchi (Open The Brave Gate Title Match)

10. Gamma, Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi vs. CIMA, Ryo Saito & Susumu Yokosuka (Open The Triangle Gate Title Match)

11. Don Fujii vs. Jushin Liger (Open The Dream Gate Title Match)

You can pick up a copy now via Big Vision Entertainment at www.bigvisionentertainment.com.

Mark Bright
mark@ifight365.com