More No Ring Dragon Gate

 

Dragon Kid & Shingo Takagi vs BxB Hulk & Naoki Tanizaki, Dragon Gate 8/9/2008

I loved the tag with Arai, so I decided to watch the rest of that no-ring Dragon Gate. This was definitely a Dragon Gate match – very spotty, little selling and everything is thrown out seemingly too fast – but the no ring factor makes it pretty fun and enjoyble mostly for the curiosity of them pulling off their shit, notably Dragon Kids whacky satelitte headscissor moves. And whether or not Shingo will hit his headspiking moves on that thin mat – and yes, he does. Shingos punches were fun and BxB Hulk took a great looking back body drop at one point, probably the biggest and most painful looking moves on the match. But this was definitely a match for the ‘the more moves per minute you hit the better’ crowd. But, they went really hard. You never see wrestlers going this hard in undercard matches anymore. Maybe for the wiser, but it’s also fun to watch something relentless like this once in a while.

Cyber Kong & Yamato vs Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi, Dragon Gate 8/9/2008

This was better. It had an understandable story with Kong and Yamato being more of a heel team, they let everything breath a little more, and they made good use of the non-ring. There were some insane sprinting dropkicks that looked fantastic among other things, and some fun chaos with brawling and chairs and a table coming into play. Mostly the match wasn’t super predictable. Cyber Kong is a really fun powerhouse here and he did a great job both basing for people and killing the little dudes with hoss offense. Once again, the no ring bumps looked just brutal with Yoshino getting spiked on his neck by lariats. Yoshino also looked pretty good with his vicious dropkicks and fast movements and the other guys were solid. The clipping probably helped – as they cut it down from 19 minutes to about half that length – but it’s a super enjoyable watch regardless. Dragon Gate really should’ve kept going without a ring.

Exploring Dekai Ichimotsu

 Dekai Ichimotsu & Yamato vs Die-56 & Reversal Sawa


4 crazy guys beating the living hell out of each other in a judo practise room somewhere. This ruled. I am guessing RAW is a group of MMA/martial arts guys deciding they want to do pro wrestling, so it's pretty much as legit as RINGS or any other shootstyle fed. Yamato and Reversal Sawa were pretty intense, these two came across like they hated each other and after watching them fight here I want to see all their meetings. Sawa has MMA gloves and he hits lots of wild swinging punches, while Jamato was not afraid to clock him with violent knees and open hands. Lots of nasty out of nowhere strikes throughout this, really had the feeling of a BattlARTS tag. The saves, attempted saves and countered saves were really great too, Dekai Ichimotsu was especially great there diving at people with wild jumping kicks and stomps. Die-56 I am guessing is a BJJ guy and he is a lot of fun here, he would hit people in the face and then dive underneath for a takedown when they would try to hit back. You could tell he didn't have GREAT striking but he was being a fucker tying people up on the ground and then pasting them in the face. Ichimotsu had some damn great legwork which unfortunately wasn't sold in a big way, still his reckless low dropkicks and knee drops were some of the best shit ever. There was this great bit where Sawa tried to use a judo belt on Jamato only for Jamato to wrap it around his head and start beating on him. Really fun bit of escalating violence. Also everybody was hitting crazy Inazuma kicks for some reason. All the slams, suplexes etc on the thin mat also felt crazy. Great stuff that felt like a good primer to this crazy world of underground shootstyle.

Dekai Ichimotsu vs Yamato

Another sick tatami match. Dekai comes in with this amazing sleazy shirt and shades, grabs the timekeeper for no reason, looking like the baddest shitstirrer on earth. This match was really stiff uncooperative and hatefilled so it was pretty great. Starts really good with both guys trading some hard open hand strikes and wild headbutts. Dekai proceeds to do some more sick leg work - his low dropkicks look like they would really fuck you up bad. Again it needed a bit more selling but it was rad to watch. I also really like all the stuff Dekai does with the Texas Cloverleaf. I also loved all the reckless jumping kicks. Jamato looked like a psycho and the finishing run had some more sick headbutts and crazy tatami bumps. It's a wild world out there.

Dekai Ichimotsu vs GENTARO 4/15/2018

Tremendous match that totally lives up to its promise and more. We all know GENTARO is a grappling master and super game to have the best match possible with anyone he faces, and he does treat Dekai Ichimotsu like a guy on his level, and Ichimotsu totally steps up and looks like he belongs. Lots of great matwork here, I really liked the early feeling out, which felt rather unpredictable as both guys seemed to be trying to avoid getting caught which is always nice to see. They stick to old school type grappling though some out of the box moves from Ichimotsu happen, such as holding onto a cravate and spinning forward to try and snap GENTAROs neck. Eventually Ichimotsu got ahold of Gentaros legs, kicking off some really great leg destruction spots. Ichimotsu may be one of the best guys I've ever seen at attacking someones legs, both his basic as well as unorthodox stuff is great. The match wasn't all matwork as the action spills to the outside and these parts add to the match too, first time an overzealous Ichimotsu takes out GENTARO with a totally unexpectedly spectacular dive and throws a chair at him, second time has both guys trying to disable each other on the floor which was also great. The second half had a bunch of amazing counters and tons of fantastic struggle including some great stuff built around a Sharpshooter and an awesome duel of surfboard holds which is not something you see in many matches these days. Ichimotsus struggle was awesome and the finish was one of the best I've ever seen, talk about a guy resisting his doom with all his might only for a crafty twist to happen. Great match that proves Ichimotsu as one of the best wrestlers around, pro or otherwise.