Dragon Gate
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- This article is about a Japanese wrestling promotion. For the computer game, please see Dragon's Gate.
Dragon Gate is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion formerly known as Toryumon Japan. Most of Dragon Gate's wrestlers are graduates from Ultimo Dragon's Toryumon Gym, and thus the promotion is based on a Junior Heavyweight style with varying emphasis on high flying maneuvers, flashy technical grappling, and submissions.
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[edit] History
In 2004, Ultimo Dragon left the promotion and took the Toryumon name and trademarks with him. The promotion subsequently changed its name to Dragon Gate and declared CIMA (the last one to hold the Ultimo Dragon Gym Title) its first Open the Dream Gate (singles) Champion. Since then, the promotion has gained a steady following in Japan (as well as a cult following in the United States) and has been in full-time operation since its separation from Toryumon in 2004.
Stars from the promotion have also made appearances on the United States independent wrestling scene, most notably with the Ring of Honor promotion, where stars from the company competed in the Dragon Gate Invasion show on August 27, 2005 in Buffalo, New York Dragon Gate Challenge on March 30, 2006 in Detroit, Michigan and Supercard of Honor and Better than Our Best in Chicago, IL on March 31 and April 1, 2006, respectively. A six-man match pitting Blood Generation against Do-Fixer at "Supercard of Honor" on March 31 in Chicago Ridge, IL was very well received by both fans and critics, making it one of only a handful of North American matches that wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer has given a five-star rating.
Both Ring of Honor's "All Star Extravaganza III" on March 30 and "Supercard of Honor II" on March 31, 2007 in Detroit, Michigan featured Dragon Gate in the main events.
Dragon Gate has appeared frequently with Hawaii's Action Zone Wrestling (AZW) with their first appearance happening on Sept. 5, 2007 at the event titled "Showdown". CIMA, Dragon Kid, Susumu Yokosuka, Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, BxB Hulk and Shingo Takagi have all appeared on AZW live events since then.
[edit] Roster
The company's roster is split into several factions, with all but a handful of competitors in the promotion aligned with one faction or another. Wrestlers most recognizable to North American fans include Magnum TOKYO, Dragon Kid, CIMA, Genki Horiguchi and Shingo Takagi (among others).
[edit] Real Hazard[edit] Typhoon
[edit] Tozawa-juku
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[edit] WORLD-1[edit] Mushozoku
[edit] Unaffliated
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[edit] Notable Alumni |
[edit] Championships
| Championship | Current champion(s) | Date won |
|---|---|---|
| Open the Dream Gate | CIMA | July 1, 2007 |
| Open the Brave Gate | Gamma | April 27, 2008 |
| Open the Triangle Gate | Gamma, Shingo Takagi and YAMATO | May 14, 2008 |
| Open the Twin Gate | Ryo Saito and Susumu Yokosuka | May 5, 2008 |
| Open the Owarai Gate | Jackson Florida | February 2, 2008 |
Defunct Championships
| Championship | Last Champion(s) | Date won |
|---|---|---|
| I-J Heavyweight Tag Team Championship | Naruki Doi & Masato Yoshino | October 12, 2007 |
(I-J Heavyweight Tag Team Championship unified with Open the Twin Gate Championship)
[edit] External links
- Official site in Japanese
- Toryumon/Dragon Gate Title Histories
- DGUSA, A Toryumon and Dragon Gate fansite
- Dragon Gate show reviews by Brad Garoon
- Mad Splash - Not a fan site but has some Toryumon/DG stuff
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