A sold out crowd showed up for the first authentic Dragon Gate show on UK soil, and the final leg of the company’s European tour. Some quick notes first on the non-match related stuff:

-The meet & greet was remarkably well run. Mark Sloan and his crew did a great job organising it and the wrestlers were really great and friendly. Everyone got tons of awesome photos and autographs.

-The venue was very cool and helped in creating a great atmosphere. It’s definitely somewhere I’d love to watch wrestling again.

-Aside from a couple of sound issues, the production was first class. Looked very very sharp.

Dark Match: Stixx vs. The Lion Kid

Lion Kid gimmick got over huge in, what I believe was it’s debut. Total big man vs. little man match and they put together some cool stuff. I particularly liked Stixx’s shoulder block based offence – he hit some big big tackles, including an awesome one to the back of Kid who was sitting on the apron. There was a lot of flying and catching which for the most part looked good, but none of it was as good as the KILLER Boss Man Slam by Stixx towards the finish. Finish played off that, as he went for another and was cradled for three. Fun match!

1. Real Hazard (Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito) vs. Jonny Storm & Marty Scurrl

Went way longer and was way better than I expected (and I was expecting a good match to begin with). Genki was absolutely hilarious throughout – he’s such a fun live act, getting offended at H-A-G-E chants, slipping odff the ropes, selling the twisting of his dreadlocks and repeatedly seeking comfort from Ryo. Both Brits looked right at home in there with the DG vets, and Scurrl in particular with how young he is, could really fit nicely into the roster in a way similar to PAC and The Young Bucks. Dude has tons of potential. The match was real fun interactive babyface/heel stuff for the first two thirds, but then they went nuts down the stretch with some big BIG moves like a German Suplex into the corner, a tope into a tornado DDT, a SWEET brainbuster by Genki and plenty more. Finish after all that was a double low blow by Ryo, but trust me, it worked. His reaction after getting the pin was awesome! Crowd ate this up.

2. KAGETORA vs. Mark Haskins

Haskins, unlike his compatriots in the first match, was working as a heel and did a very nice job! He had a valet (Kelly Adams) who was actually really really good in her role, particularly by current valet standards. Haskins controlled the majority of the match and there were a lot of teased comebacks for KAGE. He hit some of his trademark moves down the stretch like the KAGE Combo and the SUWA clothesline, but it was Haskins who got the (upset) win with a crazy pumphandle tombstone type move. Good match. KAGETORA seemed to be having the time of his life (he really loved the crowd response).

3. Dragon Kid vs. Masato Yoshino

Exactly what you’d expect from these two. They had a hell of a match, building it up slow with lots of awesome technical exchanges. When they kicked it up a gear in the second half, the crowd started going wild. Dragon Kid busted out his Bermuda Triangle moonsault, which is a sight to see live. Yoshino got a big nearfall off a Lightning Spiral. They did a bunch of moves and counters that they have never done in their prior matches. My particular favourite being a sick Yoshino counter into a Powerbomb. Finish was a Malenko/Eddy rollup sequence which Kid got the better of and held Yoshi down for 3. Standing ovation for both men.

4. Shingo vs. Susumu Yokosuka

This match was a work of art. Professional wrestling at it’s absolute best and it proved once again that Shingo is one of the best wrestlers in the world and Susumu is EASILY the most under-appreciated wrestler in the world. Susumu targeted Shingo’s knee and picked it apart in beautiful fashion. Whenever Shingo tried to mount a comeback, Susumu cut him off with some kind of clever knee attack. At one point, Shingo pulled down his kneepad, screamed “COME ON!!!” and dared Susumu to do his worst. The crowd popped huge for that. Yokosuka worked a nice Figure 4, complete with Keiji Muto poses. Shingo fought through it though. When he finally made his comeback, we started to get what I think everyone knew this match would turn into – an absolutely BRUTAL exchange of every strike in the book. They exchanged lariats in the most awesome fashion, they had a SICKENING forearm battle, Shingo punched Susumu right in the face and then they started dropping bigger lariat bombs that got some big nearfalls.

The moment of the match was Shingo repeatedly nailing Susumu with hard shots and Susumu walking forward like a zombie, no selling it and pushing Shingo back against the ropes, at which point Susumu lost his mind and DESTROYED SHINGO’S FACE with lariats and elbows. I (along with the rest of the crowd) was losing my mind at this point. Everyone was screaming and jumping up and down like crazy. They got one huge false finish each (Shingo with the MADE IN JAPAN and Susumu with the Mugen) before Yokosuka finally delivered the final blow – a falling Jumbo No Katchi lariat into a pin. Probably a ****3/4 match for me but I’m sure there are people in the crowd who’d have given it the full five.

Oh and Shingo did this match while suffering a serious serious flu. The man is a machine.

5. The Young Buck$ & CIMA vs. BxB Hulk, PAC & Naruki Doi

The Dragon Gate 6 man – the match that I think the majority of the crowd were anticipating most – did not disappoint. Quite frankly it didn’t even come close to disappointing. From BxB Hulk’s amazing entrance (complete with 3 verrrrry lovely young ladies) to the final bell, these 6 guys had the crowd in the palms of their hands. There were a million hilarious moments courtesy of CIMA (who was as over as anyone on the show except PAC). He started a “CIMA Jackson” chant at one point. Then when PAC entered the ring to an enormous ovation, CIMA sssshhhhh’d the crowd and made an announcement which was “everybody, LOOK AT THIS” and he proceeded to do regular pushups, clapping pushups and over the head clapping pushups (which I will attest to being impossible), and then gave PAC the floor. PAC got one pushup in before CIMA stomped him and did the Warriors-5 “Oooooo!” pose (which is the most over thing in wrestling as of November 2009).

Various guys got isolated at different times and were worked over in highly entertaining fashion by their opponents. The Bucks got to do a bunch of their cool double teams. The finishing stretch was glorious. Too many amazing spots too remember all of them (which makes me really stoked to see this again on DVD) but I’ll do my best to note the key stuff. PAC and the Jacksons (who had never wrestled each other prior to this) were left alone in the ring and did some incredible stuff together culminating in an out of nowhere twisting dive by PAC. Naruki Doi hit his signature moves like the Dai Bosou, the Doi555 and the Bakatare Sliding Kick. CIMA and the Bucks put together a great combo of CIMA’s Superdrol and Nick’s slingshot X-Factor, but topped even that with a spear-double stomp-moonsault-springboard splash combo. Yes I was of course, freaking out at this point. We got a couple of insanely awesome nearfalls with the biggest coming off the More Bang For Your Buck which was broken up at 2.999999 by BxB. The finish saw BxB lay out Nick with an EVO, followed instantly by PAC coming off the top with the 360 Shooting Star Press (an unbelievable move). Amazing match, that again if you were to give a star rating to, I’d say something like ****3/4.

Post match was really really cool. PAC cut an awesome promo thanking the fans. The whole roster (aside from Ryo and Genki, the heels) came out and all bowed to the crowd. CIMA went around the crowd and slapped hands with close to everyone. PAC announced that DG would return to the UK again!

I couldn’t have asked for anything more from a wrestling show than I got from this. It was a special, special event and my hats off to everyone involved from Mark Sloan (who worked tirelessly on this project) to the Dragon Gate office to the wrestlers to all the staff. Oh and to all the fans who created an unbelievable atmosphere. To echo the words of PAC – “domo arigato gozaimasu”.

Sandwiched between the best pro wrestling TV show of the year the week prior and a Korakuen show the next week, Infinity 146 looked to be a pretty low key show. However it turned out to be one of the most solid episodes of the year from start to finish. The show featured the two main matches from the tour show at the always lively Osaka Prefectural Gymnasium #2.

Shingo & YAMATO vs. Naruki Doi & Naoki Tanisaki
This match pitted the company’s current singles champs (who did a lovely double belt pose pre-match) against the #1 contenders to the tag titles. If you didn’t get enough Tani last week, there was plenty more for you here. The KAMIKAZE team isolated him early and he did what he does best – create sympathy. Doi eventually got his usual hot tag and we got a very fun finishing stretch which came down to Shingo and Naoki. They laid it in hard, including some sick headbutts which Naoki busted himself open with. The finish was awesome as Shingo turned him inside out, and I mean INSIDE OUT with an insane lariatoooo and then put him down with the Made In Japan. Good match.

RealHaz attacked post-match to build to the Twin Gate match at Korakuen and also Tani’s first Brave Gate defence against “Mr. Brave Gate” Genki Horiguchi.

Non-title Match: Masato Yoshino, BxB Hulk & PAC vs. CIMA, Gamma & Susumu Yokosuka
Crowd was H.O.T. for this from the get go. Lots of things going on here. Yoshino and PAC were having a personal game of one-upmanship for the title of GREATEST WRESTLER ON PLANET EARTH AT THIS VERY MOMENT, Gamma appeared to have taken the last protein bar at lunch and BxB was NOT happy about it so he was all uppity at him, CIMA was working his ass off as he usually does in multi-mans and Susumu was just being Susumu – keeping everything flowing as it should, catching flying dudes and throwin’ some choice lariats.

The match was quality, your typical really good DG 6 man. Not quite the level they get to when in front of a crazy US crowd or at a big DG PPV, but still better than 95% of the wrestling than you saw this month. Like I said, PAC and Yoshi were just outstanding. These guys are just the most mindblowing athletes in the world. We got the big finishing stretch that you’d expect and it was Susumu (who’s getting a push) who got the deciding pin over PAC with the Mugen.

Over the credits we got footage of Ryo Saito tying up Yoshino in a rope while Araken posed. I love Real Hazard.

I should mention that the new Infinity theme by THE PIXY CHICKS is without doubt the grandest wrestling TV show music going. You just have to hear it.

Infinity 145 – 8/10

Yup, we haven’t had too many of these in recent weeks, due to pesky real life issues clogging up my time, but I have been INSPIRED to write a new review this week. That inspiration has come from one man named Naoki Friggin Tanizaki, my absolute favourite wrestler in the history of the world (this week). Infinity 145, eminating from Hakata Star Lanes, was the Naoki show. Well actually it was the Naoki & His Daughter Show. The show centered around the Open The Brave Gate tournament to crown a new champ. We had two semi final three ways with the winners meeting in the final.

Naoki Tanizaki vs. Kzy vs. Super Shiisa

I’m not the hugest fan of three ways and triple threats anymore, but this was fun and kept nice and short. Kzy heeled it up with the help of his Real Hazard buddies at ringside (he’s really fitting into the rudo role nicely) and I think most of the crowd expected him to advance past veteran lower carder Shiisa, and the man who Kzy beat at World, Tanizaki. They were right as far as Shiisa went, as he was pinned after a mask-jacking by Kzy. However they were very wrong as far as Naoki went. He battled past the RH interference to snatch a win and move to the final. Post match he was beatdown bigtime by chair shots and a Kzy-Time (Canadian Destroyer from the corner).

KAGETORA vs. Tozawa vs. Super Shenlong

Again, same kinda deal. Short snappy three way. Shelong did some funny stuff before being booted and it came down to the two more senior members. Both KAGE and Tozawa have been kept pretty strong this year so it was anyone’s guess who’d advance. Lots of cool stuff exchanged down the stretch with Tozawa’s Germans being particularly choice. KAGE hooked him out of nowhere in his high speed cradle of doom that he’s been beating people with, and Tozawa was done.

Final – KAGETORA vs. Naoki Tanizaki

Tani is of course banged up coming in after the RH attack, and KAGE doesn’t waste any time getting control by working over the injured neck. Basically the first 7 or 8 minutes are all just KAGETORA picking him apart with innovative holds and other hurty stuff. With certain guys this could be boring, but when you have Naoki selling like he’s being water-boarded by Jack Bauer, it’s all good. Add in the bonus of young Yuki Tanizaki (who couldn’t have been more than 3 years old) in the crowd with Mom, looking completely worried for Daddy and the scene just gets that bit more dramatic. They started teasing comebacks throughout the middle of the match and then by the time they got down to the last 5/6 minutes the Lanes fans were starting to rock. Down the stretch it was just all big moves and 2.999999999 cradles. Naoki kept looking for his knee strikes out of desperation and KAGE just kept looking to deliver that one big final blow that would keep the pesky Tanizaki down. A DDT on the apron didn’t do it, an Ikkitousen didn’t do it and even Naoki’s own Beach Break being used on him didn’t do it.

Poor Yuki was in floods of tears at this point and a more humane individual than myself may feel that was not good. I thought it was pretty great. PRO WRES EMOTION~!!~!! Little kiddies SHOULD be crying. God knows I cried when Earthquake cut a promo saying he was coming to MY town. She even mouthed “Papa” at one point during her distress. Awesome. Naoki was meanwhile selling his guts off in the ring and just looking for any opening to give him even a small chance of winning. A HYOOOGE Beach Break of his own got him back in the game but he was too tired to hold the cover. Damage was done though, as KAGE was looking pretty out of it. The next big nearfall came, ingeniously, with the high speed cradle of doom and every man, woman and child in the building bought it. Such a huge pop for Naoki kicking out. A series of running knees nearly put KAGE away, but more was needed. A killer rolling sole butt to face got a 2.999, but Tanizaki FEELING THE MOMENTUM, hoisted KAGE up for a second Beach Break, this time holding the pin for the 1-2-3. The crowd erupted, Naoki collapsed with joy, Doi, Yoshino and Hulk (who were going batshit insane at ringside) hit the ring and then in maybe the wrestling moment of the year, the camera cut to Yuki looking overjoyed, raising her arm in the air, and then later cooly making a peace sign towards the camera. Naoki brought her into the ring for the post match speech and it was one of the happiest scenes I’ve ever seen in wrestling.

Gotta give credit to the man who was kind of overshadowed following the match – KAGETORA. He wrestled a hell of a match, guiding the thing from start to finish and really putting Tani over huge.

Not just the best Infinity this year, but one of my favourite ever.

Infinity 145 – 9.5/10

The W-5 show was bags of fun.

-Rocker/Wrassler Ricky Fuji did an awesome concert with all the wrestlers at ringside and Great Sasuke doing awesome air guitar and air drums.

-Pretty solid tag with KAGE and Susumu taking on some of the M-Pro guys.

-Main event was one of the funniest matches of the year. I had a smile on my face the whole time. Good action too! I really like OMEGA.

142

Susumu Yokosuka & KAGETORA vs. CIMA & Gamma

Teammates collide in wonderful wonderful gear!!!! Seriously CIMA and Gamma’s get-up needs to be seen to be believed. Fun brawling, and plenty of W-5 antics which have really grown on me. “OOOOOO!”. Nice action down the stretch, CIMA was going for the kill on KAGE and he got caught with an AWESOME cradle that I’ve never seen before. Good match.

Highlights

Naruki Doi, Naoki Tanisaki{W} (6:52 Implant) Akira Tozawa{L}, Dragon Kid

Yasushi Kanda, Kenichiro Arai{W} (10:03 Low Blow->Samson Clutch) Masato Yoshino{L}, BxB Hulk

Two fun looking matches here. Would have like to see non-clipped versions. Points of note include Naoki de-pantsing himself for the finish (his unique way of debuting new gear) and Araken attacking a BxB dancer (which is a first to my knowledge).

YAMATO & Shingo Takagi vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Katsuhiko Nakajima

This is like as saliva inducing a match as I could have fathomed. And it lived up to the hype. Awesome, hard hitting match. Really great chemistry between the teams and they busted out lots of cool stuff like the TOPÉ MASAAKI (which I adore). Came down to Shingo and Kats with the time limit ticking down. Great finishing stretch, with brutal forearms from Takagi and kicks from Nakajima. Big pull apart after the time limit expired.

Funny skit with Speed Muscle in Philadelphia trying to rent a car closed the show.

Overall a really fun episode. One of the best of the year.

Infinity 142 – 8.5/10

Dragon Kid, Taku Iwasa & Akira Tozawa vs. Masato Yoshino, BxB Hulk & Naoki Tanizaki

Short and sweet trios action designed to get Taku over on his big return. It did just that as he looked like a beast finishing Tani with a series of lariats and a Noshigami. The interaction between Kid and Yoshino in this was as friggin awesome as ever, and made my pants just a tad moist in anticipation of the DGUSA show in Philadelphia. Post match saw Iwasa challenge Yoshino for the Triangle at World. He accepted. Tozawa screamed…. alot.

Akebono vs. Gamma

Well this ruled, but honestly would you expect anything different. Highlights include Akebono getting the Evian Treatment with an assist from KAGE, Gamma beating Bono over the head with the water bottle, Gamma attempting a big scoop slam on Bono, Bono returning the Evian Treatment in kind, a kendo stick tug of war (which Gamma lost), many squishings, sarcastic clapping by Bono and many more squishings.

Phenomenal match. I demand a Best Of 51 Series between the two.

Open the Brave Gate Title, No Ropes Match: CIMA © vs. Kenichiro Arai

Araken looked asleep as per usual and he started the match by just standing in front of CIMA and letting him kick the shit out of him, like me when I play my 6 year old cousin in PS2 wrestling games. Then out of nowhere Arai dodged a kick and CIMA nailed the post, PSYCH! Fine way to get the heat. The heat consisted of throwing CIMA outside the ring, holding him while a pantsless Cyber Kong poured whiskey down his throat, then duct taping him to the ring post. Pantsless man, forced alcohol consumption, duct tape….. sounds like your average date.

Anywho, CIMA was counted out and Arai was the new champ. Fans weren’t down with this. As Real Hazard tried to exit stage left, Big Baby Bono cut them off at the pass and demanded a restart. So a restart we got. We got more RH and W5 interference than you can shake a stick at, and many many props came into play. First we had this little trolly thing that both men took things flying out of the ring on (this looked to fuck CIMA up), we had a spanner which Arai put in his wrist tape, we had a ladder which Arai used to channel Terry Funk and then Kanda used for an awesome John Woo and of course we had much shenanigans surrounding Araken’s beer bottle.

Finish was pretty amazing to be honest. About 6 men held together a structure of tables and ladders that I’m not going to even attempt to describe, and then CIMA jumped off another ladder onto the structure which was on top of Araken. So cool. One Schwein and one Meteora (off a post) later and CIMA retained the Brave Gate.

Post match Doi challenged CIMA for a double title match at the main event of World.

Overall I enjoyed this show. It was very much on the gimmicky side of things, but I don’t mind that every once in a while. Especially when it’s entertaining, and this was.

Infinity 138 – 7.5/10

137

1. Ryo Saito & Genki Horiguchi vs. CIMA & Gamma

Real Hazard’s Twin Gate wasn’t on the line here, but the story was that if the boys from W-5 won then they’d be getting a title shot soon. Match was pretty decent. Lots of interference as one would expect. I feel like I haven’t seen CIMA and Genki wrestle in ages, and I had forgotten how well they mesh. The action down the stretch was alot of fun as DR. MUSCLE of all people hit the ring seemingly to attack CIMA, but suddenly he laid out RH with lariats and unmasked to reveal Susumu Yokosuka. Gamma rolled up Ryo for the pin. Post match Saito and Susumu set up a single match for the next Korakuen.

2. Naruki Doi (c) vs. Masato Yoshino – Open The Dream Gate

Easily the biggest match on Infinity this year, as SPEED MUSCLE EXPLODES. Let’s hope they’re not calling each other out in raps 20 years from now.

The early stages were tentative, telling the story that both wrestlers knew how dangerous the other was. Doi was the first one to raise the pace by hitting a huge topé to the rail. Yoshino hurt his leg in the process and Doi went to work for the next several minutes. Yoshino was looking in trouble until he saw an opening to attack Doi’s arm. So we had both guys selling injuries and taking turns of having control. It was good stuff so far.

Things got more heated as it started to come down to strike exchanges. The crowd sensing the difference in the action started to get more and more into it and popped big for some close nearfalls. They were both attempting signature moves, but being partners, each guy knew what was coming and had a counter. Doi was the first one to bust out something new, countering a Lightning Spiral by hitting a BIG running turnbuckle Powerbomb. As he looked to finish Yoshi off with his Muscular Bomb, the Speed Star regrouped and finally hit his Lightning Spiral for a big nearfall.

They were at a stalemate when they met on the top turnbuckle to duke it out. Yoshino surprisingly outstruck the more heavy hitting Doi and went for his spring board Sling Blade but Doi caught him and hit a huge Avalanche Doi555. Yoshino, fueled by adrenaline, jumped right back to his feet saying “COME ON PARTNER, IT’LL TAKE MORE THAN THAT”. They traded more nearfalls with Yoshino coming scary close with various Torbellino cradles. He then locked in the Sol Naciente submission but Doi fought out and hit an awesome Release Tiger Suplex. He followed it up with a Bakatare Sliding Kick, a series of slaps and another Bakatare for the pin.

Phenomenal match. Really smartly worked in the early stages and out of this world action down the stretch. ****1/2 if I’m to put a rating on it.

As the show went off the air we got brief clips of mcKZ and Naoki Tanizaki miscommunicating and then making up, and then we had our weekly visit with the Open The Handsome Gate champions plugging various happy fun things to us.

Infinity 137 – 9/10 (Best of the year, pretty much all due to the main)

Dragon Gate USA Inc. Commemoration Bonus Match: BxB Hulk & PAC vs. Naruki Doi & Naoki Tanizaki

If like me, you like THE MOOOVS, then you’ll love this match. All four guys are crisp as hell doing all this mind blowing stuff. PAC is the star in my opinion. He’s easily become the best flyer I’ve ever seen. The stuff he does is unreal. Tanizaki was the glue of the match, holding things together and making sure everything transitioned right. BxB and PAC won after a Shooting Star Kneedrop followed by an E.V.O.P followed by an Inside Out 450 Splash. Got all that?

Cyber Kong vs. Masato Yoshino

Oh what a glorious match this was. These two have the best big man/little man chemistry in wrestling right now. Kong attacked before the bell and squeezed a pineapple all over Yoshi. Awwwwesome. He fired some pineapple debris at the crowd which I would think would hurt if it dinged me in the face. Kong controlled most of the match but Yoshino exposed the weakness of the big man’s often injured arm to gain openings for himself. After some nice exchanges down the stretch, Yoshino trapped Cyber in the Sol Naciente Kai for the submission and the giant killing.

Post match Yoshino challenged his partner Doi for the Dream Gate at World. The crowd went banana, and as Doi was about to accept Gamma hit the ring saying he should be getting the shot. Thus Yoshino/Gamma was signed for #1 Contendership.

YAMATO vs. Don Fujii

As great as these two men were here, they were trumped by the greatest man of the day – SUPER SHENLONG. Yes you heard that right. After Yamato forced a double countout two minutes in, Shenlong hit the ring and got all firey and demanded a restart. So the match resumed and there was much interference from Real Hazard and Shenlong. The highlight of this was a series of EPIC FAILS by SS on everything he tried. It was glorious. Needs to be seen to be believed. Eventually it was a screwup on the heel side (Genki hitting Yammy with protein powder) that led to Don getting the cradle pin.

Tremendously entertaining show. You get a great fast paced match, a great big man/little man match, and a …… well I don’t know what to call YAMATO/Don but it was most definitely great.

Infinity 132 – 8/10

127

1. Dragon Kid & Akira Tozawa vs. Gamma & Susumu Yokosuka

This match concerned me. Warriors-5 were waaaaaay too schticky for my liking here. I have no problem with Gamma being a part of the group but I don’t want the group to become a “Gamma Group” per se. They need to tone down that stuff, it really took from this match alot.

2. Akebono vs. Masaaki Mochizuki

Fun squash to get BIG BABY ‘BONO over. Mochi won’t be hurt by this whatsoever. No problemo.

3. YAMATO, Yasushi Kanda & Ryo Saito vs.
Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk

Your average good DG 6 Man with the focus on building Hulk vs. Yamato. Kanda took the fall after some Speed Muscle double team offence. Post match Doi called for a Dream Gate challenger that has never fought for the belt before. Much to his surprise, out walked Akebono. OH SHIT SON! Doi initially looked petrified but then manned up and got all up in the giants face.

What a weird title match we have on our hands.

Weaker than usual Infinity but still perfectly acceptable pro wrestling.

Infinity 127 – 6.5/10

128

YAMATO & Ryo Saito vs. Masaaki Mochizuki & Don Fujii

Really fun tag. YAMATO/Mochi interaction is always awesome and this was no exception. Ryo continues to settle nicely into his rudo role and the Big Don was his usual charismatic self. Ryo got the duke over Fuji but his celebration was cut short when Killer Hulk hit the ring and laid him out, but then YAMATO took the opportunity to attack Killer and challenge him for Aichi.

Open the Triangle Gate Title: Shingo Takagi, Dragon Kid & Taku Iwasa (c) vs. CIMA, Gamma & KAGETORA

This was great great stuff. Towards the end we started to get some bigtime Korakuen heat and KAGETORA was wrestling like a man possessed. It was tremendous. He was eating big moves like he was starving but ‘KAZE couldn’t put him down. Eventually CIMA and Gamma came to his rescue and KAG started to turn things around leading to getting a big pinfall win with a SICK Sheer Drop Kekonitteki on Taku. New champs! Little to no Warriors-5 schtick, which is a GOOD thing.

Infinity 128 – 8/10

129

Shingo Takagi, Dragon Kid & Akira Tozawa vs. YAMATO, Yasushi Kanda, Cyber Kong

OMG Tozawa vs. YAMMY~!~! This was seriously the greatest thing ever – crazy shrieking, butt butts, random laughter, YAMATO’s smirk, duct tape … I could go on. Surrounding the craziness there was one heck of a TV tag match. Cyber pinned Tozawa with a God damn Ultimae Warrior splash. Unbelievable.

Open the Twin Gate Unified Tag Title Contendership Tournament
- Final: Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk vs. Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito

Doinkloads of interference but for the most part it worked. Crowd was really into the big nearfalls and such down the stretch. They played up Cyber laying out Yoshino multiple times to further their feud nicely. World-1 became overwhelmed by interference so Doi tried to help his buddies and nailed Ryo with a Bakakare but it only got a nearfall. It came down to BxB and Ryo and eventually BxB was put down by a Double-Cross. Good match.

Infinity 129 – 8/10

126

Fukui City Gymnasium
1,250 Fans

Cyber Kong & Yasushi Kanda vs. Naruki Doi & Naoki Tanizaki

First time I’ve ever seen DG in this building. Pretty cool looking and the crowd rules. So anyway, yeah A NAOKI TANIZAKI MATCH~!, let the greatness roll. Kong looked good being all powerhousy and Kanda was good in the general type roll for his team. Naoki sold his ass off and brought the charisma and energy. The hot tag to Doi was awesome as he’s up there with Roderick Strong when it comes to great houses of fire. Real Hazard won after a PINEAPPLE BOMBER, and a newly bald Anthony Dubyah Mori hit the ring to get him some but he was overwhelmed. The save was made by Masato Yoshino of all people, and the crowd went nutrageous.

YAMATO & Ryo Saito vs. Masato Yoshino & BxB Hulk

Yoshino got a ridiculous pop for his entrance. It’s not his hometown so I dunno what the deal is. For some reason watching Hulk wrestle seemed very fresh. Maybe he hasn’t been on alot of episodes recently, I dunno. YAMMY and Ryo make a heck of a sleaze ball team. Hulk had some new offence such as a Flipping Capture Suplex which was rad. Ryo pinned BxB with a new finisher called THE DOUBLECROSS (picture armed crossed Razors Edge). Post match promo’s building to YAMATO and Hulk down the line.

Shingo Takagi, Dragon Kid & Akira Tozawa vs. CIMA, Gamma & KAGETORA

Main event time and this was awesome. W-5 are so entertaining and KAGE is a beast of a worker. The KAMIKAZE side, of course as we all know is beyond awesome. Lots of heat between Shingo and KAGE here, God how much would that singles match rule. CIMA continued to look good since his latest comeback, which is a good sign since he doesn’t appear to be getting a reduced role or anything. Anyway finish came down to KAGE and Tozawa and the former Juku leader put up his usual good fight until KAGE put him down with the Ikkitousen.

Afterwards we got a big brawl breaking out between about 12 guys on the roster and it was great because it solidified that all the factions are at war with each other.

Really good episode. Loved all the matches, and the crowd was hot.

Infinity 126 – 8/10

We would like to comment on several topics that have been addressed by outside sources over the past week in regards to Ring of Honor. This will be our only public comment in regards to these issues.

First, Alex Whybrow’s (Larry Sweeney) claim that he is owed money from ROH. Mr. Whybrow is under contract with Ring of Honor. His contract clearly states that he is paid “X” amount of dollars when he appears for Ring of Honor. Mr. Whybrow has been paid in full for all dates in which he has performed in front of Ring of Honor fans. Any claims in regards to payment for dates in which he has been unable to perform is not in accordance with his ROH contract. Everybody at Ring of Honor would like to wish Alex the best of luck in dealing with his current issues.

Secondly, CIMA from the Dragon Gate promotion in Japan has made claims that Ring of Honor owes Dragon Gate money from our Sept. 2008 show stating “Some of the ROH wrestlers’ airfare and their guarantees were supposed be shared between two companies, but the promise had never been kept.” This statement is false. All Ring of Honor talent was paid in full for these events along with their airfare. CIMA and the Dragon Gate promotion are very well aware of what agreements they did not live up to in regards to the ROH/Dragon Gate show and why we choose to no longer do business with them.

Sweeney was spotted in Houston wanting to work but was escorted out of the building. I was told by several people there that he dressed rather awkwardly. I suspect Sweeney will not be working for Ring of Honor anytime soon. As for Dragon Gate, I broke the story on AngryMarks.com months ago that the Dragon Gate / ROH business relationship is no more and that CIMA is currently shopping deals in the United States to distribute Dragon Gate.

As I wrote in my column, if Danielson does indeed decide to pursue other interests, will there be much left to enjoy? The severing of the relationship between ROH and DG might be costly. Many experts such as our own Alan and Derek Burgan have said that ROH’s best show of 2008 (some say of all time), was Supercard of Honor III in Orlando last year, headlined by Dragon Gate talent. Dragon Gate also allowed ROH to promote in Japan and allow their workers to get a rub from the Japanese talent. All of that is out the window.

Is it just me or does the company seem to be falling apart piece by piece?

Credit to PWinsider.com for the quotes.