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

125

Open the Owarai Gate Title: Jackson Florida © vs. “Hollywood” Stalker Ichikawa

For those unfamiliar, Jackson’s gimmick is that he’s the broken down, crippled remains of the 2004/2005 Florida Brothers faction. And he’s so crippled that he falls all over the place in dramatic fashion. He wrestles with a crutch that he never lets go of and does many crutch related spots. Perfect for a comedy match such as this. If you don’t know Stalker then get the hell out of my column, I don’t wanna associate with your kind.

Anyway, the match was hilarious and Jackson took his usual TERRIFYING bumps (eg Undertaker rope walk -> slip -> bounce off ropes -> land head first on apron). A crutch assisted backslide got the duke and Mr. Florida takes home da gold!

Masato Yoshino, PAC & m.c.KZ. vs. Dragon Kid, Taku Iwasa & Kenshin Chikano

Kenshin, of course is one of the two rookies that have debuted in recent weeks. He makes a hell of a babyface on look alone. One of the most glaring things about this match was how much KZ has improved. He’s wrestling with a bit of a swagger now which is great to see. The four established guys were as good as you’d expect (i.e. friggin GREAT)….. Yoshino is on a different plane to literally 99.999% of wrestlers, it’s getting ridiculous to be honest. And PAC ain’t that far off either. He’s becoming one of the smoothest flyers ever. The end was based around KZ trying to finish off Kenshin. He looked great doing so, and Kenshin showed some awesome spirit. Unfortunately KZ couldn’t get the job done, so Yoshino said “fuck it, watch this” and shotgun dropkicked a hole through Kenshin’s chest for the win. Awesome TV six man.

Akira Tozawa vs. Youhei Fujita

Youhei is the other rookie that debuted, and I’m starting to think he’s a bit further ahead in the technical department. He looked really damn great here. However he was in there with Tozawa who’s WRESTLING WITH A VENGEANCE right now. Crowd got really into this and I don’t blame them. Tozawa was breaking out sick Saito Suplexes, and Germans, while Youhei debuted a pretty standing moonsault. Everything was stringed together so well. They built to the token young lion gets stuck in a crab spot, and Youhei fought and fought. I was honestly expecting him to tap, but he survived and the crowd went banana. Unfortunately a Bridging German later and it was all she wrote. Really fun match.

The (Youhei) show ended with a segment from a later show where Warriors-5 came out and introduced Fujita as their new member. They renamed him RYOMA.

Loved this episode. Like it said at the outset, there wasn’t much major stuff on it, but we got three REALLY enjoyable matches and the two rookies were established perfectly.

Infinity 125 – 8/10

The story going into this was that Ryosuka may not have had a stable anymore, but they still had each other and they felt that was all they needed to get another run with the Twin Gate. YAMATO and Kong have been the most dominant champs in many months so they were gonna be hard to knock off. The match was as good as you’d expect when you’ve got the two best sellers in the company and two of the best heels beating their asses down. When it looked like Susumu and Ryo had things going their way, we were dealt with a huge shock. As Susumu had the pin, the referee was pulled out of the ring by RYO! The crowd gasped but the genius was that Susumu didn’t know what happened. He called his partner back into the ring for a double team. Everyone in the building but Susumu knew Ryo was dirty and then with his back turned we got this awesome visual as HEEL RYO was about to strike:

Ryo blue-boxed his partner, and one YAMATO Galleria later and the deal was done. Saito had joined Real Hazard and he and his new allies put the boots to Susumu until a surprise intruder made the save – Gamma!

2. Open the Triangle Gate Title: Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii & Magnitude Kishiwada (c) vs. Shingo Takagi, Dragon Kid & Taku Iwasa

The main event was another great Zetsurins match in what has been a superb couple of months for them. Kid was there to take a beating, Shingo was there for the hard hitting exchanges and Iwasa was there to once again step the F up in Mochi’s face. Towards the end the action was at a frantic pace, as you’d expect from a DG tag. Not surprisingly, it came down to Mochi and Taku and finally the upstart got the pin over the vet. With that we had new Triangle Gate champs. KAMIKAZE were sitting atop the Dragon Gate world.

Overall a very good episode with a phenomenal angle turning Ryo and two enjoyable matches.

Infinity 122 – 8

123

1. Naruki Doi, Naoki Tanizaki & m.c.KZ vs. Shingo Takagi, Dragon Kid & Taku Iwasa

Non-title match here for the Triangle Gate champs. They went about 13 minutes at a heck of a pace. KZ was impressive. He’s really coming along nicely and has a ton of personality. Doi and Shingo tore into each other as always and it was great. Can’t wait for them to meet up again in singles. Fingers crossed it happens. A crazy dive sequence near the end left Taku and Naoki in the ring, and surprisingly it was Naoki who picked up a BIG win for him. Post match Real Hazard attacked and a World-1 vs. KAMIKAZE vs. Real Haz match was set up for the belts at Sumo Hall.

2. Open the Twin Gate Unified Tag Title:
YAMATO & Cyber Kong (c) vs. Gamma & Susumu Yokosuka

Best Infinity match in weeks here. The heat the heels got on Gamma was unreal. The crowd were going nuts. When Susumu made the hot tag the roof came off and he went to town with Exploder Suplexes and lariats. RH got the advantage back and then for the second week running we got an awesome creative turn. As the heels were doing the train spot in the corner, KAGETORA out of nowhere changed directions and hit Arai. Gammasuka took over and finished off Kong to become NEW Twin Gate champions!

Gamma got on the mic and informed a dejected RH crew that he KAGE and Susumu were a new unit, but there was one more member…… I….. LIKE…. COOOOOLAAAA!!! hit the speakers and out came the returning CIMA! The look on YAMATO’s face was worth a zillion bucks. He looked like a 4 year old who just had their favourite teddy bear carved up with a fork. The new unit announced their name as Warriors-5 and member number five would be revealed in due time.

Awwwwesome episode here. Two great matches and another really hot angle, much like last week.

Infinity 123 – 8.5