Dragon Gate

This article is about the Japanese wrestling promotion. For the American branch of DRAGON GATE, see Dragon Gate USA. For the computer game, please see Dragon's Gate.

Dragon Gate

Acronym	DG
Founded	1997
Style	Professional wrestling Puroresu Lucha Libre
Headquarters	Kobe, Japan
Founder(s)	Último Dragón
Formerly	Toryumon Japan

Dragon Gate (ドラゴンゲート, Doragon Gēto^?) is a Japanese professional wrestling promotion formerly known as Toryumon Japan. Most of Dragon Gate's wrestlers are graduates from Último Dragón'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.

Dragon Gate is often associated with Mexico, as it is based on Mexican wrestling style, and many wrestlers in Dragon Gate went to Mexico to train there when they were beginners. Dragon Gate's main wrestlers often describe Mexico as their "mecca".

Dragon Gate's event poster in Hakata, Fukuoka on June 21, 2009.

History

In 2004, Último Dragón 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 Último Dragón Gym Championship) 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, Illinois on March 31 and April 1, 2006, respectively. A six-man match pitting CIMA, Naruki Doi and Masato Yoshino of the stable Blood Generation against Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito and Genki Horiguchi of the stable Do-Fixer at "Supercard of Honor" on March 31 in Chicago Ridge, Illinois, 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 Hawaii 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.

In 2008, Dragon Gate promoted their first set of shows in the United States. The first show took place in Los Angeles on September 5 [1] and featured El Generico, Necro Butcher, and Kendo. Their second show was in Hawaii on September 8.

In 2009, Dragon Gate announced it will be making its debut in the United Kingdom with shows promoted with British wrestler Mark Sloan making. Their first show was held on November 1, 2009 in Oxford, England.

Japan's Dragon Gate promotion announced its expansion into the United States with Dragon Gate USA on April 14, 2009 at the Korakuen Hall event in Tokyo. It named Satoshi Oji as the President and Gabe Sapolsky (former Ring of Honor booker) as the Vice President of Dragon Gate USA.

Dragon Gate NEX

Dragon Gate NEX is a project of Dragon Gate, which gives the promising young wrestlers of the promotion the opportunity to collect in addition to the Dragon Gate main show, some experience. Done at the time of Toryumon in Mexico, it will take place at Dragon Gate Dragon Gate in the (training) Arena in the home city of Kobe. At Dragon Gate NEX not only newcomers but also some familiar faces from the main squad can be seen from time to time.

Roster

The company's roster is split into several units, with the majority of the wrestlers aligned with one faction or another. ^[1]

Blood Warriors CIMA (Leader) Akira Tozawa Brodie Lee BxB Hulk Genki Horiguchi Kzy Naoki Tanisaki Naruki Doi Ricochet Ryo Saito Tomahawk T.T Uhaa Nation Yasushi Kanda Junction Three Masaaki Mochizuki (Leader) Dragon Kid Gamma KAGETORA Masato Yoshino PAC Rich Swann Shingo Takagi Super Shisa Susumu Yokosuka YAMATO Notable alumni Anthony W. Mori (Retired) brother YASSHI (Retired) Magnitude Kishiwada (Freelancer) Magnum TOKYO (HUSTLE) Milano Collection A.T. (New Japan/retired) Shuji Kondo (All Japan) SUWA (Retired) Takuya Sugawara (Pro Wrestling Zero1) TARU (All Japan) Yuki Ono (Retired)

Unaffiliated Don Fujii Chihiro Tominaga Cyber Kong Eita Kobayashi "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa Karaoke Machine Keirin Man Keni'chiro Arai Kouji Shishido / Jackson Florida K-ness Kotoka Shachihoko Machine Shisa BOY Super Shenlong II Takafumi Watanabe Takayuki Yagi (Referee and General Manager) / Johnson Florida Taku Iwasa Turboyan Turboness Guests AR Fox Akebono Abdullah the Butcher Black Buffalo The Bodyguard Chuck Taylor Dick Togo El Generico Jack Evans Johnny Gargano Jushin Liger Katsuhiko Nakajima Kevin Steen Mark Haskins Matt Sydal MAZADA Minoru Fujita NOSAWA Rongai Roderick Strong TAKA Michinoku Tigers Mask

Championships

Championship	Current champion(s)	Date won
Open the Dream Gate	Masaaki Mochizuki	April 14, 2011
Open the Triangle Gate	Blood Warriors (Naruki Doi, Naoki Tanisaki and Kzy)	September 2, 2011
Open the Brave Gate	Ricochet	November 19, 2011
Open the Twin Gate	Blood Warriors (CIMA and Ricochet)	July 17, 2011
Open the Owarai Gate	Rich Swann	November 5, 2011

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 on October 12, 2007)}

Annual tournaments

Tournament	Last winner	Last held
King of Gate	BxB Hulk	May 21, 2011
Summer Adventure Tag League	Blood Warriors (Akira Tozawa and BxB Hulk)	August 7, 2011

References

1. ^ USA, Dragon Gate (2009-07-23). "Dragon Gate USA". dgusa.tv. http://www.dgusa.tv/featurearticles9.htm. Retrieved 2009-07-20. 

External links

• Official site in Japanese
• Toryumon/Dragon Gate Title Histories
• Dragon Gate USA Home Page
• I Heart DG Fan Site
• Dragon Gate European Tour in Spain
• Dragon Gate UK Home Page