Dragon Gate Open the Owarai Gate Championship

Open the Owarai Gate
Details
Current champion(s)	Rich Swann
Date won	November 5, 2011
Promotion	Dragon Gate
Date established	May 25, 2007
Statistics Most reigns "Hollywood" Stalk Ichikawa (4 reigns) First champion(s) "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa Longest reign Kikutaro (695 days) Shortest reign Kinta Tamaoka (<1 day) Heaviest champion Masaaki Mochizuki - 194 lb (88 kg) Lightest champion "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa - 92 lb (42 kg)

The Open the Owarai Gate Championship is a professional wrestling title in Japanese promotion Dragon Gate. The word owarai in the title's name is the Japanese word for comedy.

The championship was first conceived during Stalker Ichikawa's first United States tour, joining fellow Dragon Gate wrestlers CIMA, Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino and Don Fujii during the Pro Wrestling Guerrilla two-night event Dynamite Duumvirate Tag Team Title Tournament on May 19 and May 20, 2007 in Burbank, California^[1]. In addition to changing his name to "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa, he also gave birth to the Open the Owarai Gate Championship which he wore during the second night of the event against Top Gun Talwar. The name change and the introduction of the belt was made official on May 25^[2].

The championship is both unique and very unusual. The title is not necessarily defended by traditional methods of simply beating the champion by pinfalls or submission. While such a situation can still happen, the title also has a stipulation regarding audience approval during the match. This means that while the champion could still technically lose the match, he could retain the belt simply by having earning more applause and/or laughter from the audience^[3].

The championship was defended for the first time on June 10 at Hakata Star Lanes in Fukuoka, Fukuoka. In addition, Ichikawa also began by having ten "Free Defense" tickets that would ensure he would always retain the title regardless. However, before his defense against Kikutaro on September 22 at the Ota-ku Gymnasium in Tokyo, the tickets were destroyed and he was forced to defend the belt on his own merit. He was able to successfully retain due to unusual circumstances since, such as his Mother appealing to the crowd and later his opponent feeling sorry.

Title history

Wrestler:	Reigns:	Date:	Location:	Notes:
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa	1	May 25, 2007	Burbank, California	Conceived during a visit to Pro Wrestling Guerrilla; officially defended on June 10 in Fukuoka, Fukuoka.
CIMA	1	October 8, 2007	Shizuoka, Shizuoka	Defeated Ichikawa and K-ness in a three-way match. Ichikawa failed to gain approval from the crowd, so CIMA, as the match winner, won the title.
Jackson Florida	1	October 17, 2007	Hyogo	CIMA fails V1 for various purposes against Stalker Ichikawa. Jackson Florida becomes champion since he was sitting at ringside.
Masaaki Mochizuki	1	January 19, 2008	Nagoya	Mochizuki won the title by disqualification and fan support.
Jackson Florida	2	February 2, 2008	Hakata, Fukuoka
Johnson Florida	1	July 11, 2008	Tokyo
ICHIKAWA	2	July 21, 2008	Kumamoto	ICHIKAWA stole title belt from Johnson after beating him in three way match with K-ness. Repeated attempts to contact the title belt commissioner were met with only his voicemail, so ICHIKAWA was just named the 7th champion.
Jackson Florida	3	August 16, 2008	Toyama
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa	3	March 16, 2009	Kumamoto
Kinta Tamaoka	1	March 20, 2009	Kobe	The title match was between Stalker and Masaaki Mochizuki, but Kinta - the referee - received more fan support than either of them, so he became champion.
Vacated		March 20, 2009	Kobe	Vacated immediately after winning it.
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa	4	March 29, 2009	Fukui, Japan
Anthony W. Mori	1	April 4, 2009	Nagoya, Japan
Kikutaro	1	May 15, 2009	Tokyo, Japan	Kikutaro becomes 13th Champion via fan support
Don Fujii	1	April 10, 2011	Mie, Japan	Don Fujii becomes 14th Champion via fan support
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa	5	August 21, 2011	Hakata, Fukuoka	"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa becomes 15th Champion via fan support
CIMA	2	September 24, 2011	Niigata, Japan	CIMA becomes the 16th Champion via fan support.
Vacated		September 24, 2011	Niigata, Japan	Vacated immediately after winning it.
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichigawa	6	October 27, 2011	Ishikawa, Japan	"Hollywood" Stalker Ichigawa became the 17th Champion via fan support
Rich Swann	1	November 5, 2011	Gifu, Japan	Rich Swann becomes the 18th Champion via fan support

List of reigns by length

As of November 14, 2011.

Wrestler	Days Held	Date Won	Date Lost
Kikutaro	695	May 15, 2009	April 10, 2011
Jackson Florida	212	August 16, 2008	March 16, 2009
Jackson Florida	160	February 2, 2008	July 11, 2008
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa	136	May 25, 2007	October 8, 2007
Don Fujii	133	April 10, 2011	August 21, 2011
Jackson Florida	94	October 17, 2007	January 19, 2008
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa	76	August 21, 2011	November 6, 2011
Anthony W. Mori	41	April 4, 2009	May 15, 2009
ICHIKAWA	26	July 21, 2008	August 16, 2008
Masaaki Mochizuki	14	January 19, 2008	February 2, 2008
Johnson Florida	10	July 11, 2008	July 21, 2008
CIMA	9	October 8, 2007	October 17, 2007
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa	6	March 29, 2009	April 4, 2009
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa	4	March 16, 2009	March 20, 2009
Kinta Tamaoka	<1	March 20, 2009
Rich Swann	9+	November 5, 2011	Current champion

References

1. ^ "Pro Wrestling Guerrilla, Results, 2007". Pro Wrestling Guerrilla. Archived from the original on 2007-10-09. http://web.archive.org/web/20071009055711/http://www.prowrestlingguerrilla.com/results/2007_results.html. Retrieved 2007-10-15. 
2. ^ "Dragon Gate USA News Archive, May 2007". Dragon Gate USA. http://dgusa.puroresufan.com/news/show_archives.php?archive=1180675234&subaction=list-archive&. Retrieved 2007-10-15. 
3. ^ "Open the Owarai Gate". DGUSA. Archived from the original on 2007-10-12. http://web.archive.org/web/20071012120420/http://dgusa.puroresufan.com/owarai.html. Retrieved 2007-10-13. 

See also

• Dragon Gate
• Dragon Gate Open the Dream Gate Championship
• Dragon Gate Open the Brave Gate Championship
• Dragon Gate Open the Triangle Gate Championship
• DGUSA Open the Freedom Gate Championship