Dragon Gate

This article is about Japanese wrestling promotion. For the defunct American branch, see Dragon Gate USA. For the computer game, see Dragon's Gate. For the gate that Asian carp jump over to become dragons in Asian mythology, see Asian carp.
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.

History

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

In 2004, Último Dragón left the Toryumon Gym in Mexico and took the 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 Champion.

Wrestlers from the promotion have also made appearances on the United States independent wrestling scene, including Ring of Honor which held a 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 against Dragon Kid, Ryo Saito and Genki Horiguchi at Supercard of Honor is 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.

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 and featured El Generico, Necro Butcher, and Kendo. Their second show was in Hawaii on September 8. In 2009, Dragon Gate debuted in the United Kingdom. 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.

Dragon Gate Nex

Dragon Gate Nex is a project of Dragon Gate, which gives the young wrestlers of the promotion more experience.

Roster

Shingo Takagi
Naruki Doi
Yamato
Akira Tozawa
Masato Yoshino

Wrestlers

Ring name Real name Notes
Akira Tozawa Akira Tozawa Open the Triangle Gate Champion
Big R Shimizu Yuki Shimizu
BxB Hulk Terumasa Ishihara
Cima Nobuhiko Oshima
Cyber Kong Takashi Yoshida
Don Fujii Tatsuki Fuji
Dragon Kid Nobuyoshi Nakamura
Eita Eita Kobayashi
Flamita Unknown
Gamma Yoshito Sugamoto
Genki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!! Hiromasa Horiguchi
"Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa Kanji Ichikawa
Jimmy Kagetora Fumiyuki Hashimoto
Jimmy Kanda Yasushi Kanda
Jimmy K-ness J.K.S. Makoto Saitō
Jimmy Susumu Susumu Mochizuki Open the Dream Gate Champion
Johnson Florida Takayuki Yagi
Kaito Ishida Kaito Ishida
Keni'chiro Arai Keni'chiro Arai
Kotoka Kotoka Shiiba Open the Brave Gate Champion
Kzy Unknown
El Lindaman Yūga Hayashi
Masaaki Mochizuki Masaaki Mochizuki
Masato Yoshino Masato Yoshino Open the Triangle Gate Champion
Open the Owarai Gate Champion
Mondai Ryu Daisuke Kimata
Naoki Tanizaki Naoki Tanizaki
Naruki Doi Naruki Doi Open the Twin Gate Champion
Punch Tominaga Chihiro Tominaga
Ricochet Trevor Mann
Ryo "Jimmy" Saito Ryo Saito
Shachihoko Boy Unknown
Shingo Takagi Shingo Takagi
Super Shisa Yoshiyuki Saito
Takehiro Yamamura Takehiro Yamamura
T-Hawk Takuya Onodera Open the Triangle Gate Champion
U-T Yūta Tanaka
Yamato Masato Onodera Open the Twin Gate Champion
Yosuke♥Santa Maria Yosuke Watanabe

Staff

Name Role
Eiichi Fujimoto Photographer
Katsuya Ichikawa Play-by-play commentary and backstage interviewer
Mr. Nakagawa Referee
Naoto Kikuchi Ring announcer
Takashi Okamura President
Takayuki Yagi Referee and general manager
Toru Kido Senior managing director and commissioner
Yatsuka Nakazawa Dragon Gate Records

Championships

Championship Current champion(s) Date won
Open the Dream Gate Jimmy Susumu February 14th, 2016
Open the Triangle Gate Monster Express
(Akira Tozawa, Masato Yoshino and T-Hawk)		 December 6, 2015
Open the Brave Gate Kotoka November 1, 2015
Open the Twin Gate VerserK
(Naruki Doi and Yamato)		 June 13, 2015
Open the Owarai Gate Masato Yoshino November 23, 2015

Defunct Championships

Championship Last Champion(s) Date won
I-J Heavyweight Tag Team Championship Muscle Outlawz
(Naruki Doi and 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 Masato Yoshino May 30, 2015
Summer Adventure Tag League Jimmyz
(Jimmy K-ness J.K.S. and Jimmy Susumu)		 September 27, 2015

See also

References

    External links

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