Dragon Gate "Open the German Gate"
October 31, 2009
Oberhausen, Germany
Report by Till Tesche, Torch specialist

Dragon Gate held their first official show in Germany tonight in cooperation with the German WXW (Westside Xtreme Wrestling) promotion. The show featured all the top-stars from Dragon gate as well as some special guests. Here is my live report for “Open the German Gate”

(1) Young Bucks (Nick & Matt Jackson) beat Mark Haskins & Tommy End. Wow, what an amazing start to the show! Crowd was red-hot and cheered every single move of both teams. Haskins & End really held their own and looked to be equals move for move. I’d love to see the YB get a chance in either WWE or TNA. Haskins would especially be a good fit for one of the major promotions. Finish came when YB hit the "More bang for your buck" on Tommy End.

(2) KATEGORA beat Bad Bones. Some fans started a “wrong opponent” chant before the match started, as Bad Bones looks like a short version of the early '90s Warlord character. KATEGORA probably would have been better off with a more agile opponent. Anyway, they kept it short and focused on power moves from both men, which made it fun to watch. Still the “worst” match of the show. KATEGORA won after a DDT/roll-up combination.

(3) Susumu Yokusuka beat El Generico, Dragon Kid, and Masato Yoshino in a four-way match. Crowd went nuts for Generico's entrance. Weird combination of comedy (four-way waist-locks, wrist-locks, etc.) and some great highspots. Due to the comedy, parts the match never really got a “flow” or developed any story. Because of that, the match was only average, which was kind of disappointing considering the participants. Also the match was pretty short at 12 minutes for a four-way match. Of course, it was still awesome to see all four men hit their crazy spots live. Yoshino took two really hard bumps on his neck, which made me cringe. Yokusuka pinned Dragon Kid when he countered his huracanrana and executed a small package for the win.

(4) CIMA beat Mike Quackenbush. The match started slow with submission holds and counters, some of which were quite innovative. They picked up the pace, telling a good story with long-term selling and built up towards a dramatic finish with many believable nearfalls. Everybody was on the edge of their seats for the final ten minutes with continuous “This is awesome” and “This is wrestling” chants. Clearly the match of the night with both men getting huge ovations after CIMA pinned Quackenbush with a top-rope double knee-drop.

(5) BxB Hulk & Naruki Doi & Zack Sabre Jr. beat Genki Horiguchi & Ryo Saito & Emil Sitoci. BxB Hulk got a strong reaction from the crowd and was clearly the MVP of the match. He took an extensive beat down in the first half of the match before he landed some spectacular offense in the second half. Sabre & Sitoci looked to be a notch below the Japanese wrestlers, but still both were given some nice offensive moves. The match had some unbelievable sequences near the finish, which got the only “holy s--- chant” of the night. The match was a spotfest and lacked a bit of a storyline in comparison with the previous bout, but was awesome in every other way. Doi finished with a stiff dropkick to a sitting Horiguchi for the pin.

(6) WXW World Hvt. champion Absolute Andy beat Shingo to retain the WXW World Hvt. Championship. This match would have been a “Top Two” match quality-wise on every WWE/WWF/WCW house show I’ve ever seen in Germany, but was only okay on this show. Andy isn’t a bad wrestler (especially considering his size), but just doesn’t have the in-ring abilities of Shingo's regular opponents. Shingo looked impressive with his power moves on the way taller and heavier Andy, though. Andy landed awkward on his head and neck during the match and seemed to be genuinely shaken. Shingo bought him some time by interacting with the audience. A few minutes later, Andy forced Shingo to submit in a poorly applied and executed Sharpshooter. After the match, Andy took quite long to his feet again and still seemed to be a bit wobbly on his legs. He didn’t look good either when he called out all the wrestlers involved for the big “thank-you-good-bye.” So, I guess the match might have been a bit longer and better without the awkward landing.

Overall Notes: All of the wrestlers were at the merchandise table or around during intermission. The Japanese wrestlers seemed to genuinely enjoy the interaction with the German fans. Overall, this was by far the best live-wrestling experience I’ve ever had:. Just awesome action, rabid crowd, and wrestlers who appeared to really care for their audience.

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