~ Luke Hickey https://twitter.com/PuroReviews / https://twitter.com/OpenTheFanGate
The first ever two Kobe World event takes place this weekend. This is DRAGONGATE’s biggest event of the calendar year and this time it’s twice as big as usual. The regular Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival takes place on the 31st, the next day on the 1st of August is the SPEED STAR Final event, Masato Yoshino’s retirement show and match. All the titles will be defended on both shows, something I’m not particularly thrilled about. I would have preferred Day 2 to be Yoshino focused with a lot of throwbacks to Toryumon Japan and Toryumon 2000 Project. Vibes are active on all title fronts bar the Triangle Gate, Kzy challenges for the Dream Gate, Susumu & Shimizu challenge for the Twin and Genki is going after the Brave.
~Kobe Pro Wrestling Festival 2021~ 31.07.2021 Kobe World Kinen Hall
Pre-Show Match
6Man Tag Team Match
Kenichiro Arai, Yasushi Kanda & K-ness. vs. Super Shisa, Konomama Ichikawa & Shachihoko Boy
Could see some quality technical work from Super Shisa and Arai but with Konomama and Shachihoko Boy, it’s unlikely that trio will come away with the victory. Despite my hopes for some technical masterclass from Shisa, this could go down the comedic route on the way to a victory for the unofficial Real Hazard reunion trio of Arai, Kanda and K-ness.
6Man Tag Team Match
Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii & Ryo Saito vs. R・E・D (BxB Hulk, KAI & H・Y・O)
A common feature of any match featuring the Thinktank H・Y・O since King Of Gate 2021 is he’ll cut a promo about this big brain, then he’ll he precede to tell his opponents that they have zero point brains. He’ll then say he has a 100 point brain. The general outcome is a Double Count-Out Draw if he the great brain has his way, in cases where his attempt to have the match finish in a such a matter, he usually suffers the losing pinfall.
8Man Tag Team Match
Takashi Yoshida, Yosuke Santa Maria & Natural Vibes (U-T & Funky “Jacky” Kamei) vs. Gamma, Ben-K, Mondai Ryu & Punch Tominaga
The only two Vibes members not in a title match, U-T & Kamei tag with Santa Maria and Yoshida. With the rest of HIGH-END elsewhere, Ben is with Gamma, Mondai and Punch. Ben is the strongest here and could do with being elevated again, my ideal scenario is he’ll win the tag titles tomorrow with Dragon Kid.
Special Singles Match
Kota Minoura vs. Eita
Minoura has had an incredible string of singles matches, with pinfall victories over YAMATO and Mochizuki, a submission victory over BxB Hulk and an incredibly showing vs. Kzy in the King Of Gate 2021 Final. The future looks bright for the 22 year old. Eita has taken a more background role in his unit since he lost the Dream Gate last year, he’s leading from the back, pushing his charges forward instead of him. This could be a great match, and it’ll be interesting to see who gets the win here. Another fantastic singles win for Minoura, or a former Dream Gate Champion getting a singles win on the big stage.
Open The Triangle Gate Championship Match
MASQUERADE (Dragon Dia, Jason Lee & La Estrella) (c) vs. R・E・D (SB KENTo, Diamante & Dia Inferno)
R・E・D and MASQUERADE have been at it pretty much all year, and with the return of Dragon Dia, Dia Inferno and him have renewed their rivalry. This title signifies unit supremacy in Dragongate and due to the intense unitary warfare that is the main source of conflict in Dragongate, this title changes hands most frequently. The current champions MASQUERADE won the titles from Natural Vibes back at DEAD or ALIVE 2021 and make their first defence against R・E・D. I imagine they’ll retain, and potentially add a new chapter in the Dragon Dia vs. Dia Inferno story that is begging for a Mask vs. Mask match.
Open The Brave Gate Championship Match
Keisuke Okuda (c) vs. Genki Horiguchi
Following Genki Horiguchi’s Homecoming victory over Keisuke Okuda, he challenged Okuda for the Open The Brave Gate Championship. I’d like to see Genki Horiguchi get the win here and become a 4x Open The Brave Gate Champion. I feel like Okuda’s reign has run its course and though not disastrous, the matches have become a bit too formulaic for my liking.
10Man Tag Team Match
SPEED STAR FINAL COUNTDOWN in KOBE
Masato Yoshino, Shuji Kondo, Toru Owashi, “brother” YASSHI & Takuya Sugawara vs. Ultimo Dragon, Naruki Doi & HIGH-END (YAMATO, Dragon Kid & Kagetora)
Yoshino’s 2nd last match ever, a Toryumon 2000 Project class reunion as he teams with Kondo, Owashi, YASSHI and Sugawara to take on the Kocho, Ultimo Dragon, long-time tag partner, sometimes rival Naruki Doi, a trio from HIGH-END in YAMATO, Dragon Kid and Kagetora, the latter two are also Toryumon graduates. This will be an emotional match I’m sure, but unlikely to be at the same level of emotion as tomorrow’s match. It is also a good way of showcasing the Aagan Issou trio of YASSHI, Kondo and Owashi before their Triangle Gate challenge tomorrow.
Open The Twin Gate Championship Match
R・E・D (Kaito Ishida & Kazma Sakamoto) (c) vs. Natural Vibes (Susumu Yokosuka & King Shimizu)
Following the Kobe Sambo Main Event from the 26th of June, Shimizu & Yokosuka of Vibes and Dragon Kid & Ben-K of HIGH-END made cases for a title match to the Twin Gate holders, Ishida & Sakamoto. With the Vibes challenge on the 31st on Day 1 of Kobe World and HIGH-END meeting the winners the day after at the SPEED STAR Final show. I feel like this could have easily been made a 3Way Match but as with a lot of Twin Gate matches at Kobe, this could absolutely steal the show. I’d like to see the champions retain here and go into SPEED STAR FInal as champions at the very least. It is a tricky first defence however, King Shimizu has been completely revitalised following joining Natural Vibes and Susumu Yokosuka has always been awesome. Ishida and Sakamoto will need to be at their best.
Open the Dream Gate Championship Match
Shun Skywalker (c) vs. Kzy
Kzy won King Of Gate 2021 at the beginning of June, defeating Minoura in an excellent final. Has Kzy Time finally arrived on the biggest stage? That is indeed the big question going into this weekend, will they finally pull the trigger on Kzy. A lot of fans are clamouring for Kzy to finally win the big one and while he wouldn’t be my favourite guy in Dragongate, I do think he is deserving of taking the Dream Gate and having a run with it. If they don’t, it’ll be another Akira Tozawa who was more than deserving of one himself. Kzy kind of got lost in the pack during the Generational War of 2020, younger members of his generation being more effective in winning and holding titles than he (or even YAMATO). The Vibes reunion and his massive King Of Gate 2021 victory has put him back in contention and a significant threat to the reign of Skywalker.
~SPEED STAR Final~ 01.08.2021 Kobe World Kinen Hall
To the best of my knowledge, and looking at the website and English accounts, it has just been these five matches announced. The first four matches that are announced are the title matches, Kagetora faces the winner of Okuda vs. Horiguchi, YASSHI, Kondo & Owashi face the winners of MASQUERADE vs. R・E・D, Dragon Kid & Ben-K face the winners of Ishida & Sakamoto vs. Susumu & Shimizu and YAMATO faces the winner of Shun Skywalker vs. Kzy. It’s hard to fully preview matches when only half of the match is known, regardless of the outcomes of Saturday’s show, they are still good matches on paper even if I am unhappy about back to back defences of all the titles.
Open The Brave Gate Championship Match
Winner of 31.07 vs. Kagetora
~ Challenge made by Kagetora at KBS Hall on the 11th of July.
Open The Triangle Gate Championship Match
Winners of 31.07 vs. “brother” YASSHI, Shuji Kondo & Toru Owashi
~ Challenge made at the Hopeful Gate 2021 Korakuen Hall show by YASSHI. He then named fellow former of the “fired unit” Aagan Issou partners Kondo & Owashi as the other two challengers.
Open The Twin Gate Championship Match
Winners of 31.07 vs. HIGH-END (Dragon Kid & Ben-K)
Open The Dream Gate Championship Match
Winner of 31.07 vs. YAMATO
~ Challenge made at Hopeful Gate 2021 by YAMATO to Shun Skywalker. Following YAMATO’s victory over KAI to end their feud, post-match YAMATO called out Skywalker who he had a direct win over during King Of Gate 2021.
Masato Yoshino Retirement Match
Speed Muscle (Masato Yoshino & Naruki Doi) vs. R・E・D (Eita & BxB Hulk)
And it’s here, the last match for a legend of the Dragon System, Masato Yoshino. He tags with long-time tag partner, Naruki Doi, a team that has been together since 2006 bar a couple of years when Doi did a couple of betrayals on Yoshino. Something of which Yoshino rather hilariously made reference to in his post-match promo at the last Korakuen Hall, Doi’s ringside reaction was also exquisite. R・E・D, and Eita have been pretty much targeting Yoshino and his dodgy neck since he announced his retirement back in 2019, so it’s no surprise to see himself and BxB Hulk involved in Yoshino’s farewell match. It’s generally a given that a wrestler on his way out will put someone over so Yoshino is more than likely to take the fall here.
By my estimation, there is still one last move of Yoshino’s that is sought by others, the Lightning Spiral. Also, Punch for some reason would like his face.
Puroresu Gate 