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Defending Doi

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.     . Naruki Doi, the supposed ace, or top wrestler, of the Dragon Gate wrestling promotion, doesn’t get the respect he deserves. In 2006, he made a name for himself in the US due to his involvement in the now legendary original Dragon Gate six-man tag at ROH’s Supercard of Honor event. He was the leader of his own faction, the Muscle Outlawz, and one of the premiere wrestlers in the company. While respected as a strong competitor, Naruki Doi seemed like a guy who might always be trapped within the Speed Muscle tag team with heterosexual life partner and the fastest wrestler alive, Masato Yoshino. Doi would challenge promotion ace CIMA for the Open the Dream Gate championship, the premiere belt in the company, in late 2007. CIMA had to invent and debut a new version of his finishing maneuver, but he was able to best Doi. He would finish out 2007 as half of the very first Open the Twin Gate champions, DG’s new tag team belt. Doi and Yoshino would go on to lose the belts in early 2008, but would regain them briefly in the fall of that year. After they lost in their first defense, Naruki Doi set out to make a name for himself in singles competition. He entered the King of Gate tournament, Dragon Gate’s last tour of the year. He tore through the competition, pinning Dragon Kid, BxB Hulk, and Masaaki Mochizuki in the finals, all with his deadly move, the Muscular Bomb. He finished 2008 by defeating Shingo Takagi for the Dream Gate. It was the last match on the last show of the year, leaving the image of Doi as champion the final one to remember and carry on to 2009. Now, in January of 2010, Naruki Doi still stands as champion. He is the longest and most defending champion in company history. He beat CIMA in the main event of the Kobe World Festival to win the Brave Gate, becoming a double champion. No one has kicked out of the Muscular Bomb since becoming champ; not Bryan Danielson, not CIMA. No one. So why, to many, is he still not the ace of the company?

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.     . The first reason I can conjure is commonly known as The John Cena Effect: a push or title is given to a wrestler who is not deemed “worthy” which incites a negative backlash from fans. But I cannot consider Naruki Doi “unworthy” for the simple fact that he had, in my opinion, Dragon Gate’s best singles match of 2009: defending the Dream Gate against Susumu Yokosuka. He was consistently one of Dragon Gate’s best workers and best sellers, having memorable title defenses against partner Masato Yoshino, New Japan veteran Koji Kanemoto, and even a match against Akebono that was, at the very least, watchable. He was also one of the few names not dragged through the mud in the wake of the Cora controversy, an incident involving the physical abuse of a pet monkey that left a black eye on the organization. While tops guys like Shingo and CIMA shaved their heads in shame over the incident, it was Doi and his supreme WORLD-1 faction that tried to keep things moving in a positive direction. Imagine if the Dream Gate was on either CIMA or Shingo, the previous two champions, at the time of this prolonged and embarrassing incident? The backlash over this would’ve been magnified quite a lot more than it already was. Some will point to drawing ability as evidence that he’s not the ace, but it’s simply not so. Dragon Gate may not be gaining fans by the thousands, but they are certainly keeping the ones they have. And with some people stating that Dragon Gate is Japan’s most successful puroresu company, with Doi at the top, why does he not get a shred of credit for this? The answer is simple: CIMA. Despite being an inferior worker and seller to both Naruki Doi and Shingo Takagi, CIMA seems to be the answer when people want to know who the top dog is in Dragon Gate. The explanation for this is also simple: CIMA is and always will be the ace because he is also its face. CIMA’s personality, athleticism and showmanship are the cornerstones of what makes Dragon Gate unique. Naruki Doi, as great as he is, could never hope to eclipse CIMA in terms of personality, a trait valued above all else in Dragon Gate.

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.     . Then again, maybe my perception is warped by the opinion of a few. I came up with this idea for an article weeks before now. Since that time, the Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards have been released. Though they are far from a realistic consensus of opinion, there is still valuable information to take away from them. Doi was voted third for Wrestler of the Year, beating out guys like CM Punk, Bryan Danielson, Randy Orton and Kurt Angle. He was also fifth in the Best Technical Wrestler category and involved in the fourth rated Match of the Year with Bryan Danielson. Also, Dragon Gate itself was voted Promotion of the Year and voted fourth in the best weekly show category, of which he must share some credit in. So I guess he’s not the undeserving target of disrespect that I thought.  I still think, in the IWC, Naruki Doi gets the short end, especially for a guy who has carried Dragon Gate on his back in the wake of controversy for over a year. But it’s clear that he has his fans out there. He raised the prestige of the Dream Gate, was everything you’d want a champion to be in terms of how he carried himself, and will instantly create a main eventer out of whoever finally defeats him. Alas, his eventual defeat looks like it will be coming very soon, as he is nearly out of realistic challengers. On February 10^th, in the main event of a Korakuen show, veteran wrestler and all-around tedious toilet bug Takuya Sugawara will face the hot as fried magma, ultra stiff YAMATO in a No Rope, No DQ Match to determine Doi’s next challenger. Even before this match was announced, I fully expected YAMATO to eventually be the guy to take the Dream from Doi. He has a really strong following, is one of Dragon Gate’s best pure workers, has a ton of character and plenty of fresh defenses for a long title reign. So if YAMATO or Sugawara (God help us all…) does become the champion, where does this leave Doi? Without the top title around his waist, can Doi still remain relevant? Or was it the fact that he was champion that caused the audible arena backlash to begin with? No matter what happens, whether the fans stay negative or not…at least he’ll always have Yoshino.

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…Right?

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What I Watched This Week

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NOAH – Team Gaijin vs. Akitoshi Saito & DISOBEY – ***1/4

.     . 2010-01-24 .     . Team Gaijin consisted of Bison Smith, Keith Walker, and the Kings of Wrestling: Chris Hero & Claudio Castagnoli. Akitoshi Saito teamed with three members of the DISOBEY faction: Takeshi Rikioh, Muhammad Yone, & Genba Hirayanagi. Clearly, with junior heavyweight Genba in a match with seven heavyweights, Hirayanagi would somehow be involved in the finish, almost assuredly in defeat. Sure enough, the King of Wrestling nailed him with their awesome finisher, KRS-1, and Claudio picked up another win on a pretty successful tour for the tag-team duo. Sure, they lost every tournament match they were in, but the crowd was really into them for most of their matches on the tour, and they won most of their non-tournament matches.

.     . The match started with Walker and Yone in the ring against one another. Both guys were jawing back and forth before the match began, so the strikes were pretty stiff. Yone found a way to not sell a single one. Bison Smith came in and he and Rikioh each took turns in trying to break out of a full nelson lock using brute strength. Yes, they did a prolong Master Lock Challenge in NOAH. Genba eventually got in and he too tried to break the hold. He was unable to do so, so he challenged Bison to break his full nelson lock, drawing laughs from the crowd. As soon as Bison turned around to let him try, Genba slapped him on the back of the head! Genba ran around the arena and Bison chased him angrily. Genba thought he was safe, but Walker had run the other way, so Genba got a nasty but well-deserved slap to the face. They dragged him back to the ring, where all four men gave him a big boot. They all grabbed an appendage and lifted Genba high into the air, sending him crashing back down to Earth. Claudio got a hold of him, nailing some of his signature, fan-pleases moves like the Giant Swing and the UFO, a spinning argentine powerbomb. Genba was able to dodge the KRS-1 the first time, but once their partners got a hold of Genba’s teammates, The Kings had ample time to hit him with the move. Lots of fun, with very little drag time. Worth a watch if you’re a fan of Genba, Claudio, or wackiness.

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Dragon Gate – Shingo Takagi vs. Takuya Sugawara – **

.     . 2009-12-25 .     . This was slow, boring, and lacked heat. It’s everything Dragon Gate shouldn’t be. It took place on a recent edition of Infinity, their weekly television show in Japan. This is from Infinity 159, which wasn’t altogether terrible (See Below). The balls-dragged-on-a-chalkboard slow Sugawara went over Takagi with his craptastic finisher, the Shiisanpuuta. He used it three times during the match, unless I missed one during the brief coma Suga put me in. Shingo wasn’t great, either. Don’t get me wrong; by comparison, Shingo looked like Jumbo Takagi. But Shingo did his arrogant, shoot-myself-in-the-foot selling again. Basically, Suga targeted Shingo’s knee throughout the match. Suga would sometimes lazily kick at Takagi’s knee like a cocky dick (two penis references in one!), and Shingo would slap his own leg, asking Suga to try and break him. Suga was happy to oblige. It’s just plain stupid, but if the character’s losing gets attributed to his ego, then I guess I understand. At least Shingo’s comeback was enjoyable. The crowd was a vortex of silence whenever Suga took in oxygen, let alone attempted a wrestling move. The pace of the match just found out that Patrick Swayze died. Avoid unless you must see everything Shingo does. I. Hate. Suga. Wara.

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Dragon Gate – The Survival Cage Match participants in a 6-Man Tag – ***1/2

.     . 2009-12-25 .     . Also from Infinity 159, this was a match between the six participants of the Survival Cage Match at Final Gate 2009. The Survival Cage Match is Dragon Gate’s big, year-ending gimmick match: six participants enter a locked steel cage and must climb to the top and grab one of five flags at the corners of the cage, with one flag in a difficult-to-reach position. Once you obtain a flag, you may drop outside the cage, having survived. If you are the last man left inside without a flag, you must remove your mask, or if you do not wear a mask, the other participants take turns shaving your head. This six-man precursor to the event saw Susumu Yokosuka, K-ness and MAZADA team against the shaky trio of Masato Yoshino, BxB Hulk and Dragon Kid. Hulk and Yoshino are a part of WORLD-1, whereas Dragon Kid was, at the time, a member of KAMIKAZE. They were having communication issues during matches that lead to friendly fire, so some strife exists between them.

.     . The match starts with all six guys pairing off with who they despise the most: Yoshino versus K-ness, Hulk versus Yokosuka, and DK against MAZADA. I usually hate MAZADA, but he was pretty great here. At one point, he steadied a guard rail near Kid, and started blowing on it until it fell over on him. Hulk took one of his signature unnecessary bumps off of an Irish whip into the ring post. Hulk was, as usual, worked over for a long period of time. He threw the Dr. Muscle mask at Yokosuka and wailed away at him, but Suka stopped him with a back elbow that Hulk once again sold like a gunshot. Hulk eventually got the tag to Yoshino, who went to work on Yokosuka. Dragon Kid then started trying to work with Yoshino and Hulk. They looked at him like he was leper at first, but they eventually hit some nice double and triple team moves. Dragon Kid got caught and lifted to the bad side of town, and he got worked over by Real Hazard for a while. Kid hit a headscissors on Suka and both made tags. Yoshino and K-ness went back and forth, with K-ness blocking a headscissors with Judah, a modified stretch muffler usually reserved for Dragon Kid. Hulk broke it up and was left alone in the ring. Real Hazard hit an assisted powerbomb on Hulk for 2. Hulk dodged a MAZADA attack and his teammates helped hit a three man attack on MAZADA in the corner. Yoshino and DK again teamed up for some offense, including a double tiger feint kick. DK tries his assisted Avalanche Hurricanrana with Hulk, but MAZADA holds Hulk down, allowing Susumu to hit an Avalanche Death Valley Driver instead. Luckily, Yoshino breaks up the count. Finish comes when, while K-ness holds him in position, Suka goes to powder Yoshino. DK stops him as K-ness and Yoshino do a standing switch. Dragon Kid tries to powder K-ness, but he ducks and Yoshino eats it. K-ness hits the Darkness Buster on Yoshino and gets the three. Fast-paced action that had a meaningful ending. Yoshino and Hulk will NOT be on the same page as DK come the Cage Match. This leads me to…

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Dragon Gate – Mask vs. Hair Six-Man Survival Cage Match- ****

.     . 2009-12-27 .     . Decided to rewatch this match after writing about the trios match above. It’s one of the most emotion-filled puroresu matches of 2009 and well worth your time. The match was crazy with outside interference. Every time DK, Hulk, or Yoshino tried to escape, all of New Hazard went after them from the outside. Kenichiro Arai even went as far as biting Masato Yoshino’s fingers, causing him to fall. MAZADA escaped first, leaving his teammates high and dry in the cage. New Hazard kicked the crap outta him when he got down, but CIMA & the Veteran Army came to his aid. Like his Gurentai tag partner earlier in the pay-per-view, MAZADA also joined the Vets. Gamma used oil to cause Susumu to fall, as CIMA used a volleyball machine to fire volleyball’s at the outside Real Hazard members, at one point nailing Araken off of ladder on the floor. Dragon Kid managed to escape 2nd, making it WORLD-1 versus Real Hazard. For the millionth time, CIMA tried to get him to join the Veterans, but DK, out of loyalty to his KAMIKAZE brothers, again refused. Yoshino managed to get to a flag, but he saw Hulk was in big trouble, so he came back down to help him. Then Hulk managed to get to the hard-to-reach flag with the help of Kotoka, a pair of gloves, and a rope. Yoshino was in big trouble now…but BxB Hulk, with tears in his eyes, grabbed the flag and hopped down, hanging Yoshino out to dry. Yoshino was in disbelief that his friend could leave him like that, and Hulk, showing severe regret, screamed in support of Yoshino, as did all of WORLD-1. It was the first time I’d ever heard Hulk get booed in a Dragon Gate ring.

.     . The Susumu Yokosuka & K-ness team beat Yoshino without mercy, leaving him for dead. K-ness got out, but Susumu took too much time, and Kotoka was able to duck tape the flag to its slot. Yoshino grabbed Suka before he could reach the flag though, and took him out. Yoshino then climbed to find the flag taped. He looked at his team, wondering why the fuck they taped the flag. Genki tried to powder Yoshino, but every time he tried, Yoshino spun completely around on the free bar, causing Horiguchi to miss. Sugawara then shockingly join New Hazard, blasting Yoshino with blue mist, which caused him to fall. The Vets tried to jump the traitorous Suga, but his new stablemates intervened. Yokosuka seized the opportunity, finally put Yoshino away with a Double Cross, his injured partner Saito’s signature finisher. Susumu escaped, leaving Yoshino in pain and in tears. Everyone took turns shaving a deeply depressed-looking Yoshino, except Hulk. When he tried to leave, Yoshino grabbed Hulk by the arm and shoved the electric razor into his hand, forcing Hulk to face the same fate as Hulk’s enemies. Hulk could only shave a little bit before the impact of his betrayal was too much and he collapsed. Even CIMA, who had been feuding with Yoshino & his New Generation, showed genuine sorrow for the Speed Star. Yoshino was helped to the back by Doi and Naoki Tanisaki. You could hear a pin drop in the arena, it was that powerful. If you even like Dragon Gate at all, I’m sure you’ll find something to love here.

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.     . Hope you enjoyed the column. I’m still finding my voice in the puro landscape, so hopefully the column improves steadily. Very soon, Charles Schaeffer of Puroresu Spirit will be starting his own segment. You can expect a review of the Doi/Yokosuka match I mentioned in next week’s edition. I’ll probably get around to watching more of the Kings of Wrestling in NOAH, as well as Dragon Gate Infinity 160. I don’t know how quickly AJPW stuff gets out, but I’m already dying to see Marufuji vs. Devitt for the IWGP Jr. Title, which took place today. See you in February! (…next week…)

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