|
The first match of the year was a Twin Gate defense. YAMATO and Cyber Kong chose the Shisas (Super and BOY) to be their first challengers of 2009. After a 4 minute squash, YAMAKong continued their assault. Anthony W. Mori came to the aid of his former PosHEARTS comrades. This would be the start of the Mori vs. Kong feud. Mori ended up aligning with the Shisas as a pseudo unit. The Shingo unit revealed their name, KAMIKAZE. Dragon Kid appealed for entry, based on his Dragon&Hawk team with Shingo from the 2008 Summer Adventure Tag League and their time together in Typhoon. Ryo Saito defeated BxB Hulk on the second show of the year. The two were rivals dating back to 2007, when Ryo broke Hulks’ jaw. Hulk surprised everyone by inviting Ryo to join WORLD-1. Ryo declined, instead inviting Hulk to join a new unit he was making. The REAL HAZARD issues were settled quickly. On 1/18, Gamma and Kanda squared off in a singles match, where the loser was to be kicked out of the group. Gamma won. Kanda was attacked until he was saved by Kenichiro Arai, of all people. Arai appealed to Kanda for a joint struggle, since they were from the same generation. He agreed, and the pair went after Gamma. In a shocking twist, they were aided by RH. Gamma was ousted, YAMATO promoted to leader, and Araken joined as a new member. This was the first time since 1999 that Araken was a heel, and he underwent a remarkable transformation to a true heel in the coming weeks. REAL HAZARD was reborn. As for Gamma, his contract was up on 2/15, so it appeared that his time in DG was coming to an end. He spent the next few weeks making amends for his prior heel antics and saying farewell to fans. On 1/25 the first BATTLE FOR TOKYO tournament was held. This comprised those who did not compete in King of Gate 2008, and several outsiders, including KAGETORA. The winner would earn a Brave Gate shot on the February Korakuen Hall show. KAGETORA defeated Tozawa in the finals. He joined REAL HAZARD and became a full time participant for DG. Also on that show, newcomer Kenichi Chikano was invited to join KAMIKAZE. He was renamed to Kenshin Chikano. CIMA did not make an appearance in January, leading to some rumours flying about his contract status. February started poorly for KAMIKAZE. Iwasa made an attempt on the Dream Gate, but failed. Tozawa and Chikano were injured and missed several important matches. Tozawa had to miss a Triangle Gate match that KAMIKAZE ended up winning without him. Koji Kanemoto of New Japan invaded the DG ring, first as a partner for Masaaki Mochizuki then as an opponent for BxB Hulk. He defeated Hulk, which prompted Doi to nominate him as the next challenger for the Dream Gate. KAGETORA failed in his Brave Gate bid. Araken berated him for the loss, and poured beer on his head. This continued for the next few weeks. Ryo and Susumu Yokosuka reunited their RyoSuka team, despite the end of Typhoon. They once again invited Hulk to join them in a new unit. Hulk declined, but RyoSuka continued together. On 2/15, Ryo betrayed Susumu (nearly two years to the date where he was betrayed in the same building by his then partner Genki Horiguchi). He joined REAL HAZARD, his first true heel turn. Susumu was saved by Gamma, who was on his “final” show. They appealed for a Twin Gate shot on 3/1, where if Gamma lost he would be gone from DG forever. CIMA made headlines by performing on a WWE Smackdown dark match. He also made a stop for California independent WPW. DG President Takashi Okamura spoke briefly about the situation, saying he hoped CIMA would return when he was ready. He returned in a big way on 3/1. First, Gamma saved his DG career by pinning Cyber Kong in the Twin Gate match. Gamma and Susumu became the new champions. They were aided by KAGETORA, who had enough of the abuse he was feeling within RH. The biggest news came after the match, when the trio called out CIMA. He announced his return to full time action, and that the new group was going to be called WARRIORS-5. The final member was teased for a few weeks. Many thought it would be K-ness, due to his history with Susumu and Gamma. Other names were Don Fujii, Magnum TOKYO, or even former Yokozuna Akebono (that guess would become strangely prophetic in a few weeks). It ended up being the recent debut Youhei Fujita. He was renamed to RYOMA, for someone who aided CIMA in his injury recovery. The first months of the year climaxed on 3/22, at the GATE OF ANNIVERSARY in Sumo Hall. The first advance on the large venue was a rousing success, with an attendance of 11,500. Doi managed to fight off Kanemoto to defend the Dream Gate and Dragon Gate. CIMA won the Brave Gate, and KAMIKAZE made a successful Triangle Gate defense in a three-way. GammaSuka managed to defend the Twin Gate vs. the RH team of Ryo and Horiguchi, but only via DQ, so that situation remained unsettled. One of the biggest stories out of the show was the climax of the Kong vs. Mori feud. They met in a hair vs. mask match. In a shocking ending, Kong protected his mask. Mori lost his princely locks, which has lead to him wearing a wig to the ring and, for now, a focus on the Owarai Gate division. The first shows of April were subtitled “YOKOZUNA IMPACT”. Akebono participated on both shows, quickly defeating Masaaki Mochizuki and Don Fujii. When Doi made his call for the Dream Gate challenger, Akebono answered. The match takes place on 5/5. During the same pair of shows, Dragon Kid made a challenge to CIMA and the newly won Brave Gate. It was also accepted for 5/5. This is a big singles match that has not happened in several years. The appeal of two of the most recognizable names in DG history, in Kids’ hometown makes this a huge match. KAGETORA suffered a minor slump at the end of March, but he broke out in a big way in April. He scored numerous wins for W5, the biggest being his first DG title win. They defeated KAMIKAZE on 4/15 to win the Triangle Gate. The 4/18 and 4/19 doubleheader in Kyoto played host to a two night tag tournament to determine the next Twin Gate challengers. Ryo and Horiguchi won, gaining their second straight title shot. Somehow, Arai and Kanda also ended up in the match, making it a three way match for the titles on 5/5. Ryo was also still actively recruiting Hulk, now for RH. He appealed to Hulk to revert to his “Black Hulk” persona full time and show his heel potential. Hulk refused, but then turned into Black Hulk on several occasions to assault Ryo. After an attack on Ryo on 4/15, YAMATO attacked from behind, and managed to get the best of Black Hulk. The first time anyone had done so. Since YAMATO had defeated Shingo in a singles match in January, he wanted his other former NEW HAZARD partner in a singles. White version, Black version, he didn’t care. Once again, this match was made for 5/5. W5 and RH met in a “Full Confrontation” series of matches on 4/26 in Hakata. Ryo decisively defeated Susumu in a singles match in the same building where he betrayed him. W5 took the 6 man tag, and Gamma managed to pin YAMATO in the main event to win the series for W5. Gamma made an appeal to be the next Dream Gate challenger, so as of now he will get the winner of Doi vs. Akebono. That leaves us where we are now. The eve of the 5/5 DEAD OR ALIVE show in Aichi. Here is the full card: 5/5/2009
Aichi, Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium~DEAD OR ALIVE 2009 The aftermath of this show will start us down to the Road to World. The annual anniversary show from Kobe World Hall will be on 7/19 this year, one week before the Historic Gate is opened here in Philadelphia. |
