Final Gate (2021)

Promotional poster featuring the Dragon Gate roster

### Tagline(s)

"The Last Big Match of 2021!!" (Japanese: 2021年最後のビッグマッチ!!, Hepburn: *2021-nen Saigo no Biggu Matchi!!*)

## Information

### City

Fukuoka, Japan

The **Final Gate (2021)** was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and GAORA TV event promoted by Dragon Gate. The event took place on December 26, 2021, in Fukuoka at the Fukuoka International Center and it was the sixteenth annual event under the Final Gate. The event aired on GAORA and Dragon Gate Network streaming service in both English and Japanese commentaries and was broadcasted live at SKY PerfecTV! as pay-per-view (PPV). The event was main evented by YAMATO defending the Open The Dream Gate Championship against KAI.

The event included another championship matches with DoiYoshi (Naruki Doi and Takashi Yoshida) defending the Open The Twin Gate Championship against R.E.D (SB KENTo and H.Y.O) and a match between Masquerade members Shun Skywalker and Kota Minoura, where if Skywalker lost, he would be forced to leave Masquerade.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the event had some restrictions in the attendance, after the Japanese Government lifted the State of Emergency.

## Production

### Background

The Final Gate (2021) aired live through Dragon Gate's internet streaming site, Dragon Gate Network, with Japanese language commentaries. The Japanese commentary was provided by Katsuya Ichikawa. The event also aired on tape delay on Japanese TV Gaora Sports to be launched in Dragon Gate's ~ Infinity ~ Series. The event also featured English commentary provided by Jae Church and Larry Dallas. On December 20, it was announced that due to an on-mechanical complication at the venue, that the English commentary for the event would be tapped in the comming days.

### Storylines

The Final Gate (2021) featured professional wrestling matches that involved different wrestlers from pre-existing scripted feuds and storylines. Wrestlers portrayed villains, heroes, or less distinguishable characters in the scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

The Final Gate (2021) was main evented by YAMATO defending the Open The Dream Gate Championship against KAI. On November 27 at Gate of Origin, in a post-match interview, KAI challenged YAMATO to a title match for the Open The Dream Gate Championship, after YAMATO had sucessfully defended the title against Ben-K. Following a victory in a tag team match, between High-End and R.E.D, YAMATO stated that KAI "was not qualified to wear the title belt", despite KAI's intentions to become the best wrestler in the promotion.

In the Open The Twin Gate Championship, DoiYoshi (Naruki Doi and Takashi Yoshida) defended their titles against R.E.D (SB KENTo and H.Y.O). On December 11, H.Y.O and KENTo defeated Doi and Yoshida in a non-title match. Afterwards, H.Y.O and KENTo challenged Doi and Yoshida to a title match for the Open The Twin Gate Championship at Final Gate, which they accpeted, setting up the title match.

In October, as part of the feud between Masquerade and R.E.D, Dragon Dia reignited his feud with Dia Inferno, during which Shun Skywalker and Diamante, were caught in the middle of Dia and Inferno. This led to on November 5, General Manager Ryo Saito to announce a Mask vs. Mask tag team match, with Skywalker teaming with Dia and Inferno with R.E.D stablemate Diamante on December 1, with the loser of the fall having to unmask. At the event, Diamante and Inferno won the *Lucha de Apuestas* match, with Dia being pinned by Diamante after Skywalker purposely pushed Dia into Diamante, and as a result, Dia was forced to unmask. This led to a rift between him and the rest of Masquerade, who blamed Skywalker for Dia losing his mask. After winning the Open The Triangle Gate Championship on December 15, Skywalker was challenged by stableamte Kota Minoura to a match, where the if he lost, he would be forced to leave the stable.

## Results

### Three-way six-man tag team match

 2
 Winners: