Dead or Alive (2008)

The **Dead or Alive (2008)** was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and GAORA TV event promoted by Dragon Gate. The event that took place on May 5 2008, in Nagoya, Aichi at the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium and was the first event under the Dead or Alive.

The event featured eight matches with one of Dragon Gate's sixth championships on the line. The main event was a Six-Way Mask vs. Hair Cage Survival match that included BxB Hulk, CIMA, Dragon Kid, Masato Yoshino, YAMATO and Yasushi Kanda.

## Production

The Dead or Alive (2008) aired in Japan through Dragon Gate's internet streaming site, Niconico, with Japanese language commentaries. The Japanese commentary was provided by Katsuya Ichikawa. The event also aired on tape delay on Japanese TV Gaora Sports and was launched in Dragon Gate's ~ Infinity ~ Series.

### Storylines

Dead or Alive (2008) featured eight 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 Dead or Alive (2008) was main evented by BxB Hulk, CIMA, Dragon Kid, Masato Yoshino, YAMATO and Yasushi Kanda. On February 22 Typhoon faced Muscle Outlaw'z in a Nagoya-Style Ten Man Tag Team Elimination match. During the match, while Yasushi Kanda was walking to the ring BxB Hulk attacked Kanda from behind. Later in the match Kanda started a feud with his MO'Z stablemate Masato Yoshino. Still in the match, Hulk's New Hazard stablemate YAMATO ran into the ring and attacked CIMA. When the match was over CIMA went after YAMATO attacking him. On March 22, Hulk and YAMATO, Kanda and Yoshino and CIMA and Dragon Kid faced each other in a 3-Way Tag Team match. YAMATO then submitted CIMA to win the match. After the match, YAMATO attacked CIMA, then Hulk tried to put YAMATO out of CIMA and YAMATO without seing hitted Hulk. Then after some talking Kanda attacked Yoshino with the blue box until their MO'Z stablemate seperated Kanda from Yoshino. The general manager Takayuki Yagi went to the ring and settep up the match between the six. Later week leading to match on April 13 Kanda cost Yoshino his match against Anthony W. Mori for the Open The Brave Gate Championship. Then four days later YAMATO betrayed New Hazard and sided with the Muscle Outlaw'z after he attacked his partner Naoki Tanizaki in a tag match against Gamma and Genki Horiguchi.

The Dead or Alive (2008) also featured a match between Naruki Doi and KENTA. After Doi reconciled his team with Masato Yoshino and after he unsucessfully challenged CIMA for the Open The Dream Gate Championship, on March 22 after Doi defeated Cyber Kong in a singles match, he talked about his match against CIMA for the Open The Dream Gate Championship and then he requested a singles match against KENTA. KENTA debuted in Dragon Gate when and his partner Taiji Ishimori defeated New Hazard's BxB Hulk and Shingo Takagi to win the GHC Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship. The two have cross paths before during tag team matches in Pro Wrestling Noah. This is the first that those two faced each other.

In the Open The Twin Gate Championship match, was AraIwa (Taku Iwasa and Kenichiro Arai) against RyoSuka (Ryo Saito and Susumu Yokosuka). On March 13 after Iwasa and Arai defended the Open The Twin Gate Championship against CK-1 (CIMA and Dragon Kid). CIMA and Kid's Typhoon stablemates Ryo Saito and Susumu Yokosuka challenged Iwasa and Arai for the Twin Gate titles. However Masaaki Mochizuki and Don Fujii also challenged for the titles, Arai then choosed Mochizuki and Fujii to get the title match first. On April 6 after Iwasa and Arai sucessfully defended their titles against Mochizuki and Fujii, Yokosuka and Saito asserted themselves as the next challengers. In the past Iwasa and Arai defeated Saito and Yokosuka to win the I-J Heavyweight Tag Team Championship.

## Event

**Other on-screen personnel**
 Ring announcers
 Referees

### Preliminary matches

The pay-per-view opened with Katsuya Ichikawa, Hayabusa and Kazuma Hashimoto. Next Anthony W. Mori and PAC and Shachihoko Machine faced Akira Tozawa, Super Shenlong #2 and Cyber Kong. In the end, Mori performed the Elegant Spike on Shelong, which was followed by PAC performing a 360 Shooting Star Press on Shelong to win the match. After the match, PAC showed respect to Shelong and he, Mori and Machine walked out of the ring. They would return and it was given to them flowers to congratulate them for the win.

Next, it was the Stalker Ichikawa Bosou 10 Match Series where Ichikawa faced a mystery opponent. That opponent was supposed to turn out to be Shachihoko Machine who appeared in the ring. After some talking with the referee Kinta Tamaoka, Tamaoka received a paper announcing that Ishikawa's opponent would be Shinobu Kandori who was attending the show. The beginning of the match turned out to be the end of the match, Ishikawa offered Kandori to shake his hand, which Kandori accepted and then applied Ishikawa the Wakigatame (Fujiwara armbar) to submit Ishikawa for the win. Then Tamaoka requested a rematch between the two in which Kandori easily defeated Ishikawa, this time submitting him with a cross armbreaker.

After that was a Hardcore match between Shingo Takagi and Naoki Tanizaki. The match ended with Takagi pinning Tanizaki with *Made in Japan* in a mount of chairs to win the match. Takagi then walked out of the ring with a barbed wired baseball bat, while Tanizaki had to be carried to the back. This was also the first Hardcore match in Dragon Gate.

In the fifth match, the team of Muscle Outlaw'z (Genki Horiguchi, Gamma and Nosawa Rongai) faced Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii and El Blazer. In the entrance of the Muscle Outlaw'z after Naoto Kikuchi introduced Gamma, Muscle Outlaw'z started to attack Mochizuki, Fujii and Blazer. In the end, Gamma performed a superkick on Blazer, which was followed by a *Gamma Special* to win the match. After the match, Mochizuki went after MO'Z but he was stopped by the referee and MO'Z walked out of the ring celebrating the victory. Mochizuki then carried out Blazer to the back.

Next, Pro Wrestling Noah's KENTA faced Naruki Doi. Before the match started, it was showed the promo between the match of KENTA against Doi. In the end, Doi and KENTA slapped each other, then KENTA performed a *Go to Sleep* and then pinned Doi to win the match. After the match, Doi and KENTA were so tired that they were held by their partners (Doi the Muscle Outlaw'z and KENTA fellow NOAH wrestler Ippei Ota). After Doi and KENTA got back to their feets, Doi showed some face turn signs when he had a stare down with KENTA and then both competitors shook hands, showing respect to each other. Then KENTA walked out of the ring with Ippei Ota to the back.

After that it was the Open The Twin Gate Championship match, AraIwa (Taku Iwasa and Kenichiro Arai) faced RyoSuka (Ryo Saito and Susumu Yokosuka). Before the match there was a traditional championship were RyoSuka and AraIwa posted with titles. In the end, Yokosuka performed the *Jumbo no Kachi!gatame* on Iwasa to become the new Open The Twin Gate Champions. After the match, both teams showed respect to each other. This also revenge of RyoSuka's lost in the past against AraIwa.

### Main event

In the main event, BxB Hulk, CIMA, Dragon Kid, Masato Yoshino, YAMATO and Yasushi Kanda faced each other in a Six-Way Mask vs. Hair Cage Survival match. After Kanda and YAMATO were double teaming, they push Hulk into a corner, Muscle Outlaw'z then tried to push Hulk down the cage but he managed to take them down and retrieve the flag, being the first to retrieve a flag. Later on the match, Kanda and YAMATO trapped Kid and if CIMA had retrieved the flag they would double teaming on Kid and CIMA climb down the cage and choose to save Kid. CIMA and Kid managed to take down MO'Z and both climbed the cage and Kid managed to retrieve the flag. In the other hand, MO'Z managed to prevent CIMA to retrieve the flag. The MO'Z members inside the cage Yoshino, Kanda and YAMATO climbed the cage. However, CIMA managed to prevent Yoshino and Kanda from climbing the cage but YAMATO managed to retrieve the flag. After YAMATO retrieved the flag Yoshino started to climb the cage and Kanda repeatedly attacked Yoshino with the blue box. After Yoshino flew the flour YAMATO trapped his shoestrings to the cage. Then Yoshino's Speed Muscle tag team partner Naruki Doi attacked Kanda with the blue box while Yoshino was untapping his shoestrings. Then Yoshino climbed the cage, when he was on top, while Doi was helping Yoshino MO'Z turned on Speed Muscle by trying to prevent Yoshino from escaping but with the help of Doi, Yoshino managed to retrieve the flag.

In the end, while CIMA was on top of the cage, Kanda was trying to prevent CIMA to grab the flag, Yoshino would then cost Kanda the match, helping CIMA and he managed to grab the flag to win with Kanda as the loser.

Since Kanda lost, he had to have his hair shaved. However, the Muscle Outlaw'z tried to assist Kanda to not to have his hair shaved. BxB Hulk would then appear from the back with the blue box hitting Kanda and putting him in the ring, the referee Kinta Tamaoka closed the door of the cage and Yoshino, Kid, CIMA trapped Kanda while Hulk was shaving Kanda's hair. This led to Hulk, Kid, CIMA and Yoshino shaving most of Kanda's hair. Kanda then swarmed revenge on Hulk while he runs out of the cage and Gamma announced that Yoshino and Doi were out of MO'Z and MO'Z walked out to the back. Hulk then swarmed revenge on YAMATO and convinced his New Hazard stablemates Cyber Kong and Shingo Takagi to make a dancing entrance like Hulk and New Hazard left. Then CIMA then talked about Yoshino and Doi leaving MO'Z and Typhoon left. Then Doi and Yoshino would close out the show.

## Aftermath

Following the Dead or Alive, on May 14 Takagi and Kong as BxB Shingo and BxB Cyber respectively, betrayed Hulk before the trio were scheduled to defend their Open The Triangle Gate Championship against YAMATO, Gamma and Genki Horiguchi. New Hazard was ended, Takagi and Kong joined up with YAMATO and the rest of the members of Muscle Outlaw'z to form the new super-heel group Real Hazard. Doi and Yoshino would join Hulk and it was agreed that they would face Takagi, YAMATO and Gamma for the vacant Open The Triangle Gate Championship and Real Hazard won the vacant titles after the match Real Hazard tried to attack the trio but a returning Naoki Tanizaki would make the save. Then Hulk, Doi, and Yoshino formed a stable with Tanizaki and m.c. KZ named WORLD-1. Then Takagi fought BxB Hulk to a one-hour draw in a number one contender's match for CIMA's Open the Dream Gate Championship. They were immediately scheduled for a rematch on July 27, but this time the Open The Dream Gate Championship was on the line as CIMA had to vacate the championship due to a neck injury. Then Takagi defeated Hulk to win the Open The Dream Gate Championship. After the match, Takagi apologized to Hulk and retracted his statement about him being weak. Soon after, Kong attempted to attack CIMA, who was at the announce table, but Takagi stopped him. After a brief argument, Real Hazard attacked Takagi and kicked him out of the group for showing compassion towards Hulk and CIMA, but he was saved by Typhoon.

## Matches

### Order of Escape

 2
 3
 4
 5
 Loser: