Dead or Alive (2023)

Promotional poster featuring the Dragon Gate roster

The **Dead or Alive (2023)** was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and GAORA TV event promoted by Dragon Gate. The event took place on May 5, 2023, in Aichi at the Aichi Prefectural Gym and is the fourteenth annual event under the Dead or Alive name. The event was also be available at Dragon Gate's streaming website, Dragon Gate Network. The event was main event by Shun Skywalker defending the Open The Dream Gate Championship against Madoka Kikuta.

## Production

### Background

The Dead or Alive (2023) 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 to be launched in Dragon Gate's ~ Infinity ~ Series. The event aired worldwide on Dragon Gate's internet streaming website, Dragon Gate Network. The event also featured English commentary provided by Jae Church and Ho Ho Lun.

On May 1, it was announced that Mochizuki Junior had sustained an injury, leading the match card to be changed.

### Storylines

The Dead or Alive (2023) was main evented by Shun Skywalker defending the Open The Dream Gate Championship against Madoka Kikuta. On April 5, Kikuta defeated Kota Minoura to become the number one contender to the Open The Dream Gate Championship and following the match, Kikuta challenged Skywalker to a title match for the first time in two years. Kikuta had previously challenged Skywalker for the title in 2023, which ended by referee stoppage, after Kikuta was unable to continue the match due to Skywalker injuring his arm, leading to the shortest Open The Dream Gate Championship match in Dragon Gate history. Afterwards, Skywalker reminded their title match two years ago, which Kikuta stated that he did not forget that day. This led to Skywalker stating that he wanted Kikuta to show more effort, challenging him to a Three-on-One Handicap match. On April 9, Skywalker and Z-Brats stablemate H.Y.O defeated Kikuta in the Three-on-One Handicap match. This match was part of a quest to impress Skywalker, which led to on May 3, Dia throwing in the towel to stop the Z-Brats assault on Kikuta.

On April 5, Minorita stole the Open The Brave Gate Championship belt and quickly ran backstage. Later that night, Jason Lee nominated Dragon Dia to be his challenger for the Open The Brave Gate Championship. Afterwards, former Open The Brave Gate Champion Minorita came out to challenge to a title match, as well as Jacky "Funky" Kamei, who scored a victory over Dia in a tag team match, leading to a three-way number one contenders match. However, shortly after, Mochizuki Junior also challenged for the Open The Brave Gate Championship, leading to a four-way match to determine the next challenger, although, Junior was over the weight needing to drop 2 kg's in order to challenge for the title. Three days later, Dia won the four-way match to become the number one contender to the Open The Brave Gate Championship.

In March, Masaaki Mochizuki began a storyline with his son, where Masaaki insisted that his son Junior needed him, and he was not ready to be on his own in big matches without him yet. After settling their issues on April 5, after they faced M3K stablemates Susumu Mochizuki and Yasushi Kanda in a double ring out, M3K challenged Gold Class (Ben-K, BxB Hulk and Kota Minoura) to a title match for the Open The Triangle Gate Championship. However, Natural Vibes (Kzy, Big Boss Shimizu and Strong Machine J) also challenged to a title match. On April 9, Natural Vibes defeated Gold Class to become the number one contender to the Open The Triangle Gate Championship.

On April 4, Pro Wrestling Noah's KONGOH (Kenoh and Shuji Kondo) defeated Natural Vibes (Big Boss Shimizu and Kzy) to win the Open The Twin Gate Championship. Afterwards, Kenoh dared anyone from the Dragon Gate roster to challenged them anytime, which led to Z-Brats (KAI and ISHIN) to challenge them to a title match.