King of Gate

The **King of Gate** (キング・オブ・ゲート, *Kingu obu Gēto*) is an annual tournament held in Dragon Gate. It's designed to determine the strongest wrestler of the year. It is the successor of El Numero Uno from Toryumon Japan. Where El Numero Uno was a round-robin tournament, King of Gate used the single-elimination format and it was originally used at the end of the year, that took place at the December shows following a hiatus in 2009 due to the Generation Warfare, the tournament was moved to Spring in 2010.

In 2016 Dragon Gate adopted a new system and it is a Round Robin tournament that is consisted of four blocks, with two points for a win, one for a draw, zero for a double count-out, and none for a loss. The wrestler finishing atop the points standings in the four blocks advance to the knockout stage, where the winner is determined in a head-to-head match. Matches in the King of Gate have a 20-minute time limit.

In the below results, (C) signifies the Open The Dream Gate Champion at the time of each tournament. Usually, the winners of the tournament earn a shot at the title, assuming they are not already the champions.

For the round-robin tournaments in the King of Gate:

     – winners of each block;
     – losers of each block.

## History

The tournament was formed in 2005 by Dragon Gate, following the Toryumon Japan split from Dragon Gate. It is the successor of El Numero Uno from Toryumon Japan. Where El Numero Uno was a round-robin tournament, King of Gate used the single-elimination format and it was originally used at the end of the year, that took place at the December shows. The winner, assuming they are not already the champion, receives an opportunity to wrestle for the Open The Dream Gate Championship not long after the tournament is over.

The King of Gate tournament had often been used as a platform for Dragon Gate to push their rising stars. Past winners include Ryo Saito, Naruki Doi, Shingo Takagi, BxB Hulk and YAMATO and others who have gone on to become wrestling superstars. Dick Togo became the first outsider to participate in the tournament and Austin Aries became the first gaijin to participate in the tournament. The 2007 tournament ended in controversy when Gamma was declared the winner by default due to CIMA's inability to continue after taking numerous kicks to the groin. Dragon Kid, who himself lost to Gamma by less than honorable means, demanded a rematch with Gamma and won, though he is not recognized as the winner of the tournament. In the 2008 tournament, Shingo Takagi was scheduled to participate but decided to pull out as he was the reigning Open The Dream Gate Champion at the time. His spot would be filled by outsider Madoka, who won a battle royal. Following a hiatus in 2009 due to the Generation Warfare, the tournament was moved to Spring in 2010. In the 2012 edition of the tournament, CIMA was scheduled to participate but agreed to pull out and be replaced by Eita Kobayashi, who wanted to enter the tournament as his prize for winning the King of Chop tournament.

The only wrestlers who won the Open The Dream Gate Championship after winning the King of Gate were Ryo Saito, Naruki Doi, Masato Yoshino, YAMATO, Ben-K and Eita. Most of the times, the winners of the King of Gate after winning the tournament failed to win the Open The Dream Gate Championship.

Since 2012 the winners of the King of Gate would receive their Open The Dream Gate Championship title shot at the Champion Gate In Hakata until 2015. In 2016 it was moved for the Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival PPV. In 2016 Dragon Gate adopted a new system and it is a Round Robin tournament that is consisted of four blocks, covering twenty shows. During the round-robin portion, a win is worth two points, a draw is worth one, and a loss zero; all matches have a 20-minute time limit, if the matches ended in a double count-out none of the wrestlers receive any points. In the 2018 edition of the tournament, Masaaki Mochizuki was scheduled to participate but instead decided to pull out of the tournament due to being the Open the Dream Gate Champion and instead decided a Young Generation wrestler to participate in his place, and decided to defend the title on the June 10. The Young Generation wrestler who replaced Mochizuki ended up being Shun Skywalker. On June 9, Masato Yoshino defeated YAMATO in the finals to become the first wrestler to win the King of Gate for a second time.

In the 2019 edition of the tournament, PAC was pulled out of the tournament due to being the reigning Open The Dream Gate Champion. In 2019, it was announced that the winner would be to determine the strongest wrestler in the promotion.

In the 2020 edition of the tournament, Dragon Gate changed the system from a round-robin tournament to a singles elimination tournament, with the final semifinal spot being decided in a battle royal from a wrestler that was eliminated in the tournament. It was also announced that the reigning Open The Dream Gate Champion Naruki Doi would participate in the tournament. Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Japan, the tournament would be held in an empty arena, with the tournament also being aired in tape delay.

## Results

### 2005

The first King of Gate tournament took place over the course of five days from December 23-25, 2005. Virtually every member of the Dragon Gate roster participated, so a select few were given byes into the second round.

### 2006

The second King of Gate tournament took place over the course of four days from December 10-22, 2006. Dragon Kid and Shingo Takagi were scheduled to participate in the tournament but Kid was hospitalized for appendicitis and Takagi was in an excursion in the United States. The number of participants was diminished with only Ryo Saito, last year's winner, receiving an automatic bye into the second round. Dick Togo became the first outsider to participate in the tournament. Kouji Shishido won a fan vote to be included in the tournament.

### 2007

The third King of Gate Tournament took place over the course of seven days from December 1-9, 2007. The previous year's winner, Masaaki Mochizuki, no longer received an automatic bye into the second round. Austin Aries became the first gaijin to participate in the tournament. The tournament ended in controversy when Gamma was declared the winner by default due to CIMA's inability to continue after taking numerous kicks to the groin. Dragon Kid, who himself lost to Gamma by less than honorable means, demanded a rematch with Gamma and won, though he is not recognized as the winner of the tournament.

### 2008

The fourth King of Gate Tournament took place over the course of six days from December 2-19, 2008. Shingo Takagi was scheduled to participate, but decided to pull out as he was the reigning Open The Dream Gate Champion at the time. His spot would be filled by outsider Madoka, who won a battle royal on November 29 to earn an entry. Masato Yoshino was scheduled to participate in the tournament. However, a match was made before the tournament even started between Veteran-gun (Masaaki Mochizuki, Don Fujii and Magnitude Kishiwada) against Real Hazard (Gamma, Genki Horiguchi and Yasushi Kanda). If Veteran-gun won, Kishiwada would participate in the tournament and if Real Hazard won Kanda was going to participate in the tournament. Kishiwada won so he got Yoshino´s place. Naruki Doi the winner of the tournament went on defeating Shingo Takagi to win the Open The Dream Gate Championship, becoming the first wrestler to doing so. Ryo Saito was legitimately injured his right arm during his first round match with BxB Hulk. It was severe enough for the referee to call the match. Naoki Tanizaki's ring out loss to Don Fujii in the second round was caused by an intrusion from Cyber Kong.

### 2010

The fifth King of Gate Tournament took place over the course of five days from April 3-14, 2010. While he was a part-time member of the Dragon Gate roster at the time, Takuya Sugawara was still listed as an outsider.

### 2011

The sixth King of Gate Tournament took place over the course of six days from May 12-21, 2011. The winner of this year King of Gate BxB Hulk didn't immediately received his opportunity for the Open The Dream Gate Championship due to the champion Masaaki Mochizuki giving his opportunity to Yasushi Kanda (who Hulk defeated in the finals to win the tournament). Hulk would receive his championship shot at the Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival after joining Blood Warriors. Hulk would fail to beat Mochizuki for the title.

### 2012

The seventh King of Gate Tournament will take place over the course of six days from May 10-19, 2012. CIMA was scheduled to participate but agreed to pull out and be replaced by Eita Kobayashi, who wanted to enter the tournament as his prize for winning the King of Chop tournament on April 19, 2012.

### 2013

The 2013 King of Gate tournament, a sixteen man tournament, took take place from May 10 to May 25, covering seven shows. Ricochet was the first wrestler to win the tournament in his first attempt. He would then unsuccessfully challenge CIMA for the Open The Dream Gate Championship.

### 2014

The 2014 King of Gate tournament, a sixteen man tournament, took take place from May 9 to May 31, covering nine shows. Five days before the tournament started Ryotsu Shimizu defeated U-T and Chihiro Tominaga to have the right to participate in the tournament. The winner of the tournament Jimmy Susumu would fail to defeat the Open The Dream Gate Champion YAMATO in the Champion Gate in Hataka.

### 2015

The 2015 King of Gate tournament, a sixteen man tournament, took take place from May 8 to May 30, covering seven shows. T-Hawk was the only wrestler to get into the finals of the King of Gate tournament. Masato Yoshino defeated the Open The Dream Gate Champion BxB Hulk to get into to the finals and then defeated T-Hawk to win the tournament. Yoshino would then defeat Hulk to win the Open The Dream Gate Championship ending Hulk's reign for almost a year that Hulk won the title. Yoshino would then defend Open The Dream Gate Champion against T-Hawk at the Kobe World Pro Wrestling Festival.

### 2016

The 2016 King of Gate tournament was a round-robin tournament, featuring 4 blocks and took place from May 8 to June 12, covering twenty shows. On block A the match between Shingo Takagi and Punch Tominaga ended in a time limit draw due to a double count out so neither Takagi or Tominaga received points. On block B Eita and Akira Tozawa were tied with 7 points and on June 11 Tozawa defeated Eita to pass to the semifinals. The winner of the tournament YAMATO went on defeating Shingo Takagi at the Kobe Pro-Wrestling Festival to win the Open The Dream Gate Championship for the fourth time.

Final standings

### 2017

The 2017 King of Gate tournament, a round-robin tournament, featuring 4 blocks and will take place from May 9 to June 11, covering twenty shows. On May 5 Cyber Kong was forced to revert to his real name Takashi Yoshida. Jimmy K-ness J.K.S. was forced to forfeit his match against Don Fujii on June 3 due to pulling the calf muscle in his right leg.

Final standings

### 2018

The 2018 King of Gate, a round-robin tournament, featured 4 blocks and took place from May 8 to June 9, covering sixteen shows. Reigning Open The Dream Gate Champion Masaaki Mochizuki was scheduled to participate in the tournament but instead decided to pull out of the tournament due to being the Open the Dream Gate Champion and instead decided a Young Generation wrestler to participate in his place, and decided to defend the title on the June 10.

It was later announced that the wrestler with the lowest punctuation in each block, would take part of a mini-tournament to decide the last placed wrestler in the tournament, between June 2 and June 3. On April 6, it was announced that the winner of the King of Gate would receive his Open The Dream Gate Championship title opportunity at the following day on June 10.

On April 22 Shun Skywalker took part of a six-man tag team match, where the wrestler who got the win would fill the spot of the Young Generation wrestler, which he filled after pinning Oji Shiiba to win the match and to take part of the tournament. During the tournament, Dragon Kid suffered an ankle injury, which led him to forfeit all of his matches. Thus, the next lowest ranked wrestler in Block C (Eita) replaced Kid in the Losers' Tournament. On June 9, Masato Yoshino defeated YAMATO in the finals to become the first wrestler to win the King of Gate for a second time.

Final standings

**Losers round**

**Knockout round**

### 2019

The 2019 King of Gate tournament, a round-robin tournament, featuring 4 blocks and took place from May 9 to June 8, covering nineteen shows. On May 26, Dragon Gate announced that U-T would forfeit the rest of his matches due to a fractured collarbone.

Final standings

### 2020

The 2020 King of Gate tournament took place from May 15 to June 7, covering ten shows. Unlike the previous year, the tournament featured a singles elimination tournament contested by 24 wrestlers. Due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Japan, the tournament was held in an empty arena, with the tournament also being aired on tape delay.

#### Second Chance Battle Royal

Taped, aired on May 31 (Kobe Lapis Hall - Hyogo, Kobe, Japan)

* (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
* – refers to the video of that match

1. ↑ Order of eliminations: Ben-K, Jason Lee, Genki Horiguchi, Ryo Saito, H.Y.O, Dragon Dia, Kzy, Big R Shimizu and Yosuke♥Santa Maria.

### 2021

The 2021 King of Gate tournament, a round-robin tournament, featured three blocks and took place from May 14 to June 3, covering fifteen shows. Repeating part of the previous year format, the final semifinal spot was decided in a battle royal by a wrestler eliminated from the tournament. On May 7, it was announced that HipHop Kikuta would be forced to withdraw from the tournament, after suffering a shoulder injury, being replaced by his R.E.D stablemate H.Y.O. On May 15, it was announced that Dragon Dia had a registred a a slight fever during an health screening, in addition, Ben-K had also registred a slight fever too, leading them to be pulled from the events until the results of a PCR test. Naruki Doi was scheduled to face Ben-K, however he was also pulled from competition as a precaution until a notice from the results of a PCR test, leading Doi to forfeit his match against Kota Minoura. On May 18, it was announced that Ben-K had tested positive for COVID-19, Doi, who had close contact with Ben-K, decided to withdraw from the tournament, leading them to forfeit their remaining matches.

Final standings

#### Second Chance Battle Royal

King of Gate - May 30 (Fukuyama Big Rose - Hiroshima, Japan)

* (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
* – refers to the video of that match

1. ↑ Order of eliminations: Eita, Jason Lee, Genki Horiguchi, Takashi Yoshida, U-T, Keisuke Okuda, Diamante, Dragon Kid, Susumu Yokosuka, Kaito Ishida, H.Y.O and Shun Skywalker.

### 2022

The 2022 King of Gate tournament took place from May 11 to June 2, covering twelve shows. Unlike the previous year, the tournament featured a singles elimination tournament contested by 32 wrestlers. On May 16, it was announced that due to a foot injury, Big Boss Shimizu had to forfeit his first-round match against Takashi Yoshida. However, on May 20, Minorita made an appeal to fill in for an injured Shimizu, which Yoshida accepted. On May 29, during the quarterfinals, Jason Lee suffered a concussion during his match against BxB Hulk, leading him to be replaced in a dragon scramble battle royal to decide his replacement.

#### Second Chance Battle Royal

King of Gate - June 2 (Korakuen Hall - Tokyo, Japan)

* (c) – refers to the champion(s) heading into the match
* – refers to the video of that match

1. ↑ Defeated Minorita in a 28 Entrant *Dragon Scramble* Battle Royal to earn a second chance.
2. ↑ Order of Elimination: KAI, SB KENTo, H.Y.O, Dragon Dia, Dragon Kid, Eita, Yosuke♥Santa Maria, La Estrella, Mondai Ryu, Madoka Kikuta, Ben-K, Keisuke Okuda, Kagetora, Susumu Mochizuki, Takashi Yoshida, Jacky "Funky" Kamei, Takuma Fujiwara, Ishin Iihashi, Diamante, BxB Hulk, Kaito Ishida, U-T, Naruki Doi, YAMATO, Kzy, Strong Machine J and Minorita.

### 2023

The 2023 King of Gate tournament took place from July 7 until August 3, covering twelve shows. Similar to the previous year, the tournament featured a singles elimination tournament contested by 30 wrestlers.

## Gallery

* Gallery
* Winners

King of Gate old trophyKing of Gate new trophyEnvelope prize of the King of GateRyo Saito the winner of the first King of Gate tournament with the money prize

Ryo SaitoNaruki DoiShingo TakagiBxB HulkGenki Horiguchi H.A.Gee.Mee!!RicochetJimmy SusumuMasato YoshinoYAMATOT-HawkBen-KEitaKzyYuki Yoshioka