Open The Owarai Gate Championship

The **Open The Owarai Gate Championship** is the comedy-based championship in Dragon Gate. Otherwise known as Open The Comedy Gate, is a unique championship that is awarded not based on the match results, but rather of the performance of the competitors.

Once the actual match was finished, the audience decided who amused them the best. Sometimes the fans would end up choosing someone who was not actually in the match itself simply because they found them funnier than the competitors.

The belt returned on June 2023; despite that, Dragon Gate does not recognize the championship as part of its Triple Crown and Grand Slam.

## Overview

The championship was established when Stalker Ichikawa embarked on his first trip to the United States in May 2007. A fan of the wrestler, then-Pro Wrestling Guerrilla Commissioner Dino Winwood issued a request for the development of a championship for Stalker to have. Dragon Gate officials agreed and created the belt. Ichikawa was initially provided with ten free tickets that could be used to ensure a successful defense regardless of the outcome. However, the tickets were destroyed by Kikutaro prior to his challenging for the title, forcing Ichikawa to defend the belt on his own merit. He was able to successfully retain due to unusual circumstances since, such as his mother appealing to the crowd and later his opponent feeling sorry.

When Kikutaro did finally win the championship in 2009, he made three defenses before he presumably lost it in his otaku room for roughly one and a half years. The title was seemingly forgotten about by virutally everyone until Dragon Gate began planning for the Don Fujii Homecoming in Mie on April 10, 2011. They finally managed to contact Kikutaro to not only appear, but to defend the Open The Owarai Gate Championship. Fujii officiated the match and appealed for a fan vote that resulted in his winning the championship, thus returning it to Dragon Gate for good. The music theme leading into the championship defenses uses snippets from the main theme of the Super Mario Bros. video game.

The championship was deactivated on May 5, 2018 at Dead or Alive, when Shingo Takagi, per stipulation, was the last person to escape the cage in the Hair vs. Hair Steel Cage Survival seven-way match. On June 3, 2023, the company announced the belt would be returning, with Konomama Ichikawa becoming the interim champion until a new official champion would be decided at the Buyuden Zero vol.2. event on July 8, 2023. At the event, Kikutaro defeated Ichikawa to become the lineal champion. Despite, the belt returning, Dragon Gate does not recognize the championship as part of its Triple Crown and Grand Slam.

## Gallery

* Gallery
* Defenses
* Champions

Naoki Tanizaki with the stolen belt around his waistShingo Takagi destroying the Open The Owarai Gate ChampionshipOpen The Owarai Gate Championship after being destroyed by Shingo Takagi

Keni'chiro Arai vs. "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa - August 2, 2012Kikutaro vs. Keni'chiro Arai - December 20, 2012Cyber Kong vs. Kikutaro - January 17, 2013Ryo "Jimmy" Saito vs. Kikutaro - March 7, 2013Ryo Saito vs. "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa - November 26, 2017Ryo Saito vs. Gamma - December 2, 2017

"Hollywood" Stalker IchikawaCIMAJackson FloridaJohnson FloridaKinta TamaokaAnthony W. MoriKikutaroDon FujiiRich SwannKeni'chiro AraiRyo SaitoJimmy KandaYosuke♥Santa MariaAkira TozawaMr.NakagawaMasato YoshinoShingo Takagi