Dead or Alive (2019)

Promotional poster featuring the Dragon Gate roster

### Tagline(s)

"The Super Luxurious Card Reiwa's First Big Match" (Japanese: 超豪華カード 令和初のビッグマッチ, Hepburn: *Chō Gōka Kādo-Reiwa Hatsu no Biggu Matchi*)

## Information

### Sponsor(s)

GAORA
GrooVer
go baan
HCK
HATANO
MARUKA

### City

Aichi, Japan

The **Dead or Alive (2019)** was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and GAORA TV event promoted by Dragon Gate. The event took place on May 6, 2019, in Aichi at the Aichi Prefectural Gym and is the eleventh annual event under the Dead or Alive name. The event will also be available at Dragon Gate's streaming website, Dragon Gate Network.

The event featured a Unit bonds Seven-man steel cage match including Natural Vibes' Kzy, Tribe Vanguard's YAMATO, Mochizuki Dojo's Shun Skywalker, MaxiMuM's Naruki Doi and R.E.D's Big R Shimizu in the main event.

## Production

### Background

The Dead or Alive (2019) will air 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 full match card was announced on May 1.

### Storylines

The Dead or Alive (2019) will feature professional wrestling matches that involved wrestlers from pre-existing feuds and storylines that played out on the Dragon Gate's television program. Wrestlers portrayed heroes or villains as they followed a series of events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches.

The Dead or Alive (2019) is the third major Dragon Gate show following the Memorial Gate in Wakayama (2019). The match will feature one representative from all units, Natural Vibes' Kzy, Tribe Vanguard's YAMATO, Mochizuki Dojo's Shun Skywalker, MaxiMuM's Naruki Doi and R.E.D's Big R Shimizu. Since January 13, 2019, Dragon Kid began proclaiming himself as the leader of MaxiMuM and started berating the other members of MaxiMuM, after losing their matches. Kid would accuse his stablemates efforts, stating that they only worked hard when there was a prize on the line. His actions started to annoy is MaxiMuM stablemate Naruki Doi, leading Doi to ask Kid to leave MaxiMuM. Meanwhile, in R.E.D, since January 16, during a match between R.E.D and MaxiMuM, Big R Shimizu accidentally hit his stablemate Ben-K on two occasions which caused some tension between them. Shimizu had previously cost R.E.D a match, with his stablemates leaving the arena without him. Shimizu's mistakes would repeat during his matches, leading R.E.D's leader Eita to accuse him of doing it on purpose, and blamed Ben-K and Shimizu for the loses and accused them of being incompetent. Leading to the match, Tribe Vanguard had three casualties with BxB Hulk and Yosuke♥Santa Maria, being injured and Flamita in Mexico, YAMATO had to ask KAI to join Tribe Vanguard, which he accepted. On February 5, tensions would come ahead between Natural Vibes, Tribe Vanguard, Mochizuki Dojo and R.E.D. Eita would criticize each stable weak points and agreed to a match with each other on March 7. Eita would nominate himself, PAC, Kazma Sakamoto and Yasushi Kanda for the match, leaving Shimizu arguing that he and Ben-K should be in the match due to holding the Open The Twin Gate Championship. Mochizuki Dojo would try to enter the match, Eita protested, but Shimizu wanted them in the match, leading Eita to claim that he was the leader of R.E.D. Five days later, Eita would accidentally hit Ben-K with a chair, costing his match against U-T. Shimizu blamed Eita for Ben-K's loss and demanded an explanation, but he refused claiming they were the ones who lost the match. Ben-K and Shimizu errors, leading Eita to threat them that he would kick them out of the stable. Despite Big Ben, retaining the Open The Twin Gate Championship on March 3 at Champion Gate in Osaka, Eita warned them that he had no problems of kicking them out.

On March 7, Doi and Kid faced each other in a match. Doi would show signs of a heel turn such as using his former VerserK attire, attack Kid during his entrance and using heel a low blow to win the match. Later that night, Tribe Vanguard won the four-way eight-man tag team elimination match, after Ben-K accidentally attacked Kanda. Shimizu would beg Eita to not kick them out of the stable, YAMATO would provoke Eita, leading him to berate the other units. Eita would proceed to offer Doi to join R.E.D, but Dragon Kid interrupted and questioned Doi's tactics. Doi responded that he just joined in the 20th Anniversary fan service by wearing his old VerserK attire. General Manager Takayuki Yagi capitalized on the opportunity and announced the rules for the Steel Cage Survival match, as well multiple tag team matches between members of the respective units to decide, which member would enter in the match. Eita would select Takashi Yoshida as his partner and their opponents would be Big Ben. Doi would select Kid as his partner, leading Yoshino to choose Kaito Ishida. On March 16, Natural Vibes decided via lottery, which members would face each other. During the event, Doi warned Kid that if he retrieved the flag he would kick him out of the stable, while Kid responded that he would keep MaxiMuM all together. Kzy and "brother" YASSHI defeated Genki Horiguchi and Susumu Yokosuka, with Kzy pinning Horiguchi to represent Natural Vibes in the match. YAMATO joked that he would kick out Maria, leading him to return from his injury. YAMATO and U-T defeated Kagetora and KAI, with YAMATO pinning Kagetora to represent Tribe Vanguard in the match. On March 21 at Memorial Gate in Wakayama, Kid lost the Open the Brave Gate Championship to Susumu Yokosuka. During the event, Shun Skywalker and Hyou Watanabe defeated Yuki Yoshioka and Kota Minoura, with Shun pinning Minoura to represent Mochizuki Dojo in the match. On April 10, Doi and Kid defeated Ishida and Yoshino, with Doi pinning Ishida to represent MaxiMuM in the match. Doi blackmailed Kid that if he helped him win the match, he wouldn't kick him out of the stable. Yoshino proposed facing Doi to decide who would represent MaxiMuM in the match, but Doi refused. Later that night, Big Ben defeated Eita and Yoshida, with Shimizu pinning Eita, to represent R.E.D in the match. Afterwards, Shimizu dared Eita to kick him out of the stable. Yoshida declared that he was not on Eita's side causing tensions in R.E.D, leading Sakamoto and Kanda to choose Eita's side, dividing the stable, leading to the match PAC would join Eita's side. On April 28, Big Ben lost the Open The Twin Gate Championship to KAI and YAMATO, after Eita cost them the match. On May 4, Shimizu and Doi teamed with each other facing Kzy and YAMATO in a predule match. Shimizu would bring MaxiMuM attire to the match. The match ended with Doi scoring the win for the team over Kzy.

On April 12, U-T challenged Susumu Yokosuka to a match for his Open The Brave Gate Championship, which he accepted. The title match was made official for the event. The following day, PAC published a statement of his Twitter page, nominating Dragon Kid to be his next challenger for his Open The Dream Gate Championship at Dead or Alive or otherwise he wouldn't come back to Dragon Gate. Kid who was surprised by PAC's challenge and accepted the match. The match was made official hours later.

In the Open The Triangle Gate Championship match, R.E.D (Takashi Yoshida, Yasushi Kanda and Kazma Sakamoto will make their third title defense against Mochizuki Dojo (Masaaki Mochizuki, Hyou Watanabe and Kota Minoura). On April 10, Mochizuki and Watanabe defeated Kanda and Sakamoto, with Watanabe pinning Kanda. Mochizuki was impressed with Watanabe scoring the victory, and Mochizuki called out Minoura and challenged them to match, with General Manager Takayuki Yagi making the match official for the event.

## Seven-way steel cage match rules

* Each unit will field one member as a representative. These representatives will be decided via intra-unit tag matches;
* There will be 4 flags set at the top of the cage. Climbing to the top and retrieving a flag earns you an escape;
* After 10 minutes have elapsed, fighters will be free to attempt to retrieve a flag.
* The representative that doesn’t retrieve a flag is the loser;
* The loser will be forced to kick a member out of their unit. Who that member is will be left totally up to the representative’s discretion, but the removal of one member is mandatory.
* Each escaped representative will also gain the optional right to choose a member to kick out a member of their unit. Whether they use this privilege is entirely up to their discretion.

## Unit Representative matches

*Glorious Gate* - March 16 (Kobe Sambo Hall - Hyogo, Kobe, Japan)

*Glorious Gate* - March 17 (Nagoya Congress Center - Aichi, Nagoya, Japan)

*Memorial Gate in Wakayama* - March 21 (Wakayama Prefectural Gym - Wakayama, Japan)

*The Gate of Passion* - April 10 (Kourakuen Hall - Tokyo, Japan)

 2

## Event

**Other on-screen personnel**
 Ring Announcer
 Photographer
 Referees
 Backstage interviewers

### Preliminary matches

The pay-per-view opened with Katsuya Ichikawa and Masaaki Mochizuki on commentary, followed by the match card of the event and the introduction of the title matches.

In the first official match for the show featured, Jason Lee, Yuki Yoshioka, Dragon Dia and Keisuke Okuda defeating Natural Vibes (Genki Horiguchi, Punch Tominaga and "brother" YASSHI) and Mondai Ryu, with Yoshioka pinning Ryu with the *Frog Splash* to win the match.

Next, it was a tag team match between Ryo Saito and K-ness against "Hollywood" Stalker Ichikawa and Shachihoko Machine. Before the match, Genki Horiguchi replaced Masaaki Mochizuki on the commentary table. In the end, K-ness would perform a body slam followed by a Moonsault from Saito, K-ness and would lay on top of Ichikawa pinned him to win the match.

In the third match, MaxiMuM (Masato Yoshino and Kaito Ishida) faced R.E.D (Eita and Ben-K). During the match, Ben-K refused to cooperate with Eita and after some miscommunication, Ben-K would hit Eita with a *Spear* followed by the *Torbellino* and the *Lightning Spiral* by Yoshino to win the match.

In the next match, the Strong Machines (Strong Machine J, Strong Machine F and Strong Machine G) faced Tribe Vanguard (KAI, Kagetora and Yosuke♥Santa Maria). Before the match, it was shown a promo about the match. Before the match started the Strong Machines attacked Tribe Vanguard. Yuki Yoshioka replaced Genki Horiguchi on the commentary table. In the end, Strong Machine F and G would both perform the *Machine Lariat* followed by the *Majin Fusha Gatame* from Strong Machine J on Maria to win the match. Following the match, the Strong Machines attacked both Yosuke and Kagetora.

In the next match, Susumu Yokosuka defended the Open The Brave Gate Championship against U-T. Before the match, it was shown a promo about the title match. Kaito Ishida replaced Yuki Yoshioka on the commentary table. Near the end, Susumu was going for the *Yokosuka Cutter* but U-T would reverse to a submission hold, Susumu would escape, abd tried to perform the *Jumbo no Kaichi* but U-T would reversed it to a *Hurricarana*. In the end, Susumu would perform two consecutive *Jumbo no Kaichi*s for another nearfall, followed by another *Yokosuka Cutter*, but U-T kicked out in two, Susumu would perform the *Mugen* on U-T to win the match. Following the match, the two opponents would show signs of respect to each other, shaking both hands.

In the next match, R.E.D (Kazma Sakamoto, Takashi Yoshida, and Yasushi Kanda) defended the Open The Triangle Gate Championship against Mochizuki Dojo (Masaaki Mochizuki, Hyou Watanabe and Kota Minoura). Before the match, it was shown a promo about the title match. K-ness replaced Kaito Ishida on the commentary table. The match would end with Sakamoto performing the *Plus Driver* on Watanabe to retain the titles.

The semi-main event featured PAC defending the Open The Dream Gate Championship against Dragon Kid. Before the match, it was shown a promo about the title match. Later before the match, PAC and Kid would have a heated confrontation. Susumu Yokosuka replaced K-ness on the commentary table. Near the end, PAC would tried to perform the *Black Arrow* but Kid hit a *Dropkick* followed by an *Avalanche Huricarrana*, PAC would go for a *Clothesline* but Kid hit an *Inverted Frankensteiner* for a nearfall. In the end, perform an *Enziguri* followed by an *Avalanche Tombstone Piledriver*, and the *Black Arrow* to win the match.

Following the match, the pay-per-view would stop for a break. During the break, it was shown the previous Dead or Alive Seven-Way steel cage match between El Lindaman, Punch Tominaga, Masaaki Mochizuki, Yasushi Kanda, YAMATO, Shingo Takagi and Ryo Saito, with them trying to get the flags. The first was El Lindaman, followed by Tominaga, Mochizuki, Kanda and YAMATO, with the match continuing in a singles match, where after 5 minutes; if both wrestlers remained in the cage match, they would both lose their hair. In the end, after two consecutive *Pumping Bomber*s, Takagi would perform the *Last Falconry* on Saito to in the match. Katsuya Ichikawa would advertise the Dragon Gate Network. Don Fujii replaced Susumu Yokosuka on the commentary table.

### Main Event

The main event featured a "Bonds" five-way steel cage survival match between R.E.D's representative Big R Shimizu, Natural Vibes' representative Kzy, MaxiMuM's representative Naruki Doi, Mochizuki Dojo's representative Shun Skywalker and Tribe Vanguard representative YAMATO. The first wrestler to escape the cage was Kzy tried to escape, but Shimizu, Doi and YAMATO tried to stop him, but his Natural Vibes stablemates helped him escape. The second wrestler to escape was Shun Skywalker, Shun tried to escape but YAMATO's Tribe Vanguard stablemate Yosuke♥Santa Maria stop Shun from climbing the cage to allow YAMATO to escape, but Shun Mochizuki Dojo's stablemate Hyou Watanabe under his Hyosuke♥Santa Maria persona climbed the cage and kissed YAMATO and Yosuke♥Santa Maria helping Shun to escape. Later in the match, BxB Hulk made his return from injury under his Darkside Hulk persona after Shimizu tried to escape to help YAMATO escape, leading him to become the third wrestler to escape. In the last moments of the match, Doi tried to escape, but Ben-K switched the flag to another side of the cage to allow Shimizu to get up. Shimizu would later try to escape but Doi's MaxiMuM stablemate Dragon Kid stop him, Shimizu tried the *OTAKEBI* on top of a wood board that was placed in the cage but failed, leading Doi to become the last wrestler to escape.

After the match, Kzy said that due to the combined efforts of Natural Vibes, he managed to escape and afterwards announced that none would be kicked out of the stable. Next, it was Mochizuki Dojo, Shun said as soon as he became the representative of Mochizuki Dojo he knew was he had to do and the one to be kicked out would be himself and thanked what Masaaki Mochizuki made did for him. Afterwards, it was Tribe Vanguard, Maria begged YAMATO to not kick him out. YAMATO announced nobody would be kicked out, he also thanked Hulk for the held and announced the return of Flamita. Next was MaxiMuM, Doi was moved by Kid and the other MaxiMuM members' efforts to help him escape and also announced that none would be kicked out of the stable. He was also annoyed by Kid actions earlier in the year, but he realized that it was to motivate him. He praised Kid's efforts in his match against PAC for the Open The Dream Gate Championship and also praised Ishida for his efforts in the match. In the end, MaxiMuM did the 1st Finger pose. The last stable was R.E.D, Shimizu asked Ben-K for a chair and then called out Eita's side of R.E.D. Shimizu asked Ben-K and Yoshida a piece of advice to see who was going to be kicked out. Afterwards, Shimizu along with the rest of R.E.D turned on Ben-K, with Shimizu claiming that he had done Ben-K a favor after taking him away from MaxiMuM and he repaid by being worthless. He thanked Eita for taking the Open The Twin Gate Championships away from and revealed that he was never planning of kicking Eita out of the stable and they had been working together the whole time. After R.E.D left Ben-K got up to his feet and he picked up the microphone, but dropped it and started to leave, but returned and picked it up again and vowed revenged on Shimizu and the rest of R.E.D.

## Results

### Order of Escape

 2
 3
 4
 Loser: